Daily Reading: Judges chapters 17 thru 21
Key Verse: Judges 17:6
When there is no king, chaos ensues. First, there is religious apostasy (abandonment of the faith) in the home. Micah, an immoral man, steals from his mother. Instead of getting upset, the mother is grateful at the return of the money, and she insists on making idols out of the silver. Then, Micah goes a step further and buys himself a priest for his personal use. A priest, he is paying to give him lip service. Micah basically sets up his own religious system, which was right in his own eyes. A priest for hire is not a priest of God. That is why it is easy for the priest to leave Micah's service to go to Dan for higher pay and a megachurch (Judges 18:19-20).
Next, we see moral decay in chapter 19. The Israelites began to blatantly disregard the word of God and engage in acts of disgrace. These vile acts finally lead to a nation at war with itself - political anarchy (chapter 20). It was only after total devastation that Israel realized what it had done to its brother and tried to make amends (chapter 21).
A nation at war with itself begins with the individual. When individuals begin to do what is right in their own eyes, the culture becomes such that anything goes - anything. Laws which were once erected to protect the rights of individuals are now being used to protect those who live outside the bounds of God's order.
What is the answer? We need a king- the King of kings and the Lord of lords- King Jesus. He is still alive and active, seated on His heavenly throne. He is waiting for us to turn to Him for the salvation of this nation.
Since 1963, AMERICAN ATHEISTS has been the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. It was born out of a court case begun in 1959 by the Murray family which challenged prayer recitation in the public schools. That case – Murray v. Curlett – was a landmark in American jurisprudence on behalf of our First Amendment rights. It began:
"Your petitioners are Atheists, and they define their lifestyle as follows. An Atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An Atheist accepts that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth – for all men together to enjoy. An Atheist accepts that he can get no help through prayer, but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and to enjoy it. An Atheist accepts that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment."
--Aundrea Baker
<mailto:abaker@thewaybiblefellowship.org>
