WERE THE TERRORISTS A JUDGMENT FROM GOD ON OUR NATION?

WERE THE TERRORISTS A JUDGMENT FROM GOD ON OUR NATION? James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and HE SHALL LIFT YOU UP. To be saved in eternity we must not trust in anything we do. The blessing is free through faith in Christ’s shed Blood. But although national, temporary blessings are often given through God’s grace and mercy, they nevertheless are not guaranteed to us. A nation that needs something from God should be a nation that cleans itself up (relatively speaking) and mourns for its sins: Malachi 1:6 ….if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts… 8 ….offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. If we need God to protect us from our enemies, should we not honor Him with fear, trembling, repentance and obedience? In this sense, it doesn’t matter whether or not the events of September 11 were a judgment from God or not. The proper response should be to wake up and draw nigh to God. I never dealt with this question in last week’s Kingdom Alert. It might be assumed that I feel that the events on September 11 were a direct judgment from God upon us for our national sins. I did state that Americans should respond to this tragedy by repentance; I also mentioned that Billy Graham was wrong for not naming any sins that America should repent of. Yet, I never stated that the tragedy of September 11 was a judgment from God. Last week I mainly dealt with the prophetic significance of the events on September 11 (i.e. mainly stage-setting for Tribulation fulfillment of prophecy). This week I would like to deal with the relationship of these events to God’s Divine Judgment upon our nation. Before we get into this issue, we must first be clear that God DOES (even today) hold cities and nations (made up of unbelievers and believers) accountable as He wills: Daniel 2:21 ….he removeth kings, and setteth up kings… Daniel 4:17 ….that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will… Although God revealed Himself in a special manner to the Jews, He still held Gentile nations accountable for their sins. God held Sodom and Gomorrah accountable: Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. Genesis 18:26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; What was the sin of these cities which caused God to become so angry at them and destroy them? One was HOMOSEXUALITY (i.e. “sodomy”): Genesis 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. They also had NO SHAME for their sins: Isaiah 3:9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and THEY DECLARE THEIR SIN AS SODOM, they hide it not… Other sins are listed in Ezekiel: Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, PRIDE, FULNESS OF BREAD, and ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. And any city or nation that commits the same sins as Sodom is in great danger of being destroyed as the Lord sees fit. If a city or nation filled with sinners has not already been destroyed, it just may be that there are enough righteous people there to stay God’s hand. Sometimes God is simply waiting for the iniquity to become full (Gen.15:16, Dan.8:23). Years after Israel became a Theocracy, God was still holding Gentile nations accountable. God sent His prophet Jonah to cry against Nineveh (the capital city of Assyria) for its sins: Jonah 1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. When the leaders of Nineveh led the city to repentance, God was merciful and chose not to overthrow the city: Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. The Old Testament also reveals God holding the Canaanites (Ex.23:23), Egypt (Ex.7:3, Ezek. 29:4, 30:21), Babylon (Dan.5:27), and many other cities, nations, and kingdoms accountable. Did this all change in the New Testament age? Did God fall asleep? No! The New Testament also reveals that God still holds whole cities accountable (Mt.11:21). God also holds governors accountable. He smote king Herod for receiving worship (Acts 12:22, 23). Yet this is still the age of God’s patience. Soon the Tribulation age of Judgment will begin when the whole earth will be held accountable before God (Rev.3:10). Therefore, we must now ask, Will God ignore the sins of America? Does He have to wait until the Tribulation Period (which is probably very close) to judge any city in the U.S.? Of course not! Should we fear judgment from God upon our cities and country? Indeed, we should! Many of our cities have no doubt surpassed Sodom in perversion, gluttony, haughtiness, murder, rape, drunkenness, drug addiction, pornography, infanticide, idleness, idolatry, etc. It would be presumptuous to say that we know that every person who died in this tragedy was a greater sinner than anyone else in the country or world. Jesus taught us how to respond to such tragedies, and that is the way I have responded in last week’s newsletter: Luke 13:1 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, NAY: BUT, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. 4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, NAY: BUT, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. What do we learn from these Scriptures? We learn that we cannot make the mistake of Job’s friends and assume that we KNOW a particular calamity or affliction is a judgment upon people because they are GREATER sinners than others: John 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. However, we also learn something else from Luke 13. We learn that the proper response to great calamity is HOLY FEAR and REPENTANCE! As Christians, after great calamity, we are to do more than preach the Gospel and offer comfort and hope. We are to trust and fear God and repent personally; then we are to call Christians, neighbors, our cities, and our nation to fear God and repent of their sins. Jesus is warning the people in Luke 13 that they may “likewise” experience similar major catastrophes that may certainly be Divine Judgments upon them. Jerusalem experienced just such a judgment a few decades after Jesus spoke these words in Luke 13. It is correct that we need God in this time of trial. But if we need God’s protection and blessing upon us, don’t we have the responsibility to seek it in humble repentance?: Isaiah 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; If the king of Nineveh had enough light to humble himself, repent, and call for national fasting and repentance (Jon.3:6-8), what excuse do the political leaders of America have? And why do many preachers who are in the national spotlight fail to NAME the sins the nation should repent of? Yes, we need to seek God during this time. But we must obey God. The Father commanded us to HEAR HIS SON (Mt.17:5). His Son commanded us to believe the Gospel (Mr.1:15, Jn.6:29). And we must preach against sin (Pr.28:4, Mt.28:20, Acts 17:29, 30). As Americans are reminded that they are not invincible and that another day of life is not guaranteed to any of us, let us use this opportunity to call people to repent of their unbelief in Jesus Christ and His Gospel, to repent of sodomy (or of condoning it), of abortion (or of condoning it), of filthy, blasphemous entertainment, and of simply living lives without a daily consideration, acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and petition to the King of kings. (KA #130)