God Bless America

This is the title of the song written by Irving Berlin and made famous by Kate Smith when she first performed it in 1938. Ever since then it has become a household slogan, seen everywhere, and on everything from T-shirts to billboards. It’s become especially prevalent in the last few years, as the United States has come under heavy criticism from the rest of the world. It has become a mantra for many people in this country to assuage their fears of the demise of America; for if America is, indeed, blest by God, how can any harm come to her, or to her citizens?

No doubt, the great American experiment has brought many blessings to many people, both here and abroad, but to say that this is because God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth, has bestowed some sort of special blessing or anointing on her is Biblical nonsense.

Huh? This is the most prosperous and free country in the history of the world. How can anyone who has been privy to this say that God’s hand has not been in it?

If God’s hand has been in it, it would be only because God’s principles of liberty, as they are found in His word, the Bible, have been adhered to on a level not known before in history, for it says,

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isa 55:11

But this is not near enough for the vast Evangelical community in America that desires for America to be God’s new chosen nation. The old chosen nation was Israel. Israel was, according to the Biblical record, “chosen….to be a special people…above all the people on the face of the earth.”(Deut 7:6)  They were the seed of which God told Abraham (actually, Abram),  “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)

Part of Abraham’s promise was “the land of Canaan”, which God said would be “for an everlasting possession”  of Abraham’s seed(Gen. 17:8), which eventually became Jacob’s twelve son’s; the nation Israel.¹

While this is undeniably part of the Biblical record, nowhere in that record can be found anything akin to another nation, e.g., America, also receiving the blessing of God as a chosen nation. So, Evangelical Christians had to come up with some secular history that would clearly indicate that America was, indeed, established by divine providence, and surely the nation that would inherit Israel’s mantel (or, at least, share the mantel with her). The centerpiece of this secular history is the story of Squanto and the first Thanksgiving, told here by the late Evangelical author and spokesman, Charles Colson.

“Most of us know the story of the first Thanksgiving—at least, we know the Pilgrim version. But how many of us know the Indian viewpoint?

No, I’m not talking about some revisionist, politically correct version of history. I’m talking about the amazing story of the way God used an Indian named Squanto as a special instrument of His providence.

Historical accounts of Squanto’s life vary, but historians believe that around 1608—more than a decade before the Pilgrims arrived—a group of English traders sailed to what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. When the trusting Wampanoag Indians came out to trade, the traders took them prisoner, transported them to Spain, and sold them into slavery. It was an unimaginable horror.

But God had an amazing plan for one of the captured Indians—a boy named Squanto.

Squanto was bought by a well-meaning Spanish monk, who treated him well and taught him the Christian faith. Squanto eventually made his way to England and worked in the stables of a man named John Slaney. Slaney sympathized with Squanto’s desire to return home, and he promised to put the Indian on the first vessel bound for America.

It wasn’t until 1618—ten years after Squanto was first kidnapped—that a ship was found. Finally, after a decade of exile and heartbreak, Squanto was on his way home.

But when he arrived in Massachusetts, more heartbreak awaited him. An epidemic had wiped out Squanto’s entire village.

We can only imagine what must have gone through Squanto’s mind: Why had God allowed him to return home, against all odds, only to find his loved ones dead?

A year later, the answer came. A shipload of English families arrived and settled on the very land once occupied by Squanto’s people. Squanto went to meet them, greeting the startled Pilgrims in English.

According to the diary of Pilgrim Governor William Bradford, Squanto “became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . He showed [us] how to plant [our] corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities . . . and was also [our] pilot to bring [us] to unknown places for [our] profit, and never left [us] till he died.”

When Squanto lay dying of a fever, Bradford wrote that their Indian friend “desir[ed] the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen’s God in heaven.” Squanto bequeathed his possessions to the Pilgrims “as remembrances of his love.”

Who but God could so miraculously convert a lonely Indian and then use him to save a struggling band of Englishmen? It is reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph, who was also sold into slavery—and whom God, likewise, used as a special instrument for good.”²

I am not questioning the authenticity of the story of Squanto– Many other sources corroborate the story of Squanto, even secular sources, some with a little different perspective, but nevertheless authenticating truthfulness–or trivializing the aid he rendered to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony. My  question is: does this story represent the establishment of a new chosen nation called America?³ 

The answer to this question is No, and where we are in the Biblical timeline right now explains why this is so.

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The Dispensation of the Grace of God

The above phrase appears one time in the Bible, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 2. Few people in the world understand what it means. What it means is this: God’s hand of judgment/blessing, concerning nations, is off the world. That is, the world is presently under a grace period that has, so far, been going on for almost 2000 years. *

Okay, you don’t get it. I understand. Let me put it in a familiar context. If you owed a debt you couldn’t pay, and you went to the individual who made the loan to you, and said: “I can’t pay the debt,” that individual could choose to try and collect the debt by obtaining a judgment against your assets in a court of law, or he could extend grace to you, i.e., he could extend the note for a period of time, in which you could try to raise the money to pay the debt. During this period of “grace,” the lender cannot lawfully attempt to obtain a judgment to collect the debt. Under “this grace wherein we stand” (Rom 5:2), the lender would inform you that there is no debt to be repaid because a third party has paid it for you. That third party is Jesus Christ, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:6)

This is what God is now doing in the world and with the nations of the world; rather than judging it/them, as He would certainly be justified in doing, He has extended it/them grace for an unspecified period of time. Therefore, for him to intervene in the world’s affairs—either to bless or curse it—would be unjust, and this is not possible. (Ref. Deut. 32:4; Rom. 3:26)

This fact, that God isn’t presently standing in judgment of the world, must be obvious to even the most ill informed person.

Some may respond that just because God is not judging nations doesn’t mean He isn’t blessing them. Yes, it does mean that. Blessing and cursing are inseparable parts of the judgment process. So if you’re under grace you can’t be getting blessed or cursed, because you can’t be judged.

But what about Genesis 12? The blessing and cursing elements of Genesis chapter 12 pertain strictly to Israel during her “great tribulation,” and how the “nations” (Gentiles) respond to her.⁴ Those Gentiles will either be blessed or cursed in accordance with whether or not they aided “the least of these my people”⁵ during this time of judgment.

* (In this dispensation, the church, the body of Christ, i.e., those of us who have trusted in Christ for our salvation,  is “blessed….with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). However, there is no promise to us that these blessings necessarily extend to our physical existence here on earth, as many in the Christian community choose to believe.)
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Conclusion

The fact is, America is presently sinking in a quagmire of debt, incredulity, and debauchery, and singing God Bless America and plastering this slogan all over everything, everywhere, isn’t going to prompt God to stop our slide into slavery and poverty. If Americans don’t want to become a nation of serfs, then Americans, beginning at the individual level, must stop acting like serfs in some sort of kingdom.

Asking God to intervene, and “make all things right” in America is a vain and futile request. His business isn’t now with nations or governments. His business is with individuals—individuals who accept his offer of salvation by grace, by believing Christ died for their sins, and was raised again..the third day.⁶ Those individuals become a part of a heavenly entity called “the body of Christ,”⁷ and are “blessed… with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.”⁸

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Nothing in Scripture written to this spiritual entity offers any guarantee that those who are a part of it will exist in some sort of temporal bliss on this earth, free from harm or trouble. This isn’t to say that God is not providential in the lives of these individuals, but this must be qualified by the clear and unequivocal declarations which say that they are going to suffer persecution and tribulation⁹ (trouble) in this world.¹⁰

America was not established as a kingdom, but as a Republic under the rule of law, or a set of unalienable individual rights, designed to protect the individual from unwarranted and unlawful interventions by rulers and governments. However, in order for “the Republic for which we stand” to remain free, we the people of this Republic must “stand” upon these unalienable rights. We must throw off the notion that somebody we elect and send up to Washington, D.C. is going to do that for us, because God hath ordained it to be so.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans, especially Americans who identify themselves as Christians, have been duped by the forces of evil into believing that being a “good” citizen is tantamount to obeying every decree—unlawful or not—that the so-called “servant” government hands down to us. In Christian circles, Romans 13¹¹  is often plucked from its historical context, and arbitrarily applied to the church the body of Christ, as an unequivocal instruction to obey the government, no matter what it tells you to do or not do, never mind that it is the epitome of injustice and ungodliness.¹²

If you, dear brother or sister in Christ, want to guarantee that you, and for sure your posterity, will be living in a slave state, where you will have to get permission from Big Brother government to do anything, including to preach the gospel, where “BB” will own everything, then go ahead and follow this advice, relax and continue living in denial, singing “God Bless America” as you’re sliding down the slippery slope to serfdom.

Mike Schroeder

Feel free to publish this article as you see fit. All Scripture references are from the King James Bible.

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Related articles: What Price Israel?; If God is in control, why is there so much suffering and injustice in the world?;The Good Ship America; Should Christians Be Involved In The Current Battle For Our Secular Freedom?

Post Script

While we should desire and seek to maintain a free and peaceful existence while on this earth, despite our efforts, this may not happen. But the Bible says that individual men and women can have absolute and permanent peace, regardless of what is going on in the world, by knowing beyond a doubt, that they are saved and bound for heaven by trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their eternal salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Have you done this? If not, why not now?