(Prayer warriors! please note the post script at the end of this E-Letter.)

“When you tell the people all these things they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’ Tell them that this is the Lord’s reply:  It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me. They did not keep my law.  And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.  So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols all you like – and I will grant you no favors!” (Jeremiah 16: 10-13)

My Dear Friend,

Last week I returned from attending the National Hispanic Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. as a nominee of my dear friend, U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston.  After the summit, our Director of Outreach, James Beabout, and I spent three days on Capitol Hill visiting with numerous Members of Congress to plan our future Congressional rallies.  On Thursday I had the honor of conducting the Bible study for Members of Congress.  On my flight home I began to meditate on what an amazing God we serve.  I humbled myself before Him, asking, “Why Lord? Why have you granted so much favor to a twice-convicted drug dealer?”

As I thanked God for granting me so much favor, I began to meditate on the book of Jeremiah and how critical it was for the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, to have God’s favor.  Yet in Jeremiah 16, God admonishes them for forsaking Him and following their own evil desires, saying, “I will grant you no favors.”  God does not promise to destroy them, but instead informs them that He is withdrawing His favor from them, without which they cannot survive.

While pondering what God was doing through Coming Clean Ministries, I received an e-mail informing me that a wonderful, Christian Congressman and his wife walked into their home last Saturday to find that their 16 year old son had committed suicide.  I could not hold in the pain of knowing that a terrorist, that our society does not know how to fight, had taken the live of another precious child of God.  Again I asked, “Why God?”

Today we look at the pain so many families and individuals are enduring, and we wonder why God has removed His favor from us as a nation. We spend billions fighting terrorists in foreign lands, yet we fail to realize that a greater and more subtle terrorist is taking the lives of thousands of our children every year.  One look at Jeremiah reminds us that we have behaved much like the Israelites did.  As a nation, we worship idols all day long.  Today they are not statues, but athletes, movie stars and musicians.  We are so busy accumulating wealth that we abandon our children, only to later spend that wealth on rehab or, tragically, funerals.

As the nation of believers, it is time that we repent for our sins.  It is time that we humble ourselves before our mighty Creator with contrite hearts.  It is time that we come before each other transparently, and that we come clean with our loved ones and God.  Then we will have the promise of God’s favor. 

I wonder how many children we must bury.  My heartfelt prayers go out to Congressman Tiahrt and his family, whose pain I share.  It is my prayer that we as a nation of believers will repent and come clean, that we will allow the favor of our Lord and Savior to reign in our lives, and that we will unite to become one in Christ, so that through us Christ may conquer this terrorist threat to our children.

God bless,

Jorge

Jorge L. Valdes, Ph.D.

Founder and Speaker

P.S.  Alert Prayer Warriors!  I have just accepted an invitation to participate in a nationally televised debate regarding the legalization of drugs on Faith Under Fire, a new talk/debate show debuting on PAX TV this fall.  The host, Lee Strobel, is a best selling author and former award-winning Chicago Tribune legal editor.

I will be taping the segment on September 3, and the show will air on September 25, 10:00 PM WDT.  Please hold me and Coming Clean Ministries up in prayer.  This is a tremendous opportunity to advance Coming Clean Ministries and the Kingdom!

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