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Sandra Myers
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“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.”
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Prior to the quoted verse above, King Solomon and his people had just completed and dedicated the temple to the Lord and the glory of the Lord filled the house. All of God’s children worshipped and praised the Lord for His goodness and mercy.
After this celebration, the Lord reminds Solomon, and the people, of His covenant. It is not a new covenant. This is the same covenant He made with Abraham. But again, here, He makes it clear to His people about the serious responsibilities and the grave consequences if they cease to follow Him only:
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“But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.” —2 Chronicles 7:19-22
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Is America, once founded on a biblical foundation, following the same footsteps as the Israel of old?
Will Christian America Become a Proverb and a Byword?
In conversations with and letters from many friends of this ministry, we seem to be drawing the same conclusion: America is like the proverbial snowball headed for hell. There doesn’t seem to be an end to the depths of depravity to which America can sink.
Estimates from a 2021 poll suggests that about 63% of Americans claim to be Christians. In a March 2022 Gallup poll it was found that 7.2% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual. Why then is America suddenly being strangled and controlled by such a miniscule population? Where is the uproar of the 63% of so-called Christians?!
Homogenized Christianity
The definition of homogenized is the blending of unlike elements, especially by reducing one element to particles and dispersing them throughout another substance. Has the world so broken up Christianity into tiny particles and blended us into the world that they have nearly rendered Christians unrecognizable and made us powerless?
And, have we, who call ourselves Christians (the elect called by God’s name), become so dulled by this homogenizing that we’ve come to prefer our blended state over being a peculiar people, set apart as the witness and testimony of God and His Salvation? Can the world tell the difference between us and them?
Humbling Ourselves Before God
Sadly, much of our mainstream Christian leadership resembles the Pharisee in Luke 18:12-14. Proud, boastful, self-important and more. Is it no wonder that Christianity has become homogenized?:
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“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
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We know that, as a nation, we are in trouble. If the world had its way, our Saviour would become a proverb and byword—dismissed and ridiculed among the heathen. But His Covenant still stands with us. We are still to witness and testify of His Power and Glory to this world through Salvation in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Redeemer.
It is up to us, the humbled remnant, to awaken a spirit of repentance, humbleness, joy and praise of our Lord. I believe that humbling ourselves and turning from our own wicked ways is not passive. We, as Christians, need to reclaim our own peculiarity, de-homogenizing ourselves from the madness the world is embracing; speak out against the things that are against God’s design; and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
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“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” —1 Peter 2:9 
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