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WASHINGTON, D.C. – THAT BLOODY CITY!

(A SERMON GIVEN ON MARTIN LUTHER KING SUNDAY)

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Morning, January 16, 2011


On January 8, 2011 nineteen people were shot, and six of them died, in a massacre near Tucson, Arizona. Those killed in the incident included Judge John Roll. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the head at point-blank range. Her medical condition is described as critical. Let us stand for a moment of silence in memory of those who were killed, and prayer for those who were wounded (a moment of silence).

Because of the tragedy in Tucson I doubted whether I should preach this sermon today. But after much prayer and struggle I decided to go ahead and give it in memory of the 54 million children who died in the American Holocaust.

This sermon is preached on Martin Luther King Sunday, the day after Dr. King’s birthday. Although I did not agree with some things Dr. King did, I am convinced that his non-violent protests were used by God in the 1960s to heal the rage in the black community over segregation. Non-violent protests are as American as apple pie. But violence and killing, like we saw in Tucson, go against everything Jesus Christ taught. Christ said to Peter, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matthew 26:52). The Apostle Paul said, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour” (I Timothy 2:1-3). Violence and murder are condemned throughout the Bible. True Christians bring their grievances to God in prayer, and never take the law into their own hands. Therefore, in the non-violent tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, I bring the following sermon. Please turn to Nahum 3:1.

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not” (Nahum 3:1).

Dr. J. Vernon McGee said,

      What an apt description this verse is of the United States! When I first began to study this I felt like asking Nahum, “Are you talking about us? You’re giving a vivid description of Nineveh, but it is also a picture of our own nation” (J. Vernon McGee, Th.D., Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982, volume III, p. 829; note on Nahum 3:1).

Again, Dr. McGee said,

      As you come down through history, you see great civilizations, one after another, crumbling in the dust and the debris of the ages. Why? Because God judged them, my friend − that is the reason why. The United States is...not something special. We think we are...we live in a security that [is] a false security, because God brings great nations down, and He makes that very clear [in the Book of Nahum] here (ibid.).

We should study the Book of Nahum and the Book of Jonah together. God sent Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh 150 years earlier. He said to Jonah,

“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons...? ” (Jonah 4:11).

Jonah preached that judgment was coming to Nineveh,

“So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast” (Jonah 3:5).

The king of Nineveh repented and turned to God.

“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 3:10).

The entire city turned to God. It was one of the greatest revivals in history − a huge city turning away from paganism and sin to God. Did this revival last? Yes, it lasted for at least a generation. But no revival goes on forever. The first generation finally dies. The next generation must experience God or the revival slowly passes. Dr. McGee said, “In time they went back to their paganism. In time they became as brutal as they had been before...[God] sent Jonah to Nineveh...When the message was brought, the city turned to God...Now...150 years have gone by, and the city has relapsed and returned back to its old way. Why doesn’t Nahum go [back]? Because they have already had the light, and they’ve rejected it...they have passed the point of no return” (ibid, p. 813).

In 1859 God sent a national revival to America for the last time. There has never been a national revival in our country since then. That was 151 years ago − almost exactly the length of time between the revival when Jonah preached and the time when Nahum wrote,

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
       (Nahum 3:1).

Dr. McGee said,

Where is the United States today? We are on the way down... Dr. J. Gresham Machen said years ago, “America today is going downhill....” And Dr. Machen added, “God pity America when we reach the bottom of the hill. ” How close are we to the bottom...? It seems to me like we’re getting very close to the bottom of the hill (ibid., p. 816).

One hundred and fifty years after the great revival in Jonah’s time, God said through Nahum that their time had run out. Judgment was now coming.

One hundred and fifty years ago America experienced its last national revival. Look at Nahum 2:13. Please stand and read it aloud.

“Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard” (Nahum 2:13).

Now read Nahum 3:19 aloud,

“There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?”
       (Nahum 3:19).

You may be seated. God said, “Behold, I am against thee” (Nahum 2:13). God said, “There is no healing of thy bruise” (Nahum 3:19). Has God given up on America? I have loved this country for a lifetime, but I have to say from a broken heart, that I feel we have passed the point of no return − that judgment after judgment will now come upon us from God, as Nahum said,

“God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies” (Nahum 1:2).

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
      (Nahum 3:1).

Fifty-four million American children have been boiled to death in salt water, had their heads and arms torn off, had their body parts yanked out with forceps from their mothers’ wombs. More Americans have died like this than were killed in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – all combined! All those wars combined did not kill as many as the Abortion Holocaust! Tens of thousands of these unwanted children were murdered by abortion in the ninth month!

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
       (Nahum 3:1).

Woe Unto Washington, D.C. – That Bloody City!

Six million Jewish people were slaughtered in Hitler’s death camps. We still shudder at the thought of Hitler’s Holocaust, his attempt to exterminate all the Jews. Pulpit Helps magazine said,

We look with horror at the pictures of the Jews who were sacrificed by Hitler to try to create a super race. We even have a museum in Washington, D.C. dedicated to those who died. The holocaust which has taken place in America since abortion was legalized in 1973 makes Hitler’s pale by comparison. Since 1973 there have been more than [54] million abortions (Leland Crawford, “Abortion: America’s Holocaust,” Pulpit Helps, January, 1999, p. 23).

The Supreme Court said it was “legal” to kill unborn American children in January, 1973. In his dissenting opinion to the Court’s action, Supreme Court Justice Byron White called it “an act of raw judicial power.” It is as wrong-headed as the "Dred Scott" decision of 1857, which said that black people were not fully human. This horrible Supreme Court decision was overturned by a constitutional amendment. Unfortunately the even more reprehensible "Roe v. Wade" decision of January 1973 remains as "law."   

Every January I remember when a pro-life worker placed the body of a beautiful eight-pound baby girl into my hands. She had been poisoned to death in the womb of her mother. It was through this experience that I became certain that abortion is America’s greatest sin, our greatest crime against humanity.

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
      (Nahum 3:1).

Woe Unto Washington, D.C. – That Bloody City!

Will the “Tea Party” stop this slaughter? They may mention abortion in passing, but their main objective is to lower taxes. Thus, they seem more motivated by greed than by the need to end abortion on demand. I don’t see any difference between the modern “Tea Party” and Ross Perot’s movement in the 1990s. Their goal is not to save the lives of American babies. Their goal is to lower taxes so they can have more of what Dr. Francis Schaeffer called, “personal peace and affluence.” Dr. Schaeffer said,

Personal peace means wanting to have my personal life pattern undisturbed in my lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren. Affluence means an overwhelming [desire for] prosperity...an ever higher level of material abundance (Francis A. Schaeffer, D.D., How Should We Then Live?, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976 edition, p. 205).

Since personal peace and affluence are the key motives behind the Tea Party, they will only pay lip service to the Abortion Holocaust. Look at Fox News (which I often watch – and often agree with). Listen to Sarah Palin. They talk against Obamacare. They talk against raising taxes. But they seldom say much about abortion. The national sin of America is not at the top of their agenda. Fifty-four million babies have been slaughtered – and the main thing they talk about is lowering taxes! Make no mistake – though there are some Christians in it – the Tea Party is not really a Christian movement! It is built more on greed than on God. The Tea Party is no better than Richard Nixon’s “Silent Majority” or Ross Perot’s “Reform Party.” They are mainly interested in their own personal peace and affluence. The pursuit of personal peace and affluence will not save America from the judgment of God! The Tea Party is too materialistic to save us from the wrath of God!

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
      (Nahum 3:1).

Woe Unto Washington, D.C. – That Bloody City!

And what about the preachers? What have they done to stop abortion? What do you think would have happened if Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Jerry Falwell, Erwin Lutzer, John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Pat Robertson, or Rick Warren had done what Dr. Martin Luther King did? What if these leading preachers had led a non-violent march on Washington, and spent a few nights in jail for peacefully closing an abortion clinic during Reagan’s presidency? What if Chuck Colson, Jerry Falwell or Erwin Lutzer had laid their lives on the line to stop the slaughter, instead of merely collecting offerings and royalties from their books? What if they had done as much for unborn babies as Dr. King did for the black people of America? You know that the outcome would have been different! But they were more concerned for their own personal peace and affluence than they were for the 1 1/2 million children who are murdered each year in the American Abortion Holocaust!

“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery...”
       (Nahum 3:1).

Woe Unto Washington, D.C. – That Bloody City!

We advocate no violence of any kind. We “little” people can only watch and pray. But how we wish that some of those “big” preachers would have been as brave and patriotic as Dr. Martin Luther King. I say, "Take a stand, like Dr. King! Go to jail, like Dr. King! Do non-violent social action to stop this Holocaust!" 

Can’t you see that judgment is already falling on America? Can’t you see that our economic woes are only just beginning? Can’t you see that double- and triple-digit inflation is going to eat us alive in the next few years? Can’t you see that Medicare and Social Security will soon be bankrupt? Can’t you see that the United States of America is falling apart before our very eyes? Can’t you see that America is now under the judgment of an angry God? 

What should you do? Turn in your Bible to Psalm 27:5. Please stand and read it aloud.

“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

You may be seated. Hide in God’s “pavilion.” Hide in “the secret of his tabernacle.” Make sure that God has set you “up upon a rock”! Come into the local church. Come all the way in. Come every Saturday night. Come every Sunday morning and evening. Come all the way in – to Jesus Christ Himself. Christ will cleanse your sins with His precious Blood! Christ will save your soul. He will give you eternal life. C. T. Studd went to China as a missionary. When he was seventy years old he went to Africa. That was over 100 years ago, when it was very dangerous. Some people told him it wasn't safe to go. But C. T. Studd said, “The only safe place to be is in the will of God.”

“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

And that rock is Christ! Amen!

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Nahum 3:1-7.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (by Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910).