What The Bible Has To Say About The USA

The Old Testament Speaks To Americans Today

David S Heeren

• Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781647537074
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

End-time prophecies of the Bible apply in general to all nations of the world. But do they have anything specific to say about the U.S.A.? Is this nation's evident spiritual and moral decay already bearing bitter fruit? Are we headed for a crisis even worse than COVID19, one that leaves us with a solitary option of spiritual revival if we are to hold any hope of national survival? In seeking answers to these and other important questions, author David S. Heeren emphasizes the Old Testament book of Hosea, which described ancient Israel as a land bearing many resemblances to America today.

Chapter One

GOMER: Money vs. Morality

Then the Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin-cakes.”

— Hosea 3:1

Two Christian friends sat over lunch in conversation. They began discussing a budget deficit at the church they attended. One of the two, Robert, had been a tither for many years. Between bites of a chicken sandwich he said: “It bothers me that the church is having financial problems. This couldn’t happen if everyone presented the Lord’s tithe, even if no one gave a cent for an offering.”

After saying this Robert realized he might have offended his friend: He had no way of knowing if Barton tithed. Glancing up at Barton’s face, he found out. Barton, a millionaire corporate executive, was scowling and shaking his head.

Robert thought about apologizing but reconsidered. If Barton was not a tither and felt insulted by his remarks, it was okay. Jesus never apologized for telling the truth, even if what he said was deeply insulting to his listeners. After a few moments of silence, while both men continued to eat, Barton said, “Robert, you know, we are talking about an awful lot of money here.”

Barton’s problem was that he thought more highly of his financial resources than the Lord. He was ignorant or indifferent to the fact that it was the Lord who had blessed him with the talent to earn money and the opportunity to live in a nation where it was possible to prosper.

Barton was a spiritual cousin to Gomer, wife of Hosea. Like Gomer, Barton had settled into a temple of Baal. He was more concerned about personal luxuries than the kingdom of God. He turned down an opportunity to use his money for the advancement of God’s kingdom in ways that would insure the storing up of treasure in heaven for himself.

Robert was different. He had experienced the love of God in an unusual way. Early in his marriage, he and his wife decided to tithe and to give as much as possible above their tithe for free-will offerings, even during a time of recession when they were raising children.

A series of unexpected expenses left them unable to raise the money to make a mortgage payment for three consecutive months. Robert prayed about it but couldn’t bring himself to the point of trusting God so completely that he could obey the command of Jesus not to be anxious.

On the day before his mortgage was to be foreclosed Robert went to church in a state of near panic. He had a decision to make: Should he place his tithe check in the offering plate as usual, or should he keep the money as a start toward saving his home? He prayed, swallowed hard, and put the money in the offering plate.

He spent most of the worship hour in a state of anxiety. He worried through lunch and all afternoon. In the evening, still worrying, he returned with his family to church.

After the evening service the associate pastor came up to him and handed him an envelope. “The Lord told me to give this to you,” he said, then turned and walked away. The envelope contained a check for precisely the amount needed for a mortgage payment.

Robert was astounded. He had not told the associate pastor or anyone else at church about his family’s financial problem. He had tithed, and God had fulfilled the promise He had made through the prophet Malachi:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:10)

Not only did God bless Robert with a miraculous gift that saved his home, but he then provided sufficient income so that this family experienced no more fiscal crises for more than three decades.

Opportunities opened up for Robert to share his miraculous story with thousands of people. His testimony, recounted in a book, reached halfway around the world. A Christian man living under difficult conditions in the Middle East contacted him to say that his faith had been strengthened after he read the account of Robert’s fiscal miracle.

A pragmatic person might say that Robert was foolhardy in risking his family home. But there was no risk. God had promised to bless the tither and Robert had tithed. God kept his promise with a love gift that the tither would not forget, and then went a step farther by blessing others who heard or read his story.

This book is about an era of moral and spiritual torpor in the United States. But it is also about the faithfulness of God to preserve America, if its Christian population is faithful to him, as Robert was.

Hosea and Gomer

Gomer was a greedy Israelite. She chose the squalor of prostitution to support a lavish lifestyle. In the first three chapters of the biblical book of Hosea, Gomer’s self-centered attitude was contrasted to the Godcenteredness of her husband. While Hosea remained poor but maintained his integrity, Gomer sacrificed her honor to gain possession of luxuries.

The story of Hosea and Gomer began with God telling the prophet: “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land [of Israel] is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

This established a prophetic link between Gomer and Israel. Gomer was a harlot. Israel had committed spiritual harlotry by worshipping idols instead of God. Hosea married Gomer, but she refused to change her lifestyle.

She bore one legitimate child to him and also had two illegitimate children.

Dissatisfied with the simple lifestyle of her husband, she coveted rich foods, expensive clothing, cosmetics and alcoholic beverages. She left her husband and three children and returned to her former profession.

In those days harlots were street-walkers or temple prostitutes. The Hebrew word used to describe Gomer’s profession referred to both sexual adultery and spiritual idolatry, so perhaps she was a temple whore. The infernal nature of pagan temples was implied by their dual purpose. Enter the front door and capitulate to a demonic idol. Walk around back to the portal of prostitution.

Whether Gomer walked the streets or worked in a pagan temple, she did not earn as much as she had before marrying Hosea. She was older now and not so pretty. Men no longer were attracted to her, and she had lost all favor with God.

At this point, the morality of husband and wife are dichotomized. Hosea continues to love Gomer, in spite ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Coypright
• Contents
• Author’s Preface
• Chapter One: GOMER: Money vs. Morality
• Chapter Two: MIZPAH & TABOR: Lawlessness
• Chapter Three: ADAM: Humanism
• Chapter Four: ASSYRIA: Liberalism
• Chapter Five: EGYPT: Globalism
• Chapter Six: BAAL PEOR: Life vs. Convenience
• Chapter Seven: BETH AVEN: New Age
• Chapter Eight: ADMAH & ZEBOIIM: God’s Love from A to Z
• Chapter Nine: CANAAN: Cunning Commerce
• Chapter Ten: BAAL: Sexual License
• Chapter Eleven: LEBANON: Environmentalism
• Chapter Twelve: Forty-Forty Foresight
• Endnotes