Without law and proper enforcement of that law a nation, no matter how powerful and successful, will not survive.  The Scriptures tell us that “A nation divided against itself will fall” (Mat. 12:25).  This is brought out early on in Genesis 1:28 and 2:16,17  where we find God laying down His Law to Adam.  Man was created to have dominion over all the earth and everything on it, under it and above it.  That dominion included man himself.  Man was given a personal spirit by which he was to determine his will (Gen. 2:7).  God said that the spirit of man was under the control of man (1 Cor. 14:31).  Man has control of his will.  Man’s  “walk” or “conversation,” meaning his thoughts, words and deeds–the totality of man’s character–is determined by man himself.  Man decides whether to obey God or Satan–his only two choices.  Man decides whether to obey not only God’s Law but the law of the land also.  It is man’s will that determines what happens to him during this life.  The Lord makes this clear in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.  Those two chapters, among many others, explain why man is wallowing in a physical, social, mental, economic sewer.  This series will show that it is his spiritual condition–attitude toward God’s Law–that is at the root of all of his self-inflicted curses.  In short, man, following his will, has dug the cesspool in which he now flounders.  What the reader will learn is that someone is exercising external control over man’s, including churchman’s ,will.  Someone is influencing man and determining his attitude toward both the Law of God and the law of the land.  Who is the influencer and how he influences the will of man, and therefore the thoughts, words and actions of man, will be revealed in this series.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man Who, like his fellow men, had a will.  Recall that when under grave stress and danger He prayed that He would not fail His Father by weakening.  When faced with sure torture and death He was under so much stress that blood vessels in his forehead burst so that blood ran down His face (Lk. 22:41,42).  Like all other men, Jesus had a personal will.  His will was to live, as is the will of all people.  He could have weakened and given in to His will.  He asked the Father if there was any other way that He could be mankind’s Savior.  Knowing that there was not, He said: “… nevertheless, NOT MY WILL BY THINE BE DONE.”  His will determined his actions.  He surrendered to God’s will and pleased Him by suffering and dying for a God-rejecting world.

Jesus could have followed His human will and refused to die for you and me.  He was under so much pressure to refuse God that an angel was sent to strengthen Him (vs 43).  Being in agony he prayed even harder, causing His sweat to mingle with the blood now oosing out of broken blood vessels and falling to the ground (vs 44).  Jesus knew that He and the Father comprised the divine family.  If He failed to obey, the family would be divided.  Man would not have a Savior and He and God would spend eternity separated and alone.  God’s Law required Jesus to die.  His Law had to be obeyed.  Man, now separated from the God family, had to have a method of joining Them in Their family. Jesus submitted His will to the will of the Father (Lk. 22:42) and became mankind’s only hope.  Man can now join the God family.  His refusal to do so is the cause of all of mankind’s problems.

By obeying the Father as did Jesus, man can join the God family–become sons of God.  Because of His sacrifice, man can become gods as did their big Brother who, AS A MAN, now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven (1 Tim. 2:5).  Those who obey God’s Law in this life will sit with Jesus, AS MEN, on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21).  Recall that Jesus said to His chosen people: “I said, you are gods” (Jn. 10:34,35).  Here He was quoting what He had said as recorded in Psalms 82:6 where He is speaking to potential gods–men who, at that time, were not doing what He commanded His people to do (vss 2-7).  In verse one we find Him “standing in the congregation of the “mighty” men whom He called “gods”–Israelites who were POTENTIAL GODS.  He is asking them how long they were going to disobey Him (vs 2).  In verses 3-6 He tells them how, as gods (children of the most high God) they are to conduct themselves.  Those who obey the Law of God are His sons–gods in embryo.  Only gods will sit on a throne in in the future.  Those who endure in holiness until the end will become gods as did Jesus and sit with Him on His throne (Mat. 10:22).  These are they who, having walked in obedience to His Law in this life, will qualify to be with Him forever as gods, just as He walked in obedience to God and became a God as did He.  As a human embryo grows within its mother’s womb until it is ready to “come out,” Law keepers are growing within a spiritual “mother”–the Church of God–who will “come out” as spirit beings looking like Jesus Christ looks (1 Jn. 3:2).  They will become spirit beings who are gods, as He is now a spirit God being.  The change from physical to spiritual bodily form is the born again experience.  JESUS HAD TO BE BORN AGAIN IN ORDER TO ENTER THE PRESENCE OF THE FATHER.   So must we, for flesh and blood cannot enter God’s presence.  In 1 Corinthians 15:49-52 we find the born again experience explained as the resurrection (rebirth) of the “first-fruits” (Rom. 8:23).  Read Born Again and The Three Resurrections.  Key words Born and Three respectively.

But what about the multiplied billions who, having rejected God’s Law, are not God’s first-fruits in this final age?  The Apostle Peter ponders their future in 1 Peter 4:17,18.  What will cause them to fail and not go to a place of sefety when the Great Tribulation arrives?   INIQUITY –DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW, WHICH IS THE DEFINITION OF SIN (1 Jn. 3:4).  

In Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 God answers Peter’s question in minute, bone-chilling detail.  In the first several verses of those chapters the Almighty promises Law keepers a most wonderful life.  Then He warns Law breakers about their curse-dominated destiny.  As we view the history of man up to and including today, what He warned about has been and continues to be carried out in excruciating detail.  What has happened to the world, specifically the once God-blessed nation called America?  INIQUITY has happened to the people of the United States.  How did this happen?  That question is the focus of this series.  Iniquity in both Hebrew and Greek means LAWLESSNESS.  America has fallen because she has rejected God’s law, thereby committing INIQUITY.  The wages earned by iniquity is death.  The wages (gift of God) earned by obedience is eternal life (Rom. 6:23).

How did iniquity come to dominate the American, as well as the world’s, mind?  The answer is found in the Holy Bible and revolves around the workings of Satan and his fallen angels who are Biblically referred to as “devils.”  In common language they are called “demons.”  The air is filled with demons, just as was the case when Jesus walked among men.  As a man He had to deal with them exactly as men have dealt with them ever since.  Most people know they exist.  In this series we will be studying what demons are and how they operate.  The unchurched world, having no access to the Holy Scriptures, has no knowledge of their existence.  The church world has access to such knowledge, but refuses to embrace it.

The modern world rejects Biblical Truth concerning the nature and modus operandi of Satan and his fallen angels.  Because of man’s ignorance of Biblical Truths he is unaware that Satan and company control every aspect of his life.  With the exception of a few thousand people world-wide, the whole of mankind unknowingly worships, serves and obeys Satan whom they have unwittingly made their god.  As Jesus said about the super-religious people of His day: “IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME.”  Church people do indeed worship Him.  However, their worship is nullified by the fact that they reject His Law and obey laws of their own making (Mat. 15:9).  Such people call Him “Lord, Lord,” then refuse to obey His Word/Law/Gospel/Truth.  He professes that He does not know them as spiritual brethren– Mat. 7:23.  Why?  In Matthew 12:46-50 He identifies His spiritual brethren as, “They who do the will of My Father in heaven,”  INIQUITY is not God’s will.  L.J.