They said to me, America is in distress and reproach, and the walls of racial, religious and political separation have not been broken down and its gateways to God are burned with fire. Eight hundred covenants with Native Americans have been broken. Thousands of Indians were massacred to take their land. Slavery in our history was rampant as people were torn from their home land in Africa to become slaves. Thousands were abused to build railways and tunnels from the orient. Thousands of babies have been aborted. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel, Also America and all its inhabitants Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons and daughters of America which we have sinned against You; I, my father’s house and all Americans have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses and revealed through Jesus our Redeemer. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion ...... So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our Presidents, our legislatures, our fathers and all the people of the land. “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men and women of America, the inhabitants of North America. And those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to Presidents, our legislatures and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all America has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem in all its history and especially 70AD when Titus destroyed the temple. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your Jewish people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day. You who brought our forefathers to America to flee religious persecution—we have sinned, we have been wicked. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your Nation, Your holy Nation and people; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, America and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary and America. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the Nation which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your Nation and Your people are called by Your name.”
Paraphrase Mine - Neh. 1:4-11a, Daniel 9:1-23 -
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