A NATION ONCE UNDER GOD: Christianity versus Secular Humanism - The Ultimate Struggle of our Time

By Josef Herz

A Nation Once Under God is an observation and illustration of the changes that have transpired in America since 1960. The US Congress has enacted laws contrary to the ordinary God ordained course of nature. The American Supreme Court has overruled lower court’ decisions, taking a stand against un-natural laws. These actions are reminiscent of the Nuremberg racial anti-Semitism laws of 1935-1938, which denied the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to Jewish and Slavic people. The German government-controlled media in the 1930’s promoted Nazi Regime laws in such a positive light, that the masses could not see the dark side, but the privileged educated class saw opportunities in the promising new German Empire. Religion was sidelined, as dissenting clergy were prohibited from speaking out and were incarcerated or exterminated. Similarly, today in the US the liberal media only broadcasts a bias toward the new laws and culture twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Three generations of public-school students have been indoctrinated by liberal educators beholden to the postmodern, secular worldview of “relativism” and “the lack of moral absolutes.” Christianity being downgraded as “non-essential” in the modern culture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781644688526

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Postmodern Culture

The Dilemma of Being a Practicing Christian in a Postmodern Secular Society

Sunday mornings across the country, children and their parents are hurrying to their church of choice. Upon entering the sanctuary as quietly as possible, not to cause too much of a disturbance, they seek a pew—maybe in the back row somewhere for a quick exit if necessary—and are finally seated. Halfway through the morning worship, one of the ministers or CE leaders will challenge the children with a biblical or Christian story. I admit, this is and has been for me one of my greatest joys, seeing the children running up to the pulpit and sitting on the floor, looking expectantly at the person presenting the story. Afterward, the parents or one of the CE board members will march them to the Christian education classrooms. The numbers have in recent years been less, but I do remember thirty years ago, in our small congregation, that twenty to thirty children were enrolled. The dedication of the Sunday school teachers has always amazed me, Sunday after Sunday, preparing for the class curriculum, praying over their students, and using their talents to the best of their ability to plant the seeds and embed Christian values into their young minds. The sheer love and energy displayed by the parents and children has compelled me to contribute to and subsidize the Christian Education Board.

Being aware of the separation of church and state here in the US and the absence of Christian education in public schools nationwide, it is an absolute necessity to educate children in the Christian faith, and hopefully when they become adults, they will become active members in a Christian church.

Looking back to the years when I was their age living in Germany, Christian education was part of public-school curriculum, and so was church attendance. The whole public-school class was marched to the nearest church, and Mass was part of our schooling one day of the week. Sunday church attendance was mandated by the church and enforced by the parents, as was First Holy Communion, Confession, and Confirmation. The Christian faith was the foundation that the secular state rested upon. The union of a man and a woman in marriage was made legal by the civil authorities in the town hall and signed by the mayor. Holy matrimony was officiated by a priest celebrating Mass. You were blessed by the priest, if you and your bride where Catholic, or by a pastor if Lutheran.

American Baptist or other nondenominational congregations were, to my knowledge, not part of the general public’s belief system, as it was overwhelmingly a Catholic and Lutheran Country. Cohabitation was unlawful and frowned upon; it could even land the parents in prison for prostitution in Germany at the time.

Statistics tell us that, in 1950, the divorce rate was 5 percent, and the present rate is 50 percent, mainly due to the introduction of the no-fault divorce law. The no-fault divorce was legalized in California in 1969 and was adopted by many states soon thereafter. An increasing number of children are now growing up in a one-parent home, making it more difficult for the remaining parent to bring the children to church and to participate in activities due to their increased work schedules.

The elimination of blue laws allowed Sunday store openings, making it possible for many parents to work and earn enough to provide for the family. Two incomes are needed for a family of four to enjoy a standard of living that a single-income household was once able to provide. In 1970, the average wage of a blue-collar worker was enough to make a mortgage payment and a car payment while still being able to feed and clothe a family of four. Forward to 2018, due to the changing corporate culture, it may not be too far-fetched to believe that it requires two and a half paychecks to stay ahead of foreclosure on a house, and this while the family is living paycheck to paycheck. If day care is necessary, for lack of grandparents available to babysit part of the week, it further erodes financial stability.

When I see young families, I think, That mom is still the heart and soul of the family and she has an incredible schedule and tasks to master to care and support her family. The saving grace is that the husbands are more in this together with their wives and are cooperative in doing household chores than when I was a young father. Many things where never done by the husband in Germany where I grew up, which is also not so anymore. Now, moms and dads get up very early in the morning to get the children up, dressed, breakfast prepared, their own needs attended to. The husband may or may not be there due to greater travel time to work, which may be an hour or two away.

The stress level alone of a two-working-parent household is severely limiting the attendance and volunteering in their local church, as they barely have enough energy for all their family activities.

My purpose in writing this book is to make people aware of why and how this scenario had come about. When I bring up the subject of the American banking system, and how it was structured fifty years ago as family-friendly, you might be thinking, a bank, family-friendly; yes, they really did operate under that system.

My wife and I arrived in New York from Germany in 1963, desiring and dreaming to have a piece of the American pie. Fortunately, I found instant employment due to my training in Germany as a sausage maker, very much in demand in New York City at that time. The pay was adequate to support my wife and one son living in an apartment in the Bronx. Soon, we were able to afford a used 1958 Ford Galaxy we purchased for four hundred dollars, so we could go on weekend trips exploring the beautiful State of New York or drive to Connecticut visiting friends. After many journeys to Connecticut, we decided in 1965 to relocate there.

Moving into an apartment in Hartford and working for a beef company made it possible for us to dream about a home in the suburbs and live like the families on the Donna Reed or Father Knows Best TV shows. We would spend our free time scouting and scouring the immediate areas around Hartford, CT, for newly developing subdivisions, where model homes where open on Sundays.

Working extra hours at my job, saving as much as possible from one paycheck, within one year we had saved enough money that we thought was enough for a down payment. I applied to every bank that would hand me an application, and soon I found one that would consider giving me a mortgage, with one provision: a 30 percent down payment, because I was an immigrant. Well, I kind of regrouped and asked my employer if he would consider allowing me to work more overtime so I would be eligible for the mortgage. He offered to lend me the $16,500.00 to purchase that house, but, not wanting to be indebted to the company, I opted for the overtime.

In 1963, American banks where family-oriented or -minded, approving mortgage money to a family only if one weekly paycheck would cover the monthly mortgage. They reasoned that a 25 percentage mortgage obligation would allow the family to be able to spend time together. Remember, in those days Sundays were still off limits for stores to be open; Sunday was a time for family gatherings. Forward to 1974, this policy was abandoned for a higher profit for the banks, the builders, and the real estate industry. With full approval of US government agencies like FHA or VA, who were regulating the housing industry, the rate to attain a mortgage was raised to 35 percent and was allowed to be based on two incomes.

Consequently, the price of the average three-bedroom house increased amazingly to 90,000 from 35,000 within the span of five years, not because the house was now bigger, but because it made more home-seekers eligible to qualify for a larger mortgage. It was celebrated as the best invention since sliced bread. And since there is a larger percentage of profit in building larger houses, small three-bedroom houses that would have qualified for GI loans were not being built anymore. Many one-income families became two-income families, and with the ingenuity of subprime mortgages, it was even possible for families to purchase a mansion with a small down payment and low initial mortgage payments that would turn into a ballooning payment within a couple of years, which most homeowners were not able to pay. It was only a matter of time when the house of cards would collapse, and it did so in 2008, with catastrophic consequences.

The flooding of the market with foreclosed houses depressed the prices below the equities of the house and subsequently slid into what are known as underwater mortgages. Families where exposed to enormous pressures from the economic situation, and in many cases, suffering the loss of their homes. The emphasis changed from maintaining a stable family environment to an enrichment of the Wall Street home mortgage manipulators (subprime mortgages), with US government regulators in full knowledge of the consequences, that these regulations will reap enormous profits for banks, but bankrupt American families.

You could easily make the comparison to the evolutionary theory of the big fish eating the small fish, and they did this with government approval. Three generations of Americans were, at that time, already schooled in evolutionary teachings and followed their inclination to get a chance to enrich themselves and possibly live in a plush larger home. The Clinton administration and the federal reserve under Alan Greenspan were repeatedly warned of the dangers of this policy and the consequences. The ballooning prime mortgages brought the world’s monetary system to a catastrophic precipice as the largest banking house, Lehman Brothers, collapsed.

Chapter 2

The Effects of the Theory of Evolution in the American School System

Evolutionary teaching was adopted in the American school system in 1925, first in Tennessee, and by 1950, was mandated in all states and in all American public-school systems. Now, consider this: It boggles my mind that, fifty years ago, the American public, when polled, believed in the existence and of a Creator God; 85–90 percent believed God is the Creator and Giver of Life. Church attendance was at an all-time high, the traditional two-parent family was still intact, and the divorce rate was around 5 percent.

After evolutionary theory was introduced into the curriculum, causing me to question, how could these two teachings—one, we are created by God; and the other, we are direct descendants of apes—correlate; and how is it possible for children to understand and live with two drastically different teachings side by side in all their years in public schools? A child is brought to church on Sunday or Bible study during the week for an hour or two, and spends five days, thirty hours, in an environment where even prayer and the mention of a Creator is punishable by law. Town-sponsored sports competitions are scheduled on Sunday mornings, at the same time when Sunday worship is conducted. A parent, not wanting to deprive their children of those activities, is not able to attend church either.

So when I see beautiful, bright-eyed children every Sunday morning all excited running to their Sunday school classrooms, I think, how could these children not suffer an identity crisis when, on Monday, they are in a public school and are taught by their teacher that their ancestors were apes? And who is really sure what kind of an ape? A baboon or a gorilla? I have no knowledge of any kind of ethical laws or morals these beautiful creatures live by or adhere to.

If God in heaven is not our creator as the children are taught, and that they are not a child of God created in his image, and what the Bible teaches is irrelevant and not true anymore, one can only wonder, how could a child know what is truth? It has been amply demonstrated by not just a few dictatorial governments in Europe, Asia, and South America how the evolutionary doctrine was applied to the general population. The American eugenics movement justified the limiting of the black population by legalized sterilization.

I want to address the Millennial generation (1981-2010) who are a direct product of this secular-modern teaching, where absolutes do not exist and each person can decide what moral laws to follow and their lifestyles are a matter of choice and personal preference. A correction officer escorted me out of a youth detention facility and made a comment that struck me. Aware that I was conducting Bible studies for the inmates, he commented, It is good that you teach about a god, but it does not matter what someone believes as long as it works out for them. Which means that I decide, and not moral laws that apply to my life. Laws are in danger of not being respected, because who on this earth has the right to tell me how and with who I want to have a relationship with.

They themselves want