Is God Lost to Us?

[Jen]

As America suffers many fires in the West and multiple hurricanes in the East we might start wondering why God is allowing this to happen to our country. Would God turn his back on us?

September 6, 2017, Anne Graham Lotz


Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found. Psalm 32:6

The Psalmist implies that there comes a time when God may not be found. A time when God may hide Himself. It is a time that I believe may have begun in America.

Our nation is in a mess. Why? Could it be because America is losing God’s blessing? And His favor? Could our sin be provoking His judgment? Judgment that is not necessarily in the form of a nuclear dirty bomb, or in another ISIS attack, or in an economic collapse. But in a Romans 1 judgment that is described as “the wrath of God being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness”…and God is backing out of our national life and turning us over to ourselves.

In the Old Testament, God moved in judgment on His own beloved nation of Judah. Interestingly, His judgment of Judah was a 22-year process. God moved very slowly, giving plenty of opportunity for Judah to repent of her sin, to turn to Him, and therefore to escape the inevitable judgment. But with all of God’s warnings, Judah became even more defiant. More disobedient. Even more wicked. She insisted on her right to immorality and idolatry. In the end, God became her enemy. He sent in the Babylonian army to destroy Jerusalem, the temple, and all the people. 2 Chronicles 36:15-19 vividly describes how all those who were not taken captive were slaughtered in the streets.
God always warns a nation that judgment is coming. He does not want any to perish. But if a nation does not heed His warnings, then He will unleash His anger and there is nothing—no one—who can prevent it. If God would judge His own beloved nation of Judah, why would we think America could escape?

 

[Days]

As America suffers many fires in the West and multiple hurricanes in the East we might start wondering why God is allowing this to happen to our country. Would God turn his back on us?

September 6, 2017, Anne Graham Lotz


Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found. Psalm 32:6

The Psalmist implies that there comes a time when God may not be found. A time when God may hide Himself. It is a time that I believe may have begun in America.

Our nation is in a mess. Why? Could it be because America is losing God’s blessing? And His favor? Could our sin be provoking His judgment? Judgment that is not necessarily in the form of a nuclear dirty bomb, or in another ISIS attack, or in an economic collapse. But in a Romans 1 judgment that is described as “the wrath of God being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness”…and God is backing out of our national life and turning us over to ourselves.

In the Old Testament, God moved in judgment on His own beloved nation of Judah. Interestingly, His judgment of Judah was a 22-year process. God moved very slowly, giving plenty of opportunity for Judah to repent of her sin, to turn to Him, and therefore to escape the inevitable judgment. But with all of God’s warnings, Judah became even more defiant. More disobedient. Even more wicked. She insisted on her right to immorality and idolatry. In the end, God became her enemy. He sent in the Babylonian army to destroy Jerusalem, the temple, and all the people. 2 Chronicles 36:15-19 vividly describes how all those who were not taken captive were slaughtered in the streets.
God always warns a nation that judgment is coming. He does not want any to perish. But if a nation does not heed His warnings, then He will unleash His anger and there is nothing—no one—who can prevent it. If God would judge His own beloved nation of Judah, why would we think America could escape?

answer to that final question:

CUZZZZZZ, God had a covenant with Judah, not with America. It makes a big difference. America might escape God's wrath for the simple reason that America was never special to God in the first place.

 

[Jen]

answer to that final question:

CUZZZZZZ, God had a covenant with Judah, not with America. It makes a big difference. America might escape God's wrath for the simple reason that America was never special to God in the first place.

Could be.
Or not.
But that's a pretty hopeless answer because if that's the case.......America's going down in a very ugly way.

 

[Jen]

answer to that final question:

CUZZZZZZ, God had a covenant with Judah, not with America. It makes a big difference. America might escape God's wrath for the simple reason that America was never special to God in the first place.

Some people believe that America, raised and based upon Christian principles IS (or at least was) important to God.

There are many Apocalypse Now theories going around. And with all that's happening in this country right now it might seem that God has turned His back on us (just as some believe He turned His back on Haiti when it gave over into the Voodoo culture).

Side note: Apocalypse doesn't necessarily mean that Earth blows up and is no more. It most likely means the end to life as we know it. Our mostly digitized records will be gone never to be recovered because the means of recovery will be lost and forgotten. Our nations that see themselves as great will be gone. We are on the verge of self-annihilation and nature is helping us.

But the planet we are on will survive to see other nations rise.

Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792 - 1822
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

 

[Days]

Some people believe that America, raised and based upon Christian principles IS (or at least was) important to God.

There are many Apocalypse Now theories going around. And with all that's happening in this country right now it might seem that God has turned His back on us (just as some believe He turned His back on Haiti when it gave over into the Voodoo culture).

Side note: Apocalypse doesn't necessarily mean that Earth blows up and is no more. It most likely means the end to life as we know it. Our mostly digitized records will be gone never to be recovered because the means of recovery will be lost and forgotten. Our nations that see themselves as great will be gone. We are on the verge of self-annihilation and nature is helping us.

But the planet we are on will survive to see other nations rise.

Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792 - 1822
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Goofy old testament thinking.

The covenant of grace is with individuals, not nations.

God doesn't bless or damn America, God is not working with nations, he is working with individuals.

This is why I told GiGi that the Roman system of worship could not be saved... only individuals can be saved, not governments.

 

[Jen]

Goofy old testament thinking.

The covenant of grace is with individuals, not nations.

God doesn't bless or damn America, God is not working with nations, he is working with individuals.

This is why I told GiGi that the Roman system of worship could not be saved... only individuals can be saved, not governments.

Okay then.
I hope God talks to me about this.
You may have a point.......I'll concede that.

 

[EatTheRich]

The U.S. is "not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion," said the Founding Fathers. It is the present-day equivalent of the Biblical Babylon. God is imaginary.

 

[Days]

The U.S. is "not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion," said the Founding Fathers. It is the present-day equivalent of the Biblical Babylon. God is imaginary.

I think it is a lot closer to a modern day Rome.

The Romans followed the same common faith that was in Babylon, but they later inserted Jesus into their system. Babylon was over run by the Medes, 4 centuries prior to Jesus, so that was purely old testament times.

In the old testament, God made a covenant with the household of Abraham; and that household became a nation. So, in those times, yes, God had a relationship with the entire nation. (talk about your really bad marriages) But once Jesus came along, God broke it off with the nation of Israel and for the past 2000 years, he only makes covenants with individuals. Soooooo, when the Roman system incorporated Jesus into their system of worship, God didn't go along with that program, for the simple reason, God isn't doing the Jesus covenant with governments or their programs.

The men who founded the US government, were roundly aware of this. They attempted to build a government that wouldn't interfere with individual worship. They certainly did not set up state run worship; America is not a modern Babylon.

 

[EatTheRich]

I think it is a lot closer to a modern day Rome.

The Romans followed the same common faith that was in Babylon, but they later inserted Jesus into their system. Babylon was over run by the Medes, 4 centuries prior to Jesus, so that was purely old testament times.

In the old testament, God made a covenant with the household of Abraham; and that household became a nation. So, in those times, yes, God had a relationship with the entire nation. (talk about your really bad marriages) But once Jesus came along, God broke it off with the nation of Israel and for the past 2000 years, he only makes covenants with individuals. Soooooo, when the Roman system incorporated Jesus into their system of worship, God didn't go along with that program, for the simple reason, God isn't doing the Jesus covenant with governments or their programs.

The men who founded the US government, were roundly aware of this. They attempted to build a government that wouldn't interfere with individual worship. They certainly did not set up state run worship; America is not a modern Babylon.

Historically, the U.S. was at least officially committed to a policy of non-interference with religious practice and no preference for any particular religious belief or lack thereof, making it more like the Biblical Persia. Today, there are efforts to make the dominant sect an official or favored sect, making the U.S. more like Babylon or the post-Biblical Rome of Theodosius.

 

[Days]

Historically, the U.S. was at least officially committed to a policy of non-interference with religious practice and no preference for any particular religious belief or lack thereof, making it more like the Biblical Persia. Today, there are efforts to make the dominant sect an official or favored sect, making the U.S. more like Babylon or the post-Biblical Rome of Theodosius.

I think we remain much more like the ancient Persians, than anything resembling a state run church. The Persians were - in theory, anyway - a system of laws. We are very much modeled after the Persian method of governing. We haven't moved toward any kind of an official program for worshipping the gods. It is important to differentiate, the ancient systems that did that, were not worshipping one god, they were worshipping ALL the gods. I think what you are worried about is a repeat of Akenahten - where he tried to drop all the Egyptian gods and worship just one god with the same system in place. First of all, we don't have that system in place, so it isn't really happening.

 

[gigi]

We, all of us, EACH, are precious to God, no matter where we live. . Is America special to God? Well, consider that he created the earth under our feet and the sky above us, and the waters and every blade of grass that grows, and all of the vast resources, we can't help but wonder....why did He create it and what does He want us to do with it? It's important to remember that this is not ours. It's His. We're only stewards of this fabulous place we live on and in.

Telling people that they can't come here, throwing people out, sending them back to poverty and crime riddled places because they didn't fill out the right papers and pay the right money to come here? Is that why God blessed this place with all of this beauty, SPACE and resources? I don't think so.

I hear a lot of crap from a few of the friends here about "man made laws" when religion comes up. But the ironic thing is that the same people who blather on about "man made laws" crave them when they serve to excuse us from doing the inconvenient thing God wants us to do. God didn't create the boundaries and borders. We did.

Weather is weather. If God wanted to drown us, He would have. Compassion and empathy, which God wants us to extend to each other, grow in difficult circumstances. So maybe God allows these natural disasters for the opportunities for redemption that they leave in their wake.

I bet that if you get ten people in a room with ten differnt views on things like immigration, abortion, public assistance, you'd get ten different ideas about what God is "punishing" us for.