Nuclear 9/11...It’s Coming

Key Scriptures:

“Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.” - Isaiah 2.8

“And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD), that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms…Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.” - Ezekiel 16.23-25, 27

“The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Therefore, now, amend your ways, and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.” -Jeremiah 26.13-14 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” - 2nd Timothy 4.4-5

“…sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.” - John 5.14

“This is the interpretation of the thing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” - Daniel 5.24-27

We all remember the date and what happened: September 11th, 2001. For every American - yea, every person who was alive and watching the news of that horrific day - the events of September 11th, 2001 have forever been burned into our psyche, our memories, and our minds. It was on this day that four airplanes were hijacked, with three of them crashing into both of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and the Pentagon Building in Washington, D.C. In the time since that horrific day, the United States of America has continued on her downward spiral into sin, iniquity, and destruction. In many ways, especially those having anything to do with morals and Biblical Values, we, the Citizenry of the United States of America have not only continued to enjoy the sliding moral decay that has continued unabated since the middle of the 20th Century, but have embraced it. Abomination now is popularized, magnified, and enjoyed, uplifted in the US of A for all the world to see. It’s as if we, the American People didn’t learn a thing from September 11th. Now, God wants the world to know that worse -- far, far worse -- is in store for the USA if we fail to turn around and repent.

Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

If we take even a casual glance around at the United States of America, we can easily see that this verse of Scripture from the Prophet Isaiah is glaringly and appallingly clear and easy to see. We Americans love our entertainment. We love movies, television, stage and theatre, music, internet use, and, to a lesser extent, magazines, newspapers, and books. We Americans love to be entertained. Though movie ticket sales dropped a bit in the mid stages of the first decade of the 21st Century, as of this year, movies are now more popular and famous as ever. Television is still the rage, and TV shows of every stripe and type can be viewed, even on public airwaves. Television has been a boom and a boon since its invention in the early decades of the 20th Century, and its popularity - especially since the advent of cable and satellite TV - has exploded. Music, as well, has continued to be a booming market, with new and varied genres and styles of music being created to satiate an ever more demanding American populace. Since its onset almost two decades ago, the internet has also exploded. As of this date (September 19th, 2009), websites on the worldwide web number in the tens of billions (a Google search for the letter “A” numbered “about 14,380,000,000”). More and more people are creating and accessing the Internet in ever greater numbers. Even other communication and entertainment outlets continue to be popular and well trafficked. The sad reality of all of this is that most of these forms of entertainment have now supplanted any kind of desire to learn or know about Jesus Christ. Just a little over a decade ago, the Pastor of College Church of the Nazarene at the time delivered a message in which he stated that the number of people now actively engaged in any kind of Bible Training in the church numbers two out of every ten. Just a few decades before this particular message, that number stood at eight out of ten. Could it be that the American People have set up entertainment and “having fun” as false gods? Could it be that Isaiah, when he wrote these words to the nation of Israel almost three thousand years ago, that in reality, he was also seeing this day and age? More and more Americans are going to movies, sitting in front of the TV, and listening to any number of radio stations than ever before. The internet is red-hot with activity at any hour of the day. Yet for all of this, how many Americans take time to spend with God in the morning or evening, or both? How many people find themselves inside of a church on the weekend? How many Americans spend quality time in actual prayer before the Lord? It seems that Isaiah’s prophecy is square on with the US of A.

Thou Hast...Multiplied Thy Whoredoms

If the previous prophecy from Isaiah weren’t enough, when taking a look at US Entertainment, what do we find? On television alone, we see more sex, violence, acceptance of homosexuality, and other abominations (and this is all on public television) being not only portrayed, but glorified every single night on every single TV station in the land. Where homosexuality was once relegated to very late night television and a sparsely few cable and satellite providers, it is now glorified on public television. Portrayals of sex and sexual situations have continued to grow and explode in mainstream media for the past fifty years, with every deviant sexual flavor imaginable being glorified. Violence on Television has also seen an expansive growth in programming. More and more blood is being spilled on television to an ever increasingly voracious appetite of American viewers. The movie industry has seen these categories expound and expand even more. Movies that would have been considered abhorrent and rejected fifty or sixty years ago are now not only embraced, but encouraged to go to deeper and deeper portrayals of depravity (The Saw series alone has seen movies plunge into the depths of depravity with regards to violence). The internet, as well, with its millions and billions of web pages has also seen an explosion of sites geared towards sin and iniquity. A Google search for the word “porn” brings up about 207 million web pages, while a search for “bomb making” brings up nearly 44 million pages. Magazines - especially those of the fashion, men’s, and sports genres - have also seen considerable changes with regards to morality. Men’s magazines, such as FHM, Maxim, GQ, regularly show women in various stages of undress, even so far as full frontal nudity. Fashion and lifestyle magazines not only offer photos of nudity for both sexes, but regularly include articles on sexual pleasure. The rise also of erotic books and magazines continues unabated, with Playboy and Hustler showing a resurgence of popularity. Could it be, also, that Ezekiel the Prophet saw this day and age through the mind and eyes of faith, and wrote the words mentioned above in today’s keys in order to speak directly to the people of the US of A?

They Shall Turn Their Ears Away from the Truth

The Apostle Paul was not only writing to Timothy about the day and age in which they lived; he was also writing of this day and age. In frightening similarity to Ancient Rome, the United States of America, the last Superpower, is quickly turning away from the truth. Recent Statistics have sown that 76% of Americans say that they are Christians. While this is very, very good news to many, including this writer, the stark reality is that many of these professing to be Christians may very well be cultural Christians, or CINOs (Christians In Name Only). Further, this statistic of 76% is down from 80% just eight years ago. The fact of the matter is that many believers and many people who call themselves Christians are either going through the motions, or are part of a church or denomination that preaches any number of heresies. The current popular message today in the church is the “Prosperity Gospel” message. This message is one that teaches and preaches that if one is truly faithful, truly believing, and truly trusting in God, he or she will be rich, wealthy, and financially secure. Preachers such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar teach that if a person gives money to this or that ministry, God will make them healthy and wealthy. Other churches and preachers, in order to draw in crowds, have watered down the Gospel to the point that words and phrases such as “Sin”, “Hell”, “Lake of Fire”, “Eternal punishment”, “Satan”, and “Devil” are no longer preached. The dangers of sin and its eternal consequences are downplayed, with a love gospel being bandied about as the message of the day. Still other churches have accepted and embraced deviant lifestyles, snipping away and cutting out clear and easily seen Bible passages that speak against them. More and more Americans are becoming followers of these kinds of false messages and doctrines of men, all the while the gospel of Jesus Christ is relegated to the fringes, those calling out for condemnation of sin and sinful lifestyles tagged with any number of labels, including “fundamentalist” and “fringe”. No longer do popular pastors, churches, and Christian leaders preach the truth, but instead, preach popularity, self-esteem, a humanist based gospel of works and feelings instead of the rock-bottom truth of righteousness and holiness. Anyone who does dare to stand up and speak the truth is immediately denounced as a fundamentalist or residing somewhere in the fringe of society. Even many church leaders, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and which have fallen into sin and sinfulness have maintained their ministries and lifestyles. Still other church leaders - such as Jack Van Impe and even Billy Graham - have ceased in the Gospel Message they started with and are now embracing heretical forms of an all-inclusive Gospel in which Jesus Christ is really no longer the only way. It would seem that 2000 years ago Paul was writing about things that are happening right now. More and more Americans want so little to do with the truth, and are for themselves piling up preachers and teachers who would rather tickle their ears than point out sin and its dangers.

Sin No More, Lest a Worse Thing Come Upon Thee

“How dare you judge me?!? Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Judge not…?’” How many times has this phrase been called out by someone on the receiving in of the truth? Yet the glaring fact of the matter is, most people who use this phrase to justify their sin go right on with their lives, never changing or repenting of the sin which has so easily entangled them (Hebrews 12.1). They also forget that the Bible is replete with calls from God for people to be holy as he is holy, Jesus himself telling two people on separate occasions to stop sinning. In the particular verse of Scripture from above, Jesus had just healed a man who’d been a sick invalid for thirty-eight years. This man had turned Jesus over to the Pharisees, and when Jesus found him again had spoken this warning to him. The question must be asked, “What could be worse than 38 years of crippling illness?” Many could ask a similar question with the same vein of thought: “What could be worse than September 11th, 2001?” The fact is, for both questions, there is and there could be a LOT worse. The crippled man form the Pool of Bethesda is not mentioned again anywhere in the Bible, so we don’t know if he left his life of sin and followed Jesus Christ. However, what could be worse than 38 years of crippling disease? This was a question asked by the Pastor of Olathe Westside Church in a sermon about 12 years ago, and his answer was profound:

“What could be worse? An Eternity in the lake of fire, separated from God and without the salvation of Jesus Christ is infinitely worse on all counts! What could be worse than sitting beside a pool for nearly forty years, not able to do much, hoping beyond hop for a miraculous movement of water, and not getting much? Someone sitting in hell’s black darkness for all eternity without hope and without the saving, redeeming light of Jesus Christ is far, far worse!” - Rev. Charles Pickens - Senior Pastor: Westside Church of the Nazarene, Olathe, Kansas, USA, From the Sunday Sermon, “What Could Be Worse?” - August 1998

What could be worse than September 11th, 2001 and the terrorist attacks that came with them? Far, far worse things come to mind.

A Warning from Daniel

When Daniel spoke the interpretation of the words written on the wall by the hand of God, King Belshazzar basically ignored the warning he was given. He and the rest of his lords, ladies, wives, concubines, nobles, and soldiers trusted in the thick, impregnable walls of the city of Babylon to protect him. It is said that the walls of Ancient Babylon were so thick and so great, four chariots could be driven abreast of each other, and on top of this, the city was surrounded by two tributaries of the River Euphrates. Even further, the Babylonian Army was, up to that point, the greatest in the world. On paper, the king had no reason to fear nor worry about Daniel’s interpretation. Yet, as the Scriptures clearly state:

“In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.” - Daniel 5.30

Despite his apparent protection, the armies of the Persians and Medes still managed to take the city, just as God had predicted. In a similar way, many in the US of A think that there could never be another 9/11 on US soil. Because of heightened security, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continuing War on Terror, the vigilance of the US Military, and the subtle and secret workings of the CIA and other intelligence agencies in the US, many Americans believe that the US cannot and will not be hit with a terror attack again. In a similar fashion as King Belshazzar, most Americans are depending on earthly protections while dismissing God altogether. Yet, September 11th, 2001, was the handwriting on the wall. For one whole day, the US of A could not defend itself against nineteen men. Think of it: nineteen men from third world countries held the USA, the greatest power on the earth, in modern history, and one of the greatest in all of history with a population of 300 million, hostage for an entire day (The Old Testament is rife with Scripture Verses which state that in an unbelieving nation, thousands would run from one, and with five, ten thousand would be put to flight. Didn't this very thing happen on 9/11/01?). If the USA couldn’t defend itself against nineteen determined men, could not worse be in the offing.

Weighed in the Balances and Found Wanting

Yet since that time - since that devastating day of September 11th, 2001 - what has changed in the USA, except for tightened security on inbound planes? Has the citizenry of the United States learned its lessons and repented of the sins and iniquities we have, for so long, embraced? Have we as an American society changed our ways and come to accept the God of the Founding Fathers as the true foundation for the USA? The fact of the matter is, very little has changed in the US since September 11th 2001. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, church attendance skyrocketed. Within six months to a year, church attendance had dropped to pre-9/11 levels, and the decline has steadily continued until today. Instead of calling for repentance, the USA has continued to embrace deviant lifestyles, abominable practices, sordid violence, seedy sex, and vitriolic forms of entertainment. Despite the fact that 30 states in the United states of America have voted against same-sex marriage, homosexual advocates continue to pressure courts, elected officials, and legislatures to demand their “right” to “marry”. Abortion on demand is still the law of the land, with thousands of abortions taking place daily in the USA. Children in Junior High and High School - and in some states, late-elementary school - continue to be indoctrinated into the Public School system’s and Government Sponsored fallacy of “’safe’ sex”, and being given condoms or vouchers for other forms of birth control. The mainstream media continues to decry anything having to do with the Name of Jesus Christ, and Hollywood continues its downward spiral into the cesspool of immorality producing more and more movies and TV shows filled with all imaginable forms of immorality, violence, and sin glorifying self and sensuality at the expense of all that is good and right. Its as if we as a Nation have learned nothing from September 11th, 2001.

Thy Kingdom is Divided

As if all of this were not bad enough, in 2006 and 2008, the United States Electorate placed into office - by their vote - people who have little to no regard for God, His Word, His Son, or anything having to do with Him. In the mid-term elections of 2006, Democrats were swept into the majority, as Americans voted out the Republican Majority that had resided in congress since 1994. With this change came the Democratic leaders, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and Representative- turned-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California. The problem with both of these people is that they have had long-standing issues aimed against Jesus Christ and his church. Yet, what is frightening is the way in which these two and their Democrat Colleagues were elected into office: the Christian voting bloc which had helped George W. Bush win two presidential elections turned out in great numbers and voted mostly with the Democrats. In 2008, this would again be the case as most voters who called themselves Christians helped to elect Sen. Barack Hussein Obama into the office of President of the United States of America. The problem with this scenario is that all three of the people who were swept into office by strong Christian voter polling in their favor is that Sen. Reid, Speaker Pelosi, and worst of all, President Obama have taken positions and stand on principles that go entirely against Christian values. All three support homosexual “rights”; all three support strengthening abortion on demand (something that President Obama has promised to do is to make the Freedom of Choice Act [FOCA] the law of the land); all three support restricting free speech in the form of “Hate Crimes” legislation. Now that all three are in the highest elected positions in the land, they are already working to get their ideology and their agendas made into the law of the land. Though many Christians have opposed them and voted against them in the recent elections, the fact remains that Christian voters placed these people into office. As such, we as a Church in the USA are divided. Jesus Christ himself speaks a dire warning about being divided:

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought into desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand…” - Matthew 12.25

Could it be that, as the Church has divided its vote between “hope and change” and voting for what is good and right, that we as a nation and church are on the brink of desolation and fall, as Jesus warned?

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

God’s words written to warn King Belshazzar are again glaring to us in this present day and age: MENE - Just as Daniel told the king that Babylon had been numbered, so is God telling us in the USA that our kingdom, as well, is numbered. We can already see how the world is beginning to shift its attention away from the USA, thanks in large part to the financial meltdown that occurred over the last year. Already, the heads of four countries that have been dependent on US Trade have called for the end of the US Dollar’s dominance n the world economic stage. Several commentators and pundits have also stated most recently that all it would take is some great event to push the USA over the brink on which we are already teetering. Could this event be the much prophesied Rapture of the Church? Could something else, such as a terrorist strike - far worse than 9/11/01 - be the ending factor for the USA? We’ve elected Barack Hussein Obama to be our 44th President of the USA. Could his first term be the first “MENE”, with a possible looming second term being the second “MENE”? Could it be that God is warning us of dire implications should President Obama be re-elected? Could the strikes on two locations (Washington D.C. and New York City, N.Y.) be God’s way of giving us Americans the “writing on the wall”? Could it also be that the two destroyed World Trade Center Towers (which have yet to be memorialized in stone, and no replacement buildings yet built, incidentally) - essentially the symbols of 9/11/01 - are America’s “MENE, MENE”? Is it mere coincidence only that four planes were hijacked, and God’s handwritten words in Daniel were also four (MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN)? Is God, even after eight years have passed since 9/11/01, still trying to tell us, the citizenry of the USA, something important, dire, and urgent?

TEKEL - As described above, the immorality of the USA has been weighed in God’s balances, and we as a nation are found wanting. In the thirty-six years since the Supreme Court of the United States of America legislated from the bench and legalized abortion on demand, 50 million innocents in the USA have been put to death. Christ states very clearly in the Proverbs that the shedding of innocent blood is an abomination to him:

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination to him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood…” - Proverbs 6.16-17

Even further, the Bible is replete with account after account of civilizations being destroyed - including Israel - for their own shedding of innocent blood. Along with this, homosexuality is gaining more and more acceptance and strength in the USA, and despite the majority of Americans being against same-sex “marriage”, several states by way of their supreme courts have legalized homosexual “marriage” as protected under the law. How much longer will God wait? September 11th, 2001 proved that we as a society have been weighed and found wanting: the slide into immorality has only gotten worse. Is it almost time for another wake-up call from God? Must he again remove his hand of protection and blessing to get our attention? PERES/UPHARSIN - Just as Daniel told the king that his country had been divided between the Persians and Medes, it is a little more than curious to note that the same thing is happening to the USA, even as this lesson and warning is being typed. Just as Babylon and the Chaldean Empire was divided between the Persians and Medes, the USA is, also, being divided in the same way. Persia is easily identified in modern times: it is the modern country of Iran. However, who are the Medes? Though some describe them as also Persians, Median territory, prior to their unification with the Persian Empire some time later, is situated around the present country of Afghanistan and Eastern Iran. Since taking office in January of this year, it is curious to note the growing interest that President Barack Hussein Obama has had with Afghanistan. Troop levels in Afghanistan have continued to grow ever since President Obama took office. Could it be that, with the growing nuclear threat from Iran and heavier and heavier US Involvement in Afghanistan, the US of A is being divided between the Medes and Persians, similar to Belshazzar’s ancient Chaldea? If troop levels continue to grow in Afghanistan, and Iran succeeds in creating a nuclear weapon, it could very well be that the USA is divided literally and figuratively between the Medes and Persians, just as the Chaldean Empire was nearly three thousand years ago.

The Bottom Line - Nuclear 9/11

Folks, it is this my belief that a nuclear strike will take place very soon in the USA. Much in the same way that the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 were, at first, thought to be accidents and were totally unconventional, I believe that a nuclear terrorist attack will also, at first, be viewed as an accident, and will take place in an unconventional manner. I believe that it will be in more than one city, and it will, for lack of a better word, finish the USA for good as a superpower. Many people may scoff at this, as scoffers have come and gone in the past. However, the bottom line here is that God is not limitless in his patience, and the United States of America has gotten away with moral depravity, abominable practices, and gross immorality for far too long. Greater societies have fallen for lesser offences towards God; what makes us, the USA, think that we are any different than they? Though many Americans claim to be Christians, it is shocking not to hear President Obama state that we are not a Christian Nation, but to know that such, in fact, is the truth! Christ has been dismissed from public school for nearly fifty years. The name of Jesus Christ has been mocked, taken in vain, and used as a curse in the media for nearly as long. Sin has been upheld by US Society as good and right since the 1960s. Yes, while we have a large percentage of the population claiming Christ, and while cities and towns and villages all across the land still have churches in them, the fact that we have slidden so far makes it a glaring truth when the President comes out and states it in public: we may claim Christ, but we are not actively living him out in our lives. As such, God will not hold out his hand of blessing for much longer. Nuclear 9-11 is coming, and I believe that it will be upon us very, very soon….perhaps, even, before President Obama is finished with his first term, and certainly before the end of his second should he be elected to one, especially if he makes FOCA and the rest of his agenda the law of the land.

Conclusion - Repent!

Jesus said it at the beginning of his ministry, as did John the Baptist. As they say so in the word, so I write it here: REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND! If we as a nation turn from our wicked ways, God will avert the evil that he knows is coming and will allow if we fail to return to him. If we will turn back to him, and ask him for forgiveness, he will hold off execution of sentence and nuclear 9/11 for another day. However, if we persist in our spiritual and moral depravity, it will be upon us very soon. If we do not well, then, as God spoke to Cain, sin lies at our door, and -- just as it dominated us via nineteen men on September 11th, 2001 -- so it will be again, and likely by less. REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!

Prayer - Lord in Heaven, help us we pray. Heavenly Father, we can easily see in your word that judgment and carrying out of divine sentence comes to those who reject you. Help us, Heavenly Father, as a nation, to heed your word, and come back to you. We pray this, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.