We need to humble ourselves before God

As hurricane Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast, in eery reminiscence of Katrina, just three years earlier, with another major storm Hannah following in its wake, we all need to take this time to humble ourselves before the God in which we used to say we, as a country, trusted, and pray for our country.

In utter irony, these events occur at the same time as the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the other end of the Mighty Mississippi River. It is the Republican administration of W who sat on their hands while New Orleans drowned in '05.

In further irony, the great Minnesota get-together, the State Fair, has, this year, hosted one of the most extraordinary exhibits ever -- a replica of the limo President Kennedy was riding in when he was shot in Dallas is on display, along with hundreds of other items of memorabilia, and video clips of JFK at the debate against Nixon, plus a video of his last 24 hours. This car is a symbol of an event that put our country out of the center of God's will, the execution-style murder of a head of state, then covered up by the government itself.

There seem to be two 'Americas' -- the phony one built on lies that were only true for white men, and the real America, built on the suffering and labor of its people of every color and background -- and the dichotomy between them seems to have created a vortex of negative energy. New Orleans was the place where the plot to kill JFK was hatched. New Orleans is the one place the government does not want us to look for answers.

We need to accept God's judgment and work together to put our country in the center of God's will. I hope it is not too late.

What is wrong with our churches?

We are living in a church age -- it is acceptable to talk about our faith anywhere in our country. We are flocking to churches as never before. We are honing in on the most significant aspects of faith -- of needing to be born again in order to be saved, of being aware of the awesome power of God through His Holy Spirit, of acknowledging the mandate to preach from the Bible, the Word of God, and not just from the thoughts of our own minds.

Yet there is something distressing going on in most of our churches. We hear sermons that are intended to keep us comfortable rather than challenge us to grow. We hear about naming and claiming tangible wealth rather than sacrificing for the good of others and God's kingdom. And in few, if any, churches, do we hear any discussion of one of the most serious subjects of our faith -- spiritual warfare.

Why is this?

Isaiah 40, a lesson for us all

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

-- Isaiah 40: 1-3 (KJV)