The answer is “no.” The people of the United States, who profess to trust in Him and to be united under Him are beginning to learn a valuable lesson. Church-rich America is learning the hard way that religious business-as-usual does not produce help from on high. And she is not alone. In a recent survey, 2069 British citizens were asked if God heard their prayers. Eighteen percent replied positively. I suspect that similar results would be found if such a poll were to be taken among Americans.

But does not nearly every home in the United States have a Bible? Are not her airways teeming with Bible-laced sermons every Sunday? Are we not told from pulpit and podium that the Author of the most purchased, most stolen Book ever printed has promised to hear the prayers of every saved, born again, sanctified, heaven-bound parishioner? Are we not guaranteed that anyone who sends a “love gift” to a “minister of righteousness” will be rewarded many times over, including the answers to all of the generous saint’s prayers? The sky is the limit, we are assured. The greater the gift, the greater the reward and the more miraculously the prayer will be answered. Let us get our heads out of the religious clouds and see what God says about prayer and His answering of it. Let us stop listening to the church’s false prophets (every Catholic and Protestant preacher) and face Biblical reality exactly as God states it. But first, a look at history will place the subject in its proper context.

When faced with trying times Americans have a history of coming together and beseeching the God referred to on her money for help. It has been a long-standing tradition for Americans to hold an annual day of prayer in which God is asked to bless the nation He founded. As far back as the 1600’s Americans were keeping such a day each spring. On June 12, 1775 at the beginning of the American Revolution the Continental Congress declared that one month later the nation would hold a day of prayer and fasting on which Americans would confess their sins to Almighty God and pray for His aid in the coming war. The fledgling 13 colonies went on to defeat the most powerful military on earth backed by the most powerful empire on earth. America came into existence because of a miracle.

In his inaugural address in 1789 George Washington acknowledged God’s intervention in the affairs of the newly-founded republic. Her second president, John Adams, proclaimed a national day of humiliation, thanksgiving, fasting and prayer in 1798. Almost every other president since then has issued a similar proclamation. During the Civil war President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed April 30, 1863 to be a day of national prayer. A few months later the Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of the war.

During World War I President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed May 30, 1918 as a day of prayer. The Russians had quit and gone home. France was on the verge of collapse. The Germans were winning the war. It was just a matter of time until the Allies would have to surrender. Western civilization was being challenged with extinction. The day following the day of prayer the United States Marine Corps fought its first major engagement of the war at a place called Belleau Wood. Miraculously, the Americans won a stunning victory over the world’s most feared war machine. The tide of battle then began to turn. It has been agreed that the battle at Belleau Wood was instrumental in bringing about an Allied victory.

Another such miracle took place during World War II when the British were on the throes of losing hundreds of thousands of Allied troops who had been trapped at Dunkirk on the English Channel. King George VI broadcast a radio call for a national day of prayer and repentance on May 26, 1940. Two things happened in rapid succession between May 26 and June 4. A storm grounded the German Air Force, preventing it from bombing the stranded soldiers into oblivion, the German Army inexplicably halted its drive toward the channel, and the channel miraculously became calm, allowing dozens of small fishing boats to cross over from England and carry 340,000 soldiers back to the safety of British soil. Those miracles enabled the Allies to defeat the most fearsome war machine the world had ever seen. Once again national and individual repentance and prayer saved Western Civilization. A joint resolution of Congress in 1952 signed by President Harry Truman permanently established an annual National Day of Prayer in the United States. Since 1988 it has been held on the first Thursday in May.

Are we not told in the Holy Bible that God never changes? that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever? that in Him there is no shadow of turning? that He will answer the prayers of professing Christians if they will confess their sins, repent of them and believe in Him? This series will use His own Words to answer those questions. L.J.