Decline in Decadence

America is under siege. Tens of millions of Americans seem ensnared by an evil mindset. The evidence is everywhere we look.

Crime, abortion, divorce, violence, suicide, drug addiction, alcohol­ism, teen pregnancy, lust, pornography, fornication, adultery, and sodomy run rampant.

Our airwaves carry sordid sex into the living room. We distribute condoms to our children in the public schools. Homosexuals parade half-naked down the streets of our nation's capital demanding special rights as a minority.

America is slaughtering tens of millions of its unborn babies in the womb and arresting those who try to peacefully stop the blood­shed.

We have expelled God from our schools. We cannot even place the Ten Commandments on the walls of our classrooms.

Powerful forces within our country want to make it illegal to mention the name of Jesus, carry Bibles, display religious pictures, or wear Christian emblems in schools and in the work­place. They argue that to do so creates an "offensive environment of harassment."

As a nation, we have spent our way into a $3 trillion national debt. It is still climbing at an alarming rate, threatening to bankrupt our nation in the next few years.

In many instances, our state and local governments are accused of linking arms with organized crime by legalizing lotteries and gaming houses. They are joining the ranks of the largest gambling operators in the world.

Selfishness has become a hall­mark of the people. Ameri­cans are growing more cynical and less compassionate. Their attitudes toward minorities, immigrants and the poor have hardened.

This sharp decline into decadence can be traced back to the day when secular humanism took control of our country. The level of America's sins would have even astounded ancient Rome before her own moral decay resulted in her self-destruction.

And where is the Church? For the most part, it is asleep. Polluted with the desires and materialism of the world, she knows little about spiritual discipline and living the Spirit-filled life. She is complacent and at ease, thinking she has every­thing and is in need of nothing.

This picture is a mirror image of the churches at Ephesus and Laodicea portrayed in Revela­tion 2:1-7; 3:14-20, to whom the Lord spoke these sobering words:

You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. --Revelation 2:4,5

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! so, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich;' I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. --Revelation 3:15-17

These pictures of America and the Church are but a few of the alarming snap­shots of our nation. As I thumb through the pages of our national album, I cannot help but feel a sting of shame. Our great and God-blessed nation has forsaken its once-solid foundation of biblical princi­ples. And much of the Church is spiritu­ally impo­tent--void of a vital, personal and intimate walk with God. Having fallen into the cult of the comfortable, the Church, for the most part, is no longer a power to be reck­oned with. It has largely lost the respect of the masses; it is often the object of ridicule; tragically, it has become the last place our nation would turn for help.

Surely our nation needs a visit from our great God in heaven. We need another Pentecost! We need revival!

By Bill Bright

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