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