Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

• Judges 17:6
• Judges 21:5

In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

• Judge 18:1

From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

• Revelation 7:5-8

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

• 2 Kings 23:1-3

He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

• 2 Kings 23:12-14

The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

• 2 Kings 23:21-23

“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

• Jeremiah 7:16-19

“Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

• Jeremiah 11:14

I do not know how you pray for the world.  I have a hard time figuring out how to pray for the world myself.  The same goes for the good old USA.

The point being, whether praying for the world or the USA, we need to pray for God’s will.  But if God’s will is to hit the destruct button, then we need to be aware of the consequences of our prayers.  I have read other bloggers write about how the U.S.A. has gone too far to be redeemed.  On one hand, God can do anything.  On the other hand, is that His plan or is His plan to carry out His judgment?

We could easily have the destruction of the USA without having Jesus return.  The Biblical account of the End Times never mentions the USA.

I doubt whether I went a month in my first twenty-five years when I did not hear someone say, “America: Love it or Leave it!”  The phrase became daily when Hippies were around.  Okay, most of the time they pronounced America, “Murka.”  But this phrase is myopic.  What if America, as we know it, has left us?

I think the rebellions of my lifetime may have accomplished something, but as we tore down the wall of segregation, the skin color issues remain to some extent.  I love the video of the black truck driver.  He says the best way to resolve the issue is to quit talking about it.  He’s right.  If we did not talk about it, we would see character first and skin color would not be an issue.  With my friends of various colors, I see loving people, and I give them a hug – those that do not mind that type of contact (or actually crave that type of contact).

Women can achieve just about anything they desire, but women’s pay is still lagging behind men’s pay.  And on the other side, women are much more likely to get heart conditions these days.  Welcome to the club.

We extricated ourselves from Vietnam.  I had my time in military service, between that event and when various skirmishes occurred, quitting the reserve when I was not selected to go to Grenada.  But oddly, one non-war event during my time in the military was the hostage problem in Iran.  Things got rather tense during Carter’s failed attempt at a military rescue.  I was in Europe at the time, and Russia began to mobilize along the border.  We responded, but no shots were fired.  But our interactions and negotiations with radical Islam became an unresolved issue from that time until now.  We got the hostages out on the day of Reagan’s inauguration, mostly because Ronald Reagan was a wildcard who was seen as a strong world leader.  Not all US presidents are seen that way.

But two other “revolutions” occurred in my early years.  There was the cultural revolution.  The counterculture led people to dropping out rather than assimilating in.  And then the Jesus Revolution was considered the last awakening of the Holy Spirit until what may be considered today with the revival on college campuses today among the Gen Z.

But the counterculture revolution carried with it the hatred of the “norm” and one thing to be jettisoned was civility.  Our manners became non-existent.  Propriety barely stayed within legal limits, and sometimes not even that.  Most folks might not have seen the change over the next fifty years, but then the COVID lockdown added the idea that the person passing by might be carrying a deadly disease.  Now, it seems we have a new rule. The loss of civility, manners, and civilization in general rear their heads in one big fat hatred of everyone except me.  Okay, I might tolerate people who agree with me on every issue, but just tolerate.

No, Jesus said to love our neighbor, even if they are enemies. And the guy carrying the germ that might kill you is probably your best friend,

And about that same time, all the battles over removing prayer and God  from schools and then any government proceeding and then people get “offended” if you mention God in public.  When I grew up, when someone said something offensive, you simply smiled and walked away.

But the Jesus Movement was significant for those who became Christians.  It was significant to their families.  And some of those who became Christians then are still spreading the Word of God.  But part of that age was the concept of dropping out.  It is hard to spread the Gospel when you drop out.  Those who were not Hippies looked upon them with distrust.  This became a new prejudice.  The guy with bellbottoms and a tie dye T-shirt who had not bathed in two days was considered a drugged out drop out.  But he might have been a stronger believer in Jesus than the person who was pre-judging him.

Thus, barriers were established on both sides for a more widespread preaching of the Gospel.

But the true reason the Jesus Movement failed, and sadly any awakening … ever, is seen in the Old Testament.

In two places in Judges it says that there was no king so the people did as they saw fit.  That is just an excuse.  We think we invented the idea of “It’s not illegal if you did not get caught’, but those two identical verses in Judges are saying the same thing.

Why did the Danites not receive their inheritance promised them by God?  They failed to drive out their enemies because the enemies had iron chariots.  That was just an excuse.  They had no faith.  After living in the hills while their enemies ruled the prime farming land in the valleys, the Danites concocted an idea to attack a peace loving community north of the Promised Land.  Their ambush was successful, but God did not bless them.  They rejected God’s promise.  They destroyed people who were not among the cursed nations.  And this might be the reason that you will not see the tribe of Dan mentioned in the listing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7.

But then in 2 Kings 23 we see the story of Josiah, king of Judah.  He had the Law of Moses read to the people.  They realized their sin and repented.

Josiah tore down the altars that had been built to other gods that were in the temple itself and the grounds around the temple.  And then Josiah had the people celebrate the Passover in a way that met the Law of Moses.  This had not been done since before the days of the judges.  Probably the last time the Passover had been celebrated properly was when Joshua camped at Gilgal before attacking Jericho.

Think about that for a moment.  Not celebrating the Passover properly over all those years meant the years that David and Solomon were king.  Not even when Joash cleaned the temple.  Not when Hezekiah was king.

Thinking of Hezekiah, God’s patience had run out.  Hezekiah, one of the good kings, was followed by Manasseh whom some say was the worst king.  I will not say that.  Late in life, Manasseh repented.  I may be seeing him in Heaven someday, along with others who did horrible things and then repented of their sins.  For those who refuse to forgive one person’s sin against them, I have illustrated that folks like that might end up with Hitler and Atilla the Hun as their neighbors in Heaven.  They get a bit huffy at that, but then I explain that our little dirty words and anger toward our neighbor are still sins against God.  Without forgiving our neighbor, how can we understand the forgiveness that God gives us.  To obtain mercy, we should show mercy.

But then, the admonitions to Jeremiah to not pray for the people were in the time of Josiah’s sons ruling the kingdom.  God had already allowed Egypt, Assyria, and then Babylon to subject the people of Judah.  Of the four kings that followed Josiah, three of them were sons of Josiah, the other being a grandson.

All of Josiah’s reforms failed to satisfy God’s anger.

Why?

God’s plan must be carried out.  The Scriptures above start with the excuse that they had no king, but with a king, the people were just as rotten, occasionally encouraging the king to join them in their rottenness.

My point is that our reliance on a government that is following God’s Law does us no good if we as a people do not turn to God ourselves.

My wife called a lot of people “Feir Fluegel,” her word for fire flies or lightning bugs.  Their minds would change as the wind changed, along with their attitude, their emotions, etc.  You could never know who they voted for in an election in that their decision changed ten times between registering at the desk and casting their ballot.  Yes, many elections are decided by “Feir Flugel”.

But to be a Child of God, we must make a total commitment.  God is within us.  We might still sin, but desire is for God and no one else.  Thus, our mind cannot change in things of ultimate importance.

So, we may be as a nation and a world in that buffer zone.  God has reached His limit of mercy, judgment is guaranteed.  All nations will be judged, some earlier than others.

But do not get me wrong.  The revivals of today and the Spirit Awakenings made a difference to those who had their lives changed by them.  The early awakenings in the USA led to the founding fathers establishing the USA on Christian values, regardless of what the naysayers are saying.

But the trajectory of every nation is not a trajectory toward God.  God’s judgment will be carried out.  Time is running out for all of us and now is the time to accept Jesus and turn to Him. Forget the idea of not getting caught. God knew before you thought about doing it. And forget excuses. I was well trained in the army. When you or one of the people under you made a mistake, you only response was “No excuse, Sir!”

God does not accept excuses. He accepts those who humbly come to Him and surrender from their rebellion against Him. We do not fail when we do that.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.