Introduction for the book

The name of this book comes from the famous speech given by Ben Franklin during the Constitutional Convention. He was concerned by the lack of progress and the spirit of contention during the first weeks of the Convention. He felt the need to make a motion to begin each session in prayer. He asked the question, “Have we forgotten our powerful friend who we turned to often during our war with England. The answer to that question was a resounding yes. They had forgotten to ask for God’s guidance in their daily deliberations, and it had resulted in little being accomplished. Today, America is again experiencing great challenges. We are facing a war against terrorism, a national deficit of over ten trillion dollars, and a culture that seems to be sinking into violence and chaos. We seem to have lost our moral compass and our ability to cope with seemingly insurmountable problems. I believe the main explanation for these problems lies in the fact that we as a nation have forgotten our powerful Friend. Throughout our nation’s history, God has protected, given wisdom, and intervened in our affairs in many ways. The purpose of this book is to remind Americans how God has worked in our nation’s past. It is not intended to be a complete listing of every time God intervened on America’s behalf, but rather an introduction to a subject that will hopefully encourage the reader to further study. Psalm 111:2,4 says:”Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. He made His wonders to be remembered.” Then verse six summarizes the passage this way; :He has made known to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.” God has given America a rich heritage full of examples of His hand of merciful providences. We would be wise to remember our powerful Friend.

God wants to be our friend

Many people have difficulty with the third concept found in the title of this book, the fact that God can be a friend. Some consider God an impersonal force, while others think of Him as a harsh task master who is just waiting for them to step out of line so He can punish them. Both extremes demonstrate a lack of a Biblical concept of God. While it is true that God is powerful and just, He is also a God of mercy and loving kindness. When Christ was on earth, He was often said to be moved with compassion to act. God the Father also showed His compassion for mankind by sending Christ to earth to save a lost world from their sin. God befriends nations and individuals. He was America’s friend throughout all of her early history. He allowed us to establish a land based on freedom and Biblical principles. He blessed us with victory in battle and economic prosperity. As has been mentioned in other chapters of the book, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” God is the friend to any nation that will follow His word and His ways. God also wants to be the friend of each person on Earth. Luke 19:10 says; “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. The way to become the friend of God is to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. In Acts 4:12 we read; “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and once we have invited Him into our hearts He will not only be our Lord and Savior, but also our best friend. The old hymn says “What a friend we have in Jesus”. When Jesus was talking to His disciples there seemed to be a problem with how they were treating each other. Jesus said in John 15:14 “You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Jesus wants us to get to know Him through talking to Him in prayer, and allowing Him to talk to us through His Word the Bible. Do you know Jesus Christ personally? Do you have in intimate relationship with God the Son?
Just as America has turned its back on its powerful friend, many people are turning their backs on the salvation that is freely offered through faith in Jesus Christ. God has led you to read this book, and He desires you to receive Him and become His friend today. The author of Hebrews 2:3 asks this question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”

One person no one can afford to forget

Another key word in the title of the book is the word forgotten. God can be forgotten by both nations and individuals. All of us can think back to a time when we were sent to the store to pick up a few items, only to return home and discover we forgot one of the three things we were sent out to get. To forget something at the grocery store can be an inconvenience, but to forget our God is a tragedy. The Bible has numerous warnings dealing with this very subject. Psalm 9:17 says “The wicked shall return to hell, even all the nations who forget God. America has embarked on a very dangerous path by turning its back on God. Psalm 78:7 states “That they should put their confidence in God, and not forget the works of the Lord. Another admonition comes from Psalm 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” Obviously God knows we need to be reminded of His mercy and loving kindness. In America today we have forgotten our creator. Our children are being taught in school that they evolved from monkeys. Ecclesiastes 12:1 says this “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth”. How can our children remember their creator if they are taught that He does not even exist?
Not only have we forgotten God on a national level, many Christians have forgotten God in their daily routines. Many people have gotten so involved in the daily grind of everyday life, that God has become an afterthought. In Hosea 8 verse 14 we find the children of Israel in a similar situation. The verse says “For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities. The nation of Israel had gotten so busy doing good things for the Lord’s work, that they had forgotten to have a personal relationship with Him. Many of us today are involved in our work, our children’s lives, our Church activities, and we fail to cultivate our knowledge of God. Many other professing Christians are simply caught up in the allure of the world. The major cure for this sickness is to remember the wonders of our God. Psalm 111:2 tells us “Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. And verse adds “He has made His wonders to be remembered” We need to meditate on the wonderful works of our wonderful God. One of the greatest passages on the Wonders of God is found in Psalm 77:12-14. “I will meditate on all Thy work, and muse on Thy deeds. And verse 14 states “Thou art the God who workest wonders; Thou hast made known Thy strength amoung the peoples.” As a nation we need to return to the God of our fathers, as individuals we need to return to our Heavenly father.

God is big enough

The title of this book is America’s powerful forgotten friend, and I feel the need to look at the three main words. First of all, God is powerful. When people tell me that they do not believe that God controls events in history, I usually ask them this question; “How big is your God?” Our understanding of who God is, and His Attributes is at the heart of the concept of a Providentiel view of History. A study of what the Bible says about God helps us understand How God has to be in control of everything. In Theology class we learn that God has five natural attributes. God is Omnipotent (all powerful) God is Omnipresent (present everywhere) God is Omniscient (God knows everything) God is eternal and God is Immutable. One of the best passages of Scripture on the Attributes of God is Psalm 139. Verse 2 says “Thou dost understand my thought from afar” Verse 4 says Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.” These verses show us that God knows everything. God knew Adam and Eve would sin before they were even created. God knew each person who would receive Him before any of us were born. God knows how all of History will end. The Great Image that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about, showed that God has determined the times of each major empire in history all the way to the Reign of Christ on earth. God knows how many hairs are on our heads, He knows the names of each star in the sky. God has all Power or authority. Psalm 46:1 says “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” God takes an active role in our daily lives. Psalm 77:14 says “Thou art the God who workest wonders; Thou hast made known Thy strength among the peoples.” Psalm 104 talks of God’s control over nature. Many people talk about mother nature, but the reality is that God controls climate, weather, and every aspect of nature. Psalm 104:24 tells us “O Lord, how many are Thy works. In wisdom Thou hast made them all; The earth is full of Thy possessions.” God created the Earth for His pleasure, and maintains it by His great power and wisdom. The point is that by definition, God has to be in complete control of His world. If there were events or people who were outside of his authority, then He would cease to be God. Psalm 111:2 states “Great are the works of the Lord: They are studied by all who delight in them.” God expects us to study His works in the history of nations, and will as seeing His hand in our own lives. One of the most well known verses concerning God’s control in our personal lives is Romans 8:28; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God is working in your life and mine, and we must be careful to see His hand and praise Him for His goodness to us.

The last straw

Most are familiar with the old phrases; “ The last straw” or “The straw that broke the camel’s back” The idea is that a long period of patiently waiting for change and not seeing any finally brings that patience to an end with one last action. Since the 1920s, America had practiced following after the gods of philosophy, pleasure, and government. Even though many Americans still followed God, the majority had turned away from the God of their fathers. Schools began to teach evolution and reject the Biblical account of Creation. Humanism replaced the teaching of Biblical morality. The family came under the attacks of television, movies, and other forms of hedonism. The people turned to government to solve more and more of their problems as government spending sky rocketed. Finally, in 1962, America made the ultimate slap in God’s face. The event was a Supreme Court case known as Engel V Vitale which officially removed prayer from public schools. The case declared that a simple prayer in school was a violation of the Separation of Church and state. Imagine the very school system that had declared that the purpose of education was to teach religion, morals and knowledge, was now being made to abandon two of those elements. A year later, the Supreme court decided to remove Bible reading from the public school system. America had officially declared their turning away from the God of Heaven. This was the last straw in our forgetting of our powerful friend as Ben Franklin had warned. Since that time, our schools have become violent, lowered their standards, and lost their prominence in the world. Our society has seen an increase in divorce, abortion, and a general decline in morals. I believe that since 1962, America has experienced what it is like when God turns His back on a rebellious people. We now face financial collapse, political corruption, endless wars, and Spiritual weakness. God has made it clear in his Word that sin is a reproach to any people. America’s only hope is to return to God. If we will not do it as a nation, we must at least individually return to Biblical living.

God can be seen even in the darkest of times

Whenever something tragic occurs on a personal or national level, the following question usually follows; “How could a loving God allow this to happen, and why didn’t He do something to help”? The truth is that while we live here on earth, we may never be able to understand many of the circumstances that God allows us to endure. For Job, it was to test and strengthen his faith, for Israel in the Old Testament it was punishment for sin, and for Christ it was to save mankind from their sin. However, even in difficult situations the hand of God can be seen. Perhaps the greatest example of human suffering in modern times was during the Holocaust. Hitler and his Nazi party systematically rounded up millions of Jews and put them to death. Jews were worked until they could do no more, and then they were put in gas chambers and then burned. This unimaginable hatred and wickedness caused many Jews and Gentiles to question the love or even the existence of God. While it is impossible to know the mind of God as to why He allowed this suffering, it is possible to see some good to come out of this horrible chapter in history. After the Holocaust was made known to the world at the end of World War II, many nations around the world recognized the need for a Jewish state. Israel had been out of their land since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The Jews had been forced to live in exile all over the world since the first century. God used the massive outpouring of sympathy for the plight of the Jews after World War II to move countries to form the nation of Israel in 1948. Hitler’s plan was to destroy the Jews and set up a super race of Arians. God’s plan was to defeat the designs of wicked dictators, and allow the return of His people to the Promised Land. Hitler and those who followed him were responsible for the Holocaust, but God was able to take that tragedy and turn it into something that has been a blessing to the Jewish people for the last sixty years.

God's hand in a day which will live in infamy

December 7, 1941 was a day that will live in infamy. The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the beginning of the United States involvement in World War II. Japanese planes attacked our forces, destroyed many of our ships and airplanes, and killed over 2400 of our military personnel. In the midst of all of this destruction and suffering, we still can see the hand of God. One of the goals of the Japanese attack was to cripple our navy in order to gain control of the Pacific. However, all of our Aircraft carriers had left the night before to practice maneuvers to remain battle ready. The attack did not cripple our Navy at all, God allowed us to keep the most important part of our defense. Some suggest that because we had broken the Japanese code, we knew they were coming so that is why we moved our Aircraft Carriers out of harms way. The bottom line is that they were spared, and America was spared also.
Another example of God’s hand of in World War II was seen during the battle of Midway. The Battle of Midway was the turning point in the battle of the Pacific. If Japan won, than the United States would have been helpless to stop their conquest of the Pacific islands. The Japanese had the advantage in numbers of ships and planes. The only advantage held by the Americans was the element of surprise. The Japanese sent out planes to find out the location of the enemies’ aircraft carriers. One of the Japanese planes spotted the American Aircraft carriers, but when they went to radio the location, their radio went dead. The Americans were able to take the Japanese by complete surprise, and were able to change the course of the war. Was is just luck, or was the God of the airwaves working His will at a key moment of history. I believe that God wanted America to help the forces of freedom defeat dictatorship, in order for His Word to be able to continue being spread across the world.