Saturday, March 10, 2007

Blessing or Cursing...Which? It's Our Choice!



"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:..........But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country......." -- Deuteronomy 28:1,2,15,16

The United States is unique in a number of ways, one of which is its origin.

From the beginning when a few settlers migrated here from England and Europe the nation has always had access to God's miraculous revelation, the holy Bible.

Woven into our nation's early historical documents were statements which openly acknowledged God and the need to obey and trust Him. In time this was later confirmed by placing the inscription, "In God We Trust," on the currency and coins of our republic. Leaders in the earlier decades of the republic were not hesitant in speaking out of the need to not only acknowledge God, but to be obedient to Him for the ongoing well being and future survival of the nation.

Deuteronomy 28 in the Bible explicitly defines the conditions for experiencing an abundance of blessings (the full and rewarding life) or an abundance of cursings (the fearful and chaotic life) depending on the choice to obey or disobey God on the collective level.

However, there are objections that Deuteronomy 28 has nothing to do with us -- that it only applies to the Israelite people in a very ancient historical time frame. Really? Then are we to conclude that it doesn't matter whether we listen to God or not on a collective basis as a nation? And are there no consequences whatsoever no matter what our choices may be as it pertains to spiritual, moral and ethical responsibility?

There seems to be a kind of revival of the view of deism from out of times past. That approach may say that there is a God but He doesn't really interact with any facet of His creation! In fact, He resembles a little boy who winds up a toy and then sits back and watches it run down without touching it in the process of the activity. So it makes no difference what we do -- God is just a kind of spectator as to what goes on in this world, in each nation, and in the life of every single human being wherever he or she may live! Yea, sure!

If you dare -- take a slow look at Deuteronomy 28 in which God takes about 4 times as much space to detail the calamities that will come upon the nation for disobedience as He does in describing the blessings for obedience -- in which category is our republic best described -- the blessing side or the cursed side at the present time? And if you were to place a picture of our nation with its leaders and its citizens over one side or the other, which one of those two categories most accurately reflects this nation's present relationship with Almighty God and would be the one most qualified to display such a picture -- the blessing side or the cursed side?

Statistical evidence suggests that the majority of our 300 million citizens couldn't care less one way or another. Obedience to God is definitely not a priority issue!

How about you?

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. -- Psalm 2:1-4

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