Hosea 9:10-14. When God came to Israel they were like grapes in the wilderness, like the first fruit on a fig tree in its first season. But they turned away and consecrated themselves to false gods, to Ba'al. They became detestable, like the thing they loved. So their glory will fly away, they will have "no birth, no pregnancy, no conception." Even the few children they manage to have will be bereaved until there are none left. "Woe to them when I depart from them!" Then Ephraim will lead his sons to slaughter. God will give the people a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

The words from this reading that I used as the title of this post are startling. But I truly believe this is where we are - we are leading our children to slaughter, we have led them to slaughter, I have led my children to slaughter. Not only have I, and many of my generation, allowed the world to lead me astray, to pursue the wrong priorities, to have false gods, but it seems the world itself has turned away from God. I really do think we are like Ephraim here, we have consecrated ourselves to false gods as a culture, and our children have suffered horribly because of it. And our children continue to suffer - they are dying by suicide, they are mutilating their bodies, they are depressed, they are anxious, they are fearful, they look to anything and everything for consolation, often with adult support and encouragement, and and they do not even know to turn to God, because we did not teach them to.

We are in a terrible state, and I believe that God is taking our ability to procreate away from us because we have allowed things to get to this stage. Fertility rates are already falling worldwide, and now there's the liklihood that the vaccine affects fertility. Our children have not been taught to be fruitful and multiply, they have been taught that it is up to them when and even if to have children. I myself bought into this, I must admit, although I also must admit it has gotten much worse.

In my journal today I got a lot more personal with this reading, since it was given to me in answer to a direct prayer about my eldest child. I'm not going to get into that all here, but I just feel like what is coming (and there is something very big coming!) is absolutely necessary to get us back on track.

We have to stop leading our children the slaughter, we have to stop prioritizing ourselves, our egos, and our false gods over the children that we should joyfully welcome into this world and care for as beloved children of God. They are the only ones who can continue the world on the right track when we are gone, and the only right track is God's.