The following excerpts are taken from the book, Eradicate: Blotting Out God In America, chapter 14, “The Last 50 Years in America.” These selected events reveal the increase of immorality and the lack of Christian influence on our culture happening at the same time.
INTRODUCTION
By the end of this timeline you’ll see massive evidence of the fading impact of Christianity on American culture. The church is on life support. We’ve been examining how false teachings have led to a weakened witness for Jesus Christ. Because of our ineffectiveness, morals and values have eroded in America over many decades. So much has happened in the last fifty years that has shaped the United States; some events impacted our nation for the better while some chipped away at us for the worse.
A CONDENSED CHRONOLOGICAL LOOK AT AMERICA’S MORAL DECLINE FROM A
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
2000: The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.
2000: An AL Qaeda team in Aden, Yemen, use a motorboat filled with explosives to blow a hole in the side of the U.S.S. Cole, almost sinking the vessel and killing seventeen American sailors.
2000: George W. Bush is elected the forty-third President of the United States and takes office in January 2001.
SEPTEMBER 11 – THE DAY THAT CHANGED AMERICA
2001: Forever known as 9-11, TERRORISTS (already living in America) ATTACK AMERICA when nineteen Islamic fundamentalists, identified as Al Qaeda terrorists, attack the United States killing 2,977 Americans by hijacking four fully fueled jetliners. Their plan was to crash them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Capitol building. The fourth plane never made it to Washington as brave passengers overpowered the hijackers causing the plane to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. The well-planned terrorist attacks were part of a worldwide jihad against so-called “infidel” nations.
With the unanimous approval of Congress, the United States government responded to the attacks by launching the “War on Terror.” America invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban regime that had provided a safe haven for al Qaeda, in an effort to prevent future attacks against American interests. A faction of liberals went along with the American Left, accusing the foreign policies of the United States for causing the 9-11 attacks. They believe Islamists hate America for its many sins, while many on the Right believe Islamists hate us for our many freedoms and success as capitalism. Others believe it is due to America’s support for Israel, another “infidel” nation.
However, according to David Horowitz’ September 11 report on his Discover the Networks website, these views leave out a crucial reality. Yale University military historian, Mary Habeck, explains:
“Radical Muslims today base their war against non-believers on the Islamic sacred writings – particularly the Sira, which tells the story of the Prophet Muhammad’s life in chronological sequence.
“Jihadis pattern their thoughts and actions after those of Muhammad, who was not only the founder of Islam but also a brutal and most successful warrior.
“Islam’s inherent desire for conquest, and not any particular provocation (real or imagined) by some outside power, is the key to understanding why jihadis, such as the 9/11 hijackers, do what they do.”
The impact of 9-11-2001 goes beyond the American economy, airport security, and anti-terror measures. There were some positive cultural indicators: immediate expressions of patriotism including more Americans flying the flag and an increase in patriotic songs. More people spent quality time with family, and there was a temporary increase in church attendance. America was hurt, but not humbled by the attacks, and sadly, our unity lasted about nine months.
2003: Parent Television Counsel Members file 18,000 complaints about “F-word” airing during Golden Globes Broadcast. (U2’s Bono) FCC enforcement bureau finds the statement live on NBC “This is really, really f*ckin’ brilliant,” not indecent.
2003: In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court voids state sodomy laws, overturning an earlier Supreme Court ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). Lawrence’s attorneys cite Alfred Kinsey’s misleading statistics on homosexual sex! In the six to three ruling, the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in thirteen other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory.
2003: Renee Doyle, President of EdWatch, (Education for a Free Nation) reported in ‘Social and Emotional Learning’ that The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the results of their $1.2 million tax-payer funded study. Believe it or not, the study essentially stated that traditionalists are mentally disturbed! Scholars from the Universities of Maryland, California at Berkeley (naturally), and Stanford had determined that social conservatives … suffer from ‘mental rigidity,’ ‘dogmatism,’ together with associated indicators for mental illness.”
2004: Janet Jackson exposes her breast with the help of Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl half time show to a national audience of over 140 million including more than 16 million children. It was claimed to be a “wardrobe malfunction.” More than 200,000 citizens file indecency complaints with the FCC about the Super Bowl half time show.
2004: Degrassi: The Next Generation: When Manny (Cassie Steele) becomes pregnant and is nervous about becoming a teen mom, she decides to have an abortion despite her boyfriend’s desire to keep the baby. Her mother accompanies her to the clinic.
2004: Kinsey, starring Liam Neissen, is released and glosses over incriminating details of the radical sex experimentation techniques of anti-Christian, bisexual Alfred Kinsey. Hollywood loved it. Americans? Not so much.
2005: Brokeback Mountain fails miserably at the Box Office, but the gay cowboy film is nominated for eight Academy Awards. Critics raved about it.
2005: FCC denies thirty-six indecency complaints filed by the Parents Television Council.
2006: Atheist with a mission, Richard Dawkins, attacks Christianity in his book The God Delusion.
2006: President Bush signs the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act into law on June 16.
2007: Al Gore produces An Inconvenient Truth documentary; a British court determines Gore’s film contains at least eleven material falsehoods. The film is shown in public schools under the guise of scientific fact and truth instead of theory. It is a political work and promotes one side of the man-caused global warming argument.
2008: Milk, was released starring Sean Penn, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of gay-rights activist Harvey Milk. Hollywood loved the film, but the box office -- not so much.
2008: Barack Hussein Obama is elected the first black President of the United States. Aided by major support from the media, he is the first president in our history to be elected without having to provide his college records, transcripts, financial, or medical records. His associations and worldview completely ignored, entire periods of his life are missing from his biography. His average approval rating in the Illinois Senate was 51.8%.
2009: A Gallop poll reveals just 32% say premarital sex is wrong and 60 percent say it was not. (In 1969, the same questions were asked and the poll had 68 percent of respondents saying premarital sex was wrong and 21 percent said it was not.)
2009: Newsweek proclaimed “The Decline and Fall of Christian America” on its cover. In Newsweek’s April 14 cover story, “The End of Christian America,” Editor Jon Meacham argues the falling numbers of self-identified Christians in America is a “good thing.”
2009: Rasmussen reports 88% of Americans believe the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked on the earth 2000 years ago – up five points from 2008. Eighty-two percent believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God who came to earth and died for our sins. Seventy-nine percent of Americans believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead!
2010: On NBC’s Friday Night Lights, after a one-night stand with Luke, tenth-grader Becky becomes pregnant at fifteen. She’s afraid to talk to her mother about it and goes to her guidance counselor, reads Planned Parenthood literature and has an abortion. There is little outrage over the episode and many critics applauded it.
2010: Arizona v. U.S. Government --The Obama administration files a lawsuit against the state of Arizona, forbidding them from implementing their own state law to protect its citizens from violence, primarily as a result of drug cartels at the U.S./Mexico border! According to the Washington Times, the Justice Department brought the lawsuit to stop the new immigration enforcement law in Arizona, saying, “It violated the Constitution by trying to supersede federal law and by impairing illegal immigrants’ right to travel and conduct interstate commerce.”
Sheriffs have asked the government for help because parts of Arizona are at the mercy of drug cartels. They have caused damage and destruction to the lives and property of farmers and ranchers, and have terrorized American citizens along the border.
2010: Over 46 million American people live below the poverty line in 2010. Remember Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and the billions of dollars that have since been spent to stop poverty?
2011: A record 44.7 million people --or one in seven Americans -- are on food stamps. In fiscal year 2011, the federal government spent more than $75 billion on food stamps, which provided an average monthly benefit of $133.85 a month. That’s up from $34.6 billion at the end of fiscal year 2008, when recipients collected an average benefit of $102.19.23. The Heritage Foundation says that spending on income-based programs, such as food stamps, has increased by one-third to $900 billion under Obama. There are seventy such programs.
2011: Eighty percent of evangelical Christians from the age of twenty to twenty-nine have had premarital sex according to a study called National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
2012: On HBO’s Girls, after the character Jessa reveals she’s pregnant, her friends make a big deal about attending the abortion appointment. As hours pass and Jessa doesn’t show up, her friends become angry and Hannah exclaims, “How could she ruin the beautiful abortion you threw?” Most notable about the episode is the sheer number of times it uses the word “abortion,” says Hilary Busis at Entertainment Weekly, as if it’s “trying to desensitize us to the word.” Girls used it eleven times; Sex and the City used it three times.
2012: Vice President Joe Biden endorses same-sex marriage in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press saying:
“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties…. I think ‘Will and Grace’ probably did more to educate the American public than almost anybody’s ever done so far. People fear that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand.”
2012: Barack Obama becomes the first president in United States history to openly support all forms of homosexuality, gay rights, gay adoptions, and civil unions.
2012: Democrats move to eradicate God from their Party platform and decide to remove all references of God during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. They take a vote to reconsider and the majority of Democrats boo!
2012: AMERICANS DECIDED THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF THE UNITED STATES BY VOTING IN THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
Chapter Conclusion:
“Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them” (Proverbs 1:29-32).
Has America chosen to hate knowledge and to not fear the Lord? Is our complacency beyond cure? Are we at the point where God will not answer our cries? The Lord is a patient and compassionate God, but His anger won’t be held back forever. We must choose this day whether we will serve our culture or Christ. America once had God’s blessing and covering; His protection and His provision, but believers don’t read, study, and live the Bible like we used to over fifty years ago. God is no longer top priority.
Though the forces of evil and the agenda to blot out God in America are advancing, He is sovereign and in control of all things at all times. The gospel and our commission to share His message have not changed so it’s up to us from this point forward. It’s not always easy, but taking a stand for Jesus Christ can be rewarding. If not in this life, we are sure to be richly rewarded in the next. Martin Luther once said, “You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”
We are never fighting alone. When King Jehoshaphat and the people of Israel were outnumbered and facing impossible odds, they confessed their inability to the Lord and prayed to Him saying that their eyes were on Him. God responded by telling them the battle was His and to “go out and face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you” (2 Chron. 20:12-17). God has our backs and He is trying to get through to us.
The signs of the times indicate we should have an extreme sense of urgency. God has given us commands, instruction and all the tools we need to do the work required of us. Let’s join the remnant of bold, committed Christians and not care about what people say, including those within the church who, because of their neutrality, may be convicted by our actions. This may require some extra effort and perhaps a lifestyle change, but it will be worth it in the end, because our labor in the Lord is never in vain.
