Spiritual warfare in America is at its height. Never have Americans—especially the younger generation—been subject to such unprecedented, psychological attack. More than ever, it is imperative that we level up our armor of God.
In this post, we’ll cover the 2 conditions that must be met for divine blessing. And we’ll even look at the 4 conditions that provoke divine judgement. But first, we need to understand why Satan is attacking America.
Many Evangelicals have long been asserting that Satan is attacking America. They recognize the infiltration of our media, our government, and our schools as spiritual warfare. However, many fail to recognize why Satan is attacking America. It’s not because he wishes to topple a Christian nation in order to keep souls in bondage to him so he can gleefully spite God when all those souls are in hell.
America is Satan’s biggest threat.
The escalating spiritual warfare raging in America is due to America being Satan’s biggest threat. Threat to what? Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). This world is under his control (1 John 5:19). And he has the freedom to devour Christians who’ve let down their guard (1 Pet. 5:8).
Satan has power, authority, and freedom.
But when Jesus returns, Satan’s power, authority, and freedom will be revoked. Because when Jesus returns, he will overthrow Satan as the god of this world—the world will be under Jesus’ control (Rev. 2:26), and Satan will be imprisoned in the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3).
Once Jesus returns, Satan loses his power, authority, and freedom.
How does America threaten Satan’s power, authority and freedom?
To retain his power, authority, and freedom, Satan must make it impossible for Jesus to return. The only way for him to do so is to ensure that the conditions for Jesus’ return which God himself laid out in Scripture cannot be met.
And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. (Matt. 24:14 NLT)
The Greek word translated nations in the above verse is ethnos and means ethnic people group not just a country. There are 67 countries in the 10/40 window, but 6200 different people groups (approx. 1.6 billion people) in those 67 countries that have never heard of Jesus.
America is Satan’s biggest threat because America sends more missionaries than any other country.
Holding the #1 spot for over 200 years, America sends127,000 missionaries to other countries.
The #2 spot, Brazil, sends 34,000.
America sends nearly 4x as many missionaries than the #2 ranked spot. If Satan can knock America from its #1 spot, he will exponentially increase his hold on the 10/40 Window. By preventing the gospel from reaching those 6200 people groups, Satan can indefinitely delay his imprisonment and retain his power, authority, and freedom because Jesus can’t return until they do.
But to successfully destroy America (whether literally by its politically enemies or by bankrupting it economically and spiritually), Satan needs to ensure that God will not intervene to stop him. The best way for Satan to prevent such divine intervention is to get that nation to:
- not meet any of the conditions required to be blessed by Yahweh
- meet all the conditions required to be judged by Yahweh
And that is precisely the spiritual warfare we see in America today.
Divine Blessings on a Nation
What do hockey, baseball, football, and the Indianapolis 500 all have in common? The song, God Bless America, has been performed at several of their major events including the Stanley Cup, the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl half-time shows, and during the seventh innings of Major League Baseball games.
The Good News: God actually tells us what it takes for Him to bless a county.
The Bad News: Singing for His blessings isn’t one of them.
Condition for Blessing a Nation #1: Yahweh as its Elohim
The first half of Psalm 33:12 (NIV) reads, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” If we strip away the English translation and render this verse closer to its Hebrew meaning, it reads: “Blessed in the nation whose elohim is Yahweh.”
Elohim is the Hebrew generic term for god, and applies to:
- The Creator God, Yahweh
- gods (Ex. 12:12; 20:2; 1 Kings 11:33)
- angels (Psalm 8:5)
- demons (Deut. 32:17)
- and even the ghost of a dead human (1 Sam 28:13).
So elohim does not mean “the one true God.” Elohim is the generic word for spirit being. Yahweh (Jehovah) is the personal name of the one and only uncreated elohim. Yahweh (YHWH in Hebrew) is usually translated The Lord (in small caps) in most English Bibles.
So again, Psalm 33:12a reads, “Blessed in the nation whose elohim is Yahweh.”
Of course, Yahweh is the one and only uncreated, self-existent elohim. Angels are lesser elohim created by Yahweh to do his bidding. Demons, including Satan, are angels who rebelled against Yahweh and now work against Him.
At the time this Psalm was written, Yahweh was the elohim of only Israel. Satan was the elohim of all other nations, and he had appointed demons over various counties (Dan. 10:13; 1 Cor. 10:19-22). So according to Psalm 33:12, a nation is blessed by Yahweh when Yahweh is its elohim. If a nation has a demon as its elohim, Yahweh is not going to bless it.
America is called a “nation under God,” and by “God” the founding fathers undeniably meant Yahweh. Even the deists amongst them (such as Thomas Jefferson) understood the creator of the natural world to be Yahweh (rather than Allah or Brahma), and believed in following the moral teachings of Jesus (rather than those of Muhammad or Buddha) even if they denied the divinity of Jesus. As such, the Judeo-Christian Bible’s 10 Commandments (rather than the Quran’s Sharia Law) influenced the formation of America’s constitution and moral laws.
What makes Yahweh the Elohim of a Nation?
For a country to genuinely be “a nation under God,” its inhabitants must uphold the moral laws that Yahweh himself requires in order for Him to be their elohim. After the Jews were rescued from slavery in Egypt, Yahweh led them through the wilderness to the land of Canaan—the territory in Satan’s world which Yahweh claimed for himself. There he instructed the people on His requirements.
Recorded in Leviticus 18, the list of behaviors the Jews were prohibited from engaging in if they wanted Yahweh to be their elohim were normal behaviors of the current inhabitants (and the reason the current inhabitants were being expelled from the land, Deut. 9:4).
- Child Sacrifice
- Sexual sins
- Promiscuity
- Homosexuality
- Incest
- Bestiality
Wishing to be a nation under Yahweh, the founding fathers established a country in which abortion, adultery, homosexuality, incest, and bestiality was illegal.
Following the regulations recorded in Leviticus 18, they intended America to be a Christian nation as they saw that as synonymous with Yahweh being America’s elohim.
Condition for Blessing a Nation #2: Support Israel
When Yahweh originally called Abraham to leave his home and go to Canaan, the land that would be renamed Israel, He promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation (Gen 12:2). He went on to say, “I will bless those who bless you . . . (Gen. 12:3).
On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was born and Holocaust survivors, most with no homes or financial means, finally had a place they could call home. Immediately, America formally recognized the existence of the Jewish state, and thus became Israel’s most powerful military ally.
Divine Judgment on a Nation
Yahweh has always made it quite clear that He will not only judge the nations of other elohim (as with the original inhabitants of Canaan), but He will also judge his own nation if they violate his commands. The Bible lays out four main conditions that prompts Yahweh’s judgment on a nation.
Condition for Judging a Nation #1: Child Sacrifice
Expressing raw, uncensored emotion, Yahweh conveys his heartache over the slaughter of innocents.
Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution [idolatry] not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? (Ez. 16:20-21)
Other than in hopes of achieving a military victory, child sacrifice in ancient times was done for financial stability—to appease the gods who would in turn ensure a good harvest with which you could feed the rest of your children.
Today, financial stability is the #1 reason cited by 73% of women who get an abortion.[1] 60% of women who get an abortion are in their twenties. 28% are in their thirties or older. Only 12% are teens, of which only 4% are minors.[2]
For financial reasons, the United States sacrificed more than one million of their unborn (or partially born) children every single year for 37 years in a row.
In the spiritual warfare against America, Satan uses misdirection (women’s rights) to deflect attention away from what he is really trying to accomplish: the overthrow of Yahweh as the elohim of America by targeting the one sin God hates most.
Condition for Judging a Nation #2: Sexual Sins
As mentioned earlier, God commanded the Jews not to engage in the sexual behavior of their predecessors, the Canaanites. He even emphasizes that the Canaanites are not being driven from their land because the Israelites deserve the land or are more worthy than the Canaanites. He explicitly states that He is simply using the Israelites to execute judgement on the Canaanites for their sins (Deut. 9:4-6). As noted earlier, the bulk of these sins, with the exception of child sacrifice, are sexual:
- Promiscuity
- Homosexuality
- Incest
- Bestiality
Once again, Satan uses misdirection (love is love) to deflect attention away from what he is really doing. But when we understand his tactics, the spiritual warfare in America appears much less subtle. (For more information on why sexual sins are forbidden, see the post Why is God in my Bedroom?)
Condition for Judging a Nation #3: Anti-Israel
When God told Abraham that he would bless any who blessed him, he also said he would curse anyone who cursed him.
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” (Gen 12:3, NIV)
Not only is a nation blessed if they bless Israel, but they are cursed if they treat Israel with contempt.
Since 1948, America has supported Israel’s right to exist. But today, anti-Israel bias in the media puts a racial spin on reporting (European Jews are oppressing people of color, i.e. the Palestinians), and skews news reports by downplaying Palestinian attacks and then highlighting Palestinian casualties when Israel defends itself.[3]
In a world where the underdog usually has the public’s sympathy, the Middle East conflict is framed as “an army-less people (the Palestinians) against one of the most technologically advanced militaries in the world (Israel).”[4]
It’s easy to cheer for the underdog, but this dynamic is categorically not the case. The conflict is not between the Palestinian and Israeli people but rather between the entire Arab world and Israel. Twenty-one Arab countries, population approximately 423 million, and one Jewish state, population approximately 9 million. In that matchup, who is the David and who is the Goliath?[5]
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paraphrased Golda Meir, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.”
As a testament to his military prowess and subtle leveraging of spiritual warfare, Satan has successfully convinced America and the rest of the world that David is Goliath and Goliath is David and has everyone rooting for Goliath and painting David as the villain.[vi]
Yet even this—the world’s turning its back on Israel before Christ returns—is prophesied in Scripture.
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory . . . I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come. I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground. (Isaiah 62:1-2; 63:3-6, NIV)
Jesus is not the long-awaited king of the Palestinians. When Jesus returns, Christian Palestinians (and all other Christians) will reign with Him over his subjects (Jews, Muslims, and others who converted upon His return). But Jesus will reign over the whole world from the Israeli capital (Jerusalem) as the prophesied Jewish king of the Jews.
Satan as the Elohim of America
If Yahweh is not the elohim of America, who is? You can bet the position is not vacant! America will never be elohimless. Once Yahweh is dethroned (if He hasn’t been already), Satan will install one of his own minions in His place.
The spiritual warfare in America is evident. The laws have already been officially changed (adultery, homosexuality, and abortion are all legal), and the percentage of conservative Christians is rapidly declining primarily because we’ve been stripped of the armor of God. If we withdraw our support of Israel—if we are no longer their political ally—no amount of singing God Bless America will save us.
Knowing the intent behind the spiritual warfare in America equips us to fight against it. Satan wishes to maintain his stronghold on the 10/40 Window, and to prevent the gospel from going into all nations. America is the nation that sends the most missionaries abroad. If America is destroyed, or if the next generation rejects Christianity, Satan strengthens his hold on the 10/40 window and retains his position as god of this world.
[i] https://www.guttmacher.org/journals
/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives
[ii] https://www.guttmacher.org/report/characteristics-us-abortion-patients-2014
[iii] https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mazzig-mizrahi-jews-israel-20190520-story.html
[iv] Tishby, Noa. Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth (p. 12). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
[v] Ibid
[vi] Ibid
