Where There is No Vision
When you think about this passage, you can’t help but look back throughout history and see nations with ambitious leaders reaching pinnacles of power through conquest of other nations, then ultimately fading into the pages of history. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome quickly come to mind, and in modern times, there was France under Napaleon, Germany, first under Kaiser William, then Hitler, Austria-Hungary under the Hapsburg Dynasty, Italy under Mussolini and the Japanese under its military rulers. Even the British Empire, built up more through colonization than conquest, has all but disinigrated through the efforts of evil men wanting to establish the ultimate empire, a worldwide one.
Today, we have Russia, whom Bible students know was turned back, as prophesied by Ezekiel in Chapter 38:4, when she lost her sattelite countries, but is still awaiting the hooks in her jaw to bring her forward again into battle. We must never forget that a leopard never changes its spots, nor has Russia lost her desire for conquest. China is now a military and economic giant, with a seemingly great thirst for conquest. India too is becoming a giant among countries and the Mid-East countries are seemingly longing for revenge. What is common amongst all these powers is a total contempt for the Western Israel nations and for the Modern Israeli State, seen as a partner of the west.
Then we have Britain and America and what can we make of them? It is clear to everyone now that over the past couple of decades, beginning in Iraq, they have become aggressor nations, with a continuing huge price tag being paid by their soldiers and their taxpayers. The prize of oil and markets has her ambitious rulers coveting those markets with an eye for more power and prosperity for the ruling class of corporate giants and the select group of politicians.
And so, True Israel has stepped in do-do. Bible scholars are oft to quote Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,” however, as Jim Read wrote in a letter in 1991, “this is conditional on Israel obeying God’s Laws and being in harmony with Him. It is also dependent on Israel being the defender against evil aggression, and she must never be the aggressor – but always the defender of righteousness.” Even though we can look to the past centuries and exclaim that the Christian Anglo-Saxon nations have stood against the evil of nations and fought for freedom whenever it was challenged, we cannot say this now.
You see, True Israel has forgotten the advice of our Lord God Almighty, given after He set down His Commandments at Sinai. In Deuteronomy 8, He told us to observe His commandments as we went forth to possess the land which He promised our fathers. Most in Christomden consider this as the tiny land of Palestine but in describing it in verses 7-9, it is clear it must be more. We forget the vision given Isaac (Genesis 26:3) of all the countries his seed would possess, which surely are the lands occupied by True Israel today. Anyway, the Lord told our us not to forget who did all this for us. In verses 2-3 He reminded us of the forty years years in the wilderness which was to humble us and to prove us, to know whether or not we would keep His commandments, to makes us recognize we do not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
In verse 16, He repeats His counsel of verse 2 and ends by saying “to do thee good at the latter end.” Then in verse 17, He cautions us not to say in our hearts and minds, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” Of course, this is exactly what has happened in the Israel lands today, we have all but forgotten our God and believe our power and wealth has come through our own initiative. Yet, in verse 18, God reminds us that it is He that gives power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He made with our fathers.
Then comes the warning in verses 19 & 20. If we forget our God (which our nations virtually have) and walk after, serve and worship other gods (which we are doing) then God says in no uncertain terms that because of our disobedience, we (our nations) shall perish. Proverbs 29:18 makes it crystal clear, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Our leadership in the Israel nations today lack vision, so, despite the nationalism preached by American president Donald Trump and the 2016 Brexit vote, instead, the globalists are working toward a renewed plan of a world apparatus, in spite of the poverty and human suffering it is creating. Maybe this will help explain the huge divisions in both America and Britain.
So, even though God called us “My people” and that we will not perish from the face of the earth, we are going to be scourged with rods for our backsliding, meaning that we shall pay a price for what we are now doing. It’s true that Canada remains somewhat on the fringe of the recent wars, not so the Americans, British and Australians. Still, this country will surely be a battlefield according to Ezekiel 38, so it will be interesting to see what direction Canada will take now that a minority government is in place.
God has decreed punishment on a disobedient nation. Are we on the verge of that punishment. It seems that the stage is being set. In a past article, I suggested that Iran might be the trigger to bring about the final war before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. I’m still of that opinion, but certainly, unless wiser heads prevail, we could be facing disaster in the not too distant future. The perceived abandonment of the Kurds and other Mid-East decisions seemed to have have pricked the illusion that the western Israel nations are undefeatable and Iran, among other countries, seem to sense the people are in no mood to expand hostilities. It seems that all it would take is an act of aggression by either True Israel or the modern Israeli State and the two invasions prophesied in Ezekiel 38 could come about.
In Deuteronomy 8:20, God gives us the analogy of the nations which He made perish before us to what will happen to us if we do not obey. Certainly, further tribulations are bound to come upon us and we shall pay a great price. We have asked for it. If only our leaders would harken to His warning. As a past writer penned, “The punishment can only be minimized if we open our ears and hearts to the Word of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; if we will but listen to the words of the apostles and disciples of our Lord, as our forefathers did in ancient Britain, and gird ourselves with the strength of divine promise, as they did.”
As for those who are striving to walk in His ways, the remaining part of Proverbs 29:18 is comforting, “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Obviously He will protect those of His flock who remain true to His Word.
