According to Old Testament Bible commentators, Manasseh’s reign as King of Judah over 2,600 years ago was one of the darkest periods in Judah’s history. His was a reign of evil and his nation paid the terrible price because they allowed and followed his leadership.

Are things much different in present times? According to Ravi Zacharias, “German theologian Emil Brunner made the curious suggestion that Adolf Hitler should be posthumously given an honorary doctor of theology degree. Why? Because he awakened Europe to her Christian heritage by showing her what the world would be like without Christianity.” At least it should have awakened Europe.

How true it is that history repeats itself. Look again at the reign of Hitler and of Stalin—godless leaders who slaughtered millions. And look at countries and nations today where God is forgotten, where Christianity is despised, and where Christians and others are being slaughtered if they refuse to denounce their faith and join a different religion, and where religious zealots are committing heinous acts of mass murder in the name of a god who is not the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and to whom Jesus Christ is not the Son of God nor Savior of the world—and to whom followers of Jesus are the infidels who need to be destroyed.

And let those of us in the West who, in our complacency, think we are safe and secure look at how we too, as nations, are drifting farther and farther away from our Judeo/ Christian roots and heritage, and rapidly forgetting God and all that he has done for us. Do we think we will be protected from evil when we turn from God?

No we won’t. In time we, too, unless we turn back to God, will go the way of all nations who forget God and thereby allowed a reign of evil to rule the land. When we reject God, we automatically divorce ourselves from his protection.

People opposed to the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and anything to do with God and the Christian faith; leaders without morals; and business leaders without character and ethics have already done great harm to U.S. society and its economy. I first wrote this message about five or six years ago and look at the mess we are in today as we have drifted farther and farther away from God and continued our moral decline. Surely Satan has blinded the mind of the Godless.

What we desperately need today is a revival of the Spirit; not the revival of a costless, saccharine spiritualism that is gaining popularity today, but a revival of God’s Spirit, where we turn from our sins and come back to God through the Lord Jesus Christ—and be committed to truth, justice, integrity and the Jesus way!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how desperately today’s world needs you and how desperately my country needs you. I beg of you to send a great Spiritual awakening to our land and a great revival of the Spirit—and let your work begin in me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Kings 21:10-12 (NIV).