The End Is Near...for the USA

By Jason Lovelace

On this 9th Anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks in New York and DC, this writer thinks that the USA is near the point of no return.

"Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people."

--Proverbs 14.34

"But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sins will find you out."

--Numbers 32.23

On April 12th, 1861, the US Fortress in Charleston Bay named Fort Sumter was fired on by elements and artillery batteries associated with the Army of the newly-formed Confederate States of America. Since that time, whenever the United States of America has been assaulted in any way, shape, or form, the citizenry and the government of the USA has responded with clear and righteous anger and rage, usually resulting in war with the attacker, the US Military not ceasing operations until the enemy was totally vanquished. Such was the case in 1898 when the Spanish were accused of destroying an American Battleship, the USS Maine, in Havana Harbor; ditto that in 1917 when several US Ships had been sunk due to unrestricted German Submarine Warfare; ditto that again when the Japanese assaulted and attacked our Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941. In all of these cases, the USA and her people - following these assaults listed - followed through and supported the Government and the Military until the job was done, and the likes of Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini, the Kaiser, the Spanish Crown, and the Confederate States of America were summarily defeated (we could say the same concerning Mexico in 1848-49, and almost the same with the British in 1812). We were a nation when assaulted were like lions: attack our pride, assault our family, and destruction is assured. We were also a nation that, up until the 1960s, held respect for God as supreme (even if some of us refuse to worship or follow him), where our National Leadership appealed early and often to the Almighty, seeking his face and his will in the crucial decisions that were to be made and were made. The result was a nation that became strong in record time, and internationally dominant in a time span never before reached by any other nation or civilization...and all of this happening via people who were considered cast-offs and the refuse of other more highly advanced and ancient nations. Just the mere whisper of the USA made people dream dreams never before visualized. Even the mention of the US Government's indignation was often enough for other countries to sue for peace before shots were fired, and often conflicting nationalities both inside and across national borders appealed to the USA to mediate.

As the 9th Anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks has now come upon us, it is interesting to reflect upon the time past since this horrible incident took place. In an unprecedented move, for four whole days - from September 11th to the 15th of 2001 - an entire nation, the most powerful nation on Earth with a population of 300 million was held in the grip of eighteen terrorists, mostly from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but hailing from their Al Qaida bases in Afghanistan. In all of history, no nation before was ever held in the grip of fear in such a way by so small a group. No population of such size was ever held captive by so small a group of men - but then agan, no other group of men were so dedicated to their cause and religion and leader as to take so bold a move as they did (and this is in no way praising the men who did this terrible deed). In the beginning of this ordeal that the USA has undergone for nine years - the War on Terror - we, the population of the USA, were bound and determined to see this faceless and slippery enemy defeated and annihilated form the face of the Earth. We gave President bush unprecedented powers and responsibility to get the job done, and for the most part over his two terms of presidency, he did just that, insomuch as all but wiping out Al-Qaida and the Taliban from their bases in the two countries the US Military was ordered to enter: Iraq and Afghanistan (yes, the Taliban wasn't totally defeated, but their presence in Afghanistan was greatly reduced, forcing them to retreat to friendly regions inside Pakistan). However, over the course of those eight years Americans increasingly became tired of the war, and focused their dissatisfaction at the voting booths in 2006 and `08. We voted in a congress which opposed President Bush's policies with regards to the Iraq Theatre, and in 2008, voted in a President in Barack Hussein Obama who was ready to pull the plug on the most obvious assets in the War on Terror, the Terrorist Prisons at Guantanamo Bay, and the victorious efforts in Iraq. We are now seeing a draw-down of troops in Iraq, and an end of combat operations by the US Military as early as this winter.

Yet, terrorism remains as strong as ever. The enemy, mostly defeated in Iraq - thanks to President Bush's Surge Strategy - is making a comeback, and things in Afghanistan are only getting worse (and have done so since President Obama took office last January).

What's happened? Why are we Americans basically giving up the fight when the enemy we seek to destroy is still active and dangerous?

First and foremost, we have become a nation of people who give up all to easily. We Americans used to stick in the fight until the job was finished, and the enemy either vanquished (as in the Mexican War, the War Between the States, the Spanish-American War, World War One, World War Two, the Grenada Intervention, and the Assault on Libya) or brought to the negotiation table (The Korean War and the North Vietnamese in 1973). How is it that we have yet to see terrorists of any and all stripes wiped out, yet our President declaring that combat operations are finished in Iraq, especially seeing how Terrorists are stepping up their attacks? It's because we have become a nation of quitters who decide to stop something when the job gets tough. Essentially, this is how our enemies - and, yes, friends, the USA still has MANY enemies - see us in our election of a man to the office of President of the USA who made it a campaign pledge from his earliest days as a candidate to end the conflicts and pull out our troops. Al Qaida has not sued for peace. The Taliban have not come to the negotiation table. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are all still ready to continue their efforts in stepping up international terror. Yet, we, the Population and Electorate of the USA, have essentially told these entities (not to mention a burgeoning People's Republic of China, an antagonistic North Korea, and the ever-present Communist State of Cuba) that we're done with fighting, that we've had enough, and that we are going home. We, the Citizenry of the USA, are giving up the fight because it has gotten hard, long, drawn-out, and we have lost too many casualties already (despite the fact that we lost more soldiers on Omaha Beach on D-Day than we did in all the years we've spent trying to oust Terrorists from Iraq), not to mention the fact that it has also cost the USA billions of dollars. Because we are tired of the fight, because it seems long and not easily won, we have decided to call it quits and bring our boys home.

Secondly, we Americans have become self-centered. Essentially, we are selfish. If we aren't getting something in return for our efforts, why keep trying? The left and those of a liberal and Democratic Party stripe have said ad. nausaeum that the conflict in Iraq was about "oil", yet our own American Petroleum Reserves are essentially the same as they were on September 11th, 2001, and gas prices since then - at one time - had quadrupled. Forgive this writer's lack of expertise in business, but don't prices tend to rise when there is a shortage of something, rather than an abundance? If this conflict in Iraq really was about Halliburton and Oil, why is it that price at one point were hovering near $4/gallon for gas? The law of supply and demand states that prices rise when demand is high but supply is low, and the opposite for when supply is high and demand low. The statements made concerning the conflict in Iraq being about oil essentially are about us as a nation becoming spoiled, selfish, and self-serving. Anyone who should disagree with this need only look at the following:

Abortion on Demand is still the law of the land, and since legalization by the Burger Court in `73, 50 million Americans have been slaughtered, more than 99% of the time for mere convenience...

Divorces have skyrocketed in the last 50 years, most cases being due to infidelity of one or both partners, but more often due to "irreconcilable differences" (read in both: selfishness)...

The rise of couples shacking up before or instead of marriage has been dramatic, most couples doing so as a sort of "test drive" of their partner before actually committing to marriage (despite social stats glaringly showing such couples rarely do marry after such shacking up, or divorce coming soon after marriage)...

The strength and strong rise of the Homosexual Community adn their agenda, demanding special rights (no other chosen lifestyle is regarded in the same light nor treated with such care as homosexuality, save the Islamic Community in the USA) and getting them despite the will of the people in 32 states declaring marriage to be between one man and one woman for life...

The rise of pornography and the deviance of all things sexual, even with regards to people who are married...

The continued decadence of entertainment, especially movies, television, and mainstream music...

The rise of churches which water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ, making their sanctuaries and campuses more "user" (read: "sinner") friendly, and rejecting the doctrines of sin and man's sinful estate before God, the reality of eternal damnation and the existence of hell, the devil, and fallen angels...

The practice of High Profile Church leaders in the USA visiting nations where Christians are jailed, imprisoned, tortured, and/or executed and naming them and their leaders as "Christian Friendly"; these same leaders also have denounced the Tea Party Movement, Government Leaders, and even fellow pastors who actually bother to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it is written in the Bible (not to mention doing the same to churches and denominations which do the same)...

The rise and popularity of "celebrities" like Paris Hilton, the Kardashian Sisters, and Movie Stars and Starlets who live lifestyles of self-aggrandizement...

Professional Athletes - most recently Major League Baseball players - who have admitted to cheating and breaking the rules of the professional governing bodies of the sports that they play but are not only allowed to keep their records, but also continue playing their respective professional sports without disciplinary action taking place. The lifestyles of many of these sports stars also emulate and parallel those of Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, and Lindsey Lohan..

All of these - and this list could go on and on - show that we, as an American society, are selfish. If international affairs don't in some way affect our lives on an enduring basis or if we aren't getting some benefit in return, we don't want to be a part of it. The War on Terror hasn't really brought anything tangible or physical to the population of the USA in most people's minds, so as a result we are no longer interested in continuing to fund military operations on foreign soil and distant countries. This is all in the face of the facts that precisely because of President Bush's actions (much akin to Presidents Reagan's and H. W. Bush's policies) there has not been another assault on US soil by terrorists (and anyone wishing to blame President Bush either in part or in whole for the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks need a stern refresher in 1990s history, seeing how President Clinton gutted the military and intelligence sectors to near skeleton-crew status) in those 9 years since the terrorists attacked New York and Washington, D.C. Despite the USA being kept safe because of the US Military's taking the war to the terrorists on their ground, many Americans - enough to elect a Democratically-controlled Congress in 2006 and Mr. Obama to the Presidency in 2008 - see nothing physically rewarding to their daily lives, and therefore are finished with the USA fighting the terrorists over there. Only until or unless terrorists again disrupt our daily lives, and cause us physical or emotional loss will we bother to take them on again.

Thirdly, we have become a nation of Godlessness. Now, yes, 76% of Americans claim to be Christians; and yes, a majority of Americans claim to go to church; and yes, again, a majority of Americans say that they pray every day....but taking a look at modern society in the first decade of the 21st century, it becomes painfully clear that we may be talking the talk, but we aren't walking the walk. As if the statistics above aren't bad enough, we Americans are more and more becoming addicted to alcohol, despite it being far more destructive ot people's lives than marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth., and heroin combined. More and more Americans at younger and younger ages are becoming sexually active, insomuch that school now pass out free condoms to students in hopes of promoting the (false) idea of "safe" sex, and even more disconcerting is the fact that more American Teenage girls are not only becoming more increasingly sexually active, but are wanting to become pregnant at younger ages (the "Gloucester 17", and the movies Juno, Knocked Up, and The Waitress being glaring examples of this trend, even promoting it among high school students). Movies such as the Saw Series, and remakes of The Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the Thirteenth, Halloween, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series, and My Bloody Valentine delve into violence and grisly murder which, just a few years ago, would have been banned outright form any theatre house in America. Further, more and more movies which mock Christ have been made, including The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, Jesus Christ: Superstar, Godspell, and The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ. Despite our rhetoric that we are still a Christian nation and that there arte still a lot of people who identify themselves as Christians, our public schools have been devoid of any positive mention of the Name of Jesus Christ for fifty years. Prayer is still banned in public school. Bible Clubs still have to wade through a sea of red tape at public schools and state university campuses. Godlessness is still taught in monopolizing fashion in the science classes in the form of the false idea of Evolution. Yet all the while, classes on Transcendental Meditation, New Age Thought and Practices, Hindu Meditational Practices, and classes on and about Islam are regularly attended and in most cases required classes (and still the ACLU, the People for the American Way, The Society for Separation of Church and State all remain eerily silent concerning US Tax Dollars going to fund these religious classes). Agnostics still attack our very foundations of the nation, including the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments displayed on public property, Nativity Scenes on public lawns, and even Christianity being spoken of on the airwaves. All the while this is happening, we, the so-called Christian Majority - all or most of the 76% of us who claim to be so - not only remain silent as these things are taken away from us, but we, further, were the primary instigation for the Democrats and President Obama being elected in 2006 and 2008 despite the fact that modern-day Democrats in office have regularly sided with the practice of homosexuality, the massacre of the unborn, the squelching of free religious speech, and he curtailing of inalienable rights, especially for followers of Jesus Christ. How long will the LORD bless us, as a nation and a people, so long as we remain Godless in his eyes?

Fourthly, we have become a nation that is passionate about very little. Is it any wonder that groups such as the Taliban, Al Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Islamic Terror Groups consider us satanic, when we mock and deride anyone who dares take a stand on anything, especially Christian principles? Should we be surprised when the Kim Jeong Ils, the Osama bin Ladens, and the Fidel Castros of the world call us weak, when we protest churches and pastors that stand up for what's right? Pastor Terry Jones has not only taken a stand concerning the Qur'an, which he threatened to burn, but also on the fact that Islam is a false religion. Because of this, he has been protested and criticized by every imaginable public and celebrated figure in the United States today. We Americans will not take a stand on anything, especially if it "pigeon holes" us into a select category...even so far as being labeled as certain forms of "Christian" (yes, we're Christian, but not "Fundamentalist" Christians). We will not even take a stand on American values and/or ideals, labeling anything patriotic or nationalistic as extreme or arrogant. Americans who wave the flag, or take pride in America's accomplishments are regularly viewed narrowly and with either an air of suspicion or with mild disdain at the very best. People who dare take a stand against the things that are abhorrent in God's eyes are often cast in an unfavorable light. People who oppose homosexuality are often called "bigots"; those who stand up for the lives and rights of the unborn are labeled "intolerant"; those who dare point out that social welfare - something the Bible mentions as being the purview of the church and not the government - are slathered as "unrealistic"; those who point out the dangers of sex aside from marriage - especially underage sex - are characterized as "old fashioned" and "wanting to return to the past"; people who say that god is real and that he speaks and that they listen to him are marginalized as "fringe", "kooks", and, and "fundamentalist". No longer do we uphold men who take stands on what is right. When the late minister and NFL Defensive End Reggie White on two occasions spoke out on the sinfulness of homosexuality, he was demanded to apologize and retract his words. No words of praise came to or for white. No ministers or pastors rose to his defense. No Christians took up the torch and stood by him publicly. Instead, he was forced to apologize and retract his words. Carrie Prejean, Miss California 2009 and candidate for Miss USA 2009, not only received negative points for stating her negative views of homosexuality, but also had her private life assaulted by those in the mainstream media. She was denounced merely for stating her beliefs and her stand on the issue of homosexuality, and because her views were against the media's views, she found her character slandered and her image tarnished. Is it any wonder that we are so derided as a nation? Is it no surprise that more people are wanting to become terrorists than immigrate legally to the USA?

Fifthly - and most tragically - we, as a nation, have embraced sin. No longer do we Americans decry and denounce sin when we encounter it, we now embrace it, encourage its practice, and applaud those who become famous for it. Hugh Hefner is one of the most celebrated people in America, yet he is also one of the most hedonistic. Most Hollywood actors and actresses have - at one point or another - appeared nude and/or in sex scenes at some point in their careers, or taken part in portraying gratuitous violence. Celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are applauded not because they are entrepreneurs, but more so because they also have appeared in sex tapes. We no longer laud government leaders who stand up for what is right (such as Presidents Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Bush) but those who have taken a stand on what is wrong. Politicians who stand for abortion are lauded, while those who try to defend life are marginalized. Candidates who denounce homosexuality are derided as out of touch, while those who champion special rights for such a deviant chosen lifestyle are exalted. Lawmakers who declare that sexual promiscuity a danger to society are leveled in the media, while those promoting the fallacy of "safe sex" are praised for being forward thinking and in step with society. How many churches and pastors were protested and burned n effigy for supporting Proposition 8 in California? How many times has Pastor Jones from the Dove World Outreach Center been decried and protested against in Florida for declaring Islam a false religion and daring to threaten to burn the Qur'an? We as a society have not only embraced sin, but elected leadership into positions of great power who have made sin their platform. President Obama not only has defended Islam at every turn, but also has promised to make Abortion the legislated law of the land by enacting the Freedom of Choice Act, a law that would overturn all the Pro-Life laws passed by legislators previous to his administration, including the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban signed into law by President Bush in 2006. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is also a champion for Abortion "rights", special homosexual "rights", and for squelching free Christian Speech. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has time and again stated his ideas on such issues as abortion, homosexuality, "safe" sex, and other sins we the American Society have come to embrace. This is all not to mention the sin we Americans watch in movies and on TV, read in magazines, and listen to on the radio, welcoming it into our homes on a nightly basis. Further, we protested Rev. Jones for threatening to burn Qur’ans, but when Bibles were burned by the United States Army more than a year and a half ago, who protested? Where was President Obama then? How about Sarah Palin and others who protested Rev. Jones? Why can we protest the threat of the burning of a false religion's book, but when The Book that gives and shows the way to eternal life is burned by the pile by a government entity, no word of dissent is uttered?

A recent Rassmussen Poll shows that most Americans - to the tune of 71% - believe that we will be hit by another terrorist attack on the scale of the September 11th, 2001 assaults. A whopping 39%, according to Rassmussen (both as of September 11th, 2010) believe this to be very likely. This writer has stated before that he believes that we, the USA, WILL be hit again....but it will be far, far worse than what we saw on 9/11/2001. In fact, unless we right the ship, and as a nation do what is right and righteous in the eyes of the LORD, we will likely see a Nuclear 9/11. Mind, this will not happen because we simply elected the wrong person into office, or because we have allowed this or that form of entertainment to become popular; this will happen because we have become a society of sin, and that, folks, is precisely what the USA has become. Sixty years ago, people respected God, even if they did not worship or follow him. Seventy years ago, we as a Nation sought God's face, and prayed for his help in times of disaster. We elected leaders who would no more think of killing an unborn baby as they would think of playing around with a cobra. We went to church and filled the sanctuaries of local worship services, even if we thought the pastor as too pointed with his messages. We lauded public figures and celebrities who had upstanding character and moral purity. We respected pastors and preaches, especially when they stood up and took on sin, unrighteousness, and ungodliness n society. Since then, "We've come a long way, Baby!" We now call evil good and good evil. What things used to be white are now black, and those things seen as black are now white. The things we declared to be wrong are now right, while things that were once right are now wrong. Friends, the LORD is clear on this point, that a nation and society that reaches such a point will be destroyed. It’s just that simple. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed not only because their citizens were homosexuals, but because their societies were depraved, and ditto that of Israel and Judah several centuries later. The same it is for us today. September 11th should be remembered, but not just because we, as a nation, were paralyzed by eighteen men from a second-world country, but because it is an indication of how sinful as a society we have become, and how we have embraced sin, welcoming it into our daily lives. Unless things change, nuclear 9-11 is waiting at our door (Genesis 4.7), and it will hit us when and where we least expect it (1st Thessalonians 5.3). In fact, destruction more complete and more total awaits us if we fail to heed God's warnings...

Friends, the USA we see today is not what it used to be. President Obama stated in a speech that the USA is not a Christian Nation. Like it or not, like him or not, and like his words or not, the proof is in the pudding: our embracing of sin, receiving of evil as good, and our uplifting of abomination in all sectors of American life show the President's words to be painfully true. What we were is no longer what are now, and God help us for it.