WORLD NEWS & PROPHECY
America and the
Return to God
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Have we reached a tipping point where it is too late to turn to God in heartfelt repentance? If so, what should you do?
Micah Gunn
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by Darris McNeely
n Sept. 26, 2020, tens of thousands of Americans gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in answer to a call to prayer and repentance issued by different evangelical ministries. I was there with other Beyond Today staff covering this remarkable moment in our nation’s history, a moving occasion of people from various religious backgrounds—all knowing something is desperately wrong with America’s spiritual state—coming together to pray in what was called “The Return.” The Return consisted of two separate events organized by two ministries, one led by messianic pastor and writer Jonathan Cahn and the other by Franklin Graham, son of famed American evangelist Billy Graham. Both issued calls for people to come to Washington on that day to pray for the spiritual and moral condition of America. Various leaders exhorted, prayed and sang, and people listened, cried and prayed in both large and small groups across the vast expanse of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial eastward to the Washington Memorial. Beyond Today staff were not here as participants of either event. We attended as observers to hear what was said and take stock of the focus of the gathering—to
consider what it meant and what might come of it. On the brink of divine judgment We have written and broadcast extensively on the theme of America and other English-speaking countries facing a time of crisis and the need to turn to God in national repentance. We present matters from a biblical perspective, seeing our peoples like the ancient nation of Israel, a people blessed by God according to promises made to the national forefather Abraham. Ancient Israel and Judah, Abraham’s heirs who inherited only a portion of the full promises, were consumed by moral and spiritual decay very similar to what we see today. We have repeatedly shown the scriptural connections of America to the consequences that befell the Israelites, explaining that just as God punished Israel for its sins, so will America suffer the same fate unless its people return to God—looking to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and humbling themselves in repentance based on God’s law. At the Washington event we heard sincere acknowledgement of problems along with calls to repentance. B Tm a g a z i n e . o r g
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January-February 2021
15
