1 Chronicles 21:1-7
April 3, 2023
David's Census Brings Pestilence
Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So, David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.” But Joab said, “May the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?” But the king's word prevailed against Joab. So, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah 470,000 who drew the sword. But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab.
The United States has a big problem, they do not have a David, nor does it seem they do not have a Joab. How is David different from our President, whoever that is? David from a young man believed in God, he trusted in God to fight for him, and he saw how God was faithful in doing so. We do not have such a person leading our nation.
But we have a much larger problem, in that a person who is not aware of their enemy will not be able to stand against them when they come to kill, steal, and destroy. As Satan stood against Israel, he was standing against the United States of America. Now this is the problem, most people took on the line of Flip Wilson, “The devil made me do it.” Now that is not funny in that much, we do is instigated by the one Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Many Church members have heard these words of Jesus, but they have little or no understanding of what Jesus was saying. Many do not know their actions are more in keeping with their father the devil, than Jesus’s Father in heaven. Satan when he talks with you sounds just like you, so you're not on guard. It is easy for someone you do not believe is real to do a real number on you.
That is a big problem, the other is when Jesus said I have come to give life and you will have it in abundance, you ask, then why am I not driving a new car, and living in a big house with servants. Well, you totally missed the message, for Jesus is not talking about stuff, but joy and peace, amid real problems. He talked about life with Him and His Father forever.
Yes, Satan has asked for permission to do a number on the United States of America, and I believe God, has granted it. The Scripture tells us in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” That was in the Old Testament, and a wise person would listen but even most of God’s chosen people did not.
Today, we the Church,, are also instructed in Romans 1:18-32, that we have been told of God's wrath that is coming on evil people. In 2 Timothy 3:1-7, ‘do understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins, and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
When the Bible refers to the last days, we have been in them since Jesus went to sit at the right hand of the Father. If you can read Romans 1:18-32 and 2 Timothy 3:1-7, and if you do not believe it is describing our nation, you are blind to the truth.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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