Morality
The Secular Take-over of America
Last week I submitted a 300-page manuscript for my doctoral thesis. Its working title for future book publication is The River, and it details the five worldviews about God, why four of them are false, and how they all came from a common source.
One of the five philosophies that is battling for global supremacy is secularism. I analyzed atheism/secularism/humanism in depth for the thesis–and my studies were very enlightening. First of all, I didn’t realize there were Asian and Western versions of atheism. More on that at a later date.
The western form of secularism is in mortal combat with the Judeo-Christian worldview in the United States. This battle has been escalating for about fifty years.
However, the principalities of evil behind the lie of secularism went for the “jugular” last week when President Obama became the first president in history to endorse homosexual marriage.
This was a desperate attempt to complete the secular takeover of America. Here’s why.
First, a little history of secularism.
Man-centered atheism/secularism comprises one of the five worldviews that go back to ancient times. Yet, there has been a substantial surge in global atheism in the past four decades. What is atheism? An “atheist” says there is sufficient evidence to show that God does not exist. An “agnostic” says there is insufficient evidence to know whether God exists or not. A “practical atheist” is a person who lives as if God does exist.
I use the word “secularist,” (worldly; supreme attention to the things of this life), as synonymous with “atheist.” The term secularism was first coined by in 1846 by George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906). If you combine the numbers for both “atheists” and the “non-religious,” the total number of secularists is about 20% of the world’s population.
Atheism developed as a fourth false tributary of the river of God’s original truth. Human beings were becoming more civilized (less dependent on God’s protection), educated (philosophical about life), industrial (more prosperous), technological (more creative), and scientific (understanding how the world works).
This growth in human development brought a mystical humanism to the East and rational secularism to the West. Both exalted man. Some replaced God with the State.
Atheism or secularism is one of the newer “religions” in the history of man–though there have been people in all ages who denied the reality of God. In the past three hundred years, we have seen the following Western forms:
- The violent French Revolution which came out of the European Enlightenment.
- Nazism under Adolph Hitler and Fascism under Mussolini.
- The various communist expressions including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russian and Mao Zedong in China.
- The social democracies of Europe (a further expression of the Enlightenment).
For much of this period, America resisted secular impulses due to its rich Christian heritage, three powerful spiritual awakenings, and active church involvement in the social issues of the day (such as the issue of slavery in the 19th century).
However, in the 20th century, the Church’s presence began to shrink from the public square and by the 1960s, due to secular indoctrination in the schools, universities and society at large, the Baby boom generation cast off the biblical worldview via the sexual revolution and its many anti-authority expressions.
Atheism/secular was gaining strength and flexing its muscles.
The acceptance of Darwinian evolution as the only theory of origins allowed to be taught in the schools gave secularists a hands up on the new generation who accepted the immoral standards of their parents and took them even further.
As Christian morals crumbled, so did the American family.
Now in the beginning of the 21st century, the map of America has changed. Many say we are now a 50-50 nation. What they mean is that half of the country still believes in America’s traditional Judeo-Christian roots and the other half leans more toward the secular view of life. They argue this is the source of political and social gridlock that we now regularly experience.
Here’s what’s really happened. For America’s first two hundred years, probably 80% of the population were either committed Christians or accepted the biblical worldview as best for society. Another 7-10% were atheists (either in philosophy or practice) and the rest were “other.” But both of these groups accepted the majority worldview and the blessings that it brought to the nation.
Today, however, 80% of Americans still profess to believe in God, but philosophical atheism has grown to about 15% of the population, and other religions have been added to the mix. Instead of the secularists appreciating the blessings of Christian culture, there has been a deliberate attempt by a powerful minority to devolve the United States into a secular majority nation–following the path of Europe.
The growing secular minority is bigger, bolder, more organized, and being led by demonic forces who passionately desire to completely destroy the biblical foundations of America’s Christian liberty.
On a human level, the secularists want to forcefully take over America.
Ignace Lepp, author of Atheism in our Time, tells us how things have changed:
“Contemporary atheism, at least in the developed countries of Christian civilization is distinguished from the atheism of other times and other civilizations above all by its extension. It is no longer a phenomenon of a few individuals protesting the taboos of society, nor the privilege of a minority who consider themselves especially ‘enlightened’ in the manner of the eighteenth century rationalists.”
“It is the common lot of at least a considerable portion, if not of the majority, of our contemporaries and is well on its way to becoming the common norm of society. The intellectuals were the first to break with traditional faith; the bourgeois followed them; then came the masses, and, finally the peasants.”
Secularism has become so brazen that in 2012, for the first time in American history, there are even rallies to promote disbelief.
On Saturday, March 24, 2012, some 20,000 atheists demonstrated in Washington, D.C. for a “Reason Rally” protesting religion. British scientist and leading proponent of atheism, Richard Dawkins, was the headliner. He didn’t appear until five hours into the event, but when he strode to the podium, the crowd cheered wildly.
He announced: “We’re never antagonistic toward religious believers; we’re antagonistic toward religious belief. There is no good, honest reason to believe in a god or gods of any kind, or indeed in anything supernatural. The only reason to believe something is that you have evidence for it.”
The crowd whistled and cheered for his familiar lines such as: “I don’t despise religious people. I despise what they stand for.” And, “Evolution is not just true, it’s beautiful.” Then Dawkins called on the crowd not only to challenge religious people but to “ridicule and show contempt” for their doctrines and sacraments, including the Eucharist.
Outrage was the parlance of the day. Television host Adam Savage told the masses: “There really is someone who loves and protects me and watches over my actions — It’s me!”
Friedrich Nietzsche is probably the greatest philosophical proponent of secularism. Here is the goal that he expressed many years ago:
“We have killed God. The most sacred and powerful force the world has hitherto possessed now bleeds beneath our knife…The grandeur of this act is too great for us. Is it not necessary that, as a result of this act, we become gods ourselves?”
Now you know the meaning of the rise of the “secular state” under Barack Obama and a few presidents that preceded him. Man is now god and the state is his fulcrum of power.
Obamacare was a major secular “grab” to control the American economy. If it remains law, it will destroy America’s ability to prosper and be a blessing to the nations of the world.
Homosexual marriage is the latest “grab” in the secular takeover of America. If inaugurated on a federal scale, it will completely destroy the religious and social foundations that Americans have enjoyed for centuries.
The spiritual powers that have deceived our current leaders showed their true colors this week by motivating Barack Obama to become the first president in history to support homosexual marriage. Yes, he did it because he’s a secularist at heart and it helps with fund-raising. But overall, it was a desperation move because he could badly lose the coming election–as well as the Supreme Court ruling on healthcare this summer.
Both of these defeats would greatly retard, if not stop the secular march to control America. So the spiritual enemy of America got mad and threw all the dice on the table. You can hear the demonic echo: Let’s stop our quiet deception and go for the jugular. We can destroy America only through belittling its faith, squashing its economy, and dismantling the family. Let’s go for it!
There is no sainthood in this decision. It’s purpose is to destroy. And I really don’t ultimately blame the president–but the spiritual forces of wickedness behind him.
Make no mistake. There’s only one group that desires to “take-over” America–and it’s not right-wing Christians. It is a powerful minority of secular radicals–inspired by spiritual darkness–who want to force a man-centered version of civilization down the throats of the Judeo-Christian majority that is barely hanging on for dear life.
Will they succeed in this generation? God only knows. We are called to humble ourselves, pray, vote for wise and godly leaders, and to resist evil.
And hope that a fourth great awakening may yet halt the tide of the secular takeover of America.
A Royal Dilution – Let’s Restore the Dignity of Marriage
I like weddings. I thoroughly enjoyed mine–it was an all-day affair that brought great glory to Christ and was a joy to share with Shirley and others. As a clergyman, I’ve married many other wonderful couples who used their weddings to promote the virtues and symbols of uniting together as man and wife.
For this reason, I followed the recent royal wedding with some interest, especially due to the media hype that caused it to be watched by billions of people around the world. Some folks criticized the tax-payer expense to the average Brit, and others pointed out the bonanza in tourism that the wedding would bring.
I don’t really care about the financial debate. I’m concerned that the marriage of William and Kate, though they appear to be decent people, is yet another example of diluting the beauty and dignity of marriage.
Marriage doesn’t need any more polluting images. It’s already under siege–and needs to be restored to its once wonderful and lofty place.
During my lifetime, the institution of marriage has been greatly cheapened and tarnished. It’s happened before in other time periods, but I’ve only lived in this one–and it grieves me deeply.
When I was born in the 1950s, marriage was held in high esteem in the United States and many parts of the world. Its ceremonies and traditions meant something and were very unique and special. They were tied to the Word of God and expressed His perspective on love, commitment, purity, and fidelity.
But along came the 1960s rebellion against authority–including the institution of marriage–and the promotion of “free love” without godly parameters. Since that raucous period, the change of worldview in the West has greatly polluted the pure stream of God’s intentions for holy wedlock–with most of the changes being hurtful for men, women, and especially children.
What pains me the most is how the lies of the evil one have become so accepted in contemporary culture–the ones that produced William and Kate and the “Royal Wedding.” Yes–it was a beautiful affair–and many of the words shared in the service were excellent regarding God’s perspective on marriage (Gary Randall has a good blog here on the positives). I’malso sure that William and Kate “love” each other and have a fifty percent chance of living ‘happily ever after.”
So what’s the beef?
It’s this: William and Kate really didn’t get married on April 29, 2011.
They’ve been living together for years for crying our loud! That’s a decade of common law marriage–an arrangement not done according to the divine blueprint.
In other words, in God’s eyes, they were already “married”–at least in a cheapened form of the term.
Because here’s the little lost secret of the meaning of the word “marriage:” The essence of marriage is “joining together”–sexually and otherwise. That unique joining –uniting closely in love and affection according to the original Webster’s 1828 Dictionary–has been robbed of its specialness and power through the excesses of the sexual revolution.
So the modern wedding ceremony and its many spiritual symbols don’t mean much anymore. In Kate and William’s case:
- There was nothing exhilarating about them “becoming man and wife.” They’ve been living that way for years.
- Her white dress was only show. It used to stand for the purity of a bride who had not shared sexual relations with any man prior to her vows. In her case, the meaning was gone because she’d been sexually active for years.
- The kiss at the end of the ceremony didn’t mean anything either. In the past, it was a very poignant moment where the bride and groom kissed each other for the very first time. It was the reward of self-control and honor–and was applauded by those in attendance who appreciated the love and sacrifice that brought couples to that moment.
- The giving of the rings and the signing of the papers was also shallow. They used to mean a solemn covenant to love one another until death do us part. In the case of the royals, many that have gone before them (Andrew and Fergie & Charles and Diana) made a mockery of the commitment. In today’s world, there’s a fifty percent chance that William and Kate will do likewise.
In other words, sexual immorality greatly cheapened William and Kate’s beautiful gift of marriage. The ceremony was essentially a show with empty symbols. The beauty was there–but it was all an illusion that did not speak to deeper truths or lifestyle reality.
It was all, really, a lie. And we know where lies come from.
Unfortunately, in the past few decades the devil has had a field-day deceiving us about love, relationships, and marriage. The purpose of these lies has been to destroy us as individuals and ultimately collapse our culture due to removing the pillar support of godly marriages and families.
He’s done a pretty good job of that–and the fruit of broken and dysfunctional lives all around us is strong evidence of his tragic success. Sure, at this point we’ve become a bit callous to it all, but reality is rather blinding. The devil has been extremely effective in discipling Western societies in phony love and perversions of marriage.
Here are a few of his “marriage and healthy relationships” deceptions:
1. All teens need to “couple up” way before they’re ready for marriage and commitment. In fact, let’s just announce that we are “in a relationship” on MySpace or Facebook! Then we can play kissy face, get involved sexually, break up, cry, feel guilty, and have all our friends comfort us (and get in line to be the next candidate) Then we can do it again and again so that by the time we get to the real thing we’ve given away our heart and body so many times that marriage means very little indeed.
2. After beating us up through many hook-ups and break-ups, then why not do a “trial run” by living together in the illusion of marriage? Yes, we need to really find out if we’re sexually and psychologically compatible! Kind of like trying out a used car–kicking the tires—until you find the right one. Of course, statistics have told us for years that common law or shacking up “marriages” do not increase compatibility and commitment. They diminish it.
3. Even if we get a ring and sign the papers, there’s an easy way out: No fault divorce! Now there’s a misnomer for you. Obviously when two people sever a marriage relationship, somebody must be at fault–at least one–and usually both. But no-fault divorce is a convenient satanic lie because it rationalizes guilt and makes me feel better about blaming the other party and moving on to my next victim, er, spouse. No-fault divorce is one of the worst laws of the past fifty years. It’s shredded the institution of marriage for decades.
4. And since marriage is about me meeting my needs–and doing whatever it takes to get there–then who cares about the kids that we produce. They can change households every two weeks, grow up without a dad or mom–or have two sets of each–and turn out just wonderful! I don’t believe we can begin to imagine the scars and hurts we’ve placed in the lives of precious children who needed one mom and dad and the security of a thing called “home.”
5. And finally, let’s so destroy the concept of marriage that we convince ourselves that basically anybody can marry anybody else if they “love” each other (devil’s definition of course). So now we have homosexual marriage and will soon have multiple spouses and humans marrying animals–all in the name of liberated love! What’s incredible about “homosexual marriage” is that, by definition, men cannot marry men and women cannot marry women because the “plumbing” can’t be joined. No matter–we’ll make it work somehow (in very perverse and consequential ways).
I’ve taken a little fun above to make a point, but I’m truly grieved at the warping and cheapening of marriage during the early part of the 21st century. It has hurt and destroyed so many people–and continues to do so in our culture.
So what can we learn from the Royal Wedding? I suggest we open our eyes and make a firm commitment to return to God’s beautiful design for human marriage. You can start in the marriage you already have, or if you’re single, make a commitment to not put on an empty show with symbols that mean little. If you have some courage and convictions, you can:
- Kiss serial dating goodbye and enjoy many healthy friendships in your growing up years that do not involve sex and its responsibilties. Save yourself for that special “other.”
- Save the kiss! Preparations for marriage don’t require it, and will make that moment in your ceremony something others and you and your wife will cherish for a lifetime.
- Prepare for marriage with God’s choice for you through a courtship relationship where families are involved, discipleship is key, and the friendship is kept pure and growing.
- Keep sex out of it before marriage. It was sheer joy to be a virgin when I entered my marriage thirty-five years ago. I’d saved myself for Shirley. She was worth waiting for. The honeymoon was truly that–almost heaven on earth.
- Be faithful for a lifetime. Maybe you’ve messed up and need to repent and get up on the right and pure road. That’s okay. Redemption is God’s specialty–even of marriages.
Young person: If you handle marriage God’s way you will never be disappointed. But if you follow the devil’s blueprint, you will pierce yourself with many a pang and cheapen and dilute that which was meant to be a very wonderful, life-giving stream of blessing in your life.
Be courageous! You can do it. Let’s restore the beauty and dignity of marriage so that all the symbols and ceremony give honor and glory to the One who designed it for our good.
An Actress, A Governor, and the Culture War
I remember when I first saw Natalie Portman’s picture. Our oldest son, Nathan, had just graduated from high school in 1999 and received his high school yearbook. As a joke, he pasted a photo of her next to his in the South Kitsap annual– as if she was in his graduating class!
He liked her then. She was a rising star.
In 2011, her stardom hit paydirt when she won her first Oscar as Best Actress for her performance in Black Swan. Her acceptance speech was short and seemed sincere–but one little sentence in it caused an old debate to re-surface:
How important is marriage to having children?
The answer to that question determines the overall happiness and stability of societies.
I hope we choose well in the 21st century.
Here are the actual words of Natalie Portman on February 27 at the Academy Awards:
“So many people helped me prepare for this role. Mary Helen Bowers spent a year with me, training me, Michelle Rodriguez and Kurt Froman and Olga Kostritzky, Marina Stavitskaya, and my beautiful love Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed the film and has now given me my most important role of my life.”
“Given me the most important role of my life.”
She was referring to the role of motherhood.
Natalie was clearly pregnant on stage–and also unmarried. She’s had sex (or was in some type of “relationship”) with Black Swan’s choreographer, Benjamin Millipied, and together they’d produced a baby.
In all thirteen generations of American history–except the last two–that reality would have been looked down upon as not ideal or desirable. Children were supposed to be born into marriages where both the presence of a mother and father was necessary and vital to to their nurture and future success.
But Natalie Portman is a part of a generation that no longer believes in the ideal–God’s order of things. She believes that sex or “love” is all that’s required to bring a child into the world.
Enter the Governor–former Governor Mike Huckabee–who is considered one of the leading presidential contenders for 2012. On a March 3rd talk show hosted by Jewish commentator and film critic, Michael Medved, Governor Huckabee shared his perspective on Ms. Portman’s example:
”You know, one of the things that’s troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, ‘Hey look, you know, we’re having children, we’re not married, but we’re having these children, and they’re doing just fine.’ But there aren’t really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie.”
It’s true that Natalie Portman has more resources than most to raise her child out of wedlock. The Governor was right on that point. But he went on to say:
”Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that’s the story that we’re not seeing.”
That is also a sobering truth. The largest single cause of poverty in America is single parent homes–children being born out of wedlock.
Then the Governor-and-possibly-presidential-candidate-Huckabee–shared some down right scary statistics:
“You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids — across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out of wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering.”
Let those stats sink in for a moment.
- Three out of four African-Americans that you know were born missing a dad or mom.
- Six out of ten Latinos are victims of single-parent homes.
- And nearly four-in-ten of all live births in the United States are children that will not grow up “normally” in the loving nurture and more-successful structure of a two parent home.
That’s a huge problem–for any society.
The Heritage Foundation rightly points out that:
“Couples who are married have a higher average household income, more assets, and better health than many of their single or cohabitating counterparts. Conversely, families that are headed by unmarried females make up more than half of all families living in poverty. And paychecks are not the only reason two parents are better. Research shows that ‘improvements in child well-being that are associated with marriage persist even after adjusting for differences in family income.’ With four of every 10 U.S. children now born outside of marriage and welfare spending skyrocketing—especially on single-parent households—policymakers and taxpayers can no longer afford to overlook the effects of family and marriage on civil society.”
This is an important discussion. And it’s not just about abstract statistics.
I am personally close to a situation right now where a young teenager is devastated and hurting. She lives with her mother but they don’t get along because of the brokenness of the home. She spends weekends at her father’s place–and cries. She goes back home to her mother–and doesn’t feel loved and protected.
She’s missing security and blessing because the nuclear family is not valued and encouraged.
But back to Mike Huckabee’s analysis. Governor Huckabee was not singling out Natalie Portman for ridicule or disrespect–just commenting on a national problem that she had brought to the forefront by her words at the Oscars. A few days after, he clarified his remarks:
“In a recent media interview about my new book, A Simple Government, I discussed the first chapter, ‘The Most Important Form of Government Is a Father, Mother, and Children.’ I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country. My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”
For the past week Natalie Portman’s words and Mike Huckabee’s response have dominated the social media. One side has said that what Natalie Portman has done is okay–it’s modern, individualistic, and is nobody else’s business. The other side has retorted that it is not helpful to our society to popularize or condone having children outside of marriage. It only hurts the kids–and the entire society in which they live.
During my lifetime, this is the second major national discussion we’ve had on out-of-wedlock births. The first occured in 1992 when Vice President Dan Quayle made his famous remarks about ficticious TV single mom Murphy Brown–and the media escoriated him for it. At the time, Quayle was tarred and feathered as prudish, out-of touch, and bigoted for his criticism of single motherhood.
Years later, the press quietly admitted that Quayle had been right–and that the growing epidemic of single parent homes was a major problem in our nation.
Apparently we have short memories.
So I welcome the debate again in 2011. Because here’s the simple truth: Sex outside of marriage is not good for people; Having children out-of-wedlock hurts kids and increases poverty; We should not glamorize or condone single parenting; We should work hard to keep our marriages intact–a gift of love, security, and prosperity to our children and their children.
That’s the bottom line.
Elevate marriage and family–discourage its counterfeits.
We are in a culture war over the future of marriage and family. Natalie Portman currently represents the secular side that wants to minimize the importance of the nuclear family. I hear a “demonic echo” coming from that direction. Satan wants to destroy kids and inflict poverty and despair upon people. One of his greatest strategies is to bend and break the traditional family.
I ask you to pray for Natalie Portman and many others like her.
Mike Huckabee represents the other side–the Judeo-Christian consensus that believes that God has something vital to say on this subject. He loves all human beings–especially vulnerable children–and created the family structure to nurture, protect, and defend them. Governor Huckabee wants families and children to be strong, productive, and fruitful.
And now you know the real reason that this story hit the front pages. Mike Huckabee might run for president of the United States in 2012, just as Dan Quayle ran for Vice President in 1992. The secular media, who do not believe in the importance of marriage and family, saw this as a great opportunity to try and cut him down to size.
Let’s not let them succeed.
Mike Huckabee is right on marriage, single parenting, and out-of-wedlock births. I asked my wife to order his book, A Simple Goverment, for my birthday.
Maybe he’s right on a few other important ideas that are vital to America’s future.