Who Guards the Gates?

Who Guards the Gates?


2 Chronicles 7:13 & 14 NKJV
13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,
14 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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

   If.  If is a little word, just two letter long.  If only takes up a little space on a page, but it can mean so much.  There is a difference between I am going to the store to shop or saying IF I go to the store to shop.  One statement is definite, but one is only potential.  The difference is the word “if.”
   If, in this verse, may bring forgiveness, or it may not.  If may bring healing, or it may not.  It may give hope, or it may not.  And it may bring judgment, or it may not.  Many quote this verse and say that God will forgive our nation and heal our land.  But we need to remember that God’s promise of forgiveness and healing is conditional, and it hinges on this little word “if.”  What God is saying here is a principle - some of His blessings are automatic and come to us because we’re His children, but some blessings are conditional and depend on an action on our part.
   This promise of forgiveness and healing of our land is conditional on actions on our part.  We, as a people, need to become humble, adopt a prayerful attitude seeking God's will, and then turn from our evil ways.  The United States is, at this time, definitely not humble.  Groups meeting in prayer in public are often treated as though they are committing a crime.  And when there is prayer allowed it has to share time with a variety of charlatans uttering prayers or mediations to false gods.  And as for turning from our sinful ways, we make sinners into headline news and the more evil and bizarre the better it is for TV ratings.  
   Sadly, many Christians and others say God won’t judge our nation harshly for our actions.  They tell us that God is a God of love.  And He is, I agree.  But God is also a Holy God and a Just God.  Do not be deceived!
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

   In closing, I would like you to read the following story.  It’s a warning to our nation and a warning to Christians in this country.  This story can be applied to our nation as a whole and it can be applied to the family of Christians here, whatever denomination or non-denomination you belong to.

   Centuries ago, in ancient China, the people wanted security from the barbaric tribes to the north.  So a plan was drawn up and they built the Great Wall of China.
   They took great pride in this massive fortress.  It was so high they knew that no one could climb over it.  It was so thick that nothing could break it down.  It is so big that today it is visible from the space shuttle.
   The people felt safe behind this engineering marvel, and settled in to enjoy their hard won security and raise their children in peace.  Who could challenge them now?
   During the next one hundred years they were invaded three times.  The wall was secure, just like they planned.  It was never successfully climbed or breached.  The barbarians simply bribed the gatekeepers and marched through open gates.
   The Chinese were so secure behind their walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.  They forgot to teach them national pride.  They forgot to teach them honor.
   The Great Wall of China speaks a message across the centuries:  Beware of misplaced confidence.  He who guards the gate is greater than he who builds the wall.

   I see a tragic parallel here in America.  We have built a great and strong nation.  We are the world’s one and only super-power.  I would think it is very unlikely that any enemy could conquer American soil through war.  But I fear the American soul has been lost through generations of negligent gatekeepers.  We have let ourselves come under the influence of many groups and ideas.  We no longer put the future of our children first.  We can’t teach them the Pledge of Allegiance and we teach them that the heroes of the American Revolution who built this land were either gay or had mistresses.    

   I see a tragic parallel here in the church in America.  We are built on a true and solid foundation.  We are the world’s most influential source of God’s truth.  The Bible states that no enemy will conquer the church through spiritual warfare.  But I fear the church in America has been lost through generations of negligent gatekeepers.  We have let ourselves come under the influence of many false leaders and unbiblical ideas.  We no longer put the future of our children first.  We don’t teach them the Gospel basics from the Bible and we teach them that the heroes of the Bible were misguided morons who stumbled along groping to find meaning in life.

If.  Will you, or won’t you?

Stephen Cram                            August 7, 2011                      Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8