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I believe God desperately does not want to judge the United States. The Lord takes no pleasure in judging any nation, and though many might disagree, I believe there is a special calling on America. The U.S. is unique in so many ways. We are a country that broke away from an oppressive king to create, what I believe to be, the greatest democracy in history. Just as Israel has a calling—and I believe every nation has a calling—America has a calling.

You have probably never heard of Alexis de Tocqueville. He was a French sociologist and political theorist who was sent to America in the early 1800s and became obsessed with why this burgeoning new democracy was working so well. He documented his study in a widely quoted book “Democracy in America” (1835).

In a nutshell, his conclusion was freedom and equality:

This was the beauty that was America. We were once the world’s leader. We have inspired other democracies. We stood up to the enemy in WWI. America, along with Great Britain, rallied to defeat Hitler in WWII. We acknowledged and challenged the Cold War. And we overcame 9/11 to take on Radical Islam—at least for a while.

God raised up the U.S. at a unique time in world history to keep order. Our country was founded on a covenant with God! Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution have endured to insure freedom for every U.S. citizen.

The artist Jon McNaughton writes:

We all know the seven most famous words of Patrick Henry, but read the whole quote:

Once a colonist, Isaac Potts, who had sided with the British, caught George Washington crying out to God for victory in the midst of the war. “‘Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone praying.” Potts felt the power of this prayer and ran home and told his wife, “We’re on the side of George Washington. I’m changing, I’m changing sides because we’re going to win this.”

When Washington was trapped and all seemed lost, he told his men that they would cross the East River. As dawn came, the British ships would surely see them. But a fog descended upon Washington and his men and the revolution continued. Those present all record in their journals that the fog was not on the Manhattan side or the Long Island side, just over them. Yes, God had a plan for America. According to award-winning author, Timothy Ballard, one of the founding fathers, John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister prophesied, “We will win this war because the Grand Artist will utilize the elements.”

In the 20th century, we were called to stand up against communism and the Soviet Union. Through Ronald Reagan, the USSR was bankrupted as she sought to keep pace with America in the arms race. You see, this is our call, but our present president calls it American arrogance—something for which we need to apologize. He has sought for the past seven years to move us away from that all-so-important calling, and instead become just like everyone else. But when the U.S. is just like everyone else, everyone else suffers—as we are now seeing all over the world.

Our first president warned in his first speech, if we stray from the path of God, we should not expect God’s blessing.

This coming election and the nomination of the next Supreme Court Justice could be the difference between revival and judgment on America. I don’t want to pretend that a right-wing president would necessarily bring blessing on the nation. Yet when I look at the moral and spiritual decline America has endured during the last seven years, I can’t imagine where we will be in seven more years without a change of direction.

In order to pray for our nation, we must first face head-on where our political leaders, artists, pop icons together with scientists, judges and professors have taken this nation as they turned their backs on the One True God.

Ron Cantor is the Congregational Leader of Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv and has worked closely with Ari and Shira for many years. He is the author of Leave me Alone, I am Jewish—his testimony; Identity Theft and the forthcoming The Jerusalem Secret. You can read his eBook, The 15 Most Important Facts… about the Israeli Palestinian Conflict for free, by going to www.roncan.net/15Facts. Learn more about Ron at www.MessiahsMandate.org.

SEVEN YEARS OF “HOPE AND CHANGE”

Who would have believed we could change so much in seven years? In 2008 every democratic potential nominee for president was against gay marriage. Now the White House is the Rainbow House and anyone who doesn’t embrace these changes is a bigot or as the President often says, they are “on the wrong side of history.”

In fact, this administration has tried to force African nations to pass laws to mandate gay marriage! In Kenya Obama threatened to withhold aid if they didn’t comply with his demands. Kenya, however, would have none of it. But, just a few years ago, who would have dreamed of such a scenario?

How can it be that we can watch a living baby be ripped apart and killed after a botched abortion, having his or her parts sold for profit, and our deepest concern is keeping abortion legal? How is it that supporting Planned Parenthood is seen as something good?

We recoil in horror when we read of Hitler’s doctors performing “experimental operations” on men, women and children. Now in America we have legal baby killers. What is the difference between Hitler’s monsters and these American abortion surgeons?

Maybe you saw the Super Bowl commercial with the baby and the Dorito? Through the ultrasound the baby was following the Dorito. In the end, the mother threw the chip and the baby birthed itself to get it. It was funny. We all laughed. However NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) rebuked Doritos for “humanizing the fetus.” We are talking about a nine-month-old, fully developed human being. They are so obsessed with killing babies they can’t admit that a thinking, hearing, and heart-beating fetus is any different than a kidney or a liver.

Humanizing a fetus? Really? In protesting the humanizing of a baby in the womb, they have dehumanized themselves. How will we give an account for such blind murder?

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHRISTIANS GONE?

Seven years ago the Middle East was full of Christians. Now they are being persecuted and slaughtered in horrific ways by ISIS. This administration pulled the troops out of Iraq to fulfill a campaign promise and signed the death warrants of thousands of Christians. The president left a vacuum in Iraq that ISIS quickly filled.

When the U.S. abdicates, evil entities are more than willing to fill the void. The man with the best intelligence reports on earth refused to take ISIS seriously, calling them the Junior Varsity. Whether you were for the Iraq War or not, once there, we had a responsibility towards those people.

Christian women, even young girls, are today forced to be sex slaves for ISIS fighters, as they are raped over and over again, several times a day. Men are crucified, burned alive in cages, beheaded and worse. Fifteen-year-old boys are being beheaded because they listened to music on a Walkman or didn’t go to mosque prayers on Friday. ISIS fighters are drunk on murder as they are constantly seeking new and more barbaric ways to satisfy their craving for blood.

And we act like the threat isn’t that big of a deal. We say it is not our problem. And yet it is—it is our calling to stand against ISIS, just as we stood against Hitler. We will give an account for these people who have suffered and died.

And what about the Christian refugees begging to come to America? Since the Paris attacks the U.S. has welcomed 700 Muslims from Syria/Iraq and exactly three Christians from the area! This is unconscionable. I am by no means saying that every Muslim is a terrorist, but I can guarantee you that not one Christian is! There is no one slipping into the U.S. or Europe as a Christian jihadist. Meanwhile, the rapes continue. The beheadings continue. True martyrdom continues.

ISIS STREAMING INTO EUROPE

Now Europe is under siege as Muslim refugees flood across the continent. We are told they are peaceful. On New Year’s Eve in Germany 80 women were sexually assaulted by about 1,000 Muslim men. Some were gang-raped as these Muslim youth formed circles around each woman and took turns. Many other cities reported similar crimes. And Germany’s leadership is terrified to speak against these savages. Politically correct officials warn against linking these attacks to the influx of Syrian and Iraqi Muslims flooding their state. Are they stupid? Or are they just cowards?

Now NATO’s top general, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, warned that the mass influx of migrants into Europe is allowing ISIS to spread “like a cancer,” taking advantage of paths of least resistance and threatening European nations, and our own, with terrorist attacks.

All this points to the fact we have let go of our sacred calling. President Obama’s goal from the beginning was clear—to spank America, to wag his finger and lecture America. He comes from a Liberation Theology background—which is not theology at all, but a socialist philosophy which teaches the poor must rise up against the strong.

RACE RELATIONS TEARING APART THE NATION

Who would have believed race relations would be far worse seven years after electing a black president? Despite my disagreements with President Obama politically, I was proud that a nation that once condoned slavery, that once looked upon blacks as unequal, could elect a person of color as president. But we are told we are still racists.

President Obama has stoked the fires of racial tension for seven years. And his Liberation Theology is not utilized just inside our borders, but outside as well. In Obama’s world, America is the oppressor and smaller nations like Cuba are the oppressed.

Cuba is an evil communist dictatorship. And Obama has sent an olive branch. On one half of Cuba we imprison deadly terrorists and Obama decries this. On the other half of Cuba, the Cuban government persecutes, oppresses and murders its opposition. Cuba is the ninth most censored nation on earth:

Obama is, at best, indifferent. America is big and evil, and Cuba, not to mention Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea are all downtrodden. Is this not what his pastor preached for decades as the Obamas listened? Was it not Reverend Wright who said we deserved 9/11 as well as, and forgive me for repeating this, “God damn America”?

AN ADMIRATION FOR ISLAM

President Ronald Reagan preached American exceptionalism while Obama preaches American arrogance. He went on his world-apology tour to Muslim nations just after his election, asking forgiveness for our strength. When ISIS attacked in the name of Islam, Obama reminded us that Christians were just as guilty…and then went off to play golf.

Why do I write this? It is a call for us to repent for electing a leader who has rejected our calling as a nation—who has moved us in the opposite direction of our destiny. God called us to be strong—not to boast, but to protect the weak. When America is not strong, others are ready to fill the gap!

We have become weak and now Putin kills indiscriminately in Ukraine and Syria. ISIS has adherents ready to die for their cause all over the world. North Korea laughs at us as she tests nuclear missiles and launches a satellite (knowing there will be no consequences). And Iran openly mocks us, as they gleefully take the money John Kerry returned to them to support Hamas and Hezbollah in their foundational goal to eradicate the State of Israel.

When Egypt’s army stepped in against the Obama Administration-supported Muslim Brotherhood, Obama cried foul because, he said, the Muslim Brotherhood president was democratically elected. Why does that matter in Egypt, but not in Cuba?

EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS THANK GOD FOR EL-SISI

There is not a single Muslim state in the world where Christians are free to serve God according to the Scriptures. But I can tell you that the Christians of Egypt— representing 10% of the nation—are very thankful that the Muslim Brotherhood president Morsi was ousted. Morsi’s gangs burned down churches and killed Christians with insolence. The current ruler, General Fattah El-Sisi, has done more to protect Egyptian Christians than any other Egyptian ruler. And although the Egyptian population hates Israelis and Jews, el-Sisi is cooperating closer with Israel than any other Egyptian ruler since the birth of the modern State of Israel—at his own peril.

Even though in May 2014 el-Sisi was democratically elected by the Egyptian people, yet to this day, Obama distances himself from the leader of Egypt. President Obama still has affection for the Muslim Brotherhood, and in fact has a number of Muslim Brotherhood advisers in his White House.

Pandering to terrorists, he often says, “The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer,” and then publicly proclaimed, “I will stand with the Muslims if the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST IT’S EVER BEEN

The current doctrine of leading from behind has been disastrous for the world. Cowards lead from behind. In Israel every commander knows the phrase “achari.” It means, “After me,” as in—when in combat, the commander leads; he doesn’t follow. He sets the example for bravery. But Obama sees this mentality as arrogant. Instead, he prefers to lead from behind. Now this is what this ideology has brought us:

ISRAEL IS THE REAL PROBLEM

Meanwhile leftist ideologues still maintain that the only stable democracy in the Middle East is actually the cause of all the problems—Israel! Yes, if only Israel ceased to exist, then there would be peace in the Middle East. Meanwhile there are 250,000 dead (some report nearly twice that number is more accurate) in Syria from the hands of Arab armies and terrorists and now Russians.

Israel’s part in the war has been to rescue several thousand injured Syrians who were fleeing from ISIS and al-Qaida and who managed to cross over the border into the safety of Israel. Right now, many Israeli hospitals are nursing hundreds of Syrians back to health.

But over these last seven years, Israelis have watched with great consternation as America’s connection with Israel—until now Israel’s greatest friend—has significantly deteriorated.

Oh America, how we have fallen! The question is, will we regain our footing and our calling, or continue to slide? Yeshua said, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

A very good question is why hasn’t God already judged us as we deserve? Despite our massive moral failures over the decades, clearly God has not judged us according to our sins. There are several reasons.

SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL FROM THE DAY IT WAS BORN

Harry S. Truman could not sleep on May 13, 1948. He kept seeing the face of the man who would be Israel’s first President, Chaim Weisman. Weisman had begged for his support in a previous meeting. Truman shared his feelings on the morning of the 14th with his top aide, Clark Clifford. Clifford said, “Mr. President, if you are going to recognize the Jewish State, you must do it today.” The president asked the Israeli consulate to send a request for formal recognition. When Truman sent the letter to the diplomats he didn’t even know the name of the new state that would be declared at 4pm that day. The letter simply said “the Jewish state.”

At 9am (4pm in the Middle East) it was announced in Tel Aviv that the new prime minister David Ben Gurion proclaimed that the Jewish state would be called the State of Israel. The president’s envoy caught up with the courier on the steps of the White House and the words “Jewish state” were scratched out and the word “State of Israel” was handwritten in its place.

Meanwhile, the anti-Jewish State Department was arguing another plan for the area, when the U.S. UN ambassador was given a note that Truman had recognized Israel. He angrily got up and returned to his hotel. The State Department led by General George Marshall was 100% against the idea of a Jewish State and had made that abundantly clear to Truman. It took great courage, but Truman did what was right.

This support for Israel undoubtedly brought the blessing of God on the United States as Genesis 12:3 declares that God will bless those that bless Abraham and his descendants and curse those who curse them.

Before America, it was Great Britain’s Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour who fought in England’s parliament chambers for a Jewish state and God blessed Great Britain as the greatest power on earth. It was said that the sun never set on the British Empire, as she controlled lands from Africa to Hong Kong, from India to the Caribbean.

Yet the minute she turned on Israel in 1922, taking 80% of the lands she promised to Israel in the Balfour Declaration and instead created the Muslim state of Jordan, the sun began to set, and today Great Britain is a shell of her former self. In fact, how ironic is it—as Britain in 1922 chose oil over the Jews and the Muslim world over Israel that according to demographic experts, Britain is now in danger of being overrun with Islamic migrants.

SUPPORT FOR WORLD MISSIONS

No nation supports world missions as strongly as the United States. America gives more to world missions than any other nation and sends more missionaries out than any other country. We are more involved in the Great Commission than any other nation.

We sent Adoniram Judson in the early 1800’s to Burma (now Myanmar). It took him four years to share the gospel with someone and six years to gain one convert. He buried more than one wife there and several children, but when it was all said and done, there were 100 churches in Burma comprised of 8,000 born-again believers. In addition, he learned their language and translated the Bible into Burmese. Amazingly, Burma has the third largest number of Baptists in the world. And thus began a rich heritage of U.S. Missions to unreached peoples.

YWAM, the largest missions-sending agency in the world is from America. They are in more than 1,000 locations in 149 countries with 16,000 staff or missionaries. Yes, our efforts to world missions has brought God’s blessing on our economy in order to continue to be a blessing.

According to Christianity Today, the U.S. supports some 127,000 missionaries overseas every year. Half of all funds going to ministries in foreign countries come from American Christians. (Although Americans give $45 billion to missions each year, only 2% goes to foreign missions, and only a tiny percent of that goes to the unreached people groups, including Israel.)

While mainline churches in America are fast losing ground, Evangelical Christians, about 25% of Americans, according to polls, are definitely increasing in numbers. The fastest growing sector among Evangelicals is Pentecostals. Born-again intercessors in America, for the most part, come from Evangelical churches.

It is they who know that the only hope for America now is revival. And they know that revival comes only through deep and wide participation of Christians and Messianic Jews praying throughout the Nation. So the fate of America is in the hands of these prayer warriors. Will they break through to see revival save the nation?

WE HAVE OPENED OUR DOORS TO THE OPPRESSED—TO REFUGEES

People have wrongly assumed that Americans are anti-immigration. Not so. We have a long history and an amazing success story when it comes to taking in immigrants. We have Americans who have immigrated from all over the world—Chinese, Japanese, German, Cambodian, and the list goes on. And yes, we have many amazing Mexican Americans.

The issue is not immigration, but illegal immigration. If there is no legal process of immigration, there is anarchy. A country can’t absorb immigrants and put them to work without a plan and without the order of law. And maybe the saddest part about the influx of illegals is that it overshadows America’s proud history of being a haven for the persecuted.

Many famous retail stores were started by Jewish immigrants from Europe. Gimbels, Macy’s, Filene’s, I Magnin, Neiman-Marcus, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, Rich’s of Atlanta, Kauffman’s of Pittsburgh, Lazarus of Columbus and Levi Strauss were all created by Jews who were immigrants or from an immigrant background.

They came here dirt poor and many started in their own homes making garments and selling them on the street. The operations grew and then factories and retail stores were founded. Only in America! They were often penniless and could not speak English when they arrived, but they embraced the American Dream—which is not, we will give you free stuff—but work hard, save, work harder and you will be able to send your kids to college and buy a home.

The sons of those immigrants, and immigrants before them, became some of the most successful people in America.

But people now reject the American Dream and want the government to support them. There is a reason America has the largest economy in the world. It’s that we used to emphasize education, ingenuity, work, creativity and risk-taking over free stuff. While folks are complaining about the rich, we fail to notice that by and large every American has not only food on his table, but a smartphone and a flat screen TV. Just because the rich are rich doesn’t necessarily mean you are poor! And compared to the poverty and chaos of the nations around our neighborhood in Israel, America is still the place where the masses would come, if they could.

CONCLUSION

So while judgment has been held back, is there a limit? The question is, will we remember our calling as a world leader, protector and refuge for the persecuted, or will we reject that calling in favor of mediocrity, wickedness, socialism and protectionism?

It is time to repent.

It is time to rise up.

It is time to be who God called us to be. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Ari Sorko-Ram began learning basic Chinese four years ago on Skype, not sure why, but felt he was following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Since then he has been to China and the Far East many times with amazing doors opening throughout Asia to the “Messianic Jewish rabbi from Israel.”

His goal is to reach the massive Christian populations of the Far East with an understanding of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, how the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will bring spiritual and physical salvation to Israel, and how those Bible promises directly affect their nations and their cities. We are convinced that it is God’s desire to see the Far East involved in Israel’s salvation, thereby returning spiritual and physical blessing to those nations by seeing an even greater spiritual awakening in their own countries. (“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Genesis 12:3)

Last month Ari met with Kingdom Ministries in Hong Kong with a team to map out a strategy to reach the Asian nations with the mighty promises of God to all peoples.

The team from China, Hong Kong and Israel worked to coordinate building an infrastructure on an international level. This includes production and translation of books, outreach through TV and Internet, conferences and leadership training trips to Israel.

A group of Chinese industrialists and business people visited Israel to explore possibilities for investment in Israel’s hi-tech industry. The Chinese government is very interested in Israeli technology. The group was hosted by members of the Israel Empowerment Lobby, Eli Nacht (in orange shirt) and Ari Sorko-Ram. The group was led by the mayor (to the right of Ari) of Zibo, China, a city of 4,000,000 citizens.