What To Do Now That the Sky Has Fallen

The news is not good for America. In fact it is catastrophic. Here are 2011-2012 statistics for the new American “normal.” Keep in mind that 78% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians:

• Third highest divorce rate on the planet. Half of all marriages will end in divorce.

• Every second $3,075 is spent on internet pornography, 25% of daily internet searches are for sexual websites--that is 68 million. 24 million Americans are addicted to online porn.

• Half of all births to women under 30 are born out of wedlock, 29% of white, 53% of Latinos and 73% of black children. This growing trend leads to a poorly educated populous and poverty. 

• In 2012, 7.5 million unmarried couples lived together. 8 out of 10 of these will end their relationship before or after marriage. Children of cohabiting parents are 22 times more likely to be incarcerated.

• 80% of unmarried evangelical young adults have had sex and 43% are currently in an sexually active relationship--slightly less than the 88% of unmarried non-Christians.

• 1 in 4 in the U.S. have a sexually transmitted disease.

• Every 9.5 minutes someone is infected with the HIV. Over a million people already have it.

• Almost 30 million use illegal drugs.

• 1 out of 10 Americans are chronically depressed. 27 million use antidepressants, (doubled in the last decade).

• 10% adults are alcoholics or have alcohol problems.

• Over six million children are raised by at least one parent who has a drug addiction.

• Three million children a year are sexually abused. 

• 4.5 million students currently in grades K-12 have suffered some form of sexual abuse by an educator--from romantic relationships between teachers and student to pedophilia.

• 8 to 18-year olds spend 10.5 hours a day connected to the media with phones, video games, computers and television. Three of those hours are multitasking.

• The National Debt as of 3/28/2013 10:00 am is: $16, 747, 851,453.251.78 increasing $3.86 billion per day. With a deficit of 1.057 trillion and a total debt per US citizen of $187,782. 

• U.S Money is unstable as it is not based on gold. (I know, a bit random, but our money is worthless and that means an unstable America.)

• 1.2 million a year are diagnosed with kleptomania.

• Highest obesity in the world, with 64% of adults overweight or obese.

• 22% of our children are murdered before they’re born.

• The US provides $500 million from taxes to the UN Family Planning Organization per year that promotes and enforces a one-child policy worldwide. 

• Yearly, 13 million people (or 5%) are victims of crime. 1.5 million of those crimes are violent.

Our culture is bombarded with violent video games, pornography everywhere: online, in magazines racks in grocery store lines, on billboards, on television, in malls. School curriculum is dumbed down. 

It is no wonder that a study from Yale shows that we are very unhappy compared to other countries, (including third world countries) even though we have the best standard of living. 

And the worst is that the situation is so overwhelming and alarming most people simply cannot deal with it. So they ignore it. The few who do understand the catastrophic failure of America think we can vote ourselves out of this mess--we can elect a few good people and voila! America will go back to the 1950’s. 

Understand clearly what I am stating here. I am not crying that the sky is falling. Nope. The sky fell in the 1960’s. Many of us were hardly old enough to realize it. We now have an entire generation who think that all these statistics are normal and have no idea how to fix our country.

What Happened?

This is not a political problem. This is a chronic spiritual crisis. America was so warm and comfortable, Christians fell asleep while watching “Ozzie and Harriet” in the 1950’s and have yet to awaken. 

America has repeated the Garden of Eden, when irresponsible, cowardly Adam played the victim and shirked his duties while Eve took charge and makes some very ruinous choices. And if we don’t do some authentic repenting, God will be throwing us out of America with a sword-wielding angel.

What To Do?

Our Western culture looks hopeless, I know. It feels like we would have to be God to make any kind of real change. We’re too powerless, we’re too crippled with our own sins to take on the sins of the world. And yet we have to. As Christians we are our brother’s keeper. We are guardians of our world. Christians must awaken. Not simply to go to the polls and fight for our freedom and rights, but to do something even more potent, more substantial.

Christians must find the courage to start at ground zero, and that is ourselves. If each Christian alive today would concentrate on being like Christ themselves and dealing with their families, we could indeed change our world--one soul at a time.

We are all called to sainthood. Be a Christian hero by cleaning up your own life. Turn off the pornography, quit making eating and sports the focus of your down time and what the heck, just turn off the television all together. Start reading scripture and other books of faith. Have personal and family worship. Go to church, get involved.

It is going to be hard, very hard to become a saint, but have courage for He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. St. Paul wrote about the sweat and effort he put into living a life of freedom in the Lord. (No, I am not talking about being saved.... but once you are a Christian! This isn’t about works-righteousness, but saving yourself and family from the hell of here and now---bad choices today!)

For Christians, playtime is over. If America was at war, many would find the guts to stand up and fight for our country. Well, reread the stats above, we are at war--spiritual war! Now God is asking you to fight for your faith and your family’s faith. This war isn’t about what others do, but what you are doing. Those dark spiritual forces who are seeking to destroy your life through addictions to sin, through making you lazy and confused and a coward.

If we don’t step up to the plate and get down on our knees now to create a whole new culture for our upcoming generations, no one will. Catastrophe is stalking our children and grandchildren. We are walking off the field of life and America’s future generations will never even get a chance to play. 

So start simple. Pray daily. Pray God will show you your sins so that you can repent and turn from your wicked ways. (Hey, you may be like me and not even be aware of your sins and need God to point them out to you!) 

For God’s sake, put Christ first in your life, for as Christ promised if we seek the kingdom of heaven with all our hearts and souls, all these other things (food, drink, clothes) He will take care of. 

Go! Get on your knees so that you can get up and put on the armor of God.

God bless you and see you on the front lines!