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The U.S. government is made up of three distinct branches modeled after the biblical order of governance that mandated a separation of powers. In the Old Testament we see the King, the Priest, and the Prophet. Today we call these branches, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. Three branches sharing equal power, meant to keep each other in check. It should be easy to connect the dots here. One branch enforces the laws (the King or Executive), one branch brings forth the laws (the Priest or Legislative), and one branch rules if the laws are being interpreted and obeyed as per their intent (the Prophet or Judicial). Think Rock —Paper—Scissors! What a beautiful balance of powers. And such a beautiful form of governance was created by none other than the Creator of all things.

What happens when any one of these branches attempts to override the other two? The Executive Branch can overstep its power by use of executive orders. A King without a Priest and a Prophet is a tyrant! In today’s vernacular we might say a President without a legislature or judiciary is a dictator. When the Legislative Branch oversteps its authority, it’s equivalent to “me, me, me,” or “mob rule.” A Priest without a King and a Prophet is an Idol! Today we might say this happens when legislative representatives (lawmakers) have sunk to the lowest common denominator, when all that matters is to appease the majority! And when the Judicial Branch has gone off the rails it begins to “legislate from the bench.” A Prophet without a King and a Priest is an anarchist! Who needs to interpret if laws are being properly applied when we can simply invent our own laws at any moment.

Moses was called to be a Prophet of the Most High, but he finds himself also filling “priestly duties”, even though the Levitical Priesthood has not yet been formally initiated. Moses is about to get a lesson from Jethro, his pagan priest father-in-law. “Son, this is how you run an organization without burning out.” No doubt Moses has been hearing from Yahweh, the King, and making judicial decisions, but he is also trying to take on all the ministry to the people. Suddenly a priesthood, the people ministry, makes a whole lot of sense. Shortly after Moses takes Jethro’s advice, God confirms that this is the direction He is taking His people. “If you obey Me,” He says, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Yahweh is the King, Moses is the Prophet, and now we need a formal ministry of, to, and for the people!

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We are called to love and pray for our enemies—a high calling indeed. But, are we called to do the same for Yahweh’s enemies? I think the answer is certain; we are not to pray FOR them but ABOUT them! But, what about them?

There is no doubt that the line a man crosses to the place of no return is difficult to understand, but let there be NO DOUBT that such a line exists. In the Old Testament the line was demarcated with a public voluntary commitment to worship Yahweh and crossed when returning to worship other gods, yet insisting that it was okay to do so, and having total peace about it. Joshua called it a “witness against yourself.” I don’t believe this included ignorance or accidents or self-deception. It seems to be a moment of knowing and yet still purposely doing so. In the New Testament it is simply referred to as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, or grieving the Holy Spirit, or the sin that leads to death for which no amount of prayer can remedy.

God calls these line-crossers wicked; they hate Him and have become His enemies. As such, let us agree that all sorts of curses and destruction are coming upon these enemies of His. And we need not identify those who today hold this dreadful title because they are perfectly capable of identifying themselves. They arrogantly raise their hands and openly declare, “Pick me, pick me, pick me!” They place their hand upon God’s Holy Writ and make promises while they aspire to evil and boldly stand for beliefs and practices which Yahweh calls abominations. They openly declare by their proclamations and actions that “There is no God!” Yes, they arrogantly live lives filled with sin that leads to death. Yes, we must pray, not for THEM, but instead ABOUT them. It’s a simple prayer. Father, please show the world Your vengeance against those who hate You!

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Each week the Scriptures challenge us with something new. No other book can affect us like that; literally, you can read the same old words and be impacted in a brand new way. The Word is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword! This week as I read through the final three plagues before the exodus, these words gripped me; “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” It was a blackness so black that the people could feel its weight on their skin and they could see absolutely nothing. It was a complete absence of light.

It stirred something as I contemplated the appropriate title for such a teaching: Unimaginable Darkness, Total Blackness, and Darkness Within. Finally, I simply settled on these terrifying words: “Darkness You Can Feel”. There was no light in Egypt. Can you imagine such total darkness that you could literally feel it? That was Egypt’s final step before complete devastation. But there was light over the children of Israel in Goshen and their deliverance was near. Today, I sense that a total darkness is near in all the “Egypts” in the world. And once again God’s people will see the deliverance of the
Lord.

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The ancient battle rages on. There have been many playwrights and players along the way, but the storyline is always the same. Men would rather be worshiped as gods than worship God. Whether it was Pharaoh, king of Egypt, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go (Exodus 5:2),” or, Herod [Agrippa I], king of Judea, “And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man (Acts 12:22)!””man has long fought to steal the honor due only to Yahweh.

The outcome is never good. Men who arrogantly receive the accolades reserved for God alone always meet with a dreadful fate. Fire, worms and warring angels, among other horrible outcomes await all who challenge Yahweh’s ultimate authority. And it’s sad to say, but right now we are witnessing the same obstinance by world leaders. Strap in, “Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For Yahweh will work a work in our days which you would not believe, though it were told you.” Habakkuk 1:5

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We are living in a time in which governments are behaving more and more as if they are God. In truth, if we pay close attention, we can see that they continually devise ways, like in the days of old, when kings and magistrates DEMANDED worship. By force, either by written or oral decree, kings would require allegiance to themselves, instead of the God in whom the people believed, the God in whom they preferred to serve and worship. While we are yet to see such ultimatums, “Worship the king or die!” the time may not be too far off. Many indicators point to a day quickly approaching when believers will be forced to privatize their worship in order to exercise any worship at all. May it always be said of us, those who identify as the children of the one and only Most High God, that we would fear God instead of man!

We have already witnessed business owners being persecuted and sued, and some businesses caused to shut down, for not providing services they deem to violate their closely held religious convictions. Legal battles have ensued over religious liberties between establishments and the government. Secular authorities’ attempt to impose cooperation with same-sex unions and late-term abortions. And this year, under the guise of pandemic restrictions, they have even forced the closure of Churches throughout the nation. The list of issues against the believer is long and growing every day.

It’s time to take the gloves off! Who do you Fear; do you Fear God or do you fear man? Ultimately, government bureaucrats are pushing to create a godless society at the behest of a sin-riddled world. We are living in a postmodern, pluralistic society in which people are being indoctrinated to believe there is no ultimate source of truth. As such, there is no ultimate source of morality, and at the very core, they’d like you to believe that we owe allegiance for who we are and to what we can aspire, to their very rulership. I don’t know about you, but I can’t vote for that!