Broken Covenant

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

September 13, 2015

Sermon Reading:  Romans 16:17-18

The internet has turned the world into pornography junkies.  From 10 years old and upward a large number of people have access to pornographic materials from the internet.   Then there was the problem of the website known as AshleyMadison.com that was hacked.  Thirty-three million users that were hidden became known.  How much damage did this website cause?

Then there is the fact that America has been polluted by blood in the killing of its preborn.  Abortion has murdered millions of babies in America and then we discover that they (Planned Parenthood) are in the business of selling illegal aborted baby parts.  There were videos that exposed Planned Parenthood directors talking with customers for the illegal baby parts.  What a lucrative, dirty and unlawful business.

And if that wasn’t enough, there was the roller coaster ride of the financial markets.  Markets, beginning with China, all had one of their worst days and weeks on record. 

And then there are the fires out west, the drought, the plight of insects, the disease, the crime…. all happening in the land of the free and the brave.

But that isn’t all.  The Sodomites are happily out of the closet.  They parade down the streets of the largest cities in the country.  The United States Supreme Court has made it a federal law, even though the Congress is the only legal body that can make law in the country—they can now marry.

But why does the state offer licenses to marry in the first place.  There wasn’t a marriage license until a little over one hundred years ago and it was to marry two racially different people!  And since that time they have slowly changed the sentiment of the people towards interracial marriage as being a good thing:  “evil is now good.”

As Arnold Kennedy, Christian Identity scholar, said:  “Likewise this church [Roman Catholic Church] supports the fusion of all races and hence the dilution of the blood of the people with the inborn ‘spirit’ content.  It must be noted that there are Protestant seminaries and denominations, together with big name evangelists, who support this non-Biblical line.  Evangelist Billy Graham is reported in the Charlotte Observer as saying:

‘I don’t see anything wrong with inter-racial marriage—there is nothing in the Bible to forbid it.  It all comes down to a practical matter in today’s culture’ and ‘integration is the only solution.  We’ve got to be totally integrated—in our homes, in our worship services, even in marriage.’

Perhaps he reads a different Bible that does not talk about the Doctrine of Balaam, of Biblical separation and that Ezra and Nehemiah demanded the sending away of foreign wives and their children!”

Have you ever heard a sermon given in the modern churches about what the prophet Ezra did when he heard that the people of the covenant mingled their holy seed with the people who God had forbidden them to marry?  Does he repeat what Billy Graham said, “I don’t see anything wrong with inter-racial marriage.”¹

The prophet Ezra not only didn’t say what Billy Graham said, but his actions show that he did believe that Israel had committed a very big sin.  Ezra “rent my [his] garment and my [his] mantle, and plucked of the hair of my [his] head and of my [his] beard, and sat down astonied” (Ezra 10:3). 

After Ezra had done these things the next verse says that there were assembled around him everyone that TREMBLED at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I [Ezra] sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

Then at the evening sacrifice, the Bible tells us that Ezra fell upon his knees and spread out his hands unto the LORD his God and prayed a true prayer and confession of sin.  What did Ezra pray about?  He prayed about Israel’s sin; Ezra said:

• That he was ashamed and blushed at Judah’s sins that they have committed.
• That Judah has sinned from the days of their fathers until now.
• Because of Judah’s sins we have gone into captivity and confusion as at this day.
• Yet Judah’s God has showed us a little space of grace for our restoration.
• Judah are slaves, but our God did not forsake them; He has given them favor in the sight of the kings of Persia to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem.
• Judah has forsaken our God’s commandments.
• Our God has punished Judah less than we deserve.
• Our God has given Judah deliverance.
• Should Judah do again the things that they were destroyed for?
• Should Judah’s God not destroy them again even more completely than before?
• You are righteous and Judah has sinned.
• Judah is before our God in their trespass, Judah cannot stand before our God because of this great sin.

When the prayer was over there assembled unto Ezra a very large congregation of men, women and children who were weeping very much.    One of the men offered a solution to their awful sin.  He said unto Ezra:  “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land:  yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.  Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law” (Ezra 10:2, 3).

What was the penalty for any Israelite who did not agree to this solution?  They were given three days to come to the counsel of the princes and the elders.  If they failed to show up than “all his [their] substance should be forfeited, and himself [their selves] separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.”

All Israel [Judah] came to this meeting, and it was decided that it would take time to work out all the details of the separation of the men from their foreign wives and children.  The men would go to the judges to settle this matter in the best way possible and as soon as possible in order to avert the wrath of God.  It took about 2 months to examine all the different cases which came before the judges. 

There were:

All of the above had married foreign wives and agreed to be separated from them and their mixed-breed children. 

And since Billy Graham said that he could find “nothing in the Bible to forbid interracial marriages,” what about Leviticus 21:14 that refers to who the high priest of Israel was allowed to marry?

1.  No foreigner, of another race or color.  She had to be an Israelite.
2.  She had to be a virgin.  Therefore, he could not marry
   1. Any widow
   2. Any divorced woman
   3. Any profane woman or
   4. Any harlot, even if redeemed and an Israelite.

The Bible forbid Israel’s high priests from marrying a lot of women!

Well, let’s go a couple of thousands of years into the future and see where the descendants of Jacob forsook another one of God’s main financial laws of liberty.  All of the United Colonies, before it changed its name in 1776, had charters that declared the God of Israel to be their God.  “When America was colonized, the settlers in every colony made Biblical law their basic law.”² What did this mean?  For example, they made sure that there was no tax on their property, for this was basic to Biblical liberty.

The land that was given to your fathers would stay in the family forever.  It could be sold for a period of time, but would always revert back to the family.

What part of the nation was the last to put a property tax, which is against our God’s laws on liberty?  “The South was the last area to accept property tax, and it was largely forced on the South by post-Civil War Reconstruction.”³

Both Wars, the Revolutionary War and the War of Northern Aggression (miscalled the Civil War), were but pretexts to advance a secret Luciferian-Zionist agenda, requiring nullification of God’s Law so that the property tax (tithe) might gradually be imposed, thereby making the secular state the country’s new god.  The true purpose of both Wars was to abolish the Bible as the governing Law of the land, which for the previous two centuries it had been.⁴

America was founded upon God’s laws when it broke away from the domination of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe.  They crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the hope of worshipping their God in the way that they felt was necessary.  They were almost all Calvinists and Lutherans—by that I mean that they believed in the sovereignty of God.

But for the last five centuries, Protestant Churches have lined up on opposite sides of a debate about the free will of man vs. the sovereignty of God.  Slowly, the followers of Jacobus Arminius were found in all Methodist Churches then spread to many Baptist Churches, and then to the Seventh Day Adventist Churches.  Now, it is the main doctrine of the “Christian” Church.   

The Calvinists are a lot closer to the truth than the Arminians.  In fact, Arminianism is a false gospel.  The main difference is that the Scriptures do not apply to all races, which is the main error of Calvinism.  God’s elective power is limited to the seed of Israel in this age as opposed to all races.

Jacobus Arminius was the leader in the first major departure from historic Protestantism.  It was an unhealthy reaction to the coldness of the Dutch reformed Church which led to a serious doctrinal error.  Arminians were put out of the presbytery and were persecuted socially for five years, and then given freedom by the government to establish their own churches and schools.  Arminianism had a great influence in England and it invaded the Anglican Church and nearly all the dissenting denominations.

The author of the famous hymn Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady, believed that Jacobus Arminius was a secret agent of the Jesuits.  The Jesuits themselves have revealed that Arminius was their secret agent to poison the doctrine of the Protestant Churches.

During the Arminian regime of Archbishop Laud, the persecutor of the Puritans and the Covenanters, zealous Arminians were promoted to the best bishoprics.  A famous Jesuit letter contained the following information:  “Now we have planted the Sovereign Drug Arminianism which we hope will purge the Protestants from their heresy; and it flourisheth and beareth fruit in due season…I am at the time transported with joy to see how happily all instruments and means, as well as great or smaller, cooperate with our purposes.  But to return to the main fabric:  OUR FOUNDATION IS ARMINIANISM.”⁵ 

In reference to the Calvinistic doctrines—the doctrines of free and sovereign grace held by the Reformers in England--Toplady observes, “Queen Mary and her Spanish husband well knew that Calvinism is the very life and soul of the Reformation; and that Popery would never flourish till the Calvinistic doctrines were eradicated.”⁶  Her efforts to destroy by the sword those who upheld the Truth earned for her the unenviable name of “Bloody Mary.”  The charge on which many of them were burnt at the stake was that they held to the doctrine of predestination and rejected the Arminian and Popish doctrine of free-will.

Arminianism was one major successful attack, now let us look at another mistake ancient Judah made.  Jeremiah gave a prophecy that he had received of the LORD.  Jeremiah had prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would be taken and Zedekiah, the King of Judah, would be led away captive.  This was the word of the Lord which had come to the prophet at the time Nebuchadnezzar and his armies came against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah:

Jeremiah 34:2-3

2) “Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3) And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.”

Emphasis was placed upon Zedekiah’s eyes because Jeremiah declared he would see Nebuchadnezzar and be taken to Babylon, while Ezekiel had declared he would not see Babylon.

“My net also will I spread upon him (Zedekiah), and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he (Zedekiah) not see it, though he shall die there.” Ezekiel 12:13

Zedekiah believed neither of these two prophets of God.  This apparent discrepancy was further borne out in that Ezekiel declared that the king would die in the land of the Chaldeans while Jeremiah prophesied he would not die by the sword, but would die in peace and at his death a peaceful funeral service would be held and the people would lament for him:

“But thou (Zedekiah) shalt die in peace:  and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odors for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord!  For I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 34:5

All these prophecies came true, nevertheless, as verified by the record, for Zedekiah did not perish by the sword.  He did meet and talk with Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, after which his eyes were put out and he was taken away to Babylon where he died in peace.

But, what does that mean for us?  There is more to the story.  In the stress and troubles afflicting Jerusalem, Zedekiah had made a covenant with the people at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty throughout the land. 

What was this covenant that they made together?   The two contracting parties came together and killed a calf, cut the body into two parts, and passed between them.  The idea was that if the same fate awaited him--that of being cut into two pieces— like the calf, they would die at the hands of the Babylonians.

They covenanted that every man would set free all his Hebrew men and women servants now.  They would not wait until the seventh year.  According to the requirements of the Law of Release:  When an Israelite had served six years for a debt, he was free to go in the seventh year.

So, the men and women of Jerusalem made this covenant and their slaves were freed.  The Egyptian army came to the south of Judah and the Babylonian retreated from their positions of attack on Jerusalem.  It looked like the people of Jerusalem would be free like their Hebrew slaves.  God said that they had done right, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and that they had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by the LORD’s name.

Judah was spared from the attacked by the Babylonians.  War was avoided…until?  When the danger from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar seemed to pass, the princes and people, who had set their slaves free, seized them again, pressing them back into slave hood!

The covenant had been broken by the people of Jerusalem.  The calf had been slain, solemnizing the covenant, for the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, with the officials, officers and priests, and the people had passed between the sacrificial parts of the slain animal.  This act, in the name of the Lord, signified that as the sacrificial animal was cut in two, so would they be subject to be cut in two if they broke their covenant.

Jeremiah 34:17-20: 

17) “Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother, and every man to his neighbor:  behold, I proclaim a liberty for you , saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you  to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 18) And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof. 19) The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; 20) I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life:  and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.”

Zedekiah did not have to make such a covenant, for he was already under covenant obligation to God to do this.

Deuteronomy 15:12-17

12) “And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years:  then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 13) And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 14) Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress:  of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him 15) And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee:  therefore I command thee this thing to day. 16) And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; 17) Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever.  And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.”

All perpetual servants of Hebrew stock became such only by personal choice; otherwise they were to be free at the end of 6 years of service.  The word forever is absolute and unlimited in time where no limit exists, as with eternal things; but it is limited where such a limit is implied or declared, as here.  Not only was an aul thrust through the door to make a hole in the ear, but to symbolize that the servant was to stay with his master as long as he lived. 

The covenant was made and obeyed and broken again; and this is what caused the prophecy of this chapter regarding judgment from God.  God called attention to the covenant He had made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt.  Israel did not keep it; and this was why they were in their present trouble, and going into captivity.

Jeremiah 34:21-22

21) “And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you. 22) Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire:  and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.”

Conclusion

Many overlook the fact that God requires His people to obey all His laws.  Every vow taken must be fulfilled.  Zedekiah, the King, with his princes and all the people had taken a vow and made an oath that they would keep the provisions of the economic Law of Release, then deliberately refused to keep their vow.  The result of their broken vow is set forth in the judgment God pronounced against them when He numbered them for slaughter for refusing to keep the covenant and oath they had taken.  Their sin would not have been so great if they had not made a solemn vow to let the people go free and then repudiate their oath. 

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5:4-5:

4) “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools:  pay that which thou hast vowed. 5) Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.”

and in Deuteronomy 23:21:  

21) “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it:  for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.”

It is very evident that God allowed the army of Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw so that He might test His people to see if they had truly experienced a change of heart.  But Zedekiah and the people failed the test.  They had taken a solemn oath in a time of great national danger and, when the danger seemed to have passed, they immediately proceeded to ignore the provisions of the covenant they had made with God.

In this account we have a clear demonstration of God’s attitude toward all who refuse to keep their solemn vows which many today often make in the face of a crisis and proceed to forget after the crisis has passed.⁷ 

Was someone you loved very ill and you made a vow with God, and then after the person got better you forgot your vow?  Did you want a certain job and you made a vow with God, and when you got the job you forgot that you made the vow with God?  Did you marry your sweetheart with a vow before God, and then one of the spouses broke the vow? 

Does the Bible teach anything about interracial marriage?  Why did the Protestants have 2 very different views on God’s working?  What great sin did the princes and people of Judah commit that sealed their captivity for a long time?   I hope that you now know the correct answers.

Repent and sin no more.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.

References:

1. Arnold Murray, “Christian Identity Ministries, September, 2015
2. Rushdoony, Chalcedon Report #24
3. Ibid
4. Matthew Luckey, “Separation of Church and State,” Inside the Church?
5. Dr. Jack L. Arnold, Church History; Reactions to Historic Protestantism.
6. Edward Hendrie, “Proof of a Satanic conspiracy to Substitute a False Gospel in Place of the True Gospel”
7. Pastor Ramsey, “Kingdom Commentary”, Session 8.