When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they established a Colony based upon Christian ideals. They had come primarily to enjoy freedom of conscience so that they could worship God according to the biblical principles that they had learned through the Scriptures given to them by the Protestant Reformation.

But they were not the only Colony. Earlier in 1607 the Virginia Colony had been established. While it too was largely Christian, its primary purpose was economic prosperity. This was made plain in its first year, when gold was discovered nearby. The Colonists nearly starved that first year, because they neglected their crops in search of gold.

These two Colonies had two different goals, ideals, and dreams. One was to worship God first and foremost; the other was to worship gold and--by the way--God, insofar as He did not interfere with their search for wealth. In later years, when these leading Colonies merged into one nation, the new United States became a double-minded nation. The American dreams were: (1) to establish the Kingdom of God; and (2) a chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage, prosperity, and home ownership.

After we gained our independence in the late 1700's, a great many idealistic sermons were preached about our national purpose and destiny. Most of them set forth the belief that this new nation was the fifth Kingdom, the Stone Kingdom, prophesied by the prophet Daniel. We were destined to smash the Babylonian image on its feet and bring "liberty and justice for all" to the whole world. Europe was hopelessly entrenched in monarchies and feudalism, but the United States had shed those despotic ideas.

But a nation is only as good as its people. There was no way to keep non-Christians from immigrating here. There was no way to keep out those Protestants who believed in monarchies and religious hierarchies. There was no way to keep out Catholics who fervently believed in the principles of religious monarchy. The institution of slavery and Southern Aristocracy had spread from the Virginia Colony throughout the Southern states. As time passed, it became more firmly entrenched. The Northern Colonies were forced to compromise their Kingdom ideals in order to have an independent nation at all.

These problems, based upon compromise, did not go away. They only got larger. They finally led to Civil War in the 1860's. Slavery was forcibly eradicated, but the law was weak in that it could not change men's hearts. The bitter experience of war changed the dominant attitude toward black people from racial inferiority to racial hatred. It took another century before President Johnson took the next step in passing Civil Rights legislation in another attempt to rectify what had been left undone in the 1860's.

Meanwhile, in the 1800's the northern churches also lost their biblical basis and began to imbibe the Transcendentalist principles of Emerson, Thoreau, and others. It was based upon morality without God, a "de-mythologized" Christianity. It was based on the optimistic view that man could become good without a personal relationship with God. It soon became nothing more than religious hypocrisy.

So God dealt with both problems. In the early 1900's, we became a secular nation that repudiated the Creator as the Originator of all human rights, as declared in the Declaration of Independence. This gave the North the secularized religion that they desired. Secondly, God gave the South their desire for prosperity through the Federal Reserve Act.

The 20th century was thus characterized by our captivity and integration as citizens of Mystery Babylon. In 1948 the Church gave up its last hope to establish the Kingdom of God by applauding the establishment of the Zionist state called "Israel." By this, the evangelical churches placed the burden of establishing God's Kingdom upon non-Christians in the Israeli state. It tacitly gave its approval to the terrorist practices of Shamir, Begin, and others. Zionist terrorism was rewarded by recognition and foreign aid. As Church support increased, our government matched it. By 1967 this terrorist state had obtained nuclear weapons, and now the United States had no choice but to supply it with conventional weapons to prevent them from using their nuclear weapons.

But, of course, it was only a matter of time before Arab states would obtain the same nuclear weapons. Thus, the world was on a collision course, which we are only now beginning to appreciate fully. I have said for twenty years that since Persia overthrew ancient Babylon, so also would modern Persia (Iran) be instrumental in the overthrow of Mystery Babylon that currently rules us.

The United States can trace its history back to the ancient house of Israel. Though some would glory in this, there is a dark side to it as well. The house of Israel was divinely judged for its worship of the golden calf (1 Kings 12:28). Our nation is no better than they, nor has God changed His opinion of the golden calves. His law is certainly the same, and the results of sin will always be judged equally.

Thus, our nation, for all of its early idealism, and for all of its partial success, has nonetheless failed to bring the Kingdom of God into the earth. This failure ought not to be a surprise, for it is deja vu all over again. So we may ask: "Have the promises of God failed?" No, they have not failed. All of this failure was prophesied from the beginning. We may say again with the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:7,

⁷ What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeks for; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

If you want to be one of the "elect," that is, one who is chosen to bring the Kingdom of God into the earth--if you aspire to fulfill the call of Abraham to be a BLESSING to all families of the earth--you cannot possibly achieve this by claiming American citizenship or even by being a descendant of the ancient house of Israel. As nations, they have already failed. Even the Church itself has failed. Pentecost has failed, even as King Saul failed--though he was crowned on the day of "wheat harvest" (Pentecost) and was a type of the Church under Pentecost (1 Sam. 12:17).

God is raising up a new body of people, followers of David, rather than of Saul. These are the overcomers. These aspire to go beyond Pentecost and attain the promise of the feast of Tabernacles. These aspire to become manifested sons of God, whom God will send out to dispense the divine blessings to the world in fulfillment of Genesis 12:3.

These will be sent out wearing the shoes of the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15). I believe God will send them out with the power of God that will be greater than what was seen in the book of Acts. However, no man will need to be afraid of them, because they, like Jesus, will be as powerful as lions, but they will have the heart of lambs.

The Birthright will soon be given to them, as soon as Esau has fully proven himself to be unworthy. Though the world is now a dangerous place, there is no genuine reason to fear. Have faith in the promises of God, for they will surely be fulfilled.