Hope For The Wicked

Could U.S. Jonahs Be Wrong?

My last commentary ended with this excerpt from Scripture: Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning for I am gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil. Who knows whether I might turn and relent. Gather the people, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, sanctify the congregation, assembly the elders. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the alter and let them say ‘Spare Thy people O Lord’. Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people. From Joel 2:12-18.

Most of my writing involves the importance of obedience and the intricate role of God’s Laws. Since United States is overrun with antinomianism, the need to reinstate and obey God’s Laws is of primary importance However, God not only sees our overt behavior but knows and judges our hearts as well.

Christians are to be obedient with the humility of a broken and contrite heart. We are to approach God as a servant seeking His forgiveness for past sin and His Will for future action.

Obedience to the Law accompanied by a haughty and prideful spirit is an affront to the God Whose Laws we strive to obey

The inhabitants of the United States of America have always been predominantly Christian but the nature of our government was changed when the Constitution brought federalism but failed to enthrone Christianity. That failure has resulted in a steady erosion of allegiance to the One True God; an official secularism; and a devastating, unchallenged progression of humanism in all of society.

Humanism has brought the United States under the judgment of Almighty God in the same way that Nineveh was when Jonah was sent to warn its citizens.

One writer lists four elements involved in national revival. 1) A serious deterioration in the moral and spiritual condition of the nation. 2) A righteous judgment from God. 3) The raising up of a leader. 4) A common action that may or may not involve a solemn assembly.

Several conditions should be present in a Solemn Assembly. It should be formal and serious, even grave, an awe should be present in the congregation, and the ceremony should be disciplined and contrite. An emotional conviction of sin should be avoided in favor of decisive repentance and determination to change behavior. Understanding the specific nature of sin is of utmost importance.

Solemn Assemblies have not been completely forgotten in contemporary Christian circles. Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Evangelical churches have perceived the need for change and individual churches have conducted Solemn Assemblies. These services often address the need for a humble and contrite spirit, important elements in revival.

The theological underpinnings of the Christian religion have been seriously eroded. Christianity is divided by disagreement, heretical theology, stubborn leaders, unteachable laypeople, rampant humanism, tradition that defies legality, and dead, error-filled pulpits. Few Christians understand where they are failing or what they need to change – they do not properly understand the nature of their sin. These conditions make a pervasive Solemn Assembly impossible

Missing is the vital need for obedience and a clear understanding of what obedience requires. God created all things and pronounced His creation “good”. Man, created in the image of God, began to usurp the dominion of God and fell into sin. God gave Moses legal standards as a guideline to counteract sin and produce righteousness. His people failed to obey His Laws. Mercifully, God made a New Covenant sending His only Son to shed His blood for sin providing forgiveness for transgressing the Law and opening communication with His chosen people. God hates sin and does not hear the sinner’s prayer. Henceforth an audience with the Father was restricted to the propitiation of the Son. Only Christians are God’s chosen people; He does not communicate with others.

Foreign to the human mind is the unchanging nature of God and His Laws. We live in an ever changing world with pervasive entropy. God and His Laws, however, do not change, they are immutable, providing the sole righteous anchor for the instability of His created beings. Though they no longer condemn, they remain the only standard for proper behavior.

Disobedience is the salient sin of our time. The theological heresy that removed God’s Laws and distorted the meaning of Grace opened the door to Satanic activity in the Church of Jesus Christ. Without the immutable Laws of God, obedience is impossible and the remedial role of Christ is made void.

Disobedience to God’s legal authority has brought chaos and impending disaster to our nation.

At Nineveh Jonah walked across the town crying, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown”. “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. And he issued a proclamation and it said, ’In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles; Do not let any man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?” Jonah 3: 4-9

Jonah was humiliated, but God saved Nineveh.

There was no Solemn Assembly at Nineveh. The revival started with the people and was quickly taken up by the King. It began with Jonah sounding the alarm. A pervasive Solemn Assembly may be impossible but there is a remnant alive and well in our nation that loves the Lord, believes in obedience to His Law, and has or could muster a humble and contrite spirit that might create revival. The internet has supported and financed Ron Paul. Might it also support a repentance and humility that could turn our nation around?

The United States certainly fits the bill for a serious deterioration of its moral and spiritual condition. Claiming to be over 70 percent Christian it has a secular government and secular courts. The behavior of Christians is not substantially different from their non-Christian neighbors. Abortion is common in both Christian and non-Christian circles. Christians fight against homosexuality except when it is found in their own children. They and their leaders are competitive and pragmatic considering success and victory a sign of following God’s Will and failure and defeat as from the evil one. Sabbath mornings are quiet while a few Christians attend the entertainment that passes for church; the afternoons are used to catch up on housework, shop, or watch football. There is little difference between the behavior of Christians and non-Christians.

Our courts uphold the laws of the humanists while ignoring the Laws of God. Jails contain inmates that should have been executed long ago and others that are there because of the aberrance of human laws. In defiance of Justice and God’s Wisdom, New Jersey just removed the death penalty. Restitution, a platform of God’s legal system, is missing in our humanistic age. This sin is a cancer in our nation.

In rebellion against God’s prescribed pattern our government has become messianic and involves itself in all of our affairs. The laws that protect government are upheld by our courts and the Laws of our God are forgotten. Christians who vote for evil political candidates for pragmatic reasons or for political comfort are guilty of supporting an evil government. When they fail to consistently cast a vote for the most righteous candidate without regard for results they contribute to the sorry condition of the nation and are in need of repentance.

Churches fail to preach the full gospel leaving laymen with a distorted, incomplete map for living a proper Christian life. Instead of teaching their members how to obey God by extending His dominion over His creation through obedience, they attempt to make the Creator the servant of His creation by seeking His gifts instead of His ordinances. This is a grievous sin. Often the culprit is the inhibition created by an overweening desire for church growth . The sound doctrine of Divine selection has been lost and the humanistic inroad created by Arminianism has overtaken the church. Failure to read through the Scriptures has prevented God’s people from understanding that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ALWAYS chose His servants (never did they choose Him) and since He does not change He continues to individually select His own. Christians are God’s chosen people both individually and corporately. God has chosen us and we are to be His servants suffering whatever is necessary for the building of His dominion.

Yes, there has been serious deterioration in the moral and spiritual life in our nation. Our nation, never perfect, but once a city on a hill and a light to the world is now on the verge of disintegration and totalitarianism. The leadership we have elected has voted away our independence by entangling us in the United Nations and a series of trade agreements designed to submerge us into a regional government in preparation for a one world overlay in the near future. The government of the New World Order is secular and totalitarian. We are being used to fight useless wars that create chaos and bring international control over remote parts of the world. Our people are being financially ruined by taxation and inflation and laws designed to enslave us in a future police state are already on the books. Enslavement is a frequent punishment for disobedience and it has already appeared on our horizon. For those who have failed to see the horizon and do not understand where we are going, read about it here.

Though a remnant exists that fully understands our problems, we have not yet seen the proper leadership to consolidate the remedial actions God is seeking and thus bring about a common action. The revival at Nineveh began with the people and the king joined bringing the righteous power of his office to bear on the nation. Can those of us who know our failure fast and weep and mourn? Do we know how to solemnly repent for our own sins and for those of our brother and sister Christians who may not even understand their own failures? Is there a theologically reformed Christian leader out there who is willing to sacrifice his life for the cause of revival in a falling nation? Can we raise up a people on the internet that will join in the humble promotion of the only legal system that will halt the new world order, return our nation to the righteousness it once enjoyed, and bring our children hope for the future? Can we humbly beseech God to defy the cries of contemporary Jonahs (Can you hear those cries, dear reader? The internet is full of modern day Jonahs.) by bringing repentance to our nation and returning us to the full Gospel given in God’s unchangeable word?

It would need to be a solemn undertaking catching fire at the grass roots. It will not begin with leaders

Remember, dear ones, that our God is “gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil.”

What a wonderful Christmas present it could be!

Al Cronkrite is a guest columnist for Novakeo.com
Al Cronkrite is a writer living in Florida, reach him at: