God Help America!

The more common expression for the first two centuries of our existence as a nation has been "God Bless America." But, given the current condition/status of the United States of America, I don't think we can ask God to bless our country anymore than He already has. Rather than more blessings, I am beginning to think that our greatest need is for His help, not more blessings.

Take the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the so-called "stimulus package" passed by our Congress recently) for example. Is anyone else tired of hearing about how this act is going to "save the day" for us and make everything right again in this country? Even if that were true (and I believe it is not), at what cost will this "saving the day" happen? And more importantly, who's going to pay for it? Seems like we are acting more and more like Alice in Wonderland or Pollyana as a country these days. We are willing to believe just about anything and anybody (to our apparent long-term detriment). We are all hopeful that "this too shall pass." But, is that really being responsible/wise? Have we crossed the line and there is no turning back to the way things once were?

Read the following quote attributed to Alexander Francis Tytler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh. Apparently, this is what he had to say about democracies (similar to our form of government here in the United States): "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, nations always progress through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage."

From the looks of things in the news these days, I would have to say that at 233 years (and counting) we as a nation are dangerously close to the "dependence" stage in our democracy and heading towards the "bondage" stage at the not too far away end of our democracy. You can hardly deny the facts. They are all around us. I guess we've had thirty-three more years than the average democracy, but that is hardly any consolation for those of us who really love this country and what it's stood for. God Help America!

So, what do we do? Just wring our hands and give up? Hardly. Seems to me the best thing we could do as individuals (and as a nation) at this point is to fight with all our might against all the "traps" that got us to this place. If you have abundance, don't let it cause you to be complacent. If you are complacent, don't let it cause you to be apathetic. If you find yourself apathetic towards this great country of ours and really don't care about what happens (politically, morally, governmentally, etc.), fight against allowing yourself to grow dependent on anyone or anything other than God. Fight! The existence of our nation depends on you and me. Do something/anything to avoid slipping into a bondage situation with our government. It's not too late, but we are closer to the end than most of us imagine.

God Help America!