The talking heads of our society are dukeing it out. “The reason Connecticut happened is because there are too many guns.” “No, there aren’t people who are allowed to responsibly carry guns.” “It’s a mental health issue.” “It’s a security issue.” Back and forth the seeking of the reason behind last week’s tragedy is the focal point of our nation (at least for the next few days until we go back to arguing about the meaningless things of the day). 
But what if the reason wasn’t mental or physical or even spiritual. What if the reason statistically, more and more tragedy is hammering on the shores of America’s society is because God is removing Himself from us. What if God is finally saying to us, a once Christian nation, “You have chosen to leave me and forsake me. You have taken me out of the fabric of your great tapestry of Democracy and replaced me with a self-seeking focus, a personal mission for power and an all-consuming heart of greed. Therefore, I will lift my hand of blessing and protection that was the bedrock of for your Constitution and allow the evils of darkness to spill into waterways of your life.”
No, God does not love us less. No, God does not leave us or stop providing for our daily needs. And yes, chemical sickness is a real ill of our fallen human state. But God does allow pain and heartache to happen to nations who have decided that it is an offense to even utter God’s name in public places.
So go ahead and argue gun-control or gun-allowance. Point a finger at someone else, ignoring three other fingers pointed back at you. Dribble your hate and one-sided opinions that seem to mark our generation as of late. For me, I am on my knees for our nation’s leaders, that they would turn to our only hope – the God who is slowly withdrawing.
Psalm 9:17 “The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.”
Malachi 3:7 “‘Return to me and I will return to you,’ says the Lord.”
Feel free to share or comment!
Peace!
Todd Stocker 
Thank you, Pastor Todd, for a thought provoking post. Although it sadens me greatly, it certainly motivates me to prayer more for our nations leaders.
John – great thoughts about religion vs political activism. Sharing our spirituality and beliefs is a tough thing in this fallen world. Although I agree that our Founding Fathers had challenges like we do and weren’t perfect humans, they upheld and worked for a very different overall ideal and value system for our nation. They certainly acknowledged and prayed for God’s guidance and intercession on the government’s proceedings through much of our early history, but now we aren’t allowed to share prayer with our kids in public places without being labeled radical. There is much sadness, grief, heartache, and worse throughout our world, but America has continued to be a place where people around the world look for values and a way of life that upholds protection and good for all individuals. If we don’t re-establish the Founders’ ideals and values, then we will cease being the best greatest hope.
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”
— George Washington, 1789, Inaugural Address
“I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning…”
— Benjamin Franklin, 1787, Constitutional Convention
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
— Thomas Jefferson, 1781, Notes on the State of Virginia
“It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness…”
— Abraham Lincoln, 1863, Proclamation of National Fast
Thank Christine for joining the conversation. Great quotes as well from our Nations founders!
Thanks, Pastor Todd. We homeschool, so I’m blessedly immersed in American History this year and am learning some really great things about our founders as I teach and read (and I understand that they were not perfect, just as we aren’t).
I was doing some reading this morning and came across the Parable of the Potter in Jeremiah 18:1-12 (NIV)
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”
This resonated with me. As I read many parts of the Bible, I see our American culture reflected…and not necessarily in a good way in regard to God’s future favor.
Thank Christine. I’d forgotten about that portion of scripture. We are clay in His hands. We home schooled our kids as well and would do it again in a heartbeat! Hang in there.
Todd
I too agree with what you have said! Thankyou!! I was trying so hard last night too figure it out, so thankyou again!! Nancy in SD
Very well said Pastor Todd! Thank you.
Deuteronomy 8
New International Version (NIV)
Do Not Forget the Lord
8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
2 Timothy 3:2-5
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Ephesians 4:17-19
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!” Joshua 24:15
We are praying for our nation to repent and turn back to God!
Thank you Todd for your love for God and his children!
Amen!
Those words are so beautifully written and I agree 100%. Our country is caving in to godless religions and political correctness. We need to pray that God will give us another chance in the coming year. Bless you,, dear servant and friend.
Todd this is a thought-provoking post! My gut reaction is to think of “Give Caesar what is Caesar’s, give God what is God’s.”
Jesus spent ZERO time trying to reform an obviously corrupt, non-God centered government system in his day. He didn’t argue for prayer in schools or fight to have unfair laws overturned.
He DID go after people’s hearts. I like what Rick Warren has said when asked why he didn’t go into politics. To paraphrase: You can change laws all you want, but if you don’t change people’s hearts, the laws don’t really matter.
I think that’s where my focus as a Christian needs to be. Sure, I can spend time lobbying for prayer in public schools, but if people don’t know Jesus or believe in God to begin with, what good is forcing that law down their throats going to do? What if I took that time and energy instead and shared my testimony with others? What if I shared my own brokenness, and how Jesus has brought healing and transformation into my life? What if I shared how I still struggle with sin and selfishness and false idols, but that God’s grace is there for me? What if I prayed for people instead of protested against them?
One of the reasons I get turned off by some Christian ministries is when they delve into political causes and activism. All it does is divide us. You can disagree with the issues and stand firm in your Christian faith, but I don’t think God wants us spending our energy fighting for prayer in public schools. I DO think he wants us spending our time and energy witnessing to the world about his son Jesus and what a relationship with him brings you as a result.
Lastly, I think we tend to deify and worship our Founding Fathers as some type of great Christian men who were of better character than people of today. In reality, the guys that wrote the constitution owned slaves, had mistresses, were greedy, said bad things about one another in public and private, etc. In other words, they were far from the perfect Christian men we tend to lionize them as.
As to the “why” of the Connecticut shooting: I think we live in a fallen, broken world, one where evil and sin exist. I think there is a devil, who prowls around like a roaring lion looking to devour us. I think it will be this way until Jesus comes back. Also, horrible things like the CT tragedy happen every single day all over this earth. Children are raped and murdered, or forced into the sex trade or slavery. Children starve to death right in front of our eyes. It just doesn’t hit home as much until it happens in our neck of the woods. But it is happening every single day.
Finally, if you look at the history books, plenty of horrible tragedies (slavery, child labor/sweatshops, starvation, droughts, tornadoes, floods, fires, mass murders, racism, wars, etc.) befell America even during our more God-centered government days.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts!
John,
I love your comments and I really agree with your overall perspective and points. Thanks for joining the conversation!
Todd