**Note: Below is a letter originally written in January of 2010. This specific version was revised on July 2010 to reflect the significant events that took place during the first half of the year, which were the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the opening of the massive Houston Planned Parenthood, and the signing of the Affordable Care Act.

We are in a critical hour of our nation’s history.  Without a great spiritual shift in our nation, we will see the unfolding of unprecedented wickedness and judgment. If I were to speak lightly it would be a disservice to your conscience and a lie before God.

To my friends and fellow believers in Christ,

January 2nd, 2010.

Blessings in the name of our Lord, the One and only Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I write to you, to briefly address what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

In Joel chapter one, Joel asks the elders of Judah, “Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?”

In Joel’s day there was a great drought and locust plague that decimated Judah’s food supply and economic strength. Joel identified with the crisis, asking the elders if they had ever seen anything so severe in their day or even in the days of their fathers. In the wake of the crisis, at a time when the natural mind considers and prepares to rebuild and replant, Joel asks a question that causes the elders of Judah to identify with the true reality of their condition. Joel then proceeds with a three-fold message. He declares a coming judgment which will be greater and more severe than the first, calls them to repent and appeal to the Lord’s lovingkindness, and declares the day of the Lord at the end of the age. Joel stood in the ‘eye of the storm’, declaring to Judah her need for complete, national repentance at the religious and political levels.

I believe we are in similar days in America. In less than a decade we have seen 9/11, hurricane Katrina and most recently an economic crisis that has left many jobless and in foreclosure. I echo the same question, “Has anything like this happened in our days, or even in the days of our fathers?”

Do we dare begin to rebuild the things that have fallen or continue with business as usual without addressing the Scriptural injustices of our nation? The blood of abortion and human trafficking are a tidal wave of guilt that has swept across our nation for more than a generation. Divorce and internet pornography is stealing the purity of the Church. Many who pursue justice do so in vain, because they do not do it in the name of the Lord.

Who will stand in the gap and make an appeal to the Most High for mercy and justice?

I tell you, “The Lord is a just God who will measure us with the same measurements He has measured all nations!” We must humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wickedness. Our military might and political savvy will be a vain hope for deliverance in the years to come.

I speak to the Church:

We are the called, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We are the Beloved of Christ, and we must rise up and make an appeal before His holy court in the place of corporate prayer and fasting. 1^st Peter 4:17 says that judgment comes to the house of God first. We need not wait until something much more devastating than 9/11 happens. This is the day to blow the trumpet and declare the word of the Lord. The Lord is faithful. He gives mercy freely to those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord has spoken! Who can but prophesy? Amos 3:6-8

I read and listen to the prophetic voices who speak to the Churches in our nation. There is much blessing being spoken over the people of God. Such is right and biblical. We are a blessed people, friends of the Most High, and filled with His Spirit and the Holy Testimony of Jesus Christ. However, we see in part and know in part. There are two sides to this ‘prophetic’ coin. We must continue proclaiming God’s favor over a chosen people, for such is our destiny in Christ. Without contradiction we must also proclaim God’s just judgments and rouse our brothers and sisters who remain in spiritual slumber. Some may only need a gentle waking, but others will need to hear the alarm.

Concerning this, the Lord says:

“My people say, ‘comfort’, but this is just the beginning.”

“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruins.”

And, “When, My people, will you take up the lament I have called you to take?”

The Lord spoke directly to me as one who had not heeded His call. I had received His burden for our nation but had not yet taken up His lament, nor called His people to this message. Beloved, we will almost certainly see revival. People will meet the Lord. God’s people will move mightily in grace and truth. God’s glory will be on display for even the most distant to see.

Nevertheless, we need to learn what God’s people did not learn in the days of Josiah king of Judah. Mere religious reform and spiritual awakening is not enough to turn back the judgments of God. Yes, there was revival in the days of Josiah. It is even likely, during that time a young boy named Daniel learned the ways of the Lord. But it was not enough to avoid the national judgments of God against Judah. God brought forth Babylon to judge His people because of their wickedness.

Even in the days of the apostles, when three thousand turned to Jesus in one day and the early church was birthed, there was not enough change in the city to turn back the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. These ‘revivals’ primarily prepared people for judgment but did not deliver them from its coming.

We must look at these things and ask, “What will it take to save a nation?”

Business as usual must stop. We need to surrender to Jesus in the innermost parts of our personal lives and ministries. We need another Great Awakening! Great revival is the inheritance of our generation, but we must contend for it.

I believe God is raising up a worship and prayer movement that will result in lovesick witnesses who will proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Lord will put to shame the American gospel of prosperity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! O, if only we would press into the greatness of what God has planned for us!

Which side of the fence does your church stand on?

Will you unashamedly embrace the cross without offense? Will you give your lives to fasting, prayer, and repentance which brings joy in the Holy Spirit- or are you going to play church? Today is the day to make an account before the enthroned Christ for our ministries and our congregations. Now is the day of mercy and repentance!

Jesus is Lord! He came in the flesh. He is Emmanuel. He is Messiah. I write to you in the Holy Spirit as a witness to the Truth. You have a destiny! He made you for His glory. Jesus is Lord and you are His beloved. I appeal to you in the faith! We are to be burning and shining lamps in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

Jesus is our only hope, and what a great hope we have! Come, let us position ourselves before our Holy God, that we might be consumed by His love and burn with His jealous zeal!

Let us plead a better blood over our nation than the blood of abortion! May we receive the grace of God which empowers us to overcome every impurity in the Church!

“Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America!”

He who has ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches!

Blessings, beloved, and may the wisdom of God rule in your hearts.

Jerry Marek 1/2/10