A Broken Heart

This morning I find myself broken-hearted, trying to hold back tears for my nation and its people. This is no longer the country I grew up knowing and loving, and I am constantly reminded of it. This year, I watched a man of God be assassinated publicly for speaking the truth.

A man that openly gave the opposing view a voice and hushed the crowds so that his opponents would have an avenue to speak. That day in an act of terrorism, not only was Charlie Kirk silenced, but a husband of a loving wife and father of two young children was murdered while exercising his constitutional right to free speech and his God-given mandate to speak the truth.

Over the past few weeks, I have watched riots in cities with people attacking federal officers for enforcing laws that have been established in our country for over a hundred years and which have been enforced over that time. People have been shooting these agents and attacking them for working to remove those taking advantage of the good citizens of this once great country.

For quite some time, we have all witnessed a form of mass insanity, sugar-coating with terminology such as gender dysphoria or transgenderism rather than calling it mental illness. Satan does not trap a person and throw them into the fire; he slowly kills them just like the old adage of cooking a frog.

At first everything seems comfortable and the intent (heat) begins to rise in small increments, a little at a time until his victim finds themselves in a boiling pot of sin participation or acceptance and they are dead before they even realize what has happened.

Our places of worship have become places of entertainment; parishioners come to hear watered-down messages and never gain nor grow in their walk with God. Then when a man steps up to preach the truth, he is shunned and cast away.

What has become of our once great nation? This nation was once moral and upright. This nation was once looked up to and admired by the rest of the world. Our nation was founded on Biblical principles, and we were once a people that loved God, but not today!

No, today God is seldom mentioned—even by people that claim to be Christians—outside the church building. I have never witnessed such blatant disregard and apathy for all we have in our country. We aren’t seeking God, we are seeking dollars and things.

Entertainment and bottom lines in financial statements are the dominant concern. In the middle of September, stores were full of Halloween decorations, and since the beginning of October they have been full of Christmas decorations, but it is what is missing that grieves my heart.

The one day we reserve to give thanks for our blessings and abundance in our nation, seemed to have no sign or presence. No, there are not any Thanksgiving declarations. No pilgrims, turkeys, cornucopias, no Thanksgiving-themed things could be found in two major chain stores this past weekend.

I do not accept the argument that it’s too early, not when Halloween and Christmas are so “in your face” when you are in those stores. Have we lost our thankfulness? Has giving thanks to the Lord God become unimportant?  Reading the Scripture, are we not told look to God? 

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Psalm 118:29 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 7:17  I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.

Colossians 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Just to list a few verses on our need to be thankful.

The following is copied from a Facebook post by a man describing a typical service in the church he attends: “Well, my church has a 20 minute concert, 20 minutes talking about how much money they made and how much more they need for their goal. Then 10 minutes explaining why they need donations for certain mission work. T

hen a 30 minute video of a pastor in a different church kind of rambling and adding in a few bible verses. Followed by the collection plate a quick prayer and off we go. Its church is not christ centered. I was going to go yesterday but couldn't bring myself to go. It's too impersonal, too big, too sterile. Lots of people sitting head bowed over their phones not the Bible”

So many places that call themselves churches today are nothing more than weekly entertainment gatherings. Many claim to be inclusive by accepting, or at the least overlooking, homosexuality and evil under the veil of compassion.

I’m not saying we need to keep the sinners out of church. I’m saying we must preach and teach against man’s sinful nature. We are mandated in Ezekiel 3:18 to do exactly that. We must tell the sinner of what is acceptable in the eyes of God. If we fail to do that and they die in their sins, their blood is on our hands rather than just their own.

Today’s statistics are very depressing. Thanksgiving celebrations have dwindled dramatically. In places where the Bible is preached in its entirety, the same is true for church attendance. Approximately twenty-five percent of children grow up in single-parent homes in our nation. Divorce rates have increased from 2.2 percent in 1960 to almost 50 percent today.

In Ephesians 6 we are told who it is we battle, and today the principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness of this world, and the spiritual wickedness in high places are our enemies, and those forces are not cooking a frog—it is the Christian in the pot. It is the family and the churchgoer who is being boiled to be devoured.

There is a fix, we can stop leaning on our own understanding and listening to the world.

We must follow the path in Proverbs 3: 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We cannot afford to be lukewarm, we cannot afford to be pretenders, and we cannot partially surrender our hearts to God. It is all or nothing, Heaven or hell, life or death, truth or a lie, God or Satan. It is up to each of us as individuals to make the choice.

I ask that you all would pray for your families and the families of others, and pray for our nation and its leaders, that we all would humble ourselves in prayer and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways.

If you are lost and reading this, call out to the Lord Jesus knowing that you are a lost lamb seeking to be saved from the predator before you are devoured.

“As long as a man thinks he can save himself he remains lost.”

-Martin Lloyd-Jones