This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.”
Jeremiah 17:5-6
Although this verse does not speak about any specific situation in history, I felt the Lord pointing me to this verse several months before the US invaded Iraq. I thought it very interesting that it talks about a “bush” (Bush??) in the waste land. Anybody (!) who trusts in “flesh” (i.e. man’s strength) will eventually end up like this. The U.S. has made military its strength, in spite of all talk of “trusting in God” and God blessing America. However, God is not obligated to bless anybody who does not trust in him. On the contrary:
God is opposed to anybody who does not trust in Him but in the strength of man (see also Luke 4:6).
Unfortunately, I think this does not only describe the non-Christian parts of the society in the U.S. government, but big parts of the church as well. May the Lord have mercy on us, that we would be found trusting in Him and in Him only (see Luke 18:8). May we take warning from the fact that on 9/11 the very symbols of what modern Western society trusts in were attacked: banking, finance, trade/economy and the headquarters of the mightiest military of our time…
The U.S. campaign in Iraq is a disaster, and I believe it will not get any better, because the U.S. is still underestimating the importance of religion for the Muslim people.
Eventually, this all works into the hands of the establishment of a one-world religion, as the entire conflict that overshadows the beginning of the 21st century only proves to the secular world that a coming together of all major religions is needed to keep the peace.
Interestingly, on April 6th, 2006 the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi in Italy was reopened, after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1998. It is the very place where pope John Paul II. had called a meeting of religious leaders from all major faiths (except evangelicals, of course) in 1986 to promote this idea. Is it really just coincidence that the place was destroyed by an earthquake, or could it be that God simply does not like this entire movement? The leaders actually reconvened in the same place in 2002, demonstrating that the movement is still alive and well (more than ever before, actually).
This prophecy from Jeremiah 17:5-6 certainly could be applied to many other conflicts throughout history. But that makes it even less understandable that, as it seems, neither political leaders nor church leaders have not learned much from history…
(First posted on this web site a long time ago)
