Just Like the People of Judah?

As I was doing devotions this morning I was reading in the book of Joel.  The Bible I use is the Life Application Bible, so at the beginning of each book it tells the 'vital statistics' of the book and gives a brief description of 'purpose', 'setting', 'author', etc...

Here is what it says for the 'purpose' of the book of Joel;
"To warn Judah of God's impending judgment because of their sins, and to urge them to turn back to God."

And here is what it says for the 'setting' of the book;
"The people of Judah had become prosperous and complacent.  Taking God for granted, they had turned to self-centeredness, idolatry, and sin.  Joel warned them that this kind of life-style would inevitably bring down God's judgment."

Hmmmm.....that sure sounds awful familiar to where America is today....prosperous and complacent, filled with selfishness, idolatry and sin.

In the book of Joel, God had sent a plague of locusts which literally ate everything the people had, including the bark off the trees.  The people looked around and simply couldn't understand what had happened.  Of course, Joel (inspired by God) clearly tried to explain it to them.

As I watched the news this morning and saw more stories coming from America with 82 wildfires burning out West that have destroyed millions of acres, cows out of pasture, horses running for their lives, worst drought ever happening in Arkansas and the south and farmers plowing under their corn in Illinois and Indiana, and the Mississippi river going dry...I read Chapter 1;

Joel 1:15-20

¹⁵ Alas for that day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

¹⁶ Has not the food been cut off
before our very eyes—
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
¹⁷ The seeds are shriveled
beneath the clods.
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ How the cattle moan!
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

¹⁹ To you, Lord, I call,
for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness
and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the wild animals pant for you;
the streams of water have dried up
and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.

Will America wake up?  Will her people repent and seek the Lord?  Just like God sent the locusts to Judah to shake them up, today he is allowing earthquakes, solar storms, droughts, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes all at unprecedented levels to wake us up.

And yet I read today that atheism has gone up 3% in America just over the last 7 years and that church membership is shriveling...probably because so few of them are teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord...ALL OF IT... not just the parts about love.