The sins of a nation

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“I quit my job today.”

“What happened?”

“My boss is a jerk! He got mad at something and went on a tirade! He just started yelling and screaming. No one is going to talk to me that way!”

“Was he right?”

“What?”

“Was he right? He shouldn’t have been throwing a tantrum, but regardless of how he was saying it; was what he saying correct?”

At that point, the conversation between my friend and I came to an end. She was upset with me by assuming the man with the hissy fit may have been saying something of substance. Also, she admitted later that once he started yelling, she turned him off.

Just for the record, I do not advocate yelling and screaming as an effective leadership style. However, the type of delivery does not detract from the truth or falsehood of the message. Delivery will, however, affect how the message is received.

People generally do not like being told they are wrong. That is true whether the message comes through a temper tantrum or through a delivery style that is as calming as a relaxing, hot bath.

Jeremiah 6:15 and Jeremiah 8:12 both mention how Israel could no longer blush. Here is Jeremiah 6:15, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.”

Setting the stage for the passage. Israel had disobeyed God for a long time. They claimed to be His, but there were so much sin and hypocrisy that God called their sacrifices and solemn assemblies, things God told them to do: “iniquity” (Isaiah 1:11-13).

By the time we move from Isaiah to Jeremiah, about 150 years, Israel is no longer embarrassed by their sin. Hypocrisy may have been the most prominent sin going on in Isaiah’s day. Still, by the time Jeremiah rolls around, everything is free game. No one cared much for what God said about anything.

Does America care much for what God has said? God’s Word is not important enough to include in our courts or schools. Many Americans consider using the Bible in the courtroom or schoolroom curriculum as a bad thing. However, for the first 100 years or so of our nation, the Supreme Court would often refer to Scriptures in their decisions. In many schools, the Bible was a main, if not the only textbook. Teachers used the Bible for reading, math, science, and the teaching of citizenship (how to be a good neighbor and person).

We have gone from where the Scriptures were revered to passing laws to keep them away from children in schools.

Many churches preach a watered-down gospel. “God loves you!” is proclaimed from the mountain top, but “we are all sinners” is never heard. Entertainment and marketing are kings, leaving the message of the King of Kings outside the church.

In the Scripture’s last mention of the church (Revelation 3:14-22), we read of Jesus outside knocking on the door pleading to come inside. Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

The majority of American churches are in this state. Will any open the door? Before God’s “they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush” comment, He told Israel if He could find anyone seeking the truth, He would pardon the nation. Jeremiah 5:1, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.”

When God attempts to correct Israel, He notes that they refuse to return to God because their eyes are not on the truth (Jeremiah 5:2-3).

When wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and other natural disasters occur, America blames global warming — no one considers the hand of God. It is not just the weather. We are looking in the wrong direction for everything.

America, in general, is unwilling to listen to the Word of God about our sins as a nation.

America’s Christians pick and choose which verses we want to hear. Sins are lifestyle choices or mistakes; the almighty dollar has replaced the Almighty God.

When was the last time you witnessed anyone blush?

The result of Israel’s lack of repentance was that Babylon came and took them captive. Israel lost their freedom. Arrogance rules the day if we think God would treat us any different.

No Babylon is waiting at our doors, but the loss of our freedom is ringing the doorbell as Christ knocks. The answer to keeping our freedoms is not pulling a lever at a ballot box; it is bending the knee at an altar.

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By Timothy Johnson

Preacher’s Point

Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in northern Parke County, Indiana. Webpage: www.preacherspoint.wordpress.com; email: [email protected]; address: 410 S. Jefferson St. Rockville IN 47872; all Bible references KJV. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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