Rejecting God’s Commands

Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
—Hosea 4:6

In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled in the case of Stone v. Graham. The case arose out of a Kentucky case in which copies of the Ten Commandments were being posted in the hallways of Kentucky schools. Now understand, nobody was ordered to read the Ten Commandments and no teacher taught about the Ten Commandments; these commandments were simply being posted in the hallways of the Kentucky schools. And in Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional. What was the basis for their ruling? The Supreme Court said, “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any affect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. This is not a permissible state objective under the First Amendment.” In other words, “If we allow the Ten Commandments to be posted, students might actually read them and, heaven forbid, they might actually obey them. That is unconstitutional.” Seventeen years after that court ruling in Kentucky, on December 1, 1997, at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky, a group of high school students had gathered before school in the hallway to read the Bible and pray. As they were in their prayer meeting joining hands, their eyes shut, a 14-year-old student opened fire on them, killing three students, seriously injuring five others. And it all took place in a school hallway where the Supreme Court said you cannot post the words “Thou shalt not kill.”

During the years since the Supreme Court outlawed Bible reading, prayer, and the posting of the Ten Commandments, America has experienced a dramatic increase in violent crime, illegitimate births, and teenage drinking problems. We have seen a substantial drop in SAT scores. Hundreds of thousands of guns go to school every day, and every year more students are shot and killed. Just a coincidence? Not at all. God’s word to Israel hundreds of years ago is applicable today as well. God said to the prophet Hosea, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

God is no respecter of persons and He is no respecter of nations. The nation that honors God will be blessed by God. The nation that rebels against God will be judged by God.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “America Is a Christian Nation” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.