JUDGMENT OR DESTRUCTION ON AMERICA??

The Stage Is Set: Will It Be Judgment Or Destruction? - By Jeffrey K. Radt - www.raidersnewsnetwork.com

We need to repent and pray for the forgiveness of our nation's sins. Specifically, we need to pray for God to have mercy on us all.

In a few days, America will never be the same as I fear that we are about to enter a new realm in our spiritual relationship with our Lord and Creator. I might even go so far as to say that we will have reached the proverbial point of no return.

Our God is a God of grace, mercy, and love. However, He is also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice. For instance, Nahum warned that while God is one who is righteous and holy He is also one who will not tolerate sin (Nahum 1:2-3):

"A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished."

The Bible also says that God will bless those who bless Israel, and He will curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:3). The Bible says that he who touches Israel touches "the apple of God's eye" (Zechariah 2:8).

The upcoming Annapolis conference is akin to our government thinking they can poke God in the eye and blind Him long enough so that they can create a legacy on their own terms and independent of His plan for His chosen people as well as mankind.

They will leave a legacy all right, but will anyone be around to read about it in history books?

Does it bother anyone else to watch a so-called Christian president and his administration blatantly thumb its nose at God? I'm sorry, but any true Christian who has spent time reading his or her own Bible would know that Israel is off limits and that true peace will never be established until Jesus Christ returns again.

To ignore history - - especially recent history - - all for the sake of political expediency is dangerous and arrogant. To continue to push such initiatives is suicidal, borderline psychotic, and it shows a disdain for God and His truths not to mention a complete misunderstanding of Scripture and eschatology.

SETTING THE STAGE

Dr. David R. Reagan has published a truly remarkable study of recent world events and their prophetic significance in relation to Israel on his Lamb & Lion Ministries website. I encourage you to take some time to read his report in its entirety because it provides some additional in-depth information on this topic and adds comments on why we may be at a critical juncture in our nation's history.

His thesis is the foundation of this piece and in many cases several excerpts will be included here given their grave importance to upcoming world events with immense spiritual implications.

What emerges from the reading is a clear and accurate account that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation and, as Dr. David Reagan puts it, "we are living on borrowed time."

To begin with, God is the one who establishes nations and He is the one who takes them down (Daniel 2:20-21). When a nation rebels against God, He responds first by raising up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance.

These are not people with supernatural knowledge of the future. They are simply those who have the spiritual gift of discernment to see where a nation is missing God's mark. In other words, they know how to apply the Scriptures to current events.

If a nation refuses to listen to the prophetic voices, God will then send remedial judgments. That is to say that God will do what He has to in order to get our attention. Deuteronomy 28 lists the many forms that these judgments can take, which includes economic failure, rebellion of youth, an epidemic of divorce, confusion in government, foreign domination, and military defeat. The chapter also mentions natural disasters like drought, crop failure, and pestilence.

Sometimes God uses signs of nature to underline the importance of major events. More often, He uses signs of nature as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. He has always spoken to the world through signs of nature. One example that comes readily to mind is the birth of Jesus when God placed a special light in the heavens. Another is when Jesus was crucified and the earth experienced three hours of darkness and a major earthquake.

There are also many examples of remedial judgments in the Bible that involve natural disasters. For example, the plagues with which God afflicted Egypt in order to convince Pharaoh that he should release the children of Israel from captivity. I could go on and on.

Clearly, both the Bible and history attest to the fact that God has a pattern of dealing with nations.

Sadly, there are times when a nation ignores such messages from God and instead digs in against Him and His calls to repentance. This is the point of no return and it is often referred to as "when the wound becomes incurable" (Nahum 3:19, Jeremiah 30:12, and Micah 1:9).

It is at this point that the Lord will deliver the nation from judgment to destruction.

Do all natural catastrophes represent remedial judgments of God? No - - most are products of the natural processes of our weather systems. How then can we determine when a natural calamity is a remedial judgment?

Dr. David R. Reagan suggests, "One important factor is the timing of the event as it relates to the sins of the nation. Another factor is the magnitude of the event. Remedial judgments are designed to have great shock value in order to capture people's attention and force them to think with an eternal perspective. The most important factor is God's Spirit witnessing to the spirits of those to whom He has given the gift of prophecy. They will be motivated to speak forth with a united voice."

The culmination of the remedial judgments on the U.S. in recent history seemed to come with 9/11. This tragedy was a wake-up call from God for our nation to repent. Personally, it fulfilled this very purpose in my own life.

There is no question that our national sins have called down remedial judgments from God. Yet, as Dr. David R. Reagan brilliantly catalogs, "what I think we may have failed to realize is that since 1991, many of the judgments we have experienced have been directly related to our mistreatment of Israel."

DRESS REHEARSAL

The Bible provides us with many signs we are to watch for that will signal the soon return of Jesus Christ. The signs related to Israel are the most important.

The key to understanding where we are on God's prophetic timeline is to take a closer look at the Jewish people and the state of Israel since they are God's timepiece.

God often points to future events and says they will occur when certain things happen involving Israel. A good example can be found in Luke 21:24 when Jesus is quoted as saying that He would return "when Jerusalem is no longer trampled down by the Gentiles."

In the end times, all the nations of the world will come together against Israel over the issue of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:3). Tragically, even though many of our blessings as a nation have been due to the fact that we have historically been a safe haven and friend to the Jewish people, it was the early 90's when we began to turn against Israel.

Believe it or not, we were the ones who forced Israel into adopting the current suicidal policy of appeasement and we have been twisting her arm ever since, pressuring them to divide up the land that God gave them as an everlasting possession.

White House correspondent William Koenig recently wrote a book titled Eye to Eye. It was subtitled, Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. The thesis of the book is that many of the natural calamities, economic setbacks, and political crises experienced by the United States since 1991 have been directly related to actions we have taken to force Israel to surrender territory to the Arabs.

Koenig is a devout Evangelical Christian who has the gift of prophecy. Accordingly, he has the discernment to see the supernatural relationship between world events and judgments of God.

His book had a very prophetic cover. It showed President Bush looking over his right shoulder at a hurricane, and in the eye of the hurricane was a Star of David, the symbol of Israel.

The title of the book, Eye to Eye, was suggested by Koenig's wife. She took it from Matthew Henry's commentary on Isaiah 52:8 - -

"They [the watchmen] shall see an exact agreement and correspondence between the prophecy and the events, the promise and the performance; they shall see how they look upon another eye to eye, and be satisfied that the same God spoke the one and did the other."

In other words, in the end times there will be people who are prophetically gifted to recognize the correspondence between Bible prophecies and world events.

In his book Koenig shows the amazing parallels between U.S. mistreatment of Israel and subsequent natural calamities, economic setbacks and political crises. Let me share just a few of the examples he gives.

The Madrid Conference - This conference, which we forced on Israel, marked the beginning of the "land for peace" process. The opening of the conference on October 30, 1991, coincided with the formation of "the Perfect Storm." This was the record breaking storm along our Atlantic seacoast which produced 100 foot high waves and heavily damaged President Bush's home at Kennebunkport, Maine. The headlines of USA Today on November 1, 1991, had the stories of the storm and the Madrid Conference side by side.

Round Six of the Bilateral Peace Talks - In June of 1992 Yitzhak Rabin was elected the new Prime Minister of Israel. We immediately insisted that he come to Washington, D.C. and meet with Yasser Arafat. The day that meeting began, August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into Florida with winds of 177 miles per hour. The damage done amounted to over $30 billion - the most costly hurricane in U.S. History to that point in time.

Arafat at the United Nations - In September of 1998 Yasser Arafat was invited to speak to a special session of the United Nations that was held in New York. President Clinton arranged a meeting with him to put pressure on Israel. As the meeting took place, Hurricane Georges smashed into the Gulf Coast causing over $6 billion in damage.

Arafat and a Palestinian State - With our encouragement, Arafat announced that he was going to proclaim a Palestinian state on May 4, 1999. Even though President Clinton later persuaded Arafat to postpone the declaration to at least December, on the very day the proclamation was to have been made (May 3rd in the U.S.; May 4th in Israel), the most powerful tornado in U.S. history tore through Oklahoma City with wind speeds of 316 miles per hour, destroying over 2,000 homes.

The Camp David Summit - From July 11 through July 24 in the summer of 2000, President Clinton hosted a summit conference between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Clinton pressured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to surrender the heartland of Israel. During these precise dates, a major heat wave struck the South Central U.S. and fires broke out in our Western states. At one point, there were over 50 active fires that consumed over 500,000 acres before the end of the month.

White House Ramadan Celebration - On Thursday evening, November 7, 2002, President Bush hosted a dinner at the White House to honor the Muslim religious holiday called Ramadan. In his speech that evening, the President said:

". . this season commemorates the revelation of God's word in the holy Koran to the prophet Muhammad. Today this word inspires faithful Muslims to lead lives of honesty and integrity and compassion . . .

"We see in Islam a religion that traces its origins back to God's call on Abraham . "

Two days later a total of 88 tornados hit Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania..

The Middle East Peace Plan - On April 30, 2003, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer presented the "Road Map" peace plan to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. It was a plan formulated by an ungodly coalition called "the Quartet." This group was made up of Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, and the United States. It called for Israel to surrender Gaza and its heartland of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians. On May 3rd Secretary of State Colin Powell departed for the Middle East for talks to implement the plan. On May 4th Secretary Powell met with terrorist leader Hafez Assad of Syria and made a commitment to him to include the surrender of the Golan Heights in the peace plan. That day a swarm of tornados began tearing apart the Central United States. Over the next 7 days, there was a total of 412 tornados - the largest cluster ever observed by NOAA since it began its record keeping in 1950. The previous record had been 177 in 1999.

In summary, between October 1991 and November 2004, the United States experienced:

* 9 of the 10 largest insurance events in U.S. history.

* 9 of the 10 greatest natural disasters as ranked by FEMA relief costs.

* 5 of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history

* 3 of the 4 largest tornado swarms in U.S. history.

All of which were linked to our attempts to pressure Israel into either dividing up its land or surrendering part of its capital city of Jerusalem.

The world would laugh and call these coincidences, but Christians don't believe in coincidence. God is sovereign. He is in control.

The most recent chaotic event in Israel was the forced withdrawal of all Jews from Gaza. It began on August 7, 2005 and continued through the 22nd, as nearly 9,000 Israelis were uprooted from their land and homes. Many had been in the area for as long as 35 years.

It was a heart-wrenching event to watch women and children manhandled, synagogues violated, torah scrolls desecrated, houses bulldozed, graves dug up, and farms destroyed. Entire Jewish communities were forcibly removed from land which God has given to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession (Psalm 105:8-11).

And while this travesty was taking place, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began applying more pressure with the following statement: "Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing . . . but it cannot be Gaza only."

What was the supernatural response from God?

The withdrawal ended on August 22nd, and ON THE VERY NEXT DAY, the government of Bermuda announced that a tropical depression had formed off its coast. Dubbed "Katrina," the storm quickly developed into the most powerful hurricane in modern history.

It slammed into New Orleans and the Mississippi coast four days later on the 27th. The hurricane disrupted 25% of our crude oil production and destroyed our nation's largest port (the 5th largest in the world in terms of tonnage).

It is also interesting to note that the hurricane hit just three days before New Orleans - which often refers to itself proudly as "Sin City USA" - was scheduled to host an ungodly event that had come to be called "The Gay Mardi Gras." The theme this year was to be "Jazz and Jezebels."

The previous year the event drew 125,000 revelers who proudly flaunted their perversion publicly in a parade that featured the bizarre. Incredibly, this event was sponsored by a group that has named itself "Southern Decadence."

New Orleans is known for its occult practices, particularly voodoo. The city is also infamous for its high murder rate and its rampant political corruption.

Nonetheless, I do not believe the storm was meant primarily as a judgment upon the city of New Orleans. Rather, I see it as a judgment on our entire nation for our mistreatment of Israel. The consequences of the storm were national in scope.

Still not convinced that perhaps God was trying to tell us something?

Rabbi Joseph Garlitzky, head of the international Chabad Lubavitch movement's Tel Aviv synagogue, recounted for WorldNetDaily a speech he gave soon after Hurricane Katrina:

"We don't have prophets who can tell us exactly what are God's ways, but when we see something so enormous as Katrina, I would say (President) Bush and (Secretary of State Condoleeza) Rice need to make an accounting of their actions, because something was done wrong by America in a big way. And here there are many obvious connections between the storm and the Gaza evacuation, which came right on top of each other. No one has permission to take away one inch of the land of Israel from the Jewish people."

Some of those "obvious connections" or eerie similarities between Katrina and the evacuation of Gush Katif, including parallels in events, names and numbers:

* Close to 10,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in the Gaza Strip and parts of Northern Samaria. Katrina's death toll was just over 10,000.

* America's population ratio to Israel is about 50:1. Ten thousand Jews who lost their Gaza homes is the equivalent of about 500,000 Americans who have been reported to have been displaced as a result of Katrina.

* Gaza's Jewish communities were located in Israel's southern coastal region; America's southern coastal region was hit by Katrina.

* Katrina, written in Hebrew, has a numerical equivalent of 374, according to a biblical numbering system upheld by all traditional Jewish authorities. Two relevant passages in the Torah share the exact numerical equivalent: "They have done you evil" (Genesis 50:17) and "The sea upon land" (Exodus 14:15).

* Bush, from Texas, and Rice, from Alabama, were the most vocal U.S. backers of the Gaza evacuation. Hurricane Katrina hit the states in between Texas and Alabama - - Louisiana and Mississippi.

* Similarity in scenes: Many residents of Jewish Gaza climbed to their rooftops to escape the threat of expulsion, while residents of the Gulf Coast climbed on their own rooftops to protect themselves from the rising waters.

* Gush Katif was an important agricultural area for Israel, providing the Jewish state with 70 percent of its produce. A New Orleans port that exported much of the Midwest's agricultural production was destroyed by Katrina.

Why is the Bush Administration so willing to ignore recent history in pursuit of the elusive prospect of peace in the Middle East?

CURTAIN UP

President Bush could have created a historical legacy by promoting and pushing a domestic agenda that resonated with the hearts and minds of his conservative base of supporters.

However, instead of using his bully pulpit to advance vital measures important to us he's decided to take a path that will lead to infamy, not fame.

Speaking of President Bush, many are asking why such a committed Evangelical would put such inordinate pressure on Israel. More and more, people are asking, "Why doesn't President Bush see the prophetic significance of end time Israel?" Dr. David R. Reagan recently put that question to Bill Koenig when he interviewed him. His response was very illuminating.

Koenig pointed out that President Bush was raised in the Episcopal Church and in recent years has attended the Methodist Church. Although there are pastors in both of these churches who recognize the prophetic significance of modern Israel, the vast majority of the spiritual leaders in both churches (and especially those on the national level) believe in Replacement Theology. This is the theology that says God washed His hands of the Jewish people in the First Century and replaced Israel with the Church. They therefore see no prophetic significance to the re-establishment of Israel.

Koenig stated that within the Bush Administration the President is not the only victim of this erroneous theology. He is surrounded by godly people who have also grown up spiritually in Replacement churches. So, even though these people may respect the Judaic roots of their faith, they have no appreciation for the prophetic significance of modern day Israel.

I guess it's just another case of the blind leading the blind.

I also find it incredibly fascinating that Jesus said the signs of the times would be like "birth pangs" (Matthew 24:8) describing the end times by referring to them in a way that all cultures and peoples can understand - - pregnancy and birth.

A casual reading of any of the media's news reports on the upcoming Annapolis peace summit from this past week has uncovered some striking parallels with Jesus' use of symbolism that should raise some eyebrows.

For instance, consider that one article stated that "Annapolis may well bring us closer to what European Union foreign policy Chief Javier Solana is saying is doable within nine months, referring to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that would birth a Palestinian state on Israel's covenant lands." (italics mine).

I do not believe that it is mere coincidence that such verbiage has been used in connection with issues involving God's holy land.

Blogger Michael Mickey of The Rapture Alert recently postulated that the United States could be sitting on a cataclysmic time bomb.

In a widely read post from last week, Mickey wrote:

"As the United States prepares for its upcoming Middle East peace conference to be held in Annapolis, God is, in my opinion, drawing our attention to the fact that He is keeping a close eye on developments concerning this most blessed of nations lending an ear to Israel's enemies and, in fact, providing them with support to obtain portions of Israel's God-given covenant lands.

"How is God drawing the attention of those willing to see the spiritual connotations of events transpiring in the world around us as Annapolis draws near, potentially placing our nation in great peril of coming up on the curse side of God's promise of blessing and curse recorded in Genesis 12:3? He's drawing our eyes toward Yellowstone - - and dramatically so of late, in my opinion.

"The Independent recently unveiled an article on its site entitled "Yellowstone: The Time Bomb Under America."

"The opening lines of the article are anything but comforting, reading as follows:

"Deep beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a vast super-volcano which, if it blew up, could devastate much of the US. Recently, it's been a bit too restless for comfort.'

"Too restless for comfort indeed when we consider that Annapolis may well bring us closer to what European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is saying is 'doable' within nine months, referring to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that would birth a Palestinian state on Israel's covenant lands!

Conclusions?

"Trying to find the United States of America in Bible prophecy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. May Yellowstone be an answer as to why? I'm not sure but the last paragraph of the Independent's article certainly doesn't close the door on that being a possibility:

"And what if the ground at Yellowstone does not start to go down? Well, these calderas, he admits, occasionally they burp. Let's hope the park's belly-ache resolves itself - such a "burp" would shake half of the planet.

"In spite of God's clear warning provided in Genesis 12:3 that He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her, the United States, potentially within a year of a peace deal coming into existence that may well lead to the prophesied cries of 'peace and safety' foretold in 1st Thessalonians 5:3, is casting God's Word aside in spite of many Christian leaders and Jewish rabbis publicly warning against the United States helping Israel make what Bible prophecy clearly demonstrates to us is the equivalent of a covenant with hell is anything but wise!

"I don't know about any of you but, if I was sitting on a time bomb, I think I'd be careful concerning how my actions might influence the outcome of my predicament, especially if the bomb's designer was watching my every move with trigger in hand and I'd been amply forewarned by those who know him best that certain practices of mine could lead to disaster for me!

"But that's just me.

"May the Lord have mercy on those He is willing to, particularly those of us who love Him and fear His righteous judgments."

A major eruption at Yellowstone in modern times would be devastating. It would obliterate the national park and nearby communities, spread ground-glass-like volcanic ash from the Pacific coast to the Midwest, and cause worldwide weather changes from the airborne dust and gases, according to Smith, who described the potential effects in detail in his book Windows into the Earth, published in 2000.

A modern full-force Yellowstone eruption could kill millions, directly and indirectly, and would make every volcano in recorded human history look minor by comparison.

God is on His throne. He is in control. He cannot be mocked. He will not tolerate the division of His holy land. Nor will He tolerate gross immorality that mocks everything that is moral and decent.

God loves our nation. He has blessed us more than any other nation. His Word says that to those to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:47-48). His Word also says He disciplines those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:7).

Another thing His Word makes clear is that when He sends discipline, the fundamental purpose is never to punish. Instead, the purpose is to call us to repentance so that we might be saved.

Here's how the prophet Isaiah expressed it: "When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9b).

Our God is truly a God of amazing grace. Even when He pours out His wrath, He does so hoping that it will provoke repentance so that people can be saved.

We as a nation have set our jaw against God. We are tempting Him to move us from judgment to destruction. Our God is so merciful. He is patiently sending us one wake-up call after another because He never pours out His wrath without warning.

Make no mistake, a wake-up call from God is on the horizon. It is imperative that when that call comes we don't simply roll over and hit the snooze button - - again.

I pray that this time we'll have the heartfelt desire to want to change our ways, repent and refocus our hearts and minds on what's truly a worthwhile pursuit: A relationship and life with our Lord and Savior.

I pray that the hearts of our leaders to be opened to the significance of Israel in Bible prophecy.

As the representatives from many nations across the globe converge on Annapolis this week, they are all ready to play their role on the stage of world history.

The curtain may be rising on this 'historical" peace summit, but the curtain might also be closing upon the stage of human history as we know it.

The rest of us will wait with baited breath for the resulting spiritual response that looms over us. The only question that remains is whether or not God will send us judgment or destruction.