Don’t Let Go
Today’s Verse and Thought
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6).
The US has only been around for a few minutes compared to the long history of Israel. As we’ve studied the genesis, and development of ancient Israel, we’ve witnessed their constant struggle with faith.
Our nation is no different than Israel
The US was intended to be “One Nation Under God” as Christian values and religion - brought over by the early Puritan pilgrims - was supreme in our early years. But just like Israel, it has greatly declined.
The Pilgrims' Religion
“The Pilgrims were Puritan Separatists who left Leiden, a city of South Holland, in 1620 aboard the Mayflower and colonized Plymouth, New England, home of the Wampanoag Nation.
The Pilgrims' mother church in Leiden was led by John Robinson (1575–1625), an English separatist minister who fled England for the Netherlands in 1609.
The Pilgrims came to North America with hopes of finding greater economic opportunities and dreams of creating a ‘model Christian society.’ ” (Source).
Stats from 1962-2012 (Source)
In 1954, President Eisenhower added the phrase, “Under God,” to the Pledge of Allegiance.(source). The next year on July 11, 1955, he passed a law that, “In God We Trust,” would be stamped into our currency (source). Even though this phrase was technically added to money after the civil war, it became codified in 1955.
The efforts by Eisenhower to shore up our Christian roots seemed to affect Christian popularity - for a very brief moment. President Eisenhower, a Republican, served from 1953 to 1961. By 1962 the decline began.
For the most part, our country has stood on a platform of loose Christian values since its inception. But, just like Israel, we too are shifting. 1961 was the last high point for Christianity in our nation.
As we consider the history of our Jewish rooted faith, we will look at some of the things that may have contributed to our downward spiral, including things that, on the surface, may seem rather innocent or unimportant.
Today’s Question
Bible Study
The book of Judges ends with the story of Samson and Delilah around 1375 BC. Fast forward to the time of Jeremiah the prophet - about 627 BC. During these years, Israel split into the Northern and Southern kingdoms (more on that in the future).
Through the book of Judges, during the time of Joshua, Israel went from being fully committed to God, and His laws, to eventually eroding into paganism, leaving the 12 tribes warring among themselves.
More than 600 years had passed from the time of the Judges to the time of Jeremiah. The Judeans (from the tribe of Judah in Israel) were once again seeking after the gods of Egypt. Jeremiah warned them that God said, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ But they wouldn’t listen.
Here was their reply to Jeremiah when he called them back to God:
“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven* and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” And the women said,“When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”(Jeremiah 44:16-19).
*This title referred to Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess also called Ashtoreth.
By this time in Israels history, they are in full rebellion. The people of Judah, and Israel as a whole, started out so well, and then they went through the cycles of rebellion and repentance, and finally into full worship of pagan gods.
This week, we will look at how Israel declined into full rebellion….
Verses to Explore
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”(Hebrews 6:4-6).
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”(Hebrews 3:12).
Today’s Prayer
Father I pray today for endurance for your people. You have given us two things to do in our time here on earth: we are to love you with all our hearts, mind and soul, and to love everyone else as we would want to be loved. I pray that we keep that in the front of our mind as we go through our day interacting with others - even our enemies - and be a shining the light to the world. Lord God increase our faith. Increase our wisdom. Increase our understanding. Help us Father to stay on this narrow road, under your banner of protection. All glory and honor are yours. Amen❤️