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Letter: U.S. has been on a slippery slope since Vietnam

Larry Thurston

Published: November 26, 2008

Morganton, N.C. - America has been experiencing a similar sequence that the ancient empires of Greece and Rome experienced.
Before the people gradually developed into a great civilization, originally, those people lived in bondage.
The English Pilgrims were denied freedom to worship God according to their conscience when they lived in their motherland. In England, the established church-state marriage was dominant. The Pilgrims emigrated to the shores of Plymouth Rock primarily for religious freedom. Nearly 100 years later, the New England colonies had forsaken their Pilgrim heritage. However, through the spear-headed ministry of Jonathan Edwards, the Great Awakening brought spiritual revival as it was spreading. The Great Awakening helped shape the culture of 13 original colonies that influenced and prepared the foundations of our American republic.
Colonial America was built upon the Pilgrim heritage of Judeo-Christian principles from the Holy Bible, not upon the whims of man. While the English colonists were becoming more self-reliant, and wanted fair treatment from the king according to English law, the king ruled the colonies autocratically. While in bondage, and through faith, the colonists developed the courage to win the American Revolution.
Bondage, faith, courage and liberty were the orderly steps provided by God that helped mold America into the lighthouse of hope on the hill of the world. The beacon has led many out of the lost, dark and stormy regions of tyranny. Through faith in divine providence and their love of liberty, our founders gave us our fearless leader: the U.S. Constitution.
America has experienced growing pains and failures, but the American spirit persevered through faith in God, and our U.S. Constitution passed the pragmatic tests of time. Because of continual trust in God and loyalty to our American heritage, freedom flourished and America became the superpower needed to be the beacon on the hill.
However, since the Vietnam era, it appears that America is on a slippery slope and the beacon is dim. Liberty has regressed into license to blaspheme God and His eternal wisdom. Without the wisdom of God there is no true liberty. Liberty has been diminished through political correctness. Liberty is abusive when humanism, moral relativism and greed supplant the eternal wisdom of God. The abuse of liberty is evident when partisan politics supercede the fact that we are Americans primarily. The ancient, reprobate culture of the Canaanites has been spreading like wildfire.
Our civilization is crumbling based on a sequence of events. The abuse of liberty has turned the blessings of abundance into complacency. Complacency has turned into apathy. Apathy has influenced dependence upon the so-called benevolent state. Therefore, we could be facing the eventual nightmare of the Orwellian Big Brother. This nightmare will have forced Americans back into bondage.
During the epilogue of the 1964 film, "The Fall of the Roman Empire," the narrator said, "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."
The tragic events of 9/11 were a short-lived wakeup call; however, America needs another Great Awakening in the hearts of individuals.