OUR SPIRITUAL AND MORAL DECLINE
by Holly Mills
"By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is
overthrown by the mouth of the wicked." (Prov.11:11)
Our Israel nations today are in a time of severe spiritual
deterioration. We have not learned from our past what can happen
to a nation when that nation forgets its God. Winston Churchill
said, "The one thing we have learned from history is that we
don't learn from history". We are therefore destined repeat the
errors of our past if we do not turn back to our God. All of
our economic, social and political problems stem from our
spiritual decline. History has shown the stages of a nation's
rise and fall. They most often fall from within and the decline
of the family plays a huge part in this fall.
In his book, "Our Dance Has Turned To Death", by Carl
Wilson, Mr.Wilson discusses this. His conclusion is that there is
a common pattern that leads to the decline of a nation, such as
what happened in Greece and Rome. There appear to be seven
stages that lead to this fall.
In stage one Men abandoned their role in leading the family
in worship. Moral and spiritual development began to take a
secondary role.
In stage two as material values began to dominate man's
thoughts he began to think more as an individual. He became more
selfish and neglected his wife and children for material wealth
and power.
In stage three there was a change in the sexual values of
men. They became so involved with business and pleasure that
their families were neglected or abandoned. Men became involved
in homosexuality and with other lower class women. Morality
therefore developed a double standard.
In stage four women's role in the home and caring for the
children lost it's status and value. Consequently as women were
neglected and their roles devalued they rebelled. They wanted
part of the material wealth and sexual freedom that the men had.
They began to view sex as more than to conceive children and sex
for pleasure became popular. Subsequently divorce became easier.
In stage five the complete breakdown of the family started
as wives and husbands competed against each other. The children
suffered as a result and many were abandoned, molested, aborted
and undisciplined.
In stage six the nation became weakened by this selfish
individual attitude. As the older population grew, due to a
decline in the birthrate, the nation was less able to defend
itself.
In stage seven the decline of the nation was complete. The
fibre of the nation was destroyed as belief in God was abandoned.
The government and the economy also became affected by this
attitude.
We must learn from the past experiences of Rome and Greece.
I have found many articles on the internet that quote scholar
J.D.Unwin. After studying 86 different societies he discovered
that there is a direct correlation between monogamy and the
"expansive energy of civilization. A society is at its height
when there is sexual fidelity." This surprised even Unwin as he
was not a religious man and made no moral judgment on his re-
search. He did conclude though that once a society has one
complete new generation that does not believe in complete
monogamy it will not retain it's energy.
I believe that this is where we are today! The family is at
the centre of a society and when it falls the nation falls. Today
our families are broken. Children have little respect for
parental authority and we have abandoned them by giving them
little or no spiritual leadership. Sexual promiscuity is out of
control. Sex for anyone is viewed as a right and no more than a
biological act. God meant for sex to be a gift between a man and
a woman in a marriage relationship. "Therefore shall a man leave
his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and
they shall be one flesh." (Gen.2:24). This gave protection to the
family as the woman felt secure in knowing that she and her
children would be provided for. The children would also feel
secure in their environment with a mother and father watching
over them. This is the foundation of a society. Our society is
broken and our children are paying for it. If we continue on the
path we are currently taking our nations are doomed. We must cry
out to our God in repentance to bring our nations back to Him.
"Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his
fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works that
they turned from their evil way: and God repented of that he had
said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." (Jonah 3:
9,10).
..........
TEARS OF SORROW
The prophet Jeremiah when he realized the awful guilt of his
people, cried: "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain
of my people" (Jer.9:1).
Our Lord, when He saw the sin and shame of Jerusalem, wept in
agony.
The Psalmist said: "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because
they keep not Thy law" (Psa.119.136).
When Josephine Butler realized the condition of many fallen women
in England, she cried: "I felt that unless I went into the street
and cried aloud my heart would break". Her soul was burdened by
the sin of sinners. Her sorrow was a godly sorrow.
Florence Nightingale went into the battlefields of Crimea
because, to quote her, "I was moved by the misery of the world".
Among the memorials she brought back with her from the battle
fields, was a tuft of grass stained with human blood. Her
hospitals which exist today are memorials to a woman's tears.
God understands the tears of His saints. "He holdeth them in a
bottle", the Bible says. He will also wipe away our tears, and in
Heaven (the age to come - Keith Hunt) they will be unknown.
But on earth we should weep with others. We should weep with God
over a lost world.
The eyes that have never shed tears of sorrow have never looked
upon our Saviour.
..........
WARNINGS
By Robert B. MacDormand
David was given a choice of punishment by God after he
numbered the people of Israel. Israel was then about twice the
size of the nation that Moses led out of Egypt. David probably
wanted to know how strong the nation was based on how many
fighting men there were. We know that victory in battle does not
depend on how large the army is, but on God. The three choices of
punishment God had for the nation, because of David's sin, were
famine, war, and disease. (2 Samuel 24:13) David chose disease
and God cut short the punishment because of his compassion for
David and the nation of Israel.
Today we have all three punishments on our Israel nations.
Because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we
entered into war in Afghanistan, the country that trained the
terrorists. The war that followed in Iraq was more controversial,
as we were told they were preparing weapons of mass destruction
to use against us, weapons which were never found. The allied
nations have lost thousands of soldiers in these wars, a tragedy,
but small casualties compared to what we lost in the Second World
War. Of course, things could get worse in the Middle East with
the present unrest in Pakistan and Iran. Our Israel nations are
also victims of disease. Among the Israelite nations, the United
States was hit the hardest by the Swine Flu because of its
proximity to Mexico. The worst is probably still to come next
winter for North America and Europe. Many have suffered; some
have died, but it is mild compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918. At
its peak, the Spanish Flu was killing 800 people a day in the
city of Philadelphia. Of course, the present flu could mutate
into a killer flu, but so far it is pretty mild.
Our Israel nations are also experiencing a type of famine.
Although we all have food on the table, drought conditions have
been prevalent in parts of Australia and Britain. This year the
Canadian prairies and parts of the mid-west states have had the
driest spring in twenty-five years. However, these conditions
have not been as bad as what we endured in the "dirty thirties,"
when our people were plunged into poverty in the dust bowl. Of
course, things could get worse due to global warming. Keeping in
mind the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, we
are still feeling the financial woes of the present Great
Recession. Governments have avoided a repeat of the Great
Depression by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into their
economies, but this is the worst recession our people have seen
since the Second World War. However, unemployment is only half as
bad and the stock market has not lost as much value as it did in
the depression.
The conclusion of all of this is that we are experiencing
punishment on all fronts, though it is not as bad as it could be.
I believe God is saying to us, "Repent, or things will get worse,
and extreme punishment will come." The present turmoil is a
warning of what could happen if we don't repent. How many are
listening?
..........
Both above articles appeared in the August 2009 "Thy Kingdom
Come" a publication of The Association of Covenant People,
Burnaby, B.C. Canada.
I'm reading from some the fancy date setting (that people never
seem to stop) of 1929 - add 80 years (2 x 40 [40 used by God as
trial, testing, Israel's 40 years wandering in the wilderness]) =
2009. And so they want to think this is the year of the "end of
it all" and the count-down to Christ's coming. Over the last two
hundred years many have come out with "dates" - this date tied to
that date - such a date plus x years and this date - a date with
that date plus this date - on and on it goes. What foolishness,
God must sit in heaven having a good laugh, if such date setting
was not such a serious matter, as to how it can effect people's
lives (some stop working, some sell their farms, some go up on a
hill to wait for Jesus to return, some pin such faith on dates
and those who set them, that when the date fails, they give up on
God, walk away from Him and His Word).
The year 2009 has nothing to do with ANY date. It is just 2009.
We are NOT in or close to in, the recession of the dirty-30s. Our
unemployment is no where near the 25% unemployment of the 1930s.
The sings of the world, the prophetic development of Europe and
the Roman Catholic church as the last resurrection of the Holy
Roman Empire, the Beast Babylon of Revelation, is still YEARS
away from fulfilment. Much is yet to transform on this earth
before the close of this age. You need to watch, yes, but most
important of all is you need to serve and live by every word of
God, walk in His truth and commandments. You need to do whatever
you can to further the Gospel of Christ; you need to give and
help the poor and needy as you are able. Most of us do not know
the day of our departure from this physical life, and so the
Kingdom of God, Christ's return is as close as your death. Always
be prepared to meet your maker. Live for Him now and you will see
Him when He does return, whatever day and year that may be.
......
To be continued
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