The Dividing Line Between Normal and Crazy in America
Every portion of Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching (doctrine/instruction), for reproof (conviction when we sin), for correction (setting things right when we err) and for training in righteousness (when out of shape in righteousness) that the man (or woman) of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
And with that, the apostle Paul explains the cataclysmic disaster and cultural reversal foisted on the American people through the secularization of culture and ideological bent of the U.S. Supreme Court in the early/mid-20th century. Judicial overreach usurped the authority of the Legislative and Executive Branches of Government by sanctioning the induction of pagan secularism in Engel v. Vitale (1962), Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) and Stone v. Graham (1980).
A later pair of misbegotten Supreme Court’s adjudications includes the outright fabrication in 1973 of a “constitutional right” to kill unborn babies in Roe v. Wade, while the second in 2015 called upon the no less fictitious “right” to homosexual intercourse and constitutional marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Concerning the 5-4 decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case, two votes in favor came from leftist Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who, impervious to moral and ethical principles, both had performed same-sex weddings prior to hearing the case, yet refused to recuse themselves.
When decoupled from biblical morality and unguided by God-inspired wisdom, a society’s condition of moral and social vigor and wellness can only be what it currently has become: anything a majority of nine Justices any given day can agree upon. Meaning that “no judicial decision is ever final, that the law both follows the event (therefore is not eternal or certain) and is made by man (who is not divine or true).”
American Christendom has finally reached its Kairos. The flawed model of “butts in seats, massive budgets and multiple buildings and campuses” as the measure of success has produced an infinitesimal, almost undetectable impact on the culture and a near invisible footprint in the public square. A completely different approach, modeled after Jesus’ ecclesia kingdom assignment from Matthew 16:18, will be called for if America is to experience a spiritual re-awakening.
America finds itself in exactly the same predicament as Elijah in 1 Kings 18, with God’s people continuing in the sin of syncretism. America’s last two or three generations have been brought up in the false libertine ideology of “the synthesis between Yahweh and Baal being praised as progress and accepted as the highest form of wisdom.”
Peter J. Leithart’s outstanding work “Between Babel and Beast: America and Empires in Biblical Perspective” brings an assessment that initially may seem harsh, yet will appear as bland in light of the public appearance of Biden Administration male senior staff in pantyhose and high heels: “Until American churches actually function as outposts of Jesus’ heavenly empire rather than as cheerleaders for America—until the churches produce martyrs rather than patriots—the political witness of Christians will continue to be diluted and co-opted.”
This brings us to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 8:
“I’ll be the first to admit, President Biden and I don’t have a lot in common. I’m for freedom. He’s for government control. At 40, I’m the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he’s the oldest president in American history. I’m the first woman to lead my state. He’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.
“In the radical left’s America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country. Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left. The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted after her speech: “A star is born could be the title of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders absolutely remarkable speech responding to and drawing a sharp contrast with President Biden’s fantasy wish list state of the union. It was Reaganesque.”
“Normal” as a qualification befits the America established and sustained through the 17th and 18th centuries by exceptional people, steeped in biblical thought, biblical values and God-emulating character.
“Where persecution of the Puritans in England for non-conformity and religious agitations were the preparatory ordeals for qualifying Christian men for the work of establishing the civil institutions on the American continent. It was in these schools of fiery trial that the founders of the American republic were educated and prepared for their grand Christian mission, and in which faith and characters became strong and earnest with Christian truth. They were trained in stormy times in order to prepare them to elaborate and establish the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty and of just systems of civil government.”
America’s Founders understood that virtue and liberty are inseparably linked and that liberty cannot long be preserved in the absence of virtue among the people and their representatives. Immorality is not a matter of indifference to God.
Praise be to God that Rahabs and Gideons are beginning to stand. {eoa}
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David Lane is the founder of the American Renewal Project.
