In the 1960’s, there appeared to be a major moral decline in this country. Supreme Court rulings in the Engel v. Vitale (1962) and the Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) cases paved the way for more removal of prayer and Bible out of our public school systems. Books like The Death of God (Vahanian, 1961) and Radical Theology and the Death of God (Altizer, 1963) were published and became very popular. What seemed to be the lowest valley of this downward trend was when Times Magazine’s April 8, 1966 edition was titled “Is God Dead?” Inside was an article noting that God seemed less prominent to the American people; it both questioned His existence in their lives and if He even existed at all. Despite this supposed decline in the American people’s morality, there were many who stood up for God.
Among these was a man named A.W. Dicus. Dicus was a very accomplished man; he was one of the original inventors of the automobile turn signal and head of the physics department at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute for 20 years. Despite all this man had done as an inventor and teacher, one could argue that he is most famous for a hymn he penned in 1966. In response to a country that believed God was dead, He wrote, “…There is a God, He is alive, in Him we live, and we survive; from dust our God created man, He is our God, the great I AM.” The hymn “Our God, He is Alive” would become famous all over the world and serve as an excellent source of teaching and encouragement.
Let us have the faith of brethren like A.W. Dicus, who, no matter what the world said, proclaimed that our God is ALIVE! Jeremiah would say, “The LORD is the true God; He is the living God…” (Jeremiah 10:10). Friends, God has left us evidence of His existence and active nature in this world and in His Word (Psalm 19:1; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; Hebrews 4:12). May we never fail to see and serve the one and only living God.
-Bryce Mayfield
Source: https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_ states/florida/dicus.html