Written and compiled by Gary Kukis

Acknowledgment: Insofar as I can determine, R. B. Thieme, Jr. gave the name to this topic, and was the first person to develop this subject under this name. I have found that there are certain definitions which are on independent websites which agree almost word-for-word, and it is my reasonable assumption that these come directly from Bob’s notes. Previous to Bob’s ministry, it is likely that other people had pieces of this puzzle, but Thieme was the first person to pull this all together.

Bob, on occasion, acknowledged that his work would be added to. If memory serves, he gave the example of an additional story in the edification complex. For this reason, there will be some additions and some slight deviations in this doctrine which he originally developed from the Word of God. Theology, like computer technology, was designed to be built upon, but without rejecting or altering the fundamental principles of the faith.

Although Bob mentioned L. S. Chafer on many occasions, a number of people do not realize that much of Bob’s earliest work came almost directly from Chafer’s teaching (epitomized in Systematic Theology by Lewis Sperry Chafer). After several years in the ministry, Bob expanded upon Chafer’s work considerably.

I used Jim Brettell and Tod Kennedy’s works as references (see Bibliography), and much of their work was based upon the teaching of R. B. Thieme, Jr. Some of their work was taken word-for-word, and I acknowledge that throughout. My intention was to, at least temporarily, produce the definitive work on this topic.

Introduction: Since the world appears to be made up of mostly unbelievers, God must have some kind of plan or some set of laws for unbelievers while they are alive. These are called the laws of divine establishment, and they are applicable to both believers and unbelievers. Just as no believer is able to perfectly execute the Christian way of life, so it is with the laws of divine establishment. However, a society’s failure to observe a set of laws does not negate those laws or their importance.

There is absolute truth for the unbeliever. This truth is the doctrine of the laws of divine establishment. This truth involves obedience to and respect for established authorities; the willingness to respect the free will, privacy and property of others; and the willingness to obey established law (which, ideally, is based upon 6 of the Ten Commandments).

The laws of divine establishment are designed to protect societies which are made up of believers and unbelievers alike. These laws are designed to protect evangelization and the teaching of Bible doctrine; and they are also designed to protect the freedom, privacy and property of believers and unbelievers alike. Adherence to these laws both protects and advances a society. Rejecting these laws leads to the destruction of a society (Greece, Iran and North Korea are excellent contemporary examples of societies which have rejected the laws of divine establishment). Many European countries are in a transitional phase, where such laws are being rejected bit by bit. The United States, the greatest nation in the history of mankind, is also being eroded from the inside by rejecting God’s plan for believers and unbelievers.

Satan never sleeps. He is constantly trying to bring down free societies. There are multiple Satanic attacks on the laws of divine establishment going on every minute of the day. Even though Satan probably knows that he can establish a better world through God’s laws, he refuses to do so, as the laws of divine establishment also allow for maximum evangelization of a people. Therefore, as we examine this doctrine, I will also make allusions to Satan’s attacks and alternatives to the laws of divine establishment.

Nations which most closely follow these laws are blessed; nations which reject these laws are cursed. One of the best examples of this is, North Korea and South Korea. One nation has completely rejected the laws of divine establishment and the other has embraced these laws. We now have 60+ years of history which allow us to see a great contrast between God’s laws and Satanic influence. These are people from the same stock; their nations have roughly the same natural resources (North Korea probably has slightly better natural resources). North Korea is one of the poorest nations in the world where, apart from outside help, millions could die this year from starvation (I write this in 2011); and, on the other hand, South Korea is one of the most vibrant countries in the world, with a flourishing economy. South Korea also has a lot of Bible teaching within and they send out missionaries. Both nations started at nearly the same place, and, in 60+ years, they are like night and day when it comes to what these nations are like. The key differences are: the laws of divine establishment, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the teaching of the Word of God.

Insofar as I know, this is the most complete work on the laws of divine establishment, updated with a myriad of contemporary examples and applications. All believers need to understand these laws so that they understand what is good and right for the society in which they live. Therefore, these laws need to be carefully enumerated.

Throughout this study, I have given many examples from contemporary societies and from trends which have been observable over the past century or so. The idea is not to turn this study into a political treatise, but to give modern illustrations of the principles found within. We need to coalesce principles and reality, so that we may apply these principles in all circumstances. Because we are dealing with such concepts as marriage, family, work, freedom and nationalism, a myriad of examples may be drawn from out daily lives.

Laws of Divine Establishment—Definition and Description:

1.       The definition of the laws of divine establishment: God has ordained a set of laws and a set of moral principles designed for the human race in time. The more closely a nation follows these laws and this morality, the greater the freedom and the greater the happiness of that nation. The laws of divine establishment are designed for believers and unbelievers alike. They operate throughout human history, in all kinds of societies, in many different nations, under many different governments. The more closely a nation conforms to these laws, the better off that nation is. The more a nation deviates from these laws, the worse off that nation becomes. God’s purpose with the laws of divine establishment is not simply to make our miserable lives better, but to provide an environment in which the gospel can be promoted and an environment when Bible doctrine can be taught. The betterment of the society and the happiness of the people of that society are natural results of these laws.

2.       All men are born with a sin nature; and men have competing interests.

3.       God has designed ways, in His perfect plan, for all men to coexist, believers and unbelievers alike. These are called the laws of divine establishment.

4.       As most would agree, there is an ideal way of doing things and the wrong way of doing things. We would disagree on what that ideal way is, but most of us have opinions about how things ought to be done.

5.       God also has a way of doing things, which is ideal, designed for the human race, and these are called the laws of divine establishment.

6.       These laws are designed for believers and unbelievers alike.

7.       These laws, ordained by God, provide for the survival and freedom of the human race throughout human history.

8.       The Angelic Conflict is resolved by our free will choices; therefore, God has designed laws of divine establishment which both perpetuate human freedom and to preserve the human race (so that men are free to make free will decisions).

9.       These laws allow for man to be freely evangelized (and for man to reject this evangelization) and for believers to conduct their lives as per the Word of God, as per the dispensation they find themselves in.

10.     These laws are designed to work within the framework of a variety of human governments.

11.     These laws are designed for the divine institutions of the human soul, labor, marriage, family and nationalism.

12.     God has provided certain divine laws, such as the authority of parents, to protect, care, nourish, provide for, train, and discipline children to prepare them for life.

13.     These laws are designed to function from the fall of man to the beginning of the Millennium, and then throughout the Millennium with some adjustments (there will be perfect environment and Jesus Christ will rule the earth, which changes some things).

14.     Satan, of course, opposes these laws, and continues to oppose them in a variety of ways.

15.     These laws are imperfectly adhered to on this earth. However, an imperfect application of these laws does not give us the right to rebel against the authorities which are over us.

16.     Despite the propaganda we have been fed, revolution is outside of the laws of divine establishment.

17.     The laws of divine establishment apply to both believer and unbeliever alike.

18.     The laws of divine establishment provide for man the best system of freedom for all mankind.

19.     These laws, if followed, provide protection for the human race, they provide for an orderly human existence, and they provide more freedom for man.

20.     These laws of divine establishment are every bit as important as the law of gravity and just as predictable. If you drop something out of a tall building, it will fall to the ground; if you follow the laws of divine establishment, you will get good results for the human race. If you go against the laws of divine establishment, the end result will be bad for the human race.

21.     Because man has a sin nature and because Satan is the ruler of this world, there are man-designed and Satan-inspired systems which reject the laws of divine establishment. These include such institutions as anarchy, Islam, gay marriage, communism, socialism, etc. These examples are all attacks upon the laws of divine establishment, and therefore, they are attacks upon human freedom and upon the human race itself. Let me take communism and socialism as an example: communism kills far more people in peace time than nations do in wartime. Communism perpetually attacks human freedom, requiring all men to, at least publically, espouse the principles and goals of communism, or face death and/or re-education.

22.     Freedom guarantees inequality of outcomes. That is, a free population will experience great disparity of wealth, position and success. This freedom can be attacked in two primary ways: politicians who promise to have more equal results, and who then pass laws and regulations in order to achieve a more equal distribution of wealth. The second way this is attacked is by the wealthy who seek to preserve their wealth, power and position through a legal codification of their wealth (this could be establishing a caste system or inordinate favorable laws for those who are already wealthy and/or powerful).

23.     One area of great confusion is, the laws of divine establishment can function with an authoritative government, e.g., a monarchy. The laws of divine establishment can be perpetuated under a monarchy or destroyed by a monarchy; the laws of divine establishment can be perpetuated in a democracy or destroyed by a democracy. In other words, the actual form of government is not the key; the laws of divine establishment are the key to freedom.

24.     The overarching principles here are, the laws of divine establishment preserve a national entity and freedom within the national entity; which allows people the freedom to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior or to reject Jesus Christ.

25.     The next topic—the 5 divine institutions—is the foundation for the laws of divine establishment.

The Divine Institutions:

Introduction: R. B. Thieme, Jr. originally taught that there were 4 divine institutions. I have increased that to 5, and I made a minor change in the first divine institution (which Bob taught as being human volition). Please understand that I do not make changes or additions to Bob’s doctrines merely to put my own spin on it. I may think about a particular concept for months before putting it down on paper. However, there have been other occasions where, an idea pops into my head and I begin developing it right then and there. The additional divine institution included herein is not original with me, but comes from Pastor Ron Adema.

Robert Dean: The divine institutions are designed to provide for the security, the safety, the perpetuation of the human race, and they are not culturally conditioned. They are for every culture, for every human being, believer or unbeliever.

1.       Definition and Description:

          1)       A divine institution is that which is created or designed by God in order to preserve and protect the human race, as well as preserve and protect man’s volition.

          2)       A divine institution can be a custom, practice, concept or organization.

          3)       Divine institutions are virtually universal and they are designed by God for the people of all nations and for believers and unbelievers alike.

          4)       Divine institutions provide freedom and stability for the human race.

          5)       Divine institutions provide orderliness and organization for the human race.

          6)       Divine institutions are related to the Angelic Conflict, insofar as, our free will decisions are an integral part of the Angelic Conflict. Therefore, it is important for these institutions to be related to a system of authorities as well as vehicles by which human volition is preserved.

          7)       Not every single person is intimately involved with every single divine institution (for instance, a person may be raised by an unmarried mother and choose not to marry, and so does not directly experience marriage or the ideal family). However, the organizations of marriage and family are designed for the stability of the society in which he lives. In this way, marriage and family impact his day to day life, even though his personal experience is not ideal. Therefore, every person is affected by and involved with all 5 divine institutions.

          8)       If divine institutions are compromised, contaminated or corrupted, a society or nation may collapse because of this.

          9)       Man has free will and man has an old sin nature; therefore, men will constantly try to corrupt, compromise or destroy these institutions.

          10)     It is very common for those who want to corrupt, compromise and destroy these institutions to go after the youth of a country in order to do so.

          11)     All divine institutions are associated with free will and a system of authority (or, authorities).

          12)     Robert Dean: These divine institutions each carry and authority structure within them, and that authority relates to the fact that within that sphere of operation there is one primary person or entity in the place of responsibility. So that when another authority or entity comes in and supplants that authority that is when there is a conflict. For example, it is not the role of the government to come in and supplant the role of parents when it comes to what goes on inside of the home.

          13)     Although one may argue that there are many additional divine institutions (e.g., the military, a local police force, etc.), the 5 below are the most fundamental with the most widespread application.

2.       The First Divine Institution—the Human Soul

          1)       God created the human soul and the human soul is made up of self-consciousness, mentality, emotion, norms and standards, and volition as the authority of the soul.

          2)       We are concerned with the volition which God has given us (most list human volition as the first divine institution).

          3)       Our decisions mean very little unless they are free will decisions. Therefore, we need some modicum of freedom and privacy in order to make meaningful free will decisions.

          4)       One of the most troubling doctrines to believers (and even to unbelievers) is the coexistence of divine authority and human freedom. As a result, there have been extreme views:

                     (1)      There is only divine authority and man’s volition is illusionary; or...

                     (2)      Man’s freedom is dominant, and we can be saved one day and lost the next, because of our human freedom.

                     (3)      The Bible teaches that which is between these two extremes, and we have our own children to illustrate this truth to us. If you know your child well, then you can predict what he or she will do under certain circumstances. You may or may not like what they choose to do, and you may spend a significant part of their lives teaching them not to do these things, and yet they do them anyway. You are the authority, and yet they still have free will. This is one way in which our relationship with God is analogous to our relationship with our children. God has authority; He knows us intimately; and we have free will, within reasonable limits (that is, we cannot jump into the air and fly).

          5)       The Bible teaches that we have true and real free will. This does not mean that we can choose to fly or break the speed of light while jogging, but it means, with regards to important and meaningful decisions, we can choose what to do (the most important decision being, whether to believe in Jesus Christ or not).

          6)       In a society of thousands or millions of souls, committing crimes can cause us to lose much of our freedom and our privacy. If we make criminal decisions which deprive others of their freedom, property or life, then we have forfeited our own rights. Ideally speaking, justice can remove our soul’s ability to make free will decisions by execution or it can severely reduce the exercise of our volition (this can be accomplished by incarceration, monitoring devices or probation). You will note, there is a progressive loss of freedom and that, when a person is reintroduced into society, coercion and controls over his volition and privacy are lessened with time and increased personal responsibility. Ideally speaking, we are taking a person who has misused his volition by committing a criminal act and putting him back into society, with the idea that we gradually return his privacy to him. We, as parents, do the same thing with our children. Our child does wrong and we limit the use of their volition (they are grounded; they have privileges removed). Then, we gradually introduce our children to the use of their own volition, ideally explaining to them at the time how their bad behavior has resulted in these restrictions.

          7)       God gave man authority over the earth and the ability to make true free will decisions. Gen. 1:27–30 2:19–20

          8)       Even under perfect environment, man had the volition to choose for or against God. Gen. 2:16–17 The Lord God gave the man this command. The Lord God said, “You may eat from any tree in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree you will die!” Therefore, man’s volition existed side-by-side with God’s sovereignty. Man has free will because God has decreed him to have free will.

          9)       After man fell, his soul continued to have volition, and choices which man made had consequences (see Gen. 4, which is about Cain and Abel).

          10)     One of the final things spoken by Moses was to encourage his people to remember and obey the Word of God: “The Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it. Behold! I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil, in that I command you today to love Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. And Jehovah your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it. But if you turn away your heart, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days on the land where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it. I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, so that you may love Jehovah your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.” (Deut. 30:14–21). God sets before us, life and death, blessing and cursing, and asks us to choose. This is, in part, the choice of the gospel; as well as a societal choice (as a corporate entity).

          11)     There is a similar passage in Isaiah: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek judgment, reprove the oppressor. Judge the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,” says Jehovah; “though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.” (Isa. 1:16–20).

          12)     Paul gave the New Testament equivalent of those passages when he spoke to the men of Athens: “And He [God] has made all nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. Then being offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and man's imagination. Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to change their thinking, because He has appointed a day in which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He appointed, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:26–31).

          13)     Our human soul is faced with choices; free will is the essence and importance of the human soul.

          14)     The unbeliever makes decisions with respect to the laws of divine establishment and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

          15)     The authorities over the human soul of the believer is the Word of God [Bible doctrine] and the laws of divine establishment (which is what we are in the midst of defining).

          16)     God’s perfect design is to preserve human freedom, so that man may continue to be able to choose for or against God.

          17)     Part of the limitations of freedom includes the fact that we share this world with another 6 billion people, each of whom has his own volition.

          18)     The laws of divine establishment allow for our volitions to all operate in such a way that, we can choose for or against God, and the human race is preserved.

          19)     The volition of the human soul is not absolute. Just as we are limited by God’s Natural laws of physics, we are also limited by sharing this planet with 6 billion other human souls.

          20)     God has provided us with a system of authorities to balance the function of the volition of the human soul.

          21)     God has provides certain moral laws which help to balance the function of human volition.

          22)     Our human volition is expressed individually and corporately (as part of a group).

          23)     For the believer, his authority is God, expressed by Bible doctrine pertinent to the dispensation in which we live.

          24)     For the unbeliever, authorities are defined by the laws of divine establishment, which both preserve and protect him.

          25)     That introduces 2 problems for the unbeliever: (1) how does he understand and follow the laws of divine establishment, if he chooses to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ; (2) and what happens when unregenerate man rejects these laws altogether? In fact, even believers reject many of these laws.

          26)     God has provided the human soul with mentality, memory, a conscience and norms and standards, so that man is able to understand the laws of divine establishment and to use reason to discover these laws.

          27)     Just as Satan deceived the woman, men deceive other men, and offer up various systems of thinking which are false. Just as man can choose to reject God, he can also choose to reject the laws of divine establishment and be misled by other men. This is how we have, for instance, the establishment of communism all over he world. Communism rejects many of the laws of divine establishment, and therefore, we would expect communism to be at odds with Christianity. Therefore, we would expect communist countries to outlaw or severely restrict the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God (which is why many communist countries actually outlaw the Bible).

          28)     Inside of our soul is a conscience, and on that conscience are to be written correct norms and standards which help us to determine what is right and wrong. Even unbelievers and heathen have a conscience, which is a system of inner authority. Rom. 1:18–20 For God's wrath is revealed from Heaven on all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteousness, because that which can be known about God is clearly revealed within them, for God revealed it to them. For the unseen things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse. Even the hardcore criminal personality has some concept of right and wrong, even though this may not be entirely in line with God’s mandates (for instance, most criminals look down upon child molesters and condemn their activities as extremely wrong). However, this gist of this verse—and it is universal with all those who have developed a conscience—that God has revealed enough of Himself so that all men are without excuse.

          29)     Freedom and authority should always be balanced. One cannot exist without the other.

                     (1)      God has given us life experiences—e.g., the raising of children—to illustrate this.

                     (2)      You constantly monitor your children to give them the proper balance between authority and freedom.

                     (3)      You do not follow them around like an omnipresent drill sergeant and direct their every move, from age 0 on up.

                     (4)      Nor do you just let them be free to do whatever they want to do.

                     (5)      Even the most insane parents (I refer you to the television show Wife Swap) exercise either some modicum of discipline and also allow some semblance of volition.

                     (6)      Parents ought to raise their children so that, generally speaking, their children will make the right choices as they grow and become adults.

                     (7)      This requires a balance of freedom and authority.

          30)     The exercise of freedom results in inequality.

                     (1)      There is an inverse relationship between freedom and equality; the more freedom there is, the less equality there is; the more equality there is, the less freedom there is. North and South Korea provide us with examples of this. There is very little freedom in North Korea, and the people are fairly similar in their salary possessions. However, in South Korea, where a reasonable amount of freedom is allowed, there is much greater economic inequality.

                     (2)      Inequality is not a bad thing. There will be inequality in heaven. The Bible speaks of various crowns that will be bestowed upon some believers and Paul speaks of his life as a race, which he seeks to win. Furthermore, the Bible does not teach that equality of outcomes ought to be enforced by anyone or anything.

                     (3)      The more freedom a population has, the more there will be unequal results. I have 3 brothers, and all of us have worked hard for most of our lives, and, as a result, we have material blessings (which are unequal). I have 3 cousins who have not worked as hard or have spend much of their time engaged in criminal behavior. The end result is, they have fewer material things (and, in 2 of those cases, they only have material things because of their wives).

                     (4)      The moment a government entity steps in to make things more equal, the more likely there will be a tremendous number of undesirable consequences. A good example of this is the government’s recent decision that more people ought to be homeowners. My guess is, some of the sincere thinking was, put people who have been, heretofore, irresponsible; give them a big responsibility (owning a house) and they will become more responsible. So, government began to give out loans through decisions made by a variety of unelected bureaucrats. These loans were given to people with questionable incomes and background. The immediate results seemed great. More people bought houses; there was a greater demand for housing; therefore, more houses were built; and housing prices began to skyrocket (making every homeowner richer). However, there came a point when, people who had these new loans, who were irresponsible to begin with, continued to be irresponsible, and did not pay their mortgages. Many ended up in houses which they could not afford (previous government programs had very strict requirements when it came to the ratio of income to housing), and our market was flooded with houses. This brought a sudden end to housing construction (and also put thousands of builders out of business); and inflated housing prices began to plummet. This brought on a tremendous recession, which some have (wrongly) proclaimed as the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. The lesson is this: government should not attempt to equalize outcomes, as there will be a flurry of unforeseen negative consequences.

                     (5)      This does not mean that we maximize freedom and minimize equality. Quite obviously, government needs to control criminal behavior, which is a legitimate Biblical control of human freedom. Someone with a gun cannot come to your front door and say, “Give me your house.” The government needs to protect freedom, privacy and property. This function of government is legitimate and taught in the Bible.

                     (6)      Our own experience has shown us that, even though the great freedom of America has resulted in great inequality; it has also resulted in a reasonably prosperous lower class. One of the great places to observe freedom versus equality is South and North Korea. South Korea emphasizes freedom and North Korea emphasizes equality (except for the ruling class, of course). The end result is a very prosperous South Korea and a struggling North Korea, where the poor in South Korea are much better off than the poor in North Korea.

          31)     The ideal use of human volition is to choose to believe in Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins and was raised from the dead by God (this is called the gospel). This must always be a free will choice. No one can be born a Christian and no system of authority can make a person into a Christian. If you are a believer, quite obviously you exercised your volition to believe in Jesus Christ. In order for there to be the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ, there must be freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of the press, and freedom to worship as one sees fit.

          32)     The founders of our country recognized the importance of freedom, and therefore, sought to limit government with the Bill of Rights, wherein these rights are enshrined.

          33)     Although dishonest historians have attempted to obscure the beginnings of the United States, our founding fathers were very religious (that is, most of them believed in Jesus Christ and they believed that the Bible is God’s truth), and therefore, they attempted to organize a government which reflected their faith. The idea that a few hundred deists just happened to put together a really good constitution and government is absolutely preposterous (and yet, that is what is taught in many of our schools).

          34)     The second most important decision we can make is to daily take in doctrine, to learn about God, the plan of God and our place in it. Again, this requires the freedom of speech, association, press and worship—freedoms enshrined in out Bill of Rights.

          35)     We are born with the freedom to accept or reject God; we are born with the freedom to accept or reject His Word. The laws of divine establishment are designed in such a way as to allow the true function of this freedom.

          36)     The soul has the mentality to understand divine mandates, but God has allowed us volition, which may use to override His authority.

          37)     If we reject God, He will reject us. Witness the horrendous living conditions in any communist or socialist government, which are anti-God systems of government. These nations reflect a wide scale rejection of Jesus Christ as well as a rejection of the laws of divine establishment. Note the example of (Red) China, which has allowed, in the past decade or so, increasingly more freedom; and, as a result, that nation has begun to grown and prosper. Even though there are still heavy restrictions on religion in China, there are more and more people who have believed in Jesus Christ in China.

          38)     Satan attacks the souls of believers and unbelievers both.

                     (1)      Satan supports and tries to prop up nations where freedom is curtailed, particularly with regards to God.

                     (2)      Satan encourages sinfulness, which is using the volition of the soul to make wrong choices.

                     (3)      Satan encourages the kind of decisions which limit future options. A person who takes drugs, for instance, sets himself up for a life of severely limited options, as well as a dramatically compromised soul.

                     (4)      For the unbeliever, Satan tries to turn him away from the gospel and the laws of divine establishment.

                     (5)      For the believer, Satan turns him against the laws of divine establishment and against Bible doctrine.

                     (6)      One of Satan’s greatest attacks on human volition and on Christianity is Islam, a system where really insane Muslims routinely target only slightly less-insane Muslims, sometimes killing them in their place of worship for not being Muslim enough (or not being the right brand of Islam). Attacks are made against non-Muslims as well. It should be clear that this violates the balance between personal volition and external authority.

                     (7)      Another of Satan’s attacks is the nanny state where the government makes increasing decisions on our behalf; many of which are direct attacks upon the other divine institutions.

                     (8)      At the heart of almost every Satanic attack is dishonesty. Remember what Satan told Eve? “You will not die.” (Gen. 3:4b). Therefore, dishonesty should be the foundation of all anti-God religion, government and philosophy.

                     (9)      I mentioned Islam, which is fundamentally a dishonest system. Adherents to Islam are told to be dishonest when dealing with unbelievers, if that will move their religion forward in a society. They will repeatedly tell us how the Koran is against the killing of innocent people, and yet, on a typical day, there are 5 or 6 jihad attacks throughout the world with 10–30 innocents being killed. See the website http://thereligionofpeace.com/ to verify these numbers.

3.       The Second Divine Institution, Work

          1)       Before and after the fall, man was designed to work.

          2)       Before the fall, God made man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became four heads. And Jehovah God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Gen. 2:8–10, 15).

          3)       After man sinned, God gave Adam ground that was more difficult to work and He warned man that he would work hard in order to eat. “The ground is cursed for your sake. In pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.” (Gen. 3:17b–19a).

          4)       Although the earliest professions were farmer and rancher (Cain and Abel), early man quickly developed a number of vocations: builder (Gen. 4:17), musician (Gen. 4:21) and metal-worker (Gen. 4:22). Early man also engaged in criminal activity, even before this activity was clearly defined (Gen. 4:23–24). At the very beginning, as far back as Gen. 4, man is closely associated with his vocation.

          5)       Work is an integral part of man’s existence. Even though man works hard, he will also receive personal satisfaction from his work. Eccles. 9:9 speaks of two things which are to bring enjoyment in life: a man’s right woman and his labor. Since this passage refers to him as under the sun, this refers to believers and unbelievers alike.

          6)       God expected even the poor to work. God told the farmers in early Israel not to harvest everything in the field, but to leave portions of the field unharvested. This was so that the poor of the land and immigrants could come through and harvest this themselves. Lev. 19:9–10 23:22 Deut. 24:19–21

          7)       One of the great stories in the Bible is about Ruth, a Moabite, who moved to Israel, but was quite poor. Therefore, she worked the fields of Boaz for that which he had not harvested. Ruth 2:2, 15

          8)       Nowhere in the Bible is there some sort of welfare system recommended where a man or a woman sits at home and receives a check. Instead, hard word is presented as honorable. Prov. 6:6–12 10:5

          9)       However, the poor were not to be ignored or abandoned. “If there is among you a poor man of one of your brothers inside any of your gates in your land which Jehovah your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. But you shall open your hand wide to him, and shall surely lend him enough for his need, that which he lacks. For the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore, I command you saying, You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land.” (Deut. 15:7–8, 11).

          10)     There was a national fund for the poor, which amounted to 10% every third year, which averages out to 3⅓% per year. “When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.” (Deut. 26:12).

          11)     This takes into consideration that there is a small segment of society that is unable to work or limited in their ability to work. In most cases, family members take up the slack. We are left with perhaps less than 1% of the population that is unable to work and therefore needs some assistance.

                     (1)      The idea that the United States provides food stamps to 1 out of 6 people is absolutely ridiculous. There are not that many people who require assistance.

          12)     Hard work is always presented as admirable; and laziness is spoken of as a personal failing. Prov. 24:30–34 Eccles. 5:18–20 Eph. 4:28

          13)     Ideally speaking, if you work hard at your job, there are going to be times that you gain some satisfaction from this; and you tend to appreciate your time of rest even more. Eccles. 9:9

          14)     When a person pursues a vocation which is his passion, that person often receives a great deal of satisfaction from their work.

          15)     I personally have known people who do not work, who collect a check from the government even though they are perfectly capable of working. These people tend to be unhappy, unfocused, angry and even a little nutty. Work is so fundamental to man’s existence that, apart from it, man’s soul goes awry.

          16)     Even Paul writes to the Thessalonians and tells them, if they don’t work, then they should not eat. 2Thess. 3:10

          17)     When it comes to work, there are systems of authority. Sometimes, this system of authority is within the human soul. You know what you must produce, you understand the seasons, and you recognize what you must do in order to preserve your food in order to eat when food is not growing.

          18)     Most of us go to a job where we work for someone else. The owner, manager, boss, department head, shift manager is the authority over us; and the larger the organization, the greater the organization and the more layers of authority there are. These authorities are for believers and unbelievers alike.

          19)     A few of us go to work as the owner, manager, boss, department head; so we often arrive at work earlier than anyone else in order to organize those under our authority.

          20)     Satan has attacked the concept of work with the welfare state, section 8 housing, and food assistance programs. One of the things which has stuck in my mind, over the years, is a mother and daughter who rented a house from me, and section 8 paid the rent for them. Every morning, their job was to get up, sit on the couch, break open the smokes, and watch tv. Now, you might think that, having no job, their house would be clean and their kids well taken care of. Not a chance. The kids ran around unsupervised and the house was one of the filthiest houses I had ever been in. Furthermore, these were unhappy people. I found huge piles of beer cans all over after they moved out.

          21)     Satan also attacks the divine institution of work with unfair business owners and with unions. Although the owner of a business gets to call the shots because he owns the business and has made all of the investments, his choices are important. If he exploits his workforce, there can be a backlash of union activity, which completely distorts the system of authority (however, the owner of the company chose to distort his own authority first). There have been a number of companies which have been successful and part of their strategy has been to treat their workforce with dignity and respect (Coors, HEB, Whole Foods, Starbuck’s, and Wal-Mart quickly come to mind).

                     (1)      Union leaders have figured out that, they can organize public employees—even when these employees are well remunerated—and demand pretty much anything, as there is very little personal integrity when it comes to the management of public works (that is, they do not care what costs they incur; they simply ask the taxpayers to pay more money).

                     (2)      So you see how these institutions are distorted. Bad employers caused unions to spring up, which, in turn, moved into the public sector, where salary and benefits were almost unlimited, even though there was no indication that the problems the unions originally fought to correct even existed in any form in the public sector.

4.       The Third Divine Institution, Marriage

          1)       Marriage, the third divine institution, mixes freedom, privacy, authority and responsibility (and, unless otherwise indicated, these points apply to believers and unbelievers alike).

          2)       Monogamy, a permanent relationship between one man and one woman, is ordained of God to remind mankind that He has from the beginning a design called right man-right woman, Gen. 1:26:27 5:1-2 2:18-25 1 Cor 7:2-4.

          3)       Marriage is the most basic and fundamental organization in the human race. Even the unbeliever, whose life is a total failure, can have great temporary happiness by marrying the right woman, Eccl. 9:9

          4)       Under the authority of the laws of divine establishment, the right man-right woman relationship becomes the normal, legitimate expression of category 2 love, 1Cor 7:9 1Tim. 5:14 Eph. 5:22, 23, 28, 33 Heb. 13:4. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

                     (1)      As an aside, I have known believers and unbelievers alike who have led immoral and licentious lives; and, in marriage, turned this around. The relationship of marriage became clearly more important than, say, skirt chasing.

          5)       The husband has authority and responsibility for his wife, and the wife has volition, which, in marriage, she has, at least at one point in time, surrendered to her husband. The husband has all the authority; there are no exceptions or rationalizations. Violations of a principle do not change the principle. Col. 3:18–19

          6)       It is the husband’s duty to love his wife and the wife’s part to obey her husband. This does not mean that the husband has to sit around and work up emotional feelings for his wife; but he is to treat her with respect and care, as she becomes his responsibility in marriage. Eph. 5:25–31

          7)       Marriage is the basis for stability in society and for the formation of civilization.

          8)       The laws of divine establishment are designed to protect freedom and to preserve the human race; marriage both protects and preserves the human race.

          9)       Marriage is a relationship analogous to our relationship with God. God has the authority and He has taken upon Himself the responsibility for us. As believers, we may accept or reject His authority, which affects the nature of the relationship. Eph. 5:22–26

          10)     It is the stability of marriage—this applies to both believers and unbelievers—that allows for preservation of a nation, which in turn preserves the human race and human freedom.

          11)     When a husband and wife pray to the same God, this is a corporate witness for God in the Angelic Conflict. Matt. 18:20 1Peter 3:7

          12)     Satan, society and unbelievers attack the institution of marriage:

                     (1)      Satan attacks marriages from within, to try to destroy them.

                     (2)      Marriage is presented by society as a 50-50 proposition with no clear line of authority (as has happened in the era of the woman’s movement).

                     (3)      Satan and society attack the marriage unit with substitutes, usually attempting to exploit the sexual drive: promiscuity, sexual perversions, homosexuality, lesbianism, and various distortions of marriage (homosexual unions, polygamy, living together).

                     (4)      Homosexuality is one of the great attacks upon marriage in the time in which we live. Why is there this great move within education to present homosexuality as normal behavior? Why do homosexuals want to teach to children that anal intercourse between 2 males is equivalent to normal intercourse even before a child knows what that word even means? It’s not difficult. If you get to a young person before or at puberty, sexual function at that age can impact long-term sexual behavior. Teaching homosexual behavior as normal behavior leads to more homosexual behavior.

                     (5)      It is a lie that we are either born homosexual or heterosexual. Although there are certainly a number of people with that predilection in their lives, children are pliable, and homosexuals recognize that. A significant number of young people, if caught at or before puberty, can be sufficiently brainwashed to at least try out homosexual acts. Even though 80% of these people, in adulthood, will not engage in homosexual acts; homosexuals are simply interested in more sexual objects, not necessarily life-long converts.

                     (6)      Robert Dean: We see this today. This is what is lost in the current debate that we are gradually losing related to same-sex marriage. Marriage is not something just for believers. It is for believers and unbelievers. Marriage is a foundational element in all culture and it is what it is because God designed it that way, and once we get a culture based on human viewpoint paganism they then want to go in and change and modify these different foundational elements. Once you completely shift your foundational elements what happens to the house built on that foundation? It collapses. The problem we have in our culture is that when you reach a larger and larger majority that buys into these ideas then eventually you are going to see a complete self-destruction of the culture. It will implode. We are not going to fall because we are going to be defeated from the outside; we are going to fall because we are going to be defeated from the inside.

                     (7)      Most people far overestimate the number of homosexuals in society. In a recent study of over 110,000 men and women, only 2.2% of men and 1.5% of women were attracted exclusively or mostly to the same sex. People estimate that about 25% of people are gay or lesbian. This is because of the fundamental dishonesty of the gay and lesbian movement in conjunction with liberal propaganda, which exaggerates greatly the plight of gays and lesbians in society and their numbers. After all, if people knew that the fundamental definition of marriage was being changed by less than 2% of the population; and that a very small percentage of that 2% would actually participate in such a change; support for gay marriage would decrease dramatically. However, the fundamental key to this movement is dishonesty and distortion.

                     (8)      There is always a fundamental dishonesty of Satanic attacks against the divine institutions. No proponent of teaching homosexuality in the classroom will ever be honest about their intentions. They will never say, “We think that homosexuality as a behavior needs to be taught to children before they have reached puberty.” They will introduce it dishonestly, in the form of a bullying program or as an alternative children’s book, or as an attempt to lessen rampant prejudice.

          13)     Even for the unbeliever, God’s Word recommends that he do two things to find happiness in life: find his right woman and marry her; and then to find the work that he loves doing, and to pursue that. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going (Eccles. 9:9–10; ESV).

5.       The Fourth Divine Institution—Family

          1)       The family provides the framework for maintaining order within a society. Children are taught establishment and biblical norms and standards, the clarity of absolute rights and wrongs, and authority orientation.

          2)       Because we are born into this world as completely helpless, God has designed the family as the proper unit within which to raise a child and to protect the mother. Ideally speaking, this requires the child’s biological parents.

          3)       With regards to family, the ideal is 1 male and 1 female believer, married, growing spiritually, and raising up children. Part of our growing process is learning from both the male and female of the species, whether we are male or female children.

          4)       The ideal family for the unbeliever is 1 male and 1 female and their biological children.

          5)       This provides protection for the souls and bodies of the children as well as guidance. The idea is to take this helpless thing and raise them so that they are able to make their own decisions as a grownup.

          6)       Parental authority is the way of preparing children for a normal life. Permissiveness destroys this because the child learns how to use his volition, but he does not understand the importance of authority. There is certainly a place for the discipline of a child within the family. Prov. 23:13

          7)       Parents who control nearly every aspect of their child’s volition until they leave the home also undermine that child’s need to learn how to make his own decisions. There is a happy medium to be found, somewhere between the parent who allows their children unrestricted use of their volition to the parent who is a drill sergeant. Prov. 29:15, 17 Eph. 6:1, 4 Col. 3:20–21

          8)       The highest expression of parental love is to teach through the forms of discipline. Prov. 13:24 23:13

          9)       Children are all born with sin natures. Therefore, in order to introduce this child into society, and we need for that child to behave responsibly—with respect for the volition, privacy and property of others. Prov. 22:15

          10)     From age 0 on up to when the child leaves the home, the parent enforces specific decisions, teaching the child why such decisions are made; and gradually, these children are allowed to make their own decisions. It is like teaching a child to swim; you do not throw them into the deep end first day out and say, “Swim.” There needs to be a little more guidance and instruction before that occurs.

          11)     Because of the old sin nature and a child’s natural rebelliousness, sometimes it takes awhile for good training to catch on. Prov, 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Therefore, a child often goes through a rebellious period of time—in some cases, their teens and their young adulthood—but good sound teaching will generally win out in the end.

          12)     Through discipline and teaching; children respond by honoring their parents, resulting in a longer life for the child. Eph. 6:1–3

          13)     There is an enforced humility which eventually yields to the adult child’s own personal humility.

                     (1)      Enforced humility is the parent saying, “It is my way or the highway, young man.”

                     (2)      Personal humility is the child, at some point, choosing to make the correct decision on their own.

          14)     Parents must teach poise, objectivity, respect for police, patriotism, and willingness to serve to protect freedom. Believers are to teach Bible doctrine to their children. Deut 6:6-9, 7:9 Prov. 4:1 5:7 7:24

          15)     It is the responsibility of parents to instill respect for the Word of God, the teaching of Bible doctrine, plus recognition of authority of the pastor-teacher. This is a spiritual responsibility over and above their establishment responsibility. Deut. 6:6–9 Prov. 22:6 1Tim. 5:1 2TIm. 3:15

          16)     The parent is also to set an example for the child. Parents who act honorably in all things teach their children to do likewise, which is a blessing to the child. Prov. 20:7

          17)     Nations in which marriages are crumbling are destroyed from within. One example of this is crime; a criminal is much more likely to have come from a single-parent home than from a nuclear family. This is one way that the disintegration of marriage affects all of us. A child born out of wedlock, according to one study in Washington state, is twice as likely to engage in criminal behavior than a child born to a married couple. A person born to a single teen mother is 10x more likely to be a chronic juvenile offender.

          18)     Incidentally, race is not a factor with regards to criminality. When various races are normalized by looking at those raised in a 2-parent family, then there is very little difference between the races with respect to criminality.

          19)     When parents do not fulfill their responsibility and children do not "honor" their parents, the nation suffers from insecurity, instability, and eventual loss of liberty. National disintegration begins in the family.

          20)     This brings about internal decay in the client nation and in any nation.

          21)     As an occasional watcher of Wife Swap, it is clear that the producers go out to find the flakiest of families, where the parents, for the most part, are terrifically unbalanced. However, no matter what a mess they have made of their lives, it is clear that they love their children, and a little exposure to someone who is just as wacky on the other side, often brings them to a more balanced approach to child-rearing (and it is clear, even in the case of unbelievers, that their desire is to do the best job they can in their marriage and in raising their children).

          22)     There is a balance of free will and authority within a family: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. And fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:1–4).

          23)     Robert Dean: As Christians living in any culture-whether it is the Greco-Roman culture at the time of the New Testament or whether in France at the time of the French Revolution, In New England or California in early 21st century where the state wants to have more and more control over children-have a problem trying to implement their responsibilities before God. We are always faced with this challenge of living in the devil's world. Education is to be family-centered and family based. It is the job of the parents to train and educate children in everything. Public school systems and public school curriculums are all shaped by different worldviews. Our job is to train our children as a Christian and pass on a Judeo-Christian biblically based worldview. Proverbs chapter four emphasizes the parental role.

          24)     When one generation fails to teach norms and standards, virtues and values, and authority orientation to its children, they become dysfunctional adults and their children continue the process of national decline.

          25)     Statistics are mistakenly used to show that there are a disproportionate number of African Americans caught up on the wrong side of the law (as well as being more likely to use and/or sell drugs, to engage in underage drinking; to become pregnant out of wedlock). Even though this is true, it is not the color of a person’s skin which is the determining factor—it is the family unit, or the lack thereof. That is, if we examine crime statistics of the children of both Black and White nuclear families, there are no appreciable differences. The key for these negative factors in the lives of children is single motherhood, not race. The United States is a client nation to God, but it still makes a lot of stupid decisions. One corporate decision the United States has made is to encourage single motherhood among Blacks (when you subsidize something, you get more of it; when you tax it, you get less of it). We subsidize single black mothers in this nation, and the result is criminality on the part of their children. This is a good example of a client nation making a lousy corporate decision.

          26)     Satanic attacks upon the family unit:

                     (1)      Just as before, Satan attacks the divine institution of the family with substitutes: single-mother households, gay-parent households, pre-school, public education (which attempts to undermine the authority of the home). As I write this, we have a school board in Montana which wants to introduce homosexuality and homosexual positions to grade school children, teaching it to be equivalent to heterosexual activity.

                     (2)      Satan also attacks with broken families, setting children against the parents or parents against their children.

                     (3)      Robert Dean: [Awhile ago] a firestorm of reaction set in, ignited by a piece on MSNBC by Mellisa Harris-Perry, one of their hosts. She recorded a commercial for MSNBC in which she stated that children do not belong to their parents but are the responsibility of the members of their community. She is not the first to state this idea. Hillary Clinton stated this idea in her book It Takes a Village back in the 90s. But she didn't originate this idea. This is just a manifestation of a series of ideas that are a result of the most extreme form of thinking from the Enlightenment, which rejected all divine authority. Ever since the late 1700s there has been this aspect of Enlightenment thinking that the ultimate authority is not God, it is whatever we derive from empiricism or rationalism; in other words, the majority vote determines what is right, not God. As the elements within our society that have bought into that increase then the society comes under tremendous weakness.

                                i          Dean continues: Harris-Perry said: "We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities." This is a communist idea, a statist idea, and it is a complete rejection of divine institution number three. But once we transform divine institution number one (which we have done) nobody is responsible for their actions anymore. It is somebody else's fault. Now we redefine responsibility; we redefine marriage; we can redefine the family. And it is not the responsibility of parents to train their children, it is the responsibility of the government to train the kids. This idea goes back in history to Plato, and probably earlier.

                                ii         In The Republic Plato said: "All those in the city who happen to be older than ten they will send out to the country; and taking over their children, they will rear them-far away from those dispositions they now have from their parents-in their own manners and laws that are such as we described before. And, with the city and the regime of which we were speaking thus established most quickly and easily, it will itself be happy and most profit the nation in which it comes to be."

                                iii        In other words, if you want to have the best citizens in your country the government has to raise your kids.

                                iv        Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): "...the education of children should not be left to their father's capacities and prejudices, especially since it is more important to the state than to their fathers; for in the natural course of things the father's death often deprives him of the ultimate benefits of having educated his child, but his country will sooner or later feel the effects of what he has done: the state remains while the family is dissolved." Rousseau's thinking was part of the Enlightenment thinking which began to take root and influence western civilizations in the late eighteenth century, and this grew and flourished throughout the nineteenth century. But at the heart of this understanding of the role of family and the role of education is a theological concept. And that is true for all of these people. It is expressed clearly in Emile where Rousseau stated: "There is no original perversity in the human heart." There is a rejection of what God said as being the basic nature of human beings, and that is that they are fallen. Scripture says: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." So modern education philosophy is ultimately based upon a concept that can be traced back through John Dewey, back to Rousseau, back to Plato, that the nature of a child is basically good; not basically evil. That changes the perspective of what you are going to do with children in the classroom.

                     (4)      One attack upon the family and upon the marriage is sex education. it is our fault, as parents, that there is sex education in the schools. The schools said, “Let us handle teaching sex education to your children” and most parents thought to themselves, “Whew; I no longer have to give the talk to any of my kids. Score.” Is there anything more uncomfortable than a mother or father having to sit down, one-on-one, with one of their children, and tell them about sex? However, that is what God designed. Even if you are given the opportunity to abrogate your responsibilities as a parent, that does not mean the result will be beneficial to your child. It is this abrogation of parental responsibility which results in teachers telling your children that there is no difference between heterosexual or homosexual behavior.

                     (5)      Sex education even distorts normal heterosexual behavior; particularly when the teacher has the attitude that kids are going to have sex, no matter what we say or do. That exact same teacher, when looking at the drop-out rate of a school, would never say, “Kids are going to drop out. There is nothing you can do about it.”

                     (6)      Abortion is a result of a lack of natural affection, one indication that a society is on the decline.

                     (7)      Rom. 1:22–32 describes a number of areas where our negative volition and Satanic attacks overlap: Professing to be wise, they became foolish and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into a likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things [any sort of idolatry]. Because of this, God gave them up to impurity in the lusts of their hearts, their bodies to be dishonored among themselves, who changed the truth of God into the lie, and worshiped and served the created thing [any sort of creature worship, including that of Satan] more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Because of this, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for even their females changed the natural use to that contrary to nature [lesbianism]. And likewise, the males also forsaking the natural use of the female burned in their lust toward one another [homosexuality], males with males working out shamefulness, and receiving back within themselves the reward which was fitting for their error. And even as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do the things not right, having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, iniquity, covetousness, malice, being full of envy [this includes this idea that we deserve this or that], murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, proud, braggarts, devisers of evil things, disobedient to parents [attack on the family], without discernment, covenant breakers [people who do not honor the contracts which they sign], without natural affection [including a natural love toward one’s own children], unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also approve those practicing them. Such things are actually glorified. Have you ever heard of gay pride week?

                     (8)      When dealing with young people, one tool that a parent must have and use is discipline. The parent needs to have the freedom to smack that kid (not on the face, but on his behind), so that the child knows, “I ain’t playing with you!” So, when it comes to Satanic attacks, what do we expect to happen? Public schools are being defanged, so there are very few public schools today which allow for swats or other kind of discipline. When it comes to parents, some children can say that they have been spanked, and outside authorities are sometimes brought into the picture. Sometimes this is from an over-zealous school nurse or teacher; and sometimes, it is state law; and, of course, this has been made illegal is some European countries.

6.       The Fifth Divine Institution—Human Government and Nationalism

          1)       The divine institution of national governments helps to preserve the freedom of peoples of the earth. It is God’s plan for there to be many nations. When a nation is negative toward the plan of God, it is isolated from other national entities. When there is a lot of positive volition within a nation, that nation protects the freedom of its citizens. Deut. 32:8

          2)       This is made clear when God judges the Tower of Babel, the first United Nations building, where the descendants of Noah were divided by language in order to get them to spread out over the earth. Gen. 11:1–9

          3)       A national entity protects human volition and allows for man to be evangelized. Acts 17:26–27a “And God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.”

          4)       Divine institutions balance volition and authority. Rom.13:1–7 tells us the importance of the authority of the national entity (and other authorities within the entity): Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

          5)       Nationalism also contains evil. Evil may grow and expand within a nation, but nationalism, for the most part, constrains this evil geographically. Nationalism similarly protects other sovereign nations from importing evil from another nation.

                     (1)      Throughout the world, there are now, in 2010, dozens of evil Islamic organizations which are looking to expand their influence.

                     (2)      Although these groups may be partially sponsored by this or that nation, they often move outside of the boundaries of that nation.

                     (3)      However, other national entities can keep these groups out, if they so choose.

          6)       To perpetuate the human race and bring history to its logical conclusion, God has designed the nation to protect the freedom and rights of the people within this nation and to protect the other people on this planet.

                     (1)      This does not mean that all nations are free.

                     (2)      Under the concept, a people get the government that they deserve, some governments are going to be oppressive, intrusive and over-bearing.

                     (3)      However, there will be freedom in some nations, which is often where the gospel and Bible doctrine spring from.

                     (4)      Furthermore, people from the outside will be drawn to a nation where there are many believers. Furthermore, it will be drawn to its customs and culture (often, what they are expressing is positive volition toward the gospel). This is why some foreigners move to the United States and become Christians and that nation’s greatest patriots.

          7)       Ideally speaking, a nation provides equality under the law and a maximum amount of economic freedom for its citizens. Both of these ideals will result in an inequality of outcomes.

                     (1)      There must be a system of common law which prohibits crime and thereby protects the freedom, rights, life, and property of individuals. It must be a system of law which does not overstep the law by using the law to try to solve social problems. Law, therefore, must always be objective. Subjective distortion of the law uses legislation to invade individual rights, to steal personal property, and to erode human freedom; all in the name of the common good.

                     (2)      A government should not try to favor one sort of people over another (although, a government can show preference to divine institutions over human institutions, to the point of even outlawing the latter).

                     (3)      People are not born equal, and it is not up to the government to try to make them equal.

                     (4)      People use their unequal abilities to work. It is not the government’s job to look at me and Donald Trump, who are in similar businesses, and take from Donald Trump and give to me, because he is slightly better off than I am, as a result of our work.

                     (5)      A government should protect the freedom of its citizens; and therefore, it should not take money or opportunity from citizen A and given that to citizen B.

                     (6)      When a government, political candidate or political party encourages us to disobey the 10^th commandment (we are not to covet the possessions of anyone else, even if they are rich), then we know that person or entity is wrong and they will lead our nation astray.

          8)       God promises blessing to the nation which follows His laws. These would be the laws of divine establishment for all nations. "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.” (Lev. 26:3–6).

          9)       Similarly, there is great cursing for the nation which was a client nation to God, but has turned away from God. You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see. The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. "The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. "All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young (Deut. 28:30–50).

          10)     There ought to be a common culture which reflects the spiritual life, morality, esprit de corps, nobility, patriotism, and integrity of a nation through its literature, art, music, and drama. One of the present weaknesses of the United States is, illegal aliens moving into the states and then maintaining their own national identity. Because of their illegal status, they make no attempt to enter into the American society. The same is true of Muslims in European society.

          11)     There should be a system of government which functions under its power without abusing its power to destroy freedom and establishment. There should be an administrative body to represent the functions of taxation, law enforcement, honorable jurisprudence, maintenance of the military, and enforcement of law and order without the destruction of human freedom.

          12)     Ideally speaking, the economy ought to be based on free enterprise and capitalism. Labor has no right to dictate the policy of management. Smart management always takes good care of its workers. Government, labor, or criminals do not have the right to superimpose their policy on management. The separation of business and state is an important distinction.

          13)     Government ought not to disparage the divine institutions.

                     (1)      I have heard candidate Barack Obama and a number of Democrats talk about people working hard and yet not advancing in society as much as they think we ought to. Hard work is a good thing, and people who work hard, over time, will generally be successful in a free society. In any case, it is not the government’s job to evaluate the work that we are putting in and then determine, through bureaucracy, that we ought to be paid more; and then to redistribute wealth in order to bring that to pass.

                     (2)      Proposition 8, in California, was a definition of marriage as being the union of one man and one woman. The arrogant Judge Walker overturned this decision of the people. It is up to society to determine, under our form of government, what constitutes marriage and what does not. This judge created a right (the right for homosexuals to get married) out of whole cloth. Studies have shown that there are a variety of factors involved in people choosing to engage in homosexual activity, many of which have nothing to do with genetics (although genetics is a factor, but not a determining factor).

                     (3)      When government shows a preference to single motherhood by providing a myriad of benefits to single mothers (with a threat to permanently remove such benefits if that mother marries), the government is deciding against the institutions of marriage and family. We have studies which show that single parent homes produce far more criminals than do traditional family homes. By encouraging single-motherhood, a society destroys itself from the inside (by encouraging criminality).

          14)     Negative volition and scar tissue of the soul explains why some of those who live in a great nation actually think poorly of their own nation and its history. Not only are their souls blinded, but they have nothing which they can compare their life to (apart from, at best, some trips to foreign countries). Their souls have sucked in false thinking and anti-establishment thinking.

          15)     Good government can be easily corrupted when people look to government rather than to themselves or to God to solve their problems.

                     (1)      Absolute power in the hands of insecure and incompetent rulers, whose power lust feeds on an insecure generation demanding something for nothing, results in a nation selling its heritage of freedom for a mess a pottage.

                     (2)      In demanding security from government an insecure generation becomes an entitlement generation.

                     (3)      Insecure politicians offer some form of socialism that is always divorced from establishment principles found in the infallible Word of God.

                     (4)      If you seek security in any other than God then you are a weak dysfunctional adult.

                     (5)      The government’s job is to protect freedom, not direct it.

          16)     Good government is designed to protect its citizens and their freedom with respect to the divine institutions and to the laws of divine establishment.

                     (1)      Good government protects the volition, privacy and property of its citizens.

                     (2)      This requires a proper system of law enforcement, jurisprudence, and a system of law whereby a person is innocent until proved guilty, where only proper testimony is allowed and no hearsay is permitted, and where double jeopardy does not exist.

                     (3)      Similarly, a good government protects the people from the government itself. That is, the government is not to look to control the volition of others (apart from their criminal activity), nor is the government to rob us of our privacy or property.

                     (4)      Good government will support the work ethic and will not provide multiple ways for people to live without having to work (as our government does with welfare, section 8 housing and social security ). A government which coerces people not to work through government handouts destroys the souls of those people (even if this is done with the best of intentions).

                     (5)      Good government is going to support the divine institution of marriage; society may or may not choose to recognize other forms of unions; but none of these other unions (whether polygamous or homosexual) are designed by God.

                     (6)      Marriage also is a protection for the children which may intentionally or unintentionally be brought into the world. When a government shows preference for, say, single-mother families, that government is making decisions to destroy itself from the inside. Studies have linked all kinds of anti-social and negative behavior to single mother households. More children from a single mother household will be involved in underage drinking, use drugs, get pregnant, commit crimes, go to jail, and/or head their own single-mother household.

                     (7)      It is the simple adage: tax it, and you get less of it; subsidize it, and you get more of it. I write this in 2010 where we are taxing businesses and wealth and profit and capital gains, and our President and a number of economists and newspaper reporters seem to be shocked that more jobs are not being created. At the same time, our government encourages single-motherhood by subsidizing them. Should we be shocked that more and more children are being born to unwed mothers?

                     (8)      Quite obviously, a good government will pass laws which look to encourage obeying the final 6 commandments. A government (or political candidate or party) which encourages it citizenry to covet the wealth which belongs to the rich, will destroy that nation from the inside.

                     (9)      The Bible gives us a good idea as to how much a government ought to tax. If my understanding is correct, there were 2 tithes (10% each) to be paid by the people; and another tithe paid every 3 years for the poor. Since much of that was designed to go to the Levites and to the spiritual concerns of nation Israel, an across the board tax of 13⅓% would be ideal for a nation. 3⅓% per year would be spent on welfare concerns.

                     (10)    Quite obviously, no government is ideal; even that of the United States, which is the greatest nation in the history of man. We do not get to disobey our government simply because it is not ideal. Luke 20:25 Rom. 13:1–7

          17)     The national entity and the military:

                     (1)      The exterior protection of freedom comes through a strong, well-prepared military. Although the Bible does not give us a list of the great pacifists from this or that era, or the great businessmen; it does give us a list of the great soldiers from David’s time. This is one of the many ways that the Bible indicates great respect for the military. 2Sam. 23 1Chron. 11

                     (2)      The highest compliment which Jesus paid to a man was a military man because he understood authority and he understood Jesus’ authority. Furthermore, Jesus did not tell this man, “Put down your sword and follow Me.” Matt. 8:5–10

                     (3)      Wars are a part of human history. There is nothing that we can do to stave off war, apart from having a strong military. Matt 12:29 24:6 Luke 11:21

                     (4)      God both uses and blesses the military of a client nation. God used the Jews to destroy the great degeneracy of those nations in the land of Canaan. The destruction of all the people in Jericho is one example of many. Joshua 6

                     (5)      Failure of the military on the battlefield indicates lack of training, lack of self-discipline, poor equipment, but mostly lack of respect for authority and no spiritual motivation or incentive to fight.

                     (6)      Failure of the military means loss of freedom.

                     (7)      Therefore, freedom is always related to authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny.

                     (8)      The military establishment is an index to national character. Successful armies maintain freedom. This is why universal military training is an axiom in the laws of divine establishment. Num 1:2-3 31:3-5 Deut 24:5 Judges 3:1-2 2Sam 22:35 Psalm 18:34 144:1.

                     (9)      Military training is useless when the men of a nation are reversionistic, apostate, and degenerate. Draft dodgers, slackers, and deserters are sinful in the eyes of God. Num 32:6–7, 14, 20-23.

                     (10)    Antagonism toward authority destroys the function of the military as the instrument of freedom.

                     (11)    Military victory is the means of maintaining peace, not the modus operandi of politicians (Josh 11:23; Psalm 46:7-9). Politicians generally are divorced from reality, saying "`Peace, Peace,' when there is no peace" (Jer 6:13-14, 8:11).

          18)     A government is a reflection of the souls of its citizens. The amount of positive or negative volition toward the gospel and toward Bible doctrine determine the direction of a nation.

          19)     A client nation will have a significant number of believers with a significant subset of them who are growing spiritually. Their thinking and actions within the nation will determine whether or not that nation is a client nation to God.

          20)     Joshua encouraged his own people, the nation Israel: “Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you. And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.” (Joshua 23:11–16). A nation makes corporate decisions; decisions which are based upon thousands and millions of individual decisions. Quite obviously, these things are said to believers in Jehovah Elohim.

          21)     If we reject His Word (negative volition toward Bible doctrine), God will reject us. Hosea 4:6–9 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity. And it will be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.

          22)     Good decisions of national leadership result in greater options for greater decisions. Bad decisions by the national leadership destroy freedom options and enslave the nation.

          23)     God’s view of internationalism is first made known with His judgment of the original ‘united nations’ at the tower of Babel, where the human race was then divided into nations.

          24)     The formation of the Jewish nation set up the perfect standard of what a national entity should be. The Biblical proof that nationalism is authorized by God is found in Gen. 10:5 Deut. 32:8 Acts 17:26-28.

                     (1)      Interior protection of freedom is provided through a proper system of law enforcement, jurisprudence, and a system of law whereby a person is innocent until proved guilty.

                     (2)      The exterior protection of freedom comes through a strong, well-prepared military.

                     (3)      A government of whatever category must protect the freedoms and rights of its citizens without interfering with those rights by the illegal use of power.

                     (4)      An economy must be based on free enterprise and capitalism. Labor has no right to dictate the policy of management.

                     (5)      There must be a system of common law which prohibits crime and thereby protects the freedom, rights, life, and property of individuals.

          25)     Satan is always on the attack against nationalism: Satan attacks with internationalism, which includes, but not limited to, the United Nations, communist movements (true communism, in theory, is a worldwide movement), Islamic terrorist groups, the so-called Green movement, and attempts by members of our own Supreme Court to appeal to or apply international laws or standards.

                     (1)      Again, in a Satanic attack, dishonesty is key.

                     (2)      The Green movement involves large amounts of money and socialism. Some proponents of this movement make millions of dollars on the movement (Al Gore, for example).

                     (3)      However, socialism has made inroads into the green movement as of late, and cap and trade type legislation and Kyoto agreements are means by which huge sums of money are transferred from the United States to poorer countries, with a large percentage of that being taken off the top by sponsors and heads of state.

                     (4)      You never hear, “Realistically, we have no idea if these billions of dollars in wealth transfer will have any affect upon global warming or not; we just want the money because we cannot run our own countries.” Or, “We just want to skim off our fair share off the top and pass the rest along.”

          26)     Islam is an attack against nationalism.

                     (1)      Islam is an international movement.

                     (2)      Islam is not simply a religion; it is a universal system of law designed for all mankind.

                     (3)      Their end game is to establish control over nation after nation, and to destroy all opposition within that nation. However, they start small, establishing small but independent communities within a nation.

                     (4)      When Muslim population is low (1–2%), they are seen as a peace-loving minority. The United States, Australian, Canada, China, Italy and Norway all have Muslim populations below 2%.

                     (5)      At 2–5%, major recruiting occurs within the jails. Denmark, German, the United Kingdom, Spain and Thailand have Muslim populations between 2–5%.

                     (6)      At 5% and above, Muslims exert an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. France, the Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Trinidad & Tobago all have Muslim populations between 5–8%.

                     (7)      When Muslims reach 20%, expect rioting, jihad militia formation, sporadic killings, as well as the burning of churches and synagogues. Ethiopia has a Muslim population of 33%. Bear in mind, there will be some overlapping in these categories, and some behaviors will be manifest if a particular area within a nation has a higher concentration of Muslims.

                     (8)      At 40%, there are widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare. Bosnia, Chad and Lebanon have Muslim populations between 40–60% (in my lifetime, Lebanon was once touted as a nation with a great mixing of religious.

                     (9)      At 60% and above, there will be unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, as well as ethnic cleansing. Sharia Law is used as a weapon and Jizya, a tax which is placed upon infidels. Albania, Malaysia, Qatar and the Sudan have Muslim populations between 60–80%.

                     (10)    At 80% and above, there will be state-sponsored ethnic cleansing and genocide. Bangladesh, Egypt, Ezaz, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Syrian, Tajikistan, Turkey and the U.A.E. have Muslim populations in the 80 and 90% ranges.

                     (11)    At 100%, there is supposed to be peace, because everyone is a Muslim. Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen are nearly at 100%. However, at this point, they kill one another for being of the wrong faction or not being dedicated enough.

          27)     My theory is this: Satan is the great counterfeiter and he understands the Tribulation and the Jewish evangelism in the Tribulation (Jews will be scattered throughout the earth at that time). What he would like is, a counterfeit Tribulation, where Muslims are the evangelists during a time of great terror and suffering. This will be a world war, possibly called the Great American-Muslim (or Christian-Muslim) war in the 21^st century.

          28)     When Bob used to speak of the Great Tribulation with the Revived Roman Empire attacking Israel, that made no sense to me. However, as an Islamic empire, such a thing makes perfect sense.

          29)     Revolution is also anti-God and anti-establishment.

                     (1)      We have the example of Absalom’s revolution against his father David (2Sam. 15).

                     (2)      Of course, we have the examples of Dathan and Abiram revolting against Moses in Num. 16.

                     (3)      More importantly, we have the example of the Jews resisting Roman authority and revolting as Rome; and God allowed them to be put down in a.d. 70. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience (Rom. 13:1–5). This was written at a time when Rome was not too friendly to Christians.

                     (4)      The results of the French and Russian revolutions argue against revolution; despite the problems with existing governance.

                     (5)      The American Revolution was not a true revolution. Our founding fathers did not want to destroy the governing authorities of Britain and take control of Great Britain. They sought first representation in government; and secondly, when no such representation was forthcoming, independence from Britain. Quite obviously, all of our founding fathers had sin natures, so that some of the things which were said and done were wrong. However, our founding fathers sought not to depose the British government, but to become independent of it. Therefore, the American Revolution is a misnomer and the American War for Independence is more accurate of a designation.

The Ten Commandments and Divine Establishment Laws

1.       Although the Ten Commandments were given specifically to the nation Israel, they provide an outline for the preservation of freedom.

2.       The first 4 commandments provide a basic spiritual code and the final 6 commandments provide a freedom code for believers and unbelievers alike.

3.       Paul tells Timothy: Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. Understanding that the law is not laid down for the just [believers] but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane [all categories of unbelievers and out-of-fellowship believers], for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted (1Tim. 1:8–11).

4.       Therefore, the Ten Commandments are a freedom code which describe what freedom is within a national entity, which is divine institution #4. The final 6 commandments are designed to preserve divine institutions #1–3, and, inasmuch as they maintain an orderly society, #4. These final 6 commandments also codify the Godly concept of private property.

5.       The first 3 commandments define the legal relationship between God and man.

6.       Commandment #1: “You will have no other gods before Me.” (Ex. 20:3). For there is one God and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus (1Tim. 2:5). God is preeminent; believers should put nothing before God. “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13). Obviously, this commandment is for believers only.

7.       Commandment #2: “You will not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You will not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Ex. 20:4–6). “Then being offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and man's imagination.” (Acts 17:29). We cannot make something with our hands and then worship that. Again, this is for believers only.

8.       Commandment #3: “Do not use the name of Jehovah your God in a false, evil, vain or demeaning way. Jehovah will make sure that anyone who speaks His name in such a way will be punished.” (Ex. 20:7). Believers only.

9.       Commandment #4: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you will labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you will not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Ex. 20:8–11). This was a law to the Jews only, although there is application to us. Virtually all civilizations have a 7-day week, which is based upon God’s restoration of the earth in 6 days.

10.     The final 6 commandments define the relationship between men in a national entity, which are the essence of a code which provides freedom, protects private property rights, and protects and preserves divine institutions #1–4.

11.     With the 5^th commandment, we begin to get into the laws of divine establishment, which ought to be carried over into all nations and civilizations. Commandment #5: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12). Here, the relationship of the family is codified for all time, and the nation which obeys this commandment is assured of a longer continuation of the nation in which he is in. Paul affirms this commandment and adds that this is the first commandment associated with a promise of blessing from God (Eph. 6:1–2). This law is for all dispensations, and a nation which disobeys this is a nation which is on its way down.

12.     Commandment #6: “You will not murder.” (Ex. 20:13). This was one of the first commandments given to man after the flood (Gen. 9:6, where man was responsible to punish those who murdered with death). Murder represents the ultimate in the removal of another person’s ability to make free will decisions. This is an attack upon divine institution #1, and depending upon that status of that person, possibly divine institutions #2–4 as well.

13.     Commandment #7: “You will not commit adultery.” (Ex. 20:14). Adultery is forbidden in Rom. 7:2–3 and Heb. 13:4. It is an attack upon divine institutions #2 and #3. Marriage is a unique relationship between one man and one woman, designed by God in eternity past, and revealed when He built the woman (which design, Jesus confirmed in Matt. 19:3–6).

14.     Commandment #8: “You will not steal.” (Ex. 20:15). Paul writes, in Eph. 4:28: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. This commandment tells us that we have a right to own property. Private property is protected by Scripture.

15.     Commandment #9: “You will not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16). Paul says that the law was designed for liars and those who perjure themselves in 1Tim. 1:10. Going to court can deprive a person of their volition or of their property; therefore, God expects for us to tell the truth in court.

16.     Commandment #10: “You will not desire to take your neighbor's house; you will not desire to take your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” (Ex. 20:17). This commandment is repeated in the New Testament. Jesus said to them, "Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses." (Luke 12:15; see also Eph. 5:5). If a nation respects commandments 8 and 10, then there will be no welfare state and no socialized anything. Obviously, there would be no communism.

17.     Commandments 6–10 represent establishment law for any orderly society and apply to both believers and unbelievers alike.

Establishment, Evangelism and the Separation of Church and State

1.       Establishment must provide enough freedom so that evangelization can take place where positive volition exists.

2.       At the same time, negative volition needs to be protected as well.

3.       A system of mutual authority which protects individual self-determination must have separation of church and state.

4.       As long as a government allows religious freedom and self-determination, such a government fulfills its establishment norms. Therefore, the separation of church and state becomes a basic standard for human freedom.

5.       Divine institutions and the laws of divine establishment are designed to protect human freedoms for the purpose of true evangelism.

6.       There must be freedom to accept or to reject Jesus Christ without pressure from any form of government. Unbelievers must be free to accept or reject the Gospel without coercion or punishment.

7.       The state must never adopt an official religion supported by taxpayer's money. All religion should be free from taxation and never be supported by taxes. The partnership of government and various faith-based entities where money flows from the taxpayer into the coffers of the church is wrong. There is a fine line here to establish. If the government wants to pay this or that organization or this or that group to deal with a disaster, that should be done by contract. However, if a church does humanitarian work of some sort, the church is not to be remunerated by government.

8.       Because it is too easy to place an onerous tax burden upon a church, allowing a church to operate as a non-taxed entity is reasonable.

9.       A person's relationship with God or lack of it should be a matter of privacy and personal choice.

10.     This separation of church and state does not mean that all religious symbols are banned. We have a strong Judeo-Christian heritage; therefore, symbols of this heritage can be reasonably displayed in public areas (e.g., the Ten Commandments, quotations of Bible verses).

11.     Similarly, the separation of church and state does not outlaw the teaching of the Bible in a public school, even as a required course; nor does it ban the singing of Christmas hymns.

12.     Our founders got it right. Many schools were established with the intent of teaching the Bible (including grade schools). For the entire history of the public school system (up until recently) Christmas songs were sung in the schools.

13.     Our court system has muddied up this water over the past 50 years and has taken a clearly stated axiom—Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion—and has perverted this into an anti-Christian position.

14.     Separation of church and state should never be understood to nullify the faith of our founding fathers, the history of Christianity in America, or to ban the symbols of this faith from public places.

15.     Because of our history, it is reasonable to see, for instance, the Ten Commandments posted on a courtroom wall, but not to post, say, various sayings from Muhammad. Our greatest historical reference point with Islam is one of our earliest foreign wars.

Establishment, Authority and Christianity

1.       The relationship between establishment, authority and Christianity is found in Rom. 13:1-7. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. We are to obey ruling authorities, even if the government is not perfect in our own eyes (no government is).

2.       By fulfilling your function and obligations as a believer, you do more for your country than anyone else. In fact, believers can act as a preservative for their national entities. Matt. 5:13

3.       God’s conversation with Abram Gen. 18:23–33 is very instructive, because we learn that, if there are enough believers in a national entity, God will preserve that national entity. However, once that percentage becomes very low, God will allow for that nation to be destroyed (the personal spiritual life of the believers alive in that nation will determine, to some degree, as to what God does with them individually).

4.       Matt 21:22: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's [laws of divine establishment], and to God, the things that are God's [royal family honor code]. Although the context of this verse is taxation, the application which Brettell puts on it is accurate.

5.       1Peter 2:13-14: Subordinate yourselves.... to every human institution. You became an establishment person the day you believed in Christ. You should be a true conservative. You obey the governing authorities. On a personal note, as an unbeliever, I have always had difficulties with authority; particularly when they were less intelligent than me and/or unjust. However, obeying legitimate authorities is a part of the Christian life, even if these authorities are stupid and unjust.

Establishment and Authority

1.       Authority preserves a nation. People can't survive until they understand authority. Authority is the legal power delegated by God under the laws of divine establishment whereby a certain number of the human race have jurisdiction and responsibility for other members of the human race.

2.       While authority exists in both spiritual and temporal realms, only temporal authority is related to the laws of divine establishment. Spiritual authority is related to the royal family honor code.

3.       Authority is necessary for the function of the laws of divine establishment. We must differentiate between the person and the delegated authority.

4.       Establishment authority is for both the believer and unbeliever. It includes the authority of husband over wife, parents over children, teachers over students, coaches over athletes, management over labor, senior rank over junior rank, and police officers over public. When these authorities a bucked, then a nation begins to rot from the inside.

5.       Authority in the business world stabilizes the economy. Management and investment has all the authority, never labor. Eph 6:5 Col 3:22.

6.       When labor unions try to seize authority, the end result is the destruction of a nation:

          1)       Management is the legitimate authority of labor.

          2)       The labor unions provide a good example of how bucking this authority can destroy a nation from within. There may have been a good reason for labor unions in the beginning. When businesses did not take the initiative to treat their workers fairly, this hurt business and was, in part, a reason for the rise in unions.

          3)       However, as businesses began to treat their employees with greater compassion, unions did not want to give up their power.

          4)       Furthermore, unions have since moved into governmental agencies.

          5)       When a union negotiates with management, there is a bottom line. In fact, even in such negotiations, this bottom line is exceeded (e.g., labors destruction of American car manufacturers). However, with government, there is no bottom line. Any member of government who negotiates with labor has no bottom line. Then can give as many concession as they want, and then simply require more tax dollars in order to make the governmental agency work.

          6)       So unions realized that there was an untapped bucket of money when dealing with state and federal workers, and that is where they have moved, setting up shop also as a strong political entity.

          7)       This has given us 2 major problems: the unholy alliance of labor and government; and labor’s desire to take as much from government as it possibly can, which is, in part, the cause of the financial ruin of many states (California being one of the most prominent).

          8)       The amount of money which labor unions have seized from the government is mind-boggling; and their benefits and retirement packages will destroy America financially.

          9)       This explains, in part, the resistence to alternatives to public education. The unions have an established sugar daddy in the realm of state education systems, and any private education system would preclude unions and do a better job of educating our youth. This turn off the spigot of gold into union coffers, so unions come down solidly against educational alternatives.

7.       In a similar fashion, these other authorities—the husband over wife, parents over children, teachers over students, coaches over athletes, management over labor, senior rank over junior rank, and police officers over public—can break down, and when they do, they also cause a break down in society.

8.       In addition, there are divine laws of establishment over nature, so that nature also obeys the authority of God. Matt. 8:27 Mark 4:41 Luke 8:25.

9.       In the spiritual realm, the pastor-teacher is the authority over the congregation, 1Cor. 16:15-16 2Cor 10:8 1 Thess. 5:12 Heb 13:7,17.

10.     In the realm of establishment, the husband has the authority over the wife. The wife consents to the marriage, and therefore is under his authority until death. Eph 5:22 Col 3:18.

          1)       Marriage is fairly easy to figure out for those yet to be married. The unmarried woman only needs to ask herself, “Am I willing to place myself under this big lug’s authority for the rest of my life? When he says jump, an I willing to jump?” The prospective husband needs to ask himself the question, “Am I willing to die to protect this women—with my life, if necessary—even when she is at her most bitchy?” When your prospective wife turns up her thermostat to maximum-bitch, do you think to yourself, “Babe, you are on your own with this attitude.” Then you are not ready for marriage.

          2)       Complaining, whining women have no excuse. All males are unreasonable.

11.     Freedom through military victory is based on authority in military establishment. One of the things which surprised me as a new Christian about the Bible and God was how pro-military it is and He is. Neh. 4:13-15.

Establishment and the Sins of Those in Authority

1.       One of the things which confused me early on, as a new believer, was, why are there times in the Bible when this or that ruler is spoken to about his sins?

2.       Examples:

          1)       John the Baptizer spoke to Herod Antipas took his brother’s wife, Herodias, as his wife (which required Herod Antipas and Herodias to divorce their respective spouses). John had criticized Herod for this (Matt. 14:3–4). I must admit to not understanding why exactly John criticized him.

          2)       Nathan came to David and confronted him over his sin with Bathsheba in 2Sam. 12.

3.       Although these are obviously personal failings, why do prophets deal with these failings?

4.       The key is this doctrine of the laws of divine establishment. The king represents God’s authority here on earth and it is the king who maintains order in society.

5.       When a king sins, this is often very well publicized, if only by rumor.

6.       Furthermore, this gives rise to greater sins of a similar sort in society.

7.       So, in the case of Herod Antipas and Herodias, their divorces and marriage are very public things. People often take their cues from those with a celebrity status. As a result, more people in society get divorced, which results in a greater instability in society. So, regardless of the spiritual state of Herod Antipas and Herodias, their actions affect society, which, in turn, affects evangelism.

8.       We have a modern-day example of Bill Clinton in the White House. Without getting too salacious, what was done in the White House was proclaimed by the president as not being sex; and so many teens and young people after this became very public, tried to treat this in the same way.

9.       Rulers (and celebrities) have a dramatic effect upon the people in any country. What sins they publically commit legitimizes those sins.

Establishment and Human Freedom

1.       Freedom is the heritage of birth with the imputation of human life to the soul. Because God imputed human life to the soul, that is the basis for freedom.

2.       Freedom therefore is an extension of the various functions of the soul, i.e., our volition, mentality, emotion, conscience, and self-consciousness.

3.       Freedom exists in two areas of life, both as an extension of the imputation of human life at birth, and as an extension of regeneration, the imputation of eternal life to the human spirit.

4.       Freedom does not exist in a vacuum. That is, there is not complete freedom for all mankind in all instances. Our freedom is limited by the freedom of others, which freedom is often preserved by various forms of authority. Our freedom is controlled by our own volition, often voluntarily subjecting ourselves to morality.

5.       The laws of divine establishment deal with the first area of human freedom, while the principles of Bible doctrine in the royal family honor code deal with the second area of human freedom.

6.       Since man was created to resolve the angelic conflict, freedom is an extension of that conflict into human history.

7.       The laws of divine establishment are designed to protect human freedom so that evangelism and spiritual advance can occur in every generation of history.

8.       The laws of divine establishment protect the privacy, property, freedom, and volition of mankind.

9.       There are Biblical statements to the believer about freedom.

          1)       Gal. 5:1 "In the sphere of freedom, Christ has freed us; stand firm, therefore, and stop being enmeshed by the yoke of slavery [to good and evil]."

          2)       John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." God's truth gives you spiritual freedom regardless of your human circumstances.

          3)       Rom 8:21 "...into the freedom of glory with reference to the children of God." This refers to our future freedom.

          4)       2Cor 3:17 "And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

          5)       Psalm 119:45 "And I will walk in freedom for I seek your doctrines."

10.     But the freedom in the spiritual realm, which belongs only to the believer, must be distinguished from establishment freedom, which is the heritage of all people in a national entity.

11.     The existence and perpetuation of freedom demands respect for establishment authority. Military victory is the means of maintaining national freedom and the laws of divine establishment.

12.     Under the laws of divine establishment, freedom places demands upon both the believer and unbeliever. However, in Rom 13:1-7, the responsibility for freedom under establishment principles of authority is limited to the believer only.

13.     Part of the royal family honor code is to render to Cæsar (human government) the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Therefore, no Christian can ignore military service, obeying the law, or paying taxes.

Establishment and Morality

1.       Morality is the observation of the laws of divine establishment. Therefore, morality is for both the believer and unbeliever.

2.       The laws of divine establishment include various established authorities and the last 6 commandments of the Ten Commandments.

3.       Morality includes obedience to established authorities and obedience to the final 6 commandments.

4.       Since sin is an attack on establishment, morality is the antidote and is commanded for both believer and unbeliever.

5.       Because we possess an old sin nature, it is our desire to resist the authorities over us and to disobey certain of the commandments. This may help to explain why there is such a strong movement to remove the Ten Commandments from in or around any courtroom—that movement is a reflection of the old sin nature.

6.       Therefore, morality is not Christianity, but is the human race functioning under the laws of divine establishment.

7.       Morality is not the monopoly of Christianity. Christians in civil responsibility have moral responsibility. Anything an unbeliever can do is not the Christian way of life. Believers have great responsibility to their nation to obey the laws of divine establishment.

8.       Morality is defined as right conduct and excellence in the function of the laws of divine establishment. This includes obedience to authority and willingly obeying the final 6 commandments.

9.       Morality is conformity to the laws of divine establishment, which has as its basic tenet: live and let live (which is freedom respecting the freedom of others). This overlaps with the royal family honor code.

10.     While Christianity is not morality but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, Christianity demands morality from the royal family of God. We are not exempt from certain civil responsibilities.

11.     Therefore, the advancing believer is never anti-establishment or immoral. No mature believer is a socialist.

12.     The laws of divine establishment demand morality from both believer and unbeliever alike.

13.     Morality is the result of spiritual growth, but it is not living the Christian life. Living the Christian life is compliance with the royal family honor code.

14.     Living the Christian life is the filling of the Holy Spirit, maximum doctrine in the soul, positive volition to doctrine, and maturity adjustment to the justice of God. None of these can be accomplished by the unbeliever. Christianity is not morality, but this doesn't mean you can be immoral.

15.     Morality as an establishment factor protects human freedom, but it does not provide eternal salvation, Gal. 2:16 Titus 3:5 Rom. 3:20.

16.     Morality can and does protect human freedom. Immorality leads to anarchy, i.e., no recognition of authority. Christian dynamics includes morality but, at the same time, exceeds morality. Morality is the environment in which Christianity functions.

Christian Responsibility to Establishment

1.       Matt 21:22 "Render unto Cæsar..." delineates the Christian responsibility in the civil area and in the spiritual area.          

2.       Christianity functions under two standards: the laws of divine establishment which is our civil responsibility, and the royal family honor code which is our spiritual responsibility.

          1)       These standards will not be in conflict with one another.

          2)       When you fulfill your responsibility to God through advancement to spiritual maturity, you demonstrate the true solution to problems in the nation.

          3)       Violence does not solve problems, it only intensifies problems. Violence destroys the impetus of the laws of divine establishment, which is civilization.

3.       1Tim 2:13 urges us to Pray on behalf of kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead undisturbed and tranquil lives in all godliness and integrity. Compare 1Peter 2:13-14.

4.       It is up to us, as believers in Jesus Christ, to preserve the nation in which we live. Part of that preservation includes obedience to the principles of divine establishment.

Protecting Those in a National Entity and Enforcing Law in a National Entity

1.       The laws above provide a freedom code for a national entity, but these laws do not stand by themselves. They require enforcement.

2.       The concept of enforcement requires a system of law, which includes a clear enumeration of one’s crimes along with a range of punishments. This requires a police force and a judicial system. A national entity provides these protections and requires tax dollars in order to pay for the preservation of our freedoms. Matt. 22:17–21

3.       For instance, in the Mosaic Law, which is for the Jews, specific crimes are listed in Ex. 21–22, along with their punishment; and a judicial system is spoken of in Ex. 21:5 (there are additional crimes and punishments listed; however, we are simply establishing a principle here).

4.       James Madison is said to have based the separation of powers found in the constitution upon Isa. 33:22, which reads: Jehovah is our judge; Jehovah is our lawgiver; Jehovah is our king; He will save us.

5.       A national entity requires a judicial system: The laws given to the Jews restrict and guide the function of the courts.

          1)       Ex. 23:1–3: You will not spread [or file] a false report. Do not join the wicked to be a malicious witness. Do not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice. Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit. Notice that final admonition; in a court of law, you do not show favoritism toward the poor man over the rich; that is, you do not use the court system to defraud a rich man or his business on behalf of a poor man. The courts are not designed for one man to defraud another. Lev. 19:13, 15

          2)       Justice is not to be denied the poor man. Ex. 23:6 Lev. 19:15

          3)       People were not to take bribes in order to subvert justice. Ex. 23:8

          4)       Foreigners were not to be treated unjustly. Ex. 23:9

          5)       Lev. 19:15: You will do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

          6)       A system of law requires that there are punishments for wrongdoing. Lev. 20 24:19–21

          7)       These principles describe an ideal system of law and order.

6.       In order to maintain law and order on the streets, a police force is required.

7.       A national entity must also protect its people from evil forces without, which requires, therefore, a standing army. Again, such a thing requires tax dollars.

8.       A national entity requires a system of taxation.

Social Responsibilities of a National Entity

1.       A national entity and/or the citizenry of a national entity have a responsibility toward the poor and helpless of the land (often referred to as widows and orphans in the Bible). Even though much of this information will be taken from the Mosaic Law, the principles are the same. Deut. 15:7–11

2.       God warns that, if a nation takes advantage of the widows and orphans, he will discipline that national entity. Ex. 22:22–24

3.       The poor are not to be taken advantage of in court or in life. Ex. 23:6 Prov. 22:22

4.       Aliens were not to be mistreated by the people of a national entity. Ex. 23:9 Lev. 19:33

5.       However, debt was not simply forgiven. Those indebted to another were to work off their debt as slaves; yet, the law was designed so that this did not become permanent enslavement. There had to be light at the end of the tunnel (Moses set this up for 6 years of service, maximum, and the slaves were then set free in the 7^th years). Furthermore, a fellow Israelite was not to be treated as a slave, even under these circumstances. Lev. 25:39–41 Deut. 15:12–15

6.       National entities are a corporate witness before God, and how a national entity deals with the helpless is every bit as important as how it deals with lawbreakers.

7.       As discussed earlier, the Bible suggests 3⅓%/year be used for the poor (this would be a ballpark amount).

Miscellaneous Principles

1.       God takes the lead in punishing a national entity (in this case, a client nation). It is not our job to do that. Lev. 26

2.       However, this does not preclude a national entity from expansion or with dealing with its enemies. The Jews were given the land and told to take the land from the heathen which were there (Deut. 7 Joshua 1–11). Throughout the entire New Testament, no Apostle said anything negative about the expansion of Rome. In fact, it was Roman civilization which allowed for Paul to go so far to evangelize.

3.       The Book of Deuteronomy indicates that there is some room for modification and personal adaption to the laws of God. In case you do not know what the book of Deuteronomy is, Moses speaks to the people of God, not necessarily repeating the words of God (as he did in Exodus), but providing guidance and instruction in a variety of matters, which include law and government. Therefore, if Moses is allowed to provide additional specifics (even though he is certainly controlled by God the Holy Spirit), that means that we do not make our laws conform perfectly to the Word of God. There is some leeway here.

          1)       Even though God had not set up a system where the Israelites would have a king, Moses made provision for Israel wanting a king. Deut. 17:14–20

          2)       Moses tells the people the right mental attitude to have when going to war. Deut. 20

          3)       He speaks of marriage to captive women in Deut. 21:10–14

          4)       Moses also adds in laws about bigamy, rebellious children, marriage violations, divorce, slavery, loans and aliens in Deut. 21–25, laws which are not found in the previous books of the law.

4.       Blessing and cursing from God to a national entity (in this case, Israel) is related closely to behavior. Deut. 27–28

5.       "Government does not cause affluence. Citizens of totalitarian countries have plenty of government and nothing of anything else."-P. J. O'Rourke.

6.       What about believers who do not use rebound and yet seem pretty nice?

          1)       This is explained by believers living under the laws of divine establishment.

          2)       Since very few believers actually know the mechanics of rebound (although they occasionally use them to get back into fellowship), some lead very moral lives.

          3)       Furthermore, such believers sometimes appear to be blessed or to have a fairly good life.

          4)       What has happened is, the believer has gone from immorality or a half-baked morality to a more full-on attempt to be moral.

          5)       Believers and unbelievers alike will be happier with their lives if they choose to be moral; if they choose to follow the laws of divine establishment.

          6)       So, regardless of one’s spiritual state, if a person chooses to honor his parents, if he chooses to be faithful to his wife, if he chooses to spend more time with his children and to raise them correctly, and if he chooses not to be overly concerned with the possessions of others, this person is going to be happier—he might be a believer or an unbeliever.

          7)       Anyone who goes from a state of immorality to morality is going to be happier and enjoy greater blessing.

          8)       Therefore, your uncle who used to take drugs, began going to AA and stopped using drugs, becomes a happier person.

          9)       The person who used to wallow in self-pity, but now has become a scientologist, now has more self-confidence.

          10)     The person who believes in Jesus Christ, but then chooses to go to a legalistic church or to a holy roller church—if the end result is, he has gone from disobeying the laws of divine establishment to obeying hem, they are going to be happier and the life is going to show great improvement, despite the fact that their lives may have absolutely no spiritual impact.

          11)     The laws of divine establishment are a good thing; the more people who follow the laws of divine establishment, the better off a nation is; and the better off these individuals are. Going to a lousy church, but changing your behavior so that you are a better person than before because you now conform more closely to the laws of divine establishment, is how many people experience some real improvement in their lives. This real improvement has nothing to do with spirituality; it simply has to do with being more moral than before. This may be accompanied by legalism and religiosity, but still, the individuals and the nation are better off

          12)     Any person who turns from a life of immorality to morality; from disobeying the laws of divine establishment to obeying them, is going to show marked improvement in their lives. Becoming a believer may or may not be involved; going to a church may or may not be involved; an occasional filling of the Holy Spirit may or may not be involved; limited Bible teaching may or may not be involved.

          13)     We see the same thing occur, sometimes, when a skirt-chasing guy marries a wonderful woman. Often, he will change his ways—conform more to the laws of divine establishment—because of his relationship with his wife. Therefore, he is going to be happier and is going to have a better life. I have a cousin who is an unbeliever and was, throughout my life, the example of what not to be and what not to do. He married a great lady, and changed many of his habits and evil ways. When he had children, in that regard, he was the happiest I have known him to be. He was not a believer in Jesus Christ; but his life was better simply because he now conformed more closely to the laws of divine establishment.

7.       What about Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses?

          1)       First of all, these are both cults.

                     (1)      That Mormonism is a cult, see:

http://mormoncult.org/

http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/Mormons.html

http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=650

http://www.contenderministries.org/mormonism/witnesstips.php

                     (2)      That the Witnesses are a cult, see:

http://www.contenderministries.org/jehovahswitnesses.php

http://www.dianedew.com/jwfalset.htm

http://www.biblebelievers.net/Cults/JWs/kjcjws1.htm

http://carm.org/read-this-first-jehovahs-witnesses (Video and text)

http://lyitl.org/sermons/jehovah_witness_teachings.html

http://www.bible.ca/jw-apostate-doctrine.htm

http://kukis.org/Doctrines/Jehovahwitnesses.htm (PDF)

                     (3)      It is my understanding that one of the best books is Walter Martin’s The Kingdom of the Cults. Amazon link. Ravi Zacharias has apparently assisted him in this endeavor.

          2)       Secondly, like most cults, some of their members are believers in Jesus Christ and some of them are not. Most were believers before they entered into this cult, but it is not impossible for an unbeliever to join either of these cults and then, subsequently, believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.

          3)       However, if you know people from either of these groups, Jehovah Witnesses tend to be more argumentative and less easy to get along with in a social situation; and Mormons are much easier to get along with.

          4)       Furthermore, if a friend or relative becomes a member of the JW’s, you tend to be sorry that they did; and when a friend or relative becomes a Mormon, you generally can observe positive changes in their lives.

          5)       The key is the laws of divine establishment.

          6)       The values of Mormons line up more with the laws of divine establishment. Mormons are hard-working, they are self-reliant and conservative. They believe in and practice morality. They have some goofy beliefs, but they do not tend to push those beliefs upon you. They are live and let live people, and if you are a neighbor who needs help, they will lend you a helping hand.

          7)       Jehovah Witnesses, on the other hand, are anti-military, anti-nationalism and very legalistic.

          8)       Therefore, if you know Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, for the most part, you will notice that the latter are generally more happy and easier to get along with.

          9)       The closer that any person or group aligns themselves with the laws of divine establishment, divine laws for all mankind, the happier and more prosperous they will be.

8.       North Korea and South Korea and the laws of divine establishment:

          1)       Over the years, many people—particularly military types—have bemoaned the end result of the Korean War. We ended up with a truce drawn between North and South Korea, and, in less than a decade after we decisively destroyed the Germans and the Japs in the Great War, we, with the South Koreans, fought to a draw.

          2)       The end result is, we have 2 nations, made up of essentially the same kinds of people, with essentially the same kinds of natural resources (actually, there are greater coal resources in North Korea), but with two different ideologies.

          3)       The South Koreans believed in freedom, democracy, free speech, and the laws of divine establishment.

          4)       The North Koreans believed in state control, a state-led economy, in limited speech, where ideology is forced upon its citizenry; and they repudiate most of the laws of divine establishment.

          5)       The end result is, the South Koreans have become one of the greatest nations in the world, a wonderful ally of the United States in Asia, and a peaceful people, with one of the greatest economies in the world.

          6)       North Korea has become a secretive, rogue state, acting provocatively with its military, and in pursuit of nuclear arms at the time that we write this. Their economy is one of the worst in the world, and the poverty level is much higher than that in South Korea.

          7)       The per capita income of those in South Korea is much higher than it is in North Korea.

From http://www.paulnoll.com/Korea/History/Korean-income.html

          8)       Paul Noll writes: For 20 years after the war, North Korea produced more than South Korea. Richer than the South in natural resources like coal and iron ore and it possessed more heavy industry than the agricultural South. But its rigid centralized economy and policy of chuche or self-reliance it stagnated. This combined with the loss of support from the former USSR, floods and drought it faced shortages in food, electrical power, fuel, and industrial equipment.

          9)       Noll continues: The South enjoyed exceptional prosperity. Due in part to its policy of enforced conglomerates called chaebols, it has become the world's 12^th largest economy. The dip in 1998 caused by a major increase in worker's salaries.

          10)     See Noll’s excellent site http://www.paulnoll.com/Korea/History/index.html for more information about North and South Korea.

9.       There are a myriad of contrasts which can be made in this realm. Before the late 1970's, Iran, South Africa and Rhodesia were prosperous, thriving nations which operated under the laws of divine establishment. These were not perfect nations, by any means; and each had a strong and authoritative central government. The popular opinion was, South Africa and Rhodesia are racist nations and that Iran was ruled by a terrible dictator (the Shah of Iran). This opinion was found in almost every newspaper and magazine in the United States. President Carter, at this time, agreed, and was involved in destabilizing these 3 governments, and overthrowing the ruling regimes within them. For your homework, study these 3 nations before and after their establishment rulers were deposed (dictators can be legitimate, establishment rulers; King David and King Solomon come to mind as examples of great establishment rulers). Note their relative standing in the world before and after their respective regime changes. Note the civil rights of their people before and their freedoms which they have (or don’t have) today. Note that, these nations were far more productive before there were regime changes. These nations all were more closely aligned with the laws of divine establishment before 1980 and are in opposition to these laws today.

Parables and the Laws of Divine Establishment

1.       A parable is a story about one thing, but it is teaching about something else. So, for example, when Jesus Christ talks about the virgins with oil for their lamps and the virgins without oil, He is not urging everyone to make certain that they have filled up the propane tank or paid their electrical bill. However, the fundamental story teaches us some simple principles which are true, even though these principles are not the point that Jesus is making.

2.       The owner of a company can determine what to pay his workers, even if there is a clear disparity between pay. We find this parable in Matt. 20:1–16. The owner goes out, finds some workers, they agree upon a price, and they go to work for him. He goes out a few hours later and gets workers for that day; and he goes out a few hours later, and get some more workers. At the end of the day, the landowner of the land pays them all the same amount (1 denarius). When those who had been working all day complained, the landowner reminded them that they had all agreed to a particular salary, and what he pays someone else is not any of their business. Now, even though this parable is not teaching us about landowners and workers, the underlying principles, which the hearers could agree to is, are, when a boss hires people to work for him, he can set the terms and they can accept or reject those terms.

          1)       This precludes unions, because it is the landowner who sets the labor costs. We have seen, in a very dramatic way, that unions have destroyed companies (like GM, for instance). They have secured wages and benefits a company is unable to sustain, and the end result was, allow the company to either file for bankruptcy (which we should have done) or given it a boatload of taxpayer money, which is what we did do.

          2)       The places where unions have done the most damage to the United States, however, has been with public jobs (federal, state or local). At this time, federal workers make about twice what their private counterparts make, with benefit packages which are through the roof and bankrupting the states. People are literally retiring somewhere between age 50 and 60 at 80–100% salary and full medical, when they did not pay in to their retirement but a fraction of that amount. A federal boss or board or whatever is in charge has no reason to oppose the unions or fire union workers because if the company goes belly up, they can take more money from the taxpayers.

          3)       This also precludes minimum wage laws. In the parable, the landowner and workers agree to a price. The price was not fixed by some third entity (like a government). Every time the minimum wage is raised, workers at the bottom of the rung lose jobs, and teens lose jobs as well. Raising the minimum wage always increases unemployment.

3.       The parable of the talents. The master leaves each of his servants some money to work with in his absence. One gets 5 talents, another 2 and another gets 1. The master leaves on a journey and returns to find that the servant with 5 talents prospered, the one with 2 talents doubled his money, and the one with 1 talent hid it and had 1 talent upon the master’s return.

          1)       The point of the parable is, the use of our divine operating assets, the spiritual assets given to us when we are born again. The use of these assets is revealed by the increase the first 2 servants enjoyed.

          2)       However, the underlying principle of agreement is, it is a good thing to use capital to raise up more capital. If you have a successful business, it is better to increase the size and scope of that business, rather than to just keep it the same. If you have money in the bank, it is better to grow that money than let it sit under your mattress.

          3)       The parable of the 10 minas was very similar. Luke 19:11–26

4.       The parable of the shrewd manager. The manager of a rich man’s wealth and resources had fallen down on the job, and was to be fired. He went out to all of his master’s debtors and agreed for them to pay back a portion of their debts. They agreed to do so, and this manager recovered a great deal of wealth for his master. His master praises him.

          1)       There is a point at which you cut your losses. You agree to a partial payment from debtors. That is the financially intelligent thing to do.

          2)       The debt is off the books, the debtor is cleansed, and the creditor has increased his own personal wealth.

          3)       This parable is a free transaction between a business and its creditors.

Laws of Divine Establishment in the New Testament

1.       The 5 divine institutions are found throughout the New Testament, and appropriate Scripture was quoted when they were covered already.

          1)       The volition of the human soul: John 3:16, 18, 36 Acts 17:27–30 Rom. 6:12

          2)       Work: Rom. 16:3, 21 1Cor. 4:12 9:6 1Tim. 5:8 1Thess. 3:10

          3)       Marriage: Eph. 5:23–29 Col. 3:18–19

          4)       Family: Eph. 6:1–4 Col. 3:20–21 1Tim. 5:8

          5)       Nationalism: Acts 17:26–29 Rom. 13:1–7

2.       There are principles from the Mosaic Law which are brought into national law. Again, Paul wrote to Timothy: Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. Understanding that the law is not laid down for the just [believers] but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane [all categories of unbelievers and out-of-fellowship believers], for those who who would strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, those who enslave, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted (1Tim. 1:8–11). The law is designed for many categories of unbelievers, and these are all associated with their personal sins.

          1)       There is a proper and improper way to apply the Old Testament Law. The law is good, if one uses it properly (legitimately).

          2)       We need to understand that the law is not laid down [set by God; appointed for] for [only] the righteous [the innocent, faultless, guiltless; one who has been approved by or accepted by God].

          3)       The law is also designed for all classes of unbelievers and believers who are out of fellowship: ...for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane...

          4)       Then Paul begins with people who are associated with specific personal sins. The first 2 personal sins really grab one's attention. The first one is patrolôas (πατρολῴ́ας) [pronounced pat-rohl-OH-as] which means, one who kills his father, a patricide. Strong’s #3964. The second is one who kills his mother. What revolutionary movements try to do is, turn children against their parents. The Hitlarian youth were convinced that they were far better than their parents. Hitler got these children to attend a physical fitness camp on Sundays, instead of church, which involved some physical fitness along with some indoctrination against their parents. Most of us have heard of children raised in communism who turn in their parents. He tapped into their natural rebelliousness at that age to form a huge youth brigade. Al Gore did this same sort of thing when speaking to children. “There are some things about this world that you know, that old people don’t know...in a period of rapid change, the old assumptions just don’t work any more because they are out of date.” (These were 12 year old kids that Gore was speaking to).

          5)       The third word is also eye-catching: androphonos (ἀνδροφόνος) [pronounced an-drohf-OHN-os], which means, a murderer. Strong's #409. This is an attack against the human soul, because someone who is murdered can no longer exercise their volition.

          6)       What follows catches one’s eye, simply because of the powerful previous words: pornos (πόρνος,ου,ὁ) [pronounced POHR-nos] which means, a man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire; a male prostitute; a man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator, the sexually immoral, one who practices sexual immorality. Strong’s #4205.

          7)       We continue in the vein of sexual immorality; the next word is arsenokoitês (ἀρσενοκοίτης) [pronounced ar-sen-ok-OY-tace], which means, one who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual; one who has sex with younger men (boys), a pederast. Thayer and Arndt and Gingrich Definitions. Strong’s #733. It should be come clear that sexual morality is a part of the laws of divine establishment. The key is marriage, and this activity will destroy the institution of marriage.

          8)       The next word is fascinating. Even though slave trade was a part of the culture, when it comes to human trafficking, the Bible says it is wrong. The Greek word is andrapodistês (ἀνδραποδιστής) [pronounced an-drap-od-is-TACE] which means, 1) a slave-dealer, kidnapper, man-stealer; 1a) of one who unjustly reduces free men to slavery; 1b) of one who steals the slaves of others and sells them. Strong’s #405. This activity attacks the volition of those enslaved and also sets up a system where the slave owner does not work but his slaves work on his behalf.

          9)       Then we have the Greek word pseustês (ψεύστης,ου,ὁ) [pronounced psyooç-TACE], which means a liar; one who breaks faith; a false and faithless man. Used of those who profess salvation but live and think contrary to Christian truth. This indicates a person whose attitude is in opposition to God. Strong’s #5583.

          10)     As has been mentioned, a court system is extremely important in the function of a nation. So the next negative word is the adjective epiorkos ἐπίορκος) [pronounced ep-EE-ohr-koss], which means, one who swears falsely, a perjurer; one who is perjured. Strong’s #1965. Let me give the example of global warming enthusiasts who have spoken before various governments and in government forums in an official capacity.

          11)     Portions of the Mosaic Law are designed to deal with people as were named above; to reasonably restrict them and punish them if necessary.

          12)     Let’s take a look again at this passage: Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. Understanding that the law is not laid down for the just [believers] but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane [all categories of unbelievers and out-of-fellowship believers], for those who would strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, those who enslave, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted (1Tim. 1:8–11). Do you see how these types who need law in order to control them are in conflict with the divine institutions? These various categories are an attack upon the freedom of the human soul, upon the concept of work, upon marriage and family and upon nationalism.

3.       Paul repeats the freedom code of the Ten Commandments, indicating that they are summed up in the axiom, love your neighbor as yourself. Rom. 13:8–10: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law. For: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not covet; and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

4.       Obeying established authorities and paying one’s taxes are clearly required as well. Rom. 13:1–7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

5.       Always bear in mind that, when Paul wrote this, he was thinking of the Roman government, which was a government that, during his time, persecuted believers in Jesus Christ. Therefore, these laws and principles to which Paul enjoins us are fundamental, even when our government does not measure up to our own standards.

6.       There are exceptions to this:

          1)       No matter what the law is, you can tell people about Jesus Christ. There is a time and a place for this. You don’t stop in the middle of your work and hold an evangelical meeting, unless it has been sanctioned by those in authority.

          2)       No matter what the law is, you can gather to learn the Word of God.

          3)       So there is no misunderstanding here, when you are on the clock for your boss, you are not to be gathered to study the Bible nor are you to constantly harangue others with the gospel. When it comes to the gospel, you need to carefully pick your spots.

          4)       When a nation is so far out of line, you cannot remain loyal to it (a communist or socialist nation, for instance), then you may break ties with that nation and engage in counterinsurgency, if necessary. However, what you cannot do is pull a Jane Fonda, where you give aid and comfort to the enemy, participate in their propaganda, but then return to the nation you have betrayed because you like the material benefits you are getting from that nation you reject.

Society Rejecting the Laws of Divine Establishment

1.       Societies and generations within a nation often act together where trends develop. A society may accept the laws of divine establishment or they may reject them. A society may accept some of the laws of divine establishment and reject others.

2.       There is an old and incorrect adage you can’t legislate morality.

          1)       Societies and governments constantly legislate morality. In fact, all law and legislation are attempts to legislate morality.

          2)       Outlawing slavery, liquor, marijuana and polygamy are all issues of morality. Simply because you feel very strongly about some of those issues and not others does not abrogate the restrictions or lack of restrictions which have been put into place over those issues (I gave those simply by example).

          3)       For 1000's of years, slavery has been an accepted practice, and I am one of the few people who would be in favor of some form of indentured servitude for those who have walked away from their debts (obviously, this would have to be carefully limited; the idea is not to make someone into a perpetual slave, but to give them the opportunity to pay back their debts). However, going to some other country and seizing people and selling them as slaves is quite another thing, which most people find to be morally reprehensible (including me). Quite obviously, you are denying them the function of their own volition.

3.       Criminal activity.

          1)       Criminality is a rejection of the laws of divine establishment. Criminality does not recognize the principles of live and let live, the sanctity of property, or the privacy of the individual.

          2)       Like most forays into intensified sin, the career criminal turned that direction as a result of the function of his own personal volition. There were certainly factors of genetics and environment.

          3)       Samuel Yochelson and Stanton E. Samenow have studied the criminal personality, and have discovered that criminals think differently than we do. The reject authority, they reject the laws of divine establishment, and they reject the rights of others.

          4)       Although rehabilitation is not always possible, strong enforced humility must be imposed upon criminals.

          5)       I believe in prisoners making restitutions for their crimes and being made to work in prison as a part of their sentence. Along the same lines, the idea with a prisoner being let out of jail with $200 and told to go be a good citizen is laughable. A prisoner ought to be able to accumulate no less than $4000–5000 and be able to draw from that account (monitored by his parole officer) so that he can get a place to rent and to help him find a job.

          6)       Prisoners should be given long and harsh sentences and have these sentences reduced only for (1) good behavior and (2) production. Prisoners need to produce enough of something in order to pay their way in the system.

          7)       I am also a believer in boot camps for criminals, which ought to be, in some instances, parlayed into military service.

4.       Rom. 1:18–32 is one passage which describes a society where believers and unbelievers have rejected establishment truth. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because the thing which may be known of God is clearly revealed within them, for God revealed it to them. For the unseen things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being realized by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful. But they became empty in their thinking (and reasoning), and their foolish heart [= their ignorant right lobe] was darkened [or, began to develop scar tissue]. Professing themselves to be wise [the arrogance of the educated elite], they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. For they changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God delivered them over to dishonorable affections. For even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; males with males working out shamefulness, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. And even as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a unfit mind, to do the things not right, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; being full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, deceitful (and dishonest) in business dealings, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but have pleasure in those practicing these things

          1)       This passage in Romans describes a society which has rejected divine truth.

          2)       Although God makes Himself known to man and that His existence is known within them, they reject him. So, we are speaking of a society which has not just rejected the gospel but rejects the very notion of God.

          3)       Even though God is imprinted on our souls, men display ingratitude toward Him.

          4)       Their right lobe (their heart) is devoid of understanding, so their hearts, in rejecting God, are darkened (a reference to scar tissue of the soul).

          5)       You will observe that pretty much everything that Paul is writing about here takes place in the soul of man.

          6)       Therefore, God gives them over to the lusts of their heart. When God and God’s truth have been rejected, all that remains is, the lusts of the heart. Whatever a person desires becomes his interest in life. An example of this is, they dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

          7)       They transform God’s truth into a lie; that is, whatever is true, they attempt to distort or negate it. ...they changed the truth of God into a lie...

          8)       What I have often found is, atheists are often very proud of their atheism and they look down upon those who believe in God as inferior in intellect, brainwashed and/or unevolved. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

          9)       For this reason, God delivered them over to dishonorable affections. For even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; males with males working out shamefulness, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. When a society goes negative, homosexuality increases.

          10)     They choose not to have God in their thinking, so God turns them over to an unfit mind. Therefore, they embrace cosmic thinking.

          11)     What follows is the exact opposite of following the laws of divine establishment: God gave them over to a unfit mind, to do the things not right, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; being full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, deceitful (and dishonest) in business dealings, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but have pleasure in those practicing these things. Each of these words deserves its own paragraph; however, even a cursory reading of this suggests that our society is in a precarious place.

5.       There is a passage in 2Timothy which deals with the rejection of the laws of divine establishment: Know this also, that in the last days grievous times will be at hand. For men will be self-lovers, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unyielding, false accusers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good, traitors, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these. For of these are those who creep into houses and lead captive silly women loaded with sins, led away with different kinds of lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth (2Tim. 3:1–7).

          1)       Although these last days may be reasonably applied to the direction that man takes in the Tribulation, these may also be seen as the last days of a national entity prior to severe divine discipline.

          2)       You will notice that mental attitude sins and attitudes are foremost in this list, as it is what you think that affects a national entity.

          3)       The key is self-control and not giving in to one’s lusts (power lust, materialism lust, sexual lust, approbation lust).

          4)       The end result in such a national entity is, man is always learning, but never coming to a complete knowledge of the truth, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

6.       I have given several examples of attacks upon the divine institutions: the welfare state, gay marriage, Islam, anarchy, communism and socialism.

7.       Every one of these examples attempts to poison youth. They go after young people and attempt to steer them away from Christianity and the laws of divine establishment while their minds are malleable, and they have not yet developed a clear set of values. The idea is to reach this children when their minds are in a state of rebellion against their parents, and often, psychologically, they will grab onto things which run counter to the values of their parents.

          1)       The welfare state:

                     (1)      There is no doubt that most proponents of welfare are sincere do-gooders. I know a woman—a college professor—who is a brilliant woman in her own right, and yet believes that institutionalized welfare is the only way to provide for the poor of our nation. She also believes that very few people try to game (cheat) the system. My point here is, you can be a sincere, intelligent person with great compassion, and still be wrong.

                     (2)      There is certainly a place in society for helping our fellow man. I would go so far as to even accept institutionalizing a national government helping the poor and down-trodden.

                     (3)      However, the welfare state can be taken too far. The nation Israel gathered up 10% of their increase every third year for the poor. So, the figure of 3⅓% per year is an ideal amount to be set aside to help the poor in any nation.

                     (4)      At present, 1 in 6 Americans receives some form of payment or assistance from the government. This is far too many people. Taking into consideration the help of family members and private organizations, this leaves less than 1% of the population which needs additional help of some sort.

                     (5)      Politicians realize that, the more people depend upon government, the more they will support and vote for those who say they will provide more government assistance. The common approach is to over-promise one’s constituents, as a politician will be in this or that office for a limited amount of time. However, what hurts the society is, often there is an attempt to fulfill this over-promising, leading states (like California) into bankruptcy. I live in Texas, which is supposed to be conservative, and I can testify firsthand that we spend far too much money on welfare programs.

                     (6)      It is not unusual for this attack to begin in a child’s youth. That is, a welfare mother will often raise up sons who are criminals and layabouts and daughters who become welfare mothers.

                     (7)      Being supported by the state robs a person of their initiative and removes them from divine institution #2, which is work. Man is designed to work hard. Furthermore, this leads people down the wrong path, when welfare is seen as a lifestyle choice. I had tenants who were on section 8. After I evicted them for non-payment of their portion of the rent, I came to find out that this woman’s brother, who was often there, was actually her husband. So, they attempted to game the system. Furthermore, according to neighbors, some of their behavior suggested that they tried their hand at dealing drugs. That is, it was observed that people would often drive up to the house and remain there for 5 or 10 minutes and leave (I was not aware of any of this while it was occurring). So, their remaining on welfare required them to lie to the government and to possibly break the law; and they were still unable to pay their bills, despite receiving assistance from the government.

8.       Gay marriage:

          1)       Gay marriage is an attack upon marriage and family.

          2)       The argument presented is, how is it going to hurt your marriage if a few gays get married?

          3)       However, gay marriage is not the end-game; it is the first domino.

          4)       Once gay marriage is made equivalent to heterosexual marriage, then all barriers to homosexual activity can be removed.

          5)       One of the biggest pushes is teaching homosexuality in the classroom. So far, this has gotten into the classroom in 2 primary ways.

                     (1)      Introduce an anti-bullying campaign. It just so happens that, must of this campaign is about Timmy and his two moms or his two dads. In this way, legitimacy is given to homosexual unions (which is not God’s norm for the human race).

                     (2)      Homosexuality is introduced into the sex education curriculum as early as possible. Before children leave grade school, some have been exposed to the 3 kinds of sexual intercourse, and, for most of them, this occurs before they have a curiosity about this and before they reach puberty. The point is to introduce the idea of homosexual activity as normal as early as possible, so that this can be integrated into a child’s early activity as he enters into puberty. The end result will be more homosexual activity among young teens (or even earlier). One of the commonalities of those who are involved in homosexuality is an early homosexual experience.

          6)       It is important to note the deception and dishonesty in the homosexual agenda. This is how Satan functions; he is called the father of lies in John 8:44 (see also Acts 13:10). The bullying agenda is not so much about bullying as it is about teaching that homosexuality is normal and natural. These are called anti-bullying programs in order to make them more palatable to the public, even though they are thinly-veiled ways of bringing homosexuality into the classroom.

          7)       Like all sins, the more often this sin is committed, the more likely it will be committed again (one study showed that nearly half of the children who were sexually abused as children identified themselves as bisexual or homosexual).

          8)       Furthermore, if homosexual marriages are recognized as natural and normal, then teaching against homosexuality, as the Bible does, can be deemed hate speech, and pastors and churches can be sued for teaching this (this has already occurred elsewhere in the world).

          9)       See the Gay Addendum.

9.       Islam:

          1)       Islam is a world-wide religious and political system. There is no separation between these religion and politics. As Michael Medved pointed out, Christianity is universal, but not political, and will not impose itself upon a people. Judaism is political but not universal, so it does not look to impose itself over any other nations. However, Islam, being both political and universal, seeks to impose itself upon all people everywhere.

          2)       Children are brought up from their earliest youth to hate the Jews and to hate America. http://obsessionthemovie.com/ offers up some good information of broadcasts with cartoon characters designed to reach children below age 5, to teach them both to hate and to desire to die killing those they hate. If you have not seen this, it is a real eye-opener. It may help to explain why God called for entire nations to be destroyed, including their children.

          3)       At the present time (I write this in 2010), we are being warned by a moderate Muslim that, if he does not get his way in building the Ground Zero Mosque, the radical Muslims may riot and hurt Americans and act even crazier than they did about the Danish cartoons.

          4)       There will always be attacks against the United States by radical Muslims, because the United States is not an Islamic state. Being a Christian nation, there is absolutely nothing that we can do to keep Muslims from becoming riled up against us.

          5)       In all Muslim nations, Christians and Jews are harassed and persecuted and killed. They seek to remove the freedom of any people that they conquer from within. Brigette Gabriel grew up as a Christian among Muslims, and what she faced is difficult for anyone to imagine. See Brigitte Gabriel history in the Addendum.

          6)       The vicious and continual attacks of Islam are chronicled on a daily basis in http://thereligionofpeace.com/

          7)       Islam is primarily an attack upon free will and nationalism.

10.     Anarchy simply appeals to disenfranchised youth who have grown up with no respect for authority or other people’s property. We see these people often in global warming protests. These global warming protests are often co-sponsored by communist groups, who, if they took over, would kill such people (known to them as useful idiots) in an instant. Such people—these useful idiots—are only useful in overthrowing a government; after a government has been toppled, they are no longer useful.

11.     Communism and socialism (I listed these together because there is no true communistic system).

          1)       As mentioned before, communism kills more people in peace time than during war. One example of this is the Vietnam war. After the United States pulled out of Vietnam, the communists took control. 3 million people were killed in Vietnam and Cambodia in the next few years in order for a communist government to have complete control of these countries.

          2)       Of the top ten murderers of innocents in the 20^th century, at least half of them headed communist or socialist governments (some of the rest headed Muslim governments).

                     (1)      Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50): 49-78,000,000

                     (2)      Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1932-39): 23,000,000 (the purges plus Ukraine's famine)

                     (3)      Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945): 12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians WWII)

                     (4)      Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79): 1,700,000

                     (5)      Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94): 1.6 million (purges and concentration camps)

          3)       Communism and socialism depend heavily upon propaganda and upon reaching the youth. Who has not heard of the Hitlarian youth or children turning in their parents in Communist Russia?

          4)       In my youth, I can think of dozens of friends who were communist sympathizers to one extent or another, even though they did not see themselves in this way. The peace marches of the 60's were a part of communist propaganda (as well as self righteousness on the part of some of the marchers). Many viewed a communist takeover as simply a civil war, something we ought not to be involved in. These same people (and I was one of them) would railed against all of the deaths occurring during the Vietnam war, but were silent concerning the number of deaths in the communist regime which was instituted in Vietnam (even though there were many more deaths). A very common attitude was, communism might not be right for America, but for this or that struggling agrarian nation, it is a valid form of government.

          5)       Russians had a specific plan for domination of the United States, which involved a heavy dose of propaganda. We know what their intentions were, and it is quite obvious that communists were very successful in this regard. See The 45 Stated Goals of Communism in the United States in the addendum.

          6)       The basis for communism and socialism is man solving man’s problems apart from God. In fact, everything is done in order to remove God from society, which includes the banning and burning of churches and reeducation of the religious. For propaganda purposes, communist nations have allowed some churches. However, just try to bring in missionaries or Bibles into a communist country and see how well that goes.

          7)       Communism intrudes upon human freedom and violates many of the divine institutions.

                     (1)      Communism attacks volition by making life difficult for those who do not hold to their philosophy. They may be shipped off to reeducation camps or worse.

                     (2)      As noted before, communism murders millions upon millions of people, which, quite obviously, robs them of their volition.

                     (3)      Communism makes it difficult for people to choose their own way when it comes to a vocation. Central planning decides that it needs this or that, and people are guided into those vocational slots.

                     (4)      Communism attacks the family by determining how many children a family can have or having children turn against their parents. Communism often attempts to educate and indoctrinate the young apart from their parents.

          8)       Global warming and global warming legislation:

                     (1)      Almost from the day it was released, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was brought into the classroom to blind the minds of the viewers.

                     (2)      Al Gore himself has told children as young as 12 that they know more about some things than their parents do (in this case, it is global warming).

                     (3)      The key here is, world-wide global warming legislation, which involves a world-wide regulatory system and world-wide body to enforce these regulations.

                     (4)      A key part of this legislation is redistribution of wealth (which is all that cap and trade is; it is partially taxation and partially a redistribution of wealth).

                     (5)      Another key part of such legislation is making Al Gore wealthy, who, of all of our former presidents and vice presidents, has amassed more wealth in a shorter period of time than any other. He was offered a job in Obama’s cabinet to deal with global warming, and he turned it down. Why take a $300,000/year gig (or whatever) when you are making millions each year. Furthermore, a conflict of interest would have become an issue (Gore would be advocating for policies that would make him even more wealthy). In his position as a private citizen and a global warming enthusiast, he does not have ot answer difficult questions or debate his position. As a part of government in a democracy, he could not hide from such questions.

12.     Liberal policies are anti-divine establishment. Liberals either want to get more for themselves out of the system of they want to self-righteously call for others to pay for things they believe are right and good. If a liberal voted for some social program, like, let’s say, nationalized healthcare, and the next day, his income was cut in half because of taxes, most liberals would no longer be liberals, for the exact same reason they think conservatives are conservatives—selfishness. With a few exceptions, liberals are only liberal when it involves other people’s money.

13.     These are simply miscellaneous examples that popped into my head; hundreds of examples could be found.

Unregenerate man, by adhering to Biblical principles, will get the most out of life.

1.       Marriage to one’s right woman and hard work are key components of the enjoyment of life (divine institutions #2 and 3). Eccles. 9:9

2.       I have mentioned the example before of a nuclear family and criminality. It has been shown by research that the key to criminality in the United States is not racial but the correlation is between single mothers raising criminals (a criminal is much more likely to come out of a home headed by a single mother than by a home headed by a mother and father).

3.       I have the personal example of an acquaintance of mine, who has been involved with drugs, criminality and hedonism of various types; and yet, when he got married and fathered 2 little boys, stopped doing drugs (insofar as I could tell), that was the happiest and most satisfied I have seen him in his entire life (including the times when he had access to nearly any drug he wanted).

4.       Authority orientation is important to the well-being of the unbeliever. Unbelievers need to respect the authority of their parents, the policeman on the street, the teacher in the classroom, etc. We have several generations of African-Americans who are distinctly unhappy, and it is because (1) they have not been evangelized (the gospel is not taught in their churches); (2) they are brought up with mental attitude sins against White people and encouraged to ruminate on these sins; (3) and they have no authority orientation, particularly when it comes to teachers and police, and this is the bane of their existence for the rest of their lives. A person who has not heard or has rejected the gospel; who has festering mental attitude sins, and who has no authority orientation is going to be angry and miserable for most of his life.

5.       As a landlord, I have encountered a huge number of people with varying lifestyles and attitudes. During my tenure, I have had 3 or 4 lesbian couples, and one half of that coupling has always been a little crazy and emotionally damaged. This does not mean that I have not had other crazies as tenants, but, right now, it is running 50% for lesbians and about 5% for the others. God designed RM/RW (right man/right woman); He did not designed RW/RW. I vaguely recall a quotation from R. B. Thieme, Jr. when teaching marriage or RM/RW, about how a woman’s right man was able to preserve her freedom and control her bitchiness. With 2 women, there is no one able to control the bitchiness of the other, because there is no masculinity involved. So there is no misunderstanding, most married men can testify that their marriage has made them into better men. God has designed this balance to exist between one man and one woman.

6.       Work is very important to the unbeliever. God designed us to work. I have had similar observation of people who did not work but lived on governmental assistance. I can cite numerous instances where these people were maladjusted to life. I recall a mother and daughter who both received governmental assistance, and the daughter had 2 or 3 children living with her. Now, you would think that 2 women, living together, with children, where neither person worked, would have time to raise the children correctly and clean their house. Think again. In the times I was there, the children ran around unsupervised while the two adult women sat on the couch watching tv, smoking cigarettes. As for cleanliness, I ran across something I had never seen in all of my life. On the tops of their kitchen cabinets, there were roach bodies and roach droppings which were literally 2 inches high. The smell and the sight of this was quite remarkable, to put it mildly. This, quite frankly, is abnormal and unhealthy. My point is, when you live outside of God’s laws of divine establishment, your life suffers for it.

7.       Along these same lines, people who work into their retirement years tend to live longer and keep their wits about them.

8.       R. B. Thieme, Jr. often used this axiom, which is for believers and unbeliever alike: you cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness. There is no long-lived happiness derived from harassing another person, by attempting to make their lives miserable, by stealing from them, by treating them unfairly, which will make you happy.

9.       Following the final 7 commandments Ten Commandments (with a modification of the 4^th commandment) is a key to happiness for the unbeliever.

          1)       Keeping the Sabbath simply means taking a day off for the unbeliever. Work is a part of our lives and so should rest be.

          2)       Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you (Ex. 20:12). This is authority orientation, and the most basic authority orientation an unbeliever can have. It is also a key to reasonable contentment.

          3)       Do not murder (Ex. 20:13). Believers and unbelievers alike run into people that we think, our life would be easier or better if so-and-so was not in it. It might be a bully from school, a tenant from hell, a co-worker that constantly lies and gossips about you. The unbeliever’s life is far better off if he keeps his emotions under control and lets it go. Jesus took this particular commandment further and said, “But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Fool!' will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, 'You moron!' will be subject to hellfire.” (Matt. 5:22). An unbeliever is happier if he is not filled with mental attitude sins toward other people. I have known a variety of people in my life, and those who were constantly angry with so-and-so were also unhappy. When they were mad at Charley Brown, Charley may or may not be aware of it; but their mental attitude sins constantly permeated their souls. Someone might cut you off on the freeway, and you fume for the rest of the drive into work and you snap at your co-workers. For him, it may have been routine 6. Who here is the loser when it comes to happiness and contentment? The person with the mental attitude sins.

          4)       Do not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14). Jesus elevated this as well to lusting in one’s soul for a woman (Matt. 5:27–28). The actual act of adultery may take 5 or 10 minutes, or it may be an affair which continues over several months. However, this potentially destroys a family and the little souls of your children, who are the innocents in this scenario (as is the wife or husband, of course). The end result, in many cases, can be months or even years of pain for the adulterer and the innocents in his family.

          5)       Do not steal (Ex. 20:15). The unbeliever will be happier to obey this law (especially if caught). I have already given the examples of those on welfare (of one sort or another) who did not work. 2 examples immediately come to mind of such people who spent much of their lives drinking. They were stealing from taxpayers, because they were capable of working; and were so miserable, they had to treat their psyche with alcohol. In the United States, we entered into a pretty nasty recession December of 2007. Much of this was because of individual home buyers who both lied and stole money in order to purchase their homes, which they later lost (they lied on their applications and they stole taxpayer money in order to purchase these homes). There were mortgage companies who went along with it, knowing that they were lying and not bothering to properly vet these people (I know because of direct phone calls from loan processors). This entire scenario involved pain and suffering for much of the United States, as well as to the principle players involved.

          6)       Do not give false testimony against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16). Court cases are more justly determined when people are honest.

          7)       Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Ex. 20:17). This describes much of the Democratic party, whose members seem to be offended that so-and-so makes too much money. What they want is for the government to take money from people they believe to be making too much money and to give it to people who have learned how to work the system. As I write this, we have had a far, far left President for nearly 2 years, who followed a very moderate Republican, and the number of those in poverty has increased (1 out of 7 Americans) as well as the number of those receiving some form of governmental assistance (1 out of 6). Greed is one of the fundamental tenets of the Democratic party—they lust over the things which the rich have, and believe that, if they take some of this stuff away, they will be happier...and they never are. It is the conspicuous wealth of the rich which runs part of our economic engine (someone has to make their houses, car, swimming pools and private jets); and there is a great industry of high-end travel. Furthermore, rich people, for the most part, did not become rich because someone gave them the money (through inheritance, for instance), but because they worked for it, which provided a whole host of jobs for other people who work under them. Liberals have the mistaken notion that the poor and the middle class are better off when the government steals from the wealthy and gives entitlements to the poor and middle class, but our citizenry are not happier or better off since with elected a far left president with redistribution of wealth as one of his fundamental principles (violating you will not steal and you will not covet).

          8)       One of the most humorous approaches to redistributing the wealth, is the idea of taxing oil companies which make too much profit or excessive profit (in the eyes of some politician). Oil company CEO’s and the like only own about 1.5% of the stock of these oil companies ; the majority of these stocks are held by retirement funds and mutual funds. So, when a politician tells you that the oil companies are making too much and that we need a special tax on their earnings, you are voting for Washington to take money out of your mutual funds and retirement to put it into their pockets to determine what ought to be done with it.

          9)       God has warned believers to trust in God and not in man. However, even unbelievers ought not place their trust in man. Only a few days ago, a well-to-do middle class American woman gave President Obama the toughest question he has received as president, and it was because this woman was not happier, because she had expected a fundamental change from this man (whatever that means; I would assume a redistribution of wealth), and she was not seeing it. This was an educated woman who was working for the government, her husband worked, and their children went to private schools. This is a woman who, despite her intelligence, did not realize that redistribution of wealth was going to affect her own personal wealth negatively. Her exact quote was: “I'm one of your middle class Americans. And quite frankly, I'm exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for. My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives, but, quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again, and, quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly. Is this my new reality?” This is a woman—and no idea if she is a believer or an unbeliever—who had everything right with respect to the laws of divine establishment except, she placed her trust in our president to make her feel better. “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.” (Jer. 17:5b). Obviously, the unbeliever cannot turn away from Lord, because it is not there in the first place; but, placing one’s trust in man is devastating to the human soul.

10.     It can be summarized to this: the unbeliever who adheres to the laws of divine establishment will be a happier person with a more stable lifestyle. Unbelievers who buck authority, who do not work, whose heart is filled with lust and desire for things which are not his, who is constantly angry—this is one unhappy unbeliever.

What are the Exceptions?

1.       When do you get to buck authority? When do you get to reject the man, as it were?

2.       One of the issues, when I was growing up, was, what about an unjust war. What if your country is engaged in a war and it is wrong? Under what conditions can you reject the military establishment? The Bible defines this clearly in Joshua 2. Rahab the prostitute recognized that Joshua was honorable and that the Jews were obeying God, and that her country (actually, city) was dishonorable. Ruth chose to stand with the Jews and with Joshua, which choice would have resulted in her death if Jericho prevailed over Joshua’s army. Heb. 11:31

3.       During the Absalom revolution against King David, a large number of citizens and soldiers threw in their lot with David, which position put them in opposition to Absalom, the defacto king. This meant, that before Absalom and his army, their faced death. 2Sam. 15–19

4.       You do not get to reject the calling of your country to war simply because you are content with what you have and where you are in life. When Israel was about to invade the land, Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh had already chosen land east of the Jordan for themselves. This land had been conquered and it was theirs for the taking. However, they could not simply settle into their land and let the remaining tribes take the land given them by God. They were a part of nation Israel and therefore, they had to participate in this military conquest. The often quoted phrase associated with this incident is, “Your sin will find you out;” and it is a reference to the sin of pacifism. Num. 32

5.       Along the same lines, David’s armies were filled with foreigners of countries that he had been at war with from time to time. These are men who realized that they were on the wrong side of history, and so they changed sides. They understood that part of their responsibility to their adopted homeland was participating in the military.

6.       When Peter said, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” this pertained to evangelism. They were evangelizing, and the police brought them in before the religious authorities to stop them from evangelizing (note the unholy alliance between church and state here; the same alliance which crucified Jesus on the cross). Interestingly enough, one of the religious unbelievers stood up and said, “In the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” Acts 5:25–42

Misinterpretations which are used Against Divine Establishment Principles:

1.       The most commonly cited passage to give support to Communist doctrine is when the believers of Jerusalem had all things in common Acts 2:44–45 reads: And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. We have a similar passage in Acts 5, where Ananas and his wife sold a piece of property and gave some of their profit (but not all of it) to the Apostles. They both died the sin unto death.

2.       The Book of Acts is an historic record, and it must be interpreted in that regard. Simply because we find something occurring in the Book of Acts does not mean that we ought to do that as well. When David committed adultery in 2Sam. 11, you did not dutifully go out and find a married woman and have sex with her, did you? (The correct answer here is, no). Therefore, if something occurs in the Book of Acts and Paul later tell you, you ought to do that thing; then that settles it. That is what God wants you to do. However, just because something occurs in the Old or New Testament record, that does not mean, God wants you to emulate that thing.

3.       So, even though the believers in Jerusalem had a foray into democratic socialism, that does not mean believers everywhere ought to do the same. It was an experiment, one which seemed right at the time, and one which was, in part, the reason for their continued poverty.

4.       The correct principle is given to us by Peter in Acts 5:4 “While it [a piece of land] remained [in your possession], was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you put this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Giving the church the proceeds from the sale of his land was voluntary, and Peter says that he did not have to do that.

5.       People confuse their own personal desires and the lusts of the sin nature with what we ought to do. A person may be attracted to members of the same sex for a variety of reasons, and he chooses to believe that this is natural and good. However, the Bible clearly prohibits homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments. Gen. 19:5 Lev. 18:22 20:13 Judges 19:22 1Kings 14:24 Rom. 1:24–27 1Cor. 6:9 1Tim. 1:19 Jude 1:7

6.       The exact same thing is true of men who are attracted to a variety of women before being married and after being married. What we desire to do, no matter how fundamental this desire appears to be, is never an issue. Regardless of the intensity of an individual’s desire, this does not mean that, somehow, God makes an exception for such a person, and that lascivious behavior is condoned by Scripture.

7.       Even for the unbeliever, self-control is a good thing; and morality is a good thing.

Sharia Law and the Laws of Divine Establishment:

1.       Sharia law is the law developed a few hundred years after the death of their founder, Mohammed. It is the law under which Muslims believe they ought to be living. Mohammed’s life was studied, and a system of law and customs were developed based upon his life and writings.

2.       Sharia law and the laws of divine establishment:

          1)       Some families have engaged in honor killings, where a member of the family is killed because they bring dishonor to the family. Such honor killings have even occurred in the United States, as they have throughout the world.

          2)       Under Sharia law, a Muslim male may have up to 4 wives. In the laws of divine establishment, God designed one man for one woman and vice versa.

          3)       Beating an obstinate wife is legitimate under Sharia law.

          4)       Under Sharia law, rape convictions require 4 eyewitnesses; believers will readily accept forensic evidence to convict a rapist.

          5)       Islam proscribes death for Muslim critics of Mohammed and sometimes for death for non-Muslim critics. Recently, a cartoonist in Washington state proposed “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” and then went into hiding because of the threats which she received. She changed her name, and, very likely, changed her appearance. The FBI assisted her in order to protect her.

          6)       Muslim taxi drivers in the United States have refused to transport customers carrying alcohol or some form of pork (like bacon). Such a prohibition would never occur to a believer in Jesus Christ.

          7)       The right hand is supposed to be used for eating and drinking under Sharia law; this is a non-issue to believers.

          8)       There are dietary laws Muslims are supposed to follow, which include only eating meat slaughtered in the name of God. A Christian can pretty much eat any meat, even that slaughtered to some heathen god.

          9)       Under some interpretations of Sharia law, women can only leave their face and hands uncovered. Again, a non-issue to believers.

3.       When a population of Muslims increases to a large enough percentage, they will ask to judge their own court cases by sharia law. Often, this begins with family matters and disputes between Muslims. The idea is, they set a precedent and, slowly, by stages, implement sharia law.

4.       In many situations, they request to have their own judicial system set up within a country which has another judicial system.

5.       In some situations, they will demand a piece of ground which would belong to the Muslim population and be governed by the Muslims, and all of those living within this area would be subject to their law.

6.       Sharia courts have been recognized as legitimate in Great Britain since 2008.

7.       Many countries in Africa and the Middle East have a dual set of courts.

8.       Many nations recognize a Sharia law family court (for family matters).

9.       Although there are many good articles on sharia law, let me recommend Top ten reasons why sharia is bad for all societies

http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/08/top_ten_reasons_why_sharia_is.html

10.     The laws of divine establishment are different. In a democracy, believers may vote, more or less, in conjunction with the laws of divine establishment (although most believers have no idea what they are).

11.     There is a recommendation by Paul for believers to settle personal disputes between one another or with a church to referee the dispute. Believers and not to sue other believers in court. Apart from this, there is no other set of alternate laws that believers are to follow; there is no parallel courts system required by the Bible.

12.     However, establishing a fair set of laws is not the focal point for a believer in Jesus Christ. These are simply laws which work. A nation which adhere to most of these laws is generally successful with a happy population (except for those who hate these laws); and a nation which does not adhere to these laws is either under great tyranny or in a state of chaos.

13.     Believers do not believe it is their job to take over anything and establish divinely inspired laws (apart from a few crazies).

14.     Although there have been a myriad of anti-Christian art exhibits, the end result is, a few Christians may protest the exhibit; most ignore it; and some will ask their Congressman to defund such art exhibits (as, more often than not, such exhibits are wholly or partially supported by taxpayer dollars). Believers in Jesus Christ do not demand the death of these artists.

15.     It is not the believer’s job to whitewash the devil’s world; it is not the believer’s job to establish heaven here on earth.

16.     Believers are to obey the laws of the land, with the exceptions of evangelization and spiritual growth.

17.     Also, if a believer is ordered by the government to sin (or by a legitimate authority), the believer may refuse. Even our military operates with this standard—if a commanding officer orders one of his soldiers to do that which is wrong, the soldier is required by military protocol to refuse to do that which is wrong.

Summation: What Laws and Principles are Properly Applied to Believers and Unbelievers alike?

1.       It is necessary for there to be some kind of law, structure and authority because the world is filled with people who have old sin natures. Gal. 5:19–21 Eph. 2:1 James 4:1

2.       These laws and principles are also necessary, because Satan is the temporary ruler of this world. John 14:30 Eph. 2:2

3.       The first 5 divine institutions are key to the organization of a society, its orderly function and its preservation.

          1)       We must have our volition free to accept or to reject Jesus Christ.

          2)       Freedom of religion is not the same as freedom from religion. Satan will do everything he can in order to remove all vestiges of Christianity from society.

                     (1)      At the present time (I write this in September of 2010), there has been a church in the shadow of New York’s toppled twin towers which has not been given the permission to rebuild; but, 2 blocks away, a mosque complex is being given the fast track to construction, which includes either state or federal financial assistance.

                     (2)      The Supreme Court in 1980 actually ruled that the Ten Commandments could not be displayed on a classroom wall, despite the fact that they are accepted by Christians, Jews and Muslims!

                     (3)      This year (2010), in Florida public schools, they celebrate religious freedom day. So, nonprofit groups wanted to distribute Bibles (with disclaimers on the inside covers of the Bibles). Nope, there would be no distribution of Bibles on religious freedom day; Bibles were banned!

                     (4)      A school in Fort Wayne, Indiana has allowed the teaching of Bible classes as a part of its curriculum since 1944. The ACLU this year filed suit against this school district and got them to stop this evil practice.

                     (5)      In Knoxville, TN, students at a grammar school apparently gathered for a Bible study during recess, and this is now being litigated.

                     (6)      This is how powerful the forces are which work against God and against truth and against the Bible. A significant portion of all lawsuits against schools and school districts over the past several decades are related to the Bible, Christian clubs, Christmas carols, etc. The NEA (the National Education Association) promotes and recommends a book actually dedicated to Satan, but they would never ever suggest that one read the Bible.

                     (7)      The Supreme Court has not always ruled that the Bible has no place in the classroom. In 1799 Runkel v. Winemiller, Justice Samuel Chase concluded: “By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion, and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing.”

                     (8)      In 1844 Vidal v. Girard, the ruling included these words: "Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament be read and taught as a divine revelation in the schools --Its general precepts expounded and its glorious principles of morality inculcated? Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?”

                     (9)      The difference between the earlier decisions and later ones is society; as our pivot shrinks and as Satanic forces become more prominent, that which represents Christianity in any form is intentionally pushed further and further from public view.

                     (10)    Examples of this include Christmas carols. When I was growing up, no one thought a thing about singing Christmas carols to celebrate and birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I heard these all of my grammar school life and, at that time, never fully appreciated the words of these songs. However, anti-Christ forces are highly mobilized and vocal today, and it is not unusual for a school district not to sing Christmas carols, or to intersperse them with other religious songs from other religions. Some go so far as to rename the Christmas holidays as the winter solstice, the winter holidays, the winter break.

                     (11)    The cross of New Mexico is on of the most powerful illustrations of how strongly anti-Christ forces are today in the U.S. There was a cross erected in the Mojave Desert to honor the American war dead. This cross stood on U.S. federal property, and there erupted a years-long court battle on whether or not there could be a cross erected on federal property. This was a monument that few Americans knew existed and that one would be hard-pressed to even find. My guess is, most Americans, if faced with the simple statement that there is a cross on federal property which honors the war dead, they would be unfazed. A cross erected on federal land does not establish a state or federal religion (which violates the first amendment of the Bill of Rights). Although such a lawsuit should have been thrown out of court at the very lowest level, this case found itself going all of the way to the Supreme Court, where allowing the cross to remain was barely a 5-4 vote, where it was said to symbolize more than the Christian cross, and therefore, would not violate the separation of church and state. This ruling so outraged anti-Christian forces, that someone, after the court ruling, actually stole the cross. It is unclear whether the Court’s decision allows for a new cross to be erected to replace the cross which stood there for over 75 years.

          3)       The believer must be allowed to evangelize and to grow spiritually. The state needs to have as little impact as possible upon the function of churches and evangelical gatherings. The unbeliever is going to find that society is better for this freedom.

          4)       Related to freedom is the free enterprise system and the right to use one’s wealth as one sees fit. In fact, the Bible calls a man good if he works for an inheritance which he leaves to his kids. Prov. 13:22

          5)       The concept of hard work is important to the individual, whether believer or unbeliever, married or unmarried. There is personal satisfaction derived from work, as well as a sense of purpose. Without work, people become disengaged, unmotivated and more likely to mooch off those who do work.

          6)       Marriage between one man and one woman is fundamental to the stability of a society. Deviation from this long-standing norm, found throughout time and in every nation, will be detrimental to a society.

          7)       The nuclear family is found to be the best environment for growth and stability of the children within the nuclear family. This requires the man to be responsible and a leader; it requires the mother to be nurturing; and the children to be obedient.

          8)       The nuclear family also provides the greatest stability for a society. There is all kinds of research which shows that children raised in single-parent homes are more prone to crime, drug usage, and teen pregnancy. My guess is, children raised in a single-parent home are more like to be state and federal welfare recipients

          9)       Nationalism and national entities is designed both to contain evil within a national entity which has gone bad, and to protect a nation within from evil without.

4.       Personal freedom and societal authority are fundamental to the laws of divine establishment and they are designed to compliment one another. Rom. 13:3–6

          1)       Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny.

          2)       Authority helps to maintain a balance between competing interests expressing their own freedom.

          3)       A top-down authoritative system limits freedom (communist and socialist governments).

          4)       A dictatorship may or may not allow personal freedom; but a government is not wrong simply because it is a dictatorship.

          5)       Believers are to pray for their leaders. 1Tim. 2:1–3

          6)       True freedom is knowing the Word of God and being set free from the control of the sin nature. John 8:30–36

5.       God is the ultimate authority (Psalm 135:5–6 146:5–7, 10). He establishes systems of authority for the benefit of a society. The CEO of a company, the department head over his department, the judge in the courtroom, the teacher in the classroom, the coach on the field, the parents over their children, the husband over his wife, etc. These legitimate authorities allow for society to interact and to maintain our freedoms in the process. Rom. 13:1–5 1Peter 3:18

6.       God-given authority is designed to do 6 things: 1) protect free will, 2) protect the human race from self destruction, 3) give order to life, 4) maintain peace, 5) allow the gospel and doctrine to spread and influence people, and 6) to support the believers' witness by their authority orientation in a rebellious world.

7.       Freedom requires self-regulation and individual morality. You must not exercise your own free will in such a way as to take from the freedoms of others. The final 6 commandments of the Ten Commandments provide a good morality code which preserves freedom. The last 6 commandments provide a fairly simple moral code: “You will not kill. You will not commit adultery. You will not steal. You will not bear false witness against your fellow man. You will not earnestly desire your fellow man's house, you will not earnestly desire your fellow man's wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your fellow man's.” (Ex. 20:13–17; repeated in Deut. 5:16–21 Rom. 13:9). Such a moral code is appropriately placed publically in or in front of any courtroom. "If God does not exist, then everything is permitted."-Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881). Morality is for believers and unbelievers alike. See also Prov. 14:34 21:21 22:22 24:1–2 Eccles. 9:18 12:13 Rom. 13:9 1Peter 2:16

8.       Gal. 5:19–21 reads: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, sexual perversion, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Even though Paul’s larger point was contrasting the works of the Spirit with the works of the flesh, this also describes immorality, which is destructive to any society.

9.       Our founding fathers fully understood the importance of a moral society. "[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue."-Samuel Adams.

10.     Capitalism or free enterprise is supported in the Bible as the best economic system, which encourages man’s inventiveness, his free will, and his work ethic. We have found, through trial and error, the socialistic systems reduce the productivity of a nation dramatically. Compare North and South Korea, for example. North Korea has been under a communistic government for most of its existence; and South Korea has been under a free enterprise system. South Korea is one of the great economies in the world today, and North Korea is an impoverished nation. Deut. 14:26

11.     Property is one of the most important fundamental rights in a free society, which right is an extension of human freedom. I am using the term property in its broadest sense. This includes houses, land, personal possessions and various categories of intellectual property. One’s use of one’s own property must be balanced against the freedoms of others in the surrounding society. There are many attacks upon private property.

          1)       Private property is constantly under attack. Our own president seized a car company (GM), fired the CEO and set up his own hierarchy of authority, determining himself how the assets of GM ought to be dealt with. Since then, the president has actually lied about GM repaying its debt to the United States, which it has not done yet.

          2)       Various states, cities and counties, on occasion, seize land (or attempt to seize land) in order to give that land to another organization which will increase their tax revenue.

          3)       Most of us who own homes have faced the tyranny of a homeowner’s association, some of which have seized individual’s homes over a few thousand dollars in homeowner association dues and fines. This does not mean that a homeowner’s association is a wrong institution; but sometimes, the power goes to the heads of the individuals in that institution.

                     (1)      I am reminded of one association which required me to repair or replace damaged siding on a house.

                     (2)      When I began to do this work, they send me an overnighted stop order. They wanted to know what I was doing. For some reason, my telling them over the phone that I was replacing the rotted siding with new siding that looked the same, and was painting the house to match the original color was not good enough. They wanted a plan and a paint chip to make certain that the color I was going to use (which was already the color of the house) was an acceptable color for the neighborhood.

                     (3)      This is a small example why bureaucrats running this or that tend to make silly decisions.

          4)       Chinese companies have been copying movies, tv series and music CD’s, and selling them at home and abroad, without any thought given to the intellectual property rights of those who produced those products.

          5)       Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela, has seized control of several American companies there. This is an attack on freedom.

          6)       All communist governments seize private property and administer it through the government, which typifies communist and socialist entities. This is anti-God because it is against the laws of divine establishment.

          7)       The American examples of such property seizure are, for the most part, aberrations. The communist examples are typical.

12.     2 of the Ten Commandments enshrine the concept of private property: You will not steal and You will not earnestly desire what your neighbor has.

13.     The right of property means, you have the right to own property, to accumulate property and to will this property to your children. Prov. 13:22

14.     Charity is a legitimate act for believers and unbelievers. Prov. 3:27–28 Luke 10:30–37 Gal. 6:10 Eph. 4:28

15.     Believers and unbelievers should obey the authorities over them. 1Peter 2:13–15

16.     A police force is necessary to maintain law and order within a nation. They have the authority on the streets. Police protect your freedom and your property.

          1)       In the ancient world, occupying soldiers often acted as a police force.

          2)       Therefore, things which Jesus said to soldiers applied to them as police and as soldiers. Matt. 8:5–10 Luke 3:14

17.     A judicial system which attempts to give every person a fair decision and this judicial system acts as a check upon the police force, as well as a supporting institution for the police force. Pro. 24:23 31:5

          1)       With a judicial system there are rules of evidence. Ex. 20:16 Num. 35:30 Deut. 17:6

          2)       Also, there are specific punishments for specific crimes. For example, Lev. 24:17

          3)       It is legitimate for a government to punish its criminals. Rom. 13:3–4

18.     A military is necessary to protect a nation from hostile forces without. 1Chron. 11:10–47 Prov. 20:18 24:5–6 Matt. 24:6

          1)       I was brought up in a generation which succumbed to communist propaganda, where we were more than willing to allow huge segments of the world to be enslaved to communism and yet would be extremely concerned if the United States was in a war (communist countries kill far more people in peace time than most nations do when they are at war).

          2)       We somehow believed that, if we really wanted peace, it would come. If we put flowers in national guardsmen’s guns and did not show up for the draft, war and senseless killing would somehow end.

          3)       In fact, the Bible teaches that pacifism is a sin. Num. 32

          4)       However, there will always be wars and rumors of wars (which human history has borne out); and refusing to become militarily involved as a super power not only lays open the rest of the world to be conquered by communism or Islam, but it also opens ourselves up to attack as well. Eccles. 3:8 Matt. 24:6

          5)       Jesus spoke to military types all of the time. What He never did was say, “Look, you guys are in the wrong profession. You need to put down your swords, pick some flowers, and follow Me.” Instead, Jesus told them to behave honorably in their profession. Luke 3:14

          6)       Paul used many military terms and compared the Christian life to life in the military. 2Tim. 2:3–4

19.     Offensive wars are also allowed and even necessary from time to time. Num. 31:1–12

          1)       Because this is not a treatise on the military, I will simply point out that it is necessary, without going into this doctrine. However, there is a lot important information on the military in my exegesis of 2Sam. 8 (PDF) 10 (PDF) and 1Chron. 11 (PDF)

          2)       Since WWII, the United States has fought in a large number of wars, most of which were skirmishes, and this principled approach to war is one of the reasons there has been no WWIII (and the fact that Jesus Christ controls history, as we have been close to that on several occasions during my lifetime—Prov. 21:31).

20.     In order to support a police force, a military, a government and a judicial system, man must be taxed. Matt. 22:17–21 Rom. 13:7

21.     The believer understands that we are in a spiritual battle and that these laws and principles are constantly challenged and perverted. The believer with doctrine will constantly observe believers and unbelievers alike trying to pervert the laws of divine establishment.

22.     These laws allow for the greatest freedom for a society, and they help to balance out competing interests and competing freedoms.

23.     Again, no government perfectly implements all the proper laws of divine establishment. The more of these laws that are incorporated into government, the better off that state will be. Also, an establishment government should expect numerous attacks from inside and outside forces, examples of which have already been presented.

The abbreviated doctrine below of the laws of divine establishment is a highly edited rehash of the 75+ previous pages. You can skip this and move directly to the addendum, if you wish.