By Trevor
I am tired of the so many self-loathing Christians in America who are ready for God to rain down judgement on America. So much have been made how America is an “evil nation” because “it abort babies daily,” have “enacted same-sex marriage” which was through a judicial decision. This alone demonstrates the ignorance of Americans who don’t understand how the law work. I am tired of images with flag desecrations and nukes bombing New York city. I am tired of all these false prophets of doom and gloom.
Its September 14th, the infamous Elul 29th has come and gone, that including a few blood-moons, and all what happened was that the stock market dipped a little. As it turns out, the blessings and the curses are not measured by the Dow Jones and the financial astrologists date-setting failed. Nothing happened to America. And while abortion and homosexual evils (an agenda forced by few) continue to try and destroy what is holy, the saints (and there are many) still fight back and the ancient struggles between the sons of God and the sons of Belial continues, as it was from New Testament times until the end, when the victory is Christ’s.
Therefore, it is time we stop thinking how we are on the losing side and start thinking we are on the side of Victory In Christ!
The American flag is still waving in the wind set against a blue sky. The Statue of Liberty is there with the torch coming up in the blue sky.
Indeed, since the infamous Roe v Wade decision have legalize abortion in America, it would seem that society as whole have been put on a steep slope into decay. Yet, some Christians act like abortion is a new fad that were popularized during the decision that was just mentioned. These forget that there is nothing new under the sun. Such practices is a fact of history since ancient Israel who were told by God, “ You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord,” Leviticus 18:21, NASB.
While pursuing this law, the common agreement is offering children to the idol of Molech included burning children to death, and other suggest it is also allegorical interpretation meant to be part of a purifying ceremony. In either case, for God to make it clear that parents are not to offer children to idols and with a high penalty, it is no wonder the Lord have a special affection for children.
We know the famous story of the Lord rebuking the disciples for rebuking the parents, “ And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them,” Mark 10:13-16, NASB.
America is not the only nation to abort babies daily. In the screen shot below, the global maps that shows abortion by nations are demonstrated:
Abortion percentage, worldwide–by subregion, where available, or by country, most recent data. (Note: region-level data is often incomplete.) Maps of percentage of Pregnancies Aborted Worldwide–by Country compiled by Wm.
Next, the biggest criticism of same-sex recognition is deserving of God’s judgement on America. Again, a look at the map shows that America is not alone in recognizing same-sex marriage.
In the screenshot, it shows that The Netherlands were the first to recognize (2000), so where is the condemnation of that nation? Again, why is it America alone that deserve all of God’s fierce judgement? Why not include the nation to the north, Canada, or Western Europe? Again, by the same logic, God should obliterate the northern hemisphere of the world.
Christians who are so eager for God to rain judgement are ignorant of God’s heart. In their condemnation, they do not realize that God is ever merciful, for Peter say, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said, “But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that Iam the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord,” Jeremiah 9:23.
In the comment section, there have been calls for God to send the flood to wipe out the West, literally asking God to destroy Christians along with the unrighteous, and not knowing that God is not a covenant breaker! To Noah, God established an unilateral covenant:
“Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth,” Genesais 9:8-17
The last judge of Israel, Samuel, made this declaration, “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind,” 1 Samuel 15:29.
When God makes His covenant, it is eternally binding, and for some people to hope and pray that God would destroy the West to “put them out of their misery” is to demonstrate the true content of their own heart. In this way, it is similar to the ending of Jonah’s story regarding the repentance and conversion of Nineveh. From the final third chapter to the fourth chapter of Jonah:
When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?” Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.” Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” Jonah 3:10-4:1-11, NASB
The dramatic response by Nineveh to Jonah’s preaching caused them to call for a fasting and repentance, in sincerity, and God clearly can see the hearts of the people better than an embittered prophet, to which the Lord demonstrated in the plant He sent for Jonah.
Some will object there is a contradiction between the passage from Samuel and Jonah, to which the question need to be asked, why are you looking for contradiction? Is it better to examine the wicked deed of your own heart and confess them before the Lord, or to seek for contradiction and rebuke the Lord?
It’s better to ask, as the Psalm say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way,” Psalm 139:23-24.
Make no mistake, the day of reckoning is coming when every thoughts and hidden deeds will be exposed by the Lord, and it will be done on the Lord’s own time.
Finally, to those who are seeking for a “secret” rapture to occur on September 23-24 based on a self-appointed prophetess and based on the notion that it would happen on the Day of Atonement, you are setting yourself up for a colossal disappointment. It is incredulous that Christians, specifically those in America, have been taught there would be a rapture to snatch Christians out of the world before the Great Tribulation hit the shores of America. Jesus has fulfilled the requirement of Atonement as prescribed in the Law of Moses (see Leviticus 16). Equally incredulous are also those who have not learned from the failure of past claim of date when the Lord would return. Here are the list of the failed date of the Lord’s return:
Didache (AD 100) “then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, …but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an out-spreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.” (Didache – Chapter 16)
Justin Martyr (AD 100-168) “O unreasoning men! understanding not what has been proved by all these passages, that two advents of Christ have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonoured, and crucified; but the other, in which He shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians, who, having learned the true worship of God from the law, and the word which went forth from Jerusalem by means of the apostles of Jesus, have fled for safety to the God of Jacob and God of Israel;” (First Apology of Justin, Chapter 110)
Irenaeus (AD 140-202) “he who is to come shall slay three, and subject the remainder to his power, and that he shall be himself the eighth among them. And they shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight. After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord.” (Against Heresies V, XXVI, 1)
Tertullian (AD 150-220) “that the city of fornication may receive from the ten kings its deserved doom, Revelation xviii and that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God; (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Chapter 25)
Hippolytus (AD 160-240) “That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church, which flees from city to city, and seeks concealment in the wilderness among the mountains,” (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 61)
Cyprian (AD 200-258) “For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle … “The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service…” Nor let any one wonder that we are harassed with increasing afflictions, when the Lord before predicted that these things would happen in the last times,” (Epistles of Cyprian, LV, 1,2)
Nor let any one of you, beloved brethren, be so terrified by the fear of future persecution, or the coming of the threatening Antichrist, as not to be found armed for all things by the evangelical exhortations and precepts, and by the heavenly warnings. Antichrist is coming… but immediately the Lord follows to avenge our sufferings and our wounds. (Epistles of Cyprian, LIII, p.722)Victorinus (AD 269-271) “He shall cause also that a golden image of Antichrist shall be placed in the temple at Jerusalem, and that the apostate angel should enter, and thence utter voices and oracles… The Lord, admonishing His churches concerning the last times and their dangers, … three years and six months, in which with all his power the devil will avenge himself under Antichrist against the Church.” (Commentary on the Apocalypse, 20:1-3)
The idea that God would miraculously snatch out the Christians, especially by those in the West, is silly. The idea that Obama winning and Iran gaining nuclear armaments is doom for America and Israel is biblically baseless. Even the ancient fathers of the Church proclaimed that such judgments will be on biblical Babylon which the Bible clearly states is “Kedar” “Dedan” and Arabia and Isaiah clearly declared will be carried by the beast of Iran.
As these great men of faith taught, the Church will continue to suffer till when Christ comes. The Christians in the Middle East are suffering daily, have fled for their lives, some have been forcibly converted to Islam, some have been beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, women and children sold into sex slavery, and western nations are the one refusing to grant them entry to protect them! Those Christians, whether they are Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestants, are the living epistle that Paul the apostle spoke of (2 Corinthians 3:2) and they put the Western Christians to shame for their faith. Why didn’t God snatch those Christians from the Islamic menace before it happened? Was God mistaken or was man mistaken? If those Christians are suffering right now, then the Western Christians will suffer as well.
Romans 5 put the pre tribulation rapture in the trash bin, for it is written:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us,” Romans 5:1-5.