let your lives prove your change of heart."
Early this morning I was awakened at 4:00 am from a restless sleep exacerbated by the lumpy mattress on my bed. Dawn was still hours away, yet the darkened landscape outside my window was illuminated by the brilliancy of the full moon sinking slowly in the western sky. As I wearily perched on the edge of my bed in the semi-darkness of my room, trying to recall fragments of a recent strange dream, a reference of Scripture came unbidden into my mind: 1 Samuel Chapter 4.
I wondered if this sudden thought was merely a random by product of my tired and restless mind, or was God actually speaking to me about something? I rose off the bed and walked out into the adjacent kitchen to retrieve my Bible off the table. I often have verses of Scripture pop into my mind when I am wondering or worried about things going on in my life and in the world, yet once I opened my Bible to the particular reference I would discover familiar words of advice and comfort to my soul, re-reading a passage of God's Word that I had read many times before. But this was different. 1 Samuel Chapter 4? What could this be all about?
This particular chapter relates the story of Israel preparing for battle against their archenemies, the Philistines. When the Philistines came up against Israel and the battle spread, 4,000 Israelite men were slain on the battlefield. When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel lamented at the loss asking, "Why has the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant here from Shiloh, that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies."
So, the people sent to Shiloh and returned with the Ark of the Covenant and the two sons of Eli named Hophni and Phineas were with the Ark. And when the Ark was brought into the camp, the Israelites cheered for now they believed God was with them and they would win the battle against their enemies.
The only problem with this plan was that God had left the land due to Israel's disobedience. Therefore, He was not with them as in the past to lead the army of Israel to victory.
Thousands of men were killed and what's worse, the heathen Philistines captured the Ark! If only Israel had humbled themselves and repented before God, asking Him for His forgiveness, He would have been with His people to lead them to a certain victory.
I had to re-read this story several times before I began to grasp what God was telling me through it. I have been thinking and praying about this year's presidential election and the chaos which had ensued in our nation because of it. Former Vice President Joe Biden has been declared the "President-elect" by the news media while lawyers for President Trump are uncovering new evidence of massive voter fraud and corruption on a daily basis now. Although I pray this situation will be positively resolved, the truth will prevail, and Donald Trump will remain America's president for four more years, I am not sure what will happen.
I have also been thinking a lot about the status of the Christian Church in America today, which has not only become increasingly secular in recent years, but has remained, for the most part, silent and/or indifferent to the moral disintegration of our nation.
Evidence of this turning away from the serious worship of God and the solid preaching of His Word can be found just around the corner from my home where an old Methodist church sits vacant. Only some fifty years ago, this little church, first built in 1865, was a beehive of activity with two services every Sunday morning as well as church-centered activities throughout the year. There was a Board of Elders appointed to oversee the administrative details of church business and a thriving congregation, of which my maternal grandparents were members in good standing.
My grandfather taught adult Sunday School classes in the church for over 40 years. He also played his saxophone as part of the musical accompaniment during services. Now this little church with it's quaint stained glass windows and red wooden doors at the front entrance sits closed up and forsaken, a victim of church politics and legalism. Like my grandparents, most of the original members of the congregation have long since gone home to be with the Lord.
It makes me sad when my daily walk takes me past the church and I see no sign out front announcing Sunday services. I feel this empty house of worship is not only a reminder of the America which once was, but, a reflection of the dormancy of the Church in our nation today. Instead of preaching the soul-saving message of the Gospel and the need for repentance from sin, the modern day church in America is rife with the false doctrine of heretics. "Church" has become a form of entertainment, a spectator sport featuring an array of ostentatious hucksters who could easily give PT Barnum a run for his money.
This generation's "suckers born every minute" fill mega churches to capacity, eagerly anticipating the pretentious false prophets out to make a profit through their greedy and gullible audience, who've come to have their ears tickled and emotions satiated with a non-scriptural "feel good" message of a better life through economic prosperity, something which motivates most Americans today, as if the Lord, who has given them life and purpose, should be viewed as a great piggy bank in the sky just waiting to pour out his material blessings to those willing to take a leap of faith and "sow the seeds" of the said ministry.
God is being used by these wealthy, jet-setting charlatans for their own personal gain and profit. Meanwhile, thousands of people, if not already jaded by this presentation of crass Christianity, are falling away and perishing spiritually for their disillusioned faith and ignorance of God's Word.
These lost sheep of the fold step in unison with the many other "walking wounded" in our troubled land.
Like Israel thousands of years ago, the lack of true repentance before the Lord is the one crucial element missing from the American church today.
In the latter half of the last century, the majority of professing Christians remained overwhelmingly silent as secularism surged forward and Bible readings were taken out of the public schools in the 1960's, primarily through the efforts of one woman, atheist Madilyn Murray O'Hare. In 1973, the highest court in the land legalized the heinous act of abortion. Again, the church in America was mostly silent. Only a few years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States forever destroyed the sanctity of marriage and the family with the passage of same sex marriage as the law of the land. Where was the majority voice of opposition from the Christian church?
Apostasy-Murder-Sexual Perversion-all condemned by God in the Bible, and yet very few Christian leaders in America spoke out or have stood in public opposition to these abominations as they became permanent fixtures in our society. It is any wonder that we have come to where we are at today, with our nation's freedom hanging so precariously in the balance?
True and lasting freedom can only come as a result of honoring God and standing accountable before Him for our lives. He alone can save America. But will He?
This said, I still believe it is not too late to turn away from the idols and abominations of the land and seek the pardon of God. The time, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, is now.
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