On the evening of September 1, 2022, the President of the United States, Joseph Biden, delivered a primetime address to the nation from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Typically, a speech from that storied location would elicit thoughts of the bravery and foresight of America’s Founders, hearkening back to the beginnings of the Republic and the spirit of freedom and self-governance that inspired the thirteen colonies to unite and defy Great Britain.

Not so this night.

While Biden tried to evoke these images through words, what the audience and viewers around the country saw conjured up something entirely different. They saw Independence Hall as they had never seen it before. The building was darkened, looming like a black hulk against the night sky, its usually bright white architectural details uplit in ominous dark red tones. On the podium, Biden spoke in a spotlight behind the Presidential Seal, with two soldiers in dress uniforms conspicuously standing at attention several yards behind him. Never had a U.S. president ever addressed the nation from such a grim, Stygian setting.

Broadcaster Mike Gallagher described his reaction to what he saw and heard in the speech:

God help this country.

After witnessing what we witnessed last night with the satanic, evil, Nazi Germany, blood-red background, a vicious attack on half of the country [sic]. This is one of the most evil things I’ve ever witnessed in the political arena. . . .

I have never seen an American president go after the country the way this man did.

As Gallagher suggests, the speech’s content mirrored the black and blood-red background’s evil feel. He used the address to condemn conservative Americans—whom he lumped together as “MAGA [Make America Great Again] Republicans,” who oppose his decidedly leftist policies and generally support his rival, former President Donald Trump. Contradictorily, the speech later attempted to unite the country and urge Americans to “respect our legitimate political differences.”

Biden’s polemic against nearly half of his fellow citizens declared:

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. . . . And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. . . . They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. . . . MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies—lies told for profit and power.

MAGA Republicans, who are essentially conservative or traditional nationalists, have their faults, as all ideologues do. As descriptions of most conservative Americans, however, these statements are blatantly untrue. Objectively, they are a better fit for the opposite end of the political spectrum, which has been rampaging across many American cities for two years now, destroying, burning, looting, and harassing—even killing—bystanders. They are on record as wanting to abolish the Constitution and set up socialist and even communist governments and leaders.

Biden’s address turns reality on its head. We can be sure it was a calculated and purposeful psychological projection to deceive, confuse, and divide, all of which are tactics of the Adversary. The speech was gaslighting on a national scale. It will not turn out well, as God declares in Isaiah 5:20-21:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!

Under the glowering red lights in front of Independence Hall—evoking Dante’s Inferno or the emperor’s throne room in Star Wars more than “America the Beautiful”—the President did just that. By calling concerned citizens who love their country “outrageous,” “extremists,” “white supremacists,” “threats” to the country, and “insurrectionists,” he put targets on the backs of his political enemies. It was the kind of diatribe that leads to civil war—that undermines the very nation he claims to want to unite.

Gallagher is right on two fronts: The speech was satanic, and divine intervention is the nation’s only hope. When a nation’s leadership reverses society’s moral and ethical framework, God alone can put matters right—but be careful what you wish for! With the country wallowing in wickedness and perversity, His intervention will not seem benevolent, certainly not at first.

Just a few verses later, God lays out what He will bring on a people who upend His moral and ethical standards, which are binding on all whether they acknowledge them or not:

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 5:24-25)

Battle lines have been drawn. Rhetorical shots have been fired, if not real ones. But the real Power sits on His throne in heaven, and He will act in His time to the dismay of those who set themselves against Him.

“Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants” (Psalm 90:13).