America In Prophesy

America in Prophesy

I have had a number of people asked me about the conditions in our Country, and how they might relate to Biblical prophesy. That is the subject of this sermon. Back in the early 1970's, I became very interested in Biblical prophesies. For fifteen years, I studied the prophetic scriptures in the Bible; I considered what many commentaries had to say about these scriptures and I read many books on the subjects. A proper study of prophesy begins in the Old Testament. There we see that God does not fool around with sin. When God saw the world embracing sin He sent a worldwide flood. Later, He called the Nation of Israel into existence; it was to be a light unto the world. When God saw Israel embracing sin, the Father would send a prophet to His beloved Nation saying, "If you do not straighten up and fly right, I will straighten you up and it will not be fun." Rarely did Israel listen and they paid the price. Their nation was divided; they were defeated and taken away into slavery more than once. God did not give up on them; He sent the Messiah.

The New Testament records God continuing to ask His people to keep on the straight path and not to fool themselves. Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." Jesus was giving us a warning.

From the founding of our Nation, America's leaders have also warned us to do God's will. George Washington said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” Is our Nation obeying God's will? We are the richest most powerful Nation ever on earth; but are we grateful for that or do we complain? Does our Nation humbly implore God for protection?

James Madison, our fourth President, wrote, “We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.” Do we govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments?

Our Founders felt that God's Word was so important that in 1782, "The United States in Congress assembled … recommend this edition of the Bible [King James Version] to the inhabitants of the United States … a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.” Do we have Bibles in our schools so that students may learn the principles on which our Founders depended?

Jesus said that the greatest Commandment was, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Our Declaration of Independent obeys this Commandment, "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." A king did not give us our rights; God did. Our Creator endowed us; we owe Him for establishing our Nation.

In modern times, other presidents have echoed our founders' words. For example, John F. Kennedy said, “The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” Do we, America, thank God for our freedom and blessings or do we take them for granted?

We know God to be a God of mercy and kindness but we often forget that He is also a God of justice and repentance. God gave us freewill. Free will means that all gifts from God to us are double-edged. Therefore, God's labor to redeem the world cannot be certain of succeeding as regards to individuals or to nations. Some will not accept redemption. "There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity that this", but Scripture, Jesus' words and reason support this. (C.S. Lewis)

Be warned, God has favored this nation. He looks down upon us today expecting us to do His will. His will is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Do we Americans love our neighbors? Or, are we in the time predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths." Let's look at just a few facts.

God sees a drug-infested Nation where more than 50,000 Americans die of drug overdoses a year. From November 1965 until April of 1975, the Vietnam War cost 58, 209 lives. Deaths in America from traffic accidents in 2017 were 40,100. That is to say, annually illegal drug use kills nearly as many Americans as died in all of the Vietnam War and more people die from drug overdoses that die in traffic accidents. Yet, we have states legalizing marijuana; you can purchase stock in companies that are selling marijuana products with the promise of great rewards; large rewards like the cigarette companies used to pay their shareholders. You see, like the nicotine in cigarettes, marijuana is somewhat addictive. The Nation Institute on Drug Abuse writes that 30% of users experience some degree of addiction. Is selling this product just to make money loving our neighbor? There must be tears in God's eyes as he sees beautiful young people dying from what some refer to as 'recreational drug use'.