"A Society Stripped From Its Christian Moorings"

Will the 2000s be remembered as the decade of American decline?

Does changing the date of an NFL football game because of weather indicate just how weak we Americans have become?

Have we lost our rugged individualism that has been the heart of the American character?

Have Americans, like many Europeans, become addicted to la dolce vita---the good life, at the expense of our vitality and greatness?

Some feel generous social programs combined with increasing consumerism and sexual hedonism characterizes the modern---or post modern West.

Jeffery T. Kuhner, president of the Edmund Burke Institute, wrote in the Washington Times last week, "With 2010 drawing to a close, the American moment is ending not with a bang, but with a whimper."

Is it?

If America is in serious decline, is it reversible?

Kuhner says, "Instead of trying to reverse this, Washington is hastening it," citing mass fiscal mis-management and social experimentation such as the recent repeal of "Don't Ask-Don't Tell".
He says Obamacare is the final nail in the American coffin. And that, "Washington is continuing to party like its 1965."

What caught my attention in Kuhner's column was his insistence that America's social and economic decline is directly linked to our spiritual decline---the "Passing of the Christian West," he calls it.

He believes the "Passing" signifies "the end not only of a world-view, but a character-type---one based on honor, family, self-help, blood and soil patriotism, personal responsibility and a God centered moral order."

"Self indulgence and self expression," he says, have filled the vacuum and, "life is no longer about sacrifice and duty, it's about maximizing pleasure and self fulfillment."

He believes we have fallen victim to statism, "The transformation of freeborn and productive citizens into de facto serfs who look to Uncle Sam for handouts---Decades of liberalism have led to servile state."

"Well," some will say, "those Edmund Burke people are a little too far right for me.---too conservative."

I have linked his column. Read it and note with what part you disagree.

I disagree only with his conclusion:

"All civilizations rise and fall. Ancient Greece, Persia, Rome, Medieval Europe, the great Italian city-states, the Ottoman Empire, the vast European empires---the past is littered with the corpses of once unparalleled and dominant powers that are now a distant memory."

This is true.

His final comment is reflected by many on both the right, including some evangelicals, and the left to far left:

"So too has America passed it's zenith."

Has it?

Unlike the massive and powerful civilizations that were forged along ancient boundaries, bloodlines and conquest, America was founded on an ideal---the principle of freedom. Freedom given to mankind, not by government, but by the God of the Bible---the Creator.

America has only passed her zenith if American citizens allow the country to be "remade" or "transformed" rather than "restored".

All things ultimately lie in the hands of God, but the God who gave us liberty and freedom, has also given us choice.

It's time to sound the alarm.

George Washington wrote a letter to Joseph Reed on January 14, 1776. In it he wrote, "The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in."

America and all it stands for hangs in the balance. Too many do not understand the predicament we are in, nor do they agree with the only solution. As they become aware, they may conclude the sun is setting, not rising on America.

If those of us who believe in Him will become humble and prayerful, He will heal, or restore, the land.

We stand on the grand threshold of history, but I do not believe the final chapter of this great country has been written. I believe in restoration.

Do you? I believe you do.

Thank you for standing with us in advocating for renewal.

Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful. Be Discerning. Be Active. Be Blessed.

_______________
Gary Randall
President
Faith and Freedom

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