The Great Depression hit the United States like an unexpected bomb. Because of her global leadership position her financial meltdown quickly brought the rest of the world down with her. Never before had the world’s technologically advanced societies suffered such long-term, grinding poverty. Individually, nationally and globally, from the richest to the poorest, the agony continued year after insufferable year. Once again people, from the nominal to the most zealous, filed into the world’s churches, filling the air above them with fervent pleas for help from on high. “God bless _______” (fill in the blank) became the national mantra as the world’s people cried out for blessings from the very One who was cursing them.

In the United States many churches established “prayer vigils” as people took turns on their knees so as to keep the communication lines to heaven open around the clock. And why would God not bless America? After all, the number of buildings with crosses on their roofs proved that she was a “Christian nation.” Did not some 2/3 of her population claim Him as their God? Was there not at least one Bible in  most every home? Everyone in the nation above five years of age could recite John 3:16. Many wore crosses and had a picture of Jesus on their living room walls. Did not every municipality have a nativity scene ready for Christmas to arrive? Were not The Ten Commandments chiseled in stone on their courthouse lawns? Had not the United States Supreme Court declared that AMERICA WAS A CHRISTIAN NATION?

NO! God was telling her once again, America was a RELIGIOUS nation. Like a white-washed tomb her outward beauty was evident to all, but inwardly she was filled with sin and all sorts of evil. While  her religiosity was the stuff of international acclaim, her spirituality was as dead as her religious establishments. While she sent millions of Bibles to God-seekers around the world, she rejected what was written in them. Once again God was addressing the nation’s hypocrisy. But was anyone listening? Could the people, particularly church people, not hear Him speaking from the Book they claimed to believe? Did they not understand that their problems stemmed from their rejection of that Book, and that by rejecting the Lord’s Word they were rejecting Him? Had He not recorded His dealings with the nation of Israel for the Christian world’s instruction (1 Cor.10:11)? Having rejected most of the Holy Scriptures, the church, steeped in heathen beliefs and practices, had rejected God’s Truth. As goes the church, so goes the nation. America was in deep spiritual trouble–again.

The nation, followed by the world in general, gradually emerged from the financial disaster of the 1930’s  and began another surge of technological discovery and invention. It was at this point that the population fell in love with the automobile. The nation was now on the move as rubber tires replaced shoe leather and airplanes replaced trains and ships as the preferred mode of travel and business. Mighty America–supposedly One Nation Under God–was once again at the top of the international economic and power heap. And once again America decided to go it alone, leaving the God Who had saved her in the shadows–close enough to pay homage to on Sunday, but having no influence on the conduct of her everyday life. Once again man suffered from short memory loss. Once again man believed that he was the captain of the national ship. Once again God had to warn America and the world. L.J.