A common mistake that people make when reading judges is that Israel needed a king. People believe that Israel needed that one person to tell everyone to be good and follow God. Without that one special person, everyone would do evil just because they can. Is this really the case? 

Israel’s main point of failure is that they did not really ever follow God. They followed men. Even in the time of Moses and Joshua they followed men. Sure, they might have done the right things while those men were alive, and they might have said that they were following God, but when Joshua died, the people of the nation went right back to their wickedness. When their good judges died, they went right back to doing evil. 

And it is somewhere in that cyclical pattern of going back to do evil after the good judge dies that the people of Israel demanded a king. But is that what they really needed? No! Even God told them it was a bad idea. But they demanded a king and got what they wanted. Did anything change? No! They had a handful of good kings that happened to get everyone to do the right thing. But they also had even more of the self destructive kings that brought down their nation.

Surely, modern people have learned from the past and they realize that one person can’t fix everything for them. They must follow God themselves! Sadly, this is not the case. Christians are political, and they are divided. We try to indirectly use violence to enforce their view of what’s right on others. They pray and have rallies for political change, but rarely care about the hearts and minds, much less the souls. Some churches teach of violent revolution fixing everything that’s wrong. Others teach of using voting to oppress others into their ideal way of life. Rarely have I seen a church that would take a step back and even just ask the question, “is this the right thing to do?” And while all sides are fighting to preserve their vision of a godly nation, they’ve helped to create the very thing they sought to avoid: a Godless nation.

What we really need is not another leader to tell us to right. We to follow God. Each and every one of us. We don’t need to force others to behave at the point of a gun. We need to love one another, and teach by example before we try to teach others. What was with Israel is missing today. We tend to serve men above God. And we impose our will on others instead teaching.

I’ve been slightly silently working on a project that I’ve now placed on Kickstarter. It’s a decentralized emergency dispatch network that can be run by communities and groups apart from 911. The decentralized approach prevents disasters from completely disabling it, or governments from blocking access. This also allows for municipalities to be less tied up in emergencies that do not require 911.

I just looked at my tax receipt from the White House website. After my refund is taken into account, the amount taken from me was around $4,085. What things that I enjoy was the money used for?

Well, $3,100 was used to pay into a retirement fund I’ll never see or get to use. I don’t enjoy that at all. $725 was used for Medicare Hospital Insurance. I just went to the hospital a while ago. I am still paying that off because I don’t qualify for medicare. So, I paid a good chunk of cash to pay for someone else’s healthcare and can’t pay for my own. Definitely not for this at all yet.

I paid $68.00 for national defense. This includes a war I font want that has been fought less effectively than randomly killing people while hoping there is a bad guy there somewhere. Next in the list is Healthcare! Again! But this does not cover me either. $63.18.

Job and family Security plus Education and Job Training. I could use these services if I qualified. But, again, I don’t. $69.42 left my budget to pay for food for my family and into someone else’s pocket for their family. It’s a good thing I have a high interest credit card to help cover that missing one-weeks worth of groceries. It’s also the price of my dentist visit today.

I also paid $10.66 for garbage quality benefits for people who look down on me and demand I do things for free (Veterans Benefits). $5.46 for to be told I’m not allowed to used cheap light bulbs anymore, and have to now purchase $50 sets to avoid the flicker from the fluorescents (Natural Resources, Energy and Environment). There is $4.42 for pissing off other nations (International Affairs), $3.12 for a now non-existent space program.
Another $4.42 that went to kill a kids dad for drugs he didn’t use, throw hard workers out of the country, arrest Amish for drinking milk, kill people who self medicate and take political prisoners (Immigration, Law Enforcement and Administration of this joke called ‘Justice’). $2.08 funds agriculture and tells farmers what to grow. $1.30 for “Regional Development” and $1.04 for screwing up Katrina and setting fire to Texas, also known as “Response to Natural Disasters.” And finally, $6.24 to pay for the politicians limos, prostitutes, highways and the general throwing money down a drain.

Oh, wait, I forgot about the interest payments of $19.24, because the government is so nice about getting loans on my behalf and using it for junk I don’t want and then demanding I pay the interest.

So, what on earth do I use that I am paying for? Maybe the $6.24. And yet, when I complain about taxes, people tell me I shouldn’t because I am using the services. I’m not using any of these services! I can’t use most of these services, and I’d rather not use most of the others. What services in this list do you actually want to pay for?

Isn’t it interesting that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were confronted with government agents demanding to be worshipped (or else), they didn’t have a committee about the matter. They didn’t look through the Torah to see if, when God gave the first commandment, there was enough of a loophole to bow down, but not worship.

And it is interesting that they did not bring up the concept of “this is ok at this point because we are not in the tribulation yet.” I enjoy a good sermon, but there is something that is lacking in almost every one I hear: valid application to the people listening. Unfortunately, not every church is as nice as the one my wife and I go to, so I can’t just raise my hand and say, “hey, wait! This doesn’t just apply to a future you erroneously think we will never see!!” So, instead of shouting witty one-liners from my seat in the back row (where all good Baptists should be sitting), I break out my mobile study room and start comparing what the pastor says to what the Bible says.

And while a pastor might use such a passage to tie into “persecution coming to America,” or the loss of religious freedoms that may happen “someday,” I realize his preaching has a large error. This is because there is no freedom in America, let alone freedom of religion. Like China, there is only one acceptable religion: the religion of the State. Sure, there are churches, and temple halls, and mosques every other block, but these institutions are only acceptable so long as their preaching does not disrupt the agenda of the State. Almost every one of these are run by leaders who may be republican, democrat, or apolitical, but almost none will speak out against the institution of the State as immoral. None will speak about taxation being glorified theft. Most probably have never considered the idea that the State itself may be immoral. And many are taught that God himself established the State (Its not in the Bible, but people say it is).

And so, with the mindset that the State was and is, the Bible must be twisted to support this idea. And this twisted State supporting version of the Scripture is taught and believed by so many that any persecution is not obvious to them. They have an idea that they live under religious freedom simply because they observe a religion allowed by the State, but religious beliefs that do not support the idea of the State is de-facto prohibited in America, and socially unacceptable in almost any church.

Try not standing for a piece of cloth when “all kinds of music” is played. When it was commanded that they bow before a statue of the king, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego did not. But in America, most Christians expect their brothers to stand before a cloth, the symbol of the State, and pledge their allegiance to it, and show reverence while the national anthem (or hymn, same difference), is played. You may not be thrown into a fiery furnace yet, but you will face difficulties because of it.

Try living as the Amish, who live by their convictions regardless of what the State commands them. They still sell raw milk, which the State has declared to be illegal. They build homes without electricity, which the State has declared to be illegal. They will not allow themselves to be used as soldiers for the State. They have been persecuted by the State for refusing to believe the State is God, or that the State is the mediator between God and man.

Christians that try to live according to the Bible will face persecution in America. Its not going to be the kind that you hear in your Sunday School class. Its not going to be a door slamming in your face or someone spitting on you, but a strong retaliation from the world system, the State. Christians, and others that choose to live a moral life, have been getting arrested, beaten or killed for some time now. Most choose to ignore it, labeling them extremists, or telling themselves that following God somehow would make them immune to a backlash from the State.

Perhaps we don’t want to think that persecution is active in America because that would mean that we might have to face it. If there is little to no persecution in America, then we are living a perfectly normal life if we never face difficulties. So we acknowledge it occurs elsewhere, and live in fear of “when it does come,” thinking we can still control the world system and make it not attack us. Fact is, persecution is pretty much universal, and you will always be faced with making difficult decisions. Well, unless you subscribe to the State religion.

Pedobear's got a job he can't get fired from.

Opt out of the naked body scanner and you and your kids might be chased by this new TSA agent.

Watch out! Pedobear’s got a TSA job. And its his goal to make himself happy with your kids!

The TSA’s got new rules that let them fondle you and your kids, and because of recent “news” of terrorist loading their breast with bombs, you can be certain they will take extra special care examining (aka fondling) your wife.  Don’t think it won’t happen; stuff like TSA agents twisting breasts is already happening (audio). You might want to rethink your travel plans if you care about your family at all.