The End of American Civilization as We Know It

Will we come to our senses before we lose it all?

I don’t watch much cable news anymore, but I do get tidbits of news from the rednecks that lurk around here waiting for a morsel or two of Miss Kay’s tasty cuisine. And what they tell me about what’s going on shocks me. I did a little research through my trusty assistant, Dan the Butler, and here are a few recent news items that should serve as a wakeup call that we might be witnessing the end of American civilization as we have known it.

Multiple times over the past several weeks, organized criminals have entered high-end shops and boutiques and simply walked out with as much as a million dollars of merchandise at a time. In another shocking case, a throng of thieves in California entered a Home Depot and sauntered out with hammers, crowbars, and other tools. You know, items useful for smashing store windows and display cases. In November, a depraved career criminal drove his SUV into a crowd of normal people out watching a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six and wounding 40. Then in late November, a 15-year-old student opened fire on his classmates in suburban Detroit, killing four and wounding several others.

I could go on, but we’d be here all day. Personally, I don’t worry about being the victim of such crimes since I don’t frequent a lot of high-end boutiques or go to a lot of parades. Plus, I’m committed to defending myself and my loved ones at all costs. It’s not personal with me, except that I do love my fellow man, and I do love my country, so I’m grieved by the decline in civility.

If you love civilization, and if you love being able to navigate across our fruited plain without fear of bodily harm, I have some sad news for you: You can’t have civilization without civility. Until the last 40 years or so, we’ve pretty much enjoyed domestic tranquility (with a few exceptions) because most Americans were living off the spiritual capital of our founders. You know, people who entrusted the welfare of America to the almighty and benevolent God — dudes like George Washington who wrote in his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation…

Listen up, America. If you want a good country, you can’t have it without turning away from human constructs and turning instead to the “beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Try as you might to unify around your opposition to social injustice, climate change, or any other “ism,” you’ll be simply spitting in the wind without first making an abrupt change of direction and running back to the author of life, of goodness.

As Washington said in the above excerpt, there’s no unity outside of a common faith that God is good and that he alone is capable of guiding our steps. For that reason, I pray daily that the Almighty will do something to bring us to our senses before we lose it all, before our civilization is destroyed by our lack of civility and love for our fellow man. I plead with him to give us a few more years of freedom. But whether or not we listen to him won’t deter me one bit — no matter what happens, I’ll be proclaiming the kingdom of Christ to a lost and dying world until the day I suck in my last breath.

No one can destroy a kingdom that God establishes. It is the ultimate civilization, so I think I’ll just stick with that. Make America great again — return to the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. Return to the Almighty God who created the entire universe. It’s our only hope!