Last week we briefly discussed how many of the trends in the meltdown that have been occurring in America are following a very definite pattern of God’s judgment on a nation. However, we must keep in mind that there are several different types of God’s judgment in Scripture, and only one is condemnation or destruction. God’s judgment is His discipline, and He disciplines those He loves. The worst thing that could happen to us is to go astray and for Him not judge us. We need to consider that our present troubles are the result of answered prayer for the Lord to send what would turn our nation back to Him.
However, as you may have heard me say, my philosophy is “No pain, no pain.” I don’t like pain, and want to get out of this with as little pain as possible. We can fall on the Rock and be broken, or He will have to fall on us, and then we will be crushed into powder. He has also said that we can judge ourselves lest we be judged (see Matthew 7:1), or if we would do it ourselves, He would not have to do it. I’m for that!
I was recently asked to write an endorsement for a well-known Christian leader’s new book. I insist on thoroughly reading everything I endorse (which is why I don’t endorse many), but I was looking forward to reading this one from someone for which I have such respect. I was not disappointed. It had a depth and clarity that I have found rare in recent Christian books. Then I came to a chapter on God’s judgment and was shocked by how shallow and unbiblical it was, basing their positions almost entirely on idealistic human reasoning.
When the Northridge earthquake was found to have had its epicenter directly under the pornographic studios, it was shocking when major Christian voices in California almost uniformly rose up to say that this quake was not God’s judgment. The reasoning I heard in their statements about this did not include a single Scripture, but rather that it could not be God’s judgment because so many Christians also suffered in the quake. I heard the same thing after Hurricane Katrina, when the message of this storm was so blatantly clear. Katrina means “to cleanse,” and this storm passed over Key West the day of their decadent parade, and hit New Orleans the day before their “Day of Decadence” parade.
No doubt many Christians suffered in both of these warning shots from heaven, but that has always been the case when God has judged a nation. Even the prophets who proclaim the judgments suffer in them, as we see in Scripture. Examine the life of Jeremiah, even Elijah. Do you think it was fun sitting by the brook in the wilderness for months after the drought he had declared? Even his source of water dried up. How about “righteous Lot?” He did escape with his life and his family, but he lost everything he had.
We need to consider that the Lord said He would begin judgment with His own household (see I Peter 4:17). Studies have shown that as many as half of all Christian men are now addicted to pornography, as well as an increasing number of Christian women—maybe the fact that Christians also suffered in these disasters was part of the message. Remember, this is a sign of His love, not condemnation. Even so, if completely righteous and holy Christians suffered in them, this too is to be expected. There are a couple of cases like Goshen in Scripture when the Lord did not let the judgments touch His people, but they are exceptions to the rule. Most of the time the Lord obviously wants His people, and even His messengers, touched with what the world is going through for the sake of the message. This is basically why He became a man.
I have heard some Christian leaders from other parts of the nation wonder why those in California seem to have this inability to understand God’s judgment, even to the point of contradicting Scripture to verify their position, wondering if it had something to do with the almost perpetual sunshine in California making it hard for them to understand anything by but sunshine. Certainly the Lord has used California to birth some of the great revivals, preachers, and churches, but there does seem to be an uncanny clouding of the understanding concerning God’s judgment with Christians in California. We do need to pray about this because many of the judgments that are coming upon the whole nation have a spiritual power source in California.
Radical Islam calls America “the great Satan” because they think we are a homosexual nation and are polluting the world morally and spiritually with what is coming out of Hollywood. So why don’t they attack Hollywood instead of New York? For one thing, they want to break us financially, which they know will also break us militarily. However, I could discern when talking to some Muslims about this that they themselves were addicted to pornography. Much fanaticism is rooted in an attempt to compensate for our own failures and weaknesses. Pornography degrades and debases everyone who gets caught up in it, and though most people respond to such degrading internally, they often respond as fanatical opponents of what is debasing them.
America is being judged as the Lord often does—as He did to Egypt in order to set His people free. Just as in Egypt, the judgments are coming progressively. When He disciplined Israel, He often used the heathen nations around her to do it. He then brought judgment, even destruction, on those nations for presumptuously touching His people. In this same way, radical Islam is being used as judgment against abortion and immorality. Without repentance from these, both Europe and America are in for some very terrible times. If we don’t want this to happen in the nations we love, then we must take our stand and speak out for truth, righteousness, and justice with boldness, courage, and enduring resolve.
In both the Old and New Testaments, a more severe judgment comes upon those who know the truth but hide it. In the Book of Revelation, the “cowardly” are at the front of the list of those who are thrown into the lake of fire (see Revelation 21:8). We have no option but to be bold and courageous. However, let us not just be bold for the sake of avoiding judgment ourselves, but rather let us do it out of love for the people and the nations we have been blessed to live in, so that they will not have to suffer this judgment.