At the start of Matthew 24, Jesus’ disciples were marveling at the temple and its buildings. Jesus had just issued His seven woes against the Pharisees for their false teaching, and He lamented over Jerusalem for killing the prophets of God. His disciples wanted to see the sights. Jesus said to them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (v.2).
And it came to pass. In the year 70, forty years after Jesus’ prophecy, the Roman army captured and destroyed both Jerusalem and the temple in the Jewish-Roman War.
The capitol city of the United States, Washington D.C., is also filled with many impressive sights and marvelous architecture, historical references that tell the story of the founding of our nation and the laws it was built upon.
Like Jerusalem, the Bible speaks of a day when D.C. and all of the cities of the U.S. will be thrown down. Not one stone will be left upon another. We may destroy this nation ourselves—which is already happening, and in many different ways. But most assuredly, it will be destroyed in the judgment of God to come.
A Nation in Darkness
It has been ten days since a seditious mob seized our nation’s captiol building. We are still learning that different parties were involved with different motivations. Many of them were loyalists to President Donald Trump, intending to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College votes by a joint session of the 117th Congress, affirming Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
Most everyone has an opinion about the 2021 Storming of the United States Capitol. Some say that Trump incited the violence, telling his loyalists to “fight like hell” (thus he was impeached by the House a second time a week later). Others argue that Trump called for his voters to “cheer on congress… peacefully,” which he did say. He expressed horror at the events that happened on January 6th and encouraged a peaceful transition of power.
But this is not another article with another opinion about Donald Trump (if it really matters to you what I think about him, click here—my opinion has not changed). Rather, I would like to pull back and look at the events that happened in our nation’s capitol last week from a different perspective.
Go back to the first Sunday of the year, January 3, the opening day of the 117th United States Congress. Newly elected members of the house were to be sworn in, and a Speaker of the House was to be chosen. House Clerk Cheryl Johnson called the house to order and introduced Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat and minister of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, to deliver the opening prayer.
Congressman Cleaver prayed that “the 117th Congress refuel the lamp of liberty,” and “model community healing,” as well as “control our tribal tendencies.” In hindsight, it’s interesting to consider what he prayed for, isn’t it? But also consider whom he prayed to. Cleaver concluded his prayer this way:
“Now may the god who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us. May the lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace—peace in our families, peace across this land, and dare I ask, O lord, peace even in this chamber, now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and awoman.”
You likely heard about the conclusion to Cleaver’s prayer. It was the object of mockery for days (until a riotous mob stormed our nation’s capitol). All of the scorn was on Cleaver’s last three words, “Amen and awoman,” deserving of the derision they received.
Yet hardly anyone—that I noticed, anyway—made an issue of what Cleaver said right before that. His prayer was to Brahma, the Hindu god, whom he called, “god known by many names by many different faiths.” In other words, Cleaver was praying to a false god.
Not a single news outlet I read covered that. The Daily Signal provided a transcript of Cleaver’s prayer, and on the word Brahma, the transcript is marked “unintelligible.” I get that it’s been difficult to understand one another wearing masks, but how did almost every major news brief overlook this? Did any conservative officials denounce or grieve over it? Leading Congress in a prayer to Brahma is far worse than finishing that prayer with “amen and awoman,” as ridiculous as that is.
“Amen” is not a gendered word. It’s derived from the Hebrew word meaning “truly” or “so be it.” But like a gender-flake who gets triggered by the spelling of history, Cleaver made “amen” a gendered word and added the “Awoman” non-word. He later claimed this was a pun—after he was made fun of up one side and down the other.
Cleaver’s prayer came the day after it was announced that the House would pass new rules doing away with gendered language. The 117th Congress will move to strike any mention of father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, man, wife, et cetera, and substitute these everyday common-sense words with less specific gender-neutral words. It is bound to be more confusing than driving on a parkway and parking on a driveway.
The House claims they intend to, “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.” So they intend to honor all gender identities by not having gender identities. They are not being more inclusive of men and women—they are excluding them. This is an insult to basic logic and reason. Worse, they are snubbing God, denying that He made us male and female.
In the next hundred days, the Democrat-controlled House is determined to pass the Equality Act, the most sweeping piece of LGBTQ-exalting legislation in American history to date. The House already passed the Equality Act in 2019, but it was stopped by the Republican-controlled Senate. This time, the Democrats will have both the House and the Senate to advance their evil agenda.
The Bible says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:21-22, 26-27).
The Congressional prayer concluded with “amen and awoman” because the House Left has been made fools. They are futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened. These elected Representatives of the people of the United States—think about what that means—stood on the Speaker’s rostrum, on the Lord’s Day, with “In God We Trust” engraved in the marble above them, and bowed in reverence to Brahma, not to Yahweh.
Three days later, the Capitol building was invaded and congressional proceedings disrupted. A shaman in a buffalo headdress stood in the congressional chambers with a flag in his hand and flexed for the cameras. Offices were broken into, property was defaced, furniture was destroyed or stolen, the halls were defecated in. People died.
These events are linked, a glimpse into the judgment that is to come. Scripture says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). And, “God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).
The Light Has Come
Now, am I saying that if Congress had not prayed to Brahma then the insurrection wouldn’t have happened? Of course that’s not what I’m saying. Rather, in the events that played out in that first week of January, God in His providence has shown us the dark hearts of our nation’s leaders and the people who elected them, and that God has turned this nation over to a depraved mind. He will be justified in His righteous judgment (Romans 3:4).
And how could He not be? America has become a sex-crazed and blood-thirsty nation. The Democratic party has led the massacre of the unborn. Nearly 3,000 pre-born children are murdered by abortion every day, almost a million babies per year in the holocaust wrought by the sexual revolution. The Republican party has done little to stop the slaughter, even when they could. Some professing Christians have voted for it. Congress has the audacity to pray for “peace in this chamber” when they have blood on their hands, and much of this nation with them.
The Bible says, “The heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:7). These things do not happen overnight. They have been a long time coming (I recommend Carl Trueman’s book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self for a broader, more scholarly look at how we got to where we are). Praise God that He is patient, not wishing that any of us should perish, dear Christian, but that all should reach repentance (v.9).
By the blessing of God, America has been great, but so was Jerusalem for a time. It will be thrown down. Not one stone will be left upon another. Repent, and turn to Jesus Christ, who sits enthroned on high. His throne room will never be invaded. His authority will never be questioned. Warn everyone of the judgment that is to come, the wrath of God burning against all the unrighteousness of men, and tell them that salvation and the forgiveness of sins is to be found in Christ alone.
Those who have faith in Jesus, “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16).
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.'” —Revelation 21:4-5
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