Our nation has turned away from Christ considerably in just my nearly 50 years, and even a lot in the 17 years since 9/11. As the Christian faith is being increasingly rejected, personally and corporately, in wealthy nations like the United States and society grows more and more cold toward and distant from God before our eyes, there are fewer people coming to Christ with every generation while the culture becomes more and more openly demonic and Satanic.
Yet, fewer people see things that way, and there are quite a few that consider these developments “human progress.” Satan is lord of this time where so often evil is called good, and good evil.
Things are such that a Christian can’t help but think we could be very close to the Lord’s return, and also to believe that judgment for America might come soon, too, whether the Lord returns first or not. And the many extraordinary connections between Isaiah 9:10 and the 9/11 attacks, revealed to us through Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Kahn, have convinced many, including myself, that God was working through them to warn America that unless the country turns back to Him, His judgment is coming.
But barring some calamity worse than what destroyed ancient Israel and worse than 9/11, is it even possible for America to turn back to God now? Of course all things are possible with God, but not everything happens. And ancient Israel didn’t listen to God’s warnings and was destroyed, so why might a wealthy, worldly nation of today — again, barring some catastrophe to rival the Great Flood — listen to God’s voice?
God will reveal the answer in time, but for now, there are no signs of national repentance and revival. Instead today’s spiritual condition looks like something out of what the Bible describes as the Last Days, like Babylon as described in Revelation. Lawlessness abounds, both outside and inside the Church, a lawlessness and rebellion against God’s ways that may have no equal in human history.
But one of the snares of a national lawlessness is that it nurture pride, self-righteousness,bitterness and faithlessness in those with faith. The wicked often seem to enjoy themselves and get away with if not profit by doing wickedly. Peace and joy in the Lord can be undermined. Believers get into judging unbelievers. It’s easier to enjoy the fruits of the harvest than to work the fields for the Kingdom. Christians can lose the childlike spirit.
There is something now that may prevent advanced nations like the U.S., Canada and European nations from turning back to God — their advancement. To me, nothing so far in existence seems better qualified to be the “strong delusion” than the advancement in modern wealthy nations. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2)
Strong delusion is a terrifying prospect because it makes people incapable of hearing God’s voice and of recognizing both true danger and true safety. The truth is still there, but it’s ignored.
In our time and place, there’s increasing temptation on the one hand and pressure on the other to turn away from God and live for today,for the most pleasant life in this world that it has to offer.The Christian life can seem now like a form of suicide.
Prosperity and comfort draw human beings into Satanic rebellion against God, as they did with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Riches give a false sense of security and false picture of reality. The Bible warns us again and again about that, but today those warnings are downplayed if not ignored.
God warned the Israelites not to let prosperity in the Promised Land make them forget Him:
11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 8)
There are a great many well-known New Testament passages that warn us that God must come first, and He can be our only God, and we are not to love this world, but to live for eternal life. This is just one of them, the words of Jesus:
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12:5
Jesus also said we cannot serve God and mammon
Ultimately, while there’s so much talk about what and who is at work against Christ within and without the Church, and these days we often hear liberals, homosexuals, Muslims, Hollywood, political correctness, etc., are the cause, it comes back to having no other gods besides God, despite all that the world today seems to offer. When man chooses idols, he follows Satan instead of God and worships the demonic false god, Baal, Satan in another guise. Baal offers man the pleasures of this world.
And that’s why the modern advanced nations might be under the judgment of strong delusion today – in every time and place, the world is tempting, but in advanced countries, the world’s temptations are constantly being multiplied. Love not the world and the things that are of the world.” The Church in places like America has an apologetics for loving the world and excusing that love, while God has given people what they want instead of Him. The prosperity gospel reigns.
Our age seems more and more to be prisoner to the Satanic and demonic – enslaved due to its “freedom” from God, and that is where it appears He has given the nation, and the Church here, over to the corrupting power of mammon.
It’s a different type of Great Flood, a flood of worldly temptations. Americans of the 1960s and 70s were already considered to be spoiled back then, and there are far more riches today. Even the upper middle class of a generation ago lived in modest homes by today’s standards.
Through worldliness, Satan has a vast multitude of strongholds in the Church, which has adopted many of the world’s assumptions. One person loves one thing outside of God’s will, someone else another, someone else a third,and so on, and each person will say nothing when something ungodly is exposed by the light of Scripture except when the ungodly thing they love is brought into the light. Then the ungodly thing is so often viciously defended, with accusations of Phariseeism against anyone speaking against the ungodly thing.
That goes even for the words of Jesus. They’re too much for this age and place, which has so much of this life seemingly to offer, and possesses the spirit of “more is more.” This world is arranging itself so escape through Jesus is more difficult and costly to anyone who attempts it and also less likely. For one thing, modern life makes people more dependent on employers, and those employers are worldly and so are increasingly antichristian. The power they hold again brings to mind the book of Revelation. Many of the loudest voices in the Church today are those that oppose God’s Word while claiming to be Christian and to have some belief in the Bible.
The temptations of the world today are so great that the Church more often than not hasn’t managed to be in the world and not of it, meaning not loving the world. While one Christian generation would like to think that itns putting up proper resistance to the Devil, the next generation sees all of the instances of its elders making peace with Satan on the side of peace with God and otherwise loving the world. Preaching and teaching then have little power.
And the Church is often content to drift along, condemning the sins of others and the rest of the time living for self.
Not loving the world must mean surrendering all to Him, questioning if we’ve done so, and being open to the possibilities of strongholds in our lives. Also, where we haven’t been fully conformed to Jesus, recognizing weakness as correction, as humbling. And not loving the world and its things.
Also recognize how Satan presents his temptations to us – as toys. There are more and more adult toys coming into existence than you ll find in any toystore online.
If the things of the world aren’t tools for God’s work, but are toys instead, then they’re being used in Satan’s work against God, and are idols, and produce the fruit of idol worship. That poison fruit today is all around us.
It’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned this, but years ago, I lived as a lesbian. I also went to a “good” state university for English. I grew up loving books, and at one point had thousands. But after reading the Bible, I no longer had any interest in them – in fiction at least, except to see how the writers treated God. Considering things now, I have to believe that Satan invented godless fiction when he spoke to Eve in the Garden. It may not be appealing to our flesh to consider such thoughts, but his lies are why we have the world we do today.
Faith Presses On 