And America Will Lose A Lot Of Its Freedoms………

By Paul Norcross

January 25, 2006

Tonight I caught a snippet of news and the Lord reminded me of a vision I saw just before our troops went into Afghanistan a few months after the world trade towers were attacked. So this is about the current splash of media/democratic ire and public reluctant acceptance of such things as terrorist wiretaps. God has something to say about it all, and it sure makes sense to me.

Here's the vision I saw in October 2001, a couple of weeks after 9/11, and a short while before Afghanistan :

I saw some US troops lost and alone in a very dense fog. They were looking for the enemy, peering through the fog. I was overwhelmed by the hopelessness -- the enemy was out there but no one was making contact. After praying for our troops, I asked the Lord how the war on terror would end. He said, "It will end in a truce, and your country will lose a lot of its freedoms."

When I saw the Bin Laden request for a truce a few days ago, I was shocked, remembering the vision of 2001. And freedoms have certainly already been lost, with more to come. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the brave men and women of our armed forces who lay their lives on the line daily to fight physical battles to free Iraq . Many of these soldiers, sailors, and airmen are wonderful fellow Christians, and all of those who serve in the cause of freedom deserve our utmost support.

But this is first and foremost a spiritual war. Success in this war will come through the Spirit, and that has to do with not trusting in chariots and horses but instead walking uprightly before the Lord. We know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces from on high. Terror is indeed demonic, and those who use it are damned except they repent. But let’s return for a moment to the loss of freedoms in this country to illustrate some further spiritual principles which are at work behind the scenes.

What about the wiretap issue and these loss of freedoms -- are they wrong?

Sadly, the Lord showed me that it is like doctors. People need them where there is not faith for healing. So too with legislation of new laws to handle the ever increasing spiritual darkness in the land.

Laws are not for the righteous, we know from I Timothy 1:8-10, and that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.

9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

So the porosity of our borders requires strengthened laws, which jeopardize our freedoms.

But the larger question is this -- why now? What happened to the astonishing security and moutain top international invincibility this nation has enjoyed since the early part of the 1800's up until the 1960’s (when curiously God was largely legislated out of America’s public institutions)?

It should not be surprising that national defense is spiritual before it is physical. God is the military defense of His people for whom He is their only God. When idolatry competes with singular allegiance to Him, then His protective hands are tied. His people go on their own instead of going with God's protection.

I'm not saying God has abandoned this nation. I am simply saying that His national defense blessing is becoming less capable as the Christian faith of our nation slides. The fleshly mind naturally counters with stronger laws to try to offset the increasing threat from enemies -- threats that God used to be able to keep from happening.

Notice what happened to the entire nation of Judah when King Asa purged his land of idolatry -- there was no more war for 35 years.

2 Chronicles 15:8-19
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.
16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel : nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18 And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19 And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

Idolatry, the worship of false gods, does in a nation every time. When King Balak hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel , the prophet's anointing was genuine and he prophesied rightly. But he later gave the formula for Israel 's downfall -- import foreign women who will bring their false gods with them and corrupt Israel 's faith in the true God. While purging the land of idolatry brings God's remarkable blessings for prosperity and national defense, rampant forsaking of God in the pursuit of false gods brings the opposite -- economic and military disaster.

Psalm 106 shows the cycle well. Prosperity brought idols and its attendant interruption of God's blessings. The entire Psalm relates the story, but for brevity, let's look at the last few verses:

Psalm 106:34-45
34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan : and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:
45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

The current dilemma for our nation arises over its embrace of so many pagan gods. Though entirely reversible, nothing is reversing. God waits for His people to repent, and turn from their wicked ways, and He promises to heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14 ). But the land is not healing. It is losing more of its freedoms and its enemies are multiplying. And more laws seem to be needed because more idols are tearing more holes in our cultural fabric.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are child's play compared to what will come if the trend continues. How telling it is that the casinos were among the first of the large businesses restored to New Orleans , and the most prominent milestone for the reconstruction of this city is the return of it’s abased Mardi Gras annual celebration of self-indulgence.

If My people will humble themselves and pray and seek My face......... When was the last time you (and me too) did this for our nation? Our families? Our churches? Our communities?

Catastrophe speaks every language, and every dialect. God longs to show His mercy to a nation that longs for Him. And longing for God of the caliber that moves His heart to heal a land begins with what you and I and our neighbors and communities do at the start of our day on our knees.

May God bless us our nation with the humility of a people desperate for Him,

--Paul Norcross