Several Biblical passages can be examined to answer that question. Let’s begin with a passage penned nearly 3500 years ago. The lesson is to remember the LORD for it is He who provides all things.
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and is statutes which I command you today, lest – when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart it lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God…” Deuteronomy 8:11-14
The major point is that God would provide Israel all she could ever dream of having. When the promises came to fruition in their new land they were not to forget the source of their prosperity and blessings.
They were neither to boast nor take credit for anything God had provided.
“ – then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’” Deuteronomy 8:17
Approximately 800 years later, after a history of disobedience, God recounted Israel’s required judgment. Both northern Israel and southern Judah were labeled as harlots because they had committed spiritual adultery against their betrothed.
“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry.’” Ezekiel 23:35
Recall the Hebrew for ‘forgotten’ means ‘to be oblivious to because of lack of attention,’ i.e. a conscious forsaking.
The word ‘lewdness’ means ‘evil’ or ‘wicked,’ while ‘cast’ means ‘to consciously put someone or something away.’
The phrase ‘bear the penalty’ means ‘to accept or carry’ the penalty.
And the word ‘harlotry’ or ‘whoredom’ means metaphorically spiritual adultery and/or idolatry. It also carries the meaning of illegal contact between Israel and other nations. To depend on other nations or coalitions for their safety instead of God was considered to be harlotry.
Harlotry is mentioned throughout the Bible and is summarized in the Book of Revelation where she is called:
“Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” Revelation 17:5
“…she glorified herself and lived luxuriously…for she says in her heart, I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow…” Revelation 18:7
The Bible reveals that the final ten nation confederation (coalition) under the rule of the seventh and final world kingdom will destroy the great harlot.
“And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” Revelation 17:16
Who will miss her the most?
“And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore.” Revelation 18:11
Several questions arise:
Has America also forsaken her God and committed adultery by placing their faith and trust in the system of materialism? Are trade and material things more important to America than her relationship with God? Is America more concerned with transitory things than eternal things? Has America’s value system been transformed to focus on the here and now?
If the answers to the above questions are ‘yes,’ then America has been deceived and been led down the path to harlotry. However, she is not alone.
“For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” Revelation 18:3
The second word in the above passage is ‘all.’
There is much comfort in knowing that a person is not ‘saved’ based on the performance of the nation in which he/she lives. A person is saved with a one-on-one relationship with the Lamb of God. The company of such in this present age is called the ‘church.’
And while many individual people will repent, no nation other than Israel is promised eternal existence as a nation.
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