State of the Union

State of the Union 2015

I believe Jesus is looking at the United States of America and weeping. He takes no pleasure in judging an individual or a nation, but judgment does come when grace has been spurned. The Scriptures declare:
"But he who did not know, yet committed things  deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."   (Luke 12:48)

The United States of America has certainly known the way of righteousness; not that she was ever perfect. In days gone by, biblical morality was spoken of freely and expected in both public and private life. Today we have reached the point where that expectation has been replaced by a militant disdain for anything godly. Evil has been labeled good and good has been labeled evil. The Bible says "Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people."  (Proverbs 14:34 ) The state of the union in 2015 is that it is in crisis, on the brink of judgment. Why?

1. For 55 years we have been on an unrelenting mission to purge God from the public square.

      It began with the removal of prayer from our public schools. Not only was this an affront to God but it was a clear violation of the First Amendment provisions. Teachers and children praying in the school house had nothing to do with a religion having been established by congress. The camel now had his nose in the tent and he won't be satisfied until he is the sole occupant of the tent. Prayer and other expressions of faith have come under attack in virtually every area of public life, and in recent years the attacks have spread to private life... like whether a Christian photographer can refuse to photograph a same sex wedding. We need to repent and return to the place where "In God We Trust" is a fact and not just a slogan (which has also been attacked). "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance." ( Psalms 33:12)

2. We suffer from a lack of godly leadership

     Somehow the majority of voting America has bought into the idea that character has nothing to do with performance. There is a failure on the part of the church to declare the fallacy of such a notion and to hold up the truth of God's word.  "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan." ( Proverbs 29:2) So it could be said that we get what we ask for or we don't get what we don't ask for. It is a Christian duty to obey those in authority (Romans 13:1) yet in this country we the people are the ones responsible for placing "those in authority." When the church ceases to be salt and light, this is what happens.

3. We are reducing our military to pre-WWII levels

     Before King Solomon had strayed into taking for himself many wives, including their foreign gods, this was the state of his kingdom.
"For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him. ²⁵ And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶ Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."  (1 Kings 4:24-26) Weakness invites war. When you combine moral weakness with military weakness, you have a prescription for disaster. The purging of our military, the poor level of aftercare provided for those who have served, and an eroding of the moral foundation for any just war has been nothing short of a betrayal to our military.

4. Our government is no longer willing to defend our borders

     God made a unilateral covenant with Abraham, promising a land to him and his descendants. It had specific borders (Genesis 15:18-21). Israel never did fully possess the land they were promised, and as ungodliness from the leadership down became the norm, the borders they did defend became smaller and smaller. In the end the once proud nation was reduced to little more than the city state of Jerusalem which was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 B.C. To not defend our borders is to treat as profane the wonderful gift of this land that God has given to a people whose chief aim initially was to please Him. "O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain..." is no longer seen as the place upon which God has shed His grace, but as a place to be exploited and turned over to infidels, as criminals take advantage of our porous borders.

5. We refuse to balance our budget

     Figures don't lie; all the while liars figure. We are told over and over again what our deficit is (currently over 18 trillion dollars), but very few will remind us of the 100 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities that needs to be added to that. We are told that the deficit has been reduced when in reality that means that the deficit is still increasing, only at a slightly slower rate. Things are labeled as free while somebody always has to pay for them. Inflation is stated at artificially low numbers because essentials such as energy and food have been removed from the calculation. Unemployment is said to be at the lowest point in years, yet the millions who have stopped looking for work are not included in the figures. In the background, the stock market is kept propped up by an Federal Reserve system that prints money at will. The debt can is constantly kicked down the road for the next generation to bear. All the while, two principles are all but forgotten;
    
      ^"The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."  (Proverbs 22:7)

      ^"And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day."  (Deuteronomy 8:18 )

6. We have created and fostered a welfare state

     Government gets bigger and bigger, caught up in the perverted notion that it must play Robin Hood, forcing some to pay double while creating multiple programs where others get a free ride. This has extended WAY beyond the notion that a righteous people will care for the truly needy. True religion involves caring for widows and orphans (James 1:27), and such provisions should always begin at home (1 Timothy 5:8). The entitlement generation in this country now equals the entire population of Spain. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that in the last 42 years we have killed off and equal number of people through the genocide of abortion. Fewer and fewer are being asked to provide for more and more, creating a house of cards which shall surely fall. The idea of dreaming, and pursuing a dream has been crushed for so many by the indoctrination of welfare. This biblical admonition needs to be restored.  "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." ( 2 Thessalonians 3:10 )

7. America is rejecting Israel

     The rhetoric of support is still there, but gradually, over the past 25 years we have been distancing ourselves from Israel and their right to live in the land as a national people. We have gone against God's promise of a particular area as an inheritance to Abraham's descendants and have instead tried to force them to give up a large portion of the little they do possess. We have often painted Israel as the bully when all they do is (with great restraint) defend themselves. As we continue to ignore God and His word, we will run headlong into this... "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  ( Genesis 12:3)

8. Counterfeit Christianity has exploded in the land

     One prominent leader of the Pro-Life Movement has said, "Abortion will end in America when the church says so, and not one day sooner." So much of the visible church has accepted abortion as a fact of life (!!!) and has either gone silent on the issue or has actually embraced the abomination. Abortion is murder of the most egregious kind - the killing of innocent babies who do not even have a voice. The church needs to be their voice and deliver a mandate to congress to grant personhood status under the 14th Amendment to babies in the womb from the moment of conception - no exceptions.

     Much of the church has strayed from sound doctrine. God is no longer portrayed as a God of justice, and hell is declared to be a myth. The sanctity of marriage has been perverted to include that which God calls abominable. Sin is no longer called sin but an alternate life style or sickness. Repentance is seldom mentioned when presenting the Gospel. Ecumenicalism is growing by leaps and bounds, paving the way towards a one world religion. The church (and that includes me) bears much of the responsibility for the state of our union. We can't blame it all on the folks in Washington DC. Let us remember...  
    "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?" ( 1 Peter 4:17)