“How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.” [1]
“Lamentations! You’re actually going to preach a series of messages from that dark, foreboding book? That’s crazy!” Few messages are preached from this humbling study of national grief. At least that would be my assessment of the portions of the Word we preachers tend to favour for sermonic material, and people seem genuinely perplexed when the possibility of a sermon series from this book is proposed. When you do see a sermon series on Lamentations, it is tacked onto a study of Jeremiah; and it is common to see commentaries on Jeremiah and Lamentations, leaving the impression that the study of this book is an afterthought.
Though there is an absence of familiarity with this book of the Word of God, I fear that many of the nations of the West are going to become acquainted with the subject matter that is presented in this poetic portion of the darker history of Israel. I fear that even in my lifetime, and almost certainly within the lifetime of my children and my grandchildren, the nations in which they live will know genuine, prolonged grief brought upon them through their own determination to reject righteousness. Therefore, I need to get ahead of the situation, preparing those who hear me for what is surely coming. Christians need to get ready for what must surely come, and they need to get ready now.
Canadians have played fast and loose with righteousness, having forgotten God. What else can the True and Living God, the God of All Justice do when the people He has blessed so richly forget Him and ignore His mercy! Thus it is that the neglected book serves as a warning of the pain that must surely attend a nation when God acts, releasing the nation that has been blessed so they may reap the bitter harvest of their own desires.
A DATE WITH DESTINY — Few nations have continued as great powers beyond two hundred years. Societies inevitably pass through stages, progressing as follows:
• from slavery/serfdom to spiritual growth;
• from spiritual growth to courage;
• from courage to liberty;
• from liberty to abundance;
• from abundance to complacency;
• from complacency to apathy;
• from apathy to dependence;
• from dependence to slavery/serfdom.
The stages that are listed are general and approximate, but the progression nevertheless holds throughout history for every great power. Though the timing for the various stages is not fixed, only in a few exceptional circumstances have nations maintained power for longer than two centuries. Egypt, Babylon, Persia. Greece, Rome, France, Britain, and now the United States, two centuries plus or minus a few years appears to be the norm.
I am increasingly certain that North American culture—both Canadian and American—is nearing, if they have not already reached the terminal stage that is listed for a society—and I am assuredly not alone in this assessment. [2] If this assessment is correct, our nation and all North America is facing a definitive slide into slavery/serfdom. Without divine intervention, the immediate future for our nations is anything but bright. For all our technological prowess, it seems as though we are unable to conquer our restless souls; and consequently our society has become a moral/ethical morass. Though my assertion of the need to turn again to worship of the Living God and the necessity of pursuing righteousness will be seen as offensive to many, without a return to pursuing spiritual growth in the Faith of Christ the Lord, we face a dim and frightening future.
But why should I be so concerned at this point in my seventy-seven circuits around the sun? I’m concerned in great measure because I am watching North American culture turn from worship of the Risen Son of God as increasingly people worship their own pleasure and whatever power they can seize. And what is happening in society is mirrored in the Congress of the United States of America and in the Parliament of Canada. Increasingly, these two nations are governed by children focused on seizing power over their opponents while these children enrich themselves. Increasingly, these two nations are governed by politicians while statesmen are excluded. Perhaps this same thing is happening in other nations, but I am aware of these transitions in my adopted home, Canada, and in my natal home, the United States.
One commentator laments, “We accept, even expect, corruption in government. We look to the government to solve our problems. We cancel people’s speech. We cancel people. We have lost our common vision. We have lost our common values. We are arbitrary in enforcing laws. We accept lawlessness if it suits our ends. We allow double standards. We consent to government takings without just compensation. We have accepted a hierarchical system of jurisprudence. We strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. We worship the creation instead of the creator. We allow lies to go unchallenged. We are afraid to speak the truth. We allow men to compete in women’s sports. We prostrate ourselves before the Climate change Gods. We allow government to become an arm to prosecute political foes. We opt for safety over liberty. We abandon our own history and neglect hard fought lessons. We judge people by the color of their skin and reject MLK’s message. We accept false narratives as fact. We have become entitled and want to be taken care of. We form strong opinions based on emotion. We are lazy in our thinking. We scrape to find soldiers. We abandon allies.” [3]
The assessment holds for Canada as surely as it applies to the United States. Culture is experiencing a moral and ethical decline, and the degeneration witnessed throughout society is being transferred to the levers of power in the government. What other conclusion can be drawn when a government Member of Parliament tries to compel an MP of the opposition party to apologise because he used the metaphor “ammunition” when referring to having a convincing argument. Acting without even a pretense of logic, she “felt” the term used was violent language! [4] It is akin to the brouhaha as one American party accuses the presidential candidate of another party threatening a “bloodbath” if he is not elected. [5] Such distortions of what was said and the hysterical responses especially of liberal politicians have become commonplace in recent days to what have been commonly used metaphors for so long as any of us can remember.
Government institutions are weaponised both in America and in Canada. Citizens guilty of nothing other than upsetting politicians are haled into court, their bank accounts seized, and their freedoms infringed at the behest of political power brokers. Elected officials function as if their sole purpose is to pass yet more laws infringing on freedoms of those they are elected to serve while enriching themselves. Corruption appears with increasing frequency as parliamentarians and congressional leaders are exposed for selling out national sovereignty to malign foreign interests for thirty pieces of silver. [6] Such corrupt actions invite divine retribution upon the society that tolerates such acts as surely as smoke travels upward from the fire.
Long years ago, the Prophet from Tekoa confronted Israel, pointing to the loss of stature in the eyes of the nations, pointing to the reversals in the fortunes of the nation, reminding the people of the loss of young men in endless conflicts, and speaking of the way national pride had been dragged in the dirt. Having stated these stark reminders that none could deny, with the voice of the Living God, the prophet warned,
“Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
[AMOS 4:12]
Would that God raised up a prophet with such a voice in this day to warn the society in which we live, for the conditions we are experiencing are every bit as wicked as were the conditions which marked Israel when Amos ventured into the land, speaking with holy boldness and with unwelcomed power as he declared the Word of the Lord.
Israel had risen from a nation of slaves to become a powerful nation enjoying the respect of all the nations around her. When the nation sought the will of the Lord GOD, He blessed the nation, delivering them from their enemies, providing all their needs, giving them worth and standing in the eyes of all the nations round about them. Israel had become powerful and wealthy because God blessed. And when they forgot the Lord GOD, He gave them over into the hands of those who hated them. Israel had grown into the falsehood that they possessed all they held as their due. Proud, arrogant, dismissive of God’s goodness, the nation was confident that they had achieved all they held through their own strength, through their own ingenuity, and they thus deserved all they held.
Long before Israel had forgotten God, Moses warned what would happen even as he reviewed the establishment of the nation. In his final song to the nation, the Great Lawgiver warned,
“[The LORD] found [Israel] in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.”
[DEUTERONOMY 32:10-18]
In the verses that followed, the Spirit of God had guided Moses to describe in detail what would come upon the nation when they forgot Him. The words Moses penned sound much like the words Jeremiah would pen after disaster had befallen the nation.
Blessed beyond anything they deserved, blessed beyond all comparison to other nations, Israel forgot the Lord Who delivered them. Suffused with wealth and powerful beyond anything man could imagine—which wealth and power God had given, Israel assumed they deserved God’s goodness. Moreover, they assured themselves that it was, after all, their strength that had obtained all that now blessed them. They could live as they desired without seriously giving God the glory and honour that was His alone.
Throughout the days Israel wandered in the desert as they moved toward the Land God had promised, Moses repeatedly spoke the Word of the LORD to Israel, warning the nation against falling into the trap of imagining that they had strength or that they possessed what they held because they were deserving. Earlier, Moses had warned, “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God” [DEUTERONOMY 8:11-20].
Wealth is seductive! Power is seductive! Israel assumed that the wealth they enjoyed was due to their strength and ability rather than realising that the Lord had given them resources to be employed to generate wealth, rather than understanding that God had given the youth strength to defend the land, rather than recognising that God had given wisdom to the leaders. Whenever a nation begins to draw the conclusion that they are the reason for their power and for their wealth rather than giving God the glory for what He has done, they will shortly begin to decline in every imaginable measure.
It is a dreadful thing to forget God Who blesses a people. Isaiah charged Judah with forgetting God and with failure to remember “the Rock of your refuge,” and thus the people would experience “grief and incurable pain” [see ISAIAH 17:10 ff.]. Jeremiah would warn the nation that when they turned to gods of their own creation, they could anticipate that the True and Living God would not be available to deliver in the time of trouble that was surely coming [see JEREMIAH 16-18]. Hosea boldly proclaimed that because Israel had forgotten his Maker, fire was coming upon the cities. In the same vein, because Judah had begun to depend upon his own strength, the LORD would devour the strongholds in which the land trusted [see HOSEA 8:7-14].
Among the Psalms of Asaph is one which addresses this very thing. In one dreadful Psalm, Asaph details how Israel forgot God and His blessings, and then rebelled against Him. And though God repeatedly showed mercy and continued blessing them, the people rejected Him repeatedly, until there was nothing left but to deliver the people over to the sword. The account given by the Psalmist is dreadful, and a warning to our own nation. Asaph wrote,
“When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.”
[PSALM 78:59-64]
The lesson is unlearned though the rebellion against God and the exaltation of self is repeated over and over, until there is nothing left but for God to give the people over to what they imagine they want. And the result of God deserting a people is always terrible. Lamentations is an account of a land after God has given the people what they thought they wanted. Lamentations is a warning to that nation that has enjoyed His rich blessing and must now discover what it is to have that blessing withdrawn. Lamentations is a warning to us of the cost of forgetting God. For as surely as smoke ascends upward from the fire, Canada and the United States has forgotten God. The choices of the nation, whether deliberate or through negligence, leave God no choice but to surrender the people to their own desires. And the result of such surrender is always dreadful.
Does the United States deserve judgement? Does Canada deserve judgement? One commentator, looking on the American scene sees the nation as populated with or tolerant of, “A people who will abort babies with no conscience, who will mutilate children for the sexual gratification of perverts, who will exalt child sex-slave pedophilia, who will deny the most basic human trait (gender) for political gain and thereby ruin countless lives, who will turn criminals loose by the thousands on American streets, who will make every effort to destroy their own country by importing millions of people who haven’t been vetted and have no true allegiance to the United States, people whose only goal is their own political power.” [7] This commentator was looking at one major party in the nation as he wrote these words, but his assessment of that party was, in fact, an accurate assessment of conditions in the nation, conditions that are either advocated or tolerated by a majority of the populace in this day!
Let’s be honest with one another. What that man wrote concerning the conditions prevailing in the United States are an accurate assessment of conditions in our own country. And we could add to that assessment that we have a party that is willing to sell out the security of the country for a pittance while hiding the perfidy and is prepared to seize the assets of anyone who objects to the totalitarian acts of the government. These are dire times and the situation reveals a decided and determined arrogance that leads people to assume that the power they have seized will protect them from the divine judgement that must surely come.
WHEN WE FORGET GOD —Israel had forgotten God! Throughout the dark chapters of the Lamentations, Jeremiah charges that Israel had forgotten God. It was worse than merely forgetting, Israel had deliberately turned its back on God. This was neglect with a vengeance. The people had attempted to reduce God to a talisman, a cheap resort good only to enrich them or to bless them when they had no respect for Him. In the attitude of Israe, God was “the little man upstairs.” He had no place in day-to-day life, but when death came, they would acknowledge God, because everyone knew that everyone went to Heaven; God owed them that!
God will not tolerate being despised, either by the pagans or by those who purport to be His people. As Moses prepared to move toward the final days of serving the LORD through leading the people of God, he would put a warning in the form of a song that Israel was to remember. As he made preparation to commit that song to a written form, he penned the words God gave him, writing, “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give” [DEUTERONOMY 31:19-21].
God knew that the blessings bestowed on Israel would lead to growing complacency, then to arrogance, and finally leading them to despising Him. What we should learn from this is that God will not tolerate His people despising Him or treating Him with contempt. Surely that is a dark warning that was delivered to Eli when he would not restrain his own sons. God’s warning, delivered by an unknown prophet, was, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house’” [1 SAMUEL 2:27-31a].
When we forget God, God ignores us. How awful are the consequences when we attempt to relegate God to serve as an accessory to our desires. The Wise Man makes this evident when he cites the words given by the LORD. God warns,
“If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them”
[PROVERBS 1:23-32]
Israel had acted just as God said they would act, and God did to them precisely what He warned He would do. The nation was judged, delivered into the cruel hands of violent, barbarous people who had no respect for God or for those who worshipped Him. The elderly were mistreated, women were brutalised, children were slaughtered or taken captive to serve as slaves. Those who survived the onslaught of the conquerors were left to mourn, heaping dust on their heads, and weeping until there were no more tears.
Does not the treatment of God’s ancient people serve as a warning to the nations of the West, and especially as a warning for Canada and for the United States? Have we enjoyed the blessings of the True and Living God? Has He not delivered us from the horrors of invasion from brutal nations throughout the days we have existed? When we consider the wealth we have enjoyed for many years, is it not evident that our Lord has shown us great mercy? The bountiful harvests of grain, the abundance of foodstuffs available to our people, the plethora of goods that fill the shelves of our multiplied stores, the comfortable houses in which we live, and the luxurious vehicles that populate the highways and streets of the nation provide abundant evidence of God’s goodness to us. And yet we are loathe to honour God as is evident by the fact that our churches sit empty on any given Sunday. We seem able to find ample excuses for why we would rather be at a beach or in the mountains or even in a park rather than in the House of God.
As I read the prayer of Daniel when he confessed the sin of the people and plead for mercy for the nation, I was reminded that it is the presence of God’s holy ones that stay the hand of judgement and continue to plead for mercy. Recall Daniel’s prayer. Reading the Scriptures, the man who worshipped the Lord despite the opposition from many, read of God’s mercies. It prompted him to fast, humbling himself and pleading for God to remember His promises of mercy when the people repented.
This is the prayer Daniel presented. “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name” [DANIEL 9:4-19].
Oh, my, but Daniel told on Israel! He was specific as he recounted the sins of the people, sins committed for a long time. He reached back centuries to expose the rebellious heart of the people and their repeated failures to obey the Lord. He acknowledged that they had no right to claim mercy because all they had experienced was their own fault. And yet, he pleaded for mercy for the nation. And God heard him!
But what happens when the holy remnant ceases to be holy? What happens to the people when there is no follower of the Lord left to plead for them, to seek mercy for them? What happens when the righteous within the land cease to pray for the nation? We see an answer to that dark prospect provided as the Lord speaks through Ezekiel. “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.
“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.
“Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.
“Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness” [EZEKIEL 14:13-20].
What righteous act has our nation performed in the past ten years that you can name? Have our leaders acted righteously to reveal respect for God and for righteousness? Is it good to steal the strength of people to promote an agenda that denies righteousness? Are we acting righteously when we promote killing the weak or urging the elderly to kill themselves? Are we acting righteously when we promote lasciviousness, demanding that all people celebrate wickedness?
Our answer to questions such as these will determine whether the righteous need to pray, pleading with the Lord to show mercy. Our answer will determine whether we have done anything to halt the hand of judgement that must surely come upon us. Whether we give ourselves to fasting and prayer will reveal how serious we are in seeking to turn our nation back from the brink. For if we are not serious enough to confess the sins of our people and plead for mercy for the nation, it stands that there is nothing left but divine judgement. And when that judgement is unleashed, whether in the form of an invasion or in the form of economic reversal or in the form of isolation in the world, the impact on all of us will be awful.
WHEN PRIDE COMES CRASHING DOWN — How far Israel had fallen! The people remembered their prior blessings and what they had lost as they surveyed their current condition. Witness Jeremiah as he reviews the condition of the people, and he laments,
“From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
“Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
all the precious things
that were hers from days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they mocked at her downfall.
“Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans
and turns her face away.
“Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
‘O LORD, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!’”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:6-9]
Here is the tragic issue for Israel: she indeed remembered all her blessings, but as she recalled what had once been hers, the evil of who she had become continually rose before her eyes. She had become filthy through her own choices, and her filth continually condemned her as she recalled what she had given up. The Lord left her to her own devices until at last the enemy triumphed. There was no comforter left for her, and no comfort in her distress.
When I review the society in which I grew to manhood, contrasting that society to the society in which I now live, I am astounded. I can only wonder how long until God says to our culture, “Enough!” We have become so focused on our own desires that we justify sacrificing the children whom God gives us. We promote killing them in the womb, and if we don’t kill them in the womb we ensure their destruction by surrendering them to indoctrination in every imaginable evil through the entertainment we provide. The moral temperature of contemporary society is constantly lowered until we even provide drag queens to read at community story hours meant for toddlers and little children. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we even present salacious acts in the schools. We will hire those same drag queens to school our children in their lawless acts. The manner in which we treat our children recalls the charge God brought against Israel when Ezekiel wrote, “You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them” [EZEKIEL 16:20-21]?
In our schools, we teach our children that they can be any sex they desire, or even any animal they choose to be. If they choose to be a cat, we’ll even provide a litter box for them. We ensure that they have almost insurmountable challenges when over one-third of our children are born into single-parent homes [8], and the divorce rate ensures that the number of youths growing up in single parent homes approaches two-thirds in some communities.
We have set aside an entire month to “celebrate” deviance. And if one should be so crass as to fail to celebrate that one will be censured and he could be cancelled. Heavens forbid that a young person should slam on the brakes in a “pride” crosswalk. The cities have become lawless and the police are restrained so that they do not cause anyone who should be protesting that which is good and decent to feel discomfort. Obviously, our is not a healthy society; we have surrendered to the false god of sexual equality, which warns us that our culture is quickly nearing the point of no return. Watching modern western culture provides an accurate presentation of Paul’s assessment of that society that brings down upon itself divine censure.
Recall the divine assessment of society that has turned from God and from righteousness. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools” [ROMANS 1:18-22].
And this is the reason we need Lamentations. The flame of righteousness is flickering and the faithful are almost resigned to defeat. We are not defeated so long as we find where our Lord is standing and stand there with Him. But it does mean that the people of God must take a stand against that which is wicked and that which has set itself in opposition to godliness. Our stand is not meant to be provocative, though we will be charged as being provocative. We need to hear and heed the admonition given by the Apostle to the Jews.
“Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil” [1 PETER 3:13-17]. I urge the people of God to understand the times, to live righteously, honouring God. The days may appear dark, but even in the darkness, God is still reigning. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] See e.g. Robert Orlando, “America: Are We a Late-Stage Empire,” Townhall, 6 June 2024, https://townhall.com/columnists/robertorlando/2024/06/06/america-are-we-a-late-stage-empire-n2640076, accessed 6 June 2024
[3] Jeff Utsch, “Charting a path away from moral decay and slavery,” Townhall, Jun 10, 2024, https://townhall.com/columnists/jeffutsch/2024/06/10/charting-a-path-away-from-moral-decay-and-slavery-n2640203, accessed 10 June 2024
[4] Quinn Patrick, “Patty Hajdu claims common expression is ‘violent language,’” True North Wire, June 9, 2024, Patty Hajdu claims common expression is “violent language” | True North (tnc.news), accessed 10 June 2024
[5] E.g. Emma Barnett and Jillian Frankel, “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election,” NBC News, March 16, 2024, Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses the election (nbcnews.com), accessed 10 June 2024
[6] E.g. Marieke Walsh, “Ottawa won’t name lawmakers accused of aiding foreign actors,” The Globe and Mail, June 7, 2024; Michael Harris, NSICOP report more than a Pandora’s box of bad news for Canadian democracy,” Hill Times, June 10, 2024, NSICOP report more than a Pandora’s box of bad news for Canadian democracy - The Hill Times, accessed 10 June 2024; Brittany Bernstein, “Ex-Intel Chief James Clapper Says He Doesn’t Regret Signing Hunter Biden Laptop Letter,” National Review, June 8, 2024, James Clapper: Hunter Biden Letter Is Not a Regret | National Review, accessed 10 June 2024
[7] Mark Lewis, “There Is Nothing the Left Will Not Do,” Townhall, June 11, 2024, https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2024/06/11/there-is-nothing-the-left-will-not-do-n2640286, accessed 11 June 2024
[8] “Births to Unmarried Women,” Child Stats, https://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/family2.asp#:~:text=For%20unmarried%20women%20ages%2025–29%2C%20the%20percentage%20of%20births,among%20women%20ages%2030–34., accessed 15 June 2024
