A Word for Troubled Times--The US Economy Will Not Recover-The Only Hope for America is 2 Chronicles 7:14

Following is what I believe the God is revealing about America:

1. Do not be lulled into complacency by recent reports that the US economic recession is easing;
2. The current leveling-off of delining US and international markets will be short-lived;
3. Following a brief respite, the US economy will enter a more protracted period of precipitous and painful decline; we are being given a reprieve to get our financial houses in order.
4. Unemployment rates will climb sharply, well above the current rate of 9.4%;
5. The President's approval numbers will plummet as increasing numbers of Americans awaken to his radical and destructive agenda.
6. As unemployment lines lengthen and people lack basic necessities, civil unrest will ensue. Mounting credible evidence of Obama's foreign birth will add fuel to the fires of civil discontent. National Guard troops could be deployed to American cities to suppress unrest.
7. The President's America-flagellating diplomacy and wishy-washy stand on international crises, his languid response to the Iranian regime's brutality toward its citizens and North Korea's nuclear saber rattling, will embolden Islamic terrorists to strike at the heart of America during this period of ecomomically-induced malaise. We need to pray that God will protect us from nuclear or other types of weapons of mass destruction; I am concerned that such attacks will be colossal and dramatic.
8. The White House's diplomatic adultery with anti-Israel, Arab-Islamic interests in the Middle East at the expense of our friendship with the Jewish state will draw the ire of Israel's God and hasten America's demise.
9. In the aftermath of another major terrorist attack, disillusioned American citizens will not rally behind the President and national resolve will wither. It is at this point that America will be most vulnerable to the designs of any number of anti-American regimes.
10. The troubles that are unfolding in America are from the hand of God who is "giving America over" to the reprobation so many have have insisted upon. (Romans 1:28) God will not be mocked. We "have sown the wind" and we will "reap the whirlwind." (Hosea 8:7)

To those who put the unraveling of America decades into the future, think again. World events are accelerating rapidly.

The shipmaster shook the prophet Jonah from his slumber with the words, "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not!" (Jonah 1:6) So must the Body of Christ arise and shake off sleep for America's time is short. Do not believe those who say, "all shall be well" and "peace, peace; when there is no peace." Such are false prophets. The prophet Joel wrote:

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand ... the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness ... for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? (Joel 2:1,6,11,13-17)

There is Hope

During the 1970's America faced multiple major crises including the nation's first ever defeat in the Vietnam War, an OPEC oil embargo, critical shortages of oil and gasoline, skyrocketing fuel and food prices, endless lines at gasoline pumping stations, American diplomats held hostage in Iran, interest rates above 20%, high unemployment and inflation, the legalizing of abortion on demand, and to top things off, the spectre of nuclear annihilation at the hands of the Soviet Union during tense years of the Cold War era. But also during the 1970's, the "If My People" prayer movement began and spread across America as Christians of every persuasion came together in unity, prayer, intercession, and worship for a nation in trouble. The movement was based on the pattern for national healing outlined by God Himself in 1 Chronicles 7:14, If My People was a movement of prayer and intercession for the healing of America:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

"If My People" bore miraculous fruit during the 1980's. Ronald Reagan was elected President for two successive terms as one of the most popular presidents in American history, across party lines. America entered a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity. The Iranian hostages were released immediately after Reagan's inauguration. The Iron Curtain separating East and West Europe crumbled like the walls of Jehrico and the spectre of thermonuclear war evaporated. The Gospel was freely preached and bore fruit again in every Eastern bloc country where it had once been prohibited by law. In short, the "weeping" that endured through the long night of the 1970's gave way to "morning joy" during the 1980's.

American needs a fresh "If My People" movement for these troubling times; a Church fully engaged according to 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the only hope America has left. If the Church delays, we do so at our own and America's peril.

I welcome feedback and comment.

Feline Hit Man Headed for the Pound

A satirical response to countless stories on a case of cat abuse

Michael Vick killed dogs, but Tyler Weinman committed the unthinkable—cat abuse.[1] Investigators have been combing through Weinman’s Internet history and veterinary records of the deceased cats to find out if Weinman’s is just another case of a sadistic adolescent thrill seeking or honor killing by a dog lover over Vick’s canine abusing ways. Police also want to know if Weinman acted alone, but the cat’s got Weinman’s tongue.

The teenage kitty killer was released from jail today on $250,000 bond. Weinman will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and remain under house arrest while he awaits trial on 19 counts of catslaughter. The question that has cat lovers choking on hairballs is “Why, would he stoop to such barbarism when there are humane ways to terminate Tabby?” One bereaved cat owner meowed, “Poor defenseless Tigger,” and fainted. Feline fanatics and police are both worried that there could be copycats.

Cat Coroner Henry Harebawl darted around the crime scene earlier today to assess the carnage. “These cats are in full rigor. I’m finding paws and claws everywhere!” he said. “By the looks of these carcasses, these puddy tats were probably catnapped around midnight and drugged with catnip; toxicology reports will tell us for sure. The toms usually go on the prowl for kitties around midnight. They were probably slain shortly after that; the Cat Examiner’s autopsy reports will pinpoint the times of death.” Harebawl also mentioned that “Cat owners, desperate to save their furniture, are so afraid of furtive feline rescuers that they won't carry kitty into a vet clinic in broad daylight. They end up turning to back alley cat butchers to get rid of their unwanted felines.”

Callie Calico of Cats Against Cat Abuse (CACA) arrived on the scene early to make sure investigators didn't overlook evidence. "I lost my kitty to a cat abuser," the moribund minx said." Calico added, "After that traumatic experience, I founded CACA and have given my life to stopping this kind of abuse from happening to other cat lovers. We’re working for a cat abuse-free world."

Weinman will be arraigned on July 6 and could get up to 158 human years in prison. That’s about 843 in cat years for the purr sadist. The defense is hoping that prosecution will accept the lesser charge of involuntary catslaughter by reason of insanity in exchange for a no contest plea. Lead investigator Bloodhound Bill Bowser (a.k.a. “Snoopy”) dismissed rumors that Weinman could end up in the same prison cell as Michael Vick. “Not on your leash!" Bowser growled. "They’d end up fighting like cats and dogs."

If my satiric take on this story strikes the reader as insensitive or offensive, I've hit my mark. I refuse to raise an eyebrow over the wanton slaughter a few cats in a society that approves the wanton slaughter of 4,000 helpless unborn human beings who are butchered, poisoned, chemically burned, and dismembered in the sanctuary of their mothers' wombs each and every day. Our priorities and indignation are misplaced and perverse and our damnation is just.

I would only ask that readers be equally indignant over the wanton slaughter every year in America of 1.5 million unborn human beings who are of inestimable value to God who made them, certainly far more valuable than any number of cats. If your contempt for cat abuse exceeds your disdain for child killing, then there is something in you that is as twisted as the neurosis that motivated Tyler Weinman to torture cats.

© 2009 Spin Cipher Publishing.

[1] Actual story can be found on numerous online news websites doing a Google search on “South Florida Cat Killer.”

Islam Rising in the West A Prophetic Perspective

Early nineteenth-century Liberalism,[1]

"… stresses the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, constitutional limitations of government, free markets, and individual freedom from restraint as exemplified in the writings of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Montesquieu, Voltaire and others … The qualification classical was applied in retrospect to distinguish early nineteenth-century liberalism from the "new liberalism" associated with Thomas Hill Green, Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, which grants a more interventionist role for the state."[2]

Liberal and Liberalism as they are used today, retain very little of their original meanings. Today’s Liberalism equates to Statism[3] and today’s Liberal is, for all intents and purposes, a Statist. Before they can plunder a society, statists know they must first “bind the strong man” of truth because truth is the statist's greatest enemy. Statists achieve this objective by infecting a society’s time-honored traditional values with pathogenic philosophies such as Multiculturalism, Feminism, Homosexuality, Abortion, and other vile ‘isms.’ Statists act as parasites that carry the societal plague called Statism. The first stage of Statism involves co-opting the host culture’s language, particularly as it relates to traditional values—a free society's first line of defense against tyranny. To illustrate, American Statists have hijacked Classical Liberalism’s ‘individual liberty' by shackling to it an “anything goes” meaning that amounts to moral turpitude.[4] Thus, Statists have turned America's time-honored value of individual liberty against our society in much the same way that an autoimmune disease turns the body's own immune response against itself.

The Apostle Peter spoke of the days we now live in: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2 Peter 2:19) The Psalmist wrote, “But unto the wicked God saith, ‘What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.’” (Psalm 50:16-17) Why is this important?

The West has tossed out God’s Law and a terrifying irony is unfolding as a result—a tyrannical ideology is rushing in to fill the spiritual and moral vacuum in Europe, Canada, and the United States. What is this terrifying irony and what is its prophetic significance?

Muslim populations and thus, Political Islam, are metastasizing indomitably across Europe, Canada and the United States. Muslim birth rates in the west are far outpacing native population birth rates. If these demographic trends continue, the only thing that stands between Eurabia, Canadistan, and Amerabia is time, and not much of it.

The terrifying irony is this: As Political Islam (a redundancy) ascends to prominence, the Law of the one and only God who is love, will gradually be replaced by an intolerant, oppressive, imposed Islamic morality that is at war with everything modern Liberals hold dear. The neo-Liberal values the West has stubbornly refused to let go of will be ripped from its hands to be replaced with Sharia.[5] Voluntary adherence will be replaced by forced subjugation to Islamic law which rejects Multiculturalism, Feminism, Homosexuality, and Abortion and imposes austere penalties for law-breakers, capital punishment among them. Then the West which opted for absolute “freedom” over the perfect “Law of Liberty” (James 2:12) will be given absolute tyranny. As the scenario above plays out, the West will find itself in the horrible predicament described in the first chapter of Proverbs for those who reject God’s wisdom and counsel:

"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." (Proverbs 1:24-31)

© 2009 Seeds for Good Soil. For reprint permission, send email to: spincipher@comcast.net.

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[1] Liberalism: Also known as Classical, Traditional, Laissez-Faire, and Market Liberalism. (Source: Wikipedia).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Statism: 1. “the political expression of altruism [which] is collectivism … [statism] holds that man’s life and work belong to the state—to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation—and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.” 2. “A statist system—whether of a communist, fascist, Nazi, socialist or “welfare” type—is based on the … government’s unlimited power, which means: on the rule of brute force. The differences among statist systems are only a matter of time and degree; the principle is the same.” (The Ayn Rand Lexicon)
[4] Moral Turpitude: Vile, shameful, or base character; depravity. A vile or depraved act. (Source: Wikipedia)
[5] Source: Wikipedia entry Demographics of Islam.