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2 Kings (KJV) 23:25 “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.”
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If you remember from scripture the Jews wanted a king and God gave them one in their rebellion. The “Kingdom of Israel” was split in two due to dissension, resulting in Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judah, the southern kingdom. Josiah was king of the the southern. If we examine why the greater “Kingdom of Israel” was divided, we'll find that King Jereboam refused to reduce the taxes imposed by his father, Solomon. Like our founders, high taxes was anathema to our predecessors. They didn't like taxes either!
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To further the pain of division, Jereboam was imported from Egypt to rule Israel. He was different than his constituents. He wasn't of the line of David, hence Israel was not a legitimate Kingdom any longer. They had deviated from their charter by accepting less than God's will. Most of the Jews stayed with their ungodly ruler – ten of the twelve tribes. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained and were the Kingdom of Judah. In their rebellion and accepting a king who was not in the will of God, the majority of the Jews were lost to history. They were dispersed (Diaspora) to the conquering nations (Assyria) and are presently among the infidels in opposition to Israel. God does punish those leaders who are in rebellion to His Word. (Here I insert a reminder of the “National” covenant made between Israel's prosperity and obedience to God-The Abrahamic Covenant).
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Judah was ruled by wicked kings from time to time who placed idols in high places. Like their neighbor, Israel before them, their fate was sealed. The kings (rulers) in rebellion were evil-doers. Then along came Josiah! He made true “change”!
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Josiah was a godly King, “The Law” was read again and not only promised “change”, but this eight-year old King made change! (Sometimes the young are wiser than the old!)
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2 Chronicles (KJV) 34:3 “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
5And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.”
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- Josiah sought God (and at a still young age)
- He followed the lead of a righteous man, King David.
- He removed idols wherever they were and utterly destroyed them.
- He exposed the wickedness of those who had practiced evil practices. He identified evil-doers by throwing the broken idols of evil-doer's graves.
- He washed Judah and Jerusalem by the replacing evil with holy – the bones of the priests.
- He repaired the house of the Lord.
“Oh, no, you say. Josiah mixed politics and religion!” Not only did he, but that's God's intent. The “National Covenant” made with Abraham was a deal from God for the mixing of religion with politics. Not only is it okay to do so, but it's God's will! Now, I will ask you Christians to quit repeating the non-existing mantra of “separation of church and state”. Not only did God demand it, our Constitution never mentioned that lie!
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Looking at Josiah, do you see some things that America can do? After all, we have been supporters of God's Chosen people, the Jews, since the creation of their nation in 1948. Consider the following:
.- Support Israel diplomatically, financially, spiritually and in war. For us to be part of the National Covenant requires action on our part. We must support God's chosen nation!
- America needs to follow the legacy of our Christian heritage. Our imperfect founders certainly had some wrong ideas about God, but God still used them for His purposes. Although, our capitalistic, Republican democracy isn't perfect, it has been successful and copied world-wide – including the nation of Israel.
- Remove the idols from our nation! We have different types of idols today. We have the idols of materialism, entertainment, ungodly philosophy and pagan religions. I would start by reducing immigration from pagan countries, especially our enemies, and actually proselytizing the pagan. We don't have a king, but we must have the freedom to tell the pagan about Christ. Society today, led by the court system, has identified proselytism and public talk of Jesus as intolerant. Judicial change requires changes in tort and constitutional law. Whereas, we rightfully shouldn't usurp freedom by forced compliance, we as Christians can change the idols one-by-one by telling others about Christ and His will. Instead of change being from the top down, it can be from the bottom up! We can make our leaders feel the heat for passing legislation and ignoring God's law in judicial decisions. We can vote them out, and also hold them accountable. Each and every vote counts. However, before God will honor our mission, we have to make changes ourselves. Christians need to destroy our own idols!
- Like the left-wing before us, we need to establish more Christian organizations to expose corruption in high places. We should never allow a politician to campaign for office while being paid to do another tax-payer funded job. That is unethical! Instead of censuring those who break the law, lawmakers need to suffer the same justice system which we do. We should vote for evangelical Christians for office and demand that appointees be Christians, at least moral, as well. Christians should vote for our fellow Christians and examine issues solely by Biblical standards. We should quit rationalizing the sins of the party and the politicians. If politicians are evil, let's call evil just that! Many of the worst villains in history were photogenic, great communicators and even likeable! That doesn't make them “good”.
- We need to return to what's right. Prayer was removed from schools in the 1962 (Supreme Court in Engel v. Vitale). What have we seen since then? An exponential increase in all types of crime and social decay: teen pregnancies, abortions, divorces, broken homes, drug-abuse, rapes, robberies, murder, and about any other activity you can dream of! None of those can be changed by police and court action. We must have real “change”. We need to get God back in our lives. If we have God in our own lives, we can have Godly politicians, Godly laws and Godly judgments. This is what was called “natural law”. At one time it was the basis of all benevolent western governments. You see, “rights” and “freedom” ARE important to righteousness.
- We need to “repair” the house of the Lord! How long has it been since your church has preached on Satan and deception? On Hell? On our government? Has your church preached against the evils of abortion and the preciousness of every life? Does your church talk about the evils of drugs, illicit sex and divorce? Does your church tell you of the saving grace of Christ? Does your church preach “change” - that you're a new man in Christ and you should live that way? Does your church reach out to the unsaved? Does your church leaders know the trials you face each day and council wisely? Does your church emphatically teach right and wrong? Does your church allow sin to go unchecked in the church. Are your church leaders righteous themselves?
- Please note that before you can “repair” the church, you must let God “repair” you! Introspection is necessary and that takes time. Take the time to seek God's will.
America will prosper if we return to righteousness. The alternative is depression and failure.
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