In our world of darkness and brokenness, in our nation of division and strife, in our daily headlines news of murder, anarchy, lawlessness, and rebellion, where do individuals turn to find hope, rest, and peace?
The answer is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not all headline news is despair, loss, and devastation.
Did you know that the Lord is saving souls, healing, and delivering people from their bondages in this nation and the nations of the world?
There has been a tent crusade, in Stockton, California, where many are finding Christ, being miraculously healed and delivered. [Mario Murillo Ministry]
This past weekend on May 2, at Pirates Cove, in southern California, many were water baptized. The headline read, “Hundreds Declare Jesus Lord in ‘Baptize California’ at Pirate’s Cove, and It’s Not Over”.[CBN.org]
Do you know about or remember Pirate’s Cove? That was where many young people found Christ in the early 1970s; the place where the Jesus Revolution happened.
Article dated 5/4/2026: Hundreds Declare Jesus Lord in ‘Baptize California’ at Pirate’s Cove, and it’s not over. “Hundreds of believers took the plunge at Baptize California over the weekend, publicly declaring their faith in Jesus Christ.” [CBN.org]
Did you know that the Lord throughout this year has been moving on college campuses?
Article dated 4/29/2026, Hundreds of Students ‘Go All in with Jesus’ at OSU as Spiritual Awakening Keeps Spreading. Quoting the article: “Thousands of college students have rallied once again in pursuit of Jesus Christ, with hundreds saying “yes” to the Gospel, this time in a huge outreach held on the campus of Oklahoma State University. It’s proof that the spiritual awakening among America’s college students is still spreading as the UniteUS ministry reaches for the next generation with the message of salvation.” [CBN.org]
I recommend that you also visit Global Christian . Please read the article TOP 20 COUNTRIES WHERE CHRISTIANITY IS GROWING THE FASTEST, February 27, 2025. It will amaze you. [Global Christian relief.org]
I also recommend a podcast found at Voice of Martyrs, regarding what is happening in the nation of Iran during this ongoing conflict with Israel/USA. The Church is growing in the midst of the turmoil, the hatred, and the persecution of believers for their faith in Jesus Christ, which has resulted in many deaths. Also there is an ongoing number of Muslims that are coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
It is not all bad news.
The truth is that this type of headline news is not wanted in the mainstream media.
Why not?
Consider this headline from Intercessors For America, it read: TWO VISIONS OF AMERICA AT 250: REDEDICATION OR REBELLION? (dated 4/30/2026)
Strong words!
What picture of our nation comes to mind when you read those words?
A chasm of division?
An irreconcilable future?
A grieving nation?
A lost way?
When our nation was in verbal debate regarding its founding, a stark realization came to the forefront.
The establishment of a new nation needed the blessing and guidance of God. Not everyone in the room was a believer, but the overriding thought was that without God’s guidance and wisdom, the gathering of the founders to create a new nation would flounder and probably fail.
Understanding their need for God, I interject this thought.
They realized that their own personal motives, hearts, and minds had to be ‘right’ in order to formalize a nation ‘under God’.
This was then, and still is, a very tenuous position for our nation.
When this nation was founded, its future, as our founders realized depended upon its citizenry to be moral and ethical.
In short, this nation as it proposes to do that which is moral and ethical has a greater chance of survival, than if it departs from morality and ethics.
But isn’t this a basic historical truth that has led to the downfall of nations throughout history.
John Adams said, “We have no Constitutional government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Corruption, revenge, ambition, or envy will break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
I believe we are witnessing the truth of these words.
Our nation has unloosed itself from its moral and ethical foundational moorings and seeks to chart its own course apart from the oversight of God.
While we as a nation may say ‘God bless America’ with our mouth, where is our heart?
Our citizens are divided into two major groups struggling for the helm of the ship.
At this point I desire to ask you, the reader a series of questions.
Q: Do you want to see this nation return to its founding roots or not?
Q: Do you want order restored or lawlessness to continue?
Q: What is your own personal desire for this nation?
Q: What is troubling you in your own heart regarding the state of this nation?
Q: What do you believe is the ‘crux’ of the problem?
Reading the concerns of our founding fathers, they understood that the future of this nation was dependent upon the unity of the ‘hearts’ of those that lived in this nation to adhere to basic morality and ethical behavior.
Q: What is the state of this nation’s basic morality and ethical behavior?
I am not asking you what political party you are a member of.
I am not asking you if you are a believer or unbeliever.
I am not asking you if you are a citizen of this nation.
I am asking you as an individual person if you are pleased or grieved by the morality and ethical behavior of this nation?
The answer of your heart determines your reaction to the overall political atmosphere and attitudes lived out daily by you with your family, at your work place(unless retired like me), with your friends and neighbors, and other meaningful associations that comprise your daily activity.
Your ‘heart’ attitude is revealed by the words of your mouth.
Are you a person seeking to ‘divide’ with your words and actions?
Or, are you a person seeking to ‘unite’ with your words and actions?
If it was you were at the ‘helm’ of this nation’s ship, what course would you chart for its future?
The title of this post was ‘FOUNDATIONAL THOUGHTS!
Where is the next post headed?
I John 5:21, Amplified Version, “Little children(believer, dear ones) guard yourselves from idols-{false teachings, moral compromises, and anything that would take God’s place in your heart}
riding out the ‘storm’ with you,
a brother in Christ, deo
I recommend to you a podcast found on Voice of Martyrs, about what is happening in the nation of Iran. The Church is growing there in the midst of the turmoil, the hatred, and the persecution of believers for their faith in Christ, which has resulted in many deaths.
Living Words of Encouragement 