America Changed...The Day After

So the day after 9/11, America wakes up different than the day before. Suddenly perspectives have changed. The safety we felt at home was now a memory only. The peace we felt when getting on a plane was a little shakier than before. 2758 people slipped into eternity and left kids, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters behind to pick up the pieces and mover forward with their lives alone.

On Fox News this evening there was a comment about 9/11 changing America. How have we changed I asked myself and I ask you? How have we evolved since then? We all witnessed, in what seemed like an endless day, people jumping from the 104th floor to escape the flames and hell that was behind them. We all saw those towers crumble like a house of cards and we all cried the tears of heartache as it was so clear that America would indeed never be the same.

So I ask you this friends...Are we more spiritual as a result of the horror that unfolded before us? Did we and do we cry out for our Deliverer to save us from the terror that surrounds us and continues to threaten us? Did our nation fall to its knees and seek God's mercy and grace? Did our churches fill up and stay full? Did our families get stronger? Did moms stop walking out the door on dads? Did dads stop abandoning their children? What has changed in Amercia since that horrific day just seven years ago?

I submit tonight, as Hannity and Comes argue in the background about Palin's comments on praying and God, that America HAS indeed changed and not for the better. Oh we have changed indeed. No our churches aren't full, the family is in shambles, and the Nation is turning its back on God at an alarming rate. I have to wonder how long God will continue to show us His amazing Mercy when I look at what's going on?

Israel was so often following hard after God and over time they would start worshipping other gods and idols. They would forget the goodness of God and how He had brought them through some pretty hard times of terror. God's people would turn their backs to Him so frequently that He would often rise up an evil nation to press in terror upon His people so that they would cry out for a deliverer. Time and time again, God would always provide a deliverer and His people would get back on track for a while...until they decided that the hard times were now over and they could return to their old ways. And God would raise up terror against them and they would again cry out. Again God would show His mercy and save His people and they would return to Him.

THE FINAL Deliverer came in the form of a baby boy named Jesus. This baby would grow up and be the sacrifice that was without blemish and without sin, offered His body up so you and I could be forgiven and delivered once and for all. Now some 2000 years later, this "one nation, under God" is in need of God's great mercy. We are need of a revival that will shake up the establishment we call "church. We need a revival that will make us want to put our selfish needs aside and focus on God's agenda. We need a revival that will awaken us to the lost world around us and push us out of our pews and to the ends of the earth.

It's sad to me that it's no longer safe for a politician to say they pray to God. FDR, JFK, Lincoln, Regan, and many other Presidents, both democrats and Republicans, have talked openly about God in their position. Now, 7 years after 9/11 the powers that be (media establishment, policital correctness, ACLU, etc) are more determined than ever to shut God out of every aspect of American life. Our politic ans are now religious fanatics because they make reference to God...no the fanatics are the ones that hijacked 4 planes and killed Americans but wait we ignore that don't we. Our football games can't be opened in prayer anymore because we don't want to OFFEND anyone. Our churches preach a cheap gospel that tell the lost that they can fly high as eagles but fail to mention the costly expense of our sin and our Saviour on the cross.

Oh yes, America has changed. Ever so gradually we are seeing an erosion of everything that was right about our great country. Ever so gradually we are seeing the death of a nation. Ever so slowly we see the darkness creeping over our shores, lurking and threatening to destroy us once and for all. Yet what do we (I'm saying we as a nation) do about it...We keep on doing the same thing we have always done. We put God aside and find our own little idols to worship.

We elect inept politicians who only serve themselves. We rely on people to change and reform a broken government. We expect the pastors of our churches to do our worship for us, to go on mission work for us and to lead people to Christ for us while we sit back and watch because that's what they "get paid to do" (again, I'm referring to the nation as a whole and not PBC). We watch from the sidelines and never go to prayer meetings to pray. We ignore revival services and opt for the football or softball game instead. We HAVE changed since 9/11 and it's NOT for the better. We are not more hungry for God to heal our land. We are more complacent. We are not so thirsty for that well of living water that's inside us to rise up and empower us that we spend hours in prayer asking to be used. We are apathetic and lazy and we are a dying nation because Christians are silent. We are more vocal at a race or a sporting event than we are in daily prayer.

The government can only do so much. Christians better wake up and take notice. Time is short and our voice is getting smaller and smaller because we are letting it. FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY. FIGHT FOR THIS NATION. FIGHT FOR THE LOST. FIGHT FOR OUR SCHOOLS. It's time we remember the lessons of 9/11 and look to God and God alone for the answers. Pray. Noting will EVER change if we aren't' praying. PRAY. The state of the Nation depends on it.