Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”
I have in front of me a wonderful little 29-page booklet by Dr. John R. Rice
(1895-1980) titled, “Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage.” The
booklet is
available from Sword Of The
Lord publishers in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. As I read through this
booklet this evening, my heart yearned
to share it's words with OTHERS, because Dr. Rice
hits-the-nail-right-on-the-head concerning our faltering nation today. This
booklet was written in 1975, but it's message is as true today in 2015 as it
was the year it was authored. I am going to share with you some of the things
I read in this booklet, which I am confident will stir your heart as it did
mine to serve the Lord more earnestly.
On page 3 Dr. Rice begins by giving five essential steps to save America from ruin:
I am going to share a little bit from each subsection, which I believe highlight Dr. Rice's important message...
I. THE CHRISTIAN HOME
Today we will talk about the Christian home. Oh, how important is a Christian home! You remember the home came from the Garden of Eden. God said, “It is not good for man to be alone,” so God made a helpmeet for Adam. And so man and woman are made for each other. They are made to have each other in the context of a home where God is at the head. The Scripture says, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge!” The home—how important it is!
Listen! The schools cannot raise children. They must have great issues settled at home for them—their manners, their morals, their ambitions, their ideals, their contacts with other people, their spiritual life. Without strong Christian homes, then, America is already pretty well gone like the heathen nations of the world.
...So God wants the man to take the lead in the home. The man must say, “We're not heathen; so we go to church, we take time every day for the Bible, we have family alter and prayer together.” The man is the one to say to his wife and daughters, “You are not to dress as if you were a harlot. You do not show your thighs and your breasts and try to entice other men. You are to dress like a Christian woman. None of this mini-skirt frills. You cannot dress like the Devil's crowd.” If he is a good man, he can set his foot down. God intends a man to take the place of leadership and responsibility in the home.
...Oh, Christians need to teach the Bible to their children. Thirty minutes in a Sunday school class Sunday morning is not sufficient. Neither is five days a week in a public school, perhaps with an infidel teacher. They are teaching evolution instead of creation, and more and more socialism and lewdness and immorality are coming into the textbooks and as required reading. Do you think a little Sunday school on Sunday morning will turn all that off and color and control the minds of children? No. You must do it at home, and do it every day in a family alter. God's plan is that Christians should have a Christian home. There is no hope for America if we turn out into her lifestream, through the schools and the radio and the TV and the newspapers, dirty literature and bad company and fellowship.
Do you think we can keep America safe? Not unless we do it in the home. Not unless we turn out godly, mature, soul-winning, Christ-dedicated, moral Christians through the home, can we have America saved from utter ruin.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice; Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 3,5,7-8; Sword Of The Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
II. THE CHRISTIAN MORALITY
Today I want to speak on Christian morality. You know, we take for granted this matter, but we must remember that Christianity necessarily involves morality. You are not going to have Christian morality without Christian teaching and the Bible and the historic Christian faith. We must have Christian morality. Many people do not believe the Bible. They think that the morality of the Ten Commandments is not important. And if a man is a humanist and that is his religion instead of the Christian religion, he thinks that men are more or less animals and you are not going to judge a jackass for being an adulterer or you are not going to judge a monkey for stealing something or a wolf for murder. But put this down: There is not going to be any Christian morality unless we take the Bible standard for right and wrong.
I'm distressed. Everywhere I go I find that church people are turning out children with no morals. They do not have family alter. Parents do not whip their children and make them do right. Children do not respect the teacher at school, nor the policeman on the corner. They sneer and joke about the President and our government. They have no reverence for the stars and stripes of our country. We have Christian people with no Christian morality.
Some Christians do not always tell the truth. Homes are breaking up in divorce. Children are going wrong. That is sad. To save America, we need Christian morality based on the Bible.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice; Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 8,10; Sword Of The Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
Concerning booze, Dr. writes uncompromisingly preaches against it on page 10 (I agree 100%):
“But Brother Rice, if one doesn't get drunk, wouldn't it be all right to have a social glass? No. Anywhere liquor is served, somebody does get drunk. One who doesn't get drunk now will get drunk tomorrow. Do you know what they make alcoholics and drunkards out of? Those 'occasional drinkers,' those moderate drinkers.” A Christian out to be against the dirty liquor business. It is the Biblical position.
...That means a girl ought never date a boy who drinks, or a boy ought never date a girl who drinks. A long time ago the Women's Christian Temperance Union had a little saying that was mighty good, and many a girl read this and took this little vow: “Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.”
Christians ought to have a standard about alcohol. Don't count those who drink your good friends. Don't attend a party where liquor is served. Don't put your approval on it in any manner. There ought to be an open insistence of absolute sobriety.
Another thing: A Christian is not to marry one who drinks.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice; Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 10-11; Sword Of The Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
III. WE MUST HAVE BIBLE-PREACHING, SOUL-WINNING CHURCHES
Today I am speaking on Bible-preaching, soul-winning churches as absolutely essential to morality, righteousness, and the preservation of America as it was originally founded—the land of the free and the home of the brave, and with the virtues of Americanism.
By Bible-preaching churches, I mean that we need born-again people in our churches. Our churches should have plain Bible preaching and stand for the historic Christian faith. Our churches must create a moral standard in a community; these are the conscience of the community. That is God's plan.
Oh, the historic Christian faith is essential to the blessing of God. No wonder the Scriptures says, “Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” No wonder the Lord promises blessing to the nation that sets out to honor God. There are many evidences of it.
...The Sword Of The Lord is trying to stimulate Bible Christianity. It is the only chance for America. If we don't have Christians who believe the Bible and love the Lord and bring their influence to bear on their neighbour, and if it goes on without a revival and without godly, moral standards, America will go down in ruin before too long. God help us to do it!
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice;
Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 13-14,19;
Sword Of
The Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
IV. THE SCHOOLS OF AMERICA
Today I am speaking on the schools of America which could be and ought to be bulwarks to help save America. I am shocked all the time at what is going on in the schools across America.
...The schools have gone infidel. They have gone against the historic Christian faith. They also have gone against the historic American values. Our educational institutions are run by infidels who believe in evolution, believe that man is only an animal, believe that the Ten Commandments are out of date, believe there are no absolute rights and wrongs. They believe in free sex without marriage. They teach it in the schools. Catcher in the Rye is required reading in some high schools, with its filthy, dirty terms and languages, with its criticism of moral standards and its criticism of America. And schools teach against the great heroes of America, and the history of America. I am just saying that the schools of America have gone bad wrong.
That is based largely on godless evolution. If man came from brute beast ancestry, then he didn't come from the direct creation of God. How serious is that sinful teaching! If the Bible isn't true, if God didn't make man, if the Bible standards are not true, if the Ten Commandments are not for us today, if man is no more than an animal, then there is no morality, no religion, no righteousness, no education—there is not anything worthwhile.
We Need Christian Day Schools In Every City
What will we do? That means we must have Christian schools of our own. All over America schools are springing up—grade schools and high schools in churches and controlled by fundamental Christians. It has to be and it must be.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice;
Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 19,21;
Sword Of The
Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
V. CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM
Today I bring a message on Christian patriotism as one of the bulwarks that may be able to save America.
America was intended to be more or less a Christian nation. It was not intended to be denominational. The government does not have any power to set up a standard to make everybody join the church or make everybody support a certain religion.
In England the Anglican church, Episcopal church, is supported by taxation. We didn't have nor want that in America. But I don't want a nation that is an enemy of God. It was understood that when the time came to take a public office, the man would take an oath before God. The President on the Bible takes his oath of office. We have a chaplain in the Senate and a chaplain in the House of Representatives to lead in prayer before they start the day's work. This country was supposed to be pro-God and pro-Christianity, not necessarily denominational Christianity and it was not to compel anybody, but it was in favor of God and the Bible and Christian morality.
So on our coins we have “In God We Trust.” So the great American national hymn, “Our Fathers' God To Thee, Author Of Liberty, to Thee We Sing.” Author of Liberty!
We recognize in the Declaration of Independence that God is the Author of Liberty. This country was intended to be Christian in that sense.
...If we have enough Christians living right and enough Christians praying, enough preachers preaching the Gospel, God may, in loving mercy, spare America yet. God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah had they had only ten saved. If Lot had had his wife and children saved, they could have spared Sodom. God said He would spare them for ten. But they didn't find ten.
Maybe God—with a minority of godly people standing true and speaking and willing to suffer and bear whatever reproach it takes to be a good Christian—maybe God will spare America yet. God give us a heart for it.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice; Let Us Save Our God-Given American Heritage, pp. 24,26,28-29; Sword Of The Lord publishers; copyright 1975.
