A battle for America is being waged in our public life in these crucial days. It is more obvious than ever that the spiritual war for the soul of the nation has reached a point of serious escalation. The outcome will likely affect our national life for decades to come.

We are facing an onslaught, as never before, against the beliefs and values of Christianity in America, so it is a serious matter what Christian people do at the ballot box. What kind of a nation does God really expect us to be? What is He calling us to do in these crucial days in the battle for America?

The Bible predicts: “... in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (II Timothy 3:1-4).

Assault on Our Heritage

America is under attack from the enemy of our souls. In the summer of 2002, the San Francisco Circuit Court declared that the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. In 2003, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was ousted from his position for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from that court. In 2004, the state of Massachusetts sanctioned the legitimacy of homosexual marriages.

America is out of control! It is a far cry from September 6, 1774, when the Continental Congress opened with the reading of Psalm 35 and three hours of prayer, as they met to discuss the fate of the 13 colonies that would become the United States of America. But based on the current attitude of secularists, most of the nation’s founding documents would be considered unconstitutional. The Declaration of Independence, in 1776, names God four times as a higher authority than the King of England. The very basis for the colonists to rebel and to establish their own independent nation was the authority of God Himself. The Articles of Confederation, in 1777, refer to God as the great Governor of the world. The Constitution itself, ratified in 1789, mentions God. It affirms the Deity of Jesus Christ. And it is signed “in the year of our Lord.” By modern definition, the Constitution would be unconstitutional!

The very structure of the United States is based on an awareness of the reality of the Person of God. The constitutions of all 50 states specifically mention God, and refer to God personally. The Liberty Bell is inscribed with a Bible verse, Leviticus 25:10, that says, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land.” Every president, from Washington to George W. Bush, was administered the oath of office on a Bible, on which he swore to faithfully execute the office, based on the authority of the Word of God.

The fourth stanza of the national anthem says, “And this be our motto: ‘In God Is Our Trust.’” Examine a dollar bill, and notice what it says. On the back of the bill, there is a pyramid with an eyeball, and a Latin phrase that says, “Annuit Coeptis”—that He has blessed us in all of our undertakings. It also says in the center, right above the denomination of the bill, “In God We Trust.” It is imprinted on the heart and soul of the nation of America.

In the Supreme Court building, there are 20 artistic representations of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Yet people are saying, “Get rid of the Ten Commandments. Throw them out of our public buildings and our public life.” But I would remind those people that the very Judeo-Christian heritage of America is the basis of law and order on which this nation was established in the first place. Yet secularists persist in their attempts to remove God from our public life while decrying the decline of morality in our nation. What did they expect?

Emblazoned over the seat of the Speaker of the House are the words, “In God We Trust.” It is in the Capitol building. It is there in our documents. It is there in our monuments. It is there in our public life. Yet some political candidates dare to say, “We do not need God, we do not need the Ten Commandments, we do not need the things of God, away with the Bible, away with religion.” This is to deny the very heritage of what America was founded on as a nation.

Attack on Our Values

The attack on America in these days not only involves an assault on our heritage, but an attack on our values as well. We are a nation that is rapidly becoming a secular society, all under the guise of freedom—freedom from religion, and freedom from God. But if we force religion out of our public life, we will find ourselves in a position where there is total freedom for every conceivable belief, except the Bible and the truth of Christianity.

The new tolerance that is so much a part of our culture today consists of an accommodation for every type of belief system except that of the Bible itself. When you become secularistic in your viewpoint and say, “There is no God,” you will then become relativistic in your belief system and say, “There is no truth.” Eventually, you will become so materialistic and so self-centered, that all there is is the pursuit of “my stuff.” We will become a culture that is more interested in what is going to benefit us financially, than what is going to be an expression of the character, quality and nature of life itself.

The secularists label anybody that disagrees with them an “intolerant bigot.” You certainly wouldn’t want to be that, would you? But neither would you want to be an open-minded idiot, who says, “Anything and everything goes.” For example, homosexuality is rampantly ruining the whole moral fiber of our nation. In a protest at a church in Madison, Wisconsin that took a biblical stand on the issue of homosexuality, a lesbian was videotaped shouting, “Bring back the lions!” In other words, “Throw these Christians to the lions. How dare they speak against this!”

Another demonstrator objected to pro-life signs that showed pictures of aborted babies. “How barbaric!” she screamed. “Showing this to the general public ought to be against the law!” It never occurred to her that the barbaric act of killing those children is what ought to be outlawed.

Dr. D. James Kennedy from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the pastor of the great Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, has made the observation that the attitude toward Christians today is a lot like the attitude of Europeans toward the Jews at the time of the Holocaust. The Jewish people and their beliefs were ridiculed. Then they were condemned, persecuted and ultimately killed.

One of the criticisms of Christianity is that Christians really don’t care about this world. Nothing could be further from the truth! Those who are the most heavenly-minded have ultimately done the most earthly good. Because of their belief in God, in the dignity of life, and in the certainty of the afterlife, it is Christians who have said, “We need to do everything we can to bring the qualities of heaven to earth.

Alienation of Our Schools

In some of the most important advice in all of the Bible, God tells us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). Religious education is vital to the understanding of young people, so that they might understand “Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? And what am I really trying to do?”

Back in 1983, The Humanist magazine ran an editorial that said that 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 face of humanism. The Humanist magazine, issue after issue, badgers Christianity and blasts it as destroying the mindset of America, when in reality it is humanism that is destroying the nation. Has all of this emphasis on humanism and secularism worked? A study by Rutgers University recently revealed that 75 percent of all college students admit they cheat on tests. More than half a million college freshmen require remedial courses, costing the U. S. taxpayers more than a billion dollars, because they are so poorly educated and are unprepared for college. The National Education Association is running a series of lessons dealing with how to respond to the crisis of terrorism, and what happened on 9/11, by promoting discussions of American intolerance. God is out of the public school and the Devil is in.

A school bus driver in New York City was fired recently because he gave a student on the bus a Bible. A student in Utah was told by his public school administrators, “If you bring your Bible to school, you’ve got to put a cover on it so it’s not obvious that it’s a Bible.” Christian students in Missouri were told they cannot pray over their meals in the lunchroom. God is out, but paganism is in! Meditation, Eastern mysticism, environmentalism, multi-culturalism, and anti-Americanism can be taught in the schools, but any mention of God is often treated as a violation of the law.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.” How you think will ultimately determine how you live and how you behave. It is not enough for a majority of Christian people in this nation to stand back and say, “Well, it’s just a public school. Well, it’s just politics as usual. It really doesn’t matter what we do.” The truth is, it does matter and it will make every difference in the days ahead. If you and I give up on this generation, we are giving up on every future generation to follow. What we do now will affect our children and grandchildren for generations to come.

Christians have never advocated compelling people to become believers. We love our freedom, and we love the freedom of choice to vote that we have in America. But I would challenge, in these crucial times, it does make a difference that we vote. It does make a difference how we vote. The battle for America has never been more challenging. We must do the right thing so that we can genuinely and honestly pray, “God bless America,” and expect that He will. by Ed Hindson

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Making Your Nation Great

I am sure that you are concerned about your nation. Many times you have probably asked, “How can our country be prosperous and strong?” That’s a worthwhile question.

Along with you, I am a patriot. I am concerned about the strength and prosperity of my country, and I know you are about yours. I, too, have asked many times what it is that makes a nation great.

In trying to answer this question, I have read a little history along the way. It seems to me that various eras have brought times of greatness to various nations. There was a time when the Holy Roman Empire was everything. There was a time when Britain ruled the waves and the world. France was once the envy of nations. And Spain, before the days of the Armada’s defeat, was irresistible. Israel—yes, Israel—was once the greatest nation on earth.

A great king once wrote on this subject, and what he said was most interesting. This king was, in his day, the richest and wisest ruler in the world. The rulers of other nations came to seek his advice because in their opinion he was the greatest.

Writing about what it is that produces national greatness, this king said, “Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34). This king was Solomon, and the nation was Israel in its most sublime era. Solomon said that righteousness makes a great nation but that sin destroys it. Israel itself in the Old Testament was a classic illustration of this truth. In fact, every nation that has ever existed also illustrates that righteousness produces national greatness and that sin ruins it all.

The lesson, of course, should be clear to us today. No nation can survive that is run by reprobates, disturbed by criminals, torn apart by lechery and infected by graft and dishonesty at every level. Conversely, national righteousness produces that inner strength that finally saves the day.

From the writings of Dave Breese