Get Lost: How God Disappeared from American Society
My friend and medical colleague Vince, offers insight that’s definitely appropriate for these times in the political and social instability in our country, and something that everyone should take to heart – how we in America let G-d get lost.
There was a time in the political history of this country, when people who held disparate views on various issues of the day, would nonetheless have a level of civility about themselves, a level of conscience that would prevent them from being overly harsh with each other in public discourse. While certainly the concept of “mudslinging” of the opponent in a political race for an elected office is eons old, at least in America, there was at one time, an unspoken line that wouldn’t be crossed.
Civility & Morality
There was also a general sense of morality among people in this country, whether or not they were political officials. Even if they didn’t believe or “follow” G-d, people at least gave a “tip-of-the-hat” level of respect to G-d, with the understanding that this country was founded by people who had a level of respect for G-d that made them want to use the moral principles found in the Bible as a basis for a new system of governance, a new country – particularly since they and or their ancestors had come from a land ruled by kings and queens, tyrants and weak parliamentarian governments who were (at the time) little more than vassals for the monarch’s whims.
It can’t be understated that those pilgrims who first came to the shores of America in the 1600’s, and those who followed, were either dedicated Christians, or at least held deep respect for G-d, even if they didn’t consider themselves dedicated Christian believers.
Ever since that time, and on through about the middle of the past century, it seemed to be both in political discourse as well as overall American society as it grew and evolved, that same general respect for the G-d under which this country was founded – we even put Him prominently in our Declaration of Independence. While no American then, or since, has ever been “perfect”, and many individual and collective sins have been committed over the centuries, still that overall respect for (if not following of) G-d has always been there in America.
Get Lost, G-d
Then something changed. Somewhere, somehow, G-d got “lost”.
It’s not that G-d Himself “got lost”, but that a growing number of Americans in this country TOLD him to “get lost.”
Somewhere in our American “progress”, those who had been aghast at the concept of an omniscient, omnipresent supreme being looking over their shoulder at all their sin – not willing to turn from their sin but more willing to turn from G-d – found themselves in positions of influence and power in this country and began chipping away at the seemingly-rock-solid concept of “In G-d We Trust”.
We could point to the time when Supreme Court decisions succeeded in removing the freedom to express belief in G-d from public schools as being one of the more public expressions of this rebellion against G-d.
We could point to the “Age of Aquarius” in the 1960’s, when millions of young Americans openly rebelled against the values and ethics of their parents – and rebelling against G-d in the process of creating a wide variety of “open values” that deliberately contradicted the morality that is borne out of a belief in G-d.
Some may say the slide away from G-d started years before all of that, arguing that the negative effects of two world wars caused many to question of G-d even exists at all.
The Influence of Influencers
Since those times, the rebellion against G-d continued to worsen, becoming more ingrained in American society, orchestrated by a relatively small group of what we would now call “influencers” in education, politics and science. G-d’s “law” was seen as restrictive, narrow, not inclusive of those who didn’t want to follow that law. It was labeled as intolerant of other world religions and other “gods” that people may wish to worship.
Christians, who pointed to Satan – the enemy of G-d – as the ultimate author of this rebellion, were increasingly painted as backward, old-fashioned, closed-minded bigots who deserved ridicule and persecution, not tolerance and respect. In recent years they have been targeted for “failing” to live up to the so-called “inclusivity” that modern society has embraced – a perfect example of this targeting is the persecution (and lawsuits) of Christian bakeries for “daring” to refuse to provide bakery services for a same-sex marriage.
Modern social media has made this all the more egregious. In the past, the only way people exchanged and received information about the world around them was word-of-mouth. The news media expanded this information dissemination with newspapers and wire services.
Then with radio, television, and finally the Internet, the way and the amount of time it took for people to receive and exchange information shrunk – and the ability of the “average Joe” to speak out on issues grew exponentially until now, when any of us can put his or her “two-cents” in on any issue at all that creeps up on social media, let alone the ability of any individual to spread misinformation about anything they wish.
Amorality Rules
So the tables now have turned. Once, a morality ruled our society. Now, amorality rules. Sin was once something to be avoided by those who put their trust in the G-d who founded America (or at the least, hidden away by those who respected G-d but didn’t follow Him). Sin is now something flaunted in the open, considered normal, accepted and celebrated with pride.
Those who were in the minority have now become the masters of society, and those who argue for the return to moral principles, are ridiculed, shouted down, censored, sued, and increasingly being physically harassed and assaulted (if you doubt this, just look at the recent physical assaults against Jews in LA and New York).
This has spilled over into the political arena as well, where that unwritten line of civility in political discourse had been crossed years ago, and the two political “camps” are as far from each other as the Allies were to the Nazis.
Fake Republicans
While there are enough who align themselves with the Republican party who have themselves abandoned G-d and personal morality (Trump is the figurehead of this approach), there are those in the party who do not bow down to his isolationist, jingoistic and racist “MAGA” mantra which is amoral in nature. These members of the party, quiet though they may be for the loud cackling of the far-right that has (for now) taken power in the RNC, don’t represent the real Republican party, which as a whole has stood for individual freedom, personal responsibility, and principles of government that are moral and ethical in nature, much like the Allies in World War II.
Just Like The Nazis
On the whole however, the Democrats show by their actions and their rhetoric that they are more like the Nazis of the last century, demanding that government be “their way or the highway”, choosing deliberately to abandon G-d and replace Him with an amoral “free-for-all” of societal and governmental behavior, while at the same time, ruthlessly attacking their enemies, controlling the media, and indoctrinating youth with their new religion.
It can’t be ignored that the only major political party in the US today to have its own paramilitary force – just like the SA storm troopers were to the Nazis in the 1930’s and 40’s – are Democrats, who have aligned themselves with the deliberately-misnamed “Antifa” (“anti-fascist”), whose every action and word show themselves to be exactly the same as the fascist SA storm troopers of the Nazi era.
All of this came about because enough people of power and influence in our society decades ago, told G-d to get lost – to get out of American politics, and American society. The descendants of those who forced G-d out of American life have doubled down and pushed morality and ethical norms so far out of the American culture.
Recovering
The only way for American culture to recover from its enforced Satan-worship (since that’s basically what it boils down to) is for the people of G-d – Christians, Jews, and Messianic Jews – to seek and work for not so much of a top-down forcing of moral change, but a grassroots change – one to one, changing hearts and minds one at a time. G-d works this way, bringing one heart at a time to salvation; and this is the only way our country can survive.
Any other result will continue to divide this nation and bring more of G-d’s wrath upon it.
