Dr. Malachi's Prescription for the U.S.

By James Tarter

In this book we see how Malachi in the Bible describes the spiritual illness in the U.S. and certain other materially “developed” nations today. The symptoms reveal their obvious cause. Malachi goes further to reveal the often unseen source of the obvious cause. This is like the unseen flu virus or malaria parasite causing the illness, and the illness can be an obvious cause of chills, fever, muscle aches, and more. Malachi establishes all of this for the spiritual illness today, and then shows God's cure for this otherwise incurable spiritual illness. Malachi also shows what God’s people need to do to move into and become a part of His cure for these nations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329710054

Book preview

Dr. Malachi's Prescription for the U.S.

Dr. Malachi’s Prescription for the U.S.

Dr. James M. Tarter

Copyright Page

Eleventh Edition

ISBN 978-1-329-71005-4

Copyright 2015, 2018 by James M. Tarter.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted to make copies for purposes consistent with furthering the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® (1995 Updated Edition): 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.  (www.Lockman.org)

I call the New American Standard Bible the NAS.  I add boldface or underline to specific words and phrases in Scriptures to add my emphasis for discussion.

Introduction: Our National Wilderness, Its Cause, and God’s Cure

About 400 years before Jesus burst into the life of Judea, God inspired Malachi to speak to the people there about the deteriorated spiritual life in his nation, Judah (the Hebrew for Judea).  God inspired him to speak also to people and lands that Malachi did not know.  Later God preserved this vital diagnosis in the Bible for His children in Christ today in these lands, which include the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and nations in Western Europe.  These are materially developed nations with a Christian heritage for generations, but now have largely turned from whatever foundation the nation had in Christ.

In this book I use the term land of Malachi if I think it is better for readers to understand the statement as applying to any nation today that is like Judah in Malachi.  I use the U.S. for a specific example or for encouraging you to apply the statement to your own nation or land: I can often make a key point stronger by directing it to a specific land.

In this book I do not follow the order in Malachi because I think most believers in the U.S. need to realize that Malachi truly describes our national situation today.  Therefore we start with Malachi’s description of our national situation in Mal. 2:10-3:15, the manifest symptoms that our nation now is a spiritual wilderness.  Then as a doctor would do, we consider the key causes of this set of symptoms from the spiritual illness that must be addressed to receive its cure.  Malachi shows key causes in Mal. 1:1-2:9, and shows God’s provision to cure this incurable illness in Mal. 3:16-4:6, which is the end of Malachi.

This book stays predominantly within Malachi and minimizes the input from the rest of the Bible that supports this word for us.  I have three other books about Malachi’s vital message to believers in these nations, and each entire book is in its free Preview on www.lulu.com.  These and other related books are briefly described at the end of this book.

Chapter 1: Mal. 2:10-3:15: The Wilderness in the U.S. and Malachi

Chills, sweats, fever, nausea, vomiting, weakness, every muscle aching if moved!  Nothing is helping, and so you go to a doctor.  As he learns all of this, he considers ways your body causes these symptoms of being ill by not working rightly: thermoregulatory, gastro-intestinal, and muscular malfunctioning.  He also considers possible causes of this malfunctioning so that he can remove them and the symptoms, or at least lessen them: removing both is a cure.  To identify the most likely cure, he considers other relevant factors and if further diagnostic tests would be good.  For example, in Africa treating for malaria is likely to kill its cause and remove these symptoms, but in the U.S., treating for the flu is more likely to help than treating for malaria.

Of course, the goal is a cure, but correctly identifying the causes can be the key to finding the right cure.  Malachi identifies key causes of the spiritual wilderness now in the U.S. and in a few nations specified in the Introduction.  Malachi then shows key symptoms (features) of this wilderness, and then shows God’s cure for the nations that receive it.  Because few believers in the U.S. realize that Malachi describes the spiritual wilderness in our land, in this book we start with Malachi’s description of the symptoms that let us realize his book is addressing our situation.  Then we are ready and motivated to find key causes of our severe national illness, so that we can and will move into God’s