I have been in turmoil for the past week, and it came to a head in my mind during the night. One of my spiritual gifts is the gift of prophecy—no not telling the future, but seeing things in a spiritual perspective that is usually different than the norm and often hard to say, and again, very often hard even for me to hear. I want to tell you what I feel God has been pressing in on me at this time.

The unrest in my spirit has deepened in the past few weeks because of the arguments on Facebook about the election. There have been posts back and forth arguing about who is the most spiritual person according to how a person will vote. People are earnestly praying about which candidate is the most spiritually sound. Over and over I have heard, “I have to vote according to my conscious,” so much prayer is happening over which name to write in, since both candidates don’t feel spiritual enough to us. I have never been so ashamed of the Church of Jesus Christ, nor so grieved for her.

During the night, I felt that our country is on the verge of collapse. The Black Lives Matter group has pledged to riot in cities all over the country if Trump wins. If Hillary wins and continues the direction Obama has taken us, I believe with all my heart that there will be a civil war as states, already angry and just waiting for the result of this election to bring about change, see none so they will try to break away from the country as a whole. No matter what happens, I see thousands of people dying and our country in ruin.

And where is the Church? They are praying earnestly how they can ease their conscience about picking the proper write in candidate because they have to take a personal stand, no matter what it means to the country as a whole.

David and I have been reading through Joshua and Judges, a group of paragraphs each morning and evening. These books leave us wondering about why they are in the Bible. God says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” We have wondered what possible teaching, reproof, or spiritual training we could learn from stories of people killing each other and swinging in huge cycles of unbelief. The phrase that is often repeated in Judges is, “And everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

My heart was burdened during the night that that phrase could be said over the Church at this time in history. We are so concerned about keeping our conscience clear about this election, that we are doing what is right in our own eyes. In the meantime, our country is falling apart and people are dying and going to hell.

In the book of Ephesians, chapter one Paul says we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be adopted into God’s family. He arranged all of history so you would be born, so you would live in this time, in this place, so He could reveal Himself to you. Why? So you could ease your conscience by finding the perfect write in candidate in this election? No. So you could change the course of history.

Second Chronicles 7:13-14 say, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God has shut up the heavens so there is no rain. We are in a spiritual drought in this country like we haven’t seen for generations. Locust have devoured our land. Everything is turning to dust. Relationships are failing at a record pace, freedoms are eroding, values have imploded, and our morality is the same as in the time of the Judges—everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Where is the Church? Arguing about who is more spiritual because of who they will vote for in this election.

The issue, dear friends, is not who will win the election, but that people are going to hell. After this election, no matter who wins, chaos will follow. Instead of being the people of God, storming the gates of heaven for this land we love, we are pointing fingers at each other. If unity in the Body of Christ was ever crucial, it is now. If prayer for our nation was ever important, now it is vitally so now.

Wake up Church. You are distracted to the point of uselessness. Your concern about doing what is right in your own eyes has deceived you and blinded you to reality. We have become like the Pharisees Jesus warned about in Matthew 23:24 who are “blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” Wake up and pray like you’ve never prayed before. Your life depends on it. The life of this country depends on it. The eternal life of thousands depends on it. Instead of arguing about who is more spiritual, pray for and encourage each other as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:23-25: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Further in that chapter God reminds us that He is in charge and He will judge His people, not just the ones who ignore Him. And He reminds us “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I want to conclude with the final verses of Hebrews 10: “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ‘For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”