Diverging Views

When I was a young Christian my senior pastor always preached that as long as America kept sending missionaries and supported Israel that God would keep blessing this country. And I can certainly support the Israel backing from the Bible with Genesis 12:3:

And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and [a]curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].(AMPC)

As far as the sending of missionaries, well that one is a little harder although we may see it in these verses from Romans:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15, NIV)

The Apostle Paul was referencing Isaiah 52:7 so I guess there are two more places that support my pastor’s view on America’s protection in spite of her obvious record of sinning as a nation. The other view is espoused by the wife of Billy Graham, Ruth, as seen in one account of her comments:

This statement frequently attributed to Billy Graham, actually originated with his wife, Ruth, during a review of her husband's manuscript for his book, World Aflame, published in 1965. He had just finished a chapter vividly describing the sinful conditions in America, and gave it to Ruth to read. She was very much sobered by the writing and returned the document to the study where he was writing and laid it on his desk, saying, "Billy, if God doesn't come soon and bring judgment upon the United States, He's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!" The account was recalled briefly as an illustration in a message by Dr. James Kennedy (pastor, Coral Ridge Presbyterian, Fort Lauderdale, Florida), entitled "Prayer and the World Crisis", at the National Prayer Congress, Dallas, Texas in 1976. The statement has frequently been requoted by many others since that time.

So I wonder then which view is correct? Are we divinely protected by God or divinely under God’s current or soon coming judgment?

Another View

I read an article by Dr. David Reagan on the topic and I think we should explore his thoughts on America as well:

In 1999, I wrote a book titled, Living for Christ in the End Times. It was published in the year 2000. The subtitle I gave the book was, “Coping with Anarchy and Apostasy.” To my chagrin, the publisher refused to use the subtitle. There was not anything I could do about that because in the book publishing world, publishers have absolute control over cover designs and titles. (In 2015, when we published the second edition, I jerked the book from the publisher and gave the book the subtitle I had desired.)

Reagan asked why his title wasn’t used he was told this:

When I asked the publisher why my subtitle had been refused, I was told that it was “too radical.” When I asked why, I was told that apostasy in the church was not all that bad and that our society was nowhere near anarchy. My response was that the subtitle was a prophetic one based on our nation’s rejection of its Judeo-Christian foundation. I had not been given any special revelation by God. My prediction was simply based on what the Scriptures say will happen to a blessed nation that turns its back on God.

He based his feelings in no small part to Paul’s letter to the Romans:

Specifically, Romans 1 says that when a nation starts rebelling against God, He will lower His hedge of protection around the nation and allow sin to multiply. The first manifestation will be a sexual revolution. God will give the nation over in “the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them” (Romans 1:24). Our nation experienced this phenomenon in the decade of the 1960s with the Hippie Revolution and its emphasis on “free love.”

Reagan then notes the next step is God decreasing His blessings:

Romans 1 next says that if the nation refuses to repent, God will lower the hedge of protection further, and the result will be a plague of homosexuality. God will give the nation over to “degrading passions,” for the women will “exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural” — and the men will do the same (Romans 1:25-26). Beginning in the 1970s, our nation started experiencing an outbreak of homosexuality and its demand for same-sex marriage and the endorsement of transgenderism.

He then details the last stage in the great apostles assessment:

The final step in God turning our nation over completely to its sins of rebellion occurred when He lowered the hedge a third time, resulting in the nation being turned over to “depraved minds” (Romans 1:28). That is where we are today.

We Forgot God

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Dr. Reagan is on the Ruth Graham view:

Currently, we are a nation in full scale revolt against our Creator who has been the source of all our national blessings. I am reminded of what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said when he was asked what happened to Russia that led to 70 years of Communist dictatorship. His response was short and to the point: “We forgot God.”

He then cites some examples to make his point that America is not doing well:

Our nation is now experiencing both gross apostasy and extreme violence. The Judeo-Christian foundation that held us together for 200 years has evaporated, In 1955, 91% of Americans claimed to be Christians. Today, that number has fallen to 61% — and many, if not most of these, are Cultural Christians only.

Reagan then turns to a more current event to highlight his opinion that we reached a tipping point as a nation:

Our nation has been fighting a “cold war” for the past 50 years, as pagans have rejected our Judeo-Christian heritage and have increasingly targeted Christians and Jews for persecution.

I suggest that the assassination of Charlie Kirk will one day be viewed as the point at which our cultural “cold war” morphed into an all-out civil war. Increasingly, I believe we are going to find ourselves drowning in both apostasy and anarchy.

A Cold Church, A Colder Society

Reagan looks at the church first to illuminate the apostasy he sees in it now:

Our churches are wallowing in apostasy as they endorse homosexuals as pastors, elders, and deacons. They are also accepting and performing same-sex marriages. Some are even conducting drag queen services. The Catholic Church has returned to preaching “works salvation.” Protestants are no better as they are now teaching that there are many roads to God. The latest “State of Theology” poll by Ligonier Ministries revealed that 47% of Evangelicals believe God accepts the worship of all religions and that 53% assert that most people are inherently good. The same poll also revealed that 49% of American adults view Jesus as a great teacher but not God.

Then he looks at the recent assassinations which a growing segment of America supports:

On the anarchy scene, the evening news on television every evening is packed with scenes of violent radical groups attacking police officers simply because they are trying to enforce the law. Others are raising money to support murderers, like the one who shot the CEO of United Health and the young man who killed Charlie Kirk. Public opinion polls are showing that increasing numbers are saying that they approve political assassinations. The situation is so bad that the President is in the process of deploying military troops in our major cities. I truly believe the values of our nation have become so perverted that if a person were to kill President Trump, the assassin would be hailed as a national hero.

His next statement is one I agree with in how God dispenses His wrath on a nation and he believes America is experiencing it right now:

It appears that God has turned our nation over to what theologians called “abandonment wrath.” This happens when God steps back, removes his protection over a nation and allows it to destroy itself.

Is There Any Hope?

Rather than being totally fatalistic in his view of our future as a nation, Reagan gives us little ray of light and a prayer for God to move one last time for America:

Our nation is facing a cloud of gloom and doom, but there is a silver lining. Jesus said that in the end times, right before His return, the world will become as evil as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). If you will take a look at the Bible’s description of those days in Genesis 6, you will see that they were characterized by two things: immorality and violence. We have arrived.

He mentions a few clever quotes to give us some hope:

And that means Jesus is about to break from the heavens. It’s the reason Adrian Rogers used to preach, “The world is growing gloriously dark.” It is also why Jan Markell often says, “The world is not falling to pieces. Rather, the pieces are all falling into place.”

Reagan ends his writing with his personal feelings on what he wants to see next, and it is also a prayer given to us prophetically thousands of years ago:

The cry of my heart is summed up in the words of the prophet Isaiah recorded in chapter 64: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence — as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — to make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!”

And in context Isaiah 64 is talking about another nation who had lost its way, the nation of Israel. The Old Testament prophet looked at Israel who was very sinful and pleaded to God to intervene. In his pleas he recognized that Israel can’t save themselves since their righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight. The nation can’t ask for mercy or saving. But God will hear the cries of those who are still living right in His sight. It is then incumbent on true believers to be like Isaiah and to plea to God to withhold His wrath. I like how a commentary on Isaiah 64 explains it:

In this prayer, the praying one deals with what seems to be an impossible problem. Because of our sin (Isaiah 64:5b-7), we are in a desperate state and need the LORD’s salvation. But the LORD only answers the prayers of a righteous man (Isaiah 64:4-5a) – and a righteous man wouldn’t be in the place we are! Ultimately, the answer is found in the New Covenant, where a righteous Man stands in our place and prays for us. This is why Jesus invited us to pray in His name (John 14:13-14). When we pray in Jesus’ name, He is the righteous Man who appeals to God for us.

Amen and amen!