The United States is at a moral tipping point, and the upcoming elections could prove to be the most pivotal in our long, storied history.
With just a bit more than a month left until Election Day, I’ve visited the capitals of 44 states with our Decision America Tour. When we conclude on Oct. 13 in Raleigh, N.C.—my home state—we will have been to all 50 states in just over 10 months.
When we began in Des Moines, Iowa, in early January, I really didn’t know what to expect. Since we were meeting during the middle of the workday, I thought perhaps we might have a few hundred people come to each event.
All I knew was that our nation is in serious trouble, and we needed to call on almighty God to repent of our sins and turn our hearts back to Him. We’ve forgotten God’s blessings on our land and turned our back on Him, and now we are reaping the tragic harvest of godlessness in our cities, government, schools and courts—the entire fabric of American culture.
Well, to my surprise in every state—in bitter cold, searing heat and driving rain—God’s people have turned out by the thousands to pray, confess their sins and cry out to the Lord for His healing upon our land. When we hold our last meeting in Raleigh, close to 200,000 men and women will have come together to ask God for His forgiveness and to pledge their participation in this year’s crucial elections.
The Scripture says that government is ordained by God to restrain evil and reward upright behavior. “Do what is good, and you will have praise from him … he [God’s appointed civil authority] is the servant of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him who practices evil” (Rom. 13:3-4).
In other words, government should be rewarding those who live in obedience to laws and statutes that reflect and uphold long-held moral principles. When they don’t, and instead reward those who do evil and punish those who do good, then an entire civilization is in peril.
It’s apparent that our government today isn’t restraining or curbing evil behavior. Tragically, it’s celebrating and promoting indecency and immorality while aggressively seeking out and penalizing those whose consciences are informed by Biblical values and who live with resolute, godly conviction.
The clear and present danger that America faces is enormously magnified when our leaders and policymakers embrace blatant decadence and godlessness, extending a secularist, progressive ideology that hates God through relentless executive and judicial fiat.
“If a ruler listens to lies, all his servants are wicked” (Prov. 29:12). When the president of the United States and those around him actively adopt and promote iniquity, then that evil becomes systemic, spreading through the courts, schools, businesses, and state and local governments, infecting virtually every level of public life.
This is why November’s elections—local, state and national—are so critical. If we want to see the moral and spiritual trajectory of our nation change, we must do what we can to make our voices heard through the electoral process. We must examine the issues and the candidates and vote for those we feel best fit our Christian worldview.
I realize that’s not an easy task, but there are plenty of resources that will show you where candidates stand on key Biblical values that affect the family, religious liberty, the right to life, marriage and other profound ethical and moral issues. Our September issue of Decision had an informative look at where the Democratic and Republican parties stand on these concerns, and I encourage you to take a hard look at their respective stances and vote accordingly.
Still, as I have said at every stop with our Decision America Tour, my hope is not in either party. Both have failed miserably over the past few decades, compromising with evil all too often, and refusing to take a bold stand for righteous behavior.
I’m grateful for those who have been steadfast in their convictions, but they are too few. Ultimately, while doing all we can this fall to fulfill our civic responsibilities, our hope must remain in almighty God alone. Electing candidates who best reflect fundamental moral values is a good start, but there must be a much deeper and broader work of God across the nation and in the hearts of His people.
The Scriptures say that “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). The reprobate, debauched behavior that has now become a plague in our land is, at its core, due to sin. The drug epidemic that is sweeping into cities and rural towns, the breakdown of the family unit where 40.2 percent of children are born to unwed mothers, the confusion of gender identity and protection of homosexual “rights” at all costs, and the growing rejection of and rebellion against civil authority, is nothing less than sin.
Sin corrupts. Sin rebels. Sin destroys. Sin deceives. Sin kills.
And the only cure for the destructive nature of sin is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ who alone forgives sin and imparts the power to overcome it. We as individuals, and corporately as a nation, are governed either by the passions of the unredeemed, unregenerate flesh that breed perpetual conflict and chaos, or by the passions of the Holy Spirit, that exalt God and His righteousness.
That really is our most crucial choice—to continue to disobey God as a people and nation or choose to obey Him and His laws. One leads to anarchy and eventual destruction, the other to life and liberty.
I want to encourage you to spend time each morning and evening over the next month in fasting as God leads and praying for the future of America. Read some of the minor prophets, like Micah, and see the tragic outcome of nations that abandon God and refuse to follow Him. Also take note of God’s promises of gracious restoration and forgiveness when His people repent of their sins and turn once again to their God.
It is time to make a decision about America’s future. My hope is that we will contritely and humbly turn from our wicked ways and put our hope in God alone.
There is no other remedy.
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