What does the future of our country hold? The national debt has passed $16 trillion. We’ve had four straight years of $1 trillion-plus federal deficits. We’re facing more $50 trillion in unfunded government promises coming due.  Washington seems paralyzed to stop the massive overspending and get our fiscal house in order. No wonder so many Americans are asking whether the U.S. is headed for implosion.

For these and many other reasons, we need to be praying for our leaders to be making wise decisions, as well as beseeching the Lord to give our country a Third Great Awakening.

“A frantic round of late-night negotiations on Sunday between Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, moved the Senate close to a deal to stave off hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts that would begin to kick in on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the talks,” reports the New York Times. “But officials cautioned that optimism had risen in past days only to burst hours later. An objection by just one senator could derail a deal until the next Congress convenes on Thursday.”

• “It looks awful,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat. “I’m sure the American people are saying, with so much at stake why are they waiting so late to get this done?” (NYT)
• Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who had said early Sunday that he thought a deal was within reach, said later on his Twitter feed, “I think we’re going over the cliff.” (NYT)
• The Washington Post reports that “regardless of whether an agreement is reached to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’ many Americans are all but certain to face a broad hike in taxes starting Tuesday because of the expiration of the payroll tax cut, which was enacted in 2011 as a temporary measure to boost economic growth.”
• Americans for Tax Reform report that “on January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans  will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike.”
• The Heritage Foundation reports “a list of the top 10 facts on federal spending in 2012.”

To see the “Implosion” forum that was broadcast earlier this year on C-SPAN, please click here.

Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?