The real threat to America is not terrorism, lack of national and domestic security, gun ownership, gun control, mental illness, or Socialism. The real threat to America is the decline of the family. So, the question must be asked, “What is wrong with the American home?”.
The home is the most basic and powerful institution in the world. In fact, the first institution that God created was not the church, government, or education. It was the home. Therefore, God clearly intended the home to be the primary place where spiritual, moral, and intellectual things were to be nurtured. Consider the following passage found in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 ESV – “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules —that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Unquestionably, the spiritual, moral, and intellectual strength of the home is an indicator of the spiritual, moral, and intellectual strength of a nation. There is a clear link between strong, godly families and a strong, godly, prosperous nation. In other words, as the home goes, so does the nation go.
Satan, has launched a systematic assault on the American home.
Considering the fact that the home was to be the basic institution where things are nurtured, the enemy of our souls, Satan, has launched a systematic assault on the American home.
The reason is simple. If he can destroy the home, he can destroy the nation. So, in the last 60 years or so, Satan has energized people and movements to destroy the home by destroying the sanctity of marriage, the authority of parents, and by replacing biblical principles from governing the home and society at large.
He has been relatively successful in this strategy mostly because he has hijacked education, entertainment, and government, and has used them to promote an anti-biblical worldview. Therefore, people are conditioned through education, social media, and entertainment to replace Christ as the center of their home. The problem is that without Christ, the Bible, and biblical principles governing the home, you end up with worldly principles that can only produce worldly results. The things of the world, meaning philosophies that are in contradiction to a Christian, Biblical world-view, can only produce death as they are devoid of the life of God in them.
The diagnosis as to what is wrong with the American home is that Christ, the Bible, and Christian principles have been replaced as the centerpiece of the home. Furthermore, parents are no longer considered the authority of the home. Instead, politicians, entertainers, and educators are viewed as an authority. Children today are simply learning more from T.V., social media, school, and pop culture than from their parents.
The remedy is simple. America must remove anything and anyone that we have set up as an idol to rule over our home and return to the Lord! Christ must be the head and the center of our homes. Husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church and together, they must be faithful to bring up children in the ways of the Lord.
Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
Ephesians 6:1-4 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
If we can follow these principles, the American home would experience a revival. If the American home experiences a revival, then the nation would experience a revival. In fact, that is the best news of all! The nation as a whole does not need to take this action, but only believers. If Christian homes would follow these instructions, the nation as a whole would benefit. It is a promise found in the Word of God.
2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV – “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (emphasis added is mine)
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