God speaks of the blessing of those who live godly lives.  In a contrast He also speaks of the lawless - and never does so in any kind of glowing terms.  Therefore we should realize that there is a blessing to a land that abides by its laws - and a potential disaster looming for those who ignore the rule of law.  What we are facing  more and more is a president who refuses and even flaunts the fact that he is not going to abide by the law of the land.  In the last 3 years President Obama has trampled the Constitution again and again.  He has a blatant disregard for our founding document - acting as if he is a law unto himself.  This does not bode well for our nation - and if he is not confronted soon - for our future freedom.

Whether we are referencing the federal government forcing people to buy health insurance or the most recent appointment of government officials without the consent of the Senate, this president thinks he can do whatever he wants.  So far, because we have a Congress without the backbone to oppose him and bring him to court for his offences - he can.  Our recourse in these matters is to call the president's bluff and force a Constitutional crisis.  That crisis would involve the courts determining if the president has acted outside the laws of our land.  What is sad is that even the most casual perusal of the Constitution should lead to the conclusion that our president is out of control.  But no one has the guts to call his bluff.  They probably fear being called a partisan or even worse a racist - as that is often the way that this administration deals those who oppose it.  But I care little what race a man is or what party he is from - either we have a governing document by which we determine law, or our president can make up whatever laws he chooses.  

Consider that our president began his term in office by appointing a host of so-called czars that were never received the advice and consent of Congress.  Consider that they still rule on matters without any congressional oversight.  Consider that recently the Congress itself violated the Constitution by making it legal for American citizens to be arrested and held without charges indefinitely.  Consider that our government can now use the Armed Forces against its own people.  Consider that there is an FCC law working its way through the system that will allow an unelected official to remove any website from the internet he or she wants.  The attacks against our free speech are staggering - and too often the one recourse we have, the Supreme Court, will either not hear the cases brought up or will completely ignore our Constitution in its rulings.  We are sliding down a slippery slope at a speed that very soon will not be able to be stopped.

You might ask why this matters to someone who is writing a "prophecy/news update."  It is because I believe we are watching Scripture fulfilled with this situation.  My concern is both patriotic as well as spiritual.  As a patriot I find it glaringly arrogant that the Constitution, our governing document is being treated like little more than toilet paper by a man who put his hand on a Bible and swore to uphold and defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic.  If he fulfilled this oath, he would need to resign the presidency immediately - because he, more than any other elected official is denigrating it horrifically each day he continues this unconstitutional path upon which he is currently governing.  I use the word "governing" lightly - because he acts more and more like a dictator than a president every day.  

My concern spiritually has been that God is using this president as a form of discipline and judgement upon our nation.  Jesus said that if the salt has lost its savor - it is good for nothing any longer except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  The church has departed from God in the United States.  For decades we have been watching the spiritual fervor and evangelistic zeal of God's people and God's shepherds subside.  We have watched as the moral underpinnings of the church have come loose.  We are now a nation that has the unfortunate responsibility of over 40,000,000 deaths by abortion upon us.  The blood of these children, as well as the 4000 plus additional ones put to death each and every day cries out for God's judgment.  We seem to no longer address the issue of heterosexual immorality and drunkenness that run rampant in our land.  Our college campuses turn into drunken orgies on the weekends - and many are so addicted to alcohol that by the time they finish college they are drinking almost every day to cope.  Homosexuality is arguably no longer considered a vice, but is trumpeted as a viable, acceptable alternative lifestyle.  All this continues to grow in our land - while the lethargy of the churches is palpable.  What do we expect God to do in a situation like ours?  Do we expect Him to bless America?  President Barak Obama is an instrument in the hand of God to judge our land - and he is doing his job by ignoring our Constitution and doing whatever he wants.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ . . . I do not write these words out of anger and recrimination against our president, but I write them as a warning to us all.  I could as easily bring charges against 8 years of the presidency of George W. Bush - because he did little or nothing to stand against the tsunami of immorality that has crashed against our shores with ever-increasing ferocity.  We've listened to the lie that this is about the economy - but the truth is that unless we repent and return to the Lord - our economy is the least of our problems.  

Let me finish by answering my own question, "Dude, where's my Constitution?"  Our governing document has gone the way of God's Law in our land.  We have decided that we cannot tolerate the 10 commandments any longer in America.  Long before that decision was codified, our nation was trampling on it by their moral decay.  Yet we would be amiss if we did not lay a certain amount of responsibility at the foot of the church in America.  We've lost our moral fortitude.  We've lost our boldness to speak.  We've tolerated prophetic charlatans in our pulpits who preach, "Peace, Peace!" when there is no peace.  One of our most prolific preachers refuses to speak of sin - and focuses mostly on how we can be rich and healthy and have our best life now.  In a word - we've lost our savor.  We are not salty with the gospel or the truth - and now we are being systematically being thrown out and trampled under the foot of a growing dictatorship.  That is how it has always happened historically - and that is how it is happening today.  Oh, that we would awake out of our slumber and realize that November 3, 2012 is not the day of our potential deliverance.  It will matter little who is elected in November if we do not do much before then to repent, fall to our knees, and cry for God's mercy on our MORAL FAILURE.  The trampling of the Law of God is always followed by the historic trampling of the rule of law in a nation.  That, dear saints, is usually followed by the systematic destruction of the visibility of the true church . . . and then . . . the complete discarding of any governing document and the rise of a dictator who rules by his own tyranny.

[AFTERTHOUGHT . . . May God restore us and make His face to shine upon us!  May God grant us broken repentance and return to Him and to the joy of seeking His face and walking in His ways!  May our greatest concern in the days ahead be His glory rather than our comfort within a decaying political system.  May we act with the same kind of passion in our prayers for revival in the church that we do with the positioning of ourselves to attain political victory this coming Fall.]  

The north-African region has been a hotbed of controversy for the past year.  We’ve watched as first Egypt, and now Libya have gone through popular uprisings of the people to overthrow their current dictators in favor of . . . well that is yet to be decided hasn’t it.  Our president boasts that these events of the “Arab Spring” as he calls it, will result in greater freedom and peace for the entire region.  Yet as time moves on – it seems that his predictions – as well as his actions are going to bring anything but peace in this region. 

Egypt was supposed to become a wonderful democracy after the political overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, their former dictator.  Please understand that I am not a Mubarak fan – he was a brutal dictator.  But as we’ve learned over the years often in matters of foreign affairs, the devil we know is often better than the devil we do not know.  Such seems to be the case with Egypt.  What seems to be rising out of the ashes of the Mubarak regime is a fragile alliance between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood.  This second group has proven to be a radical Islamic group who desire Islamic law to rule Egypt.  They also are a group who does not favor peace with Israel.  All this took a new turn as a series of events recently have caused Israeli Egyptian relations to reach their lowest point in almost 30 years. 

The Sinai Peninsula has been the site of a series of attacks by Gaza-based militants which resulted in the deaths of eight Israelis.  When Israel retaliated against these terrorists, three Egyptians with their defense forces were killed.  This resulted in demonstrations in the streets in Egypt – and even an unprecedented call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador there.  One demonstrator climbed up and ripped down the Israeli flag from their embassy in Egypt.  Currently negotiators and envoys from several nations are seeking to defuse the situation.  There has also been a rare Israeli government apology for the deaths of the Egyptians. 

What this situation is revealing is that the former government of Hosni Mubarak, which desired more peaceful relations with Israel, is being replaced with a far more anti-Israeli government that reflects the position of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Times are changing in the Islamic world.  This is also true in Libya as well.  The Obama administration has entered into military actions with that state in the hope that their dictator, Khadaffi, may be overthrown.  But once again, what is in the wake of this overthrow is a government that will be far more agreeable to the demands of the Muslim street.  As with the situation in Egypt, the Muslim street’s views are better represented by the Muslim Brotherhood than by more moderate Muslims (if there are any when it comes to Israel). 

What does all this mean to us who believe that the Last Days of the Bible are going to come to pass just as God has promised?  It means that there are ominous developments that point to a group of nations eerily similar to that of Ezekiel 38:1-6 are arising in this region – all of which are becoming more and more anti-Israel in their political views.  Egypt is listed in this group, along with Libya as well.  Added to this group is the ancient location of Ethiopia.  The geography of this place better fits the nation of Northern Sudan which is another radical Islamic state.  When you add Turkey to this group – things start getting a little wild, since Turkey has elected a far more radical Islamic government, which has become far less friendly with Israel over the past 2-3 years.  The other nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 include the “- stan” nations of the Russian Steppe region – Khazakstan, Tagikistan, etc.  These are joined with Iran, whose hatred for Israel is unmatched by any other nation on earth presently.  The final piece of this puzzle is Russia, which now has strengthened its ties with these nations who will one day come together to attack Israel from the north. 

Our president thinks that what has happened in Egypt and Libya is a good thing.  He hopes for new governments in these two states (and Syria is not too far behind them either) where their former dictator is replaced with pro-western democracies that will bring a new era of peace to the Middle East.  That is not happening currently, but instead these nations are being more and more radicalized.  This means that we are facing a serious crisis in the region.  One that will most likely lead to a war that will engulf the entire region.  This is not a “good thing” – but rather a “God thing.”  God is setting up this region along previously prophesied lines – for an event He has told us WILL come prior to the start of the 7 year Great Tribulation period.  As we watch these nations further radicalized in their views toward Israel, we can know that whether things are as imminent as we think or not – the alignment of nations is very similar to that of the Biblical narrative.  Is this just the luck of the draw – or the unseen hand of God getting things ready for the return of Christ?  It should be no shock to those of you who know me that I strongly believe it is the latter of these two things.  Stay ready saints – and keep yourself in the love of God and the preparation of your heart for His imminent return.  But then again – this should not be done because of the nightly news – but because of the command of Scripture.

Events surrounding our military actions in Libya are being viewed with a collective yawn in many parts of our country.  Yet what has happened and the way that it was done send shivers down the spines of those who realize that protections that our constitution are supposed to give us - and the way that it is not being followed.  Yet for me, the danger here has been a long time coming - and has very little to do with our constitution.

A brief word of explanation is in order.  Recent events in Libya have drawn the attention of our government.  It is no shock to anyone conversant with history to know that the president of Libya is an insane thug who rules by the unjust use of power, torture, and intimidation of his people.  It is just that recent events have drawn our attention to the mental unstability of Khadafi.  Those events involved his people rising up and challenging his authority.  As things quickly turned toxic in his nation he began to do greater and greater injustices to his people - and eventually he began using his air-force to bomb his enemies into submission.  At that point the UN decided to jump into the fray - being urged by Europe to do something.  What is not truthfully being reported to us is that Europe gets a large amount of their oil and gasoline from Libya - but for now we will leave that hot potatoe alone.  To make a long story significantly shorter - the UN authorized a no-fly zone to be put into place.  Sound military strategy and theory mandated that in doing this Libya's air defense capability be destroyed - as well as aspects of their air-force as well.  This steamed ahead - and resulted in our country using its military to strike with its air-force to start the operation.  Here is where things get sticky consitutionally.

What the constitution requires for us to act militarily is a declaration of war.  This is to be done by the Congress - who then turns the operations of the war itself over to the presidency - who then prosecutes the war toward victory.  Over the past couple of decades this whole aspect of our constitutional process has gotten foggy to say the least.  More and more we have chosen to have Congress approve military action short of a declaration of war.  But, even in these situations, we at least followed aspects of the Constitution having Congress involved in the decision making process.  But, this time, under our current administration, this process was completely ignored - and the president authorized an action on his own.  He did so on his own authority - and apart from any true submission to the ruling documents of our country.  Again, as I said at the beginning of this article, outside of a few statements, our country has used the ends (a crazy dictator killing his own people) to justify the means (our president ignoring the law and acting on his own).  But this action - along with countless others bode very ominous things for our country.  Let me explain.

Jesus made a very interesting and ominous comment in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said, that if the salt has lost its savor - it is good for nothing any longer, except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men."  Throughout the history of the world this has happened again and agian as nations that began with Christian principles and ways, turned from them.  In each and every situation what happened was that a godless ruler arose and pretty much crushed the church as a dictatorship developed in that country.  Now some reading this may not be putting two and two together, so let me make this far more plain to you.

We currently do not have any political party that is willing to truly put moral issues at the forefront of its platform.  Some might protest saying that the Republicans have a platform opposing abortion.  This is true, but I do not think anyone is under the delusion that they truly have acted to DO something about it.  In addition to this I have watched with a broken heart as this country (and both parties) have done nothing about the growing homosexual agenda.  Homosexual marriage is gaining ground every year - as our elected officials have done little more than posture for votes about the issue.  In the TRUE picture of our nation it is NOT the economy stupid - it is our morals - and our penchant to ignore and overlook the call of Scripture to be a godly nation that matters.  Some decry the foolish decisions being made in the highest levels of our government.  They wonder why decisions are being promoted that in effect are weakening and destroying our nation.  Yet, none of these things are all that strange to me any longer.  They are not strange because I am watching the evangelical movement in the United States leave God.  They have decided that the moral issues of our day are global warming, social justice, and painting Israel as an evil state that is hurting the Palestinians.  They do this while we continue to exterminate 4000 babies a day - and call what God considers an abomination - not so bad. 

The "Ominous" truth that I see on our horizon is that of Matthew chapter 5:13 where Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  We've lost our saltiness and have become as tasteless as the world around us.  We no longer speak with any biblical relevence to our society - because we are fear speaking the things said in the Bible.  Therefore we will continue to watch our governing officials make no sense whatsoever.  They will continue to weaken our nation.  They will continue to ignore the Constitution and rule on their own authority.  In fact, one day, unless we repent and return to God with all our hearts, I believe we will watch as our Constitutional Republic goes down in flames and is replaced by a dictatorship or an Oligarchy of the few.  In that day - in light of how unpopular true biblical Christianity is becoming, we will then watch the systematic persecution of the church in America.  I know that to some this may sound borderline crazy - but the more I study the Scriptures - the more I see it rising on the horizon of our own historical context. 

How can we stop this from happening?  First of all, I am not sure we can - nor am I convinced that God may not be engineering such a thing in His providence.  The issue is if it is too late for us to truly "turn our nation around."  But the real question here is not whether we can salvage our nation - but whether we are going to salvage our testimony in the midst of it.  That is the real question to answer here.  The church needs to repent - you and I need to repent.  We need to return to Biblical Christianity - that puts the gospel and the glory and honor of God first and foremost in our lives.  That would be a start.  Then we need to turn from our sin and boldly preach and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This may actually speed up the persecution in our nation.  If we begin boldly proclaiming the gospel - people may become very offended with it.  But that is not really the issue is it.  THE issue for us is whether we are going to hold fast to the truth - preach it - live it - and if necessary - die for it.  When the church begins living this way - it will return to its true roots.  And those roots are not set in the protection of any one nation or people - but are firmly set in working for a kingdom that is not of this world.