The book of Judges should open our eyes to our own country as it depicts what happens when a nation who once followed God, chooses to immerse itself in godless behavior. Recently two transgender runners (now classified as girls) participated in the Connecticut high school girls track and field championships, winning first and second place in the process. Biologically male athletes, due to their genetic makeup, have proven faster and stronger when champions go head-to-head. One female athlete who would have taken 6th if not for the transgender athletes, missed her chance to go to the New England regionals by two places, which would have helped her chances in getting seen by certain colleges. This may not sound too important, but we are witnessing a nation which is teetering from political correctness and tolerance. The whole concept of transgender should be appalling to everyone and should make sense why it should be confronted. But concerns of how it might appear or of offending keeps everyone silent for fear of appearing close-minded. Sorry to state the obvious, but you can change the external all you want, even perform certain surgeries and take certain hormonal treatments, but in the end if you take that person's blood it is the same chromosomal make-up 46 XX for a female and 46 XY for a male, and no human imagination is going to alter God's truth from His creation. Tolerance and political correctness are now the rule of law unless of course it is our Christian views which are asking to be tolerated. Those who uphold the view from God's Word are classified as bigots, racists, hateful, close-minded, homophobes, etc and deemed not worthy to listen to.

Despite God telling the Israelites that He had already claimed the land for them and victory was theirs, with them only having to claim it, we see the disobedience listed for 9 of the 12 tribes listed in Judges 1, exemplified by 1:27-28, "However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Tanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages...; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in the land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out." God knew if they did not drive out those serving foreign gods from the land, they would soon become a snare for them (Judges 2:3). After the death of Joshua and his generation, we read in 2:12-13, "and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths."

The history of Israel has great relevance to our nation. Throughout our nation's short 400-year history we have gone through a similar cycle of godless times punctuated with revivals or "Awakenings" which revived our nation. The last one being led in the 1970's called the Jesus Movement or the Jesus People which includes the leadership under Pastor Chuck Smith. We find our nation now in a time of Biblical illiteracy and when everything which is deemed wrong according to God's Word is deemed right according to the society that we currently live. Pick the topic: abortion, euthanasia, legalization of drugs, LGBTQ, premarital sex.

Add to this list the elimination of God from our schools and the public sector, making everyone believe that the blessings that they receive are a result of their intellect and hard work and you find yourself exactly where we are right now. The answer is not tolerance and avoiding to state when things are obviously wrong. The only hope our nation has is if we experience another revival or "Awakening". Nothing less will change our course. Every society before us deemed this impossible until it happened. Revival is up to each of us who are called according to Jesus Christ. We must get out of our little comfort zones and reach a world literally reeling under the weight of sin. Since we know the final outcome of those who choose a life apart from God, to remain silent is to hate them not tolerate them. Revival is the loving response which must come from us, His children.