Typically, I would look to lessons of the past ...to learn and guide my present decisions. And the decisions that I make today will have influence upon my future.

But, this time I think it is most beneficial to first look at the future.

If  you believe in evolution, you cannot propose an argument for civilized behavior.  Evolution has always been guided by 'survival of the fittest' and cruel dictators often learn more from past dictator's mistakes, than those who consider themselves civilized and peaceful.

I cannot see any aspect of evolution as a pleasant future hope ...as history has often shown the vulgar and violent as being the most driven for war and conquest.  And if you try to argue that the United States of America has evolved into a more civilized society of people ...really, I'd have to challenge that comment. The United States of America did not evolve into a peace-loving society ...they progressed with strong beliefs in God.  

Yes, it was a painful process ...having to fight a Civil War, and also fighting to give women the rights of opinions, in the form of voting.  But, then we introduced ideas such as evolution ...attempting to take God out of our poorly formulated equations.  Have you been swept away with all that knowledge and those newly formulated ideas?  Or have you been aware of what has been happening?

We have been trading off the rights of some ...for the demands of personal selfish rights.  We have turned the corner, and are going in the wrong direction.  A dictator feels it is no issue at all to completely trample over all your rights ...as long as their agenda is furthered, and their goals and desires realized.  How much different are we when we promote a complete distortion of romance, personal status, and needs ...the end result being a disgruntled attitude towards any sound advice to improve morality, and the blind support for abandoning all integrity ..aborting the dignity of ourselves and our babies.

I don't call this advancement ....I don't call this evolution ...I call this devil-ution, or with a slight of an accent, evil-ution.

I believe in the Bible ...so it should be no shocking news flash that I believe God created a suitable habitation for man and woman not much more than 6,000 years ago.

So, the timeline should not be very disturbing to anyone who believes in evolution over billions of years ...if my inaccuracies which I've calculated from the Bible are off by a few decades or a hundred years.  The Bible is accurate, any errors would be a result of my miscalculations of what I read ...or poor math.  I just wish all scientists would look to God as their authority, not their own figuring.

• slightly over 6,000 years ago ...God created man and woman.
• less than 4,400 years ago ...the Great Flood covers the whole earth
• over 3,000 years ago we had King David, and then King Solomon
• over 2,000 years ago Jesus was born
• a thousand years beginning with spreading the Gospel as kingdoms shift and spread ---to the crusades trying to regain Jerusalem ---1,000 years ago
• over 500 years ago people travel to what they call the New World ---but just before that, Johannes Gutenberg invents the mechanical movable type printing which starts the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of modern time.  And it ignites the Protestant Reformation ....soon followed by the Enlightenment and the first Great Awakening which was mostly within the church. The American Revolution follows the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, which carries into the second Great Awakening which focused heavily upon sending out foreign missionaries.
• Laws and texts attempt to counter God's standards and laws.

Obviously, I'm more familiar with more recent times, but we can have insight into how societies of people have been guided, misguided ...and changed.

In the beginning, God talked directly to man & woman.  The people wanted to guide themselves, it seemed, and they did 'what was right in their own eyes' as time went on.

To this, God respond to their cries of failure and not only sent them aid, but Judges to direct them in understanding how they went wrong.

The people then wanted to be like everyone else around them ...and have kings.  God responded by giving them kings and allowing them to see the good and bad of that.

The people failed miserably and were ruled by other monarchs. They were given the opportunity to see not only their failures, but their true need.

They were given a true King of Kings, but did not understand that we must first rule our own hearts to understand about ruling ...and even more, not our own hearts, but the heart of God.

The apostles of Jesus spread the Word, and suffered much persecution ...but those who were reached saw the in-depth faith and commitment of those who believed.

I've already somewhat extensively listed the coinciding events that brought about a much wider potential of spreading the Word ...but I will also list some of the counter forces, focusing mostly on the past couple hundred years.

The cults of the 1800's grew outside the realm of 'believers', creating a fringe ...but within that 19th Century, the missionaries remained strong and the spirit of revival was much alive.

The youth within the church were the next target, infiltrating the realm of 'believers'.  John Dewey is considered the father of progressive education, and in 1933, he and many religious liberals signed a document to guide our educational system, called the Humanist Manifesto I.

It indeed did progress to the point where in 1973, the Human Manifesto II was signed by:

• psychologist ---B. F. Skinner
• philosopher ---Alfred Ayer
• evolutionary biologist ---Julian Huxley
• science-fiction writer & outspoken evolutionist ---Isaac Asimov
• founder of N.O.W. & spokesperson for feminism, abortion, and lesbianism ---Betty Friedan
• advocate of 'social engineering', inclusive of promoting abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia ---Francis Crick
• (to name a few ---there were many more working on the fringe)

The Manifesto claimed the Bible was unproven and believers had an outmoded faith.  As a replacement for God, the Manifesto called for a One World Order.

Those who opposed any of the claims within the flexibility of the Manifesto soon were labeled intolerant, and a new 'political correctness' was to guide our nation.  It was a complex effort, but mostly a three-fold attack:

• Moral and cultural relativity, eroding any claim to 'right or wrong'.
• Hostility towards those who'd dare attempt to preserve any belief to the contrary
• Fragmentation of society, especially breakdown of the family and holding a higher value on personal rights than on life.  (Individual rights began to outweigh public good, unless the government claims to be the overseer of global preservation ...giving a sense of self-salvation, instead of salvation through Jesus.)

So, with enlightenment, reformation, and continued awakening ...when did we suddenly begin to fall back asleep??

As you know, most of us don't just suddenly fall asleep ...it is a more gradual process, and one we often are not aware of.

So, when did we begin to fall asleep?

Well, as history has shown, we always fall asleep ...we need to be woken up, if there is danger, and I believe there is.

If we sense danger, we should not feel we just don't want to deal with it, pop a few sleeping pills, and go back to sleep.

And we shouldn't let someone put us under anesthesia, a temporary state that causes unconsciousness, loss of memory, lack of pain, and relaxation.

It's like a frog in a pot of water.  If the temperature is increased slowly at increments, the frog likely would not sense it ...and though he could easily jump out of the pot, those same strong legs would soon be served up as someone's meal.

The view of evolution began to be taught in schools as the primary scientific view ...and the basis of knowledge which excludes any reason for morality or human decency.  At first, it was thought that perhaps God used evolution, since it was such a finely crafted intellectual idea.  But, there did seem to be a conflict with mixing God and evolution ...so, it seemed that the God of the Bible was deemed outmoded, and not for this time that we live in.

And though judging a group of people on the basis of the actions of one or two people is generally called prejudice ...it was this same basis that began to discredit believers.  With increased scandals, the sincerity of believers was questioned and their credibility diminished.

On the educational side, claiming increased knowledge and promoting doubt and discrimination on the believers side, coupled the effect of moving to a new errant understanding embraced by many educators.

It was like leavened bread.  A little leaven will leaven the whole lump ...and we added a whole lot of leaven.

The question remains ...do we realize where we are at?  And equally important is the question of where do we go from here??