With the Coronavirus bringing America into peril, modern Christendom may possibly be approaching a “
Lazarus
” moment; and ever do we need it. How easily we tend to forget that America’s system of higher education had its roots in American Protestantism, with 106 of the 108 colleges being distinctly Christian.
1
With the collapse over the last 60 years of the theological and epistemological foundation of public education, having been explicitly Christian for 350 years, liberty for our children and grandchildren is no longer a certainty. The Bible makes clear that righteousness - i.e., morality, integrity, virtue, uprightness - is the main key to exalting a nation. Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 3:1 to
“not forget my teaching, let your heart retain my precepts.”
Jewish Hebrew scholar Michael V. Fox explains why this is extremely instructive for contemporary America:
“To ‘forget’ (šakah), as Hame’iri observes, usually refers not to the natural slippage of memory but to willful neglect and diversion of attention.”
The terms “
willful neglect
” and “
diversion of attention
” perfectly capture what has happened in America over the last century. Take for example Thomas Jefferson’s drafting of the Northwest Ordinance and its requirement for admitting new states to the Union in 1787:
“Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
Indeed, America’s Founders required that all new, additional states entering the Union had educational systems all set for the accentuation, cultivation, and instruction of Christian principles in the education of America’s youth.
Sandy Barker-Mitchell is quoted as the source of the following message about the Coronavirus pandemic:
“In three short months, just like He did with plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, ‘You want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down the Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can’t go to church.’”
She might have added:
“If government-run education bureaucrats want to indoctrinate America’s K-6 by way of the exaltation and normalization of sin through homosexual and transgender friendly curriculum, I’ll shut that down too.'
As we dare guessing, the Coronavirus pandemic looks like America is to receive mercy, instead of the judgment we deserve. The plight and predicament the virus puts us in may be moving the nation and our culture back or closer to God.
On the other hand, the machinations by government bureaucrats and secular politicians in the Coronavirus pandemic are illuminating for everyday Americans who put in 50-hr workweeks, raise their families, coach Little League, and teach Sunday school. Everyone is well aware of abiding by common sense safety practices. However, are malevolent forces also at work, taking advantage of the crisis to intentionally tank the economy ahead of the November election by sowing panic? Will some use it to foist the next impeachment scheme?
As to contemporary culture, 1) All wealth is created in the private sector; government spending is just another word for private sector spending orchestrated by politicians. Margaret Thatcher’s advice should be displayed in Klieg lights above Speaker Pelosi’s door,
“The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.”
And 2) T
hat government bureaucrats dictate liquor stores as ‘essentials’ and churches as ‘non-essentials’ explains much
. After all, culture is the public manifestation of religion.