David Kupelian, an award-winning journalist, Vice President and managing editor of a conservative publication, WorldNetDaily, and editor of Whistleblower magazine, published an article on March 5, titled, “The Root Cause of America’s New Civil War.”  He states that, “The Age of Trump is characterized by extreme polarization of the American populace, increasing violence and growing accusations of ‘fascism,’ ‘white supremacism’ and even ‘Nazism’ – especially directed at the president himself, many even comparing him with Hitler. Tens of millions of everyday Americans are thought of as ‘racist,’ ‘bigoted,’ ‘woman-hating,’ ‘homophobic’ and ‘anti-immigrant,’ not to mention (in Hillary Clinton’s words) ‘deplorable’ and ‘irredeemable’… America’s extreme polarization started well before Trump. In fact, the nation has been reeling under a full-scale revolutionary attack for many years, leading to the extreme level of anger and division currently gripping the country… the true nature of this division [is] at core… neither political nor even ideological.”

The writer goes on to say the USA today has gotten worse; that it has been “morphed in so many ways into the opposite of what it was in previous generations.”  He compares America now to the 1950s when, in his view, America was “basically confident, prosperous and overflowing with life, hope and unlimited opportunity. People were patriotic, and our culture was strong and essentially moral. America was the undisputed leader of the world – not just militarily and economically, but in terms of freedom and generosity.  Compared with the shining and vibrant nation it once was, today’s America has become a different country: deeply and angrily divided, unable to deal with crises foreign or domestic, the world’s greatest debtor nation with 50 million people on food stamps, rampant divorce and family breakdown, unprecedented sexual anarchy with 110 million with STDs, almost 60 million abusing alcohol and 70 million taking mood-altering drugs. On so many levels, America is becoming [even more] diametrically opposed to logic and common sense.”

Americans are angry, and frankly, so is the whole world.  But will the current President change that feeling or will the anger continue in this country? In an article, published February 6 by the left-leaning Guardian, titled, “Trump’s advisers want a new civil war – we must not let them have it,” it talks about Steve Bannon and Newt Gingrich engaging in “dangerous fantasies about US history” and their “chilling conclusions about the future.”

The article states that a “controversial and divisive US president is elected. State governments defy his will. Popular discontent erupts into low-level violence in several states. And then what?  We’ve been here before. In 1861, the newly elected president, Abraham Lincoln, had to be spirited through Baltimore on a secret train to Washington DC, to thwart a suspected assassination plot. Not long after he took power, a five-year civil war began… Time magazine has revealed that Steve Bannon, the White House chief of staff and Donald Trump’s closest aide, believes the next phase of American history should be as catastrophic and traumatic as the conflict of 1861-65… For Bannon, the No 1 enemy in this ‘war’ is Islam, with China No 2. But there is also a fifth column in America to be dealt with as part of a ‘global existential war’. For Bannon, this fits into a generational theory of American power whereby the nation fulfils its destiny through a cycle of catastrophic crises: first, the revolution of 1776, then the civil war, then the intervention into the Second World War and finally the crisis Bannon intends to provoke through Trump.

“In Bannon and Gingrich, then, you have two men influencing the most powerful office in the world whose beliefs about the dynamics of US history could be best described as dangerous… Bannon fantasises about turning the culture war into a real one; Gingrich about the survival of an undestroyed south… It’s chilling to acknowledge it but we must: large sections of the American right want another civil war. They have spent years amassing the weaponry for it.”

From these above-quoted articles with different political backgrounds, we see that both conservative and liberal observers consider the possibility of civil war in the USA, blaming, of course, “the other side” for these developments.

Since the article by the Guardian was published, controversial decisions by President Trump were put into place, including the so-called “anti-Muslim travel ban,” which sparked much uproar in our nation and the rest of the world.  Subsequently, a modified travel ban was issued on March 6, attempting to meet the legal challenges towards the original one, but it is certain that further legal actions will be brought against the revised executive order. The majority of Americans had a positive reaction to President Trump’s first speech to Congress on February 28, believing that the President would “move the country in the right direction,” based on the things which he said he would do, even though he was vague on explaining how he would do them.  Nevertheless, what kind of reaction might America see, if things don’t work out according to pronouncement or plan? Could a civil war be possible?

What WE in God’s Church know is that overall, America will not be able to emerge out of the mess they are currently in; that the relationship between America and the rest of the world will get worse and worse; and that this nation will end up in captivity and slavery because of the terrible sins they are committing (Zechariah 7:4-14; 8:7-15; 9:10; 10:6-10; 11:4-17).

Many great American thinkers, one of which was Abraham Lincoln, warned that if destruction was to come, this nation would destroy itself from the inside. President Lincoln did not foresee that a foreign power could overtake America. But we know from the Bible that destruction from the outside will follow. We need to be ready and we need to continue to watch what is happening (Matthew 24:42). This is why we in God’s Church must proceed in warning our people and the rest of the world of what is coming in the near future (Ezekiel 33:2-7; Isaiah 62:6; Luke 21:36).

According to the human calendar of Western civilization, we have now entered the “New Year.”  The “holiday” season has just passed, referring to Christmas and New Year’s Day. We know that we are not supposed to be celebrating these man-made holidays because we understand that they are pagan and God never commanded us to observe them.  In fact, He commands us not to do so. The world views their New Year as a brand new start.   True Christians also experience a brand new start but in a different way and at a different time.

First of all, according to God’s Hebrew calendar and the Bible, we know that God’s New Year doesn’t start in the dead of winter. In Exodus 12:1-2 we have a pretty good indication when the New Year would begin for us.  This is when Passover starts, followed by the Days of Unleavened Bread, the start of the Spring Holy Days, usually at the end of March or early April.  Notice here that the New Year begins in the Spring, when everything is springing back to life, when everything is in bloom – when a renewal occurs.

We have all heard the saying or heard people say what they will do at the start of the “New Year”; what their “New Year’s resolutions” are; and what their new goals are going to be.  A lot of the times however, it is only a mere saying; something that really isn’t taken all that seriously, and before February comes, those “New Year’s resolutions” have been forgotten or broken.  And then the next year comes, and those same goals and resolutions are repeated without any positive outcome.

Is this what we do every year?  Do we also make goals for ourselves or new resolutions in which we commit to bettering ourselves and learning from our past mistakes?  We actually must do this, but not during the same time the world celebrates New Year’s Day.  The difference here is that we have to take it seriously, by learning from our mistakes and realizing that we SHOULD accomplish our GOALS – our goals of keeping God’s commandments.  We do this during God’s New Year, in the Spring, during Passover when we re-commit to God and reconfirm our covenant with Him; when we repent of our sins; and when we ask Him for forgiveness, by refocusing on the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This is the time of reflection as well.  When we take the Passover seriously, our slate of sin will be swept clean. Our renewal occurs, so that we can continue striving for perfection. This process is also symbolized by the foot-washing ceremony (compare John 13:10).

Before we took the Passover, we were given a new life when we entered into God’s Family as Spirit-begotten members and we received His Spirit of power.  We had to repent from all of our sins and start our new life and live in the way we were commanded to do.  This was during our baptism which was necessary for us to be permitted to later partake of the Passover so that we can continue living God’s Way and ultimately inherit eternal life.  We were dead and now we are alive (compare Romans 6:1-14).  Just like the ways of this world are dead, but the Way of God is life.  This world celebrates the New Year in the dead of winter while God’s New Year is in the Spring, picturing renewal and fullness of life.

We know just how tricky Satan can be and how he deceives this whole world.  New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are viewed by many as a time for partying, a day of celebration, but many fail to realize their pagan origin as they party into the night, welcoming a new start of the “New Year.”

Our “New Year’s resolutions” must occur at our baptism when we become a new man, and each year during the Passover season when we reconfirm our covenant with God, repent, and are cleansed of our sins.  We are here for a reason; to grow towards God’s perfection and to be good examples to others. This is where our true focus should be.