Each year, the President of the United States convenes Congress in a televised address called the “State of the Union.” It has become a time to brag about accomplishments, to take numbers and portray them in their best light and, when there are negatives, to tell the American people of plans to work on or improve those things.
My thought for today is, what if – what you hear is really “not” State of the Union. Where then would you expect to find the true state of the Union today?
In the past two weeks, a modern-day “prophet”, Jonathan Cahn, has released a documentary titled “The Harbinger II”. God gave Cahn, a Messianic Jew, amazing insight into the scriptures as he wrote the book The Harbinger which instantly became a bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list and gave Cahn recognition national.
God showed Cahn, 9 landmarks or warnings that God gave to Israel before God finally authorized an invasion by Babylon and therefore the destruction of Jerusalem and the magnificent temple of God. But The Harbinger described America’s progression away from God, and then God’s warning through the same 9 signs in our modern 21st century society.
There was a time when churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike read the Bible believing that there was a God watching over us and they wanted to stay in good graces with that God, even if they did not adhere to the life of the church.
They viewed God’s family as our family when we grew up at home. When you disobeyed the rules, you sometimes received warnings, but when you continued to disobey, at least in my generation, you faced swift and often harsh discipline. People through the ages have seen life this way.
In a biblical account found in the book of Jonah, God used Jonah to warn a very pagan nation whose capital was Nineveh. These people knew the power of the God of Israel and their king called for immediate fasting and repentance. They straightened up and God spared the pain. Is it so simple? It certainly is.
God gave rules described in the Bible that He expected from people. When they didn’t, He warned them first. When they did not turn to God, He punished them. But when these people have quickly responded positively to this discipline and realigned themselves with the rules that God gives, just as you do in a family situation, you return to a place of forgiveness and blessing.
There are story after story as you read the history of the nation of Israel, that in some directions Israel obeyed God and fell under His blessings and other times disobeyed and fell under His judgments . We find that God has always been consistent with His promises. My point of thought for today is this. Blessings or judgments upon a nation were not the result of leadership. It was the result of God acting in response to the nation obeying His commandments or rebelling against His commandments.
The Harbinger II continues his story that Americas repentance was short-lived. After 911 the churches were once again packed for a few weeks, but soon America retreated to its old ways and ways of life, many of which demonstrate a rebellion against God’s directives and the resulting punishments and judgments.
In Cahn’s documentary we follow these 9 warning signs that were warnings from God and then we see because we didn’t straighten up, we didn’t turn back to God, we are now suffering, just like Israel, a collapse of society around us.
God showed me years ago that it was as simple as reading God’s instructions to Moses in Deuteronomy 28. God promised Moses before Israel was established how God’s people would be blessed if he followed the commandments of God, but many verses identify America today with consequences, judgments, or penalties for disobeying.
God expects us to see him as the ultimate decision maker. According to the Bible, we don’t have the right to make our own rules. For example, one of the Supreme Court justices said, when confronted with the recent redefinition of marriage case, that God defined it and that we, “his creation”, do not have the right to redefine it.
I remember the poem, Humpty Dumpty fell off his wall and shattered into pieces and it went on, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t fix it. Only God could. No matter what side of politics you’re on, it seems things have gotten away from the king’s horses and men. You are quite right. But God does not give the punishment without the remedy.
If “MY” people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways; then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Could it be that we have memorized these words and quoted them often, without understanding how to implement them?
I highly recommend the Harbinger II.
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