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One of the themes of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur is judgment. From the beginning of Rosh HaShana to the end of Yom Kippur, God is looking at our lives. He is analyzing us. On Yom Kippur He makes His decisions. He determines if we will live or die in the following year. Now, this is the teaching of Jewish tradition. It’s not the teaching of the Bible. However, the Bible teaches the same principle – that God judges individuals and nations. He analyzes them and judges them, rewarding or punishing them.

Now, I’m not God, but I know why He judges individuals and nations, deciding to reward or punish them. Based on what I know, our once great nation is worthy of punishment – and likely very close to punishment. Why? Because our nation has become corrupt.

A nation that becomes corrupt is nothing new. Nations are like individuals. Over time, they’re inclined to become corrupt. In Genesis 6, Moses described the corruption of an entire civilization, the civilization that existed before the Flood: God saw that the Earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on Earth was corrupt. That’s a lot of corruption.

How does a nation become corrupt? That’s easy. All it has to do is ignore God. Our fallen nature and the fallen angels will do the rest.

When a nation becomes corrupt enough, it’s judged. It can be judged directly by God Himself – like the civilization before the Flood, or like Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider the Lord’s words to Abraham: After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction. After Israel returned from Egypt, God judged the fully corrupt Amorites using the Jewish people to destroy them. Or, God can judge a corrupt nation indirectly – simply by removing His gracious hand from that nation. He can abandon them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done – which results in ruination and misery.

We’re corrupt and ripe for judgment – for a lot of reasons, starting with corrupt thinking. Our nation used to fear God and honor the Word of God. Now the thinking of the nation is dominated by atheism and socialism. Socialism is a foolish ideology that results in corruption and destruction.

Our morals are corrupt: Sexual immorality and perversion are the norm. About 20% of the population has a sexually transmitted disease. According to a recent Gallup poll, the percentage of adults in the US who identify as homosexual or lesbian has doubled over the past 10 years to 7%. And it gets worse: 21% of the newest generation who have reached adulthood identify as homosexual or lesbian.

Other evidences of moral corruption: We murder hundreds of thousands of babies in the womb each year. There have been over 300 mass shootings this year. Forty percent of first marriages end in divorce. There are an average of 132 suicides every day.

Our politics and many of our politicians are corrupt. We have money-drenched elections. Many of our politicians are bought and paid for by big money. Career politicians retire as millionaires with fat pensions.

Our federal government is corrupt. It’s grown to a monstrous size and soaks up much of the wealth of the nation. It’s expensive, oppressive, burdensome and full of waste and fraud.

Our tax system is corrupt. It’s way too complicated. Taxes are way too high. Last year people spent more on taxes than on food, clothing and health care combined. There’s something very twisted about that.

Our judicial system is corrupt. People can spend months or years in jail before they face trial. Those who have enough money to buy the best lawyers can delay or minimize their sentences or get a not-guilty verdict – like OJ Simpson did.
Our financial system is corrupt. We no longer have free markets. The Federal Reserve manipulates the cost of money (interest rates), which distorts the prices of everything else. They’ve created bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate. Bubbles always burst – as they are now.

Our money is corrupt. It’s no longer sound money backed by gold and silver like it used to be, and should be. Today’s dollar is backed by 31 trillion dollars of debt and a Federal Reserve balance sheet that has bubbled to 9 trillion dollars – with more money printing on the way. Once a nation goes into debt and starts printing money, that money is doomed. Inflation destroys the money and the financial system, and great suffering results.

The BRICS alliance of nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and other nations see our national bankruptcy. They’ve seen how we’ve weaponized the dollar and the US-based financial system against Russia. We’ve sanctioned Russia financially and confiscated Russia’s US bonds. The BRICS nations have announced they’re going to launch their own financial system and a sounder currency. When they do that, it will likely have a devastating impact on the dollar and our financial system.

Large parts of our educational system have been corrupted. Many of our children are not being taught well and are not learning well. Many of our schools are grooming our children for a life of immorality and perversion and turning them into good little atheists and socialists.

What can we do when surrounded by such corruption?

Be uncorrupt ourselves. Be righteous. Be holy. And if we aren’t – repent, repent, repent. Turn away. Turn around. Turn to God.

Fear God. Honor the Word of God.

Courageously take a stand against the corrupt thinking and morals of our nation.

Vote for godly men and women who respect godly values.

Vote on moral issues like voting against the evil Proposition 3 on the November ballot in Michigan.

Be wise as a serpent. Protect ourselves. Get some real money – gold and especially silver – that will survive the corruption of our money that’s being increasingly debased.

Proclaim the Good News to everyone we can. The Gospel is God’s method for saving people. Saved people become transformed people. They receive a new godly nature. They receive a new mind. Sinful thinking and sinful practices no longer control them.

And pray for repentance for our nation – but don’t expect it until judgment comes. That’s the history of Israel. Israel repeatedly ignored God and became corrupt. Then judgment came. Only then did we turn back to God.