WILL WE HAVE REVIVAL OR DISASTER?
Lord Macaulay, the nineteenth century British historian, predicted long ago, "Your republic will be pillaged and ravaged in the twentieth century, just as the Roman Empire was by the Barbarians in the fifth century --- with this difference: that the devastators of Rome came from abroad, while your Barbarians will be the people of your own country and the product of your own institutions."
Now listen to this. David Barton reports:
Within a twelve month period between June 25, 1962, and June 17, 1963, 39 million students were told they could no longer pray in school. Since the early 1600's, school prayer had been part of the national educational philosophy and was openly practiced in nearly every school district in the nation. This was the first official governmental stance ever taken against prayer in a public assembly since the birth of our nation.America's morals and manners took a sharp plunge downward beginning right after 1962.
For example, since 1963, GED testing for drop-outs is up 1565%; premarital sexual activity is up 385% among 15-year-old girls; pregnancies to unwed mothers ages 10 to 14 are up 553%; 381% for ages 15 to 19; gonorrhea is up 215% in the 10 to 14 age group, 226% in the 15 TO 19 group; suicides have increased 51% among students.Educational achievement plunged downward, too. "In 1986, 45% of the high school seniors in Baltimore could not find the United States on a world map." So many graduates are so poorly educated that our economy and our military preparedness are threatened. Too many people entering the work force and the armed services cannot read, write and do arithmatic well enough to do their job!Before the removal of religious principles from schools, educators listed the worst behavorial problems of students as:
- Talking
- Chewing gum
- Making noise
- Running in the halls
- Getting out of turn in line
- Wearing improper clothing
- Not putting paper in wastebaskets
Surveys of educators since prayer was out-lawed at schools reveals a change:
If only the problems during the prayer years could still be our problems today! 1
- Rape
- Robbery
- Assault
- Burglary
- Arson
- Bombings
- Murder
- Suicide
- Absenteeism
- Vandalism
- Extortion
- Drug abuse
- Alcohol abuse
- Gang warfare
- Pregnancies
- Abortions
- Venereal disease
Millions of adults in our society have grown up in the godless atmosphere of an educational system where even silence for meditation or prayer has been banned. America has become a nation groping for moral direction. On May 25, 1987 the cover of Time asked, "What Ever Happened to ETHICS? Assaulted by sleaze, scandals and hypocrisy, America searches for its moral bearings." On page three it complained, "Disclosures of hypocrisy and moral laxity infect leadership from Washington to Wall Street, tainting even television evangelists and the Semper Fi U. S. Marines." The Watergate, Iran/Contra and S. and L. scandals should wake us up to the devastating results of rejecting the moral foundation on which this nation was built."THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCHOOL ROOM IN ONE GENERATION WILL BE THE PHILOSOPHY OF GOVERNMENT IN THE NEXT." (ABRAHAM LINCOLN)
The ban on prayer was the beginning of an official assault on religious morals. Later the Supreme Court banned the posting of the ten commandments on the walls of the school rooms. Students might read these commandments and decide to obey them! In January, 1973, abortion on demand was legalized by the Court. Laws against sodomy have been stricken down in many states. Babies have been left to die in the nursery and a movement to legalize assisted suicide is gaining ground!
Respect for God's sovereignty is the foundation on which this republic was built. This was demonstrated when the Constitutional Convention was hopelessly deadlocked in 1787. Benjamin Franklin wisely called upon the delegates to humble themselves and turn to God in prayer.
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered ... And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?Franklin concluded,I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: `That God governs the affairs of man.' And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in the political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by word down to future ages.
I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business.These brief remarks marked the turning point for the convention and the future of the nation. They did stop to pray, and then, quite successfully, got on with the business of writing a Constitution which has lasted longer than any other in the world today.
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT OUR PRAYERLESS GOVERNMENT GROPING FOR MORAL DIRECTION?
We still have freedom to pray in our churches and homes for revival. The churches led in prayer which had a major role in changing early American public morals. J. Edwin Orr wrote that soon after the Revolutionary War an epidemic of drunkenness broke out. A popular filthy speech movement was spreading profanity of the most shocking kind. Tom Paine in 1794 sold thousands of copies of his book THE AGE OF REASON viciously attacking Christ and the Bible. College students went on an anti-God binge. They put on anti-Christian plays at Dartmouth. They took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and burned it in a public bonfire. Tiny groups of Christians on the campuses met in secret. Churches had their backs to the wall. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the Church "was too far gone ever to be redeemed."
In 1794 Isaac Backus, a New England Baptist pastor, appealed to churches of all denominations to unite in prayer for spiritual awakening. Churches set aside the first Monday to pray. Soon revival came to Connecticut. Then it spread all along the Eastern seaboard.
On the frontier in Kentucky a Presbyterian minister named James McGready, who pastored three small churches, promoted the concert of prayer on the first Monday of the month and also at sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Sunday morning. The people of God wept, mourned and prayed during the winter of 1799 and the great frontier camp meetings saw revival come in the summer of 1800.
Prayer has had a crucial role in our country from its earliest days.
1 David Barton, "Look at what has happened since God was expelled from school", AFA JOURNAL, August 1990, pp. 16-18. Used by permission of David Barton, P. O. Box 397, Aledo, TX 76008.
2 Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (Assurance Publishers, Rockville, MD, 1980) p. 1045.
Copyright by Oliver W. Price 1992
Revival Insights Vol. IV, No. 10
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