By Jim Josephsen
It is not as though the New York Daily News cowers from controversy or avoids provocation; therefore, it is no surprise that a recent cover story stirred a whirlwind of reaction. Released some two months ago and for the most part forgotten (in the wake of current news events), the acerbic headline nonetheless revealed a reality that many will find hard to accept.
Reporting on the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, at the hands of two murderous Islamic jihadists back on December 2, 2015, the cover page of the New York Daily News read, “God Isn’t Fixing This. As latest batch of innocent Americans are left dying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes.”
Missing the magnitude of this recent terrorist attack, of the deficiencies within the FBI and complicity of the current Administration, along with implications of future domestic security breaches, the New York Daily News left no doubt as to its anti-gun position. Likewise, the New York Daily News left no doubt as to its agnostic, perhaps even atheistic predilections by taunting those individuals moved to prayers during this latest cause of national distress.
The headline was clearly meant as a political statement attacking the Republican Party and Presidential candidates on their stance to block anti-gun legislation and their appeal to keep 2nd Amendment rights secure and sure.
Many also took the headline as a means for the New York Daily News’ editorial staff to disparage those who think God will somehow right this country; that God will somehow fix things.
In blogs, posts, tags, chats, editorials, opinions, articles and commentaries, the retorts seemed to light up the internet and the multitude of social media outlets. Journalists, editorialists, news commentators, theologians, leaders of faith movements and Christian apologists were among those providing points of view and opinions relevant to this controversial headline.
Many comments focused on the significance of prayer, while others attacked prayer’s efficacy, demeaning prayer to meaningless platitudes, when action was called for. Many postings reflected the sentiment, just don’t pray about it, do something about the gun violence ravaging this country; Do something about terrorism.
Responding to the confrontational headline, various theologians replied: “God is fixing this because God is Love. God is fixing this His way, in His infinite wisdom. When there is suffering and sorrow, He comforts those who suffer through the gentleness and tender touch of others. God has compassion, only not in ways to which we are accustomed. Although we may not understand why God allows tragedies, we know God weeps with us during these times of pain. God hears our prayers. God is love; God cares.”
These thoughts are nice sentiments, perhaps having even provided words of comfort during that time of national despair and the tragic loss of 14 lives that day. However, is that all? Are these the words, the sentiments God would communicate to the United States at a time of national distress?
As to the prayers offered up by politicians or by common everyday citizens, whether those prayers be offered up in church, over the television or internet or in the privacy of a home prayer closet, it is not up to an editorial staff at the New York Daily News, or journalists at large, to determine one’s sincerity.
God will decide whose prayers are sincere and whose are disingenuous and self-promoting. God has determined whose prayers He will hear and those He will not hear and why He will not hear those prayers.
Is it possible that God is not fixing this? Are the prayers of the people and the politicians nothing more than meaningless platitudes? Are their prayers just words lost in the blackness, dissipating in the vastness of outer space?
Is it possible that God has closed His ears to the prayers of this country, a country burdened with the undeniable reality of escalating gun violence, as our city and suburban streets are blood stained; a country festering in increasing civil disobedience, precipitous moral decline, disrespect for authority, not to mention disobedience to God’s Laws?
Can God not see the increasing terrorist attacks at the hands of radical Islamic jihadists, hell bent on killing anyone not submissive to their interpretations of their miserable religion? Has He turned a blind eye to the evil, brutal and homicidal behaviors of ISIS, al-Qaeda, Jabhut al-Nusra and isolated radical Muslims, people intent on destroying Western civilization and constructing a caliphate? Will He not lift a finger to intervene and stop the insanity? Is He ignoring His creation and closing His ears to the prayers of His people? Or has God already provided an answer?
“Surely, the arm of the Eternal is not too short that it cannot save, nor his ear too dull to hear: but your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice: no one pleads the case with integrity or truth. … They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. … their deeds are evil and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts, ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths …” (Isaiah 59:1-8).
Notice the indictment God leveled against a people who took pride in being called His people; in most instances equivalent today to being called Christians. Notice what God has to say to people who prayed to Him, but found no response from God. God was not fixing their problems.
Today, God is not fixing the United States of America or any other nation, for the reasons just stated above. God’s answer is consistent and is found throughout the Christian Bible. Notice:
“For he that will love life and see good days (you can amend this statement to read, for the nation that will love life and be a benefit to its citizens; for that nation to see good days, prosperity, economic success, health, stability and security from its enemies, stability and equity among its citizens), let him (let that nation) refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speaks no guile. Let him eschew (depart and reject) evil and (in place of evil) do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Eternal are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers. But the face of God is against them that do evil (1 Peter 3:10-12).
“The eyes of the Eternal are in every place, beholding the evil and the good … The Eternal is far from the wicked: but he hears the prayers of the righteous (Proverbs 15:3, 29).
God will not play games and God does not deviate from His perfect will and character. What God spoke yesterday, He reiterates today and you can rest assured He will speak the same tomorrow.
Whether in the life of a lone individual or an entire nation (such as the United States), God is consistent and firm in His answer. He will not hear the prayers of the unrighteous; of those who live a life disobedient to Him and His laws. God does not hear the prayers of the arrogant, the self-righteous, the impertinent, those whose heart is set on evil; those who are self-centered, the unrepentant and perverse sinner.
The New York Daily News is right. God is not fixing this nation. Notice further, what God has to say.
“Therefore I will judge you, O House of Israel, everyone according to his ways (his own self-determined, self-defined lifestyle), speaks the Eternal Sovereign God. Repent and turn away from your sinful ways, so your iniquities and unrighteousness will not be your ruin. Get rid of all your sins you are committing and get a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die O house of Israel? (Today we can say “O United States of America,” or “O Great Britain,” or “O Australia,” or “O Canada,” – the nations which today are composed of the descendents of the tribes of Israel, the nations today that claim to be Christian, God-fearing peoples). I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies say the Eternal. Therefore my answer is, Repent and live” (Ezekiel 18:30-32).
God’s admonition has been consistent. What He spoke generations ago, he reiterates today. “As I live, says the Eternal God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his ways and live. Turn, turn (repent) from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11)
For an individual or for an entire nation, the reason is obvious and the answer is plain. “God isn’t fixing this,” and the peoples’ prayers are not being heard. Their prayers are not being heard, because their lifestyles, their ways have cut them off from God. If your lifestyle, your ways, your behavior mirrors that of society around you, then God is not hearing your prayers.
It is not that God cannot hear or His hand cannot intervene for this nation or for the individual or that God does not want to help. God is not hearing and He is not intervening because this nation and most people will not allow Him to. God will not hear the prayers of an unrepentant sinner, of one who is haughty, arrogant or unrighteous. God will not hear unless that individual repents and humbles him or herself before God.
God always provides hope and God will hear the prayers of the individual who will humble himself before Him. God’s mercy and forgiveness is always available to anyone who asks Him to be merciful and forgiving. God’s entreaty is, “if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”
God is not fixing this nation. Not that God cannot or that God will not. God will in his time and the Scriptures make it clear as to just how He will fix this nation and this world. He will fix this nation and this world on His terms and according to His will, when He sends Jesus Christ to this earth the second time to save it, yet to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
God has made it clear what has to be done in order for Him to hear the prayers of a nation or an individual. God has made it clear what you have to do in order for Him to hear your prayers. There is only one way God will even consider intervening and hearing the prayers of the people or the nation. “Repent and turn away from your sinful lifestyle” is what God requires. If you repent, then God will hear you.
For now, “God isn’t fixing this” because the people are not allowing Him to. The fault lies with the world, with this nation, with the people – not with God! If you want God to hear your prayers, then you know what you need to do. God has clearly made it known what you need to do!
