As we come to the end of the year and look back at the many news items, it worth

asking some important questions. One question that Joel Rosenberg has been asking is

this: Is America in a Jonah moment or a Nahum moment? Let me explain.

When Jonah preached to the city of Ninevah (the capital of the Assyrian empire),

they repented. The king arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself in

sackcloth and sat in ashes (Jonah 3:6). He then sent out a decree to the people, and God

spared the city from the impending disaster (Jonah 3:10).

That generation of Ninevites listened and turned from their sins toward the Lord.

Following generations did the same until 150 years later when another generation of

Ninevites refused to listen to the Word of God.

Nahum then pronounces a woe upon Nineveh. “Woe to the bloody city, all full of

lies and plunder—no end to the prey! The crack of the whip, and the rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse and bounding chariot! Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering

spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over

bodies!” This is the vivid description of the destruction that was to come to Nineveh in

612 B.C.

Is America in a Jonah moment? Or are we in a Nahum moment? More than

a million abortions are performed unabated. More states have sanctioned same-sex

marriage. Politicians in Washington add more than a trillion dollars of national debt every

year. We are shocked at the violence in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and in an

elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Most of us recognize that if we as a people and a country continue to turn away

from God, the problems in our society will grow worse. Are we ready to repent, or

will we be like the people Paul talked about who were “holding to a form of godliness,

although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:5).

Joel Rosenberg asks a good question. I suspect that what happens next year will

give us an answer.