The Decline of Our Country 1 Kings 12:16 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Israel started out as a country established on the truth of God’s words. Likewise, the USA was established on God’s truth. As Israel fell away from God and his truth, the Lord backed away from them until they were eventually destroyed. The same thing is happening in the USA. Just notice these similarities:
Division within the country – spilt kingdoms [1 Ki 12:16]. The divide between Israel and Judah was so bad that they fought against each other and even made alliances with their enemies to join them in the fight against each other [i.e., 1 Ki 15:16-19]. America is a country divided. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
Conspiracies against the leaders – 2 Ki 12:20, 14:19, 15:10, 15:25, 15:30, etc. There are accusations and rumors of conspiracies during elections to sway the election toward one of the candidates.
Shedding of innocent blood – 2 Ki 21:16. Manasseh was the worst of the kings when it came to shedding innocent blood [2 Ki 21:16; 24:3-4]. The blood of the innocent children slain by abortion must surely cry to the Lord as Abel’s did.
Shrinking military strength – 2 Chr 13:3 in Judah Abijah had 400,000 against 800,000 in Israel under Jeroboam. In 2 Chr 13:17, there were 500,000 casualties in Israel. In 2 Chr 14:8 Asa had an army of 580,000 against 1,000,000 Ethiopians under Zerah. In 2 Chr 17:14-18 Jehoshaphat had an army of 1,160,000. God defeated their enemies every time they fought. Look what happened in Israel by the time Ahab, Jehoshaphat’s contemporary, fought the Syrians. His army was like two little flocks of kids [1 Ki 20:27].
Declining economy – in 2 Chr 17:12-13, during Jehoshaphat’s reign, Judah had a robust economy. By the time of Hezekiah’s reign [2 Ki 18:13-16], the economy and the military were so weakened that Judah couldn’t defend itself against the Assyrians and Hezekiah had to cut the gold off the doors and pillars of the temple to pay the portion of the tribute that was due in gold [the amount was less than 1/20th of the amount of gold that came to Solomon in just one year].
Large payments to foreign countries – as in 2 Ki 23:33. This called tribute; some characterize our payment to Iran as ransom. Nevertheless, you have to ask yourself the question, “What in the world was that for?”
Ungodly statutes – statutes of the heathen [2 Ki 17:8]. The legislation in this country that legalizes immorality and sins that cause the minds of people to be reprobate [Rom 1:20-32] because they do not like to retain God in their knowledge have ruined and will ruin this country. According to Lev 18:24-25 it is for these same sins which are now legal that the Canaanites were driven out of their land by Israel. And it is for these same sins that Judah was driven out by the Chaldeans.
Provocation of the Lord – 2 Ki 17:11. When you read and believe the Bible, you get to know the Lord. Surely that the Lord is angry with our country right now [Ps 9:17; Prov 6:16-19].
Fear of other gods – 2 Ki 17:7. In no way, shape or form is Allah the same as the God of the Bible. You continually hear statements about our country’s shift to give preference to Allah over the God of the Bible. When Israel did this, God turned against them. The last thing in the world that we need is the Lord against us because we have turned against the Lord.
Conclusion: As a result of these things, Judah was attacked repeatedly and eventually destroyed [2 Ki 24-25]. Whereas God had intervened to defend Judah against her enemies in times past, at the end, the Lord directed her enemies to fight against her and win. When God becomes an enemy of the country that he has formerly blessed, the devastation is shocking even to the other nations who witness it.