In my previous article, my hope was to issue a call to remembrance. With the efforts to erase any remaining vestige of the godly principles upon which our nation was built, it’s important to be reminded from time to time just how significant God’s hand was in the birth of our republic.
In this article, I transition from our founding to our failures.
The rapid decline of morality in our culture over the past few decades has been astounding. Until we acknowledge those failures, repent and seek forgiveness, and purpose in our hearts to correct course, there’s little chance anything will change.
In fact, I believe that short of a true revival, we’ll only continue to decline. My hope in pointing out our failures is not to cast stones, but to convict our hearts, and provoke us to change.
OUR FAILURES
God blessed Israel beyond measure. He delivered them from Egyptian bondage, abode with them in the wilderness, provided for them, fought battles for them, and led them to the Promised Land.
But like fallen humans are prone to do, they forgot.
Psalm 78:11 "And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them."
Psalm 78:42 "They remembered not his hand, [nor] the day when he delivered them from the enemy."
Israel’s pattern became predictable. They would forget God, and that forgetfulness would lead to failure.
Like Israel, I’m afraid our forgetfulness has led to our failures as well. Let me highlight four areas of failure.
- We’ve Failed In the School House
There is a battle raging for the minds of our children in public school institutions that started in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
The false religion of Humanism and its adherents have been incrementally chipping away at our nation’s godly heritage, trying to convince this nation’s children for the past 100 plus years that there is no God.
In fact, if you visit the American Humanist Association’s webpage, you’ll notice that their tagline underneath their title is “Good Without A God.”
All religions have a book, or creed, or some guidance. The AHA is not without theirs. It’s called the Humanist Manifesto. In 1933 the Humanist Manifesto I (there are three parts) stated,
“There is no God and no soul. Hence there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, the immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or permanent moral absolutes.”
If you don’t think the Humanists have been trying to indoctrinate children through the education system let me give you a little information.
You may be surprised to learn that John Dewey, hailed as "the father of progressive education," co-authored and signed the Humanist Manifesto.
C.F. Potter wrote in Humanism, A New Religion (1930),
"Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism and every American public school is a school of humanism. What can the theistic Sunday schools, meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?"
In 1976, leading secular humanist Paul Blanshard said:
"I think the most important factor leading us to a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16 tends to lead toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history."
The AHA magazine, The Humanist (Jan.-Feb. 1983), published an essay by John Dunphy, in which he proclaimed "the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom…between the rotting corpse of Christianity…and the new faith of humanism…(and) humanism will emerge triumphant."
Professor Chester M. Pierce, M.D., Professor of Education and Psychiatry at Harvard, speaking to teachers at a teacher’s seminar said,
"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our Founding Fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well - by creating the international child of the future."
Many refuse to believe this and become defensive and say, “I don’t see that manifested. How can I tell if my children are being indoctrinated by Humanism?”
A few questions make it clear. Are your children allowed to pray openly and without fear of reprisal in their school?
What are your children being taught concerning human sexuality? Abstinence, or “safe” sex? Two genders, or multiple and fluid? Is sexual deviancy discouraged, or taught as an acceptable alternative?
And probably the most telling question: What are they teaching about the origins of life? Creation or evolution?
Unfortunately, the humanists have been successful at removing prayer, pushing disgustingly immoral sex-ed curriculum, and teaching evolution as though it’s settled science, rather than a theory.
To sum up: our children are being taught there is no God, regarding sexuality, anything goes, and rather than being created in the image of God, we arose from pond scum.
This has defined the past 40 or 50 years of public school education and we wonder why we see a godless society with people acting like animals in the streets. The chickens have come home to roost.
- We’ve Failed In the Statehouse
Just take a look at our government leaders.
On January 22, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the Reproductive Health Act, a bill legalizing abortion through the third trimester, while simultaneously repealing criminal charges for harming desired babies in the womb. That evening, Cuomo ordered the 408-foot spire atop One World Trade Center, along with other landmarks, to be lit in pink to commemorate the victory.
Days later, on January 28, in Virginia, Delegate Kathy Tran (D) proposed the Repeal Act, a bill to weaken the state’s abortion restrictions. During questioning, Delegate Todd Gilbert (R) pressed Tran to reveal how late in the third-trimester abortions could be performed. After a tense back and forth, Gilbert asked, “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth…would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion?” Gilbert continued, “She’s dilating…I’m asking if your bill allows that.”
Unreservedly, Tran responded, “My bill would allow that, yes.”
Though tabled, the bill received criticism, prompting Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) on a radio interview two days later to defend the bill. When asked to clarify Tran’s comments he said,
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Regarding abortion, Bill Clinton coined the phrase “safe, legal, and rare” in 1992. Unsurprisingly, “safe” and “rare” have been dropped from the phrase, and now the only thing the Left can focus on is “legal” and unfettered access to baby murder.
Turning from abortion, consider government leaders various responses to the Chinese virus. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a press conference on April 13 said God had nothing to do with the notable decrease in COVID-19 cases across the state. “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that.”
It’s not surprising Cuomo would turn his hostility toward people of faith. Recently he threatened to close down places of worship, saying, “If you do not agree to follow the rules, then we will close the institutions down. I am prepared to do that.”
By now most have read about Governor Gavin Newsom (D) of California. As a result of the pandemic, Newsom has been emboldened to release his inner dictator. His most recent draconian rules put a dampener on families Thanksgiving plans by banning gatherings of more than three households, requiring gatherings to be outdoors, and requiring social distancing. Magical masks must be worn as well, only to be removed between bites, singing is discouraged, and food must be served in disposable containers.
Newsom has also attempted to close houses of worship in his state. Fortunately, there are valiant leaders standing against him, though it’s yet to be seen what it will cost them, as some have already amassed numerous fines.
Cuomo and Newsom (along with many other liberal leaders) and their dictates sound like something you would read about in the Third Reich, not the free states of America.
But make no mistake, it’s not only the Democrats. I’m disgusted with the cowardly Republicans as well. Every election cycle Republicans go home and pander to their base. They tout their conservative values and Christian beliefs. We buy it, vote for them, and send them back to Washington to do more of the same – nothing.
Let me offer an example that is relevant in the news cycle as I write this. I think we are all aware of the power of big tech. They’ve become so powerful now that they are literally censoring the news that doesn’t fit the narrative they want people to hear.
What is government doing about it? The same thing they always do. Lawmakers will call a Senate hearing (which they have done), and we’ll read quotes like, “Sen. Ted Cruz ripped into Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey,” and big tech “to appear on Capitol Hill for grilling over censorship.”
But it’s mostly theatrics. In the end, what will be done? My prediction – nothing. But, hey, at least they can pander to their base once again and claim to have been at the forefront of fighting big tech censorship.
One would be hard-pressed to convince me that our government is functioning as our founding fathers had hoped.
- We’ve Failed In the Church House
Anyone possessing the least bit of spiritual discernment is aware of the body of Christ’s gradual departure from fidelity to Scripture.
In 2 Timothy 3-4, Paul warned Timothy times like this would come, when people wouldn’t endure sound doctrine, when they would find teachers to tell them what they want to hear, and when they would reject the truth and chase lies.
Most mainline denominations folded long ago under the pressures of modern society, and rather than transforming the culture around them, they’ve conformed to the world.
I’m relatively young, but I never imagined I’d see the day when the “church” would allow, much less promote and endorse carnality the way it does today.
The sad reality is that more churches are interested in entertaining than educating and equipping. The rate of biblical illiteracy is staggering.
It’s no wonder then that we have gay and lesbian “pastors,” gay-affirming “churches,” and an entire movement (Revoice) celebrating celibate “gay Christians.”
It’s no wonder that a group of professing Christians will band together and call themselves “pro-life evangelicals for Biden.” What an oxymoron! Claiming to be pro-life, yet voting for the most pro-abortion candidates in history is unmitigated ignorance.
- We’ve Failed In Our Own House
The primary reason we’ve failed in the church is that we’ve failed in the home.
On his show, The Hamilton Corner, Abe reminds us often, “What happens in your house is far more important than what happens in the White House.”
We’ve all heard the saying that politics flow downstream of culture, culture flows downstream of the church, and the church flows downstream of the home.
The modern home packs their schedule so full today they barely have time to breathe. We intentionally check our calendars and carve out time for extracurricular activities, but family devotion and prayer rarely, if ever, happens.
We can make time to tune in and watch overpaid athletes disrespect our flag and country, or binge-watch the latest season of our favorite series, but we don’t eat together, don’t talk about our day, and then wonder why our families are falling apart.
Too many of us have become enslaved to the god that fits in our palm, scrolling incessantly, becoming disconnected from reality, ignoring our spouses and children, lost in a virtual world.
Our failures in the home are not because the Lord left us without instructions, but a lack of passion and priority on our part.
As a whole, we’ve failed to take seriously the Lord’s admonition to truly disciple our children and commit our families to Him.
It doesn’t have to be this way
The good news is, as Dr. Adrian Rogers often said, “Failure is not final.” We serve a loving and longsuffering God Who will restore us if we will only call on Him.
Though our failures are great and our convictions have changed, with our Lord there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” (James 1:17) and He is indeed “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
May we repent, and trust Him to restore our schools, government, churches, and homes. May we trust in Him to truly heal our land.
(Editor's Note: Look for the final installment of this series tomorrow)
