When God sadly observed evil in the land which He had graciously given to Israel, He sternly warned Israel through his Prophet Jeremiah to amend their ways and doings in Jeremiah 7. He set out what constituted evil in the land from Jeremiah 7: 3-12. There are many evils which we do not consider as evil because of our love for them and sometimes for lack of knowledge. The list is so tall and unending. However God directed Jeremiah to speak on some specific evils in the land.
Trusting in deceptive words
In Jeremiah 7: 8 the Lord said, behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. In other translations it says ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. Lying and deceptive words are of the devil and they do not profit us in any way. John 8:32 says ye shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. This means failure to know the truth will keep us in the bondage of evil. We become worthless when we trust in deceptive words or speak untruths.
1 John 2:22 says who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. Revelation 21: 8 says all liars shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulpher, which is the second death. Isaiah 24:22 says they (evil people) will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. Such is the fate of trusting and engaging in deceptive words. Proverbs 17: 4 says an evil doer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.
We honour the father of lies rather than Jesus Christ when we trust in deceptive words. 1 Timothy 4: 1-2 says in the later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared. Liars deny they have no sin and the truth is not in them, 1 John 1: 10. Liars disobey God yet say they know him, 1 John 2:4. This is the character of the antichrist, 1 John 2:22. With lying words, one says I love God and hates his brother, 1 John 4:20. God is truth and the devil is lies, to whom will we owe allegiance in eternity?
Patronizing crimes
Jeremiah 7: 8 says will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and the come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered! – Only to go on doing all these abominations? Whoever exhibits such character brings evil unto the land. 1 Corinthians 10: 31 says so whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Can we say God is glorified by these acts when we engage in them? These are loathsome in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20: 1 – 17.
Stealing
Stealing is simply taking a thing of which we are not the owners without the owner’s consent with intent to deprive the owner permanently. God is the owner of all things and does not consent to stealing. Value does not mitigate evil. Covetousness is also akin to stealing, Exodus 20: 17. We are all thieves before God because we deprive others from possessing what they are justly due in anything. An act of injustice or an omission of justice connotes also stealing from the sufferer or deprived person.
Murder
Murder is unauthorized killing, taking away life without just cause or shedding innocent blood directly or indirectly by any means not sanctioned by God. The fetus or an unborn child is a human being. Jeremiah 1: 5 says before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. So right from the inception of our formation, God knew us as human beings. We do not become human beings at birth but at formation in the womb. Causing intentional death to a fetus or an unborn child is murder or killing. The pivotal argument of a right to abort based on rape is with the greatest respect not scriptural.
Unconditional abortion
However painful that experience may appear, an unborn child is innocent because it did not commit the rape or cause the pregnancy and cannot be a victim of someone’s punishment. We cannot sentence an innocent victim to death for an offense which we know he/she did not commit. An unborn child is different or independent from the criminal. It is painful to bear the sight of a child from rape but the strength comes from God if we ask. How will we feel if our innocent child is convicted for a crime which he did not commit to clear public knowledge yet sentenced to death and executed? Will we say bravo to such a decision and applaud the judges and witnesses for a good work done?
Samson asked for strength when his eyes were gorged amidst ridicule and the Lord gave it, Judges 16: 28. Psalms 28: 7 says the Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalms 59: 9, 17 refer to the Lord as my strength and my fortress who shows steadfast love. Jeremiah 16: 19 says O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble. Psalms 102: 23; Isaiah 12: 2 say the Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. Do we know how we were conceived or can we say with certainty our parents should have killed us before or after birth?
Medical abortion
Medical abortion is when the life of the mother is threatened. It is to save another life if the mother or the child cannot survive with the pregnancy on account of a medical condition so a medical procedure or process is performed to save one of them. In such instances one sacrifices the life for another to live or one saves the life of the other. This is scriptural in that Jesus said in John 15: 13 greater love has no man than this that a man lays down his life for his friends. The object is to preserve and not to destroy life.
Revelation 21:8 says as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death. Isaiah 42: 22-23 also says but this is the people robbed and plundered, they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? We pray to God to grant us the grace to purify our land from the evil we live in to his glory and honour.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, your word of divine wisdom was until now foolishness to us. We repent of all our evils in the land. Cleanse us in your blood and grant us your eternal peace, we pray, Amen!!
