Terror Alert: Holy War in America’s Bible Belt
Then in chapters 10 and 12 He reprimands the shepherds. “For the shepherds have become unthinking and have not sought the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered” (Jer. 10:21). And then, Jeremiah 12:10, “Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trodden My portion under foot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.” It was the desolate wasteland I’d seen in my dream. He then lead me to Jeremiah 13, where the prophet illustratively used a belt, and God showed me America’s Bible “belt” and how the enemy had plans to make it unfit for use (like Jeremiah’s belt became).
Waging holy war on the buckle, Nashville, but targeting the entire belt to destroy its influence. The Bible Belt is said to stretch from Florida through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, North and South Carolina and into Virginia, and then southwest through Mississippi, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. This is the hour for believers in these 15 states—and their shepherds—to walk fully in the Holy Spirit so that we might be conduits of revival to the other 35 states of America. It is why the enemy desires to make the Bible Belt unfit for use.
After my dream and my time in the book of Jeremiah, I immediately contacted three of my spiritual mentors, James Goll, Don Finto and Cindy Jacobs, asking them what to do with this grave dream that had totally highjacked my blissful vacation. The answer was to pray and wait. Then, with the release of Rick Joyner’s video this September, which described terrorism finding its way deeply into America and specifically mentioned “the southeast,” and then with Cindy Jacob’s follow-up video with her mama’s voice reminding us that if we pray and partner with God for change we can avoid these disasters and protect America, I asked the Lord if it was time to release my 2006 dream and to “blow the trumpet” (Jer. 6:1).
On a Sunday shortly thereafter, I got my answer. While at the church we pastor in Nashville—Eastgate Creative Christian Fellowship—a fiery young man named Seth approached me. He claimed that during worship He’d been taken away in the Spirit and that he saw bombs going off in Nashville. Later, the Lord had shown him several Scriptures to give to me, and he handed me a tiny piece of paper which listed them.
I noticed immediately that it was all Jeremiah passages, and sure enough, it included the same main Jeremiah 5 passage God had shown me on that 2006 afternoon when He beckoned with me to pray for repentance and revival in America’s Bible Belt.
What I saw in my dream was holy terror. Holy war. But I perceived that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we—the church—could do what no government or military could do, which is pray, repent, and rewrite the unfolding future. And as of late, God has also been showing me that neglecting the Holy Spirit is the chief cause of the decline in holiness in the Church, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit’s chief job is to make you holy since “without holiness, no one will see the Lord!” (Heb. 12:14). But just as I had received news of coming twins the week I had this horrific dream, so I believe that the Lord stands poised and ready to pour out a double portion of His Holy Spirit and holiness to us in this unholy era.
Therefore, we must, as believers in Jesus, welcome the Holy Spirit in full measure into our lives, families and churches if we want to survive—and abolish— terrorism and its developing holy wars in the earth today.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14).
Laura Harris Smith is the author of Seeing the Voice of God: What God Is Telling You Through Dreams and Visions (Chosen Books, 2014) and is the founding co-pastor of Eastgate Creative Christian Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, along with her husband of 30 years, Chris Smith. Laura will minister to churches of any size or style and has a passion and grace to help people clearly hear and see the voice of God. Get more info on Laura at lauraharrissmith.com, about Eastgate at eastgateccf.com, and inquire about bookings at: [email protected].