What is happening to our greatness?

One of the most useful substances ever produced is iron. By simply changing a tiny amount of one or two minor ingredients, or heating and cooling the metal in slightly different ways, iron, and its other form, steel, can be made to have many different properties. Useful for everything from building bridges to making farm tractors, refrigerators and automobiles, iron and steel production once soared.

At one time America and Britain led the world in their production, but, sadly, no more.

A prime example of what has happened is found in Birmingham, Alabama, once known as the "Pittsburg of the South" for its vast steel industry.

Birmingham is located in a beautiful valley in an area of low mountains and hills. On the south side of the city stands Red Mountain, containing millions of cubic feet of workable iron ore. Under the valley floor lays abundant limestone, and just a few miles across the valley to the north begins a hilly area filled with coal – the third basic ingredient for the production of iron and steel.

Streams of water necessary for processing these materials abound in the area. Probably no other spot on earth is so favorably situated for the making of iron and steel, yet the iron mines, quarries and coal mines are now closed, despite the raw materials still there.

What has happened to America's and Britain's ability to produce wealth out of the ground, such as in Birmingham and thousands of other locations throughout these two nations?

To begin with, management's greed and mistreatment of workers led to the formation of labor unions. Then, an adversarial relationship between labor and management produced disputes, hostility and strikes. Ever higher wages and benefits slowly forced up the price of finished products and wrung the profit out of the business.

Much needed anti-pollution regulations further drove up the cost of production, crippling the companies ability to compete with foreign manufacturers who did not have to abide by similar laws in their countries.

At first just a trickle – a few items such as nails and barbed wire – then larger completed items, including everything from steel I-beams to automobiles, began to be imported from around the world. It seemed that every move that was made, whether by management, labor or government, stripped away the natural advantage these two nations held. Why were we so inept at using this bounty?

The answer is not popular, but it is true: God gave us the blessings if we would obey Him, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. … Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks." (Deuteronomy 28:1–4).

And we, as nations, have refused to obey even the "least" of God's commandments. We have brought His displeasure upon ourselves, "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today … Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out" (vv. 15–19).

We have reached the stage now where everything we try to do, whether in manufacturing, foreign policy or war, slips away. To see what lies just ahead for our English-speaking nations read our free booklet, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy.

You will be amazed!