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Rick LoPresti

Jesus is not an American


The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written by men who were inspired by the Bible. They were not perfect men, and neither is anyone else except for Jesus Christ. They knew that problems such as slavery needed to be addressed, but they set forth an ideal that was to be striven for. The Bible played an integral role in the founding of the United States. While there is no excuse for falling short of the glory of God, the church is somewhat in the same position as the founders. Although Christians are not perfect, they strive for the ideal. At least they are striving. That is more than some people can say. Some would say, "I'm not going to church. I went there and it's full of hypocrites." First of all there is a difference between an imperfect person who is working "out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:2)", and an outright hypocrite. Also, how can we tell the church isn't perfect? You are there! We don't measure an ideal by the imperfect men who set it forth. We measure it by its worthiness to be aimed for. Spiritually, there is no better ideal than the teaching of the Bible. Politically, there is none better than the founding documents of America. The problem is not in the ideals. It is in man's failure to uphold them.

All that being said, we must understand that the Bible produced America, not the other way around. The Bible is the highest measure. It is eternal and incorruptible. God did not make a scriptural covenant with the United States. The only nation He ever did that with is Israel. The Bible was not written by Americans. It was written by Jews (Jn 4:22, Rom 3:1-2, Rom 9:4-5). Jesus is not an American. He came in the flesh as a Jew (Jn 1:11, Rom 1:3-4). The center of Biblical focus is not America, but Israel. Some people mistakenly interpret Daniel 7:4 as though America is the wings of the lion, and the lion is England. There are numerous problems with this interpretation, but here are two. Daniel 7 correlates with Daniel 2 and the rest of Daniel and other prophecies in the Bible. The second is "it" is referring to the lion, not the wings. This is about Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon (Dan 4). The point is that the Bible is not about America. It is about God and His plan for all of man for the ages.

I used to wonder how a nation like America could fit into the Biblical prophecies of the end of the world. How could a nation of people who love righteousness, truth, and freedom exist during the events of the book of Revelation. Some have theorized that the United States will be destroyed, and even say that Revelation 17-18 prophesy this. Then I realized there is another possibility. Abraham Lincoln stated it in a speech called""The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions". "Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev“ said, "We will take America without firing a shot…….We will BURY YOU! We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism. We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within.” (From an address to Western Ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956.)

As America moves further from its Biblical foundation, the more we see these warnings coming to pass. It is not that the land or the people will be destroyed. It is the very real and present danger that the beliefs will be. America is not just a geographical location. It is an ideology - a set of beliefs. The closer America (any any other nation) gets to God, the more free it is. The more it distances itself from Him, the more tyrannical its government will be. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17)." It is said a frog will jump out of hot water if placed in it; but if it is placed in lukewarm water which is slowly heated, it will relax until it is boiled alive. A moderate amount of physical sleep is good for the body, but no amount of spiritual sleep is good. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Rom 13:11)."

As much as the providence and favor of God has been on America for over 300 years, if we continue as a nation to reject His authority over us, we force His hand to withdraw. God and sin do not co-exist (Is 59:1-2). We must choose one or the other. He will have no rivals. President Reagan pointed out that the United States is the only nation with an anthem that ends is a question: "O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" Abe Lincoln stated in the Gettysburg Address that it had only been 87 years since the founding of America, which was not engaged in a test to see how long this nation or any nation so conceived could endure. That is the question we must ask ourselves today.


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