Revival in the Church. When Will it Come?

Part 1

James F. Gauss, Ph.D.

July 23, 2022

Photo by the author.

Many Christians throughout America have been pleading with God to send revival upon the land, often using 2 Chronicles 7:14 as their foundational support.  The verse below is cited as an admonition to the people of God, primarily the Christian Church in America.

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.

This verse is often misquoted by pastors and politicians.  Such was the case when V.P. Pence was campaigning in Columbus, GA on December 17, 2020 for incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.  Paraphrasing the verse, Mr. Pence proclaimed, “If (God’s) people who are called by His name will humble themselves and pray, then He’ll do as He’s always done throughout the storied history of this nation.  He’ll hear from heaven and he’ll heal this land.”  In addition to editorializing with, then He’ll do as He’s always done throughout the storied history of this nation, V.P. Pence left out the most crucial part of the scripture, “and turn from their wicked ways.”  God has not, nor will He, do anything for a sinful people without repentance.  Confessing one’s sin means nothing if there is no repentance and a firm decision to change and follow God’s commandments.

This was not the first time the Vice President misquoted this scripture.  At the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) gathering in National Harbor, MD on February 23, 2017. There he paraphrased the verse, “If his people, who are called by his name, will humble themselves and pray … [God will] hear them from heaven and he’ll heal this land.”  Absent, once again, was the need for repentance, the turning away from wickedness in order for God to hear our prayer.

In citing the above verse, the preceding verse, 2 Chronicles 7:13, is rarely used to offer some context.

Further, this often cited verse on behalf of America and those desiring its restoration as a God-inspired nation, overlook the original context of God’s promise. The first six chapters of 2 Chronicles present King Solomon’s desire to build a temple of worship for Almighty God in Jerusalem.  It took seven years to complete and Solomon’s prayer of dedication starts in 2 Chronicles 6:12.

The king opened his prayer with, “Lord God of Israel, thereis no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day” (2 Chronicles 6:14-15). 

In verse 22 King Solomon makes his plea before the Lord God on behalf of the Israelites, asking God to forgive them if they repent of their sins and return to Him.

When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers (2 Chronicles 6:26-31).

Chapter 6 culminates with the king’s final plea.  In chapter 7, Solomon dedicates the temple.  The context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 was established by King Solomon, but was confirmed by God in His second appearance before the king.

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually” (2 Chronicles 7:12-16). 

God answered the king’s plea and affirmed that the temple Solomon built would be a house of prayer and supplication where the Israelites could come before God and seek His forgiveness when they sinned against the Lord Almighty.  Then God put forth His warning.

But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, “Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?” Then they will answer, “Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them” (2 Chronicles 7:19-22).

Jesus also acknowledged, as He quoted from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mark 11:17). 

In the modern church in America it seems that the one thing the House of God is not is a place of prayer.  Most American churches have become places of entertainment, social programs and glitzy, loud band performances, rather than reverent times of worship.  If a church has a prayer or intercessory group. It may meet for an hour a week or just to pray for individual needs or that of the church and not for a time of repentance and turning back to God.

Although it is not likely that Christians can appropriate 2 Chronicles 7:14 for the United States of America, one thing is clear throughout the Bible—God honors true repentance and turning back to Him, whether an individual, the Church or a nation.  “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).  God cannot and will not heal a nation until His people, the Church, get their act together and acknowledge their sin and turning away from Him and seek His mercy and forgiveness as they humbly return to Him and His unwavering statutes and commandments.

However, revival, true revival is the product of several necessary steps that must come before it is manifested.  The old time revivals or “Great Awakenings” in the past were the result of bold preaching of God’s word on the nature of sin and the need for people to acknowledge their sin and repent of their sin.  Revival preachers were so adamant about the wickedness of sin that their hearers would weep in heartfelt repentance.  This brought about an awakening to the truth about God and what He expected of those who call upon Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  THEN came revival, or the turning back to God.

Related Offerings:

Revival in the Church: When Will it Come? Part 2

Embracing the Anti-Christ: The Heresy of Interfaith Dialogue

Revelation 18 and the Fate of America (2021 Edition)

Has America’s Coffin Been Nailed Shut?

Our civil rulers will remember, that as piety and virtue support the honour and happiness of every community, they are peculiarly requisite in a free government.  Virtue is the spirit of a republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition.  If they are impious, factious and selfish; if they are abandoned to idleness, dissipation, luxury, and extravagance; if they are lost to the fear of God, and the love of their country, all is lost.

Rev. Samuel Cooper Sermon, October 25, 1780

The preceding excerpt is from Rev. Cooper’s sermon on the day that the U.S. Constitution was officially executed.  Has America now reached the point of Rev. Cooper’s grave concern?  Have we become a nation of factions; a me-first society; devoid  of true virtue, piety and a God-fearing morality?  Are we now content to be serfs of politicians that dole out the goodies to meet our needs as only they see fit, rather than serving those who elected them?

America has clearly lost its moral and political compass.  Of the 17 candidates to enter the Republican presidential race, only one was clearly a non-Republican; only one was clearly a non-God fearing person; only one was clearly not a fiscal or political conservative; only one clearly showed signs of being morally bankrupt; only one clearly stood with Planned Parenthood and its murderous and barbaric practices; only one showed no constraints when it came to belittling, defaming or using derogatory language to put down another; only one who demonstrated the traits of a tyrant; only one had no clear plan to deal with any of America’s issues; only one demonstrated narcissistic tendencies and complete lack of humility; only one admitted to not needing to ask for forgiveness or repent for anything; only one has a complete lack of biblical knowledge and understanding;  only one has a history of corrupt business dealings; only one is being investigated for criminal activity; only one who demonstrated racist tendencies; only one who exploits women for financial gain; and the list could go on.

So, who do “wise” Americans elect to be their standard bearer before the world?  The “only one” who fits the preceding categories and who is the least qualified; least moral; least knowledgeable in political and foreign affairs; “The Donald”, Mr. Trump.  Just like in 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Americans have once again been mesmerized and bamboozled by a political charlatan; a fraud; a deceiver and consummate liar.  There are clearly no real choices in this upcoming election.  Both leading candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties are despicable people of little or no moral character who are under criminal investigation.  Both are bombastic blowhards who will say and do anything to get a vote.  And they are presidential material?  Has America and its electoral base sunk this low?  Apparently so.

Apparently, the overwhelming majority of Americans (when you consider both Democratic and Republican electorates) have decided that being a God-fearing, moral person is no longer a criteria for the most powerful leadership position in the world.  What is so disheartening is that millions of so-called “evangelical” Christians have fallen lock-step like lemmings behind such candidates.  When such Christian leaders as Jerry Falwell, Jr., Pat Robertson, Dr. Ben Carson and a host of others fall all over themselves to endorse Trump, one has to wonder who they are looking to for America’s salvation.  As I have said many times, America’s downward spiral will continue unabated if the Church and America do not repent and return to Almighty God.  Absent a revelation miracle, it looks like most Americans are content in remaining on that slippery slope of debauchery.  With the casket nailed shut, will the funeral be far behind?

 

 

 

Is It Time?

By the author of Revelation 18 and the fate of America.

[A fair warning.  This is long.  Sorry, but I just do not know how to cut short God’s word and His warning for the United States.  And let me make it clear, I do not desire America’s demise, but rather pray for her and the church in America to recognize her and its evil ways and repent and return to God and His ways.]

[Please note that this blog was started two weeks before the U.S. stock market started its meltdown on August 21.]

Is it time?  Is it time for God to judge America?  If not, why not?  There is a prevailing opinion (and it is only that) in America and among some Christian circles that God will not and cannot judge America because of her Christian heritage or the Christian faithful that live therein.  However, such a viewpoint contradicts biblical history and evidence, as well as modern and current history and events.

According to the Bible, the Jews were and continue to be God’s chosen people.  Yet, throughout the Old Testament and throughout history, the Jews have been continually persecuted and afflicted.  In the biblical accounts, God repeatedly chastised, judged and punished the people of Israel for disobeying His commandments; for rebelling against Him; for their sinfulness and perversions and for worshipping foreign gods.  When it comes to Christians, there is a 2000-plus year history of persecution, torture and death at the hands of non-Christians, which has intensified in the last three decades, largely at the hands of Jew-hating, Christian-hating Muslims.

In both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible it is made clear by God that He will not and cannot abide in the presence of unrepentant sin. America’s descent into wanton depravity and sinfulness parallels that of rebellious Israel in the Old Testament.  God repeatedly warned Israel about her rebellion against Him and turning to idols and godless behavior, but time and again they rejected God and His warnings through the prophets.

For decades now, America has been following the path of Old Testament Israel, with its rebellion against God and acceleration of perversions and godlessness reaching fever pitch.  Each time Israel fell away from God, God allowed judgment to fall upon Israel in the form of death and destruction by her enemies.  America’s enemies are lining up in queue (China, Russia, North Korea, ISIS et al), waiting for their opportunity to take on the ever weakening U.S.

America’s covenant with God.  Regardless of the repeated attempt by left-wing progressives (otherwise known as anti-American socialists) to revise America’s history, the undisputed fact still remains that those pilgrims from Europe that first landed on the East Coast of America over 400 years ago, planted the cross of Jesus Christ and made a covenant with Almighty God to found a just society of religious, political and social freedom.  That covenant—to establish a nation on biblical principles and to acknowledge Almighty God in all things—was repeated in word and affirmation by America’s founding fathers through numerous documents and declarations, including the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.  Although not everything went according to God’s plan, those dedicated to God and His holy word put into place the greatest constitution and rule of law the world has ever known.  Patterned after biblical principles and law it set in place the mechanism for righting wrongs and securing individual freedoms like never before.

America and its leaders, including many in the Christian church, have broken that covenant with God, thus allowing America to plummet into the immoral, godless abyss of hell.  Each time Israel violated the covenant it had made with God, the people paid a heavy price, including the innocent and those that were considered the righteous before God.

America’s abominations.  America has not been content with bathing in her own abominations but has become the world leader in exporting her perversions of abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, pornography, sexual immorality, destruction of the family and a host of other aberrations of biblical morality.

Pornographic web sites originating in the United States represent 60% of all the pornographic web pages viewed each day around the world.  Americans are so obsessed with pornography and elicit sex that even men and women of God have gotten snagged by the temptations.  It has led to such perverted web sites as Ashley Madison where over 39 million site users seek extra-marital affairs, including, it has now been discovered (due the site being hacked), members of the Whitehouse staff, members of the U.S. Congress and other government employees and high profile public figures.

One of the most recent egregious perversions was the 5-4 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to approve homosexual marriage as the law of the land, thus overturning thousands of years of man-woman unions practiced by thousands of cultures since the beginning of time, and most importantly, spitting in God’s face and His design and law for marital union between one man and one woman.  To celebrate the court’s decision, America’s pseudo-Christian leader had the Whitehouse—“the people’s house”—lit up in gay pride rainbow colors, thus effectively jabbing the collective thumb of rebellion in God’s eye.

During the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the Jews also jabbed their thumb in God’s eye repeatedly. Furthermore He said to me [Ezekiel], “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations” (Ezekiel 8:6).

There seems to be no end and no limit to the level of sickening perversions that some Americans will seek.  Recently, in Times Square, New York, bare-breasted women paraded around in bikini briefs to earn money from men eager to have their pictures taken with them.  It is notable that none of them were arrested for such debauchery, nor did most pedestrians that were interviewed see anything wrong with it.

As God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel over 25 centuries ago, Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.  America has entered that perverted pit of no return.  Like Israel of old, she will not get out of the pit on her own, unless she wholeheartedly repents and turns to God.

The wickedness of the Jews and their pagan neighbors in the Old Testament is being played out once again in America.  God referred to the debauchery and sinfulness of Israel as harlotry 44 times in the Old Testament (NKJV).  It was detestable to God then; an abomination.  God’s laws and His righteousness have not changed.  If such sin was detestable to God then and an abomination, it certainly is today as well.  Will America receive the same judgment of God that Israel did?  Sadly, not only has America prostituted itself to the unbridled wickedness of the pagan world, but many churches and their followers who proclaim the name of Christ have done the same.

Slaughter of the innocents.  In my book, Revelation 18 and the fate of America, I wrote that abortion was akin to the child sacrifice that God abhorred in the Old Testament among the Jews and their pagan neighbors (p. 119).  Since 1973, America has been guilty of murdering (yes, murdering) over 58 million little children and has been the instigator for over 1.345 billion abortions worldwide.  How can God forgive such a heinous crime against His human creation?  No society in the history of the world has carried out such repeated acts of callousness and barbarity.  Should America not pay a heavy price for such wanton sinfulness and rejection of the life that God created in each instance?

God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah about Israel’s sacrificing of their own children, had this to say: Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (Jeremiah 19:4).  In the following verses God continues on how Israel will pay a heavy price for turning away from Him and committing such heinous acts of child sacrifice.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, around the same time period, God once again spoke this warning to Israel: You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries (Ezekiel 22:4).

The horrific undercover videos recently released that clearly demonstrate the barbarity of abortion and those who perform them without a shred of remorse or conscience demonstrates how debased our American society has become.  If you are a God-fearing Christian who professes Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior and yet you still support the Pro Choice agenda, Planned Parenthood and the anti-life, anti-God practice of abortion, or support those that do, you need to fall to your knees in heart-felt repentance and beg God’s forgiveness right now.  Nothing is more abhorrent to God than the taking of innocent life.  You can argue and rationalize all day long or until the proverbial cows come home about when life starts, but the truth is that life starts when God says it does, and that is at the very moment of conception.

Judgment starts with the House of the Lord.  In the Old Testament of the Bible there are numerous stories of how the Jews turned away from God and followed after the sinful, godless practices of their pagan neighbors.  Very often this turning from God was started by the very ones who were charged by God to keep the Jews on the narrow spiritual path of ordinances and statutes for godly living.  The spiritual leaders of the Jewish community, the priests, often became corrupted and strayed from their spiritual disciplines and led the people down the path of evil and debauchery.

The same appears to true today as more and more Christian leaders and Christian churches are prostituting themselves to the ways of the world and embracing government and societal dictates that clearly go against God’s laws and biblical teaching.

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; the Apostle Peter wrote, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17).

God holds the people of God responsible first because they are supposed to know better; to be able to judge right from wrong; light from darkness; truth from a lie and righteousness from sinfulness.  Moreover, He holds His spiritual leaders, the shepherds of His flock, accountable for the direction of His church under their watch.  Both Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 prophesy dire warnings to spiritual leaders who take advantage of their flocks or lead them astray.

God’s warning to Israel’s spiritual leaders through Ezekiel bodes well for America’s spiritual leaders today. Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them (Ezekiel 22:26).

I have said it many times and I will say it again: America has slid so far into sinfulness that she is beyond human intervention.  No minister, no politician, no one can save her from God’s pending judgment.  There is only one thing that can save America from destruction, however and whenever it comes, and that is for the Church of Jesus Christ to repent and call upon God’s mercy and forgiveness for allowing America to sink so far with the church hardly blinking an eye of protest or shouting a word of warning.

The often quoted verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 makes God’s intent clear: 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. For America to avert God’s judgment, God’s people must first humble themselves before God and beg His forgiveness.  “For what?” you say.  First of all, for all the sins we have committed, either in fact or omission, as individuals or as the Body of Christ, which has allowed America to slide to where she is now.  For us as individuals and the Church as a body not speaking up in boldness and taking a firm stand against evil, unrighteousness and wanton godlessness that has swept our land into an ever deepening pit of hell.  Repenting for remaining silent (ourselves, our parents or our grandparents) while atheists won victory to remove prayer and the Bible out of our schools; remove the ten commandments and other biblical symbols from our town squares, military sites, etc.; allowing the horrendous act of abortion to become legal and take the lives of 58 million prospective citizens and God’s children; allowing the courts to re-define marriage; ignoring the unfettered attack on Christianity in America by the government, courts and society in general.  The list is very long, but if you are serious about taking up the cause of repentance, I trust God will show you what is needed.

The risk of abandoning Israel.  America cannot live on the pro-Israel accomplishments of the WWII generation that rescued the Jews and established the Jewish state of Israel.  America and some evangelical Christians are now abandoning Israel like never before and it will come with the steep price of God’s judgment against America.

America’s attitude toward Israel has drastically shifted under the current president and administration.  In a speech at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, DC on May 22, 2015, President Obama had the audacity to proclaim that, “I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office.” Like so many of his larcenous statements, not only was this one a farce and outright lie, but it was the furthest thing from the truth.  Obama is by far the most anti-Jew, anti-Israel president that America has ever had the misfortune of electing—twice.  He has repeatedly acted against Israel’s best interests; made public her military secrets (which should be an act of treason); sent billions of dollars to aid Israel’s enemies; actively supports the terrorist regime of Hamas in Gaza; criticizes Israel at every opportunity; supports and works for the “two state solution” (Israel and Palestine) which will greatly undermine Israel’s safety and existence.  If that’s not enough to verify his anti-Israel stance, he and his anti-Jew cohorts have “brokered” a deal with Iran—which every person with a speck of intelligence and wisdom, says is horrendous and a risk to the entire world—that just may assure that there will never be peace in the Middle East or the world.

President Obama addressing the Adas Israel congregation on May 22, 2015 wearing the Jewish yarmulke skull cap.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that while Obama claims to be pro-Israel that his actions repeatedly demonstrate otherwise.  After all, he was born into a Muslim family; educated during his formative years in a Muslim school in Indonesia; admires Islam as a “religion of peace”; seems more comfortable among Muslims than Christians and surrounds himself with Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Jew advisors.  Notwithstanding, according to Obama, Muslims are the way they are because of the Christian crusades.

Such anti-Israel actions are not limited to America’s leader.  On May 16, Pope Francis reached out to the Palestinian terrorist leader, President Mahmud Abbas, calling him an “angel of peace”.  No real surprise since the pope and Catholic doctrine assert that Muslims and Catholics worship the same god and that Muslims are looked upon with favor by God.  Such a position is a strong slap in the face to the One and Only True God of the Bible, Jehovah God and His only begotten Son in Jesus Christ, whom the Muslims reject as the Son of God.

The only position or stance on Israel that counts is God’s position, and His position is that those who curse Israel or come against her are coming against Him. I will bless those who bless you [Israel], and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

Separating the sheep and the goats.  A great sifting is occurring in the church in America.  Not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord, Lord” (Matthew 7:21-23) will inherit the kingdom of God.  The church in America has done a good job of preaching that one needs to call upon Jesus as the Savior of one’s life, but have poorly communicated that it is equally important to accept and follow Him as the Lord of one’s life.  Christians are called to follow Jesus as both Lord and Savior.  One without the other is ineffectual Christianity.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus talked about His return and His judgment of all nations.  The sheep, those that truly followed Him as Lord and Savior, will be set on His right hand to receive eternal life with Him; the goats, those that rejected Him and refused to do His will, will be gathered on His left to receive everlasting punishment.

The Apostle James wrote, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:21-22). Followers of Jesus Christ are called to be doers of the Word of God, not just to sit in the pews and say, “Amen!” on Sundays and then go forth to act and live like they never heard the Word of God at all.

Jesus and His apostles warned that in the Last Days many false prophets (teachers) would arise in an attempt to deceive His followers. Unfortunately, in America, many false teachers have emerged, teaching a false, diluted or polluted gospel that has been leading people astray from God’s truth and righteousness. They [false teachers] promise freedom, Peter wrote, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.  And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.  It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life (2 Peter 2:19-21; NLT). Despite centuries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being preached in the United States, the Christian church has gotten weaker and its light grown dimmer as the world around it embraces ever greater depravity and unrepentant sin.

During the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel and before the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, God revealed to Ezekiel that He was sending an angel to put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it [Jerusalem] (Ezekiel 9:4).  When destruction was to come upon Jerusalem and all Israel, those that mourned over her (the righteous) were not to be touched.  However, when God’s judgment came, God said it was to “begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple (Ezekiel 9:6).  Once again, God’s judgment starts with those in His house and especially those who are shepherds over His people.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

Peace, peace.  The false prophet of peace in America has found a home in the heart and mind of America’s president.  Speaking before the United Nations on September 23, 2014, President Obama declared to the world that it was lot safer since he took office.  “As a result of this [international security] work and cooperation with allies and partners, the world is more stable than it was five years ago.”  Once again America’s deceiver-in-chief pontificating ridiculous words that all too many people actually believe.

When the Jewish leaders and their prophets proclaimed a similar assurance to the people, God spoke through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, saying, They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14). Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace . . . (Ezekiel 13:10).  In addition, those who were rebelling against God, ridiculing Ezekiel for prophesying “doom and gloom”. Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off’ (Ezekiel 12:27). However, the rebellious soon found out that their destruction was not far off, but imminent.

Neither false prophets nor false leaders stand in the gap for their country.  God made this clear through the prophet Ezekiel. Thus says the Lord God: “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!  O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts.  You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.  They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed.  Have you not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken false divination? You say, ‘The Lord says,’ but I have not spoken” (Ezekiel 13:3-7). If this were to be paraphrased and put into context for America and the world today, it would go something like this: Woe to you foolish leaders who follow after your own narcissistic spirit and have knowledge of nothing! America, your leaders are like foxes in the hen house. They have not done anything to protect you or lead you in the right direction in preparation for the judgment of God. Their words and plans are worthless, providing false guidance. But the Lord God has not sent them or spoken to them. Yet they think their evil doings will prosper. They speak with deception and their plans are futile. I, the Lord God have not spoken to them.

Americans can rest assured on one thing: The majority of America’s political leaders, especially those in the Whitehouse, do not seek God for His wisdom. “How can you say that?” you might challenge. “Well”, I will counter, “just look at the results.” If our leaders were seeking God, America would not in the immoral cesspool she is in, nor financially and spiritually bankrupt.

And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

America has no excuse.  America and Americans have no excuse for their godless, anti-Christ actions.  The Word of God has, perhaps, been preached and more widely available in America for over 400 years and since its founding than any other country on earth.

However, as it was mentioned earlier, God cannot abide in the presence of unrepentant sin. Something has to give and it will not be God.

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11).

The Apostle Paul warned the followers of Christ almost 2,000 years ago that, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,  and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved and for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).  It would seem that America has, indeed, arrived at that point.

The Key to America’s Redemption.  God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, said: If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.  And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom,  but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would (Jeremiah 18:7-10; NLT).  Will America and the church in America be stubborn like Israel and refuse to repent or will she and the church acknowledge their wicked ways; repent and once again turn to Almighty God, the healer and reconciler of all things?  Time is running out and, as yet, there are few signs that either the church or America are ready to give in and repent.

In the midst of Israel’s rebellion against God, God spoke through Ezekiel and said, So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one (Ezekiel 22:30).  Although there are a few Christian leaders, such as Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Franklin Graham and others who have been blowing the trumpet of warning, both to the church and America, the church in America, for the most part, has been unmoved in a call to repentance and revival.  Instead, more and more churches and their leaders appear to be embracing the sinfulness of the world in which they live and minister.

God stands ready, willing and able to redeem that which is lost, but He will not act unless invited to do so. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; the prophet Isaiah wrote, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity (Isaiah 59:1-4). America and the church in America are running out of opportunities to reverse the current sinful slide. There will come a point (and it may already be upon us) when God can no longer tolerate the pervasive evil in the land and withhold His judgment—whether at His hand or at the hand of others that He allows to bring judgment.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

Related blogs:

Apostasy in the American Church, Part 2

Apostasy in the American Church, Part 1

A Depraved Mind

The Fundamental Changing of America

America’s Only Hope

Has God Forsaken America?

Can America be Saved?

How Evil Works and Prevails

America’s Descent into Chaos and Depravity, Part 3

Revelation 18 and the fate of America

Excerpted from Chapter 5 of Revelation 18 and the fate of America.]

. . . and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!”

Revelation 18:2b

Prayer Out of the Schools.  The United States Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren issued three crushing decisions on prayer in public schools.  The first was in 1962 (Engel v. Vitale) and two in 1963 (Murray v. Curlett and Abington Township School District v. Schempp). The decision to ban prayer and Bible reading from public schools was made as a result of the Supreme Court’s interpretations of the First Amendment and the “wall of separation between church and state” dogma.

In the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case the issue centered on a prayer drafted by the New York State Board of Regents.  It simply read: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.”  Although it was not a biblical prayer or denominational prayer, the parents of ten students took offense and sued the Hyde Park, New York school district claiming the prayer violated the U.S. Constitution.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.  The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

The Board of Regents believed that such a non-descript, non-denominational prayer would get the students off to a good daily start and encourage good moral character, promote spiritual guidance and help overcome juvenile delinquency.  Since students were not required to participate and participation in the prayer was completely optional, the educators felt they were on solid constitutional ground.

The case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 3, 1962.  Nearly three months later the Court rendered a majority 6-1 decision on June 25.  Associate Justice Hugo Black rendered the opinion for the Court.

In part, Justice Black wrote for the majority: “This daily procedure was adopted on the recommendation of the State Board of Regents . . . they recommended and published as a part of their ‘Statement on Moral and Spiritual Training in the Schools,’ saying: ‘We believe that this Statement will be subscribed to by all men and women of good will, and we call upon all of them to aid in giving life to our program.’

“. . . We think that by using its public school system to encourage recitation of the Regents’ prayer, the State of New York has adopted a practice wholly inconsistent with the Establishment Clause. . . .”

Without citing any references, Justice Black then went on to enlist Thomas Jefferson to support his contention and conclusions about the “religious nature of prayer”.

Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.

Psalm 54:2

In the paragraph containing the Court’s decision, Black wrote: “The petitioners contend among other things that the state laws requiring or permitting use of the Regents’ prayer must be struck down as a violation of the Establishment Clause because that prayer was composed by governmental officials as a part of a governmental program to further religious beliefs. For this reason, petitioners argue, the State’s use of the Regents’ prayer in its public school system breaches the constitutional wall of separation between Church and State. We agree with that contention since we think that the constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion

must at least mean that in this country it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government.”

Associate Justice Potter Stewart was the lone dissenting vote.  Justices Felix Frankfurter and Byron White took no part in the decision.

In part, Justice Stewart summarized the case as he saw it.  “A local school board in New York has provided that those pupils who wish to do so may join in a brief prayer at the beginning of each school day, acknowledging their dependence upon God and asking His blessing upon them and upon their parents, their teachers, and their country. The Court today decides that in permitting this brief nondenominational prayer the school board has violated the Constitution of the United States.  I think this decision is wrong.”

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (1915-1985)

Justice Stewart was appointed to the Court on October 14, 1958 by President Dwight Eisenhower and confirmed by the U.S. Senate the following May in a 70-17 vote.  All dissenters were Democrats.  Stewart was a centrist Republican who believed that the Warren Court misinterpreted the First Amendment “Establishment Clause” and exceeded the intentions of the Framers of the Constitution.

“The Court does not hold, nor could it,” Stewart wrote, “that New York has interfered with the free exercise of anybody’s religion. For the state courts have made clear that those who object to reciting the prayer must be entirely free of any compulsion to do so, including any ‘embarrassments and pressures.’. . .  the Court says that in permitting school children to say this simple prayer, the New York authorities have established ‘an official religion.’

“With all respect,” he continued, “I think the Court has misapplied a great constitutional principle. I cannot see how an ‘official religion’ is established by letting those who want to say a prayer say it. On the contrary, I think that to deny the wish of these school children to join in reciting this prayer is to deny them the opportunity of sharing in the spiritual heritage of our Nation. . . .”

Religion is necessary to correct the effects of learning.  Without religion I believe learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind . . .

Dr. Benjamin Rush, Letter to John Armstrong on March 19, 1783

Justice Stewart went on to point out the inconsistencies of the nation’s religious observances.  “At the opening of each day’s Session of this Court we stand, while one of our officials invokes the protection of God.  Since the days of John Marshall our Crier has said, ‘God save the United States and this Honorable Court.’  Both the Senate and the House of Representatives open their daily Sessions with prayer.  Each of our Presidents, from George Washington to John F. Kennedy [then in office], has upon assuming his Office asked the protection and help of God. . . .

“In 1954 Congress added a phrase to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag so that it now contains the words ‘one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’  In 1952 Congress enacted legislation calling upon the President each year to proclaim a National Day of Prayer.  Since 1865 the words ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ have been impressed on our coins.”

Stewart wrote that he could list countless other examples but that his position could be summed by the fact that, “It was . . . this Court just ten years ago in a single sentence: ‘We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being’” [see Zorach v. Clauson].

“I do not believe that this Court,” Stewart concluded, “or the Congress, or the President has by the actions and practices I have mentioned established an ‘official religion’ in violation of the Constitution. And I do not believe the State of New York has done so in this case.”

Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974)

Warren was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953 by President Dwight Eisenhower. Warren, although a Republican, was philosophically a centrist to liberal in his judicial renderings.  He served on the Court until 1969.

A year later, on the same day, the same Court (with Arthur J. Goldberg, a Democrat replacing Frankfurter) decided two other contentious cases that were argued before the Court at the same time concerning school prayer— Murray v. Curlett and Abington Township School District v. Schempp.

In the Murray v. Curlett case, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, a radical militant atheist, who was despised and hated by many Christians and fellow atheists, brought suit against the Baltimore, Maryland school board.  Like the previous complaint in New York, O’Hair sued because she claimed that her son William’s school violated the First Amendment by having students recite the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13).  She also came against the school board’s approval of the daily reading from the Bible.

14^th Amendment

Section 1 [of 5]. . . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Passed by Congress on June 13, 1866

Before reaching the Supreme Court, a local Maryland judge, J. Gilbert Pendergast, dismissed O’Hair’s petition, saying, “It is abundantly clear that petitioners’ real objective is to drive every concept of religion out of the public school system.”  The Maryland Court of Appeals had a similar viewpoint and concluded that, “Neither the First nor the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to stifle all rapport between religion and government.”

In the Abington Township School District [of Pennsylvania] v. Schempp the complaint was similar—that the voluntary student participation in morning prayer and listening to a teacher recitation of ten verses of the Bible was unconstitutional.

In its majority 8-1 decision in both cases, with Justice Stewart once again being the lone dissenter, the Court once again cited its position as in Engel v. Vitale but with many more pages of nebulous Founder legal positions and case law.  The bottom line was that, again Thomas Jefferson’s non-binding, non-Constitutional statement on the “wall of separation between church and state” was held up as the justification for their affirmative decision for the plaintiffs.  When attorney for the petitioners, Leonard Kerpelman, used Jefferson’s statement in his presentation and implied it was in the Constitution, Justice Stewart quickly interrupted and asked him where it occurred.  A silence fell over the Court as Kerpelman was stumped for an answer.

In writing his dissent, Justice Stewart stated, in part:

I think the records in the two cases before us are so fundamentally deficient as to make impossible an informed or responsible determination of the constitutional issues presented. Specifically, I cannot agree that on these records we can say that the Establishment Clause has necessarily been violated. But I think there exist serious questions under both that provision and the Free Exercise Clause – insofar as each is imbedded in the Fourteenth Amendment – which require the remand of these cases for the taking of additional evidence.

The First Amendment declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .” It is, I think, a fallacious oversimplification to regard these two provisions as establishing a single constitutional standard of “separation of church and state,” which can be mechanically applied in every case to delineate the required boundaries between government and religion. We err in the first place if we do not recognize, as a matter of history and as a matter of the imperatives of our free society, that religion and government must necessarily interact in countless ways. Secondly, the fact is that while in many contexts the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause fully complement each other, there are areas in which a doctrinaire reading of the Establishment Clause leads to irreconcilable conflict with the Free Exercise Clause.

Religion is the only solid basis of good morals: therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man towards God.

Gouverneur Morris, Signer, U.S. Constitution

Interestingly and sadly, not one Christian group, church or organization chose to file a brief in either case on behalf of prayer or Bible reading in the public schools.  However, it is important to note that these joint decisions by the Supreme Court, DID NOT, as widely believed, remove prayer or Bible reading from the public schools.  The Court only concluded that “government-sponsored” prayer and Bible reading were a violation of the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment.  Students in public schools are still free to pray or read the Bible on their own or to conduct or participate in prayer or Bible study groups.

In essence, what the Warren Supreme Court decided to do was to deliberately misinterpret and re-write the First Amendment.  They changed the intent of the “Establishment Clause” of the Founders and replaced it with at statement out-of-context made by Jefferson in a letter.  North Carolina’s senator at the time, Sam Ervin (1896-1985), quipped, “I should like to ask whether we would be far wrong in saying that in this decision the Supreme Court has held that God is unconstitutional and for that reason the public school must be segregated against Him?”

Perhaps ironically, O’Hair’s son, William J. Murray, became a Christian and a Baptist minister and is chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition and author of My Life Without God.

A Depraved Mind

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

Romans 1:28 (NIV)

Obama’s blatant, tyrannical, depraved “in-your-face” symbol to America.

President Obama has repeatedly—in concept and deed—raised and flicked his middle finger to the American people, defying the will and desire of the majority—mostly conservative Christians and Jews, including people of all ethnic and racial heritages.  The latest such act of defiance, of course, was his lighting up of “The People’s House”, the Whitehouse on June 26 in his sick celebration of the Supreme Court’s “illegal” declaration that same sex marriage is now the law of the land.  Lighting up the Whitehouse with the rainbow colors of the gay community was Obama’s way of sticking it to the people—those who stand for godly values and the biblical imperative for marriage being between one man and one woman.

While Obama repeatedly professes to be a Christian, his actions would strongly dictate otherwise, as he continues to obliterate God’s law and tenants of the Judeo-Christian faith.  His lighting of the Whitehouse not only showed his overwhelming support of perversion and depravity, but it was a blatant contempt, “in-your-face” gesture to the American people and to God that was highly offensive and disrespectful, but clearly demonstrated his own depraved, perverted and blasphemous mindset.

No, love did not win, but depravity and the sinful soul did.

So, what does the God of the Bible have to say about this?  After all, it is only His voice that counts—not Obama’s, the gay community, the liberal left or the courts and their radical socialist agenda.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to new Christian believers in Rome, most of whom were converted Jews, warned them about the consequences their ancestors endured due to their sinfulness.  His words are ageless and continue to be a prophetic warning for today’s unrepentant sinners.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20; my emphasis; NIV).

God has made it plain through His creation and through His holy word; who He is and what He requires of mankind.  People have no excuse for their sinfulness, especially in America where the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s plan of salvation have been preached since the founding of the country.

 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles (Romans 1:21-23; my emphasis; NIV).

When people turn away from God and reject His principles for life, He allows their hearts to become dark, devoid of His illuminating knowledge and understanding.  They then become fools even though they think they are wise.  Such is the state of America today, although it has been a process in the works for a long time.  It seems that a rapidly growing number of Americans are being consumed by secular, evil thought and practices.  Even within the Christian church, many have become seduced by the deceit of morally deceived and corrupt leaders.  Many churches in the U.S. and even denominations are no longer salt and light in their communities, but have become absorbed into the world around them.  Their hearts have become darkened and they have become spiritual fools just like those they are supposedly trying to reach for Christ.

 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen (Romans 1:24-25; my emphasis; NIV).

In the Bible there are numerous accounts of God turning the Jews over to experience the consequences of their sin.  Often at the hands of their enemies who oppressed them; destroyed their cities and took them captive.  Despite God’s repeated demonstration of His love and compassion for His chosen people, the Israelites continually, from generation to generation, resisted God, turned from His commandments and statutes and turned to pagan gods and practices, including sexual immorality.  God refused to intervene in their sinfulness, but allowed them to have mistaken and immoral desires of their hearts.  He allowed them to experience the degradation of humanity as they entered deeper and deeper into a perverse and sinful behavior.  The Jews, time and again, exchanged the truth that they knew about God and had been taught about through the generations and willingly accepted the lies and deceptions of the evil one who sought to destroy them.

For the past several decades America has been sliding down the slippery slope of decadence, just like the Jews of old.  There was no unified outcry of objection from the church or the American people at-large when a couple of atheists convinced the Supreme Court that prayer and Bible reading had no place in our schools.  Not one church or Christian group took a stand against the Court in its heinous decision to allow abortion which now has brutally terminated the lives of 60 million young Americans (God’s children).  For the most part, once again, the church is near silent as perversity and rampant sin is sanctioned throughout the land.

The big question is: How long will God tolerate such wanton disregard and disrespect of His moral and religious law?—Not only by government and the courts, but more importantly by His church.  Has America gone too far and will God’s judgment be soon at hand?  If God could not ignore the immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah, how can He ignore that of the people of the United States who have had a rich heritage steeped in His word and the Gospel of truth?

 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:26-27; my emphasis; NIV).

There were times in both the Old and New Testaments when immorality was rampant among the people to the point that they sought sexual pleasures among those of the same sex—men with men; women with women.  Such was the case with among the pagans in Sodom and Gomorrah.  Since those who lived there refused to repent, God had no other choice but to destroy those cities to prevent the immoral depravity from spreading.

America has arrived at such a time.  It has been a long, slippery trip, but she has arrived at a place of no return—unless she fully repents and returns to the God of her ancestors.  Notice in Romans 1:27, that those who turned to the immoral behavior of homosexuality received in themselves the due penalty for their error.  It is no small thing or great surprise that many of those who engage in such sexual deviance incur the life-threatening afflictions of AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.

 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (Romans 1:18-32; my emphasis; NIV).

There is a point, according to the Bible, when God can no longer wait for the rebellious to repent of their sins and return to Him.  Although God is always willing and waiting to receive the repentant sinner back into His fold, He cannot and will not withhold His judgment forever.  America has reached that threshold.  Sin is running unchecked throughout the land as the church, the supposed light on the hill and the salt of the earth, by-and-large remains deafeningly silent.  God has now clearly given over the United States of America to a depraved (reprobate) mind and allowed its residents to enter into all types wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  We have become a society where more and more Americans not only does not believe in God as evidenced by their thoughts and behaviors, but many are actually God-haters.  America has declined into a generation of rebellious, undisciplined, god-less brats (yes, I know there are millions of exceptions) who refuse to follow God and His moral and religious code.  There is no excuse for such rebellion.  God has been preached for centuries in every corner of the United States, so there can be no excuse for not knowing what He desires.

America has been richly blessed in the past.  Yes, America committed many sins and did not follow after God’s law, but more often than not, there was repentance that brought her back on the right path.  But not today.  Repentance, even within the church, is hard to come by.  America has reached the point of no return; the point where no human intervention can save her.  Only God can save America from her many transgressions.  However, He will not intervene where He is not wanted; or where there is no repentance for sin.  And that repentance must start within the Christian church itself.

Do not trust in princes, in mortal man,

in whom there is no salvation.

Psalm 146:3

Update July 14.  The Pandora’s box has been flung wide open and perversion is flooding in.  In Montana, a man bent on polygamy is suing to marry two women.  In Virginia, the Fairfax County school board has decided that students will be taught that there is no such thing as gender.  You can be whatever gender you desire or no gender at all.  Yesterday a group of Democrats announced that they are pushing forward a bill that would eliminate the term “husband and wife” from government laws and documents.  Today, Ashton Carter, Secretary of Defense, announced that the military should rescind its ban of transgenders serving in the military.  This is just the beginning of an all-out assault on Judeo-Christian values and beliefs.  America will not survive.

Standing in the Gap—It Only Takes One

Revelation 18 and the fate of America

[Excerpted from Revelation 18 and the fate of America, pp. 347-354, 359-361.]

Although it could be justifiably said that American Christian missionaries over the past two centuries have evangelized the world, now with America’s decline, some of the world’s Christian missionaries are being sent to America.  They are coming from such countries as Brazil, China, South Korea and elsewhere.  In 2010, while the U.S. still sent 127,000 Christian missionaries abroad, an estimated 32,400 Christian missionaries were sent to the United States from other countries.  In the history of America, millions of Christians have stood in the gap for their fellow man at home and abroad through prayer, charity, ministry and missions.  Today, while many believers in Christ still do so, more and more Christians sit idly by, content to be CINOs (Christians in Name Only) while the country they live in is going to hell in a hand basket.  

The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. Proverbs 15:29

The words of the prophet Isaiah, spoken on behalf of God to the Hebrew people many centuries ago, could be spoken to America today.  “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me.  I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by My name.   I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts;   a people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face;” (Isaiah 65:1-3a).

When the Hebrews were taken captive to Babylon because they had sinned against God and were once again led astray by their leaders, God raised up Ezekiel, a common man; the equivalent of a street preacher.  Through Ezekiel God spoke and illustrated what he required of His people to return to Him.  God told Ezekiel that He had “looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30; NLT).

What God was looking for was one truly faithful person who would stand up for righteousness at all costs to lead His people back to Him so that their land; their heritage, would not be destroyed.  But God lamented that He could not find one among all Israel who was willing to stand in the gap, offering resistance to evil, on behalf of the people.  God was not necessarily looking for a high priest or theologian, but a common man like Abraham who pleaded with God on behalf of Sodom, or Moses, who stood in the gap and interceded for all of Israel and led them out of slavery in Egypt.

So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.

Isaiah 66:4

As with Sodom (Genesis 18:32), God did not desire to see the city of Jerusalem destroyed by foreign invaders.  If He could find just one righteous person in the city He would see that Jerusalem was spared.

“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;” God told Jeremiah, the prophet, “see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her.  Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.  O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth?  You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.  They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return. . . . I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.  But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds” (Jeremiah 5:1-3, 5).  God was not looking for someone to give Him lip service or a Sabbath day believer.  He was looking for someone who was totally committed to Him and Him only in righteousness and truth.

Just like the Israel of old, America has gone too far astray from God and beyond any human solutions to her overwhelming problems.  Once again, God is looking for someone to stand in the gap; someone who is sold out to Him that will faithfully intercede for America; to lead His people in repentance and revival and a wholehearted return to Him.

To whom can I give warning?  Who will listen when I speak?  Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear.  They scorn the word of the Lord.  They don’t want to listen at all.

Jeremiah 6:10 (NLT)

God gave the people of Israel many warnings through His prophets and many opportunities for them to return to Him, but they repeatedly rejected Him and His ways.  America and Americans find themselves in a similar situation today.  Over the decades, many men and women of God have repeatedly warned that the United States was on the wrong path in every corner of society.  Despite these warnings, as a country, America has repudiated God and turned away from Him.

When Israel was moving toward self-destruction, the prophet Isaiah offered this stark warning from God.  “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. . . . So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it’” (Isaiah 55:6-9, 11).

God is fair and just and He is always ready to pardon those who call upon Him and seek His face and return to Him.  The United States and its people are in desperate need of God and His intervention, whether they corporately know it or not.  But God will not intervene where He is not called upon or wanted.  For those who still follow Him and call upon Him, God’s promise to Israel long ago stands for those in America as well.  “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In” (Isaiah 58:12; author’s emphasis).

The Authority of the Believer and the Church.   Many might ask: Why does God not destroy the wicked and idol worshippers of today like He did in the Old Testament times?  The answer is because God has given authority over principalities and powers and wickedness in high places to Christ followers and His church (Ephesians 6:11-13; Colossians 2:15).   Jesus also told His followers that they had the power to “bind” and “loose” God’s will on earth (Matthew 16:19, 18:18).

When it became clear to the Founding Fathers and their compatriots that freedom from the oppressive, tyrannical government of England was imperative, they agreed to assemble in Philadelphia in September, 1775 at the First Continental Congress to consider their course of action.  To start the Congress, they called upon Reverend Jacob Duché, Rector of Christ Church of Philadelphia.  Rev. Duché, on behalf of those gathered, beseeched God through Jesus Christ, for His mercy and deliverance from an ungodly and unjust government.  It would be the first earnest prayer uttered in a Continental Congress, the forerunner of the U.S. Congress.

O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee. To Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give. Take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in Council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary [bloody] purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle!

Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. That the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior. Amen. 

In spite of today’s revisionist history and political correctness, the Founding Fathers depended heavily upon God, His mercy, guidance and deliverance from their enemies.  They recognized their fallibility and God’s infallibility and He miraculously delivered them from their oppression (see We the People: Birth of a Nation” by the author).  God gave His people power and that power is in prayer and faithfulness to Him and Him only. 

From childhood we have watched as everything our ancestors worked for . . . was squandered on a delusion.  Let us now lie down in shame and cover ourselves with dishonor, for we and our ancestors have sinned against the Lord our God.  From our childhood to this day we have never obeyed him.

Jeremiah 3:24-25 (NLT)

Even Benjamin Franklin, who many claim was a deist (a person who believes in God, not through supernatural revelation, but through that revealed in creation), recognized the need for God’s direct input when the newly developing nation needed it most.  On June 18, 1787, in the midst of a contentious Constitutional Convention, when the Founding Fathers were finding it difficult to come to a consensus on various constitutional issues, the venerable and aged Ben Franklin rose and addressed the president of the Convention, George Washington and those gathered. 

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. 

Franklin knew that it was only through God that the differences between those gathered could be resolved.  Three months later the United States Constitution, the most supreme governing document the world has ever known, was signed into law on September 17, 1787.

Benjamin Franklin, perhaps in some eyes, the least likely to do so, chose to stand in the gap for the fledgling nation and implore God’s help.  God is always looking for a willing partner to bring forth His will for a people.  He is not necessarily looking for the strongest in faith, but the most willing and obedient.  In 2 Chronicles 16:9, it says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”  God is always looking for a co-laborer to bring forth His plan and righteousness for a people who recognize their sinfulness and are willing to repent and follow Him.

America’s people who believe in God have one choice and one choice only when it comes to redeeming their lives, their family and their nation—they must turn from their wicked ways, repent and return to God.  Non-believers will scoff at this, convinced that they have the answers to America’s problems, but will only take the country further into the abyss.   “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

America stands at the proverbial fork in the road, and once again she must choose whether to follow the heathen, Baal, or God.  But “a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom,” warned John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 17, 1775, “can never be restored.  Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

*************

The Prayer of One.   In 1857, a wave of financial panic swept over the United States—the first worldwide financial crisis brought on by a declining international economy.  As banks in America failed and railroads went bankrupt, they took thousands of business owners with them.  Unemployment shot up and thousands went hungry.  Desperate people turned to crime and society was collapsing.  One man in New York, Jeremiah Lanphier, heeded God’s call.

Lanphier was not a “hellfire and brimstone” preacher like the ones who led previous revivals in America.  He was an unassuming, quiet man who was called as a missionary to New York City by the Dutch Reformed Church.  The desire of the church was to increase its flagging membership.

Lanphier’s plan was simple: Post an invitation for others in the city to join him in prayer every Wednesday during the typical 12-1 lunch hour.  His hope was that those that were struggling—businessmen and workers—would come and spend a moment with God.  If they could not spend the whole hour, then perhaps they could spare 5 or 10 minutes.

Lanphier hatched his plan on September 23, 1857.  The first prayer meeting almost did not happen.  It was not until 12:30 that first day that the first person appeared to join him; then came five more.  Two weeks later, there were 40 men praying.   Lanphier decided to make the noontime prayer a daily occurrence.  Six months later an estimated 10,000 businessmen in New York were gathering for prayer over their lunch hour.  Within a two year period an estimated one million new converts to Christianity were added to the rolls of the churches across the country.

By 1858 the prayer movement became known as the Layman’s Prayer Revival and spread throughout the country.  Prayer meetings were being held day and night, in big cities and small towns.  They were led by businessmen, not ministers.  Before this prayer revival, thousands had become disillusioned with the church and Christianity, but now, through prayer, thousands were coming to the churches throughout America.  Lives were being transformed, crime was on the decline and the needy were being ministered to by those that had the financial means.

The Bible, of course, is full of men and women who stood in the gap and interceded on behalf of others.  Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, Jonah, Esther and Deborah are just a few examples in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament there was Stephen who pleaded with God not to hold those who were stoning him accountable (Acts 7:60).  There was the Apostle Paul and the other disciples of Jesus, ordinary men, who were constantly interceding for others.  Then there is Jesus, the greatest intercessor of all, who is at the Father’s right hand, interceding before God on behalf of His followers (1 John 2:1).

Can Judgment be Averted?

Revelation 18 and the fate of America

[Excerpted from Revelation 18 and the fate of America, pp. 341-347.]

Is America the Babylon mentioned in Revelation 18?  Possibly.  One thing seems certain, the Babylon in Revelation 18 and elsewhere in Revelation is not the historic Babylon of the Old Testament or of King Nebuchadnezzar’s era.  By description, the Babylon of Revelation 18 is the epitome of a people or nation that has strayed from God and His foundational truths; rejected Him and have become prideful and arrogant, no longer needing God’s direction or input into their lives.  This Babylon represents a people whose sins are so great they seem unforgiveable and insurmountable.  They have become wealthy and have lived extravagantly and the rest of the world has depended on them for their own well being and prosperity.

The leaders of the United States, over many decades, have brought the country to the brink of destruction.  “The only sure cure for many of the ills of the modern world which men are vainly trying to remove by means of social and economic antidotes is to be found in the faith in God and loyalty to the eternal verities of religion,” stated Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), 29^th President of the United States.  “The recognition of a personal God and of the individual accountability of men and women to him, for their conduct are the foundations of the highest patriotism and of those civic virtues which alone can make men and nations morally great. The human race has been getting away from its religious moorings. It needs a revival of the sincere conception of the personal relationship of God to man and man to God; a restoration of faith in the fundamentals of religion that are eternal. The world needs the assurance of faith in the Almighty, and the tranquility which comes alone of that faith. That faith in God which has made the ancient Hebrew nation great, is still needed to make nations great today.”

The story and history of America, in many ways, parallels that of ancient Israel.  As long as Israel followed God and obeyed His laws, they prospered as a people and nation.  When they chose to reject Him and follow after the dictates of their own hearts, the nation faltered and crumbled and often was overrun by their enemies.

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;  and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. Deuteronomy 11:26-28

President Abraham Lincoln, in his speech on March 30, 1863, proclaiming a National Fast Day, spoke words that still ring true today.  “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity,” he noted. “We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” 

The Founders’ Wisdom and Insight.  When it comes to overturning or changing a tyrannical government the people only have four choices: a military coup that throws out the current occupants of office; a people’s revolution that forces the despotic leaders out; vote them out or a revolution of prayer and fasting.  The first two, while they can bring more immediate results, are not the American way and can result in bloodshed.   The third way takes time and could allow those in office to bring about even more public harm before their removal.  The last method, God’s preferred way, takes much patience, trust and faith in God to do what He desires to do (more about that in the next chapter).

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ Ezekiel 33:11

Daniel Webster (1782-1852), author, lawyer and patriotic senator from Massachusetts, in his remarks to the U.S. Senate, June 3, 1834, said, “God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it.”  For over two centuries American patriots have done much to fight for and defend that precious love of freedom.  The question is: Have Americans lost the will to fight for that which their forefathers were willing to spill their precious blood?

“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government,” George Washington wrote for his first inaugural address on April 30, 1789, “are justly considered deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

Two years prior to the Washington address, Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adam’s wife, Abigail, on February 22, 1787 (Washington’s 55^th birthday), wrote: “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.”

Although Jefferson believed wholeheartedly in constitutional law and constitutional government, he apparently also recognized the inherent weakness of man and his inability to stay the course of constitutional freedom.  He anticipated that sometime in the future the people might need to rise up once again if the people they elected strayed from constitutional authority and the will of the people.

[A] wise and frugal government . . . shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion,” Jefferson wrote on November 13, 1787, to William S. Smith, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.  “The people cannot be all, and always, well informed.  The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. . . . And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?  Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure.” These were strong, but closely held beliefs of the one who authored America’s Declaration of Independence.

James Madison, known as the Father of the U.S. Constitution, said before the Virginia Ratifying Convention of June 16, 1788, that, “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”  A few months before, Madison penned these words in Federalist No. 10 on November 23, 1787.   “[D]emocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.  James Madison, Federalist No. 62, February 27, 1788

John Hancock (1737-1793), the first governor of Massachusetts, whose bold signature was the first to grace the Declaration of Independence, said, “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty [of] each individual. . . . Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”

General George Washington, after suffering a number of military defeats at the hands of the superior British forces in the first year of the Revolutionary War in 1777 and then enduring a bitter winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania with his meager force of 12,000, encouraged his men on May 2, 1778 with these words:  “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion.  To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”

In the previous year, Washington had seen his raw recruit force of 25,000 men decimated by the British.  Morale was low and his forces were weak and poorly prepared.  Yet, Washington had the foresight and fortitude to urge his men forward for the noble, patriotic cause of freedom from oppression and tyranny.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.   Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the United States

In 1824, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in the blaspheme case of Updegraph v. the Commonwealth, the court offered this opinion, in part, of the role of Christianity in the well-being of the country.

No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country. . . . Christianity is part of the common law of this State. It is not proclaimed by the commanding voice of any human superior, but expressed in the calm and mild accents of customary law. Its foundations are broad, and strong, and deep; they are laid in the authority, the interest, the affections of the people. Waiving all questions of hereafter, it is the purest system of morality, the firmest auxiliary, and only stable support of all human laws. . . .

While our own free Constitution secures liberty of conscience and freedom of religious worship to all, it is not necessary to maintain that any man should have the right publicly to vilify the religion of his neighbours and of the country. These two privileges are directly opposed.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the 28th President of the United States once offered this observation. “Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance.”

America’s Only Hope

So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

Isaiah 59:19

If America is to survive, her only hope is in the restoration of her Christian heritage and spiritual foundations.  There is no other hope; no other solution (Revelation 18 and the fate of America, page 379).

[This is perhaps the most important blog I have written.  Please take the time to read the entire post; click on the link to “A Prayer for Revolution” and view the video link from Australia and then pass this on to everyone you know (both Christian and non-Christian).]

Headline: The World’s War on Christianity—Robert J. Morgan, HuffPost 

Headline: The War on Christians—Paul Marshall, The Weekly Standard 

Headline:  Is There a War Against Christianity in America?—

http://www.theconservative.info/html/war_against_christianity.html

Headline:  War on Christianity Still Alive and Well in America—David Limbaugh, Human Events

Headline:  Obama’s War on Christians—WorldNetDaily

The headlines are endless, like no other time in American history; there is an all-out war against Christians, their beliefs and the Christian church in America, as well as throughout the world.

America is beyond human intervention.  No man, woman and group of people can turn America around and avert its plummeting into the moral and spiritual abyss ahead.  ONLY the divine intervention of Almighty God can save her.  But God will not act until His people—those who call upon His name and follow Him wholeheartedly—turn to Him, repent and turn once again to the foundation of His truth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

America’s Founding Fathers, in grateful harmony, made a covenant with God.  It is time for America’s Christians to come before God and repent for allowing America to fall away from God.  We must repent for our own part and for the entire country.  It must start with the church and her sins of complicity and omission (Revelation 18 and the fate of America, page 379).

The Book of Esther in the Old Testament of the Bible provides an interesting insight that is of value to America, particularly to Christians and the Christian church.  I want to focus on chapter 4 in that book, but first a brief biblical background.  The period was 485-479 B.C., King Ahasuerus (aka King Xerxes) reigned over 127 provinces, ranging from India to Ethiopia in northeast Africa.  The Jews, both those still under the “captivity” and those that had returned to Jerusalem and Israel under the decree of re-patronization by King Cyrus of Persia in 536 B.C., were under the dominion of King Ahasuerus.

In chapter 3, it is written that Haman was given sole authority over all the princes of the king’s realm and that the king had ordered all his subjects to pay homage to Haman by bowing to him whenever he was present.  However, Mordecai, a Jew and cousin of Esther and her adoptive father, refused to bow down to Haman.  Haman was enraged and hatched a devious plot to convince the king that the Jews were a threat to his kingdom and therefore should be destroyed.  The king agreed, “And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions” (Esther 3:13).

This decree, of course, caused much distress, bitter weeping and mourning among the Jews.  “When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry” (Esther 4:1).  Esther, who was now married to the king and the queen of his realm, was in a prime position to influence the king, but was forbidden to approach the king unless he called for her.  Mordecai, through a messenger, alerted Esther to the king’s decree (Esther 4:6-9).  Esther was initially reluctant to go before the king because she had no authority to do so (vs. 11).

Mordecai refused to accept Esther’s hesitation and replied:  “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (vss. 13-14; my emphasis).  Esther was indeed in the place that God wanted her and to do His bidding on behalf of the Jews.

Mordecai’s response pricked the heart of Esther and she replied: “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (vs. 16; my emphasis).

If I perish, I perish!  Esther was now convinced that God had called for a special purpose and that was to save her people, the Jews.

America is in crisis.  America’s Christian and moral fiber is being destroyed.  Christians and Christianity are under daily assault from atheists, gay rights people, pro choice advocates, the Whitehouse, the judicial system, Muslims, state and federal governments and a host of other attackers of righteousness.  But where is the Church?  Where are the Christian leaders and outspoken Christians?  Yes, there are some that are speaking out, but far too few to have any meaningful impact.  Virtually little has changed in the last few decades when prayer was first banned from our schools in 1962 without a whimper from the Church.

George Washington, in his first inaugural address as the first President of the United States, spoke these words of both encouragement and warning:

Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people (George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789 in We the People, Birth of a Nation, Second Edition, page 492).

April 30 is a day of significance—at least for the people of Australia if not Americans.  On that day, Australia’s National Day of Prayer and Fasting group is calling for all the nations of the world to join in seven days of prayer and fasting for the United States (April 30-May 6).

We in Australia believe it is our turn to bless the nation of America and pray for healing for the USA through prayer and fasting according to 2 Chronicles 7:14. We in Australia are grateful for the protection that America gave Australia and the nations of the free world during World War II.—Alison Jessup

It’s nice that the people of Australia appreciate America’s heritage and crisis when our own leaders and universities denigrate the country and its Christian heritage daily.

Listen to Australia’s Warwick Marsh pray for America by clicking on the YouTube video here.

“But you are a chosen generation,” the Apostle Peter wrote, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9).  It is time for Christians in America to stop making excuses or shying away from their Christianity and the devotion and allegiance to Christ and His Gospel.  The sooner Christians take a stand for what is right, just and holy according to the truth of the Bible, the sooner America will experience healing, reconciliation and restoration to the greatest “One Nation Under God” (Revelation 18 and the fate of America, page 380).

America stands at the proverbial fork in the road, and once again she must choose whether to follow the heathen, Baal, or God.  But “a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom,” warned John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 17, 1775, “can never be restored.  Liberty, once lost, is lost forever” (Revelation 18 and the fate of America, page 354).

Wake from your slumber American Christians and take action.  Christian leaders in America, where are your calls for repentance and prayer and fasting for the Church in America and the healing and reconciliation and return to holy righteousness?

Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

Psalm 9:19-20

Link to “A Prayer for Revolution”.

Has God Forsaken America?

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Ezekiel 22:30

Now, just that title alone will cause a recoiling in rancor by a lot of people and many Christians in particular.  However, consider this:  America’s foundation, the U.S. Constitution, was founded and grounded in biblical law and principles.  Okay, all those who disagree can scream your bloody heads off, but it will not change that wholly verifiable fact and reality.  Second, many Christian theologians consider the United States of America to be a type of “New Israel”.  If these two premises are true, and I believe they are, then America is headed for a rude and disastrous awakening.

In the Old Testament of the Bible there are numerous stories of the consequences for God’s people when they turned away from Him and followed after idolatrous, sinful paths.  This was particularly true during the period of the kings of Israel.  When the king decided to follow God and turn away from idols and sin, he and all of Israel was blessed and prospered.  When a king rejected God, sinned and turned to idols, he and all of Israel suffered the consequences, including subjugation and captivity.

God did not spare the Jews who lived under evil leadership, nor has He spared millions of Christians and Jews over the centuries that have had to deal with persecution, torture, expulsion or death.

A U.S. Analogy.

In the Old Testament, in the second book of Chronicles (of the kings), there is the story of King Asa of Judah that warrants some attention.  After King Solomon’s reign of 40 years over all of Israel, from the Sinai, north to the Euphrates River, the Jewish kingdom was split into two kingdoms: the smaller kingdom of Judah in the south with Jerusalem as its center and the larger kingdom of Israel to the north.  During the approximately 200-year reign of the kings of the northern kingdom, all of the kings were evil, turning from God and seeking after idols and false gods. The kingdom of Judah, however, survived for 350 years and had mostly good kings who banded idol worship, sought God and restored the temple in Jerusalem.

One such early king of Judah offers an interesting study that presents America and its leaders a healthy object lesson.  In 2 Chronicles 14, Asa, the great-grandson of King Solomon, became king over Judah.  When Asa became king he “cleaned house” so-to-speak.

He,

• Removed all the worship centers of foreign gods;
• Destroyed all the idols of false gods;
• Commanded all of Judah to follow God’s law and commandments;
• Fortified the country against foreign invasion.

Because Asa did these things and sought the Lord God, “there was no one at war with him during those years, because the Lord had given him rest” (2 Chronicles 14:6).  As a result, all of Judah was able to build and prosper.  Not to be unprepared, King Asa raised an army of 580,000 “valiant warriors” to defend the kingdom.  However, that did not stop the Ethiopians from coming against Asa and Judah with a million-man army of their own.  Instead of immediately engaging this threatening force, “Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, ‘Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!’” (2 Chronicles 14:11).  The following two verses state that the Lord and His army routed the Ethiopians.

At the beginning of 2 Chronicles 15 the prophet Azariah met King Asa and spoke these words from God: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law; but when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them” (2 Chronicles 15:2-4; my emphasis).

Now, here’s the point:  The Jewish people had gone a long time without following the One and Only True God.  Both they and their leaders had many times rejected God and followed after foreign gods and idols of all kinds.  As a result, God rejected them and let them fall prey to their enemies because of their sins and rejecting Him.  Yet, through the prophet Azariah, God was reminding King Asa and the people of Judah that if they would seek Him, He could be found.  But if they forsook Him, He would forsake them.   God cannot and will not live among a sinful, unrepentant people.  Still, many believe that God will not forsake America because of the millions of Christians who call upon His name.  However, biblical and modern history clearly demonstrate that millions of God-fearing people and devote Christians have suffered and perished at the hands of evil or because evil leaders were allowed to exist and gain power.  Although God will not forsake those who are truly committed to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, it does not mean that they will not suffer persecution or even death when evil prevails.

Note in the preceding verses that it states that Israel had not been following the true God for some time; that there had been no true teaching of God’s word and that the nation had been without law.  The question is: Has America reached this same tipping point in its history? Is America now following foreign gods and idols and rejected the One and Only True God?  Where is the righteous indignation among the preachers of God in America, calling the church and the country back to righteousness and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Why is the Church in America still mostly silent as the country continues to plummet into the abyss of sin?  And why have we become such a lawless society where anything goes, starting with the president and religious leaders on down the line?  Despite America’s descent into darkness, there is still hope, but it is quickly fading.  But when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of them.

All of Judah, under King Asa’s leadership, made a covenant with the Lord to follow Him and Him only.  They swore with their whole heart to seek Him earnestly and “He let them find Him.  So the Lord gave them rest all around” (2 Chronicles 15:15).

America, I believe, is far beyond human intervention to redeem itself; to stand firmly on the righteousness of faith and restore the once great nation.  It is now up to God Almighty.  But He will not act until His people (that is, His Church) repents, seeks forgiveness and returns fully to Him; seeking Him above all things.  Revival and a return to righteousness start with the Church and the followers of Jesus Christ.  Nothing will change for the better in the United States until the Church repents, rejects its many heresies and returns wholeheartedly to the Lord of all.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.  No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth.  They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity (Isaiah 59:1-4).

 

 

When a Duck is not a Duck

There is a popular axiom that states: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.”  However, in President Obama’s world and that of his administration that axiom goes like this: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be a hippopotamus or anything else but a duck.

When it comes to Islam, despite overwhelming past and present evidence throughout the world of the barbaric nature of its adherents, where any intelligent mind and observer of current events, can easily see that the devastating majority of current terror and murderous deeds against mankind are committed by avowed Muslims, Obama and his team absolutely refuse to link such terrorism with Muslims and the Islamic faith.  Instead, he and his ilk are deceptively content to refer to such godless murders as purveyors of “workplace” violence in the case of the Fort Hood Islamic mass murderer.

On the occasion of the Islamic beheading of two American journalists, Obama could barely break away from his ever important golf game to disingenuously say: “It’s not only that we’re going to be bringing to justice those who perpetrated this terrible crime against these two fine young men. The United States will continue to lead a regional and international effort against this kind of barbaric and ultimately empty vision.”  Those who perpetrated this terrible crime Mr. President were and are Islamic terrorists who adhere to the clear teaching of the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad who routinely beheaded his foes.  As for the empty vision of these Islamic sub humans, read your Qur’an—I’m sure you have at least one—and admit to the obvious: Islam is a debased and cruel religion, not of peace, but of barbarism.

Shortly after the murderous attack by Muslim terrorists on the staff of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, where they killed over a dozen people, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry,  had the unmitigated gall to say that, “The biggest error we could make would be to blame Muslims for crimes . . . that their faith utterly rejects.”  Has Kerry ever read the Qur’an or the teachings of Muhammad, Islam’s revered founder and posthumous leader?  Not likely.  Even in a cursory reading of the Qur’an one cannot walk away without acknowledging that Islam is nothing more than a satanic religion that advocates death and mayhem for non-believers.  Those who deny that are in deep bondage to its satanic master and god.  And those in leadership in America and elsewhere, both in government and the Christian church, who deny such, are seriously jeopardizing the safety, freedom and well being of mankind.

After the horrendous, torturous burning to death of the Jordanian pilot by ISIS, yet another Islamic terrorist group that has risen rapidly to power after Obama’s bailout from the Middle East, our illustrious president could barely tear himself away from more pressing issues, such as health care (which he has disastrously destroyed).   In referring to the ISIS video released showing the burning of the pilot, Mr. Obama struggled to come up with any meaningful utterance.  “But, uh, uh, should in fact this video be authentic,” he mused, “it’s just one more indication of the viciousness and, uh, barbarity of this organization.”

“Ummm, and it just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of it’s bankrupt.”  Gee, such insight; such determination; such gutless bull—-!  One more indication of the viciousness . . . barbarity of this organization?  What planet are you living on, Mr. President?  How many “indications” do you need to wake you up to the reality that MUSLIM terrorists, whether ISIS, ISIL, al Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban or the Muslim Brotherhood members you have on your staff, mean business, and that business is to kill and destroy Americans and America?  But then you would rather spend your time extolling Islam as a “religion of peace.”  Something any dolt understands is not true.  As far as ISIS being an “organization”, well, they’re not the Boy Scouts.  Egypt’s leaders and the head of the Kurdish military estimate that ISIS is a formidable military unit of 180,000-200,000 strong and growing daily.  You could have destroyed them two years ago when they were only a rag-tag group if you had listened to your military advisors.  But then, you are not one who listens to good advice.  So, now, due to your lack of interest in pursuing and eradicating ISLAMIC terrorists, Mr. President, the FBI has opened active investigations in 49 of our 50 states into the potential of ISIS terrorists living therein.

Oh, and let me not forget your blistering chastisement of today’s Christians at the National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday for The Crusades of nearly a thousand years ago.  “And lest we [presumably us unworthy Americans and Christians] get on our high horse,” you admonished, “and think this [I guess you mean the horrific torture, death and mayhem of Muslims] is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”

Mr. President, your knowledge of ancient history is as inept and deceptive as that of your command of the U.S. Constitution, the Bible and the leadership of the nation.  While the Crusades may have been carried out in the name of Christ, as you so forcefully stated, they in no way followed His teachings of peace, love and to pray for one’s enemies.  More accurately (which you have problems with truth and accuracy), the Crusades were carried out as a direct response and defense against the barbarous, murderous invasions of the Muslim hoards from northern Africa and the Middle East into southern Europe where they tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of Europeans.  Tired of such oppression by Muslims and concerned about their advancing into northern Europe, the kings of Europe appealed to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Urban II, to organize a counter-offensive against the Muslims.  In bringing up the “Inquisition” I presume you meant the Spanish Inquisition, which was an attempt once again by the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church and the Catholic monarchs of Spain to rid Spain of the invading hoards of Muslims, dictating that they convert to Catholicism or leave Spain.  Of course, neither the Crusades nor the Inquisition has anything to do with the current barbarism and desire for world domination of the Muslim faithful or its assault on Western values, culture and freedom.  But then, you are very skilled at obfuscating the truth to comply with your own anti-American agenda.

Lest you be reminded for the umpteenth time, Islam IS NOT a “religion of peace”, as you in ad nauseam proclaim to the ignorant—it never was, is not now, nor never will be.  While the New Testament of the Bible clearly and irrefutably calls Christians to be messengers of peace, as well as peacemakers, there is no such edict in the Qur’an or in the supposed teachings of Muhammad for the followers of Allah to be messengers of peace or to be peacemakers.  To the distinct contrary, the clear teachings of the Qur’an and Muhammad are for the “true” followers of Islam and Allah, is to take revenge against ALL those who refuse to accept Allah as the true god or to bow the knee to him and his followers—and that includes, as we have seen, all Muslims who refuse to adhere to the barbaric theology of Islamic terrorists, who are only interpreting what the Qur’an and Muhammad advocates and advocated.

So, Mr. President, I for one do not buy your deceptive rhetoric about your favorite charity (at U.S. taxpayer expense)—you know, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah and Muslim terrorists in general—and I pray that an ever growing number of Americans are catching on to your scam.

For more insight, read:  Islam & Christianity, A Revealing Contrast  and  Revelation 18 and the fate of America.