America’s decline, along with growing defiance against the Almighty, now warrants a change in prayers. No longer can we appeal for God to bless America. Our circumstances now prompt a cry for mercy. Due to our collective decay now bearing fruit, a more urgent prayer is for God to spare America.

A repeated appeal to the Almighty has echoed throughout America’s existence from citizens, military, and political leaders alike. From professional sporting events to standup comedians and musicians ending their shows to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” the phrase remains uttered in every part of the country – every day. Yet, “God Bless America” took an unexpected turn when then-President Obama invoked it when ending one of his speeches by asking God to bless Planned Parenthood.
As this familiar phrase perfunctorily continues in America’s public life, one can’t help but wonder to whom people are praying.
If the deity entreated is the God of the Bible, then specific questions might be in order – the main of which is “do we even know this God so regularly asked to bless America?”
“God” arrives in our language and subsequently in our English Bibles from the Proto-Germanic “Gudan.” Yet the God of the Bible was not referred to as such. Surprisingly to some, neither Moses nor the Apostle Paul read from the King James Bible. Considered so holy, the Jews used a shorthand reference to keep the name of the God of the Bible separate and avoid breaking the second commandment:
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7
The God of the Bible seems serious about His name – and invoking that name. It seems hard to imagine the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob getting fired up at the Super Bowl, NASCAR, or other events where Americans wax sentimentally. Would the “Great I AM” who made Himself known to Moses – spared during Pharoah’s genocide of infants – be pleased when entreated to bless the nation’s largest provider of abortion services?
Glibness towards the Almighty implies disrespect, as well as a dismissive contempt of an omnipotent being who “…brought forth the heavens and the earth.” Even if merely a higher power, there remains a deplorable ignorance from a culture cheekily referring to Him as the “Man Upstairs.”
America’s concept of and relationship with God claims roots in the framers and founders of the country. As they knew and described Him, God was indeed the God of the Bible. Their understanding of God is far from this caricature – this “good luck charm” – that many superficially mention.
With so many mocking His word, His followers, and His tenants, why would He dismiss such behavior to bless something His word clearly abhors? Scripture remains clear on God’s principles: same-sex relationships, mass genocide of the unborn, immorality, and lawlessness. Yet America flagrantly disregards at best or worse rewrites to accommodate the desires du jour – while still asking for God’s approval and blessing.
The prayer must change. The people of God can no longer appeal to the Alpha and Omega for blessings in good faith. “In God, we trust” no longer applies to our culture. In the act of wry honesty, America could change the motto to “In a manufactured god we trust.” That’s what Moses’ brother, Aaron did with the golden calf – and for centuries after, the people of God seemed pre-disposed to repeat Aaron’s idolatry and appeal to a created diety that accommodates unbridled desires.
Contrary to pop culture, the character of human beings remains unchanged over the eons – we’re not becoming better people. Societies that divorce themselves from the authority of the God of the Bible prove that point each day. Yet, even those who adhere to that authority still find themselves coming up short due to our systemic failings. The Biden administration is correct to recognize a systemic evil in America – but they miss the mark by identifying it as racism. The failure is far more profound – and none are immune.
Jeremiah, as well as the framers of our Constitution, knew this when describing human beings.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
America’s decline, along with growing defiance against the Almighty, now warrants a change in prayers. No longer can we appeal for God to bless America. Our circumstances now prompt a cry for mercy. Due to our collective decay now bearing fruit, a more urgent prayer is for God to spare America.
Peter Rosenberger hosts the nationally syndicated radio program Hope for the Caregiver. www.hopeforthecaregiver.com

I understand why we might want to distance ourselves from religion, but it would be better to redeploy the word than to reject it. We risk giving people the wrong impression about Jesus and affirm unbiblical instincts about true spirituality when we dismiss “religion” as antithetical to the gospel.

Religion is one of those words that has undergone a decisive transformation in recent years. Religion used to be a generic category or even a positive synonym for the Christian faith, but now many Christians speak of religion as something harmful and destructive of true Christianity. For many evangelicals, religion is about trying to earn God’s favor. Or, more broadly, religion is about a stultifying system of rituals, dogmas, and structures.
In short, religion is bad, the gospel is good, and following Christ is positively not a religion.
Obviously, if the choice is between the gospel and religion, I’ll take the gospel. But what if by relentlessly denigrating “religion,” we are creating as many problems as we are trying to solve?
If I can be so bold, I’d like to put in a good word for religion — if not three cheers, then at least two. Toward this end, consider the following observations:

Castigating “religion” is a relatively new way for Christians to speak. John Calvin wrote “The Institutesof the Christian Religion.” Jonathan Edwards wrote on “Religious Affections.” Pastors and theologians, especially in the age of awakening, often wrote about “revealed religion” or “true religion” or “real religion.”

What if by relentlessly denigrating “religion,” we are creating as many problems as we are trying to solve?
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Humans are the only part of the physical world that can know love or truth or beauty. Humans are the only creatures that can use words and deeds to truly praise and worship their Creator—or reject and rebel against Him. Humans are the only creatures on earth that can sin, and they are the only creatures that God loved enough to redeem by the blood of His Son, so that our lives could go on forever with Him.

My children are amazing.
I don’t just mean that in the “proud papa” way—that they are the most intelligent, most athletic, most adorable children on the planet. All that is true, of course, but what I am thinking of is how amazing it is that they exist. That they have bodies and brains and breath. That each of them has a unique consciousness, a unique personality, and a unique set of likes and dislikes. Each of them is totally distinct from each other and from their parents.
Or maybe not totally distinct. If I look closely, I see my daughter smile in a way that looks just like her mother. Or my son makes an expression that floods me with memories of his great-grandfather.
Yet just a few years ago, none of these little ones existed. Then, in one instant, a part of me merged with a part of my wife, and our child was there. It happens in a flash (perhaps even literally). What was merely a couple of insignificant cells just moments before becomes something precious, something priceless, something of infinite worth.
That embryonic baby was too small to see or feel, but already distinct. Just a few weeks later, his heart would start beating, arms and legs would emerge, eyes and ears would begin to form. All of that was happening inside of my wife. And though her body was working very hard, the process was completely beyond her control.
It really is unspeakably profound. A woman’s body contains everything needed to produce another human being—everything except for one microscopic, essential component that can only come from a man. And it can only come in the most personal and intimate way possible.
Don’t let the fact that babies are born all the time dull your awareness of the glory and beauty of it. If it is a wonder and marvel that fruit can grow from a seed that came from a fruit (and it is), then how much more significant it is that a living creature can generate another just like it.
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