There is good news in celebrating the 4th of July!

 

America is great because she is good

 

America has some problems, and we need to return to being a good nation as an example to other nations.  Our forefathers founded America on Christian principles and we have unfortunately fallen away from some of them.

 

Let’s take a look at 3 court cases that stand out as contributing to the current downward spiral of America, due to removing God from the public square.

 

 

Engle v. Vitale – We can no longer post the Ten Commandments in public schools, because they will induce children to read, meditate upon, and perhaps obey God.  Our 20th century leaders say this is not a permissible state objective.  If we post the 10 Commandments, the children might actually read, think, and obey.  This is unconstitutional.  Unbelievable!  (See Stone v. Graham for more information).

 

Harvey Weinstein is a good example of what happens to someone who grows up without God or the 10 Commandments.  Weinstein’s sexual abuse of women is a result of no God in his life, which made everything he did permissible in his own mind.

 

 

Obergefell v. Hodges – We can no longer protect the sanctity of God’s design for marriage—1 man and 1 woman.  We know the end result of Sodom and Gomorrah.  God punished the cities by destroying them.  The rates of heterosexual marriages has declined since gay marriage was instituted.  Whenever you counterfeit something, you cheapen the value of the real thing.  Marriages affect children.  A child need both a father and a mother as role models in the home.  A heterosexual relationship is superior to a homosexual one because it is God’s way of saying it’s a special relationship when two people can create their own biological child, and this family is the most basic unit of society.  When no one listens to God, families are hurt.  Divorce and death also contribute to some problems in raising children, but gay marriage ensures problems.

 

 

Roe v. Wade – the legalization of abortion has resulted in more than 16 million children being murdered in the womb.  God hates the killing of vulnerable young children and unborn babies.  The Israelites would take their own young children, even babies, and burn them alive to worship Malach, a false god.  God punished the Israelites for this.  Is there any doubt what God will do about abortion?

 

 

 

 

God asks us to be the salt in a decaying world

 

Matthew 5:13 – Jesus tells us that salt will be good for nothing if it becomes tasteless.  In Jesus’ day, salt was a preservative, and was used to delay the decay of meat, giving it a longer shelf life.  God asks us to be a preservative in the world to help others be saved before their time runs out (or before the return of Jesus to judge the world).

 

Don’t stay in the salt shaker.  Get involved.  We should care about what is happening in the culture.

 

Nothing can change the fact that each person will die one day

 

We all try to delay our inevitable death through healthy activities.  In the same way, we need to help delay the premature collapse of our country.  We must push back against evil in the world.  How do we push back against evil in the world?  The government officials that we elect is one way to do this.

 

God designed Government

 

Government is God’s idea (Genesis 9)!  Government is just as ordained by God as the church is.  It has unique purposes; government is called to be a restrainer of evil.  To keep order and morality in society.  When we elect government officials, we are determining the moral and spiritual direction of our country.

 

We have the privilege of choosing our leaders every time we go to the voting booth.  The first Chief Justice said “God has given us the privilege in the Christian nation of choosing our leaders.”  We cast our votes for God’s righteousness, thereby avoiding unrighteousness.

 

Voting is our chance to elect good over evil

 

This is not melodrama!  We are choosing between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan when we vote.  In 2016 we had 2 choices:  a candidate who believed in the sanctity of life and a candidate who believed deep-seeded religious beliefs had to be changed to allow for abortion.  Kill a child because you don’t like its gender?  It’s OK—no restriction!  Kill a child in the 9th month of pregnancy?  It’s OK—no restrictions.  When Trump beat Hillary, we won the abortion debate, at least for four years. 

 

God is not Republican or Democrat

 

We need to be critical of both parties, especially anyone who thinks abortion should be legal.  We have the power as Christians to stop this murder.  God does not ordain any murder whether it’s inside or outside the womb.

 

 

Be the light in this dark world

 

We push back against evil because it offers us an opportunity to share the light of Jesus Christ.  We were left here to do just that.  We confront the darkness with the light of God’s truth.  We share the message of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before His return. 

 

We must change the hearts of Americans

 

The only way this country can change direction is to change the hearts of Americans, one by one.  Once a person learns the truth of God’s word, their heart softens and accepts Jesus into their life.  They find out that Jesus will forgive every sin.  They find out they can have a new way of living.  Sharing the gospel changes people’s hearts, especially in light of today’s struggles with addictions and disobedient lifestyles.

 

Current trends in America

 

SAT scores are down, abortions are up, violent crimes are up.  Over 10 million teenagers in America drink alcohol regularly, and many are binge drinking.  Gun violence is killing children.  Many are injured.  Nearly one million babies were murdered in the womb last year, and many women will have aborted at least one child by age 45 when they decide they have too many children.  Pregnancies are up, but many end in abortion.

 

God gives us warnings

 

Are these tragedies just a coincidence?  Not when you consider God’s warning to His people 3,000 years ago.  It is a warning that is just as applicable today as it was then.  He told them “since you have forgotten the law of God, I will also forget your children.”

 

God is no respecter of people or nations.  Any nation that reveres God will be blessed by God.  And any nation, including the United States, that rejects God will be rejected by God.  Blessed  is the nation whose God is the Lord.

 

Our Forefathers saw the Bible as our guiding Genius

 

No one can read the history of our country without realizing the good book and the spirit of our Savior, which in the past, had been our guiding genius.  We were set up as a Christian land, governed by Christian principles because of the knowledge of our forefathers about the Bible and their belief in it as well as the belief in the sanctity of marriage and the home, equal justice under the law, and the reservation of powers to the people.

 

We need to be living today in the spirit of Christianity and as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.  The nation that reveres God will be blessed by God.  The nation that rejects God will be rejected by God.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!

 

We can help change lives, one person at a time

 

We need to turn to God and away from any known sin in our lives.  We need to win souls, one by one.  Each person needs to understand this and share it with others.

 

Biblical truth nurtures us.  We should be able to say “I belong to God and I have a new purpose in life.  I have been brought back to life again!  I’m learning how to be holy and blameless in God’s sight.”  Your sin is not dark enough—God’s love will still reach you.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us.  We cannot practice sin and imagine that we are alive to God or that we’re going to Heaven when we die.

 

God brings light to us so that we can live a new kind of life

 

Look at what is going on in this country today. The Bible tells us we are dead and need to be brought back to life.  We do this through accepting Jesus into our lives.  Everyone needs to be awakened to God’s promise and provision.  We need to say to the Lord “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.  I have treated You like an intrusion, like you were making some exorbitant demands upon me.”

 

It’s not a burden or an intrusion.  We can say “I was dead and now I’m alive.  I had no hope, no future.  I was an object of the wrath of the Creator of the universe, and in His mercy, He chose me.  When I was in darkness and a mess, He paid the price so that I could enter His kingdom.  I am now alive!  Do I have to go to church?  You try to keep me out!  Do I have to volunteer?  No, but I’m going to!”

 

America is a Christian Nation

 

The only life worthwhile is the life of following Jesus.  You will face adversity and tribulation while following Jesus, just as He did.  Things will be unfair, but God stands behind you when you try to help others in a kind, gentle, and respectful manner to understand His truth about the world.

 

This is how we can help others while helping our country.  Remember, America is a Christian nation!