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THE JUDGEMENT OF AMERICA BY RABBI ESTHER BOUCHER |
Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose G-d is the L-rd.
When our country was fighting for its independence and every sign of the
proposed declaration would be hanged as a traitor. It was a special time of
danger. It was during that time a farmer who lived near the battlefront
approached Washington's camp unheard. Suddenly his ear caught an
earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. On coming nearer, he saw it was
the General, prostrate on his knees in the snow, his cheeks wet with tears.
He was asking G-d for His almighty assistance and guidance, and we
became the mighty independent nation of The United States of America.
People are so used to hearing that America is a blessed nation because
we've been blessed through the centuries. But I ask you for the first time
since America's founding, could G-d be turning His face away from our
nation? Could America be cursed for turning her back on G-d? There are
suddenly no answers for the growing crises besieging our cities, our
government and our society. Crime the homeless, the drug epidemic, the
terrible cost of AIDS, pollution, our national debt, teen rebellion, our foreign
trade imbalance and the economy just baffle a nation that has lost its vision
and purpose. It is increasingly popular to mock G-d in the arts and on T.V.
The righteous are ridiculed. Despite court victories, Christian kids are
blocked from witnessing in the public schools while satanism is given free
reign. In the media, the wicked are lauded. Jesus is portrayed as an
effeminate mystic and comics sneer at the Father and the Holy Spirit.
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses listed the signs of the curse on a people who turn
away from G-d. We need to be reminded of these dreadful signs which
according to VS 15, shall come to pass, if thou will not hearken unto the
voice of the L-rd thy G-d, to observe to do all his commandments. VS 16
Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
America's cities are doomed. Our own magazines have declared them to
be western Beirut's or war zones. Crack is tearing them apart. New York
City, Boston, Chicago are all becoming unlivable. A murder occurs every
five hours, a crime every twenty seconds and it's spreading even to our
smallest towns. VS 17 Cursed shall be the thy basket and thy store. A
curse will fall upon our Gross National Product, banking and reserves
bringing confusion, fear, uncertainty and widespread unemployment. VS 18
Cursed shall be the fruit of they body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of
thy cattle and the flocks of thy sheep. This curse will fall on crops and cattle.
VS 19 & 20 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goes out. The L-rd shall send upon thee cursing, vexation
and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do because of the
wickedness of thy doing. US foreign policy today is in complete disarray.
Our negotiators come home confused upstaged by
Russia and China. We appear befuddled before the whole world. VS 25,
26 States insignificant enemies will shame our armies. Think of the
stalemate of Korea. Our troops fleeing from Vietnam and being chased out
of Lebanon. VS 30 speaks of an
epidemic of divorce. Today the divorce rate has skyrocketed. For each
two marriages formed in America, one marriage ends in divorce. There are
more and more people these days who are chronic divorce victims who may
go through four or five marriages. The divorce rate is up to 700 % since the
turn of the century. VS 31 Warns of a wave of bankruptcies and VS 32 The
loss of a generation of youth. Today in America, we can merely stand by
and watch in horror as drugs and violence swallow up an entire population of
youth.
Over the past three decades we have seen gradual chipping away of
America's deepest and longest-held values. The family is under attach from
feminist denying the legitimacy of motherhood and guardianship of the
home, homo-sexuals and lesbians are waging a violent campaign against
their natural gender, abortion activist are on the attack seeking the right to
destroy the unborn. And American people look on in complacency as
America's children's hero the president admits to immorality.
VS 43 & 44 Speak of becoming a debtor nation rather than a lender and the
prosperity of other nations at our expense. In 1990, the United States of
America was the world's largest debtor nation, with net foreign claims
against our assets standing somewhere between 600 -650 billion dollars.
And we excel in other categories as well. We have the highest rate of
illiteracy of any developed nation, the highest rate of violent crime and
juvenile delinquency; The highest rate of teen pregnancy, the highest rate of
illegal drug use and next only to France and the Soviet Union the highest
rate of alcohol consumption and alcoholism.
Americans have always considered their nation the world's greatest, and
their people the best and brightest. We think of ourselves as winners, but do
we really want to win in all these categories?
When America began blotting out its Christian heritage and defying the G-d
who gave us all that we have, our L-rd turned His fury against this nation.
Look at America today. As a nation, we no longer care about what is right.
It's as if our nation is determined to flaunt what is wrong. On TV, the criterion
is whatever sells. If it's a sneering, soft-porn package of greed and lust, then
that's what is piped into millions of homes. In the record industry, if its
satanism and violent sex that our kids pay for, then that's what is churned out
by the industry and conscience, consumed only in making a fast buck. In the
art world we are bombarded with obscenities direct at all that is sacred.
Crucifixes bottled in wine, paintings of Jesus as a transsexual. In our courts
judges are ordering the removal of crosses, nativity scenes, and biblical
motto's from public buildings and parks. June 25, 1962 the Supreme Court
ruled that state-sponsored prayer could not be said in public classrooms.
June 17, 1963 the court ruled that the Holy Bible could not be read to
students in classrooms. November 17, 1980 the court ruled that the Ten
Commandments could not be posted in the classrooms of America's
schools. June 4, 1984 the court ruled that a moment of silence prior to a
class was unconstitutional if that silence was called prayer. And more
recently they ruled that a state could not mandate the teaching of a course
acknowledging that the origins of life began with a creator. Our courts have
officially insulted Almighty G-d and has effectively taken away from all public
school children any opportunity for even the slightest acknowledgement of
G-d's existence.
In short, over the last 28 years the moral and social fabric of the United
States has been progressively torn apart. Has a watchful G-d given us up?
From the beginning of time, any nation which has allowed itself to fall away
from G-d and to fall into carnality and vice, and to continue willfully in that sin
without national cleansing and repentance, that nation has suffered the
scourge of degradation and disease and eventual destruction.
Despite our flaws, we are still the richest most powerful nation on earth. We
have more innovation, broader markets, a better standard of living, and
greater opportunity than any place else on the globe. America still has a
vast tradition of faith, and the most vibrant and active church life of any
developed country on earth. Christians and the Christian Gospel are the
early warning mechanisms in any society, warning of the perils of rejecting
God's standards and urging moral self-control. Christian people have a
moral duty to speak out against evil, but we must make sure that our hope in
Christ is at least as visible as our condemnation of sin. We have to
proclaim the Kingdom and we have to point people to Jesus as the answer
to the world's problems; then we must demonstrate our own faith in Him
through exemplary living. If G-d's people do not exert maximum effort in
prayer, in evangelism, in education, in the courts, in the media and in
politics, America may reach a point from which it cannot recover. Only God
knows what the future holds for America. G-d's Kingdom will stand whether
or not people abort babies, read pornography or desecrate the flag. G-d's
Kingdom will stand
whether or not homosexuals and AIDS proliferate in our society. For Jesus
everything, especially biblical faith and practice is up for debate, open to
ridicule, and targeted for attack from the demonic forces that would destroy
pure faith in the G-d of the Bible. Increasing numbers of individuals,
congregations, and movements are abandoning long sacred truths in favor
of accommodation to societal pressures for political correctness. An
increasing hedonistic society cannot tolerate a G-d or a faith that makes
demands for conduct based on absolute standards. It is time to rebuild the
biblical foundations. Perversions of the biblical faith must be exposed and
original truths must be restored. The church must be restored to the Hebraic
foundations of faith on which Jesus and the apostles established earliest
Christianity. The spirit that prompted the prophets, teaches and leaders to
rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple following the Babylonian captivity must
now dominate the life of the church. We need an unquenchable passion to
know the G-d of the Bible, experience the renewal of the Holy Spirit that will
lead us into all truth and restore the ancient paths, the good way. The
righteous fully engage in renewal as we await our Messiah and the ultimate
and total restoration of all things. May G-d enable us to stand and build!
Blessed is the nation whose G-d is the L-rd.
When our country was fighting for its independence and every sign of the
proposed declaration would be hanged as a traitor. It was a special time of
danger. It was during that time a farmer who lived near the battlefront
approached Washington's camp unheard. Suddenly his ear caught an
earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. On coming nearer, he saw it was
the General, prostrate on his knees in the snow, his cheeks wet with tears.
He was asking G-d for His almighty assistance and guidance, and we
became the mighty independent nation of The United States of America.
People are so used to hearing that America is a blessed nation because
we've been blessed through the centuries. But I ask you for the first time
since America's founding, could G-d be turning His face away from our
nation? Could America be cursed for turning her back on G-d? There are
suddenly no answers for the growing crises besieging our cities, our
government and our society. Crime the homeless, the drug epidemic, the
terrible cost of AIDS, pollution, our national debt, teen rebellion, our foreign
trade imbalance and the economy just baffle a nation that has lost its vision
and purpose. It is increasingly popular to mock G-d in the arts and on T.V.
The righteous are ridiculed. Despite court victories, Christian kids are
blocked from witnessing in the public schools while satanism is given free
reign. In the media, the wicked are lauded. Jesus is portrayed as an
effeminate mystic and comics sneer at the Father and the Holy Spirit.
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses listed the signs of the curse on a people who turn
away from G-d. We need to be reminded of these dreadful signs which
according to VS 15, shall come to pass, if thou will not hearken unto the
voice of the L-rd thy G-d, to observe to do all his commandments. VS 16
Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
America's cities are doomed. Our own magazines have declared them to
be western Beirut's or war zones. Crack is tearing them apart. New York
City, Boston, Chicago are all becoming unlivable. A murder occurs every
five hours, a crime every twenty seconds and it's spreading even to our
smallest towns. VS 17 Cursed shall be the thy basket and thy store. A
curse will fall upon our Gross National Product, banking and reserves
bringing confusion, fear, uncertainty and widespread unemployment. VS 18
Cursed shall be the fruit of they body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of
thy cattle and the flocks of thy sheep. This curse will fall on crops and cattle.
VS 19 & 20 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goes out. The L-rd shall send upon thee cursing, vexation
and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do because of the
wickedness of thy doing. US foreign policy today is in complete disarray.
Our negotiators come home confused upstaged by
Russia and China. We appear befuddled before the whole world. VS 25,
26 States insignificant enemies will shame our armies. Think of the
stalemate of Korea. Our troops fleeing from Vietnam and being chased out
of Lebanon. VS 30 speaks of an
epidemic of divorce. Today the divorce rate has skyrocketed. For each
two marriages formed in America, one marriage ends in divorce. There are
more and more people these days who are chronic divorce victims who may
go through four or five marriages. The divorce rate is up to 700 % since the
turn of the century. VS 31 Warns of a wave of bankruptcies and VS 32 The
loss of a generation of youth. Today in America, we can merely stand by
and watch in horror as drugs and violence swallow up an entire population of
youth.
Over the past three decades we have seen gradual chipping away of
America's deepest and longest-held values. The family is under attach from
feminist denying the legitimacy of motherhood and guardianship of the
home, homo-sexuals and lesbians are waging a violent campaign against
their natural gender, abortion activist are on the attack seeking the right to
destroy the unborn. And American people look on in complacency as
America's children's hero the president admits to immorality.
VS 43 & 44 Speak of becoming a debtor nation rather than a lender and the
prosperity of other nations at our expense. In 1990, the United States of
America was the world's largest debtor nation, with net foreign claims
against our assets standing somewhere between 600 -650 billion dollars.
And we excel in other categories as well. We have the highest rate of
illiteracy of any developed nation, the highest rate of violent crime and
juvenile delinquency; The highest rate of teen pregnancy, the highest rate of
illegal drug use and next only to France and the Soviet Union the highest
rate of alcohol consumption and alcoholism.
Americans have always considered their nation the world's greatest, and
their people the best and brightest. We think of ourselves as winners, but do
we really want to win in all these categories?
When America began blotting out its Christian heritage and defying the G-d
who gave us all that we have, our L-rd turned His fury against this nation.
Look at America today. As a nation, we no longer care about what is right.
It's as if our nation is determined to flaunt what is wrong. On TV, the criterion
is whatever sells. If it's a sneering, soft-porn package of greed and lust, then
that's what is piped into millions of homes. In the record industry, if its
satanism and violent sex that our kids pay for, then that's what is churned out
by the industry and conscience, consumed only in making a fast buck. In the
art world we are bombarded with obscenities direct at all that is sacred.
Crucifixes bottled in wine, paintings of Jesus as a transsexual. In our courts
judges are ordering the removal of crosses, nativity scenes, and biblical
motto's from public buildings and parks. June 25, 1962 the Supreme Court
ruled that state-sponsored prayer could not be said in public classrooms.
June 17, 1963 the court ruled that the Holy Bible could not be read to
students in classrooms. November 17, 1980 the court ruled that the Ten
Commandments could not be posted in the classrooms of America's
schools. June 4, 1984 the court ruled that a moment of silence prior to a
class was unconstitutional if that silence was called prayer. And more
recently they ruled that a state could not mandate the teaching of a course
acknowledging that the origins of life began with a creator. Our courts have
officially insulted Almighty G-d and has effectively taken away from all public
school children any opportunity for even the slightest acknowledgement of
G-d's existence.
In short, over the last 28 years the moral and social fabric of the United
States has been progressively torn apart. Has a watchful G-d given us up?
From the beginning of time, any nation which has allowed itself to fall away
from G-d and to fall into carnality and vice, and to continue willfully in that sin
without national cleansing and repentance, that nation has suffered the
scourge of degradation and disease and eventual destruction.
Despite our flaws, we are still the richest most powerful nation on earth. We
have more innovation, broader markets, a better standard of living, and
greater opportunity than any place else on the globe. America still has a
vast tradition of faith, and the most vibrant and active church life of any
developed country on earth. Christians and the Christian Gospel are the
early warning mechanisms in any society, warning of the perils of rejecting
God's standards and urging moral self-control. Christian people have a
moral duty to speak out against evil, but we must make sure that our hope in
Christ is at least as visible as our condemnation of sin. We have to
proclaim the Kingdom and we have to point people to Jesus as the answer
to the world's problems; then we must demonstrate our own faith in Him
through exemplary living. If G-d's people do not exert maximum effort in
prayer, in evangelism, in education, in the courts, in the media and in
politics, America may reach a point from which it cannot recover. Only God
knows what the future holds for America. G-d's Kingdom will stand whether
or not people abort babies, read pornography or desecrate the flag. G-d's
Kingdom will stand
whether or not homosexuals and AIDS proliferate in our society. For Jesus
everything, especially biblical faith and practice is up for debate, open to
ridicule, and targeted for attack from the demonic forces that would destroy
pure faith in the G-d of the Bible. Increasing numbers of individuals,
congregations, and movements are abandoning long sacred truths in favor
of accommodation to societal pressures for political correctness. An
increasing hedonistic society cannot tolerate a G-d or a faith that makes
demands for conduct based on absolute standards. It is time to rebuild the
biblical foundations. Perversions of the biblical faith must be exposed and
original truths must be restored. The church must be restored to the Hebraic
foundations of faith on which Jesus and the apostles established earliest
Christianity. The spirit that prompted the prophets, teaches and leaders to
rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple following the Babylonian captivity must
now dominate the life of the church. We need an unquenchable passion to
know the G-d of the Bible, experience the renewal of the Holy Spirit that will
lead us into all truth and restore the ancient paths, the good way. The
righteous fully engage in renewal as we await our Messiah and the ultimate
and total restoration of all things. May G-d enable us to stand and build!
| Ministry of Gates of Praise Ministries, Inc. © Copyright Gates of Praise Ministries 2007/2008 |