Has Judgment Come to America?

In discussing the status of America recently, a friend challenged me with a statement: “A question pierces the conscience, whereas an accusation hardens the heart.” It seems that the status of America raises many questions, as well as many accusations. For purpose of this discussion, however, the accusations come from Scripture.

“Why hasn’t God judged America?” is a question that has most often been asked whenever conversations turn to Biblical prophecy. Perhaps, however, the more appropriate question is, “Has judgment come to America?”

A close look at Paul’s Epistle to the Romans reveals a truth many Americans do not want to acknowledge. Romans 1:18 begins the story:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all un-righteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

The point crystallizes in Romans 1:21, 22:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

Paul then goes on to describe the judgment of homosexuality that falls upon a people who worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. Following a dismal listing of human degradations, he concludes in Romans 1:32:

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Despite the efforts of multitudes of citizens and organizations to stem the tide, laws, official policies, and America’s public education system have moved forward to “have pleasure in them….”

In April 2008, a booklet entitled, Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel was sent to the 16,000 school districts across America.

In a press release that preceded the distribution of the booklet, the following organizations were listed as endorsing, and participating in, the preparation of the information contained within the booklet:

• American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Association of School Administrators

• American Counseling Association

• American Federation of Teachers

• American Psychological Association

• American School Counselor Association

• American School Health Association

• Interfaith Alliance Foundation

• National Association of School Psychologists

• National Association of Secondary School Principals

• National Association of Social Workers

• National Education Association

• School Social Work Association of America

The purpose of the booklet is contained in its introduction:

The reason for publishing this booklet now is to provide you, as principals, educators, and school personnel, with accurate information that will help you respond to a recent upsurge in promotion of efforts to change sexual orientation through therapy and religious ministries. This upsurge has been coupled with a demand that these perspectives on homosexuality be given equal time in schools.

Sexual orientation conversion therapy refers to counseling and psychotherapy to attempt to eliminate individuals’ sexual desires for members of their own sex. Ex-gay ministry refers to the religious groups that use religion to attempt to eliminate those desires. Typically, sexual orientation conversion therapy is promoted by providers who have close ties to religious institutions and organizations. Some religion-based organizations such as Focus on the Family have invested significant resources in the promotion of sexual orientation conversion therapy and ex-gay ministries to educators and young people in conferences, in advertising, and in the media.

This booklet provides information from physicians, counselors, social workers, psychologists, legal experts, and educators who are knowledgeable about the development of sexual orientation in youth and the issues raised by sexual orientation conversion therapy and ex-gay ministry. We hope that you and others who care about and work with youth will review the factual and scientific information provided here and weigh it carefully in responding to controversies about sexual orientation when they arise in your school.

Every organized effort to reach out to help the youth overcome the degrading indoctrination of the public education system has been met with a concerted effort to demonize or minimize the endeavors.

It matters not to these organizations that proponents of the homosexual agenda in America have lied from the beginning regarding the percentage of participating population—stated at 10% for over two decades. The truth was inadvertently but blatantly exposed in a Friend of the Court brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas (the case in which homosexuals in Texas were trying to have the state law against sodomy declared unconstitutional by the Court).

In footnote 42 on page 16 of the legal brief, 32 homosexual and pro-homosexual groups admitted the following:

The most widely accepted study of sexual practices in the United States is the National Health and Social Survey (NHSLS). The NHSLS found that 2.8% of the male, and 1.4% of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

The booklet was not distributed to school districts to help our children because its proponents believed an overwhelming number of school children are classified as homosexual. It was a determined effort to recruit our children into accepting as “normal” the behavior that is Biblically described in Romans 1.

In America, it is no longer “acceptable” to find that behavior “unacceptable.” Not only was it reported in the 2000 Census that same-sex couples were living in 99% of U.S. counties, communities were beginning to “compete” for “most tolerant” status.

Ronald Inglehart’s “World Values Survey” found that tolerance in general, and tolerance toward gays and lesbians in particular, is associated with the shift to “a more modern, more democratic, and more affluent ‘post-materialist’ political culture.”

“Soul of the Community,” a study conducted by the Gallup Organization, found that more open and tolerant attitudes toward LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people was one of two key factors, along with natural beauty and environmental quality, that corresponded with higher levels of satisfaction with, and emotional attachment to, a community.

A cross-national study conducted by Marcus Noland of the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that tolerant attitudes in general correlated with more open attitudes toward globalization as well as with higher rates of economic performance.

In summary, it is the consensus of progressive surveyors that a visible LGBT community is the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,” that signals openness to new ideas, new business models, and diverse and different thinking kinds of people—characteristics of “a local ecosystem that can attract cutting-edge entrepreneurs and mobilize new companies.”

As Justin Darr wrote in 2005 (and it is more applicable today):

…when reality strikes you in the face and the preponderance of evidence is undeniable, the truth is the truth no matter how insane or impossible it may sound. The facts in America today are that the homosexuals have been elevated to be America’s Super Citizen, above the law to the point where their psychological need for acceptance trounces even the most basic Constitutional rights of others.

America has become a house—and a people—divided, and a house divided cannot stand—without a miracle.

Is it Too Late for America?

One Scripture still rings true and inspires hope in the hearts of many: 2 Chronicles 7:14. “If My people” has become a rallying cry synonymous with “We the People” from the preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America. Both of these phrases, however, came with a price—a hefty price. The question of “Is it too late for America?” can only be addressed after answering, “Are you willing to pay the price?”

In 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14, the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

• If my people; which are called by my name (Exodus 20:7, taking the Lord’s Name);

• Shall humble themselves (Deuteronomy 8:2, time in the wilderness to humble thyself before Him; 1 Peter 5:5, be clothed in humility for grace is given to the humble);

• And pray (Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus teaches how to pray);

• And seek my face (Matthew 6:33, seeking the kingdom of God, and His righteousness);

• And turn from their wicked ways; (Matthew 5, Jesus sets the bar);

• Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Each of us, called by His Name, is accountable to perform the actions of 2 Chronicles 7:14. It is a call, a reminder, from John’s First Epistle.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:15-16

This is not a time to give lip service to our faith walk. Now is the time to summon the courage to give the Holy Spirit permission to take inventory of our lives and reveal those things we need to know to truly turn from our wicked ways and seek His face in prayer for this country.

Are “We The People” Anymore?

There are four fundamental works upon which America was built: the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. America is known as a “Christian Nation” because it was founded as such a nation—with known Judeo-Christian understanding of Scripture.

James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and “Chief Architect of the Constitution,” wrote:

The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also, because what is here a right toward men, is a duty toward the Creator. It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of civil society. Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe….

Many voices are uniting with a call to return to America’s foundations as laid by the men known as the Founding Fathers. Some voices are reluctant prophets resembling Jonah as he told the people of Nineveh they had forty days until their demise. Some voices resemble the Maccabees, crying for revolt against Greek tyranny. And some voices still believe in the miracle of America’s founding and that God is not done with her yet.

However, this is the time to allow the question, “Has God judged America?” to pierce our collective conscience and set our feet to the path of 2 Chronicles 7:14. It is time to collectively acknowledge our Creator and put Him back in America!