Yes, Church, we could still turn America around, Yes, but it would cost. And we need a George Whitefield. Or two or three.

A great exertion, a great commitment of time, by a great number of God's people, especially the pastors, really could very possibly turn this nation around even at this very very late hour. If we dropped everything else that could at all conceivably be dropped, and that's got to be a lot more than we think we can drop, did some fasting, did a lot of praying, and tried to coordinate our efforts with one another across the nation, surely we would be a formidable spiritual army. Surely.

We all see it don't we?  The dire need of it I mean.  I open the internet to all kinds of everyday trivia, how to roast the best Thanksgiving turkey, what's the best brand of makeup, where's the best place to retire, and the dissonance makes me a bit crazy.   Maybe it creates enough of an illusion of Normal Times to put a bunch of us to sleep?    I'd love to drift away on the illusion myself, I'm not looking forward to what's coming on this nation.

When God plans to bring Revival, they say, "He sets His people to praying," so if they don't feel the urge to pray then it must not be God's will.  So what do we do, have our perfect Thanksgiving turkey, lean back and watch the nation go down under His judgment?  I guess we could, you know, if that's His will.  But how can it be His will?  Really?

I went to Sermon Audio and clicked on "Sermons by Date" just to see what was being preached this month,   Some of the titles are obscure but most look like Preaching as Usual.  Probably many good sermons for the growth of Christians, certainly the necessary work of pastors, but forgive me if I say this is not the time for that, we have a nation to save.

I know most of us have given up.  We know the nation is already under judgment but we've given up.  I guess we're not feeling it enough yet, or maybe we just can't tolerate the news so we've gone into ostrich mode, or maybe we just don't know what to do.  Shouldn't the pastors be more like the Black-Robed Regiment these days, dedicated to preserving the nation against the tyrannical foe of freedom?  Any Christians can do something of course, like Christine Weick I mentioned in a recent post, but shouldn't it be the pastors leading us?  They put together a meeting in Houston to respond to the mayor's encroachment on their freedom in the pulpit, but it was just a few hours.  Maybe it had something to do with ushering this great conservative wave into Congress, but nothing much seems to have been happening since.  We've even had the abomination of a Muslim imam "praying" in Congress since then, and also in the National Cathedral.  Not a peep out of our leaders that I'm aware of, though the usual ministries took note of it.   They send out their usual scary news stories and warnings and exhortations, but otherwise not much seems to be happening.

Some are focusing this in a different direction.  No mention of the imam in Congress but we don't really have to get upset about the National Cathedral because after all the Episcopalian Church has been apostate for a long time already, nothing unusual about having an imam there.  The idea seems to be Therefore it's nothing to get all worked up about.  Well, OK, but that's the church where Presidents have their most high-profile religious events, such as  Bush's ecumenical prayer meeting for the nation after 9/11.  This is the church that has positioned itself to be representative of the nation, so anything that calls it down for its apostasy is a good thing.

We also shouldn't just be engaged in lamenting the darkness, this trend of thought goes, but in actively doing something, and the something we should actively be doing is taking the gospel to the Muslims.   I'm not sure why this is an either/or but it seems to be.  I can agree that among all the tasks I'd list for what the Church should be doing now that we're not doing anywhere near enough, taking the gospel to the Muslims should rank fairly high.  But I put saving the nation above that myself, because if we can't save the nation the Muslims are going to rule us.  And Revival would go a long way toward accomplishing both forms of salvation.

Seems to me the important thing to keep in mind is that all this is God's judgment on the nation, it's already here, the imam in our government buildings, so many Muslims in the nation too, and saving the nation means moving God to forgive and renew us.  Starting with the Church, where judgment begins.

Interestingly, just as a side note, Norway has been deporting its illegal aliens for a while now, which means Muslims, and their crime rate has been reduced by a third as a result.  France should do the same as Muslims are trashing the city of Marseilles.  This isn't the Christian solution of evangelizing them but I'm not sure there's anything wrong with deporting criminals from a Christian point of view either.  A safe society is the responsibility of government, and ours is rapidly losing all sense of that duty.  The original Christian colonies of America had strict laws against foreign or nonChristian intrusion and influence, and the Black Regiment of pastors preached for, and then fought for, freedom in the Revolutionary War, because political freedom is necessary for all the projects of Christianity from spreading the gospel to providing a Christian moral environment. 
>
I often think it's too late, and I know others think the same, that all we can do now is prepare for the disaster, for the persecutions, for horrors upon horrors to come.

But you know what, it isn't too late.  It's only too late because we aren't going to do anything, not because it isn't possible to do something.  Again, are we or are we not "Terrible as an army with banners" as the Church is called in the Song of Songs?.  Right now we don't seem too terrible, but there's no reason we couldn't come to live up to our name.  Hooray for every Christian who is doing something already, but I think it's the pastors across the nation who need to be organizing this, leading this, preaching it, exhorting it.  It would take dedication, time, stripping our lives of everything else, some fasting, a lot of prayer, a lot of seeking the Lord for guidance and wisdom, a lot of coordination with the rest of the Church, a lot of prayer for each other, for all the pastors, a lot of denouncing the sins of the churches and separating from those who are in serious error, a lot of praying for cleansing of the Church, a lot of praying against the sins of the nation after the sins of the Church are dealt with.   

I Stand Sunday wasn't enough.  We need every Sunday, and really every day, dedicated to the work that's cut out for us. 

And we need a George Whitefield.