Lately I have been studying the book of Judges. As I have been reading I cannot help but see so many parallels between the nation of Israel and the United States of America. Throughout the whole Bible, including today, Israel becomes blessed and out of that blessing they become powerful and prosperous. The enemies of Israel cannot stand before them and wars between Israel and any rival nation do not last very long. Then the hearts of the people of Israel turn from God. They start worshiping idols and other idle things, eg.-money, power, self, etc. Even after being warned time and time again by God, their allegiance to their Creator turns. After the warning comes the chastening. God removes His blessing and protection from the people, according to His forewarning. The people are afflicted by their oppressors and do not have peace. Eventually Israel, in times past, would turn back to God. They repented of their turning away; asking for forgiveness, help and deliverance. God would, and still does by the way, hear the cry of His people. He then would raise up a deliverer, in this part of the Bible I've been studying - a judge, to deliver the people from their oppressors. After they were restored to prosperity and blessing, they would inevitably turn their hearts and affections to the gods of their neighbors. Thus starting the whole cycle over.
The people of the United States of America, and even people from abroad, can learn lessons from these historical events that are recorded in the Bible, and elsewhere.
Only a few hundred years ago, the United States of America was born as a nation. As it became more established, God blessed this nation because of the values, morals, and practices of the people who founded it and those living in it. Most of the people - especially in government at the time according to too many historical documents and references to site - were God fearing people who sought to freely worship and live for God. Bibles were printed by Congress and even taught in schools. Government meetings and sessions would begin with prayer. And there are many other examples to be found by those willing to look for them.
Today, many people in this country, and across the globe, have turned their back towards God. They have not only ceased to worship Him but have even denied His existence! In many schools bringing a Bible to school is not even tolerated let alone taught. Theories, that have been churned up in the minds of atheists who have had a bad encounter with someone who claimed to be a Christian, to try to explain away the existence of God are being taught in schools as though they are proven fact although they are only theories until proven. And just as ancient Israel started worshiping the gods of their neighbors, the people of this nation are looking to the gods and practices of other countries for direction. I can't count how many times I've heard the argument, both in person and on the news, "that's what they do" or "that's how they do it in ..." The last I checked, the United States of America was a blessed nation because we have done things quite a bit differently here. And now that a majority of this nation has turned away from God things are getting bad - real bad. And the worse things get, the more guidance the U.S. of A is looking for from other countries. WHAT?!? We need to look back to what has worked all along. If we want God's to blessing on America again we need to turn back to God.
I know a lot of people; some as friends, some as acquaintances, others just in passing. Most, if not all, of them take a certain amount of pride in their work and accomplishments. When they make something that is unique, impressive, and valuable they would like to be acknowledged for their creation. If a coworker devised a grand idea of a new way to do something at work and told someone else about it, that coworker would be rather upset if someone presented his or her idea as their own. And rightfully so. Why would God want anything less than acknowledgment for His Creation? To try to take credit for His creation away from Him and pass it off as happening by chance is not only ignorant, but a slap in the face of God. That is just one area in which we need to return to God. There are many others. But it will start with you and me... in our heart.
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