As we approach the 2024 Election, God is not silent and is speaking His message loud and clear—Return to God! It is time for us to pray the petitions of Psalm 85: 6-9 “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will listen (with expectancy) to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)—but let them not turn again to (self-confident) folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, that (the manifest presence of God) His glory may abide in our land.” This is a battle for the soul of our nation! It is time to wake up, get up and take a stand for truth and be salt and light to others. With this in mind, our Director of the monthly Food Drop asked me to prepare a handout for the 140 families on Friday, October 25. That message follows and was the focus of the devotional at the flagpole gathering. I was encouraged by several who wholeheartedly embraced and agreed with the message. God is not silent and we must not be silent at such a time as this.
ONE NATION UNDER GOD
“The kingdom is the LORD’S and He is the governor among the nations.” Ps. 22: 28
We sing the song “God Bless America”, but God will not bless what does not honor Him according to His Word. II Chronicles 7: 14 points us to the way of blessing from the Lord: “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” In the Bible Joshua faced one challenge after another as he led the Israelites into the Promised Land as there were giants and evil all around. He knew that they had to rely upon God to fight the battle so he put the choice before them: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) Our nation’s fate is in our hands as we elect leaders and whether God will bless or curse it. These are things we must consider in choosing our leaders:
Religious Freedom: Respects the right of every American to worship according to their conscience, and to live out their beliefs in everyday life. (Acts 5: 29) “Then Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than men.”
Free Speech: Prohibits the federal government from censoring free speech. (John 8:36) “So, if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably freed.”
Sanctity of Human Life: Affirms that the 14th Amendment protects the life of the unborn. (Ps. 139: 13) “For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Education: Champions the First Amendment right to pray and read the Bible in school. (Prov. 9:10) “The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding.”
Border Security: Secures the southern border wall and halts all releases of illegal immigrants. (Ps. 122:7) “May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your places!”
Family & Parental Rights: Promotes a culture that values the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, recognizes birth gender, restores parental rights and stops race discrimination. (Proverbs 22:6) “Train up a child in the way he should go (and in keeping with his individual gift or bent), and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Election Integrity: Promotes voter ID; advocates for citizen-only voting and transparency in ballot tabulation. (2 Cor. 8: 21) “For we take thought beforehand and aim to be honest and absolutely above suspicion, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.”
This nation will be One Nation Under God if we as citizens become godly. We must confess personal sin in our lives. As we repent of our own sin, we can take the burdens of our country and make them our own. Our prayers must be an expression of our earnest and destressed hearts that hates sin and loves righteousness. We must see beyond the crisis to God in His majesty and greatness. We must believe that God alone is willing and able to help us in our predicament. Looking at the enemy brings fear; looking beyond the enemy to God brings hope. Ultimately, the choice to serve the Lord is a daily decision, requiring ongoing dedication and faithfulness. May we, like Joshua, choose this day whom we will serve, and may our hearts remain steadfast in our commitment to the one true God that He will rule over this nation! Before we pray, “God bless America,” let us pray, “Father forgive America.”
The question is “How did we get here?” This year is the 70th anniversary of the pledge of allegiance approved by President Dwight Eisenhower with the declaration of “one nation under God.” During these 70 years we have witnessed how our nation has drifted from God into the worship of the gods of secularism and materialism. Billy Graham sounded an alarm for the nation years ago when he said: “God is displeased, and I warn you that His anger is being kindled. If ever a nation has enjoyed prosperity and the blessing of God, it is America. But instead of giving thanks to God, we have offered our reverence and worship to created things.” As the Apostle Paul wrote, “They are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Rom. 1: 20-21) In other words, the Bible says there will come a day when a nation sins so much against God that God will give them up and will allow them to go on for a time in pleasure, worldliness, idolatry, wickedness and immorality. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God warns that any nation that departs from Him is going to suffer judgment. America has been given more spiritual and moral light than any nation in the history of the world. Jesus teaches in Luke 12: 48 “to whom much is given, much is expected.” In other words, those who have been blessed with significant resources, abilities, or knowledge will be held accountable for their use. Indeed, America has been greatly blessed by God because of the covenant made by our forefathers dedicating this nation to God. This nation has been a client nation to God for evangelism to the whole world and a haven for the Jews. It is time to return to God and the authority and truth of His Word so that the enemies at our gates and within our borders are pushed back and God will intervene and put them to flight! We must turn to God before it is too late!
On Wednesday morning, God awakened me to revisit the Book 1984 written by Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under the pen name George Orwell. As I researched the author and the details of the book, I realized that we are living it today! I uncovered some important facts connecting biblical cycles, Israel and America. Orwell was an atheist who identified himself with the humanist view of life. Despite this, and despite his criticisms of both religious doctrine and religious organizations, he nevertheless regularly participated in the social and civic life of the church by attending Church of England Holy Communion. Acknowledging this contradiction, he once said: “It seems rather mean to go to Holy Communion when one doesn’t believe, but I have passed myself off for pious and there is nothing for it but to keep up with the deception.” Orwell was also well-read in Biblical literature and could quote lengthy passages from the Book of Common Prayer. He said “Till about the age of fourteen I believed in God and believed that the accounts given of him were true. But I was well aware that I did not love him.” This sounds very much like the warning Paul gave Timothy concerning the culture of the last days. “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, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
This background sits the stage for the contents of the book and how it plays into today’s world. The book was published in 1949 but was completed in 1948. The name of the book was believed to have been chosen by reversing 48 to 84—rendering 1984! 1948 was the year that Israel became a State—a coincidence or cryptic of Satan’s fingerprints outlining a totalitarian culture and political system/government that prohibits opposition, disregards and outlaws the opposition to the state—controls the public sphere? Orwell’s choice of 1984 was only off 40 years—2024 as we see the Orwellian attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, disinformation and denial of truth being manifested today! It was only an 11-day journey from Egypt to the Promised Land but because of fear of the giants and unbelief they were tested in the wilderness for 40 years. Therefore, 40 years is significant as a time of testing in America in the period between 1984 and 2024!
The culture that Orwell described in the Book 1984 is indeed an occult predictive plan conspired by Satan to obtain his kingdom where he can be worshiped! The practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany was the backdrop for his novel as it examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated. We will glean some of the details of the book that parallels where we are today! 1. Much of the world is in perpetual war. 2. A totalitarian superstate is led by Big Brother, a dictatorial leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the Party’s Thought Police. 3. Uses criminal psychology and omnipresent surveillance to monitor the citizens. 4. Newspeak—controlled language and speech. 5. Thought Police—Party purges out anyone who does not fully conform to their regime using constant surveillance through telescreens (two-way televisions), cameras, and hidden microphones. Those who do not comply become “unpersons” disappearing with all evidence of their existence destroyed. 6. Memory hole—mechanism for the deliberate alteration, disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts or other records as if they never happened. 7. Double-think—process of indoctrination in which subjects are expected to accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their memory or sense of reality. 8. False flag operation—catches political dissidents of the Party. In the end the star character Winston finally accepts that he loves Big Brother! WAKE UP! PRAY!
Pat Boone sounds this wake-up alert: “We are spiritually and biblically ignorant, illiterate. We can’t say anymore that we’re a nation under God, because less than half of us are seeking God at all!” We are in a spiritual battle between the forces of darkness driven by the god of this world against the One True God—Maker of heaven and earth. Our expectation is not from a man but from God who raises leaders up and takes them down. We are instructed in Exodus 18:21 to “Look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” It is time for all American to pray that we will return to One Nation Under God! I am including links to two messages from Jonathan Cahn from a few days ago and he referenced the Book 1984 as well as to where we are! God is saying: “Do you hear Me now?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W39-dhXfGfg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwbQNKiJAvg