Does God Have A Plan For The USA? Part 3

Finally A Direction!

Before getting back into this blog I want to apologize for starting, stopping, then get going again.  I know that is; bad but I have to be honest, I just did not know where to take this blog and I felt lost as any ship deep at sea with no compass, light, or sun to direct me.

Finally, I think God has placed a thought in my heart that I can latch on to and then deliver the message I have always wanted to deliver - "This country is special, a gift from God, and a shining beacon for the rest of mankind!"

To deliver that message; one must understand why the message is so important to them and maybe why it is so important to the rest of the world.  I am going to ask God to help me with this message and hopefully point me in the right direction and be our Light and Compass.  

So if I believe the message, then what is the thought running around in my head.  I think in this day and age it should be a simple answer but it is very complex and confusing, and I think it is supposed to be like the.  Why is that, God tells us if we seek the truth we will find it.  Not sure any of us have the answers, only God does; but as he says, if we seek we should find the answer.

I am positive he did not mean the answer to my question; was there a real plan for the USA just like Israel.  He is talking more about us seeking Him and we will find Him.  But like all people, I will use his words to help in my argument.  It is yours to see if I might be right.

The Founding Premise To My Answer

I was going to prove that Christianity did bring forth this great country - but if you know anything about the United States and our history - you know that.  There are also many people out there who have put together great books that I read to prove history.  So I do not need to re-invent the wheel in that space.

So me repeating history is not going to help if great authors cannot get your attention.  I am not a great author or historian, so I would have to do a lot of reading of history and I will.  So each of these posts will come slowly after doing research.

But here is what is in my heart and makes more sense to me when you think of our Founding Fathers and the guidance they must have received from God.

Jews, Muslims, and Christians all worship the exact same God.  We do it in different ways as we follow the Covenant we believe in.  The Jews believe in the covenant God made with Abraham, the Muslims believe in the Covenant God made to Ismael, and us Christians believe in the the Covenant with God poured out through his Son's Crucifixion.  If that is true, then how can we all come together at some point and time and worship the same God.

Without the United States, this could never happen.  Only the United States has set forth Religious freedom for all; even those who do not want to worship God.

So what needs to happen in this blog?  I need to take this premise and prove it so that you may find it in your heart to look at this blog, share it, and understand this great country cannot change without the course of the world taking a turn for the worse - not better.

As people want to drive this great country to a new Social order; something I believe God would not want, then they drive us from the face of God and away from his blessings and honor.  

So my job is simple, prove to you I am right and this country must stay a strong Christian country and it is just as important for us Christians to fight for it today as our forefathers and ll the great generations that come after them.

So sit back, take a seat, and enjoy this ride from a simple man who really has know answers.  Just a simple desire that we do not turn our backs on this country.  To me it is just as important for us to save this country and its morale compass as it is to save our own soul.

Heavenly Father, open our minds and hearts to a potential message you want us to understand.  I can only be an instrument of your words and thoughts as without you I am nothing.  It is by your Divine leadership we might see some of what you see.

Bob,  

Does God Have A Plan For The USA? Part 2

One God - Three Religions - Israel 

I have never done this before, a series in a series.  So we are going to look at the potential plan that God has for the United States.  In the first post, I mentioned One God and Three Religions.  Since we will be talking about God's plan, we might run into more situations like this and we can run in a focused direction for a mini-series.

I have stated I am a Christian and I am a practicing Catholic.  I think this does give me a good handle on the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible and thus we do feel connected to the Israel nation and it's history.  After all, Jesus is a descendant of the Israel nation.

I am not familiar with Islam so this journey and understanding will be interesting for me and I hope all of us.  Along the way I do hope to learn why I have always felt the United States is a player in God's plan.

I do not think God would have put all this in play without knowing the outcome - he made a covenant with Abraham, with Ismael, and with us Christians.  The end game is what we want to understand.  Looking through God's eyes might help provide an answer.

Let's go back just to review the start of Judaism.

Judaism

 The call of Abram; as he was originally known, happens in Genesis 12:1-4.

1 Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee:
2 and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and be thou a blessing;
3 and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

So God called Abram and made a covenant with him - looks like there is a promise of land and a great nation.

In 1948 the world established the current Israel.  This story will be a post all by itself as this event is such a significant event historically and what I think is part of God's plan.  I will look at the events that occurred during this formation and also what it might mean in God's overall plan.

As we start some of these time lines we have dates with labels, BCE, CE, BC, and AD.  

Anno Domini (AD or A.D.) and Before Christ (BC or B.C.) are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term Anno Domini is Medieval Latin, translated as In the year of the Lord, and as in the year of Our Lord.:782 It is sometimes specified more fully as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu (Jesu) Christi ("In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ"). This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, with AD counting years from the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525, but was not widely used until after 800.

Common Era (also Current Era or Christian Era), abbreviated as CE, is an alternative naming of the traditional calendar era, Anno Domini (abbreviated AD).  BCE is the abbreviation for Before the Common/Current/Christian Era (an alternative to Before Christ, abbreviated BC). The CE/BCE designation uses the year-numbering system introduced by the 6th-century Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus, who started the Anno Domini designation, intending the beginning of the life of Jesus to be the reference date.  Neither notation includes a year zero, and the two notations (CE/BCE and AD/BC) are numerically equivalent; thus "2013 CE" corresponds to "AD 2013", and "399 BCE" corresponds to "399 BC".

From Abraham to Moses - Jordan Promised Land

The deal with Abraham and the Israelites appears to involve land that is promised or a place where the Israel Nation can go and freely worship God as he desires and as they desire.  However, there are times that God appears to be asleep and he is not with the Israel Nation.  This could be perceived as retribution and sometimes it might be.  There are other times that while appearing to be away from the Israel nation - he is  actually building a place for them.

Abraham is considered to start in 1812 BCE.   There are many stories that occur throughout Abraham's life.  He lived in and among the Philistines and had a son Issac.  Issac has twins, Jacob and Esau.  It was Isaac's dream to make Esau the inheritor of the Covenant with God.  But through some trickery, Jacob stole the blessing from Esau.  Jacob was considered the faithful and Esau was considered the strong warrior. 

Jacob then had two wives and 12 sons.  The 11th son, Joseph, is considered to be the first son of his favorite wife.  A long story - trust me, it is the truth according to the bible.  Jacob later changed his name to Israel - the first time we see God and Israel now closely linked and Jacob started the Jewish Nation.

Esau, who embodies the power of might and sword, will, through his descendants, give rise to the Roman Empire or "Edom" as the Bible calls it. The power of Rome clearly lays in its ability to conquer, dominate, and build an Empire.

So far Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have all been loyal to God and yet they were moved around and forced to leave their land by the Philistines.

But the next major event that lead to the movement of the Israel nation to the promised land was 10 of Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery and he made it to Egypt.  In Egypt, Joseph interprets some dreams and becomes the second in command in Egypt.  There is a drought and Jacob and his family are driven to Egypt.  

This might be one of those times God seeing the future placed Joseph in harms way but saved him in Egypt so he could save the roots of Israel.

The family of 70 individuals that arrived in Egypt at the time of Joseph has grown to a nation of about 3 million people.

The supernatural, rapid increase in the Jewish population made the Egyptians nervous -- "there are too many of them, what if they rise up against us" -- and Pharaoh issues a genocidal decree: Kill all the Jewish boys. (This is a classic anti-Semitic pattern -- the Jew the in Diaspora is always loyal to his host country, yet can never escape unfounded suspicion of treachery.)

Most of us are very familiar with the Movie Ten Commandments.  We know that Moses was a son of an Israelite but grew up as the grandson of the Pharaoh, murdered an Egyptian and was banded from Egypt.  He cam back under God's direction to lead His people to freedom and the  Promised Land - across the Jordan.

Let's roll through history quickly for this post.

1312 BCE is the time of Exodus so it has been nearly 500 years from the time of Abraham and the Exodus.  So what transpires over the next 3,000 years can be rolled forward to the establishment of Israel in 1948.  We are all aware of some of the tragedies the Jewish nation has endured, maybe the most horrific was the genocide attempt by Hitler.  

To get there, lets take a look at some of the major events in the Jewish nation.

1272    BCE Conquest of Promised Land

879      BCE Saul anointed king

877      BCE Time of King David begins

796      BCE Israel split into two kingdoms

422      BCE Babylonians conquer Israel and destroy Temple

347      BCE Time of the Great Assembly begins

312      BCE Greeks conquer Israel

167      BCE Revolt off Maccabees begins

37        BCE Herod the Great begins his rule

67        CE The Great Revolt of Jews against Rome begins

70        CE Jerusalem conquered by the Romans

312      CE Constantine converts Roman Empire to Christianity

638      CE Islamic Conquest of Jerusalem

1263    The Great Disputation

1478    The Inquisitions Begins

1492    Jews expelled from Spain; Columbus discovers America

1517    Protestant Reformation

1567    Jews invited into Poland

1654    First Jews arrive in America

1791    Emancipation of the Jews begins in Europe

1810    Reform Movement begins in Germany

1882    First Aliyah to Israel

1897    First Zionist Congress’s

1917    British Mandate begins in Palestine

1927    Country of Jordan created by the British on the East Bank of the Jordan

1933    Hitler comes to power in Germany

1947    Partition off Palestine by the UN

1948    State of Israel Declared

As I mentioned, the story of the formation of Israel in 1948 is a significant story and shows the United States ( now a super power) siding in the UN to form Israel while all Arab nations opposed the formation.

After many years, the Jewish people have a secure country to worship their God as he promised AND as they have always desired.  

Maybe the United States was / is a player in that freedom.

God thank you for staying with the Jewish people throughout all history as you promised.  There have been many years of good and bad.  I pray their current troubles will end in the good and for the United States to stand by their side through these troubled times.

Bob,