Some of you will recognize those words as a slight alteration of the rather famous phrase, “Houston, we have a problem!” The real-life drama of Apollo 13 transfixed a nation when commander, Jim Lovell, alerted NASA of serious trouble aboard the space capsule, after one of the oxygen tanks in the service module exploded. Those five words—“Houston, we have a problem”— have lived on in our memories. Thankfully, the crew returned to earth safely. Unplanned hardships were overcome through the blessings of God and the tenacious ingenuity of our NASA engineers and astronauts.
Why do I reference those words and that incident? Because, “America, we have a problem!” Ours is not a problem in the far regions of space; ours is a problem close at home, in our own beloved nation. Should we not proclaim?
America, we have a problem—when over 33 percent of our youth (more than 25 million kids) are fatherless and searching for dad.[1] When the United States has achieved the dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate among Western nations.[2] When an estimated 905,000 children were victims of abuse and mistreatment.[3]
America, we have a problem—when the indebtedness of our federal government has reached $14.3 trillion dollars (that’s a stack of $1 bills that would stretch to the moon and back—twice). Congressional leaders are now asking that our debt ceiling be increased to $16.7 trillion so keep us from defaulting on our international loans as early as this August.[4]
America, we have a problem—when Social Security insolvency is predicted in two short decades, thus guaranteeing that those who are paying in now will almost never receive what should be rightfully theirs at a critical period in their lives.[5]
America, we have a problem—when confusing immigration laws waver between declaring amnesty to those illegal immigrants already in this country and protecting the rights of Americans from a further influx of immigrants over porous, unprotected borders.
America, we have a problem—when our economy has flattened out, jobs are being lost and unemployment has reached double digits. The cost of living continues to increase, thus depriving many Americans of peace in the present moment as they continually worry about the quality of their lives in the future.
America, we have a problem—when billions of dollars are being spent to protect American citizens from terrorist threats. Our freedoms and way of life would be violently snatched from us, if the cowardly terrorists have their way.
So if we have a problem in America, what can Americans do? The words of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah help us as we face the unknowing future:
Jeremiah 7:1-7
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!”’ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.
“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
America needs both righteousness and patriotism. Righteousness supplies the proper foundation for patriotism—“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34) and patriotism provides a powerful expression for righteousness—“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psa. 11:3).
As Americans, we hold the flag high, but as Christians, we hold the cross higher. Daniel Webster said it best, “What makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.” Our founding fathers knew that any lasting form of government must be built upon the righteousness and truth of its citizens. John Adams wrote:
We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. If our people become immoral and unrighteous, then our constitution would have no more power to restrain us than a net would restrain a whale.
The flag must acknowledge the cross, as Americans must recognize God as the Source of our freedoms (and not the government). We can be both righteous and patriotic!
God speaks to His preacher and commands him to Stand and Proclaim His Word:
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!”’ (7:1-2). Jeremiah knew that the foundations which support the interest of true faith (which ultimately came to be expressed in Christ) and a free and equal government like our own are inseparable; they are one and the same. Will we hear the Word of God once again?
Alexis De Tocqueville, a French scholar and admirer of America, came to the United States in 1831 and toured the length and breadth of our nation. He recorded his reflections of our nation in his book, Democracy in America:
Moreover, almost all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same. In the United States the sovereign power is religious. . . but there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in the minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.[6]
I sought for the greatness and genius in America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. . . . I sought for greatness and genius in America in her democratic congress and her matchless constitution and it was not there. . . . Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. AMERICA IS GREAT BECAUSE AMERICA IS GOOD, AND IF AMERICA EVER CEASES TO BE GOOD, AMERICA WILL CEASE TO BE GREAT.[7]
The Lord commanded Jeremiah to stand and proclaim His message. The prophet thundered his message to the people: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place (the land). Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these’” (7:3-4).
The people of Judah sought refuge in their famous landmarks and traditions. Surely, the temple would protect them from foreign invaders. What they failed to realize, we must never forget: THE NATION DOESN’T PROTECT THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE PROTECT THE NATION! The Word of the Lord through Jeremiah offered hope if the people would change their ways: “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever” (7:5-7). We protect our nation by repenting of our sin before a holy, righteous God. Our nation’s founders believed in the concept of both individual and national accountability before God. They acknowledged a temporal distinction between the two. Whereas, individuals would answer to God in the future, nations would not. When would they face judgment? Here and now! George Mason, the Father of the Bill of Rights, wrote: “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”[8]
Yes, America, we have a problem! But America, we have a Provider! The words of President Lincoln should resonate with us today:
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.[9]
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.[9]
God stands ready to unleash His omnipotence to help anyone who calls out to Him: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Will we turn and seek the Lord while there is still time? Will we recognize that God is our only hope?
America, we have a problem. Yes. But America we have a Provider who stands ready to respond to the repentance of its citizens. In the seventeenth century, Pilgrim John Winthrop, spoke of America and its bright future in which he said,
For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in the work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a byword throughout the world.[10]
May we shine brightly once again, a beacon of righteousness and freedom for the whole world.
Poem—Can He Count on You?
Today we face another war
Fought not upon some distant shore.
Nor against a foe we can see
Yet one as ruthless as can be.
He’ll take your life and children too
And say there’s nothing you can do.
He’ll make you think that wrong is right
‘Tis but a sign to stand and fight.
And though we face the wrath of hell,
Against those gates we shall prevail.
In homes and schools across our land
It’s time for Christians to take a stand.
And when our race on earth is run
The battles over, the victory is won,
When through all the earth His praise will ring
And all the heavenly angels sing.
‘Twill be enough to see the Son
And hear Him say, “My child well done,”
You kept the faith so strong and true;
I knew that I could count on you.[11]
America, we have a problem, but America, we have a Provider!
[1]John Sowers, Fatherless Generation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2010), 19.
[2]Brian Haynes, Shift: What It Takes To Finally Reach Families Today (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2009), 28.
[3]Haynes, Shift, 28.
[4]Doug Carlson, “Analysis: Debt Limit Raise Hits House Ceiling,” Baptist Press, June 3, 2011 and Mike Huckabee, A Simple Government (New York: Penguin Group, 2011), 49-53.
[5]Huckabee, Simple Government, 52-53.
[6]Alexis DeTocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 343.
[7]This quote has been attributed to DeTocqueville, though it cannot be found in Democracy in America. Some scholars believe that it is an authentic quote from DeTocqueville written by him subsequent to the publication of his work on Democracy.
[8]David Barton, America’s Godly Heritage (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 2007), 45.
[9]Richard G. Lee, ed. The American Patriot’s Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), 832.
[10]Cited in Huckabee, Simple Government, 184.
[11]Roy Moore, So Help Me God (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), 260.
