There Once Was A Country...

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

for the LORD has spoken:

‘Children have I reared and brought up,

but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s crib,

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.’

“Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the LORD,

they have despised the Holy One of Israel,

they are utterly estranged.

“Why will you still be struck down?

Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and raw wounds;

they are not pressed out or bound up

or softened with oil.

“Your country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

foreigners devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

And the daughter of Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.” [1]

It has become something of a custom that I set aside the first month of each new year to survey the state of our present culture, reminding us as followers of Christ of our responsibility in our present society. Admittedly, the state of western culture is not healthy. In fact, a pervasive cultural rot is evident throughout our present western world. The message I am bringing at this hour gives me no joy; yet, I must not be silent. Convinced of the leading of the Spirit of Christ, I find that I am compelled to cry out a warning, as did the prophets recorded in the pages of the Old Covenant. I have concluded that western culture is decaying at a breathtaking rate. I wonder whether Canada, or whether the United States, will still stand in the very near future as a beacon of hope to nations struggling in the dark night of oppression and corruption.

Already, I find that when I speak of the freedoms I knew as a young man, I’m compelled to say to younger Canadians, “There once was a country…” It seems almost as though I am dreaming when I speak of a day when a family could buy a house, and a car, and also furnish the house with all that was required for their comfort, even as they fed that family with a what could only be described as a cornucopia of nutritious food, doing all this on one income. It is sometimes hard to believe that cursing and swearing on television or in the movies simply did not occur. Was it only yesterday that nudity was not a form of entertainment brought into our homes via television and the internet?

Perhaps I tend to be reflective whenever I come to the New Year. Such a reflective pause was once expected of all of us; this was the rationale behind making resolutions for the New Year. We were encouraged to reflect on our shortcomings during the year which was passing into memories; and based on our shortcomings we would resolve to make necessary adjustments to our lives so that the same mistakes would not plague us again. As a pastor, I suppose I’ve moved away from worrying about annual resolutions since I’m compelled to continually confront my personal shortcomings, especially in the realm of the spiritual, and begun to weigh national failures. I understand that I don’t have the ear of members or parliament; neither do I anticipate that members of our provincial legislature will take note of what I may say. I don’t even expect that our city council will be aware of what I may say. However, you hear me, and you will know of my concerns and witness the remedies I advocate based on the Word of God.

My heart has grown increasingly tender as I’ve aged. I don’t know that I differ in this respect from other men who have reached an age that now approaches fourscore. I stand firm against any effort that leads us to yield to sin, nor shall I excuse the actions of sinful people. Nevertheless, I am more easily moved to tears as I weigh the consequences of sin for those who are enmeshed in the hideous tenacles of sinful behaviour. Thus it is that I often weep silent tears for the death of the nation in which I was born, just as I also weep for the nation that received me as an immigrant over forty years ago. The nations of the west are dying, and nothing short of divine intervention can halt what is surely coming. And that knowledge moves me to deepest compassion.

The Lord GOD pronounced judgement on Nineveh through the Prophet Jonah. The reluctant prophet walked through the city, repeatedly crying out the dire warning, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” [JONAH 3:4b]! And the city did repent, from the king to the lowliest member of that wicked society. And yet, judgement did come, though it was delayed for almost two hundred years. For the inclination of a society to exalt its own thoughts over the revealed will of the Living God is pervasive and the wickedness that attracts us will in time reassert itself even to our descendants.