Thomas Jefferson was moved to remark: "My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!" NOT until drought, famine, and supernatural disasters strip our cupboards bare, and EMPTY our grocery shelves, will we know how good we've had it! Only when America goes hungry, will she remember how full she was!
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed April 30, 1863, as a NATIONAL DAY OF FASTING, HUMILIATION AND PRAYER, and spoke these words: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
God heard and answered those prayers! Judgment was forestalled. But where's a leader today with the moral courage and spiritual vision, to strongly recommend that "We, the People" humble ourselves and pray, let alone fast? We've got to have our three meals a day, with plenty of snacks in between! But DROUGHT is going to force us to fast! God's going to suddenly withhold the rain, in various parts of our countries, destroying our crops. Floods will rot the rest (Amos 4:7-8)!
We're supposed to enjoy a reciprocal relationship with God, but we haven't. Since we've failed to offer up prayers, God's not going to send down rain! Both our parched land and lives NEED God's Holy Spirit! We've got to learn the spiritual relationship between the heavens and the earth - they're interdependent!
We need to fast and pray, now, to be spared from further misery: "if My people who are called by my Name (Christian countries) will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Instead of becoming a model-nation we've become a STRIPPER! We've taken all the fine things that God's given us and laid them out before foreigners (Hosea 2:1-13)! We've squandered our time and energy in pagan ways and heathen practices! Therefore, God's going to STRIP AWAY OUR PEACE AND PROSPERITY! We're going to be left exposed to the elements and stripped bare before NAKED AGGRESSION! Since we refuse to return to God, we'll be sent back into SLAVERY!
We're a nation of DRUNKS AND WHORES - so God's going to let us hit bottom so hard it'll appear we'll never bounce back! God's no longer going to enable us to carry on in our ways, drinking ourselves to death and dying for sex! We've gone from bad to worse: "You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return" (Jeremiah 5:3).
We've become so hard-hearted, so cold and cruel, nothing seems to faze us anymore, but God's taking away His protective shield (Isaiah 5:5). We're going to be ravaged by the weather and our enemies! But we don't attribute the dramatic increase in "natural disasters" and crazy weather to a spiritual upheaval. We fail to see any connection between our land and our lives, even though Solomon was wise enough to know there's a link (1 Kings 8:35-40). We should realize that nature doesn't have a mind of its own, but can be used by our Creator to get us thinking (Jeremiah 5:20-25).
God says because He's called us on many different occasions, and we've refused to answer; we've broken the olive branch every time He's extended it; we've flatly rejected what He's advised us to do, and didn't want to be told we weren't living right - laughing at God's people as old-fashioned, and making fun of them for believing the Bible and thinking they're crazy for warning about Europe (who will deal the death blow to our sick and dying country) instead of taking them seriously: "I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your terror comes... When distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I WILL NOT ANSWER; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me" (Proverbs 1:24-33).
Who likes a fair-weather friend? Who's willing to play second fiddle to anyone or anything in a right relationship? Does God want us to only look Him up when we're short on cash or need to get out of jail? Is God impressed with our attention when all our distractions have been stripped away? When we can finally hear Him and listen to what He has to say because we no longer own a loud stereo or television set (because our homes have been blown up, destroyed or looted)? CONCENTRATION CAMPS will help us to learn to THINK again!
As our CREATOR, God's going to dispatch the forces of nature to bring His Message home! "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21: 25-26).
When Earth's equilibrium's off and nature appears to have gone off the deep end; terrifying tidal waves crash into cities, batter our coastlands and sweep away towns; unbelievable earthquakes strike that make today's troubles seem like mere tremors; droughts occur that suck out every ounce of moisture from the air; and on and on with NO RELIEF in sight - people are going to break! Some will be literally scared to death!
We need to WAKE UP and realize this is all symptomatic of our sick condition! Earth reflects our relationship with Heaven. The reason we experience upset weather is because there's a SPIRITUAL UPHEAVAL in our lives! These bizarre acts of creation warn us we're out of sync with the Scriptures!
WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT IT? Will we remain ignorant and indifferent and die, or turn around as a people and nation and save ourselves from suffering further consequences for disobedience?(Daniel 9:11.) God help us to see it's only going to get worse if we don't get better. God help us to be spared from national destruction, defeat and deportation!
Saturday, September 17, 2005
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