Friends,

This is indeed a season of identification, and the choice of either hardening one’s heart, or pressing into repentance. Murder is one of the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5: 19-21. Whenever I read this, it seems like a family reunion! The division in this nation and in the Body of Christ is problematic in that we are basing our truth, not on the Word of God, but on the desire of the flesh to supersede The Absolute Truth with the convenience of fitting into a culture that is hostile and increasingly “Reichish”.

The only requirement to fit our New World Order is to love evil and hate righteousness—you are then washed, not in the Blood of the Lamb, but in the blood of the Abortion Holocaust and the millions of young people being turned to God-hate and perversion by the system.

Chaplains can’t mention the Name of Jesus or even God in some cases. All things Moslem are accepted, while all things even faintly Christian are despised and mocked. We are standing insanely in shaking sand, drinking murky poisoned water, cursing the Rock holding out His Everlasting Arms, and heralding our own ability to buy our way out of trouble.

You see, our national moral and spiritual bankruptcy is manifesting naturally. A crisis of identification has come and I fear the people of God are crying out, “We have no king but Caesar!” and also, “Give us Barabbas!” Since my conversion to Jesus in 1977, I have known the Latter Days would be like the days of His Birth, the licentiousness of the debauched Roman Empire. Life was cheap and men fought to the death for entertainment; abortion and infanticide were epidemic.

You might read “The Third Time Around”—by George Grant. One of the main contributing factors of beginning persecution against Christians in the Roman system was their rescue of infants that were thrown outside city gates to perish. Suicide and euthanasia were enobled under the philosophy of Roman culture as well. I expect to see men and women fight to the death for entertainment again before Jesus returns.

We are not far from this now. We defend a religion that beheads its enemies on global television—see anything about beheading in the Book of Revelations? (tip Revelations 20:4) Ours is a culture gone awry. Michael Vick loses his fortune and goes to prison for fighting dogs. If he had gotten ten women pregnant and had his babies killed he would be applauded. Inbred bulldogs are more important than babies. That makes perfect sense to me. Professing ourselves to be wise, we have become fools! The wages of sin will always be death. The gift of God, in this Age, will always be eternal life through Jesus Christ.

This is the flash point. We are at pivot of our culture. Either we have a visitation from God, or we have passed the point of no return. What is your identification? Who do you say is Lord, Jesus or Caesar? That was the only question asked of believers facing government persecution in Rome. If they said Caesar, they retained their fortunes, citizenship, and rights; if they said Jesus, the least they faced was seizure of assets and loss of citizenship—the worst was death by arduous and horrific means. What is your identification?

I went to bed last night with the following Scripture on my heart: “By faith, Moses, when he was grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God’s people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah’s camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heal on Egypt, indifferent to the king’s blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going.” —Hebrews 11: 24-27 (The Message)

I will be the first one to admit that I am a soft man compared to my ancestors. In so many ways I have been at peace with a society that hates good and loves evil. I am not rich or poor by this nation’s standards. I have bills. I suppose I am lazy in some aspects. I have not been a good steward of many important things. I grew up in the shadow of WWII with parents that were both veterans, my dad a disabled veteran. This nation was the standard of the world, and of everything that stood for good. Being a good American and a good Christian went hand in hand. There was no compromise involved in honoring the state.

We reached a point when that was no longer the case in the early 60’s, but few Christians took it to heart—after all, this is America: what if prayer and reading the Bible in front of little children is no longer legal? It’s not such a big deal. No look at us 46 years later—we have become a nation of liars and libertines. Evil is extolled and goodness is mocked. Homosexual activists have full access to schoolchildren and Christians have none. We are such social progressives! A young woman is selling her virginity on E-bay with her parents’ blessing. How enterprising!

Remember that even Lucifer’s name means “light-bearer”—we are in a season of false-light spirits manifesting around us. One of the signs of the Last Days, according to Jesus’ own words, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show forth great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” —Matthew 24: 24

Be so careful in these years friends—as Americans we are addicted to prosperity, peace, and stability, used to easy answers and quick solutions. A few years ago, a European leader said this, “Give us a man who has the answers, and whether he be a devil or a god, we will follow him.”

People are suffering. They are afraid. Good men and women want and need jobs. So many have had their apple carts upset, their once-thought-stable-for-life plans thrown awry——what are you willing to compromise to keep?

I found long ago that when all else failed, my help came from the Lord. Physically, in times of distress, the immune system is weakened—opportunistic diseases which would not have found place in a healthy body, take advantage of the broken link. Sadly, historically, such is the case with the enemy in times of social upheaval and stress—the very best and worst of human nature is exposed.

I find the hypocrisy of politicians who have bankrupted this nation’s present and future appalling—they rail upon the bonused officials of a failed business, even suggesting they commit suicide, when most of Washington had their fingers in the bank collapse one way or another. I awoke with the following Scripture in my soul, “The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” —Proverbs 12: 19

I know without a doubt the euphoric dementia that grips our nation, the blame shifting, the finger pointing, the excess, the fear, will soon be erased by the candor of necessity. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention—it may soon be said that necessity was the turning point of a nation poised on the brink of civil division and assault by enemies both within and without. I expect Russian and Putin to challenge American and our new President. I expect a crescendo of anti-Christian bias in the next couple of years. I expect God to allow us to be brought to our knees by 2012 with great tumult beginning after the first quarter of 2010.

It is common for the temperatures in summers here to hit 100 and remain there for weeks—I have seen 110 here as a boy. We live in a house that is sealed and insulated. We recently received a letter from our power company asking us to voluntarily have a device installed so they could shut off our power for 3-4 hours a day, at their discretion, during peak usage. That would be noon until dark—in 100-105 degree temperatures. This is the alternative to building new power plants. I wonder how long such measures will be “voluntary”? Since our Speaker of the House has blatantly said, “Aborting babies makes good sense because it saves money.”, I have to surmise this may be a strategy to save more by killing off old and sick people by hyper and hypothermia. That’s one way to save Social Security!

I find amazing peace in the Presence of God in these days. I remain homebound by the decree of the Lord. It is a time of unfolding truth and wonderment to me. I know that God is faithful and that America was founded by God to spread the Gospel and to provide a place of peace, liberty, and prosperity as a Christian nation, regardless of what your history books from hell teach. I know He is not done with this nation, but our full stomach is tainted with the feast of Babylon and the splendor of Sodom.

As a whole, the Church has lost her savor, and the nation is in danger of going into captivity. What must be accomplished to bring us to life again? What stumbling must there be to cause us to kneel?

Prosperity will rebound for a moment—the nations of the world that hate us do not yet have the noose firmly enough about our neck and our politicians still have the barrier of our protection by the Constitution shielding us from their treason. This moment will pass. Remember that heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of God shall endure forever.

Youth was a nightmare for me, a time of fear and unrestrained rebellion—my God-given conscience was a great burden to me. Now I thank God for what I once hated and cursed! I found out the hard way that whatever I compromised what I knew was true to keep, I wound up losing anyway. There is no fruit so bitter as living in denial about what is right and wrong, blasting one’s conscience with pride, and living long enough to eat the harvest.

Christians, what are you compromising to keep?

How’s your apple cart?

Vaughn Clark
Malachi 3:13-18