|
While this book is about Bible Laws, it is not a religious study per se. It deals rather with economic and social problems in America today and their solutions; for it daily becomes more evident that man's ways and systems are failing to achieve lasting, desirable effects.
Whenever God's Law, or the Divine Law, is mentioned, people think of it several ways: (1) the Ten Commandments, (2) an austere manner of living with little pleasure so one can "go to heaven" after physical death, and (3) ancient laws for Israel in a nomadic society which can be of little value or help to a complex, civilized society.
The divine laws include, but are not limited to, the Ten Commandments and are, overall, statements of basic principles originating in the mind of God, covering all areas of human concern, from home life to economics and foreign relations.
There is no promise nor implication anywhere in the Bible that obedience to "the law" will result in eternal life. There are, however, direct statements to the contrary. Galatians 3:21 states, For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
In that case, what good is the law?—why bother about it at all? Because it is good for exactly what the Bible says it is good for—health, happiness, peace, long life, prosperity, and liberty on the personal level; and on the national level, economic and military strength, peace, financial stability, a plentiful supply of the necessities of life, minimal crime rate—in short, for Americans, the abundant realization of "the American Dream."
The divine law fits better, therefore, in the economic, social, and political structure of the nation than it does in the religious, even though it does tie the two together. There is no such thing in any nation on earth as complete separation of church and state. The prevailing religion of any nation, whether that religion be Christianity, Buddhism, atheism, or any other, will significantly affect the policies of the government of that nation. If, and as, the religion of the people changes, the policies of the government will reflect that change.
Our founding fathers knew this, and they did not intend there should be separation of church and state as many would have it practiced today. The first amendment to the Constitution reads, in part, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This provision of the first amendment was intended to uphold Christianity while preventing the establishment of a "state church" in America, or the suppression of any denomination of the Christian religion. Had the framers of the Bill of Rights foreseen that their guarantee of religious freedom would ever be used to prevent the honoring of God and of His Christ in any public building, or to restrict free expression of Christian principles, or to protect atheism or other heathen religions in the United States, they very probably would not have settled for so brief a statement as they did.
The nation is as much an institution of God as is the church, and the officials of government are as much God's ministers as are the clergy. This was forcefully impressed on those in attendance at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. After meeting for many days with little progress, and with the spectre of failure looming before them, Benjamin Franklin came forth with this sage observation and motion, "I have lived Sirs, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured Sirs, in the sacred writings, that except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it... I therefore beg leave to move that hereafter prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberation, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business." From that point, with each session opening with prayer, the writing of the Constitution moved swiftly to its conclusion.
The table of organization and administration set forth in the Constitution of the United States of America is an amazing parallel to that set forth by the laws of God given to ancient Israel at Mount Sinai. We should know by this parallel that God is truly the Author of liberty—religious, political, economic, and social. II Corinthians 3:17 states, Where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty. Therefore, Americans have enjoyed more liberty than any people on earth; for we are truly "one nation under God" whose Constitution and Bill of Rights are based on the Ten Commandments and the ensuing laws of God.
History proves that whenever men and nations have observed God's laws, they enjoyed liberty but that liberty is lost in direct proportion to their violation of those laws. There is little liberty in the atheistic communist nations. We now see America subjected daily to unpatriotic, anti-Christian ideas. Each time we give way to one of those ideas, we lose some of our liberty.
God's laws are statements of principle. The good effects for compliance, or the consequences for violation, are built in, as is the case with any other natural scientific laws. This aspect shall become apparent as we study the laws; and we shall see that the stated results require no immediate or direct action by our God, Who established those principles.
The fact that the Biblically stated consequences for disobedience to the scientific principles in God's laws are resting more and more heavily on our great nation is evidence in itself that those laws cannot be ignored with impunity.
Any discussion of the divine laws that omits the reason behind each precept, its manner of operation, and the result of either obedience or disobedience would fail to interest serious-minded men. This discussion is intended to present those points.
The mere fact that the Divine laws are given in the Bible keeps many legislators and economists from even hearing or reading them because they say "you can't mix religion and government." If the provisions of the divine laws were presented without mention of God, or the Bible, they would get a hearing. Inasmuch as most of the divine laws relate to the fields of economics, politics, and social behavior, they could be so presented. While this study is not a religious study, in the usual sense, we refuse to dishonor our God, and His Word, by such a presentation. These laws originated in and were delivered to man by the Almighty God. It will become apparent that any attempt to keep them without recognition of their Author would prove futile.
Some take the stand that God's laws were meant only for the Israel people. It is true they were given only to Israel but with the injunction that Israel was to prove them to the nations of the world as the only means of attaining the great national and individual benefits all peoples desire. God has never changed His plan, nor His vehicle for that demonstration, even though He did change the locale and the name by which His people are known.
It is not the purpose of this book to prove the modern identity of His people Israel, inasmuch as this has been firmly established by many other books on the subject. However, for those who have not read those books, the first chapter of this book gives a brief run-down of some of the Biblical prophecies and their historic fulfillments as added proof that America is that servant nation and must therefore be the leader in the world to return to the only set of laws that can economically redeem the country, and the world, from the chaotic state into which it has gotten itself.
Chapter 1. From Here To There.
Who are Americans? What is America? Why is America?
America began as a hodgepodge of all the Western-European nationalities, "allured" to the wilderness, to the Promised Land where they dreamed the American Dream and then united and built America. In fulfillment of that Dream, America has grown until she has become the richest, most powerful nation in the world's history.
But why? How could this be? Most modern-day historians, philosophers, observers, and those who are searching the pages of history and the tomes of philosophy have failed to discover the secret of unity in such diversity—the driving force or the spirit that is America.
But now, as America enters her third century as a nation, the truth is coming to light. More and more writers are calling attention to the fact that America is a Bible-based country, comparable only to ancient Israel.
In a book entitled "God's New Israel," Professor Conrad Cherry of Pennsylvania State University has this to say, "Throughout their history Americans have been possessed by an acute sense of divine election. They have fancied themselves a New Israel, a people chosen for the awesome responsibility of serving as a light to the nations, a city set upon a hill. The belief that America has been providentially chosen for a special destiny has deep roots in the American past, and it is by no means a belief that has been given up in this secular age." He goes on to state, "The history of the American civil religion is a history of the conviction that the American people are God's New Israel."
We take the following quote from a brochure published by the Laymans' National Bible Committee, "The sermons of the Calvinistic New England preachers likened their colony to ancient Israel. They fused Locke's political covenant with the Biblical concept of the 'covenant people.' The people of Israel had groaned under the bondage and cried for help. God heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham. It was easy for the 'covenant people' of New England to identify with the ancient Biblical people of God. Indeed, their flight from Great Britain to the New Land was comparable to the Exodus from Egypt, and they felt they had entered into a new land of Canaan."
The religious writer for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, in an article entitled, "America as Promised Land" had this to say, "In the image of the ancient Israelites who broke free from bondage in Egypt, the early settlers in America saw their venture as a divine liberation from the yoke of the 'old world' to shape their own lives in a land given to them.
"It was God's 'New Israel.' They had fled the oppressive 'pharaohs' of Europe, crossed the 'Red Sea' of the Atlantic, braved its furies and entered an unknown 'wilderness' to build a new 'Zion' on earth. That high calling resounded through the documents and speeches of the period, becoming etched in the consciousness of a people.
"But most consistently, the colonists saw their experience as a re-enactment of the ancient deliverance of the children of Israel from thralldom, a pilgrimage into the wilds toward the goal of a 'promised land.'
"The Bible was regarded as a handbook for directing individual, family, economic and government affairs. Even Quaker William Penn in forming his colony in 1682 open to diverse Christian beliefs as 'an example to the nations,' said, 'Government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end.'
Those early Americans had plenty of backing from the prophecies of God for their belief that they were of Israel stock. The Apostle Paul had this to say in Romans 9:27, Esaias [Isaiah] also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. Who can doubt that that remnant formed the early American colonies?
Let us consider more of these prophecies—the promises that God made to the Israel people—and their historic fulfillments. As we consider them, let us remember Romans 15:8, Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
Paul's statement is not confined to any certain set of promises. Christ confirmed ALL the promises made to ALL the fathers. However, space does not permit covering all of them at this time for we would need to review almost the entire Bible, but let us consider a few of these promises that God made to the ancient Israelites.
PROMISES TO THE FATHERS.
Even before the children of Israel had gone into the land of Canaan, Jehovah told them they would be taken out of the land into captivity (Deut. 28:36 and the 26th chapter of Leviticus). He also told them they would be scattered over the earth (Deut. 28:64) and that their punishment was to be for 2,520 years (Lev. 26:18-28). This period is the times of the gentiles referred to by Jesus in Luke 21:24.
Jehovah had declared Israel to be His wife, but He put her away (into dispersion) and divorced her (Hos. 2:2 and Jer. 3:8). She was forsaken by Jehovah, but only for a moment (Isa. 54:5-8). Even though forsaken temporarily and under chastisement for 2,520 years, still she would never be annihilated nor brought to a full end. She would be forever a nation (Hos. 1:10, Amos 9:8, Jer. 46:28, and Jer. 31:35-37).
Jehovah revealed through the prophet Hosea that dispersed Israel's path would be hedged up so she could never return to Palestine (Hos. 2:6). He also revealed that she would become heathen (Deut. 28:64), except for a few who would remain faithful (Ezek. 6:8-9). This is why they could not improperly be called gentiles in the New Testament.
Jehovah promised they would be sifted through the nations, as corn is sifted, but not one grain would be lost (Amos 9:9). He also promised that they would tread down and tear in pieces the nations they would pass through (Micah 5:8). (These two prophecies just named are not referring to the same passage through the nations.) He also promised that they should destroy Rome (Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45).
Jehovah promised that Israel would have a new land (II Sam. 7:10), from which they would spread abroad (Isa. 49:18-23) to become many nations (Gen. 17:4-6) and that they also should become a nation and a company of nations (Gen. 35:11). (These two promises are not two descriptions of the same act but do overlap, and one grows out of the other.)
This new land was to be desolate, i.e., practically uninhabited (Isa. 49:8) and all the land they would need (Deut. 32:8, Isa. 54:2-3, and Ezek. 36:33-34).
Jehovah promised that during this time they would change their name (Isa. 62:2), no longer to be known as Israel but always to be called Isaac's sons—Saxons (Gen. 21:12) and that they would become Christians in the new land (Hosea 1:10). After reaching the isles (Isa. 49:1-3 and Jer. 31:9-10), they would rest and renew their strength (Isa. 41:1-8) and become missionaries to the world (Isa. 49:6).
Jehovah also commissioned them to be His battle axe and weapons of war (Jer. 51:20) to thresh (tear up) the nations (Isa. 41:15) and to build an empire (Isa. 54:1-3).
Early in this empire building, one portion was to become independent and grow into A NATION, while the mother country and the other colonies were to become a multitude (fullness) of nations (Gen. 48:19). He also promised that Israel, in the new lands, would elect its government officials (Jer. 30:21 and Hosea 1:11).
Another promise was that Israel and Judah would be united and would no longer be two nations (Hos. 1:11). This was because Judah was broken, like an earthen bottle, and could never be a separate, independent nation again (Jer. 19:1-2, 10-12).
Jehovah made the promise, after Israel was in dispersion, that as long as the sun, moon, and stars remained, Israel would be a nation (Jer. 31:35-37 and 33:20-26).
Israel was promised a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34), under which she would be forgiven, cleansed, and blessed for Jehovah's name's sake (Ezek. 36:21-28). He also promised to take Israel as His bride again (Hos. 2:19-20). This people Israel, Jehovah's redeemed (Luke 1:68), forgiven, and cleansed bride, is to be governed by Jesus Christ in the new land, which stretches from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth (Zech. 9:10) in an everlasting kingdom (Isa. 9:6-7) with Jehovah dwelling with them (Ezek. 43:7-9). That these promises were not somehow transferred to the church, as some teach, is clearly set forth in the llth chapter of Romans and particularly in verse 29.
Isa. 65:18-25 describes conditions in the kingdom under the rule of Jesus Christ. However, this description is prefaced by the statement in verse 17 that God shall create new heavens and a new earth, showing us that Biblical reference to new heavens and a new earth refers to the dissolution of human government and systems and the institution of divine rule. It is NOT referring to the solar system.
All these promises, which are only a few of the total, were made to the fathers and were confirmed by Jesus Christ—CONFIRMED, NOT REPUDIATED, as some teach.
Some of the promises were in the process of fulfillment even before the prophecy was made public, in accordance with Isaiah 65:24, And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer. So let us look at some of the fulfillments of the promises cited above.
EARLY MIGRATIONS.
The new was being made even before the old was fully established. Many of the Israelites who left Egypt under Moses did not go into the Promised Land, and I refer not to those who died in the wilderness.
During the 38 years between the two censuses taken in the wilderness, the five tribes of Reuben, Gad, Ephraim, Naphtali, and Simeon decreased in numbers by 61,080 men. During this same period the other seven tribes increased by 62,260 men. These figures can only be the result of the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promise in Gen. 28:14, wherein He told Jacob that he should spread abroad to the west, east, north, and south. Surely, members of the five tribes, tired of wandering in the wilderness, pulled out and began spreading abroad. Like the history books of any nation, the Bible seldom follows those who leave the country.
The nation of Israel entered and took the land of Canaan, where it became so powerful under King David that his rule extended from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Under the rule of Solomon, Israel became fabulously rich. Abraham's seed through Isaac and Jacob had become a great nation. But Solomon departed from the law of God and wed many heathen women. He taxed the country heavily to pay for the ornate temples he built to his wives' gods.
MORE DIVISION
Solomon's son, Rehoboam, ascended to the throne only to be faced with a tax rebellion. He refused to lower taxes and the ten northern tribes seceded, leaving only Judah, Benjamin, and part of Levi as the southern kingdom under the national name of Judah.
By this time Gen. 49:7 had already been fulfilled— Simeon and Levi are brethren... I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. While the adoption of Manasseh and Ephraim had brought the number of tribes to thirteen, the naming of Levi to civil service status, with no allotment of land, had left only twelve states. Simeon had been allotted the southernmost territory in the division of the land—that state lying in entirety south of the territory of Judah. When Simeon was absorbed by the other tribes, only eleven states were left. This detail may now seem trivial, but without this understanding other prophecies and later historical events would be viewed in distortion.
When we consider the size of little Palestine and the virility of the Israelites, we must conclude that emigration had taken place almost constantly or there would have been "standing room only" by the time of the captivities, which began in the eighth century B.C. Of these migrations Amos 9:9 says, For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
REUNION.
The Assyrians attacked the Northern kingdom and by L B.C. had taken all Israel captive and placed them
between the Black and Caspian Seas and south of the Caucasus Mountains (II Kings 17:6). Assyria returned
and attacked Judah, taking all the cities except Jerusalem (II Kings 18:13). Monuments found in the land of ancient Assyria state that 200,150 Judahites were taken and placed with the captives from Israel. This follow-up captivity constituted the rejoining of Israel and Judah, for now ALL the tribes were together in the Assyrian captivity, even though a remnant of Judah remained a nation until 585 B.C., when Babylon took Jerusalem and moved the remaining Judahites from that city to Babylon. Some 42,000 returned to Jerusalem 70 years later. Some historians believe that those who did not return to Jerusalem later joined Israel in Scythia, although there are no actual records that say so.
We can be sure of one thing—Judah had to be with Israel, for Hosea 1:11 says so. In addition, Jeremiah 19:1-2,10-12 tell us Judah was so broken she could never be an independent nation again. This prophecy leaves only TEN states, or nations, of Israel. (I might add at this point that the prophecies concerning Judah are not applicable to the Jews of today, nor vice versa. MODERN JEWS ARE A SEPARATE PEOPLE AND ARE SO DEALT WITH IN THE BIBLE.)
THEIR KING BEFORE THEM.
Micah had prophesied, before the captivities were complete, that Israel would escape through the Caucasus Mountains and migrate to a land where a king of their own royal house was reigning (Micah 2:12-13). During the migrations from Palestine over the centuries (the sifting through the nations), descendants of Zarah, a son of Judah, moved to the island we call Ireland and became the royal house of the immigrant Israelites. The Babylonians, intending to end forever the reign of the House of David, slew Hezekiah's sons, not realizing that, under Divine law, the royal line may be perpetuated through a daughter if there is no male heir. So Jeremiah escaped to Egypt with the daughters of Hezekiah and from there sailed to the "isles." The elder of the king's daughters married the king of the Israelites in Ireland, thus uniting the houses of Zarah and Pharez. (See Jer. 41:10, 44:14, 28, and the 27th chapter of Ezekiel.)
A NEW NAME.
Captive Israel took advantage of the war between Assyria and Egypt to pass through the "Iron Gate" of the Caucasus Mountains and settle in the lands of the Scythians, just north of the Caucasus Mountains, where many of them remained for centuries. THIS IS WHY OUR RACE IS CALLED CAUCASIAN. Others of them kept moving on, sifting through the nations and establishing colonies all around the Baltic Sea and in the Isles of the northwest.
During the eleven centuries that elapsed between their defeat and captivity by the Assyrians and the beginning of their massive westward push, many changes took place among the Israelites. The continual wars of the growing powers had hedged up their way so they could not return to Palestine. Their language evolved from Hebrew into what is usually called the Germanic languages. Their names also underwent many changes until, by the fourth century A.D., they were known as Goths, Franks, Vandals, Bergundians, Sueves, Lombards, Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. All the while their numbers and strength increased.
BATTLE AXE.
By the latter part of the fourth century A.D., the Huns, a Mongolian people under the leadership of Attila, were exerting pressure on the eastern borders of Israel, resulting in a westward push. The Goths defeated the Roman armies at Adrianople in 378, and by 410 Rome had fallen to them, fulfilling Daniel 2:43-44. Those who have studied history know that as Israel (called Barbarians by the Romans) swept through the nations on their westward trek, they trod down and tore in pieces the nations through whom they passed (Micah 5:8). The sifting was over and their role as God's battle axe and weapons of war was beginning.
As foretold in Revelation 7:1-8, a complete number passed through. Dan is not mentioned in the Revelation account simply because the tribe had migrated at an earlier date, leaving its name as waymarks all over Europe. In this same chapter of Revelation, the sealing of the tribes also shows us that the prophecy that Judah would walk with Israel and that the sticks of Judah and Israel would be joined, as set forth in Ezekiel 37:9-22, had been fulfilled before the westward push began. Finally, in wave after wave of invasion, all the tribes were settled in northwestern Europe and the British Isles.
These invaders of the British Isles not only found Israelites already in the Isles, including royalty of the House of David, but also discovered that the knowledge of their Divine King, Saviour, and Messiah had also preceded them, for Joseph of Arimathea, Paul, and others had brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the British Isles just a few years after the crucifixion.
So they were in a new land (II Sam. 7:10), with a new language, a new name, and a new covenant. The old covenant made with Abraham required circumcision of the flesh, but one of the provisions of the new covenant replaced this old with circumcision of the heart, as fully set forth in the book of Galatians and Hebrews 8:8-10.
WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE.
Israel cannot return to the old land—her way is hedged up. She cannot return to the old covenant, for that would be as II Peter 2:22 says, The dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
After resting awhile and regaining her strength (Isa. 41:1), Christian Israel, from both the Isles and the Continent, pushed across the sea to North America, to the land described by Zechariah in these words, And His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth (Zech. 9:10). Yes, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Rio Grande to the North Pole.
In Northwest Europe, in the British Isles, and on the North American Continent, Hosea 1:10 is fulfilled, And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. (Where they were taught that they were Gentiles, there they would become Christians.)
Hosea 1:11 is fulfilled in America, Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint [elect) themselves one head.
This prophecy does not mean that no Israelites would remain in other countries, for we know that they did and still do; but it does mean that all the thirteen tribes would be well represented in one land. A count of the original thirteen colonies, as well as the many thirteens in our national heraldry, shows a symbolic connection between the United States and old Israel. Mr. W. J. Cameron says in "Israel in America," "A Bible reading shepherd in the desert of Mesopotamia, who had never heard of the United States would say, on seeing our national emblems, Surely this is the people of Israel."
The seven times chastening of Israel began about 740 B.C., when Assyria defeated and deported the half tribe of Manasseh, and continued to 585 B.C., when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. By 2,520 years after the former date, Britain was becoming an empire and the U.S.A. was becoming a nation. By 2,520 years after the final-captivity date, the United States was becoming the leading nation of the world. Thus, as at the beginning of the chastisement, Israel was a world power, so she was again a world power at the end of the times of the Gentiles.
A NATION.
The prophecies concerning the Israel peoples state they were to become a great nation, many nations, and a company of nations. Of these, Ephraim—and the Bible often uses this name to denote the whole house of Israel—was to become a fullness of nations (Hebrew Interlinear Translation). In these various prophecies we see the progression of God's plan of the ages, which is, of course, made plain to us by fulfillment. Israel became a great nation in Palestine and became many nations after the dispersion, as is shown by the history of their migrations and settling in Europe, where Ephraim became a fullness of nations, or an empire (Gen. 49:22; Deut. 33:16-17; Isa. 49:19-24). When America broke away from Britain (Isa. 49:20), she became A NATION composed of elements of all the thirteen tribes and has grown to become the greatest nation in the history of the world. This occurrence fulfills Isaiah 2:2, which says And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and nations shall flow into it.
This prophecy in plain English means that in the last days the kingdom (mountain) of Israel (the LORD'S house) shall be established in the world's greatest nation (top of the mountains), which is composed of immigrants from all nations. Only the United States of America meets these conditions, making her the kingdom nation and the bride of Christ. America has been called "the melting pot," but for many years the immigrants came only from northern and western Europe and were all Isaac's sons.
LAND OF THE RESTORATION.
North America is the new land spoken of in II Samuel 7:10. Here the United States began with laws and a system that fell only a little short of meriting full divine blessing. But while our Master tarried, we all slumbered and slept (Matt. 25:5), and the enemy sowed the tares (Matt. 13:25), which have brought our nation to its present state of confusion and disobedience. This is a day of testing to prove the faithful, to confirm those who shall become administrators in the Kingdom of our Lord.
The prophets spoke of the restoration of the kingdom nation in righteousness, peace, and prosperity. We know this can be attained only by national obedience to the national laws of God.
America, God's kingdom nation, has its roots deep in God's Word. It was prophesied from old, made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary, was founded by Christians on Christian principles, and began with laws and a system based primarily on God's Word. But, as Jesus pointed out in His parables of the kingdom, the good and the bad were both sown in our nation, and both have grown together. This is why, in our short history, we have experienced mixed blessing and cursing.
All the injustices and evil conditions rampant in the "glorious land" are the results of the transgressions of God's laws for the nation. These transgressions are the work of God's enemies, yet the blame must rest on the shoulders of God's people for their failure to know God's laws for the nation and to insist on obedience to them. Well did the prophet speak, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, ...seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. Hosea 4:6
While God's people, Israel-America, are muddling and blundering unwittingly into some phases of God's law, as yet they show little sign of national repentance. It is now high time that America wittingly, and with determination, return to God's laws for "good and life," and restore the national purpose that was so dear to the hearts of those early Americans, that our country may truly be "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all." This is the only way we can prepare our nation for its Divinely-declared destiny as His kingdom on earth, ready for the King, Jesus Christ, to assume rulership.
Chapter 2. Why We Need Divine Law.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6.
Any book on the divine law is of little value unless the mental cobwebs spun by the teaching that "we are not under God's laws today" are cleared away. This may call for some re-orientation in our thinking, if we still labor under the delusion that the Bible teaches only religion and proper conduct on the individual level. Actually only two-sevenths of the text of the Bible deals with religion, per se. In the other five-sevenths we find history, prophecy, and NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS.
A rational approach to the study of divine law, and its application to our present society, can be made only after the dissolution of the error of the teaching that Jesus Christ fulfilled and abolished all the laws of God. This error has warped our understanding and has robbed us of the fullness of God's blessing on our country.
While admitting that the instructions and laws given in the Old Testament originated with God, the "religionists" teach that these laws were only a temporary arrangement and that the advent of Jesus Christ made them null and void. These "traditions of men" stem from a misunderstanding of God's plan of the ages and of the basis, purposes, and divisions of the divine law as well as from the misuse of the word law in the King James translation of the New Testament.
The doctrine that Jesus fulfilled and thereby abolished all the law is the cause of our national problems today—economic, political, military, financial, and social. A strong statement? Yes, but true, for this no longer is merely a sectarian dogma but is now a question of national survival.
The law of God, as given to Israel through Moses, is the revelation of God's will for the conduct of men and nations. When obeyed, it is the fulfillment of the prayer, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10.
It is a full body of national law, consisting of the Commandments, Statutes, Judgments, and Ordinances. The latter were the sacrificial and ceremonial laws of worship referred to by the Apostle Paul as the law for righteousness (Rom. 10:4). Paul also referred to this section of the law in Colossians 2:14, Blotting out the handwriting of ORDINANCES that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.
The laws of God have been in effect since the creation, were observed by the patriarchs, and were codified and specifically given to Israel at Mt. Sinai; but the rituals, beginning 430 years after (Abraham) could not cancel a Settlement previously established by God, so as to abolish the promise (Gal. 3:17, Fenton Translation). The rituals were added after the law was given to Israel (because of transgressions) and consisted of types looking forward to Christ's sacrifice.
RITUALS.
In most instances the translators of the King James, or Authorized, Version translated the Greek or Hebrew word that referred to any or several portions of the law or rituals as "law." That we may know that the writers of the New Testament understood the divisions of the law, and the application of each, let us compare some verses from the King James translation with the same verses from a later, more accurate translation, the Ferrar Fenton.
Galatians 4:21.
K.J. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
F.F. Tell me, you who wish to be under not hear the law?
Galatians 5:2-4.
K.J. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.
F.F. And I assert again, to every circumcised man, that he is bound to practice the whole ritual. Whoever of you are made righteous by a ritual, you are detached from Christ, you are fallen from the gift.
Galatians 5: 18.
K.J. But if you are led of the Spirit you are not under the law.
F.F. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under a ritual.
Romans 3:20-22.
K.J. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
F.F. Therefore by the practice of a ritual, none can be made righteous; yet, however, a recognition of sin comes by means of law. But now, without a ritual, a Divine righteousness is exhibited, attested by the law and the prophets.
Romans 3:27-28, 31.
K.J. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law... Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
F.F. Where then is our pride? It is banished. By what law? by the rituals? No! but by a law of faith. Therefore we have argued that a man may be righteous by a faith distinct from a law of rituals... Then, you will say, we destroy the law for the sake of the faith? Never! On the contrary we corroborate the law.
Romans 9:31-32.
K.J. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
F.F. But Israel, pursuing a ritual for righteousness, has not entered into a righteous law. For what reason? Because they sought it not as from faith, but as if from rituals.
These verses are a small sampling but are sufficient to demonstrate that "law" as used in the King James New Testament is a word too all-inclusive for clarity. It should be evident from the foregoing examples that "rituals" is a better translation in many cases.
An analytical study of the Scriptures will prove conclusively to the honest mind that, under the Old Covenant, justification (forgiveness of past sins) was obtained by the ritual of the sacrifice (works of the law in K.J.), which was a type of the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ but which required positive physical action (works of the law of rituals) on the part of the individual. But now that the anti-type, Jesus Christ, has fulfilled the ritual of the sacrifice, justification comes by faith in Him, not in the works of the ritual, which He abolished by fulfillment.
All Christians agree that the ritual has been fulfilled and abolished by Jesus Christ; but not all have understood that many of Paul's references to the "law," in the King James translation, were referring ONLY TO THE RITUALS, which were added because of transgressions of the LAW, and that those rituals, while temporarily typifying the work of Christ, could not be permitted to continue after the sacrifice of Christ and His redemption of Israel. Neither could the taking away of the rituals alter the LAW, which was from the creation.
STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS.
The foregoing quotations, and many more in the New Testament, also flatly and definitely teach that the law, i.e., the Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments, remains firmly established. These laws not only give us a definition of sin but are the divinely provided guidelines for a God-pleasing, Christian life and for a righteous and prosperous nation. Let us look to the Master Himself for confirmation.
Do not imagine I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to complete them. For I tell you indeed, that until the heavens and the earth pass away, a single dot or hairstroke shall not disappear from the law, until all has been completed. If therefore, any one shall make light of one of the least of its commands, and shall teach men so, he shall be declared to be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever teaches them and acts up to them, he shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matt. 5:17-19.
Consider also I John 3:4, For sin is the transgression of the law, and Romans 3:31, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
But the churchmen who hate God's law argue, "We are not under law but under grace; we need only love God and one another." Three points overlooked by the churchmen are (1) that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament veiled hi flesh, (2) that His statement, If you love Me keep My commandments was a direct reference to the laws given hi the Old Testament, and (3) that the Old Testament laws demonstrate the practical application of love.
The Ten Commandments are the basis and summation of divine law. Jesus summed them up with these words, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt. 22:37-40)
The Apostle John had these words to say concerning the law of God. By this we know that we love God, AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. FOR THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. By what means, other than keeping commandments (law), does one demonstrate his love toward God?
A MISUSE OF GRACE.
Let us also look at Galatians 2:17, But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners [transgressors of the law], is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. According to Paul if we transgress the law BECAUSE we are justified in Christ, H makes Christ appear the minister of sin. Therefore, when any man states that BECAUSE he is justified in Christ, he is free to transgress the law or to ignore the law, he is, for himself, making Christ the minister of sin.
Small wonder that Jesus said, Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the WILL of My Father which is in heaven. MANY will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you- depart from Me, you that work iniquity [live in sin, i e transgress the law](Matt. 7:21-23). Every transgression of the law by professed Christians brings reproach upon Jesus Christ, for it would seem to make Him a minister of sin.
SAVED BY GRACE.
If a man is in a federal prison, under sentence of death, and the president pardons (forgives) him, he is set free and can never again be called to account for the crime of which he was convicted. He has been cleansed of guilt before the law and given life by the favor (grace) of the president. Is this man now above the law? Can he, with impunity, violate any and all law? Can he rob, commit mayhem or rape, sell drugs, or drive a car in a reckless manner without fear of arrest or penalty? Certainly not! Even though he was saved by grace (pardoned, or forgiven, by the favor of the president), the law still stands and still applies to him; and any violation of the law finds him again charged as a violator of the law.
The difference, when we apply this allegory to God's law and grace, is explained in I John 2:1-2, My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not [transgress not the law]. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins. The only reason anyone escapes the full penalty of the law is that God's justice is tempered with mercy for the truly repentant.
LAW: NATIONAL, TOO.
When Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments, He said, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. When we consider that a national constitution functions as a foundation upon which all laws rest, then we can consider the Ten Commandments, or their summation in the two commandments that Christ named, to be the national constitution, and those laws that hang on the constitution are the Statutes and Judgments. The Statutes and Judgments are nothing •ore than an explanation and practical application of the Commandments, or Constitution. They are the plan and formula for the government of the nation and the conduct of the citizens.
Further discussion here of the laws for individual conduct is not needed, for those Christians wishing to please God by their lives will search out His will in His Word. The balance of this study shall be devoted to national problems, their causes and remedies, as given us by the God of Israel and confirmed by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
OPERATION OF LAW.
The keeping of the Divine law is a reasonable exercise in human conduct, for there is an easily understood reason behind each precept. The cumulative result of obeying the Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments is boundless blessing on the nation—the end of poverty in the midst of plenty; justice for all men; unprecedented prosperity; no military defeats nor stalemates; respect all the world; beautiful cities; almost non-existent crime; peace, safety, and happiness for the people; and, above all, a glorification of Jehovah and His Son Jesus Christ. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him (I Cor. 2:9).
While God's law was given specifically to Israel, because it is the nation God chose to glorify His Name in the world, any nation that will obey His law shall reap the same benefits, and those disobeying shall suffer the same penalties. The law of God is universal and immutable, for it is based on the natural laws, which are also divine laws. It all operates on the principle of cause and effect. The effect will always follow the cause, whether for good or for evil, just as surely as water quenches fire. The promised results of obedience, or disobedience, will follow as certainly as day follows night; and that without any direct or immediate divine action. The result is "built in."
Since the law, as given to Israel, is based on natural law, the "putting away" of that law, as taught by most churches, would require the annulling of the natural laws. This would result in absolute chaos; the earth would again become void and without form (Gen. 1:2).
EXAMPLES OFFER PROOF.
When David became king of Israel, that nation was at its lowest ebb since its entry into the land. Within forty years little Israel was stronger than any of her neighbors because David enforced the laws of God. Solomon, for the most part, also enforced the Statutes and Judgments; and before another forty years had passed, Israel was also a fabulously rich nation.
Our own United States of America began as a small nation, significantly thirteen colonies who joined in the task of furthering the Kingdom of God in freedom and liberty.
After the War of Independence, trade was at a standstill in the thirteen war-ravaged colonies. Their money was almost worthless and anarchy and rebellion were becoming evident. Under these chaotic conditions the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and produced the greatest constitution ever devised by the minds of men. It was second only to the divine plan delivered to Israel at Mt. Sinai.
Five years after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, order had come out of chaos, confidence had returned, the new nation had credit around the world, and growth was assured. The Constitution, by its similarity to the God-ordained national system, had brought about a condition so attractive that people of all nations longed to settle in America.
GOVERNMENTS
We must understand that basically there are three types of governments—autocracy, democracy, and republic. Each has variations. There are also three basic economic systems—socialism, capitalism, and free enterprise. The divinely ordained system given to ancient Israel is often referred to as a Theocracy, yet it was a republic because the people elected representatives to administer the law. It also had the free-enterprise economic system.
Those who read and understand know of the economic slavery, harassment, fear, torture, and death meted out by tyrannical despots. They also know of the intolerance, irresponsibility, disorder, and destruction of life and property that is part and parcel of anarchy. Anarchy is, of course, democracy carried to the ultimate. Only the middle course, as followed by a republic, be it democratic republic, monarchal republic, or Theocratic republic, is conducive to freedom and prosperity. Of these, only a Theocratic republic can avoid destruction by paternalism and race-mixing.
A Theocratic republic recognizes God as the Supreme Ruler and Lawgiver. The visible chief executive, be he president or king, realizes he is God's minister and that he is responsible to God for all his acts. The congress and the courts administer the law but never make the law. They determine the application of the law to changing times and conditions. God has never given man the authority to make law, only the authority to administer His law.
Our form of government, a democratic republic, is based on the premise that all power rests in the people, but the Bible tells us, There is no power but of God for the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our LAWGIVER, the LORD is our King; He will save us. However, God's law carefully protects the rights of the individual, the sanctity of the home and family, and the freedom of the people. God is far more considerate of us than we are of ourselves.
While the United States acknowledges God's Supremacy, by lip service, we do make our own laws; therefore, ours is a democratic republic. We started well, our system falling only a little short of the law and system that would merit God's full blessing. On this basis, and the fact of God's promises to the patriarchs, the United States of America has grown and prospered as no other nation ever has.
THE NEW ORDER.
To understand thoroughly the development of our nation, we should consider the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the nation of Israel. God promised Abraham that his descendants, through Isaac, should become many nations who would be a blessing to all the world. Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, inherited those promises and passed them on to his twelve sons and Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The addition of Joseph's sons resulted in thirteen states.
Jehovah's promises for the latter days, that is, the period of time between the first and second comings of Christ, is of great importance. According to these promises the states of Israel were to become nations in the world, finally bringing forth, in the new land promised to David (II Sam. 7:10), the joining of the sticks of Israel and Judah (Ezek. 37:16-22) into the richest, most powerful nation in the world's history. That nation is the United States of America. More than ample proof of this is provided in the Bible, in history, and in the sciences of ethnology and philology. Therefore, by virtue of our race and calling as God's servant nation, we, as individuals and as a nation, are covenant-bound to keep God's Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments. Even if this were not true, by virtue of being a Christian nation, we are obligated to keep these laws, as has already been pointed out.
At the ratification of the Constitution, the States, the New Order of the Ages, stood as before Moses when he said, Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? Deut. 4:5-8.
Our Founding Fathers came close to meeting God's requirements; in many respects the Constitution of the United States parallels the system ordained by the Almighty. Since the points of divergence did not quickly bring disastrous results, the nation has grown and prospered as no nation ever has, except ancient Israel under the righteous reigns of David and Solomon.
Had the Founding Fathers taken the divine law "in toto" as the Constitution and law of the land, none of the penalties for disobedience to divine law would now be upon us. Since we partially obeyed and partially disobeyed, we have experienced mixed blessing and cursing in our short history. We have had nearly 200 years in which to correct the deficiencies in our system; but rather we have added to them by legislation based on false premises.
God's law is a closed law, for He said in Deuteronomy 4:2, You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish aught from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God.
COMPOUNDING THE ERROR.
The Divine law is the interpretation, and the practical application, of God's will on earth as it is in heaven (Mat. 6:10). As pointed out previously, the United States began with a national system that fell only a little short of divine requirement. On this basis we grew and prospered. When the omissions in our system had brought upon us the penalties that follow disobedience, our economists and lawmakers took steps to offset the adverse effects. But, working from false premises, they have aggravated, rather than diminished, our difficulties.
Some of our lawmakers, economists, and jurists have, in seeking remedies for our national ills, taken their cues from the Communist-Socialist ideology, the very antithesis of Divine law. This action has resulted in more, not less, economic and social distress, for in so doing we have violated more of God's laws and thereby increased our national sins. For the transgression of the law is sin. I John 3:4.
The penalties for all these transgressions are debt, poverty, crime, social unrest, youth rebellion, and all the other problems we face. These fall naturally on us because we have violated natural laws. They become the "rod of God" and are intended to bring us to the realization that only His law and system will bring the "American Dream" to fruition.
WHAT OTHERS SAY.
Robert Collier, in "The Covenant Law" says, "The Divine law is a perfect formula for national and world government, and, if followed, would bring happiness, peace and prosperity for all. It was planned to meet the emergencies of all time for all people.
"The despair and suffering of man, the intolerance and injustices now rampant are the net result of the abrogation of the Sinai Code by man, who in his ego thought he could form a government and economic system superior to that created in Divine wisdom. Politicians and churchmen are equally guilty in their attempt to thrust the Commandments, Statutes and Judgments into the musty archives of empty churches. They cannot succeed for the Divine law is immutable.
"Until man realizes that the Divine laws are the only workable set of laws for the welfare of mankind, and returns them to their rightful place as the law of the land, man will continue to suffer, and God will continue to scourge him as a violator of the Supreme Law.
"The whole law, including the financial, economic and criminal laws, stem from the Ten Commandments. And what are the Ten Commandments? How many who teach them are capable of unfolding the full significance of each command to the students they instruct?
"Usually they are taught to be committed to memory as verbatim statements with the mechanical indifference that children are taught the alphabet and multiplication table. Even among the elders and clergy most are better able to explain the degrees of their particular lodge or order than to explain the Code of Sinai. Yet never were laws created so important to our way of life. The foremost judicial minds in history have never succeeded in forming a set of laws that contain a particle of the instructive potence we find recorded in the Ten Commandments.
"By reading the last four books of Moses wherein the Ten Commandments are discussed and defined, you can readily see that the Divine law deals definitely with principles and their expression. As Dr. Goard states, 'Nothing can be taken away without destroying their universality of expression.'
C. R. Dickey, in "One Man's Destiny," says, "They are as universal and inescapable as the law of gravitation, or the ebb and flow of the tide."
Peddie, the eminent economist, said he had been informed from his youth that the Divine law was not applicable to the ways of our modern civilization, but after studying divine law for twenty years, he realized that they are the only laws that can economically redeem the country from the chaotic state into which it has gotten itself.
Blackstone, who was probably the most eminent judicial mind among men, had this to say about the Divine law, "A command concerns primarily a single prescribed requirement; that is, it calls for either definite action or inaction on the part of those to whom the command is directed. Consequently, disobedience to any one of the Divine Commandments throws the whole structure of national life out of harmony with universal law.
"This law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this; and such as are valid derive all their force and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."
Chapter 3. The God-Given Constitution.
Most great documents begin with a preamble, which identifies the principals and sets forth the base of authority upon which the ensuing declarations rest. The American Declaration of Independence begins, 'In Congress July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America." Here Congress is identified as the principal, deriving its authority from the Thirteen United States of America, who elected the Congress and gave it authority to act in behalf of the states.
The Constitution of the United States begins, "We, the People of the United States." In this instance the People of the United States are both the principal and the base of authority for the ensuing declarations, as was affirmed by their ratification and adoption of the Constitution after it was written by their elected delegates.
The dictionary defines "constitution" as "the fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed; the fundamental, or organic, law of the nation." Therefore, by definition, any and all statutes, laws, and ordinances should be based on, and comply with, the basic precepts stated in the constitution.
Jehovah, the Almighty and Eternal God, the Creator of all things, formulated a national constitution and presented it to ancient Israel, as His model nation, to live by and to be displayed before the nations of the world that they might see the benefits of liberty, peace, health, and prosperity that follow obedience to that great document. The precepts contained in that constitution were not new at that time but were known by man from the time of Adam. However, they were not set forth in legal code until God did so at Mount Sinai.
JEHOVAH'S ELECTION CAMPAIGN.
First let us quickly review the events that led to the giving of God's great constitution. The Israelites, though in bondage in Egypt for many years, certainly knew God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They saw the power of Jehovah demonstrated in His deliverance of them from Egypt and experienced His care for them during their three months' march to Mt. Sinai. He spoke these words to them by the mouth of His prophet Moses: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for the earth is Mine: and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (Ex. 19:4-6).
These words of Jehovah are the preamble of the constitution He gave to ancient Israel. Since there is no higher authority than Jehovah, He is both the principal and the base of authority of both the Constitution and all the laws and statutes based upon it.
We have seen here the Eternal, Almighty God, who could easily have forced His will on them, saying in effect, "Look! The entire world is Mine; I can make or break any nation or people on earth; but I chose to deliver you from slavery and make you a free people. Now if you will obey Me—that is, make Me your King—I will make of you a kingdom of princes and ministers; a people of liberty wherein no man is too low-born to reach high national office. You will be a nation set apart, different from any other people on earth."
Politicians in our land today seem to take Him at His word in that candidates from all walks of life aspire to offices of authority. They also follow the pattern set by Jehovah in His campaign to become ancient Israel's King.
Also in the preamble, Jehovah recounted the great national service He had rendered and then made them political promises. It was probably the shortest political campaign speech in history. The people thereupon elected Him their King by the greatest possible landslide—unanimously, for All the people answered together and said, All that the LORD has spoken will we do (Ex. 19:8).
RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT.
Jehovah was then in a position, by the vote and consent of the people, to become an absolute monarch over them, but instead He gave them a written constitution. Where a written constitution exists, the people and all members of the government, including the king, are subject to it and to the ensuing statutes and laws based on that constitution. Jehovah has so honored His own constitution that He has never broken any of His own laws.
Immediately after presenting the constitution to Israel, Jehovah handed down a number of statutes and judgments to demonstrate the practicality of the constitution and the justice and mercy contained therein and give a foreview of the benefits to the people and nation, if obeyed. The people then reaffirmed the election of their King and lawgiver by the ratification of the constitution and a pledge of loyalty to the King. And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD [the King] has said will we do (Ex. 24:3).
PRIME MINISTER ELECTED.
The people did make one stipulation, which Jehovah accepted. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. The power and glory of God was, and is, so great and magnificent as to strike fear in the hearts of mortal men. By their words they actually elected Moses to be their prime minister, to which office Jehovah had already appointed him when He called him to lead the people out of Egypt.
So at this point our ancient forefathers had a King, a prime minister, a constitution, and some of their statutes and judgments. The All-Wise King was to give them the rest of the required statutes, judgments, and regulations as fast as they could be recorded and put into operation.
That the constitution, laws, statutes, and judgments God gave at Mt. Sinai were to be an everlasting covenant is proven by Jehovah's words in Numbers 35:29, So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Jehovah thus also inferred that Israel should be a nation, or nations, in lands other than Palestine. He further told Israel that the days would come when they would cease to live by their constitution and laws and that they would therefore be scattered among the nations. Then He said to them, But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shall be obedient unto His voice; [For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;] He will not forsake thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them. (Deut. 4:29-31).
With these words Jehovah reaffirmed the covenant of law__i.e., the constitution and laws—even to the latter days; that is, to our present time. Jesus, Who was Jehovah veiled in a body of flesh, also told us in Matthew 5:17-19 that He did not come to destroy the law, but rather that not one jot nor tittle of the law should pass away while heaven and earth stand.
His statement is only reasonable inasmuch as Divine law is the extension of natural laws, and both operate on the principles of cause and effect. It is therefore a viable system for any nation who will adopt it and be governed by it.
JESUS CONFIRMED THE CONSTITUTION.
Jesus made reference to the national constitution in Matthew 22:37-40. He summed it up in two basic commands, or articles—Thou shah love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shah love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Jesus' statement that all the law hangs on those two commandments, which are a summation of the Ten Commandments, Jehovah's constitution, verifies that the Ten Commandments are His national constitution—a constitution being a foundation upon which all laws are based. Ancient Israel's form of government is usually referred to as a Theocracy, Jehovah being, of course, the Supreme civil ruler. Theocracy can take the form of a constitutional monarchy or a constitutional republic, so long as God is recognized as Supreme. Since Jehovah has never resigned, has never been impeached, and has not altered His table of organization, our own United States of America is actually a Theocracy, though it is now consented to by the visible government and the people only by lip service, such as evidenced in the motto on some of our coins, "In God We Trust." Jehovah has not abdicated; He IS ruling over us by His constitution and laws and judgments. That is why we daily suffer the consequences of our violations of His constitution and laws; e.g., inflation, crime, disease, and poverty even in the midst of plenty.
CANNOT BE AMENDED.
The constitution and laws of God cannot be amended, nor any portion repealed. Deuteronomy 4:2 reads, You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish aught from it...
So, regardless of the common teaching of most churches that "we are not under the law," neither the constitution, nor the statutes and judgments, which are all based in the constitution, have ever been repealed, altered, or annulled. The entire body of national law remains in force today in all the many nations that Israel has now become. The ONLY law that has been "put away" is the law for righteousness (Rom. 10:4), which was the law that was added because of transgression (of the commandments, statutes, and judgments) till the coming of the Heir to Whom the promises were made (Gal. 3:17-19). This law refers only to the laws of animal sacrifice and the accompanying rituals and ceremonial laws, which were in force until the coming of the Heir, Jesus Christ.
Of course, the Ten Commandments are usually considered a set of religious or moral laws applying only to individual conduct. While they do apply to the individual, they also apply to the nation, for all the national laws, statutes, and judgments have their basis in them. So now let us consider the Divinely-ordained national constitution, keeping in mind that nothing in this discussion in any way lessens or alters the religious and moral impact of the Ten Commandments.
Let us note that the first four commandments deal with the individual's relationship with God; and, as part of the national constitution, they also refer to a citizen's obligations to his government. The last six deal with a citizen's relationship with his fellow citizens.
ARTICLE I, SECTION I.
THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. Moffatt translates it, YOU SHALL HAVE NO GODS BUT ME.
Inasmuch as Jehovah, Who later came to earth veiled in the flesh of Jesus, was, and is, both God and King, this is both a religious and a national command. One will immediately sense the seriousness of the religious phase of this command upon reading the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy. It is not quoted here because of its length, but it points out that any prophet, preacher, or sorcerer who tries to turn anyone to the worship of any god but Jehovah is to be put to death. The worship of any strange god is so serious an offense that even if a member of one's own family attempts to pervert his faith in Jehovah, he must denounce the offending one to death.
By allowing such religions as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, witchcraft, astrology, Satanism, etc., to flourish in America, we have nationally transgressed this first and greatest command. We are not to ignore false gods; we are commanded to take positive action against them. This is to be done by the proper authorities and after due process of law, as is brought out in verse 14 of Deuteronomy 13. When convicted, the advocates of such heathenism are to be put to death and their churches burned.
While the Constitution of the United States prohibits Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, that provision was made with the thought in mind that Christianity would be the only religion ever practiced in America. It was made to prevent any one Christian denomination from becoming the "state church." It was not made for the protection of paganism; but it has been perverted until it is now used to suppress some Christian activities and protect atheism and heathenism.
In the national and civil sense, the commandment demands loyalty to the government of the nation. And as King, God IS the government, and our visible national leaders are His anointed ministers. Yes, Jehovah has allowed even those as evil as King Saul to be put into office—yea, He has caused them to be put into office even as a president appoints his cabinet and staff. The more the people ignore and violate God's laws, the more inept or evil will their leaders be. However, Jehovah does expect us to respect the office and the position. This is why one of the statutes based in this first commandment reads, You must not revile God [your King], nor curse a ruler of your people (Ex. 22:28).
The first commandment demands loyalty to the nation, and the judgment calls for the death penalty for the crimes of treason, espionage, etc. The Civil War was fought in obedience to the statute and judgment under this command; that is, to preserve the Union. Anyone who recites the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag is affirming the first commandment. The act of showing respect for the national ensign, either by military or civilian salute, is in obedience to the first commandment. Those who refuse to take loyalty oaths are in disobedience to the first commandment. All laws demanding loyalty to the nation have their base in Article I, Section I of God's national constitution.
ARTICLE I, SECTION II.
YOU MUST NOT CARVE AN IMAGE FOR YOURSELF IN THE SHAPE OF ANYTHING THAT IS IN THE HEAVENS ABOVE, OR THAT IS ON THE EARTH BELOW, OR THAT IS IN THE WATERS UNDER THE EARTH; YOU MUST NOT PAY HOMAGE TO THEM, NOR SERVE THEM; FOR I, THE LORD YOUR GOD, AM A JEALOUS GOD, PUNISHING CHILDREN FOR THE SINS OF THEIR FATHERS, TO THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION OF THOSE WHO HATE ME, BUT SHOWING KINDNESS TO THE THOUSANDTH GENERATION OF THOSE WHO LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS (Smith and Goodspeed ).
In the civil and political application, this commandment forbids imitations of, or substitutions for, the King and His table of organization. It also prohibits an economic system that forces men to place as top priority the making of money.
This commandment was violated when Israel said to Samuel, Make us a king to judge us like all the nations (I Sam. 8:5). They requested a king in place of Jehovah, a substitution for Him; and they wanted to be like the other nations instead of being the set apart nation.
It also forbids amendments to the constitution, or any change in the statutes and judgments, for amendments or changes would be substitutions for that which the All-Wise King has ordained. The representatives of the people, in Congress or state legislatures, are not there to legislate new laws but rather to apply God's law to changing times and conditions. All necessary legal precedents for applying God's laws today can be found in the Biblical record.
This second commandment prohibits the importation or adoption of foreign cultures, ideologies, or political or economic systems. It also prohibits pseudo governments, such as the various "liberation armies" or movements that have proliferated during the last three decades, or any organization that has "laws" contravening the national laws. Obedience to this commandment would outlaw the United Nations and also curtail the lawmaking power of government bureaus and the courts.
This commandment makes sedition (rebellion against constitutional authority) a crime, an example of which is given in the 16th and 17th chapters of Numbers. In that instance Jehovah moved directly against the seditious Korah and his followers to show the seriousness of the crime and set a legal precedent. The book of Jude in the New Testament also discusses the crime of sedition. This command, by the way, does not prohibit political subdivisions of the nation, as into states, counties, etc., as long as they are constitutionally and legally established.
Jehovah is jealous for His chosen nation (she is also His wife), and He punishes the children for the transgressions of the fathers. For example, based on the divine constitution is the statute forbidding the taking of usury. Banks, which live and thrive on usury, were first chartered hi the United States in 1791. The business of usury-taking, along with the neglect of the seventh-year release, has saddled the present generation with run-away inflation and an unpayable debt—and both grow every day. Truly, the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations. Another example of children suffering for the sins of their fathers is found in physically deformed or diseased children born of parents who have contracted venereal diseases as a result of transgression of the commandment that forbids adulterous, sexual relations.
ARTICLE I, SECTION III.
THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN; FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKES HIS NAME IN VAIN.
This commandment includes such things as false claims to citizenship in the nation, impersonating any officer of the law, or falsely claiming to be a representative of the government or of one of its agencies, unlawful search and seizure, false arrest, falsely taking an oath or vow, perjury under oath, misrepresentation of any law or regulation of the government, obstruction of justice, and lying.
ARTICLE I, SECTION IV.
REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY. SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR, AND DO ALL THY WORK; BUT THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD: IN IT THOU SHALT NOT DO ANY WORK, THOU, NOR THY SON, NOR THY DAUGHTER, THY MANSERVANT, NOR THY MAIDSERVANT, NOR THY CATTLE, NOR ANY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES: FOR IN SIX DAYS [ages—Fenton] THE LORD MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS, AND RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY: WHEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH DAY AND HALLOWED IT.
Let us note that six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work is as surely a part of this commandment as is the command to rest on the seventh day. This eliminates loafers and freeloaders and is the basis for he who will not work shall not eat, for there is always work to be done. It also places responsibility on each person, not only for himself, but also for the well-being of his family, his neighbor, and his country. It leaves no room for non-involvement and is the basis for the requirement that all able-bodied welfare recipients work to stay on the welfare rolls. It would also be a big step in solving the illegal alien problem since the work would be done by our own people.
The reason given for the Sabbath in Exodus 20:11 rests on the creation week, but Deuteronomy 5:15 gives the deliverance from Egyptian bondage as the basis for it. As it was prophesied that Israel would not always remember Egypt, I believe the Sabbath should now be a day of thanksgiving to God for having established us in this great North American Continent—a weekly national memorial of thanksgiving to God.
Jesus said, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. One day of rest in seven is a physical requirement for man and beast. It is also a day of worship and spiritual refreshing, for we read that Jesus attended and taught in the synagogues on the sabbat. He also healed the sick on the sabbat. So by command, and by example, the sabbat must be a day of rest, worship, and good deeds.
The sabbat means far more than rest on the seventh day. Jehovah applied the sabbat principle to years also, making the seventh year a sabbatical year during which there should be no farming so that the land may be refreshed. In Leviticus 26:34 Jehovah named the violation of the seventh-year sabbat as one of the reasons why Israel was taken captive and removed from their land; so we see the sabbat is a serious matter.
By the same seven-year principle all industrial production should cease for that year. Men and animals should have one year of rest in seven. The over-production from six years' labor, both in agriculture and industry, is sufficient to carry over until production is resumed on the eighth year. This not only gives every worker a one-year vacation in seven but solves the problems of surpluses and unemployment while keeping the economy stable. It is also a good anti-inflation measure.
The sabbat year is also the year of release when all debts, both private and public, are to be cancelled. This cancellation of debt keeps the people free—not bound by debt—and prevents a huge build-up of debt from being inherited by the following generation, such as America's astronomical national debt. Surely, the iniquities of the fathers are inherited by the children to the third and fourth generations when we disobey God's laws.
The sabbat principle also applies to the Jubilee year, which occurs after every seventh seven-year period—that is, the fiftieth year. On the 49th year all debts are cancelled as on each seventh year, but on the 50th, or Jubilee, year all land that has been sold (actually leased) during the previous 49 years reverts to the original family who possessed it. In other words, land is not sold in perpetuity but is leased until the year of Jubilee. This year is also the year of family reunions, when every man returns to his family on the old homestead. This year of rest poses no financial or economic problem for either the individual or the nation, for prosperity becomes such that under God's economic plan, both the 49th and 50th years can be vacation years with no need for work. The jubilee will be discussed further in the section on Economics.
As the seventh-day principle of the sabbat applies to years as well as days, we could apply the six-day principle to six years of work with vacation on the seventh year. Such an arrangement would be much better than two weeks every year. However, divine law does provide for three one-week Sabbaths (vacations) during each year.
The day of Pentecost is a type of the jubilee year. Pentecost, meaning "fifty," was a two-day sabbat covering the 49th and 50th days after Passover. It is interesting to note that because of the command to work six days between Sabbaths, every year after Pentecost, the day of the week that the regular sabbat, or seventh day, had been falling on before Pentecost moved up one day from Pentecost on, so that the seventh-day sabbat was not always on the same day throughout the year.
The importance of the sabbat day, sabbat year, and jubilee year looms very large indeed when we see that the observance of them as commanded in the Bible would remove debt and usury from the nation and would truly make America a land of free, happy, prosperous people with full employment, no debt, no recessions, no inflation, and a minimum of crime. In short, it would bring in the full realization of "The American Dream."
ARTICLE II, SECTION I.
HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER: THAT THY DAYS MAY BE LONG UPON THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVES THEE.
This is the first of the constitutional provisions that deal with man's relationship with his fellow man. Its prime position in this category is an indication of its importance. It means much more than merely showing respect to one's parents. It affects all phases of human life with many blessings—from harmony in the home to national sovereignty.
As an illustration consider the words of Jesus as recorded in Mark 7:10-12. For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, Who neglects his father or his mother, let him die the death! But you say, If a man shall say to his father or to his mother, All that I possess with which I might help you is Korban—-a gift to God; then you will never again allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus distorting the word of God by your regulation which you have handed down (Fenton). We see here that this fifth commandment requires children to care for their parents when they need it. Neglect to do so is a capital crime.
The question might arise, in view of the fact that God is the head of the government, as to what method holds priority—payment to the government of social-security taxes (a gift to God, or the government, to be used for the care of parents) or direct assistance to the parents. Or are both required? Inasmuch as divine law permits only an income tax of ten percent, it would appear that direct aid is the Divinely-approved method.
Both the Old and New Testaments tie honor towards parents to the proper attitude of the parents. The Apostle Paul, after quoting the commandment, said, And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the LORD (Eph. 6:4). Paul was referring to Deut. 4:5-9, which reads, in the Fenton translation, Attend to me as I teach you the constitutions and decrees which the Ever-Living, my God, commands you to practice when you arrive in the country which you are going to possess, and guard them, and practice them; for they will make you wise and intelligent in the eyes of the peoples who hear all these constitutions, who will say; This is a wise and intelligent people—this great nation! For what nation is so great as to possess gods in its breast, as our Ever-Living is to us in all we ask of Him? And what nation is so great, possessing institutions and decrees like these laws that I put before you today? Only guard yourselves, and guard your lives carefully, from forgetting the events that your eyes have seen, and from turning your heart away all the days of your life; AND TEACH THEM TO YOUR CHILDREN, AND TO YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN (emphasis added).
These verses plainly show that obedience to all the commandments and laws of God, which result in the welfare of the nation and national sovereignty, hinges on obedience to this fifth commandment, which in turn hinges on the teaching of God's laws to the children by the parents. To fail in this duty might well be construed as treason against the nation. What then of schools that do not teach God's laws, or churches that teach against God's laws?
Honor to parents, and respect for the aged, is taught throughout the Bible. Such respect was an honored custom in America, until such self-styled "experts" as Freud and Spock began persuading parents to let their children grow up self-willed and disobedient. Now we see a generation, many of whom have gone beyond measure in rebellion and have inundated the nation in a tidal wave of dishonor and disrespect, with hippies, drugs, ugliness, robbery, rape, murder, lack of patriotism, sexual perversions, and all types of abominations sweeping the country.
The commandment tells us that without honor to parents, national sovereignty is endangered, for it says that your days may be long in the land.
One of the statutes under this constitutional provision is He that smites his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death...and he that curses [lightly esteems] his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death (Ex. 21:15-17). See also the chapter on Capital Punishment.
It would be well for all parents to seriously consider the ramifications of the command to honor parents and their responsibility to bring up their children accordingly.
ARTICLE II, SECTION II.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
Jesus quoted this commandment thus: Thou shalt do no murder (Matt. 19:18). Both Fenton and Moffatt translate it, You shall not murder. However, because it is translated Thou shalt not kill in the translation of the greatest circulation—the King James—many people have erroneously taken a stand against capital punishment and service in the armed forces, although God specifically requires the death penalty for certain crimes and requires our service in fighting His battles.
This sixth commandment is the basis for all the laws and judgments on murder, manslaughter, and other crimes of violence. Under this command the executioner, in cases calling for capital punishment, is declared innocent of murder, for in his capacity as executioner he is an officer of the law (a representative of the LORD, who is the Head of the government) and is obeying God's command that murderers, kidnappers, rapists, homosexuals, adulterers, Satan worshipers, sorcerers, traitors, seditionists, outragers of parents, incorrigibles, and certain others must be put to death. The executioner acts as an officer of the government, i.e., as God's representative, and fulfills Romans 12:19, which says, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the LORD.
Murder is more than just a personal thing. Numbers 35:29,43 (Moffatt) states, This is to be a fixed custom among you for all time and all over the country. [States may not vary this law.] In a case of murder, the murderer must be put to death on the evidence of witnesses; the evidence of a single witness shall not carry a sentence of death. No money payment shall be accepted on behalf of a murderer who has been guilty of wilful murder; he must be put to death without fail. Nor shall any money payment be accepted in order to allow a homicide [one guilty of manslaughter] in sanctuary [city of refuge] to return home before the death of the high priest. [In this judgment the accidental murderer could not return home from his place of refuge until after the high priest of the town had died.] In this way you shall keep your land undefiled, for bloodshed profanes a country, and there is no expiation for a country with bloodshed except by having the blood of the murderer shed.
So murder is a crime against God, and against all the people of the nation, not just against the slain and his family. See further the chapter on Capital Punishment.
ARTICLE II, SECTION III.
THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.
With the creation of Eve, Jehovah established the family as the basic unit of society. It so remains in civilized lands, although it has suffered deterioration under the onslaught of declining morality, the teachings of Kinsey, the Spock doctrine, and the so-called Womens Liberation Movement.
The preservation of the family unit was one of the several reasons for the inclusion of this seventh commandment, for family ties cannot remain strong where marital fidelity is lacking. The decay or dissolution of the family unit contributes immeasurably to all manner of crime in the nation. How very, very often it is reported that some teen-age criminal is from a broken home. A prosperous, healthy nation depends upon a healthy and virtuous family life, for the nation is the composite of its families. History has demonstrated over and over again that when the people turn their backs on decency and morality, the nation declines.
There is a close link between the morality and the health of the people, for immorality takes a heavy toll in disease, deformity, mental retardation, and mental illness. If those well-meaning people and organizations who are looking for a cure for birth defects, and a number of other disabilities, would turn their energy and efforts to teaching the consequences of sexual immorality, their efforts would be better rewarded than in looking for a cure after the sin.
The violation of the command Thou shalt not commit adultery is so serious a crime against the family and against the nation that Jehovah, the King, decreed the death penalty for those who transgress.
This commandment is the basis for all the statutes and judgments concerning marital relationships, homosexuality, incest, rape, inter-racial marriage, and both masculine and feminine hygiene.
The Bible ofttimes does not give reasons for its laws or the mechanics of its operation, but these are many times supplied by common sense and scientific discoveries. For instance, it is widely known that venereal disease is spread by sexual promiscuity. This disease primarily infects the organs of reproduction and causes mutations far more often than does incest. According to genetic scientists, those affected by VD often have a mix-up of genes and chromosomes that result in physical deformities, mental retardation, hydrocephalus, or even violent criminality.
With these inherited diseases and disabilities spreading through the populace, directly or genetically, dealing out suffering and anguish to succeeding generations, it becomes quite apparent why Jehovah considers adultery in all its forms a capital crime. It affects the health and well-being of the entire nation.
ARTICLE II, SECTION IV. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.
Our God and King definitely blesses and protects private ownership. His laws are such that by diligence, thrift, and obedience to His laws, wealth becomes the rule rather than the exception among his people.
This article of the constitution is the basis for all laws on theft, fraud, embezzlement, cheating, and kidnapping. It also includes arson and vandalism inasmuch as these deprive the rightful owner of the property destroyed. It also covers the moving, or removing, of landmarks or fences. To withhold payment of wages or of a debt or of taxes is to steal, for Malachi 3:8 reads, Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Since the tithe was the national income tax at the time, it stands to reason that to cheat on God's income tax is to rob God, Who is the Supreme official of the government.
This commandment is also the basis for the statutes calling for just weights and measures. Leviticus 19:35-36 reads, Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall you have...
The penalties under the statutes and judgments for stealing range from restoration of the stolen goods plus one fifth to death. See further the chapters on Capital Punishment and Punishment to Fit the Crime.
ARTICLE II, SECTION V.
THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR.
This ninth commandment not only is the basis for the laws on perjury but includes misrepresentation of any property in the market places, such as, any land or livestock that is offered for sale, lease, or loan. It could even apply to a disdainful shrug of the shoulder or sly grin at the mention of a good neighbor's name.
It is the basis for grand juries and for trial by jury. It includes the requirement of two or three witnesses for the conviction of an accused person. In order for this provision to be enforced properly in court proceedings, it may be beneficial to have each witness testify and be cross-examined separately and away from the hearing of other witnesses. Such a procedure would make collaboration on false testimony virtually impossible and would facilitate detection of false testimony.
One of the judgments under this command is found in Deuteronomy 19:18-19, If the witness be a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; then ye shall do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shall you put away the evil from you. If his testimony would have convicted someone of a capital crime, then the perjured witness must be put to death for his false testimony. Severe? Yes, but effective.
ARTICLE II, SECTION VI.
THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE, THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE, NOR HIS MANSERVANT, NOR HIS MAIDSERVANT, NOR HIS OX, NOR HIS ASS, NOR ANYTHING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOR'S.
This is a very broad, almost a catch-all, provision. The dictionary defines "covet" as "to desire inordinately or without due regard to the rights of others."
A little analytical thought will reveal that all crimes and sins have their roots in covetousness. The original sin of the white race in the Garden of Eden was prompted by covetousness. After Nachash, the wily one (translated serpent in the King James version), told Eve that the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden was DESIRED to make one wise, she ate of it. She coveted the wisdom promised by Nachash, even to the point of risking death—which it did bring.
This provision is the basis for laws prohibiting monopolies, chain stores, conglomerates, vertical integration of industries, private exploitation of natural resources, etc. It is the basis for the laws on land ownership, statutes of limitation, mortgages, redemption, wages, lawsuits, liability, and many others. It is the basis for the statute prohibiting the charging of interest, or usury, as the two terms are synonymous. So this commandment requires the government to institute and maintain a money system under which the charging of interest by any bank—including, of course, the Federal Reserve System—institution, business or individual is a high crime punishable according to the laws on stealing. Taking interest on a loan is just as much robbery as is the taking of money at gun point.
In spite of our disobedience, Jehovah is still reigning over us. His constitution and laws are still in operation. Every person in the many nations Israel has now become is suffering at least some of the penalties for the general disobedience to them, and even then those laws are still ignored by almost every person in the land. Our disobedience to Jehovah's statements of principle is the root of all our troubles and remains the number one problem in the nation and in the world today.
Chapter 4. Government Organization And Policy.
No society can long endure without organization and rules of conduct. Therefore, Jehovah, the Almighty God, set up a table of organization by which ancient Israel, if they obeyed His laws, would become God's showcase nation in the world.
GOD THE LAWMAKER.
God's law requires that He must be the Lawmaker and the Chief Executive; but since the glory of His presence struck fear into the hearts of the people, He granted their request to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us lest we die.
Thus began a system of judges, which lasted 400 years. Those judged were elected not for any certain length of time but headed the nation until their death, or until they lost the confidence of the people and were replaced by another. This system was the forerunner of the British system of election and replacement of prime ministers. In fact, the British system was foretold in prophecy. Isaiah 1:26 states, And I will restore thy judges as at first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. No doubt counselors refers to Parliament, and also to our Congress.
A THEOCRACY.
The judges of ancient Israel acknowledged Jehovah as their Supreme Ruler and themselves as His ministers. Then after He permitted the nation to have a king. He was still recognized as the Supreme Ruler of the nation. The throne of the king was often referred to as the throne of the LORD. I Chronicles 29:23 states, Then Solomon sat upon the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father. Those ancient kings knew they were ministers of God and were directly responsible to Him for their deeds.
ONLY GOD'S LAWS.
The king did not make law, for Deuteronomy 4:2 reads, You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish aught from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God. The king, his ministers, and his staff administered the laws God had given. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 sets down the rules for the visible chief executive of the nation, which should also apply to our chief executive:
When you shall come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it and dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as alt the nations that are about me; You shall in any wise set a king over you whom the LORD your God shall choose; one from among your brethren you shall set king over you; it is unlawful for you to set a foreigner over you, who is not from among your brethren. But he shall not multiply horses to himself... Neither shall he multiply wives to himself...neither shall he multiply to himself silver and gold. And when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests and the Levites; and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these commandments to do them; that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandments, neither to the right hand nor to the left; so that he may prolong his days in the kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
GOD'S MINISTERS.
We are told in Hosea 1:11 that we would have an elected president in these latter days. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint [elect] themselves one head.
Divine law also calls for a congress. Numbers 11:16-17 states, And the LORD said to Moses, gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, who you know to be elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tabernacle of the congregation [the national capitol], that they may stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon you, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you bear it not yourself alone.
God's Spirit came upon those seventy, and they became the congress of ancient Israel, which was God's model nation. So, as we know that the United States is God's modern Israel, then our Congressmen are also ministers of God, even though neither they nor their constituents realize that fact.
One might question the need of a congress inasmuch as the laws have already been established and cannot be changed. Yet there is still plenty of work for a congress to do. The national budget must be voted on; provision made for national defense, revenue sharing, and welfare programs; and the application of the law to changing times and conditions worked out so as not to change the law or the spirit behind it.
A JUDICIAL SYSTEM, TOO.
Provision is made for state and local governments and a judicial system, with courts, appeals courts, and a Supreme Court. State and local officials and judges are elected. Deuteronomy 1:13-17 records their first election and swearing into office by Moses:
Choose capable, intelligent, and experienced men from each of your tribes [states], and I will make them your chieftains... So I took your capable and experienced men, and I set them as chieftains over you, as captains of divisions of a thousand, of a hundred, of fifty, and often, and as judges for your various tribes. [This provision guarantees a republican form of government for the states.] Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your fellow-countrymen, and judge aright between a man and his fellow, or the resident alien. You must never show partiality in a case; you must hear high and low alike, standing in fear of no man; for the judgment is God's. Any case that is too hard for you, you must bring to me and I will hear it. (Smith & Goodspeed translation)
JUDGES' POWER LIMITED.
That charge does not give much leeway to judges in the sentences meted out, for it says the judgment is God's. This means they must judge according to divine law, and we find that most judgments, or sentences, have already been decreed by the Almighty. However, in America, the judges have too much leeway in determining the sentence and do not rely upon God's predetermined judgments.
Divine law states that judges, and other public officials, are to be able men, such as fear [reverence] God, men of truth, hating covetousness (Ex. 18:21). In some parts of early America, a confession of Christian faith was a requirement for election or appointment to public office. This is why America produced so many statesmen in its beginnings. Now, with the changed attitude and lowered standards engendered by the fallacious theory of separation of church and state, a confession of Christian faith now seems to be a detriment to an office seeker.
The tables of organization and systems of government of all western, Christian nations follow God's pattern quite well with one big exception—they make their own laws and thus become democratic republics or monarchies rather than Theocracies. To align with God's system, America needs a blanket repeal of all her laws, and the institution of the Divine law, in toto, as the law of the land.
This would mean, among other things, that the government would no longer meddle in the economy nor regulate business and agriculture more than the basic guidelines given in divine law. It would also mean that the responsibility for the education of our children would revert from the government to churches, as it was in early America. That is where God placed that responsibility. A look at the mess our schools are in today should tell us why.
There are three other omissions in our Constitution and system that account for the major share of our social and economic difficulties today—(1) the failure to prohibit the usury charge, (2) the failure to set the tax base and rate, (3) the failure to prohibit slavery. This listing is not necessarily in the order of importance.
Our present social plight, with discrimination, busing, welfare, et al, is perhaps the most damaging consequence of the slavery debacle. Since the Negro is no asset to our country, but rather a burden to us and to himself—a thorn in our sides—our government should negotiate with African nations for his return to Africa. Then a major share of our foreign aid should be used to assist in the assimilation of the immigrants from America. There are enough educated among them to be a big asset to any African Negro nation. It appears the whites in Rhodesia and South Africa will be driven out so perhaps an exchange could be worked out—America's Negroes for their whites. It would be a blessing for all concerned.
We should also review all our treaties and alliances with other nations, especially our so-called "detente" with Russia. Divine law permits no military alliances with the heathen, for to ally with them is to invite military defeat or stalemate, as in Korea, Laos, and Vietnam. Those were U.N. and S.E.A.T.O. wars, and we were in violation of God's command by being in them. DIRECT Divine action is promised against our enemies ONLY if we are in obedience to His national laws, which include His injunction against alliances with any nations except Christian-Israelite nations.
NATO, as originally organized, was permissible because all the original members were of Christian-Israelite stock, finally numbering 12. The admission of Turkey, Greece, and Italy added a non-Israel element, which will, in time, give us trouble. Grave questions about their memberships have already arisen. The Anzus Treaty, i.e., U.S.A., Australia, and New Zealand, is within the divine mandate.
Concerning the heathen nations, Exodus 23:32-33 says, Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land; lest they make thee to sin against Me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Our membership in the
United Nations Organization is a wholesale violation of this command.
THE BATTLE-AXE NATION.
Even after God's nation, Israel, had been taken out of the Promised Land, He mandated that they should destroy their enemies, for He said, You are My battle axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms (Jer'. 51:20). This declaration did not mean Israel was to be an aggressor nation after they had reached the land of their final settlement. It did, however, mean that God would use them to punish and realign the heathen nations in their trek from the Caucasus regions to their new land, as is brought out in the chapter "From There to Here." The verse also means they were to stand ready to fight for liberty and for the right.
ARMED FORCES NECESSARY.
Those who oppose military service when the country is at war are actually defying the command of God. The law saying Thou shah not kill refers to murder, not the slaying of God's enemies on the field of battle nor punishment of one guilty of a capital crime.
Not all killing is murder any more than all sexual activity is adultery. According to God's word, it is possible to kill without committing murder. Some forty years after God gave the commandment prohibiting murder, He told Joshua to attack Jericho and Ai and kill every man, woman, and child because of their great wickedness. If, then, all killing were murder, or even immoral, God violated His own commandment and brought His own army into guilt of murder. This thought is too absurd to merit consideration. It is only when we learn to distinguish between commands to the individual and commands to the nation that we eradicate the seeming contradictions in the Bible.
Israel was forced to defend herself even before she had national organization or a properly constituted army. As they were on the march from Egypt to Sinai, they were attacked from the rear by the army of the Amalekites. For this unprovoked attack, God told Moses, The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. The American colonies faced a similar predicament after the Declaration of Independence. The War for Independence was long and hard because the colonies had no organized or properly trained armed forces.
UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING.
God's laws for manning the nation's defenses are stated a number of times in the Bible. The precedent is set in Numbers 1:2-3, which calls for universal military training. Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel...from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel;... number them by their armies. This command from God leaves no room for "selective service" but places every able-bodied man in the armed forces. It also infers a period of training, for an untrained bunch of men is not an army but a mob, which is of very limited usefulness in combat. From this reasoning we deduce that every able-bodied young man in our country should be inducted, at twenty years of age, for a period of military training. The age could be varied a little to fit his training into his educational schedule. Then the standing forces should be recruited from this vast reservoir of trained men. Those not on active duty become members of the state militia, or National Guard. No nation under sane leaders would risk war with a nation so prepared to defend itself. Divine law makes no provision for women to serve in the armed forces. Neither are the Levites (those handling the affairs of state) to serve in the armed forces.
DEFERMENTS.
Jehovah's instructions provide that when the nation mobilizes for war, a newly-wed man or a farmer who has planted but not harvested his first crop or one in the process of building himself a house has a one-year deferment (Deut. 20:5-7). Verse 8 goes on to say, And the officers shall speak unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. Any man would really have to be a coward to step forward before his "buddies" and admit to cowardice. When he returned home, it is likely that his neighbors would paint his house yellow.
CHAPLAINS.
Chaplains are to serve with the armed forces and provide encouragement to the men from the LORD. Deuteronomy 20:2-4 states, And it shall be when you are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, and shall say to them, Hear 0 Israel, you approach this day to battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be you terrified because of them; for the LORD your God is He that goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
Jehovah many times refers to Himself as the LORD of hosts. II Samuel 6:2 says, ...God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts. The word host as used in the Bible means "army," or "warfare." Some translators render LORD of hosts as "God of battles." But it should be noted that God will fight for the nation only when it is in obedience to His laws, or when He sends them to break in pieces the nations as His battle axe and weapons of war.
OBEDIENCE REQUIRED.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 7 reads, And it shall come to pass, if you hearken diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall hearken to the voice of the LORD your God... The LORD shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and shall flee before you seven ways.
It should be noted that all of God's laws operate on the principles of cause and effect and that He need take no immediate nor direct action to bring about the promised results, except in two instances. One is that just quoted—in time of war, He will fight for the nation if it be hi obedience to His laws. The other is His promise of ample rainfall in due season when the nation is observing His laws.
When the nation is in violation of His laws, it shall be as stated in Deuteronomy 28:24-25, And the LORD shall make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven it shall come down upon you, until you be destroyed. The LORD shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies: you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them. A remembrance of the dust bowl of the 1930's and the military debacles of Korea and Vietnam should be ample proof to reasonable men that God does keep His word, and that we have violated it.
RULES OF WAR.
We are commanded to offer peace to an enemy before attacking them. Deuteronomy 20:10-13 reads, When you are come near unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make an answer of peace, and open unto you, then it shall be, that all the people found therein shall be tributary unto you, and they shall serve you. And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it: and when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.
Speaking specifically of these latter days, Deuteronomy 33:27 reads, And He shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say, Destroy them. This leaves no room for politicians' "no win" wars, such as the Vietnam fiasco.
God commands that food supplies and the means of production be not wantonly destroyed in war. Deuteronomy 20:19-20 (Fenton) says, When you besiege a city for a long period, warring with it to capture it, you shall not destroy the fruit trees by assailing them with the axe, for you can feed from them, therefore you shall not cut them down, for the trees of the field sprang from the ground before you came to the siege. However the trees that you know are not trees for food, you may destroy and fell, and build towers with them against the city which is warring with you, until you subdue it.
While the means of warfare has changed to the point that this instruction hardly seems applicable today, it does state a principle that God expects His armies to follow; that is, food supplies and supplies or facilities of non-military importance are not to be destroyed or contaminated if it is possible to save them.
Deuteronomy 20:11 speaks of the people of the defeated enemy becoming tributaries unto thee, which in modern application would mean a gain of territory, as in the Spanish-American War when the United States accepted the Philippine Islands from Spain as the "spoils of war"; or the imposition of reparations payments, as was imposed upon Germany after World War I.
In conclusion, it would seem that the biggest change we need in our military establishment is the manner of recruitment, as is explained on pages 63 and 64 in the sections "Universal Military Training" and "Deferments."
Chapter 5. Citizenship.
Every viable political entity, from township to nation to the kingdom of God, must have citizens. The term "citizen" inherently demands the meeting of certain requirements. The conditions under which citizenship is granted are usually less stringent and demanding in smaller political divisions. A township, city, or county may require of one who is a citizen of the nation, only that he be a resident for thirty days to become a full citizen with the right to vote in local elections or hold local office. A state may require of the same citizen of the nation that he be a resident for one year before being eligible to vote or hold state office. The United States requires one be born in the country or meet the requirements of naturalization. We must expect, therefore, that the standards for citizenship in the kingdom of God be even higher than those that men have set for U.S. citizenship.
As a citizen, one is entitled to certain rights and privileges not accorded an alien or foreigner; e.g., the right to vote and the right to hold public office. A citizen also has certain duties and responsibilities not demanded of the alien or foreigner.
The reasons for standards of citizenship are quite obvious. Most important, of course, is loyalty, or patriotism; for without the loyalty of its citizens, no government or nation can long survive. Loyalty embraces far more than serving in the armed forces in time of war. A loyal citizen is a law-abiding citizen. He knows the history, traditions, national purpose, and religion of his country. He has a working knowledge of the institutions of his government, and he takes part in the processes of government open to him. He is concerned that the laws be just and equitable and that they be administered righteously and without prejudice. He is concerned about the proper utilization and preservation of natural resources. In short, it is important to him that all things work together for good for his country and the people who live in it.
The conditions for citizenship are set by the governing power, be it king, legislature, commission, council, or the people. Therefore, as King of Israel, Jehovah set forth the requirements for citizenship in His nation. Those conditions are therefore carried down to the many nations that Israel has become in the world.
CITIZENSHIP BY RACE.
God called Abraham to father the nation, but He did not admit all of Abraham's descendants to citizenship. After the birth of Ishmael and Isaac, Jehovah told Abraham, In Isaac shall thy seed be called (Gen. 21:12). Of Isaac's two sons, Esau was rejected because he married outside his race; therefore, the blessing of God fell to the lineage of Jacob.
It was these direct-line descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who stood before Mt. Sinai and heard these words of Jehovah: If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6).
After hearing the conditions of citizenship, those descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the first citizens of God's organized kingdom on earth when they took the oath of citizenship with these words, All that the LORD has spoken we will do.
It then follows that all their ethnically pure descendants should be citizens of that nation, and/or one of the MANY NATIONS into which that one nation was later divided, provided they avoided those things which would disqualify them for citizenship. To be sure that any subsequent question concerning citizenship be equitably solved, a strict genealogy was kept of each citizen.
We are told that a mixed multitude left Egypt with Israel, but it is indicated they never became citizens of the nation.
It appears that the people of Judah had no teaching on their national law during their seventy years' captivity in Babylon. However, after their return to Jerusalem, one of their leaders, Nehemiah, instituted the reading of the law to the people. He states, Now it came to pass, when they heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude (Nehemiah 13:3). The mixed multitude were not only denied citizenship, they were deported or, at least, segregated.
Ezra, a leader of the time and a contemporary of Nehemiah, tells us that, upon hearing the law, those Israelites who had married women of other nations separated from them and sent them and their half-breed children back to their own people (Ezra 9 & 10).
ETHNIC PURITY REQUIRED.
Jehovah began to reveal the qualifications for citizenship in the nation He was starting to build when He said to Abraham, This is the covenant which you shall keep, between Myself and you, and your race after you; Circumcise every male of them; and they shall be circumcised in the flesh of the body, for an attestation of the covenant between Myself and them... and it is My covenant in your body as an everlasting bond. But the degraded male who has not become circumcised shall then become separated from My people, because he has broken the covenant. (Gen. 17:10-14).
There are three reasons for circumcision. It was to be a sign in the flesh of the body, a constant reminder to those circumcised that they were God's chosen covenant people with a mission to fulfill in the world. It was also given for the health of both the man, and after marriage, the woman. (See section on Health.) It was also a discouragement to foreigners who might wish to become citizens of the nation for trivial reasons.
Let us note here that circumcision was one of the laws of the ritual and ceremony that were done away in Christ, as is fully explained in the book of Galatians. It has been, for the Christian, replaced by circumcision of the heart. Abraham's son, Ishmael, was rejected from citizenship, even though he was circumcised, because his mother was Egyptian, and Ishmael was, by Bible definition, a bastard; that is, of mixed race. Abraham made sure that his son Isaac would have a Hebrew wife. He sent back to his own people and arranged for Isaac to marry his second cousin.
Because God foreknew what Esau, Isaac's firstborn son, would do, He rejected him before birth for leadership in the family He had chosen as the builders of His kingdom nation. Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob, and married two Hittite wives. This was the real reason for his rejection—his pollution of the race. He finally left the family altogether and fathered the nation of the Edomites.
Jacob went back to his father's people and took a Hebrew wife, his third cousin. Thus was the blood line for God's nation, yet to be organized, kept ethnically pure. God's words to Abraham, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, were being fulfilled.
This discussion should demonstrate the importance God places on racial purity for the citizens of His kingdom on earth—not for personal salvation, for concerning that aspect, He has said, Whosoever will may come.
After the Israelites left Egypt and came to Mt. Sinai, they elected Jehovah their King, and He gave them their national constitution and their statutes and judgments. Among these were the laws for citizenship in the nation, as well as the disqualifications.
NATIONAL MISFITS.
Before God's model nation entered and took the land of Canaan, present-day Palestine, Jehovah instructed them to kill or drive out all the inhabitants of the land. Numbers 33:55 tells us, But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which you let remain shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell.
Again in Deuteronomy 7:^-4, we read, When the LORD your God [and King] shall bring you into the land whither you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you... And when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you; you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them: neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son. For they will turn away your son from following Me, that they may serve other gods. In America, this was done partially, though unwittingly, with the Indians. Those not killed were forced into reservations.
Granting citizenship to the heathen would be an undermining of loyalty to the King and the nation—a bringing in of foreign ideology that would destroy both the national religion and national purpose. (We can see this happening in America today.)
TEN GENERATIONS.
Our Divine Lawgiver has said of other peoples that they shall not enter the congregation of Israel (become citizens) for ten generations.
Inasmuch as some confusion exists as to what constitutes the congregation of Israel, or as it is sometimes referred to in the Bible, the congregation of the LORD, let us refer to Numbers 1:2-4 for explanation.
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war. This statement makes it plain that the congregation of Israel was made up of the male citizens who had reached their majority, i.e., twenty years of age and upward. Their families were citizens by virtue of their relationship to the male citizens. By this, then, we may deduce that anyone who is forbidden to enter the congregation of Israel is denied citizenship in the nation. It also follows that any who are cut off from among his people have lost their citizenship. As we study the Divine law, we find loss of citizenship to be the penalty for the commission of certain crimes.
Even some native-born persons are denied citizenship hi the nation. The 23rd chapter of Deuteronomy provides an example, A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. In this verse the Hebrew word "mamzer" is translated bastard. "Mamzer" means "spurious," or "mixed," and so refers to mixed race rather than to the common American meaning of "born of parents who are not married to each other."
FOR US, TOO.
What do all these statutes of old have to do with us today in the United States of America? In Romans 15:4, the Apostle Paul states, For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. He also tells us in I Corinthians 10:11 that those things that happened to our ancient forefathers are recorded as examples to us that we might have a guide to avoid the troubles they experienced and know how to disentangle ourselves if we have already become involved.
Only a small portion of the wealth of Biblical information on citizenship has been tapped, but it should be sufficient to reveal our errors, as well as God's will for their correction, that we may, as a nation, go on to fulfill those things for which we are destined. So let us see what these things...written aforetime mean when applied to our nation.
Jehovah told our ancient forefathers that, because of their disregard of His laws, they would be scattered among all nations, and later regathered. This they were, but He sent the bulk of them to northwest Europe and the British Isles. From those lands came the early settlers of America. They here formed the nation the prophets had foretold to be Christ's kingdom nation at His return to earth.
SEPARATION TO COME.
Jesus, in speaking of the early stages of American settlement and growth, gave the parable of the wheat and tares. He was telling us that some of the people who were to come here would not be of white Israelite (Anglo-Saxon) stock. Our nation has been called "the melting pot," and the unlearned have used this phrase as an excuse to admit to full citizenship many whom the Almighty does not grant citizenship. It is true that our people came from many nations, but the EARLY settlers were almost all from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Germany, the Low Countries and France—all of Israelitish stock.
The big migrations took place from about 1880 until 1920, followed by waves of immigrants after both World Wars. Not many came from southern and eastern Europe until the hordes of political refugees flocked here at the close of World War II. Though many of them were from pockets of Israelites who had settled in those countries as Israel migrated from the region of the Caucasus Mountains to northwestern Europe, others were of non-Israelite descent. This occurrence was in accord with Jesus' parable of the net cast into the sea, which caught many fish, both good and bad. But He said the bad would be cast away (deported). The time of the casting away of the bad seems not yet to have come. The Almighty God will initiate the casting away in accordance with His plan of the Ages.
Jesus spoke again of the deportation of undesirables in the 8th, 22nd, and 25th chapters of Matthew. He said they will be cast into outer darkness and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus was no doubt referring to the time of which Isaiah 13:14-16 speaks, They shall turn every man to his own people [minority polarization], and flee every one into his own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
We are not told just what shall bring about the anger that will result in the above, but anger is building in the American people. Far better that the misplaced Africans and other aliens should leave our shores before the calamity falls upon them.
HYPHENATED AMERICANS.
Using the laws of God and the precedents set in the history of ancient Israel as a basis, we can determine what the policies of citizenship and the holding of public office should be in all the nations that Israel has become—and in particular in our own United States of America.
We find that when the United States became a nation, the Divine law recognized only the Anglo-Saxons and related peoples as citizens. Their children became citizens by right of birth. No non-whites, including Negroes when freed from slavery, should ever have become citizens after the nation was organized.
A portion of Divine law was observed for many years in that marriages of whites to non-whites were illegal in America. Those bars have now been removed, to our shame. Divine law denies citizenship for ten generations to the offspring of inter-racial marriages. If the offspring of mixed marriages always married whites, it would mean that they could become citizens only when the non-white blood were reduced to one part in 1,024.
The United States became a nation with a functioning government in 1788 when the ninth of the thirteen states ratified the Constitution. If a Bible generation is forty years, for instance, then ten generations would not be fulfilled until the year 2188.
One of the reasons for the ten-generation law is vividly demonstrated by the disinclination of those of other races or racial mixtures to Americanize. They become "hyphenated" Americans, i.e., of divided loyalty, calling themselves Black Americans, Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, etc. They continue to practice the religions, national customs, national holidays, and cultures of the lands they have left, even after several generations in America. Even the Negroes, as long as they have been in America, are now demanding school studies on African culture, showing they are even less Americanized than they were 100 years ago. Many Mexicans, and others from Latin American countries, cannot speak English even after three or four generations in the United States and are now demanding bilingual education in our schools. So many of these non-whites have become pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides.
Deuteronomy 23:7 tells us that immigrants from related countries may become citizens in their third generation. Those related countries have been designated above.
Of course, non-citizens may not hold public office nor vote in any election. Deuteronomy 17:15 says, You are not permitted to appoint [elect] a foreigner over yourselves, a man who is not your brother. If we in the United States of America (the United Tribes of Israel) were obeying God's laws, there would be no Negroes, Chinese, Jews, Mexicans, nor persons from any of the so-called minorities holding public office, either elective or appointive, in America. There would have been no first generation Russian-Jew (Goldberg) sitting on our Supreme Court to help shred our Constitution. Nor would there have been a wandering German-Jew (Kissinger) in charge of our foreign affairs. There would be no Negro on the Supreme Court, nor any in Congress, nor as mayors of any of our cities. These minorities shall not be heir with Isaac (Gen. 21:10).
PARASITES DESTROY.
If white, Anglo-Saxon America continues to accept and implement the devil's plan of racial integration and intermarriage, along with the adoption of Asian and other colored and mongrel types, the United States will become a nation of bastards. We have mutilated the immigration bars, in defiance of the laws of our God, to the point that our land is being overrun with anti-Americans. That is one big reason for the soaring crime rate, riots, huge welfare rolls, etc. The present policies of racial integration and race mixing are fast bringing about conditions in the U.S. similar to those in the land of Shinar after the great flood. The people were then becoming one big conglomerate race—or is "mess" a better word? This so displeased the LORD that He took positive and dramatic action to change the situation. (See Gen. 11:1-9.)
The Anglo-Saxon backbone of our country is becoming bowed down with the flab of Negroes, Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Vietnamese, etc., etc. So many of them are unproductive and live off the labors of the Anglo-Saxon producers. They unite into "welfare unions" to demand more and more for less and less in return. They also manage to get elected to public office where they lord it over their white providers and vote to tax the producers more and more so the lazy can live better and better. If the trend continues, they will be dictating all policy, and the builders and producers of the nation will be reduced to economic serfdom.
It is easy to see why Jehovah said, You may not set a stranger over you, which is not your brother. Yet we continue to disobey Him and elect Negroes and other non-whites to Congress as well as other offices of authority. Small wonder that the law of the All-Wise God denies citizenship to those who are not Isaac's sons and to their bastard offspring, until they have been resident for ten generations (400 years).
NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES.
Jehovah did, however, recognize that there would be resident aliens among us. He knew the Negro would not be sent back to his homeland after emancipation from slavery. So He extended the full protection of the law to the alien, but at the same time placed him in the position of non-citizen, as was ancient Israel's mixed multitude. The non-citizen is, however, under responsibility to obey the law of the land, as fully set forth in Numbers 15:27-29. You shall have one law... both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourns among them. This provision leaves no room for a policy of special privilege for minority races.
At the same time the LORD'S instructions several times forbid oppression of the foreigner and resident alien. There are several different Hebrew words that have been translated oppress. A study of the contexts seems to bring out the real meanings as "break, bruise, put down, or enslave." This concept is certainly compatible with the instructions Jehovah gave concerning our nation's role of teaching backward nations in these last days of this age.
COME TO LEARN.
It was prophesied that we would (in fact, should) open our schools, colleges, and universities to people of all nations. Isaiah 2:2-3 reads, And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. [God's kingdom nation shall be the leading nation of the world.] And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain [nation] of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his •ways, and we will walk in his paths.
God gave His laws to Israel, our ancient forefathers, and commissioned them (therefore, us) to demonstrate to the nations of the world the boundless benefits that follow the keeping of those laws, and also to teach them the laws of our God that they, too, might benefit from them. Therefore, we must come into obedience to them, for we cannot effectively teach what we ourselves do not obey.
Jesus Christ also gave some insight into the laws of citizenship. He said in John 3:3, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Here, the word see is from the Greek word "eidon," which means "to know, be acquainted." Only the born again—that is, those truly converted to Christianity—can understand God's kingdom on earth.
Jesus went on to say that only the born again can enter the kingdom of God. In order to enter, one must be outside. Therefore, foreigners wishing to enter the kingdom nation and become citizens must be, or become, Christians to do so. This provision leaves no room for the heathen to come into our country and bring their pagan religions.
It is certain Jesus was speaking of the kingdom ON EARTH, rather than a heavenly, for He went on to tell Nicodemus, If you will not believe when I speak to you about things on earth, how will you believe if I speak to you about things in heaven?
All we need do to rid ourselves of the curses that lie heavily upon our land, and to bask in the sunshine of God's full blessing, is to obey all His laws. A logical starting point is His laws on citizenship.
Chapter 6. Health.
Scientists have found, from studying some of the mummies of ancient Egypt, that the Egyptian people suffered many of the same diseases with which modern Americans have to contend.
The Egyptian "cures" for injury or disease were so primitive they were little more than superstition and in many cases would tend to aggravate the disease or injury rather than cure it. Snake bite victims were given "magic water" to drink—water that had been poured over a special idol. Egyptians applied worms' blood and asses' dung to imbedded slivers. Other "drugs" included lizards' blood, ground swine's teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture from pigs' ears, asses' hooves, various animal fats, and excreta from various insects or animals. (From "None of These Diseases" by S. I. McMillen, M.D., quoting from the "Papyrus Ebers," which was published about the time Moses was born in Egypt.)
Any person investigating modern vaccines is struck immediately by their similarity to the medicines of ancient Egypt. Modern vaccines are made from the blood of diseased animals or humans, from duck embryos, from monkeys, from ground animal organs, and other materials foreign to the human body. In the Grecian and Roman Empires, where body cleanliness and sanitation were practiced and vaccinations were unknown, there was little disease. However, wherever sanitation is disregarded or vaccination practiced, disease is rampant.
IMMUNITY VERSUS CURE.
After the Israelites left Egypt under the leadership of Moses, God gave them certain sanitation and health principles, some of which have been "discovered" by medical science in the 19th and 20th centuries, about 3,500 years after they were revealed and commanded by God. Jehovah told ancient Israel, If you will but heed the injunctions of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and observe all His statutes, I will inflict none of the diseases on you which I have inflicted on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, make you immune to them (Ex. 15:26, Smith and Goodspeed).
While the Bible teaches Divine healing and gives many examples of it, we would do well to note that Jesus often told those whom He had healed to go, and sin no more. We should gather from His words that their illness was caused by disobedience to God's health laws. Modern preachers who teach Divine healing and who pray for the sick are, for the most part, so set against "the law" that they fail to teach their people the means God has ordained for immunity to illness. Modern medical scientists, while issuing streams of warnings on diet and health, yet must exert almost all their efforts in trying to "cure" the hordes of sick persons who fill doctors' waiting rooms and hospitals. This in itself is evidence that the problem is being attacked from the wrong quarter.
One doctor was heard to say, "Healthy people don't get sick." The problem is not how to get cured or healed, but how to stay healthy. Obedience to God's laws is His plan for immunity to sickness. It boils down to immunity versus cure.
Let us note that this immunity to sickness is conditioned on obedience to God's laws. At first thought one might be inclined to expect immunity from illness by observing only God's health and sanitation laws; but the admonition includes obedience to all His statutes. So what do the problems of debt, usury, politics, farming practices, morality, crime and social relations have to do with the health of the people of the nation?
THE STRESS OF TRANSGRESSION.
All the problems born of disobedience to Divine laws bring tension and emotional stress—anxiety, anger, worry, irritation, uncertainty, etc. Physicians reported that in 1948 two-thirds of their patients had symptoms caused or aggravated by mental stress. In 1955 the work of a leading authority on stress was described in an article that appeared under the title, "Stress the Cause of All Disease?" Violation of Divine law results in conditions that produce tension and mental stress—worry about money problems, fear of violence and crime, anxiety about unfavorable crop-producing weather, irritation at unjust or stupid measures passed by legislators—the list could be very long.
On the other hand, obedience to Divine laws brings about conditions that eliminate mental stress—money problems become minimal, crime and violence are reduced to a trickle, weather becomes favorable for all crop production, etc. Under such conditions most illness caused by mental stress is non-existent.
CLEANLINESS.
To prevent diseases not directly attributable to mental stress, God's word gives us the principles of sanitation and health, as well as some specific instructions on certain diseases.
The principle of isolation or quarantine is set forth in Leviticus 13:46, All the days wherein the plague [communicable disease] shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
The precedent for medical masks was set in Leviticus 13:45, And he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
The 19th chapter of Numbers contains the principle for cleanliness of body and clothing when dealing with the ill, and for decontamination after contact with the dead or ill or any of the things the sick person has used. This is the basis for the "scrubbing" universally used in hospitals today, and for antiseptics. So we see the washings commanded in God's law are not religious rituals, nor superstition, but rather are they the practical way to decontamination. The instructions in effect say, "You are filthy and contaminated; go take a bath and put on clean clothes."
Cancer of the cervix annually claims the lives of 13,000 American wives, yet this dread disease is almost non-existent among Jewish and Moslem women. Science has found the reason nearly 4,000 years after Jehovah gave Abraham the preventive measure. Jewish and Moslem males are circumcised, and there is no foreskin to harbor the bacteria that causes cancer of the cervix in their wives. Neither do Jewish and Moslem men contract cancer of the penis. See further Leviticus 15.
EAT FOR HEALTH.
It is an accepted axiom that "we are what we eat." It is also a well-known fact that our eating habits cause many of our illnesses and afflictions. This really should not be, for Jehovah has told us which things are good for food and which are not.
In the beginning flesh was not authorized as food for man. Genesis 1:29 tells us, See, I give you all the seed bearing plants that are found all over the earth, and all the trees which have seed-bearing fruit; it shall be yours to eat. Notice that only seed-bearing fruits and herbs were, and are, to be eaten. This leaves out the fungus types, such as mushrooms and mistletoe. This verse also adds weight to the recent discovery that the meat, or kernel, of certain fruit pits are beneficial in the prevention of cancer; viz., Laetrile.
It was only after Adam's fall that flesh became part of the diet of the Adamites. By the time of the Deluge they had been instructed on the clean and unclean animals, for Noah was told to take seven of the clean beasts into the ark, but only two each of the unclean.
The llth chapter of Leviticus tells us which animals, birds, and fishes are good for food. When God created them, He clearly marked both the clean and the unclean so we would have no difficulty in identifying them. Concerning the quadrupeds, we are instructed, Whatsoever parts the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that shall you eat.
SOME "FOODS" KILL.
The text then goes on to give specific examples of those animals that are unfit for food—the camel because even though he chews the cud, he is not cloven-hoofed; the coney, or rabbit, for he chews the cud but is not cloven-hoofed; the hare (translated "kangaroo" by Fenton); and the swine, though he is cloven-hoofed, he does not chew the cud. The text goes on to state, Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcase shall you not touch; they are unclean to you.
Inasmuch as there is a good and logical reason for every provision of Divine law, even though the reason may not be stated in the Bible, we would do well to obey. Ofttimes the reason becomes apparent with a little thought. The rabbit, or coney, is unclean, and unfit for food, because he is subject to a disease called "tularemia," which man can contract by merely handling a diseased rabbit. Squirrels and similar animals are also subject to this disease. The horse, while not himself subject to it, is a carrier of tetanus, or lockjaw.
The swine is a scavenger, as is the buzzard, rat, and hyena. Neither rattle snakes nor strychnine can kill a swine. He also is what he eats; and if man eats him, man becomes what the hog ate. The swine carries at least seventeen parasites, including tapeworm, which are transferable to humans by either handling or consumption of hog meat. The swine's disease most likely to be picked up by man is trichinosis, which is seldom diagnosed as such because the symptoms are similar to better-known diseases; but those who contract it go to the grave painfully, needlessly, and often at an early age.
ABOMINABLE THINGS.
The Creator also marked the things in the water that are good for food. Only those water dwellers with fins and scales are to be eaten by Adamites. Those classed as abominations to man are the clam, oyster, shrimp, crab, lobster, crayfish, octopus, abalone, and any other sea life not having fins and scales. They are scavengers, placed in the waters to keep the waters clean. They are not fit for food, and they undoubtedly account for many of man's ailments.
Forbidden among the winged creatures are the birds of prey, such as the owl, hawk, and eagle; and the scavengers, such as the buzzard, raven, magpie, etc. Those with flat beaks, which feed from the bottom ooze in the waters, such as ducks, geese, and swans, are an abomination and are not to be eaten. The heron, pelican, stork, and other wading birds are unclean for they clean the bottom of lakes and streams. Only those birds that feed on grains, seeds, grasses, and insects are approved of God for food.
Also mentioned as unfit for food are the weasel, mouse, lizard, snake, tortoise (or turtle), and snail. Of course, not all the unclean creatures are mentioned by name, but some in each category are mentioned so that we have a guide plain enough that the eating of abominable things is unexcusable. Those unclean creatures are such hazards to health that Divine law requires that any who even touch their carcasses shall bathe himself and change his clothes.
The unclean creatures also include insects and worms. God is so careful for our health that He commands that if any unclean creature, or its carcass, comes in contact with utensils, dishes, or anything used in the preparation or serving of food that those items be sterilized before using, or be destroyed.
BLOOD AND FAT.
Of the animals that Jehovah has sanctified for food we are commanded not to eat the blood, fat, nor any of the internal organs. This is easily accepted when we consider the functions of the blood and the organs. The blood, while being the life of the creature, also carries the toxins and impurities of the body to the lungs, liver, kidneys, and intestines to be disposed of. The liver acts as a filter to remove the toxins and impurities from the blood and so is always loaded with them. The kidneys feed toxins into the waste water to be purged from the body. While the liver contains iron, and is often recommended as food for sufferers of anemia, yet it does the body of the eater more harm than good. The third chapter of Leviticus tells us that all the innards of food animals should be burned. The fat may be used for non-food purposes. The blood is to be poured on the ground and covered with dirt.
Leviticus 17:13-14 reads, And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunts or catches any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is in the blood thereof: whosoever eats it shall be cut off.
Medical science has at last recognized the harm that comes from the consumption of animal fats. Many millions of our elderly people are disabled by the accumulation of cholesterol (animal fat) in their arteries. This, in turn, often causes strokes and heart attacks, so even though we may not always understand the full reason why God made the dietary laws as He did, we now know enough about it to be assured there are good health reasons for each provision; and those who disobey shall suffer the consequences of ill health and early death, or as God's word puts it, he shall be cut off.
MORALITY COUNTS, TOO.
One of the most important health laws is the seventh commandment, which reads, Thou shalt not commit adultery. The effects of the violation of this command are present all about us. Venereal diseases and their complications and mutations bring untold suffering and death to many of our people. These complications include blindness, arthritis, cancer, impotency, birth defects, mental retardation, deformity, insanity, locomotor ataxia, heart trouble, hemophilia, deafness, and many other afflictions. Some of these, with explanation of "how and why," are discussed further in the section on Capital Crimes.
GOD HAS WARNED US.
God's word many times puts forth the judgment He shall bear his sin or His blood shall be upon him—in other words, "He brought it upon himself." Truly, we do bring our health problems on ourselves by our disregard for God's principles of immunity, which He has given us for our protection. We must learn to recognize that God's laws are statements of principle and that they all operate under the laws of cause and effect. God need take no direct action for the judgment, or consequence, to follow the transgression because it is built in. We must conclude, then, that the steady procession through the doctors' offices and hospitals is due to only one thing—our disregard for Jehovah's health provisions. He has summed it up for us in Deuteronomy 28:58-61.
If you do not take care to practice the whole of the things of this Law, written in this book, and to reverence the glory of this magnificent Revelation of your EVER-LIVING GOD; for the EVER-LIVING will make your own punishments, and the punishments of your posterity, astounding by these great inflictions and diseases, and sicknesses, and prostrations; and will turn upon you all the maladies of the Egyptians which you feared when present with them, —and they shall stick to you;—besides numerous diseases, and many plagues that are not written in the record of this Law. (Fenton)
What a perfect picture of the American people today, including the many new diseases over which medical science puzzles; and all because we have been mesmerized by the church teaching that "We are no longer under God's law."
Chapter 7. Land Laws.
The dictionary defines land as "any of the earth's surface which can be owned as property, and everything annexed to it, whether by nature or by the hand of man."
The Almighty established the right of private ownership of various kinds of property when He gave the Ten Commandments, two of which provide that You shall not steal and You shall not covet your neighbor's ox, nor his ass, nor his house. God has granted man the right to use land and to own those things necessary to make the land produce the things man needs.
LAND CANNOT BE SOLD.
Along with the right to use land, He gave some specific laws concerning possession of land. He said in Leviticus 25:23-24, The land shall not be sold forever [in perpetuity]; for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
Since He has abrogated none of those laws, and since they were given for life and good, it would be of great benefit to our people and nation if they were the law of our land today.
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
When Jehovah said, The land is Mine, He was speaking from His office as Supreme Ruler of the nation; that is, as the government of the nation. Therefore, under Divine law, final title to the land and the natural resources rests in the government. Some may say that such a law or system is communistic inasmuch as that system claims ownership to all means of production, transportation, and communication. The big difference is that God's system assigns land to each family to use as its own, with only the stipulation that it can never be sold but must forever remain in that family's possession. It cannot even be taken for unpaid taxes, for Divine law allows no property tax.
The United States was greatly enlarged by our government with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and other acquisitions of territory. Now, in 1977, much of those vast areas of land are owned by individuals. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened the West to homestead, up to 160 acres for each citizen 21 years or older who resided on the land for five years. Eighty-million acres had been homesteaded by the turn of the century. Lesser amounts were homesteaded during the twentieth century, before the Homestead Act was killed by the 94th Congress (1975-76). While free land is no longer available, the government yet offers some land for sale to individuals; for even now, in 1977, the government still owns approximately one-third of all the land in the United States. Some of it is in national parks, national forests, and wilderness areas.
ASSIGNED TO FAMILIES.
The land of Palestine was divided by lot among the families of ancient Israel. In America land was free for the taking for a time. Later the homestead laws opened virtually the whole West to settlement. Both actions were based on the knowledge that all wealth originates in the land and that all the citizens have a right to share in the national wealth. People use nothing that does not originate in the land, except sunshine, rain, and air.
God, the King, therefore ordained that each family be assigned a portion of land. To avoid a rush to the cities, and to assure that each family would always have a home and a means of making a living, God decreed that the land should never be sold—ownership should forever remain with the family to whom it was first assigned.
INHERITANCE.
To assure that the land always remains in the family, it passes from father to son(s), with daughters inheriting only if there is no son. Numbers 27:8-11 states, If a man die and have no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. And if his father have no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it.
Conditions in America during the depression of the 1930's proved the wisdom of this arrangement that makes every man a home owner with a plot of productive land. As businesses and industries curtailed employment, the livelihood of millions was cut off. But the farmers, and even those with only small plots of ground, were still able to provide food for themselves. Some in the cities helped themselves a great deal by planting gardens in their back yards. Only those who lived in apartments and had no land available were completely helpless. Even some of them rented vacant lots and planted gardens. Others left the cities and went to live with relatives on the farms.
LEASES.
So, because of the great value of land to the people, Jehovah, the King, ordained that farm land is not to be sold in perpetuity but must forever remain in the possession of the family to whom it was first assigned. This does not mean, however, that a man who is unsuited for working the land, either because of his state of health or temperament, must remain on it. It is fully explained in the 25th chapter of Leviticus that he may rent or lease the land to another. But all leases must expire by the Jubilee year, which comes every fiftieth year. At that time all farm land must revert to the direct control of the original family, and they are to have a family reunion on the old homestead. There is good reason for this statute: it prevents any man from depriving his children, or other members of his family, of their inheritance in the land. It assures them they shall always have a home free and clear of debt as well as a means of food production. It preserves the family farm and discourages a rush to the cities.
REDEMPTION.
In case the land is sold—that is, leased until the jubilee—and payment made in advance for the full term, it may still be "redeemed" at any time by the owner or any member of his family, by making a full refund for the unexpired years of the lease to the lessee. This is called the law of redemption. Under no circumstance may any lease run past the jubilee year.
EMINENT DOMAIN.
The law of eminent domain is established by precedent in the Bible. We read in II Samuel 24:18-25 that King David, by the command of God, had need of the threshing floor of Araunah. Even though Araunah offered to give David the ground, David insisted upon making fair payment for it.
PERMANENT PROPERTY LINES.
So that land cannot be stolen or taken by fraud, and so there will be no disputes over property lines, Divine law provides for permanent landmarks. Once established, their removal is forbidden (Deut. 19:14), and Deuteronomy 27:17 says, Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. Permanent landmarks are so important that both Job and Solomon condemned their removal (Job 24:2; Proverbs 22:28; 23:10).
CITY PROPERTY.
As is well known, not all farm boys prefer to stay on the farm. Many move to the cities and make places for themselves in business and industry. The laws on home ownership in the cities differ from the ones pertaining to farmlands in that city property may be bought and sold, with the law of redemption holding for only one year. If the property is not redeemed by the seller, or a member of his family, within one year, it is deeded over in perpetuity to the purchaser and his heirs. Leviticus 25:29-30 explains it, And if a man sell a dwelling in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.
CIVIL SERVANTS.
Public employees are referred to in the Bible as Levites, for the tribe of Levi was assigned the duties of civil servants. Speaking in His office as King of the nation, Jehovah said, Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be Mine. And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation... (Num. 8:14-15). The tabernacle was Jehovah's dwelling place, or the royal palace, as well as the Capitol, the seat of government, so the Levites were appointed to care for government property. Among their many duties was the collection of the national income tax (Num. 18:26).
The Levites therefore had no inheritance in the farmlands (Josh. 14:3-4). They were assigned to communities near their jobs, or houses in the cities where they worked, with a plot of ground outside the housing area or the city for keeping a garden and some livestock. Instructions to this effect are found in Leviticus 25:32-34. Fenton translates it, The houses in the cities of the Levites are their inheritance. They shall always be redeemable to the Levites; but when redeemed it shall be by the Levites, and the purchaser shall quit the house, or the village he has acquired at the Jubilee; for the village homes of the Levites are their inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. But they shall not sell the grazing lands around their villages, for they are a perpetual inheritance for them.
The modern counterparts of the Levites are the public employees, whether of city, county, state, or nation. They are to be paid from public funds and guaranteed living quarters in or near the city of their employment, and also a plot of ground to raise a garden and keep a cow, chickens, and/or horse.
Numbers 8:24-26 gives the age limits for public employees and the rules of their retirement. It reads, in Fenton's translation, The Levites shall do this—from the age of twenty-five and upwards they must serve in the duties of the Hall of Assembly, but at the age of fifty they shall retire from service in those duties; and not serve further, except to superintend their brothers in the Hall of Assembly, to keep guard, but not perform the services. This is how you shall arrange for the Levites who superintend.
HOME SECURITY.
In America a man can sell his home, business, or farm, use the money in any way he sees fit, and thereby deprive his children or other members of his family of any inheritance in it. Or he may lose it by mortgage foreclosure. Or if hard times come on him, it may be sold by the city, county, or state for unpaid property taxes. Divine law protects against all these contingencies by the law of redemption, the law of release, and the law of the jubilee, and by allowing no tax to be levied on land or improvements on land. Divine law does not penalize a man for improving his home, business, or farm. God has provided that every man be a home owner with no fear of the mortgage holder or the tax collector.
When America institutes these righteous land laws, along with God's economic and tax laws, we will see the fulfillment of the American Dream as expressed by the prophet Micah, But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken it (Micah 4:4).
NATURAL RESOURCES.
Random House Dictionary defines land (in law) as, "Any of the earth's surface which can be owned as property, and everything annexed to it, whether by nature or by the hand of man." Land, therefore, includes all the natural resources, which Moses, as God's spokesman, listed as the water, rain, sunshine, sea, oil and minerals in the ground, and forests and other natural growth.
In America too many of these resources have been exploited by private individuals and companies for their own enrichment. Jehovah, speaking as the national Sovereign, therefore as the national government, said, The land is Mine, which would, of course, include all the natural resources. Since, under Divine law, they belong to the government, they should be managed to the benefit of all the people.
Private industry should be amply compensated for its part in making those resources available to the people in usable form, but not to the point of amassing huge fortunes for the exploiters while stripping the land and the sea of God's gift to all the people. Nowhere does Jehovah condone business practices that put a disproportionate share of the national wealth into the hands of a few at the expense of many. The government must so regulate the exploitation of the natural resources that all money above a reasonable profit for both management and labor in developing those resources into usable products for the people goes into the national treasury. America's so-called excess profits tax is a step in that direction. When properly adjusted and administered, this tax will benefit all the people with lowered tax rates, better roads and public buildings, schools, and all government services to the people. Private interests should not own and control natural resources, which belong to all the people.
JUBILEE.
Some of the provisions of the jubilee have been discussed. The law is quoted in Leviticus 25, a portion of which follows: You shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you: and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field [surpluses from previous years]. In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man unto his possession.
Jubilee is defined as "celebration" and has the same root as "jubilation." Since no work, aside from family chores, is to be done that year, it is a year of vacation and celebration.
The question concerning food and other products for this time of vacation and celebration may here arise. More information will be found in the sections on Agriculture and Economics.
Chapter 8. Agriculture.
sabbat OF THE LAND.
Every law of God is for the benefit of man. God is concerned that His people have not only the necessities of life but also luxuries and leisure time to enjoy them.
He therefore states in Exodus 23:10-11, Smith and Goodspeed translation, For six years you may sow your land and gather in its crops, but during the seventh year you must leave it alone and let it lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat of it, and what they leave the wild beasts may eat. You must do the same with your vineyards and olive groves. (The Ferrar Fenton translation says, concerning that seventh year, But in the seventh you shall manure it, and spread it out.)
The instructions given in Leviticus 25:3-7 complement the foregoing verses. For six years you may sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyard and gather in its produce; but during the seventh year there is to be a sabbat of complete rest to the land, a sabbat to the LORD, when you must not sow your field nor prune your vineyard, not even reaping the aftergrowth of your harvest, nor gathering the grapes of your undressed vines, since it is to be a complete rest for the land. The sabbat of the land, in the matter of working it, shall be incumbent on you yourself, your male and female slaves, your hired laborer and your serf, who live with you, and your livestock, while all its produce shall serve as food for the wild beasts that are in the land. (Smith and Goodspeed)
REASONS.
There are several reasons for the sabbat of the land. It serves to feed the land, returning to the soil much of what grows naturally during that year, such as, grasses, legumes, and fruits. The life cycles of many of the crop-destroying pests are broken as a result of letting the land lie idle for one year. Also, other pests are inhibited by a chemical action created by the decaying grasses, legumes, and fruits. Besides being enriched by the grasses, legumes, and fruits, the land is further enriched by the addition of manure and other organic waste materials.
Of course, the first thought that may come to many upon encountering the sabbat principle for the first time is that, should we obey this command of God, we would run short of food, and many would starve before the harvest of the eighth year.
GOD'S ABUNDANCE REVEALED.
The fact of the matter is that if we institute God's sabbat, we will have more food than we now have—and of better quality. Even as a man can accomplish more on a sustained basis working a six-day week rather than a seven-day week, so the land will produce more, working six out of seven years than working seven years in seven.
Most American farmers have learned that without crop rotation the land soon becomes unproductive. Some have learned that the land needs periods of rest to produce its best. A few farmers plant only half their land each year, alternating year by year, and thereby produce more each year on half the land than they did when working all of it each year—and that with only half the labor.
God's word does not explain in detail HOW His laws operate. He does tell us- the results of obedience or disobedience, and He expects us to believe Him. Our own observation and common sense should serve to fill in the details and bring out the added benefits of taking Him at His word.
IT AFFECTS WATER, TOO.
Some areas of the country are experiencing water shortages; the water levels of lakes and storage reservoirs have been falling. The underground water table is diminishing in most areas; wells must be constantly deepened to furnish water for livestock and for crop irrigation. Very little of this water returns to the underground supplies; it is lost by evaporation. Observation of the seventh-year sabbat of the land will conserve billions of gallons of water annually used for irrigation. This saving, added to the regular precipitation, will replenish both the surface and the underground supplies of water.
It is evident, therefore, that to be of full benefit, the sabbat of the land must be kept on ALL the land, over the entire nation, the SAME year. There can be no exceptions.
This seventh-year sabbat of the land is one of the statutes given by God to increase and preserve the productivity of the land. It also assures good growing weather. Whether or not we understand the mechanics of it, God's word promises rainfall in due season if we obey His laws on land use. He tells us in Leviticus 26:2-5, 10, You shall keep My Sabbaths [of the land], and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD. If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely... and you shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
Obedience to God will raise production levels beyond any possibility of famine or want. God said it, and He cannot lie.
ECONOMIC STABILITY.
The seventh-year sabbat of the land stabilizes prices of farm products because the surplus each year goes into storage for use the seventh year and does not depress prices. This surplus ensures food until the harvest on the eighth year. Governmental controls and price supports are not needed; in fact, Jehovah does not permit government to regulate nor interfere in the economy beyond the few simple statutes laid down in the Bible. As these are obeyed, all things are kept fair and in order.
As national and world populations increase, the added food that will be produced by observance of this sabbat of the land statute will have a ready market among the nations friendly to our country.
PENALTIES PROVE GOD'S WORD.
Leviticus 26:43 indicates that the land of Palestine was turned to desert because ancient Israel did not observe this statute. America's "dust bowl" experiences of the 1930's was a direct result of the violation of God's seventh-year-sabbat statute, as was the drought in the grain belt of America in 1976, and the drought in the British Isles and droughts in Europe. These are warnings to us that we cannot violate these natural laws with impunity. Nor does God's law permit us to give or to sell food to God's enemies—the atheistic communist nations.
He takes direct action to cut our food supply if we persist in using His bounty to feed His enemies—for example, the 1976-77 drought in the Wheat lands of the Pacific Northwest and the upper-plains states.
MORE PROOF OF GOD'S WORD.
The promises of God indicate that crops raised according to His instructions will not be damaged nor destroyed by worms and insects, thus eliminating the need for poisonous pesticides, which kill the "good bugs" along with the bad and are causing illness and death of livestock and people. It is probable that the periodic flooding of large areas of farm land is God's way of cleansing the land of the build-up of poisons left by heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Here is an example of what happens when the land sabbat is observed and no poisonous insecticides are applied. Several years ago an acquaintance of mine, in taking a drive in late summer, turned into a long unused and nearly overgrown road along the east side of the Coast Range mountains in northwest Oregon. After about five miles he came upon an old deserted farmstead. The roofs of the house and barn had collapsed; the yard and garden space were overgrown with wild grass and brush. There was an old apple orchard, whose trees were unpruned for years. It had grown high in grass and weeds and had obviously had no care in years. However, the trees were loaded with large red apples. My friend decided to pick some even though he was persuaded in his own mind that, being unsprayed, they were wormy. He was happily surprised to find NOT A WORM in any of them.
It is probable that the chemical action of the rotting fruit on the ground had eliminated the worms, or their pupae, in the ground thus destroying their life cycle. Whatever the mechanics of it, it did prove God's word.
EACH AFTER HIS KIND.
Leviticus 19:19 states, You shall not let your cattle gender with a diverse kind. This verse has reference to crossbreeding with bison, water buffalo, or some other such thing that would produce a creature of poor quality for either beef or milk production.
The text goes on to state, You shall not sow your field with mingled seed. This verse refers to crops that cross-pollinate, thereby spoiling both, such as field corn and pop corn, or pumpkins and squash. Neither would be of a usable quality.
Those who favor, or do not oppose, interracial marriages should take a lesson from this. God opposes mixtures and commands propagation to be each after its kind.
Regarding fruit trees, we read in Leviticus 19:23-25 that the fruit from young trees is not to be picked during the first three years. The fruit from the fourth year, or the money from its sale, goes to the government in the form of a tax. From the fifth year forward the fruit belongs to the farmer.
As regards the harvest, Leviticus 23:22 states, When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap your field to the very corners, nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you must leave them for the poor and the resident alien, since I, the LORD, am your God (Smith and Goodspeed).
JUBILATION.
If we obey God's laws, instead of doing things in our own greedy manner, we shall prosper beyond all that we might hope for; for He who set all things in motion and made the laws under which all nature flourishes provided not only for the one-year vacation every seventh year, but for much more, as shown in Leviticus 25, And you shall number seven Sabbaths of years unto you, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto you forty and nine years. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee [time of jubilation] unto you; and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field [surplus from previous years]. In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man unto his possession.
And the land shall yield her fruit and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: Then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth for three years. And you shall sow the eighth year and yet eat of the old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruit come in you shall eat of the old store.
These verses give us both the 49th and 50th years as Sabbaths, or vacations, and all with no economic worries. Each family owns its own home and has plenty of food in the larder, as well as all other produced goods. The founding fathers of the United States must have believed that the Jubilee goes hand in hand with liberty, for our Liberty Bell bears the following inscription, taken from the Scripture here under discussion: "PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF. Lev. 25:10."
Observance of the seventh-year sabbat of the land will give us increased farm production, while stabilizing the prices the farmer receives for his produce, thus eliminating need for subsidies and price supports. It will assure rain in due season; a plentiful supply of water, both surface and underground; elimination of crop destroying pests without poisonous pesticides; and prosperity that warrants a full-year vacation every seventh year.
Farmers of the midwest have long acknowledged that a farmer can "make out"—that is, stay in business—if he gets one good crop in seven. Imagine his prosperity if he were to get seven good crops in six. That would surely bring jubilation.
Under our present banker-controlled economy, we suffer an economic recession on an average of every seven years, and we suffer a financial crash and depression every fifty years. God's farm and economic laws would change the recession time into a one-year vacation, and the depression time into a two-year time of family reunions, celebrations, and jubilation for the rich blessings of God on His people and their land. Such results come about because all debt is cancelled every seventh (sabbat) year and cannot build up to cause recessions and depressions.
GOD'S PROMISES FAIL NOT.
What of business and industry? Should they also observe the seventh-year sabbat and the jubilee? Yes, the jubilee proclamation includes ALL the inhabitants of the land. With the great productive capacity of industry, along with other factors discussed in the chapter on Economics, it will be seen that if we do things God's way, there will be good reason to "proclaim liberty throughout the land unto ALL the inhabitants thereof."
Part of this liberty is freedom from the tax assessor. Jehovah is concerned that each citizen be secure in his own home, even in his later, unproductive years. To assure that no one loses his home for unpaid taxes, He allows no tax on the land or the improvements. Property tax actually amounts to a fine levied on the industrious and the thrifty. Our God does not sanction this most vicious of all taxes.
There are many who, being fearful and not trustful of God to keep His word, will say it won't work. The logical response to this comment is a question, "How do you know it won't work—have you tried it? Do you know more than God? Will you presume to call Him a liar? '
Of course, the heavenly Father expects us to use our heads on these things. The seventh-year sabbat for agriculture and industry, plucked out of the rest of the Divine law and instituted separately without bringing the money system and the law against usury into conformity, would work hardship and starvation on those who work for wages. Who, under the debt-usury money system, can save enough in six years to vacation the seventh? It is as Blackstone said, "Disobedience to any one of the Divine commandments throws the whole structure of national life out of harmony with universal law."
But with usury eliminated, the prices of commodities would decrease from 25 percent to 50 percent with no drop in wages. With all taxes eliminated, except the ten percent income tax, each citizen could afford a one-year vacation after six years of work—just as most can now afford to rest one day after six days of work.
Chapter 9. Economics.
Many books have been written on the subject of economics, but most of them have managed only to turn a relatively simple subject into a jumble of stupid and contradictory theories, which, like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, lead the people out of the garden of abundance into the desert of penury and debt. Two things are yet to be grasped. The law of the devil works on want—on shortage and poverty—but comes to disaster under abundance. No law known to man, except the law of the LORD, can in any wise cope with abundance. Jesus said, 7 am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The law of the LORD as delivered to Moses, to be passed on to us, does not permit the government to interfere in the economy at all. The economy is, and must be, the free life of the people expressed in material terms. Yet we have an army of legislative and bureaucratic incompetents working daily to devise multifarious laws and regulations on production, manufacture, and distribution that reduce the God-provided abundance to scarcity, with inflated prices and controlled distribution. God was surely speaking of the bankers, politicians, economists, and bureaucrats when He said, They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate... (Isa. 24:5-6).
Almost all their diabolical laws and regulations concerning economy have their roots in, and stem from, the violation of the primary law of true economics; namely, You shall not lend upon usury (Deut. 23:19).
The elimination of this crime from our land would automatically end many other evils. Therefore, this discussion on economics must dwell largely on the money system and its operation.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS.
The American economic system is usually referred to as "capitalism," though it actually began as a system of free enterprise, which still does hold a place in the system now extant.
It is commonly supposed that there are two economic systems; viz., capitalism and socialism. Communism is merely socialism carried to the ultimate, in the same way that anarchy is democracy carried to the ultimate. Actually there are three economic systems—capitalism, socialism, and the free-enterprise system.
The equation of capitalism with free enterprise presupposes that industrial and commercial capital lies in the same bed with, and is subject to the same manipulations as, the funds controlled by the speculators, financial wizards, and money lenders. Actually, industry and commerce, with their operating capital, are better classed with labor, for they together are the producers of the national wealth. Industrial and commercial producers have long since learned that it pays to maintain a working partnership with labor wherein both share in the profits of their joint endeavors.
Free enterprise rests on the accepted principle that man has the right to accumulate possessions and risk what he possesses in investment in industry and business and that competition, as opposed to monopoly, is the lifeblood of the system.
On the other hand, capitalism is the system of private banking interests that issue, control, and manipulate the money of a nation as a commodity; that is, by lending it at interest and thereby realizing huge profits from those manipulations which lead to control and ownership of the assets of the nation.
ECONOMIC BONDAGE.
Debt is economic bondage. Capitalists have encouraged and promoted debt to the point that every American is in economic bondage to the capitalist bankers. Capitalists, by their financial and political manipulations, have taken the medium of exchange from the people and made it their own private commodity. The interest charge is the thieving culprit.
When allowed in any nation, the interest charge leads quickly to the establishment of banks, and other lending institutions. As these grow and prosper, they tend to merge, or affiliate, until they have formed a central bank, which soon gains control of the monetary policies of the country. As a final step the central bank takes over the issue and ownership of all the nation's money. Henceforward, all money in circulation is lent into circulation; and interest is charged on it by its legal owner, the central bank. Such has been the case in the United States. The Federal Reserve System is that central bank.
GOD'S WAY IS BETTER.
God's law says, You shall not take interest from your brothers; interest upon money; interest upon food; interest upon anything that can be lent at interest. You may charge interest to foreigners; but from your countrymen you shall not take interest, so that the Ever-Living God may bless you in every endeavor of your hand (Deut. 23:20-21, Fenton). This verse, without I explaining how it works, definitely tells us that a nation cannot have a sound economy if the interest charge is allowed.
HOW IT ALL STARTED.
So let us start at the beginning. It is not known when and where the system of usury began, but it was well established before 1491 B.C. when Jehovah made known the ideal economic system to His people. He gave it to ancient Israel to record, prove, and pass on to us today. God ordained the free-enterprise system, which is so good it has survived to the present time, despite the crushing burden capitalists have imposed upon it.
Nebuchadnezzar established gold as the basis and backing for money in the sixth century B.C. when he adopted the gold standard and publicized it by setting up the shaft of gold on the plain of Dura in the Babylonian Empire. He compelled all the political, financial, and commercial leaders of the empire to recognize and submit to the system. (See Daniel, Chapter 3.) As this was a gentile system, it would last 2,520 years, or to about 1934-1979. We began to witness its passing in 1934 when gold was taken from the American people.
Gold is a false standard of wealth. Outside its industrial uses, gold is completely non-productive. The actual wealth of a nation lies, not in its gold hoard, but in its natural resources, the productivity of its citizens, and the goods it produces. Therefore, abolition of gold as currency backing is no loss to a nation. When gold backing for currency is required, it limits the prosperity and growth of the people and the nation to the sum of its gold hoard.
HOW IT CAME TO US.
Modern capitalism became firmly established in Europe in the eighteenth century A.D. It was Amschel Mayer Rothschild who said, "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes the laws."
In 1791 the Bank of the United States was chartered for 20 years. The charter expired in 1811, and renewal was refused by Congress. Thomas Jefferson said, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance." The bankers regained their charter in 1816 but continued to have a stormy time until the Civil War.
In 1861 President Lincoln's Administration applied to the money lenders of New York for a loan to carry on the Civil War. The bankers agreed, but required that the interest rate be on a sliding scale from 24 to 36 percent. The President and his Secretary of the Treasury refused the outrageous terms. Congress then issued $450,000,000 of full legal tender greenbacks. It was real constitutional money, but the money lenders would not allow debt-free money to circulate without a fight.
Subsequently the following editorial appeared in the London Times: "If this mischievous financial policy which had its origin in the North American Republic should become endurated (i.e. "hardened") down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debt.
"It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of the world. The brains and wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe."
P. E. Gardner, LL.B., stated in his book "Our Money System," "The same old money changers from London Town, of the Bank of England, the Rothschild boys themselves, the same crowd that helped Alexander Hamilton get his first 'Bank of the United States' into action, got busy and a document called the 'Hazard Circular' was distributed among the banking fraternity of America."
"THE HAZARD CIRCULAR".
"Slavery is likely to be abolished by the war power, and chattel slavery abolished. This I and my European friends are in favor of, for slavery is but the owning of labor and carries with it the care of the laborers, while the European plan, led on by England, is that CAPITAL SHALL CONTROL LABOR BY CONTROLLING WAGES (emphasis added).
"The great debt, that capitalists will see to it is made of the war, must be used to control the value of money. To accomplish this the government bonds must be used as a banking basis. We are now waiting for the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to make this recommendation.
"It will not do to allow greenbacks, as they are called, to circulate as money for any length of time as we cannot control that. But we can control the bonds and through them the banking issues."
Space does not permit a recap of the manipulations that finally won the issue for the bankers. However, President Lincoln stated that he "could not fight two wars at the same time, the Confederates at the front and the bankers in the rear, and of the two the Confederates were the more honorable."
There is no doubt that President Lincoln intended, after the war, to drive the money changers from American soil and restore the national money to a constitutional basis. Abraham Lincoln and constitutional money were felled by an assassin's bullet.
POWER TO BANKRUPT.
The latter part of the 19th century saw panic after panic, with money becoming scarcer after each panic, until in 1887 the money in circulation, per capita, was down to $6.67. Keep in mind that panics and money shortages are direct results of the withdrawal of currency from circulation by the bankers. That was the process by which the value of the greenbacks was eroded. The people were desperate and loudly demanded relief, but the American Bankers Association sent out the "Panic Circular of 1893" to all National Bankers. It read, in
part—
"Dear Sir: The interest of the National Banks requires immediate legislation by Congress. Silver certificates and Treasury Notes must be retired, and National Bank notes upon a gold basis made the only money... You will at once retire one third of your circulation and call one half of your loans."
It was many years before silver certificates and Treasury notes were retired, but tight money did win a battle for the bankers in that the Free Silver issue lost and the gold standard was retained.
PARADISE LOST.
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 bared the throat of the nation for the complete and final economic and political strangulation, as we shall see. This Act gave the bankers an all-powerful, central bank that could exercise control over all National Banks. Now if they could just bring the independent and home-owned banks into the system, they would have complete control. Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve System is not an agency of the United States government; for the government owns no stock in it. It is a privately owned "super banking system" whose profits from usury reach many billions of dollars annually; e.g., the interest on the national debt. If it were a government agency, the government would have no need to borrow from it. Authorization by Congress made it no more a branch or agency of the federal government than does a license to do business in a city make such licensed business a branch or agency of the city government. It is "Federal" in the same way as is the Federal Tire Company—in name only.
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed in December after many members of Congress had left Washington for Christmas vacations. For the full story of how this infamous piece of legislation was forced through Congress, read "Conquest or Consent" by W. B. Vennard. Stated simply, it authorized the establishment of a Federal Reserve Corporation, with a Board of Directors (The Federal Reserve Board) to run it, and the United States was divided into twelve Federal Reserve Districts.
This law completely removed from Congress the right to "create" currency, or to have any control over its "creation," and gave that function to the Federal Reserve Corporation. The Act was ballyhooed as the means of ending "booms and busts," but ironically there has been a "boom and bust" on an average of every seven years since 1913. Of course, the so-called economists of today call them "periods of overheated economy followed by a recession."
MONEY CREATION PROFITABLE.
Here is how the system works. The federal government, having over spent its income from taxation by $1,000,000,000, and having given away its authority to "create" the money, must go to the Federal Reserve Corporation for that amount. But this private banking system does not just give its money away; it wants it back—with interest. So Congress authorizes the Treasury Department to print $1 billion in tax-exempt, interest-bearing bonds, which are delivered to the "Fed," which hi turn authorizes the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to print one-billion dollars in currency, for which the Fed pays a little less than one cent per "note" regardless of denomination. The people of the United States are now indebted to the Fed for one billion dollars plus interest until the loan is paid back to the money creators, who got it in the first place for only the cost of printing.
But it doesn't end there. Inasmuch as the banking laws require only a twenty-percent reserve, the Fed can print an additional $4 billion to lend to industry, business, and private citizens at interest—all backed only by one-billion-dollar bond originally posted by government.
Since the Fed controls the amount of money in circulation, as well as the interest rates, it can create booms and busts as it suits its members. When prosperity reaches a certain point, the money supply is reduced by the Fed and interest rates are raised, thus creating a recession that dampens the prosperity of the people, especially of those who lose their jobs. The bankers cannot afford to allow the people to become prosperous enough to get out of debt. In recent years they have used the excuse that the recessions were the results of their efforts to stop inflation. That excuse falls flat because inflation has continued right through the recessions without surcease since 1913, except during the early years of the great depression of the 1930's.
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Fed control over all the National Banks. But there were many State and Independent banks. The international bankers (Fed) wanted to bring these banks under their control so that they (the international bankers) could share in the profits.
A CREATED DEPRESSION.
By 1929 plans were laid, and the money manipulators were ready. Business was booming and expanding. Speculation on the stock market had reached feverish heights. The money changers (Fed) had upped the interest rate four times. By October the time was ripe! The money barons "dumped" their enormous holdings in stocks and securities. The market crashed. These money manipulators then retired a large portion of bank note currency--8 billion--making money scarce. They call, in their loans and foreclosed mortgages. Banks possession of tens of thousands of farms and businesses on foreclosure. Twenty-five percent of the workers were laid off. The depression was on, and independent banks all over the land were wrung dry.
FREEDOM MISSED.
Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as president in 1933. One of his first acts was to declare a "bank holiday" wherein all banks were closed for a time. When they reopened, most of them were members of the Federal Reserve System—just what the international bankers were after.
One of the planks of Roosevelt's platform was "to drive the money changers from the temple of government, and to give the nation a 'New Deal.' " Conditions were perfect at that time to do just that—Mr. Roosevelt had a "rubber stamp" Congress. Had he called for constitutional money and the outlawing of private banking and lending institutions, Congress would have voted for it. The national debt at that time was 18 billion dollars. Projections for 1977 put it at 700 billion dollars. So in effect every man, woman, and child in the U.S. owes the Fed $3,250 as his or her share in the debt. (Figures from Sept. 27, 1976, U.S. News and World Report.) The worst of all this is that by now our national debt consists only of usury charges—usury upon usury.
But why is there such a huge, unpayable national debt? Why does inflation continue unabated through all the so-called anti-inflation measures and the ballyhoo from money manipulators and parroting politicians?
USURY IS INFLATION.
The reason is usury—the charging of interest. Usury taking has become the biggest business in the country. It is so universal that even though one owes not one cent, nor does any business on credit, he will yet pay hundreds of dollars in interest each year.
Impossible? No! Here is how it works. Debt has been promoted until it is almost universal. Most homes, automobiles, and much of the home furnishings, appliances, and even the clothing people use are mortgaged—payments are being made on them. Almost all the businesses in the country also operate, at least partially, on borrowed money. The retailer is paying usury, also the wholesaler, the manufacturer, the producer of raw material, the transportation industry, and the farmer. So the usury paid by each step in the commercial ladder is included in the price of the goods or services he dispenses, which adds to the price of the goods or services without adding anything to the real value. This situation is INFLATION, so the terms "inflation" and "usury" become practically synonymous. Usury pyramids until by the time a product reaches the consumer, the price he pays can be as much as 50 percent usury. So don't blame the big corporations; don't blame the labor unions; don't blame government spending. Put the blame where it belongs—on the debt-usury money system of the Federal Reserve Banking Corporation. Eliminate usury, and inflation would be stopped cold. Also prices could drop as much as 50 percent with no drop in wages.
THE COST OF USURY.
At 5 percent interest, not compounded, a debt will double in 20 years. If the interest is compounded annually, the debt will double in less than 15 years. At %V* percent the debt will double in less than nine years when the interest is compounded annually. At 20 percent compounded annually the debt doubles in less than 48 months. Think about that when you go to buy a new car. Most of the debts of the American people are payable monthly, with the interest figured (compounded) monthly so the debt increases much faster.
Here is a good example, an actual case, of the inflationary pressures of the interest charge. A man purchased a home for $17,600, on which he made a down payment of $2,000. The balance was financed at 7¥2 percent on a 30-year contract. With regular payments the usury charge will total $20,851.20. This charge is $3,251.20 more than the selling price of the home. The mortgage insurance payments will total $1,501.20, making the cost of a home worth $17,600 total $37,952.40. This increased cost has added no actual value to the home, but it will add $22,352.40 to inflation, for inflation is the adding to the price of an item without adding to the real value of it.
In effect the purchaser of this home spent $17,600 into circulation. By the time the loan is paid off, he will have taken $37,952.40 out of circulation and paid it to the bankers. The only way that money can get back into the economy is for someone else to borrow it again from the bankers and spend it.
DEBT VERSUS ASSETS.
Under the present debt-usury money system all currency is LENT into circulation, and it draws interest until it is paid back to the bankers. Therefore, the Federal Reserve Notes in your possession represent their face value in DEBT, not in assets; and interest is being paid on them until they are returned to the bankers who issued them.
Take another example. A man buys a used automobile for $1,000, which he borrows from the bank. He makes 24 monthly payments of $50 each. He has spent $1,000 into circulation; but he then takes $1,200 out of circulation as he makes his payments to the bank. Again, the only way this money is recirculated is by more borrowing and paying usury.
The steady rise in the net interest paid by the government and consumers demonstrates the truth of these statements. The interest paid in 1950 in the U.S. totaled $7 billion. In 1974, only 24 years later, the robbery by usury had risen to $42 billion 300 million. (Figures from 1976 World Almanac.)
We can see by these figures that the present debt-usury money system requires constantly increasing debt and usury payments in order to function. Otherwise there would soon be NO MONEY in circulation. But every dollar of usury adds to inflation by one dollar. There can be but one conclusion—the charging of usury is the SOLE cause of inflation.
CALL FOR REPEAL.
How can we end it? By obeying God's law that prohibits the charging of interest. This can be accomplished in America by the repeal of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and the reassumption by Congress of its constitutional right and DUTY to issue the money of the nation and put it into circulation without interest. Such action would require the nationalization of every bank in the country and the prohibition of the interest charge by any bank, institution, business, or individual. The government must own and operate the banks and stock them with money to be lent at NO INTEREST charge. Since there are overhead and operating expenses, such as employees' wages, a service charge of perhaps three percent would be permissible; not an annual charge as interest, but a one-time charge over the life of the loan. In this way the home loan of $15,600 would have cost the borrower only $468 in service charges, making his total debt only $16,068, rather than the almost unpayable $35,952.40. By the same token the buyer of the $1,000 automobile will pay $1,030 rather than $1,200. These purchases would therefore not be inflationary as there would be value received for each dollar spent.
A government-owned banking system is not communistic nor socialistic. There are certain services that are the duty of government. The constitution provides that the Congress shall build roads, provide a postal service (there is another place where Congress has acted unconstitutionally), raise and support armies, provide a naval service, build forts, magazines and ports, and issue and control the money. So the ownership and operation of banks is inferred by the constitution. Such a system would eliminate the national debt, for instead of borrowing money, the Congress would authorize its printing, and there would be no interest charge. Then the fears of the British bankers of the 1860's would be realized; viz., "Then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debts and be without debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of the world."
Today's economists tell us that the printing of its own money by the government would be inflationary beyond control (printing press money), and they cite post-World-War-I Germany as the horrible example. That argument is not valid for two reasons. One is that we already have printing-press money issued by the Federal Reserve Banks. This printing-press money IS inflationary for the reason that interest is charged on it all the while it is in circulation. But interest-free money, balanced with the value of the available goods and services, is NOT inflationary. Prices remain stable if the money supply increases to maintain balance with increased production and decreases with lessened production.
WHAT ABOUT DEFLATION?
In a capitalist economy inflation is caused by the charging of interest, which is the adding to the selling price of an item without adding anything to the real value of the item. Deflation is accomplished by mortgage foreclosures and bankruptcies, as during the depression years of the 1930's.
Economists, viewing the depression in retrospect, have made this observation, "It appears that the money poured into industry and business by the government tended to prolong, rather than shorten the depression. When foreclosures and bankruptcies had lowered the debt burden to the point that business could again operate at a profit prosperity began to return."
Whence such a debt burden? Business was good in 1929. Business and industry were borrowing for expansion. Bankers lend only a fraction of the value of the collateral, so why was there an unbearable debt burden? There can be only one answer—USURY, and the deliberate withdrawal of $8 billion from circulation by the Federal Reserve Corporation.
MORTGAGED CHILDREN.
We now see the reasons we have debt, inflation, and poverty in the most God-blessed nation on earth. God's law will give us interest-free money so that every endeavor of your hand will be blessed (Deut. 23:20); not that He need take any direct action to do so, but because the results are built in. Americans have earned universal prosperity, but because we have violated the Divine laws, we have forfeited the benefits of God's blessings, and of our own labors.
Under the debt-usury money system of the international bankers, administered in America by the Federal Reserve Banking System, the national debt has gone from $l*/2 billion in 1913 to over $600 billion in 1976. The combined public and private debt has risen to $3 trillion. The whole country is mortgaged to the money changers for all it is worth. Our children are mortgaged for generations to come, all because our fathers, and we, ignored and violated one simple Divine law.
Jesus Christ told us what we need to do to eliminate debt, inflation, poverty, welfare rolls, most sickness, and crime. Speaking of the debt-usury money system, Revelation 18:6-7 says, Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she has filled fill to her double. How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.
This verse tells us to repeal the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, confiscate all the assets and holdings of the money leeches, and restore our money to a constitutional basis with usury outlawed.
Under our present system, Deuteronomy 28:43-44 is fulfilled in our land—The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high: and thou shalt come down low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
The interest charge in America is the roadblock to national prosperity and to the affluence of the people. Any present show of prosperity is merely a facade. We have a false prosperity that can come tumbling down at a whim of the Fed, as in 1929-30.
Under this system people are forced to pay usury on what should be their own money, inasmuch as they have earned it. The system forces the producer of any product to pay usury on his own labor and the fruits of his labor, and it forces all who buy his product to pay usury on it also. Even our taxes, for the most part, are usury. This is why so little is accomplished with our tax dollars.
USURY BRINGS SOCIALISM.
So, as we have seen, under a capitalist economy, the debt burden grows day by day. As the debt grows, so do the taxes, for the government must raise more and more money to pay the bandit bankers. Under this twin burden many people are reduced to penury and clamor for relief. Businesses, even entire industries, face bankruptcy, as do some cities. So the lawmakers, working from false premises, vote welfare payments, subsidized housing, food stamps, Medicaid, etc., for the people; subsidies for farmers, business, and industry; aid to schools and cities; urban renewal, etc. —all with controls and regulations. All these government gifts call for more taxes and therefore make more debt and more inflation. The problem is not eased; it is aggravated. More money is poured out; more regulations are issued—a never ending spiral. Then one day people awaken, wondering how their great free-enterprise nation so suddenly became a socialist nation, regulating every facet of their lives. Capitalism breeds welfare statism, and welfare statism is the hallway to socialism. Usury—interest—is the seed from which sprouts the whole obnoxious system, which grows until the people are completely enslaved under socialism and communism.
For complete details of the workings of the system, of how it is being implemented in our country, and the whole world, see the book "Tragedy and Hope," with the subtitle "A History of the World in Our Time," by Carrol Quigley, published by McMillen and Co., New York; or a review of that book by Cleon Skoussen, entitled "The Naked Capitalist."
DEATH TO USURERS.
The ancient prophets, whose writings are in the Bible, spoke the mind of God concerning man's affairs.
Ezekiel 18:15-18 lists a number of acts for which the judgment is He must die. They are listed as one who is a brigand, given to bloodshed, one who eats meat with the blood in it, seduces his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, refuses to restore a pledge, adores idols, commits acts of depravity, or takes interest upon a loan. It goes on to say, Is he to live? He shall not live; he has done all these abominable things, and he must die; he is responsible for his own death.
Ezekiel 22:1-14 places those who charge interest on loans in the same class as murderers, idolaters, despisers of parents, oppressors of foreigners, robbers of widows and orphans, Sabbath desecrators, liars, lechers who take their fathers' wives, seducers of neighbors' wives, and of their own daughters-in-law and their own sisters, bribe-takers, and extortionists. Yet in the face of all this, the question has been asked in America, "If you can't trust your banker, whom can you trust?" Oh, boy!
The reason for God's law prohibiting the interest charge is briefly stated in these words, ...that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to (Deut. 23:20). In other words, people, individually and collectively, cannot reach a high level of prosperity if the interest charge is allowed. The debt in our land is crushing proof of this truth.
When we turn and obey God's economic laws, then shall Deuteronomy 28:11-13 be fulfilled upon us, And the LORD shall make thee plentious in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy ground... The LORD shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give rain upon thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow, And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath... May God speed the day!
BOOMS AND BUSTS AVERTED.
Economists have long recognized that there are seven-year and fifty-year cycles influencing the economy. A slow-down, or recession, occurs every seven years; and a crash, or depression, every fifty years. Debt build-up and inflation are the causes of both recessions and depressions, as we have already seen. Deflation is brought about, under capitalist economy, by bankruptcies and foreclosures.
But the Benevolent and Infinite King, in His concern for the welfare of His people and nation, has given instructions, which, when obeyed, will make these cycles a benefit rather than a curse. The chapter on Agriculture discusses the seventh-year sabbat and the fiftieth-year jubilee. The same seventh-year sabbat is also called the year of release. Deuteronomy 15:1-5, Lamsa translation, states, At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release any debt which his neighbor owes him; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the year of the LORD'S release. Of a foreigner you may exact it again; but that which you have with your brother [countryman] you shall release, SO THAT THERE WILL BE NO POOR AMONG YOU (emphasis added).
The LORD'S release prevents recessions and depressions by relieving the economic pressures of debt build-up without bankruptcies and foreclosures. With debt pressure released, prosperity continues unabated. There is no debt to be inherited by the next generation, so there are no poor (debt-ridden) under this system. So with usury eliminated, with prices down and wages up, taxes only ten percent of income, no debt, and prosperity running high, everyone can take a vacation every seventh year and enjoy the celebration of the jubilee every fiftieth year, for obedience to these laws will launch the nation into an era of prosperity surpassing anything the eye hath seen, or the ear heard, or that has entered into the heart of man (I Cor. 2:9). To bring this passage closer to home, just think what it would mean to us, to our children, and to our grandchildren if the national debt, the state, county, city, and school-district debts, as well as all personal debts, were wiped out. These combined debts totaled about three trillion dollars in 1976. If we will obey God's word, these debts will be wiped out.
THERE IS EVEN MORE.
The Divine law not only protects the people from bankruptcy by usury and from dictatorship by taxation, but it also prohibits the accumulation of the wealth of the nation into a few hands. Isaiah 5:8 reads, Woe to them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.
There has been much joining of house to house in the mergers of business, industry, and finance; and the laying of field to field by the corporate farms. The chain stores have succeeded in putting most of the home-owned stores out of business.
While many people look upon the chain store as a blessing, it is rather a curse on the land. They price their goods just low enough to undersell the home-owned store and draw the business to them. The home-town merchant is forced to close his doors and discharge his employees. The chain store does not hire all the workers whose jobs it has eliminated.
The chain store claims its lower prices are due to a smaller margin of profit, which they overcome by doing a larger volume of business. Actually their profits are higher than those of the home-owned store. The chain by-passes the wholesaler and distributor and buys direct from the manufacturer or processor. This by-passing, of course, puts the wholesaler and distributor out of business also and throws their employees out of work. By large-volume buying, in trainloads instead of carloads, they command much lower prices than can the wholesaler. So they end up with the combined profits of the wholesaler, distributor, and home-owned retail store, while selling at just below the price at which the home-owned store can sell.
INTO THE HANDS OF A FEW.
The worst feature of the chain store is that their profits are not returned to circulation in the community from which they are taken. Those profits go to one of the financial centers of the nation, drawing the money from the people across the nation and concentrating it into the hands of a few.
The same thing holds true for the corporate farms as they lay field to field. Divine law preserves the family farm as is explained in the chapters on Land Laws and Agriculture.
This law also prohibits mergers, holding companies, conglomerates, vertically or horizontally integrated industries, monopolies, price fixing, or any business practice which stifles competition or unfairly crowds out other businesses. Bigness in itself is not prohibited, for some types of production can be efficiently handled only by big concerns, e.g., steel, automobile, and oil production. It does prohibit the ownership and control of the entire process from producing the raw materials to retailing the product by the same company. It also prohibits the use of size as a means of unfair domination of the industry. These practices tend to accumulate the wealth of the nation into the hands of a few at the expense of many. These laws should not be considered as government interference in the economy, for Divine law permits no government interference or regulation of the economy beyond the basic laws quoted, which promote the orderly and honest growth of a free and stable economy of abundance.
We need not discuss here the Divine laws on weights, measures, payment of wages, liability, workman's compensation, etc., for these are already in operation in America as the laws of the land.
Chapter 10. Taxation.
A DEBT-USURY ECONOMY.
When Jehovah, the God and King of ancient Israel, gave Israel His national laws to prove, record, and hand down to us, He said, So shall the Eternal put you at the head, not at the tail; you shall be always rising, never falling, as you listen to the commands of the Eternal your God which I enjoin upon you this day, and carry them out carefully, never swerving to right or to left from any of the injunctions I lay upon you this day (Deut. 28:13-14, Moffatt translation).
Ancient Israel went aside from Jehovah's commands and fell. Now modern Israel, the United States of America, has gone aside, to the left, from His commands and so stands in danger of falling. Our country, by ignoring and violating the Divine laws on usury, debt, and taxes, has become a welfare state and is fast sliding into socialism. Welfare-statism is the inner decay that destroys republics and free-enterprise economic systems, and smothers the creative and productive spirit of man. Welfare-statism is dependent upon massive federal-spending programs, which in turn demand a high rate of taxation. Federal-aid programs and subsidies always carry with them increasing regulations and restrictions. A simple paradox exists, in that the people pay the bill, via taxes, for their own economic and political bondage. Divine law prevents this slide into totalitarianism by the simple expedient of limited taxation.
The Divine law does not permit a debt build-up to be inherited by the next generation; for all debts must be liquidated or cancelled every seventh year. Consider our present plight in contrast to God's law. How many generations are mortgaged by our national debt? It is projected that by the end of the 1977 fiscal year, every man, woman, and child in the United States will owe $3,250 as his, or her, share in the national debt, on which the annual interest will be $222.30. If we allow this system to continue, how much will a baby born in 1977 owe at age 21? The old radical-liberal cliche "We owe it to ourselves" simply is not true! We owe it to the international money changers, who are the modern version of the same gang of thieves Jesus drove out of the temple.
BUSINESS TAX INFLATIONARY.
Because of the debt build-up in America, and the inflation that always accompanies debt, lawmakers are often looking for additional sources of taxes, or for a broader tax base. Actually there is only ONE source of taxes—the consumer, the individual citizen. He ultimately pays ALL taxes regardless of the level on which they are levied. The manufacturer includes his property tax, corporation tax, and every other tax, except his personal income tax, into the price for which he sells his goods. So does the wholesaler, the distributor, the shipper, and the retailer.
When the government reduces the personal income tax, and offsets the loss of revenue by an increase in corporation taxes, the individual does not actually realize a reduction in his taxes. He still pays the same amount, or more, through increased prices on the products of the corporations. Actually business and industry pay no taxes; they only collect them from the consumer and pass them on to the government. Taxes on business and industry therefore add to inflation where a direct tax does not; for inflation is the adding to the price of an item sold without adding anything to the value of the item. Business and corporate taxes therefore take a double bite from the consumer's income. Those indirect taxes rest heavily upon those of low income, for they must pay the same "hidden tax" as do the wealthy.
DIRECT TAX ONLY.
These are the reasons why Divine law imposes only the direct tax. It is primarily the income tax, and the rate is a straight ten percent—not graduated. It allows no exemptions and no deductions and therefore has no loopholes. It does not penalize initiative and industry of the citizens. As it is not graduated, the wealthy man has no reason to withhold investment in new projects that provide jobs and contribute to the prosperity of the people. The manufacturer is not driven to foreign countries to escape the exorbitant corporate taxes, which, added to the price of his products, make them too high-priced to compete with foreign goods.
Inasmuch as the consumer finally pays ALL taxes, either directly or through the price of his purchases as "hidden taxes," and since taxes levied on business and industry are inflationary, all taxes should be direct. Such a measure could even lower the tax rate as there would be far less spent on collection fees.
The personal income in the United States for 1974 was $1 trillion, 150 million (World Almanac for 1976). A ten-percent income tax on that amount would produce $115 billion 50 million to the government. With a federal budget approaching $400 billion, this amount seems insufficient; but with debt and interest eliminated; no subsidies needed for farmers, railroads, airlines, or any other business; welfare, food stamps, and subsidized housing needed only for the aged and the disabled, and very little of that because prosperity would enable each citizen to provide for his own retirement; lower prices and full employment resulting from the prohibition of usury—under these conditions the ten-percent income tax would be more than sufficient to operate government on ALL levels.
SOME ERRORS CORRECTED.
The subject of divine laws on taxation is generally misunderstood because Bible readers have a tendency to apply all of God's instructions to us as personal, religious tenets rather than as national statutes, which they often are. When giving these laws, God spoke as the King, the head of the government. At that time the tabernacle served as the national capitol, the seat of government; and it was later replaced by the temple. These also served as the palace of the Divine King. This arrangement obtained until the people demanded and got an earthly king like the other nations, which in effect amounted to a limited separation of church and state.
Another common error is the belief that the Levites were the priests of that day. In the King James translation of the Old Testament the word priest is used 678 times. It is translated 622 times from the Hebrew word "kohen," which means either priest, prince, or minister. The only way to tell which word is meant is by careful consideration of the context. But it is stated a number of times that the Levites were to do the WORK of caring for the tabernacle (the capitol of the nation, the King's abode). They were to COLLECT the tithe and were therefore the I.R.S. of that day. They did the paper work for the government, as well as the manual labor about the national capitol. In short, they were the public employees of that time. (See Numbers 18:1-9.)
The Levites were the smallest tribe in the nation, numbering only one in 27 of the total population, and that included all the males from one month old while the other tribes were numbered from 20 years of age and up. This would come to about one in 18 who were 20 years of age or older. It is estimated that in America today there is one public employee for every 4.5 employed in the private sector. Such a ratio indicates a near approach to complete socialism.
Aaron and his descendants were separated from the tribe of Levi and given the priesthood; that is, the actual religious ministry. See again Numbers 18:1-9.
THE INCOME TAX.
The tithe, as referred to in the Divine law, was one-tenth of the increase of each citizen, whether from farming, stock raising, business, or wages. It was the NATIONAL INCOME TAX and was collected by the Levites, the federal employees, and used for the operating expenses of the government, including the wages of the Levites. It is called the LORD'S tithe because He was the King, the head of the government.
As literal, physical descendants of the Israelites, we as a nation are duty- and covenant-bound to observe these same laws. Even if we were not true Israel, we are yet obligated to keep God's national laws because we are a Christian nation. Since we know not who are directly descendent from the Levites today, public employees must be hired from the general populace. God's plan calls for public servants to be 25 years of age and to serve for 25 years, retiring at age 50. Only supervisors may work past 50 years of age. (Num. 8:24-26.)
NO PROPERTY TAX.
Taxation, according to God's law, must be based on a definite ratio to the income of the people, and this ratio must never be changed. Taxes are to be levied on income only, and property—either real or personal—must never be taxed. Income from property, such as crops, rents, industrial production, etc., is to be taxed at ten percent, but no tax is ever to be levied on the property itself. To tax property is to make it a liability rather than an asset, and to tax improvements on property is to penalize the industrious and the thrifty—a stumbling block to prosperity.
Under the present system in America, a man may work for 20 or 30 years buying and paying for a home only to find that he must pay an annual rental fee (tax) to the city, county, or state. In his declining years when his income is low, or non-existent, he may well lose his home to the taxing authority by default and spend his remaining years in an institution.
Only when taxation is based on a person's ability to pay—that is, on his income—and on that alone, will equity and justice be a fact in our land. The tax must not be graduated for that is nothing more nor less than a penalty on incentive. Our nation can come into compliance with Divine law on taxation only by eliminating the graduation of the income tax and reducing the rate to a straight ten percent, with no exemptions, no deductions, and therefore no loopholes.
An inheritance tax is no less unrighteous for it robs the heirs of the family assets, often forcing the sale of the family home, which violates both God's land and tax laws.
It is fitting to consider here a few enlightening words from Allan Green, a British student of Divine law.
"THE LORD MADE TAXATION FLAT".
"For example, the LORD Himself fixed taxation. The government of the day was allowed no say in the matter; neither was anyone else. He fixed if for all time. So at a stroke, the Order and System of the LORD draws the teeth of the thing we call democracy: its purse strings are taken into the LORD'S hands. And thus did He take taxation completely out of politics.
"Heads are shaken. Pious and good women, mothers in Israel, deplore that we have gotten so far from the LORD and His ways. We bow to them in respect. But we are not talking to them. Our words are for their slumbrous menfolk, who are in haste to assert that it would never, never do in these days; life is far too complex...
"What rubbish!...In simple accountancy terms, it is an affront to the LORD, in crass stupidity, to assume that His figures are out of balance before they have even done Him the service of having a look at them.
"The LORD allows only one tax. The rate is one tenth—the tithe. It is levied on increase—on income. And He directs the spending of the money.
"Everybody pays. Everybody pays at the same rate and upon every penny of income. There are no exceptions, no initial or other allowances. Everybody pays, the charwoman on her pence, the millionaire on his pounds.
"The LORD'S tax, therefore, is flat tax. It is equity at its coldest. It is a classic of simplicity. There are no deviations, it is not a tax code that multiplies anomalies, or makes the contents so complicated that they make a specialization in law and leave the common man completely at the mercy of Her Majesty's Income Tax Commissioners.
"The weight of present day taxation is the economics of the madhouse. Our graduated system is absurd. It starts on false premises. It taxes the unmarried at a high rate because, the argument runs, their responsibilities are the lightest. To the married man with the family it gives its highest concessions. It therefore assumes, by a logic the Angel Gabriel would be baffled to penetrate, that the unmarried have a burden and duty to pay for the married. But why?
"In the matter of taxation, where in the Word of the Great LORD and Creator, where on any sound and basic code, where outside two places—hell and the Socialist madhouse of the planet Earth—does the LORD or anybody else cast one man's burden on to the backs of others? We denounce this as utterly wrong in principle.
"Meanwhile, one simple point needs thought. It is the instability of spending power. Our income tax system creates enormous variation in the spending power of the pounds that go into a man's wage packet. The first pounds earned are untaxed, and so go to market at a spending power of one hundred pence. The last pounds are taxed at the highest rate. Of them only about sixty five pence remains after the Chancellor has worked his will on them. It may be asked what overall difference this makes?
"The answer is that, in clumsiness that is monumental, the Chancellor allows the worker full reward for his early work, but puts the freezing blight of iniquitous tax on his later efforts, particularly his overtime. How can there be sustained effort or any real will to progress in an economy subjected in this way to taxation frostbite? The arrangement is a brainless breach of the most ordinary of common sense. How is it that we are unable to shake ourselves free of such stark and blatant lunacy? Even the office cat at Westminster, if it is anything of a cat, will be on overtime ban in such conditions.
"There is only one answer. It is the LORD'S way: to go over to the flat tax, the tax system under which every pound is taxed at the same rate, with all men standing equal in the rate of tax paid, and every pound they earn having the same spending power. Under the LORD'S ordaining, of every pound earned, ten new pence go to the state and ninety new pence go into the earner's pocket."
STRAWS IN THE WIND.
It must be noted that America seems to be blundering unwittingly and unwillingly into the tax system ordained by God. The federal government has lowered its inheritance tax rates. The viciousness of the property tax is being publicly pointed out more and more often, sometimes by public officials. At least four states have decided it is unconstitutional to finance schools by property taxes inasmuch as property values vary from district to district.
Federal revenue-sharing is another pointer in the right direction. As the federal government assumes funding for more and more state and local projects, the taxing powers of the local and state governments will pass to the federal government until it remains the only taxing authority. With the trend being away from other forms of taxation, the income tax must finally become the only tax.
Chapter 11. What About Capital Punishment?.
MAN'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Over the years men have developed what we call the criminal justice system. But now many have begun to doubt whether it dispenses justice; whether it actually is a system; or whether it protects the law-abiding citizen. The district attorney of one large city recently stated on a televised interview that the system itself is criminal. Some have described the situation as "a crisis of confidence." There are so many reasons for the failure to attain justice that only a few of them can be mentioned here.
Court decisions, including some by the Supreme Court of the United States, have tended to hamper the otherwise fine work of the police in the apprehension of criminals, and the courts in the prosecution of criminals. While it is granted there must be rules of conduct to guide both the police and the courts in the protection of the rights of both the accused and the innocent, those rules must not be so restrictive that they release known criminals without proper punishment for their crimes.
The drive to protect the rights of the accused has been overextended to the point that the rights of the victim have often been overlooked or trampled underfoot.
Another bar to justice is the system of plea bargaining. There can be no doubt this is in the mind of the criminal as he plans his crime. He knows that if he is apprehended, and not released on a technicality, he can plead guilty to a lesser crime and gain a light sentence, or probation.
The practice of paroling criminals after they have served only a minor portion of their sentences is an incentive for them to continue a life of crime and is therefore a crime against the law-abiding citizen. The charge has been made that prisons are releasing more criminals than are being sentenced to them. Biblical law has little use for prisons. There are better ways of dealing with criminals. After all, it is pretty hard to "parole" one from forty lashes after they have been administered.
The broad latitude granted judges in some states in determining the sentences to be imposed on convicted criminals is itself a crime, for there seems to be no uniformity, equity, or fairness exhibited in the sentences imposed. For instance, a recent newspaper article tells of a person charged with the forgery of a $35 check being! sentenced to four years in prison, while another charged! with killing a woman when driving while intoxicated was sentenced to one year in jail and five years probation. An(T it's called "criminal justice."
The fallacious theory that criminals are not responsible for their crimes but rather are the unwilling products of a harsh and uncaring society does not hold up under scrutiny. Poverty and ghettos do not make criminals, but such conditions are used by superficial thinkers and "bleeding hearts" as excuses for the inexcusable. Consider the following excerpts from an article that appeared in "The Oregon Statesman" on Monday, August 16, 1976.
STUDY KNOCKS SOCIOLOGICAL CRIME EXCUSES.
By ROBERT PEAR.
Washington Star.
WASHINGTON - Two doctors at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in a major new study of the criminal personality, conclude that mental illness and a poor home environment are simply excuses for criminal conduct.
What is needed to stop crime, they say, is not so much better housing or conventional therapy, but an offender's "conversion" to a whole new lifestyle and a rigorous moral education.
After spending thousands of hours with criminals. Samuel Yachelson and Stanton E. Samenow say they reluctantly abandoned the search for the causes of crime, discarded mental illness as a factor and threw out "psychologic and sociologic excuses." Having done that, they were able to "invade" the thinking of criminals and identified 52 attributes of the criminal personality - qualities such as lying, a failure to consider injury to others and the pursuit of power and control for their own sake.
The work distilled in "The Criminal Personality" began 15 years ago when Yochelson left a lucrative psychiatric practice in Buffalo, N.Y., to found the program for the investigation of criminal behavior at St. Elizabeth's, the mental hospital run by the federal government in southeast Washington. Samenow, a clinical research psychologist, joined him six years ago.
For the first five years' using traditional psychiatric methods, Yochelson net only with frustration.
"The criminals made fools of us," Yochelson, now 70, recalled in an interview. "They turned us around and in their usual way, exploited us for their own purposes."
Thus, Yochelson and Samenow, who is 34, abandoned their relatively permissive attitudes for a firmer, direct approach. They had previously avoided the word "criminal" because they felt they were dealing with mentally ill people, but now they insist on using it. "Present in every criminal, they said, were tendencies toward lying, stealing, assaultive thinking or action and sexual violations, though overt offenses might occur in only one category.
Each criminal acknowledged to Yochelson and Samenow that during his life, he had committed "literally thousands of crimes."
Thus, the doctors assert: "The 'first offender' notion is a mistaken one. The criminal gets away with far more than is ever known by anyone else. By the time he is apprehended, he has more than likely committed hundreds, if not thousands, of offenses."
Moreover, they say, a criminal has far more thoughts about crime than he ever executes.
For example, they say: "When a criminal enters a store merely to purchase cigarettes, possible crimes immediately begin to run through his mind. He views the merchandise, the customers, the salesmen, the cash register, purses and credit cards all in terms of crimes that he could commit."
Thus, Yochelson and Samenow say there is no such thing as unpremeditated crime.
Biblical law recognizes that each man is responsible for his own deeds. It also gives instruction to judges, You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor, nor respect the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor (Lev. 19:15). It goes on to state in Leviticus 24:22, You shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger [alien] as for one of your own country. In the Biblical criminal justice system, the sentence for each crime has already been determined by the Righteous God and must be imposed by the judge as written. God has never given man the authority to make laws or to change His laws but only to administer His laws as He has given them. Under Divine law justice is speedy and predetermined.
Inasmuch as the weaknesses of our criminal justice system are widely known, it is well at this point to turn to a discussion of the God-given system rather than the failures of the system now in use. Almost immediately when we begin to consider the Divine system of justice, we find some things listed as crimes that the man-made system does not include. Of course, we find similar variations from state to state in our country.
Let us begin our study of crime, and the methods of dealing with it, with the most serious—those punishable by death. There has been much debate about capital punishment for a number of years. In 1972 the United States Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional as generally administered in most states. The attorney general of one state recently said in a televised interview that he is opposed to the death penalty because he considers it "vengeance" rather than justice, and that God reserves vengeance to Himself. The attorney general was partly right. The Apostle Paul, in admonishing against citizens taking the law into their own hands, referred to Deuteronomy 32:35 in these words, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the LORD (Rom. 12:19).
SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS.
There are three common errors that account for the widespread misunderstanding of the Divine system of justice.
1. People honor God as Creator and Saviour, but they give little thought to His role as King of the nation. The people by unanimous vote elected Him King on His own terms, which made Him Lawgiver and Supreme Executive OF THE NATION (Ex. 19:4-8). He has never relinquished that office. Speaking as King, He gave Israel the commandments, statutes, judgments, and all other instructions necessary for the orderly functioning of the nation. So the vengeance of God, referred to by the attorney general, is the Divine judgment meted out by the government through its duly established courts of justice.
2. Most people fail to differentiate between the laws for the nation and the laws for the individual, or between the civil law and the religious law.
3. A point of confusion is the common lack of definition for the word "sin." We are told in I John 3:4 that sin is the transgression of the law. Today breaking of the law is called "crime." So then, according to Bible definition, sin and crime are synonymous terms. If the word "crime" were used in reference to violations of the Divine law, it would have more impact on most people; for today crime is considered sin, but not all sin is labeled crime.
Before we look at the capital crimes listed in the Bible, let us consider this admonition from Romans 13:3-4. Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good [lawful], and thou shah have praise of the same: for he is THE MINISTER OF GOD to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: FOR HE IS THE MINISTER OF GOD, A REVENGER TO EXECUTE WRATH UPON HIM THAT DOETH EVIL (emphasis added).
MURDER.
The first murder of record was not punished by death but by banishment. That probably was done because no state government had yet been established. After Cain murdered Abel, Jehovah sent him into another country. This exiling of Cain began the race-mixing that brought on the abominations and violence that God saw fit to remove by the Deluge.
Immediately after the flood Jehovah said, Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6). One can see that obedience to this command requires a recognized government and a court of justice. Without those, the land soon becomes filled with blood feuds.
The sixth of the ten commandments says, You shall not murder. This commandment was repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:18, Thou shah do no murder. The penalty for murder was given with the command just after the flood and is repeated many times in the Bible.
Exodus 21:12-14 in Moffatt's translation reads, He who strikes a man, so that he dies must be put to death. But if he did not intend it maliciously, if it was accidental, I will appoint a place of asylum for such among you. Only if one man willfully attacks another, to murder him craftily, you must take that man (even) from My very altar to put him to death. Jehovah authorizes the police to go even into a church meeting to apprehend a murderer. Leviticus 24:17 states, And he that kills any man shall surely be put to death.
Numbers 35:16-21 (Moffatt) reads, But if he struck the person with an iron tool, so that he died, the man is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death without fail. Or, if he lifted a stone to strike him a fatal blow, and he dies, the man is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death without fail. Or, if he lifted something wooden to strike him a fatal blow, and he dies, the man is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death without fail... Also, if he pushes a person because he hates him, or hides and throws anything at him, so that he dies, or maliciously strikes him till he dies, the man who struck the blow must be put to death without fail; he is a murderer. The means of a murder is immaterial; it is rather the intent and the result upon which judgment rests.
Deuteronomy 19:11-13 says, But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die... then the elders of his city [law enforcement agencies] shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood [executioner], that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with thee.
The word of God not only states specifically that murderers must be put to death without fail, but it also forbids any other sentence. Numbers 35:30-31 says, Whoso kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to death. These verses tell us that no atonement (pardon), ransom, fine, or any other sentence may be substituted for the death penalty.
So we see that God in His love for the innocent demands the death penalty for the murderer, even though many self-styled ministers of the gospel oppose God on this matter. Note that Jehovah did not merely give permission for the imposition of the death penalty on the murderer but made DIRECT COMMAND that first-degree murder be punished by death.
To sentence a murderer to prison is to reward him for the crime of murder. He is relieved of the responsibility of providing his own necessities of life. He is furnished, at the expense of the citizens to whom he is a threat, his food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. The All-Wise God does not place such responsibilities on the citizens; in fact, He very strictly forbids it.
The statute says, You shall not murder. The judgment is death. There is no provision for a plea of innocence by reason of insanity. An insane person is even more likely to murder again than is a sane person. Some argue that the death penalty is no deterrent to murder. This is an empty argument, for deterrence is not the issue. Those who make deterrence the main issue turn to foolishness the basic principles of justice and moral law. To do away with capital punishment is to cheapen human life. If a murderer is sentenced to thirty years in prison, the state is in effect saying the victim's life was worth only thirty years of the murderer's life. If, as often happens, the murderer is paroled in ten years, the state has in effect decided the victim's life was worth only ten years of the killer's life. Why is so much more value placed on the life of the murderer than on that of his victim?
Until we obey God in this matter, innocent blood will continue to defile our country. God states this principle in Numbers 35:33, In this way you shall keep your land undefiled, for bloodshed profanes a country, and there is no expiation for a country with bloodshed except having the blood of the murderer shed.
The 35th chapter of Numbers tells of God's provision for those guilty of manslaughter, or accidental death. Verse 11 says, You shall appoint you cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which kills any person at unawares [by error—margin]. Verses 24-28 tell us that one guilty of slaying another unintentionally shall, after his trial, remain in an officially appointed city of refuge until the death of the high priest. He is not a public burden; he must make his own living, but he is restricted to the city of refuge. If he leaves that city, he may be put to death. Under today's organization the sentence would probably last until the death of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
KIDNAPPING.
Exodus 21:16 reads, He that steals a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Deuteronomy 24:7 states, If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him; then that thief shall die; and you shall put away evil from among you.
Kidnapping has become big business, not only for ransom money (selling him) but also as a political weapon. In many cases people are held as hostages in their place of employment, or even in their own homes. The principle is the same, and the same law applies to holding hostages as to carrying them away. Sometimes rape is the object of the kidnapping, which doubles the crime.
Whatever the motive—to sell into slavery, to hold for ransom of money, or some other consideration— kidnapping is a capital crime and is punishable by death. The law does not require the objective to have been accomplished, or the ransom collected, for if the kidnapper is apprehended still holding his victim, he is to be put to death. No lesser penalty is permitted.
TREASON--IDOLATRY--SORCERY.
Exodus 22:18 reads, You shall not suffer a witch to live. Also Leviticus 20:27, A man or a woman who is a diviner or soothsayer shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.
The reasons for the death penalty for witchcraft and sorcery becomes evident when it is recognized that these are closely associated with the false gods and idols of the heathen, the enemies of God's people. Allegiance to them is disloyalty to Jehovah, the King, which is treason, a capital crime. An example of witchcraft is specifically given in Leviticus 20:2-5, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in the land, that gives any of his seed [children] to Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from amongst his people; because he has given his seed to Molech, to defile My sanctuary, and to profane My holy name. And if the people of the land do anyway hide their eyes from the man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and kill him not; then I will set My face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among his people.
If the courts or the people do not act, the King Himself must; for idolatry, in demanding loyalty to another god (king, government), is treason. The idolatry and sorcery of Molech required human sacrifice—namely, the children of the idolater, making him the murderer of his own children—and murder must be punished by death.
If any have forgotten the suzerainty of God over our nation, let him be reminded of it by the words in our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, "One nation, under God..."
Witchcraft, magic, sorcery, idolatry, and devil worship often lead one to another, even to human sacrifice. None of these religious practices build character, reliability, or national patriotism.
BLASPHEMY--SEDITION.
Leviticus 24:15-16 reads, Whosoever curses his God shall bear his sin [crime]. And he that blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death.
Blaspheme is defined as "to defame, to slander, to speak evil of." Some may raise the cry that in America we have separation of church and state, and religious freedom, and that the sin of blasphemy is a religious matter in which the government cannot become involved. Those holding this opinion have little understanding of God's word or of His national law.
This statute is based on the second and third of the Ten Commandments and is further explained in Exodus 22:28 (Ferrar Fenton), which says, You must not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. In our land today one can find himself in very serious trouble if he threatens the president, or any other official. To voice a threat against, or to revile an officer of, the government might well be considered treason, or at least inciting to rebellion or mutiny with bloodshed and loss of life. Such action constitutes rebellion against authority, law, and order, and is therefore anarchism. And remember, God is the King.
So to keep peace and unity in the nation, mutineers, seditionists, and anarchists are to be put to death. If one has a grievance, either real or imagined, he may sue for redress by due process of law. He is not left without recourse.
RAPE.
The crime of rape is difficult to deal with. In most cases there are no witnesses. Deuteronomy 22:25-27 gives this instruction, If a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: ... for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
On the other hand, we read in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, If a damsel, a virgin betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not being in the city; and the man because he has humbled his neighbor's wife: so shall ye put away evil from among you.
Since Divine law is a statement of principles, this latter example would today be valid only in a quiet village; but in a noisy city it would be in the same category as the first, for even though a woman would cry out, she would be unheard. Both these examples apply to both the engaged and the married woman. If the man is of a different race, the probability of rape, as opposed to seduction, is very high. The penalty for forcible rape is death, and well it should be when one considers the physical and mental trauma experienced by the victim, the probable pregnancy, and the high possibility of the contraction of venereal disease. Death for the crime of rape is not permissible—IT IS MANDATORY.
SEDUCTION.
Deuteronomy 22:28 (Moffatt) reads, If a man comes across a girl, a virgin who is not betrothed, and if he ravishes her and lies with her, and is caught, then the man who lay with her shall pay six and a half guineas [fifty shekels of silver] to the girl's father, and she shall become his wife, since he violated her; he shall not divorce her as long as he lives.
ADULTERY.
Leviticus 20:10 states, And the man who commits adultery with another man's wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
There are several references to the death penalty for the crimes of adultery and incest. This penalty seems only reasonable when we consider the probable results of these crimes—broken homes, in which the children are the big losers; the high possibility of pregnancy by infidelity; and the possibility of venereal disease. We often hear it said that morality cannot be legislated, but it can if our lawmakers instruct the police and the courts to enforce the laws as God has written them. God did not give man the authority to change any of His laws or to make any new ones. But man has changed them, and that is why we are in so much trouble.
SODOMY.
Leviticus 20:13 reads, If a man lie also with mankind as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them.
Even in the face of this pronouncement by God, some states have enacted legislation legalizing homosexual acts, or any sexual acts committed privately by consenting adults. But many homosexuals have an affinity for young boys; and knowing that the innocence and honesty of children will lead to their exposure, they often murder their victims.
The Creator, who knows more about man than man will ever know about himself, very specifically stated that any persons who commit the crime of homosexuality are worthy of death. God's opinion and will in this matter was very positively and dramatically expressed by His destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the new testament we find that God has not changed His mind concerning homosexuals. Please read the first chapter of Romans.
BEASTIALITY.
If a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. If a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shall kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death: their blood shall be upon them (Lev. 20:15-16).
The reason for the death penalty for this crime is obvious. Any person, man, or woman who would so engage himself is obviously so oversexed, or so depraved, that he would commit any sexual offence. No child or physically weak adult would be safe from his acts of depravity. Consider this further as you read the section entitled "Looking Below the Surface."
It is thought by some that the human race first contracted venereal disease by sexual contact with beasts because some of the beasts God has declared to be unclean, while not themselves infected, are yet carriers of VD—even as horses are carriers of tetanus, and ticks and fleas carry Rocky Mountain fever and Bubonic plague. God's written judgments on crimes of immorality may seem extreme, or overreactions, until we consider the ramifications of these crimes. Venereal disease has reached epidemic proportions in many nations of the world. Cases have been reported in the U.S. even among children under ten years of age. While the common varieties are curable, there are strains now appearing for which medical science has no cure. And even though the disease itself may be cured, the damage that has been done cannot be reversed. How true the old saying that "prevention is the best cure."
VD is the cause of many diseases and mental problems both directly and indirectly. Some of these afflictions and disabilities can be inherited by several generations. Many cases of mental retardation, insanity, and so-called birth defects result from incest. God gave the death penalty not so much to punish as to cleanse the land, that is, to halt the spread of disease and disability, and to assure health and strength among His people. We are admonished many times in the book of Deuteronomy, So shall you put away evil from among you. Evil includes the diseases and disabilities that follow crime as well as the acts of the criminal.
A KEY TO CONTROL.
Divine national law not only teaches respect for parents but actually demands it. The fifth of the ten commandments reads, Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land -which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Honor to parents and respect for the aged is taught throughout the Bible. It was an honored custom in America until the middle of the twentieth century. Then came one Benjamin M. Spock, a self-proclaimed expert in child rearing. In 1946 he published a book entitled, "Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care." It sold over twenty-two million copies.
The results of his teachings are all about us today—the Spock generation. While we have always had a measure of youth rebellion, the Spock generation has gone beyond measure, inundating the nation with a veritable tidal wave of dishonor and disrespect in the form of hippies, ugliness, drug culture, robbery, rape, murder, lack of patriotism, military desertions, sexual perversions, and all types of abominations. No nation can long endure when such things abound in it, for any nation lacking moral strength finds itself wanting in all the virtues which constitute national strength.
Retention of national sovereignty depends on obedience to this fifth commandment, as stated in the commandment itself, Honor your father and your mother: THAT YOUR DAYS MAY BE LONG IN THE LAND WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD GIVES YOU.
When there is little respect for parents, such crimes as immorality, lying, theft, fraud, violence, and murder are abroad in the land. Also, we find delinquency, disrespect for all authority, hatred of police, military draft evasion, desertion, and habitual criminality as a result of disobedience to this commandment. Woe be to that parent who merits not the honor of his children.
Certainly parents should be held responsible for the attitudes of children, for God's word teaches that if parents raise up their children in the way they should go, when the children are grown, they will not depart from that way. If parents meet their responsibility in this matter, yet their grown son or daughter still does not honor them, the All-Wise God gives the following: He that smites his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death . . . and he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death (Exodus 21:15-17). The word translated curse in this verse is the Hebrew "qalal," which means "to lightly esteem, vilify, or revile."
INCORRIGIBILITY.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 lays the responsibility for the correction of habitually disrespectful children on the parents. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, -which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gates of his place, and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice: he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put away evil from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Extreme? It would seem so at first thought. But if the child were allowed to live, his life would be one of crime, violence, disease, and misery, and he would pass on the same tendencies to his descendants. A good parent would learn to overcome the anguish and heartbreak that would accompany obedience to this judgment as soon as he realized that compliance would prevent future generations from inheriting vile and criminal natures. We have seen this thought expressed when many parents, mourning over the deeds of incorrigible sons, have cried out in heartbreak, "I would rather see him dead!"
Widespread incorrigibility means rampant crime and violence in the land, loss of national purpose, character, strength, and will, culminating in the loss of national sovereignty.
LOOKING BELOW THE SURFACE.
If some of God's judgments seem, at first thought, too harsh or extreme, we are probably taking only a short-range view and have not considered the reasons behind them. Divine law is a statement of principles. God did not always give the reasons, nor the mechanics of operation. He did tell us the results of violation but in such a way that the non-thinking or superficial reader often misses the message. Some of the reasons for God's judgments are now being uncovered by science.
Those who study genetics have now discovered that occasionally a mix-up of genes and chromosomes occurs, which results in a number of abnormal characteristics in the person so affected. These range from mild deformity or mental retardation to violent, habitual criminality. This is one scientific reason why rehabilitation so seldom works—crime is "bred and born" in some criminals. In most cases the "mix-up" is passed on to following generations with varying manifestations and spreads with each generation as the branches of the family tree multiply. (For detailed information on this subject, see the book, "The Mentally Retarded Child," by Robinson and Robinson, one of the McGraw-Hill "Series in Psychology" books.) The following newspaper item, clipped from the Oregon Statesmen of August 7, 1976, dramatizes the truth of the preceding discussion:
7 brothers arrested 192 times in 9 years.
SEATTLE (AP) - Police call it a one family crime wave - seven brothers who in the last nine years have been arrested 192 times, an average of 27.4 times each.
The seven, aged 11 through 20, have been part of a family blotter including 39 arrests for burglary, 23 for larceny, 16 for property damage, 12 for robbery, 5 for assault, 4 for auto theft, 3 for narcotics and 2 for carrying a concealed weapon.
Other charges range from trespassing to disturbing the peace and refusing to pay a cab fare.
Police Sgt. Dick Ramon and other juvenile officers say the courts have given each young criminal enough rope to eventually hang himself.
The names of all are kept confidential under terms of juvenile law.
A detective assigned full time to the family visited recently but was ignored by the 17-year-old - 52 arrests - who indifferently combed his hair, while the 15-year-old joked about a Juvenile Court appearance and the 16-year-old, with 40 arrests, is surly, calling his mother "stupid."
The mother, 48 but appearing older, said she thinks things are getting better.
"I hope to God we've turned the corner 'cause I tell you mister, I can't take much more," she said.
Police, who complain that the courts have waited too long with the family, have no indication that any corner has been turned.
The sons are:
David, 20, awaiting sentencing for burglary and drug possession. He Has 31 arrests.
Richard, 18, serving up to 20 years in the state penitentiary for robbery and assault, 29 arrests.
John, 17, was released from Cedar Creek Youth Camp July 10. He was arrested with a stolen car the next night. It was his 52nd arrest.
Tommy, 16, has 40 arrests, and Allen, 15, has 31.
Peter, 13, has been arrested 30 times, and Sam, only 11, has been picked up six times for burglary.
Arthur was 6 when he joined five of his older brothers and broke into a school. They did $1,500 damage.
"Does it make any sense that John was arrested 50 times before the court decided to send him to a diagnostic center to find out what was wrong with him?" asked Ramon.
The prosecutor's office is reviewing the histories of each of the minor boys. It could recommend to the court that one or all five be committed to an institution or placed in a foster home.
Ramon said that the mother had 10 boys and three girls. None of the girls has been in trouble. Leonard, 28 or 29, hasn't been arrested since he was released from a Louisiana prison.
Victor, 27, was a heroin addict killed by a shotgun blast in Los Angeles. Mark, 23, "ran into a knife" and died, the mother says.
There also are three grandchildren, aged 8 to 12, who have all been arrested for burglary here.
"The frightening thing is that they're going to continue producing misery for years and years," said Ramon.
Now think about Jehovah's statement, I, the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me. Those that hate Him are those who disobey His commandments and laws.
Since venereal diseases primarily infect the organs of reproduction, it stands to reason that the "mix-ups" are probably caused by VD, sometimes even from three or four generations back.
Consider further that because of resulting complications and disabilities, venereal diseases rob the victims of physical and mental health, character, will, and achievement. Such afflicted persons often become habitual criminals and wards of society. Spreading through the populace, directly or genetically, VD destroys the very fiber of the nation. The demise of every great nation that has fallen into decay began with a breakdown in the moral conduct of the people, AFTER they had forgotten the law of the LORD.
WHAT HAPPENED TO PARENTHOOD?
Those men who first took office after the ratification of the Constitution of the United States stood as before Moses when he said, Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither you go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. . . . For what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourselves, and keep your souls diligently, . . . lest they depart from you all the days of your lives; but teach them to your sons, and your sons' sons (Deuteronomy 4:5-9).
Somewhere along the line we quit teaching God's laws to our sons, and we let them forget the national purpose that was based on those laws. We became so enamored with distorted interpretations of individual liberty that discipline, moral restraint, and racial integrity became religious hang-ups, Victorian inhibitions, and "a big
drag, man."
Many parents, mesmerized by such writers and teachers as Freud, Kinsey, and Spock, have lowered their standards of life, principle, and character, and now the "boob tube" and pornographic magazines have replaced the Bible as the standard of conduct in homes and families.
AS LAXITY TAKES OVER.
The children of laxity and permissiveness are now taking their places in public offices and legislative halls. Therefore, we see legislation being passed to decriminalize drugs and legalize all forms of sexual immorality. Such action can only result in further destruction of the health, character, and fiber of our people and complete removal of the little peace and safety that remains in the country today.
The country is already "shaken and darkened" by economic woes, saboteurs, assassins, private armies, traitors, and revolutionists. Even prison inmates riot, demanding and getting what they call their "rights." Students disdain discipline; they strike, riot, and change the learning process into a circus of illiteracy.
Our country has plunged into a cesspool of immorality, crime, violence, and depravity. National purpose has already fallen before the onslaught, and national will is wounded and bleeding. We keep telling ourselves it isn't so, but in our hearts we know it is. Unless we speedily return to God's word and God's laws, our nation's fall will only be halted on the ash heap of Armageddon.
A FINAL HOPE.
The hour is late, but even now it is not too late for good men to act. Ezekiel must have been scanning the centuries and addressing America today when he wrote, Repent and turn from all your transgressions [crimes]; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions [violations of God's laws] . . . for why will ye die? (Ezek. 18:30-31)
God used Jeremiah to tell us, At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
If our lawmakers, our prosecutors, and our judges will apply God's statutes and judgments, they can turn back the evil from our land. The need for capital punishment can be alleviated by using capital punishment for capital crimes. God has named the capital crimes and has given the only effective sentences for them.
A little thoughtful consideration will reveal to any reasonable person that God's statutes and judgments are not given out of cruelty but out of compassion for the innocent. They are given to cleanse the land of crime and disease, and to assure the safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people.
However, to those who still think these measures are harsh or unreasonable, don't argue with me. They weren't authored by me but the All-Wise God. One would be very presumptuous indeed to argue with God, or attempt to instruct Him, for all His creation, even the whole universe, operates in perfect harmony EXCEPT the area that He temporarily delegated to man—-man who thought he could improve on God's laws. Chew on that while you evaluate the present conditions of violence and chaos in MAN'S world. Then remember that Jesus said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law, . . . for verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law (Matt. 5:17-19).
Chapter 12. Punishment To Fit The Crime.
Jehovah, as King and Lawgiver of the nation, handed down laws and judgments (punishments) designed to control all manner of crime. It is only as men have deserted His laws and judgments, and substituted their own, that criminal activity has skyrocketed completely out of hand. The sentences imposed under our present criminal-justice system, if indeed any sentence is given, seldom seem to relate to the crime.
The U.S. News and World Report of May 10, 1976, gives the findings of a study on crime in America. They include the crime record for Washington, D.C., which is typical of all major cities in the nation. Let us examine portions of that report about Washington, D.C.
"It was found that arrests are made in only one out of four robberies so only a small fraction of all crimes committed ever reach the criminal justice system at all." The report further informs us that out of every 100 arrested for crime, only 33 are ever adjudged guilty, either by trial or confession. Prosecutors decline, for a variety of reasons, prosecute 24 out of the 100 cases that police arrest. Later 40 cases of the 100 are dropped by the prosecutor or dismissed by a judge; 26 plead guilty to some charge, usually to a lesser one than that for which arrested; and only 10 cases ever go to trial. Of these, 7 are convicted and 3 acquitted.
Of those 7 convicted, about 3 are not sentenced to jail or prison but fined or placed on probation. Only 4.2 percent | of the 100 arrested are tried, convicted, and sentenced to i incarceration. (Editor's note: Americans seem able to \ think only in terms of incarceration, fines, or probation as punishments for crime. These sentences seldom fit the crime and have proven themselves entirely ineffective.)
In fairness we must point out that one reason many cases are not prosecuted is that it is difficult to secure witnesses. Many "don't want to get involved"; some refuse from fear of retaliation. Many times, because of the long delay between the time of the crime and the trial, witnesses have moved away or their memory is dimmed. So it seems that only a very small percentage of criminals are ever convicted and sent to prison, and even this small percentage overcrowds the prisons.
One case was cited of a man who was arrested for armed robbery and released on bond. During the next four months, while free on bond, he was arrested five times on various charges ranging from petty larceny to car theft. Finally he pleaded guilty to attempted petty theft and was again released to await sentencing. (End of report)
We must deduce that overloaded courts and overcrowded prisons allow more known criminals to range at large than are confined. But, is the problem all with the prosecutors, the courts, and the prisons? Is it not that our crime-control laws do NOT control crime? Could it be that the sentences imposed do NOT fit the crime? Should a petty thief be given the same type of punishment as a kidnapper or a rapist, the only difference being in the length of the prison term? In view of the records of those released after serving time in prison, should we not question whether prison sentences are at all fitting? A recent report shows that the rate of recidivism (falling back into prior criminal habits) within four years by released offenders is a whopping 74 percent. Is there not some better method of dealing with convicted criminals— a program that would make the punishment fit the crime?
We shall not attempt a discussion of the criminal laws now in effect in our country except to object to prison terms or fines for most crimes. Fines paid to the city, county, or state, or a prison term for the criminal, does nothing for the victim and very little for the offender. Neither do those sentences often fit the crime.
Actually a term in prison, or in jail, cannot even be considered punishment. It is rather a REWARD to the criminal for his crime. He is relieved of the responsibility of providing his own shelter, clothing, food, and medical care. He is given total economic security at the expense of the law-abiding citizens, including his victims. Many of those so "punished" immediately return to a life of crime upon their release. However, the judgments (sentences) prescribed for us by Jehovah, and spelled out for us in the Bible, do fit the crime, and if used would prove to be real crime deterrents. As we look into some of the examples given, let us take note that our God has little use for prisons.
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.
Theft takes many forms and robs the people of many different kinds of property. Exodus 22:1 is one of the statutes that deal with a crime that robs the victim not only of his property but also of his means of making a living. It reads, If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore jive oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
God's laws are statements of principles so this judgment is applicable to far more than oxen and sheep. At the time this was written, agriculture and stock-raising employed a large percentage of the population. Then, as now, livestock was the stock in trade, or the tools of their trade, for many farmers.
The word oxen in this verse is from the Hebrew word "bazar" and includes all cattle, not just bulls and steers. At that time, and in fact clear down to 19th-century America, oxen were used as motive power for wagons and farm machines. So the animals here mentioned represent the tools of a man's trade, such as a tractor in today's times.
The penalty for stealing an ox is heavier than that for stealing a sheep because it takes longer to bring an ox to maturity than it does a sheep. When the principle is applied to modern tools and machinery, the penalty for stealing heavy industrial equipment would be more severe than that for stealing light machinery and tools.
Note that this is not a fine to be paid to the city or state but is payable to the VICTIM of the crime. It is punishment to FIT the crime. If those who steal livestock, cars, tools, etc., and sell them were forced to reimburse their victims four to five times the value of the stolen goods, there would be very, very little thievery of that nature. A venture into crime should be costly, not rewarding, and God's law makes it costly.
Exodus 22:4 goes on to say, If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double. If the car, truck, tools, or livestock are recovered undamaged, the thief must return what he stole, AND IN ADDITION he must pay the full value of the stolen goods TO HIS VICTIM. (If the state imposes a penalty, it should be an additional one.) This is really punishment to fit the crime and is a far greater deterrent to crime than a mere prison sentence.
Exodus 22:7 tells us that a thief who has stolen money must repay, to his victim, double the amount taken. The reason that twofold is required, rather than fourfold or fivefold, is that money of itself is unproductive. Livestock would reproduce itself every year, and tools or machinery bring income for the owner.
Payroll thieves, embezzlers, con and fraud artists who are caught but whose loot is not recovered cannot enjoy their ill-gotten spoils after a few years free board at taxpayers' expense. Instead they must labor to restore double to their victims. This is punishment to fit the crime, and at no expense to the law-abiding citizens.
IF THE THIEF HAVE NOTHING.
But suppose the thief, whether of car, livestock, tools, money, or other property, does not have the money or other assets with which to pay his victim two to five times the value of his theft. Perhaps he has sold the goods and spent the money by the time he is apprehended. Exodus 22:3 solves this problem very neatly. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
Some will say, "Oh, come now—slavery went out with the Civil War! You can't put anyone into involuntary servitude!" To which the following question is pertinent: "Isn't a prison sentence usually considered involuntary?" When the alternative is considered, the thief would probably prefer to work out his debt.
Certainly changes in our laws, and perhaps some in our constitution, will be required to align ourselves fully with the Divine laws, but it is also certain we shall never whip the crime problem without these changes.
Many who are convicted of various crimes are, at present, put on probation. If we would do things God's way, we would add to this probation the requirement that the convict make full restitution (two to five times the sum of his crime) to his victim at a rate set and enforced by the court. Present probation requires no restitution, and it carries only the threat of jail if it is violated. If the reader wonders how Divine restitution is enforced, it is spelled out in Deuteronomy 17:12, And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. The executions of a few rebels would bring universal obedience to the law, just as God says in the next verse, And all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
The illustration on the preceding page is one of several delivered to U.S. Congressional offices by friends of the author. It was reprinted here with their permission.
HOME PROTECTION PERMITTED.
Sometimes burglars are caught in the act; and the question often arises as to how far a householder may go to protect his family and property. Exodus 22:2-3 deals with that question, If a thief is found breaking into a house and is wounded so that he dies, there is no penalty for bloodshed. But if the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood penalty for him; and he should make full restitution; if he has nothing then he shall be sold for his theft (Lamsa Translation).
A thief may be killed at night with no penalty, for in the dark he could not be recognized for later apprehension. But God says he should not be killed in daylight, the obvious reason being that he could be seen, witnesses could identify him, and he could be apprehended and required to make restitution. Remember, in Bible law full restitution for stolen goods is two to five times the value of the goods. However, dead men cannot make restitution.
Early English and American laws gave some recognition to God's Divine principle by making the penalty for after-dark crimes more severe than for daylight crimes and usually absolved the killer of any thief or robber at night with the term "justifiable homicide."
The Bible instructions on daylight robberies would partially uphold the idea put forth by some police departments that one should not resist a holdup man in order to save property and thereby risk possibility of injury or death at his hands. Under Biblical law there would usually be no permanent loss anyway, for when the thief is caught, he must make full restitution and more. However, under our present law one is more inclined to resist the thief, knowing that anything taken is usually lost forever and no restitution is enforced.
Disputes sometimes arise as to whether the goods a man has in his possession are his own, or whether they are stolen. Exodus 22:9 gives instruction for such cases. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for an ox, an ass, for a lamb, for clothing, or for any manner of lost thing which another man claims to be his, the case of both panics shall come before the judges; and whomsoever the judges shall convict, he shall make two-fold restitution to his neighbor—only two-fold restitution in this case because the goods had not been disposed of but were still in the thief's possession. Divine law expresses the utmost concern for the victim of crime, as well as punishment for the criminal that will fit the crime. This is the best rehabilitation program ever devised.
DO UNTO OTHERS.
Sometimes hold-up men shoot, stab, or beat their victims whether or not the robbery was resisted. Divine law deals with such brutality in Leviticus 24:19-20. If a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he has done, so shall it be done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him.
Of course, this law is carried out by an executioner after fair trial and sentence by a duly elected or appointed judge. Nowhere does Divine law permit a citizen to take the law into his own hands. Is there anything that would reduce the number of cases of mayhem or physical violence more than the knowledge that as he has done so shall it be done unto him?
FORTY LASHES.
There does, however, seem to be an alternative. Deuteronomy 25:1-3 (Fenton) gives us this, When there is a dispute between men, and they appear before the judge, he shall examine between right and right, and wrong and -wrong: and when he has decided between the assailant and the assailed, he shall cause him to be punished in his own presence according to the extent of his crime. You may inflict forty strokes, not more; for fear if you strike him beyond these many lashes, your brother [countryman] should become degraded in your sight.
Proverbs 19:29 (Fenton) states, Justice is ready for scoffers, and stripes for the rascal's back. God's judgments certainly give us a far more fitting way to deal with the malicious and violent than man's judgments, which reward the offender with total economic security for a year or two.
These judgments of God, of course, may be immediately condemned by some as being "cruel and unusual punishment." They may be cruel, but no crueler to the assailant than he was to his victim. After a few cases it would no longer be unusual, but it certainly would be punishment to fit the crime.
As stated before, a prison term for a convicted criminal is actually a reward to him for his criminal act. He then becomes a financial responsibility of the general public, the taxpayers, his victims. It amounts to a continued robbing of the law-abiding citizen. Such should not be, and it is not sanctioned by the All-Wise God.
Jehovah's laws and judgments deal with vandalism and arson also. Exodus 22:4-5 (Fenton) tells us, If the farm or vineyard of a man is burnt, and ruffians from his village burn his farm, or part of his farm, or a part of his vineyard, it shall be compensated.
This statute is again a statement of principle and applies to any property, farm, city, or any means of malicious destruction. The principle of multiple restitution as established in Exodus 22 certainly applies in cases of vandalism and arson. Had these laws been the laws of the land in the 1960's during the Negro riots, the burning of large sections of some of our cities would not have occurred. The rioters would have known they would have been subjecting themselves to lifetime servitude as penalty for those crimes—not lifetime in prison but a lifetime of labor to pay for the great damage they caused. Such a judgment would have been punishment to fit the crime. Instead, these criminals have been given increases in their welfare payments; some have been given jobs for which they are not qualified; and some have been placed in positions of authority over whites, which is also a violation of Divine law. Crime can only increase as long as criminals are coddled and rewarded rather than punished for their crimes.
SHOULD THE INNOCENT PAY?
Crime compensation at taxpayers' expense is being mentioned more and more often lately. Some foreign countries have adopted this measure, as well as some states in our own country, to a limited extent. Bills have been introduced in Congress to appropriate federal funds to compensate victims of certain crimes. This is a wrong step in the right direction. The victim should be compensated, but by the criminal himself. The law-abiding should not be penalized for the crimes of the lawless. So, Mr. Lawmaker, why not make crime so costly a profession that even the reckless and the evil will shun it? In other words, why not make the punishment fit the crime?
SELF-CONFESSED CRIMES.
The old saying that ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it also holds true for Divine law although God puts a lesser penalty on one who violates in ignorance than He does on the malicious and unrepentant. God also calls for a heavier penalty on preachers, teachers, and government officials than He does for the common man.
Leviticus 4:2-4 (Fenton) reads, The soul that sins [violates the law] by ignorance in any of the commands of the Ever-living, through not having done, or doing it unconsciously; if a consecrated priest [preacher or teacher] shall sin to the injury of the People;—then he shall offer for the sin which he has sinned a perfect bullock from the fold, to the Ever-living for his sin [law violation]. Today we would say he is to be fined one bullock, or the cash value of one bullock. This fine goes to God, the King; that is, to the state. Of course, the text goes on to give the details of the killing and burning of the bullock, but since the sacrificial and ceremonial law brought no pleasure to Jehovah, and was subsequently fulfilled and done away by Jesus Christ, that portion of the law is no longer applicable; but the law of the trespass offering (fine) still stands.
Leviticus 4:13-14 deals with high government officials such as congressmen or members of the cabinet. It says, If any of the fathers of Israel goes and commits, out of the sight of the public, . . . and he sins [violates the law] then he shall confess the sin that he has sinned; and shall offer publicly an ox from the fold for his sin.
Lesser public servants pay a lesser fine. We read in Leviticus 4:22-23, When a ruler has sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God [violates the law of the land] concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; or if his sin . . . come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering [fine] a kid of the goats, a male without blemish. . . .
The Hebrew word from which ruler is translated in this passage is "nasi" and indicates a local official rather than one of the fathers of Israel and so his fine is much less than that of a national official.
Leviticus 4:27-28 tells us, And if any one of the common people sin, under the same circumstance, his fine shall be a female kid of the goats.
So we find that Jehovah's law does penalize any who | violate the law in ignorance, but it fits the fine to the station in society of the violator.
VOLUNTARY CONFESSION.
For self-confessed crimes not done in ignorance, Jehovah requires both restitution and a fine. Leviticus 6:2-7 (Moffatt) reads, If anyone sins by committing fraud against the Eternal, by cheating a neighbor over some deposit or pledge, or by theft, or by taking advantage of his neighbor, or by denying it when he has found some lost property, taking a false oath to that effect; then, in ; the case of any of these sins, if he be guilty of any of them, i he must restore what he robbed or what he extorted or \ what was deposited with him for safe keeping, or the lost property he found, or anything about which he swore a , false oath; he must restore it in full, adding a fifth to it, and handing it back to the owner on the day when he \ offers his guilt offering [pays his fine]. The guilt offering he must bring to the Eternal is an unblemished ram of some value from the flock. . . .
So we see that those who violate the law in ignorance, and whose violation is a crime against the state or against society (as opposed to crimes against individuals) must pay a fine to the state commensurate with his station in society.
A self-confessed crime against an individual requires the guilty one to make restitution of the amount in question plus 20 percent. He must also pay a fine to the state equal to the value of a male sheep. Self-confessed crimes carry a far lesser penalty than that imposed on the unrepentant, who must be apprehended and tried in court for his crime. God's judgments take into account "intent" as well as repentance, or rehabilitation.
Crimes committed in ignorance against government-owned property also require a fine as well as restitution, as is brought out in Leviticus 5:15-26. If a soul commit a trespass through ignorance, in the holy [set apart, or government-owned] things of the LORD: then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks . . . for a trespass offering; and he shall make amends for the harm he has done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto. Of course, if he knowingly steals or damages government property and does not confess voluntarily, he is subject to the double-to-quintuple-restitution provisions of the law.
JUDGES—TRIALS.
Exodus 23:6, 8-9 states, You shall not wrest the judgment of the poor in his cause. Many Americans recognize the justice of this command. Emergency relief, court-appointed lawyers for the poor, class action suits, and general recognition of the needs of the poor all point in that direction. Also you shall not oppress a stranger [foreigner or alien]. Civil rights laws are claimed to be a help, but more oppression has resulted because their proponents have failed to follow the Divine Order.
The text also says, And you shall take no gift: for the gift blinds the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. (Some translations use the word bribe in place of gift.) There is no doubt this law also applies to election-campaign contributions of special-interest groups and persons. After the practices uncovered by the Watergate scandals, there is a growing campaign against gifts that blind the wise.
Divine law requires a speedy trial for one accused or indicated. It is common knowledge that a speedy trial and immediate execution of the sentence is one of the best deterrents to crime of any nature. Under Divine law justice is speedy and predetermined.
God's law requires witnesses for conviction. Deuteronomy 19:15 states, A single witness shall not convict a man in the case of any crime or offense of any kind whatsoever that he has committed; it is only on the evidence of two or three witnesses that a charge can be sustained (Smith and Goodspeed). This statute rules out conviction on circumstantial evidence. God's law minimizes chances of an innocent man being convicted.
Divine law has a most effective way of dealing with false witnesses and perjury. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men . . . shall stand before the LORD, that is before the priests and the judges . . . and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and if the witness be a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; then you shall do to him as he had thought to have done to his brother: so shall you put away evil from among you (Deuteronomy 19:16-19).
Withholding information as a witness is not permitted by Divine law. Leviticus 5:1 states, When a person who is a witness sins when he has taken the declaration of an oath, about an event he saw, or knew, if he does not relate it, he shall bear his crime. The oath taken by witnesses i our courts, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" is in line with God' law; but in our courts today lawyers often suppress the truth because the witness is not permitted to tell the whole truth. Oftentimes the witness is required to limit his testimony to answers to the lawyers' questions. A sharp lawyer can so word his questions that the truth actually distorts the facts. Many a criminal has been loosed by such tactics.
Respect for authority is demanded by Divine law. Exodus 22:28 reads, You shall not revile the judge not curse a ruler of your people (Lamsa translation).
By Divine law contempt of court is a serious crime. In cases before the Supreme Court it could carry the death penalty. Deuteronomy 17:12 explains it, pronouncing this sentence, And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken . . . unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel
HELP FOR THE POOR.
God's law makes adequate provision for the poor and unfortunate. Leviticus 25:35-37 states, If a fellow-countryman become poor and fails beside you, then you must relieve him and enable him to live beside you. Take no interest from him in money or in kind, but stand in awe of your God; let your fellow-countryman live beside you, and never ask interest on your money loans to him nor on the food with which you furnish him (Moffatt translation).
Years ago, when friends and neighbors took personal steps to relieve one stricken with illness, accident, fire, or storm, that person felt a glow of friendship and love for those who had helped him. He also felt a certain indebtedness to those he knew he could never repay, but there was a definite incentive for him to regain his own material stability and put himself in the forefront in an effort to alleviate the miseries of the next unfortunate.
As the burden of the needy shifted to the county, then to the state, and finally to the federal government, the personal touch was lost. The base of alleviation has broadened, but the blessing for giving has been lost. One rarely experiences the joy of giving when paying his tax bill. Neither can the recipient experience the feeling of gratitude and thanks, the knowledge that his neighbors and friends really care, when accepting a dole from an impersonal agency of government. Does such a gift, with its accompanying rules and regulations, spur a man's initiative and generate in him a desire to reciprocate? It is more likely to breed contempt and a desire to ride a free horse as far as possible. Welfare thereby becomes a racket to the lazy, the selfish, and the greedy; yea, it becomes a way of life.
Divine law counters this system with the injunction, which refers to the able-bodied, He who will not work shall not eat (II Thess. 3:10). Work of some sort—sweeping streets, planting forests, picking litter from highways, doing any of the multitude of needed public services—should therefore be a requirement for any able-bodied person, except widows with dependent children, receiving welfare, food stamps, or assistance from any public-help program.
On the other hand Divine law expressly states that the helpless should be supported with tax dollars. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 states, You shall bring forth the tithe of your increase [income tax] . . . and the Levite [public employees], and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow . . . shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Orphans and widows with dependent children are to be supported with tax dollars. Widows are not to work and leave their children to be brought up by teen-age baby sitters or day-care centers.
Divine law demands punishment for those who oppress widows, orphans, or aliens (Ex. 22:21-24). "Aliens" means non-citizens and therefore includes all those of other races who have not resided in the nation for ten generations and white Anglo-Saxons of less than three generations residency.
The farmer is commanded not to harvest his grain into the corners of his field, nor to glean his vines and fruit trees but to leave these for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the resident alien as self-help programs to keep the work ethic alive (Lev. 19:9-10).
Divine law requires humane treatment of animals. Beasts of burden are to have one day of rest in seven, the same as man, as stated in the fourth of the ten commandments. One is required to relieve an animal in distress even if it belongs to an enemy (Ex. 23:5).
Workers' wages are to be agreed upon before the work is done, and he is to receive his wages regularly—daily if he so desires (Matt. 20:1-5 and Lev. 19:13).
God provided for the protection and preservation of wildlife (Deut. 22:6-7). America's environmentalists comply with this Divine precept.
LIABILITY.
The basis for our modern laws on liability is found in Divine law. An additional penalty for assault and battery or mayhem is found in Exodus 21:18-19, If two men quarrel, and one strikes another with a stone, or with his fist [or with a bullet, knife, or other object], and he does not die but is put to bed from the injury: if he rises again and walks in the street with his staff, then the one who struck him . . . shall pay for his loss of time and the physician's fee.
The adoption of this statute as the law of the land would make it safe to walk on the streets of our cities. God's judgment here benefits the victim whereas our modern-day jail sentence for the offender does not. God's judgment puts the cost of the damages on the one who did the damage. This is excellent rehabilitation therapy as well as punishment to fit the crime.
INNOCENT BYSTANDER.
Divine law protects the innocent bystander. Exodus 21:22-25 reads, If, as men are quarreling, a pregnant woman is struck, so that she miscarries, without further mischief to herself, the striker must pay such fine [indemnity] as the woman's husband imposes upon him, as a payment for the untimely birth; but if any further mischief follows, then it must be life for life, and eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a lash for a lash. This statute takes care of criminal negligence.
Of course, the principle of compensation holds true whether the injured bystander be a pregnant woman or someone else. The Bible is very specific that personal injury be compensated, and in cases of mayhem the perpetrator must always suffer the same injuries as he has inflicted on his victim. That law in our land would certainly put a stop to muggings, beatings and violence. Today an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth is spoken of lightly, or with derision, but if it were enforced, violence would cease to be a problem.
ANIMALS AND MACHINES, TOO.
Liability covers far more than bodily injury by a person. Exodus 21:28-29 reads, If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; and the owner of the ox shall be quit [acquitted—not guilty].
But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it has been testified to his owner, and he has not kept him in, but that he has killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death.
As stated before, God's laws are statements of principles, so these verses cover a multitude of other conditions, such as an automobile being driven with unreliable brakes, or a steering defect, or any other dangerous condition of which the owner and/or driver is aware. Probably the most dangerous vehicle on the road is one being operated by one who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The death penalty should be mandatory for death caused by such a one.
This judgment also covers any other dangerous animal, machine, or condition of which the owner is aware. Today this type of offense is called "criminal negligence." If death results from the owner's negligence, he is to be put to death, unless the survivors of the slain person prefer to sue for a money settlement, as stated in the next verse. If there be laid on him [owner of the ox] a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to the judgment shall it be done to him.
This is why we carry liability insurance on our automobiles and why business and industry are insured against injury by their machines or on their property.
Liability includes property also. Exodus 21:33-36 gives us this: If a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. (Disposal of the carcass is up to the one at fault.) And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it, and the dead ox also shall they divide. Or if it be known that the ox used to push in time past, and his owner has not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.
Here again we find the statement of principle. It must be applied to all cases of negligence and again the key word is "restitution." Here is another example. If a man shall cause afield or a vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field, then of the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution (Exodus 22:5).
In these cases, as in all others, if any person who has been adjudged legally liable to make restitution or to pay a fine or damages, whether it be for deliberate crime or for negligence, refuses to pay or to work to meet his legal and moral obligation to his victim, then Deuteronomy 17:12-13 again comes into force as explained on pages 165-166, And the man that will...not hearken unto the.. Judge, even that man shall die: and thou shah put away the evil from Israel.
The examples cited herein for crimes, negligence, liability, and restitution are only a small part of the whole but are sufficient to show that God's Laws provide justice for the criminal and the negligent and give utmost concern for the victims.
What is now needed is the overhaul of the civil and criminal laws of our land so that they conform to the Divine principles set forth in the Bible. When these are enforced, the way of the transgressor will be hard (Proverbs 13:15), they will eventually be rooted out (Proverbs 2:22), righteousness will be exalted, brotherly love will abound, and Divine blessings fill the land. We will see fulfilled in our land the promise of God that when His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).
Therefore I will judge you, 0 house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the LORD God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions [violations of God's laws]; so iniquity [crime] shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, 0 house of Israel? --- Ezekiel 18:30-31.
Chapter 13. Roundup -- A Final Word.
There can be no doubt that America is God's modern Israel. Even though it is not assented to, nor recognized by many Americans, the fact that we are the "covenant people" explains why the American "civil religion" is based on the national laws God gave to ancient Israel. It also explains the phenomenal growth and prosperity of America, which has long baffled historians and economists the world over. This growth and prosperity also results because, until recent years, Americans have concurred with William Penn's statements, "Government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end."
That government is as much an institution of God as is the church is proven by the fact that Jehovah organized the government of ancient Israel and gave her her laws. That this concept was recognized by early American statesmen is brought out by Benjamin Franklin's statement that "God governs in the affairs of men," and ". . . is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
Jehovah gave His reasons for the governmental table of organization and His laws in the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy. Speaking of the time after Israel's regathering He said, . . .the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers if you shall hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn unto the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul. For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it. But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you should do it. See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil.
We have a choice laid out for us—obey God's laws for life and good or disobey to reap death and evil. This choice is spelled out in the Bible, which is in nearly every American home. We need no further revelation from heaven; neither need we import foreign systems.
Every man, woman, and child residing in America should be requited to commit to memory the ten commandments, for they are the national constitution that God delivered to our ancient forefathers and are the basis for every statute and law. They are neatly summed up in the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," or as Scripture puts it, And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 6:31, Matt. 7:12). That rule in itself would go far toward eliminating crime in our land.
Presidential candidates speak often of reorganization of the executive branch of the government. This is much needed, as is also a reorganization of state and city governments. They are all top-heavy with public employees; and bureaucratic power is excessive. Under Divine law only about one person in fifty was a public employee, excluding elected officials, judges, and the armed forces. What is the ratio today?
Neither does Divine law permit government to meddle in the economy or to issue multifarious rules and regulations on business and agriculture. It gives a few basic guidelines, which are not roadblocks to prosperity as are so many of the present government regulations. With the removal of unnecessary and restrictive regulations, there would be little unemployment and much less need for direct welfare.
Congress, state legislatures, county commissioners, and city councils are not permitted to make laws but only to administer the Divine law and interpret it to fit changing conditions. Divine laws are statements of principles, and those principles must never be violated.
The energy shortages—gasoline, natural gas, and electricity—are all the results of the mishandling of the nation's natural resources. This shortage has come about by ignorance of, or presumptuous violation of, the Divine laws governing those resources. Had the government retained ownership of those vital products and handled them for the benefit of all the people, there would be no shortages.
There can be no doubt that the severe winter of 1976-77 was a direct judgment of God on the land for the violation of His laws on these matters. All the resulting curtailment of industry and transportation, with the laying off of workers and the ensuing shortages of food and other commodities, was the rod of God to bring His people into conformity with His law. America has violated Divinely-given scientific principles and is now suffering the consequences. It is gratifying to note that many people have called for, and are engaging in, prayer sessions to seek Divine mercy and intervention in the weather pattern. However, let all take note that God has said, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law (of God), even his prayer shall be abomination (Prov. 28:9). So praying is not enough; obedience to His laws is also required.
Agricultural practices also affect the weather. God's law calls for all farm land in the nation to lie idle every seventh year. This practice in itself preserves and replenishes reservoir and ground-water supplies. The failure to observe this natural law brought God's judgment in the "dust bowl" of the 1930's. It also accounts for the drought in California in 1975-76-77 and the resulting severe water shortage, as well as the fall and winter drought of 1976-77 in Oregon, Washington, and the upper plains states. God has told us that when we obey His laws, He will take direct action to give us rain in due season. This includes snow in the mountains in due season also. Conversely it means that if we are in violation of His laws, He will withhold this vital precipitation. We have experienced His wrath in these matters; how much chastisement will Americans take before they obey? These things are undeniable proof that God's laws are in operation and that we are in violation of them.
Neither have Israelites in Europe escaped God's judgment in these matters. England recently suffered the worst drought in 500 years, and it extended into other Christian European nations.
Our economy is suffering because of other violations. The President has called for tax cuts, tax refunds, and other tax breaks to spur the economy. Of course, the big culprit depressing the economic life of the country is the usury charge. That is the real roadblock to full employment and prosperity. The amount of usury paid each year by government, business, and individuals is far more than the amount involved in all the tax cuts, rebates, and tax breaks to industry, business, and individuals, the make-work programs, the subsidies to industry, business, and agriculture, home loans and other government-help projects. Eliminate usury, and all these tax breaks, rebates, subsidies, and help programs fade away, unneeded, and there would be a surplus besides. When free enterprise is loosed from the shackles of usury it will demonstrate to the World the grave error and injustice of socialistic and welfare-state policies and show them up as dampers on prosperity.
Then the straight ten-percent income tax will be more than sufficient to pay all the nation's legitimate expenses; and government can forget its economic worries and spend full time governing instead of spending the taxpayers' money stemming unemployment and assuaging hunger.
Then will government, on all levels, have time and resources to take care of the crime problem. Under these improved conditions criminal activity will have abated in great measure without government action.
Of course there will continue to be a measure of crime so long as morality remains at a low ebb. Some criminals are made; some are born, as was explained in the chapter on Capital Punishment. As added evidence of this consider the following clipping from the Oregon Statesman for February 2, 1977.
Liddy's term proved to him prison educates criminals.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) - Convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy says his four years behind bars have shown him that prisons do not rehabilitate criminals but instead teach them how to be more successful at breaking the law.
In an opinion page article in the February issue of Connecticut magazine, Liddy says most inmates he knows are planning their next big "score" rather than a change in lifestyle.
"Prisons serve as a proving ground for the young convict and as a talent pool for recruiting by the mature," he wrote.
Liddy, 46, was transferred to the minimum security federal prison farm at Allenwood, Pa., last month after nearly four years in the medium-security Danbury Federal Correctional Institution.
In conclusion, consider this statement by the prophet Moses, through whom God gave us His law, But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you (Deut. 28:15). Now notice that Moses was speaking of the law for the government of the nation. Look up the word "statute" in your dictionary.
Moses listed the curses that would come upon Israel for transgression. They include big-city blight, air pollution, destruction of farm land, pests, fruit and grain blight, high taxes, our wealth given to enemies, violence in the streets, diseases, birth defects, immorality, youth rebellion, inter-racial marriages, hatred by other nations, military defeat, massive debts and usury, enemy infiltration into our government, and finally enemy (communist) invasion (Deut. 28:15-44).
God said to our Fathers, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities (Amos 3:2).
But God's judgments on America-Israel are for our correction, For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth (Hebrews 12: 6 ). God calls Israel, My son, even My firstborn (Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31:9).
The chastising will grow worse until we humble ourselves, and pray, and seek God's face (His Word and His Salvation), and turn from our wicked ways (quit transgressing His Laws). When we turn and repent, then God will hear from heaven, and forgive our sin, and will heal our nation.
America will not be destroyed; America is God's Covenant Nation. America will heed the call of Jesus Christ, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
|
