Will America Survive 2024?

James F. Gauss, Ph.D.

January 16, 2024

Available worldwide on Barnes & Noble at this link or on Kobo here.

“Dr. Gauss has authored a work that has elevated his star as a modern day prophet. There are few books I have read that have held my attention for its entire duration. Every page is filled with pertinent news and information that should wake the church up and fire-up preachers to PREACH!”

David L. Cobb, Evangelist, Southern Baptist Conference

######

Author’s Note:  It was my intention to write this post toward the end of 2023.  However, life intervened and I procrastinated.  The truth is, I do not relish writing about negative, grim posts about our nation.  I fervently pray that I am way off base in what you are about to read.

Sometime in the fall of 2009, as I was getting ready to retire for the day, I had a strong impression that I was to read chapter 18 of the Book of Revelation in the Bible.  I thought it somewhat strange, since I had not read that book of the Bible in some years (it is not my favorite due to all the challenging symbolism).  And, I could not remember what chapter 18 was about.  This was not brought on by any dream or vision, just a strong impression to read it and read it, NOW!

As I read each verse—and I know there are many Bible theologians that will dispute this—it was if God was whispering in my ear: “This is about America.”

Over the following three+ years I read and re-read that chapter and related verses of the Bible and I could not get away from my first impression.  Finally, early in 2013, I published, with much trepidation, the first edition of Revelation 18 and the Fate of America.  While I did not predict or emphasize that Revelation 18 was specifically about America, I did write that “Mystery Babylon” of that chapter and other chapters in the Book of Revelation represented an evil empire that totally rejected God and fell into complete moral decay.

As 2020 introduced COVID and wanton government control and corruption, America fell even further into the abyss of moral decline as a people and nation.  To update this view, early in 2021, I published Revelation 18 and the Fate of America (2021 Edition).  With that as a backdrop, here’s what America is facing in 2024.

#########

For many years I have said and written that America has long flown past the solutions that any person can humanly provide.  Sorry, Trump supporters, but neither he, nor any other political leader will be the solution to America’s many ills and immoralities.  At the beginning of the Biden presidency I posted what America could expect from President Biden and his cohorts.

This year, in my estimation, will be the most dangerous year for America and the world since the start of World War II in 1942.  That might be the most optimistic view.  It could be the worst ever for our relatively young country.  Briefly, let us take a realistic view of what America, specifically, is facing as we enter this new year.  I hope to address most of them in detail in future posts.

Economic Collapse.  For over 20 years I have closely followed and written about our nation’s financial debacle and decline.  No nation has or can survive the depth of the financial hole we and our leaders have dug.  There is no extension ladder long enough to get us out of this monetary abyss.  How bad is it?  As America entered 2024, our National Debt had just ticked over the $34 trillion mark, up $6 trillion since President Biden took office.  Federal spending (the budget means nothing to bureaucrats) was at $6.34 trillion/yr., but tax revenue was only $4.99 trillion/yr.  That means the government is (conservatively) running an annual deficit of $1.74 trillion/yr.   To avoid insolvency, the Feds must pay an estimated $724 billion on existing debt.

Suppose we lop off eight digits of these billions and trillions and bring the numbers down to our level of understanding.  For example, let’s say your family had a debt of $340,000 ($34 trillion less 8 digits).  Every year, just to pay interest on that debt, you had to come up with $7,240.  Your income is only $45,980, but your annual expenses are $63,400.  Under such income/expenses each year you are falling further into debt at the rate of $17,420/yr.  At what point do you declare bankruptcy and admit you are hopelessly in a debt spiral that you cannot manage or get out of?

However, for America as a nation, this highly focused on National Debt is only the tip of the monetary iceberg.  America’s Total Debt (Household, Business, State and Local Governments, Financial Institutions and Federal Government) is a whopping $97 trillion, up almost $15 trillion under the Biden administration.  The financial hole gets even deeper when we consider “Unfunded Liabilities.”  Think of those as government promises after taking your hard-earned money, but unlikely to reap the promised benefits because of the Fed’s gross mismanagement of your funds.  The Fed’s promissory note to American citizens is now north of $211 trillion, or $52 trillion more than when Biden took office three years ago.

As I was checking the latest financial figures for the nation, something curious cropped up that I do not remember seeing in the last 20+ years.  While Unfunded Liabilities are now at $212 trillion and skyrocketing, the nation’s “Assets” are at $189 trillion and plummeting.  Perhaps this has happened before, but I have never seen it before.

IRS Definition of Insolvency: When total liabilities exceed total assets.

Yes, I know the Feds can print money with abandon, but that too is about to come to a screeching halt.  Think “digital” money.  More details in a future post.

Nation’s Economy is in Shambles.  Do not believe a word of “Bidenomics.”  It is a complete fabrication and fable and we are about to find out how duped we have been.  You cannot believe one word on the economy that this administration has put forth.  Real inflation—the prices where real people shop—are more than double the government spin.  The Biden administration has created no “new” jobs, but only the re-employment of those who lost jobs during COVID.  Real unemployment is almost double the “official” government position.  People living in poverty continues to escalate and is over 43 million.  The number of homeless people has exceeded 610,000, a number not seen since 2012.  The economic forecast for this year is dismal, with many major corporations, as well as small businesses, planning major layoffs and/or permanent downsizing of their workforce.

Many financial and real estate professionals foresee a bursting of the real estate bubble that will make the economic implosion of 2008 seem like a cakewalk.

Illegal Immigration Implosion.  One can argue and present tons of evidence as to the motivation behind the Biden administration and the Democrats for espousing “open borders” for the world’s asylum seekers, despots, criminals, sex and drug traffickers, gang members, terrorists and a host of other malcontents and their evil intentions and plots against Americans.  The damage has been done and cannot be reversed and the nation and its citizens will pay a very high price on many levels for decades to come and it will completely change the face and image of the United States of America.

Societal Collapse.  During the latter part of the 20^th century, Americans and American society made great strides forward for civil rights and the constitutional rights of individuals to pursue an equal opportunity to achieve personal goals and success without discrimination.  Racial integration of America’s schools, workplaces, restaurants and much of society was a hard-won battle in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in America’s southern states.  As the 20^th century ended, America, while not perfect, could proudly recognize the righting of many wrongs.  Then came the Barack Obama years as president.  As a black man, people of color had high hopes of him continuing to work toward equality and racial justice.  Instead, he became the great divider-in-chief.  Obama continually pitted, not only the races against each other, but also the rich against the middle class and poor; the old against the young; the employer against the employee; Christians against non-Christians; Muslims against Jews, and the list could go on.

Enter Joe Biden, Obama’s proxy, and the societal division was put on perverted steroids, dividing Americans along sexual preferences and the life and death of the unborn.  America is now in full collapse as a hedonistic, sexually perverted, violent society of baby killers who fear neither God nor justice.

Moral Failure.  If one was an astute attorney, a case could easily be made that America is the most morally bankrupt nation in the history of the world.  Consider this: America is the only “civilized” nation in the history of the world to deliberately, and without remorse, killed over 65 million of its unborn children. Not content to kill its own, America’s promoters of such a diabolical act, exported the idea to the rest of the world.  This has resulted in the needless deaths of 1.68 billion unborn children meeting an untimely and often gruesome death in the womb or out of the womb.  Americans with demented minds are perverting the minds of our youth relentlessly, convincing the young they are not a boy, but a girl or the reverse, or that they are neither male nor female, but “its.” Public education has become a cesspool of ungodly thought and indoctrination, overriding parental authority and God-inspired morals and dignity.

Once again, not content with perverting the minds and bodies of America’s youth, those that foment such atrocities are exporting their “ideals” abroad, including via U.S. Embassies in other countries, or the dollars offered by USAID to foreign entities that are often tied to their perverted agenda. 

Wars and Rumors of Wars.  In April 2023, I posted a piece on Biden creating a very dangerous world.  How dangerous? I did not fully perceive the dire position we as a nation and the world are now facing.  It would appear that it is all due to the feckless, mindless, weak and ill-advised leadership of the Biden administration which is routinely mocked, laughed at and disregarded by the world’s despots and dictators.  It perhaps started with the debauched Afghanistan withdrawal that showcased to the world how weak and disorganized the new Trumpless administration would be.  After 20 years of fighting and securing that nation from the Taliban, in one fell swoop, Biden handed it back to them in August 2021, along with billions in American military equipment and munitions abandoned for their use.

Several months later, in February 2022, Vladamir Putin, saw his opportunity to attack Ukraine in an effort to make it part of Russian territory once again.  Now, Putin is threatening to attack NATO countries to expand the war.  Germany, Sweden and other NATO countries are now preparing for a World War III type battle with Russia.  If that happens, would China, North Korea and Iran jump into the mix?

China has also been flexing its military muscle in the South China Sea and around the world.  They have not been shy about their intent of world domination and have been constantly threatening Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines in word and military bravado.  Will they attack Taiwan before America’s election and precipitate World War III?

Then there is the lunatic in North Korea who is constantly threatening South Korea and Japan with a nuclear holocaust; and since Trump left office, threatening the United States with the capacity to shoot nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles at America’s mainland. 

Then there is the current war that not many saw coming: the invasion of Israel by the Hamas Islamic terrorists on October 7 of last year.  Unfortunately, this terror attack and Israel’s justifiable response has the potential of a much expanded war in the Middle East and another World War III candidate.  Already Hamas terrorists, their sympathizers and Muslim terrorists worldwide are calling for the total annihilation of Israel and the United States.

So, if we put it all together, the United States, under the tutelage of Joe Biden and his associates has positioned America and its depleted, unprepared, understaffed and underfunded military in the direct path of such formidable, if not maniacal enemies as Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Islamic terrorists and who knows who else is licking their chops, thinking this is their time to do America in and share the spoils.

At no other time has America been facing such a host of adversaries, all seeking its destruction.  At a time when our military is depleted and woefully unprepared under an unclear, yet weak foreign policy agenda.  One might argue that in the run-up to World War II America was unprepared.  However, the stark difference between then and now, is the strong promulgated division among America’s citizens.  The nation is not only being overwhelmed by foreigners who have no allegiance to the country, but millions of the nation’s citizens have been turned against the national interest and security and are willingly trying to tear America apart and drive an unpatriotic wedge between family, friends, neighbors, church members and anyplace they are able.  America’s cohesiveness and love of country is fractured.  Not since the Civil War has the nation been so splintered.  Wolves of oppression are salivating over the weakness of the sheep.

Rejection of God.  While I am deeply grieved over the majority of people in America rejecting God, God is even more grieved over the nation of people He so richly blessed that has forgotten Him.  As I wrote at the beginning, we have travelled too far down the slippery slope of debauchery and willful sinfulness to pull ourselves out of this moral dilemma.  Only God can save us, but He will not intervene where He is no longer welcomed.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

President Abraham Lincoln

Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

March 30, 1863

Finally, I wish I could write that the condition of America has improved since the first edition of Revelation 18 and the Fate of America. However, the unavoidable truth is that everything has become worse, much worse than I could have imagined.

My appeal to the Church in America and its leaders is this: Just like President Lincoln so long ago, call your congregations to prayer and fasting before Almighty God, repent and plead for His intervention.

Related

Revelation 18 and the Fate of America (2021 Edition)

Israel and the Middle East: Will there ever be peace?

The European Theatre Revisited

James F. Gauss, Ph.D.

February 26, 2022

No, I am not talking about another Shakespearean play, but the World War II theatre of war in Europe.  Is the U.S. and the civilized world repeating the same mistakes it did in 1939?

The rise of the demonic leader, Adolph Hitler, in Germany was no great secret.  Hitler made his maniacal intentions very clear to Europe and the world.  However, on September 1, 1939, with his bloody invasion of Poland, the U.S. and the world largely remained unmoved and silent.  Just like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Hitler claimed the move into Poland was a defensive military move to prevent Poland’s mistreatment of Germans and to defend the Mother Land. 

Hitler was also taking advantage of the emotional sting of Germany’s World War I defeat where many Germans resented losing a portion of their country—the provinces of West Prussia, Poznan and Upper Silesia—to Poland under the Treaty of Versailles of May 7, 1919.  Under the treaty, Germany lost 13 percent of its territory and 10 percent of its population.

The similarity of circumstances of Poland vs. Ukraine and the mindset of Hitler vs. Putin are striking and should be sobering for the West. Will we repeat the same mistakes again and sow the seeds of another world war?

The initial response of Britain and France was a policy of appeasement with Hitler, even after he seized the country of Czechoslovakia six months earlier in March, 1939.  Instead of the European community confronting the aggressive warlike rhetoric of Hitler, Briton and France acquiesced to Hitler’s desire to absorb the German speaking western region of Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938.

Six months later, not satisfied with a portion of the Czech country, Hitler took over the entire country, violating the Munich Agreement.

Again, the similarities between the beginning of World War II and the current war in the Ukraine initiated by the Hitler wannabe, Putin, should be a giant red flag for Europe and the West.  Putin has not been satisfied with his conquest of the Crimea.  He wants all of the Ukraine and he does not care what havoc he causes or how many innocent people are slaughtered.  If successful—and he can not be allowed to succeed—he will not stop with the Ukraine.  Just like Hitler, he has his eyes on Finland and Sweden, which he has already warned against them pursuing membership in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), joining 30 other European countries for a common defense.

It is not like the European countries and the United States have not had enough warning about the Soviet dictator’s obsessions and intentions.  It has been eight years since Putin and his thuggish military took over the Crimea region of the Ukraine on March 18, 2014.  Yet, the world dithered and did nothing.

This too brings back a painful reality.  Pre-World War II, the United States and much of Europe, twiddled their thumbs as Hitler boldly proclaimed German superiority and territorial rights.  The U.S. only declared war on Germany after Hitler and Germany foolishly declared war on the U.S. earlier on the day of December 11, 1941.  It is possible, because America had already declared war on Japan because of their attack on Pearl Harbor four days earlier, the U.S. just might have let Hitler’s aggression continue in Europe unabated.  Instead, the U.S. Congress voted unanimously (88-0 in the Senate; 393-0 in the House) to go to war against Germany as well.  Could such a unanimous vote be achieved today against a warring enemy?

With the election of an unproven and unknown non-politician of Donald Trump as the leader of the free world, Putin and other tyrants were forced to allay their ambitions due to the unpredictability of a Trump presidency.  However, now that the world’s tyrants and despots see that America is led by a weak, bumbling, senile septuagenarian, they have become emboldened and salivating at their new and potentially unabated opportunities for territorial conquest.

Sanctions-Smanctions. Putin could care less about sanctions.  Tyrants do not care about the pain they inflict on others, even their own countrymen.  China has his back, as Russia will have China’s back if they decide to invade Taiwan.  They know that the U.S. military under Biden is weak, demoralized, ill equipped and spread far too thin around the world to be an effective deterrent or co-defender of Taiwan.  In addition, the “woke” American military leaders are more concerned about mandatory vaccination, transgender equity and environmentally green war machines than they are about military preparedness.

Sanctions, no matter how stiff, take weeks or months to make an impact.  Tyrants do not respond to sanctions, they respond to military might and defeat.  That is the sad reality.

Instead of sanctions that could take days, weeks or months and be of little effect, why not seize Russian financial assets immediately and appropriate them to support the Ukrainian people and their defense?  Seize every Russian oil tanker leaving a Russian port and re-allocate the oil or its proceeds to replace the Ukrainian oil and infrastructure destroyed by Russia’s invading forces.  Nothing would send a stronger and sweeter message to Putin than using Russian assets to fight against him and destroy his economic base.

The weakened and stretched thin U.S. military that was decimated under President Obama, strengthened under Trump and then destroyed again under Biden would not likely be up to a multi-front worldwide war or a joint military assault by Russia and China in Europe, Southeast Asia or the Middle East in a linked effort with Iran and Syria against Israel.  Think Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38.

Putin knows that the U.S. is weak and led by a mentally compromised, do-nothing president that is backed by communists and communist sympathizers.  Other tyrants wait in line.  If Putin succeeds in taking over Ukraine, will China invade Taiwan; will North Korea attempt to strike South Korea and will Iran and its proxies go against Israel?  Much is at stake.  Ukraine cannot be defeated.  If Europe and the U.S. do not help to stop Putin, the world could erupt into an End Times scenario rapidly.

READ: Revelation 18 and the Fate of America, 2021 Edition.  Available on Amazon or at a discount on the author’s website here.

“Trial by Fire”

A Sermon by the late Dr. Peter Marshall

(Transcribed by James F, Gauss)

Visit Books by Gauss website for more information and book selections.

During America’s most trying time since the Civil War ―in the midst of the Great Depression and during the onset of World War II―there arose in America an immigrant Scottish preacher that held the ear of America and particularly the rapt attention of its political leaders in Washington. His name was Peter Marshall. Born in Coatbridge, Scotland in 1904, he arrived in America in 1927 with all the worldly wealth of a pauper.

After a year of working in New Jersey, he followed a fellow immigrant Scotsman to Birmingham, Alabama. Members of his church soon recognized God’s calling on his life and his Sunday school class helped pay his way through seminary in Atlanta. He started his ministry at a small church in Covington, Georgia, but was soon called to preach and pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. His charisma and powerful, down-to-earth sermons soon began to draw overflow crowds on Sunday mornings, with people standing outside to the blare of loud speakers in order to glean the nuggets of biblical truths that he preached.

By 1937 he had attracted the attention of the presbyters at the well-known New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In all humility he resisted their call, but finally succumbed to their persistence, trusting that God would give him the wisdom and ability for such a high pastoral station.

Preaching fluently in a thick, rolling-off-the-tongue Scottish burr, Dr. Marshall enthralled standing-room-only crowds wherever he exhorted the faithful. His devotion and sincerity before the Lord, along with his down-home wholesomeness soon attracted members of the U.S. Senate, as well as captured the hearts of the American people, young and old alike.

Early in January, 1947 he graciously accepted his election as the 57th Chaplain to the U.S. Senate and served until his untimely death at age 45 on January 25, 1949. Senators made it a point to arrive early so they wouldn’t miss his eloquent prayers.   This foreword presents a prophetic sermon by Dr. Marshall, that was not only pertinent for the time and audience for which it was preached, but one that is eerily timeless and apropos for America and its inhabitants of today. It was Dr. Marshall’s fourth and last sermon for the week at the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday, March 11, 1944.

The following sermon by the late Dr. Peter Marshall was transcribed by James F. Gauss from an audio tape provided by Dr. Marshall’s now deceased son, Rev. Peter J. Marshall. While many of his prayers in the U.S. Senate were printed in national publications of the day, as far as can be ascertained, this is the first time that this powerful audio-taped sermon has been transcribed and published. It is presented here in its entirety and also in Dr. Gauss’ book, Revelation 18 and the Fate of America. It is long, but well worth your time and sharing with others.

Trial by Fire

Dr. Peter Marshall

March 11, 1944

My text is taken from the first book of Kings, chapter 18, and verse 21: “If the Lord be God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him!”

The setting of the text is one of the most dramatic in the Old Testament. The leaders of the nation, including the king, had come together to make a great decision. It was a national emergency; something had to be done.

Elijah, the prophet, had called them to meet on Mount Carmel to settle no less a question than whom should they worship.

It was a day of choice―a day of destiny.

William Penn said, “That men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants.”

Here, then, was an ancient Hebrew prophet facing the very same issue, and making his people face it with him.

They all knew the history of their nation. A lot of their fathers had come out of the wilderness; out of bondage into a new land as pioneers. Behind them were great leaders. Moses and Aaron and Joshua―men who had been led by God. They had set up, not a democracy, but a theocracy―a state governed by God.

The true God and His holy law had been written into the nation’s constitution. The Ten Commandments had been to them a Bill of Rights and a Declaration of Dependence. The leaders of the young nation had taken God as their King and Sovereign. They had ample reason to believe―having seen it worked out in their own history―that righteousness alone exalted a nation, and that, that nation was only blessed whose God was the Lord. They had seen it work in the past. Their national history was proof. They had been taught that obedience to the laws of God was the only foundation for national greatness, liberty and security.

As long as the nation could recognize God as Supreme, it could stand. But something had been happening in the national light. The faith and the vision of the founding fathers had faded. Moral decay had set in. There was confusion in the minds of the people. They were beginning to forget the principles that had made them a nation. They had begun to love things more than principles.

All around them paganism flourished. Their neighbors were not without god. They had gods, many of them. Convenient gods. Gods that could be worshipped in ways that appealed to the lower nature.

Materialism had a god. His name was Baal. He offered to his devotees things that human instincts craved. He was a god of the flesh.   His priests encouraged the people to follow their natural inclinations. It was worship and indulgence expressed in lust and adorned in selfishness. It had no inhibitions at all.

It said, “Look after number one! Be yourself. Be natural.” Self-expressions and natural instincts was its program. A good time for everyone according to the flesh, was its goal.

No wonder it grew in popularity.

But still, Israel was confused. Their inheritances of the past―the early teachings of their parents―were not forgotten. Something of conscience was not yet drugged, and they were confused and uneasy. They took a little of Jehovah and a little of Baal. They became by degrees more and more broadminded. Was it not a free country? Who wanted to be old fashioned?

So, morality became a relative thing. The old absolutes were regarded as far too intolerant. The national moral standards were lowered. The worship of Baal and Jehovah got mixed. Somehow, it was hard to draw a line of distinction. Materialism and idealism were often confused.

Now, Elijah saw the danger. He saw what would happen to the nation when its moral fiber was weakened. He knew the end of confusion and indecision. He believed with all

his heart, that national ruin and disaster were inevitable if the nation preempted Jehovah and departed from its charter and constitution.

So he summoned the leaders of the country together on this day of destiny.

“If the Lord be God, follow Him! But, if Baal, then follow him!”

It was a time now for men to take sides. There was no middle ground. They could not be neutral. They had to be on one side or the other. They had to decide whether their nation would be governed by God or ruled by tyrants.

Elijah saw that Israel as a nation could go with God and Baal. It had to be God or Baal. He was a fearless man, this Elijah. He faced the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, the king and the nation’s leaders. It had to be either, or. They had to get on one side or the other.

Remember the dramatic test, the trial by fire? On the slopes of Carmel with the copper sky above them and the parched, sun-baked plains of Jezreel at their feet, the people stood waiting.

Elijah announced his proposed test. Let the matter be decided once and for all. Let sacrifices be laid on the altar. Let him be God who will send down fire and consume the offering. Let Baal have the advantage of priority. Let his priests have the first inning. Everything would be in their favor. The sun climbing to meridian would be at its height. There were four hundred and fifty of them, and if they all prayed, that would be a lot of prayers. Let them call upon their god and let him answer if he could.

Then began the weird pagan performance with Elijah jibbing at them with pointed sarcasm. His words had blades in them. His taunts were razor sharp.

“Cry louder! Why don’t you? Cry louder! He is a god you are crying to. Well, he must be talking to somebody. He must be in the chase. Or perhaps he has gone for a walk. Peradventure he is asleep. He may be taking a nap. Cry louder! Wake him up!”

He taunted them all day long until they were all at the point of exhaustion. Hoarse with their shouting, weary with their dancing. Bleeding and wounding―since in their frenzy they cut themselves, hoping the sight of their own blood spouting from tired arms and legs might cause Baal to relent and to answer. They carried on until evening. But there was neither a voice nor any to answer, nor any that regard it.

Then Elijah, confident and unhurried, called the people closer. And, going over to an abandoned, broken down Jehovah altar, Elijah had them set upon it a sacrifice and drenched it three times with water. Even to make the test more impressive, he soaked the whole altar with water that ran into a trench dug all around it.

Then his prayer to Jehovah―not ranting, or foaming, or shouting. And it was answered in fire that consumed the sacrifice; licked up the water in the trench, and, to the people looking on, cried, as they fell on their faces, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

Now, I suggest to you that America needs prophets today―men, and women too, because more than once in history, a woman’s voice has stated the issues clearly―to set before the nation the essential choices.

God, give us men! A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands. Men, whom the lust of office does not kill. Men, whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who possess an opinion and a will. Men who have honor. Men who will not lie. Men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking [1].

For, while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds, their large professions and little deeds mingled in selfish strife―lo, freedom weeps. Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice, sleeps.

We are engaged in total war and fighting for total victory. Well, it will not be won outside the United States alone. It must be won at home, as well as in Europe and the Pacific.

There are evil forces plotting within the nation as well. For men have become lovers of themselves, more than lovers of their country. All traitors are not enemy agents. Espionage and sabotage are not the only weapons that harm a war effort. Love of power and authority has enslaved the hearts of many Americans.

The seeds of racial hate and intolerance have been sown. And we will reap a bitter harvest. As recent events [race riots] in Detroit and both Boston and Los Angeles have indicated.

Our moral standards have been lowered. Our national moral standards―and no nation makes progress in a downward direction.

The growth of addiction to alcoholic beverages, for example, by women, as well as by men, in great numbers, is of great concern to every patriotic American who loves his country and is anxious about her future. And not all of those concerned are cranks, bluenoses or killjoys. Perhaps it is unfortunate, that those who speak for temperance in the newsreels are not particularly photogenic to begin with, but they are usually posed and quoted in such a way as to provoke derisive laughter in our theaters. The cause of temperance is not advanced, and we who are concerned about it can’t help wondering what will happen to a country that apparently is no longer aware of the dangers.

Illustrations could be multiplied, both of the decay of morals and of the activity of evil forces in our midst. The old time evangelists use to express the tragedy of men and women individually going to hell. But we don’t hear much about that nowadays. Because they say people don’t believe in hell. But I notice that they talk a lot about it in their conversations.

But today we are living in a time when enough individuals choosing to go to hell will pull the nation down to hell with them.

The choices you make in moral and religious questions determine the way America will go. We badly need a prophet who will have the ear of America and who will say, “If the Lord be God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him!”

We must decide and decide quickly who is chief―whom we will serve. Millions of people in America live in moral fog. The issues are not clear to them. They cannot face the light that makes them black or white. They want grays and neutral picks. They move in sort of a spiritual twilight. Modified morality on the basis of cleverness guides millions of people. Modified dishonesty within the letter of the law is the practice of millions more.

Surely the time has come―because the hour is late―when we must decide. The choice before us is plain: Jehovah or Baal? Christ or chaos? Conviction or compromise? Discipline or disintegration?

I have not stated the matter too strongly. You may agree mildly or you may disagree violently, but the time has come to face the duties and obligations of our citizenship and willing to assume the disciplines imposed by the things we believe in before we are forced to accept the disciplines of tyranny.

I, for one am rather tired about hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time has come and now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. It’s just as plain and clear as that.

The average church member has forgotten and forsaken the old disciplines. He attends services when it is convenient. His contribution of time and money is seldom such as to involve sacrifice on his part. The church, the Word, the sacraments have no compulsion over his life apparently. Of course, to be honest about it, the fault is not alone that of the church member. The ministry, the church officers, are also involved in blame, because the church has failed to challenge the faith and vision of the lay people in the pews. The programs of too many churches call for neither effort nor sacrifice―all of that is sadly true.

The remedy for this sad state of affairs will lie, I believe, in the seeking God’s will for the individual church, and the adopting of a daring program to which He is challenging us all. Our strength is limited only by our faith in asking God’s help.

“According to your faith be it unto you.”

That is the measure that would enable us to move mountains. Or, if our faith be limited, to cause us to stumble over mole hills.

So also in the affairs of a nation. “If the Lord be God, follow Him! But, if Baal, then follow him!”

Now, let us be honest about it. If we have thrown away our national heritage; if we no longer believe this nation was founded under God; if, contrary to what is stamped upon our coins, our trust is not in God but in something else, let us say so. Let us at least not be hypocrites.

A nation led by God will lead the world. The world today has many open doors, open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peoples ready and waiting for the spiritual leadership that could steer the storm-tossed ark of humanity away from the rocks of war and the shoals of selfishness and greed.

Our own country, with all of its sophistication, is filled with people who are hungry for the Gospel. Satiated with the materialistic philosophies that filled our stomachs and starved our souls; that supplied gadgets while they forgot God.

America’s future depends on her accepting and demonstrating God’s government. If America listens to God; if America obeys God, then she can be great among the nations. Here, in America, we have the people, we have the means of communication, we have the genius and the skill, we have the political forums, the wealth, the natural resources, the prestige, and the ability to lead the whole world into a new and bright tomorrow in which dreams and hopes of the human heart may be achieved and the desires and the prayers of the nations all realized in a world where there can be life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness available to all men, regardless of their race or their color, because that is precisely what God wishes for all His creatures.

It seems to any student of history, that God has been preparing this great nation to fulfill a destiny in the world. There are many who believe that her first great chance came in nineteen hundred and twenty, when the Christian idealism of a great man, Woodrow Wilson, was not shared by many in power in the Congress―who lacked the vision and idealism of the President.

America refused to accept her destiny in 1920. It may be that God is giving her another chance now. And in the days that follow, as the war enters its final phases, the issues are becoming clearer. Will we fail again? We need to learn and to understand that God can guide and can control in government, in business, in labor, in management, in the home and in the heart of every individual, until the whole nation is under God’s control.

Men can be in touch with God. In every situation, men can know the will of God. They can know exactly what God wants them to do and to be. God’s plans and God’s power are always available. When men seek God, they find Him and are found of Him. When men listen, God speaks. When men give God a chance, He works out His plan. He has a plan for every human life. He has a plan for you and for me. He has a plan for America―and all who truly love America will want America to follow it. But America cannot follow it until we―you and I―as individuals, follow it.

Do you know what God wants you to do? Do you know what God wants you to be? He will tell you, if you ask Him. He will speak, if you give Him a chance―if you listen.

It is not enough that our leaders should be guided by God. The people must be guided also. It is not enough that the minister of the church should seek to discover the will of God, the congregation, likewise, must discover it and follow it.

One challenge that these critical days have flung down to the church people, is that we begin to be truly Christian in all of our relationships, or stop pretending.

When our fighting men come back from Italy, Germany and from Japan, they are going to be brutally frank and honest. They will see through hypocrisy. They know now the things that really count in life and they will not be deceived by displays of piety, or by sham and show. They will look for changed lives. For different ways of living. For different ways of dealing with servants, with employers and with employees. Different standards of values; different outlooks upon life; different dispositions.

It is a lot of nonsense what the beautifully colored advertisements are saying in our magazines―that our fighting men want to come back to an America totally unchanged. That is nonsense! The men who are on the fighting fronts now, know full well; know far more clearly than they ever did before, the things in America that must be changed if their sacrifice is to be worthwhile.

We must not be the same people they left behind. We must be worthy of their sacrifices. We must be worthy of the blood that has been and will be shed. Surely the issue is crystal clear. And they are returning now on hospital ships. They are being guided down the gangplank with bandaged eyes. They are coming creaking, swinging on creaking crutches to stand again on wounded feet on American soil. They are coming with their arms in slings; with empty sleeves tucked in tunic pockets. They are coming with trouser legs pinned up, to stand again on the America for which they fought and bled. And they are hearing in their ears, the newsboys call the headlines” “Twenty-thousand men on strike.” What for? For higher wages? No, not this time. For better living conditions? No, not this time. What then in God’s name? What for? Because of strife and difference between rival labor unions. Jurisdictional disputes. Men seeking power and influence. Men seeking to exalt themselves. Men seeking selfishly their own interests in a time of national crisis.

They hear of squabbles in the Senate as to how the soldiers are to vote. They hear all that with disillusionment. They hear of so many of their fellow countrymen and countrywomen who seem to be totally unaware of the issues involved. And they look at the empty sleeves stuck in tunic pockets. They look at trouser legs pinned up to stumps of legs. They look at the wounds and the scars and the bandages and they ask themselves, Was it worth it?

Was it worth it to storm Tarawa [2]? Was it worth it to fly over the acrid-filled skies over Berlin? Was it worth it to land at Palermo [Sicily, Italy] and leave a leg at Salerno [Campania, Italy] [3]? Was it worth it? To come back to a country that wants to be the same, apparently. That wants to have its selfishness entrenched and encouraged and enforced. Is it worthwhile to shed your blood for people who do not seem to realize that they have got to change? That America must be worth the sacrifices that are being made for her now on every battle front. Was it worthwhile?

We must make the answer, “Yes, by God it was!” We must somehow convince them who have given up legs and not in vain.

Life magazine [December 27, 1943, page 28], in its Christmas issue, has a magnificent editorial from which I shall like to quote this paragraph:

“…The lackadaisical days when it didn’t matter much whether you were a Christian or not, may be numbered. If the reassertion grows strong you may have to declare yourself more definitely than you ever expected, as to whether you believe in the word of Christ―or do not. This choice, if it is really forced on the Christian world, may be the choice that leads finally to the long-awaited religious revival; a revival born in the hearts of the citizens of our time, who, when forced to choose, will find no truth, no comfort, and no inspiration elsewhere.”

We need a prophet who will have the ear of America and say to her now, “How long will you halt and stand between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him! But if Baal be god, follow him!” and go to hell.

Oh God, bless America. May our prayer not be and empty whine of selfish pride and arrogant stupidity. But may it rather be a humble, contrite plea to the God of all nations to make this land that we love so well worth defending; worth fighting for; worth dying for. Oh God, help us to make America God’s country.

And now, may the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the abiding fellowship of God, the Holy Spirit, rest upon us now and abide with us forevermore. Amen.

Dr. Peter Marshall, Sr.

_________________________________________________

Dr. Marshall’s sermon of over 76 years ago is not only prophetic but clearly illustrates not only how little America has changed but how much more depraved it has become since his day.

“Illustrations could be multiplied, both of the decay of morals and of the activity of evil forces in our midst,” Dr. Marshall preached. “The old time evangelists use to express the tragedy of men and women individually going to hell. But we don’t hear much about that nowadays. Because they say people don’t believe in hell. But I notice that they talk a lot about it in their conversations.

“But today we are living in a time when enough individuals choosing to go to hell will pull the nation down to hell with them.

“The choices you make in moral and religious questions determine the way America will go. We badly need a prophet who will have the ear of America and who will say, ‘If the Lord be God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him!’”

Despite Dr. Marshall’s impassioned plea 76 years ago and that of dozens of preachers since, it is abundantly clear that the people of America have decided to follow Baal, the god of licentiousness and depravity. 

Author’s notes.

[1] This poem, God Give Us Men! was by puritan descendent, Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) and was a favorite of Dr. Marshall.

[2] Tarawa atoll is part of Gilbert Islands in the central Pacific. The small (2.5 miles by 800-foot at its widest) island of Betio was occupied by a small but determined Japanese force that guarded a very strategic military runway. On November 20, 1943, the U.S. Marines with U.S. Navy support offshore launched a tenacious four-day amphibious assault. The taking of this “one square mile of hell” as it was later called, cost the lives of 1,000 marines and 4,000 Japanese soldiers, but was considered to be the “pivotal event” of the military operations in the Pacific theater. The capture of tiny Betio eventually led to a strong U.S. military presence in the Marshall Islands, which provided allied forces with a strike force to hit mainland Japan and thus end the war in the Pacific with the surrender of the Japanese on September 2, 1945.

[3] Both Palermo and Salerno are sites in Italy where there was bitter American fighting against stubborn German resistance during World War II.

This prophetic sermon by Dr. Peter Marshall was published for the first time in Revelation 18 and the fate of America by James F. Gauss in 2013.

Visit Books by Gauss website for more information and book selections.

Will America Survive?

(Excerpted from the Introduction to Revelation 18 and the fate of America.)

Will America survive?  That is the question that is becoming more frequent in the minds and on the tongues of Americans at home and abroad and also non-American observers worldwide.  Can the United States of America survive the unyielding assaults on its constitution, morals, economy, justice system and religious foundation—not only from without, but also from within its own borders?  Can America survive and regain its traditional strength and leadership when its own leaders are becoming more radical and anti-American?  America’s survival and re-establishment of its God-ordained greatness will depend on the response of the people of America in general and the Christian church in particular—not ten years from now; not in five years; not even one year from now, but NOW!

America’s Enemies Wait in Queue. Enemies of the United States are lining up and strengthening their resolve to take America down.  Islamic jihadists—who adhere to the letter of the Qur’an (the Muslim holy book)—are bent on destroying America and all that she originally stood for and they have established a significant foothold throughout the world and particularly within the borders and government of the United States of America.  While the news media casts the jihadists as a small, but irritating group of “freedom fighters”, in reality they are an estimated ten percent of the total world Muslim population, making them a formidable force of well over 100 million adherents to the violent overthrow of America and Western society.

Then there is the burgeoning political, economic and military giant, China.   Chinese businessmen, politicians and military are feasting on the hundreds of billions of dollars from Chinese-exported goods made on the cheap for largely American and western European companies and business moguls willing to sell their corporate and patriotic souls in exchange for quick riches at the expense of the economies and security of their fellow citizens at home.

All this wealth accumulated by the Chinese at the expense of the Western world has allowed the Chinese to become the economic bully and military might of the world.   Emboldened by her wealth and the overwhelming indebtedness to her by the United States and other Western nations, the Chinese are now extracting their pound of flesh from those who were foolish enough to jump in bed with her.

America’s Early 20^th Century Struggles.  During the first half of the 20^th century America had to battle a quintet of disasters that would test the resilience and fortitude of the country and the American people for almost 50 years.  After struggling to find its equilibrium after a brutal world war, the United States found itself engulfed in a nationwide financial collapse and the ensuing years of economic depression that followed.  The economic collapse was further exasperated by the dust bowl years of 1931-1939 in most of the farmland of the Great Plains region of the country.  This added to the already high unemployment and caused the dislocation of thousands of families seeking refuge from the ravages of nature and financial deprivation way beyond their control.

World War I (1914-1918; 1917-1918 for America).  This “Great War” or “the war to end all wars” pitted Germany and Austria-Hungary against France, Great Britain and Russia (a.k.a., the Allies).  The incident that sparked the regional European war was the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian nationalist.  A month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia with the support of Germany with whom they had a treaty.  Shortly thereafter Germany joined their treaty partner in the conflict.

            America’s survival and re-establishment of its God-ordained greatness will depend on the response of the    people of America in general and the Christian church in particular . . .

The war was a very bloody battle fought primarily in the field trenches of Western Europe.  It quickly became a war of attrition for both sides and by 1917 allied troops were dwindling.  While the United States saw no need to get involved at the beginning, the resolve of the country was tested on May 7, 1915 when the British luxury passenger ship, RMS Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat (submarine) just off the coast of Ireland.  The liner was carrying 1,959 people on board, including 159 American civilians.  In the sinking 1,198 (128 Americans) perished.  This event enraged the American public and set the stage for the United States to eventually enter the war against Germany.

However it would take another significant event before America would join the battle.  In January, 1917 the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a coded telegram to Germany’s ambassador in Mexico.  In the telegram Zimmer- mann promised the Mexican government territory in the United States if they entered the war on Germany’s side.  The British were able to intercept the telegram, decode it and shared it with the U.S. government.  When the contents were disclosed to the American public, the thunderous outrage pushed the U.S. into declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

America would mobilize over four million soldiers during the duration of their participation in the war.  Over 65 million men from numerous countries worldwide were involved in this world war at the cost of an estimated 37 million casualties—17 million dead (including 7 million civilians) and 20 million wounded.  Although the United States entered the war only 16 months before the armistice of November 11, 1918, America would lose nearly 117,000 men and almost 206,000 more wounded.

The Crash of 1929. The decade of the 1920s or “Roaring 20s” was a time of exuberant living for many, along with reckless financial dealings.  With the end of World War I Americans became confident as the industrial revolution of inventions that began at the turn of the century once again picked up steam and prosperity fueled a burgeoning stock market.  Investors, both seasoned and novice, threw caution to the wind and there seemed to be no limit to the upward movement of stocks.  Those that did not have enough money to gamble on the market or were too greedy and wanted more, borrowed “on margin”.  Brokers were more than willing to loan buyers up to 80-90 percent of the value of their stock purchase.  Buyers, believing that their stock purchase would only go up, could repay the loan when they sold at a higher price.

Even many banks ill-advisedly risked their customers’ savings in the market.  Stock speculators were flooding the market from all quarters.  Then, on March 25, 1929, the market suffered a mini-crash.  By spring, the economy was starting to fracture as steel production receded and home building and automobile sales contracted.  The stock market rebounded during the summer months with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at an all-time high for the period at 381.17 on September 3, 1929.  During September and into the first three weeks of October, the market bounced around with no new highs.

Then, without much warning, on October 24 (known as “Black Thursday”), stocks took a steep tumble.  Investors started unloading their stocks by the thousands.  Margin calls went out and thousands of stock holders were unable to meet their margin calls, i.e., pay back their loans.  By afternoon the panic selling had subsided and investors were encouraged when a group of bankers pooled their money and re-invested it back in the market, thus stemming the flow of losses. However, their enthusiasm was short-lived, when three trading days later, on October 29 (“Black Tuesday”), the stock market plummeted as panicked sellers ruled the day and margin calls plunged many into bankruptcy.

“The Crash” destroyed fortunes, businesses, banks and families overnight.  By early 1932, just two years afterwards, stocks were worth only 20 percent of their pre-crash value.  By mid-1932 the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 41.22 or an 89 percent decline from its September 3, 1929 high.  The market would not recover its high until the mid-1950s or 26 years later.  By 1933, unemployment neared 30 percent and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed.

The Great Depression.  The stock market crash of ’29 ruined the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans and destroyed thousands of small businesses, corporations and financial institutions across the nation. . . .

The Dust Bowl Years (1931-1939).  As if this dual economic disaster was not enough to do the country in, a combination of poor farming practices and prolonged drought in much of the Great Plains from North Dakota south to Texas, plunged the “bread basket” of the country into a near decade-long dust storm of mega proportions. . . .

World War II (1941-1945). Before the United States had fully recovered from the devastating impact of these events, the rapid rise of German Nazism in Europe under the demonic leadership of Adolf Hitler and the surge toward world domination by the imperialist Japanese quickly drew America into another world war. . . .

Post-World War II Resilience.  After World War II America entered into an economic boom period or “Golden Age of Capitalism” that lasted into the early 1970s.  Although the National Debt to Gross National Product (GNP) ratio (now called the Gross Domestic Product or GDP) soared by the end of the war to 110 percent, by 1970 it had dropped to under 30 percent.  Now, in 2013, the National Debt/GDP ratio has reached record territory at 107 percent. . . .

The Precipitous Decline. Nonetheless, America’s ascendant post-war prosperity did not come without significant cost to its moral and spiritual fiber.  The “can-do” God-centered, patriotic spirit that carried the country through World War II and the challenging first half of the century was replaced by cocky and arrogant leadership and an evolving, but downward spiraling and rapid decline into a spiritual and moral abyss.

Although church attendance (while not a complete measure of spirituality) in America rose from 45% (around the beginning of the 20^th century) to about 60% after the end of World War II, it began a steady decline.  Today, church attendance in the United States has plummeted to around 25% (or perhaps as low as 17-18% depending on the type of survey) on any given Sunday.  Although such a statistic is only a glimmer of America’s decline, it is a measuring rod of the slippery slope into godlessness that America and Americans now find themselves.

As I enter my eighth decade as a U.S. citizen and having lived under the leadership (good and bad) of 13 U.S. presidents, I am dismayed by how much the great United States of America has declined economically, morally, spiritually and in world leadership in my lifetime.

This tome is not an attempt to prophesy or predict America’s future.  It is not my desire or intention to prophesy “doom and gloom” over the United States of America or its people.  I do not wish to see any evil come upon the USA or any of its inhabitants, many of whom are family, friends, or fellow believers in Jesus Christ whom I deeply love.

However, I am deeply grieved at what I have seen transpire over my brief life on earth in America. How Americans have so rapidly fallen away from God; from justice and righteousness and how the professed church of Jesus Christ of many denominations have perverted the Gospel and fallen prey to the ways and beliefs of the world in which they live is baffling to me.

This decline, not only in faith and morals, but in all facets of life, started long before my birth, which was just after America’s entry into World War II.  But this falling away from God and His foundation of righteousness and faith has hit the slippery slopes during my lifetime and the downward spiral has accelerated at near warp speed.

I pray fervently for America’s recovery and return to God, but I cannot help but wonder: Have we gone too far? Is it too late to repent?  Have forces been set in motion that America can no longer prevent or overcome? 

America is at a Crossroads.  America is at a crossroads―a flash point―of ideologies: Old Guard Christianity vs. New Age Atheism and Nihilism.  It is hard to watch as a child of the 1940s-1950s generation and see America decline from the idyllic society of my youth to a morally debased society of greed, corruption and self-aggrandizement.

This work is meant to be a warning that America is on the verge of fulfilling biblical prophecy because of the corruption, sinfulness and arrogance of its people and its leaders in churches, communities, educational institutions and politics throughout the land.

There are some who say that America is not in the Bible as far as End Time prophecy is concerned.  Others say that it is not a factor in End Time prophecy because at the time it will no longer exist.  While others are adamant that America is, indeed, the “Babylon” of Revelation 18.  In the context of the entire book of Revelation it would appear that the term “Babylon” does not refer to either the historic Babylon of old, nor to any specific place or culture, but rather to any people that oppose God and become an evil power.

If one accepts the premise that the “Babylon” of Revelation 18 (and elsewhere) represents any society or group of people that turn away from God, then one could easily be led to believe that the current state of America fits to a tee the Babylon described in Revelation 18 of the Bible.  It is up to the United States of America, its people and its leaders―both in the Christian church and in society―whether it fulfills this prophecy.

This is meant to be a dire warning to the United States and its citizens that it is in grave danger of fulfilling this horrific prophecy of the Bible.

To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. . . .

Thus says the Lord:

“Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, here the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.  But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’  Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’. . .

Hear, O earth!  Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it. Jeremiah 6:10, 16-17, 19

For more information on the book, Revelation 18 and the fate of America, go here.