Although America has been identified as a choice land, yet, as Elder Mark E. Petersen has indicated, the people in America must serve Jesus Christ if they are to receive the promised blessings.
Another ancient prophet spoke directly to modern America, foretelling the assistance God will give us if we serve him. Said he: ". . . this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ . . ." (Ether 2:12.)And that prophet also said, even as did Lincoln, that if we in America fail to serve Jesus Christ, we will face certain destruction. This is a divine warning, first from the prophet of old and then from the inspired President of Civil War days.
Oh, America, turn to God. But do not give him mere lip service. Obey him with all your hearts, might, mind, and strength.
Let us save ourselves from the present crisis in the only certain way, remembering that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4.) (Conference Report, April 1968, pp. 62-63.)
President Joseph Fielding Smith also indicated that the people in America must keep the commandments if they are to be protected:
These passages of scripture from the Book of Mormon are true; (Ether 2:7-12) this nation is not exempt, and the people, if they continue to pursue the course of evil and ungodliness that they are now treading, shall eventually be punished. If they continue to disregard the warning voice of the Lord, deny their Redeemer, turn from his gospel unto fables and false theories, and rebel against all that he has through his servants in this day declared for the salvation of man; and if they increase in the practice of iniquity, I want to say to you, that if they do these things, the judgments of the Lord will come upon this land, and this nation will not be saved; we will not be spared from war, from famine, from pestilence and finally from destruction, as a nation.Therefore, I call upon the people not only Latter-day Saints, but to all throughout the whole land to repent of their sins and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer and the God of this land. Turn from your evil ways, repent of your sins and receive the fulness of the gospel through the waters of baptism and obedience, that the judgments which shall be poured out upon the ungodly may pass you by. (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:321-22.)