Did you know that the nation will soon undergo a test that will determine how effectively the President of the United States can seize control of the media in the event of an “emergency?” Well, that’s not the way they’re putting it.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a press release on Feb. 3 outlining the plan for the “first-ever Presidential alert.” On a date yet to be set, the Presidential alert will go “to television and radio broadcasters, cable systems and satellite service providers who will then deliver the alert to the American public,” according to the FCC.
This is not an opt-in plan. “The national test will require EAS [Emergency Alert System] participants to be part of the exercise and to receive and transmit a live code that includes a Presidential alert message to their respective viewers and listeners.”
As of yesterday (Feb. 16), Hawaii State Legislature voted to approve civil unions by a vote of 18-5 for the second time in ten months. The bill now goes before the desk of Gov. Neil Abercrombie for his signature.
Very soon the church planted, raised and grown right here in Hawaii will undergo a test to determine just how effective we really are or think we are. It is time to issue a “Pastors Alert” to educate, train and equip their members on what they can expect to encounter in the very near future. It is time that we use this turn of event, to help our people to know that the moral climate may very well get a lot of worse before it becomes better. It is time that we also by example, show our people how they ought to “respond” rather than “react” to Civil Unions and next will be Same-Sex Marriages, in terms of affecting their children in schools, at work, and soon in churches. It is also time that we revisit the Bible and come to see what Jesus told us was His Great Commission: To make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-20), and of course this is to be done regardless of what kind of political turmoil is taking place.
We need to inform our people that the greatest days for the church to shine brightly for Jesus and to unleash the potential and power of its witness in Hawaii are just ahead of us. We need to tell our people that this is not a time to panic (do you really think that God is in heaven in panic mode?), but to humble ourselves, pray and preach faithfully the Word of God in the spirit of love regardless of the consequences. It is time that we instruct our people that they should put aside their petty differences that they have with other brothers and sisters in the church and love and accept one another just as Jesus loves and accepts them. It is time we challenge those in the church who are married and who are thinking of getting married to STAY MARRIED, work out their differences while cooperating with the Holy Spirit and His Word in order to sustain the core and foundation of the Christian family. It is time that we stop using excuses as our escape goat and take personal responsibility for the failures we have seen, experienced and caused. It is time that we get back to the Book of Acts and revisit how the early Christians did church while being filled with the Spirit and proclaiming Jesus everywhere. It is time to remember “for judgment to begin first with the household of God” (1 Pet. 4:17).
If we want to see a change in the society in which we live, then we must be committed to transformation and to completely be sold out to pursue a life of holiness at all cost.
God is sending us His alert. How we respond to it will be of eternal importance.
