The prophet Jeremiah spoke words of warning to the people in Jeremiah 2:11-13. He said,


A couple of years ago, presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote a book called When Character Was King. Unfortunately, America is failing to keep character king. I have watched Americans compromise character as long as it served a selfish political or economic interest. Americans worship success, wealth, power, talent, ability, and self over character. We reward achievement over character, success over integrity; and we, as a nation, are coming apart at the seams.

Our forefathers worshiped the God of the Bible because they believed in His integrity; they believed His character was flawless, perfect in every way. They believed that if we emulated the character of God and obeyed His laws, America would be a great and powerful nation. We again need to honor the perfection of God's character and model it in America. It is the only way we can change our inevitable destiny with calamity and failure.

Our forefathers held the deepest conviction that if America honored the Bible and the God of the Bible, this country would have great success and would be victorious over her enemies. Our forefathers believed that if we honored God, He would intervene, even as he did in Israel's affairs, and grant us victory and blessing. This belief was the power behind the Constitution. This belief formed the Bill of Rights, as godly men sought to please God by living lives with integrity and compassion.

America has forgotten her roots, the reason for her existence. America was called by God to honor and obey Him. Even though our forefathers held freedom of religious expression as one of their founding tenets, it was the God of the Scriptures who formed their opinions and worldviews. In their understanding, the God of the Bible was perfect in justice and holiness. The laws of the land were based upon the justice of God and the holiness of God.

If the people of this land pursue integrity, understanding the Bible is not difficult. It is when our views are colored by personal interest and the lack of character that the Bible and our laws become difficult to interpret. Our forefathers believed that biblical character was the essential glue of all democracies. A true democracy cannot survive if the power of self-interest is the governing law of the land. If democracy gives people the power of choice, then we can choose our destiny. We can succeed by choosing to exalt biblical character and truths, or fail by choosing to demean the foundational human ethics taught by God's word.

In the coming days, it will be important for us as a people to decide what we will choose: self interest or character. We must choose to be one nation under God. Will we choose biblical foundational truths or contemporary fads and philosophies that will end in failure? One of the great sins of the Bible is that humanity, in its pride and arrogance, believed its wisdom was superior to God's. Throughout human history, every calamity and heartache can be traced to this decision of human arrogance and pride. The fall of man was the result of God's will being rejected for the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life.

We all want to blame Adam and Eve for the suffering of the world; but we, like our parents, make the same fateful decisions every day to reject God and His truth. Jesus preached that if we turn to God and His will, then the power of His kingdom would be present to make us a mighty people, and a mighty nation under God. It is time to make character king again in America.