Weeping For A Dying Nation

Billy Graham

The legendary Rev. Billy Graham is 95 years old and his days on earth appear to be numbered. He recently gave what was probably his final sermon.

That sermon is contained in a video titled: My Hope For America. In the video, the Rev. Graham combines the gospel with his concern for the United States that in recent decades, has become a pagan nation.

Here's a quote from the video: "Our country's in great need of a spiritual awakening. There have been times that I've wept as I've gone from city to city and I've seen how far people have wandered from God."

The Rev. Graham has seen America in better times. He can still remember when churches were filled and crime rates were lower and the majority of Americans believed in God and obeyed his laws.

And tragically, in the twilight of his life, he sees a much different nation that's on the verge of collapse. And that's why he decided to speak out one last time as only he can. 

I haven't always agreed with Rev. Graham. He became an ally of the Roman Catholic Church many years ago. Anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of Catholicism knows that the Catholic Church promotes a gospel of works rather than the biblical gospel of faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

The Catholic gospel is a false gospel and the Rev. Graham certainly knows that. There's no salvation in that gospel. And the Rev. Graham has never preached a gospel of works.

I'm also not fond of the "shotgun" approach to salvation that the Rev. Graham and other globetrotting evangelists have employed over the years. The shotgun approach mandates altar calls following fiery sermons where folks are encouraged to recite the Sinner's Prayer and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Those confessions of Christ are often emotional spur-of-the-moment decisions that aren't genuine. When the emotion fades, many folks forget about Christ and go back to living sinful lives.

True salvation demands that a person recognize that he or she is a sinner who is eternally lost without a genuine relationship with God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. And that relationship can only come by faith when that person makes a genuine commitment to repent and live for Christ. (Romans 10:9-12)

Whatever my differences with the Rev. Graham, he's spot on for calling out America's impending doom. And I believe that God is using the elderly preacher to warn Americans that their time for repentance is quickly running out.

Certainly, the Christian church in the United States deserves a lot of the blame for America's deepening moral crisis. For whatever reason, the American church stopped contending for the faith (Jude 1:3) many years ago and subsequently lost the cultural battle to godless humanists who imposed their worldview upon the nation.

That worldview has given us legalized mass murder (abortion), an explosion of violent crime, rampant sexual immorality and perversion, and horrible political leaders such as Barack Obama.

Shortly before Christ went to the cross, he lamented about Israel's indifference toward God and her apathy toward His laws. Here's what he said: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-39)

If Christ came to the United States today, he'd say the same thing. Time is running out. America, please listen to Rev. Graham because judgment is knocking on your door.