[Updated and reformatted 9/16]

America’s founders were wise God fearing men who laid their lives on the line to give us a Constitution designed to provide for the most fair and balanced government ever conceived by men. We have enjoyed the bountiful blessings of God, not because America was envisioned as some sort of heavenly kingdom on earth, but because our nation was built on a Judeo/Christian moral foundation. However, our founding fathers also understood that the republic for which they had risked everything to create, was, as John Adams said, “made only for a moral and religious people.”

We are thankful that successive generations of Americans answered the call to defend the Constitution and protect the blessings of liberty. Millions of patriots have gone off to war with the hope that the freedoms they held dear would still be available for future generations. Unfortunately, recent events have caused many Americans, (as well as some of our allies around the world), to conclude that this nation, once so strong and pleasant to behold, has become sickly, and may even be in the throes of death.

Nikita Khrushchev said, “We can’t expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have communism.” Khrushchev went on to predict, “We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within.”

Khrushchev understood that religion and morality were antithetical to the goals of communism. In 1959 he began the wholesale persecution of Christians by initiating a religious registration/identification system. Under Khrushchev’s administration, thousands of pastors were imprisoned and nearly 2/3 of the churches in the Soviet Union were closed. Khrushchev knew America would be ready to succumb to communism when it abandoned the Judeo-Christian ethic in favor of arbitrary and relativistic notions of the “common good”.

Long before Khrushchev laid out the blueprint for America’s demise, our nation’s founders also warned us that America would crumble from within when liberty, secured by the blood of patriots and held in check by a moral and religious people, could no longer be sustained because a majority placed higher value on personal safety and security.

President Biden rolled out his proposal for a Federal vaccine mandate earlier this week with a promise to begin persecuting over 100 million of his own citizens. Biden spoke on camera before all of America and said, “This is not about freedom or personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you.”

As soon as those words left the teleprompter and found their way into Biden’s mouth, many of us, (at least those who stayed awake during 8th grade history class), remembered Benjamin Franklin’s sobering assessment of human nature. Franklin warned his fellow citizens that, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

While Franklin was dedicated to a life in pursuit of technology and science, he esteemed liberty to be the most noble of all the virtues. I wonder how Franklin would have responded to Biden’s remarks, which disparaged the very essence of what he, and all the other founding fathers had risked their own lives to secure?

For my Christian readers, there are a couple of things to keep in mind about how to be faithful to our Lord and Savior as we enter this darkening period of American history. ( For those of you who don’t follow Christ, you may want to take notes!) 

The first thing to remember is that Jesus came to divide! Jesus did NOT come so that “everyone could just get along”. He did not come to build a great society where sinful human beings learned to tolerate each other’s differences. No, far from it! Jesus came to earth to cause division among men, a fact made plain by everything he said and did.

While Jesus taught that there should be unity among the brethren, he also warned against the leaven of the world. Not only did Jesus tell his disciples that he came into the world to bring division, but he promised to return to deliver his people and cast final judgement on the ungodly. Jesus told them that he would “set the world on fire“, and actually wished that the fire was “already kindled”. [Luke 12:49-56]

But Jesus also said that there was much work to be done before God’s Kingdom would be ushered in. He commanded his followers, “Go out and make disciples of (or “among”) all the nations.”  Today we can say that the gospel has been preached to just about every nation on earth. Faithful men and women have toiled for centuries to spread the gospel message, but many were met with hatred and aggression from this hostile world. Jesus knew that only true believers would commit to furthering the gospel knowing that doing so would likely lead to persecution.  [Mt 10:22, 19:29, 24:9,  Mk 13:13, Lk 21:12, 21:17, Jn 15:21, Rev 2:3]

Yet our job, as Christ’s followers, is exactly the same today as it was when Jesus walked among his disciples. We are NOT to seek unity with, nor  approval from, those who are perishing.  We are to be as a light shining in the darkness. We are to continue to build up the body of the faithful. Do not despair because those who love darkness do not want to hear what we have to say or see the light of truth. Do not despair because darkness is creeping over the whole world. Neither fear those who, while they may be able to harm our flesh, have no power over our soul.

The time is quickly approaching when our Lord will return to this earth to divide the wheat from the chaff and the goats from the sheep. Have you produced any fruit in your life, or just thorns? In other words, will you be ready to receive the Lord of the Harvest when he comes?

All ye people, choose this day whom you will serve. As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.