Minister’s Corner: The lesson of hard times

We only have to look around us today to see that this nation has entered into perilous times. Yet, as a minister, I like hard times for one reason - you see what people really believe. You see the wheat separated from the chaff when times get rough, when shaking comes.
A number of years back when the oil business bottomed out, we in the Christian community saw people sell out their beliefs and turn from praising God to cursing Him for their trials. As much as I hate to see things like this take place, the Bible tells us that Christ will be coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle, a committed church. Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:16, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” These things must take place for God has spoken it, and when we see them coming to pass, we know He cannot be far off.
These words will not discourage the Christian who truly loves the Lord, for his eyes are not on the temporal but the eternal, and he looks “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 KJV) Take heart; man is not in control, but God! The Christian community needs to turn back to God in repentance and pray that He will order the events of this nation once again. You see, it’s not about party affiliation or what candidate is running, it’s about returning to our first love. We were and are a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!