Dear Editor,

“Some Americans will never appreciate America, until after they have helped to destroy it, and have then begun to suffer the consequences.”

— Dr. Thomas Sowell

Western civilization and the United States are failing.

Do you agree that there is open rebellion against God today? Do you believe sin is being openly promoted?

A generation has arisen that doesn’t know, nor do they care about Jesus Christ.

It took less than 60 years to replace holiness with hedonism. We now serve the gods of self, leisure, money, politics, entertainment, sex, sports, and abortion. There are four restraints to evil we must have to survive.

1. Conscience: The law of God is written on every human heart. It is our warning device from God. If you train the heart to override the conscience because you don’t want to feel guilty, you my friend, have just wiped out restraint. You know that what you do is evil in God’s sight but you don’t care. It’s a quick ticket to hell without repentance.

2. Family: Are you raising children to honor God? Are you passing down to them righteousness, goodness, truth, and discipline? We need healthy God fearing families. Adultery, abortion, cohabitation, divorce, alternative lifestyles, pornography, progressive sex education, fatherlessness, social media, television and video games all negatively affect the family.

3. Government: It’s quite simple. When law is made evil, lawlessness runs rapid. God ordained authority should be honored. But authority that is gained through lies and promotes that which the Bible says is evil should be opposed in a democratically elected republic.

4: The Church: The church is not only the pillar of our country but the body of Christ to a lost world. But in conforming to the culture of the world, it has lost its ability to be relevant. The church needs not only to preach of God’s love but also to preach the need of repentance, righteousness, holiness, and truth. Sadly most churches are irrelevant social clubs.

The true good of a nation can only be brought about by those who love Jesus. There will be only two ways to rescue our nation. The first is Godly courage. True men of God stand against unjust rulers and the evil of culture. Men like Moses stood against Pharaoh. John the Baptist stood against King Herod. Meshack, Shadrach and Abendigo stood against KIng Nebucanezzar and our Lord Jesus Christ stood against the Pharisees. The second answer to this country’s death spiral is even more important because it comes from God. “If my people, (the church) which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways (repent); then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2nd Chronicles 7:14. There is nothing in the human realm that can save us … only God.

Randy Marple

Shadyside