Is America Still A “Great Nation”

Is our Nation still a “Great Nation?” I wonder how God sees her? A Pastor recently said to me: “The spiritual condition of our churches today have nothing to do with the moral decline of our country.” Is what he said true? How sad that many of our Pastors don’t take responsibility for the moral and spiritual decline in our Nation today. Our Nation’s greatness was found in the righteousness of its people. Are we still seeking God’s righteousness?

Have we forgotten what made America great? It was not the greatness of our own strength, our military might, or our superior knowledge. It was found in the seeking of God’s righteousness. This seeking began in our Churches. It was the Love of God and others that drove us to seek it. We have lost that love and I fear the blessings we received from God, have been lost as well.

The French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, wrote:

“I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests — and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning–and it was not there. I looked for it 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 America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!”

Is our Nation still great? Tocqueville certainly saw America’s greatness. He did not find it in its institutions, but in its churches. What did he see and what does God have to say about what makes a nation great? Tocqueville said he saw in them: “her pulpits flame with righteousness.” Are our pulpits still a flame of righteousness? Is the Word of God being preached and taught with no worldly compromise? Have we compromised the gospel of Christ to fill their pews and the collection plate? Have we prostituted the gospel for prosperity’s sake? Have we altered the gospel seeking to please men more than God? I believe as Tocqueville did. When our churches no longer exhibit the flame of the Holy Spirit preached from her pulpits, America will cease to be great.

I wonder if we are not teetering on the brink of spiritual poverty in our churches; choosing to make people feel good in their sin instead of preaching the truth.

Read Psalm 78.

Psalm 78 is an historical account of God’s great mercy on the nation of Israel and His displeasure with them. It was written for all future generations to compare and examine themselves. It should command our attention. God will bless a nation obedient to Him. He will also bring down those that aren’t. Human history is filled with examples of fallen nations. Why did they fall? Why are we falling? We must examine ourselves before it is too late.

                              If God Is Not Dead

Desolate is my soul and dry are my dead bones
Rivers of water are flowing yet I’m thirsty and all alone
This valley of death grows wider as it deepens
I can hear no bastions and I can see no beacons

I fear no evil for evil has long been laughing and gone
He came and went leaving me hopelessly overdrawn
The debt he left behind I can never borrow to repay
If only I could unsay or at least avoid his lying tollway

My still waters are not so peace be still but they are raging
My green pastures see only waters in them overflowing
Be still my soul is but now my only want and my only goal
This toll for my soul I can never hope to ever bankroll

Why would I seek any peace with anyone or anything else
I seek only one thing and that is peace and rest within myself
From the warring of my mind and the warring of my soul
The outcome of these battles is beyond my earthly control

Will I find peace in this valley where my mind and soul can find rest
When I stand before Christ at judgment will I pass the final bloodtest
When I made this marriage vow was I already looking for a loophole
Was there a spiritual miscarriage in the must be born again in my soul

If I have found in my soul there is no peace and no signs of any rest
The one truth that may be left is that Jesus came as only my guest
Did I ask Him to come into my heart yet then consider Him a vagrant
Did He come to do a work in me yet I can see no divine movement

 
If God is not dead…He cannot live in me and me not be spiritually led
If I find no peace and I find no rest it is sure…It is me who is the one dead
If I have truly died to my pride and my will…I will arise with Christ as one
If I have died and then truly arose…Then why do my burdens weigh a ton

If God is not dead…He should be alive in you…”Roaring like a Lion”

                                            Vasquez Savage