DENVER, COLORADO – Is America heading for a second Civil War?
It’s a sobering question but one that needs to be asked.
As I’ve been traveling across the U.S. to speak about the war in Israel and how Christians can be praying and helping Israelis and Palestinians, I’ve been struck afresh by how deeply and dangerous divided Americans are.
Social, political, and cultural tensions are worse than any other period in my 57 years.
Over the past few years – indeed, over the past few months – we’ve witnessed riots in American cities and on American college campuses.
Escalating violence across the country. Spiking anti-Semitism.
And now an attempted assassination against an American presidential candidate.
IS AMERICA GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE?
What’s next?
How bad could this get?
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found that 4-out-of-5 Americans believe the country is sliding into chaos.
A poll released in May found that two out of three Americans fear that violence is going to break out after the November presidential and Congressional elections.
“Some 68% percent of respondents to the online poll—including 83% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans—said they agreed with a statement that they were concerned that extremists will resort to violence if they are unhappy with the election outcome,” Reuters reported.
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AMERICANS FACE A STARK CHOICE, SAYS SEN. TIM SCOTT
Now, U.S. Senator Tim Scott is warning Americans that they face a stark choice in 2024.
It’s time to choose, he says, between socialism or freedom.
Between American weakness or American strength.
Between abandoning God and the Judeo-Christian values that have created such human flourishing in the United States over the past 248 years or embracing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and discover the “transformative” power of the Gospel.
I absolutely agree with Senator Scott.
But honestly, I can’t think of a single other elected American official who is being so clear or so bold in defining the options facing the American people.
Tonight, on THE ROSENBERG REPORT—my weekly news and analysis TV program that airs Thursdays at 9pm eastern on TBN—I invite you to watch Part One of my exclusive conversation with the South Carolina native and the only African American Republican in the U.S. Senate.
FREEDOM OR SOCIALISM?
“The Democrats,” Scott says bluntly, “are leading us toward socialism.”
He also says the Left is leading America towards chaos.
“The whole notion of freedom requires liberty, and liberty requires freedom, it’s like the wet and the water – they’re inseparable.”
There is great hope for the country if Americans choose the right path.
But he is deeply concerned what happens if Americans reject God, reject Biblical values, and choose the path towards socialism.
Scott urges voters to “do their homework” over the next few months, to take a close look into the Biden years and Trump years before they go to the polls.
“If you believe in free markets and capitalism, then voting for Donald Trump is the only way to preserve those,” he said.
He also urges Black Americans to carefully consider whether their lives have gotten better under the policies of Democrats or the policies of Republicans.
“Let’s just measure the results in the last 30 years,” Scott told me.
“Which party has produced more results for people suffering and struggling, no matter the color of their skin?” he asks.
“I would argue that the Republican Party has done a far better job than the Democrats, period.”
A POWERFUL STORY OF COMING TO FAITH IN CHRIST, OVERCOMING POVERTY, AND BECOMING A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
As you’ll see on tonight’s show – and in Part Two which airs on Saturday evening at 9:30pm on TBN – Scott points to his own family’s story as a case study on what brings true hope, joy, and progress.
One hundred years ago, his grandfather was born in a country that didn’t place much value on the life of a Black man. His grandfather wasn’t allowed to go to school after the third grade. He had civil rights and no political rights. He was a sharecropper, wanted only to pick cotton for white business owners. But Scott told me his grandfather refused to himself as a victim.
His personal faith in Jesus Christ taught him that God made him in His image, valuable, precious, and important.
His grandfather’s faith in Christ gave him hope that the lives of his children and grandchildren would be better than his own.
Scott rejects the notion that America is an inherently racist country. He points to the tremendous progress America has made over the past one hundred years.
And he points to his own family story – and his own personal journey – as proof of American exceptionalism, combined with a strong faith in God.
“My grandfather lived long enough to see his story go from cotton to our family going to Congress in his single lifetime,” the Senator told me.
“There’s been more change in America than any other place in the last thousand years on the planet.”
“YOU CAUGHT MY ATTENTION FROM HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD”
I was fascinated as Scott quoted one passage of Scripture after another in our conversation. And told me that he was named Timothy after the Apostle Paul’s spiritual son Timothy in the Bible.
“The spiritual lineage of my family runs like through 2 Timothy, chapter one, where they talk about Lois and Eunice being the faith tradition that was in Timothy,” the senator explained.
Seeing the strong faith of his grandmother and mother made Scott eventually realize that there was an intimacy that he was missing with the Lord.
He said he finally became a born-again Christian in early the 1980s and developed a deep hunger to know the Bible and live by Biblical truths.
This, he said, completely transformed his life and set him on the path to being not only a small business owner, and a U.S. Senator, but a presidential candidate, and one of four people on former President Donald Trump “short list” to be his vice-presidential running mate.
One of Scott’s early lessons from living in poverty was that “you have to learn to give before you receive.”
He felt that running for public office was one way he could give back to his community.
Scott’s presidential campaign was called “Faith in America.” It focused on faith in God, faith in each other, and faith in our future.
“I felt like what the Lord wanted me to do was to reintroduce this faith in each other,” he told me, to explain to his fellow Americans “that the Judeo-Christian foundation is a rock on which you build anything.”
“You caught my attention from halfway across the world,” I told him.
A TIME FOR CHOOSING
Indeed, I believe that Senator Scott’s story and message is exactly what Americans need to hear and embrace.
If they do, I believe we will see a revival in America’s churches and perhaps even a Great Spiritual Awakening across the land.
If they don’t, I genuinely fear for America’s future. A second Civil War? I hope not. I pray this doesn’t happen.
But in September of 2022, I wrote a column for ALL ISRAEL NEWS indicating that 43% of Americans fear a civil war is coming.
Today, I am even more concerned than I was then.
THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m. EST – on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
This article originally appeared on ALL ISRAEL NEWS, and is reposted with permission.
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