"I want to see one of the great revivals...but the choice is in front of us."

Dan Boone, president of Trevecca Nazarene University, joined the Pastor's Circle to discuss God's judgment on Israel, and how that correlates to America today. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Babylon was God's "smackdown" on Israel. Is there a smackdown in store for America?

I actually think that the time that the people of God are in exile is the most likely place in scripture for us to address the American situation right now.

Sometimes God's judgment on his people is almost viewed as the end of the line. But I feel like it's the beginning. When God moves to save us, the beginning of that move is God saying, "This is how I feel about what your doing. I'm going to wake you up."

Even most of the prophetic messages have this deep sense of God's movement to restore his people.

Has America earned the right to be "exiled"?

I think we have. When I look at the top reasons the Israelites ended up in Babylon, it was wicked kings, their trust in "horses and chariots" instead of the power of God, their adaptation to the culture around them, their worship of false gods, and their lack of social justice.

I think you can find parallels in American culture for each of those.

Tell me about our idols.

I'm a lover of football. But I've watched sports become idolatry in America. It's more than being a fan of a team, but its getting depressed if they lose, or it's waiting all week long for the game. The list of idols in our lives has become very long.

Our own appearance has become an idol. I watch all these different kinds of pockets, and we pour our money into them, we devote our time to them, and the words out of our mouths become witness to these idols rather than to the God who gives us life.

And I think that grieves our God. God's very purpose even in getting us out of exile is that we might bear witness to the world.

Could it happen that God gives America up?

It could. I'm one of those whose belief in the way that history rolls forward is not that God preordains what will happen, but that he lays before us a choice. I believe today God is standing before us saying, "Will you walk with me? Will you follow my holy ways?"

Even in Europe, Christianity was embedded in every church and cathedral and song, and yet most Europeans are very post-Christian today.

I want to see one of the great revivals. And I think God longs to meet with His people in those ways. But the choice is in front of us.