Chapter 13

 

Shaking America to Its Core!

 

Turning the heart of a nation back to God is a monumental task.  The Elisha Commission begins with turning the heart of the church in America, but does not end there.  Unfortunately, America’s core has been insulated from God’s dealings due to a Church that is largely anemic, isolated and silent.  Because the Church has fallen short in fulfilling its kingdom role, the Lord, in His mercy, has had to take matters into His own hands.

The principles of divine judgment hold true not only for individuals, but for cities and nations.  Up until now, America for the most part has neither judged itself, nor submitted to the chastening hand of the Lord.  Instead of condemning an entire nation, the Lord often resorts to a more severe form of divine judgment – shaking.

Shaking often gets our attention and brings us to our knees when nothing else will.  Environmental disaster, economic devastation, governmental upheaval and war can all be manifestations of divine shaking.  The operation of the law of sin and death or a divine response to the fervent intercession of a faithful remnant can catalyze these tremors and “rock our world”.  For us to stand in the midst of divine shaking, we must first understand God’s ultimate purposes in shaking His Church and the world. 

 

Awakens the Sleeping

 

One major purpose in divine shaking is to awaken a sleeping Church.  The church in America was lulled to sleep while rock music, free love and the drug culture was thrust on us by the hippies in the 1960s.  We continued dozing while no fault divorce was instituted in 1970 and abortion was legalized in 1972.

The American church parallels the lukewarm, sleepy Laodician New Testament church that had no eyes to see that they were wretched, pitiable, poverty-stricken, blind and naked.

 

Revelation 3:19 “All those whom I love I correct and discipline.  Therefore shake off your complacency and repent.”

                     The New Testament in Modern English

 

A spirit of stupor has hypnotized the American church causing us to be passive, blind and deaf.  Our souls are occupied with endless distractions and mesmerized with meaningless, fruitless activities, while our spirits fall deeper into a spiritual slumber of complacency and apathy.  Therefore, we must shake off complacency or He will have to shake us up!

 

Romans 11:18 “God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear.”

Young’s Literal Translation

 

A spirit of stupor or deep sleep has so overcome the church in America over the years that we have gone from being hypnotized to anesthetized!  Like the New Testament church of Sardis, we have evolved from being the sleepy church to the sleeping church.

 

Revelation 3:1-3 “I know what you have done, that you have a reputation for being alive, but that in fact you are dead.  Now wake up! . . . If you refuse to wake up, then I will come to you like a thief, and you will have no idea of the hour of My coming.”

The New Testament in Modern English

 

American Christians boast of having the best preachers, the best worship, the best facilities, but in truth we are largely spiritually bankrupt.  Like the Church in Sardis, we pride ourselves on being relevant, alive and on the “cutting edge”, but are dead.

 

Ephesians 5:14 “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

 

Anyone would much rather wake up on our own than to be suddenly stirred.  I remember when my wife and I were suddenly jolted from a sound sleep on the night of October 16, 1999 by the Joshua Tree earthquake.  That experience was both startling and bewildering.  In like manner, if we, the church in America, will not shake ourselves from our slumber or refuse to wake up when the Lord shakes us, then we will be shaken with the world (I Corinthians 11:31, 32).

 

Exposes the Hidden

 

Shaking also exposes that which is hidden.  When things are shaken up, sin shakes out!  If we continue to conceal our private sin, it is just a matter of time before our iniquities are exposed publicly.  In recent years, a prominent, internationally known and revered, church movement leader’s private homosexual relationship was shamefully exposed internationally.  This sin not only ruined the leader, but did great damage to the segment of the Body of Christ that he was leading.

 

Ephesians 5:13 “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” 

 

This exposition of sin in church leadership by the Light is among the first of many to come.  Indeed, if something in our lives is not on the “up and up”, it eventually is going to show up (John 1:7-9).

Shaking not only reveals hidden personal sin, but uncovers even greater problems within church organizations, associations and denominations.  A structure’s integrity will be revealed in the midst of shaking.  If our platforms and foundations are cracked and we choose not to repair and fortify them now, when the shaking comes, they will be destroyed.

 

Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”     

 

The Lord is and will continue to shake His Church that we might wake up, acknowledge our feeble and sinful condition, and repent.  Only then will we become partakers of His holiness and be transformed corporately into His spotless bride and individually as vessels of honor fit for the Master’s use  Surely the time has come for judgment to begin in the house of God (I Peter 4:17, Hebrews 12:10).

           

Judges the Corrupt

 

Shaking is a form of judgment on sinful, corrupt mankind.  Some feel that earthquakes and storms are only an Old Testament form of divine judgment, and that a loving God who has redeemed mankind through the blood of His Son would not judge the world in this manner.  Although blood-washed saints can enjoy the privilege of walking in the New Testament law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the world is still subject to the law of sin and death.  Sin draws death and destruction, and when a city or nation’s sin exceeds the boundaries of divine mercy, judgment is imminent. 

Mercy triumphs over judgment.  Therefore, God in His goodness and mercy is faithful to repeatedly warn a city or nation regarding their sin and looming judgment, that they might repent (James 2:13).

 

Jeremiah 18:7, 8  “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.”

 

In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel’s entire life served as a prophetic sign to Judah during their seventy years of captivity in Babylon.  Ezekiel used prophecies, signs, parables and symbols to dramatize God’s message to His exiled people.  Similarly, the Lord, for decades now, has been addressing the pride of America through prophetic signs, however, in a somewhat different fashion.

 

Isaiah 2:17-19 “The loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish.  They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily.”

 

Since America is not primarily looking to the Church for direction, the Lord has had to speak to us through our idols.  The Lord also has broadcasted these signs throughout the world as an international “red alert” regarding the critical spiritual condition of our nation.  If a remnant will receive and accurately interpret these prophetic signs and mobilize repentance and intercession in behalf of America, judgment will be either averted or alleviated.  America’s spiritual condition is of such importance because more than any other country, we influence and impact the nations of the world.  As America goes, so goes the nations.

One example of a recent international sign, that dramatized the pending judgment of America, was illustrated through the idol of football.  At Super Bowl XLII in February 2008, the New York Giants conquered the undefeated New England Patriots by the score of 17-14.1 Like Americans, the Patriots were over confident and seemingly invincible.  The Giants represent the strongholds of false religion, liberalism, materialism and pornography that have seductively and methodically reduced the core of our nation to but a shell of its former greatness.  After the Super Bowl, the Lord showed me that there was a hidden prophetic message to America contained in the score of the game, 17-14.

 

Genesis 17:14 “The uncircumcised male shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

 

Americans pride ourselves on our greatness, but fail to remember what made our country great.  In essence, as a nation we have forgotten about God and broken our covenant with Jesus by committing spiritual adultery with idols, among them Mammon and Baal. 

 

Ezekiel 17:14 “That the kingdom might be abased and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.”

 

The Lord is shaking America to its very core so that every idol we have worshipped and placed our trust in might tumble, and that we might turn our hearts back to Him.

Another pair of recent international signs regarding America was illustrated through the Ms. Universe pageant.  In 2007, Ms. USA, Rachel Smith, tumbled to the ground while parading on stage before the entire world.2  The very next year, in 2008, Ms. USA, Crystle Stewart, also fell to the ground while making her entrance to the stage at the Ms. Universe pageant.3

 

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

 

In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, the American men’s and women’s 4x100 meter relay teams both failed in their preliminary heats to qualify for the finals.  The last time in Olympic competition that happened for the American woman’s team was 1948 and 1988 for the men’s team.4 The circumstances by which they were disqualified were uncanny, as both teams on the same day dropped the baton during the handoff for the final leg of the race.  Needless to say, both teams came in dead last.  Some believe that all these events were mere coincidences.  However, I believe God is trying to get America’s attention.

 

“SOME BELIEVE that all THESE EVENTS WERE MERE CoincidenceS. 

I believe God is trying to get america’s attention!”

 

The Lord will continue to plead with America to return to Him and warn us of impending judgment.  However, when the cup of our iniquity is filled to the brim, nothing but death and judgment will spill over.

 

Isaiah 29:6   “You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.”

Earthquakes, hurricanes and wild fires can all be manifestations of divine judgment.  However, not all environmental disasters are the result of divine recompense.  When the law of sin and death is in operation, cities and nations can draw these types of judgment on themselves. Cities and nations steeped in cultural rebellion and generational iniquity prime themselves for environmental and economic judgment.

 

Isaiah 24:18, 19 “The foundations of the earth are shaken.  The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. . . Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.”

 

John Wesley once said, “Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake.”5  At the turn of the century in 1906, San Francisco, a wicked American city rampant with homosexuality, was devastated by a destructive earthquake where approximately 3,000 people lost their lives.6 

Among the numerous prophets that have predicted a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles, Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries prophesied the following in 1998:

 

 "Judgment is about to come to Southern California because the spiritual pollution coming from there is poisoning the whole earth.  I do not believe that the judgment coming to the Los Angeles area has as much to do with the degree of evil as it does the abil­ity to project evil and send it around the world.  No other city in our time has caused more people to stumble than Los Angeles, mostly for what has come out of Hollywood.  If a profound repentance does not come, much of the Los Angeles basin will be destroyed to the point where the ocean will lap at the base of the mountains in Pasadena.  The buildings in downtown Los Angeles will sink into the earth like stones in a jar of sand when it is shaken.  Repentance and intercession can remove a lot of the death and destruction, but the earthquake is still going to be a big one."7

 

The Lord in His mercy has continued to send various types of warnings to Los Angeles, many of which have been disregarded.  Rick Joyner elaborates:

 

"We do not know at what point the Lord will relent and spare Los Angeles, but there is a delusion in much of the church now that is presuming on God's grace.  There is an arrogance toward the Lord that has even permeated much of the church in Southern California.  One way that it is manifested is the dis­regard for His warnings, and the tendency to believe that they can be handled.  No one will think this after the one that is coming, even if its destructive power is reduced."8

 

Interestingly enough, "The Bible Code" in two places predicts that the big earthquake will hit Los Angeles in the year 2010.9

More recently, many have linked divine judgment to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina on August 29th 2005.  Katrina struck just two days before New Orleans 34th annual “Southern Decadence”, an annual homosexual celebration attracting over 100,000 revelers, who engage in sex acts in the public streets and bars.10  Interestingly enough, almost exactly three years later, on Labor Day, September 1, 2008, New Orleans was hit again.  This time Hurricane Gustov troubled New Orleans, resulting in the cancellation of the majority of the “Southern Decadence” events. 

New Orleans is also world renowned for its annual Mardi Gras parties, from which the “Girls Gone Wild” pornographic video series was spawned.  Known as one of the abortion capitals of the world, New Orleans averages ten times the national average for abortions.11 Indeed, New Orleans is one of the wickedest if not the most wicked city in America.

In August 2005, with America’s full endorsement and support, 9,500 of Israeli Jews were evacuated from their homes in the Gaza Strip and parts of northern Samaria.12 Because the United States in this instance did not support Israel’s retention of the land that was given to them by Jehovah, America became a candidate for divine judgment.  One week later, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  Not only did America bring a curse down upon itself by cursing Israel, judgment was drawn to one of the wickedest cities in America.

 

Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 

Most recently, California legalized same sex marriage on June 17th, 2008, only the second state after Massachusetts to do so.  Three days later, California experienced an estimated 8000 lightning strikes starting a record breaking 1700 wild fires.  Interestingly enough, the wildfire season in California does not commence till late summer. 13

 

Preserves the Righteous

 

Despite the shaking that is coming to America, the righteous can find shelter in the Lord.  Those who walk in covenant with Him, seeking first His kingdom and righteousness, can be preserved in the midst of shaking.  For example, one reputable internationally known minister reported that his home and property in New Orleans incurred virtually no damage while all the surrounding homes were virtually ruined by Hurricane Katrina. 14

           

Joel 3:16 “The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake;  but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

 

Some begin to question God’s goodness or faithfulness when they experience hardship or suffering in the midst of shaking.  In America, many Christians fail to realize that the Lord makes His sun rise and sends rain on the just and unjust.  We think it strange when we face the fiery trials that accompany shaking, not comprehending that God is proving the genuineness of our faith and qualifying us to be His faithful witnesses (Matthew 5:45, I Peter 1:6, 7; 4:12, 13).

 

Proverbs 24:10 “If you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small.”

 

Many American Christians are weak and not accustomed to adversity.  They do not understand that God is more concerned with His children being holy than happy, and more interested in them having faith than having fun.  As a result, many will neither endure hardship nor become a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  They will crumble in the day of shaking and fail to be trustworthy ambassadors for Christ to the lost around them when it matters most (II Timothy 2:3). 

On the other hand, there is a remnant that God is raising up, who understand that it is only through many tribulations that they will enter the kingdom.  They recognize that if Jesus, though a Son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered, so must they (Acts 14:22, Hebrews 5:8).

 

Hebrews 12:25-28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

 

Indeed, if we will walk in the fear of the Lord, exercise our kingdom authority and endure hardship, we will experience His grace, be preserved in the midst of judgment and become faithful witnesses for Christ to those around us.  When will our breakthrough come? Our breakthrough will manifest when God, through our lives, penetrates the hardened hearts of devastated and desperate souls.

 

Saves the Repentant

 

The Lord’s ultimate goal in shaking America is to save America.  He is willing that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). 

 

Haggai 2:6,7  “For thus says the Lord of hosts; “Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they will come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord.”

 

Isaiah 26:9 “For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

 

Frank Bartleman, a strategic intercessor and leader in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, had published and distributed 100,000 “Earthquake Tracts” just after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 occurred.  The tract emphasized that the earthquake was a divine judgment and became effective in bringing conviction upon the people on the Pacific Coast.  Bartleman later reflected:

 

"I found the earthquake had opened many hearts. The San Francisco earthquake was surely the voice of God to the people on the Pacific Coast.  It was used mightily in conviction." 15

 

In the New Testament, when Paul and Silas fervently prayed to the Lord while in prison, the Lord shook the prison and released them from their bonds, freeing them.

 

Acts 16:25, 26       “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.”

 

Yet delivering Paul and Silas was not God’s only purpose in shaking the prison.  The Lord shook the prison to bring the jailer and his household to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

Acts 16:30-34        “And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’  So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And immediately he and all his family were baptized and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”

In effect, Paul and Silas’ divinely orchestrated exit from prison created an entrance into the kingdom of God for the jailer and his family (Acts 16:27-34).

Although the Lord resorts to shaking to awaken a sleeping Church, expose hidden sin, judge the corrupt, and preserve the righteous, His ultimate purpose is to save the repentant.  However, the Lord will continue shaking America to not only save lost individuals, but also to salvage the divine destiny of our great nation for our inheritance and His glory (Psalm 2:8).

 

Prayer:  Lord, we repent for our complacency and bind the spirit of stupor that has hypnotized and anesthetized the American church.  Forgive us for worshipping Mammon and Baal, and for standing idly by while our nation has been given over to pornography, homosexuality, alcoholism, drug addition, liberalism, materialism and false religions.  Grant your righteous servants the courage to stand and not faint in the day of adversity.  Shake America to its core, that through Your judgments we may learn righteousness and become desperate for the Desire of All Nations.  Shake America to its core, that our “One Nation under God” would turn its heart back to You, in Jesus name, Amen!