A Quick Study of Jeremiah 19:5 and Today

Jeremiah was called to prophetic ministry around 626 B.C., where he wrote, “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal –something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.”  Jeremiah 19:5 (NIV)

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet was preaching judgment against Judah. Jeremiah was concerned about the nation worshiping Baal, the god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture.

King Josiah began a religious reform in Judah at about 622 BC.  When Jeremiah received his call to be a prophet, he spurred Josiah’s reforms on.

But after the death of Josiah, Jehoahaz was placed on the throne but the Egyptians took him into exile after only three months. The Egyptians then made Jehoiakim king; he allowed the swift deterioration of Josiah’s reforms.

Many abuses had found their way into the life of the people. Outspoken heathenism had been introduced by such men as King Manasseh, even the sacrifice of children to the honor of Baal-Molech in the valley of Hinnom, and the worship of “the queen of heaven”

The Egyptians were eventually toppled by the Babylonians (present day Iraq) at in 605 B.C. The Babylonians then laid siege to Jerusalem.

Because the King failed to repent Judah was eventually sacked around 586 B.C., by the Babylonians.

From the time Jeremiah began prophesying to the downfall of Judah, only 40 years passed. The length of time becomes important when you learn that in March 2014 the UK Telegraph reported: The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals.  At least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated over the last two years alone while he mothers were told the remains had been ‘cremated.’

And while the above news story regards the spiritual health of Britain, the U.S. is no better shape.

A New Jersey family is suing the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District and its superintendent, seeking to have the phrase “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance that students recite every day. A lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Monmouth County on behalf of the family, who wish to remain unidentified, and the American Humanist Association claims that the practice of acknowledging God in the pledge of allegiance discriminates against atheists, in violation of New Jersey’s constitution.

This should scare the hell out of you as it has me. Fortunately, there is still time to repent and turn back toward the Lord.