The Church: "If My People!" - A Call To Repentance, Part I

   "When I shut up Heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence 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 I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:13,14

    In the midst of the 911 terror attack people began to be overwhelmed with fear and for a time church membership swelled, but only for a short time and then it was back to business as usual, and instead of "God-less America" it was "God bless America" and we went off to blame someone else for this undeserved tragedy, and so our misguided leadership set America's sights on Iraq, a horrible mistake in judgment!

    When we take a hard look at the scripture in II Chronicles 7:13,14 we see the answer to Solomon's prayer to protect Israel from harm and to bless His people as he dedicated the temple to God. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ knows it by heart and recites it frequently by rote, not really understanding the revelation of it nor does it produce a lasting repentance. God is speaking about His people committing wickedness, not the lost of the world as if America was somehow the Christian Mecca, although it is thought to be so.

    Wickedness you say, what wickedness have we committed, we are God's chosen, the apple of His eye and the sheep of His pasture? The wickedness that God is accusing us of is the sin of disunity, apathy, competition, greed, selfishness and pride in that we have not obeyed His command to go and make disciples, to love our neighbors, or to love Him for that matter, with all of our heart. We have been silent on the issues of abortion and fifty million innocent children have been murdered on our watch. We have been silent on sin and the preaching of repentance to the lost and not concerned ourselves with the souls of millions who have died and perished in the depths of Hell! These are just a few of the issues of disobedience and wickedness that His people have committed and yet we instead vote for somebody to change the land instead of us obeying the voice of God.

    "And as for this house which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, "Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?" II Chronicles 7:21

CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE

    "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." Deuteronomy 28:15

    This indictment is not against America, it is against His people who have defected from His word and gone a whoring after the world. America receives the blessings of God because of His people who reside there, but we have left our first love and deeply grieved the Holy Spirit until the rain of Heaven no longer falls on us!

    America was great as long as we acknowledged God as the Supreme Commander of the country, giving glory and honor to His great name and allowing His Spirit access to our lives, but when we began to turn away from Him to follow other gods, just as His people Israel did eons before, we are now reaping what we have sown! Famine describes a lack of sustenance and our financial situation is grave to say the least being so deep in debt that we are virtually bankrupt. Pestilence stalks the youth of the land with drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual deviation, suicide, school shootings and disease, rampant among our children, killing thousands and threatening thousands more.

    Another curse in Deuteronomy is the illegal immigrants coming into the land not to mention the legal ones that are taking over our government while our leaders look on. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, a murderous, demonically inspired cult of terrorists overtaking countries and establishing their Sharia law and because of their shear numbers they are beginning to dictate to us how we are to live. The homosexual agenda has come out of the closet because there was no longer any fear of God brought about by a lack of preaching the truth. Abortion has murdered fifty million innocent children in the name of choice and their blood has stained the land with shame for this diabolical slaughter.

    "The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me." Deuteronomy 28:20

DEFEATED BEFORE OUR ENEMIES

    "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth." Deuteronomy 28:25

    Once a formidable force to be reckoned with, America has fought on many fronts defeating their enemies because Jesus was Lord of the land, but in the fifties something began to change. With the advent of the Korean conflict there seemed to be no winner and it cost many lives and much treasure and now we have a north and south Korea with a young novice dictator over the north threatening world domination.

    Then comes Vietnam, another conflict where we were called upon to advise but ended up costing America fifty thousand precious souls who lost their lives fighting a people, most of whom were simple farmers with primitive traps and weapons backed by the Communists. All that was gained was given back as we left the country, again without victory. Next came the Gulf war and then Iraq and Saddam Hussein, all for the precious commodity of oil where thousands again spilled their blood and others were maimed for life and the outcome left us stretched to the limit financially, spread out across the Middle East, leaving us like a "Bush in the desert!"

    Now in the 21st century after multiple conflicts, wars and numerous skirmishes America is no longer the once unbeatable super power and is now faced by ISIS, a result of our mis-guided leadership, another consequence of our defection from God, and Ebola that has also pierced our borders, not to mention the longest war we have ever fought, the war on drugs, also a miserable loss of life, and the millions poured down the drain, but to no avail! Are you getting the picture? America is on it's way to becoming another pagan third world country, because we have rejected Him who once blessed our shores with abundant prosperity. I advise you to take a hard look at the nations of the world where Jesus is not Lord and you will find poverty, sickness and death in abundance! May God have mercy!

    "The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you (Obama, just one of our mis-guided leaders) to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. "And you shall become an astonishment (a thing of horror) and a byword  among all nations where the Lord will drive you." Deuteronomy 28:36,37

Your servant in Christ, Tim Laughlin
   Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ