Not many months from now we will be listening to another
presidential inaugural address. Unless something unprecedented and
unforeseeable occurs it will likely be delivered by either Donald Trump or
Hillary Clinton. Frankly, I can't even begin to imagine what might be said to the American people (and the world) by either individual, that will be received as remotely
credible.
Contrast John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech, which has all but faded into the distant corridors of history:
"In the long history of the world, only a few
generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of
maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do
not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any
other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this
endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that
fire can truly light the world.
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.
"My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what
America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of
man.
"Finally, whether you are citizens of America
or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength
and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we
love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
work must truly be our own."
(John F.
Kennedy: "Inaugural Address," January 20, 1961. Online by
Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032.)
Fifty-five years later we find
ourselves embroiled in a societal conflict neither our founding fathers nor, more recently, those
few left from "The Greatest Generation" could have ever conceived in their darkest dreams. We face a threat infinitely more dire than that of communism of the 60's and 70's or the terrorism of the 21st Century. It is the unraveling of the American Dream. Simply put, the word
'freedom' no longer stands for what most Americans understood for more than 200 years: the obligation
to uphold moral responsibility while pursuing life, liberty and
happiness. Today 'freedom' means the complete casting off of all restraint, as
has been so aptly demonstrated by our current presidential candidates.
Our founding fathers understood this danger all too well:
John Adams in a speech to the
military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, “We have no government
armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by
morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Benjamin Rush, Signer
of the Declaration of Independence said. “The only foundation for a useful
education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can
be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is
the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion,
I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals
and principles of mankind.”
Noah Webster, author of
the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said,
“The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of
all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil
government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the
principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”
Benjamin Franklin, Signer
of the Declaration of Independence “Only a virtuous people are capable of
freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
John Jay, Original
Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , “The Bible is the
best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy
in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate
your life by its precepts.”
We are fools for not heeding their warning.
We have become a nation of adulterers, infatuated
with and celebrating all kind of sexual perversion. We are lawless, pursuers of
wealth and self-gratification at all cost. We have chosen to ignore the lessons
of history, having postured ourselves dangerously close to what is
described in Psalm 2, "The kings of the earth rise up and the
rulers band together against the Lord and against his
anointed, saying, 'Let us break their chains and throw off their
shackles.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord scoffs at
them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his
wrath, saying, 'I have installed my king on Zion, my holy
mountain.” In our blindness we have become the poster child for Revelation
3:17, "You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind
and naked.”
Dear friends we stand, I believe, on the threshold
of judgement. Divine judgement certainly, but judgement as well from the
millions of Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice with their very blood and
lives in order that we might carry on the great Dream our founding fathers
envisioned. Their voices cry out from the grave for justice. Justice that may well come
in the form of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
As the great Christian advocate C.S. Lewis wrote, “There
are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will
be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be
done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could
be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss
it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.” (Lewis, C.S.; The
Great Divorce).
Sadly, we seem to have chosen. The question is, will we humble ourselves, admit our sinful behavior
and return to the godly, Biblical principles on which this nation
was founded; or will we be driven there, broken by calamity?
Perhaps there is still time.
Edmund Burke, the great 18th Century political activist and American
advocate is credited with saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of
evil is for good men to do nothing.” I
believe this is the greatest temptation we face in America today.
No doubt many will be tempted to abstain
from their constitutional right to vote on November 8. I admit I’m fighting
this inclination myself. It would be a grave mistake to do so, however. Instead
I choose to look beyond the rhetoric and media circus and will do everything I
can to discover where the candidates stand on real issues. I will identify the
candidate I believe most closely agrees with the course charted by our founding
fathers - a course I happen to wholly embrace - and I will vote accordingly. If no such person becomes apparent, I will ask for Divine wisdom and guidance at the moment of decision.
I will also continue to pray and plead for God's mercy on our land. It is our ultimate hope.
