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On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau from the Nazi's. What they found there was absolutely horrifying. As they neared the camp, the Americans found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies in various states of decomposition. Inside the camp there were more bodies and 30,000 survivors, most severely emaciated. The German citizens of the town of Dachau were later forced to bury the 9,000 dead inmates found at the camp. In April and May of 2019, testimony was given that babies that were aborted with beating hearts were then taken to be dissected for body parts. We may even remember the "scandal" that this caused for a short period of time. In the end what did WE do as a nation? Nothing. It ran the news cycle and then went away. Maybe what needs to happen is for all of us to have to pick up the bodies and bury them. There is little difference between what Germany did during WWII and what we are doing today. Oh, there is one difference. We've known this has been going on since 1973 and have done little or nothing to stop it. For those who would argue with me, I would ask a couple simple questions. #1 - Are we still aborting 3500-4000 babies a day in America? #2 - Do we KNOW that this practice or organ harvesting, even to babies with beating hearts, has stopped? Have those who did it been brought to justice under KNOWN statutes that they have violated? #3 - Has the scope of abortion expanded in our lifetime? What I mean is this: Abortion began as being done during the first trimester. Now it is allowed - no better said - it is lauded even to moments beyond a baby being outside of the womb. (That, by the way, is called infanticide.) #4 - Has the Supreme Court done anything to even limit abortion in our nation? Before you answer yes, consider the most recent decision where Justice John Roberts completely flipped to support abortion and resist restrictions made by states on it. #5 - When is the last time you went to a prayer meeting where one of the main focuses was crying out to God for our culpability in this - and asking Him to move to bring an end to abortion in America? I've preached consistently that what we've seen in 2020 is probably only the beginning of what God is bringing upon America for the blood of 61,000,000 babies aborted since 1973. Please do not leave this post until you read the following Scriptures. And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood. Psalm 106:38 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness . . . Their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways. 8 They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace. Isaiah 59:1-3, 7-8 NOTE: Many parts of this passage are quoted by Paul in Romans 3:10-18 "But your eyes and your heart Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, And on shedding innocent blood And on practicing oppression and extortion." Jeremiah 22:17 "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Jeremiah 7:5-7 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, Proverbs 6:16-18 In Deuteronomy 21 God put a practice in place for Israel to make sure that they were not guilty of innocent blood. It was made clear by God that a nation that sheds innocent blood is a nation He will call to an accountability for that innocent blood. This is why the last two verses I will share are so terrifying to me. They have to do with King Manaseh, whose reign was marked with the shedding of innocent blood from one end of the kingdom to the other. Here is what God said about his kingdom and the future after that. Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD. 2 Kings 21:16 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 The LORD sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the command of the LORD it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not forgive. 2 KINGS 24:1-4 May God have mercy on me - on us - on the church in America - and on America as a nation. It is ONLY MERCY that stays His final hand of judgment. This will not be popular - but things are going to get worse, brothers and sisters - much worse. When God spoke the word about Manasseh, the judgment came 2 kings later. There was even a revival under Josiah (except the people did not turn with all their heart - but only in a feigned way - Jeremiah 3:10). But God said this about those days, "However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him." 2 Kings 36:26 Under President Barak Obama abortion flourished like it has never done in the history of our nation. Much like Manasseh, his administration did much to provoke the Lord to anger. You cannot shed innocent blood and not have this be the case. But it was under the Trump administration that the abuses of the abortion industry came to light - and basically nothing of any real consequence happened. Since that time we've watched state after state, emboldened by the Supreme Court, making laws that allow abortion to the very moment of birth - and honestly - beyond. Now we find ourselves in 2020 in an unprecedented time of decline in our nation. As I said earlier - things are going to get worse - much worse. God gave a prophecy at a service at Calvary Chapel many years ago. It was a very simple one. Thus says the Lord, "As the safety of the baby in the womb, so shall be the safety of the United States of America." "Is there any hope, pastor?" I can hear many saying. Yes, there is always hope. But our hope is in the mercy of God. It is also found in a response to Him and His Word. So I will say to you, "Yes, there is hope. Repent, return to God, and do not rely on "we were founded as a Christian nation." We have long since abandoned any godly foundation and have turned to shedding much innocent blood. Rely on the mercies of God - and on crying out to Him in prayer for continued mercy - and for a true revival that will be seen in our altars being filled with weeping and confession of sin. A hope for a return to "normal" - where we can do what we did prior to 2020 - is a vain hope. Ours is a choice between repentance and return - and destruction. May God truly have mercy on His church in this hour.
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 Well folks, it’s over. According to a well-known televangelist on TV - he, as a prophet of God, commanded that the COVID19 virus was healed and that its authority in America was over. According to him - that night - at his pronouncement and demand - the COVID19 virus was cast out of the USA. (Kenneth Copeland Ministries - telecast on March 29, 2020)
Why am I writing about such a things? Because it is dangerous and false doctrine like this that will cause great shame and reproach to come upon the church in these difficult days. Unfortunately, there will be those who will hear this, who will “name it and claim it” for themselves, and who will then take no precautions in the future. We’ve already seen what this kind of stuff can do in Arkansas. Now it has a greater likeliness of happening elsewhere among those who hold to such terrible doctrine as this. Am I saying that God cannot heal the COVID19 virus and eradicate it from the entire United States? He can. Do I believe that this false prophet’s declaration did it? Nope. The reality is that false prophecy uttered by a false prophet has not come true - because today there continues to be new cases found, and people will die of it by tomorrow. That means that this individual is a false prophet. No one should listen to him or fear or follow anything he says. He needs to repent and stop teaching and following a false doctrine that says he can make pronouncements using Jesus’ name - and they have to come to pass. The truly sad thing about this false doctrine is that when people don’t experience healing - and when, as it did, the coronavirus continues to spread in our nation - this false prophet will say it is only because those who get sick and die did not have enough faith. So, in the end, the problem is not with the prophet - it is with the terrible person who did not believe enough. Let’s take a look at Scripture for a few moments. God spoke of those He would send as prophets to Israel. But in the process God revealed that some might say, “How will we know?” Look at the passage below: "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. Deut. 18:21-22 God’s answer was very simple. When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not come true - the Lord has not spoken. It is that simple. Now, if the pronouncement made - or honestly, the demand that was shouted - does not come to pass, then the ones making it are not prophets and the Lord has not spoken through them. The mark for a true prophets of God is 100% accuracy in his or her prophecies. There is no room for fudging on this. There was a false teaching out at a supposed school of prophets that we learn how to prophesy. If we get a few wrong, we will learn from it and prophesy better next time. Sadly, that does not square with God’s Word. Note what is said happened when both Samuel and Agabus prophesied below. Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail. 20 All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. 1 Samuel 3:19-20 As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" Acts 21:10-11 There we see an Old Testament and a New Testament prophet. Both had their prophecies come to pass. Agabus even prophesied of a famine that would come - and it came. Here is the danger in such false doctrine as that which happened on March 29th of this year. People who follow these two men will ignore any wisdom in going out into the world and taking precautions against catching this virus. As a result some will most likely contract it - and sadly some may even die as a result. The shame and disgrace and ill will that will come upon Christians for this will be great. We are already seeing where those in the media are mocking things like this - and who lump all Christian’s together. They say we are dangerous - and should be treated accordingly. Saints, please be wise when it comes to televangelists and supposed prophets who claim to speak for God. If their pronouncements do not come true - they are charlatans who are deceived at least, and dangerous at worst. God does want us to pray in faith - but the faith we have is in His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Our faith is not in what we decide to shout in demands of God. Our faith is in coming humbly before Him - even boldly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. It is interesting that we don’t find one instance in the New Testament of any apostle or believer commanding God to do something. Our place is not to put our DEMANDS before Him - shouting things like this: "In the name of Jesus, standing in the office of the profit of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19...I call you gone...No more...And the United States of America is healed and well again...It's dead. At exactly 12 noon on the 29th day of March. It's over. It's over." These are the demands of a false prophet - not the humble requests of a servant of God. Just remember saints, the next day, and today the 31st COVID19 isn’t gone - it isn’t no more. It is NOT over. If anything, these two false prophets are making declarations contrary to God’s will. Consider these words of Scripture. "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.” Deut. 28:58-59 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, 31 that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. 2 Chronicles 6:28-31 By biblical terminology what we are experiencing is a plague. It is honestly nothing like the Beubonic plague or the Great Plague of the Spanish Flue of 1918. Nevertheless it is a plague that has come upon the world - and upon the United States. Honestly, if you want to look at a biblical response to this, it would be that we should do the following:
So, we’ve seen 3,580 since February 29th, when the first man died of Coronavirus in the state of Washington. The numbers we have reflect deaths in 30 days due to COVID19. Since February 29th, a rough estimate of the abortions in the United States has been around 2300 per day (that is a low number because it does not take into account abortions induced by medicines - that number would be more like 3000 per day). That would mean that since COVID19 began taking lives in the United States, we’ve taken the lives of 69,000 babies in the womb. We’ve seen 65,420 more deaths by abortion than by COVID19 since it started. Worldwide, the abortion rate is conservatively said to be 125,000 per day (Other reliable estimates say it is as high as 170,000 per day - but we will go with the Guttmacher Institute’s numbers). That means that while COVID19 has resulted in roughly 41,660 deaths since the first reported death in Wuhan, China on January 9th, abortion in that time (82 days) has resulted in 10,250,000 babies being aborted. So, we’ve seen 10,208,340 more deaths due to abortion than COVID19. Why did I go through all that morbid math above? It is because our nation and our world is deep red in the death of the unborn. 10,208,340 more dead from it than even from the dreaded COVID19. Please stay with me because there is a reason I went through all this. Our false prophets (remember them) made a declaration that COVID19 was over on the evening of March 29th. It was a false prophecy. But do you think for one moment that God is willing to cut us free from this plague, or any other plague, when during the same amount of time we’ve killed 65,000 more babies in the United States, and over 10,000,000 more worldwide? I am neither a prophet or a son of a prophet. But I am a student of the Scriptures. Oh, and by the way, I am writing this to speak to the biblically orthodox, conservative Christians in America, not those who do not know Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ - we are in God’s crosshairs. It is not time to embrace false doctrines or false teachers who would dare proclaim COVID19 over and done - while the blood of 69,000 babies in the U.S. still remains. We’re responsible for 60 million plus babies aborted since 1973. Do you really think that we are not under God’s discipline for this - if not His judgment? Now is the time for serious, deeply repentant, broken-hearted prayer in our nation. We don’t need false prophets to declare false prophecies to ease our burden in this time. We need a greater burden. We need for prayer to begin to grow at a rate far more exponential than what we are seeing with COVID19. We’ve now had 2 weeks with more time on our hands than usual. Unfortunately, too many have decided that the purpose for this time is to binge-watch old TV shows and movies. I have to honestly say I’ve watched too much on TV - and spent too little time crying out to God for my own heart, as well as the hearts of those in God’s church. If there was ever a time for prayer meetings to be flooded with the concerned (albeit through platforms like Zoom instead of in person) who are praying for a reviving among God’s people and awakening in our nation it is now. If there was ever a time to cry out to God that deaths due to abortion would cease, it is now! My prayer is that we would not listen to false prophets, but that God would raise up true ones to speak to His people. Prophets who would write down our sin with an iron stylus and call us to repent and return to God. Those who prophesy only good things, according to God’s Word - will have plenty who flock to them. They will find in the end that they will be disappointed because of the lies they believed. But may God grant us true prophets who will remind us of the following. "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (emphasis mine) Think about it. We quote this verse over and over again and yet, are unwilling to go back 7 words and see that the context for this kind of prayer is NOW. And what is said seven words earlier? God says, ". . . if I send pestilence among My people". That is an astounding thing to read, isn't it? My hope then is now that we have read it - we would respond. Let us pray. (Photo used by permission, CDC via Unsplash - cdc-L0jLHqF7Q94-unsplash.jpg)  I recently read an article on facebook that God used greatly in my life to bring about an awakening of sorts. The article is entitled, “Enjoy your transgender bathrooms. We just lost America.” Below is a link to the article. (I do need to warn you that the author uses one curse word in a description of our elected leaders – so please be aware of this in advance)
http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/ The author of this article does a good job and is very eloquent at identifying some of the problems in our nation. There is only one thing I noticed as I finished the article. I didn’t really see a whole lot of answers being offered – except to shut off the TV and the myriad of screens in our homes and enjoy the innocence of the writer’s little child. These are good things – but not enough to honestly see any change in the things that the author was seeing in our nation. In all candor, there honestly will be no real unity in our country until we realize just what we are "unifying" under in the area of our worldview. The division comes because we (and I include myself) are selfish, self-centered, and sinful. That will NOT change until the hearts of men and women are confronted by the Gospel for the purpose of being changed by that same Gospel. Then the gospel will facilitate and empower us to turn from self to God. Then God will change our hearts so that we will live for the glory of God and not the glory of our own self-love. HOW DO WE GET THAT TO HAPPEN!? It begins when I repent of MY sin - MY selfishness - MY self-centered living - MY lack of love for God - MY coldness and indifference to the glory and honor of God and to the fact that I am not living FOR HIM! It continues as I am broken - I return to Him with all my heart and all my soul - and then expend all my strength for His purposes once again. It grows as I then get right with MY wife - MY children - MY brothers and sisters in Christ - MY neighbors - and even with MY enemies (whom I should be loving and praying for - more than protesting against and being infuriated with for their practices, politics, and public ungodliness). This is not so that I can just sit and let society degrade and dissolve - but so that I can be in a position to actually DO something about the plight of our society and world. Real change will begin first and foremost with me being right with God, right with my family, and right with my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ! The church has not been salt to preserve our world - or light to illumine it of its need of God (and by the way – we are the only real hope of either of those two things happening). The emptiness of our spiritual lives is what is killing our nation. It is not the emptiness of the wicked - but the emptiness that I MYSELF have and am promoting. I am promoting it by not being filled with the Holy Spirit. I am promoting it by lacking an impassioned love for my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. I am promoting it by not loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength – and evidencing that love by being obedience to God. I am promoting it by not having my chief desire to be seeing Him honored and glorified by the proclamation of the gospel that will bring people into a right relationship with Him. This gospel is the ONLY thing that can truly alter people’s hearts and turn them to a pursuit of godliness out of a fear and love for God. Here is what I see - and it lets me know that things may not change very soon (but oh how I hope they do by the working and power of God). I personally pastor a small to medium church. Our prayer meetings - especially the one set on Wednesday night that is most convenient for people to attend - are empty for the most part. There is no great concern being poured out by the saints who should be the most concerned about these things. The other prayer times - most of which are in the mornings at 6 a.m. are for the most part empty as well. That speaks volumes to me - and to God as well. We may be concerned enough to post an article on facebook - or even comment or press LIKE when reading that article - but we are, as of yet, not moved enough by our circumstances to seek out a unity in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not moved enough yet to cry out to God for His work of revival in our own hearts and in the church (which I truly believe is the only hope for us in our nation). I am not lifting myself up in this - because I've been delinquent in making the choice to go to bed early enough to make the early morning prayer meetings for about 2 weeks now (and for that I am currently ashamed of the coldness and hardness of my heart evidenced by my lack of commitment to pray together with a few brothers). I truly intend to change that immediately and ask for your prayers that my cold, indifferent heart would be revived and changed so that, as a pastor and supposed spiritual leader, I won’t continue to be part of the problem. The state of the church leads me to make the following prediction, which I believe to be in accord with what we see in Scripture. God will continue to allow things to fall apart further and with greater consequence until we are moved by how bad it gets - to finally turn to Him in personal - and then corporate prayer. He said in Matthew 5:13 that if the salt has lost its savor/flavor - it is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Historically that has meant that the government of the nation in which the church finds itself will become more and more totalitarian and anti-Christian so that persecution will motivate us to turn to Him and seek Him once again. Please forgive me for sounding too adamant about all this. If you will grant me mercy, which I need desperately, I need to be the first one to read what I've written. I need to repent - and lead the way by example once again, and to do so by crying out to God for a personal revival, a revival among the men in our church, and then a revival in the whole church. And maybe, if God is merciful to the extreme, maybe a spiritual awakening in our land. But . . . even if He does not choose to do that in our nation, there should be no lack of revival in my own heart as I return to Him in repentance and a passionate pursuit of knowing, loving, and serving Him with all my heart. I am committed to doing this immediately. For you see – the falling of America is not due to a bathroom issue – a marriage issue – or a “ungodliness among the masses” issue. The fall of America has been due to a spiritually impotent church. The spiritual impotence of the church has been due to cold and hardened hearts among her pastors and leaders. Unless these things are FIRST addressed – there is little hope for our nation. May God have mercy on me - and on the United States of America.  Just musing on the future . . .
I am a pastor - and one who holds ultimate value in the Word of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life. As such I cannot compromise how I teach God's Word to fit how my culture views what God calls sin. I also cannot adopt how many in the church are altering the message of the Gospel to fit our culture's sexual revolution. (Just a note - that revolution began in the 60's when heterosexual immorality was embraced - not just in the 2000's with the most recent downward step into homosexual marriage and its legalization last summer by the courts). This places me squarely in the sites of those who at one time said all they wanted was tolerance - but who now have made it clear that they will not tolerate God's revelation on these matters. I am writing this now because the day will come when such things cannot be spoken or written without censure, severe fines, and eventually arrest. That is where our culture is going - that is where our nation is going - and that is what I am viewing at present in my mind's eye. I am neither a prophet nor a son of a prophet. But I am a student of history - both secular and biblical. Therefore here is what I see as I muse on the future. We are already living in a day when they will not put up with sound doctrine - but will gather to themselves teachers according to their own lusts. This will grow steadily worse - to the point where sexual immorality (especially "living together" and homosexuality) will rarely be mentioned. It will all be about love and tolerance and acceptance. There will be little mention of sin and how God points out exactly what sin is - and how He responds to it. Judgment will be a dirty word. In many ways the apostate church will be a tool in the hand of the enemy to attack the remnant on these matters. The statement will be something like this. "We need reasonable churches - not ones that dogmatically judge everyone according to 'their interpretation' of what the Bible means." This will be a rallying cry to shut down free speech not only in the public sector - but even within the walls of church itself. There will be a growing list of laws that hem in Biblical believers so that they cannot express their views in public. Those that do will find themselves facing the wrath of a legal system that no longer protects religious freedom when it comes to holding Biblical beliefs dealing with sin. There will be fines, re-education, and for those who continue to resist arrests. Businesses will be forced to conform to a "way of doing business" that is inclusive, except for how they treat biblical believers. Churches will be facing several changes that will soon be coming to us via the courts. There will be challenges to freedom of religion as the state forces itself into situations where the need for "thought conformity" is necessary. This will lead to first the church being told it can only preach within its walls - that internet access can be denied on the basis of hate speech (i.e. saying heterosexual and homosexual sin is wrong, gender is something assigned by God at birth). The air waves will slowly be shut down to churches as well, based on these same things. There will also be challenges to the tax exempt status of churches and gifts to them. Eventually tax exempt status and tax deductions for gifts will be either restricted (to government accepted churches) or done away with all together. The state will hold title to all benevolent giving - which will be based on their accepted guidelines (which will be politically motivated and doled out as reward for conformity to the state agenda). Eventually the psychiatric community will join the state in condemning outright those who hold to sexual immorality being sin. This will be seen as a mental disorder - making the way for some to be institutionalized for their beliefs. Pastor's sermons will become subject to law suits - if they are deemed by the state courts to contain the new definitions of hate speech. This will lead to bankruptcy for some churches - while others will accept court rulings to either fire their pastor or face serious fines and government backlash. Pastors who preach such things will be sent off to prison for "speech violations" or for re-education in some sort of internment camp. Many godly men will be detained, arrested, and will disappear in these situations. The true church will go underground in America. Facing these things - facing the loss of their leader(s) - facing the loss of their facilities - and facing the specter of losing their freedom - many will show their true colors and become apostate. They will either flock to government sanctioned churches - or will leave the things of God altogether. The church will shrink back to a size that matches those who are truly born again. It will seem sad and discouraging - but it will be a much godlier church - given to intercessory prayer - and willing to suffer for Christ any cost. There will be a brokenness that will prevail with the true remnant - and will lead to churches underground who glorify God in all they do. Many will risk gave danger to witness to others of the gospel - but oh what a glorious church it will be! Some may think I've lost my mind saying such things. Others may criticize for this sounding so defeatist. But I would only remind them that what I've described here is what has happened in the communist countries of the Soviet Union (now Russia), China, countries behind the former Iron and Bamboo curtain, and now is happening slowly in Europe and Canada. These countries are further down the road to Socialism than we are presently - but we seem to be gaining steam (Ominously so with the candidacy and success of Bernie Sanders at present). This actually is not any kind of prophecy - it is a history lesson. It is one that is NOT being taught to our children, because we've forgotten what sacrifices were made on our behalf to fight Communism and Socialism. As far as "negativism" or "defeatist" rhetoric - I can only answer that any true rallying cry needs to first swallow a cup full of realism first. I am about to issue a rallying cry - but it is one that will most likely be rejected - as it was throughout history - both biblical and secular. Church awake! These are not days in which we should falter or get lost in the midst of what is going on around us. These are days much like those Paul spoke of when he said this in Romans 13:11-14, "And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." (NASB77) Repent and return to Jesus Christ precious saints. The day is late - very late in our nation. The stakes are enormously high in an hour in which we must prepare our hearts to be "strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." This should not shock us that the world hates us - because it hated Him and still does. It is a day to remember the height from which we have fallen, repent, and do the first works again. Works of seeking God's face - confession of sin - submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ - humbling ourselves and praying - and seeing our first love restored so that there is nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING more precious to us than the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood so violence is to be repudiated in our cause. We are to return to a white hot love for Jesus - a white hot love for one another in the church. We are to return to holiness, mortification of sin (our own), and a selfless, self-giving, gospel-centered, gospel-proclaiming life lived for the glory of God in all things. Saints - I am in the same place as all of you. Such things shake me and cause me to tremble. May it be that we tremble in fear of God and not in fear of man. May it be that our trembling and fear bring us back to Him - back to seeking, loving, and knowing Him as the greatest of all things in our lives. I dearly love all of you and only hope to be found, along with you, faithful to Him in this hour. May God have mercy on the church in the United States. - PJ -  May God give us wisdom to see calamity and disaster as a call to Himself. May we not give in to a world defined only by what is visible - explaining the problems of our world only in humanistic terms. May God give us grace to grasp His transcendent hand behind all that is allowed on the earth.
Recent events have had us reeling in our minds when it comes to grasping what is happening in our world. One of the reasons for this is because our news reporting agencies and our governing officials have a humanistic world view. When they see the Paris attacks, the Colorado Springs and San Bernardino shooting rampages - they only see things from human perspective. They have rejected even the thought of God - and some even shame anyone who says that they are praying for those whose lives have been devastated by these events. "God is not fixing this," is their rallying cry. Therefore WE have to fix it. The inference in this is that there is no God - only human understanding and human action. Things were not always like this. There were those in our past who saw God's providential hand and dealings in all that He allowed in this world. When calamity broke loose upon a people our leaders turned to God - especially if such things came in a time of spiritual decline in the hearts of those throughout the nation. Abraham Lincoln called for a day of fasting, prayer and public humiliation (meaning humbling of oneself before God and confession of sin) in the midst of the Civil War. He spoke of things like our national pride and arrogance - and urged humbling ourselves before Him. This happened often in the early days of our nation because our leaders - and especially our pulpits were filled with men of God who did not shrink from declaring the Word of God to our nation. Today I read one of the passages that they would turn to in times of distress - and it spoke like a thundering from heaven to me. I hope it will prove helpful to you as I share it this week. “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy? Amos 3:2-8 | NASB Amos prophesied in Israel in a time of horrific sin and decline in the nation. The early chapters of his prophetic word from the Lord were filled with what God was going to do because of the gross sins of the nations. The pagan nations were being punished because of terrible sins that are shocking to our senses as we read of them. But when the Lord speaks of Israel and Judah - their worst sins were departing from Him and turning to other gods who led them into godless and sexually immoral living. To read of the disaster that was to come is to read of far more than shootings - it is to read of entire armies destroyed and cities demolished. Just as in our day - those in their day asked the question, "Why?" Amos starts with a statement: "I chose you among all the families of the earth - and therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Whether we get it or not - that is a very loving promise, because the Lord disciplines those He loves. After Amos makes this statement from God - he goes into a series of easily understood analogies. All of these statements are those that no one would question until he reaches his last question. "If a calamity happens in a city has not the Lord done it?" We find ourselves nodding in agreement without question until we read over this last and most important statement. Well - we do in our day. But that is because we've bought into the lie that we are the masters of our own fate. God, through Amos, presents a different view of things. First of all - calamity - is from the Lord. This is especially the case when it is calamity in a nation that has rejected Him and run after wickedness. God brings calamity to turn us from our godlessness. That is the kindest thing He can do considering the facts of eternity and His final judgment that is coming. But Amos gives us more to think about here. God also does nothing unless He first reveals His secret counsel to His prophets. You see a loving God also warns us when He is about to do something. He does so through His prophets as He reveals Himself to them. It is their responsibility to announce His Word to the people. The way that Amos refers to this is by saying the following, "A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord has spoken but who can but prophesy?" Maybe we should take a look at this. When God speaks in this situation, it is as a lion roaring. That is a figure of speech that is meant to incite a sense of fear and trembling. God acts in allowing calamity in a nation to bring it to a point where it fears God and turns to Him. But this is only known when God's prophets speak - and do so boldly. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks America seemed to turn to God - at least the churches were much more full than they were before the attacks. But for the majority there was no prophetic message coming from the men of God. After our current string of attacks we find rather than a turning to God that there is a mocking of Him. Prayer is considered by many as a useless platitude that changes nothing. Those who would pray are shamed for doing so. But in all honesty - who can blame them when what passes for prophecy lately is the words of the false prophets who say that all is well. When prophets steal their words from one another saying that God is going to bless you with health, wealth, and prosperity even as you act wickedly and spend your faith-obtained riches on yourself and your pleasures, there is not a true prophet in the whole lot of them. They are blind guides leading the blind - and both will fall into a pit as things continue to turn worse in our nation. We need a true prophet of God who will speak boldly against sin - first his own in broken repentance before God in his personal times with Him - and then that of a church and nation that has turned far from God. He needs to speak without reservation about what IS happening in our nation - and where God is acting to bring us back to Himself. He must speak as the roaring of a lion publicly - and yet have the heart of a Jeremiah who weeps over the wound of his people. We desperately need such men in this hour. Dear saints of God - here is the truth. What has happened in San Bernardino - and in many other places is only indicative of what IS going to be happening in the days ahead. The shootings and rampages will get worse - and no law passed by government will be able to stop them. What is happening with the growing unrest and discontent over race relations is only going to increase to the point of riots that cause smoke to rise from our cities as they burn in the throes of raging protests. What happened in 2008 where we saw the stock market plunge with trillions being lost and fortunes being lost - is only a drop in the bucket of what is on our horizon. In addition to this we are going to begin watching as our military is decimated in future encounters as they no longer have the blessing of God upon their endeavors. I fear worst of all is the specter of a mushroom cloud billowing over one or more of our cities as the discipline of God reaches its peak. Fear and trembling will grip our nation as it reacts in horror to these things. And yet - as long as there is the possibility of repentance and return to God - there is hope. Recently a young man asked me whether there is any hope for America. My answer to him was that Nineveh was 3 days from being destroyed - and when the people repented - God showed them mercy and relented from the evil that was coming. Therefore there is hope - but not a hope in government (on either side of the aisle). There is hope - but not in manmade solutions of no guns or more guns. There is hope - but not in our bank accounts - fancy new cars - massive homes - or even new jets for a television false prophet. Our hope is in the mercies of God. Our hope is in people turning to Him in prayer - in repentance - and in humbling themselves and turning from wicked ways. I do not say this lightly saints - but outside of this - there is no hope nor is there any future for our nation. God is disciplining and punishing our cities. God is speaking through His prophets. He is roaring in our land. Are we listening? Have we heard? Will we respond? What is happening in our world today? It seems that over the past several years the world around us has become much more dangerous. The recent Paris terror attacks are a reminder of the ability of our enemies to strike at the very heart of western nations. As I thought about such things recently I read in the book of 1 Kings some things we should take very seriously. We should read these things and fear God - and turn to prayer for our own hearts, the hearts of those we love, and the hearts of those who lead our country in this hour.
As many of us labor to understand what is happening to our nation, we unfortunately labor under the thought that this is a Christian nation. While this nation was founded for the most part on wise and godly principles, we need to come to grips with the reality that our nation no longer functions under those principles. Our nation moved away from God in the 1950’s and 1960’s and adopted a lax attitude toward heterosexual immorality and divorce. That was followed by the abortion decision in 1973 and the greed that began to seriously infect our land in the 1980’s and 1990’s. By the 2000’s we had left just about every godly principle there was to abandon - and had become a very godless nation. The leadership of our Republic had abandoned itself to the radical immorality and godless attitudes that had infected the airwaves for decades. What I am trying to recount for you is the fact that our nation has abandoned following and serving God - and has chosen instead to follow and serve the flesh instead. There is a biblical example of this kind of abandonment of God by a nation. It happened in the latter years of king Solomon of Israel. He is not the only example of it - but because of how God dealt with him - we need to take a closer look at the late years of his reign as king. Solomon began as a godly man - but his love of “many foreign women” brought him low. God warned of this - but Solomon chose his sensual desires over God’s Word and ways. As a result in his latter years he did not follow the Lord , but turned away from Him. He began to worship other gods as his foreign wives influenced him more and more. Note the narrative given to us in 1 Kings 11 - “For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 1 Kings 11:4-8 (NASB) As Solomon turned away from God he was led to worship other false gods. The worship of these gods involved sexual immorality, the depreciation of marriage, and eventually homosexual acts and even the sacrificing of babies to the horrible god Molech. It was a descent that almost mirrors that of our own nation. Thus it should be no surprise that God is dealing with us much like He did with Solomon. It might be wise of us to see how God disciplined Solomon and judged his sin. “Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded. 1 Kings 11:9-10 (NASB) God was angry with Solomon for his actions and choices. As a result of this, God began to take the kingdom away from Solomon - and eventually all but Judah revolted against his son. But even while Solomon was alive God began to do something to him and his kingdom. He began to raise up “adversaries” against Him. Before chapter 11 is over we read that there were two different adversaries that God raised up to discipline Israel. These adversaries began fighting against Israel militarily. But they did not fight with a full war - but in ways that eerily match that of the current adversaries of the United States. The type of problems they caused were by being “marauding bands” against Israel. They would attack an unsuspecting town and wreak havoc against it - killing people and destroying homes. These were the precursors to the type of terrorist activity we see in our day. Let me be very clear with you. I believe that ISIS and Al-Qaeda are adversaries that God Himself has raised up against the United States of America. These groups have been allowed to strike us - and the rest of the West in order to be a disciplinary measure to help wake us up. What is happening in our world in regard to these two groups is that they are being allowed to be a kind of marauding band among us. It is truly a sad thing to watch - because if I am interpreting accurately what our response is - it is not good. Instead of reacting with horror and repentance toward God for our gross sins against Him and His holiness and Word, we are reacting with anger toward our enemies - and a doubling down in wickedness. We are NOT turning toward the Lord - but we are hiding our heads in the sand. We think that we are winning this battle - that this is just the JV team that we are beating. But unless we repent and return to the Lord - this is only a small portion of what is coming our way. I fear that things are only going to get worse - with attacks that have biblical proportions to them. God said through His prophets that things would happen to Israel that would make their hands hang limp. They would be the kind of things that would blow the minds of the people of Israel. And I fear that our continued and amped up rebellion is only making such a future inevitable for our nation. I fear that in the days to come there is going to be a destruction that will make our earlier discipline seem like nothing in comparison. We are going to face a military defeat or a disaster on our own shores that will make our mouths hang open and our ears tingle as we hear of it. It will be greater than that which happened to us earlier on 9/11. I do not rejoice in this - but instead want to weep and wail over what is going to happen. I love this country and do not desire its destruction. I love our military and do not want to see it demolished. But if we do not repent and return to God - that is what is in our future. I don’t know of any timetable - nor is this meant to be some sort of prophetic warning. It is just a clear understanding of the Scriptures and of how God deals with those who turn from Him in rebellion. To close out this article - I want to answer a question that some of you may have. What can we do? How can we avoid this? I am not sure we can avoid it - because our sin is stacked to the heavens - and we’ve shed innocent blood on our land unlike any nation before us. But our own hope is in repentance and return to God. I truly believe with all my heart that our choices are revival or ruin. I would urge everyone to pick up some sort of study that deals with repentance and return. A good one I’ve used recently is called, “Fresh Encounter” by Henry Blackaby. But a study alone is not what we need - we need action - brokenness - true repentance - and a radical return to God. The things we are seeing and the sense of inevitability that is brooding upon our land and indeed upon the world lately is because our God and Father will not be merciful forever. There is a day of reckoning - especially for the church who should know better. May God grant us a heart broken over sin and rebellion and a shock and horror of how far we have gone individually and corporately into sin. May He graciously work in our hearts and may we see true repentance in the days ahead. It is truly our only hope in this hour.  Last night was the final in the series of blood moons that have had the prophetic community on high alert. The whole “blood moon” movement, as I call it, has been at the forefront of those who study Bible prophecy. It has been almost all that they write about for a long time. Numerous books and thousands of articles have been written on this subject. But I would submit to you that we should be far more concerned about a “bloody earth” than blood moons. Just today I reread Jeremiah chapter 7 and trembled deep in my spirit. I fear that God is currently writing His, “mene, mene, teckel, upharsin” upon the walls of the United States. As I’ve watched the butchering and sale of babies in our “bloody earth” take a back seat to the furor over “blood moons” my heart has grieved over my own lack of brokenness and the lack of brokenness of the church about the horrific wickedness that has been perpetrated and defended in our land. I’ve also trembled as I’ve considered how the church in America thinks it will be spared the judgment of God because we’re in a Christian nation. Such a deception also existed in Judah too - and considering their end - I truly tremble when I think of the future of the United States in the days ahead.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house and proclaim there this word and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!'" Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. "Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.' "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Jeremiah 7:1-7 God sent Jeremiah to prophesy at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem. There were still droves of people who attended the worship there in Judah, even though the morals of the nation were quickly deteriorating among the worshippers. This in many ways mirrors our current situation in the United States where church attendance, though declining, is still high among a populace that goes to services. But just like in Jeremiah’s day attendance is high - but godliness and our morals are low. Jeremiah’s word from the Lord was clear - “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” Here was what Jeremiah was addressing. Too many in Jerusalem thought themselves immune from God’s judgment and disaster because of their religious heritage - illustrated by the fact that the “temple of the Lord” was in their midst. The people had completely divorced the reality of God’s call to practical godliness from their weekly religious practices. They did the religious thing - religiously! What is all this talk of judgment in light of how they attended worship weekly - and did all the religious holidays! You talk of judgment - but what about our awesome religious temple - the temple of the Lord! God would never judge the nation that has such a wonderful religious heritage! Hey Jeremiah! We were founded as a godly nation - as God’s people - as the place where His religious building was built! We trust in that building - in that religious heritage - in our past as His people! That was the cry of the people - and they thought they could ignore and declare the words of the prophet null and void because of it! Jeremiah declared that God does not view things this way. God was calling them, through Jeremiah, to amend their ways. Trusting in your religious heritage and your religious buildings was trusting in “deceptive words” according to God’s prophet. Your previous religious heritage meant nothing if you were not treating each other with justice and righteousness. It meant nothing if innocent blood was being shed on the land. It meant nothing if false gods were being followed instead of the Lord. Let’s look at these issues one by one in this first installment on Jeremiah 7. Please understand that I do believe that we are guilty of injustice against the alien, orphan, and widow. But few things cause me to tremble as much as the tragic drama that is being played out about the butchery that has been occurring daily in our nation in the abortion industry. But even more terrifying is the general lack of response in brokenness and prayer to these horrors. Abortion on demand has led to the death of over 50 million unborn babies in our nation. The clarion call for absolute autonomy over our sexual decisions has led to abortion being elevated to a birth control choice. This has led to over 4000 abortions a day in our nation - many for no other reason than sex selection or a pregnancy being a hindrance to what we want at the time. But with the recent revelation of the house of horrors called, Planned Parenthood, where babies are being killed and then dismembered for sale and profit, our nation has faced a decision on a whole new level of the carving up of the unborn. The videos of this are almost too macabre to even discuss - because they involve carefully aborting babies and then slicing them up to sell organs. One video even reveals that babies are being beheaded so that their decapitated heads can be sold to the highest bidder. God is already furious over the shredding of babies or their being burned alive in the womb by abortion. The revelation of the callous butchery of babies by Planned Parenthood for profit may be the last straw in this matter, revealing just how far we’ve descended into the moral abyss of our own wickedness. The fact that we have a political party defending this organization - and another party without the moral fortitude to stand up until this butchery is stopped - reveals just how morally bankrupt our nation has become. There is no real hope that any kind of political solution is coming. The fact that there is even debate about this is shocking! We should not turn first to the political realm to address this. We should be turning to God - in repentance for allowing it to happen - then in extraordinary prayer as we cry out for it to stop immediately! But let me be clear - God is not interested in just stopping the carving up of these precious little ones - He demands that they stop being killed period. He demands that the sexual immorality that leads to these pregnancies be repented of and abandoned. He calls us to holiness - not just to trying to move the peg of sexual insanity back one step. This will NEVER happen by political action alone. If there is not a truly brokenhearted cry for our own sins first - and then the sins of our fathers and our nation second - there will not be revival, which I truly believe will be the FIRST step we must take to address these things. To turn to religion and high profile religious figures to stop this “bloody earth” event also will not work. I thank God for the few who have blown the trumpet to warn us of what is coming if we do not repent and turn from shedding innocent blood. But the church is not even issuing a clear call on this matter. The fact that a visit by the head of the Roman Catholic church, who have long championed the unborn, did NOT mention once this godless holocaust and harvest of the unborn, reveals just how void of God our religiousness has become. If we don't have the moral fortitude to stand up against this horrific harvesting of the unborn for profit - an act reminiscent of Nazi Germany under Hitler - why should God, for any reason, not bring His judgment without mercy to our nation? We bicker about whether we should shut down our government as a political ploy - when honestly - we should be flooding the altars of our land with our tears of repentance and brokenness. We should be gathering in our public squares due to a call of the Holy Spirit (not due to a political or religious movement calling for a day of prayer) to pray and weep over such horrors. We don’t need a day of prayer - which has become far more a day of speeches and political posturing - we need a day of public repentance, humiliation, and confession of our sins and rebellion against God. Let us issue THAT call - much like that issued by President Lincoln - and see how much public support we receive. I would fear that such a clear call would make even evangelical churches back away - squeamish over how the public might view the political correctness of such language. Where are the Elijahs of God, who hide themselves in prayer and then confront the Baal worship of our day? Where is the Moses of our land, who publicly rebukes the sin of the people, then goes before God for 40 days of prayer - pleading that God does not destroy them due to their sins? Where are the Ezras, who throw themselves before the steps of the church and government, literally tearing out their own hair as they weep for the sins of our nation - and the sins of the church? Oh that we would see men stand in the gap in these perilous times! Now the the “blood moon” event is over - let me propose a far more important event that should arrest our attention. Let me call it - “The Bloody-earth” event. This is an event without any promotion - except that graciously given by the Spirit of God as He bears witness in the hearts of God’s people. This is an event that starts this Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - at any church service in our land. It is a call to prayer for God’s people. The blood moon event spoke of a major change coming due to its arrival. The “bloody-earth” event is a call for us to wake up to the reality that, starting many years ago (at least 1973), we’ve been filling our land with innocent blood that cries out for God’s judgment on America. It affirms that God has upped the stakes by revealing the butchery that is taking place in our land by the hands of those at Planned Parenthood. It reveals that we are complicit with this if we do not cry out for God in repentance for our sins - and also beseech Him to move in such a way that revival comes to His church - and awakening to our land - and that due to His hand - this butchery ceases. (I want to make it perfectly clear that any kind of violent response to Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider is wrong and is wickedness. We do not advance the agenda of our God by violence - but by prayer and by His changing of hearts.) This is a call to personal and corporate repentance, brokenness over sin, and prayer. It is NOT just a call for a day of prayer - but for a undefined season of prayer. The event has been successful if and only if a revival of prayer, broken hearted confession of sin and repentance, and turning to God with all our hearts happens - and continues. The success of this event is not defined by numbers - but by hearts wholly given to God. The “blood-moon” hysteria lasted and grew for almost a year and a half. It reached huge proportions as books and entire prophecy events popularized it. Dearest saints of God - it is not a blood-moon or series of blood-moons which should arrest our attention in this day. What should be deafening us - if we are awake to God’s call - is His call to respond to a “bloody-earth.” Oh that God would get our attention - and that Wednesday night would be a time where His people come together to respond, repent, return to Him. Oh that pastors would face saints who cry out for a prayer meeting so that we can corporately cry out for revival among us - and restoration in our land. Here in my parting question . . . we responded in droves to the information about the blood moon - will we respond to His call about the “bloody-earth?”  Recently the airwaves and newspapers of America (not to mention the rounds of various internet social media sites) have been burning up with stories about laws that would allow Christians to act in a prejudiced manner against those desiring service at the gay marriage ceremony. At least this is what the majority of reporting claims about our current legislation in Indiana and Arkansas. What is fascinating about all this is the way a majority of these stories are more about reactions to what possibly could happen, rather than what is actually in the bills. Also lost to all but a few of these articles are the very real concerns of evangelical Christians. They are concerned about whether there is going to be a perceived repeal of the 1st Amendment protection of religious liberty without the issue ever being debated in Congress, and without proper Constitutional due process.
This article is not meant to be anything more than one pastor’s take on all this. I’ve also included at the end the printed text of the Indiana and Arkansas bills so that those who truly want to be informed may actually read them. This is so that we won’t go off half-cocked on this issue without some reading and thinking – two skills that from what I’ve seen could be used much more extensively by all involved. Far too much of this controversy has been due to knee-jerk reactions by those supporting gay rights – as well as by Christians who have not seriously thought through some things they should consider. Lost in all of this from the Christian vantage point is what God may be allowing for His purposes and intentions. He is working in the culture of the United States and in our government. He is working by His divine providence and His is divine judgment in what He is allowing to happen in our nation. First of all allow me to offer one pastor’s opinion on what is happening. I believe much of this is due to the Hobby Lobby case that was decided by the Supreme Court last year – and the backlash from those upset with how religious liberty affected that case. That case dealt with Hobby Lobby’s religious objection to The Affordable Care Act and how it was seeking to force them to provide for certain kinds of abortifacient forms of birth control. Eventually the court sided with Hobby Lobby that they could not be forced to do something against conscience and against the free exercise of their religious beliefs. The reaction of many who support big government being able to invade the privacy of ordinary citizens was horror, disbelief, and a hatred of how the idea of religious liberty protected Hobby Lobby’s evangelical Christian owners. One could see that a line was crossed and battle lines for the future were drawn. Those lines would require that religious liberty be severely curtailed so that religious conscience would not be protected when it came up against an agenda opposed to its views of sexuality in the future. Since that decision we’ve watched as an avalanche of decisions at the state level made gay marriage legal in a majority of the states. It should be duly noted that none of these were based on laws passed within legislatures. Courts who were acting as legislatures decided – often against a vote of the people as well as state constitutional amendments - that gay marriage should be legal. Now a challenge is before the Supreme Court from several states that will be decided this year. Historically next, was several cases involving primarily bakers, photographers, and florists who said that their sincerely held religious beliefs prevented them from participating in a gay wedding ceremony. The argument was that their professions involved an artistic expression intended to celebrate something that their religious conscience could not agree to do. In several states these individuals were sued after refusing to give service to the gay couples wanting them to bake, arrange flowers, or photograph their weddings. One such judgment threatens a $150,000 fine imposed on the owner for discriminating against the couple wanting to pay for services. These events led to a perfect storm when the Indiana legislature passed their Religious Freedom Restoration Act which was signed by Governor Pence. Arkansas, which was due to pass their own legislation similar to that of Indiana, was next to face this controversy. This has led to where we are now – with corporations threating states – with other state officials threatening a ban on travel and business with other states – and with our national conversation ablaze with these matters. Sorry for the length of this – but that is what I see as the context of all of this. In order to be as fair as I can – there are many on the gay marriage side of this who believe that no one should be able to refuse services to a gay couples seeking to be married. They assert that to do so is nothing more than prejudicial discrimination akin to racial prejudice – and that the government should not protect evangelical believers who say that their religious rights or rights to conscience are involved in their denial of service. Some of those who are more radical state that such actions indicate hate and that all such hate against gay couples and LBGT rights should be squelched and eventually crushed by government with extreme prejudice. First of all – neither bill’s actual language says anything about the gay marriage issue or LGBT rights. An honest appraisal of the situation has to admit that they were written to protect the religious rights and rights of conscience of those who held religious reasons why they could offer their creative services for a gay marriage. But, as some have stated wrongly – there is nothing in the actual language that states anything about hate, prejudice, or discrimination. The bills were initiated because of the way that some in government were prosecuting those who were honestly seeking to follow their conscience on the grounds of exercising their religious freedom. The United States Constitution promises the right to the freedom of religion – and forbids the United States government from establishing religion (Which was meant to keep the US government from having a state church) or from prohibiting the free exercise thereof. This is where my second point is to be made. Either our Constitution provides these freedoms to all – or they are specious at best. There is a very serious danger that we are trumping original Constitutional rights with a new form of erotic rights embraced by the LGBT community and the growing number who support them. Our founders reserved the right for us to disagree with each other on issues – without the government intruding. They definitely did not support the kind of heavy-handed way that the government is making it very clear that those who do not side with their current views will be punished and clamped down upon with severe prejudice. When a baker, who offered three alternative bakers to do the work faces a fine of $150,000 for acting according to her sincerely held religious views, we have a problem. This is in effect demanding of evangelical Christians that they only hold their views inside the church building – which fundamentally goes against what sincerely held views are for – which is living all of life according to them. What Christians are being told to do by their government is to relegate their sincerely held views of God and Scripture to only be opinions they hold – but never speak through their lives or their professions. This places a very serious burden upon Bible believing Christians. And it is a burden that governmental leaders in Indiana and Arkansas were attempting to alleviate. Now – at the risk of being seriously criticized by some in the evangelical Christian community – I want to discuss some things WE need to consider. As a pastor there are marriages that I cannot perform due to my sincerely held beliefs based on what I read and study in Scripture. I cannot perform a gay marriage. But I also cannot perform marriages where a divorce has happened in a way that the Bible does not allow. What I am stating here is that it is difficult to be consistent on such matters. I’ve had couples request for me to marry them who were living together and having sex outside of marriage. In a loving way I’ve had to tell them that until they repented of that choice in life, I could not do a wedding ceremony for them. It is my hope that I remain biblically consistent on these things. But what about a business owner who is asked to provide a service for an event? Where do we draw the line on these things? How far do we go with such things? And, if a believer does provide a service, does it mean that they are in sin in doing so? Here is where I defend the various ways that conscience is expressed – even under the Bible. I know of some who say that their services are offered to any – on a business level. Others respond that they cannot be involved in a gay wedding service. I even know one business owner who will perform a service – but is sure to tell the person that if asked, they will have to admit that they see homosexuality as sin. Their service is offered as a paid service and should not be viewed as agreement with gay marriage. What we need to do as believers is hold to the truth – and yet allow business owners to act according to their conscience on the matter. I know that for some in the evangelical community that won’t be too popular. But the question is asked – are we asking everyone about the details of their event or lifestyle before serving them? But please know that I also hold that someone whose conscience is bothered by offering services at a gay wedding should be defended to the full extent to act in accordance with their views. One thing I MUST state in all this is that for Bible-believing business owners – there is not an option to say that gay marriage is acceptable without running afoul of what Scripture itself says. Now for my last point in this article I want to answer this question. Why is God, Who is absolutely sovereign over all matters, allowing this to happen in our nation? Has God changed His mind on matters of sexuality? Is there an honest, biblically sound interpretation of Scripture that would allow for heterosexual immorality or any acting out of homosexual acts? The answer to the last question is that Scripture states that both heterosexual immorality (sex outside of biblical marriage between one man and one woman) and all homosexual sex acts is sin. But I believe there is a reason God is allowing such things to happen in our nation. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. The context of that call is godly character and evangelistic actions that seek to lead the lost to Christ. When this is gone. When the church loses her evangelistic zeal and purpose – there is nothing else left except for God to allow the church to be trodden under foot by men. Historically this has meant government or dictatorial oppression. God actually allows the church to be crushed under foot by the powers that be. That is what I truly believe is happening in our nation today – and I believe it is why God is allowing this current controversy to set our nation ablaze with such strong reactions. For decades the church has needed a thorough work of revival and restoration. We’ve left God and have run after the world. There is no longer in the church a zeal for holiness, the presence of God, and evangelism. We’ve somehow lost our heart for God – becoming as Revelation 3 puts it – lukewarm in our faith. The sexual revolution began in the early 1960’s and has only steadily pushed ahead in my lifetime. In the meantime the church spent herself in the 70’s pursuing church growth by studying man rather than knowing and following God. In the later 70’s and 80’s the church turned to politics and the moral majority to try to push righteous behavior through legislation. The 1990’s saw the drive to ban gay marriage in state after state. But I’ve watched as the church has turned from God more and more through these years. There have not been concerted calls for revival – for broken prayer over our own sin – and for a return to God with all our hearts. In 2001 we watched in horror as we were hit with the 9-11 attacks. Ablaze with patriotism the country adopted the slogan, “God bless America!” without asking the question of why He should. The church all through these years was rocked with shocking revelations of sexual immorality and financial misconduct. The church began to adopt a theology that embraced health, wealth, and prosperity without adopting holiness, brokenness, and submission to the will of God in living a sacrificial, good-works, and gospel proclaiming lifestyle. The salt has lost its savor. The result has been that in progressive stages – God has been allowing the church to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by our culture – and now increasingly by our government. What can we do? We can realize that this fight won’t be won with political clout. We can realize that we need to repent and return to God. Not that our nation needs to do this – THE CHURCH needs to do this! What is needed is brokenness, deep repentance, and prayer. We need to cry out to God, confessing our sins, and calling for Him to return to the church in power. We are already losing and will lose this fight if it is fought in the political realm alone. If all we do is whip ourselves into an angry frenzy of court cases and calls for taking our country back through the upcoming election – we WILL lose. With very few exceptions, just about every elected official has backed away from this fight – or declared for a restriction of religious rights from the start. To our knees brothers and sisters – that is where we need to begin. We need to do so, not seeking a restoration of political power – but of Holy Spirit power in the church. We may not win the day politically, but we can prepare our hearts to stand and be salt and light again with the gospel in our society. Let me ask a simple question as I conclude this very long article. Where are the calls for a solemn assembly? Where are the calls for radical, sacrificial, prevailing prayer? Where are the calls for the church to repent and return to God? I have always been amazed at the mercy of God upon Ninevah in Jonah’s day. If we knew that we only had 40 days until God’s judgment is released in its fury upon our nation – would we drop everything and repent in sack cloth and ashes? Would we devote 3 days to praying day and night – repenting and returning to God? The answer to these questions has far more to do with where this will lead – than what will happen in Indianapolis, Little Rock, or Washington D.C. God have mercy on us – and grant us true repentance and return. INDIANA SENATE BILL 568 Religious freedom restoration act. Provides that a state or local government action may not substantially burden a person's right to the exercise of religion unless it is demonstrated that applying the burden to the person's exercise of religion is: (1) essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest. Provides that a person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a state or local government action may assert the burden as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, regardless of whether the state or a political subdivision of the state is a party to the judicial proceeding. Allows a person who asserts a burden as a claim or defense to obtain appropriate relief, including: (1) injunctive relief; (2) declaratory relief; (3) compensatory damages; and (4) recovery of court costs and reasonable attorney's fees. ARKANSAS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT For An Act To Be Entitled AN ACT TO ENACT THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT TO BE KNOWN AS MARY'S LAW; TO PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR RELIGIOUS PRACTICE AND TO PROVIDE REMEDIES AND PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING OR ABUSING RELIGIOUS PROTECTIONS; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Subtitle 20 TO ENACT THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: SECTION 1. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds that it is a compelling governmental interest to comply with federal civil rights laws. SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 16, Chapter 123, is amended to add an additional subchapter to read as follows: Subchapter 4 — Religious Freedom Restoration Act 16-123-401. Title. As Engrossed: H2/11/15 S2/26/15 S3/16/15 S3/26/15 HB1228 2 02-02-2015 14:07:32 BPG217 This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act". 16-123-402. Legislative intent. It is the intent of the General Assembly to: (1) Ensure that in all cases in which state action substantially burdens the exercise of religion strict scrutiny is applied; (2) Provide a claim or defense to a person whose exercise of religion is substantially burdened by state action; and (3) Implement Article 2, § 24, of the Arkansas Constitution, 10 which states that "[N]o human authority can, in any case or manner 11 whatsoever, control or interfere with the right of conscience”. 16-123-403. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds that: (1) The Arkansas Constitution recognizes the free exercise of religion; (2) Laws neutral toward religion have the same potential to burden religious exercise as laws purposely intended to interfere with religious exercise; (3) Governments should not substantially burden the free exercise of religion without compelling justification; (4) In Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), the United States Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion; (5) In response, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C., § 2000bb, to restore the compelling interest test set forth in the federal cases of Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 29 205 (1972), and Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963); (6) The compelling interest test is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing government interests; (7) In City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), the United States Supreme Court held that the protections of religious exercise afforded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, only applied to religious exercise burdened by federal law or As Engrossed: H2/11/15 S2/26/15 S3/16/15 S3/26/15 HB1228 3 02-02-2015 14:07:32 BPG217 agencies and provided no protection from burdens on religious exercise from state or local law or governments; (8) To provide the same level of protection from burdens on religious exercise from state or local governments, a state must enact an equivalent to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, that was passed by Congress; and (9) Since the 1997 Supreme Court decision in City of Boerne v. Flores, many states have enacted statutes similar to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, including: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. 16-123-404. Definitions. As used in this subchapter: (1) "Compelling governmental interest" means a governmental interest of the highest magnitude that cannot otherwise be achieved without burdening the exercise of religion; (2) "Exercise of religion" means the practice or observance of religion including without limitation the ability to act or refuse to act in a manner substantially motivated by a person's sincerely held religious beliefs, whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief; (3) "Government entity" means: (A) A branch, department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of: (i) State government; or (ii) A political subdivision of the state, including without limitation a city or county; or (B) An official or other person acting under color of state law; (4) "Person" means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, church, religious institution, estate, trust, foundation, or other legal entity; (5) "Prevails" means to obtain prevailing party status as defined by courts construing the federal Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards As Engrossed: H2/11/15 S2/26/15 S3/16/15 S3/26/15 HB1228 4 02-02-2015 14:07:32 BPG217 Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988; (6) "State action" means the implementation or application or any law, including without limitation state and local laws, ordinances rules, regulations, and policies, whether statutory or otherwise, or othe action by the state or any political subdivision thereof and any local government, municipality, instrumentality, or public official authorized by law in the state; and (7)(A) "Substantial burden" means to prevent, inhibit, or curtail religiously-motivated practice consistent with a sincerely held religious belief. (B) "Substantial burden" includes without limitation withholding benefits, assessing penalties, or an exclusion from programs or access to facilities.123-405. Religious freedom preserved. A state action shall not substantially burden a person’s right to exercise of religion, even if the substantial burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless it is demonstrated that applying the 19 substantial burden to the person’s exercise of religion in this particular 20 instance: (1) Is essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) Is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. 16-123-406. Construction and applicability. This subchapter does not: (1) Authorize a government entity to substantially burden a religious belief; (2) Affect, interpret, or in any way address those portions of this subchapter, Article 2, §§, of the Arkansas Constitution, or the First Amendment to the United States Constitution that prohibit laws respecting the establishment of religion; (3) Prohibit a grant of government funds, benefits, or exemptions to the extent permissible under those portions of this subchapter, Article 2, §§, of the Arkansas Constitution, or the First Amendment to As Engrossed: H2/11/15 S2/26/15 S3/16/15 S3/26/15 HB1228 5 02-02-2015 14:07:32 BPG217 the United States Constitution that prohibit laws respecting the establishment of religion; or (4) Create a right or cause of action with respect to an employee against an employer if the employer is not a government entity. 123-407. Remedies and penalties. (a) Regardless of whether the state or one of its political subdivisions is a party to the proceeding, a person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, in violation of § 16-123-405, may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding. (b) (1) A person asserting a claim or defense under this subchapter may obtain appropriate relief, including relief against the state or a political subdivision of the state when the state or the political subdivision of the state is a party to the proceedings. (2) Appropriate relief under this subsection includes without limitation: (A) Injunctive relief; (B) Declaratory relief; (C) Compensatory damages; and (D) Costs and attorney's fees. 16-123-408. Exemptions. The Department of Correction, the Department of Community Correction, a county jail, and a detention facility are exempt from this subchapter. SECTION 3. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that there is not a higher protection offered by the state than the protection of a person's right to religious freedom; and that this act is immediately necessary because every day that a person's right to religious freedom is threatened is a day that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is compromised. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety shall become effective on: (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; As Engrossed: H2/11/15 S2/26/15 S3/16/15 S3/26/15 HB1228 6 02-02-201  Where Do We Go From Here?
(An 5 day Open Letter to Christians After the Election) Day 2 – God’s Sovereignty It is now November 8, 2012. It is my hope that you have come to terms with the fact that the election is over. One thing that comforts my heart is the knowledge that God is sovereign over the rulers of mankind. Therefore I can turn to Romans 13 and take comfort in what it says. Let’s take a closer look at what this passage says and find out a little more the answer to the question, “Where do we go from here?” Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Romans 13:1-4, NASB Let’s start at verse one and walk through this passage. The first things we see here is that we are to be in subjection to the governing authorities. That means that an overthrow of this current government is out of the question. God allows for governments to be overthrown, but I won’t be participating in that activity. The reason for this is found later in this passage. There is no authority except from God – and those which exist are established by God. There is the comfort of God’s sovereignty over the affairs of mankind. Therefore I can know that our current government under the leadership of President Barak Obama is what God has established for the United States for the next four years. Since we live under a constitutional republic, that means that his power is limited by the Constitution of the United States – and that he, as well as the Congress and the Judiciary, are to adhere to the governing principles of that document. Ours is not a system of absolute power – but of shared power between three branches of government. Where we go from here – is to support our government and to pray for our leaders. That is what God instructs us to do in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 when Paul writes the following under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4. NASB) Note that we embrace a “peaceable life” so that the Gospel may go forth. That is the gist of verse 4. When we look at the remainder of Romans 13:1-4, we need to recognize some things. First of all, we do not need to assume that because God allowed the establishment of President Obama for a second term in office, that God agrees with his policies or his beliefs. God allowed many rulers to come into power for His purposes. But those purposes were never for them to do evil and act contrary to His Word. We need to note that three times God says that government is established “for good,” in Romans 13. - Rulers should make us fear evil behavior – and embrace “the good” - Rulers are to praise those who “do good.” - Rulers are a minister of God for good. Often when people say God is sovereign over our government – they don’t include the context of the Scriptures. God allows governments – but holds them accountable for the good – and this good is defined by the morals put forth in Scripture. That means God allowed this government – but will hold President Obama accountable for every baby aborted by his policies. God will also hold our president (and any other one from either party) accountable for “the good” of the people. Unfortunately for him that means God will hold him accountable for advancing homosexuality, which God calls an abomination. God held the presidents of our nation who oppressed the Indians and treated them unjustly by stealing their land. He holds the presidents who allowed and advanced slavery in our nation accountable for their actions. He holds the presidents in the 50-60’s accountable for the racism they upheld and for how they oppressed the black population of our nation. The men who allowed dogs to attack black protesters in Birmingham, Alabama – and who drove them away with powerful water cannons – they were accountable to God. It might do us well to review Psalm 2 at this point. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!" He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.' "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! Psalm 2:1-12 A very brief review of this Psalm is as follows. The kings and rulers, whom God allowed and established, decided to call God’s laws fetters and cords that bound them. All their raging just elicited derisive laughter from God. He reminds all the kings and rulers that God has installed His Son on the throne of the universe. Jesus is given all power to shatter the kingdoms and nations like a rod of iron would shatter earthenware plates. The end of the Psalm involves God telling the kings and judges to be discerning. They need to humble themselves and honor God’s Son – or else they will perish in the way and experience His wrath. The blessed king, ruler, and judge – is the one who takes refuge in God’s Son – Who is the ultimate ruler! Wow, what a difference a Psalm makes! Yes, God has established President Obama over our nation – but He has NOT done so for the purpose of negating the morality that is clearly presented in the Scriptures. If anything, a government is to punish those who do evil. And please remember that evil is defined by the Bible – not by what our culture calls it in the current calendar year. Now let me do my best to sum up what this means for us who wonder where do we go from here. If you remember, the first thing we are to do is to pray for our leaders. My guess is that most of us who are conservative evangelicals did not do that very much over the past 4 years. I will confess that I did it haphazardly – not with any great consistency. That will change over the next four years. My president seriously needs my prayers for wisdom. Any president does. He also needs me to pray for him to repent from his current positions on abortion and homosexuality. They are both very wrong – and will be harmful to him. He will stand before God and give an account for advancing abortion more than any president in history. He will do the same for how he has advanced the homosexual agenda. Not only will these things harm him – they will also harm our nation. My prayers MUST be motivated out of genuine concern and love for him – and genuine concern and love for our nation. THEY SHOULD NOT BE MOTIVATED BY ANGER AND BITTERNESS! If we are not praying – or our prayers are motivated by something so perverse as wanting the Republicans to win – we need to repent. God uses godly, praying people to change people – not governments. If we are not praying – there will be no change in the people of our nation – and if there is no change in the hearts of people via the Gospel – there will be no change in our nation. God has sovereignly allowed this government. He will also sovereignly hold it accountable for the power He has given them. That is something that honestly should terrify us for ANYONE who rises to power over ANY state or nation. Our place is to choose to love our leaders by praying for them. Our prayers for them should not include a political agenda of any party. They should be motivated by love – and should manifest themselves in a cry for the Gospel and a godly life to prosper no matter who is in power. Where do we go from here? We go to our knees to pray for our duly elected leaders. We go to our knees out of love for them and love for our country. We go knowing that God, who allowed them to come to power under His sovereignty – will also sovereignly hold them accountable to punish evil and advance “the good.” We do not seek to bring judgment on them – or allow bitterness to grow in our hearts against them. Listen to Paul! He ministered and lived under one of the most wicked despots of all time, Nero. We don’t hear him say anything about the government – except to give them honor where honor is due (which he always did in every illegal trial he underwent) – and to pray for them – so that the Gospel could advance no matter who is sitting on the throne. Good counsel – good biblical counsel – for those who lived in the first century – as well as the 21st as well. Just recently I've finished reading through the prophets in the Old Testament. I do this at least once a year as I read through the Bible. This year, however, their voice is reverberating in my mind and heart as I look at our nation and what God is currently doing. Let me share with you what I saw this year - and how it relates to our nation, our coming election, and the difficulties and disasters which I believe are in our future. Please also let me share why God, in His sovereign providence, is allowing them.
First, I need to comment on the state of the church leading up to this coming election. As the saints of God we are to get our marching orders from heaven. Those directives come to us through the Scriptures. I fear that too many in the conservative wing of the evangelical think that their marching orders are coming from the RNC or the Tea Party. There is an errant notion that by electing Governor Romney as president and a Republican majority in the House and Senate - our problems will be on the way to being solved in this nation. Even though I believe in voting in elections and seeking for political action toward things like abortion, homosexual marriage, racism, and matters of justice and righteousness - I do not see the United States government (even if it is the hands of conservatives) doing a whole lot to advance righteousness in America. They may use such things as election issues - but I've been burned to many times over 32 years of voting by their actual ruling looking little like their stump speeches. Also, I seem to notice in Matthew 28:18-19 that Jesus did not call us to go and make Republicans of all the nations. We are called to God's will in conduct, purpose, principle, and action. That won't fly in any political arena in present day politics. And I am not willing to cede the work of the gospel to those who are offended that the Bible presents truths that show that Muslims, Mormans, Hindus, Buddhists, and anyone else who does not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are lost and destined for God's judgment. Such things are not up for a vote. As I've read the prophets this year I've been somewhat overwhelmed with the reality that God commands us to repent and return to Him. If we do not repent - if we continue to serve other gods - gods acceptable to our culture and acceptable to our flesh - God will begin bringing difficulties upon His people. The prophets thunder with God's unrelenting call to Himself. They do not apologize that God is sovereign. They do not apologize for His moral standards. They do not apologize that God authoritatively calls men to worship and serve Him only. And they certainly do not want to make adjustments so that the Baal worshippers, the Asherah-adherants, and the worshppers of other false gods can feel more comfortable and be a part of a "big-tent." The prophets say things very offensive to a multi-cultural world - not so much to the culture - but to anything driven by a culture's embrace of false deities. But God is not focused on the "lost" in the prophets. He is focused on His people - those who should know better. He is focused on calling His people to much needed repentance. What happens in a society when its Christians refuse to return and to repent? According to the prophets, God begins to remove first His blessing and later His protection from them and from their nation. If you've ever read the prophets you know that over time this can get very rough. God will allow earthquakes, disasters, and military conquest to overtake His people. Israel and Judah experienced horrific consequences for their love of foreign gods and the lifestyles that came with them. Baal and Asherah embraced a lifestyle of sexual immorality. Marriage was denigrated as first men committed heterosexual immoralities - and eventually moved on to homosexuality as well. Those who think the 1960's ushered in free love, know little about how far Israel and Judah fell in their pursuit of these false deities. The worship of Molech led many to sacrifice their babies in a firey death. Those who see such a thing as disgusting should remember the modern day Molech - Planned Parenthood - who promote the sacrifice of babies for the sake of supposed greater sexual freedom. Actually what they are getting is greater sexual bondage in the guise of immorality without consequences. Then there is the immorality that disguises itself as free trade, or socialism, or communism, or any other "ism" that takes precedent over Scriptural principles of business or government. You see, our culture is not all that different from the days of the prophets. We have just named things with a more sophisticated name - hiding the hideousness of what they truly are. We've also got better at lying about the true nature of things while ignoring Scripture - and occasionally insulting God and the way that He needs to improve His own image by becoming far more "hip" and "culturally-sensitive." The truth is, WE are Israel and Judah in the times of the prophets! WE have our modern day worship of Baal, Asherah, and Molech - along with calls for accepting the gods of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and a host of cults embraced even by political candidates of our day (oops, did I say that out loud - nope, just wrote it). But the church is different, some may assert! But my question to you is to take a long look at her and answer the question, "Is it?" Do you see a movement of repentance and return in the church today? Do you see scores of people in broken repentance and prayer meetings where they are crying out for revival? Do you see the church expanding its evangelsitic outreach the point of being persecuted by groups whose numbers are being decimated by the number of people being saved? Do you see complaints by wicked businesses Who sell porn and other ungodly products that the church and her efforts in evangelism is hurting their bottom line? God calls us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to "humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. Read of the revivals that took place in the 1700-1800's. Read of what took place on a far wider scale in our country. Imagine what they would look like in our day - a revival driven by repentance, brokenness, and prayer. A revival with the aisles filled with repentant church members - and others being radically saved from sin. What then am I trying to say through all this? After reading the prophets . . . honestly - I'm concerned - no - I'm scared. We are about to be ushered into MORE discipline as a nation - and that discipline is meant to wake-up God's people to repentance, prayer, and brokenness. I don't want to say this - but sense the need to do so for the sake of the saints who read this. We are about to experience events that will make 9-11 look like a picnic in the park. God tried to wake us up by allowing that disaster to come upon us. We didn't wake up though. Therefore - more is coming. Far worse is coming. Do I know what that will be? No, because I am not a prophet. But I can tell you that things like a devastating earthquake come to mind. Military disasters that involve the destruction of entire armies have happened to God's people. Drought and famine are also options for God. He has soereignly allowed the destruction of entire cities - whch is terrifying in our day of bombs that can do that in a matter of moments. With our current arrogance toward money - a complete financial collapse unlike anything we've ever seen is very possible. All these things and a dozen others are possible - even probable considering our currrent lack of response to God's call to pray and seek His face. I read recently where the Mississippi river is at historic lows. If the drought we are in continues, it is possible to see the Mississippi so low that no boat traffic is allowed. That will cut off over 300 million dollars of commerce a day. That is a monthly total of 9 billion dollars of our economy stifled. The prognosticators said that would throw our natin into depression within 2 months. Kind of sobering isn't it? I can hear the comment, "Why are you writing stuff like this, pastor John?" Do you get some kind of sick thrill scaring people to death? NO! A thousand times NO! That is not my intent. My intent is to help wake up Christians to what is looming in our future. Do you really think God is going to continue to bless our nation as it is currently going? Do you really think that the church is not going to be affected by what happens in our nation? Do you really think that by maintaining a positive confession in the midst of such spiritual squallor that we will be delivered? God is going to continue allowing greater and greater disasters and troubles to come upon us until we repent, drop to our knees, and begin to cry out in desperate prayer for revival in the church and spiritual awakening in our land! This is not going to magically get better - neither is it going to be averted by electing a Morman as president and a group of Tea Party conservatives to the Congress - who have NO INTENT on addressing the moral and spiritual rot of the church and our country. We are currently as blind as Israel and Judah during the times of the prophets. The same situations and the same false prophets of health, wealth, prosperity, and "nothing bad is going to happen to us" exist today. The political leaders (kings in those days) who made a difference made it by leading the nation to repentance and a whole-hearted return to God. Such a leader who would start doing this in our day - would most likely be impeached for such actions. |
 What is the Prophecy/News Update?At Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro, we believe that history is moving toward fulfilling God's plans and purposes. In an effort to help us be prepared for His appearing - and also to chronicle news items you just won't see in the national media - this page is devoted to sharing those items and their possible significance to 
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