America Awake

"He is no fool
who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose."
(Jim Elliot)
martyred missionary to the Auca Indians in South America

America Awake:


In Second Chronicles there is a chilling scripture
which sounds the alarm in our own times:

“For the eyes of the Lord
run to and fro
throughout the whole earth,
to show himself strong
on behalf
of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
In this
you have done foolishly;
therefore
from now on you shall have wars.”

How many uplifting sermons have we all known
in which so aptly make reference to the first part of this verse
while paying little or no attention to the warning
of the latter half.
Some years ago I remember reading an article
written by the Russian author Alexander Solzienietzen
entitle America Awake!
In it he warned of the communist plot to overthrow our society
not by military might, but by a subtle war from within.
He claimed that the then Soviet Union
was supporting a variety of initiates in the United States
that would foster and contribute to the moral decline
of our populace, in that way
assuring our demise as a world power.
How perceptive of a nation that had no spiritual fervor
to have such spiritual insight.
Our nation is currently engaged in a war for its survival.
America is under siege!
Tens of millions of Americans
seem ensnared with an evil mindset.
The evidence is everywhere we look:
Crime, Abortion, Divorce, Violence, Suicide, Drug Addiction, Alcoholism, Teen Pregnancy, Youth Violence, Lust, Pornography, Fornication, Adultery, AIDS, and Sodomy and the list goes on…
all run rampant in our society.

1But realize this, that in the last days
difficult times will come.
2For men will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,
revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy,
3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power;
Avoid such men as these.
6For among them are those
who enter into households
and captivate weak women
weighed down with sins,
led on by various impulses,
7always learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:1-7 NASB

Political leaders and celebrities engage
openly in sinful lifestyles, “winking at sin”
and their popularity polls soars.
The media carries sordid sex, violence,
and a humanistic Madison Avenue message
nightly into our homes;
and much of the Church of Jesus Christ is there watching.
Many churched youth are being encouraged,
even by leaders within the church, to emulate the things of the world,
and to embrace what is happening in Hollywood,
more than they are being disciplined in God’s Word and God’s ways.
Because we have become
a corrupt, compromised and lukewarm church...
we have done foolishly, and our streets,
even are homes have become war-zones.
“Wait a minute!”...some would quickly say,
“how is this the fault of the church?”
“Isn’t our current social problems a result
of unbelievers, government and corrupt institutions?”
We as believers have been charged by Jesus Christ
to be agents for righteous change in our world,
rather than agents, changed by the world!
We have to respond to the mandate of the Lord
to change the world around us.
As in heaven, so on earth!
Many believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in America
have become, for the most part, a Laoidicean Church
who have fallen away from their “first love” (See Revelation 3:14-22)
We strut our sinful ways
cloaked in a Egyptian garment of spirituality,
as we compliment one another
on the “good works” we have done for the kingdom of God;
while in the quiet of out minds
we engage in greed, lust, idolatry and a spiritual high-mindedness,
from which we were called to be separated.
We feel we are “rich and wealthy and have need of nothing;
not realizing that in God’s eyes
we are poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked
to the truth of our fallen condition.” (Rev. 3:17)

13And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:13 NASB

Our nation is at a crossroad, and I believe
it is the people of God in this nation
who will determine her destiny.
Only a desperate and sincere cry from the people of God
can avert the full force of the consequences of our sin
that we as a nation deserve.
In God’s mercy, longsuffering and grace
He continues to call us to repentance and restoration,
just as He did with His people Israel;
but are we listening?...
is even the bride of Christ aware of her sinful state?
The people of God need to take a hard look
at their priorities and their lifestyles.
They need to cry out to a merciful God
to have their eyes opened to the sin
which so easily besets them.................”
Search my heart O God...led me in the way everlasting.”

“ If my people who are called by my name
will humble themselves,
and pray
and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and forgive their sin,
and heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7:14

What a promise, hinged on a very small word “if”
and some very exacting conditions:

humble themselves:

pray

seek after God

turn from evil

America Awake!
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