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Economic Quicksand
by
David Ravenhill
Facts
are stranger
than fiction,
or so the
saying goes.
Sleepless
in Seattle
was a popular
fictional
movie some
years ago.
Clueless in
Washington
has not been
produced,
but would
be more factual
than fiction
and describe
accurately
the present
situation
in our nation’s
Capitol. |
The
current economic
crisis in America
has just begun.
What we
are experiencing
now is merely the
tip of the iceberg.
America is in quicksand
up to her waist
and the more she
struggles the deeper
she will sink. No
matter how many
lifelines the government
throws toward her,
none of them will
be long enough or
strong enough to
lift her out.
My
father said repeatedly
over the years,
that it was going
to take an economic
collapse to bring
America back to
God. Unfortunately,
the preachers, parishioners,
and many so called
prophets refused
to listen or sound
the alarm.
Glen Beck, a popular
conservative television
personality, recently
told Bill O’Riley
that America is
heading for “depression
and revolution.”
This
nation has had more
light given to her
than almost any
other nation, apart
from Israel. Despite
that blessing, we
have thumbed our
nose at God and
in no uncertain
terms let Him know
that we are going
to do it our way.
What
God hears day and
night are the cries
of 52 million aborted
children who are
crying out for justice.
We have
embraced the teachings
of Darwin’s
deluded, demonic
doctrine of evolution.
We have accepted
the lies of a man
and rejected the
word of the living
God. This nation
has produced more
pornography than
any other country
in the world while
enslaving countless
millions in bondage
to lust and every
type of sexual perversion.
We are a nation
of covenant breakers
who disregard the
sanctity of marriage
whenever we feel
like it just to
satisfy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
Tragically
the Church is now
keeping abreast
with the world in
this area. We
applaud the coming
out of the closet
crowd, and have
now emboldened them
to turn against
the rest of society.
Now they attempt
to shame us into
accepting their
Sodom and Gomorrah
lifestyles as normal.
We have banned public
prayer from our
schools and wonder
why we are seeing
the blood of our
sons and daughters
shed on campuses
around the nation.
The list of iniquities
is endless and God
is furious.
What
Washington fails
to realize is that
America’s
problem is not economic,
but spiritual. It
is not a failure
of the housing market
but a failure of
God’s House.
Like the rest of
the country the
Church has also
turned to its own
way. We have allowed
ourselves to be
lulled to sleep
by the Delilah of
worldliness and
compromise. We love
the seeker sensitive
message that revolves
around our happiness
and prosperity.
Preachers across
the nation have
sold Jesus for thirty
pieces of silver.
Jesus has
been reduced down
to the goose that
lays the golden
egg. In
other words the
only value Jesus
has is that He become
a means to an end.
Many televangelists
are living high
on the hog while
fleecing Gods people
out of millions
by promising them
a mega increase
for their giving.
Why don’t
they practice what
they preach and
send their covenant
partners a gift
from their resources?
Does
this mean that America
is doomed? That
all depends on whether
or not we are prepared
to repent and return
to God.
I believe that what
we are experiencing
is nothing less
than God’s
loving chastening.
Someone said many
years ago; “If
God can’t
get your attention
by tickling you
with a feather then
He will hit you
over the head with
a two by four.”
The feather
has obviously failed
to have any effect.
We are now beginning
to experience a
more severe form
of discipline.
Our
newly elected President,
Barak Obama, claims
President Abraham
Lincoln as his role
model. I would encourage
our President as
well as every American
to read Lincoln’s
proclamation for
a National Day of
Prayer. Lincoln
believed that God
chastises and punishes
nations for their
sins. One wonders
what he would say
today about the
state of our nation?
Here
are President Lincoln’s
words:
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 "It
is the duty
of nations
as well as
of men to
own their
dependence
upon the overruling
power of God,
and to confess
their sins
and transgressions
in humble
sorrow, yet
with assured
hope that
genuine
repentance
will lead
to mercy and
pardon,
and to recognize
the sublime
truth, announced
in Holy Scripture,
and proven
by all history,
that those
nations only
are blessed
whose God
is the Lord.
And, insomuch
(sic) as we
know that
by His divine
law nations,
like individuals,
are subjected
to punishments
and chastisement
in this world,
may we not
justly fear
that the awful
calamity of
civil war
which now
desolates
the land may
be but a punishment
inflicted
upon us for
our presumptuous
sins, to the
needful end
of our national
reformation
as a whole
people? We
have been
the recipients
of the choicest
bounties of
Heaven; we
have been
preserved
these many
years in peace
and prosperity;
we have grown
in numbers,
wealth and
power as no
other nation
has ever grown.
But
we have forgotten
God.
We have forgotten
the gracious
hand which
has preserved
us in peace
and multiplied
and enriched
and strengthened
us, and we
have vainly
imagined,
in the deceitfulness
of our hearts,
that all these
blessings
were produced
by some superior
wisdom and
virtue of
our own. Intoxicated
with unbroken
success, we
have become
too self-sufficient
to feel the
necessity
of redeeming
and preserving
grace, too
proud to pray
to the God
that made
us.
It behooves
us, then,
to humble
ourselves
before the
offended power,
to confess
our national
sins and to
pray for clemency
and forgiveness."
[March 30,
1863]
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President
Lincoln on another
occasion prayed
about America’s
sin of ‘slavery’.
Read what
he prayed in light
of our attitude
concerning ‘abortion’
instead.
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"Woe
unto the world
because of
offences!
for it must
needs be that
offences come;
but woe to
that man by
whom the offence
cometh!"
If we shall
suppose that
American Slavery
is one of
those offences
which, in
the providence
of "God,
must needs
come, but
which, having
continued
through His
appointed
time, He now
wills to remove,
and that He
gives to both
North and
South, this
terrible
war,
as the woe
due to those
by whom the
offence came,
shall we discern
therein any
departure
from those
divine attributes
which the
believers
in a Living
God always
ascribe to
Him?
Fondly
do we hope,
fervently
do we pray,
that this
mighty scourge
of war may
speedily pass
away. Yet,
if God wills
that it continue
until all
the wealth
piled up by
the bondsman's
250 years
of unrequited
toil shall
be sunk, and
until every
drop of blood
drawn with
the lash shall
be paid by
another draw
with the sword,
as
was said 3000
years ago,
so still must
it be said,
‘the
judgments
of the Lord
are true and
righteous
altogether.
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There
is no doubt in this
author’s mind
that America
is about to pay
the price for its
Genocide in slaughtering
52 million innocent
lives through abortion.
While our
punishment may not
be through war,
I believe that God
is going to plunge
our nation into
another major depression.
War is still a possibility
also.
Let
me encourage you
to cut and paste
Lincoln’s
presidential call
to prayer and send
it to your local
newspaper, congressman,
senator, and for
that matter, our
President.
As
a friend of mine
recently prayed;
“We can’t
pay
our way out of judgment.”
We can,
however, confess
our sins and PRAY
our way out.
Failure
to pray will only
bring greater judgment.
David
Ravenhill
Published
with his permission
Note: Bold added
by editor for emphasis
See
books and more information
about David Ravenhill
here
America,
are you Listening?
So
in closing today,
we say – it's
time to PRAY, AMERICA,
PRAY, it's
time to TURN from
our wicked ways
and call upon His
name, according
to the biblical
pattern below.
"If
MY people
will...humble themselves,
and pray
and seek My face,
AND...TURN
from THEIR Wicked
Ways...THEN
I will hear
from Heaven, forgive
their sin, and heal
their land."
2 Chron. 7:14
"Search
me, O God, and know
my heart; try me,
and know my thoughts;
And see
if there is any
wicked way in me,
And lead me in the
way everlasting".
– Psalm 139:23-24
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Related
Words:
The
"America"
Prophecies
1. "America!
America!"
– A
Prophetic
Cry &
Compassionate
Warning (Dec.05.07)
2.
"America
Has A Decision
to Make
– Which
Path She Should
Take"
(May.26.08)
3.
"America
– One
Last Time"
(Jan.07.09)
Related
to Church
Leaders:
•
Two Great
Shouts: Changes
In Ministry
Leadership...
read
here
• Judgment
is Coming
to the Pulpits
of America...
read
here
• Cleansing
- Bringing
The Real...read
here
Related
Messages:
"The
Activity of
God"
(in a Nation)
–
by Faith Factor
Radio
An
excellent
message regarding
the "activity"
of God in
a nation to
get her attention.
We were amazed
at how this
message echos
much of what
God is speaking
to us. We
encourage
you to listen
to this message.
Listen
here
(mp3)
Has
God changed
from the Old
Testament
to the New
Testament?
Very good
article answering
this question,
and about
viewing God
in balance.
Read it here
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