“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me… Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:1, 27).

Most of us would agree that this world has gone mad, but we in the USA should consider that many other countries have been experiencing madness as a way of life. What magnifies the insanity here in America is that it is new to us. We have been the land of the free and the home of the brave for many, many years. Love of country has been our badge of honor. Respect for authority (police agencies, for example) has been taught to us by our parents. Respect for others was once ingrained in our psyche. Sexual morality and character-building once existed in our society, as did honesty and justice. Then it all started going south around 1963.

It’s nearly impossible for the younger generation, but for those in their twilight years, the contrast is shocking. The world I remember and the world I see now are as different as two sides of a coin. It’s the same coin, but that’s about it.

The country I love, the one of my birth, is beginning to pay for its rejection of the God of the Bible, and it’s just going to keep getting worse. In my opinion, there is no longer any hope for us as a nation. We have crossed the line, and the wrath of God is coming soon.

However, there is hope, a sure hope, for every believer in Jesus Christ. He told us in the introductory Scriptures above to believe in Him. He said He will give us peace, not the phony peace the world gives, but real peace that works. He told us not to be troubled or afraid. Even though the world is falling apart around our ears, God is faithful to His Word and will not disappoint.

Many Christians are afraid, or at best concerned, but as you trusted Him to save you, also trust Him to be with you in times of trouble. We can rest assured that God is in control. What we are seeing today surprises many of us, but God is not surprised. The world is doing exactly what He told us it would do as the days draw closer to His return. Notice the following words of God and take heart.

“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. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’

“I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

“Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalms 2).

This passage of Scripture is just as relevant to us today as it was to Israel during the days of King David. By the way, did you notice the last sentence, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him?” With that said, let’s take a look at a few Scripture passages in the book of Jeremiah.

Those Who Trust in The Lord

“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Our hope is not in the President of the United States (although I pray the Lord allows him to serve one more term). Our hope is not in Congress; neither is it in a political party. Our hope is in the God of gods, the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

God knows what He is doing. We just need to trust Him. He is divinely orchestrating this fallen world to its own fate. We look around us and see man fighting against man, but the real battle is spiritual. The apostle Paul said:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Does it seem the battle is intensifying? Well, it is because Satan is quickly approaching his last days, and he knows it. I have no idea when the Tribulation will start, but one thing is sure, all the road signs are pointing in that direction. And remember, Jesus removes His bride before His day of wrath (Tribulation) begins.

Understanding these verses and accepting them will help us be just like the trees God speaks about in these verses of Jeremiah 17:8. By the way, He says the same thing in Psalms 1:3.

Those Who Trust in Man

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land'” (Jeremiah 17:5-6).

Those who trust in the Lord do not put their trust in man, but to the contrary, those who do not trust God will depend on man to pull us out of this mess we have created for ourselves.

These dear folks will depend on presidential leaders and Congress to save our bacon. They will believe that politicians and the media are being truthful to us. In other words, they are naïve, to say the least.

The sad thing is the Democrat party is doing everything in their devious might to destroy this country. The same can be said of some Republicans. Will God continue to work through President Trump and Vice President Pence? I pray He does, simply because it tells me anyway that God is delaying His game plan a short while longer so more can be saved.

The point is that those who trust man over God are going to be mightily disappointed. If President Trump does not get a second term, the Democrats will finish what they started with Obama and destroy everything this country has stood for over the last 200 plus years. If President Trump is allowed by God another four-year term, the anti-nationalist Democrats (and some Republicans) will attempt to derail President Trump at every turn, just as they have been doing the last four years.

The Democrats (and some Republicans), the liberal media and others of influence want more than anything to have a one-world government. Guess what? Eventually, that is exactly what they will get. It will be headed by the Antichrist during a time called the Tribulation, all because they trust in man instead of God.

Those Who Trust in The Heart

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

Our county does not have a political problem, or a morality problem, or a justice problem, or a ________ (fill in the blank) problem. Our country has a heart problem that is filled with sin. All these other things are just what flows out from a deceitful and wicked heart.

Only a wicked heart would murder innocent, defenseless little babies. Only a wicked heart would loot, burn, destroy, steal and murder to get their way. Only a wicked heart would be the number one propagator of porn, illicit drugs, sex slave trade and all that is evil in God’s eyes.

Only a deceitful, wicked heart would look us in the eye and purposely lie to us for their own gain while they smile at our gullibility.

Not so … those who trust in the Lord. Satan is having a field day for now, but we know who gets tossed into the lake of fire when the dust settles. No wonder he is fighting so hard. But we have nothing to fear and everything to rejoice about. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will rule with a rod of iron in the end. I close with these verses:

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely…

“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly…” (Revelation 22:12-17, 20a)

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana (1863-1952)

It amazes me, and many of you, I’m sure, how far this country (USA) has strayed from the one and only true God she once confessed. Most of us have forgotten how blessed we have been, from our inception to today.

Before I go any further, I do want to be clear that our country and no other country are on an equal plane with Israel when it comes to the “apple of His eye.” We are not Israel, and to think we have replaced Israel is laughable. Israel is still God’s special people, and He has more discipline and blessings for them. One day, the entire world will respect Israel.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23).

Now that I’ve made that clear, I would like to say that it is most interesting when reading the Bible, particularly God’s dealings with Israel, and notice that many of God’s comments to Israel also fit us. I’m sure it has a lot to do with never learning from history. Mankind seems to have a short memory.

Even though this country is not special along the same lines as Israel, I do believe we are a country originally founded by God for specific purposes: i.e., freedom to worship Him, spreading His Gospel, and supporting Israel in these later years. God brought people from Europe to these shores to provide a home for those who wanted to worship Him in freedom. It is not coincidental that our Constitution has God’s fingerprints on it.

In establishing this country, not everyone was a believer in Jesus Christ, of course, but most were believers in Christ, and most practiced it. As the years progressed, keeping in mind we are a young country, Satan kept picking away at our relationship with God, until today, one wonders, “What happened?!”

The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, is replete with passages that can be applied to us individually and as a nation. By that, I mean that the passage(s) in question may not be directed to us specifically, but there is an application there for us to learn.

My wife and I were reading in the book of Jeremiah the other day, and I kept noticing that while God was talking to Judah specifically, He could have just as easily been looking to us also. Keep in mind that just because God may be talking to someone else, it doesn’t mean we take a break and leave the room. We are to examine ourselves, asking, “How can I learn from this?” I will share just a very few Scripture passages.

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols” (Jeremiah 2:7-8).

In our beginning as a country, God gave our founding fathers virgin territory for our homeland. Our country is composed of many different types of topography. It has kept us, and the world for that matter, fed. It has provided all the fuels we need. It has kept our homeland out of world wars. It has provided all the water we need, and much more.

Is it not true that we have defiled this land by our rejection of our very inheritance from God? Do not most of our clergy mock God by their words and their deeds? Isn’t it true that our legal system has turned sour? And who can deny the rebellion of most of our political leaders against the one true God of the Bible?

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Without a doubt, we as a nation have forsaken the “spring of living water,” which is the Lord Jesus Christ. His words have been removed from the classroom, and any other place the ACLU points their gnarly fingers. False religions have been accepted, of course, and we just make up our own religion as we go … broken cisterns you might say.

“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

“I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

“Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD” (Jeremiah 2:20-22).

Our rejection of God didn’t just happen overnight. It has been building over time. We started out, generally speaking, with men who loved the Bible, respected it and tried to build their lives around it, but gradually over the generations, each generation got lax, then more lax.

From the 20th century onward, we took a nosedive in corrupting ourselves before God. Every vile thought known to man has been allowed to grow and flourish.

We started out with good stock. Today we are so corrupt, the stain of sin cannot be washed off.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

“Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them'” (Jeremiah 2:23-25.

If God sent a prophet today to point a finger at our politicians, the entertainment industry, the judicial system, the educators, the religious crowds, etc., they would continue to confess their love for other gods and deny every word of accusation against them. They would then call for a Senate hearing to condemn the prophet.

However, God says we’re like a she-camel instinctively chasing a mate and like a wild donkey in heat, sniffing the wind, looking for a mate. Their gods won’t have to chase her; she’ll find them, and has done so. In other words, we are neck deep in idolatry but won’t admit it.

“They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

“How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.

“On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned'” (Jeremiah 2:27, 33-35).

Continuing the theme of idolatry, God says we worship everything but Him. However, when we’re in trouble, we run to Him. Remember 9/11?

God continues by saying that we excuse our sins but hold others guilty.

The Lord is telling us today, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

The Old Testament is very relevant to us today. We could save a lot of agony by taking heed.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html