A young boy just emerging into adolescence smuggled weapons into his high school cafeteria. In a few terrifying moments, he sprayed his helpless classmates with bullets. Two young people died and dozens more were injured. Yet those students who escaped the bullets were not unscathed. They are now condemned to finish their high school years under an oppressive cloud of fear.
When the police searched the troubled young man’s home, they found the bodies of his mother and father. Before the bodies could be removed, bomb squads had to defuse numerous explosive devices that the teenager had built using instructions he downloaded from the Internet.
This tragic story is just one example of what is going on in communities across our country. Can anyone argue that we do not live in a culture of death? The threat of untimely demise reigns in every part of our society, from the moment of conception to the days of our retirement. How did this all get started?
By the 1970s, a new set of cultural priorities was emerging that valued personal freedom above all else. The type of freedom that had been established by our Founding Fathers—freedom that demanded patience, endurance, and self-sacrifice—was replaced by unrestrained license. This new type of liberty came into full bloom by January 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared abortion-on-demand legal in Roe v. Wade.
With few exceptions, abortions are a direct result of lust, greed, and selfishness—the same root as materialism. Abortions are fostered by the appetite for self-gratification, and in some cases rebellious lifestyles—making ourselves the center of our own universe. Since the Supreme Court’s infamous decision allowing the destruction of infants in the womb, almost forty million babies have been murdered by their mothers. An entire generation of American children will not grow up in “the land of the free” because their parents were licensed to kill them.
In an exclusive interview, Robert Bork states that abortion coarsened American society and changed our attitudes toward life. He admits that at first many people, himself included, believed that a human embryo was “just sort of a blob of tissue.” The medical community has now proven that the unborn child is a unique individual from the moment of conception. Bork concludes that the persistence of abortion in society reveals that we have lost respect both for human life and for pleasing God.1
As Keith Fournier put it, by making ourselves the center of all things, we fall into the trap of “selfism.”2 It leads to an entirely new view of life in which life itself no longer carries inherent dignity. Neither children nor the elderly, nor any others have worth simply because they are alive.
Fyodor Dostoevsky in his great novel, Crime and Punishment: “If God is dead, everything is permitted.” In a society where nothing is ultimately wrong, including murdering unborn children, anything is possible. The acceptance and practice of abortion has brought about a hardness of heart and an insensitivity to murder. Personal “choice” has become a religion in America. It is valued above everything and every cost. For abortion supporters, God-ordained moral limits have no meaning; therefore, all choices are rightfully theirs to make. Consequently, the culture of death has expanded to include ever more bizarre and sickening practices.
This culture of death has resulted in a morbid obsession with murder and suicide. As movies, death-metal music, MTV, and TV shows glorify death and violence, Americans become further desensitized. For centuries, America was considered a model of individual liberty where each citizen was valued; yet, today, life in America is getting cheaper by the hour. Crime is no longer confined to the inner cities. Drug trafficking, robbery, murder, rape, and other violent crimes have moved into suburban and rural America as well.
Step by step, we have cheapened the value of human life. We have created the very horrors that now threaten our survival as a nation. Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey recently observed, “No generation in American history has ever been terrified by its own offspring—that is, until now.”12 How far we have strayed from the Bible’s promise that sons are a heritage from the Lord and children a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3). How far we have wandered from the great purpose and design for which God prepared this land!
Any number of government programs have tried to change our nation’s problems, but they are like putting a Band-Aid on cancer. On the surface, they may seem helpful, but they do not cure what is eating away underneath. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers the only antidote to the ills that plague our society:
For fear, He offers peace.
For worry, He offers confidence and assurance.
For hurt and rejection, He offers forgiveness and affirmation.
For emptiness, He offers meaning in life.
For worthlessness, He offers dignity and value.
For greed and selfishness, He offers a giving spirit with contentment.
For hatred and prejudice, He offers love and acceptance.
For bondage to habits, He offers deliverance and freedom.
For sickness, He offers healing.
For rebellion and stubbornness, He offers submission and servitude.
For self-sufficiency, He offers His power and wisdom to do all things.
For death, He offers eternal life.
How is this possible? Because Jesus Christ has all power over all things—including the bondage of sin. We can use the lessons of history to take the right steps toward healing and growth, or we can ignore the warning signs and incur God’s judgment. How much better off we will be if we heed the red-sky warnings!
Yet renewal is difficult. Despite the pain, we should rejoice when the Holy Spirit begins to convict us, exposing our sin. He wants to cleanse, restore, and make us into new persons with a hopeful future. He is the God of the second chance. This can happen when we confess, repent, and forsake our sin, and ask Him to come into our lives and help us. And the good part is that He provides the faith and power for us to do just that.
Imagine what would happen if we could change our country’s direction through the power of the Holy Spirit. Television would be used to build character as well as provide entertainment. A director could use today’s amazing special effects to improve on scenes like the crossing of the Red Sea, captured in the classic The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston. The Internet could be used to reach people all over the world for Christ and disciple them in their faith.
Our art would declare the glory of God and His unconditional love for us. We could proudly display it all over the world. We would not duplicate horrors like the Waco massacre. Our laws would once again uphold the sanctity of life. Our unborn babies would safely grow in the womb. Our disabled and elderly could rest in the security of knowing that their lives were protected as infinitely valuable to society.
Does that sound like an unreachable dream? It must not be. Our future is right over the horizon. Unless we act, the storms ahead cannot be avoided. Without doubt, we face that decision right now—to turn back to God or face judgment.
God does not leave us without answers to our moral problems. He wants us to return to Him so He can heal our land and we will accomplish the purposes for which He designed us. We all know that His Word provides standards for us as a people to live by. History also gives us numerous examples of what happens when nations make moral—and immoral—choices. In the next chapter, we will look back at other cultures and nations that faced the same moral choice as we do today. What decision did they make? And how did it affect their future?
By Bill Bright, Red Sky in the Morning
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