1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“And you,(A) O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel:(B) An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.[a] 3Now(C) the end is upon you, and(D) I will send my anger upon you;(E) I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. (Jeremiah 7:1-3, ESV)
Many people will doubt whether what I said in part one of this series could possibly be true. Certainly they and certainly the vast body of mankind could not possibly be the abomination of desolation! they think. Such an idea simply does not fit their theology. It’s not what they’ve been taught. And, besides, they are much to good to be this horrible, nasty thing that Jesus prophesied. Well, let’s see.
First, according to Strong’s Dictionary, the word translated “abomination” in Daniel 9:27 literally means, “disgusting, i.e. filthy; especially idolatrous or (concretely) an idol.” In order to see whether or not any of these words apply to us or to mankind in general we need some kind of standard or testimony by which to judge. Do you have any idea what standard that could be? Most people do not, but the following Scripture tells us,
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20 KJV)
Many modern translations obscure the meaning of this verse. The English Standard Version reads, “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” The New International Version says, “Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” The Good News translation reads, “You are to answer them, `Listen to what the Lord is teaching you! Don’t listen to mediums; what they tell you cannot keep trouble away.'” All three of these very popular Bible versions misinterpret this verse by mistranslating one of the key words of Scripture, “torah.” Torah is the first Hebrew word in Isaiah 8:20 and means, “a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:–law” according to Strong’s. Isaiah warns us that God’s people must speak according to God’s precepts and statutes, his Law. If we fail to do this, he says, then no light dwells within us. The absence of light is darkness and darkness now rules the earth.
Several generations of men conspired and worked to remove every vestige of God’s Law from the active working of society. Christians, even scholarly interpreters of God’s Word, helped them do this. Thus, as we saw, many modern translations refused to use the word “law” or its equivalent in verses like Isaiah 8:20. This two-pronged attack upon a Christian-based society resulted in prayer and Bible reading being outlawed in America’s public schools. This is why federal courts continue to forbid children from praying at graduation and why teachers cannot place their bibles on their desks anymore (I taught in public schools in 1980 and kept a Bible on my desk at all times. No one challenged this then, but that practice has now been found to be “unconstitutional”). Men removed the memory of the Law from the public consciousness because they wanted to live without the Law’s moral restraints. Christians actively participated in this endeavor. This removal of God’s Law allowed every evil and abomination imaginable to become commonplace in America and throughout the sphere of America’s influence in the world.
Now we examine each of God’s ten major laws in light of the world’s current practices. This should enable us to understand just how abominable mankind has become in the eyes of the LORD and why the time of his judgment has come (to be continued…)
