This nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom (Lincoln 1863)

Asking "How are things going in our country?" is a kind way of asking, "Will we make it?" but if we are honest the second question is the one we should be asking today.

We have gone from being a spiritual to a material culture. The former has values that satisfy such as love, peace, patience, and self-control. The latter has no lasting values but has tendencies that are addictive and cry out for more, such as more power, pleasure and prosperity.

Our addictive tendencies come from our ancestor Adam who chose self-will in the Garden of Eden in defiance of God. Addictive tendencies can be offset by energizing the image of God implanted in each of us by the Creator. The question of which controls, our spiritual nature or our sin nature, depends on which nature we feed.

In the past half century our culture has been fed a constant dose of half-truth trivia, beginning with Hollywood movies, radio, TV, and theater; now joined by education, government at all levels, social media and woke thinking.

Materialism without spirituality is a path to nihilism-nothing makes sense-leading to loneliness, anxiety, despair, anger and often violence. Freedom is at stake.

The message of Common Sense 2.0 is that we can again become a spiritual nation if we have the determination of the Founding Fathers. Determination will require a new type of leader, On Fire for God leaders who are pure in heart so they can see God (Matthew. 5:8). It has taken a half century to get to our present situation; it may take that long or longer to restore the foundation of the nation.

(This commentary was prepared for use by individuals, groups, and churches.)