Judges 2.16-17: “Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. “
The United States has long been a bastion of Christian ideals, religious freedom, and liberty. Everywhere U.S. military personnel have gone, fought, bled, and died, freedom has come on their heels, including the freedom to worship as one chooses. Unfortunately in these days of post-modernistic personal subjectivity, anything Christian has become more and more ridiculed, more and more marginalized, and seen more and more of Christian freedoms curtailed n the name of separation of church and state. Could the USA be in God’s crosshairs for judgment? As Israel was judged, time and time again by God for her many trespasses, could God be warning the USA that such is coming to her?
The USA: Founded on Religious Freedom…
Like it or not, believe it or not, nor view it as really true, the United States of America was founded as a place where the worship of God was to be free. The second permanent colony in the USA was established specifically for the purpose of allowing the Puritans to worship God without the interference of the British Crown. In every subsequent colony, religious freedom, the freedom to worship God as one chose, was established.
The freedom to worship God is also an inherent and unalienable right of all Americans, as written in the Declaration of Independence and established n the Constitution of the United States of America in 1789. In the first two centuries of the United States’ existence as a nation, God was freely prayed to, Jesus Christ freely spoken of, the Bible freely taught, and worship freely allowed in the US Public forum.
Anywhere and everywhere one could travel in the USA, God – though not always followed nor obeyed, was, at the very least, respected. Even early TV Shows, movies, and literature, even if God wasn’t mentioned directly, nor given the proper obedience, He was respected for being God, even in such characters as Otis the town drunk of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.
They Went a Whoring After Other gods…
A question: Is the USA still a Christian Nation? Is Christianity and Christian values, and Jesus Christ, still the primary driving force in U.S. culture today? Looking at American Mainstream Media, one can soon and easily see that the U.S.A. is no longer the home to Christian values that she once was.
Today, U.S. post-modern culture continually mocks and marginalizes values that fly in the face of what is fun, desired, and looked upon as civilized. Fifty years ago, a woman who was found to be with child by someone she was not married to, was viewed as one with clouded morals at the very least. These days, single mothers are the new heroines, supported and upheld as examples of undying courage, unparalleled strength, and models to others.
Single motherhood is just one symptom of a culture that has made sex and sexual desire one of its gods. Another example is abortion on demand. In ancient Canaan, the god Molech required the adherent to sacrifice his or her (or their) firstborn child on the altar. In today’s world, more and more expectant mothers are sacrificing their unborn children on the altar of sexual freedom, convenience, and self.
More and more of the USA’s workforce and working-age population are sacrificing their values, their consciences, and their families on the altar of big money, corporate power, and/or financial success. It is easy to see that the USA is now a country where every other god under the sun is given privilege and place. Just as ancient Israel under the judges, and later, the kings, which turned away from God, the USA has also turned away from the God of her forefathers.
Freedom To Worship or Freedom From Religion?
In 1962, the United States Supreme Court, in the landmark case Murray v. Curlett, made the decision to remove administration-sponsored prayer from public schools. Since that time, Jesus Christ and the freedom to worship his name have taken a long and hard slide downward. Where even into the late 1950s and even into the 1960s, God was at the very least respected in U.S. society at large.
The long slide that leads us to these post-modern 21st century years now sees anything about God, any mention of Jesus Christ, and any quote from the bible ridiculed, mocked, and marginalized to the point that church by and large has become more of a social club than a soul-saving station. This is a fact that is most glaringly seen in mainstream media outlets. Hollywood rarely, if ever, presents the viewing public with anything that remotely uplifts the name of Jesus Christ.
Quite often in modern motion picture production, the villain is some crazed maniac who happens to claim being saved and quotes Scripture verbatim. In television, biblical ideals – once revered and respected — are now mocked, decried as ancient and unnecessary, with only the old, the feeble, the mentally challenged, or the ignorant being portrayed as believing in such.
More and more in radio and modern music, every kind of filth and sin is glorified, while God is mocked, moral values defamed, and Christian values torn to shreds and cast out. Where homosexuality was once dealt with as a mental illness, it is now accepted even in many mainstream U.S. churches.
Sex outside of marriage, once decried as totally sinful and immoral by the church, now has seen some denominations declare that no matter what is done to teach them otherwise, teens cannot control themselves and have given allowances for sexual activity aside from marriage. Mainstream media long ago cast aside sexual restraint and sexual purity as something unable to be accomplished with teens and is only for spinsters and prudes out-of-touch with reality. God has slowly been replaced by something else, and that something else is bringing forth wretched fruit.
God is Still a Judge!
In these post-modern days, people who are exposed to or presented with their sins usually retort with, “Doesn’t Jesus say ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’?” How dare you judge me? Yet the fact of the matter is, these people go on their merry ways totally oblivious to the glaring fact that God will one day judge them, should they remain unrepentant of sin.
The Bible is rife with example after example of the Lord God passing judgment and carrying out sentence against the children of Israel for turning away from him. Time and time again, after warning them through his word, through prophets, and through even miracles, God was forced to move his hand of judgment against Israel precisely because of their continual rejection of him. History is further rife with nation after nation being reduced from golden-age glory to ashes of destruction because her people turned away from Jesus Christ, rejected the Bible, and changed from God to false gods.
From Ancient Rome, which persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which once boasted a queen who read her Bible and prayed daily (Queen Victoria) to a nation where Islam is gaining serious ground on the church (which has all but ceased in being the soul-saving station she was ordained to be centuries ago). God still allows disaster when nations reject him; he still pulls his hand of protection away from countries – though historically Christ-loving – which have turned away from him.
Conclusion: For the USA This Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg.
Many in the United States of America asked this question after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: “Is God Judging the USA?” For the USA, those terrorist attacks – as tragic and devastating as they were – were just the very tip of the iceberg. The judgments carried out on Israel, on Egypt, and on every other nation mentioned in the Bible as having turned away from God, are very graphic in nature, and such has yet to fall on the United States.
For decades, the United States was the bastion of Christian values, the haven for all those who desired to be free to worship God without government interference. As stated above, however, all things Christian are now being herded into a corner and into an area of society that may well be the point of no return. The USA has replaced the God of her Founding Fathers with the false gods of self, convenience, lust, power, sex, and greed.
If we, the citizenry of the United States do not turn back to God, worse judgments – far, FAR worse – than what we saw on 9/11/01 will take place. God, as he has done with every other nation in history, will remove his hand of protection, and the USA will surely fall just as Rome and every other advanced, technological civilization has fallen when they rejected God. When Israel turned, she was saved, but when she continued down the path of idolatry and godlessness, she suffered. It will be the same for the USA if we don’t change out ways.
Prayer: Father, we need to bring you back to the USA, we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
“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” (2 Chronicles 7:14).