AMERICA BLESS GOD

I like about 70% of Americans' heart swells with national pride when we hear songs like "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful." Now from the start of this article I will give you a choice to stop reading if you disagree with me, yet I say I know America is an exceptional country. I have personally seen her wisdom, support, and goodness in over 87 countries of the world. Why I have even given 24 years of my life in the US Navy in support of the values and principles of what the goodness and virtue America stands for. Now I too will be the first to say America has not done everything perfect, even Godly, but in all of her flaws and misgivings America is still the best country in the world if you desire Godly freedom to worship a Holy God, supporting your family by pulling yourself up by your own boot straps so that you can better yourself and your family, and just to be able to lay your head on your pillow at night and not have to worry (for now) about the government sending people to kick your door down and haul you off to prison for something you believe in. And yes America is still the land of the free (for now) and the home of the brave (for now). America for all of her beauty, industrial strength, grandeur from sea to shining seas, and religious freedoms (for now) has been blessed by God. Any country that remembers the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the hearts and minds of its people will be blessed by God. David knew this truth all too well. He wrote, "The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." (Psalm 33:10-12) Now it does not say the American, Israeli, German, Russian, Nepalese, Chinese people, but "the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." So here is the 64 thousand dollar question, "why does God choose some people for his inheritances?" Well the answer is obvious the LORD chooses those who choose Him. And in the past America has valued the presence of God in her ways, customs, values, traditions and have chosen the LORD in her laws, her governing principles, her places of worship for 244 years America has chosen the LORD and thus according to God's word America has been blessed (for now). You see it is not an issue of the color of your skin, origin of birth, or even your social status, but it is an issue of a heart condition towards God and a Godly value to see His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Not the Kingdom of God that will come after the millennial reign, but the kingdom of God that is expressed in Romans. Paul writes, "Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 18For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men." (Romans 14:16-18) In all of the goodness and blessing in America there is a responsibility, a price, and a duty to keep God's word and ways before the American people, first in all that she does and says or the blessing will be lost (as we can see from countries who have taken God out of their language) and the curse promsied in the Bible will be rewarded. And second to always stand for the truth of the Gospel message around the world in support of telling people about Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross of Calvary for you and I. In Deuteronomy 28 we find 42 rewards. Now remember a reward is something we get from God based on our behavior and heart condition. Contained in this chapter is 42 rewards: 14 blessings and 28 curses. I wonder why only 14 blessings and 28 curses? Maybe God was trying to tell us something? I do not know about you my friend, but a good blessing does not carry me too far in God, but a good curse now that will get my attention and drop me to my knees. We can see this truth all throughout the Scriptures. Now to be able to receive the blessing this was the requirement, "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." (Deuteronomy 28:2) Did you get that? "If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God" Now here is the requirement to receive the curses, "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:" (Deuteronomy 28:15) Did you get that? "if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee." Seems crystal clear to me, but I wonder why America and especially the Church in America has walked away from "the commandments and his statutes which I command thee." And we think we in America will receive the blessings of God? Oh no my friend we deceive ourselves and are insane. How can America be blessed if the folks who are to serve as spiritual and moral leaders have turned their backs on God and walked away from "the commandments and his statutes which I command thee?" Oh no we lie and the truth of God's word is not in us. This last election really revealed the huge chasm between those in the church who really love God and those who say they love God, but voted for open rebellion, murder, people who are filled with demonic and anti-Christ spirits yet they called themselves Christians and hold places of spiritual authority in leadership in many churches. Where is the unity of the Spirit? Where is the Spirit? Can light have fellowship with darkness? Paul says no. Is Jesus' words true, "either you are for me or you are against me." Have we compromised the truth of the Scriptures for peace, numbers, prosperity, or how about the opportunity to preach to sinners on Sunday and Wednesdays. Is the truth true or do we water down truth to fit our churchy Christian needs. Most of the "church" is a shame, a lie, a disappointment to God. and we expect to be blessed and not cursed? You know I can think of no other country in my life time that parallels America than the Jewish nation of Israel. Maybe this is why America has adopted similar practices of law, moral beliefs, and even the same God that the Jewish people worship. And yes even in their (the Jewish nation) history of repeated sin (just read the Old Testament) and walking away from God time and time again, America can easily be seen in the LORD's mirror of righteousness. In Isaiah God addresses Israel's waywardness and unfaithfulness, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7our country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers." (Isaiah 1:2-7) What a scathing rebuke from God of Israel and I would say America today. But the LORD does not stop there and takes on the religious folks as well. Again in Isaiah, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." (Isaiah 1:11-15) Wow, I know the context is Israel, but I can see the once shining city on the hill, America in these words. How far we have fallen. Remember it is the responsibility and duty of the Godly people of a nation who know righteousness and truth to help mold and shape a nation, but if the Godly people are scarce to find then it will be the ungodly people who mold and shape the nation. We have seen this all throughout history. The well known French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville said of America when he visited her from shore to shore, "That America is great because she is good. Even a non Bible thumper could easily see where the goodness and strength of America (in the past) came from: "I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public school system and her institutions of learning, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." Well my friend America is at the point of not looking her greatest because she has not the goodness of the LORD in the majority of her people and her ways. The only hope for America today is to return back to the days of yester year where the word of God was important. When honesty, patriotism, and morality was taught in the public school system and you knew if you got a few licks from the teacher at school the licking was not over until your parents had their turn. Unless the "churches" repents of her waywardness and idolatry and stands up for the "entire" truth (speaking it in love) of the word of God America is doomed. It is time to clean house. We are the house of God not some building we spend $1,000s of dollars on each month. Oh no it is time for us to allow God to clean our heart and lives (our house) with His refining fire and kick out all of those imposters who are charading as men and woman of God in the Body of Christ. You will know them by their spirit, by their words and fruit, and by who they voted for. Oh there will be a remnant, there will always be a remnant (read your Bible). God will always save those who truly choose Him and He will use them to rebuild and further His purposes on the earth as it is in heaven. It is time for America to bless God and repent then and only then will America be blessed again. Written by David Stahl