Christians can find a certain benefit in reading the news no matter how inauspicious it can be. We should understand the happenings in our culture and how it is interpreted from both the conservative and liberal mindset if we’re interested in engaging it. How we analyze and elucidate reported events is influenced by our worldview. This presuppositional slant will lead us to reckon whether our culture is on the up-and-up, or in decline. Whether we see these events as steps forward or some incredible deterioration moving us back several notches will really depend on your beliefs. As far as we are concerned, what we are seeing today is a hasty distancing from our history and morality. Canada, as a country, once wholeheartedly affirmed Christian values and is rapidly shifting away from these principles. We are opined to say that nothing short than an ethical collapse has occurred and we are feeling its repercussions. I’m perfectly aware that few sociologists and your local Liberal MP will agree with my analysis, and they’ll undoubtedly point to things like accomplishments in advancing human rights to comfort themselves. While there is some truth that we’ve progressed in this area, in a very real way, we’ve still socially regressed. Here are my reasons for making these statements. Let’s start with a passage in the bible in the book of Proverbs:
““Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts. “For he who finds me finds life And obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:34-36)
Our country was once a nation that acknowledged the supremacy of God over its lands. I appreciate that this assertion may shock certain individuals since these things are no longer taught in a proper history class on our nation’s past but it’s true. This doesn’t mean that all our Canadian predecessors were genuine believers in Jesus, or that none had a secular bent, or that all were moral people but the majority were certainly influenced by a Christian worldview. This manifested itself in many of our institutions and symbolized in our country’s emblems. There was a time not long ago when the Canadian coat of arms, which is still engraved on our parliament building, read the Latin phrase “A Mari Usque Ad Mare,” which when translated means “from sea to sea”, a reference to the bible from Psalms 72:8.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
This was a reference to the vastness of the reign of King Jesus over our country. It was meant to convey the desired expansion of his rule all over the world. We as a nation celebrated July 1, not as a national fête commemorating Canada Day, but a holiday called “Dominion Day” which was a recognition of the sovereignty of God over our land. We truly believed that the protection and prosperity of our country depended upon the favour of the God of the scriptures.
The singing of our national anthem in those days included the 4th stanza, something that many Canadians today may have never heard:
“Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee.
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the better Day,
We ever stand on guard.”
As much as today we ignore God to keep our land glorious and free, our predecessors recognized not only the need for His protective hand to be upon us, but also that He was the ruler supreme and that we were in fact a dominion.
Men who headed our institutions, whether governmental, judicial, or educational, acknowledged God’s authority over them and made sure it was entrenched in our policies, laws and curriculums. These were undoubtedly imperfect, and at times poorly applied. But their shortcoming wasn’t because they were derived from biblical law, but because men are sinners and in return often make a mess out of what is good. Churches were being planted across this nation and the gospel of Jesus was shared in abundance. The fear of the Lord, which brings wisdom, was conceded by and large by a great number of Canadians, and taught from most of our church’s pulpits. In return, because God’s authority was kept in mind, we lived in a land of freedom, blessed with many sons & daughters, protection from our enemies and citizens possessed the potential to prosper. Even with all our problems and challenges, we lived in a time of an abundance of life.
Cultural Conversion
Sadly, as I previously articulated, our culture has converted, and it hasn’t fared well. It has transmuted into an ethos which, after all the blessings that it was afforded, spits in God’s face, attempting to take Him completely out of our culture and erase any history of Him. Not only does it attempt to withdraw Him from any societal exposure but seeks to rebel against all His precepts. It celebrates the murder of the unborn, radical feminism, gay marriage, trans-surgeries on kids, and the erection of idols representing false deities. It has unequivocally said, as our text in proverbs states, “we hate You, God” and, in return, confessed: “oh how we love death!” The proof is in the pudding. There were roughly 40,000 deaths from Fentanyl overdose alone between 2016-2023. We are now legally giving it in the name of safe supply. We’ve adopted one of the most radical assisted-suicide programs in the world to get rid of the sick, and which we’re now contemplating opening it up to the mentally ill, the impoverished and even minors. At this point, in some provinces, 7% of all deaths came from the MAID program and the prediction is within 5 years that number will rise to 10%. All in the name of a misplaced and godless empathy. Our suicide rates were roughly 4500 people in 2023. There were 87,500 babies aborted in 2023 in Canada alone and the fertility rate in our country is now the lowest it’s been in more than a century. People in our country are dying on waitlists for medical treatment and there is little being done to help this travesty. There is death all around us and we have become numb to its consequences.
Our days of economic prosperity have also taken a turn for the worst. Our national and provincial debt is now next to unmanageable. We live in a time where the number of homeless people is roughly between 150,000 to 300,000 and counting. There are millions in our country having to turn to foodbanks to acquire their next meal. People who can actually afford food are needing to eat less to allow for funds for heat and rent and some have turned to working multiple jobs just to survive. We are taxed at a rate that would have left the Israelites of old to think they’d been cursed into oblivion. Men and women just starting out in life who’d looked forward to purchasing a home have had their aspiration rendered into a pipedream and they are left to fill the pockets of landlords who are taking advantage of our lack of housing. There is little positive foresight, and we can expect this economic downturn to be with us for a very long time.
To add to all this, we now live in a country where instead of reading “from sea to sea” in front of our parliament in Ottawa, we hear “from the river to the sea”, a genocidal chant against Jews, not because of a war in Palestine, but simply because they are Jews. There are those calling for the destruction of Jews and Christians openly in our streets which is something that none of us could ever have fathomed hearing in our country just a decade ago. To date, 100 churches have been vandalized or burned in our country by radicals who hate the Christians Faith with little response from our media or our government officials. Those who are in charge are sadly oblivious to the fact that the men of Troy are already inside, waiting to open the gates. We have foreign entities interfering in our elections and those who hate our western values are wishing death to these principles publicly without a filter.
How Did It Get This Far?
While our culture deems itself progressive and wise, it fails to recognize what’s behind this downfall. They neglect to see their hatred of God and the repercussions it avails. Our culture is so blinded by their ideologies that they fail to see that this detestation of the Triune One only brings injury to itself. They are reaping from their sowing. They want the fruit of blessing while at the same time, they want to burn the tree down. This spiraling judgment upon our nation will not fix itself nor will our politicians and its thinkers solve these tragedies through their own inclination or ideological pursuits. But how did we get this far? How did our societies wander away from embracing the Sovereign God? It came to be because for the most part, the Christian faith took a backseat and the churches sat back without a fight. When they were told to practice their faith in their church buildings and leave society alone, they listened and obeyed, rather than obeying their own Lord. They hid in their churches and indulged in the comforts of peace not thinking they’d ever have to confront anyone outside their walls.
A Return
With all this said, I’m not persuaded that it’s too late! I believe that we can change things. This change begins with going outside and telling our culture to open their eyes, to repent, believe the gospel and to bow the knee to Jesus, and who better to tell them than the Churches! It is the churches that need to inform them that while they hate God, they will continue descending into decay brought by this sin. It is the Christians who must urge them to exchange their hatred of God and their love for death for a love of Christ and of life. As believers in Jesus, we should make it our priority as the church to proclaim to them that He came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). A love that He can bring individually and collectively. As the prophet Amos tells us: Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph (Amos 5:14-15). They should hear the call to practice good through establishing justice. They should be made known that if they repent and pursue the goodness laid out by God, they may receive again the former blessings. Their misunderstanding stems from the belief that they are okay, in spite of their injustices, sinful behaviours and greed. It is the responsibility of the congregations in this country to call for them to turn away.
There is a dangerous assumption accepted in our culture mainly that once you receive a blessing, that you will be guaranteed to be granted that blessing for generations to come like some sort of right you possess. But God doesn’t work that way. For the blessings of God to come for future generations, it needs to be embraced and fought for throughout the generations. It doesn’t continue unless the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed and embraced.
Let’s pray for revival in our country and for our leaders so that they may fear God and learn to put Him in His rightful place. But first, let’s pray for a reformation of the churches in Canada to raise their voices on behalf of the only One who can bring about this revival.
The Moncton Herald 