Deuteronomy--Moses' first speech, Part 17

Beginning in Deut. 4:5, Moses tells Israel--and any other nation that might adopt the laws of God--that this is what makes a nation truly great.

I think this ought to be required reading every 4th of July.

⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. ⁶ So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." ⁷ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him? ⁸ Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

These laws promote liberty without degenerating into vice. They respect nature while worshiping its Creator. These laws promote justice but not without mercy and grace. They give citizens personal responsibility to do good, without the government forcing them to give away their hard-earned property.

The Babylonian system fears the law of God, knowing that the light of the Word would expose its "mystery" and establish true "transparency."

The American Constitution was men's best effort in world history to establish righteous government, which they learned in large part by the study of God's law. Unfortunately, it was men's best understanding--and not the law of God itself--which they established. For this reason, though it raised the bar very high among the nations, it could only degenerate from there as laws were added by those who knew not God or His law.

The legislature was empowered to write laws that were consistent with the Constitution. That was close, but not the same as writing laws consistent with God's law itself. And so over time, as men were elected who had little knowledge of biblical law, the godly legislators were eventually outnumbered and outvoted by those who were ignorant of God's law.

In 1892 Chief Justice David Brewer wrote a Supreme Court opinion, which ended thus:

These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. [143 U.S. 457 (1892)]

Even then, sprinkles of Pentecost were beginning to rain upon the people. Mary Woodworth-Etter ministered in the 1890's and was known as the "grandmother of the Pentecostal movement."

http://healingandrevival.com/BioMWEtter.htm

Charles Parham saw a great outpouring of the Spirit on New Year's Eve of 1900. Azusa Street came five years later. This general outpouring of the Spirit, I believe, was timed by God to give the Church and Nation a final opportunity to repent in order to prevent the final phase of the Babylonian captivity from happening.

Unfortunately, Pentecost was insufficient to stop this captivity, because they denominationalized the Holy Spirit in 1910-1912. Their level of the Holy Spirit apparently did not include any knowledge of the story of King Saul, who was a type of Pentecost. They did not know Saul was crowned on Pentecost (1 Sam. 12:17). Hence, each denomination wanted "kings" to rule over them, establishing the rule of man in place of the Holy Spirit's direct rule.

The sentence of God was then passed upon America, and we came under the dominion of the Federal Reserve Bank in late 1913. By 1933 America was bankrupt and went into foreclosure to the wealthy owners of the Central Banks.

Seventy years later, in March of 2003, America and "coalition forces" invaded Iraq, the old territory of ancient Babylon. Our rulers knew not what they were doing, for in overthrowing old Babylon, they were establishing a prophetic type for the greater overthrow of modern Babylon--the banking system.

And so, in the decade after that invasion, we have seen the banking system of Mystery Babylon rocked to its foundations.

Through all of this, the divine call remains the same. The word (law) of God is our wisdom and our understanding. If we would study it and apply it, we would be able to resolve the problems of injustice and inequity in the land.

Of course, I realize that no amount of law, no matter how righteous, can actually solve our problems. Only the Holy Spirit working from within our hearts can actually solve this problem. Israel was given perfect laws, but look what happened to them. The law of God can provide the people with the proper setting, but when lawlessness abounds, the people will not comply with God's law, nor will they enforce it.

For this reason, we are in need of the New Covenant, which writes the law upon our hearts. If the law were written on every man's heart, there would be no cause to enforce it externally. It would be a waste of time to tell people not to steal or murder, if no one wanted to steal or murder anyway.

Nonetheless, the law of God must be followed one way or another. Either a person agrees with God and His righteous standard, or not. If not, the citizens must be taught, trained, and perhaps disciplined in order to comply. If the lawless ones multiply in the land, there is no feasible way to enforce God's law until an outpouring of the Spirit brings major change to the people themselves.

This is why I teach the law and pray for the outpouring of the Spirit.

On this 4th of July, many will make speeches about the greatness of America. Our faults will be overlooked today and set aside until tomorrow. Men will attribute America's greatness to many things, including our diversity, our sexual freedom, and our freedom from God's law. But we need to know God's point of view, as expressed in Deut. 4:5-8. Our greatness is actually measured by our knowledge of His law and how well we conform to its wisdom and understanding.

This is how we become doers of the word and not hearers only. This is how our faith in the Lawgiver is manifested. We can talk about our faith in God, but that faith is dead unless it is accompanied by obedience.

Some day, when God truly sets us free from this Babylonian system, we will have legislators whose authority will be limited to applying biblical law by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, rather than creating traditions of men.

When that day comes, many nations will need trained and experienced leaders in both the nation and the Church. This is the underlying purpose of our ministry. I believe that we should prepare to reign with Christ (Rev. 20:4) on the earth (Rev. 5:10). There are many ways in which we may "reign" here and now, but I believe that these are but training exercises for greater authority that is yet to be given.

As we hear His voice, learn the Word, and experience the Holy Spirit's leading in applying the Word, we should see each exercise as a training run for greater things to come. The nations are not quite ready for righteous government, because they still have remnants of faith in the Babylonian system. But God is in the process of discrediting that system, and when the people become disillusioned with it, they will seek alternative solutions. That will be the time that God's people can step up to the plate and present their wisdom and understanding that comes from a revelation of God.

When that day arrives, we will see that God has indeed raised up men and women from every nation on earth, who will be able to provide the much-needed solutions to the overwhelming problems in the earth.