The Harbinger (4 page)

“Who?”

“An ancient people…an ancient kingdom. Israel, the northern kingdom, eighth century
B.C.
They should have known. It was all there from the beginning, but they forgot.”

“Forgot what?”

“Their purpose, their foundation, that which made them unique. No other nation had been called into being for the will of God or dedicated to His purposes from conception. No other people had been given a covenant. But the covenant had a condition. If they followed the ways of God, they would become the most blessed of nations. But if they fell away and turned against His ways, then their blessings would be removed and replaced by calamity, as they did, and as it was.”

“But why would they turn away if they were given so much?”

“It’s a mystery,” said the prophet, “a kind of spiritual amnesia. When it began, they were still using God’s name, but with less and less meaning behind it. Then they started merging Him, confusing Him with the gods of the nations. And then they began turning against Him—subtly at first, then outright, then brazenly—driving Him out of their national life and bringing in idols to fill the void. The land became covered with idols and altars to foreign gods. They rejected their covenant, abandoned their standards, and exchanged the values they had always lived by for those they had never known—spirituality for sensuality, holiness for profanity, and righteousness for self-interest. They cut themselves off from the faith on which their nation had been established and became strangers to God. And as for their most innocent, their little children, they offered them up as sacrifices.”

“Literally?” I asked. “They literally killed their own children?”

“On the altars of Baal and Molech, their newfound gods. That’s how far they descended. Everything was now upside down. What they had once known as right, they now saw as outdated, intolerant, and immoral. And what they had once known as immoral, they now championed and celebrated as sacred. They had transformed themselves into the enemies of the God they had once worshiped and the faith they had once followed, until the very mention of His name was banned from their public squares. And yet in spite of all this, He was merciful and called to them, again and again.”

“Through the prophets?”

“Through the prophets—Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, and Amos, pleading with them, warning them, calling them to return. But they rejected the call and declared war on those who remained faithful. They branded them as troublemakers, irritants, dangerous, and, finally, enemies of the state. They were marginalized, vilified, persecuted, and even hunted down. So the nation grew deaf to the call of those trying to save them from judgment. The alarm would have to grow louder and the warnings more severe.”

“More severe?”

“They would enter a new stage. The words of the prophets would now be joined to the sound of calamity. God would remove the hedge.”

“Remove what hedge?” I asked.

“The hedge He had placed around them, the hedge of protection, of national security that had kept them safe up to that point. As long as it was in place, they were safe. No enemy kingdom, no empire, no power on earth could touch them. But once it was removed, everything changed. Their enemies could now enter, breach their land, and enter their gates. It was a new phase, much more dangerous than before. Thus began the days of calamities and shakings…the days of final warning.”

“And when did this all happen? When was this hedge removed?”

“732
B.C.
”

“Maybe I’m missing something,” I said. “But what does all this, what happened two and a half thousand years ago, have to do with anything…with now? What does it have to do with why you’re here and why I’m listening to all this? When we first met, you said it wasn’t about an ancient nation. But so far all you’ve talked about is an ancient nation.”

“I said, ‘Not
for
an ancient nation.’ That’s different.”

“But why are you talking about an ancient nation?”

“Because unless you understand what happened then, you’ll never understand what’s happening now.”

“Now? So it’s some kind of key?”

“A key for the appointed time, for the word to be given and for the message to go forth, but not for an ancient nation.”

“Then for what…for what nation?”

He was silent.

I asked him again, “Then for what nation?”

It was only then that he voiced it.

“America,” he said. “Now for America.”

With that, he got up from the bench and walked over toward the water.

I couldn’t let it go at that. I followed him there. “All this has to do with America?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s the
appointed time
for America? For a mystery to be revealed and a message to be given to America?”

“Yes.”

“But what does America have to do with ancient Israel?”

“Israel was unique among nations in that it was conceived and dedicated at its foundation for the purposes of God.”

“OK…”

“But there was one other—a civilization also conceived and dedicated to the will of God from its conception…America. In fact, those who laid its foundations…”

“The Founding Fathers.”

“No, long before the Founding Fathers. Those who laid America’s foundations saw it as a new Israel, an Israel of the New World. And as with ancient Israel, they saw it as in covenant with God.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning its rise or fall would be dependent on its relationship with God. If it followed His ways, America would become the most blessed, prosperous, and powerful nation on earth. From the very beginning they foretold it. And what they foretold would come true. America would rise to heights no other nation had ever known. Not that it was ever without fault or sin, but it would aspire to fulfill its calling.”

“What calling?”

“To be a vessel of redemption, an instrument of God’s purposes, a light to the world. It would give refuge to the world’s poor and needy, and hope to its oppressed. It would stand against tyranny. It would fight, more than once, against the dark movements of the modern world that threatened to engulf the earth. It would liberate millions. And, as much as it fulfilled its calling or aspired to, it would become the most blessed, the most prosperous, the most powerful, and the most revered nation on the earth—just as its founders had prophesied.”

“But there’s a
but
coming, isn’t there?”

“Yes,” he replied. “There was always another side to the covenant. If ancient Israel fell away from God and turned against His ways, its blessings would be removed and replaced with curses.”

“But wasn’t Israel surrounded by nations far worse,” I asked, “with no concept of God or moral code? So why would Israel be judged?”

“Because to whom much is given, much is required. And no nation had ever been given so much. None had been so spiritually blessed. So the standards were higher, the stakes greater, and the judgment, when it came, more severe.”

“And America…” I said.

“And America has done much good. And there’s no shortage of nations far exceeding any of its faults or sins. But no nation in the modern world has ever been given so much. None has been so blessed. To whom much is given, much is required. If a nation so blessed by God should turn away from Him, what then?”

“Its blessings will be replaced with curses?”

“Yes.”

“And has America turned away from God?” I asked.

“It has turned, and is turning.”

“How?”

“In the same way Israel turned. It started with a spiritual complacency, then spiritual confusion, then the merging of God with idols, and then, ultimately, the rejection of His ways. Just as with ancient Israel, America began ruling God out of its life, turning, step by step, against His ways, at first subtly, and then, more and more, brazenly.”

“When?” I asked. “When did it start?”

“There’s no one simple answer. In America’s greatest moments there was always sin, and in its worst moments, greatness. But there are critical junctures. In the middle of the twentieth century America began officially removing God from its national life. It abolished prayer and Scripture in its public schools. As ancient Israel had removed the Ten Commandments from its national consciousness, so America did likewise, removing the Ten Commandments from public view, banning it from its public squares, and taking it down, by government decree, from its walls. As it was in ancient Israel, so too in America, God was progressively driven out of the nation’s public life. The very mention of the name
God
or
Jesus
in any relevant context became more and more taboo and unwelcome unless for the purpose of mockery and attack. That which had once been revered as sacred was now increasingly treated as profanity. And as God was driven out, idols were brought in to replace Him.”

“But Americans don’t worship idols.”

“No,” said the prophet, “they just don’t call them
idols
. As God was expunged from American life, idols came in to fill the void—idols of sensuality, idols of greed, of money, success, comfort, materialism, pleasure, sexual immorality, self-worship, self-obsession. The sacred increasingly disappeared, and the profane took its place. It was another kind of spiritual amnesia; the nation forgot its foundations, its purpose, and its calling. The standards and values it had long upheld were now abandoned. What it had once known as immoral, it now accepted. Its culture was increasingly corrupted by the corrosion of sexual immorality, growing continuously more crude and vulgar. A wave of pornography began penetrating its media. The same nation that had once been dedicated to spreading God’s light to the nations now filled the world with the pornographic and the obscene.”

“Some would call it
tolerance
,” I said.

“Yes,” he replied, “the same tolerance that overtook ancient Israel…a tolerance for everything opposed to God, a growing tolerance for immorality and a growing intolerance for the pure—a tolerance that mocked, marginalized, and condemned those who remained faithful to the values now being discarded. Innocence was ridiculed and virtue was vilified. Children were taught of sexual immorality in public schools while the Word of God was banned. It was a tolerance that put the profane on public display and removed nativity scenes from public sight…contraband, as if somehow they had become a threat—a strangely intolerant tolerance.”

“But still,” I countered, “how does all that compare to what happened in ancient Israel? America doesn’t offer its children on altars of sacrifice?”

“Does it not?” he said. “Ten years after removing prayer and Scripture from its public schools, the nation legalized the killing of its unborn. The blood of the innocent now stained its collective hands. Israel had sacrificed thousands on the altars of Baal and Molech. But by the dawn of the twenty-first century, America had sacrificed
millions
. For its thousands, judgment came upon Israel. What then of America?”

“So what are you saying?

He didn’t respond.

“Is America in danger of judgment?” I asked.

Again he was silent.

“Tell me…is America in danger of judgment?”

“Are you sure you want to know the answer?”

“I’m sure.”

“The answer to your question is
yes
…Yes. America is in danger of judgment.”

I didn’t respond immediately. I was trying to come up with a defense. Finally I said, “It can’t be as bad as it was in ancient Israel. They came against the prophets. But if God sent a message today to America, calling it back, people would listen.”

“Would they?”

“They wouldn’t?”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’ve deafened their ears to those voices. So as with ancient Israel, the alarm would have to grow louder and the calling more severe.”

“Which means what?”

“Which means that America would enter a new stage.”

“Of what?”

“Of what happened to Israel,” he answered.

“The hedge?”

“The removal of the nation’s hedge of protection.”

“And what would it mean if something like that would happen?”

There was a long pause before he answered that. “It already has.”

“What do you mean?”

“America’s hedge has already been removed, and the Nine Harbingers have been manifested.”

“The Nine Harbingers?”

“The Nine Harbingers that manifested in ancient Israel in the nation’s last days. Each one was a sign. Each one was a warning of judgment…of their end…the Nine Harbingers of judgment.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s all happening again according to the same pattern, according to the judgment of ancient Israel. The Nine Harbingers that appeared in the last days of ancient Israel are now appearing in America.”

“Appearing in America?”

“Each one manifesting on American soil. Each one containing a prophetic message. And upon these, the future of the nation hangs.”

“I don’t understand…”

“You don’t have to understand. It will all be revealed.”

He asked me if I had the seal. I did. I removed it from my pocket and handed it to him. He then opened up his other hand to reveal another seal, the same one he was holding the day we met. He placed it in my hand. “Nine seals, one for each Harbinger, one for each mystery.”