Here are excerpts from a letter to the editor in the (Myrtle Beach) Sun News: “I, like many, have become alarmed at the cavalier spirit that has enveloped our leadership in Washington. Health care reform, out-of-control spending, absurd pork barrel spending, and cap-and-trade may be the greatest issues of our time. We face dire and desperate times…These things plus the general disregard for the welfare of future generations of Americans is threatening to tear our country apart at the seams.”

Current polls indicate a majority of Americans agree with this opinion. The country we love and for which many American men and women have fought and died is being severely threatened. The founding principles upon which our nation was founded are being eroded -- eroded by a Washington political establishment whose clearly stated purpose and intent is to RESHAPE our country. Why do we need to? Sorry, I don’t know.

Operating on the belief that the end justifies the means, those in authority have no regard for what the majority of the American people want as proven by the passage of the stimulus package, or any regard for the Constitution of the United States.

How can any informed American ignore or fail to realize our nation is desperately SICK. The reasons stated above have contributed to this situation. But the greatest reason is that as a nation we have turned our back on God and sought to remove Him from our public life. In so doing, we have removed ourselves from under His blessings and protective grace. The Bible clearly states: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” ( Ps. 33:12). Who among us can truthfully say currently America’s God is the Lord? Evidently not our president who has publicly stated in Egypt and to the world, “America is not a Christian nation.”

Our current administration is progressively turning its back against Israel. A serious matter? You bet. The Bible says: “Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, and whoever curses Israel will be cursed” (Numbers 24:9). In best-selling author Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?, he writes: “God has kept that promise faithfully. No nation has blessed Israel like the U.S., and no nation has been as blessed as the U.S.” Any change of policy in our support of Israel by the U.S. changes our blessings into curses according to God’s promise.

No nation that has turned its back on God has ever survived. What reason do we possibly pretend to believe that America will be the exception?

The bottom line question: Is America’s current sickness unto death? Is it terminal or is healing possible?

Some cry out, “Throw out the lifeboats, the ship is already sinking.” Others believe our country can and will be “HEALED.” Among the optimistic ones, there are many differing opinions and suggestions as to what must be done for our nation to be healed.

Some of the ways suggested are good, needed, and should be implemented. God, however, provides us with the only reliable true answer. He has already given it to us. God says: “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:14).

The message is clear. Whether God heals our nation depends primarily and ultimately on CHRISTIANS. They are His people, called by His name. The determining vote and action does not depend solely or basically on politicians, terrorist, radicals, or unbelievers, though some change is needed here. The bottom line is it depends ON CHRISTIANS.
God lists four things Christians must do:
1. Humble ourselves;
2. Pray;
3. Seek His face;
4. Turn from our sinful ways.
How do you think we are doing?

The survival of our nation depends upon it!!!!

(Dr. French O’Shields is a Gaffney native and a retired Presbyterian minister.)