Tag Archives: the USA

A Wall of Righteousness

Leave a reply

Ezekiel 22:30-31

I don’t know many people who would say they believe the US is on a healthy trajectory, whether monetarily, morally, or spiritually. Evil is called good. The economy is in the tank. The number of people who profess to be Bible believing Christians is dwindling, and what is scary is that some people think that’s a good thing.

A nation established under God has rejected Him. So we should not be surprised at what is happening here. Are we looking at the end?

God, through the prophet Ezekiel, told Israel why they were facing their own destruction. It was clearly God’s judgment for their unrepentant sin.

But God said something that made me think about our situation in 2022. He said:

I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one. So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. (Ezekiel 22:30-31)

A wall of righteousness that guards the land.

For 200 years the USA was blessed beyond any other nation in the world. Oh, it wasn’t perfect. But there was something different about this country that made it stand out. I believe it was a wall of righteousness; a core group of God-fearing believers who worshiped God and, because of their relationship with God, they prayed, read the Bible, and weren’t ashamed to call on God in private and in public.

I believe it was a wall of believers wearing Jesus’ righteousness that guarded the USA.

Oh, you can try to erase our spiritual history, deny the intent of our Founding Fathers. You can be foolish (or woke, which is the same thing in my book), and deny God’s grace and mercy on this land. But the truth is – America enjoyed years of prosperity and peace as a direct result of our dependance on God.

Somewhere along the way a crack appeared in the wall. But instead of repairing it, we ignored it, accepted it. It didn’t stay a crack, did it? It became a gaping hole which grew until the wall began to crumble. Is there any portion of the wall still standing today?

Dear Christian, if we want to see this amazing country of ours survive, we have got to rebuild the wall! You and I need to not just wear the righteousness of Jesus in the privacy of our own homes. We need to flaunt it. We need to wear it loud and proud.

I AM A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN!

I STAND FOR THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE!

I PRAY. I WORSHIP GOD ALONE.

I CHOOSE HOLINESS!

I FOLLOW JESUS AND WANT YOU TO FOLLOW HIM, TOO!

Can we join hands and hearts and pray for each other, our political leaders, our schools, our churches, our neighbors? Can we humble ourselves and pray God’s will be done in our own hearts, as well as in our country?

God was looking for SOMEONE to stand in the gap. Could that someone be you? I’m afraid if we don’t repair the wall of righteousness to guard this land, our future might look like that of Israel in the Old Testament.

Build the wall! It’s not too late.

Taking Us Down (Obadiah)

Leave a reply

One of Satan’s most effective weapons against God’s people is the sin of pride. You see examples of this many places in Scripture, like in the lives of Adam and Saul. You see it in history as nations have been brought down because of pride like in Hitler and Napoleon.

But Scripture also tells us how God views pride:

“See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. (Obadiah 2-4)

What is the best nation in the world? Who has the best economy, the best hospitals and universities, the strongest military, and the most successful citizens? For my entire life we could sing, “Proud to be an American,” knowing the USA was the best place on earth. The American dream was something that people of every nation wanted for themselves.

God is telling us that we who live on the heights and soar like eagles need to beware. The pride of our hearts can very well deceive us. I see this every time I turn on the news. But we who say to the rest of the world, “You can’t touch this,” need to understand that from there, God can and will bring us down.

I don’t believe God is speaking to unbelievers here. We Christians are not immune to the sin of pride. “My church is the best.” “My relationship with God puts me above you who do not have a relationship with Him.” “I’m a child of the King!”

It will only be God’s people humbling ourselves and seeking His face, that will save this country from going the way of Edom. It will only be because we have confessed our sinful pride and asked God to forgive us that the Church will be instrumental in keeping America a nation under God, blessed and protected by Him.

Dear one, we have got to be in God’s Word, on our knees grieved over sin in our own lives and in our nation, seeking God’s face and doing His will. Because if I read the signs correctly, God is getting ready to take us down.

2 Samuel 19-21; The Emporer’s New Clothes

2 Replies

So a worthless fellow, Sheba, blew a trumpet and announced, “David is not our king,” and 20:2 tells us all the men of Israel withdrew from following David, seemingly without having a thought of their own. I think Sheba may have been a reporter for CNN.

“Trump is not my president.”

And many Americans follow that opinion as though it were fact. The media blows a trumpet, and people quit thinking.

Chief Wahoo hurts my feelings. Get rid of him.

The Confederate flag is racist. Burn it.

Christopher Columbus never stepped foot on US soil. Erase him from our history.

Robert Lee, an Asian sports commentator, has a name like that of a Confederate general. Fire him.

We are living right in the middle of the Emporer’s New Clothes fable. We are naked, and parading around like we’re all dressed up for a party. I’ve lived through some embarrassing moments in history, but what is happening today is beyond embarrassing. It might very well be the end of this country so many have died to establish and protect.

Christian, let’s continue to pray for sanity to return to our nation. Let’s continue to speak up for rational thinking and against emotionally controlled actions, let’s speak up for the Truth of Scripture, for patriotism. Let’s stop getting our news from FaceBook, and start to question everything we are hearing from the media. There are two sides to every story. Are we afraid the facts might prove us wrong?

God can heal this land. It’s up to us Christians to humble ourselves, to confess our sin, and to turn back to Him. There is no other hope for the USA.

April 24 – The Church: A Laughingstock

Leave a reply

Psalms 43-45, 49, 84-84, 87

43:1 caught my attention right away this morning: Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

Genderless public bathrooms? That’s just the latest insanity running rampant in our ungodly nation.

I want every Christian in America to read this psalm and let it be our anthem. So much is happening these days to undermine decency and truth. (I just realized my spell-check doesn’t recognize the word “Christian.”  What’s up with that?) It’s tempting to throw up our hands in defeat.

Let this be our prayer: O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead (us). (verse 3, emphasis mine) It goes on to say our hope is in God.

44:13-16 describes where the Church is today. We’ve become a reproach to our neighbors, labeled as judgmental haters. The psalm continues to say we are a “scoffing and a derision to those around us,” a laughingstock.

Christians are not taken seriously. We are a joke to those who declare themselves to be “enlightened” or “progressive.”

Dear one, let’s allow God’s light and His truth lead us. Let’s hope in God alone. Let’s not cower because some have said what we know to be true according to Scripture is old fashioned or irrelevant or laughable.

Oh God, may You find us faithful in the face of an ungodly nation, in the hands of deceitful and unjust men. Lead us by Your Truth. And may Your will be done in the hearts of Your children, and through us in this great nation.

A Modern-Day Jezebel

Leave a reply

Ahab and Jezebel’s story as recorded in I Kings 20 reminds me of what is happening in the US these days. Evil people want our land, they want control over what was a nation under God. So they’ve invited us to a “feast”. They lie about Christians, villainize us so that the Truth we stand for looks like evil. They say we blaspheme a loving god when we tell them Jesus is the only Truth. They hate us but convince themselves it is we who hate them. And we, like Naboth, don’t recognize the danger we’re in. We’ve joined their party and it’s going to cost us everything.

That’s been Satan’s strategy since the Garden. He’s had a lot of practice and he’s good at getting into our heads. He’s a master at distorting the truth. And he makes sin look normal, pleasing, harmless, our right.

Naboth was killed in the end. Our civilization is dying, too. And we, like Naboth, are just sitting here dining with the enemy and not defending ourselves. Remember, our enemy is not flesh and blood, but Satan, anti-christ philosophy. And if we don’t stand up to the people who are robbing us of our land, we will lose it all.

Father, I pray you will raise up men and women who not only know you and the Truth of Scripture, but who will stand up in Jesus’ name to defend it. I pray that you will lay on the hearts of godly people the desire to get involved in our political system and reclaim the US for a nation built upon you. Help us to recognize Satan’s lies, to be discerning hearers of the news, to speak up in love, and draw all men and women to you. I pray for this once-great nation. May we repent of the sins of ourselves and our leaders and call on you to heal our land.

September 11

6 Replies

Psalms 118, 129, 148, 149, 150; Ezra 6:19-22; Zechariah 9:1-10

I was standing in front of my sixth grade class when our secretary came to the door and asked me to step into the hall. I knew something was wrong by the look on her face. As head of the AV department I knew how to operate the school’s classroom TV’s from our hub in the main office. She wanted to know how to turn on the office TV without turning on all the TV’s in the school. A plane had hit one of the Twin Towers and it was all over the news.

Do you remember where you were the moment you heard about the terrorist attack on our country? Thousands of people spent the last minutes of life in unspeakable panic while the rest of us watched helplessly.

I couldn’t help but think of that day when I read Psalm 118 this morning.

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.”

“The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

“The Lord is with me, he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.”

I wish I could say that our country heard the wake-up call and turned back to God after that awful day. I wish Satan had been defeated. But I look around and see even more godlessness, more lies, more depravity than I saw before 9/11.

What’s wrong with us? How could we let those dear people die in vain?

Dear Christian, let’s continue to pray for our nation. We have seen what can happen when God removes his protection and I don’t want us to ever forget. Let’s pray for our President, for his relationship with the Savior, for wisdom, for honesty and truthfulness. Let’s pray for our Legislators. Pray that those who know God will stand for the truth of Scripture. Pray that the decisions they make won’t be based on a party policy, but on what God says. Pray for our military that God would strengthen those brave men and women who know him and are serving our country to protect our freedoms. Pray for their families whose sacrifice is equally as important. Pray that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit will change lives in government, in the military, in the media, in our towns, in our churches, and in our homes. Pray that Satan would be defeated in the hearts of Americans and, in turn, our great country. Pray that God will bless America with himself because he has found us faithful. 

And pray for the families and loved ones of those whose lives were lost or whose bodies were broken on 9/11 and in the war in the Middle East since that day. May they allow God to be their comfort and strength and may each of them… each of us who call America our home… bow before our Holy God and realize our need of him. Only then can we truly be that nation under God.

I will give thanks to the Lord for he is good. He may have removed his protection that day but he did not remove his love. Men can do unspeakable crimes against each other as we saw on 9/11 but they can’t kill my soul or take away God’s grace from my life. And, although Satan may have won that particular battle through those terrorists, he cannot win the war he’s declared on our God.

It’s a spiritual war we are in, but it often shows itself in bombs and chemicals and crashing airplanes. America, let’s be counted as followers of the God of Creation. Let’s side with the victors, those who follow Christ. Then we can say with the Psalmist: 

The Lord is with me, he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.

 

September 3

2 Replies

Daniel 8:1-27, 5:1-31, 99:1-27; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23

What stood out to me today as I read these verses was the fact that Daniel prayed for the nation of Israel. Really prayed.

He didn’t just say, “God bless America”. I mean “Israel”. He didn’t slide over a quick, “Be with the President”. I mean “King”. Daniel went to God with a broken heart and confessed the sins of the nation that was built on God’s laws.

Most of you who read this blog live in the USA. We are a nation that was built on Biblical principles by men who acknowledged the Creator God. How the mighty have fallen.

I might be preaching to the choir, but I’m thinking Christians might need to spend more time praying for our great nation. I know I do.

I hate politics, avoid reading world news, and turn the TV station if people begin spouting opinions about what needs to happen to solve our problems. But if I hide my head in the sand I can’t pray specifically for our country or the world.

The threat of chemical warfare in Syria is frightening. But what about the chemical warfare we have in our own country against unborn children? Thousands of innocent American babies are slaughtered every day with chemicals that tear them from their mother’s wombs. I don’t see the media or the president up in arms about that.

“God bless the USA” just doesn’t get to the heart of things, does it?

Daniel knew the sins that needed to be confessed. He went to God with specific requests based on what he knew to be true. I think God would welcome the same kind of prayers from us – no matter where we live.

Pray, America. Really pray. We are a nation that was once blessed by God because our leaders honored him. Let’s determine to be informed citizens who take to God our specific requests for our nation and our world. It really is up to us, dear Christian friends. 

Dear God, we are a sinful nation. From our entertainment, to our greed, to our indifference, to our legislators who would force you out of our country, we have turned our back on you and deserve your wrath. I pray that your Holy Spirit would melt the hearts of men and women who today are hardened. I pray for the salvation of our President, his advisors, national, state, local governments. I pray for an outpouring of your Spirit on the media, in the classrooms, in our homes. May we return to the foundation on which this nation was built. Like Daniel I would pray, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because (this country and your people once honored you)”. May we honor you once more.