“...Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations...”
King: a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure,and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.
In the last few decades, families fearing for their well-being and threatened by what they perceived as increasingly secular society closing in on them have cried out...
"Give us a king!”
They’ve heard speakers talk of formulas for success, dos and don’ts to be administered by a human ruler, and they’ve cried out...
“Give us a king!”
They’ve seen pictures of smiling families with obedient children, seen a beaming, well-groomed man standing tall in the photos, heard enough religious sounding words attached to these images of Christian families on perpetual picnics in flowery meadows to feel justified about it, and they’ve cried out...
“Give us a king and make us like them!”
The problem is, they’ve never been able to look past the polished symbolism to see the shaky substance, for in these pictures, much pain is hidden, and the field of spiritual and emotional debris has been swept to the tree line out of the reach of the camera’s lens, replaced by airbrushed happiness and “godly” appearance.
They now have their human king and begin building their human kingdom, isolating themselves from all except those who preach the message they want to hear...
“...For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”
God said to Samuel...
“...for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them...you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”
And that behavior was...
“He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and givethem to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.”
These human-appointed human kings have taken their sons and daughters and conscripted them, by emotional force, into their own cultural holy war. His vision, his plans, his dreams, his goals are paramount. They plow their father’s fields and reap his harvest, attending to his needs. His wife serving as his submissive, obedient helpmeet, created for his pleasure, even at the expense of her own. Her womb seen as his personal soldier factory, and the more the merrier. His daughters acting as extensions of their mother, submissive, obedient, with their world designed to center around him in all things - until they join the blossoming kingdom of a vassal that meets their father’s approval and will kiss his ring. In the mean time, he seals their place in his kingdom by a “promise” ring. Sons being trained to continue the kingdom via 200 year plans of hereditary rule, with the hope of eventually culturally choking out the enemy by numbering their armies, reliant on the power of human will and force, losing sight of the consequence of such (2nd Samuel 24:2-4). Sucking the life, will, spirit, resources, and individuality out of his subjects. To leave the kingdom for any reason that this king doesn’t approve of is treason, punishable by all sorts of painful, emotionally insidious means. His subjects are his servants.
The most ominous warning to those who prefer the human king...
“...And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”
Yet they say...
“No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Meanwhile, the King who would be their King stands afar, looks over them, and cries out...
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
This is your King.
His yoke is easy, and His burden light.
King: a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure,and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.
In the last few decades, families fearing for their well-being and threatened by what they perceived as increasingly secular society closing in on them have cried out...
"Give us a king!”
They’ve heard speakers talk of formulas for success, dos and don’ts to be administered by a human ruler, and they’ve cried out...
“Give us a king!”
They’ve seen pictures of smiling families with obedient children, seen a beaming, well-groomed man standing tall in the photos, heard enough religious sounding words attached to these images of Christian families on perpetual picnics in flowery meadows to feel justified about it, and they’ve cried out...
“Give us a king and make us like them!”
The problem is, they’ve never been able to look past the polished symbolism to see the shaky substance, for in these pictures, much pain is hidden, and the field of spiritual and emotional debris has been swept to the tree line out of the reach of the camera’s lens, replaced by airbrushed happiness and “godly” appearance.
They now have their human king and begin building their human kingdom, isolating themselves from all except those who preach the message they want to hear...
“...For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”
God said to Samuel...
“...for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them...you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”
And that behavior was...
“He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and givethem to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.”
These human-appointed human kings have taken their sons and daughters and conscripted them, by emotional force, into their own cultural holy war. His vision, his plans, his dreams, his goals are paramount. They plow their father’s fields and reap his harvest, attending to his needs. His wife serving as his submissive, obedient helpmeet, created for his pleasure, even at the expense of her own. Her womb seen as his personal soldier factory, and the more the merrier. His daughters acting as extensions of their mother, submissive, obedient, with their world designed to center around him in all things - until they join the blossoming kingdom of a vassal that meets their father’s approval and will kiss his ring. In the mean time, he seals their place in his kingdom by a “promise” ring. Sons being trained to continue the kingdom via 200 year plans of hereditary rule, with the hope of eventually culturally choking out the enemy by numbering their armies, reliant on the power of human will and force, losing sight of the consequence of such (2nd Samuel 24:2-4). Sucking the life, will, spirit, resources, and individuality out of his subjects. To leave the kingdom for any reason that this king doesn’t approve of is treason, punishable by all sorts of painful, emotionally insidious means. His subjects are his servants.
The most ominous warning to those who prefer the human king...
“...And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”
Yet they say...
“No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Meanwhile, the King who would be their King stands afar, looks over them, and cries out...
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
This is your King.
His yoke is easy, and His burden light.
Piercingly accurate. And I am crying. (I don't always mean to be first comment. But everything you write is so on point.)
ReplyDeleteVery good break down of what is happening before our eyes. Thank you for this.
ReplyDeleteVery profound post. Why do we always long for what we can see while passing up the better that we cannot see. Yeshua is my King!
ReplyDeleteI just got goosebumps. I could literally see Jesus standing there, crying out to those who have rejected Him for man's promises.
ReplyDeleteWow! You said it so well. Thank God for people like you who are willing to stand up and say it like it is. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteLewis,
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I've seen that warning from God as to what Saul was going to do to them viewed as a blueprint for civil government. Yikes! And of course, the parallels are striking because the principles of authority (and the misuse of it) are the same everywhere, whether in the home, church or civil government. Let him who wishes to become greatest among us become servant of all.
Oh my. I've never looked at it that way before, but you are so right! Oh, I want to run to Jesus! I want to let Him hold me safe under His wings!
ReplyDeleteLewis keep writing brother you are speaking Truth!! I am so sorry you went through everything you did but the Lord is using you, and your voice is unique among those of us speaking out about this movement!! The time has come for these false prophets to be exposed.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for the encouraging words. I believe passionately that it's an important message, and it's comforting to know that brothers and sisters support it. I thank God for your encouragement and prayers - and for those of you speaking out yourselves on the platforms God has given you.
ReplyDeleteLewis, thank you brother! So profound. I appreciate how you cut to the chase, every time!
ReplyDeleteYep, yep.
ReplyDeleteExactly, exactly. (am I repeating myself? Yes I am! Because you say it so well!)
Once a fellow came onto a board to try to convince us all of his male-rule doctrine and one of the evidences he used was... Get this...
There were no Queens of Israel, only Kings.
He listed many other things but I laid into him hard on this one for the very reason you bring up in this post. (There actually was one queen, but that was not the point).
God's plan was to have Judges rather than Kings. It was to keep things just, yet give people room to live their lives. And guess what? There was a female Judge, Deborah, that male-rule teachers either ignore or malign.
Keep up the good work, Lewis. You are saying things I've been thinking, only you say them better than I do and I'm not jealous. I'm proud.
I entered this fight seeing the damage done and lamented that there weren't enough voices sounding the alarm. Now I'm being comforted by the next generation who is rising up and entering the fight and I see God blessings on your words.
Keep it up. I'm in anticipation of what you will say next because you lay it out so well.
Mara..so well put :) and something else, we know about Deborah, but how many have we not been informed about? after all, who was it who put together the Cannon?
ReplyDeleteI'll add my AMEN!
ReplyDeleteI've discussed Deborah with a couple of patrios. They brush Deborah off with things like "but Deborah isn't God's high purpose for women" and "God only chose her because there were no qualified men".
ReplyDeleteDeborah was obviously God's high purpose for Deborah, as she was His voice to His people, and nowhere in the scriptural account will you find anything that supports the claim that God choose her because of a lack of available or qualified males.
They do seem to do a delicate tap-dance around her.
Lewis, loving your blog! Thanks for your wisdom. Anyone who recommends Steve McVey must be wise, I love his work! Have you ever read his book Grace Rules? It changed my life! FREEDOM, I shout, with arms open lifted high. Jesus is all! Thanks again, Karen
ReplyDeleteHey Karen...Thanks for the kind words and thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI can't take credit for recommending Steve McVey (I'm not terribly familiar with him). That's actually from my friend shadowspring's blog "Love. Learning. Liberty." But between her post and your comment, I'm certainly interested in what he has to say.
You're spot on though - Jesus is all!