After going through challenging health issues and demonic attacks on his family, Glenn Beck has totally submitted to God. As God's End-times watchman, he has now received 20/20 supernatural vision concerning the future of America and all Americans. Please share Glenn's timely message with everyone.
Jan Markell, Michele Bachmann, Bill Koenig and Pastor Mark Henry present the Biblical Truth behind all of Satan’s Ephesians 6:11-12 End-time schemes. Most important, they explain how Christians can successfully defeat all of the current and future attacks and lies of the devil.
Delegates from 194 countries, led by the United States, will meet in Switzerland this week to vote to relinquish their respective country’s sovereignty and grant autonomous power to the World Health Organization over international health events. Listen and learn of this one-world push which is outlined in the Bible and what we can do to stop this effort.
Pastor Jimmy Evans presents is one of the 'MOST UPLIFTING & TIMELY' End Times messages you will ever hear. Please share Pastor Evan’s message with everyone.
Sid Roth’s guest, Glenda Jackson was taken to heaven
and given understanding of the hidden meaning of 666.
"This is a very, very dangerous situation," said Bernard Avishai, a professor of government at Dartmouth, who has written extensively on Israel and spoke to Yahoo News about the imminent danger a nuclear-equipped Iran presents to the Jewish state, the Middle East and the world.
In 2020, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's top cleric, deemed Israel a 'cancerous tumor' [to be destroyed], echoing rhetoric that has changed little in its intensity since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979."
ranian nuclear capability is a powder keg for an all-out Middle East war that could easily lead to Armageddon. And, tragically, the flint has been provided by U.S. Democratic federal governments from the administrations of presidents Carter and Clinton, down to Obama and now Biden.
I learned the Obama administration sent a total of over $33.6 billion dollars to Iran over a few year period, I was fighting mad!
I thought, am I living in the government Twilight Zone?!
Did all that money stop the Iranian regime from threatening us? No! Did it make them respect us? No! Did it slow down their nuclear ambitions? No! Tragically, it just ramped them up. (Nuclear war remains among Americans' top fears.)
The U.S. is no longer worthy of the title "friend and ally of Israel," at least while any Democratic president is in power. When the U.S. empowers Israel's greatest neighboring enemy's nuclear power, is it not obvious we are traveling down the wrong road?
All of my life I have had a love for Israel. My mother raised my two brothers and me on Judeo-Christian values and beliefs. I even went on to film three of my action movies in Israel – "Delta Force" being my favorite. My wife, Gena, and I have also formed many great friendships there in the Holy Land, including with the prime minister and his wife.
A strong and secure Israel is imperative for Middle East stability. That is why I've repeatedly supported Bibi's reelection, and why I vehemently opposed the disastrous U.S. nuclear agreement with Iran, which all U.S. senators (except one) oppose even in any newer version.
The U.S. recognized Israel as a sovereign state in 1948, and we need to continue to do so. We – including our next president – must never quit striving for Middle East peace, while always acknowledging that Israel is our chief ally there.
It is still remarkable to me that a piece of land so small – only roughly 263 miles long and 71 miles wide – has been at the center stage of Middle East politics and war for millennia, and its capital, Jerusalem, at the very heart of the debate and battles. (Here is a 5-minute video history summarizing 4,000 years of upheaval in that sacred city.).
It's no coincidence that Megiddo, Israel, has also been at the heart of countless wars and battles, and it is where the Bible describes the apocalyptic war of Armageddon taking place.
Former President Donald Trump proclaimed that "World War III has never been closer than it is right now," and said, “We could end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours with the right leadership." In the video, he calls on getting rid of the "corrupt global establishment that has botched ever major foreign policy decision for decades, and that includes President Biden.
By WND News Services
Published February 14, 2023 at 3:48pm
A new state religion is overtaking the United States of America – and, increasingly, much of the Western (and formerly Christian) world
It's name is Wokeism.
To most outsiders, the expression “being woke,” or “going woke,” conjures up visions of a person or entity that claims to be acutely sensitive (“awake”) to “systemic social and political injustice” in every form. Of course, the “injustice” being condemned by Wokeism is not simply the alleged "systemic" bigotry against "black and brown people," but against every other “minority,” “underrepresented group” and “underserved community” in the American family. That means everything LGBT, including child-grooming “trans” school teachers and TikTok stars, drag queens and “nonbinary” folk, as well as all other “marginalized” groups, from “homeless people” to “undocumented immigrants” – all of them, being victims, intrinsically more virtuous than the shameful oppressor class: primarily, heterosexual white males.
From insisting on multi-million-dollar reparation payments to every black person in America, to appointing men who claim they’re actually women as top officials in the U.S. government. From rampant reverse discrimination in employment, college admissions and every other area of life, to Disney producers gleefully boasting on camera how they’re secretly “injecting queerness” into children’s programming, to the U.S. military imposing mandatory “diversity training” and transgender pronoun use on all personnel, causing recruitment to disastrously plummet. From top college and professional athletic organizations permitting and encouraging biological men to compete in women’s athletics, essentially destroying women’s sports, to incarcerating men (who claim they’re women) in women’s prisons, resulting unsurprisingly in a rape epidemic in those correctional facilities.
Unlike in Christianity, according to Wokeist theology the original sin was not the first man and woman’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. It was white, male, heterosexual, Christian supremacists abusing and exploiting black people. This ongoing sinfulness comprises not just actual racism, as manifested in slavery, and later, segregation, which America long ago repented of and outlawed, but also “systemic racism,” which mysteriously no one can actually see, as well as “white privilege,” which condemns even people who are not the least bit racist as still guilty – for being white.
Yet there is hope. Being “saved” – which in Wokeism is called being “woke” – is largely a matter of worshipping victimhood by becoming an “ally” and “defender” of all the many victim classes, and of course a determined enemy of the straight white male oppressor class. Thus, “joining the righteous” as an ally – even if one is cursed to be a straight white male – opens the door mercifully for salvation, even to the most wretched.
That is the power of the religion of Wokeism.
On Jan. 24, the recently restored political cat-with-nine-lives, Bibi Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, made a sudden surprise trip to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II on a matter of great urgency. His mission was to reassure the Muslim king that the newly seated Orthodox Jewish/nationalist majority now controlling Israel would not be allowed to disrupt the status quo on the Temple Mount. That status quo consists of virtually absolute Muslim control of the Temple Mount, preserved by Jewish law enforcement, which aggressively suppress' Jewish activity there to prevent, literally, World War III. The entire heavily militarized Muslim world has been at DEFCON 3 since the Jews captured the entirety of Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and much of that world instantly kicks up to DEFCON 2 at the merest hint of Jewish political/religious encroachment on any part of East Jerusalem, but especially the Temple Mount.
As a pro-Israel Christian conservative with an eye toward both prophecy and the culture war, I have been amused by the widespread state of panic in the "mainstream" media who universally condemn the new Israeli leadership as "Israel's most right-wing and religiously conservative government in history," but who now are trapped into vesting their previous punching-bag Netanyahu with legitimacy in the hope he can and will restrain the Orthodox Jews from fulfilling what they view as a mandate from God to rebuild His Temple. Good luck with that. While Netanyahu seems to be more of a globalist than a populist in some things, like the COVID-19 plandemic, he is unquestionably a Jewish nationalist with a vision for Jewish control of the entirety of the lands they owned in antiquity (at least) and perhaps even to the wider boundaries God established in Genesis. Indeed, the left hates him for pursuing Jewish settlement of the "West Bank" instead of ceding it to the "Palestinians" (aka Jordanians).
I've been privileged to visit Israel four times, most recently leading a church tour group from Southern California, and have been on the Temple Mount three times. On our first visit, my wife and I descended to the "off limits" East Gate made impassable with cinder blocks and many rows of graves outside the wall (whose religious "uncleanness" is intended in the logic of Muslim theology to prevent the Judeo-Christian Messiah from entering). It had been temporarily unguarded, but minutes later we got chased off by an angry Muslim guard with a sub-machine gun. On our third visit, I took another risk and accepted the invitation of an unofficial Muslim "guide" to tour the Al Aqsa Mosque (for a fee) which amounted to being escorted down the side of the building to observe the interior through open-air windows where hundreds of men were zealously performing their ritual prayers. Never in my visits to the Temple Mount did I see any overtly Jewish activity or obvious presence at all.
On two occasions, Anne and I also visited the Temple Institute, whose sole purpose is to build and equip the Third Temple. Their preparations are now complete: including the recreation of all the implements and artifacts prescribed by the Bible as well as the altar, the genetic identification and training of the Levitical priests in the Temple rituals, and even the acquisition and verification of the Red Heifer whose ashes are necessary for the final purification of the high priest. "On Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at 5 p.m., five perfect, unblemished red heifers arrived in Israel from the USA," reads a statement on the homepage of the group's website. All that remains is the building of the Third Temple itself.
In my perspective (and I've followed this issue very closely from outside the controlled-media bubble), the path to the Third Temple begins in Ukraine, where the U.S. and U.K. deliberately orchestrated the Russian invasion through relentless provocation in the form of creeping nuclear encirclement by NATO, culminating in the 2021/22 massing of forces on the Donbass border to finally crush the pro-Russian separatists there and eliminate Russia's security buffer zone. The "unprovoked" mantra of the lying media regarding Russia is just more deceptive spin by the "OBiden" criminal cartel, as more and more Christians and conservatives are finally beginning to realize. Accepting this hard truth in the face of intense non-stop war-propaganda is key to recognizing just how deep the criminal conspiracy runs.
The U.S./U.K. goals and justifications for provoking the war are numerous: from preventing a super-powerful Russian/German economic partnership from arising outside U.S./U.K. control (greatly facilitated by the Nord Stream pipelines), to covering-up the U.S. Uniparty criminal operations in Ukraine (including both billions in graft and the totally illegal bio-weapons labs), to the punishment of Putin and Russia for defying Obama's global LGBT juggernaut (designed to weaken the nations by unraveling their family-centered social fabric), to balkanizing Russia into multiple competing nations and plundering their natural resources (a centuries-old specialty of the British Empire inherited by the United States after WWII).
But the larger goal – the one related to the Third Temple – is the triggering of World War III to facilitate the One World Government by the U.N./WEF target date of 2030. Nothing would serve the globalist interests of geopolitical consolidation, population reduction, and the total subservience of the survivors better and faster than a global-economy-collapsing world war and its consequent famine and pestilence. It's all planned and plotted: the Great Collapse paves the way for the Great Reset.
A huge benefit of WWIII for Israel would be the opportunity to fully de-nuclearize the increasingly close Russian ally Iran and to weaken or eliminate all of the other "Death to Israel" players on the board without being blamed for starting the world war. (Russia is the elites' chosen scapegoat for that.) And, if WWIII is already happening for other reasons, there's no longer a necessity to preserve the status quo on the Temple Mount. If WWIII launches soon enough, the very people who most want to build the Third Temple will still be in power. How long would it take to build? I've heard rumor that there are (for redundancy) three fully-constructed Temple buildings in diverse locations ready to be airlifted in pieces by construction helicopters at a moment's notice. I don't know if it's true, but it is plausible.
On the prophetic side, the above scenario aligns closely with end-times theology, right down to the idea of the completed Third Temple serving as the symbol of world unity – "a house of prayer for all the nations" – when the season of world war gives way to a season of world peace in the transition from Collapse to Reset, and the still-unrevealed "peacemaker" Antichrist begins to pose as the Messiah.
Satan held a press conference in hell responding to the big loss of Roe v. Wade. He's doing his best to keep his chin up.
Are we on the verge of the most turbulent time in history?
Perry Stone uncovers one of the most important prophecies in the Book of Revelation and the current global events that are tied to its unfolding! Listen as he answers some of the biggest questions people are asking about the end times and what to expect in the revealing of the final countdown to Jesus soon return!
Jenn Nizza, an ex-psychic who spent years doing readings and communicating with what she believed were the dead loved ones of her clients, is among those speaking out. Nizza, who is now a Christian, told CBN News that yoga isn't just "stretching and breathing." "Yoga is a Hindu spiritual practice.
The word 'yoga' means 'to yoke to' or 'to unite with,' and what they're doing," Jenn Nizza said. "They have deliberate postures that are paying tribute, honor, and worship to their false gods, and they have over 330,000,000 false gods, which are all demons.
The door of the LORD"S mercy and grace for America is about to close. We never thought America would surpass Sodom & Gomorrah in promoting grievous sexual sins and behaviors (homosexuality, perversion & rebellion) as it is now.
by Johnny Enlow from Nashville, TN
Email: Contact@JohnnyandElizabeth.com
Website: www.restore7.org
Where are those gates of Hell? Those gates of Hell are positioned at the tops of the Seven Mountains: at the highest places in media, the economy, in government, in education, in family structures, in arts and entertainment, as well as in structures that call themselves "church." If you are part of a church that is just a "reprieve" from all that is going on in the world, you are not part of the Church; you are part of a "Christian social club."
Jesus said He would build His Church, and that this Church of His would position itself against the very gates of Hell. This isn't the rapture, this is the capture. The very gates of Hell must be captured and occupied by sons and daughters of light. Didn't He say that as well, "Occupy until I return"? Occupy what? Occupy your place of assignment. It is militant thinking. It is against the very places where satan opens up gates of Hell. That is where you occupy. That is where your assignment is. "Church going" is not to be a respite from hearing about the battle. Church is where orders for battling are to come from.
"Do you not understand that the gates of Hell are a reality? Do you not understand that the gate of Hell in the media is occupied through agents in Twitter, CNN, Fox, CNBC, Facebook, Google, etc.? Do you not understand that the economy has gates of Hell in Wall Street, in the Central Banks, in Davos, in the World Economic Summit? Do you not understand that other gates of Hell are in Hollywood, Harvard, Rome, Religious Headquarters, the United Nations, the CDC, the WHO, the Supreme Court and Congress?
"Do you not know that he who illegally poses as president is referred to as 'Pedo Peter' by his own son? Do you not know that criminals, disguised as politicians and healthcare workers, are still enforcing deadly vaccines? Do you understand, Church, that you are the only ones I have empowered to remove the Luciferian criminals from these gates of Hell? Do you really think a celebratory rapture is in order when you haven't even identified the correct battlefield?
All of Creation Groans for the Revealing of the Sons and Daughters of God
"Do you think thousands of Christian social clubs, that refuse to show up at the gates of Hell, are targets for a rapture? Did I not say that YOU are the salt of the earth, and if YOU, as the salt, don't bring the healing, cleansing and preserving agent of salt into society's structures, you are good for nothing but to be trampled on? Do you now think that being trampled upon is a precursor to the rapture?
"Do you not see that being trampled upon is the result of being 'Christian social clubs' and not the Ekklesia Church I spoke of? Are you now afraid your members will leave if you tell them that a gate of Hell is a gate of Hell? Are you now so cozy with darkness that you don't shed light on it? Have I not allowed things to be so clear in society right now that it is not a matter of politics but just right and wrong? Has not pure evil been made obvious? Do you still insist on playing it neutral?
"Come on, Church. Rise up. Rise up and be all I have foretold that you would be. Rise up as creation groans and travails for you to be My gates-of-Hell-challenging Ekklesia. Rise up as I orchestrate a great day of deliverance for you and for the nations of the world.
"Arise and shine with courage, with conviction, with clarity. Leave your lukewarm Christian social club if its effect on you is lukewarmness. Find My Ekklesia in places not called 'church.' Recognize My Ekklesia and My Ekklesia leaders in very untraditional settings, if necessary. Recognize My Ekklesia, whether it is in a building called 'church' or an online community. Be taught by those who understand this narrative that I lay out for you.
"My finest hour upon the earth is coming, and it is intended to be yours as well, as you move in alignment with Me. Carry Me; carry My presence; carry My storyline. The best is yet to come."
Watch Tebow share his journey through ups and downs — and the power of his faith on this recent CBN interview
Tim Tebow, a former NFL star and professional baseball player, is widely known for his bold and outspoken Christian faith — and his evangelistic spirit shows no signs of slowing down.
Tebow, who is out with a new devotional titled “Mission Possible One-Year Devotional: 365 Days of Inspiration for Pursuing Your God-Given Purpose,” recently discussed on CBN his life, faith, overcoming challenges, and why he so boldly shares Jesus with the world.
“I think it’s the most loving thing that we could do,” Tebow said of spreading his Christian faith. “If you really believe the rescue mission of Jesus Christ … of what He did for us on the cross … a great joy for all the people, and if I’ve been able to receive this free gift … and if I don’t share that with someone else, that’s not loving.” He continued, “It’s actually selfish, and the most loving thing that I can do is to share that in a kind and loving way.”
Another leaked video has emerged to show that the World Economic Forum (WEF), led by the infamous globalist kingpin Klaus Schwab, is planning to unleash mass genocide as the catalyst for its promised “Great Reset.”
Abortion still remains one of their "Top Priorities!"
by Wanda Alger
On November 1, I had a series of dreams that further conveyed to the troops that we need to get ready for the days ahead. In the 30-minute video below, I talk about this consistent message to be bold and courageous as we take back our nation. Knowing our authority in prayer is absolutely critical as we take down the giants in the land!
This video fully explains the Scriptural meaning of Christ's Future Millennial Kingdom. Please share this timely message of true hope - narrated by Dr. David Jeremiah - with everyone God puts on your heart.
Dr. Jerome Corsi, author and a Sr. Staff Writer for WND.com shares evidence - on the 50th anniversary of JFKs death - who really killed President John F. Kennedy.
Recently, I was in a corporate prayer meeting and the Lord spoke to me and just said, “distractions.” Then as I continued to pray then I heard the Lord say, “more than usual.” The Lord was showing me that the enemy is after your God-given purpose and will do anything to keep you from it, especially in this season. I believe the enemy is specifically targeting believers with distractions right now in an attempt to throw you off course. These distractions are not just normal life circumstances coming at you, these are specific situations, conflicts and anything the enemy can use in order to create a distraction in your life. Don’t let this tactic of the enemy divide your attention and energy in this season. Keep your focus on what God has said to you and cling to every promise He has entrusted to you.
In this same time of prayer, the Lord said to me, “delays.” So many in the body of Christ have experienced delays in the previous season and this has left many feeling defeated and discouraged. However, this word is for you! The Lord is breaking the delays and distractions of the enemy and wants to bring you into clarity, discernment and the fullness of every single prophetic promise you have been given. Don’t confuse the delays of the past season for God’s absence or dismissal of what He has spoken to you. Every single thing God has promised you will come to pass if you do not give up!
For several days after the Lord spoke this to me I heard from many people that they are experiencing delay and discouragement. If you are currently battling this, you are not alone! The enemy is strategically unleashing delay, distractions and discouragement in this hour. But this is your time to rise up and push back the enemy as you pray and keep moving forward with God. I believe that the Lord is wanting to give His people a new level of clarity and confidence in what He is calling them to do individually and corporately in this hour. God is looking for those who will see the distractions of the enemy for exactly what they are and begin to operate with an advanced discernment moving forward with Him.
This is a timely word for every single son or daughter of God that is feeling defeated or delayed. Do not give in to the distraction in this season. Instead, begin to shift your gaze to the Lord and let your faith rise as you remember and contend for every promise because your season of fulfillment is about to come to pass! My friends, understand that if you are discouraged and experiencing delay it is not because your breakthrough is far from you. In fact, it is because you are right on the edge of your breakthrough! Don’t you dare give up or give in now! Don’t faint or lose heart right before your season of harvest because it is on the horizon for you. So I want to encourage you today with this word from the Lord. You may have been delayed and distracted in this season but soon you will see your breakthrough come swiftly to pass! This is your season!
In the very near future, AI takeover of society is a realistic scenario in which artificial intelligence (AI) becomes the dominant form of intelligence making decisions on Earth.
Blake Lemoine tells 'Tucker Carlson' he was put on administrative leave after cautioning the firm that artificial intelligence has reached a new level of self-decision-making control.
Please share this prophetic warning for America by Chuck Pierce and Tim Sheets. God has just commissioned 51 high ranking angels (one for each State - plus Washington D.C.) to assist believers in bringing in the final harvest of souls before Yeshua's return.
Joe Joe Dawson shares a powerful prophetic word about the awakening that is coming to the earth in this hour.
Why America should observe the Day of Atonement
With worldwide events growing darker and Yeshua's return getting ever closer, Paul Wilbur explains the vital importance of understanding and observing Yom Kippur for such a time as this.
by Craig Cooney
HOPE Church | Daily Prophetic
During the Hebrew Year 5783, God's people are entering a season of unusual favor and promotion. God will be sending people to speak into your life. They have already experienced some of what you are about to be exposed to. They will prepare you to steward the increase in your influence and release you into a greater level of freedom and fullness.
What are the signs that you are in a season of unusual favor? Here are just a few:
• Doors that have been closed are opening.
• You have more opportunities than you can handle.
• There is a significant increase in your access to resources and wealth.
• You have a greater level of impact in areas where your voice was previously muted or missing.
• People of influence are paying attention to your work or asking for your advice or wisdom.
• You are getting promoted in work beyond your age or experience.
• You are getting a greater level of public visibility or exposure.
• Your reputation as an expert or authority figure is becoming known.
God is one who opens the doors for the greatness that He's put in you. It points to the glory of the One who created you. Live in the fullness and freedom that Christ purchased for you with His own Blood. Recognize that you are the son or daughter of the King of kings – that makes you royalty.
Therefore, take on board the words of Bill Johnson: "Royalty is my identity. Servanthood is my assignment. Intimacy with God is my life source."
Released by Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
elijahlist.com
Produced by David Rosenthal of Zion's Hope Ministries
China's 'The Belt and Road Initiative', Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy undertaking and the world’s largest infrastructure program, poses to take total control of the world's economic, political and global security interests.
Produced by David Rosenthal of Zion's Hope Ministries
Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum states, "Capitalism must be abolished. All aspects of our world societies and economies must be “revamped, from education to social contracts and working conditions.”
How is it possible that The United States of America, the greatest and freest nation in world history, has so rapidly come under the control of serially lying, deranged, power-mad sociopaths – leaders with nothing but contempt for America, for its history, its Constitution, its Judeo-Christian culture and its people? Orwell’s “1984” points directly to the answer: The elites are changing America’s language itself, so that people’s words – and therefore, their very thoughts – inevitably come under the control of the ruling class. It’s a way of bending reality in real time, so that what is illusion appears to be true, while what is real and true appears to be lies, misinformation, “hate speech,” “conspiracy theories” and “extremism.” American "values" today are the most corrupt and perverse of any nation on earth, and the future our leaders envision is a dystopian transhumanist freak show of woke tyrants and sexual deviants. This extraordinarily powerful weapon of war is now being employed 24/7 by the Marxist left who are controlled completely by the devil.
Sid Roth and Troy Brewer share powerful prophetic insights on what's coming to America in the Hebrew Year 5783
by Donna Rogers
Many years ago I sat in a room of apostolic leaders telling them - well in advance - that some day in the near future all of our money would be digitized so governing bodies could implement the Mark of the Beast currency which NO ONE will be able to buy or sell anything. They didn’t want to hear it and didn’t believe what I was telling them would come to pass. Yet it is NOW at our doorstep. On March 9, 2022, President Biden signed Executive Order 14067 - Central Bank Digital Currency: Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.”
How many of you know about this? Do you realize President Biden plans on getting rid of your dollar & going to a digital currency starting as early as May 2023? Do you fully understand what that means? The government will be able to track every cent that you have. They will have the ability to limit your funds, take your funds, or completely cut you off if they don't like what you're buying, who you are supporting, what websites you are visiting, etc. They will be able to limit how much gas & food you buy. If you don't understand the implications of this, you'd better start doing your research. If you don't think your government would do such a thing, you'd better think again. They want to track everything about you. They're already doing this with your phones and every smart device in your house.
With the 2022 elections only two months away, former White House correspondent and webhost of Watch.org, Bill Koenig, shares God's prophetic warning to America.
Jonathan Cahn's message is absolutely right on! Believers need to wake up! Ephesians 6:12 is real!!
Prepare for THE EXPOSURE - The Hebrew Year of "Choice"
starting on September 25th, 2022 (Jewish New Year)
The Howard Pittman Story On August 3, 1979, Howard Pittman kept his appointment with death while in an ambulance being moved from one hospital to another. All of this came about because of a massive internal hemorrhage. As the result of keeping his appointment with death, Howard was given a fantastic spiritual experience exposing Satan's grand plan of deception to destroy the lives of those living on planet earth. In reality, this experience was a warning to the world of the impending return of Jesus Christ and God's judgement, which is also being poured out upon mankind.
The Book of James says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you!” (James 4:7).
How do we do that?
Pastor Claude stresses that Christians must follow these powerful verses:
From the end of World War II and for 70 years thereafter, America “worked.” The triumph of democracy and freedom over fascism and national land grabs energized the American body politic to take responsibility and rebuild the world after the devastating losses in the war. The world was put back in order, nations devastated by battle were rebuilt (much of that through US programs like the Marshall Plan), while people felt secure enough to plan for careers, family, education and retirement.
America’s role as the world’s police officer, resentful as that made some nations feel (everyone remembers the term “ugly American”), kept the world in check. For sure there were devastating skirmishes (Korea, Vietnam, the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, and Rwanda, to name a few), but a nuclear crisis never actually materialized, and the world overall was a relatively safe place.
Domestically, politicians in opposing parties actually reached across the aisle and compromised on what was best for the country; elections were generally not contested; and the experiment in democracy set out by the founders of the US in the late 18th century proved to be sustainable. Or so we all thought.
However, 77 years after the end of the war, it all seems to be falling apart. Why? What happened? For sure, US foreign policy changed beginning in the Obama years, when it started to move away from the country’s self-defined role as the world’s police officer. Yes, countries do alter their foreign policies without their cultures going downhill. Yet over these past 13 years, with the advent of the smartphone and the exponential rise of social networking, hardly a day goes by that we don’t see some catastrophic event or trend that does not augur well for the continued success of the world’s greatest democracy.
Politically, whether people want to admit it or not, the country is in the midst of a civil war, though for the moment, not one where both sides have taken up arms, one against the other (although that, too, could eventuate).
Nevertheless, a look at opinion polls on the 2020 election is enough to prove the point. For the population in general, 30% of the people polled do not believe President Biden won the 2020 election, while among Republicans, that number jumps to 70%. There has never been a time in modern history where such numbers were this high 18 months after the election itself, with the former president continuing to parrot the line that the election was stolen even in the face of overwhelming proof to the contrary.
Functionally, the legislative branch of government finds itself in a position where any proposal put forth by one party is not something that the other party will support. Even something as basic as the recent gun legislation passed in the House of Representatives saw just 14 Republican legislators voting with the Democrats. In most cases, reaching across the aisle to get legislation passed has been thrown into the dustbin of history, along with so many other traditions that enabled the legislature to function.
There have been over 300 mass shootings in the US this year as of early July, the largest number by far of any country in the world. A 2015 Politifact article cited data from 2000 to 2014 trying to prove that mass shootings do indeed happen in other advanced countries. However, the article conceded that the US experienced 133 shootings during that five-year period, while the next-highest total was Germany with six. This year, the US is on track to see over 600. Why is the situation so bad only in the US? No other Western country has this kind of problem.
Along with the issue of mass shootings is the issue of gun ownership. A Swiss-based worldwide small arms survey in 2018 showed that there are 120.5 small arms for every 100 people in the US, which is twice as large as the next country, Yemen, with 52.8. Even Israel, where people wrongly think that everyone has a gun, does not make it into the list of the top 20 worldwide. And the number of privately owned weapons has only grown since then. There is, of course, the related issue of what type of weapons people own. One can easily question why individual citizens need to own high-powered assault rifles in the first place, yet those proliferate legally as well.
Then there is the weather. On average, the US experiences fewer than 1,500 tornadoes a year. Through June, there have already been 940 reported tornadoes there, which means the country is on track to see 2,000 or more, a 33% increase year-on-year.
The nightly news out of the US for the past few months shows tens of millions of people under extreme weather risk every day, often in three different areas of the country simultaneously (upper Midwest, East coast and the Southeast region). In the west, a long period of drought has been drying up reservoirs and spawning massive forest fires. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) statistics show that as of July 5, 34,478 fires have already burned 4,582,301 acres. This is above the 10-year average of 27,346 fires, and twice the average of 2,026,917 acres burned. The odd thing is that very little of this occurs just north of the US in Canada, or just south in Mexico. It all seems to be centered in the US.
Add to this the homeless situation, where in California alone there are more than 161,000 homeless, according to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness. Right behind California is New York, with 91,000 homeless, a large percentage of whom are, in fact, sleeping on the street.
No other Western country has the number of street people at that level. In Los Angeles, seemingly every underpass is chock full of homeless tents, which can be seen on the coastal beaches as well during the warmer weather. And the US domestic airline system is so broken right now that the odds of getting anywhere on time and with one’s luggage are low. Moreover, I have not even mentioned corona, which is still with us as well.
If one accepts the religious concept that whatever happens in the world is part of God’s plan for the world (and not everyone accepts that, to be sure), it is possible to postulate that God had a plan for the United States of America. After all, it was Abraham Lincoln who opined in 1865 that America was the “almost chosen people,” placing the issue of faith and the existence of a heavenly plan for the US squarely in the culture of post-civil war America.
If one does accept the God construct, then for the 70 years after World War II America continued to carry out His plan, creating an order in the world that had never existed before – and life was good.
However, there has never been a time in post-civil war history as now where the US has been so broken, where so many things seem to be going wrong simultaneously, and where the political leadership seems powerless to deal with all of it.
It is almost as if God is now expressing displeasure with his servant, the US, in the course it has taken.
The hope, of course, is that at some point the political leadership will get its act together and find a way to address the myriad of problems that the country is presently facing. However, if one accepts that this is perhaps a manifestation of God’s disappointment with the USA, perhaps the nation should turn to God and pray for a return to normalcy.
It would not be the first time in history that prayer was invoked on behalf of a country. We need only follow the lead of the last person any of us would have expected would turn to prayer, and look at the example of General George S. Patton, Jr., head of the US’s Third Army in Europe in World War II.
In December 1944, fog, clouds, rain and snow over Europe were hampering US war efforts. A frustrated Patton contacted Chaplain James O’Neill, a Catholic priest, and asked for a prayer for good weather that would improve the chances of victory. In the presence of Patton, there was only one response the chaplain could offer and that was “Yes, sir.”
The chaplain wrote this prayer, which was then distributed to the 275,000 Third Army troops along with a Christmas greeting that read:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression of wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.
The results? The weather cleared for the next six days, and Patton’s allied forces were victorious, vanquishing the German army. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is another moment in history when civilization needs an intervention from the “immoderate” forces that are besieging us.
When hope eluded him, Patton, the battle-hardened cynic, asked his troops to turn to a higher force. What he later said about people in such a quandary is noteworthy: “Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.”
Maybe the time has come for everyone to bury the cynicism and look up. There is certainly no downside in doing so, while there is every possibility that our prayers will be answered. ■
Sherwin Pomerantz, who has lived in Israel for 38 years, is CEO of Atid EDI Ltd., a Jerusalem-based international business development consultancy, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, former Board chair of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and president of Congregation Ohel Nechama in Jerusalem.