Damon Thompson, who is, most notably, a regular preacher at The Ramp, recently spoke at a men’s conference.  An opening point that he made was that our current financial crisis is just a symptom of the moral recession in America.  He went on to say that if we quit killing babies, and promoting the gay agenda, and glorifying all manner of sinful activities, that our financial trouble would turn around.

My immediate thought was, “No…the financial crisis is the result of overspending, pandering, bad debt, greed, and general mismanagement of funds…not just in the Government, but in corporate America as well.”  And then the absolute brilliance of Damon’s words struck me…that all is the result of moral problems.  Greed, shady money dealings, promising all kinds of freebies to people to get a vote, lying, cheating, stealing . . . even irresponsible accumulation of debt:  These are all MORAL problems.

If I decide to buy more than I can pay for, and live a lifestyle of debt and overspending (which I’ve done in the past)…the problem is more than just being financially stupid.  The problem is an intrinsic misunderstanding of what is important.  It’s greedy and lustful, but I want more than I can have.  It’s untrustworthy, and deceitful….and many other bad things because I’m just creating large problems for the future, perhaps insurmountable ones, in order to appear or feel like I’m comfortable now.  It’s gambling, because I’m just lying to myself in saying that I’ll have more money one day to pay for things…which never happens…because I spend it too.  That type of financial lifestyle is a moral problem.

And so to is our country’s financial problem.  Lehman Brothers, AIG, now $700 billion in bailout loans.  And all this money from a government that isn’t even able to pay its own bills…that is going more and more into debt every day without the help of a mega-bailout of the banking system.  This sort of bankrupt (ironic wording, huh?) morality, which exalts our lusts instead of being responsible, that panders to greedy people looking for handouts instead of creating a financial sound free market economy that enables them to create their own wealth, is what is destroying our country.  The same mentality would tell a pregnant woman, “Meh…it’s not a baby yet, because you can’t see it!  It’s just a fetus…you can just have an abortion and go on with your life.”  Or, in the case of Obama, “Oh…well, the baby’s out and alive, but it was supposed to be aborted…let’s just kill it anyway.”

Could it be that our country’s problems can only be solved one way?  Through Revival?  I believe so…because we can see the anemic church is actually becoming more like the world, instead of fighting for change.  If our churches get on fire for God, get passionate about having a relationship with Him, and in seeking the lost and giving them an experience with a God who loves them, and wants to set them free from their past and their sin…then I believe we’ll begin to see a shift in this country back towards prosperity.

***Update:  Listen to Damon Thompson’s message at the Men’s Ramp 08

Tags: Churches,damon thompson,economy,financial crisis,greed,moral problem,recession,revival
Categories: Church
9 Comments »