THE NINEVEH FACTOR: THE DEATH OF AN EMPIRE
Bud Hancock makes a welcome return to my Blog with an article comparing the death of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire, with the death of America. Bud makes some very keen observations as to how History is apparently repeating itself. Fasten your seatbelts for a bumpy ride.
Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
The Nineveh Factor: From Judgment to Destruction – The Death of an Empire
By Bud Hancock
From the Past……
The Assyrian Empire, with its great capital city of Nineveh, was the World’s greatest empire for several hundred years, from around 912 BCE to around 609 BCE, being led by various Assyrian kings who boldly displayed their barbarity and brutality after they had defeated an enemy; they were known to cut out their captives tongues, behead them and stack their heads in pyramid shapes near the gates of the captured cities.
Their power decreased somewhat when they lost most of Syria after a disastrous campaign against Damascus in the year 773 BC. During the height of their power, they were led by Assyrian King Sargon II, whose brilliant military strategy carried his armies to numerous victories, but after his death in 706 BC, the victories were much more hard fought.
The sheer size of the empire, along with intermittent internal civil wars, became a financial burden and the excessive wars had left the empire and its military weakened after a series of battles between Assyria and a major regional foe, Urartu, which later became a client state of the Assyrian Empire.
Eventually, in its weakened state, the empire suffered a loss of much of its preeminence and it began to wane amid numerous attacks by a coalition of enemies, including the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, which further weakened the Assyrians; the Assyrian Empire never regained its original power, finally ending around 609 BCE after the final Assyrian capital city of Nineveh was sacked.
It is certain that for most of its existence, and due to their extreme brutality, the empire was on God’s radar, not only for their barbaric ways, but also because of their idol worship.
To the Present……
The long, well-planned destruction of the American Empire, having many similarities to the Assyrian Empire, seems to be proceeding at flank speed before our eyes. Anyone who loves our nation, or is even just a thinking individual, should be asking the question: “Why do certain entities want the US to fail”?
For years I heard the statement that God would always protect this nation because (1) it was the last and best bastion of hope for freedom to the entire world, and (2) it was the means by which the gospel of Jesus Christ was being distributed to the lost World.
Can the latter premise even be relevant any longer, seeing how apostasy has eaten away at the Christian Church in America? Most churches in the United States, especially those deemed “megachurches”, care less about spreading the gospel to the world than they do getting the revenues needed to maintain and grow those megachurches. Could the “love of money” spoken of by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, be the cause of the growing apostasy, and if so, is that the real reason behind the effort by America’s enemies to destroy our nation? Or are there other possibilities that could be considered?
Possibilities:
(1) Because God blessed this nation so abundantly for so long, allowing the Gospel of Christ to go forth beyond our borders to the World.
(2) Our support for the Jewish people, helping them to survive and thrive on our shores first, then in their renewed homeland.
Anything that God blesses, Satan hates, and his anger is especially kindled against any nation that God blesses. His pride will never allow him to accept, without some evil retribution, any interference in getting his death agenda established in the whole World. After all, he still owns/controls all the empires of the world and fully expects them to dance to his tune.
But these facts alone don’t provide the reason for the possible coming destruction of the U.S. To give Satan such due is likely giving him too much. Is there a better explanation for what is coming on the United States?
Proverbs 6:16-19 reveals seven things that God hates and considers an abomination to Him; A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Can we apply these to the current state of the U.S?
The enumerated points above could seem to answer my question, but there is still more: A nation as blessed as ours, being granted the power to help His chosen people, once having lived those blessings, then turning against the nation of Israel, and God, and actually working against them, first covertly through many administrations, then openly through the current one headed by the demented criminal, Joseph R. Biden, as well as many past presidents, has violated God’s policy for Gentiles to bless Israel, recorded in Genesis 12:3.
It is likely impossible to count the vast financial resources the U.S. has provided over many years to the enemies of Israel, but God not only knows about them, He has an intimate knowledge of how every penny was spent and the name of every Jew who was harmed or killed by those resources. Even though there are very smart, albeit completely evil people in the US government who have almost infinite resources and capabilities to hide the truth about those Jew-killing resources given to her enemies, Israel, STILL the apple of God’s eye, is now beginning to see and understand that the United States, regardless of past support, is no longer the greatest ally of Israel, but is now being considered one of her greatest enemies.
At the very point in time when Israel could use the unqualified support of our nation, the U.S. Government is doing more to divide the land God specifically gave to Israel, than they are to aid her in a complete victory over one of Israel’s oldest enemies: Hamas. They are both overtly and covertly working to pressure Israel and her leaders to once again consider accepting a “Two State Solution” deal that would allow for the establishment of a pagan nation in the very heart of Israel, the land that was given ONLY to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The current leader of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has publicly declared that as long as He is Prime Minister of Israel, a Palestinian state will never exist next to Israel’s borders. The so-called “Two State Solution” would not only NOT bring peace to the Middle East, it would spell total destruction for Israel, and God will NOT allow that to happen. Most recently, the leaders of the U.S. Government have revised their anti-Israel tactics from merely suggesting the formation of a two-state solution, to demanding it, and actually working covertly with former Israeli leaders to make it happen by subterfuge.
Based on a clear understanding of the words of Zechariah 12:3, regarding making Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people who gather against it, stating plainly that God will “cut in pieces” all nations that defy God and try to divide the City where He placed His mighty name, it is understood that this refers to the time when the armies of the Antichrist try to destroy Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon, but it must also be understood that God has not hesitated to destroy other nations when they pushed beyond His red lines regarding their treatment of the Jewish people.
If a nation, especially an extremely powerful one such as the United States of America, makes the unwise decision to defy God and work to destroy the Jewish nation, what is to stop God from doing what He has already promised to do in Genesis 12:3 and Zechariah 12:3?
No person or nation is exempt from God’s judgment (Isaiah 66:16), no matter how well they may have followed Him in times past. The entirety of World history has been leading up to the time in which we now live, the time in which the judgment of ALL nations will take place when Jesus Christ stands before them and metes out to each nation their just reward. The “Sheep and Goat Nation” judgments of Jesus for their actions either for or against Israel will be righteous and perfect even as God Himself is righteous and perfect, and there will be no appeal for mercy from those decisions (Matthew 25:31-46).
The goat nations standing before Jesus will have been found guilty of openly warring against the Jewish nation; that in itself is bad enough, but what about a nation, or nations, that claim to be friends and supporters of Israel, who actually work behind the scenes to topple the government of Israel and force her to accept something totally contrary to God’s will?
From Assyria to the United States
In the Book of Jonah, we have the detailed story of one of God’s earliest prophets, Jonah, the son of Amittai, who was born and lived in a part of the northern kingdom of Israel, in a town called Gath-Hepher in Zebulun. He was thought to be a proud, bigoted Hebrew who denigrated those Gentiles and Hebrews who were pagans.
After being told by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire and preach to the Ninevites that, unless they repented of their sins, God would destroy their city in forty days, Jonah instantly rebelled, and instead, headed to the port city of Joppa (now called Jaffa), en route to the city of Tarshish.
As the story goes, God sent a fierce storm that was close to destroying the ship Jonah was on. He was sleeping in the lower part of the ship when the crew, along with the passengers, were trying to determine the cause of the storm. They cast lots to see who was responsible for their dangerous situation, and the lot fell on Jonah. He confessed that he was rebelling against God’s command to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to them. He advised the sailors to cast him overboard in order to stop the storm and save themselves. Reluctantly, they did so and the storm ceased.
But God, who is so merciful, had prepared a large fish that swallowed Jonah and kept him alive in the fish’s belly for three days. While in the belly of the fish, Jonah confessed his sin against God and repented of his rebellion, agreeing to fulfill God’s command to preach His message to the Ninevites. When three days had passed, the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land where he soon began his journey to Nineveh.
As a result of Jonah’s obedience, the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast, putting on sackcloth and sprinkling ashes on themselves, and the word of Jonah reached the king who also removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes, a sign of humility and repentance. All the subjects of Nineveh, including all their animals, were ordered to neither eat nor drink, and to repent of their sin and pray that God would turn from His anger and spare their city and their lives.
Nineveh Spared by Their Repentance to God
The people of Nineveh escaped God’s judgment when the people, including the king, put on sackcloth and ashes and fully repented of their massive sin after Jonah preached the message of God to them. When God saw their works (of repentance), He turned from His fierce anger and did not destroy Nineveh or its people. The plan of God for Nineveh’s salvation was established in spite of the initial resistance and rebellion of Jonah.
If this were the end of the Nineveh story, it would have been wonderful, but sometime after their “salvation”, the Assyrian leaders went back to their wicked and brutal ways and marched into the land of Israel and took captive what we call ”the northern tribes, or the ten lost tribes of Israel. That act definitely placed a bullseye on them by God.
We can read in the Book of Nahum what transpired less than 100 years after the saga of Jonah and Nineveh. As Jonah had done 87 years earlier, the prophet Nahum, being sent by God, went to Nineveh, NOT to warn them, but to address the coming destruction of Nineveh. Obviously, their reversion to wickedness caused God to declare the destruction of Nineveh through the preaching and prophecy of Nahum.
It is interesting to see the reasons why God determined a final destruction of the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. They are listed in the Book of Nahum, chapter three, verses 1, 4, 11 and 19:
- It was a bloody city- many murders – verse 1
- Full of lies – verse 1
- Many robberies – verse 1
- Many wars to plunder others – verse 1
- Multitude of whoredoms – verse 4
- Many witchcrafts – verse 4
- Much drunkenness – verse 11
- Oppression of others – verse 19
It is also interesting to see one way that God caused the destruction of the great Assyrian empire. In Nahum 3:13, “Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
It is quite startling, to see why and how the destruction that came upon Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire resembles what we now see happening to the United States of America. Read the list of causes of Nineveh’s destruction above and then consider the fact that, as a result of the actions of the Biden administration, we have totally open southern borders through which illegal immigrants, mostly unvetted by and totaling in the millions, have recently entered the United States.
The Coming Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024
In the Bible, the number seven is considered a sign of completion or totality. Based on that fact, and the statement in Genesis 1:14, to “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”, it is extremely interesting that the coming solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. on April 8, 2024, will cross over seven cities in the United States that are named Nineveh. That might not seem a relevant point except that there are ONLY seven cities in the U.S. named Nineveh, and all of them will experience the eclipse in some form. Could this be a “sign” of the “completion of warnings” to the United States?
Although many Americans are celebrating the Great Eclipse of 2024 as a “fun event”, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to witness it firsthand, very few are considering how important the event may be as a potential sign of warning of danger to our nation. Am I saying that God will use this eclipse as a means of warning Americans of the coming destruction? Possibly, but I am saying that I personally believe the multiple warnings of God’s judgment on our nation have already been witnessed many times in the past 40 years. Many servants of God have issued what might be considered warnings to America to repent and return to God, and, up to this moment, He has mercifully stayed His hand from total judgment.
Consider that God mercifully warned the Ninevites through the preaching of Jonah, also staying His hand from final judgment; but when Nineveh (The Assyrian Empire) returned to her grievous sins, 87 years after Jonah’s message of repentance, God sent Nahum to Nineveh, not as another warning, but to deliver the final word from God to them: Your time is up!
Conclusion
Early in this article I asked a question: “What is the real reason for the push to destroy our nation”?
We are now among the most hated countries on Earth, but that is more of a result than a reason why forces are trying to destroy us. Review the list of sins, listed earlier in this article, that brought the final judgment on Assyria and apply that list to the state of affairs in the United States. If you are honest, you will admit the the United States is guilty of the same sins, and many more. If indeed God is preparing for a time of judgment on our nation, there is only one act of man that can possibly stay his hand: the kind of repentance that occurred in Nineveh at the time of Jonah’s warning and a sincere plea for God’s mercy on America. Awareness of the many partial warnings/partial judgments we have already seen should cause one to wonder:
Is it already too late?
Let us with heartfelt humility hope and pray that is not the case, but the final before the final destruction of Nineveh eerily resemble the current state of affairs in this nation.
If it is too late to save the United States of America, (only God knows), you only have a short period of time to repent, confess your sins to God and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come in to your life as savior, Lord and king. Please do so before it IS too late!
Even so, Maranatha; come quickly Lord Jesus!
Blessings
Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors. After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker. Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Metrologist (Science of high precision measurement), he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents. Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he began a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer. Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles emphasizing Biblical teaching and geopolitical issues. At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter. Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times perspective.