By Jeremy Martin, 10th grade student at Mooreville (MS) High School

August 1995 – Will America ever become a morally-correct nation again, or will the drug dealers, gangsters and corrupt leaders continue to degrade American life? The answer to this question depends upon my generation’s attempts to correct our past generations’ mistakes. Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the classroom in one generation, will be the philosophy of government in the next!” President Lincoln spoke to the Americans that lived over 130 years ago, but this statement predicted what has happened in America over the last 32 years.

In 1962 the Supreme Court of the United States of America took prayer and biblical teachings out of public schools. Since 1962 America has become number one in teenage pregnancy, violent crime, illiteracy, drug use and divorce. Our government is more corrupt now than it has ever been before because the generation that leads our country is the first generation to reach adulthood without having God in school. The first President of the United States, George Washington, said, “You can’t have national morality apart from religious principle.” Without a doubt, America has taken a turn toward immorality during the past few decades.

My generation must reverse America’s trend from the wicked conduct by which it has become surrounded to the original Foundation of the greatest nation in the world, the Word of God! My generation must try to correct America’s problems before our country gets further out of control. My generation will have to vote in every election. We must challenge the system to attempt to return God and His Word to America’s schools and government. We must stop needless abortions from happening and deter pornography from darkening the minds of Americans. We must keep the homosexual population from teaching American children that being gay is natural and biblically correct. My generation must remember the American veterans, leaders and citizens that have given their lives so that we can be free. Most importantly, Americans must join together and pray to God for a revival of healing in America. II Chronicles 7:14 reads, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

If my generation does not attempt to change America, the problems will continue to get worse. Every city in America will be devastated by violent crime, illegal drugs, teenage pregnancy, pornography, abortions, gay rights activists and the fall of Christianity. Thirty years ago, Mississippians thought that big city concerns would never bother the Magnolia State. However, these problems are now destroying the lives of Mississippians. Mississippi is number one in teenage pregnancy. Crime, drug use and illiteracy are gigantic issues as well. Americans, we must begin to convert the United States before it is too late!

Optimism is the key to prosperity in America for the future. I love to think about what America would be like if the American people worked to restore the most powerful country in the world to its past distinction. I can see Old Glory shining as she flies high above the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where our Christian representatives make the laws. I can see American children standing in their classrooms reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and saying a prayer before classes begin each morning. I can see high school and college students praying for the safety of their country and classmates before school activities and sporting events. I see Satan’s followers getting saved and becoming disciples of the one and only God.

All Americans have to stand and fight for what is right; then these things will happen. I am glad to be an American, and I look forward to accepting the challenge of making America “One Nation, Under God” again!  

Write Jeremy Martin at Rt. 4, Box 309AA, Tupelo, MS 38801.