Praying for the nation and this election

God could give us Hillary because the nation is under judgment.  The only answer to judgment is confession and repentance.  Praying for revival is always good but not without confession and repentance.  I'd like to see a Christian leader make a call for this kind of prayer, similar to Kay Arthur's call for revival prayer a few years ago.  But although she had people praying across the nation revival didn't come.  There has to be a spirit of confession and repentance and then maybe God will give us revival.   We have to confess the errors as God shows them to us in our own churches but also the errors of the liberal churches, the "social justice" churches, the self-esteem "seeker-sensitive" churches, the Emergent Church, the seventh-day Adventists, and any other errors we can think of.   And we could use some powerful evangelists like George Whitefield. 

Even if a few prayed like this it could make a difference.  The prophet Daniel after all prayed on his own and confessed all the sins of Israel as his own.  Fasting to various degrees would help too.

Anyway I'm taking this as my own project for the next few days.

Daydreaming about a committed and powerful Church that can take down this upstart Philistine culture by faith in God

I don't know how many pastors preached against homosexuality today as Michael Brown suggested they should and I was hoping they would, in support of those in Houston being harassed by the Gay Agenda.  I haven't seen any news on it, though maybe it's just early.  I hope a good number were involved. 

 

I'm wishing as usual that this could be a trend, and thinking of it as the only hope we have to actually do something against this tide of evil that's been flooding the land.  This is the work of Satan and we're his greatest enemy, supposedly, but here we sit as if gagged and bound.   I don't think I can stand any more analysis, we need action.  But what action?  We're paralyzed, and it's not completely clear why.  Just sitting around waiting for the end times prophecies to manifest as we see them developing all over the place. 

 

How I'd love to see the churches unite to preach down the issues of the day in one voice as a regular thing, from time to time, or since the times are so emergently bad drop everything else and preach and fast and pray in the same unison more often than that until God hears us.  Great revivals came about with daily prayer but just praying for revival now isn't going to do it because there's too much wrong that has to be faced down first.

 

Weak Church, divided Church, compromising apostasizing Church.

 

Well, Gideon didn't need big numbers, just a small number, and God.  Samson destroyed the Philistine temple bound and blind and all alone, with God.  David felled the Philistine giant all alone, with God.  I'd even point to the little state of Israel who, surrounded by giant Arab nations who want her dead, defeated them in the wars they started against her.  I have no doubt that was with God too.

 

So OK, a remnant of churches. we don't need big numbers, just the purest of the churches
Start with self-examination and repentance, strip down to essentials.

 

Keep hearing how tax-exempt status conferred by Big Brother has a stranglehold on the churches, so GIVE IT UP.  Without freedom to preach the truth it's not worth it.

 

Pray for the churches, against the apostasizing, against fear and weakness, pray for strength of faith

 

Concertedly, systematically, consistently Preach and Pray down:

• The Gay Agenda
• Push back against the sexual sins that are undermining the nation and led to the gay agenda, unmarried cohabitation, "sex education" the "freedom" of pornography, easy divorce and of course abortion; pray to restore respect for God's Law.
• Marxism and Political Correctness in general. Take a few weeks on this one
• Islam. A few weeks here too. Pray for the salvation of many Muslims out of that murderous satanic religion. Pray for strengthening of laws against such a subversive "religion."
• The Roman Church. Take a few weeks on this one too. This will divide the sheep from the goats.  That eyes would be opened to false doctrine, that Catholics be saved.
• Against all the cults, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Emergent Church, all of them, that eyes would be opened, people saved.
• And let's pray against the twisting of the Constitution and for some kind of reformation of the Supreme Court which is a major conduit for all these evils.

Keep up the self-examination and repentance, that's fuel for the work.

The list could grow quite a bit from here of course, and it may need to be rewritten, it's just meant to be an idea for how we could approach the problems.

Individuals can participate up to their ability even outside the church sessions.  Fasting helps.  Some can't do a complete fast, but just cutting back counts as fasting, cutting back on food but also on all the other comforts of life.  Turn off the TV except for the news programs, spend the time praying or reading up on the issues of the day that we're focusing on.  Eliminating specially loved foods and eating simple foods just for nourishment is a fast, you can do it as a version of Daniel's fast in Daniel 10:3 if you want, and that's one you can keep up for a long time.  If there's one thing I've discovered about fasting it's that it's important not to turn it into a hard and fast set of rules or deprive yourself of things that are only going to make you rebel and give up too soon. It's supposed to be a sacrifice but there's no point in pushing your limits or you can defeat the whole purpose. Eating half of what you'd normally eat at a given meal counts as a fast.  Make a sandwich, cut it in half and save half for another meal.  Do it for as many meals as you can;  do it for a few days in a row and you'll feel quite hungry.  But when you have to, go back to normal eating, then do it again when you feel you should.  Remember to pray though, the point of fasting is to clear the channels for prayer and especially for hearing from God, who will give wisdom for dealing with these issues we're praying about.

Just my daydream for today.

Update:

 Can't believe I forgot to mention that since revival could very well be the result of such a concerted effort by the Church, we need to pray that the phenomena the Charismatic Movement embraces won't dominate such a revival. Andrew Strom (see link top right of page) did a good job of proving that they are not Christian phenomena but commonly occur in Hindu settings, even under the evil guru Rajneesh. John MacArthur's Strange Fire Conference last year effectively debunked the claim that such phenomena have anything to do with the gifts of the Spirit given to the New Testament Church.

Nevertheless, such phenomena have often occurred in genuine revivals, even under Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield and Wesley, so they probably can't and shouldn't be totally suppressed. But they should be treated as aberrations, kept to the sidelines and not made the center of attention as if they are the whole point of the revival, which has often been the case in the "signs and wonders" charismatic fiascos such as the "Toronto Blessing," the Brownsville "revival," the Lakeland "revival" and whatever it is that has been going on in Redding California.

We want a Church full of people who resemble Jesus, and that is salt and light to the culture, not a Church that is breathlessly awestruck by physical manifestations.

Gay Agenda Preach-It-Down Sunday

I'm hoping pastors all over the country are getting the word out about Michael Brown's suggestion that they preach on homosexuality tomorrow, in solidarity with the Houston pastors whose Constitutional rights are being threatened by their current mayor, for preaching and otherwise promoting God's truth about homosexuality.

While any individual pastor might feel intimidated in spite of himself because of the aggressive tyrannical litigiousness of the Gay Rights people, it should help if a majority dedicate a Sunday to a concert of preaching on the same subject all at once, not to mention that that much concentration on a single issue could reach God's ear in a very effective way.

This is the first idea I've heard that gives me any hope whatever for dealing with the horrors of the times we are living through. The Church has seemed to be helpless to do anything about any of it. Our individual voices get muffled in the roar of Political Correctness, and of course intentionally suppressed as well.

AND LOTS OF PRAYER TOO: Although Christians pray about all these things, as individuals, in prayer meetings, in Bible studies and so on, nothing much has been happening.

THROW OUT THE ECUMENICAL ABOMINATION!

Why is nothing happening? I've written on what I think is a major dampening effect on our efforts to move the nation to repentance and move God to give us revival, and the main one is Ecumenical Prayer Gatherings in which Christians pray together with members of other religions, with Roman Catholics for instance, with Muslims, Jews and any other groups traditionally understood to be anti-Christian in their beliefs. George W Bush included Romanists, Muslims and Jews in his prayer for the nation after 9/11 held in the National Cathedral, which could only have increased God's judgment on the nation. All ecumenical prayer gatherings since then on behalf of the nation can only have added to it, and yet these are absurdly continued year after year after year despite a glaringly obvious lack of success, and even obvious negative effects. The most doctrinally perfect gospel-oriented prayer by a member of such a group can't stand up to the God-denying effect of including unbelievers in the group. He won't hear us. We need to throw out all the idols and that means scrupulously NOT praying with unbelievers.

Some wonder why on earth Islam's popularity and influence keep rising after their attack on us, but we still go on practicing exactly the sort of thing that is guaranteed to bring God's judgment on the nation, and Islam is most certainly one of God's instruments of judgment. Where in scripture does God approve of the People of God praying with the followers of Molech or Dagon or Baal? It is hard to understand why Christians don't recognize this problem.

That's the first thing we need to repent of in my opinion. We need to be purified of all such idolatrous deviations if our prayers are to reach God's ear.

Then we need to acknowledge the other sins we are guilty of and the nation is guilty of. With a sincere desire to clean up our act God will also show us individually what we need to repent of, and as we obey individually and corporately the channels of prayer will get clearer and clearer. I know whenever I make a serious effort to pray more, one of the first things that happens is that He shows me where I am not faithfully obeying Him.

One thing I particularly like about this idea of pastors preaching in concert across the nation is that it gives us a powerful way to focus on the sins that are crippling the country and bringing down God's judgment. It could be the answer to our felt helplessness as the devil just keeps rolling on and over us all. If we want revival we have first to finger the sins that need correction, and good solid preaching backed up by prayer against each of the sins we are able to identify. What a powerful voice we should have if thousands of churches join together in one voice, one mind and one heart. He is in the midst of us when we gather together in His name.

I know it's a wild daydream that the churches could agree to a preaching and prayer agenda to deal with all the sins of the nation, but I'm going to let myself hope and pray for such a wild blessing anyway.

But first how wonderful it would be if some churches followed Michael Brown's advice just for tomorrow, and preached on God's view of homosexuality in one impassioned voice. Just for tomorrow. I'll write more about my daydream eventually I'm sure.

I do want to highlight this blog by Larry Kutzler , whom I know from Jan Markell's ministry, who calls for the resignation or impeachment of the mayor of Houston, and on good grounds. She's shown she doesn't have the interests of her constituency at heart, but her own personal private interests and those of a small contingent who share the same narrow interests, as she works to deprive a large segment of the population of Houston of their right to freedom of religion. This is one way the preaching and praying could go for what I'm calling Preach-It-Down Sunday.

Denounce the Antichrist Pope and Then I'll Take Your National Day of Prayer Seriously

I keep being told I should listen to the National Day of Prayer, that it was a serious call to repentance and a warning of God's judgment, including a hard-hitting attack on the evils of this administration, particularly the abortion requirement of Obamacare.

That would all be wonderful if the day hadn't been an ecumenical gathering of "people of all faiths," which I point out in my previous post might as well be the rites of Baal. It may be (as I was told) that only Christians had the podium, but if the ecumenical nature of the gathering itself wasn't denounced I don't see the value in any of it. One of the speakers in particular is known for treating Catholicism as Christian. So essentially they end up denouncing some of our national moral evils in the name of the Antichrist.   You think God's judgment is going to be abated this way?  Might as well be asking for judgment.

As I pointed out in a previous post, The Pope has been invited to address Congress which is scheduled for next year according to the Washington Post. The most negative statement about this in the Post is the mention at the bottom of the article of somebody's tweet that says “Does Boehner realize Pope Francis is to the left of [President] Obama on many issues?".

Good question, but not only do our conservative members of Congress seem not to have noticed, you'd think they could even come up with some others as well. This Pope not only denounced Capitalism but suggested that atheists can expect salvation without repentance, and has been making noises in obscurantist Popespeak, which is also the subject of one of my recent posts, that suggest he's on track to supporting gay marriage as well. Perhaps these issues don't matter to our heavily Catholic congress.

But where are the supposedly "Protestant" members of Congress on this unprecedented invitation of the leader of the Antichrist system to address them? Where is our Ian Paisley who will stand up and denounce him as the Antichrist? Or better yet, protest loudly enough that the invitation will be called off? Not happening. The Reformation is being denied and trampled on by "Protestants" too..

And where is the speaker at the National Day of Prayer who had the historical perspective and the guts to stand up and say that the whole day was a sham of prayer for the nation when the wolf himself is going to address the nation's governing body?.

I'll listen to your National Day of Prayer when I get the news that something along these lines has happened.

We Need to Repent FROM the National Day of Prayer: It Can Only Bring More of God's Judgment Down on the Nation

May 1st this year is the National Day of Prayer. I used to be all in favor of this event, even went to a few of the public gatherings.  Sounds like a good idea, but I've become sadly aware that organized prayer on behalf of this nation is usually ecumenical and that isn't going to do the nation any good at all

George Bush's prayer meeting in the National Cathedral to pray for the nation after 9/11 brought together Christians and Catholics and Muslims and Jews, NOT a formula for success at getting the ear of God.  Anybody want to know why the prayers have done us no good, there's your answer.  People pray their hearts out for the nation and things get worse.  Some good ministries and good solid Christians form these groups or join these groups and don't seem to notice that even their best efforts are going unrewarded.  There were a couple of prayer meetings on the day of Obama's inauguration to his second term.  Things gotten any better?  Why aren't we paying attention to this simple cause and effect?  If we appeal to God surely things SHOULD get better. But we have to do it right. We can't pray with antiChristians and be doing it right.

Well, sure enough, the National Day of Prayer is also ecumenical, calling "people of all faiths" to pray together for the nation:

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Our Task Force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America’s leaders and its families. The Task Force represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.

It talks about the "Christian community" and mentions "reverence for the God of the Bible" but that would include Catholics and even Muslims and Jews depending on how the phrase is understood, because the Jews are of course the people of the Old Testament, and the Muslims revere the Bible along with the Koran.  It would also include Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, cults that consider themselves to follow the Bible.

Also, we are NOT, or were not originally, a "Judeo-Christian" nation.  If we are, GOD WILL NOT BLESS US!

It also mentions "personal repentance."  Sounds good, sort of, if you don't think too much about it.  What we need is God's true people not only repenting personally but repenting on behalf of the nation, and the best place to start is by repenting of the abomination of ecumenical prayer!

How does any Christian think that God would honor prayer by people who deny the essentials of the Christian revelation?  This is like calling for prayer to Molech or Dagon along with God, but God clearly denounced all the deviations by His Old Testament people into worshiping both God and the false gods of the nations around.  Simply worshiping God without following His instructions is condemned. Yet I've never heard any pastor even mention this offense concerning the National Day of Prayer.

Although certainly the nation could be said to have begun with the original Pilgrims and Puritans who were definitely Christians, and there were many true Christians among the founding generation as well, and at that time and for some time to come the citizens of the nation were at least culturally steeped in the Christian faith, this disaster may actually go back to five of the main Founders who were NOT Christians:  Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Paine.  I'd recommend Chris Pinto's film "Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers" if you want to see the evidence.

There's plenty of history we could delve into, and the inauguration of this day in 1952 may have been ecumenical from the beginning, and may even have had a worse effect on the nation than the ceasing of prayer in the schools some ten years later, in fact it may have been why that happened. 

But all we really need to know is that God will not hear the prayers of those who deny Him or do not worship Him according to His revelation.  That's enough to tell us that participating in this event can't possibly benefit the nation and may actually hasten its destruction.

YOU WANT TO SAVE THIS NATION? START BY THROWING OUT THE IDOLS! STOP CONSIDERING CATHOLICISM TO BE CHRISTIAN, THAT'S THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WE MAKE.

START BY REPENTING FOR THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND OTHER ECUMENICAL SLAPS IN THE FACE OF GOD.

At Ground Zero God SAID He is judging America. Oh Church, wake up! Listen to Cahn's message and act accordingly. We're America's only hope.

I can only hope that there are many people out there who have heard Jonathan Cahn's message, Harbinger, and seen the importance of making it known to God's people as I also have. I have been discovering that there is a stiff spiritual battle going on over this message, just getting anyone to listen to it at all for starters and then even when they admit that it is as uncanny as I've said it is, getting them to grasp the implications of it. And I won't even mention what's going on with me personally to interfere with me. It's like there is a veil over it despite its being truly this amazingly uncanny just-about-flatly-undeniable in-your-face Message From God Himself.

I keep listening back to Cahn's message and it never fails to make me cry over what God has done and will do if we don't repent and seek His face. It makes me yearn fervently that God would use this prophecy to save the nation and I hope it would have that effect on many others as well.

There is no other hope at this point. This is SUCH a powerful uncanny direct speaking of God at Ground Zero you'd think all the patriots at least would rally to the message. Not yet anyway, this is truly a spiritual battle.

It may be there are objections people have to this, it's possible to find fault with anything if you have a mind to. Cahn is a Messianic Jew and there are reasons to object to that movement although I don't think Cahn represents any of the extreme versions of it, he sounds to me like a solid Bible-believing Jewish believer in Christ, but I know some can get all caught up in suspiciousness instead of simply listening for God's voice, Who speaks through all kinds of imperfect Christians, even through unbelievers at times, even through Balaam's ass (ok, donkey; no, leave it "ass"). Not that those examples apply here of course, Cahn is CLEARLY a true believer and deserves to be heard.

I know some object to the very idea that anyone would claim to receive a prophetic message for today, isn't the canon closed and all that and so on and so forth. Well, first of all LISTEN to this message because it's BASED on the Bible. God DOES speak to us through His word, He speaks to ALL of us through His word, the prophecy is ancient, it is merely being applied to today, it is not a new revelation, it's an old revelation applied to today, which is the way God has ALWAYS worked among Christians! And yes, we may have objections to dance as a part of worship for instance, which the Messianic churches get into quite a bit just as the charismatic movement does, and which Cahn mentions in his talk was a prophetic part of a Messianic conference, which he apparently accepts. There is also a "prophetic" or "anointed" violin playing in the background of this talk -- which can get a tad annoying at times but I've listened to it many times by now and it doesn't really interfere.

My answer to all of this is if God isn't objecting to it, if God is giving this man this amazing prophecy, humble yourself and listen to him! God is speaking through him! EVERY DENOMINATION HAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH IT BUT GOD PUTS UP WITH ALL WHO TRULY AND SINCERELY LOVE HIM AND SEEK HIM IRRESPECTIVE OF DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES, AND HE IS WILLING TO SPEAK THROUGH ANYONE WHO MAKES HIMSELF AVAILABLE FOR THAT PURPOSE!

And oh it makes me weary but I suppose there will be those who will object that George Washington was really a Deist and a Mason so his prayer for the nation is meaningless or worse. What can I say. God clearly heard his prayer and the prayer of that first governing body who prayed with him.

We all should ask God to show us what we need to repent of and obey Him.

Please, whoever is reading this, hear Cahn and pray that his message would go out to all God's people, and please pray for me too. I've been praying but I'm spiritually flabby too, I need prayer that God would strengthen me to fast and pray, that would help a lot. That's what we need, all of us, all the churches in America. Oh Lord, make it happen. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, seeing Your hand in this prophecy and begging You with deep humbling -- starting with personal repentance and confession of the nation's sins -- to save our land.

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Maybe the biggest resistance to this message comes from those who are thinking of the individual victims of 9/11. All I can do is say again this is not about the victims, this is about the nation. The memorial to the victims that has been constructed at Ground Zero isn't a problem, but rebuilding a skyscraper on the site to replace the World Trade Center is, because that directly expresses the nation's defiance of God along the very lines of Isaiah 9:10. Oh please America, oh please churches, please please wake up. God is the same yesterday and today and forever, He does not change. He judged His people Israel, and He will judge America.

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Later: I looked at some of the sites that report on what has been going on at Ground Zero recently. Besides the memorial and the tower that's going up, I found that they've also planted a few hundred oaks. Funny thing, soon after seeing that I was reading Isaiah -- really feel I need to get a much better grasp of God's dealings with ancient Israel than I've had -- and my eye fell on this:

Isa 1:29-30 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

Of course there may be no connection, but the oak was one of the idols of the heathen that Israel adopted, therefore one of the reasons for God's judgment against them, so I had to wonder if our planting oaks has some significance in this whole scenario of judgment. I've assumed that having a memorial to the victims isn't the same thing as rebuilding the site according to the Isaiah 9:10 message, but perhaps building anything at all there without consulting God is an offense, and oaks MAY have some significance, at least as another reminder of America's falling away: our "leaning to our own understanding" rather than putting everything we do before God to discover His will.

Prayer for repentance and humbling of God's people and the healing of America

O Lord God, if there is still any hope that You would restrain Your judgment on America I pray that the revelation You gave Jonathan Cahn about 9/11 be spread to all the true churches in this nation and be recognized as truly Your message to us, of both judgment and mercy. I pray that You would send a spirit of repentance to all Your people in this nation, and especially to those pastors who denied that 9/11 was judgment and a warning of more judgment to come. Lord, it is YOUR people who must humble ourselves if we are to have any hope that You will yet heal this nation. I pray it in Jesus' Name who died for us, and in whose Name this nation was founded. Amen.

Texas Governor Perry's call for prayer for the nation NOT what we need

It sounds like a good idea, in fact it sounds like what I've been hoping would happen for a long time. But like Glenn Beck's rally it is pulling together people of false beliefs as well as true. We can't do this together with heretics and expect God to hear us. This sort of thing makes it discouraging even to consider calling Christians to a time of prayer.

Here's Brannon Howse on this upcoming event:

In August of 2010 it was Glenn Beck with whom Christians were uniting for his "Restoring Honor Rally". I took a real beating from many Christians for stating that I believe that Glenn Beck, as a Mormon, is proclaiming another Jesus and another gospel and that this event would not help America but hurt America.

Even after Beck released his book, Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life in which he detailed his completely unbiblical worldview; Christians continued to defend Beck stating that he is a good Christian that is teaching truth.

Now, as we approach August of 2011, many Christians are once again jumping on what appears to be the next spiritual bandwagon; a prayer rally being hosted by Governor Perry of Texas and other leaders. The website of The Response, says the reason for this rally is because:

America is in the midst of a historic crisis. We have been besieged by financial debt, terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters. The youth of America are in grave peril economically, socially, and, most of all, morally. There are threats emerging within our nation and beyond our borders beyond our power to solve.

The reason the "youth of America are in grave peril economically, socially, and most of all, morally", is because they are in peril spiritually and I believe that giving credibility to and introducing youth and adults to false teachers and their unbiblical spirituality is only going to put people in danger of eternal, spiritual peril.

I do not believe this event will aide in reclaiming the country, restoring liberty, or prosperity and it certainly will not prompt God to bless America. I believe such an event will actually hasten God's judgment on our nation.

News reports reveal that on July 22nd, Governor Perry stated that he has no problem with gay marriage in New York. Are pro-family leaders that have agreed with boycotting secular companies for their support of gay marriage now going to be consistent and boycott Perry's prayer event?

The Response, as this event is being called, is being promoted as a time of prayer and repentance. However, how can Christians and Christian leaders gather together in a spiritual enterprise, a spiritual service, with individuals that embrace a theology and doctrine that teaches a different Jesus and a different gospel? I and thousands of pastors and theologians believe that the Word of God reveals that the teaching of the New Apostolic Reformation, (NAR) the Word of Faith movement and the prosperity gospel is completely unbiblical.

Yes, that's the problem with calls to prayer in this time. There was a time when a self-described Christian could be counted on to be orthodox enough to join with in such an event. In our time the nation is full of cults and apostate churches. Prayer for the nation now has to include strenuous spiritual warfare against false doctrine along with all the other needed petitions on behalf of the nation. Yes, such is the time we live in that we need to do spiritual warfare against a false Christian group that thinks it has the last word in spiritual warfare (see the Howse article linked above for an explanation of what I mean by this).

Prayer, more prayer

How to get myself to pray more. I read books to fire me up, I watch You Tube exhortations to fire me up. It helps for a while, it helps a little.

I know we need more prayer. Few of us are even aware how much more we need, and when we are aware we find ourselves without the ability to do it, to keep focused. Just ticking off the things we desire isn't enough, we need concentrated deep prayer that lays hold of God in earnest and doesn't let Him go until He blesses us.

I don't even have the energy to spend much time writing about this right now but I would like to put much more time into it when I can. How important this is. Prayer for the nation, this miserable nation that is going downhill by the day, politically, culturally, in every way. Help us to pray for our nation, Lord, to humble ourselves as Your people and pray for our nation as Your word exhorts us to do.

And it must be prayer for revival above all, that God would rend the heavens and come down and show us what the Christian life is really meant to be, not this pathetic powerless worldly-minded nonsense most of us live most of the time. And from all I've read I know a true revival will start with a great wave of conviction of sin, contrition, repentance in the churches. Oh Lord bring it soon. Start now. Start with me.

A Gloomy Day-After Independence Day

It's the day after The Fourth of July and I know so many people who are sad about the situation of America, see our cherished history and institutions being trashed in various ways, wondering if the nation is even going to survive.

There are calls for prayer for the nation of course, and some groups and individuals do pray for the nation. Perhaps God is hearing, though it doesn't seem so. Things seem to be getting worse rather than better, but of course they might be a lot worse if people weren't praying.

Still, you have to ask why things seem to continue to go from bad to worse. When I ask that question and pray about it the answer I keep coming up with is that the churches are out of favor with God, and not until the churches reform will our prayers be heard for healing the land.

The famous call to pray for one's nation in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is often quoted to exhort Christians to pray for America, but not very often are the conditions in that verse emphasized enough.

2 Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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 will heal their land.

When we pray for America how many of us humble ourselves? Do we even think about what that means? How about fasting as a start? How many do that? What about turning from our "wicked ways?" Do we even think we HAVE any wicked ways to turn from? My impression is that most Christians just blithely pray that God would bless America without even thinking about meeting these conditions.

This exhortation was God's answer to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the newly built temple, after it had been hallowed to God's purposes.

The passage goes on:

15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house? 22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

Our temple today is built up of living stones, God's people themselves. We are God's house. We know He will never forsake or abandon us if we hold in faith to His promise of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, but what if we stray from His teachings? Can we believe we are saved by grace and think it's OK to ordain women or homosexuals to preach? Or are those only the really apostate churches that are no longer God's anyway? Didn't Jesus threaten to remove the lampstands of those churches which had strayed too far?

There are many questions like these that should be asked. I think before we can expect God to hear our prayers for the nation we need to pray first that God would show us where we are out of His will and set ourselves to reform, both personally and corporately in His churches.

I really am convinced that women's not covering our heads in church, and maybe outside of church as well, has shut us out of hope for the nation. I really do, and it's very sad because it's hard to think of this requirement being widely accepted any more by anyone in the churches. It's treated as trivial and it's rationalized and interpreted away by so many respected leaders. Could it at least be asked that people pray that God would show them the truth about this? That's where we need to start anyway, FINDING OUT where we have gone wrong with God so we can reform. We can only find out through His Holy Spirit; thinking alone won't get us anywhere.

I also suspect strongly that the widespread acceptance of the modern Bible versions that really are based on corrupt -- even heretical -- texts, and translations that have been done by men of liberal persuasion who reject much of His word, MAY play a part in this too. I wouldn't dismiss the thought lightly, people, but I know getting a serious hearing for this is not very likely.

These of course are my own hobbyhorses that I've been pursuing in my blogs. Don't take my word for any of it, but DO go read the many references I've given to these subjects; let THEM tell you.

But I'm sure there's more. Any capitulation to liberalism or feminism in a church needs to be confronted. It may be subtle, not easily recognized as a problem.

Or personal sins too. A pastor or elder or deacon who has been divorced? Or compromised teaching about divorce and remarriage? That sort of thing. These things are not just sins, they're actually false doctrine that promotes sin.

I get a sinking feeling thinking about all this. I see so many ways we are out of God's will lately, and so many ways I don't think Christians want to deal with any of it, but rationalize it away, dismiss it as legalism, or otherwise insist that it's not a problem and so on.

If only people would at least pray for light on the subject, ask God to show us where we may have gone wrong as His people. Pray through the Sermon on the Mount asking if we're REALLY obeying Him, perhaps. Anything along these lines would be a huge beginning.

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Later. I'm going to stop reading about feminism, which is only depressing anyway, a real horror story and a BIG reason why the nation is in the pits and some churches have gone desperately wrong as well, and reread some Leonard Ravenhill. He wrote a lot about why we aren't having revival and he wrote a book with the interesting title, America Is Too Young To Die. I think that's the direction I need to go right now.