What Brings Mercy to a Nation?

“Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11, NASB 1995 edition)

These are the words of God spoken through the prophet Ezekiel as found Chapter 33, verse 11. They were spoken in the early sixth century B.C. in ancient Babylon to Jewish exiles there and Jews still in the homeland of Judah. These words could just as easily be addressed to the people of the United States of America, considering where we are today as a nation. Ezekiel was commissioned by God as a prophet and appointed by Him to be a watchman for the people of Israel. The role of the watchman was to blow a trumpet or ran’s horn to sound the alarm at the approach of an enemy to the city the watchman was to guard. When the trumpet was sounded, the people of the city would be alerted to prepare for battle. It’s occurred to me that I’m putting the shofar (ram’s horn) to my lips by writing this essay and sounding a warning to the people of the USA to be on guard against an enemy that threatens all of us. It’s a spiritual enemy, not a political one.

Ezekiel’s task was to warn the Jews in both places that if they didn’t repent of their wickedness, they would face the judgement of God against them in the form of the Babylonian army invading Judah, destroying Jerusalem, and leveling the temple which the Jews placed their trust in as an object of worship they believed protected them from destruction. The Jews of that day commonly said, “As long as we have the temple in Jerusalem, no enemy can defeat us.” They were about to learn otherwise even as King Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldean army lay siege to Jerusalem, causing starvation, and ultimately, collapse of the city, and the capture of Judah’s king, Zedekiah. The palaces, homes, and the temple were all burned to the ground, and the city was left a heap of ruins.

The message that God gave to the people of Judah was this: “In repentance and trust will you find salvation. I take no delight in watching my children suffer and die. But I can’t tolerate sin, especially the idol worship that pervades the land I gave you. If you refuse to stop worshipping other gods besides me, I have no choice but to let the Babylonians destroy the temple and the nation, taking your objects of worship away from you. That’s why I’m calling upon you, Israel, to turn. Turn away from your sins! That is repentance, and that’s what opens the door to forgiveness and mercy from Me. Don’t think your army, your leaders, or your temple will save you from the Babylonians. I will let them destroy all of these if you do not repent of your idolatry, thievery, lying, covetousness, immorality, sorcery, bribery, extortion, and murder. So why will you die, Israel? Repent and find my grace, healing, and redemption. I don’t desire to destroy you. I love you and want to save you.”

I hear the same kind of message coming from God to the USA. God may be saying to us today “I have made you the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. I have provided you with riches, honor, glory and power the world has never seen. But you are squandering it all by setting up false gods that you worship instead of Me. And you think I’m going to continue to bless and bless you with everything you could ever want as a people, when you’re letting your whole culture turn against me and lead you to worship the planet, the stars, and demonic spirits who incite you to do evil?

Some of you Americans resort to astrology, psychic readings, and sorcery to try to learn what the future holds for you,” says God. “You even teach your children witchcraft and how to cast spells on people to try to influence or control their thought processes and behavior. This is done in order to move the nation in the direction you want it to go: to be a nation in which people embrace as good what I call abominations. My penalties for these things are severe, and you need to take heed,” says the Almighty.

“Others of you like to live by your loins,” says God. “Anything that brings you sexual excitement or pleasure you go for and engage in, regardless of who it’s with or in what form it takes. I gave you the gift of sex to enjoy and revel in within the context of marriage between one man and one woman. But you have taken My gift and turned it into either a cheap, consumer commodity, or a flagrant perversion of everything I intended sex to be. Do you think I will bless you for this? No, My harshest judgement is coming against the abuse of what I made to be beautiful because you have turned it into that which twists, exploits, and ruins lives instead of enhancing them,” says the Lord God.

“Still others of you Americans have made this planet called Earth your god or goddess that you worship, and you consort with demonic spirits you envision existing in trees, plants, animals, and rivers. You live in fear of the destruction of Earth, and so you join with scientists and politicians who push Marxism as the answer to everything and call for the massive reduction of the human population by whatever means necessary. In other words, you believe in mass genocide against your fellow humans to achieve a level of “sustainability” as you call it. You blame climate change, violent storms, drought, and other disasters on overpopulation. So, that begs an obvious question: Who dies? Will it be people of a certain race, certain ethnicities, all religious people, or everybody over the age of 75? You fear destruction of the earth because you have abandoned all faith and trust in Me, the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. For this, your worst fears will be realized when My seven vials of wrath I foretold in the book of Revelation will be poured out,” says the Almighty.

“Others of you Americans,” says God, “have made fame and celebrity your false god. You want to become well-known for something. You want to be influencers, having an impact on what other people say, think, or do by what you do or say. You don’t seem to realize that when you influence other people for good or for evil, you bear responsibility for the results of what you’ve done, what you’ve advocated, or what you’ve incited or induced other people to do. Know that becoming a celebrity and person of influence carries a high price, one that could end up claiming everything that you are and destroying you,” says our Holy God.

“Others of you Americans believe you’re on the right side of everything, because of the political party you affiliate with, or because you believe that being patriotic is a form of godliness, or that simply upholding the U.S. Constitution will keep your country on the right path. Some of you even go as far as asserting that the Bill of Rights came from the Ten Commandments, and that the constitution was all but divinely inspired. As the one Who raises up governments and tears them down, let me set the record straight. My commandment to not make graven images or physical likenesses of anything in heaven or earth as objects of worship has no connection whatsoever with the right to bear arms, unless you see your rifle as that which saves you. Likewise, my commandment to keep the Sabbath holy has no bearing on due process. To put your constitution on a par with Scripture is to turn it into an idol. Likewise, to see political candidates, parties or the work of political action committees as the only hope for your nation’s future is to make politics into an idol. I will as surely judge you for this as I will for all the other sins mentioned,” says God.

“My word to you is this: Repent of your sins, turn to me in faith and trust through the blood of My Son, Jesus Christ, Who I gave up for you, and find mercy and forgiveness. I have no desire to destroy you, America, because I love you, but you may leave me no choice if you don’t turn from your idols and evil ways. It is only in Me, not in politics or anything else, that you will find hope for the future, love that brings true unity when everything else seems to divide you, and peace that transcends all national accords and your very human understanding. Why will you die, America? Come to Me, through faith in Jesus, and I will make everything right,” says the Almighty, Holy, Sovereign God.