Sin is committed without apology or shame. Why? Because it is not considered wrong. Rather than being treated as transgression against God, society or the welfare of man, sin is accepted. And as Isaiah goes on to say, “He who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey” (Isaiah 59:15).

Isn’t it apparent that this is what has happened in the United States? There was a day when sin was not flaunted in the face of society. Society and the law held you accountable. In that day it was safe for children to play in the streets–or grow in a womb.

In our last issue, I mentioned that America is at a crossroads; that we are experiencing the judgment of God and there is more on the horizon if we do not pray and repent. We looked at Ezekiel 14:12-21 and what God says will happen when a country sins against Him by committing unfaithfulness. This month, let’s look at Ezekiel 22:2-12–a blood-red flare of warning against the dark night of America’s soul (1 Corinthians 10:11-12).

Read aloud the text printed below. Let the words go deep into your memory so the Spirit of God can call them to mind at strategic times. Mark every reference to blood. I mark it with three red dots.

2 “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.
3 “You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!
4 “You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands.
5 “Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of turmoil.
6 “Behold, the rulers of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood.
7 “They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.
8 “You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
9 “Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.
10 “In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity.
11 “One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
12 “In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord God.'”

Now look at every place you marked blood. Write down on a sheet of paper what you learn from every occurrence. What are the other abominations? Read the text again and underline them with a squiggly line. List them.

Is America guilty of the same? If so, put a red check over our sins, and remember greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

Now, let’s see what God says about shedding blood. Check the following cross-references and let Scripture interpret Scripture. Mark every reference to blood again, then mark die, death and murder with a black tombstone.

Genesis 9:3-6: “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”

Numbers 35:29-33: “These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 “Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 32 “You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. 33 “So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.”

What does God say about taking the life of another. Why? Make sure you know why God is against it. Now reason with me, because God wants us to know all our abominations. There is only one way to take care of sin: repent–have a change of mind; line up your beliefs with the Word of God and believe in Jesus.

Name sin for what it is and confess it to God. Forgiveness is available to those who believe that Jesus took the penalty and died for our sins. The Son of God paid for the sins of the world in full by shedding His blood and dying in our place because He was without sin. Then He was buried. Consequently, God’s holiness, His righteousness, His justice was satisfied with the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, so God raised His Son from the dead to die no more. Therefore those who truly agree with God (confess) and believe will be forgiven.

This is why we must know our abominations–so we can confess them and be forgiven and healed. America is a bloody nation. Among other things, we have changed the laws of our land and legalized abortion. Since Roe vs. Wade, more than 40 million babies–3,000 a day–have been killed in their mothers’ wombs.

Why? Because truth stumbled in the streets. Two doctors marketed abortion, gave the media inflated numbers to achieve their purpose and “we” bought the lie. In two years a 140-year-old anti-abortion law was overturned in New York State.

I pray that as you think of our abominations as a nation it will fill you with righteous anger. I pray it moves you to tears. I pray it causes us to humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways and pray fervently for our nation to return to a fear of God.

I pray that we will determine that we will discipline ourselves and discover truth for ourselves, that we will go deeper. I pray that we will learn His truth (John 17:17), love it, live it and hold it forth in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation–and if necessary, die for it. Otherwise America is lost.

©2008 Kay Arthur