This past July 4, President Obama delivered his message to America. Several conservative commentators noted that he failed to give the usual Presidential sign-off to such speeches, a hearty “God bless America.” All he mustered was, “From my family to yours, have a safe and happy Fourth of July.” Whether the omission was deliberate or not, it certainly reflected the godless tenor of his tenure. But that apparently doesn’t bother most Americans. A Gallup poll released the week before the Fourth revealed that an astonishing 58%, well over half, of Americans would be willing to vote for an atheist candidate. That is a 40% difference from when the question was first asked in 1958, just 18% back then. According to the Pew Research Center, 23% of Americans believe in nothing, a group larger than Roman Catholics.
We truly live in a post-Christian world in the home of the free. And what does that mean for those of us who believe in spiritual warfare? Our work just got a lot more challenging, but with a lot more opportunities to demonstrate the reality of Christ’s power. In these last days, we’re seeing a return to the tenor and times of the early church, faced with a majority pagan, hostile culture. Lost is a societal consensus about morality or a transcendent deity who speaks to man with moral authority. It’s every Bruce Jenner for himself, each one free to define his own belief, gender, even ethnicity. In fact there is a certain edginess in claiming to be an atheist, as if it were some cool calling card. Without a spiritual awakening of some kind in our land, we’ll likely soon see a man or woman in the White House who ignores all deference to deity. But though God may be expunged from public conversation, demons are not going away. Their victims will be more tormented than ever. And these tortured individuals will look for relief and turn to those of us who are unashamed to say both “God bless America” and “Out in the name of Jesus!”
An encouraging word: DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN GOD’S EYES
In our world of moral shifting sand, we are once again becoming like those in the time of Israel before the kings, when it was said that, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). In other words, every man was a law unto himself with no externalized, objective criteria to evaluate behavior. That led to disaster in Israel, and will lead to abject moral failure in any individual’s life today. How do you decide to live? In what are your values rooted? Without God and His Word as a guide, it is every man for himself. Don’t let the shifting sands of personal entitlement decide your ethical decisions. Determine to reflect the righteousness of God in your own life. Do what’s right in God’s eyes.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
