Praying for America

I’m not an alarmist, and I don’t ever want to be guilty of trying to frighten anyone unnecessarily, but sometimes I look around at the reality of how far our country has gone from her Christian roots, and it troubles me. It troubles me, in part, because it makes me wonder what the future holds.

If you take the time to do the research you find that the average lifespan of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about two hundred years. During that span, each of these nations progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage. 1

It’s hard not to read that and ask, “At what point is America in this cycle?” Here’s what popular blogger La Shawn Barber wrote in an article titled “America on the Decline.”

“In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, author Edward Gibbon discusses several reasons for the great civilizations demise, including the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home and the decay of religion. America compares to the Roman Empire in secular and religious ways. Regardless of its ultimate legacy, America is a civilization on the decline. A couple of centuries from now (or sooner) someone will lament the loss of a once-great civilization that brought prosperity to the world and tried to make it safe for democracy. The glory that was the United States will lay in ruins, brought down not by terrorists but its own debauchery and complacency.” 2

Now, I don’t know if Barber is correct in her assertions, but I do fear she’s on the right track. In 1947 forward-looking sociologist Dr. Carle Zimmerman wrote a text called Family and Civilization. He identified eleven “symptoms of final decay,” observable in the fall of both the Greek and Roman civilizations. Here’s the list…see if any are identifiable in America today.

1. No fault divorce
2. Increased disrespect for parenthood and parents
3. Meaningless marriage rites/ceremonies
4. Defamation of past national heroes
5. Acceptance of alternative marriage forms
6. Widespread attitudes of feminism, narcissism, hedonism
7. Propagation of antifamily sentiment
8. Acceptance of most forms of adultery
9. Rebellious children
10. Increased juvenile delinquency
11. Common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversion 3

It’s hard to read that list and not see that, if history is correct, America is in a precarious place. What will it take for us to return to faith and faithfulness? I don’t know that I have all the answers to that question but I have one answer that we can all embrace: we need to pray. Second Chronicles 7:14 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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (NIV)

1. What in the World is Going On (David Jeremiah)
2. America on the Decline (La Shawn Barber)
3. Family and Civilization (Carle C. Zimmerman)

Church Camp

This past Tuesday Sandy and I drove out to Camp Allendale to visit our kids and volunteers who are enjoying a week of church camp. Chris Franklin, our Children’s Pastor, has done a tremendous job creating enthusiasm and support for Allendale. When he first came to Mount Pleasant we had around 20 kids going to camp. This week we’ve got 120 campers and the enthusiasm continues to grow.

I know one of the reasons why Chris is such a big supporter of church camp is because he went to camp when he was a kid. I can appreciate that because I had the same experience. Every summer I would get on the old church bus at Osage Hills Christian Church and head off to Sunset Bible Camp at Greenleaf State Park. Now Sunset Bible Camp was nothing like Camp Allendale. In fact, if you’ve never been to Allendale I’d recommend you find a way to visit. I’ve never seen a church camp with better facilities. But Sunset Bible Camp will always be important to me because I can still remember the day my Youth Minister sat on the side of my bunk during rest period and explained the gospel to me. Later that week I went forward and made a confession of faith and the following Sunday I was baptized in my home church.

One of the sad things I have noticed over the years is that the interest and emphasis in church camp has declined as so many other options have become available to our kids. There are sports camps, cheerleading camps, band camps, choir camps, art camps, academic camps, and on and on. And while I don’t want to be misunderstood…I certainly don’t think there’s anything wrong these kinds of camps…I do sometimes wonder if we’ve lost a sense of priority when it comes to our children’s schedules. The only kind of camp my kids ever attended was church camp. And Sandy and I both talked about the memories we have of being at camp with them. Those are precious memories to us.

Sometimes in our desire to see that our children get to have every benefit available to them we can lose sight of the most important benefits. I’m talking about eternal benefits. I can’t write this from personal experience but I really doubt that a sports camp or a band camp can change someone’s life for all eternity. But church camp can. It did for me. And even though I’m 51 years old I still remember memorizing all the books of the Bible when I was at camp.

Proverbs 22:6 is a Bible verse that gets used a lot when it comes to our children. It says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (NIV) There’s a lot involved in that word “train.” We seem to understand that when it comes to school and sports and all other kinds of extra-curricular activities but sometimes fall short when it comes to spiritual things. My hope and prayer is that God would help us to continue to build the kind of Children’s Ministry that will help all of our parents make the right choices when it comes to their children…the kind of choices that have eternal consequences.

Jesus cares
Pastor Chris