“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Okay, it's been a year (just over 13 months … and 7 days … but who's counting) and, admit it, you've gotten slack too. No in person Bible studies; no Wednesday evening service; no in person Sunday service so we're “forced” to watch it on Facebook; Sunday School via zoom, where you sit on your couch, a bowl of corn flakes on your belly and a muted viral video playing on Youtube in the background … and no IronMen Ministries Friday Morning Prayer Breakfast to start your weekend off right. Well, unless you live in a city or state that's run by a certain misguided political party that shall remain nameless here …

… that time has passed!

We're all guilty of it to some degree, getting lazy. Using the quality time that our “leaders” have graciously afforded us during the “lock-down” to catch up on our basket weaving, paper airplane races, or binge watching “Peaky Blinders” … whatever that is … and during this time the enemy has been doing a jig in the streets (a jig is a happy dance for you younger folks), and basking in the fact that his plan to keep us from corporate worship and fellowship has been (is) working so well!

Let's examine the evidence.

During this “lock-down” we've seen a rise in all types of crime; looting, beatings, shootings, arson, riots, murder—all in the name of “social justice”. We've seen the rise of “cancel culture” where people's lives have been literally ruined for things they did or said decades earlier at a time when their behavior, albeit in bad taste, was considered perfectly acceptable; we've seen celebrities using their status and popularity to call attention to things that they, frankly, have little or no knowledge of to incite people into doing some of the aforementioned things that they (probably) would never have considered doing under any other circumstances. We've seen a rise in alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness and suicide. We've seen international tensions elevated to a level that we haven't seen in decades. We've seen illegal … excuse me … undocumented immigration go through the ceiling. We've seen the importation of illegal … excuse me … undocumented drugs rising to record levels. We've seen children abandoned in the desert and sex trafficking at an unprecedented level. We've seen people calling to abolish the police because of a few “bad apples” who do stupid or even malicious things in the performance of their duties. And even when these individuals are caught and punished, we're told by our “leaders” that the “system”, of which, ironically, they are a part, doesn't work. We've seen people criticize the police for saving a teenager's life as another crazed individual attempts to stab them with a knife!

WHAT? I mean … WHAT?

Let's see … did I miss anything?

Oh yeah … racism … but I refuse to go there here.

I'm sure that there's more, but I'm running out of adjectives.

Let's face it, our country is lost. The greatest, albeit imperfect, country to have ever existed on the face of God's Earth, has been destroyed using the oldest tactic in the book. Divide and conquer. It's been eaten away at for decades as we slept. We turned a blind eye to what we should have known was happening to our children, myself included, and allowed Satan and his minions to gain a foothold inside our government, poisoning it with “progressive” ideas for our future based on lies about our past, present and future.

But … there is hope!

In 2016, Christians all over this country, prayed, rose up and were heard at the polls. We did something that's needed to be done for decades. We turned to God and let the system know that we'd started to pay attention to what was happening again. We, with our votes, told them that we weren't going to lie down and let them trample on our freedoms anymore, and we elected … well … not the most … amiable … (that's the nicest way that I could think to put it) individual ever to the presidency of our beloved country. Whatever you think of that man, he was the man who Almighty God chose to lead us, and while he said a lot of really, really stupid things, I believe that he had the country's … that he had all of our best interests at heart.

Maybe it's time to do that again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for any candidate. I'm saying that we need to go back to church. Back to the Sunday service. Back to Sunday School. Back to Wednesday evening Bible study … and back to the IronMen Ministries Friday Morning Prayer Breakfast at the Wellston Center in Warner Robins, Georgia. We need to worship together; we need to fellowship together; we need to pray corporately for God's guidance about what we, Christians, need to do to either fix these problems that have manifested so quickly in every facet of our society, or we need to prepare ourselves and others for whatever God has in store for our future.

We have a job to do!

Jesus told us to go out to all nations; to baptize them in the name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. He never said that we could slack-off when times are tough. But let's face facts, we did. So, allow me to reiterate:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

The IronMen Ministries Friday Morning Prayer Breakfast will resume on Friday, May 7^th at 6 AM. Be there … or be square!

Today is the day. Now is the time. The battle is on!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

G. J. Fortier is a member of Ironmen Ministries and First Baptist Church, Centerville, GA. Look for his novels on Amazon on Kindle and paperback. Or visit his website at www.GerardFortier.com