Burn Her With Fire

 

I recently went through the horrific trauma of having our house burn to the ground. Carol, my wife, is still in shock, almost two weeks later. She was there watching it burn, and burn, and burn. We live in a very rural area,
and it took the fire department twenty minutes or more to arrive on the scene. A neighbor came running over to help and she had to call me and my son to tell us the house was on fire. Carol was too shell-shocked. By the time Jon and I got home the worst of the flames were knocked down and the cool down stage had begun.

I didn’t see the horror of the fire itself, but I have witnessed the aftermath, painstakingly. My son, Jon, and my daughter, Kari, both lived in the house. Carol and I lived next door in a park model trailer which was saved from burning. It is not usable for a while, but it is accessible to get clothes, computers, medications, and important papers. But Jon and Kari lost everything – business computers, business records, photos, all of his guns, rock tumblers, clothes, memorabilia, even their cars – everything. They left that night for a friends’ house and for the motel with one bag of clothes, each, donated by two different neighbors. That’s it. That’s all they had to start life over again.

We have sufficient insurance to recoup and to rebuild. But it will never be the same. The pain and the loss will leave a deep scar for many years, I am afraid. Many people have said to us, “I’m so sorry. But at least you all got out safe.” They mean well, I am sure. But the dear friends and saints who drop by with warm hugs, new socks and underwear, and stick some money in our pocket for immediate needs, they are the encouragement that keeps us going. In fact, I have only choked up and cried a few times since the fire. It was not over the horror and the loss, or even the pain that everyone is going through. (Grandpa has to be the stoic one.) No, the tears come when someone shares some deeply encouraging scriptures and heart felt thoughts. It pierces right to my heart. Thank you, Lord, for dear people who bring hope for those bereft in the valley of despair.

Now you all know that I write about prophecy, not just about personal experiences. I share this story of my recent house fire to call attention to several prophetic warnings of coming fire and destruction. Revelation has much to say about the destruction of Babylon the Great, also referred to as “the prostitute” and “the woman”. This is what is going to happen to America in the very near future:

“The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire…. Therefore, in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her” (Rev 17:16 and 18:8).

Daniel also had a vision of destruction – four beasts that represented four empires, and then a little horn representing a fifth empire which would arise in the last days. That empire is America, and this is what God declares for her demise:

“Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown in the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority but were allowed to live for a period of time.)” (Dan 7:11,12).

Now you can argue and debate all you want that the Great Babylon and the little horn represent something else other than America and her great centers of world-wide power and influence, New York and Washington DC. I explain and defend that interpretation, at length, in my other blogs. What I want to emphasize in this blog is the aftermath of that fire and destruction.

Revelation says that America and “Babylon” will be consumed by fire. The aftermath of that destruction will be death, mourning, and famine. Daniel’s prophecy says that America will be destroyed. Completely destroyed, not just stripped of her power and allowed to live on. The aftermath of the fire coming to America will be far, far greater than the aftermath that my family is experiencing from our house fire. We can still find shelter, food, and friends who are alive and well, willing to help us. But after the destructive burning of America there will be no shelter, no food, not many friends who are even alive, no stores, no transportation, no amenities that we deem necessary for survival.  We will have very little left, almost nothing. That will be the judgment of God upon America. We will wake up one day, soon, to see the nukes, the bombs, the utter collapse and destruction of all that we cherish.