otjudges2

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Judges chapter 2

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it? Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "Key Knowledge" lessons. These are pamphlets containing knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
published at http://www.theseason.org/

You can view it at the season`s web site (address above) as originally published
or here, as now edited by people at
The American Wisdom Series

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

Now here is our revised study of:

Remember that these events happened so that we would know what would come upon us in these end times. Paul told us this in I Corinthians 10:10, 11; "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these thing happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

The book of Judges deals with the first generation of the children of Israel after Joshua passed away, right up to the time of the start of the monarchy of king Saul. Once God cleansed the tabernacle for Joshua, God said He would not cleanse the tabernacle any more for them. Then after just one generation of cleansing the children of Israel from their wickedness, we read in Judges 1 that these people fell right back into their sin, and turned to idolatry. This first generation is the generation that did not witness the miracles that God had preformed, for their fathers had all died off, and it is the start of the period that is called the time of the Judges.

God told His people to drive out the Canaanites, the Kenites, the Jebusites, and all the other heathen in the area, and destroy all their forms of idolatry. After Judah's first battles, they lost interest in obeying God, and turned to see how they could make money and taxes off those peoples. They moved in along side of them and became their neighbors. They learned to accept their forms of idolatry and shortly even took their heathen religious practices as their own. In their alliances with these heathens, they mixed in every way possible, which was against God's instruction to them.

We should pay close attention to the making of alliances with the wicked nations and people even in our generation. We are well into the one world system today, and it is time that we pay attention to who we align ourselves with. If you want God's blessings then you must always do it God's way in your personal life..

Judges 2:1 "And an Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, "I made you to go out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, ' I will never break My covenant with you. "

Remember that most of the tribes have allowed the Canaanites to stay in the land and be their good neighbors, and God is not happy with this arrangement. This "Angel of the Lord" is not a man in the flesh, but the Spirit of God Himself. "Gilgal" means "the wheel", and "Bochim" means the "weepers". So the Spirit of God came from His wheel to go to the weepers, and those children of Israel were really starting to weep.

God is reminding the Children of Israel of how they were brought up out of Egypt, and of all the miracles that were done for their protection to bring them to where they are. God is reminding them that He made a covenant with their forefathers, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then with Moses and Joshua, and God will never break those covenants that were made with them.

Judges 2:2 "And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars:' but ye have not obeyed My voice: why have ye done this?"

Within that Covenant that God made, there were conditions on the people, that they would make no league, no alliance, no deals with the inhabitants of this land that God had promised into their hands. This has to do with religion, and the forms of the heathens practicing of idolatry. When Moses gathered the people together before their taking the land, this instruction was given in detail to all the people.

Deuteronomy 7:1 "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;"

When Moses gave this warning to the all the tribes of the Children of Israel, the people that Moses was warning against were the same peoples that were dwelling in the lands when God made a covenant with Abraham, and Abraham seal it with a sacrifice to God in Genesis 15:18-21.

Genesis 15:18 "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river , the river Euphrates:"

God made a covenant with Abraham [Abram] to give his offspring all the land from the Nile in Egypt, to the Euphrates in the East. This covenant is unconditional and eternal, and at the coming of Jesus Christ it shall be fulfilled completely. However, when the children of Israel are to move into the land, it is occupied by seven nations that are greater in number then the Israelites.

Genesis 15:19-21 "The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

Many of them such as the Rephiams, Perizzites and Hittites are giants, the offspring of the second influx of the fallen angels that came to earth and mated with women.

While the Kenites are the offspring Cain the son that was born from the sexual union between Eve and Satan in the Garden.

The Jebusites are the people that founded Jebuz, which later became Jerusalem, which was the area of land given to Benjamin.

Deuteronomy 7:2 "And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:"

This is when the covenant was made, and it was clearly explained to all of the tribes. God's instructions were to utterly destroy, make no covenant, show no mercy to any of them. God prepared the way for the children of Israel to do exactly what they were suppose to do, and they became lazy

Deuteronomy 7:3 "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son."

This is the most sure way of allowing heathen thought and religious practices to enter into your family unit. You are just not suppose to do it.

Deuteronomy 7:4 "For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly."

Deuteronomy 7:5 "But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire."

If you participate in any of these mixings even to this day, the results are the same. If you think that you can marry, or strike a deal with some other religious form and honor it in any way, in due time that stench from their altars will creep into your life and destroy your spiritual life and the relationship that you have with our Father. It gets right down to what is going on today with such things as rolling Easter eggs during the time of Passover. It is a Baal sexual right of the feast of Ishtar [Easter]. Christians do it for the so-called rite of the children, but it is still a form like many others that has been accepted by traditions of men.

That rite by tradition was held in the woods at a certain time of the year, about the same time of the year as the crucifixion of Christ. It is a form of Baalism, right along with the sunrise services whereby the men would stand up and face the rising of the sun on the feast of Ishtar [Easter] morning, and bow to the raising sun. Today when it is done, a few religious words are uttered in the service that are suppose to make it Christian, and the meeting of the morning sun goes right on. Do you get the point. It is taking the things that are holy to God, and mixing it with heathen customs, traditions and idolatrous religious thought and claim it is from God, when it is from the Devil.

The Christian churches today have so lost their sense of God's way, they don't even respect the most holy day of the early church, the Passover. Christ became our Passover, when He went to the cross. When He came out of the tomb, His blood is the covering of the sins of all that will believe, and in faith repent of their sins in Jesus name. What happened in Egypt some fifteen hundred years prior was an ensample of what would come later when Jesus went to the cross, and today most Christian churches have completely substituted a heathen religious holiday "the feast of Ishtar, or Ester], for Passover. There are also many other forms of heathen worship that have crept into our lives in ignorance.

I Corinthians 5:7 "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:"

I Corinthians 5:8 "Therefore let us keep the feast, not old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Jesus Christ's shed blood on the cross became our passover because the shed blood of sheep and goats were no more required by God for the forgiveness of sin. The bread of life is the Word of God, and the old leaven are the requirement for the forgiveness of sins under the old law. When Christ went to the cross and came out of the tomb, his resurrection formed a new lump for a new bread, and we are to take that new unleavened bread or truth when we keep the Passover. The Passover didn't change, but what we do, and who and how we worship in respect for the Passover changed. The leaven is the specks of dust and contamination that exists, that gets into that lump of dough that the bread will become, is what Paul is saying that these contaminants of lies and half truths, and the mixture of heathen thought is what we must keep out of our Passover.

My fellow Christian, this is also what happened with the Children of Israel during the times of the Judges, the people just did not listen to God's instructions, but to some super preacher that designed other ways for them to follow. The Kenites probably took control then of just like they are doing today. If you can't figure out why things aren't going well for your family, your community, or nation, stop and take a close look at how God's Word is handled there in the homes, schools and churches. God doesn't like it when you throw His Word back into His face and scorn it.

Judges 2:3 "Wherefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.' "

This is God speaking to you today, just like He spoke to these children of Israelites. Go ahead and roll your Easter eggs, wear your Easter bonnets, and make your sacrifices to heathen religious practices, and what you do to their gods and traditions will be a snare unto you. "Be as a thorn in your sides" in the Hebrew text reads "be an adversaries to you." You simply can't be on both sides, the side of God and the side of the devil, and God is telling you that when you do those practices, then you have made your choice on which side you stand. Sure God will keep His covenant that He made, but by breaking your part of the agreement, you become an adversary to God. Don't expect your prayers to be answered, and a blessing to come your way.

It doesn't do any good to read the Word of God, unless your are willing to study it for understanding, and follow what it says. That is the putting on of the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's spiritual attacks upon you. This is why it is important to study under a teacher that has the understanding, and use the tools for the job. It is essential to have Strong's numbered concordance that is numbered to the Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek dictionary. The Companion Bible is footnoted directly back to the Massorah, to give the meanings of the words, phrases and idioms of the manuscripts.

The reason that God promised that He would not drive them out of this promised land is that He made a commitment to Joshua that he would not in Joshua 23:13; "Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given to you."

This is also tied to the twenty three hundred days spoken of by Daniel the prophet in Daniel 8:13, 14, which brings you to the return of Jesus Christ at the second advent. There is no teacher with understand of God's Word that can deny it.

Daniel 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, `How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?' "

Daniel 8:14 "And he said unto me, `Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'"

God made a promise to Joshua that He has cleaned up His people for the last time, and He will not clean up the Children of Israel any more, until the time of His coming. Daniel gave us the time frame from his day to when the cleansing would be, and that would be at His return. However, for those that continue to follow the ways of God, God promised in Joshua 23:9; "For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day." verse 10 "One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you."

Joshua 23:11 "Take good heed therefore unto your selves, that ye love the Lord your God."

God has made so many promises to you if you will only claim them. It is up to you whether you receive them or not.

Joshua 23:12 "Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:"

God is telling them that if you allow those heathen nations to stay amongst you, and you continue to make deals with them, even in your marriages, then you will be in trouble. "Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations".

As we get closer to the end times you can understand why those with understanding of God's Word get disturbed over the muttered words from the higher leaders of our Christian nation, because we want to please God.

Judges 2:4 "And it came to pass, when the Angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept."

This is why they called the place where the Angel of God spoke to people "Bochim", "a place of weeping". Those people of the Children of Israel had participated in all the things that God warned them against.

Judges 2:5 "And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord."

Though they now see the sins of their past and wept over them, their conviction won't last, for they will be right back doing the very same sins that they had done before.

Judges 2:6 "And when Joshua had let the People go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land."

This verse now continues with the story that we left off above in Joshua 23:14.

Judges 2:7 "And the People served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel."

It only takes one generation to turn from the truth of what is known to be right and to follow all different forms of idolatry. In fact today most of the children of Israel don't even know of their heritage, and that they are from the children of Israel, and that they are covered by the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They identify themselves by the event of migration from their promise land, and their trip through the Caucasus mountains. They call themselves "Caucasians", and in ignorance think it has something to do with color of their skin. Not only do they not know, but they just do not care.

Judges 2:8 "And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old."

God told Joshua that He would never strive to straighten out the affairs of His people again until His Return at the second advent. This is why we're are to study and be able to figure it out on our own part. It is a matter of individual choice now and the free will decision to chose God's way or Satan's through man's traditions. After Jesus died on the cross, He made salvation available to all people of all races, because God loves all of his children whom He created. God wanted them to be as they are, within their race and family unit, why, because that's the way He wanted it.

Judges 2:9 "And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash."

Judges 2:10 "And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel."

Joshua and the fathers that lived and saw God's hand, and heard His Words have all died off, and the next generation that followed them have not listened, nor learned anything their fathers taught them. It wasn't too long after this that all the sins of their forefathers were brought right back into their homes and communities, and even to a greater degree.

We can see this to be so very true today, as many of the so-called religious things that are held in high esteem in our church houses, come directly from Baal worship or some other form of heathen religious worship.

Judges 2:11 "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:"

Do you want to know what the Children of Israel worshipped in their services to Baalim, well go to an Easter service, with all its bonnets and finery, its Easter eggs, and things that they do in order to make money in the church houses, and you will see those things are part of Baal worship. However many of those things have taken on a new appearance, for it wouldn't look right to have sex orgies in the church houses, so they do little thing as symbols for the real thing that really took place. They have their egg roles for the children, that way when they bring it through the door, it will look okay, and the little bunnies, will soften the moral effect.

Another part of Baalim is the high pressure emotion that is put on giving, the out-right fraud through vows that promises you blessings, just by your giving to the church. The vow takes it away from being a gift to God, and makes it a gift to man through a vow. Sure we are to keep our vows, but don't tie the tithe to your vow, and when you make the vow for money, it is not to God but to the man, your preacher or deacon that you made the vow to. That is what the "prosperity doctrine" of today is all about. It states that if you say it, or give in in the name of God, then you can claim it, and it must come to pass. This elevates you over God, and it places your will over God's will. It overlooks the entire purpose of being born again, of being born into the family of God, which is to fulfill the will of God, and the promotion of His Son Jesus Christ.

When man's will gets in the way of God's will, and takes priority, then serious things happen. When your will interferes with God's will and His plan then God has a way of straightening things out. When you take God out of the planning for your life, and substitute your fleshly desires, you're getting into the heathen oriental Kenite mind of thought that is of Baalim. It is religion for your own profit.

Judges 2:12 "And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, Which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger."

Why did these Children of Israel forsake the Lord God of their fathers? It was because of the alliance that they made with those other nations that they become neighbors with. They were suppose to have eliminated the Hittites, the Amorites and Canaanites, the Perizzites and the Hivites and all the other heathen from off the land, but instead they thought that they could use them for gain. They just did not believe that God meant what He said. They took the heathen to themselves, they used them for profit, and taxed them, and even intermarried with them, until their vows and covenants with these heathen bound them together as a unit.

We have a jealous God, and when He saw all the filth taking place He became very angry. He doesn't like it when His children, who He did so many miracles for, go bowing to other altars and religions. They would not take the time necessary to seek out what God had for them, but were willing to chase after every new thing. It is no difference today then it was thirty five hundred years ago. You had better learn that without the blessings of God you will never be successful. You might think that you are going places with ill-gotten gains, but in time it will catch up with you.

It is important that we understand fully these two forms of religion, for much of what is done today is part of those forms.

"Baal" was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanite nations, while Ashtaroth was their supreme divinity counterpart. While Baal was related to moon worship and Jupiter, Ashtaroth was related in worship to the planet Venus. The Word "Baal" in its prime root meaning comes from # 1166; "to be master; hence, to marry and have dominion over." The worship of Baal is also called "Baalism, Bel, and Belus, with many forms of compounds using the word Baal, such as what we will see in Judges the eighth chapter, "Baal-Berith". In Baalism, the worship is generally to do a form of religious duty for money, or to make money.

Along with the understanding of the heathen god Ashtaroth, you have to understand "grove worship" for they are tied together. Today many teach that it has something to do with altars built amongst the trees, however, when we translate from the Hebrew we see that this is not so.

"Groves" in the Hebrew dictionary is # 842; "Asherah, ash-ay-raw; asherah, (astarte) a Pheonician goddess; also an image of the same: grove." In the New Testament Paul ran into this form of worship in the "temple of Diana", in Corinth. It is a sex goddess with many breasts, and those giving themselves to this goddess, virtually became whores in the temple. Ashtaroth as refered to in Judges is the same form of worship, only it is tied to Baal worship also.

So when we take Ashtaroth into the Hebrew dictionary for an understanding, we read as # 6252; "Ashtarowth, Ash-taw-roth; sometimes Ashtaroth, The name of a Sidon deity, see also 1045, 6255." # 1045 tells us where the sexual orgies of worship of Astaroth is to take place in "Beth-Ashtarowth, baythash-taw-roth'; the house of Ashtaroth."

The earliest stages of the worship of Ashtaroth was in the ancient Sumerian religions, and it came from the worship of Numrid, His wife Semiremis, and their son Tammuz. They left a religious form for their world that continues to this day. In passing it was believed that Nimrod became fused with the sun, while Semiremis became the planet Venus. Semiremis has many names in many different languages and forms, such as Diana, which came from Ishtar the goddess of fertility.

The point that I am trying to get clear is that these ancient religious forms, are very ancient, and they tie directly in with the worship of men and women and their ability to reproduce. The intent of these religious forms is take your attention off of God, and what God will do for those that love Him, and put it on to man and his ability to exist and produce on his own. All of the nations that occupied the lands that God promised the Children of Israel were tied up in these ancient forms of worship. They whittled their gods from the trees to symbolize those sexual forms, and then bowed to them as their altars, and sought the physical pleasure that came from its practices. In one way it is worshipping the work of our Father's hands in the forming of the tree that the idol came from, rather then worshipping the Creator Himself.

There is only one thing that God wants from you, and that is your love for Him. There is nothing that you can make with your hand or body that will please Him, outside of your love for Him.

Judges 2:14 "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies."

What started out to be a money making deal, working the Canaanites and all the other heathens, and taxing them to the hilt, in time turned against them. Those pleasures of their religious practices turned sour. This is a lesson that we can see all around us today. How much interest do you pay each month to the Kenites in usury? In most households today more then half the earnings goes to their interest charges for things that you buy from them. How about those taxes? For most of those ruling over us are not of the the lineage of Jacob. Where are they directing your tax dollars today? What little country in the middle east do we Americans support? Now stop and take a look back ten or twenty years and see where we have come. Yes salaries have tripled, but the rest of the costs are eight to ten times what they were then, and it is getting worse. Are you starting to get the picture? There is nothing new under the sun. They use all their things and methods to entrap you and separate you from your wealth and blessings from God.

This is the physical side of being delivered into the hands of the spoilers, but there is a spiritual side also. Where are you getting your instruction, and just how much do you know of the plan of God? Do you know what the sin was that took place in the garden of Eden, and don't belittle yourself by thinking it was eating an apple? Do you know who the Kenites are, and How they came in control of the Temple during the time of Christ? What about the plan of God, can you lay out the entire plan of God and how you are a part of it? Do you know which is coming first to earth, Satan in his role as the Antichrist, or Jesus Christ the son of God to set up His kingdom? Are you ready for both comings, and if so, what is meant by the sealing of your mind in the end times? These are but a few thing that you should be taught in your church houses as a mature Christian, and not the fly-away, beddy-bye fairy-tales that are being strung out there.

These games that God's people play went on in the time of the Judges, and they are going on today, and it angers our Father.

Judges 2:15 "Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed."

When ever you go out and disobey God, and think that you can survive on your own without Him, you will cause evil to fall upon yourself. It happens by the fact that God takes His hand off you, and allows you to stumble into those pitfalls. This is exactly what happened to these Children of Israel, and God warned them that He would do it to them. It happened to them in ancient times just as it is happening today to us. We have murder and thievery going on from one end of this nation to the other, and the law and judges have no idea in the world what the cause is.

When you take God out of the homes, the schools and the government what is left is confusion, and adults acting with the minds of babies. The prophet Isaiah warned us that this would happen in our day in Isaiah 3:4:

Isaiah 3:4 "And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them."

God is telling us who is going to take the place of the wise counselors, eloquent orators and honorable men that once ruled us. As we look around our nation today, does it look familiar? God is going to place grown adults in the offices of judges and governmental rulers only they will have the minds of babies.. This goes not only with us in America, but applies to most every nation in the Word. The new world order is turning their minds to mush in the process of bringing all the races and nations of the world together. The lies that we are told are simply unbelievable, yet it is accepted by even those of higher learning without question.

This is as it was in the days of the book of Judges, the people were accepting what they were told by their heathen neighbors, and they had simply lost all respect for God's Word and His ways.

Isaiah 3:5 "And the People shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable."

The "Base" as stated here is the criminal. This is saying that the people will be so confused that they will not know right from wrong, the left from the right, and everything will be turned up-side-down. The things that are according to God's Word are considered wrong, and what is evil and filthy will be considered god and just. The reason for this again is that our leaders of both government and the church systems though they be adults, they have the mind of babies, and they are making the judgments for the people.

Judges 2:16 "Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them."

This is what this book of the Judges is all about. When ever God's people got too far out of line, God raised up a judge that would bring them back into line. A little education goes a long way, and when God picks a man or woman to lead, and gives them the understanding of His ways, then he or she will lead. Remember what was said in the first paragraph of this book? The title of the book of Judges is "Shophetim" which means "to put right and then rule."

Judges 2:17 "And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so."

Every time God brought up a leader and led them into the right way, when the trouble was over they went right back into the same filth pit that they just came out of. Today this also applies, only how can they obey and and do His will when they don't even know what God has taught them, and His wishes for their life. God sent us a set of instructions for us to study and be happy in our flesh bodies, and yet that set of instructions has been put on the shelf and claimed to be outdated in most churches today. Much of the warnings from God's Word is outright rejected, and claimed from the pulpits "not to be read" and understood. Is it any wonder that there is so much misery even amongst Christians both spiritually and physically.

Judges 2:18 "And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them."

When God raised a judge to rule, God was with that judge all the days of his or her life. God is also watching and listening to those that have hit the bottom of the barrel, and cries out to the Lord. Yes God will lift them up, but today just as in the days of the judges, they like to run right back into their old troubles. These poor me babies have been around since the beginning of this earth age. Once God has lifted you up, if you don't get into His Word for some stable grounding, you will go quickly right back where you came from. There is no peace of mind no matter what generation you live in away from God.

Judges 2:19 "And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way."

Each generation seems to get a little worse then the generation before. If you think it is important to be street wise and world wise, then you are in serious trouble, because this old world of the flesh is going to pass away very soon. This attitude that exists today is common to all generations, even thought our streets today are made of cement instead of dirt. When the one giving you your instruction is dead and gone, what are you going to do, drift back into the same conditions that you were in, or are you going to set in your mind to continue on.

Judges 2:20 "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, "Because that this people hath transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto My voice;"

Judges 2:21 "I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:"

When Joshua died all those heathen nations that had mixed with Israel and were allowed to stay, have been mixed with the tribes of Israel ever since. Just as these Kenites and Jebusites, the Hittites and all the other heathen Canaanites were mixed at the time of Joshua's death, so you will find those same mixtures mixed with us today, and it will be that way until the next time of cleansing comes. The mixing started way back in Joshua's day as we read in Joshua 9:22-23.

Joshua 9:22 "And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you;' when ye dwell among us."

Joshua is speaking to the Kenites here and letting them know that they would always be mixed with the children of Israel. All the time that these Kenites were telling God's people that "We are very far from you", they were moving in to take over the very house of God. God revealed this fact to Joshua, and he is letting it be known so there can be no misunderstanding of the fact.

Joshua 9:23 "Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God."

The Kenites are cursed of God through their father Cain from back in Genesis 4:11 and 12; "And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood for thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." We know that over eight hundred years later, these Kenites had completely taken over the duties of the scribes, from I Chronicles 2:55. "The hewers of wood" are the ones that prepare what will be taught, and the "drawers of water" in the house of God are the ones that decide what they will give you in your Sunday services and the traditions and doctrines that will be accepted. So can there be any surprise at all for some of the foolishness that is being taught in God's house today. The Kenites were there when Joshua gave this talk, they were their in Solomon's day, and when the Jews came out of Babylon after their captivity

I Chronicles 2:55 "And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hamath, the father of the house of Rechab."

Even the prophet Ezra recognized that the levitical priest that were to handle the levitical duties had departed, as we read in Ezra 8:15; "And I [Ezra] gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the People, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." Ezra was returning to Jerusalem to reestablish the house of God, and yet the levitical priest were gone, not one of them around, they were all the Nethinim or Kenite priest. In fact as we see the listing of the mixture of Jews that returned to Jerusalem, about half of them were not even of Judah, but were "Nethimins", strangers or Kenites that had mixed all along with God's people.

That time of the final cleansing of this earth is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when Jesus Christ returns to earth to set up his kingdom. The separation that takes place then will not be in these flesh bodies, for all souls will be in their new incorruptible bodies, as Paul instructs us in I Corinthians 15:50-52.

I Corinthians 15:50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

"Corruption" as given here is the flesh and blood body, and "incorruption" is the spiritual body, that we call the soul. Our spirit is the intellect of our soul. Paul is addressing Christians and telling us that flesh and blood bodies will not exist in the kingdom that our Lord Jesus Christ comes to earth to establish.

I Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,"

This mystery is one that was hidden from the prophets of old, and was revealed by God to Paul. Paul is telling us that a time is coming when every living person in their flesh body shall never sleep again, and the word "sleep" means "to die". There is a point in time what all persons in their flesh bodies will be changed from their flesh and blood body into their spiritual or soul bodies, just as the angels have. It will not be done off on some distant planet or star in space, but right here on earth.

I Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

Now Paul pinpoints the time that this change will take place, it is at the seventh or last trumpet, and when that trumpet sounds, at that point in time, all flesh bodies will make the change.You will not see Jesus Christ coming to earth in your flesh body, and if you think you have, then then you are really seeing the Satan in his role as the "instead of Christ" or Antichrist. If you are worshipping that one that you think is Christ while in your flesh body, then you have just taken on the "mark of the beast", along with his name and number. Who then are the ones spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24:19; "And woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!"

You have been taken in a strange marriage, and received a strange blessing, for it was given by Satan himself. If you love your Heavenly Father and care what He thinks then you will prepare yourself for that day so that you will not be deceived. That is what is meant by "being sealed in your forehead", for you mind is in your forehead and what you think with your mind is what gives you the seal of God, or " the mark of the beast" in your forehead.

Revelation 9:4 "And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."

Satan and his fallen angels are the ones that are coming to earth very shortly, and when they are cast out of heaven, this is the order they are given by God, that they shall not hurt those with the seal of God in their foreheads. The word "hurt" would better be translated "deceive". They will not deceive God elect for each of them knows who they are, and why they are here. Why would anyone worship Satan that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, when they know exactly who Satan and his locust army of fallen angels are.

Judges 2:22 "That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not."

This is in God's plan, to have each soul enter into their embryo in their mother's womb and then live their life in a flesh body. When that soul matures to understanding, then see whether that soul will seek God or Satan. To see whether each person will keep the way of the Lord and walk there in, or stray off like their fathers did in the first earth age. This applies to Adams day, as it did in Noah's day, and it applies to the Israelites in the days of the judges, as much as it does to you and I today. That is the plan of God. Man fell away from God in the overthrow attempt by Satan in the first earth age, and one third of all the souls followed after Satan. This earth age allows each of those souls to come into the world in the embryo, and through their mothers womb, to be born from above in innocence in their flesh body. Then within their free will, they have their mind to choose God, or Satan. That is God's plan, to see whether you will seek God or not.

If you reject God and His plan, then after judgment you are going to hell, and there will not be one tear shed for your decision to be turned to ashes. In the eternity we will not have to put up with people like that. Many of the souls, or angels, chose not to take part in God's plan and they are the "sons of God" spoken of in Genesis 6, and Jude 6 that left their first estate, and came to earth without following the plan of God. They are not born from above and in the water, as natural birth in the flesh is, and God condemned them to a place of holding for judgment.

God made certain people judges and He gave them the gift to discern, and "put things right, and then rule" He gave them the gift to do the job well that He expected them to do. In every generation God has given His gifts to those that He wants to do His work, and to some it is teachers, some pastors, some singing, and to some as prayer warriors. When you have a gift, it is really God doing the Work through His Spirit in your flesh body. It is not yours, it is to God's glory, and you are the steward of that gift. You can use it, or not use it, and the way that you use it is how you will be rewarded at His return.

Judges 2:23 "Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua."

God left those heathen nations all mixed up with the children of Israel, and it then became an individual thing, for each person to prove whether you love Him or not. God has set forth His word in the manuscripts, exactly as it is written, to see if you love Him or not. Look around you today, and see that His Word is coming to pass exactly as it was prophesied.

The choice is yours, you either chose God, or the world and the two just don't mix. When you add a little leaven to the loaf, it leavens the whole lump. You can't pollute part of the work, and mix a little false doctrine with God's Word and expect God to bless you. The loaf of God's bread of life is not leavened, and if leaven or contamination of half truths is in the loaf or teaching, then it is not sliced from the Word of God. It is from some other loaf hewened or developed from a Kenite mind, and drawn or served to you as the truth, when in fact it is not, but a lie.