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The United States is prosperous economically but is spiritually bankrupt.  Idols of entertainment-sports-prosperity  dominate this land.  The psychic hotlines are ringing off the walls.  People in the sex industry are making millions of dollars daily.  Drug dealing and drug lords fill the cities.  Disenchanted teens, shooting wildly out of car windows, are killing and injuring  innocent children and people they do not even know all in the name of fun.  The prisons and jails are filled to capacity and more are being built daily just to keep up with crime.  Support groups are bursting at the seams with broken people with broken lives reaching out for help.  Power hungry businessmen and women steal every cent they can.  Gambling is legal and people from every economic level are praying they will be the next winner in the race, jackpot or casino.   

Economically bankrupt people, many raised in the welfare system are finding that door is closing, and there is no hope in their hearts to ever have the American dream.  Fear is rampant, many people, even the young, are afraid to leave their homes.  Hopeless and rejected, most of the children who have grown up in poverty and abuse find outlets to abuse others themselves. 

Child abuse and molestation is rampant.  It is not safe to let a child walk home from school or even play alone in their own yard.  Women with free choice abort babies at staggering rates whether from convenience or  sexual promiscuity.  Today,  it is not only popular but looked at as wise to have premarital sex and live with your partner before marriage. 

Speaking of marriages, the divorce rate for Christians is equal to non-Christians—being about 60% for first marriages or 70% for second.  In many states same sex marriages is being pushed for legalization.  Children do not know who their fathers are and many times are raised in a family with two females or males as parents.  Males and females alike are spending more time and money on their looks than on their children's education.  The health clubs and fitness centers are all the rage.  “Get back your youth, don't look old, love yourself.”  The Lord Jesus said people will be lovers of self  in the end times.  Children will be disobedient to parents and with an alarming increase children are killing parents either from rage or hate.  The nursing homes are filled with aged men and women practically dumped and forgotten by their families. Just waiting to die.  Just a number on a list, no honor, no love. Euthanasia is becoming an option that people are looking at. 

In this computer age, there is a frightening thing happening with the increase of knowledge and travel.  People are becoming addicted to pornography through the Internet.  “Safe sex”  they call it, no fear of diseases or getting caught.   Men and women turning on a computer to find fulfillment, Oh dear God, how shameful it has all become.  Turn on television talk shows and you find that most of the content is trash talk.  Men in women’s clothes is entertainment to a perverted, troubled world.  If that does not interest you, call a 900 number and talk dirty, say everything ugly in your heart, hang up and forget those people exist.   Real people, real entertainment is where the stars are, how they dress, what they eat, and who they sleep with next.  The American dream is no  longer to be comfortable, and happy with the wife or husband of your youth but the endless search for significance in your life.  Whatever it takes to make you happy, that's what this nation is telling us to do.  Jokes about our president, movies about our preachers, where will it all stop, when will it all end?    

In the Old Testament in the book of Amos, we are told Amos was a herdsman of sheep and a grower of figs.  One day in a vision, God spoke to Amos and told him of things that were going to happen to the nation of Israel.  Israel was economically prosperous and at peace.  It had become a selfish, materialistic society.  Those who were well off ignored the needs of the less fortunate.  They were self centered and indifferent toward God.   Although many had rejected real faith in God they pretended to be religious.  They had religious performance without integrity and heartfelt worship to God.  In the Bible the Lord  is described as a shepherd and his people as sheep. But in this book we see the Lord roaring as if he were a ferocious lion  ready to devour the enemy.  The Lord says the people have perverted justice and trampled the poor into the dust.  They had hardened their hearts and sinned towards God.  The Lord             always sends his prophets before judgment.  He is roaring now and calling for his people to awaken out of this hard hearted stupor we are living in.  He is saying once again, Prepare to meet your God.

He reminds us He alone was the one who formed the mountains and made the winds; and he knows our every thought.   He says unless they repented they would be as a man who was chased by a lion and met by a bear; or a man in a dark room who leans against a wall and puts his hand on a snake.  He said, “I hate your show of pretense, your hypocrisy of honoring me with religious feasts.”  He said, “I will not accept your offerings or your sacrifices.” He said,  “Away with your songs, no matter how beautiful, they are mere noise to my ears.” 

He said, “Stop having pride in your tiny power.”  Amos was shown great punishment that would come on Israel.  He cried out to God on their behalf and said, “Please don't do it, for they will have no hope if you turn from them.”  God turned from his plan, and gave another chance for them to repent.  However, he said, “I will not hold back from punishment if they do not return to me with their whole heart.”  He said,  “Tell them to be honest and just in their decisions.”   The people called out to Amos and said, “Prophet , leave us alone.”  Amos said, “I am only a herdsman and fruit picker, but the Lord took me from my flocks and said, ‘Go and warn the people.’”

The Lord spoke through Amos and said, There is a time of famine coming, not a famine of food, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.  Men will wander everywhere from sea to sea searching everywhere to find truth and spirit of the Word of God.” But if the people would repent, and truly turn to the Lord, they would find mercy, peace, and happiness.  God is a loving Father, and He needs to correct His children from time to time.  He is warning us today just as in those days to place our hands in His hands and turn from evil and self centered living. Start loving those who are dying without Christ in their lives.  Give to the needy, do not oppress the poor and the fatherless. Be found faithful and become good  stewards of the blessings God has given this nation.  Remember, to whom much is given, much will be required.  Peace of mind is more valuable than gold.  Truth and justice, integrity and fair dealings, a good name in your community, and preferring others above oneself is a great  way to impact our cities and nation.

We must remember that one day everything that has been done in secret will be shouted from the housetop.  Nothing is hidden from the Lord; after all, He is all knowing; all seeing; all sufficient in all things.  But you say, “Revival is breaking out everywhere, preachers dressed in flashy clothes telling us we can be rich, what's wrong with that?”    Who said a Christian can't have abundance?  That is not what God is saying; He is merely wanting us to put Him before anything else.  Truly, He says if we will seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His Righteousness then all those other things will follow.  Turn the T.V. off.  Shut down the computer.  Put away the golf clubs and sports gear.  Go back to your first love, it will take an effort to be quiet before the Lord but very rewarding. 

Put first things first.  Love God, accept Jesus His Son as Lord and Savior and your only hope of a home in Heaven.  Reach out to hurting broken people, become a father to the fatherless, a son or daughter to the seniors and be known as a man, woman, boy or girl who passionately loves their God.  He says "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.  If we truly want revival, that will be what it takes to see our nation turned around.  Then we can honestly be called a Christian nation, people who love their God and fellow man.