Should God Bless America?

I may live to regret this, but I am going to take a slightly different tack for this article. Tomorrow is America's 231st birthday, and since the 4th of July is my second favorite holiday, (only second to Thanksgiving), I want to talk about our country.

After 9-11 there was an incredible outpouring of patriotic sympathy. The number of flags that were flown in the weeks that followed must have made the flag manufacturers stand up and salute! In fact, there was a report that fuel consumption had increased by 1% after 9-11 because of the loss of aerodynamics on most automobiles. This was because everyone was flying a flag or two on their cars! Soon those entrepreneurs got into the act and there were bumper stickers with patriotic slogans pasted everywhere. I must admit, I was encouraged.

The encouragement was short lived. Many of the bumper stickers had the theme, "God Bless America." I believe that most Americans would love to have God's blessing, but few of them actually want God. It's pretty amazing when you look at the drift that has happened in my 48 years of life. Since I was born in 1958, God has been kicked out of school by the Supreme Court. The results of this catastrophe are only now becoming evident. Students are afraid to pray in public. You can be suspended in many school districts for just mentioning the name of Jesus or for wearing jewelry in the shape of a cross. Since the Bible was kicked out, there is no basis for authority. Kids are supposed to obey their teachers "jus' 'cuz". In fact, since evolutionary theory has been taught as FACT in most schools, youth has become the goal at the expense of the wisdom of the aged. Let's face it. Your children are one step SUPERIOR to you in the evolutionary process. People are spending fortunes and risking their lives in the pursuit of youth through cosmetic surgery or the use of steroids. What ever happened to Proverbs 16:31? "A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness."

Since I'm a geek, I love watching the Science Channel and the History Channel. Since this is Independence Day week, the History Channel is doing a special series on the Presidents of the United States. It is really fascinating to watch the transition from men like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to Presidential candidates like I see running in '08. Seriously, what would any of those men from the 18th and 19th centuries think about the stuff that these people are selling today? I have to admit that it is pragmatic to choose a woman's right to kill her baby over the right of the baby to live, because frankly, the baby won't be a voter for another 18 years.

What would those Presidents, both noble and somewhat ignoble think about homosexual "marriage"? You have to admit that it is politically expedient to "allow people to express their sexuality any way they want", because you can couch your support under the guise of "individual rights", and vilify anyone who disagrees as a bigot. For the first time in American history a people group has been classified, not by what they ARE, but by what they DO. (By the way, the claims of irrefutable genetic evidence that homosexuality is something that one is born with are WILDLY exaggerated. If you really want to talk about genetics, since Adam's fall, we ALL have a genetic predisposition to sin! (Psalm 51:5) MY pet sins just happen to be different than theirs.). In my lifetime there have actually been "gay christian churches" organized in this country. Obviously, the Bible and what it ACTUALLY says has been jettisoned, even in many cases in the church.

From my view, God has shown incredible restraint and mercy on America. I don't think that the disaster on 9-11 was necessarily God's judgement on our nation as much as it was His restraining hand. I blush when I see the evil and debauchery that is practiced with utter abandon in this country, and then compare it with cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. Honestly, I think we may owe the citizens of those cities an apology! As far as utter rejection of God and his Bible go, those cities have nothing on us.

Should God bless America? We need to continue to pray. So what is our responsibility as believers? Should we attempt to change society through legislation? The only model that we have to follow from the Bible is the Pharisees! We can only affect change in the culture, by affecting change in individual lives. We need to start with ourselves. Men, if you aren't engaged in the battle by loving your wives and loving your neighbors, because you are too busy with your vocation or your avocation, you are part of the problem and not the solution. Women, if you aren't submitting yourselves to that big jerk that God has put into your life, (your husband!), giving him honor that he will never be able to earn and spending the bulk of your time teaching younger women to do the same, (Titus 2:3-5), then YOU are part of the problem. Children, are you disobedient to your parents? Employees, are you in rebellion against your unfair, arbitrary boss? We need to start with US.

So what is the task before us? Should we cloister ourselves and hide our children from the evil world? God says an emphatic NO to that. First, are we any different or any less deserving of hell than any of the groups I mentioned above? 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." (italics mine) I stand on the same ground before the cross as any of my fellow citizens. So do you. Second, we are called to ENGAGE the world, not hide from it. In fact God even has a purpose for our children in this regard. Psalm 127:4 "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth." That's right. Arrows are OFFENSIVE weapons. If we don't sharpen those arrows by teaching the TRUTH to those kids, we are going to necessarily leave them to fend for themselves in a society that is producing little atheists by the hundreds of thousands, that will be our children's ideological enemies for the rest of their lives. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Let's celebrate Independence Day with a renewed commitment to find out what God wants us to do; then ask Him for the strength to do it. Then perhaps God will truly bless America.

His servant,

D. L. Culiver