Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.... (Exodus 20:4-5¹)

The Second Commandment is cited seven times in the Old Testament and three times in the New Testament: Exodus 20:4, 20:23, 34:17, Leviticus 19:4, 26:1, Deuteronomy 4:23, 5:8, 1 Corinthians 10:7, 10:14 and 1 John 5:21.

Many Christians have difficulty distinguishing between the First and Second Commandments because they both relate to the worship of false gods. Following is a simple rule of thumb for determining whether a passage is addressing First or Second Commandment disobedience: First Commandment transgression is worshiping anything created by God, for example the sun, moon or stars, and Second Commandment transgression is worshiping anything formed by man, for example images of the sun, moon and stars. Moses dealt with both sins in Deuteronomy 4; verses 15-18 address Second Commandment disobedience and verse 19 addresses First Commandment disobedience:

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ... lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: (Deuteronomy 4:15-18)

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them.... (Deuteronomy 4: 19)

Idolatry

Second Commandment infraction is usually described as idolatry. The Prophet Isaiah depicted an idol as something men form with their hands:

Their land also is full of idols; they [the house of Jacob] worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. (Isaiah 2:8)

The Prophet Ezekiel described an idol as also something that men erect in their hearts:

And the word of YHWH² came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men [the elders of the house of Judah of the nation of Israel] have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face.... (Ezekiel 14:2-3)

Thomas Watson, a Fifteenth Century Presbyterian preacher, pointed out the paradox of idolatry:

God made man of the dust of the earth, and man makes a god of the dust of the earth.³

An Anglican minister by the name of South summed up the folly of idol-worship:

Idolatry is certainly the first-born of folly, the great and leading paradox, nay the very abridgment and sum total of all absurdities.⁴

The Apostle Paul agreed in his letter to the Romans:

...when they [earth's inhabitants] knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23)

King David and the Prophet Isaiah were no more charitable with their descriptions concerning idolaters:

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. (Psalm 115:4-8)

They that make a graven image are all of them vanity.... The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms.... The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man.... He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak ... he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn ... and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself.... And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, deliver me; for thou art my god. ...And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? (Isaiah 44:9-19)

Simply put, idolatry is the epitome of stupidity.

What Idolatry Is Not

We are commanded not to make for ourselves any likeness of anything in God's creation whether it is something in heaven, on earth or in the water. Does this mean that we are prohibited by the Second Commandment from taking photographs of our ourselves and our children, from hanging panoramic pictures on our walls, from carrying coins in our pockets or from using stamps on our parcels? Must we dispose of all calendars and books containing pictures? Must we remove from our wardrobe all shirts or dresses that have flower prints? Must our children desist from playing with stuffed animals? Must we destroy all topographical maps and globes of the earth? Must the medical profession destroy all models of the human anatomy? Is this the intent of the Second Commandment? If it is then God, Himself, is guilty of promoting idolatry because in Exodus 20:4 God commanded that "you shall not make ["asah" - Hebrew] any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth." Yet, in Exodus 25, 28 and in Numbers 21 God commanded the Israelites to make ["asah" - Hebrew] the following items:

...thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work ... in the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:18)

...thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem [of the robe of the ephod].... (Exodus 28:33)

...YHWH said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. (Numbers 21:8)

Moreover, in Exodus 20:4 God commanded His people not to make any graven images. The word "graven" is translated from the Hebrew noun "pecel" and comes from the verb form "pecal." Immediately following Yahweh's rebuke and punishment of Aaron and the other Israelites for their idolatrous act of making and worshiping the graven calf; Yahweh gave Moses the following instructions:

...YHWH said unto Moses, Hew [pecal - graven] thee two tables of stone like unto the first.... (Exodus 34:1)

God was not commanding Moses and the Israelites to break the Second Commandment, and neither are we in transgression of the Second Commandment if we have in our possession the previously mentioned items. Idolatry does not depend so much on what we have in our possession, but instead on what we are doing with those things in our possession:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness ... thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.... (Exodus 20:4-5)

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am YHWH your God. (Leviticus 26:1)

It is not primarily the making of those things that was evil in Yahweh's sight; it was the purpose for which they were made.

Modern Manifestations

Although the First and the Second Commandments differ slightly, nearly all of the First Commandment statutes can also be placed under the Second Commandment. Consequently, rather than re-addressing those statutes that fall under the First Commandment, this treatise will examine modern-day manifestations of Second Commandment transgression.

However, let us first consider how serious the crime of idolatry is. Individuals or religions that fashion idols, statues or totem poles are often considered foolish. This sin, however, is not just foolishness in Yahweh's sight. The Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel compare idolatry to something much worse:

...thou [Judah] hast played the harlot with many lovers ... saith YHWH. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. ...thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms.... ...thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. ...YHWH said ... Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. ...And I [Yahweh] saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. (Jeremiah 3:1-9)

...thou [Judah] ... deckedst thy high places ... and playedst the harlot thereupon.... Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them ... saith the Lord YHWH. ...Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way ... and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou ... increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. ...How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord YHWH, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; in that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; but as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! (Ezekiel 16:16-32)

An idolater, in Yahweh's sight, is the same as a harlot, a whore or an adulteress, and it was for these sins that God divorced the house of Israel and later the house of Judah as well - Matthew 21:43. Some people think that idolatry is something that only ancient civilizations participated in or extant primitive tribes involve themselves with today. They would be shocked to learn that idolatry applies to anything modern Israel⁵ does. However, man's basic immorality has not changed, 1 Corinthians 10:13, any more than Yahweh's morality has changed, Malachi 3:6. Idolatry filled the land before Christ, and it continues to fill our land today, 2,000 years after Christ. Modern man may not carve idols out of wood or stone as their predecessors once did, yet he is still up to his eyebrows in idolatry, he has just refined the practice. In other words, sophisticated man has sophisticated the sin. Anything man creates with his own hands or heart and places before Yahweh is idolatry. The Prophet Hosea equated just the forsaking of Yahweh as committing flagrant idolatry:

...the land hath committed great whoredom [idolatry], departing from YHWH. (Hosea 1:2)

In other words, anything manmade that interferes with or keeps us from seeking first Yahweh's kingdom and His righteousness is Second Commandment transgression.

The Love of Money

The love of money⁶ is one of the more obvious manifestations of modern-day idolatry. The New Testament defines idolatry as covetousness, sometimes translated greediness:

...know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Second Commandment coveting has to do with coveting simply to have more whereas Tenth Commandment coveting is coveting what belongs to someone else. The Greek word "pleonexia" translated as "covetousness" is defined by James Strong:

4124 pleonexia (pleh-on-ex-ee'-ah); from 4123; avarice, i.e. (by implication) fraudulency, extortion.⁷

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines avarice:

avarice ... excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain."⁸

Therefore, covetousness or greed is idolatry because it replaces love for Yahweh with love for money. Yahweh requires one hundred percent devotion to Him and only to Him:

...Jesus⁹ answered... The first [foremost NASV] of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; YHWH our God is one YHWH: And thou shalt love YHWH thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (Mark 12:29-30)

There is no room for covetousness or greed in those who desire to serve Yahweh. This helps to explain why the rich young ruler was told to "go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" - Matthew 19:21. Not everyone is required to sell all his possessions to feed the poor. This was required of this young ruler because his riches had control of his heart:

...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21)

In other words, this rich man's money was his god.

Someone, at this point, may be thinking to themselves, "Thank God I'm not rich!" However, what are riches to one man is refuse to another and what is refuse to one man is riches to another. Your riches can be anything, thus whatever it is that has your heart, Yahweh requires that you surrender it to Him. Yeshua explained the reason for this:

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:13)

The covetous person can never put Yahweh first in his life because his greed consumes him:

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NASV)

Therefore, Solomon also admonished:

"Labour not to be rich.... Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs 23:4-5)

Following His dialogue with the rich young ruler, Yeshua admonished His disciples:

...Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. ...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:23-24)

With so much money, the super-rich can buy whatever they desire. They find themselves living not by the slogan "In God We Trust," but rather "In Gold We Trust," or some replacement of gold. Although, this sin may be especially prevalent among the rich, it is also found among the middle class and poor as well. For example, consider habitual gamblers who cross all economic levels. The definition for avarice fits chronic gamblers perfectly. They, too, have fallen prey to the vice of idolatry.

Christians who rob God of His tithes and offerings are, likewise, idolaters. The Apostle Paul equated this sin with "covetousness, which is idolatry":

...I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift, and not affected by covetousness. (2 Corinthians 9:5 NASV)

Idolatry is a replacement for Yahweh Almighty. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that our money is sometimes deemed The Almighty Dollar. In the same light, it is not a coincidence that one of the first credit cards ever issued is named Master Card? A master necessitates servants or slaves. Many Americans are enslaved to their credit cards or the debt incurred through the use of these credit instruments:

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave. (Proverbs 22:7 NASV)

Borrowers are slaves to their lenders, and yet the Apostle Paul wrote that Christians "were bought with a price," and are not to "become slaves of men" - 1 Corinthians 7:23. Slavery to moneylenders is often the result of covetousness, which is idolatry.

Whether it is manifested in metal, paper or plastic, the love of money is indeed a form of modern-day idolatry. Today's Christians would do well to heed Paul's warning and admonition:

...they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things.... Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.... That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute... Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. (1 Timothy 6:9-19)

Materialism

In the same way that some people worship money, others worship what money can purchase. There is only a subtle difference between the two. Those who worship money revere the purchasing power of money, that is, the omnipotence of money. Others worship what money can buy, that is, the omnipresence of money. It is said that money is the international language. The latter group is only interested in what money can buy: houses, automobiles, boats, clothes, jewelry, businesses, etc. This form of idolatry is often defined as materialism or it is also known as the "Keeping up with the Jones" syndrome.

This sin also knows no financial boundaries; it equally afflicts the rich and the poor alike. It has been said, "The silliest thing people do is to buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't even like." Yet, this Second Commandment transgression is more than just silly. It is the sin of people who seek first their own kingdom and well-being rather than seeking "His kingdom and His righteousness" - Matthew 6:33. In the first chapter of Haggai, Yahweh chastised the house of Judah because they were neglecting the temple of God while building their own paneled houses. The consequences of their sin of idolatry is depicted in tragic terms:

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (Haggai 1:6)

This could have been written just as easily for twentieth century Israel¹⁰ here in America. Our wallets also have holes in them - federal taxes, state taxes, county taxes, city taxes, sales tax, workman's compensation, compulsory insurances, usury, etc. Although our tyrannical and oppressive government is at the root of these problems, it might be prudent to look closer to home for the real reason for these afflictions. Patriot-minded people are inclined to blame the government for America's fraudulent money system and unlawful taxes, but when was the last time the same patriots were heard to say that the Federal Reserve is simply a consequence of America's idolatrous lifestyle? In other words, today's government has become part of Yahweh's judgment upon an idolatrous people.

If the present state of affairs is ever to be changed on a national scale, we must individually heed Yahweh's admonition:

Thus saith YHWH of hosts; Consider your ways ... and ... build the house [of Yahweh]; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith YHWH. (Haggai 1:7-8)

Under the New Covenant, the body of Christ (Christians, both individually and collectively,) is the temple or house of God - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 2 Corinthians 6:16. Therefore, we must not neglect the body of Christ; it must not be put second to anything:

...[Yeshua] said unto them [His disciples], Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, ...This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:15-21)

Today's collective temple or body of Christ is often neglected because of materialistic idolatry. Ministries to the remnant are often unable to efficiently perform their duties because they are often financially strapped. It is a travesty when ministries to the remnant of Yahweh's people can barely stay afloat, while the Baal ministries of our day are thriving. If this continues, do not expect any different results than what was declared by Yahweh to the Prophet Haggai:

Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith YHWH of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. (Haggai 1:9-11)

The first instance of the type of idolatry described by Haggai is found in the inaugural book of the Bible:

...[the descendants of Noah] said, ... let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name [unto ourselves], lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4)

These early idolaters were essentially seeking first their own kingdom while rejecting the kingdom of Yahweh. The essence of idolatry is the rejection of Yahweh's laws, while serving the laws of some other god. In Genesis 1 Yahweh commanded Adam and his descendants to "multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." The builders of the tower of Babel were instead attempting to subdue heaven.

After man's basic need for protection from the elements has been met, man's architecture traditionally reflects what he honors most and also to what he aspires. The tallest buildings in a city are often indicative of what the leading men of the city both literally and figuratively look up to. In Babylon it was the tower of Babel. In Egypt it was the pyramids, built to the Pharaoh gods. In Greece, the tallest structures (situated on the Acropolis, the highest point in the city) were temple statues dedicated to the Grecian pagan gods. In Rome the top of the highest hill served as the foundation for the temple of Jupiter, chief of the Roman gods. Ancient Israel was no different:

...the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against YHWH their God, and they built them high places in all their cities.... And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen ... and wrought wicked things to provoke YHWH to anger. (2 Kings 17:9-11)

When the high place of Yahweh, the house or temple of God, is neglected, Israel always replaces it with vicarious high places of her own making:

...the people [of the nation of Israel] sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of YHWH, until those days. (1 Kings 3:2)

Consider today's American cities. Church steeples previously dominated the skyline of the typical American city whereas banks, insurance buildings, luxury hotels and condominiums now dominate them. These monuments to mammon now dwarf the steeples that formerly towered above everything else.

The rich and famous, who own today's skyscrapers, are not the only people guilty of this kind of idolatry. The Prophet Ezekiel warned us that idols can also be set up in our hearts - Ezekiel 14:3. Consequently, anything that replaces Yahweh in someone's heart is also idolatry. We should instead follow King David's example. David declared that he had "installed [his] King [Yahweh] upon Zion, [His] holy mountain" - Psalm 2:6. In other words, David had enthroned Yahweh on the high place of his heart.

Addictions

Obsessions often manifest themselves as addictions. Noah Webster's first edition of his American Dictionary of the English Language defines "addict" and addiction":

ADDICT ... To apply one's self habitually; to devote time and attention by customary or constant practice....¹¹

ADDICTION ... the state of being devoted.¹²

Yahweh expects habitual devotion from those who love Him. In fact, the King James Bible translators used the word "addicted" to describe devotion to ministry:

...they [the household of Stephanas] have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.... (1 Corinthians 16:15)

For many people today, addictions of all kinds have supplanted Yahweh in their hearts. Thus, God condemns these kinds of obsessions. The Apostle Peter warns us:

...for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. (2 Peter 2:19 NASV)

The Apostle Paul, likewise, warns us to not allow ourselves to be mastered by anything other than the Lord Yeshua:

...All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is ... for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:12-13 NASV)

In other words, if you have made a lifestyle of anything that has gotten out of control, in other words, something controlling you, then that thing by which you have been overcome has become an idol in your life. Yahweh's disdain for gluttony, for example, is stated in several Old and New Testament passages. The following passages are but two examples that record Yahweh's disapproval of this sin:

Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty.... (Proverbs 23:19-21)

He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father. (Proverbs 28:7 NASV)

At this point, someone may want to remind me that foods are something created by God not man, and that First Commandment transgression is worshipping or serving that which has been created by God. This is true; however it is unlikely that someone will become a glutton on carrot sticks, cauliflower and celery. Gluttony is a prepared food problem and therefore a Second Commandment infraction.

What is true for gluttony is also true for all addictions. Consequently, any obsession, such as alcoholism or drug addiction that would come between us and our devotion to Yahweh and His will for our life, is Second Commandment transgression. The same applies to workaholics. These addicts put their work before their homage to Yahweh, as well as robbing their families of time and devotion.

Along with gluttony, drunkenness is listed as one of the sins for which the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21 was to be put to death by the elders of the city. It is so serious a sin that it will keep a person out of the kingdom of God:

...Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

...the works of the flesh are manifest ... adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you ... that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Drug addiction constitutes the same sin because it impairs mental discernment and physical control. Like drunkenness, it also hinders or impedes altogether a person's devotion to Yahweh. Therefore, the scriptures prohibiting drunkenness also condemn drug addiction. They are both idolatry:

Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God. (Hosea 4:11-12 NASV)

Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. (1 Corinthians 10:7)

The enemies of Christianity understand that alcohol and drugs, like immorality, can assist them in turning a person away from their God:

Behold the alcoholized animals, bemused with drink, the right to an immoderate use of which comes along with freedom. It is not for us ["the learned elders of Zion"] and ours to walk that road. The [non-Jewish] peoples of the goyim are bemused with alcoholic liquors; their youth has grown stupid on classicism and from early immorality, into which it has been inducted by our special agents - by tutors, lackeys, governesses in the houses of the wealthy, by clerks and others, by our women in the places of dissipation frequented by the goyim.¹³

Modern Medicine

This modern form of idolatry not only applies to alcohol and illegal drugs, but in an alarming number of cases, to drugs prescribed by physicians and sold through pharmacies. Consider the following two definitions for "pharmaceutical" and "pharmacy":

PHARMACEUTICAL ... to practice witchcraft or use medicine....¹⁴

pharmacy ... pharmacia administration of drugs, fr. Gk pharmakeia, fr. pharmakeuein to administer drugs, fr. pharmakon magic charm, poison, drug; akin to Lith burti to practice magic....¹⁵

Our English word "pharmacy" is derived from the Greek word "pharmakeia." The Greek word "pharmakeia" appears twice in the New Testament and is translated as "witchcraft" and "sorceries":

Now the works of the flesh are manifest ... witchcraft ...of the which I tell you ... that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

... by thy [Mystery Babylon's] sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23)

A significant portion of modern medicine is nothing more than pharmakeia, that is, legalized drug pushing. Consequently, it may not be all that much of a stretch to compare this element of modern medicine with sorcery or witchcraft. According to the Prophet Samuel witchcraft is closely akin to idolatry:

...rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as ... idolatry.... (1 Samuel 15:23)

The Hebrew word "qecem" translated "witchcraft" is most often translated in the King James Bible as "divination." The first edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language and Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "divination":

DIVINATION, ... 1. The act of divining; a foretelling future events ... experiments or observations, as by sacrifices ... observation of entrails....¹⁶

divination ... 1: the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge....¹⁷

This sounds very much like what many modern medical doctors do when they predict or foretell how long a patient has to live, which is something only Yahweh knows for certain. Regrettably, and oftentimes tragically, patients accept their doctor's predictions as gospel. These people are modern examples of Asa, King of Judah:

...Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to YHWH, but to the physicians. (2 Chronicles 16:12)

The outcome of such Second Commandment transgression is often the same as the four-part consequence initially endured by the woman with the issue of blood:

...a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had (1) suffered many things of many physicians, and had (2) spent all that she had, and (3) was nothing bettered, but (4) rather grew worse.... (Mark 5:25-27)

Some honest doctors are their own worst critics. For example, consider the testimony of Doctor Alonzo J. Shadman:

I have practiced medicine for forty-three years. I built and conducted my own hospital of a hundred and twenty-five beds, and had a courtesy staff of 400 Allopathic doctors. I did the surgery for nearly all of these men, and during all these years I have seen nearly every doctor in Boston in action. I have observed their limitations, their inefficiencies, and their awful blunders; and I do not believe I exaggerate when I say that orthodox medicine is killing more people yearly than the war and diseases combined.¹⁸

The April 14, 1998 issue of The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article admitting that adverse drug reactions are among the top causes of death in the United States:

Chicago - Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in U.S. hospitals may be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths nationwide each year, making it one of the leading causes of death, according to an article in the April 14 issue of The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).... The authors estimated that 2,216,000 hospital patients experienced a serious ADR and 106,000 deaths were caused by ADRs in the United States. This could account for 4.6 percent of all causes of recorded death [sic] in 1994, making these reactions between the fourth and sixth leading cause of death.¹⁹

In an article in the Idaho Observer entitled "JAMA stats tell the tale, Doctors kill more people than guns and traffic accidents," Don Harkins reported on similar medical statistics:

The top five causes of death in the United States, in order, are: Tobacco, alcohol, medical malpractice, traffic and firearms.... Another JAMA statistic stated that 1/5 (20 percent) of all people who see an allopath will suffer an "iatrogenic" (doctor induced) injury. Again, according to JAMA, 16 percent of all people who die in the hospital are determined by autopsy to have died of something other than their admission diagnosis.... Another trade publication, American Medical News, stated that 28 percent of people admitted to hospitals are there because they have suffered an adverse reaction to prescribed drugs.²⁰

NBC Nightly News (November 29, 1999) reported similar information:

Nov. 29 - In a blistering report released Monday, a prestigious medical group said America's entire health care system needs "dramatic changes" to cut the enormous number of deaths and injuries from medical errors. The group said hospitals should report mistakes to the federal government - not keep them secret as they often do now.... Experts say between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die from mistakes every year in hospitals alone. That makes hospital errors the eighth leading cause of death - actually ahead of traffic accidents, breast cancer and AIDS....

Leading causes of death

According to the Institute of Medicine's figures, medical mistakes could rank eighth among the nation's leading causes of death. Other studies double that estimate, placing it above accidents as a killer of Americans.

Rank	Causes	Deaths (1997)
1	Heart disease	726,974
2	Cancer	539,577
3	Stroke	159,791
4	Chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease	109,029
5	Accidents	95,644
6	Pneumonia & the flu	86,449
7	Diabetes	62,636
8	Medical mistakes	44,000
9	Suicide	30,535
10	Kidney-related disorders	25,331

National Vital Statistics Reports and the Institute of Medicine²¹

Moses included the following admonition as a portion of his second giving of the law:

When thou art come into the land which YHWH thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto YHWH.... (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)

Consider how some of that which is listed in verse 10 closely resemble the practices of modern medicine:

• Passing Through the Fire - Chemotherapy, Radiation Treatments, Shock Therapy

• Divination - Pharmakeia, Drug Peddling

• Observer of times - Predictions of Life and Death

The English word "enchanter" is translated from the Hebrew word "nachash," and is defined by James Strong:

5172 nachash (naw-khash'); a primitive root; properly, to hiss....²²

What is it that hisses? A snake, of course. Is it just by coincidence that the American Medical Association's symbol is a snake climbing a pole? Both Yeshua and John the Baptist identified the Pharisees of their day as vipers, that is, snakes - Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33 and Luke 3:7. In The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein identified today's Pharisees:

Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes of name ... the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew [today] ... studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies.²³

In other words, Pharisaism of Yeshua's day evolved into modern Talmudic Judaism practiced by today's Jews. Is it just by coincidence that there is such a preponderance of Jews in the profession of modern medicine whose symbol is that of a viper climbing a pole, and who, for the most part, hate Christianity and Christianity's God? The Talmud, Iore Dea (158, 1), declares that the Akum (a word in Jewish writings applied to Christians) are not to be healed:

The Akum are not to be cured, even for money....²⁴

On January 13, 1489 the Jewish Rabbi of Arles in Provence, France wrote to the Grand Sanhedrim in Constantinople, Turkey for advice. One of the recommendations returned by the Grand Satraps and Rabbis was that the Jews should become doctors and apothecaries, that is, pharmacists:

3. ...make your sons doctors and apothecaries, that they may take away Christians' lives.²⁵

Mr. Strong further defines "nachash":

...whisper a (magic) spell....²⁶

Both Jewish and non-Jewish doctors cast spells by employing unfamiliar medical terms and assuming an air of superiority thereby intimidating their patients into submission. This holier-than-thou attitude coerces their patients into doing unnatural and unholy things to their bodies.

Lastly, Mr. Strong defines "nachash":

...generally, to prognosticate....²⁷

The number one definition from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary for "prognosticate" is "to fortell from signs or symptoms."²⁸ This practice by many doctors is sometimes pursued in an attempt to coerce patients into soliciting more of their medical services.

Although there is a place for some of what is practiced in modern medicine, it should be a Christian's option only after he has first sought for healing from Yahweh:

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save [restore NASV] the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:12-16)

Sports, Recreation and Entertainment

Recreation of all kinds has also replaced Yahweh in the hearts of many people:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers ... of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Sports, for example, have become a religion or a god, not only to participating athletes, but also to many spectators as well. Contemplate the number of people who neglect assembling to worship Yahweh but who never neglect to assemble at the ball field. This, too, is idolatry. The Apostle Paul warns us:

Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. (1 Corinthians 10:7)

Moreover, our enemies use sports and other entertainment to neutralize Christians and non-Christians alike:

In order that the masses themselves may not guess what they are about, we [the "learned elders of Zion" will] further distract them with amusements, games, pastimes, passions.... Soon we shall begin, through the press, to propose competitions in art, in sport of all kinds: these interests will finally distract their minds from questions in which we should find ourselves compelled to oppose them. Growing more and more disaccustomed to reflect and form any opinions of their own, people will begin to talk in the same tone as we, because we alone shall be offering them new directions for thought ... through such persons as will not be suspected of solidarity with us.²⁹

We [the Communist party] will aid the Negroes to rise in prominence in every walk of life, in the professions and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.³⁰

Hollywood

Hollywood has played a major role in accomplishing this design. It is no wonder that today's anti-Christian, non-Israelite Jews³¹ quickly seized control of Hollywood.³² They have used it to help destroy modern Israel's relationship with her God much the same as Balaam's counsel to King Balak destroyed ancient Israel's relationship with Yahweh at that time. The Israelites were too numerous and too powerful to defeat outright, so Balak, King of Moab, hired Balaam to assist him in destroying Israel by cunning. According to the renowned First Century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Balaam's counsel to Balak was as follows:

O Balak ... it is true no entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews ... for the providence of God concerned to preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity to come upon them whereby they may all perish; but some small misfortunes ... whereby they may appear to be brought low, may still befall them.... So that if you have a mind to gain a victory over them for a short space of time, you will obtain it by following my directions: —Do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty ... to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them.... Then do you send them to be near the Israelites' camp, and give them in charge, that when the young men of the Hebrews desire their company, they allow it them; and when they see that they are enamoured of them, let them take their leaves; and if they entreat them to stay, let them not give their consent till they have persuaded them to leave off their obedience to their own laws and the worship of that God who established them, and to worship the gods of the Midianites and Moabites; for by this means God will be angry with them."³³

King Balak, by way of Balaam's wicked counsel, used immorality to promote idolatry in Israel in order to turn Yahweh against His people:

...Israel ... began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor [the god of the Moabites]: and the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel. (Numbers 25:1-3)

...Balaam ... taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2:14)

On January 13, 1489, in his funeral oration for Grand Rabbi Simeon-Ben-Ihuda, Rabbi Reichhorn provided a nineteen-point plan for the destruction of Christianity. This diabolical plan contained essentially the same instructions that Balaam gave to King Balak:

1. Every hundred years, We, the Sages of Israel [Jews misidentified³⁴], have been accustomed to meet in Sanhedrin in order to examine our progress towards the domination of the world which Jehovah has promised us, and our conquests over the enemy - Christianity.... 17. Let us take care not to hinder the marriage of our men with Christian girls, for through them we shall get our foot into the most closely locked circles. If our daughters marry Goyim they will be no less useful, for the children of a Jewish mother are ours. Let us foster the idea of free love, that we may destroy among Christian women attachment to the principles and practices of their religion.³⁵

As King Solomon declared, "...there is no new thing under the sun" - Ecclesiastes 1:9. Today, Hollywood uses its movies and television to promote immorality and race mixing for the same purpose, that is, to turn modern Israel away from her God. The Prophet Hosea aptly describes the situation, regardless of the age in which it occurs:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. ...Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame. ...Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God. (Hosea 4:6-12 NASV)

Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know YHWH. (Hosea 5:4 NASV)

The Media

Man-made media is, more often than not, revered as an idol. Howard Beal of Network described the media:

If you want truth, don't come to us [the media]. We will tell you anything but the truth. Go to God ... Go to your gurus, go to yourselves. But, don't come to us ... Your lives are real, we are an illusion.³⁶

That is what an idol is, an illusion. The media is also viewed as omnipotent, if not by its patrons, then by those who control it. Moreover, the media is something in which many people have an undying faith. Such people usually consider anything printed or written by the media as gospel, and this is precisely how these opinion-shapers would have it:

...we [the "learned elders of Zion"] shall represent as public opinion, secretly prompted by us through the means of that so-called ‘Great Power' - the Press, which, with a few exceptions that may be disregarded, is already entirely in our hands....³⁷

...we [the "learned elders of Zion"] are constantly, by means of the our press, arousing a blind confidence....³⁸

In the present state of knowledge and the direction we [the "learned elders of Zion"] have given to its development the people, blindly believing things in print ... thanks to promptings intended to mislead....³⁹

King Solomon describes people who make an idol out of the media as fools or, at the best, naïve:

The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. (Proverbs 14:15)

Although most people believe otherwise, there is no such thing as an independent press in America. At the annual dinner of the American Press Association in 1914, John Swinton, the one-time editor of the New York Times, when called upon for a toast to journalism and America's free press, responded in a surprising way:

There is no such thing as an independent press in America, if we except those of the little country towns [Even the small town newspapers, radio and television stations are now almost entirely owned by the large conglomerates.]. You know this and I know it. Not a man among you dares to utter his honest opinion. Were you to utter it, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. Anyone who was so foolish as to write his honest opinion would soon be out on the street looking for another job. I am paid one hundred and fifty dollars a week for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper with which I am connected. You are paid similar salaries for similar conduct and if you or I allowed our honest opinions to appear in one issue of our papers, before twenty-four hours had elapsed we would be out on the street looking for another job and our occupation would be gone. It is the duty of the New York journalist to destroy the truth, to lie, to pervert, to revile, to vilify, to toady and fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread or, what amounts to the same thing, his salary. You know it and I know it, and what folly it is for us to be here today toasting to an independent press. We are tools and vassals of the rich behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks, marionettes. These men pull the strings and we dance. Our time, our talents, our capacities and our lives are all the property of these men. We are intellectual prostitutes.⁴⁰

The media can say or write just about anything it likes with immunity, at least temporarily. It can slander and libel, and very seldom is it required to prove its accusations. This unbridled power is feared by nearly everyone, including many Christians, in spite of the fact that we are commanded to fear only Yahweh:

Thou shalt fear YHWH thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after [or fear] other gods.... (Deuteronomy 6:13-14)

Consider how foolish it is to fear the media; words are their only arsenal. Yahweh warned the Prophet Ezekiel to be unafraid of such impotent weapons:

...thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words.... (Ezekiel 2:6)

While social change is one of the objectives of Yahweh, it is also the aim and design of today's media:

It is possible to program an entire population to respond to certain words, images ... and expressions with certainty. The result of such programming is a population that is highly suggestible, a population that can be manipulated with great precision."⁴¹

Edward Bernays, assistant to William Paley, founder of CBS, admitted to the media's manipulative designs:

Those who manipulate the organized habits and opinions of the masses constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.... We are dominated by a relatively small number of persons.... Media corporations, practicing ‘press release' journalism, have become dependent on established sources of information available through government and corporate channels. These channels sanitize and spin the news to reflect their special interests.... Therefore, stories that run counter to major corporate or governmental messages tend to be ignored or discounted.⁴²

Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post, not only came close to plagiarizing Howard Beal concerning the media's general lack of truthfulness, but he also revealed the media's real agenda:

To hell with the news. I'm no longer interested in news. I'm interested in causes. We don't print the truth. We don't pretend to print the truth.⁴³

Especially interesting is the fact that the "learned elders of Zion," themselves, compared the media to an idol:

All our newspapers will be of all possible complexions - aristocratic, republican, revolutionary, even anarchical.... Like the Indian idol Vishnu they will have a hundred hands, and every one of them will have a finger on any one of the public opinions as required. When a pulse quickens these hands will lead opinion in the direction of our aims, for an excited patient loses all power of judgment and easily yields to suggestion. Those fools who will think they are repeating the opinion of a newspaper of their own camp will be repeating our opinion or any opinion that seems desirable for us. In the vain belief that they are following the organ of their party they will in fact follow the flag which we hang out for them.⁴⁴

Although not specifically directed at the scribes of the first century or the media of the twentieth century, the following warning certainly applies to both:

...there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers [and lying scribes] among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord.... And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Music

As with almost anything man-made, music can also become idolatrous. Consider for example, Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll's celebrated musicians are known as idols. The late Elvis Presley, Rock and Roll's most celebrated musician, is also idolized as The King, replacing Yeshua as king in his worshiper's lives.

Civil Government

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is reported as saying, "The art of government is the organization of idolatry." The worship of man-made government is a form of Second Commandment transgression that is seldom addressed from American pulpits. Someone is likely to respond, "With so much government corruption all around us, no one worships the government, with the possible exception of national, state and local politicians. Recent polls reveal there is more government distrust than ever before!" But, that proves nothing. Distrust, especially if it is combined with fear, is often the very thing that promotes worship. Deuteronomy 6:13 commands us to "fear only Yahweh." Why would Yahweh want us to fear Him? Because whom we fear is nearly always whom we obey, and obedience is the true measure of worship. In other words, whom we obey is also whom we worship, and whom we worship becomes our god. In many instances, whom we distrust is whom we fear. As a result, today's man-made government has become a god or an idol because it is what many people fear and consequently obey.

Most preachers are, themselves, paying homage to today's anti-Christian government. One way that they do this is by their yearly "mecca" to the Internal Revenue Service to petition their government (something done to a god) for a renewal of their church or ministry's 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. In the June/July, 1988 edition of The Upright Ostrich, Art Fisher elaborated on the extremely serious nature of this sin:

A church that voluntarily initiates an ‘application' to the state for ‘corporate' status ... and ‘tax exemption' has petitioned the state to dictate its right to exist and prosper. Thus, the church consents to a change of its STATUS from a ‘lawful' assembly of PRIVATE CITIZENS, to that of a ‘legal' gathering of PUBLIC SUBJECTS. Churches (a congregation of believers) DO NOT have rights GRANTED by the Constitution. They have INALIENABLE RIGHTS GRANTED BY GOD.... Incorporated churches and artificial persons do NOT have ‘inalienable' rights. They only have such rights, privileges and immunities, as granted to entities CREATED by the state [Art Fisher's capitalization].⁴⁵

Bishop Leonard H. Bolick (North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America) provided a second witness to the fact that incorporated churches are agents of the state rather than ambassadors of Yahweh:

...the [501(c)(3)] church ... is an agent of the state.⁴⁶

Besides being ungodly, church incorporation is also unnecessary. Churches already have automatic tax exemption under section 170 of the IRS code. Nevertheless, even if the Internal Revenue Service did not give churches automatic exemption, pastors and/or their churches still have no business going to the government for such privileges. Yahweh has already given tax exemption to ministers of the gospel:

We also inform you that it is not allowed to impose tax, tribute or toll on any of the priests, Levites ... or servants of this house of God. (Ezra 7:24 NASV)

Most preachers prefer to get their tax exemption from the god called Big Brother. Non-idolaters get their tax exemption from the God known as the Heavenly Father.

Moreover, taxes fund the implementation of man's law. The laws we keep reveal the god we serve and worship. Additionally, the laws we finance demonstrate who or what is our god. Yahweh is opposed to murder, sodomy and other immoralities, and yet there is another god that wants us to finance such things. It is the height of hypocrisy for ministers to preach against infanticide (falsely termed abortion) and homosexuality and then turn around and finance the same sins. Christians who picket infanticide shops (falsely termed abortion mills) should also consider this incongruity.

Taxes, in and of themselves, are not ungodly. The Apostle Paul promoted the paying of taxes:

Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due.... (Romans 13:6 NASV)

However, to whom did Paul say taxes were due?

...it [the government described by Paul] is a minister of God to you for good. ...an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.... For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. (Romans 13: 4-6 NASV)

Christians should indeed pay taxes to whom they are due.

Allocation of the first fruits is another indicator that the United States government has become a god, an idol, a substitute for Yahweh. Moses wrote that our first fruits belong to Yahweh:

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of YHWH thy God.... (Exodus 34:26)

When Hezekiah, King of Judah, was attempting to return his nation to a godly form of government, he knew that the idols had to first be eradicated from the land:

...all Israel who were present ... broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherim, and pulled down the high places and the altars ... until they had destroyed them all.... (2 Chronicles 31:1)

Hezekiah knew that the tax problem of his day had to also be remedied by reinstating the proper distribution of the first fruits:

...Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites.... Also he commanded the people ... to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of YHWH. And as soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all. (2 Chronicles 31:2-5)

Note, unless a minister today is living according to and preaching the law of Yahweh, he does not deserve a portion of the first fruits anymore than does today's anti-Christ government officials. 1 Corinthians 9:7-14 provides us with similar instructions for those of us living under the New Covenant.

2 Chronicles 31:5 uses first fruits and the tithe interchangeably. To whom does the tithe or first fruits belong? To god, of course, and by that I mean any god. Who or whatever is your god should receive your first fruits. What deity today is receiving the first fruits of nearly everybody, both secularists and religious alike? Even the tithe of Christians to their church is not usually their first fruits, but instead their second fruits.

Who is getting the first fruits? The god, the idol called government that has ingeniously made it automatic through what is called withholding tax. With every paycheck, this god makes sure it gets its tribute first. Adding insult to injury, this god does not demand just a ten percent tithe, but, when all is said and done, it confiscates forty to sixty percent of most American's salary.

The early rallying cry of the sixteenth century patriots of the American Revolution was "No King but King Jesus!" One of the primary causes of those who rallied around that cry was their rebellion against unjust and excessive taxation. Could there be a lesson in that for twentieth century Christians?

Churches and ministries that solicit the government for their tax exempt status must make sure that they submissively obey all mandates (commandments, statutes and judgments) that their creator has instituted in order to not incur the wrath of this god. Case in point, in the months of October and November in election years, the founder of a renowned national ministry often reminds his readers that as a 501(c)(3) entity that he is unable to do certain things that the government has commanded him and his organization against doing:

You may be thinking, But who are the "good guys" who have stood up for the family in Washington, and who are the legislators who have opposed and undermined it? I am not permitted by the tax code to answer that question as a representative of Focus on the Family.⁴⁷

...[there are] lobbying limits imposed on Focus on the Family by the IRS.... Focus on the Family, as a tax-exempt organization, will never go too far in that direction [the endorsement of and/or opposition to political candidates], because it must remain true to the original character of the ministry [that is, the mandates of its creator].⁴⁸

Contrast those admissions with the admonitions of King Solomon, the Prophet Ezekiel and the Apostle Paul:

He that saith unto the wicked, Thou are righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him [the wicked] shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. (Proverbs 24:24-25)

...the word of YHWH came unto me, saying, ...When I bring the sword upon a land ... if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them ... his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. (Ezekiel 33:1-6)

...do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. (Ephesians 5:11 NASV)

Yahweh commands us to expose evil and those who participate in it whereas today's government god commands us to keep our mouths shut about such things. A person may worship (sacrifice) at church, but obedience is the bottom line when it comes to proving which of the two gods is truly our god:

...Samuel said, Hath YHWH as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.... (1 Samuel 15:22)

Churches or ministries that have formed this unholy, symbiotic alliance with today's man-made government must not expose government sinners. If they do, they will incur the wrath of this god and possibly lose the blessings (tax exemptions and its benefits, that is, support from followers who also worship the same god and who, likewise, want tax benefits themselves), provided to them by this god. Art Fisher again comments:

The U.S. Supreme Court understands corporations [including 501(c)(3) churches or ministries] are creatures of the state, as the court has stated: (1) "A corporation is a creature of the state. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It receives certain special PRIVILEGES and FRANCHISES...Its powers are limited by law...Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it SO LONG AS IT OBEYS THE LAWS OF ITS CREATOR." (Wilson v US., 221 US 382) [Art Fisher's capitalization]⁴⁹

You can almost hear some of the preachers thinking to themselves, "Why, if we were not a 501(c)(3) church, our supporters would send their donations where they would be tax deductible, and I would soon be out of a job!" In other words, their parishioner's idolatry, the love of money, that is, their tax deductions, dictates that these ministers be idolaters as well. Such preachers fulfill perfectly the description provided us by the Prophet Isaiah:

His watchmen are blind.... All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark ... and the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his unjust gain.... (Isaiah 56:10-11 NASV)

Not only do many pastors themselves commit government idolatry, but their flocks do also. All preachers desire that their flocks worship the same god they worship; after all, preachers are to be ambassadors for their god - 2 Corinthians 5:20. But, which god are most ministers ambassadors for? They would respond, "the God who resides in heavenly places, of course!" However, they are often the ambassadors of another god who inhabits another high place. Remember that the laws we keep determine which god we actually serve. In fact, when it is properly understood, the Second Commandment is more about statutes than statues.

"Obey the laws of the creator" is precisely what many ministers today preach. However, which creator's laws do they promote? Not Yahweh's! Instead they are teaching that His laws have been abolished, done away and nailed to the cross⁵⁰, while also teaching their parishioners, by way of a distorted interpretation of Romans 13⁵¹, to keep any and all government laws, even when they conflict with the laws of YHWH.

The United States Constitution

In addition to the many modern preachers who promote government idolatry, there are just as many, if not more, patriots who commit the same sin. Unless we have a theocratic government created by Yahweh, as described in Isaiah 9:6-7, we have man-made government. No matter how brilliant it might be or how much better it is than any other man-made government, it remains man-made.

On numerous occasions, patriots are heard to declare, "Our present government is a quasi-counterfeit government because the Constitution is not upheld." In other words, their standard of measurement is the United States Constitution (man's government) instead of the laws of God (Yahweh's government).

With this mindset, many patriots have made the Constitution an idol. They are often heard to say that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. If this is true, then whoever created this supreme law is the Supreme Being or God. Who created the United States Constitution? The Preamble provides us with the answer to that question:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.⁵²

Consequently, if "we the people" created the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, according to most patriots, then man must be the Supreme Being, which is at its core the same as humanism. Under the heading "Religion," paragraph two, sentence five, the Humanist Manifesto II reads:

As nontheists [sic], we begin with humans not God, nature not deity.⁵³

The framers of the Constitution were for the most part theists. Nevertheless, they began their document with man rather than God. In fact, Yahweh is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. Moreover, consider the Preamble's phrase - "We the People ... in order to form a more perfect union ... do ordain and establish this constitution...." This implies that Yahweh's kingdom or government and His laws, as prescribed in His Holy Word, are less than perfect. Both Moses and King David assure us that this is not true:

He [Yahweh] is the Rock, his work is perfect.... (Deuteronomy 32:4)

The law of YHWH 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. (Psalm 19:7-9)

What has already been given to us by God is perfect, and anything short of it, including the Constitution of the United States of America, is, at best, imperfect.

In the Preamble, the framers of the Constitution also wrote of "establishing justice." Establishing justice implies the ability to create laws in order to legislate morality. However, Yahweh never abrogated this duty to man or to government created by man.

America's judicial system was originally designed after the pattern found in Exodus 18:19-22. However, because America's constitution did not recognize the laws of Yahweh as their standard, it has been relatively easy for our court system to stray from Yahweh's absolutes and legislate man-made laws instead. The Supreme Court justices rather than being representatives of Yahweh have, instead, made themselves gods by legislating their own morality, or the morality of the people, at any given period of time. It is idolatry when someone chooses to obey America's Supreme Court rather than Israel's Supreme God. Only Yahweh can legislate morality and decree justice:

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.... (James 4:12)

YHWH is our judge, YHWH is our lawgiver, YHWH is our king.... (Isaiah 33:22)

Isaiah represents all three divisions of government - judicial, legislative and executive - as residing in Yahweh, not man or man-made government. The only way that "we the people" can legislate morality is by changing what has already been legislated by God.

Patriots often repeat the statement taken from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address and with it declare that our form of government was originally designed to be "of the people, by the people and for the people." Once again, this is humanism, and the worship of the Constitution, which promotes that kind of thinking, is idolatry. As Christians, our desire and objective should be government "of God, by God and for God," that is, the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven, established on the laws of Yahweh rather than the laws of man. We must choose between the document that begins "We the People...." and the one the begins "In the beginning God...."

World Government

This same type of governmental idolatry is also found on a much larger scale:

By all these means we [the "learned elders of Zion"] shall wear down the goyim that they will be compelled to offer us international power of a nature that by its position will enable us without any violence gradually to absorb all the State forces of the world and to form a Super-Government. In place of the rulers of today we shall set up a bogey which will be called the Super-Government Administration. Its hands will reach out in all directions like nippers and its organization will be of such colossal dimensions that it cannot fail to subdue all the nations of the world.⁵⁴

We [the "learned elders of Zion"] have in our service persons of all opinions, of all doctrines, restorating monarchists, demagogues, socialists, communists, and utopian dreamers of every kind. We have harnessed them all to the task: each one of them on his own account is boring away at the last remnants of authority, is striving to overthrow all established forms of order. By these acts all States are in torture; they exhort to tranquility, are ready to sacrifice everything for peace; but we will not give them peace until they openly acknowledge our international Super-Government, and with submissiveness.⁵⁵

This Zionist plan for world government was devised in 1897 and is essentially a modern form of the tower of Babel. A large step toward the realization of its objective was taken with the formation of the United Nations.

Today's constitutionalists erroneously believe that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. However, they are mistaken, at least according to the 1954 United States Senate. On July 28, 1945, the Senate voted to adopt the charter of the United Nations, and on January 7, 1954, the then standing Senate released its official evaluation of the document called "The Review of the Charter of the United Nations":

The charter (of the United Nations) has become the "supreme law of the land;" and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.⁵⁶

This provides another reason why the Constitution is not the answer to America's problems. It has been abrogated by the Charter of the United Nations. However, the laws of Yahweh can never be invalidated or annulled, the United States Constitution and United Nation's Charter notwithstanding:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8)

...verily I [Yeshua] 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. (Matthew 5:18)

If the Charter of the United Nations is considered by some as being the supreme law of the land, then whoever created this supreme law must, once again, be the Supreme Being or God of the people who deem it as such. Thus, man, specifically today's Jews, must be the Supreme Being or God of these same people. As reported in the New York Times (August 28, 1992) at the Carlsbad Congress, Nahum Sukolow declared that the League of Nations (the forerunner to the United Nations) was a Jewish idea, which had taken twenty-five years to accomplish. Israel's Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion (1949-1953, 1955-1963) declared essentially the same thing about the United Nations:

We consider that the United Nations' ideal is a Jewish ideal.⁵⁷

Additionally, the Rockefeller family and their Chase Manhattan Bank donated the land on which the United Nation's building sits. With these Jewish ties to the United Nations in mind, it is interesting that many Jews consider the Jewish people their God:

The same humanitarianism led [Moses] Hess to propose the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine "in order to realize the historical ideal of our [Jewish] people, an ideal which is neither more nor less than the reign of God upon earth.⁵⁸

Our God is nothing more than the human [Jewish] race united in love.⁵⁹

According to the Jewish Cabala and other Jewish literature, only the Jews are considered human, and thus, in their minds, only Jews qualify for being God:

The Jew is the living God, God incarnate: he is the heavenly man. The other men [non-Jews] are earthly, of inferior race. They exist only to serve the Jew. They are the cattle seed.⁶⁰

Having stated that "God alone is redeemer,"⁶¹ Joseph Klausner, in his book The Messianic Idea in Israel, also declared in unequivocal terms whom he believes is the redeemer:

...the whole people Israel [the Jews misnamed] ... gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of mankind.⁶²

Consequently, not only have the Jews made themselves into a god, but so have those who idolize the United Nations.

Consider also the banner used in 1945 to help sell the United Nations to the American people. They were told that the United Nations was "The Last Hope of mankind ... the only means to protect the world from the horrors of war." The last hope of mankind! That is something that can only be said about God. This is what the United Nations (and/or its creators) became for many who have and continue to place their hope in this man-made international entity, even though it has utterly failed to fulfill its promise of worldwide peace.

Obedience to local, national or international man-made governments, which replace Yahweh's Kingdom established exclusively on His laws, is Second Commandment violation.

False Doctrine

Man-made doctrine, or religion resulting therefrom, is the most insidious form of idolatry because nearly all other forms of idolatry originate from this manifestation of Second Commandment transgression. The Old Covenant false prophets were commonly known as prophets of Baal. They were primarily responsible for leading the Israelites astray:

...I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria [Capitol of the house of Israel]; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. ...they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness.... (Jeremiah 23:13-14)

Thus, when Elijah had his infamous contest on Mount Carmel he disputed with the prophets of Baal. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel only numbered two, while the prophets of Baal numbered four hundred and fifty. It would have been much simpler to have just dealt with Ahab and Jezebel. However, Elijah appears to have understood that there could be no King Ahab or Queen Jezebel without the false prophets. Unless the prophets of Baal had been dealt with first, it would have been just a matter of time before another King Ahab and Queen Jezebel would have ascended the throne. The same holds true today. America's problems do not originate in the White House or in the halls of Congress as much as they do from the pulpits of today's churches.

Second Commandment Judgment

There is not a moral, political, civil, economic, medical, agricultural or any other problem that cannot be laid at the feet of false prophets. It is no wonder that God was so adamant about what was to be done with them. As a part of His judgment upon this sin, Yahweh commands that the altars of Baal be torn down:

These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which YHWH God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods ... and ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. (Deuteronomy 12:1-3)

Moreover, those who promote the worship of false gods are likewise to be destroyed:

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams.... And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from YHWH your God ... to thrust thee out of the way which YHWH thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

Verses 6-15 goes on to establish that the same judgment applies to anyone who would lead someone to commit First or Second Commandment transgression. Deuteronomy 17:1-7 dictates that the same judgment also applies to anyone who willfully and openly serves false gods on their own volition. Moreover, the Prophet Ezekiel declared that "the punishment of the [false] prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him" - Ezekiel 14:10.

Thus, flagrant Second Commandment transgression is a capital crime, punishable by death. Yeshua declared the extremely serious nature of this sin:

...those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. (Luke 19:27)

Yahweh does not take idolatry lightly because it amounts to treason, that is, the overthrow of Yahweh, His government and His laws. The Apostle Paul not only clearly distinguished between the true God and all other false gods, but he also called for men everywhere to repent of this sin:

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man [Yeshua] whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:29-31)

The Apostle John summed up his first epistle with a similar admonishment:

...we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Yeshua (the) Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:20-21)

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Endnotes

1. All scripture is quoted from the King James Bible, unless otherwise noted.

2. Where the Tetragrammaton "YHWH" (the four Hebrew characters that represent the personal name of God) has been incorrectly rendered as "the LORD" or "GOD" in scripture, the author has taken the liberty to correct those passages and insert "YHWH."

3. Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965) p. 56.

4. South, quoted by George Southwick, Kingdom Treasure, #108, p. 5.

5. God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever, a 465-page book written by Evangelist Ted R. Weiland, provides a documented dissertation regarding the identity of Israel and today's Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples. To obtain a copy, write Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, NE 69363. Suggested donation, hardcover - $23.00, soft cover - $14.00.

6. In using the word "money," it is not with the true economic definition in mind. Instead the generally accepted modern usage of the term is intended. Consequently, the use of the word "money" is not employed as a designation for gold or silver. One who worships or serves gold and silver, as created by Yahweh, commits First Commandment transgression. One who worships or serves either coinage fashioned from silver or gold or currency made from paper commits Second Commandment transgression.

7. James Strong, "Dictionary of the Greek Testament," The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990) p. 58.

8. "avarice," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1975) p. 77.

9. "Yeshua" is the English transliteration of our Savior's Hebrew name and is preferred by the author.

10. God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever, a 465-page book written by Evangelist Ted R. Weiland, provides a documented dissertation regarding the identity of Israel and today's Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples. To obtain a copy, write Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, NE 69363. Suggested donation, hardcover - $23.00, soft cover - $14.00.

11. Noah Webster, "ADDICT," American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition reprinted (San Francisco, CA: The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1828, reprinted 1967).

12. Noah Webster, "ADDICTION," American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition reprinted (San Francisco, CA: The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1828, reprinted 1967).

13. Protocol 1, Article 22, Sentences 1-3, Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, translated from Russian by Victor Emile Marsden, 1905.

According to translator Victor Marsden, the "Protocols" give the substance of addresses delivered at the First Zionist Congress held in Basle, Switzerland in 1897 under its president and the father of modern Jewish Zionism, the late Theodor Herzl (Binyamin Ye'ev). The Protocols reveal the plan of action for Talmudic Zionism's quest for world domination. Sergiei Alezsandrovich Nilus included the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" as an appendix to his book Velikoe v Malom — The Great in the Little, or The Coming of Anti-Christ and the Rule of Satan on Earth, which was translated from Russian by Mr. Marsden and published in Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), Russia by Tip. Tsarskoeselskago Komiteta as The Jewish Peril: The Protocols of the Learned of Zion, and republished many times under various titles. An original copy of Mr. Nilus' book containing the "Protocols" is in the British Museum bearing the reception date of August 10, 1906.

14. Noah Webster, "PHARMACEUTICAL," American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition reprinted (San Francisco, CA: The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1828, reprinted 1967).

15. "pharmacy," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1975) p. 859.

16. Noah Webster, "DIVINATION," American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition reprinted (San Francisco, CA: The Foundation for American Christian Education, 1828, reprinted 1967).

17. "divination," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1975) p. 334.

18. Dr. Alonzo J. Shadman, courtesy of the Health Committee, Box 101, Lennox Hill Station, New York City. Copied from an article appearing in Physical Culture, October-November, 1951.

19. "Adverse Drug Reactions May Cause Over 100,000 Deaths Among Hospitalized Patients Each Year," Science News Update, News from JAMA and the Archives Journals, April 15, 1998, p. 2.

20. Don Harkins, "JAMA stats tell the tale, Doctors kill more people than guns and traffic accidents," Idaho Observer, April 1999 (Rathdrum, ID).

21. Robert Bazell, NBC Correspondent, "Medical errors a major killer," MSNBC Home Page.

22. James Strong, "Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary," The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990) p. 78.

23. Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Foreword to the First Edition, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1938) Vol. I, p. xxi.

In 1937, Rabbi Finkelstein was chosen by the Kehillas (Jewish communities) of the world as one of 120 Jews who best represented "a lamp of Judaism" to the world.

24. "Iore Dea (158, 1)," The Talmud.

25. V.S.S.V.F.F., Prince of the Jews, published in the Revue des etudes Juives in 1889, financed by James de Rothschild, Introduction, Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, p. 7.

26. Strong, p. 78.

27. Strong, p. 78.

28. "prognosticate," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1975) p. 919.

29. Protocol 13, Article 3, Sentences 4-6.

30. Israel Cohen, A Racial Program for the 20th Century (1912), quoted by U.S. Congressman Thomas Gerstle Abernethy (D-MS) in the Congressional Record (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1957) p. 8559.

31. God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever not only provides a documented dissertation regarding the identity of Israel and today's Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples, but it also reveals (by the testimony of the Jews themselves) that today's Jews are not Israelites. To obtain a copy, write Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, NE 69363. Suggested donation, hardcover - $23.00, soft cover - $14.00.

32. See An Empire of Their Own, How the Jews Created Hollywood (Doubleday Books, 1989) by Neil Gabler.

33. Flavius Josephus (Joseph ben Mattiyahu ha-Cohen), Antiquities of the Jews (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1960) Book IV, Chapter VI, Verse 6, pp. 91-92.

34. God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today and Forever not only provides a documented dissertation regarding the identity of Israel and today's Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples, but it also reveals (by the testimony of the Jews themselves) that today's Jews are not Israelites. To obtain a copy, write Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, NE 69363. Suggested donation, hardcover - $23.00, soft cover - $14.00.

35. Rabbi Reichhorn, "Funeral Oration for Grand Rabbi Simeon-ben-Ihuda," published in La Vielle France, 10 March 1921, and Libre Parole, 27 November 1933, quoted in The Liberty Bell, 29 March 1983, p. 29. This oration is found in the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

36. Howard Beal, quoted by Lloyd Billingsley, Christianity Today, October 4, 1985.

37. Protocol 7, Article 5, Sentence 1.

38. Protocol 2, Article 2, Sentence 6.

39. Protocol 3, Article 10, Sentence 5.

40. John Swinton, Chief Editor of New York Times, Speech, Annual Dinner of the American Press Association, 1914.

41. Steven Jacobson, Mind Control in the United States (Santa Rosa, CA: 1985) p. 25.

42. Edward Bernays, quoted in Censored 1977: The News that Didn't Make the News - The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Serial), quoted by Andrew Amirault, "The Invisible Hand of the Media."

43. Ben Bradlee, quoted in "Boycotting the Media." Quoted in The News Manipulators by Reed Irvine, Joseph C. Goulden and Cloff Kincaid, Publishers: Book Distributors, Incorporated, PO Box 1413, Smithtown, NY 11787-0660, 202-364-4401, Fax 202-364-4098, p. 179. Quoted in Trashing the Planet by Dixy Lee Ray with Lou Guzzo, p. 76. The latter gives as its source an article by David Brooks in The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 1989.

44. Protocol 12, Article 12, Sentences 1-5.

45. Art Fisher, "Render Unto Caesar," The Upright Ostrich (Milwaukee, WI: June/July 1988) p. 20.

46. Dr. Leonard H. Bolick, Bishop, Personal Letter, June 25, 1999.

47. Dr. James Dobson, Personal Letter to Subscribers, October 1992, p. 2.

48. Dr. James Dobson, Personal Letter to Subscribers, November 1992, p. 6.

49. Fisher, p. 20.

50. For more information regarding God's law as it applies to today request T-006 - Deliverance From Christian Anarchists, T-065 - Harmonizing the New Testament Scriptures on the Law of God, T-143 - Law or Grace?, T-222 - Love: A New, Old Commandment, and T-235 - The Mosaic Law: Added & Abolished from Mission to Israel Ministries, P.O. Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363. These five cassette tapes may be obtained on a listen-and-return basis, or a $4.00 per tape suggested donation.

51. Christian Duty Under Corrupt Government, A Revolutionary Commentary on Romans 13:1-7, an expository explanation by Evangelist Ted R. Weiland, may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363. $8.00 suggested donation.

52. Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America.

53. "Religion," Humanist Manifesto II, (Amherst, NY: American Humanist Association).

54. Protocol 5, Article 11, Sentences 7-8.

55. Protocol 9, Article 4, Sentences 2-4.

56. Senate Document 87, p. 287.

57. David Ben Gurion, related to a Time Magazine correspondent, August 16, 1948.

58. Rabbi Maurice Joshua Bloom, Preface, Rome and Jerusalem by Moses Hess, 1862 edition reprinted (New York, NY: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1958).

59. Moses Hess, Kommunistisches Bekenntnis in Fragen und Antworten - Communist Credo in Questions and Answers, p. 190, quoted by Richard Wurmbrand, Marx & Satan (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, Good News Publishers, 1986) p. 91.

60. "Cabala," quoted by Dr. Edward R. Fields, Judaism: The World's Strangest Religion (Marietta, GA: The Truth at Last, Publishers) p. 8.

61. Joseph Klausner, The Messianic Idea in Israel (London, England: Bradford & Dickens, 1956) p. 522.

62. Klausner, p. 163.