America in Crisis

Some of our leaders have been shocked by the alleged White House scandals. But there is another problem that is far more serious. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania republican, said he was “as much appalled by the reaction of the public” as by the alleged scandal itself.

The President has been given his highest approval rating by the American people, in spite of the alleged scandal. This is what should disturb us, and even frighten us, most of all. That would not have been the response of Americans even ten or twenty years ago!

This alleged White House scandal is not just about the White House. It’s about America and Americans. It’s about all of us. It’s about you!

The American people’s response is a frightening portent of our nation’s future. If we fail to understand, that doesn’t make the bad news go away.

What does this radical change in America’s morals mean? And how is it going to affect you?

America’s Immoral Majority

That subtitle is the label given by The Observer of Britain, February 1, 1998. Often other people can view us more objectively than we can see ourselves. Ed Vulliamy had this to say (emphasis mine): “The more the White House and the public chastised the mass media, the more they delivered, detail upon detail. And the more they served up raunchy intrusions into the core of Clinton’s, and America’s, private life, so the tide began unbelievably to turn.

“The notion that Clinton might survive this deafening collision in America’s head between sex, God and power gained even more weight when his ratings rose to a record 68 percent on Friday night, within a few points of Ronald Reagan’s best score. Even more Americans, a staggering 79 percent, told the CNN/Time poll they thought America was being well governed, an all-time record….

“Most important, the deliverance of the President from scandal would unpeel a deep tolerance among Americans that is belied by Bible-bashing rhetoric and all-American stereotypes. It would be the victory of the saucy smile in the Country & Western joint over the severity of the preacher. For better or worse, a victory for what is practiced over what is preached….

“Bill Clinton’s pastor since 1980 has been Dr. Rex Horne at the Immanuel Southern Baptist Church…. Horne spoke candidly, if in code. ‘It’s not a unanimous kind of thing,’ he said of his flock’s relationship to the President. ‘But even his political opponents—who have been sowing the seeds of this scandal for years now—even they’re hoping it ain’t true. It’s humiliating; it affects all of us.’…

“‘I don’t think people around here are that concerned about the moral or spiritual side of all this…. The very worst thing,’ he says, ‘would be if all of this were true, and people didn’t care.’…

“Horne had better prepare for his worst-cast scenario, because America does not care.”

Mr. Clinton’s pastor said the “very worst thing would be if all of this were true, and people didn’t care.” Why the “very worst thing”? Because of what it means for the future of America.

What happens to nations when they reach a stage where they don’t care about private morals or character?

Our Constitution was structured only for a people with strong character. Our constitutional system will collapse without pure morals.

The Voice of the Forefathers

Here are a few quotes from men who wrote and built upon the Constitution. Our second President, John Adams, said, “Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.” James Madison said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not on the power of government…[but] upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

What a powerful and frightening statement. James Madison knew that “the whole future of American civilization” was at stake! And if we Americans fail to govern ourselves by the Ten Commandments, this country is going to collapse into anarchy! The same holds true for any country.

Mr. Madison gave us a wonderful definition of character and its importance. It’s also his prophecy for America.

Our Founding Fathers created the Constitution. It will be perilous if we ignore their deep understanding. The Constitution was established only for a people with strong morals. But we have degenerated terribly in this area. Without character our liberties must lead to deep division and anarchy. Only character can stop that natural flow of events.

What makes our forefathers’ statements so weighty is that they agree with God!

Abraham Lincoln stated, “Unless the great God who assisted [President Washington] shall be with me and aid me, I must fail. But if the same omniscient mind and Almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail…. Let us pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now.”

The Civil War almost destroyed America. Only the faith of Mr. Lincoln and the American people got us through that tragedy.

In 1954, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, “I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it.” Our forefathers knew that decaying morals meant a decaying nation!

Recently, Justice Stewart Potter said it was impossible to define character. But many of our forefathers knew character meant not committing adultery and not lying. They knew that character is keeping the Ten Commandments.

Here is a quote from the Associated Press: “Ann Martin, 18, a conservative college student from Lynchburg, Va., said the public’s attitude leads her to worry about the country. ‘When we have a leader who lies, what does it say about us?’ she said. ‘When we don’t care, what does that say about our ability to choose a leader?’” (Feb. 3, 1998).

This young lady has much wisdom. If the American people don’t even care, how can we choose a strong leader? And without strong moral leaders, nations fall—especially freedom-loving democracies. As she said, when we have this attitude, it’s time to “worry about the country.”

However, while many people can see the problem, almost nobody sees the solution.

The Family Breakdown

I grew up in a family with some serious problems. Many of us have been victims of dysfunctional families. President Clinton is no exception.

Here is what Newsweek magazine wrote on February 2, 1998: “Everyone in Clinton’s immediate family suffered from some kind of compulsive disorder or addiction. His biological father, William Blythe, who died before Bill was born, was a major Lothario [womanizer] and quite possibly a bigamist. (Some therapists say dopamine levels—linked to addictions, including sex—can be inherited.) His stepfather was an alcoholic. His brother, Roger, was a cocaine addict. And until her death, his beloved mother, Virginia, had a box seat at the Hot Springs racetrack” (Jonathan Alter, “Clinton on the Couch”).

Like many of us, Mr. Clinton grew up in a flawed family. And this problem is rapidly getting worse in America.

Here is what the same magazine reported about Monica Lewinsky: “At the heart of the story is a young woman’s craving for recognition and attention. Monica Lewinsky grew up pampered but possibly emotionally neglected in Beverly Hills, Calif. Her father was a cancer doctor with a busy practice; her mother was a socialite who loved to drop celebrity names. She lived in a million-dollar house; dad drove a Cadillac, mom drove a Mercedes; the housekeeper took Monica and her brother, Michael, to tennis lessons, Hebrew school and the orthodontist. When Monica was 15, her parents went through a nasty divorce. In court papers, mother charged father with ‘screaming obscenities’ and ‘belittling the children’ by, on ‘many occasions,’ saying ‘leave the dinner table,’ ‘go to your room,’ and ‘we don’t want your opinion.’ (Bernard Lewinsky denied the allegations.) Other court documents listing the family’s expenses included $760 a month for psychiatrists’ bills for the children. Last week Monica’s classmates at Beverly Hills High remembered her unkindly as a girl who had ‘gone to a fat farm’ and strived to be popular.”

Surely we can see that these were not strong families. There were some serious problems.

If our families are sick, they produce sick children! The solution lies in strong, moral-building families.

Let’s look at what our first two presidents believed about the family. “In short, the founders’ generation believed that men’s and women’s interests were complementary, and they saw marriage as the divinely ordained, naturally good way to organize life. George Washington had started his presidency by pointing out that public life must be grounded on private morality. His successor, John Adams, devoted husband of Abigail, was even more specific: the ‘foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.’ He went on to say that children learn the meaning of morality, religion, and respect for law from the habitual fidelity of their parents to one another” (Angelo Codevilla, The Character of Nations, p. 221, emphasis mine).

John Adams said the “foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.” That means the family must strongly teach its children not to lie and commit adultery!

If the families are not moral, how can the nation be moral? Our forefathers laid the foundationof a great nation. They built America with God’s blessings.

Today, we are destroying America and bringing God’s curses upon ourselves.

Does God Care?

America may not care about the morality of our leaders, but what does God think? Does He really care? The answer to that question is the most disturbing of all.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” (Jer. 23:20).

The expression “consider it perfectly” should read “understand it thoroughly.” That means these prophecies would be clearly understood in the latter days, or the end time in which we are living right now. That is because these prophecies are being fulfilled now. We see it happening all around!

How could this prophecy be any clearer?

God is full of anger. He is not neutral or unconcerned. This prophecy should strike fear in our hearts!

Here is why God is so angry. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah” (v. 14).

The leaders of the people commit adultery and walk in lies. The two sins go together. Many people who commit adultery also lie about it!

Christ said in the New Testament that if a man even looks upon a woman with lust, he has already committed adultery. Christ magnified the law. He did not do away with it, as many religions teach!

But where is it all leading? It is not only the leaders who are sinning. They are “as Sodom” and the “inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” Our leaders lead the people into the most disgusting sexual sins of all. It is the grossest kind of immorality.

That is the way lust works. A person starts with one lust. It soon fails to stimulate his evil desire. Then he twists his mind to a more disgusting lust—until we have reached Sodom and Gomorrah!

It is only logical that the “inhabitants” of a Sodom-and-Gomorrah society would not expect their leaders to have exemplary marriages and families!

God thunders that our Sodom-and-Gomorrah society condemnsallof us! Our nations have rebelled against our Creator, the living God. The depth of our sins is staggering.

America spends over $4 billion annually on pornography. That is more than we spend on professional baseball! So this is not just ghetto pornography. This cesspool material is being consumed by mainstream America.

Only a fool could fail to see how pornography rips families apart! America leads the world in producing pornography—and divorces.

Of course pornography is only one problem which helps to destroy our families. Our peoples have “sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 8:7).

If we don’t stop the process, our nations become like Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). Then God has to destroy us as He did them! “Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked” (Jer. 23:19). God is going to send a grievous whirlwind—the Great Tribulation. That is going to be the worst time of suffering ever (Dan. 12:1).

God is addressing Israel (Jer. 23:2). That is primarily America and Britain today. (Write for our free booklet, The United States and Britain in Prophecy.)

Disrespect for Leaders

Here is a quote from the February 3, 1998, New York Times (emphasis mine): “In Norman, Okla., David L. Boren, the former United States Senator who is now president of the University of Oklahoma, said that when he asked his freshman American Government class about the scandal, almost all the students said they believed President Clinton was lying, and they tended to respond: ‘All politicians are crooks, very few of them tell the truth, few of them are faithful to their spouses, so why not have one who’s smart and knows how to get things done?’ he said. ‘That’s almost an exact quote. The attitude is, we really don’t respect him, but what do you expect from a politician?’

“‘To me it’s deeply disturbing,’ he went on, recalling the awe he felt when he saw his first President, Harry Truman.

“‘In times of crisis, times of hardship,’ Mr. Boren said, ‘a level of trust between the American people and their Government, particularly their leader, is an essential element of what’s needed in the country. We have passed from anger about what’s going on in our political system to cynicism and alienation. And to me, cynicism and alienation are more frightening than anger.’”

These students believe the President committed adultery and lied—and it makes no difference to them!

Mr. Boren finds this deeply disturbing. And so do I. But more importantly, so does God! As Mr. Boren said, “In times of crisis, times of hardship,” you must have a deeper trust and character to survive.

And those times of crisis are fast approaching. Do we grasp how fast our morals are declining?

“But instead of hothouse, the atmosphere surrounding the scandal might be described as funhouse, with the country awash in lewd jokes, aided by the presidential material that has become the mainstay of late-night television shows. The bawdy show is illustrative in itself. Jay Leno, host of ‘The Tonight Show,’ said he now tells jokes he could not possibly have told on the air just ten years ago” (ibid.).

We are witnessing greatly accelerated degeneration in character. Many in America are laughing at the scandals. But God isn’t laughing!

Almost nobody understands why our ancestors—biblical Israel—fell as a nation. The book of Judges is a part of the Former Prophets. That means it contains prophecy for today. History does indeed repeat itself. Here is why they fell. “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Every man did what he thought was right. That means the people didn’t trust their press, their politicians, or their religious leaders. The big question is, why? The answer is in today’s headlines and all around us! The people were deeply degenerate and cared only for themselves. That led to their downfall. The leaders couldn’t call upon the people to make deep sacrifices in desperate times. The people didn’t trust the leaders.

God had it written in a book so we could learn from and avoid the same mistakes. It’s God’s loving concern. But it’s of no help if we don’t heed!

Any good history book would teach us that we are headed for disaster.

The Law

Douglas Cox worked in the Office of Legal Counsel for Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Here is what he stated in the Wall Street Journal,February 2 (emphasis mine): “Some may argue that perjury prosecutions arising out of civil cases are comparatively rare, as indeed they are. But the entire justice system is predicated on the theory that witnesses will tell the truth. Permitting a culture of lying to take root in the justice system would ultimately destroy the system.”

He believes a lying culture would ultimately destroy our justice system! (Or has it already?) That means the nation would collapse into anarchy or worse.

Our leaders, both secular and religious, should be the chief examples and enforcers of the law. That is what unifies the nation. If our leaders are examples in breaking the law, our system of justice must certainly fall apart.

Can we afford not to care about adultery and lying in America? If Americans don’t care, how much longer can we stand?

If we truly believe in God, we had better act like it! Otherwise our sins are going to end in the worst possible catastrophe!

And that is going to happen whether we believe God or not!

Deceived Ministers

Who does God blame most of all for our sins? The religious leaders most of all. “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 3:1). The word “masters” refers to the ministers. They are going to be condemned more severely. They are supposed to represent God.

What did James teach about the Ten Commandments? “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8). He called it the royal law.

What if we break only one of those Ten Commandments? “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty“(vv. 10-12).

We are all going to be judged by the law of liberty. It is not a law of bondage, as many religious leaders teach! These deceived leaders often teach that the law has been done away. Even our forefathers, who were not ministers, knew better! These ministers are going to be condemned more strictly than other people, because of the office they hold.

If we don’t keep the law, we are without works. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (vv. 14-16). It is a law of love (I John 5:3). We must protect our neighbor, not prey on his wife or property!

James is condemning dead faith. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (vv. 19-20). So what if we believe there is a God. Even the demons do that! That is faith without works. We must keep God’s law—the Ten Commandments—to have faith with works.

That is the only kind of faith that will save the United States from national collapse. And there isn’t much time to learn that foundational lesson.