America, repent and turn back to the one and only God!

January 15, 2021.

What we are seeing in America today is a repeat of the history of Israel. Every time the people in the Nation of Israel were enjoying the blessings of God, instead of being thankful and glorifying God, and giving Him the credit, they convinced themselves that their prosperity was due to their own work and wisdom. Therefore, they ought to be able to enjoy themselves with anything and any god they chose.

Living in the 21st century AD, unless we study the Scriptures, and history, we live out the old adage: “those who refuse to study history, are bound to repeat it.”

We live in a time of, “If it feels good, do it.” without considering the consequences of our actions. Just watch the news and see what our children are being taught in the public schools. It is scary and we should have considered the warning signs over the past 50 some years. When our children were in school, in the 1960’s-1980’s, Nita Raye and I became so concerned that I ran for and became president of our PTA’, and voiced objections to the teaching of “Situation Ethics”, as well as other fringe beliefs. Now our grandchildren and great grandchildren are being taught by the same people who were taught by the ungodly people we argued with.

This is what I wrote only 2 months ago in my new book, “America Repeating The Sins of Ancient Israel”

November 08, 2020

As I am writing this, America is struggling with the uncertainty of the current election results, and the repercussions of whomever the final winner is.

Although I started working on this book several months ago, as I watched the societal upheavals in our country over the past year, it seemed to me that we were experiencing the results of taking God and His word out of our society, beginning with our schools in 1964. That meant that our children missed out on having a good and Godly, spiritual, moral, and societal foundation. “Situation Ethics” was a class they started teaching in the schools. In other words, “If it feels good, or will serve your purposes, do it.” I know this to be true because I fought it and was very vocal about this concept when president of the PTA at one of our children’s schools. I would make personal visits to the schools, and the teachers, disputing the path they were taking our children down. Our daughter Stephanie would listen to the teachings at school, then come home to ask Mom and Dad for the truth. Smart girl.

Most parents did not know what was going on until their children started rebelling against the teaching of their parents, grandparents, and all the “old” society.  If you are like me, you remember all of the uprising of the younger generation in the 1960’s and 70”s, and we were told it all had to do with the Vietnam War, and that was part of it, but it really had to do with rejecting moral authority.

Judges_17:6  In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes

Finally, this 2020 election cycle brought all the demonic maneuverings out in the open for everyone to see. When we see and hear a popular political figure say this about us: “The conservatives in our country cling to their gold, their guns, and their God,” and say it in a disparaging way, there is no doubt we have reached a point of Godlessness in American society in general. The follow up was, “America is not a Christian nation.”

Here is that old saying again. Those who refuse to study history, are bound to repeat it. And that is true in both good actions, and bad. After all, if you do not know what processes worked for the good of our nation and ourselves in the past, how can you follow them? And if you do not know what did not work in the past, how can you avoid it?

The purpose of this book is to show from history what we can expect to occur if we continue down the path of Godlessness, by relating from history what happened to the nation of Israel when they denied their God, who is also our God.

There are some people who believe that America was founded by and is populated by remnants of the 10 “lost” tribes of Israel. I do not know if that is true, but it makes one wonder when we look at the commonality of actions and results, which is what this book is about to do for the consideration of the reader.

Let us consider the miraculous beginning of the nation of Israel, and later how God dealt with the rebellious Israel, who had forsaken Him. Then let’s look at the miraculous beginning of America, and our current condition,  And let us consider what is in store for America, if we don’t repent and return to the Lord our God and humble ourselves before Him.

After all, God is a fair and just God. If He rejected Israel due to their rejecting Him, what makes us think we will not suffer the same fate, when we reject Him?

As you know, we have a better covenant with God today then the people had in the Old Covenant under Moses, because of Jesus, BUT, that covenant is given to us on an individual basis, not a national one. Although we will cover this more thoroughly in a later chapter of the book, let us now read and see the comparisons of National Israel, and National America.

CHAPTER 1

In The Beginning

That is after all, where we should start, isn’t it? People of today have a desire to start where they are living right now, instead of realizing that they are not the center of the universe, and things did happen before they popped on the scene, and if they want to think and act as rational people, it is important to view history as a teacher and guide.

So, let us begin at the beginning.
Genesis 1-1 “In the beginning God”--before we continue with this verse of scripture, let’s consider the first part. We are told that before mankind was created, God was, and was doing things. He is the creator of all we see, hear, and touch or feel. It’s not about you, or me, it is all about Him.

“In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. “Original creation was made perfect and inhabitable.

Isaiah 45:18

The first earth (and other planets?), was ruled by Lucifer, who rebelled against God and was overthrown as was the world that then was,

2 Peter 3:5-7

Jerimiah 4:23-26

. (Archeology has of recent times verified the next verse.)

Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Genesis 1:3 ” And God said ‘Let there is light:—

I mentioned the beginning of creation to establish that we did come from slime or monkeys, oh, by the way, where would they have come from? I highly recommend you read all of the book of Genesis for a better understanding of the rest of creation and the development of the human family.

Now, here was God’s great desire, (1) create an environment where His creations could survive and thrive, earth, (2) create a spirit likeness of Himself to inhabit this new environment, (3) Have a personal relationship with His creation, man.

Genesis 3: 8, “And they, (Adam and Eve), heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day–“

Isn’t that beautiful? Adam and Eve used the day to do the things God had instructed them to do, then when their duties were completed for the day, God shows up, in the cool of the day, to walk with them and discuss the day’s events.

After man sinned in disobeying God, which is what sin is, he and Eve were cast out of the perfect place, Eden, and began the creation of the human race by having children who had children etc. Yes, in the beginning, it was permitted for brother and sister and other family members to pre-create.

Here is an interesting analysis. According to Dakes Annotated Bible, by the time Cain killed Abel, about 130 years had elapsed after the expulsion from Eden, and at a very moderate rate, the population would have been about 500,000. They had cities and farms and villages and found other ways to worship other than worshipping the one and only God, the creator of everything. Why? From the serpent beguiling Eve until today, man has always tried to be his/her own god, and therefore not have to obey the rules God set down.

Genesis 3:1-4

Now 430 years later at the time God employed Moses to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, this little band had grown to over 4 million people, God’s people, and they were led to the promised land of Cannon. Yes by disobeying God on numerous occasions, it took 40 years, but they arrived.

Here is the interesting part. They took over the land God had promised them, they began to prosper, they disobeyed God in not driving all the people before them and instead began to inter-marry, and are you kidding me? they thought it was a good idea to deny the true God, the one who had delivered them from slavery, and start worshiping new gods of the local inhabitants,

Questions

(1) Why did God want the Israelites, His people, to drive the local people out?

(A) They were sacrificing their babies to the gods they worshiped. And God hates that!

(1) Wait! Isn’t that what society is doing today with abortion? For the sake and pleasure of the new god, self, I will kill the “made in God’s image” that is growing in my body!

(B) God knew if His people integrated with them, they would fall prey to the foreign gods with their fleshly satisfying practices, things like temple prostitutes services, and other rituals that were forbidden by God. Many of these practices their parents had lived with in Egypt, and the older children, now adults, had seen these actions too, so they weren’t new to them, just being preformed by a different people. Hey, maybe it is ok to do these things, after all we see here what we saw in Egypt, so I guess it is ok,. Let’s check it out. They were to be different and better, because they served and worshiped the true God, and were to be an example to all the people they encountered.

Now here is the point I am showing to the reader. When His people did right by Him, they prospered. When they turned from God, He would allow they to be over run by other nations, be taken into slavery, until they repented. Then God in His mercy would deliver them, re-establish their country and bless them again, showing mercy, until they did it again. And they did it time after time after time.

How did this happen? They stopped teaching their children about the one and only true God!

Chapter 2

Did you recognize a pattern of attitudes and actions?

America as a country or land, was dedicated to God at Plymouth Rock, September 15, 1620, by the leader of the new settlers, William Bradford. We removed a people who had gotten into human sacrificing, (so say the archeologists, God knows), and have spent 400 years making progress, and mistakes, being blessed of God with increased wisdom for inventions and innovations, and have become the greatest and most powerful nation in the world and this abundance could continue to increase for our good and God’s glory, but we as a nation succumbed to PRIDE. We decided we had done it on our own, without any help from anyone, especially not from the invisible “God” of the crazy Christians! Then 57 years ago ,we pushed the envelope a little further, when the courts took Christianity out of the schools. Therefore, our children did not get the moral teaching they needed, and then, to add insult to injury, 48 years ago the courts ok’d the killing of our babies, if they were not wanted!

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king, (moral authority), in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes .

Today, as we see the leaders of our country justifying these un-Godly actions, and celebrating these “new” liberty’s, we, who for the most part have been following Godly principals and practices, need to be very aware of the fact that what God did to His people, Ancient Israel, will be done to us, unless we repent, NOW!

Chapter 3

Israel’s sin and repentance

In the book of Judges we find 9 times that Israel did evil in the sight of God and were punished. Chapter 2 tells of their sins. Verses 1-2 tell of an angel of the Lord admonishing them for disobedience, and asking the question,

Judges 2: 2——- “but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you done this?”

There was weeping and repentance for a time, until Joshua died. Then another generation arose, who knew not the Lord, nor the works God had done for their parents. Why not? Because they, the new generation, were not taught by their parents. When Joshua died, the people felt they had lost their contact to the only true God, and were let astray to the gods of the local people. They began to bow down to the gods Baalim, Baal and Ashtaroth. Why? Every other god or religion, other than Judaism and Christianity operate on the basis of satisfying the flesh or mind, not the spirit. Let me show it to you this way, first the way we were created..

Spirit: created to be in the image and in the likeness of God

Soul, mind: created to obey the directions of the spirit of God which lived in man.

Body: created to obey the instructions of the mind, which were given by the spirit, God’s Spirit.

That is what we see in the first two chapters of Genesis. This was a perfect environment with everything in it’s proper place, and the god-like-man doing what God instructed him to do always.

Then disobedience, SIN, entered the picture and changed the structure of mankind.

Body: what do I want to do? If it feels good, or feeds my desires, I will do it! I am the god of me!

Soul-mind: Obey the dictates of the body!

Spirit: Shut up!

We can see this from Genesis 3 throughout the Old Testament, until Jesus came, and paid the price for God to live in me, as it was in the beginning (making my spirit to look and be like Him, because He has taken over my spirit), the hope of glory!

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

All other religions are based on what the founder thought or felt was a better way to reach God. They don’t work! Yet people come to these belief systems either because they were born into them or they find they fit better than the “old” beliefs, with their own new beliefs and desires.

John: 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

In the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, published in 1996, there are over 8,200 entries, not all are religions, some are off-shoots of a religion. Perhaps we could call those sub-religions. Nevertheless, man, from the Garden of Eden on, is always trying to replace God with himself, and making what he believes as relevant, at least to himself, as “the real truth.”

In my book, “The Human Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane”, I make the point that yes, each of us will spend eternity with the god of our choice. Will it be the God of the Bible, or not?

Since we only spend a very short time here on earth before our bodies wear out, but will spend eternity, (our finite minds can not even begin to imagine what that is,) with the god we chose to worship, self, or He who is love, For God is love. What is the opposite of love? Selfishness, distain or hate for others, among many other self gratifying feelings and actions. Doesn’t it make more sense to seek the one who said, “if you will seek me with your all of your heart, you will find me?” And, “I will give you love, a greater love than you have ever known, for me and all people; joy, the real joy of living not for self but for Him and others,; and peace, the peace that only God can give us, a peace that passes all understanding?

Chapter 4

What do I do now?

Our Lord, and I are so glad you asked! Deny self, come humbly before God, realizing that without His love for you, and all mankind, we are all doomed. And begin to think of Him as Abba Father. That is in our language, Daddy, Father and ask Him for His free ( free to us but Jesus paid our debt to the Father with His very life) gift of family membership. What do you have to say? Words are important, but He looks at your heart. Say something like this.

Daddy, Father, I have sinned. I am a sinner, please forgive me of all my sins, and You said if I would accept Jesus as my Lord and savior, which I do now, and believe that You, Daddy, raised Him from the dead, that I would be saved, and my family, from the hell and damnation that is to come. Thank you. I love you!———