Racially charged unrest is boiling over—and law
enforcement is being critically undermined. Many people are framing the
issue as a pursuit of justice. Some call it a revolution. Many are
bracing for race war. You need to know where this is leading!
In April, the city of Baltimore,
Maryland, was burning. Riots, looting and fire raged after the funeral
of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died in police custody. Before it
was even revealed what caused the death, protests against the police
began. These soon erupted in riots, in which downtown storefronts were
smashed and police cars were damaged. Rioters cut fire hoses that
firefighters were using to put out a fire at a
cvs pharmacy.
Accusations of police racism are heightening public mistrust of law
enforcement and fueling a trend of violent race-related incidents and
lawlessness. Anger among certain high-profile segments of the black
population in particular is growing, and is boiling over in rioting and
violence with increasing frequency in American cities.
People realize that these riots and violence could spread like
wildfire. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is seeking the Republican
nomination for president of the United States, recently said that “there
is an unease in our big cities.”
Baltimore is only about 40 miles north of Washington,
d.c., which could explode into serious riots at any time.
Accusations
of police racism are heightening public mistrust of law enforcement and
fueling a trend of violent race-related incidents and lawlessness.Did you know that these burning cities were prophesied in your Bible?
Isaiah 1:7 states that “your cities are burned with fire.” That is referring to
our time today—and you can prove it.
Few people realize how grave this trend is. As we have been
forecasting for over 20 years, race-related violence in our cities is
going to play a major role in the unraveling of our society!
In Isaiah 1, God tells us
why these violent protests are burning our cities. He also tells us how to
solve this problem. Shouldn’t we be interested in that?
Prophesy Smooth Things
Isaiah addresses his message to “Israel” (e.g. Isaiah 1:3-4, and
nearly 100 times throughout this prophetic book). As we have been
teaching for over 50 years, Israel does
not refer to the little
nation in the Middle East. Actually, two nations in particular represent
Israel in this end time: the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Don’t believe
me—you
need to prove this truth to yourself. We will be happy to send you a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book
The United States and Britain in Prophecy, which contains ample proof. God says—even
commands—that
we “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Jeremiah 17:5 says,
“Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.” So don’t believe a
man, but
do believe God.
“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever” (Isaiah 30:8).
The Hebrew expression for “the time to come” means the
latter day.
Isaiah wrote his message on a table, or a tablet, for the people of his
day, but why did he write it in a book? Because this is dual prophecy.
It is primarily for this
end time, and God ensured it would be preserved for our day today
.
Will you accept God’s Word about this? Not many people will. Most
tend to be like those described in verse 10: “Which say to the seers,
See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak
unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” People naturally don’t want
the truth, even though they may act like they do. Most people want to
hear
smooth things, not truth right out of the Bible the way Isaiah teaches it.
They continue by saying, “Get you out of the way, turn aside out of
the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us” (verse
11). These people
cause God to leave! Israel refuses to
listen to God; people won’t
hear God’s Word because they’re listening to
smooth things. They
scoff at the very Word of God itself, and
cause Him to fade from the scene.
Pushing God aside is the worst sin of all! If you think there won’t
be repercussions, then you don’t understand these prophecies.
Isaiah knew there was danger in delivering God’s message anciently.
It will never be received like it should be. Tradition says that Isaiah
was actually
cut in half because of the message he preached! That is how
violently he was treated because he didn’t teach
smooth things. He loved those people and had the courage to tell them what God said and not the
deceit they wanted to hear. As all human history has proven, that deceit always ends in violence, burning cities, chaos and anarchy!
Are you willing to hear what God has to say about burning cities, as well as the clear solution He provides for this problem?
What will all this violence do to the nation? What will America’s
enemies do when they see this terrible division among the American
population?
God says His Word is truth (John 17:17). But how many people really
want the truth? U.S. President Barack Obama said the people of Baltimore
want the truth. But do they really? Does
anybody really seek the truth? Very few. Still, God tells us the truth about how to
prevent suffering and chaotic violence that tears everything apart.
“Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them
shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and
know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come” (Isaiah
41:22). God specifically says we need to look at “former” events and
“consider” them if we are to understand the “latter
end”
of His prophecies. In other words, to understand prophecy for this end
time, we must also study history—specifically Bible history. As the
Apostle Paul later wrote, the Old Testament was recorded for our
learning today, “
upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Are
you willing to hear what God has to say about burning cities, as well as the clear solution He provides for this problem?
‘Stand Down!’
Race is a highly charged subject in the United States today, and in
many other nations. Past wrongs and present inequalities create fertile
ground for hurt, frustration and anger.
Many prominent leaders, both black and white, are deliberately
fueling those grievances for their own political gain. They are using
race as a deadly weapon! The problems that will result are
far more dangerous than they realize.
When you look objectively at the facts of these high-profile,
racially charged riots, you can see why they are certain to grow much
worse.
Many powerful politicians and people in the media believe that there is
justification
for the violence tearing up our cities. Many say they “understand” why
lawlessness is overtaking these areas. Some even think there is
something
noble about it—they see it as a kind of righteous search for long-denied
justice.
This is terribly misguided and perverse reasoning! It is multiplying the problem many times over!
When
you look objectively at the facts of these high-profile, racially
charged riots, you can see why they are certain to grow much worse. In Baltimore, police were accused of
allowing protesters to commit crimes without punishment. But
why
did they do so? In a press conference during the rioting, Baltimore
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake admitted that she asked the Baltimore
Police Department to “give those who wished to destroy
space to do that” (emphasis mine).
“We work very hard to keep that balance [between free speech and
destructive elements], and to put ourselves in the best position to
de-escalate,” she said.
This mayor was trying to find a “
balance” between allowing these criminals “free speech” by
destroying the city—and fulfilling her
duty to
protect the people and enforce the law!
She later denied telling the police to stand down. But police came
forward and said they were in fact told not to stop the violence. For
example, Michael Lewis, a Maryland sheriff who traveled to Baltimore to
help stop the riots, said that Baltimore police thanked those who came
from out of town, and said, “We could have handled this, we were very
capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly
told to stand down. … [T]hese guys told me they were essentially
neutered from the start. … I heard it myself over the Baltimore City
police radio that I had tethered to my body-armor vest, I heard it
repeatedly: ‘Stand down, stand down, stand down! Back up, back up,
retreat, retreat!’ I couldn’t believe those words.”
The effect of responding to lawlessness by handcuffing law
enforcement is very dangerous. It is certain to add fuel to the fire
that is burning cities like Baltimore. Yet it is happening across the
country: so-called leaders saying that law enforcement policies and
procedures disproportionately affect racial minorities, and that the
answer is to back down.
For example, in New York City, after the high-profile arrest and
death of Eric Garner for selling untaxed loose cigarettes, legislation
is being crafted to decriminalize certain public-order offenses. An
accidental shooting in an East New York housing project has led to calls
for police to scale back their patrols of public housing. The death of
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has created a movement to reduce
penalties for failing to pay criminal and traffic fines or to show up
for court appearances—even though that case had
nothing to do with those issues!
These kinds of “solutions” only encourage more unbridled emotion, angry protesting, looting and violence!
It is mind-chilling that people think these measures will solve
anything! These kinds of “solutions” only encourage more unbridled
emotion, angry protesting, looting and violence!
That is exactly what the Prophet Isaiah foretold would happen.
God Has Spoken
“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings
of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for
the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children [or sons], and they have rebelled against me” (Isaiah 1:1-2).
Most people would disagree, but God is speaking through Isaiah to us today!
God has spoken! “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,” He says.
God is addressing all the inhabitants of the Earth and the universe! He has
spoken to the righteous angels and to Satan and the demons. He has
spoken to all mankind—both we who are alive today and all who have
ever lived. We
all need to hear this message. He says,
Hear this! This is what will happen! You had better be careful, or you will have disastrous trouble!
About 25 percent of the New Testament is comprised of quotes from the Old Testament, and
most of those quotes come from the book of Isaiah, so this is a New Testament message as well. This is telling us what is happening
today.
If people want to impugn the Bible and scoff at it, they can do
that—but God says the burning cities are going to intensify if we don’t
learn what He is telling us. The time is coming soon when the scoffers
are going to vanish like snow under the hot sun because everything will
have come to pass
exactly as God has
spoken it to us!
“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider” (verse 3). What does Israel
not know? Its people
don’t know God, and they don’t know the Bible because they won’t listen to God and to His messengers, and they have
caused Him to go away.
Will you listen to God, so you don’t have to suffer?
God chose the nation of Israel anciently to reveal Him to the world and
show the world how God would bless people if they obeyed Him. But the
Israelites failed. In this end time, Christ has built His Church to
stand up and deliver this message—to reveal God to the world and give
true understanding of what is happening on Earth. But 95 percent of
God’s own people turned away from Him and refused to deliver that
message because they wanted to teach smooth things and
deceits! Thankfully, God has raised a little remnant to deliver His message and show the world how to
solve these enormous problems that bring so much suffering.
“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have
forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone
away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? …” (verses 4-5). God
is
pleading with us:
Why should you be stricken any more? Why not listen to me and solve these problems?
Will you listen to God, so you don’t have to suffer?
Sick Head, Faint Heart
Isaiah 1:5 concludes by saying, “[Y]e will revolt more and more:
the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”
The “head” refers to the leaders of modern Israel. God says “the
whole head is
sick”!
The minds of our leaders are
sick
with wrong human reasoning that is deceitful and anti-God! Their
decisions are perverse and leading to greater and greater calamities!
Authorities in Baltimore decided to give protesters “space” to
commit lawless acts. Then they hastily indicted six police officers who
had been involved in Freddie Gray’s death, charging them with murder and
manslaughter. These charges were very severe and will probably be
reduced or disproved in court. Why such harsh charges?
To try to pacify the crowd.
The angry mob was howling for the blood of these policemen. The
Baltimore state attorney, Marilyn Mosby, essentially gave them the
indictments they were looking for and expected them to calm down.
It appears that decision was made out of
fear of the rioters
—if
it wasn’t a racially motivated effort to “seek justice” at the expense
of the law. State and federal authorities tried to show themselves
sympathetic to the criminals—even more than to the innocent people of Baltimore!
Whatever their reasons for doing so, the big lesson this sent to protesters and agitators across the country was clear:
Lawlessness gets results. Violent protests are a legitimate, effective means of seeking justice.
What a dangerous example and precedent! Already you can see how each
time a high-profile case like this hits the news, public anger boils to
the surface faster and more aggressively than the time before. There is
a rising sense among a growing portion of the population that the
inequalities and injustices in society
must be met with violence!
At the same time, decisions like the one to have police “stand down,” or to make an example of these six policemen,
destroy the morale of the nation’s law enforcers. Certainly there is no excuse for police brutality. But how many
good
policemen will fear to do their jobs—jobs that are sure to become even
more dangerous as disorder intensifies—knowing the state might side with
the criminals, or knowing they could be unjustly prosecuted? The
institution that protects and preserves the stability of America’s
cities is being undermined and weakened.
The big lesson this sent to protesters and agitators across the country was clear: Lawlessness gets results. Violent protests are a legitimate, effective means of seeking justice.As the violence spreads, the will to stop it shrinks. The Baltimore incident will
inevitably create
more violence throughout America.
“T
he whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint,” God says. In the face of such problems, our people have become
fainthearted—too
cowardly to do what needs to be done. We are afraid of almost
everything, it seems, because we don’t know God and don’t let Him empower us and give us the courage we need.
More and more we are seeing local law enforcement being taken over by the federal government.
This too is extremely dangerous.
The current presidential administration has done a lot to inflame the
racial problems throughout the country. Practically everything it does
when it intervenes makes the problems worse!
Burning Cities
Look now at this lightning-bolt prophecy—explaining the terrible
consequences of our grave national sins: “Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers” (Isaiah 1:7).
This prophecy is a guarantee that our national problems are going to get worse if we don’t listen to God! He is
pleading with us to hear His message, to
listen to Him and to
fear
Him. But we, God’s own Church and His own nations of Israel, refuse. As
a result, the degeneration continues to get much worse very rapidly.
In the last five years, about $1.8 billion of stimulus money was
spent on Baltimore for education, teachers’ unions, and employment and
social benefits. Did that solve Baltimore’s problems? No—the crises grew
worse.
Money is not the solution, and it never has been. The problems go much deeper than that.
God is trying to help us see that something is frighteningly wrong! He says
, Don’t point fingers at the leaders, because you’re all to blame!
That is not a smooth message, but it is the
truth. God blames us all! We are trying to solve these problems our way, and it simply cannot be done.
Anciently Israel was known as “Zion” (e.g. Psalm 9:11; 132:13). In
Isaiah 1:8 it talks about “the daughter of Zion.” That is another
indication that this is a
prophecy—not for Israel in Isaiah’s time but for the modern
descendants of Israel.
Spiritually, Zion applies to God’s own Church.
This verse prophesies that “the daughter of Zion” will be “left as a
cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a
besieged city.” This is a poetic description of modern Israel’s
destruction: Our nations will be like a little hut after all the harvest
is over—abandoned and desolate. That is true of the Work of God in His
rebellious Church, and also of America, the great superpower of Israel.
They have no impact like they should because they have departed from God
and sought after smooth things and deceits that are anti-God.
“Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah”
(verse 9). Spiritually, God leaves a very small remnant that does what
God says and tells it like it is.
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah” (verse 10).
Hear what God has to say! Do you hear it? God says conditions will get so bad that you
are
going to hear, but for most people it will be too late physically. We
need to hear the truth of God as never before, because it’s getting bad
in many ways. We need to hear what God speaks—and He
does speak to us if we will hear!
Here is what happens because of our sins: “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea,
when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:
your hands are full of blood” (verse 15). God is addressing His own
rebellious Church that isn’t delivering His message—the hands of those
people are full of blood because of it. They’re largely responsible for
the sin out there.
But He is also talking to the people in the nations of Israel who are praying to God for help and answers. He says,
If
you’re not hearing my message, I will not hear those prayers. Even if
you pray many prayers and look so righteous, if you don’t do what I tell
you, I will not hear you.
That is an “unsmooth” truth! This is a super-critical verse because
it shows why the nations of Israel do not have God’s power. There was a
time when this prophecy would strike fear in our minds, but not anymore.
Most people respond with a scoffing attitude.
The number one need we have is God’s power, yet God says it is sadly
lacking in our nations and most of His Church members. But God gives
power to His very elect to do great things, to do heroic
exploits (Daniel 11:32).
The Apostle Paul said, “I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). Paul was a powerful man because God
empowered him through His Spirit. That is the way it
should be for our people today.
‘Come and Reason With Me’
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow …” (Isaiah 1:18). God
says that if we will just listen to Him and
hear what He has to say, our sins will become like white wool.
Yes,
America’s burning cities presage the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to
this Earth! This is all a sign that His return is imminent!
This verse correctly reads: “Come and reason with me.” How do you do
that? You reason with God in His Bible. He says He will reveal truth to
you through His little remnant. His faithful people have God’s truth and
speak it, because they are empowered by God. And He reveals more and
more to them, as long as they heed His warning.
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the sword:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (verses 19-20). The rioters
and violent protesters may think they will come out of this as the
victors, but God says no.
Your enemies from without are going to exploit the division, violence and anarchy within your nation! There won’t be any winners from within the nation! That is what God is saying.
Bible prophecies make clear that even worse and more violent
protests and riots are going to erupt in American cities. This will
fatally weaken the nation and lead to curses of a far
greater magnitude!
We must heed what God says in this book of Isaiah!
God warns that we are going to have to suffer until we get this message! There is no other way out!
But you also must see the bigger picture. Those individuals who do
respond and heed God’s warning, He will protect. He doesn’t want people
to suffer through these things. And we must
all see that these burning cities are prophesied to occur in the
very last days of America’s existence as a strong world power—which is actually
right before the Messiah comes to this Earth to rule it!
Yes, America’s burning cities presage the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this Earth! This is all a
sign that His return is imminent!
When He returns, He will
end all racism and injustice permanently. He will rule this world with a rod of iron and with His love!
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