Thus says the LORD         

When will we wake up? 

Now compare and contrast the above lessons with these statistical graphs.  The correlation between the removal of school prayer (Murray vs Curlett, 1963) and various moral indicators is quite strong, as you can see. 

The above graphs come from an in-depth, on-line analysis regarding school prayer.  These findings support the concern that people in this nation are perishing without Christ.  Who was supposed to be the salt and light?  

We are.

Doesn't this show us that our current direction carefully laid out by many of our Christian leaders is dead wrong? 

Yes. 

The answer is in the Bible.  No compromise on God's values.  Popular or unpopular, tell the truth, warn of God's judgment.  As the graphs show, judgment is already here.  As the Bible says in multiple places, God will 'turn us over to our sin'.  When will it become overwhelming? 

If God is a loving God, He should hurt us as much as may be necessary to turn us from our sin and to seek Him with repentance.  Our complacency and love of money and pleasure is calling for His response. 

Only if we repent, will we have the hope of eternity with Him. 

Why do we ask God to judge us, as we are doing today?  We should be on our hands and knees, crying out for His mercy.  We must be witnessing to our neighbors and our fellow supposed Christians, many who may actually be perishing.  

Why do we need judgment?  And what may be seen as judgment currently in this society?

• sexually transmitted diseases are worse than that seen in the graph to 1993 (a form of judgment), HIV is increasing as are others
• school shootings, unheard of till recently
• rat race, taking no time to study God's Word and His will for our lives (God tells us to 'be still and know' that He is God)
• terrorism, we have become the evil empire.  Muslims in their misguided zeal want to punish our hypocrisy and we should expect worsening of this horror.  Even domestic terrorism occurs, we have turned on ourselves.
• divorce, God hates divorce.  The clergy accept it.  Families are destroyed.   Children have no role models.  We pay.
• money, love of it has brought us where we are today. 
• cable & entertainment, we export more trash than anyone else yet we say "In God We Trust" on our dollars.  God will not allow His name to be dragged through the mud.  Look out, we have asked for it!!!
• God's love for us- to save us from eternity in Hell
• the church has become a friend to the world, which should be our enemy; Christian leaders employ worldly 'wisdom' instead of following our instruction Book!
• worship should praise God, not be directed toward our own personal, warm, fuzzy experience during a worship service- He alone is worthy of praise and honor and glory.
• we quickly jump all over the homosexual agenda (which deserves to be condemned) but at the same time we fail to point out the adultery and divorce that is eating through our society.  We point fingers at specific sins that are easier to find those among us who agree and overlook the obvious.

In summary, God is just.  As George Washington said: ..."and his justice cannot sleep forever." 

God will not continue to withold His wrath from we who claim to know Him but don't follow His directions and even actively offend Him, our God!

We are under judgment, how much more will it take for us to fall on our faces to repent?  If we choose not to do that, we will regret that decision.   The sooner the better.  Ninevah repented.  Other examples did not.   They found themselves utterly destroyed with much bloodshed and suffering.   God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Pray for repentance, starting with yourself (myself) and then search the scriptures for our way out of this mess.  Here is a hint:

We have God's Word.  We have no excuse.    

God is not just our only hope; God is also our greatest threat.
                                                                  Dr. Adrian Rogers

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