Thomas Jefferson was moved to remark: "My God! How little do my
countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession
of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!" NOT until
drought, famine, and supernatural disasters strip our cupboards
bare, and EMPTY our grocery shelves, will we know how good we've
had it! Only when America goes hungry, will she remember how
full she was!
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed April 30, 1863, as a
NATIONAL DAY OF FASTING, HUMILIATION AND PRAYER, and spoke these
words: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of
heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and
prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no
other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have
forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and
multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly
imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of
our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too
self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and
preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It
behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power,
to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and
forgiveness."
God heard and answered those prayers! Judgment was forestalled.
But where's a leader today with the moral courage and spiritual
vision, to strongly recommend that "We, the People" humble
ourselves and pray, let alone fast? We've got to have our three
meals a day, with plenty of snacks in between! But DROUGHT is
going to force us to fast! God's going to suddenly withhold the
rain, in various parts of our countries, destroying our crops.
Floods will rot the rest (Amos 4:7-8)!
We're supposed to enjoy a reciprocal relationship with God, but
we haven't. Since we've failed to offer up prayers, God's not
going to send down rain! Both our parched land and lives NEED
God's Holy Spirit! We've got to learn the spiritual relationship
between the heavens and the earth - they're interdependent!
We need to fast and pray, now, to be spared from further misery:
"if My people who are called by my Name (Christian countries)
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 heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).
Instead of becoming a model-nation we've become a STRIPPER!
We've taken all the fine things that God's given us and laid
them out before foreigners (Hos. 2:1-13)! We've squandered our
time and energy in pagan ways and heathen practices! Therefore,
God's going to STRIP AWAY OUR PEACE AND PROSPERITY! We're going
to be left exposed to the elements and stripped bare before
NAKED AGGRESSION! Since we refuse to return to God, we'll be
sent back into SLAVERY!
We're a nation of DRUNKS AND WHORES - so God's going to let us
hit bottom so hard it'll appear we'll never bounce back! God's
no longer going to enable us to carry on in our ways, drinking
ourselves to death and dying for sex! We've gone from bad to
worse: "You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You
have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused
to return" (Jer. 5:3).
We've become so hard-hearted, so cold and cruel, nothing seems
to faze us anymore, but God's taking away His protective shield
(Isa. 5:5). We're going to be ravaged by the weather and our
enemies! But we don't attribute the dramatic increase in
"natural disasters" and crazy weather to a spiritual upheaval.
We fail to see any connection between our land and our lives,
even though Solomon was wise enough to know there's a link (1
Kgs. 8:35-40). We should realize that nature doesn't have a mind
of its own, but can be used by our Creator to get us thinking
(Jer. 5:20-25).
God says because He's called us on many different occasions, and
we've refused to answer; we've broken the olive branch every
time He's extended it; we've flatly rejected what He's advised
us to do, and didn't want to be told we weren't living right -
laughing at God's people as old-fashioned, and making fun of
them for believing the Bible and thinking they're crazy for
warning about Europe (who will deal the death blow to our sick
and dying country) instead of taking them seriously: "I also
will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your terror
comes... When distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will
call upon me, but I WILL NOT ANSWER; they will seek me
diligently, but they will not find me" (Prov. 1:24-33).
Who likes a fair-weather friend? Who's willing to play second
fiddle to anyone or anything in a right relationship? Does God
want us to only look Him up when we're short on cash or need to
get out of jail? Is God impressed with our attention when all
our distractions have been stripped away? When we can finally
hear Him and listen to what He has to say because we no longer
own a loud stereo or television set (because our homes have been
blown up, destroyed or looted)? CONCENTRATION CAMPS will help us
to learn to THINK again!
As our CREATOR, God's going to dispatch the forces of nature to
bring His Message home! "And there will be signs in the sun, in
the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's
hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those
things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the
heavens will be shaken" (Lk. 21: 25-26).
When Earth's equilibrium's off and nature appears to have gone
off the deep end; terrifying tidal waves crash into cities,
batter our coastlands and sweep away towns; unbelievable
earthquakes strike that make today's troubles seem like mere
tremors; droughts occur that suck out every ounce of moisture
from the air; and on and on with NO RELIEF in sight - people are
going to break! Some will be literally scared to death!
We need to WAKE UP and realize this is all symptomatic of our
sick condition! Earth reflects our relationship with Heaven. The
reason we experience upset weather is because there's a
SPIRITUAL UPHEAVAL in our lives! These bizarre acts of creation
warn us we're out of sync with the Scriptures!
WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT IT? Will we remain ignorant and
indifferent and die, or turn around as a people and nation and
save ourselves from suffering further consequences for
disobedience?(Dan. 9:11.) God help us to see it's only going to
get worse if we don't get better. God help us to be spared from
national destruction, defeat and deportation!
About the author:
David Ben-Ariel, an American author who has travelled widely and
who has lived throughout Israel, shares a special focus on the
Middle East and great interest in Jerusalem, reflected in
hard-hitting articles that help others improve their
understanding of that troubled region. Check out www.benariel.com
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