Apostasy Can Lead a Nation to Self-Destruct: Will America Mend Its Ways and Return to God?

By Philip Wittig

Apostasy Can Lead a Nation to Self-Destruct: Will America Mend Its Ways and Return to God? is the study of two nations separated in time by several thousand years. From their founding, both nations and their people, for untold generations, were consecrated and dedicated to God. Who are these nations? They are ancient Israel and America.

Both nations were plagued with historical amnesia—the failure to pass on to future generations the story about the protection, blessings, and prosperity they had received at the hand of a loving and compassionate God. As a result, apostasy began to gain traction so that the people of each nation began replacing the worship of God with flourishing idolatry.

What happened to ancient Israel is history. God waited patiently for the nation to return to him so that he could destroy its enemies and heal the nation. He patiently tolerated its defiance but finally declared his righteous judgment, allowing the evil Assyrians to destroy that nation, and ancient Israel disappeared from biblical history. The status of America remains in limbo as God waits patiently for America to respond positively to his plea to return to him while it defiantly marches to its impending doom. Time is running out!

A chapter is included that is directed to the reader who is doubtful that America will return to God but is also concerned about the eternal destination of his soul should America be destroyed by a cataclysmic event.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512768282

Philip Wittig

In his study of the Old Testament, Philip Wittig recognized events that led to God rendering his righteous judgment against ancient Israel. He saw similar events occurring in the United States that led him to ask the question, will these events also lead God to declare his righteous judgment against the United States? The goal of this book is to help the reader connect the dots, understand and respond to this extremely important issue of saving America.

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Copyright © 2017 Philip Wittig.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

SERENDIPITY’S Interactive STUDY BIBLE, copyright 2001 by Serendipity House, THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

The AMERICAN PATRIOT’S BIBLE, The Word of God and the Shaping of America, copyright 2009 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Notes and articles copyright 2009 by Richard G. Lee, Holy Bible, New King James Version copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

THE HOLY BIBLE, Authorized King James Version, copyright 1945 by The World Publishing Company

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-6827-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6829-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6828-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920738

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/21/2017

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 The Consecration of a Nation to God

Chapter 2 God’s Response to the Consecration and Dedication of the Nation to Him

Chapter 3 National Sins Identified

Chapter 4 God’s Response to National Sins

Chapter 5 When God Removes His Hedge of Protection

Chapter 6 Only the Soul Is Eternal

Chapter 7 Returning to God

Afterword

Resources

About the Author

This book is

dedicated to the Lord, my God. I thank Him for His guidance in its organization and content. There were times when I seemed to be at a critical juncture without an obvious path forward, but then, by a miraculous event, I was presented with the appropriate solution, leading me to a specific resource and guiding me to a particular text. It was not luck. The word luck should not be part of a Christian’s vocabulary, because God never depends on luck to accomplish His purpose.

I want to acknowledge the silent patience of Karan, my loving wife, during the time I was focused on research and the preparation of the manuscript.

I also express my appreciation to Karan and my friends, Ed Bennett and Vickie McDonald, for reading the manuscript and offering their suggestions.

PREFACE

D uring the last fifteen years, I have invested significant time in reading and studying the Bible and other resources. In my study of the prophets of the Old Testament, I noticed the spiritual decline that took place in ancient Israel and that it ended with God’s judgment against Israel being executed. Strangely, I noticed the United States was in a similar spiritual decline. It was then that I began to wrestle with the questions, How long will God’s patience tolerate the wickedness of the United States, and when will He pronounce His righteous judgment against the United States?

The above questions continued to haunt me. After I read The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, I was able to connect events in the history of ancient Israel with similar events occurring in the United States. I began to wonder why this best-seller, with over one million copies sold, did not have the expected effect on how the United States goes about conducting its affairs. I concluded that very few readers had studied seriously the Old Testament to understand how faithfully Jonathan Cahn traced biblical narrative as it predicted and recorded the actual fall of ancient Israel. In addition, he cited recent events that similarly would lead to the fall of the United States.

The Harbinger is written as a dialogue between the prophet and Nouriel Kaplan. The one citation from that book is a conversation between the prophet and Nouriel.

In April 2015, I wrote a paper titled USA Is on the Same Path of Self-Destruction as Was Ancient Israel. In that paper, I made some comparisons as to how apostasy adversely affected ancient Israel and how apostasy currently is having the similar effect in the United States. The consequence for ancient Israel was its destruction from within. Obviously, history is repeating itself. Further, the only way for the United States to avoid self-destruction is to return to God.

Since April 2015, I have continued my study and research. I discovered facts of which I was not aware. First, from before their founding both ancient Israel and the United States—as nations with their people, including future generations—were consecrated and dedicated to God. Second, both nations were stricken with historical amnesia—the living and future generations were not taught to understand and appreciate that the blessings of peace and prosperity are gifts of our loving God who had encircled each nation with His hedge of protection. Third, both nations began to believe that their prosperity and power were the result of their own wisdom, skills and capabilities instead of being gifts from the hand of almighty God. Fourth, then both nations began proceeding down the slippery road of apostasy by removing God from society. Fifth, God finally removed His hedge of protection, which allowed the enemy to attack directly their sovereign territory. And sixth, the leaders of both nations incorrectly concluded the attacks were a failure of their military or their intelligence gathering and interpretation, when instead they failed to recognize that the reason for these attacks was a spiritual issue because, nationally, they had turned against God and rejected His commandments and decrees.

However—and this is very important—God pleads with the people and the nation before He executes His judgment against a nation that was consecrated and dedicated to Him. He pleads, "But my people would not heed my voice, And Israel [America] would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel [America] would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries" (Psalm 81:11–14 NKJV, paraphrased). These verses were very instructive for me.

My goal is to provide the reader with a new historical perspective by comparing how ancient Israel and the United States moved forward, in time, from the consecration and dedication to God of each nation and its people. Ancient Israel moved forward to its doom by defiantly rejecting God, and like ancient Israel, the United States continues on a similar road of arrogantly defying and rejecting God and continuing toward its certain impending doom. I have also attempted to help the reader understand that there is a path for the United States to restore its relationship with a righteous, compassionate, and forgiving God—stated succinctly the United States must return to God.

Chapter 3 is focused on national sin and its long-term effect on a nation, particularly on a nation that was consecrated and dedicated to God. I have discovered that many people do not recognize or understand the difference between individual sin and national sin. A national sin is like any other sin against God’s commandments and decrees. It turns into a national sin when it becomes a generally accepted behavioral component of the fabric of society. However, legislative laws and court decisions that require sins to be committed by the society are immediately identified as national sins. Even though the individual Christian may consciously avoid committing that sin, or if the individual does commit that sin, he or she humbly confesses it, seeks God’s forgiveness,