Bringing America Back to Faith and Family Values
The current crisis facing America is not purely political or economic; it is a moral and spiritual decline rooted in the erosion of the values that historically made the nation great. When foundational values vanish, the result is societal sickness defined by Families Without Foundations, Pastors Without Principles, and Government Without God. This condition mirrors the ancient state of Israel where “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” because “there was no king in Israel”.
This rewrite summarizes the dire consequences of this value vacuum and outlines the necessary response to bring back the nation’s moral and spiritual glory.
1. The Core Crisis: Doing What Is Right in Our Own Eyes
Today, the condition in America is precisely that every man does what is right in his own eyes. This shift from a culture of common good to a culture of constant complaint has created deep social dysfunction.
A secular national news magazine, U.S. News and World Report, acknowledges this crisis:
- Three out of every four Americans believe the nation is in moral and spiritual decline.
- Two out of three Americans think the country is seriously off track.
The consequence of this loss of balance between societal rights and individual freedoms is daily confrontations with almost everyone in authority. Everyone claims victim status, even sanctioning crime based on a real or imagined unhappy childhood.
Gone are the admired habits of industriousness, thrift, self-discipline, and commitment. These sicknesses, rooted in what the sources call “phony doctrines of liberalism,” have taxed the nation’s optimism and sapped its confidence in the future.
Vulnerability of the Young
Young people are strikingly vulnerable today, being deprived of the emotional comfort and moral nurturing provided by the traditional family. The new order is instant gratification, with personal impulses, especially sexual ones, constantly stimulated by popular music and television.
Popular media often seems to honor violence, infidelity, drugs, and drinking, while despising religion, marriage, and respect for authority. This makes it difficult to sustain parental values and continuity.
2. The Trinity of Failure: Families, Pastors, and Government
The vanishing values manifest clearly in three key areas of society, echoing the ancient history recorded in the Book of Judges.
A. Families Without Foundations
When values erode, moral confusion and spiritual bankruptcy pervade the family unit. The story of Micah in Judges 17 exemplifies this chaos:
- Stealing and Cursing: Micah, whose name ironically means “Who is like the Lord,” stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his mother. When his mother cursed the thief, Micah confessed out of fear, not conviction, to avoid the curse.
- Moral Confusion: Instead of scolding her thieving son, the mother blessed him.
- Idolatry: The mother claimed to have dedicated the silver to the Lord, but used it to hire a founder to make a graven image and a molten image (idols). Micah then added the silver idol to his collection and arbitrarily appointed his own son as his personal priest.
This family exhibited coveting, stealing, cursing, blessing, dishonoring parents, and idolatry, all while maintaining an “aura of godliness” and thinking they were serving God. They were morally and spiritually bankrupt.
The Failure of Liberation: Americans often believe they have been liberated from the traditional family. This false liberation led to:
- Women feeling liberated from the home, their husbands, and the necessity of bearing children.
- Fathers feeling liberated from authority and responsibility.
- Children feeling liberated from rules and limits.
- The entire population feeling liberated from moral and ethical standards.
The result is rampant illegitimacy, sexual disease, widespread divorce, and a generation of unloved, undisciplined, and uncared-for kids. The lack of values goes right into “the very best families in our churches”.
B. Pastors Without Principles (The Hireling Problem)
The second result of vanishing values is pastors without principles. In the story of Micah, a Levite (a counterpart to today’s pastors/ministers) looking for food and lodging, arrived at Micah’s house.
- Hired for Profit: Micah offered the Levite a salary (ten shekels of silver), clothes, and food to be his personal priest.
- A Hireling: The Levite accepted the job purely for money, becoming a hireling and the appointed priest of an idolater.
A hireling, as defined by Jesus in John 10, is not the true shepherd; he flees when the wolf comes because he only cares about his salary and not the sheep. Today, there are prophets whose title is P-R-O-F-I-T, not P-R-O-P-H-E-T.
Compromise and False Peace: A hireling is committed to the one who pays his salary. This leads to the spiritual danger of telling people what they want to hear. When asked if their wicked ways would be prosperous, the hireling priest told them, “Go in peace: before the Lord is your way”.
The sources argue that America could be quickly changed if preachers would stand in their pulpits and preach the Word of God without fear or favor. Instead, many preachers today are hirelings who say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. This approach is rooted in the fear of “turning somebody off” from an invitation to accept Christ as their “best friend,” neglecting the necessary step of acknowledging that we are sinners who need a Savior.
C. Government Without God (Covetousness)
The third tragic consequence is Government Without God. This manifests when citizens and governing bodies lose the value of individual responsibility and embrace covetousness.
The tribe of Dan, seeking an inheritance they had failed to possess due to their own sin and cowardice, became dissatisfied and coveted what belonged to others. They plundered the city of Laish, justifying taking what they wanted.
The Economic Collapse: Today, there is a generation that believes it has a right to take what belongs to other people. The Bible is clear: “If a man won’t work, neither should he eat” (excluding those who cannot work). When values are lost, two disastrous ideas take hold:
- One half of the nation thinks it does not have to work because somebody else will work for them.
- The other half thinks it does no good to work because somebody else gets what they work for.
The result is that everyone is out of work “except the government”. Today’s government and business are often motivated by greed, materialism, and selfishness. This is evident in activities like gambling, which is based on a win-lose philosophy—antithetical to good business (win-win) and the Law of God.