A craze for pleasure and brutal sports (2:1)

The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within (2:2)

The decay of religion and the impotence of religious leaders16 (2:3)

As historians tell us, if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we will have to repeat them. What happens to a woman who forgets her past? She becomes a child. What happens to a child who fails to benefit from his experience? His body grows, but not his mind. The same happens to nations and the world. The mid-19th Century marked a turning point in human history. The spiritual state of the world had declined so much that it required revival. The following statement by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War shows the world trends up to his time: (2:4)

We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity...we have grown in wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace... and we have vainly imagined that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace. Too proud to pray to the God who made us.17 (2:5)

Today people have forgotten who they are and how great they are. A young man named John went to a big city. The sight of crowds frightened him. He said to himself, 'What if I went to sleep, woke up, but could not find myself in the crowd!' He talked to a man named Joe about his fears. Joe told him to put a tag with his name around his ankle. John liked the idea and followed it. When he went to sleep, Joe took the tag from John's ankle and put it on his own. When John woke up, he saw the tag and thought Joe was him. Seized with fear, he exclaimed, 'Joe, if you are me, then, for heaven's sake, who and where am I?' (2:6)

Not only have people forgotten who they are, they have also lost track of where they are going. A driver got lost on a country road. He stopped and asked a little girl, 'Do you know which way is south?' 'No!' 'Do you know Highway 20?' 'No!' 'Do you know a gas station around here?' 'No!' In desperation, the driver asked, 'Do you know anything?' The little girl said, 'I know one thing. I ain't lost!' (2:7)

Faith gives meaning and purpose to everything we do and is the only thing that remains when everything else is gone. 'Once when a precocious six-year-old displayed her aversion to a proper diet, her father exasperatedly asked, 'Child, you don't care for vegetables, salad, fruits, or fish-- what do you like?' Turning her wide brown eyes on him, she demurely answered, 'Why, I like you, Daddy!'' (2:8)

Noted historian Arnold Toynbee stated, 'Of the twenty-two civilizations that appear in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.'18 Eminent historian Will Durant indicated there is no example in history to show that we can have morality without religion. We find many political leaders in former communist countries who were trained to be atheists and yet today they acknowledge the human need for spirituality. According to Vladimir Shlapntokh, who has conducted public opinion polls for Pravda: (2:9)

Soviet leaders are looking for help in the form of the restoration of old religious norms...compassion, grace, forgiveness, charity, and other virtues previously presented as elements of bourgeois decadence. Leaders [see] religion as a means of halting Soviet society's accelerating demoralization.19 (2:10)

As Jesus said, 'Man cannot live by bread alone' (Matthew 4:4). The Word of God is the heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. A beggar asked a woman for money. She offered to buy him lunch. He said, 'I've had three lunches while trying to get a dime!' He could not live by food alone (2:11)

Spirituality is the yeast that elevates our attitude. Without it, we remain stagnant, like a heavy lump of dough. Adler, the noted psychologist, tells about 'a group of people who were crowded together, trying to sleep on the floor of a great auditorium during the war, but one woman kept them awake with her pitiful cries, 'Oh, God, I'm so thirsty!' Finally, someone got up in the dark and brought her a glass of water. They could hear the woman gurgle the water down, but suddenly, they heard her again moaning, 'Oh God, how thirsty I was!'' (2:12)

According to a CNN report, some experts believe that if people paid their taxes honestly, the yearly deficit in the U.S. budget would be wiped out. The IRS is the most feared agency in the United States, yet that strong fear does not overcome greed. Only inner auditing before God can prevent people from cheating (2:13)

Most of the problems we face in the world are caused by a loss of identity, a lack of purpose, and a loss of faith. Historically, when human life has descended to a critical point, God has sent a new Teacher or Messenger to lift our spirits and enrich our lives. We have already passed that low point (2:14)

Chuck Colson, an eloquent and enlightened writer and spokesman for Christianity, gave the following message on a Christian radio station: (2:15)

Pollster George Gallup compared the ethical behavior of Americans who attend church regularly and those who never attend. He compiled candid admissions from people who call in sick when they are not, who puff their resumes, who cheat on income taxes. Astonishingly, Gallup reported 'little difference in the ethical views and behavior of the churched and the unchurched.' (2:16)

In a similar vein, religion reporter Terry Mattingly recently cited surveys showing that students at Christian colleges cheat on exams at the same rates as students at secular colleges (2:17)

What does all this tell us? That many Christians are guilty of compartmentalizing our lives into separate boxes so that our faith never influences our everyday attitudes and opinions. Many of us are as fragmented in our minds as any double agent.20 (2:18)

In his book The Body, Mr. Colson wrote: (2:19)

The roots of the church's identity crisis are found in the consumer mentality so pervasive in our culture...People flit about in search of what suits their taste at the moment. It's what some have called the 'McChurch' mentality...Thus, the church becomes just another retail outlet, faith just another commodity. 21 (2:20)

Today, religion has lost its grip on the spiritual life of the world. 'A minister glared down at Sam and roared, 'And are you, my son, a soldier in the army of the Lord?' Surprised at being singled out, Sam replied anxiously, 'Y-yes sir, I am.' 'Then why,' pressed the minister, 'do we see you here only at Christmas?' Thinking quickly, Sam replied, 'Would you believe, sir, I'm in the secret service?'' In this age, many of the faithful have gone from active service to secret service (2:21)

Today, religion has been turned into a talk show. 'Adlai Stevenson told the story of a backsliding man who was so inspired by an eloquent preacher that he leaped out of his seat and yelled, 'Lord God, take me and use me-- in an advisory capacity.'' The talking and avoiding must be changed into doing: (2:22)

The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds; he whose words exceed his deeds, know verily his death is better than his life.22 Baha'u'llah (2:23)

'A rabbi and a soap maker went for a walk together. The soap maker said, 'What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world, after thousands of years of teaching about goodness and truth and peace. If religion is good and true, why should this be?' The rabbi said nothing. They continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter. Then the rabbi said, 'Look at that child. You make soap and say that it makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster. Of what good is soap? With all the soap in the world, over all these years, that child is still filthy. I wonder how effective soap is, after all!' The soap maker protested. 'But, Rabbi, soap cannot do any good unless it is used!' 'Exactly,' replied the Rabbi. 'Exactly!'' (2:24)

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