“Also I set watchment over you, saying 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen.'  (Jeremiah 6:17).

As I write this month newsletter, I’m constantly reminded about the uncertainty of our future as a Nation. There is so much negativity from the media & even the e-mail is filled with news of divisiveness & despair. Truly it is enough to make anyone concerned & anxious about the future of our Nation. We as a Nation must repent & turn to God (2Chron. 7:14). As a Nation we have lost our identity as a people “ in God we trust”. The church has failed miserably in being a Spirit-led Army & in protecting our Nation from demonic forces. We have been blindsided by an enemy who has used psychological warfare against us. We have become confused & disoriented by schemes & strategies from Satan to bring about our demise. The scriptures tell us we are not to be ignorant & we are to be sober (2 Corinthians 2:11 “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices”& 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”). I am convinced that we are guilty of neglect in intimacy with God. We did not post watchmen to pray & ask the Lord of heaven to send His Angel Army (Read 2Kings 6:17). Instead we have been caught napping. We have been serenaded by a demonic lullaby that has put the church to sleep. Remember Sampson falling to sleep in the lap of Delilah (Judges 16:19).

I believe also like Sampson we have had our strength compromised in loving the things of the world. We have allowed the devil to silence us from being a prophetic voice & a deliverer. Because of this we have lost our freedom to worship God openly. You say, well I have freedom to worship anywhere I choose. Oh really! Why don’t you try that at City Hall? How about prayer in school or before a ball game? Have you tried to post the Ten Commandments at school or where you work? Face it we are silent & the world has pushed the mute button & refuse to hear about the Supremacy of God. We should be in unity & demonstrating the love of God in boldness like the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:20, “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." Like the Apostle we have to resonate the power of the resurrected Christ at home & in the market place. Paul was so in love with Christ he laid aside everything he had obtained in earthly status. He said, “I consider them rubbish, that I might gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). He had such encounters with God by the Spirit to where he could face any obstacle & knew he would be victorious. He said in Philippians 1:27-30 “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me."  Wow! What a warrior for the cause of Christ. God has ordained the church as a barometer to gauge the spiritual climate of a Nation.

If the Church is strong & victorious, then the Nation will have spiritual vitality & live in joy (Proverbs 29:2, “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan”). The Church is to be militant & aggressive with sin. The Nation will live in safety because the Lord is their “Strong Tower of Defense” against its foes (Psalms 61:3, “For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy”). It is not to late as a Nation to return to the Lord. “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). Let us as the Church repent of our sin of complacency. For we have allowed evil to have a stranglehold on our Nation to suffocate the Breath of God from her. The Holy Spirit must resuscitate us back to life. It will only happen when we confess our sins. I love my Nation. I know the only way that our Nation will survive is for it to be righteous (right standing with God). I want to encourage everyone to seek the heart of God in prayer for our Nation. There are many references & parables in the Bible identifying us as stewards & watchmen. We must be responsible for what has been given to us. Join with us here at Shiloh Ministries as we watch & pray for our Nation. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning lest, coming suddenly, He find you sleeping.  And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!" (Mark 13:32-37 )

The Shiloh Ministry Team