According to the Gun Violence Archive, this is the 307th mass shooting in America this year. Such violence has occurred so often that we risk becoming inured to its horrors.
I love America. Every time I travel overseas, I return with a renewed appreciation for my country.
But part of loving our nation is doing all we can to help our people become all we can be. The epidemic of violence in America is tragic beyond words. We could list a spate of other challenges, from opioid addiction to endemic poverty.
One fundamental issue is foundational to the crises we face.
Our greatest challenge
Yesterday, I identified America’s belief that “all men are created equal” as our founding creed and a significant reason for our continuity as a nation. No matter how divisive our elections become, we share the fundamental conviction that every vote counts and every American matters.
However, this passionate commitment to the rights and liberties of individuals is not only our most cohesive strength–it is also our greatest challenge.
Our founders articulated their commitment to the equality of mankind on the foundation of the Judeo-Christian worldview. For example, John Adams was adamant: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.”
In recent years, however, our culture has moved further and further from this biblical worldview. Absent a set of consensual moral standards, we have embraced tolerance of all standards.
For example, the right to life of a preborn baby now depends on the subjective decision of his or her mother. More and more states are embracing euthanasia and its denial of the sanctity of life until natural death.
We have redefined gender and marriage. We have built an economy that is leaving behind millions of impoverished Americans. Our racial divisions remain and in some ways are widening. Violence is escalating on our streets.
What does God think of our culture today?
What causes God to judge nations?
A brief survey of Amos 1-2 reveals eight sins that provoked the wrath and judgment of God against the nations. Let’s consider them in the context of American society.
One: Damascus “threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron” (Amos 1:3), weaponizing these “sledges” to crush people instead of grain. Similarly, Edom “pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity” (v. 11). What does the Lord think of the mass shootings in America across recent years? The rise in violent crime? The homicide rate in our major cities?
Two: The people of Gaza and Tyre “carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom” (vv. 6, 9), enslaving and then selling them. What does God think about sex trafficking, which has been called “the new American slavery“?
Three: The people of Ammon “ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border” (v. 13), murdering unborn children for material gain. What does God think of the $1.5 billion abortion industry in America?
Four: The people of Moab “burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom” (Amos 2:1), a violent act of disrespect and ridicule. How does God feel about the rancor and animosity of America’s political culture?
Five: The people of Judah “rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray” (v. 4). What does God think about America’s embrace of unbiblical morality such as abortion and same-sex marriage?
Six: The people of Israel “sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals” (v. 6). Additionally, they “trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted” (v. 7a). How does God feel about the 39.7 million Americans living in poverty, fifteen million of whom are children?
Seven: The Lord judges Israel because “a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned” (v. 7b). What would he say about the exploding epidemic of pornography, adultery, and premarital sex in America?
Eight: God condemns Israel because “you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy’” (v. 12). What would he say about the decline of religious commitment in the US?
Will God judge America?
I do not know where to locate America on God’s prophetic timeline. But I do know that America’s Christians must pray and work for spiritual awakening and moral renewal with the greatest urgency and passion.
God’s nature does not change–he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Any sin he has judged in the past is a sin he judges in the present and will judge in the future. Our rampant individualism that tolerates what the Bible forbids is leading us further from his blessing and closer to his judgment.
But know this: divine judgment begins with us. Peter warned, “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). Christians cannot ask the culture to repent of sins we commit. We cannot be catalysts for spiritual renewal unless we are experiencing spiritual renewal.
Leonard Ravenhill: “As long as we are content to live without revival, we will.”
Will you pray for spiritual awakening, starting with your own heart, right now?
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Jim Denison, Ph.D., speaks and writes on cultural and contemporary issues. He is a trusted author and subject matter expert in areas where faith and current events intersect. His Daily Article provides leading insight for discerning today’s news from a biblical perspective.
OH MY! Let us pray against all the violence in America, pray for the safety of all. America is in bad shape. I have never seen my Country in such bad shape. So much anger…..
Mob chants threats outside Tucker Carlson’s DC home
Fox News
A self-described left-wing Antifa group posted a video of activists outside the Washington, D.C., home of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Wednesday evening, chanting, “Tucker Carlson, we will fight, we know where you sleep at night.” Read the full story
Thomas a’ Kempis said, “When Jesus is near, all is well and nothing seems difficult.”
From the writings of the Rev. Billy GrahamQ: Why are people looking to politics, science and education for the solution to the problems we face today? — P.T.A: Many people who call themselves Christians actually doubt the authority of the Scriptures, believing in a god of their own imagination. Jesus Christ has been robbed of His deity. There are prominent preachers that suggest large passages of God’s Word be eliminated. Beware! The truth of Jesus the Christ can be a disturbing thought. He did not come the first time to bring peace, though He will return as the Prince of peace. He came to show mankind our sin against Him. He came to take our place for the penalty of sin. What a Savior!
Scripture warns that multitudes will reject that message, and we see that happening today. There is a cost to being a Christian and the cost for many is too great because they must forsake the lure of materialism and secular pleasure.
In this country we are engaged in a debate on the separation of church and state. But there is a sense in which Christ cannot be separated from anything that pertains to life, for He “is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11). True Christianity is dependent on a personal relationship with God, not on externals. No pagan philosophy, no atheistic ideology, no deep sorrow can dislodge the joy of living as a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is big enough to cope with the gigantic social problems of these times. Man does not in himself have the capacity to do this, but Christ provides all that we need to live in this sin-sick world with victory.
When someone repents of sin and receives Jesus as Savior, He gives newness of life — new direction, new strength, and a new dimension of living.
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
(c)2018 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
From Today……….
OH MY! When will the madness stop? We are so very heart broken with another mass shooting in America! We are in prayer for all! America, we must change our ways! I am wore out from reporting on these mass shootings, they are destroying our country and what we stand for.
I am here to tell you what the Lord has shown me, we are in very bad shape as a nation, the worst ever since the Civil War, but people are blind, they don’t see our wicked ways as a nation.
Officer among 12 killed in mass shooting at bar in Thousand Oaks, California
ABC News
Authorities told KABC-TV they believe the suspect is dead. Read the full story
Thirteen people are dead after a gunman opened fire on a crowd at a country dance bar holding a weekly “college night” Wednesday in Southern California, sending hundreds fleeing in terror including some who used barstools to break windows and escape, authorities said.
