Jeremiah 29:18-19. "I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not heed my words, says the Lord, which I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, says the Lord."

This is addressed to King Zedekiah of Judah and to the Jewish leaders who stayed behind in Jerusalem after Babylon took away the exiles. These people were acquiescing to Babylonian rule in order to preserve their lives and their power. King Zedekiah never listened to the prophet Jeremiah, and now his people and the whole nation are paying the price. This total destruction is what God promises to do to his beloved people and his beloved city, Jerusalem, now that He has removed the exiles. The horror that has come, and will become even worse, is the "just punishment" for the evil ways of the leaders, and their failure to listen to God's prophets.

I don't wish this kind of suffering on anyone, I would much rather have our leaders, especially the Catholic ones, wake up and turn back to God. But I see this suffering coming (I wonder if they do too, and that is why they are acting so strangely?). We will all suffer when the "just punishment" of our nation and world comes, but, like the exiles from Jerusalem, God will protect His faithful ones even in their suffering.

Since we can see it coming, though, there is still time for any individual person to change. I keep asking God to reveal my own faults to me, so I can repent now. I hope and pray that some of our leaders are doing the same.