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Deception and national sin

Never in history has the world ever experienced a level of deception comparable to what we see today. Technology has made it possible to replace reality with perceptions of reality.

Artificial Intelligence has now made it easy even to create fake news with “proof” from videos showing events that never really happened.

The roots of this can be traced through modern philosophy in the idea that perception is more powerful than reality. History is revised to put a spin (false view) on past events which hide the seamier side of one’s nation/government to promote nationalism, “patriotism,” and justify national sin. False flag events are generated to enflame public sentiment into supporting foreign wars. In fact, virtually every war since World War 1 has been ignited deliberately by those who stood to profit from war.

The stated reasons for war are NEVER the true causes of the war. The truth is always hidden from the public, because the public would never fight a war if the true motives were known.

Whereas the prophets condemned Israel’s national sin, modern political figures justify it with lies that contradict the divine law (i.e., God’s nature). More and more, it is important that we know the truth of Scripture, especially the fundamental principles of justice set forth in God’s law. But having rejected God’s law in favor of men’s traditions, the “Christian” nations of the West now pay the natural consequences of sin—having ungodly rulers who function on self-interest.

We ourselves must decide where our priorities lie. Which master will we serve above all others. In times of national sin, we must decide if our patriotic allegiance is to the kingdoms of men or to the Kingdom of God. Ideally, there should be no difference, of course. But history shows that nations are never in compliance with the will of God—not even in the days of Moses or David.

Jeremiah’s Unpatriotic Message

Jeremiah ran into the problem in the years preceding Judah’s Babylonian captivity. In Jeremiah 26:4-6 God tells the prophet,

⁴ And you will say to them, “Thus says the Lord, ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, ⁵ to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened, ⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth’.”

That prophecy was fulfilled. The reaction to Jeremiah’s message is given in Jeremiah 26:11,

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard!”

These officials did not believe in freedom of speech nor of freedom of religion. Everyone was required to promote the official narrative that the government claimed was “truth.” Fortunately, some officials disagreed with the others. Jeremiah 26:16 says,

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “NO death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

Jeremiah’s life was thus spared, and he went on to give a very “unpatriotic” message. Because they had passed the point of no return, where captivity had already been decreed by the divine court, the prophet told them to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. (See Jeremiah 27:6-8.)

Jeremiah Arrested

Jeremiah 37:11-15 says,

¹¹ Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans had lifted the siege from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to take possession of some property there among the people. ¹³ While he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard… arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are going over to the Chaldeans!”… ¹⁵ Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had made into the prison.

The prophet later appealed to the king, who allowed him to remain in “the court of the guardhouse and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone” (Jeremiah 37:21). But Jeremiah continued to tell people the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 38:3-6 continues,

³ Thus says the Lord, “this city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.” ⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.”… ⁶ Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Jeremiah was repeatedly accused of being unpatriotic, a traitor, and demoralizing to the nation. The officials saw his message — “surrender to Babylon is God’s will” — as undermining national defense. This shows the tension between true prophecy (loyalty to God’s word) and political patriotism (loyalty to national survival).

Jeremiah remained in the muddy cistern during the rest of the siege of Jerusalem. Though it was an uncomfortable home, the cistern protected him from the battle raging aboveground. After the city was taken and the temple burned to the ground, we read in Jeremiah 39:11-14,

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹² “Take him and look after him, and do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.”… ¹⁴ They even sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to Gedaliah… to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

Note the irony here. The people of Judah imprisoned Jeremiah; it was the Babylonians who set him free. The “patriots” of Judah were killed in war; the “unpatriotic” prophet was spared for remaining true to the word of God and for submitting to the ruling of the divine court that had been decreed in Jeremiah 7:12-15.

The Long-Term Lesson

Whenever God decrees a captivity, it is our duty and responsibility to submit to His decree, however unpatriotic this may appear to be. Governments do not like this, of course. That is why the prophets were persecuted and often killed.

Jeremiah’s prophecies were largely confined to the immediate war with Babylon and with the 70-year captivity which he foretold (Jeremiah 25:11, 12). Later, Daniel was shown that this captivity would be extended for a much longer time under other empires (Persia, Greece, Rome). Hence, even when Cyrus the Persian allowed the people of Judah to return to the old land, they remained under the authority of Persia.

The principle of submitting to the verdict of the divine court thus extended throughout the rule of these other empires. The only (temporary) exception came in the final 100 years of Grecian rule, when the sin of Antiochus Epiphanes was so egregious that God gave Jerusalem independence from 163-63 B.C. Other than that, the Judahites were expected to submit to these “beast” empires. This applied also to Rome, the fourth beast empire. When the people revolted against Rome, they were again sent into captivity among the nations, having committed the same sin that they did by fighting against Babylon.

Many patriots in the past century have tried to fight against the rulers of Mystery Babylon, only to find themselves in prison or in a cemetery. This is why it is so important to know the word of God and let it be the basis of our actions and our message.

Our long captivity is now coming to an end. God is setting us free. The last beast empire has run its course, and the fifth empire, pictured as a stone (Daniel 2:34, 35) is rising. It is the Kingdom of God that lies ahead. Though we ought to continue to submit to the beast rulers that God set up over us by His divine decree, we now see the light at the end of the long tunnel. Let us not be impatient, but let us be encouraged, having the hope set forth by the prophets in the word. Just as the Babylonians set Jeremiah free, so also will the rulers of Mystery Babylon do the same.