Dear Friends,
Though this letter will come to you a few weeks after the fact, its message is timeless. I am writing on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021, after we and other Christians around the world have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That event, occurring approximately 2000 years ago, was the pivotal point in the entire history of mankind. Because of it, believers in Him have been given salvation and the promise of eternal life. As a person who is aware that he is getting older, I shout for joy because "He is risen!" HE IS RISEN INDEED.
If my mother were still alive today, she would be celebrating her 112th birthday. But because of Jesus' resurrection, she is alive with Him in glory, along with my dad and our other precious Christian relatives and friends who have gone before us. We, along with many of you, will also be in that heavenly throng someday. I'm convinced that the "grand good morning" is coming soon.
Now let me tell you why this particular Easter has even greater significance for me as a follower of Christ. It is because without His death and resurrection, there would be no hope for America. I would be in despair today because of the wickedness that is besieging our homeland. Though I am not a prophet, it appears to me that divine judgment has befallen our nation. The evil one, Satan (who always has only been able to operate within parameters permitted by the Lord, e.g., Job 1:7, 12), appears to be unleashing his assault on our culture with even greater ferocity. He is creating chaos in our cities and schools, and is stalking the halls of government. It is as though, because we have replaced the truth with a lie, God has given us over to a reprobate mind. (Romans 1:25, 28)
Why do I draw such a conclusion? It is because our nation is divided into warring camps, with violence and pestilence plaguing the land. Sixty-two million babies have been murdered in cold blood,1 and hundreds of millions of additional federal dollars have been allocated to expand the unborn holocaust.2 And the institutions of marriage and the family are under siege. Our birthrate is falling,3 and our children are being taught hate and sexual perversion in our government schools.4 How can a holy God look upon such debauchery and stay His righteous hand? He cannot. As Thomas Jefferson wrote,
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."5
I have been thinking about these truths in recent weeks, as evidence of our moral decay continues to flood in day by day. It reveals a nation that has lost its moral compass. I choose not to describe our situation graphically because many Americans are already struggling with despair. We have lost confidence in our leaders who seem to be taking us down the road to oblivion. You can be sure that our mortal enemies in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are watching the debacle too.
I'll give you one example of the idiocy occurring today. Just weeks ago, on March 8, President Joe Biden said in a speech on International Women's Day6 that one of his highest military priorities is for the development of new, expandable maternity flight suits, presumably to be used so that pregnant women can take their unborn babies with them into air combat. Does that strike you as foolish beyond words? Consider the facts. Pilots wear heavy headgear to protect their hearing from the deafening roar of jet engines, but tiny babies, snug in their mothers' wombs, have no such protection. Nor are they shielded from jet fuel exhausts, or the enormous G forces that occur in the high-tech aircraft. Combat is horrendously dangerous, and carrier decks can be deadly. Has today's utter disregard for the value of unborn babies left us with no appreciation for mothers and children? Does it make sense to send them together into the wild blue yonder? When did men lose their instinct to protect and care for women and children? For that matter, when did women lose their passion to defend their babies? Even mama bears will fight to the death to protect their cubs. Does America no longer believe in the inestimable worth of a child? When did the horrors of killing become an equal opportunity assignment? Has our entire Pentagon abandoned its sense of humanity? Indeed, has our Commander in Chief completely lost his mind?
I don't like the world that is emerging. But I draw comfort in knowing that our omnipotent God is still on His throne. He is the definer of right and wrong and He will not be mocked. We must call on Him now as America ceases to be a shining city on a hill.
I am going to leave you with a wonderful prayer written by one of the great women of the church. This is what Anne Graham Lotz7 wrote:
THE LIGHT OF HIS PRESENCE
A Prayer for Unshakeable Trust
O God of Creation,
I bow before You, acknowledging Your greatness and Your glory. No one compares to You. No one is Your equal. I look at Your creation and marvel at the infinite power and wisdom that are Yours. Nothing is beyond Your reach. You are the One who "brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of [Your] great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." You are the One who "has pitched a tent for the sun. . . . It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat." "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there."(a) There is nowhere in all the universe where You are not. Surely Your arm "is not too short to save, nor [Your] ear too dull to hear."(b)
Yet I confess that as I look around at the mess our world is in—when terrorists strike; when floods, fires, tornadoes, and storms ravage our land; when national leaders don't lead; when business leaders lie; when political leaders put their own interests before the people's; when spiritual leaders contradict Your Word—I find myself asking, What's going on? Where are You?
The Enemy whispers lies, tempting me to think You are. . .
distracted, disengaged, distant,
inattentive, inactive, impotent,
outmaneuvered, outmoded, outclassed,
unable, unaffected, and even unaware of our fear, our helplessness, our confusion, our outrage.
Why do You seem so small while our problems, disasters, and enemies seem so large?
So I ask, Almighty God, that You would strengthen my resolve to place my trust in You. Give me the courage to declare that even if "the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord,"(c) I will trust in You. If "the earth give[s] way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging,"(d) I will trust in You.
Though "nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall,"(e) I will trust in You. When "the wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright,"(f) I will trust in You.
I trust You!
In the powerful, unshakable, unstoppable name of Jesus,
Amen.
How amazingly true! We serve a risen Lord who holds our lives in His hands. And if God is for us, who can be against us? Because of this, we can boldly proclaim His truth and grace to a hurting world. Will you join us?
Those are my thoughts on this Resurrection Sunday. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. Without Him, we are absolutely undone. Yet, with Him all things are possible. For those of you who are discouraged and anxious today, remember that we are not alone. There are millions of us who love the Lord and are praying for one another and for our nation. We are ONE in the bond of Christ.
1. U.S. Abortion Statistics By Year (1973-Current), Christian Life Resources website (Updated January 2021) https://christianliferesources.com/2021/01/19/u-s-abortion-statistics-by-year-1973-current/
2. Ertelt, Steve, “Joe Biden Signs COVID Bill With the Greatest Expansion of Abortion Funding in a Decade,” LifeNews.com, March 11, 2021, https://www.lifenews.com/2021/03/11/joe-biden-signs-covid-bill-with-the-greatest-expansion-of-abortion-funding-in-a-decade/
3. “Experts sound the alarm on declining birth rates among younger generations: ‘It's a crisis,’” CBS NEWS web page, March 3, 2021, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/birth-rate-declining-younger-generations-crisis/
4. Wilfred Reilly, “Waking Up Early: Radical Critical Theory in Primary and Secondary Schools,” The America Spectator website, March 17, 2021, https://spectator.org/critical-race-theory-schools/
5. Excerpted from multiple sources: "A Summary View of the Rights of British America," "Notes on the State of Virginia," "The Autobiography," letter to George Wythe (1790), letter to George Washington (1786). As seen on nps.gov (National Parks website). https://www.nps.gov/thje/learn/photosmultimedia/quotations.htm
6. Biden, President Joe, “Remarks by President Biden on International Women’s Day,” The White House, March 8, 2021. www.whitehouse.gov website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/03/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-international-womens-day/
7. Graham-Lotz, Anne (2020), The Light of His Presence (pp. 23-24), Colorado Springs: CO: Multnomah. Notations for “A Prayer for Unshakeable Trust:”
a. Isaiah 40:25-26; Psalms 19:4,6; 139:7-8
b. Isaiah 59:1
c. Psalm 2:2
d. Psalm 46:2-3
e. Psalm 46:6
f. Psalm 37:14
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