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Lord hath said
wi/1 we do,
and be
obedient" (Ex. 24:7) . But as even
any casual reader of the Bible knows,
ancient Israel failed terribly.
God
made sure they didn't fail
without knowing the consequences
of doing what seems right to man.
In two major chapters of the Bible,
God spelled out both the advan–
tages of obeying and terrible results
of breaking his laws. These
accounts are found in Leviticus 26
and Deuteronomy 28.
The ancient Israelites, through
disobedience, were divided into two
nations. The northern kingdom, the
house of Israel, went into their
Assyrian captivity because of
national sins. They virtually disap–
peared, leaving only miniscule
traces of their travels. Their nation–
al identity becarne blurred through
the loss of lsrael's main identifying
sign: the weekly Sabbath (Ex.
31: 13).
Later the southern kingdom, the
house of Judah, went into Babylo–
nian captivity for national sins.
They carne, later, to be
call~d
by
the name Israel because they pre–
served a knowledge of the identify–
iilg sign of God ' s people:_the
weekly Sabbath.
Meanwhile
God
knew who the
people of the northern kingdom
were, and he knew )le
must
keep
his promise ·to them of national
greatness as declared in Genesis
35.:11 and Genesis 12:2; 22:16-18.
We pass through 2,500 years of
history to the time of the Industrial
Revolution, specifically around
A.D. 1800.
What nation and group of
nations suddenly sprang into inter–
national prominence, to the even–
tual unparalleled material greatness
long ago promised to Abraham,
beginning about 1800?
The United States and the Brit–
ish Empire!
The tiny island nation of Britain
became
Great
Britain. The United
States laid claim to what would
become the breadbasket of the
world. In fact, eventually the two
peoples carne into possession of
more than two thirds of all the cul–
tivated resources and wealth of the
entire world-the very material
promises God had given to the
patriarch Abraham and his descen–
dants.
June/July 1982
Through the material blessings
granted by God, the United States
has led the world in agricultura!
and technological development.
The United States, through the
earlier part of this century, was the
chief
oil exporting nation on the
face of the earth. "Yankee ingenu–
ity" set new technological stan–
dards for the Western world. Brit–
ain held economic leadership and
was empowered through its early
industrial advantages. London has
been the world's center of banking
for more than a century.
The Present Crisis
But Leviticus 26 is
sti/1 binding.
Today, God seems distant. "Is God
interested in the affairs of men?"
many ask themselves.
Indeed he is! As a condition for
continued national blessings, God
expects obedience to his revealed
laws (Lev. 26:1-3) .
But what have the English–
speaking nations done?
They have gone far from God,
devising alliances, trusting in their
own military might.
"I
call heaven
and earth to record this day against
you," God says to ancient Israel's
modern descendants, "that
1
have
set before you
life
and death, bless–
ing and cursing:
THEREFORE
CHOOSE LJFE,
that both thou and
thy seed may live" (Deut. 30:19).
But the nations God blessed have
rejected God. "Howbeit
in vain
do
they worship me, teaching for doc–
trines the commandments of men"
(Mark 7:7). (lf you'd like to know
what God
does
expect of you and
the resultant blessings in your per–
sonal life, write for our free booklet
The Ten Commandments.)
Notice now the results of disobe–
dience to God's laws-laws that
would bring us social peace and
harmony: "But if ye will
not
heark–
en unto me, and will not do all
these commandments....
1
will
break the pride of your power
... ye shall sow your seed in vain,
for your enemies shall eat
it.... your strength shall be spent
in vain . . ." (Lev. 26:14, 19, 16,
20).
Once a superpower, Britain has
slid to second-rate status, a shadow
of her previously globe-girdling
strength.
And the United States is rapidly
following! The war in Vietnam and
the Watergate scandal rocked the
nation. Without an inherent
strength from sense of purpose, the
United States suffered a tremen–
dous identity crisis and subsequent
shattering of moral and political
ideals in the years 1965 to 1974.
It's not pleasant to read about,
but the downward trend is continu–
ing- and the United States and
Britain are economically dragging
the rest of the West and other
nations with them!
"For the first time in its history,
the United States is no longer
growing in power and influence
among the nations of the world. In
fact , the United States is now in
steep decline, and the Pax Ameri–
cana that shaped modern history
since World War
11
is fast disinte–
grating"
(The Decline of U.S.
Power,
by the
Business Week
tearn, page
1) .
.
1t is evident that America and
Britain are descending the econom–
ic ladder in tandem. "The parallels
between the decline of the United
States and the dollar in the 1970s
and the fall of Britain and sterling
in the 1930s are astonishing"
(ibid..
page 4).
What's to Come?
While mankind on the whole refuses
to even
acknowledge
that God inter–
venes in human affairs (Rom. 1:19-
21), God still moves powerfully
according to his purpose. God has
marked out a period of 6,000 years
for man to rule himself (except as it
should seriously violate the purpose
of God), setting up his own institu–
tions of religion, government, educa–
tion and society.
But for the United States and
Britain today, God is moving
strongly with the punishment
spelled out in Leviticus 26 and
Deuteronomy 28. The people have
worshiped the works of their hands,
they have served their technologi–
cal inventions instead of the Cre–
ator God (Lev. 26:1). Dr. Ramo
put it in these words: If "scientific
research and technological deve1op–
ment were not worshipped, at
least ... such activity was revered
and encouraged
(op. cit.)."
Instead of looking to God, men
look to technological development
(Continued on page 30)
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