America’s prominence on the world stage is rapidly declining, and Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California, is warning Christians that the decline will likely continue. “You can’t insult the God of heaven in the United States and expect Him to hang around,” says Hibbs. “He’s not a punching bag.”
Hibbs says that because we’ve thrown God out of college, court, schools, textbooks and the public square, we can’t “expect Him to send rain or make the economy work.” He believes God’s been patient with us for decades but adds, “It is very evident. Time’s up.”
Although America is slipping from its leadership on the world stage, he says there is a way to still have some blessing as a nation. “The prerequisite to blessing according to the Bible, God said, ‘Bless Israel, and I’ll bless you.'”
“I’m not saying everything Israel does is right,” Hibbs continues. “God didn’t ask us about that.”
He then explains that God did not bless Israel or ask other nations to bless Israel because Jewish people are perfect or better than other people; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. God picked the nation of Israel because Jewish people are stubborn. God chose to bless Israel to show His glory through their failings, but even though the Jewish state is not perfect, God commands us to bless Israel, he says.
Hibbs, a longtime and outspoken supporter of Israel, cites only one reason for that stance. “God makes it very clear [when] He says, ‘I will bless the nations that bless My people.'”
He then cites a video by PragerU’s George Gilder with statistics about Israel’s accomplishments in the last 50 years. Gilder says, “Israel has increased its population tenfold, its agricultural production sixteenfold and its industrial production fiftyfold while actually reducing net water consumption by 10% since 1948.”
Although the video shows proof that Jewish settlement on the land has made life better for Arabs and Jews, Hibbs says there’s one reason why Jews “are the most hated people on the planet. Because of God. He picked them.”
He concludes, “You never go against Israel without going against the God of that Bible. … Do some study as to, ‘How do nations fare when they go against Israel?’ It doesn’t go well.” {eoa}
Rob Vischer is a freelance writer for Charisma News.
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