“Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.
“How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment. You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and [c]hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.” — Ezekiel 16:27-34
Men, shrines and “high places” of worship had been erected to various false deities all over Jerusalem. The Lord has called Israel “harlot” and testifies against them. Israel has taken on the deities of the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, and even pursued as far as the Chaldeans, and was still unsatisfied.
The Lord goes on further, saying, Israel was not like other harlots. Other harlots expected something for their services. Israel has given herself away and paid handsomely to be taken advantage of. They will be handed over in part, to the Philistines, who were disturbed at how lewd Israel had become.
Time, and time again, God had delivered Israel from the hand of the neighboring nations that the current generation of this time had simply given herself over to. Israel’s ancestors fought to keep herself pure from these false religions, but now, they chase other gods.
America once fought a world empire for religious freedom, to worship the 1 true God without interference from the state. Today, any religion is accepted except worship of the Lord God. In our appetite for distractions, comforts, tolerance and our piece of the pie, America has forsaken God except for a token of appreciation on Sunday by a remnant.
We too are harlots. We were given a land, and we’ve handed it over to China for cheap gadgets, the Arabs for cheap oil, and Hollywood for our insatiable request for unGodliness. We have given away personal freedom to other nations and lay as harlots on a bed of debt. Convenience and ease has become our god, and the trap has been sprung.
Move forward, men. America has committed sins, and is being called to repentance. What will you do? Who will rescue us from ourselves but the Lord our God through repentance and personal responsibility.
Vance Durrance
