America's Spiritual Condition

It is now clear that the Iraqi people's concern about America is well founded. They have said all along that America plans to remain in Iraq and dominate its government, as it has done in so many other countries in the past. President Bush has stated that American troops will not remain in Iraq one day longer than necessary, implying that America has no intention of keeping troops there. But the President has now dropped this from his rhetoric.

The word is now out that America is building at least 14 PERMANENT military bases in Iraq. You may see their locations, their names, and a little about them at:

http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm

I heard of these at least three years ago, but had no further details. People questioned back then the President's statements, based on this information. Why would we be building so many permanent military bases if we intended to leave shortly? No, we never had any intention of leaving, at least not any time soon.

President Bush actually told the American people that we would be fighting this war for "generations." Few people really took that seriously and most people immediately forgot that he even made the statement. I didn't forget, because I heard him make the statement on national television. I saw immediately that this "War on Terror" was actually going to turn into World War III. It was a never-ending war--and this led to the next big question: Would the American people be able to fight a never-ending war? Hardly. History shows that four years seems to be the limit of our patience and endurance.

I believe that we got into Iraq specifically to turn it into a major American military base which would not only control Iraq, but also give us a base of operations in a future attack against Iran. We used Al Quaeda as an excuse to invade Iraq, even though Saddam Hussein considered Al Quaeda to be an enemy and would not allow them to operate in his country.

The President of Iran is said to believe that a conflict between Iran and America is inevitable as well. But he comes from the Islamic position that is similar to the evangelical position about Armageddon--which also seems to be held by President Bush. Both leaders seem to be itching for a fight to prove the other's religion wrong. Both are driven by religious beliefs that are wrong, but have to be proven wrong by a catastrophe before either one will admit it.

It is said that many times prophecy is self-fulfilling. That is, people believe prophecy says something, so they go about trying to make it happen. Whenever they do this, they may succeed (if the time is right), but the success turn to ashes in their mouths. Nothing turns out like they think, because their carnal minds and blind eyes do not see all the hidden factors.

If you have read my booklet, The 1986 Vision of the Two Gulf Wars, you know that I also believe that we are coming to a final conflict. In the vision, I saw two "bears," and the angel identified them as two "beasts of war." The first was fulfilled to the letter in 1990-1991, which we know as Gulf War I. That first "bear" was released during Ramadan in May of 1988.

The second "bear" was released on September 11, 2001. The purpose of this second "bear" is ultimately to destroy Jerusalem. Because it was called to "devour much flesh" (as the angel said, quoting Dan. 7:5), it specifically involves the Persian Bear. So Afghanistan was just the excuse to get us into the Middle East. Iraq was the trap to keep us there, for now we cannot leave without creating another major disaster. Iran is the real key to this conflict, and when that conflict begins, it will not end before Jerusalem is destroyed.

Let me say also that because of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the people demanded that the President go to war. I often heard statements like "Someone is going to have to pay for this" and "We have to go kill someone for this." The people would have been angry if President Bush did NOT go to war. So it seems a bit hypocritical for the people today to be demanding that we get out of Iraq.

The American people want a lot of "nice little wars" which are short wars that we can win. They do not mind going to war, even if it is unjust, as long as it has been justified by propaganda and patriotism. They just don't like losing. And this attitude is most prevalent among Christians. We need to change our spiritual principles.

God has caused our leaders to shoot themselves in the foot, because it is God's intention to judge America along with many other nations. Even before America attacked Iraq in 2003, I wrote that we would have no problem conquering the Iraqi forces, but that we would have problems winning the peace. When we disbanded the Iraqi army and took full responsibility for the peace and security of the nation, I knew immediately that this too was a big mistake. It was a huge blunder to send all those Iraqi troops home with their weaponry to be used against us later. Many military men knew this, but the Rumsfeld Pentagon did not.

Is it not God who has caused our wise men to become fools? Should this not tell us that God is not fighting on our side, but is leading us into disaster? The longer this goes on, the greater the disaster in the end.

Of course, the ultimate purpose of God in all of this is to cause America to repent. Particularly, the Christians in America. But today, the Christians form the bulk of support for the war. They are the 30% of Americans who support the President no matter what--because the preachers are telling them that they can hasten Christ's return by pushing us into Armageddon. No matter that millions and even billions are expected to die. As long as they get raptured before it happens, they don't care about the rest of the world.

For all their talk, they don't really even care about the Jews. They raise money to pay air fare for non-Christian Jews to immigrate to the Israeli state, while believing fervently that only 144,000 of them will survive this Armageddon. Let's see--if there are about 30 million Jews in the world today, and only 144,000 of them survive, that's less than a half of one percent survival rate. Yet Christians continue to send more Jews into the jaws of death, claiming to love God's chosen people! There is a strange blindness that prevents them from knowing what they are doing.

Why? All in the name of hastening Christ's return, essentially forcing His hand. That is the Judas Factor. The tactic didn't work for Judas when he betrayed Christ the first time. Jesus remained on the cross, and Judas felt so awful about it that he hanged himself. What will the Church do this time around when they find that their little Judas plot did not work out as planned?

I don't mean to be harsh, but this is the harsh reality. How can the Church repent, if it does not know how to repent? To repent does not just mean to feel bad or to grovel before God. It means to change one's mind, change one's thinking, to go in a different direction.

I am only one small voice in a very big wilderness, and I realize that it is like shouting into the hurricane. But hopefully, a few will hear and will understand. There is still time to get off the Judas bandwagon. Those who do repent will not be replaced as rulers in the age to come (Acts 1:20), but will be as the other disciples, who lived to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and who were called to administer the Spirit to the rest of the world.