Ramon Arias | February 22, 2016
Can you think of any living human being, either past or present, with a better understanding of how we should live in this world and in our place in the universe than Jesus?
I can understand why those who know nothing about Jesus would be confused and in disbelief.
Some people may have a long list of men and women from the pages of history that made great contributions to humanity. Many compare Jesus with other historical individuals, and more often than not, they affirm that He was equal or lesser than other world figures.
When we compare all of the historical characters that stand out, we find that their understanding came from strange sources. Nevertheless, they built upon those ideas that have proven to be flawed time and time again. The outcome has always been the same social disruption and collapse.
Others have built upon the revelation of God’s Word with far better results. However, when some mix the revealed truth of God with opposing views, far from making life better, they follow in the steps of the societies that have perished.
What future do we have as a nation in this world? Every generation is getting closer to finding out the only too obvious answer to that question. One thing is for sure, a high percentage of the population agrees that we are not going in the right direction, and something must be done to stop the visible coming collapse.
The only ones that truly should understand the things that must be done to correct our path are those who profess their faith in Christ Jesus. Why is that? Because with their profession of faith, they admit that Jesus came from heaven, that He is the savior of humanity, that He sets people free from the slavery of sin, He is the giver of new life, that He died, rose again, ascended into heaven and is sitting at the right hand of the Father from where He rules and reigns. This reality makes every born-again believer in Christ a unique and an exceptional person. When we live out this exceptionalism in Christ, every aspect of culture receives the positive influence.
The present reality, for the most part, does not reflect a good level of active and dynamic Christian life in our culture. It is true that America doesn’t look any different than other nations in the world and on many occasions fares worse. Jesus gives us understanding on this and reveals the reason individual lives, their homes, their communities and their nation are in disarray:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven….
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:21, 24-27)
Jesus clearly illustrates two opposing views for life and their outcome in time, and history. He further explained that a divided household, city or nation, it is impossible to remain standing:
“Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” (Matthew 12:25)
It shouldn’t be that hard for Christians to understand that America has been removed from the solid rock foundation, which is the revealed Word of God. For centuries, secular ideas have infiltrated and are now dominating most aspects of our culture. This didn’t happen in the 19th or 20th century, in reality, it started with the experiment in government when this new nation was formed. There was a mixture of unnecessary, divisive ideas that were borrowed from ideologies that are contrary to God. The apostle Paul wrote the following:
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you…” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
Every nation, empire or society that has ever existed, which has built upon the ideas of unstable sands collapsed in failure. Every true biblical Christian knows that God’s will is going to be accomplished here on earth as it is in heaven. The question is, are there enough sons and daughters of God that understand the signs of the times to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what God is saying? Furthermore, are they willing to rebuild this nation on God’s solid ideas? If we, as a professing Christian nation, refuse to be that pivotal generation, then, we must not forget what history teaches about how other ungodly cultures will overtake us and build according to their destructive ideas. Remember, thousands of years before the Spaniards landed on this continent, followed by the English and other European nations, there were empires in what we now call South America. There were also Indian nations in the northern part of this continent. Surely you get the picture that God’s creation is vast and He cares about all of it.
However, Latin America has never been a bastion of social stability, and the reason is very straightforward, they never built upon the rock of God’s moral law. That was not the case for the United States of America as you well know, or should know.
Whether we accept it or not, God’s moral law (His commandments, statutes, and judgments) is going to govern the nations. Let me repeat, as God’s people, we determine the future of America and the role we are going to play to make known God’s perfect plan for life, this world and our place in the universe.
Prayerfully, each one of us must consider the role we want to play either to continue the way of self-destruction or get on the path of rebuilding this nation upon God’s solid rock foundation.