Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Authored By  :
Published On :
Last Updated :



Yesterday afternoon I received somewhat of a spiritual jolt, as well as an important reminder regarding a lesson which none of us should ever forget. This lesson concerns Satan's subtlety and tactics, and can be easily summarized with the following set of verses, taken from four Epistles which are found in the New Testament of the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible:

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."


"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"


"Neither give place to the devil."


"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."


". . . He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."


As some of you may have possibly noticed, yesterday -- that is, 12-27-2016 -- I spent quite a bit of time updating and reposting my series of graphics concerning the subjects of atheists, scoffers and reprobates. I completed a little less than half of them by that late afternoon, and I still have another sixteen images to go which I hope to finish possibly today, and if not, then tomorrow. However, when I opened the twelfth graphic in order to update it in Adobe Photoshop -- my graphic app of choice for many years now -- my jaw just about dropped when I saw what I had typed in that particular graphic three and half years ago. With a title that states "Don't Worry About The Atheists", here is what the body of the graphic said before I updated it yesterday. I have placed part of the text in uppercase for the sake of emphasis:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Just like the people behind the gay and lesbian agenda, they [meaning the atheists] are a vocal minority, but they are still, and will always be, in the minority. THEY WILL NEVER FILL THE NATION FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER, JUST AS SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE" WILL NEVER BE LEGALIZED IN EVERY CITY ACROSS THE LAND. We may lose some battles, but God has already won the war, and that is all that matters."

----- End Quote -----

I guess you can already imagine who is eating their words right now. Me. For the record, I made the original version of that graphic in June of 2013, almost two years to the day before that sad, infamous day in American history -- June 26, 2015 -- when the liberal side of the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 in Obergefell v. Hodges, to fully open the door to legalized same-sex "marriage" all across the land, without exception. I am sure that many of you felt the same way as I did upon learning about that awful news. I am reminded of how King David lamented upon learning of the death of King Saul and his son, Jonathan, at the hands of the Philistines. Three times David said "How are the mighty fallen!", as we see here:

"The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"


At this late date, if we consider the many sins which the United States of America has already committed against the Lord, I must truly wonder if it is even appropriate to refer to the USA as being "mighty". In fact, to be quite honest, as a Bible-believing Christian who firmly believes in peace, I must question if she has ever deserved that title. I mean, seriously, let's face it. America has had a rather violent, bloody history since her founding. She fought the British, then many Native American tribes, then Americans even fought against each other, and since that time, she has fought wars and stirred up civil unrest and revolution in quite a few other nations around the world as well. That may possibly be your idea of being "mighty", but it certainly isn't mine. But I will leave it at that for now, lest I stray too far from our main subject at hand.

At any rate, America -- meaning the United States -- may think that she is mighty in her own eyes due to her military might -- and thus quite a few Americans, including patriotic Christians, continue to say "God bless America!" -- but as we all know, men's proud, vain thoughts do not always concur with the way in which the Lord sees things. In fact, I think it is fair and accurate to say that they rarely concur. I am reminded of verses such as the following:

"But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."


"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."


"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was."


At this point in time, like many other honest Christians who are not deceived by mass media and government hype, my view is that the time of blessings is way past, and that years of serious Divine Chastisement may soon be upon us. My sense is that, just as when the Patriarch Abraham pleaded with God regarding the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the only thing that may be holding back God's indignation against the United States of America at this current time, is the fact that there are still a lot of God-fearing, Bible-believing people in the country who are desperately seeking the Lord in prayer, and thus the Almighty is taking this point into consideration. In other words, they may be keeping the dam from breaking for the time being. But for how much longer?

To anyone who is reading this who may be a non-Christian, my previous statement will no doubt come across as seeming rather presumptuous. However, it is Biblical fact. God does in fact take into account the presence of the righteous, in determining the timing of His judgments. So again, if not for God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians in America, who knows what may have already befallen the country. Consider these verses from the Books of Genesis and 2 Chronicles:

"And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place."


"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."


So let there be no doubt that God truly desires healing and repentance on our part. The Scriptures make it very plain that He is more than willing to exercise a great deal of Mercy and Patience, and to go the extra mile with us, as we can easily determine by the following group of verses:

"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him . . . But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them."


"If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"


"Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"


"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness . . . For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."


"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."


"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."


"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."


"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."


"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."


"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."


"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."


"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."


However, as I have mentioned many times before, we also need to recognize that God does have a set timetable for when our repentance needs to occur, and He is the One who is calling the shots; not us. He is indeed patient and merciful; but if in our own foolish pride and rebellion we procrastinate in humbling ourselves before Him, it may end up being too little too late, and result in our own undoing and ruination. Please consider these additional verses which validate this important point:

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:"


"Open rebuke is better than secret love."


"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer."


"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries . . . It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . . . For our God is a consuming fire."


"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."


"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"


Now, no doubt upon reading such statements as the above, some nonbelievers will scoff and say "Well, gee, some of you Christians have been predicting hellfire and damnation, and God's judgments against America for decades; even since the 1960s. So where is it? Aren't you getting tired of preaching that same old line? It's starting to look kind of foolish, and you are really losing credibility with your nonsense."

My friends, foolish are those who adopt exactly that kind of a mocking attitude. As I said a moment ago, God has His own timetable. He does not operate according to our expectations. Furthermore, we need to understand that time is a construct of the physical Universe. If a being such as God in some way exists outside of the physical Universe -- that is, in the realm of the Spirit -- then not only is He not subject to the influence of time, but He is also able to see time from the very beginning to the very end, and all events which occur between those two points, simultaneously, in what we might refer to as an "Eternal Now". So, being as the Almighty lives outside of time, a mere few decades, or even a few centuries for that matter, may mean very little to Him. Thus, it is no surprise that we find verses such as the following in the Scriptures:

"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."


"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out."


"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"


"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ANCIENT OF DAYS did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire . . . I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ANCIENT OF DAYS, and they brought him near before him . . . Until the ANCIENT OF DAYS came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."


"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."


"And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, THAT THERE SHOULD BE TIME NO LONGER: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."


If you think that nothing is ever going to happen; if you believe that judgment is never going to come to America; or to the rest of the world for that matter; just because we have yet to experience something extremely major -- and I would venture to say something much more major and ongoing than 9/11 -- then I would have to conclude that you are very sorely mistaken. You need to understand that divine judgment delayed, does not necessarily equate to judgment postponed. Not only that, but you are clearly not recognizing God's Grace, Mercy, Love and Compassion at this current time. You are failing to see His longsuffering and patience with us sinful humans.

Equally important, you are also demonstrating your lack of knowledge regarding how God operated throughout the pages of Biblical history, when it comes to the subject of His Prophets, Apostles and servants warning wayward people, and the actual fulfillment of their prophecies. A clear case in point, which I mention in such articles as "Famous Forties in the Bible", "Office of a Prophet" and "Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution", is the Prophet Jeremiah. He in fact started out as a very young Prophet, and warned the backslidden people of Israel for a full forty years before God's harshest judgments against the nation finally fell during the reign of King Zedekiah; and Jeremiah was there to witness those tragic events, as well as their aftermath. That is precisely why we have a Book called the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The Prophet weeps for what he beholds.

You see, it was at that precise time -- that is, at the very end of Jeremiah's faithful preaching, around 587 BC based on the historical record -- that the forces of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, destroyed both Jerusalem and its holy Temple within, after a long siege, and took many thousands of Jews captive to Babylon. This is a subject which I discuss more at length in other articles. But for now, consider these verses:

"The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."


In fact, as I also explain in the aforementioned articles, just like false accusers today, Jeremiah was also accused of being a non-patriot, a liar and a false prophet. Yet in the end, God vindicated him as a true Prophet of God when the Lord's judgments fell on Israel. As we read in the Bible:

"And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them."


"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"


Before moving on, for those of you who may still have doubts regarding God's unknowable timetable, allow me to offer you one more clear example which is found in the New Testament. It may interest you to know that just as Jeremiah prophesied for forty years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, in similar fashion, forty years before the very same wicked city was destroyed a second time in 70 AD, Jesus also prophesied regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple by General Titus -- the son of Emperor Vespasian who carried on his father's military campaign in Israel -- and the armies of Rome, along with their local allies, which included the forces of King Herod, who later went to live safely in Rome. I discuss this topic more in depth in a number of my other articles, such as "Abomination of Desolation: Explained!".

But the point is this: Just as had occurred with the leaders of Israel in Jeremiah's day, the First Century political and religious rulers of Israel were also so spiritually blind, that they were unable to discern the clear signs all around them regarding their impending judgment and destruction by an angry God. Equally important, they couldn't even discern who it was who stood amongst them; that is, the very Son of God. Based on his later comments during Jesus' trial, I think that the high priest Caiaphas and his inner circle did have a clear sense of the danger, but it didn't change the outcome of the events which occurred in 70 AD. It is for this very reason that Jesus said the following to the Pharisees and the Sadducees on one occasion, among many other things:

". . . When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"


But regarding the judgment of America, in my view, there is only one thing that can possibly stop it from occurring. That is a full, heartfelt, ongoing repentance on a national level, backed by real actions, and not just empty talk, as I believe occurred following 9/11. There appeared to be some degree of repentance by some people after those tragic events, but it was apparently half-hearted, and did not endure for very long. As a result, look at where the country now stands today in a spiritual sense. In my humble opinion, it is in an even worse spiritual condition. The nation has only become more wicked since fifteen years ago. No truly honest Christian can deny this fact. As I shared with you earlier, and as you have no doubt heard or read many times before:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."


So, sadly, at this current time, I honestly do not see true repentance happening at a significant level. Do you? America continues on her merry way to Hell, as this series clearly demonstrates. Wicked, liberal America continues to poke her finger in God's eye.

Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.