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Looking at our
list of newsletter subscribers, I see a lot of nationalities
represented. We currently have subscribers in 21 different
countries across the globe. Five different continents are
on the receiving end of our newsletters. We are grateful
for each and every one of you that have become partners in
this ministry. At the risk of excluding many of you, I
would like to address an important event that is rapidly
approaching – the November elections in the United States.
The United States
is a nation founded on Christian beliefs and principles.
Some would have you believe otherwise, but mentions of
Almighty God were ubiquitous in the writings of our founding
fathers. Today, Christianity is under attack as never
before, and even in the U.S. Christians are being
marginalized. There is a huge insurgency of humanism,
paganism, and New Age thought that fights expressions of our
Christian faith at every turn. However, our national motto
remains, “In God We Trust,” and our Pledge of
Allegiance still recognizes that we are “One Nation Under
God.”
It seems that not
a day goes by that I don’t read of a new attack on our
faith. Creationism can no longer be taught in our public
schools. Our school children, who have more to fear at
school than I ever did, are no longer allowed to pray in
class. Public displays of the Ten Commandments are the
objects of many lawsuits. Atheist Michael Newdow, the man
who sued to have the words “under God” removed from our
Pledge of Allegiance, has also sued to abolish chaplains in
congress, and sued President Bush because his inaugural
prayer was uttered “In Jesus’ Name.”
The list goes on
and on, and distresses even those of the strongest faith and
most resilient optimism. While our faith is being forced
out of the public arena, there are other troubles on the
rise. The birth rate among unwed mothers is the highest it
has ever been. Abortion is being championed as the cure,
while abstinence programs are being attacked as some sort of
religious scourge. Our public schools are teaching
elementary school children that homosexuality is an
acceptable and normal lifestyle, in direct opposition to
biblical doctrine. Sex and violence, already pandemic on
television and in movies, is becoming mainstream among our
youth.
General Douglas
MacArthur once said, “History fails to record a single
precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not
passed into political and economic decline.” I’m afraid
that is happening to our country today. Rampant immorality
is shaking our Christian heritage, and our culture is
slipping into a chaotic, frenzied godlessness. President
Abraham Lincoln saw this trend beginning even in the 19th
century when he wrote, “But we have forgotten God. We
have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in
peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and
we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts,
that all these blessings were produced by some superior
wisdom and virtue of our own.”
We Christians are
not powerless to stop – or at least slow, this decline. We
have two powerful tools at our disposal – prayer, and the
ballot box. We should remember daily to prayer for our
nation and our leaders. And in a few weeks, we must speak
loudly through our votes. Christians can no longer sit on
the political sidelines if we want our country to be
blessed. Every Christian of voting age should be registered
to vote. If you are not yet registered, make time to do
so. And when the general election rolls around on November
5th, make it a point to get to your polling
precinct and cast your votes. If we relegate voting and
political involvement to others, then our lawmakers will be
elected by the very people who want to silence your faith!
The second
President of the United States, John Adams, had a vision of
the society in which he wanted to live. On February 22,
1756 – fully twenty years before our independence, Adams
wrote in his diary, “Suppose a nation in some distant
region should take the Bible for their only law book, and
every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts
there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in
conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to
justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and
to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God....What a
Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
What a utopia
indeed! While it may be unreasonable to expect that
Christians can usher in this utopia on November 5th,
we CAN determine the type of people that will be leading our
nation for the next few years. We can only do this though,
if we vote! I will not presume to tell you what
candidates you should support. That’s a decision each of us
will have to make on our own. You should think about the
kind of people you want representing you, though. Do you
want a leader who supports or opposes abortion on demand?
Do you want a leader who supports or opposes the right of a
minor to obtain an abortion without parental notification?
Do you want a leader who supports or opposes faith-based
initiatives, taxpayer-funded benefits to homosexual
partners, prayer in schools, school vouchers, evolution-only
education, etc.? You have the chance to select a lawmaker
that will reflect your beliefs – don’t forsake this
opportunity!
The utopia
envisioned by John Adams seems so distant. Two hundred
years ago, it seemed much more possible. We may never be
able to reclaim the moral ground our nation has lost, but we
can be a part in moving our country back in that general
direction. Please, get out the vote! And never forsake
your country in your daily prayers. May God bless all of
you, as you contend for your faith!
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