Will America Become a Kingdom of Darkness?

By Vishal Mangalwadi

The world is witnessing how amoral secular economics turned the government of Greece into a gambling den. The same invisible force has also blinded Wall Street and the government of the United States into gambling away the future of America’s children. Who listens when America’s most respected investor, Warren Buffett, calls “derivatives” the “economic weapons of mass destruction” that would devastate New York in a way the 9/11 terrorists could not even imagine? The utterly insecure subprime mortgages that government-sponsored economic enterprises (AIG, Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae) sold as “high value securities” were “derivatives.” President Bush forced honest, hard-working, tax-paying Americans to bail out corrupt gamblers that should have been thrown in prison. Future Commanders-in-Chief may need the military to squeeze bailout dollars from uncooperative Americans.

For those who can see behind the screen, film SL…UMDOG MILLIONAIRE gives a frightening glimpse into the intellectual bankruptcy of Western secularism. Why is it that secular reviewers of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE don’t even notice that the film’s scriptwriters and director have no clue why life is so miserable in that slum in Mumbai, India? What causes such brutalizing poverty? Or what can be done about it? Why is the film totally devoid of any meaningful notion of heroism and of a hero who has any idea of what to do about evil and poverty?  Viewers feel good at the end of the movie because the slumdog wins the cash and the girl he loves. Who cares that the lead character displays no particular wisdom, virtue, or strategy that contribute to his victory? Or that his success does nothing to the slum? Secular gamblers are pleased that the slumdog is favored by the god of luck; that his awful life experiences happened to have given him the answers to the questions the quizmaster happens to ask.

Not too long ago, Mumbai was a “garden” where the wealthiest Indians liked to live. Secular experts can’t understand what turns gardens into slums because they choose to ignore the most important dimension of reality – the supernatural. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give us the clue as to why Jesus’ life and work were focused on the kingdom of God.

While he fasted and prayed for forty days, Jesus faced three temptations. In one them, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’”

Was Satan bluffing Jesus? The New Testament indicates that he wasn’t.

In John 12:31, Jesus acknowledges Satan as “the prince of this world.” In Ephesians 2:2, the apostle Paul refers to the devil as “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

“The Rule of Law” was said to be a cardinal principle of the Roman Empire. How then could the Roman Emperor Nero burn his own citizens alive as torches for his garden parties? The Apostle John explains in 1 John 5:10, “We know that. . . the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

If there is a chance that evil has a supernatural dimension that seeks the glory, authority and splendor of the kingdoms of this world, than it is time that we get serious about the question Will America become a kingdom of darkness? When a court rules the National Day of Prayer as “unconstitutional”; when senior citizens in a state subsidized retirement community in Georgia are not allowed to thank God for their meals; when evangelist Franklin Graham, the chairman of the National Day of Prayer, is not allowed to pray at the Pentagon; it is time to ask:  As America ceases to be a nation under God, will it become a nation under Satan?

Editor’s Note: Vishal Mangalwadi (1949-) is an international lecturer, social reformer, political columnist, and author of thirteen books. Born and raised in India, he studied philosophy at universities, in Hindu ashrams, and at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. In demand worldwide, Vishal is a dynamic, engaging speaker who has lectured in 32 countries. Vishal and Ruth are currently in the United States exploring The Soul of Western Civilization – the Bible. This study was inspired by Vishal and Ruth’s recognition of India’s need for the reforming power of the Bible. The first fruits of their research are available in (i) Eight-Part lecture series “The Book of the Millennium” and (11) Eleven-part lecture series “Must the Sun Set On the West?” available from in the Revelation Movement store. For more information, please contact:

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