This may sound pretentious, and like an awfully big claim, but I think I know exactly, specifically why American and Western European cultures are perishing, and have been for years. Proverbs 29:18 KJV says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”. I knew we today have no vision (as a people) and that we had abandoned the truth for a lie.

Please try to follow this story: Dr. David Jeremiah, in his radio broadcast, (September 1, 2010) said,

*********{“Back in 1963, 65% of the American people said they believed in the absolute truth of all the words in the Bible. Within 15 years, by 1978, the proportion of the population holding this belief had declined to 38%. As I speak to you today, only 32% of the American people say that they believe that the words in the Bible are true……

Perhaps a story that I read recently will help you understand how drastically this change has affected all of us. During World War II, after Hitler blitzkrieged his way across France, demanding the unconditional surrender of the Allied Forces in the European theater, thousands of British and French troops dug in along the coast of northern France in a last ditch effort to hold off the German forces. Trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, they knew they would soon be obliterated by the Nazis. But during that agonizing period it is said that the British soldiers broadcast a very terse message across the English Channel. Just three words. The words were, ‘And if not…’

Was it a code? No. It was a reference to the Old Testament episode when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before King Nebuchadnezzer and his fiery furnace. And they said, ‘Our God is able to save us and He will save us, and if not we will remain faithful to Him anyway.’ And the Britons, when they heard those words, understood them completely. They knew the Biblical context. They knew what it meant. It was a code word of courage that helped them to stand strong when everything was against them.

I wonder what would happen if that same message came to America today. It would be greeted with raised eyebrows and blank stares. The tie that binds us together as American people is no longer a shared experience or common language that we have learned from our understanding of God’s Word. Out words flow from the television set.”}**********

In the early 1960’s, because of the position that our Christian ancestors and predecessors had put us in, we Americans were proud. In the 1960’s we had the “Sexual Revolution”. Prior to that, our societal norms were based on the Bible. The Bible says we are all sinners (Romans 3:23 KJV “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”) But it says, in a nutshell, that if we know God’s commandments and make a lifestyle of not keeping them, we are not Christians (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”) Also, Jesus said, “… every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matt. 7:17 NKJV)
The drive to reproduce is one of the strongest drives we humans have. When a person subjects it to God, they are definitely a believer. 1 Cor. 6:9-10 NKJV says, “…Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, not adulterers, no homosexuals, nor sodomites, not thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Look at that word “fornicators” (some translations say sexually immoral, but it means the same thing). The American Heritage Dictionary defines “fornication” as, “Sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other.”

Unmarried couples living together (and having children) became the norm among many Americans after the “Sexual Revolution” of the 1960’s. When a person picks and chooses which things God said he believes and obeys, and which things he doesn’t, he is saying he doesn’t believe God. I think what he’s really saying is he doesn’t believe in God, and that he is God… he calls the shots. When you obey God, He shows you more. When you don’t obey God, your view of Him becomes tarnished and in time you can’t see Him.

Notice in Dr. Jeremiah’s story (above) that within 15 years, from 1963 to 1978, the proportion of our population believing in “the absolute truth of all the words in the Bible” dropped from 65% to 38%. I heard on Christian radio that a prominent media personality in the early 1980’s stated, “the last time a public political figure in the U.S. used the word ‘sin’ was Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.” It seems unlikely that one has used it since. A person who has made the decision to sin doesn’t like to hear it discussed.

What a person believes is proven by their actions. Period. It’s been truly said that what a person believes or thinks is critical… because what a person believes or thinks determines how he feels (his emotions). His emotions determine what he does (his actions). And his actions determine his destiny… (including his survival or non-survival, and that of the society he lives in).