One Nation Under God

 
“He makes nations great, and destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and disperses them.”
Job 12:23
 
“I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who
through faith conquered (“to crush underfoot”) kingdoms,
administered justice, and gained what was promised. . .who
became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”
Hebrews 11:32-34
 
“He (God) trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” 
David in Psalm 18:34
 
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or
command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among
my people, 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.”
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
 
 
“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war my fingers for battle.  He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
David in Psalms 144:1-2
 
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession
and thanksgiving be made for everyone—  kings and all
those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives
in all godliness and holiness.”
1 Timothy 2:1,2
 

Divine Institutes
Individual freedom
Marriage
Family
Nationalism
 
Each comes with a form of authority:
You are the head of your soul and rule through self discipline
Man is the head of woman (Ephesians 5:23; 1 Co. 11:3,4; 11:7;)
Parents are the head of the house (Col.3:20; Dt. 5:16)
Government is the head of the nation (Rm 13:1-7; Mt. 22:21)
 
Revolution
Revolution against authority is never God’s plan and is never justified by the word of God.
Aristotle wrote “Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equals,and equals revolt that they may be superior.  Such is the state of mind which creates revolution.
Korah’s rebellion Numbers 16 and Jude 11
The French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 were mob violence used to overthrow established authority.  The result was whatever evil existed was replaced by a worse evil.
The American Revolution of 1775 was not a revolution but an attempt to get representation for the taxation and to secure individual freedoms for citizens (ie: from the Church of England)
 
Personal Problem Solving Devices
Confession of Sin and Fellowship with God (1 John 1:9)
Faith and trust in God’s Promises (Heb.4:1-3)
Application of Grace in your life (2 Cor.12:5-10)
Understanding of God’s Word and Application of Wisdom
Realization of Destiny in God’s plan for you.
 
Cycles of National Discipline
Leviticus 26:14
National fear
Economic
Crime
War in your land
Complete overthrow
 
Do not worry about the symptom of the problem.
Take care of the disease, which is losing focus on God.
 
Failure to Fight for Nation

“If you fail to do this (go to war), you will be sinning
against the Lord”  Numbers 32:23
 

They cause discouragement in those who go to  battle (Numbers 32:6,7) 
Israelite children had learned pacifism from their fathers in Numbers 32:8,9 when they listened to the 10 spies.
God becomes angry with those who refuse to fight and defend their nation (Numbers 32:10)
The choice not to fight is called sin. (Num. 32:23)
 
Turn the Other Cheek
Matthew 5:39 is in context speaking about your testimony to the world.  We are not to kill or attack to spread our faith.  Evangelism is not a “holy war.” 
Luke 22:36 Jesus tells the disciples to take a sword along with them on their journeys for protection
Luke 11:21 Jesus speaks of protecting your home, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.  But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he . . .divides up the spoils.”
National Freedom can only come and remain through military victory.  When Jesus returns to establish his 1000 year reign of peace it is established with a military victory.   See Nehemiah 4:6-14
            “I was heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse,         whose rider is called Faithful and True.                                       
 
With justice he judges and makes war.”           Revelation 19:11
Based on the verse above there is such a thing as a “holy war.”  We would call it a “righteous war”.  A more exact term might be a “moral war.”  Jesus will make war in righteousness while being called “faithful” to God’s plan and in line with the “truth” of the Word of God.
            1)  It is moral to defend your nation from brutal people who wish to:
                        a)  enslave your citizens
                        b) remove basic freedoms from your people
                                    - worship of their God
                                    - pursuit of their moral purposes in life
            2) It is moral to destroy a form of government that oppresses people and plans to spread their oppression through out the world.
 
The Commandment “Though shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13)
This does not mean that it is a sin for men to kill other men when called on in war or in the administration of governmental justice (Romans 13:1-7)  In the same book of Exodus the law of Moses tells when it is proper to “kill”.  The word “kill” in the ten commandments is one of several words for “kill” in the Hebrew language.  In Exodus 20:13 “kill” refers to “murder” or the shedding of innocent blood as mentioned in Proverbs 6:17.
Exodus 22:2 if a thief is caught and killed by the home owner it is not murder.  It is acceptable in certain circumstances.
Exodus 21:23 the government is to take life for life.  (Notice it is the government, and not individuals.)
Exodus 21:12 “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. . .take him away from ,y altar and put him to death.”
 “Though shalt not kill” does not refer to all killing but refers to murder.
Jesus refers to the governments responsibility of capital punishment of criminals when Peter engaged in criminal activity and cut off a man’s ear.  Jesus said, “If you live by the sword (meaning to live as a criminal), you will die by the sword (meaning you will face the judgment of the government, or capital punishment.)”
In Acts 25:11 Paul recognizes the governments right to capital punishment when he tells the gentile judicial system, “If I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die.”
 
Points:
We need to be righteous to save our nation
We need to crush our enemies to save our nation

Matthew 7:21 Everyone who says to Jesus “Lord, Lord” is not one of his children. 

To believe in Jesus for salvation you must have the correct definition of who Jesus is. The power of faith is not how much you believe something but if that something you believe is true.  The power of faith is not how great you believe but how great or true the object of your faith is.   
A person can believe with all their heart that gravity does not exist but they will still fall to the ground if they try to walk on air.  Why?  Because the power of faith is in the truthfulness and reality of what you believe.  If a person believes in a Jesus who is a genie that gives them the life they want, or the woman they want, or all the money they want then that person does not believe in the biblical Jesus.  They believe a lie and there is no power in a lie to save them. 
The power of faith for salvation is not how hard a person believes in Jesus but if what they believe about Jesus is true.  Jesus went to the cross to pay for the sins of mankind. 
The Palm Sunday crowd believed Jesus was going to save them from the Romans, deliver them into a sovereign and free kingdom and meet all their physical needs in the kingdom of God.  They cried out “Hosanna” which means “save us”.  But, Jesus was going to deliver them from their sins not from the Romans.  Forty years after Palm Sunday the Romans would totally destroy Judea, Jerusalem, the temple and kill or enslave the Jewish people.  In 30 AD the Jews believed in a political Jesus not in a savor who would redeem them from sin.  The political Jesus did not save them from the Romans because it was a false definition of Jesus.  The Lord and Savor did die for their sins and they could believe in that Jesus and be saved from eternal damnation. 
As Jesus left the palm trees of Bethany on Palm Sunday morning, about two miles southeast of Jerusalem,  his disciples went ahead into a small village filled with fig trees called Bethpage (which means “house of figs”) to get a colt that had never been ridden.  Jesus got on the colt and ascended the east slope of the Mt. of Olives.  As they came over the top of the Mt. of Olives they could see the city of Jerusalem and the temple towering over the valley on the other side of the Kidron.  Thousands of people who had already arrived from Judea and Galilee encircled the city and filled the valley and the slopes of the Mt. of Olives with their tents and temporary shelters.  Josephus says that 256,500 lambs where sacrificed at Passover in Jerusalem.  If each lamb fed an average of 10 people then there would have been at least 2.5 million people in and around Jerusalem as Jesus rode down the western slope of the Mt. of Olives, through the Kidron Valley and up the steep eastern side of Jerusalem.  Over half of the entire population of Judea and Galilee would have seen or heard Jesus coming into Jerusalem that Sunday.

Looking at the Mt. of Olives and over the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem

This day could be considered the highlight of Jesus ministry.  The people shouted key phrases which clearly indicated they where calling him the Messiah:            
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mark 11:9)            
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” (Mark 11:9) 
“Hosanna to the Son of David.” (or, “Save us! Son of David.”) (Matthew 21:9) 
Yet it says in Luke 19:41, in the midst of the shouting crowd who welcomed him into their city, Jesus began to weep.  Why would Jesus weep as a crowd, which could have been approaching a million Jews, shouted “Hosanna” or “Save Us!!”?  Because they did not understand who he was.  They had the wrong definition of a savior.  They had given Jesus a false identity and had chosen to believe it.  Jesus said as he wept among the shouting crowd:             
“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:42-44) 
Our concern today is if we have made the same mistake.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:21: 
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” 
Jesus said in John 15:14:            
“You are my friends if you do what I command.” 
This is not about being legalistic but it is about believing in the correct Jesus.  If a person says they believe in Jesus or they have accepted Jesus but have they have no trouble violating his commands and his expectations of living as a child of God then the assumption has to be that they possibly have not believed in the same Jesus described in the Bible.  Along with each person’s name comes the character of the person.   
The same is true of Jesus.  The Palm Sunday crowd called out to Jesus to “Save us!” They called him “Lord” and “Son of David”.  These were the correct names but they had replaced the character and purpose of the Lord with their own desires and plans.  
To believe in a Jesus who doesn’t expect you to walk away from sin is to believe in a lie.  There is no power in faith in a lie and no power in a belief in something that is not real.   The Jews found out that there was no salvation in Jesus when they redefined who he was with their own desires and plans.   
“This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:20-21)

Looking east at the Mt. of Olives from the temple mount where the Jewish temple stood in 30 AD.

Jerusalem as seen from the side of the Mt. of Olives .  The bottom of the steep Valley is not seen in this picture.  On Palm Sunday all of this open area would have been filled with people.  Today you can see thousands of Jewish graves up front at the bottom of this photo and Muslim graves on the other side of the Kidron Valley along the eastern wall of Jerusalem.

Mt. 5:22 - anger
Mt. 5:27 - lust
Mt. 5:31 - divorce
Mt. 5:43 - love and pray for enemies
Mt. 6:2 - give to needy
Mt. 6:19 - treasures on earth
Mt. 18:21 - forgive
Luke 18:1 - pray and don't give up
Luke 10:26-36 - love your neighbor
Luke 11:37-53 - hypocracy:
• looking good on the outside
• tithe material things but have no love or justice
• seek man's honor
• corrupt on the inside
• agree with the Bible heroes when you are more like Cain, Saul, Jezebel and Judas
• unable to lead others to freedom
Mark 10:43-44 - servants are the greatest
Matthew 11:28 - turn to Christ for strength

Study the Fallacy of the Da Vinci Code
Galyn Wiemers Discusses the Da Vinci Code Fad

I read "The Da Vinci Code" when it first came out. My plan was to dismantle it when I was finished reading it because I was concerned with the reaction it could create among believers. As I read the book I began to see how the facts were obviously misrepresented concerning apologetics, church history and the origin of the scriptures. Since it was a great novel (and, I rarely read novels) I read it quickly and I read it every chance I had until I was finished. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to seeing Tom Hanks in the movie.
One Saturday after I had finished reading the book I was mowing my yard and thinking about how I would organize my attack to counter the false information presented in "The Da Vinci Code". In less than four minutes of mowing and debating in my mind I realized how simple the argument against the "Code" would be. There are hundreds of pieces of historical evidence as old as 1900 years that would be coming against a fictional novel from the 21st century. The debate would be similar to attacking a canoe with a fleet of battle ships. Since I had already taught through church history, apologetics, and the history of the Bible I realized I had better things to do than convince people that "The Da Vinci Code" is a fictional book. Even the secular bookstores know enough to keep it out of the history section. So I finished mowing while thinking about something more consequential.
The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 that in the last days God will send a powerful delusion. If "The Da Vinci Code" confuses you today then you are going to have ample opportunity to feed that confusion in the future. If your faith has collapsed because of this book (obviously, don't go to the movie) then understand that the kingdom of your soul has just been conquered by a fleet of one canoe. Realize there are many more canoes coming. (For example, "The Gospel of Judas" which is nothing more than an example of a third century "Da Vinci Code". )
I have noticed many churches with signs and banners announcing they will be teaching on "The Da Vinci Code". I suppose now is better than never, but I tend to think that if the churches where teaching and defending the apostolic doctrine week after week and year after year they would not have to let best sellers and the Cinema determine their Sunday topics. Unless of course, the church feels it is their turn to cash in on our confused culture now that Brown has cashed in on the book and Hollywood is about to cash in on the movie. CBD has eight "Da Vinci Code" books on page 58 of May/June catalog and more than fifteen items on their web site.
 
You may want to listen to some of my previous messages concerning church history, apologetics and the history of the Bible that I have taught from previous Generation Word classes. These are listed below. I would like to suggest you also consider listening to or watching my Easter message entitled, "Confused? It's Your Choice!!".