Influences on the Spiritual Slide of America

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget...Otherwise...your heart will become proud...You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."...If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods...you will surely be destroyed. [Deut. 8:10-20]

Christianity:

America was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. Many of her founding fathers recognized and worshiped God as Lord. They believed in the inherent wisdom in His Word and agreed to base national laws and education on its eternal principles.

But power and prosperity led to apathy and compromise. In spite of God’s repeated warnings, people attributed America’s achievements to human intelligence rather than God’s grace. Instead of thanking Him for His blessings, many ignored His Word, rejected His guidelines, and said, "I want to go my own way."

"You have eaten the fruit of deception...you have depended on your own strength..." [Hosea 10:13]. "He who trusts in himself is a fool.." [Prov. 28:26]. "Help, O Lord, for the godly are no more...May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, ‘We...own our lips, who is our master?" [Psa. 12:4]. "In those days...everyone did what was right in his own eyes." [Jud. 21:25].

Humanism:

Humanism has always served as a bridge between Biblical faith and paganism. Shifting man’s focus from God to self, it blinds people to truth and opens their mind to deception. In the early sixties, America banned prayer and Bible reading from public schools, while humanist leaders persuaded gullible followers that God is nothing but a myth and man reigned supreme. But disillusioned seekers soon realized that humanism alone failed to satisfy their dreams. A spiritual vacuum had created fresh hunger for supernatural power. They were ready to try anything, except true Christianity, to realize spiritual power. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" [2 Tim. 4:3-4].

New Age:

The New Age movement promises spiritual power to self-focused seekers. Blending Eastern mysticism, an inflated view of human potential, and a fascination with "the force," it permits man to be his own god, or to create a "better" god, one in man's own image. Free to experiment with mind-altering techniques and occult formulas, man alone can master his fate.

But God made people with a need for relationships, and an impersonal force cannot quench the thirst for spiritual oneness and relationship with Christ. By the start of the nineties, seductive New Age influences had desensitized America to occult formulas. Man alone can master his fate.

People were now ready to embrace Satan’s time-proven alternatives to God: the personified deities of the world’s earth centered religions.

"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator...He gave them over to a depraved mind..."[Rom 1:25-29].

Neo-paganism:

"Human administration of the universe...is far too great a task... What we need...is the sensitivity to understand and respond to the psychic energies...This is the ultimate wisdom of tribal peoples," so wrote Thomas Berry in the Dream of the Earth, a Sierra Club book instrumental in turning humanists like Norman Lear from atheism to earth-based spirituality. Today multitudes are trading reality for fantasy, facts for lies, and God’s promises for pagan dreams.

Disguised as guardian angels, animal spirits, or extra-terrestrials, occult spirits communicate a common message: God is in everyone. Love one another. Pursue unity and oneness. Create a better world!

It sounds so good, so utopian, even almost Christian. How could it be false?

"In later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" [1 Tim 4:1]. "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." [1 John 5:19]

Babylonian paganism:

Demons win converts by accommodating foolish human demands, but they soon control their victims. The torments that always characterized pagan civilizations were first documented in ancient Sumeria, Babylon and Canaan. The same oppressions are beginning to erode the idealistic facades of today’s neo-paganism. Out of the resulting tide of violence, perversion, chaos and fear springs a desperate cry for order and safety. "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth." [2 Thes. 2:9-10]

Global Dominion:

The Old Testament shows that in times of rebellion and idolatry, God withdrew His protection from the land He loved [Num. 14:9; Mic. 1:11; Isa 22:8-9; Deut. 8:6-20; 31:17; Ezra 8:22; 1 Cor 10:1-11] and allowing enemies to enslave His rebellious people [Deut. 11 and 28]. Both Old and New Testament passages warn us that the final "day of the Lord" will bring unprecedented terrors under a global tyrant controlled and empowered by Satan. This is the seen in Revelation 13.

End-time events fit the same Biblical patterns demonstrated in Old Testament history. Then as now, those who turned from truth to "other gods," faced devastating consequences. See Leviticus 26 for the five cycles of discipline related to rejection of God by a nation. In the Tribulation the consequences will be far more severe and beyond anything that man has ever experienced before in human history.

The book of Judges gives us the often repeated cycle:

Rebellion and paganism; famine, war, plagues and slavery; confession and repentance crying out to God; God hears, delivers and restores; peace and prosperity; apathy and compromise; rebellion and paganism; etc..

God warned us that we could face similar destruction. "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come." [1 Cor 10:6-10]

In our day we have a new factor that promotes these false teachings so much faster than any previous generation. The communication explosion with many different methods for occult indoctrination, the proliferation of spiritual counterfeits, the acceleration of demonic activity, and today’s ignorance of occult dangers have set the stage for potential unprecedented evils.

But those who know God and have a solid frame of reference of truth need not be afraid. While we await His coming, our King offers spiritual protection and ultimate victory to all who trust and follow Him. That is to utilize the resources made available to us by His grace. So let us put on the full armor of God and stand firm in Jesus Christ, and "run the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus..." [Heb. 12:2-3].