Articles
“Will God Always Bless America?” (Part 1)
I was only 15 years old, but I remember it so well. The large auditorium was overflowing. The preacher was George W. Bailey. His topic was: “Will God Always Bless America?”
In this sermon he asked, “What nation has been so mightily blessed as have we? Will God forever do so? . . . . It might be answered in three words—IT ALL DEPENDS.”
He quoted Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”
Then he asked, “Is this still true? If not, when did it cease to be? If it is still true, then God must still be ruling in the affairs of men and nations. Therefore, there must be a message in the Bible for nations today.”
He also said, “Israel’s past blessings were certainly no guarantee of her future blessings. Future blessings for her were conditional.” “That which turned God’s blessings from Israel could also
turn His blessings from America.” (“The Christian and Morality” Being the Abilene Christian College Annual Bible Lectures, 1963)
James Truslow Adams: “If there is to be a regeneration of the national character, it can come about only by the regeneration of each of us as individuals.”
Daniel Webster: “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering. But if we neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
General Douglas MacArthur: “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has either been a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”
How can God keep blessing America if America won’t listen to God? How can God keep blessing a nation enmeshed in self-destructive pleasure-seeking and materialism? That fails to respect the sanctity of life? That fails to uphold God’s plan for marriage? That blurs the male/female distinction God ordained in the beginning?
Thomas Jefferson: “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”
“America is not big enough to shake her fist in the face of a holy God and get away with it.” (The Rebirth of America, The Arthur S. DeMoss Fouundation, 1986, 142)
To be continued . . . .
