OPINION:
Mike Pence, former vice president, launched his run for president by saying the “American Dream is being crushed” and that “the enemies of freedom are on the march,” but that we could turn the country around and bring back that “shining city on a hill,” as Ronald Reagan fondly called the country.
True. But that won’t come from any political camp.
A return to American Exceptionalism — a recapturing of the American Dream — will only come when Americans put God back in charge of the country. And that’s going to take some deep, spiritually based reflection and acknowledgment of sin on the part of the American people, followed by mass repentance; that is, by a massive turning back from sin.
Here’s the logic: American Exceptionalism is based on the idea that individual rights come from God and that government is only in place to preserve and protect those rights. It’s common sense, then, that a country filled with citizens who derive their rights from God must keep God at the helm of all of society. You can’t have God-given rights if God is removed from the equation.
So when America allows LGBTQ crazies to tear down God-given definitions of male versus female, and allows LGBTQ crazies to openly lie and force others to participate in the lie about what makes a man a man versus what makes a woman a woman — then that’s a sign of a society that’s turned from God.
That’s a sign that society is allowing God to be mocked.
When White House officials working for Democrat Joe Biden use their presidentially appointed positions and executively managed offices to open borders wide to whatever demonic forces want to sell their drugs and trafficked humans across the country, and then pretend as if they’re not enabling evil; as if they’re not inviting in evil; as if they’re actually protecting the innocent from evil — well then, that’s the sign of a society that’s forgotten the rule of law, which is to say, turned away from the peace and order of God toward the chaos and lawlessness of satan.
That’s a sign God is tired of being mocked and allowing the country to feel the consequences of its sin.
When the national debt rises so high that citizens are not only paying, paying, paying just to service the debt but also enslaving their children with bloated and unsustainable financial demands — and when politicians refuse to address this debt, even as inflation soars, even as they lie and call inflation a sign of a healthy economy — well, that’s a sign of a society that’s forgotten biblical principles of sound fiscal management.
That’s a sign that God is weary with a people who don’t mind so much the idea of being borrowers or beggars, so long as their materialistic lusts are quenched. And right away.
No wonder Americans are turning away from church and biblical teachings.
Good preachers and pastors teach truthful biblical principles, but the truths good ones would teach would offend today’s lustful masses. So either good preachers and pastors change their teachings and water down their messages, or they face empty pews. But when good preachers and pastors change their teachings and start talking up social justice rot and love is love and government is good and Jesus is OK with gay, then the churches become filled with the ungodly. The churches become weak. The faith community as a whole weakens. Moral compasses are skewed. Spiritual missions are sidetracked. Bible truths are flipped for deceptions.
God becomes whatever.
God; government; government; God — whatever.
If God is whatever, then government is just as good, maybe even better, maybe even faster at providing, perhaps even more compassionate and caring. A person of weak faith in God will gladly put faith in government if enough stimulus checks and entitlement pay comes in the mailbox.
This is how the concept of God-given individual liberties is lost. This is how the idea of government as god gets firmly established: society turns materialistic; fewer go to church; church leaders water their teachings; biblical truths of sin and accountability and right versus wrong are swept away from modern thinking; government grows in size and greed; fear and jealousy and desperation and class divisions take root; government is called to calm the country; government grows in size and greed — and more fear, more jealousies, more desperation, more class divisions result. The cycle is set. Add a corrupt culture — a natural consequence of moralities that are forged by the human mind, devoid of godly teachings — and the cycle grows worse, faster, spiraling out of control.
Welcome to America, 2023.
It is the era of the broken American Dream because it is the era of the breaking of American Exceptionalism.
It’s good of Pence to seek a return of the American Dream. It’s good of any politician and presidential candidate to talk that talk. But it ain’t gonna happen unless America first returns to God. It won’t happen unless Americans first seek to obey Bible truths. Want a nation of exceptionalism? Rebuild the foundation. Go to church. Read the Bible. Fight the wicked. Refuse to tolerate lies. Defend God from mocking; do not go quietly as the scoffers of God scoff.
If we can’t get God right — if we can’t get right with God — then we haven’t a chance to get back God-given rights, and we will never again see the American Dream, no matter how many politicians promise otherwise.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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