America in Crisis

America In Crisis

            It was one of those great moments in American sports.  Maybe some of you remember a baseball player, the center fielder for the Chicago Cubs.  The Cubs were playing the Dodgers on April 25 in 1976.  During the fourth inning William Thomas and his son ran out onto the field and attempted to set fire to the American flag.  They doused it with lighter fluid and their first match was blown out by the wind. That gave center fielder Rick Monday just enough time to sprint over and swipe the flag away and carry it to safety.  It was a touching moment.

            I will always remember what followed as a very proud moment for America.  The scoreboard lights congratulated Rick Monday:  “Rick Monday…you made a great play.”  It was truly a 'goose-bump' moment.  A whole stadium filled with patriotic Americans began to sing 'God Bless America'.    

            Americans have proven throughout their history that times of difficulty bring unity, not division. 

·        On tax day, April 15^th, 2013, Americans rallied to support the families of the innocent who were wounded or killed at the Boston marathon.  We all shared the pain.

·        I was only a second grader when my father picked me up at school and as we traveled home he told me of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  It was a devastating moment but Americans came together in our moment of tragedy.

·        I will never forget traveling south on 185 toward Baker High School in 1990 and watching our troops from Fort Benning head north in a convoy of busses that stretched for miles.  The residents of Columbus lined every bridge from Macon Road to Fort Benning and waved yellow ribbons and cheered as we sent our young soldiers off to war.  On that day I was so proud to be an American.

·        In 2001 I was teaching at Duluth High School in Atlanta and a teacher came to my room and suggested I turn on the television.  The terrorists had struck the twin towers in New York City.  The flow of food, water, medical supplies, prayer and sympathy into the streets of New York from all across this nation made me proud to be an American.

·        In 2005, hurricane Katrina affected 15 million as it decimated the city of New Orleans.  Youth groups from across America traveled to the area to assist in the clean up and show their support for fellow Americans in trouble and I was proud to be an American.

·        Americans came together after school shootings in Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook.  There is something very, very special about Americans.

            Now Americans are facing a different kind of crisis.  It is covert.  It is subtle.  It is slowly creeping upon us like a fog in the night.  Many Americans are unaware of the danger our country faces.

            Let me preface the rest of what I want to say with this:  I love America.

·        I love the Bill of Rights.  There is no other document in history that so adequately defines the limits of government.

·        I love the Statue of Liberty.  She has always stood with open arms to welcome the oppressed to our shores.

·        I love the Constitution because it ensures justice to the accused.  It gives us a right to an attorney, a right to protect ourselves, a right to prohibit the government from invading the private space of our homes and offices.

            I love America.  I love living in the greatest land on earth.  I love being a citizen of this great country.

            That being said it is with great sadness that I recognize that the America is in deep trouble.  Maybe George Carlin captured it well when he wrote:

            “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

            We spend more, but have less.  We buy more, but enjoy less.

            We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

            We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

            We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

            We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often.

            We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.  We’ve added years to life not life to years!

            We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

            We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

            We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.”

            There is a verse in the Bible that summarizes America’s dilemma:  “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” – Psalm 9:17

            Ronald Reagan said this:  “If we ever forget that we are 'One Nation Under God,' then we will be a nation gone under.” - Ronald Reagan

            There are multiple diseases eating away at the soul of America.  We ignore the advice of the Great Physician to our own peril.  There are dark clouds gathering on the horizon, not just because we have forgotten God, but because we are in open defiance to God.

             "…The Lord spoke to Job out of the storm."   The problem is not that God has not spoke, the problem is that we are not listening.

1.  We are diseased financially.  

            America is financially bankrupt.  We have placed all our trust in the almighty dollar and we’ve forgotten the slogan we wrote there:  “In God we Trust”.

            The federal government borrows forty cents for every dollar it spends. 

Our government has managed to rack up $15 trillion in debt.  A figure so large it has no meaning whatsoever to most Americans. The National Debt is four times the size of the American economy. We are increasing American Debt at a rate of $4 billion per day. 

            I would suggest to you that what we are doing is immoral and unjust.  We are stealing away the money of our children and grandchildren and this act of cowardice will not go unanswered.

            We now live in a nation where takers outnumber givers.  It was Patrick Henry who said:  “Give me liberty or give me death!”  It wasn’t long until we were just saying, “Give me liberty”.  Now we only say “Give me”.

3.  We are diseased morally.

            “Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a reproach (a disgrace) to any people.” – Proverbs 14:34  The terrorist will never destroy America but sin very well may.

            90% of America’s Christians are sending their children into secular schools.  Will you hear a word of caution?  If God is the source of all wisdom and the Bible is his method of conveying his wisdom to mankind, and the Bible is prohibited in public schools…how effective can government schools be??

            Christians who have no other choice than to send their kids to government schools must be actively providing their children with an alternative, biblical worldview.

            There are symptoms of crisis in America when:

·        A child is punished at school for saying grace over a meal.

·        A teacher’s job is terminated because he used the Bible as a resource in the classroom.

            Noah Webster, the father of American Education once said that education is “useless without the Bible.”

            There are symptoms of a moral crisis in America when:

·        Our textbooks condemn Hitler for the bloody murder of 6 million Jews but we indoctrinate our young women to believe that aborting their unborn is a noble and admirable thing to do.

·        We have murdered as many as 55 million babies over the last 40 years since our Supreme Court twisted and warped the constitution in order to condone such an atrocity.

            I remember when an unborn child within the womb was a precious, human life.  Now it is disposable material to be eliminated at our own convenience.  The unborn baby is looked upon as an inconvenience that is intruding upon our lifestyle rather than a miraculous event where God has planted one human life within another.

            Jesus said, “If any of you cause one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for you to be cast into the sea with a millstone tied around your neck.” – Matthew 8:6

           

            Our young girls are being told by a godless culture that if they don’t offer themselves sexually they will never be loved. The music our young men listen to badgers them to use drugs and become violent and disrespect women and the female body.

We are suffering a moral crisis in America:

·        Pornography now produces more money than all the sports events in the entire nation combined.

·        30% of women, 79% of men and 54% of pastors view porn on television or the internet.  Pornography shatters marriages and destroys the God-sanctioned institution of family.

            NEA spokesman to the United Nations, Dianne Schneider, said that the only way to combat heterosexism is to teach sexual pleasure and tolerance to “every middle and high school student.”  She said that those opposed to homosexuality are “stuck in a “binary box that religion and family create.”

            We have redefined marriage to be what we want it to be rather than what God wants it to be. We have redefined love to mean:  I accept you the way you are and you can stay the way you are.

            God’s definition of love is:  I accept you as a sinner but I demand a change in your life. To those who embrace the immorality of the present age may we say this:  “God loves you as you are but he loves you too much to leave you as you are.”

            Isaiah 5:20  “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”

3.  We are diseased spiritually.

            "America wants God's blessing but not God. Our nation has systematically pushed Him out of the national consciousness -- rejecting biblical morality, ignoring His Word, and relying on the political and entertainment arenas for moral guidance." – John MacArthur

            Youth are abandoning the church by droves. 46% of Americans between ages 18 to 34 say they have no religion. Many who call themselves Christians no longer hold the traditional Christian beliefs.

            Paul advised Timothy to avoid those who “have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.” – 2 Tim. 3:5

            Oprah Winfrey has done a fabulous job of convincing 52% of American Christians that eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Jesus Christ. 57% of American Christians believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” 

But Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.  -  John 14:6

            We are living in a culture spiritually depraved.  45% of Americans say they seldom read the scriptures and yet they claim to know truth. We are diseased spiritually because we are not reading the word, we are not praying and we are not attending church.  Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church.

            “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”  - 2 Tim. 4:3

Conclusion:

            We have been in moments of crisis many times before and we successfully survived.  This is what we must do:

            1.  We must express individual repentance.  We must look into our own hearts and confess sin, confess hatred, bigotry and pride.

            “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways…” – 2 Chronicles 7:14

            2.  We need pastors who are willing to redefine what a successful church looks like.  We are not just trying to get people into church.  We are trying to get souls into the kingdom.  We don’t want to build our churches on marketing schemes.  We want to build our churches on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            3.  We need to humble ourselves and fall on our knees and ask God to restore and revive America.  God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for 10 righteous men.  He wants desperately to spare America. 

            Ronald Reagan once said, “No matter where we live we have a promise that can make all the difference.  A promise from Jesus to soothe our sorrows, heal our hearts and drive away our fears.  He promised there would never be a dark night that does not end.  ‘Our sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.’”

            Reagan continued:  “Now I realize that it is fashionable in some circles to believe that no one in government should encourage others to read the Bible that we are told that we will violate the constitution of church and state established by the founding fathers in the 1^st Amendment.  The 1^st Amendment was not written to protect people and their laws from religious values, it was written to protect those values from government tyranny…we must be cautious claiming that God is on our side, I think the real question that we must answer is, are we on God’s side.”

            If the Americans will turn away from humanism and back to God then the very gates of hell cannot prevail against her!

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

What Might God's Judgment For A Sinful Nation Look Like?

A distorted image of God has evolved in the minds of modern Americans. It's no longer acceptable to believe that God hates sin and that his justice demands sin be punished.  We eagerly embrace a God who created heaven but we soundly reject a God who warns of impending hell for the disobedient and rebellious.

God is love.  He is also a God of wrath.  A.W. Pink addressed this issue:   “The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin.” Put even more simply, Divine wrath is God’s righteous anger and punishment, provoked by sin.

God loves purity and hates sin.  There is a marvelous balance between his mercy and his justice, his compassion and his wrath.  “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” – Exodus 34:6-7

The wrath of God is measured in proportion to the sin that provokes it.  The wrath of God is a demonstration of his holiness, his sinlessness, his intense hatred for all things evil.  We, too, should hate sin as God hates sin.  As it is a stench in his nostrils so should it be in ours.  As it breaks his heart and stirs his anger so should it also break our hearts and stir our anger. 

In this post-modern age it’s just not cool to speak of God’s wrath.  It is the one attribute of God that we seem to be ashamed of.  We cover our lips and whisper of his wrath as if it is a character flaw.  We act like the children of a father with a gambling problem or a father who spends his weekends tipping the bottle and ignoring his family.  The truth is that the wrath of God affirms his holiness.  He would not be holy if he was incapable of love, nor would he be holy if he failed to demonstrate his hatred for all that is sinful and unholy. 

He demonstrates his love for us by sending his only begotten Son to hang on the cross and become a target for the wrath of the Father.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching he said to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)  While Jesus hung on the cross with the weight of the world’s sin on his shoulders, he was pummeled by the severe wrath of God.  Christ, in his humanity, was feeling the weight of the Father's wrath when he cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46)  

God is merciful and loving but even God’s rope has an end.  It’s not as if he boils with anger until he finally has a temper tantrum and explodes like a volcano.  God is never ‘out of control’ in his anger.  The Psalmist spoke of the endurance of God's mercy by indicating that it lasts all day long.  But at the end of the day God must be true to his nature.  He ceases to be God if he is all mercy and no justice or if he is all justice and no mercy.  God’s children, who rejoice in his love, may also rejoice in his wrath because it has provided us with salvation fro and it promises to place us beyond the reach of sin in the eternity to come.

What will God’s wrath for the sins of America look like?  Our culture has become more and more sinful and we have become a nation that has forgotten God.  Not content to lie in our own bed of corruption, we have provided a means for others to share in our sinfulness.  America used to export steel and textiles, now we export abortion and pornography.  There is a word in the book of Revelation for nations that do such things:  “"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." (Revelation 14:8)  There is no good ending for a nation that is proud and haughty, a nation arrogant enough to lift her fist to the face of God.  If only we would humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways, then he would hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Must we also “drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath” (Revelation 14:10) or shall we “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent?” (Revelation 3:3)

Millions are praying that America repent and turn its heart back to God.  But if we harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:8) as the Israelites did during their desert journey we, too, will invite the wrath of God.  What might the wrath of God look like?  In what ways could God bring a judgment that would turn our hearts toward him?

God might demonstrate judgment on a rebellious nation by allowing us to default on our debt.  Some of our Congressmen think default could be as near as five to ten years.  What would a bankrupt America look like?  Would it be Greece II?  Would suicides increase as people lose jobs and retirements they have worked for all their lives?  Will the next generation live by a lower standard of living because we have spent their future?  Will there be violence in the streets as lines form for the unemployed and the hungry? 

During a nationally televised debate presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declared an EMP attack “would literally destroy the country’s capacity to function.” (WND, Nov. 2011)  Electric Magnetic Pulse is generated by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere.  The pulse generated by the explosion can fry electrical grids and cut off energy to millions in our densely populated cities.  It may take months or years to rebuild and recover.  Economic activity would grind to a halt.  With no electricity the internet would shut down.  Cell phones could not be recharged.  Food would spoil and gas would lie useless in underground tanks.  During the darkest nights imaginable, crime would skyrocket.  The grocery shelves would empty in hours and chaos would reign.  The angel of death would sweep through the streets of our largest cities.

  God could demonstrate his wrath for our impenitence by allowing us to be victimized by nuclear or biological weapons.  If an illegal immigrant can so easily cross our southern border carrying a knap sack, a terrorist can cross the same border carrying a nuclear device in a brief case.  Our world will become more and more unstable if Iran gets a nuclear weapon.  Their success in doing so will only motivate Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to acquire nuclear weapons.  Imagine a successful terrorist plan to detonate nuclear weapons simultaneously in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

The Black Death destroyed 1/3 of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages.  In the early 1900’s the Spanish flu may have killed as many as 100 million people.  There are at least 20 nations who now belong to the biological weapons club.  (Federation of America Scientists Intelligence Resource Program)  Many of these nations are hostile and are capable of causing the death of millions.

God doesn’t cast missiles and release viruses on the disobedient masses.  He simply lifts his canopy of protection and allows the evil hearts of men to plan destruction for their enemies.   He allows us to realize the consequences of our own sin and disobedience. 

We must pray as Abraham Lincoln prayed for a nation in peril during the Civil War; “Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”  

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Truth About America (Part 5) What can we do?

I want to share hope with you because Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." The truth about America is that one day it will crumble just as all other great empires have throughout history. Countries and empires, like humans, are not immortal. They have a lifespan, a beginning and an end. Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall for Balshazzar, “you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.” America has cut deeply into the heart of God by making provision for horrendous sin among her people.
Our hope is found in the fact that we might delay his judgment. American Christians are like desperate men bailing water out of a sinking ship. We cannot prevent his judgment but perhaps we might delay it. There has always been a remnant of believers in every fallen civilization. Elijah the prophet had that ‘all alone’ feeling when he stood at Mt. Carmel and declared ““I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left…” (1 Kings 18:22) In times of discouragement God’s people often feel they are all alone. This is not true. God would later assure Elijah that he was NOT alone, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal” (1 Kings 19:18) Christian, who weeps for America, you are not alone. There is a remnant of millions who weep with you.
We believe we might delay God’s judgment because we know that he is “not willing that any should perish.” (2 Peter 3:9)
God has always preceded his judgment with an unfathomable mercy. God raised up Queen Esther for such a time as this. He used her to save her people from evil Haman. God sent Joseph into the land of Egypt where he was used to make preparations to save his family from the coming famine. God provided for the promotion of Daniel in the King’s court so that he would be in a position to prepare for the exile of his people to Babylon. God will extend his hand of mercy through the voices faithful to his calling.
What must we do?
1. Live right. "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself" (Daniel 1?8) It's not enough to simply know right from wrong. You must purpose in your heart not to defile yourselves with the sin of the culture.
Before you sit down at the computer…
Before you take that test…
Before you go out on a hot date…
Before you sit down to complete your income tax…
Before you turn on the television… purpose in your heart that you will not defile yourself.
Dwight Moody was visiting Britain in 1872 and he met a young evangelist named Henry Varley. As they sat on a park bench in Dublin, Varley remarked to Moody, "Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man that is fully consecrated to him." For four days Moody contemplated those words. They burned a hole in his heart and he could not escape them. He thought to himself, " With the help of the Holy Spirit, I'll be that man."
Purpose in your heart…By God's grace, “I'm not going to sin.”
b. We must pray.
"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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Let us not pray for laws to make abortion illegal, let us pray that the hearts of people will be changed so they no longer seek abortion.
Let us not pray for more laws to make pornography illegal, but let us pray that the hearts of people will be changed so that pornography will go out of business due to lack of interest.
Let us not pray for laws to legislate morality, let us pray for a people who are moral not because of man's laws written in a book, but because of God's laws written on their hearts.
c. We must let our light shine. The truth about America is that our culture has become exceedingly corrupt and sinful. It is not something we should be depressed about. consider it as an opportunity to let your light shine.
When I bought my wife's wedding ring I went into Shane's of Atlanta and looked at all the thousands of rings. It was overwhelming. But the salesman brought out a diamond and put in on a black velvet background. Wow! It was brilliant.
Our opportunity is to live the Christian life on the blackened background of a sinful culture. Your life will shine brilliantly for Christ's glory.
Works Cited:
1. Political Unrest in America - Kevin Swanson
2. Spiritual Decline of a Nation - Donna Kazenske
3. A Bankrupt Nation - Gerald Flury
4. When a Nation Implodes - Dr. Robert Jeffress
5. National Judgment - Russ Sukhia
6. What's Ahead for America - Ron Comfort

The Danger of Defying God: Is God Judging America?

‘Woe’ is a little three letter word filled with meaning and emotion. It means to ‘curse’ or to ‘damn’. It is the assignment of justice. The emotion behind the word may be anger, but it is also used with much sorrow. Think of those who were watching as the twin towers fell on 9/11. Their gasps and cries expressed shock and dismay. They were overwhelmed with sorrow at the loss of life within the towers as they crumbled to earth. Sorrow was finally followed by anger toward a cowardly enemy. This is the emotion Isaiah feels as he repeats this little word several times in chapter 5.

1. Greed for Material Things. “WOE to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: ‘Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.” (Isa. 5:8-9) God is declaring a judgment on the Jewish people because materialism had become their idol. They worshiped things rather than the Creator.

There are parallels between ancient Israel and modern America that cannot be ignored. We have become a very materialistic society. The accumulation of wealth has become our idol. We willingly sacrifice our families and our health at the altar of materialism.

Our houses have become desolate. Millions of homeowners have been foreclosed on in the last several years despite President Obama’s $75 billion plan to save homes. Our community (Columbus, Georgia) has many “fine mansions left without occupants.”

Because of their disobedience and betrayal God brought famine into the land.

2. Lust for Drunken Pleasure. “WOE to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.” (Isa. 5:11) God punished a society that had decided to replace worship of God with a lust for pleasure. We run after alcoholic beverages and various drugs to help relieve the pain and boredom in our lives. We pursue our own desires and have “no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.” (Isa. 5:12) These are cheap substitutes for the true Healer.

“There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the broken soul.” (African-American Spiritual)

The true God is patient and longsuffering but he cannot tolerate such disrespect indefinitely. So, God removed the restraints upon the Babylonians and they came into the land of Israel and carried them off into exile. “Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.” (Isa. 5:13)

It is not hard to imagine thirst and lack of water in this part of the country. Florida, Alabama and Georgia have been raging a water war for over 20 years. Lake Lanier is a huge lake north of Atlanta that serves the city and those inhabitants that live south along the Chattahoochee River. There are approximately 5 million people who draw from the lake before its waters reach my area. It is very difficult to determine how to divvy the water fairly. Complicating the matter is the fact that Georgia has suffered drought conditions over the last several years. Few Americans have ever felt real thirst and hunger and they feel very comfortable that these elements will always be available in abundance.

Has American society outdone all others in its ability and willingness to seek pleasure and ignore God? If God released the Babylonians upon the Jews because of their defiance will God not also release judgments upon Americans if we don’t repent and turn back to God? There is no ‘teacher’s pet’ in this formula. God’s justice will not allow him to judge sin in one culture and ignore it in another.

3. Sin of Defiance. “WOE to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes.” (Isa. 5:18) A cart rope was made of unbelievably strong material. Its purpose was to attach a loaded cart to a beast of burden. The people of Israel were like mules pulling a cartload of iniquity behind them. They loved their sin and expended a great amount of effort to drag it about wherever they went.

They said, “Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.” (Isa. 5:19) These people were defiant in their disobedience. They shook their fists in the face of God and challenged him to bring the judgment he promised. They said, “This is our sin. We love it more than we love you. What will you do about it?”

They were behaving as the Roman soldiers did when they spit upon Jesus and mocked him as he dragged his cross to Golgotha. “The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” (Luke 23:36-37) No good can ever come from mocking God. “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them” (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Our God, provoked to anger, is terrible in his wrath!

God forgive us for our arrogance. We sing, “God Bless America” and then assume that he will regardless of our own actions. We no longer hide our sinfulness and we have no shame for our evil ways.

Recently, a 56 year old man, scantily dressed in women’s underwear, boarded a passenger jet from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona. When he arrived in Phoenix he was escorted away. It was astonishing that this man would pull such a stunt but the attitude he revealed was beyond belief. He had no shame. He was not hiding his face from the cameras. He was proud to have his picture made and wanted all to see.
We have become “haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning”. (Romans 1:30) We foolishly shake our fist in the face of God. We dare him to prove himself by reacting to our challenge.

Christians must sound a warning as Isaiah did, “They have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people.” (Isa. 5:25-26)

It sounds dark and hopeless but it is not. There is a solution to the dilemma in which we find ourselves. “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.