In Second Thessalonians 2:3 we find the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ. It appears that some in the church were concerned that the world-as-we-know-it event would take place soon. Paul, who had received his Gospel directly from Jesus Christ through revelation (Gal. 1:12), replied that the “day of the Lord” (His return) would not come until after a great “falling away” (apostasy) from the Biblical God and His Son had taken place in the world-wide church.

At the time leading up to Paul’s writing of this epistle (51 A.D.) there had been no hint of a mass apostasy taking place. Though he believed that the return of Jesus Christ and the end of the age would take place during his lifetime, the church’s prophesied apostasy would alert true believers that the end of the age was near. Because there had been no signs of a church-wide desertion from God, Paul was sure that the time of His return was several decades in the future. As Jesus told His disciples, neither He Himself nor the angels in heaven knew the time of His Second Advent (Mk. 13:4,32). Only God knew the time He had fore-ordained. However, as other Scriptures make known, those living at that time will recognize the “season” of Christ’s return because of the “signs” that would take place just before His arrival. One of the “signs” of His return noted in Scripture would be the church’s rejection of His Ten Commandment Law when sin would reign within the once-pure, Law-keeping Church of God. “The Church of God” is the ONLY name God uses to identify His true congregation. He calls her by that name twelve times in the Holy Bible.

In Acts 1:6 we find the disciples asking Jesus about His return to earth. In this instance they ask a question that indirectly applies to the subject of this series. Here the disciples were asking Him when he would return to “… restore the kingdom to Israel.” It is the church’s relationship to Israel, the God of the ancient Israelites and the people’s obedience to the Law that ties the disciple’s question to the signs of the end times. This series involves the relationship between ancient Israel, the New Testament Church, the apostasy, the Kingdom of God being re-established on earth, her saints being called “spiritual Israel and the church itself being referred to “the Israel of God.”

On Mount Sinai the Old Testament God–known as the Word (Jn. 1:1-4,14)–told ancient Israel that in order to be His people they must obey His Ten Commandment Law which He wrote on stone tablets which He placed in an ark guarded by two angels. Israel promised to obey that Law. What we must understand is that THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN TO, FOR AND ABOUT ISRAEL. The only time Gentiles (all non-Israelites) are mentioned is when they came into contact with God’s people–the twelve tribes of Israel. Gentiles could become God’s people only by recognizing Him as God and obeying His Ten Commandment Law. The New Testament Church became spiritual Israel–the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). In Hebrew the Word “Israel” means “power with God. The church became the “power of God” because those within her were saints–“holy ones”–because they obeyed His Law. Nothing has changed. True saints have that same power for the same reason. This explains why the Catholic/Protestant Religious System has no power with God. She is His church in name only. Read Who Are God’s People and “My People Who Are Called by My Name”–Who are They? Key words–Who and Called respectively.

Which brings us to the modern history of the New Testament Church which came into being in 31 A.D. in an upper room in Jerusalem. In order to answer the “why” question relative to the chaotic anarchy that now characterizes the American society, let us take a moment to see what God designed this once greatly-blessed nation to be and to do relative to the rest of the world.

God’s plan for America is summed up in a statement written by the Apostle Peter in the second chapter of his first epistle where he characterizes God’s church during her early days: “You are a chosen generation (group), a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people so that you can show how God praises you whom He has called out of darkness and into His marvelous light” (vs 9). He goes on in verse 12 where he tells them that they are to shine forth to the Gentiles (heathen) who would see their good works and glorify their God when they see their (the saints’) way of life. Christ’s apostles (“sent ones”) became God’s messengers to the heathen world as His churches sprang up due to their ministerial efforts throughout the world where they had been scattered due to their rejection of His Law. It was to those scattered Israelites that Jesus sent His apostles with His Gospel message (Mat. 10:6). Learn about this situation by reading Who and Where is Israel Today? Key word–Where.

As noted earlier, America (modern Israel) was designed to be God’s light-bearing nation which would reveal His glory to the rest of the world. Initially, she did. Then she began to fall away from Him, slowly in the beginning, then more rapidly as the world began to appeal to her more and more. Her growing financial and material success over the years caused her to take her eyes off of God and His call to obey, worship and serve Him. Just as had taken place in the Garden of Eden with her original parents, America began to focus her attention on more personal and self-satisfying endeavors.

This egregious error was instigated by the church which had earlier begun to turn away from the strict commands of God and to the soft, self-glorifying voice of Satan. One of his first victories came with the supposed destruction of God’s Law which He supposedly “nailed to the cross” of His Son. Like any other king, God ruled His people through His Law. After the Law’s supposed demise, God’s rule over the people disappeared. For America as a nation, her gradual separation from Him followed the separation of the church from Him. As is proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures, sin separates us from our God (Isa. 59:2). Without the Law, man was free to determine good and evil for himself. Sound familiar? It should, for that is exactly what Adam and Eve did, what ancient Isarael did and what their modern day descendants have been doing for the past few generations. AS GOES THE CHURCH, SO GOES THE NATION. THE CHURCH HAS SETTLED COMFORTABLY INTO SATAN’S RELIGIOUS SEWER. THE NATION CAN ONLY FOLLOW.

America’s abandonment of God and His Law has brought on the curses that He warned about in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy. Read those two books. From them we can determine the “WHY” relative to the mess in which this nation now finds herself. L.J.