The Day of the Lord.. Is it Close at Hand?

As we begin this new year and we enter a new presidency, there are so many bad things going on that it makes me wonder how close Jesus' return really might be. They (the media, the great deceiver!) claim our economy is the worst it's ever been and they talk about how bad all the job loss is. They tell us how our leaders have brought all this bad stuff down on our heads and everybody should blame the now previous president for everything because he was the devil. Well, I've been studying the book of Joel and I notice a lot of similarities between the times of Joel and the times of America today. Jerusalem faced a plague of locusts unlike they had ever seen and it destroyed their food, their livestock, and ruined the economy. The overall mood of the country was dismal and the people probably believed they would all die shortly. Joel told them that they had never seen anything like this and they would never see anything like it again. I'm sure that a lot of people had a lot of ideas on how to fix the problem, but very few of them had to do with God. That sounds like today to me. We're hearing all of these great plans for fixing the economy and getting us out of the war and creating more jobs, but I don't hear anything about turning to God to get our country going in the right direction. We've become a nation that tolerates idolatry, condones immoral behavior, and condemns anyone who doesn't tolerate the heresy that is coming out of our country.
Joel warned the people that it was time for them to repent from their evil ways, and to turn back to God. He warned them that if they didn't humble themselves before the Lord and turn from all the idolatries and hedonisms that they were engaged in, then the Day of the Lord would soon come and it would be far worse for them than this.
I couldn't help but notice yesterday the boos lobbed at Rick Warren and the Bushes, and wonder if we are approaching the Day of the Lord in our time. How can you boo a man of God unless you are child of the devil himself? Because he has stood up for what is right according to the one true God, this man who was once revered by a lot of casual wannabe Christian hypocrites, is now being turned on because he refuses to stand silent on God's truths. As a preacher myself, I wonder how long it will be before we are all told by our new leadership that we cannot proclaim the truth because it might hurt someone's feelings or it comes into conflict with someone else's views. I know that we are to support our country's leadership and for now, I have no problem doing that. But I will have a hard time standing by them if they begin to step on the truth of the Lord.
I honestly believe that our nation needs to hear God's call to us. Just like He told the children of Israel to turn from their idols and their sins, the call is ringing out to us now. We have become a country that is fat on our own successes and we have become lazy and complacent. We have replaced golden calves and snakes with televisions, SUV's, large houses and mountains of debt. We allow our children to focus on video games and sports rather than on school and church. We build big houses and big churches, but we never invite God to come into either of them. We are a nation about me, myself and I. So many people don't even care about the blessed children given them by the Lord while so many of us don't even have the chance to have children of our own. I watch people who pawn their children off on their parents and babysitters because they need some "me" time. I feel like the only "me" time I need is time for me to get alone with God and let Him humble me. Isn't it sad that we have people who will go further to save a cow or a tree than they will to save a child?
I truly believe the Day of the Lord is close at hand. I just wonder how many people will be ready for that day?