THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS

Thomas Paine did not know anything about crisis when he wrote the pamphlet series The American Crisis that began with the words, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

We are living in a day when gambling is pervasive in our country. And millions of families are afflicted with problems related to gambling and gambling addiction. We are legalizing recreational drug use while we are forced spend untold energy and money trying, often unsuccessfully, to redeem those whose lives are pillaged by drug abuse. We are reducing love to lust and glandular tension and legitimizing something we are calling same sex marriage. The recent massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in the upper-middle class suburb of Newtown, Connecticut reminds us of the violence in a society where television, motion pictures and video games target our children and others with violent themes. We continue to murder millions of unborn babies every year in sacrifice Moloch the God of sexual indulgence.

But understand this. Neither Thomas Paine nor identify our times as the days that vex men’s souls. These are the days that test the mettle of prayer warriors. How seriously are you praying for God to intervene in the lives of people around you, your family, your neighbors, people you come in contact with from day to day. Have you prayed for people in Hollywood that put out filth that destroys the fabric of society and spreads its contagion to the rest of the world?

Are you willing to pray when you see no outward sign of revival? Will you keep praying when God’s judgment falls on America, like Abraham before Sodom and Daniel over Judah carried off to Babylon? These are not the days for Summer Disciples or Sunshine Prayer Warriors. These are the days for God’s people to step up and pray in the gap before it is too late, and even after it seems to be too late to save our nation.