Pastor’s Corner: “Pulling up Roots”
Matthew 15:13 (NIV) – 13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots
Our nation is in trouble today, probably more than we’ve seen in our lifetime. We are struggling with issues that are causing the very foundation of our country to crumble. Our moral and spiritual roots have eroded, and the seeds of wickedness and evil against God that have been planted years ago have taken root and taken over; roots of corruption, wickedness and abortion. Evil is now called good and good called evil. Isaiah 5:20 (NLT) – 20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. We are now experiencing the beginnings of the sorrow that is born out of this in our nation. We might think things are bad now, but if we continue on this path, the pain, sorrow and misery we will experience will be beyond our imagination. This is what happens when we are separated from God.
The basic problem facing our world is not just social inequity, or lack of education, or even physical hunger. We are finding that highly educated and well-fed people have greed, hate, passions, and lusts that are not eliminated by education. The root of sin in each of our hearts is extremely deep, and this is the basic cause of the world’s problems; only the fire of the Lord can burn it out. This is precisely what Christ came to do. He didn’t come to treat symptoms. He came to get at the very root of man’s disease. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) –5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
It can be tempting to believe that America has reached a point of no return. While these factors can cause despair, we are reminded in Scripture that with God, nothing is impossible. No problem is too great for Him. God is merciful and continues to shake the nations and is about to shake our nation bringing the revival we so desperately need! Seasons of distress and uncertainty and hardship call for faithful, passionate prayer by God’s people and remind us of our responsibility to humble ourselves before Almighty God. We cannot expect healing to come to our nation apart from obedience to God through His Holy Word.
It has been said that ‘When Christianity retreats, evil steps in to fill the gap! That is just what is happening in our nation today, the Church has become generally worldly and lukewarm in its love for Christ and is in great need of hearing and acknowledging the wake up calls God is issuing in many ways. False religions increase all around us and get stronger year on year along with a growth anti-religious thinking; I say ‘generally’ because there are some areas where the church is indeed growing, and we can obviously rejoice when we hear of those various communities of believers in this or that part of our country faithfully serving and witnessing for Christ in their communities, and bearing fruit for him.
Now is not the time to take to take a step back, take a nap or take a break in our FAITH! Matthew 15:13 (NIV) – 13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the root. These roots of wickedness, corruption and abortion are now starting to loosen in America by God’s shaking and now is the time for God’s church to take a stand, get serious and pray deeply that these roots be pulled out all the way and thrown into the fire. We are not to stop until it is done!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton