The children of Israel were surrounded by enemies. The Babylonians prepared the siege to overtake Jerusalem but God’s people still had a choice. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to speak to the people yet again. “It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” (Jeremiah 36: 3)
The Lord had suffered patiently with his people and given them opportunity after opportunity to repent. Now again, the choice was theirs. They could embrace the clarion call or turn a deaf ear and continue on with life as usual. Sadly, they preferred to believe a lie; that blessing and prosperity would still be theirs even though they had broken covenant with their Maker.
Engaging in the worship of creation and created beings became a routine part of their lives and moral decay ran rapid as they honored the sun, moon, stars, earth and unbeknownst to them engaged in worship of demonic spirits. A culture of lust, greed and selfishness so invaded the previous culture of Godliness that the scripture says Gods heart was grieved and He hurt. (Jeremiah 8:18-20)
As part of the Baal worship ceremonies, the “goddess” Ashoreth was celebrated by the women and every form of sensuality and lust was encouraged. Husbands and wives engaged sexually with multiple partners and gave glory to the demon spirit masquerading as a god. As a result new born babies were sacrificed to the Canaanite god, Molech. They slowly burned these children to death in a Bronze Calf as the bellows of the child’s scream resounded through its horn. Drums were beat in rhythmic elation as the people celebrated this rite of worship. The parents were strategically positioned closest to the drums to muffle the sound of their babies anguish as they were applauded for the sacrifice of their child.
It is difficult to not wince reading such things, but it is also impossible to overlook the striking parallels to our culture today. Psalms 106 reads, “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” God’s Holy Law holds the life of a child as valuable as any other whether inside the womb, or birthed (Exodus 21: 22-25 ) yet Jesus seemed to place even more value on the lives of the innocents when he stated ” It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”-Luke 17:2
Then and now God’s choice remains constant. When a people break covenant with him, as America has done, a covenant which was established at the onset of this nation (ref: THE CASE FOR AMERICA’S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE written by Gary DeMar or the many Founding Fathers government documents on line) when a nation turns its back on His commands and decisively removes Him from government, education, marriage, child rearing etc, He leaves. He forces himself on no one. He honors our free will, yet not without consequence. He allows us to live a life without his blessing, protection and divine intervention.
Repeatedly through out scripture we see a clear pattern. When the extraordinary blessings stated in Deuteronomy 28 vacate (blessings of provision, safety, prosperity, joy, health, children etc.) and the ramifications of our sin and rebellion are made manifest travesty awaits us. “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land” Deuteronomy continues. “The stranger who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher and you will go down lower and lower.”
As we blindly engage in our day to day activities and pay no mind to the direction our nation has taken, believing it has little or nothing to do with us think again. The consequence of a nations choices impact all of us. Our fore fathers covenanted with God and promised to elect Godly leaders that held the values and principals of His law in the highest regard. George Washington stated “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
“We do hereby dedicate this land and ourselves to reach the people within the shores with the gospel of Jesus Christ and to raise up godly generations after us and with these generations take the kingdom of God to all the earth. May this covenant of dedication remain to all generations as long as this earth remains. And may this land along with England be the evangelist to the world. May all who see this CROSS remember what we have done here and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this covenant and in this most noble work that the holy Scripture may be fulfilled”– Prayer that was prayed at the first permanent Virginian colony at the Fort at Jamestown.
My earnest prayer now is that our country will turn again back to Him, his laws, his precepts, his commands. That we will fervently repent and adamantly again embrace his truth, putting His heart, His desire, His law above our own. That we will support those that embrace our Judaeo-Christian heritage and are in alignment with his commandments. This election will greatly impact every one of our lives and the future blessing or demise of our country.
“And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts…And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives”– Jeremiah 34: 18-20
“Only acknowledge your guilt-that you rebelled against the Lord your God- that you have not obeyed my voice” for He promises; “Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine.“- Exodus 19: 5