My family just returned from a delightful few days in
Northern Indiana giving thanks to God with our extended clan for all His good gifts.
It was a great time.
But “being in America” is always a lesson in culture, Christianity and the real world. I come back to godless Canada with this conclusion: the “great experiment” called the United States of America will only succeed as long as the dominant religion of that union becomes Christianity.
True Biblical Christianity results in a person whose life is changed to reflect that of the Creator. He seeks to always speak the truth; he remains sexually pure; he does not hold grudges against enemies; he gives up what is his in order to prosper his neighbour; he finds life in Jesus, not in stuff; he cares for the land he takes his living from as that which God has made and given him stewardship over; he seeks to be the servant of every fellow citizen; he prays for his leaders; he values integrity and reputation over money and houses; he lives to please God first.
When such a man lives in a free country, rules are few and peace is prevalent. When the majority of the populace lives this way (albeit imperfectly), the union is strong and there is a certain beauty in it.
When a free country loses sight of God – worse, acts like they know Him when they truly don’t – then nothing but societal rot awaits.
My own view is that America is in decline. I don’t write it as a “north-of-the-border-America-hater,” but as one who has deep roots in and owes much to the land of the free and the brave.
I suppose none of this is too profound, but it makes me want to pray for revival in America more than ever before! The only solution to every problem America faces is the conversion of millions. The only event that will stop the slaughter of the unborn; the rising murder rate; the litigation overload; the hording of wealth and overlook of the poor; the churches in name but not in reality; the obesity rate; the STD rate; the tax rate; the political nonsense; the lack of the fear of God... is not another hurricane. Nor is it seeker-friendly churches or emergent churches or Baptist churches or more books or bigger conferences or more Christian marketers or another Billy Graham or a Moral Majority. America needs Jesus Christ. O that God would raise up a second Whitefield from perhaps some other distant land to come to America and speak the unchanging gospel of repentance and faith!
I love America. But America will never last without God.
If Canada is so godless why not pray for it as well. Your comments seem more like "north-of-the-border-Canada-hater". Then again you can alway go here.
ReplyDeleteannonymous,
ReplyDeleteHmmm... sometimes I am dumbfounded at what people read in to things!
Of course I pray for Canada all the time! And if I wanted to renounce my citizenship, I could have done it years ago when I lived in California. I fly my Canadian flag with joy - not because it is the best country in the world, but because it is my country. My post is seeking to point out that the politics of America will fail if not based on a Christian majority.
Sorry about the renunciation link.
ReplyDeleteBut i do wonder about the reason you included the adjective godless your line back to godless Canada.
Are you making a comparison between Canada and the United States of America? Are you saying that the United States is godlier than Canada? Is this just your reaction to Bill C-38 (would you refrain from calling any country godless as long as it doesn't have a same-sex union legislation?)?
anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting back to me. No worries about the renunciation link!
I refer to Canada as "godless" for a number of reasons. The primary one is that we have ceased to acknowledge God as our Creator and Sustainer from the top of our government down. One only need walk the halls of Parliament or read early Canadian history to see that much of who we were as a nation began with a fundamental acknowledgement that the God of the Bible was real and the Supreme Being from whom all blessings flow.
I am not suggesting that every great leader or early citizen was a Christian. I am suggesting that there was woven into the fabric of our culture (both Protestant Ontario and Roman Catholic Quebec for examples) the idea that God exists and that He must be feared.
That fear of God has vacated the culture in general and the political arena in particular. Therefore, I think Canada is rightly called "godless" as my dictionary defines it: "not acknowledging a deity or divine law."
There is no question that Canada is a nation of people who "do what is right in their own eyes." Every poll and common experience prove this. Are there Christians in the midst of that majority? Absolutely! But what we need is what America needs - genuine, Spirit-wrought revival.