National Crisis

Introduction

The book of Jeremiah is one of the timeliest books in the Bible as far as our national entity is concerned. Conditions existing in Jeremiah’s day parallel the conditions which exist in our own country today. Spiritual apostasy, national degeneration, a departure from divine laws and institutions and the resultant self-destruction characterize both generations. The book of Jeremiah brings out almost every type of principle which leads to national degeneracy and national destruction.

The failure of the Jews, from the standpoint of spiritual, economic, military and social life, will comprise the background for our study. We shall see the principles of freedom by which a national entity functions to the glory of God; also we shall see concepts of personal freedom, divine institutions, the importance of maintaining freedom through the military, and the principles of scar tissue and the emotional revolt of the soul.

We begin at Jeremiah 12, verse 10, where we see that basically no nation can survive without a remnant of those who have a spiritual life.

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns (Jer. 12:10-13a)

Apostate Pastors

The phrase, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,” describes one group of major contributors to the destruction of any nation. This was even understood by Joseph Stalin when, in 1931, he declared that the United States could be conquered without firing a shot. In the development of his concept (a six-point plan), the first paragraph dealt with the neutralization of Bible doctrine in any form and the removal of those who declare Bible doctrine. One of the greatest thrusts in the Communist conspiracy is to influence the clergy. It has always been true that when those who are responsible for the declaration of spiritual truth are neutralized, apostasy moves into a nation.

The National Council of Prophets and Priests. “Many pastors’ refers to the “clergy” in the Southern Kingdom, Judah, which was composed of two organizations, the prophets and the Levitical priesthood. The prophets generally declared the unwritten Word and became writers of Scripture, whereas the priests were responsible for the exegesis of the written Word (Neh. 8:9). However, in this particular case, we find the “national council of prophets and priests” in the antithetical position of destroying the vineyard! They were apostate religious types who were not only opposed to Jeremiah, but to anything which would bring about national prosperity and blessing.

It was this “national council of prophets and priests” who were the plotters and the leaders of a national conspiracy, which had reached its peak under King Zedekiah. As political leaders of the “Egyptian Party,” they were planning to advocate an alliance with Egypt. In so doing, they were diametrically opposed to doctrine, for the Scripture says, “Woe to them who go down to Egypt for help” (Isa. 31:1). They were depending upon man; yet the Bible declares, “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man’ (Jer. 17:5).

Jeremiah, leader of the “Chaldean Party,” reminded King Zedekiah that he had sworn an oath of allegiance to Chaldea and urged him to keep that oath. Zedekiah, a very weak man as well as an opportunist, instead broke with Chaldea and started a revolt which led to the ultimate destruction of the nation. This revolt brought about the Chaldean invasion and an eighteen-month siege.

The Destruction of the Vineyard. “Have destroyed” (Jer. 12:10) is intensified in the Hebrew and indicates that the clergy had already completed their work of destruction. By now it was merely a matter of how the mechanics would be carried out. The Hebrew word here means “to overthrow or to corrupt.” It doesn’t mean that the prophets and priests had actually done the destroying, but that they had corrupted the nation to such an extent that destruction was inevitable. The destruction would

occur when the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem.

“Many pastors have overthrown my vineyard.” The references to the “vine” or the “vineyard” in the Old Testament apply either to nationalism as a principle or to the national entity of the Jews specifically. Isaiah 5:1-5 and Jeremiah 2:21 tell us that the vineyard in this case is the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The product of the vineyard is the grape, which, although it is used in many ways, always depicts happiness and joy, or something pleasant. As a result, the Jews, like all national entities under God’ s plan, were designed to have great happiness and blessing” — a condition which can exist only where divine laws are followed!

“They have trodden my portion under foot” means that the “national council of prophets and priests” had contributed immeasurably to the destruction of the people; this council was responsible. “My portion” is a phrase which means “that which belongs to the Lord,” and indicates that Judah is the Lord’s designed nation. He wants them to be blessed, but they have refused the means by which they could be blessed.

Now, how did the clergy destroy that which belonged to the Lord? Jeremiah 23, a passage which deals entirely with these pastors, describes exactly how the overthrow was accomplished. The Hebrew word for “pastors” in Jeremiah 12:10 is the same word which begins Chapter 23:1: “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture saith the Lord.” “The sheep of my pasture” refers again to the Southern Kingdom of Judah; and those who destroyed it, as we have seen, are the so-called clergy of that day.

Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people (you see, they are feeding false doctrine); Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them (i.e., have not come to them with doctrine): behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord (verse 2).

When, in the name of the Lord, false doctrine is proclaimed on a national scale, the result is inevitably national disintegration. Now in verse 9, Jeremiah is speaking. Jeremiah has a heart or right lobe full of doctrine.

Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness (verse 9).

The activities of the prophets stagger Jeremiah when he views them in the light of God’s plan! “His holiness” refers to God’s justice and righteousness, which have been clearly delineated in the Ten Commandments, the “Magna Carta of Human Freedom,” In setting up His modus operandi for man, God also provided divine institutions in Codex #3 of the Mosaic Law. All of these were designed for the blessing and prosperity of the nation. But how have the Jews responded to God’s grace? Verse 10:

. . . the land is full of adulterers (double entendre for spiritual apostasy as well as adultery); for because of swearing (lying in the courtroom) the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness (desert) are dried up (this is economic disintegration), and their course is evil (national and personal degeneration), and their force is not right (that is, the military is not properly organized).

This is true also of the United States of America today. Over a period of years, the military has gone down, and with it our very hope for national survival and individual human freedom. Where does this degrading and de-emphasis of the military originate? Who is opposed to the military today? The National Council of Churches I Who is opposed to the draft today?

The National Council of Churches! What organization has provided money for men to dodge the draft and go to Canada? The National Council of Churches! Who is for Red China? The National Council of Churches! Who is for socialism? The National Council of Churches! So we are not surprised to see a parallel between the days of Jeremiah and our day.

For both prophet and priest are profane; yea in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways (they are a part of a conspiracy) in the darkness (part of the conspiratorial system): they shall be driven on, and fall therein, (the conspiracy which they are using to overthrow in reality will overthrow them): for I will bring evil upon them (fifth cycle of discipline), even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord (verses 11,12).

The year of their visitation was 586 B.C. when the Chaldeans conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and enslaved the people who survived.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria (the Northern Kingdom); they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err (verse 13). In other words, since this very same pattern had occurred before in the Northern Kingdom, Judah should have learned something from history. The Northern Kingdom had harbored false prophets, and it went down, destroyed under the fifth cycle of discipline in 721 B.C. Now the same thing would happen in the Southern Kingdom.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies. . . (verse 14).

This amplifies the previous verse in which the prophets prophesied in Baal, and refers to the phallic cult, which is a double entendre including both idolatry and adultery. They were involved in the worship of Baal at the Baal sanctuaries.

. .. they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Sodom and Gomorrah were famous for their national degeneracy, manifested by the rise and the tolerance of homosexual activity. Homosexuality is not a disease; it is a sin! (Lev. 18:22-25). It is a vicious evil! It is a sign of degeneracy! Today we face a similar situation: we have people running on the “gay” ticket. I understand they are even going to run someone for the presidency. No nation has ever survived the tolerance of homosexuality!

Changing the Truth. The same principle is found in Romans 1. First of all, there is a rejection of the truth.

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him (God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen (God has always revealed himself), being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart (that is,

the right or dominant lobe) was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (first of all through idolatry). And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:19-23).

Idolatry was merely the manifestation of an underlying problem.

“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. . ..”

Lust generates from the old sin nature with its mental attitude sins, area of weakness, lust pattern and human good. The lust pattern takes over the emotions; and the emotions revolt against the dominant lobe, which contains the frame of reference, memory center, norms and standards and viewpoint. The result is that we actually have an emotional revolt in the soul stated at this particular point: “ .. . to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.” The dishonoring of the bodies and the national degeneration did not occur until Bible doctrine had been rejected!

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie...” (verse 25). What are the mechanics of this? Negative volition toward Bible doctrine puts scar tissue on the “breathing apertures” of the soul; that opens up a vacuum and false (Satanic) doctrine comes in. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. . .” This is exactly what the “national council of prophets and priests” did in Jeremiah’s day, and this is exactly what the National Council of Churches is doing in our country today. Now what happens?

For this cause God gave them up (this is the beginning of the fifth cycle of discipline) unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature (lesbianism): And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet (verses 26,27).

In other words, homosexuality and lesbianism are definitely related to national degeneration. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah followed the same pattern (2 Pet. 2:6-14). Therefore, the Lord warned Judah through Jeremiah:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets who prophesy unto you (these are the false prophets, of course): they make you vain (empty of soul): they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord (Jer. 23:16).

They have from their own imaginations worked up these things!

Peace and the pacifist pastors

They say still unto them that despise me (that is, they despise the Lord), The Lord hath said. Ye shall have peace; and they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart. No evil shall come upon you (the fifth cycle will not come the Chaldeans will not come). (Jer. 23:17).

These people are destructive of a national entity. God has set up a principle: nations will have to fight for freedom until the Millennium (Matt. 10:34). Only then will the swords be turned into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks, and men will learn war no more (Isa. 2:4). So, until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, peace must be fought for on battlefields!

Nations go into slavery when their military fails, and nations maintain their peace when their military succeeds. Strong military establishment is the basis for peace! A nation whose law-abiding citizens are disarmed and whose military establishment is neutralized is a nation on the way into slavery. How did the Jews get into Egyptian slavery in the first place? They lived in Egypt without a military establishment of their own; and when that Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, came to power, there was nothing to hinder their enslavement. The Egyptian army walked unopposed into the strip of Egypt where the Jews lived, and immediately put the whole nation in slavery!

It will always be true that no nation can survive the destruction of its military establishment. A perfect illustration of this is the conquest of Norway by the Germans in World War n. The Germans needed only a few battalions to conquer the entire Norwegian army” a very excellent army made up of good personnel; but Quisling and other high ranking traitors commanded their men to stack arms and surrender. With the military gone, it took only about 48 hours to conquer Norway; then the Norwegians went into slavery to the Nazis immediately. The liberals and the liberal clergy are always the enemy of the military establishment!

For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked His word, and heard it (Jer. 23:18)?

In other words, this is saying: What do these people know about the Scripture? Anyone who understands the Word of God knows that these men are false!

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran (to you): I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied (to you). But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings (verses 21, 22).

I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy (preach) lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed (I have had this great vision from the Lord). How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart (emotional revolt of the soul); which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal (verses 25-27).

Baal worship is a sign of apostasy. What happens when people go apostate? After a period of grace, there will be divine judgment!

Divine judgment

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breath the rock in pieces (verse 29)?

The Fire. There are two different concepts of judgment in this verse — personal and national. Fire is always a symbol of judgment. In this case it is judgment of individuals who reject Jesus Christ as Savior. Every member of the human race is born with an old sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s sin. In addition, we produce personal sins from the sin nature. When Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, all of our sins were poured out on Him and judged. Therefore, since Christ paid the penalty for sin and made salvation available, anyone who rejects Christ will come under judgment. But he will not be judged for his sins! Why not? Because Christ has already been judged for every sin!

What is his judgment, then? There is going to be a resurrection of all unbelievers. They will be brought before the Great White Throne where they will be judged — not for their sins — but for their good deeds. (Rev. 20:11-15). Isaiah 64:6 tells us what God thinks of human good:

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Unbelievers who have rejected God’s grace provision for salvation must face the alternative to grace, which is always judgment. God’s grace provision is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be Saved” (from eternal judgment — Acts 16:31). The judgment for those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior is fire — the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). That is the fire of Jeremiah 23:29.

The Hammer. The hammer also pictures judgment; but whereas fire represents personal judgment, the hammer symbolizes national judgment. Just as God made perfect provision for individuals, so he made perfect provision for national entities. In order to perpetuate nations, He has provided the divine institutions, laws for freedom, laws of free enterprise and economy. When these are rejected, the Word of God becomes a hammer. A hammer is a destructive weapon, an instrument for smashing something else; in this case, it breaks the “rock” in pieces.

The Rock. The “rock” is the Southern Kingdom, or Judah, which went negative to Bible doctrine. And just as Judah was broken in pieces, so today we are violating the principles of survival and therefore are in the process of being broken in pieces! The tragedy is that there may be someone reading this today who is going to be on the “fire” end of the Word of God simply because he has rejected Christ as Savior. This is the greatest tragedy of all: for “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that BELIEVETH NOT the Son shall not see life; but the WRATH OF GOD abideth on him” (John 3:36).

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith (Jer. 23:30,31).

They try to claim that they have a message from God, when in reality they do not. What is said here about the clergy in the day of Jeremiah can be said about a large percentage of the clergy in the United States today. I would estimate that 85 percent of all clergymen in America are apostates. Although some may personally be believers, they represent religion and “cosmos diabolicus.” They are for social action and social reform instead of regeneration; they are breast-beaters; they are “bleeding hearts”; and they are leading us to national destruction! The strongest political organization in this country today is the National Council of Churches; and everyone, from our President on down, is listening to what its leaders have to say. What they have to say, in effect, is national destruction!

If we are going to follow Biblical principles, we must have a strong military, we must have free enterprise, our taxation must be cut down to the basis which is declared by the Word of God. The taxation of industry and the personal income tax we have today are just as grossly unfair and out of line with the Word of God as anything could be. Ten percent is as high as a nation can ever go on income tax and be compatible with the Word of God. Tithing in the Old Testament

was not spiritual giving but a system of income tax.

Everywhere we turn today we find our country falling apart: the drug problem, our system of education with its subjectivity, the psychological and social perversions, are all indications that there is very little time left for us as a free country. We are rapidly on our way to destruction! Therefore, this passage is not only for Jeremiah’s day, but for us today as well. The fifth cycle of discipline can descend on us as surely as it did on Judah!

Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly for- get you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence (Jer. 23:39).

There is the fifth cycle of discipline! And why the fifth cycle? Who started all of this? A liberal, false clergy! Those who departed from the Word of God!

Pastors and preservation

Now back to our passage in Jeremiah 12:10: “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyards’ Please notice, it takes MANY pastors to destroy but only one to keep things going. That is the grace of God! The pastor in our passage is the prophet Jeremiah; and if the people — from King Zedekiah on down had — listened to him, they would have survived. But they were negative to Bible doctrine; and in the time of national crisis the Chaldean invasion the nation went out under the fifth cycle of discipline.

In the days of King Hezekiah, there was a similar national crisis — the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib. In that day, too, God raised up a prophet, Isaiah one man against many false prophets. And because the people responded to the Bible doctrine he taught, their nation was preserved. The same thing was true in the Northern Kingdom in the days of Elijah: one prophet was raised up — one prophet against many prophets; the nation was positive toward doctrine, and national catastrophe was averted.

Our country at this particular time is in the greatest jeopardy it has ever known. You are reading this book today under the principle of freedom: you are free to read or not to read. You are free to be on the golf course this morning or to go to work or to stay home. There is still some measure of privacy in this country. Yet the things that have made this country great, the things that have made it prosperous are all disappearing before our eyes and are being replaced by the very signs of degeneracy which will destroy us from within, and, in turn will result in destruction from without.

The attack upon our nation, which is so devastating at this time, began about 1927 or 1928 when the Russian revolution was beginning to consolidate in its own territory and to think in terms of world conquest By the late 20’s and the early 30’s, it became quite obvious that the Third Internationale, resulting in the Russian Revolution, was going to be a world conquest conspiracy, which has been borne out through the years. As early as 1931 and 1932, Joseph Stalin began to give lectures in the Lenin school of political philosophy on how to conquer the U.S. without firing a shot. Everything that Stalin set up in his six-point plan has been fulfilled in this country except for the actual mechanics of conquest. Today every freedom that we have known is under attack: the freedom of taking in the Word of God, the freedom of owning and possessing firearms, the freedom of conducting one’s business without government interference, and many other freedoms. That is also what we find in Jeremiah, Chapters 11 and 12.

Conspiracy

They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. The spoilers (Chaldeans) are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns (Jer.l2: ll-13a).

“They” refers to the conspirators in Judah. There is both local and national conspiracy. A conspiracy includes three categories: the plot, intrigue and machination. All three were present in Judah at this time.

The Plot. This is a carefully devised plan for the overthrow of authority or establishment. Plotters are usually few in number, brilliant of intellect, warped of mental attitude, and motivated by power lust. The plot group in the conspiracy of Judah was made up of the “brains” of a few people in the Egyptian Party. They were primarily the clergymen and princes in the land, and of course, were negative to doctrine with the inevitable scar tissue and revolt of the soul.

The Jews had a two-party system, designated by their foreign policies. The Egyptian Party, which advocated alliance with Egypt against Chaldea, was liberal both in its theology and in its politics. The people of this party had all the characteristics of the liberals today: they were “doves’ and pacifists. No nation has ever survived the rise of “dove” or the destruction of its military! The other party was the Chaldean Party, and this was the conservative party. The Egyptian Party was led by the “national council of prophets and priests,” while the Chaldean Party was under the leadership of Jeremiah. Both parties were in great opposition to each other.

Intrigue. Intriguers are usually the dupes of their intellectual superiors, the plotters. They are involved in a system of underhanded or petty scheming. There are many people in this category. They are neither Communists nor members of the Communist Party; they are not even necessarily in favor of Communism; but they are socialistic and they are liberal in their views.

These people think that guns should be taken out of the hands of private citizens, that there ought to be more socialism and more relief systems. Such people are mixed up and stupid! They have lost track of common sense. They are sincere; but because of a negative attitude toward doctrine and emotional revolt of the soul, they have no discernment and have become dupes.

Machination. This is a crafty and torturous process of overthrowing the establishment or doing harm to authority. Those involved in machination are generally a petty or superficial peripheral crowd which cause a great deal of trouble. They usually have a personal ax to grind, and their personal ax is more important than Bible doctrine, more important than patriotism or freedom, and more important than the divine institutions. Often you will find people in the “hippie” crowd who belong to this group. Because of some personal problem, they have merged themselves into this insanity of society called

“hippieism,” which is actually a neo-gypsy movement.

“They” in Jeremiah 12:11 actually includes all three categories of conspiracy. “They have made it (the land) desolate.” The word “to make’’ means “to establish”; and since this word is in the perfect tense, it indicates that the plot has now crystallized; the national plot has come into the land! This verb also has a third person, feminine, singular suffix, translated “it,” which refers to Judah as the Lord’s “right woman,” and should be translated “her.”

The application of this passage to us today is obvious. Unlike Jeremiah, who knew when Judah would fall, we, as victims of such a conspiracy, do not know when our country will fall and go into slavery; but just as certainly as you are reading this book, if we continue our present disaster course, this country will be in slavery very shortly. We will suffer military defeat; we will know economic depression; and this country will lose all the freedoms that we have cherished throughout our very brief, but important history!

Desolation

“They have established her a desolation.” In the crystallization of the national conspiracy there is desolation. There are five areas in which this desolation has been established: spiritual, military, economic, social, and in the area of the soul.

The Spiritual Area. In the spiritual area we have the angelic conflict, the issue of the gospel, and the concept of relationship with the Lord. In other words, everything from the concept of salvation to all that God has provided in His plan of grace are included. We have already seen the desolation in the spiritual realm — pastors are destroying the vineyard; they have destroyed a spiritual heritage.

The Jews came out of slavery in 1441 B.C. They had nearly one thousand years of a heritage of freedom and blessing and prosperity based on divine laws and divine standards; yet here is a generation which has on destroyed its own nation. The plotters and the pastors “have established her a desolation.” This is a firmed-up thing; it is already established. They have done it first of all in the spiritual realm through negative volition toward Bible doctrine. But there is also a second realm in which they have done it: the military establishment, which has been discredited.

The Military Area. The regular army of Judah had almost disappeared as a functional organization. Once this happens, there is a divine law that goes into operation: no nation ever survives the destruction of its military establishment. The military establishment is just as necessary to freedom as the Bill of Rights, since it is the military establishment that saves freedom and keeps it in existence. Without the military establishment fighting for freedom, there is no freedom. There is a principle of doctrine found in the Scriptures: armies preserve freedom and armies destroy freedom. The desolation always starts with negative volition toward doctrine. This opens the door for the liberal clergy, and a liberal clergy fosters anti-Biblical peace movements (Jer. 6:14). These peace movements inevitably bring about the destruction of the military. First of all, it is discredited, and then it is finally neutralized as an effective organization.

We are in the process today of destroying the only overt thing that God has designed for our protection. There is no such thing as world peace until Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Jesus Himself said there would be wars and rumors of wars until He returns (Matt. 24:4-7). Therefore, God has set up some divine laws. How does a nation protect its sovereignty and its freedom? One way: through its military establishment! Whenever the military is being discredited, there is a

conspiracy to destroy the nation. You will find the principle throughout the Word of God that once you have freedom, you must maintain it by fighting for it!

Now, some of you are saying, “But people get killed!” Yes, that’s true — people do get killed. Fighting is dangerous! But the objective is to KILL THE ENEMY, not to give him blood plasma and a pat on the back nor to condone riots in favor of him. This country has gone insane. We have given comfort to the enemy; we have preserved the enemy, when we should have wiped him

out. The true concepts are all but gone in our country; and because they are, our freedom is on the line! Unless someone wakes up and reestablishes the military, we have had it!

There is a third area of desolation.

The Economic Area. This is expressed in the first phrase of Jeremiah 12:13: “They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.” The economic principle of Bible doctrine is free enterprise, which is the basis of our prosperity. The great industrialization that met the challenge of World War II was an industry based on free enterprise. What is happening to the great industrial complex of our country today? l will tell you what is happening to it: industry is going to foreign sources of labor because

labor in this country is out of line with the whole system! Furthermore, the concept of free enterprise is being destroyed because the government has its finger in everything and is slowly choking our system of free enterprise. The government has no right to interfere with industry. The government’s only right or duty is to protect industry from encroachment!

“They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.”

How is it possible to put a seed of wheat in the ground and get a thorn? It’s easy: all you have to do is to encourage socialism and government interference with industry. There is no substitute for free enterprise! Where free enterprise is replaced by government control, that country is in trouble. So again, the conspiracy in Jeremiah’s day, as well as in our day, results in economic desolation.

The Social Area. The social conspiracy is probably the most obvious. MEN are scarce, for they are being replaced by males with female souls. Now this is always a sign of degeneracy. Accompanying this, for example, is the “hippie” movement. Much of the hippie movement is characterized by anarchy: you have anti-establishment; you have murder; you have the same type of promiscuity as in the days of the Baal activity in Judah; you have the rise of the racial revolution. All of these factors in social life lead to disintegration.

Basically, this country was designed no matter what your race — to reward ability and hard work. If you are not willing to sweep out a floor for a living in order to survive, then starve 1 (2 Thess. 3:10). There is a divine law which says that economic depression is designed to eliminate the weak or indolent. When cycles of depression occur and people starve to death, as they did in the Northern Kingdom in the days of Elijah, then the people become vigorous again. Out of depression is preserved the vigor of the people.

So we are today in the great social vacuum: heavy on the drugs; little sense of or respect for authority; young people shot down by drug addiction and a gypsy life-style. This is all a part of the social disintegration. It also accounts in part for military failure. It takes great character, courage, training, self-discipline and moral fiber to be successful in battle! The whole thing goes right down to the fifth area of desolation, for the spiritual, military, economic and social revolts are but the result of the desolation in the soul.

The Soul Area. The soul was designed to have relationship with God and with people; but the soul can get out of kilter. If you are negative toward God, and if you reject the principles which God has set up, such as the divine institutions or the Ten Commandments, then your soul will fail to function properly; you will have an emotional revolt in the soul, and you will put scar tissue on the soul.

Your soul has emotions which were designed to respond to the dominant or right lobe. The emotions were meant to be the appreciator of your soul. But, when your emotions start to dominate your thinking, then you have emotional revolt in the soul. This is where the desolation begins. A person in emotional revolt becomes a liberal so far as his concepts of the military and the “downtrodden” are concerned. He gets involved in social action and tries to love everyone. When you start to think like that, your soul is desolate. When you go negative toward God and Bible doctrine, when you get involved in promiscuity, drugs, mental attitude sins, such as hatred, bitterness, jealousy, etc., you will put scar tissue on your soul. Scar tissue means that your fellowship with God is shut down, and your relationship with other people is totally out of phase. A vacuum is created in the soul and false doctrine, human viewpoint and doctrines of demons are all sucked into your soul. This is desolation of soul!

“They (the conspirators) have established her (Judah) a desolation. . .” (Jer. 12:11). Judah has become a pattern of history: no nation survives the loss of its spiritual heritage; no nation survives the neutralization of its military establishment; no nation survives the destruction of free enterprise; no nation survives social disintegration; and no nation can survive the scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul which produce the other four!

The next phrase in the English, “it mourneth unto me,” is literally, “she (Judah) mourns for me.” Even though Judah has gone negative toward Bible doctrine and has rejected God’s principles for the perpetuation of the national entity, she will periodically mourn for the Lord. Of course, after Judah suffers the fifth cycle of discipline, she will mourn perpetually.

“The whole land is made desolate”; or a better translation, “all the land makes itself desolation.” The verb in this phrase is reflexive and indicates that Judah made herself a desolation. Ultimately, every person is responsible for his own decisions because every person has volition. When a person goes negative toward God and Bible doctrine, that person has made a decision from his own free will to do so and therefore has no one but himself to blame when the discipline comes. If

a country becomes desolate, the reason is that the individuals of that country have made it desolate!

A nation which has freedom can use its freedom either to maintain the freedom or to destroy its freedom. God is always on the side which sponsors freedom; but the very existence of freedom means that you have the free will to destroy your own freedom. God has set up all the laws: they include laws of economics, laws of military concepts, laws of social life, and laws

pertaining to spiritual life and the soul.

The very freedoms you have at this time are in the gravest danger! Never before have things been so bad in this country. The problem started with spiritual decline and overflowed into the military; the military decline affects the economy; the economic desolation overflows to the social area, which in turn affects the soul. The only solution to the problem is Bible doctrine!

Recovery

In order for the desolation process to be reversed, there must be a change in the soul. This change in the soul is indicated in the last phrase of verse 11: “because no man layeth it to heart”; or more literally, “because no man establishes it in his heart.” The heart is the dominant part of the soul, the right lobe. In the heart are three things: a memory center with its frame of reference; norms and standards, sometimes called a conscience; and a viewpoint about everything you know.

Now that we know where the change must begin, how is it accomplished? Recovery begins with the principle of eternal salvation: “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be “desolate” (Psa. 34:22). In salvation it is the soul and not the body that is saved (1 Pet. 1:9). The SOUL of the person who believes in Jesus Christ is

given eternal life. “But we are not of them who draw back into perdition; but of them that BELIEVE to the SAVING OF THE SOUL’ (Heb. 10:39). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). Believing is non-meritorious thinking in the heart. Since the heart is the right lobe, not the blood-pumping organ, there is therefore no distinction between a “head belief” and a “heart belief. Thinking is done in the heart, and this is where the recovery begins — in

your thinking!

Once the soul is saved through faith in Jesus Christ, that soul must have food: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Food for the soul is Bible doctrine. Then the soul must be stabilized through the DAILY intake of doctrine through the grace apparatus for perception. Doctrine is taught and is received in the filling of the Holy Spirit into the left lobe, which is a storage place for short-term memory — a staging area. The doctrine must then be transferred BY FAITH (it is not usable unless it is believed) from the left lobe to the human spirit (which is received at the point of salvation) and cycled from the human spirit into the heart (right lobe).

The reason for the decline in Judah was the fact that the people neither took in doctrine nor established it in the heart. It is Bible doctrine in the heart that delivers a people. As long as we have any freedom left, Bible doctrine can be taught; as long as Bible doctrine is taught, it can be taken in; and as long as Bible doctrine is taken in, there is hope for our country. The hope resides in any pulpit in this land where Bible doctrine is taught verse by verse, isagogically, categorically and exegetically. We are in the midst of a national crisis; but we are not without the remedy — BIBLE DOCTRINE!

Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations (Deut. 7:9).

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee (Isa. 54:13, 14).