Give America a Break – Please
Jim Croft
Throughout my Christian experience there has been a peculiarity with increasing numbers of believers that I find mystifying. It is the assertion that political-religious tribulation, economic downturns and natural disasters will bring the unconverted masses to Christ and the churched to greater intensities of dedication to the Lord. Some seem to get what might qualify as a crazed gleam in their eyes when they speak of America’s incoming just deserves. It is as though their oratory is lathered with fervency about impending doom by the haunting cellos and French horns of the Jaws movie score.
The Scriptures, history and candid observation of the Church in oppressed nations do not support the premise that troubles guarantee massive upturns in zeal for the Lord. Incessant pressures are more apt to incite frustrated discouragement that leads to willful departure from the faith. There are relatively few who utilize subjection to life’s various tribulations as reminders of the brevity of this life and that Christians are to live with eternity in mind.
Ancient & Contemporary Observations
There were considerable numbers of Jews left behind in Israel after many had been deported to Babylon for the 70 years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah. If the concept that trouble invokes righteous behavior is true, there was a serious glitch in the program in that period. The remaining Jews acted even worse while their brethren were captive servants. Many quit speaking Hebrew, intermarried with idol worshipers, and habitually profaned the Law’s regulations. Nehemiah severely rebuked them with cuffs to the head and by jerking out portions of their beards while coercing them to put way their heathen wives. (Neh 13:15-25; Ezra 10:13-19)
The nations surrounding the Mediterranean region were the first evangelized by the Early Church. Christianity flourished for about 7 hundred years until Islam’s jihad hordes rode through butchering any who would not accept Allah and renounce the divinity of Christ. Under Islam, useful Christians were reduced to less than second-class status.
Till this day, many of those nations that were once bastions of Christian witness are still Islamic. The descendants of the first Christians dance in the streets whenever news is heard about a Christianized population suffering blows from Allah’s warriors. The Church did not rise and overcome in countries like Turkey due to the pressures of persecution. Many of the fellowships spoken of in the New Testament were located there.
Turkey’s current population is 25-million. Of that number, the Bible believing Christians of today come in around 3-thousand. This does not indicate that hardships necessarily foster widespread return to the Lord. I have spent decades ministering in impoverished nations and in those under the antichrist thumb of Communism. For the sake of positive press and audience appeal mission reports only focus on the indigenous champions of righteousness in lands beleaguered by hostile politics and poverty. Those who have up-close and personal interaction with broad facets of the Persecuted Church are seldom candid about all that they witness.
Economic hardship does not inevitably produce holiness. The nakedness of poverty creates boredom. The prospects that nothing creative can be accomplished, ignites the challenge of lustful escapades. My experience is that many poverty ridden believers in 3rd world nations have a brand of sanctification that exists from the waist up.
Politically based religious persecution does not always guarantee unified cooperation between different Christian groups. Some of the most divisive attitudes and corrupt activity that I have ever seen amongst churches have been in Communist strongholds. The shameful sins that are found in too many American pastoral leaders and their parishioners are just a prevalent with believers in countries closed to the Gospel.
It would be prudent for those who glamorize what tribulation can allegedly accomplish to keep the words of Jesus in mind. The cares of this life include concerns about creative innovation to better livelihood and the resultant relational upheaval caused by the lack of reasonable provision. These cares have no less capacity to choke out the Word’s productivity than the deceitfulness of riches.
When it comes to desires for more things, the oppressed are ever mindful; perhaps even more so than the affluent. (Matt 13:22: Mk 4:19)
God’s Design
If you were born in the USA or immigrated, it was by divine grace. The Lord sets the boundaries of nations and it is he who ordains the dwellings of men. (Acts 17:26) It is upright to speak about wherever he has placed you with reverential caution. An attitude of gratitude will serve you best for whatever the future holds. It is above my station of revelatory insight to give explanation for all of the reasons that God has designed the end-times to be tribulation ridden. But, I might have revelation about one of the reasons for diverse trials. It pertains to the purifying of the Body of Christ.
I do not think it is accurate to assume that the turbulence is solely designed to bring about experiential holiness in individuals. I am of the opinion that the purification is more so a winnowing separation of chaff personalities from the Body of Christ. It would be tragic for people who have holdover deposits of Adam’s treachery to be participants in the Bridal reign of the Church with Christ throughout the Millennium.
We know that many of the mere mortals who survive the end-time tribulations will be citizens of the kingdom reign. At the close of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed from imprisonment and will beguile many to attempt insurrection against Christ and the Father. It stands to reason that the purification process of this life serves to insure that none of the glorified body equipped members of the Lamb’s Bridal Company will join the forces of Satan in the final battle of this age.
Great News
Testing is not restricted to the lack of material blessings and the temptation to lose peace because of persecution. The peace of God that passes understanding has a history of equipping faith-filled disciples with the ability to triumph in the midst of the harshest of circumstance. In addition, it is God’s custom to bless the faithful with material provision and miracles even when they are undergoing punishment.
He tested Israel in the wilderness with miraculous food and water supply and divine healing. During the Babylonian captivity, he commanded the Israelis to bless the cities in which they dwelt. He promised that as they did so, the cities would prosper and the captives would in turn reap the benefits also. I am confident that believers, who choose faith for America and resist condemning her, will experience greater measures of peace and prosperity than those who persist in woeful prognostications. To give America a break is educated household preservation. It will reap optimum results, no matter what the future holds.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Jim Croft
jcm888
Jim Croft
Throughout my Christian experience there has been a peculiarity with increasing numbers of believers that I find mystifying. It is the assertion that political-religious tribulation, economic downturns and natural disasters will bring the unconverted masses to Christ and the churched to greater intensities of dedication to the Lord. Some seem to get what might qualify as a crazed gleam in their eyes when they speak of America’s incoming just deserves. It is as though their oratory is lathered with fervency about impending doom by the haunting cellos and French horns of the Jaws movie score.
The Scriptures, history and candid observation of the Church in oppressed nations do not support the premise that troubles guarantee massive upturns in zeal for the Lord. Incessant pressures are more apt to incite frustrated discouragement that leads to willful departure from the faith. There are relatively few who utilize subjection to life’s various tribulations as reminders of the brevity of this life and that Christians are to live with eternity in mind.
Ancient & Contemporary Observations
There were considerable numbers of Jews left behind in Israel after many had been deported to Babylon for the 70 years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah. If the concept that trouble invokes righteous behavior is true, there was a serious glitch in the program in that period. The remaining Jews acted even worse while their brethren were captive servants. Many quit speaking Hebrew, intermarried with idol worshipers, and habitually profaned the Law’s regulations. Nehemiah severely rebuked them with cuffs to the head and by jerking out portions of their beards while coercing them to put way their heathen wives. (Neh 13:15-25; Ezra 10:13-19)
The nations surrounding the Mediterranean region were the first evangelized by the Early Church. Christianity flourished for about 7 hundred years until Islam’s jihad hordes rode through butchering any who would not accept Allah and renounce the divinity of Christ. Under Islam, useful Christians were reduced to less than second-class status.
Till this day, many of those nations that were once bastions of Christian witness are still Islamic. The descendants of the first Christians dance in the streets whenever news is heard about a Christianized population suffering blows from Allah’s warriors. The Church did not rise and overcome in countries like Turkey due to the pressures of persecution. Many of the fellowships spoken of in the New Testament were located there.
Turkey’s current population is 25-million. Of that number, the Bible believing Christians of today come in around 3-thousand. This does not indicate that hardships necessarily foster widespread return to the Lord. I have spent decades ministering in impoverished nations and in those under the antichrist thumb of Communism. For the sake of positive press and audience appeal mission reports only focus on the indigenous champions of righteousness in lands beleaguered by hostile politics and poverty. Those who have up-close and personal interaction with broad facets of the Persecuted Church are seldom candid about all that they witness.
Economic hardship does not inevitably produce holiness. The nakedness of poverty creates boredom. The prospects that nothing creative can be accomplished, ignites the challenge of lustful escapades. My experience is that many poverty ridden believers in 3rd world nations have a brand of sanctification that exists from the waist up.
Politically based religious persecution does not always guarantee unified cooperation between different Christian groups. Some of the most divisive attitudes and corrupt activity that I have ever seen amongst churches have been in Communist strongholds. The shameful sins that are found in too many American pastoral leaders and their parishioners are just a prevalent with believers in countries closed to the Gospel.
It would be prudent for those who glamorize what tribulation can allegedly accomplish to keep the words of Jesus in mind. The cares of this life include concerns about creative innovation to better livelihood and the resultant relational upheaval caused by the lack of reasonable provision. These cares have no less capacity to choke out the Word’s productivity than the deceitfulness of riches.
When it comes to desires for more things, the oppressed are ever mindful; perhaps even more so than the affluent. (Matt 13:22: Mk 4:19)
God’s Design
If you were born in the USA or immigrated, it was by divine grace. The Lord sets the boundaries of nations and it is he who ordains the dwellings of men. (Acts 17:26) It is upright to speak about wherever he has placed you with reverential caution. An attitude of gratitude will serve you best for whatever the future holds. It is above my station of revelatory insight to give explanation for all of the reasons that God has designed the end-times to be tribulation ridden. But, I might have revelation about one of the reasons for diverse trials. It pertains to the purifying of the Body of Christ.
I do not think it is accurate to assume that the turbulence is solely designed to bring about experiential holiness in individuals. I am of the opinion that the purification is more so a winnowing separation of chaff personalities from the Body of Christ. It would be tragic for people who have holdover deposits of Adam’s treachery to be participants in the Bridal reign of the Church with Christ throughout the Millennium.
We know that many of the mere mortals who survive the end-time tribulations will be citizens of the kingdom reign. At the close of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed from imprisonment and will beguile many to attempt insurrection against Christ and the Father. It stands to reason that the purification process of this life serves to insure that none of the glorified body equipped members of the Lamb’s Bridal Company will join the forces of Satan in the final battle of this age.
Great News
Testing is not restricted to the lack of material blessings and the temptation to lose peace because of persecution. The peace of God that passes understanding has a history of equipping faith-filled disciples with the ability to triumph in the midst of the harshest of circumstance. In addition, it is God’s custom to bless the faithful with material provision and miracles even when they are undergoing punishment.
He tested Israel in the wilderness with miraculous food and water supply and divine healing. During the Babylonian captivity, he commanded the Israelis to bless the cities in which they dwelt. He promised that as they did so, the cities would prosper and the captives would in turn reap the benefits also. I am confident that believers, who choose faith for America and resist condemning her, will experience greater measures of peace and prosperity than those who persist in woeful prognostications. To give America a break is educated household preservation. It will reap optimum results, no matter what the future holds.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Jim Croft
jcm888
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA