The If . . . Then Providential Promise

In 4 days our country will inaugurate it’s 47^th President. He, his Vice President, cabinet, our House of Representatives, Senate, Supreme Court and other leaders all urgently need our prayers for God’s wisdom . . . not theirs . . . in leading, healing, and unifying our sadly Divided States of America.

The following excerpt is from a recent Free Press Newsletter article entitled “Does the West Need a Religious Revival?” It’s a sobering treatise of America’s gradual decline from the  collaborative ‘We’ culture of my childhood to today’s contentious ‘Me’ society, and infers religion’s demise may be a primary contributor:

“In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined his vision for four fundamental freedoms that ought to be secured for people everywhere: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

These four ideals formed the bedrock of the liberal world order. But in 2025, they are under threat from a radically new set of technological, economic, and cultural challenges.

Anyone with eyes to see has noticed that our culture is fraying. It’s not just the degradation of trust in institutions, the extreme political polarization, and the culture wars tearing our communities apart. Marriage rates have reached historic lows, as have childbirths. Conversely, depression, anxiety, loneliness, addiction, and deaths of despair have spiked.

Why, in an age of unprecedented prosperity, are so many of us so unhappy? And how can we guarantee both freedom and security in an era of mass surveillance? It’s a crisis of meaning that has befallen not just the United States but most countries in the West.

In recent years, a growing chorus of intellectuals has pointed to the decline of traditional religion as a culprit. Our existential dread, they argue, is the result of a “God-shaped hole,” filled only with consumerism, hedonism, nihilism, and destructive ideological movements At the time of FDR’s Four Freedoms speech, American churches were flourishing. One half of Americans were attending services regularly. Now, fewer than half of us even belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque

Despite their emphasis on freedom of worship, the founders of the United States understood religion to be fundamental to a well-functioning society. John Adams wrote in 1798 that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Is rising secularism the culprit for our modern malaise? Or is the problem elsewhere—the result of rapid technological changes, growing economic inequality, and other social disruptions? And would a return to religion be a return to dogma, repression, and intolerance?”

U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for the next six decades, before beginning a steady decline around the turn of the 21^st century. In 2020, 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque. The decline is primarily due to rise in Americans with no religious preference.

While I concur an ever widening “God-shaped hole” exists in our tragically dysfunctional society, I contend it’s not a spiritual religious revival that’s needed, but a spiritual relationship revival to return our nation to the One Nation Under God principles it was founded upon.

 Religious spirituality is impersonal and legalistic, demanding “Do!” Relationship spirituality is personal and freeing, proclaiming “Done” through Christ’s death conquering sacrifice on a cross 2,000 years ago. My prayer for our nation’s new Administration, and each one of us for the America our children are inheriting ever remains . . .

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”

2 Chronicles 7:14

It’s only by genuinely endeavoring to personally implement the “If” of this Scripture in each of our lives to ‘Make God Great Again’, that He will faithfully fulfill His promise and “then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land …” and ‘Make America Great Again’. May God Bless America!

Keep Looking Up ^ . . . His Best is Yet to Come!