God established the nation of Israel to serve as His “light to the Gentiles (goyim–heathen)”–Isaiah 42:6; 69:6; 60:3. The Israelites had been chosen to reflect their Lord in their words, thoughts and deeds. In this way He would be the light shining out of them. Seeing how He blessed Israel for her obedience, the Gentiles would come to Israel’s light (60:20) and become spiritual Israelites by obeying their God. Israel failed by “putting darkness for light and light for darkness,” by “calling evil good and good evil.” Israel soon saw that obeying Satan was more “fun” than obeying God. Therefore she ignored His Words spoken and written by His prophets. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28 and Romans 2:1-10 serve as excellent examples of His sowing and reaping Law. By going her own way she brought God’s promised curses upon herself. He warned her: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight” (Isa. 6:21). Comparing this statement to Revelation 3:14-17 and we see that God said the same thing to Israel’s religious descendants–the end-time (Laodicean) church that is in existence now. Along with the nations housing her, that church is being cursed–again. This comes as no surprise to God’s people. He has sent America and the other “Christian nations” many warnings (curses) over the years, but to no avail.

God preserved the writings of the Old Testament prophets so that we in the last days church could learn from Israel’s mistakes. In Ephesians 2:20 the Apostle Paul states that the New Testament Church was founded on the (teachings/writings) of the PROPHETS and the apostles. In 2 Peter 1:21 the apostle wrote that, “HOLY MEN OF OLD spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” They in turn wrote what they had spoken. Their writings came to be known as the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul wrote that the writings of the prophets were preserved for OUR INSTRUCTION. He defined “our” as those “upon whom the ends of the world have come”–the modern church. Let us examine God’s dealings with our biological and spiritual ancestors to learn what we are to do and not do, as well as the rewards or consequences for the choices we make.

Time and again the Israelites rebelled against the Lord. Each time He would warn them to return to Him by sending curses (woes) upon them. Each time they would repent, God would lift His curse, they would get right and stay right for a season during which He would bless them. Once again they would go their own way. Once again God would curse them and the process would repeat itself. This happened time and time again. The Lord finally gave up on them and sent the Assyrians and Babylonians to defeat them, slaughter them and take the survivors captive. Over time He scattered them among the Gentiles, just as He prophesied He would do as punishment for their sins (Jer. 9:16; 13:24; 18:17; 23:1; 49:32,36). Let us see how God’s dealings with the ancient Israelites tie in with His dealings with professing Christendom and the world in which she exists today.

The Lord’s dealings with religious people anciently and now are at once very similar and very different. The similarity is evidenced by His cursing of Catholics and Protestants (as well as their unchurched counterparts) for following in the footsteps of their ancestors who rejected His Word and substituted their own words.  They, like their modern day counterparts, had a better idea.

The difference between ancient Israel and modern Israel is that anciently the people would return to God each time He punished them, at least for a while. Their modern counterparts in America left God not long after the nation was founded and steadily grew farther and farther away from Him. Instead of getting right with Him following each of His curses, Americans simply created a new religious normal. Eventually the new normal included a new god, a new jesus, new truths, new sabbath, new holidays, etc. which she continues to worship and observe to this day. The latest reaction from God is the Codus-19 curse. Because the difference between the church and the world around her differs only on the cosmetic level, let us examine the “new normal” as it applies to both the church and the American society.

America’s political, medical and religious leaders are assuring us that “this too shall pass” and all will return to normal. Unfortunately, that “normal” in no way resembles God’s concept of “normal” that He established for the early church. The social cheer leaders are right. This crisis will pass and all will be okay. However, this crisis will soon be replaced by another, more destructive and deadly woe. Why? Because the people will have returned to business as usual–their new normal which features the “social gospel” and “social justice” as the society and the church’s major themes. Feeding the poor, etc. has replaced Christ’s commanded ministry as recorded in Matthew 10:7,8: “And as you go, preach, saying ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand,’ heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Because false ministers do not believe God and therefore do not obey His command, they put forth pleasant homilies designed to scratch the ears of their congregations who want to hear “smooth things” and “deceits,” just as the people of Isaiah’s day demanded (Isa. 30:8-11).  God told (tells) His called-out ministers to tell the people why they are having problems and how to prevent future problems.  Satan’s called-our ministers tell his people to trust in their man-made god to bail them out of the problem, and the next one, and the next one ….

What we are experiencing today is “… the beginning of sorrows” prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 24:1-8. More “sorrows” will come. Recall that the proverbist warned: “He who sows sin will receive sorrow” (22:8). America is the world’s greatest sower of sin and sorrow. Her clients are the seven plus billion sinners scattered throughout the earth who, like Americans, have embraced the rider on the white horse who has “conquered (men), is conquering and will continue to conquer” (Rev. 6:1,2). The white horse rider is Satan who has passed himself off as God and has conquered the church world and enslaved her in his false religion known by such names as Christianity, Mohammadism, Hinduism, Zoroasterism, Witchcraft, etc. These congregations all worship, believe and obey the same god–Satan–just as did their ancestors in the Garden of Eden. And just as Adam and Eve “knew” that they could sin and get away with it, “sinners saved by grace” “know” that they, too, can sin and “… will not surely die.” They are told by Satan’s false prophets on his weekly sabbaths that the wages of their sin not death, as God decreed, but rather eternal life as Satan decreed. This is the “truth” they parade into his religious citadels each Sunday to hear. A few days from now they will hear the call of their god and will enter their “safe spaces” knowing that they will not be assaulted by the “sword of the Spirit”–GOD’S HOLY WORD. L.J.