NOTES ON GOD’S ABANDONMENT OF AMERICA: REAPING THE WHIRLWIND AT THE END OF 120 YEARS

SCRIPTURE. “Now when Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah [‘no mercy’], she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, ‘Name him Lo-Ammi (not my people), for you are not My people and I am not your God.’” – HOSEA 1:8-9, AMP

KEY TERMS. Conceived; Lo-Ammi

QUOTATIONS

“God’s patience is lengthy, but it is not endless. God, with great patience, waited for Repentance in the Days of Noah, but His patience didn’t last forever. The Flood came in Judgment. Later in Genesis, God told Abraham there would be judgment on the godless Canaanites, but it would be delayed because ‘their sin had not yet reached its full measure.’ Although God pronounces judgment, He often allows time before He activates that judgment—but ‘He will not leave the guilty unpunished’ [Nahum 1:3].” – DAWN WILSON, Bible Study Tools, Aug. 10, 2022; edited

¡Se acabó! This phrase was virtually shouted to me early one morning in June 2021, as I was about to launch my very first Circuit Ride out West. I heard this in an almost audible voice from the Holy Spirit, and it was to become the overall ‘Purpose of Warning to the Church’ that I would continue to carry out to this day and into the future. At a more literal level, the translation of the Spanish phrase into English is: “It’s over!” And just what is “over”? The Church Age. Now, very nearly done. – CLIFFORD “DK” KELLY, June 2021, Colorado Springs, CO

1. THE PATIENCE OF JOB

Most of us have heard and perhaps even views that frequently repeated phrase, “The Patience of Job” (cf. James 5:11). But for the life of me beloved, I have never understood this as an accurate description of Job’s conduct over the length of time he suffered under catastrophic affliction that was, by the way, permitted by, if not engineered by God Himself. Though it was the Devil doing the dirty work on a Divine Wager concerning Job’s faithfulness to his Lord.

Selah. Yeah, I know.

My point is, Job vacillated greatly from initially honoring the Lord’s sovereignty in the first couple of chapters, to Chapter 3 forward, he rises and falls up and down from behavior that accused God of being unfair, to relenting a bit and then back to complaining bitterly over his plight.

 Consider the following passage as illustration.

“After this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day.And Job spake, and said, ‘Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, “There is a man child conceived.” Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.’” – JOB 3:1-7, KJV

Doesn’t sound very patient to me, to be perfectly frank. In fact, he sounds a lot like me when I come under the blows of life, and to that extent, I am glad for the honesty of the Text here. Still, most theologians go all all mushy over this man’s life and response to the harshness of his circumstances.

I don’t, and here’s why.

I was delighted to discover a superb essay on this subject by a feisty Methodist pastor named RANDY BURBANK, in an essay entitled, appropriately: “The Not-At-All Patience of Job!” (Kingdom Pastor, Dec. 10, 2019; edited).

“OK, I’m ready for the blast from the fundamentalists, churchians, tenured pew sitters and all those others who ‘think they know the Bible but only know what they’ve been told.’ Have you ever believed something to be true, but it’s not really true? Case in point: Have you heard about ‘The Patience Of Job?’ Many say, ‘Job teaches us HOW to be patient.’

Granted, chapters 1 and 2 can be seen as Job being patient, but as the late Paul Harvey would say, ‘Now, for the rest of the story.’ To keep this from being extra-long, I’ll just give you some examples:

• Chapter 3–He wishes he had been a stillborn infant, better yet, not even born.
• Chapter 6–It’s all God’s fault!
• Chapter 7–He has a death wish, and after he dies, God won’t know where he is, in essence, God will soon forget about him.
• Chapter 9–God doesn’t care if I’m guilty or innocent.
• Chapter 10–God made me and now He wants to crush me!
• There’s more – read it for yourself.

I honestly can’t see how anyone can tell me, ‘You need to have the patience of Job!’ My response will always be … Job is depressed, discouraged, and angry at God. ‘Yet’ [a very big ‘Yet’], with all that depression, discouragement and anger at God–‘He cries out TO and FOR God.’ I mean, if you thought someone intentionally hurt you, would you turn to them to help heal those wounds? I didn’t think you would. Yet Job turns to the ONE He thought caused all of his suffering. So, what’s the great lesson Job does teach us? …

‘Job teaches us the value and power of faithfulness.’ In PHILLIP YANCEY’S book Where Is God When It Hurts? [1997, he] gives the best definition ofFaithfulnessI’ve ever heard. ‘Faithfulness is crying out to God when everything inside you tells you to let go!’ Job had every logical reason possible to just let go and walk away from God. But he didn’t! Why? I think it was because somehow, ‘Job still trusted God.’ He didn’t understand what was happening to him; he just thought he saw God was the Cause behind it all. Yet Job somehow knew that if he was ever to be made whole again, it would happen in the presence of God.”

Do you see it, friends? I’ve told you before and I’ll say it until I have no more breath (nor ink) – ‘True Holiness,’ or “True Spirituality” as DR. FRANCIS SCHAEFFER called it in his book of the same name (1971), is all about this: ‘STAYING TRUE to Christ and Canon no matter what.’ Please remember this for the days that lie ahead.

1. THE PATIENCE OF GOD

There is this idea popular across very nearly the entire landscape of the American Church that God’s patience never, ever ends. That His grace is extended and is never exhausted, and that along with these dangerously erroneous doctrinal presuppositions, Christians can pretty much count everything that they do and say as being securely “under the blood of Jesus” for both posterity and eternity.

Bunk!

While I promise you I will not again deep dive into the utter barrenness of Hyper-grace Christianity, I will say this much. God’s Fidelity to us is Reciprocal: He requires ‘sustained, respectful obedience’ from us in order for Him to honor the many promises and benefits of Christianity that are guaranteed in His sacred Covenant with us. Period!

A concise little commentary, or devotional actually, on this important matter was published by Ligonier Ministries on January 18, 2013, by their EDITORIAL STAFF. It wonderfully balances the theological equation for us in brief.

“God is certainly gracious. He is rich in kindness, forbearance, and patience, which is why He does not bring an immediate end to all sinners (Rom. 2:4). In fact, He often gives people, especially members of His Covenant community, many chances to repent. During the Old Covenant, He even sent prophets to warn Israel of its impending doom and the discipline that was coming if the people continued in their sin. These oracles of judgment were words of grace, for the Lord could have brought His Wrath to bear on the Israelites without any advance notice. But He compelled prophets to speak His Word that the Covenant people might turn from evil (Amos 3:1–8).

We often escape the discipline we are due because of God’s kindness. Nevertheless, we walk on thin ice when we think we can presume upon His kindness and patience. ‘After all, the Lord’s patience toward sinners will run out eventually’ (Rom. 2:4–5; 2 Peter 3:8–10). This is what the Northern Kingdom of Israel needed to hear in the eighth century BC, and this is the Word Amos gives in Amos 4 …

‘Hear this word, you cows [women] of Bashan who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring and let us drink!” The Lord God has sworn by His holiness that behold, the days shall come upon you when they shall take you away with hooks and the last of you with fishhooks. And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city’s wall], every [woman] straight before her, and you shall be cast forth into Harmon [an unknown place of exile],’ says the Lord.” – AMOS 4:1-4, AMP

The article concludes by pointing out so presciently that “zealous worship” would not in fact give them a pass for oppressing the poor (vv. 4–5). Amos reminded Israel, as with today’s Church, that God had long been showing His ire toward the people through famines, droughts, disease, crises of all kinds and more (vv. 6–11). But Israel took none of these warnings seriously, and ‘its time was running out’ (vv. 12–13).

I cannot accurately recall how many times I have ended a Commentary or interspersed it with that same dire phrase: “Time is almost gone!” Yet I get precisely the same response from the Church as Amos got from the Israelites thousands of years ago: Silence or Ridicule.

Turns out Solomon was right: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9).

THE POINT. The Lord’s patience is not in fact inexhaustible. Not because it couldn’t be, but that would neither be just nor righteous. God is many things, not the least of which is both loving and fair to those who choose iniquity and violation of the Covenant as over against obedience and fearful reverence for Him.

In Sum: You take God’s mercy for granted long enough and defiantly enough, and you forfeit all His promises. All of them, forever. Selah.

1. THE TEMPLATE OF NOAH

“Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless ‘his days shall yet be a hundred and twenty years.’” – GENESIS 6:3, AMP

Of course this passage has been interpreted in as many ways as there are interpreters over the centuries, but I once again choose the more literal, the more obvious, the more conservative theological perspective. Here it is summarized nicely by JOSEPH BENSON.

“‘My spirit shall not always strive with man — The Spirit then strove by Noah’s preaching, 1 Peter 3:19, and by inward checks, but ‘it was in vain with the most of men;’ therefore, saith God, He shall ‘not always strive, for that he (man) also is flesh’ — Incurably corrupt and sensual, so that it is labour lost to strive with him. ‘He also;’ that is, ‘all,’ one as well as another; they are all sunk into the mire of flesh. 

‘Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years’ — So long will I defer the Judgment they deserve, and give them space to prevent it by their Repentance and Reformation. Justice said, ‘Cut them down!’ but Mercy interceded: ‘Lord, let them alone this year also;’ and so far Mercy prevailed, that ‘a reprieve was obtained for six-score years;’ and during this time Noah was preaching righteousness to them, and, to assure them of the Truth of His Doctrine, was preparing The Ark.” – Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

DK’S TAKE. As all humanity knows by now, however, The End of it was anything but successful from a human perspective. Indeed, the roughly 750 million to 1 billion inhabitants of the earth at that time were all killed. Save for the eight in Noah’s family who were obedient to build and get on board the Ark of Safety.

Based on the Noahic Template above, here is an extended quotation from the Prelude to my upcoming book, ‘Sixth Seal II: A Pre-Wrath Commentary Redux on the Rise of Trump Nationalism and the Decline of the American Order, 2017-2021’ (Christian Faith Publishing, Summer 2023).

“Just over ten years ago [2010], University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of history ALFRED W. MCCOY predicted the End of the American Century, written long before the Advent of Trump Nationalism was even a whisper on the political landscape. McCoy offers this chilling prognostication.

‘A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don’t bet on it. The Demise of the United States as the Global Superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that in 2025, just 15 years from now, it could all be over except for the shouting’” (“The Decline and Fall of the American Empire,” The Nation, December 6, 2010; edited).

Admittedly, this is only one of literally hundreds, if not thousands of scholarly predictions of what British historian PAUL JOHNSON in 1983 called part of the West’s Great Dégringolade, or, rapid deterioration in condition, in his landmark book, Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s. What follows as a vital contextual definition is a Brief Chronology of American History ‘from 1900 to 2020 (120 Years)’— in my view the Period of Last Warnings for our nation, based on Genesis 6 cited earlier.”

If I am correct, God, America and History as we have known them all our lives are about to very likely come to a Violent Terminus in the years just ahead of us. And, with Professor McCoy, I suggest strongly that its Ignition will very likely occur on JANUARY 20, 2025 – The Presidential Inauguration Day.

Selah.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Now when Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah [‘no mercy’], she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, ‘Name him Lo-Ammi (not my people), for you are not My people and I am not your God.’” – HOSEA 1:8-9, AMP

As is our practice, we next deep dive into the KEY CONCEPTS that drive and define this very important passage.

• CONCEIVED. From ‘Harah’ [הָרָה]: “To be or become pregnant; to be with child; progenitor; to receive into the womb, and breed; to begin the formation of the embryo or fetus of animal; to think; to have a conception or idea.” DK. In a more general sense, it indicates ‘an Origin’ of something.

• LO-AMMI. Literally [עַמִּי]: “‘Not My people;’ symbolic name of Hosea’s son; more specifically, it is the name of the third-born son of the prophet Hosea by the harlot Gomer (Hos 1:8–9); by God’s command, the prophetic name was given to the boy to signify that the Lord was rejecting the people of Israel in their sinful state. God gives the reason for the name: ‘Because these people are not mine, and I am not their God’” (Hosea 1:9).”

COMMENTARY. “‘She conceived and bare a son’ – According to Kimchi, as the weaning of Loruhamah points at the times of weakness, from Zachariah the son of Jeroboam to the times of Pekahiah, when the reigns were short and troublesome; so this son conceived and born ‘represents the state of the nation’ in the times of Pekah; who reigned twenty years, and was too powerful for the Kingdom of Judah, slew multitudes of them, and carried others captive, and assisted Rezin king of Syria against Ahaz king of Judah … The Targum is, ‘And the generation of them who are carried captive among the nations are found not to have obtained mercy by their works, but they added and did evil works.’” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK.  For the sake of clarity and necessary alarm, permit me to focus on Mr. Gill’s concluding remarks from the Targum (i.e., an ancient Aramaic paraphrase or original interpretation of the Hebrew Bible; the Tenakh).

“And the generation of them who are carried captive among the nations are found not to have obtained mercy by their works, but they added and did evil works.”

To be blunt: This is a massive point for application to today’s American Church. When a group or nation of God’s people is rebellious enough for a long enough period of time – 120 years in Noah’s generation, 40 years in Hosea’s times – God’s mercy ends!

There is then no longer a Period of Grace for Repentance. Or as I began this essay with that Word I clearly heard in June 2021:

¡Se acabó!

As I will try to make indelibly clear in the final section of this Commentary, I believe that America has run up against a Divine Declaration of Judgment that will, without massive and public Repentance by the Church and her Leaders, be fully engaged. To the very extinction of America as we have known her for the past 250 years.

Selah.

• LAST THOUGHTS

THESIS. My Prediction concerning America and her now largely Apostate Church and State is summarized thus: Beginning at the turn of the century in 1900, America began to abandon in earnest her spiritual roots, depending increasingly upon the gods of this world including, Technology, Money, Power, and Pleasure. This seismic trend exploded in the 1920s and in the 1960s more intensely than ever before, and by the 2020s, our 120 years of the Lord’s patience came to an end.

The Rise of Donald trump’s Christian Nationalism Movement marked the Terminus of this 120-years of accelerating American Decline, the Great Falling Away of the Church, and the subsequent Embrace of Antichrist.

THE RESULT: America is now on her own.

As Dr. Gill chillingly outlined for us above, we no longer have God’s favor or cover or instruction or compassion because: We have abandoned Him and His Law. Indeed, the majority of the Church and her attendant seminaries have decided that Law is no longer necessary under the seditious doctrine of Hyper-grace. Therefore, we are headed for complete destruction, even to the extent of fulfilling the Prophecies of Mystery Babylon as recounted in the Book of Revelation.

Consider the ramifications if we are The Babylon of Revelation 18-19, as DAVID WILKERSON concluded nearly 40 years ago in, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth (1985).

“I believe Modern Babylon is Present-Day America, including its corrupt society and its whorish Church System. No other nation on earth fits the description in Revelation 18 but America, the world’s biggest fornicator with the merchants of all nations.

America is going to be destroyed by fire! Sudden destruction is coming, and few will escape. Unexpectedly, and in one hour, a hydrogen holocaust will engulf America—and this nation will be no more. It is because America has sinned against the Greatest Light. Other nations are just as sinful, but none are as flooded with Gospel Light as ours. God is going to judge America for its violence, its crimes, its backslidings, its murdering of millions of babies, its flaunting of homosexuality and sadomasochism, its corruption, its drunkenness and drug abuse, its form of godliness without power, its Lukewarmness toward Christ, its rampant divorce and adultery, its lewd pornography, its child molestations, its cheatings, its robbings, its dirty movies, and its occult practices. ‘In one hour, it will all be over.’”

Now that’s a lot to digest, isn’t it? It’s not what we hear from our Pastors these days, is it? It is in stunning even violent contrast to the American Gospel of today that suggests that no matter how difficult things are, it’s always going to get better because – We’re Americans, and we are highly favored!

“A Great Revival is coming!” No, beloved, it is not.

THEN CAME TRUMP. The gripping reality here is that Mr. Wilkinson was writing about the America of today nearly 40 years ago. This was long before ‘the Advent,’ and I choose that word carefully, of Donald John trump upon the American political scene. Since he descended that golden elevator at Trump Tower in June of 2015, Two Things have remained unchanged since he arrived on scene:

One: He has remained at the top of the American News Cycle nearly every day, an admitted goal for a pathological narcissist. Two, he has changed America forever; we shall never, ever be the same, no matter who takes office in January 2025 – nearly exactly 40 years since Wilkerson’s Prophecy.

Consider a savvy and shocking report from Politico just out (March 31, 2023), entitled, “The Data’s Clear: The Indictment Makes Republicans Like Trump More.” Yep. His Base (Republicans, Evangelical Christians, business leaders, farmers, the working class, military and police members, QAnons, the American militia) are now rallying to his defense.

Senior Campaigns and Elections Editor STEVEN SHEPARD writes of the details.

“There were a number of public surveys conducted in the lead up to the indictment. And they all show a similar story. The indictment of former President Donald Trump is likely to deliver a temporary boost to him in the GOP primary — but at the expense of his standing among the broader electorate that will ultimately decide whether he returns to the White House. That’s according to recent polling conducted prior to Thursday’s news of Trump’s indictment …

[But] There is one message for Trump defenders that is resonating: Just because Americans don’t think Trump isn’t the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ doesn’t mean they don’t think politics is a factor at all. In the Quinnipiac poll, ‘62 percent of respondents said the district attorney’s case is mainly motivated by politics,’including 93 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents. Fewer than a third, 32 percent, said the case is mainly motivated by the law.”

So does The Martyrdom Candidacy of Donald Trump continue to rise and proliferate among many Americans, Churchgoers and his Base.

CODA. So, what does all this mean for both the Church and the American Presidency on November 5 for the 60^th Quadrennial presidential election of 2024? In three words: A great deal. And here are THREE PROBABLES that I see as nearly inevitable, if current spiritual and political trajectories hold steady.

1. A MORAL REFERENDUM. Although my personal opinion is that God has already decided to issue Final Judgment against America and the Church since there isn’t even a whisper of Repentance among Christians today. And yes, that most certainly includes the so-called Asbury Revival of 2023. I see the Election next year, as I have written earlier, as America’s Rubicon: i.e., ‘The Point of No Return.’ If Trump – up 17 points over a badly stumbling Gov. DeSantis – is reelected, as I fully expect, we are finished as a Republic. I see no other possibility.

• CIVIL WAR. Without question, The Fracturing in American Society today runs deeper by the hour. Both sides lining up pretty much intractably, with the “Wheat and the Tares” rapidly redefining the Spiritual and Political Landscape more starkly than ever before, including the First Civil War Era. No fewer than seven leading intellectual centers believe it is a distinct possibility, if not inevitable, unless both sides lower their shields: The Brookings Institute; University of Chicago; New York Times; Boston University; The Guardian; Time Magazine; and NPR. Significantly, NPR’s JOHN BURNETT points most of the blame on the Maga Christian Nationalists who are itching for that war – “To Make America Great Again” – once and for all! (“All Things Considered,” Jan. 23, 2022).

• INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT. As America destabilizes more and more radically and violently, the entire World Order is impacted even more than it is today. In my informal “Street Interviews” with both members of the military and police forces here in Colorado, I asked them which theater of war was the most likely next one to explode: China and Taiwan; Russia and Ukraine; Israel and the Middle East. Every single military member – both officers and enlisted – predicted The South China Sea. But, of course, no one can know an of this for certain, but clearly, “The Drums of War” grow louder as America’s Linchpin Role in the family of nations deteriorates.

All of this because America, led by Apostate Church, have both rejected God one time too many. As a consequence, our Prime Mission for Christ in these Last Hours are found recorded in the BOOK 0F JUDE:

‘Rescue’ of as many as we can from The Fire before the Rapture occurs at the End of The Church Age, as recorded at the Opening of the Sixth Seal in the Book of Revelation, igniting God’s Wrath and the Seven Year Tribulation. – cf. Jude 1:20-22; Rev. 6:12-17

CODICIL. Now for the Hard Reality: Given these nearly uncontrollable forces at work here in America and abroad, I envision The Decade of the 2020s, as our Final Opportunity to change course – or enter fully into “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.”

Trim your lamps. Get your house in order. Love your neighbor. Prepare for hardship. Most importantly: Never, ever, ever compromise either Christ or Canon for any reason – on your life! Selah.

Ever your servant, DK

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