America has been called “the land of the free and the home of the brave”, but recently we have been in shock and mourning as we witnessed the Virginia Tech massacre, the largest shooting rampage in our history. What has happened to us, and why? Why can't people just be good, get along and treat each other with respect? Where does good and evil come from? What is the cause and the cure for all the evil in our society? I will seek to answer these questions from a Biblical standpoint. I believe the Bible to be the literal, infallible, inerrant Word of God. Most of the founding fathers of our nation believed that as well.

What IS our problem? In a nutshell, we (Americans in general) have forsaken the God of our fathers. It has been a gradual departure that suddenly accelerated in the 1960's. We allowed our Supreme Court to remove teacher-led prayer and Bible reading from our public schools in 1962-63. Ten years later, we legalized abortion, sanctioning the murder of our society's most innocent and helpless citizens. Since then, there have been countless other attempts to remove all vestiges of God from our textbooks, classrooms, courtrooms, congress, airwaves (except in profanity), pledge of allegiance, coinage, etc. In the meantime, we file for more divorces and lawsuits, increase our welfare rolls, abort and abuse more children, erect more gambling casinos, close more churches, build more jails and hospitals, bury more dead and shed more tears. When will America “wake up and smell the coffee”?! We NEED GOD in America again! Can we be good without God? Absolutely not, and I will explain why.

You see, God is the personification and source of all that is good. In the beginning, God created all things and pronounced them to be “very good” (Gen. 1:1-31). “The Lord is good...”, (Ps. 100:5). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father”...(James 1:17). Therefore, the closer an individual, family or nation is to the Lord, the more goodness will be evident and the blessings that accompany it. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”...(Ps. 33:12). If this is true, and it is, then the opposite is also true...”Cursed is the nation (family, individual) whose god is NOT the Lord”.

Jesus put it this way...”The thief (Satan) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”, (John 10:10). Clearly it was Satan, not God, that moved the gunman to murder at Virginia Tech. Clearly, it is Satan, not God, that is pushing individuals to murder, suicide, abortion, drug abuse, child abuse, divorce, adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness, gambling, pornography, and all other destructive behaviors. Scripture tells us ...”the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Pet. 5:8). Yes, Satan is after you and your loved ones, and he does not have an ounce of goodness, love or mercy in him. Yet, multitudes are submitting to Satan and resisting God. What is the answer? It is not “gun- control, but “God-control”.

The Bible says, ...”God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”...James 4:6-8. Another great text says, “If My people who are called by My name will 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”. II Chron. 7:14.

Can we be good without God? No, we cannot. But if we humbly repent of our sin, seek His forgiveness by faith in Christ's blood, then we can have eternal life and blessings on earth as well. The answer to America's decline will not be found in politics, philosophy, human ingenuity, or even in social or religious diversity. Instead it is found in the Bible, that “awful” book banned from our secular classrooms almost 45 years ago. “Blessed is the nation (person, family, etc) whose God is the Lord”.