Following the tragic shootings in Arizona by a mentally unstable 22 year old on Saturday, the nation has been flooded with attempts to link the shooter with conservatives, Tea Party members, Christians and others considered by the media to be in the American right wing. There is no evidence to link the killer with anyone on the right, but that fact hasn't stopped liberal commentators from accusing Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and other known conservatives and Christians from being some how complicit in the murderous acts of a lone psychopath.
Are there any prophetic implications to these developments? In The End of America I wrote: “Also, we should expect re-adoption of the misnamed ‘Fairness Doctrine’. This would have the effect of shutting down talk shows that include discussions of topics and officials not favored by those in power” (p. 125). The book in chapter six (The Daughter of Babylon’s Persecution of God’s People) describes what prophecy tells us will happen in the end times in that rich, powerful and influential nation. “What happens to God’s people when He turns them over to the Daughter of Babylon? Jeremiah prophesies that ‘strangers’ will ‘come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house’, leading God’s people to be ‘confounded’ and held to ‘reproach’ and to ‘shame’. It could refer to uninvited trespassers coming into the church and disrupting God’s people in their worship” (p. 117).
Pima County’s Sheriff blamed talk radio and those who speak words of “anger, hatred and bigotry that goes on in this country” for causing the killings in Arizona. Even though the shooter had listed as one of his favorite books the Communist Manifesto, many media commentators nevertheless linked him with religious Americans and political conservatives. One media outlet reported that the shooter had used two initials in a symbol which it said meant “Christian”.
There are two prophetic references, both in Jeremiah 51, to civil unrest in the Daughter of Babylon, prior to its destruction. Jeremiah 51:38 prophesies that “Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs”. Verse 39 describes the people of the Daughter of Babylon as being “aroused”. Even more telling is this prophecy in verse 51:49: “one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler”.
Thus, we can expect to see increasing levels of civil unrest and violence in America. What has been set in motion by the increasing electoral strength of the Tea Party, and by the orchestrated negative reaction against conservatives and Christians following the Arizona shootings, will only grow in intensity in the days ahead. There will be increasingly widespread and organized efforts to shut down the Rush Limbaughs, Sarah Palins, Glenn Becks and other known conservatives and Christians across the land. Those whose First and Second Amendment rights are being taken from them won’t like it, and are most likely to fight back, leading to the “violence in the land” that Jeremiah describes. These future events will lead to the government of the Daughter of Babylon’s persecution of God’s people. That could easily have a significant advantage because under persecution many will flee the nation, just as God nine times in his prophetic scripture warns His people to do. A door was opened in Tucson last Saturday that will not soon, if ever, be closed.