Many are praying for a revival to stay off judgment citing Joel in the
bible (if my people repent... heal their land) but forget a few points: 1) This
was said specifically to the Jews, his people, and about Israel, their land, no
one else. 2) For this to even apply to America we would have to be not ‘A’
Christian nation but ‘THE’ Christian nation. There are more Christians in Africa
then citizens in the US. Even the official numbers in Asia and the ME are almost
3/4 of our population. No where are Christians promised a nation of there own as
our citizenship is in HEAVEN. that is ‘our land’. 3) To apply the promises of
Israel to the church comes directly out of replacement theology and applying
them to America comes out of British-Israelism. Replacement theology is the
foolish idea that God is done, finished, completely over Israel and has
transferred the promises to her from Israel to the church. British –Israelism is
a off shoot claiming Britain and America have replace Israel and have her
blessings. BOTH of the ideas are heresy! 4) The American church is
very divided. The biggest division is
not Protestant/Catholic but
Liberal – Progressive/Conservative. Within the
conservative side are those who hold to the truth of the bible
and God’s unalterable laws
(fundamentalists) and those who
mostly believe the bible but to
fit a changing society ”discover” that certain passages have been
misinterpreted all these years. Even on the Liberal –
Progressive side there are those who basically believe none of
the bible, yet dare to call themselves Christian and in doing
so misrepresent Christ to people making people converts to a false Christianity
and those who differ on their interpretation of
the bible greatly but honestly believe they are doing God’s
will. They fight
against God, in the name
of God, believing they are doing the will and
work of God. With such division in the church, even if
you would transfer that promise of healing land to us, there is no agreement
that A) Repentance is necessary or B) If it is for what do we repent of? Couple
that with part of the church actually praying
for the very things that bring judgment - gay marriage
(marriage equality), abortion (reproductive freedom), out of wedlock sex (sexual
freedom) and a host of other sins (also called freedoms or equalities) how could
a church-wide message of repentance even be sent?? It can’t.
America is dying a death of a thousand cuts – slowly and agonizingly
bleeding to death. The best prayer I can think of is that he
judge the country quickly and thoroughly and that the
remaining people then turn to God. America
would probably be a bunch of nations of a few states each but if those nations throw out
sin and throw out satan and
come humbly to God then maybe his blessings
will flow again here in what was America and those remaining after the
judgment can help each other survive till the second coming.
A verse to keep in mind also is “do not pray for these people I will not
listen”. I am reminded of this verse when people talk of praying for congress or
for the president.
God’s glory can be demonstrated two ways – in blessings and
curses/judgments. Since the nation is
too far gone for his blessings let us pray
for his judgment to shine forth his glory. If we can no longer be the “shining city on a hill”
to the world let us be the “smoldering ruins” that shows that God
is still on his throne and still running the
universe.
Paul Wilson