Message to America

Here is my message -- or rather God’s and I hope it is taken to heart.

“O, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, offspring who do evil, children who do not deal correctly, who have forsaken the Lord, who have despised the holy one of Israel, who are utterly strange!

“Why do you seek further beatings? Why do you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds that have not been drained or bound up or softened with oil.

“Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; In your very presence aliens devour your land; It is desolate, is overthrown by foreigners. And daughter Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard; like a shelter in a cucumber field; like a besieged city. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? Says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation- I cannot endure your solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; They have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands I will hide my eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

“Come now, let's argue it out said Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be like snow; Though they are red like Crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

“How the faithful city has become a harlot! She that was full of grace, righteousness lodged in her- but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. Your Princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan and the widow’s cause does not come before them.” Isaiah 1: 4- 23.

Does any of this sound familiar? We had a president who declared that America is not a Christian country! Our streets are overrun with homeless people who no one helps! We murder unborn babies! We oppress the poor. Whose hands are full of blood? Do we accept these things? If we accept, we are guilty. If we are passive we are guilty.

“And to the Angel of the church in Laodicea write: the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation:

“I know your works; You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; And white robes to clothe you and keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; If you hear my voice and open the door I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne just as I myself conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.” Revelation 3: 14- 22.

Are we prosperous? Do we need nothing? The homeless people with everything they own in a backpack and no place to lay their heads are closer to Christ than most of us. Do we have pride in our cars and houses? Are we in love with our 401K? What is wrong with people who have become worldly and materialistic? Do you not know that death is stalking you at this very minute? Do you not know that any moment you could lose all of these worldly things? Can you not see that in God's eyes you are already homeless, blind, pitiable and naked? For he sees right through us. He knows every weakness, every fault, everything that we have done in our entire lives and nothing is hidden from him. There is nothing we can do-- neither by acts of generosity, nor by the forms and rituals of the church to clean ourselves. That is all “works of the law.” The only salvation that is available to us is to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ and be cleansed by his blood. As he said in John chapter 10, He is the gate, and anyone who tries to enter by another means is a thief and a robber. And, just like in Matthew chapter 22, the one who was not dressed in the wedding clothing, will be cast out into the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. What is the clothing? The clothing is Jesus Christ. Everyone who does not surrender to Jesus Christ is in danger of meeting that end. Furthermore, our nation is at peril because as a whole it has fallen away from God and rejected the message of salvation. If God so punished Israel, his special chosen, when they rebelled, why would we think are immune? The only reason God would regard to us as anything special would be if we as a nation were obedient. God loves and protects those who are obedient to him and punishes severely those who rebel.

Take heed America! These are warnings. If you see a sign that says “danger high voltage” do you ignore the sign and touch? We, as a nation, and many of the “mainstream” churches, have ignored the high voltage warning. We go along day by day in our prosperous lives, needing nothing, driving our cars, fixing up our houses ordering stuff on Amazon, playing at hobbies, thinking that we are righteous people. How can we believe this? We have thousands of people living on the sidewalk. We have abortion mills murdering babies! We have thousands of people gunned down on the streets by drug gangs. Last summer, we had whole cities on fire with lawlessness and murder. Burning police cars, stores and shops. While people lawlessly took over whole sections of a city the police stood by and watched. What have we come to? How far have we fallen? All of our politicians have schemes to route their bribes through donors, family members and charities they set up for appearances. Are we fooled or are we just passively accepting this? People who are being used by the devil assert we are not even allowed to talk about Jesus Christ in the public square!

We have to have more guts and more commitment and more faith if we are going to survive as a country. Failing that, we have to have the Holy Spirit individually to empower and give us strength and hope and courage and we may have to let the rest of the country be turned over to the devil so that those who are savable can be saved.

These are not kind or pleasant messages. But this is what I feel the Bible is telling us in this terrible time. Our only hope is in Jesus. There is no other. God set it up this way from the beginning, it was always the plan and there is not and never will be a plan B.

God speaks to us through the Bible. It behooves us to read it every day and pray and to take seriously everything it says. Pray for revival, pray for more people to come to Jesus. Pray for the faith of the nation to be restored. Pray for the faithful to respond by speaking truth to power. Amen.

Blessings, love and peace always in the Holy Spirit.

Joe, author of I, Witness.

Deepfaithjourney.com