The Drumbeat Warning of Divine Judgment on the USA

I've been warning of coming judgment for a while. When believers look out over soft pastures, busy and productive streets, viable farms, and thriving factories, they have a hard time seeing a nation under judgment. They think everything is OK if brimstone and 100 lb hailstones aren't falling. But it's not all right. We are crumbling from the inside and rot has set in, permanently.

There are different kinds of judgments. Judgment can be eschatological and very visible, as the coming prophecies and past histories show us. Judgment can be invisible, secret, and deadly, as God said in Hosea 5:12, I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. Judgment can be an abandonment, as when God simply releases a nation to itself to pursue its sin. (Romans 1:24).

The discerners have been warning, and warning, and warning. We warned judgment would come, we warned it was about to come, and we warn that it is here.

Monergism Books said last week,

It does not take an inspired prophet of God to know that the USA is now under Divine judgment. How so? Well, just look around. - fallen humans have always sinned and there was a time when people understood, even if they sinned, that they had done wrong and felt guilty for it. But no longer - that is being cast off... it is obvious now that not only do we not feel guilt about evil but openly celebrate it, calling good evil, and evil good ... and even give hearty approval of others who do evil (see Rom 1:18 +). According to this passage of Romans, the worst judgement of God takes place (at least in this life) when God gives people over to their sinful "free will" and when onlookers give approval to the evil of others. 

There is little doubt we are already there. But as we consider this it is critical to remember that the problem is not just OUT THERE. Repentance must begin with us, the church. We must repent of the sin and false teaching that permeates our own thinking. We must pray and, by the grace of God, align our thoughts with God and get our own house in order before we remotely expect to have any influence on the world.

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My friend Pastor Phil Andrukaitis of South Portland First Baptist Church said last week,

Good evening my family and friends,

Some of you may recall that I began preaching through the Epistle of 1st Peter on January 10 of this year. Peter's basic theme throughout his letter is, The Christian's Proper Response to Suffering. And the reason why Christians can respond to suffering in a godly manner is this: Christ is our steadfast hope in the midst of painful times. 

As I preached from 1st Peter 4:12-19 this morning, I believe with all my heart that today's sermon was the most important sermon I have ever preached in my 27-years of ministry. Why? I believe our nation is under divine judgment and that persecution of the church is closer than we think 

PRAYER: Oh Heavenly Father, my heart aches for the body of Christ as its wounds have weakened her in many different ways. Local churches and saints lay wounded on the battlefield with so few compassionate saints to help them. Lord, only You can heal and restore Your church. Please bring healing to every wounded saint. Please reconcile Your sons and daughters to one another. Please encourage the members within struggling local churches not to lose heart. Please conform each saint with Your Word and Spirit before all hell breaks out against the body of Christ. After all, there are multitudes of  unbelievers within our nation who will wake up one morning and realize that the "perilous times" are upon them. Father, help us to be strong in the Lord and ready to give them Jesus and His gospel. Christ is their only hope and the church is the means by which hope comes. Amen.

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Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur said recently, Calling the Church to repent

Christ spoke to His church. He spoke to seven churches, specific churches in specific cities in Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey. They were actual churches with actual conditions that He addressed. The uniqueness of His letters to these churches is that they all include an assessment that leads either to a commendation or a threat. I don’t know that we really think much about the Lord threatening the church. We do think a lot about the Lord threatening the world with judgment, threatening unbelievers with judgment. But here in the book of Revelation we have the Lord of the church threatening His church with severe judgment.

So that led me to ask the question, which I asked back at the conference, "Have you ever heard of a church that repented – ever - a church that repented?" Not individuals, but collectively a church that came together and repented. Have you ever been part of a church that repented, that looked at itself and recognized its collective and congregational transgressions, and openly, genuinely, with sadness and brokenness for its sins against its head, the Lord Jesus Christ, came together in a full act of repentance?

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Essays about America under judgment through the years that I've written reflect my concern-

The End Time:

2010: Has America's point of no return been reached?

God has a limit, you know. God is love but He is no doormat. He doesn't overlook sin, patting you on the head, saying, Aww, that's all right. He does not accept rebellion lightly. He will not accept war against Him under any circumstance.

2011: God gave them over...is America under judgment?

I think anyone with eyes can see that America is in a terrible moral decline, and not only is approving of it, accepting of homosexuality, but laughing at it with a reprobate mind. As MacArthur showed us in the verses from Romans, God gave us over. And we know what comes next: judgment.

2012: Is America Under Judgment?

One question Christians are asking frequently these days is whether America is under a judgment. We know we are at the end of the end of days. We know that God's wrath will pour down upon the rebellious world after the rapture (Rev 6:16). But with all that is going on, are we under a judgment of God now, before the rapture? The answer is yes.

2016: Is America Being Judged?

"America seems ripe for judgment"... The discerners of the church body have been saying 'judgment in America' for a while. I know I have since 2007-2008. In 2010 I'd written that America seemed to have passed the "point of no return. Before the Economic Crash of 2008, all had been going along like it had been in this country. America was strong and mighty and seemingly invincible. Warning that judgment was coming soon was met with strange looks and shaking of heads. No brimstone was falling, after all. Just because we don't see brimstone falling from the sky does not mean we as a nation are not experiencing judgment.

Now that we are cluing in that our section of the world, USA, is under judgment, what can we do? What should we do? First, please refer back to Pastor Andrukaitis' prayer. We pray for the things he wisely prayed himself. For reconciliation among the brethren in local churches. For joy instead of depression and hopelessness. For conforming of each saint to His Word and Spirit before all hell breaks out against the body of Christ.

Strength in churches begins with repentance, John MacArthur taught Revelation 2 and 3 shows us. And church repentance begins with individual repentance. We are strong when we are weak, confessing our sins to Jesus and asking forgiveness. We are strong when we are meek, humbly seeking Him for wisdom...patience...gentleness...self-control.

We should always be in the Bible, gaining wisdom and destroying fortresses by the power of His Word. The more that judgment grows out of the rot, the more the world needs the Light. A nation under judgment is an opportunity. 

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ... So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:1,16-18).

Do not lose heart: it is easy not to lose heart when your church is booming ... when everyone loves the pastor, when all ministries seem to be going well. It's hard not to lose heart when things are not going well. It's for when you have been maligned for speaking up about a false teacher. It's for when you have been slandered for urging someone to pursue holiness. It's for when your church is shrinking even though your pastor preaches faithfully and rightly. It's for when more people every week leave the pews for the glittering church down the road with the new playground and huge rock praise band. It's for when congregants fight and fuss and complain and rebel.

Friends, it is our duty to know what we believe and why. It is our duty to stay in the word so as to continually drink of the refreshing, Living Water which sustains us. It is our duty to pray continually in repentance of our sins to our Intercessor, and to petition for the burdens of others.

The Bible tells us to rejoice in all circumstances. (Philippians 4:4). I rejoice that America is under judgment, and I'll tell you why. I'm not happy about America collapsing, nor about the sin that permeates its bones and borders. But rejoicing is not happiness. These two words are not synonyms here.

I'm rejoicing because God is on His throne. I'm rejoicing because He promised to do such things ahead of time and when they come to pass, we can see His promises are true. I'm rejoicing because He still hates sin. He still is in control. He still is working in the world. His Word is true. All these things are worthy of rejoicing. Job knew that no matter the circumstances that our finite eyes can see and our finite brains can process,

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21 )

This nation that is being judged is transient. It rises, it falls. Before 1776 there was no USA. After a while there may not be a USA again. All nations are transient. All people are transient. All circumstances are transient. The Church is permanent, because Jesus is eternal. Hell is permanent, too, and the people within it. Job mourned his losses but He rejoiced in the Lord. Job died nearly 3000-4000 years ago, and do you know what? Do you think Job is mourning the loss of his nation? He is certainly rejoicing these past thousands of years in a better country with His King. America is a milkweed seed, here a while, blooming, then wafting away in the wind, gone. Meanwhile we look toward the permanence of New Jerusalem.

Therefore do not lose heart, and pray, witness, study, and live for Christ  while looking for our glorious permanent home.