BLESSED IS THE NATION WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD
CONTRIBUTED BY CLARENCE SCHULTS

Whoa! With the gangs and increasing violence in our schools, what in the world is happening with our kids today?

Let’s see. . . I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained that she didn’t want any prayer in our schools, and we said, “OK.”

Then someone said you had better not read the Bible in school – it says “thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,” and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” And we said “OK.”

Dr. Benjamin Spock said that we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, an expert should know what he’s talking about so we won’t spank them anymore.

Then someone said that teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said “no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don’t want any bad publicity, and we surely don’t want to be sued.” And we accepted their reasoning.

Then someone said, let’s let our daughters have abortions if they want and they won’t even have to tell their parents. And we said, that’s a grand idea.

Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they’re going to “do it” anyway, lets give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the “fun” they desire, and we won’t have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said, that’s another great idea.

And then some of our top elected officials said that it doesn’t matter what we do in private, as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn’t matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is good.

And then someone said let’s print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body. And we said we have no problem with that.

And someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then stepped further still by making them available on the Internet. And we said they’re entitled to free speech.

And the entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex, and let’s record music that encourages homosexuality, rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And we said it’s just entertainment and has no adverse effect and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.

Therefore, we are now asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and even themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with, “we reap what we sow.”

Psalms 33:12 states, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

America has strayed farther and farther away from God. How much more God will tolerate, no one really knows. However, we must have a greater concern and pray the prayer that Solomon prayed. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14).

THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY APOSTOLIC SENTINEL, JUNE 1999, PAGE 3. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.