Throughout the Old Testament, God uses sexual terms to describe Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness to Himself in their worship and life. We find this especially in the prophets. In fact the entire book of Hosea is grounded in this theme as the LORD commands Hosea to take a wife of harlotry. A wandering adulterous woman who will not be faithful to him.

Chapter 1 v.2: When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”

Chapter 3 v. 1 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

Here, we have the LORD God commanding of His servant the grievous and painful task of being bound to a flagrantly unfaithful wife as a living illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Himself in worshiping and loving other, false gods. The worshipers of Ashteroth would use sweet juicy cakes made from raisins in their pagan worship and these cakes came to be a sort of symbol of that unholy carnal religion.

Today, we have the same abhorrent state of affairs with much of the professing bride of Christ. In the New Testament age, God is not in covenant with an earthly nation, though that beloved earthly nation was used mightily by Him in His sovereign orchestration of history to the end of redeeming this bride for His Son Jesus Christ.

The state of the professing church in the western world in general and America in particular is directly analogous to the state of Israel in the time of Hosea. Israel had disregarded God’s commands and fashioned their religious lives after the pagans around them. The centuries long, known and well understood revelation of God through His law and His prophets wasn’t nearly as exciting and self-fulfilling as the carnal flesh feeding worship of those liberated pagan nations.

Today’s professing American Christendom is utterly pickled in the syncretistic and idolatrous mixing of the false religions of the world with the name of the living God and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

Whether it be the pharisaical self-righteous religion of woke political social justice and all of its overt abominations on the so-called left, or the materialistic, self-centered political worship of America and even her historical features that have actually been admirable, on the so-called right. Both make God and His Christ the means to their own ends rather than THE end in Himself.

It’s not about simple obedience to centuries-long known and understood Gospel commands, no matter what it costs us or makes us wrong about. It’s about my place in the world—the world that God commands us not to love through the apostle John. My security, my safety, my prosperity and how we can manipulate God into lending His power to our own worldly agendas. He has become the means and not the end. In today’s visible American church, the Gospel, at bottom, winds up being about making the world a better place for me to live. The salvation of sinners may even be included in there somewhere, but even when it is, it’s about increasing our numbers for political action so that we can, yes, make the world a better place for us to live. It also lends a self-deceptive air of biblical legitimacy to these campaigns of self-will. How would it look after all if we showed no concern for sinners whatsoever?

Even though these modern forms of idolatry may not include outright physical idolatry as in the days of Hosea, make no mistake about it saints, they are idolatry nonetheless.

They are spiritual whoredom and harlotry. They subsume Christ and his church bride under a pre-commitment to our own self-interests. A beguiling and deceptive pre-commitment that makes almighty God the servant of our agendas rather than us being the servants of His. His, which has neither anything biblically to do with secular social justice nor making America great again.

It makes no difference to God what the idol is. Whether it be the overt worship of Baal, Marduk, Moloch, and Dagon, or the worship of earthly self-determination through political liberty and justice. All that matters to Him is that anything has subverted His rightful place as Lord in and over the hearts of His people.

He will not have it dear readers. Throughout the whole of biblical history and the whole of church history, God has used fierce persecution and hardship to both separate the devil’s goats from His sheep and to purify and strengthen those sheep. That they may “share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:4-17)

God’s judgment is upon the professing church, and the heat will only continue to rise until the truly elect are separated from the false pretenders. It will become simpler and simpler, yet more and more difficult, as the contrasts become ever more clear and the consequences of faithfulness ever more grave.

The truly elect in America should be prepared for the coming persecution. Persecution that we think can only happen to other people in some other part of the world. Are we ready to be huddled together somewhere without food, electricity, or running water? Are we ready to have everything we own taken away? Do you think you have secure savings and investments? All it takes is for the right people to say you no longer do…and you don’t. Do you think that can’t or won’t happen in America? Fine, but don’t count on it, which is actually a biblical command, to not put your trust in riches.

Those who cling to the delusion that God simply must love America and will preserve her for some reason that nobody can find in His Word, will have it the hardest. Such people are blind to the truth of His holiness and their eyes will only be opened by force, if at all.

Ultimately, and in a season such as this, it is crucial to fortify the true worshipers of Christ so that they may withstand the coming persecution. Only those who have put their faith firmly and solely in Him will be able to endure the trials that lie ahead. The professing church may have fallen, but the true Bride of Christ will stand firm, come what may. Because their strength, joy, and peace come not from a favorable state of worldly political affairs, but from being joined to the one true and living God for all time and eternity through the blood of Christ.

It is not a sin to love your country. It is however sin to love her more than you love Jesus. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask if the comfort, convenience, and endless choices of American ease have taken ownership of your heart. If they have and you are His, He will scourge it out of you. (See again Hebrews 12) If you are not His, repent, forsake your idolatry, and live, or He will remove your polluting presence from the bride of His Son.