 Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; Note: This is a re-post from a blog I wrote in 2016. I had no idea then how soon God would act. So now I have to ask the question - is COVID19 a warning shot to the church? It is apparent many church leaders and many Christians have not passed this test from God. Instead, they have been demanding their "rights" over the welfare of others. Jeremiah was a prophet sent to the priests and religious leaders of his day to warn them of God's impending judgement. He urged them to repent. It is alarming to me how quickly God acted after I wrote this (just four years).
Today I am in chapter six of Jeremiah. I have found this study fascinating because even though it is about the Jewish people and a warning from God to them that judgement was coming, I can see acute similarities between our world and theirs.
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 I was about to finish up chapter five of Jeremiah when something caught my eye. Maybe it was because I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed lately by all the corruption in government. The news stories I've been hearing left me asking the age-old question, "Why do the wicked prosper?"
So I asked the Lord that question, and he immediately showed me the verses below and a few more verses that have made me realize that while those in powerful positions think they can get away with anything, they really can't. Ultimately, they all will answer to God one day. In my last post about Jeremiah, I discovered what God had to say about religious leaders who taught false doctrines and practised deceit. But the Lord wanted to answer my question about the wicked in government before I moved on, and this is what He showed me:  I’ve been studying the book of Jeremiah and landed on chapter five today, and it struck me how similar the times of today are to what Jeremiah and his people went through. For example, in this chapter’s opening, God tells him to go throughout Jerusalem's streets to look for an honest man, someone who speaks the truth and executes justice. If Jeremiah finds such a man, God will pardon the people. Like Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s time, the people had once again descended into immorality. Their worship of God was forsaken in exchange for the lusts of the flesh. God was openly mocked, and even those in charge of the people's spiritual well-being had fallen away. They now worshipped false gods, and in this chapter, the Lord reveals to Jeremiah his plans for Israel. It would be their defining moment in history because God’s plans for Israel included the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. He sent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who would keep them captive in his land for seventy years.
 “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26, NKJV) The above verse is probably the most familiar in the Bible. On Sunday mornings in many churches, it is the final benediction or blessing before people leave the service. On the Sabbath (Saturday) in synagogues around the world, this particular blessing is also used as a way to end the service. However, it doesn't stop there but is also carried on into the home. For example, when the Sabbath starts on Friday night, parents say this blessing over their children. Today, Jews who are in attendance for morning prayers will have this blessing said over them by the rabbis.
 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord (Jeremiah 3:6-10, NKJV). In Jeremiah 3:6-10, we see the sin Israel committed. We also see God calling Israel to return to Him. When she didn’t, her sister Judah followed her into sin. So, God cut Israel off from His presence. This is something the USA and Canada should heed. Both countries have banned God from schools, the marketplace and from the halls of government. And the U.K. has also decided that God doesn’t matter. U.K. judge is calling for Britain to be systematically de-Christianized. When you stop honouring God and remove all traces of Him from life, the end result will not be good, and Israel is the perfect example of how devastating that can be.
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