The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.     Matthew 12:41

The destruction of the tomb of the prophet Jonah in Mosul, Iraq by the Islamic extremists attempting to create a new caliphate is a minor issue compared to what they are doing to Christians. America and so many nations throughout the world have been so blessed by the sheer goodness and kindness of the Christian faith that they impute this genuine goodness of Christianity to others who call themselves religious. Consciously or unconsciously they feel Christianity is such a good religion all other religions must be like it, good.

The religion of the caliphate, however, is not kind. To Christians they say you have three choices: convert, live as second class citizens paying taxes and being persecuted because you are Christians, or die.That's what they say! It is all over the news, and still there are westerners who will not speak out against such malevolence. They were not kind to prisoners captured during their incursion, executing, by various cruel methods, thousands. They are not even kind to their own Muslim brothers and sisters who might in some way express their personal Islamic faith differently.

A religion which denies the expression of faith by others, that persecutes Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. just because they are what they are, that kills because others believe in Jesus Christ as savior is not good. All people, including those who believe Islam is the religion of peace, should express our moral condemnation of the immorality of the Islamic extremists.

The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment against the men of the extremists of ISIS.

Devotional Verses From The Book Of Genesis

It is a scene from the story of Jacob and his sons. Jacob is on his death bed, And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days Genesis 49:1). He turns to his firstborn son and says, Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch (Genesis 49:3). After speaking to each son, and giving directions concerning his burial, Jacob died.

How could Jacob have known what Reuben was going to be like after he died? Well, clearly he could’ve been inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that may have been true in this instance, but if you look at the things Jacob says about Reuben, you recognize that a person’s future can be predicted from his past behavior. Jacob apparently did not expect a great deal from a son whose immorality had led him into gross sin. Jacob did not expect him to excel, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t do good things and have some success, but you could never expect him to be at the top of the moral ladder seeking purity, honesty, peace, and all the noble qualities that allow you to trust and depend upon a person or group. Jacob expected Reuben to always be unstable and do some things that would mess him, and others, up. While a true faith in, and a sincere commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ can change a person’s spiritual nature and behavior, not every person in the world has that experience, and so we must expect that people will behave pretty much, in the future, as they behaved in the past:

                How will the gang from El Salvador behave when their members get into the United States? How did they behave back home?

                How will the Palestinians comport themselves in their hatred of Israel? How have they done so in the past?

                How will the terrorists controlling an area of Syria-Iraq act now that they control a large swath of territory? How did they act in acquiring that control?

An equally strong list of illustrations could be put together about the behaviors of individual people, for example: a violent armed robber paroled without a change in character. Teaching us that governments, families, neighbors, travelers, what all, should not expect that for everyone the sins of the past are the sins of the past. In many cases, the sins of the past will be predictors of the sins of the present and the future.

Be on guard.

A Devotional Verse From Genesis

And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD  hath blessed me for thy sake.     Genesis 30:27

Laban had the good sense to realize that much of the good life he and his family enjoyed had come from Jacob’s presence in his life every day and over the years. Modern society should recognize the same truth as it pertains to Christian and Jewish faith. Most of the great principles of American life come directly out of biblical teaching.

Some of those great principles are:

A system of laws that hold in check the sinfulness of human beings, so that they are required to be honest and nonviolent, so that people who would otherwise be victims of crime can be protected.

A government expected by God to do good for its people, and obey the same laws all citizens are expected to live by.

A compassion for the least, the last, and the lost: expressed by the church’s being an example to government in feeding the hungry, rescuing addicts, advocating adoption rather than the terminating of life in the human womb, disaster relief, and tolerance of those with whom you might disagree.

The faith expression educates in religion, morals, and the personal responsibility of the individual to be a good person, a good neighbor, a good citizen, and a blessing to the world.

If a society wants freedom it must be a moral society that restricts behaviors that enslave people, and of course Christian and Jewish faith advocate that very thing.

Jesus indicated that his followers were salt. Salt was an important preservative in those ancient days, and illustrates the role of biblical principles preserving society. Remove Christian and Jewish contributions, and influence, from the societies of the world, and even the most modern nation on earth will begin to spiral down from being a peaceful, free land, filled with opportunity into fighting, destruction, fear, and grinding poverty.