Many of the young men who served in the military during WWII have passed away since then. Those who remain are in their 80s and 90s, and still carry vivid memories of the drama of those perilous times.
President Roosevelt addressed the nation, via radio, on D-Day in 1944, and led the nation in a prayer for our armed forces. You can listen to his address here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-weBUzQleo
Could a president in the secular America of 2010 lead us in prayer today? How would we respond to that? Surely there would be protests from the ACLU. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way, and a host of other atheist and leftist organizations would screech like smashed cats at such an affront to their tender sensibilities by our commander-in-chief.
This is a sad commentary on how far this country has fallen away from God. Though founded by a predominantly Christian people, with a political system based on a Judeo-Christian worldview, America in 2010 is a hollow spiritual shell of it's former self.
For over 200 years we have prospered thanks to the blessings of our Creator. There was a time when this country could truly have been called a Christian nation. To be sure, America has had many failings, and there were terrible injustices committed over the years. Yet despite our mistakes, we were a beacon to the world, a light before men, and the last great bastion of liberty during so many dark years of tyranny in the world.
Unfortunately for this generation, we as a people have largely turned away from the God who created and sustained us. In the hardness of our hearts, we seem ignorant of the fact that the blessings of God on a nation are conditional. I pray that we will not be forced to discover what happens to a nation when God withdraws his blessings from it.
I hope and pray that we come to our senses ASAP and turn our hearts back towards God.
The 10th chapter of the book of Ezekiel tells a tragic story. The Lord was preparing to execute judgment against His rebellious, unrepentant people, and in anticipation of this, He took His glory away from temple in Jerusalem.
In the 22nd chapter of Ezekiel, God gives the prophet a list of the offenses that Jerusalem had committed against Him. Because of these transgressions, God's judgment was at hand. Terror and violence would soon be unleashed against the people of Jerusalem.
It is a sobering exercise to read the following verses, and then reflect on the conditions in America today.
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
"See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. In you are those who dishonor their fathers' bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father's daughter. In you men accept bribes to shed blood; you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD." - Ezekiel 22: 1-12
Again the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, say to the land, 'You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.' There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says'-when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice." - Ezekiel 22: 23-29
