(Note: Our guest contributing author, Pastor Terry Cooper of Ninevah Christian Church, brought a powerful prophetic message to our Nation in Freefall Bible Conference held in June 2024. The following is an excerpt from his message. The entire message is available on our Christ in Prophecy YouTube channel.)
In the first part of Pastor Terry Cooper’s sermon, “The Point of No Return,” he explored how Judah and Jerusalem passed God’s point of no return with their twin evils of idolatry and child sacrifice, and so faced their destruction. Now Terry will explore if this lesson is applicable to the United States of America today.
Terry Cooper: So what about America? Have we passed the point of no return? I do not know. I do know that we serve the same God that declared judgment on Judah and Jerusalem—for idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood.
God would say to those in our nation who flaunt their wickedness, “Am I the one you are hurting?” They hurt themselves to their own shame. Why? Because there is a point of no return with God. A point beyond which God says, “Do not intercede with prayer. Do not weep for them anymore, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress” (Jeremiah 11:14).
Even holy men like Noah, Daniel and Job can’t intercede. Fasting won’t work. Jeremiah 14:11 tells us: “And when they fast, I will pay no attention. And when they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.”
False Hope Abounds
Jeremiah pointed out that many false prophets were proclaiming blessings on the people of Judah and Jerusalem. He records:
But, “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ “
The Lord replied and plainly said:
“These prophets are telling lies in My name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.”
In fact, God declares that the false prophets would meet their end by sword and famine—the very calamities they said would never come.
Where is the Mercy of God?
Jeremiah gives voice to the same question that rises in our hearts upon hearing such devastating news: If destruction is unavoidable and people are to be destroyed in their sin, where is the mercy of God?
This question is particularly important to Jeremiah because he is living among the chosen people of God in Judah and Jerusalem. Like Habakkuk, he thinks surely God’s mercy will abound in the midst of wrath (Habakkuk 3:12).
Everyone loves the idea of the mercy of God. Of course we do. But He is also holy. God’s holiness and mercy both exist side by side. We must put the mercy of God alongside the absolute holiness of God.
The love and mercy of God are reflected in Jeremiah 14:17, where He describes Himself weeping night and day for His virgin daughter—His precious people. He doesn’t want them to die. He doesn’t want them to perish. They have been struck down and they lie mortally wounded because of their own sin. He speaks of going out into the fields and seeing the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy and of walking the city streets and seeing people who have died of starvation.
The prophets and priests continue with their work, but they don’t know what they’re doing. They have religion without reality. Sound familiar? In that statement, we see the heart of God. God would say the same to us today that He said to Jeremiah: “Night and day, my eyes overflow with tears.”
Is God not the God of mercy? Is God not the God of justice, righteousness, and absolute holiness? Is God not the God that forgives and the God that restores? But on the other hand, is God not the God that brings judgment on those who rebel against Him in their wickedness?
Jeremiah understood the covenant God had made with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and essentially asked, “Lord, have You completely rejected Judah? Do You really hate Jerusalem? Why have You wounded us past all hope of healing? We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing but found only terror. Lord, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors too. We have all have sinned against You. And for the sake of Your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us” (Jeremiah 14:19-21).
At his moment of greatest despair, Jeremiah pled with God for the sake of His own name. He confessed, we’re all sinners, but for the sake of Your own name, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace Your own glorious throne. Please remember us and do not break Your covenant.
Jeremiah’s bottom line is this: we will wait for you to come and help us (Jeremiah 14:22).
It’s at this point in the story that many of you will think that God will relent and reveal that he really didn’t have a point of no return at all. When Jeremiah brings up the covenant and cries out to God, you’d think God is going to say one more chance, one more chance.
And you’d be wrong.
God is Not a Man
If you think God is running a big bluff, you’d be wrong. You see, God is not a man. He doesn’t think or reason like men do. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He was not running a big bluff with idle threats against Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the nation of Judah.
God does not bluff. This is how God responded to Jeremiah’s humble and desperate plea:
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of My sight!’ “ (Jeremiah 15:1, NLT).
God continued:
“And [if] they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Those who are destined for death, to death; and those destined for the sword, to the sword; and those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity” ‘ “ (Jeremiah 15:2, NASB).
His proclamation of destiny was locked in for people who had no idea that they were beyond the point of no return.
Remember the grievous sin that pushed Judah and Jerusalem past that irreversible point? Idolatry and child sacrifice—even to the point that those flagrant sins were endorsed by the nation’s leader. Does that sound familiar today?
In America, God has been pushed out of the public square, out of school, out of government, out of academia. Out, out, out! But the resulting vacuum was filled with false gods—what the one true God calls idolatry. And what about the shedding of innocent blood? Abortion plagues our land today. And it is embraced and celebrated by our elected leaders at every level.
Have we passed the point of no return?
Our Challenge and Our Mission
Our government seems to be promoting the very sins that brought down the nation of Judah. Everything seems to be falling apart. Our challenge and our calling is to remain faithful to the end.
We know that Jeremiah survived the siege of Jerusalem. So, the individual Jeremiah survived when the nation of Judah fell. There was a point of no return for the nation of Judah, including Jerusalem. But Jeremiah lived.
It’s not for us to determine the point of no return for individuals. In other words, we can’t look at someone and say they’ve crossed the line. Only God can make that determination. We leave that determination and judgment to God and God alone.
The same is true for our nation right now.
America is a nation in freefall. Along with David Reagan, I believe our nation has passed the point of no return. No one can know for sure. I don’t know if that red line has been crossed. I believe it has. Some of you may disagree. If it has not been passed, we surely teeter on the edge.
Our Only Hope and Our Urgent Responsibility
Soon, Jesus will come for those who are His. The world will spiral out of control and quickly enter the period we call the Tribulation. The Seal Judgments will mirror the horrors God revealed to Jeremiah for the people of Judah and Jerusalem—but they will be poured out upon the entire earth.
But there is an even more horrible fate awaiting all those who pass the point of no return by rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ: an eternity in Hell. That is the message of Revelation 13:8-10.
Since we do not know where that point is for people all around us, let’s proclaim the Good News of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. Those with ears to hear will listen and understand (Revelation 13:9).
God’s holy people have been delivered from the everlasting wrath to come. Until Jesus comes for us, we must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. He is coming soon!
THESE 2 ARTICLES REALLY TOUCHED MY HEART. THANK YOU FOR THE MESSAGE.IF WE HAVE NOT CROSSED THE RED LINE I HATE TO THINK WHAT LIFE WILL BE LIKE WHEN WE DO.
Very troubling times… everything is being turned upside down. I read Jonathan Cahn’s book “Return of the gods” & it delves into this chaos. I agree…I think we are past the point of no return in UK/Europe too.
I think we crossed the line when we got gay marriage. But that’s just my opinion. Seems we have been going downhill faster ever since though. We need to pray that the Lord’s will will be done in the next election. But even that is no guarantee we will escape his judgement.