A NINEVEH MOMENT

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David SchnittgerSMBy David Schnittger

One of the most amazing true stories in the Old Testament has to do with the Prophet Jonah’s evangelistic ministry in the Assyrian city of Nineveh. During the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.) Jonah was commissioned by God to “. . . go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). After rebelling, fleeing and “reconsidering” God’s commission while ensconced in the belly of a great fish, Jonah reluctantly concurred that he should obey the Lord. He entered Nineveh and warned, “. . . Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Then, an amazing thing happened: “So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes” (Jonah 3:5-6). In response, the most astounding thing of all happened: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 3:10).

This is an amazing miracle! This was an extremely wicked city, full of immorality and idolatry! It was the greatest of the Assyrian cities, founded by Nimrod himself (Ge 10:8-12). It was untouched by Judaism. If any city was worthy of annihilation by God, it was Nineveh. Then, for some inexplicable reason, God sent Jonah with a message of warning. Perhaps because his skin was bleached, giving him the appearance of an angel as a result of his visit to the whale’s belly, Jonah garnered immediate attention when he traversed the great city. Whatever the case, God used the reluctant prophet to effect repentance, and the city was spared for over 100 years. It was not destroyed until 612 B.C., long after the Assyrian Empire swallowed up Israel in 722 B.C.

Is it possible that this historical example could be repeated in America? Could America receive a similar reprieve from the Lord? If so, like Nineveh, America and its leaders must repent in order for the Lord to relent from destroying the nation. In light of the miraculous election of Donald Trump to serve as our 45th president, I want to bring a series of articles on the subject of “A Nineveh Moment.” Could Mr. Trump’s election be a “Nineveh moment,” a period of time when the judgment of God is delayed in order to leave space for repentance? In today’s article I want to survey the moral boundaries America has crossed over the past 50 years or so that has placed America in the danger zone for the judgment of God. These are borrowed from Bill Salus’ excellent book, THE NOW PROPHECIES, (Prophecy Depot Ministries, 2016, pp 64-65):

1962 – Engel v. Vitale: the removal of Prayer in public schools by the Supreme Court.

1963 – Abington School District v. Schempp: the removal of Bible reading in public schools by the Supreme Court.

1973 – Roe v. Wade: legalized abortions by the Supreme Court. Since then, America has performed over 55 million abortions. Presently about one million abortions are occurring per year in America.

1980 – Stone v. Graham: in this case the Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky statute was unconstitutional. The statute in question required the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classroom in the state. The Court ruled that because they were being placed in public classrooms they were in violation of the First Amendment.

2003 – Lawrence v. Texas: This was the landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that struck down the Sodomy law in Texas, which by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states.

2013 – United States v. Windsor: the case that the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA stated that one man should be married to one woman. DOMA was biblically supported according to Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

2015 –  Obergefell v. Hodges: the Supreme Court case that ruled in favor of Same Sex Marriages, which is unbiblical according to Romans 1:27 and elsewhere.

For these reasons, America, like Nineveh, has become a very wicked place, deserving of judgment. In the next article, we will deal with the messengers that have brought warning to America over the past 50 years or so.