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Turning America Around



By: Dan Smithwick
06/10/2002

Turning America Around


By: Dan Smithwick
06/10/2002

Turning America Around with Truth
Dan Smithwick
President, Nehemiah Institute
1-800-948-3101


John Winthrop, a Puritan from England, and first governor of Massachusetts, compared the Puritan journey from England to America with Israel's Exodus from Egypt. They were escaping a land where a godless state governed the church and where the sins of centuries dominated the people's thinking and way of life. Winthrop saw the Puritan immigration to the New World as a chance to build a society governed by God's true people and God's principles for holy living. While the Puritan's vision for a righteous Christ-honoring nation stayed the course for roughly 300 years, it is clear to all who want to see that America has badly veered off course over the past several decades. Once again, we are a "Godless state where the sins of decades dominate the people's thinking and way of life." Another Exodus is needed.

However, unlike Israel's Exodus and the Puritan's Exodus, America's Exodus cannot not include a geographical move, only a theological change. We must leave Humanism and return to Theism. Humanism, a view placing man at the center of importance with appeal only to reason or science as the determination of right and wrong, is contrary to the Biblical philosophy of life and must be intentionally rejected by Christians.

The church once again needs to train her people (of all ages) to think and behave Biblically. The church needs to reclaim her proper place in culture, as head and not the tail (Deut 28:13) using truth as a basis of what is good and what is evil. To not do so will surely invoke the wrath of God as happened during the days of Jeremiah when the under-shepherds failed to properly lead God's people.

Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:2), NASB

Israel's disobedience and phony religious practices cost them their nation. The Jews spent 70 years in captivity to a hostile pagan people, waiting a new generation to take seriously the commands of God. Does America have to suffer the same fate? Only if the church continues its 'hands off' policy of shaping the thinking and behavior of our culture. A Christian Commonwealth was the goal of the Puritans and it should be ours. Though not all people will be Christians, the Biblical mandate is to have scripture-based ethics in all spheres of society.

America can be turned around. Evil can be put down and righteousness can be exalted. The key is having the church committed to teaching a Biblical worldview and training future leaders of America. Based on the authority of God's Word, we know that if we think correctly we will behave correctly. "For as he thinketh in his heart so is he,--" (Proverbs 23:7a) KJV

Biblical worldview training is hard work. It means studying, learning and applying what God has revealed in scripture for all areas of life. Dr. Jay Grimstead, Director of Coalition on Revival stated it well:

"We affirm that the Bible is not only God's statements to us regarding religion, salvation, eternity, and righteousness, but also the final measurement and depository of certain fundamental facts of reality and basic principles that God wants all mankind to know in the spheres of law, government, economics, business, education, arts and communication, medicine, psychology, and science."

But for several decades now, the church has chosen the smaller, easier path- focusing primarily on how to get people to heaven. The unstated mission of most churches would read something like "We believe in letting the world run the world." This is not a Biblical position.

"Biblical worldview" is a term that has become common among various Christian ministries and Christian schools in the past few years. There are a few ministries doing quality work in this area and are paving the way for a broader engagement of the Dominion Mandate (Matthew 28:19,20) by the church at large. But the overall trend is not good.

Our ministry has been providing a unique Biblical worldview assessment service to Christian schools (primarily secondary and undergraduate level) since 1986. The assessment, known as PEERS Testing, measures worldview understanding in Politics, Economics, Education, Religion and Social Issues (PEERS). Almost every year results of the test are lower than the year before. That trend is continuing this year. From our vantage point, Christian youth are having their 'worldview' developed substantially more from Secular Humanism than from Biblical theism. Since 1988, only 5.9% of Christian youth scored in the Biblical theism category while 51.7% scored in Secular Humanism or Socialism categories. The church is rapidly loosing a generation of youth to anti-Christian thinking (and behavior). For the most part, I believe, this is happening under the noses of the shepherds without their realizing it.

If you are aware of this troubling situation, and if you want to be used of the Lord to restore the church and turn America around, I suggest doing the following: 1) Pray. Pray for God's mercy and grace upon our land. Tell the Lord of your burden and of your willingness to be used of Him in bringing about change. 2) Take the PEERS Test (order from our web site). Find out where you may have adopted non-Biblical views that will hinder you from "running the race." 3) Read. Those who don't read can't lead, said Napoleon. Read at least one 'Biblical worldview' book per quarter in addition to daily scripture reading. Our worldview study course, Developing a Biblical Worldview (which you should also complete) contains a list of 75 excellent Biblical worldview books. 4) Lead a study on Biblical worldview understanding. Visit with your pastor about doing this in church. If not there, then in your home. 5) From there, trust God to lead you in building an everlasting Kingdom.

Remember, truth and time are on our side. But we must engage the culture war or face the risk of our children or grandchildren cursing us for not doing something when we could have. I would like to hear from you.