Law and Kingdom

The law of YHWH¹ is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of YHWH is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of YHWH are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of YHWH is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of YHWH is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of YHWH are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11)²

Most modern-day fundamental Christians³ profess that Yahweh’s⁴ law is perfect, but few of them believe these verses from Psalm 19 have any practical value today. Most of today’s Christians are antinomian.⁵ They either believe Yahweh’s law has little relevance to the New Covenant Christian or that it has been abolished altogether.⁶ What irony! Many Christians identify themselves as New Testament or New Covenant Christians and yet they reject the foundation of the New Covenant:

Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. …this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

According to Jeremiah (and the author of Hebrews, who quoted this prophecy in Hebrews 8:8-10), the New Covenant consists of Yahweh’s laws written on the hearts and minds of His people,⁷ for the purpose of putting them into daily practice. It is impossible to be a New Covenant Christian without pursuing Yahweh’s laws both individually and societally.

Antinomians quote select New Testament passages, which appear to abolish the laws of Yahweh, while completely ignoring the plethora of New Testament passages that declare Yahweh’s laws are inherent to the New Covenant. The tragic consequences of this theology, which pits Scripture against Scripture, are found in the following list.

If you believe the laws of Yahweh have been abolished under the New Covenant, and, as a result, you are not pursuing His laws, you…

• Believe heaven and earth have passed away.

  “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Mathew 5:18)

• Are least in the kingdom of heaven.

  “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19)

• Are not accomplishing Yahweh’s will, are not known by Yahweh, and will never live in His presence.

  “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [anomian – lawlessness].” (Matthew 7:21-23)

• Do not love Jesus.⁸

  “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

• Do not abide in Jesus’ love.

  “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love….” (John 15:10)

• Do not believe the truth.

  “…truth [is] in the law.” (Romans 2:20)

• Are unable to identify sin.

  “…by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20)

• Fail to exhibit true faith.

  “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” (Romans 3:31)

• Do not believe in what is holy, just, and good.

  “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:12)

• Do not believe in what is spiritual.

  “For we know that the law is spiritual….” (Romans 7:14)

• Are not living righteously nor walking after the Spirit.

  “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4)

• Are carnal and at enmity with Yahweh.

  “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7)

• Are not pleasing to Yahweh.

  “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” (1 Corinthians 7:19)

• Do not believe in Yahweh’s goodness.

  “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” (1 Timothy 1:8)

• Do not believe in the New Covenant.

  “For this is the [New] covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts….” (Hebrews 8:10)

• Do not know Yahweh.

  “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3)

• Believe you cannot sin, and, therefore, do not need Jesus as your Savior.

  “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4)

• Do not love the children of Yahweh.

  “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” (1 John 5:2)

• Do not love Yahweh.

  “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1 John 5:3)

• Are not a part of Yahweh’s New Covenant remnant.

  “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Revelation 12:17)

• Are not one of Yahweh’s saints.

  “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12)

• Have no right to the tree of life.

  “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:14)

None of this is to say that Christians are under the law as were the Israelites during the Old (or Mosaic) Covenant. The Bible is very clear that New Covenant Christians are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14). We are no longer required to perfectly keep all of Yahweh’s moral laws for righteousness as were the Israelites under the Mosaic Covenant:

And YHWH commanded us [Old Covenant Israelites] to do all these statutes, to fear YHWH our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before YHWH our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:24-25)

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10)

It was specifically this aspect of the Mosaic Covenant that Jesus fulfilled on our behalf and then abolished:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4)

In Galatians 3:11, the Apostle Paul wrote, “no man is justified by the law in the sight of God” and in Galatians 5:4, “you [are] severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.” Justification (our legal standing before Yahweh) is what provides us our righteousness (our moral standing before Him). Justification, and thereby righteousness, is only attainable through Jesus’ propitiating sacrifice on our behalf.

Having fulfilled the Old Covenant requirement of perfect righteousness – perfect obedience to Yahweh’s laws, which equates with sinlessness – Jesus became our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Consequently, “every one that believeth”⁹ is justified by the blood-atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus the Christ and is no longer under the law, but under grace. That Christians are not under the law has been perverted to mean that Yahweh’s laws have been abolished. If this were true, Jesus would have put an end to Yahweh’s morality, which would mean an end to Yahweh. What a horrific concept! Because Yahweh does not change (Malachi 3:6), His morality, or righteousness, has not changed either:

Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. (Psalm 119:142)

…YHWH is upright … and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92:15)

Because Yahweh is perpetually righteous and holy, what He deemed sin formerly is still sin under the New Covenant. This is not to say that changes have not occurred between the Mosaic and Christian Covenants. The Mosaic Covenant required perfect obedience to obtain an imperfect justification. When the people fell short, the priests sacrificed sheep and cattle. Not until Jesus’ blood-atoning sacrifice (Galatians 3:22-24, Hebrews 9:13-15) did those living during the Mosaic Covenant obtain perfect justification. The Mosaic Covenant’s Levitical priesthood and its sacrificial system were fulfilled by Jesus and are no longer in effect. Christians are not under the law as were the Mosaic Israelites. Instead, we strive to keep the moral laws of Yahweh out of our love for Him and our fellow man:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love YHWH thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

To fulfill the law is to love Yahweh and our neighbor. An antinomian (a lawless or law-rejecting) Christian is at best an oxymoron. According to Jude, antinomians deny both Yahweh and Jesus by their unscriptural theology:

Beloved, … I … write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:3-4)

Where the King James translated asélgeian as “lasciviousness,” the New American Standard Bible translates it as “licentiousness.” In his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster defined “licentiousness” as “excessive indulgence of liberty; contempt of the just restraints of law….”¹⁰ By their rejection of His law, antinomians turn Yahweh’s grace into licentiousness; they are humanists dressed in Christian attire. Without Yahweh’s moral compass, every man is a law unto himself.

The antithesis of Yahweh’s law is not grace, but lawlessness and, therefore, sin. Yahweh’s laws are meant to keep us from sinning; grace is the solution after we have sinned. Puritan minister Samuel Bolton (1606-1654) wrote, “The law sends us to the gospel for our justification; the gospel sends us to the law to frame our way of life.”¹¹

Those who promote the idea that Yahweh’s laws are no longer pertinent under the New Covenant often refer to Paul’s epistle to the Galatians:

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galatians 3:23-25)

Antinomians are quick to declare, “See, the law is no longer valid today!” Which law? The Greek word nomos, from which the New Testament word “law” is translated, has a variety of New Testament applications:

1. Any law whatsoever.
2. The law of Jesus.
3. The entire Old Testament, including the Psalms, Proverbs, and Prophets.
4. The Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament).
5. The Mosaic Covenant, including its sacrificial and ceremonial laws.
6. The moral laws of Yahweh as contained in His commandments, statutes, and judgments.

Christians who teach Yahweh’s laws are no longer relevant usually choose some combination of 5 and 6. Seldom do they consider the other options because, in most instances, no one has taught them other options exist.

We must be careful to determine which law Paul is referring to. Otherwise, it may appear that Paul contradicts himself. For example, in Galatians 3, Paul wrote that because faith had come, Christians are no longer under the schoolmaster (the law). Then, in Romans 3, he declares:

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)

Either Paul was talking about two different laws, or he was not divinely inspired. If we do not correctly identify the law to which Jesus put an end in Galatians 3, we place Paul at odds, not only with himself, but also with Jesus:

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:18-19)

Either Paul was not referring to the commandments and their respective statutes and judgments in Galatians 3, or heaven and earth have passed away – or neither Jesus and Paul knew what they were talking about. As we will see, Galatians 3 is one of the keys to understanding what was fulfilled and abolished under the New Covenant.

In Galatians 3:16-17, Paul identified the law that was annulled as the law added four hundred and thirty years after the promises were given to Abraham. This means only what was added at Mt. Sinai was abolished under the New Covenant. Any law in existence prior to the Mosaic Covenant cannot be the law Jesus repealed.

Most Christians are unaware that Yahweh’s moral laws existed long before their codification at Mt. Sinai – although this should be self-evident. Unlike man, Yahweh is not fickle. Because His morality is the same yesterday, today, and forever, His moral laws have not changed one jot or one tittle. The Bible provides pre-Sinai evidence that Yahweh’s laws were in existence and, therefore, could not have been added at Mt. Sinai. For example, over 500 years prior to Moses, Abraham kept the commandments, statutes, and laws later codified by Moses:

…Abraham obeyed my [Yahweh’s] voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (Genesis 26:5)

The book of Jasher¹² expounds upon Abraham’s law observance:

…Abram served the Lord his God all the days of his life, and he walked in His ways and followed His law. (Jasher 12:42)

…He [Yahweh] said unto me [Abraham], to thy seed I will give all these lands, and they shall inherit them when they keep my commandments, my statutes and my judgments that I have commanded thee [Isaac], and which I shall command them. Now therefore my son, hearken to my voice, and keep the commandments of the Lord thy God … that it may be well with thee and thy children forever. …teach then thy children and thy seed the instruction of the Lord and His commandments. (Jasher 26:24-26)

For I know him [Abraham], that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of YHWH, to do justice and judgment [righteousness and justice, NASB]; that YHWH may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. (Genesis 18:19)

Righteousness and justice are only found in Yahweh’s morality as delineated in His commandments, statutes, and judgments. The structuring of Yahweh’s moral law in Jasher 26 into three integral components – commandments, statutes, and judgments – is the same structure Moses later codified in the Pentateuch:

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which YHWH your God commanded to teach you…. (Deuteronomy 6:1)

No written testimony of Yahweh’s laws exists in its entirety before Mt. Sinai, but they existed nonetheless. After all, they reflect Yahweh’s never-changing morality. They were verbally imparted from generation to generation, from Adam to Seth to Noah to Shem and on to their progeny.

The Apostle John defines sin as a transgression of Yahweh’s law:

…whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4)

When, in Galatians 3:19, Paul stated the law was “added because of transgressions” committed during the pre-Mosaic dispensation, he provided additional proof that Yahweh’s moral laws existed before Mt. Sinai. The sins alluded to by Paul in Galatians 3 were transgressions of Yahweh’s commandments, statutes, and judgments during the period between Adam and Moses. Where there is no law, there can be no transgression; therefore, Yahweh’s moral laws existed before the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and could not have been the laws that were added at Mt. Sinai. As a result, they also could not have been the added law fulfilled and abolished by Jesus.

If Yahweh’s commandments, statutes, and judgments were not the law to which Paul alluded in Galatians 3, to what law was he referring? Galatians 3:19 refers to two different laws: one that existed before Mt. Sinai (the commandments, statutes, and judgments that the Hebrews transgressed) and the Covenant (containing those same commandments, statutes, and judgments) that was added and codified at Mt. Sinai. Hebrews 7:19-22 uses the words “covenant” and “law” interchangeably. Although comprised of other components, a covenant is a law in itself, only more comprehensive in its scope and application. Galatians 3:19 is correctly interpreted in the following fashion:

Wherefore then serveth the law [Mosaic Covenant]? It was added because of transgressions [of Yahweh’s commandments, statutes, and judgments during the Abrahamic Covenant]…. (Galatians 3:19)

Yahweh’s commandments, statutes, and judgments were already in existence. They were not the law added at Mt. Sinai, and therefore they could not have been abolished under the New Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was added at Mt. Sinai. It was the schoolmaster (mentioned in Galatians 3:24) that was abolished when Jesus sacrificed Himself in payment for our sins:

The Old Covenant was a contract that was added and attached to YHWH’s law. YHWH’s law predated the Old Covenant, thus, the Old Covenant does not equate to YHWH’s law. The Old Covenant was added and attached to YHWH’s law that already existed. The Old covenant was a package that came and went on its own … without changing or altering YHWH’s law. When the Old Covenant came, it was not the start of YHWH’s law … and when the Old Covenant ended, it was not the end of YHWH’s law.

…He [Jesus] certainly did not do away with the law. He established a New Covenant (a new attachment) as an advanced and more efficient approach to fulfilling and obeying YHWH’s law.¹³

Many contemporary Christians believe a “higher” New Covenant law superseded the Old Covenant law. Although the New Covenant did supersede the Old Covenant (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-7), it does not supersede the Old Covenant canon because Yahweh’s moral laws are the same under both Covenants. One covenant replaced the other, but the moral law of Yahweh remains the same under both covenants.

What exactly was added to the existing commandments, statutes, and judgments four hundred and thirty years after the promises were given to Abraham? The Mosaic Covenant – including the Levitical priesthood, obligatory compliance to Yahweh’s already existing commandments, statutes, and judgments, and animal sacrifices for justification – was added at Mt. Sinai and abolished at the cross. Under the New Covenant, Jesus is our high priest, our sacrifice, and our justification. He fulfilled all that was added at Mt. Sinai. His perfect fulfillment of the requirements of the Mosaic Covenant does not mean we are now free to steal, rape, and murder. Nor does it absolve His subjects from pursuing His perfect laws at every level of society.

The major difference between the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants was voluntary versus compulsory compliance. Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians that the law – the Mosaic Covenant – was added because of Israel’s transgressions. Because the Israelites did not love Yahweh and their fellow man enough to freely comply with the moral laws in existence from the beginning of time, Yahweh put them under compulsory compliance – “in custody” (Galatians 3:23 NASB) – by way of the Mosaic Covenant. Under that Covenant, the Israelites were compelled to keep His laws in order to be justified before God. Moses explained it in the following fashion:

…it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before YHWH our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:25)

It was this compulsory compliance for righteousness that Jesus abolished:

…Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4)

Paul did not say that Jesus was the end of the law period, but rather that He was the end of the law (the Mosaic Covenant) for righteousness. Jesus was the end of the Mosaic Covenant, not Yahweh’s commandments, statutes, and judgments.

Under the Mosaic Covenant, the Israelites were compelled to keep Yahweh’s laws, which had been written on stone. Under the Abrahamic and Christian Covenants (which are essentially the same), those same commandments, statutes, and judgments, written on our hearts and minds, were and are obeyed voluntarily out of love for Yahweh and our fellow man. Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection did not abolish Yahweh’s law but reestablished it as Yahweh initially intended it to have been observed from the beginning. Yahweh’s intent has always been for His people to voluntarily keep His commandments. New Covenant Christians are empowered by Yahweh’s indwelling Spirit to do what was impossible under the Mosaic Covenant:

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit…. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…. (Romans 8:4-9)

Although obedience is voluntary under the New Covenant, anyone who does not strive to obey Yahweh’s laws is nevertheless carnal and at enmity with Him. Such a person does not love Him, as demonstrated by his refusal to obey His laws, the transgression of which is sin.

These commandments, which, like a collection of diamonds, bear testimony to their own intrinsic worth, in themselves appeal to us as coming from a superhuman or divine source, and no conscientious or reasonable man has yet been able to find a flaw in them. Absolutely flawless, negative in terms, but positive in meaning, they easily stand at the head of our whole moral system, and no nation or people can long continue a happy existence in open violation of them.¹⁴

Christians today – persuaded by antinomian pastors that Yahweh’s laws are no longer applicable – rarely take the time to study Yahweh’s laws and appreciate their perfection:

I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. (Hosea 8:12)

The rewards of meditating upon and observing His laws are too vast to enumerate in this booklet, but consider just the following:

O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. (Psalm 119:97-100)

Antinomian pastors, who often describe Yahweh’s law as burdensome and impractical, are obliged to explain why King David and the Apostle Paul delighted in His law.

Teach me, O YHWH, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. (Psalm 119:33-35)

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.… So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God…. (Romans 7:22, 25)

Both these men understood the perfection of Yahweh’s laws and the rewards gained by those who delight in them. Today’s Christians need to decide whom they are going to believe: antinomians who preach that Yahweh’s laws are burdensome, or the Apostle John:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous [burdensome, NASB]. (1 John 5:2-3)

If America’s federal regulations had been written on stone at the time of Moses, he would have needed hundreds of carts to haul them down Mt. Sinai. As King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 13:15, it is not the law of Yahweh that is difficult, but rather the way of the transgressor.

In John 8:36, Jesus informed us that “if the Son therefore shall make [us] free, [we] shall be free indeed.” This freedom begins with salvation in Jesus and is developed and preserved by His perfect law of liberty. It is a sad commentary that the majority of Christianity, while giving lip service to Psalm 19:7, do not really believe it at all. If they did, they would relentlessly pursue Yahweh’s perfect laws in their personal lives, the lives of their families, their churches, their immediate communities, and their nations.

…whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:25)

The law of YHWH is perfect, converting the soul…. (Psalm 19:7)

So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty…. (Psalm 119:44-45)

Liberty must not be confused with freedom from our sins. Only Jesus’ blood-atoning sacrifice can accomplish the latter. Nevertheless, the implementation of Yahweh’s perfect law of liberty would resolve every problem facing America today. It would liberate us from:

• Unchecked crime and immorality
• Infanticide¹⁶
• Repressive government and crooked politicians
• Corrupt juridical system
• Corrupt justices
• Crooked lawyers
• Rigged juries
• Election fraud
• Special interest groups
• Bureaucratic entanglements
• Licenses and permits
• Gun control¹⁷
• Prisons and their exorbitant costs and myriad problems¹⁸
• A fraudulent economic and banking system¹⁹
• The Federal Reserve
• The Internal Revenue Service
• Oppressive taxation
• Eminent domain
• Socialistic welfare system
• Unethical insurance system
• Unlawful immigration
• Multiculturalism, pluralism, and polytheism

All of this and much more would disappear with the implementation of Yahweh’s law:

Indeed, Biblical laws deal with topics ranging from criminal and penal law to judicial procedure and the administration of justice, commercial law, torts and injuries, family law, property law, estate planning, martial law, and social welfare, in addition to the laws concerning divine sanctity, cultic sacrifice, and religious taboos that usually comes to mind when people first think of law in the Bible.²⁰

Why do today’s Christians want to forfeit the perfect, never-changing, infallible law of Yahweh for imperfect, ever-changing, fallible laws such as the United States Constitution? For example, Pastor Chuck Baldwin (the Constitution Party’s 2008 presidential candidate) made the following appeal for a purer constitutionalism in his July 10, 2007, Internet commentary “Can You Imagine This Country?”:

Can you imagine a nation without the I.R.S.? Can you imagine a nation with little crime and where children were free to pray in schools? Can you imagine a nation where the father’s income was able to adequately provide for his household? Can you imagine a country with low divorce rates and where virtually everyone with a high school diploma could both read and write and was capable of earning his or her way in society?

Can you imagine a nation without an A.C.L.U. or a N.E.A.? Can you imagine a country that did not legally murder its own unborn children and that would not pander to sexual deviants or criminals? Can you imagine a country that did not glorify, much less sponsor, gambling? Can you imagine a nation with strong state governments and a limited federal government?

Can you imagine a country where you could order a firearm through a catalog and where there was no such thing as a B.A.T.F.?²¹

Why would we want to return to the document that created this mess – a document Benjamin Franklin predicted “can only end in Despotism”?²² Other than public schools and state and national government, everything Baldwin offered is attainable through Yahweh’s law without government intervention. Because the Constitution does not address such things as infanticide and sodomy, a return to a purer constitutionalism will do nothing to change these and similar abominations. A return to Yahweh’s morality, as found in His law, will put an end to all of them.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Many Christians believe the first half of verse 16, but not the second half and especially not verse 17. When Paul wrote “all scripture is given by inspiration of God,” very little of the New Testament had yet been written. He was referring to the Old Testament. The inspired laws of Yahweh, in particular, are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness so that a man of God or a society of godly men might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Only a perfect God, through a perfect Savior, and by perfect laws, can produce perfect men. Why would we need or want a man-made constitution governing our people – especially one that so often contradicts Yahweh’s Constitution?²³

I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

What is all-sufficient for us as individuals is also all-sufficient for us as a society. This is what is often known as sola scriptura, Latin for “by Scripture alone,” meaning that the Scriptures provide everything necessary for salvation, faith, and life in general. Yahweh’s perfect laws are our means of implementing His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. To reject Yahweh’s law as inapplicable to any facet of society is equivalent to rejecting not only Yahweh’s kingdom, but Yahweh Himself as Sovereign. “God cannot be robbed of sovereignty at one point without soon being denied sovereignty at all points.”²⁴ To seek Yahweh is to seek His kingdom, and to seek His kingdom is to seek His law:

…should not a people seek unto their God? …To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19-20)

Because Yahweh’s moral laws are perfect, they are as applicable today under the New Covenant as they were under the Old Covenant:

Generally it will be seen that Biblical Law is no less sound and useable today than when it first was written. And one who will carefully examine its rules and attempt to trace their workings will be astonished to find how completely they cover the entire field of civil, domestic, and even social life.²⁵

Everything must be measured by this standard. Anything to the contrary is imperfect:

Every course of life is to be tried by this test and judged by this standard – the Bible alone.²⁶

Since all true, legitimate law is based on God’s laws, no human laws can be valid if they contradict this higher law…. Any law contrary to God’s law is considered void or invalid.²⁷

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven…. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:10, 33)

Fulfilling these verses was a prime objective of the 17th-century Puritans:

Their exodus [from England] was that of a chosen people who were at length to lay the everlasting foundations of God’s kingdom here upon earth…. This steadfast faith in an unseen ruler and guide was to them a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. It was of great moral value. It gave them clearness of purpose and concentration of strength, and contributed towards making them, like the children of Israel, a people of indestructible vitality and aggressive energy.²⁸

To promote Yahweh’s law in all facets of society is to contribute to restoring Yahweh’s kingdom, His government here on earth. If this is to be accomplished, it must first be scripturally demonstrated that Yahweh’s kingdom exists both in heaven and here on earth, and that Yahweh intends His kingdom to fill the entire earth, with His people ruling now and forever.

Yahweh’s kingdom is eternal: it exists yesterday, today, and forever. It is definitive in that it has always been and always will be in existence (Psalm 145:13). It is progressive in that He intends it to fill the entire earth (Isaiah 9:6-7, Daniel 2:35, Zechariah 9:9-10, Matthew 13:31-33). It is final in that it will be established fully at some point in the future (Revelation 21:1-2).

Because Yahweh is the creator of the universe, He is sovereign over the universe, time without end:

…his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. …the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will…. (Daniel 4:3, 17)

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17)

Yahweh never abdicated His throne. He is as much King now as He was at the beginning of creation. As perpetual King, the kingdom He rules over is perpetual.

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. (Psalm 145:13)

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. (Jude 1:25)

Many Christians reject these inescapable facts of Yahweh’s sovereignty, believing He has no kingdom at present or that His kingdom is limited to heaven. They lift their favorite proof text from John 18:

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John 18:36)

The exact same Greek phrase ek toú kósmou, translated “not of this world,” is used several times and is explained in the preceding chapter:

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world…. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18)

Clearly ek toú kósmou does not mean Yahweh’s kingdom exists only in heaven. Although it is certainly true that His kingdom is not of this world, this does not mean that He does not intend for it to be in this world. His statement in John 18 is better understood to mean that His kingdom is nothing like the other kingdoms in this world. As someone once said, “The only kingdom that will prevail in this world is the kingdom that is not of this world.” Martin Luther correctly taught John 18:36:

…Christ came in order to begin the kingdom of God and to establish it in the world. This is why he said before Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world, but whoever belongs to the truth hears my voice,” and why throughout the Gospel he announces the kingdom of God, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand;” and again: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.” And indeed he calls the Gospel a gospel of the kingdom of God, in that it teaches, governs and preserves the kingdom of God.²⁹

The teaching that Yahweh’s kingdom does not exist on earth or that Yahweh has abandoned the earth to His enemies is not new to this age:

…Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, YHWH seest us not; YHWH hath forsaken the earth. (Ezekiel 8:12)

Christians who reject Yahweh’s extant kingdom here on earth are looking for a future king and a future kingdom. This erroneous theology has all but destroyed Yahweh’s kingdom, at least in practice, here on earth. It is certainly one of the principal reasons why the antichrists and non-Christians rule today. This anti-kingdom theology has also been one of the prime contributors to today’s fulfillment of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 5:

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)

This is a fulfillment of Yahweh’s curse in Deuteronomy 28:

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of YHWH thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee…. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low…. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which YHWH shall send against thee…. (Deuteronomy 28:15, 43-48)

One cannot get any lower than beneath the feet of those who rule over you. Rejecting Yahweh, His kingdom, and His laws has always been prime cause of His people’s calamities. By rejecting Yahweh’s laws, Christians abdicate dominion and relinquish Yahweh’s earthly kingdom to His enemies:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat…. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matthew 23:1-13)

Neither of these passages can be referring to the kingdom in heaven. Instead, they refer to the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The only difference between what was occurring in Jesus’ day and what has occurred in modern times is that Yahweh’s enemies have not needed to take the kingdom by force. Because Christianity is glutted with doctrines proclaiming that Yahweh’s laws are irrelevant under the New Covenant, that Christians are obligated to keep all of man’s laws,³⁰ and that the kingdom is yet to come or that it is found exclusively in heaven, the kingdom has been handed over to Yahweh’s enemies without a struggle. Most pastors have colluded with the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, turning over the jurisdiction and ultimate control of even their churches and ministries to the government.³¹ When Yahweh’s subjects are diligent to observe His law, Yahweh promises His people dominion rather than servitude:

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of YHWH thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that YHWH thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. (Deuteronomy 28:1)

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

Although it is true that the Old Testament contains many prophecies regarding a future Messianic kingdom, this in no way detracts from the fact that Yahweh was, is, and always will be King. The prophecies in question concern Yahweh’s special New Covenant kingdom relationship with a remnant of Israel. This kingdom relationship is indicative of His marital relationship with Israelites, which originally existed between Him and the entire nation of Israel:

And YHWH said unto … Israel … I am married unto you…. (Jeremiah 3:11-14)

Exodus records Yahweh’s marriage proposal to all twelve tribes of Israel:

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people…. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation…. (Exodus 19:5-6)

This is the first time a reference to Yahweh’s kingdom appears in the Bible. Yahweh established a kingdom relationship with the nation of Israel when He married her at Mt. Sinai. Ezekiel 16 provides a second witness to the affinity between His marriage to Israel and His kingdom:

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord YHWH, and thou becamest mine … and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. (Ezekiel 16:8-13)

King David commented upon this kingdom relationship:

….God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. (Psalm 59:13)

While wrestling with an angel, Jacob was given the name “Israel.” This name means “power” or “ruling with El” (Genesis 32:28). El, translated “God,” is the abbreviated form of the Hebrew Elohiym. Yahweh Elohiym married the twelve tribes of Israel, making her His helpmeet. As both His wife and His queen, she ruled with El over His kingdom and was thus named Isra El – “ruling with God.” Later, because the ten-tribed house of Israel worshiped other gods, an act Yahweh identified as adultery, he divorced and put her away:

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce…. (Jeremiah 3:8)

Yahweh declared to Hosea that, as a result of His divorcing the house of Israel, she would no longer be His people (His wife). He stripped that house of her name (His name), and her kingdom relationship with Him ceased to exist:

And YHWH said unto him, … I will … cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel…. Then said God, … ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. (Hosea 1:4-9)

Yahweh’s eventual divorce of the remaining two-tribed house of Judah in 70 A.D. was prophesied in 2 Kings 23:

And YHWH said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. (2 Kings 23:27)

Just as in Hosea 1, the removal of the kingdom was equivalent to Judah’s divorce:

Therefore say I unto you [religious leaders representing the house of Judah], The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:43)

The Apostle Peter identified the nation to whom the kingdom was given as the elect (a remnant) of the Israelites, those sanctified by the blood of Jesus – with whom, according to Hebrew 8:8, the New Covenant was made:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…. (1 Peter 1:1-2)

The English word “scattered” is translated from the Greek word diaspora:

…dispersion, i.e. (spec.[ially] and conc.[retely]) the converted Isr[aelite]. resident in Gentile countries. ³²

Diaspora is the Greek word used in James 1:1 in the phrase “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,” and by the translators of the Septuagint Old Testament in Deuteronomy 28:25, 30:4; Nehemiah 1:8; and Psalm 147:2, in describing the dispersion of the Old Testament Israelites. The Greek word parepideémois, translated “strangers” in 1 Peter 1:1, conveys a similar thought:

…one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives; hence stranger; sojourning in a strange place, a foreigner…. ³³

Peter wrote his first epistle to Israelite foreigners living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia – the precise locations to which the house of Israel had been dispersed after Yahweh divorced them. Peter wrote the following to these Christian Israelites:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people…. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

The first phrase in verse 9 is a quotation from Exodus 19:5-6, in which Yahweh first proposed marriage to the nation of Israel. The last two phrases in verse 10 are quotations from Hosea 1:9 and 2:23, in which He promised to remarry Israel and ultimately restore His kingdom relationship with a remnant of Israelites from both the house of Israel and the house of Judah under the New Covenant. It is this remnant that forms the nation prophesied by Jesus in Matthew 21:43 and to whom the kingdom was given. ³⁴

The prophets foretold this special New Covenant kingdom relationship between Yahweh and Israel:

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days…. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed…. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever…. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom…. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Daniel 7:13-27)

In Psalm 148, the saints of the Most High are identified as Israelites:

He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye YHWH. (Psalm 148:14)

The Apostles also understood the saints in Daniel 7 to be Israelites. In anticipation of the fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophesies concerning the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, they questioned Jesus about the specific timing of the restoration – which they knew, from the Prophet Daniel, was to occur sometime during the days of the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:36-44, 7:13-27):

Then they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)

Because many people have misidentified today’s Jews ³⁵ as Israelites, and because the Jews have rejected Jesus and His kingdom, much of Christianity has come to the erroneous conclusion that this restored kingdom relationship with Israel has yet to occur. However, the New Testament declares that this kingdom relationship has existed since the second chapter of Acts when the first Judahite Israelites, in faith and repentance, were immersed into Christ. Before this event in the book of Acts, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles all preached that the kingdom of God was at hand:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven ³⁶ is at hand. (Matthew 3:1-2)

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, …But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 10:5-7)

…if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Matthew 12:28)

Either the kingdom was literally at hand when Jesus made this last statement, or He was casting out demons by Beelzebub, just as the Pharisees accused. In Mark 1:15, the kingdom is described as being at hand because its preparation time was fulfilled:

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:14-15)

Perhaps the most potent proof that the kingdom of Christ has already been established is that the Apostles were told that some of them would live to see the kingdom restored:

And he [Jesus] said unto them [His disciples], Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. (Mark 9:1)

In Acts 1, the Apostles anticipated the restored kingdom in their lifetime, and, in Acts 2, it was indeed restored with power on the day of Pentecost. The renowned 18th-century commentator Matthew Henry agreed:

…the kingdom of Christ began … immediately after his ascension, and will continue in the doing till the mystery of God be finished. ³⁷

Following the events in Acts 2, the 1st-century Christians proclaimed Jesus to be a reigning King and themselves to be citizens of His kingdom – not sometime yet future or merely in heaven, but then and there:

But the Jews which believed not … set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason … crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. (Acts 17:5-7)

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…. (Colossians 1:12-14)

As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

I John, who also am your brother, and companion [fellow partaker, NASB] in tribulation, and in the kingdom…. (Revelation 1:9)

Redemption through Jesus’ blood results in deliverance from the power of darkness. Because we are delivered from the power of darkness into the kingdom, the Colossians’ passage demands that if the kingdom is not in existence now, then redemption and forgiveness of sins are not yet valid. If the kingdom is yet future, no one has been delivered from the power of darkness, nor partaken of the inheritance of the saints. In short, no one has yet become a Christian.

In Acts 17:7, the disciples were described as already serving Jesus as their King on earth, according to His laws. The very fact that Rome persecuted, imprisoned, and murdered Christians demonstrates the Romans understood that the kingdom the Christians preached and lived was an extant rival kingdom. Had Christianity been merely a religion, Rome would not have concerned itself with Christianity anymore than it did with the other religions in its realm. Christendom’s King, His kingdom, and His laws posed a threat to the Roman Empire, just as Daniel prophesied.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44)

The kingdom is currently under the rule of non-Christians, not because it has yet to be established, but because Christians have bought into the lie that the kingdom doesn’t exist on earth at this time. They have consequently abdicated leadership of society. The church has become governmentally and culturally impotent because Christians have been convinced that everything outside the four walls of their church buildings is off-limits to them as Christians.

The kingdom was the focus of Jesus’ earthly ministry and is the central issue of the entire Bible. The phrases “the Father’s kingdom,” “the kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven,” “the heavenly kingdom,” “the kingdom of Christ,” “the gospel of the kingdom,” and the word “kingdom” appear 146 times in the New Testament alone.

Because the kingdom of God is in existence today, our principal objective as ambassadors of the King of kings (2 Corinthians 5:20), should be to please our King and advance His kingdom. We should be pursuing His kingdom – taking dominion and implementing His perfect laws – everywhere we possibly can, including government:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness [found in His perfect laws, Isaiah 51:7-8]…. (Matthew 6:33)

Seek His kingdom where?

…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)

All the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer refer to earthly present benefits. Some of the aspects of the kingdom are that God provides our “daily bread,” that He “forgives our debts,” and that He “delivers us from temptation.” …It is a kingdom prayer, and we are in the kingdom!³⁸

Christians understood this in 1643 when the colonies of New Plymouth, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut formed the New England Confederation with the goal of advancing the kingdom of Christ here in America:

…we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. ³⁹

Christians who understand the present reality of Yahweh’s kingdom here on earth seldom see its relevance beyond the four walls of their homes or church buildings. “We have secularized everything not illuminated by stained glass windows.” ⁴⁰ This limited vision is usually the consequence of antinomianism. However, Yahweh’s will is that His kingdom, operating by His moral laws, be established here on earth as it is in heaven. There is nowhere in heaven Yahweh does not reign, nowhere His kingdom cannot be found, and nowhere His laws are not intact. This is His will for earth as well, but He has left to His subjects the task of fully establishing His kingdom on earth:

Ye are blessed of YHWH which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are YHWH’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:15-16)

Although it is true that the earth was made for all of mankind to inhabit, no Christian in his right mind would maintain that Yahweh intends non-Christians to reign over His children, except as judgment. The dominion mandate was given to Adam and his descendants, particularly Christians under the New Covenant:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience…. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Yahweh intends His subjects to inherit the earth:

The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever…. Wait on YHWH, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. (Psalm 37:29-34)

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

These promises are conditional. If we expect Yahweh to fulfill His promises, we must return to Him and His laws. Inherent in the dominion mandate is Yahweh’s expectation for His people to maintain, protect, and increase their holdings in furtherance of His kingdom. That Yahweh expects this of His kingdom ambassadors is evident in that His stone kingdom is depicted as becoming a great mountain (Daniel 2:35), a mustard seed that is to grow into a great tree (Matthew 13:31), and leaven that leavens the entire world (Matthew 13:33). Pretribulation dispensationalist Dave Hunt believes this is not only impossible for Christians to accomplish, but that it is even impossible for Yahweh:

In fact, dominion – taking dominion and setting up the kingdom for Christ – is an impossibility, even for God. The millennial reign of Christ, far from being the kingdom, is actually the final proof of the incorrigible nature of the human heart, because Christ Himself can’t do what these people [dominionists] say they are going to do…. ⁴¹

No wonder Christianity has lost control of the kingdom. Modern Christians have squandered the kingdom and handed it over to Yahweh’s enemies. This abdication occurred for two reasons: 1) Christians’ belief that Yahweh’s law has been abolished under the New Covenant, and 2) their teachings that the kingdom will manifest itself only in the future or exclusively in heaven. Non-Christians and antichrists have been delighted to fill the void with their gods’ laws and governments.

Some people respond to the idea of a present kingdom by declaring that if this is Yahweh’s kingdom, who wants it? The culpability for the deplorable state of the kingdom belongs, not to God, but to Christians who are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. Christianity is full of savorless salt that is good for nothing but to be trampled under the foot of man. Christians today are the “trampled” rather than the “tramplers.” What used to be known as Christendom (short for Christ’s or Christian dominion) is now simply Christianity, or worse Judeo-Christianity. ⁴² That Yahweh expects His people to be the tramplers is evident not only in Matthew 5, but also in Revelation 5:

…Thou … hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9-10)

Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians that “I would to God ye did reign….” (1 Corinthians 4:8). To reign means to rule, and to rule means to establish the law of the land:

For YHWH will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel … and they shall rule over their oppressors. (Isaiah 14:1-2)

“Government” has become a dirty word to most Christians. But this thinking is an aberration from that of the Christians who first came here from Europe. They looked upon government as an ordinance of God for the purpose of advancing His kingdom and furthering Christianity:

Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and end of government and, therefore, government in itself is a venerable ordinance of God. And forasmuch as it is principally desired and intended by the Proprietary and Governor and the freemen of the province of Pennsylvania and the territories thereunto belonging to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian civil liberty in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices…. Charter to William Penn, 1682 ⁴³

Many Christians are peering into heaven and wondering when Yahweh is going to clean up this mess. Could it be Yahweh is looking down upon us and wondering when we are going to clean it up? Yahweh is not responsible for our making a mess of things. He has given us the tools by which to right society, if we would only believe in Him and implement His perfect laws. Every generation that rejects Yahweh’s plan for the kingdom is another generation destined to live under the heel of non-Christian dominion.

Restoration of the kingdom will not happen overnight. The few today who understand the kingdom of Yahweh are beginning to prepare the ground for a future generation. This preparation begins with convincing modern Christianity that they are supposed to be ruling instead of serving the non-Christians and antichrists. Eventually, Christendom will be able to establish and prosper as the kingdom Yahweh intends us to be.

My ultimate objective in this book is to awaken today’s Christians to the perfection of Yahweh, His kingdom, and His laws, in order to prepare tomorrow’s Christians to take dominion of Yahweh’s kingdom. If I cannot change the eschatology of those Christians who believe Yahweh’s kingdom has yet to appear – and have therefore trapped themselves in cultural paralysis – then let me at least appeal to your common sense. In the time between now and forever, would you not rather live by Yahweh’s perfect laws of liberty than by man’s laws of bondage?

Although many Christians may not be politically active, they are nonetheless always hoping, praying, and voting for those they trust will improve their standard of living. However, a higher standard of living will never be achieved through man’s laws. Neither can man’s law deliver us from the oppression of ever-encroaching government. I am asking that we set aside our eschatological differences (Yahweh will take care of the eschatological future) and work together for liberty and justice through the only means possible – Yahweh’s kingdom and His laws – so that, at the very least, we can help make His kingdom on earth a reality for our posterity.

All thy works shall praise thee, O YHWH; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. (Psalm 145:10-12)

Pursuing Yahweh’s kingdom begins by speaking of its glory and power to the sons of men. This is the very least we can do as Yahweh’s ambassadors, and it is something we can all do. May Yahweh open our eyes to the possibilities of His kingdom and His perfect laws. May He grant us the same fervor for Him and His kingdom as the liberals have for their democracy and the Constitutionalists have for their republic:

And YHWH stirred up the spirit of … all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of YHWH of hosts, their God. (Haggai 1:14)

1. Where the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) – the four Hebrew characters that represent the personal name of God – has been unlawfully rendered the LORD or GOD in English translations, I have taken the liberty to correct this error by inserting YHWH where appropriate. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*

2. All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted. Portions of Scripture have been omitted for brevity. If you have questions regarding any passage, please study the text to ensure it has been properly used.

3. Not everyone claiming to be a Christian has been properly instructed in the Biblical plan of salvation. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied to understand what is required to be covered by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins. For a more thorough explanation concerning baptism and its relationship to salvation, the book Baptism: All You Wanted to Know and More may be requested from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.

4. YHWH (most often pronounced Yahweh) is the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible. For a more thorough explanation concerning the sacred names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*

5. “antinomian … a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace and faith.” Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (New York, NY: Random House, 2000) p. 59.

6. Even many alleged pronomians are, at best, only two-thirds pronomian. They are interested in restoring Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, but not His judgments.

7. Not only do most “New Testament Christians” reject the law component of the New Covenant, they also either ignore or dismiss the importance of whom Yahweh declared He would make His New Covenant with. For a more thorough explanation regarding the “who” of the New Covenant, The Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now? may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363, for a suggested $10 donation.*

8. Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior’s given Hebrew name, with which He introduced Himself to the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:14-15. (Jesus is the English transliteration of the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua.) Because many people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Yeshua, I have chosen to use the more familiar Jesus in this book in order to remove what might otherwise be a stumbling block. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the sacred names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*

9. Biblical faith entails more than simply belief. Belief alone does not justify us. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:36-41, 22:1-16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; and 1 Peter 3:21 should be studied in order to understand what is required to be covered by the blood of Jesus and forgiven of your sins. For a more thorough explanation concerning baptism and its relationship to salvation, Baptism: All You Wanted to Know and More may be requested from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for free.

10. Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. “licentiousness” (1828; reprint ed. San Francisco, CA: The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967).

11. Samuel Bolton, The Moral Law: A Rule of Obedience, <http://www.the-highway.com/articleFeb00.html>.

12. Although Jasher is not a part of canonized Scripture, it is cited in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 and referenced in 2 Timothy 3:8.

13. “Romans 13 (Part 2),” The Voice of the Promised, April 2010, Special Edition, p. 1.

14. Moore v. Strickling (1899) 46 W.Va. 515, 33 SE 274, 50 LRA 279, 282.

15. H.B. Clark, Clark’s Biblical Law, Second Edition (Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1943) p. 12.

16. For additional information regarding Yahweh’s condemnation of infanticide, The Sixth Commandment may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not kill may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*

17. For additional information regarding the Biblical responsibility to protect ourselves and others, “Firearms: Scripturally Defended” may be read online, or the tract may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363.*

18. For additional information regarding today’s non-Biblical prison system, Prisons: Shut Them All Down may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $3 donation.*

19. For additional information regarding the numerous ways by which the government steals from its citizens, The Eight Commandment may be read online, or Thou shalt not steal by be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $6 donation.*

20. John W. Welch, “Biblical Law in America: Historical Perspectives and Potentials for Reform,” Brigham Young University Law Review (2002), p. 613, <http://www.contra-mundum.org/essays/theonomy/WEL1.pdf\>.

21. Chuck Baldwin, “Can You Imagine This Country?” Chuck-Wagon Email Commentary, 10 July 2007, <http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/a>>.

22. Benjamin Franklin, Ormond Seavey, ed., “Speech in the Constitutional Convention at the Conclusion of it Deliberations,” Autobiography and Other Writings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) p. 350.

23. For additional information regarding the superiority of Yahweh’s law over the United States Constitution, Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective may be read online.

24. Rousas John Rushdoony, Sovereignty (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2007) p. v.

25. Clark, p. vii.

26. Hale v. Everett (1868) 53 NH 9, 16 AR 82, 191.

27. Mark A. Beliles and Douglas S. Anderson, Contending for the Constitution: Recalling the Christian Influence on the Writing of the Constitution and the Biblical Basis of American Law and Liberty (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Foundation, 2005) p. 99.

28. John Fiske, The Historical Writings of John Fiske, 12 vols. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1889) vol. 6, pp. 304-05.

29. Martin Luther, On Secular Authority: how far does the Obedience owed to it extend?, quoted in Harro Hopfl, trans., Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991, 1993) pp. 8-9.

30. For additional information regarding the erroneous teaching that Christians are obligated to obey all government laws, Christian Duty Under Corrupt Government: A Revolutionary Commentary on Romans 13:1-7, may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $7 donation.*

31. For additional information on the idolatrous implications of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, “The Second Commandment” may be read online, or the book Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*

32. James Strong, “Dictionary of the Greek Testament,” The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, s.v. “diaspora” (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990) p. 23.

33. Joseph Henry Thayer, The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. “parepideemos” (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1981) p. 488.

34. For a more exhaustive study demonstrating that the Apostle Peter wrote his epistles to Christian Israelites, and for more concerning Yahweh’s New Covenant marital relationship with Christian Israel, The Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now? may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $10 donation.*

35. God’s Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever provides a documented dissertation contrasting today’s Jews with today’s genetic Israelites, the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic, and kindred peoples. God’s Covenant People may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $14 donation.*

36. That the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are one and the same is demonstrated when comparing Matthew 4:17 with Mark 1:15; Matthew 5:3, 10 with Luke 6:20, 22; Matthew 8:11 with Luke 13:28; Matthew 10:7 with Luke 9:60; Matthew 11:11 with Luke 7:28; Matthew 11:12 with Luke 16:16; Matthew 13:11 with Mark 4:11; Matthew 13:31 with Mark 4:30-31; Matthew 13:33 with Luke 13:20-21; Matthew 19:14 with Mark 10:14; Matthew 19:23 with Mark 10:23; and Matthew 25:14 with Luke 19:11-13.

37. Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible: Genesis to Malachi, 3 vols. (Brattleboro: Brattleboro’ Typographic Company, 1837 [orig. publ. 1708-1710]) vol. 3, p. 60.

38. Gary DeMar and Peter Leithart, The Reduction of Christianity: A Biblical Response to Dave Hunt (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press and Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1988) p. 323n.

39. Ebenezer Hazard, ed., Historical Collections: Consisting of State Papers and other Authentic Documents: Intended as Materials for an History of the United States of America, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, PA: T. Dobson, 1792) vol. 2, p. 1.

40. Dennis Woods, Discipling the Nations: The Government Upon His Shoulder (Franklin, TN: Legacy Communications, 1996) p. 184.

41. Dave Hunt, interviewed by Peter LaLonde, Dominion: A Dangerous New Theology, Tape #2 of Dominion: The Word and New World Order.

42. The term “Judeo-Christianity” refers to the vast segment of Christianity that has been heavily influenced, often unknowingly, by the Talmudic religion of Judaism. The religions of Judaism and Christianity are wholly incompatible, as demonstrated by their respective books of faith – the Talmud and the Bible. The term “Judeo-Christianity” is an oxymoron. This incongruity is addressed in detail in God’s Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever. God’s Covenant People may be read online, or the book may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $14 donation.*

43. Charter to William Penn, 17 December 1682,.

*We are admonished in Matthew 10:8 “freely ye have received, freely give.” Although we have a suggested price for our books, we do not sell them. In keeping with 2 Corinthians 9:7, this ministry is supported by freewill offerings. If you cannot afford the suggested price, inform us of your situation, and we will be pleased to provide you with whatever you need for whatever you can send.