Ronald Reagan first used the phrase describing America in his speeches in 1964....as he campaigned for Barry Goldwater...."The last best hope of man on earth"....and he was consistent....as he uttered the same theme well into the 1980s.....during his presidency.....but we are a different people today. We were once conservatives and liberals with the same goals and hopes....only different methods. We do not all have the same goals today. Nearly half of us today see nothing good in anything that America has ever been. Why are they like this? It is spiritual in nature....for they first rejected God....and He then departed from them. The other half....maybe even a majority of us....use the same type of words that Reagan used....but humility is gone....replaced by a coarse pride....so the words and the thoughts of Reagan are still there....but hollow....being only political banter.
I posted this in April of 2020...."Jeremiah was given a vision that we read about in chapter 24. In it he sees two baskets of figs....one was of 'bad figs' while the other 'good figs.' Nebuchadnezzar had taken captives back to Babylon....a humbling experience....but these were the 'good' figs....for God would use this to their good and His glory. Those that stayed in Jerusalem and Judah were as us today who will not humble ourselves....but will continue to build that which took us far from God to begin with. Not only have we not separated ourselves from a decaying culture and dreams of worldly greatness....having only fashioned an evangelical niche within it....but now....having a glimpse of the virus subsiding....are determined to build again....greater than ever....apparently having learned nothing."
The basket of good figs today....as pointed to above....would be those who see what we have become....and what we have brought upon ourselves....and how we have as Christians strayed far off course....but who now say...."Maranatha....come Lord Jesus!"
The basket of bad figs....also reiterating here....would be those of us who say...."No....we will build America bigger and better....we will build our house even as the Lord's house lies in ruins." Before the parable of the good and bad figs....Jeremiah warned...."The wind will sweep away all your shepherds"....(Jeremiah 22:22)...and it has.....as our pulpits today say "peace....peace.....when there is no peace." (Jeremiah 8:11)
