Judges 21:25. . ."In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
I was listening to a book I rarely listen to in my Scourby bible app; the Book of Judges. I should add that I love listening to audiobooks these days, it's like having someone read to me as a little child again. It is also kind of relaxing if you get someone with a soothing voice. Alexander Scourby is one of those people. It can be hard to concentrate this way, especially since I have a tendency to fall asleep listening t audiobooks.
The book of Judges was that interim period after Moses and Joshua led the Israelites to the promised land and before the kingdom of Israel was set up. In those days they were ruled by judges, although I would use the term "rule" loosely. As the last verse summarizes, everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king.
The Constitutional Foundation for the United States
No wonder our founding fathers felt the Bible was a good book for the foundation of a free republic and the American Constitution. A true Republican believes in everyone taking personal responsibility for their own lives. This is the basis on how to live in a free society. Democracy is an illusion because elections tend to be rigged. Also, the basis for Democracy is electing someone to rule over you. The result of Democracy is more government dependency which is reflected in higher taxes.
The basis for a Theocracy is rule by God. Obviously, God already rules over everything, though He leaves us the freewill to rule our own lives. No one likes a Theocracy because you usually have an elite group of "rulers." Although you have an elite group, aka the "1%", each person has the authority to rule over their lives. In a Theocracy, each person can be led by the Spirit of God directly if they choose to follow Him. A verse in the book of Psalms says "righteousness exalts a nationbut sin brings a reproach to its people." Democracy leads to socialism which leads too laziness and dependency, which is the sin this verse it talking about.
Why Democracy is bad and eventually fails
Democracy is valued by intellectuals who cherish cooperation over competition. However, most of them don't understand how the world works or even human nature for that matter. The basis for the New World Order is trying to bring in world socialism. If the economy is collapsing, it is just the socialism that is collapsing. Socialism is doomed to fail and eventually leads back to a freer society. Democracy doesn't really value individual freedom and is more secular, which makes it an antichrist kingdom. It is nothing more than mob rule over the individual.
Everything social democrats strive for can be found within a free society in their nonprofit sector. Or at least that has been my observation from living in more conservative societies. For example, the universal healthcare in "red states" was provided at local county hospitals.
Just to reiterate, Democracy doesn't really exist because society doesn't really exist. It is just a group of individuals who feel the need to vote for someone to have authority over them. The only real authority is the Most High who lavishes wisdom on all who seek it. We really don't need rulers but will always have a government out of convenience; it helps when it comes to enforcing contracts within the illusion of "society".
Republicans and Democrats are both socialists to some degree. The former leans more toward greater individual sovereignty and more limited government. Although since both political parties in the U.S. have sold us out in some form or another, the Right is more the lesser of two evils since being sold out to corporate interests is better than becoming a slave to the government.
I finally got around to reading this book by Wm. Paul Young and even found his blog (everybody has one these days). I can’t figure out why many professing christian’s disagree with the theology of this book. Maybe because it borders on being a Universalist?
Jesus, in the book, referred to people of other religions seeking to follow God. When Mack (the lead character) asked if that meant that all roads lead to Rome (heaven), Jesus said not at all. When you think about it you can find God in any religion so you are held accountable if you choose to reject Him by being self-reliant and making yourself a god; i.e. establishing your own righteousness rather than seeking after the Righteousness and the Kingdom of God.
Even though you can find God through any religion, all the world’s wisdom trace back to Ancient Judaism which promises the coming of the Messiah whom the Jews are still waiting for and Christians are waiting to come again. You can find God in any religion so all roads to lead to God but salvation comes through faith in the Messiah.
As the Lord Jesus/Yeshua declared to the Samaritan woman in John 4, salvation is of the Jews but a day is coming when true worshippers/followers will worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for He seeks such to worship & follow Him.
It doesn’t matter what religion you practice. Paul says in Romans 10:9,10 that all you have to do to be saved is believe in your heart and confess your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ (or Yeshua Mashiach). Matthew 7:21 is perhaps the scariest verse in the Bible because Jesus (the real one) declares “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who do the will of the Father.” His half-brother says the same in James 2:24-26 when he says that we are justified by our works and not by faith alone in contradiction to Paul. Paul and James were actually agreeing because James was basically defining what faith is. Faith is an active trust in a living God.
We are saved by God’s Grace & Mercy. Grace in the Strong’s Concordance is defined as “a divine influence on the heart that is reflected in the life.” Now that’s a definition you’ve never heard in the church. They have it half-right. It is unmerited and unearned because you don’t have to merit the love of you parents if they love you unconditionally. Also no human can love you unconditionally like your Heavenly Father.
God has mercy on whom He has mercy. You can’t respond to the call of salvation unless you hear His call which you won’t if you get too deep in your own sinful and selfish way of living. God doesn’t show favorites. Jesus said “many are called but few are chosen.” The chosen are those that stand on the Word of God. The ones who possess and not merely possess salvation.
All the talk lately about Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter for $44 million. First off, I need to stop calling Musk “Tesla”. He may be a smart man but he’s probably no Nikola Tesla. Although he is probably richer than Tesla ever was. Awhile back I was reading something about Elon appearing as a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast and the two smoked a joint together. Now the genius at Tesla, Inc. is fighting to defend himself that he is not a drug addict.
Come on, everyone is doing it, so they say. Over half of western civilization is addicted to drugs; they just don’t realize it because they have to get a prescription to pay for it. Even caffeine is a drug addiction. I have to wrap this up so I can go get my fix.
Speaking of Nikola Tesla, I read that in addition to dying broke because he spent all of his money on his inventions, he spent much of it staying at the Waldorf Astoria or something like that. His favorite past time was feeding the pigeons and he even claimed to fall in love with one.
I think I may rent a Tesla someday. The $75,000 car is only 20-30k used. I saw it in one of the rental car apps for only $100 per day. Take a road trip in style.
Ecclesiastes 1:1. . .”Meaningless, meaningless. All is meaningless.”
My favorite verse in the Bible. I also like the Geneva Bible, which predated King James. Everything after that just gets more watered down. Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament, wrote the most doom and gloom book that you would think he struggled with depression.
The first and last verse of Ecclesiastes pretty much say it all. But in between, the author sums up how everything under the soon is meaningless and there is nothing really new. And that was 3,000 years ago. I think it was GK Chesterton who said there was no such as progress. Underneath all the change, we are still the same people and everything is basically the same, just with a different style.
Solomon goes on to say that since everything is vanity, the best we can do is find satisfaction in our work; amazingly the the vanity of everything and the enjoyment of it both come from God.
There is nothing wrong with pursuing material gain; as long as we don’t make it our identity. Everything we gain in this life will die with us, except for our faith and the good deeds we do to serve our neighbor.
Many people will give up when they realize that life is ultimately meaningless. But the wise ones will feel a sense of freedom. That just means there is no sense of expectation that society tries to place on you. There is no need to try and “keep up” with everyone else.
Do whatever makes you happy as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else or hinder your relationship with the Divine.
Daily Evotionals & E'isms 
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