America America by Michael Brown

sermonindex Jan 11, 2005

AMERICA, AMERICA!by Michael L. Brown“America, America, God shed His grace on thee,”Yet you have shed the unborn’s blood, in the name of liberty.So strong you were, so powerful, so prosperous and so blessed,You stand today degraded; you are naked and undressed!You export your shame, you sell yourself for every eye to see;But soon you will be called to account. You’ll writhe in agony!Was it worth the AIDS, was it worth the pain, was it worth the degradation?Was it worth defiling your sons and daughters for a moment’s gratification?You slice up children in the womb and kill the old and weak,You’ve become immune to their cries for help -- yet God hears their spirits shriek!Your cities are drenched with innocent blood, wild teens play with guns like toys,And gays fight for their equal rights: “We want to marry and we want your boys!”Your babies are born addicted to crack, young kids deal drugs in the halls;No wonder America parties right on, even as judgment falls!The hurricanes roar, the tornadoes howl, the floods make the dry land stink,And your blinded leaders stagger along, in search of another drink.How careful they are to remind us to keep separate Church and State,Yet how quickly they ask for our money, to finance religious hate.Condoms are in, Bibles are out, our schools are under a curse;And tax dollars pay for crosses in urine and everything perverse.And then there is America’s church, sending preachers to the nations;Some spread pollution and filthy greed, pleading for huge donations.Skilled in marketing and worldly ways, they proclaim the new reformation:“Live in your sin and enjoy God too” -- it’s the latest revelation.What has become of this once great land, this refuge and this haven?How tragic that you’ve become enslaved. You’re ready to be taken!Your watchmen sleep, your prophets slumber, your evangelists make you smile.And those who warn, who plead, who cry are considered out of style.“Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,”Now torn and ripped and broken up -- can you ever rise again?Once great among the peoples, the Queen of all the world,You’re nearing devastation -- your flag will be unfurled!

sermonindex Jan 14, 2005

I posted this in a different "christian" forum and boy what an uproar it brought! People aggressively opposed it. I don't know how you guys feel about this poem. This was my response in the other forum:quote: "That poem is an insult the actual song "America, America." Ok, we're aware...America sins. It's wrong, it's evil, and every country on Earth is in the very same boat." My comments: Very true, but on Judgment Day God will not compare America to other countries. God will compare America to His Holy Law, the Ten Commandments. All nations look Holy compared to Germany under the reign of Hitler. But God will not compare us to other nations. We are responsible for our own nation. Quote: "Seriously, Jesse. What is the reason for posting this? This poem is pure negativity" My Anwer:It's purpose is to wake us up. WAKE UP CHRISTIAN!!! Stop lying to yourself. The world is going to hell around us while we bicker in forums and churches about petty little miserable things, picking and choosing and tearing each other down. What do you want us to say? "America the beautiful"??? Well she's not beautiful anymore! She's become a prostitute, a whore, blatently flaunting her barenness and depravity, destitute of morality. America drinks in iniquity like water, loving her wickedness while the church tolerantly allows her to do so by giving her no warning to flee from the wrath that's to come. CHRISTIAN WAKE UP!!!! Stop lying to yourself. The world goes to hell around us while the church is sleeping in it's comfortable bed of ease and complacentcy. What do you want us to say? "Smile Jesus loves you"? What do you want me to say? "All is well and nice. God is please and happy with us dispite our sin. There are nothing but good times ahead of us." I refuse to lie, America is in grave danger! As Leonard Ravenhill said: "The greatest threat to America today is God." It's those who speak falsehood that everyone likes. Those who declare, as they did in Jeremiahs time, "peace peace, when there is no peace." We have gotten to the point where someone can try to mention sin and repentance and everyone turns on him and says "we don't talk about those things here! What's the matter with you? Don't you have anything nice to say?" WAKE UP CHRISTIAN!!! Stop lying to yourself. Why do you do nothing and only criticize those who do?? It's easy to mock those up on stage, but hard to get up on stage yourself! When, oh when, will we as a church warn sinners to flee from the wrath that is coming like we are commanded to! CHRISTIAN WAKE UP!!!! Stop lying to yourself. Our own families, our own communities, our own countries, our own world is perishing desperately around us and WE DO NOTHING but debate on whether or not we should talk about our true condition or if we should continue to walk in our disillusioned stupor that has convinced us that everything is OK. Things are not OK, no matter what your Pastor or church may tell you. We need to wake up and take the message of repentance and Holiness to a sinful and perverted world that is on a head on collision with the wrath of a just, good, and Angry God. Woe to this country, this bloody country, that pervertedly dances in clubs fridays and saturdays and then outwardly worships God on sundays. Woe to this country, this bloody country, that slaughters the fruit of it's own womb with no remorse. Woe to this country, this bloody country, that takes the precious blood of Jesus and tramples it under their feet. Publicly mocking the very name of Jesus. Woe to this country, this bloody country, that calls evil good and good evil. Highly exalted those who are sinful and terribly dispising those who are holy. Woe to this country, this bloody country, that kicks God out of it and provokes Him to fierce anger! Storing up wrath for itself which one day will be revealed. Why lie to make ourselves feel good? America is abundantly wicked and needs to turn to God in sorrowful remorse and repentance for forgiveness by the blood of Christ. In essence, this is what I am saying and is the purpose of my post. Charles Spurgeon said it first: "Christian, do something, do something, do something!"

DezCall Jan 14, 2005

Dear, precious and upright (so...that are 3 kind words :-)) brother,I hear the cry of your heart. Better, I hear the cry of Gods' heart. "The biggest tragedy ever, is a sick Church in a dying world" (Leonard Ravenhill)It's no surprise that the world hates us, for Jesus says: "know that it hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18).However, Jesus didn't only say that the world would hate us, He also said that it will also keep our sayings, like it kept His sayings. So, it's two-fold. There's only one problem..."None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity...truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter...He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor" (Isaiah 59:4,14,16)This isn't an established remark of a "negative thinking" guy. This is GOD Himself speaking.Skilled in marketing and worldly ways, they proclaim the new reformation:“Live in your sin and enjoy God too” -- it’s the latest revelation.I'm doing a study called "marketing management" and I get all that stuff at school. But he's so right. I hear my own Church crying out: "We need to do something, otherwise we will loose the youth"...and what to they do? Do they pray? Do they open up their Bibles? Do they consider their ways? Do they think about how things are going now in light of what God speaks about? No...they're introducing new songs. The prayers need to be more modern, a verse always needs to be explained. If possible use examples, if absolutely necessary, use the Bible. Yes, we need to do something...and that's getting back to the Bible. Better put...getting back to the living God. We don't trust Him! We don't take Him serious. He can put this world upside down! The Holy Spirit is powerful! But the problem is...we want the gifts of Him, not His piercing words, not His judgements which reveal who we really are without Christ. God has become some sort of add-on! Your watchmen sleep, your prophets slumber, your evangelists make you smile.And those who warn, who plead, who cry are considered out of style.Let us be out of style. May we, by Gods' grace, share with people the whole counsel of God. I pray that we will have eyes by which we will be able "to discern both good and evil" (Hebr 5:14). I pray that we will see the disease, but also, that we will be equipped, by the Holy Spirit, to give the medicine! To show people the living Christ, who doesn't merely change our lives, but makes it all new! To show them, that the TRUTH (not a half-truth) will set us free! To show them that being a Christian, has nothing to do with having a different sort of lifestyle, but knowing the personal and living God. Our faith has nothing to do with some sort of system, tradition, formula or mysticism. Our faith has to do with a Person and a reality: Christ and Him crucified!Press on brother. I know how painful it can be to be left alone, or being called a "pessimist". It's not "cool" to be misunderstood. It hurts. But press on and I hope an encouragement from this side of the world will be a blessing to you. But most of all. May God be your refuge in all this!I pray for you Jesse, that God will equip you to be an instrument in His hands, being used for Gods glory alone! I pray it for all of us, who love the Lord our God. May we once again become the salt of the earth, a light unto the world! Gods strength is made perfect in weakness! "Let's quit fiddling with religion and do something to bring the world to Christ." (Billy Sunday)In Christ,Paul

Gideons Jan 14, 2005

Thanks for sharing this Jesse,I pray we take that poem to heart. It's so true. It seems like when I talk about repentance many people just look at me with a look that says "What do you mean I have to repent?"Many people equate talking about holiness with legalism. It's very sad. The victory is in the blood of Jesus.Let's pray for America while there's still time for genuine repentance. The window is closing very quickly.