In 2013, Apostle Guillermo Maldonado kicked off the year with a teaching on the circumcision of the heart. In one of the many services, Dr. Renny McLean taught and he said something very poignant. He spoke of America and our nation's history; he spoke of slavery. He asked, "What kind of a man owns another human being?" And he answered his own question saying, "A man without a heart." He went on to talk about how slavery proved that we, America, had lost our heart. Slavery ended roughly 150 years ago. Yet America, again has lost her heart.
Abortion
With the recent exposure of Planned Parenthood dismembering and selling the body parts of innocent children who have been viciously, legally murdered in the womb with tax funds, it is obvious that America has lost its heart. This sin seems to be just as prominent in our world now as it was in the Ancient World. The Prophet Jeremiah declared on behalf of God:
"Also on your skirts is found
The blood of the lives of the poor innocents.
I have not found it by secret search,
But plainly on all these things.
Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent,
Surely His anger shall turn from me.'
Behold, I will plead My case against you,
Because you say, 'I have not sinned.'"
(Jeremiah 2:34-35)
This was a very serious offense against God and man. Abortion, amongst many things, is wholly unnatural. Isaiah prophesied saying,
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you." (Isaiah 49:15)
More Atrocities
Yes, abortion is a horrific thing. And the fact that it's legal in America makes it all the more horrible. And yet these are not the only atrocities going on in America.
With the steady increase of random (mass) shootings, it is obvious that America has lost its heart. With the increasing amount of young black men being gunned down by police and police being gunned down by thugs, it is obvious America has lost its heart. With the avoidance of Israel and the siding with Israel's enemies, America has lost its heart. With the legalization of same-sex "marriage," it is obvious that America has lost its heart. And with the mounting persecution of Christians, America has absolutely lost its heart.
Now I would not say that every American has lost his or her heart, yet many have. And more importantly, many in strategic places, government, media, education, have lost their heart.
A New Heart
Another way to say someone has lost their heart is to say someone has a hardened heart. The Bible speaks strongly and consistently on this subject.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
"Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.'
So I swore in My wrath,
'They shall not enter My rest.'"
(Psalm 95:8-11)
Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. (Proverbs 28:14)
Again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 4:7)
Hard-heartedness was as much problem for Ancient Israel as it is for America. And the answer to a hard heart is a circumcised heart, a soft heart, a new heart.
"Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings." (Jeremiah 4:4)
Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. (Deuteronomy 10:16)
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
Just as the outward sign of the Jews was circumcision, so the inward sign of Christians is to have a circumcised heart. Now I realise America, while founded on Christian values, is not comprised of all Christian citizens. But that does not mean that we do not have a moral crisis on our hands. America must get its heart back. But that can only happen with the help of God.
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14)
