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Of Growth
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Who are the Samaritans?
Part 2

Let us now consider once more our main text.

John 4:3-27 And He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria. (read that as the Spirit at that time drove Him to go through Samaria) Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, (by foot) sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
So under the divine guidance of the Spirit Christ is at that time led to Samaria. Previously upon Christ comings and goings He had NOT gone through Samaria, nor had He any dealings with the Samaritans. – The reason was not that there was any prejudice or malice on His part towards these people, but that the time for Him to be made manifest to the Samaritans was not yet for Christ was called to preach to the Jews first and so began He His ministry traversing between Capernaum and Judea and in so doing He at first went not into the way of the gentiles nor into any city of the Samaritans. And later when he granted His twelve disciples he gave them the same commands God had given Him.

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
But eventually the time came where Christ and the Disciples were to not only preach the Gospel to the Jews but to the Samaritans as well and that meant that they were also to have dealings with them.

Then cometh He (and his disciples) to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, (by foot) sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
So here we now have Christ being led by the Spirit into Samaria a kingdom that had its own separate Governor and its own version of the Sanhedrin. After several days of travel by foot when Christ came to a specific place He wearily sat down at a well and sent His disciples into town to have dealings with the Samaritans and buy the twelve disciples and Himself some food with some of the few coins that Judas Iscariot carried in the bag with him.  In being sent out by Christ among a people that were deemed moral and spiritually unclean, spiritual lepers, this probably went against everything that the disciples knew and sensed, for they were probably filled with generations of personal prejudices. And I might add that the disciples at that time would have more than likely believed that the slightest physical contact with these people could have caused them permanent spiritual defilement. So for the disciples this was a step of faith and obedience

By this time Jesus was already causing a ruckus in Judea for not only was He preaching to those that were deemed as notorious sinners,  (The Pharisees judged this in and of itself over the top) But they found Christ to be the friends of, and in fellowship with, and even sit at their table and eating with these unregenerate unrepentant sinners.  Specifically Christ was found to be in the company of Wine bibbers, (drunken revelers) harlots, (Pimps and their whores) publicans (Locals that bid themselves out to the Romans as tax collectors. They would then prey upon the people of God with impunity to collect these taxes) all of whom were the most hated people of the Pharisees.  And incidentally this same list is the most hated people of religious Christians today.  And we know that Christ turned water into wine, that Christ drank with these drunken revelers for He Himself was called a wine bibber, and Christ later acknowledged that fact.

Matthew 11:18-20 For John (the Baptist) came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man (Jesus) came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

 

Luke 7:33-35 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking (wine); and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children.
And prophetically there was a reason for this. For John was born under the Nazarite vow that he was not to cut his hair, of drink wine of strong drink and John subsisted off locusts wild honey and whatever gleanings he could pick. John was the last of  the Holy Order of the Prophets.  Men who had fully separated themselves from the world unto the Lord. And Christ was a Nazarene, without vow who with His disciples as they traveled and preached more or less living as John. – But whereas all of Jerusalem came out to see John in the wilderness, Christ and His disciples came and preached to the people in the cities where they dwelled and He came in particular to sinners where they were and when that meant eating and drinking with them Christ and His 12 disciples did so.

This eating and drinking by Christ and His disciples is not only implied in the passages cited above but it shows that it continued on from the very early stages of Christ’s ministry right through to his death with the Last supper in the upper room.

Matthew 9:12-15 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, (for) as long as the bridegroom is with them? (They cannot fast because they are to eat and drink at the wedding feast) but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

 And we know from the Gospels also that Christ was one who was acquainted with wedding feasts

Matthew 22:2-4 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: (The implication here is that the king’s wine is also there as well) come unto the marriage.

Luke 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

The implication of Christ’s words here are that when thou are bidden to a wedding feast or to one’s table where meat and drink are served – you are to go and partake. But thou as My disciples, are not to sit at the lead of the table or the places of honor – you are to sit with the commoners.

Luke 12:35-37 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; (as virgins would at a wedding feast) And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return (Greek Analuo -- To depart) from (Greek ek – out from or away from) the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

This passage is grossly mistranslated and so the import of Christ’s words here are completely lost. In the Greek it reads And Ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord , when he will depart out of the wedding – Christ was speaking his final meal with His disciples before His death, and of another meal he was to have and serve his disciples before he left in His ascension, that before he would depart in either case Christ would “gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”

John 13:1-17 Now before the feast of the passover, (Eating the bread, the meant of the Lamb and drinking wine with His disciples this was separate from what we call the bread and cup of communion) when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
I will comment here that Christ says of his disciples ye also ought to wash one another's feet. I can only read that as His commandment. And in this commandment Christ did not say: Do this when the disciples were all mad at each, or when you do this tell each other of whatsoever ought you have one against another – that practice is just one more powerless corrupt and perverted doctrine and tradition of men that renders the Gospel of non effect.

Christ then adds that If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. That is to say all that not only are hearers of his words but whole-hearted humble doers of this word in particular will receive a discernable blessing from the Father.

So how come if this is a command and if it is so important we don’t see it in the New Testament even once? – you do but your eyes have been withholden so that seeing you see not and hearing you hear not let at any time ye repent and have your heart converted.

John 21:17-19 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

John 21:8-13 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish, which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

In John 13:4 and in John 13:5 Christ takes off his garments and girds himself with a servants apron or smock  so here in John 21:19 the word girdest would be referring to Peter imitating Christ and obeying His command to do so to his fellow disciples – Of this Christ prophesies that while Peter is young he is going to humble himself wash other disciples feet and feed Christ’s sheep and he will go in and out to the churches feeding the flock, 

So where then is this all of this?

Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
In this passage we find out that from the beginning that the Apostles were donning aprons and serving according to the commands of Christ the widows, the fatherless, and poor disciples. And I see in this passage that they not only girded themselves as Christ had done, and literally served them meals as Christ had done unto them but they washed their feet as well.
Perhaps we can not rightly track Peter’s shadow to the observance of this commandment but in Stephen and Philip we can see that being full of the Holy Ghost and humbling themselves as whole hearted humble servants waiting tables and washing feet or widows orphans the fatherless and poor disciples they gained stature in the eyes of God – and where given a manifest blessing before all.

Christ speaks that foot washing was a Jewish custom normally done to a guest that was bidden to come to one’s house.

Luke 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

This practice goes back to Genesis
Genesis 18:3-5  And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

Genesis 19:1-3 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

Genesis 24:31-33 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for thy camels. And the man came into the house: and he (Owner of the House) ungirded his (Guest’s) camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and (brought) water to wash his (Guest’s) feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.

This commandment of Christ was not designed to be the part of some special church service, this was to be a common practice among the brethren. It was something near and dear to God’s heart in His relationship with the Abraham the father of faith, and Israel’s patriarchs.

The Church of this hour is a bunch of armchair Christian commando’s who live their vicarious spiritual lives through their viewing of other’s works and ministries on Christian Television Networks and on tapes and in books. We live in the age of a do nothing, give nothing of ourselves church. A church which completely ignores it’s own orphan’s it’s own widows it’s own fatherless and it’s own poor in favor of sending hundreds of millions around the world to extravagant, egocentric, high-profile feel-good photo op generating ministries.

To close this thought Jesus said: “That which you do unto the least of these my brethren ye do it unto me.”

With the thought of the “Least of these my brethren” let us focus once again on the Samaritans and who they are.

The only place in the Old Testament that the Samaritans are named by name is in 2 kings chapters 17 –18,

We read the following statement about the city of Samaria and it’s inhabitants in:   
2 kings 17:5-6
 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
This is where the nine and a half tribes of Israel were carried off to Assyria never to return.

Speaking of the Nine and a half northern tribes and their being carried off the Assyria the writer continues:
2 kings 17:20-23 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of his sight. For He rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
And from the time of Jeroboam until Christ the Samaritans rejected the writings of the Prophets and only accepted as the word of the five books of Moses. Thus allowing themselves to reject and ignore the commandment of God that all of Israel was to report to temple in Jerusalem three times a year and instead they worshiped in a temple made of their own hands on the top of one of one of their mounts as they saw fit.

The finality, with which God removed the nine and a half tribes from His sight, is the same finality with which God shall remove the Great Whore of the Church and the tares from His sight.

So now here Scripture records a minor event; the birth of this loathed race of Samaritans that we later see at the time of Christ.

2 kings 17:28- 41 Then one of the priests (Levites) whom they had carried away from Samaria came (back) and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations who carried (the nine and a half tribes) away from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:   But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. So these nations “feared the LORD,” and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
What we are told is that somehow a lone Levite either escaped or after having being successfully re-educated was sent back to Samaria and settled in Bethel the city where Jeroboam had set up one of the two golden calves.  And we are told that this Levite sent from Satan came to teach the remnants of the descendants of Abraham that yet lived in the area “The fear of the Lord.”  At first glance this sounds good, but in the accompanied verses we see that this priest is utterly corrupt and evil as the unnamed Levite spoken of in Judges 17: that first taught the tribe of Dan idolatry   

Judges 17:4-13 Yet Micah restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and (He then) made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, (This man was NOT of the tribe of Levi, he was of the tribe of Judah and according to the Law of Moses he could NOT minister before the Lord as a Levite) and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. (At first glance this “messenger from satan” appears to only be seeking a perch, from where he can preach and teach) And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, (The ephod) and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, (If this man was indeed a Levite why did he need the consecration of Micah? This is akin to the sacrament of ordination that is done in Catholic and Protestant churches alike. It is a false ordination done to deceive men into accepting sinful men as being holy and sent from God. It is an abomination.) and was in the house of Micah. (With the false ephod, and the house of idols) Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
(Incidentally this is the identical sin the early church later repeated, as recorded by Origen in book 1 of his commentary on the Gospel of John)

This story occurred a few hundred years before the birth of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who we are told time and again “Caused Israel to sin.”

Within this narrative we see a man named Micah and his mother who are blatant idolaters.  We are told that Micah and his Mother dwelled on Mount Ephraim. This man Micah was of one of the two tribes that were no longer considered tribes. He was of the seed of one of the two son’s of Joseph that Israel on his death bed had laid his hands on and prophesied that they were to receive a double portion of Abraham’s in heritance in behalf of Joseph for the sins his brethren had committed against him. We need to see that the events of this story would have probably never occurred had the Israelites obeyed all that they were changed with when they came into the Promised Land. – (We will shortly examine this charge a little further on.) Instead of receiving an equal portion with Reuben Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim received only a small mount and the fringe of land that surrounded it. 

We further told in this passage of scripture that Micah was an unsavory man sort of man. Micah was a confessed thief and a con-man.  (This man is a prophesy concerning the coming of Joseph Smith who also was a convicted thief and con-man who also with His mother created an abomination mixing American Indian idolatry and legend which people he further claimed were the lost nine and a half tribes of Israel with the word of God and instead of making a golden Ephod, Smith made a Golden Bible for all the church to come to and worship -- and this became a snare to untold millions of children of God. The comparison of Joseph Smith and Micah of Ephraim is breathtaking down to Smith’s first name of Joseph – Micah was the son of Ephraim who was the son of Joseph)

So this man Micah along with his mother creates an abomination mixing idolatry with the law of Moses. But there is more than meets the eye to what is going on in this passage of scripture for this man Micah an Ephraimite and he then creates a false Levitical Ephod (a false GOLDEN Ephod like unto the one that Gideon had made that “became a snare and all Israel went a whoring after came unto”) Micah then goes further and makes his son the false priest over this abomination he and his mother have created. The Spirit of the Lord has shown me that this Micah the Ephraim did not do this to gain the favor or protection of God over his household, but rather that this thief and con man like Joseph Smith was actively seeking the wealth and power that this con would bring in unto his household. This con was packaged for export to ensnare all of Israel, so that all of Israel would go a whoring after it.

Micah with his false golden ephod and his false priest son was vying to be the administrator of a false judgeship over all of Israel. He was seeking to set up a local version of the tabernacle of Moses where people would come near and far to sacrifice and seek the Judgment of God.  For in this man-made position Micah’s son was also to act as the lone false prophet over Israel as also Joseph Smith did. How can we be sure that this is so? Because this identical thing was done 9 chapters earlier in the book of Judges, And unlike Gideon who the devil fooled into created a stumbling block for all of Israel Micah went in with his knowledge of the weakness of Israel towards this very thing. So in the footsteps of Balaam Micah and his mother set up this thing so that Israel would sin against the Lord and utterly defile themselves. This premeditated con to stumble the people of God into worship of the Golden Ephod and the idolatrous images of his own making associated with it, makes me say that Micah was indeed the Joseph Smith of his day. And therefore from this text we can say that the coming of this perverse idolater Joseph Smith and his subsequent deception that caused many in the “church” Baptist’s Methodists, and Presbyterians to fall away into his perversion of truth was an event that was prophesied of in scripture, even down to the down to detail that as it was taken by sword from Micah it was taken by gunfire from Joseph Smith and that the original intent of both men and their doctrine was set aside. For we see in scripture when the tribe of Dan came and stole Micah’s False Levite and the golden ephod and the images they forsook the house of Micah and his teaching and influence ceased over the abomination that he created.

Judges 8:24-27 And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
This was the
Golden Ephod. And it was made because Satan had tempted Gideon to do so.  And it became a snare to all of Israel.

But later in Judges 17 the abomination that Micah and his mother created, this Golden Ephod and his son as the false priest/prophet was not enough in and of itself apparently Micah’s natural son was far from convincing even with the golden ephod – and this is also part of the tangled web between Joseph Smith, Solomon Spaulding and Oliver Cowdery the men that invented the Golden Bible that was later called the book of Mormon. 

And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, (The golden ephod) and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

We see in Judges 17 that the devil sends in one of his own, “a young false Levite” who by virtue of his self-proclaimed “authenticity” not to mention that he could act the part with style which Micah’s son apparently could not. (Even in Pinecrest there was some talk given on how one was to carry themselves to give them a greater air of Authority, it was advised in some classes that these “potential priests” should separate themselves from the Laity and the President of the school would recount a tale of a fellow bible school grad from EBI that became a preacher in a small mountain church. The tale continues that when he became too chummy with members of the Church, and this preacher began working and living among to save the church some money and expense, and that because of this chummy relationship and living and working among them that this preacher became the object of their gossip and became completely undone. In the story the man quits the ministry. And we are them told that he was later persuaded back into the ministry by the presumably the President of the school and some fellow classmates.

In a personal incident in bible school I was under deep conviction for personal reoccurring sin. (and in all my years of praying and seeking the Lord on this matter I only gained relief of it late in November of 2002.) And on that day the Academic Dean in an uncharacteristic move came over to me in the Lobby of the New Yorker (Never before and never after did he greet me in such a way.) and He said “Brother  ------ it can’t be that bad. He patted me on the back and smiled broadly. We all go through this Brother. The only difference between you and us (The faculty and Preachers) are that we just learn to hide it better.”  He then patted me on the back once again. And walked away to his office. While I cannot testify that he knew what was burdening me, but I can say that his words nonetheless shocked me at the time. And I summarily rejected his words, but not to his face.   

 So we see this polished fake Levite or the tribe of Judah with no name was able to add veracity to Micah’s abomination, so much so that it was later accepted as a viable way of worship the Lord by the Klesia of  Israel. So after this cult center is established on Mount Ephraim what we next read about is the tribe of Dan and its five spies becoming involved in the spread of this abomination.    

Judges 18:1-31 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.  The other tribes having put aside the obligation of helping their other brethren enter into their inheritance as was expressly warned of by Moses, and now we see here the effect of the sins and omissions of the father’s effect on generations down the road. For if Dan and Ephraim had received their proper inheritance and had, true teaching Levites among them this would have never occurred. And this can be likened unto the great commission not being obeyed by the either klesia or the ek-klesia  and the abominations in the last generation that have befallen the people of the United States Europe and the world. Abortion, Humanism Atheism Feminism Muslimism had the Gospel of Jesus Christ been truly preached to every nation and tongue, had the nations been truly made disciples of Christ the world would be a much different place than it is today. But the history of the fallen church is that of the kingdom of Judah and of Israel and their never-ending idolatrous lusts that led to their utter rejection and utter destruction and the church of this hour boldly and brazenly walks in their same path and in the sins of their fathers.

And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. (As previously stated the devil created this as a snare for this very day) And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.(They should have slew the Levite then and there and burned down the entire place but instead they are drawn into this sin by their own lusts for an inheritance and their receiving the blessing of God even though they were being withheld from a sinful and corrupt people.) And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. (Here the devil tosses them a few bread crumbs by giving them a lying sign and wonder to verify this false priest-prophet) Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
So here we have the account of how idolatry came to the tribe of Dan, through Dan this idolatry was later disseminated through the nine and a half tribes of Israel by Jeroboam tge son of Nebat. And note here that the sons of this corrupt Levite and this first graven image, this first molten image, and this false golden ephod remained in this land until the captivity of Samaria and the carrying off of the nine and a half tribes to the land of Assyria, from which they NEVER returned.

Had the other tribes of Israel followed the commandment of God that they fight together and see that each had received their full inheritance before settling in their own land’s – the story here in judges would have been utterly different.

Numbers 32:1-5 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, -- Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.

Numbers 32:6-15 And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?

Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them? Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. And the LORD'S anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel. For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

As I have emphatically argued elsewhere – this same thing befell the early church. The sins of the Apostolic Fathers drove the Holy Spirit out of the early church – and for 1900 years generation upon generation of the Church has been rejected of God and not allowed to enter into the promise. And in this passage prophetically speaking of us we can see one of the reason’s why – that which ye do to the least of these my brethren . . . Once the early churches were built in Ephesus, Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch, they went and built their own (spiritual) houses and barns, and tended their own (spiritual) fields to the detriment of the rest of the church --  Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? – By the time of the Book of Judges the glory of God had lifted from the congregation of Israel as it later did from the early church and the people of God, became wandering sheep and every man did what was right in his own eyes – and so is it in the Church of our day. The anointed deliverers or Judges of the book of Judges can be viewed as the revivals through church history. Unlike my brethren I firmly disagree that there has been a progressive restoration throughout church history instead we see the book of Judges where the sheep wander in darkness and become a prey and God sends a deliverer – who gathers sheep and brings a great deliverance – the formation of a new denomination with signs and wonders) but he is not able to pass on his gift or mantle and then the children do evil again and become a prey (the new denomination becomes as corrupt as all the others that preceded it) There was no progressive restoration in the book of Judges and neither has there been any progressive restoration in the body of Christ. The Church has not been transformed, they yet live in sin and darkness which is further obscured by their many corrupt teachers that lie continually to them that they are upright, sinless, and walk in the fullness of God. Their teachers are that corrupt Levite that taught the people that were not a people to fear the Lord, but in so doing he filled each one’s house with idols. That they might become an abomination in the sight of God. And people wonder where the power of God is? And they wonder why the church of this hour in no way resembles what they read early church in the book of Acts and the Epistles?

Some have cried to the Lord for truth and here it is: You are blind naked and wretched in the sight of God and except you repent with your whole heart until He removes your stiff neck and your heart of stone ye shall not live, and ye shall not enter into His promise as your fathers that have gone on before you.   Ye have compassed about this mountain for 1900 years and if ye so desire your children and your children’s children can compass about this mountain for another 1900 years. Yea your forbearers’ bones do bleach in the wilderness as testimony and a witness against them and their sins that are great before Me, and I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my promise, and neither shall their children that walk in their evil and corrupt ways and follow after in their perverse doctrines and traditions.  Those that seek me with all their heart shall be found of Me and I shall be their light in darkness, their guide in the wilderness, and I shall sustain them. Follow thou steadfastly after me.

Numbers 32:16-19 And they (The Elders of Gad and Reuben) came near unto him, (Moses) and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.

And we know from Judges that this thing never happened. After a season they wearied in well doing and everyone returned to their own house and Christ was left alone with no place to rest his head.

 

Numbers 32:20-35 And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and (Until) the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth.

This did not happen here, and it did not happen with the early church the Gospel was NOT preached to every creature every nation and every tongue instead everyone went home and hunkered down in their own churches. – So that all of the land that was promised to Abraham and the children of faith was never taken. And at the zenith of the kingdom of Israel under David he was not able to go beyond the bounds that His fathers had subdued before him. Realize that where he did take that which his fathers before him did not it never became a permanent part of the kingdom of Israel, instead quickly it evaporated away. What I am suggesting here that even David as close as he walked with God was restrained by the sins and omissions of his fathers. And Later Hezekiah though he walked with God was even further bound by generation upon generation of sins of the men that went on before him   People will emphatically deny this. They will say it goes against Christ dying on the cross for the remission of sins. That remission was the purchase of your salvation and the purchase of you.  That death on the cross was not carte blanche for you to live a sinful and iniquitous life following in the footsteps of your fathers. With Christ’s death now everyman has the opportunity to walk with God as Abraham, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Christ and the Apostles did – and those who chose not to do so, do so to their own damnation. Christ did not die so that you could live the good life, Christ died that you might be a partaker of him and suffer without the camp so that we might bring many others into the hope of His glory. When the early church’s first love went cold and they everyman put up their spiritual swords and went instead to tend their own barns and their own fenced cities, their sin found out all as did the whole of Israel in the book of Judges.  And because of this, a great pox came upon them all and upon their children and their children’s children even as Moses had prophesied.

Back to the book of Judges and the coming of the corrupt Levite: Had the Levites been true to their calling to be wandering teaching priests instead of seeking for paid cushy positions, the law would have proclaimed to the men of Dan – and how different might this story had been? As the Son’s of Reuben and Gad felt the call of their warm houses and the call of their wives and children – and they could no longer bear to wander from place to place city to city with their brethren – so too the Levites who were given no inheritance so that they might be wanders seeking a city made without hands like their father Abraham but instead they found themselves lusting after a fixed dwelling and living in safety and comfort and so they too were unable to fulfill their calling and when the enemy came in and began snatching the sheep of the house of Miciah there was none to stand there and defend the house of God and when five spies of Dan saw the priest and the idols there was none to stand and defend the house of God and when the elders of Dan saw the corrupt Levite his false ephod and Idols there was none to stand there and defend the house of God and the next step occurred with Jeroboam the son of Nebat the first King of Israel anointed and called of God – and there were no teaching priest at that time either to defend the house of the Lord. The point here is that there were many opportunities over a period of generations for Israel and the priesthood to repent and turn unto the Lord but there was no revival that occurred in the whole of scripture when the people universally recognized their sin and repented and led the king and Levites to repentance. Instead revival occurred when one was sent or anointed of God to be the people’s deliverer. And it has been much like that during the so called church age at no time has any church or denomination on their own  been able to come to a place of repentance clean up their act and do their duty.  Instead they walked in the sins of their fathers, and followed their fathers corrupted teachings and traditions – the change ultimately came with the direct intervention of God in not some glorious self appointed companies of believers but in a single man or woman like Abram, Moses, Samuel, David, Hezekiah and Daniel people that were not a part of the corrupt priesthood.     

The phrase “They knew the voice of the young priest” means that he had been wandering in that area for some time trying to land himself a profitable podium. And apparently when he was previously seen by the elders of Dan. And at the time they decided this young man was not worth his salt – when he finally got the job of “priest” in the house of Micah that somehow meant that he now had worth.

Years ago I was a salesman for a marketing corporation and as part of the position you had to read motivational books, watch motivational tapes, and go to all kinds of training classes and seminars one of those seminars was “Dress for success” essentially salesmen are actors and those that are successful must “appear” to be educated, and must appear to be successful. We were told over and over that No person buys from a salesman who does not KNOW their product, and that likewise no one buys from a poor or starving salesman.  

When this man was a poor and starving Levite none in Dan would hear his words or pay to hear him speak. Yet six months later, this same man is now dressed in a golden ephod, being well fed and has money in his pocket to boot – who no longer is begging for crumbs from the people of God The children of Dan immediately bowl before his perceived earthly stature. (This goes back to my discussion of bible school and the small doses of this same trash that were taught.)

In my sales days I was not only taught what to wear and how to wear it but I was taken and hand carried to clothiers and my pinstripe suits, my shirts, power ties and even my shoes were selected for me. We were taught how we were to stand, how we were to sit, our mannerisms were scrutinized and adjusted to add force to our words -- for two years I lived in the belly of the beast as one of the company’s most successful salesmen winning all expense paid trips to Hawaii and the Caribbean I say this not as a boast, but I say this because God put me there and had me see and hear this stuff so that I would forever recognize it where ever it reared its ugly head in the church. 

This is not the anointing of God. This is not the power of God. These men and women do not exude authority from the Holy Spirit. They reek of the wisdom of this world, and of the devil.  Everywhere I go I see preachers, elders, and evangelists, wholly given to these tenants to make them appear as one that has authority.  The Church of this hour is no different than politics where image is everything, and every day is a photo-op to be seen of men. 

I Kings 11:28-38 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name (This is what Christ is speaking of when he spoke of removing the lamps of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, the churches therefore are not spoken of there are one universal body with one universal lamp but each has an independent lamp that was in fact removed.) there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.
We see in 1Kings 11 that Jeroboam the son of Nebat was not just anyone he was a great man of valor that fought faithfully defending Israel and King Solomon.  Because of this Solomon makes Jeroboam the ruler of the house of Joseph and that places him of the two small provinces of Mount Ephraim and Manasseh that were being constantly attacked by the king of Syria. And the Lord blesses this man and he prospers in organizing and building his forty acres of the kingdom. For Jeroboam this was his not despising the day of small things, and lo and behold the Lord sees Jeroboam’s faithfulness and that he obeyed the law still walking in what had been taught in the days of David – in other words he had not fallen into the sins and corruptions of Solomon and apparently the men under Solomon were all taken with the kings sins themselves and deemed unworthy. So the Lord send the Prophet Ahijah to anoint Jeroboam as king over the Nine and a half tribes. So in the same fashion as David was chosen over Saul Solomon is now rejected of God but because of God’s promises to David God does not take down Solomon but instead will take down his son from being a super power in the region to the status of being a minor king of one and a half tribes.  We can see the same fate occurring Historically to the Spanish empire, the British empire, the French Empire, the Dutch Empire, and the German Empire And even the Soviet Union all of them went from being super powers to being lone states. And today the Roman Catholic Empire is fading before our eyes as being the super power of the church towards becoming a Church of a single state. And while the United States may enjoy this super power status its days are numbered as its sins increase exponentially before the Lord. And in that regard America is a reflection of the corrupt churches within it are not supposed to have an earthly portion, and that have not and will not act as teaching priests within the nation.   

And after Jeroboam is anointed king and not promised, but given the nine and a half kingdoms Solomon like king Saul seeks out to kill off the one who God has anointed in his place. But God protects Jeroboam as he did with David. And Jeroboam no doubt has to hid in caves and dens are David did until the death of Solomon and the time of his unveiling before Israel.   

The Lord had commanded Jeroboam to follow after him like David and not to worship all these foreign Gods as Solomon did and for a period of years Jeroboam did exactly that. But once he actually became King over Israel he was presented with a problem. According to the Prophets the temple had been moved from Bethel and the tabernacle of Moses to the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and according to the Law of Moses every Israelite had to present themselves before the temple three time a year to make sacrifices. His advisers from the corrupt tribes of Dan and Ephraim that still had the Golden Ephod of Sin and the image of the Teraphim and the molten image of Micah tempted Jeroboam to sin against the Lord telling him that if all of Israel were allowed to go to Jerusalem to worship that they would all turn from him.  Jeroboam is prophetically a figure of Martin Luther whose coming was prophesied of by John Huss as he was burned at the stake. Luther was faced with the problem of the Roman Catholic Mass and Communion He wanted to abolish both but was convinced that the draw of communion was so much that his churches would all leave him and rejoin the Catholics so Luther invented a false and empty communion and said these be your God’s. And historically the nine and a half protestant tribes have followed in this and his other abominations. (Make no mistake here,  I am not advocating Roman Catholicism over Protestantism I am exalting Christ and the Word of God above all that unrighteously call themselves the Ek-klesia when they are but the klesia. And very a corrupt klesia at that.)  

Jeroboam tempted of Satan, a man who was chosen and anointed of God, who knows what is required of him by the Lord when he comes into the limelight and is suddenly exalted by men and becomes a celebrity to all of Israel loses his mind. He becomes completely taken with the riches wealth and power of this earthly kingdom that he loses complete sight of God the one who gave this all too him. When he comes into power he does not gather to him the Prophet Ahijah and the uncorrupted Levites to seek God on how to lead this kingdom that is too great for him instead he allows emissaries from the corrupt tribe of Ephraim and Dan to come unto him. When they presented him with their Gods and the Golden Ephod he should have rent his garments and slain them all at once. But he was taken instead with their words of cunning craftiness and because of this the sin of the two tribes now became the sin of the nine and a half tribes and for that Jeroboam’s name has forever gone down in infamy as the one who caused all of Israel to sin.

2 Kings 10:29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

So also when half of Germany was rent from the Catholic Church and given by God to Martin Luther he also sinned great sins against Christ and the father. John Calvin who had been given several Swiss cities by God had sinned great sins, and Menno Simons who had been given hundreds of churches all across Europe sinned great sins against the Lord and all of their followers have followed in their corrupt footsteps partaking of the same cup of sin as they.

So now we come full circle to see the culmination of the sin of Micah and His Mother which became the sin or Jeroboam and now it has become the sin of the Samaritans.
2 kings 17:20-23 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of his sight. For He rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

2 kings 17:28- 41 Then one of the priests (Levites) whom they had carried away from Samaria came (back) and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations who carried (the nine and a half tribes) away from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

So we now once again come upon the appearance of a single Levite a corrupt teaching priest – that is laden with all manner of sin and corruption that comes speaking the fear of the Lord, but his bag are filled with new and even “more powerful” idols than the ones his predecessor peddled to the tribe of Dan. Idol from the past that were supposed protecting the people that instead precipitated their being carried away by the Assyrians. So that now we have not the two golden calves, we do not have groves we do not have the high places, we have not the temple on the mount that are filled with idols, this “Levite” single handedly is now able to take to this sin to a whole new level. For now this messenger of satan has succeeded in making every house of the Samaritans -- the house of Micah.

So by the time that Judah returns from the Babylonian captivity they find these Samaritans steeped in idolatry, such as never has been seen. We might as well call them what they are false Israelites living in the place of the missing nine and half tribes. They occupied cities they did not make, they lived in their houses they did not build, they farm fields they did not plow – to boot these people all claim to be the children of Abraham, (they were comprised of the descendants of Lot, Ishmael, Esau and children from the Patriarch’s concubines.) And many of them even claimed their fathers had traveled with Moses while he yet lived. They also claim to follow the five books of Moses which turns out are their own heavily edited and rewritten false version with some 6000 changes in the text. They also made their own false Levites from the lowest among them, and they built a false imitation temple on a mountain.

The mountain upon which they worshipped is called Mount Gerizim, which in actuality is Mount Moriah where Abraham took Isaac to offer him. Though this is not the reason that the Samaritans chose this mount as their sacred site of worship. It was chosen because upon this mount their fathers with Moses worshipped the Lord. 

There had actually been a temple upon that mount but in 128 BC during a localized war between the northern and southern provinces in Samaria John Hyrcanos destroyed the Samaritan temple on top of the mount this event is recorded in Josephus 13:255

While the Talmud states that Samaritans scrupulously kept the statutes of the law of Moses   -- the common view was that: “The Samaritans were without law not even the remnants of a commandment and are thus suspect and degenerate.”  Rabbi Shim’on 150ce

The Samaritans laid great stress that they were the descendants of the Patriarchs

While the Jews eventually decided that they would not even consider them blood relations.

According to Josephus in 36 AD a man summoned the people to go with him up mount Gerizim and promised he would show those who came with him the sacred vessels buried there by Moses himself, this event is recorded in Josephus 18:85

From the Pharisees point of view, these were two-fold children of hell who were making a mockery of the bible, the priesthood, the temple, and what it was to be of the household of Abraham.

And probably what enraged them most of all concerning the Samaritans was their blatant idolatry seemingly had no consequence.

First let me comment here that the Samaritans being there at that very time was not without purpose.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
The Samaritans were there to test and prove those that had returned from Babylon to see if they indeed had cleansed themselves and forsaken idolatry. They were probably every bit as alluring and enticing as the women that had been sent out by Balaam. They were probably wealthy and offered the Jews all kinds of help and financial deals to help them rebuild the rubble heap that was once Jerusalem but the sin had been completely burned out of the Jews and they feared their becoming entangled once again so they kept their distance and had no dealings whatsoever with these corrupt people.

So when Christ came along we know by the wording that she knew that there was a great prophet in Israel. She had heard the rumors that the Messiah had come.  And this woman at the well no doubt suspected that this man was He. But she was nevertheless stunned by his actions.

How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

John 4:21-23 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers  shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Christ’s answer here is utterly profound first he speaks of their worship in the mountain and the Jews worship in Jerusalem ceasing. He then implies that neither the Jews nor the Samaritans as a people shall cease.

As I write I see a most curious thing in Christ’s words I have never seen before. “Ye worship what ye know not; For salvation is of the Jews. I see Jesus answering the unvoiced broader question of the Samaritan woman: “How is it that the Jews say we are cursed of God and yet you the prophet of God knowing all things have come to partake of what we have received of God?

To this Jesus responds ye are blessed in that ye worship ye know not what  -- I see your false worship, your false Levites, your false bible and all the sin and corruption with it  but because you blindly and ignorantly try to imitate the heirs of salvation and worship h you know not what – the Lord has taken into account your utter blindness and the intent to heart. But to the Jews who are the heirs of salvation the least contact with any of what you say of do would bring about their utter destruction, so they must keep their distance. But the time of the partition between them and you is about to come to an end and in the future neither Jews or Samaritans worship will be acceptable unto the Lord – only the worship of those who worship in spirit and in truth.

The first Adam was faced with this identical situation in the corruption of Eve – whom he was to have redeemed.

The Second and Last Adam Christ was faced with the identical situation with the inwardly corrupt Jews and the outwardly corrupt Samaritans both of whom Christ was to redeem

Likewise we are faced this hour with the inwardly corrupt Klesia and the outwardly corrupt Samaritans both of whom we are to redeem.

Though I am sorely tempted to draw a line connecting this and the great Whore of revelation that is filled with all manner of filth and abominations I can not righteously do so because the great whore is the Klesia not the Samaritans – the Samaritans are those that are loathed by the klesia 

So the question comes once again Who then are the Samaritans?

Samaritans are a people that can talk a good game about the Fear of the Lord

Samaritans have their own bible that is not the bible.

Samaritans have their own false Temple

Samaritans have their own Levites made of the most common of men.

Samaritans claim to have some kind of physical lineage to the patriarchs

We know that the Kelsia has no dealings with them and loathes them –beyond even the gentiles

We know from Christ that – “Samaritans know not what they worship.”

That regardless of what they preach, teach or believe that it can not produce salvation --  Christ testified against their entire religious order when he said  salvation is of the (spiritual) Jews or the Klesia in our day.

I will mention also that the first group of so called “spiritual” Samaritans to the Klesia came at the end of the first century – and they are called the Gnostics.  The problem with the coming of these “spiritual” Samaritans and their own custom bible was that their coming is enshrouded in the time when the church itself was falling into darkness and losing the power of the Spirit – So that there were no longer any Apostles or Prophets with sign wonders and diverse miracles the Klesia that were able to challenge the Gnostic Apostles and Prophets and their Samaritan mixture of Greek Philosophy and mystery religions, Roman idolatry, and Christianity.  And thses came speaking in tongues and with a renewed and powerful gift of prophecy – and it was because the most spiritual and hungry of the church were pulled into these meetings and God as promised in scripture was found of them that sought him with all their heart despite the sin and corruption of the movement’s leaders. In the book of revelation we have a church that is called a church that has a false prophetess name Jezebel that committed fornication,  and several other churches are named has having grave sins and perversion yet they were recognized by the Lord and he spoke specifically to them as He strived against their sin that he might save some.  

And again I repeat as I have written elsewhere that this leaven in this case of the Gnostic Church historically leavened the entire lump of the Klesia and all of these things were accomplished long before the “Latin Church” or the Catholic Church was a twinkle in Origen’s eye. After this occurred the traditional garb of the Greek philosopher was donned by many second century Apostolic Father’s at least until the pre- Roman Catholic “Latin Church” developed their own robes and garb for their false Levites and false high-priesthood.  So in effect what we understand as Roman Catholicism is in actuality Gnostic lite, just as I have passionately argued that Protestantism is Roman Catholic lite.

Another phenomenon is that the “Latin Catholics” are up in arms about Vatican II and the last 4-5 Popes and what they call “These Popes shameless attempt to Protestantize the Roman Catholic Church by removing the Latin Mass, allowing the Charismatic Renewal, and a whole list of other things. Of late in the Last pope he rotating the Altar so that their Priests like Luther did in the Reformation now face their audience, as their perform their priestly functions, and the latest Pope has now encouraged the faithful to read the bible over catholic catechisms and commentaries to promote spiritual life and growth.    So In effect the leaven of the successful protestant denominations in particular fundamentalist believers and Pentecostal believers are leavening the whole lump including the Catholics into doing and believing things that no amount of preaching or teaching could ever get them to accept of believe. 

In this article Mormonism is compared to Islam


Vol. VI.                               New York City, April 9, 1836.                               No. 15.

 

For the New-York Evangelist.

                                    Elyra, Loraine Co., Ohio, April 1, 1836.

Bro. Leavitt -- I have often wondered that so little is said or known of the Mormons, who are now making progress in this country. There certainly has not a more extraordinary religious sect sprung up since the time of Mahomet. They are generally thought too contemptible even to be noticed. But I think this is a mistake. There are some striking features of resemblance between this imposture and that of Mahommed. Both admit the common Bible, but profess to have received a new revelation that entirely supercedes the old. Both owe their origin to a person in the lowest ranks of life, almost totally illiterate, with scraps of religion, and superstition, and mysticism about him, whom his followers regard as a Prophet of God that has direct intercourse with the Deity. Both prophets profess to receive from time to time direct revelations from Heaven, by which they are governed, and govern their followers.

The Kirtland imposture has collected a considerable number of followers, not less, they say, than twenty thousand. I have just made a visit to the settlement at Kirtland, where about one thousand are located. There they have erected, and nearly completed, a huge stone temple at an expense of forty thousand dollars. Its dimensions are sixty by eighty feet, and fifty feet high. It is of no earthly order of architecture, but the Prophet says is exactly according to the pattern showed him, though it is by no means equal to that in splendor from the want of means. It appears to be of two stories, having two rows of gothic windows running round it, besides windows projecting from the roof for the attic story. The first floor is the place of worship, and is completed in a very showy style, with four rows of pulpits at each end, having three pulpits in a row. These 12 pulpits rise behind and above one another, and are designed, the uppermost row, as they say, for the bishop and his counsellors; the second for the priest and his counsellors; the third for the teachers, and the fourth, or lowest, for the deacons. Each end is provided in the same manner. The body of the house is occupied with slips, but the seats in them are moveable, so that the audience can sit facing either end of the room. -- Over the division between each of the rows of pulpits hangs a painted canvass, rolled up to the ceiling, and to be let down at pleasure, so as to conceal the dignitaries behind from the audience. Similar curtains, or as they are called, "veils," are disposed of over the room, so that it can at any time be divided into four apartments, to carry on the objects of the imposture. Every thing about the temple is evidently designed to strike the senses and attract curiosity, and at the dedication, which is to take place next Sabbath, most astonishing "glories" are promised and expected by the faithful. The second floor, and the attic loft are designed for a seminary, literary and theological! which is expected to have the manual labor system attached to it. The Mormons appear to be very eager to acquire education. Men. women and children lately attended school, and they are now employing Mr. Seixas, the Hebrew teacher, to instruct them in Hebrew; and about seventy men in middle life, from twenty to forty years of age, are most eagerly engaged in the study. -- They pursue their studies alone until twelve o'clock at night, and attend to nothing else. Of course many make rapid progress. I noticed some fine looking and intelligent men among them. Some in dress and deportment have all the appearance of gentlemen, yet the majority are exceedingly ignorant. They all profess a great deal of piety. And in this respect they equal the Mohammedans themselves. They abound in prayers and other acts of devotion. Many of them are converts from the Baptist and Methodist sects, but none, or next to none from the Presbyterian church; and aside from the delusion of Mormonism, they have the appearance of being devout Christians. They are by no means, as a class, men of weak minds. Perhaps most fanatics and visionaries have intellects peculiarly though perversely active.

They all have revelations continually, though the prophet alone is authorized to commit them to writing, for fear, undoubtedly, of discrepancies. Besides the Mormon Bible, they already have a Book of Revelations. Every impulse is an immediate revelation, and they answer all difficulties and objections by asserting that they know that they have the truth, for it comes directly from heaven, and the objector is a poor blinded creature in the way to destruction

There is one difference which ought to be mentioned between the revelation of Joseph Smith Jr. and that of Mohammed. The latter had at least, the merit of a flowing and beautiful style. But there never was a more bald, senseless, drivelling collection of trash, put together in the form of a book than the book of Mormon and the Supplementary Revelations. It is really astonishing, and it is humiliating to think that any human beings who have read the Bible can be so far deluded as to believe such a wretched farrago to be a divine revelation.

In proportion to the strength of their faith they have the power of working miracles, healing the sick, &c., of which they relate numberless instances, though no body attests them besides themselves. They have the gift of tongues, which is merely the capacity to scream in an unintelligible gibberish when they are highly excited. The more intelligent place but little reliance upon either miracles or prophecy, for the purpose of convincing unbelievers, as they have so often attempted both without success; but rely chiefly on their own internal experiences. What they know, of course they know, and there is an end of the matter.

That most of them sincerely believe in their mummeries cannot be denied. Some probably have attached themselves from other motives. Many are doubtless pious though deluded men. They furnish evidence of being for the most part men of perverted intellect disordered, unfurnished minds, with no sound principles of religion, inclined to the mystical and dreamy, and ready to seize upon any thing, no matter how crazy or absurd, that will gratify their restless, crazy piety, and bolster up their exorbitant, spiritual pride. Such men always exist in every community, and are always the fit subjects for fanaticism and delusion. They call themselves "latter day saints," and profess to be the only true church, to have the only gospel order, consisting of apostles, elders, bishops, &c. &c., which several orders of the Christian hierarchy have been distinctly brought to light in the Book of Mormon. They believe that there is no true church without apostles, prophets, miracles, tongues, &c. as they existed in the apostles' days, and to which they lay very positive claims. They lay great stress upon the promise, "these signs shall follow those that believe, &c.

The inquiry instinctively arises, are they really so blinded as would seem, or are they a set of impostors? With respect to the great mass, I have before said; that I believe they are no hypocrites, but genuine fanatics, completely blinded and deluded. But of the leaders I do not believe this is true.

I had the honor of making some acquaintance with the illustrious prophet, Jo Smith, and his coadjutor, Rigdon, and the other inferior satellites. Smith is apparently about thirty-five years of age, and is evidently a singular being. He is very plausible and polite in his manners, has an eye that glistens like a serpent's, and is perpetually flying about to find some object on which to rest. His lips are firmly compressed, and he wears an eternal smile of self-complacency on his features, and has all the air of one who is conscious of having communion with invisible spirits, whether good or bad you are at a loss to determine. He has been a money-digger and necromancer from his youth, and his father before him. His character is undoubtedly about an equal compound of impostor and fanatic, and combines all the features of the knave and the dupe.

Rigdon is altogether another sort of man. He has been a Campbellite preacher, of considerable talents and eloquence. He is a large, fat, jolly fellow, who knows how to turn his talents to the best account, and manifestly has not a particle of faith in the imposture, but practices it for purposes which he knows best. He was evidently, as I talked with him, ashamed of the silly fooleries that he was propagating, and took the earliest opportunity to make an excuse and leave the company. What an account such men will have to render to God in the day of retribution!

The rise and progress of this extraordinary delusion shows religious teachers the importance of having sound instruction along with high excitement, that men may have some other evidence on which their faith rests than the impulses of their own unstable minds. And the fact that scarcely a convert has been made from Presbyterian ranks, (a fact which the fanatics ascribe to their pride) is certainly highly creditable to that denomination.
                                                          JAMES H. EELLS.


Note 1: A rather similar letter, describing the Kirtland Mormons six months later, was published in the July 4, 1837 issue of the Daily National Intelligencer. In that report, Smith is described as having a "countenance destitute of all expression," while Rigdon's "countenance beamed with intellect" and his preaching was "mild, artful, insinuating." The second observer says: "The whole appearance of things indicated to my mind that Rigdon is the man who pulls the wires of the whole machine behind the screen of Joe Smith's inspiration." Mr. Eells' description of Rigdon, as a Mormon leader who "manifestly has not a particle of faith in the imposture," was echoed by William H. Leffingwell, who also visited Kirtland prior to the temple's dedication. Recalling that visit, nearly 50 years later, Leffingwell says: "I went to Kirtland in a buggy accompanied by a young lawyer, to see Joe Smith and the Mormon leaders. We drove up in front of a large tent and Sidney Rigdon came out. I told him that I corrected the Mormon Bible when it was Spalding's manuscript. I assured him I gave it the proper construction and what grammar it had. He smiled and said that was all right, but requested me to say nothing about it."

Note 2: For two other descriptions of writers' encounters with Smith during the Kirtland era, see the April 5, 1834 issue of the Evangelical Magazine and pp. 149-159 of Nancy Towle's 1832 book, Vicissitudes Illustrated.