Category: Declining World Stature

A Seminal Time In Our History?



In my last post, I alluded to the current “atmosphere” in our country since the recent election: the excitement of both our still-forming leadership team and a wide swath of our population, contrasted by the anger and even “backlash” and openly-articulated resistance in Democrat leadership and a narrower swath of our population [and most of the “legacy” media] to President Trump‘s agenda. In this one, I will try to express from a much broader historical perspective how this “atmosphere” in this decade mirrors in many ways two of the decades in our history that most historians agree were arguably the most seminal points. Obviously, that poses the question “Is this a seminal time in our history?”

Something that is seriously lacking in our culture nowadays, particularly in many people in leadership roles, is a perspective broad enough to rise above the din of day-to-day news and commentary and draw conclusions about how current events fit into an inception-to-date view of our country. Even our leaders seem to be down in the forest among the trees rather than viewing the situation from an airplane at least hundreds of feet above the forest, or perhaps even 30,000 feet, or even from a capsule orbiting the planet. The “atmosphere” I described in my opening paragraph clearly paints the picture that polarization in our leadership has actually intensified since the November 2024 election. The Democrat party has now even formally developed a resistance-based platform, which if followed its leaders appear to believe will result in a massive shift of legislative majority power back to them in 2026 and a full reversal by 2028 of the path chosen by a majority of our citizens three months ago.

So who is “right?”

So who is “right?” Who defines what is “right” for our country? Will the current path and direction result in a better situation as of 10/31/2028? Who should define what situation on 10/31/2028 would be “better” than the situation on 10/31/2024? Who will define what situation on 10/31/2028 would be “better” than the situation on 10/31/2024? These are questions that can only be answered from a much broader perspective than appears to currently be in the mix. For me, the bigger question is the title I gave this post: Is this a seminal time in our history? In considering it, we would be well served as a nation to understand that our perspective is never the broadest: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” [Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV.]

Are we in a seminal period in our country’s history?

I recently watched a ten-minute discussion between a media commentator and a well-known college president. At one point in that discussion the college president expressed his sense that this is a seminal decade in our country’s history, likening it to the 1770s [resulting in a revolution and our founding] and the 1850s [resulting in the Civil War.] Being well-versed and widely published in history, particularly American history, he described very enlightening similarities in the “atmosphere” in America during those seminal decades and the “atmosphere” in this decade.

In closing, I’d offer this thought to challenge those reading this post to consider what I’ve written here in context with these words from our first two Presidents:

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled [people] will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” George Washington

“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” John Adams

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Thanks for reading this post, and if you regularly follow my Blog, for that, too. Please consider sharing this or other posts with your friends, colleagues and associates.

Charles M. Jones

What Now Shall We Do?

This is my first post to this blog since October 30, 2024, just six days prior to what I believe will be viewed retrospectively as one of the most — and from a Christian perspective, possibly the most — critical and impactful presidential election in our country’s history. That post, Christians Can Determine Who Becomes Next U.S. President, was a plea that began with the sentence “If you are a born-again, God-fearing, Bible-studying, praying Christian, I implore you to read this post.” My purpose now is to offer my observations about the overall “atmosphere” in the country since that election, and share very apropos insights from prominent Christian leaders through a 1976 book, a 1999 book, and a 2025 article that I believe collectively answer the question What Now Shall We Do?

The “atmosphere” in our country

The “atmosphere” in our country from the last month or so of the election campaign through Election Day and the ensuing months has been interesting. Reactions among pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions in our extremely polarized country to the realization of what a landslide-level change-of-direction mandate the American people issued have obviously been many and varied. There is understandably almost uniform  jubilation among Trump’s supporters. What is most interesting to me, though, is the vastness of the range of words needed to describe the reactions among anti-Trump factions — understandably, frustration and disappointment, but many others like denial, rejection, and resistance, manifesting themselves in the form of delay tactics by Legislators in approving the President’s cabinet nominees, open refusal of state and local leaders to comply with new legally-promulgated federal directives, organized demonstrations [although vastly diminished in size from 2017,] and even state and local laws and ordinances rushed to quick passage in some jurisdictions.

Recent polls indicate that a solid majority of Americans approve of the direction shaping up rapidly even during the first week of this Administration, so resistance among legislators is particularly puzzling. Not surprising is the “legacy” press’ lingering denial and an attitude of “hunkering down” on negative coverage that has prevailed in that arena since Donald Trump began his first campaign for the presidency in 2016. Only what appears to me to be a very small number of media pundits have an attitude that shows they have heard and understand what the People have said and seem to be trying to find where they can “fit in” to a “new normal” despite their vicious coverage in the past. 

Three generations of apropos insights from prominent Christian leaders

In his 1976 book [200 years  How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, Francis Schaeffer examined the preceding 200 years of Western civilization, arguing that its decline to that point stemmed from abandoning a Biblical worldview. He traced cultural, philosophical, and moral developments from Ancient Rome to the modern era, highlighting how a society’s worldview shapes its trajectory.

A generation later [1999,] Charles Colson wrote How Now Shall We Live?, in which he postulated that Christianity provides a comprehensive framework for understanding reality, addressing life’s fundamental questions: Where did we come from? What has gone wrong with the world? And how can it be fixed? Colson also argued [as did Schaeffer] that the decline of Western culture had been a result of rejecting Biblical truth in favor of secularism, relativism, and materialism. These ideologies, Colson contended, fail to offer meaningful answers to humanity’s deepest needs. By contrast, the Christian worldview provides a coherent understanding of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption, offering hope and purpose. He urged Christians to challenge cultural norms and influence society through active engagement in areas such as politics, education, science, and the arts, and to defend their faith, confront cultural challenges, and offer hope to a world in crisis.

Another generation later [about two months after President Trump’s landslide election to his second term,] Franklin Graham published an 1/1/25 article entitled Pray for Donald J. Trump. On January 20th, he was one of the pastors who offered invocation prayers at the inauguration. I believe this article boils down to a single admonition the philosophical/theological warnings articulated by Schaeffer and Colson in those generations and Graham’s in this and many other articles, speeches and sermons in this generation. That admonition: pray for our country, our President and those in other leadership positions in our government, and above all that God will not continue to remove His mighty hand of protection from us as a nation as the massive change in direction now underway unfolds.

Pray for our country, our President, and those in other leadership positions in our Government

Below my auto-signature are specific things Franklin Graham outlined in the above-referenced article that he believes should be included in our prayers — an excellent guide that I am certainly including in my prayers. And I like the way it ends:

So pray. Pray fervently. Pray diligently.

A Closing Remark

Although one could argue that the motivations that led us to where we are now were not all expressed as Christian by the general public, the current major change in direction and path forward are clearly more in line with Biblical principles than they have been in many years. So in my opinion, tightly coupled with that admonition is my personal desire that our actions going forward will be clear and convincing evidence that as a nation we have at least taken a major step toward “humbling (our)selves, and pray(ing) and seek(ing) (God’s) face, and turn(ing) from (our) wicked ways,” resulting in God‘s “hear(ing) from heaven, and … forgiv(ing) (our) sin and heal(ing) (our) land” [II Chronicles 7:14 NKJV.]

Thanks for reading this post, and if you regularly follow my Blog, for that, too. Please consider sharing this or other posts with your friends, colleagues and associates.

Charles M. Jones

Things We Should Include In Our Prayers [from Pray for Donald J. Trump]

That President Trump will look to God each and every day for wisdom, guidance and discernment. Since the Bible says God’s purposes will prevail, our leaders need to seek God’s counsel for wise, lasting progress. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” [Psalm 33:10-12.]

And how should we pray in particular for our president?

  • First and foremost, that he and his advisers will bend their hearts toward God and humbly seek His will. The Bible says “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” [Proverbs 21:1.] Almighty God, the King of Kings, rules over all presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, kings and queens. This also implies that a “king” should be ever humbling himself before the Lord and asking for His will to be done.
  • That he will surround himself with men and women who will give him Godly counsel. No one person has enough wisdom to always make the right decisions. A president receives an abundance of information from dozens of different sources, but what he especially needs is the wisdom and discernment that comes from people who know God and His ways.
  • That the Lord will protect him from harm. There are plenty of adversaries around the world who would love nothing more than to see President Trump fail, not to mention our adversary the devil, who especially targets those in leadership. Never underestimate the wiles of Satan, but don’t overestimate him either. Christ defeated him on the cross and one day soon will cast him into Hades.

So pray. Pray fervently. Pray diligently.

An Introduction To USAparadigm.com

According to experts on blogs, if I’m going to capture your attention with this, my introductory blog post at this site, I must do so in the next few sentences. I sincerely hope I can do that, … read more

According to experts on blogs, if I’m going to capture your attention with this, my introductory blog post at this site, I must do so in the next few sentences.  I sincerely hope I can do that, because I honestly believe I have a perspective on “goings on” in America that makes me more than just another blogger in the [insert your own adjective: Liberal; Conservative; Republican; Democrat; White; African-American; Asian; Gay; Straight; Religious; Non-Religious; Wall Street; Main Street …] Camp. This country is on a path to a future that the vast majority of its citizens will find very undesirable — from many perspectives, but although I see the country [just as anyone else does] through the lens of my ideological worldview, the financial situation will ultimately make all ideological considerations moot if we don’t develop the political will in our leadership to get ourselves onto a more sustainable fiscal path.  If you don’t agree with me at this point and your interest in what I have to say is waning, PLEASE consider the possibility that there may actually be something to my claim of potentially bringing a broader — perhaps even unique — perspective to the endless stream of opinions from bloggers in the various camps mentioned parenthetically above, and at least read the rest of this introductory blog post before making a decision to move on to something else.  If you agree with me to this point, I’d like to assume that you will at least read the rest of this introductory blog post [if that assumption is incorrect, all I can do is ask you to PLEASE reconsider — for the same reason]. Continue reading “An Introduction To USAparadigm.com”