HOW CAN WE HEAL AMERICA-Not Through Half-Repentance. Today, I am going to show you that America, like much of the West has been sinning, following false idols, and only half-repenting. When we put away as opposed to eliminate the things in life that distract us from God, we become “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly"- (Proverbs 26:11)

NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN 3000 YEARS

Like Proverb 26:11, we find Israel, in the book of Judges returning over and over to their sin and judgement. The book of Judges was written over 3000 years ago between 1050-1000 B.C. Today we are going to look at Judges chapter ten as one of many examples of Israel’s relapsing found in the Book of Judges.

Below, starting in verse 6, I provided a sample of the many times that God’s people forsook God, repented and repeatedly went back to their sin of Baal worship before being judged by God and crying out for His help-starting the sinful cycle all over again. In judgement, What is God’s judgment? It means that God gave or “sold” them over to their enemies. Better yet, God allowed them to buy their own destruction. You can’t forsake God and expect His blessing, provision and protection anymore than you can buy a car on credit without having to make payments. Let’s jump right in and read for ourselves, picking up in verse Judges 10:6.

“6 The people of Israel AGAIN did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lordand did not serve him. 7 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilea” (Judges 10:6-8).

GOD’S PEOPLE-THE ISRAELITES REPENT…KIND OF

“13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” 15 And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel” (Judges 10:13-16).

GOD OFTEN GIVES US WHAT WE ASK OF HIM

In verses 12-13, God gives the Israelite what they asked for in that that worshipped false gods-so go to those gods and ask them to help you. I find this most interesting. Why would God’s people the worship false gods and then come to the real God of the universe to save them? The answer is that God’s people more often than not want it both ways-they want to live life with their man-made idols and still lean on God as an escape button. Not too long ago, I had a friend whose wife was having an affair on him and wanted to keep the marriage going while she was having the affair. She wanted it both ways. This example is an excellent analogy of the infidelity to the bride and groom we find in the Bible speaking of God’s people and Jesus as bride and groom.

SAME STUFF-DIFFERENT DAY

Today, we are basically in the same situation. We want to keep all the false gods of materialism and spiritual idols while receiving God’s protection from other hostile nations and His blessings upon us for a great economy. This insatiable lust on our part to feed our passions and desires while going to church with God as a side note as opposed to living our faith biblically and visibly in a fallen world is no longer being tolerated by God. This is why we are suffering and why we will suffer even more-until we repent, call upon the Lord, and learn to live within the lines of Word and ways of God. Capitalism is the best system-only when lived out in accordance to the Word of God.

Looking ahead to verse 15, the Israelite confess that they have sought false gods and asked God to do whatever HE SEES fit to do but to please deliver them from their enemies. I find this ironic in that to ask for what God sees fit to do or give to them was already at hand-and to deliver them was quite the opposite in that it would not be what God sees fit in delivering them once again.

THE KICKER-WHY DID THEY SIMPLY PUT AWAY THEIR FOREIGN GODS?

16 “So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel” (Judges 10:16).

Why did the Israelites only “put away” their idols? This perplexes me. Does the alcoholic in rehab simply put his or her liquor away in the cabinet or thrown it out? Here, the Israelites failed to burn and destroy their idols! They simply “put them away”. I don’t know about you, but when I want to eliminate something sinful from my life, I get totally rid of it. When I want to “return” to something or retrieve it later in time, I store it on a shelf, in a closet or in a drawer. God is a loving God in that “He became impatient with their suffering”. The Israelites ought to have completly destroyed, melted down or burned their false god-idols.

IN APPLICATION FOR YOU AND I

I believe this why God is allowing America and the West in general to experience loss of freedom, free speech, value of the U.S. dollar as the world default currency and U.S. military dominance. WHY? Because we have only “put away” our idols and false gods. Looking in the rear-view mirror it becomes clear that we are guilty of manufacturing a self-sustaining self-made god like outlook on life. W find God’s warning signs in and through the September -1, 2001 attacks, through the financial crash of 2008, godless national leadership, from the president to congress, and the list goes on. So now, God will strip us of the very things that have given us a false dependence on the temporal things that have no real power in life or eternity.

THE GOOD NEWS

Is there really any good news? Of course there is. When we return to God, He will restore us to a new way of life that is much lesson clouded by the artificial things of this world. Right now we mourn the loss of material wealth and national power that is quickly eroding in America. It’s important that we own this as a nation in that the consequences of our sin is of our own making. We departed from God a very long time ago and we now scratch our heads, wondering why He has abandoned us and why he has taken His hand of blessing and protection from us, allowing us to literally be taken over by our enemies.

OUR HOPE

God eventually restored Israel and God will eventually restore America in one form or another. Let’s focus on becoming what God wants and not wanting what was in our sinful ways in recent past.

CONCLUSION AND WHERE WE CAN START

Let’s not be like the dog depicted in Proverbs 26:11. “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly"- (Proverbs 26:11). Remember, NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN 3000 YEARS. Like Proverb 26:11, we find Israel, in the book of Judges returning over and over to their sin and judgement. Where can WE start in helping turning things back around and right side up? By opening our drawers and closet and destroying the idols of over abundance, distorted affluence if it has misled us, and the self-dependence that has led us astray from God to begin with. Verse 16 tells us what to do: “So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel” (Judges 10:16).

By being in God’s Word daily, and living our lives in accordance with God’s ways through Prayer, Bible reading and fellowship with authentic Christians willing to take action and not just talk about the state of the country and world in apathy. Lastly, by repenting our own, honest sinful idols that have added to the problem as opposed to help resolve it. We are all affected if honest. Once we do this, God will hear our cries and become impatient with our calling out to Him. And at that time, He will restore us, our nation-His people.

In an article by Schiff Gold, published May 13, 2024, Schiff Sovereign LLC Co-Founder James Hickman, in an article titled "Why The Dollar Will Lose Its Status As The Global Reserve Currency", Hickman compares the fall of the Roman Empire and the demise of their currency as the world’s tier one currency.

Today, I am going to share that article with you simply because I found it to be one of the best predictors of the failing American dollar as the world’s default currency. As a disclaimer, this is not an advertisement or paid promotion from Schiff Gold-Schiff Sovereign, which is an outstanding organization. 

NOTE BENE: I am sharing this with you today because I believe that it’s one of the better if not most accurate accounts of showing us things yet to come in light of the past as it relates to the demise of the American dollar here-forward into the future. Let’s get started.

LOOKING AT THE PAST FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AS THE WORLD POWER AND WORLD’S CURRENCY, LET’S REWIND AND LOOK BACK IN TIME TO TAKE A LOOK AT ROME IN THE EARLY 400’s.

By the early 400s, the Roman Empire was coming apart at the seams and in desperate need of strong, competent leadership. In theory, Honorius (Rome’s Emperor who died in 438 at the age of 38) should have been the right man for the job.

As the younger son of Theodosius I (Emperor 379-395) and Aeilia Flacilla, Honorius was elevated to the rank of Augustus by Theodosius on January 23, 393, and became sole ruler of the West at age 10, upon his father’s death on January 17, 395. His brother Aradius was the Eastern emperor.

Born into the royal household in Constantinople, Honorius had been groomed to rule, practically since birth, by the finest experts in the realm. So even as a young man, Honorius had already accumulated decades of experience. 

Yet Rome’s foreign adversaries rightfully believed Honorius to be weak, out of touch, divisive, and completely inept.

He had entered into bonehead peace treaties that strengthened Rome’s enemies. He paid vast sums of money to some of their most powerful rivals and received practically nothing in return. He made virtually no attempt to secure Roman borders, leaving the empire open to be ravaged by barbarians.
Inflation was high. Taxes were high. Economic production declined. Roman military power declined. And all of Rome’s foreign adversaries were emboldened.

To a casual observer it would have almost seemed as if Honorius went out of his way to make the Empire weaker. One of Rome’s biggest threats came in the year 408, when the barbarian king Alaric invaded Italy; imperial defenses were so non-existent at that point that ancient historians described Alaric’s march towards Rome as unopposed and leisurely, as if they were “at some festival” rather than an invasion. Alaric and his army arrived to the city of Rome in the autumn of 408 AD and immediately positioned their forces to cut off any supplies. No food could enter the city, and before long, its residents began to starve. Historians have passed down horrific stories of cannibalism-- including women eating their own children in order to survive. 

*During the early period of Honorius reign, the Vandals, Alain and Suebi plundered Gaul (406) and then crossed into Spain. Imperial defenses deteriorated to such an extent that they could not rely on Rome for reinforcements against tribal incursions. And in August of 410 the Visigoths, under Alaric occupied Rome, and Honorius fled to Ravenna.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS THAT rather than send troops and fight, Honorius agreed to pay a massive ransom to Alaric, including 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, and literally tons of other real assets and commodities. (The equivalent in today’s money, adjusted for population, would be billions of dollars… similar to what the US released to Iran in a prisoner swap last year.)

Naturally, Honorius didn’t have such a vast sum in his treasury… so Romans were forced to strip down and melt their shrines and statues in order to pay Alaric’s ransom. Ironically, one of the statues they melted was a monument to Virtus, the Roman god of bravery and strength… leading the ancient historian Zosimus to conclude that “all which remained of Roman valor and intrepidity was totally extinguished.”

Rome had spent two centuries in the early days of the empire-- from the rise of Augustus in 27 BC to the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD-- as the clear, unrivaled superpower. Almost no one dared mess with Rome, and few who did ever lived to tell the tale.

Modern scholars typically view the official “fall” of the Western Roman Empire in the year 476. But it’s pretty clear that the collapse of Roman power and prestige took place decades before.
When Rome was ransomed in 408 (then sacked in 410), it was obvious to everyone at the time that the Emperor no longer had a grip on power.

And before long, most of the lands in the West that Rome had once dominated-- Italy, Spain, France, Britain, North Africa, etc. were under control of various Barbarian tribes and kingdoms.
The Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, Angles, Saxons, Burgundians, Berbers, etc. all established independent kingdoms. And for a while, there was no dominant superpower in western Europe. It was a multi-polar world. And the transition was rather abrupt.

This is what I think is happening now-- we’re experiencing a similar transition, and it seems equally abrupt. The United States has been the world’s dominant superpower for decades. But like Rome in the later stage of its empire, the US is clearly in decline. This should not be a controversial statement.
Let’s not be dramatic; it’s important to stay focused on facts and reality.  The US economy is still vast and potent, and the country is blessed with an abundance of natural resources-- incredibly fertile farmland, some of the world’s largest freshwater resources, and incalculable reserves of energy and other key commodities.

In fact, it’s amazing the people in charge have managed to screw it up so badly. And yet they have. The national debt is out of control, rising by trillions of dollars each year. Debt growth, in fact, substantially outpaces US economic growth. Social Security is insolvent, and the program’s own trustees (including the US Treasury Secretary) admit that its major trust fund will run out of money in just nine years. The people in charge never seem to miss an opportunity to dismantle capitalism (i.e. the economic system that created so much prosperity to begin with) brick by brick.

Then there are ubiquitous social crises: public prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law; the weaponization of the justice system; the southern border fiasco; declining birth rates; extraordinary social divisions that are most recently evidenced by the anti-Israel protests.
And most of all the US constantly shows off its incredibly dysfunctional government that can’t manage to agree on anything, from the budget to the debt ceiling. The President has obvious cognitive disabilities and makes the most bizarre decisions to enrich America’s enemies.

Are these problems fixable? Yes. Will they be fixed? Maybe. But as we used to say in the military, “hope is not a course of action”. Plotting this current trajectory to its natural conclusion leads me (the writer) to believe that the world will enter a new “barbarian kingdom” paradigm in which there is no dominant superpower. Certainly, there are a number of rising rivals today. But no one is powerful enough to assume the leading role in the world.

China has a massive population and a huge economy. But it too has way too many problems… with the obvious challenge that no one trusts the Communist Party. So, most likely China will not be the dominant superpower.
India’s economy will eventually surpass China’s, and it has an even bigger population. But India isn’t even close to the ballpark of being the world’s superpower.

Then there’s Europe. Combined, it still has a massive economic and trade union. But it has also been in major decline… with multiple social crises like low birth rates and a migrant invasion.
Then there are the energy powers like Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia; they are far too small to dominate the world, but they have the power to menace and disrupt it.

The bottom line is that the US is no longer strong enough to lead the world and keep adversarial nations in check. And it’s clear that other countries are already adapting to this reality.
Earlier this month, for example, China successfully launched a rocket to the moon as part of a multi-decade mission to establish an International Lunar Research Station. By 2045, China hopes to construct a large, city-like base along with several international partners including Russia, Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Egypt. Turkey and Nicaragua are also interested in joining.

This is pretty remarkable given how many nations are participating, even if just nominally. Yet the US isn’t part of the consortium. This would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. But today the rest of the world realizes that they no longer need American funding, leadership, or expertise.

We can see similar examples everywhere, most notably in Israel and Ukraine. And I believe one of the next shoes to drop will be the US dollar. After all, if the rest of the world doesn’t need the US for space exploration, and they can ignore the US when it comes down to World War 3, then why should they need the US dollar anymore? The dollar was the clear and obvious choice as the global reserve currency back when America was the undisputed superpower. But today it’s a different world.

Foreign nations continuing to rely on the dollar ultimately means governments and central banks buying US government bonds. And why should they take such a risk when the national debt is already 120% of GDP? In addition, Congress passed a new law a few weeks ago authorizing the Treasury Department to confiscate US dollar assets of any country it deems an “aggressor state.”

While people might think this is a morally righteous idea, the reality is that it will only turn off foreign investors. Why should China, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else buy US government bonds when they can be confiscated in a heartbeat? All of this ultimately leads to a world in which the US dollar is no longer the dominant reserve currency. We’re already starting to see signs of that shift, and it could be in full swing by the end of the decade.

The author closes with with “To your freedom”.

I personally want to add to this in that what we have see is a bloated, lazy, tyrannical governmental organization with no discipline-anywhere in its governance, from morality to financial responsibility. I know as I used to live in the Washington D.C. area and sold to Federal Agencies, Congress and NavSea, NavAir, NavSub (head of U.S. Navy). My fathe worked for the Department of the Navy going back to the 1960's. They were a different breed of patriotic, much more honest and principle based men.

WHO IS TO BLAME? As for American Leadership, just look back at our President’s, Congress, Senate, and of course, those who voted them all in-the American public. America has become just like Honorius, the failed and inept Roman Emperor who led Rome directly into and through the fall of Rome. Honorius was one of the weakest of the Roman emperors ,When he did intervene in politics, his actions were usually disastrous; thus if he had been obstinate in rejecting terms offered by Alaric before 410, Rome might have been spared the Gothic occupation. But he didn’t.

There are a number of possible solutions and outcomes-none of which can bring America back as the world’s sole superpower. But we can stabilize ourselves to have a decent and productive existence. But that depends on the moral, fiscal and conviction realistically speaking to turn-about the country. Personally, I cannot see such an existence through all 50 states in its current state. I will leave it at that.

The good news is that God is in control. God has given each of us a brain-a mind to think and physical hands to take action, and made us in His image, with logic to make a better world for our children and  grandchildren. The question now becomes one of unity and moral standing before God. Let’s pray that once we have suffered enough to the point of wanting to make a change, that God steps in and restores the U.S. and Europe at the proper time. 

That's my prayer:)

I’m young enough to understand today’s modern, liberal culture, but still old enough to remember a day when men and women of godly character were elevated as role models. Better yet, a time when people of failed character were restored but not elevated. 

Today, I am going to make the simple case that a core factor in America’s decline is found in great part is the lack of faithful moral role models. What I mean by faithful role model are those who, while not perfect (as none of us are) remained faithful and stead as opposed to falling into sin, finding Jesus, and then building a platform to tell their sensational story. I'm not saying we ought not allow for those redeemed in Christ to tell their story-only that that we have gotten to the point that we no longer elevate and promote God's faithful servants who remained faithful from the start. WHY? Because those stories don't sell books, increase downloads, and create profit. As a result, we (even Christians) reward today's role models for the pain and sin they put on themselves and others, including their spouse and children in making them today's role models. As a result, most of today's role models no longer reflect God's steady, faithful servants, leaving our young people with the deficit of role models to inspire them to REMAIN faithful and godly as opposed to live out their wild side and return to God later.

WHO ARE THOSE FAITHFUL SERVANTS STEVEN?

There was once a day when people like Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, Harriet Tubman-escaped Christian slave who became a conductor of the Underground Railroad. Susan B. Anthony, and Dwight L. Moody, famous preacher who preached in the coal mines were America's role models to be emulated. How about Brother Andrew, famous Bible Smuggler into communist Europe? I just read his book decades later and was inspired beyond belief by his courage, tenacity, sacrifice, and overall faithfulness to Christ and all those he supported and those who supported his efforts. One thing all these men and women share is that none of them sought to be famous-but quite the opposite. All of those mentioned above gave the glory and attention to God. In fact, they were fearful to take any of that attention for personal gain or elevation.

THE PAST MORAL MODEL

When I was a young man, if you had a major moral failure, you could be restored to faith-but you were not allowed benefit from that failure considering any future success. That way of thinking has been flipped upside down in today’s world in that Christian men and women who have moral failures are rewarded publicly for their "turn-around" as promoted on modern social media and technology platform for their immoral failings. Again, I am not saying this is all bad, only that this has become the norm. Why is that bad? Because the younger generation has little if any role models to inspire them to get faithful and REMAIN faithful. That's much harder to do than sinning in great part and returning to God. What does this deficit of steady, faithful role models say about the Christian community and what we want for the next generation?

ACCOMPLISHED PEOPLE

Listen, I admire accomplished men and women, but I don’t admire any person (Christian or not) who sacrifices their marriage, children and family for worldly or even “ministry” success. I have made my own mistakes and experienced my own failures over the years as we all have, but I have not and will not build my platform on those mistakes. To do so would be to use those I hurt and sin for personal gain.

IT'S FOR THE GLORY OF GOD! 

We like to say that it’s for the glory of God-but I want to challenge that narrative in that it comes at the expense of promoting godly, consistent, and faithful ROLE MODELS. At what point does glory to God move to elevating repentant sinners above faithful servants? Sadly, this has become the norm, and we no longer have a strong bench if any bench at all, of Christian role models who didn’t have some kind of moral falling or failure. What does this say to our youth?

WHAT'S THE POINT?

The point is simply that so many, if not most American Christian big named/rock-stars and success stories are built on the backs of failed marriages, illegitimate business ventures, failed parenting, and failed moral and ethical underpinnings. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we as Christians promote faithful men and women who got married, stayed married and were faithful in our fallen, tempting, sinful world? Shouldn’t we promote moms and dads who truly sacrificed themselves as opposed to promoting those who sacrificed their marriages and seeing their children grow up for their personal professional and ministry ambitions. Better yet, why should (or would) we as Christians elevate those who abandoned their husband, wife and children to pursue worldly success in business or ministry? 

SADLY, we no longer value and promote men and women of consistent virtue. In today’s culture, that is too boring and doesn’t sell books and build platforms.

THE SOLUTION
The solution is for Christians first and culture second to get back to biblically based role models. We need only to look at those faithfully serving our Lord in the mission field. Those who serve faithfully according to God’s Word as pastors in the church for years.  

A GLYPSE INTO THE FUTURE
What might the future look like should we fail to start elevating faithful Christian servants? We will sink even lower morally speaking than we are now. But I am confident that we, the church will once again get back to raising up faithful servants in time. As the Christian faith comes under greater persecution, Christians will once again get more biblical as the big ministry platforms shrink into a more proper perspective and churches shrink down to more community size levels As the "game" or "industry" of church is further persecuted I see a day when Christianity gets real-and the game of church as a networking business begins to fade.

CONCLUSION
I remember a day when true biblical role models were elevated. I remember a day when a Christian who fell into sin were forgiven but not elevated even higher as a role of influence or platform. WHY WERE SUCH FAILINGS NOT REWARDED? The answer is that past generations did not reward bad moral behavior. Past generations understood that to promote past-sinful behavior, even if repentant, was to directly or indirectly promote such behavior. Grace and restoration is good, but elevating one based on their past failures is wrong. Some will disagree with me on this. My response to those Christians is to check yourself-against the Word of God. The Bible is full of sinful people. But nowhere do I find sinful believers elevated to new heights. In the Bible, I see people like David, Paul/Saul and even Peter who sinned doing great things for the Lord. But I do NOT see the center of their platform built on that sin. What I see is a brief mentioning of that sin before putting their failures behind them. 

IN CLOSING
We all make mistakes, but we ought not build our future platform on the wrong, but rather elevate others who consistently did right. That is way harder to do and the true biblical role model-MODEL we as Christians should follow. In closing, there is one simple thing we can do for our children, our grandchildren, and perhaps ourselves. That one thing is to point out true, Christian role models of the past. If you can find any modern faithful role models, point them out as well. Most are men and women of old in the past. Buy paper book copies of books such as God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew, Billy Graham's Autobiography, and Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in The Jungles of World War II. Let these people's stories inspire you and your family and show you that God has provided us faithful servants as role models for THIS and the NEXT generation. Please feel free to submit any comments or questions below.