Matthew 24:  MSG
3  Later as he was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, “Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?”
4  Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers.
5  Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people.
6  When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end.
7  Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places.
8  This is nothing compared to what is coming.
9  “They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name.
10  And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.
11  “In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people.
12  For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
13  “Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved.
14  All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.

We are now living in troubling times.  Dark clouds that once were far away are now directly over the land.  

God’s word gave us the warning of things to come far in advance.  It is no longer a question of if it will happen, but when will it happen.

I do not believe in date setting, but I can tell the season we are in.

Bible prophecy was fulfilled when Israel became a nation it would seem overnight.

Isaiah 66:8 MSG
8  Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has anyone seen anything like this? A country born in a day? A nation born in a flash? But Zion was barely in labor when she had her babies!

The nation of  Israel is the fig tree Christ spoke about and we were told that when it blossoms that will start a time clock.

Matthew 24:  MSG
32  “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner.
33  So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door.
34  Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place.
35  Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.

Once again let me state that in my opinion I find no scripture that I can tell relates to the nation of America.  So the only conclusion that I can come to is that something must have to happen for America to lose it’s standing in the world.

If history tells us the one lesson that needs to be spoken out loud in these troubling days is the pitfall of pride.  God hates pride.  Every nation that has lifted itself up in pride has been brought down, taken captive by another nation and king.

Proverbs 16: MSG
18  First pride, then the crash— the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

As the leader of a nation goes, so goes the nation.

A nation may not  be destroyed not by another nation but implode from within.  Brother against brother, father against his son. 

What is happening within the borders of America is pure insanity.  

I have stayed away on commenting the current state of affairs in the United States, but I feel compelled that what is happening can only lead to no good.

This did not happen overnight, but has been developing over many decades.  Courts told to remove the very foundation that laws of the land were birthed from to be removed.  That being the ten commandments.

Then a false gospel started to take root that brought the congregations within America to focus on money instead of Christ.  Anything that draws our focus away from God is a false idol. 

Exodus 20: MSG
1  GOD spoke all these words:
2  I am GOD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.
3  No other gods, only me.
4  No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim.
5  Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am GOD, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me.

There have been times in my life where as I would watch from the sidelines on things that were being expounded from the pulpits across America caused a indignation rise within my being.

Everything that I was raised to believe has been turned on it’s head in the world.  

It’s now okay to hate a fellow being based on his skin color, or for what he believes in his faith.  Yes, I may not agree with their belief, but I have no right to hate another fellow person.

This is a generation that totally only cares about themselves.  There seems to be no empathy  for our fellow man.  It is every man for himself.  This is a complete contradiction that Christ taught in the gospels.

Back in the early nineties I moved to the city of Toronto.  It was a total culture shock to my system.  As I would go downtown I would see those who were homeless, hungry, and cold, but to those passing by it would seem those people were invisible.

At first every time someone would approach me for some type of help I would try to give them something.  After living there for some time I found myself doing like every other citizen of Toronto turning a blind eye to those in need.

Galatians 2: MSG
6  As for those who were considered important in the church, their reputation doesn’t concern me. God isn’t impressed with mere appearances, and neither am I. And of course these leaders were able to add nothing to the message I had been preaching.
7  It was soon evident that God had entrusted me with the same message to the non-Jews as Peter had been preaching to the Jews.
9  Recognizing that my calling had been given by God, James, Peter, and John—the pillars of the church—shook hands with me and Barnabas, assigning us to a ministry to the non-Jews, while they continued to be responsible for reaching out to the Jews.
10  The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that.

Notice what the leaders of the early church asked of the Apostle Paul in verse ten, that is to “remember the poor”.

Somehow, somewhere we have strayed from that basic concept of being our brothers keeper.

If nations are to survive it will take a major change and turn and ridding themselves of pride.  America might just be on the road that will take it over the cliff.  A nation where it would seem insanity reigns.

The leaders of the body of Christ need to go back to basics, turn from the idol of money and bring back the message of the cross.  Quit preaching money and bring back the altar where people can have their burdens lifted.

Let’s bring back the scriptural teaching of praying for each other that we would be healed.  It is still hard for me to accept that there is no mid week prayer service in our evangelical congregations.

The other day I passed by a “evangelical” church and on it’s property had a billboard for an upcoming event for the youth.  The event was labelled “learn how to dance camp”.  Our youth do not need to be taught how to dance outside of the church, but like myself, learned how to dance before the Lord in the church.

Yes, to some I would be called radical.

There are times when I question myself that maybe it is me who is out on some far off land.  Then I shake myself and realize that in this given time I am living in a land where insanity reigns.