God calls His people to holiness in both the old and New Testaments (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:15-16). Our pursuit of true inward holiness by the grace of God is a safe house for His people. In the Old Testament, the Jews sought the protection of God without pursuing the purity of God and God severely judged such idolatry of His chosen people.
Only the most unfathomable credulity can believe that He will continue to ignore such idolatry from those within the church or Christians in America. The following verses were messages from God’s prophets Micah and Jeremiah to the Jews, and are messages to us today.
“Who build Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with violent injustice. Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests instruct for a price And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord saying, ‘Is not the Lord in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us.’ Therefore, on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, And the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest” (Micah 3:10-12).
“Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail” (Jeremiah 7:4-8).
So we are commanded, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness” (2 Peter 1:5-6).
