A Month Past Our Celebrations What Must We Do?

Editor: Flags were proudly waving in Canada on July 1st and America on July 4th, as they do every year, but how much is true pride in nation and how much is simply joyful celebration or partying. The front cover of this magazine depicts nations floundering on the wild sea and yet trying to steer the boat by themselves, all the while ignoring help from the Lord God Almighty. Only a blind man could miss the denigration of Christianity in our nations today. Yet, theologians meekly stand by [or join in] while leaders take whatever stand they wish and growing numbers of Israelites join the chase to rid our lands of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what the theologians preach or how the leaders lead, for as Jeremiah said in chapter 5:31, “…. And my people love to have it so …” Strange, isn’t it, why we do it?

A great World War II leader, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, once said, “let us remember when all these things are said and done the one great fact, the greatest fact, remains supreme and unassailable. It is this. There are in this world things that are true and things that are false; there are ways that are right and ways that are wrong, men good and bad. And on the one side or the other we must take our stand: one, or the other, we must serve”. A great commander once dismissed his troops after a long campaign in these words: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve….as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

So, we must ask ourselves, “Whom do we Israel Nations serve in these early days of the 21st century.” In all honesty we cannot say the Lord Jesus Christ, once the focal point of our nations. Sadly, we have spent so many years chasing God from our daily lives, schools, government facilities, business places, etc. that on the whole, our people cannot see the damage we have created.

Take America, for instance, is it true she is the Israel Nation that is the leader in the downhill race to apostasy and immorality? Probably! And the fall has been so dramatic, it is hard to fathom. Some sixty years ago, a small booklet titled “Clouds over America” had this to say about a truly blessed nation.

No nation ever before acquired so vast a territory in so quiet a manner.

No other nation ever rose to such heights of greatness by such peaceful means

No other nation ever existed whose foundations of government were laid so deep and so broad in the principles of justice, righteousness, and truth.

No other nation has ever existed in which men have been left so free to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.

In no other country, and in no other age have the arts and sciences so flourished, and so many inventions for health and welfare of mankind been devised as in our own United States.

What happened? Put simply, America has been rejected by God Almighty because she has rejected what made her strong in the first place. She has become a war driven nation, the cost of which is immeasurable. And despite bravado, she has lost in so many ways, from poverty to credibility. It is even more difficult to fathom the number of disasters that have taken place in her land since the turn of the century, terrorist actions, various terrestrial upheavals, financial bondage, financial fragility, inept leadership and on and on. Every American should ask, “Are we better off today than we were 60 years ago, when our standard of living was highest in the world, where we were the richest nation in the world, where we enjoyed respect the world around and where freedom flourished.”

How about Canada? We’re late bloomers as compared to America but now we seem to be picking up speed. We too have rejected God and even the feel good messages of love and unity are not filling the churches. And now we seem to be seriously playing catch-up by ignoring God’s Word. We’ve also had the floods, the fires, other natural upheavals, even terrorist actions. Oh, yes, we too have inept leadership and there are no leaders in the future who will make a difference. There are no Statesmen waiting in the wings. And so, every Canadian should ask, “Are we better off today than we were 60 years ago, when our standard of living was among the highest in the world, where we were a rich and proud nation, where we enjoyed respect because we were a peace keeping nation and a nation where freedom flourished.”

Let’s face it, without Christ in our lives and in the lives of our nations, we are lost and we can only look forward to the curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28. Yet, did we really do this to ourselves or have we just followed an ingenious plan laid down for us because it feels so good and non-threatening? Has Genesis 27:40 come to pass and the descendants of Esau have us in bondage so severe that we have turned our backs on the very source of our past blessings?

Where are we going, not just in Canada and America but in all the Israel nations?

We look at the landscape and it is not a pretty picture. Events are moving very dramatically and very quickly toward new calamities. A financial collapse and a severe world-wide conflict is in the future, the Bible tells us this. The contemplation of this in our time is perhaps a prime reason why Christendom has sought a more pleasant ending instead of the fear generated by prophecies, as recorded in Ezekiel, Amos, Joel and Revelation, to name just a few. Still, should we fear the future, or, as in the past when adversity became too suffocating, great leaders in Israel will arise? Or are we at that point in God’s Plan when we can do no more by ourselves; that only God can help. We must be convinced that we still have the Almighty on our side, Genesis 49:25 tells us this, and if the fearful days mentioned in Scripture come calling, we should have confidence, knowing that God will remove the blindness from Israel and direct us as to how to proceed. And if this is the glorious time, then we will also have the advantage of the greatest leader of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. As King George VI said of his time, which can easily be related to ours, “Now once more a supreme test has to be faced….. That we may be worthily matched with this new summons of destiny, I desire solemnly to call my people to prayer and dedication….” So, really, the solution for the Israel nations is prayer and repentance, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14)