ECCE

      We are continuing in the messages based upon Dr. Stevenson's soon-to-be-published book ** The Late, Great United States .      Many religious and political leaders and commentators such as Joseph Sewall, a reverend at the Old South Church in Boston in 1740, have, since even before America became a nation, warned of the need to seek the Lord with prayer and fasting leading to repentance in order, if possible, to cause God to turn away from the judgment that He has planned for America. Fisher Ames in 1805, coming from a political perspective, warned also that America was being drawn to destruction as the Niagara River draws with a relentless flow to the Falls. He warned against a "licentious democracy."      Scripture continually calls for man to turn back to God. Paul wrote in Romans: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasona...

     Every strong nation that has fallen in history has fallen because of its wrongdoing. Matthew 25 tells the parable of the ten virgins, all asleep, with five being wise and five, foolish. The meaning of "foolish" as used here in the Greek, means, "foolish, impious, godless, dull, stupid, blockhead."      In continuing messages based upon the new book, The Late, Great United States**, the first letter written by Dr. Stevenson to a president was to President-elect William Clinton. The letter carried a warning which is even more urgent today. Included in that letter was what God required of us as written by the prophet Micah: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it...Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the...

      We discussed two nations and two kingdoms last week, and this week, I am addressing those two nations, America and Israel, prophetically.  We start with the Word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah: "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this ( aleph-tav /Alpha and Omega in Greek: ref. to Jesus Christ, see Rev. 1:8 , Rev. 21:6 , Rev. 22:13 ) word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend ( yatab - to be good, pleasing, be well, be joyful, to make good, right or beautiful) your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying The temple of the LORD [note: We are living temples]...For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed no...

      The title of this message is loosely based upon the Book by Charles Dickens called "A Tale of Two Cities". There are only two nations in the world that declare "God rules". The first is Israel, and  the second, America, but both of those nations soon violated that covenant. Documents and quotes from our Founding Fathers and later presidents contain the strong belief and reliance upon God as a foundational tenet of this nation. One quote from John Adams is in a letter that he sent to the Massachusetts Militia in 1798: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (Click here to read the complete letter). President Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address given at one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War, said in part: "It is rather for us to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion - that we her...