I just finished reading a book on the history and rapid growth of the Pentecostal movement. We had to do a book review for my History of Christianity class and I chose the one that seemed the most interesting. One specific comment stuck out more than any other part of the book. This author, who had visited hundreds of Pentecostal churches world wide as research for his book, mentions a common thread he noticed in all the churches outside of America. They all have missions projects and prayer groups designed to reach out and spark spiritual growth in America. Doesn’t that seem backwards?

It would if you didn’t know that Christianity is on the decline in America but on the rise in the rest of the world. We’ve got it easy and I believe it is going to take a high level of Christian intolerance and persecution to wake us up. When David Platt talks about the home groups and churches he visits over seas that literally have to hide the fact they are Christians or reap the consequence of immediate death, it makes me mad that we take what we have so for granted. These countries have the fear of persecution lingering over them everyday and yet they find a way to meet for church and worship the one and only true God for several hours – not just one hour on Sunday. We have all the freedom in the world and we would rather hide we are a Christian because it might scare non-christians away. America is lame and lazy and if we don’t do something about it soon…

“The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick. They’ll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage. All the nations will ask, “Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?” Your children will answer, “Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they’d never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. So God’s anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it. God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see.”

Deuteronomy 29:22-28

My children should not have to explain why their father’s generation couldn’t get their act together. Almighty God, please heal our land before it is taken from us!