“Wherever God Rules over the human heart as King, there is the Kingdom of God Established.”
-Paul W. Harrison-
Historians and anthropologist will all agree, that America is responsible for three of the biggest ideas in modern history. These ideas are God, Nation and Self. In the early formation of our Republic, the larger segment of Americans were united in living and defining the meaning of life through a united understanding of God and His glory. This concept came about as the founding Fathers and many of the main-line denominations in America, somehow saw America the same way that the Hebrew nation saw Israel, as the promise land. Brothers and Sisters, we may have seen the last of this reality if current trends continue to exist.
During the advent of the nineteenth-century, Americans slowly substituted the United States as a nation-its democratic values, expansion, and the addiction of capitalism-for God and His Kingdom. She became imperialistic in her efforts to make the world a better place through the value and power she amassed as the “Greatest Nation on Earth.” It is here that many scholars agree that America went from a God-Fearing nation to that of a secular nation, thus elevating democracy and civil law over the Holy Bible and nationalism over the Kingdom of God. This growing trend was the imputed breeding ground for the evolution of the “self-made Individuals.” The results?
Now more than ever, is there an increase in relational human pathology such as sociopath, psychopath and narcissism that is literally, destroying healthy and thriving interpersonal relationships between human-beings and our greater culture. This deeply concerns me greatly! Andrew Delbanco in his classic work, The Real American Dream: A Meditation On Hope contends that in the later twentieth century, “something died,” he wrote, namely “any conception of a common destiny worth tears, sacrifice, and maybe even death.” Instant gratification was installed “as the hallmark of the good life.” Both devotion to God and anything like American patriotism are now laughed at. The present generation does not feel much guilt because there is the absent of “feelings”…equally, there exists nothing in the world that transcends himself/herself.
From 2007 to 2012, America has seen a vast increase in a new sub-group called the “Nones. The “Nones” are Americans who do not identify with any religious community. One-fifth of U.S. public and a third adults were under the age of 30 and religiously unaffiliated. Their growth is greater than the agnostic and atheist according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, 2007-July 2012.
The major reason for this growth of this group is generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of the older generation by newer ones. Scholars contend that there are four other major theories about the root cause of the rise of the unaffiliated.
[To read the entire article, see: http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/ ]
- Political Backlash
- Delays in Marriage
- Broad Social Disengagement
- Secularization
If this trend continues without spiritual reformation, America will become a nation living under not God, but secular morality. Secular morality is the aspect of philosophy that deals with morality outside of religious traditions. Modern examples include humanism, freethinking, and most versions of consequentialism. In essence, each person will have the ability to decide what is moral and what is not!
Truth of the matter, God never promised that He had a vested interest in “Saving America.” God’s interest has always been redemption of the souls of all people of all nations worldwide. The revival within America must take place within the hearts of the souls of its people. For this is my hope, my prayer and focus until the very end of this present and evil age!
“The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing.” -A.W. Tozer
Grace and Peace
Alonzo E. Thornton
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