[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Tuesday, February 19, 2013

[Paul]

Well, it's Tuesday here in the Americas, and Wednesday in other parts of the world.  I hope that your day is going well or went well.

The following article by Dr. Ralph Montanus was probably written in the 1960's.  Entitled "Has America Forgotten god?", it is rendered as follows:

Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.  (Proverbs 14:34).

One need not go very deeply into the answer to this question before discovering the truth of America's departure from God.  I was amazed to hear the statistics given as to how much Americans spend annually for chewing gum, tobacco and alcohol.  In contrast to these three commodities, all monies given given for foreign missions by all Protestant denominations amounted to only one half of the sum spent for chewing gum last year in America.  Is it any wonder that the divorce rate, juvenile delinquency and dope traffic have reached an all time high?

Never in the history of our nation has there been such a disregard for law and order as there is at this very moment.  As we think of great Americans like Abraham Lincoln and Washington, whose birthdays we will be celebrating this month, we cannot help but think of the leaders of today! In Washington and Lincoln's days, both these statesmen read and studied the Bible and spoke highly of God's Word.  Both spent much time in prayer, endeavoring to receive God's mind in matters of state and national policy.  How different things are today! Most of our national leaders seldom refer to God and most of them endeavor to find the solution to our national problems around the conference table where liquor is served and oaths of blasphemy are permitted.  Some of our highest officials use profanity frequently and feel perfectly justified to do so.  God and His will are conspicuously absent from their deliberation.  No wonder America is drifting into the class of a second-rate power! In Cuba, we are being encircled by Communistic propaganda, evidenced by a Communistic puppet government only ninety miles off our shore!

Inwardly, America suffers from moral decay.  The lawless acts permitted in American cities have infiltrated even some of the law enforcement agencies.  This moral decay is beginning to show its effects.  Unless America repents, and we experience a national revival, it will not be long before God sends judgment on the land that once knew His blessings and favor as no other country on earth.

Oh, Christian, what are you doing to bring about a national revival, one that is genuine and produced by the Holy Spirit? Could it be that you do not care, or that you are not genuinely concerned about America's departure from God? If you are concerned and if you are willing to give yourself to God as an individual whom He can count on so that revival may come in our time, then you must renounce anything and everything displeasing to Him.  Secondly, you must make the Lord Jesus King of your life.

We must turn away from all sin, worldiness and selfishness with our whole heart, yielding to Jesus the absolute Lordship over our thoughts, purposes and actions.  There must be a complete consecration to God superior to that given by the Communists in their dedication to serve the principles and advance the cause of Communism.  When we examin the defeated, careless lives being lived by professing Christians, we realize that the key to revival in America lies with Christians, and not with the world.  It is revival or ruin, Christ or Communism.

Christian, are you willing to pay the price for revival? Are you willing to consecrate your time, talents and finances today? If so, why not get down on your knees now and tell Him so.

Perhaps this is a bit outdated to some, but Dr. Montanus really hit the nail on the head.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul