The Kingdoms of Satan
Introduction to Part 1
A vast battle of kingdoms rages all around
you. Because of our limited human horizon, though, you aren't
always aware of it. Yet, the Bible urges you to choose the
KINGDOM of God over the kingdoms of Satan. Too many think that
because they call themselves “Christian” or attend
church services, they’ve already made their choice. This
false assumption often traps well-meaning people into thinking
they are citizens of God’s KINGDOM, when, in fact,
they’re serving Satan.
The KINGDOM of God is evidenced first in
the rule that Christ has in your heart as your Lord and King.
In a sense, where God rules, He sets up His government. Who He is, how He thinks, and His purposes
become a part of you as He dwells in you through His Holy
Spirit.
Your life in His KINGDOM has little
conformity to this world. When you trust wholly in God and in
His rule as His beloved child, you become a vessel of His power
for His love to grow and manifest itself.
Satan’s kingdoms are his influence
over all the governments of this world. God cast him down to
this earth and, for the time being, the dominions of this world
are his. This is why, if you truly love our Lord and want to be
found faithful in Him, you must be careful where you place your
trust and dependence.
This issue is far more important than what
creed you embrace or what congregation you attend. Where, or in
whom, you place your trust is where all your other motivations
will emanate from.
Trust in God
allows Him to establish His KINGDOM in your heart. Your ongoing trust in Jesus and your growth in the
character of Jesus are your
assurance of your welcome on the “day of salvation”
at the Judgement Throne.
Placing your trust in any of the kingdoms
of Satan is like a married man who keeps a lover on the side. His
adultery is a pathway to death.
Judge for yourself: Is your trust only in the
KING of KINGS?
Part 1
The KINGDOM of God vs. The Kingdoms of
Satan
Can people really be governed in their hearts by God and His
Word?
One of the strongest tenets of Scripture
holds that our Lord intended that government on earth be Theocratic; in other
words, that God be our ruler and King.
The Older Testament lays the foundation
for God to individually and collectively rule His people,
the nation of Israel. However, as history has demonstrated,
yielding to the Kingship of God was as difficult for them as
for the rest of mankind!
Throughout Scripture only a few, a remnant, have ever
been able to relate to God as He has revealed Himself: our Lord as well as
our Father in heaven. He has shown Himself through His Creation
and His Word to be omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful,
eternal, full of love and compassion, just and yet merciful. He
rewards those who earnestly seek Him, and punishes those who
reject Him. In all of this He is King.
Let’s personalize this idea.
Theocracy is first and foremost the rule of God in your heart.
God’s rulership begins in your inner person, where the
Spirit of God begins to change your nature to conform to His
character:
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and
the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all
your heart and with all your soul, and live (Deutero-nomy 30:6; see also Colossians 2:11).
God’s Theocracy in your heart
increases as your sin nature is circumcised and replaced by the
nature of Jesus. His Theo-cracy calls for the simple trust of
our father Abraham: “What
does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham trusted God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness’” (Romans 4:3). This is the backbone of the
Hebraic Restoration — your
complete trust in our heavenly Father, and evidencing that loving-trust in a life that
glorifies Him.
The Rebellious Attempt To Define God
Rather than yielding to God’s
Theocracy, generations of men have tried to define Him under
the guise of “theology”. Defining God according to
human reasoning keeps Him from being recognized as Who He really is!
God warns those who would diminish Him
with a man-reasoned definition, “‘For
My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My
ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8,9).
He is beyond human comprehension, yet many
rebellious people try to confine Him within a theological box. If man can reduce God to someone who can be
understood, then He can be manipulated and controlled.
This is the method of empirical science
— to study, understand, and finally, control. And, it is
the undeniable method of many deceived theologians. This
approach, however, will never work with God!
Let’s remember with humility the
real nature of man:
The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on
the earth had become, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the
time. . .The Lord smelled the
pleasing [sacrificial] aroma and said in His heart:
‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is
evil from childhood’ (Genesis
6:5; 8:21a).
The merciful ways of the God of the Bible
are wondrous and incomprehensible. He enables His people to be
“with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). At the same time He tells us that “you yourselves are God's temple and that
God's Spirit lives in you” (1
Corinthians 3:16). How can anyone get a grip on God, and how He
can make these things happen?
Unlike the kingdoms and governments of
man, the KINGDOM of God is not easily seen, for “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21b).
His KINGDOM is spiritual —
ruling the heart of man and enabling you
to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus.
The Israelites of old were as willfully
blind as many Christians are today in their lusting after
idols. They manufactured images to suit their concept of a god.
For example, while Moses was seeking the true God on the
mountain, the people were carousing around a golden calf. Be
warned! Worshiping a god that pleases you but isn’t
the God of the Bible is dangerous. Three thousand idolatrous
Israelites were struck down by the Levites, while others
perished by plague. (See Exodus 32:27-35.)
Can the rebellious worshipers of today who
have made God into their own image expect any less consequence?
• Before you read further, would you
describe yourself as “Kingdom person”, or a
“churched person”? Why?
• Is your own faith walk defined by
your creed, your denomination, the congregation you attend, or
on your daily service in representing King Jesus to the world?
Explain.
• How intense is your desire to be
more like Jesus in love and motivation? Describe yourself. Have
those who know you well describe you.
Our God Loves Because It Is Within His
Character,
Not Because We
Deserve It
Picture the faithless foolishness of the
Israelites. Dissatisfied with the protection and provision of
their Heavenly King, the elders approached the prophet Samuel
to demand that God appoint for them a monarch like those of
other nations (1 Samuel 8). Once again manifesting stiff-necked
rebellion and stubbornness, Israel turned their back on the One
Who had so mightily demonstrated His love for them.
Count how many times expressions of
God’s love for His people show up in this passage, and His mercy for
those who love Him:
The LORD did not set His love on you nor
choose you because you were more in number than any other
people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to
your fathers, the LORD has brought
you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from
the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Therefore know that the LORD your
God, He is God, the faithful God
who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to
destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He
will repay him to his face (Deuteronomy 7:7-10).
God not only kept His promise to the
Patriarchs to bring the Israelites out of Egypt; He then
revealed Himself as their uniquely
personal God: “I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery” (Exodus
20:2).
Our Covenant-giving and Covenant-keeping God promised Israel His personal leadership and
protection in exchange for their love and obedience to His
commands. Covenant, that is, to live
in union with, is God’s way
for people to experience Him in their lives. The Israelites
vowed to keep His commandments, and He would keep His promises
to them. Quite a simple relationship if His people submitted to
Him!
Yet, ongoing human rebellion has made this
covenant of love difficult to keep, even for followers of Jesus
today.
[See our Hebraic article, The Gospel of the Covenant is the Pilgrimage to
Salvation, for more on how you can
live in covenant union with our Father through Jesus.]
The Kingdom of God Is Led By Elders Who
Represent His
Loving Concern For His Children
Up until the crisis point of rebellion
outlined in 1 Samuel 8, God ruled every Israelite individual,
family, clan and tribe. His rule
was coordinated through the elders.
Elders, or zaknim (zahk-NEEM, singular zaken), were highly regarded, gray-bearded family
leaders who had acquired wisdom over the years and applied it
to family situations.
[Our book, Pastoring
by Elders, details the biblical
role of elder, and his role in leading and guiding home
fellowships in wisdom today.]
The collective
leadership of the elders —
their council — was based on family ties. Older, wiser
men represented their families, clans and tribes at each level.
Under God’s watchful eye, authority
in Israel rested within families led by elders who were
esteemed for their age and wisdom.
Note, however, that not all older men became elders. As an
ancient sage wrote, some men remain “as advanced in their
folly as in years.”
All throughout the Older Testament you see
the role of elders as they guided the people, applied
God’s commands, and enforced obedience. For example, when
God sent Moses back to Egypt to free His people, He told him, “Go, assemble the elders of Israel” (Exodus 3:16).
The elders of the people made themselves
accessible by sitting at the city gate, where commerce was
conducted in the marketplace and travelers entered and exited.
Not much escaped their notice in the community! As they
represented God and His Word, they applied His commands to
particular situations. The elders had authority to make sure
that for the good of the people, God’s commands were
carried out.
Both then and now: It is God’s
intent that elders represent Him and His standards directly in
the affairs of His people. Prized as respected men of value to
the community, these older men were probably unable to earn a
living through labor, and were most likely supported by their
families. In this manner they were available to serve the
people with their wisdom.
Applying sCriptural truth to everyday
decisions was key to maintaining peace in the community. For
example, in Chapter 4 of the Book of Ruth, Boaz approached the
elders to determine who had the right to be the
“kinsman-redeemer” for Naomi’s property.
After hearing the case the elder council passed judgment that
Boaz could marry Ruth and acquire the property. Their decision
was known as a halakhah, a biblical application to a specific
situation.
[For more about biblical applications, see
our book, Christian Halakhahs.]
Ever mindful of the good of the community
as a whole, the elders served as the “court of last
resort” to deal with hardened disobedience. They recognized that unconfronted sin could
infect others as surely as would a plague. This is the lesson behind the seemingly harsh
command given in Deuteronomy 21:18-21, one which has never been
recorded as being carried out:
• If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to
them when they discipline him [not a one-time act of defiance
but a pattern of refusal to obey or to respond to discipline],
• his father and mother shall take
hold of him and bring him to the elders
at the gate of his town. [This
is a public affair because other young people will be affected
by the rebellion if left unchecked.]
• They
shall say to the elders,
‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not
obey us. He is a profligate and a
drunkard.’ [The parents
realize they are ineffectual in correcting this son. Note that
the young man is not a child but someone who is habitually
drunk and shamelessly immoral.]
• Then all the men of his town shall
stone him to death. You must purge
the evil from among you. All Israel
will hear of it and be afraid. [Decisions made at a local level can impact
the whole nation with holy fear!]
Obedience to our loving Lord is crucial,
even at the cost of family relationship or friendship. All too
often sin is tolerated under the guise of “not wanting to
be judgmental.” But God is a judge, and His
commands are the standard by which He judges if our
relationship with Him is authentic or mere lip service. Instead
of ignoring sin, far better to turn an unrepentant person over
to Satan to be chewed on so that his sin nature can be torn
apart and his heart changed! (See 1 Corinthians 5:5.)
An important point worth repeating: A plurality of elders
determined biblical applications for each situation. No single
individual was expected to hear from God on behalf of everyone
else. Boaz was able to address ten elders together to decide
his case.
We get another glimpse of elder
availability and esteem among the people in Proverbs: “Her husband is respected at the city
gate, where he takes his seat among
the elders of the land” (31:23).
Recognition of the weighty respect
accorded to the decisions of elders was the foundation of
leadership in the early Church. As we shall see, their pattern
of council decision-making reflected tribalism as the relational connectedness of the early Church. Grievously, during the
second and third centuries’ influence of Hellenism, the
wise service of elders was replaced by a class of young,
educated clergy who were devoid of the wisdom that’s
gleaned from years of life experience.
“God, the blessed and only Ruler, the
King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15)
If ancient Israel had NOT demanded an earthly king,
what role would the Nation of Israel today
have under the Kingship of God?
What if the Israelites had chosen to trust
and obey their Maker and Husband, God? How would the mighty
acts of God’s blessing and provision that were promised
to Israel for its obedience have influenced other nations over
these centuries? The living, evidential proof of God’s
love and power would have been staggering!
Now consider what has happened to Israel
since they rejected the Lordship of God. It hasn’t gone well.
As a follower of Jesus today, ask yourself:
Have I, like Israel of old, placed greater trust in anything or anyone
(including myself or my government) than I
have in God?
If so, be warned. This is idolatry!
The consequences suffered by Israel are
the same today for all who refuse God’s rule in their
life. To be Lord means that HE RULES. His right to rule your life is
the underlying meaning of this oft-quoted verse:
...the word
about trust which we proclaim,
namely, that if you acknowledge publicly with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God delivered Him from the dead, you will be delivered.
For with the heart one goes on
trusting and thus continues toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on making public acknowledgement and thus continues
toward deliverance (Romans 10:8b-10, JNT).
Your pilgrimage with King Jesus is ongoing. Confessing
His LORDSHIP in your life testifies to others that you have
chosen to live in Covenant union with Him as His beloved
bondservant. Your ongoing heart-trust declares to our Father
that you are assured of His forgiveness through the sacrifice
of Jesus as your sin-bearer.
Those who attempt to define God today have
minimized the Lordship of Jesus by de-emphasizing His right to rule in
favor of magnifying what they want, namely, getting “saved”.
Separating the Lordship of Jesus from His role as wonderful Savior
gives the rebellious an opening for disobedience and compromise
with the world — spiritual adultery.
Haven’t you met people who are
knee-deep in sin but who nonchalantly believe they’ll be
accepted into Jesus’ presence because they “went
forward” when they were ten years old? What a tragic
deception! Reread that Romans 10 passage above!
The Lordship of Jesus entails an ongoing awe of His
holiness as well as a grateful heart for His mercy. If you are
Kingdom-minded, what is truly in your heart will be evidenced
by your life. If you really believe
in your heart that He is Who He says He is, then His indwelling
Spirit will stir you to serve Him as King and Lord, and bring
praise to Him. On the other hand, if you look at getting
“saved” as “fire insurance”
that’s been added to willful choices of disobedience,
you’d be wise to turn NOW!
The Gospel of Jesus commands you to repent — to
purpose to turn away from sin and to come to our
Father for forgiveness and
reconciliation. This is a love
relationship that calls you through
His Spirit to apply His commands to your life. Love
that’s accompanied by a holy and awesome fear of God as
both Savior and Lord is a good and necessary starting point for your
life in His Kingdom! “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding” (Proverbs
9:10).
“Appoint a king to lead us, such as
all the other nations have"
(1 Samuel 8:5).
The Israelites issued to the prophet
Samuel a demand for a government like that of the nations that hadn’t been
called out by God as His chosen people. The repercussions for
that defiant act stretch far beyond the immediate effect on
ancient Israel. Rejection of God’s Kingship and His right
to rule delayed until the fullness of time His Kingdom being
extended to all the world through the people of Israel.
While Samuel felt holy anger, our Father
was grieved: “Listen to all
that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have
rejected, but they have rejected Me
as their king’” (1 Samuel 8:7).
Can you imagine the sorrow of God? He had
chosen Israel out of love, calling her His wife, His cherished
possession. Time and again God had intervened to deliver and
sustain them. Their response? They rejected Him as King. In
place of His lavish love and protection, they wanted a human
being. That willful insult to our Lord brought them generations
of dispersion, captivity and slavery.
Many years later, through the prophet
Hosea, God revealed His anger at their choice of a human king: “Where is your king, that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said,
'Give me a king and princes'? So in My anger I gave you a king,
and in My wrath I took him away” (Hosea 13:10,11).
While God did in anger yield to their
desire, His response clearly depicted the consequences of
rejecting His Kingship. A cursed string
of self-indulgent, evil-bent rulers plagued Israel. All of the sorrowful consequences prophesied
by Samuel had come to bear upon the people “who wanted a human king.” And as history has proved, any nation that puts
their trust in earthly governments rather than in God will reap
a whirlwind of affliction. This is
what has been going on in the United States since its founding.
Centuries later Jesus came to manifest for
Israel once again the nature of His King-dom. Again focused on
earthly government, the Israelites ignored their need for the
rule of God in each heart. Rejecting the KINGDOM, they killed
the holy Messenger King.
Human Kings and Presidents Are Satan’s Pawns of Power
Mankind in power not only
embodies the rejection of God’s Kingdom but also thrusts
a nation straight into the dominion of Satan. Do you question
who claims ownership of earth’s kingdoms? Recall the
encoun-ter between the devil and Jesus during His forty days in
the wilderness. At the close of that testing time, “[Satan] took Him to a very high mountain
and showed Him all the kingdoms of
the world and their splendor.
‘All this I will give You,’ he said, ‘if You will bow down
and worship me’” (Matthew
4:8,9).
Jesus didn’t question the
devil’s right to the governments of this world. Instead,
He reminded Satan that God alone is to be worshiped as Lord, whether in heaven
or on earth. “Jesus said to
him, ‘Away from Me, Satan! For it is written:
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only'" (Matthew 4:10).
True worship of God comes from a loving,
obedient, Theocratic heart that yearns to live
in His Kingdom and lovingly serve your King’s purposes.
And, His Word assures us that the Holy Spirit is able to work
powerfully in your yielded heart so that the rule of God can
reign in your innermost being.
As you apply His Word to your life in
grateful obedience, a character transformation takes place. You
become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus.
[Learn more about this transformation in
our 2002/12 Newsletter, “Acquiring
the Character of Jesus.”]
When God rules your heart, you are safe in
His keeping no matter what trials you face. If you’re
dwelling in the palm of His hand, you can see God in every life
encounter.
Your will becomes entwined with His will,
and your life choices reflect that union. He meets the desires
of your heart because His will has become your will!
The Nature of Satan’s Kingdom
Satan’s dominion is always at war
against God’s Kingdom. At one time Satan enjoyed the
heavenly presence of our Lord as His servant. But arrogance and
rebellion overtook his devotion to God. Isaiah describes
Satan’s expulsion to earth:
How you have fallen
from heaven, O morning star, son of
the dawn! You have been cast down
to the earth, you who once laid low
the nations! You said in your heart [the motivation that leads to actions],
‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the
stars of God; I will sit enthroned
on the mount of assembly, [the very
place from which King Jesus will reign] on the utmost heights
of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I
will make myself like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Some scholars feel this passage deals
solely with the king of Babylon. However, the pride and
presumption that brought about that ruler’s downfall
mirrored the arrogance that had taken place in the heavenlies
long before.
The Revelation to John confirms both
Satan’s positioning on earth and the target of his wrath: “The great dragon was hurled
down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to
the earth, and his angels [known as demons] with him” (12:9). His particular target? “Those who obey God's commandments and
hold to the testimony of Jesus” (12:17).
Through Satan’s dominions on earth,
deceit and subterfuge ensnare God’s people who are not
watchful. In particular the devil uses earthly governments in
his battle against “those who
obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of
Jesus.”
A follower of Jesus must be cautious and
spiritually discerning in placing his trust in any government
programs and institutions.
By enticing you to place your confidence
in earthly governments, Satan will try to undermine your
trusting obedience to God’s commands. One devious
battleground in which the devil is hard at work is through compulsory public education. On this battlefield of the war he has created
generations of rebellious people who are totally ignorant of
and unconcerned with God’s laws.
[We will discuss this more fully in Part 2, “Whose Kids Are They?”]
Paul foretold this present time to the
Hellenist-enveloped believers in Thessalonika:
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way,
for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [one
who disregards the worth of God’s teachings in His
commands] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
He will oppose [through all those town and school ordinances
that forbid any reference to Jesus through display or artwork]
and will exalt himself [humanism] over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he sets himself
up in God's temple, [lies that even
churchgoers believe!] proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4).
Remember Isaiah’s description of
Satan’s motives? “I
will make myself like the Most High.” Paul
apperceives that same arrogant plan of the law-less: “He sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” The motivation of
god-lessness in the schools is clear:
If Satan can gain control over the minds of
the young, he can influence the generations to come to ignore
God as irrelevant. In that void, he himself will be exalted in
their lives.
Have no doubt about Satan’s goals. The governments of the earth belong to his
kingdom. Through these governments
he competes for the glory that only God deserves. The very
curse that God placed on the Israelites of old has landed on
all other governments in which trust in man is greater than
trust in God.
This concept becomes clearer as you
examine 1 Samuel 8:5-20. The Israelite demand for a human king
was a boast to God that “we can take care of
ourselves.” They evaluated God by the standards of the
nations and their idols, and found Him wanting. By rejecting
His position as Lord over them, the Israelites believed that
they could confine God to their religious forms and observances
— and compromise with the world around them.
Many in Christendom today are similarly
deceived. They put on their Sunday-best faces for religious
services, then shelf God until the next time they sit in the
pew under the steeple. Generation after generation has tried to
stuff God into man-made “theological boxes”. Then
our Almighty just as diligently explodes the parameters of each
system of religious thought!
Because our Creator has endowed hu-manity
with free will, mankind is bombarded with two opposing
absolutes:
(1) the vast unfathomable characteristics
of God that are on display throughout nature to testify to His
greatness.
(2) the rebellious hearts of descendants of
Adam and Eve who refuse to see.
If it weren’t for the presence of
the Holy Spirit, how many more of us would construct our own
golden calf to worship? Are you among those who quench and
grieve the Holy Spirit by placing your confidence in earthly
governments rather than God? Beware! These are Satan’s
domain.
Don’t Forget!
God Knows Everything
A large segment of Christianity denies
God’s omniscience, presupposing that
all throughout history God has somehow been caught by surprise.
Man’s actions have somehow thwarted God’s will;
therefore, God must react to man’s
disobedience through an alternate plan.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even when Israel demanded a king, for instance, God knew
beforehand. His command years in
advance to Moses detailed His
plan for the people:
• When you enter the land the Lord
your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and
settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you
the king the Lord your God chooses. [As a king goes in his relationship to God, so
go the people.]
• He must be from among your own
brothers. Do not place a foreigner [one who has followed other gods] over you, one
who is not a brother Israelite. [It’s important to maintain our
spiritual identity as belonging to God!]
• The king, moreover, must not
acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt [the
“good old days” mindset will only lead to
disobedience] to get more of them, for the Lord has told you,
‘You are not to go back that way again.’
• He must
not take many wives [marriage is
supposed to reflect the spiritual union of covenant you have
with our Father], or his heart will
be led astray [the flesh
always wars against the spirit].
• He must
not accumulate large amounts
of silver and gold [independence and lust for material goods
blinds you to your need for Jesus. For a leader, such hunger
leads to higher taxes and plunder of the people].
• When he takes the throne of his
kingdom, he is to write for himself [make sure you yourself are in the Word
and hearing from the Spirit! Don’t chew on predigested or
stale, lifeless teaching] on a scroll a copy of this law, taken
from that of the priests, who are Levites.
• It is to be with him, [don’t
hide your Bible on a shelf] and he is to read it all the days of
his life so that he may learn to
revere [a lifelong process] the
Lord his God and follow carefully [deeds must accompany the reading or you
relegate the Word to the status of a history book] all the
words of this law and these decrees
• and not
consider himself better than his
brothers [servant leadership puts you at the bottom to come
alongside with others rather than lord power over them] and turn from the law to
the right or to the left [rationalizing away God’s Word
with a “that was then, this is now” excuse does not
justify your sins].
• Then he and his descendants [Are you
concerned for the spiritual well-being of your descendants?] will
reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel” [Because of
disobedience, this didn’t happen! Are you willing to have the
buck of responsibility stop here with you?] (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).
In this passage, God emphasized the
ap-pointed king’s responsibility to keep His commands. He
wasn’t surprised by their failures, because as the God of
eternity He saw their rejection coming! The commands He gave
the kings could only be kept if they came to Him with humble
hearts and cried out for help. Even the first three kings of
Israel — ones to whom God showed great favor —
stumbled into glaring unrighteousness:
• King Saul lost his kingdom through
outright disobedience and rebellious pride (see 1 Samuel 15).
• King David was a murderer and
adulterer. Then, “Satan rose
up against Israel and incited David to take a census of
Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1).
Satan enticed him to put his confidence in the size of his
army. Pride again reared its face! God’s response: “This command was also evil in the sight
of God; so He punished Israel” (21:7).
God’s plague of punishment cost 70,000 individuals their
lives. Despite these shortcomings, however, David kept his
kingdom because he was repentant when God convicted him.
• King Solomon violated God’s
commands by explicitly returning to Egypt for both goods and a
wife: “Solomon's horses were
imported from Egypt” (2
Chronicles 1:16a). “King
Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's
daughter” (1 Kings 11:1a). And as God had
warned, the king’s lust for women turned him away from
devotion to the one true Lord: “They were from nations about which the Lord had told
the Israelites, ‘You must not
intermarry with them, because they
will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon
held fast to them in love . . . and his wives led him astray. As
Solomon grew old, his wives turned
his heart after other gods, and his
heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart
of David his father had been” (1
Kings 11:1b-4).
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived,
yet something went desperately wrong in his decision making.
Through his son Rehoboam he left a terrible legacy of the
divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel because of his choice to
forsake God to serve other deities. After a period of
God’s long-suffering patience, both kingdoms were
destroyed. First the people of Israel, then those of Judah,
were conquered and hauled off into subjugation.
Think about their captivity for a moment.
Was that the foreshadowing of churchgoers today who are in
bondage to demonic strongholds because they have forsaken (or
never even appropriated!) devotion to Jesus as the LORD of
their lives?
Or, is this self-imposed bondage of
disobedience and disbelief why God intends to chastise this
nation — because so many blindly place their trust in the
government rather than Him?
[See Lifebyte 34, The Abrahamic Covenant— Groundwork For The Hebraic
Restoration, and Lifebyte 40, Do You Confront For Jesus? Or, Placate For
Satan? for more on tolerated
iniquity and sin within Christendom today.]
Beware of Those Who Say, “Give Us A King!”
In a sense, when the Israelites demanded a
king, they were erecting their own Tower of Babel. Observing
the way the pagan nations around them approached and appeased
their gods, the Israelites wanted the same structure. And just
as the Babel builders were scattered to all points of the
world, in time, so were the Israelites. Their idolatry separated
them from God’s presence and from His land.
God’s people today need to learn
from these errors. As Paul warned, “These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom
the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Don’t ignore the
lessons of the past!
When those Israelites demanded a king that
day, the consequences were felt all throughout history to the
present. Except in countries where
followers of Jesus are experiencing persecution, people are
continuing to put their trust in government rather than in God. But realize this: Governments, for the sake of
their own survival, put their trust in armies.
Today, to their own detriment, both the United States and Israel depend
on their military might and technology to save them. Refusing
to repent and fall upon Jesus for mercy, these nations have
chosen military might for their protection and deliverance. The
lessons of the past have fallen on deaf ears.
We haven’t learned. Prophetically
this era represents another period of showdown between God and
Israel as well as God and the United States. In whom will the
people trust, God or guns? Satan’s domain, that is, his
governments on earth, compete with God for the loyalty and
trust of the people. Whom will the remnant choose?
Where we place our trust is mirrored in
the response of the kings of Israel, who indeed needed ears to
hear. The humility of heart called for in II Chronicles 7:14 is
a keen example of God’s faithful intervention:
If My people,
who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and
seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Some indeed responded in humble trust.
King Jehoshaphat chose to focus on the power of God rather than
the might of his army. We’re told, “The fear of the
Lord fell on all the kingdoms of
the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not make war with
Jehoshaphat” (2
Chronicles 17:10).
King Hezekiah, another ruler of Judah, had
been faithful to the ways of God. Without hesitation he and the
prophet Isaiah cried out to Heaven to confront their enemy
invader (2 Chronicles 32:20). That plea brought forth both
immediate victory and future intervention! Because they humbled
themselves and sought the Lord, He “sent
an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and
officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to
his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of
his god, some of his sons cut him
down with the sword” (v.21).
The rulers who put their trust in themselves faced
judgment. And as the leader goes, so go the people. In the case
of wicked King Joash, God chose to chastise him through a minor
enemy: “Although the Aramean
army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much
larger army. Because Judah had
forsaken the Lord, the God of their
fathers, judgment was executed on Joash” (2 Chronicles 24:24).
Humble and loving obedient trust in God
— the path He has ordained for His people — brings
His protection, provision and blessing. Trust in man, on the
other hand, births consequences no one can bear.
Consequences of Disobedience
Choosing a man to be king brings a
multitude of painful consequences. Govern-ments cost money to
maintain, and manpower to serve kingdom interests is expensive.
Here, the prophet Samuel speaks for God:
This is what the king who will reign over
you will do: He will take your sons [they’re no longer available for family
endeavors] and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his
chariots [as mouthpieces for the king’s glory]. Some he
will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of
fifties [positions of responsibility demanding long-term
commitment], and others to plow his
ground and reap his harvest [while
their own harvest is diminished for lack of workers], and still
others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots [manufacture of
materials that don’t put food on the table] (1 Samuel 8:11,12).
In order to keep himself in power, a king
needs a standing army. As we shall see in Part 2, governments with standing armies must compete
with parents for the loyalty of their children. The children are the target of government
indoctrination through public education to serve the
State’s purposes. The State can’t allow parents to
carry out the full biblical responsibility to their children
that the Word calls for. Why not?
To be mighty in military power the
government must enforce compulsory
public education. Through this
means they can gain domination over the thought and value
systems of each generation, a direct assault on biblical
parenting.
To ensure its ongoing survival, governments
must develop weapons ever more deadly and destructive. And when
the nation is not at war, weapon makers can export them for
profit to kill countless people in other nation’s wars.
A frightening fact: The godless military
power of the US stands unchallenged in the world arena —
though many nations are trying to change that dubious
distinction. This reality is turning this land into an arrogant
rogue nation. In today’s “New World Order”,
individuals and families lose many personal rights. The
government is gaining control through fear tactics just as the
Nazis did. Fear tactics are well-entrenched in the US already. Fear is behind
the readiness of many to give up personal freedom and put their
trust in the government.
The exercise of government rights over you
and your family doesn’t stop with buttressing the
military establishment.
He will take
your daughters to be perfumers and
cooks and bakers [and who knows what else...]. He will take the best of your fields [confiscation of the best land for
“government need”] and vineyards and olive groves
and give them to his attendants [political favors and payback]. He will take a tenth of your grain [your taxes] and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his
own use. [Government officials line
their own pockets with hefty pensions.] He will take a tenth of your flocks,
and you yourselves will become his
slaves [The truth: You exchange
your freedom of biblical responsibility in Jesus for the
bondage of state security.] (1
Samuel 8:13-17).
Government of the people, by the people, for the people serves an insatiably hungry machine!
The incredible increase in taxes sustains a standing military
force. Ever many more people are required in government
administration to keep the system running. Government service
employees don’t contribute to the production sector of
the economy. Therefore, their needs in the market place drive
up prices for everyone else.
In order for the system to exist, the
government must ensure that the majority of its employees
attend government-sponsored schools. Although not put in these
terms, children are taught that their first loyalty is to their
country to maintain their way of
life. By that indoctrination the
government system can be sustained.
Our Father warned that there would be a
time when the people who put their trust in government would
eventually cry out to Him, but in vain:
When that day comes, you will cry out for
relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day (1 Samuel 8:18).
Keep in mind, the human rule that the
people have asked for has placed them under Satan’s
domain on earth. Oppression is the hallmark of the devil’s
government. Even if the people come to their senses and see the
depravity of their demand, they are bogged down in the quagmire
of self-focus and hunger for instant gratification.
Rebellion always pushes too far.
But the people refused to listen to
Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over
us. Then we will be like all the
other nations, with a king to lead
us and to go out before us and fight our battles [because we don’t
want to trust in the mighty God of power who has so
miraculously intervened time and again. What if He doesn’t go
ahead of us?]’ (1 Samuel 8:
19,20).
As it always is: When the
“king” declares war, your sons and daughters die. Trust in
self-dependence rather than God-dependence makes a glaring
statement: Man doubts the ability
of the Creator of the universe to take care of all that He
created. This is an attack on God’s character. The Bible as well as history reveal that sins
against God’s character bring the most dire consequences.
God takes the idolatry of man’s rebellion as a personal
issue.
Now contrast the Godless man-centered
kingdoms of the earth with the KINGDOM saints esteemed by our
Lord: “And without trust it
is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He
exists and that He rewards those who earnestly
seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
No government organization has motivated
the men and women over the centuries who have eagerly forsaken
compromise in order to lovingly serve their King.
These individuals have been so sold out to
Jesus that whatever our Lord desired they did obediently. Their
Kingdom was not of this world, for they were seeking the City
and the reward that God was preparing for them.
This is the
way of those who serve in God’s Kingdom on earth. His
loving followers fulfill His purposes here, not trusting earthly
governments in areas which impede their ability to obey our
Lord and His Word.
“When times are good, be happy; but
when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14a).
Alarms have sounded since the inception of
this nation. When the thirteen colonies were still part of
England, Professor Alexander Tyler warned:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote
themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on
the majority always vote for the
candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the results that
a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a
dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great
civilizations is two hundred years. [emphasis added]
We’ve mentioned in other writings
that the United States is in the Atomistic Stage of societal
meltdown. Everyone is out for themselves. No culture has ever
come out of this stage. Bondage and dictatorship are our
future.
[See Appendix B at the end of Part 2 for
more on the Atomistic, Trustee, and Domestic families in
civilizations.]
To warn His children, our Father often
uses difficult times to get us to stop and consider. Often
throughout the Bible our Lord orchestrated famine, plagues and
wars to deal with His people.
For instance, “During
the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, ‘It is on account of Saul and
his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeon-ites
to death’” (2
Samuel 21:1). King David sought God for His reason for the
famine. And true to His character, God revealed His purpose.
God spoke through the prophet Amos that it
is He who sends, drought, mildew, plagues and war. But God’s
solemn appraisal of man’s response? “‘Yet you have not
returned to Me,’ declares the
LORD” (see Amos 4:8-11).
We do have a longsuffering God, but He
does chastise so that people will humbly repent and return to
Him. As Scripture so repeatedly demonstrates, He is capable of
becoming angry when people become exceedingly depraved in their
sin and ignore His warnings.
A Lesson From the “Great Depression”
Early in this nation’s history,
government officials called for repentance
and fasting when difficult
times occurred. But in the past hundred years such calls have
all but disappeared at the government level. (Although the past
decade has found officials publicly urging prayer to the god of
their choice...)
During the 1930’s, a time of famine
and financial desperation seized this land. In response
President Roosevelt enlarged dependence on the government by
passing Social Security and other socialist-style programs.
Rather than leading this nation in repentance, he established
the bondage of government debt.
The trend has continued unabated. The
government borrows to support programs in one generation which
will be paid for by succeeding generations. If you talk with
any retiree or welfare recipient, you’ll discover just
how dependent on government provision people have become. But
who pays for it? Their children and their children’s
children.
Let’s look at an alternate
perception of the Great Depression. God was chastising this nation
because it pursued extreme decadence and greed during the
1920’s. Previous economic recessions in this nation had
followed periods of widespread unrighteousness. But through
bold exhortation by those dedicated to God, and even through
presidential pleas, repentance and
fasting were called for, and
God relented from His chastisement.
People who understood
the times, as did men from the
ancient tribe of Issachar, recognized the Lord’s hand and
issued the call to turn from sin:
• When I [GOD sends catastrophe to get people’s
attention] shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or
command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people [even
Christians face catastrophe],
• if My people, who are called by
My name [not outsiders or the
worldly but those who claim to know Him!],
• will humble
themselves [we have to choose to
change our hearts and put our independence on His altar]
• and pray
and seek My face [seeking His
FACE means calling upon Him as LORD, not just looking for
solutions to immediate problems]
• and turn
from their wicked ways [God
won’t answer the pleas of those who continue to hold onto
their sins and iniquities],
• then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin [the
key issue here]
• and will heal their land [the land
had suffered because of the people’s choice to
sin]” (2 Chronicles 7:
13,14).
[For more on understanding the current
times, see our prophetic article, “A
Time for the Men of Issachar”,
under Hebraic Articles on our website.]
Back to the 1930’s. Repentance, not
government programs, would have brought about a different
outcome for all of us today. At that critical point in time,
people faced a choice: to turn to God or to submit to Satan.
The devil, under the guise of a benevolent government, won
their allegiance. Again, consider the last century and the
explosive growth in dependence on government programs.
Since there was no repentance, the Great
Depression of the 30’s was followed by World War II in
the 40’s, the Korean Conflict in the 50’s, the
Vietnam War (and strident, divisive protest on many fronts at
home) in the 60’s and 70’s, and hostilities in
Kuwait, Afghan-istan and Iraq for the past two decades.
These conditions of strife have sprung one
upon another in quick succession. This
land is not hearing God’s call to repent. The sad testimony of the twentieth century is
this:
Not a single
generation in the US could proclaim
that they hadn’t lost their sons and daughters in battle.
On the other hand, our Lord tells us, “When a man's [or a nation’s] ways
are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even
his enemies live at peace with
him” (Proverbs 16:7). This
certainly doesn’t reflect the history of the United
States over the last hundred years. A nation that pleases Him
is assured, “For the Lord
your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations
but will borrow from none. You will
rule over many nations but none
will rule over you” (Deutero-nomy
15:6).
Do you know? The United States is the now
the largest borrowing nation in the world. We rob other nations of available
funds that could be used to help their own desperately needy.
The combined personal debt of US citizens is greater than the gross
national product of many nations of the world. Americans, many
in Christendom included, borrow to maintain the pleasure-bent
lifestyle we have presumptuously assumed is our due from God.
That debt will collapse on us all before too long! When it
does, will we then learn to repent?
With the sting of the Great Depression and
the carrot of a pleasure-bent retirement that’s been
dangled before so many over the decades since the 1930’s,
generations have been seduced away from their family and social
responsibilities. Older men and women could have achieved the
pinnacle of loving service in the Kingdom of God. By making
themselves available to guide their families and faith
communities, they would have role-modeled for the younger
generations the Kingdom of God at work.
Today, like Gideon’s ephod (Judges 8:
27) which became an idolatrous snare to Israel, government
programs such as those begun in the 1930’s have become
social viruses. A virus comes alongside a cell and says,
“I am just like you.” Then the virus takes on the responsibility of
the cell, ultimately overwhelming the cell and leading to its
death.
Government social programs operate like
viruses. Through seeming
bene-volence, government programs
assume responsibilities for the people, ultimately removing
Christians from their biblical mandate of exercising care for
others.
As we shall see shortly, this was
especially true in the move to make compulsory public education the
law of the land. Sadly, so many Christian families have fallen
for Satan’s ploy.
Shall the throne of iniquity [corrupt
government], which devises evil by law, have fellowship with
You?
They gather together against the life of
the righteous, and condemn innocent blood. (Psalms 94:20,21)
Summary of Part 1
A battle rages all around you between
God’s KINGDOM vs. Satan’s dominions. One represents
the loving service of a devoted heart. The other relies on
man’s rebellion.
If you choose to put your trust in earthly
government, you must give up your personal freedom to gain a
shaky, worldly security. Governments purchase favor in order to
stay in power. There is always a “ruling elite,”
even in a democratic society.
After David was anointed as God’s
choice for king, Saul felt threatened. Enlisting the support of
his inner court, King Saul re-minded them how he had shown them
favor: “‘Listen, men of
Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give
all of you fields and vineyards?
Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of
hundreds?’” (1 Samuel
22:7).
Appealing to their self-centered
framework, Saul dangled property and power before them in
exchange for loyalty. It’s no different today in the
political arena. Positions of
prestige and power are the currency in Satan’s domains.
David’s adultery with Bathsheba
warranted the death penalty. Secretly, Joab was assigned by the
king to see that Uriah, her husband and the king’s
faithful warrior, was killed. David’s nasty little secret
was not hidden from God, however. It’s within His
righteous character to faithfully make sure that sin’s
consequences stand as a warning to others. Earthly governments,
on the other hand, do whatever is necessary to survive in
power, regardless of morality and ethics.
If you reject the Theocracy that’s
offered by our Father, you are proclaiming to the heavenlies
and to the world this rebellious message:
“We will serve the domains of Satan
rather than the Kingdom of God. In this way we will be like God. We will
look to the government as our provider and as the teacher of
our children.
We will box God into religious services of
our own choosing and design to please ourselves. We will not permit His
Kingdom to rule us.”
In God’s KINGDOM you receive
personal security through the freedom Jesus offers by His
Spirit and in His commands. His Kingdom is the rule He extends into your heart. He
sanctifies you from your old sinful nature by putting you into
situations and encounters that stir you to make decisions to
obey Him — to be more Christ-like.
The more your character resembles Jesus,
the more freedom you have. Our Father yearns for the older
generations to train up their children and grandchildren by
word and deed to walk in His life. His Kingdom beckons
grandparents, parents and supportive faith communities to raise successors in the faith who will live to trust and glorify Him.
The primary issue of accepting the Kingdom
our Father offers is relational
trust in Him. You need to know Him in the way
He has revealed Himself in the Bible. If you make the decision
to follow Jesus as LORD, you must forsake the idolatry of
bringing Him down to the constructions of your own vain
imagination. Make sure that Who He
is and who you want Him to be match up!
• What is your opinion of the form and
integrity of the government of the United States?
• Describe in whom or what you place
your trust. List the various ones in order of importance to
you.
• What is your view of retirement? How
does the concept of retirement align with God’s Word?
• How are you using (or how would you
use) your post-employment years for Kingdom purposes?
• Are you willing to ask our Lord to
make known to you whatever changes He would have you make in
your current lifestyle or time use?
