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By Breanna Claussen
The stakes of the upcoming election in the United States are incredibly high. The outcome has the power to push America’s trajectory in two very different directions.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see the stark contrast between when ancient Israel had good vs wicked leaders. In one generation, you would have a king who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” and the nation followed suit. A mere generation later, a wicked king would step into power with the ability to turn the whole of society over to paganism.
During that time, God would send his messengers, the prophets, to warn and call to repentance the culture and ruling leadership around them. To Ezekiel, God likened their task to a watchman who would blow a trumpet to inform the city of imminent danger: “I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me” (Ezekiel 33:7).
Paganism Rising In America
Unfortunately, it seems that many of today’s messengers, the pastors and church leaders, don’t believe that same task is on their list of responsibilities.
They may believe that our modern world is not in the same danger of falling into pagan worship, human sacrifice, and other abominations against the Lord that took place in ancient times. That miscalculation, however, should have been corrected following last week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), which featured free mobile abortions and vasectomies from Planned Parenthood outside the event.
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, in an interview with Jan Markell and Ken Mikle on the weekly program “Understanding Our Times,” underscored that the Democratic Party’s platform has a “profound correlation of identifying with pagan practices and deities.”
“The fact of the matter is this is a demonic thing,” Hibbs warned. “This is the sacrifice of human children.”
The killing of the unborn is not the only way that paganism has infiltrated the left, according to Hibbs, who pointed to research he conducted on the pagan goddess Ishtar.
“I am shocked to discover that the practices that she required of her devotees are astonishingly familiar and similar to what we’re seeing in America today,” he warned. “For example, in her ancient pagan worship system, she is both a male and a female. She can shift her gender. Her priesthood would dress up with one side of them male, the other side female, and they would engage in homosexuality, lesbianism, and [beastilality]—things that we would think, ‘No way! That’s got to be coming out of Hollywood.’“
“I want to challenge everybody: How can you possibly support the Democrat Party and vote Democrat when they are parading this in front of your face,” Hibbs, dubbed by Markell as “American’s Pastor,” argued.
Many crown jewels of the Democrat Party’s platform consist of things the Bible warns result in the judgment of God—such as abortion, the celebration of homosexuality, rejection of God’s design for gender, and a lack of support for the nation of Israel. For that reason, Hibbs stressed, “The Christian cannot sit this out.”
Given Over To The Leadership We Deserve
Ken Mikle highlighted the book of Romans chapter one, which discusses individuals and cultures being “given over” to a reprobate mind.
“I’ve said this for a while—I know Jan agrees—it’s like we’re living in Romans 1 right now where God says: If you’re not going to stop what you’re doing, turn away, and repent, I’m going to give you over to the sin you want and over to a debased/depraved mind,” Mikle detailed. “I believe that’s where we’re at as a nation.”
Hibbs agreed that the United States has done a worldview 180º from its Judeo-Christian founding. He further stressed that if God gives America over to blatantly pagan and socialist thinking, we would be receiving “exactly what we wanted.”
“You may say, ‘Jack, I didn’t want this.’ Did you vote? Did you fast? Did you pray? Did you get involved? Did you find out if your children are being sexually molested in their minds by the school board wherever you live? Did you find out what’s going on in your kids’ class?” he charged. “As Watchmen on the wall, if we’ve sat down and not blown the trumpet, their blood is on us—we are the ones that are guilty.”
“The demise of America will be by the hands, or the lack thereof, of the church,” he challenged. “It is the hour of the pastor to stand up and proclaim the truth without apology. Unless pastors wake up and do it now, then we are going to catapult this nation into a pit of darkness that is going to be unlike anything this nation has ever seen—and it will be something that it cannot recover from.”
“When God is not in the minds of men, every man will do what is right in his own eyes. That’s what we’re seeing in America, and unless there’s mercy from God, it’s not going to go well in this upcoming election,” he cautioned. “I’m afraid that due to Christian apathy, God will give us the leaders that we deserve.”
Pastors Relinquishing Their Influence
During the last presidential election cycle in 2020, a Barna survey found that 58% of Christians attend churches that only occasionally discuss politics and cultural issues. As if those numbers were not concerning enough, 36% stated that their pastors never speak up on the matter.
According to Hibbs, the silence of pastors correlates with the lack of influence they have over society at large.
“Jeremiah 29:7 says that we as believers, in whatever city or town we find ourselves placed by God, we are to seek out the welfare and the benefit of that city and those who live in it,” he detailed.
“I’ve been saying the same thing for over 30 years: pastors are to be the stewards of their community,” Hibbs described. “Historically, from the book of Acts, all the way to the United States and Europe, the epicenter of any culture, town, village, or city was the church. The most educated, the most influential individual was the pastor. We need to get back to that and stop testing the wind of what’s trending or how many likes I might get on this or that and face the reality.”
“I believe that our culture has gone beyond the pale,” he stated. “I believe that we’ve crossed the line as a culture. I believe that there’s no hope for America except for the church turning back.”
Jan Markell further highlighted the need for pastors to take an unwavering stand.
“Right now, if I can be blunt, we have two candidates on the left who are blatant Marxists. This is a very, very serious point that this country has arrived at because, without a miracle, they could be leading America by January of next year,” she cautioned. “A call to the pastors is so appropriate. I understand many don’t want to be political, many don’t want to take a stand, and many don’t want to rock the boat. You know what? It’s time to rock the boat.”
A Clear Conscience Before God
With elections close at hand, church leaders carry an immense responsibility. Will pastors be left with a clear conscience, or, through silence, will America’s blood be on their hands? Pastor Hibbs sent a stark warning to pulpits: “America is doomed unless the Church wakes up and steps up.”
“I don’t care how the election turns out; I’m just going to do the right thing and leave the results to God,” pastor Hibbs asserted. “However, my conscience is clear because I have equipped every pastor I can. I have reached out to tens of thousands of Christians. We’ve done everything we can. If I die today, I can say my conscience is clear. I invited people to vote for a Biblical worldview. I’m free of the blood of those who are perishing by bad laws or from those who choose not to do anything about it.”
“If there’s ever been a time to fight, now is the time. For someone to say they’re a Christian and they’re a Democrat… is that even possible? There’s no perfect candidate, but I tell you what, there are more Republicans that are pro-life than Democrats. Republicans want religious freedom; Democrats do not. There is no sacred or secular—to God, it’s all sacred. We, the believers, have to insert the light and the salt into these dark situations,” he urged. “I’m sorry, but you have got to vote, and you have to vote for a Biblical worldview. We’re not electing a savior. Jesus is the one and only. But to not get involved is absolutely, in my opinion, a greater sin.”
Not The Time To Lose Heart
For the pastors who are faithfully informing and equipping their congregation to be salt and light in our culture, Hibbs encouraged, “This is not a time to lose heart; the exact opposite.”
“Jesus said to that generation that as His nearing came closer, there would be certain things that would be indicative and revealed, and we’re seeing those things now,” he exclaimed. “I don’t know the day or the hour, but Paul the Apostle said, ‘Concerning the times and seasons, my brethren, you have no need that I should write unto you.‘ You can sense it.”
Markell agreed, “Jack, you and I have been watching the times, discerning the times, and trying to stand the times for a while now. You and I have never seen anything like this over a few decades. It’s all converging—and I think that’s the key word right now: ‘convergence.’“
While Christians are to be a restraining force against the spirit of the Antichrist growing in our nation, there is no need to fall into distress, Hibbs emphasized. “If you pull back, take a deep breath, and realize, ‘Wow, there’s something going on’… that something going on is the near-coming of Christ.”
“These are glorious days,” Hibbs concluded, “be encouraged.”