In last week’s blog, I introduced the subject of light vs. darkness, drawing the conclusion that we are now living in a time of a dangerous darkness that is far, far worse than the dangers of physical darkness. Spiritual darkness is by far the most dangerous type of darkness imaginable, and it seems to me that we are seeing this type of darkness settling over us in such subtle ways that many, if not most, are totally unaware of its presence.

Allow me to begin by stating my foundational premise: I believe the United States of America was founded upon the principles and precepts clearly taught in Scripture. I further believe that our founding fathers envisioned a nation ruled by those principles and precepts, and who also believed that this nation would not long survive if these were ever removed.

I believe we are witnessing the erosion of traditional American values by the embracing of such radical ideals being perpetrated on the American people by those who would undermine, even destroy, our nation in order to see their ideologies and political agendas realized. Now, let me say that I believe they believe what they believe just as staunchly and dogmatically as I believe what I believe. So, if we are speaking of personal bias and preference, my view is as good as theirs, and theirs is as good as mine.

BUT, I am not speaking of personal bias and preference. Rather, I am speaking of precedence. I am speaking of the original intent of our founders. I do not claim to be an expert nor an authority on American history, nor do I claim to have some special insight into the thought processes of those who framed our Constitution. However, I do claim to be one who, as an observer of historical trends, detects clearly an erosion of the rich traditions rooted deeply in American history.

A short blog will not provide enough space to do an extensive review of American history, so I will share some thoughts relative to the recent past. We could go back to 1963, when prayer was removed from public school, or to 1973 and the watershed supreme court ruling which made abortion legal. These two events forever changed the landscape of the United States, and only time will reveal the scope of their destructive power. However, in my estimation, these two events were only a symptom of a far worse problem.

In order to deal with symptoms, the root cause of those symptoms must be diagnosed. From those two events (prayer banned from schools and abortion legalized) it is obvious that our beloved country was then on a course moving away from historical precedent. Historically, we had been a nation which lived true to the visions of our founding fathers: a nation which had its trust in God. And this was not some unknown god, but rather the God of the Bible. The banning of prayer and the embracing of abortion were clear indicators of a rejection of over two hundred years of historical precedence.

This opened the floodgates of spiritual confusion, which has now led us down a path of non-identification. Barack Obama summarized it clearly and succinctly when he said that we are no longer a Christian nation. Sadly, this is a true assessment of our present state, and it is due in large part to decisions forced on the American people by radical, political activists and a left-leaning media which has bought into their godless, non-Christian bias.

This all became blatantly obvious during the Democratic National Convention which convened in Charlotte, NC, in September, 2012. It was at this convention that the Democratic Party voted to remove God from their platform, and to refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Now, for the first time, the objective of the Democratic party was brought into the open, and the root cause of all the symptoms was diagnosed: their desire was to remove God (at least the God of the Bible) from the American countryside.

Oh, they had no problem with a belief in some generic god which played no part in the political process. They just didn’t want to be bound to those old fashioned, antiquated ideas which had provided guidance and direction to the American people since the founding of this nation.

So, where are we now? We have just witnessed the swearing in of elected officials who openly reject the rich, traditional heritage of placing their hands on the Bible to be sworn into office. Why? Because they do not embrace American history and precedence. So what did they place their hand on for this beloved ceremony? The Koran. Yes, they openly, by this act, made their allegiance unmistakably clear: they are committed to the teachings of Islam, and have no regard for the long-held teachings of Scripture nor the long-held traditions of the United States.

Spiritual darkness is persuasive and pervasive. This darkness is sweeping across the United States of America. We are losing our identity. Our history is being rewritten by those who would destroy us. How much longer can we survive as the nation our founders and framers envisioned? Only time will reveal the answer. But from the perspective of one who is heartbroken over the events and decisions of the recent past, I feel that perhaps the sun has set on the America we once knew. Our identity as a nation under God has now been replaced as a nation under many gods, or no god at all if that is your personal preference.

I will close by making this very simple summary statement. I realize that there never has been a time in which every individual citizen of this country was a Christian, but there was a time in which we were a Christian nation. We were guided by those principles which are clearly taught in the Bible. You didn’t have to be a Christian to be an American citizen, but if you were an American citizen you lived under the umbrella of those Christian principles. But now, not only can you reject those principles, you can actually force your beliefs and convictions on others.

The persuasiveness and pervasiveness of spiritual darkness has taken its toll. There is now a large part of our citizenry which follows the path set at the 2012 DNC in rejecting God from our American platform. So, now, anything goes. Every man is left to do what is right in his own eyes. Spiritual confusion and chaos grows more intense by the day.

Our only hope is to return to the God of our fathers. He never leaves or forsakes, but we can choose to leave and forsake Him. Let’s not be counted among those who are overtaken by the darkness, but let us shine forth with the message of His love and grace.