For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are delivered to do all these abominations?” Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. -- Jeremiah 7:5-11 (KJV)
Lots of excitement and lots of activity taking place as a number of persons are now seeking to be nominated as candidate for president of the United States. A few debates have already taken place and the end is by no means over. It will be settled finally on election day in November of 2016.
Different issues have been discussed by the candidates and their comments are on record as to what they would do about these concerns if they should be elected to the nation’s highest office.
However, in all the discussing and debating that has taken place, the most critical issues which have a direct impact on the future destiny of our republic have not been faced nor discussed!
The most critical issues facing our republic are moral and spiritual in nature. That is likely the reason those competing for public office do not want to mention them and the mainstream media certainly do not want to give attention to them.
Consider these accepted practices that absolutely guarantee the pouring out of God’s wrath in judgment upon us at some point in the future:
ONE: Our ongoing destruction of unborn children which has been taking place since the infamous Supreme Court decision in January of 1973. We have intentionally murdered and mutilated over 59 million unborn children since that insane decision was handed down! Even worse, it is now known that some who are in the abortion “business” have harvested certain parts of those murdered victims and sold those parts for big bucks! There is no real solid united front in opposing such abominations as this. There are even church groups and leadership within such groups that give the “green light” to these atrocities. I am an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, which officially gives its sanction to abortion on demand. All a United Methodist woman has to do to get an abortion is to claim that having the baby will bring undue psychological or financial stress or circumstantial pressure to her and she has her “ticket” to get rid of the child God is forming within her! (see Jeremiah 1 on this).
TWO: God has clearly defined the boundaries of human sexuality in His special revelation to us. Sexual intimacy is acceptable ONLY within the covenant of marriage and involves one man and one woman. Anything beyond that in terms of sexual activity is forbidden! However, over time in our history there are purported “experts” who have led us to the point where now sexual experience and expression are best summed up in the words, “Sex is fun with anyone (or more than one at same time) anywhere and at any time!” As a nation, we took the final plunge into the moral cesspool when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that says sodomites can marry each other and lesbians can marry each other anywhere within the boundaries of the United States. Even some church “leaders” have been involved in the performing of such marriages. A retired United Methodist bishop did such a “marriage” as did a female district superintendent in marrying two lesbian “pastors!” And there has been a lot of whining and crying over the fact of declining membership in the United Methodist Church – a recent report stating a loss of over 116,000 members in one year!
Related to this whole issue on human sexuality and the destructive path we have chosen to travel in defiance of God’s standards is the rise of STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) within our culture. Some of these are incurable. Worse yet there are large numbers of very young teen agers getting infected and tests have shown that some have more than one STD at the same time!
But after all, have we adults not taught the little tykes how to do it in various ways by example, the internet, our entertainment industry, and our “education” programs in the public school systems?
THREE: Idiotic court decisions which have been directed toward any acknowledgement of God in the public arena such as nativity scenes at Christmas time, a display of the Ten Commandments, or other quotes from the holy Scriptures. The most notorious was in 1963 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Lord’s Prayer (or any prayer) and reading of the Scriptures could no longer be held in public schools. There is not one person living who can say that our public schools have greatly improved, the quality of education is far superior, and human relationships are the best they have ever been because of that decision! Recently a part of a paper was shown on social media – an elementary student was asked to write about the person who most influenced her life. She chose Jesus Christ and wrote about this. She received an F grade with the note by the teacher saying, “Please remove Jesus.”
FOUR: Our widespread and deeply entrenched idolatry. No, we do not have stone or metallic images on every street corner to which we bow down and utter words of praise and adoration. Our idols take different forms with the prominent one being money. The pursuit of pleasure in its many forms and the idolizing that is connected to the realm of entertainment has captured the hearts of millions. Sports is another realm that has become an idol to far too many. Someone observed years ago that you could get tens of thousands into a stadium at sub-freezing temperatures shouting their lungs out at an NFL game on a Sunday afternoon but you can’t get them into church on Sunday morning if a few snowflakes are falling!
It has been documented in surveys that only about 46 or 47 percent of our population can find its way in to a worship service in a church on Sunday morning.
FIVE: The church scene is a very disturbing one. Over the decades past a deadly infiltration has taken place. In the latter years of the 19th Century a devastating thing took place with much of it occurring in Germany. Simply stated, a fellow got the idea that the Bible cannot be fully trusted and things reported in it did not really happen – miracles for instance! This kind of garbage caught on and eventually was imported to the United States. In early years of the 20th Century controversy erupted within the churches and it came to be known as the “Modernist – Fundamentalist” controversy – conflict between those who did not really believe the Bible and those who did. Later on terms such as “liberal” and “conservative” came to be employed as a distinction. In more recent times there has been a growing tendency to accept all religious expressions in the world as being legitimate and that all are on a level playing field with none superior to any other – Christianity is just one of many – pick and choose what suits you best as you move through the religious buffet!
And so today, when you walk into a church, you have to listen carefully with a sense of discernment and a familiar knowledge of Scripture – does that person standing in the pulpit and preaching a message believe the revelation God has given us via holy Scripture or does he/she NOT believe? This problem can be best compared to a fast spreading melanoma cancer. Check again the purpose of Scripture and how it came to be as shown in 2 Timothy 3:16.
God has been speaking, calling and doing some chastising things in these days. But at this point, very few are listening. The basic call is to search our hearts, confess our sins, resolve to be faithful in representing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and that He is the only way of salvation and hope! God holds us as individuals accountable, but He also holds entire nations accountable as well – and this includes religious leaders and government leaders.
Again, the REAL issue is not economic, terrorism, illegal immigrants, or national security – the critical issues are those matters mentioned above and no candidate has mentioned a single one.
Unless there is nationwide repentance and a genuine return to God, judgment is the only thing we can expect and quite possibly in the not too distant future!
From the prayer of Daniel, these words:
”To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.” -- Daniel 9:9-14 (KJV)
