Signs of the Times

By CP Guest Contributor, Monday, August 30, 2010

Watching the news in the last few months has been a real eye-opener for me. Violent rioting in Greece over cutbacks in government spending for welfare programs, retirement freezes and too much national debt is shutting down the country's ability to have any semblance of normality. The same thing is happening in other countries like, but not limited to: Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, France, and Great Britain. But what raises the flag of concern most in my mind is that it is now becoming commonplace right here in the United States, especially in the West.

A spirit of rage and lawlessness against authority figures is on the rise. There is no hesitation to attack police officers or burn their cars. Is this lawless spirit on the verge of burning out of control? People are being driven by forces they don't understand. The hook is greed, and the bait is a false sense of entitlement. Entitlement of the good life, entitlement to do or take whatever makes the old flesh feel good without anybody getting in my way fuels that fire.

Why is this happening? I think there are several factors that bear looking at. Many of our young people finish high school and go on to attend colleges and universities across our nation where they are being taught by professors who have risen out of the rebellion of the sixties and seventies, radical professors who espouse Socialist, Marxist, and Communist philosophies. They teach our young, idealistic, and impressionable young people how wonderful those philosophies are. Young people raised in Christian homes go off to be educated and come home agnostics, atheists, and reactionaries. Labor unions pour millions of dollars into the political campaigns of the new "Progressives" to help promote more of the same. And then, there is the push for a multicultural society. Multiculturalism has been tried in other countries and has proved to do nothing more than splinter those countries and cause upheaval and violence.

What has happened to the great American melting pot? We all used to share the same culture here. It didn't matter what your ethnic background was or when you came here. You were an American. Our culture is what made America a land of opportunity for everyone. People who emigrated here from other countries came here because their cultures failed to provide them with the opportunities America's culture provides. Now our multicultural society is exploding with demands we adjust to those other failed cultures and give up our own.

Compared to many other countries, the United States has lived in relative peace and order. I believe that is due to the fact we have historically been a land of law and order tied to a uniquely Christian heritage. But with God being pushed out of our schools, our workplaces, our courtrooms and our government, something important has changed. It's as if a door to hell has been opened and we may never be able to shut it again unless …

Is there anything we can do to stop this madness? Only if we count the cost and are willing to pay it. We must begin to confront the lies that are being passed off as tolerance and compassion. We can do it by speaking the truth every time we are told a lie. We can make sure our voice is heard by being involved in our children's schools, writing letters to the editor of local newspapers, attending county and city commission meetings, letting our state and federal representatives know that we are watching what's going on and will work either for them or against them. Their choice. Will people get upset with us? I can almost promise you they will. Is it worth going through some unpleasantness? Yes, most assuredly.

It is because Christians have dropped out of involvement with our society and culture that things have gotten to the place we now find ourselves. Will we stand up? Will we exercise our faith? Are we willing to contend for the faith (Jude 3)? Will we stand in the gap for America? Are we willing to pay the price?

"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Ezekiel 22:30 (KJV)