Author: John Page 115 of 166

Isaiah 1:25-27 “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.”

Samuel Langdon did not see his current situation as beyond hope. Nor should we. Langdon’s formula for retrenchment and recovery was a personal and national revival:

“Would it not be much superior wisdom and sounder policy for a distressed kingdom to retrench the vast unnecessary expenses continually incurred by its enormous vices?  To stop the prodigious sums paid in pensions, and to numberless officers, without the least advantage to the public?  To reduce the number of devouring servants in the great family?  To turn their minds from the pursuit of pleasure and the boundless luxuries of life, to the important interests of their country and the salvation of the commonwealth?  Would not a reverend regard to the authority of divine revelation, a hearty belief of the gospel of the grace of God, and a general reformation of all those vices which bring misery and ruin upon individuals, families, and kingdoms, and which have provoked heaven to bring the nation into such perplexed and dangerous circumstances, be the surest way to recover the sinking state, and make it again rich and flourishing?  Millions might annually be saved, if the kingdom were generally and thoroughly reformed; and the public debt, great as it is, might in a few years be cancelled by a growing revenue, which now amounts to full ten millions per annum, without laying additional burdens on any of the subjects.  But the demands of corruption are constantly increasing, and will forever exceed all the resources of wealth which the wit of man can invent or tyranny impose.”

Our nation, like Langdon’s, is sinking under the weight of its own onerous errors. The demands of corruption are constantly increasing, and increasingly unbearable. The surest way to return to our former glory is to cling to the source of our former glory. Our distressed kingdom demands reformation that returns us to righteousness and the righteous One.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A SWEEPING NATIONAL PERIOD OF REVIVAL AND REPENTENCE. It is not yet too late to recover and retrench. To flourish once again, we must do so immediately.

Isaiah 1:2 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”

While Samuel Langdon largely focused his condemnation on the corruption of the British government, he recognized the condemnation due to the people themselves because of their corruption. Langdon stated:

“Let us consider–that for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted, or entirely dissolved; and that nothing but a general reformation can give ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored, by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and that Divine Providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men.”

“But, alas, have not the sins of America, and of New England in particular, had a hand in bringing down upon us the righteous judgments of Heaven?  Wherefore is all this evil come upon us?  Is it not because we have forsaken the Lord?  Can we say we are innocent of crimes against God?  No, surely; it becomes us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, that He may exalt us in due time.  However unjustly and cruelly we have been treated by man, we certainly deserve, at the hand of God, all the calamities in which we are now involved.  Have we not lost much of that spirit of genuine Christianity, which so remarkably appeared in our ancestors, for which God distinguished them with the signal favors of providence, when they fled from tyranny and persecution into this western desert?  Have we not departed from their virtues?  Though I hope and am confident that as much true religion, agreeable to the purity and simplicity of the gospel, remains among us as among any people in the world, yet in the midst of the present great apostasy of the nations professing Christianity, have not we likewise been guilty of departing from the living God?  Have we not made light of the gospel of salvation, and too much affected the cold, formal, fashionable religion of countries grown old in vice and overspread with infidelity?  Do not our follies and iniquities testify against us?  Have we not, especially in our seaports, gone much too far into the pride and luxuries of life?   Is it not a fact open to common observation that profaneness, intemperance, unchastity, the love of pleasure, fraud, avarice, and other vices, are increasing among us from year to year?”

Christians should look inward as well as outward as we consider the errant direction of our nation. Our government is a mere reflection of us. Even the best governments can be corrupted and dissolved by our sins. Alas, our sins have had a hand in bringing down the righteous judgments of Heaven upon us. We are not innocent of crimes against God, and as we have departed from His virtues, we deserve His wrath.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS TO EXAMINE OURSELVES TO ROOT OUT ALL SIN. Even the best government cannot withstand an onslaught of sin from its citizens.

Hosea 4:1 “Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.”

While Samuel Langdon directs Christians to keep their eyes fixed upon the Lord, he unabashedly condemns the British government for deviating from God’s plan. After comparing the British Empire to the wayward Israelites, Langdon voices the following:

“We have rebelled against God.  We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it.   We have neglected and set light by the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy commands and institutions.  The worship of many is but mere compliment to the Deity, while their hearts are far from Him.  By many the gospel is corrupted into a superficial system of moral philosophy, little better than ancient Platonism.   And after all the pretended refinements of moderns in the theory of Christianity, very little of the pure practice of it is to be found among those who once stood foremost in the profession of the gospel.  In a general view of the present moral state of Great Britain it may be said: There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, their wickedness breaks out; and one murder after another is committed, under the connivance and encouragement even of that authority by which such crimes ought to be punished, that the purposes of oppression and despotism may be answered.  As they have increased, so have they sinned, therefore God is changing their glory into shame.   The general prevalence of vice has changed the whole face of things in the British government.”

As a people and a nation, we have lost the true spirit of Christianity. Our personal and national paths are to be lit by the glorious gospel of Christ, but instead we follow our own superficial system of moral philosophy. Truth, mercy, and knowledge have faded as relics of the past. Our government no longer upholds the law while sin thrives under the connivance and encouragement of governmental authority. Like the British Empire before us, our glory is transforming into shame.

PLEASE PRAY THAT CHRISTIAN AMERICANS WOULD STAND FOR THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY IN OUR LAND. Instead of accepting godlessness, we must encourage godliness. Our government must do the same.

Psalm 47:7-8 “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.”

Samuel Landgon’s quote from a post a few weeks ago continues to ring in my ears (see https://prayatlunch.us/gone-away-backwards/). It resonates with me based on the power of its analogy, written about the corruption of the 18^th Century British Empire but translatable to the vices of America today. From his view as Harvard’s president during the American’s Revolution, Langdon’s “Government Corrupted By Vice” brilliantly laments the dissolution of society’s moral and political foundations. Regardless of the crumbling edifices of his day, Langdon called upon believers to heed the following:

“We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the ETERNAL KING, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at His pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption; or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states, by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of His providence.”

American Christian, keep your eyes fixed on the ETERNAL KING. He directs all events. He can destroy or restore, rebuke or revive. He sits upon the throne of the supreme government. When we let our gaze drop to the things of this earth, we can get discouraged. Yet, when we continue to look upon Him, we can be encouraged regardless of our societal context.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO FIX OUR EYES UPON THE HOLY AND ETERNAL KING. His providence always reigns supreme.

Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I. Here am I; send me.”

My favorite place in the Pentagon is at the foot of this source of massive motivation. I often spend time here praying for our nation and its leaders. Interestingly, this painting is located on the stairway between the 3^rd and 4^th levels of the E-ring between the 8^th and 9^th corridors. For those familiar with the Pentagon, this location is in the immediate vicinity of the world’s most powerful military leaders, only a few paces from the Secretary of Defense’s office. Thus, America’s senior leaders regularly pass under this very painting.

I have no idea how long this painting has been there or who placed it there. Frankly, I am afraid to ask lest someone decide that it is too provocative to keep displayed. Yet, I pass by it almost daily as I go about my business in the area. As I look at the family kneeling in prayer and I read the inscription from Isaiah 6:8, I am challenged and compelled that I am to be an unqualified volunteer for Christ. Where – it doesn’t matter. What – it doesn’t matter. How – it doesn’t matter. Why – it doesn’t matter. When – it doesn’t matter. None of it matters – as long as God is in it and as long as I am faithful to it.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS IN THIS LAND TO BE UNQUALIFIED VOLUNTEERS FOR CHRIST. We must go! We must stand! We must pray! We must never hesitate to fully follow Him!

NOTE: For similar thoughts, please see: https://prayatlunch.us/send-me/