From: Jonathan Falwell
Date:  April 18, 2008
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Our Dishonest Nation
 
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has found that federal workers improperly used several billion dollars on the purchase of "Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie [and] lavish dinners," among other things, the Associated Press reported.
 
The GAO said that 41 percent of $14 billion in purchases from 2005-06 did not follow authorization procedures or follow proper signature guidelines.  It appears that federal employees were having a field day with taxpayers' dollars by deliberately avoiding <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />purchasing policies.  One Agriculture Department employee was actually sending checks - $642,000 worth - to her live-in boyfriend.
 
The AP also reported that out of a $2.7 million sample of purchases for laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras, the government could not account for $1.8 million worth of the properties.
 
I imagine this is typical behavior within many businesses around the country.  We have become a nation increasingly comprised of me-first citizens who have no problem using deceitful practices to satisfy their personal needs or to enhance their lifestyles.
 
Where did America go wrong?  And how can we alter this course?
 
First, I see the GAO report as being reflective of our nation's continued departure from its Judeo-Christian heritage.  This nation was founded on biblical principles, and those principles largely sustained us until about a half-century ago.
 
As our nation has turned away from (and even become hostile toward) the Ten Commandments and other biblical principles, we have seen our citizenry become progressively more dishonest and deceptive.  Crime has risen, our schools have failed and our culture has become vulgar and crude.  I believe it's all related to the ouster of God from our schools, our media and our society.
 
And as our nation has become more deceitful our citizens have consequently become more defensive of their actions.  We live in a if-he-can-do-it-so-can-I environment that counters our foundation of structured law and order.  It's a vicious cycle that can have no positive outcome.
 
Further, we are a nation short of heroes.  Many of our politicians and pastors have turned out to be corrupt.  Our athletes tell us that they don't want to be role models.  Our movies and music typically glorify bad behavior.  And all the while our "culture of diversity" tells us that there is no real right or wrong and all "truths" should be accepted in a large mixing bowl of ideas.
 
Finally, our courts have often embraced our transgressions.  You want an abortion?  We'll create a "right to privacy" in the Constitution.  You want God out of the public square?  We'll manipulate the phrase "wall of separation" so that it means public religious expression should be completely outlawed.
 
Christians are left to ask, as the great theologian Francis Schaeffer inquired, "How should we then live?"
 
I believe a Christian uprising is needed.  Christians must rise to confront and address the culture with reason and the truth of Scripture - not with hysteria and insensitivity.  We must become skilled and compassionate apologists, representing Jesus Christ within a society that has become hardhearted and cynical.  And we must be willing to turn the other cheek when we are disparaged for taking a stand for Christ.
 
I John 3:18,19 tells us: "… let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."
 
There is no hope apart from Christ.  And while such a notion counters all that our society holds, we must continue to voice this truth with the love of Christ guiding our hearts.
 
God is the author of truth.  And within this often deceitful society we must be willing to offer the hope of Jesus Christ which perfectly counters the corruption of man.  As I have noted before in this column and in my sermons, "Not I, but Christ" must become our maxim in all that we do so that people who are hungry for truth - real truth! - will see it through us.