CONSTITUTION MYTHBUSTERS

And there we saw giants … and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33)

 One More Trip Around Mt. Sinai . . .

This one faithless act by the Old Covenant Israelites resulted in a generation’s worth of wandering in the wilderness: forty years of what amounted to one more trip around Mt. Sinai over and over and over again. We’re informed in Deuteronomy 1:2-3 that the trip from Mt. Sinai to Canaan was an 11-day journey. It instead took 14,600 days for the Israelites to finally complete in order to take dominion of the promised land bequeathed to them by Yahweh.¹ Squandered time, lost opportunities, and wasted lives—all because of what amounted to self-imposed impotence.

The Israelites had no excuse. They had witnessed first-hand Yahweh’s multifaceted deliverance from Egypt, and yet they still refused to follow their Savior to their victory and inheritance.

Sound familiar? It should. American Christians have honed self-imposed impotence to a fine edge. They have been making one more trip around Mt. Washington over and over and over and over again as a consequence of looking to the Constitution² rather than Yahweh’s moral law as the supreme law of the land.³ They have been repeating this trek, not for forty years, but for two hundred and twenty-seven years—82,855 days and counting. As a result, the kingdom languishes, wickedness abounds, and Christians are getting the trampling they deserve:

 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)

 However, all is not bad news. A good stomping tends to bring back some of the saltiness. In other words, eventually everything goes wrong just right. Lord willing, we’ll begin seeing greater and greater dividends on this “investment.” Until then, we will continue to witness the consequences of contemporary Christianity’s suicidal tendencies.

There are at least three tragic lessons to be gleaned from Numbers 13 and the Israelites self-imposed impotence. When we do the same:

• We limit ourselves
• We empower our enemies
• We limit God.

Limiting Ourselves

Unlike Joshua and Caleb, the ten faithless spies limited themselves, not so much as the result of viewing the inhabitants of Canaan as giants, but as the result of regarding themselves as grasshoppers:

For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he…. (Proverbs 23:7)

They were grasshoppers because they saw themselves as grasshoppers. Thus, it was inevitable they would also act like grasshoppers.

Worse, what a man fears often becomes his reality:

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. (Job 3:25)

After rejecting Yahweh’s initial instructions, this is precisely what occurred when the Israelites proceeded without Yahweh’s sanction:

And they rose up early in the morning, … saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which Yahweh hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, … it shall not prosper. Go not up … because ye are turned away from Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top…. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites … and smote them, and discomfited them…. (Numbers 14:40-45)

It is, therefore, crucial we fear no one but Yahweh:

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in Yahweh shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)

To do otherwise is a violation of the First Commandment, per Deuteronomy 6:1-24, etc.⁴

Today’s Christians have limited themselves in numerous ways, principally with their anti-dominion mindset. Among other things, this theology teaches:

1. The kingdom has yet to be established
2. It’s a spiritual kingdom and, therefore, not present in this world
3. Yahweh’s moral law is not relevant under the New Covenant⁵
4. Christ’s return is imminent
5. It’s therefore futile to “polish brass on a sinking ship”⁶

All of this translates into a church that, for the most part, is culturally impotent. Christians are no longer pursuing the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. Instead of pursuing the kingdom of heaven (a phrase employed thirty-two times in Matthew’s Gospel), most contemporary Christians pursue the kingdom in heaven (a phrase found nowhere in the Bible). They thereby leave the non-Christians virtually unchallenged regarding most affairs here on earth.

If Christians would pursue the kingdom of heaven here on earth now, they wouldn’t have to concern themselves with the kingdom in heaven in their future. Turn that around and you may very well have reason for concern about your place in the kingdom in heaven. Why would the King want anyone with Him in heaven who is indifferent to His kingdom here on earth? It’s the New Covenant equivalent to Haggai 1:

Thus speaketh Yahweh of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Yahweh’s house should be built. Then came the word of Yahweh by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled [paneled, NASB] houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith Yahweh of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith Yahweh of hosts; Consider your ways. (Haggai 1:2-7)

And Yahweh’s enemies love to have it so. They relish Christianity’s self-imposed impotence. This impotence amounts to a grasshopper mentality by which Christians have all but confined themselves within the four walls of their homes and church buildings. They have effectively walled themselves off from the world—or at least from having any kind of significant impact upon the world. In fact, on February 27, 2009, James Dobson conceded that we have lost the culture wars.⁷

The good news is that if Christians will shed this millstone they’ve hung around their own necks, they can turn this around.⁸ They might even begin to resemble their first-century brethren who were accused of turning their world upside down:

And when they [some of Christendom’s first-century enemies] found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down … [doing] contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. (Acts 17:6-7)

Empowering the Enemy

A grasshopper mentality not only limits ourselves, it also emboldens our enemies:

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33)

Those last seven words reveal how we empower the enemy when we deem ourselves anything less than how Yahweh views us.

Contrast Numbers 13:33 with what occurred forty years later when Joshua sent two men to spy out the same land. After hiding the spies on her roof, Rahab declared the following:

And she said unto the men, I know that Yahweh hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. …our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you…. (Joshua 2:9-11)

What made the difference? Both the Israelites and Canaanites were the same people they were forty years earlier. But the second time around the Israelites had shed their grasshopper shackles and instead viewed themselves as the giants—or even better, led by a giant. In other words, instead of viewing themselves as sheep for the slaughter, they esteemed themselves as sheep led by a lion—and this time the Canaanites were terrorized.

Presently, Christianity’s enemies do not fear us. They have no cause to, if for no other reason than collectively we view ourselves as Christianity rather than Christendom.

In other words, we’re not taken seriously because we’ve yet to take ourselves seriously. We view ourselves as grasshoppers—as victims instead of victors, as the trampled instead of the tramplers, as the domineered instead of the domineering. Thus, the non-Christians ruling over us see us the same.

Don’t overlook the prefix “dom” in the word “domineering,” the same prefix in the word “dominion” and suffix in the word “kingdom.” To be kingdom-minded demands we be dominion-minded, and to be dominion-minded demands we view ourselves as the dominate rather than the dominated in society.

What Christianity’s enemies fear is the day Christianity sheds their mentality of “There are giants in the land everywhere we look!” This will occur when Christians wake up to the fact that from God’s perspective on high, the alleged giants aren’t giants at all. They are as much grasshoppers as we are. When this occurs, Christianity will have begun to trust in the One who’s bigger than both themselves and the “giants” in the land. That’s the day Christianity begins to be, once again, transformed into Christendom!

Until then, our enemies will continue to be empowered by Christianity’s self-imposed grasshopper outlook.

Limiting God

Not only does a grasshopper mindset limit ourselves and empower our enemies, it limits God.

This last point will likely be difficult to accept by anyone who believes in the overarching sovereignty of God, as I do. Nevertheless, note the following three passages, which indicate we limit God Himself with our grasshopper mentality:

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. (Psalm 78:40-41)

Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:58)

What an absolute tragedy when we self-impose impotence. It limits us, it empowers our enemies, and worst of all, it limits Yahweh in what He would otherwise accomplish through us.

One More Trip Around Mt. Washington . . .

America is destined for more trips around Mt. Washington—until Christians have been finally honed by America’s desert fires and are prepared for establishing, maintaining, and sustaining dominion on behalf of their King.⁸ May Yahweh hasten the day! In fact, it appears He already has. Praise God, the paradigm shift has already begun!

 

Related posts:

Republic or Kingdom: Which Are YOU Promoting? Part 1

Republic or Kingdom: Which Are YOU Promoting? Part 2

10 Reasons the Kingdom Here on Earth Isn’t Mission Impossible

Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant

 

1. YHWH, the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, is most often pronounced Yahweh. It is the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible and was inspired to appear nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament. Regrettably, it was deleted by the English translators. In obedience to the Third Commandment and the many Scriptures that charge us to proclaim, swear by, praise, extol, call upon, bless, glorify, and hold fast to His name, we have chosen to memorialize His name here in this document and in our lives. For a more thorough explanation concerning important reasons for using the sacred name of God, see “The Third Commandment.”

2. Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective

3. Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective

4. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is the first in a series of ten booklets on each of the Ten Commandments and their respective statutes and judgments.

5. Law and Kingdom: Their Relevance Under the New Covenant

6. This self-defeating unbiblical concept was first made popular in the 1950s by J. Vernon McGee.

7. 5 Reasons the Constitution is Our Cutting-Edge Issue

8. 10 Reasons the Kingdom Here on Earth Isn’t Mission Impossible