Is God Judging America?

I recently posted about Hurricane Sandy being a possible instrument of God's judgment. I didn't give much evidence or thought as to why I thought that. Doing so is labor intensive and needs much prayer and discernment. At the moment I didn't have much of either but really felt a burning need to get that message out.

I am not a prophet, nor do I definitively say it was a prophetic word of God. I hope what I wrote was of God and that He uses it, but I claim no gift of prophecy. I know it certainly is a departure from my previous stance when I blogged about Japan. I have sort of moved my position on whether or not I believe God judges nations.

As far as I know it was pure speculation based on what I've read in God's word about His judging of sinful nations and His own people Israel, as well as news developments, old podcasts and david wilkerson's "america's last call" which I urge you all to read as I will be going through it here. Wilkerson's book was written in 1998 and the last 6 to 12 months I've been feeling that it is highly relevant now, especially given the economic collapse of 08. Even writing this, I admit I may be subconciously borrowing from it, though not for mal intent.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think we should prayerfully and repentently consider the fact that not just hurricane sandy, but Katrina, the 2011 tornadoes and other events were God judging us so we'd repent. We didn't, so they continued and got worse.

And likely will continue to do so.

If I'm wrong and we're not under judgment, then turning from sin and turning to the Lord never hurt anyone. And I'm not asking for money, selling books or trying to get followers so i'll have no trouble admitting it if I'm wrong.

Since i think its important, I'd like to take time to build that case. I haven't done an intensive multipart effort in a while and this looks like my one for the year.

To start, God is the same in the past, now and forever. He is unchangeable. That is one of the infinite number of good things about God. It means He can be trusted.

But it also seems to mean that He has to act the same way all of the time, because He cannot change, so far as I know. If He cannot change, then how He deals with sinful nations and the world as a whole should be consistent.

From Genesis to Revelation, when a nation or the world continues in unrepentant and flagrant sin, God is forced to pass judgment, possibly in an attempt to get our attention to get us right with Him. Not because He is vengeful or petty, but because He is just and must punish sin. In my experience, it seems that God hates it when we sin because He loves us and when we sin it not only hurts Him, but it hurts us even more. So like a loving father (which He is) He punishes us so we don't do wrong next time.

We see evidence of the sin being more harmful to us than affecting God, when God talks about sexual sin.


"1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body."


It doesn't have to be that way, God has given us a chance to get right with Him and avoid His wrath and punishment through His son Jesus Christ.

So back to God passing judgment on nations. In the Bible, God has judged nations in the past and He will do it again not just against nations, but the whole world as laid out in Revelation. He will send disasters and allow calamity as judgment, but also to get us to turn from our sinful ways to Him. This demonstrates consistency. And if He does it in the old and new testaments, and will do so in the future, why not in the intervening timespan?

Especially since His grace in Christ is readily available to nearly anyone in the world who chooses to accept it. Especially since we are "a Christian Nation".

This article lays out, with scripture references how God has judged nations in the past.

http://www.evenatthedoors.com/godsjudgment.html

Summarized,

The Genesis 6 flood, lots of bad stuff, covered extensively in many places. Basically, angels mating with human women, bloodshed was said to be occuring everywhere as well.

Sodom and Gomorrah, homosexuality of course, but also pride, fullness of bread, ignoring the poor. I've heard on a podcast, not sure which one or when, but it was said that sodomites were also excessively wicked in dealing with foreigners. There was something about how they would give poor foreigners a gold bar as a sick game, but no one in the city would use that bar for currency, thus keeping poor folks from buying food despite having money.

Ninevah, I believe Chuck Missler said was quite cruel and brutal in their war tactics. Whatever their crime was, they were due to be judged. But they repented and judgment was avoided.

The canaanites (who God judged through Israel) were said to have indilged in child sacrifice, and given the sins Israel was given to later on, idol worship and sexual immorality. There is also speculation that at least some Canaanite tribes were descended from nephilim.

When God judged Israel, it seems that they had violated the laws given by Moses and were punished according to what God had said would happen if they disobeyed. It occurs in multiple places, but Leviticus 26 is a perfect example and sets the stage for the judgment that occurs in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah and other prophetic books. These books also describe God's judgment on the pagan nations for their treatment of Judah/Israel as well as other things.

A good summary can be found here. I won't be going through all the reasons here, but you should acquaint yourself with the old testament. Also, I am not as familiar with them as I'd like to be or should be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevi'im

According to that article, Isaiah pronounced judgment on the pagan nations (and Israel/north kingdom) for oppressing Judah/south kingdom.

Jeremiah prophesied against the sins of Israel.

Ezekiel prophesied against Israel and surrounding nations and foretold the destruction of Jerusalem.


Some of the sins that God has judged nations for in the Bible and the prophets told were the cause of judgment for Israel/Judah, and pagan nations:


* the men were adulterers, liars and treacherous.

* rampant deception preventing knowledge of God

* human sacrifice (Jeremiah 19)

* forsaking God's law and pursuing idols (baalim) (also Jeremiah 2)

(All in Jeremiah 9)

* blood of the innocent has been spilled (Jeremiah 2)

* worshipping other gods/idols (Jer. 1:16)

* calling evil good, wisdom in own eyes, rewarding the wicked, mightiness to drink wine (Isaiah 5:20 - 23)

* open displays of sin (pride?) (Isaiah 3:8 - 12)

* oppressing/cruelty to the poor, prideful and promiscuous women (Isaiah 3:13 - 23)


http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/2303.htm


More:

-- Shedding blood in her midst

--Defiles herself by making idols

--They have treated father and mother with contempt

--Oppressed the alien

--Mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

--You have despised my holy things

--Desecrated my Sabbaths.

--Slanderous men bent on shedding blood

--Eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts

--Dishonor their fathers' bed

--Violate women during their
period, when they are ceremonially unclean

--Commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife

--Defiles his daughter-in-law

--Violates his sister, his own father's daughter.

--Men accept bribes to shed blood

--Take usury and excessive interest

--Make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion

--And you have forgotten me declares the Sovereign LORD

--There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; and they devour people

--Take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her

--Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things

--They do not distinguish between the holy and the common

--They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean

--They shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them

--Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain

--Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says'-when the LORD has not spoken

--The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

Ezekiel 22

http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2010/07/jerusalems-list-of-sins-seem.html


And which of these sins has America not committed?

Deception is everywhere, preventing people from accepting the truth. Ancient aliens, evolution eugenics and many other lies are believed above God's word. The occult is everywhere. Not to mention duplicitous motives in politics and business.

Bloodshed, so much bloodshed is on our hands. How many unjust wars have we been part of? Many in recent years. Iraq, drone strikes in countries we aren't at war with. Vietnam, started by an incident, Gulf of Tonkin, that never happened. And what about slavery?
The slaughter of the Indians? To say nothing of the millions of babies murdered since Roe V Wade. That blood all cries out to God for justice like Abel's did!

(Perhaps God has given some judgment on the Indian/slavery thing with the Spanish flu and other things.)

Foreigners, while generally well treated, are still looked down upon and discriminated against. Immigrant (illegal or otherwise) labor is always taken advantage of. How many are paid less than minimum (or a fair) wage?

Usury and excessive interest. Do I even need to talk about credit card debt and student loans? Or the money we loan other countries at excessive interest?

Oppression of the poor. A few years ago, "bum fighting" videos were in the news. The homeless are often victim of violence.

Adultery and sexual immorality. How many people have affairs outside of marriage? Young men (and probably women too) especially consider it an honor and duty to have as much sex as possible. Casual sex is celebrated in film and television. Pornography is everywhere. Then there's homosexuality, the push to normalize it and now even gay marriage. Gay pride as well. the threat of AIDS or STDs has done little to make people think twice about any of these.

All of which brings us to...

A lack of humility and prideful boasting of sin. The sex especially, but people are often proud of other sin. The drunkenness, lack of faith in God. People are proud to support the murder of babies as "choice". People blindly support or turn a blind eye to the unjust wars. People support the exploitation of charity by wearing pink. (See revelation radio news a couple weeks back.)

And the list can go on!

America, we continue to pile sins upon our heads! Yet say we are a Christian nation. A claim, by the way, that is not true as I've said before here.

America, i believe God has been judging us for some time,
to urge us to repentance. God has blessed us, and has used some of us for His work, but on the whole, we are a wicked people. i believe His judgment has been coming upon us for years, and getting progressively worse each time we reject our chance to repent and turn to Him.

I believe future calamities, disasters and ultimately destructive judgment can be avoided if we but turn from our sin and accept God's free gift of mercy found only in His son Jesus Christ.

In the coming weeks, i'll be going through Wilkerson's "America's last call" to further demonstrate that even in the 90's, God's judgment of our people was nigh. How much mores so now!

Following that will be a look at events that were were possibly instruments of God's judgment, with a look to other possible items God may use to wake us up.

is hurricane sandy God's judgment?

all. please pray for new York and those hit by hurricane sandy. many are without power and food and dangerously close to barbsrism. and its only been one or two days. many in NYC at least aren't expected to get power for another week.

http://www.naturalnews.com/037805_chaos_superstorm_sandy_apocalypse.html

pray also that we as an American people will have a true heartfelt repentence of our sins through Jesus Christ. I believe we must accept the fact that hurricane sandy could well be the hand of God judging america. perhaps its a lessened form of it to warn and woo us back. but lets be honest, we do deserve judgment if we don't turn from our wicked ways as a country.

I'm not the first to say God is due to judge america. david wilkerson gave a potentially prophetic word YEARS ago about fires burning all throughout NYC as a result of God's judgment. I wonder if this is the beginning of that.

Chuck missler always paraphrases someone by saying if God doesn't judge america He'll have to apologize to sodom and gomorrah.

here's a few things we are responsible for that God could and should judge us for, using His example in the Old testament and the preaching of other biblical teachers.

aborting millions of babies

using virtual slave labor for our many products, including ipads

the continuation and starting of unjust wars

our corrupt business and political processes both of which work together against the good of the common man

lack of compassion for the poor

pride

the celebration of homosexuality

the continuation of human trafficking and pornography

the fact that we didn't repent after other "warning sign" acts of judgment (9-11, Katrina, the 300 tornadoes of 2011, the gulf oil spill, etc.)

it should be no shock that we had another. i'm no prophet and I have no prophetic word thst I know of but if we don't repent after this, something far worse will happwn and soon. maybe the big one in california. the new madrid. maybe somethig else entirely. what will it take for us to wake up? to recognize our sin and humble ourselves in repentance before our God? after all we're a "Christian nation" aren't we?

its not too late yet. turn from you sin, turn to Jesus. God took care of our sin at the cross. if we don't accept that and turn to Christ we are doomed.

Today God is First (Right After I Take Dominion)

Normally I don't do this and have actually gone back and removed names from a post dealing with an individual's false teaching. Today though I will name a name or two, but only because they are so subtle and also totally sold into their own theology. They also have a quarter million subscribers to their devotional. A number I likely will never reach nor aspire to. My hope is to help you avoid his teaching by telling you who it is.

I'm really fired fired up about this.

I have a friend at a company I used to work at and this company has a sort of group for Christian employees. I never joined it for several reasons, mainly that I was afraid it would lead to persecution somehow, was too worldly/superficial and I was starting to get back into weird stuff. Well, this group shares a devotional which my friend occasionally sends me.

The devotional is "Today God is First" by Os Hillman.

I read a few and found them kind of churchianity, kind of worldly, but occasionally found some value in them. Not often though. But one day Hillman wrote something that set off a little warning. I googled based on this warning and discovered my suspicions were right.

Os Hillman is a dominionist, and more importantly doesn't hide it aside from the fact that he doesn't like to use the word dominionist and does sort if hide it. He's really good at hiding it in his devotionals (some of which he adapts from C Peter Wagner's writings, another dominionist). He's a good little Ferengi, following the rule "never be afraid to mislabel a product".

What got me fired up is the devotional I received yesterday. Pray for discernment before you read it, as there's some almost true sounding stuff that actually isn't. I'll explain after the dump. The only thing I changed was to remove the date.

"The Queen of Heaven

TGIF Today God is First by Os Hillman

"The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven" (Jer 7:18).

If you want to change the spiritual climate of your city you must address the principalities that rule that city. Such was the case for the apostle Paul when he went to the city of Ephesus. There was a territorial principality that was worshipped by the people of Ephesus named Diana of the Ephesians (also known by her Greek name, Artemis). The people gave money to this false god and it strongly influenced the economy because of this. The city was also the center for magic and the occult.

Her temple in Ephesus was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - the most outstanding and opulent example of architecture in the whole city. Her followers called her "magnificent," "great goddess," "savior," and "Queen of Heaven."

Paul preached in Asia for two years and had great success confronting this territorial principality. Paul began to neutralize the Queen of Heaven's power so much by the gospel that the common people began to notice. They not only stopped worshipping and sacrificing to her, the silversmith's who were manufacturing idols were going out of business, so they staged a public riot. They filled the huge amphitheater and shouted for two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19:34).

Many who were converted burned all of the idols and magic books. "When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power" (Acts 19:20). Based on the U.S. economy today, the pile of magic paraphernalia that was burned would have been worth four million dollars!*

In order for you to impact your city you must identify and break down the ruling principalities that may be hindering the gospel there. The more common principalities in the western world would include the religious spirit, the spirit of mammon, pride, and freemasonry to name a few.

Ask God for wisdom and discernment as you prepare to deal with your local and regional principalities.

Adapted from Confronting the Queen of Heaven, C. Peter Wagner, Wagner Books, 11005 N. Highway 83, Colorado Springs, CO p. 14-17 2001"

End devotional

Now, I used to be real gung ho "lets cast demons out of everything" and was super into spiritual warfare. I still believe in it of course, and do it, but I've learned alot.

And certainly all mission work is to be undertaken with much prayer, and i suppose a portion of that is asking God to move in a geographic area and asking Him to drive out any spiritual opposition. As i said I am a firm believer in and have experienced spiritual warfare firsthand.

What I take issue with is this:

" In order for YOU to impact your city YOU must identify and break down the ruling principalities that may be hindering the gospel there."

Emphasis added.

Where does the Bible say this? That prior to preaching we must break down territorial spirits? Where is God in this picture? What about the authority of Christ over the demonic? We certainly have no power on our own to do this. If he's encouraging spiritual warfare, at least explain it properly.

He doesn't.

Improper spiritual warfare is dangerous as you will see in the sons of Sceva.

The passage Hillman cites is Acts 19. But in the Bible I read, it doesn't say we're supposed to identify or confront territorial spirits to allow the Gospel to spread, much less do it ourselves. When Paul was on Mars Hill, he didn't confront or cast out the territorial spirits and idols there. He stood there and preached the Gospel. No mention of territorial spirits is made. In fact outside of Ephesians, I don't recall Paul mentioning principalities and powers, and we only see him casting spirits out of possessed people. Not in geographic areas.

An example is Acts 16:16 - 18 when Paul casts the demon out of the fortune teller. He didn't confront her or a spirit of divination before preaching. He only dealt with it after preaching for days and after he was irritated. And when he did attack, he relied on the power and authority of Jesus Christ, not his own.

Dealing with spirits is part of our Christian walk, but I don't see where we're supposed to do it before preaching or in our own power. I certainly don't see where we are to identify and confront them actively.

We're not to run around casting demons out on every street corner, or seeking to dethrone spiritual principalities and powers. I'm not going to run around my city trying to topple whatever evil spirit holds sway there. I don't think the Bible tells us to do that either.

We are to preach the Gospel first, THEN the other stuff comes. In Acts 19, Paul steadily preached the Gospel and telling people idols weren't gods for 2 years. Nowhere in the text do I see him moving against principalities (demons, etc.) directly. Perhaps it was part of his ministry, if he was attacked, but it was not the focus and it doesn't say he had to do it before preaching.

Maybe i missed it.

The only people seeking to confront the prinicpalities and spirits in acts 19 directly were the seven sons of Sceva and they were then beaten by the possessed individual. Of course they were unsaved, and didnt know Jesus, but I think there's a lesson there about looking for trouble.

And recall what Jesus said in Luke 10:20. "However, stop rejoicing because the spirits are submitting to you. Instead, rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

It seems to me that in preaching the Gospel and getting people saved (as the focus), satans forces get hip to us then seek us out for attack. We don't need to seek them out and topple them first. If we do our job to preach, they seek us out. Then they are to be dealt with.

The point I'm trying to make I guess is that the preaching precedes the having to deal with principalities and we shouldn't be going out of our way to seek out engagement.

I can assure you it's not something to play around with.

Moving on, how do I know Hillman is a dominionist and why is dominionism bad? First, Hillman's website has the infamous seven mountains right there on the front of his site, though he may call them spheres or something else this week.

I would refer you to derek gilberts vftb.net and pidradio archives to learn more about basic dominionist whackiness and the seven (insert allusion to a controllable something here). And not only is dominionism false teaching, they also make claims of doing things they don't do like you will see in operation ice castle below.

http://vftb.net/?tag=dominionism&paged=6

http://vftb.net/?tag=dominionism&paged=8

And perhap one of the best.

http://derekpgilbert.com/?p=3703

Brief overview of Dominion theology

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/06/dominion-at-first-it-may-seem-like.html

Onto Hillman. He's close to being right and has enough truth in his writing to sound right, but the best lies have a half truth. What mr. Hillman wrote about is pretty consistent with Dominion theology, though he's really good at hiding it.

This article is a must read if you read nothing else.

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/08/denying-dominionism.html

And here are some good quotes and articles.

"On his website, Hillman posts pieces written by Johnny Enlow, author of "The Seven Mountain Prophecy" which asserts that goal of Christians ought to be to establish a "virtual theocracy" in which government leaders will also be religious leaders so that they can present "the nations of the world to the Lord as His possession" and bring about the return of Christ."

And

"Hillman's website also sells the works of Lance Wallnau, one of the leading Seven Mountains proponents whose work has been central to the mission to "do whatever is necessary" to claim dominion."

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/wallnau-dont-say-dominionism-least-not-front-media

"Also issuing a denial was prominent Dominionist Os Hillman who helped launch the 7 Mountains movement and runs the reclaim7mountains website. Hillman is retrenching. He issued a syrupy brief statement[1] emphasizing that "Dominion, or perhaps a better word to use is influence, is a result of our love and obedience to God, not a goal to be achieved." However, the rest of his statement confirms the basic Dominionism platform of Genesis 1:28, adding in the neo-Kuyperian spheres and the idea of restoring heaven to earth."

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/08/denying-dominionism.html

And let's not forget Operation Ice Castle in which some dominionists claim to have climbed mount Everest to fight the queen of heaven. They actually didn't climb to the top. But they did go near it and claim they climbed and fought, as near as I understand this bizarre episode.

The main take away is their thoughts on spiritual warfare which are not Biblical.

This article is a good summary of the article below it.

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/12/spiritual-warfarers-battle-real.html

"The Bible does not speak or instruct us to confront principalities, powers in prayer or travel to where they are supposedly located to do prophetic prayer acts or declarations? According to the spirit warfare model of the new apostolic movement, it is necessary."

http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain64.htm

"Members of Wagner’s Third Wave/New Apostolic Reformation are convinced that their prayers can literally destroy individuals whom they’ve identified as demonic. Among those for whose deaths they claim credit are Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. Wagner taught his followers that a female mega-demon whom he called…“The Great Harlot of Mystery Babylon” lurked near the summit of Mount Everest…One of Wagner’s leading apostles in Mexico was a woman named Ana Mendez, a former witch in a Haitian voodoo cult…she led a team of twenty-six intercessors to Mount Everest in an assault she called, “Operation Ice Castle.” She and her elite force launched highly targeted intercessory prayers directly at the Great Harlot…Apparently, the prayers found their mark, killing the Harlot Queen."

http://www.joemcginniss.net/tag/dominionist

All of this to say, dominionism is bad and weird and grows more strange the deeper you get. It sickens me to learn that 250, 000 brothers and sisters are getting fed and partaking in this man's poison. It's even worse that Christians in a corporate setting are getting it as a quasi-official and reputable source of doctrine.

If you want good doctrinen go to the Bible!