Is it time for Sackcloth?

It is dark times in the United States. Our streets are no longer safe, gangs rule neighbors, schools remain closed and those that are open are teaching Marxist ideas. We are no longer energy independent, inflation is rising, there are shortages of materials and labor. Suicides are on the rise among our youth and many are dying of drug overdoses.  We are still in the Covid 19 pandemic. Many of our individual freedoms are being curtailed or lost. The country that has been the last hope of freedom is suffering.

How did this happen? Many will offer suggestions on how this happened but the real reason is not even allowed on social media which frequently determines what information we can see and hear. The reason is, we have lost faith in GOD.

The United States was formed and based on Judo-Christian principles and individual freedoms. Our Declaration of Independence contains the words “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness “

The Constitution of the United States begins with:

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Founding Fathers had the wisdom to make this a living document by establishing a means of amending the Constitution to ensure the goal of a more perfect union was perpetuated. Most of the amendments addressed the God given rights of individuals as declared in the Declaration of Independence. The first Amendment was approved in 1791 and read as follows”

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Since then, there have been 25 more amendments, the last being approved in 1992.

It is clear from the writings of the Founding Fathers that they developed the new nation based on Judo-Christianity principles and expected God to guide and protect this new nation. The best example of this is that on all currency of the new nation (both printed and coins) had the new nation’s motto, In God We Trust!

In God We Trust still appears on our currency but God has been removed from many other places. Liberal, Marxist, and Progressive elements have used the courts and other means to get God excluded from our schools, the Ten Commandments have been removed from our courtrooms, phrases such as “One Nation Under God” and other references to God have been removed or replaced in our songs and pledges. The social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and Google in their continued effort to limit freedom of speech have decided reference to God, in particular His Son, Jesus Christ, is too radical and offensive to too many people so they have banned such comments from social media. During the pandemic that caused shutdowns by many politicians, they banned Church gatherings but allowed liquor stores and other businesses open. Clearly in the United States there has been a movement away from God toward a materialistic and secular society. This has moved us toward the dark times mentioned in the beginning. Darkness is the absence of light. That light is of God.  So, what do we do?

Fortunately, we have a model. The same God that inspired and guided our Founding Fathers is the God that made a covenant with the Jewish Nation and brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Unfortunately, when God helps us we have short memories and often slide back to the dark side. This is what the Jewish Nation did on numerous occassions, praying to golden images and the gods of the nations they encountered. Fortunately, God is not only all powerful, but he is also merciful! When the Jewish Nation realized (often pointed out by the Prophets) that God was no longer with them, they repented and asked for forgiveness. They put on sackcloth and prayed for God once more to guide them and answer their prayers.

Sackcloth was a garment made from rough material and was very uncomfortable. The sackcloth wasworn as a token of mourning by the Israelites. It was also a sign of submission (1 Kings 20:31-32), or of grief and self-humiliation (2 Kings 19:1), God forgave them often but expected them to not continue to backslide. He will not forgive mankind forever; He even allowed the Jewish Nation back into slavery in Babylon before being freed and allowed to go back to Jerusalem. God is merciful but we should not  be foolish enough to try his patience or he will allow us to submit to the dark ways of the godless people who have successfully removed God from so much of what was good about the country. It is time for us to act. It is time for us to recognize we are running out of time and we need to fervently pray for God to heal our country.

For us, sackcloth serves only as a metaphor but we all know when we have drifted away from God. We need to repent and put God back into our individual lives, our families, our communities, our churches, and most of all back into the everyday lives of our country. When we do this God will lead us out of the darkness.

I for one will begin to pray. Here is my prayer.

God hear my voice; we have been walking in darkness. We have placed material wealth and approval voices from social media as our gods. This day I repent of my dark ways and yearn to once again walk in light with you. May I truly mean in God we trust as our Founding Fathers did. May my life be an honest reflection of that and may it serve as a shining example to others.  Let us once again learn to love God and to love our neighbor. That is the most important commandant we were asked to follow; let us do that!. May we be truly representative of the type of country envisioned by our Founding Fathers. May we return to that vision; a shining City on a hill offering love and freedom to all who are in need. Join me in my prayer. May this prayer, or a similar one, be repeated hundreds of thousands of times by all our citizens. May God hear our host of prayers and lead us out of darkness. God Bless America.

Will Lannes