Per my above post, some pertinent studies regarding Divine Discipline.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1568429/posts
Reading the above notes should not be misconstrued as declaring 'Woe is us, all this is because God is punishing us'. Instead it is a series of notes for students of Scripture to understand how believers will be held accountable by God when nations He as chosen to perform His will, rebel, grieve and attempt to quench the Holy Spirit.
This is pertinent to the US War on Terror because many of our adversaries today were people not cognizant of Christ, yet many believers of Christ chose to use the Muslims as pawns against the USSR in the Cold War, instead of providing them encouragement in God through faith in Christ.
Whenever believers fall away from Him, then attempt to counterfeit His plan by a worldly cosmic system of counterfeit power, believers fall into risk of divine discipline.
If the believer fails to return to God upon one cycle of disicpline, a second will follow, seven times more severe than the first. This historically has continued through five cycles of disicpline, when the rebellious nation is removed from grace (after the third cycle) and destroyed.
The emphasis is upon the believer in God through faith in Christ. Other religious perspectives from a secular or comparative religion perspective simply display a human arrogance to His divine plan made available to all men. There is only one way to return to Him and that is through faith in the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.