INTRODUCTION


     The United States of America was the greatest nation that had

ever been on the face of the earth.  America was truly chosen of

God.  The Bible speaks of how God chose the great nation of 

Israel, a people unto Himself, and how He had kept every promise to

Israel and Israel turned her back upon God.  They began serving the

god of plenty and forsook the true and living God;  the God that

had brought them into their promise land.



     We are also told of God's Judgment that came upon Israel;  how

that they were no longer a nation and how God dispersed them all

over the face of the earth.  We have God's Word that all these

things happened unto Israel for examples and they are written for

our admonition  



     "Upon whom the ends of the world are come"   I

     Corinthians 10:11.



     Jeremiah's words may have been written to Israel, but they are

no less true for America today.





                   Jeremiah Speaks to America





     What seest thou?  I see a seething pot and the face thereof

toward the north.  Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon

all the inhabitants of the land.  For, lo, I will call all the

families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they

shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering

of the gates, and against all the walls thereof round about, and

against all the cities.



     And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their

wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense to other

gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.



     I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine

espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness in a land

not sown.



     What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are

gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become

vain?  I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit

thereof and the goodness thereof; but when you entered, you defiled

My land, and made Mine heritage an abomination.



     Your priests say not, "Where is the Lord?"  They that handle

the law know Me not.  Your pastors also transgress against Me, and

the prophets prophesy by the god of increase (Baal), and walk after

that that does not profit.  Has your nation changed gods, to that

which are not gods?  My people, you have changed your glory for

that which doth not profit.



     For My people have committed two evils;  they have forsaken Me

the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken

cisterns, that can hold no water. Thine own wickedness shall

correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee:  know

therefore and see that this is an evil thing and bitter, that thou

hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not in thee,

saith the Lord God of hosts.



     How canst thou say,  "I am not polluted, I have not gone after

Baalim?"  See  the way in the valley, know what thou hast done. 

You are as a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the

wind at her pleasure.



     But where are thy gods that thou hast made?  Let them arise,

if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble.  O generation,

see you the word of the Lord.  Can a maid forget her ornaments, or

a bride her attire?  Yet My people have forgotten Me days without

number.



     Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?  Therefore hast thou

also taught the wicked ones thy ways.  Also in thy skirts is found

the blood of the souls of the poor innocents:  I have not found it

by secret search, but upon all these.  Yet thou sayest, "Because I

am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me."  Behold, I will 

plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.



     Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou

hast not been lien with.  In the ways hast thou sat for them and

thou hast polluted the land with the whoredoms and with the

wickedness.  Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there

hath been no latter rain;  and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou

refusedst to be ashamed.



     Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, "My Father, thou are

the guide of my youth?"  Turn thou unto Me!  Return unto Me and I

will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you.  For I am merciful,

saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.  Only

acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the

Lord thy God.  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord;  for

I am married unto you and I will take you one of a city, and two of

a family, and I will bring you to Zion.



     I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall

feed you with knowledge and understanding.  I will put thee among

the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of

the hosts of nations?  Thou shalt call Me, "My Father", and shalt

not turn away from Me.



     A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and

supplications of the children.



     "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal 

      your backslidings."



     "Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God. 

Truly in vain is salvation we have hoped for from the hills and

from the multitude of mountains.  Truly in the Lord our God is

salvation.  Shame hath devoured our fathers labours from our youth. 

We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us.  For we

have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our

youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord

our God."



     If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto Me

and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of My sight, then

shalt thou not remove.  If thou shalt swear, "The Lord liveth, in

truth, in judgment, and in righteousness."



     Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins

of your heart, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn that

none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.



     Declare and publish.  Blow you the trumpet in the land.  Cry! 

Gather together and say, "Assemble yourselves, and let us go into

the defenced cities."  Set up a standard toward Zion.  Retire, stay

not!  For I will bring evil from the north and a great

destruction."



     The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the

Gentiles is on his way.  He is gone forth from his place to make

thy land desolate.  Thy cities shall be laid waste without an

inhabitant.



     For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl.  For the

fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.  "It shall

come to pass at that day", saith the Lord, "that the heart of the

king shall perish, and the heart of the princes and the priests

shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."



     Then said Jeremiah, "Ah, Lord God!  Surely thou hast greatly

deceived this people saying, Ye shall have peace, whereas the sword

reacheth unto the soul."



     "My bowels, my bowels!  I am pained at my very heart.  My

heart maketh a noise in me.  I cannot hold my peace because thou

hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war!" 

Destruction upon destruction is cried.  For the whole land is

spoiled and my curtains in a moment.  How long shall I see the

standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?"



     For thus said the Lord, "The whole land shall be desolate. 

Yet will I not make a full end.  The whole city shall flee for the

noise of the horsemen and bowmen.  They shall go into thickets and

climb upon the rocks.  Every  city shall be forsaken and not a man

dwell therein."



     And when thou are spoiled, what wilt thou do?  Though thou

clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with

ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting;  in

vain shalt thou make thyself fair.  Thy lovers will despise thee. 

They will seek thy life.



     For I have heard a voice as a woman in travail and the anguish

as of her that bringeth forth her first child;  the voice of the

daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands

saying,



     "Woe is me now!  For my soul is wearied because of murderers."



     "Run you to and fro through the streets and see now and know,

and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if

there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth;  and

I will pardon it.  Though they say, "The Lord liveth;  surely they

swear falsely."



     How shall I pardon thee for this?  Thy children have forsaken

Me, and sworn by them that are no gods.  Shall I not visit for

these things and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as

this?



     Go you up upon her walls and destroy but make not a full end. 

Take away her battlements.  For they are not the Lord's.  They have

belied the Lord saying, "It is not He.  Neither shall evil come

upon us.  Neither shall we see sword nor famine."



     Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire, and this

people  wood, and it shall devour them.  Lo, I will bring a mighty

nation upon you from far.  It is a nation, an ancient nation, a

nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what

they say.  They shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread which thy

sons and thy daughters should eat.  They shall eat up thy flocks

and thine herds.  They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. 

They shall impoverish thy fenced cities wherein thou trustedst,

with the sword.



     Nevertheless in those days, I will not make a full end with

you.  And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, "Wherefore

doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us?"  Then shalt thou

answer them, "Like as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods

in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not

yours."





                    Declare and publish this.





     You have eyes and see not.  You have ears and hear not.  You

have a revolting and a rebellious heart.  You will not fear the

Lord your God.  You say God has not reserved unto us the appointed

weeks of the harvest.  



     You are waxen fat and shine.  You overpass the deeds of the

wicked.  You judge not the cause of the fatherless, yet they

prosper, and the right of the needy you do not judge.



     Shall I not visit for these things?  Shall not my soul be

avenged on such a nation as this?  A wonderful and horrible thing

is committed in the land.  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the

priests bear rule by their means;  and my people love to have it

so.



     What will you do in the end thereof?  O you children of My

right hand, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of her. 

Blow the trumpet and set up a sign of fire.  For evil appeareth out

of the north and great destruction.



    Be instructed lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. 

To whom shall I speak and give warning?  Who will hear?



     Behold, your ear in uncircumcised and you will not hearken. 

The word of the Lord is unto you a reproach.  You have no delight

in it.  Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord.  I am weary

with holding in.  I will pour it out upon the children and upon the

assembly of young men together.  The husband with the wife shall be

taken, the aged with him that is full of days.  Your houses shall

be turned unto others with your fields and your wives together. 

For I will stretch out My hand upon all the inhabitants of the

land.



     Why?  Because from the least of you even unto the greatest,

every one is given to covetousness.  Even from the  prophet unto

the priest, every one dealeth falsely.  They have healed the hurt

of My people slightly, saying,  "Peace, peace", when there is no

peace.



     Are the prophets and priests ashamed when they commit

abomination?  No!  They are not at all ashamed, neither can they

blush.  Therefore they shall fall among them that fall.





                   Be instructed, O daughter.





     Stand you in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths,

where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for

your souls.  I have set watchmen over you.  Hearken to the sound of

their trumpet.



     Thus sayeth the Lord to the watchmen, "Stand in the gate of

the Lord's house and proclaim there this word."



     Hear the word of the Lord, all you that enter in at these

gates to worship the Lord.



     Amend your ways and your doings.  Trust not in lying words

that say,  "The temple of the Lord.  The temple of the Lord. The

temple of the Lord are these."



     Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit.  Will

you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn

incense unto Baal the god of increase, and walk after other gods

whom you know not;  and then come and stand before Me in this

house, which is called by My name, and say,  "We are delivered to

do all these abominations?"  Is this house, which is called by My

name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?



     And now, because you have done all these works, and I spake

unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not.  I

called you, but you would not answer.  Therefore will I do unto

this house, which is called by My name, wherein you trust, and unto

the place which I gave to you and 

to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.  And I will  cast you

out of My sight.



     Therefore pray not for this people.  Neither lift up cry nor

prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me.  For I will not

hear thee.



     Watchmen, speak all these words unto them!



     This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their

God, nor receiveth correction.  Truth is perished and is cut off

from their mouth.




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