America, Are You Listening?

The sights unfolding before the cameras of the world seemed surreal. Was it really happening? If so, this country was being visited by a terror we'd never known, never even imagined. As a nation, frightened, we turned to God. Patriotism fl ourished for a time, as did the churches. But repentance under the stress of disaster is short-lived. The images refused to disappear from our minds, but they managed to become commonplace, terrible as they were. This country began to slip into its old ways. Surely God was trying, and is trying, to get our attention. Since 9/11 we've been visited again and again by fi res, more air disasters, even war. Are we tragically failing to listen to what God may be telling us? There is much we can learn by looking at other countries and nations who turned their backs on God. The hand writing is on the wall. Without question, if we fail to heed God's voice, the future for America is bleak. God has much to say to us. America, are you listening? Many people in our country are concerned with some of the cultural directions our nation is taking in the 21st century. But what are the specifics? Merlin Holtzen does an excellent job in identifying the specifi cs. He names examples of serious moral degeneration and analyzes them in the light of Holy Scripture. He speaks not so much to church people who are already doing what they can to stem or turn this tide. Instead, he talks candidly to those who, in the name of modernity, are buying into the "new morality" (which, Biblically, is immorality) and exposes their efforts to make those standards socially acceptable in our society. It is hoped that America will, indeed, listen to what God, rather than society, has to say about those matters. -W. Theophil Janzow