How Did America Get Here and Where Are We Headed?

I got an email from a very good friend this past week who is a mature, insightful, very involved kingdom warrior. He asked me, “Do you think we are toast as a nation?” 

What do you think? Your answer to that same question will depend on your theology—what you think God is like. If you think like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you think life is purposeless. After his wife’s death, he said, ”Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And then is heard no more.” If you don’t think this way, then why do you think we’re here?

If you are a Christian, you believe that life has significant purpose. You believe that God loves all of us, sent Jesus to die for us on the cross, and He saves all who believe Jesus is their Savior. God did this because He loves us and wants us to have fellowship with Him in heaven forever. You, probably, know that God isn’t into saving nations—only souls. It’s great to live in the free nation the founders gave us, but the Christian majority believes that God isn’t interested in politics—except as a vehicle to save more souls.

On the other hand, my warrior friend believes, as do I, that God has a plan for this earth He created, as well as for all whom He created to inhabit it. This plan involves more than just getting their souls saved. Being sure that we, ourselves, and as many others as possible are saved and assured of heaven, is not the only goal in our lives. The salvation of souls is the exciting, very necessary beginning—but only the beginning—of the plan God had in mind at the creation (Genesis 1:26-28). 

So, it just makes sense that an absolutely sovereign God who “works all things according to the council of His will” (Ephesians 1:11), has got history right where He wants it. Paul calls it “God’s eternal purpose” in Ephesians 3:10, 11. In His original, 3-fold mandate for mankind, God lays out for us exactly why we are here: 1.) to reflect what God is like wherever we go on the earth, 2.) to rule for Him, with His delegated authority, just like He would rule if He were here physically, 3.) to reproduce more God-like rulers, both physically and spiritually, to follow in our footsteps. 

Even now, in the midst of the Corona-virus, He is steadily and purposefully going about getting us ready to fulfill this mandate. He informs, equips and then sends us into the battle to rule for Him.

This was the vision of the Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630—a “Shining City on a hill,” with Jesus Christ as King. His civil law in the Bible formed the basis for their civil law for the theocratic colony they were building in the wilderness. 

The implementation of that vision was flawed, as any human application always is. As a result, a break-off colony consisting of dissatisfied Massachusetts Bay colonists was planted nearby. They were tired of living under, what they saw as, “restrictive legalism.”

The basis for the civil government of this “breakaway colony” was completely antithetical to that of Massachusetts Bay. It was named Providence Plantation, and it is today’s state of Rhode Island. It’s founder and leader was Roger Williams. It was the world’s first independent political entity that was completely secular in nature. Office holders were allowed to claim any religion they chose or no religion at all. 

The religious origins of the other 13 original colonies lay somewhere between these two extremes. Most acknowledged, in their charters, that Jesus Christ was the ultimate ruler over their colony. 

150 years after the founding of Providence, and after our independence had been won from Great Britain on the battlefield, delegates from all thirteen colonies (except Providence Plantation-now Rhode Island) met in Philadelphia and hammered out a new, governing document for the new nation. The Constitution of the United States was the result. Two years later, with the addition of the Bill of Rights, it was finally ratified by all the states, Rhode Island being the last to do so. 

Interestingly, the Constitution is based on the concept of preserving the same personal, individual freedom that the Bible teaches. This freedom is found in Jesus Christ (John 10:10, Romans 8:2). The Constitution is also filled with biblical principles in practically every paragraph. For example, its concept of three distinct branches of government—executive, legislative and judicial—is found in Isaiah 33:22: “For the LORD is our Judge, The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us.“ 

However, unlike the majority of colonial constitutions, Jesus and His rule as “King of kings” is never mentioned in the United States Constitution! As a matter of fact, it is specifically stated in Article Six, Section Three, that it cannot be mandatory that one be a Christian to hold public office (echoes of Providence Plantation, which, interestingly, was the last state, as Rhode Island, to ratify it!). 

Providence’s model, rather than Massachusetts Bay’s, was followed, and a new, secular, pluralistic, nation was born. This happened even though over 90% of the populace claimed to be Christian at the time. This new nation was founded as a de jure (legal) secular, pluralistic nation, while being very much a de facto (in fact) Christian one. Most Christians of the time were unaware of the significance of that change.

The seeds of where we are today were planted in Philadelphia in 1787, either by design (due to a rejection of the legalistic example of Massachusetts Bay), or, inadvertently, because of being unaware of Jesus’ current reign over the nations. He is reigning right now, from His Father’s right hand in Heaven, over all the nations of the earth, through His people on the earth (Psalm 2; 110; Daniel 7:13, 14, 18, 27; Acts 2:32-36). He has been reigning since the Ascension. You can find a full explanation of this in my book, Let Earth Receive Her King, available in the Products section on this website.

So, through successes and failures, ups and downs, and plenty and want, our beloved country has survived and only God knows its future. However, we can know that Jesus’ reign over the earth is sure. Through us, His people, it is already true in fact, and will be experienced in time, as the Gates of Hell will not stop our attack! 

How does God bring that about? Today, we face a challenge that makes the question my friend asked me, “Are we toast as a nation?” a valid one. We face, for the first time, openly, from our own citizens within America itself, the threat of Cultural Marxism. In the midst of that threat, does God bring spiritual awakening and a return to Him and the Bible as a national way of life, or does He bring judgment upon us for our egregious national sins? 

Certainly, I pray for a discipline from Him that brings revival, as the church awakens from its stupor, repents and turns from its sin of refusing to be involved in God’s eternal purpose,  and becomes the mighty army of warriors God made us to be. But I think it’s much more likely that He brings Cultural Marxist to power in America first, and the church experiences the results of a political structure purposely vacated by God’s people. The freedom the church has taken for granted will be lost in a heartbeat.

When we begin to stand for the truth He has shown us, and proclaim it with overflowing love in our hearts for our blind, deceived enemies, that’s when those gates begin to crumble. Either way, awakening or Marxism first, God has us right where He wants us as His plan for the earth unfolds. Exciting times lie directly ahead. I can’t wait to “Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13) as Jesus brings America under His rule!