Consequences IV

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced . . . Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.”  (2 Kings 17:6-8, 13, NASB)

 “Israel” in the above passage refers to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, whose ten tribes revolted and separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (referred to as Judah).  Israel had NO good kings.  They were all wicked in God’s eyes.  The nation did not follow God’s laws.  The people followed the customs of the nations which God had driven out to make room for the sons of Israel.  The people worshiped idols and committed other atrocities which were abominable to God.  So God commissioned Assyria to besiege, defeat, and carry Israel into exile. 

God had warned Israel through His prophets, many of whom were killed by the kings who didn’t like their messages.  God has warned us as well.  He wants us to have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus.  Jesus gives us hope for an eternity that we can spend with Him.  All we have to do is to surrender our lives to Him.  Don’t shoot the me messenger! 

I recently finished “100 Bible Verses that Made America,” by Robert J. Morgan.  It’s an excellent book.  The author hopes for a Great Awakening in our Nation. 

The verses contained in the book are from sermons that encouraged people to take action that led to some historic event, or from speeches by presidents who invoked the Bible.  The history covered in the book is from the time of Columbus through the 2019 national prayer breakfast.  Each verse has a short story behind it. 

My favorite story:  I don’t recall the verse, but Mordecai Ham was a famous evangelist in the early 1900s.  In the early 1930s he conducted a tent revival in North Carolina.  There was a local teenager who wasn’t going to attend, but a neighbor convinced him to go.  After a few nights, the teen joined the choir, which was behind Ham’s podium, to avoid the evangelist’s pointing finger, which the teen thought was pointed at him.  After several nights of revival, the teen answered the altar call, and was saved.  The teenager’s name?  Billy Graham!