Here we are, in one of the greatest dilemas ever for mankind. It is not as bad as the days of Noah, when he and he alone was the only one found righteous in the sight of the Lord. It is not as bad as the days of Jeremiah when the people were in open rebellion against the Word of the Lord. For they said, 'All that the Lord says through you we will do'. And when JEremiah told the people, 'Thus saith the Lord, Do not go down into Egypt'. The people replied, 'You are lying to us and the Lord did not say that. but we shall go down into Egypt, everyone of us.' So they all turned away from the Lord. Those that had gone into captivity and those that remained in the land, they all sinned against the Lord. It is said by historians that the days that proceeded the Great Awakenings were terrible days full of sin, violence, and great absence of God in the churches and pulpits. We are much on the same plane.
It is a wicked day in the world today. A continual report by so many of pastors falling into open sin. Christians praciticing sin daily and being content with it. Families are decimated by divorce and wicked relationships and God is absent from their thinking or daily living. And it is said that there are as many lost people today in the world as has ever been in the world population. That thought alone should shake us and alarm us. That if the Lord returns today. The people of this earth will perish. And the fact that there are as many, right now, lost in sin as is already in hell today should move us to action.
But the fact is, the church is largely unmoved by the facts of which they already know. They know that this nation is wicked. It is not shock anymore of the headlines. I think we are almost beyond the statment, 'I can't believe this'. WE have seen and read some of the most horrifying, gross, perverted and evil acts committed by man. Yet, with all this we are still unmoved. The desensitizing us to the urgency of the hour is allowing for hell to gain ground left and right. We are left without a movement of urgent prayer to undo and counter this great work of evil.
Many would contest this and say that there is more talk of prayer, more books and programs of prayer, more prayer calls and such. But as I have examined over the years, those that say they are praying, are not really praying a whole lot. For example, I was at a conference, a prayer conference. During their sessions, they scheduled 1/2 hour for prayer time. Here is how these 30 minutes of prayer went: the leader was 3 minutes late getting started - 27 minutes left; he had several announcments - 5 minutes - 22 minutes left; he made a call for people to come to the altar and prepare for prayer - 4 minutes - 18 minutes left; he spoke and shared his theme for 10 minutes, with illustration, story and example (whereas, he could have just got straight ot the point) 8 minutes were left for prayer; and they stopped 2 minutes early. Total time given to prayer was 6 minutes out of 30 minutes. Now they will profess they prayed for 30 minutes, but in actuality they wasted 24 minutes. Yet, you will never hear that kind of confession from pastors, church leaders and Christians.
The sin of pride keeps us from seeing and believing just how sinful we are in the sight of God. And because we don't want to see it or admit it, we continue on underneath the guise of deception. How Satan must love this! Yet, the Lord would not have it continue. He stands forth in the midst of such darkness to show His mighty hand. He moves and shows His great power to turn around the ways of wickedness and sin. He restores holiness to the foremost part of our relaitonship and walk. So much that churches either repent and get holy or turn against any one that preaches and practices it.
During the revivals of old, the leaders were always met with opposition from the church leadership that was Pharisees, they were wolves in sheep clothing. But the true believers are moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to move us toward the Lord.
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