By Pierre Bynum
"I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against methey have forsaken the LORDthe whole head is sick, and the whole heart faintwhen you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood; wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword." (Is 1:1-20)
Caught in the downward spiral of sin and its consequences, America is now entering a new Dark Age. The American Church desperately needs the revival for which many are praying and fasting. But how many understand that REVIVAL IS NOT AN OPTION? It is not just something our churches need. Revival is America,s only hope! (see Ps 9:17)
If we have revival in the Church, but our cultural institutions (business, government, law, education, medicine, etc.) remain unaffected, our children and grandchildren will continue to be in grave jeopardy.
The Church needs another Great Awakening. From the first Great Awakening, revived leaders arose to restore Biblical foundations in the Church and to lay Godly foundations for the new Republic. A false dualism did not prevent Bible-believing men from applying their faith to the political life of the nation. But the Church today is in a backslidden condition and many of her leaders have retreated from the public square hence, America is now under God,s wrath. His judgments will increase until His people can bear it no longer and cry out to Him in genuine repentance, or until God pours out a final judgment upon the land as He did to Sodom and Gomorrah.
STATE OF THE NATION:
THE WHOLE HEAD IS SICK!
America, like the prodigal son, has wasted the moral, spiritual and material wealth she inherited from her forefathers and wasted it on prostitutes. Some outward trappings of our former wealth remain, but we are living on borrowed time and money.
THE AMERICAN FAMILY has all but disintegrated. God,s curse is upon a nation whose men have failed to be true fathers (Mal 4:6). Since families are the building blocks of civilization, the health of a nation,s families is a sure gauge of a nation,s future health and security. America,s youth, deprived of healthy family life, will be utterly dysfunctional caretakers of a free nation. Unless God intervenes, America can expect to harvest national disorder from the seeds being sown today:
Every day 2,500 American children experience either the separation or divorce of their parents, 90 children are taken from their parents, custody and placed in foster homes, 13 young people between 15 and 24 commit suicide, and 16 are murdered. The divorce rate in America is approximately 50%.
34% of all American children conceived are willfully aborted; in our nation,s capital abortions outnumber live births.
Of the remaining 66% of children who escape abortion, 30% are born out of wedlock and over 50% are raised in fatherless homes. Such homes now produce 63% of all youth suicides, 70% of all teenage pregnancies, 71% of all adolescent drug abuse, 71% of all high school drop-outs, 80% of all rapists, 80% of all prison inmates, 85% of all youths in prison, 70% of all juveniles in state-operated institutions, and 90% of all homeless and runaway children.
The average at-home American father spends 3 minutes each day with each of his children. A majority of American children do not receive a hug or hear the words "I love you" in the course of a normal day.
In many of the homes that are intact, both parents work. The children are left to day-care workers, the public school system, or are "latch-key" children. Homes that enjoy Dad,s physical presence often lack his emotional involvement, with his family taking second or third place behind work, sports, hobbies, etc. Most dads who do spend time with their children fail to actively govern their choices of music, entertainment, friendships and activities. These dads are physically present, but not fully "on duty."
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT -- Despite Constitutional safeguards, the U.S. has become a tyranny that ignores our founding documents and threatens to reduce the American people to a nation of slaves, existing only to serve an all-powerful government system run amok. Modern electronic surveillance, excessive regulation of every detail of life, and oppressive taxation have already placed the American people in bondage. We just have not realized it yet.
The Presidency -- The Clinton presidency uniquely demonstrates the moral depths to which the American people and American democracy have sunk. Elected and re-elected despite evidence of life-long, adulterous philandering, his "loathing" of the military, devotion to the homosexual and feminist agenda, and unveiled ambition to make America an interdependent socialist state in a grand, one-world order, Clinton has used all the powers of his office to effect epochal social change. He has aggressively shaped domestic and foreign policy around radical pro-abortion ideology. He has required all government workers to receive homosexual sensitivity training. He has gutted the Armed Forces and forced the homosexual and feminist agendas upon our troops. The shameless prostitution of the presidential office and the treasonous sale of the White House and America to notorious felons and foreign agents with no meaningful outcry from the media -- while maintaining a 60% approval rating from the public -- truly signals a fearful new era for America.
The Judiciary -- The Courts have taken a new view of their role, believing they are called to interpret the Constitution, not as the founders intended, but as a "changing document" which must evolve with the times and culture. They now actively create new rights via "judicial interpretation," (e.g., the "right to abortion") and new prohibitions (e.g., "no school prayer"). They regularly usurp Congress, authority (as they did with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act) and defy the expressed will of the American people (as they did to the citizens of Colorado by declaring invalid that state,s referendum prohibiting special rights for homosexuals).
The Congress There was renewed hope that things might change after the 1994 elections in which Republicans recaptured Congress. But Congress, wings were clipped when Bill Clinton refused to sign a balanced budget bill and then blamed Republicans for "shutting down the government." Unbelievably, the American people believed Clinton and the Republicans retreated, tucking their tails between their legs, and have never been the same. Clinton was re-elected. Now Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and Clinton work together to push globalist initiatives despised by the American people (e.g., NAFTA, GATT, the Chemical Weapons Treaty, Most Favored Nation trade status for Red China, etc.). Congress is no longer a voice for the American people or a check and balance to the excesses of the executive and judicial branches.
THE AMERICAN ECONOMY -- Incredibly, thirty eight percent of professing evangelical Christians voted to re-elect Bill Clinton in 1996, enthusiastic about the economy and the added economic benefits Clinton promised. But major fault lines lie beneath the surface of the American economy. A major domestic or foreign economic catastrophe could create an earthquake which will shake America and the world. The euphoria with the present bull market and low interest rates hide a gruesome long-term picture:
Jobs & Wages -- Middle class jobs are disappearing in record numbers, replaced by low wage jobs. In 1970, a typical 30-year-old man earned 15% more than his father had at 30 -- today he would make 25% less than his father did! Real wages peaked in 1973 and have declined ever since, even though Americans are working harder, squeezing an extra month of work (compared to 20 years ago) into their annual workload. Many middle-class American families are maintaining their standard of living by increasing debt, a key reason consumer debt has increased over 50% just since Bill Clinton took office.
Growing Poverty -- Since 1975, the incomes of under-30 parents have fallen by 34% while poverty among 18-34 year olds has increased by 50%. Twenty-five percent of working Americans are classified as "working poor". There are 3 million homeless people in America.
College & Opportunity -- Between 1990 and 2005, one-third of college graduates will have taken jobs which do not require a degree. Half a million more new graduates enter the job market each year than there are new jobs created.
National Debt -- Children born in 1994 will face 80% tax rates in their lifetimes based upon projections of the increase in the national debt. Federal expenditures will grow from 23 percent of the GNP to 42 percent by 2020; when the national debt reaches $6.5 trillion (now $5 trillion) it will take 85% of all personal income taxes just to pay the interest on the national debt.
Retirement & Social Security -- Baby Boomers are saving only one-third of what they will need to live in retirement. The elderly population (age 65 & up) will grow 153 percent between now and 2040. In 1948, a family of four earning the median income paid no income tax and only 1% to Social Security. A worker,s share (currently 7.5%) of the Social Security payroll tax (which now is over 15%) could reach 50% by 2040. By 2002, the federal government will have stolen (the government calls it "borrowing") over $1 trillion from the Social Security trust fund. A 63-year-old today will receive $200 for every $100 he paid into Social Security, while a 25-year-old will lose over $100 for every $450 he pays in.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS -- America has long been a net-debtor nation, bankrupt by every objective measure. Our foreign policy has placed America in extreme jeopardy. We,ve run up huge annual trade deficits as if there is no end to our wealth. We,ve sold our integrity to offer Most Favored Nation trade status to countries who do not deserve it, yet some of these "friendly" trading partners have repaid us with unthinkably high tariffs on our goods, and in some cases they have closed their markets to us altogether. Our foreign policy operates without any principle, even self-interest, and has become the laughing stock of the world.
America gives a warped obeisance to the United Nations, serving as chief financier and international peacekeeper.
Under the UN banner, our leaders embrace and promote radical tenets of world socialism, such as the Global Warming treaty, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, etc.
NATIONAL SECURITY -- America,s security has been thoroughly compromised by the Clinton Administration:
Clinton appointees and a compliant Joint Chiefs of Staff have dismantled our bases, downsized and demoralized our forces, successfully feminized our military services (except, perhaps, the "extremist" Marines!), and chased or shamed our best officers into resignation or early retirement.
Morale is low. Many weapons are old and much equipment is desperately in need of repair.
We,ve compromised our national security in order to sell ships, airplanes, supercomputers, and strategic technology to our sworn enemies. President Clinton promised Russia that we would not build a satellite defense system to protect the American people from intercontinental ballistic missiles. In return, the Russians have decided to keep ICBMs they had previously promised to destroy. We are less combat ready now than during the lowest point of the Carter Administration.
CRIME & DOMESTIC SECURITY -- There has been a brief, highly-publicized decrease in national crime statistics, but the underlying fundamentals contributing to the long-term trends have not changed:
Since 1961, America has experienced a 560 percent increase in violent crime. Since 1970, arrests for violent crimes by youths have jumped 91 percent. Since 1965, juvenile violent crime arrest rates have tripled. Twenty-five percent of all African-American men in their 20,s are in prison, on probation, or on parole.
In Washington, DC, 70% of all black men will be arrested at least once before the age of 35.
The average murderer serves less than seven years because of prison overcrowding.
EDUCATION -- Despite the flight from public schools to private, church and home schools, and the election of a Republican Congress, the federal education establishment continues efforts to control all education and to indoctrinate America,s youth with an immoral, socialist worldview (e.g., National Testing, Goals 2000, School-to-Work, etc.). Their initiatives usurp the family, often boldly defying or fraudulently circumventing the will of parents. Meanwhile, children fail to obtain a basic education and are subjected to "learning environments" where their health and psychological and physical safety are threatened:
Three million crimes such as assault, rape, robbery, and theft are attempted or committed on school property each year. One in five of today's high school students has carried a gun or other lethal weapon to school at least once. One in 20 teachers is assaulted.
Almost half of all Americans between the ages of 21 and 25 lack basic literacy skills, and cannot balance a checkbook or read a map. In a recent experiment, only 66% of 8th graders and 77% of 12th graders could correctly total the cost of soup, a burger and fries from a restaurant menu.
While American teenagers polled believed they were good at math, they actually ranked last in an international test.
In a recent ten year period, the number of functionally illiterate 17-year-olds more than doubled. More than 7 million American teenagers are functionally illiterate, the largest number for any industrialized nation.
THE STATE OF THE CHURCH
While America disintegrates, the "Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth," backslidden and self-absorbed, has retreated from her responsibility to warn and teach America (Ez 3:17-21; 33:2-8; Mt 28:20; Tim 3:15). Our pulpits, once considered the "secret of [America,s] genius and power" (Alex deToqueville) are no longer seen as relevant. As God judges America, He will deal first with the Church and her pastors and prophets (Jer 23: 1-5, 9-40; Ez 8:16-9:11; 1 Ptr 4:15). Most, but thankfully not all, of the churches in America can be described as:
UNREPENTANT & PRAYERLESS -- While 2 Chronicles 7:14 has been heralded across America for many years and some have responded, few embrace the call to repentance and prayer as the life-or-death mandate it is. Worldliness and prayerlessness continue to characterize the lives of most believers.
FRIVOLOUS -- Our churches are caught up in music, entertainment, sports, etc., and lack interest or concern for the things of God and the direction of our nation.
A STRONG REFLECTION OF AMERICA, A DIM REFLECTION OF CHRIST -- Our churches mirror America,s hedonistic culture more than they reflect Jesus Christ.
INSIGNIFICANT & IRRELEVANT -- The Church hardly whimpered when prayer and the Ten Commandments were removed from America,s school houses. There was a little fuss when the Supreme Court declared baby-murder a Constitutional right; 40 million abortions later our protest has abated. Leaders in the media, entertainment, education, business, and government now treat the Church with utter disdain and often defy her authority openly. The liberty to believe in and obey Christ and the Bible is openly challenged in American civil society every day, from the public school classroom to the Rotunda of the nation,s Capitol.
COMPROMISED, CONFUSED, IDOLATROUS -- The divorce rate among American Christians now outstrips the divorce rate among non-Christians. Liberal theologians encouraged easy divorce, approval of divorced ministers, departure from Biblically defined roles for men and women, and the ordination of women. In time, tolerance of every kind of sexual immorality, even among the clergy, became typical. Now liberal churchmen and women are among the nation,s leading advocates of abortion, homosexuality and lesbianism. Evangelicals are following the same path.
FEMINIZED & EFFEMINATE -- The gender-neutral version of the NIV Bible would have replaced the original NIV had its publishers not concluded, after a public outcry, that it could be disastrous for business. The Church is being transformed by feminist culture rather than holding to the Word of God and 6000 years of Biblical and Church history. Meanwhile, the Biblical distinctions between men and women are being blurred in the home, the Church, and the greater society. Even the Promise Keepers are hard pressed to say what they are going to do about women pastors who want to come to their 1998 Clergy Conferences (Is 3:12; 1 Cor 6:9-12; 1 Tim 2:3; Tit 1:6).
HYPOCRITICAL -- The sins of the Church,s most prominent national leaders have been paraded before the American people. The huge salaries and lavish wealth of many of America,s preachers is an embarrassment to the Church and a stumbling-block for the lost. Even many Christians would prefer to do business with unbelievers rather than take a chance with a "Christian businessman." George Gallup now reports that there are more divorces among pastors than the Church at large.
TOLERANT TO A FAULT -- The evangelical church has embraced a humanistic "tolerance" as a cheap and wicked substitute for the grace of God (Tit 2:11-15). Churches attempt to attract people with rock music, dances, singles parties, and movies which are part of the broader culture. One unsaved young lady who went to a "Christian" rock concert remarked, "They,re no different from us? What do they have that we would want? I came looking for Jesus!" .
FALSE PROPHETS -- The clergy, by and large, have become false prophets. They have given careless believers and unsaved inquirers false security and a sense of having plenty of time to change their ways. These false prophets will share in the judgment of a generation of misinformed, misled people. Multitudes on the Day of Judgment will point to America,s current crop of pastors and ask, "Why did you not speak the truth to us?"
THE HEZEKIAH GENERATION
Though greatly used of God, Hezekiah made a foolish mistake in his later years by boastfully displaying the treasures of the Lord,s house for the emissaries of Babylon. Isaiah prophesied that Judah would therefor be ransacked, and all the people carried into captivity. Hezekiah,s heirs would be castrated and become slaves in Babylon. "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" (2 Kg 20:1-21).
Compare Hezekiah,s selfish disinterest in the fate of his own children and countrymen with our own. This generation of American Christian men has been blessed with a heritage (spiritual, political and material) like no generation in the history of the world. Yet while we have enjoyed "peace and security" in our own time, satanic emissaries have ransacked our land. We have nothing to bequeath our sons and daughters but castration and slavery.
WHERE IS AMERICA HEADED?
WOES, DOOM & JUDGMENTS!
Most of the curses for disobedience outlined in Deuteronomy 28 have already come in some measure upon America. Those which have not are on the horizon. God,s judgments are initially remedial. If unheeded, they escalate until He pronounces final judgment, as with Sodom & Gomorrah. God is longsuffering and merciful, but He is just, and He will execute His righteous judgments just as He has promised.
Spiritual Drunkenness -- The Church in America is in a state of spiritual drunkenness. Dr. Richard Owen Roberts outlines the symptoms of this unique judgment warned of by God in Jeremiah 13:12-17. Among them are: muddled thinking; severely impaired judgment; incoherence and irrational speech; loss of natural inhibitions and restraint; sluggishness; and self-destructiveness. Without repentance, the lack of judgment of the American people and her leaders will grow worse, affecting the stability of every institution in society.
Unbearable Tyranny -- The abuse of the American people by various government agencies will become increasingly commonplace. Surveillance of the Internet, expanded telephone wiretapping, IRS audits of conservative organizations, monitoring of bank transactions, gun registration & gun control laws, etc., will grow worse. Unconstitutional penalties against pro-life protestors will eventually be expanded to apply to those who protest other established "public policies."
National Bankruptcy -- The United States is already bankrupt by conventional standards. The national debt is over $5 trillion and climbing. All the "balanced budget agreements" have proven to be elaborate bipartisan smoke-and-mirror schemes to fool the American people. In the midst of recent budget negotiations, when it was discovered that there would be windfall tax revenues because of unexpected economic growth, liberals and conservatives alike rushed to earmark the money for pet programs. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has recommended that the Social Security system be revamped, admitting that it will soon be bankrupt.
Defenselessness In the face of our country,s troop reductions and the unilateral disarmament of our armed forces, rogue nations like Iraq are challenging the U.S. to test our willingness to enforce our military commitments. And while the U.S. races to disarm, Red China is conducting a massive arms buildup and propaganda campaign intended to prepare the Chinese people for a nuclear first strike on the United States during the next 5-15 years. Comunist China,s leaders are people whose view of human life is so low that they murder unwanted female babies, forcibly abort second children, and raid the bodies of live prisoners to harvest their organs for political officials. They are leaders who will not hesitate to initiate a first strike upon the United States when the time is ripe. God has raised up pagan Red China and made her capable of bringing America down. Likewise He has allowed an immoral and treasonous regime in America to betray us.
Domestic Unrest -- White supremicists and militant black power advocates, along with their misled, frightened and angry followers, are preparing for another domestic war which could turn our major cities into conflagrations. The loss of life & destruction would dwarf what took place in the 1968 riots. The actions of maverick militia groups and the over-reactions of government agents could make Oklahoma City and Waco look like child,s play.
Natural Disasters -- Since 1992 there has been a measurable increase in the number of snowstorms, floods, mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, forest fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. God has used natural disasters throughout history both to punish peoples and to get their undivided attention. Such disasters will only increase until God has obtained the repentance He seeks in America.
Humanist, One World Government - Bill Clinton,s domestic and international initiatives have dangerously diminished U.S. power and authority in order to increase the power and prestige of the United Nations. The relatively small UN budget belies the power it wields owing to ideological commitment from pagan national leaders (and leaders in business, finance, politics, education, etc.) who, having no knowledge of God, believe a united world government is the only hope for world peace.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO BRING
REVIVAL & REFORMATION?
First, we must individually and collectively humble ourselves before God and REPENT for forsaking Him. We must REPENT of all sin, seek God's face and pursue His holiness. We must especially REPENT for our apathy, indifference, prayerlessness and lack of involvement in influencing the direction of our churches & nation. We are all to blame (2 Chr 7:14; Eph 4:17-18; 5:15-17; Rev 3:15-19).
Second, We must PRAY. We must pray alone, with our families, with our friends and neighbors. We must consecrate special seasons of prayer, conduct prayer vigils and make congregational prayer a regular and important part of all our worship services (2 Chr 7:14; Joel 2:12-17; 1 Tim 2:1-8).
Third, we must fast and call others to fast in this critical hour. (Neh 9:1-3; Es 4:3; Dan 9:3; Joel 2:15; Mt 17:21).
Fourth, we must pray for our pastors, that they will understand the times and courageously warn of coming judgments and rouse the Church out of her slumber (Is 56:10; Ez 3:8-9; 1 Chr 12:32; Eph 5:14).
Fifth, we must urgently warn all those we can -- our families, our friends, our neighbors -- of God's coming judgment upon America. (Ez 33:2-6; Acts 20:31)
Sixth, we must encourage them to warn others (God told Ezekiel the blood of his countrymen would be upon his head if he failed to warn them). We are each called to be God's watchmen (Pr 13:24; Mt 3:7-12; Jn 8:32; Acts 17:21; Eph 4:14-15).
Seventh, we must each embrace our personal Christian responsibility in civil government, become involved proactively and retake the ground we have surrendered to Satan, while not neglecting the other spheres of God-instituted government (self, home and church) (2 Sam 23:2-7; Rom 13:4-7; 2 Tim 4:1-2).
Eighth, we must pray for and call upon our pastors to restore the theology of our Christian forefathers, to REVIVE THE preaching and teaching the great Bible doctrines and to call their flocks to Biblical responsibility in civic affairs (Is 33:22; Acts 20:20, 26-28; 1 Co 15:25).
Ninth, we must individully be prepared to stand for truth and to resist every act of tyranny (by every legal means at our disposal). We must be prepared to disobey man if called upon to disobey God or to otherwise deny our faith, and to accept whatever consequences may befall us (Neh 4:14; Pr 28:4; Mt 10:28; Acts 5:29; 25:8-11; Heb 10:33).
Finally, we must beseech God for genuine revival and reformation in the Church, and for another Great Awakening which will transform our cultural institutions and envision America once again to become "one nation under God" (Ps 33:12; 72:11; 82:8; Pr 14:34; 29:18).
