Replying to Another Video by Pastor Jeff!

 

Pastor Jeff McCullough has just posted his latest video about the Church, in which he doesn’t say anything controversial that needs to be addressed. He has made one minor error, however, that I will correct. At 1:31 minutes into the video he says the following about the calling of the missionaries:

“… somewhere between the age of 19 and 26 they will get a calling from the church, they are told where to go, and they serve on that mission and it is pretty rigorous.”

That is not quite correct. Missionaries volunteer to go on missions. Once they have decided to go, however, and submitted their names, they are then called and assigned to a specific location to serve. All worthy and qualified Church members are encouraged to serve missions; but the choice is always theirs.

It looks like Pastor Jeff has had his fingers burned dabbling in controversial theological stuff, and is now trying to avoid controversy as much as possible! It is possible to do that, but it requires quite a bit of ingenuity and resilience to be able to do it. You can’t forever be talking about churches, buildings, temples, airports, missionaries, and pioneers in Utah!

Israel A Model for All Nations!

 

Another sermon by John MacArthur speaking against democracy and freedom. He begins as follows:

“Scripture teaches plainly that God rules everything. He deals with nations the way they deal with him; and without his blessing, without his protection, no nation can prosper. Again scripture says, the first duty of the government is to recognize what is good, and what is evil; and to recognize that, you have to go to the source of that, the revelation of that, and that is the Scriptures.”

Not quite. Paul acknowledges that the principles of right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust etc., are generally known among all nations, cultures, and people; and all governments are capable of enacting such just laws to protect their citizens; and they generally do:

Romans 13:

13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers [the government]. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be [the government] are ordained of God.

2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

3 For 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, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

6 For for this cause pay ye tribute [taxes] also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Paul spoke those words of the Roman government, which was not a “Christian” government by any means. And he also generalizes it, to extend it to all nations and governments, not just to Rome. The majority of nations and governments in the free world today are not “Christian,” but they all generally tend to have good laws to protect their citizens from violence, injustice, criminal activity etc. Japan for example is well known for being a very well-behaved, ordered, and civilized society, with good laws to protect its citizens—and they are not a “Christian” nation. They didn’t obtain their laws, and sense of good and evil, right and wrong, out of the “Bible”. And of course, Christians there have the freedom to worship, practise, and preach their religion within the law (as do other religions). I would rather live in that kind of society any day, than in the tyrannical kind of society that John MacArthur is advocating. The only time governments tend to develop bad, unjust, or oppressive laws is when they become authoritarian and oppressive regimes, like communist China for example, or as the former Soviet Union used to be. Strange that John MacArthur is advocating the very kind of authoritarianism that leads to those consequences. He then continues:

“You must honor God, and that produces the well-being of the people. My good friend Ian Murray wrote, ‘The government which ignores true religion, and coolly declares that it doesn’t care whether its subjects are Christians or not, is guilty of an act of suicidal folly.’”

You mean like the government of Japan, which has one of the most advanced, civilized, cultured, ordered, well-behaved citizenry and society in the world? He continues:

“Let me give you an illustration. When Israel went into the land of promise, as they were on the brink in the book of Deuteronomy, and they were re-hearing the law, the Lord sent them in and he said, ‘When you get in there, get rid of all the—fill in the blank—idolaters. Get rid of all of them.’ They were actually God’s weapon, weren’t they, for judgment. ‘Clean out the idolaters, they are blasphemers, they blaspheme my name, you must rid the nation of them.’ Well, they didn’t, they intermingled with Molech and Baal, you know, the rest of the sad history of Israel.”

That is not exactly what the Bible says either. God’s problem with the Canaanites, who inhabited the promised land at the time, was not so much their “idolatry,” but their wickedness and evil practices of various kinds. When God made a covenant with Abraham to give that land to his descendants, this is what he said:

Genesis 15:

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation they [the Israelites] shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

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:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

When it says in verse 16 that “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full,” that means that their sinfulness had not yet become serious enough to warrant their destruction at that time. They were still “idolaters” just the same, but their wickedness, sinfulness, and evil practices had not yet reached a stage that necessitated their destruction. Another 400 years had to pass before their “iniquity” had become “full,” that justified their destruction. So they were destroyed, not so much because of their “idolatry,” but because of their “iniquity,” meaning their wickedness and evil practices. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord further confirms this as follows:

Deuteronomy 12:

30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

31 Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

Deuteronomy 19:

4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.

5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

They were destroyed because of their evil practices, not just their “idolatry”. No nation or people in the Old Testament were ever destroyed simply because they worshiped “other gods” or the “wrong God”. The antediluvian sinners were not destroyed because they worshiped the “wrong god,” they were destroyed because of their evil practices and sinfulness:

Genesis 6:

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Sodom and Gomorrah likewise were destroyed because of their sinfulness and evil practices, not because they worshiped the “wrong god”:

Genesis 18:

20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

In the end there was only one righteous man left in the city, Lot, and he was rescued by the Lord before the cities were destroyed:

Genesis 19:

18 And Lot said unto them [the two angels], Oh, not so, my Lord:

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

No nation or people in the Old or New Testament were ever destroyed just for worshiping idols, but only for their sinful and evil practices. God brought all those terrible judgements and destructions on Pharaoh and Egypt (Exodus Ch. 3–12) because they were oppressors, and they were not doing what God was commanding them to do, not because they were worshiping the “wrong god”. When they finally obeyed, the judgements were averted. If they had done what they were told from the beginning, none of the destructions would have occurred. The people of Nineveh were threatened with destruction because of their sinful and evil practices, not because they worshiped the “wrong god”. And when they finally repented of those evils, the threatened destruction was averted:

Jonah 1:

1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Jonah 3:

3 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah didn’t tell them that they were worshiping the “wrong god,” and they needed to worship the “right God” to be delivered. The people of Nineveh were not Israelites; they did not believe in the “God of Israel”. They believed in their own generic version of a supreme Deity, whatever that was. They repented of their sinful practices, and cried to God according to their own pagan understanding of God. In fact, Jonah was very unhappy and disappointed that God hadn’t destroyed them as he had said he would!

Jonah 4:

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

6 And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

The people of Nineveh were not threatened with destruction because they were worshiping the “wrong god,” but because of their evil practices and sinfulness; and when they started repenting of those evil practices, their destruction was averted. John MacArthur then continues:

“When you allow any false gods an equal place with the true God, God will bring judgment. Keep on inviting the Muslims in, keep on saying, ‘Christianity is just one of many world religions, we are happy to have all of them here.’ And you are just planting the seeds of the total destruction of this nation by God, who is offended.”

Poor old Muslims! Who gave the European colonists the right to come to America, and occupy the land which belonged to the native Americans anyway? And who gave them the right to create an independent nation called the USA? And who gave them the right to decide who else is allowed to go there and who is not? And if you are going to ban all the Muslims because of their religion, why not ban all the rest? Why not ban all the Hindus, and Buddhists, and Sikhs, and Jews, and Shintos, and Bahais etc. because of their religions? And if you are going to ban or expel all of these, who is going to take their place in the great contribution that they make in building American society and industry? They are technicians, engineers, doctors, professors, computer scientists etc. That is what has made America great.

According to the Bible, people are judged according to their works, their actions, behaviors, conducts, not “beliefs”. A pagan who does what is right in his life is approved; while a Christian who does what is evil is condemned. In the Old Testament, we have the example of Cyrus, king of Persia (and his people) who were not Israelites; they were pagans; but were approved by God for doing the right thing:

Isaiah 44:

28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Isaiah 45:

1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

Daniel 6:

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

And in the New Testament we have the following verses which confirm the same thing:

Acts 10:

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

35 But in every nation [and religion] he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Romans 2:

6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew [or Christian] first, and also of the Gentile;

10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew [or Christian] first, and also to the Gentile:

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Ephesians 6:

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Colossians 3:

25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

1 Peter 1:

17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

There is no biblical basis, not a shred of scriptural evidence for the heretical doctrines that John MacArthur is advocating. He continues:

“There is only one true God, the God of the Bible. There is only one true law, the law of scripture. There is only one true Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one true blesser, the true God. You will not be blessed by him, if you do not worship him, and him alone. The chaos of the world is always related to the rejection of God, and God’s law, and God’s Son, and God’s word, and God’s gospel. An irreligious, immoral government will self-destruct in its own indifference. Listen to Joshua 24:20, ‘If you forsake the Lord, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you after he has done good to you. He has done all this good to you nationally, you forsake him, serve foreign gods, he will consume you.’”

Sure, but that is because it tends to result in evil and sinful practices. That is not the same as condemning all the pagan or non-Christian nations of the world who nevertheless live moral and orderly lives, sometimes even better than the Christians do. God has never condemned those simply because they are not “Christians,” or worship the “wrong god”. And as far as allowing them into the country is concerned, the Bible has this to say:

Exodus 22:

21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:

9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:

10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:

33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.

Leviticus 19:

34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 10:

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Deuteronomy 10:

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 24:

17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

Deuteronomy 24:

19 When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

Deuteronomy 24:

20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:

21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Deuteronomy 26:

11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

Deuteronomy 26:

12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;

Deuteronomy 27:

19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

The word “stranger” in the above verses means a “foreigner”. It means somebody coming from a foreign country, with a different culture, religion, and background etc. Their rights were protracted. Not only were they permitted to enter the country, and to live and work in the country; but their rights were fully protected, and they were not discriminated against. They were still required to abide by the law of the land; but the law was the same for both:

Numbers 15:

15 One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.

Numbers 15:

16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

Numbers 15:

26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.

Numbers 15:

29 Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

Deuteronomy 24:

14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

Joshua 20:

9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

A Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Shinto, an Egyptian worshipping the idols of Egypt etc. would not have had a problem living and working in ancient Israel. They were not required to “convert,” and their rights and privileges were fully protected by the law of God revealed in the Torah. John MacArthur is advocating a theology that is as heretical, false, and unbiblical as it can get. He continues:

“Do you want to know another word for the reprobate mind, another phrase that will define the reprobate mind? Political correctness! That is a reprobate mind. I want to know another word for post-modernism? Paganism! And now in this nation, they want to do everything they can to offend the true God—not just ignore him, not just reject him, but offend him. Last couple of weeks in California they passed a bill called SB 1146. It specifically says, No Christian college or university in the state of California can discriminate against LGBTQ people, or they are subject to lawsuits. They put ‘Christian’ in there, because that is exactly who they are after.”

Sure, governments who tolerate, practise, or promote evil will suffer the consequences. But what has that got to do with “Muslims” etc.? They didn’t invent LGBTQ, the Christians did. And in a democratic society like the US, the “government” is determined by the voice of the people. If the government is making bad laws and wrong decisions, it is the job of the people to eject that government, and replace it with one that makes the right decisions. In a democratic society, the ultimate responsibility rests with the people, not with the “government”. In the Constitution of the United States, in the Preamble it begins by saying, “We the people …”. It does not begin with, “We the Government”. He continues:

“So all irreligious, immoral, anti-God, antichrist, anti-Bible governments that tolerate that, will self-destruct in their own indifference. Such a society will be open to—are you ready?—all religions, all idols, all false gods, all moralities, all immoralities, all freedoms, all preferences, all opinions, all lies, all deceptive systems, all sins, all iniquities. It will lose control. It will have a collective reprobate mind. Remove the worship of the true God, the authority of his word, the voice of his church, the moral education of youth, the elevation of the gospel, and a nation is on the path to destruction. In Exodus 9:16 we read, ‘But I have raised you up for this purpose,’ God says, ‘that I might show my power, and my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ That is his purpose for Israel ‘I want you to be the model nation, and here is what you are going to model’: what late, what was laid out in Deuteronomy 26 to 30. When you obey, you will be blessed; when you disobey you will be cursed. And you are going to model that for the world.”

There are too many erroneous concepts mixed up together there that would be too tedious to attempt to dissect, unravel, and unpack individually. The main error that he makes is that he confuses a “righteous” government (one that is supposedly based on the laws of God), with a tyrannical rule; that eliminates the right of people to choose for themselves what religion they want. He continues in the same vain with the rest of what he has to say:

“The history of Israel is a history of what happens to a nation when they obey, and what happens to a nation when they don’t; and it is a lesson for the whole world. 1 Kings 8:60: ‘So that all the nations of the earth may know, I have raised you up so that all the nations of the earth may know, that the Lord is God, and there is no other.’ We don’t even hear that being preached from church pulpits.”

Except that the model of an “Israel society” that he is advocating is not the same as the biblical one. A “Muslim” would have had no difficulty living and working in ancient Israel, as explained above. His rights would have been fully protected. He is describing a different world from the biblical one that he likes to think he is advocating. He hasn’t a clue what the Bible really teaches. He likes to insert his own theology into the Bible, rather than obtaining it directly from the Bible. He continues:

“There are a couple of pretty graphic illustrations of this. One is in Daniel chapter 4 with Nebuchadnezzar; you remember Nebuchadnezzar was looking at everything he had when he was in his wonderful palace, with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world; and he was uh extolling his greatness, all that he had accomplished. And you remember what happened: God struck him, and he became insane, and he lived outdoors for seven years; and his fingernails grew like bird claws, and his hair like an animal, and he was out of his mind for seven years. That is what God did to him for trying to usurp the place that belongs only to God. And at the end of that period, we read in daniel 4, ‘I Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the most high, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. He does according to his work in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth. All his works are true, his ways are just, he is able to humble those who walk in pride.’ I want to hear a candidate say that. ‘I just found my senses, God alone is God, he is sovereign.’”

Except that there is a subtlety there that he has missed. When king Nebuchadnezzar had his dream, and related it to Daniel, Daniel didn’t tell him that his problem was that he was worshiping the “wrong god,” and he needed to start worshiping the “right one”. He told him to repent of his sins:

Daniel 4:

27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

Then he continues:

“God calls all people and all nations to give him worship. Psalm 33:8: ‘Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the nations of the world revere him.’ Do you hear that? It is not just that is not a theocratic kingdom, that is every nation. Psalm 117:1 (and there are many of these): ‘Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.’”

Sure, but he judges them primarily by their actions, rather than by their “belief system”. A pagan who does what is good and right in his life out of a good conscience, will be approved; whereas a Christian who does evil, will receive a greater condemnation. Then he concludes:

“In the New Testament, there is another little brief uh moment. In the book of Acts, in the 12th chapter, very much like Nebuchadnezzar, with Herod Antipas who declared it Herod day, you remember that he declared Herod day, and people are saying, ‘He is a God, and not a man; he is a God, and not a man.’ The Lord struck him, he was eaten by worms, and died; that was the end of Herod day.”

Sure, but he was also a very wicked man, and murdered a lot of innocent people including innocent children (Matthew 2:16-18).