DR. FRENCH O'SHIELDS Thank God for the opportunity to celebrate another FOURTH OF JULY! May God’s mercy be so abundant to the USA that we have other opportunities. For Americans who appreciate and love the USA, we could only celebrate this Fourth somewhat under a cloud. The number and intensity of our foreign and domestic problems are unappalled in our history.

You know them well: the economy with its loss of jobs, homes, and wealth...the oil leak in the Gulf…terrorist attacks and infiltration… illegal immigration…the national debt... enemy nations with nuclear weapons, and the attack on Christianity and disregard of the Bible’s authority… to name a few. Many citizens have experienced these problems personally. Their lives have been seriously changed and it is hard to evade the thought that the worst may be yet to come.

Which of our nation’s problems do you consider the most threatening? Which one is the most critical and dangerous to our survival ? I strongly believe the most crucial problem America faces is God being increasingly removed from our national life with the increasing disregard for the authority of the Bible, God’s Word.

By what measurement should one determine the most critical problem? By considering the consequences that could result from each problem. The problem that may result in the worst consequences deserves to be judged the worst. By increasingly removing God from our national life and flaunting the authority of His Word, what has taken place in America? Corporate prayers and Bible teaching is no longer permitted in public schools; our national motto “In God We Trust” is under assault; our president declares to the world, “America is no longer a Christian nation;” and The Ten Commandments can no longer be displayed in public buildings.

Billy Graham and other religious and political leaders tell it as it is — ”America has lost her moral and ethical anchor.” Today crimes are being committed daily that earlier were unimaginable, teen suicides are at an all-time high, penal institutions overcrowded and psychiatric wards overwhelmed with depressed persons. No nation in history that has known the God of the Bible then turned its back on Him has ever survived. If you think you know of an exception — just wait!. The final chapter of human history has not taken place.

Surprised? You should not be. Psalm 33:12 declares, “Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord.” Biblically, the opposite of “blessed” is “cursed.” Too bad the media can’t interview the leaders of nations that have not survived about curses and how they impacted their nation. America has to a great degree disregarded the authority of the Scriptures. This, in spite of the Bible declaring, “All Scripture is inspired of God and is USEFUL TO TEACH US WHAT IS TRUE AND TO MAKE US REALIZE WHAT IS WRONG IN OUR LIVES” (2 Tim. 3:16). Wow! Our nation greatly needs to know what is right and wrong.

By the actions taken in Washington recently, one wonders if any of our leaders ever read the Bible. Consider this example: About owing a debt, the Bible says, “Owe no one anything” (Rom. 13:8); and warns, “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov 22:7).

Our nation now owes some 13 trillion dollars. Nine hundred billion of it to China, a communist nation with a totally different ideology from ours. So the bottom line is, according to God’s truth and warning: China (the lender) is the MASTER, America (the borrower is the servant.

Want to know what being a servant to China means? Here is an example. Even though President Obama is against offshore drilling for our country, he is reported to have signed an executive order to loan 2 billion of taxpayers’ dollars to a Brazilian oil exploration company (which is the 8th largest company in the entire world) to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil! The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of CHINA and NOT THE USA! Now here’s the real clincher...the Chinese government is under contract to purchase all the oil that this oil field will produce, which is hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. The USA has absolutely no gain from this transaction whatsoever! (Note: the Wall Street Journal article today confirms this.)

If you consider the thoughts expressed here only the negative dream and imaginations of a confirmed pessimist, think again! Dream? No! A nightmare? Yes! Logical reasoning based on actual facts and figures demands concrete conclusions be drawn. Frightening when one realizes that our national survival depends upon an enemy nation opposed to our way of life deciding to call in their chips...all 900 billion of them and growing.

My suggestion — Include in your prayers earnest pleas for God to have mercy upon our nation for turning its back on Him and disregarding His Word. Our penitence and His grace (undeserved and unearned favor) alone are our nation’s ultimate hope!!!! Only the people of God need not fear. Even if the USA does not survive, God’s people, spoken of in the Bible as “THE REMNANT”,..will survive eternally! You may count on it. Why? “Because the Bible tells us so!!”