Turn or Crash
By Hal Lindsey
In the last few years, American schools, churches, synagogues, and mosques have become targets of terrorism. These institutions, by their nature, have open doors and open arms. All are welcome.
The vilest sinner finds hope and answers in Bible-believing churches. But some sinners are not looking for hope. Some want to spread the despair and rage that fills their own souls. The welcoming nature of a church makes it a soft target for terrorism.
Today, churches and other institutions are hardening themselves — making themselves increasingly difficult to attack. They don’t advertise it, but larger churches have armed security personnel on campus for major events. In smaller churches, more and more people are being asked to go through the process of becoming licensed to carry firearms.
The Church still welcomes the stranger. But it may watch him now with a wariness not known in the past.
Even though the likelihood of a child being shot at school is still extremely low, people are using the situation to scare schoolchildren across the land. Then they’re using the children’s fear for political leverage. Warranted or not, American kids are scared.
Only a few years ago, these things would have been unthinkable in the United States. Now, it’s just a fact of life. Why? What happened? Shouldn’t we at least consider the possibility that the anti-God agenda that permeates our culture is not working? Shouldn’t we consider the possibility that children should be disciplined rather than drugged? To me it seems obvious that we must teach our young the old verities of right and wrong. We need to stop portraying lawlessness as cool, and godliness as boring.
When American courts outlawed prayer in school, they taught the following generations that God holds little or no importance in the life of our nation. When a later court legalized abortion, the nation took another step toward the abyss. But it made sense in a way. If God is not important, then how could human beings be important? It became legal to kill for the sake of convenience.
The despair being felt by Americans today was inevitable. Society tries to counter that despair by giving participation trophies. It has not worked. On a deep level, children know that if an unborn child holds no significance, then neither do they — no matter how many gold stars they get.
For the last 60 years, the American people and their institutions have been systematically rejecting God and His ways. Such rejection is not without consequence. We are paying the price. Some see the answer in more armed guards. Others see the answer in gun control or other regulations. But those are band-aids.
We need to address the real problem. We need to ask, “Are we ‘one nation under God,’ or not?” The only thing that can preserve America’s freedoms and prosperity is a hard turn toward Jesus Christ. And it needs to happen now!
