We Want Ameica Back.

Might be too late to remake it into what it was-I consider myself a missionary in a foreign & alien land, even though it's the nation of my birth.

God didn't promise us a "nation" but rather a Kingdom...He said we'd be strangers and foreigners and citizens of no continuing city.

 

Sadly this is so true regarding the condition of our country.

If devotions were returned to the classroom of today, we might find the kids praying (or chanting) to specifically named 'dieties', to the devil, or to themselves or their rock stars, and infrequently to the God of the Bible. We could not deny the free expressions of those of different beliefs, nor would it be proper to show discourtesy to the customs of their religions: yet, at the same time, our children would be conflicted to discern the difference in respecting other's rights of expression, and actually participating with the heart in their worship.

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Nostalgically:
I remember homeroom assembly (public school) before the other classes of the day: A student would read a poem, thoughtful saying, or the Scriptures (Psalms were a favorite.....not particularly instructive but encouraging and uplifting), and we'd pray in unison the "Lord's Prayer", pledge allegiance to the flag, and maybe sing a stanza of The Star Spangled Banner (National Anthem), or America the Beautiful, etc.. To this day I haven't figured out what was so offensive about reciting the "Lord's Prayer"...... except, perhaps, to our Father who might wish to see more sincerity and personalization instead of hearing the repetition. When I read it now, I don't see how it 'sets up' an establishment of religion or says anything that denies the different beliefs of those who are not Christians (except, perhaps, the humanist and atheist). It doesn't even end in "in Jesus name we pray". It well could be a Jewish prayer, except it comes from a portion of scriipture which Judaism doesn't recognize as valid. ..............Sigh!

 

Yeah lets take America back to the days of Bible reading in the public square and prayer in the schools. Lets take America back to the days of racial segregation, accepted and expected Antisemitism and the subjugation of women as second class citizens. Lets take America back to the come on everyone we can do it!


No, thanks you can have the "good ole days" they weren't really all that good. Chances are I would have walked out if such a song were to sung will I was in attendance.

 

JCH singer, Good post. You are right on. As the good preacher above has pointed out we have made a positive change here and there though.I just wish we could keep all of the good stuff and throw out the bad. you know ,eat the cherries and spit out the pits.:godisgood:

 

Children are allowed to pray in schools. Period.

Faculty and staff are the ones who aren't allowed to
lead prayer. And that is good, because what if your
daughter's math teacher was a satan worshipper?

And for the record, I don't WANT a public school making
my child pray. Prayer is something that should be taught at home
by me.

I'd be scared if the Public School System was making
my son pray because who knows what they are
making him pray to?

We want America Back, huh? Start in your home.
And before anyone starts shouting about the 10 Commandments
being taken down, I want you to ask yourself:
"Self, do I have the 10 Commandments
posted at home? Can I actually name all 10 of them
in order? If not, why am I so wrapped up in trying
to keep them up at schools and courthouses?"

 

It does not bother me so much about the condition of our country as it does about the condition of our churches. The church has lost a lost of its influence because it is programming its people rather than discipling them. For too long the church has become complacent, thinking it is not in a spiritual battle but rather has gone on thinking that programs in churches will get the people in and somehow make them spiritual.

Too many people in our churches and society do not want to hear the truth and pastors are afraid of losing their jobs. When the pastors of America stop being afraid and people are willing to hear the truth instead of adopting a make me feel good religion. Over and over I read about the condition of America but so often fail to read anything about the responsibnility of Christians in that.

When Christians expect the world to act like the world because they are the world and the church starts acting like the church then perhaps the world will begin to see the difference.

Too many denominations are in the self preservation mode rather than doing as scripture commands. Scripture declares that Christians are to die to self and not be pickled. When the church dies to self and gives itself away so that Christ might increase then the church will be made stronger. Too many Christians are afraid of the truth and declare when someone comes along and criticizes them that they are simply out to destroy something that is already good. Spurgeon mentions in one of his books that pastors must listen. If people do not listen they will not know more than they know now. Often the amount a person knows who listen little is very little simply because they are threatened by the truth. By not knowing the truth they are declaring that they like living in a fantasy world all their own.

 

This is my theory.

The declining or morality in America (and in other countries as well) is not a situation for which God will bring judgment on us. It is the judgment. We are already reaping the consequences--the natural consequences, BTW--of a generation's failure to pass along its scriptural roots to its children.

Lukewarm churches will not bring judgment from God. It is the judgment from God for ignoring the scriptures. Such ignorance has left us defenseless, defenseless against frontal attack and defenseless against infiltration by false confessors.

I'm convinced that what passes for today's evangelical Christianity cannot turn this around. Only an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on churches and individuals can bring revival.

 

Even when God's Holy Spirit is poured out on people if they do not have a heart of obedience little happens except a little spirituality which leads to a false theology of the immature and disobedient. The last time we had widespread revival is when many cults began. Cults begin when there is disobedience by the church to not make disciples.

Personal discipleship is what Jesus commanded his disciples to do. Very few pastores and churhces are doing it.

About ten years ago I asked a number of people in a church I had started pastoring, "What is salvation?" Not one ever answered by giving any temporal aspect to salvation. It was only the idea of going to heaven. Yet scripture does teach about the present tense aspect of salvation. If people do not know their Bible then what do they have to share? How can they share anything but ignorance if they do not know their Bible? A few years ago I had a couple come in and give a conference on how to witness to Mormons. They had been Mormons for several years and through studying the Bible became Christians. If someone knows their Bible they will see right through the Mormon nonsense. A few months ago we had some Mormons knock on our door and my daughter who was 15 at the time asked them several questions and saw right through their mixed up theology. Kids can see through their nonsense yet adults get sucked in. Some friends of mine who teach at some seminaries tell me that every year the Bible literacy rate is going down among incoming students.

 

Thanks for posting the lyrics jch-singer. I am sure I would enjoy the song. We all long for a time when America was more righteous than she is today.

Go2church, you have a point, we do tend to remember the good and forget the bad, there were problems in the ‘good ole days,’ but, are you denying the moral decay of our nation and indeed of western civilization as a whole over the last 50 years? You must be living under a rock.

Jerry Falwell’s death has led me down a memory lane the last few days. I remember when the Moral Majority began and the church I was a member of became very political. We were patriotic Americans concerned about our country and convinced we could make a difference. All that was good, but we (well I don’t want to condemn anyone else, but I know I did) took our eyes off the kingdom of God and worried more about the U S of A. We raised money for politicians, we circulated petitions, we wrote our congressmen, we registered people to vote, and in many cases we stopped reaching the lost. Like many of the so called Reverends on the political left we forsook the gospel of Christ and began to preach a gospel of social and political change. Remember what Jesus said to Pilate?

John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight” (red letter edition you know)

While there have been times when God moved through mighty works of floods and conquering armies normally he does not change the world this way. Instead he changes the world one heart at a time. Instead of asking what we need to do to save our country we need to be asking what we can do to save our neighbors. If enough of us did that the country would take care of itself.

 

I might be telling my age, but I was taught to read the Bible and pray in school by my teachers. The school and the Baptist church was on the same grounds, The folks from that church paid for the public school and gave the land. To teach in the county one had to be a christian of some type or might not get the job.

Had a Methodist pastor and his wife taught, a Free Methodist pastor taught, had two Presbyterian pastor as teachers and two Baptist pastor too amoung other folks.

Prayer was given at the start of each day and the child prayed if they wished if not another child would pray. If you didn't want to be in the room for prayer, that was ok. We had three Jewish kids and they were allowed to meet among themselves and 2 RCC kids and they did like wise.

Even our ball fields were paid for by local groups, our gym was the National Guard Amory.

But if you check our history, I don't think we can say take back our country, I don't think we ever had it. We did have a larger amount than we do today. Now it was hard on Thomas Payne, he had to be layed to rest in a cow field, due his anti-christian views, but look at Jefferson, Franklin.

Do to how much time teachers have to work with children and what so many teachers believe, I was much more into going to get a good education but most of all a good Christian education, my grand kids didn't see it the same way as I did.

 

I agree with your post to a degree. The op is named on the wrong premise. In order to take America back, it had at one point in time to be what God would have it to be. No, I do not want to go back to what you describe in the 50's. Neither do I want to go back to the mindset of the civil war and afterwards, neither do I want to go back to the Salem witch trials.

While are sins in America today are great, and need to be corrected, I dont want to go back to a time as above to exchange one evil for another. No, what we need is an America like God would have it to be, not like it was or is. We need an America as it has never been before.

As noted above in another post, it takes the Holy Spirit changing hearts. After a distinct majority of hearts are changed by Him, it should become quite clear that the first order of business is to dismantle the present two party system with all the greed, and self serving power, and replace them with leaders who are truly Godly and care for the American people. The Constitution is a great document, democrats and republicans are expendable.

 

As a matter of fact I am denying the moral decay over the last 50 years. The world, wherever that may be for you, has always been a bad, immoral place, Godless place. We just tend to think our decay is the worst decay ever known to the whole of humanity. It's not, there have been far worse cases of immorality throughout history and will continue to be until our Savior Jesus Christ returns. The challenge is not to make people moral, it is to see them become disciples and you don't do that by dream weaving about the good ole days that never really where, by claiming the USA is/was a Christian nation or voting for one party over the other. You do that as was mentioned previously one heart at a time, none of which is conveyed in that ridiculous song.

 

I thought liberals weren't allowed to spout their beliefs in the Fundy Forum. Looks like times have changed here, too.

Give me the good old days of the 1950s and early 1960s any time. We have progressed so far in the area of "human" rights, we are now regressing. Sad. :tear:

But, anyway, here's a link to a video some of you might enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--U2IA8tzcs

 

It's the work of the Holy Spirit which turns disobedient hearts into hearts which turn to God in true repentance and faith. True revival is poured out from above, not worked up from down here.

Granted, even during such an outpouring, there will be those who will not only not repent, but will hate both the message and the messenger.

The 3,000 conversions on the day of Pentecost was marked by two things: the outpouring of the HS and the preaching of the gospel.

A temporary spurt of religious fervor is not revival.

We cannot take back our country. Only God can change things.

 

I am not a liberal, but I do not want to take America back to the 50s...

It was that generation that felt that they needed to give their kids everything they didn't have, thus raising a generation of materialistic brats that turned the 60s into a sex feast! I blame the parents of the 50s that were so comfortable in their new found incomes that they forgot to pass along the scriptural roots that their kids needed, and we see the results in their kid's life...
Even churches back then didn't teach discipleship.. it was just a nice way to increase your status in the community... Church was a social club.
And if you wanted a good job.. you showed up at church to build your reputation..
Now we are left with weak churches, with weak Christians from that era because of the lack of mentoring, and Disciple making.

It is the parents of the 50s that ruined the following generation with materialism. Then that generation ruined the next.
That is why most in my generation, generation X, were not raised in church... Their fathers and mothers, the boomers, were raised to be materialistic.

Up until today.. now the 20-30somethings are realizing their kids need to be in church...

Now if we go back to the 50s, we will ruin our kids today.

No thank you...
Let's take America to where it has never been. Godly. And it was not Godly in the 50s.. it was materialistic.

 

Tim, My generation blamed the bad on the generation of the 1920, my brother on the generation of WWII, it is always another's fault.

As for the 50's go, I would enjoy part of going back. Kids worked to get their money, rules were made to follow. I finished HS in the 50's and down here most of the folks I knew were trying to get to middle class, own a home. I didn't have it like you say it was, but you could know more than I. You are correct that the 60's were something to see, but not as bad as today, in my book.

But I believe the problem is what are we doing with today, not another generation and it is me not you, if I do my part in my Christian life, my walk might help others and so on.

 

I guess each person's experience is different:
A child of the 50's, the oldest of 5 kids, all Navy brats to a career enlisted Dad, we were raised under the 'traditional' Mom is home with the kids. Unfortunately, Daddy was more of a stranger because he chose sea duty as it reduced his own expenses and he placed a priority on providing for his family, and expected Mother to follow his lead, whether he was present or not. We were poor but didn't know it: We were also rich in having each other and wholesome living. I don't remember much about church in early years until about the age of 6 or 7, when Dad was stationed in California, but prefered the country setting in NC of my mother's people for his family until he could return to the East Coast. Small country schools, country settings, close community.

I know slavery was wrong and would not defend it: However my Mother's people had a history of 'owning' slaves before the civil war but were treated well before and after, and their descendants were neighbors, playmates and friends and visited my grandparents frequently enough that I didn't know some things were segregated (i.e. drinking fountains, bathrooms, restuarants, schools) until I was some older and had more social awareness. Call it ignorance if you want to, but childhood innocence was sweet as I look back on the years of youth in the 50's and 60's.

But bussing and consolidation of schools broke up small communities. Wars were being fought out of fear without a true moral mandate, and our own people and government stopped supporting the men who in my generation were conscripted for service: 'Civil' disobediance became mixed with violence and criminal disobediance so that the message of causes got lost in the knee jerk reaction of many due to fear. Prayer and devotions were dismissed from the public schools: the length of skirts grew shorter while 'the pill' came on the scene to lessen the consequences of promiscious behavior. Mean while in our schools of higher learning, those students who believed in a moral code and/or in God found themselves picked on and ridiculed by humanistic instructors, atheist and agnostics. Meanwhile the church had begun accepting the attitude that Science and Scripture don't agree, so the conflict meant compartementalizing ones spiritual beliefs and faith from that of higher learning and education. False studies taught as truth, such as the sexual habits of America-Samoa, was heralded in high schools and colleges as the new social science while hoaxes were perpetuated in England and other areas to support the evolution of the cosmos and life from nothingness, negating the power of a Creator God who could speak things into existance............ Yes the church slept during these times, and my parent's generation slept, in the security of prosperity and the power of the atom bomb, putting an end to big wars, and then my generation went to Nam or protested against Nam, and got on drugs, 'the pill', and more educated in how much we could get away with (including cheating on tests and plagerism) and now have a generation to which we've given the 'gifts and privileges' of abortion on demand, legitmacy and welfare privileges to having children out of wedlock, rise in divorce rate, rise in pornography, no shame to protect the esteem of those who chose a different life style, a culture which expects kids to 'graduate' from the nest by h/s or college in an economy of starter jobs which barely pay enough for food and transportation, ....... then with our disappointments and impossible expectations, we judge them for having to live together to make ends meet....committment or not, households where both parents must work to provide for their family, public entertainment and media which is amoral and promotes hedonism.

Yes, if I could, I would go back to the 50's and early 60's if I could take my maturity with me to work to change the choices that were being made in those years in the churches, the schools and the community.

Forgive my whining and my rant!

 

The fact is, we can't go back and change history...

We have to deal with what we were handed...

And it is up to us in this generation to make sure that we each do everything we personally can to make this country more Godly...

Will America ever be perfect? No. It never was... even in the good ole days... Sin was still rampant... But we can work to make it better...

And remember that there will always be Godly sections of our nation as well as unGodly sections...

Let's just do OUR part to make it better.

(Oh, boy, now I am sounding like a politician!)

 

He can get us to the point of listening but it is our obedience which carries out his commands.

Hosea 6:3, "For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."