Election 2024: America at the Crossroads

Part 2

Tim Moore: To be clear, this moment presents both challenges and opportunities for our nation and for individual Christians. Join us as we turn to the Word of God for some insights that are as important as they are timeless. So Nathan, regardless of who is in the White House, do you think that the cultural devolution that we have witnessed over these past number of years will continue?

Nathan Jones: Well, we seem to turn to politics to solve spiritual problems, but that’s not the answer. The answer has always been the Church. We are the hands and feet of the Lord. The only way a country will change if people’s hearts are changed for Jesus Christ, and whose responsibility it is, that’s the Church. It doesn’t matter what administration, but I remember a few years back, my children panicked when Joe Biden got in. They were like, “What’s going to happen to our country?” Because they were at the age where they were starting to understand politics.

I said, “I’ve survived Jimmy Carter, I’ve survived Bill Clinton, I’ve survived Barack Obama,” and he’s still kind of there. You know, we’ve survived all these things and it doesn’t matter. They will pass, the Church will go on until the Rapture. It is our job still, as Christians, to go out and change people’s hearts for the Lord, Jesus Christ, and that will change their minds and then they will vote and do the things that they’re supposed to do as Christians.

Tim Moore: They certainly will. You know, Jesus Himself said, “The gates of Hell will not prevail against my church.” And we witnessed how Paul and the other apostles, living in a terribly pagan age, under Roman oppression, were still able to spread the Gospel. And so to this point here in this country, we still have that opportunity. I believe we will for a period more, even as persecution is rising. And so our responsibility is to keep on being faithful to the Lord, and obviously, sharing the Good News of the Gospel. The fact that He is coming is the message we have the privilege of sharing, and we’re going to do that faithfully, again, regardless of who’s in the White House.

Nathan Jones: Right, and you and I haven’t been as long as some people who remember what it’s like to go all the way back to the 30s and 40s. And so time passes, history passes, government’s pass. We read in Daniel 2, the very fact that human government, failed, flawed human government is coming to an end. It won’t exist anymore when Jesus Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom on this Earth.

But, like we said in the last episode, we need to be salt and light, we need to be doing the will of the Father, bringing people to Jesus Christ, and holding back evil while the times… And that hasn’t changed in 2000 years. Tim, you think that the United States wasn’t even around 300 years ago. It’s kind of mind blowing to think that even as important as our politics are today, there’re a drop in the bucket compared to the human timeline of 6,000 so years.

Tim Moore: Very true. You know, the other reality is, regardless of who our leader is, in this country, the question remains, are they a reflection of the people or does our culture, does our society become a reflection of the leader? I think it’s a little bit of both. In Scripture, over and over again, prophets went to leaders, they went to kings and rulers to call them out for their wicked leadership. You spoke about last week, Elijah going to Ahab and calling him out because he had allowed the prophets of Baal to multiply. He was not being faithful to the true and living God.

In our day and age, I believe sometimes we are called to speak truth, even to power, meaning we call out leaders because they are leading our country astray. And yet, we know that even when there’s been glimmers of hope by a particular leader, the trajectory of our culture has still continued toward ungodliness. There has been a rise in wickedness, and at least half the country seems to support policies and practices that Scripture declares as being abominable. And yet that’s where we are.

Nathan Jones: Well, 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us that there is a restraining influence in this world, and we believe it’s the Holy Spirit’s restraining work through the Church. The Lord holds evil back over the last 2000 years through Christians praying, doing good works, sharing Christ. Again, that hasn’t changed. So yes, and I think another thing too, like you said, it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House, who’s in the Senate, who’s in the Congress, we’re still, as Christians, called to pray for them. The Lord always wants us to pray for our leaders.

It was very hard during the Biden years to keep praying for him because he was so corrupt and so old, which to me, was an example of kind of a twisted Uncle Sam, if you could say. If you want to say a leader represents America, have senile and corrupt. Well that’s how our nation’s become. So very much he represented it, but you still prayed for him. Like what if the Lord brought him to salvation, the things that the Lord could do. Look at Nebuchadnezzar. I mean he had destroyed Judah and carried off Daniel into captivity, and yet, Daniel became friends with him and basically led him to the Lord through a series of events. That’s why we’re here.

Tim Moore: That’s why we’re here. And you know what, you may say, well I can’t get ahold of the President or any of the high of ranking officials, but who knows? But what you might have been raised up for just such a time as this, and through a series of circumstances unforeseen by you, you may be elevated to speak truth to someone in a critical moment, just as Daniel did, just as Esther did, just as countless others have throughout Scripture.

Nathan Jones: Joe the plumber.

Tim Moore: Joe the plumber.

Nathan Jones: Joe the plumber came out of nowhere and all of a sudden he’s speaking what we were all thinking.

Tim Moore: Exactly true. Well, we often turn to Scripture to reveal truth that still resonates today. I think of Jeremiah and his declaration of impending judgment and the fact that he recorded how it actually fell. But it records in Jeremiah 44 that the people’s response was, essentially, “We’re not going to listen to you. We’re going to keep on with our abominable practices, our idle worship,” and they rejected his calls to repent and turn back.

And so here again, we have labeled this particular episode, “America at the Crossroads,” not because we can still vote, that is already done, but because each of us still stands at a crossroads of decision. Will we turn back from whatever wicked practices we have tolerated or engaged in and determined that from this day forward, we will serve the Lord. And Nathan, that is true for those who have not yet put their trust in Christ and those who claim to follow Him already.

Nathan Jones: I think of Moses back in Deuteronomy, 28-30, his last message to the Jewish people, “If you follow the Lord, these blessings will fall on you.” But if you don’t follow the Lord, here’s two chapters of curses. Sometimes when people get too evil, the Lord then brings the curses for the purpose of getting them to repent, to bend a knee, to return to that right relationship with the Lord.

So while we pray for bounty and blessing on our country, sometimes it has to crank up the persecution, the destruction, I think that the pandemic was an example. We’re facing, probably, an economic collapse, 10, 15 years due to the outrageous spending. All these things are leading America to very dark days ahead. But that could actually be a good thing if it gets people to bow knee, and bend a knee, and give their lives to Jesus. That could turn us around.

Tim Moore: We talk about the Tribulation as being a time of great outpouring of God’s wrath. And yet, we’ve discussed many times how the Tribulation itself is not just an infliction of punishment. God’s not just pummeling the world for their wickedness, although there’s a righteous element of that. But there’s also a motive behind God’s outpouring of wrath. It is to drive people to the end of themselves so that some will finally turn away from their wicked ways, will repent and turn to Him. So there’s a salvation motivation.

There’s also a key part of the Tribulation tied up with the Jewish people, also taking them to the end of themselves so they look upon Him whom they appear. But if we believe that about the Tribulation, certainly we can apply that same principle to some of the sad times we’ve been witnessing around us today. Are we turning back to God? Are we, proverbially, just shaking our fist in Heaven, saying, “Why aren’t you blessing us?” Instead of humbling ourselves before God? We talked recently, Nathan, about our 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves.”

You know, folks, whether you won or lost your candidate this week, are we willing to humble ourselves and say, “Lord, in this moment, what would You have for me to do, and how can I impact the world around me all the way to the national level?” How can our nation be humble and look to serve the Lord?

Nathan Jones: Right, because the Lord uses the humble to achieve His accomplishments. I think of the Puritans and the Separatists who fled Europe to get away from persecution. They came to the United States. They wanted to create a nation, a place that was like a city on a hill where people could come and worship God freely. And what was amazing about it, when a time where the Jewish people were just so hated, the Puritans wanted the Jewish people to come because they found it to be a safe place for them to get the Gospel.

Well, what has the United States been over the last 200 years? It’s been a safe place, for the most part, for the Jewish people. Now we see Israel is back as a nation again. The antisemitism is rising worldwide and it’s doing God’s accomplishment, its purpose to get the Jewish people back into the land of Israel. So we’ve got to expect that there’s going to be some shift in policy in the United States away from godly values to secular values to fulfill those End Time requirements.

Tim Moore: A verse jumped out at me recently as I was preparing for this conversation. That was from Ecclesiastes, the preacher, the son of David. We think Solomon obviously wrote this. And Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, “Do not say, why is it that the former days were better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.” In other words, don’t live in the past. Oh, the good ol’ days.

You know what, sometimes the good ol’ days were better in some ways, and in other ways, they were not. We have more opportunity today to share the Gospel through the miracle of modern technology and other means. And so right now is the time the Lord has raised us up to be His voice to the world, or to our next door neighbor, proclaiming His truth. And if we live in the past, so to speak, wishing to go back, then we’re really not much good in the present, and we won’t impact the future for those around us for all eternity, Nathan.

Nathan Jones: I know you and I like “Lord of the Rings,” and I remember a particular line where Frodo is kind of lamenting that all this terror has come and he has to be the ring bearer, and all that. And Gandalf says, “Well men can’t choose the time they were born in. We’re given what we are to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.” And this is the time we’re living in.

But hey I’m thankful we’re not living in the Civil War. We’re not living in World War I or II. During the Spanish flu, two million Americans died. All these great wars that… can you imagine living during the Great Depression? America’s had some very rough patches. We still have it very good, and maybe it’s because the Lord has blessed us so much. We really don’t know what it’s like to live in difficult times anymore.

Tim Moore: We don’t. You mentioned World War II. Can you imagine the Christians, those who were faithful to the Lord God, living in Nazi Germany, and in the occupied territories there throughout Europe? Those who were faithful to God and were willing to trust in Him and act out upon their faith were the ones who were the righteous Gentiles, as the Jewish people call them, because they sheltered Jews, because they helped Jews escape the Nazi death machine, and because they were willing to testify to the Lord God and live out their faith, even in the face of great persecution and risk. And those are the people we revere to this day. So we’re not quite at that level of persecution, but are we, as Christians, willing to rise to the occasion?

And you say, “Well I don’t know if I can accomplish these things.” I’m reminded of Gideon, when he was visited by an angel, he is a man from a tiny tribe, and he is fearful, and it says that the Lord looked at him and said, “Go in your strength,” not much strength, his limited strength, “and deliver Israel from the hand of the Midian. Have I not sent you?” In other words, it doesn’t matter how Gideon felt about himself, the fact that he was a slight man and fearful at the time, the Lord called him, and therefore, he had a task to do and he would accomplish it if he just acted boldly, as the Lord directed.

Nathan Jones: The great heroes of the Bible, most of them were very humble people. Think Moses, it really took a lot to get Moses to finally go and confront Pharaoh, and bring, but think that thousands of years later, we’re still talking about these people. Because they responded in faith and let the Lord work through them, their stories are still told today. And I think, when we get to Heaven one day, we’ll be sharing the stories about the Holy Spirit did through us throughout all eternity. And can you imagine getting to Heaven and you just cowered your entire life, and hid, and hoped to get by, just squeeze in, and you have no stories to tell. But man, I don’t want to go to Heaven that way.

Tim Moore: Who is it that said, “I want to get to Heaven with my hair half on fire and skidding in because I’ve been running and sprinting the whole time and they’ve been chasing after me, but I am on the move for Christ.” You know Nathan, we often try to figure out where is America in Bible prophecy. Some of our viewers repeatedly ask about that question. Where are we, is I think addressed quite often, in the pages of Revelation?

So we can find application points, whether it’s in the church of Ephesus, when the Lord said, “I have this against you that you have left your first love.” We can think about the church at Thyatira, in Revelation 2:19-20, when he says, “I have this against you that you tolerate,” and I’ve spoken before how they tolerated a particular woman, Jezebel. But today, we are told that we have to tolerate the absolutely abominable instead of saying, “No, you’re not going to infiltrate that garbage into the minds of my children. I’m not going to give them over to indoctrination in government schools so that you can lead them astray. I’m not going to tolerate evil.”

You can think about the church at Sardis, in Revelation 3:2-3, where the Lord said, “Wake up and strengthen that which remains and is about to die. Remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent.” There again that call to turn back. Or finally, the church of the latter time, Laodicea, when the Lord says, “I know your deeds but now you are neither hot or cold. I wish that you were hot or cold, but you were only lukewarm.”

And that’s the passage, the church at Laodicea, where the Lord has actually been put out of the house and we find Him knocking on the door to get back in. That probably describes America, but frankly, there’s too many Christians who if they truly were to be introspective would say, “The Lord is not reigning on the throne of my heart. I’ve kind of put Him out,” and He may be on the outside knocking to say, “Let me back in so that I can sup with you.”

Nathan Jones: People turn to Isaiah 18, a people tall and smooth of skin and say, well there it is, there’s the United States there. And it’s like, well wait a minute, the context is Ethiopia. So that’s not the United States. They go to Ezekiel 38 and 39, the Gog, Magog War, which talks about the merchants of Tarshish and their young lions. The merchants of Tarshish could have been Britain or Spain, and the young lions would’ve been the colonies. That could be a reference to any of the new world, but not just in America but all the countries in North and South America. Revelation 12, you said, let’s go to Revelation. “A great eagle will come in and rescue the Jewish people.” Well America’s got an eagle, so therefore, we’re the rescuers, but we know from Old Testament that that’s the Holy Spirit.

Tim Moore: Right.

Nathan Jones: And I hear so much of this today, Revelation 18, that Babylon the Great, the Antichrist empire is the United States. No, what we do know from Zechariah is this, that all the nations of the world will be part of the Antichrist’s empire, and all the nations of the world will come against Israel in the last days, and all the nations of the world will be destroyed when Jesus returns to set up His Kingdom.

So although America isn’t found in prophecy, I believe that we’re inferred in prophecy through the fact that America, as much as I love this nation, has an end. Well Argentina has an end, Europe has an end, China has an end. All these nations will have an end when Jesus Christ returns, and the only nations we read about in the Millennial Kingdom is Israel, Egypt, Assyria, and Russia. After that, all the nations will be reformed as the Tribulation Saints, children have children and make whole brand new nations. So I love America, but America does have a due date.

Tim Moore: Exactly so, and we love America and have served here faithfully. I’ve been in the military- We relish and dearly love this nation, but our citizenship is in Heaven, and that’s the distinction. I think there are so many types. We talk about Judah and Israel as types of America and how we can learn from the application of what the Lord did in those countries.

I think Nineveh is another type. The Lord so loved the Ninevites that he sent Jonah, a very reluctant prophet, to go and warn them that judgment is coming, destruction is about to reign down. And his very un-seeker sensitive message was, “Y’all gonna die,” and yet, the Ninevites recognized it was a word of the Lord. They did repent and He relented of that judgment until yet another generation rose up and went back to their wicked ways, and then judgment fell.

Nathan Jones: You bring a good point because Nineveh, at the time, that was the head of the Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians were horrifically evil. I mean they were spooky, scary, evil. And what they did to the people they conquered by stripping them naked, shaving them, sticking a needle through their backs, or their nose, and marching them hundreds of miles into captivity. I could see why Jonah was scared of the Ninevites. So when you compare the Ninevites to America, I don’t think we’re at that level yet. And yet, when God sent a prophet to them, the king repented, and for 150 years, the people stayed repented until Naomi’s time. You know, that could happen to America, I hope.

Tim Moore: It could. Terry Cooper made a point at our conference this year that the thing the Lord finally condemned Israel and Judah for was their idol worship and their sacrifice of children. And our country has been worshiping every other kind of god except the true and living God, and we have a whole political party, as well as about half of our population that celebrates the murder of unborn children. They call it choice, but really, it is a false god that has led to the destruction of millions.

So I think the Lord’s judgment is rightfully upon this nation, and we may have witnessed a bearing out of that judgment this week in the election, but there still remains. How should Christians respond, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who occupies the White House or any other aspect of eternal challenge and trial that we have to live through?

Nathan Jones: Well, I think we need to first fix ourselves. If you’re a Christian, you need to be following Jesus Christ. You need to be getting rid of the things that are pulling you away from Him, the life of sin, and get right in line with the biblical Jesus. And then we start with ourselves, and then we move to our families. What is it in our families that is the Satan will always attack the family, because that’s the foundational institution of any solid nation.

Now, what are we doing with our families? Our divorce rate is high as secular divorce rate. What are we doing about that? What are we doing to get rid of the porn and the theft and the stealing and the abortion, everything that’s in our… So we fix the family, we make it nuclear, so to speak, and then we use that energy to go out on a local level and be salt and light in the local level, and then move up and through the politics and make a difference. Again, the end goal isn’t the politics, per se, but it’s, again, to be the salt and light that the Lord has called us to be as Christians.

Tim Moore: Dr. David Reagan, our founder and original evangelist, here at Lamb and Lion Ministries, wrote a tremendously powerful book, called “America’s Suicide.” And I know that it hearkens to the trajectory we are on as a nation. But even in this book, which categorizes and describes all the trends that we see around us, it also offers great hope that we who are followers of Christ can be beacons of light in this dark age. And so Nathan, we’ve been sharing this for the last few weeks.

It will actually encourage you, or one that you love, a family member or friend, that in this dark age, we know where our hope is and we can be beacons of truth, beacons of light. I think about driving down the road. If you came across a bridge and a man was standing on the edge, ready to commit suicide, as a Christian, what would you do? You’d stop, you would try to encourage him, and you would explain the hope that is within you and that in Christ he can have hope to step back from the edge of the bridge, to turn his back on despair and hopelessness because we have the Blessed Hope.

Nathan Jones: It’s a hard hitting book, it’s a hard to read, but I think it’s so insightful because it helps us understand where America’s place is on the prophetic timeline, and how we are supposed to respond to our call to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as salt and light to the world. So I think that’s one of Dr. Reagan’s best books.

Tim Moore: I really do, too. And again, when we first heard about the title, and even saw the picture, we were curious about how he would bring out hope. But it is a hope-filled book because only in Christ can America have hope, or any of us as individuals have hope. And the truth is, Nathan, that even as our land, regardless of who’s in the White House, continues to harken toward darkness. That’s what Scripture says will happen. And yet, we who know the truth are called to be beacons of light in a darkening world. And quite frankly, the darker it gets, the easier it is for the light to shine. And there are going to be so many people, groping in the darkness, looking for hope, looking for light, that we are raised up for such a time as this.

Nathan Jones: Yes, what exciting times to live in as Christians. It’s a time to stand up and do what’s right and be that beacon of hope.

Conclusion

Tim Moore: And be that beacon of hope. Going into this program, we realize that half the country will feel traumatized and anxious in the days following November 5th, and the other half will be tempted to gloat and double down on their disdain for their fellow citizens on the other side of the political divide.

Nathan Jones: It has been predicted that if Donald Trump wins, the left will become unglued and lash out with violence and destruction that makes 2016 look benign by comparison. And if Kamala Harris wins, well the right will sulk and stew and wonder how much longer the Union can survive.

Tim Moore: Obviously we pray that reasonable voices will prevail and that some form of national healing will occur. That may take years, or only happen as a result of an external threat or national tragedy, neither of which we hope for or want. I do hope that we have challenged you to consider your reaction to this election and what the next four years will bring. It is one thing to decry the state of our nation or the intransigence of the other side, or the steady march our culture is on to match the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, but if Daniel’s prophetic word is valid, we know that even as the End Times loom, the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

Nathan Jones: Last week we encouraged you to take the important action of voting, letting your vote be your voice for biblical values and Christian principles. Now it is time to get back to work, seeking the welfare of this pagan land. It is time to express confidence in the rock of our salvation, and hope in the promises He has given us. It is time to raise our children and grandchildren to serve the Lord’s steadfastly as He tarries, and it is time to give an answer for the hope that is in us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Tim Moore: If your heart is gladdened by the result of this election, praise the Lord. If your heart was saddened by the result and struggling with anxiety over what lies ahead, determine to praise the Lord in spite of your feelings. He is still in control. He is still on the throne and Jesus is still coming soon. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we stand at a crossroads.

Will we speak of fear and give voice to anxiety, feeding our children and grandchildren with ashes and belying our claim to resolute faith? Or will we choose to live by faith and praise Him, regardless of our circumstances, bearing testimony that our assurance is unshaken? And will we share our Blessed Hope with all who are being ground down in this godless age and point them to our great God and Savior?

The signs of the times are shouting that Jesus is at the gates of Heaven, waiting for His Father to say, “Go and get your Bride, the Church.” And when He comes for us, every pain, every heartache, every tear will be forgotten. We will be gathered to Him, given glorified bodies, and come back to Earth with Christ when He returns. There will be no more politics or elections because He will reign from Mount Zion in Jerusalem with a rod of iron. Jesus said, “There is only two paths in this life. One leads to everlasting destruction and one leads to eternal life.”

If you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are at a crossroads. Call on Him right now, then join us in glorifying the risen Christ who ascended into Heaven and is coming again! What America needs is a great spiritual awakening. What each of us need is an awareness of the imminence of Jesus’ return. If we grasp the urgency of this moment and individual lives seek to glorify Him all across this land, there is still hope for America yet. Godspeed!

End of Program