Last Sunday the President of the United States declared a National Day of Prayer because of the Coronavirus. Has it come to this?

Less than a month ago Americans were riding high. The Stock Market reached its all-time high. The Economy was the strongest it had been in at least half a century, and Americans who wanted to work could find job.

The suddenly everything people were relying on was shaken. The Stock Market crashed, panicking those who trust in their wealth and endangering the retirement security of millions of Americans. Others found their jobs at risk because of the Virus. Worse, the people are facing a deadly disease with no cure available from the greatest medical system in the history of the world. And the best that the government of the most powerful nation on earth can do is slow down the march of the virus through the land.

The President’s call for a Day of Prayer is a wakeup call for the Church. Most Christians are no different from secular society, relying on their wealth, their jobs, their doctors, and the Government instead of God. When everything is shaken it is not because God wants to force us to rely on Him, but rather God wants us to rely on Him so we can face the shakings which always come from the failed systems of the world. We need to repent and reactivate our faith to overcome this plague with no cure.

To start with we should seek the Lord for protection. In this Passover season we should put the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, on our doorposts so the Angel of Death will pass over us (See Exodus 12:13). Praise the Lord and give Him thanks to see His deliverance (see 2 Chronicles 20:21-24). Let us humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and repent of our unbelief for the healing of our land (See 2 Chronicles 7:14).

We must also remember to live our life in faith. We can look back to h Christians of the past, like the persecuted Christians of ancient Rome who ministered to the sick during a great plague, showed God’s love, and won over the population. We can be faithful in our generation by doing the same: meeting needs, and comforting the sick, and proclaiming God’s love.

If you should find yourself in quarantine, take advantage of the time to get closer to God and soak in His presence. Remember the Chinese church leader who said he missed his time in prison because God was so close to him there. Take Psalm 91 to heart, and dwell in the shelter of the Most High.

Do not let the shaking shake you:

“Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure. He will have no fear” –Psalm 112:6-8

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is recognized as an Irish celebration, but in fact the whole Christian world owes a large debt to St Patrick.
Brought to Pagan Ireland as a slave, Patrick escaped and returned to his home in Roman Christian Britain. However he was unable to forget the lost souls of Ireland and returned to evangelize the island. The Pagan wizards and priests were no match for the man of God, and the whole island was Christianized as the result of his efforts. For this he is rightly honored as the evangelist of the Irish.
But his legacy of a Christian Ireland blessed far more people than just the Irish. Even before his death in 461 AD the Roman Christian Britain of his boyhood was being overrun by the Pagan Angles and Saxons. Soon the British and Irish switched roles: The newly Christian Irish sent missionaries to the newly Pagan Britain. And in about a century the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized. So the British saved the Irish so the Irish could save the British.
An even more remarkable turn about occurred as the European continent fell into chaos during the time known as the Dark Ages. The formerly barbarian, unlettered Irish were able to save countless manuscripts from destruction and became the custodians of the civilized Western worlds’ knowledge. They also expanded their evangelistic efforts into Europe, bringing about a revival of Christianity in France and Italy. Thus, Patrick’s Irish followers became a beacon of learning and hope in the Dark Ages, helping preserve the centers of European Christianity as well as its British and Irish outposts.
Alas, the Irish were not immune to the instability of their times, as they were first invaded by the Vikings and then colonized by the ungrateful English. After the Reformation they were persecuted for their Catholic faith and allowed to starve in the horrible famine of the 1840’s. The Island remains divided between the Catholic Republic in the South and the Protestant North.
It is ironic that these two peoples, still divided over religion, owe their Christian faith to the other: The Irish to the British Patrick, and the British to the Irish missionaries. Yet, there is progress being made to reconcile these peoples. Several years back we at Corporate Prayer Resources made a Prayer Journey to Ireland and saw our and many other prayers answered as a peace process began in Northern Ireland. There are also continuing reconciliation efforts underway between the Catholics and the Protestants to heal this terrible division.

As we look forward to this St Patrick’s day, the best way to honor St. Patrick would be to pray that there would be reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace between his British homeland and his beloved Ireland, and between Catholic and Protestant.
And may it be so.

Next week, on March 9, the Hebrew Feast of Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from a death decree in the ancient Persian Empire.
We all know the story. A beautiful Jewish girl, Esther, becomes Queen of Persia. The evil Haman convinces the King to order the death of the Jews. Esther risks her life to plead for her people. The King allows the Jews to defend themselves and it is the enemies of the Jews who are destroyed. And Haman is hanged on the gallows he built.
There are many lessons to be learned from the Feast of Purim. We see how God intervened in a desperate situation to save His people from destruction. The death of the enemy of the Jews, Haman, on his own gallows pictures the fate of God’s enemies. And the right at self-defense given to the Jews, which we call the Jewish Second Amendment, argues for Christians to use firearms to protect their families and churches from attack.
But the Feast also contains a warning, played out in the history of the Persian Empire, of the fate of nations which abandon their support of God’s people. For, at the beginning of the Persian Empire, the kings of Persia had befriended the Jews. Cyrus (538- 529 B.C.) freed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem after he conquered Babylon. Darius (521-485 B.C.) supported and funded the building of the Second Temple. It was under Artaxerxes I (465-421 B.C.) that Ezra and Nehemiah returned and rebuilt Jerusalem. In return for Persian favor, the Jews were loyal allies of the Persians and formed a buffer against Egypt, which was as times an enemy and at times a rebellious province of Persia.
Things had changed by the reign of Artaxerxes II (404-358 B.C.) who is believed by some to be the King who married Esther. It is true that most commentators suggest that Xerxes (485-65 B.C.) was Esther’s King, but this belief is contradicted by ancient sources. Jewish historian Josephus places Esther after the events of Ezra and Nehemiah, under Artaxerxes I, and therefore much later the Xerxes. Historians associate the biblical name of Esther’s King, Ahasuerus, with Artaxerxes II, not Xerxes. There is also a striking historical similarity, for the wife of Artaxerxes II was poisoned by his mother in the third or fourth year of his reign. According to the Book of Esther, Queen Vashti was removed in the third year of his reign. There is even a linguistic similarity between “Vashti” and the Queen’s Persian name “Stateria” in the core “Shti” verses “Stat”.
Artaxerxes II proved to be a poor leader for the Persian Empire. He was of course very foolish for allowing himself to be manipulated by Haman into attacking his allies the Jews. He had to bribe the troublesome Greeks in 386 B.C. to obtain a period of peace with them. Then, the Egyptians revolted and gained independence, installing the last Egyptian Dynasty in 378 B.C. That same year Artaxerxes II suffered a major defeat from a rebelling province and barely survived a rebellion of Persian nobles. Clearly, the Persian Empire was beginning to fall apart. In addition, the Persians began interfering with the Temple worship in Jerusalem, and persecuted the Jews through an exorbitant temple tax for seven years.
The end came for Persia when their enemies the Greeks united under Alexander the Great and invaded the empire just 24 years after the reign of Artaxerxes II. The Jews had been reluctant to abandon their alliance with Persia, but when Alexander the Great marched toward Jerusalem they remembered Daniel’s prophecy that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians (Daniel 8:1-8;19-21). According to Josephus the high priest took Daniel’s prophesy to Alexander and Jerusalem was spared.
Persia was a great nation chosen by God to restore His people to Israel and re-build the Temple after their exile in Babylon. God blessed Persia with success but the nation allowed a spirit of anti-Semitism to take hold which, while defeated under Esther, came back as the Persians persecuted the Temple worship. In the end Persia experienced both sides of Abraham’s promise “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse“(Genesis 12:3). When they turned against the Jews God turned against them.
Like the Persians we Americans have been chosen by God to help make a place for His people who have returned to Israel after their long exile. God has blessed us mightily.
Yet there are those like Haman who wish to turn America against Israel. We must continue to stand with Israel or risk the same curse that fell on Persia.
Let us pray and rededicate ourselves to bless God’s people Israel this Purim.

And let us not forget to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Recently we have seen stories of homosexual abuse of Boy Scouts juxtaposed against a proud announcement by a mainline Church of the appointment of a Lesbian Bishop. Meanwhile the Catholic Church is still reeling from the abuses of cabals of homosexual priests while other Churches are rushing to embrace homosexual ministers.

God help the children.

The Catholics and the Boy Scouts are victims of evil men, but what we are seeing in those churches which encourage sexual sin is far worse. It is the result of a rebellion against the Word of God which began in the 19th Century with efforts to deny the authenticity of the Bible and has been carried forward to a repudiation of Christian teaching and morally. These false prophets speaking against the Word of God have infiltrated our churches and seminaries, and are welcomed by an adulterous and perverted generation.

As people of prayer we know that we are engaged in a spiritual battle with the dark spiritual focuses of rebellion and perversion. We can recognize the Spirit of Jezebel, which was exposed in the Church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-27) as a false prophet of sexual immortality poisoning a loving church and producing spiritual death for her followers. We can also look to God’s word for guidance, and there is a powerful scriptural roadmap in Numbers Chapter 12.

This passage records a rebellion of Aaron and Miriam against the word of God given to Moses. The Lord came down and rebuked Aaron and Miriam, saying “Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:8). This is also God’s rebuke to the modern churches which have denied the scriptures.

The Lord then punished Miriam by covering her with Leprosy. This is a terrible disease which mars the features and causes parts of the body to fall off. And, because it is contagious, lepers had to live alone and outside of the camp of God’s people (Leviticus 13:45).

Leprosy is in fact a picture of the rebellious Church. Like the lepers, these churches have lost parts of their bodies as many Christians have left them for more faithful Churches. Other Christians and even foreign affiliates of the rebellious U.S. Churches followed Paul’s admonition not to associate with an immoral brother and expel evil from the Church (1 Corinthians 5:11-13). Like the leper who cannot enter the camp, the rebellious churches are considered to be apostate, outside of the fellowship of the faithful.

Miriam’s story did not end with her leprosy, and we hope that the same will one day be said of the rebellious churches. Aaron repented of his sin and then both Aaron and Moses prayed for Miriam’s healing. The Lord heard their prayer but required that Miriam be confined outside of the camp for seven days, saying “If her father had spit in her face would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?” (Exodus 12:14). The entire company of Israelites waited for her seven days to be completed and received her back before they moved on.

Like Aaron, we should be ready to repent of our own rebellion, and like Aaron and Moses we should earnestly pray for healing of the leprous church. Like the Israelites we should wait in hope for the repentance of the leprous church. We should remember what Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians at chapter 2, v 5-8, about forgiving and comforting the repentant brother whom he had ordered to be ostracized in the first Corinthian letter. Like the Israelites and Paul, we should welcome the rebellious churches back into full fellowship when they repent.

We also know of many who have been called to remain in the leprous church to bring back the Word of God to their churches. This is a difficult assignment and it is good for us to remember that all Christ asked of the Jezebel infected Church of Thyatira was to reject the immoral teachings and hold on to what they have. We especially pray for encouragement and endurance as they stand for righteousness.

Let us stand with them for the healing to the leprous church and restoration into the body of Christ.

“The body is not meant for sexual immortality but for the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 6:13

It has become fashionable in some circles to deny the Christian foundations of the United States. Next week, when we remember President’s Day, would be a good time to listen to the words of our national Fathers and join them in their prayers for America:

Benjamin Franklin: On the Need for Divine Guidance
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; out projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down on future ages.
And what is worse, mankind may thereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
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 before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” – June 28, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention

George Washington: Prayer for the United States
“Almighty God, We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Thomas Jefferson: National Prayer for Peace
“Almighty God, Who has given us good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners.
Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.
Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those who in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail, all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Abraham Lincoln: National Day of Prayer and Humiliation
“Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishment and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been recipient of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.
And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping that day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand to caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.”

To which we can only add: Amen.

This week, beginning on January 25, people around the world are celebrating Chinese New Year. It is a good time to pray for our Brothers and Sisters in China and celebrate China’s Christians.

It was the dream of the great Catholic Evangelist Frances Xavier to bring Christianity to China, and after his death off the coast of China in 1552 others followed in his footsteps. However the Emperors feared the Church and ultimately passed laws outlawing Christianity. In the 1830’s, after Europeans forced open the ports of China, Christianity came to the treaty ports. Then Hudson Taylor and a host of missionaries carried Christianity into the heartland in the late 19th Century.

There were 1 million Christians in China when Mao Tse-Tung established Communist rule in 1949. Like the Emperors before him Mao feared the Church. As his followers drove Christian Missionaries out of China and persecuted the Chinese Christians, no one expected Christianity to survive.

Like the ancient Caesars, however, Mao did not understand that the Kingdom of God was on the inside of Believers, giving them strength to endure under persecution. The removal of the Missionaries did not end Christianity, but simply made the Church into a Chinese enterprise. When its property was confiscated it moved into the homes. And when its Chinese leaders were imprisoned, the Holy Spirit provided new leaders. As it had done during the Roman persecution, the Church provided hope in a brutal society and continued to grow. Instead of fading away, the Chinese Church has over 100 million Believers today.

Unable to stop Christianity, the Communists attempted to control it by establishing a state controlled Church structure, the Three Self Church. Some Christians elected to participate in the state church, but many others refused. Instead, they formed the House Church movement which is still outlawed in China. For Catholics whose fealty to the Pope is considered to be treason, the Communists have appointed their own bishops and viciously persecuted Catholics.

Today the new “Emperor” of China, Xi Jinping, is still afraid of the Church. He has declared himself as an opponent of Christianity and increased the persecution of Christians. Bibles and churches have been burned. Church members are under surveillance by facial recognition cameras and new regulations prohibit those under 18 from attending church. Social media is being used for oppression and religious expression on line is heavily restricted. The Communists have even launched a plan to rewrite the Bible more to their liking.

Recently one of the leading Christian pastors in China, Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, was sentenced to nine years in prison after his church was shut down in 2018. Over 100 church members were detained, 80 of whom were tortured by the secret police. Their crime? Meeting as an unregistered Home Church and advocating for religious freedom in China. Pastor Wang Yi wrote that Communism was “morally incompatible with the Christian faith” and said “I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law.”

Let us pray that the love of Christ shown by China’s Christians will overcome Xi Jinping’s fear and eventually lead to an end to the persecution of Christians. But let us also pray that the Chinse Church will continue to boldly proclaim the Gospel no matter what obstacles must be overcome.

And may we in America honor and support our Chinese Brothers and Sisters. May we have the courage of the Chinese Church to pray in the face of persecution the prayer of the Church in Jerusalem:

“Now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” Acts 4:29

On Monday, January 20 the U.S. celebrates the Martin Luther King holiday, honoring the life of an American hero and a Christian martyr.

Dr. King grew up in a world where many people believed that the black African people were inferior to the white Europeans. This belief, which was used to support slavery in the U.S. and the colonization of Africa by Europe, directly contradicts Biblical teaching that all humans are from the same family and that God commands us to love our brothers. However, the rise of Secularism and a Darwinistic view of the human race gave a scientific veneer to the myth of racial superiority. To their shame, even some Churches went along with the lie. Modern science has now proven that all humans came from the same mother, as the Bible teaches, and that there is more genetic difference within the races than between them.

So Thomas Jefferson was right when he said all men are created equal. But making that statement a reality has been a long battle in the U.S. We fought the Civil War to end slavery, and the war brought God’s judgment, as one soldier died for each person left in slavery after the American Revolution, and the slaveholding South was devastated. Nevertheless, racial inequality was reborn in the “Jim Crow” system of laws which discriminated against black people in the South. After the Second World War black servicemen who had proven themselves the equal of their white brothers found it more and more difficult to accept their oppression.

In many countries oppressed minorities had taken up arms, but the U.S. was spared from this fate. Instead, a black Baptist pastor called on his people to use nonviolent Christian principles to bring about change. Dr. King’s Civil Rights crusade eventually bought an end to the Jim Crow laws and led to a broad level of reconciliation between the races. Sadly, he and many others gave their lives to bring about the nonviolent Civil Rights revolution.
We still have some work to do to reach Dr. King’s goal of a color blind society and full racial reconciliation. But on this day we celebrate a Baptist pastor who used Christian principles and his Christian faith to bring his white and black brothers together.
Let us pray that Dr. King’s memory will be honored by reconciliation and unity, and that those who would divide and promote hatred, whether white or black, will be exposed and repudiated.