A DARK COMEDY!

I am deeply burdened for our nation!

I was not born in this country. I was born in Canada and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, where I graduated from high school and began my university studies. At 19 I responded to the call of God to prepare for ministry and after a diligent search, decided that going to a Christian college near the beach in California would be a good thing. It was there in Santa Cruz, California, that I met, courted and proposed to the love of my life, Carol. We have been married for 48 years and involved in ministry for 47 years.

I chose to become an American citizen because I love this country. And as a patriotic American, I am deeply burdened for the tragic mess our nation is in.

I am not talking primarily about the political mess that has now enshrouded the land. And I certainly am not talking about being a Democrat or a Republican. The mess in our nation has little to do with politics and nothing to do with leaning to the right or the left. Our fundamental problem is much deeper than the silliness of politics and the dark comedy routine that is being played out by the current batch of politicians in Washington.

Our underlying problem has to do with sin . . . yes, I said sin. Our nation and much of the church has embraced sinful living as the norm. We have become relatively numb to what is going on around us. Please take a moment and consider the following:

• When I was a boy, about four to five percent of married couples divorced; today 51 percent of couples (in and out of the church) divorce. What does that say to us? What does that say about us?

• Nationwide 65 percent of singles have sexual relations before getting married and the statistics are not much lower for singles in the church. Does the contemporary church care? What does the Bible say about this?

• In the last forty years, 55 million unborn babies have been aborted in America. This is a staggering and blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. There is no excuse for this!

• For the first time in U.S. history, over 50 percent of births are out-of-wedlock. The consequential problems in fatherless households and the resulting orphan mindset will be fully realized in the years ahead. One only has to look at the tragic problems now plaguing the inner city because of out-of-wedlock births to see what problems are beginning to descend on the suburbs.

• Homosexual lifestyles, including same-sex-marriage, are endorsed and celebrated, even by our national leaders. New laws promote and protect this unnatural lifestyle—even though the gay population is only about two percent of the population. Homosexuality is in clear violation of Scripture—or perhaps we don’t believe that!

• Graphic sexual activity and nudity are now just a click away on computers and smartphones. In the U.S. 33 percent of women regularly watch pornography (and this percentage is growing) and 70 percent of men between the ages of 18 to 24 visit porn sites at least once a month. It is estimated that 40 percent of church-attending men regularly view pornography.

• The latest polls reveal that support for legalization of marijuana has risen from 12 percent in 1969 to 58 percent today.

I use the above to illustrate what I call “the mess” our nation is in.

God has given His people a very clear prescription for action in times such as these. But it is my opinion that the majority of the church community in America doesn’t care or doesn’t believe that God’s plan can work in contemporary society. Simply put, the church has believed the father of lies and has begun thinking that the situation is beyond fixing, that it’s hopeless! 

What is the plan? It is simple but it is also embarrassing because it calls for humility and repentance on the part of God’s people.

The Lord said to Solomon, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14, NKJV).

I wish that I could invoke a national revival . . . and if it were in my power to do so, I would. But I can’t! What I can do is pray and humbly ask God to forgive me, to forgive our nation for the gross sins being committed around us, and to forgive us for turning a blind eye to what is happening. And to please come and heal our land!

Carol and I pray together almost every morning before we start our day. We pray over our family, over our day, over our friends and over our church. We ask God every day to send a healing to our land as we pray for our leaders and our pastors.

Will you join us in praying for a national healing? Together we can make a difference!