They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
I appointed watchmen over you and said, “Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them.
Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. (Jeremiah 6:14-19)
by Brian Shilhavy
Two years ago I wrote and published an article about how the United States of America is in the same moral state today as the nations God judged and destroyed in 722 B.C. See:
What Happens When a Holy and Righteous God Gets Angry? Lessons from History and the Prophet Jeremiah
God called Jeremiah to testify to the truth about what was about to happen, that Jerusalem and many of the surrounding nations were about to be destroyed, and he warned Jeremiah that the opposition would fight back hard against him.
But God promised to be with him during those difficult times and rescue him.
He was told that the days were so evil, that he was not to take a wife and raise a family.
“You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” (Jeremiah 16:2)
When Jeremiah began to tell people the truth, he was opposed by his own family, and by the religious leaders of his time, including other prophets, who tried to silence him.
Your brothers, your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. (Jeremiah 12:6)
I will smash them one against the other, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them. (Jeremiah 13:14)
“Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:4-6)
Does this sound familiar to anyone reading this? Do you see any parallels between what Jeremiah suffered, and how people telling the truth today are suffering also, even from their own family members?
Jeremiah was so distressed, he regretted the day he was born.
Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
The LORD said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.” (Jeremiah 15:10-11)
There is No Peace for the USA
The reason why so many people opposed Jeremiah was because they did not think it was possible that God would judge them, because they believed that they were the “chosen people” and that they were better than all the other nations around them. They continued to believe that God would favor them over their enemies.
As the USA celebrates its “Independence Day” this week on July 4th, the parallels between the people of Jeremiah’s day and the people living in the US today, particularly the “Christians” who are the dominant religious group in the culture today, are stunning.
But the truth that Jeremiah proclaimed thousands of years ago to his culture is the same truth that applies to the United States today:
“Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14)
And please make no mistake about who the intended audience was for Jeremiah’s prophecies. His audience was the people of God, those who claimed to serve and worship the Creator of the universe, Yahweh (the LORD), and those who claimed to follow his laws and teachings.
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 no pleasure in it.
But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in.
“Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.
“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.” (Jeremiah 6:10-13)
Jeremiah stated that all the alleged believers of his day, including their leaders (prophets and priests), were guilty of being “greedy.”
“Greed” is not a sin that is frequently talked about these days, but for the ancient people of God, it was one of the worst sins, and was equated with “idolatry.”
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:5-6)
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Ephesians 4:19)
The English word “greed”, as it is used in modern times, really does not accurately reflect the original biblical language the Bible was written in, where the concept behind the English word “greed” was far more evil.
It is best defined by Jesus himself, who told a “parable” to fully explain the meaning of “greed.”
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-21)
The “greed” Jesus explains about here, is not the actual storage of grains and goods, but the motive the man in this parable had in storing more grains and goods than he needed as a hedge against the future so that he could “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”
We are not supposed to plan on a “life of ease” in this current age and the world system controlled by Satan. We are supposed to have a warrior mindset to do battle against evil, and in this mindset, there is no “peace” in this world system.
Jesus said:
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:34-39)
This is almost the exact opposite of what American Christianity teaches today.
For those of you still in the corporate churches, when is the last time you heard or read a “Christian” message about opposing your family by treating them as your enemies, or losing your life for the sake of following Christ?
The fact is that most of the teaching in the Christian churches today amounts to greed and idolatry. With this $trillion industry called “Christianity,” the predominant teaching is to obey the Government, store up finances to provide for your children’s education, save up for your eventual “retirement” where you can kick back and “enjoy life,” etc.
But this teaching is found nowhere in the scriptures.
The teaching of Jesus and the other leaders was a teaching of entering into battle, forsaking all earthly riches or ties, including family ties, for the sake of the cause of exposing evil and RESISTING it.
Think about all the heroes of the faith that are portrayed in the Bible, and count how many of those faithful believers had “good Christian” families.
I’ll save you the effort, because I have read and studied the Bible for over 40 years now, and there are no model biological families anywhere in the Scriptures. None. It is a myth.
The life of true believers is always characterized by extreme persecution and suffering, including incarceration and death, because our hope is not in this life, but the life to come.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:1-5)
“Idolatry” is defined as desiring the things of this world that we do not have, rather than depending upon God to meet all of our needs, knowing that the “easy life” awaits us in the future in the Kingdom of God, and not in this world.
There is no peace for the USA, only judgment. And each day we get closer to that judgment which is imminent now.
But there is peace for those who choose to enter into the battle and forsake idolatry and the things that this world offers.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (Words of Jesus in John 14:27)
To learn what God’s impending judgment against the USA will probably look like, please read:
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