THE CRY OF THE TRUMPET!

The Bible also says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm!" My dear brothers and sisters, this is the day in which God is sounding the alarm in America! Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Terrorists have ravaged our nation, and we cannot stand idly by continuing in our apathy about the Word of the Lord.

A parable comes to mind. It is as though the dancers danced and the singers sang in a great parade year by year celebrating the years of freedom that the King of all the earth had given them alone apart from all the surrounding cities. The singing and dancing soon turned to decadence and revelry. The people began drinking and partying with great debauchery as though the Holy One above had not given them this time of peace. No one thanked God!  No one even remembered Him! So He sent a man to cry out in the city, "The enemy is coming, the enemy is coming!" The people watched for a moment and turned back to their conversations. No one acknowledged the One who alone had the power to give them peace or send them war. They soon forgot the Holy One in the innocent merriment, and they ignored Him in their debauchery. The dancers failed to remind the inhabitants to return to G-d and the town crier failed to gain their attention. No one would awaken to see the coming destruction. This has been America!

We laughed and played in our innocence as a young nation and forgot the One who gave us the power to prevail in birth. As we grew in age and maturity, we still refused to acknowledge Him as our Sovereign. Still out of the abundance of His mercy and steadfast love for our nation, He began to send us prophets warning us of the impending danger. Again, we refused to listen and awaken from our slumber.  

My dear friends, it is bad enough that this depicts the unsaved in our nation; must it also depict the Christian? Our Father’s heart aches and longs for our nation to be a resting place for His glory. He longs to see His Church rise up and bring honor to His name. Too long we have been a reproach to the nations of the world, both as a nation and as a Church professing His holy name. Will we now hear the cry of the trumpet of the Lord?

We have as a nation suffered the scourging winds of adversity in the many calamities that we have endured. Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires have caused great suffering and billions of dollars worth of damage. Further, we have agonized through massacres of our children in the public schools; massacres of our families in our churches, synagogues; and terrorists bombings of our businesses and public buildings taking the lives of thousands of innocent people, not to mention the daily struggles of the nation’s ghettos and inner cities, where life seems to have little meaning, and the hungry families who subsist on one meal a day and sometimes less. We may not always feel the pain of these struggles, but He Who knows all things does!  We have lost millions of dollars of valuable food crop through natural disasters. As a nation we have only recently learned that our national security is totally ineffective, and as a result we have experienced a serious breach in our national security leaving us absolutely unprotected as a nation, again to the recent loss of untold thousands of lives. These are not signs of the favor of the Lord, my Dear Friends. Conversely, they are all signs of His disfavor. Prayer was removed from the schools because the Church was asleep. The Lord is being taken out of the public arena because the Church is in sin! Everything mentioned in this paragraph and many more are all evidence of a Church who has lost the favor of  the holy Sovereign! Our loss is not the result of the unbelievers offending Him, Beloved; it is the result of the Church’s many offenses, and I might add, because of our apathetic stand behind Israel.

The Lord attempted to warn us. Prophets have sounded the trumpet, not a few times, on the  issue that America had fallen into harms way. My Dear Friends, what is it going to take for us to wake up? Our Father is still on the throne, so again, we cannot look to Him and find the error nor the answer as to why America is no longer safe!

I hear Christians accuse, "Well, it’s because they took prayer out of the schools and God out of our constitution." I ask, "What does that have to do with our Churches being the target of hate crimes and the recent tragedy of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center?" We cannot keep blaming the unbeliever!

There was a day that tragedy of the magnitude that Americans are now experiencing was a focus of world news concerning other nations. I don’t know how many Americans who are not Jewish weep and lament when they hear of the latest episode of suicide bombings of innocent children and families in Israel. How many of us weep when we hear of killer earthquakes that destroy entire villages and wipe out thousands of families in India? How many of us feel the pains of a broken heart when we hear of the little African children being slaughtered because their families are Christian or entire villages being brutally murdered by Islamic extremists? These are tragedies that are everyday life in nations all over the world, but America has lived in a divine vacuum of protection. Consequently, we have hardened our heart to the needy of the world, and we spend our money and our time charitably ministering to our passionate flesh.

My dear brothers and sisters, we are in sin of mega proportions! If we don’t swear, drink or practice adultery, the sin of a hard heart against the needy peoples of the earth is greater than that which we forgo. Then there are the obvious sins each one caters to. Further, the fact that we keep fat bank accounts and wear designer clothes, live in homes that far surpass our needs when Lazarus sits at our gate hungry is an abomination to the Lord. Who is Lazarus? He is the neighbor in need! He may live in our ghettos or inner cities, up in our mountain ranges, he may live in some far away country, or he may be our next-door neighbor. He may be the child who is being sold for prostitution in one of the Asian or Arabian nations. He may be the baby that was aborted because he was an unwanted inconvenience, or because some young girl had no way to provide for the accident that is in her tummy.  He may be a member of our own extended family. He remains at our door in need because we have more important things to do with our time and our money than to minister to the hurting heart of our Messiah by meeting the needs of the less fortunate. Further, there are those who judge the needy and blame them for their misfortune instead of helping them. At times the fault does lie with the needy, but where does our responsibility begin and end? I personally do not want to find out at the great white throne of judgment, or the judgment seat of Messiah. America is in sin and therefore in trouble! Further, and considerably worse, the Church is in sin, and, consequently, America is in trouble!

Most Christians with whom I speak assume that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for the sin of sodomy. Few realize that those as well as their sister cities were destroyed for more reasons than sodomy. Ezekiel lists the seven reasons for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

There you have it! It is a little embarrassing when you stop to realize that America is guilty of all these and much more and such has been the case for a long time. Further, and even more embarrassing, is the fact that all these sins are in superabundance in the Church! As I think about it, Beloved, maybe the word embarrassing is the wrong word. Perhaps the better word is fearful, shameful, or despicable!

Overabundance of food: who eats better and more luxuriously than the people of America? Who can better afford it? Prosperous ease: we have our comfort, and if we don’t, we keep creating and buying until we do surround ourselves with comfort, just like we like it. Idleness: our idleness both in respect to our faith and in respect to our temporal life reveals just how complacent we are. Paul said to buy up every moment so how do we have time for all the television, game shows, and computer games and the like that we spend our time before, little lone, the time it took to purchase them? The hungry, the needy, the poor, and the afflicted wait at our gates while we enjoy ourselves spending our money to better enjoy ourselves. We have become haughty, my Dear Friends. We are no longer correctable and teachable. We gather to ourselves those who will tickle our ears, and tell us we are alright, when in fact we are on the verge of major judgment. We are playing spiritual rouelet.  No one who plays it long wins!

Israel, The Plum Line

The recent attacks against America are retaliatory for our stand on behalf of Israel. The Islamic extremist, Bin Laden, said on CNN news, "These attacks against America are because America has done great evil against the Moslem people by putting Israel right in the middle of us. They have hurt the Moslem people with great hurt with Israel." This statement is his almost verbatim.

My dear brothers and sisters, Bin Laden tells us that Israel is our problem. I want to state that our sin, which created holes in our armor, is our problem. To stand with Israel is the most righteous thing we can do right now, even if we suffer for it. However, if we as a Church would bow our knee and repent before the Lord for our unrighteousness and pray for our President that we might intensify our stand for Israel and stand against the terrorist attacks against Israel as well, we would come under a new protection.

Jesus said:

The Greek construction of this verse indicates that He is speaking specifically of His brethren of the flesh, the Jews. For those who will not give shelter to the needy etc. the Lord will do the same unto them. (Read my article, The Clarion Call) His favor is with those who give Israel favor. His strong arm is with those who will give their arm to Israel. Israel will be the plum line of the nations in these last days.

I want to clarify that the "Holy War" we are now engaged in is not for Israel, it is on behalf of America’s liberty alone. If we are going to fight a ‘Holy War’ may it be on behalf of all nations who are struggling under terrorism’s strong hand, including Israel. (That isn’t to say that I agree with this war at all, as I do not, but if we are going to make a stand, let it truly be a righteous stand.)

I cannot say at this moment what the Lord’s will would have been. But, I will say that our response may have been more within His will if we would have had a praying America. I will say, that now that we are in this war, we need to PRAY that America will find its way into God’s will in the process. May He have mercy upon us in our efforts!

The trumpet cry when sounding the alarm alerting us to enemy invasion is a mournful and piercing sound. Who wants to hear it? Who wants to awaken out of slumber to the reality that sleep is no longer an option for the enemy is at the door? Who wants to hear that piercing sound that demands repentance when you are half asleep on a nice warm comfortable bed? Who is willing to awaken to the shrill of screaming children and the explosion of falling buildings because we were being invaded unaware! Here it? Unaware! In a nation where we can afford any kind of protection we may need, and have to our disposal the greatest technology known to man, we have been caught unaware by our enemy!

The Church cries out, where were the prophets? I say where were the intercessors, and those who laid awake repenting for the sins of our nation before a holy God? I cried out warning, and warning again that invasion was just ahead. Godly men such as Dan Bohler, Bob Jones, Paul (Keith) Davis, Sid Roth, also, holy men such as Dimitru Dudiman, David Wilkerson, and others have warned us of the same. I have been thrown out of churches and out of cities for warning the people of God of impending danger. We were not short on prophetic revelation. The problem was with the listeners. Who heard and wept and repented for a nation who deserved God’s wrath? Who listened with a heart to pour out their souls before a holy God who deserved our agonizing tears of repentance for the great sins that have beset us as a nation? Who heard all the warnings and changed their ways as a result? Who turned to abhor their sin and live in righteousness for the reverential fear of the Holy One when the trumpet sounded? God is a righteous God. He would never let a nation be taken unaware unless that nation had turned a deaf ear to His incessant pleadings. In this case, He did warn, and warn, and warn!! We have distributed multiplied thousands of our books, Prepare for the Winds of Change, and Prophetic Insight, hoping to warn America of the impending danger. We have placed articles on our website attempting to warn the nation to turn back while there is still time. Many other prophets have done similar things. My precious Friend, our problem does not lie with a silent God, or unhearing prophets. The problem is with a Church who is apathetic, asleep and in rebellion to our holy God. Notwithstanding, consider this, why does a nation need prophets when most Christians have a half a dozen Bibles on their shelves? If we would open them and read them, we would find the Word to say everything we could ever expect the prophet to say. It speaks, but have we heard? Still, the Lord spoke to me audibly in our Prayer Gathering in Jacksonville, Florida, that we didn’t know what we had been saved from through our obedience to have that Gathering. After the collapse of the World Trade Center, He spoke those same words to me again, "You don’t know what you have just been saved from." I keep hearing His mercy. Beloved, it could have been so much worse had He not protected us by His mercy! In His mercy He has now spoken so much louder, let us repent while there is still time!

Notwithstanding, while the cry of the trumpet of repentance has been ignored, God still being a God of great integrity and mercy, sounded a louder trumpet with the September 11th incident. He did not allow 50,000 people to be killed as it could have been. He did not allow multiplied thousands of deaths at the Pentagon as He could have done, but He did give us a wake up call that is as serious as any could be. We wouldn’t hear the trumpet.  Will we hear the blast of His fiery breath from heaven? Will we turn and keep turning, repenting of our sins and changing our ways to meet His holy demands? Will we turn from the titillation of a world that is antagonistic to His holiness and live to please His holy demands? Will we yet hear?

The Word of the Lord came to Solomon saying,

Further

My dear brothers and sisters, when will you quit listening to the pillow prophets who keep telling you that God’s judgment is not here, nor eminent and begin to listen to what the Bible says? Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? (And the Lord hath not done it?) Listen to what the Bible says. His Word says if evil occurs in the city He has done it! If He has done it as a tempest blast  then it is judgment upon our sin! That is what happened, a tempest blast came and destruction of our icons of pride resulted, and the buildings came tumbling down. He is still speaking, and He is still willing to discipline us unto righteousness, but we must listen to His voice and not the voice of those who say peace, peace. For then sudden destruction will come and there will be no remedy.

I am not trying to be a preacher of doom and gloom. Nor am I attempting to make you afraid. For that will do no good at all. What I am trying to accomplish is to warn you that our holy and loving God is provoked, and it is time to humble ourselves, seek His face, listen to His righteous demands and turn from our wicked ways. For then He will, in His abundant mercy, hear our prayers, and heal our land.

If we still refuse to listen, we are then responsible for our own end. Mercy cries at the door of every house. Wisdom cries at the gate of every city…"Oh you who are simple and easily led astray, turn in here and listen to my voice. Love righteousness and hate evil. Love the good and turn from transgression, and I will heal your land!" Further, "I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." Could this ‘Holy War’ be a prelude to this? Not necessarily in the near future, but a prelude never the less. Are we now in war because we spearheaded the Land for Peace initiative? Bin Laden says because we support Israel, but Bin Laden could not touch us unless the Lord has allowed it. If our nation were truly standing righteously in all critical aspects, including regards to Israel, we would be making righteous decisions that the Lord would stand behind. Will we hear? Will we turn? Will we seek His holy face? Will we repent? Will we turn from our evil ways and live a life pleasing to Him?

Joel clarified:

Blow the trumpet in Zion; Set apart a fast, [a day of restraint
and humility]; call a solemn assembly. Gather the people,
sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children,
and those that suck the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber,
and the bride out of her closet. Let the priest, the ministers of the Lord,
weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people,
O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Joel 2

We are calling Prayer Gatherings all over the country, who of you will spend the money and take the time to join those who will hear; and with other humble saints pour out your heart before a righteous God unto repentance, and plead to Him for the healing of our nation?

No one is exempt from this humiliation! No one! From the minister behind the pulpit to the young child, all are called to come and humble themselves, repent and plead with the Lord to have mercy upon our nation and spare His people. Are we to wait for a more opportune time? Emphatically no, we are to make the time, join together and intercede with the merciful Father above to heal our land. His promise to us if we would heed the trumpet is to heal our land.

Beloved, believe me if we do not act upon His instruction there will be more terrorism. The door is already open for it. Although other attempts have been made and thwarted just before and since the falling of the trade towers, one will get through unaware. The Lord told me that He would put up a covering of protection for a moment to see what we will do. If we don’t respond appropriately, He will allow another through to further get our attention. I believe that covering is about to be lifted once again, for a moment. If that will provoke us to righteousness, He will prepare us for His glory and seal the covering for a season of harvest.

I want to further warn, my Dear Friends, that while we are searching out Islamic terrorists, they are again searching us out. Dearly beloved, hear me! I had a vision during the Feast of Trumpets of the old Hitler flag. It was red with a white circle and a black swastika in the middle of the circle.  It was connected to a military ship. As I continued praying that the Lord will reveal to me what it was that He was attempting to say, I then saw a second vision. In this vision I saw all sorts of military weapons from rifles to tanks coming down off an assembly line.  I continued to pray although by now I was thoroughly startled. Finally, I went to sleep. Late in the night I heard a bear roar as if it were going to war against its enemy. I knew it was standing straight up and was ready to attack the intruder. The roar was so loud it awakened me out of a sound sleep. It continued as one who was aroused and would not be silenced. It was out to destroy. I lay in bed shaken to my core unable to return to sleep for many hours. My alarm was aided by the fact that I was in bear country in Kodiak Alaska, so I didn’t know if it was real or in the spirit that I heard it. I only discovered the next day, that it was a strong warning from the Lord that ‘The Bear’ was again about to attack the US. This time I believe that while there will be greater safety to life if we will pray, nevertheless the attack by the Talliban against America may be greater yet.

Our protection will be the Lord if we will lift up the walls of protection through intercession. Prayers of repentance and intercession can rise from our nation in faith, knowing that our loving Father will respond with abundant mercy and raise up this holy banner on our behalf. We will then see, it is as though He raised up our enemy to come against us to defeat him before our face.

Further it is the Lord’s will for us to rebuild our military. He wants us to replenish, rebuild, and strengthen it into a mighty fortress. As we do this, he will put the fear of us upon all nations and we will enter into a season of peace for the sake of the harvest.

I say all this, keeping in mind that we must take a solid stand with Israel. For those who bless Israel will be blessed of our Father. Although Israel is still in rebellion, the covenant remains true, as the Word says: let God be true and every man found a liar. God is not man that He can tell a lie, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. He is true to His word, beloved. Though Israel is at fault, the Lord is true to the son of His love. He will curse those who are antagonistic to His beloved Israel, and He will bless those who will stand beside Israel in times of suffering. Having said all that, I want to encourage you to pray for the Arabian Nations that our Father may have mercy upon them.

Pray, Pray, Pray!

So, how do we pray?

(I have a further grave concern for Israel, I would not be surprised if the Talliban also strikes Israel in its anger over our retaliation before this is over.)

1.    Pray that the Lord will pour out the spirit of supplication and grace upon our nation, and the nation of Israel. This is according to the prophet Zechariah.

2.    Also, pray for God’s intervention and protection. For Israel first and then for America. (For the Word says to the Jew first then to the Gentile) (America will be hit again, and as I said above, Israel may also come under attack, so pray for both!)

3.    Pray for His intervention in righteousness and His protection in salvation.

4.    Pray for the increase of our military.

5.    That Israel and America will fulfill their destiny as Nations under God’s divine government.

6.    Pray for our President every day, as well as our government, and the government of Israel.

7.    Pray that our leaders will turn to righteousness and that the Lord will give them the godly counsel they need to run this country in a way that is pleasing to Him.

8.    Pray that America will not further divide the land of Israel or touch Jerusalem except in a God honoring way, during this administration.

9.    Pray that President Bush will be given greater measures of Isaiah 11, government of the kingdom.

10.  Pray that he will have favor with all of his constituents of both parties as he attempts to walk in  godly counsel.

11.   Pray for protection for his family and peace.

12.   Pray that our nation will prepare itself  to become the dwelling place of God’s glory.

13.   Pray that Israel will awaken to the glory of Messiah for these latter days.

14.   Finally, pray that Ishmael will awaken to his destiny for these last days.  

Shalom, and blessings in Messiah,

Nita (LaFond) Johnson