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'Christ in You...'
by Dale Krebbs
The world is in trouble. America is in trouble.
Most thinking people would probable agree. At the risk of seeming simplistic, the key to any nation's troubles is national Sin. Such a small word, and such eternal meaning, and such momentous consequences for ignoring it.
The solution to national troubles is national repentance.
The troubles and turmoil of any country are the results of it's spiritual condition and lack of knowledge or response to, the God who made them. It doesn't matter if a nation claims to be a Christian nation or not. There are spiritual laws that God has built into the universe that affect all nations of the world. There is cause and affect functioning in all nations. Turmoil and violence of every type are just symptoms of a larger problem. Solutions for any nation's problems is repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). And repentance must begin from the bottom up, not from the top down.
As long as God is ignored, there will be problems on His earth. America and other nations of the "western hemisphere" have claimed belief in God, and manifested it via various practices over a period of several hundred years. Because of their confessed dependence on God, they have been blessed in many ways, including victory in armed conflicts. God has honored their faith in Him, and delivered them from enemies. The rise and fall of nations generally has been caused by moral and spiritual decline beginning with the disintegration of family life that promotes moral decline over a long period of time.
In nations claiming relationship to Christian principles and practices, there has been a slow decline of moral values in almost every echelon of their societies. National troubles and difficulties begin to appear and become serious problems in proportion to the spiritual condition of that nation, whether it claims to have a Christian foundation or not. Moral principles are at work whether they claim belief in God or not. God has built into the universe moral principles that automatically operate upon all nations and peoples.
America and other nations who have had a Christian orientation for centuries have been the ones that God has given victory in war and conflicts, because they acknowledged the true God. The outcomes of many conflicts and wars has not been the result of these nations being more "righteous" than others, but because ultimately they looked to God for deliverance. In so doing, God had mercy and enabled victory in conflicts.
If any nation seems to be in a state of decline, it is because that nation has lost or neglected eternal principles that originate with God, and instilled in humanity which has the internal capacity to know right from wrong. Once this is violated, every type of evil can take root and flourish. God's principles are inviolate. They operate on any country, past, present, and future.
In democratic governmental countries, the principle of from the bottom up, rather than from the top down generally operate. This is the reason that change must begins at the bottom - with the populace. This is especially true in America that has a representative style government. Amerce traditionally has been a "Christian nation", and God blessed it beyond measure. But in many ways, America has turned it's back on the God who gave them victory, blessings and success like no other in recorded history.
But it has begun to decline in many ways. In claiming to be a Christian society, America must repent of its sins - sins of commission and omission, turn around, and turn back to God. There must be a spirit of repentance in the populace. As a democracy, this must begin from the general populace - from the "ground up". It cannot come from the top down, from governmental pressure or laws. It must begin with each American.
In short, America must confess its sins, and repent toward God. Repentance means forsaking that which is wrong beginning with the citizens, cities, farms, and business, industry; filtering up toward large sections of society, all the way to church organization, and ultimately to city, state, and federal government. Repentance of wrong-doing cannot be sustained from the top down. It must originate and progress upward. Then the right government will begin to filter down to all Americans.
For this reason, the people in a democracy ultimately experience the leadership it deserves.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14
Traditionally, we are hard to turn.
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