Days of Repentance

Declaration of Repentance

We gather here today as citizens of the United States of America and as citizens of God’s Kingdom.  Our American citizenship being conferred to us by mutual place of birth and residence in God’s providence; our Heavenly citizenship being purchased for us by the finished work of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross in which we corporately trust.  We recognize that as members of both this earthly and heavenly kingdom, it is our sacred duty and trust to bridge the gap between our nation and the Almighty. It has fallen to us, and to our watch, to bear witness of His righteous judgments in the face of impending calamity.  We now endeavor to sound the trumpet of a watchman thus commissioned by God and stationed upon the ramparts of our great nation. (Ezekiel 33:1-7)

On behalf of our national sins and to any degree in which we have personally partaken we do now repent for:

The Sin of Abortion: With intense sorrow we duly recognize that our nation has chosen the idol of convenience and self indulgence over the precious gift of life.  The blood of each child, who although created in the image of God was thought a burden and relegated to a place of refuse, indeed each one of these blood cries out from the ground for judgment.  Rather than defending the defenseless we have led them to slaughter.   In addition, as the Body of Christ, we repent for allowing the justification of such abominable acts to proceed from our pulpits and declare that there can be no reconciliation between the practice of abortion and the preaching of Your Kingdom! Gen. 4:10 - Psalm 139:13-14

Lord we are guilty; we beseech You to have mercy!

The Sins of Homosexuality and Sexual Immorality:  With a heavy heart we acknowledge that our nation has opened its arms to embrace practices which You abhor, oh Lord.  We admit that in our vain imaginings we Your creation, have sought to unseat You Our Creator, and determine for ourselves proper relations within Your divine order.  We confess that rather than being zealous for Your Name and Your Laws oh God, we have instead become complacent and allowed unrighteous men and women to chart our path towards cultural acceptance of these obscene deviations.  Further, as the Body of Christ we repent for calling “good” what You have called “evil.”   We determine from this point forward not to give utterance to any justification of practices that You have deemed unjustifiable.   For the sins of homosexuality, adultery, fornication, pornography and promiscuity we do now repent on behalf of ourselves and our nation.   1st Cor 6:9 – 1st Tim. 1-10 – Lev. 20:13 – Romans 13:13 – 1st Thess. 4:3

Lord we are guilty; we beseech You to have mercy!

The Sin of Hypocrisy:  With great shame do we confess our profound tendency to allow our speech and our actions to suffer violence one against the other.  For allowing ourselves to be called by Your Name while casually denying the responsibility of that calling, we repent.  On behalf of the Body of Christ we repent for the sins of our leadership:  for those who preach purity yet refuse to abstain from immorality; for those who selfishly profit from the offerings of their flock, and for those who fail to assume their responsibility to safeguard the ones whom You have set in their care.  Above all we repent for allowing Your Name O God to be defamed by those who neither know you nor your Son, on account of our actions.   Matt. 6:1-5 – Matt. 23:28 – Rom. 12:9 – 1. Peter 2:1

Lord we are guilty; we beseech You to have mercy!

The Sin of Arrogance and Indifference towards the Poor:  With humiliation do we admit that we have failed to embody the purest form of religion – to minister to orphans and widows in their distress.   Our appetite for personal convenience has become louder than the innate pang we feel when looking upon a fellow man in the hour of his great need.   We have preferred those of ample means while trampling those with meager.  In doing so we practically deny the existence of Our Just Creator supposing that we will not be held to account for the compassion we have shown to all of Your creatures.   For the sin of neglecting the poor, of selfishly hoarding the gifts that You freely give, and of arrogance against those who have been made stewards over less, we repent.   Ex. 22:5 – Lev 25:35 – Deut 15:7 – Amos 4:1-2 – Matt 19:21 – James 2:1-9 – James 1:27

Lord we are guilty; we beseech You to have mercy!

The Sin of Arrogance and Indifference towards Israel:  With chagrin do we attest that the policies of our nation have been in stark contradiction to your scriptural principals regarding your posterity, Israel.  Our elected officials mediating on our behalf have continuously attempted to coerce Israel into giving their land into the hands of those who openly declare themselves their enemies.  We recognize that it is You O Lord who has determined in your Divine Word the boundaries of this ancient and re-born nation.  In light of this, neither we nor our government have the authority to demand that Israel give away what you have gifted.  In this we have acted presumptuously.   In addition we have remained silent in the face of the deafening cries for the destruction of the Jewish people and their nation which echo from city squares and government halls across the earth.  As the Body of Christ we have sinned against Your covenant people as well.  By both denying that the covenant made with Israel is eternal and by declaring that the Jewish people need not salvation, we have gravely erred.  We have also seen as outcasts those whom are both of Jewish ancestry and believers in our common Messiah, Jesus.  The Church shortly after its inception, throughout its history, and even through the reformation, has given itself over to a spirit of anti-Semitism. Willfully have we instituted and enforced the schism between Jewish and Gentile believers.  Forcefully has the Church sought to separate itself from the Jewish believers who duly served as a light to the nations, bringing them the Word of God and the revelation of the Gospel.  Further, many of the worst atrocities committed against the Jewish people were encouraged, accepted, perpetrated or ignored by Christians.  In these things we have sinned against You O God, who are in fact a keeper of all Thy covenants. Joel 3:1-3 – Gen. 12:3 – Zech 2:8 – Rom. 11 – Eph 2 – John 17 – Gen 15:8 – Num. 34: 2-15

Lord we are guilty; we beseech You to have mercy!

On this day of July 31st, 2009 we have gathered to confess with our mouths the sins of our nation.  As You O Lord are the Author and Judge of heavenly Law, it is only Thee who has the right to choose between judgment and mercy.  On behalf of our nation, we ask You Lord to consider mercy.