We live in a dangerous world and in a dangerous nation. Our nation continues its slide into debt and into economic chaos. Behind all of this, however, are real spiritual issues. The commandments of God are absolute and inviolable laws written into the code of the very fabric of the universe because God is. There is no person or place, regardless of whether the person professes belief in God or not, where the commandments can be broken with impunity. Every sin is punished immediately in one sense in that the heart is hardened and the person is turned over to more sin. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. When a politician, a CEO, or an accounting firm does something that is dishonest, the ramifications will be felt far beyond the immediate area at some point. The waves may not be felt right then and there, but they have started and the waves will spread out. Our nation is beginning to see this even now. The book of Romans (in 2:5) tells us that “because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Sin will always have consequences both now and for eternity.
It is my opinion that the United States has been under the wrath of God for a long time. We look at the economic crisis and we know that something is going on. We look at the prison systems and the crime reports and we know that our nation is caught up in selfish and vicious act of crime. We can look at the drug traffic and all the crimes connected with that and we know that there is a void in the hearts of people and the love of self and of money has taken over. We look at the pornographic industry whether in print or in film or on the internet and we know that men and women are given over to filthy lusts of passion and of greed. The abortion industry is also doing well if you judge them in the realm of finances alone. What we must understand, however, is that all of those problems are symptoms of a much larger problem. If you listen to some people, the underlying problem of much of the problematic behaviors is the lack of economic hope. Others tell us that people received scars when they were young and were not loved. There are many answers given and there is perhaps some merit to them all, but underlying those answers is one major issue. The professing Church is the real problem.
God’s overall plan involves the Church. When religious men and women try to function apart from the church, they are not functioning according to the design of God. However, what we must see is that the Church is to be salt and light in the society (Matthew 5:13-14). The Church of the living God is to be the pillar and support of the truth (I Tim 3:15). The problem with society is that the professing Church for so long has refused to be salt, light, and the pillar and support of the truth. If you take the salt out of meat without refrigeration, the meat will putrefy rapidly. Our society in the United States has done just that because the professing Church is no longer salt. If you take light out of a society, then the people of that society will walk in darkness and will not know where they are going (John 8:12; 12:35). The people in the United States are walking in darkness and they do not know where they are going because the professing Church has hidden its light. If you take the very pillar and support of the truth out of a society and culture, then that society and culture will collapse under its own weight. The United States is collapsing in many ways because the professing Church is no longer standing up and preaching the truth of the living God. Instead of preaching and standing for the truth, it is caught up in church growth movements and all sorts of programs and activities that entertain the people while the nation is dropping into the pit. The problem in the United States is not primarily the world, it is the professing Church.
The professing Church has been infiltrated with liberalism under many guises, but liberalism is seen by its reticence to supernaturalism in all realms. The professing Church has been infiltrated with humanism which is seen by the focus on human beings rather than on God Himself. There is no true love for another human being apart from love for God primarily in all things. The professing Church is so busy with itself and its programs and seeking of money that it does not have time to be salt, light, and the pillar of the truth any longer. After all, if we preach the truth not as many people will come and we will not have enough money to fund our programs. If we try to be salt and light we might come across as judgmental and legalistic. Some of this must be seen in that we are simply more afraid of what other human beings will say about us than we are with pleasing God and being what He has called the Church to be. Paul tells us that there is only one Gospel (Gal 1:6-10) and at the very least implies that one reason it is not preached is that people try to please men rather than God. He tells us very clearly that if he (and therefore us) tried to please men he would not be a servant of Christ. We must listen to that.
What does our nation really need? Is it a financial plan that will keep the banks going longer, a president that will function a little better, or perhaps a better justice system with better laws? All of those things are only symptoms of the real problem. Our attempts to fix those things will do nothing about the real disease and will only be putting band-aids on massive bullet wounds. Our nation will only be turned around if the Church begins to be the Church. Our nation will not be turned around until the Church sees true revival and begins to be salt, light, and the pillar of the truth. Our nation will not be turned around as long as the pulpits are filled with moral talks and wimpy dealings with sin, nor by a few nice talks about Jesus saving sinners from hell. We must have preaching from the pulpits from men who believe the Word of God with conviction and will deal with sin as sin against the living God and with the Gospel as the one and only Gospel. Anything less is treason against the living God.
There are books galore on how to preach to fill the pews and how to do church in order to get the crowds in and the dollars flowing. Okay, but where is God? We can have all of the programs in the world to get the people in and have skimmed milk (at best) flowing from the pulpits so people will not be offended and leave. The money may even be flowing in, yet where is God? We are so quick to say that God is acting when outward material things happen according to our hope. But where is the presence and power of God in the souls of people? The only thing that will turn this nation from its rush into the pit is God Himself. If He chooses to do this it will be the Church that He works through to do so. But God is not in the Church unless the Church is seeking Him for Himself. God is not in the Church that is not willing to be salt and light. God is not in the Church unless it is going to be the pillar and support of the truth. Our ministers must know the Word of God better than they know methods and polls so that they can declare the Word of God to people about what it takes to please God rather than trying to please men.
The professing Church in the United States must learn from Daniel what it must do. It must learn this:
“Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day– to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You 8 “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. (Daniel 9:7-13).
We must learn to look at the judgment that is being shown upon our nation and know that God is righteous. We must know that all the heresies and sins that the professing Church has tolerated is really sin against God. Open shame belongs to us and we have been unfaithful to God. We have feared what people would say about us and we have tried to be gracious to them and appear as non-judgmental. We have stopped preaching the truth of God and have tried talking people into things. We have denied the commandments of God and have become moral relativists. We have set His law aside and in doing so we have not obeyed the voice of God and as such the curse of God has been poured out upon us. Some will read these words accuse the writer of reading too much into the Old Testament. However, the character of God never changes. Let us also remember the book of Revelation and the horrifying words that were sent to the churches there. Their lampstands were about to be removed! We simply must wake up from our paralyzing slumber and our love affair with the world. We must see that revival is not just nice to talk about and offer so-called prayers for it in a lazy, half-hearted way. The very Church itself depends on it and so does our nation. We must be given over to aching hearts for the sins of the professing Church and our nation. We must seek the Lord to grant us repentance and to come to us in His power. We must do this earnestly or we will not do it at all. Has the Lord turned us all over to hardened and cold hearts? Unless we are awakened to seek Him earnestly, we have been turned over to hearts that have no real feeling. If that is the case, both the professing Church and our nation are doomed. We must pray for hearts to pray. It is not an option.
God Loves... Himself 
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