The Mirage

I've hinted on several occasions that I intended to write something about the fact that many good people are looking to Donald Trump to be the savior of America. About how they believe he has been chosen by God to save this country and return it to the position of strength and global leadership it held up until a few years ago (during Trump's first term, to be precise). About how they believe the dark, sinister forces of the Deep State are going to be rooted out and held accountable for their crimes against our country, with good ol' President Donald J. leading the charge.

Leading the charge, that is, after he is gloriously triumphant in the 2024 presidential election and soundly defeats the drooling dolt that has been illegitimately occupying the White House since January 2021—or what is far more likely, whatever left-wing liberal decoy the Deep State decides to replace him with at some strategic point between now and November.

I've also been quite clear on many occasions in the past that I fundamentally support Trump, and genuinely respect him for what he actually accomplished during his first term as president. Sadly, these accomplishments have been scrubbed from the country's collective memory by the liberal left and the mainstream media, never to be brought up or acknowledged again.

So with this topic in mind, I started doing some reading about the movement known as ReAwaken America, a movement whose goal is to save America from the liberal left that is intent on tearing it down and that has adopted Donald Trump as its presumptive leader.

Or perhaps I should say "savior."

Besides getting Trump back in the White House, they intend to install more Christian leaders in various positions who will help turn America into the Christian nation they believe God intended for it to be.

But the Holy Spirit did something unexpected while I was chugging along with that topic: Out of the blue, He put a bug in my spirit about issues pertaining to children, such as the horrors of abortion, sexual grooming, etc. So for a brief period of time I was a bit conflicted, and I just prayed that God would help me sort things out and latch onto the topic He wanted me to deal with:

Me: "OK, Lord, so what's it gonna be? Trump or abortion? These are very different topics...so which one do you want me to write about?"

Holy Spirit: "Both—they're related."

And I didn't have to waste any time being nonplussed because the Holy Spirit didn't waste any time showing me how they are related. And when He did, it was the old "jaw drops, hits floor" routine. In a flash, the Holy Spirit showed me something that had never occurred to me before, and I'd be willing to bet that it has never occurred to legions of good people who are looking for Trump to save America, either.

I'll get us there, I promise.

A Big Idea with a big name

They manage to stay out of the limelight to a certain degree, but over the last several years Donald Trump has been surrounded by a number of people who seem to be...well, grooming him, for lack of a better word. They stroke his ego and come to him with prophecies about how God has told them he is ordained to win the 2024 election; about how God has chosen him to save America; about how he will—with God's help, of course—wipe the floor with the Deep State and get this mighty Christian nation back on track just the way God always intended for it to be. And then they bind and rebuke the demonic forces who they claim would have it otherwise.

To be honest, I hadn't been paying much attention to these people, because I am convinced that such people (a) do not speak for God, (b) have their eschatology upside-down and backwards, and that (c) only a biblically semiliterate narcissist would take them and what they are dishing out seriously. But that's just the problem.

Donald Trump—God bless his red, white, and blue heart—is precisely that: a biblically semiliterate narcissist.

As such, he is the type that is instinctively amenable to being worshiped, so all this suits him just fine and dandy. I don't see any other polite way to spin it. Like I said, yes, I admire and respect him for his unwavering support for Israel and for what he accomplished as president. But even though I am generally supportive of Trump, I also happen to possess the God-given ability to call a spade a spade.

To the surprise of no one, Trump is eating it up and playing it to the hilt. Like I said, I hadn't really been following this all that closely, but I have come across a few rather unsettling things on the Internet in the last year or two in regard to the burgeoning worship of Donald Trump. For example, just this past January Trump's campaign team released a hammy, Paul Harvey-esque video entitled "God Made Trump," and it unabashedly hails Trump as a messianic figure sent by God to save America. I've also seen a few articles like this one that appeared in the Gateway Pundit in February of this year. Then it was...the MAGA Bible. I believe the words I'm looking for are:

"Don't get me started."

It's things like these that began to drive home with clarity what I was beginning to sense in my spirit:

What is happening in certain circles around Trump is not of God, all the appearances, staging, and prophetic utterances notwithstanding.

The prophetic hullabaloo surrounding Trump actually got started before Trump was elected the first time, but it got ramped up to a whole new level after Trump's fraudulent loss in the 2020 election, with numerous self-appointed prophets prophesying all sorts of bizarre, improbable ways in which Trump would root out the fraud, claim his rightfully won second term, actually take office, and toss Biden and his Deep State cohorts in the slammer:

"Trump's gonna serve his rightfully won second term! The bad guys will fall and fail and the good guys will rise and prevail, thus saith the LORD!"

When these prophecies sputtered and failed, some of these people claimed they must have "misheard" God. Some remained adamant that their prophecies were correct and persisted in concocting ever more imaginative ways for them to continue to be viewed as being true. And to their credit, some of these false prophets expressed contrition. Yes, you heard me right.

One or the other: I've written about this before, but nothing has changed since Old Testament times. Anyone who claims to speak for God and gives prophecies he claims are from God can only be one of two things:

1. A true prophet of God, to whom God has entrusted His message for the people and whose every single word is fulfilled with 100 percent accuracy.

2. A false prophet who typically tells people what they want to hear.

I'm not trying to be mean, but there simply is no third choice—it's one or the other. End of story. God has always had one absolute standard in regard to prophets. They may be really nice people and have a really cool website and all that, but all you have to do to know that these people do not speak for God is to study what God's Word says will occur in regard to the end-time scenario and then bounce that off what they are saying. Hint: Things don't mesh. Most of what you hear from these people satisfies our natural, fleshly desire to see our worldly ship righted and life get back to normal.

Note there is also the controversial issue of whether God still sends us prophets today at all. In my scriptural opinion, I think not. Why? Well, besides Scripture that I am personally convinced should be so interpreted, consider: God gave us His revealed, written Word so we could know everything He has ordained for us to know about His plans, including events in the end times—and that's actually more than most of us will ever absorb in a lifetime. There's just one rub: You have to study it and rightly divide it. But it's s-o-o much easier to just sit back and listen to somebody tickle our ears with things we so desperately want to hear, isn't it? And if they're off on a few things (or only seem to predict things that are vague and open to interpretation or are conveniently nonfalsifiable), well...we sure don't want to be judgmental or anything, now do we?

I'm not going to devote a lot of time and space to diving into the details of who some of these people are, because their overall message is similar. However, here are several names you're liable to run across:

• Roger Stone was convicted of lying to Congress during the phony Robert Mueller "Russian collusion" investigation, but Trump commuted his sentence in July 2020. He has been a regular part of the ReAwaken America road show.

• Russell Vought served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term, and has remained within whispering distance of Trump's ear. Vought is head of a think tank called the Center for Renewing America, which is devoted to the idea of infusing Christian nationalism into Trump's administration should he be elected to a second term in 2024.

• Michael Flynn was Trump's National Security Advisor, and has been involved in recruiting an "Army of God" as he barnstorms around the country, promoting his vision of placing Christianity at the forefront of American life.

• Paula White is a controversial televangelist associated with the prosperity gospel, and has been credited with leading Trump to Christ in 2016. She is recognized as Trump's spiritual advisor.

And others. It should also be noted that a good number of members of Congress and other members of the American political arena are also supportive of the general philosophy of the ReAwaken America movement, including the likes of...

• Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA, and current Speaker of the House)

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)

• Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO)

• Newt Gingrich (former Republican Speaker of the House)

• Mike Huckabee (former Republican Governor of Arkansas)

• Sarah Palin (former Republican Governor of Alaska)

• Rick Perry (former Republican Governor of Texas)

• Michele Bachman (former Republican Representative from Minnesota)

I could add more, but I'm only going for broad strokes here.

These are just a handful of the better-known people who support a good portion of the spectrum of efforts to get Christians to unite behind Trump so he can be ushered back into the White House in 2024 and save America from the left-wing liberal bad guys. And such people are typically under the sway of one of several related species of eschatological doctrines. These doctrines go by different names and are often closely related, but typically have at least a few distinctive characteristics.

One of these is Reconstructionism. This teaching holds that society should be "reconstructed" under the lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life. It teaches that certain biblical laws should be reinstated, such as the death penalty for homosexual behavior, adultery, witchcraft, and blasphemy. Reconstructionists are typically cessationists (i.e. the supernatural sign gifts of the Holy Spirit—particularly speaking in tongues—ceased after the original apostles passed from the scene).

Another species in this genus is Kingdom Now theology, which teaches that although Satan has had control over the world since the Fall, God is looking for people who will help Him regain that dominion (as if what Christ accomplished on the cross didn't quite do the trick). They have among their ranks what they call "apostles" and "prophets," and those who yield themselves to the authority of such individuals will ultimately take control of the "kingdoms" of the world, or major spheres of activity. These are referred to as the Seven Mountains, and include government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family, and business. Those who adhere to Kingdom Now theology are typically continuationists, who hold that the supernatural sign gifts of the Holy Spirit that were in full operation in the first century continue to the present day. That is, most are Pentecostal/Charismatic.

A slightly broader species is known as Dominionism, which is a bundle of Christian political ideologies that seek to create a nation governed by Christians and that is based on biblical law. Beyond that, however, it splinters into a multitude of subspecies.

I could list a few more, but there's really no need because the key point that I want to root out of all this is the fact that these various species of end-time theology typically share one fundamental, overriding belief—one Big Idea. And that Big Idea has a big name:

Postmillennialism.

Like many major veins of theology, there are countless variations. But the basic idea behind postmillennialism is quite simple:

Christ doesn't return to earth

until after the Millennium.

In postmillennial doctrine, the Church is responsible for establishing Christ's kingdom for Him. And when we've finally gone out and gotten things up to scratch by the end of this millennial period (which we are in now, by the way), Jesus can return and we will present Him with the shiny Christian world we have created—a world with Christians dominating every major aspect of society (as in the Seven Mountain thing)—and hand it over to Him to rule.

This is essentially the opposite of premillennialism, which teaches that rather than Christ returning to rule His kingdom at the end of the Millennium, He returns to establish His kingdom Himself and in so doing personally inaugurates the Millennial Kingdom. Not only that, but premillennialism has Christ returning to a world wracked by horrifying tribulation such as the world has never seen (Matt. 24:1–31)—not a shiny Christianized world that the Church has produced through its own efforts.

So people who are looking to Trump as a messianic figure who has been sent by God to save America and who seek to rally around him to lead America and the world toward the goal of becoming a Christianized utopia that Christ would be plumb proud to return to rule—whether they understand the scriptural implications or not—are espousing the doctrine of postmillennialism. As a result, they are liable to be the type of people who roll their eyes at the mention of such laughably far-fetched teachings such as a coming seven-year Tribulation, or the secret snatching away of the Church that precedes it.

What's so secret about that? I never could figure out what's so secret about several hundred million people suddenly disappearing. I mean, everybody's gonna know they disappeared—it'll be pretty obvious. So what's the big secret? Over the years, however, I have learned one bitter lesson from experience: As soon as you hear someone use the word "secret" to describe the Rapture, quietly gather up your things and head for the exit—and resolve to never return. Why? Because I guarantee you that you're listening to someone who is about to regale you with fanciful tales about how the Rapture is a lie of Satan that was crafted by a scalawag named John Nelson Darby in the early nineteenth century based on the lunatic ramblings of a deluded Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald. So clearly, only those who sport tinfoil hats are silly enough to fall for it and as result will be woefully unprepared to stand up to the onslaught of the Antichrist. By describing it as "secret," they strive to make the Rapture sound scurrilously unscriptural. Which it isn't.

And I guarantee you that when the Rapture does occur, in a matter of moments there will be many people who know three things for certain:

1. What happened.

2. Why it didn't happen to them.

3. What they need to do to fix it.

And they will be on their knees doing precisely that as the greatest revival and harvest of souls for the kingdom in the history of the world gets underway before any of the 144,000 even hear the news about what just happened.

I admit that postmillennialism has to be given credit for one thing, though:

It is certainly the most optimistic of

any major body of end-time theology.

I mean, you gotta hand it to 'em: The world is gonna keep getting better and better, and the Church is gonna keep getting stronger and stronger and is gonna get out there and take over the Seven Mountains of society and realize the dream of turning this sin-sick world into a glowing Christian utopia that Christ will return to rule with justifiable pride and satisfaction in what we have accomplished...in His name, of course. Hey, go ahead and say it:

"Well, that totally rocks!"

Yeah...it does! Sort of. This is why postmillennialists are sometimes teasingly referred to as "optimillennialists." Just imagine how proud we will be as we see our efforts to draw the world toward God begin to change things for the better! Just imagine how proud we will be of our efforts to transform this cesspool of sin into a glowing, Christian world suitable for Him to come and rule!

Just imagine...

This is the image that postmillennialism imparts to its followers, and it is indeed appealing in many ways. Of course, there's just one problem:

This is not an accurate description of what is coming.

Not even close. This bears precious little resemblance to what the Bible clearly lays out in terms of future prophetic fulfillment. Just like someone trekking through the desert and desperately in need of water, they genuinely believe they have spotted a cool, refreshing lake in the distance. But before their eyes is a false image that they only imagine is real—but it isn't real:

It is a mirage.

I am going to refrain from launching into a deep, detailed discussion of the errors of postmillennialism, mainly because such an in-depth discussion is beyond the scope of this article—that's a topic for another day, should the Holy Spirit ever lead me in that direction.

But I would be remiss if I didn't at least take a few minutes to point out a couple of the big, obvious reasons why postmillennialism causes some gnarly interpretational problems.

For starters, understand that postmillennialism is foundational to Roman Catholicism, and comes prepackaged with replacement theology as a bonus—they need it to make all the pieces fit. This teaching that the Church has replaced Israel is one of the most damaging errors out there, and I seldom miss a chance to rip a chunk out its hide (sort of like what I do here, here, and here).

Postmillennialism teaches that the world is getting better and better, and as a result it almost died out after the outbreak of World War I. The tumultuous events of the early twentieth century nearly snuffed it out, since two World Wars in a little over three decades made it rather difficult to view the progress of man and society as being inevitable.

One common feature of virtually all flavors of postmillennialism is the idea of viewing the events of Revelation 19–20 as occurring between the two advents of Christ. In other words, the 1,000-year period mentioned several times throughout chapter 20—during which Satan is bound (Rev. 20:2)—is simply a long period of time that comes before the Second Coming.

In other words, it's part of the Church Age.

But there are numerous problems with this, and allow me to point out one fairly  obvious one. This means that Satan is supposed to be bound right now. Well, if that's the case, then I'm afraid his chain is w-a-y too long. Not to mention the fact that this flatly contradicts Peter's observation concerning Satan's activities during the current Age of Grace:

⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:

(1 Peter 5:8 AKJV)

Present tense...Church Age...now. Well, which is it? Is Satan bound, or is he out there seeking whom he may devour? Call me crazy, but if you've lived on this planet for more than 10 minutes and managed to keep your eyes open for most of that time, you have no choice: You've gotta go with the latter.

Or maybe we have to do a little of what postmillennialists do on a regular basis and interpret things allegorically instead of literally.

Ah, yes...allegorizing Scripture:

the super glue of all doctrinal error.

And postmillennialism is certainly no exception. Another problem is that postmillennialism forces events out of their logical order in Revelation 19 and 20. For example, a plain text reading reveals Christ returning as the Rider on the White Horse to unleash final judgment on the world (Rev. 19:11–16). This is obviously the Second Coming, and we are coming with Him (v. 14). Then He turns His attention to the Antichrist and the False Prophet and throws them into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:17–21). Then in Revelation 20:1–3, we learn Satan is bound for a thousand years (i.e. during the Millennial Kingdom).

*     *     *     *     *

One thing many people never consider is the answer to the following question:

Why is Satan bound during the Millennial Kingdom?

I've discussed this before, but it's important to understand the reason Satan will be bound for that 1,000 years. Although initially everyone in the kingdom will be a believer, some of them will be natural-bodied survivors of the Tribulation (i.e. the sheep from the Sheep and Goat Judgment, also the Jewish remnant). These natural-bodied people will have natural-bodied children, all of whom will have a sin nature just like all other natural-bodied people. And when they come of age, they will have to respond to the message of the gospel and trust Christ for their salvation, just as natural-bodied people do today.

But here's the thing: Some will, and some won't. Now, many people today reject the message of the gospel, partly because Satan blinds men's minds to the truth of that gospel. He always has. But with Satan bound during the Millennial Kingdom, some people will still reject the gospel...enough to join Satan's last rebellion against God at the end of the Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 20:7–10). Why? Because of the scourge of sin that still dwells in them.

Consider: They will be living in a world that is free of Satan's influence and under the direct rule of Christ Himself. God will use the Millennial Kingdom to demonstrate to us the power and effects of sin, and the fact that it is our sin and that alone that separates us from Him, not Satan. Some will reject the gospel during the Millennial Kingdom simply because they will succumb to the power of the sin that dwells within them. They will refuse to believe the gospel in faith simply because they have a sin nature and free will. Can't blame Satan—he'll be nowhere around. This last dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom will serve as God's final object lesson to humanity on the horrible, soul-damning effects of sin and the rejection of His grace and mercy.

*     *     *     *     *

OK...so far, so good. But if all this occurs before the Second Coming, it's a real struggle to make any sense of things. You've got to juggle this lineup of events out of the order in which they are presented in Scripture, because now nothing fits. Now you have to get really creative to fit things together.

And you'll probably have to...you know, allegorize some more Scripture.

Works every time.

So postmillennialism takes the Bible's clear teaching about (a) the Rapture, (b) the subsequent Tribulation with the gathering and protection of the Jewish remnant during the judgment of the nations of the world, and (c) the return of Christ to the earth after the Tribulation to establish His kingdom and wads it up into a ball and unceremoniously tosses it into the nearest trash can.

In its place, it gives us an unscriptural mirage to look forward to—a glowing, Christian utopia that the Church should be actively working to create through its own worldly, political efforts that Christ will return to rule some fine day.

But there is another reason why this glowing image is a mirage, and it is related to the heartbreaking scourge of abortion, plus the wicked, thinly veiled efforts of the LGBT community.

Alphabet soup: You are welcome to call them whatever you please, but personally I am sick of the LGBT community tacking one new letter or symbol  after another onto "LGBT" and arrogantly expecting the world to eagerly and obediently go along with it lest they be branded as homophobic bigots. They only get the basic four letters from me, and literally the only reason I don't give them fewer is because it would cause confusion.

LGBTQQIAAP+G0DM4D3M3TH!SW4Y+1FUR4SWMN0L3TR4U%2B4D

(As if they weren't confused enough already.) I'm talking about the growing wave of satanic grooming of innocent children intended to lure them into orbit around Planet LGBT with its noxious atmosphere.

One from column A or one from column B?

Since we are turning our attention to babies and children, the first thing I want to address is a question that the world wants very much to tinker with and obfuscate in order to pursue its evil, politically correct intentions. While it strikes some as simple and straightforward, it confounds others:

At what point during a pregnancy does

an unborn baby become a living person?

To hear some people today, you'd think a baby wasn't a living person until it ate its first bowl of Cap'n Crunch. For the majority of Bible-believing Christians, the traditional answer to this has always been a no-brainer:

Life begins at conception.

Period. But today there are many who push arguments to the contrary, and even those who twist Scripture to back up those arguments.

Be still my beating heart: As I was doing some reading for this article, I came across something that I never knew before, and I admit it surprised me:

The first pulsing of an embryo's heart can be

detected with ultrasound at about five weeks.

I'm guessing many of you probably knew that, but it just blew me away.

But stages of development notwithstanding, let's take a look at what God's Word has to say about this—that's all we need.

First, let's go to a well-known passage from Psalms:

¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.

14I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

15My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

(Psalm 139:13–16)

Note that in verse 13 the psalmist David clearly acknowledges that God creates life in the womb. Also, all the days of our lives are known and ordained by God before any of them come to pass (v. 16). Last time I checked, a lifeless clump of tissue doesn't have any "days of its life" to be known.

In another psalm, David also clearly expresses the incontrovertible fact that we are born with a sin nature:

⁵Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.

(Psalm 51:5)

In other words, David is basically saying that he was a sinner when he was conceived, as was his mother. The doctrine of original sin holds that we have a sin nature from the very beginning of our lives, and this verse states point blank that this is the moment of conception. Again, only living persons can possess a sin nature—lifeless clumps of tissue cannot. So what people sometimes overlook in this verse is the fact that it is clearly telling us that a child is considered a living person at the moment of conception.

Not only that, but there are several passages of Scripture that clearly refer to and regard unborn babies as people. For example, both Jesus and John the Baptist are referred to as "babies" while they are still in the womb (Luke 1:41–44 and Luke 2:12, 16, respectively). In both cases, the Holy Spirit uses the same Greek word brephos that can refer to either an unborn or a newborn baby. In other words, Scripture makes no distinction here whether or not the baby in question has actually exited the mother's womb yet.

Another example is the announcement of Samson's birth, when the angel of the LORD said to Samson's mother:

⁷...Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child [Hebrew: a form of naar (boy, lad, youth)] shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb [i.e. from his conception] to the day of his death.

(Judges 13:7b AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

So God speaks of Samson before his birth as a boy or a lad. Not only that, but a lifeless clump of tissue cannot rightly be considered a "Nazarite to God."

Isaiah 49:1, Jeremiah 1:5, and Job 10:8–9 all describe similar instances in which God clearly considers a person as being known to Him in some way while they are still in the womb (as well as prior to the womb).

So the Bible is about as clear as it can be:

In the eyes of God, life begins at conception.

So if it's OK with you, I'm gonna go with what He says. So you can put away all the "My body, my choice!" posters and all the "Abortion is healthcare!" T-shirts, because God has given us His exceedingly clear input on the subject:

Abortion is the murder of an innocent child.

My, what a nice round number: Just out of curiosity, I did a little research and tried to make the best estimate I could on the number of legal abortions that have been performed in America since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, and I discovered something that you might say caught my attention. According to the best statistics I could track down, it very much appears that the number of abortions performed in America will hit the 70,000,000 mark sometime before the end of the current year of 2024. Huh...seven followed by seven zeroes. Just thought I'd toss that in—I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

The killing of innocent babies certainly isn't new to mankind, however. Numerous civilizations and people groups have practiced child sacrifice over the millennia, with a few mentioned in the Old Testament.

Child sacrifice was a fairly common practice among many of the idolatrous people groups that inhabited the Promised Land when the Israelites entered it after 40 years of wandering through the Arabian Peninsula. God made it clear to His people that there are few sins He despises more than the killing of innocent children, and He commanded them not to imitate the horrific practices of these idol-worshiping peoples:

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech [i.e. offers the child as a human sacrifice]; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. ³And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. ⁴And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and kill him not: ⁵Then I will set my face against that man [note that God's judgment in such matters can be personal as well as national], and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit prostitution with Molech, from among their people.

(Leviticus 20:1–5 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

Three of the better-known people groups that were involved in the worship of pagan gods—worship that entailed the sacrificing of innocent children—are the Canaanites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites:

• The Canaanites primarily worshiped Baal, but also worshiped other pagan deities—and their worship typically involved child sacrifice. God judged them by having them destroyed at the hands of Joshua (Josh. 10–11).

• The Moabites worshiped Chemosh (although there is archaeological evidence that Chemosh may have been the same deity as Molech), and their worship also involved child sacrifice. God dropped judgment on them by having them defeated (at least in the region of Judah) by King Josiah (2 Kings 23).

• The Ammonites also worshiped Molech/Chemosh, and again their worship involved child sacrifice. God judged the Ammonites by having King Saul defeat them (1 Sam. 11), although they later regained a certain degree of strength until God arranged for them to be destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar in the seventh century BC.

Sadly, in spite of God's clear admonitions to the contrary, Israel wasn't immune to the influence of these idolatrous peoples. Even David's son Solomon, later in his life, was lured into the worship of many of these same idols by his literally hundreds of pagan wives. To be fair, however, Scripture doesn't actually mention anything about Solomon sacrificing any children in the course of such worship, which presumably would have been noted if it had occurred.

Of course, no one can rule out the possibility that child sacrifice occurred with Solomon's knowledge and under his auspices, and Scripture does stress that the LORD was angry with Solomon for turning away from His command to shun the worship of false gods (1 Kings 11:9–13).

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for two other kings of Israel: King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6) and King Ahaz (2 Chron. 28:3) both sacrificed their own sons to pagan deities.

So, Israel joined the ranks of the Canaanites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and a host of other pagan peoples in the abominable practice of child sacrifice. And God judged those people groups—so did He judge Israel in like manner?

Let's ask the prophet Jeremiah:

²⁶Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore thus said the LORD; Behold, I will give this city [Jerusalem] into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: ²⁹And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, said the LORD. ³¹For this city has been to me as a provocation of my anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face, ³²Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³And they have turned to me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech [there's your child sacrifice]; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

(Jeremiah 32:26–35 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

This was part of the reason God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem along with the temple and take the Jewish people into captivity in Babylon for 70 years in the sixth century BC.

So, here's what we've got:

The Canaanites were guilty of killing innocent children.

The result? God brought judgment upon them.

The Moabites were guilty of killing innocent children.

The result? God brought judgment upon them.

The Ammonites were guilty of killing innocent children.

The result? God brought judgment upon them.

The Israelites were guilty of killing innocent children.

The result? God brought judgment upon them.

Fast forward to today. As I said, in 2024 America will perform its 70,000,000th legalized abortion. So, I think we can add America to the list, and it's the old "One from column A or one from column B?" routine:

America is guilty of killing innocent children.

The result? A. God will bring judgment upon us.

— OR —

B. If we can get Trump back in the White House, he'll save

America and we'll Christianize the whole world...and so

we're pretty sure God will let that abortion thing slide.

At least according to people looking for Trump to save America and for us to reach that postmillennial mirage they see shimmering in the distance.

Better that a millstone...

As for America, we can add one additional item to the killing of children via abortion: their moral perversion and bodily mutilation at the hands of woke teachers, politically correct school boards and administrators, and medical professionals with their nauseating euphemism of "gender affirming care." But think for a moment:

Do you suppose God has a more tolerant, more mollified view of that than His stated view of the killing of children in the womb?

Just asking, because I don't. Yes, times have changed. Yes, the world has changed. But we would do well to remember that there are things that will never change, and chief among them would be...

A holy God and His written Word.

Not to mention His view of the harm or corruption of innocents:

¹In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" ²Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them ³and said, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁴Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁵Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, ⁶but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble [Greek: a form of skandalizó, or to set a snare or a trap for someone], it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea."

(Matthew 18:1–6 / emphasis & [comments] added)

Many see this as Jesus speaking strictly of adult believers who are innocent and humble in spirit. I understand the argument, but I am inclined to believe this principle can be extended to include innocent young people who are at least old enough to believe there really is a God and that He loves them very much.

Tell me again: So tell me again how America will escape God's judgment for killing 70,000,000 innocent babies and leading countless young children into the cesspool of sexual confusion and perversion. Regale me once more with tales of how Donald Trump will get back in the White House and save America and make it great again, and get it back on course. Refresh my memory about how America will grow into an exemplary Christian nation in an exemplary Christian world that Christ will be delighted to return to rule.

And while you're at it, remind me one more time how perplexed you are that the only mention of America in the end-time scenario is as a lion's cub, whimpering helplessly on the sidelines about those nasty old Gog-Magog bullies coming to wipe out and take a spoil from Israel (Ezek. 38:13).

That's no mirage

Forgive me for ending on a harsh note, because I generally try to cap things off with something positive—something I hope will leave a smile on the face of readers. But before I close this out, let me make a couple of things clear:

I voted for Trump in 2016. I voted for Trump in 2020 (although I suspect the 150 dead people who live at my address of record in Washington voted for Biden). And I will vote for Trump in 2024, for all the good it will do. Believe me, I would love to see Trump get re-elected and actually do the things he is talking about doing. Nothing would satisfy my flesh more.

Earlier I said Trump is a narcissist...and that's not just me throwing big words around: It is the professional opinion of every psychiatrist I have read, irrespective of their political persuasion. He just is—so be it. But no matter what anyone says, I know two things about Donald Trump that are not open to question or dispute:

1. He loves America.

2. He strongly supports Israel.

For those two simple reasons he has my vote, regardless of his various flaws and imperfections (and as if we had someone better to vote for).

The thrust of this article is simply that the idea of turning things around at this point and booting out the bad guys, saving America, and getting things back on track just doesn't square with the clear direction of end-time prophecy that America is most certainly a part of. We are racing toward the fulfillment of prophecy that has not just America, but the nations of the world falling under God's hammer of judgment during the Tribulation for their rejection of the grace and mercy He expressed to the world through Christ and for their persecution of His people Israel.

And I can give you 70,000,000 reasons why God isn't going to cut America a special break from that judgment.

My fear is that many good people who are looking to Trump to save America and turn things around are going to feel crushed and hopeless when that doesn't happen...and I believe based on Scripture that it will not. I believe the Word tells us God has other plans, and the next event on His schedule is the Rapture. So there is no reason whatsoever for any of us to feel crushed and hopeless no matter what happens, because the blessed hope of the Rapture is what we should be focused on—not the promises of any politician. That blessed hope should positively dwarf any grand, far-reaching plans of any political leader, no matter how much our flesh would like to see those plans come to fruition.

My friends, it is so late in the game that we need to focus on what God says in His Word, and not what various conservative, right-wing pundits say...may God bless their patriotic, well-intentioned hearts. Both America and the world are clearly on track for a richly deserved outpouring of God's judgment—and this is what the Holy Spirit wanted me to see:

God is not going to simply give America a free pass for 70,000,000 murdered babies, not to mention legions of innocent young children being lured into a perverted sexual ethos.

Scripture makes it crystal clear: The sanctioned, widespread killing of innocent children is a sin that God invariably judges nations for, and that means we have thrown 70,000,000 monkey wrenches into the postmillennial mirage of a Christianized America that will lead other nations to a Christianized utopia that Christ would be happy to return to rule. I'm sorry, but the plain text of Scripture makes that all but impossible to believe.

Oh, but it's been overturned: As you are no doubt aware, Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. But don't naively assume that ended abortion—it didn't. It merely gave it back to the states to decide on a state-by-state basis. To date, only 14 states have implemented a total ban. The other 36 states have made abortion legal with varying restrictions, with the restrictions in all but 7 of those 36 states being minimal. (Sigh...) I applaud the move, but somehow I don't see this as something that's going to stay God's hand in judgment.

And just to add the proverbial cherry on top, now America's support for God's people Israel is rapidly waning and is at the breaking point. See Genesis 12:3 (which is still in the Bible) for details.

So I say this with scriptural certainty: Unlike the illusory Christianized America that many good, sincere, well-meaning people of the postmillennial persuasion imagine that the Church can attain through its own efforts...

That judgment is no mirage.

It's coming. So be advised: God's Word makes it pretty clear—no one is going to "make America great again" until Christ returns to make the entire world great again, as only He can. And as only He will.

That's no mirage, either.

And when He returns, He'll have us in tow and we will rule and reign with Him in that new world during the Millennial Kingdom. And it's drawing near.

Not sure about you, but that thought sure leaves a smile on my face.

From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—APR '24: "The Mirage"

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