The American Dream died out long ago, beginning with the “New Deal” all the way through to the 70’s and the end of the Homestead Act. As for race relations, obola has successfully turned us from a melting pot to a tossed salad. The tree of liberty thirsts.
The founders knew a true freedom driven government like they formed could only survive with a moral and spiritually religious population. Our rapidly declining society is one ripe for the pickings of tyrrany which we now have a mild form of it.
But guess which one society chooses to mourn as a “victim” of intolerance and racism; and guess which one was a productive, law-abiding citizen who endeavored to care for his family and serve his country?
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Hell, even the two muzzie thug terrorists killed in Garland on Sunday are getting more sympathy “they were victims” remarks and comments from the idiot leftists than Brian Moore.
Would he? Be literally sickened? I don't think so.
Count me as one American that truly doesn’t care what Martin Luther King had to say about anything. Why should I?
I’m not sure what you mean by “The American Dream.” I always thought that term applied to personal financial success. If you are saying this country’s ideals are fast eroding and we’ve gone past the tipping point of a society that was once somewhat concerned with common decency, morality, logical consistency, and justice, I would agree.
We are seeing economic and social decline at any increasing rate. We are are increasingly surrounded by injustice and government corruption. We are facing increasing violence and threats of war internally and externally.
That should not be surprising. I’m going to say something that to some will make me seem like a religious nut who is lost in fantasies based on vagaries of the Bible. For what it’s worth, I’m not. I’m fairly well educated (with a science undergrad degree, as well as a law degree and an MBA both from Tier 1 schools) and I have a highly responsible position in corporate America that requires sound judgment every day. I’ve been married for almost 31 years and have 2 grown children. And I have been studying the Bible with many others and with a concerted effort at logical consistency and objectivity for many years. Despite my skeptical nature and training I am convinced that the scriptures are the word of God Himself. That said, I don’t waste my days posting long diatribes on message boards or seeking converts or engaging in empty arguments. But given the worries I see expressed on this board, I will post my beliefs this once, in the hope that someone finds it beneficial:
The scriptures claim to test the hearts and minds of mankind, and they say that most people will chose not to seek or to respond to the invitation. But that is always a choice. Unlike other scriptures, Revelation is not an easy book for the novice. Much of it is highly symbolic. Various writers and clergy have spent the last 150 years or so contradicting each other in the cottage industry of prophecy speculation. They try to assign each image some special mystical meaning ascribed to a particular event, like WWI, or the Holocaust, of the Clinton election, etc. I believe that’s nonsense, and I question their motives. The imagery used was largely the same as in various Old Testament books to describe, in graphic word paintings, the fall of nation of Israel due to its “tolerance” of sin. (”Sin” is defined as the rejection of God and His values). Many prophecies foretold the return of a remnant of Israel from captivity (”physical Israel”), but many of those passages also foretold the coming of the Christ to establish His church (”spiritual Israel”).
Like these other prophetic writings, Revelation had a “now and later” meaning and application. It had immediate meaning for the 1st C Christians, but the Spirit preserved it for the learning and comfort of future generations as well.
Christians of the 1st-2nd C were undergoing terrible persecution by Rome. John’s Revelation assured them that God was hearing their outcries, and He would judge their oppressors, but they needed to hold on. Those things were “soon to come,” but not all at once— it was a progressive process caused by Roman society’s refusal to consider the warnings and repent. History teaches that Rome reached its zenith when John penned this book, and began to decline soon thereafter.
Read chapters 8-9, and just let the images wash over you. You can also just listen to it on Blueletterbible.com. Choose a version that’s worded in modern vernacular, like the NIV. Don’t ascribe particular historical or end-of-time events to these symbols. The locusts coming out of the smoke that rises out of the pit (ruled by an angel who may be Satan) and attacking everyone are likely a metaphor for sin— some parts are seemingly attractive, like a woman’s hair, but the sting is in the tail. The increase of sin is itself a judgment on godless people (Rom. 1:26) and creates a very unpleasant society. What’s being described with seals and trumpets are God’s judgments of warfare, economic decline, food shortages, sickness, government corruption and injustice. Note that not all people or property are destroyed, but only a portion, enough to make the nation suffer, and it doesn’t all happen at once. The reason for the continual decline is given at the end of chapter 9:
“20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
Friends, this is talking about the cycle of history. God has always judged godless societies in His time frame. Edom, Assyria, Egypt and other many nations were judged this way. It took Rome 300 years after this book to finally decay enough to fall completely. History records how these judgments of internal decay and external threats played out for Rome in the meantime. It’s happened to societies since then. It has been happening to Europe for decades. It’s now happening to a US society that has embraced the worst of paganism— legalized child murders, rampant divorce, unnatural sexual activities, and vociferous public rejection of God.
In short, the decline were are seeing is based on God’s judgments, and it is nothing new. It will continue as this nation’s corporate rejection of God’s truth increases, likely at an increased rate due to the speed of modern communications. We will continue to hear of internal and external enemies, of government corruption, of injustice, of economic decline. There may be temporary hopes and rumors of upswings and recovery, but unless American society changes that will not occur. No politician we elect will save this country from the results of the sin it’s people been eagerly embracing.
The American Ideal was a brief respite in the march of history, because the majority of people who founded this country at least made some effort to uphold God’s moral laws. No, it wasn’t a perfect system, because people aren’t perfect. But I truly loved our proud history and what this country once stood for. It deeply hurts me to see the decline, to see our values unraveling. But I know the America our religious forefathers founded could not last. We are at the point that our country is now populated by people who do not believe God’s truth. Most so-called Christian churches have had a hand in that as they have replaced God’s word with social programs.
The age-old story of mankind is simply unfolding here. But the message of Revelation and the rest of Scripture is that those who belong to Christ need not worry about those things we cannot control. God is in control, and He’s told us why these things happen on this planet. Our lives here are temporary, and Christians— those who truly belong to Christ— should not be discouraged. We know the big picture; we know where we’re going. Our job is just to take as many as we can with us by spreading the truth while we can.