HEEDING THE WARNINGS OF JEREMIAH

During the chaotic aftermath of September 11, 2001, Anne Graham Lotz, evangelist Billy Graham’s second daughter, appeared via satellite on CBS’ The Early Show and discussed with Jane Clayson the role God played in the events of September 11:
I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection.

Considering the lessons provided by the Book of Jeremiah, Ms. Lotz assessment of God’s hand in the September 11 atrocity is considerably tame. The Book of Jeremiah is a resounding warning to those who would turn their backs on God. Our God is a jealous God; not only will he remove his hand of blessing and protection, he can encourage the forces that will take us down.

As much as our God loves us, he will not spare us grief and pain if we continually accept his blessings but take our gratitude and spiritual business somewhere else. There are a number of elements surrounding the state of America in the decades leading up to the September 11 attacks which parallel, exactly, the state of affairs in Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel in the years leading up to the invasion and conquest by Babylon. Jeremiah’s theme is the inescapability of God’s judgement on an unrepentant people.

Judah had forsaken God for other idols. They had sought fulfilment in the idolatrous things of the world; while believing false prophets’ claims that they were going to be blessed by God despite this behaviour. Compare this with the U.S.A over the last thirty years.

“God Save America” is the great appeal of their National Anthem, and yet a quick overview of the last few decades beckons the reply “why should He ?” America was originally colonized by a deeply spiritual people (the pilgrims / quakers etc) escaping religious persecution in their homeland (Great Britain and Western Europe), just as the Hebrews escaped persecution by the Egyptians by fleeing to the promised land (Jeremiah 2:6-7). America became a haven for the spiritually and politically oppressed refugees of the world and by the twentieth century it was the major centre of Christian revival world-wide.

Yet, over the last thirty years we have seen God’s influence in the affairs of the American people diminish dramatically. In the years after the second world war, God’s influence in American affairs could be readily witnessed in fashion, family values, and popular culture. With the advent of television, the 1950’s and 1960’s abounded with television shows upholding the value of the nuclear family, and christian values generally. Shows like Ozzie and Harriet, and Dobie Gillis in the late 1950’s, and the Patty Duke Show, the Dick Van Dyke Show, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, and even the Munsters and Addams Family in the 1960’s and of course the Brady Bunch in the early 1970’s all promoted the sanctity of marriage, and the importance of a funfilled and fulfilling family life.

Compare this to popular television of the beginning of the Twenty first century. This is characterised by such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Charmed; depicting the joys of demonic possession, and the advantages to be had by immersion in the occult. Popular culture is now defined by hedonism; that infamous slogan from the post-vietnam world : “If it feels good do it!”.

Just as the Hebrews got impatient and frustrated with God’s insistence that they wander around in the desert for forty years, and turned to idolatry and promiscuity in defiance of God’s will. The sexual revolution of the 1970’s was a direct rejection of established authority by the younger generation. The rights of the individual began to be held high above the rights of both the community generally, and the family (especially children) specifically.

If we can believe the theory that trends in Australian society are a comparatively mild version of similar trends in the U.S.A., the world certainly has something to worry about.
These figures bear repeating : in Australia today one in every two marriages end in divorce, and in 1998 only one in two pregnancies in Australia resulted in a live birth. This has stemmed directly from the counter culture that arose from the anti-vietnam sentiment of the early 1970’s. Compare it to the world of Jeremiah.

In the generations after King David and the reign of his son Solomon, the Jews quickly fell from God’s grace. While still bathing in the benefits of Israel’s “Golden Age”, they followed their old pattern of rebelling against the faith of their forefathers. They rebelled for either of two, diametrically opposed reasons. Either things were so good that they got apathetic and blasé about God, deciding to take the glory for his blessings on themselves, or things were so bad that they felt vengeful and blameful towards God for their suffering.

Either way, the commitment God was so vehemently seeking from them was never truly realized, as they repeatedly surrendered their faith and worship of Him in favour of the hedonistic practices encouraged by the worship of false idols;
(Jer.2:11) Has a nation ever changed it’s god? (Yet they are not god’s at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.
The more one studies the Book of Jeremiah the more disturbing the similarities between Jeremiah’s Judah, and our U.S influenced culture become.

Nowhere is this similarity more disturbing than in Chapter four of the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah outlines the way for Judah to avert the totality of the impending disaster by submitting to a complete moral renewal, committing themselves to God’s righteousness and truth. Jeremiah’s efforts, however, are severely undermined by Jewish priests speaking false prophecy’s of ongoing peace, prosperity and God’s continued blessing.

Compare this to the Church today. The prosperity doctrine, that is so popular among wealthy pentecostal churches, and would–be wealthy pastors, is effectively “fleecing” many congregations of their hard-earned tithe world-wide. Simultaneously enhancing the apparent wealth of the individual church and the Senior Pastor alike, while promoting the belief that “if you ain’t rich – you ain’t saved”. A complete contradiction (and misinterpretation) of what Jesus was all about. Not to mention the Churches that are worshipping God, while encouraging (or at least tolerating) homosexuality and immorality as well as greed.

Despite the repeated warnings of Jeremiah to the people of Judah and their leadership, Judah failed to soften their position to the Lord and suffered the horrible (but hardly unforetold) consequences. What more warning do we need?