I thank God for a man of such great courage and integrity as Dr. Charles Stanley and the way God used him to speak to me this morning, and pray for the Lord’s overwhelming favor and blessings to abound in his life! Our nation would surely be blessed if we had more Christian leaders with the courage and integrity to speak God’s truth so boldly and unashamedly as Dr. Stanley did in his TV broadcast this morning! And I thank God that He used Dr. Stanley’s message to bring the realization and conviction that I’ve tried to avoid doing the same thing because it might be politically offensive. But the ONLY one any of us should ever fear offending is our God and maker, which means that His Word MUST be applied to any and ALL areas of our lives. We have to realize that as men and women of God, if we don’t take a stand for something, we can and will fall for anything. And the only way to stand without certain destruction is by living and acting in full accordance with the Word of God; by doing what the Word tells us to do and by not doing what the Word tells us not to do. And that applies to nations as well as to individuals as the Bible makes abundantly clear. So as we make what might well be the most important decision this country has ever faced when we head out to the polls next month, I hope and pray that every man and woman proclaiming the name of Christ as Lord and Savior will consider and heed the warning Jesus gave in Luke 6:46-49, and seriously ask ourselves how we can call Him Lord, Lord when we don’t do what He says. Jesus said “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Our country is in one of the most perilous times of our existence and if we allow ANY consideration other than what we know is right and wrong according to the Word of God to persuade us to elect men and women we know so unashamedly and unabashedly support abortion and the gay lifestyle, which we know are abominations to God (not “gay bashing” on my part since I have two immediate family members who are gay); then we have no one but ourselves to blame for the collapse and complete destruction of this country. We can not leave our identity and responsibility as Christians to uphold and honor the Word of God at the door when we go into the voting booth. Whether we like it or not, and whether we realize it or not, we are not voting for personalities or political parties; we are voting in support of the positions they hold by endowing them with the legal authority to make their positions the law of this land. It’ is therefore imperative that we elect men and women who will defend and stand up for our rights as Christians to live according to the beliefs and values we hold dear instead of those whose ideology and votes would serve to endanger, restrict or deny them.

Since prayer was legally banned in public schools in 1963 and our country put its seal of approval on the slaughter of millions of innocent children when abortion was legalized ten years later (the numbers are staggering!) in 1973, the United States has slowly but surely been moving away from being a Christian nation and if we continue on this path, we should not be surprised when God removes His hand of favor and protection and actually raises His hand of judgment against us. If not, He would be a liar and He would owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology!

Thankfully, as Dr. Stanley points out in his message, A Nation in Need of Prayer, You can follow Dr. Stanley’s message and read the scripture references by using his Sermon Outline. As Dr. Stanley’s message points out; God promises to have mercy on us as His people and to heal our land when we follow His instructions in 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, which says “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague 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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

As I was looking for a different verse to include here, I came across Job 36:21 and couldn’t believe how powerfully true and appropriate it is; it says Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction. Sadly, that is so true of many Americans these days who seem much more concerned with what someone promises to give us or how they will make our lives easier instead of where they stand on moral issues; anything to avoid discomfort, pain or delay in getting what we want, which often leads us to turn a blind eye to what we know is evil in the sight of God and rationalize and justify voting for men and women we absolutely know will trample His commandments at every turn. But Satan never comes up and taps us on the shoulder and says “hey, I’m over here doing this or that to kill, steal and destroy you.” Yet he is. So we all need to be very mindful of doing and supporting anything and anyone that opposes the Word of God because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and in Jeremiah 50:24-26, He said I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD. The LORD has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians. Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

As men and women standing for the restoration of our marriages and families, we know all too well what happens when we are disobedient to the Word of God or just ignorant about what it teaches. So please listen to Charles Stanley’s message and commit to fasting and praying for the future of our country. Otherwise I fear that we are like sheep being led to the slaughter; as God told us in Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

Posted Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 9:39 pm in Seeds Of Faith.