CHARLO, New Brunswick, August 11, 2023 – They wanted a godless nation, and now they’re getting one.

Canadians, I mean.

The majority of Canadians have kicked God to the curb, and God doesn’t stay where he’s not wanted.

But in his place, demons are pouring in, wreaking havoc wherever they roam.

And yet these same Canadians who kicked God to the curb and are now plagued by demons can’t figure out why their country and their lives have gone downhill so fast.

If you tell them it’s because of earned rewards for sin (which I tell them all the time), they laugh. They instead point to “climate change” causing the floods and fires and droughts and heat waves. They point to the surge in immigrants and refugees causing a host of worsening issues, from lack of affordable housing to problems getting a family doctor or even a seat on public transit. They claim that the recent uptick in urban violence is because of untreated mental illness and a lax justice system. When I tell them the worsening weather and surge in immigration and increasing violence is their reward for sin, they laugh at me again. They think if they can outlaw gas-powered vehicles, scale back the number of people pouring into the country, and hire more doctors and law enforcers, their problems will be solved.

But trying to stop the rewards of sin by looking the other way is like trying to heal a fatal disease by numbing its symptoms. The disease persists and worsens. As long as Canadians refuse to acknowledge and repent of their sin, the rewards of sin will continue.

When a nation is under chastisement, living conditions quickly and noticeably deteriorate. The currency devalues and the cost of food and housing doubles or triples while wages stay the same or even go down. Homelessness, drug abuse, disease, illness, and suicide increase exponentially. The air becomes unbreathable from wildfire smoke. Whole regions are flooded with “biblical” freak storms. Crops fail. Infrastructure fails. Marriages fail. Insect populations displaced by the fires move into populated areas they hadn’t been before. The populace suffers in every conceivable aspect of their lives – both public and private – with no relief in sight.

Scripture says that God chastises those whom he loves, to bring them to their spiritual senses. He does this by letting them feel the consequences of their actions. Scripture also warns that the reward of sin is death. When a population is under chastisement, the conditions they experience are a precursor to what is to come if they continue to refuse to turn back to God and double-down on their sin. ‘Once in a century’ floods, wildfires, drought, and crop failures become the norm rather than the exception. The flood of immigrants and refugees becomes an unstoppable deluge. Suffering increases exponentially, the way that cancer metastasizes and proliferates in a body, pressing on nerves.

The only way out of this dreadful situation is full national repentance, but we know that’s highly unlikely in a country that’s officially declared itself “secular” and “religiously pluralistic”. So it’s up to Canadian Christians to go all-in for God, to put God front and centre in their lives, like Jesus did. If enough Christians living in Canada did this, God would lessen the severity of the chastisement.

The decision to go “all-in” for God has to be made on an individual basis. We know that Abraham bargained with God to stop the destruction of Sodom if there were only 10 righteous souls in the city. I’m not sure how many righteous souls God would require in Canada to lessen the chastisement, but I’m guessing it would be in the hundreds.

Hundreds doesn’t sound like many in a population of 40 million, but keep in mind that Sodom couldn’t even cough up 10 righteous souls in their hour of direst need. God only knows how many Canada would be able to produce, given the fallen state of its denominational churches and the tolerance for sin that characterizes most Canadian Christians these days. God also only knows how much more time we have before chastisement turns into judgement.

Regardless, Canadian Christians need to put their shoulder to the wheel not just for the sake of their failing nation but for the sinners struggling in it. Our job isn’t just to live righteously before God, but to call sin sin and to show sinners the way out of sin.

Sadly, what’s happening to Canada is also happening to other former Christian nations. Even the United States, with is gargantuan Christian majority, is not escaping God’s chastisement. Not surprisingly, those states with the lowest percentage of declared Christians are suffering the most.

God’s chastisement is real, just as its mitigation through righteousness is real. We can’t stop people from sinning (even God can’t do that), but we can stop ourselves from sinning and we can show sinners the righteous way to live by living righteously – that is, by living openly more righteously than we’ve ever lived before. This is within our range of ability. This we can do with God’s help.

We can go all-in for God, like Jesus did.

Because going all-in for God is not an exception to the rule; it’s our calling.