3 days after the inauguration of Joseph Biden. The many prophecies (though many have been redacted 3 and 4 times since November 3) have finally and utterly failed.

Valkyrie
The Jericho March
The Trump Rally I
The Christmas Surprise
The December Miracle
The New Year’s Miracle
The Trump March II
The Insurrection

Where was the fire, beloved? What walls came down? What power was released? What coup was averted? In all our phrenetic activity, the evangelical Church ended up looking profoundly more like the desperate pagan priests of (1 Kings 17) than the man called, “Yahweh is my God”.

Even now, (after all the redactions, and the inauguration of another) numerous prophets are abusing the people of God to continue to believe their prophecies.

One “false prophet” (it’s vital to call them what they are), based in Dallas, whose prophecy failed miserably, now talks about having two presidents, one spiritual and one physical. He is also disgusted with Christians who disagree: “Those nut jobs that have not understood the times, and understood what (Trump) represents, and understood where we are and understood what we’re up against, they’re responsible for not showing up in the spiritual battle of their lifetime, being AWOL and worse yet, trying to hinder, harass and persecute those that do show up,” he said on a YouTube broadcast. So, post-election, “He’s going to continue to do what’s he’s doing,” he said of Trump. “We’ll continue to see what happens.”

When gripped with the same realities in his day, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys… This is why my stomach churns. Cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am wrenched by what I hear, aghast at what I see. My mind reels, shuddering assails me. The twilight I longed for terrifies me.” (Isaiah 21: 2, 3-4)

The twilight that we longed for in the prayer movement, now terrifies me. What will the dawn bring? What is amassing against the people of God while we wrestle in our state of great entanglement?

Our family is bound up in the morass of idolatrous, political nationalism. I use this phrase carefully.

IDOLATRY is how we understand our behavior in light of God’s Word. Regardless of how much religious verbiage we attach to our political engagement, it’s clear, the American Church’s hopes for Kingdom change has become an obsession, and even indistinguishable from conservative political power. Any way you slice it folks, that’s out of keeping with anything we see or are admonished to in the Bible.

POLITICS is the means by which we inordinately hope to “keep our nation great and Christian”.

NATIONALISM is the cult-narrative; it’s the way we understand what we’re fighting for; what we’ve “lost”; who our enemies are – and who our champions are. All this is supported by conspiracies, false-prophets and a bonafide idol of worship.

Idolatrous, political nationalism has become a full-on cult within the household of God.

In the storm that rages around us, millions of our sisters and brothers, leaders, teachers, evangelists etc. are seeking refuge, and shaming others into seeking refuge in this tower of human elevation – rather than humbling ourselves in our failure, our loss, our great inabilities, our need, and with weeping honesty “seeking the Face” of the One True God Who promises to be our strength (Himself) in the time of such trouble (Psalm 27:1,5).

You don’t believe me? Thousands traveled to DC two weeks ago to pray for four more years of an idolatrous man – with no Biblical precedent for doing so. How many believers would attend a national prayer rally today to nakedly obey the explicit dictates of Joel 2 in the fear of the Lord – with nothing to gain politically; no one to enthrone; only a declaration that we have committed spiritual adultery and need to ask forgiveness of our Bridegroom God?

Crickets from the prophets.
Crickets from national leaders.
We’re in the Eye of the Storm.
We need more than a tweak of our navigational system.

We’re in the Eye of the Storm. We need more than a tweak of our navigational system.

Who do you hear honestly asking, seeking and inquiring, “How have we, and how have ‘I’ given myself to idolatry? How have I been unfaithful to my marriage covenant with You, Jesus?”

Some of the prophets will admit their prophecies were wrong.
Few will ask why they were wrong.
Fewer still will ask where these words came from if not from the Lord.

Few leaders will ask “Why did we worship at the idol of the false prophets?”
Fewer still will ask: “Why were we bartering for another god anyway?”

A few shepherds will ask, “Why did we say nothing about the idol and the false prophets?”
Fewer still will ask: “If the prophecies led us astray, could it be that the passion that inspired the prophecies was already astray?”

Who will dare ask these questions?

The Lord, the One Whose zeal is preparing a Bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish for His Son; the One Who is calling us to bring our self-inflicted wounds into His tent of repentance, mourning, and the tearing of our cultural garments, where He can give us the bandage of a cross; He Himself is asking these questions:
Who will humble themselves, and quiet our clamoring hearts to hear the sound of His voice?

Isaiah 2:11 “Proud men will be brought low, arrogant men will be humiliated; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Psalm 25:9 “He will show the humble what is right! He will teach the humble His way!”

Zephaniah 2:3 “Seek the Lord’s favor, all you humble people of the land who have obeyed His commands! Strive to do what is right! Strive to be humble! Maybe you will be protected on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.”

Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

2 Chronicles 12:7 “When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the Lord’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem.”

Zephaniah 3:12 “I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people, and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who belong to Me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please Me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

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JSB • January, 2021