Jonah’s Warning  
By Ron Graham

“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:4. God sent Jonah to Nineveh to tell the inhabitants there He had had enough. Jonah refused God, but after some persuasion on God’s part Jonah relented, cleaned the fish slobber off his clothes, and headed to Nineveh . Once Jonah arrived in that great city his message was simple. Basically, Jonah’s communication to the Ninevites went like this, “Forty days and you're toast”.

At this point in the history of Nineveh, God had every intention of destroying the whole city and all its inhabitants, and was prepared to do so in just forty more days. He had given them many years to repent, to turn away from their evil ways. He always gives opportunities to repent. God is longsuffering and wishes that none would perish but all come to repentance. “Who can tell [if] God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” Jonah 3:9.

All through the Bible we read about warnings God sent to His people when they got off course; even to those who were enemies of His people He sent warnings. Nineveh was one such city. Ninevites were sworn enemies of God’s chosen people. That is why Jonah tried to hide from God instead of going immediately to Nineveh . God sends warnings to people so they can make course changes, lifestyle changes, as well as motivational changes, and these warnings can come in many forms. In the case of Nineveh , the warning came from one of their enemies, a Jew.

Have you ever wondered how God is sending His warnings today, even to those who are called by His name? Could God be using the enemies of His Church to be messengers bearing warnings of impending doom? I believe He can and does, and I believe, at this juncture, we’ve just received a doozy. God has sent America a warning and it’s been delivered to us by His enemy.

We seem to be in freefall mode today in this country. We’ve grown quite soft in our luxurious lifestyles which are heavily laden with debt, and abound with non-necessities. I was speaking with a lady who runs a retirement home recently, and our conversation was a real eye opener for me. We were talking about the age of some of the residents at the home, some of whom are in their nineties. I found that remarkable because many of them attend my weekly Bible study there. She told me one man went through quadruple bypass surgery just over a year ago, and he still drives. This man has attended my Bible studies since they began a year ago. He turns ninety-seven this month, but doesn’t look a day over seventy-five.

Her estimation of these individuals and their longevity of life were summed up thusly; they lived a much tougher lifestyle when they were younger than those of us today. Sure they ate a lot of what we today would consider unhealthy food, but they worked hard everyday and thus kept their bodies healthy. She went on to complain a bit that she wasn’t looking forward to the time when the baby boomers would start arriving because she was sure they would be continually pushing the call buttons in their rooms as though they were some kind of room service devices instead of a “for emergency device”. I got a chuckle out of that remark because I’m a baby boomer.

Americans have grown soft; hard work is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Many Americans are overweight and thus they are living an unhealthy lifestyle. We’ve become more prone to heart disease among many other ailments that crop up as we add inches to our waist lines. This softness leads to a lifestyle of mediocrity in motivations and lethargy in actions.

What does all this talk of softness have to do with our current warning from God? Americans voted to replace our current President with a man who has promised us pie in the sky economics, wealth redistribution, healthcare for every person, and on and on it goes. Everything he has promised will add to the wonderful lifestyle of plenty and non-activity Americans have grown accustomed to, and at no additional charge to us. No extra physical exertion needed, just stay there in your easy chair and keep your eyes glued on Oprah.

As a nation we don’t care that this man promotes wholesale murder of babies in the womb, same-sex marriages, immorality of our children, re-distribution of the land of Israel to the Palestinians, appeasement of our enemies, socialism, the systematic elimination of our Constitution, and most important of all, the complete elimination of the Holy Bible from our lives. All this is just the beginning of the list. I’m sure there are many other things he promotes that didn’t come out in the election and will only come out after he’s sworn in as our next President and Commander-in-Chief. Keep watching through all the pomp and circumstance to see if he places his hand on the Holy Bible or the Koran at his swearing-in ceremonies.

A thoroughly evil man to the core could be just the thing that brings this country down and in ways we would never expect. As a nation of softies we want to continue in the bliss of easy living. So we elect a man who will give us everything we want, while all the time his evil mind is conjuring up ways to thoroughly disrupt this easy life and bring Americans under such bondage that we will never see the light of freedom again. Socialism is only one step away from communism. And communism never works out so well for the regular working stiff.

Warnings abound, they are all around us. The Bible points out many but, since most people aren’t much into reading the Bible anymore, God had to resort to a more extreme method to get His warning across. Sure, in the past He has used natural disasters, weather anomalies, wars and rumors of wars. Today God used Satan to bring to America what might just be our final warning.
What’s coming to the shores of America won’t be pretty and it won’t be anything softies will want to deal with, or even be able to deal with in their current state. Americans voted to take the easy way out of the problems confronting this nation. Little do they understand, that the problems facing this nation aren’t going away; they’ve just begun. Progression is the name of the game today, a progression of intensifying calamities befalling a once Christian nation that’s turned into followers of Satan. God can’t be happy with us and He’s no doubt going to express His lack of joy in ways we’ve yet to experience. “Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers…, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.” 2 Chronicles 7:22.

I know all this sounds like I’m some kind of a Chicken Little “the sky is falling” alarmist, but the signs are concurrent to what we read in our Bibles. Nothing I’ve said is beyond the realm of possibilities for God Almighty. Even though He loves us, and died for us, He chastises those who belong to Him as He feels He must to bring them back into a right relationship with Him. He is speaking to us daily. Here is a Bible verse that is continually use in commentaries such as this; “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.” 2 Chronicles 7:14. How many really understand that God is speaking to those of us who have taken on His name? As believers we are in Christ and therefore we are those who are called by His name (Christians) and are the ones He’s admonishing to pray and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.

The warning Jonah delivered to Nineveh was received and heeded by the Ninevites. That huge city repented from the King down, and God spared them all. The United States of America has received her Jonah warning, we now need to humble ourselves before God and repent from the top down if we are to survive as a country. No repentance, no reprieve, we’re toast.

God bless you all,
Ron Graham