There is little doubt that the current presidential impeachment hearings paint a vivid picture of a nation divided. Just as the United States were once divided along the lines of slavery, we are divided along the lines of political ideology today.
It is difficult to see our nation so divided.
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was running against Steven Douglas for a U.S. Senate seat. Perhaps because of the recent Dred Scott decision, Lincoln solemnly paraphrased scripture (Matthew 12:25) and made the following pronouncement about our nation:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.”
No one argues the atrocities that derived from our Civil War. To Lincoln’s premonition, and because of God’s grace, we survived as a nation. We have been able to sustain our politics and preserve our constitution through Reconstruction, the era of Agriculture, and the era of Industrialization.
However, slowly but surely, another ‘great divide’ for our country has risen, beginning in the 1960s. Here’s a sampling of those things that break the heart of our Lord:
The Sexual Revolution,
The proliferation of drug addiction,
The proliferation of pornography,
Over 65 million abortions to date,
Eliminating prayer from public schools,
The proliferation of alcohol addiction,
The gay-lesbian agenda.
A couple of weeks ago, I was attending our small group meeting at church. We were studying some of David Jeremiah’s Bible prophecy curriculum – ‘signs’ of the End Times.
The small group leader was facilitating a mini lesson on the Gog/Magog War found in Ezekiel 38. This is, of course, a prophecy of a coming attack on Israel by nations interpreted as the modern nations of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Ethiopia, Libya, and Sudan.
The future attack is to take a ‘spoil’ of newly discovered vast resources of oil and natural gas in Israel. I believe the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 may very well be a trigger for the seven-year Tribulation Period.
Here is an excerpt from Ezekiel 38:
“You [the invading countries] will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
“Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?'”
Let’s break down the probable cast of characters:
Sheba and Dedan are most probably Saudi Arabia.
The merchants of Tarshish are nations from western Europe, probably Spain and/or Britain.
The young lions are countries born out of western Europe, including possibly the United States.
So then, Sheba and Dedan, along with the merchants of Tarshish, and the young lions only question the invasion of Israel; they collectively sit on the sidelines during the invasion of Israel.
In other words, the United States could very well be a silent witness regarding Ezekiel’s future war. Why would the United States remain silent?
Getting back to our small group discussion, our leader started the session by saying …
“I’m hoping our absence [from the events in Ezekiel 38] signifies a great revival that is occurring in the United States at that time.”1
This posit means the United States ignores the terrible future invasion of Israel for a spiritual reason, like revival.
Oh, how I hope this is true!
But me thinks differently.
I believe our great nation can’t respond to Israel’s invasion by Russia, Turkey, Iran and its puppet proxies because of an internal implosion.
The great divide that we are witnessing, best exemplified by the current impeachment process, is only escalating – there is no broad indications of spiritual revival in the United States. In fact, our country should become a target for national and foreign evangelical missionaries, much the same as we have provided so many other third-world nations in the past.
The Barna Research group reports, “The role of religion in public life [of the United States] has been slowly diminishing, and the church no longer functions with the cultural authority it held in times past.”
Perhaps our house is about to fall.
Are there small pockets or regions of revival in the United States? Yes, of course! The Spirit of God is still alive and moving. But, for all the reasons outlined in this article, there doesn’t seem to be a national inclination of spiritual revival.
Look at the daily headlines; notice how the very liberals among us have taken a stronghold in the changing demographics, politics, and legislations.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck …
We, as Jesus prophesied, have become a nation divided against itself. And regardless of what we want, God has a sovereign plan for our country. My heart tells me that our country is subject to the divine purpose of Jesus’ soon return to set up his kingdom.
Maranatha, Dear Lord. Maranatha.
“God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32, NKJV).
Tom Hoffman