WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMERICA? (Article)

WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMERICA? (Article)

Every day I run into people who are afraid, discouraged, and hopeless about the future of our nation. They seem to have one or more of the following three attitudes: REMINISCE, RESIGN, and RETREAT.

1. REMINISCE – Some say, “America’s best days are over. We are just like the Roman Empire in its final days. Just reminisce/remember the past. That is all that’s left.” There are several problems with this view. In some sense, we are like Rome – wealthiest nation, largest military, largest multi-ethnic population. We also seem to have the same problems that Rome did – immorality, breakdown of the family, weak borders. Nevertheless, when you truly compare America with Rome, there are more differences than similarities. Rome was founded upon myths and mythologies of gods and goddesses; America was founded upon Judeo-Christian values. Rome was highly unstable; America is still very stable politically and socially. Christianity in Rome had lost its momentum; Christianity in America is still alive and well. The list goes on.
2. RESIGN – Others say, “All government is evil and Christians should just wash their hands from it. Politics is just a waste of time.” Although this sounds spiritual, there are several problems with this view. If our Christian forefathers through the centuries had believed this way, infanticide and child abandonment would still be legal; gladiators would have continued to die in brutal battles-to-the-death; human sacrifices would have wiped out entire cultures; pedophilia would be perfectly legal; polygamy in the Western world would not be a problem; burning alive of widows in India would have continued; Slavery and slave trade would still be with us; and the list goes on. Jesus has not called us to abandon the market place but to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-4)
3. RETREAT – There are yet others who claim, “It’s the end of the world. Let’s just get ready for Jesus to come.” Let me be clear – I believe that Christ is coming again. The OT has 300 prophecies of the first coming of Christ but 500 about His Second Coming! If you add up all the verses on the Second Coming in the Bible, the total is about 2400! In the NT itself one out of every 25 verses has to do with His Second Coming. There is no doubt that Jesus is coming again, but…..before He comes to make all things right, He will come for His church. No one can expedite or predict the rapture of the church. But once the church is gone, then begins the Tribulation with signs leading to the Second Coming of Christ. Bottom Line: The rapture could be tonight or 200 hundred years from now—only God knows.

So if the attitude of REMINISCE, RESIGN, and RETREAT are wrong, what’s next for America?

I believe that we are living in a time of aftershocks from the sexual revolution of the sixties. History shows that such periods are normal when values are tested and re-tested. Some old ideas are buried and new ideas are birthed. But it does not mean that all is lost and hopeless. In fact, listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.” As people of God, let’s trust Him to raise up a new generation that will bring America back to Him. Let’s be optimistic; let’s encourage our young people; and let’s make room for them.