There is a power in Christ. There is a saving power, a cleansing power, a changing power, a strengthening power, a sanctifying power, a healing power and a satisfying power. There is power that you and I have yet to experience. Praise God!

There is a power in the Gospel that a lost world cannot see or understand. There is a power in the Gospel that turns a nation from a black hole of immorality and violence and poverty and racism and despair to a blessed hope of peace and tranquility and safety and hope and love.

Our nation has been blessed by the Gospel throughout our 240 years of existence as a nation. We are still benefitting from it today. Our freedoms of speech, religion, the press, assembly and others are based on a biblical world view that values the individual freedom of all people – people of all faiths and of no faith. Everyone benefits.

Yet most today don’t understand that a nation of people who are preoccupied with violence, blood, and gore won’t be self-controlled. Just like the woman in Memphis who stabbed and killed her four children. Just like the man in Orlando who shot 49 people. They are not murderers because they have access to a weapon. They are murderers because what is in their heart and mind is coming out. It is horrible and heart-breaking and unutterably sad.

The nation we live in today is becoming one that can’t be trusted with simple freedoms. When fights break out at soccer matches or little league games or church business meetings and when political elections are interrupted by violence and mayhem then we are well on our way to anarchy and a police state.

The only way to have freedom is to have people who are controlled by God and by His laws – laws written on the hearts of people. Without this inner transformation we have no chance of maintaining the nation we have known.

Take away the biblical underpinning of morality that gives respect for life, the basis for marriage, and the meaning of law itself. What do you have left? You have a nation that sees nothing wrong with homosexuality, heterosexual immorality, abortion, or drugs. Meanwhile, the church is relegated to the back of the bus. It is viewed as an inferior and unnecessary institution that does more harm than good.

So where does this lead? It leads to a society where every man does what is right in his own eyes and ‘woe to anyone’ who defies political correctness! It leads to a society where people with profound psychological disorders are not being helped but being praised for their “courage.” It leads to a military that has moved from defending our nation to conducting a great social experiment. Sexual orientation trumps religious freedom. Morality and character are no longer required to be considered for political office. Good has become evil and evil has become good.

So what happens next? If we continue on our present path we will lose our individual freedoms and our beloved nation. You can’t give freedom to a people that won’t be restrained by the rule of law. There is no use passing more laws. If they won’t obey our present laws they certainly won’t obey more laws even if you pass enough legislation to choke an elephant… or a donkey.

So is there any hope at all? Yes – because of the power of the Gospel!

We can turn back to God. We can exalt Christ and His Word and the Gospel again. Don’t wait for Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton to do it. Don’t wait for the next Billy Graham. “Wait upon the Lord…”

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, AV)

For the Gospel,

Pastor Tim Hobbs