Biblical Tithing: The Key To Establishing a Christian Nation

My dear friend and co-laborer, Daniel Ritchie, in his recent Face Book post quoted John Owen on the importance of the tithe.

“If all who reside in a godly nation must attend the preaching of the word (2 Chronicles 15:13), then all who reside in a Christian commonwealth must be liable to pay the tithe in order to financially support those who preach the word… Since the hearers of the word are to share with those who teach them (Galatians 6:6), then no man can be exempt from paying the tithe as all men are commanded to hear the word. Wherever, or in what nation soever, there hath been a removal of the maintenance provided in the providence of God for the necessary supportment of the public dispensers of the word, the issue hath been a fatal and irrecoverable disadvantage to the gospel and interest of Christ in those nations." Daniel Ritchie

 "[T]o take away the public maintenance provided in the good providence of God for the public dispensers of the gospel, upon pretences of present inconvience or promise of future provision, is a contempt of the care and faithfulness of God towards his church, and, in plain terms, downright robbery.” John Owen

I post this as a result of a recent interaction I had with someone who claimed that the Biblical Tithe was no longer a New Testament obligation. That notion seemed to be spawned from dispensational thinking yet, when questioned, the individual claimed he was not a dispensationalist, instead, as he put it, “he was far from it”.

If a person wishes to rob God of His “Tax” that is their business. They will have to bear the burden of their own iniquity. To make a doctrinal assertion, is another matter altogether.

The repudiation of the command to tithe is exactly the kind of warped thinking that has placed the church into bondage as a servant to the state, since without the necessary monetary means to function she can no longer accomplish the work that God has called her to. If the church is not funded by the tithe to carry on her duties in missions of mercy, the state will surely rush to the vacuum created by her poverty and subvert the church’s calling.

The apostle Paul chided the Corinthians for this very same think. In 1 Corinthians 9 we read that they were hedging on their promise to give their “poor tithe” in a timely manner. Not only was she to give her tithe to the poor, which was to be collected every other year, but she was to give it at once since the time of the tithe was due.

While the churches of Macedonia remained faithful in the giving of the poor tithe the Corinthian did not. In fact, the Macedonian churches had to make up the difference for the Corinthian’s sloth.
(1 Corinthians 9)

It was through the Biblical tithe that the church was enabled to fulfill her commission without which she could not. Paul clearly spells out the use of the poor tithe in verse 12 and 13.

2Co 9:12-3 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men…

2 Corinthians 9 speaks distinctly about the continuance of the poor tithe during the New Testament age. The poor tithe was only one of three commanded tithes that God had given to Israel in order to maintain their strength and independence form the state.

Of the three tithes, the Levitical tithe, the rejoicing tithe and the poor tithe, today’s church usually only practices the tithe taken each Lord’s Day being the Levitical tithe. This is only one of the reasons why the state has been able to claim dominion over the poor bringing upon the nations a welfare system without any Biblical accountability.

To say that the tithe is no longer in force and no longer required by Scripture in the New Testament is a clear misunderstanding of the Word of God and the use of the tithe.

Paul is hopeful of the Corinthians when he say gives them the benefit of the doubt for their sloth in tithing.

2Co 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they [The Macedonian Churches] would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty [the tithe you promised by did not actually give] , whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

He had hoped that their lack of tithing in a timely manner was because they had not the necessary funds to give a substantial gift, otherwise he might have deemed their sloth an act of covetousness.

If Paul is commanding the church to practice the poor tithe in the New Testament, then it is safe to say that the Levitical tithe as well as the rejoicing tithe are also both still in effect.

The tithe is God’s tax. It is calculated as 10% of a person’s total income by virtue of the word’s etymology.

• The poor tithe may be viewed today as the Deacon’s fund. It is to be a voluntary offering according to the abundance of what God has blessed an individual with for the care of those who are less fortunate or in need of relief during a family or individual crisis.

• The rejoicing tithe is to be taken every other year opposite of the poor tithe. This might be seen as the fellowship fund for the saints during festivals and holy days.

• The Levitical tithe is for the support of the faithful pastors and their families who labor   selflessly in behalf of God for the people of God.
  

  These tithe commands are in effect today and are ignored only at the peril of Christendom and Christ’s Kingdom advancement.

  Resource: John Owen, Two questions concerning the power of the supreme magistrate about religion and the worship of God, with one about tithes, proposed and resolved (Oxford, 1659) in The works of John Owen, ed. W. H. Goold (16 vols, Edinburgh, 1967), xiii, 515-16.

Tyranny, Independence, or Liberty Under God

And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.  2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.  And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 1Samuel  8:1-3

In this passage of Scripture, we see that the writing was already on the wall, and the future of Israel was in the balance. Rather than walking in the ways of God, Samuel’s sons were worldly and profane, and wickedness punctuated their leadership. They had the outward show of religion and perhaps even the outward testimony of their father, but their own testimony was void of legitimacy. They were covetous men who were perverse and lacked judgment.

The magisterial rule of Samuel’s sons was a direct violation of the commandment David the King articulated in 2 Samuel 23, 

“He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”

It seems likely that by the spirit of God, David was reflecting on the sons of Samuel, as well as the wickedness of Saul, when he penned these words. Nevertheless, Samuel, to his discredit, made his reprobate sons judges. Perhaps he hoped they would receive the office with sobriety and sense.  But he failed to realize that a leopard is unable to change his spots even when thrust into a situation which requires Godly sobriety and holy obedience to the Law of God.

Herein is the first transgression. It was prototypical of what was to follow.

Like Eli’s sons, Samuel’s sons were reprobate men. Nothing could change that.

We might view Eli’s Sons as representing the apostasy of the priests, while Samuel’s sons as representing the apostasy of the civil rulers.

Both of these apostate groups were setting the stage for a great judgment upon Israel. It is a fact of Scripture that the judgment of God must come upon every nation that refuses to follow His Lawful precepts, especially when it concerns leadership, statesmanship, and government. If God judged His own people Israel, how much more will He judge other nations that rebel against His Holy Law?

Perhaps Samuel’s offense cannot be laid upon Samuel alone. Surely he misjudged his sons. Perhaps he was too tenderhearted as a father, and thus his eyes were blinded and his heart hopeful that his seed would be great in the earth God-ward.  Although he was wrong, Samuel needn’t bear the guilt alone. The people were equally to blame, and perhaps more so.

On the one hand, the elders acknowledged that Samuel’s sons were apostate, and could not rule as judges representing God in matters of government. But on the other hand, they asked for an equally sinful solution. They asked for a king patterned after the nations around them.

They asked for a governor patterned after the pagan nations around them.

1Sa 8:4-5 ¶ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

This request defied logic as well as knowledge . It was a complete rejection of God and His Laws, and God would not suffer His chosen covenantally-bound people to reject Him without some retribution.

Notice the elders wanted to be JUDGED like the other nations were judged.

This desire led to all sorts of problems. Since the other nations were structured tyrannically, (and mostly still are), with totalitarian depots acting like God, legislating and judging according to personal whims and lusts, Israel was asking to become slaves of wicked men. They were asking to return to the vomit of Egyptian slavery.

It was common knowledge that the nations outside of the Covenant were despotic. Nevertheless, the people desired to be like the other nations.  Make no mistake about it. This request was not a request out of ignorance, but rather of defiance. What was transpiring was a complete repudiation of the covenant oath that Israel had made with God in the wilderness. It was a blatant violation of a promise sworn before God and to God.

In verse 7, God confirms this fact:  

“And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

Israel would have God’s covenant of redemption to call their own, but they refused to have His Covenant of political precept and expression. They would rather be patterned after the nations and ideologies of the heathen. They wanted God’s salvation but not His Lordship. They wanted a Savior but not a King.

This is impossible. Divine salvation is predicated upon God’s sovereign rule. There is no redemption without Lordship. There is no redemption without submission to Christ’s Crown and His Covenant.

Israel thought that salvation was a ticket to escape lawful obedience to the precepts of God. Today, this idea prevails in many churches, both Arminian and Reformed alike. Statements such as ”We are under Grace and not under law” is typical of those wanting God’s redemption but not His Lordship. Salvation is not an escape from obedience, but rather it emphasizes obedience, as well as sacrificial devotion and service.

This idea of salvation without obedience was born out of pagan rebellion. The pagan idea of salvation was one of safety and prosperity, not obedience to an ethical standard of holiness.  Pagan redemption had little to do with an obedient lifestyle since salvation was based upon ritual and ceremony, relegated to the individual alone. (A “me and my Savior” relationship without any infringement upon personal needs, desires, and actions)

Israel wanted the impossible: salvation while remaining rebellious and unlawful. They wanted liberation FROM God and not liberation TO God. They wanted heaven without fulfilling their covenant oath of obedience.

RJ Rushdoony puts it this way: 

”There can only be divine salvation where there is a sovereign and omnipotent God.”

Israel had rejected God as Lord. God was now going to reject them. But why was God so interested in Israel upholding His political Covenant Structure? In his book ‘Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel’, Daniel Elazar observes:

 "Covenant can be studied in three dimensions: 1. As a form of political conceptualization and mode of politic expression; 2. as a source of political ideology; and 3. as a factor shaping culture, institutions and behavior.”

What Israel was embarking upon was a complete rejection of God’s Political expression, which included:

1. Divine Law, justice, and equity

2. God’s political ideology of righteousness, which has at root ethical purity

3. God’s commanded political structure, which was to shape the culture, its institutions, and regulate the behavior of the people

Israel rejected all of this. Their desire was to overthrow these principles and to come under the rulership of an earthly king with a system of government diametrically opposed to the divine civil and legal order of Jehovah.
Israel had broken their solemn oath and would face the ramifications of their rebellion.

What Israel had actually rejected was God’s declaration of His holiness, His covenant oath to them, and their oath to Him. God’s covenant agreement was an informed agreement – a pact or contract – with Israel, based upon their voluntary consent. God, a higher Authority, established this agreement, which made it a covenant with certain stipulations of Divine Law attached to it. These stipulations were sanctions of two kinds: curses blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience . It was also generational in scope. If obeyed, the blessings would continue throughout their generations, but if disobeyed, the nation would be destroyed with little trace left, if any.

Elazar defines covenant in this manner: 

“A covenant is a morally informed agreement or pact, based upon voluntary consent, established by mutual oaths or promises, involving or witnessed by some transcendent higher authority, between peoples or parties having independent status, equal in contribution with the purposes of the pact, that provides for joint action or obligation to achieve defined ends (limited or comprehensive) under conditions of mutual respect, which protect the individual integrities of all the parties to it.”

A covenant is a seal, or symbol of guarantee, between two parties sworn before a Divine Authority. Elazar notes that during the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the Swiss, Dutch, Scots and the English puritans conceived civil society in covenantal terms and actually wrote out national covenants to which all must subscribe. (Scotland’s Solemn League and Covenant is one of the most famous of these documents.) 

The American system is no stranger to covenantal oath  taking. The original American colonies were also structured along covenantal lines. In fact, covenantal thinking  and national covenanting  was commonplace when structuring political policy, and it continued throughout the period of the American War for Independence against the tyranny of King George III.

American Independence, according to some colonial thinkers, was to be liberation from tyranny so as to be servants of the living God in covenant. It was not to be independent from GOD, but from tyranny, dependent upon the Living God

William Penn noted that ”Men must choose to be governed by God or condemn themselves to be governed by tyrants.” 

Penn’s statement was clearly made in the context of the charter of Pennsylvania:

"Whereas the glory of Almighty God, and ye good of mankind, is the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God; forasmuch as it is principally desired and intended by the proprietary and governor, and the freedom of the province of Pennsylvania, and territories thereunto belonging, to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to any unchristian, licentious and unjust practices whereby God may have His due, Caesar his due, and the people their due, and insolvency and licentiousness on the other, so that the best and firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness both of the governor and people of this province and territories aforesaid and their posterity.”

This statement must be classified as both theonomic and theocratic, thereby forbidding any sanctioning of anti-biblical laws and behavior, including any attempt of tyranny or immoral practices among the citizenry. Note also the generational focus of Penn’s statement. This was a covenantal statement.

Divine covenants are important, because they shape the worldview and perspectives of the parties involved, and because they sustain those Divine ends whereby they cannot be altered without Divine sanctions.

Elazar confirms this:

"As a source of political ideology, covenant shapes the world views...of whole societies, defining their civil character and political relationships, and serving as a touchstone for testing the legitimacy and often even the efficiency of their political institutions and those who must make them work.”

Covenanting is a security measure, especially when it comes to political ideology, structure, and expression. As a result of the sinful rejection of God and His Laws, Israel’s culture would now be structured according to the apostate system of government under a king who was like the pagan kings of totalitarian rule.

Covenants are expressions of relationships. By violating their covenant with God, Israel severed the relationship between themselves and God, their Savior [not old English spelling, unless you want all your words to be consistent to old English spelling], Lord and Protector. [same paragraph] Once they rejected God, they were on their own, under the frowning providence and active judgment of the Almighty.

Elazar again notes that God’s original covenant with Israel actually established the Hebrew people and founded them as a body politic, while at the same time created a religious framework that gave that policy its reason, norm, and constitution.  It also gave them particular guidelines, or Laws, for the development of a political order based upon justice and equity, all of which were based upon a covenantal relationship.

God’s covenant made Israel’s moral commitment to one another and to God. It was a binding Law. All these covenantal blessings Israel rejected. Even after they had been warned time and time again, they continued to reject the counsel of God.

Observe the warning:

De 29:10 ¶ Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

 11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:

 12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: {enter: Heb. pass}

 13 That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

 14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;

 15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

 16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;

 17 And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)

 18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

This was a specific warning for Israel, and for us, not to be yoked to a nation that holds to a political policy that is not structured after the WORD of GOD.

The result: tyrannical rule under a totalitarian statist government, which God through direct intervention brings to pass, according to His declared sanction of retribution for rebellion. Israel was seeking a political platform that would free them from the covenantal obligations of God’s Law. They wanted desperately to decide for themselves right and wrong according to arbitrary human standards and thus sought independence apart from God’s LAW and from God’s BLESSINGS.

What they said in effect was “We the people of Israel will decide how we will be governed.” And they did this by seeking a legislator-king outside of the parameters God gave. They traded God for Saul, which was a terrible mistake. Israel’s rebellious cunning would quickly backfire, and they would become slaves once again, like in the days of Egypt.

 Notice what Samuel declares will happen if such a rejection is precipitated:

1Sa 8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.

 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

Even with this warning, the people were seared in their conscience, and they desired to live as slaves under the yoke of a tyrant statist system. As long as they could be like every other nation, as long as they could compete in the global area, and as long as they could do it the way they saw fit, they would be satisfied. Or so it seemed.

The parallels are astounding.

Like Israel, America  desires a president or a political party structured after the nations of the world to save them. When pagan rulers are placed into power, they have their ethical standards, their epistemological starting point, their economic ideologies, and their entire worldviews structured according to humanistic ideas. They refuse to follow God’s ethical standards of a community, state, or nation.

As Author Buddy Hanson rightly and boldly states:

”Any other view of civil government other than [God’s] view, will result in the citizens [including lawmakers who are elected from the citizenry] becoming a law unto themselves.”

During the Reformation, the idea of national covenanting was rejuvenated. It was the Reformation that sparked the Puritans, Covenanters, and early American colonists, to consider returning to the God of their fathers, so as to construct a body politic obedient to the law Structure of God and His infallible Word.  As a result, Biblical covenanting re-emerged as a central theme in political theology, political philosophy, and political polity.

Men like Theodore Beza and the German Born Calvinist Johannes Althusius were among the finest of juridical scholars. Althusius systematized Calvinistic teachings and stated the following:

“…a republic is formed by a covenant between the rulers and the people before God, that the foundation of this covenant is the Law of God…that the Decalogue is the best expression of this higher law, that the church and state are separate in form, but joined in function, that families, churches, and states alike, must protect the rights and liberties of the people, and that violations of these rights and liberties, or of the divine and natural rights that inform and empower them, are instances of tyranny that must trigger organized constitutional resistance.”

The Reformation was calling men to both an outer and an inner reformation, where men would be conformed outwardly as well as inwardly to the Word of God. This reformation concerned every area and institution of life, especially in the realm of government, since tyranny would be violently oppressive to the preaching of the Gospel and the health of the Christian cause.

Beza insisted that tyrants were rulers who violated the terms of the political covenant. ] John Witte in his book “The Reformation of Rights” notes,

“For Beza, tyrants were rulers who violated the terms of the political covenant – particularly its foundational requirements, that all must honor the rights of God to be worshipped, and the rights of God’s people to discharge their duties of the faith, in conformity with God’s Law.”

It was Beza, more than Calvin, who advanced the doctrine of interposition whereby the lesser magistrates could resist and overthrow the tyrant, if necessary. According to Beza, if the ruler exceeded his authority in violation of the political covenant, the people through their representatives  had both the right and the duty to resist him as a tyrant. During the late 1700s, the American Puritan colonists resorted to this doctrine of interposition (or the doctrine of the lesser magistrates), sparking the American War of Independence.

During the years of the Reformation, John Calvin admonished the people of Geneva in a stern warning, 

“And ye, O peoples to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it that ye do not forfeit this favor by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God.”

This warning could have easily been given to the 21^st century Evangelical Christian community. Sadly, however, warning has mostly fallen upon deaf ears. Today, we see very little real outcry from any quarter of Christendom today, and almost no outrage, concerning the apostasy of our civil majesty.

WHY? Why is the community of the church so complacent? Because the visible church has lost the vision of what it means to be at LIBERTY UNDER GOD.

Not only has the church lost the vision, she has become like Israel desiring a king (or a political party) to rule over them like the other nations have. Rather than rebuking and abstaining from the workers of iniquity, many Christians run to them for safety and the hope of prosperity. But America’s hope is neither in any king nor in any political party. Moreover, it is not in politics per se.

Christendom boasts of so many individuals and churches verbally stating that they want to reform the nation and bring it back to the morality of Scripture – but they only say, and don’t do. Many words are spoken, but little real action is implemented. If and when action is implemented, it is with the hope that Christ will emerge and rapture the church from the evils of the world. This two-kingdom heresy has stifled the church even when she is doing the work of the dominion mandate.

There are far too many professing Christians still eating at Jezebel’s statist table, wiping their mouth and saying that they have done no evil. Too may saints have bought into the lie that the government is here to help and to provide for cradle to grave assurances. American Christians have yoked themselves with the beast of Statism.

Like Israel, they desire Saul.

Without even knowing it (or wanting to know it,) the community of Christendom has forged an unholy alliance with God’s enemies, thinking that appeasing the oppressor will insure their survival, not realizing that appeasement of the beast only stirs its wrath. Too many American Christians seem to think that if they act according to the liking of the beast, believing its lies, getting involved in their programs, and refraining from antagonizing it, the beast will spare them. It will not. In the end, it will destroy them all the same.

Consider the story of the Turtle and the Scorpion.

The scorpion stands upon the bank of the stream desiring to cross to the other side. He spies a turtle and seeks to gain access upon the turtle’s back so as to cross. The turtle naturally refuses, saying that the scorpion will sting him, and he will die. The scorpion assures him that he will not sting him, because if he does, they both will drown.

For a moment the turtle ponders the logic, then agrees. Halfway across, the scorpion stings the turtle.

The turtle exclaims “But you said you wouldn’t kill me. Now we will both drown. Why did you do that?”

The scorpion explains: “I can’t help it - it is my nature.”

It is the nature of man, especially when given any kind of political power, to enslave, impoverish, humiliate, and eventually kill the very people it has sworn to protect. In doing so, it kills itself along with the people of its charge.

So what is American Christendom’s problem? To answer this, Buddy Hanson gives a wonderful illustration:

“It is said that it’s hard to read the label from the inside of the jar, but that is exactly where we are in the early years of the 21^st century. The cultural jar into which we have allowed ourselves to be placed, and confined, is a result of a century and a half of preferring the world’s ways to God’s. This has so influenced the way we look at life, that when we decide to ‘do something’ about our culture, we act according to non-Christian tactics – and don’t even realize that we are doing so.”

In other words, reestablishing the position of godless rulers and acting according to the dictates of the culture avails no change to the culture. Rather, it exacerbates the problem, bringing the wrath of God down upon us more ferociously.

He continues:

”What is not understood is that by acting naturally, we are guaranteeing that the non Christian agenda will continue to influence the culture.”

The answer to our political, economic, militaristic, and cultural problems is not whether the Republicans or the Democrats gain control over the several branches of Government. Our problems will only be remedied when God’s people stop making excuses for their acquiescence to wickedness and tyranny, devoting themselves to an expressly Christian world and life view that seeks to advance the crown rights of Christ and not the kingdom of man.

The Honorable Howard Phillips coined the statement:

”Liberals are going over the cliff at 100 mph and conservatives are going over the cliff at 50 mph. Both are going to crash.”

As long as our approach is godless, we will continue to loose ground. As long as we continue to think like the world, the world will snare and enslave us. As long as we continue to forge alliances with the wicked of the world, we will loose God’s support, and His holy justice will fall upon us as individuals, our families, and possibly our nation as well.

Perhaps patriotism is defined best by Abigail Adams when she clearly stated:

”A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom has not moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will Toward men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society? The Scriptures tell us “Righteousness Exalteth a nation”.

Rev. Stephan Perks of the Kuyper institute warns:

 ”The Created order of God’s Sovereignty is vested totally in Christ. Nowhere else in the created order is such total sovereignty exercised. All other persons and spheres of authority are restricted. This means that all reductionist theories of mankind and human society are idolatrous. Totalitarianism, which reduces man to one function of human society namely the State, for which it claims total sovereignty, is idolatrous.

Patriarchalism, in which the whole of human society is subsumed under the family and all other spheres of subordinated to it, is idolatrous. Ecclesio-centrism, in which the whole of life of man and society is subordinated to the church, is equally idolatrous, as is libertarianism, in which the whole of human life is subordinated to the individual.

Christianity teaches, rather than any of these, including Ecclesio-centricism, that Christ is the center of creation, that only He is sovereign over the whole creation, and that all institutions and spheres, legitimate in their own right and independent of each other’s devolved authority structures, must subordinate themselves in all things to Him and to His Word.

Solomon’s profound truth rings true: “There is nothing new under the Sun.”

Christians must once again decide between Christ or Caesar, between God and Baal, between the table of the Lord or the table of idols, and between being bond servants under God’s Law or being salves of sin, the lusts of the flesh, serving corrupters and the promoters of wickedness.

We stand at a crossroads. Will Christians continue to be led like sheep to the slaughter, or will we be men of faith and resolve, relying upon GOD ALONE for our every blessing?

The future of our heritage depends upon our answer. While we may not avoid the destruction of our culture, we still may avoid the comprehensive totality of God’s wrath upon ourselves. May God have mercy upon our godless nation.

False Prophets Must Be Held Accountable

"Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.1Co 15:24-25

THE VICTORY, THEN THE END

The Apostle Paul's statement is clear concerning the end of the world. It will come only after Christ has put all enemies under His feet. This is the Postmillennial view of Christian victory.It happens in time and history. It is not apocalyptic but rather hopefully victorious when Righteousness envelops the entire Global community.

Predictions concerning the end of the world have come and gone. Most of them have gone unnoticed. Today, however, with the vast amount of communication technology at our fingertips, a prediction like May 21st goes world-wide. In its wake; fear, destruction, uncertainty, and for a 14 year old Russian teen, death.

Consider this report from RT, an Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Internet News Source:

"A 14-year-old girl from the Republic of Mari El in Central Russia has committed suicide, allegedly because she was afraid of the upcoming doomsday, predicted by the American radio preacher Harold Camping.

Nastya Zachinova believed the news that the world would end on May 21, her family told the tabloid LifeNews. The once lively teenager became angsty and withdrawn. On the Saturday in which the rapture had been predicted to start, she committed suicide after returning home from school.Her personal diary shows she was terrified of the perils of the apocalypse, which she believed humanity was about to endure.



Harold Camping and his supporters launched a world-wide campaign to inform humanity about the upcoming rapture, the date of which he predicted based on a series of convoluted calculations taken from the bible. A few ads promoting his message were put on billboards in Russia as well."

HELD TO ACCOUNT

Camping makes a complete fool of himself,again.It was not enough to predict the end in September 1994, or on Christmas Day in 1994, or predicting dates in 1995 privately to his cult followers, or to maintain that the end of the church age happened in 1988 and no one else can now be converted, he had to predict another figment of his imagination, validated by bad exegesis, and a desire to be the 21st century Noah - his ark being "Family Stations Inc.".

This time, however, the man must be held accountable.

Camping's doctrine has gone from sober, to questionable to utterly outrageous and heretical. He has poorly stewarded the money donated to his radio ministry and traded sober Christian truths for horror stories about the coming wrath without any honest hermeneutic justification whatsoever. God's judgment will come upon the world, to be sure - but not the way Camping envisions it.

WHY?

Why would God allow such wrong to blemish the Christian Church? I believe it is to expose the false Christians and distinguish the true. Camping has been addicted to finding out when the end of the world would come for decades. He began with his presupposition that there had to be a date that he could discover. He believed that he was the chosen one. With that initial premise, he conveniently made the Bible say whatever he wanted through mathematical gyrations and interpretive acrobatics. But why?

Why focus upon the end of the world? What sick mind wants to see so much fear and destruction? What saint sets his heart upon hopelessness? If no one is being saved any more since 1988, as Camping believes, why bother getting the word out that the end is near? That behavior is inconsistent with his doctrine.

Why not focus upon advancing the Crown Rights of King Jesus and reconstructing the societal order? Why not build true churches with he millions that were spent on falsely promoting doomsday? The questions of "Why" can go on and on. The real question is "Why did so many believe him?"

IGNORANCE and PRIDE

Ignorance can be very destructive, and pride can be deadly. Many who followed Camping, and are still following him in his delusion, are not deep thinkers, nor are they good exegetes. Many of them love to make themselves out to be something special. To think one knows when the end of the world will come, down to the hour; now that's special. It's all pride, and it must be condemned.

THE GOAL

The purpose of each child of God is to 'build the old waste places'. We must preach the gospel and use God's Law to reconstruct the culture, and the societal order God-ward. There is no time to fuss with doomsday cults and false prophets. That is probably why God told Moses to stone them.

Time is of the essence. Not because the end is near, but because our time on earth is but for a moment. We must make the most from it. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Evil Conquest of the Government Schools

In his most excellent work, “Is Public Education Necessary”, Samuel Blumenfeld wrote,

“Educational tyranny is the natural and inevitable result of a government school system controlled by monopoly-minded bureaucrats and edu-crats . The people of this country must soon decide what is more important to them: parents' rights or compulsory schooling; educational freedom or educational tyranny.”

In the early 80’s it was still unlawful to educate your own children at home. Children were being dragged off to detention facilities and parents were thrown into jail. Even though some of the greatest Americans, including most of America’s founding fathers, were home educated, this was now unlawful. Government education was mandated, and the children were given over to the state for their upbringing. In essence the state had kidnapped the children under their magisterial protection. In doing so, they violated their God given duty and headed down a path of perdition.
 

A carful historical study of the development of American Public Education quickly shows that its goal was never to educate children to become productive citizens of the American capitalistic republic, but rather to brainwash them into statist socialists.

The idea that education should come under the regulation of the state, rather than the parent or the clergy, was originally a Prussian model proposed by Harvard University socialist James G. Carter during the early 1800s.

Blumenfeld recounts,

“Thus, as early as 1825, educational statism, modeled on the Prussian design, was already a well-developed idea in the heads of the Harvard-Unitarian elite[s].”

In order to promote public education Carter, and his supporters, led a movement to discredit the private academies in favor of government funded schools by arguing that the poor were being disenfranchised.  

Blumenfeld comments,

“[This]…point was to become a favorite argument [by Carter] against the private academy: that it deprived the poor of equal educational opportunity. It never occurred to the "friends of education" to advocate state scholarships or tuition grants for poor youths so that they could attend the private academy in their town. Instead, they promoted the idea of free public schools for all-including all of those who could afford private schooling. The reason for this is obvious. Only in free public schools could the characters and minds of all be manipulated by the controlling few. The end result was to be a social utopia that would bring unparalleled happiness to the human race. “

The two forces perpetuating this movement were the Owenits (b. 1771 – Robert Owen, an Englishman known as the father of modern socialism),and the Unitarians.

Again Blumenfeld explains,

“Although both Owenites and Unitarians agreed that the government should take full control of education, the Owenite plan was far more radical in total concept than anything the Unitarians advocated. The Owenites wanted children to be separated from their parents as early as possible-age two was suggested-and placed in district boarding schools away from the influences of the prevailing system. Each school would house a different age group and be furnished with "instructors in every branch of knowledge, intellectual and operative, with all the apparata, land, and conveniences necessary for the best development of all knowledge.”

 The ideology behind their educational plan was articulated in the following manner.

“[T]he grand lever, which is to raise up the mighty mass of this community is education …The schools hold, in embryo, the future communities of this land . The schools are the pillars of the republic. To these, let the strong arm of government be stretched out .Over these, let the wisdom of our legislatures watch.” "Improvement of Common Schools," Article X, North American Review, January 1827, pp . 156-57 .

Today, Home Education is still frowned upon, although in most states it is no longer illegal. There are still some major restriction and regulations in certain jurisdictions, but at least home education is possible without fear of imprisonment.

Yet, the private citizen – whether they like it or not and whether they support Public Statist education or not – must pay for the Messianic schooling through taxation. These taxes are sometime quite burdensome and there is no way of opting out without certain infringing government caveats.

Even with funding through excessive taxation the schools are in deep trouble academically and morally. It seems as if the more money that is thrown at the system the less productive it becomes. Government education is in a grave-yard spiral – and the government knows it.

As early as 1980 a mass exodus was upon the horizon.

“The unprecedented decline in academic quality has precipitated a veritable exodus of children from the government schools. More and more parents are choosing private, church and home schools .The phenomenal rise of homeschooling in recent years not only indicates a disenchantment with government schools but with formal schooling in general. The demand for greater educational freedom by parents is causing alarm within the educational establishment which has, for the last one hundred years, depended on the compulsory school attendance laws to supply it with a captive clientele no matter how poor the quality of their education .”

During the 1800s, wherever academies were established, Cater noticed that the common school declined because the most intelligent people in town were no longer interested in it.

For Carter there was a solution to the problem: "Abolish the academy…”

There is no guarantee that home education and private academies will continue to remain free. If more and more children are removed from statist control the system will begin to crack. This has already begun. If, as a result of this breakdown, the government becomes desperate, we may see either greater regulations and restrictions or a totalitarian crack-down upon all private and home education.

Strategy:

1. Read Sam’s book cover to cover. Buy it and share it with many. Know it inside and out. Digest it and then proclaim its historical and ideological tenants. Everyone must be aware of what is happening to our nation through the statist plan for total control through the Trojan horse of the Public Education system.

2. Every church should have a school. Encourage your pastor to start one if he hasn’t already. Religious education is still honored in the United States under the first amendment. Use the freedom.The Old Testament Levites were the principle educators of the people. This pattern must be re-established. The church can also act as an umbrella protection for those who want to home educate their children. The church’s power and influence should never be underestimated. She must protect her people. She must educate Christ-ward by promoting Christo-centric education.

3. Private Christian Schools should be established in the various states that are supportive of the private academies. Schools that are grandfathered in are more likely to remain strong against any assault by the state. The more Christian academies in operation the less likely they will be over-run.

4. Encourage your pastor to read Sam Blumenfeld’s “Is Public Education Necessary” and then preach against the Statist Messianic education system. This is especially important if there are many in his congregation who have their children in public schools or if there are many public school teachers in his congregation. This will be a life changing challenge so encourage and pray for him. The action he takes will show just who’s side he is on. Hope for the best, but expect disappointment.

5. Publish various quotes in your local newspaper about how the public school system is Marxist. Show how it is actually destroying the culture and bringing the nation into judgment. Use social media to share some potent quotes for others to use. Lead the pack. Shake the people out of their slumber.

6. Give a copy of Blumenfeld’s book to your state delegate and state senator. Make him promise to read it. Then call him weeks later to see if he read it. Do not let him rest till you are satisfied that he has read the book. Have others call him also. Be respectful but be persistent. The squeaky wheel always gets greased.

7. Give copies of the book to the local school board. Prepare for blowback. Be courageous. Go forward in the fear of the Lord and for the Crown Rights of King Jesus.

It has recently been my pleasure to spend an entire weekend with Sam discussing these issues and the future of the Christina Education movement. His sincerity and expertise is refreshing. Mr. Samuel Blumenfeld has just signed on with New Geneva as the Director Of Primary Education.  You can read Dr. Blumenfeld’s articles at The New American Online

The Passion of the Christian Saint

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God…” Acts 1:1-3

The Passion of the Christ

In Acts chapter 1 Luke identifies the suffering of our Lord as “His Passion”.
The Word passion has several significations. In the Biblical sense, as it is used here, “passion” means to be “sore vexed”, to suffer intensively or to experience great pain and/or sorrow.


The modern use of the word, “passion” was adopted during the 16th century and is defined as having strong emotions as in a sense of great enthusiasm. The term today evokes sentiments of love and even sensual attraction. To be passionate about someone or something is to be “highly motivated toward that person or thing.” To be passionate about someone or something is to have that person or thing always dominating the mind and the actions.This idea is conveyed in Christ’s declaration: ”Where your treasure is – there will your heart be also”

Our Lord’s “Passion” must be considered as both a Biblical passion and a modern passion. In the sense that He suffered, we should use the Biblical term “Passion”.But in the sense that He was “Passionate”, i.e. to do the Will of His Father, we should use the modern version of the term.

In the most literal sense the Scriptures do not use the term “passion” or “passionate” in the modern fashion. In the Scriptures the Greek word is only used for “suffering”.

The Common Use of the Word Passion

The Word or phrase that best describes the modern use of the term “Passion”, or “Passionate Emotion” is found in Psalm 119.32.

“I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.” Ps 119:30-32

David uses the word “Enlarge” in regard to his heart

 "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." Ps 119:32.

The Hebrew word used for “enlarge” literally means “to make room” or “to open wide”.

David is asking God to actively move in his life so that he will be more passionate in his obedience and service.

Charles Spurgeon observes,

"Yes, when the heart is the master, the feet soon run when the heart is free and energetic. Let the affections be aroused and eagerly set on divine things, and our actions will be full of force, swiftness, and delight. God must work in us first, and then we shall will and do according to his good pleasure. He must change the heart, unite the heart, encourage the heart, strengthen the heart, and enlarge the heart, and then the course of the life will be gracious, sincere, happy, and earnest; so that from our lowest up to our highest state in grace we must attribute all to the free favour of our God. We must run; for grace is not an overwhelming force which compels unwilling minds to move contrary to their will: our running is the spontaneous leaping forward of a mind which has been set free by the hand of God, and delights to show its freedom by its bounding speed."

The Hebrew word used for “Heart”, however is actually referring to the understanding, and may include the entire fabric of man’s being. And so, David is asking God to open wide his understanding, in order for him to run in the way of God’s commandments.

It is the Understanding that Assist in Obedience.

The Hebrews were to be an understanding people in word and deed. This was their strength.

Moses declares in De 4:6 concerning God’s Law:

“Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”


Upon his call to be King, Solomon asked for understanding before anything else, knowing that understanding was the key to prosperity, and success God-ward.

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad:" 1Ki 3:9

David is asking God to enlarge his understanding.

CONSIDER Psalm 119 VERSE 32:

"I will run the way of thy commandments..."

David’s uppermost desire was to RUN (not merely keep or obey) But “to run” in the way of God’s Law. He uses the declarative “I WILL”. This is the voice of determination. He knew of his natural inability and lackadaisicalness, so he begs - he prays – he pleads – he declares, “I WILL”. In his “heart-felt” determination he asks God to enlarge his heart so that he might RUN in the way of His Law

Calvin comments:

“The meaning of the prophet is, that when God shall inspire him with love for his law, he will be vigorous and ready, nay, even steady, so as not to faint in the middle of his course. His words contain an implied admission of the supineness and inability of men to make any advancement in well-doing until God enlarge their hearts.”

The enlarging of the heart may also be identified as “Heartiness”.

To be “hearty” is to be robust, strong, bold, and healthy.An individual that is “hearty” is usually one who is full of life, rigor, passion, and conviction. A “hearty laugh” usually evokes a smile from others. It may even cause others to laugh as well. Heartiness is contagious.

The hearty passion for the Kingdom’s advancement is also contagious.

P.B. Powers considers this aspect of life and asks observes:

a. What Heartiness is
b. What Heartiness does?
c. Where does Heartiness come from.

1. What is Heartiness:

a. This may be defined as a passionate cheerfulness in doing God’s will according to His Written Commandment.

b. It is an intense desire to serve God in every way and at every season.
Heartiness is robust faith. It is constant faith and diligent service.

c. It is the life of True and Honest Christianity and it is exercised in every sphere of life.

d. True Heartiness is very difficult to quench – It is a strong man, and a strong tower.

e. Heartiness is living energy, derived from the transforming power of Atoning Grace and Sanctifying Love.

2. What Heartiness does?

a. Heartiness is being always ready to do whatsoever God commands. It prepares the saint to act whenever the opportunity arises. It is the saint’s motivating power.

b. The hearty saint stands ready and observant to opportunities for ministry and service.

c. Heartiness has a positive effect upon others God-ward. It is an encouraging trait that causes a man to be productive in his Kingdom work and brings others along with him.

d. Heartiness encompasses many and it expands throughout the family circle to the church, and then into the community.

e.Heartiness stands strong in the face of oppression.

f.It stands tall in times of great darkness.

g. It holds fast to Christian testimonies in faith amidst mockers.

h. It studies so as to be prepared for every good work and to be ready to answer every man for the hope of the Gospel.

i. A hearty saint is able to comfort those that are weak.

j. Heartiness enables a man to go to his extremes for others in the cause of Christ, and for the Kingdom’s Glory. Heartiness knows no bounds.

k. It believes that whatsoever is impossible with man is possible with God.

l.Heartiness is always giving to others in the Name of Christ.

m. A hearty saint is not weak – rather he is strong because he is mature.

n. A hearty saint is able to “Take Heart” when the wicked rise up in authority.

He Is not discouraged by these set backs (or any set back for that matter)
He knows that God is seated upon the Throne of His Majesty working all things for His Glory

o. Heartiness leads in the battle of worldviews, and is strong to meet the foe on the battlefield of ideologies.

Finally: Where does this heartiness come from?

Heartiness comes from God. When the Spirit of God comes in contact with the human heart upon conversion, there is a transforming event that is life changing.

That Sanctifying Spirit (The same Spirit that Enlarged Christ’s heart in the days of His flesh enabling Him to face His sufferings courageously) is the same Spirit that is given to each and every saint.

Objection: “Yes – this is true. But even though the Spirit is given, the fruit to some is 30, or 60 fold - not always 100”.

Answer: The fruit spoken of is the fruit resulting from the preaching of the gospel. It has nothing to do with the diligence and devotion of the individual.

While resulting fruit may vary from one to another – the work done by all saints is to be performed heartily in a focused and continuous fashion.

There is nothing in Scripture that excuses the saints from a hearty profession and a hearty life in the service of Christ the King.

David asked God to enlarge his heart. His reason was simple. He desired to run in the way of God’s commandments. He desired to live passionately according to the Law of God and declare it among many nations. By the Grace of “Passion”, he would run to do this.

This was his life’s hope. This was his life’s dream, and fulfillment.This is the testimony of God’s True saints. This should be ours as well.

The Wise & Mysterious Providence of God

Pr 10:22 ¶ The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

God’s Providence is usually defined as the “Will of God” exercised in time and history. As God, He does whatsoever He pleases.  God’s providential orchestration of all things is one of His many blessings to His Elect. It is a comforting reality to know that nothing can frustrate the Sovereign Will of God. As the apostle clearly declares, “All things work together for good to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Things do not simply work together for good as a result of God smoothing things over after they have occurred in an effort to fix human error. All things work together as a result of God’s fore-ordination of all things. No event just happens. It happens as a result of God’s consistent intervention in history. Both good and bad things are brought to pass according to a perfect plan and sovereign power. Whosoever happens on earth is a direct result of God’s Will being executed. Only those things that God has fore-ordained comes to pass, and they come to pass precisely according to His plan; nothing can thwart it.

Solomon states this clearly.

Ec 8:3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for He doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

Ezekiel's Vision of God's Providence & Glory

But why is the Providence of God so comforting to “The Called”? What makes God’s control of every human event so comforting to the people of God? It cannot be because His will is all powerful. While this is true, that fact alone is not a comfort. Power alone does not comfort. Just because the Lord is all powerful does not indicate that His Will is good.

When Christ abandoned Himself to God’s Will, He was not abandoning Himself to the Power of God per se, but rather the Wisdom, Goodness, Mercy, and Love of God. The saint’s everlasting comfort comes by knowing that the Sovereign Will of God is perfectly wise, good, loving and mercifully kind. This is what led the Lord to bow to the Will of God during His passion, and this is the saint’s confidence when difficult providences occur. Christ knew that all earthly events are executed in wisdom, goodness, love and mercy – even those events which are hard to understand and difficult to handle. 

The power of God is the engine that guarantees the execution of His Will – but it is the power of God that does this in a wise, good, loving and merciful fashion.  

Arthur Pink put it this way:

"Contentment [comfort] is possible only as we cultivate and maintain that attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the Hand of Him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of His children a needless tear."

The Stabilty of the Christian Family

Christianity must be holistic in that it seeks to intervene into all spheres of the culture. We cannot think in a compartmentalized fashion when it comes to the advancement of Christ's Kingdom, as if it restricted to the church alone.
Since all spheres of life are to come under the authority of the Sovereign Lord, there is no sphere that is less important than another. That being said, we still must prioritize when we seek to advance His cause. That means we must have our families in order first. If we fail to bring our families under the rule of the Gospel, whatever cause we undertake for Christ will fail.

Ministry beings at home, then moves outward into the church, and then the community. I too have witnessed men, and women - even elders and deacons - rush to save the world while their families are languishing. In my 24 years of ministry I have witnessed such gross disconnect that it boggles the mind. The reason why our political and economic situation is in a tailspin is due to the apostasy of the church, which is a direct result of the lackadaisical attitude of family discipleship.

Christians must remedy the sins of the culture by first remedying the sins of the home. Christian fathers are called to sacrifice all for the family. Their first priority must be their wives, and then their children. Male Biblical leadership, initiated by the father, is absolutely essential. Husbands must minister to their wives by providing loving support in her responsibilities as governess of the home. He must be actively involved in the affairs of the household. In this way he can maintain control without which there can be real Biblical oversight. His support must be firm and resolute along Biblical lines and according to Biblical principles. Family communication, especially communication between husband and wife, is essential, as is family discipleship. All this must be instigated by the head of the home and executed seamlessly by both parents for complete Biblical continuity.

It is no wonder why Paul counsels Timothy as to the importance of Ecclesiastic leadership beginning at home.

“[A Bishop is] One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) “ 1 Timothy 3:4-5

C. S. Lewis rightly observed, “Because the family is so central to building up a godly society, it has always been under attack by unbelievers and is in particularly great danger today. At the root of outright hatred of family bonds lies sinful man's craving to be independent of God and his fellow men so he may do as he pleases and not be burdened or restrained by any responsibilities or obligations. Such individual anarchy and selfishness among ever growing numbers of people eventually leads to the breakdown of society at large.”

If Christendom is ever to see an advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on earth it must
re-examine its familial structure. If the Kingdom is ever to advance it will advance upon the shoulders of solidly structured Christian homes within the oversight of self-less, conscientious fathers and mothers who are willing to give all for the Glory of Christ. The hope of a Biblical postmillennial victory depends upon the stability of the Christian family.