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In this article, I am going to say something which may quite possibly shock some of my readers. Well, at least those of you whose spiritual discernment has been dulled for whatever the reasons. However, before I say it, allow me to share some pertinent Bible verses with you:

"For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."


"Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."


"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:"


"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down . . . And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."


In the previous verses, we see a very serious warning being issued, as well as what would be the result of not heeding the warning which was being given. As I point out in some of my other articles, while God's true Prophets -- Jeremiah and Jesus in this particular case -- warned their listeners of coming doom, severe judgment and chastisement and destruction from the Lord due to their rebellion and unbelief, the false prophets and greedy priests continuously lied and preached the exact opposite to the people.

They basically said, "Oh, no. Don't you folks worry one bit. We see nothing but peace, safety and great prosperity on the horizon. Everything is going to be just great!" In fact, as I have pointed out before, they hated the Prophet Jeremiah so much that they called him a liar and a traitor to his own country. Furthermore, they threw dear Jeremiah into prison. However, even doing that was not enough to quell their anger against him, so they threw him into a pit where he sunk in the mire up to his armpits. Thankfully, this dear Prophet of God was eventually rescued from the pit by his Ethiopian friend, Ebed-melech, along with thirty other men. You'll find the story in Jeremiah chapters thirty-seven and thirty-eight.

Of course, as all Christians know, Jesus himself suffered an even worse fate according to God the Father's own design. The Lord's Devil-inspired, unbelieving Jewish enemies called Him every name in the book including a gluttonous man and a winebibber -- or drunk -- a friend of publicans and sinners, a liar and deceiver, a blasphemer, a sabbath breaker and more. Thus, they plotted to kill Him, and they eventually had Him crucified by the Romans. While some people like to point the finger at the Romans alone, let there be no doubt that the unbelieving Jews were the real instigators, as is made quite plain in the following group of Bible verses:

"Then assembled together the CHIEF PRIESTS, AND THE SCRIBES, and the ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might TAKE JESUS BY SUBTILTY, AND KILL HIM. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people."


"Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES SOUGHT HOW THEY MIGHT KILL HIM; for they feared the people."


"And therefore did the JEWS PERSECUTE JESUS, AND SOUGHT TO SLAY HIM, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."


"After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the JEWS SOUGHT TO KILL HIM . . . Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? WHY GO YE ABOUT TO KILL ME? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who GOETH ABOUT TO KILL THEE? . . . Then said some of them of Jerusalem, IS NOT THIS HE, WHOM THEY SEEK TO KILL?"


"I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but YE SEEK TO KILL ME, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now YE SEEK TO KILL ME, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."


"Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore HE THAT DELIVERED ME UNTO THEE HATH THE GREATER SIN. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar."


". . . My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be DELIVERED TO THE JEWS: but now is my kingdom not from hence."


"And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, WHOM YE SLEW AND HANGED ON A TREE."


But getting back to our main point, contrary to all of the bogus promises of peace, safety and prosperity which were being spewed forth by Israel's false prophets, many of you already know what really happened. In spite of the claims of those misguided deceivers, in about 586-587 BC, Israel was invaded for the third time by the armies of Babylon under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar. The wall surrounding Jerusalem was torn down, and the city was destroyed, along with the temple compound. In fact, all of the wealth which was stored in the temple was carried off to Babylon. You will find these events discussed in more detail in some of my other articles.

Sadly, history repeated itself again when despite Jesus' own warnings, in 70 AD Jerusalem was once again invaded. However, this time it was by the Roman legions under the leadership of General Titus, who was the son and heir of Emperor Vespasian. This occurred during the seven-year First Jewish-Roman War which lasted from 66 AD to 73 AD according to the historical record. Similar to what had occurred centuries earlier, the temple compound was again destroyed, and the temple itself was utterly burned to the ground. Even the building blocks of the temple were dismantled, exactly as Jesus had prophesied would happen decades earlier. Likewise, as had occurred with the Babylonians, many thousands of Jews were carried off into slavery in foreign lands.

Why did these two tragic historical events occur? Because in their rebellion, the people became spiritually blind and they hardened their hearts against the conviction of God's Spirit working in their lives. They simply refused to listen to the warnings of their Prophets. They refused to repent of their wickedness. Thus, God had no choice but to chastisement them with judgment and destruction. This wicked cycle is something I discuss in considerable detail in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience".Consider the following group of Bible verses which discuss spiritual darkness and blindness:

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."


"‭‭And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?‭ To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, ‭it is‭ because ‭there is‭ no light in them."


"Who ‭is‭ among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh ‭in‭ darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God."


"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.‭"


"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear."


"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."


"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! . . . Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."


"And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other."


"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."


"But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him."


"And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."


"(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day . . . For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."


"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


"But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart."


"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:"


If there is one thing which the Scriptures make very clear, it is that it is a very foolish thing to harden our hearts against the Lord's Spirit working in our lives. God's Word is in fact filled with many warnings concerning this issue. Following are some additional verses where this topic is mentioned:

"Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."


"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."


"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"


"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."


"For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."


"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."


"And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?"


"And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept."


"Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen."


"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?"


"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them."


"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."


"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;"


"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."


"Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years . . . Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God . . . While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."


"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God . . . While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."


"Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."


"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."


"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."


At this point in our discussion, you may be wondering exactly what all of the previous paragraphs have to do with what I stated at the very beginning of this article regarding saying something shocking. Now I will tell you. If you have read any of my other articles, looked at any of my online graphics, or read any of my political poems or listened to any of my songs, then you will already know that for quite a few years now, I have been warning about America's spiritual decline, and her increasing defiance and rebellion against the Lord and His holy Word.

I am convinced that there are alarming similarities between the sins of ancient Israel, and what we see occurring in the United States of America. Of course, I am not alone in this view. There are many other wide-awake Christians who see it too. In fact, as I point out in the article entitled "Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy", I am convinced that the level of defiance in America is now so great, that she may well have passed the point of no return, and is very ripe for judgment. I suspect that the tipping point may have been when same-sex "marriage" became the law of the land on June 26, 2015. I believe that it is only by the Grace and Mercy of God that we have not been judged already.

Now, despite this being my personal view, similar to what the Prophet Jeremiah experienced in his day with regard to the false prophets and misguided priests, there exists a body of people in America today who paint a very different picture. In fact, they too paint what may very well be a false picture of peace, security and prosperity. No, I am not referring to the prosperity preachers, although they are most certainly not without sin either.

So exactly who am I referring to? Quite simply, Donald Trump and the MAGA -- Make America Great Again -- movement, as well as the Dominionists who have heavily infiltrated MAGA. If you do not know what Dominionism is about, then I encourage you to read my article entitled "Beware of Dominionism!".

Now before some of you decide to jump all over me and accuse me of being a liberal -- which I am most certainly not -- let me state the following. While I am not politically involved -- we cannot even vote for president and vice president where I live -- I do more or less keep abreast of political events in the continental United States, and I do have my political opinions. With regard to the 2024 presidential campaign, as I point out in the article "2024 US Presidential Election: Into the Darkness", while there are a number of things which I do not like about Donald Trump, nevertheless, I do believe that he was a better choice, compared to the ungodly Kamala Harris.

Having said that, I am concerned about all of the wonderful talk that has been coming out of the MAGA camp for months now with regard to peace, security and prosperity. As I have made clear already, this is the very same kind of deceptive talk which came out of the mouths of Israel's false prophets, and we have already seen how that all turned out. So while I am convinced that America is worthy of judgment, and that God may be poised to strike soon unless the US gets its house in order, the MAGA movement is painting this very rosy picture. Do you see my concern now?

Now, don't get me wrong. I truly hope that I am mistaken. I do not wish God's harsh judgments on anyone. If you read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, you will perfectly understand why I say this. The things which occurred in ancient Israel after the axe of God's judgments fell on them is gut-wrenching. It included starvation and women eating their own children. So, no, I don't wish for God's wrath to fall on America by any means. But what if I am correct, and Donald Trump and his MAGA movement are like the misguided false prophets of old who deceived the Israelites?

So that is what was on my heart to share with you. I realize that this message will not be very popular with some people, especially not the MAGA folks. Nevertheless, there it is for what it is worth. Please pray about it, and see what the Lord shows you. I will leave it at that.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

2024 US Presidential Election: Into the Darkness
Abomination of Desolation: Explained!
Abundant Life Doctrine: Scripturally Exposed!
Beware of Dominionism!
Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy
Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?
Oh Israel, Why Will Ye Die?
The Day of the Lord: What It Really Means
The Fruits of Disobedience
What is Wrong with Modern America?
When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?
Who Hindered the Antichrist?
Who is Babylon the Great?
You've Got It Wrong: Submit and Live!

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