Jeremiah

America needs a Jeremiah

Somewhere in time, between 627 BC and 586 BC, Jeremiah was a Prophet to the country of Judah.  Judah and Israel were sister’s countries, but they had broken apart at one point.  Neither country was following the God that had led them out of Egypt.  They were safe and secure and started to think they were responsible for their own good fortune. The days of being ruled by the prophet’s had long vanished and the Kings ruled.  This worked out well when you had a righteous King, but Judah did not have a righteous King and the people did what was right in their own eyes, they no longer looked to God to help them determine right and wrong.

This always creates a problem.  Jeremiah was called by God as a young man to warn his country.   When he was just a boy, God gave him a vision and said, “I put my words in your mouth”.  So Jeremiah set out to tell the people to turn back to God.  Give up their sinful ways, humble themselves and serve God.  Destruction was coming from another country and unless the people turned to God He could not protect them.

Did they listen – no.  They assumed, they knew more than Jeremiah.  

Jeremiah 6:10 (NIV) “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them: they find not pleasure in it.

This sounds like America.  The word of the Lord is offensive to some.  Why is that?  We have been a great and strong country.  We were founded by people that wanted to be free to worship God as they pleased.  They created a country where freedom to worship was a capstone on which we based our society.  It governed our laws and helped establish our government.  Now we think the first amendment gives us the freedom from religion, not the freedom of religion. 

Jeremiah 8:12 (NIV) “Are they ashamed of thier loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.”

They do not even know how to blush.  This was said about Israel and Judah, but it could be just as easily said about America. We went from a country that fifty years ago, that could not use the word pregnant on television. They did not want to be offensive. There were certain things not advertised on television because they wanted to protect young viewers. Have you watched any television lately? I don’t think anything is forbidden now.

America is losing its place.  We used to be a beacon of freedom and prosperity that the other countries envied.    We did not lose it our place, we gave it away.  We started to think that everything good came to us by what we did and not by what God gave and we are dead wrong.  We still are a blessed nation, but we are pulling the fingers of God off our country, one finger at a time and we are wondering why things are getting worse.

Jeremiah 9:22-24 (NIV)

This is what the Lord Says:

Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

Or the strong man boast of his strength

Or the rich man boast of his riches

But let him who boasts, boast about this

That he understands and knows me

That I am the Lord who exercises kindness,

Justice and righteousness on earth,

For in these I delight.

It is time for America to boast in a loving God that blessed this nation. I am an American and I am proud to be one, but it is time for us to again be one nation under God.  It is time for us to embrace and not reject our heritage.

When my older brother was a teenager he wrote a song, here is what I remember of the chorus. God will bless American abundantly, the day that he sees us getting down on our knees, if we keep him as our ally and keep him as our friend, than God can bless America again.

We are in an election year.  I want to encourage everyone to vote. I also want everyone to really think about the person they are voting for and what they stand for.  Are they wanting to lead our country in a new direction or return us to past glory?  You make your own decisions, but I am looking for someone that knows and embraces our spiritual heritage with honor.

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