Is America in deep Trouble?
Written by Jimmie Burroughs
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV).
The verse above was God’s message to the nation Israel, which is often used in reference to the United States, even though it was not directed to us. Nevertheless, the same principles apply. Before there can be revival in America, people will have to humble themselves before God and seek His face in prayer, turning from their wicked ways. There is no present indication that is happening or will happen. However, we should not give up hope. Israel sank to their lowest, they were immoral and had turned from God to Idols, when the godly King Hezekiah, considered one of Israel’s greatest kings, came to power, 2 Chronicles 29. He led the nation to repentance and turned them back to God in worship and praise. We need to pray that God would send such a leader to lead the United States.
“Is America in Deep Trouble?” Yes, it surely is! Sadly, one generation, either now or in the future, could likely see the end of America as a great nation, if history holds true. Every great empire or nation in history has come to an end.Great nations start with a slow moral and economic decline, which leads to their ultimate demise. It is rather strange that a society can’t learn from history and be willing to adjust their ways before it is too late and God’s judgement falls upon them. I believe America has a narrow window of opportunity to repent and return to God that will never be available again. What are the present signs of decline in America? Here is a list of things that warns us of the depth of trouble that faces America:
Biden/Harris Administration: The president of the United States should receive respect for the position he holds. I don’t want the following statements to be interpreted otherwise, but we do have the right to question the decisions of any president and his mental ability to serve. President Biden has come into question for not having a strong enough mental capacity to hold the most powerful position in the world. During the press conference last Thursday, President Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Harris;” this comes after a poll in April revealed that one third of voters had doubts about his mental fitness for the country’s top job. I have noticed in his speeches that he has a memory problem. He is not to be criticized for that since he cannot help it; it is something many older people have to deal with; I do wonder why Mr. Biden would even consider running for president knowing he had that problem, and also knowing that the job requires the highest mental ability. Also, why didn’t those involved in his candidacy make note of it as well as members of the Democratic Party who had regular contact with him? Why was the entire nation kept in the dark about such a crucial issue?
Also, confusing, he has a past record of being a moderate, but suddenly when he became president, he made a hard 180-degree swing to the far radical left. Once again, I wonder who is really in control, is it the radical liberals, beginning with Vice President Harris and including Speaker of the house, Pelosi, and Speaker of the Senate, Schumer, three of the most liberal people in Washington D.C.? Could it be that Mr. Biden is president “in name only?” According to the left-wing agenda it seems that way. Are liberals now actually calling the shots for the direction America takes? I heartly believe that is not what the majority of Americans want.
It is an amazing thing and such a contradiction that President Joe Biden began his presidency with a false claim in his inaugural address. He called for unity and peace and vowed to work with the Republican party and be everyone’s president, and then on the first day of his presidency he began to reveal a radical new agenda for America. He began to sign executive orders that nullified all he promised and continued to sign executive orders until he had signed 42 into law; some of his executive orders overturned the legacy of the Trump Administration, and many endanger the very welfare of this nation and the freedoms we have enjoyed for the past 232 years, which could include freedom of speech, religious freedom and the right to bear arms. Last year, during his candidacy, he made a statement that is contradictory to his present actions: He stated, “executive orders are like actions taken by a dictator, which bypass democratic consensus.” Closest to him in signing executive orders was President Obama who signed only 5 in his first days as president.
The question is, Mr. President, how can we ever have unity and peace when your administration is set on doing everything that pleases the radical far left and nothing that is bipartisan, and also, blatantly ignoring the wishes of 74 million Americans who voted for President Trump?
Even greater than anything else, how about pleasing God and the principles of heaven upon which this nation was established. Our nation’s first president, George Washington, said this, “The propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right that Heaven itself ordained.”
Along with the plague of Covid-19, we have the plague of division in America, which is eating away at the very heart of our nation. Instead of a throng of people at the inauguration of President Biden, only a relative few were present; fences with razor barbed war surrounded the capitol with 25,000 National Guard troops patrolling the area. This was a first in the history of this nation. There is a great threat facing America, and not from the outside but from within.
Rather than telling the Democrats to stand down on the outrageous and baseless impeachment of President Trump, which would have gone down as a legacy for him in history, Mr. Biden silently endorsed it.
God has blessed America more than any other nation in history, other than His chosen people, the nation of Israel. When Israel turned from God, He withdrew His blessings and brought about judgement. America also has gradually turned its face from God, even to the point of calling evil good and good evil. Is America, like Israel in the past, facing God’s judgement?
Rabbi Joseph Chan, in his book Harbinger, draws a similarity between Israel and present-day America, both highly blessed of God. Israel became wicked, immoral and idolatrous and was given a wake-up call when God allowed the Assyrian’s to march against them in 841 BC, tearing down the towers of their gates and breaching their security. Mr. Cahn equates the bombing of the twin towers in New York City, the world’s economic gate, and to 9/11 as being America’s wake up call.
It was 19 years later, after Israel refused to repent and turn back to God, that God’s judgement fell upon Israel. Assyria once again marched upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel, destroying the capitol of Samaria and taking Israel hostage and scattering them far away as slaves. Until this day, that segment of Israel, known as the Northern Kingdom, has never returned as a nation. The Israel we see today was the Southern Kingdom which also suffered God’s judgement in 606 BC; They were taken into captivity by Babylon, but were returned to their land after 70 years and then in 1948 became an atomists nation once again after 2,500 years of being sub-servant to other nations. What a heavy price Israel has paid for rejecting God.
Like Israel’s wake-up call until their ultimate judgement, it now has been 19 years since America’s wake-call, “9/11,” the bombing of the twin towers, the very place where George Washington stood and gave his initial warning to America to follow the rules of heaven in order to receive God’s blessings. The 19 years since 9/11, fall exactly at the time Mr. Biden became the president of the United States. Is what we are now witnessing the beginning of God’s judgement on America as it was with ancient Israel? I don’t know, nor do I think anyone knows for sure, but it could very well be when you consider all the things that the present administration has done and plans to do, which are antithetical to what Heaven honors in a nation.
Back on June 18, 1963, the Supreme Court made it illegal for the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6; Luke 11) to be said and the Bible to be read in public schools. Specifically, the High Court ruled by and 8-1 vote requiring religious exercises in public schools to be unconstitutional[1]. Since that time public schools have become a danger zone for our children. School shootings and killings have become commonplace. Dangerous gangs have infiltrated the schools in certain parts of the country, and teachers are regularly threatened and accosted by their students.
On January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision, established a woman’s legal right to an abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. [2]
One of Mr. Biden’s presidential executive orders rescinded the 1997 Hyde Amendment, which reportedly has saved 2.13 million baby’s lives. The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape [3]. Now, more baby’s lives will be taken using American citizen’s tax money, even of those disagreeing with abortion. Mr. Biden placed his stamp of approval on the needless killing of millions of innocent babies. Israel killed thousands of their babies by offering them as burnt sacrifices to idols, which was part of God’s reason for bringing judgement on them.
Mr. Biden has also used his executive order to further the cause of the outrageous demands of the LGBTQ movement. “His order calls for males to be allowed to enter private spaces for women, such as locker rooms and showers and to fully participate in female sports, which will ruin the competition for women. Also, health plans will be required to honor surgical gender transition procedures and doctors will be forced to perform them” [3].
Sadly, Mr. Biden has also rescinded the Trumps administration’s 1776 Commission, which was an advisory to enable rising generations to understand the history of the founding principles of this great nation.
There is a move on to cancel out all this nation was originally founded upon. Recently, in January, the San Francisco Board of Education submitted an edict asking that the names of some of the nation’s greatest presidents–Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln–be taken down from all their schools, as crazy and unpatriotic as that seems to be.
Many are praying that America will experience another “Great Awakening” like those in the past and our nation will experience revival and a return to those same values and principles upon which the founding fathers established this nation. Our coins echo this nation’s original intentions “In God We Trust.” However, America is a nation that no longer trusts God, nor does present America show any signs of wanting to repent and turn back to God.
Like the church of Sardis, in the Bible book of Revelation, we are clearly warned: “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you,” Revelation 3:1-3.
There is only one hope for America and that is repentance and returning to God; otherwise, all hope is lost for the future of this great nation. God invites America, as He did Israel, to return to Him, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts,” Malachi 3:7.
The demise of religious freedom: Amendment I – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Contrary to the First Amendment, restrictions on the freedom of speech to express personal beliefs was enacted with the recent court rulings of hate speech laws. These laws restrict one’s religious convictions and restricts our rights to preach or practice those things which we believe, based on our understanding of the Bible. Ironically, it seems the laws were directed from the viewpoint of the left concerning things they don’t want to hear. The separation of church and state has been defined by the left as the church must separate itself from the mainstream of life, education, politics, science, law and the workplace. If you live your convictions in the public square, you are likely to be hit with a lawsuit or arrested for hate crimes.
The radical left opposes anyone having a different point of view and make an all-out effort to censor them. Here is an example: Angela McCaskill, an administrator from Gallaudet University, signed a petition to put Maryland’s same-sex legislation on a November ballot. She did not initiate the petition, only innocuously agreed that letting the electorate decide the issue on the question of same sex marriage was the right thing to do, and she was suspended for it.
If the present trends continue, churches and Christian organizations will no longer be able to discriminate on who they appoint or hire on the basis of convictions, morals or ethics. For example, a person’s sexual preferences, among other things, cannot to be taken into consideration when calling a pastor or others connected to church ministries. Already, there are numerous instances where religious rights are being marginalized. The future will be challenging for anyone who holds the truth of Scripture and lives by it.
Covid-19: Covid-19 is one of the latest signs of decline, which some consider a wake-up call from God to repent and change our direction as; it has wrought devastation across America and the world:
United States Covid-19 cases as of March 17, 2021:
Confirmed number of cases: 29,788,154
Confirmed number of Deaths 542,304
Global Covid-19 cases as of March 17, 2021:
Confirmed number of cases:120,745,792
Confirmed number of deaths: 2,671,764
Estimated cost of Covid-19 to the United States:
According to a new study, co-authored by Harvard economist David M. Cutler and former World Bank chief economist Lawrence H. Summers, the costs of the COVID-19 is 16 Trillion dollars.
Estimated cost of vaccinating the entire world:
4 trillion dollars
Cancel Culture: While there is no general agreement on the definition of “cancel culture,” 153 writers and intellectuals signed an open letter, which was published in July in Harper’s Magazine, defining it as “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”
I think it could be applied to American culture in general, which has been the medium since the forefathers established the government of America based on the constitution, which not only guaranteed the freedom of speech but our freedoms in general. The first sign of Cancel Culture is, the sensor of speech. The giant social media corporations, Twitter and Facebook, have taken it upon themselves to decide what can or cannot be said on their websites. It seems that the direction in which our country is headed is to cancel all America’s traditional culture and impose on Americans a new culture that gives the government complete control in the form of socialism.
It has always been the American way to punish criminals. However, in 2014, California, passed Proposition 47, which raised the amount a suspect could steal from $450 to $950 before being charged with a felony. As a result, to take advantage of this, criminals are committing “organized retail theft.”
Police told KMAX (A CW owned-and-operated television station licensed to Sacramento.), “Criminals are targeting retail stores in groups, rushing into stores to grab as much merchandise as they can, and escaping; they typically choose stores with easy access to getaway cars and major freeways. They know it is not often worth it for police to risk a high-speed chase for a misdemeanor offense. When they are caught, they know they’re not facing severe punishment.” Lt. Mark Donaldson of Vacaville PD said “They know the law. One of the first things they ask us “Can’t I just get a ticket so I can be on my way?” So, the same criminal can steal $850 a day without being too concerned about being caught and going to jail.
Here is an another example of how crazy the new culture is becoming: Grace Church school in downtown New York City, that charges $56,000 per year for school tuition, sent out a twelve-page letter to students and parents informing them that certain terms were no longer acceptable: Instead of mom and dad you should say grownups, folks or family; instead of Merry Christmas you should say Happy Holidays or have a great break; instead of boys and girls, say people folks and friends; instead of ladies and gentlemen, say readers and mathematicians. This is all catering to the LGBTQ movement.
The National Debt: Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States has gone from less than $1 trillion dollars in debt to nearly $28 trillion dollars. It is hard to see how a debt that size can ever be sustainable. It is near hitting a monumental “milestone” like no other country in the history of the world. Some say it will be passed down to the grandchildren, but even they are unlikely to handle a debt that size and it is not going to stop where is presently stands, as long as we have liberal high spenders in control of the government.
The Congressional Budget Office, (CBO) recently warned that the national debt will double by 2051. How that does not disturb our leaders in Washington DC is a mystery. It should be troubling to every person in America. At that rate, this country will be spending far more than it takes in each year.
It is stunning when you consider that the U.S. economy has only grown at an average yearly rate of just 1.33% over the past 10 years. Obviously, the U.S economic growth has not kept up with the spending. The U.S economic growth over the past 10 years, on the average, has equaled the average rate of economic growth of the 1930s when the dollar was still worth a dollar. No institution can continually, year after year, spend more than its income and survive.
What we are presently seeing, concerning spending, in the United States is exponential and cannot be contained lest there is an economic collapse and drastic devaluation of the dollar. The scary thing is, there seemingly is no resolution in sight, and many in government do not seem to be concerned at all about it.
The Covid-19 relief package is a prime example of how government has gone overboard in a wild spending spree. The Covid-19 relief package is a misuse of terms. It is anything but that; only about 10% of the entire package is earmarked toward Covid-19 relief and the rest is so called “pork,” money spent on an array of programs from bailing out poorly managed Democratic states to millions going to The Academy of Fine Arts, etc.
RSC Chairman Jim Banks (R-In) wrote, “Democrats have been hoping the public’s attention has been occupied watching a made for TV show trial of the former president in the Senate, because they’ve been trying to quietly load up a $1.9 trillion budget reconciliation bill with special interest pork and other liberal goodies.”
I am neither Republican or Democrat so I’m not being partisan when I say this: It seems that the Democrats thought that abortion, immigration, and China should be included in a bill aimed at aiding Americans. Listed below are just a few of the unrelated programs to benefit from the Covid-19 American relief package:
- Pro-Abortion: “Planned Parenthood clinics to receive millions of dollars through the Paycheck Protection Program of the Covid-19 bill.”
- Illegal Immigration: “Families where a parent is an illegal immigrant could receive stimulus checks and also allows premiums to go to illegal immigrants subsidizing 85 percent of COBRA health benefits.”
- Favoring China: “Allows funding to go to colleges that have partnerships with companies that are owned or controlled by communist China. Also allows funding to go to colleges and universities that have partnerships with Confucius Institutes.”
- Aid to criminals: “The bill expands the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) loans to cover “violent criminals, including those guilty of assault on a police officer and nonconsensual sexual crimes.” It expands Medicaid eligibility, for five years, to incarcerated individuals 30 days prior to their release.”
- Left’s Social Justice Agenda: “Provides $50 million in funding for EPA environmental justice grants, a thinly-veiled kickback to leftist environmental groups.”
- Discrimination: “Gives billions in subsidies and loan forgiveness worth 120% of debt to farmers and ranchers on the basis of race and ethnicity.
- Foreign Aid: Gives $800 million in additional foreign food aid.”
- State and local aid: “Provides a $350 billion bailout for Democratic state and local governments that have mismanaged their finances.
Abortion: Since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was declared law by the Supreme Court, nearly 60 million American children have been murdered in America’s abortion clinics. Around 3,000 abortions are performed across the county each day.
The breakdown of the American family: 2008 was the first time in the history of America that 40% of babies were born to unwed mothers. When I graduated high school in 1956, there were only 5% of babies born to unwed mothers.
Families living above their means: Families once contented in living in a small home are now buying larger more expensive ones, which is above their budget. The average domestic credit card debt is around $16,000. As the Federal debt rises, so does domestic debt.
Public education: According to tests conducted by the Educational Testing Service, the education level in the United States has also declined. America is now below 20 other major countries when it comes literacy and last in math of 22 countries surveyed.
Taxation: On the average, most Americans work the first three months of each year just to pay their taxes. Back in 1913 when a federal income tax was first introduced, the tax rate for most taxpayers was only 1%. That has grown today to 37%, and is Biden’s plan to raise it to 39%, for incomes over $523,600 ($628,300 for married couples filing jointly). The lowest rate is 10% for incomes up to $9,950 ($19,900 for married couples filing jointly). The tax code has also become very complex, 2 million words long and tax regulations, 7 million words long.
The Biden Administration is set to raise taxes, the highest in 30 years. It is supposed to be on cooperate taxes and those who earn above $400,000, but it will affect all of us. New taxes will be promoted as “having the rich pay their fair share,” but it will result in a less productive economy and lower wages and incomes for everyone. If cooperation’s are required to pay higher taxes, they will only pass it along in higher prices for goods and services. Also, if taxing those making over $400,000 does not cover the new spending required to support all the new liberal government programs, and it won’t, rest assured the government won’t hesitate to reconsider the threshold and begin raising taxes on those earning less than $400,000.
Sexually transmitted disease: According to the CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), “110 million Americans currently have a sexually transmitted disease, and there are approximately 20 million new STD cases in the United States every single year.”
Gay marriage: According to statistics, “In 2007, 54% of all Americans were opposed to gay marriage and only 37% wanted it to be legalized. Today, 62% of all Americans support gay marriage and only 32% are still against it.” The Bible is clear on homosexuality: It is an abomination to God: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22 (KJV).
Illegal immigration: Now that president Biden has lifted the Trump restrictions on immigration and promised immigrants free medical, there is a humane crisis at the border like nothing we have seen before. It goes beyond all reason that the Biden Administration would lift the border security measures, put in place by the former administration, without having any plan whatsoever for dealing with the results. People are flooding the border and we can expect 6 to 11 million new illegal immigrants within the next few years, and Gallop estimates there are 65 million people who want to come to America. The expense could overtax the government to bankruptcy.
Already, South American criminal gangs have exploded all over the country. It is estimated today there are, 150,000 gang members living in the city of Chicago alone; that outnumbers the police in Chicago on a 10-to-1 margin. There is also a criminal problem with criminals and terrorists entering the country. 3,464 criminals were arrested at the border in January alone, along with 3 terrorists, 2 from Yemen. No one knows how many made it in undetected. In Texas alone 11,000 children have been detained at the border and housing for them is being established at different places. So far there are no plans being shared from the Federal Government as what will become of these children.
There is also a human trafficking problem involved with the illegal crossings. The Mexican cartels have switched from some of their drug smuggling to smuggling children into the United States, some for the purpose of human trafficking, earning them thousands of dollars. There is yet to be a Federal program to investigate whether these children have been abused, to check them for Covid-19 or to find out the reason they were smuggled into the United States.
Illegal crossings at the border have skyrocketed since Biden took office. January of this year border crossings was up 86% from last January. Detentions topped 100,000, In February, which is a 28 percent increase from January, and there is an even larger surge expected in March; according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, border apprehensions have risen to more than 4,000 each day. Strangely enough, President Biden denies being responsible for any of the issues mentioned above. So far, he has refused to go to the border and see for himself what is going on. President Biden and his administration refrain from referring to the migrant influx at the United States-Mexico border as a “crisis,” which possibly makes a very complicated matter even worse.
Illegal Drugs: Statistics reveal, the highest rate of illegal drug use on earth is the United States, and legal drugs are actually an even bigger problem. Mayo Clinic conducted a study showing that nearly 70% of Americans are taking at least one prescription drug, and it gets worse, 20% of Americans are on at least five prescription drugs. That is astounding!
Pornography: Today, there are more than 4 million adult websites on the Internet, and they get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. Addiction to these websites has become a major national crisis, and yet very little is being done. One major survey found that 64% of all Christian men in America view “adult material” at least once a month, and a different major survey found that 68% of all Christian men in America view “adult material” on a “regular basis.”
Unhappiness: Each year a survey is taken to determine the happiest nation on earth. “Finland has won the #1 position for the past three years and again this year in spite of Covid-19, making it their fourth time. According to those conducting the survey, “of all the factors usually supporting happiness, the most important, and reason for explaining COVID-19 death rates, were people’s trust in each other, and confidence in their governments. This trust, report editors say, is one of the main reasons that Finland remains No. 1”
Perhaps the trust in others and in government is the primary reason America, land of plenty, is Sadly never on that list. Americans have gotten to the point they don’t trust each other or the government. Consequently, we are an extremely unhappy nation. Doctors write more than 250 million proscriptions for antidepressants in the United States each year.
I doubt that there are many Americans that know what you have just read in this article; if there were, there probably would be a new kind of protest against Washington that makes the protests of last year pale in comparison, and that is not what is needed; it would just add to an already growing problem. The answer is outlined in the next topic:
What can we as Christians do? First, we need to be thankful that we live in this challenging time in history. Never has there been a time when the gospel of Christ is needed more. In the great commission to the church, Jesus gave believers the responsibility to share the good news to the world, baptizing those who believe and teaching them the things He taught. Second, we must courageously take up our responsibility and lovingly share the good news to our families, friends, and everywhere we go, through every means available to us. Third, we need to stand behind the organizations who are defending our religious freedom. Fourth, we must realize that our nation may have already passed the point of no return as far as what we personally can do; and we need to turn to God in prayer, praying for His mercy and divine intervention. If it is not in God’s will to turn our nation around, we can be assured that He will always be with His own even unto death.
Dr James Dodson recently said, “As long as I have breath, I will stand against what is wrong and be a voice for what is right. I pray that people of faith will stand with me.”
Would to God that all who confess a faith in Jesus the Lord would take the same stand. I believe it is now or never. There is no putting it off; the window of time is closing. If you are an unbeliever, the window of time is closing for you also. The Bible declares that today is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off another day. Life is uncertain and we cannot count on a tomorrow. If you are ready to discover the only real peace in this mixed-up, crazy world, I am ready to show you from God’s Word how you may have it: CLICK HERE.
[1] https://www.jta.org/1963/06/18/archive/supreme-court-outlaws-lords-prayer-and-bible-reading-in-public-schools
[2] www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roe-v-wade
[3] The Hyde Amendment https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/hyde-amendment#:~:text=The%20Hyde%20Amendment%20is%20a%20dangerous%20and%20unfair,pay%20for%20care%20out%20of%20their%20own%20pocket.