Most Christians with even a vestige of fidelity to the Bible and God’s eternal laws know that America is ripe for judgment. For that matter, from my perspective, even non-Christians have a deep sense of foreboding concerning dire consequences for this country as a result of her many immoralities. It does not take a Christian or a Bible to know America is increasingly a nation spewing injustice and filth into the rest of the world. Yet for Christians, there is a sure standard for this situation and every situation: the Holy Bible, God’s Word.
The question is what does the Bible counsel concerning times like these in a nation such as this? How are Christians to prepare for a coming judgment of America?
1. Repent
While in the midst of the exiled Jews in Babylon and praying in faith for what God had promised His people concerning their sins, punishment and redemption, Daniel confessed his own sins. “Now, O Lord our God, who have brought out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day–we have sinned, we have been wicked” (Daniel 9:15). If we are in the midst of an unclean people with unclean lips, then it is very possible that we have unclean lips, even as Isaiah the man of God confessed when God appeared to him (Isaiah 6:4). As we plead for the sparing of the righteous from the judgment of American Sodom, it would be wise to be sure we are among the righteous.
2. Sigh and Mourn
Above I mention Sodom, and Sodom is indeed typological for God’s judgment of nations throughout history. There comes a time in the history of nations when the “outcry” of heaven over the sins of a particular nation is so great, and the hope of repentance is so remote, that God annihilates it, often by fire. What the sodomites did in their bedrooms and in the public square resulted in a holocaust (i.e, death by fire) of the entire city. Yet not all perished. God chose to save Lot and Lot’s family (except for the future sons in law who mocked the proposition that God would judge an entire city–they thought Lot was jesting as many in America do when talk of imminent judgment surfaces). Why did God save Lot? Because Lot was a righteous man, and God assured Lot’s uncle Abraham that He would not kill the righteous alongside the wicked in Sodom. The apostle Peter gives us a preeminent mark of Lot’s righteousness in 2 Peter.
He rescued Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds (2 Peter 2:7-8).
Lot was oppressed and grieved over the sins of the sodomites around him. When he saw and heard of their greed and sexual perversion his righteous soul was tormented day after day.
Recall what happened in Ezekiel’s vision along these lines. God sent executioners to Jerusalem to kill the many people who were swept up into pagan idolatry in the temple and throughout the city. But not all were to be slaughtered. He also sent a man with a “writing case” whom He charged with the following mission:
God through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sign and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.
To the executioners He charged:
Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark.
It seems clear that if we want to survive a cataclysmic judgment, we should each individually be repulsed and grieved over the sins that are being exalted in this country. “You who love the LORD hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10).
3. Remember Psalms 127 and 33
Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain (v. 1).
And Psalm 33:16-18:
The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
Likewise, it is good to prepare for hard times, particularly those that will be brought about by an economic collapse, which in my opinion is the most likely means by which God will judge America. It is good to prepare for self-defense and the provision of food, water and shelter in a societal collapse, but it is absolutely essential that in all of our preparing that we don’t’ forget Psalm 127 and 33. Fear God and hope in God for all things. Moses hoped in God, and even had a pillar of fire and cloud to guide him in the wilderness, yet he also pleaded with his father in law to stay with him since he knew the wilderness and was a reliable guide: faith and wisdom go hand in hand, but must not be separated.
4. Remember holy hiding
A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, but the naive proceed on and are punished for it (Proverbs 22:3; 27:12).
There is nothing inherently wrong about seeking to protect ourselves from coming evil. Yes, it is politically incorrect, even in many of our churches, but it is biblical and wise. There is a time to shout from the rooftops and a time to go into our inner-rooms. Faith does not look calamity in the face and refuse to respond appropriately. In fact, faith knows that there is a time to hide from coming calamity. It is not the naive who prepare for difficult times, but the wise. Those who mock preparation are the naive who will suffer for it.
5. Learn Homesteading
Proverbs 27:23-27 provides:
Know well the condition of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds; For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations. When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, The lambs will be for your clothing, And the goats will bring the price of a field, And there will be goats’ milk enough for your food, For the food of your household, And sustenance for your maidens.
Call me crazy, but I’m not willing to write off Proverbs 27:23-27 with trite sayings like, “We are not an agricultural society anymore.” Rather, such passage is wisdom for all time, at least until we no longer need food and covering. It is wise to be relatively self-sufficient on some critical fronts like food and clothing. Learn to garden. Then perhaps acquire livestock like chickens or a couple of goats or whatever is possible where you live. A free and noble (i.e., God-honoring) society is made up of households who are not as needy as a little baby when difficult times come, or who will not do anything to keep their jobs, even lie or kill, for fear of missing a paycheck and being unable to buy milk and potatoes.
6. Don’t Write off Emigration
Jesus told His disciples that if they are persecuted in one city, they are to flee to the next. This is pretty straight forward. It was not just their mission of making disciples that would require this, but their mission of doing what they could to preserve their own lives and the lives of those with whom God entrusted them (i.e, their families). The Sixth Commandment applies to the preservation of our own lives.
In Jeremiah’s prophecy of Babylon’s judgment, Jeremiah exhorted the Jews living in Babylon this way,
Flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment for this is the LORD’s time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her.
Those worried about whether this would be unpatriotic are caught up in state worship, which was the problem of many in Jerusalem prior to her judgment. They were unwilling to go out to the Babylonians and thus save their lives due to their unyielding loyalty to their own flag and nation. Yet God puts loyalty to Him and His eternal laws far above loyalty to our earthly citizenship’s.
We need to be ready to flee, and we need to be praying about this and thinking about it as time permits. Even as I type Christians are fleeing persecution in the world today and leaving their countries, in many cases as a result of America’s warring and meddling.
7. Never fear, save fear of God
In Christ, a Christian is to have the peace that surpasses understanding. We are called to be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known to God. Satan wants us to fear man. He wants us to panic and flee to Egypt out of fear of man rather than patient, wise, prudent, faithful, hopeful decision making. The wisdom it would take to actually decide to leave this country baffles me, yet it is not to be off the table. If storm-trooper show up at my home and threaten me with gun confiscation or even the taking of my children, or of gangs rampage through my neighborhood and property looking for booty, or if we are driven to pray for our daily bread–for real–or if I or close friends are thrown in jail or worse for their stand for biblical truth and God’s eternal laws, I need to remember Psalm 46:
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
And the words of our Lord:
In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!
Christian Martyr 