Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Americans are celebrating 243 years of independence as a nation. It's a miracle how this nation has grown from thirteen feeble colonies to its present status. Its rise to world preeminence is clearly set forth in Revelation 13. God has blessed this nation in that it has provided the liberty and resources to be the evangelist nation in sending forth missionaries to all parts of the earth with the third angel's message of the everlasting gospel.
As a nation we continue to enjoy God's favor, in spite of our many vices and evils, because this nation continues to give assurance of religious liberty. We enjoy God's blessing, not for our goodness (we have none!) but for those lamblike principles enshrined in the American Constitution, principles of religious and civil liberty, principles borrowed from the Bible itself.
Are those principles of religious liberty threatened today? Yes, they are. Will they be repudiated? The prophecy of Revelation 13 says yes. Then will "national ruin follow national apostasy"? Yes. But should fear and self-concern dominate our Christian experience today? No.
What should dominate our thinking today? Gratitude that we still have the privilege of giving to world missions, that we can still proclaim the gospel, and can still labor to help others understand it. What should we pray for--liberty, so we can keep taking vacations, eating gourmet food, and enjoying entertainment?
No; we should pray that the dear Lord may help us use our last opportunities for proclaiming the gospel, and for understanding what the gospel is, so when "the night cometh" we may have the satisfaction of knowing we have worked "while it is day." See John 9:4--very serious words!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 4, 1997.
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