America Is Being Judged

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?”

We are living in that day, are you ready