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What Destroys A Nation – Duke Jeyaraj /Special 4 July Meditation

o-JULY-4-PARADE-facebook2 Kings 17 talks about the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This chapter gives us a clue as to what destroys a nation. On July 4, America celebrates its Independence Day. On August 15, India does the same. What causes a nation to lose its freedom?

  1. GRACE FORGOTTEN – 2 Kings 17:7 goes this way: ‘For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, WHO HAD BROUGHT THEM UP Oo-JULY-4-PARADE-facebookUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT….’ It was by grace, that the people of Israel came out of Egyptian bondage. Israel could have lived a life pleasing to God if they had understood this simple thing: Because God saved us by Grace when we were in bondage in Egypt, we have the responsibility of living holy enabled by Grace in the Promised Land. But they blew it. And their end was around the corner. Have you forgotten what God gave to your country/gave you? That’s a recipe for disaster.
  2. OMNISCIENCE OF GOD FORGOTTEN – 2 Kings 17:9 goes this way: Also the children of Israel SECRETLY did against the Lord their God things  that were not right, and they rebuilt for themselves high places in all their cities…. When the people of Israel did anything in secret and thought to themselves, “no one knows what we just did”, they were fooling themselves because our God knows everything. What was a high place? (1) an image or pillar for the male fertility deity, usually some Baal (2) a wooden image or a green tree for the female consort of the Baal (V10). (Holman Study Bible, page 621). Baal religion involved having sex with the temple prostitutes who lived in tents around those temples. Baal supposedly would see this, and get sexually excited and finally the sexual climax fluid of Baal was called ‘rain’ (as gross as it gets). Israeli men might have sneaked into these ‘sex-offering tents thinking ‘no one saw me’ but God saw them! That secret sinful habit you are perhaps in, can weight you down, rob you of all joy!
  3. IDOL’S NATURE BEGOTTEN – 2 Kings 17:15 – they followed idols, became idolaters (NKJV). You become what you really worship! So be careful what you really worship! Are we worshiping gadgets, impersonal, inanimate objects? We can become incapable of relating with people like them!
  4. WORD OF GOD FORGOTTEN – 2 Kings 17:13-14 tells us stubborn disobedience to the written word of God led to their downfall. A nation or a person which/who crosses biblical boundaries can get into serious trouble down the line. God is the author of the Bible. His Word being our final court of appeal for all matters of belief and behavior is the best possible safety net while we live in a world created by Him!

(Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Gen from Gehenna Mission, Find out more at Www.dukev.org).

By dukewords

Duke Jeyaraj was born to missionary parents in Vellore, South India and was saved at the age of 11 and committed for ministry and received the Holy Spirit Baptism at the age of 13. God opened the door for him to preach first as a school boy at the age of 16. He is a trained Agricultural Engineer [B. Tech from SHIATS, Allahabad, India], who did not pursue a career in the line of his education but nevertheless enjoys growing cacti in the balcony of his rented Chennai flat, during his spare time! He could have been a sports commentator but prefers to wrap Bible Truth around sports magic moments and other interesting-to-Google Genners contemporary events. God’s call upon him made him utterly restless and he obeyed that call to by founding the Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission (G4 Mission) in 2006 to finally find serenity after having served as a International Bank Customer Service Executive/Youth Pastor/Bible College Teacher/Missionary/Youth Mag Editor. G4 Mission is not a church but an inter-denominational ministry to present-day people, a ministry which Duke works full time for, as an itinerant presenter/preacher/writer-at-residence since 2008 along with his wife, putting to use the formal theological training he received from Southern Asia Bible College in Bangalore-India [M. Div - a Gold Medal performance in 2001 & Doctor of Ministry - with project on Making Disciples of Modern Young Working Professionals Among India's Google Generation, World-wide]. Several Christian publications have carried Duke's articles over the years and at present Aim Magazine (the voice of  the Evangelical Fellowship of India an umbrella body of over 65,000 Indian churches/organisations), regularly carries Duke's writings. Duke's Bible-teaching book on Sex, Love, Marriage, Porn and more called, Straight Talk, is presently available on Amazon and Google Books.  Duke has preached by invitation beyond his national borders (we are talking about nations such as Bangladesh, Singapore, Germany, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates). Duke is called a 'Reverend' by a leading denomination (even as his ministry remains indepedent and inter-church).  Duke is called ‘dad’ by Dale (now a St. Stephen's Delhi student) and Datasha (now in Class 9) and ‘hubby’ by Evangelin (the daughter of a missionary couple to Odisha who is a hospital admin grad currently studying M. A. in Biblical Studies with SAIACS Bangalore) and calls Chennai, India, his current home after living in Hyderabad till June 2021. In case your curiosity is triggered by hearing all this, you may checkout www.dukewords.com [if you are the reading plain text type], www.soundcloud.com/shoutaloud [if you are part of the audio-listening tribe] and www.youtube.com/visitduke [if you group yourself with the video-steaming generation])

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