What Now America...What Now Church?*

Recently, the Supreme Court overturned the Roe V. Wade decision regarding abortion fifty years after the original decision had changed the laws of the nation. As Rabbi Jonathan Cahn wrote in his newest book, Israel was often saved from the brink of God's judgment by removing the altars that had been built to false gods like Ba'al and Molech, both of which were connected to child sacrifice. The tearing down of these ungodly altars could have been a sign of revival in Israel at the time, or it could have been an anomaly in the nation's continuing fall from God. Will we rise up at this time and fulfill 2 Chron. 7:14, and its spiritual warfare of repentance? Our warfare is not natural, with guns and violence, or even politics, but it is spiritual, through repentance, faith, and the Word of God. God hates sin, which leads to death, but God loves the sinner. For this reason, God sent His Son to die in the place of all sinners who will accept Him. What will America choose? What will the Church choose? Paul wrote about the conditions in the last days, and we see those same things now: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Tim. 3:1-5). We certainly see this in man today. Paul wrote that even though "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived", we, the believers are to continue and hold fast in what we have been taught by the apostles of the faith, and the holy scriptures, even as persecution comes against those of faith (v. 10-14). We are seeing the beginning of persecution in this nation, as the preaching and speaking of God's Word is being silenced by law, even in pulpits. However, Paul commands Timothy: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." (2 Tim. 4:2). There will come a time, wrote Paul, that because men's lusts, their destructive desires of various kinds, will rule them, Godly doctrine will no longer be tolerated (v. 4). Jude, the brother of Jesus Christ, wrote of similar concerns. He exhorted the believers to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares...ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord, Jesus Christ." (v. 3-4). Jude added that God had dealt with this kind of ungodliness in scripture as examples for us. He dealt with unbelieving Israelites, after He delivered them from Egypt, who had seen the power of God, but did not believe Him. Angels, who rebelled against their place, were chained in the pit as a result. Sodom and Gomorrah, condemned to eternal fire, chose fornication and strange flesh rather than the knowledge of God. "Woe unto them!" (v. 5-11). People who knew God, such as Cain, Balaam, and Korah, chose their own gain instead of God. Jude wrote that the Lord will bring judgment against the ungodly for "all of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him", the Lord. (v. 15). These ungodly people are fruitless, shameless, without fear of God, and condemned to the darkness forever (v. 12-13). In "the last time", they are the mockers who walk after their own ungodly lusts...having not the Spirit (v. 18-19), as Paul also said, above. Believers, on the other hand, should build themselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of Jesus unto eternal life. It is He who preserves us, and keeps us from likewise falling (v. 1, 20-24). Peter, another apostle, wrote about these issues also: "...there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you...their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Peter 2:1-3). Like Jude above, Peter also wrote of the examples in scripture where judgment followed intentional ungodliness: the angels that sinned and were cast down to hell in chains of darkness; the sparing of Noah, while the ungodly were destroyed in the flood; the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, while delivering Lot, who was considered righteous and just by God (v. 4-8). The Lord knows how to deliver the godly from destructive temptation, while reserving the ungodly, who walk after the flesh in lust, for His judgment (v. 9-10). There is a danger from those who walk in unrighteousness towards those who know God: "For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error...For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, and the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (v. 18, 20-21). These who had formerly been saved through Christ, but turned back because of the influence of the ungodly, are compared to a dog returning to its vomit (v. 22, see Prov. 26:11). These ungodly men try to pull both you, and the nation, back from God. We are seeing the judgment of God in this nation through violence, pandemic, and destruction. As Paul and Jude above, Peter also warned: "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." (2 Pet. 3:3). They scoff at the idea of judgment, because all seems to continue the same, while they willingly ignore the previous judgment of the great flood by which the world perished (v. 4-6). The same Word of judgment has now reserved the heavens and earth for the judgment of fire, rather than water. This fire is so consuming, that all elements will melt from its fervent heat (v. 7, 10). The only reason that we have not seen this judgment yet is because the Lord is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (v. 9). Again the question is asked by Peter that, considering all of these dangers of the last days, "what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness...?" (v. 11). So what now, America...what now, Church? King David in Psalm 12, cried to the LORD, saying, "...the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fall from among the children of men." They flatter and speak empty, vain things. They say as they please, refusing the Lordship of God over themselves, their words. They oppress the poor until the poor cry out before the LORD. "The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted." We see this today in that the vile have been promoted to the highest positions until the wicked think that they can do their wickedness without suffering any ramifications. However, David assured us: "The words of the LORD are pure: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." When a silversmith purifies silver, he repeats it until the silver is pure enough that the smith can see his face reflected in it. The Lord Jesus had this pure Word for all seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Although they almost all had failings that could lead to their destruction, He urged them to be overcomers. The rewards that the Lord promised to each overcoming church are the same rewards that all believers are promised if they abide in Christ: to eat of the tree of life; to be spared from the second death; to eat of the hidden manna and to receive a white stone with your new name written upon it; to rule over nations and to receive the Morning Star, which is Jesus Christ Himself; to be clothed in white raiment, which is the clothing of righteousness, to have your name remain in the Book of Life, and to have your name declared before the Father and His angels by Jesus; to be made a pillar in God's temple, and to have the name of God, the city of New Jerusalem, and Christ's new name written, or more accurately engraved, upon you. Even to the lukewarm church of Laodicea, whom the Lord called "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked", if they would overcome, Jesus promised to them and to us: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." The solution is not found in the wicked nor in this world, but in 2 Chron. 7:14 - If the people of God will repent. Jesus told us to judge ourselves, so we will not be judged. We know that judgment begins in the house and with the people of God. In the parable of the talents, the Master gave each one talents, and expected to see the increase from those talents. What are we doing with the "talents" that have been given to us? Our nation, like Israel of old, is standing near judgment. What now, America? What now, Church? *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 11/27/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook.