THE STATUS OF THE ACCUSED
Many thanks again to Bud Hancock for another insightful article. May I point out to my readers that, as times get progressively darker, it is even more important to keep your eyes on the Lord and His promises, not on this fallen world.
Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
The Status of the Accused
By Bud Hancock
Anyone who has ever watched so-called “crime drama” TV programs in the US has seen portrayals of criminals being arrested on “suspicion” of committing a crime, being processed by police and held for pretrial hearings or actual trial before a court of law. The accused “defendant”, the person charged with a crime, will usually be granted time to form a defense against the charges and will be allowed to present that defense before a judge or jury. The judge will then follow the advice of the jury (if a trial by jury is indicated) or, if not a jury trial, will decide whether the charges are valid and whether the defendant is guilty or innocent.
The person charged may be granted release from confinement “on his own recognizance”, or be granted bail by depositing a sum of money with the Court in lieu of confinement. Sometimes the person charged is given a warning and allowed to remain free if he assures the authorities that he will not again engage in the actions which resulted in the charges; this might equal being given a warning that the path being taken is one that needs to be changed, quickly, to avoid further legal action against him.
It is also commonly known that, even though a person in the US has the right to a speedy trial before a jury of one’s peers that the opposite is often true and the defendant is sometimes held for long periods before finally being given his day in court. These steps are pretty much standard here in the US where the crime is a violation of the law as determined by the US Congress or state and/or local governments.
The Nation as the Defendant
How different might the steps be in the legal process if the entity accused of violating a law is an entire nation and NOT an individual?
First, the law would not be a federal, state or local law, or one as determined by say, the US Congress, rather it would need to be a much higher law, determined by a much higher authority. After all, the defendant is possibly a large group of people, possibly hundreds of millions of people, who actually make up the population of the accused nation. The arresting officer would NOT be a member of a federal law enforcement authority, such as the FBI, nor would it be someone from a state or local law enforcement department. None of those groups would have the authority to “arrest” an entire nation or file charges against it.
While an individual can be stopped physically (arrested) and restrained from any further action until the legal process plays out and a determination is made as to the guilt or innocence of the person charged, how can a nation be arrested and detained or restricted from further action?
An individual, upon being charged, loses the right of freedom of movement and is isolated from other people. He also loses the right of many, if not all, his possessions until the process is done. Until he is proven guilty, he may be assumed to be innocent, but his life still changes almost completely.
A nation also can be isolated to some extent by financial issues, by natural disasters that affect large segments of the nation, and/or by military actions that might have been caused by the actions of the nation charged with a crime. A nation can also be isolated due to “lockdowns” determined to be necessary by medical authorities in the event of a pandemic supposedly caused by a virus.
While the trial is ongoing, the defendant has lost some, most, or possibly all of his freedom of unlimited movement and ability to carry on with his normal life. That status should be a cause of great concern to the one charged, since he could easily be looking at confinement for years, possibly for the rest of his life.
There is only one entity with the authority to level charges against an entire nation and that is the Lord God Jehovah, the creator of the earth and the heavens and who still is in control of both. He alone has the authority to declare that a nation has violated HIS law to the extent that charges must be leveled against it. He alone has the authority to “arrest” that nation.
One huge difference between a nation being charged with a crime versus an individual being charged is that God does not arrest anyone “on suspicion; He is omniscient, meaning He knows all things and there is absolutely no limit to His knowledge. When a crime has been committed that God needs to deal with, He goes right to the seat of the problem and skips over any “suspicions” moving immediately to the trial phase. Many differences here as well: the defendant charged by God will not necessarily be allowed to provide a defense; what would be the point? He already knows the guilt or innocence there can be no defense that would possibly override God’s knowledge of his guilt.
Therefore, when God “arrests” a nation, that nation is immediately placed under certain limitations that cannot be undone by man. I personally believe we have seen numerous examples of God having arrested nations, and one of them would be the events that we now call 9-11. The entire population of the U.S. still suffers the limitations, namely the loss of certain freedoms, as a result of the “attack” that paralyzed an entire nation, possibly the world, and brought about a large number of changes in the way we live, especially in the area of travel.
After the Trial
Once a trial is completed, what then happens to the defendant? If he is deemed innocent of all charges, he is released from confinement and given back all his freedoms, and hopefully his life resumes as it was before. But what if the judge finds him guilty? That depends on the severity of the charges against him. If the charge is a misdemeanor, he may receive a short jail term, or even probation, but if the charge is a felony, a much more serious issue, he may be facing a very long imprisonment and the loss of all his freedoms during the prison term.
But what if the charge is the most serious of all, first degree murder, or even worse, mass murder? And what if the jurisdiction where the crime occurred is one that allows the death penalty? If the judge has the leeway to sentence the defendant to life in prison, with or without any possibility of parole, he may decide that is the best for all involved, the defendant, the victim(s) and the general public. However, if the judge decides the crime is so heinous that the defendant should never again have freedom of movement, but should be denied his right to life, then the defendant will be remanded to prison and placed on death row, awaiting all appeals to be exhausted until the day of his execution is set. The days spent in that state, especially if in solitary confinement, can be a specially tormenting state, a time of complete agony knowing that there is absolutely no hope of ever breathing the free air again, and knowing that your fate has been sealed.
That time of agony, waiting on “death row” for the day of punishment, will cause most people to deteriorate, physically, mentally and spiritually, to the point they become unrecognizable to those who knew them in better circumstances. They may even become suicidal or approach complete madness where they cannot even communicate rationally.
What If the Defendant is the United States of America?
Many authors and commentators, myself included, now believe the United States stands charged with multiple crimes that violate the Law of God. His law is far above any law made by and enforced by any earthly governmental entity. Contrary to the laws of humans that are written by earthly governmental Congresses, parliaments and commissions, and (somewhat) enforced by earthly law enforcement agencies, and which can be declared unconstitutional by earthly courts, God’s law does not change, just as HE does not change.
When He, operating as the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25) levels His charges of criminal activity against a nation, He and He alone has the power and authority to issue his decree of innocence or guilt. Once He issues His decree of guilt, there is NO appeal to a higher authority.
If His judgment has been declared in heaven, He will carry out the sentencing and punishment of the guilty nation on the earth. He has done so many times throughout history, on Sodom and Gomorrah, on the Babylonian empire, on the Assyrian empire, on the Egyptian empire and on other nations or kingdoms, including those of the Jewish people. His status as judge of all nations is declared multiple times throughout God’s word (Psalm 67:4, Psalm 82:8, Isaiah 2:4, Revelation 11:18). His declared punishment on a nation may take place immediately, or it may be delayed until His timing is right. But, He is always righteous, therefore His declarations of guilt and punishment are always right.
Has the United States Now Been Judged?
Based on the decline of this nation from its former position as the most respected and feared on earth, to what now resembles a third world country, it is safe to say that, yes, this nation has been weighed in God’s balance and found wanting (lacking), just as was the Babylonian Empire. The very day that God pronounced the guilt of Babylon, via a handwriting on the wall of the palace, the kingdom was stripped from its leader, he was killed and the kingdom was given to the Medo-Persian Empire. There was no agonizing wait on death row for the declared punishment, it was more or less instantaneous.
What then is the status of the United States? It would appear that we are way beyond trying to mount a defense. Based on the number of crimes committed by our government and its leaders, one might think the punishment would have been carried out long ago, but it is in the hands of God alone to determine when that will occur. With so many obvious signs of decline in our nation, so many young men and women whose lives have been destroyed in unnecessary wars, with so much debt that can never be repaid, so much corruption in every bureaucracy in the government, so much corruption in the highest office of the land, so much corruption in our Congress and federal courts where the innocent are punished and the guilty are set free, so many unrequited murders of babies in the wombs of their mothers and so much “pride” in things that are utterly shameful, all of which are declared to be punishable by death, where does that leave the United States of America?
She is now like a man declared to be guilty of the most heinous crimes, condemned to death and waiting on death row for the date of execution.
Meanwhile, she writhes in agony, enduring the laughing and scorning of many nations, former friends who once admired her for her commitment to human rights, her prosperity, her military power and her influence with many nations on the Earth, a shadow of her former self, waiting and dreading the day of punishment.
To all God-loving, America-loving people, this country has become an an object of scorn, derision and pity, and, unless something changes drastically, like a national time of repentance and turning back to God, and if it is not already too late, the day of punishment is definitely approaching and it will be a sad sight indeed.
Maranatha
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 Bi