our daily bread
Dexu Xia
When a Nation Turns Its Back on God
By Charles Stanley
Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before * the sons of Israel. The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon2 Chronicles 33
Hezekiah was a god-fearing king who brought about reformation among the Israelites. His son Manasseh, however, was an evil ruler. He had watched his father walk with God and live according to Scripture. Yet he chose to ignore the Lord.
Manasseh worshipped false gods, even to the point of sacrificing his sons by fire in order to praise Molech. He practiced much evil--including witchcraft and sorcery-- and led Israel astray, thereby provoking God to anger. The king, along with the people, paid a high price for his rebellion.
This story illustrates the Lord’s intolerance of a nation’s disregard toward Him. Now consider our country. We, too, are a nation that pushes God aside--one that has turned away from the only true God and embraced idols. Perhaps these aren’t statues of stone, but we worship money, sports ability, fame, and reputation, to name a few.
The United States of America was founded on biblical principles with the intent to guarantee freedom of worship. But over time, we have removed the Lord from many aspects of public life. Prayer in schools, for instance, was deemed unconstitutional. What was once a “nation under God” has turned into a country that tolerates a growing number of sins and yet belittles absolute truth.
If a nation turns its back on the Lord, His judgment is inevitable unless the people repent and make Him Lord once again. As believers, our responsibility is to pray that God would draw the heart of our country back to Himself--and to join hand in hand to spread the gospel and truth through our land.
当一个国家向上帝转背时
玛拿西引诱犹大和耶路撒冷的居民，以致他们行恶比耶和华在以色列人面前所灭的列国更甚。 耶和华警戒玛拿西和他的百姓，他们却是不听。 所以耶和华使亚述王的将帅来攻击他们，用铙钩钩住玛拿西，用铜链锁住他，带到巴比伦去.（历代志下33章）
希西家是一个敬畏神的国王，他带领以色列人进行改革。然而，他的儿子玛拿西是一个邪恶的王。虽然看到父亲与神同行，按照神的话语生活，他却选择忽视耶和华。玛拿西敬拜假神，甚至为了赞美摩洛神把儿子献为火祭他作恶多端，行巫术，算命，把以色列人带入歧途，以致惹动上帝的愤怒。王和百姓都因此付出高昂的代价。
这个故事说明了神不会宽容一个无视他的国家现在，想一想我们的国家。我们也是把神抛在一边的国家，一个已经脱离了独一真神，拥抱偶像的国家也许这些雕像不是石头的，但是我们在崇拜金钱，体育运动，名望声誉等等。
美国是建立在圣经原则之上的国家，旨在保障敬拜神的自由。但是随着时间的推移，我们已经把神从公共生活的许多方面除去了。例如，学校的祷告被视为违宪这曾经是“在上帝之下国家”，已经变成一个容忍越来越多罪恶，却在贬低绝对真理的国家。
如果一个国家向上帝转背，这国家一定会受上帝的审判，除非美国人悔改，重新接受上帝为主作为信徒，我们的责任是祈祷上帝来吸引我们国家的心灵回到他那里，并同心协力地在这块土地上传扬福音和真理。