As we have reviewed the last few days' readings, it is clear that God has been preparing His people (that would be all of us as well) for the message in today's readings.  It is a powerful warning.

Jeremiah surely lays it out very specifically!

Jer 13:25-27
This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen-- your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?"

God is telling the people that He will expose what they are doing. He refers to all the idol worship, Asherah poles and sexual perversion. What does that have to do with us today? Do we participate in idol worship? Do we have Asherah poles? Too often we want to distance ourselves from the God of the Old Testament and dismiss His warnings to be only for the people then. We miss a depth of understanding when we don’t make the application for ourselves today from the Old Testament. Paul gives some definitive words concerning this.

2 Tim 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It says ALL Scripture. That includes Old Testament as well as New Testament.  

So back to the question, what does that have to do with us today? We do participate in idol worship. We do this any time we elevate any thing above our worship of God (material possessions, our jobs, our hobbies, sports). We do have Asherah poles. Any time we rationalize any kind of sexual perversion (pornography, adultery, sex before marriage, homosexuality, watching certain movies, reading certain books), we lift up Asherah poles. There are consequences for our actions. We need only look at the results of these activities in the past to see what happens to us now and in the future.

God warns in Jeremiah 14 to beware of false prophets who tell of visions and their own delusions. We must also be careful today of many "theories" taught as Biblical truth. There are many leaders, writers, and speakers who follow this same pattern of twisting God's word to make it say something that it doesn't say simply because that is what people want to hear and believe. God warns about what will happen to them and it's not a pretty picture.

Okay, I guess we’re done for today!