I have been hearing a lot from "conservatives," whether Christians or not, they all say, "Make America great again." There is the presumption that because of all the things Americans used to enjoy in the 40's and beyond was what made America great.
Those in this generation recall unlocked doors without fear, plenty of money for all the holidays, and other things they wanted to indulge in, as well as what appeared to be more stable family lives. I am convinced most of this is more in the mind than the reality.
Children were more respectful of their parents, or so it seemed. We saw the television stories as more wholesome than anything now. But let's take a more honest look, bypassing the good feelings we remember from all the things we thought we had.
Let's take a good look back and see if things were as good as we wish to believe.
I am in my 70s now and my memory was one of a dysfunctional family in which there was little interaction with parents that resulted in wisdom and a lot of television shows that brought unbiblical ideas that we thought were good, but were in fact working against the Bible.
We were raised on stories like "Bewitched", "I Dream of Jeannie", and Halloween stories of witches and ghosts. We all "trick or treated" on Halloween. We enjoyed the fantasies of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Hansel and Gretel and the witch, the Wizard of Oz, and Gunsmoke, in which the main character was a woman in a tavern who was a madam to prostitutes.
We celebrated Easter, the bunny, and eggs. We went to church, where bags of candy and nuts were handed out at Christmas time, and a tree was in the back of the church, which was decorated for the holiday season.
Soap operas were common and viewed by many housewives during the day. These shows were full of foolish drama about affairs and other decisions that ruined people's lives.
In the cop shows, the main characters were not married and frequently made subtle advances toward women. Even the so-called wholesome shows had frequent flirting and winking about dating.
Many of the shows we thought were so harmless and fun did not pass the smell test when compared to the Bible. The fact was that most people who attended those buildings they call churches didn't know very much about their Bibles.
God was never mentioned in these shows we grew up with, and the Biblical principles were violated or ignored completely. Many Christians were fooled that these shows were harmless because they didn't read the Bible or had a desire to do so.
Because the country was basically deceived about what "morality" looked like according to God's Word, they accepted many things that God condemned.
America was extolled as the most powerful country in the world where anyone of any religion could come and practice openly whatever brand of faith the wished to enjoy. The gospel was here spread by a few but for the most part most people viewed religion as a private matter. Christians who attended churches every week rarely mentioned God to anyone except someone else who went to those churches.
I was raised in one of these homes. I never heard the name of Jesus Christ roll off the tongues of a family member. There was never any teaching in the home about Christ; there was no Bible reading and no discussion about anything of consequence.
I learned about Christ from attending Sunday school but had no support at home for it except harsh rules without conversation. When I would ask questions about something, I was put off with "because I said so", or "that's just what we believe", without any explanation or discussion.
After I was born again, I realized there could be no discussion because most "Christians" didn't know why they followed certain rules, because they didn't know their Bibles. They merely did what was culturally acceptable at the time. These same people relaxed their views and rules as the culture changed, accepting things they would have condemned in the past.
When I was raising children the people around me attempted to shut me down when I wanted to openly discuss things. You see, it was a cultural thing that got worse as the culture began to grow in rebellion against God's Word.
To this day, it is nearly impossible to discuss a matter at length with anyone because it is considered rude to question anyone or disagree, so everyone remains silent about God's principles and rejects, dismisses, and isolates those who wish to have an honest, open discussion about the principles of God.
Satan has managed to fool several generations into believing good people are those who remain silent in the face of sin, fantasy thinking and unbiblical principles. Pleasing God is not even on the table, nor is talk of repentance and cleansing.
America has not been great; it has been a place of prosperity and freedom to act in any way that pleases each person, but not free to express God's Word to correct rebellion against God.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But understand this: In the last days, terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,"
1 Timothy 4:1-2 "Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron."
2 Peter 2:1-3 "Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them, the way of truth will be defamed. In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep."
We have been living in the last days for a very long time. The evidence that the church will be going home soon is the intensity with which rebellion is increasing. This generation, mine in the 50s and 60s, was just as immoral as any other generation; the difference was the deception that, as long as it was hidden, one could attend the churches and pretend every week and everything would be alright.
The immorality was in the fantasy life and hearts of the people indulging through television and movies, while pretending they were good because they were not "doing" their sin outwardly, but it was clearly in the hearts of nearly everyone.
Acts 20:29-30 "I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. / Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them."
Romans 16:17-18 "Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them. / For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive."
Because of the lack of knowledge about God's Word, there are many things that defy God that the culture thinks are just innocent fun.
Wisdom is becoming scarce in the culture as a whole because the Bible has been rejected by most people, even those who attend "church gatherings." The authentically born-again believers remain a remnant as they always have been, even from the beginning of the first-century church.
We truly are living in the end times. This explosion of "Christians" who fight against the truth is one of the indicators of the apostasy God told us would be present when Christ comes.
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