God Bless America (please?) on this National Day of Prayer

On this National Day of Prayer, maybe our prayer shouldn't be "God bless, America" but rather "Please, Lord, have mercy on America!"

There must have been a time in this country when more than half of the population believed in God and believed in the power of prayer. I know the vast majority of our founding fathers did because so many of them wrote about God and the importance of morality and religion in order for the nation to survive. In other words, people needed to abide in the Golden Rule.

But at some point in the last 100 years, or so, the concept of a real God has been institutionally marginalized. It was a slow process, as are all movements, but recently the race to marginalize God and all He stands for is turning into an all out race to denigrate and dispirit those who stand up for God and try to live according to his Word. The onslaught against Judaeo/Christian beliefs is unprecedented in this country to the point that even our president is distancing himself from from this National Day of Prayer.

If ever we needed a National Day of Prayer, it is today, before these distressing times become even more distressful.

For those who take this National Day of Prayer seriously, I pray that our numbers are huge; a spiritual Tea Party, as it were, that He will hear our pleas for help and guidance and forgiveness.

There is a big "but" in all this. America needs to ask God to forgive us for vanquishing Him from virtually every institution and for turning away from Him and His commandments at break-neck speeds.

Readers of the Bible are familiar with Deuteronomy 28. It's sometimes referred to as the "blessings and cursing" chapter. In a nutshell it lays out all the good things that will happen to a country that keeps His laws and all the bad things that will happen when we don't keep His laws. The thing is, these are natural laws and God doesn't have to lift a finger for the end result to come about. He doesn't have to push the "smite" button to punish us. The result of lawbreaking comes with its own punishment.

We live in dangerous and foreboding times on so many levels. This country and the entire world needs as many praying people that we can stir up.

God bless you if you are a praying person and may God have mercy on us all.