{"id":34365,"date":"2025-01-09T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T23:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:01:00","slug":"americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two days after the attempted assassination of former President Trump, <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> ran an article with the following title:<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m Tired. I&rsquo;m Done.&rsquo; Nation Faces Exhaustion and Division After Trump Assassination Attempt, Americans express dismay about the state of the country: &lsquo;The world has gone to Hades in a handbasket.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>They spoke to four dozen Americans across the country and gave the following summary:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Nearly to a person, they expressed a sense of dread, saying there seems to be no good news on the horizon. Their list of concerns is endless: The lingering effects of a socially isolating pandemic; violent protests over disagreements about war; three election cycles of increasing polarization; and decades of escalating gun violence. That is not to mention economic turmoil and inflation. And unlike other times of crisis, after 9\/11 or Sandy Hook or George Floyd, this event left few Americans hopeful that any good might come out of tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Towards the end of the article, they quoted Clement Villase&ntilde;or a 32-year-old electrical maintenance, who said, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a hole in the country, and this is a part of that. We&rsquo;re not sticking together,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s so much separation, it makes me feel far apart from people.&rdquo;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[446],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3532,3658,3811,3822,3864,4087,4276,4338,4517,4599,4637,4660,4693,4943,5204,5268],"tax_ctp_topics":[395,396],"class_list":["post-34365","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-burnout","tax_ctp_tags-concern","tax_ctp_tags-disunity","tax_ctp_tags-division","tax_ctp_tags-end-times","tax_ctp_tags-government","tax_ctp_tags-intolerance","tax_ctp_tags-last-days","tax_ctp_tags-nation","tax_ctp_tags-partiality","tax_ctp_tags-pessimism","tax_ctp_tags-politics","tax_ctp_tags-prejudice","tax_ctp_tags-separation","tax_ctp_tags-uncertainty","tax_ctp_tags-weariness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two days after the attempted assassination of former President Trump, The Wall Street Journal ran an article with the following title: &ldquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m Tired. I&rsquo;m Done.&rsquo; Nation Faces Exhaustion and Division After Trump Assassination Attempt, Americans express dismay about the state of the country: &lsquo;The world has gone to Hades in a handbasket.&rsquo;&rdquo; They spoke to Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/\",\"name\":\"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-09T23:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-09T23:01:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/americans-have-sense-of-dread-and-division\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Americans Have Sense of Dread and Division - CT Pastors","og_description":"Two days after the attempted assassination of former President Trump, The Wall Street Journal ran an article with the following title: &ldquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m Tired. 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