I hear a lot of laments online about why America is in trouble as a nation. There’s a reason for that trouble, a remarkably simple one. It’s found in this verse of the Bible:
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
—James 4:6b ESV
America, as a nation, is too proud. And while that would be enough, we Americans are not only proud, but we are proud of our sin. We parade sin everywhere. We call evil good and good evil. We establish new standards of depravity in our nation and sign wickedness into law. And we are proud of ourselves for doing so.
If Americans ever want to see our country become great again, we need to become humble. We need to move from taking pride in sin to being disgusted by it. We need to stop calling the worst atrocities good and start calling evil for what it truly is, evil.
If we don’t stop being proud—and especially of the depraved things we say, think, and do—then there will be no grace poured out by God upon America. Instead, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of an unwinnable war.
Because no one who opposes God wins. Ever.
Dan, thanks for having the courage to tell it like it is. I’m a Brit, and can pretty much say the same thing about my country. Lord, have mercy.
Hi Dan,
We’ve just had Gay pride parades in Calgary recently. The mayor of Calgary (a muslim) and the premier leader of our province took part in the parade. It’s politically correct here in Canada, the correct thing to do as politicians.
We understand that people who are gay are compromised in their morals for whatever reason or situation in their lives. We have sympathy for this condition, but that does not make the gay lifestyle right or just or holy or natural or acceptable.
We are in the same situation here in Canada as the USA, Britian, etc. I think that some countries in Europe are a few years behind us in debachery and perversion, but only just a few.
I listened to a preacher from Ireland expound in his teaching through the internet that, ‘although repentance is necessary, Faith is the requirement for salvation.’ Faith toward God, faith in God. I thought his thinking on this idea was profound and very helpful to me to understand that we are not saved by repentance but by ‘grace through faith’. Repentance is needful but faith toward God is a greater need for people.
God is being ridiculed, undermined and mocked in many parts of our society and culture. Because of this God is not taken seriously in the lives of people. Unsaved peoples respect ‘witchcraft, wizardry, and the demonic’ more than God. I dare say even many believers respect these evil spirits and the power they have more than God.
Charismania is an example of this if the stories are true that are said that anything that is ‘spiritual’ in experience being accepted and opened up to by the leaders and believers in these churches. I’m sure that charismania are not the only ones either. Our cultures accept and open people up to demonic ‘spirituality’ continually and daily in our lives.
American pridefulness goes way beyond gay marriage and abortion. I am not sure we have ever been a terribly humble nation, certainly nor for at least a century.
The Word of God is always profound and succinct in its declarations, and this passage from James is a fine example. We live in a nation without a moral compass, where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. Couple the lack of a moral reference point with the outright corruption in leadership of both major political parties and we are inviting calamity. When that calamity comes it will be on a scale far greater than we can imagine.
Agreed, Alan. I think the calamity is already here, though.
Indeed the calamity is here. I’m guilty of being the frog in the kettle. If you had told me five years ago that we would see what we are seeing today in out public “culture” I would have disagreed. Evil always tries to outdo evil, and the pace of the decline continually accelerates.
Quote: “We live in a nation without a moral compass
It’s worse than that, Alan. We don’t even have what can properly be called a “nation”.
It’s degenerated into nothing but a bunch of warring special interest factions who are out to despoil and ruin one another wherever possible, and all of them are being played off one against the other by our Ruling Class.
The Constitution has been, for all practical purposed, run through the paper shredder. The “E Pluribus Unum” is myth.
I agree. I have had my own theories as well. I think the recent recession was allowed by God in order to humble us and help us accept the things that we did not accept before. Perhaps because in America, we have gotten so used to being financially successful that we desire more and more, rather than being thankful for what we have and the little things. We have become spoiled and must be humbled. Therefore we need to learn to work again and appreciate God’s blessings. I also think this recession forces us to form community again and become co-dependent on one another.