Current Events & Trends: Symptoms of America's cultural darkness
An incisive article late last year by longtime nationally syndicated American columnist Cal Thomas caught our attention—titled "Signs of National Decline are Everywhere This Holiday Season" in the Washington Examiner (Dec. 2, 2013) and, at FoxNews.com, "A Prescription for Decline—Worshipping the False Gods of Prosperity and Money" (Dec. 3).
In one sentence each, Thomas briefly highlights a number of incidents of public violence around America. He then sums up their significance, stating, "In the era of flash mobs and a growing entitlement mentality fueled by politicians and 'income inequality' alarmists, these far-too-frequent instances now seem to be symptomatic of a decaying culture." He sees failure to instill traditional values that have well served previous generations is a big factor in America's cultural decline.
He further observes: "People and nations must be ruled by something, or there is anarchy. Either it is God, or secular laws that control our lower nature. Today, we are out of control as we pursue happiness through prosperity in the false hope that money and things will satisfy . . . As the ancient writer said, 'Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.' (Ecclesiastes 5:10) Who today is satisfied with their income and circumstances?"
This unusual column highlighted Americans' often reckless spending on Black Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday that commonly marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Thomas likened it to what King David wrote in Psalm 12:8: "The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men."
Today far too many call evil good and good evil (see Isaiah 5:20). Living a balanced, godly life helps counter these growing blots on American life. To begin living a spiritually abundant life yourself (John 10:10), read the free booklet Making Life Work. (Sources: FoxNews.com, Washington Examiner.)
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
