A House Divided

        I have been reading about the life of Abraham Lincoln, and the situation that occurred before the civil war. Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said in his famous house divided against itself speech that America at the time were divided into two parties: one party believed that slavery was wrong, and the other that believed that it was not wrong. The newly formed republicans believed that slavery was wrong, and the democrats at the time believed that slavery was not wrong—some radicals believed that slavery was right. The issue of slavery sharply divided the country into two extremes: half slave and half free. Lincoln said that the house divided against itself cannot stand referring to the division about slavery. He witnessed this reality when there was a civil war in the founding of the Kansas constitution when it became a state. The Free-Soilers went into the state to make it a free state, and the southern slave power responded by going in themselves. The proslavery faction won because slavery was put into the constitution by popular sovereignty—so the slave powers said.

        But, this tension in Kansas sparked a war within the state. The proslavery faction won, but the constitution was given to the people of the state to vote for it, and it was rejected because of the slavery clause in it. This civil war in Kansas was a sign of a future war between the states, and Lincoln knew it. America would be all free or all slave, and this tension in Kansas helped form his belief that slavery shouldn’t be expanding to the territories. He ran his senator debates with this idea in mind in 1858, and the presidential campaign of 1860. The War Between the States was inevitable because of what Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Although the issues are not the same today, the same division that threatens civil war in Lincoln’s day is happening to America today. I fear that war is inevitable if we don’t humble ourselves and repent of our deeds.

        There are two extremes in America today: one that believes that abortion is wrong and the other believing that abortion is not wrong. These same extremes believe that socialism is wrong and that socialism is not wrong, or in fact right for America. This divide threatens a clash of civilizations among ourselves because we have forsaken God and turned to worshipping the works of our own hands. We sing God bless America and 60 million babies are murdered in the womb. We scream threats because of climate change, but not the threat of invasion by foreign powers like the Muslim Brotherhood or countries in Central America. We preach that the statue of liberty is the standard of all legal immigration policy, but try to enforce illegal immigration in states like California and New York with cities protecting them. We are doing exactly the same principles as we did before the civil war: forcing two extremes toward each other. Apparently, we haven’t learned from history.

        We are truly a house divided against itself, and we can only be all pro-life or all pro-choice. We can be all freedom of religion in biblical Christianity with the Constitution as the standard of our lives in America—it being the oath to God—or we’ll be all socialism with government being our god. I fear that trump is only delaying the inevitable fall of this country—if we don’t turn back to God in humble repentance. We need a moderate in the white house like Abraham Lincoln who’s humble and willing to do what it takes to save the Union. Lincoln ended slavery in the south with the Emancipation Proclamation, and ended slavery throughout the whole union with the 13^th Amendment. It’s surely possible to end abortion with a constitutional amendment enforcing the inalienable right of life written in the declaration of Independence, but we need today’s moderates to step up and take the lead in a house divided.