I
will turn 70 years old in July. I have
had a pretty good life despite the times I have made poor financial
choices. I realized that the financial
debt I was in held me in a life-style of bondage. When I resolved to free myself from the
slavery of debt, I found a freedom that allowed me to do more than I have ever
been able to do in the past.
As
I watch our country go deeper into debt and families living from paycheck to
paycheck, I see how the enemy of our soul has destroyed our spiritual life with
the need for the material things of this world.
Many people, Christians included have turned to the distractions of this
world, sports and entertainment to take their minds off the problems of trying
to live a life that is beyond their means.
Those who have become so stressed with life they can no longer cope have
turned to pharmaceutical drugs to deal with the pressures of work and family.
The
life-style that everyone is trying to live has destroyed the spiritual life of
this nation. This nation is driven by the material life, rather than the spiritual. Children have no sense of the spiritual. Parents have raised a generation that does
not know the real Jesus Christ. The
results of this nation turning its back on God has brought judgment upon the
land.
As
I watched videos of the school walk outs, protesting guns, held across the
country, I saw student displaying acts of violence towards those in authority,
disrespecting property, and show contempt for our nations flag. It is not the violence of guns that is the
problem in this country; it is the
violence of the heart. The same
motivation that drives someone to kill is
the same motivation that is in the hearts of those who displayed acts of
violence during their walk out. This
nation is reaping what it has sown, a generation that does not know God.
Ezekiel
14:13-14 "Son
of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I
stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine
against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men,
Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst,
by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,' declares the
Lord GOD."
Isn’t it true today, as we see natural disasters increasing
everywhere? Not only in our land, but around the world? We were once the wealthiest country on Earth, but not
anymore. We are so in financial debt
that both the government and the people cannot repay what it owes. James tells us the misery we are facing now.
James 5:1-6 “Come
now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your
riches have rotted, and your garments
have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you
and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!
Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been
withheld by you, cries out against you; and the
outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of
Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton
pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have
condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”
I struggle with the indifference our churches have towards sin. I am
troubled as I see our children led astray by an immoral media, godless teachers,
and false religions. I struggle over how
spiritually blind we as a people have become. America was once the Christian lighthouse
of the world, but that’s all over. As
Christians around the world are dying for the testimony of Jesus Christ, how
long will it be before American Christians are faced with the same fate?
Will there be the courage needed to remain a faithful witness or will we
lack the faith to stand for Jesus Christ?
In 535 B.C., a Bible
prophet saw the what was happening to his nation. The same is happening to our country.
Zechariah
11:16 "For behold, I am going to raise up a
shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered,
heal the broken, or sustain the one standing (godless leadership), but
will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs . . .”
Because the spiritual hoofs have been torn off our people by self-serving
church leaders who have forsaken God, we no longer know how to walk the
Christian walk. It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when Christians in
this country put serving the LORD first.
Their priorities were spiritual rather than material. There was a
loyalty to the church and its mission. Today, we worry about how to protect our
assets when the dollar goes belly up or the stock market crashes, as both will
happen soon.
Before the LORD brought judgment on Jerusalem the prophet Ezekiel
received a message from the LORD:
Ezekiel 9:4 “The LORD said to him, ‘Go through the
midst of the city. . . and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and
groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.’ And to
the others (angels) he said in
mine hearing, ‘Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye
spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin
at my sanctuary.’ Then they began at the ancient men (the church leaders) which were before the house” (of the Lord, - the Church).
Do
you believe a sovereign God, Creator of the Universe, is going to act
differently now, just because you go to your spiritually dying church on
Sunday, know the four spiritual laws, and have said the sinners prayer? As He did in Israel so long ago, the Lord is
once again putting His mark on His remnant. If you have that mark, you know it,
because you recognize the lateness of the hour. How late?
Isaiah
26:20-27:1 (NAS)
“Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; Hide
for a little while until indignation runs its course. For behold, the LORD is
about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer
cover her slain. In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing
serpent, with His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted
serpent; and He will kill the dragon (Satan)
who lives in the sea.”
It’s not going to be easy for us from
here on out everyday we are closer to a time when the wheat and tares will be
separated. For those who believe that
they do not need to watch and pray and be ready
because they will be “raptured” out of the troubles coming on use remember what
the prophet Amos said:
Amos 5:18-20 “Woe unto you that desire the day of
the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD (comes during a time of spiritual) darkness,
and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went
into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall
not the day of the LORD (come during a
time of spiritual) darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no
brightness in it?”
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