Monday, July 9, 2012

The only hope for the United States.

This past Wednesday was the 4th of July, the birthday of the United States of America. It was a day in which Americans across this nation were reminded of and celebrated the rights and freedoms we have been given by God. 


Our founding fathers knew that our rights and our freedoms came from God. One doesn't have to look hard to find that out. Clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence, it says... "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


We don't look to our government to give us our rights and our freedoms. We don't look to our Constitution to give us our rights and our freedoms. We look to our God who gave us our rights and true freedom can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.


We need to be extremely thankful for the freedoms we as Americans enjoy. It may not always be that way.


As part of my 4th of July celebration, I watch a movie that came out in 2000 entitled, THE PATRIOT. I'm sure many have seen it. The main character of this movie, Benjamin Martin, was loosely based on Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," who organized a famous Revolutionary War militia element that numbered anywhere from a handful of men to several hundred. They operated with and even independent of General George Washington's Continental Army. 


In THE PATRIOT, there was a statement made by Benjamin Martin. While meeting with the Continental Congress, he said this...


"Why should I trade one tyrant, three thousand miles away, for three thousand tyrants, one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights just as easily as a King can."
- Benjamin Martin, THE PATRIOT

Although just a line from the movie, how true those words are! Our elected legislature has trampled the God-given rights of the American people.

Those who have been elected to represent and serve us are destroying our nation.

Why is that?

I believe it is because the judgment of God is upon us. We are a rebellious and sinful nation.

The following words were written by Isaiah to the nation of Judah at some point between 701 and 681 B.C., but the truth of these words can be applied to the United States of America in 2012.

“Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is delosate, as overthrown by strangers.

Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”  (Isaiah 1:4-7,9)

Why is our President forcing such wicked, socialist legislation through Congress? I call it wicked, socialist legislation because that is what it is. Any legislation that seeks to force men to look to the government to provide for their needs rather than to God is wicked. Socialism is wicked. 


Why is our President taking us into socialism?

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will.” Proverbs 21:1

Our Holy God is carrying out His will. He made it clear to Israel in Deuteronomy 28 that there are blessings for the nations that obey Him. He makes it equally clear that there are curses for those nations that disobey Him. In Deuteronomy 29, Israel is exhorted to be obedient to the Lord. That is the primary interpretation of those passages. As Israel obeyed God they would be blessed. As they disobeyed God they would be cursed. This principle hold true for the United States of America today. As long as we obey God, we will be blessed as we were in the beginning. When we disobey God we will be cursed as we currently are. Read those two chapters and you will see that what we are experiencing in this nation right now is the judgment of God for our disobedience.


I believe our nation is being judged by God for our wickedness and He is using our own government to do so. He is carrying out His purpose which He ordained before the foundation of the world.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”  Isaiah 46:9-11

God spoke those words to the kingdom of Judah through Isaiah the prophet, yet those words remain true today. In verse 11, God was telling Judah because of their sinful disobedience, He would raise up a man from the East (Nebuchadnezzar) who would carry out God's judgment. That happened in 586 B.C.


In our day, God has not raised up another nation to war against us as a means of judging us. Instead He has chosen to judge us from within. He has raised up our current President and Congress for the purpose of bringing judgment against our sinful nation. 

I join with Habakkuk who prayed for God’s mercy in the judgment that came upon Israel…

Habakkuk was a prophet in Israel to whom God revealed He would raise up the Chaldeans (Babylon) to judge Israel for their sin (Habakkuk 1:1-7).


Just as Habakkuk prayed for his nation, I pray for the United States of America. My prayer to God for our nation…

“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”  Habakkuk 3:2


Prior to Israel going into the Promised Land, God warned them not to forget Him. That is seen in Deuteronomy 6:10-12. 


We as a nation, like Israel, have forgotten the Lord our God. What does the Bible say about those nations that forget the Lord?


"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psalm 9:17

Though we in the United States of America will go through some hard times in the days ahead, I have to ask is there any hope for our nation?

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”   2 Chronicles 7:14

“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”   Isaiah 55:6-7

God spared the wicked city of Nineveh when they repented (Jonah 3:10). God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah when they did not (Genesis 19:28-29). Should our nation fail to repent and return to following after God as it did when it was first founded 236 years ago, and should we witness the destruction of the United States of America, these will be my words…

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail. And the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet will I rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”    Habakkuk 3:17-19


Is there any hope for our nation? I believe there is!


"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."  Psalm 33:12


There is a remnant of believers in the United States of America. As with Israel, He has chosen us for His own inheritance. If we, who are called by His name will humble ourselves, earnestly pray, diligently seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land. 


It is not too late! If you believe these principles found in the word of God are true...If you believe that God meant what He said in 2 Chronicles 7:14...If you believe that He is the same yesterday, today and forever... then I urge you to take this to heart and act upon it. The judgement of God is upon our nation. How will we respond? 


If we want our nation to return to prosperity and enjoying the blessings of God, we must not look to man to do it. Neither President Obama, nor Governor Romney, nor our Congress will save our nation from its current poor economy and drought stricken land. We must repent of our sins and return to God. He is our only hope.





























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