By Edwin Crayton/Opinion
In the classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life, the leading character a suicidal young man named George Bailey (excellently played by Jimmy Stewart) finds out what life would be like if he had never been born. An angel shows him what his quaint, small town would be like without him as a way of showing him the impact he has had on others. It’s quite powerful and insightful. He sees that his lovely hometown would have become a nightmarish city. It reminded me that our nation would face a similar fate if God begins to turn his face from the country and withholds his many blessings. Like a growing number of Christians today, I must confess that I am concerned that this is the road America is traveling on.
Unlike George Bailey, You do not need an angel to show you what is ahead for a post-Christian America. You only need a Bible and a newspaper or computer screen. It is an issue that will affect the whole nation. We will all suffer without God’s blessings and protection. The American Dream will become a thing of the past. That dream has often been described as a happy home with a mom, dad, two kids, good paying jobs, all provided by a loving, benevolent God. What will that family look like in the future if that God removes his provident hand because of our rejection of him? The Bible tells us that in the last days, the world will indeed reject God and will pay a great price for it. Take the children in our dream family for instance. The Bible says they will most likely be disobedient to their parents (2 Timothy 3:2), The parents may not be married which means they would be committing the sin of fornication .(1 Corinthians 6). Instead of church on Sundays, the family will jog or wash the car or do whatever pleases them. They will have no God, so they will become their own idol gods (Exodus 20:3). This will all anger God and he will leave the family to figure it out for themselves. The family will become dysfunctional. That’s when things will get sticky. Because they will have no God to guide them, they will have no godly values. They will have to rely on their own intelligence and that has never worked for humankind. That’s why our smartest humans have used their brainpower to create nuclear weapons that can destroy earth at the push of a button (Proverbs 3:5-6). They will not live by the Golden Rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you, because they will not have been taught that. Remember, they washed the car on Sundays instead of going to church. And that would mean that they would practice selfish behavior at least most of the time. They would not understand justice because our laws are primarily based on the Bible: (You shall not kill or steal,lie, etc.) Why obey rules thought up by a God you have rejected? In fact, why not change the laws to allow people to do whatever they want? If we did it for same sex couples, why not change laws for other sins (Leviticus 18:22). If stealing is made legal, who protects your possessions? This will affect everyone. In other words, if we can legalize one sin, what is to stop us from legalizing others? 10 years ago, weed was illegal all over the country. Now you can buy it openly like a loaf of bread. Remember, the colonists came to America to worship God freely. Our Constitution and major founding documents refer to God over and over. Do we also erase his name from all of them too? We can erase God’s name from documents and remove the 10 Commandments from the front of buildings, but we cannot remove God’s mighty contributions to America throughout history. We prayed to God to save the nation from the Great Depression, a time when millions went hungry daily and sadly, many took their lunch from trash cans. We prayed to him during the nation’s wars. Did he answer us when the nation prayed to prevail over the British in the Revolutionary War? Did he hear the anguished prayers of the slaves who prayed desperately for freedom? Did he hear the nation when Franklin Roosevelt prayed over a national broadcast that American soldiers would prevail against the vicious Nazis and the Japanese? If he didn’t hear us then why isn’t this Nazi America? Why isn’t this a British Colony still? Why are African Americans at least legally free? Do we really want to face the bullying Russians, the hostile Chinese or the merciless Muslim terrorists without sending up prayers to God for help? Does his track record of bailing us out of trouble speak for itself?
Although it is popular to portray Christians as narrow minded and repressive, history shows that many of the freedoms we cherish as Americans have their roots in the Judeo-Christian faith. For instance, God himself was freedom-loving enough to allow Adam and Eve to choose their destiny by giving them free will. They abused it by disobeying him, but he did allow them the freedom to decide. In fact, God’s gift of freewill is the first and greatest gift of liberty ever given. Jesus too said, he came to “set the captives free”. Indeed, he died so that every human being would have an opportunity to escape the wages of sin– death (Romans 6:23). . An America that abandons God will also lose this kind of freedom which really comes out of God’s love for people. Look at governments where the Christian religion does not exist or is banned. In those nations there is no freedom of religion, freedom of the press, or the right to protest. Russia shut down the media when they invaded Ukraine. China monitors their citizens tightly. It’s common in the Muslim world to deny freedom of religion. When we turn our backs on God, we will begin to lose our freedoms and if we should be conquered by one of these repressive, anti-Christian nations, I am sure you realize that what they are doing now to their own citizens, they will do to us.
On a day to day basis, a godless America will be a hard place to live for both believers and nonbelievers. For instance, do any of us really want to hire workers who have never heard of or been taught the values God invented: don’t steal, work hard, strive to be excellent in all you do (Exodus 20:15, Colossians 3:23). Or do we actually enjoy young sales people who talk on their mobile phones while we wait for service? Would you want to leave your husband or wife alone with someone who grew up in a nation where no one believes what the Bible teaches about adultery in Exodus 20:14? Yet, this is the world we are creating each day. Pretending there is no problem will not solve the problem. What’s the answer? The Bible provides it. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus said, each Christian is commissioned to spread the gospel and share the lessons he taught. In other words, the Bible is not to be treated as a secret, When you think about it, even Satan believes in evangelism. He spreads sin every time he can. In the Book of Job, God asked Satan where he had been and Satan said he had been “roaming through the earth.” In other words, he had been going over the entire world trying to spread his gospel of sin—trying to temp people. What dedication. That is why Jesus wants Christians to also go all over the world to help people recover from what Satan has done to them and to realize they still have an opportunity to reach heaven despite the devil’s cruel work against humanity. You see, the salvation of souls is so important to Jesus, he said he would not even return until the gospel has been shared with the whole world.
Of course we can continue to disobey this command and let things continue as they are: people becoming more and more self-centered, human suffering and sin increasing here and worldwide through, famine, epidemics, war rand rumors of war. Yes, that is what Scripture predicts. Truth is, we make it all happen with our indifference to God’s Holy Word, disobedience, lack of love for others as well as lack of interest in spiritual growth. Sure, the Bible says many will be doomed, but people will also be saved. This means you can help someone God puts in your path. The Bible doesn’t give a number denoting how many will be saved either, so there is no reason you and I cannot be used to; reach many lost people. There is hope in other words, It’s up to us.
We can continue try to erase all references to God from American life or watch it happen passively without speaking up or teaching our children and loved ones God’s ways. But the unintended consequence might be that God may also erase America.
There was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever was right to him. – Judges 21:25
I have stretched out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good. According to their own thoughts; A people who provoke me to anger. – Isaiah 65:2-3
