There is a quote, and I don’t know who said it first, “Learn from other people’s mistakes as you don’t have time to make them all yourself.”
The Apostle Paul spoke of the importance of taking lessons from the nation of Israel.
I Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
The Bible is full of examples of individuals and nations.
One is that of the nation of Judah at the time of Jeremiah. Judah was confident in its power and might.
Jeremiah was sent by the Lord to warn them that they were about to lose everything to Nebuchadnezzar. There was no way to stop it. Judah had broken God’s law so much and so repeatedly, that consequences were inevitable. Judah was about to go into captivity for 70 years. Israel had already gone into captivity.
To understand the full message, it is necessary to read the book of Jeremiah, but the paragraph above is a very short synopsis.
The United States is not too different than the nation of Jeremiah’s time. Shakespeare said, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” so the point is the parallel, not the names involved.
The United States has felt invincible. Tweets and pundits speak of the best military, the best navy, being unbeatable and portray the flavor that everything has to march to the desires of the United States.
The problem is, the world has moved on. The United States is living in the “glory” of yesteryear, while other nations have moved onto new means of warfare and a new monetary system.
It is like putting a horse and chariot in the Indy 500 racetrack and going for a competition. The horse and chariot might have been the biggest and best in the days of Pharoah’s Egypt, but it would be outclassed today. And, in the days of Egypt, the Lord himself defeated Egypt’s horses and chariots at the time of Moses. So there’s that.
Jeremiah pleaded with the nation to surrender to Nebuchadnezzer. He understood that the judgment of God was not going to deviate. Too much disobedience had thrown the nation of Israel into a place of judgement and the Lord was going to require 70 years in Babylon. Period. The best outcome was to surrender and then at least the city might not have been destroyed. Jeremiah lost out against the false prophets who were “all the king’s men” and who assured the king of victory. In the end, Jeremiah proved correct, but because Israel did not surrender in time, the city was destroyed and there was a lot more carnage than there needed to be if there had been a surrender.
The United States is in a similar position today. The war with Iran was a war of choice. It didn’t have to be started. It was started on false pretexts and as there are those who cover ongoing details regularly, that will not be repeated here.
The world is linked today through economics. It is possible to “play the system” only so long. For example, the powers-that-be can deplete the Strategic Petroleum Reserves only so long to prop up the appearance that everything is okay in the oil flow, but the day comes when reality hits and the can will no longer be kicked down the road.
That day is approaching, and like Israel at the time of Jeremiah, the United States would do well to surrender to Iran. It’s a new world. There will be tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz. The United States began this venture, lost, and has to pay the consequence. The longer this goes, the worse it is for the world.
There is no way to pretend that things have not changed. They have. The United States has lied. Remember, the United States started this war. There is a saying that “You are free to choose, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.” That applies.
Like Samson, the United States assumed it would never be defeated.
Luke 14:31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
If those in charge of the United States, whoever that might be at this point, do not see the danger of keeping the Strait closed due to hubris and the unwillingness to humble oneself as a nation and admit defeat for starting a war that never should be started…then there will be suffering. The Word of God states facts. Like gravity, you can believe it or not, but eventually something will convince you that there is a law at work that cannot be beat no matter how you try to play dodgeball.
Proverbs 22:3 (WEB) A prudent man sees danger and hides himself;
but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
Here’s a question that should be asked. This is a simple, commonsense question.
Think of any iconic thing you value. Pick something that has grown up over generations. Maybe it is a restaurant, your favorite shopping store, a university, a place where creativity exists such as Hollywood, pick anything.
If one person began to single-handedly destroy and dismantle something that has been built up over decades into something of value, would the commercial world permit that? Would someone, a Board of Directors, someone, find a way to relieve that person of duty when it became obvious that something that something built over generations was being destroyed needlessly? Or would they simply shrug their shoulders, say, “it was good while it lasted”, and let it be destroyed for no good reason?
A Founding Father said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
That’s very pertinent today where politics has turned into a cesspool of bribery, lies, deceit, covenantbreaking, bullying and ignoring national and international law and norms. Morality is not a word that can be applied in a general sense to what the United States is doing with Iran. If anything, Iran has kept its word better than the United States. Iran has done what it said it would do whereas the United States flip flops trying to find a way of escape to its personal advantage.
Like the nation at the time of Jeremiah, the United States would be better off surrendering, and … yesterday, last week, last month(s) … would have been the best time to do that, but immediately is now the best time. Otherwise, things can get very bad, very quickly. They already are, but the illusion has been propped up by the draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and words of assurance that everything is all right and that there is no problem. That illusion is coming to an end and reality will hit.
In our case, what can stop the carnage as the will of many of the American people is against this war that is destroying the world economy?
Cain was the one who said, “Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9)” Should we care about the effects of the United States on other nations? It would seem so from scripture.
As the Apostle Paul said, we should take lessons from the nation of Israel. Israel was divided from Judah at one point in the Old Testament. In their case, they did not surrender and they suffered for it. In the case of the United States, we should surrender. Maybe it will save some suffering.