"The Watchman on the Wall" Throughout biblical history God has always appointed His watchmen.   A watchman is a person who spends time in the presence of God to learn from Him the spiritual condition of the nation, and to warn the people of that nation when impending danger approaches.  When a nation is saturated in sin and mocks God,  God will execute His judgement by allowing that nation to fall by the sword of an invading, hostile country.  This was the case in the history of Israel.  Her enemies’ victories against her were the chastening hand of the Lord to humble Israel and cause the nation to repent of her backsliding and rebellion against God.  After the catastrophic events of 9/11, our nation was devastated and cried out to God…momentarily.  God’s judgement is a facet of His mercy because it causes men to humble themselves and repent so that they might be saved. Christians with just a cursory knowledge of the scriptures know that we live in spiritually perilous times.  Each believer has a responsibility before God to sound the alarm at this critical time in our nation’s history.   Our nation is deeply divided in a cultural war.  This war is actually a spiritual battle where the forces of darkness are being unleashed against humanity in the short time we have before the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.  “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!  For the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12).  The spirit of antichrist is in full swing in America, as is evidenced by everything  holy and decent and moral being mocked and maligned by Hollywood, television, rock music, and some judges and politicians.  Celebrities who “push the envelope” to further ensnare their audiences in immorality and rebellion against God are deceived agents of satan in the war for the souls of men.  The politically correct “thought police” demand tolerance of every ideology and lifestyle except Christianity because it calls sin what it is…“sin” and proclaims salvation through Christ alone. Never in history has a nation been so richly blessed by God as America, and never has a nation turned from God so thoroughly.  This is not the time for Christians to be “at ease in Zion,”  but to cry out in fervent prayer on behalf of our nation.  Believers in Jesus must first repent of their own sins and complacency if there is to be any hope for the future of America.  If the church remains asleep, our freedom to worship God and win souls for Him will be taken from us.  In Toronto, Canada, many portions of the Bible have already been declared “hate speech” and it is now illegal to preach that homosexuality is sin.  Our courts ousted righteous Judge Roy Moore for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments monument in his courthouse;  yet elected officials have defied their state’s laws and married homosexual couples without consequence. This year of 2004 is our national election year.  The ramifications of this election will be far-reaching.  Obviously, the president has limited power and cannot save a nation; however, our elected leaders’ platforms espouse the principles which underwrite laws that will either stem the tide of wickedness in America or encourage our rapid descent into an immoral and chaotic cesspool.  More than ever, we need to pray for our leaders “and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2: 1-2).  This watchman is sounding the alarm for all believers to repent and pray to God for His mercy upon America. “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person  from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand…nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul”  (Ezekiel 33: 6,9). “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan” (Proverbs 29: 2).