Why Doesn’t God Save America?

Q.  Genesis says that God told Abram He would forgive (preserve) Sodom if He could find just a few good men there.  In America today I see MANY men who are “good”.  I don’t mean sinless, of course.  I mean honorable men and women who do try to follow God’s rules, and be kind to their fellow men and women as part of that.  Why can’t He forgive us, then?  We have lots of people who have repented and want to follow God, including me.  Why doesn’t God save America, where there ARE a few good men?

A.  God’s conversation with Abram concerning Sodom and Gomorrah was not about finding “a few good men” there.  God said He would spare the city for the sake of 10 righteous men (Genesis 18:23-33).  The word righteous comes from a root that means to be justified.  Trying to follow God’s rules, and being kind to our fellow men and women doesn’t make anyone righteous in God’s sight.  The only righteous people in America, or anywhere else on Earth,  are born again Christians who have been justified for believing the Lord Jesus died for our sins to make us righteous.   We will be removed from the Earth before it is judged, just as Lot was removed from Sodom before it was judged.

But even if every man woman and child in America was a born again Christian, that wouldn’t mean God would save America.  It means that every man woman and child would be taken in the rapture and America would be left with no residents.  On its best day ever, the United States of America could never hope to compare with the place God is preparing for the Church, and after we’ve seen it we would never think of coming back here.