Letter to the editor: It's past time for pulpits to be trumpets of truth

Most of us dislike change at least most of the time. The current attempt to change our direction from no accountability in our national spending to some accountability has the country in uproar. This is the first time in memory that anything remotely similar has been initiated. I hope it works. We probably will not have a second chance. The fiscal path to insolvency is so advanced that this year we will pay in excess of one trillion dollars in interest alone, surpassing our total expenditures on national defense.

Everyone likes to gore an ox or two from time to time, but goring one's own ox is not undertaken very often. So many hands are in the till that removing even a few threatens a system of blatant corruption that has been hiding in open view for more than a generation. It seems that the only way progress can be made is for all of us to see in plain terms some of the extent of the corruption and to empower those making the discoveries to keep working until corrections that matter can be made.

If we can agree that our current level of spending is out of control and that corrective action must be taken, then we will have come to a place where change can happen that in time will save our country from the ash heap of history. If not then we can expect much worse devaluation of our dollar, which some call inflation, and the consequent continual drop in our standard of living. And who among us would desire that?

On a positive note, we as a nation are wealthy enough to weather far more than most nations, and we have the potential to be virtually free from any kind of dependence upon any other nation for anything. But if we desire to be a force for good and cooperation in the world, we must get our financial house in order and do so much more quickly than most think. If we do not, the forces of blatant evil will continue to test our resolve until some incident forces us to respond.

Recently our current vice president addressed the European Union in Munich, Germany. Basically his message was that freedom of speech and expression is in retreat in Europe and that it threatens the very foundations of western civilization. The pastors, preachers and bishops should have been trumpeting this word continuously since the time that Nazis used total suppression to plunge an entire world into war costing 50 million lives. But the churches have been fast asleep at the wheel while allowing culture to replace their prophetic voice. The issue is truth. If we in America cannot stand for obvious truth, then the world will be the loser.

The need is for an awakening in our churches much like we saw in the 1730s, the late 18th century, the 1850s and the early 1970s. The present writer will soon pass 50 years as an ordained pastor.

It is his unalterable conviction that without an awakening in our churches we will see our nation lose its protection and its position as a force for good against evil. He also knows precisely what the Bible declares as the final condition of this planet before the Return of the Messiah. It is past time for our pulpits to be trumpets of truth. We have no other role.

JAMES R. CHANDLER JR.

Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church

Bishopville