The most violent storm-complex since the June 2012 derecho blasted Washington DC area in July’s opening minutes. (Credit Washington Post, click image for details.)

In view of the suppression of free speech, Friday’s decision on equal marriage by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has ramifications beyond America.

I’m so pleased not to be alone in understanding the possibility of a spiritual ‘crossover’ effect from here across the Atlantic, as asked in Does a spiritual yet political trend link UK and USA?  In the prophetic word Cindy Jacobs brought for the UK whilst passing through Heathrow in May, the Lord is exhorting us,

“If you will stand up now and be the voice to the nations this awakening that you have prayed for is on its way; it is coming, it is coming like a mighty rushing wind…this is the season where I am giving you a loud voice, Body of Christ, and if you will speak now I will amplify that voice and it is going to begin to tip the nation. If you miss your window you will not have the effect…” (read in full here).

Therefore, it’s now time for followers of Jesus Christ to stand up, speak and dissent for the sake of not-yet believers and our society – even if civil disobedience is necessary, as in the anti-Vietnam war and anti-racial segregation demonstrations of yesteryear.

Consider some points from what little reading I’ve done on this and I thank a couple of readers for informing me. Be warned – these tend to highlight the culpability of churches in failing to follow Jesus properly:

The Church Disappears

Tony Puccio of Tucson blogs about a most accurate observation on 1st July,

“I was shown a vision 07/01/2015 where I saw a church situated in what I will call a jungle of vegetation.  There was vegetation all around but the church building stood out and was recognized as a church. Then I began to see a vine creep its way toward the church building. It was very small and most probably gone unnoticed had I not seen it and my attention drawn to it in the vision. The vine was left unchecked and eventually it covered the church building, although you could still make out the shape of the church it no longer stood out as it once did. Finally, the vine grew so dense and thick that the church disappeared altogether and you could not see the church any longer.

“The creeping vine is worldliness and it was allowed to creep into the church unchecked and most likely unnoticed.  It was allowed to grow until it totally engulfed the church.  The church went from a building that stood out for all to see to one that blended in with its surroundings to finally disappearing from view altogether.

“The vine got its nourishment from the outside and not from the inside.”

I read this earlier upon logging into WordPress and a short while later an email brought directly related information, as follows:

A Surprising Prophetic Word

William Smith in Bournemouth area sent a link to this Prophetic Insight from Charisma, which I quote in part but deserves reading in full. Jeremiah Johnson sought Father on the SCOTUS decision and believes the Lord said to him (emphases added):

“In the natural, the Supreme Court justices have just legalized homosexual marriage in America, but little do they know that they also just authorized an awakening of the Spirit in My bride. For know that now is the time to turn inward, it is a time of repentance and fasting for My people. Has their laziness and blindness on the issue of sexual immorality in their midst not given the homosexual agenda its true power? America has now legalized homosexual immorality because the American church legalized heterosexual immorality first.”

Then came a vision of intercessors in which he heard their prayers and was asked:

“Do you know what’s wrong with these prayers Jeremiah? They are all focused on the call for America to repent when I have called My bride to repent! You must tell the intercessors to shift their focus from America to My bride. Their self-righteous hearts and blindness to their own sin is a stench in my nostrils. The issues coming forth in the United States is not an American problem, it’s an American Church problem.”

Therefore, Jeremiah writes,

“America is in a crisis, but the American church is in a greater crisis. We are and will continue to reap what we have sown and that is seeds of silence and tolerance on the key issues of our day that have come before the Father as sin…While I do believe that these individuals are choosing to blatantly sin and will be judged by God Himself for their behavior (Romans 14:12), we have an obligation as believers in Jesus Christ to look within our own lives and in our own spiritual communities and ask the Spirit of truth to search us inwardly before we begin calling others to accountability (see Psalm 51:6).”

Four Key Things to Consider

In case you haven’t read the re-blog of Joel Rosenberg’s remarks on the implications of SCOTUS’ decision let me briefly cover his four main points. Joel asks if Christians may be hyperventilating over the issue. No! “Unfortunately, this is a very big deal and it puts America on a perilous path”.

He draws attention to key things on the Court’s ruling for believers at this critical time:

1. The Supreme Court is over-reaching its Constitutional authority, and is thus  undermining its own legitimacy and pouring gasoline on a highly-politicized issue that will deeply divide Americans for years to come.
2. It forces 320 million Americans to embrace overnight a radical re-engineering of the entire social compact of marriage that even some of the nation’s most liberal political leaders strongly opposed just a few years ago.
3. It opens the door for a frontal and massive assault on religious liberty… Christians all over the country who hold to the Biblical definition of marriage are beginning to be taken to court and fined — some are even in danger of losing their businesses and their homes…The 1st Amendment to the Constitution plainly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” But the Court’s ruling seems to put the un-enumerated “civil right” of a same-sex marriage above the enumerated right of religious freedom…gay political activists are not content with mere legalization of same-sex marriage. They want to force the rest of the country to embrace and support them. Thus, they and their supporters in Washington will likely move aggressively to criminalize the Biblical definition of marriage and to severely penalize those who teach and follow it.

4. Most troubling, the Court has acted in direct and brazen defiance of the Word of God — painful as it is for me to say it, this will likely accelerate us towards judgment if America does not soon change course.

The Supreme Court v. The Supreme Being

In his inimitable style Rick Joyner is on target in his Prophetic Bulletin #94’s brief on the ‘legal contest’ implicit in this decision and uses ‘three questions’ from US Army Manual for dealing with a crisis, viz.:

1. What is happening?
2. What is not happening? (spiritually)
3. What can we do about it?

In tackling the first question Rick majors upon the foundation of the Union and ‘creeping tyranny’. He opens,

“As the four dissenting justices pointed out, the Supreme Court does not have the constitutional authority to make this decision. First, even though SCOTUS has taken this authority upon itself, it is a usurped authority and nowhere does the Constitution give it this authority. The authority to determine the constitutionality of laws was given to Congress, not the courts. We are now suffering under the very tyranny that the founders warned about if the courts ever presumed this authority. Regardless of our position on same-sex marriage, every American should be deeply troubled by the actions of SCOTUS that this case is just the most recent and dramatic.”

From his fine argument I wish to quote only two points made from a global perspective rather than the nationally introspective. This isn’t to imply US laws or policy should be based on what other nations think, but does need to know how they are perceived because it affects international relations. (“It’s been a major wedge driven between the US, Russia and China, as well as Africa and South America. To much of the world, the US and Western Europe now look like Sodom and Gomorrah”.)

On this he writes:

“Paul the Apostle wrote to Titus that even false prophets can sometimes tell the truth (see Titus 1:12-13). Pravda, the Moscow daily newspaper, has been predicting for years that the United States would break up into several pieces just like the Soviet Union. Their reasoning was not based merely on sour grapes, but on the historically proven consequences of the kind of direction in which our government has been going. To date, we have most alarmingly followed the pattern predicted. We really are close to breaking apart.

“Islamists consider America “the great Satan” because of our moral and spiritual debauchery that has made us “a homosexual nation”—so perverted that the only remedy is to wipe us off the face of the earth. Their belief about the U.S. has now been affirmed by this Supreme Court decision. This decision will likely make their recruiting to this cause much easier. This is not the only issue fuelling these groups, but it is a major one.”

Like Joel Rosenberg, Rick concludes his brief with a solid action plan.

Prophetic Warning of a Divided Nation

In The River and The Schism Chuck Pierce refers to having visited the Grand Canyon, which reminded him of a vision received in August 2007 of a coming division within his nation.  Another one came in May 2011 about a deteriorating relationship with one of its closest allies – Israel.

We have good Biblical grounds for understanding that, as America treats Israel and Jerusalem, so too will its well-being be guarded – or not. As mentioned before, its initials are in the centre of the capital of Israel; ie. JER-USA-LEM.  Therefore, its leaders can either protect the ‘apple of God’s eye’ by holding it together – or else divide it – with all the inherent consequences of Zechariah chapter 2.

Read more about this in Modern prophecy on USA & Israel approaches fulfilment.