8 Apr 2024

Abraham’s Plea and Today’s America

America, it seems to me, has reached a point of depravity not far distant from the level of wickedness reached in the city in which Abraham’s nephew, Lot, chose to live. We’ve looked at the Sodom-likeness of our own nation a number of times in these commentaries. But never before has such a degree of Sodom-likeness materialized, in my view.

This observation gives me no pleasure to report. However, the accumulating facts are what they are, and to be true to what we believe the Lord has put us here to do –bring His Truth, found in His Holy Word, to bear—we can do no more or less than report what is happening in our beloved nation.

We start with Abraham’s initial question: What if 10 can be found? Genesis chapter 18.

When the aged patriarch, Abraham welcomed strangers as they approached his home, he soon recognized these were not ordinary men but Heaven-sent beings in the form of men. As two of the men were ready to depart to go to Sodom where Abraham’s nephew and family lived, the third stayed to talk with the old man.

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Gen 18:20-21).

So Abraham now recognized the third being as being God Himself in human form. Undoubtedly, Abraham knew of the wickedness of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because he knew what the Lord would find there and feared the punishment to follow. Abraham appealed for God to have mercy on the inhabitants of Sodom.

“But Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” (Gen 18:22-24).

We know from this account that the Lord agreed that if 50 righteous people could be found, He would spare the city of Sodom His Judgment. Then Abraham kept asking if the Lord would spare Sodom if 40, then 20, then 10 righteous could be found. At this point, Abraham realized Sodom’s fate was sealed, apparently so incorrigibly wicked had the people become.

We can only imagine, from this account, the degree of debauched comportment the people of Sodom had reached. But the news of the wickedness in the twin cities was so great, it was known by Abraham and doubtless all who lived in the region round about. Certainly, reports of the wickedness had reached into Heaven to the degree that God Himself, like in the matter of the Tower of Babel, came down to see exactly how great was the evil of the cities. God, of course, knew, as He knows all things, but apparently, He wanted Abraham –and those of us today who are believers, to know that His Judgment, when it comes, is not without His complete Knowledge and Consideration.

He Intervenes directly into the affairs of mankind with Judgment and Wrath only when there is no other recourse. That is when such Intervention is the only hope for saving man from his own destructive behavior.

And this brings us to the title of this article: Abraham’s Plea and America.

Many of those who observe things going on in America at this moment –including yours truly—wonder just how close is the nation to bringing about, because of anti-God activity, God’s catastrophic Judgment of the type suffered at the time of Babel and during Lot’s time in Sodom.

Many –even believers– today would scoff at even the thought of linking America to the type of wickedness the Bible reports as having been taking place in Sodom and Gomorrah. And most people don’t believe this really took place, at any rate. There just is no evidence either of the historical fact of Sodom’s destruction or that the United States is as wicked as was the “fabled” city of Sodom, the majority might declare.

Recent archeological digs in the region below the Dead Sea, however, have changed the fable of Sodom to almost without question a historical fact. So we look to the situation in America at this moment in time to try to ascertain if there are similarities to the days of Lot to things going on in America.

Articles such as the following excerpt report on an hour-by-hour news cycle basis cultural and societal debauchery legislated into U.S. law –and even worse.

A sprawling, $1.2 trillion government funding bill includes funding for abortion facilities, as well as LGBTQ activist centers that carry out transgender injections, target minors, hold drag shows, and help illegal immigrants who identify as gay or transgender gain U.S. citizenship — a bill one congressman calls “a total, total abomination.”

The “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024” funds the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Labor, and State until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. Congressional leadership released the text of the 1,012-page bill at 2:30 a.m. Thursday, giving members of Congress just hours to read before an anticipated vote to head off an impending government shutdown at midnight Saturday.

As of this writing, the bill contained the following earmarks:

$400,000 requested by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) for Briarpatch Youth Services in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The group promises to hide minors’ struggle with gender dysphoria from their parents while indoctrinating teens in extreme gender ideology. Its “Queer 101 Training” promises to teach “an intersectional understanding on queer oppression” and aims “to demonstrate how limiting the ‘male’ and ‘female’ binary is.” The organization offers “individual counseling services” for children “ages 12-17,” in which a “[counselor can work with children on exploring identity, resiliency, and creating a Gender Support Plan for school support and advocacy.”

The group’s website says, “Youth do NOT need parent/guardian permission to join Teens Like Us. We understand not all youth are at a point in their lives where they can safely and confidently ‘come out.’” (Emphasis in original.)

Source: Total Abomination: $1.2 Trillion Bill Funds Teen Trans Programs, Abortion to 22 Weeks – The Iowa Standard, By Ben Johnson, The Washington Stand

The above story is but one small segment of the voluminous reports recording America’s free fall into Sodom-like culture. It seems to me that God is expressing His warning of impending Judgment on this most materially blessed nation in all of human history. The destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, named, of course, after the author of America’s National Anthem, I sense, is not mere coincidence.

I fear even more dramatic forewarnings of national Judgment is in the offing.

Jesus, again, Foretold as recorded in Luke 17:28-30 that His next catastrophic Intervention will be exactly like it was in the days of Lot in Sodom. Jesus, Who is God in His reincarnate form, said the following to Abraham, who was pleading for His Mercy in the city where his nephew Lot lived.

“That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25).

This gives me great hope. It makes me know that the Lord of Heaven, Who is the blessed hope of Titus 2:13, will spare the righteous –that is all Who have Trusted in Him for Salvation, which makes them Righteous in God’s Holy Eyes.

You want to be part of the Righteous when the Lord Jesus Intervenes next in the wicked affairs of mankind. Here is how to be made Righteous in the Eyes of the Lord.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

–Terry

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Darkening Skies

The hype concerning the April 8 solar eclipse exceeds anything I can remember. Its wide path will enable tens of millions to experience the darkening skies from their own back yards. The fact that it completes an X across the U.S., when combined with the eclipse seven years ago, has caused many prophecy watchers to take notice, including me.

Please keep in mind that the Rapture is a signless event; it can happen at any moment. My belief that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing has nothing to do with the upcoming solar eclipse but upon the words of Scripture and what they reveal about what the world will look like in the last days.

However, although the upcoming solar eclipse’ completion of an “X” across America doesn’t tell us anything about the timing of Jesus’ imminent appearing and upcoming Tribulation period, I believe it signifies the Lord’s great displeasure with the U.S. and thus constitutes His warning that dark days lie in its not-so-distant future.

Darkened Skies and Times of Judgment

In the Bible, darkening skies are often associated with God’s judgment.

In announcing the signs that will accompany the arrival of the Day of the Lord, the Prophet Joel says, “the sun will be turned to darkness” (Joel 2:31). The ninth plague in Egypt was that of a three-day period of darkness (Exodus 10:21-22). In the future, we see a repeat of this plague during the fifth “bowl” of God’s wrath when extreme darkness will descend upon the kingdom of the antichrist shortly before its destruction (Revelation 16:10-11).

At the end of the Tribulation, a darkened sun will precede Jesus’ return to earth and the pouring out of His wrath upon the armies gathered to oppose His arrival (Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-16).

Does this mean that every solar eclipse signifies God’s judgment? No, of course not. It’s the timing of the April 8, 2024, eclipse that causes many to see it that way. I say this because of the following considerations:

The Biden Administration’s Betrayal of Israel

The upcoming eclipse occurs just two weeks after the Biden administration’s failure to support Israel at the Security Council. America’s failure to stop the ceasefire resolution from passing has already emboldened Hamas to take a tougher stand in regard to the release of Jewish and American hostages. Furthermore, this has opened the door for international sanctions against Israel should it continue its war against Hamas. Biden’s betrayal of Israel is no small matter.

The darkening skies also come at a time when President Biden is fervently pushing his proposal to divide God’s Land via a two-state solution, which would reward Israel’s enemies for their October 7, 2023, massacre and leave the nation vulnerable to similar barbaric attacks in the future. Again, this is no small matter in God’s eyes.

Scripture is clear: These things greatly displease the Lord and will bring His judgment at His appointed time. Many suggest that the U.S. has already suffered natural disasters after previous presidents have pressured Israel to give up some of its land for the sake of peace.

How could anything, except for God’s providence, account for the timing of two solar eclipses, seven years apart, forming an X over the U.S. so soon after its treachery toward Israel? Long, long ago, the Lord set the movements of the earth and sun in motion. How can it be just a coincidence that this happens at such a time as this? The next solar eclipse to affect the U.S. mainland will not happen until 2044.

Extreme Wickedness Characterizes the U.S.

Long before I heard about the April 8 eclipse and the significance that many are assigning to it, my writing included warnings of God’s coming judgment upon America. My basis for sounding the alarm years ago came from the book of Habakkuk and the similarity of conditions that I saw here with those of ancient Judah (Habakkuk 1:1-4). If God could harshly judge His own chosen people for these things, why should we expect Him to respond any differently to the same wickedness in the U.S.?

Furthermore, the lawlessness, corruption, injustice, and violence that now characterize America are exponentially worse than decades ago when I first applied the words of Habakkuk 1:2-4 to the U.S.

Much to the dismay of many, President Biden proclaimed March 31, 2024, as a “transgender day of visibility.” The fact that any American President would even make such a declaration is by itself surely egregious to God. To make matters worse, he kept the date set by Obama and no one else, which this year fell on Resurrection Sunday.

Psalm 37 is entirely relevant to the day in which we live and prophetic of the judgment that lies ahead for those facilitating our nation’s rebellion against God and His people, Israel. Those who plot evil will succeed for a while as we see them doing at the moment, but God will deal with them in His time; count on it.

I believe that the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse signifies God’s warning to the U.S. The completion of an “X” across the U.S. is far too much of a coincidence for me to ignore at such a time as this.

I do not expect terrible things to happen on April 8 or immediately afterward. God gave the people of Nineveh forty days to repent. How long will He give America to heed His warning? Will those leading the U.S. to reject God and all His ways turn away from their wickedness, or will they continue to build underground bunkers to escape the wrath that’s coming?

-Jonathan

 

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