What the celebrated economist, John Maynard Keynes, never understood about economics, a simple Sunday school lesson can communicate with effective clarity: "Rigtheousness exalts a nation...." (Proverbs 14:34). One can see this principle play out historically time and again.

But in order for one to see this principle at work, he must first have some idea of what the Bible means by "righteousness." The Bible nowhere guarantees that if nations would only follow their constitutions well, THEN they would become blessed and wealthy.

The biblical stadard for righteousness is called "the law of the Lord." It defines what counts as "sin" (the opposite of righteousness), as John the apostle says, "All sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:1). In short, obedience to God's commandments, as they are given throughout the Bible, is righteousness, and disobedience to them, is "sin," or "lawlessness." Thus, the very definitions of sin and righteousness depend upon the law of the Lord, which is "perfect" (Psalm 19:7 ff.).

Observe for instance the simple fact that, in its youth, the U.S.A. was highly Christianized. It's formal documents never reflected the extent to which the Christian God was considered important by the various colonialists, however, because those responsible for producing the Constition were, by and large, sons of the self-named "enlightenment." These were Deists, not Christians. This is the only historically satisfactory explanation for why the name "Jesus" and the title "Christ" never made it into the document anywhere. No document that fails to even refer to the Messiah (by any of his Names or Titles) can properly claim to be a Christian document. This should be obvious. Paul even warns against empty and deceitful philosophies (like those espoused in the U.S. Constitution) that "omit Christ" (Col. 2:8-10).

Early on (all the way up to 1776 for most), each colony was a church-state, just as the European nations had been, from which the American colonialists had come. Under this unofficial, but quite popular, Christendom -- the U.S. rose to become the mightiest power in the history of the world in fewer than 150 years.

Yet, study even briefly the countries where Roman religion is dominant -- as in South America. They are, for the most part, poverty-stricken and cursed. Muslim countries are dirt poor and their inhabitants suffer under bondage to conditions created by constant warfare and terrorism. Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, what infrastructure you can find there has been built almost exclusively by Westerners. Only when nations begin acting in ways more consistent with the commandments of God in Scripture do they prosper.

In the U.S.A., it is hard to believe, but easily checked and found to be true: the country used to run economic SURPLUSES every year (except in war times), not deficits, until the 1970's. This corresponds precisely to the nation's decisive turning away from Christian principles in "free love" (meaning promiscuous sex), legalizing abortion, sharply rising divorce rates, divorcing the monetary system from gold and silver altogether (nationalizing theft), and the waging of unlawful (i.e. "pre-emptive") wars in Korea (earlier) and then in Vietnam.

National righteousness eventually leads to blessing, wisdom, education, prosperity and freedom; national wickedness leads to curses: poverty, ignorance, invasions, terrorism, decapitalization, and death. Unless the U.S.A. repents from its personal and national wickedness, it will only continue to get pummeled from all sides. But the wealth and freedom the U.S.A. has so far produced would pale in comparison to anything like what it would generate by returning to the Lord, and obeying the dictates of Wisdom given in his holy Word.

For more on the subject, read Deuteronomy 28-29.