God, The Rewarder
One meme I heard a long time ago, likely from a song or poem, is: “God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world”. This is at best, a ‘half-truth’. Yes, God is in His heaven (plus everywhere else in the universe), but all is definitely NOT right with the world.
Likely a majority of non-Christians doubt the existence of God, but how many Christians actually believe that God exists? How many believe He is ‘in control’? And if they do, exactly what would they mean by God being ‘in control’? Would that mean they believe He is ‘making everything happen’ that we see occurring in this troubled world? That would be an easy ‘out’, a way for lazy Christians to ‘blame God’ for all the troubles and misery we see, but who fail to study the word for themselves and learn about Who and What God truly is.
One of the basic tenets of Biblical faith, without which one cannot please God, is believing that God IS and is a REWARDER of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). That reward language sounds pretty good, right?
It seems that, possibly as a result of the ‘prosperity gospel’ that has become so popular in the past 30-40 years, many Christians can easily accept and believe that God is ‘the rewarder’, a sort of supernatural ATM machine, whereby one can simply put their ‘glory card’ in, punch in some number and wait for God to dole out the ‘cash blessings’.
Many who follow the prosperity teaching/teachers seem to consider the amount of money one accumulates in life to be an indicator of true prosperity. However, the Apostle John, in his third letter, written to a believer named Gaius, said: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John:1 KJV). But one must ask oneself, just what IS ‘soul prosperity’? Since the soul is composed of the mind, the will and the emotions, money is not likely a large factor in the prosperity of the soul. In fact, John seems to be saying that true prosperity is linked to the prosperity of the soul rather than the amount of money one has. (Watch for a future article, “What IS Soul Prosperity?”).
Please do not misunderstand me. Even though I truly believe that God is the ‘rewarder’, there are certain conditions that must be met in order to receive anything from God, and one of them is having, and properly using, faith. You cannot please Him without it and you will never know Who He is until you have developed your faith to a certain level. How do you do that? By reading, and reading, and reading God’s word until it becomes a living part of your being. Paul told us: “So then faith cometh by hearing ang hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 KJV). Read the passage from Hebrews 11:6 again and notice the part where it mentions “diligently seeking Him”. One must seek God and NOT the reward. Trying to use Christian, godly faith as a supernatural ATM card does NOT qualify as proper use of faith.
I thoroughly believe that, without God, one will not only be in an eternal unsaved state, but will also NOT prosper in this world. But Satan claimed to have the authority to give the empires of this world to whom he chooses, meaning his followers, the unsaved (See Luke 4:5-7 KJV). Is that not some form of prosperity? Since Jesus did not refute that claim, does that sound like a contradiction? I often quote the famous objectivist author, Ayn Rand, who penned the popular novel, “Atlas Shrugged”. In it she states: “Contradictions do not exist; Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong”. If one of your premises is that the amount of money one has (empires of this world) equates to true prosperity, then you will NOT see a contradiction in the statements above. However, if you sense a contradiction there, you should definitely examine your premises very carefully.
God, The judge
From Actions to Evidence to Warning to Judgment
Another tenet of Biblical faith that is seldom discussed in religious circles is that God is also the JUDGE of all the nations of the world. He is obviously keeping excellent and very detailed records of all deeds done by both individuals and nations.
In a ‘rule of law’ country, a human judge receives evidence from prosecutors, who receive the same from police; this evidence can then be used to determine whether a person should be charged with a crime, or released. If charged, it will then be used to determine the guilt or innocence of those accused of wrongdoing. Sometimes that determination is made by a lone judge, sometimes by a jury of one’s peers. In either case, in the human system, justice is NOT always served and innocent people are sometimes imprisoned and/or guilty people go free. But God is NOT a human judge and thus is NOT prone to punishing an innocent person, nor will He allow a guilty party to go free.
While ‘human judgment’ is witnessed every day in almost every nation, the world has not yet seen true ‘worldwide judgment’ from God, based on the evidence He has of the actions of people on this earth. However, that does not mean that He has not been collecting and storing that evidence 24/7/365.
All sin is abhorrent in God’s eyes and He will tolerate certain levels of sin for only so long. When His ‘red line’ is crossed, judgment will follow. We have witnessed many acts of judgment of certain nations for their actions that seemed to be horrific but none of them qualified as widespread or worldwide judgment. One example is the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, followed by their utter destruction.
We know there will be a “Day of Judgment” when all deeds done by all men are examined and the eternal destiny of all people is determined. But there are also times when God forcefully intervenes in the world and brings sudden judgment for offenses He deems worthy of such. Case in point: God judged the nation of Egypt when they refused to release the Jewish people from slavery (Acts 7:6-8 KJV), and it did NOT end well for Egypt.
But are there events of God’s judgment that we know of in this current time? I believe so. There is much evidence of deadly storms and other ‘seemingly natural’ weather events that have left many dead and entire cities devastated in their wake. Now, those who believe God is in control might also be some of the ones who do not believe that God was responsible for any of those events. But the evidence of them, especially in correlation with actions taken by the US government that negatively affected Israel on so many occasions, many times within hours of the government’s actions, would indicate that, yes, God does act in judgment when His red lines are crossed. And His red lines regarding the treatment of Israel are set and unchangeable. He informed the world of His policy for treatment of the ‘apple of His eye’, the Jewish People.
The Jews, The Gentiles and The Church
The Jewish People
There are three groups of people(s) on this earth that God has historically dealt with. He has placed many clues throughout His word as to how His dealings with them will go. The first group is the Jewish people. Having been chosen as His earthly people who sprang from Abraham and from whom the oracles of God were received, He has called the Jewish people, “The Apple of My Eye”. I am sure that many people have no idea what that term really means, but it has nothing to do with real apples. In ancient times, the center of the human eye was called ‘the apple’ because of its round shape. It is also the most sensitive part of the eye. To touch that ‘apple’ was very irritating and possibly dangerous to one’s eyesight.
God, in calling the Jewish people ‘the apple of His eye’, is stating that, to touch that ‘apple’ will cause Him serious aggravation and will evoke a possibly serious response from Him.
God has provided His policy, His expectation, of the treatment of the Jewish people, the Apple of His Eye, by all the inhabitants of the world, including Christians. That policy is stated in Genesis 12:1-3 KJV, and can be directly linked to the judgment that will occur when that policy is contradicted by either Gentiles or Christians.
The Gentiles
These are the people of the earth who are neither Jews nor Christians and who are considered ‘infidels’, unbelievers having or exercising no faith in God. Not only are they the ‘faithless’, they have been responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews and Christians, and have persecuted God’s people for millennia. There will be Gentiles on earth up to the Millennial reign of Jesus. These people are completely separate from Jews and the Church and were spoken of by the Apostle Paul, ”That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12 KJV). They will face serious judgment from God when His time is right.
The Church of God
The Church is the “Body of Christ”, those people who have accepted the redemption from sin and its penalties, offered to all people through the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. All Christians are to respect and favor the Jewish people for several reasons. First is that through them we were given the Oracles of God (Romans 3:1-3 KJV). Through the obedience of the Jewish disciples of Christ, those oracles were passed on to the Gentiles for their redemption and edification. Anyone that God claims as His ‘special’ people’ are to be honored as such. The fact that our saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, was and still is a Jew, makes our salvation the result of the work of one man, and Him a Jew.
I doubt there are few true believers who cannot quote Genesis 12:1-3, but how many are aware of the seriousness of God’s words in those three verses? The King James version says there is a ‘blessing for blessing’ and ‘curse for curse’ involved based on how a person, or a nation, treats the Jews, but it goes much deeper than that. Some have called it a like for like blessing and curse, but the truer meaning of the words speaks differently. The KJV says: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse (Strong’s 779) him that curseth (Strong’s 7043) thee:”, but a better and more accurate translation (my translation) of verse three would be: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that disrespects or makes light of thee, I will utterly despise and destroy.” It boils down to a person making light of, or disrespecting, Abraham is in effect, disrespecting and making light of God Himself. This is the same as mocking God and we are told in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Remember, every word you speak is a ‘spiritual container’ of what is in the heart.
God does NOT mince words and when He is speaking to Abraham in this passage, He wants us all to know His true feelings on the matter.
So, what does all this have to do with the appearance of judgment? Hang on, I am going somewhere with this.
What Does God’s Judgment Look Like?
The American Condition
One of the recent presidents of our nation publicly stated that the United States is NOT a Christian nation, and as much as I dislike that person, he was right to a certain extent. The people of this nation were once God-fearing, God-worshipping people with high moral standards. This was certainly the case in years past when we were considered a “Christian Nation” by nearly every other country in the world, but that has all changed now, and NOT for the better. Our country is failing in nearly every category that can be measured.
Former US President Obama endorsed gay “marriage” in 2012; the Supreme Court redefined marriage in 2015. Recent polls taken in the US indicate that a large number of young Americans who claim to be Christians express support for much of the LGBTQ agenda and are turning their backs on Christianity because they disagree with any teaching from the Bible against homosexuality. This is an indication that they no longer believe God’s word (Romans 1:27-32 KJV), but instead believe that God’s word is irrelevant in determining the behavior of people.
This wrong belief places such people in the same position as those in Noah’s time when men did what they thought was right, not what God had commanded them to do and they had nearly corrupted the whole of mankind; as a result of their disobedience to God, their judgment was death by the flood of Noah.
The wisdom found in the Proverbs provides many clues as to why a nation fails. Consider Proverbs 6:6-19 KJV: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”
If you cannot see a detailed description of the declining moral status of the United States in these words, you are not looking closely enough. The United States is currently in the worst moral condition since we became a nation more than 230 years ago. The psalmist said: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own” (Psalm 33:12 KJV).
If it is a ‘truth of God’ that the nation whose God is the Lord is blessed, then the opposite is also true: Cursed is the nation that rejects and forsakes God. This nation is standing on the brink of catastrophe, calamity and chaos. It matters not where these will come from, only that they are coming as certainly as night follows day.
The ’If – Then’ Condition
In computer programming, there is an “if – then” condition in which, an “if” statement, requiring some specific condition, must be met before another desired result (other action) can successfully occur. Remember that programming is based on ‘logic’, and trying to get any program to function as desired without using that logic will always result in failure.
If a national acceptance of God brings blessing on a nation, then a national rejection of God will bring cursing, or judgment on that nation. This is truth and logic at work and it cannot be read any other way. The only way the cursing from God can be avoided is through national repentance, and only then if God’s red lines regarding Israel have not been crossed.
Cancellation of Blessings
The Disrespect of Abraham
The US government could easily be accused of ‘disrespecting the offspring of Abraham’ many times during seven of the past eight presidential administrations. There are many instances of America inching up to, if not actually crossing’, God’s redlines:
- America ‘forcing’ Israel to cede its land to foreigners (many instances in the past 30 plus years)
- America ‘forcing’ Israel to abandon building on Israeli land while allowing foreigners to do so (ongoing issue)
- America paying the Palestinians, the known enemies of Israel, to terrorize and murder the Jewish people (US aid to the Palestinian Authority)
- America, after relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem now trying to reestablish the former US Consulate in Jerusalem that was nothing more than a front for Palestinian sympathies by the US government
The Approach of Judgment
We are seeing events, not just in the US, but around the world, that indicate we are getting closer daily to the judgment of God on this world. Many nations, indeed most of those in the United Nations, have aligned themselves against Israel and thus against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The once covert, but now open, actions of those nations to belittle and condemn Israel for her actions in defense of her people are showing a hostility that mirrors to some extent, the tirades of Iran in seeking the destruction of Israel and the US. Their leaders are setting themselves and their countrymen into a battle alignment against Israel and God. If their actions continue they will soon face God’s anger and judgment as He defends Israel against all her enemies. What form that judgment will take is unclear at this point.
But, the entire world is beginning to see signs of a coming famine, food shortages caused by both natural and human sources that could easily kill millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of people.
But what about the actions of the US leaders and her people? How close could that judgment be for us? And what form could it take? God is not limited in His use of either natural or supernatural forces to execute His judgment.
As stated earlier, God hates ALL sin, whether it be personal or national, and He will judge ALL sin when His time is right. We are seeing a massive increase in both personal and national sin. We are on the verge of witnessing a true state of ‘lawlessness’ in the US that will cause both personal and national devastation and chaos.
In the US we are already seeing signs of impending trouble that could be catastrophic. Based on the US interfering in the decisions of a sovereign nation, Israel, causing them to be more open to hostility and attack from her neighbors who swear to destroy them, and want to take over the Promised Land for themselves, could that same fate befall us? Consider these issues:
- China buying American “Bread basket” farmland
- China buying American meat packing and food processing companies
- China buying American news outlet
- China ‘owning’ American politicians through intimidation and bribery
It has been widely and long accepted by the American people that China is NOT our friend. She is currently building up her considerable military arsenal with the goal being to defeat America in a military confrontation, should that event occur.
In addition to the dangers of confrontation between the US and her enemies, we are witnessing a rise in sins against God and His principles. He clearly spelled out those principles in thousands of verses in the Bible, and there was a time when nearly every mother and father raised their children based on them. Parents actually read the Bible to and with, their kids and introduced a foundation of truth and wisdom for them to live by and prosper.
Now, the Bible is nearly forgotten as parents prefer to leave the raising of their most precious assets, their children, to others; these ‘others’ have no inherent affection for their kids and are instilling in them satanic principles rather than godly wisdom. In Hosea chapter eight, the prophet was talking to the Jewish people about their idolatry, worshipping idols made by hand. He called their actions, “Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind”. Those parents who pass off the responsibility of raising their children by godly principles are a perfect example of sowing the wind. I suggest you read the entire sixth chapter of Hosea to understand the result of such foolishness. It produces children who resemble those described by Paul in Romans 1:29-31 KJV and the whirlwind WILL come.
On the national level we see our government ordering its embassies around the world to promote the ungodliness of that agenda by flying the LGBTQ flag at the embassies:
U.S. State Department: Offending the World All Pride Month Long
God, who inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the words of our national anthem, must be appalled at such lunacy.
So, What DOES God’s Judgment Look Like?
As stated earlier, God, who OWNS the earth and everything in it (1 Corinthians 10:26 KJV), is not limited in His methods of bringing judgment. While many may think of judgment as a terrorist attack, a nuclear attack or a bioweapons attack, in fact it can take a form that most would assume to be a ‘completely natural phenomenon’.
Consider the current issue with a shortage of oil, thus producing a shortage of every kind of petroleum-based fuel such as natural gas (LPG), gasoline and diesel, not to mention a shortage of fertilizer. Even though these issues may seem to be the result of stupid political decisions, and for the most part, they are, they could as easily be God’s way of pronouncing judgment. After all, without these resources, farmers cannot plant food that will yield enough to feed the people; starvation results and when that occurs, people will go to any length to get food for their families, up to and including attacking anyone who has food. This type of action will lead to a state of anarchy and chaos.
If you will allow me, the political actions taken by the US toward Israel has allowed her hostile neighbors to attack the Jewish people and steal their land and goods, so, based on the Genesis 12:1-3 policy that God enacted toward the world in their interactions with Israel, what would be so strange about God allowing/causing the same fate to fall on those who caused Israel to be harmed? Neither the United States of America, nor any other nation, is exempt from God’s commands or His judgment
The Warnings
Every day, I read more warnings from financial analysts/experts who say a market crash, likely on a worldwide scale, is imminent. Such a crash would bring almost instant suffering to the American people. Those who issue such warnings have been extremely accurate with their predictions in the past. If they are correct, financial collapse could easily be a means of judgment from God.
I have no way of knowing how God will bring His judgment on the world, other than the words in Revelation that speak of the judgments that will occur after the rapture of the Church occurs, but I am more concerned about the judgment that is likely to hit BEFORE the rapture. No matter what form it takes, it will not be pretty especially for those who choose evil over good or Satan over God.
Conclusion
We must be constantly prepared for anything that may occur in these perilous days. Even though judgment is never a pretty sight and one that will make many fail to survive through them, we know that God has not appointed us to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9 KJV), we must also consider the words found in 1 Peter: ” For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”. Paul also told us: “ For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” 1 Corinthians 11:31 KJV). We are encouraged to always judge ourselves, our actions and our words by comparing them with Gods qword. If we do this faithfully, regardless of the form God’s judgment takes, we will only be bystanders and onlookers when the judgment falls on the ungodly. If we diligently seek to remain in that safe shelter where God IS, we are promised the judgment will not affect us: “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked” (Psalm 91:8 KJV).
Read the entire 91st psalm and cling to the words there and do NOT fear the judgment when it appears. Though a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, we will still be standing and looking for the rewarder and the reward!
Maranatha!
Blessings!
budaroo@twc.com
