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There are very few beasts who don’t find loneliness terrifying. It is only when they are acceptedbyaherd that they can find happiness. And this is, of course, a good thing – for cows and sheep. But isitsuch a good thing for humans?
God built this instinct into the beasts for their collective safety; He knew a single herbivorebyitselfwould be easy prey for wolves or lions. So He taught them to find stability and security byaligningthemselves with a herd. The bee has little, if any, self identity. He is simply a member of a hive. The colony isn’t just hisfamily, they are quite literally a part of his self, just as the fingernail has no separate identityfromthebody. And this too, is something God built into him. He knew that it was better for the herd, individually and as a group, if one died for the many. Andsince beasts are selfish, the only way to make that happen was to make themthink of themselvesasatiny part of a larger, much more important, whole. In order to make a dog willing and eager to die for his master, the dog must not think of himselfas“Rover”. He must think of himself as “Fred’s dog Rover”. Fred’s dog Rover can exist without thisRover, because Fred can buy another dog anywhere and name him Rover; but without Fred, Fred’sdog Rover will cease to exist. Who is Rover if he is not Fred’s dog? This is not a reality a beast will ever choose to face, if thereareany other alternatives. It would be the death, not of his personal self, but of the far more importantcorporate self who gives that personal self meaning. The corporate self – the larger “body” to which you belong – gives insecure beasts meaningbyattaching a name to them. By guaranteeing them a group of people who will have their backnomatterwhat. So that no longer must they wander the world as a meaningless speck, nowtheycanwalkproudly as the representative of a great collective. Animals are always loyal to their own herd, often willing to die to defend it. But is dying for your herda selfless act? Is a bee who dies stinging you to protect his hive a selfless creature… or does it simplymean he’d rather die defending his herd than confront the terror of living alone?
The world sees dying for the herd as selflessness and nobility, perfectly embodied in the dog. But Icontend that it is just a higher level of selfishness. Truly being selfless, without a self, means that youwould give your life for any stranger, no matter their herd.
TheSimpleAnswers.comThe Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions. Bible Study Course Lesson4-6
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Fred’s dog Rover will die for Fred. Or maybe for Fred’s son Bob, because like Rover, Bobis apart ofFred. But Fred’s dog Rover will not die for you. Fred’s dog Rover will only die to defendsomemember of his self, which is the definition of selfishness. These thoughts are far too complicated for a dog, of course; yet they echo the code writtenintotheirDNA by our mutual Creator – a beast without a herd is as good as dead. No, a beast without aherdisbetter of dead. And for the herd to survive, sometimes individuals must die for it. And that is whytheherd prizes loyalty above all other virtues. DISS LOYALTY
If I were to ask you if loyalty is a good emotion or a bad emotion, you’d probably immediatelysayitwas good. Then why isn’t it in the Bible? It isn’t there, not once. So let’s have a thought experiment:
Let’s say there are two people, one who has your absolute loyalty, and another to whomyouarecompletely disloyal. Now, let’s say they both sin; are you obligated to correct themboth, equally?Leviticus 19:15. If both have a flat tire, are you obligated to help them both? Exodus 23:5. If both apologize, are you not obligated to forgive them both? Luke 11:4. Should you followaleaderwho is wrong? 2 Peter 2:1-2. Should you follow a leader who is right? 1 Corinthians 11:1. What ifit’s an angel? Galatians 1:8. So… what is loyalty for again? If someone does wrong, you must tell themso – loyal or not. Ifsomeone does right, you follow them – loyal or not. It doesn’t matter who it is, evil is evil. Whatshould you be “loyal” to? Proverbs 15:9, Proverbs 21:21. And that leads us back to the true meaning of loyalty – ironically enough. “Loyal” traces backtotheFrench phrase “Loyal to the king”; ultimately to the Latin legalis, meaning “Law”. So literally, tobeloyal is to obey the laws of the king! And true Christians are loyal to the laws of our king, andnothingand no one else!
And that’s ironic, because the reason the world prizes loyalty is because it blinds you to righteousness!Loyalty is a doctrine the herd uses to get you to ignore their sins! A loyal dog doesn’t care if you’reamonster, because his love is unconditional!
Loyalty is what beasts use to excuse the fact that they know their herd might be evil but becauseit’stheir herd they’re LOYAL to it anyway… and somehow they think that’s a good thing!
HERD INSTINCT
False religion could not survive without loyalty; indeed, millennials are killing religion becausetheyare no longer bound by the traditions of their elders, and can look at the absurdity of religionwithsomething like objectivity. But that only means they aren’t identifying with those sorts of herds. Their identity comesfrompolitics, nations, races, sexual orientation, video games, schools, sports, and so on, but makenomistake, no beast exists for long without a herd of some kind – so finding one is always theirtoppriority.
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You literally cannot talk to anyone today without hearing about their herd; one of the best waysofvisualizing this is to look at the YouTube comments on literally any music video. Think about it; whatmotivates people to say “Still watching in 2019!”, “Who else came here fromStranger Things?”,“They don’t make music like this today” and “Justin Bieber sucks!”?
The desire to connect with people who feel like they do, about literally the most unimportant andtrivial thing in the universe. A beast needs a connection, however tenuous, to any personit interactswith. That’s why, seconds after meeting most people, they will tell you about their herd. This iswhypeople wear branded T-shirts and have bumper stickers saying “God bless the USA!” or “Gaypride!”or “Go Packers!” These are all attempts by insecure beasts to advertise their affiliation with various herds, inthehopesof connecting with a group of like-minded people. By knowing if you’re a Cowboys fan, theyknowifyou’re from a friendly herd or an enemy herd, and whether to welcome you or bare their teethat you.But without some connection, they don’t know who you are or how to treat you. And that’s perfectly normal, healthy even, when you’re chasing wildebeests across the Serengeti. It’sagreat thing for beasts who are trying to hide from predators by merging their identity with a larger self.But it’s a tremendous evil for souls who are meant to stand alone and judge their hearts!
LOYALTY AND WAR
For the balance of this lesson, we’re going to focus on the most physically destructive result of loyaltyto one’s herd: James 4:1-2. It is the lusts that war in our members – the lusts of the beast –that causesnations to go to war against one another. I’m an American, and my county’s diplomats can’t get along with the Chinese, so sooner or laterwewill probably go to war. If not with them, then the Russians, or the Iranians, or someone. Someonewillwant something someone else has, or be offended by something someone else said, or be afraidofsomeone else’s power, and they’ll go to war. You’ll notice, these are all beast reasons to do things. This, by the way, is why nations arecalledbeasts (Daniel 7, etc. – but more on that another day). Because nations are herds of people, andanygroup of people is no more righteous or noble than its lowest common denominator… theselfishhuman heart. So when my nation goes to war, I’m expected to be loyal and support my herd’s point of viewevenifthey’re wrong. My herd will demand that I kill as many of these Chinese as possible – or dietrying–in the name of patriotism, duty, honor, and other high-sounding words. But I knowmy nationis selfish,greedy, and corrupt. Are they worthy of my loyalty?
Is the poor Chinaman worthy of death merely for being loyal to his own herd? War puts noble, decentpeople who might otherwise be friends into a situation where they are expected – and eager –tokilleach other just because their herds are offended by something the other side did. Should I kill tosatisfytheir collective heart’s lust, fear, or anger?
Without loyalty, war could not exist. Because without loyalty, individual souls wouldbe expectedto judge for themselves whether the individual enemy was worthy of death. Without loyalty, nopeoplewould follow an evil king into war. Without loyalty, no people would followa false churchintobreaking the laws of God.
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Loyalty blinds you to righteousness. It makes wrong seem right because it was done by your largerself – your nation. And everything YOU do seems right to you! (Proverbs 16:2). THE PATRIOT
An excellent example of this sort of patriotism is in Jonah 1:1-2. Most people reading this assumethatJonah’s motivation for running away from the job God had given himwas laziness, lackofself-confidence, or just plain fear – but it was something else. The job God had given to Jonah is explained in Jonah 3:1-5. Jonah was sent by God to warnNinevehthat if they didn’t repent, God would destroy it. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and Assyriaistherod of God’s anger – the nation God uses to punish Israel (Isaiah 10:5) – Jonah’s people! Sotounderstand the context here, God sent Jonah to be a prophet to the ENEMIES of Jonah’s people!And as it happened, Nineveh did repent, and God saw it and forgave them in Jonah 3:10. But howdidJonah feel when his preaching was successful? Was he happy that more people had repentedandwerefollowing God? Jonah 4:1. Why would Jonah be angry that people were changing theirwayoflife? What sort of prophet was he?? A PATRIOTIC ONE!
In Jonah 4:2, Jonah tells us THIS is why he fled from God at first – because he was afraidNinevehwould repent and God would forgive them and he didn’t want that! Jonah didn’t WANTNinevehtorepent! He wanted God to destroy them!
Remember, he was an Israelite. This book was written approximately 800 B.C., which was about 80years before Israel went into captivity to these same Assyrians. God had already been warningIsraelthrough His prophets that He was going to have them destroyed if they didn’t mend their ways–see2 Kings 17:23. And Jonah hated that! Like any loyal patriot, he didn’t want his country overrun by the enemy!Nomatter how unrighteous his country was! Put yourself in Jonah’s place. Suppose youwereanAmerican in 1943, and God told you to go to Germany and tell them to repent. You’d have knownifthey DIDN’T repent God would destroy them and your nation would be spared… at least, fromGermany. On the other hand, if you warned them, and they repented, God would forgive themand usethemtodestroy YOUR nation! How would you feel about that? Be honest with yourself… you wouldn’t likethe idea would you? Well, this is the situation Jonah was placed in. You see, Jonah was a proud citizen of “God’s country”, and didn’t want themto be destroyedbyAssyria – despite the fact that Israel was an evil, rebellious people! And that was wrong! HeputHIS country before what was right! He KNEW his country was evil, but he STILLdidn’t wanttosee them punished! BECAUSE HE WAS LOYAL TO THEM!
Are YOU guilty of the same thing? Do YOU want your family, your team, your church, andyourcountry to triumph, regardless of the innumerable sins and GOOD SOLID REASONStheyneedpunished??
These statements will anger many people. Well, it made Jonah angry too. And that, in turn, madeGodangry – Jonah 4:4-5. Jonah STILL wanted Assyria destroyed. He was furious at God for forgiving
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them, knowing God would use them now to destroy his own nation! Not caring that this wasarighteous judgment sinning Israel DESERVED!
God tried to teach Jonah a lesson that Assyria had as much right to the mercies of God as Israel didinJonah 4:6-11. And there ends the story of Jonah. We don’t know if Jonah ever got the message… butwe can. Jonah was a patriot, like so many are in this country today. And like them, hewasamisguided patriot!
Our nation is full of every sort of evil today, from idolatry to adultery, from murder to blasphemy, andit’s getting steadily worse. Do you want to see them punished for this? Or do you want toseethemprosper just because they’re your people?
The conservative Christians today who bemoan the decline of morality are tacitly acknowledgingthesins of our time; the abortions, the adultery and fornication and homosexuality, the graphic violenceonTV and in video games, the corruption in every level of government, the decline in churchattendance,and all the other sins you’ll hear ranted about on Sunday. And yet, hypocritically, these very same Christians – having acknowledged God’s abundant reasonforpunishing this country – will often sport a bumper sticker asking God to bless the USA. Why?GodDID bless the USA, more than any other nation since the dawn of time. And what didwedo?Jeremiah 5:7-8. Remember to interpret these symbols – “harlot’s houses” is primarily speaking, not of brothels, but offalse churches. Houses, temples, churches that belong to the great harlot and her daughters. Doyoureally think God can let that slide, and simply bless us more? Verse 9. It is absurd to acknowledge your nation is sinful, and getting worse all the time, and thenaskGodtobless us at the same time. It’s like rewarding your child for stealing out of your purse by buyinghimabike. What sort of message does that send?
WHAT CAUSES WAR?
God manages the nations behind the scenes. He sets up the king, the dictator and the electedofficial,and He uses them to fulfill His plan (Daniel 4:17). James told us that war is caused by beasts lusting,fearing, and resenting one another. But on the larger scale, God causes war to punish nations, asthefollowing verses show (remember the Bible almost always uses “the sword” as a symbol of war). Why did Ezra say Israel had been in wars and taken in captivity? Ezra 9:7. What happens if peopledisobey God? Job 36:12. If your nation rebels against God, what will He do? Isaiah 1:20. What didGod promise to do to Israel because they had repeatedly disobeyed Him? Isaiah 65:12. When God sent prophets to tell Israel their sins, how did they respond – and what didGoddo?2 Chronicles 36:16-17. What did God prophesy would happen when Israel sinned? Deuteronomy28:22. Why does God bring war on people? Job 19:29. Does He make one nation stronger andanotherweaker to fulfill His judgment against that nation? Ezekiel 30:24-25. What happened whenIsraelfollowed false gods? Judges 5:8. When nations sin against God, war is one of the most common ways God puts themback ontrack. Bysending another nation against them, God causes the nation to – at least in some degree – turnbackto
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Him. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalms 111:10), and nothing strikes fear intoanation like war. Does God punish us as individuals in the same way a father punishes children? Hebrews 12:6-10.How does God tell parents to correct their children? Proverbs 13:24. So when God punishes nations,does He have a particular “rod” – a switch or paddle – that He uses? Isaiah 10:5-6. God uses certain warlike nations as paddles to swat other nations. He often used Assyria, becausetheyhave always loved war, much like the Germans of the last century. If they do their job well, Godmakessure they are compensated (Ezekiel 29:18-20). But if they take it too far and try to rule the world, God slaps them back down (Isaiah 10:7-8, 13-14).So after they teach the lesson God wanted taught, He turns around and punishes the “rod” Heusedforlifting themselves up – which you can read in verses 12, 15-19. This is how God keeps nations inline. But just as God causes wars, He also ensures peace – see 2 Chronicles 14:6. Whentherewererighteous kings in Judah, they were not attacked by the heathen kingdoms around them–werethey?2 Chronicles 17:10. Why? Verses 3-4. Does God notice things like that? 2 Chronicles 16:9. God can make kings and kingdoms be pleasant, or aggressive; He can make themrapaciousorgenerous. He can make them content with their own land, or make them desire yours. It requiresonlyalittle bit of effort on His part to put the right people in power on each side and give themtherightprodding, and you can have either a war or peace. The point is, the Most High RULES in the kingdoms of men! And that means no nation has ever beenin a war that God didn’t bring upon them! Nor lost a war God didn’t want themto lose – whether theyfought or not!
And that’s the real key. If God wants your nation to be prosperous and have peace nomilitaryisneeded! But if God wants your nation destroyed a stronger military won’t help – andif Hehasdecided your nation should be sold into slavery NO AMOUNT OF WEAPONS WILLHELP. Theonlything that can change His mind is repentance!
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
War is the judgment of God upon a sinning nation. At best, it is a test God is sending on a nationHeknows lacks faith. At worst, God is simply sick of the stench of their sins and wants to wipe it fromtheface of the Earth. So when you go to war to defend your nation, you are fighting against the just judgment of God. If youwin, it will be in spite of your warfare. The war will be won by the humility, fear, and repentanceofyour people, not your troops! Jeremiah 37:10. Your army will not save you from the judgment of God! It will find you no matter what youdoorwhere you hide (Amos 9:1-10). When God sends one nation to punish another nation – say, Babylonto attack Egypt – if you fight alongside Egypt you will take part in her punishment! (Ezekiel30:6-8).
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God will not permit you to interfere with His righteous judgment, and you shouldn’t want Himtoletyou interfere! Because His judgment is just! If God is trying to teach them a lesson, and givethemaspanking for their evil, why would you even WANT to fight against Him?? Read Ezekiel 33:26-27. Grabbing an ax and killing a barbarian – a barbarian God is sending to punish your nation–will onlyanger God and get you in hot water with Him however full your head is of thoughts like patriotism,loyalty, and honor. If you truly want to interfere with the judgment of God then strike at the source! AttacktheREASON God brought the judgment! What is God’s fervent hope when He brings war onanation?Jeremiah 36:3. What does it take to change God’s judgment? Jeremiah 26:2-6. What will Goddowhen a people repents after they see war? 1 Kings 8:33-34. The only righteous way to help the nation is to get them back on God’s good side – and that canonlyhappen through repentance and the righteousness it creates. When that happens, you will seethepromise in Leviticus 26:8 fulfilled. Who determines the outcome of all battles? 1 Samuel 17:47. How does God save? By givingpeoplemore weapons? (Same verse). Can a sword save you? (Same verse). Are nations saved byhavingbigarmies? Psalms 33:16-17. What does save them? Verses 18-20. Usually, both sides are prayingforGod to smite their enemy. So how does God decide who to help? Verses 12-15. Notice! God considers “ALL THEIR WORKS”. Their obedience! Bigger stockpiles of nuclearweapons are a WORTHLESS THING for safety! But the nation whose God is the LORD–thetrueGod, not the false Jesus – that nation is BLESSED! What happens to that nation? Isaiah 32:17-18. Righteousness is what causes peace, and IT’S THE ONLY THING THAT DOES! If a nationissinning, and finds itself losing a war, what does God say they should do? Jeremiah 18:7-8. Ontheother hand, if He blesses a nation and they repay His blessing by sinning, what will Goddo?Verses9-11. And what if they don’t listen? Verses 12, 15-17. If they reject God’s warning, His punishment istocause them to lose wars! If a nation truly wants defense against war – the judgment of God–what sortof weapons should a righteous nation build? Jeremiah 51:19-21. God is a righteous nation’s weapons of war. He is all the army they need. God directs the courseofthisworld’s battles. He governs whether other nations are hostile or friendly to your nation, andif war doescome He picks the winner – and He picks them, not based on how well trained they are for war, butonhow righteous their nation is. WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you loyal to your nation? Will you fight for them, killing men from nations more righteousthanwe, just because it’s the herd you happened to be born into? Only a loyal beast loves, prays for, anddefends a sinning nation against the righteous judgment of God. But suppose you’re already in the military – what should you do? John the Baptist was askedthisquestion by the Roman soldiers in his time. What was his answer? Luke 3:14. John didn’t tell themtoleave the military, and neither do I. John just said, “do violence to no man” (keep commandment #6),
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“accuse no man falsely” (keep commandment #9), and “be content with your wages”(keepcommandment #8). If you follow John’s advice and keep the Ten Commandments, you will probably not be in themilitaryvery long. The Sabbath alone will keep you out of it. But Jesus’ words should be addedtoJohn’s,because it brings us full circle back to the topic of this lesson: Matthew 6:24. This is a simple fact. When you join the military, they not only demand your loyalty, theyliterallyown you. You become government property. You cannot serve your sergeant and God. It simplycan’t be done. God is JEALOUS of you (Exodus 34:14)!
He is jealous of your obedience and of your trust! Nations don’t need an army for safety. Individualsdon’t need guns, locks, or karate lessons for safety (Job 34:29). They only need to be righteous enoughthat God cares what happens to them – and faithful enough that God feels needed. To illustrate that, in 2 Kings 6:8 the King of Syria was warring against Israel, and was frustratedbecause every time he made a plan, the king of Israel was one jump ahead of him! And he wantedtoknow why? Verses 11-12. To a pagan king, the logical solution was to capture the prophet. Sohesentan army to capture him in verses 13-14. Now Elisha had great faith. Probably even New Covenant faith. His servant didn’t, and was terrified(verse 15). But Elijah didn’t seem to be worried at all, did he? Verses 16-17. There was a hugearmyof angels, and chariots of fire around Elisha! God was going to defend him, and he knewit!
God didn’t need Elisha to take a sword or gather together the town to “help” to defeat them–God could handle that by Himself, and He did! Read verses 18-23. No murder was necessary–orpermitted – by Elisha. Only faith. Faith that his God was mightier than an army. Another man would have been afraid – one could hardly blame him – and he might have rousedthetownsmen to defend him, or run and hid, or even picked up a sword to defend himself. All of theseGod might have tolerated, from a man without faith under the OC. But this is what He LIKED. This is what gave this man the right to speak for God, and what made God give himsuch great powerto work miracles. This man trusted God, and didn’t make God share that trust with pagankings,weapons, or money. And neither should you (Psalms 20:7). GOD HATES DOGS
Children are taught by their peers at a young age that “telling” on your friends is wrong. Beastshatetattletales, finks, and narks, and the herd teaches them before puberty that “snitches get stitches”. Butthe Bible teaches that you should snitch on idolaters, even if they’re your best friend (Deuteronomy13:6-11). Loyalty is for beasts. It has no place in the soul. And as always, one verse says it all: Exodus 23:2. Forthe herd to function, beasts need to be able to count on you having their back no matter what. Bypresenting loyalty not as a vice, but as a virtue, they pressure you into supporting themevenwhenthey’re wrong.
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The greatest example of this loyalty is the love of a dog for his master. Nothing more embodiesthissort of absolute, unconditional loyalty as the loyalty of Fred’s dog. Man’s best friend is the most noblecreature in the world… or so say the beasts of the world. But is he… really?
In the entire Bible, God has nothing but contempt to heap upon dogs (Philippians 3:2, Matthew15:26, Isaiah 56:11). No animal is more highly esteemed among men than dogs, yet the best thingGod can bring Himself to say about a dog is that it’s better than being dead (Ecclesiastes 9:4)… butonly because there’s still hope it might stop acting like a dog. In fact, dogs are the only animal specifically excluded from His kingdom forever (Revelation22:15).Because as always, “…that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God”(Luke 16:15) – and God considers dogs literally an abomination! (Deuteronomy 23:18, Isaiah66:3). Dogs embody all that God loathes about beasts. They represent, not the best natures of the world, butthe worst vices (Proverbs 26:11). It was people who had dog-like traits, people who wereloyal totheir nation, loyal to their religion, loyal to their traditions, who murdered Jesus (Psalms 22:16-20,John 11:50). These people barked down all His arguments, drowned His reason in their collective uproar, andkilledHim for insulting their evil pack. And if you’ve ever argued with a group of deacons inachurch,you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about – what Peter talked about in 2 Peter 2:12-22. Obviously, these “brute beasts” represent certain people; but the last verse shows that Peter hadaparticular brute beast in mind! Pigs and dogs! These are the animals which best exemplifythetraitsfound in false churches – loyalty, love of tradition, and a willingness to bite people who trytowashofftheir unclean doctrines (Matthew 7:6). WHY MEN LOVE DOGS
The world admires all the things God hates about dogs, and believes we should worship Godexactlyas dogs worship their masters. That we should have blind loyalty and infinite devotion to God, just asadog has unconditional love for his master. If a man tortures babies in a basement, they call him a psychopath. But if their God does it inhell, theycall Him holy! No rational soul can do that… but a dog could! A dog will defend its master withrabiddevotion no matter what he does because he is their god, the head of their herd, and the sourceof theiridentity!
This is why all religions herds demand blind, unquestioning obedience to their God no matter whatincomprehensible, unconscionable, irrational, downright-evil thing He does. Because theyaredogsworshiping a false God who fears their questions (John 3:20-21)!
But the true God is completely the opposite. He welcomes criticism! He says “put me tothetest”Malachi 3:10 (BBE)! He said “prove ALL THINGS and hold fast that whichis good”(1 Thessalonians 5:21). Because God is RIGHT. God makes SENSE. God is not scared of any honest criticism. If youhaveaproblem with God, say so! Abraham did! He said “shall not the judge of all the Earth[God]do
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right?” (Genesis 18:25). Moses demanded that God “Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of thisevil against thy people” (Exodus 32:12). No dog would EVER take such an attitude against his master. But Abrahamwas not God’sdogAbraham; he was Abraham the “friend of God” (James 2:23)! And God spoke to Moses “facetoface, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Exodus 33:11). Because they openly defied Godwhentheythought God was doing something unjust!
What Christian dares to speak to God that way? Their prayers sound like a whimpering, whiningdogscratching at the door of His temple in the vain hope of a pat on the head! Is that howa true Christianapproaches God? Hebrews 4:16. How does Jesus think of us? John 15:13-15. Dogs and servants have no right to questiontheir Lord.But we do. We have the right and the responsibility to demand transparency fromGod! Andif weseeHim committing murder we should find out why!
If He can explain Himself, great. He probably can. But if He can’t, if He’s just a monster, weneedabetter God! If Christians did this, if they were not blindly loyal to religion of their parents andtheGodof their church, they couldn’t be false Christians!
Because the doctrine of hell is far worse than murder, it is a torture so excruciating and soeternal thatit makes the worst monsters of history look like Mother Teresa. Anyone not blindedbyloyaltywouldn’t let Him do that! No thinking person would be a part of a religion ruled over byanobviouspsychopath, however powerful He might be!
But the natural brute beast of this world, the pig who wallows in the mire of false religion, justifiesGod’s wickedness because he is God’s dog Fred, and to defend his God is to defend himself! Andthatis why no dog will be in the Kingdom of God!
God created dogs to show the world all the worst character traits and the most disgustinghabitsthatcan happen when a man is ruled by his beast. And certainly, those habits can be trained out of adog;they can be taught not to eat their own vomit or pee on the carpet or bark at shadows all day. Theycaneven be trained to be useful herding sheep. But is that proof that dogs are good? Is the fact that dogs can be trained to herd other beasts proof Godloves them? Or is it proof that a righteous soul can make even an abomination serve an OCpurpose?That a determined soul can rule the most loathsome beast, and teach the worst heart tobehave?SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Loyalty is literally the doctrine that says you must follow a multitude to do evil. But thereisnoperson, no team, no church, not even any God whom you should support when they’re doingevil (Job13:8). Some will no doubt say Jesus’sacrifice was made because of loyalty to the church, loyalty toour herd.And that’s absolutely right… Loyalty caused Jesus to sacrifice Himself, but not in the way youthink. As of John 1:1-3, Jesus’ herd consisted of two immortal Beings, and obviously, He diedfor neither.Nor did He have a herd as of John 17:11, 22-23 – but He was building one. Yet it was not for thatherd that He died.
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Jesus’ didn’t die because He couldn’t face life without His herd. Because unlike the bee andtheloyaldog, Jesus did not die for His own herd. No, Jesus laid down his life for His enemies (Romans5:8).No beast would do that. No dog will die for his master’s enemy in the faint hope they might someday become their friend. YetJesus died because His soul made a judgment that the people murdering Himdeserved mercybecausethey didn’t know what they were doing. Because He knew they were blinded by their loyalty!
So yes, Jesus died because of loyalty. But not His own loyalty – He gave His life to pay for theloyaltyevery person ever born has shown to their family, their nation, their religion, and, in particular, theloyalty they pay to their own selfish heart.