The Sins of Israel - Idolatry - Choosing Other Things Over God

Why did the Lord withdraw His covenant protection from Israel? I believe it is because they broke the covenant repeatedly, each time getting more wicked. I want to draw comparison to our day.  When I speak of modern signs of apostasy, I don't mean to imply that we are all guilty; our society as a whole, however, is guilty of every one of them.  Here are a few examples of their withdrawal from the Lord, using some of the Ten Commandments as a template:

1.Israel chose other gods. As early as the reign of judges, before there were kings in Israel, the Lord accused the backsliding people of this sin.  In the second chapter of the Book of Judges, Jehovah confronted His people:

17 - yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them  

Are there those in our nation that go a whoring after other gods?  One look at the media will show that there are and they are quite vocal.  Some feel that there are some power in the universe greater than they, but they simply don't care if there is a god.  Others openly deny the very existence of a Supreme Being. Even those who do express a belief in God have remade Him into their own image instead of the other way around.  Still others are caught up in the occult with taro cards and Ouija boards and astrology. 

We cannot control others but we can live our lives in such a way that we stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ in all places, at all times, and to all people. 

2. Israel made statues representing heathen gods and worshipped them.  As early as the days of Moses, God warned His people about the fruits of idolatry: destruction.  This quote is from Deuteronomy chapter 8:

19 - And if it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord they God and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Israel did eventually perish as a people.  They had exchanged their covenants with God for a life centered on the things and peoples of the world. Paul used this apostasy to teach the Romans.

Idolatry exists in many forms.  Idolatry was at the root of all of Israel's sins. What "idols" do we worship? If we don't choose Christ first, it won't matter in the end what we have chosen instead.

I've spent the last two hours talking about one of the key reasons why God eventually removed His walls of protection from Israel and allowed her to be conquered by an even more evil kingdom: Assyria.

The question may be not why He did it but why He took so long to do it.  I've struggled with that a lot.  I have finally concluded that it may be for the same reason that God told Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom if Abraham could find righteous men in the city. 

Abraham pleaded with God for Sodom. Beginning in Chapter 18 of Genesis, verses 23-33.  Abraham asked God if he would destroy the righteous with the wicked? God told him He would spare Sodom if there were 50 righteous people left in Sodom. Of course there were not.  The Abraham asked God to spare Sodom if there were 45 righteous people, then 40, and then 30.  He finally asked God to spare Sodom for 10 righteous people. Eventually, Abraham realizes that there are none righteous in Sodom save his nephew, Lot. Angels warned Lot to flee into the mountain and God destroyed Sodom.

God was patient with Israel as well, while there were righteous people living there.  As the righteous either fled from Israel to Judah or began to follow the crowd into sin, there were fewer righteous in the kingdom.  Eventually, here were more wicked than righteous in the Kingdom of Israel.  Eventually, Israel was destroyed.

I personally believe that God has protected the United States for the sake of the righteous who live here, Christians and non-Christians alike.  It is my calling to live in such a way that I come down on the side of the righteous and, through example and testimony, invite others to do the same.

We have had multiple warnings in the form of storms, destruction, and economic insecurity.  The time is growing short.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

The Bricks have Fallen Down

On September 11, 2001, I watched in shocked horror as Middle Eastern terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers in New York City, the center of commerce for the world. As the school counselor, I spent the day going from classroom to classroom calming students and teachers alike, even though my own heart was reeling.  Years later, I find it ironic that those terrorist came from a part of the world where once Assyrian terrorist devastated the known world.

The following day, several national leaders in from NY and DC took to the airways.  Many of them used or paraphrased this quote from the Old Testament: 

The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

The people who used this quote from Isaiah 10:9 as symbolic reference to America's tenacity. What they failed to read were the verses before and after the defiant verse 9.  Had they done so, I don't know that they would have used the quote.  It was said, not in gratitude, but in pride and arrogance by the Kingdom of Israel after it's first warning attack from the Assyrians.  Here is the context of the boast from Isaiah 10:8-9:

And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars."

That changes the context, doesn't it?  In later verses, 12-14, the Lord outlines what happened as a result of Israel's arrogant boast: 

[there are enemies before and behind; who] shall devour Israel with open mouth. . .

For the people turn not unto him that smite them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. (color emphasis added)

I ask again; are we like ancient Israel? I would like to refer you to a book written by a Messianic Jew.  It is called The Harbinger.  Cohen, the author, shows in great detail the parallels between Israel's destruction and 9-11.  He makes a compelling argument about the connections, including the hewn stone monument and the roots of the sycamore. The author states that 9-11 was our warning before the wall is breached.

As you study the Pride Cycle in the Old Testament, look at the signs of Israel's falling away.  Tomorrow we can compare the fate of ancient Israel and modern America.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

The Fall of the Kingdom of Israel

City Walls in Ancient Mesopotamia

In the ancient world, men created civilizations when they began living together in towns and dividing the work of  their community.  No longer did one man farm and do everything else that was needed for his family to survive.  Instead, some people farmed and some made tools, while still others made boots and weapons and anything else needed in their community. Most books on ancient history point to the development of civilization in China, India, North Africa and Mesopotamia. These civilizations began to levy taxes on the people in order to support a growing infrastructure and that required having a form of government.  Yes, it's  true, taxes preceded government!

In those  ancient times, people built protective walls around their cities.  When an enemy approached, they shut up the gates in the wall. This practice began as soon as men began to live together in settled communities.  These walls of protection became a symbolic representation of the protective walls God drew around His convent people.  As long as they worshipped God and kept His commandments, those invisible walls protected them.

Assyria Attacks Samaria

Note the Battering Ram

2 Kings, Chapter 6

When an enemy laid siege to a city, the number one goal was to breach the wall.  Once the wall was cracked, enemies could pour into the city and wreak havoc on its inhabitants. In ancient Assyria conquered people were taken away and scattered elsewhere in the empire.  Other people from other conquered territories were resettled in the area, disrupting any sense of national identity.

The same thing happens when Satan attacks a people.  As long as they are true to their covenants with the Lord, the wall of spiritual protection stands firm.  However, if the people turn away from God through pride and sin, they have no protection.  God is very patient, keeping the protection in place so long as there were faithful believers in the place.  When the covenant breakers out number the covenant keepers, God withdraws His hand of protection and the enemy can breach the wall.

That is what happened to the Kingdom of Israel. God warned them by allowing a preliminary attack on Samaria by the  Assyrians.  The inhabitants of Israel didn't heed the warning.  They did not repent or turn back to God.  Instead, they boasted of their own strength and determination.   "We will rebuild," they said. "The enemy knocked down buildings of clay but we will rebuild with hewn stone. Where they destroyed our pines, we will plant sycamores."  The people of Israel honestly believed in their own ability to free themselves.  They learned, to their horror, that only God could have saved them but, because they had rejected Him, He wasn't there to do so. 

A  wall carving of the exile of Israel

The people of Israel were scattered literally to the four corners of the world and ceased to exist as a people.  History refers to them as the Lost Ten Tribes.

King Hezekiah leads Judah to repent in sackcloth and ashes

After Assyria conquered Israel, she attacked Judah.  Fortunately, Judah was ruled by righteous King Hezekiah. Instead of boasting of their own abilities, the people turned to God in fasting and prayer.  The enemy was camped around the walls of Jerusalem, hoping to breach the walls the next day.  The prophet told the king not to worry, Judah would be protected.  

No one knows exactly how God did it, but the next morning when people awoke they found all of the hosts of Assyria were dead. Jerusalem was saved and the Jewish people maintained their cultural identity.  The people gave credit to God and to the wise and righteous King Hezekiah who followed the prophets' warnings and turned himself and his people toward God and the covenant.

Why should we care about the fall of an ancient people?  We are not like the inhabitants of ancient Israel?  Or are we?  See you tomorrow.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

The Pride of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

Let's go back to the golden days of King David and King Solomon. Even today, the Jews look back on that remarkable era as the greatest in their history.  

Both David and Solomon, however, fell from grace through women: with David it was Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah.

Solomon who had many wives and concubines taken from nations outside the covenant.  He allowed his wives to bring their own gods with them and even placed images of those gods in the Temple.  He also taxed his people mercilessly to support his lifestyle.

When he died, his kingdom was fractured.  Rehoboam, Solomon's heir, continued his father's merciless taxing. Jeroboam, who was critical of Solomon and his reign, rebelled and took ten of the tribes of Israel with him.  They remained in the north with Samaria as their capitol. The southern Kingdom of Judah was left with two tribes: Judah and the small tribe of Benjamin.  During the next centuries, Judah had 3 righteous kings:  Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah, and Josiah. Israel had none.

The history of covenant breaking among the Israelites

Ba'al               Astarte

Soon after the split, King Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom created two centers of worship, each with a golden calf to represent Jehovah (obviously, they were not conversant with the 10 Commandments.) Soon other gods were worshipped in the high places: Ba'al,  Astarte, and Moloch. Astarte was a fertility goddess and sexual immorality was associated with her worship.  Moloch was the god of war who required the sacrifice of children

Let's look at the many things to break the covenant with the Lord.
They had many other "gods." They created idols and images of these gods

They murdered (even their own children); they honored no moral code of behavior in sexual things (even making it a part of their worship); they stole; they lied; and they coveted.

One example can be found in First Kings 21 in the Old Testament.  Ahab was King of Israel.  Even though he had great riches, he coveted the vineyard of a man named Naboth.  When Naboth refused to see, Ahab went into a sulk and refused to eat.  When his wife, Jezebel, found out what was bothering him, she arranged false witnesses to commit perjury and falsely charge Naboth with blasphemy.  Naboth was stoned to death and Jezebel informed Ahab that Naboth was dead, and Ahab stole the vineyard.

The Lord sent prophets such as Elijah to warn Israel. Over the centuries God gave Israel multiple chances to repent or turn back from the multitudes of sin. Repeatedly they ignored the warnings and continued to turn toward false gods.  They prosecuted and even killed God's prophets.

What happened when they had sinned beyond the ability to turn around?

Tomorrow.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

God's Day

And the Lord said unto Moses: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

This is the fourth of the Ten Commandments.  Years ago, I had a Sunday School teacher who said he could teach the Commandments in perfect order in a way that I would never forget.  That's almost unheard of from one exposure learning, but he was correct.  Here I am over fifty years later and I have not forgotten.

He divided the chalkboard into two columns. The first column he labeled Man's Responsibility to God. Under this heading he wrote the first four of the commandments, in order according to their importance.



Thou shall have no other gods before me.

His being

Thou shall make unto thee no graven image.

His image.

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

His name

Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

His day.

The second column he labeled Man's Responsibility to Mankind and wrote the final five commandments, again in their order of importance.

Thou shall not kill.

Murder

Thou shall not commit adultery.

Sexual immorality

Thou shall not steal.

Taking what doesn't belong to you.

Thou shall not bare false witness.

From gossip to perjury

Thou shall not covet.

Wishing had something that belongs to another, from his riches to his wife.

Between the two columns he wrote commandment number five:  Honor thy father and thy mother.  Our parents are our link between heaven and earth.

Enjoy a blessed Sabbath. After all, our loving Lord gave us a day of rest, we should rest and worship Him who is the God of the Sabbath.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

The Pride Cycle

Have you ever wondered why anyone would turn away from the blessings God promises? 
 C. S. Lewis offered this idea: because of their pride.  He called Pride the father of all sin because if we think of any sin, we can see pride at the root of it.  He said that Pride always means enmity: enmity between people and enmity toward God.

Woody Allen once said that actors could "create their own morality.'' Such utter  nonsense is at the heart of pride.  

As soon as we think "I am more important than. . .. ; I am better than . . . . I am smarter than . . .." we have taken the first step in they downward spiral that we sometimes call the fall from grace.  The sooner we exit this cycle and humble ourselves to the reality that we are not more important, the better.  If we come to God with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we will be blessed.

Some people knowingly act against God. With eyes wide open, they leap away from God in open and total rebellion.   I'm not talking to them because if they know God and still  reject Him, they won't listen to any voice of warning. One need only look at the Old Testament to how many of God's prophets have been tortured and killed for telling them a truth they refused to hear.

I am talking to the vast majority of people whose fall from grace is gradual and who "see  the error of their ways," to borrow an old expression. The opportunity to repent and turn back to God is implicit in the cycle.

The Old and New Testament are full of examples of "pride going before the fall," to borrow another old, but true, saying.  However, I see it most clearly in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
This chart exemplifies the stages of this most destructive cycle. Once you recognize the cycle from the point of the Nephite nation, you will see it clearly in the other testaments of the Children of Israel.

We all begin this life as innocents, humble and teachable.  Jesus taught us that if we want God's blessings, we must humble ourselves  as little children. Therefore the cycle begins with righteousness.  If we continue in righteousness as we grow, we will receive the blessings of the Covenant, which includes prosperity and peace.

But we live in a fallen world. As we grow, we become prideful. Me! Me! Me! If we exit the cycle at this point, we can avoid being chastened by the Lord.  This does not mean we will never have trials in our lives, but if we remain in faithful discipleship with the Lord, He will support us in our trials.   If we don't turn to God, the cycle of pride continues.

As soon as pride is allowed to run rampant in our lives, we begin to think that we know more than God and we begin to violate our covenant promises.  This leads to wickedness. We can exit the pride cycle at this point through repentance.  If we do not and continue in our sinful ways, God will withdraw His hand of protection and we become vulnerable to the buffeting of Satan. This usually involves destruction and suffering.

If we learn from these experiences and repent at this point, we can still exit the cycle.  However, it is more painful to do so than it would have been had we left the cycle earlier in the process.  Repentance is a healing process leading to forgiveness through the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Because it is often painful and humbling, many people avoid repentance to avoid pain.  These people turn away from Christ, the very power that can heal them.

If they people do repent and have that mighty change of heart - the new heart of flesh instead of stone that God promises the penitent -  they can return to the righteousness of living in the Covenant and being blessed with peace which, according to the Apostle Paul, passes all understanding. (Philippians chapter 4)

However, some people refuse to repent and continue to live with enmity toward God. These people, if they had once embraced God's covenant, become apostate and outside the protection of the covenant. 

The natural consequences of sin lead eventually to destruction, whether in this life or the next.  Israel fell to the Assyrians and Judah to the Babylonians and we read of their fate in the Old Testament.  In the Americas, the Jaradite and Nephite cultures were completely annihilated by their enemies.  Even the early Christians of the New Testament apostatized and fractured the Church.  The early Apostles such as John and Paul wrote that in their days, Antichrists had already arisen like wolves among the sheep.

Tomorrow we'll discuss behaviors that lead people to fall away and in later posts, we will discuss the antichrists of New Testament and the Book of Mormon.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019

The Importance of Covents

From very beginning, God has made covenant promises with His children. A covenant is a sacred promise or a two-way contract.  God promises blessings to His children and they, in return, promise to always remember Him and keep the commandments that He has given them. Covenants with God are always two-way promises.   When we keep our part of the covenant promises, we are blessed.  When we don’t keep our part of the covenant promises, we are no longer under the protection and blessings of the covenant. The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith 

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.    (D & C 82:10)

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There are many examples of covenants in the scriptures.

• God's Covenant with Noah was that if he and his family would keep His commandments, including the Law of Sacrifice, God would not destroy the earth again by flood.  He also commanded them to multiply and replenish the earth - the same initial commandments that God gave to Adam and Eve.

The Baptismal Covenant is that if we, the covenant keepers we will become His people, members of His Church.  If we will always remember Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, we will always have His Spirit to be with us.  

In the Book of Mormon, we are told that we also must comfort those in need of comfort, mourn with those who grieve and stand as a witness to Jesus Christ in all things, at all times and in all places.
(Mosiah 18:9)

• The Abrahamic Covenant asks the same thing of us – remembering and obeying – and the promises include an inheritance of land (blessing us in temporal things); posterity (the eternal promise of family) and priesthood (with the authority to act in the name of God.) James in the New Testament said that Abraham was a friend of God. I wonder what might change if we looked at our covenants as promises to a Friend? (James 2: 23)

There are countless examples mentioned in the scriptures of the cyclical nature of keeping and breaking of covenants. In the Book of Mormon, this is referred to as the Pride Cycle. Tomorrow we will discuss the Pride Cycle and what happens as a person or an nation cycles to the downward through pride to destruction.

©Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson 2019