For years, American children were taught that they were blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth. At one time, even most American adults had at least a vague understanding of this concept. Unfortunately, such thinking is rare today, and even less understood. British, Canadian and Australian children would have been taught similar lessons about the peace, abundance and prosperity of their own countries. Some of America’s founding fathers understood where their blessings came from—not from their own hands, but rather from Almighty God!

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth American President, said in a January 27, 1838 address, “We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate…We…found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them…”

In proclaiming a “National Day of Fasting and Prayer” (March 30, 1863), Lincoln also said, “It is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God…and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord…We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.

“We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

“It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson made similar statements. Can you imagine such proclamations being made in today’s world? Society would laugh and mock—even Americans would laugh and mock! Yet, Lincoln’s words are, in fact, even more applicable to the United States of the twenty-first century.

That understanding has long since disappeared—replaced in recent decades by rampant immorality, extreme pride and arrogance, and endless greed. Gone are the days of any semblance of thanksgiving, modesty and humility in America. Yet, in great hypocrisy, America claims to know the right way—or at least the best way—to live, and insists that others around the world would or should want to live the same. This fuels the hatred of America for some, such as Islamic extremists and some European nations, where the hatred is much deeper. It has become acceptable and even popular to denounce America without reason—as no reason is required!

In this article, we will examine all that America, Britain and the other English-speaking nations have been given, and what they in turn have given to others. We will compare what they once were—lands of opportunity—to their current state of decadence. And we will see that it is the extreme hatred of these nations that drives world events.

Benefactors to the World

Prior to 1800, America was a young country, and Britain was only equal to several other colonizing powers. But between the 1750s and 1850s, Great Britain’s population exploded, jumping from 7.7 to 20.7 million. London became the financial capital of the world, and both nations were poised to lead the world—all as a result of the blessings unconditionally promised to America and Britain’s forefather, Abraham. Beginning in 1800, and continuing for approximately the next two centuries, first Great Britain, and later the United States, came to dominate the world in many ways—industrially, commercially, diplomatically and militarily. In the years that followed World War II, both Britain and the U.S. controlled the majority of the world’s gold, sea gates (e.g., Suez Canal, the Straits of Gibraltar, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, the Straits of Hormuz, Singapore, the Panama Canal, Malta and Hong Kong), oil, steel, and electricity production, as well as many other resources. (For more details, read our book America and Britain in Prophecy.)

The blessings of Britain and the United States and, in particular, the effect that they would have on the rest of the world, are described in Micah 5:7-8: “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass…”

In Genesis 22:17-18, God says, “That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…”—and indeed they have been!

In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall unveiled what would be called the “Marshall Plan.” Over the next five years, $13 billion of aid was given to Britain, France, Italy and what was then West Germany. The United States has, in fact, been the largest contributor of foreign aid in the world since World War II ended (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia, “Foreign Aid,” 1993-2000). It gives aid primarily to developing countries in order to assist in projects such as improving agriculture and rural development, health care, population planning, child survival, and economic enterprise.

Since World War II, the United States has provided assistance to more than 100 countries. Interestingly, since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine have been among the top recipients of American foreign aid. From the online version (http://qesdb.cdie.org/gbk/) of the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID], “U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants, Obligations and Loan Authorizations” (a report commonly known as “The Greenbook”), we can see the billions of dollars the U.S. has given to the world since 1962 (see chart on page 11).

And yet America is still—and increasingly—hated. Yes, the U.S. has given, but it has mostly given to GET. And in recent years, it has become politically less popular in America to give aid to foreign nations. For example, Egypt is a large recipient of U.S. aid, yet does little to support American foreign policy and interests in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has historically been considered a strong ally of the U.S., having received much economic and military support. But Saudi Arabia has recently given birth to religious extremists like Osama bin Laden and the majority of the terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks. As described in part one of this series, the so-called “party” thrown by the United States is over. The former “lovers,” as Bible prophecy describes national alliances and treaties, now despise the U.S., and seek to take American lives! God’s hand is being withdrawn from the modern-day nations of the House of Israel—and along with it, the “friendship” and “respect” that so many other nations have given them is turning to hatred.

Squandered Blessings

The peoples of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and others of the Western world have been showered with a great many blessings. But as Luke 12:48 indicates, “…for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…” These nations have squandered their blessings, and forgotten the SOURCE of those blessings. They have used them to further their lives of greed and pleasure-seeking. Alcohol and drug abuse, and now even food abuse, are unbridled like never before! Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto are havens of rampant pornography and sexual perversity. The modern “good life” requires one to live near financial bankruptcy. Strong, traditional families have all but disappeared, and have been replaced by broken, dysfunctional—and even perverse—so-called family “units.”

Almost completely absent from man’s civilization is the concept of “right and wrong.” Political correctness now stands firmly in its place. It is no longer acceptable to instruct a child, or any person for that matter, regarding right and wrong behavior, and right and wrong “lifestyles.” Homosexuality, and even adults having sex with children are simply considered “choices.” Individual liberties and desires rule the day, flying in the face of what the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, had to say in Proverbs: “There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (14:12).

America and Britain’s rampant greed and immorality also fuels this hatred. Islamic extremists like Osama bin Laden refer to them as “the Great Satan” and “the little Satan.” They observe the way Americans live and their hypocrisy in trying to control the lives of others. Osama’s infamous 1998 “fatwa” contained the following: “First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.”

America wants the world to adopt its ways—mainly its politics. However, the whole world sees the great hypocrisy of the way in which America lives. It also watches the ugly spectacle of the U.S. Presidential election—with opponents slandering, attacking and mocking each other in a race to become the “most powerful man on earth.” The candidates trumpet what they believe is “right” and “good” for the country, mostly in an attempt to win the election, but with little emphasis on true leadership.

Most of the world observes America and Britain and their riches, arrogance and pride, and, quite plainly, are driven to loathe them. Gone is any semblance of humility and thankfulness that would have made the use of these riches tolerable to less fortunate nations. Of course, there is an element of jealousy and ungratefulness in those nations. But America and Britain, having forgotten the Giver of their blessings, revel in their power and prosperity, virtually taunting the rest of the world—further fueling world hatred of them.

Once the Greatest, Now the Wretched Generation

In the early years of the twentieth century, the United States was still a young nation. Yet it was a country that had been very recently forged from very dramatic events: the colonization of North America, the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the War of 1812 and the Civil War (1861-1865). France gave the U.S. the Statue of Liberty in commemoration of their alliance during the Revolutionary War. Formally dedicated in 1886, the statue became an international symbol of freedom, as about 16 million immigrants passed under her torch from 1892 to 1954. America had become the destination of choice. This was the land of opportunity, a country where great men could emerge from little more than hopes and dreams.

Ironically, consider today’s animosity between the two countries.

Prior to World War I, the U.S. was still primarily a rural, agricultural nation—but that was about to quickly change. John Rublowsky wrote, in his 1970 book After the Crash – America in the Great Depression, “If America had anything after the war ended in 1918 it was these two qualities. Hadn’t we beat the enemy without half trying? Hadn’t our economy supplied the Allies with more war material than the world had ever seen? Wasn’t this same economy intact and ready to produce even more for an abundant peace? The answer in all cases was, yes!” And indeed it was, as America soared to great prosperity in the 1920s.

During the Great Depression, Americans and the image of America were further forged through years of perseverance. A generation was born and reared on hunger, humility and hopefulness. Stories abound of mothers with 65 cents rearing four children while the father was in the city desperately looking for work. One such example is described in T.H. Watkins’ book, The Great Depression – America in the 1930s. It is an excerpt from a letter to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt dated February 28, 1935: “…we are getting tired of being so termed [the “dirty bunch”]…We do not dare to use even a little soap when it will pay for an extra egg, a few more carrots for our children, pale and woebegone they look…” Author Anna Yezierska describes one final example: “men who hadn’t had a job for years fondled five and ten-dollar bills with the tenderness of farmers rejoicing over a new crop of grain” (Red Ribbon on a White Horse). These Americans would grow up to become what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.”

Consider what that time was like, what people were like then, and contrast it with today. For example, a letter from a Robert Cromer in Mr. Brokaw’s An Album of Memories – Personal Histories from the Greatest Generation described the following:

“Dear Mr. Brokaw: I went to war as a replacement, in the 309th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Division. My youth was snatched away from me when, at age eighteen, I went into combat and was forced to grow up overnight…Combat was terrible and I lost many friends in battle, and yet I think that ours was one of the most fortunate of all generations. We were privileged to grow up in a time when honor, truth, loyalty, duty and patriotism were real and meant something. What made the generation great? We were simply a product of our times. Growing up in the Depression was not a great honor, but it was a classroom that taught us to be independent and innovative…The Depression was a leveler too. I grew up in what was considered a middle-class family—by today’s standards we would be considered poor, but nobody came around to tell us so. Everyone was in the same boat, and extended families helped each other…There were many people who had much less than we did, but they never let on and we never knew. The community sort of stuck together and family was very important. Parents were role models…I never thought of ‘me first’ or ‘do your own thing’ and neither did anyone else…”

Now compare that generation with today’s generation. The concepts of honor, truth and duty have all but disappeared from every facet of American life—from the individual and community, to business and government.

How important is the family in today’s America? It is being attacked from every angle, through such things as abortion, divorce, feminism and alternative lifestyles. Strong fundamental marriage and basic parenting are essentially lost institutions.

The entire economic and social fabric of America today is based on the concept of “me first.” The nation is in the middle of a “war on terror,” struggling with economic problems, and deeply divided politically and socially. All the while, citizens are encouraged to continue to live their lives as normal as possible—to spend, spend, spend— to look after “me first.” When truthfully considered, especially in light of the “greatest generation,” we are living today in the “wretched generation.”

Notice the following insightful observation: “The images many around the world have of America are derived from watching and listening to the movies, shows and music that Hollywood exports around the world (one of our leading exports, by the way). Overwhelmingly, America is depicted as a materialistic, self-indulgent, irreligious, licentious nation concerned only with the modern day equivalents of bread and circuses—sex, drugs, luxuries, and violence.

“A Los Angeles op-ed shortly after 9/11 pointed out how this imagery harms America. The op-ed reported that public opinion surveys around the world characterize Americans as overbearing, sexually immoral, materialistic and prone to violence. Since many of these people have never been to America and do not come across many Americans, they develop their impressions largely from Hollywood.

“Terrorism experts agree: licentious imagery tempts and enrages Muslims around the world. Satan is associated with temptation in Islamic theology. Muslims are assaulted by imagery which offends them and while they live in poverty, Americans live in apathetic opulence” (americanthinker.com, “Hollywood: the imperial city”).

The United States of America was great. But this was a great destiny fulfilled by blessings from God. America now has lost all sense of where it has come from. There is no more gratefulness, humility, or respect for others—and so America is hated.

God has removed His hand of blessings and protection from the U.S., Britain and the other modern-day descendants of ancient Israel. According to God’s Plan as revealed in Bible prophecy, these nations will be punished for forsaking Him and His way. As promised, God will “break the pride of your power” and “make your heaven as iron [drought], and your earth as brass [famine]” (Lev. 26:19).

This is beginning to happen right now! The current tremendous hatred of America and Britain is only a part of it. And yet most dismiss that hatred as some sort of “trans-Atlantic rift”—a temporary disagreement that will eventually be overcome. But this hatred goes much deeper than that, especially in Europe—it is, in fact, the kindling that will start a much larger fire. In part three of this series, we will examine the reality and extent of their growing hatred, its implications, and how it will end.