The End Time Church: from the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2016 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 11

The Sin of Kicking God Upstairs

Sometimes a business corporation wants a new Chief Executive Officer, but they don’t want to appear to be against the current CEO. So what do they do? They kick him upstairs, and move him from the executive post to the corporate board, where he doesn’t lead the company, but only advises it and sometimes casts a vote on big matters.

Jerry Yang co-founded Yahoo. He was born in Taiwan and in traditional Chinese his name is 楊致遠. However, in simplified Chinese his name is written simply as 杨致远, and you can see that’s a lot easier to understand.

He served as Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo from 2007 to 2009, but after running into criticism from Yahoo investors, Yang resigned as CEO of the company. He remained on the company’s board of directors and his official title was ‘Chief Yahoo,’ but the Chief Yahoo no longer ran Yahoo on a day to day basis. He had been kicked upstairs. Three years later the yin got the better of Yang and he left the company entirely.

And that’s what Israel did when they got a human king. They kicked God upstairs.

1 Samuel 8:4-5
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah; and they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Samuel knew that Israel sinned in their demand.

1 Samuel 8:6-8
But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us.

Samuel prayed to Yahweh.

Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you.

When you put another government between you and God, you are rejecting God as your governor, even if you tell yourself you’re only kicking him upstairs.

God then made a point of telling Israel all the trouble that a human government would cause.

1 Samuel 8:9-17
Now therefore listen to their voice. However you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.

Samuel told all Yahweh’s words to the people who asked him for a king.

He said, This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants. He will take one tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants. He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants.

Welcome to big government, folks!

When Israel got a human king, they lost personal freedoms. They had to pay taxes to that king and so lost the choice of what they would do with that part of their income. Some had to serve the king as soldiers and servants, and they lost the choice of what they would do with their lives. Everyone had to pay deference to that king, regardless of what they thought of him or his policies, so they lost some freedom of speech.

Israel, however, wanted to trade individual responsibility for collective responsibility. They wanted less freedom and more government.

There was one more little point that Yahweh threw in.

1Sa 8:18
You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen you; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.

Uh-oh.

When Israel put another government between them and Yahweh, there would be a time when they would cry out to God and he would not answer.

It was almost as if something had come between them and God!

But you know what?

Big governments look good! They are very visible!

A king with his horsemen and chariots and captains of thousands and captains of fifties looks impressive, like he’s getting a lot done, really doing the work of God! But all the king’s wealth is taken from the people, as God so astutely pointed out to Israel.

The bigger government gets, the bigger government gets. This is true whether it is a national government or a local government or a church government. Bureaucracies are inherently burdensome, often get in the way of what they want to accomplish, and hinder what they aim to help. In the primary campaign before the 2016 presidential election, Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton spoke of how much she had traveled in her many years in government. Republican candidate Carly Fiorina then said this to Hillary: “…flying is an activity, not an accomplishment .”

That statement indicts all governments, whether political or religious. They always have more activity than accomplishment. John Wooden, the greatest college basketball coach, said, “You never want to confuse activity with accomplishment.”

Government activities come with a cost. Many US state governments now run lotteries. They do this to get more money from their people. A few people win a lot of money. A lot of people lose a little money. The government takes in the most money. A lottery is simply a stealth tax, in addition to all other taxes.

Colorado legalized the sale of marijuana. Their ultimate purpose is not to get the people stoned, but to steal the people’s money. If you buy pot in Denver, 30% of the price is taxes.[1] Bureaucrats get high on that. Now there is a nationwide movement in America to legalize marijuana, simply because the government can collect so many tax dollars on its sale.

The US was begun with a government that was of the people, for the people and by the people. Today the richest population area in America is the zip code around Washington, D.C. Now we have a government that is of the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats and by the bureaucrats.

It’s easy to see that government takes physical resources from its people. What’s not often seen is that most of all, a government takes spiritual resources away from its people.

By standing between God and the governed, a government also places a spiritual tax on the people. They get less God, because the human government always gets in the way.

Human governments of whatever kind tend to cut people off from God. If you want heat from a fireplace, then don’t stand behind somebody else. Just get closer to the fire.

Israel wanted their human government, though.

1Sa 8:19-20
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, No: but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

Israel persisted in their insistence that they have a visible government of God run by people instead of just God. And Israel sinned in setting up that go-between government.

What was that?

In spite of what almost all Bible commentators say, when Israel set up a king between them and God —

THEY SINNED!

1Sa 12:12-19
When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king.

Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for. Behold, Yahweh has set a king over you. If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you are followers of Yahweh your God. But if you will not listen to Yahweh’s voice, but rebel against the commandment of Yahweh, then Yahweh’s hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Yahweh will do before your eyes. Isn’t it wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in Yahweh’s sight, in asking for a king.

So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.

All the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for a king.

God sent thunder and rain, just so Israel would see that their wickedness was great in asking for a king.

Notice that this was at the time of the wheat harvest.

Israel had three feast seasons, which were three harvest seasons.

Exodus 23:15-16
You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.

Barley was the first harvest, in early spring, at Passover/Unleavened Bread. Wheat was the second harvest, in late spring, at Pentecost. The last harvest was a general ingathering, about the time autumn began, at Tabernacles.

When Israel demanded another king and rejected Yahweh, that was during the wheat harvest.

Exodus 34:22
You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

The feast of weeks, commonly called Pentecost, is about seven weeks from Unleavened Bread. Isn’t it wheat harvest today? Samuel asked at the coronation ceremony. Israel rejected their King during the wheat harvest or general season of Pentecost.

The Pentecost season also saw another big thunder boomer.

Exodus 19:1-2
In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.

Israel camped before Mt. Sinai at the time of Pentecost, the third month, and when Yahweh spoke the Ten Commandments with his own voice —

There was thunder!

Exodus 19:16
On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Exodus 20:18
All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.

At that point, Yahweh God Almighty was Israel’s direct ruler. He taught them personally. And in the Holy Land, he sent them rain in due season.

Deuteronomy 11:10-14
For the land, where you go in to possess, isn’t like the land of Egypt, that you came out of, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky, a land which Yahweh your God cares for. Yahweh your God’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

Israel has a unique geography and climate. They do not get rain every month. They get an early rain, up until the wheat harvest, and a latter rain, after the last harvest.

James 5:7
Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

They get the early rain and the late rain, but it does not rain in the summer.

Many years ago as a college student I worked for a summer in Israel. We had heard that it never rained during the summer in Jerusalem. One evening, sitting on the patio of our hotel, big cumulus clouds rolled in. It looked like a Texas toadstrangler was about to burst forth and I thought I was going to view the rare occurrence of a summer rain shower in Jerusalem.

However, all of those ugly clouds —

What is that word that the TV weather people use?

Dissipated.

The clouds dried up. There was no rain shower. It does not rain in Israel in the summer.

Notice again what Samuel said.

Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Yahweh will do before your eyes. Isn’t it wheat harvest today?

Meaning that it was not supposed to rain at that season.

I will call to Yahweh, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in Yahweh’s sight, in asking for a king.

So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.

Wow! It rained! God made it rain there between the early and late rains.

Why did Yahweh make that miracle?

Just so you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in Yahweh’s sight, in asking for a king.

And then the people did know it.

All the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for a king.

It was evil for Israel to reject God as their direct ruler. It was wickedness to put someone else between Him and them. At the Pentecost season, when Israel should have remembered God speaking to them personally, they personally rejected Him.

Understand this point, which Bible commentators do not get, and which almost no Christians get. It is wrong to put someone else between you and God. Israel sinned in doing that and did great wickedness. If that was wrong for them, then it’s wrong for you.

Gilgal.

Remember that name?

Gilgal was where Israel first camped after crossing the Jordan River, which conveniently dried up for them.

Joshua 4:15-24
Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.

Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come up out of the Jordan! When the priests who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet had been lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal. He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you had crossed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had crossed over; that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh’s hand is mighty; that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.’

At Gilgal, the men of Israel were circumcised and God took away the reproach of Egypt from them.

Joshua 5:9-15
Yahweh said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day. The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.

The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel didn’t have manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us, or for our enemies? He said, No; but I have come now as commander of Yahweh’s army. Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and asked him, What does my lord say to his servant? The prince of Yahweh’s army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes; for the place on which you stand is holy. Joshua did so.

And at Gilgal, Israel went back to the government of Egypt.

1 Samuel 11:14-15
Then Samuel said to the people, Come! Let’s go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

When Saul was crowned king at Gilgal, the people rejoiced. Yahweh, though, would look back at Israel’s wickedness at Gilgal in a far different way.

[1] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/12/colorado-s-pot-revenue-
goes-up-in-smoke.html

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

Chapter 10

Hope and Change!

So what should you do when you have a corrupt government?

This is what some folks did, back in 1776.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Then the authors of that Declaration proceeded to list numerous injuries and usurpations of the king, and they concluded with these.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In view of those injuries and usurpations, the fifty-six men assembled from the  thirteen American colonies of Great Britain declared a change in government.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Nearly three millennia before that, the men of Israel made a similar move, for a similar reason.

1 Samuel 8:1-3

It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba. His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

Samuel’s sons were reprobates, which was a very real problem. The people who were supposed to teach others about God’s law were themselves lawless, so Israel demanded a change in government.

That wasn’t the first time that the sons of a judge were corrupt. Eli was the judge right before Samuel, and Samuel was picked to take Eli’s place. Eli’s sons desecrated the position they had as priests.

1 Samuel 2:12-17

Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn’t know Yahweh.

The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”

If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh.

Hustling a steak may seem like a small thing. With God, though, there is no small disobedience. You are either obedient or disobedient.

A little disobedience always comes from a big ego. No one who is full of the fear of Yahweh purposely disobeys in any little thing at all. People who disobey in ‘little’ things also disobey in ‘big’ things.

As Eli’s sons did. Not only did they hustle steaks; they hustled women.

1 Samuel 2:22-25

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

He said to them, “Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: you make Yahweh’s people disobey. If one man sin against another, God shall judge him; but if a man sin against Yahweh, who shall entreat for him?”

Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.

Eli did not do such sins himself, and Eli did tell his sons to stop; but his great sin was that he did not stop them from defiling God’s service. He was the priest over them. He could have defrocked them and ordered them to go out into the fields to work for a living. He didn’t do that. Instead Eli just indulged their indulgences.

After all, they were his little boys, so he put them above God.

Because of Eli’s sins with his sons, Samuel was called to take his place as judge. Yet to some degree Samuel repeated Eli’s mistake of indulging his sons.

Perhaps Samuel had human nature, too?

Read again —

1 Samuel 8:1-3

It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba. His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

Samuel sons did not commit the exact same sins as Eli’s sons, but they had the same attitude. And apparently Samuel, like Eli, thought that his little boys couldn’t be that bad.

But they were bad. Just as in the previous generation, those who were to teach God’s laws were worst in breaking God’s laws. Therefore Israel demanded a change in government. Just as the American colonists refused to be under King George, so Israel refused to be under King Yahweh.

However, there was one slight difference in the situations.

King George was corrupt, to whatever degree, and had committed injuries and usurpations, to whatever degree.

King Yahweh had not committed any injuries and usurpations against Israel.

The injuries to Israel came from Samuel’s sons, not from God. God was not causing the problem. People were the problem. But the people blamed God for their evil. That’s like modern hedonists who demand the freedom to practice their own self indulgent lasciviousness, then self-righteously ask, “Why does God allow all this evil?”

Israel forgot what God had done with Eli and his sons to correct that problem. This was Eli’s reward for being an indulgent, non-disciplinarian father.

1 Samuel 2:29-34

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in your house. You shall see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall consume your eyes, and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age.

“This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall both die.”

What Israel overlooked is that God takes care of problems, in his own time and in his own way, just as he did with the whole nation of Israel when they disobeyed. Not only did Hophni and Phinehas die in one day, but Eli died that same day, right after hearing that his sons were dead.

1 Samuel 4:10-18

(10)  The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell.

(11)  God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

(12)  A man of Benjamin ran out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with dirt on his head.

(13)  When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out.

(14)  When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?” The man hurried, and came and told Eli.

(15)  Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see.

(16)  The man said to Eli, “I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.” He said, “How did the matter go, my son?”

(17)  He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”

(18)  When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

Every Israelite was individually responsible before God, and that included Eli and his sons. They had to ultimately answer directly to God. And they all did, all in the same day.

Hebrews 10:30-31

(30)  For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

(31)  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But Israel forgot the lesson of Eli’s sons. They did not believe that God could take care of the problems. So when Samuel’s sons walked the same path as Eli’s sons, Israel demanded a new king. Like the signers of the American Declaration of Independence, and like so many others all down through history, they demanded a change in government.

From The Discovery of Freedom, by Rose Wilder Lane, one of the three founding mothers of libertarianism in America.

The history of every group of men who ever obeyed a living Authority is a history of revolts against all forms of that Government.

Look at any available records of any people, living anywhere at any time in the whole history of the Old World.

They revolt against their King, and replace him by another King; they revolt against him, and set up another King. In time they revolt against monarchy; they set up another kind of living Authority. For generations or centuries, they revolt and change these rulers; then they revolt against that kind of Authority, and set up another kind.

From Nebuchadnezzar to Hitler, history is one long record of revolts against certain living rulers, and revolt against kinds of living Authority…

They replace the priest by a king, the king by an oligarchy, the oligarchs by a despot, the despot by an aristocracy, the aristocrats by a majority, the majority by a tyrant, the tyrant by oligarchs, the oligarchs by aristocrats, the aristocrats by a king, the king by a parliament, the parliament by a dictator, the dictator by a king, the king by—there’s six thousand years of it, in every language.

Every imaginable kind of living Authority has been tried, and is still being tried somewhere on earth now.

All these kinds have been tried, too, in every possible combination; the priest and the king, the king who is the priest, the king who is God, the king and a senate, the king and the senate and a majority, the senate and a tyrant, the tyrant and the aristocrats, a king and a parliament— Try to think of a combination; somewhere it has been tried.

At some point, all peoples demand a change in government. Hope and change!

And after a while, they always hope for a change from their Hope and Change government. Then they demand another government!

All nations under all human governments at some point have decided that their governments are bad. They then replace that imperfect government with another imperfect human government.

Those colonies that became the United States replaced imperfect King George with their own rather unique government. However, after two and a quarter centuries, that government has now led in the worldwide promulgation of evil, more than any government in the history of mankind. Barack Obama’s campaign of Hope and Change has changed America, apparently beyond hope.

Because of the sins of Samuel’s sons, Israel wanted to replace King Yahweh with a human king. That was not like replacing King George. There was a huge error in Israel’s thinking. God did not sin. The people did. So Israel thought they would cure the people problem in their government by putting people in charge of their government instead of God.

Over and over people think that society’s problems will be fixed if they can just get the right government. Hope and change! As Rose Wilder Lane wrote, they have tried every conceivable type of government — monarchy, oligarchy, despotism, nepotism, republicanism and democracy — and they have all wound up in the same quagmire. Even in religious governments, people can hardly conceive of being ruled only by God, so they almost always establish some human government between them and God, and these human governments always follow a certain pattern —

They’re human.

Each type of human government, whether political or religious, begins in anticipation of great things and ends in anger over mundane things, shouts of glee turn to groans of gloom, and the idealism of human theories fades under the realism of human nature.

Deuteronomy 32:1-4

(1)  Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

(2)  My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.

(3)  For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!

(4)  The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

Chapter 9

Why Israel Wanted Another King

Israel returned to the religion of Egypt. So it’s no surprise that they wanted to return to the government of Egypt.

When Israel returned to the religion of Egypt, though, they came under the curse of Egypt.

(Judges 2:11-15)
The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals. They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked Yahweh to anger. They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, Yahweh’s hand was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them; and they were very distressed.

God gave Israel many chances to go the right way, as the book of Judges details. There was no human king to force them to do right, so usually they chose not to.

(Jdg 3:7-9)
The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years. When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

(Jdg 3:11-15)
The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight. He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.

(Jdg 4:1-4)
The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, when Ehud was dead. Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.

Barak was the military leader who defeated the Canaanites while Deborah was judge. But after that —

(Jdg 6:1-6)
The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them. They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it. Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh.

So Gideon was raised up to lead Israel against Midian. Next —

(Jdg 8:33-35)
As soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and played the prostitute following the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god. The children of Israel didn’t remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side; neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

Then Israel made Gideon’s son Abimelech king, who was killed after three years.

(Jdg 10:1-7)
After Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. After him Jair, the Gileadite arose, and he judged Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. Jair died, and was buried in Kamon. The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him. Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.

Jephthah was raised up to lead Israel against the Philistines. But then the Israelites wanted to fight each other.

(Jdg 12:1-4)
The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire! Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you didn’t save me out of their hand. When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim.

After that civil war, guess what Israel did?

(Jdg 13:1)
The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

That was Samson’s time, who used his great physical strength to fight the Philistines.

In various other ignominious episodes —

The men of Gibeah in Benjamin raped and killed the Ephraimite’s concubine, and then Israel destroyed the tribe of Benjamin, except for six hundred men.

During the time of Ruth and Naomi, Israel suffered a severe famine, which led Naomi’s husband to leave Israel for Moab, which was not suffering a famine.

The Philistines oppressed Israel when Eli was judge and captured the Ark of the Covenant, much to their discomfort.

So that was Israel’s history during the period of the fourteen judges.

When they were ruled directly by God, Israel constantly got in trouble with God, because they disobeyed God. When they had individual freedom, they lacked individual self control.

That’s an incredible history of self-induced catastrophes, where Israel had repeated wars with other nations, civil war among themselves, and were often oppressed with their crops stolen by foreigners.

The nation was out of control because the people were out of control. Individual freedom requires individual responsibility. A people who do not have a government controlling them must control themselves. Under the very best government, the people were the worst. Maximum freedom led to maximum evil.

So again, there is this huge problem.

How do you control the people?

From the time of the first people, people were always getting out of control. When Cain killed Abel, God told him that —

(Gen 4:7)
… sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.

During the time of the judges, Yahweh God their king did not force them to obey him. Most of the time, most of the people did not. As a people they could never make themselves stay on the right road.

So how in the world do you control the people?

The problem is an individual problem.

I sin.

The solution must be an individual solution.

I overcome.

People who are ruled and led directly by God do not need another ruler.

People who seek God with their whole hearts will not seek another king.

What Israel needed was individual repentance, leading to individual obedience. Israel, though, thought that they needed a collective solution to an individual problem.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia article “Judges, Period of,” discusses the chaos and calamities of that period. Then ISBE goes on to explain and mimic Israel’s thinking.

4. Need of Central Government:
   A great danger was needed before the people of Israel could be welded into unity and made to see the necessity of a strong central government. This came eventually from the Philistines, who twice defeated the Israelites in battle, captured the ark, and overran a large part of the country (1 Samuel 4 through 6). In the face of such a foe as this it was clear that only a strong and permanent leadership of the whole people would suffice ( 1 Samuel 9:15; 1 Samuel 10:1); and thus the rule of the Judges gave way to the monarchy.

You see, the writer of that article thought exactly like the Israelites. They didn’t need individual obedience. They needed more government! Only a strong and permanent leadership of the whole people would suffice! Thus the rule of the Judges gave way to the monarchy!

By that thinking, what Israel needed was socialism, communism, fascism. If the people couldn’t control themselves, then they needed a strong government to control them. God allowed the people free choice. He did not force them to obey. A human king would force his subjects to obey. Totalitarianism will totally control the people! Then their problems would be over!

Other Bible commentators say the same thing — that Israel needed a king to control the people.

Matthew Henry, on Judges 17:6
There was no king in Israel, no judge or sovereign prince to take cognizance of the setting up of these images (which, doubtless, the country about soon resorted to), and to give orders for the destroying of them, none to convince Micah of his error and to restrain and punish him, to take this disease in time, by which the spreading of the infection might have been happily prevented. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. When they were without a king to keep good order among them, God’s house was forsaken, his priests were neglected, and all went to ruin among them. See what a mercy government is, and what reason there is that not only prayers and intercessions, but giving of thanks, should be made for kings and all in authority, 1Ti_2:1, 1Ti_2:2. Nothing contributes more, under God, to the support of religion in the world, than the due administration of those two great ordinances, magistracy and ministry.

Notice again that last statement: Nothing contributes more, under God, to the support of religion in the world, than the due administration of those two great ordinances, magistracy and ministry.

We will qualify his statement this way: Nothing contributes more to the support of organized religion in the world than political and religious governments.

Notice, too, Henry’s conclusion. When they were without a king to keep good order among them, God’s house was forsaken, his priests were neglected, and all went to ruin among them. Henry concluded that if Israel had a human king instead of God, then God’s house will not be forsaken, his priests will not be neglected, and there will be no ruin among them.

Powerful conclusion! If Israel just has a human king, then the temple will not be forsaken, the priests will not be perverts, and the nation will not come to ruin.

Bible commentator Adam Clarke reached the same conclusion.

Adam Clarke – Judges 17:6
When a man’s own will, passions, and caprice, are to be made the rule of law, society is in a most perilous and ruinous state. Civil government is of God; and without it the earth must soon be desolated. There was a time when there was no king in England; and that was, in general, a time of scandal to religion, and oppression to men.

Clarke infers that once England got a king, they were free from scandal in religion and oppression of men.

Clarke lived in England for about seventy years, from 1760-62 to 1832. The American colonies revolted against King George during that time — because of the oppression of that king! In 1620, the Pilgrims came to America only and specifically because of the oppression of another British king — King James, he who had the presumptuousness to authorize his Bible for his church. Still earlier, King Henry VIII broke with Rome and set up the king’s church, so that he could do whatever he wanted with his wives. Henry had six: divorced two, executed two, one died after birthing a son, and one outlived Henry — and all this was approved by Henry’s church!

Is there not a hint of scandal there under the kings of England?

Isn’t it interesting how so many people agree that Israel needed to replace God their king with some guy down the road?

England had kings and all other nations had kings in some form. God’s people are not supposed to be like all those other nations. They had human kings. Israel had God. But just about everybody agrees that what Israel needed was to trade Yahweh their king for a human king so they could be like all those other nations.

And that’s exactly what Israel thought.

After three centuries of confusion and chaos, disarray and disunity, attacks and oppression from kings of other nations —

Israel decided they wanted a king, just like those other nations. They told Samuel:

… now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Why did Israel want to have a king like all the other nations?

1. Kings look good.

Somehow it’s easier to identify with a big organization than it is with a big God.

2. Unity.

Under the judges, Israel looked like a bunch of cats, each person doing what he wanted. Anarchy! A king or organization creates unity, by simply not allowing disunity. There is comfort in unity, a collective confirmation of correctness, the security of being part of a crowd, even if the crowd is wrong.

However, the king’s unity lasts only until the coup of another king, or a split in the organization. This is a false, temporary unity, by coercion and not conviction, unity not by the spirit, but by the spear.

3. Kings can get more done.

When everyone works together under a king or an organization, it appears that they get more done, because they have to do what the king or organization orders. At the same time, individual effort slackens, because it’s not individual effort. For a while, the Soviet Union looked great, until the people began to starve. And when sermons are given to please an organization, the people also starve.

4. A king can protect the flock.

When Israel asked for a king, they were about to be attacked by Nahash the king of Ammon.

(1 Samuel 12:11,12)
Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety. When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us; when Yahweh your God was your king.

Because of Nahash, Israel wanted a king like Nahash. Samuel pointed out how many times God had protected them, but they said No. They believed that a king could protect God’s people better than God could.

So Israel wanted a king like all the other nations. Such an organization looked good, they were unified, they could get more done, and a king could protect the flock from outside attack.

Most of all, a king could control the people, as ISBE, Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke believed.

Israelites are often looked at as just a bunch of carnal clods. We assume that we could never be as carnal as they were. However, when Israel decided to put a human king in front of God, they thought just like normal people think, and like almost all Bible commentators think.

Could it be that almost all Christians think like that, too?

Israel had an enormous problem during the period of the judges. The problem was that the people were out of control. Their normal human nature was naturally disobedient to the spiritual law of the Creator and inevitably that brought catastrophe. Israel thought that the way to control their people and avoid catastrophe was to have more government control. So they demanded a human king.

What’s more, Israel had a really good excuse for kicking God upstairs.