Do we REALLY want revival?

I have yet to hear anyone with any credibility suggest that things in this country are going to get better any time soon. Yesterday's pessimist is today's realist. The fact is that our country has been incredibly blessed by God for many, many years. We know from Romans 2:4 that God's goodness is intended to lead to repentance. But unfortunately, the more God has blessed us, the harder and more reprobate we seem to have become.

I believe we are now seeing "Plan B" -- the removal of God's hand of blessing from our land. Our problems are not, nor have they ever been, economic. They have ALWAYS been spiritual.

This is the year for us to get our lives right. This means relationships, not stuff. We can afford integrity, but not reputation. We should invest in caring for others, not impressing them.

Please devote some time to the following two items. The article is good and the audio is better.

How To Have a 'Personal' Revival (article)

How To Experience Personal Revival (audio)

I believe this is the year that will make or break a lot of families. This isn't me pretending to be a prophet or anything; just looking at current trends and extrapolating their likely convergence and results. The economy is in melt-down, and nobody really trusts anyone. We're addicted to creature comforts and a police state is in the offing. These are all in-our-face symptoms of a formerly Christian culture that has repudiated its heritage.

In short: there is a problem. I believe God will raise us up and allow us to be part of the answer, but only if we submit to Him.

Please spend some quiet time reviewing the above links. Let's re-align our lives in the light of God's priorities.

Prepare To Be Horrified

We got on the 'slippery slope' of infanticide and euthanasia back in the 1950s (remember?) when Thalidomide was being given to pregnant women to ease the discomforts of morning sickness during pregnancy. As it turned out, use in Germany had already revealed that birth defects were a likely result, but this information was withheld, possibly to foment debate on the "ethics" of aborting a pregnancy if it were known that the baby would be severely deformed, retarded, or both.

Back then, the alarm bells sounded ... but alas! we wound up with abortion on demand about twenty years later.

Then partial-birth "abortion" - the gruesome murder of the baby at the time of birth. And "benign neglect" - allowing a baby to die after birth if the baby survived the attempted abortion.

Now, Baroness Warnock has weighed in with the second-to-the-last step on the slope: The DUTY to die if one's life has become burdensome, either to others or to the state. According to Warnock, "Old people with dementia have a duty to die and should be pushed towards death." She doesn't say how hard a push should be administered, but the "duty" to die can only be followed by one thing: the "duty" to kill those who won't do their "duty" voluntarily.

We can see this one coming, folks. This will be doctors REQUIRED to KILL THEIR PATIENTS if the patient's care becomes "too expensive" in the eyes of some state bureaucrat or, more likely, some formula developed by a committee so no one person need shoulder all the blame.

We are talking about the State creating a DUTY to violate the 6th commandment. These are scary times, people. Surely, the return of the Lord and the Day of Vengeance cannot be far off. Jesus said, "Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved." The scripture also warns of a day when the living would envy the dead, and when people would cry out for the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb. (Rev. 6:16)

This nation is being turned into hell. Too many are still slumbering; aware of the dire straits we find ourselves in, but more afraid of Obama than they are of the Lord, or perhaps believing that "Messiah Obama" will actually 'turn things around' and get back to the way things used to be.

Well, with the blood of over 50 million innocent children already spilled, and apparently more on the way, this will not happen. There is no spirit of repentance sweeping the land, and as much as we long for and pray for a spiritual revival, that revival will not protect those wicked among us who have chosen to defy the Law of God (including many, I might add, who are hiding out in churches).

Don't be distracted, deceived, or dismayed. Judgment is almost here. Are you ready?

Understanding the Trick

I've long maintained that 'liberal' and 'conservative' are simply styles of rhetoric that candidates for public office rely on to appeal for support. Once in office, however, they are almost all (Dr. Ron Paul being a notable exception) statists. Policy supports the growth of the government, and different excuses are offered to make the same vote for the same policy seem both liberal and conservative; i.e. in your best interests, regardless of your position on the 'political spectrum.'

It's all lies, of course. Almost all of the people who run for public office do it because they want power, not results. Once enough of us understand how this 'trick' works, maybe we can make some long overdue changes. But I still doubt that 'the system' -- broken as it is -- can ever be used to fix itself. We didn't vote ourselves into this mess. Rather, this road to hell is paved with crime, usurpation, lawlessness, rationalizations ("it's for their own good" or "the end will justify the means") extortion, and rebellion against God.

"How To Be A Successful Tyrant" digs into the mindset in a serious and yet whimsical way. Tyrants are dead earnest about their dream to run our lives and rule the world. Thinking themselves wise, they have done the very un-wise thing of attempting to sit on a throne that only Jesus Christ is worthy to sit upon. And He Who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord will hold them in derision.

That said, our duty is to watch and pray. Watch -- know what's going on; not the sound-bites for the mindless often offered up by network news, but the real story of what is happening and why. See where this road will take us.

Then pray. Turn off the entertainment and get on your knees, or your face. Examine yourself, repent and make restitution. And urge others to do the same.

Larken's book may help understand the enemy without, and within. The sins that so easily beset us reside in all our hearts. Today's elitist tyrants have only one thing the rest of us lack: opportunity.

Why Are We Here?

Dennis Marcellino cites a survey on CNN Headline News that said the #1 interest of 43% of Americans is, “What is the meaning of life?”

Logically, life must have meaning. If life had no meaning, the concept would have no meaning. It would then never occur to anyone to wonder about the 'meaning of life' because the idea itself would be nonsense.

We're at the brink. Politicians want more power, corporate leaders want larger market share and higher profits, starving people want food, war-ravaged people want peace, and the average blue-collar worker just wants to be left alone.

But is that 'meaning'? Wanting things and getting what we want?

Henry Blackaby gave the keynote address at a National Day of Prayer event four years ago. His comments remain relevant: God Himself has an agenda for the world, and particularly for His people. We would be well-served to forget our priorities and think about His. All our earthly hopes, dreams, and accomplishments will vanish like a dream disappears when one awakens. None of it will matter, nor will it leave evidence that it ever even existed. But the One with whom we have to do -- He will hold us accountable.

We are called to 'watch' - to meditate on God's Word - to be extensions of God's grace in this world. So put away your vainglory, your temporary hopes and yearnings for physical comfort, power, and praise. The world, the flesh and the devil will be gone soon enough.

Then what?