9-11 Interpreted

By David Hobbs

The most eye-opening book I have read in a long time is The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. Reading that book is to see current events from God’s perspective (and aren’t we all praying for that?). The whole book is a prophetic explanation of 9-11. If you accept it as true (and I could find no way to refute it), then on this its 11th anniversary, it is tragic that nearly everyone--whether commentators, talk show hosts, Democrats, Republicans, or average Americans--is missing the point.

I heard a caller on a national talk show say that he was going to remember 9-11 by “working hard at my 9-5 job, coming home, getting a beer, putting my feet up on the recliner, and watching my favorite sports team on TV.” That, he averred, would be an “in-your-face” to our Jihadi tormentors. That’s because we are seeing 9-11 as a declaration of war from the Jihadists against us and our way of life. And so we respond by fighting back to defeat them and hold onto our way of life.

In doing so we are missing the real message! It was not about a sneak attack from people who hate and want to destroy us. Rather it was a “shot across the bow” from the God we claim as our God. (Remember Him? The One we have left out of our American Way of Life!) Patriotism is fine, but in this case it is the totally wrong response. God is not an American; nor is He a patriot. In this the Republicans are just as off as the Democrats. Replacing the twin towers with buildings even taller and grander as an “in-your-face” to the jihadists is 180 degrees the wrong response! It only guarantees that severer judgments will come. Read The Harbinger. It’s explained there better than I could hope to in this post.

Then what is the right response? The only right response is national repentance and returning to God. We got it almost right briefly after 9-11: churches filled, prayer meetings sprang up everywhere, even in “prohibited” places like schools and governmental meetings. The ACLU was baffled and powerless. But they needn’t have worried. We soon fell back to our old, backslidden ways.

But if national repentance is the only right response, where is that message being declared? Not by the Democrats; not by the Republicans (even by national profile, Christian Republicans [when was the last time you heard Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee call for national repentance?]), not by Christian organizations like Focus on the Family; I don’t even hear it from preachers with national preaching platforms. Rick Perry (governor of Texas) came the closest (bravo!), calling a year ago for a statewide prayer meeting to address America’s problems and inviting the other governors to attend. Of course he was savagely attacked in the press. (The American Family Assoc. sponsored it, so bravo for them too!)

To Christians it’s become all about issues: abortion, same-sex marriage, morality in the media, prayer in schools, etc. But these issues (all of which feature us as the good guys and others as the villains) are also warnings from God like 9-11 was. They are the pain that warns us something is wrong with the body. But we’re spending our time trying to alleviate the pain, rather than healing the sickness the pain is warning about.

The issue is not defending America from fundamentalist Muslims; it’s not about outlawing abortion or bringing prayer back to the schools. We could do all those things and still be in just as much danger of divine judgment as we are now. We have to address the core issue: America has gone its own way from God. America is backslidden. That’s the issue we need to face. If we want to address other issues, let’s deal with ones where the church is failing: e.g., Christians’ divorce rate being equal to the world’s, or Christians’ “holier than thou” attitude toward unbelievers that is a stench in God’s nostrils.

The Democrat rank and file was happy to kick God completely off their platform (though their leadership “restored” Him). But what is worse: the Democrat desire to be done with God completely, or the Republican’s giving Him lip service while ignoring His demands? In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked a question which still stands today, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” And in Matt.15:8-9 Jesus quoted a prophecy from Isaiah--“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

Christians have so totally bought into the notion that America must stay secular for the sake of “tolerance and diversity” that we have abdicated our prophetic role of calling the people (including our own!) back to God and warning of impending judgments. But we have the example of the Southern Kingdom of Israel, as The Harbinger makes clear. She resisted all God’s efforts to call her back until His judgment fell and she was carried into captivity by Assyria (never to return!). The one thing we don’t know is if Israel had people running around preaching that Israel must remain a secular nation in the years preceding her national destruction.

America, like Israel, was not founded as a secular nation. She was founded dedicated to God as a “city on a hill”--a witness to the nations! But like Israel, she has reneged on her heavenly calling and sought to become  like the other nations. God will not allow that! If we don’t return to our heavenly calling, we face losing our cherished nation and the American Way of Life.

The Southern kingdom of Israel vanished from history. What will be America’s fate if she refuses God’s warnings as well?



Hindrances to God's Glory Being Poured Out

By Pastor Joy, as told to David Hobbs


Pastor Joy is one of the most spiritually in-tune people I know. She has pastored throughout the country with her husband, mostly in the Episcopal Church. They currently live in our area where they pastor an Anglican church. The following is her account, as well as I can remember it, as told to our prayer group on 3/24/2010.
Recently I was caught up to a face-to-face encounter with the Lord. He spoke with me and allowed me to ask Him questions. One of the questions I asked was "Lord, why don’t you pour out Your glory as You have promised? How long must we wait?"
The Lord answered, "I long for that even more than you do, but where can I pour it out?"
Not long after this I was driving early in the morning from Yuba City to the Rock of Roseville Church . It was winter, and as often happens here in the Valley in the cold mornings there were dense patches of valley fog. As I was driving, I felt the presence of the Lord fill my car and I noticed that strange things were happening to the fog. I realized Iwas having some kind of vision. The fog seemed to congeal into squares or blocks and they began taking on different colors. "What is this? What am I seeing?" I asked the Lord.
“The fog represents My glory" He responded.
I noticed off toward the horizon a block of gray, dark, dirty looking fog. "Why is that fog gray?" I wondered aloud.
“The gray fog is My glory contaminated with sin," He said. [When she said this I thought of Simon the Sorcerer who offered Peter money for the ability to lay hands on people and confer the gift of the Holy Spirit.]
A little farther I saw in another direction some brown fog. "What’s with the brown fog?" I asked.
“The brown fog is My glory contaminated by the flesh.” [When she said this, I thought of those who used their spiritual giftings and anointings to subtly promote themselves—building up their ministries, raising money, merchandising products, and boasting in their newsletters of their many accomplishments, all in the Name of Christ.]
Then I saw close at hand some pink fog, which looked unlike anything I had ever seen before. "Wow! What’s the pink fog?"
“The pink fog is My glory contaminated by false doctrine.” [When she said this I thought of those who teach that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for today; that spiritual gifts and manifestations died out with the early church; that speaking in tongues is a manifestation of the devil; who question and criticize every present move of the Spirit….]
Then right before me, towering in the sky to a great height, was a pillar of dazzling white fog, stunning in its beauty and brilliance.
“That is My glory, pure and undefiled."
But even as I was watching in awe while trying to keep my car on the road, I noticed some tendrils of the pink fog beginning to drift toward the pillar of pure fog, as if to wrap themselves around it and intermingle with it.
“Even when I find a safe place to pour out My glory, there is ever-present danger of contamination by those who dwell on the earth," the Lord concluded and the vision ended.

MY COMMENTS: I absolutely believe the vision and bear witness to its message. But we need to be careful not to use the vision as a club to beat those who don’t agree with us doctrinally, or who we think are more corrupt or falsely motivated than we perceive ourselves to be. We all share in each of the contaminations of His glory, which is why it is not being poured out in spite of our longings and His.
I see this vision as a call for all of us in the church to repent. It’s not just “those guys!” It’s all of us. We need to repent, confess our sins and the faults of the church, humble ourselves and ask the Lord to purify us all, so He can pour His glory out.