#562

Will God Revive Or Revile America?

America In The Bible

I start with this because no one really knows if America is in the Bible. In my Christian walk no one has convinced me that there is solid evidence in the Scriptures that the current world super power is found there. Sure, you can make allusions to an eagle here and there and even a verse about the young lions thinking that is a reference to a country that came out of Great Britain, but nothing like what you discover about say Iran (then Persia), Egypt and of course Israel. And in Bible prophecy it is odd that a nation that has been very powerful and influential not seen in end times verses as close as we are to the second coming of Jesus. Theories about how America will fall abound as well. Will she suffer a great natural disaster like an earthquake in the New Madrid fault that splits the country in two or maybe a super volcano exploding in the west in Yellowstone? Or will there be an economic meltdown that renders the dollar useless and the United States powerless as well? There is even talk of an EMP bomb used to render our electrical grid literally powerless in essence bombing us back to the 19th century. And we would be remiss if we didn’t bring up the Rapture of the Church which would cause America to loose 100 million believers in the twinkling of an eye. Or it could be a combination of all of these that takes the United States out of the mix. We simply don’t know since all of these explanations are ones from silence. But we can talk about how nations rise and fall from the Word of God.

Blessings And Curses

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and the entire world will be blessed because of you. (Gen 12:3, TLB)

All the way back in the Bible in the first book of Genesis we find this promise God made to Abraham concerning the nation of Israel. It is what I term God’s foreign policy statement for this nation. And it is simple in its concept but profound in its implications. You see God told Abraham that anyone who treats the Jews well would be blessed themselves. But anyone who does the opposite or curses them will find themselves under curses, too. Simple right? But is it seen in the Bible? Of course it is. A huge example is Egypt who really took out their anger on the Jews and we see how that turned out don’t we? However, did all this blessing and cursing end with the Biblical accounts? Interestingly, we can make a case that it is occurring right now. In his book, Eye to Eye author Bill Koenig makes a compelling argument that when America pressures Israel to give up land for peace. Here is the book’s description that briefly explains this:

Over one hundred billion-dollar, record-setting catastrophes and/or events occurred while US presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were pressuring or calling on Israel to divide their covenant land.

The costliest insurance events, the costliest hurricanes, the largest tornado outbreaks, the " Perfect Storm," the 9/11 terror events, and Hurricane Katrina corresponded to White House pressure on Israel to divide their land. The US, the UN, and the EU do not have the authority to divide God s covenant land. Calling the Israeli-Palestinian talks "Middle East peace talks" is a false narrative. Jews have a three-thousand-year history with Jerusalem, and Christians have a two-thousand-year history. The biblical heartland of Israel - Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem - is not to be part of an Arab State. The Bible declares that Jerusalem will become a burdensome stone, and efforts to divide the city and land will lead to Armageddon, the final battle for Jerusalem. The God of Israel will continue to rebuke those leaders and their nations attempting to divide His land!

There’s a lot of examples given in the book to back up his assertions and I strongly encourage to you read it or at lease browse his web site watch.org which gives you current examples right from the headlines as talks of a two state solution keep cropping up. Is this how America looses it’s status as a world super power?

I Heard This Growing Up

I was a new Christian and grew up with a Senior Pastor who talked about prophecy a lot. And since the first book of the Bible I read was the book of Revelation (I know, weird, huh?) I ate it up. One of the things he always told us was that America was blessed because they supported Israel and that we sent and supported a lot of missionaries. He would then tell us that if we stopped both of those things that we would be a world of hurt. I didn’t know it at the time, but supporting Israel and being blessed was a direct result of Genesis 12:3. And it still is regardless of how you feel about the current resident of the White House. As for sending and supporting missionaries, according to an article from thegospelcoalition.org we are still leading the way in sending missionaries:

According to Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, in 2010 the U.S. sent out one out of every four missionaries—-127,000 of the world’s estimated 400,000 missionaries. In distant second place is Brazil, which sent 34,000 missionaries abroad.

Obviously the data is old, but the facts are still important to the conversation. And so there is truth to the statement for why God blessed America and to some extent still does. However, the question now is will that blessing continue to hold up in light of how vastly fallen the United States is now. Those stats are important as well.

An Apology To Sodom and Gomorrah

In a famous and oft quoted statement, the late wife of Evangelist Billy Graham, Ruth Graham is known to have said this as we read in about the account from victorious.org:

This statement frequently attributed to Billy Graham, actually originated with his wife, Ruth, during a review of her husband's manuscript for his book, World Aflame, published in 1965. He had just finished a chapter vividly describing the sinful conditions in America, and gave it to Ruth to read. She was very much sobered by the writing and returned the document to the study where he was writing and laid it on his desk, saying, "Billy, if God doesn't come soon and bring judgment upon the United States, He's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!" The account was recalled briefly as an illustration in a message by Dr. James Kennedy (pastor, Coral Ridge Presbyterian, Fort Lauderdale, Florida), entitled "Prayer and the World Crisis", at the National Prayer Congress, Dallas, Texas in 1976. The statement has frequently been requoted by many others since that time.

Regardless of the veracity of the story, the statement rings true today. According to an article on crime found on counciloncj.org crimes are on the rise overall:

Over the past two years, homicides and gun assaults trended upward while most property crimes receded. In the first half of 2022, crime patterns partially reversed: in particular, homicides and gun assaults declined while property crimes rose.

The number of homicides declined by 2% in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021 (a decrease of 54 homicides). While this reduction is heartening, the homicide rate is still 39% higher than it was during the first half of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of gun assaults dropped by 6% in the first half of 2022, but this trend is based on data from just 12 cities and should be viewed with caution.

Aggravated assaults (+4%) and robberies (+19%) increased in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021.

Domestic violence incidents decreased by 5% between the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. This result is based on just 12 cities studied and should be viewed with caution.

Residential burglaries (+6%), nonresidential burglaries (+8%), larcenies (+20%), and motor vehicle thefts (+15%) all increased in the first half of 2022 compared to the first six months of 2021.

Drug offenses dropped by 7% in the first half of 2022 over the first half of 2021.

The report consistently calls into question how the stats are gathered and also that the samples don’t include cities where crime is totally exploding like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Also, these stats were gathered during the pandemic when no one was going outside and businesses that would be the target of crime were closed. Still the actual numbers of the crimes are staggering. Another article from abcnews.go.com and even during the pandemic stated this:

At least 12 major U.S. cities have broken annual homicide records in 2021 -- and there's still three weeks to go in the year.

Of the dozen cities that have already surpassed the grim milestones for killings, five topped records that were set or tied just last year.

"It's terrible to every morning get up and have to go look at the numbers and then look at the news and see the stories. It's just crazy. It's just crazy and this needs to stop," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said after his city surpassed its annual homicide record of 500, which stood since 1990.

Philadelphia, a city of roughly 1.5 million people, has had more homicides this year (521 as of Dec. 6) than the nation's two largest cities, New York (443 as of Dec. 5) and Los Angeles (352 as of Nov. 27). That's an increase of 13% from 2020, a year that nearly broke the 1990 record.

Overlooked Deaths

We must recall that the American holocaust continues to this and that is abortion. While it is true that the Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, our history is not a pretty one as there have been well over 60 million babies aborted since 1973 when Roe V Wade was decided. The sacrifice of the innocents is the worst condemnation of America in recent times and cannot be overlooked when talking about God judging this country. On this basis alone, God should have judged us as He did to the Amorites who God told Abraham wouldn’t happen for 400 years. If one studies their society it was full of accounts of child sacrifices including babies. And that is only one area that God judged them for. It is way worse than just that although that in and of itself was a foul smell in His nostrils. The sins are exactly what we see in America today and they are escalating. It isn’t any wonder that the United States could very well be getting close to having their cup of iniquity being to the brim. Did I also mention that America is the leading creator and exporter of pornography in the world? Well, we are. Some may herald that crimes are on the decrease by percentage but they leave out those percentages are actual people. And the numbers add up over time. The Bible says this about the conditions before the flood:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5, NKJV)

Continually. Think about that. And then factor in that we have the ability to do the same and worse now with the Internet as vile people can actually communicate with each other and share their wicked thoughts and maybe even actions with others.

There Is Hope

In the midst of all this evil God promised to pour out His spirit. It’s almost as if He saw the flood of evil coming now and intends to send a righteous flood of His own:

After I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all of you! Your sons and daughters will prophesy; your old men will dream dreams, and your young men see visions. 29 And I will pour out my Spirit even on your slaves, men and women alike… (Joel 2:28-29, TLB)

It is this promised outpouring that lends itself to revival and that my friends is our only hope. Yes, it will be like it was in the days of Noah just before the Second coming of Jesus with one major change. God didn’t pour out His spirit on the people before the flood. But He is doing it right now. In America we will see a flaming, hot revival which will be in stark contrast to the rise in vileness and evil. It will be a spiritual fight like no other and it may just be the reason the United States is spared judgment for the time being. I personally can’t think of another reason that Ruth Graham’s statement hasn’t been fulfilled. We need to embrace His outpouring and encourage it while also allowing Holy Spirit to purify us with His refiners fires. Many can question why America is still standing as some call it, the shining city on a hill. It is something that isn’t always backed up by stats and numbers, but it is when Heavenly statistics are included. They are the only ones that count eternally and we may be seeing the moments before God judged Sodom and Gomorrah when Abraham begged God not judge them if He could find enough righteous people there. Who knows how many righteous people are keeping the balance of judgment from happening? How full is America’s cup of iniquity? We know that God emptied the cup a little for the people of Nineveh when they repented and that may be our only hope right now. Otherwise, instead of reviving us, He could be getting ready to revile us.