Preview: "The Late Great United States"*

      Introduction: Dr. Stevenson's book, The Late Great United States, is ready for publishing. It contains messages and warnings directed to the nation, including letters that have been written to several presidents by Dr. Stevenson. The book's prolog contains a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord". The opening chapter of the book includes a foundational message to this nation regarding the gift of the righteousness and justification of God through Jesus Christ.

                                                                                 ***

     Psalm 33 says in part: "Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright...For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." The LORD and His Word are truth and righteousness. His Word is full of power, life and light, and all things were created by His Word (v. 1-6, see also Jn. 1:1-4). Is this nation regarding His Word in this way, or have we chosen to accept men's theories and philosophies like secular humanism instead? 

   

     The Psalm continues by describing how all of the earth should regard the LORD and His Word: "Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast...The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever; the thoughts of his heart to all generations." (v. 8-11). Does this nation have awe and respect for the LORD and His Word of truth? He is God who knows all things concerning us.

     Following these thoughts, the Psalm continues: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." (v. 12). Will a nation and a people, continue to be blessed if they have chosen to serve another god, like Mammon, the god of money and wealth, instead of the true God who has called them to be His own inheritance?  

     The Psalm states that God looks down from heaven to see the hearts and works of all of the inhabitants of the earth. He warns that there is no king and no army that can save, though the inhabitants of the earth may put their trust in those things. Instead, the psalmist says: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee." (v. 13-22, excerpt). There are many who believe now that death is the end and nothing follows it. However, the Almighty God offers life after death, until death has just become a shadow. Are there any who trust in His holy name (YHWH - meaning by each letter: "Behold, the hand; behold the nail")? Are there any who hope in Him, for He is the only true and abiding hope for each and all of us. It would appear that this nation has placed its hope in other things.

     There is a prophetic warning in scripture about a great turning away from faith and the Word of God before the day of Jesus' return: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God....For the mystery of iniquity doth already work...And then that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." (2 Thess. 2:1-8, excerpt, see also Rom. 1:18-28). We already see this in our own nation.  As people have fallen away from faith in Christ, evil and corruption have manifested themselves more and more among us. (see Rom. 1:29-32). The falling away from faith and the subsequent submission to the Wicked one who will be revealed, is warned of. However, not only the Wicked one will be destroyed, but also those who allowed themselves to be deceived: "...with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a/the lie (the original lie of the serpent in Genesis, 'Hath God said...?'): That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Their own unrighteousness and rejection of the truth will lead them directly into the trap of the Wicked one and will lead to the same destruction as he will receive.  Speaking of unreasonable and wicked men, Paul wrote in 2 Thess. 3, "...for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." (1-3). Don't be deceived by the lie that feeds on the unrighteousness that leads to destruction. There is one truth, one hope, and one power that saves.

     However, if those who have received the gospel from God, who were chosen from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth...to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, stand fast in what they have received from God: "...our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." (v. 13-17, excerpt). This truth of salvation through Christ is our hope and this is our comfort that has been supplied to us from God.  Are you, is our nation, established in His Word and works?  

     Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad....And that he (Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again...". (v. 10-15, excerpt). Believers in Christ will have to stand before Him as He judges whether we lived for ourselves or for Him: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit (being the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead) do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. 8:11-14, see also Jn. 1:10-13).

     Through Jesus Christ, God reconciled us to Himself. We had been separated from God through our sins, but He made the way to become one with Him, our Father, again. In doing this great work in us, we became a new creation: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation...For he hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin (see also Isa. 53:1-12); that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (v. 10-21). We, being in Jesus, are made into the righteousness of God. This same Word of reconciliation we also bring to others. In what we call the Great Commission, Jesus also told us to go into the world with this truth of the Gospel.

     Paul wrote: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." However, God sent His Son, Jesus, to be the blood covering and declaration of the righteousness of God as we receive it by faith. By this blood covering, God is the justifier of all that believe in Jesus. (Rom. 3:21-26). Death was received and reigned in mankind through one man's, Adam's, offense: "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1-21, excerpt). This is the free gift of the righteousness of God, which justifies us before Him, which we receive by faith in Christ, and which conquers death.

     As a nation or an individual turns away from the LORD, a strong delusion is sent that causes one to believe a lie according to Romans 1. Our nation and people have chosen to remove prayer and the Word of God, such as The Ten Commandments from our schools. We have chosen to believe and teach the lie instead. Our nation has officially chosen to refuse the free gift of God's righteousness through His Son, Jesus, mocking, scorning and persecuting those who bring the Good News of God's salvation. This is not about establishing a state religion. Those always fail because of the sin nature of man. It is past time for the Church to awaken and to be found in God's righteousness and calling our nation to His righteousness through faith in the saving, reconciling and justifying blood of Jesus Christ.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 5/3/26 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, which is evidence of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling, written by Dr. Stevenson, is available on Amazon.