Blueprint For The Anti-Christ
Part 2 of 2By Col. Gordon "Jack" Mohr
Now here is something in prophecy that is extremely interesting and something that American Christians should consider. In prophecy, there is one prominent, powerful, once God-blessed Gentile nation, that is singled out for devastating judgment, prior to all others. This nation is spiritually called "Babylon."
Many times, those of us who rest safely in the salvation which Christ has provided for all those who accept His full and effective sacrifice - many times, we pay little attention to the meaning of Divine indignation. The blinded unbeliever, seldom if ever entertains the possibility that God's anger will fall on him or his country.
I believe as we study together, that you will admit that the United States fits very neatly into the description made of spiritual Babylon. Listen to her fate as told in Jeremiah 50:25: "The Lord hath opened His armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation..."
This has a terrible connotation. It does not mean to draw upon a storehouse or stockpile of death dealing agents; it means literally to throw wide the doors - to open the dikes and let a destructive flood pour out upon the land. The term "weapons of his indignation" speaks of God's most destructive weapons. These will make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like the fizzle of a tiny firecracker by comparison. This is not the vague dreams of a street seer, but the promises of Him whose Word cannot and will not be broken.
There is a strong indication in Scripture, that God's chosen people - Israel - will be taken out of that country before destruction is rained upon it, just as Lot was taken out of Sodom. Listen to Jeremiah 51:6: "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity . . ."
When we see a vast exodus of Jews leaving this country, we can be sure the end of America is at hand. Please God, those of us who love Him and who have been saved by His precious blood, will not be here when this happens.
But let us explore some interesting, descriptive Scripture and see how it fits the United States; in fact, more than any other nation in the world's history. Let me enumerate a few of these descriptive phrases, then we will take time to discuss a few in more detail.
God's Word tells us that "Babylon" will be a country which will meet the following qualifications:
1. It will be the youngest of the great nations.Now let us look at specific Scriptures and examine them to see if they fit into what we know about the United States.2. It will be a nation of great national wealth.
3. It will be a nation with great international prestige.
4. It will be a nation which has made amazing scientific achievements.
5. It will be a nation with great defenses.
6. It will be a nation which is involved in world affairs.
7. It will be a nation which has given more Foreign Aid than any other nation in world history.
8. It will be a nation which is blatantly covetous.
9. It will be a nation that eats better than the rest of the world.
10. It will be a nation where spiritual decadence has set in.
11. It will be a nation which has become egotistically blinded by it's power and wealth.
In Jeremiah 50:32, the Lord says: "A sword shall be upon . . . the mingled people that are in the midst of her."
Quite evidently, the nation God is talking about will be cosmopolitan by nature. The dictionary defines cosmopolitan as "composed of persons from all or many parts of the world." Ancient Babylon, while made up of people from many areas of the world, could not qualify in the same sense as the United States, for there were many areas of the world which were not included in the population of ancient Babylon - Northern Europe, many areas of Asia, and of course, the New World. There has only been one nation in world history that truly fits this category and that is the U.S. A., commonly known as the "melting pot" of the world.
In the Hebrew language, the word "mingled" means, "mixture," or "mongrel." This means of mixed parentage, of mixed origins, or formed from different language backgrounds. Even our coins bear the Latin inscription, "E pluribus unum!" (many in one). All of us come directly or indirectly from some other nation with the possible exception of a few thousands of native Indians.
There are other nations in the world that have mingled populations this is true. Canada for instance is made up of two great national groups, for the most part, English and French - they have two official, national languages. But in the United States, one of the requirements for U.S. citizenship is a "demonstrable knowledge of the English language."
Another interesting thing about this spiritual Babylon is that it will be the youngest of the great nations. Again in Jer. 50:12 we read: ". . . behold the hindermost of the nations, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert." This is possibly the most important verse we have examined thus far. The striking clue is the word "hindermost," which means "last" or "youngest." Most great nations of this world were "grey-beards" when the Republic of the United States of America was born in 1776. The references to this nation becoming a wilderness and a desert, could very well come about as the result of a nuclear war. Think about it!
In the past thirty years, America has made spectacular scientific strides. We have lived so fast and so lavishly, that history books of the past three decades read like fairy stories rather than as facts. It has been but a brief moment in time, from the creeping stage coach to the supersonic transport: it has been but a breath in history from the hardships of Plymouth Rock to the unbelievable comforts of contemporary luxury. It has been but the tick of the clock of history from the sundial to the electronic computer.
America became great because the grist mill of vision, patriotism, determination, untiring effort and decency, went hand-in-hand with belief in God and a national effort to follow His commandments. Under the blessings lavished on America through the benevolent hand of God, huge amounts of history were ground out in a minute segment of time.
This development is not hard to explain, for the answer sparkles with vision, courage and with the dauntlessness of those who through blood, tears and prayer, fashioned under God the greatest and most glorious nation of all times. They blended the cultures of the old world -the colors, the diversities, into a commodity we once proudly referred to as "Americanism." We worshiped and worked together; we played side by side; we donned the same uniform; we carried the same flag.
But this has been subtly changed, until today, we often see the idea of patriotism being taught in our public schools as being something immoral. Recently the State of Arizona passed a law which required High School students to have at least one semester of studies on the benefits of Free Enterprise and our Constitutional form of government. The State Board of Education was shocked to find opposition to this course coming from younger teachers in the state system. Many of these were perfectly willing to teach Sex Education without morality; they were willing to teach the theory of evolution as fact; they were willing to use pornographic books as required reading in their English literature classes, but they balked at teaching the principles of Free Enterprise and Constitutional Government.
Why is this? One of the great Protestant scholars of this century was Dr. Arno Gabelein. In his book Conflict of the Ages written in 1932, he warned that Sensitivity Training would lead to the type of education we see creeping into America's school system. On pages 110 and 111, he makes these interesting but rather frightening predictions that we see happening today, forty years after his book was written.
"Joseph Stalin published last year [1931], a detailed plan for the destruction of America. Here are his suggestions:
"1. RELIGION. By philosophy, mysticism, and the development of liberal cults, we can further atheism and discredit all Christian creeds."Lenin once said: 'When a country is selected for attack, we must first set up before the youth of that land a mental barrage which will forever prohibit them from being molded into effective opposition to our armies. This can best be done through teaching of pacificism and non-resistance - particularly with the aid of professors and ministers of the gospel.'"2. ETHICAL. Corrupt morality by advocating promiscuity and advising High School and College students to practice the same; introduce companionable marriage ideas; advocate the liberalization of legal abortions; advance inter-racial marriages; destroy the family foundation; abolish inheritance.
"3. AESTHETIC. Cultivate only the ugly, futuristic and aberrant in art, the drama and music. Practice crude orientalism, modernism, and degenerate perversion.
"4. SOCIOLOGICAL. Display vulgar extravagance; promote and exaggerate all social and economic conditions that will lead to political corruption, unrest and suspicion and intensify all class warfare.
"5. INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL. Create mistrust of the banks; destroy ideals in craftsmanship and pride in workmanship; set up, by a series of talks by professors of sociology and economy, the state monopoly of ownership.
"6. POLITICAL. Set up the idea of thinking 'internationalism,' so as to undermine national patriotism. Create suspicion and distrust wherever possible. Ridicule all patriotic effort and undermine all preparation for national defense. Carry out our set policy for world revolution, as laid down by Rykoff, who said: 'It is our duty to inculcate in the minds of all nations, the theory of international friendship, pacificism and disarmament. However, never for one moment must we relax our efforts to upbuild our military establishment.'
We should all recognize that there are certain dissident elements in our land, which like disease germs in the human body, seek to ravish and destroy it. But we have overcome these elements in the past, until we have become so proud and boastful, that we say in our own strength: "These things will never happen here! We're safe!"
But these things can happen. And the "baby" nation described in prophecy, like a child that has been spoiled through lavish presents and no discipline, is going to be spanked. We have God's promise for this!
To what Babylon of history could this description possibly apply? The Babylonian Empire was subdued by the Medes and Persians, but it did not become a desert, and the "hindermost" qualification certainly takes it out of the realm of antiquity.
Here is another interesting clue taken from Jer. 51:13, "O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasure, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness."
Look for a moment, if you will, at these words "abundant," and "treasures." Abundant is primarily a Bible word. It gives the picture of putting a bucket under a faucet, then turning on the water until it reaches the brim and over-flows. In other words, the water "abounds"; is more than enough to fill the vessel.
The word "treasure" as used here does not refer to valuable items, but to the storehouse that contains them. The Hebrew word o-tsaur used here, means a depository, a granary. It comes from the word aw-tsar which literally means "to lay up." It adds up to a fabulous amassing of fortunes. In other words, we can rightly assume here that God is speaking to a very wealthy nation.
It would be well for us to remember here that while the U.S. only comprises about 7% of the world's population, we are in possession of over one-half of it's wealth. We own 63% of the world's manufactured goods; 74% of the automobiles; 52% of the trucks; 56% of the telephones; 47% of the radios; 46% of the electric output, and in spite of what you may read in your newspapers, we have 53% of the world's known petroleum reserves.
Our Gross National Product rose from 234 billion, 769 million dollars in 1950, to over ONE TRILLION, 50 billion dollars in 1971. This is the most astronomical increase in wealth in the world's history.
These are fantastic figures but are filled with existing dangers. Jesus told us in Lk. 12:48, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of the same shall much be required." Although He was speaking to individuals, it is well for us to remember that it is individuals who make up nations.
Yes indeed, America has become a forgetful nation. We have become in the most part an ungrateful nation too. When a recent group of prisoners of war returned through an Army installation in the Philippines, a nurse in the hospital said: "I've never seen so many Americans in one group who bowed their heads and asked God's blessing before they ate." You see, to these men, God's blessings were very real, for they had been deprived of them for a long time.
But for the most part, America has become a land where men and women have forgotten God. I realize that many Americans still go to church on a more or less regular basis, but all too often, church has become sort of a "sooper-dooper" country club, where folks go because it enhances their status in the community; while other churches have become more like "religious night-clubs" replete with flashing psychedelic lights and religious rock 'n roll music. Oh how self-sufficient we have become. We have deified man's intellect and exhaled the creature above the Creator. As we pride ourselves on our accomplishments, we have builded a new intellectual "Tower of Babel," not only to reach into the heavens, but to "kick God off the throne of the universe, so man can rule supreme." "He that sits in the heavens shall laugh; he shall have them in derision."
As we split the atom, we have taken on ourselves credit for creating it. We have become so ego-centric, that many of us have parted company with God Almighty. We are so foolish, we believe we can pick out a path through the jungle of reason and arrive at a safe destination. This idea can best be described in the words of ultra-liberal Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. when he said: "We will create a heaven on earth, a goal accounted much more sensible by modern man than a heaven in heaven. Liberalism has dispensed with absurd Christian myths of sin and damnation, and now believe that the shortcomings of man might be redeemed, not by Jesus on the cross, but by a benevolent unfolding of history. Tolerance, free-inquiry, and technology, operating within the framework of human perfectability, will in the end create a heaven on earth." The Apostle Paul summed this up in Romans 1:22, when he said: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."
But God says, and this means even America, "Thine end is come [together wit~ the measure of thy covetousness" (Jer. 51:13). Covetousness means an inordinate craving for material things. A nation that barters away her privileges and divine blessings, that trades off her "birthright" for a mess of stinking socialist pottage, always ceases to exist. This is an unalterable law of God.
Here is another interesting prophecy that fits in with the description of America. Though Babylon should mount up to the heaven . . . yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord" (Jer. 51:53). Who ever dreamed fifty years ago that the U.S. would be spending billions in an attempt to explore outer-space?
Again God speaks to mysterious Babylon in verse 55, "Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice . . . " This is a clear indication from the highest possible authority that this "end-time" nation will speak with a great deal of authority and prestige in the international councils of the world.
Since global communications and supersonic transportation came into vogue, more and more the U.S. has been the great "voice" in international affairs. We rush envoys to troubled areas at the "drop of a hat"; we even send our men to fight and die on foreign soil, as in Korea and Vietnam.
But the final articulation of the nation mentioned in prophecy will not be of a famous international political power that has swayed nations with the "hammer strokes" of her opinion; it will be the whimpering cries of a perishing people in deep distress, with none to help!
There are many other references in prophecy that fit America like a glove; we do not have the time in this message to explore them, so let me pick a few which I believe are important.
In the realm of Foreign Aid, we read in Rev. 18:3, the merchants of the earth waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." Let me enlarge on this, since Foreign Aid is such a large part of our budget and effects each one of us.
The Lord revealed to John on the Island of Patmos that in the end-time the merchants of the earth would become rich through the voluptuous luxury and great generosity of a nation spiritually called Babylon. This word, "delicacies," comes from a Greek word that means "given to or spent in enjoyments of pleasure, luxury and sexual gratification." The term "waxed rich," indicates economic assistance to an unheard of degree. It is an insensible kind of generosity sometimes seen in a drunk, whose senses are so confused that he will give away his last dollar, wanting to treat everyone regardless of the number, or the cost, or his ability to pay the bill. Our Foreign Aid money, including interest, comes to more than $10 billion each year, and we have to borrow money and pay interest on it in order to give it away.
This is one of the chief characteristics of this "end-time" nation which is destroyed. Listen to verse 9, "And the kings of the earth, [we could as well use the term, leaders] who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning."
Going back again to Jer. 50:38, "It is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols." The expression "mad upon their idols," indicates a nation that has become so obsessed with her lusts, with her spiritual degeneracy and decadence, that she thinks of nothing else. In Colossians 3:5, we see where the word "idolatry" is equated with "covetousness."
Covetousness means always wanting more. This condition is undebatably true of America. We live sumptiously and always want more. In spite of all our financial and economic problems, America's poor live better than 75% of the rest of the world. Baseball players are making more than $250,000 per year, for a few months of doing what used to be called sport. A 24 year old-girl makes $165,000 on TV appearances; a 1-hour-per-week for nine months TV program costs $34 million. All the while, people are in want in our own land and are starving in other countries. "Mad upon her idols" reveals an insane pressing for gratification of the lusts which destroy and produces conditions which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It has reached the point where religious leaders are telling their young people that sex before marriage is all right, if it is done in the spirit of love. They are telling our youth that there is no such thing as "sin," that there is no "black" or "white," only shades of grey and that anything is all right if it is socially acceptable, or if it makes you feel good. No wonder God is angry with us!
In Rev. 18:7 we read, "How much hath she glorified herself and lived deliciously." The emphasis on "glorify" goes back to historical Babylon and Genesis 11:4 where men said: "Let us make us a name!"
We may scoff at the idea, but just as in Jeremiah's time, it is the course of fleshly enjoyment and indifference towards God that leads to disaster. A well known educator recently said: "History proves that man cannot have sexual freedom and great attainments at the same time; they cannot have these for more than one generation and survive. For either a nation will have sexual freedom and destroy themselves, or they can have sexual discipline and be great." This is the course of history.
The people of Jeremiah's time would not believe God. Listen as the prophet says, "To whom shall I speak and give warning that they might hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. Therefore am I full of fury; I am weary with holding it in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. And their homes shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord."
In Ezekiel 33:11, we hear Jehovah as He pleads with the people: "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?" In Jeremiah 7:3, "Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in the land." In Ezekiel 14:6, "Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols: and turn your faces from all your abominations." The reaction of these ancient people was the same as that of modern day America, one of stolid indifference and blatant rebellion . . . AND THEY PERISHED! Why do we think it will be different for modern America?
Look at history and see what happened. See them weeping beside the rivers of Babylon. See the 500,000 starved to death in Poland. See the 6 million tortured and killed under Hitler in the gas ovens of Dachau and Belsen. There are no tears of regret, no remorse so bitter, as the kind that could have been averted if man had glorified God instead of himself.
The phrase "living deliciously" means a sensual, intemperate, gluttonous kind in which everything is sublimated to physical desire. This type of thinking flourishes in a climate of prosperity - more so in America than in any other nation that has ever existed. Listen to Jerimiah again, 22:21, "I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidest, I will not hear. This has been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeydest not my voice."
Look at the cost of "high living" in America. In 1968, that was five years ago, Americans spent annually for food $84 billion; for recreation $21.5 billion; for illegal gambling $47 billion; for tobacco, $8 billion; for alcoholic beverages, $11 billion; for pets $3.5 billion; for dog food alone, $210 million. Indeed America has been living deliciously.
The Scriptures clearly show - and this is borne out by history - that prosperity, pride and rejection of God, is the spawn of intemperance, incontinence and a moral ruthlessness that ultimately destroys society. It is an index of the apostasy of the times. Prosperity leads to self-sufficiency; self-sufficiency leads to spiritual decadence, and spiritual decadence leads to moral corruption. Finally the stench of it reaches to heaven itself. Listen to Rev. 18:5, "Her sins have reached unto heaven."
That which is against God is sin. It is as plain as all that. It may come under the guise of the "New Morality," or "Situation Ethics," but it is still sin, and it still destroys people and nations.
Our crime bill is running well over the $20 billion level each year. It increased by 10.6% from 1969 to 1970, and by 143.9% in the decade of the 1960's. This is an almost unbearable load for the American people to carry and it comes from man's rejection of God.
We have become a nation of alcoholics and drug addicts. Over 9.5 million of our people are confirmed alcoholics and an estimated 11 million more are problem drinkers. Over half the fatal accidents on America's highways are due to drinking drivers - this is well over the worst casualty years in the Vietnam War. Yet our psychologists choose to call "alcoholism" a "disease." If this is true, it is the only disease in the history of mankind that is subsidized in our newspapers and magazines, on TV and on the billboards of our land, the only disease which has been made socially acceptable while killing thousands each year and ruining the lives of millions. What fools we Americans have become and a holy God says: "Her sins have reached unto heaven." When this happens, it indicates that His longsuffering, and His mercy are being taxed to the breaking point. America has reached the critical stage in her terminal illness.
One of the most disturbing things about all this, is that most Americans have become "egotistically blinded." Listen to the prophecy in Rev. 18:7, "For she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen . . . and shall see no sorrow."
Americans of our time have never felt the sting of war on our soil. While the great cities of Hiroshima, Berlin, London, Tokyo, Dresden and Hanoi have been bombed into heaps of smoking rubble, we have sat as a "queen" complacent in our strength. We are the greatest! We are the best! Surely, it can't happen to us! This thinking is similar m content to the Scripture when it says: "I shall see no sorrow."
It is interesting to note that an apostate atmosphere 'always dims spiritual vision. Few Americans are willing to take God's pronouncements at face value, even when they are proven to be true. George Santayana, the well known Harvard professor of history has said: "He who will not learn from the mistakes of history, is bound to repeat them." Certainly this has been the story of the United States.
American foresight has suffered a rapid decline in the past fifty years. It has gone downhill in the same ratio to which our moral and spiritual strength has declined in the past fifty years. This is all tied in with the growth of religious liberalism in our churches. We should be able to tell, merely by looking at history, that a country cannot last for long when it's home life is being deliberately destroyed - often with religious sanction. When the influence of Christ's church ebbs, then we see a decline in legislative principles, we see governmental power become centralized, we see corruption in politics, lawlessness in the streets, deficit spending in Congress, loss of ideals among the populace, and an utter indifference to the value of human life - note the recent "liberalized abortion craze."
We hope for the best, while many of us espouse the worst. Many of us who dare to call ourselves Christian, sit back in our complacency and complain, but we will do nothing to stop the corruption. In Matthew 5:13, Christ spoke to His followers saying: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor (ability to act as salt), wherewith shall it be salted? it is thereforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of man." What are the two main properties of salt? To flavor, and to halt corruption. New Testament churches in recent years, instead of halting corruption, has often added to it. When this happens, Jesus said that she becomes good for nothing but the "garbage heap." It would be well for professing Christians to remember the words of Edmund Burke, the great British statesman, when he said: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
In America today, most of our citizens have left the dauntless devotion of Plymouth Rock for a daring departure from everything that is high and holy. The symptoms of decay are on every hand. Sin makes a nation sick. Our symptoms are the same as those observed in Israel over 2,700 years ago that caused the prophet Isaiah to say of her, ". . . the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores" (Isa. 1:5,6).
It doesn't take a great deal of investigation to see that most of our present trouble, in line of militant demonstrations, is in line with the Communist master plan to disrupt and destroy our society. They have told us this often enough in the past fifty years. We better wake up and realize they mean business. Oh I know, better than most, how they camouflage those plans behind such things as "freedom of speech," and "freedom of the press," but they follow the same pattern just the same and they are all tied together with the same strings.
We need to recall that Israel in the midst of her jubilant but sinful orgies was warned by the prophet not to rejoice, "Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy . . . for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God . . ." (Hosea 9:1). Disaster for Israel seemed imminent and God's servant warned the people about it, and they utterly disregarded His warning and turned on Him most viciously.
This is the way of America today. You want to feel the contempt of American religious leaders today . . . Preach the message I bring to you. Because disaster hasn't struck America yet - the religious and political leaders seem to think it never will. They say, "Why look for disaster? Be positive in your thinking . . . never approach any problem from a negative viewpoint." So they approach sin in a positive manner and treat it as though it doesn't exist, while the danger to our country lurks ominously at the end of every wrong course they take.
If you have ever studied world history, you must agree that God often uses human instruments to execute judgment on nations. Prophecy is that phase of Bible revelation in which God blueprints the future and uses it to warn mankind of dangers that lurk beside the pathway of yet unwritten history. Listen to Jeremiah 50:9 as he speaks again about the mysterious Babylon: "For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly alliance] of great nations from the north country: they shall set themselves in array against her."
Now I know exactly what some of you are thinking. You are saying to yourself, "But things are much better now between us and the Communist nations. We have the SALT agreements to protect us and there is a rapport that has never existed before."
Yet even our own government acknowledges that the Soviet Union now has the capability to destroy us. We gave it to her. At least twelve times since 1918, the Soviet Union has been on the verge of economic collapse, and each time she was saved - not by another Communist country, but by her greatest enemy, the U.S. A. Doesn't it seem strange to you that we are spending $70 billion each year on military expenditures, ostensibly to protect ourselves from the threat of Communism, while at the same time we are feeding the Communist countries and doing billions of dollars ~f trade with them, giving them the products they need to destroy us? On July 15, 1968, General Earl G. Wheeler, in an article in the U. S. News & World Report said: "The most dangerous threat to the U.S. is posed by the growing Soviet strategic nuclear forces." Since that time, Russia has been re-arming three times faster than the United States. Our research on new military weapons has almost come to a standstill since the days of Robert Strange McNamara, and powerful Senator J. William Fulbright would disarm us further.
We must not lose sight of the fact, that God is the agent that will bring judgment on this end-time nation, but that He will bring it through human means. Whether God uses Russia to destroy the U.S. or not is beside the point. What we need to remember now is that if the U.S. continues to disregard God and His laws, we will be destroyed. There can be no escape!
Notice further that God uses the term "nations," when He speaks about the military confederation that comes against Babylon. Could this possibly mean China and Russia? In spite of the growing rift between Russia and China, which is being played up through the news media, there are many indications that the two would stick together if it came to a nuclear war with a Capitalist country. There is little question that if the two of them came against the U.S., we would be destroyed.
Notice some of the characteristics of these nations in Jeremiah 50:42, "They are cruel, and will not show mercy; their voice is like the roar of the sea." Like ancient Goliath, they are constantly issuing threats, constantly "rattling their rockets," against the United States.
As to the cruelty of these nations, we have had countless examples, and are learning more as our POW's come home from imprisonment in Vietnam. Torture with these people is an accepted norm; inhumanity is to be expected. For they have killed off at least 100 million of their own people in the past fifty years, not during time of war, but just to control them. Why in the name of God do we expect them to show mercy towards us?
The attack against Babylon will be a sneak attack. Look at Jeremiah 50:24, "O Babylon, thou wast not aware; thou art found and also caught." The phrase "thou art caught," indicates that the enemy breaks through her defenses. "Caught," spells the end.
Notice further in 51:32, 'The passages are stopped . . . and the men of war [military leaders] are affrighted." The word "passages" could mean a sudden break-down in communications and the word "stopped," could very easily mean 'suddenly cut off." Multiply the New York power failure of a few months ago on a nation-wide basis and see the panic that would ensue.
The Scripture further says that her military men would become afraid. This suggests an inward trembling, an alarm, as they realize they have no defense against the sudden attack. If a situation such as this developed, as the military panicked, so would the political leaders. Somewhere in the near future, this will happen to a great nation. Will it be the U.S.?
Notice further in 50:9, "Their arrows shall be as a mighty expert man: none shall return in vain." Could this refer to missiles, that like perfectly aimed arrows, will not miss their targets?
Here is the solemn declaration of God. This great nation will not merely be hurt by this all-out attack against her, but she will be utterly destroyed. Chapter 51, verse 8, "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed." Does this seem utterly inconceivable to you that this might mean the U.S.? It will happen to some great nation, soon.
If we read the Word of God properly, we note 50:40, that the nation attacked will be left in a shambles, utterly desolate and that neighboring countries will also be wrecked.
The prophecy goes on to say that there will be a world-wide reaction to this attack. 50:46, "And the cry is heard among the nations." Again in Rev. 18:11, 'The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her." Can you actually convince yourself that the Bible is speaking of ancient Babylon? People are living today on the site of ancient Babylon, but the Bible prophecy says, Jer. 50:39-40, "Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the island shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation." This could not possibly be Babylon. Babylon was almost an inland country, she had very little sea coast, so it is hard to understand the phrase "islands." She has also had people living in this area since her disintegration. The country of ancient Babylon went up and down for almost 2,500 years, but never was she completely destroyed as in the Bible prophecy.
The destruction of this great nation takes place in one hour, which signifies in my mind, a nuclear attack. Listen to Rev. 18:10, 17, 19, "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon; that mighty city [nation], for in one hour is thy judgment come . . . For in one hour so great riches is come to nought . . . For in one hour is she made desolate." We have no choice but to accept this three times repeated "one hour," as being literal. This never happened to ancient Babylon.
If the wealthy, powerful, wicked, God-forsaking end-time nation spiritually called Babylon in prophecy, is in reality the United States, then possibly this is the answer to the often raised question of Daniel 11:40, "How can Russia, the king of the north, invade Israel without American intervention?" This would certainly happen if America ceased to exist. This is a horrible thought, but one we need to painstakingly consider.
It is natural for one to abhor the thought or suggestion of national disaster. The people of Jeremiah's time tossed him into prison when he forecast their destruction. Today in America, if you try and warn the people, even the religious leaders claim that the preacher is suffering from a neurosis.
One does not prophecy doom for one's own country because you hate it, or want to see it destroyed, or because you are a "crepe hanger." General aversion to the facts furnishes no escape. Those folks in a peaceful valley in Pennsylvania in 1889, refused to listen to a man who warned that the dam had been weakened by spring rains, and when the Johnstown flood hit the valley, over 2,000 perished. We may not like to admit it, but those of us who are called Christian are to blame for the condition our country is in, for we have sat silently by, for the most part, while the enemy, with all the cunning of Satan, is destroying that which we say we love.
In all honesty we must say with renowned General William K. Garrison, "I do not know of a nation in modern times that deserves the judgment of a holy God as much as America. No other nation has been granted such physical blessings, such spiritual opportunities and such political freedom, yet it has become pagan in character."
The events of the future are most disturbing. The fierce classes of conflicting political ideologies, ruthless subversive tactics, the violent quest for world power, the uprisings of minorities - all combine with many other disconcerting factors to cloud the atmosphere. The picture is indeed a somber one.
An even more alarming way to put it is like this: "It is only a question of time, before a nation that follows in the footsteps of Sodom and Gomorrah, goes down under Divine judgment."
Lord Byron once said, "Civilization goes something like this. First comes freedom; then glory; then wealth; then vice; then corruption; then barbarianism; then collapse; and finally back to slavery." In over 60 centuries of written history, there have been 21 great civilizations - nineteen of them have been destroyed from within by moral and spiritual collapse. They died, long before the barbarians swarmed over their walls or battered down their gates. Why do we think America will be immune?
There is a growing obsession that is being promulgated by many religious groups, especially liberal groups such as the National Council of Churches, that finite man with his technological knowledge, his supersonic transportation and his instantaneous communication can bring about a utopia on earth. It is a grand scheme and one that appeals to unregenerate man. It is challenging and convincing. It calls for one world; one government; one church, but this bubble is about to burst.
The Bible tells us that when men begin to cry "Peace, peace, then sudden destruction cometh upon them..." Man has neither the foundation or the material to build such a glorious world. Paul Harvey has rightly said: "A society predicated on a false premise is pre-doomed."
Make no mistake, my friends, the great and pressing need of this hour is for individuals and our nation to get back to God - back to the deep, rich things which made this nation great; back to where man can find rest from the frustrations of life, where the heart can find confidence as we see foundations crumbling all about us.
It may well be the eleventh hour for America. But we need to remember that many a fight has been won in the last round. If you do not know God's plan for your personal salvation and your personal responsibility towards others, now is the time for you to recognize this and do something about it. Then with vigor, courage and honesty, you can get into the fight - the good fight of faith. Victory is not only preferable to defeat, it is also absolutely possible under God and He has promised us this if we will follow His bidding.
If this nation will turn to God and honor His Word, there would be no question of her future. But if present trends continue; she may very well be the end-time nation we have spoken about today that is judged in prophecy.
Our nation is in desperate need of help and only God can give us the aid we need. We must use the only formula available for our survival, 2 CH-7-14. "If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land!" This is the only formula for survival!
In this dark hour of unprecedented peril, we must come clean for God. We must preach the "whole counsel of God" whether men like it or not, if we are to expect God to fulfill His end of the bargain and heal"Pro land!
Always, when God delivers, there has been someone, usually many, who have been praying and working through faith to bring it about. Notice that prayer in itself is not enough. If we are to rejoice in victory, then we must first humble ourselves before God, and seek His face, as we turn from every known sin.
This message has been primarily given to those of you who claim the name of Christ. But if you are not a "blood bought" child of God, you likewise have a tremendous responsibility as an American, in seeing that this nati6n is saved from those who threaten to "bury us"! First of all, you need to recognize yourself as a sinner, doomed before a righteous God, for the Bible tells us that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Then you need to realize that God in His love for you, as an individual, has made a way of escape possible for you, through the death of His Son Jesus Christ, who died in your place, almost 2,000 years ago. Then you need to ask God for forgiveness, and to accept the plan He has for your life . . . to accept His Son Jesus as the Lord and Master of your life.
When you have done this, then you can know, without the shadow of a doubt, that you are an adopted child of God. You can know without the shadow of a doubt, that God will hear your prayer, when you pray for the salvation of America. You can work for the salvation of this nation, knowing full well, that if America returns to God, she will be saved and will not have to endure the fate of spiritual Babylon. This my friends is the only FORMULA FOR SURVIVAL!
SCRIPTURE: - John 3:1-21
TEXT: - John 3:17, 18Most of us have heard folks called "Nervous Nellies." There are millions of them in this hectic Twentieth Century world of ours. Someone once said: "If the ten o'clock news is good folks go to sleep; if it is bad they go to pieces."
Often older folks become nervous when they see all the changes which are taking place in the world and wonder if they can change their thinking to keep up with the times.
Christians are being bombarded daily with the need for change. The Bible is out-of-date, we are told - often by religious leaders - it needs to be updated to meet the needs of Twentieth Century man. Liberal theologians, with a raft of letters behind their name, make a point of setting our Christian thinking straight, by "pooh-poohing" ideas which have stood the ravages of centuries.
It would be well for us to remember, that the degrees behind a man's name can often be misleading. The D.D. behind a theologians name can just as well stand for Dumb Dog" as for Doctor of Divinity. In Isaiah 56:10, 11, we read these rather interesting words: "His watchmen are blind, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping dogs, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they look to their own way, everyone for his gain.
A literal translation of these words might well be: "They are dumb dogs who don't have the courage to bark; they sleep and close their eyes to evil for fear of disturbing their congregation, and they look for things which will bring them the most in material wealth and popularity."
Eminent theologians, like Dr. Joseph Fletcher of Cambridge University and father of Situation Ethics, tells our gullible youth: "Do anything that makes you feel good, for there are no absolutes of right and wrong; it all depends on the situation. We should rewrite the Ten Commandments so they read: Thou shalt not steal - ordinarily; thou shalt not kill - ordinarily; thou shalt not commit adultery -ordinarily. But if you love your neighbors wife enough, then the law of love supersedes the divine law of the Bible."
It is no wonder, that with these pressures falling on our youth, we find a vast increase in mental problems over the last decade, along with a noticeable increase in the suicide rate of college age youth.
Just as an aside here, in 1971, the suicide rate among psychologists and psychiatrists, was four times greater than that of the rest of the nation. These are the fellows who are supposed to tell us what is wrong and help us to solve our mental problems.
Psychiatry has always found the question of "mind change" to be perplexing. But in Christian psycho-therapy, it goes beyond the perplexing to become pathetic. Because the question almost always comes from someone who is unregenerate. In other words, one who has never been saved. This does not mean that they are not church members, and they may even bear the title of "Christian," but they have never been saved and have reached the point where they no longer derive satisfaction from "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16).
This is the same age-old question the wealthy, influential Nicodemus asked of Jesus in John, chapter three: "How can a man change when he is old?" The Master answered Him by saying: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (verse 6). In the light of his fleshly nature, this rich, important, educated man could not understand the things of the Spirit, because "they are spiritually discerned." "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him" (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The natural, unregenerate, unsaved man or woman cannot change their thinking, because they are unspiritual. Unsaved people can think only of self. Oh I realize that many of these people fit into the "bleeding heart" category of mankind. They are busy, busy, busy all the time, trying to do good - to help the needy and unfortunate, but all too often, in their ignorance, they are helping the minions of Satan. The highway of the natural man is strewn with the neurotic wrecks of those who cannot change their thinking by their own power. And, here is something to remember, the fleshly nature of man cannot find peace through the lust of the flesh.
Oh if only our young people could truly understand this. How much heartache, and frustration could be avoided; how much pain could be spared; how many hearts remain unbroken.
A well known educator recently said: In their search for freedom, young people are losing that which they want worse than anything else; because they are becoming slaves of their own desires."
A Christian psychiatrist told me that at least 75% of the patients in our mental hospitals do not belong there. "The only one's who have a legitimate right to be in our mental institutions," he said, "are those who are there because of brain damage due to illness or accident. The others are there due to sin in their lives which they refuse to face and the psychologists tell us there is no such thing as sin." Doctors tell these folks: "There is nothing physically wrong with you. You are just nervous.
Enslavement of a person's mind is never sudden. It begins by subtle beguilement. It comes about, most often, through a process of "patient gradualism" so that the victim doesn't even really realize he is being enslaved. But the question is - "Can men and women tear themselves away from a lifetime habit pattern?" They have been in fellowship with Satan for so long, they have learned to depend on him and his worldly pleasures and achievements for satisfaction. This is one of the reasons it is so vitally necessary for us to reach young people for Christ - before they have become deeply enmeshed in Satan's bonds. This is the reason young people respond more easily to the appeal of Christ. A seven-year-old, who understands that he is a sinner and who believes that Christ died for him, can make a break with Satan much easier than a man or woman who has been Satan's slave for forty or fifty years.
A worldly business man, for example, has been bent on achieving success in a 'dog-eats-dog" world of fierce competition. He is out to accumulate as much of this world's earthly goods as possible. He is never satisfied with what he has. He has set a goal for himself and all thoughts and needs are centered on his ambition. He has no other ambition but his selfish ambition to become tops in his field. He lives in constant fear and anxiety that his business ventures might fail. He develops gastric disturbances which have no organic basis and his doctors tell him, "You must take time off and relax!"
So he tries a vacation, or a hospital rest - which only worries him more, because he is away from his first love -his business.
He tries psychiatry and this may give him temporary relief and a big doctor bill. He may be a member of a prestigious church - he joined because it helped his image in the business world. He may give generously to his church and to charity. His name may appear in the news as a philanthropist. He may be a member of the best country club and be an official in a prominent lodge. But these things do not help!
There is only one cure for this man. When he accepts Jesus Christ as the Savior and believes in the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, then and only then will he have peace in his life. This is the same "peace" spoken of by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:7, when he said: "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
This is the same "peace" Jesus spoke about in John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." When this peace is in the soul then there is absence of fear, anxiety and worry.
Many psychiatric patients, like this business man, make a mental and physical recovery; but the vexation in their soul remains and comes boiling to the surface periodically, to torture the mind with doubts, anxieties, fears, and bodily tensions which cause actual physical pain.
Christ leads His sheep away from anxiety, fear and worry. Notice this promise in the Shepherd's Psalm (23rd). "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." How wonderful to know, that as adopted son's and daughter's of the King of Kings, He has promised to protect and comfort us. I can vouch for the truth of those promises, through personal experience in my own life.
But Satan, that old devil, drives his slaves. He whips them constantly with fear and anxiety. Constant worry forces them to seek relief, so Satan offers countless diversions that make their appeal through the lust of the flesh - which by the way is no longer considered sin in the liberal terminology.
As a result, sodomy becomes homosexuality and is approved by the liberal "Christ rejecting" church; adultery becomes "free love"; the drunkard becomes the socially acceptable alcoholic who is suffering from a disease, and the murderer is temporarily insane, therefore not accountable for his crime. All these things result, so we are told, not from man's sin, but from the pressures of modern society and so society is to blame for all evil and man cannot be held accountable for anything he does.
As a result of this idiotic kind of thinking, a parent must not talk about sin to their child, for it may give them a guilt complex and this will disturb them. Recently a good friend of mine who runs a fine Christian school in South Carolina, had a third grade student removed from the school. The girls' mother was disturbed because one of the teachers had talked about hell, and her "little darling" was scared. How much better to have the child frightened by a very real danger, and miss that danger, rather than to shield her from it and someday have her spend eternity in hell.
Satan has been very successful in indoctrinating the world to believe that sin is no longer sin. He often uses apostates within the church, to ensnare those he wants to use for his nefarious purposes. In 2nd Timothy 4:3, 4, we read these interesting and true words: "For the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Then in chapter 3, verse 13 - "For evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." The Living Bible paraphrases it this way: "For there is going to come a time, when people won't listen to the truth, but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear. They won't listen to what the Bible says, but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas." That time is here - NOW!
The devil, the "prince of the power of the air," is doing everything in his power to keep men and women, boys and girls, from raising their voices in a cry for deliverance. He comes to their aid with a new remedy for nerves and suggests diabolical diversions. These do not change the thought patterns - they merely divert the thoughts for a short time. They do not relieve the patient of torment or fear. Only God can do this for those who put their trust in Him. "He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
There it is! If you are constantly in fear - if you worry all the time, if anxieties drive you berserk - maybe you better look to your relationship with God, and find out if you were ever really "born-again." This isn't so, just because you have your name on some church roll, or because you were baptized sometime in the past, or because you are a member of a lodge, or because you live a good moral life. It goes much, much deeper than this.
People whose lives are anchored in things of this world can never be truly happy. The individual whose thoughts are centered on pleasing himself can never get away from anxiety and worry, for it becomes a vicious circle.
Today, Satan is battling with all his diabolical skill, using his gigantic psychological propaganda to prove to man that he has no soul and placing emphasis on the mind of man as the seat of all fear, anxiety, worry, maladjustment, and nervousness. Only a "born-again" Christian can understand this diabolical deception. It is a bold attempt on the part of the devil to wipe out all need for Christianity and force men to believe in his own power. Even when men and women express the desire to find God, Satan often tries to channel them into a bloodless religion, where psychology of the mind holds sway.
Over 150 years ago, a German philosopher by the name of Ludwig Feurbach promulgated this idea, when he said: "Man will finally be truly free, when he realizes there is no god of man, but man himself." This idea, took root in the diseased mind of a young radical called Karl Marx and became the foundation of the Communist philosophy of "dialectical materialism."
Let me quote to you from the Communist textbook on "Psychopolitics." (The art of controlling the thinking of an entire nation of people). This book is used in the Lenin School of Political Warfare, part of Lenin University in Moscow: "Man is an animal . . . Having no independent will of his own he can be easily controlled . . . The first thing to be degraded must be man himself. He must be degraded from a spiritual being to an animalistic reaction pattern. He must think of himself as an animal, capable only of animalistic reactions . . He must no longer think of himself as being capable of spiritual nobility . . . He must be taught that the salvation of man is found only in his adjustment to his environment . . . As in many countries the church is the most ennobling influence, each and every branch and activity of the church, must, one way or the other be discredited. Religion must be made unfashionable by demonstrating through psychological indoctrination that the soul is non-existent, and that man is an animal."
Why do you suppose that "evolution" as fact, is being taught in all of our public schools? Even though it is scientifically known to be an unproved theory. Why have Bible teachings on morality been superceded by the new theology of "Situation Ethics?" Often these things are being taught by "seducers" clothed in clerical garb.
Of course the unsaved individual cannot see either the folly or deception in this line of reasoning, because they do not believe or accept the Word of God, which says that "thoughts and intents," (Hebrews 4:12); "imaginations," (Genesis 6:5); "meditations," (Psalm 19:14); and "deceit," (Acts 5:4) are conceived in a man's heart.
God has given to mankind the remedy for the soul's problems. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior; then God invites you today, in fact right at this moment, to accept Him. Christ died on the cross, almost 2,000 years ago, to make an atonement for your lost soul. This may be contrary to what you have believed. But listen to me - you cannot be saved by moral rules you have made up yourself, or that some other human has made... no matter how prestigeous he may be, even in the field of theology. God has given us life and we live on this earth according to His mercy. When He takes away the breath of life, we die and our soul goes to one of two places - either heaven, or hell. You may not want to accept this - but hell exists whether you want to believe in it or not. And those who refuse to believe Christ and His atoning work on Calvary, go to hell, to suffer, in literal, physical torment through the ages of eternity. They are punished, not because of the sin they have committed, but because God offered them a way of escape and they refused.
Look at our text again: "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
Those who accept this salvation - freely offered by a God who loves you - will go to heaven to live with Him for eternity.
Some of you may say: "How will this keep me from being a 'Nervous Nelly?' " "How can this take away my worries?"
When you believe in Christ, God sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. He helps you understand the Bible. As you read His Word and begin to understand all the wonderful provisions He has made for His adopted children, you will begin to see how you can triumph over evil of all kinds.
When you overcome evil, then the influences of doubt, fear, anxiety and worry are dispelled by the power of God Himself.
When doubts return - and they do - you can turn aside from them by looking at the cross, where Christ overcame Satan and all his hosts that torment and oppress us.
Wouldn't you like to have this satisfaction right now?
You may say: "But how can I be sure? Listen to 1st John 5:13 (READ) 'These things have I written unto you, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!"
The End