Do not trust in these deceptive words, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD."

For if you truly amend your ways and deeds, if you truly execute justice with one another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Jeremiah 7:4-7, ESV

 

This is the United States of America, the United States of America, the United States of America...

 

Sadly, this is about all that's left for those who fancy themselves as modern day patriots. But it is not enough! Furthermore, it has very little to do with patriotism.

 

In the days of Jeremiah, the people had forgotten what the temple of the LORD stood for. It was their place of worship. It was their testimony to the fact that they served the LORD God. It was their place of daily sacrifice, a symbol of their devotion to the LORD. Indeed, it housed the ark of the covenant in a designated area that God defined as the "most holy place". In short, it was a place that literally had a portion of the glorious presence of God. But Israel had become complacent. They believed that they were special for the simple fact that they were they! They thought the temple was a sign of their greatness, rather than a sign of the greatness of the One true God. In order to cling to their self-delusion, they proudly stated that they had the temple of the LORD, and thought that if they repeated it enough, that they really were the people of God.

 

And all the time that they were proclaiming their greatness, they became worthless, for they ceased doing the things that great people who are unashamed servants of God do. So, they started oppressing those who were weaker, they indulged in the sexual and spiritual immoralities that were a hallmark of idol worship, and they even got to the point that they killed their unwanted children and fancied their blood-thirsty practice as a noble thing. And as they continued to drift further and further away from God, they continued to consider themselves the people of God. After all, didn't they have the magnificent temple of the LORD in their presence?

 

Do you remember that when God had enough of this wicked, self=delusional people, that He had the enemies of Israel wipe out their holy city and raze their temple of the LORD to the ground?

 

Fast-forward a few thousand years to the United States of America. At its founding, her people acknowledged the Lord - the same Lord Who was the God of Israel and the Creator of everything we see. At its founding, America was a shining example of a noble people who were made noble by their pursuit of the Lord and His ways. It's true that there was a tiny minority of people who did not place God ahead of America, but they were so small in number as to be rendered inconsequential, despite the claims to the contrary by some of our leading intellectual midgets that have infested our college campuses and many of our churches in modern times.

 

All one has to do to convince themselves of the founder's devotion to God is to read what they were saying. It's not just the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that make mention of their belief that God was the Supreme Master. This belief is woven in the fabric of our new nation, as is evidenced from their words in everything ranging from their private writings to their public speeches. Just go back and review Washington's Farewell Address. It reads more like a sermon from a powerful preacher, than it does the words of a mere politician. And for good reason, for Washington loathed the idea of partisan politics, and had multiple warnings as to its divisive nature.

 

The hallmark of the early American patriots was a near-unanimous devotion to God. The people of America firmly believed that they could not exist without a reliance upon their Maker and, only after first leaning upon God and seeking His counsel, a reliance on themselves. They believed that the sojourner, the widow and the orphan needed to be taken care of, but never by taxing the people. They believed in an individual responsibility to take care of the weak and the oppressed because they believed that this was God's "Natural Law" for them to do so. They believed that the nation should prefer Christians for her leaders and were unapologetic in their writings to promote this belief.

 

The idea that America would devolve to such a state in which people would be more concerned about an invented right to kill their own babies and people's right to define themselves by what they did in their bedrooms would have been appalling to them, because they knew that it would be appalling to God.

 

Now, back to the original question: "Is America worth being a patriot for?" The answer is... it depends! If you are talking about a people who define themselves as Republicans or Democrats, before they define themselves as Americans, then I would have to say it is not a nation worthy of our being patriots for. If you are talking about a people who define themselves as Americans before they do as Christians, then I would say it is no longer a nation worthy of our patriotism. And, if you are talking about a people who proudly state that they are "One nation under God, one nation under God, one nation under God", but who then go and do all of the things that God condemned Israel for, then I would have to say it is not a nation worthy of such devotion.

 

However, if you are asking if the principles that this nation was founded on are worthy of our being patriots for, if you are asking if the Constitution is worthy of our patriotism, and, especially if you are asking if a nation that is truly one nation under God is worthy of our devotion, then the answer would be a firm and unapologetic "Yes!"

 

The question is, "Which America do we really have today?" Maybe a better question is, "Which America do we want?" The answer is important, because a people who turn their back on God, regardless of the fact that they may have once had "the temple of the LORD" or even "One nation under God" cannot stand... nor is it worth defending in the first place! But a nation that truly is a people who are willing to recommit themselves, first to God, and secondly to a constitution that was specifically designed for such a nation of righteous people, that is a nation worthy of our devotion. I think it is more than time for us to decide which nation we want to have. Then we can decide if America is worth being a patriot for.