Daily Devotional for Saturday August 4, 2012

How Life as We Know it Could Change in an Instant

(Genesis 19:24,25)

***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, I love my prayer life. I try to stay connected all day. When I go to bed I pray for many people and situations in my life, plus always give thanksgiving to our Lord. I get so relaxed that I sometimes fall asleep. Am I being disrespectful?

ANSWER: No! You aren't the first one to fall asleep. The disciples of Jesus fell asleep in the Garden after the Last Supper. The fact you are praying throughout the day, is a great thing. If once in a while you fall asleep while praying, don't worry about it. God knows your heart. If a person is praying right after they wake up, and praying when they fall asleep, it doesn't get any better!

How life as we know it could change in an instant. As the Holy Spirit has guided me for the last year to sound the warning of God's pending judgment on this nation for our sin and rebellion, one of the emails I get often are from people who simply can't comprehend how God could judge this nation short of wiping out the entire planet. In the context of human history, the United States at 236 years old, is a very young nation. Despite the fact that we have the greatest military man has ever known, the most economic resources man has ever known, I am afraid most people are not aware how easy God could allow some very realistic things to happen that would change how we live forever.

Even though I am well aware of those who claim some prophetic passages refer to our nation, there is no place in the Bible that mentions the United States. You don't need to be much of a history buff to go back and look at some of the great civilizations that have existed over these past 6,000 years of human history. Like the United Sates, they had great militaries, incredible economic resources, yet at some point they simply ceased to exist. While the chances of an invading army taking over our nation are unlikely, there are too many other ways God could execute His wrath on this nation and life as we know it would cease to exist.

We know from the Bible, that God will ultimately judge this entire planet. We are told in great specificity the horror that He will unleash as He judges our world. He could do something similar, targeting just the United States if He chose to. We have the historic example of His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, so you could never rule out God unleashing a hailstorm of fire and brimstone on our nation. But today, I want to share an easy way God could judge our nation that I know most people haven't heard of or understand how devastating it would be.

There exists something called the Electromagnetic bomb, or the EMP bomb, or E-bomb. Without getting to technical, it is a missile that is shot into space, detonated miles above its target, and emits an electromagnetic mist over its target. The result is all computers are rendered useless. TV and radio signals are blocked. Anything with electronics in it, like your car for instance, are damaged. Just think about having computers rendered useless. There would be no electricity, no water, no communications, no banking, no air traffic, no ANYTHING that is dependent upon computers. In an instant, the affected area goes from the 21st century back to the stone age!

Please understand, this can happen without the foot of one foreign soldier ever stepping on US soil. This is not a James Bond fantasy device. It exists today! Our only hope to defend this type of attack is the missile shield many in the military are pushing for. Sadly, this administration has not acted on such a defense mechanism. Of course you have many nations now with nuclear capabilities, and even more with the technology necessary for chemical weapons. Once again, our ability to stop any of these types of attacks is negligible.

My whole purpose today is not to scare anyone, but to help inform and educate you. I hear people all the time act like we are such a great and powerful nation and are immune even from God's judgment. People tell me all the time that they can't see God doing anything to us. I am certain that the children of Israel felt the same way. They were the beneficiaries of God's blessings and no doubt felt they were safe and secure from their enemies and even from God Himself.

Yet the Bible clearly documents how God did judge the children of Israel, many times, for their sin and rebellion. I am certain that in the years, months, weeks, and days prior to God's judgment falling, they arrogantly lived in open rebellion to God and His Truth, almost like they were taunting Him to do something. Most I am sure, were so blinded by their sin they didn't even think for a second God might hold them accountable for their sins, even though we have the record of Scripture where God's prophets in those days warned the people to repent and turn back to God or face His wrath and judgment. Sadly, the people didn't listen.

My word for you today is to be aware. I know the politicians and business gurus are telling everyone that the economic crisis we are experiencing is because of this reason and that reason. They fail to even consider that God is trying to get our attention. We have very real enemies in the world who do not seek peace, only our death and destruction. God often used the enemies of Israel as instruments of His judgment, so don't think for a second that God wouldn't use the enemies of our nation to unleash His wrath on our land for our sin and rebellion.

*WE SIMPLY CAN'T KEEP LIVING DAY AFTER DAY, WEEK AFTER WEEK, MONTH AFTER MONTH, YEAR AFTER YEAR IN BLATANT AND UNREPENTANT REBELLION TO GOD AND ARROGANTLY THINK THAT WE WON'T HAVE TO PAY A PRICE FOR OUR SINS! WE ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY GOD FOR OUR SINS AS INDIVIDUALS, AND WE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY GO FOR OUR SINS AS A NATION!!!

I love you and care about you so much. My friend, this is not a time to run and hide in fear, but a time to stand up and be counted. We are God's children, we are the remnant, we are the ones who must warn this nation and world of God's pending judgment and wrath. God will not be mocked. He will not sit back in silence very much longer. We are not due His wrath and judgment, we are OVERDUE His wrath and judgment!

I wonder what the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were doing the morning the fire and brimstone rained out of the heavens and destroyed their cities. I imagine they were simply living their lives, totally oblivious to what was about to happen to them. They were so lost in their sin and rebellion to God they didn't even think for one second that He would judge them one day. I submit to you that the people in this nation are no different than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah!

***PLEASE PRAY ABOUT SOWING A SPECIAL GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER DURING OUR ANNIVERSARY MONTH. MANY HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY GOD'S WORK HERE, BUT HAVE NEVER GIVEN TO HELP US. ACTUALLY, LESS THAN 1/4 OF 1% OF THOSE WE REACH EVERY GIVE A DIME TO SUPPORT GOD'S WORK HERE. ALL WE HAVE DONE OVER THESE 13 YRS, IMPACTING LITERALLY TENS OF MILLIONS OF LIVES WORLDWIDE, HAS ONLY BEEN POSSIBLE BECAUSE FRIENDS LIKE YOU PRAYED AND MADE THE SACRIFICE TO HELP US BE HERE EACH DAY FOR THE HURTING AND LOST.

MOST EVERYONE CAN SEND SOMETHING. LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TO GIVE A GIFT OF $13, $130, $1300, OR FOR SOME, $13,000. THAT IS $1, $10, $100, OR $1,000 FOR EACH YEAR OF SERVICE. GOD WILL MULTIPLY YOUR GIFT EXPONENTIALLY IN THE LIVES AND SOULS OF THOSE WE REACH WITH HIS TRUTH AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!

TO GIVE A GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER, you can use your major credit card on our secure server at: www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" link, you can give using your PayPal account using my email address: bkeller@liveprayer.com,or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave. North, St.Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE, YOUR PRAYERS, AND YOUR SACRIFCE. THESE 13 YEARS HAVE ONLY BEEN POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF YOU, AND I THANK GOD FOR YOU EACH DAY. KNOW YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE IN MY PRAYERS. WE PRESS ON TOWARDS THE PRIZE!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller