A Culture in Crisis

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the of
DESTINY
AmericA
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Michael ManwellerPolitical Science
ProfessorCentral Washington University

• America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads
  more than an election hangs in the balance. Down
  one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of
  ambivalence.

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Michael ManwellerPolitical Science
ProfessorCentral Washington University

• Down the other lies a nation that is aware of
  its past and accepts the daunting obligation its
  future demands. If we choose poorly, the
  consequences will echo through the years of
  history.

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Of the 21 Great Civilizations studied by Arnold
Toynbee in his work, A Study of History,
America alone has survived!
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Yet, every symptom of decay that preceded the
fall of the other 20 great civilizations of
world history
is present in America today!
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Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America
1832)

• America is great, because she is GOOD and if
  she ever ceases to be GOOD, she will also cease
  to be great!

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• Is America still GOOD?

from point of view?
GOD'S
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Deut. 78-11

• 9 Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God
  is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps
  His covenant for a thousand generations and
  constantly loves all those who love Him and obey
  His commands.

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Deut. 78-11

• 10 But He does not hesitate to punish and
  destroy those who hate Him. 11Therefore, you must
  be careful to obey all these commands, laws, and
  regulations I am giving you today.

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Ezekiel 69-10

• 9 I was hurt by their adulterous hearts, which
  turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which
  lusted after shameful things. But soon they will
  hate themselves for the evil and disgusting
  things that they have done. 10Then you will know
  that I am the LORD and that the disaster I
  promised was not an empty threat.
• .

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Ezekiel 611-13

• 11This is what the Almighty LORD says Clap your
  hands, stomp your feet, and say, Oh no! because
  the people of Israel have done evil and
  disgusting things. So I will punish them, and
  they will die in wars, famines, and plagues.
  12Plagues will kill those who are far away. Those
  who are near will die in wars, and anyone who is
  left and has escaped will die in famines. This is
  how I will unleash My anger against their sins.
  13Then you will know that I am the LORD.

12
Ezekiel 614
14 I will use My power against them and destroy
their land, from border to border.

• Then they will know that I am the LORD.

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Lamentations 1

• 1 Look how deserted Jerusalem is! Once the city
  was crowded with people. Once it was important
  among the nations. Now it is like a pitiful
  widow.
• Once it was a princess among the provinces. Now
  Jerusalem has become an impoverished slave!

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Lamentations 15

• 5 Jerusalems enemies are now in control, and
  laugh at her calamity. The LORD made Zion suffer
  for her many rebellious acts. Her children have
  been taken captive by her enemies, because of her
  sins against the Lord.

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Lamentations 19-10

• 9 She defiled herself with immorality with no
  thought of the punishment that would follow. Now
  she lies in the gutter with no one to rescue her.
  LORD, see my deep misery, she cries. The enemy
  has triumphed over us. 10The enemy has plundered
  her completely, taking everything precious that
  she owns.

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10 Warning Signs of
Culture
a in
CRISIS!
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1. An increase in lawlessness throughout the
culture.
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In America, the national crime rate rose over
300 in just two decades between 1960 and 1980!
1. An increase in lawlessness throughout the
culture.
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• Loss of economic discipline and self-restraint.
• indebtedness!

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• As of TODAY, our national debt is
  9,398,710,880,004.37
• 9.4 TRILLION Dollars!
• 2.52 Trillion in consumer debt!
• Nearly 50,000 per family!

2. Loss of economic discipline and
self-restraint. INDEBTEDNESS
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3. Rising bureaucracy, governmental regulations
taxes.
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government of the people, by the people and for
the people vs. BUREAUCRACY!
3. Rising bureaucracy, governmental regulations
taxes.
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BUREAUCRACY always increases commensurate to
the decrease of individual social concern,
responsibility initiative!
3. Rising bureaucracy, governmental regulations
taxes.
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4. A decline in the quality and relevance of
education.
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A continual Dumbing Down of America!
4. A decline in the quality and relevance of
education.
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Weve gone from Johnny cant read to Johnny is
a total moron!
4. A decline in the quality and relevance of
education.
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5. A weakening of the foundational principles
that contributed to the greatness of the nation.
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Our Foundation as a Nation

• It was the Lord who put it in my mindI could
  feel His hand upon methe fact that it would be
  possible to sail from here to the Indies
• All who heard of my project rejected it with
  laughter, ridiculing me

Christopher Columbus
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Our Foundation as a Nation

• There is no question that the inspiration was
  from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me
  with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy
  Scriptures For the execution of the journey to
  the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence,
  mathematics, or maps.

Christopher Columbus
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Our Foundation as a Nation

• It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah
  prophesied. No one should fear to undertake a
  task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and
  if the intention is purely for His ServiceThe
  fact that the Gospel must still be preached to so
  many lands in such a short timethis is what
  convinces me.

Christopher Columbus
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The Puritan Covenant

• Resolved that we must shake off the yoke of
  anti-Christian bondage and join ourselves by a
  covenant unto the Lord into the fellowship of the
  Gospel to walk in all His ways, whatsoever it
  shall cost us the Lord assisting us.

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The Mayflower Compact

• A solemn covenant to serve God, walk in all His
  ways, and create a society that would be a model
  of Christian charity to the world.

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Patrick Henry

• The Bible is worth all other books which have
  ever been printed.

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George Washington
It is impossible to rightly govern the world
without God and the Bible.
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Our Foundation as a Nation

• It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the
  Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to
  be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to
  implore His protection and favor.

George Washington
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Our Foundation as a Nation
Benjamin Franklin

• He who shall introduce into public affairs the
  principles of primitive Christianity will change
  the face of the world.

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Our Foundation as a Nation

• How has it happened, Sir, that we have not
  hitherto once thought of humbly appealing to the
  Father of lights to illuminate our
  understandings? In the beginning of the contest
  with Great Britain, when we were sensible to
  danger, we had daily prayers in this room for
  Divine protection.

Benjamin Franklin
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Our Foundation as a Nation

• Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were
  graciously answeredI have lived, Sir, a long
  time and the longer I live, the more convincing
  proofs I see of this truth that God governs in
  the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall
  to the ground without His notice, is it probable
  that an empire can rise without His aid?

Benjamin Franklin
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Our Foundation as a Nation
Benjamin Franklin

• We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred
  writings that except the Lord build the house,
  they labor in vain that build it.
• I firmly believe this

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Abraham Lincoln

• I believe that the Bible is the best gift God
  has ever given to man.

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Andrew Jackson
That book sir, is the rock on which our republic
rests.
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The Christian Life and Character of the Civil
Institutions of the United StatesB.F. Morris

• The great vital and conservative element in our
  system is the belief of our people in the pure
  doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of
  Jesus Christ.

The US House of Representatives 1854
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Our Foundation as a Nation
Supreme Court Ruling 1892

• In the court case "Church of the Holy Trinity vs.
  United States the U.S. Supreme Court documented
  many precedents from American history as evidence
  toward its declaration that America is a
  Christian nation.

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Church of the Holy Trinityvs the United States
Supreme Court Ruling 1892

• "There is no dissonance in these declarations.
  There is a universal language pervading them all,
  having one meaning they affirm and reaffirm that
  this is a religious nation.

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Church of the Holy Trinityvs the United States
Supreme Court Ruling 1892

• These are not individual sayings, declarations
  of private persons they are organic utterances
  they speak the voice of the entire people....

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Church of the Holy Trinityvs the United States
Supreme Court Ruling 1892

• These, and many other matters which might be
  noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations
  to the mass of organic utterances that this is a
  Christian nation.

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Our Christian Heritage

• No truth is more evidentthan that the Christian
  religion must be the basis of any government
  intended to secure the rights and privileges of a
  free people.

Noah Webster
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Ted Turner - CNN

• ...the Biblical Ten Commandments do not relate
  to current global problems. We're living with
  outmoded rules.
• The Ten Commandments are too old!

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• Prayer forbidden in schools.
• Bible reading forbidden in schools.
• The Ten Commandments forbidden in public forums!
• References to God forbidden in public forums!
• The Pledge of Allegiance deemed politically
  incorrect due to the mention of God!

5. A weakening of the foundational principles
that contributed to the greatness of the nation.
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6. Loss of respect for established religions.
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Wilhelm Frick
Separation of Church State?

• We Nazis demand a separation of Church and State
  in the entire public life of the country. What is
  the sense in still having Catholic associations
  of civil servants?...
• They are often active in areas which the Nazi
  State claims for itself in fulfillment of its
  tasks. All these things are designed to disturb
  the unity of the German people, which Adolf
  Hitler created after fifteen years of struggle
  for the soul of Germany.

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Adolf Hitler
Separation of Church State?

• We have brought the priests out of the Partys
  political conflict, and led them back into the
  Church. And now it is our desire that they should
  never return to that area for which they were not
  intended.

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Martin Niemöller

• We preferred to keep quiet. We are certainly not
  without guilt and I ask myself over and over
  again what would have happened if 14,000
  evangelical ministers and the Evangelical
  communities, all over Germany, had defended the
  truth with their very lives in the year 1933 or
  1934, when there must have still been a
  possibility?

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• If we had said then that it is not just for
  Herman Goering simply to throw 100,000 of our
  people into concentration camps to perish?
• I can imagine that 30 to 40 thousand Evangelical
  Christians would have been shortened by a head,
  but I can also imagine that we would have thus
  saved 30-40 millions of lives, for this is the
  price that we now have to pay.

Martin Niemöller
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German Evangelical Church

• We know ourselves to be one with our people in a
  great company of suffering and in a great
  solidarity of guilt. With great pain do we say
  Through us endless suffering has been brought to
  many people and countries

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German Evangelical Church

• We accuse ourselves for not witnessing more
  courageously, for not praying more faithfully,
  for not believing more joyously, and for not
  loving more ardently.

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Matthew 513-14 13You are the salt of the earth.
But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?
Can you make it useful again? It is worthless,
good for nothing except to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot. 14You are the light of the
worldlike a city set on a hill, shining in the
night for all to see.
6. Loss of respect for established religions.
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7. An increase in materialism.
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He who dies with the most toys wins! Vs. He
who dies with the most toys was a fool!
7. An increase in materialism.
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8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age

8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age
• Hinduism

8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age
• Hinduism
• Buddhism

8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Islam

8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Wicca

8. The lure of alien gods.
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• New Age
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Wicca
• Occult

8. The lure of alien gods.
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9. A decline in the value of human life.
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• Abortion!

One in every three children conceived
9. A decline in the value of human life.
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• Partial Birth Abortion!

9. A decline in the value of human life.
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10. A rise in immorality.
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Romans 124-28

• Pornography!
• Fornication!
• Adultery!
• Homosexuality!
• Pedophilia!
• Bestiality!
• Incubus!

• Since they would not honor God in their
  thinking, He gave them over to a depraved mind,
  to do what should never be done.

10. A rise in immorality.
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Leviticus 1822, 24

• Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman
  that is detestable. Do not defile yourselves in
  any of these ways, because this is how the
  nations that I am going to drive out before you
  became defiled.

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Barack Obama

• I think that it is a legal right that they
  should have that is recognized by the state. If
  people find that controversial then I would just
  refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I
  think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central
  than an obscure passage in Romans.

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Romans 124-28

• Therefore God gave them over in the sinful
  desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for
  the degrading of their bodies with one another.
  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
  worshiped and served created things rather than
  the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

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Romans 124-28

• Because of this, God gave them over to shameful
  lusts. Even their women exchanged natural
  relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the
  men also abandoned natural relations with women
  and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men
  committed indecent acts with other men, and
  received in themselves the due penalty for their
  perversion.

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A Culture in Crisis
Renowned British anthropologist, J.D. Unwin,
whose studies chronicled 86 different cultures
throughout world history, discovered that every
nation that rejected monogamy in marriages
disintegrated morally in less than one generation.
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Proverbs 1434

• Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a
  reproach to any people.

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Job 1223

• God makes the nations great, then destroys them
  He enlarges the nations, then leads them away to
  judgment.

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Michael ManwellerPolitical Science
ProfessorCentral Washington University

• I believe that 100 years from now historians
  will describe the election of 2004 as the moment
  America joined the ranks of ordinary nations

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Michael ManwellerPolitical Science
ProfessorCentral Washington University

• or they will describe it as the moment the
  prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest
  generation accepted their burden as caretakers of
  the City on the Hill."

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John Winthrop First Governor of Massachusetts

• We must consider that we shall be a city upon a
  hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that
  if we shall deal falsely with our God in this
  work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to
  withdraw His present help from us, we shall be
  made a story and a byword through the world.

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John Jay

• Freedom is now in your power. Value the heavenly
  gift. Remember, if you dare to neglect or despise
  it, you offer an insult to the Divine Bestower.

1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
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Thomas Jefferson

• Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure
  when we have removed their only firm basis - a
  conviction in the minds of the people that these
  liberties are of the gift of God? That they are
  not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I
  tremble for my country when I reflect that God is
  just that His justice cannot sleep forever.

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the of
DESTINY
AmericA
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God's for AMERICA...
SOLUTION
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I Timothy 21-2 1 Most importantly, I encourage
you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions,
and prayers of thanks for everyone, 2 but
especially for rulers, and for everyone who has
authority over us. Pray for these people so that
we can have a quiet and peaceful life always
lived in godliness and reverence.
PRAY for those in authority
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2 Chronicles 714

• if My people who are called by My name will
  humble themselves and pray and seek My face and
  turn from their wicked ways

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2 Chronicles 714

• then I will hear from heaven and will forgive
  their sins and heal their land.

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2 Chronicles 714

• if My people who are called by My name will
  1humble themselves and 2pray and 3seek My face
  and 4turn from their wicked ways

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2 Chronicles 714

• then I will hear from heaven and will forgive
  their sins and heal their land.

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the of
DESTINY
AmericA