Blog
“I Am Afraid For Us”
As a nation, I am very much afraid for us. Consider the greatness of the country of which we are a part. Not even yet 250 years old, America’s star burned quickly and brightly to a position of preeminence among the nations of the world. Last century, what nation had a greater impact upon the countries of the world than our own? Wealthy, strong, and possessed of abundant resources, both material and human…America is a nation most blessed.
Many fail to understand the authority behind the rise and fall of nations, but the Bible clearly reveals it to us, if we will but listen. God, the Most High, rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses (Daniel 4:25, 32). Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon learned that lesson the hard way. Ignoring God’s blessings, Nebuchadnezzar took the credit for Babylon’s greatness…and found himself eating grass with the beasts of the field because of it. I am afraid that America is following the same blind arrogance that caused the king of Babylon to incur God’s wrath.
When our nation was founded, many Bible principles helped form the mold from which it was cast. From the words of men who helped shape America in its formative years, it is obvious that God and the Bible held important places in their thoughts. George Washington once wrote, “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the high duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian” (The Writings of Washington).
Similarly, from the pen of John Adams: “Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God…What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be” (Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III).
Certainly, it is not my intention to champion the individual religious beliefs of these men, as I honestly do not know the totality of what they believed and practiced. My point is simply this: our nation was founded on many Bible principles. Boldly and publicly, leaders of this country expressed their confidence in the Divine wisdom of God. With such being the case, it is not surprising that America has been a nation greatly blessed over the years. Truly, we should be grateful for those blessings.
That is why I am afraid. When I read news articles and hear the comments of television personalities, I do not hear the expression of heartfelt thanks toward God Almighty. I hear people mocking Him. I see people calling His precious word everything from “outdated and worthless” to “a bullying message” that all so-called sensible human beings should reject. I see a people, a nation, who have forgotten where their blessings came from. They have forgotten God.
I am afraid for us, because I do not think we fully realize the gravity of our situation. Yes, God is the Giver of great blessings…but He expects the recipient to show Him the honor as Giver. When they do not honor Him as such, their fall is even more incredible than their rise to greatness!
God blessed Israel so greatly. They were rich, powerful, and unmatched during Solomon’s reign. “So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom…So he reigned over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland” (2 Chronicles 9:22-27). In spite of these great blessings, Israel rebelled against her God. For the love of his foreign wives, Solomon himself built altars and worshiped false gods like Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech (1 Kings 11:5-8). Israel would be split into two kingdoms at Solomon’s death, and both Israel and Judah would reject God’s ways until they were crushed and taken captive by foreign nations: Israel would fall to Assyria, while Judah would be overwhelmed by Babylon. As much as God loved them, and as greatly as He had blessed them, He would not tolerate continual disobedience on their part!
Take notes, America.
Our nation laughs at God’s expectation of sexual purity among men and women; instead, we say, “Oh, come on – you only live once! Do what makes you feel good – it’s YOUR body…enjoy it!” As a country, we mock the idea that a man and woman joined in marriage should remain together until death separates them; instead, we say, “Married to ONE person? For your WHOLE life? Who could stand that?” We support the murder of unborn children and chalk it up to a woman’s freedom of choice. We applaud all things homosexual, and if anyone dares disagree with us, we extend our talons and try to rip such a one apart; we call him a hatemonger and backwards…all in the name of progressive thought. Sex, nudity, and foul language are the entertainment we crave, and we see nothing wrong with it.
We are a nation of fools. We think ourselves so brilliant, so we follow our ways rather than God’s. He has warned nations about that way of thinking before: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). “Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward” (Isaiah 1:4).
Someone will likely read this and condemn me as the most deplorable, most unpatriotic human on the planet. It is not my intention to badmouth this country. I love this nation very, very much. And that is exactly why I write this. It breaks my heart to see a nation throw away such potential. It hurts to watch my nation, my America, commit spiritual suicide. We are standing on the edge of an abyss, leaning farther over it each day, just waiting for one slip of balance to send us plummeting over the edge.
But it does not have to end like that.
We can stop the descent. The answer is very simple: repentance. If we, as a nation, will stop letting the television, radio, and internet tell us what to think, we can pull out of this nosedive. If we put aside our way, in favor of the Lord’s way, then all may not be lost. It worked for Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. They were a wretched, wicked people, and yet God warned them to repent before His wrath came upon them: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me” (Jonah 1:2). So the prophet Jonah went, and delivered God’s warning to the people of Nineveh. Do you know what happened next? The people of Nineveh repented. They believed God, they showed evidence of mourning over their sins…they repented. And when God saw it, He stayed His hand: “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).
At least Nebuchadnezzar finally came to his senses and praised and honored the Most High. For him, the kingdom of Babylon was preserved, and he was allowed to take his place as king once more. A stump and roots of his former glory were left for him…Babylon was not brought to ruin at that time (Daniel 4:36). It is time for us to come to our senses as a nation. We have served the god of this world, Satan, for long enough. We have laughed at his jokes and his perversions have become our own. Enough of that. It is time to wake up.
Someone might say, “How can we? We can’t make everyone repent. We can’t change everyone’s mind for them!” No, we can’t. But I can make sure that my mind and my actions are in harmony with God’s will. You can do the exact same thing for yourself. That’s a start. It’s a spark. Maybe it will be enough to get a fire started (Hebrews 12:29).
