God, Guns, Guts, and Glory (The Beginning Of The End Of The Old Republic)

As we prepare for Easter weekend 2018, I find myself remembering what that meant to me and my community as a young boy. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16). I find myself wondering in today's world just who actually believes in that phrase now. It's a different America today then it was when I was a kid. America is degenerating on a moral level quite rapidly in fact, and I fear that this will be the key factor in whether or not we will continue as a free republic. According to a new Gallup poll, 82 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Democrats say that moral values in the U.S.A. are only fair or downright poor. 40 years ago, only 33 percent of Americans felt that way. So what's happened? First, secular forces have destroyed any rendering of Judeo-Christian philosophy in the public school system. Many teachers are now ordered not to make value judgments on behavior and not to push any specific moral standards. Thus children receive little if any moral guidance in class. Second, with the rise of single parent homes, more and more American kids wind up unsupervised for long periods of time, left to the television set or the computer, where harmful material comes at them like rain in a thunderstorm. Third, major corporations now traffic in sex and violence to an extent never before seen in this country. Americans spend more than $10 billion a year on porn every year. And violent video games gross billions more for corporations. Fourth, peer pressure to actually reject immoral behavior is virtually non-existent in many places. The code of silence about bad behavior is an infectious disease among Americans. So as it stands, both Republicans and Democrats realize America is lacking a strong moral compass. Millions of American parents are trying hard to teach their children good values, but are besieged by the terrible influences beyond the home. The secularists have succeeded in drastically changing the moral tone in this country. And 80 percent of us see that change as a bad thing. However, there's no mass outcry about it. And until there is, America will continue its declining moral direction. Within this lack of belief that consequences and repercussions should determine your actions, lies the criminal element. The murderous element. The Stoneman Douglas students experienced a horrific trauma. No one can deny their grief or blame them for being impassioned. And allowance has to be made for the fact that they are teenagers, who universally believe that they know better than their hapless elders ( David Hogg says the problem is that their parents don’t know how to use a democracy). Maybe all of this can be written off as the work of overenthusiastic, underinformed 17-year-olds. But the student activists aren’t acting alone. They are promoted and praised by adults who should know better. To witness or experience tragedy is a terrible thing, and it is no easy thing for anyone to make sense of, and so from Job on through the stoics to the victims and heroes of the day before yesterday, the mystery of ineffable tragedy has been most often met by solemn silence. PTSD does not instill wisdom. But that doesn’t really matter to the cynical media, who cut back and forth between Stormy Daniels and the earnest pontifications of adolescents. A little perspective is in order. Time reports that since 2013, six adults and 35 children have been killed in school shootings in the U.S. While this is a tragedy, there are an average of 51 deaths by lightning strikes each year in the U.S. The likelihood that you will be killed by a lightning strike is six times greater than the likelihood that you will be killed in a school shooting. Inanimate objects to not commit mass murder...people do. Just as it was a responsible gun owner who knew right from wrong (good from evil) who saved the day in the Maryland shooting. Now there is another mindset poisoning our youth, and that is the lack of belief in American exceptionalism. American pride. "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I wont forget the men who died who gave that right to me..." To me that's one of the greatest songs ever written. Sure, other nations love their homelands, but U.S. pride has historically been on a whole different level. For decades, the “Land of the Free” has been tied to American exceptionalism—the belief that the country is the indisputable greatest nation of all time. Yet, while we still sing the words before every sporting game, that distinctive pride is waning. For some, a decreasing belief in American exceptionalism is just a sign that the nation is taking its natural place among countries. Others feel that the loss of this belief is a clear symptom of an impending U.S. downfall—and they want desperately for the “Home of the Brave” to retake its leading place on the world stage. Either way, something definitely has happened to the nation’s pride. And every American should take note. Take note, and take action. Before it's too late. Thanks for reading!