After Easter: Teaching Children to Seek Christ

Introduction

Easter weekend has come and gone, and the familiar rhythm has played itself out once again. The eggs were scattered across the yard, the children ran with excitement, the baskets were filled, and the candy disappeared almost as quickly as it was found. Yet when the noise settles and the sugar rush fades, a deeper question rises to the surface, one that lingers long after the decorations have been boxed up and the plastic eggs have been stored away. What, exactly, have we taught our children to search for? What desires have we shaped in them? What appetites have we awakened? And what kind of treasure have we placed before their eyes?

The Biblical Metaphor of Searching

Jesus spoke often about searching, but His stories carried a weight far greater than seasonal traditions or childhood games. He described a man who stumbled upon something so valuable that it redefined his entire life. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” [Matthew 13:44] He also spoke of a merchant whose entire livelihood revolved around discerning value, a man who spent his days searching for pearls, until one day he found a pearl so surpassingly precious that it eclipsed everything else he had ever seen. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” [Matthew 13:45–46]

These stories were not about candy, prizes, or seasonal excitement. They were not about momentary joy or temporary rewards. They were about Christ Himself, the Treasure hidden in plain sight, the Pearl of Great Price whose worth cannot be measured and whose glory cannot be exhausted. Jesus was not calling His followers to a weekend of searching but to a lifetime of seeking. He was not inviting them to a brief moment of excitement but to a continual pursuit of the One who alone satisfies the soul.

The Problem with Cultural Traditions

Yet when we look at the patterns we place before our children, we must be honest about what we are actually teaching them. At Christmas, we tell them to look under the tree. At Easter, we tell them to search for eggs. Throughout the year, we reward behavior with trinkets, treats, and temporary pleasures. Without realizing it, we disciple them into a rhythm of searching for what is fleeting rather than what is eternal. We train them to chase what is hollow rather than what is holy. We hand them empty eggs while Christ offers a tomb that is gloriously filled with resurrection power.

Earthly vs. Heavenly Treasures

Scripture speaks plainly about the difference between earthly treasures and heavenly ones. Jesus warned His disciples with unmistakable clarity: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” [Matthew 6:19–21] Earthly treasures fade, break, melt, or disappear. Heavenly treasures endure forever. Earthly rewards satisfy for a moment. Heavenly rewards satisfy for eternity. Earthly searching ends in an empty basket. Heavenly searching ends in a transformed heart.

The Open Invitation to Seek Christ

The world hides plastic eggs in the grass, but the Father does not hide His Son in the same way. He reveals Him openly in the Scriptures, where the prophets, the psalms, and the apostles testify of Him. He reveals Him in creation, where the heavens declare the glory of God. He reveals Him in the quiet tug of the Spirit, who draws the heart toward repentance and faith. The prophet Isaiah issued a timeless invitation that still echoes across the centuries: “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” [Isaiah 55:6] The call to seek God is not seasonal. It is not tied to a holiday. It is not dependent on decorations, traditions, or cultural rhythms. It is a daily summons to pursue the One who pursued us first.

Living the Resurrection Daily

Every year, Easter fades. The decorations return to their boxes. The baskets are shoved into closets. Life resumes its ordinary pace. Yet the resurrection was never meant to be a weekend event. It was meant to be the launching point of a lifelong pursuit. The early church did not gather once a year to remember an empty tomb. They lived in the power of the resurrection every single day. Luke records that they “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” [Acts 2:42] Their lives were marked by continual devotion, continual seeking, continual hunger for the presence of God.

Reclaiming the Search

Somewhere along the way, we traded that daily pursuit for a calendar event and a candy hunt. We replaced the search for Christ with the search for trinkets. We substituted the Pearl of Great Price with plastic eggs. We exchanged the eternal for the temporary, the holy for the hollow, the substantial for the superficial.

Perhaps it is time to reclaim the search. Perhaps it is time to teach our children that the greatest treasure is not hidden in the yard but revealed in the Word. Perhaps it is time to show them that the most valuable pursuit is not for what melts in the sun but for the One who reigns at the right hand of the Father. Perhaps it is time to remind them that the greatest discovery is not found in a basket but in a Savior who stepped out of the grave.

Conclusion

The invitation still stands, as clear and compelling as ever: “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” [Isaiah 55:6] After the candy is gone and the decorations are boxed up, let us point our families to the only Treasure worth searching for, the only Pearl worth selling everything to obtain, the only Savior who conquered death and offers life everlasting. And may our children grow up knowing that the greatest search of their lives is not for what is hidden in the grass but for the Christ who is revealed in the Gospel, the risen Lord who calls them to Himself with love, truth, and eternal promise.

America’s Crisis Is Not Biblical Illiteracy — It Is the Absence of the Living God

Introduction

As America reflects on its moral and cultural upheaval, many commentators have pointed to biblical illiteracy as the nation’s defining crisis. They warn that without the vocabulary of Scripture, society loses the categories necessary to sustain truth, virtue, and freedom. This concern is understandable, and the erosion of biblical language in public life is undeniable. Yet Scripture itself teaches that the collapse of a nation does not begin with the loss of religious vocabulary but with the loss of the Living God Himself. America’s crisis is not merely that it has forgotten the words of Scripture; it is that it has forgotten the Lord of Scripture.

The Root of National Collapse

Throughout the biblical narrative, nations do not fall because they lack access to truth. They fall because they reject the God who gives it. The prophet Hosea declared, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), yet the knowledge they lacked was not academic. It was relational. God continues, “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.” The issue was not literacy but lordship. Israel possessed the Scriptures, the priesthood, the temple, and the covenant, yet repeatedly turned to idols. Their downfall came not from ignorance but from unfaithfulness.

America’s Present Moment

This distinction is crucial for understanding America’s present moment. The United States has more access to Scripture than any nation in history. Bibles fill our shelves, apps fill our phones, sermons fill our feeds, and theological resources are available at the tap of a screen. If biblical literacy alone could preserve a nation, America would be the most stable society on earth. Yet the opposite is true. The problem is not that we lack the text but that we have abandoned the God who speaks through it.

Jesus’ Confrontation with Biblical Literacy

Jesus confronted this very condition in His own generation. The Pharisees were the most biblically literate people of their time, yet He told them, “Ye search the Scriptures… and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39–40). They possessed the vocabulary of truth but resisted the Person of Truth. Their crisis was not interpretive but spiritual. In all their study, they had not found Christ.

The Example of Saul of Tarsus

The life of Saul of Tarsus underscores this reality with striking force. Trained under Gamaliel, zealous for the law, and fluent in the theological categories of his day, Saul embodied the very literacy many believe America must recover. Yet his mastery of Scripture led him to persecute the Church, not embrace Christ. Only when he encountered the risen Lord did the Scriptures he knew so well come alive. Reflecting on his former achievements, he wrote, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ… and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8). His transformation came not through further education but through new birth.

The Crisis of the Church

This is the heart of America’s crisis. We have built churches that teach principles but do not produce disciples. We have created religious environments that inform the mind but do not transform the heart. We have defended biblical values while neglecting biblical obedience. We have celebrated Christian heritage while resisting Christian holiness. The result is a nation shaped by the language of faith but untouched by the life of God.

The Call to Discipleship

Jesus did not establish seminaries; He established disciples. He did not say, “Take My course,” but “Follow Me.” Discipleship is not an academic exercise but a supernatural work of the Spirit. It is the process by which men and women are born again, conformed to the image of Christ, and empowered to live as witnesses in a darkened world. When the Church abandons this calling, the nation loses its light. When the salt loses its savor, the culture decays. When the people of God trade the Living Word for religious substitutes, the nation loses the moral clarity only God can give.

The Loss of Biblical Life

The Scriptures warn repeatedly that when a people forget the Lord, they lose far more than vocabulary. They lose the very life that sustains righteousness. Moses told Israel, “It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life” (Deuteronomy 32:47). Jeremiah declared, “My people have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13). Jesus said, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). The crisis of America is not the absence of biblical language but the absence of biblical life.

The Path to Moral Recovery

If America is to recover its moral footing, the Church must recover its spiritual power. We must return to the fear of the Lord, the necessity of repentance, the reality of the new birth, and the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. We must proclaim the gospel not as a cultural artifact but as the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). We must teach the Scriptures not merely to inform minds but to form hearts. We must once again become a people who do not simply read the Word but are read by it.

The Biblical Foundation for Liberty

John Adams famously warned, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” His concern was not institutional religion but the inner moral restraint necessary for liberty to survive. Yet Scripture goes further still. It does not teach that religion upholds a nation, for religion has toppled empires and fueled oppression. Rather, the Bible declares, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). Holiness, not mere religiosity, sustains a people. And righteousness does not arise from education or tradition but from hearts transformed by the living God. A nation may be religious and still be corrupt; it may be biblically literate and still be spiritually dead. Only a people submitted to the Lord can sustain the freedoms they celebrate.

WHAT MUST COME DOWN BEFORE GOING UP

A Resurrection Reality Check for a Farcical Season

The Rhythm of Descent and Ascent

There is a rhythm woven into the Kingdom of God that the world cannot imitate and religion cannot counterfeit. It is the rhythm of holy descent followed by God‑given ascent, the pattern of a God who steps down so that He may raise the humble up. Heaven’s gravity works in reverse. What comes down in God’s hands does not remain down, because the Lord delights in lifting the lowly. Before anything rises in the Kingdom, something must bow. Before anything is exalted, something must kneel. Before anything goes up, something must come down.

This is not punishment but posture. It is the way of Christ, the way of the cross, and the way of every saint who has ever been raised by the power of God.

The Pattern of Humility from the Beginning

Moses came down from the mountain carrying the Word, the covenant, and the revelation of God’s character. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai… the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” (Exodus 34:29). Yet Israel did not rejoice in what came down. They were too busy worshiping what they had lifted up, a golden calf of their own making. Humanity has always preferred what ascends when we are the ones climbing. We build towers, chase platforms, exalt ourselves, and admire the view from the top.

But God overturns this instinct. The Kingdom begins with going down, not in defeat but in humility, not in shame but in surrender, not in weakness but in obedience.

The Descent of Christ: The Model of All Humility

Jesus did not descend because He was defeated. He descended because He was humble. “Though He was in the form of God, He did not consider equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself… He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6–8). He came down from glory, laid down His rights, bowed down in obedience, and humbled Himself for our sake. His descent was not accidental but intentional. Because He went down in humility, the Father raised Him up in glory. “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.” (Philippians 2:9).

This is the law of the Kingdom: what bows low is lifted high.

Paul: Struck Down to Be Raised Up

Paul understood this truth because he lived it. He was the rising star of Judaism, educated, disciplined, respected, and zealous. Yet when Christ appeared, Paul had to be struck down before he could truly see. He fell to the ground, blinded and helpless. “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” (Acts 9:4). Every accomplishment he once boasted in, he now called loss. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8).

Paul discovered that humility is not the lowest place but the safest place. It is the beginning of resurrection.

The Descent and Ascent of Jesus

Jesus came down from the cross lifeless and wrapped in linen. He went down into the grave sealed and guarded. He went down into the depths, into the territory hell believed it owned. “He also descended into the lower parts of the earth.” (Ephesians 4:9). Every downward step looked like loss, yet in the Kingdom, down is never the destination. It is the doorway.

The same Jesus who descended also rose. He went up the hill, up the mountain of transfiguration, up out of the grave, and up into heaven. “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9). He will one day raise His people with Him. “He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 2:6).

This is the divine reversal: what comes down in humility must go up in glory.

The Farce of Our Seasonal Jesus

Every year the church calendar reenacts the same tragic cycle. In December, Christ is placed back in the cradle—small, harmless, and sentimental. In spring, He is placed back in the tomb—tragic, noble, and safely contained. Then the props are packed away, the pageantry folded, and life returns to normal.

We reenact His birth, His death, and His burial, but we rarely reenact His reign. We do not enthrone Him, crown Him, or place Him at the center of our will. We keep Christ in the cradle because a baby makes no demands. We keep Christ in the tomb because a dead man issues no commands. But a risen, reigning Christ requires surrender.

We treat the resurrection as a holiday rather than a hierarchy, as a story rather than a sovereign, as a symbol rather than a King. This is why the calendar feels farcical: it keeps Christ rotating through roles He has already outgrown. He is not the baby in the manger, the victim on the cross, or the body in the tomb. He is the Head of the Church, the Lord of Glory, and the One seated far above all rule and authority.

Israel made the same mistake with the ark. They carried the ark on their shoulders, proud of their proximity to God, but they never embraced the God within the ark. They carried Him, but they never let Him carry them. We do the same. We carry Jesus into our holidays, traditions, and services, but we do not let Him carry our will, our obedience, or our lives.

The Real Resurrection Direction

The resurrection does not point down to the cradle, back to the cross, inward to our emotions, or outward to our traditions. The resurrection points up to the enthroned Christ who reigns now. The only way to rise with Him is to bow before Him. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6).

Humility is not the end of the journey but the beginning of resurrection. It is the doorway into the Kingdom. The proud cannot enter because the doorway is too low. The humble rise because they kneel.

A Call to Yield to the Risen King

Time is growing short, and the hour demands clarity. Christ is not waiting to be rediscovered in a cradle or reburied in a tomb. He is not a seasonal figure to be lifted up for a holiday and set aside when the calendar turns. He is the risen and reigning Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father, calling His people to bow before Him in humility and truth. The path upward begins with the posture downward. The Kingdom does not rise on the strength of the proud but on the surrender of the humble.

The psalmist understood this long before the empty tomb. “My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” (Psalm 131:1–2). This is the posture of ascent. This is the doorway into resurrection life. This is the heart God lifts.

Let us therefore lay down our pride, our self‑importance, our insistence on carrying Christ on our shoulders while refusing to let Him carry us. Let us bow low before the One who descended in humility and rose in glory. Let us yield our will to the King who reigns, so that in due time He may lift us up. What comes down must go up, because the One who calls us to kneel is the same One who raises His people to stand with Him in the heavenly places.

Hollow Rabbit Religion

The Hollow Rabbit Problem

Easter is the second most important candy‑eating occasion of the year for Americans, who consumed 7 billion pounds of candy in 2001, according to the National Confectioner’s Association.

  • In 2000, Americans spent nearly $1.9 billion on Easter candy, while Halloween sales were nearly $2 billion; Christmas, an estimated $1.4 billion; and Valentine’s Day, just over $1 billion.
  • Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year.
  • Chocolate bunnies should be eaten ears first, according to 76% of Americans. Five percent said bunnies should be eaten feet first, while 4% favored eating the tail first.
  • Adults prefer milk chocolate (65%) to dark chocolate (27%).

They are fanciful, often gold‑wrapped, usually elegantly packaged, full‑color presentations. From all appearances, those chocolate creatures are a delightful treat to eat. On the surface these beauties are elegant and proud. Inside, however, they are an empty hollow shell.

I do not know about you, but I prefer solid chocolate rabbits over the hollow ones. I much prefer to bite into a solid milk chocolate bunny. I have been fooled in the past into purchasing what looked like a solid chocolate rabbit only to get home and find out it was not. One bite is all it took to know I had been deceived. Although it had the appearance of being solid, it did not pass the bite test. Of course, I could have employed the pinch test at the store, but that would have only left a broken bunny on the shelf where once stood a proud whole rabbit.

After Easter, mark‑downs can be found on the broken chocolate rabbits even before the holiday buying season ends. The chocolate still tastes as good as it did when it was in the form of a full standing rabbit, but since it now resembles a pile of chocolate flakes, it lost some of its value. Although the chocolate did not lose any flavor, it was no longer pretty to look at.

Hollow rabbits outsell solid rabbits primarily because of the cost. You can get a gigantic 12‑inch rabbit for about half the price of a much smaller solid one. Children love the fact that they have this huge chocolate rabbit to eat, when in reality the amount of actual chocolate in that 12‑inch rabbit is less than half of the smaller sized version.

Outwardly these proud rabbits stand tall, but apply just a little amount of pressure and they will crumble. There is no real substance to them. They are of little value when faced with just the slightest bit of pressure. By contrast, their solid shelf‑mates can withstand tremendous pressure. Have you ever tried biting the head off a solid rabbit?

Solid or hollow — which do you prefer?


Solid or Hollow Worship

Our church worship could be looked at from the viewpoint of solid or hollow. Are we worshipping with our whole hearts, souls, minds, spirits, and strength, or is it more of an outward show to win favorable ratings from onlookers?

“In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.” (2 Chronicles 12:9–11)

The gold was gone. It was replaced with bronze. Although it had an appearance of gold, it wasn’t. Bronze is far cheaper to produce than gold and thus less valuable. Although stripped of all the gold, the king made a show of worship anyway. If anyone came to steal these bronze shields, would they get anything of value when compared to the golden shields that had been there? Are we taking away anything of value from our worship services — any golden nuggets?

“Be careful not to let anyone rob you of this faith through a shallow and misleading philosophy. Such a person follows human traditions and the world’s way of doing things rather than following Christ.” (Colossians 2:8, GW)

All across our land many church houses are filled with bronze where once stood gold. What once was solid biblical preaching has been replaced with hollow messages of self‑improvement. These messengers appear to preach solid biblical counsel, yet their teachings contain no substance. Unable to offer the solid meat of God’s Word, they are left with only hollow arguments to the world’s ills. These solid‑looking brass shields, though golden in appearance, lack the value of pure gold.

It may be milk and it may be chocolate, but is it solid? What is your worship made of? Will it stand up under pressure? What is behind that golden appearance? Is it solid or simply hollow? Can you worship when times are rough? Has the enemy come in and taken all the value out of your salvation experience and left you with just a semblance of true worship?

“But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.” (Isaiah 40:31, BBE)

The Status Quo Has Got to Go

Introduction

There comes a moment in every generation when polite silence becomes a form of rebellion against God, and when maintaining the familiar becomes more dangerous than confronting the truth. Scripture shows us that this moment arrives whenever God sends help, correction, or reform – and the people who need it most refuse to receive it. As John writes, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:11, KJV)

Light Exposes What Darkness Protects

Jesus explained the deeper reason for this resistance: “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19-20, KJV) People do not reject truth because it is unclear; they reject it because it is inconvenient. Light reveals what darkness has been protecting, and the status quo prefers the safety of shadows to the discomfort of exposure.

The Diagnosis: A People Who Will Not Turn

Long before Christ walked the earth, Isaiah diagnosed the spiritual disease that afflicts every generation that refuses correction. God declared, “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:10, KJV) The tragedy is not that healing is unavailable, but that the people will not turn to receive it.

Jesus repeated this same diagnosis in His own ministry, saying, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (Matthew 13:15, KJV) The disease is spiritual stubbornness – a refusal to hear, to see, to understand, and therefore a refusal to be healed.

Moses: Resisted by His Own People

Before Moses ever confronted Pharaoh, he confronted the unbelief of his own people. When he attempted to intervene between two Israelites, one of them retorted, “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14, KJV) The very people crying out for deliverance resisted the deliverer God sent.

Jeremiah: Punished for Telling the Truth

Jeremiah warned Judah of coming judgment, but instead of repentance, he received hostility. The leaders declared, “This man is worthy to die: for he hath prophesied against this city.” (Jeremiah 26:11, KJV) Later, they cast him into a dungeon (Jeremiah 38:6) for daring to speak what God commanded.

Amos: Told to Take His Message Elsewhere

When Amos confronted Israel’s corruption, Amaziah the priest told him, “O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah… but prophesy not again any more at Bethel.” (Amos 7:12-13, KJV) The status quo always tries to export the voice that confronts it.

Isaiah: A People Who Prefer Smooth Things

Isaiah described a people who begged their prophets to stop telling the truth: “Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” (Isaiah 30:10, KJV) They preferred comforting lies to uncomfortable truth.

Stephen: Exposing the Pattern

Stephen summarized the entire history of resistance in one devastating sentence: “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” (Acts 7:51, KJV) The problem was not new; it was inherited.

Jesus: Without Honor Among His Own

Even the Son of God experienced the sting of familiarity: “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” (Mark 6:4, KJV) The people who watched Him grow up could not imagine God using someone they thought they already understood.

Samuel: The Rejection Behind the Rejection

When Israel demanded a king, God told Samuel, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” (1 Samuel 8:7, KJV) Every rejection of God’s messenger is ultimately a rejection of God’s correction.

The Danger of a Hardened Heart

Hebrews warns repeatedly, “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:7-8, 15, KJV) A hardened heart is the final defense of a dying system. Proverbs adds the sobering consequence: “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1, KJV)

A Loving Rebuke

This is not rebellion, arrogance, or a call to chaos. It is a call to truth, courage, and spiritual clarity. Real love does not protect dysfunction, preserve decay, or defend a system God is trying to dismantle. Real love says, “Enough. This is not working. The status quo has got to go.”

Final Call to Return

God has never left His people without a path home. Even in the midst of judgment, He speaks mercy. He says, “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7, KJV)

This is not a political strategy. This is not a cultural campaign. This is the mercy of God extended to a people who have lost their way.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV)

As Jesus said to the churches, “He that hath an ear, let him hear.”