America, the dark side.

America, the dark side.

recently I received an interesting e mail from an English man. He was discussing a little bit my article:"America, a divine legacy." this is is letter:

As a British subject living at the moment in the States I am astounded by your thesis that the USA is the bearer of the Divine Legacy.
The murder rate is 13 times higher in the US than the UK
The only countries in the world to officially use the death penalty are Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Burma, China and the USA
I have traveled and worked in several countries and the blind pursuit of materialism in the US is beyond any other nation. Indeed, that is what characterizes this country.
I married an American, I respect so much of what I see in the American people, but they are no nearer to God than the Spanish, the Bolivians and the British - all countries where I have lived. I would say that the avaricious nature of Americans is drawing them further away from God. And the building of a multi-million dollar Mormon temple here outside San Diego while the homeless sleep in their hundreds under trees in the city is the epitome of a lost people.

Dave Banks

I understand your point, but still this country has a divine legacy, unfortunately like the Hebrews  had received many blessings and promises but like the Jews very few acknowledged the Messiah. The Temple has nothing to do with poverty, in Israel there was temple and poverty too. Death penalty was in Israel too and was in the law of Moses at the time of Christ. I agree with you that the Americans, majority of them are like you are describing them but still like the Jews were the chosen people even they didn't' recognize Jesus, this country has something special for the last days even though very few people, like at the time of Jesus, are trying to do their best. I am not saying this just for the latter day saints, I am speaking regarding the constitution and the founders fathers, they received the blessings and the promises and they were aware of them.
Your friend.
Massimo
To better clarify this point I will post here some teaching of prophets about this important topic.
Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.315
Judgment Upon Nations
Just as blessings for the righteous are promised for this life, so are judgments for the wicked, and this is true of nations as well as individuals. Our world is in turmoil. Its ills have frequently been diagnosed, and complex diseases catalogued. But any remedies applied have been ineffective, infection has set in, and the patient's suffering intensifies.

In an ancient situation somewhat comparable to our own there was a great destruction, and when the quiet came, those who were spared were wailing:
O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared ... [and] our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children ... not have been buried…. (3 Ne. 8:24-25.)

Today is another day it is true, but history repeats itself. Men have "been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities; and never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord." (2 Ne. 25:9.) And modern prophets are warning frequently and constantly that people are being destroyed by their own acts.

The Plight of America
America is a great and glorious land. It is "choice above all other lands." It has a tragic and bloody past, but could have a glorious and peaceful future, if the inhabitants would really learn to serve their God. It was consecrated as a land of promise to the people of the Americas, to whom God gave these conditional promises:
It will be a land of liberty to its people.
They shall never be brought down into captivity.
There shall be none to molest them.
It is a land of promise.
It shall be free from bondage.
It shall be free from all nations under heaven.
There shall be no enemies come into this land.
There shall be no kings upon the land.
This land shall be fortified against all other nations.
He that fighteth against Zion shall perish.

The Lord made these promises. But generous though they may be, desirable as they are, they can come to pass only "if they [the inhabitants] will but serve the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ."

Jesus Christ our Lord is under no obligation to save us, except insofar as we repent. We have ignored him, disbelieved him, and failed to follow him. We have changed the laws and broken the everlasting covenant. We stand at his mercy, which will be extended only if we repent. But to what extent have we repented? Another prophet said, "We call evil good and good evil." We have rationalized ourselves into thinking we are "not so bad." We see evil in our enemies, but none in ourselves. Are we fully ripe? Has the rot of age and flabbiness set in? Will we change?

Apparently we would rather do things the devil's way than the Lord's way. It seems, for instance, that we would rather tax ourselves into slavery than pay our tithing; rather build shelters and missiles and bombs than drop to our knees with our families in solemn prayer, night and morning, to our God who would give us protection.

It seems that, rather than fast and pray, we prefer to gorge ourselves at the banquet tables and drink cocktails. Instead of disciplining ourselves, we yield to physical urges and carnal desires. Instead of investing in building our bodies and beautifying our souls, we spend billions of dollars on liquor and tobacco, and other body-destroying, soul-stultifying concoctions.

Too many of our wives and mothers prefer the added luxuries of two incomes to the satisfactions of seeing children grow up in the fear and love of God. We golf and boat and hunt and fish and watch sports rather than solemnize the Sabbath. Total morality is found neither among the people nor among the leaders of the state and nation. Personal interests and ulterior motives block the way. Old Man "Rationalization" with his long beard is ever present to tell us that we are justified in these deviations, and because we are not vicious enough to be confined in penitentiaries we rationalize that we are not failing to measure up. The masses of the people are perhaps much like those who escaped destruction in the ancient days of this continent. The Lord said to them:
O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they [the slain ones], will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? (3 Ne. 9:13.)

"Experience keeps a dear school," said Benjamin Franklin, "but fools will learn in no other." Thus, as a nation we continue in our godlessness. While the iron curtains fall and thicken we eat, drink, and make merry. While armies are marshalled and march and drill and officers teach men how to kill, we continue to drink and carouse as usual. While bombs are detonated and tested, and fallout settles on the already sick world, we continue in idolatry and adultery.

While corridors are threatened and concessions are made, we live riotously, and divorce and marry in cycles, like the seasons. While leaders quarrel and editors write and authorities analyze and prognosticate, we break all the laws in God's catalog. While enemies filter into our nation to subvert and intimidate and soften us, we continue on with our destructive thinking "It can't happen here."

If we would but believe the prophets! For they have warned that if the inhabitants of this land are ever brought down into captivity and enslaved, "it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land ... (2 Ne. 1:7.) This is a land which the Lord has preserved "... for a righteous people..." (Eth. 2:7. Italics added.)

And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them when they are ripened in iniquity. (Eth. 2:9

God the True Protector
O that men would listen! Why should there be spiritual blindness in the day of brightest scientific and technological vision? Why must men rely on physical fortifications and armaments when the God of heaven yearns to bless them? One stroke of his omnipotent hand could make powerless all nations who oppose, and save a world even when in its death throes. Yet men shun God and put their trust in weapons of war, in the "arm of flesh."

All this continues despite the lessons of history. The great wall of China, with its 1,500 miles of impenetrable walls, its 25-foot-high impregnableness, its innumerable watchtowers, was breached by the treachery of man. The Maginot Line in France, those forts thought to be so strong and impassable, were bypassed as though they were not there.

The walls of Babylon were too high to be scaled, too thick to be broken, too strong to be crumbled, but not too deep to be undermined when the human element failed. When the protectors sleep and the leaders are incapacitated with banqueting and drunkenness and immorality, an invading enemy can turn a river out of its course and enter through a river bed.

The precipitous walls on the high hills of Jerusalem deflected for a time the arrows and spears of enemies, the catapults and firebrands of besieging armies. But even then the wickedness did not lessen; men did not learn lessons. Hunger scaled the walls; thirst broke down the gates; immorality, idolatry, godlessness, even cannibalism stalked about till destruction came.

Will we ever turn wholly to God? Fear envelops the world which could be at ease and peace. In God is protection, peace, safety. He has said, "I will fight your battles." But his commitment is on condition of our faithfulness. He promised to the children of Israel:
I will give you rain in due season.
The land shall yield her increase and trees their fruit.
Granaries and barns will bulge in seed-time and harvest.
Ye shall eat your bread in abundance.
Ye shall dwell in your land safely and none shall make you afraid.
Neither shall the cord go through your land.
And five of you shall chase an hundred and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.

In view of the promises God has given respecting America, who can doubt that he would be willing to do the same for us as for ancient Israel? Conversely, should we not expect the same punishments if we fail to serve him? To ancient Israel these were listed.

The land will be barren (perhaps radioactive or dry from drought).
The trees will be without fruit and the fields without verdure.
There will be rationing and a scarcity of food, and sore hunger.
No traffic will jam your desolate highways.
Famine will stalk rudely through your doors and the ogre of cannibalism will rob you of your children and your remaining virtues will disintegrate.
There will be pestilence uncontrollable.
Your dead bodies will be piled upon the materialistic things you sought so hard to accumulate and save.
I will give no protection against enemies.
They that hate you shall reign over you.
There will be faintness of heart, "and the sound of a shaken leaf" shall chase you into flight, and you will flee when none pursue.
Your power your supremacy your pride in superiority will be broken.
Your heaven shall be as iron and your earth as brass. Heaven will not hear your pleadings nor earth bring forth its harvest.
Your strength will be spent in vain as you plow and plant and cultivate.
Your cities will be shambles; your churches in ruins.
Your enemies will be astonished at the barrenness, sterility, desolation of the land they had been told was so choice, so beautiful, so fruitful. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths under compulsion.
You shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
Your people will be scattered among the nations as slaves and bondsmen.
You will pay tribute and bondage, and fetters shall bind you.
What a bleak prediction! Yet "these are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." (Lev. 26:46.) The Israelites failed to heed the warning. They ignored the prophets. They suffered the fulfillment of every dire prophecy.
Do we twentieth-century people have reason to think that we can be immune from the same tragic consequences of sin and debauchery if we ignore the same divine laws?
The outlook is bleak, but the impending tragedy can be averted. Nations, like individuals, must "repent or suffer." There is only one cure for the earth's sick condition. That infallible cure is simply righteousness, obedience, godliness, honor, integrity. Nothing else will suffice.
G. Britt wrote
Grin, you forgot to mention a few other things too.

America has always been an enemy to the Church of Jesus Christ, and they continue to pay the price for their impiety with wars and diseases, but they will not reap the whirl wind until the gleaners are finished with the field. The Devil works the hardest where he is most threatened.

The white murder rate in the US is the same as Canada and the UK.

The crime rate in the UK is 4 times that of the US. Because the UK has no death penalty. It's illegal to shoot a burglar, or even kill a man you find raping your wife or daughter in the UK.

Even the poorest person in America makes more than the World's Top Physicist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, or a desk sergeant in Beigen. There are no poor in the US. But there are a lot of druggies who would rather sleep in a cardboard box and get high, than in State, or Shelter sponsored housing sober.

Median income worldwide for every family raising their children is only $1500/yr. Most wineos can raise that in a week. One of the major sins in the US is to run around shouting "Woe is me, I'm poor, because all my friends drive Porsches and God won't GIVE me a Mercedes Benez." There are NO known cases of anyone starving to death in the last 5 decades of prosperity in the US because they are "poor". Every one in the US lives like Kings and Queens compared to the rest of the world. Especially Africa where people are "REALLY" poor, and they are starving, diseased, and dying in desperation.

Materialism/Capitalism, Has solved most of the problems of the US. All the problems of the rest of the world could be solved if the same were applied there. It's just that it's beginning to spin out of control.(BOM prosperity/destruction cycle) But still we continue to suck the best minds and hearts from all the countries of the world and draw them to the US where they can be exposed to the Gospel. The gathering is on. Of course this also means that once great countries are left with the dross. I have yet to see any people massing to get out. In fact we have to beat them off with a stick at the borders.