Don Wildmon

AFA/AFR founder

April 2000 – A dark cloud has descended on America. Once the land of freedom and responsibility, once a culture guided by a Judeo-Christian heritage, once a land where righteousness was exalted, America has been shrouded by a dark cloud. This cloud has left us unable to tell right from wrong. Indeed it has caused us to call wrong, right.

In pursuit of that which is politically correct, tolerant, and diverse, we have not only tolerated, but promoted a way of life which – should we continue to follow it – will ultimately destroy this grand experiment we call America.

We have lost sight of who we are, from whence we came, and where we are headed. Our leaders – both secular and religious – define morality only in corporate terms, not in individual terms. Only society can do wrong, not the individual. Unless, of course, the individual happens to follow the teachings of Holy Writ. Then he is condemned and radicalized.

This dark cloud has left us stumbling to and fro, hunting for a way through the darkness without falling. But falling we are. A seven-year-old boy kills an innocent six-year-old girl at his school. The media blames the object – a gun – while admitting that his home life was a mockery, but never connecting the quality of his home life to his actions, nor mentioning the need for a solid, stable family with a loving and present father and mother.

Because of this dark cloud, our children are being murdered in Columbine, Pearl, Edinboro, Paducah, Jonesboro, and Springfield. They are being dragged into a life of hopeless despair on the streets of our cities where crime flourishes and drugs flow. Our response is to take more money from the homes where it is needed, where a real difference could be made, and send it to Washington where someone seeking votes wants to use it to replace real love.

So many of our churches are seeking success defined by society – bigger being better. They have so often forgotten that Christianity is, at its core, one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread to feed his hunger.

So many in positions of influence are pushing for society to abandon those values which have lifted and guided western civilization for the past two thousand years. They seek to redefine right and wrong, remove God from society and thus make sin obsolete. They are the blind leading the blind, and many are blindly following.

There is a way to lift this cloud of darkness, there is a Light to show us the way. “I am the light of the world,” He said. “He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Whether the cloud of darkness will be lifted, I do not know. One thing, however, I do know. For individuals who choose, there is a Light to lead us out of the darkness. We need to do the best we can in following that Light and sharing Him with others.