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Continuing our discussion from part one, it is interesting to note that Paul states that those people who belong to the Lord are supposed to do what? Paul writes to "depart from iniquity". Let's be honest here, my friends. Is that what any of the governments and leaders of this present world have done? Have they to any degree truly forsaken their rebellious, evil ways? Are any of them even the least bit interested in departing from iniquity?

For those of you who suggest that we should pray for the American president and the rest of the American leadership, allow me to ask you a simple question. Is that what they have done? Can you honestly tell me that they have departed from iniquity, or that they have any interest in departing from iniquity? Do you really believe that God is foremost in their thoughts, and that they seek His Divine Counsel in order to find out what is best for the American people? I was just reminded of a very interesting verse which most assuredly describes the evil mindset of liberal American politicians. Consider the following:

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."


In answer to my previous question, you and I both know that they do not seek Divine Counsel. You and I both know that the American government is becoming more antichrist in its policies and practices with each passing year; not only in its national policies, but in its foreign policies as well. Now, before you try to convince me otherwise, please go set up a manger scene on the White House lawn. Or orally recite a Christian prayer in your child's classroom. Or provide me with the very latest statistics on government-sanctioned abortions. Are these the leaders that you say we are supposed to pray for?

As I explain in the article called "To Vote or Not to Vote", the truth of the matter is that your prayers, and even your vote for that matter, have done very little, if anything, to change the American government; because some of its members are not God's children, and they do not want to change. In fact, they are either antichrists and children of the Devil themselves, or else they are pawns of the antichrists, who control them through monetary bribes, and by offering them temporary, earthly, political power, just as Satan did with Jesus in the following two verses:

"And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it."


Some of the people who rule in Washington, D.C. have their own agenda, and their own god, and it is most certainly not the same one that you and I worship. So don't be fooled by "made-for-TV" photo ops of the president, or of some other White House official, attending Sunday church services. Some of them are simply showmen who know how to play their roles well. They know what suckers naive, gullible Christians can be, and they will take full advantage of it. They certainly know how to win the Christian vote.

My friends, a true Christian and a true child of God, simply doesn't promote or do the horrible things which we see being both promoted and committed by the American president and his cronies. This being the case, why then do you feel under obligation to pray for them? Why do you blindly accept this man-made tradition? Jesus and Paul both said that "the Lord knoweth them that are his", and those are the only ones for whom we are supposed to pray.

Of course, as I stated earlier, that includes those people who are predestinated to be saved, who may not even know it yet. However, He will reveal it to us by His Spirit. He will point out His true sheep to us. After all, as Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of John:

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."


"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."


"He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."


I will discuss the topic of predestination a bit more later in this series. You must remember that the results of prayer are dependent upon three primary factors: God's Will, your will, and the will of the person, or persons, for whom you are praying. Even if your will is aligned with God's Will regarding a certain matter, you can pray until you are blue in the face, and God may hear your prayers. However, until that person, or persons, choose by their own free will to submit to God's Spirit working in their lives, your prayers will have very little effect.

I discuss the topic of free will in more detail in articles such as "Free Will and Personal Choice". As I will point out later in this series, there is clear Scriptural proof which demonstrates that there are in fact times when we are not to pray for certain individuals, believe it or not. Does this surprise you? If so, please keep on reading, and you will be convinced that I speak the truth.

Allow me to reiterate then, that I do not believe that we are under any direct obligation from the Lord, to pray for the unbelieving, rebellious governments and leaders of this current wicked world. Nowhere do we find this in any of the Lord's direct teachings in the four Gospels. In fact, as we already learned in part one, Jesus very clearly said "I pray not for the world." He only prayed for those people who had been called out from the world, meaning the Apostles and others who would come to know the Father.

It simply does not make very much sense to me, that Jesus would clearly tell us throughout the New Testament that we, and our Kingdom, are not of this world, that we are not to partake of this world's temporal pleasures, that to be a friend of the world is to be the enemy of God, and that we are to come out from among them, and then turn around and tell us to pray for the ungodly governments and rulers of this world. Such a thought seems totally contradictory and confusing to me. Furthermore, I know that God is not the author of confusion. For as the Apostle Paul wrote:

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."


Now, in order to be truly fair and upfront, and to present a full, balanced Scriptural picture here, there is in fact one place in the Gospels where the Lord does instruct us in the following manner regarding our personal prayer lives, as we see by this verse that is found in the Gospel of Matthew:

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"


Undoubtedly, some of you may look at the previous verse and say to yourselves "Well, couldn't persecution conceivably originate with some national government, or with a certain government official who just happens to be very antagonistic towards our Christian faith? That being the case, doesn't Jesus say that we are to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us? Doesn't that mean that we are to pray for worldly governments and secular leaders?"

Well, my answer would be "yes" to the first part concerning persecution being initiated by certain national governments. However, it needs to be "no" regarding the second part. In fact, I will readily admit that I am not a stranger when it comes to being persecuted by worldly governments because of my Christian beliefs. Quite a few years ago -- four decades ago in actuality -- I was directly ordered by two different governments to leave their countries, simply because I was an active Christian missionary who liked passing out Gospel tracts on public streets.

One country where I was asked/ordered to leave is dominated by Roman Catholicism, while the other country is primarily Buddhist. As you may know, both of these religions possess a strong influence on national governments around the world. Even where I live now it is like that. Local politics are quite colored by Roman Catholicism.

Of course, looking back now, I don't doubt for a minute that what occurred in my life during that time must have been a part of God's overall plan for my life, not only to teach me a few lessons, but also to motivate me to move on, and to do other things for Him. In fact, that is exactly what I did. As the Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."


Many of us are familiar with the fact that quite a number of countries, including Israel, Russia, China, and many Muslim and Buddhist countries in Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East, have all passed certain laws, the purpose of which is to definitely restrict our Christian witness in some way.

We have read of violent persecution against Christians in countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Indonesia and elsewhere. But as I mentioned earlier, sadly, even in the United States of America, which hypocritically boasts of supposedly being the most Christian nation on the Earth, a great evil has emerged because of the so-called separation of church and state. In my opinion, this view is a gross misinterpretation of the US Constitution, which is intentionally being promoted by some ungodly lawmakers and other wicked individuals and entities.

As a result of this wickedness, over the decades, many of us have watched as prayer was removed from our public schools. Manger scenes and other Christian-oriented displays such as monuments of the Ten Commandments were removed from various government properties. What came up in their place? Statues of Baphomet and hideous demons and false gods. We have also watched as murderous abortion became legalized all across the land. We witnessed the satanic theory of evolution as it infiltrated our public school system. We were horrified as same-sex "marriage" and other illicit relationships were promoted, became common practice, and eventually were even legalized. To make matters worse, the LGBTQ+ agenda has thoroughly infiltrated our schools, entertainment industry, publishing industry and more to an inescapable degree. The Devil's music has likewise filled the airwaves from shore to shore. We fight endless wars in which millions die over time. And we have the audacity to call this our "Christian" America? It has fast become an illusion.

But concerning the Lord's commandment to pray for the people who persecute us, based upon all of the other verses we have examined thus far in this series, I tend to believe that the Lord is speaking to us on a more personal level. I believe that He's telling His listeners -- and us -- how to react to those specific persons who do us harm, and nothing more. If we take into consideration a few additional verses which we find in the Gospels, it does not even seem likely that the Lord expects us to pray for a whole town when they reject our Christian witness. How much less for an antichrist national government? Notice the Lord's counsel in the following two verses:

"But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come."


"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city."


Notice that the Lord advises us to do two things in the face of large-scale persecution. He tells us to flee, and He also advises us to shake off the dust of our feet for a testimony against our persecutors. Nowhere does the Lord counsel us to pray for them. He simply tells us to get out of town before they have our skins. Furthermore, Jesus offers a very ominous warning when He states "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." So if there is no indication that we should pray for such wicked towns, how much less should we pray for an evil, oppressive government which actively and continually seeks to restrict our Christian witness or worse? I discuss the subject of Christian persecution more fully in the series entitled "Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution", which you will find listed at the end of this same series.

So to reiterate this point again, I believe that there is a very big Scriptural gap between praying for a few people who treat us wrongly and persecute us, and suggesting that the previous verse from Matthew chapter five indicates that we are to pray for world leaders and governments. I just don't see it in that verse.

Furthermore, I do not believe that the Lord advocates the long duration of any secular governments, which is basically the spirit and attitude behind the act of praying for such governments and their leaders. I view it as one facet of the "God Bless America" syndrome. So many Americans -- including many misguided Christians -- repeatedly say this, either out of habit, or because they really believe that He should. But how can He when she has become so sinful and rebellious? As I explain in the series called "Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy", rather than blessings, America is ripe for serious chastisement from the Lord.

As I clearly point out in that series, judgment delayed does NOT equate to judgment postponed. Sooner or later, I'm quite convinced that America's judgment will arrive. But sadly, in her self-delusion, the older the USA becomes, the longer she erroneously and foolishly believes that she will endure and stand forever. Quite frankly, it is a self-righteous spirit of pride, arrogancy and false complacency. However, in the Book of Revelation, we learn that Babylon the Great had the exact same attitude, as we see by this verse:

"How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."


The only Government that Jesus Christ wants to endure, is His own. It seems totally contradictory to me, for the Lord to encourage us to pray for secular governments and their rulers, when He already knows, and has in fact told us by way of many inspired Scriptures and prophecies, that many of those very same earthly government bodies oppose His Divine Rule. I am reminded of the following verses:

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."


"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces . . . And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."


"Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."


"Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? . . . And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."


"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father."


"And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne."


"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."


"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."


To those of you who live in the United States of America, do you really believe that your country is any better than all of the other nations which are smitten by the Lord? No doubt the natural response of many of you patriotic souls will be "Why of course we are! We are the most Christian nation upon the face of the Earth!". Do you also believe that the people who run the government of the United States of America are such God-fearing men and women that they would be willing to surrender their power to Jesus Christ? Think carefully!

If this is what you truly believe in your heart, then I must be frank and tell you that I think that you are deceived and living a lie. You are living in a dreamworld that has been concocted by your own government. You are still living the illusion of "God Bless America", as I mentioned a moment ago. I believe that this is one of the reasons why you still feel compelled to pray for America's leadership. You still believe that they retain God in their thoughts when many of them do not. They are working against you, yet you continue to pray for them out of your sense of patriotic, civic and Christian duty. Can you not see this?

Tragically, this patriotic attitude and sense of civic duty has seriously infiltrated the Body of Christ in America, due in large part to the activities of Christian Right movements and organizations such as MAGA, Turning Point USA, and the New Apostolic Reformation, all of which heavily promote the theology of Dominionism. If you are not familiar with what Dominionism is or what its political and religious objectives are, I invite you to read my one-part article called "Beware of Dominionism!", which you will find listed at the end of this same series. As I briefly mentioned in part one, these movements and organizations represent a serious compromise between our Christian faith and the desire to gain political power, even though the Scriptures do not teach us to do this in any fashion whatsoever.

In like manner, if you honestly believe that Jesus Christ is going to someday say "Well done, America! You did a fine job of Christianizing the world! Here is your piece of the pie", you just might be in for a very big surprise and a very huge awakening. Allow me to remind you that the Lord also said the following:

". . . For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."


God is going to require much at your hands, America; because just like the Jews, you have been made a keeper of the Holy Scriptures. You have been entrusted with evangelizing the world with the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While over the years, many of your sons and your daughters have been faithful to obey the Lord's call, and have even laid down their lives in foreign lands in order to reach the lost, by your own evil works, you have now proven that you have forsaken your God, and His Spirit has departed from you. Sadly, your wicked fruit, and all of the evil which is now occurring within you, is clear proof that you have very much become a "habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird"; very similar to Babylon the Great, as we see in the following verse:

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."


Whereas before you were a bright, spiritual beacon which shone the Gospel of Jesus Christ on many foreign lands, now you are full of darkness and death. Instead of imparting Salvation through a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, now you export war and weapons of destruction, and contribute to the oppression of the poor, and the slaughter of innocents, through your military and economic policies. As if that is not already enough, you export your liberalism, and pollute the world with your ungodly sexual perversions, claiming that it is "normal". How can God ignore these things?

America, you have become a proud, arrogant, ravenous beast which preys upon the poor of the world. Will you be found wanting in the scales of the Lord's justice? Will your hands be found clean of sin and guilt, or will they be found fully bloodied, not only by the slain innocents of your own land through the ungodly, murderous act of abortion, but by the many oppressed and slain peoples of other lands as well, who have felt your brutal hand? Not only that, America, but you have perverted and corrupted the land which the Lord gave to you in your youth, just as He told the Jews in the days of the Prophet Jeremiah:

"And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination."


Undoubtedly, some of my readers will be offended by my harsh words. Nevertheless, I speak a truth which some of you need to hear. I don't doubt that some of you will accuse me of being just another prophet of doom, as your way of hardening your heart against the Lord's truth. But that is no concern of mine. As with the Prophet Ezekiel, and many of the Lord's other messengers of the past, my job is to faithfully share what I believe I receive from Him. If I do not do this, then He will hold me accountable, as we see in the following verses:

"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."


Now, I am sure that some of you American Christians -- in particular, those of you who are involved with some of the aforementioned movements and organizations -- will probably argue that instead of preaching all of this gloom and doom, I should become politically active. I am aware of the fact that some of you have erroneously misinterpreted my lack of involvement in US politics, and my unwillingness to try to change the American system of government through the process of voting, as meaning that I have simply given up hope.

However, allow me to inform you that such a thought is the furthest thing from the truth. My personal choice to refrain from fighting against the corruption of the US government, or of any other worldly government, has absolutely nothing to do with giving up hope. On the other hand, it does have a lot to do with obeying the Holy Scriptures, and having hope and faith in something much better to come, when I am at last welcomed into the eternal Kingdom of God which will never fade away.

In his Epistles, the Apostle Paul tells to set our affection on things above, on Heavenly things, and not on things of this Earth. In other words, we need to take our eyes off of the imperfect, temporal governments of men, and put them on Jesus, and place our loyalty in the eternal and everlasting Kingdom of God, just as Christ did Himself. I discuss this very same topic in articles such as "The Heavenly Vision: Have You Got It?" and "One From Beyond: Hebrew of Hebrews". Consider the following verses:

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."


"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."


"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."


Because some people do not place their eyes upon the Eternal Realm of the Spirit, but rather upon the temporal things of this Earth, including the politics of this world, they have convinced themselves that they possess the power to change what has already been ordained by God. This is in fact how the Dominionists think. One young person who wrote to me, who is apparently politically active, seems to believe that we can actually change the outcome of Biblical prophecy through our own choices.

In my mind, this line of thinking is a dangerous half-truth. While it is indeed true that we each possess the freedom of personal choice, which, depending upon the decisions that we make, will have a positive or a negative effect on our own microcosm, I do not believe that any of us can change what has already been written in prophecy. The reason why it is written in prophecy, is because God obviously already knows the outcome. He already knows what choices we are each going to make, even before we do ourselves. He knows what choices the various governments of the world are going to make as well. God is all-knowing, because He lives in the Eternal Now where past, present and future are all blended into one. He tells us so Himself in the following verses:

"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."


"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:"


In short, the eternal will of God will always prevail over the will and machinations of sinful, fallible men. Always.

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

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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