Whose Side Is God On?

Fred R. Coulter - September 22, 2001

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{this message was given a week after the events of Sept.11, 2001}

What we might do is this. We might just go ahead and I'll ask for your comments on this week that we had, which Netanyahu said it was a 'wake-up call from hell.' So, just some of your impressions of some of your feelings for it.

Did you all sit there glued to the TV? Yes! I know Rachelle called me and said, 'Dad! Get up and go turn on the TV!' It was about 6:30, and I said, 'What for?' She said, 'A plane just crashed into one of the tall buildings in New York City.'

I didn't pay much attention because I was real sleepy, so I went back to sleep. Then Dolores called and said, 'Fred! Are you watching the TV? Go watch it, there's a second plane crash!' And I said, 'Oh man!' She was down in Tulsa to visit her brother. So, I went and watched it. I tell you what, I think they played that second plane crashing in with the fireball over so much you can see it in your mind's eye without even closing your eyes now. That was something!

You know, and there was actually a false—I don't know who put out—report that someone in the United Church of God was on one of the planes and died. They tried to make it a real tragic story, and they said that the woman was coming back to pick up her children that her husband had had; they had been divorced, and he died in an auto wreck, so she was going back to get them. They tried to make a real sad story, and it was just completely false!

What happened was someone called Dennis Luker up in Seattle, because that's apparently were the woman was from, and he said no, no such woman by that name, and no one in the Church by that name, and no, there's no man who was left with two children by that name. So it's a false report! The things that come out on the Internet, you have to be careful of.

That's all the talk shows have been talking about; so, you hear everything under the sun. There was one report, a munitions expert said that it had to be mined, you know, they had to have other explosives for the building to go down, but I don't think so. I don't think so.

Someone also said, that it's possible that that helicopter flying around may have been using a microwave weapon, and that's why it turn to dust so much. But I tend to doubt that, because there was so much concrete in that building, and when it came down it just turned to dust. If you watch it again very carefully, you see, where the planes hit, then, that caused the top to weaken. And when the top started coming down then everything went down.

Whereas when you blow up a building, you know, like you've seen demolition to take it down. What they do, they have it so it blows up at the bottom and it falls down, so the explosives go up. But this one here, it was at the top and it came down and then the buildings came down. I don't know about it, but at least I'll mention this.

So, we need to be careful of the things that we get on the Internet. Some of the things we get are really not good, some of the things we get are very good. So you have to be able to weed it out to understand what's going on.

But I think that the whole thing that is important in it is that IFwe're going to learn a lesson from God as a nation…

I was listening to talk shows as I was driving, and Rush Limbaugh said, 'If God did it, I would have to know that these people had directly sinned against God, because too many innocent people were killed.'

Well, I don't think they understand how many innocent people are killed, beginning with the unborn that we have killed by the millions and millions and millions. So, when we get a wake-up call like that it's intended for everybody.

We can be thankful that we have the knowledge of the second resurrection, because no one but those who know the Truth of the second resurrection understand the fate of those people and what's going to happen to them. That's really something for us to know and understand.

I think the whole lesson here is very important. There was another question that came up on the Michael Savage show and he asked, 'Whose side is God on?' Well, that's quite a perplexing question!

• the Muslims think that Allah is on their side
• the Christians think that Christ is on their side
• the Jews think that God is on their side

But whose side is God on? In every case what they want to do, they want to claim God for themselves! You can't do that!

Whose side is God on? We might ask that question today!

Let's see something that's very important which ties right in with this event that happened this week. Let's first of all understand how God looks at society? Let's look, first of all, at the world civilization.

Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes—both to the Jew first, and to the Greek…. [also the Gentiles] …For therein... [in the Gospel, contained in the Gospel, which includes Old Testament and New Testament] ...the righteousness of God is revealed..." (vs 16-17).

That's something that has to be revealed to each one. God is not going come along with a magic can opener and put a funnel into your head and put it there. The way it's revealed is that you have to seek God! God will respond if you seek Him. Jesus said, '...seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened.'

The revelation of the righteousness of Christ in God is contained in the Scriptures. The righteousness of God is not necessarily all what we would think as goodness. There is the righteousness of goodness and obedience in love, and there is the righteousness of judgment and destruction because of sin. Most people, what do they want? They want the first kind of righteousness, and yet, continue in their sins!

This false doctrine, and of course, I'm going to have a' whole lot more to say about Protestantism, and make it very clear that they are no more than reformed Catholics. They don't follow the Bible anymore than the Catholics, but they don't go to the priest and that's just about the only difference.

Revelation 16:1—here are the seven last plagues: "Then I heard a loud voice from the temple say to the seven angels, 'Go and pour out the vials of the wrath of God onto the earth.' And the first angel went and poured out his vial onto the earth; and an evil and grievous sore fell upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and upon those who were worshiping his image. And the second angel went and poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood, like that of a dead man; and every living soul in the sea died. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers, and into the fountains of waters; and they became blood. Then I heard the angel of the waters say, 'You are righteous, O Lord, Who are, and Who was, even the Holy One, in that You have executed this judgment'" (vs1-5).

So, there is the righteousness of God, which is also His wrath. People want His love. They don't want His wrath, but they're not willing to do the things to receive His love. The way you receive the love of God is that you love Him! Because He first loved you, you love Him. You respond back to Him!

When these events took place, I only heard the word repentance once when this came. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell made a proper pronouncement the day it occurred. Then because there was so much wrath from the liberal media, that they backpedaled. You know what he should of said? He should've said, 'It's right in the Bible, and unless you read it, twice as worse is going to happen you. Now you go get your life squared around.' That's what he should have said. Here's the reason:

Verse 6: "For they have poured out the blood of saints and of prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.' And I heard another voice from the altar say, 'Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments'" (vs 6-7).

There is the righteousness of God that way! People in their self-righteous horror say, 'Why did God kill innocent people?' We'll see about that little later. They aren't innocent. The con men were out there on the phone soliciting for false charities the next day in New York City. I mean, that's just the pits, really!

Romans 1:17: "For therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith..."

You're not going to understand the Bible unless you believe God! Unless you believe that the very words contained in this Bible are based on the fact that Jesus said, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words will not pass away.' Therefore, what we read in the Bible is not an option to believe or disbelieve, we must believe it or suffer the consequences—period!

• if you have faith in the Word of God
• if you have faith toward God
• if you want to love God
• if you want God to love you

then you love Him!

There are two kinds of the love of God. The Protestants like to have the love God, and it's a warm feeling in your heart, so therefore, if you love God, whatever you do is okay. That's not the correct love of God! There are two kinds of the love of God. Let's look at the first one.

• The love of God requires obedience

You tell that to a Protestant, they'll say, 'You're harsh! You're under the Law!' No, we're not!. If you keep the Law you're not under the Law, you're within the Law. IF you don't keep the Law you're under the Law, subject to its penalty! They've got all backwards.

1-John 5:3: "For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments..."

That's the first kind, if you keep the commandments you love God! Now, that's as clear as can be! For all of those in Bible-belt land, that is in the New Testament, folks.

"…and His commandments are not burdensome" (v 3).

John 14:15—Jesus said: "If…" [the condition is always on us, because God is eternal and never changes] …you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments."

Now let's look at the second kind of love! Actually, this will come into the third kind of love, so we can say that within the New Testament there are three kinds of love.

• To know

1-John 5:2: "By this standard we know..."

That's something that God wants us to come to, to know! He doesn't want us to be in doubt. He doesn't want us to kind of believe when it's convenient. He wants us to know, because we've proved it and we understand it, and we know! That's very profound, very important.

• To love each other

"…that we love the children of God..." (v 2). There's the third kind of love, to love each other!

When we love God that's the first kind of love, and keep His commandments. Those are the aspects of love that are important.

Let's see that our relationship with God can never be a part-time matter. Like some days 'Yes Lord, I love You,' and some days, 'Lord, no, I don't love You.' Whenever a trial comes you get all mad and upset, and you say, 'Why did God do this?' You forget the Scripture that says, 'all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose'!

We don't like trials, but trials, in the long run, work for good. We're made in such a way that many things we don't learn unless we go through a trial. We live our lives too much like Columbo. You slap your forehead when you come to the knowledge of what you should've done. 'I should've thought of that!'

Here's the second kind of love. This ties in directly with the first commandment. Now, can anyone tell me the first commandment? The whole first commandment is this:

I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the land of the Egypt; you shall have no other gods before Me. That means none!

God wants this kind of devotion here. There was a lawyer coming and tempting Jesus:

Matthew 22:36: "'Master, which commandment is the great commandment in the Law?' And Jesus said to him… [which he probably didn't get] …You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…. [and strength] …This is the first and greatest commandment'" (vs 36-38).

Everything that you are and have is completely God's, because if you love God with all your heart, there's no room:

• for any other gods
• for any idols
• for taking God's name in vain
• for not keeping the Sabbath
• for not honoring your father and mother
• for murdering
• for adultery
• for stealing
• for bearing false witness
• for coveting

If you do that with all your heart, soul and mind, then you will be overcoming the carnal mind, which is 'the mind is deceitful above all things.'

The only way you ever overcome a deceitful mind—and you'll never totally overcome it in this life—is that the whole direction of your life is going in the right way is by loving God with all your heart, mind and soul!

Then the grace of God covers you for any weaknesses that you have, which does not give you license to go out and sin, by the way. But nevertheless, because we have our carnal minds and carnal nature we will sin. That's why we have the grace of God, and the grace of God gives us this relationship with Him. We can fellowship with Him every day and also on the Sabbath.

• Love your neighbor as yourself:

Verse 39: "And the second one is like it…" [the fourth kind of love] …'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (vs 39-40).

In other words, everything in the Law is dependent on the love of God; everything in the Prophets is dependent upon the love of God. Why would people want to do away with them? Especially those who claim they love God!. That's a contradictory statement! 'Oh, we love God, but we don't believe the Old Testament.' You just said you don't believe God! They don't stop and think it through that far do they?

We haven't even gotten to the civilization, yet. Let's see the other part of the righteousness of God, and why it comes, because we need to understand there is no such thing as a personal sin that does not affect either you and/or someone else! You need to understand that.

Romans 1:18: "Indeed, the wrath of God is revealed… [God made it known, and if you want a book that's going to take your breath away read Jeremiah and Ezekiel] …from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them; for the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse (vs 18-20).

• there's no excuse for evolution
• there's no excuse for other gods

But God has allowed it!

You know, a foolish question always comes up: Why did God allow this? He's given free moral agency, which is very powerful! He said, 'I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, that you may live,' but you must choose! So, the whole society has chosen the way in which it's going to go.

Verse 21: "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened. While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things. For this cause, God also abandoned them to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to disgrace their own bodies between themselves" (vs 22-24).

When a person reaches a certain point of sin in their lives, God turns them over! IF He turns them over it's for the destruction of the flesh so they may repent! Because they have reached a certain point that nothing else will reach them. Nothing else will get to them. That's why He does it.

Verse 25: "Who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie…"

They have sure done that! They preach out of the Bible and preach lies and people think that it's the Word of God. While they mouth the Word of God, use the Word of God, they're not teaching the Truth of the Word of God, as strange as that may seem. Isn't that amazing? The reason is because they won't obey it! If you don't obey it you won't understand it, it's that simple.

It's just like when you buy something at the store, and you buy this nice thing and you bring it home, and lo and behold, you have to assemble it. So you look at it and you say to yourself, 'Aha! I can put this together!' You don't even read the instructions. I did that with a nice big green wagon that Dolores got that she wanted for the backyard. So, it said you can put it together in 20 minutes. I looked at that and I said, 'Well, I know how to do this.' I looked at the instructions. Parts of them I couldn't understand.

I had to redo the front axle and housing because, you know, for a wagon that has a turning front wheel and the pivoting front wheels you have, kind of, like the front wheel assembly of your car. So, the first time I put it together it didn't work. I didn't figure out how the handles would turn. I had to take it apart and redo it. I bet Dolores was wondering, 'What is Fred doing down in the garage all this time.' So, I'm down there doing this. I finally got that to work and then it has these sides that you can put down. They're little latches, you can let loose the latch and you can put the sides down so you can have a flatbed.

That was all that was left to do, was to put on the four sides. They had these little 4-inch pins with the little cotter key that goes in the end. So I went click, click, click, and it didn't go together.

Dolores came down about that time, and here I am trying to puzzle this thing, how to do it. Then all of a sudden I had my Colombo moment. It dawned on me, take the sides and turn them the other way, because the hinge is supposed to be this way, the hinge is supposed to be in and not out, or out and not in, I forget which, and I had the opposite way. The little latches that were to lock in and hold it, I couldn't get it to do it. I had this about a three-quarter of an inch space between the bottom of the side where the hinge was and the bottom of the bed for the wagon. So, Dolores looked at it she said, 'What you going to do?' I said, 'Well, I've got to take it apart.' I took it apart and I turned it around finally get it together. You know how long it took me to do that? Three hours!

That's the way that the world lives their lives, especially those who are 'religious' and especially those who are 'Christian.' They look at the Book but they don't read it! They get a cute little verse and a song in their head and they don't understand the meaning of the Bible, so then when a disaster comes along they don't understand why God did it. In the case of the wagon, God didn't do it, 'stupid Fred' did. You know when all else fails read the instructions!

Concerning the world. They reach another stage when that doesn't work. When that doesn't work then God does something else again. Then they become more depraved, and this is what we call today, 'defining perversion and deviance downward.' Meaning, making perversion and deviance accepted as a common practice in the world; 'everybody does it!'

Verse 26: "For this cause, God abandoned them to disgraceful passions; for even their women changed the natural use of sex into that which is contrary to nature."

Unfortunately, the sex education for your young kids better begin before they go to school. Because when they get there, they're going to public school and you can home school them. Then beginning in the first, second, or third grade, whichever state or school district you are in, they're going to have the homosexual agenda to teach the kids. By the time they get up to high school and they've gone through all of the things in junior high, and their minds have been bombarded with all of this:

• wrong education
• wrong thoughts
• wrong morality

filled with

• music
• stupidity
• peer pressure
• peer group
• group thinking

THEN they rebel against you and they're worthless and you can't get anything out of them except hate. And that's what this society is producing!

Verse 27: "And in the same manner also the men, having left the natural use of sex with the woman, were inflamed in their lustful passions toward one another—men with men shamelessly committing lewd acts, and receiving back within themselves a fitting penalty for their error."

A correct judgment:. AIDS! Fear! That's not to say anything of the other 59 venereal diseases that are around. But today they've got the churches under this new government, money going through charities. Now they've got them. If you accept one dime of that money, then you are under the Federal Fair Employment practices and you cannot discriminate against homosexuals and lesbians, you cannot discriminate against anyone, regardless of how outrageous they dress. This is further government intrusion into the churches. So, you will have to accept people like this, burned and their lust one toward another.

Here's where we are. This is where this society is and that's why we have the wake up call on September 11th, in addition to all the other things that you've heard about.

Verse 28: "And in exact proportion as they did not consent to have God in their knowledge…"

They don't want God mentioned on the radio, they don't want prayer, they don't want anything. Someone said, 'Dr. Laura [Schlessinger], your program is so good on the radio, you ought to go on television.' So she said, 'Okay, I'll go on television.' So, she went on television and she runs the television the same way she did before, and called homosexuality a perversion, a deviancy, and a degeneracy, and a corrupt behavior, and she had a riot in the streets in LA right outside the studios where she was doing the television station. After several TV programs she withdrew. She said it's not worth the hassle.

Now let's read about what happens when you don't want God in your knowledge! People think, 'Well, you know, that's only for religious people.' Gotcha! God's way is for everybody. Those who follow the way of God are not religious. They are walking in the paths of Godliness. Those who have a religion are religious. They use the name of God, they use the Bible, but they don't believe Him and won't follow Him! If you don't believe that, read our booklet: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants.

"…God abandoned them to a reprobate mind… [minds void of judgment] …to practice those things that are immoral; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, guile, evil dispositions; whisperers" (vs 28-29).

All these things you could read about all these things as you go through the checkout stand right at your grocery store. Star Magazine, Oprah Magazine, and Rosie Magazine. Notice that 90% of these magazines are pointed toward women. To subvert the women, because if you subvert the women then they will subvert the men, and you've got the whole society upside down! You know, we need to get our thoughts right here.

Verse 30: "Slanderers, God-haters…" When they hate God, they can't stand the Truth!

You can get a little bit of that feeling this way: when you do something that's not right, and you haven't come to the point of admitting it, and someone points out you that it's not right, then what you do? You resist and you don't like it! Isn't that right? That's exactly what happens to these people who hate God. They don't say, 'I hate God!' They just say, 'My lifestyle is good enough. I don't need God.' If you bring up God, they're gone!

"…insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things and practices; disobedient to parents, void of understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection…" (vs 30-31).

That is added to more so, because of all the gadgets that we have, we're gadgetized! Let me tell you one thing about gadgets, the more gadgets you have, the less personal you become because you do not interface with people, you interface with gadgets.

This is most notable when you call on the phone someplace. You get on the phone, like, you want to call the phone company. Or you want to call the electric company, and what happens? 'Hello. This is the phone company. If you have this problem, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, press #1. Or if you want this, then blah, blah, blah, press #2. And if you want this, blah, blah, blah, press #3…' And if they're real friendly, they say, 'If not, press zero and get an operator.' So then you press zero and it comes on, 'Hello, all of our operators are busy. We'll be with you in 20 minutes.'

That is a perfect example of that you are not dealt with as a person, by person-to-person, you become a gadget, manipulated by the technology of gadgets. It's awfully hard to love a microphone. It's hard to love a telephone. A video, it's just there. There's nothing there unless you put in something to play it, or whatever.

"…implacable and unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who commit such things are worthy of death…" (vs 31-32).

Isn't that amazing? Didn't the Catholics say in the challenge to the Protestants—Rome's Challenge to the Protestants—didn't they say that:

You Protestants, if you don't keep the Sabbath you're going to be subject to the death of God.' But we have declared Sunday the day, so we're going to keep it.

They don't even understand that they signed their own death warrant by doing so. I tell you, some of these things are absolutely mind blowing!

"…not only practice these things themselves, but also approve of those who commit them" (v 32).

Obviously, we can see that these people are not on God's side. God is not on their side! Whose side is God on?

Romans 2:1: "Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone who judges another; for in that in which you judge the other, you are condemning your own self; for you who judge another are doing the same things."

If you don't judge righteous judgment by the Word of God, but you judge by your own opinion, then you're going to gets yourself in trouble. In that you may be partially right and you may be partially wrong, you may be totally wrong. That's why you need to have the judgment of God in these matters.

Verse 2: "But we know that the judgment of God is according to Truth upon those who commit such things. Now, do you think yourself, O man, whoever is judging those who commit such things... [as listed in Rom. 1] …and you are practicing them yourself, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance… [God is forbearing! He says He's good to the just and the unjust and He sends rain on the wicked and on the evil] …and long-suffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance??" (vs 2-4).

That's why God doesn't reach down and destroy the wicked people all at once. He hopes that they will repent!

• God is slow to anger, but He does anger
• He's slow to wrath, but He does execute wrath
• He forebears in judgment in hopes that there will be repentance

If you don't repent when the opportunity comes, which we have as a nation to do… I've got a book at home that has the messages of Abraham Lincoln about the day of prayer that he called for the whole nation, that we need to repent to God. That was back in the 1862-3. Think of what it is in the year 2001. But if you don't:

Verse 5: "But you, according to your own hardness and unrepentant heart… [do this]: …are storing up wrath for yourself against the day of wrath…"

In other words, it just builds up. When there's repentance God is willing to remove and forgive. But if not, it builds up:

"…and revelation of God's righteous judgment, Who will render to each one according to his own works: on the one hand, to those who with patient endurance in good works are seeking glory and honor and immortality—eternal life" (vs 5-7). That's what we need to be doing!

Verse 8: "On the other hand, to those who are contentious and who disobey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath." How dare Paul put the word 'obey' in his Epistle of Grace!

Verse 9: "Tribulation and anguish—upon every soul of man who works out evil, both of the Jew first, and of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, both to the Jew first, and to the Greek, because there is no respect of persons with God" (vs 9-11).

God is on nobody's side! Whose side is God on? That's not the correct question! The real question is this: Are YOU on God's side? That's what needs to be answered, because IF you're not on God's side THEN you're in trouble!

The book of Exodus gives us a really good example of this. Exo. 32 shows you how people think, how short their memory really is. Go back and read about all the plagues and all the tremendous miracles that God did to get the people of Israel released so that they could come out of the land of Egypt.

They traveled in the desert and they were gone more than about seven weeks. God gave them the Ten Commandments, gave them other instructions, and then God said to Moses, 'Now you come up here, because I'm going to give you some more instructions.' So, Moses went up to see God!

Exodus 32:1: "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain…" You can just hear the troublemakers:

Well, Moses left us! He probably died. You saw all that smoke, and all that volcano, and all that noise? Maybe God killed him. We're down here all alone.

"…then the people gathered themselves to Aaron, and they said to him, 'Up! Make us gods which shall go before us…'" (v 1)—rather than having faith in God and saying,

Look, we know God is true. We know God is eternal. We know He's talking to Moses. We know he must have something very important to bring us. Therefore, we will patiently wait till he comes, regardless of how long it is.

But what did they do? They did their own devices!

Verse 2: "And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings...'" So, they made the golden calf and  the people then had a feast!

I think it's interesting that whenever the whole society goes into mischief it's got to be sanctioned by a religious leader. Then Aaron's excuse—and what a weak-kneed excuse! Moses came down and he said, 'What happened?' Aaron says, 'O lord—to Moses—don't get mad at me. The people wanted gods and they brought their gold and I put it in the fire and out leaped these two calves! I didn't do it!'

Verse 22: "And Aaron said, 'Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on mischief… [sounds a little like the Garden of Eden] … for they said to me, "Make us gods who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And I said to them, "Whoever has any gold, let them break it off." And they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and there came out this calf'" (vs 22-24). Whoa! You know, there it is, a sign of Nimrod!

Verse 25: "And when Moses saw that the people were naked… [sounds like rock concert today; that's what they were doing] …(for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, 'Who is on the LORD'S side?…." (vs 25-26). It's not is God on our side?

• God is not on the side of the Muslims
• He is not on the side of the Jews
• He is not on the side of Catholics
• He is not on the side of Protestants
• He is not on the side of Buddhists, or Hindus

The only side God is on, is on His side!

You have to come to God's side. God is not going to come to your side; otherwise God would be sanctioning what you are doing. You see the difference?

If you say, 'I am a good Protestant and God is on my side'; why do you keep Sunday, and Christmas, and Easter, and believe in heaven and hell, and all those things?

If the Catholic say, 'God is on our side'; why do you have a pope and all those idols, and believe in heaven and hell and purgatory [and] all those things?

If the Muslims say, 'Allah is on our side,' why don't you keep the Sabbath? Why do you keep Friday? and Why don't you believe and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob instead of Ishmael?

God is on His side and you need to get on His side. So, the correct question is: Are you on God's side?

Verse 26: Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, 'Who is on the LORD'S side? Come to me.' And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him."

This was a chance to repent! This repentance required action! They had to move from where they were to where Moses was.

Verse 27: "And he said to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Each man put his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and kill each one his brother, and each one his companion, and each one his neighbor."'…. [if they weren't on God's side] …And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men" (vs. 27-28).

You can read in 1-Cor. 10, where there fell 23,000 in one day, where Paul told the Corinthians 'Don't do as they did.'

Verse 29: "For Moses had said, 'Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD—even though it has been at the cost of a son or a brother—in order that He may give you a blessing today.' And it came to pass on the next day, Moses said to the people, 'You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD. Perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin'" (vs 29-30).

Verse 31: "And Moses returned to the LORD, and said… [v 32]: 'And now if You would only forgive their sin! And if not, I pray You, blot me out of Your book which You have written.'"

Of course, it's always interesting when you come through the account there in Exodus, whenever the people did good, God said they were His. Whenever they didn't do good, God said they were Moses' people.

Now, of all the warnings over and over again that God gave—note sermon: Why Terrorists Attack?—I'll just repeat just one thing here that's important for us to know.

Jeremiah 18:6: "'O house of Israel… [just put your name there] …can I not do with you even as this potter?' says the LORD…."

You've seen a potter, how he works; they have this fly-wheel that they work with their feet, and their feet are going like this, they're working with their hands, and they get the clay, and they get it really whirling around, and then they can mold a little vase and bring it around and make any form that they want to. If it doesn't work out they just smash it down and rebuilds it.

That's like unto God dealing with you in repentance! He smashes you down and says, 'I'm going to rebuild you according to how I want to, so that you can be created in righteousness and true Holiness.'

"…Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." God is talking about nations, so even though we can apply this personally, let's look it at by nations.

Verse 7: "If at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them" (vs 7-8).

God is willing to change based upon whether the people repent. The answer is: IF there is real repentance here in the United States, God will change His mind. IF there's not repentance, but if there's arrogance and boasting… Granted, there's a lot more patriotism than before, but whether that constitutes repentance or not, only time will tell.

Verse 9: "And if at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it; if it does evil in My sight, that it not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good. Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.'" And they said, 'There is no hope…'" (vs 9-12).

That means they won't turn to God; 'We need to rely on ourselves and not God. That's ethereal, out there.'

"…but we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart" (v 12).

God is even willing to deal with His people even though they handicapped themselves. Isn't that amazing? 1-Sam. 8 is where Israel gave themselves a handicap. Nevertheless, God said He would still deal with them, because the sons of Samuel didn't do well:

1-Samuel 8:4: "And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves and came to Samuel to Ramah. And they said to him, 'Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.' But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, 'Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you…'" (vs 4-7).

Here is something that God will do. If you want your own way, He'll let you have it! So, you need to be careful, because a lot of people think that if they go their own way, and God somehow doesn't strike them down immediately, therefore, God isn't going to do anything. No, that's not true; it may come later!

"…for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me that I should not reign over them" (v 7).

They're not on God's side, are they? If you reject God, you're at odds with Him, aren't you? You're not on His side!

Verse 11: And he said… [Samuel, you're going to tell them] …'This will be the manner of the king who shall reign over you.…'"

God is not going to forsake His people, because He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's the only thing that keeps Israel going. Did you know that? The physical descendants of Israel, the 10 tribes who are the United States, Britain and the northwestern countries of Europe; they are the children of Israel. The only thing that has kept God from rejecting them, because of their sins and foolishness, is that God gave the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Whenever they come out of these things God says, like He said in Lev. 26, 'When you're in captivity, if you humble yourselves and you learn from this captivity and the punishment that I've brought upon you, and admit that you walk contrary to Me and I walk contrary to you, then I will remember My covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob.'

He said right here, 'You can have a king. You want it your way? You got it.' Then He told them what kind of king would reign over them. He would take everything take an additional 10th from them and so forth. Even after that God gave them a warning, He said, 'You want this? You want a king that's going to take your sons and your daughters, and take another 10% of your income, plus more?' They said, 'Yea, we want a king.'

Verse 19: "But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us. And we shall be, also we, like all the nations'" (vs 19-20).

• What was Israel to be? A witness to all the nations, not become one of them!
• What we doing today with the United Nations, World Trade Organization, NAFTA, etc, etc,? We're becoming one of the nation's rather than the nation to show them God's way!

So they chose Saul!. Let's come over here to:

1-Samuel 10:17: "And Samuel called the people together to the LORD to Mizpeh. And he said to the children of Israel, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms of those who oppressed you. And you have this day rejected your God Who Himself saved you out of all your calamities and your tribulations. And you have said to Him, 'But set a king over us.' And now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands"'" (vs 17-19). Then Saul was coronated!

Verse 24 "And all the people shouted, and said, 'Long live the king!'…. [still done today] …Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his house" (vs 24-25).

1-Saamuel 12:1: "And Samuel said to all Israel, 'Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walks before you. And I am old and gray headed, and, behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received a bribe to blind my eyes with it? And I will restore it to you.' And they said, 'You have not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither have you taken from any man's hand'" (vs 1-4).

Isn't that the kind of government that God wants the people to have? Yes! But they still didn't want to have it. You talk about a quirk of human nature!

Verses 5: "And he said to them, 'The LORD is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.' And they answered, 'He is witness.' And Samuel said to the people, 'It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. And now stand still, so that I may plead with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD which He did to you and to your fathers" (vs 5-7).

Then He goes through, beginning with Jacob in Egypt and coming through and so forth.

Verse 12: "And when you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,' even though the LORD your God was your King."

They rejected God! Even though they put God an arm's length or more away from themselves, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is going to continue to fulfill His will to the children of Israel based upon new conditions.

Verse 13: "And now, behold the king whom you have chosen… [they chose Saul and he failed; think about our elections, our presidents]…whom you have desired! And behold, the LORD has set a king over you!"

Notice the conditions. They're a little different; they're the same, but a little different:

Verse 14: "If you will fear the LORD, and serve Him, and listen to His voice, and not rebel against the commandments of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you shall continue following the LORD your God"

God said, 'Okay, I will let you have your way, if you continue to obey Me.' But He knew it would fail!

Verse 15: "But if you will not hearken to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD shall be against you as it was against your fathers."

If you're not on the Lord's side, then God is going to be against you sooner or later!

Verse 16: "'Also, now stand and see this great thing, which the LORD shall do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD… [possibly could be Pentecost] …and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, that which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for you.' And Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. And all the people said to Samuel, 'Pray for your servants to the LORD your God so that we will not die, for we have added evil to all our sins to ask a king for us'" (vs. 16-19).

Now, this is kind of lip service repentance! It kind of reminds you when they were at Mount Sinai and God spoke the Ten Commandments, 'Oh, don't let God speak to us lest we die!'

Verse 20: "And Samuel said unto the people, fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.."

• if you do that, you're on God's side
• if you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and being, you're on the Lord's side
• if you keep the commandments of God, you're on the Lord's side
• if you live within the grace of God, which we all do, you're on the Lord's side
• if you're on the Lord's side then you don't have asked whether God is on your side or not
• if you're on His side, then your own way makes no difference of all

God made it clear He won't be on anybody's side! You must be on His side, under His terms, under His conditions.

Verse 21: "And do not turn aside to go after vanities, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain, then the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name's sake… [He promised you ] … because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. Also, I, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD from ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in Truth with all your heart, for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you shall still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away'" (vs 21-25). And that's what's happened!

If there's any one man in all the earth that started out on God's side, there was never a king that started like Solomon. He started out, he asked God for wisdom. He said he did know how to judge the people, and God said, when He said to Solomon, 'Ask anything you want, and I'll give it to you.' Solomon says, 'I need wisdom, LORD, to judge Your people.'

God said, 'Because you asked for wisdom, you will have wisdom. But you will also have riches and wealth and everything.' So, God made him the wisest man in the world, and gave him all the wealth in the world, and had a great and marvelous empire. Built the Temple of God, and then Solomon degenerated.

What was the saying in the five steps of apostasy? Good men don't always stay good. That's why the Scriptures say you have to endure to the end. So here is a good king to start out. But he did not end up good. Because not all good men stay good. You know what happened. What a thing this is.

1-Kings 11:3: "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives turned away his heart." He left being on God's side!

Verse 4:"For it came to pass when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods…. [not only did it turn his heart from the Lord, but then he went after other gods; because of that]: … And his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God as was the heart of David his father, for Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians…" (vs 4-5)—the Queen of Heaven.

That would be the same thing as someone in the Church of God leaving the Church of God, walking into a Catholic Cathedral, and bowing down before the image of the supposed virgin Mary.

 "…and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites; and Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not go fully after the LORD… [gave Him lip service] …like his father David" (vs 5-6).

When David repented with the sin of Bathsheba—and by the way, Solomon was the son of Bathsheba, so you see the mercy and grace of God—David repented with his whole heart! There's no account that Solomon repented. Instead he went on a building program. He built churches, idols, statues and incense altars. Who else could do them better, because he built the Temple of God. A perfect one to subvert!

Verse 7: "Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill, which is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon."

That hill became known as the Hill of Abomination because it was filled with all kinds of pagan temples!

Verse 8: "And likewise he did for all his foreign wives… [which were 700, meaning, that he built 700 religious shrines and altars] …and burned incense and sacrificed to their gods."

When you have that, what do you have at a temple, or an altar? You always have those who minister there, and they're called priests. So, now you have the pagan priests, you have the pagan gods. Solomon approved of all of this and helped build it, whether he went out there and put his hands on the building directly, or he furnished the workers and the money to do it.

You know he furnished the money, because it was his wives. After all, he was the richest man in the world and had all this gold and silver. Silver was so cheap it was counted as gravel in the streets. Why not use the surplus? Hello? Have you heard that before? 'I'm tired of all this bickering with my wives. I'll please them.' So, you get on your wife's side who takes you away from God, and you're no longer on God's side! Now, what did God do?

Verse 9: "And the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods…" (vs 9-10).

He had warnings along the way. It was in the Law that he had in his hand to read. One of the things that Samuel wrote was that the king will have a copy of this Law, his personal Law, and he shall write it out and he shall read it all the days of his life so that He depart not from the Lord. So, he had his warnings.

Verse 11: "And the LORD said to Solomon, 'Since this has been done by you, and since you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. But I will not do it in your days, for David your father's sake, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Only, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen'" (vs 11-13).

Here's what God does. Why is there Osama bin Laden? Same reason right here:

Verse 14: "And it came to pass the LORD stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite…"

Now the world is divided between Edom: Esau, Ishmael, Amalek, Libya, Iraq, Iran against the children of Israel.

"…He was of the king's seed in Edom" (v 14).

He fled down into Egypt and he built himself a force, he gathered men around him. Harboring terrorists. History is not new! When Israel sins against God, which we have, and we've killed millions of unborn, how dare they say, 'Why does God take judgment against the innocent in the Trade Towers? or at the Pentagon?' Because God judges the whole nation!

If He takes a few thousand innocent and you repent, fine. But you better stop all abortion. You better stop all your mealy-mouthed judgments against murderers and so forth. So whenever you think you have the one enemy, watch out. There is always more than one.

Verse 23. "And God stirred up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. And he gathered men to himself and became head over a marauding band… [of terrorists] …after the slaughter by David. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there and reigned in Damascus. Now, he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the mischief, which Hadad did. And he hated Israel and reigned over Syria" (vs 23-25). Syria is also implicated!

• Have the ancient enemies risen back again?
• Are they reasonable people? No!
• Has God stirred them up? Without a doubt!

There's an awful lot we can learn. So, the bottom line is this: God is on His side!

• Is that where you stand?
• Are you on God's side?

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Romans 1:16-17
• Revelation 16:1-7
• Romans 1:17
• 1 John 5:3
• John 14:15
• 1 John 5:2
• Matthew 22:36-40
• Romans 1:18-32
• Romans 2:1-11
• Exodus 32:1-32
• Jeremiah 18:6-12
• 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 11, 19-20
• 1 Samuel 10:17-19, 24-25
• 1 Samuel 12:1-7, 12-19, 20-25
• 1 Kings 11:3-14, 23-25

Scripture referenced, not quoted:

• 1 Corinthians 10
• Leviticus 26

Also referenced: {truthofGod.org}

• Booklet: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants
• Message: Why Terrorists Attack

FRC:
original transcriber unknown
Reformatted: bo—12/2023