Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Judges 18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.
Four times, in the book of Judges, we find the phrase “there was no king in Israel”,. The book of Judges talks of the trouble that Israel faced over and over again, because they did not have a king. In the book of Judges, there were judges that God set up to govern the people. They had a different roll than our judges have today. Many of our judges are corrupt and paid for by the ruling party. We have particularly seen this over the way that the Wuhan virus debacle was handled.
When God created the world, He was the King. When God chose Abram/Abraham to be the father of a new nation, He was the King. At the end of Samuel’s life, the nation of Israel was tired of having judges rule over them and they demanded a king like the nations around them. They did not understand that the judges were under the authority of God. Eli, a corrupt priest, had done much damage to the relationship that the people should have had with God.
Foreign nations had kings. They were ungodly kings and many of them set themselves up as gods in the eyes of the people. Interestingly, the people were willing to accept them as gods. They gave massive amounts of power to these kings. The people chose not to know the true God and they chose to submit themselves to ungodly men who were very egotistical and very self-centred.
We can look at our country today and particularly over the past 10 years we have come as close to a full-blown dictatorship that this country has ever known. It is interesting that we have allowed this country to go this direction, knowing that many of our forefathers fled from nations that were under a dictatorship. We know that the new man that has been installed as the ‘leader’ of our nation is of the same mindset as the last man. When people forsake the true God, they will foolishly and blindly subject themselves to ruthless rulers.
We should be reminded of the danger of choosing to be without a true King – i.e. God. Canada is in the midst of a very uncertain course at present. Mr. Trump is the new president of the U.S. He has a plan and he is actively implementing his plan. He is operating with a similar goal in mind as during his first term, but is approaching it from a much different way. He learned some things during his first term. If you are going to lead, you have to have more than a plan. You have to have a way to implement your plan. Mr. Trump is not a saved man. He is an antichrist. He has gained a large following, but he is a great precursor to the Antichrist. Beware, people.
One of the things that Mr. Trump has talked of is the need to fix the imbalance in trade between the U.S. and other nations, including Canada. Of greater significance is the influx of drugs into the U.S. through countries like Canada and Mexico. These drugs come from China and are filtered through our country into the U.S. Our country is trying to downplay this fact, but it is no secret.
Even though Canada has a ‘leader’ he is just a puppet of the WEF. The WEF has zero interest in Canada as a people. It sees the resources and it sees the people as a means to an end. We are slaves who pay taxes and are not allowed to stop and think where those tax dollars are going. Most people have more than enough to live on so they do not care if the government demands a certain percentage of their income. Over the past 10 years Canada has seen the poverty rate going up. We have seen housing prices go up so that a large segment of the population can no longer afford to purchase a house and certain greedy landlords are charging exorbitant fees for rent, which is also hurting the lower income people.
I Timothy 6:10 warns us that the love of money is the root of all evil. When you have greedy people as the ruling class and greedy people as the prominent class, then the poorer people, who are generally just as greedy, but have not figured out how to benefit from their greed; suffer greatly.
As we listen to the bantering back and forth between the different players in Canada and Mr. Trump, the talk is mostly about the economy. Money is a very powerful tool. It is a very bad tool in the hands of people who do not have God as their king.
In our second verse from Judges 18:7 we find the Danites looking to expand their land base. They came to a city called Laish. The Bible tells us the people of Laish dwelt carelessly. They felt they were secure. They had not experienced any enemies to that point. They had no “magistrate” in the land. The Hebrew word translated as “magistrate” means “restraint”. There was no one that would show them where their weaknesses were. There was no one there with a moral compass. Without God, there is no proper moral compass.
In Judges 18 we read further on that the Danites took Laish quite easily. They could not mount any resistance because they were living carelessly.
Currently, we have seen the premier of Ontario beating his chest and boasting of how he would hurt the U.S. with his own tariffs if Mr. Trump did not back down. Mr. Trump responded with the threat of doubling the tariffs on steel and aluminum. At the last minute, the premier of Ontario blinked. He backed down. Canada has lived carelessly for a long time and now we are caught with no way to defend ourselves.
In our texts, God pointed things out to us to help us to learn an important lesson. A person cannot follow a libertarian type of life. Life cannot be ‘live and let live’. God established order in Genesis 1&2. He showed what happens when His order is not obeyed in Genesis 3 and on. He also shows us the blessing there is in knowing Him and following His order.
In every generation, there is the temptation to live carelessly. The Bible warns us that this will be the increasing nature of society as we move toward the end of this world. There will be a major interruption in this trend during the Millennium. Up until that time, we will see a continuation of this corrupt lifestyle.
In the New Testament era, it is up to true, local churches to be the ‘magistrates’ who are to be a light in a dark world. We are to remind the world of the need for the correct moral compass. Jesus warned of the danger that comes when salt loses its savour. When salt loses its savour it is good for nothing. That is what we are seeing from most churches today. They have no godly impact on society. Divorce and remarriage are now blessed in most churches. The murder of unborn children is excused for humanistic rationale. Sodomy is being accepted and even honoured in some circles. The music standards in most churches honour the devil, not God.
All of these sins are the result of not having a true King in our lives. Jesus declared Himself to be the Head of the Church. Unlike what society tries to tell us, the Head is not controlled by the neck. The brain is in the head. Jesus Christ is all wisdom. He is still commanding His churches to function in a God-fearing manner. It is imperative that those who are truly born again, submit themselves to the King. Jesus Christ accepted the praise of the people as He rode into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. The Pharisees wanted Him to silence the people but He refused to do so. He did not come to overthrow human government then. He is not doing that now either. He did come to show His power over sin and death. That power is given to each and every person who truly repents toward God and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
It should be rather obvious that a change of government is not going to fix our situation in Canada or any other part of the world. All secular governments can see is money. They do what they can to get more of it. If a certain sector of society gets left behind in their pursuit of money, so be it. Politicians will talk as if they care when they want your vote, but otherwise they will step over the problems if they can find money on the other side.
True local churches are the answer today as in any New Testament time. True local churches are not designed to be food banks. They are designed by God to be proclaimers of the Word of God. That is the One and Only thing that will change wicked men and women, boys and girls, into respectable people who can help others to see the benefit of the Truth.
Living carelessly and without a magistrate will not help anyone. It will lure in gullible people, but it will not help them. A true local church offers real hope to lost and dying people. That is needed today as much as at any time in the history of the world.
Pastor Bartel
