“A sickening and heartbreaking sight”: Four biblical responses to the Capitol assault and the promise of redemptive hope

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In The Daily Article for January 7, 2021

  • Congress certifies Joe Biden’s win
  • “A sickening and heartbreaking sight”
  • Three ways to pray for God to redeem this tragedy

Violent protesters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The US Congress early this morning certified the Electoral College vote making Joe Biden the forty-sixth president of the United States. Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Mr. Biden’s victory at 3:41 a.m. ET.

The historic vote followed a scene I never thought I would see: the US Capitol was breached yesterday for the first time since the War of 1812. One of the protesters, a US Air Force veteran named Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed. Three other people died of what Washington Police Chief Robert Contee called “separate medical emergencies.” Fourteen officers were injured in the riots as well.

President George W. Bush called the attack “a sickening and heartbreaking sight” and stated, “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic—not our democratic republic.” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), a former CIA case officer, said, “This is what we see in failing countries. This is what leads to a death of democracy.”

My purpose today is to offer biblical context on this tragic moment in our nation’s history.

One: Violence against our Capitol and electoral process must be condemned. 

Scripture says of our Lord, “His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (Psalm 11:5). Solomon instructed us, “Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways” (Proverbs 3:31).

I watched last night on television as authorities lit the US Capitol brightly, both to help police remove protesters and to illumine this beautiful building as a beacon to the world. The assault on our Capitol was an assault on our nation.

All Americans must condemn the mob actions we witnessed. Silence is not an option. Unless we respond proactively and redemptively, this senseless assault will only deepen the divisions in our nation.

Two: Election concerns must be handled through due process. 

Many have alleged fraud with regard to the 2020 elections, from mail-in ballots to state regulations, alleged votes-for-cash schemes, and other corruption. The credibility of a democracy and its leaders depends on the credibility of its elections. As a result, all Americans should want our elections to be fair. As I have stated previously, this is not a partisan issue.

However, as I noted above, violence is not the answer. The assault on our Capitol did nothing to make our elections more secure.

The Lord calls us to “let justice roll down like waters” (Amos 5:24) and commands us to “seek justice, correct oppression” (Isaiah 1:17). We need to ensure that all Americans trust our elections to be just, but we must use just means to do so.

Three: This attack will have long-ranging consequences. 

Scripture teaches that “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4) and warns that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I have often quoted the maxim, “Sin always takes you further than you wanted to go, keeps you longer than you wanted to stay, and costs you more than you wanted to pay.”

We are already seeing global consequences from yesterday’s violence.

Michael Morell served as Acting and Deputy Director of the CIA. I heard him report on television yesterday regarding two responses by our adversaries overseas. First, they are showing footage of the Capitol assault and telling their people, “This is what democracy brings. Be glad you don’t live in a democracy.” Second, they are telling the rest of the world, “This is what the US is trying to bring you when it spreads democracy.”

I fear that the violence we saw yesterday will be repeated in the future unless we take proactive steps forward as a nation, which leads to my fourth observation.

Four: God can redeem this tragedy as a turning point for our nation. 

As we close today, please join me in praying for God to redeem the Capitol attack.

First, pray for our leaders and people to seek reconciliation and peace. 

We can move forward or we can move backward after this tragic event. God calls us to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

With whom will you start today?

Second, pray for Christians to respond with truth and grace. 

I was grieved to see some who breached the Capitol yesterday carrying Christian flags. Some in the media are already blaming evangelicals for yesterday’s violence. Now is a time for us to redouble our commitment to “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We must not say about people what we do not say to them (Matthew 18:15). Slander is sin (1 Peter 2:1).

Our Lord calls us to “let your speech always be gracious” (Colossians 4:6). Will you answer his call today?

Third, pray for more Christians to be engaged in our democracy. 

Christians are called to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13–16), but both must contact that which they are to change. Similarly, I have said for years that God is calling more believers into public service than are answering his call. You and I can participate locally and nationally on issues of biblical significance. We can be the presence of Christ in our culture, pointing others to the only One who can heal us, unite us, and redeem us.

When we were children, we put our hands over our hearts every day in school and pledged allegiance to “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

How will you fulfill your pledge today?

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We pray the preface of the LORD over America! We pray that America repents, America has gone so far away from God! Many Americans have made politics their god! This has been a very deep price to pay. Americans need to stop saying “God Bless America” America needs to say, “America, Bless God!!!!!!!” We are are the guilty ones, allowing our Country to fall so near hell. Many Americans fell in love with their politics, which is the playground of Satan.

President Trump says transition will be orderly

After mob disrupts proceedings, Congress turns back Electoral College challenge, certifying Biden as the next president

FROM YESTERDAY:

PRAY FOR AMERICA!!! REPENT AMERICA!!! These thugs just spit on the gravers of all those who have died for our Country!!! The Republican Party just self-destructed. America sure has not been made great! We are in awful shape!!! SHAME! Shame for making a politician a god! Shame for making politics a god!  Deuteronomy 4:16….so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,
We need more leaders like Vice President Pence! Pence is running the Country! He ordered the National Guard in and is in touch with all agencies handling this horrific mess.
The Apostle Paul wrote in I Timothy 4: 1-2:
“Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.”

My heart breaks, I am having chest pains..we are at Civil War……I have said that for more than a year……….now it is real clear that we are. Violence never is the answer, JESUS is always the answer. This is awful we are in awful shape. The thugs that broke into the Capitol need to go to jail!!! We are worse than a Banana Republic. Whose in charge?

The Scriptures call the mind of the natural man “blinded” 2 Cor. 4:4, “depraved” Romans 1:28, “corrupt” 1 Tim. 6:5, and “unspiritual” Col. 2:18. The natural mind thinks from a humanistic, sin-debased viewpoint. The viewpoint of the flesh directs its thoughts. The sinful mind is under the control of Satan.

US Capitol, Washington DC on lockdown as Trump supporters breach building

“Disgraceful scenes”: World leaders condemn chaos in D.C.
World leaders reacted with horror after a pro-Trump mob assaulted American democracy and the peaceful transfer of power by storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, as lawmakers were attempting to certify President-elect Biden’s victory in November.

Read in Axios: https://apple.news/ALdumDDgbTeSOxyl0o58e9g

This picture of the Last Supper was given to me by my Mom, Ruth. It was given to her and Dad in 1952 as a wedding present! I am thankful for the Christian heritage in my family Amen! Mom gave it to me after my Dad, Wally passed away into heaven in 1993. Mom passed into the arms of Jesus in 1995.
 I have to tell you that I just watched a movie that has inspired me to no end!!! ‘Overcomer’ is another awesome move produced by the Kendrick Brothers for such a times as this. With the pandemic we all have yo overcome much. The Lord is teaching much through this time. A couple of verses come came to me as I watched ‘Overcomer’: 1 John 5:5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. and 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

 

We must be overcomers and not get sucked in by the political Kool-Aid of our time being served  by the Republicans and Democrats. Have faith in God, seek God. God is being left out by many, many Americans in everything. America must REPENT!!!! God is not a God of chaos this is caused by Satan. I have never been so embarrassed by elected officials and all their hate and lies.

The Scriptures call the mind of the natural man “blinded” 2 Cor. 4:4, “depraved” Romans 1:28, “corrupt” 1 Tim. 6:5, and “unspiritual” Col. 2:18. The natural mind thinks from a humanistic, sin-debased viewpoint. The viewpoint of the flesh directs its thoughts. The sinful mind is under the control of Satan.

I will stand with God until He calls me home. I pray constantly, I pray that my emotions never overtake me and I speak or write what God does not want me to. I fought through this morning to get rid of my emotions on all this and write what God wanted me to write. What is going on in D.C. is hurting our children very much to see such bad examples of leadership. Children are hurting enough with the pandemic and to see chaos from leaders is just plain awful. So many Americans, more than 50% do not go to Church because of the crazy behavior they see from people who call themselves Christians.

Do not be foolish and think 2021 is going to be any better than 2020, it will only get darker unless America repents and returns to God. Stand with God not politics, stand in the gap for GOD! We will here at FGGAM!

Dan Ham: When Jesus said to love your enemies and bless those who curse you and do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, what kind of person or political group or politician did he exempt?

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
 
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35

**************************************

It gets darker and darker over Washington D.C. It stinks to high heaven. This is not of God. God is not in that darkness. Just think what our children are growing up with, elected officials that spew hate. It is about time that Americans stop drinking the political kool-aid and have communion with Jesus. I am an Independent because I have no faith in both parties, they both have caused so many horrible problems in America. They spew hate and lies about each other. So many broken promises to the American people. What we are now seeing is what I said weeks ago, the split of the Republican Party. The GOP in New Mexico is already lost, no traction, lack of quality leadership and candidates. President Trump will either lead the GOP or he will form a third party. President Trump could also start his own TV  news network. The Democrat’s are very divided also. I have no faith in any of them. My faith lies in God Almighty.

God has been kicked out of Washington D.C. that is why we are seeing such chaos. Americans feel good when they say, “God Bless America.” Why should He? We should say, America, Bless God!

I am tougher on the Republicans because they are anti-abortion and so am I. I feel their behavior is destroying their effectiveness for passing further pro-life legislation. I always vet the candidates with the Word of God.

Are there no longer any moral absolutes?

Jan 5, 2021

 Are there no longer any moral absolutes? From the writings of the Rev. Billy GrahamQ: It seems that the world has blurred the lines between right and wrong. Everything is relative and there are no longer absolutes. The more educated we get, the more new sins that emerge. People have grown indifferent or rebellious. Is this just my imagination? Is there a way to start over? — N.S.A: As sin has progressed and gained momentum, mankind seems to have lost his ability to be shocked. Behavior that was once considered abominable is now acceptable. Isaiah the prophet wrote: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).One thing is certain, however. There are many new sinners today, but there aren’t any new sins, just the old ones clothed in different rags. The Old Testament speaks of a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

It doesn’t have to be this way. Where we start determines where we end. Each new year brings hope and a new opportunity for change. We can reset our starting line. Take the compass, for instance. If the compass is not accurate, the traveler will lose his way. If the sun and the stars were not ordered in their stations, no mariner could depend on them to find his way through the oceans of the world. If there are no absolutes, no fixed reference points, there can be no certainty.

This is why God’s Word is Good News, because the absolute truth is that Jesus came and died on the cross and rose from the dead, to save us from sin. We can be reconciled to God and put back in a right relationship with Him by accepting His provision for sin, His Son, Christ the Lord. There is hope, there is certainty, and there is a reference point and it all begins with God.

========

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

©2020 Billy Graham Literary Trust. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

(c)2021 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

Jonathan Cahn of ‘The Harbinger II: The Return’ Reveals the Biblical Foreshadowing of
a Single Day—and the ‘Only Hope for America’

Best-Selling Author and Prophetic Voice of a Generation Shares a Warning—and a Way Forward

NEW YORK — As this challenging year of 2020 winds down, millions of Americans are looking forward to better, brighter days. On this topic, best-selling author Jonathan Cahn, known worldwide as the creator of one of the year’s biggest publishing successes, “The Harbinger II: The Return,” has a key message: There are prophetic, biblical explanations for the many trials we have experienced—and an even stronger message for what we must do moving forward.

 

Among other revelations, Cahn—in “The Harbinger II: The Return—pinpoints a specific day on the Hebrew calendar that brims with significance. And he reveals how America is following a template from the Book of Jeremiah (Ch 39) that leads to judgment.

 

In a recent interview with Shannon Scholten on “Voice of Truth,” Cahn discussed the vital prophesies contained within “The Harbinger II: The Return.”

 

“When you look at the judgment of Judah, the southern kingdom that had rebelled against God, there was a day that sealed that judgment,” Cahn explained. “It was the day the walls of the city were breached by the Babylonians.” Once that happened, Cahn said, “Judah’s hedge of protection was gone. The king fled the city—and those who were supposed to be defending the walls took off, so the defense was broken through.”

 

Added Cahn, “It happened on the ninth day of the fourth month. The fourth month of the Hebrew year is Tammuz, so the Ninth of Tammuz was the day that the end began. It became a day of sorrow, fasting, and mourning—the day that sealed the destruction of Judah.”

 

Cahn then revealed how this occurrence foreshadowed the breaking of America’s own “hedge of protection.” “For the first time in history, the Supreme Court redefined marriage. They basically struck down biblical, or traditional, marriage as it has always been. This is major,” Cahn continued, “because God made marriage. If you change it, you’re messing with a vessel of God. So what happened on that day in American history was gigantic, and it is still affecting all of us. It’s affecting religious freedom. It’s affecting everything.”

 

Cahn is referring, of course, to June 26, 2015—the very date on the Hebrew calendar that is the Ninth of Tammuz. On that exact date, said Cahn, the Supreme Court insisted that the U.S. Constitution protects same-sex marriage—and “it’s the day when the defenses of American civilization were gone. This is an absolute, gigantic warning.”

 

In “The Harbinger II: The Return,” Cahn says that when a nation turns away from God and its very foundations, that turning of spirit “will inevitably lead to a turning of values, the changing of standards, laws, and precepts.” Cahn urges Americans to pray, repent, and seek God’s blessing. “If a nation should uphold the ways of the Almighty, then it shall be upheld. But if it should pass judgment upon the ways of the Almighty, then upon that nation shall the judgment of the Almighty be passed. A return to God and His ways is the only hope for America.”

 

With the release of “The Harbinger II: The Return, on Sept. 1, 2020, thousands of new fans all around the world have embraced Jonathan Cahn’s messages and prophesies. His new book, available for purchase online and everywhere, made the Amazon Bestsellers Top Ten lists of all books in the world and took three of the top ten spots on Amazon’s Christian Books for print, Kindle, and audio—each charting as a Top Ten Bestseller, including #1 Christian Prophecy and #1 Christian Prophecies. “The Harbinger II” also catapulted Cahn’s earlier books back onto bestseller lists, including “The Oracle,” “The Paradigm,” and “The Harbinger.”

 

The author has made multiple media appearances, including on CBN’s “700 Club,” TBN’s “Praise,” and “Family Talk” with Dr. James Dobson. Cahn is continuing to do TV and radio interviews.

 

Jonathan Cahn’s first book, “The Harbinger,” became an instant New York Times bestseller when it was published in 2012. His next four books were also New York Times bestsellers: “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” “The Book of Mysteries,” “The Paradigm,” and “The Oracle.” Along with Billy Graham and Keith Greene, Cahn was named one of the top 40 spiritual leaders of the past 40 years who has radically impacted the world.

 

Called the prophetic voice of this generation, Cahn has spoken on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations, and to millions around the world. Cahn is known for opening the deep mysteries of Scripture and bringing forth messages of prophetic import. He leads Hope of the World ministry, an international outreach of teaching, evangelism, and compassion projects for the world’s neediest. He also leads the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel, a worship center made up of Jews and Gentiles, and people of all backgrounds, outside New York City in Wayne, New Jersey. His ministry can be contacted at HopeoftheWorld.org and on Jonathan Cahn Facebook.

 

For more information about “The Harbinger II,” visit TheHarbingerReturns.com“The Harbinger II: The Return” is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma

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