MINE FIELD EARTH - PROVOKING THE ANGER OF GOD by His people's REFUSAL TO LISTEN..
Introduction to an ongoing Topic.
‘For the creation was made subject to vanity,
not willingly,
but by reason of him who gave him free will in the hope he would choose rightly.’ Romans 8:20
The earth that God made ‘good’ in ‘the Beginning’ is groaning in pain, with all of creation - both animate and inanimate, having been made subject to ‘vanity’ - NOT BY GLOBAL WARMING - But by rebellious, evil - lust driven - UNCHECKED - men.
Even the spirit-filled among us are vulnerable to the fallout of the assault of the earth and its elements - air, water, land, fauna and flora. None are exempt.
I daresay we see the Church subject to the same harmful degree as the world, for where she had the keys to prevention all along, and had the spiritual empowerments that might have saved the earth and her people - she failed utterly to believe them, or to USE them.
‘Earth is polluted by its very own people,
who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
They dwindle away, dying out one by one.’ Isaiah 24:5,6
Little disturbs the Lord God as much as the Church shrugging off its role to play - because the ‘end’ is ‘written’. [as if in stone]
Only this morning, at a prayer meeting in Connecticut, the Lord led me straight to Jeremiah 26, where His holy anger on this point is on full display.. and He had me read this to our group:
‘ Thus saith the Lord;
Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, (God’s original Covenant people)
which come to worship in the Lord's house, (This would include the Church)
all the words that I command thee to speak unto them;
diminish not a word: (DONT water it down)
3 IF so be they will LISTEN, and turn every man from his evil way,
(IF- means God can change His mind!)
..that I may REPENT me of the EVIL WHICH I PLAN TO DO TO THEM (So - God CAN change His mind - NO MATTER what is written! He CAN repent.)
..because of the EVIL OF THEIR DOINGS..
“THAT I MIGHT REPENT OF THE EVIL WHICH I PLANNED TO DO TO THEM”
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord;
IF YOU WILL NOT hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before YOU,5
IF YOU WILL NOT hearken to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I sent unto YOU both rising up early, and sending them’,
(WHO is God speaking to? →HIS OWN. He sends His prophets NOT TO PREACH WEALTH TRANSFERS, NOT TO CALL FOR BOMBS FOR ISRAEL → But to WARN and PROVOKE His OWN people to REPENTANCE..
(but ‘repentance’ is very unpopular messages as you will see.)
‘BUT YE HAVE NOT hearkened’;
(CONSEQUENTLY…)
6 THEN will I make this house [the LORD’s own house] like Shiloh, (a curse - Psalm 78:56 - 64)
AND will make THIS CITY (Jerusalem) a CURSE to ‘all the nations of the earth’. (a ‘curse’ put in 2 different ways for EMPHASIS)
We are seeing the fulfilment of this prophesy now.
Jerusalem is become as a curse to the nations of the earth. The ‘Israel’ supporters wish to say, ‘Jesus said if they hated me they will hate you.’ As if that explains the hatred being built on earth for this iteration of ‘Israel’. But Jerusalem is not hated for following Jesus -who is the man they curse 3 times a day; They are hated for their hypocrisy, and ungodly barbarity.)
INSTEAD OF LISTENING the people wanted to kill the messenger → JEREMIAH.
‘ALL the people were gathered against Jeremiah IN THE HOUSE of the Lord!’ Jeremiah 26:9
Some wiser men among them reminded them what happened to another king, (Hezekiah) when God sent a warning to him through a prophet (Micah) and Hezekiah LISTENED.. So God REPENTED of the evil He had planned.
But another prophet (Orijah) prophesied to another king of Judah (Jehoiakim) who did NOT listen to the prophet (Jehoiakim killed the prophet instead) So, God sent the Nebudchadnezzar against Jerusalem, who took Jehoiakim in chains to Babylon; of whom this Word was pronounced by the same prophet Jeremiah:
BECAUSE JEHOIAKIM DID NOT LISTEN!
‘Therefore thus saith the Lord [speaking] of Jehoiakim king of Judah;
He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: (a curse)
AND his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, (a curse)
AND in the night to the frost.
AND I will punish him and his seed
AND his servants for their iniquity;
AND I will bring upon them,
AND upon the INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM,
AND upon the MEN OF JUDAH, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; (curses)
but they DID NOT LISTEN.’
[Did you see all those ‘ANDs’. The repetitive use of the conjunction ‘and’ in Scripture is a figure of speech named ‘polysyndeton’. It EMPHASIZES what is being warned here.
The EMPHASIS is being put on the RESULT OF GOD’s OWN PEOPLE REFUSING TO LISTEN., FORCING HIM TO SEND HIS RECOMPENSES and PUNISH THEM.
Do read the entirety of Jeremiah 26. It is a passionate record in Scripture that has the anger of a Holy God on full display. And it outlines a very specific provocation - His people that DON’T listen and FORCE Him to do what He does NOT WANT to do.
In Jeremiah 26 God is ANGRY that His own people are not listening to His prophets. The consequences for that unbelief, and disregard are plainly posited in verse 3:
3 IF so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings..’
It is the plaintive plea of a holy God.. “..please listen to me”, He begs.. “and REPENT.. OH PEOPLE if ONLY you would repent, I would NOT Have to DESTROY YOU.”
But Christians be like ‘The only thing that matters is my relationship with Jesus’.
There is NOTHING ELSE that needs to be done - The end is already written’.
“That’s NOT my ministry..” (I’ve heard it all).
And so our nation’s downward spiral continues.. and the slaughter in Gaza continues.. and the weapons of American warfare get shipped overseas, and the MAGA Christians think getting out the vote was ‘all the activism’ they had to do’..
The message of this record in Jeremiah, is that God’s impassioned plea is that His people would listen to Him, and LISTEN to His true prophets, so that the ‘evil’ that He had planned for them, He could repent of, and refrain from performing.
Does that sound to you like the Church has NOTHING TO DO but wait till Christ comes back? Or that our ‘relationship with Jesus’ is ‘all that matters’. (I hear that all the time). That we are NOT responsible for the wicked behavior around us? (I can’t help but wonder how many of the silent ministers turn down donations from their parishioners that work at Raytheon.. or the CIA, or are AIPAC Senators.. or from pharmacists.. and so on).
The Church would do well to read the chapters in the prophesies of Jeremiah that pertain to the United States.
(Do Christians even KNOW that there are many prophetic records that talk about the ‘last Empire’ - the USA? Do they imagine that a nation that has had the influence that we have, in the Last Days - would escape a Biblical profile?)
I realize very few people, in a cross section of this large country, will ever read Jeremiah 50 and 51, and Revelation 18 with the understanding that it is all about the USA; and of those who do - very few will share the information, because as Jeremiah found out himself, it is extremely unpopular to hear that your nation is going down. (Jeremiah tested this theory and nearly lost his life for it, on more than one occasion). It’s much more palatable to preach that the 'left’ is to blame and we can do ‘nothing’ because ‘the end is all written’.
But prophets are called to preach no matter the fallout.
God’s warning to Ezekiel applies - Tell people the truth - if they ignore it, their blood is upon their own head.. If you fail to tell people the truth, their blood is upon yours.
THIS IS WHY I’M TELLING YOU THIS. I don’t want your blood on me.
What amazes me are how many church influencers see themselves as ‘prophets’ except with regard to warning the Church of what God holds against the USA. The subject is ‘untouchable’.
2,500 years ago, Jeremiah prophesied about the United States in [what we know as] chapters 50 and 51. (too long to post here though here’s a sampling:
A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!
how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow,
camp against it round about; let none thereof escape:
recompense her according to her work;
according to all that she hath done, do unto her:
for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
‘ A sword is upon the liars;
AND they shall dote:
a sword is upon her mighty men;
AND they shall be dismayed.
A sword is upon their horses,
AND upon their chariots,
AND upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her;
and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures;
AND they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters;
AND they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images,
AND they are mad upon their idols.’
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved,
AND the cry is heard among the nations.’ Jeremiah 50- various
Then John, by revelation, completed the story of the USA in Revelation 18; a record that came vividly to life, beginning when barak obama promised to ‘fundamentally change America’.. and Christians voted for him like he was sent by God. (Like they just fell in behind Trump). Obama did fundamentally change America; It is unrecognizable.
NOW
We are watching the tailwinds of the burgeoning storm across the nation. Individual US states are suffering, one by one, from afflictions that mirror those perpetrated on other nations for generations. We can check them off..
our water is poisoned,
our air is poisoned,
our soil and food - poisoned..
our offspring.. poisoned,..
children stolen,
and the land thefts have begun with a vengeance.
The last pin to drop will reflect Jeremiah’s metaphor in chapter 50 verse 23 -
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!
how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
Nothing could possible better describe America’s nonstop international bombing campaigns as Jeremiah’s prescient choice of words from 2500 years ago - ‘The hammer of the whole earth.’
Where is the voice of the Church in America recognizing this mirror from the Book?.. the descriptions that nail us to the wall - putting their collective finger on the cause of American troubles?
What will finally stir the silent Church.. from waiting for wealth and a fast track to heaven..
God is saying, as He did to Judah..
‘REPENT.. OH PEOPLE if ONLY you would repent, I would NOT Have to DESTROY YOU.”