Saturday, October 04, 2008

IS AMERICA READY TO REPENT, YET? PROBABLY NOT!

Many North Americans, citizens of the US of A, will agree that America needs to repent. America has been on a downward slide for 100 years. At her prime, this great nation saw herself as a Christian nation. That did not mean everyone was a Christian; it meant that her values and decisions were influenced by Christianity.

Not anymore.

Not even close.

We are a shadow of what we once were.

I really thought that the current economic "crisis" would be enough to cause us to repent. AIDS did not do it; droughts did not do it; storms have not swayed us. Terrorist attacks almost did it, but not quite. Failed wars, politically known as "conflicts," did not do it. So I thought massive bankruptcies and foreclosures would lead us to repentance. And perhaps yet it will.

But it seems that Americans have replaced a strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with a faith in the government. Let the government bail us out! Let the government fix our poor spending habits. America, you have sold your soul for a mess of porridge.

Now I fear that we will turn our hearts farther away from the God who calls out to us and we will vote for men and women (both congress and the presidency) who will lead us farther away from the once-solid foundations that characterized America. Why? Because we no longer have spiritual discernment. We think with our wallets, not with our brains and hearts. And we will forget the pressing issues that really matter. So we call for "change," but not the kind of change that the word "repentance" means. "Repentance" means a change of your mind/heart that leads to a change in one's behavior. But we want a change in government, not in ourselves. After all, it's far easier to lay blame on external sources than to accept our mess as one we have created.

If America is to thrive, America must repent. And we better be about it soon.

Let's pray for repentance and revival in America.