Our Present Crises

Our local news just carried an account of a middle-aged man found dead with his elderly father. A preliminary investigation indicates that the son was disabled and unable to work, and that his house was being foreclosed on. Firefighters were called to his furiously burning home, where they found “accelerants,” items that strongly indicated that the fire had been purposely set. Going to the father’s house, then, to further investigate, they found the man and his father dead. It appears the man had grown despondent over his financial problems and, since he seemed to be one who looked after his father, committed a murder/suicide after torching his house.

In this time of financial disarray, we’ll probably see more of this kind of thing. It is tragic. But to me, the far more tragic thing is that the economic disaster we are in is wholly man-made. Our financial leaders have become masters at mismanagement and irresponsibility. And our government leaders, so totally bent on turning the United States into a socialist country, are offering non-answers. This is because, to them, this disaster is not really a problem. It is a welcome opportunity to forward their agenda, and they are working hard at just that.

But it goes even deeper than that. The greatest guide for the present and future is the past. This nation was founded as a God-fearing and Christian nation. A lot of people argue this point, but they argue it knowing that a lot of other people don’t know the facts and can be duped. After all, our public schools stopped teaching the true foundation of America a long time ago. That, too, was part of a master plan to change the nature and course of our country.

But any open-minded look at the documents that sprang from our founding will show, without any possible honest denial, that we were founded as a Christian nation. These documents are readily available to anyone who chooses to know the truth. But, over time, God has been pushed farther and farther into the shadows in this country, until it is now almost a crime to mention His name. At the same time, many other gods are becoming prominent in our society.

It is not strange, then, that we should lose God’s blessings. The Bible says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). And we read these sobering words in Deuteronomy 6:10-15: “[w]hen the Lord . . . shall . . . give thee great and goodly cities . . . and houses full of all good things . . . and wells digged . . . vineyards and olive trees . . . when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord . . . .     [l]est the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and [He] destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”

In Deuteronomy 28 God told Israel all the blessings He would bestow on them if they would do right. Verse 8 says, “The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto . . . .” Then, verse 11 says, “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground . . . .”

For decades, America was blessed in her storehouses and in all that she set her hand unto. Truly, she has had abundance, and has fed the world. Verse 12 tells how God would enable Israel to lend to many nations, but not have to borrow. But farther on in that chapter, God described how He would withdraw His blessings if Israel turned from Him. He said, “Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine [cattle], and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing . . . in all that thou settest thine hand unto . . . because . . . thou hast forsaken me.”

Today, America (mis)uses God as if He were a fire extinguisher, keeping Him on the shelf, as it were, until they need Him. Look at how prayer was revived on 9-11. People everywhere were calling on God. Why? Because they were afraid our enemies would wreak more havoc on us. But it didn’t take long until America was back to crying “Foul!” every time God was mentioned.

This blog is entitled, “The Late Great U.S.A.” My friends, as a nation, we are nine-tenths dead. And I am not a pessimist. I have survived some severe situations, and I have kept my cheerful attitude. But neither am I a blind optimist. I am a realist. And the handwriting is definitely on the wall in our beloved nation. I am terribly burdened for America. Though my personal attitude stays cheerful, my heart is extremely heavy because of the reality that I see coming.

Is there a remedy? Not from government. Our present leaders don’t see a problem, as I said earlier. All the chaos we are seeing just fits into their scheme and gives them the means to change the face of this nation, which they are doing through the “answers” they are giving us today. Government takeover of everything! That’s their goal. It’s called socialism, a system that has failed everywhere it’s ever been tried. Its score is zero. Yet these blind leaders are so sure that they are smarter than those who tried it in other times and places, and they are determined to bring its disaster to us. But it will fail here too, because it is a flawed system. It doesn’t work because it cannot work.

Is there a remedy? Not from our financial leaders. That they cannot make decisions that generate real answers is evident by the decisions they’ve been making for decades and that have resulted in our present meltdown. Wisdom cried out, “Disaster is coming!” But they didn’t heed. Their personal agendas overrode wisdom and prudence.

But there is a remedy. It’s found, again, in God’s Word: “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 will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

If we become, again, a God-fearing people, we will again be blessed in all we set our hands unto. But if we persist in our godlessness, as a nation, we can only be cursed. Things will continue to unravel. People will continue to despair and suicide will climb. It is inevitable, friends.

I don’t have much hope that America will turn back to God. History reveals that all the great civilizations that have gone before us have followed fixed cycles that run from high moral standards and right living, through prosperity, then apathy, then moral decline, and finally annihilation. It’s a fixed principle. It won’t change for us, and if we don’t change, we’ll be THE LATE GREAT U.S.A.