Jonathan Cahn, author of the Harbinger and the Shemitah brings a warning to America In Harbinger II - The Return to repent because the time of judgment is near but always preceded by a window of opportunity. But when the people fail to repent in the time given them, GOD will issue final judgment resulting in the country's destruction.
by Gerald Weston
We are hearing this week of a record mega-lottery here in the United States. Some people tweeted the following answers to the question, “What would you do if you won a billion dollars?” One said he would build the wall between Mexico and the U.S. Another said he would rebuild Mexico Beach on the Gulf coast, destroyed by Hurricane Michael. And another said he would give some to charity and spend the rest of his life hunting and fishing.
Perhaps you dream about what you would do with a billion dollars, or a significant fraction of that amount. After all, one hundred million, or even ten million, will go a long way! Many people, when asked the question, say they would give a portion to charity. I’m sure they are sincere in saying this, but would they really build the wall or give it all to rebuild a destroyed city? Maybe, but probably not.
Have you ever considered that, in principle, you have already won the lottery? Let me explain.
Jesus made it plain that His message was not understandable by the majority. For example, Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44), repeating this truth to His disciples shortly afterward (v. 65). How few understand this! Consider also, why did Jesus speak in parables? It is not the reason I heard in Sunday school. Jesus’ own disciples asked Him this very question. Here was His answer: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:11). A parallel account on this same occasion adds, “But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples” (Mark 4:34).
If you understand these things you are part of a very small group of people. You understand, not because you are more intelligent or better than others, but because God has specially selected you to do His end-time Work. He opened your mind to precious truth not generally understood by billions on earth today! No, it is not a lottery based on chance. It is selection by the Creator of the universe! But as with lotteries, only a precious few win, and you have been called to win!
Jesus’ parables reflect the value of knowledge you receive from Tomorrow’s World and the Living Church of God, the sponsor of Tomorrow’s World. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44–46).
The Apostle Peter wrote an encouraging passage regarding the difficult and painful things we experience in life. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6–7). And Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
These passages and parables all point to one great truth: Everything physical will perish, but the choices we make in life and the faith in God that we express by our actions are of far greater value than the things for which most people crave. As John instructs us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15, 17).
We do not like to think about it, but we will all come to the end of this physical existence, and the end of the trail comes sooner than we once thought. Young people may know this academically. Older folks measure the days (Psalm 39:4).
What if you did win the mega-lottery? How long would it last? What would you do with it? What truly lasting value would hunting and fishing give you in the end? Now please understand. Hunting and fishing have worthy recreational value, and I personally try to take off a few days each year to go fishing, but should that be the purpose of one’s life? What happens when the end of the trail comes? Then what?
The fact that you are reading this indicates you are probably one who sees more to life than another fishing trip, a game of golf, or winning the mega-lottery. Your contributions and your prayers show your love for God and your love for others (Matthew 22:35–40).
Our offices around the world receive a continual stream of letters from individuals thanking us for what we give them free of charge. We also receive some not too flattering letters, but that is fine. We know that we are reaching beyond the choir! However, I want to share a few comments with you, because you make them possible and these people want to thank you. I have embolden a few words for emphasis.
Here is a letter from Colorado from a reader who appreciated our booklet explaining the purpose of life. “Good Day. I just want to thank you for the Booklet: Your Ultimate Destiny! Awesome!!! Really opened my mind! Keep up the Good Work! GOD Bless You All.” If you have not read this booklet, please let us know and we will send you a free copy. It explains the very purpose of life straight from the pages of the Bible. Can there be any more valuable truth?
A writer from South Africa wants you to know how much he appreciates you. “I just want to thank you for the booklet and the Bible Study Course. Thanks for all the People at Tomorrow's World. You are Highly Appreciated! GOD Bless!”
A woman shared her thoughts by e-mail regarding a Tomorrow’s World article. “I read ‘Which Jesus Do You Worship,’ and it left me wondering and wanting to know more. Cause it is my heart’s desire to follow Christ Jesus. Thank you for waking me up.” You make the magazine possible, so we share her thanks with you!
Earlier this year someone from Perth, Australia wrote regarding Dr. Roderick C. Meredith’s series on the Protestant Reformation. “I am in receipt of May-June 2018 T/W magazine, for which as always, I am deeply grateful. . . . May Almighty God through Christ Jesus, continue to Bless each of you in this Wonderful Work that you are doing, and [I] look forward to receiving a copy of Dr. Meredith’s brilliant work.”
A subscriber from Toronto, Ontario wrote to express his appreciation. “Thank you so much for your ministry, you are helping people to understand we are living in the last days, and we have to live a life according to God’s Word. Thank you again. God Bless this Ministry.”
Some of our subscribers are in prison for serious sins committed earlier in life. This man writes from Hunlock, Pennsylvania. “Thank you for your magazine, Tomorrow’s World. . . . I am a life sentence prisoner serving a life without parole sentence. I have 30 years served so far. Your magazine helps me to keep my sanity in a world with so much misinformation and injustice. Your publication keeps me aware of what’s truly important.”
Another prisoner, this one from Marino, Ohio writes regarding Tomorrow’s World, “This magazine has been truly one of the most consistently read pieces of Christian literature in my 13½ years of incarceration. You guys are truly a blessing and exemplary of what a Christian today is to ‘look like’ and ‘sound like.’”
There are so many more I could share with you, but I’ll give just one more. This one is from Gatundu, Kenya. “I have been transformed by your magazines. The word of God is real, [and has] become simpler and clearer each day.”
Okay, I cannot resist. Here is one more, from a woman in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. “Other than the Holy Bible itself, I have been searching for a teaching program [that] teaches ‘Sound Christian doctrine.’ I applaud your ‘FREE’ teachings that other programs want to charge a lot of money for. How else would poor people be able to understand this wicked world?”
Once again, thank you for your part in making it possible to reach people of all races, nationalities, economic conditions, and ages. I pray that God fully opens your minds and hearts to the very purpose of life and that you will stand before the Son of God upon His return. You are making a difference through your tithes, offerings, and heartfelt prayers! Thank you dear friends!
Eight years ago
on September 11, 2001, a plane piloted by 33 year old Mohammed Atta, was the first to crash into the north
tower of the World Trade Center. He was the ringleader of 19 Muslim extremists
responsible for attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. Three
other hi-jacked aircraft were involved in the attack, a second hitting the
south Tower of the trade center, one crashing into the Pentagon and another intended
for the White House smashed into a Pennsylvania field, thanks to the heroic
efforts of its passengers.
A few years after the suicide attack on the Twin Towers by this Islamist terror group, an amazing series of scenes, developed from folded U.S. currency, began to show up across the Internet.
A U.S. twenty dollar bill was folded in a manner that revealed the two burning towers set as the highest point among other buildings of a city, an interesting coincidence or an ancient warning? The same picture appears on either the old or the new 20-dollar bill but is more readily seen on the newer bill.
The engraving detail of the $20 bill aligns to show two large plumes of smoke emanating from the twin towers. Depending on the time sequence of the tower photos, the plumes depicted on the twenty align in an uncanny representation of the smoking disaster.
Photo: The representation of the smoke plume on the $20.00 bill to the towers (right) is uncanny....
In Isaiah 30:v25, the prophet Isaiah warned Israel, "And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."
The Biblos reference interprets the words of the passage: "And there shall be upon every high gaboahh (gaw-bo'-ah) elevated (or elated), powerful, arrogant -- haughty, height, high(-er), lofty, proud, exceeding proudly."
The World Trade Center was certainly an indication of America's economic strength but its height was a symbol of her pride and arrogance.
The concordance suggests that the waters would be 'lifted up'. "and upon every high nasa' (naw-saw') to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absol. and rel." This necessarily includes the waters 'lifted up' on the tower in the Trade Center's potable water and sanitation systems. A sufficient condition to suggest a modern fulfillment of the prophecy.Isaiah's prophecy does not fit the Assyrian or Babylonian sieges nor does it fit the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans. "Against the protestations of Jeremiah, years later Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon (2nd Babylonian seige). This time the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's armies lasted eighteen months, at which time the Babylonians broke through the walls-a day that is still commemorated in Judaism with a day of fasting and mourning."
Although the 70 AD Roman siege levels all of Jerusalem, it fails to meet the condition of rivers and streams of waters on every high hill. {12-21-09 Some translations say 'channels of water' that infers piping or ductwork, a condition only observed in modern times. - Ed} Additionally, the Tower defenders retreat underground during the battle: "After about three weeks of siege the third wall was breached by Roman forces, the Zealots immediately formed a new defense line around Herod's Palace, which was centered between three towers. When the Romans breached this line the soldiers in the towers fled underground.."
The Biblos continues: "in the day yowm (yome) a day (as the warm hours).." This portion of the passage predicts the Towers would fall during the daylight hours.
"of the great rab (rab) abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality)" The 3000 lives lost when the Towers collapsed are not a great quantity by ancient standards but were nearly 600 more lives than those lost during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Twin Towers held the cream of the crop of the financial world and additionally support the word's allusion to rank and quality.
"fall naphal (naw-fal') to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)" Failure of the structural steel from thermal fatigue due to the burning jet fuel would cause the Towers to fall and fits the usage of this passage.
Photo: The burning Pentagon
On the opposite side of the folded twenty is the burning Pentagon building.The prophesy predicts more than one tower would fall during the warm daylight hours at a time when streams of water would inhabit the high hills, conditions which the twin towers of the World Trade Center fit quite well.
In Genesis 22, v16-18 God states: "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son...I will bless thee...and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.. and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. "
This is not a generic blessing, i.e. available to any and all that obey God or simply because they're Christian; otherwise Lebanon, a former Christian nation would not have been swallowed up by Islam.
The Jews also obey God, keeping Old Testament law and observing the biblical holy days. When have the Jews possessed the gates of their enemies? The sea gates of Gibraltar, the Suez and Panama canals, the Falklands, and the straits of Hormuz?
Although God
has orchestrated the rebirth of Israel in May of 1948 in fulfillment of the Ezekiel
38 {Correction 10-24-09 - Ezekiel
37 - Ed.}
prophesy and ensured the survival of the nation in military victory after
victory. ".. and his horns are like the horns of unicorns with them he
shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten
thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh" - Deut 33:17 Nevertheless,
the Jews do not have an unbroken line of success nor the great material wealth promised to
Abraham's seed.
"Because of its combination of agricultural and mineral wealth, America was destined to lead the world in per capita wealth. Whether in grain or cattle or in its coal iron and petroleum production, America has had matchless bounty." - Tomorrow's World - 'United States and Britain in prophesy', p36.
God's promise to Abraham was passed down through Isaac to Jacob and to Joseph's two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. In Genesis 35:11, God tells Abraham that "..a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee.." In Genesis 48:19, Jacob passes the blessing onto Joseph's two sons with ascendancy given to Ephraim: "..but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations."
Jacob had four wives. Joseph is the elder son of Rachel while the Jews descend from Leah, her sister. So clearly God's blessing has been passed on to 'non-Jews' but yet the inheritors remain the seed of Abraham.
In Gen 27:29, we find that only two nations fit the biblical prophesy: "Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren.." Only America and Britain satisfy the necessary boundary conditions spelled out in God's complete promise to Abraham.
For the
skeptics, what do you suppose the statistical probability is that any piece of
paper in general circulation, engraved and printed decades before '9-11' could
be folded into a series of depictions of a real event that shows three of the
four actual targets and the name of the mastermind who planned it, as mere
happenstance?
"..for I am God and there is non
else...Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not not yet done.." - Isaiah 46:9,10
God warns Jacob's sons in Leviticus 26, v15-16: "And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror.."
The hidden message on the $20 dollar bill affirms the warning from a benevolent God to the wayward and disobedient sons of Joseph and suggests the beginning of Jacob's trouble.
"Therefore
thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statues, and his
judgements and his commandments, alway." - Deut 11:1.
by John H. Ogwyn
On a bright, balmy
afternoon nearly 200 years ago, on December 20, 1803, the flag of the United
States of America was first raised in the Place
d’Armes (now Jackson Square) in New Orleans, as the U.S. officially
took possession of the Louisiana Purchase.
Jefferson at the Helm
In 1776, there
had been no United States of America. That summer, Thomas Jefferson penned the
Declaration of Independence, which first declared the existence of a sovereign
American nation. A bloody war and successive years of struggle were to follow,
and a new nation was created. In March 1801, when Jefferson took the oath of
office as the third President of the fledgling U.S., much had changed in just
25 years. Thirteen British colonies hugging the Atlantic seacoast had quickly
become a westward-looking nation expanding toward the Mississippi River.
In 1801, the total population of the U.S. was still under six million, most of
whom lived less than 100 miles from the Atlantic coast. But several new
states—Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee—had been added to the original 13, and
increasing numbers of settlers were pouring into the future states of Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois. Many farmers were finding that it only made sense to ship
their produce down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then south to the port of
New Orleans. A lack of roads made it impractical for farmers to haul their cash
crops east to the Atlantic seaboard.
The French had
founded New Orleans in 1718, then ceded it to the Spanish in 1763 as part of
the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years War (also called the
"French and Indian War" in America). Because of its position at the
mouth of the Mississippi, New Orleans was of major economic importance to the
western settlers in the young U.S. As more settlers moved westward, this port
could only grow in importance.
So the Jefferson administration was understandably concerned when it learned
that France’s new ruler, Napoleon, was pressuring Spain to return the Louisiana
Territory to French control. It was one thing for a weak Spanish government to
control the port of New Orleans, but it was quite another for it to be
controlled by an ambitious and powerful ruler such as Napoleon. The Mississippi
River was the economic lifeline for America’s western settlers, and whoever
controlled New Orleans controlled commerce on the Mississippi.
Knowing that the very future of his country was at stake, President Jefferson
dispatched to France two diplomats—Robert Livingston and later James Monroe—to
negotiate the purchase of New Orleans. At first, Napoleon’s government showed
no interest. Napoleon had dreams of reestablishing a vast French colonial
empire in the "New World." But the Creator of the universe had other
plans.
Napoleon’s dreams of an American empire were crushed when 50,000 French troops,
under the command of his brother-in-law General Charles LeClerc, died while
trying to subdue a rebellion against French colonial rule on the Caribbean
island of Santo Domingo. This calamity, and the growing prospect of war against
the British, prompted Napoleon to offer the American envoys not just the
purchase of New Orleans, but rather the entire Louisiana Territory.
For $15 million—less than a nickel an acre—the U.S. received what turned out to
be a vast inland empire of 830,000 square miles, including some of the richest
farmland on the face of the earth! Included were all or part of what would
become 13 states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa,
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.
"‘Today,’ said Livingston, after he had attached his signature, ‘the
United States take their place among the powers of the first rank’"
(William O. Scroggs, The Story
of Louisiana, p. 161).
At the time of the purchase, the boundaries were so poorly defined that neither
France nor the U.S. knew exactly what was being sold. President Jefferson was
eager to learn all about the new territory—the Indian nations living there, its
plant and animal life, its rivers and the prospect of a route across the
northern part of the new territory that could take Americans all the way to the
Pacific Ocean. An official expedition into the new territory was outfitted and
dispatched, led by U.S. Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Leaving from St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1804, they returned a couple
of years later with maps and data that made clear that America had gained far
more than had previously been realized.
This vast expanse of territory ensured the continuing expansion of widespread
land ownership among the American people. Laying a foundation for a wide-based
American prosperity, millions of future settlers were able to own their own
land, rather than live as tenants on the estate of some great landlord. Under
President James Madison, Jefferson’s successor, the U.S. government undertook
the ambitious project of surveying this vast tract of land. The survey began in
a swamp near the present-day town of Brinkley, Arkansas, where a stake was
driven in the ground and teams began to chart an east-west line that became the
baseline for all property descriptions within the territory of the Louisiana
Purchase. This line continued west along what is now Baseline Road in Little
Rock, and ultimately extended across the entire state of Oklahoma.
"The National Historic Landmark, deep in the swamp of the Louisiana
Purchase State Park in Brinkley, marks the initial survey point. From this
point, surveyors began their work of chains and compasses. Every legal
description of the land contained in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 depended on
these measurements taken from this point" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 4, 2003).
Fulfillment of an Ancient Promise
The Louisiana Purchase territory includes some of the most valuable agricultural land on the planet. It encompasses the very heartland of the North American continent. Control of this valuable territory set the stage for what Americans in the coming decades began to call "Manifest Destiny."
Was this rapid
expansion just a matter of time and chance, or was it really the nation’s
pre-ordained destiny? If it was a matter of destiny, then why? Why were the
English-speaking peoples destined to control the American heartland, rather
than the nations that had tried and failed before?
To understand the answer to that question, we must look to the far distant
past. The Creator of the universe told a man named Abram, living on the lower
Euphrates River in a city called Ur of the Chaldees, to leave his family and
homeland to go to a land that he would afterward be given. At age 75, Abram
left Mesopotamia behind, and began his journey to the land of Canaan.
Initially, God
simply told Abram that he would become "a great nation" and that all
the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:2–3).
Twenty-four years later, when Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him and
entered into a solemn covenant. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and
expanded His promise to include Abraham’s becoming the "father of many
nations" (Genesis 17:4).
Many years later, the Almighty appeared to Abraham’s grandson Jacob, and
further expanded the promise by declaring that Jacob’s descendants would spread
abroad in every direction from the promised land in the Middle East (Genesis 28:13–14). Still
later, after another encounter with God, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28), and his
descendants were thenceforth known as Israelites.
Genesis 48 describes a ceremony that took place near the end of Israel’s long
life. Very few have ever understood the real significance of what occurred that
day in ancient Egypt. Israel’s sons had sold their younger brother Joseph into
slavery many years earlier. Joseph, however, had prospered, rising to become
second-in-command to Pharaoh in Egypt. The family was reunited during a time of
famine, when Israel and his family had come to Egypt to live in the Nile delta
region (the "Land of Goshen"). Learning that his elderly father was
ill, Joseph came to visit, bringing his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
Sitting up in bed to receive his son and grandsons, elderly Israel called
Ephraim and Manasseh near to bless them. Knowing that his father was nearly
blind, Joseph had purposely placed the boys so that his father’s right hand
would be on the older son, Manasseh, and his left hand would be on the younger,
Ephraim. When the time came, Israel crossed his arms, laying his right hand on
Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. Initially, Joseph was disturbed, for he
thought his father had become confused. Israel corrected him, explaining that
he was doing this on purpose.
In this ceremony, Israel placed his name on the young men, declaring that
Ephraim’s descendants were to grow into a great company of nations while
Manasseh’s were to become a single great nation.
One reason that so few have understood the significance of Israel’s declaration
is that most people erroneously assume that all Israelites are Jews. Yet
Judah—the Jews’ ancestor—was just one
of the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel). After the death of King Solomon, more than
seven centuries after Jacob’s declaration, Israel’s descendants split into two
kingdoms—northern and southern. The citizens of the northern kingdom, with its
capital at Samaria, were known as Israelites, and were taken into Assyrian
captivity after Samaria fell in 721bc.
The southern kingdom of Judah, however—with its citizens known as
Jews—continued on for a century after Israel’s fall, before falling to
Babylonian invaders. From the time of Solomon onward, the histories of Israel
and Judah have been quite distinct. While the promise of the kingly dynasty,
and ultimately of the Messiah, came through the line of Judah, the birthright promises went
to the descendants of Joseph (1
Chronicles 5:2).
With this bit of background in mind, we can understand the events that
immediately preceded Jacob’s death. After blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, he
called all of his sons together and told them what would befall their
descendants in the last days
(Genesis 49:1).
Jacob described Joseph’s descendants as a colonizing people, and likened them
to a fruitful vine whose branches would grow and spread out. They, as a result
of God’s blessing,would be militarily strong and have great blessings of
agricultural and mineral wealth (Genesis
49:22–26). This birthright blessing, which Israel conveyed to
the descendants of Joseph, had been described as the "fatness of the
earth" (Genesis 27:28)
and included a future inheritance of lands that would produce an abundance of
corn and wine.
Why was the timing of this future inheritance delayed for so long? A recurring
theme of Scripture is that God has a time plan and does things right on
schedule. Jesus told His disciples that the Father retains control of the times
and seasons of human history (Acts
1:7). The Apostle Paul declared that God had determined in
advance both the times and bounds of habitation for the nations (Acts 17:26). This
prophetic time framework shows God’s sovereignty in history. Just as God
declared that "seven times" would pass over Babylon, so that men
would know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to
whomsoever He will (Daniel
4:16–17), so also does history prove that seven prophetic
"times" elapsed in the fulfillment of the end-time promises that
Jacob made to his sons.
What is a prophetic "time"? Revelation 12 and 13 use the expressions
"1,260 days" and "time, times, and half a time" and
"42 months" interchangeably. Forty-two months of 30 days each are
equal to 1,260 days—or three-and-a-half years. Clearly, then, 2,520 days—1,260
doubled—are the equivalent of "seven times." Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel4:6 establish the
principle that a day is equal to a year in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
History shows us that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jerusalem and brought
Judah under his control in 604bc. This was in the third year of King Jehoiakim
and the time at which Daniel and a number of other young men of prominent
families were taken away captive to Babylon.
Interestingly, it was exactly
2,520 years later—seven prophetic "times"—that the stage was set for
an end-time Jewish nation in its ancient homeland. It was in November 1917 that
the British government issued the famous Balfour Declaration, announcing that
it would "look with favour" upon a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A
few weeks later, British forces under Viscount Allenby entered Jerusalem and
freed it from the Turks.
When looking at the history of the northern kingdom (the House of Israel), we
find a similar phenomenon. From the time of Israel’s being taken into Assyrian
captivity in 721bc, the passing of 2,520 years brings us to the year 1800. This
was the time when the British and American nations began their rapid rise to
world dominance, which would endure for the entire 19th and 20th centuries.
A Warning About Forgetfulness
Clearly, the
U.S. and the British Commonwealth nations have received the fulfillment of the
ancient promises that the Creator God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God has
given them prosperity that no other peoples on earth have known. Just as
Britain mushroomed into the greatest empire in the history of the world,
beginning at the start of the 19th century, so the U.S. quickly rose to become
the greatest single nation in history. A great nation and a great company of
nations possessing the choicest places of the earth—this description is the
fulfillment of what elderly Jacob promised to Joseph’s sons in the end time.
This describes the English-speaking peoples as it does no others in the entire
history of the world.
Acquiring the vast Louisiana Purchase territory was only the beginning of
expansion for the U.S. Spreading across the North American continent to the
Pacific coast within a generation, the American nation was destined—along with
Canada and Australia—to become the breadbasket of the world.
However, with great blessings come great responsibilities. Just before Israel
first entered into the Promised Land, Moses gave a solemn warning. After
describing the "bounty" of the land into which God was leading Israel
(a description that is certainly appropriate today for the lands held by the
English-speaking peoples), Moses warned the people not to forget the sourceof that bounty (Deuteronomy
8:7-14). He cautioned that the most dangerous time is not the time of
hardship, but rather the time of abundance. In times of adversity and trial, it
is easy to be conscious of our need for God’s help and blessing. It is in the
time when we have "bread without scarceness" that people tend to have
an illusion of self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
Though the U.S.
and Canada both have holidays set aside as Thanksgiving Day, the real meaning
underlying them has become lost. In the U.S., this day is increasingly called
"turkey day" and has become little more than a day of football,
overeating, and the start of the "Christmas shopping season." How
many are truly thankful to
the Creator of the universe, recognizing that the wealth that they enjoy is the
result of God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham? Rather, as their
wealth has multiplied, the U.S. and British Commonwealth nations have increasingly
forgotten God and His laws.
When the English-speaking nations rose to prominence in the 19th century, the
Bible was the most widely read book in the English-speaking world. The Ten Commandments were
acknowledged as the underpinning of national laws. Today, that is no longer the
case. As courts and legislatures seek to legalize the perversions for which God
anciently expelled the nations of the Canaanites, we should not forget that God
will not be mocked.
Moses made it plain that if the Israelites forgot God, and refused to obey Him,
they would "surely perish" from the land that God gave (Deuteronomy
8:19–20). While the Louisiana Purchase might rightly be described as the
"greatest land deal ever," we must never forget that it was not
nearly so much the result of American ingenuity as it was the result of the
Creator fulfilling His promises. As the U.S. and British Commonwealth nations
increasingly turn their collective backs on the One who gave them His choicest
bounty, we should realize that the same One who gives national wealth can also
take it away.
Those who refuse to remember their Creator in this time of abundance will
ultimately be forced to seek Him in the midst of the greatest time of trial and
adversity in mankind’s history. Scripture calls this "the time of Jacob’s
trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7).
What about you? Do you really
recognize that His laws are the source of the righteous conduct that truly
exalts a nation? (Proverbs 14:34) Only those who recognize His role, and obey
His laws, will have His protection in the trying times that will conclude this
age and set the stage for the coming of the Messiah!
{First published in 2003, it is edited for space considerations and is re-published here by permission of Tomorrow's World magazine. A long read but well worth it. It lends new meaning to George W. Bush's remark, "I'm the president of the greatest nation on the face of the earth" - Ed.}