King Josiah paced back and forth, pensive and reflective, his hands clasped behind his back. Standing in front of him, lips quivering, a scribe prepared to read from the book of the law. During temple renovations, one of the priests had found a forgotten scroll and brought it to the king's attention. Josiah had asked for it's contents to be revealed.

As the terrified scribe read the scroll, Josiah contemplated his nation's history, comparing it to God's law (his written word). The king quickly realized that he and his people had fallen short of God's standards. As the scribe finished reading, the king cried aloud, tore his clothes in anguish and repented before the Lord.

"What shall we do?" he said. "For we have not been following the instructions of this book: you must be very angry with us, for neither we nor our ancestors have followed your commands." (2 Ki 22:12 TLB)

In living out its motto - "Heal the Church, Heal the Nation," HEAL encourages Christians toward reexamination in two ways: first to humbly reexamine our own individual hearts - to look at our own personal histories in light of God's word and to make the necessary adjustments in our thinking and behavior and to apologize or ask forgiveness if required; second to be like King Josiah - to reexamine our views of history itself - to look at our own national history in light of God's word, to seek God for forgiveness where appropriate and to work toward mending the damage done by our own and previous generations.

King Josiah was not the only Hebrew leader who had to face the reality of his nation forgetting God's word. Old Testament prophets sometimes brought the testimony of God's law, laid it alongside the testimony of history, and called for Israel's and Judah's reexamination and repentance. Sometimes God even sent his prophets to heathen nations.

The word of God is the plumbline of history. The Holy Scriptures are that against which all is to be measured and judged. The truths, precepts and principles revealed in the Bible are to guide us not only in all of our relationships, but in every area of our lives.

Before the Church can be effective in helping the nation to heal, the Church itself must be healed. And the first step toward healing is reexamination.

"For it is time for judgment to begin
with the household of God ... "
(1 Pet 4:17 NAS)