Pastor Kevin Burden - Cornerstone Baptist Church - McMinnville TN - July 3, 2011
What is America’s Greatest Danger?
Isaiah 1:1-4 “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. [2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. [3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. [4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”
Isaiah 1:18-20 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. [19] If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: [20] But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the World. America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have freedoms that know other nation on earth is able to experience.
No nation, outside of Israel, has ever been so blessed by God. But our liberties, our way of life, the very future of our nation are confronted by a number of threats today.
There are differing views of what is America’s greatest threat. Let’s consider some known perils and see which one poses the greatest threat to our safety and security as a nation.
Is it Global Warming; Economic recession; Border security; Political division; An unseen cataclysmic disaster threatening global extinction?
#1. IS TERRORISM AMERICA’S GREATEST THREAT?
No longer are terrorist acts of fanatical groups limited to other countries. The events of Sept 11, 2001 were acts of our enemies, determined to spread terror and fear. The events of 9-11 have altered our lives – perhaps forever. We no longer enjoy the same level of freedom and security we once did.
Terrorism threatens a society by creating an atmosphere of fear and help-lessness. It holds people hostage to fear of destruction. We are told that Dozens of al Qaeda terrorists "sleeper" cells continue to pose a significant threat to our nation. We are constantly bombarded with terrorist scenarios’ and are on our guard fearing, atomic “dirty” bombs, serine gas, anthrax, hijackings, etc…
While terrorism is a tremendous threat, it is not America’s greatest worry!
#2. IS ISLAM AMERICA’S GREATEST THREAT?
Islamic terrorism has been touted as the extreme fringe element of Islam; that true Muslims are called to strive for peace and harmony.
However, Islamic authority, Serge Trifkovic states in his book The Sword of the Prophet, “The peace that Muslims are called to implement is impossible without being established under Islamic rule.”
Islamic Hypocrisy: Only Muslims can be citizens of Saudi Arabia. Even in Arab countries where Islamic law is not enforced by the government, Islam's influence prevents freedom of speech, press, religion and conscience.
In PLO territories, Christian Arabs, who once had freedom under Israel, now suffer persecution, imprisonment and even death for their faith. Muslims build mosques and worship freely in the West, but in their own countries they deny such freedoms to others.
One Mideast author writes, “Islam is more antagonistic to the Christian faith than Communism ever was. In Communist China today, Christianity still thrives. But confession of Christ by a national in an Islamic country is regarded as high treason. Not even an official Church that a Communist government could allow is permitted in an Islamic country.” (G. J. O. Moshay)
Islam’s ultimate goal is to rule the world. Islamic theology provides two methods for accomplishment of this goal. #1. By Conversion – as people are lured into converting to Islam. #2. By Coercion – as it actively pursues the political and physical conquest of nations. For Muslims, the world is divided into two camps: Islam and Infidels. If the masses of humanity comprised of all non-Muslims cannot be assimilated into Islam by Conversion or Coercion, there is only one other option – death.
The Koran says, “Take not the Jews and Christians for friends;.. slay the infidels wherever ye find them;.. Fight against those who believe not in Allah...”
Islam is a great threat but it is not America’s greatest concern.
#3. IS IMMORALITY AMERICA’S GREATEST THREAT?
Dr. Charles Stanley commenting on America’s moral decline said, “We’re eroding from within – the heart, the home, our children. We don’t need some foreign nation to destroy us. We’re destroying ourselves.”
Barna Research statistics show – 64% of adults and 83% of teenagers believe morals are subject to change depending on the situation. 19% of Americans believe that what we have traditionally called sin needs to be redefined. 51% of American’s believe that if a person is generally good, they will earn a place in Heaven.
There is a storm raging across America. Alcoholism, drug abuse, abortion, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, school violence, child abuse, pornography, rape, robbery and murder permeate our nation. America is drowning in immorality.
Immorality is a great threat and will bring upon us terrible consequence, but it is merely symptomatic of what is the greatest threat facing America.
#4. AMERICA’S GREATEST THREAT IS FORGETTING GOD! Isaiah 1:2-4 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. [3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. [4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”
God made Israel great and elevated them above all other nations only to have them forget and rebel against Him. God illustrates this by pointing out that even the dumbest of the animals, destitute of reason and conscience, demonstrate greater submission than Israel.
How much different is America today? We have a great heritage and have been greatly blessed above other nations. It is not by America’s own goodness but by the grace of Almighty God that we have had this security, freedom and wealth.
George Washington – “Never has a people had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, then those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”
Patrick Henry – “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Warren G. Harding – “It is my conviction that the fundamental trouble with the people of the United States is that they have gotten too far away from Almighty God.”
Ronald Reagan – “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will soon become a Nation gone under.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn – A Russian novelist, dramatist and historian who was responsible for thrusting awareness of the Gulag on the world, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974. Speaking of his own country he said, “Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ’Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this is happening.’ Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some sixty million people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat; ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this happened.’”
What do I mean when I say America has forgotten God? 1. We live as if God doesn’t exist. 2. Our worship is not exclusively His. 3. We fail to recognize His gracious, abundant and providential blessings. 4. We have accepted the world’s culture and philosophies while rejecting the unchanging, ever true Word of God.
#5. WHAT CAN WE DO TO ELEMINATE THIS THREAT? We need to answer God’s plea for repentance. Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”
God told Israel that He was willing to pardon and to restore the relationship they previously enjoyed if they would simply repent. I believe our greatest need today is for personal and national repentance. We are not capable in our own strength of facing the threats facing our world and nation.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer on April 30, 1863: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand, which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us. It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 “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 sin and will heal their land.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
