Dear editor:
After witnessing the sad, pathetic way that America's political scene has been going recently, I am more convinced than ever that Rev. Franklin Graham's message to America is exactly what is needed. He said that he has absolutely no confidence in either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party being able to turn America around in the right direction again.
Our problems are so numerous and so overwhelming that Rev. Graham is telling America that only the Almighty God of the Bible is powerful enough to make America great again. Unless America realizes that our whole future and all of our blessings are entirely dependent upon the gracious hand of God, we will unfortunately be destined to continue on our steady decline as a nation.
This past Thursday was the "National Day of Prayer" and from what I could tell, the people in general didn't seem to be showing up in large numbers to pray for our nation. God is giving all of us a very plain message through Rev. Franklin Graham. God promises to heal and bless our land again, but it is a conditional kind of promise. We (Christians) must turn back to God in a very serious way if we expect God to take us seriously. God rightly expects to be the first priority in our lives.
Read 2 Chronicles 7:14 again. It begins with the world "if," as I'm sure you already know. But knowing what it says and really doing what it says is the problem. How many Christians are sincerely trying to fulfill God's conditions by genuinely humbling themselves before God in daily prayer, realizing afresh that without Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Real prayer is the turning from ourselves to God. Are we seeking Him regularly? Are we really trying to turn from our sins so we can be closer to God again? These are the conditions that God presents to all Christians. God doesn't want us to be halfhearted, lukewarm Christians! Where's our fire? Do you really want God to show up with power? If so, we must do what He says!
Unfortunately, most people probably are still not concerned enough to make all this effort to pray fervently for our nation regularly. Most are probably just not desperate enough yet to pray like that! I wonder what God might have to do to get our attention?
Franklin Graham's message is a plea for America to return to God. It should also be regarded as a warning.
"With all the talk of God blessing America in the wake of 9/11, the great missing factor was repentance. America must face the magnitude of its moral and spiritual descent, the degrading of its culture ... the multitude of its idols ... The idols of carnality, impurity, greed, materialism, vanity, self-obsession ... and the altars covered with the blood of its innocent. Only in repentance can judgment be averted, and only in a true turning away from darkness to the light." (Quotes from "The Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn, Page 223.)
Lloyd Hoffman
Hot Springs
Editorial on 05/15/2016