“Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.'” Jeremiah 50:2
November 8, 2024
The Shema was the daily prayer of ancient Israelites, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” God’s covenant people needed to remind themselves of the evil of the multiple gods in surrounding nations. The nation of Babylon’s chief god was “Bel,” also spoken of as “Marduk.” Throughout the book of Jeremiah false gods are exposed as embedded in hostile nations. They are fiercely condemned by the prophets. They were nothings or derisively referred to as “dung drops.” Our own nation, though often unrecognized, has false gods baked into our culture. There is understandable exuberance over the possibilities of a new political administration coming in the new year. But beware. Not only are Christianity’s “core ethical and moral principles” disdained, but many secularists “are now at war, not just with Christian dogma, but with the created order of the universe itself” (Aaron Renn, Life in the Negative World). Add to the list of so-called celebrated freedoms, such as abortion, but also the traditional family order, and the biological reality of gender as well. Politics alone is not equipped to confront and push back against the tides of social evils. Individual Christians and their churches are to be lights in a world of darkness (Eph. 5:8-13).
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“O Lord, we your people, need the wisdom and courage to discern those ideas that would hijack the Gospel. Teach us the meaning of truth-filled love for you.”