New Years Day 2003: A Year of Harvest and Judgment

Partners 232: January 5, 2003

New Years Day 2003: A Year of Harvest and Judgment

“Jesus, Son of God, Savior of the world, have mercy on us”

This is the prayer I found myself praying on Christmas morning as I walked toward the lake near our home. A few years ago, as I was riding in my car, I began to feel God’s sadness for America. God has blessed America enormously, but His heart was sad for America now. As Is. 28:21 -22 says, “For God will rise up as in Mount Perazim… that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, God of hosts, upon the whole earth.” C.S. Lewis called God’s “strange work” on His people a “severe mercy.”

He has to judge America, although He is loathe to do it. God loves America deeply, just as He loved His own nation, Israel, in the Bible. Yet, He judged them severely. That’s His pattern: “For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives” so that we can later “share in His holiness….the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”(Heb 12:5-11). God judges to cleanse and restore for greater blessings. God still has great plans for America.

We now live, I believe, in a time of the ascendancy of evil. The “rise of Mordor” is all around us, to use an allusion from Lord of the Rings. Just as “The Lord raised up adversaries to Solomon…”(1Kg. 11:14) when he went astray from God, so is God raising up adversaries to America because of our sins. When the Jewish king made a foolish decision that led to civil war in Israel, “it was a turn of events from the Lord…” (1Kg 12:15). God sometimes uses evil people for His purposes. At other times, God allows people to become more depraved to prepare them for judgment.

When men desire to do evil strongly enough, God sometimes gives them over to evil. Such people become “futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened…God gave them over…to impurity…to a depraved mind” (Rom. 1:21-28). 20 Moslems terrorized us on one day in September 2001, but hundreds of our Christian clergy have been sexually terrorizing children day after day for decades—often with the evil collusion of their superiors. Darkened minds are a form of God’s judgment, also.

What does this mean for 2003?

The Possibility of War with Iraq

This war is a trap. It will be devastating to us and them. This war will possibly come to our shores. If we attack Iraq first, they would be justified in using weapons of mass destruction in our county in defense. This war would split the Islamic coalition against terrorism and cost our nation billions we need to spend on other things. This war may be set by God to humble discipline America more. It can be averted if America prays. Why doesn't the Church call for a national day of Prayer and Fasting on this issue? Why doesn’t the Church pray every Sunday for a peaceful resolution and the salvation of President Hussain?

The Decline of America

You will never get America’s attention until you touch it’s wallet, someone has said. God is touching our wealth. America may have lost 6 trillion dollars in stock value since 9/11, our state governments are out of money for many basic needs. Some states are releasing prisoners early because they can’t afford to keep them in jail at @15,000/yr per person. Medicaid is in trouble in many states. Large businesses are going under due to dishonest leaders. God is incrementally withdrawing His blessings and protection on America in order to get America to turn back to Him and to awaken a sleeping Church to it rightful place as the restorer of the nation. All this is in preparation for a global awakening to come and for the most massive harvest of souls ever seen on earth.

Harvest and Judgment

In this morning’s prayer meeting at CBN, Pat Robertson reported what the Lord told him as he sought God for guidance about the coming year. Pat mentioned the harvest God is already releasing worldwide. CBN had 38 million decisions for Jesus in 2002 alone! 240 million people around the world saw its broadcasts of the Gospel in 201 countries. They put in 1100 wells for water in other nations where water is scarce. They treated 203,000 people through their medical clinics in other nations. They were broadcasting the Gospel even in the Ivory Coast during the war their. This past Christmas, one of Mexico’s largest TV networks showed the CBN Gospel video Superbook every day on TV over the Christmas season. Doors will soon open in China and Thailand, the Lord told Pat. The harvest is upon us overseas!

Pat also specifically confirmed the two things mentioned above: that the war in Iraq would be a disaster and that God is slowly judging America—first financially and then militarily in order to restore America to Him. He said that it was the righteous remnant in America that was holding back the greater judgment in America. He also said that that righteous remnant would be protected in the judgments to come. The angel of death would pass over us who are covered by the Blood of the Lamb—just as in the first Passover in Egypt (Ex. 12).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, please judge these words for yourself. Ask God for insight about what He is doing and how you should respond. Clearly, the year to come will not be business as usual. It is a somber yet joyful year: a year of judgment and of harvest.

Many will suffer because of the adversity that is coming from many quarters. Many will turn to God for the same reasons.

• A year when the needs of the needs of others here and around the world will increase.
• Old ways of doing Church will soon not be adequate for dealing with the needs of our people, of our community and of our world. For about 10 years God tried to get His Body to come together willingly out of love for Him. Now we will see that “circling the wagons” and cooperating with other pastors and ministries will be more and more necessary as the discipline of God continues to increase on America. Just as in the Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers, victory over advancing evil will only come to those who band together to resist evil as never before.
• Please be reconciled with one another. Please seek to pray and work together will all Christians and God-fearing people in your city.
• Please pray that you may be ready for the harvest and for the judgments to come upon our land. Seek Him earnestly each day in prayer and worship, be quick to obey, humble yourself in every area of life and love and love your neighbor and the brethren zealously. Then God will protect and guide you through the judgments to come.
• Remember the words of the prophet Habbakuk to God’s people as God was about to judge them:

“LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day,

in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (3:2 NIV emphasis mine)

and the words of God in James: “mercy triumphs over judgment” (Jas 2:13).