"The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying: 'Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,' says Yahweh-Elohim. 'If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says Yahweh-Elohim, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate. Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, 'Sword, go through the land,' and I cut off man and beast from it, even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says Yahweh-Elohim, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,' says Yahweh-Elohim, 'they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness'" (Ezek.14:12-20, NKJV).

Clearly as you look at the nations depicted in the bible and those who interceeded for them that there are cut-off points beyond which no intercession is possible. It's called a "ripening in inquity".

Over the past few weeks I have been studying a very large thistle plant growing outside my mother's house. First the beautiful flowers, the pollination by bees, and then fertilisation. Finally the caphead starts breaking open and you see the seeds with their parachude mechanisms ready to launch into the world. It was then that I decided that 'enough was enough' and together with my youngest son I this morning chopped this 5 foot monster down and disposed of it before it could reproduce itself next year.

Yahweh allows sin to go unchecked until it reaches a critical point and then, at the point where is it going to multiply uncontrollably and overwhelm a nation, He says: 'Enough is enough!' Then judgment must come.

Even when nations ripen in iniquity the flags still wave and the strains of national anthems still fill the air to play on people's pride and patriotism. As things get worse, as they have in Greece today, right-wing nationalism and left-wing communist internationalism start bursting forth to play on peoples' heart-strings. The flags come out and songs fill the streets. However, there are no political solutions to sin, and nationalism (or internationalism) have no influence on Yahweh's attitude toward a country. He wants nothing less than repentance and a change to His ways.

In today's passage, Yahweh warns that "persistent unfaithfulness" is a clear sign that intercession is useless. Not even if the righteous threesome of Noah, Daniel and Job were to pray for that nation would it make any difference.

As we look at the Western nations - and indeed all nations - we see that we are fast approaching this situation. I don't know for how much longer Yahweh will accept the prayers of His intercessors when the clear majority of people are bent upon persistent sin and upon electing one tyrant after the other, each one getting progressively worse. And though I know most of you would like this to be the end of the present system, with Yah'shua (Jesus) returning any moment, I'm afraid it's not that time yet, so I don't think total ripening in inquity has taken place even though it is perilously close overall. There's a generation of trouble left at least and a certain amount of grace as Yahweh gives us one last time to teach repentance to this hard-hearted and stiff-necked generation for the sake of the elect.

So the Noah's, Daniel's and Job's can still do something - the problem is raising them or finding them. We certainly need them. How will these latter day greats come to be? By individual men and women surrendering to Yahweh completely, obtaining regeneration from Yah'shua (Jesus) and obeying the mitzvot (commandments) of Torah faithfully.