AMERICA PAYS THE WAGES OF SIN

Pastor Peters taught a basic principle of life, and that is, there is no free lunch. Many in America today live and act as if there is free lunch, that they can sin and get by with it, both individually and as a nation. This is not true, as the Scripture, and history itself, proves time and time again. America today IS paying the wages of her sin, in many ways.

America Pays The Wages of Sin: Earthquakes, Floods, Hurricanes, Arctic Cold, Fires, Riots, Etc.  by PASTOR PETER J. PETERS              There are what the Bible calls wages of sin (Romans 6:23). That means somebody is going to pay. Just as there "ain't no free lunch," there is no "free sin." Sin costs and costs dearly. This is true on the national level as well as the individual level. America is proving the rule, the rule that has been stated in many ways in Scripture.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 6:7            Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.                Proverbs 14:34             ...They have provoked Me to anger... I will heap misfortunes on them; Deuteronomy 32:21,23            If you are not careful to observe all the words of this Law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God... as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish...                                                    Deuteronomy 28:58,63            The wages of sin is ultimately death (Romans 6:23), but the death of a nation is a slow, debilitating and expensive death. A sinful nation is chastised and stricken for its sins, and it becomes weaker and sicker.             Isaiah described the process.             Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion?  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.                                                          Isaiah 1:5            It’s all part of the wages of sin.            Of all that has been filmed, written, reported, and broadcasted concerning the recent earthquake in California, or the  damaging cold in the east, few have suggested that it could be the ongoing judgement of God.            The God of Israel has not changed. He still has a covenant people (Genesis 17:7).              He has promised them national blessings if they are faithful to Him (Deuteronomy· 28:1-14) and national curses if they are unfaithful (Deuteronomy 28:15-44).              The blessings and curses have followed these people all the way to America, for the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred people that settled America are that people.

So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed (i.e., death of their nation), because you would not obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever.                          Deuteronomy 28:45,46   AN EARTHQUAKE IS A SIGN OF AN INDIGNANT GOD            ...At His wrath the earthquakes, and the nations cannot  endure His indignation.            Jeremiah 10:10              Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble, and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, but His hand is stretched out.                                                                        Isaiah 5:24,25            Notice this Scripture says His anger is not spent. In other words, "You ain't seen nothing yet, America."            America's hurricanes, droughts, floods, freezes, fires, riots, diseases, trade deficits, and earthquakes are the costly wages of sin. Jeremiah tells us it's our sins that withhold good from us.            "And it shall come about when they say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' then you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'          "Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in  Judah, saying, 'Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not; who have ears, but hear not. 'Do you not fear Me?' declares the Lord.  'Do you not tremble in My    presence?  For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.            Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. 'But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and     departed. They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the  harvest."  'Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you."                                                                        Jeremiah 5:19-25

Are we so foolish to think we can survive as a nation when we accept and tolerate usury, antichrists, queers, murderers, adultery, thieves, corrupt politicians, pornography, abortion, lasciviousness, rebellion, etc., etc. Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the LORD. "On a nation such as this shall I not avenge  Myself?"  Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? And the Lord said,      "Because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.                                                           Jeremiah 9:9,12-14            On a national scale, where does it end? In death!  That is, we either repent or we perish. Our only hope is to repent and turn back or we perish, for the wages of sin is death.            If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble them­ selves and pray, and seek My face and tum from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.                                                             2 Chronicles 7:13,14

SOME OF THE WAGES OF SIN:            (And remember, these figures are from 1994…!!!)            Disaster             Year                                 Damages. California Earthquake (1994) ............................$30 billion Eastern Arctic Freeze (1994.................................$? billion Hurricane Andrew (1992) ..................................$30 billion Midwest flooding (1993} ...................................$12 billion San Francisco Bay quake (1989) .......................$5.9 billion Southeastern drought (1986)................................. $3 billion Oakland, California fire (1991) ..........................$1.5 billion Future chastisement ...............................................$? Billion            And, it continues. Some recent events and amounts.            Disaster             Year                                Damages Fukushima Nuclear …...2016……………………$75.7 billion Paradise, CA fire…….…2018…….…….…………$422 billion Camp Fire, CA…….…...2018……..…….………..$16.65 billion Maui wildfires…….……2023…….destruction….$5.52 billion                                                           economic loss….$6 billion Mauna Loa Volcano…...2022……...……………….$3.9 million California earthquakes…PER YEAR………….…$9.6 billion   SIN COSTS            ...Your sins have withheld good from you.                                                             Jeremiah 5:25 The following comes from USA TODAY.

Storms drain local budgets: by USA TODAY            More snow and ice is poised to pelt the Northeast this week­ end, leaving many cities and state governments scrambling to keep up with winter.            Across the Midwest and Northeast, hundreds of cities are reporting dangerously low salt reserves, excessive over­time paid to emergency work­ers and dwindling budgets: In Pennsylvania, a cara­van of 100 trucks Thursday began hauling salt  from  New York mines, after officials said their $115   million winter budget is blown and 78% of the state's salt supply is spent.            "It's keeping us going," says John Corney of Pennsylvania's Emergency Management Agency. "But depending what Mother Nature has in store . . . it may not be enough."            In New Jersey, officials said 97,000 tons of salt already. had been spread - three times the amount used two winters ago. And they fear an ice storm predicted for the Northeast today could leave them empty.            New York City is $6 million over budget and officials expect to spend $3.5 million more this weekend.            Today's storm, expected to drop freezing rain and sleet from Philadelphia to Maine, could be followed · by another Sunday, says Wayne Barnes of Weather Services Corp.            How much snow is anyone's guess, as predictions range from two inches to two feet.

America, the Scriptures are still true, as the Word of God does not change. Repent, and live. Choose you this day what you will believe, and who you will serve, God or man. This land needs Jesus Christ, NOW, more than ever. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the WORD of God tells us. Blessings on a nation are NOT what we are seeing and living today, here in the good old USA…Repent!

From the Scriptures for America Dragon Slayer newsletter, 2023 Volume 6.