God Bless America

From the Pastor’s Desk:

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” –2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

A few weeks ago, Krystal and I had the privilege of visiting Washington D.C.

during the celebrations of our country’s 250^th anniversary. As you can see from some of the photos placed in this article, decorations and displays were lavish. Just about every building around the Capital, Independence Ave., and the National Mall was decked out with a banner or patriotic hanging. The flyovers conducted by the Navy Blue Angels, the Air Force Thunderbirds, and the F-22 Demonstration Team were stunning and truly remarkable, a show of our nation’s aviational, scientific, and military prowess that dwarfs that of any other country in the world.

We attended the massive July 4^th fireworks display on the National Mall that was delayed for several hours due to severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. After the storms passed, the show began at about 11:00 pm EST, the fireworks were some of the best pyrotechnics we have ever seen.

Our country’s power, heritage and remarkable standing in the world were all on display. But is everything as glorious in our country as some want us to think?

During the approximate three-hour delay during the rain and thunderstorms, Krystal and I had the privilege to sit and converse with a high-ranking individual (whose name I will not mention) who works for an agency under the auspices of the Department of Defense. This person made some concerning statements about the internal state of our government and many of the people this person must work with on a day-to-day basis. This high-ranking individual described the woeful lack of work ethics among some government workers in Washington D.C. The same high-ranking public servant expressed dismay at the lack of respect for our country, its founding principles, and the sacrifices that many in the past made so the United States of America might remain the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”  

On one of the days of our pilgrimage to our country’s capital, we visited the Jefferson Memorial. It was about a three-mile walk from our hotel. We viewed the statue of this great statesman and chief author of the Declaration of the Independence. One of Jefferson’s poignant statements rings in my mind, “The mobs of the great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.”

Although Jefferson was not an orthodox Christian believer, he was a Deist who believed in the moral and ethical teachings of the Bible. Jefferson realized that even if a country like the United States of America might have a beautifully written constitution, guaranteeing civil rights, justice and equality for all, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and other basic liberties, without a population that understands and abides by Natural Law, the God-ordained laws that govern the world and guide humanity’s moral and ethical actions, that society will not stand.

It seems to me that we in the United States are not too far from the point in our history that Thomas Jefferson warned about two hundred and fifty years ago. Our country is deeply divided over moral and religious issues today. For instance, in an Emerson College poll of voters aged 18-29, 41% of the respondents believed Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was justified in his actions. An alarmingly increasing number of people in our country believe that blatant violations of the Ten Commandments, i.e., cold-blooded murder, a violation of the Fifth Commandment, is somehow justified. If this kind of philosophy spreads in our general population, there is little hope for the future of our country.

The only hope for our future is a return to Christ and the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. For too long many American churches have only acted as religious social clubs, reflecting the beliefs and aspirations of the American culture rather than calling our culture to repentance for its moral and spiritual degeneracy.  Our general culture in this country seems to lurch from one extreme to another like someone in a drunken stupor, or as St. Paul expressed in Ephesians 4:14, it is “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” We observe the instability and recklessness in our politics, the lives of our celebrities, and in just about every institution that surrounds us.

As Christians today we have the unique opportunity to be modern Paul’s or ancient Isaiah’s calling our culture back to the true and living God who loves us with an everlasting love. Today as our culture languishes and many people live aimless, fruitless lives we have the privilege to declare that God has proved His unconditional love for us by sending His only beloved Son to the Cross where He atoned for the sins of the world and reset history in a more hopeful, blessed trajectory. Being unashamed, vocal witnesses to everyone we have an opportunity to meet in word and deed that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord will make a difference whether people seem to notice it or not. Remember, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:18)! As a pastor, I will continue to declare Law and Gospel in clear, unmistakable terms, in the pulpit and outside of it as God places the opportunity before me. With God’s help and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment may we all speak the truth in love to the lost culture that surrounds us. As we do this untiringly together with fellow Christians from other churches and denominations throughout this land there is certainly hope for repentance, renewal, and healing for our beloved homeland.

Pastor Kurt Luebkeman