what if?

For starters it goes without saying that America is in a period of grace right now. Like Israel in Jeremiah's day, we're flourishing, but judgement is around the corner. Of course, ask Jeremiah, no one wants to hear about judgement in a time of prosperity. With the stock market at an all-time high and gas prices plummeting, it's easy for false prophets to stand in the streets (or on campaign platforms) and cry out, "Peace, peace!" But we know that this nation has turned away from the Lord, who is a righteous judge, and so the interim that we're in can only be His mercy giving us time to repent and turn back to Him.

Lou Engle, of The Cause USA, hosted a live "prayer cast" last Saturday. He talked to a dozen pretty established prophetic voices in our country (Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, James Goll, Rick Joyner, etc.) about the state of the nation and what the Lord has put on their hearts. Pretty amazing. (It was recorded - hooray! - and you can listen here.) Bob Jones is a man I respect very much (he's predicted - by the Spirit of God - everything from snow and comets to the fall of the Berlin wall and Bush/Quail), and he mentioned this grace period that we're in. Then he said he expects it to end in about two years. Yike.

Then I remembered Josiah, and how he ruled a nation according to God's will. I realize President Bush doesn't quite match up to Josiah, but I think Bush was raised up as a Christian man who did a job that not many presidents would have done in the face of such opposition. Let's not forget Jesus has this all figured out. The Lord told Josiah that he could not pardon all the innocent blood shed in the land by previous kings, but that he would not judge the nation during Josiah's reign.

So Bob thinks the window of opportunity to return to the Lord with all our hearts is going to end in about two years. I think that so many ignorant American voters are angry with President Bush (mostly because the media tells them to be) that the next Democratic presidential candidate is going to have their favor simply because he belongs to the opposite political party. Perhaps judgement is again merely waiting for His servant's reign to end.