God and America
God and America
By J.L. Robb
Is America being punished by God? I hear it every time there is a tornado or earthquake or hurricane. Muslim Imams are quick to blame our decadence. Not sure who they blamed for the Indonesia tsunami since it was mostly 240,000 Muslims that were killed.
Unlike many countries, the God of Abraham played a large part in the establishment of the United States and Canada, from its decrees to its culture of piety and forgiveness, with exceptions.
The Pilgrims did not come ashore fighting and conquering. The discoverers of America were quite shocked when they found people already living here, and were even more shocked at the religious beliefs of the New World inhabitants. It all started out fairly friendly.
Throughout the Old Testament, God warns Abraham’s descendants about false gods, which was a definite no-no according to the very first commandment:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:2-3 NKJV
“No other” means no other, but that commandment was only fulfilled for brief periods of time. Even King Solomon, with all the gifts God bestowed upon him, could not withstand the temptation to do like the pagans do. I suppose sex orgies and general everyday decadence was fun back then, like today. Seems there’s a porn store for every neighborhood. Some things never change. False gods.
Remembering that the early Christians, the first Christians, were Jewish folk and not ex-pagans, Jewish law had a great influence in the establishment of Christianity and of the United States, eighteen-hundred years later. This influence was not new, as all of Western Law is founded on the same principles, more or less.
As Christianity matured and evolved through the Constantinian era, most Jewish law became unimportant to the new Christian church, now occupied largely by converted pagans. Jewish law had been modified or omitted to fit in with the modern beliefs. Emperor Constantine was a converted pagan; and though he became the first Christian Emperor, he changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday out of respect for Ra, the sun god.
Is this happening today? Have we so modified our beliefs that wrong is the new right?
In many ways, the first Europeans to migrate to the New World were Christian refugees, trying to escape the injustices and prejudices perpetrated by the Church at the time. Christians escaping Christians, much like Muslim Syrian refugees are trying to escape the fanatical Muslims today.
I do not know if there was an intention by the Founding Fathers for the United States to be a Christian Nation, but it seems so from written statements. For example:
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” John Adams, President and signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is their duty – as well as privilege and interest – of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” John Jay, First Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
This can only make one wonder, why all the intrigue with Islam, a religion that claims to “believe in Jesus” but considers him to be a liar? This they will deny but is true. They claim to believe in Jesus except they do not believe he is the Son of God. They do not believe that Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead.
As commentators and documentaries claim that Islam played a fundamental role in early America, that is more embellished news.
Judaism had early roots in the New World. In 1763, 13 years before the U.S. Constitution came to be, the Jewish community in Newport, Rhode Island, dedicated the first synagogue in the American colonies, the Touro Synagogue. At that time, all religious institutions were either Jewish (1) or Christian (a whole bunch).
In contrast, the first Muslim place of worship in the U.S. was dedicated in Ross, North Dakota in 1929, established by Muslim immigrants from what is now Syria and Lebanon. The oldest mosque still in use was built in 1934. In the meantime, America is now one of the most religiously-diverse countries in the world and of course, religious institutions do not have to pay taxes on the tithes. This includes mainstream churches, synagogues, Wiccans and Satanists, among others.
Back to Solomon. God loved Solomon and was so impressed that Solomon prayed for wisdom rather than money, He gave him both. Proverbs is full of bits of wisdom from Solomon. Solomon is the prime example of how one can be the most brilliant of all mankind and still do stupid stuff. As wise as he was, he worshipped other gods, and he paid a price.
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” 1 Kings 11:9-13 NIV
And this is exactly what happened. Solomon’s kingdom of Israel was given to his son, Rehoboam; and shortly thereafter, torn into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south.
When Jesus told the apostles that man could not serve two masters, God and money, is it possible that this advice could also be applied to serving other gods? Like Allah, the Laughing Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva? How about the Wiccan Horned god?
It is something to think about, because the West certainly tries to serve many masters of many religions and maintain the peace in the community. If we once were a “Christian nation” as John Jay and the Founders claimed, we sure have lost our focus.
The modern era church has modified the teachings of God and His Christ to better accommodate fringe groups who hate or disagree with God. The modern church in many cases has become Islamized, teaching that Allah and Yahweh are one and the same. People claim to be Christian but are okay with abortion, gay marriage and pornography, all taboos to God.
Are we paying a price for this drift away from God? Maybe.
During the eight years of President Obama, at least a part of his legacy will be his leading us down the path of anything-goes debauchery and away from the God of Abraham and to the god of Islam, Allah.
George W. Bush had 7 major hurricanes to deal with during his presidency.
Barack H. Obama had 0 major hurricanes to deal with during his presidency.
President Trump has been in office for 8 months and is getting ready to deal with his 2nd major hurricane (greater than CAT 3).
Reminds me a bit of the story of Job and all the natural disasters that Job suffered at the hands of Satan. Of course, God got the blame like so often happens, that He produced the weather disasters; but that was not the case.
President Trump overcame all odds to win the election. He not only had to overcome opposition parties, he had to battle his own party. He still is. It is pretty close to a miracle that he won, and I am sure that God had something to do with it.
Obama got a free ride from the Evil One. Looks like Trump will not.
I hear cries for repentance, but the crowds shout, “For what?”