The Prophet Jeremiah would counsel us to “ask for the old paths” in modern times. This is a symbolic way of expressing the need to remember what systemic orderings must be in place that a nation might rise to greatness; which certainly begins with the need to order the personal welfare of the individual life of every citizen of that great nation.Critical to understand is that in order for a nation to be great, it must be indivisible. For that to occur, its people must first be indivisible (what the term individual implies). Digressing for a moment, it must be understood that a nation can be successful and not necessarily be great. The determining principle of greatness is that a nation order its national spiritual tapestry to comply with the Divine Laws established by the word of God. Failure to do so may allow a nation to be successful in many of its systemic orderings (for a time) and yet fail to be truly great. In time, violation of these Divine Laws will eventually lead to a catastrophic breakdown of even the nation’s most successful systems bringing to pass the word of the Lord when it states, “when sin is finished it brings forth death”. Profoundly, a nation doesn’t determine its own greatness, the Lord does, through principles He established before the first nation was formed. Nationalism outside of this paradigm of thinking is bound for destruction. Continuing with the main line of thought, indivisibility is established in an individual manner when a person decides to order the systems of their lives (eg. decision making, finances, spirituality, parenting, etc.) based upon the principles found in the word of God. When every individual person makes a decision to order their lives in a communal manner, community is birthed; and continuity in this path brings forth the greatness of the community. When communities have continuity in the path of indivisibility a nation is born. The greatness of a nation is born (what the term nationalism implies) when its leaders have the spiritual fortitude and moxy to order the systems of government to first of all, comply with Divine Laws based upon the word of God (eg. taking care of orphans, widows, and the poor) and second of all, issue forth from this divine substratum for the beneficial personal welfare of every individual subject to its ambit of influence without discrimination or prejudice (what the phrase “a preempting guiltiness” implies). As a caveat, a great nation must not destroy the power of its greatness by convicting, sentencing, and executing the divine principles upon which its indivisibility stands. Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were foolish to think that they could terminate the principles of indivisibility, terminate (literally) an entire caste of their own people, and then expect that their nation would not only live but stand in greatness. The seed of national destruction is in the first step its leaders take toward terminating the principles of indivisibility. If America is to return to greatness, every individual American must begin remembering the old paths and for the younger generation, even learning them. This process begins with asking, receiving, and understanding the divine principles found in the word of God. From this spiritual power of understanding, every American must essentially and then existentially order the systems of their lives based upon the two “Absolute” principles of loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and then loving our neighbor as ourselves. This will rebuild the spiritual as well as the communal tapestry upon which this great nation was founded. We must not complain about the younger generation disrespecting the older, not complain about gun violence, not complain about ghettos and trailer parks, not complain about school shootings, not complain about racism, discrimination, and prejudice, not complain about abortion, not complain about the criminal justice system, about teen pregnancy, about the homicide rate, about the suicide rate, about sexually perversive lifestyles, about financial inequality, about domestic abuse, about abuse of power or leadership, etc. We must not complain and then do absolutely nothing to order our lives in a manner consistent with ridding our nation of these evils bringing to pass the word of the Lord when it unequivocally pronounces: “Their lips are with me, but their hearts are far from me”. We must ask the Lord to renew within us the old paths that created the indivisibility upon which this great nation once stood. This is how America becomes great again and remains that way. (Another Oil Point from Theology Nation)
– Bishop Dr. Guy A. Cox