[Granville-Hough] 3 Aug 2009 - Re: Fw: 2 Chron. 7:14

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

> ----- Original Message -----
> *Sent:* Monday, August 03, 2009 8:12 PM
> *Subject:* 2 Chron. 7:14
>
> Some folks passing through Texarkana last week noted signs in people's 
> yards that said, " America, prayer is our only hope" with 2 Chron. 
> 7:14 underneath. We certainly need God's help!
>
> I have no idea who started this, but I certainly agree with this 
> e-mail. I heard a preacher on TV who said if we pray for our nation 
> that things will turn around
>
> After a day of contemplation and soul searching, I have decided to 
> reach out to my friends and relatives and ask you to do something that 
> has been troubling me for a long time.
>
> Our nation is/has been on the slippery slope for a long time. If you 
> look around you will find corruption, greed, moral decay, and a steady 
> move away from the things that made us great. The principles upon 
> which this nation was founded are no longer our backbone.
> However, we can reverse this trend.
> _
> 2 Chron. 7:14_
> In God's word He states, "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."
>
> I am convinced that we must pray for our nation and its leaders and 
> ask for forgiveness. So I ask you to join me in this plea to our Lord.
>
> Let me just add a quote from Ronald Reagan "If we ever forget that we 
> are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." I 
> truly believe this is why the United States of America is in the shape 
> we are in today. Most people have forgotten that we are one nation 
> under God! Let us as Christians stand up and remind people of this.
> Have a blessed day!


GWH "seek my face and turn from their wicked ways" implies action to me, 
action by millions to save our planet. The prayer is merely the 
question: "God, what can I DO to help?"

I have always been troubled by the phrase, "one nation, under God," 
which so many people would not visualize as one nation under a Universal 
Great Spirit, but rather as under the stern old codger painted in the 
top ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We are actually "one of many nations, 
with peoples who believe in different manifestations of a Universal 
Great Spirit." Of course, we had just led in winning WW II, without the 
"one nation, under God" phrase to offend our soldiers of other 
religions. Then the phrase was added to forever confuse us old soldiers 
who had learned the more universal version.

We do not rise as Christians but we do rise up as people of faith, 
whether Christian, Moslem, Native American, Buddhist, Jewish, or 
whatever. If we have no faith whatever, then we rise so as not to give 
our neighbor, who does have faith, any offense.

Now I am going to be guilty of including a parable, which some may say 
is not true, or is misquoted, or whatever. But others will remember it 
as illustrative of how many Christians stood up in the 1980 outbreak and 
identification of AIDS.

As you recall, Jesus had this persistent questioner who asked: "And who 
is my neighbor?" and Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.
In my version, here was this AIDS patient dying in a San Francisco room 
with no one willing to risk contact to help him. Different ones passed 
by, turned their heads and moved on. Then came along a high public 
official named Ronald Reagan. His wife Nancy looked on the man with 
compassion and asked Ronald if there was anything he could do. To which 
Ronald replied: "Why should I do anything? This man got this terrible 
disease by committing homosexual acts, violating California law and 
God's law. Anything I do would interfere with God's just revenge." So 
much for Ronald Reagan's viewpoint.

And Jesus asked: "And who is this man's neighbor?"

> WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE - LUKE 1:37