FLOODS UPON DRY GROUND, CHAPTER 4: CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS

     Chapter 4 of the book “Floods Upon Dry Ground", written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones, is titled “Crumbling Foundations”.
     To recap, Chapter 1, entitled "Spiritual Awakenings", reminded us of great revivals in centuries past in Scotland. Pastor Duncan asked the question of whether God could, and would, pour floods upon dry ground again in today's world.
     Chapter 2 was entitled, "Dynamics of Spiritual Decline", where authors Duncan and Jones wrote about the slow but steady steps that can lead to apathy and doubt, leading toward the point of even denial of Jesus.
     Chapter 3 was entitled, "Change or Die". It took the story of the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, who had to make a change toward action, or surely they were going to all die, including all of Israel. We also have the choice of "changing or dying". The outcome of our actions may lead to consequences. But no action will surely lead to our spiritual death and the spiritual death of those around us.
     So now, in Chapter 4: "Crumbling Foundations", Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones quoted David in Psalm 11:3: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
     In our culture today, according to Duncan and Jones, “there has been a seismic shift from embracing Christian values and free-market economy to an application of socialist ideas America once rejected.” They cited COVID-19 as “a launching pad for the most openly aggressive move toward socialism we have seen.”
     The authors said that Jesus declared in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 that “natural earthquakes” would accompany the last days. But Duncan and Jones cited another kind of earthquake—“the earthquake of deception” that poses the biggest threat to the Christian community and to the spreading of the gospel.
     They wrote that for many years American Christians thought themselves insulated from the religious persecution that Christians in communist and socialist countries endure. They lamented the fact that “somewhere along the line the institutional church forsook its primary task of fulfilling the Great Commission, and instead redirected its energies to addressing social, cultural, and political concerns.” They said, “True revival has been replaced with artificial spirituality built on shallow emotionalism that does not lead to real change, and does not produce genuine hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ.”
     So the question is, in the face of our crumbling foundations in America, “What can the church—or the righteous, do?” Below are four imperatives according to Duncan and Jones:

1. Keep meeting together, in whatever form that may take in the last days.
2. Use the example of the apostles, who kept proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter what persecution they faced. The Bible gives no evidence of the apostles organizing marches and protests against the wickedness of the leaders of the day. 
3. Listen and obey the words God spoke through King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
4. Remember that God never changes, no matter what may be happening around us.

     So we don’t know whether taking these steps will lead to “a sweeping revival”—or whether it will lead to “increased persecution”, as it did with the apostles.
     But according to authors Duncan and Jones—we do know that amid crumbling foundations around us—“God remains in complete control over His creation.”