Checking the pulse of the nation of Australia. How do we measure a nation? Proverbs 14:34. Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

The reality is, that, spiritually… our nation in crisis, our culture is godless, our people are spiritually dead. Nearly half of the population believe in psychic powers such as extrasensory perception, while 41 per cent believe in astrology. Some 42% of people in Australia say they believe in evolution.

We are in the midst of a moral decline, an abandonment of Christian values, a perilous hedonism (devotion to pleasure as a way of life). Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God… The Aussie culture is one of booze and bravado, secular humanism, moral bankruptcy.

Our lawmakers and governments are engaged in a constant drive to make perversion the new normal. Isaiah 5:20 – Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Sexual promiscuity in all forms, including homosexuality, is a dangerous high-risk behaviour. That which is depraved and unclean and perverse…

To children and youth they market sex as more or less a recreational sport – through movies, books, magazines, television commercials, video games and sex education programs in schools, to children as young as five.

Meanwhile, freedom of speech is under attack around the world and in our nation… Legislation increasingly makes it difficult to speak freely… with anti-discrimination and hate speech laws.

And Australia is a land with reducing religious freedom…

One in five babies that are conceived in Australia never see the light of day – because they are aborted.

Many of the children who do grow up in Australia do so with scarce contact or knowledge of Christian teaching.

Of the young people who do attend church while growing up, surveys (by Barna) suggest that two thirds of young people will walk away from the church when they get older.

Commentators are describing what’s going on in the US lately as “The collapse of Christian America”. And we are following close behind… Judges 21:25 – In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Our society has… A growing disrespect for Christian values and culture. For purity and modesty. These are days of Political correctness gone mad… The world’s values and belief systems are being changed, manipulated… People are being conditioned… The media’s influence is increasingly ungodly… eg, Avatar… a spellbinding blockbuster with astonishing special effects …worshipping a tree and communing with spirits… pantheistic with goddess worship, ritualistic magic, communion with spirits, shamanism, and blatant idolatry…

In the Church world, we see much that is man-centred and entertainment-orientated. The message promoted is a gospel often all about self, instead of Christ and the denial of self. It’s as if being relevant is more important than being biblical.

Australia has lost Biblical authority, and is being swept into religious deception on many fronts… There’s an urgency to the hour… Proverbs 18:12 – Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.

We need a call back to Biblical authority and accountability… There is hope. Heed God’s call… Back to… obedience to God, the authority of the Word of God. Let us commit our nation of Australia to God in prayer… We need national humility before God, rather than national pride.

Recorded the 28th of January 2010 at Church For You, Elizabeth Park, South Australia. www.cforu.net .