“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup

Monday, January 30, 2017

WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT?

In 1831, a highly respected French judge named Alex de Tocqueville, was sent by France to America to find out why there was so little crime at that time.  He studied American society, its beliefs and its prisons. In 1840, M. Tocqueville wrote a book entitled Democracy in America. 

The eminent judge wrote his conclusion about why America was great:

"I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests -- and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system and her institutions of higher learning -- and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution -- and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flaming with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

President Andrew Jackson was of a similar view. He believed America's greatness lay in its Christian faith. As he was laying on his deathbed, President Jackson pointed to a Bible on his night-table and told a friend, "That Book, Sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests."[1] 

Abraham Lincoln said this about the Bible:


“In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it." [2]

One laments that 177 years after Alex de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America, America's crime rate is not low. It is high. People stay barricaded in their houses each night behind the bolted doors and security systems. America's prisons are stuffed full. Could it be because God has been shut out of daily life, public schools and universities? Is it possible that the decline of America has something to do with the fact that the Bible is unwelcome in public discourse an many centers of power and influence, or that the press is openly hostile to Christians and their Holy Book? 

The biggest threat to America is not from outside her borders but from decay within. Fifty-nine million of the America's children have been systematically destroyed by abortion. Where is the future in that?Medically assisting in the suicides of the nation's sick and disabled who have despaired of life is creeping across the landscape. Marriage have been redefined by the highest court in the nation. Murder in some cities are at crisis levels. I fear the spiritual and moral decay is advanced, and American civilization may be at the edge of the abyss of extinction. 

And yet, I do not believe it is too late. God is calling America back to Him and to embrace again a Judeo-Christian moral consensus and the sanctity of life and marriage.

There is change in the air.  A new Administration has been elected filled with devout Christians who want to make America great again. How will that be done? America's greatness does not lie in its enormous economic success or its military prowess -- as important as those things are -- it lies in returning to her Christian foundations with a national Christian revival and a spiritual change and renewal the hearts of her people. 

Fill America's churches where the pulpits flame with Biblical righteousness and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  A national chorus will rise again to the heavens -- Glory Hallelujah!




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Footnotes

[1] Dag Heward-Mills, BASIC THEOLOGY,  (Xulon Press, 2011) p.29. (https://books.google.ca/books?id=_1bduk2_UsMC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=Andrew+Jackson+%22That+Book,+Sir,+is+the+rock+on+which+our+Republic+rests%22&source=bl&ots=SIjdjGxfgI&sig=xsMlTtbC3ZgbTG63zOCopdyKzfE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJzo7Pw-vRAhVE6YMKHZi0DMIQ6AEIPzAI#v=onepage&q=Andrew%20Jackson%20%22That%20Book%2C%20Sir%2C%20is%20the%20rock%20on%20which%20our%20Republic%20rests%22&f=false)

[2] Heward-Mills, p.29.

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