SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON THE LORD’S FURY AGAINST NINEVAH: HARBINGER FOR A DISSOLUTE AMERICA – (WITH VIDEO)

1. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood He will make a full end of [Nineveh’s very] site and pursue His enemies into darkness.” – NAHUM1:7-8, AMPC

KEY TERM: “FULL END.” ‘Kalah’ [כָּלָ֖ה]: “A completion of destruction; a consummation, total annihilation.” NOTE: “The Hebrew verb ‘kalah’ primarily conveys the idea of bringing something to completion or an end. It can refer to finishing a task, fulfilling a promise, or bringing something to a state of completion. Additionally, it can imply consuming or destroying, often in the context of Divine Judgment or Wrath. The term is used in various contexts, from the completion of work to the consumption of resources or the destruction of enemies.”

“DISSOLUTE.” “1. Loose in behavior and morals; given to vice and dissipation; wanton; lewd; luxurious; debauched; not under the restraints of law; as a dissolute man; dissolute company. 2. Vicious; wanton; devoted to pleasure and dissipation; as a dissolute life.” – NOAH WEBSTER, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828

Such Condition stands the United States of America in stunning Disrepair and Dysfunction to face what lies ahead.

·        THE JEWISH VIEW. “‘We must take sides.’ Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. ‘Sometimes we must interfere.’ When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that Place must – at that Moment – become the Center of the Universe.” ― ELIE WIESEL, The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident, 1972; edited

·        THE CHRISTIAN VIEW. “‘Truth carries with it confrontation.’ Truth demands confrontation: loving confrontation, but confrontation, nevertheless. If our reflex action is always Accommodation regardless of the centrality of the Truth involved, there is something wrong … Where is the clear voice speaking to the crucial issue of the day with distinctly Biblical, Christian answers? With tears we must say it is not there and that a large segment of the Evangelical world has become seduced by the World Spirit of this present Age. We can expect the future to be a further Disaster if the Evangelical world does not take a stand for Biblical Truth and Morality in the full spectrum of life.” – DR. FRANCIS SCHAEFFER, Author, The Great Evangelical Disaster, 1984; edited

• THE SECULAR VIEW. “The Phenomenon we confront is the worldwide equivalent of a forest fire, of ‘The Blitz’ [Germany’s bombing of Great Britain]. We must react accordingly—with that same impulsive solidarity. Or, to restate this idea in terms of the other Metaphor that has threaded through these pages: ‘The only way to defeat the tiny but powerful coalition of meat hogs that is imperiling our whole community is to join together in a far-reaching Egalitarian Coalition and Confront them in unison.’” ― SARAH CHAYES, On Corruption in America: And What Is at Stake,2020; edited

COMMENTARY. “About a hundred years before, at Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites Repented, and were spared, yet, soon after, they became worse than ever. Nineveh knows not that God Who contends with her, but is told what a God He is. It is good for all to mix Faith with what is here said concerning Him, which speaks great Terror to the wicked, and Comfort to believers. Let each take his portion from it:

Let Sinners read it and tremble; and let Saints read it and triumph.

The Anger of the Lord is contrasted with his Goodness to His people. Perhaps they are obscure, and little regarded in the world, but the Lord knows them. The Scripture Character of Jehovah agrees not with the views of Proud Reasoners. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is slow to Wrath and ready to Forgive, but He will by no means acquit the wicked; and there is Tribulation and Anguish for every soul that doeth evil: ‘But who duly regards the Power of His Wrath?’” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

1. TEACHING

The prescient words of the gentle but nonetheless fiery Nonconformist Church leader Matthew Henry hang in the air like a lightning strike: ‘But who duly regards the Power of His Wrath?” Who, indeed, beloved, for we see that there is no longer a Fear of God in His Church. Not even a morsel!

And, why?

‘Because we have dared to Construct our own God, who is much more accommodating than the True One of the Canon.’ One who does not strike fear into our hearts so much as constant, sustained, and a very deadly ‘False Assurance’ that all will be well, no matter our conduct nor our beliefs. ‘Once Saved Always Saved,’ don’t you know, regardless of our private or even our public Insurrections Against both Christ and Canon.

AS WITH NINEVEH. “Nineveh was called a ‘Bloody City’ (3: 1) and a ‘Wicked City’ (3:19), and the Assyrians would be judged for their Idolatry (1:14), Pride (2:13), Murder, Lies, Treachery, and Social Injustice (3:1-19). Nahum predicted that this proud and powerful Nation would be utterly destroyed because of its sins. The end came within 50 years.

In this Judgment of Assyria and its Capital city, Nineveh, God is judging a sinful world. And the Message is clear: ‘Disobedience, Rebellion, and Injustice will not prevail but will be punished severely by the Righteous and Holy God Who rules over all the Earth.’

As you read Nahum, sense God’s Wrath as He avenges Sin and brings about Justice. ‘Then Decide!’ To live under His Guidance and within His Rules, Commands, and Guidelines for life.” –  RONALD A. BEERS, General Editor, Life Application Bible, 2022, p. 1975; edited

Or, Suffer the inevitable and catastrophic Consequences that lie just around the next Bend in America’s Road to Destruction. Selah.

C.S. LEWIS ON OUR GREATEST SIN. “There is One Vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice.

The Vice I am talking of is PRIDE OR SELF-CONCEIT: And the Virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called HUMILITY … According to Christian teachers, the Essential Vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: It was through Pride that the Devil became the Devil: Pride leads to every other Vice:

‘It is the complete Anti-God state of mind.’

Does this seem to you exaggerated? If so, think it over. I pointed out a moment ago that the more Pride one had, the more one disliked Pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off?’ [Ouch!]. The Point is that each person’s Pride is in competition with everyone else’s Pride. It is because I wanted to be the Big Noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise.

Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature—while the other Vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking ‘than others!’ If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is The Comparison that makes you Proud: The Pleasure of being above the rest.

The Christians are right: It is Pride which has been the Chief Cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other Vices may sometimes bring people together: You may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But ‘Pride always means Enmity—it is Enmity. And not only Enmity between man and man, but Enmity to God.’” – Mere Christianity, 1952; edited

And I say it plain, beloved: ‘America is the Proudest Nation on the whole Earth!’

1. “AMERICA FIRST!”

I continue to argue, apparently against the overwhelming Majority of the White Evangelical Church community, that the very essence of Donald Trump’s Call to “‘Make America Great Again” is in severe Violation of the entirety of the Christian Gospel and constitutes the very FIRST SIN OF MANKIND that brought down the entire Cosmic Order.

IDOLATRY! “Then God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship]. 

You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” – EXODUS 20:1-6, AMP

To get us started in our deep dive into this seditious movement spawned by our most famous White Christian Leaders and perfected now under the Dark Shadow of President Donald Trump, we consider the Following Analysis.

ONE: ORIGINS. Many if not most of you know that I am truly fascinated by Causation, based on a SINGLE PRESUPPOSITION: ‘All things (except for God and His Kingdom) have a Beginning, a Middle Course and an End, or a Telos – a completion or consummation of some sort.’

Thus, our First Consideration comes to us from DR. CHRIS GEHRZ (Ph.D. in History, Yale University), professor of history at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he helps direct the Christianity and Western Culture Program. His rich essay is titled, “The Christian History of ‘America First’” (Patheos, Feb. 21, 2017; edited).

• OPEN. “Ever since Donald Trump’s [2017] Inaugural Address, Christian writers have hastened to argue that ‘America First’ is not consistent with our Faith. ‘America First is a perilous policy,’ Griffin Jackson told readers of Relevant, ‘because it is rooted in Self and Selfish Egoism. It is built on the Premise that our needs are more important than your needs, that we’re right to value our own lives more than yours.’ ‘Christ, Not America, First!’ insisted a Sojourners headline.” 

• CATHOLICS. “And it’s not just Progressive Evangelicals. Here’s the Pro-lifeCatholic ethicist Charlie Camosy: ‘President Donald Trump exudes an Ideology of America First. There’s only one problem for Orthodox Christians, however — the Nation may never come first, because in First Place must always be Jesus Christ and his Gospel. In that sense, ‘Trumpism’ is actually a Heresy.’”

• ISOLATIONISM. “I made that argument last month on this very Blog. But while I continue to believe that ‘America First’ as our President seems to mean it is inconsistent with Christian belief and witness, it’s also worth noting that: ‘The Pre-World War II Isolationist Movement that pioneered that phrase actually had considerable support from a wide range of Christians.’”

• ROOTS. “[Most] famous is the America First Committee (AFC), an ideologically diverse group founded in September 1940 by law student R. Douglas Stuart …A member of the Anti-war Yale Christian Association, Stuart’s father and grandfather were both executives at Quaker Oats, a company that plays a key role in Dr. Tim Gloege’s [Ph.D., Notre Dame] history of ‘Corporate Evangelicalism.’” NOTE:Dr. Gloege makes a strong case for White Evangelicalism and Free Market Capitalism growing up “symbiotically” in American history. I agree!

• PACIFISM. “I have abhorrence for Hitlerism, loathing for Stalinism, sympathy for the valiant people of Britain and for the victims of aggression everywhere. I have sympathy, likewise, for the common masses in every land including those of Germany, Italy and Soviet Russia because they are the helpless victims of the tragedy of war. ‘But I have devotion to America and to our own people First of all. I believe that Patriotism, like Charity, begins at Home.’” – Catholic priest-scholar John A. O’Brien, Radio Address, August 1941; edited

• ANTI-SEMITISM. “More problematic was AFC’s connection with another Catholic priest, Charles Coughlin. Via his radio pulpit and his Anti-Semitic newspaper, Social Justice, Father Coughlin opposed American participation in a war that he blamed on an ‘Anti-Christian Conspiracy of Jews, Communists, and the Roosevelt administration.’”

• FASCISM. “In the end, the person who did the most to associate the America First Committee with anti-Semitism was its most famous spokesman. Charles Lindbergh had little use for organized religion himself, but like many in the America First Movement, he saw his Homeland as a Bastion of ‘Christian Civilization’ — one whose chief threat was Communism.”

• HYPER-PATRIOTISM. “I am heart-whole in my agreement with the Committee on the matter of keeping America out of the War, and will go to any length to further the great work which the committee is doing on this score … I adopt as my own the Slogan of your Committee, which I take to be in its fullest expression, ‘Defend America First!’ … In the face of an incalculable future, the United States should make herself strong enough ‘within her own boundaries’ to defend the treasures of her civilization against whatever shapeless uncertainties lie hidden from her present view.” – Christian Century editor Charles Clayton Morrison, May, October, 1941; edited

• RESISTANCE. “Morrison’s opposition to intervention helped prompt the Neo-Orthodox theologian Reinhold Niebuhr to found a new Protestant magazine in 1941. In the pages of Christianity and Crisis, he and other contributors articulated a ‘Christian Case Against a Neutrality predicated on either National Self-Interest or Religious Idealism. For example, in an early issue (June 16, 1941) he attacked the America First Committee — and the Christian Pacifists who gave it moral cover.”

• HUBRIS. “One of the main planks in the America First Platform is that we must rely purely upon our own resources … We know of no religion which throws any light upon such strategic questions. In so far as there are moral implications in this problem of strategy: ‘We should have thought that a policy which emphasizes that we are “Members of one another,” would be a little nearer to a Gospel Ethic than one which rests upon American Pride!’”

• CONCLUSION. “‘It is necessary for us who do not agree with this Program not only to EXPRESS OUR OPINION that it represents Bad Politics, but also that it is derived from Bad Religion. The political confusions in it arise from Religious Illusions.’ This is the Final Fruit of a theological movement which thinks that the Kingdom of God is a simple extension of human history and that men may progress from the one to the other at any time if they have become sufficiently courageous, pure and self-less. ‘All such Illusions finally end in Disaster. Communist Utopianism ends in the sorry realities of Stalinism and this Liberal-Christian Utopianism ends by giving the dubious politics of ‘America First’ the sanctity of the Sermon on the Mount.’”

1. LAST THOUGHTS

SYNCRETISM. “In a Biblical context, Syncretism refers to the blending of religious beliefs and practices, particularly the incorporation of elements from other religions into the worship of the true God. This can involve worshiping idols alongside Yahweh, adopting Pagan rituals, or compromising Biblical Truths to accommodate foreign doctrines. The Bible often warns against Syncretism, emphasizing the importance of worshipping only the true God and remaining faithful to His revealed Word.” – AI Overview, ret. April 22, 2025; edited

What we may conclude from this brief Historical Perspective is that “AN AMERICAN GOSPEL” has been cobbled together for centuries, actually, from such Root Systems as: Capitalism, Hedonism and its ideological sibling, Epicureanism, Dominionism, Radical Individualism, Pacifism, and even Paganism.

Though a controversial figure, I still prefer the Distinctions that DR. DAVID PLATT offers us between ‘The American Gospel,’ and the true, ‘Biblical Gospel.’

“‘The American Gospel’ is a Message that prioritizes comfort, power, politics, and prosperity in our country over and above the Words and Ways of Jesus. ‘The Biblical Gospel’ is a Message that does the exact opposite: It exalts Jesus over and above comfort, power, politics, and prosperity. The Biblical Gospel transcends countries and cultures. It calls people to live for a far Higher Purpose than the preservation or even promotion of any one Nation. It calls people to live—and die—in order to love and lead people to Jesus. All around the world, people are making great sacrifices to follow this Gospel—some whose stories I share in the book. God is calling us in the United States to sacrifice in the same way, to believe that the reward of following Jesus wholeheartedly is far better than anything this world has to offer.” – “Renouncing the American Gospel,” Publisher’s Weekly, February 22, 2023; edited

CODA. Against this rich Scriptural Backdrop, I could not think of a better finish to our conversation than that of JAMES THE APOSTLE: “Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.” – VV. 1;27, AMP

It is the stunning and incontrovertible OPPOSITE of the insidious ‘America First False Gospel,’ beloved. Let us therefore spread this Message and no other in the days left to us. Before Darkness comes, when no one can anymore work.

Selah.

MEDIA

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/WYgYg5AxdBk