Email Analysis

I received this from a friend today.  It is the second time I got one.  I'll comment below:

I so believe this, so I am sending on.

AFTER A DAY OF CONTEMPLATION AND SOUL SEARCHING, I HAVE DECIDED TO REACH OUT TO MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES AND ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN TROUBLING ME FOR A LONG TIME.

OUR NATION IS/HAS BEEN ON THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO HELL FOR A LONG TIME. IF YOU LOOK AROUND YOU WILL FIND CORRUPTION, GREED, MORAL DECAY AND A STEADY MOVE AWAY FROM THE THINGS THAT MADE US GREAT. THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THIS NATION WAS FOUNDED ARE NO LONGER OUR BACKBONE. HOWEVER, WE CAN REVERSE THIS TREND.

IN GOD'S WORD HE STATES,"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."

I AM CONVINCED THAT WE MUST PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND ITS LEADERS AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. SO I ASK YOU TO JOIN ME IN THIS PLEA TO OUR LORD.

WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND THIS TO AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, (SEND IT TO ALL OF THEM). ASK THEM TO
PRAY EVERYDAY. 25 TO THE 5TH POWER IS 9,765,625 PEOPLE. IMAGINE IF EACH PERSON REACHES TEN OTHERS.

IF YOU DO AND THEY COMPLY, WE WILL LIFT UP MILLIONS OF PRAYERS A DAY TO OUR CREATOR. HE WILL HEAR US AND IN
FAITH WILL ANSWER..

I have several issues with the text here... Lets see where to start.

• First, the email is in ALL CAPS. In internet speak, it is equivalent to yelling. While that may have been the intent, it makes it quite hard to read.  Now to the content...
  
• In the second paragraph, the author of this seems to make the assumption that our country was, at one point, a "Christian Nation".  We have, as a nation, rarely acted in a manner that would glorify God.  For many years, we enslaved people for the profits of the owners. Moved people groups to less desirable lands because we wanted the lands they inhabited.  Yes many of the laws of this country are "moral" and apparently based on the "10 commandments" but that doesn't make us a Godly nation.
• Yes, the Bible does state: 

  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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

  in 1 Chronicles 7:14, lets look at the context.  It was told to Solomon by God during the dedication of the first temple.  It is a good principle to follow, however....
• We are told to pray for our leaders, not on a call out by some more or less anonymous email chain letter but by God, himself.

So where does that leave us... Let's take a look at Romans 1, it basically says that when we choose wickedness, God abandons us to our own desires (all those immoralities listed above and more).  Why?   I believe it is to allow us to hit bottom so we have no choice but to turn to God.

Not convinced?  Newtonian physics says the same thing... The second law of thermodynamics is the law of entropy, stating that things move from order to disorder.  As you read through the Bible, you see this apply to spiritual principles quite often... 

So, how should we then pray?  How should we then live?