Jeremiah A warning for Americans
By Al Cronkrite The Covenant News ~ July 19, 2006
In about 90 AD, finding refuge from the siege of Jerusalem in the city of Jamnia, after much study and debate, Jewish scholars reportedly compiled the books of what Christians now refer to as the Old Testament. They divided the 39 Books into three categories: The Law, The Prophets, and Writings. The Book of Jeremiah fell into The Prophets while the Book of Lamentations fell into the latter category.
Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah following the destruction of Jerusalem in about 586 BC.
“…..For the Lord has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions; Her little ones have gone away as captives before the adversary. And all her majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion…..” Selected from Lamentations 1:5
The balance of power in our world is in the hands of those who control its wealth and those who control its wealth are in the hands of Satan. Like the dog who saw the bone in his mouth reflected in the water and dropped it hoping to retrieve another, they are seeking to apply their flawed centralism on God’s creation and will ultimately lose what they have while gaining nothing. The result will be accompanied by the deadly, frustrating, chaos that always inhabits the Devil’s projects.
(America) has “sinned greatly she has become an unclean thing. All who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. Her uncleanness was in her skirts;…Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;…The adversary has stretched out his hand over all her precious things….See, O Lord and look, for I am despised.” Excerpted from Lamentations 1:8-11
Though it sits astride the world like a colossus, America is no longer revered as a righteous nation. We have made Japan rich and are in the process of energizing China, but Asians have not forgotten the invasion of the Philippines, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, and the constant meddling of the United States Government.
China is like a grizzly bear cub, interesting to watch as she grows and romps about but she will be dangerous when full gown.
Jeremiah describes the fruits of disobedience, the horror of falling from God’s Grace into God’s wrath. “Better are those slain with the sword than those slain with hunger; for they pine away, being stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women boil their own children; they become food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” Lamentations 4:9-10 (See Deut. 28:53)
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, The One True God, is slow to anger and His wrath does not quickly descend. He gives reasons why His anger fell on Judah, “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by My name and say, ’We are delivered!’ - that you may do all these abominations” Jeremiah 7:9-10
When God’s wrath finally falls there is no recourse, the crimes have been committed and the court is in session, the fate of the nation is no longer in the hands of its government or its people, all power is centered in the Magistrate - will He be merciful or will He exact the maximum retribution? From this Diaspora Israel was restored but from the later one in 70 AD the Magistrate exacted maximum retribution.
God’s wrath has not yet fallen on America but the black cloud that accompanies it can be seen over the horizon and there is naught to retard its progress. Yes, there are many Christians in our nation but like ancient Israel their leaders have led them astray and they have become weak and ineffective. We are a nation that claims to be 70 percent Christian, governed by leaders who are at least 70 percent pagan and the 70 percent who claim to be Christian are largely responsible for the election of the 70 percent who are pagan.
I have received several responses from my essay “Conniving to Win” referring to John Lofton’s challenge to my stand against the two major political parties claiming that I misinterpreted Pastor Morecraft’s statement and that righteous candidates running as Republicans are free from the evil of the vehicle of their choice.
John Lofton is a Christian bulldog, a scholar, editor, and fierce polemic. I admire his willingness to confront error wherever he finds it. He has been a mentor to me in the past. However, he only claims to be a “recovering Republican” and appears to have a way to go.
I believe the Republican Party has been responsible for a massive, long lasting deception that has contributed substantially to America’s slide into debauchery and the evil clutches of one world government. This deception has been exacerbated by the complicity of Christian leaders, voters and candidates who have been willing to lend it some measure of support in order to win elections.
The current Bush Administration offers a perfect example. Claiming Jesus Christ as his hero President Bush garnered the naïve support of many of America’s most popular and powerful Christian leaders. Many of his supporters are Dispensationalists willing to put up with a host of other evils in order to garner support for the illegitimate nation of Israel; others believe President Bush deserves their support because he is a Christian. There are many like Pastor Morecraft who are willing to overlook blatant wickedness in order to sit at the poker table.
Consider the plight of Republican Congressman Ron Paul. Representative Paul may be the only congressman out of 435 who consistently abides by the dictates of our Constitution. His internet page contains no list of influential committees or powerful offices. He may have the respect of his fellow legislators but his Republican cohorts prevent him from exerting substantive sway.
How about the fruit being produced by the Christian President supporters of Republicanism have elected and continue to support. Fifty-one year old angry female, Susan Fassanella provides an extensive list.
It is an amazement to me that any Christian would dare maintain even the most remote association with such skullduggery!
John Lofton posted this version of Joe Morecraft’s statement, “From our church we have two men in the state legislature of Georgia. They ran in the Republican Party. There was no way, humanly speaking, they could get elected otherwise. And one of them particularly is very effective, so I think that it’s not sinful to vote Republican. I don’t think it’s sinful to be a member of the Republican Party. I don’t even know that it’s sinful to be a member of the Democratic Party [though] I am rather squeamish on that. But Larry McDonald, remember, was a Democrat.”
Pastor Morecraft relates that two of his laymen have already been elected to the state legislature in Georgia and justifies their Republican Party vehicle with “there was no way ,humanly speaking, they could get elected otherwise”. In this statement he seems to offer a veiled apology for their party affiliation but then quickly uses their effectiveness as justification for membership in the Republican Party and maybe even, though he is not quite sure, the Democratic Party.
In the secular world the end justifies the means. In previous writings, I have contended that in God’s Kingdom the reverse is true; the means must justify the end. I am maintaining that righteousness is its own reward being not only blessed by the act itself but by the blessing of Almighty God as well! America is too far gone to find redemption from human endeavor, if that was ever really possible. If we do not acquire God’s blessing through our own righteous behavior we will never succeed at saving our nation.
The Constitution Party is in disarray over a recent vote in Tampa, Florida that sustained the membership of the State of Nevada in spite of the fact that the Nevada affiliate is on record as approving abortion in cases of rape. Incest, jeopardy to the life of the mother, and fetal deformity.
Unfortunately, the party I supported in the last presidential election has determined that a big tent approach is the winning way to go and is willing to make pragmatic compromises.
One of the reasons I supported the Constitution Party was the past association of Howard Phillips with the late Dr. Rousas Rushdoony. It appears that Mr. Phillips needs to be reminded of a core tenet of Dr. Rushdoony’s theology; “there can be no tolerance in a law-system for another religion. Toleration is a device used to introduce a new law-system as a prelude to a new intolerance….Every law-system must maintain its existence by hostility to every other law-system and to alien religious foundations or else it commits suicide.” The desire to win, personal obligations, and party bi-laws must be subordinated to supporting the only legal system that can return peace and order to our society. We need to get our priorities in order!
Tolerating the pernicious legal ambiguity of the Republican Party, at any level, is worse than tolerating the seemingly insignificant exceptions to a ban on abortion; both involve alien religions.
The perennial battle between the two major political parties is beginning to heat up. I watched Kevin McCullough, writer and talk show host, on C-Span speaking with authority and with large amounts of truth about the evil programs of Liberals which he had included in his recent book entitled “The Musclehead Revolution”. I could agree with much of what Mr. McCullough said.
McCullough claims to be an Evangelical Christian but his speech was 100 percent partisan Republican with Christianity an incidental add-on.
Basically, I do not like political parties of any sort. However, since they are a fact of life, it seems to me that Christians should put their Christianity far above their political affiliation and that all political decisions should ignore political parties and be made on the basis of the legal standards God has given us in His Word.
The battle should not be between Republicans and Democrats or Conservatives and Liberals; but as always between good and evil.
Supporting or consorting with the Republican Party is liking having a little sex before marriage; it feels good, everyone else is doing it, it offers an opportunity to test the waters, and it might make one more popular with peers. Both actions contaminate the perpetrator, defy the Creator, and fail to produce the intended result.
It is my position that both major political parties are hopelessly vile and the no progress will be made in gaining obedience to the Constitution or to God’s Law until Christians exit both and support candidates from entities that promise righteous reform.
I selected the Book of Lamentations with which to begin this essay because if Americans continue to play the harlot with compromises, if they fail to seek God’s face and obey His Mandates, we will soon bring on ourselves the same lament recorded by the Crying Prophet.