"Easter or Resurrection Day"?

Thursday, April 1. 2010
Reprint of the two year's before. I will reprint this every year at this time.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Reprint of last year's "Easter or Resurrection Day"?
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Easter or Resurrection Day?

The most important act that Jesus was to do, that proved and proves He was the Messiah was to be dead, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, 3 days and 3 nights and then to be raised from the dead after this time period. Matthew 12:39-40

Now how could we ever arrive that Jesus was crucified on "Good Friday and raised on Sunday morning for this would be only 2 nights and one day. The significance of Jesus doing exactly as He said cannot be washed away by the traditions of men, for without him doing exactly as He said, He would not be the Messiah, He stated this was the only proof sign He would give Israel that He was who He said He was. All attempts to explain away, His statement are false. Good Friday and Sunday as 'the day of Resurrection' are the inventions and traditions of men,.

This time period, of 3 days and 3 nights was to be factual and historical.

How did we ever get to where we are today?

Jesus knows exactly how long a day and a night is. In John 11:9-10 He said, is there not 12 hours in a day -but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth. In Genesis 1:4,
Jesus declares, he divided the light from the darkness, and He called the light day and the darkness he called night. and the evening (darkness) and the morning (light) were the first day..., and the evening and the morning were the second day...and the evening and the morning were the third day" The Word of God conclusivley proves the time needed to fulfill the 3rd day. It should be conclusive to all, that it was impossible for Christ to have been crucified on Friday and raised Sunday.

It is merely traditions of men that created this time period of Friday to Sunday, which if it were true would disapprove Christ as the Messiah.

The time period Jesus gave was as important as the fact that He was to be raised from the dead, less He not be the Messiah, and the sign not be true to Israel.

In Mark 8:31, Jesus, "began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things ...and be killed, and AFTER 3 days rise again". And in Mark 9:31; "they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day". And in Matthew 27:63 "After 3 days I will rise again". And in John 2:19-21; "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up". This day ended at sunset according to Bible reckoning - Lev. 23:32. Jesus cried out soon after the "ninth hour" or 3 o'clock in the afternoon on the preparation day - Matt. 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:44-46. Jesus was laid in the tomb just before this same day ended - just before sunset - Matt. 27:57-60. And John 19:42 adds, "There laid they Jesus Therefore because of the Jew's preparation day". The Jewish custom was all dead bodies had to be buried before the beginning of a new day, and, according to the Bible He was - just barely before sunset as the scriptures prove. This leads to an intriguing conclusion. Three full nights and three full days after that preparation day sunset, brings us to sunset. Which means the resurrection occurred at sunset not sunrise! If Jesus rose at any other time of day He could not have been 3 days and 3 nights in the grave and He would have failed to prove by the sign He gave, His Messiahship. The "preparation day" for the Sabbath is defined by John 19:14,31: "...for that Sabbath day was a high day...It was the preparation of the Passover". Any Jew can tell you what a "high day" is. There are seven each year - all called Sabbaths, and each year they fall on different days of the week. (Leviticus 16:31, 23:24, 26-32 and 39 refers to all these annual holy days as Sabbaths.) Matthew 26:2; "Ye know that after 2 days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified". All Bible texts say Jesus was crucified on the Passover. The Bible in Num.28:16-17, defines the Passover; "And in the 14th day of the first month [called Abib] is the Passover of Yahweh. And in the fifteenth day of the month is the Feast". The Hebrew calendar shows that in A.D. 31, the year Jesus was crucified, the 14th of ABIB which was the Passover, which is always the preparation day for the annual high day Sabbath, was on Wednesday, and the High Sabbath was on Thursday.

There were 2 Sabbaths that week - the annual high Sabbath, and the weekly Sabbath which was the day of the resurrection. (Saturday using standard weekly Roman traditions.)

Jesus rose from the dead as He said He would in John 2:19, 3 days and 3 nights later, at or near sunset on the 2nd Sabbath of that week - to bring light into darkness. It was Saturday night, not Sunday morning.

I Corinthians 15:3-4; "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that the Messiah died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures".

If we look at a calendar for that year, it is quite easy to figure out that the preparation day; the crucifixion day was on Wednesday, and that 3 days and 3 nights after that, was near sunset on Saturday. It is also significant that as Daniel's prophecy in 9:24-27 says, Jesus was to be cut off "in the midst of the week". This prophecy uses the day for a year symbolism so that the "70 weeks" became a literal 7 years, with the Messiah being "cut off in the midst", (after only 3 1/2 years of teaching) and also in the middle day of a literal week.

There is one more final proof in the Bible.

In Mark 16:1, Mary Magdalene and her companions did not buy their spices to anoint Jesus until after the Sabbath was past. They could not prepare them until after this, yet after preparing the spices they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment (Luke 23:56). These scriptures seem to contradict themselves unless you accept the possible explanation: After the annual high Sabbath, which was Thursday, the women purchased and prepared the spices on Friday, and then they rested on Saturday - the weekly Sabbath.

This fact would make it Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday (14th of ABIB, A.D. 31) and was resurrected on a Saturday (17TH of ABIB, A.D. 31), placed in the tomb near sunset, and rose out of the tomb near sunset on Saturday.

"Good Friday" and Easter Sunday, then must be pagan myths; traditions of men, adopted by the early Roman Christian church and accepted as "okay" by almost all Christians today.

Centuries old documents exist that evidence the Wednesday crucifixion and Saturday resurrection. A document entitled the "Didascalia Apostolorum", dating from around the year 200 A.D., mentions the last Passover Supper of Jesus and His disciples was on a Tuesday evening. It should be noted that the timing mentioned in the document also corresponds with the Biblical method of reckoning the week as starting with Sunday as the first day with the days beginning at sunset. The document states: "For when we had eaten the Passover on the third day of the week at even [Tuesday evening], we went forth to the Mount of Olives; and in the night they seized our Lord Yah'shua. And the next day, which was the fourth [day] of the week [Wednesday], He remained in the house [arrest] of Caiaphas the high priest".

From this one would conclude that He clearly was crucified that following Passover day of Wednesday.

The Hebrews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." John 19:31. This verse establishes that the day following (or beginning the sunset of) our Messiah's crucifixion was a "high day." That in turn established that it was Nisan fifteenth, the great Passover Sabbath, the day that God had designated as "the first day of unleavened bread." The Passover Sabbath was the greatest Hebrew Sabbath of the year. It was not only a day of rest and worship like Saturday, the seventh-day Sabbath; but, unlike that day, this Thursday Passover Sabbath was a "high day." The fifteenth of Nisan fell on a different day each year, and that particular year it fell on Thursday as the Scriptural "time-points" clearly affirm.

I am not writing this to say that we must celebrate the Holy Days that are given, the many festivals, etc. exactly as they are. I am not a Sabbatarian, nor am I Judaic. I am not writing any of these things to call those that do what they do as far as the day they recognize makes them pagans. It doesn't, but it can surely be seen as honoring paganistic ideas of days and times.

What I do is write these things that truth may be the foundation of all our understanding of the Word and as a believer in the death and resurrection for us to realize these things as truth.

I believe it is very important for Christians to understand what they believe and why they believe it and what truth of God's word is versus the traditions of men. It is of most importance that we see how easily it is for men, the first church-state union Constantine's reign, later the ruler Theosidus and the developing Catholic church changed truth to encompass paganism into the church and how men have changed most of what is true to a lie.

We have typically stated the day of resurrection as Sunday because of verses like Mark 16:2-4

Simply because Mary Magdelene and Mary didn't discover that the tomb was empty until that Sunday morning, that He must have risen that morning, but the scripture doesnt say Sunday he arose, it just says that they found the tomb empty on this day.

Which also makes sense, as travel was limited on Saturday the normal Sabbath. Thus this is why they didn't find the tomb empty on Saturday, because they would not have walked to the tomb on a Saturday Sabbath. They were at rest, while Jesus was rising from the dead. This showing as well to the Jewish Sabbatarians with all their ridiculous rules and regulations of the Talmud, "that the Sabbath was created by Yahweh for men and not men for the Sabbath", this in my opinion is another reason I accept Saturday evening. For he didn't remain at rest, he was alive, risen from the grave as He promised come the ending of the Sabbath day, Saturday, the beginning of the evening before Sunday. He arose but it wasn't until the next morning that they found the tomb was empty.

So, taking the time periods as laid out by scripture, he must have had to stay in the grave 3 days, 3 nights just as He said he would as a sign, the only sign he would give to the Jews that proved he was Messiah and to us our Saviour.

So Saturday evening really had to be the time of His resurrection. Sunday, was the day it was discovered he had risen as promised.

It's not a significant importance what day "we choose to recognize" he was raised in that our salvation might depend on the day we honor, as much as we recognize how much the Catholic church changed things to fit the Roman calendar and Roman times and Roman days of importance. Constantine and Theosidus made significant changes to things eternal, the traditions of the Apostles laid on the foundation of Christ, to the traditions of men, just as the Jews did with creating the Talmud and all it's traditions above the Torah.

Men constantly work at trying to distort the Gospel. I have known men that couldnt accept the story of Christ crucifixion and resurrrection just because the recognized days traditionally do not fit the story or his promise of 3 days and 3 nights. So though it may not mean our salvation if we accept the traditions of men account over the truth, but it could mean the salvation of someone else, because of the inaccuracy of time these traditions have created.

It is significant that we recognize just what RESURRECTION DAY is versus EASTER.

So let me lay down the facts about how the EASTER thing came about.

Now let us look at the true origins of the day and time we call Easter.

Origin of Easter - A Christian Commemoration
The origin of Easter, a holiday associated with the observance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is actually based on an ancient pagan celebration. Christians recognize this day as commemorating the culminating event of their faith, but like so many other "Christian" holidays, Easter has become commercialized and mixed with non-christian traditions like the Easter Bunny, Easter parades and hunting for Easter eggs.

How did this happen?

Origin of Easter - Its Pagan Roots
The origin of Easter dates back to ancient times, not long after the global Flood recorded in Genesis 6-9 of the Bible. Nimrod, a grandson of Noah, had turned from following his grandfather's God and had become a tyrannical ruler. According to the biblical record, as king, Nimrod created Babel, Ninevah, Asshur, Calla and other cities, all known for lifestyles that promoted unspeakable evil and perversion. When Nimrod died, his wife, Queen Semiramis, deified him as the Sun-god, or Life Giver. Later he would become known as Baal, and those who followed the religion Semiramis created in his name would be called Baal worshippers. They became associated with idolatry, demon worship, human sacrifice and other practices regarded as evil.

The origin of Easter involves the birth of Semiramis' illegitimate son, Tammuz. Somehow, Semiramis convinced the people that Tammuz was actually Nimrod reborn. Since people had been looking for the promised savior since the beginning of mankind (see Genesis 3:15), they were persuaded by Semiramis to believe that Tammuz was that savior, even that he had been supernaturally conceived. Before long, in addition to worshipping Tammuz (or Nimrod reborn), the people also worshipped Semiramis herself as the goddess of fertility. In other cultures, she has been called Ishtar, Ashtur and yes, Easter.

The origin of Easter goes back to the springtime ritual instituted by Semiramis following the death of Tammuz, who, according to tradition, was killed by a wild boar. Legend has it that through the power of his mother's tears, Tammuz was "resurrected" in the form of the new vegetation that appeared on the earth.

According to the Bible, it was in the city of Babel that the people created a tower in order to defy God. Up until that time, all the people on the earth spoke one language. The building of the tower led God, as recorded in Genesis 11:7, to confuse their tongues to keep them from being further unified in their false beliefs. As the people moved into other lands, many of them took their pagan practices with them.

Contemporary traditions such as the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg can also be traced back to the practices established by Semiramis. Because of their prolific nature, rabbits have long been associated with fertility and its goddess, Ishtar. Ancient Babylonians believed in a fable about an egg that fell into the Euphrates River from heaven and from which Queen Astarte (another name for Ishtar or Semiramis) was "hatched."

Origin of Easter - Resurrection Day for Christians
For Christians, the origin of Easter is simply the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago. According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus Christ, the true Messiah promised in the Old Testament, was crucified and resurrected at the time of the Jewish Passover. Since that awesome event took place, those who believe Christ is their Messiah have honored that day and often celebrated it with the traditional Passover. As the Gospel of Christ spread throughout non-jewish nations, among people who did not have a history of celebrating the Passover, the pagan rites of Easter gradually became assimilated into what the Christian church called "Resurrection Day." Compromising the commandments of God with the comfort of the world is as old as the nation of Israel itself.

So we see that the named day Easter is pagan in nature, and has all the roots of paganism, and ancient pagan worship. Thus, I too do not recognize the term Easter for the Day of Resurrection nor do I recognize the traditions associated with it. We are called to be separate from the world, in it but not of it. Thus it is important for us to understand the significance of the celebration and what it's true origins are. The word of God tells us to abstain from even the appearance of evil. To know the difference. To know truth from error. Surely Easter is evil and the Day of Resurrection is good.

The two must be separated for the Ekklesia so that truth will stand out like a light to a fallen world.

Jesus didn't die and raised again so the commercial marketers of the Babylonian system worldwide could obtain wealth off the purchases of Christians for Easter Eggs, and Bunny Rabbits and all that pagan garbage. It has lessened the significance of the resurrected King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, for me, I abstain, you decide what to do with it.

Actually, American history teaches us that Easter was dismissed as a pagan holiday by the nation's founding Puritans and did not begin to be widely observed until just after the Civil War.

Now that you know the "rest of the story" and after reading the above which would you prefer?

Easter or Resurrrection Day?

Dr. J.
Posted by Dr. J. at 1:42 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christ Raised from the dead, Easter or Resurrection Day, Paganism
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Our Sinful Desire For Leaders
"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to know now hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation. Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience and which neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins."

-Barclay's Address to Charles II

How oft our leaders today have not known because of their wealth and their prosperity born into families of wealth and prosperity, given the highest of educations that only the rich can obtain, provided their food and their goods, by silver spoons while sitting in silver mansions, driving golden cars, with unknown quantities of cash, how oft they have not known poverty and oppression, and the pain of suffering need. How can they be anything more than oppressors and dictators, for compassion is not learned through ease but learned through the acquisition of suffering the pains and sorrows shared by others as well. To not know these things, to never have suffered with the least, but to only have lived as the elite, how can we expect much more than the mere pennies they throw our way, while robbing us of our sweat daily we bear in labor under their oppressive rulership. Common sense tells us a man selected to rule who has not known these things, cannot truly rule at all in fairness or justly. Yet, we seem desirous as humans for reasons unknown on selecting those to rule that are more apt to oppress than those who have known oppression – Dr. Joseph Wayne Black

The first quote can be found in Thomas Paine's famous writing "Common Sense".

In this writing of Thomas Paine, he is not only arguing against the monarchy of England or it's King but making an argument why America must succeed from British rule. If you have not read this famous historical book of 1776, I would invite you to.

My argument I wish to present here, is that for whatever reason men and women, have a desire to always have a human powering over them, rather than being just a child of the Father and only subject to God and His kingdom. The jews of the Old Testament made this same error in sin, and even today from the time of the Apostles deaths, man who once served no one but Christ begin to give what once was their allegiance to Christ their high priest, began to seek again men among themselves. They sought men to be their priest, their ruler, their special man, speaking the oracles of God, laying out the rules to life, etc. The letter from Ignatius to the Magnesians, makes this very clear. Ignatius someone who apparently served in some capacity of eldership either in the already formulation of an institution of Christianity other than the Ekklesia that the Apostles laid down that was built on the foundation of Christ began to set forth the error that would for all time even unto the present, distract those who would know Christ and him alone as their King. These men of the early rise of the clergy/lay system decided to put humans in the position that of a shepard, priest or pastor which belongs to Christ alone. Popery was born out of the words of Ignatius, and popery it has been since. The odd thing is that man so often desires to have human leaders, who are but human themselves. The temple and the priesthood of old was replaced by Christ the high priest, and His creation of the Ekklesia, His called out one's which is the only Temple God will dwell in both individually and corporately. For we are the His Temple, Christ being the true temple of God, and we are joined with Him, if we are His.
Christ did not die on a cross, and suffer shame to build a new religion, with priest and Temples. Judaism already had that, all the pagan religions have that, why in God's name would men seek other men to power over them rather than God himself to be their Father, Christ their King, and High Priest and the Holy Spirit their Pastor?

It is the sinfulness of men, that seeks this, for as long as a human can be some sort of representative of God, then God is made into the image of men, rather than the truth which is Man is to be the image of God. Men always choose to worship the creation rather then the Creator. The book of Romans and the first chapter makes this very clear.

Thus when Christ died the Temple veil was torn into, for now the sinless priest had entered the Holy of Holies, once and for all, for all sinners. No longer would there be a need for a priest to enter, and make sacrifice for sin, no more. This is spelled out very clearly in the book of Hebrews. This explains the lack of need of anymore earthly priest to represent God's spokesman, God's leader or God's man.
For only one man is worthy of leadership, only one person who ever walked this earth, His name is Yeshua- Jesus- Lord of Lords, and King of Kings! It is here we see that Jesus not only is the better rest, replacing Sabbatarianism, where Jesus is the better King, replacing earthly Kings, where Jesus is the better priest, replacing all earthly priest, where Jesus is the better sacrifice, replacing all earthly sacrifices, where Jesus is the only Pastor, Priest that men will ever need.
Where God the Father appoints his children a place with the King, that all who cry upon His name, and have placed their faith and trust in Him have been declared as kings and priest unto Him, as His Holy Spirit the very Spirit of the risen Saviour and King has come to dwell within men, that is all men that have recieved Him as their only priest and king. Anything other than this, is "paganism".
Anything other than Christ as King, who knows your temptations, your pain, your agony, your struggle against sin, He who overcame sin, who knew no sin, is the one that has come to reside in the believer. It is the Holy Spirit who is to lead you into all truth. Anything other than the Holy Spirit as your teacher is not only anti-biblical but anti-Christ.
Thus John writes,in chapter two verse 27:
"And as for you, the anointing which you recieved from Him abides in you, and you have NO NEED for ANYONE to teach YOU: but as His anointing teaches you about ALL THINGS,and is TRUE and is not a LIE, and just as it has been taught you, you ABIDE IN HIM!"

Paul knew and John knew that the clergy/lay system would come about, they warned that there were wolves among the sheep just waiting until they were gone, that would jump on the sheep, and seek to draw them from Christ, to once again, a religious system made up of men, "acting as God, standing in the temple of God".
Men have been doing this since the death of the Apostles, developing and creating an organization that once was organic and not an institution. Out of it was born POPERY, and no matter what PROTESTANTS say, they have chosen to be in that very system, by their honor to a human called the Pastor. The Pastor simply replaced the priest and the church hierarchy and it's denominational Presidents, and so forth simply replaced the Pope and his cardinals. Men has still fallen to the sin of desiring men to rule over them, fallen sinful men to stand in the place of God, speaking as if he was God, and ruling as if he was a god. Men sinned in Christianity as quickly as ancient Israel did in their desire for a King rather than God as their King. I close this with Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" quote of this ancient story from the Old Testament. A nice summation of even Israel's desire to have a man to rule over them just like the pagan's had, and God's response to it all. Here it is:

Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust.
As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings. All anti-monarchial parts of scripture have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchial governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries, which have their governments yet to form. 'Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's' is the scriptural doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchial government, for the jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.
Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lords of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven. Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is worth attending to.The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro' the divine interposition, decided in his favor. The Jews elate with success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and thy son's son. Here was temptation
in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, THE LORD SHALL
RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor
but denieth their right to give it; neither doth be compliment them with invented
declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with
disaffection to their proper sovereign, the King of Heaven.
About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the same error. The hankering which the jews had for the idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto other nations, i. e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According to all the works which have done since the day; wherewith they brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, i. e. not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is still in fashion, And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said, This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and to read his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he will take your daughters to be confectioneries and to be cooks and to be bakers (this describes the expense and luxury as well as the
oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that bribery,corruption, and favoritism are the standing vices of kings) and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a king, but only as a man after God's own heart.
Nevertheless the People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said. Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call unto the Lord, and he shall sent thunder and rain (which then was a punishment, being the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN ASKING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto 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 unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not,for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING. These portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchial government is true, or the scripture is false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of kingcraft,as priest-craft in withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government.
-End of quote

Could it be that we have so been fleshly men in our desires to have a mere man rule over us, not only in the body of Christ, that we now as Americans so wished to have a King rule over us, verses a Constitution by the people, and for the people, that now the sins of America are being seen in the punishment we have to bear now. Is America about to face the judgement of God, as it has forsaken the very Constitution formed to protect us from one man tyrants. Is the "institutional church" finally facing it's judgement, as they are condemned by government, and ruled by government because they were so foolish to desire to be nothing more than another organization run by men, for the sake of untrighteous mammon, and there desire to be ruled by the State by incorportation? I beleive so.
Even Herod died a quick untimely death for he too decided not to honor God and honor only himself. Wake up American's and wake up Christians. God will have no one other than His Son Jesus as King. For far too long we disregarded the words of Jesus, when He said, you can not love God and Mammon.
America has far too long enjoyed it's riches, worshipped them, and even formulated their "churches" around them. JUDGEMENT BEGINS WITH THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD!
We are about to face judgement. We have chosen men over God, pastors instead of Christ, buildings instead of the temple of God- your body which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and Presidents as kings, rather than Christ, and a land here on earth as our kingdom rather than the Kingdom of God which is not of this world.
Judgement is at hand!
The burps in the economyheading us to the worst depression this country has ever known, the destruction of civil liberties, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the prosecution of mega church preachers and their rich kingdoms falling into judgement under the State they chose to be their god, are all just pains of childbirth just before the child is born. It is the storm that is soon to come in this country that will rattle the mind set of America, and will shake it's very core. The time is short to give honor unto honor is due- God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Let God's Kingdom be the only kingdom that you bow your knee to. For far too long you have thought of America as God's chosen nation- it is not, and will never be, but it can be a nation whereby it's people, change, have a paradigm shift of thinking and are no longer conformed to this world. It is time to humble ourselves, before the King of Kings. Bow your knee to Him who is king, for in the end, it will not be the kingdom of America that will stand nor will it be the kingdom of Israel, it will be God's kingdom, His true Ekklesia (His called out one's) who will reign with Christ for all eternity. Forget your bank acounts, they won't matter tommorrow, throw away your dollars they will be mere paper soon, forget your 401 K plans they will be worthless in the coming days, but your heart, for God will be all that matters. Make sure that is where your heart is, Let us repent of our sinful desire for leaders, as kings, both in the church and in government and seek only Christ and Him alone! Do we honestly believe in this time of election any MAN or WOMAN can provide for us for that which Christ can only provide and that is true justice, tempered with compassion and a kingdom that is truly a kingdom where all men are equal and their king seeks not to power over them but to lift them up to reside with Him and not for a short term but for all eternity? To God be the glory and honor forever! Amen