5 Cycles of Discipline (Leviticus 26:14-39)

1. 5 Cycles of Discipline(Leviticus 26:14-39) For God’s Chosen Nation & For God’s Client Nations

2. Hosea 4:1-6 • Definition – National judgment for disobedience to the Word of God. The curse upon rejecters of the blessing. • Definition of a Client Nation – a national entity under Divine Institution #4 responsible for the custodianship of Bible Doctrine & for being a base for missionary activity. • Verse 1: “There is no truth or mercy (chesed)…” – there is no character in the people. • Verse 1: “There is no knowledge of God…” – religion & legalism had replaced doctrine & grace. • Verse 6: “Rejected” – not just neglected, but despised, scorned, abhorred, loathed.

3. Hosea 4:1-6 • As the nation accumulates disobedience & rejects the Word of God, the judgment (Divine discipline) increases. • They begin rejecting the 4 Divine Institutions (#1 Free-Will, #2 Marriage, #3 Family, & #4 Nationalism) & thereby bring discipline upon themselves. • Cf. Nehemiah 10:29; II Chronicles 24. • See Leviticus 26:14-39 for the 5 Cycles of Discipline.

4. 1st Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:14-17 • A strike on their persons. • “Appoint” (vs. 16) – governors of a disobedient people. • “Terror” (vs. 16) – fear instead of calm, serene peace. • Because of terrorism, violence, unrestrained criminality, hostility from other nations, etc. • Results in a frantic search for security. • Causes many laws to be passed (such as the “Patriot Act”) for the “social betterment” of the people. • These laws turn around, trapping & suffocating the people. • Big emphasis on life insurance, health insurance, welfare plans, etc.

5. 1st Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:14-17 • “Wasting disease & fever” (vs. 16). • Instead of health & strength, the nation begins to have loss of health – big emphasis on health begins to develop. • The more emphasis on health, the less health the nation enjoys. • Hospitals overflow, mental disorders become rampant. • The nation begins to have “wasting disease & burning fever” (vs. 16) – disease such as AIDS, Ebola, Enterovirus D68, Cancer, Tuberculosis, & mystery illnesses. • Eventually, as this cycle of discipline increases under the other cycles, the medical system begins to fall apart. • “Consume the eyes & cause sorrow of heart” – the physical effects of wasting disease & the psychological effects (“exhausts the eyes because of anxiety & causes depression” – NET Bible study notes).

6. 1st Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:14-17 • The economy begins to fall apart – “sow your seed in vain” (vs. 16). • Crop destruction, inability to compete with foreign markets (petro dollars will eventually collapse our economy). • Can also refer to the Church having very little spiritual impact upon the spiritual condition of their communities. • Believers not walking in victory – not standing spiritually – defeated. • The nation’s enemies will “eat” the profits & the nation’s quality of life will begin to go downhill.

7. 1st Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:14-17 • Vs. 17 - God’s Face will be set against the nation (for cursing) rather than shining upon the nation (for blessing) (cf. Numbers 6:25). • Discipline in the form of defeat on the battlefield (vs. 17) – military begins to have poor leadership, immorality, & cowardice. • We have not won a war since WWII. • We could have won in Korea if the Commander-In-Chief would have listened to Gen. MacArthur • We could have won in Vietnam if we would have listened to soldiers like LTC Anthony B. Herbert. • All we accomplished in Iraq was basically for nothing – the radical Muslims are quickly taking back what we fought so hard for. • The same thing is happening in Afghanistan.

8. 1st Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:14-17 • “Those who hate you shall reign over you” (vs. 17) – sneering authority. • Instead of serving the nation, the leadership will serve itself & their agenda, & only use government benefits to seize more power for themselves. • In our case, they will do all they can to destroy our Republic & free enterprise. • “You shall flee when no one pursues you” – national cowardice. • This becomes painful discipline because it causes damage to the soul & increases torment from neurosis (goes back to “terror” in verse 16).

9. 2nd Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:18-20 • The 2nd Cycle increases the intensity of the 1st Cycle (vs. 18) – “…punish you seven times more for your sin” – a metaphor for “a whole bunch!” • A strike on their possessions. • The people of the nation are characterized by pride & self-righteousness (vs. 19) – religion (not Christianity) usually begins to predominate. • The land & the environment becomes the enemy of the farmer (vs. 19) – severe drought begins to spread. • California is facing one of the most severe droughts on record Intensity: •          D0 - Abnormally Dry •          D1 - Moderate Drought • D2 - Severe Drought •          D3 - Extreme Drought •          D4 - Exceptional Drought

11. 2nd Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:18-20 • An application of the “drought” goes far beyond just what is happening in the land – • it includes raw materials from which products are made; • advertising; • marketing; • whatever brings a production of profits. • The people will work hard, but it will be in vain (vs. 20). • The nation goes into an economic recession (vs. 20). • Poverty increases. • The beginning of famine (have you seen how they stock the store shelves lately?!).

12. 3rd Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:21 & 22 • The 3rd Cycle increases the intensity of the 1st & 2nd Cycles (vs. 21) – “…seven times more plagues …” – a metaphor for “a whole bunch more!” • A strike on their children & cattle (wealth in an agricultural economy). • “Wild beasts” (vs. 22) – people revert to being like animals as they move away from God. Unisex becomes more & more the norm. • What are some “wild beasts” that endanger our nation & our children today?

13. Drugs (pharmakia) Homosexuality Societies attitude toward traditional families Abortion Pornography Educational system “Wild animals” Child molestation Medical/Legal system Bible & God taken out Evolution DSS No Spanking Isaiah Rider - Chicago Humanism Justina Pelletier - Boston

14. The 10 Points of Humanism(From “The Philosophy of Humanism” – 8th edition by Corliss Lamont pps 13-15) First, Humanism believes in a naturalistic metaphysics or attitude toward the universe that considers all forms of the supernatural as myth; and that regards Nature as the totality of being and as a constantly changing system of matter and energy which exists independently of any mind or consciousness.

15. The 10 Points of Humanism Second, Humanism, drawing especially upon the laws and facts of science, believes that we human beings are an evolutionary product of the Nature of which we are a part; that the mind is indivisibly conjoined with the functioning of the brain; and that as an inseparable unity of body and personality we can have no conscious survival after death.

16. The 10 Points of Humanism Third, Humanism, having its ultimate faith in humankind, believes that human beings possess the power or potentiality of solving their own problems, through reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method applied with courage and vision.

17. The 10 Points of Humanism Fourth, Humanism, in opposition to all theories of universal determinism, fatalism, or predestination, believes that human beings, while conditioned by the past, possess genuine freedom of creative choice and action, and are, within certain objective limits, the shapers of their own destiny.

18. The 10 Points of Humanism Fifth, Humanism believes in an ethics or morality that grounds all human values in this-earthly experiences and relationships and that holds as its highest goal the this-worldly happiness, freedom, and progress - economic, cultural, and ethical - of all humankind, irrespective of nation, race, or religion.

19. The 10 Points of Humanism Sixth, Humanism believes that the individual attains the good life by harmoniously combining personal satisfactions and continuous self-development with significant work and other activities that contribute to the welfare of the community.

20. The 10 Points of Humanism Seventh, Humanism believes in the widest possible development of art and the awareness of beauty, including the appreciation of Nature's loveliness and splendor, so that the aesthetic experience may become a pervasive reality in the lives of all people.

21. The 10 Points of Humanism Eighth, Humanism believes in a far-reaching social program that stands for the establishment throughout the world of democracy, peace, and a high standard of living on the foundations of a flourishing economic order, both national and international.

22. The 10 Points of Humanism Ninth, Humanism believes in the complete social implementation of reason and scientific method; and thereby in democratic procedures, and parliamentary government, with full freedom of expression and civil liberties, throughout all areas of economic, political, and cultural life.

23. The 10 Points of Humanism Tenth, Humanism, in accordance with the scientific method, believes in the unending questioning of basic assumptions and convictions, including its own. Humanism is not a new dogma, but is a developing philosophy ever open to experimental testing, newly discovered facts, and more rigorous reasoning.

24. Secular Humanism Secular Humanism - Excluding God from Schools & Society Secular Humanism is an attempt to function as a civilized society with the exclusion of God and His moral principles. During the last several decades, Humanists have been very successful in propagating their beliefs. Their primary approach is to target the youth through the public school system. Humanist Charles F. Potter writes, "Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school's meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?" (Charles F. Potter, "Humanism: A New Religion," 1930)

25. Secular Humanism John J. Dunphy, in his award winning essay, The Humanist (1983), illustrates this strategic focus, "The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith:A religion of humanity -- utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to carry humanist values into wherever they teach. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new -- the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism."

26. Secular Humanism Is this what's happening? John Dewey, remembered for his efforts in establishing America's current educational systems, was one of the chief signers of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto. It seems the Humanists have been interested in America's education system for nearly a century. They have been absolutely successful in teaching children that God is imaginary and contrary to "science."

27. Secular Humanism Secular Humanism - Main Tool is Evolutionary Thought Secular Humanism is manifested in Evolutionary Theory. To satisfy the fundamental question of "Where did we come from?" children are taught the doctrine of Evolution. The first plank of the Humanist Manifesto states: "Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created." The second plank states: "Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process." Certainly, the public school system propagates the Humanist doctrine (clearly an atheistic "religion"), and thus, condemns the concept of God.

28. Secular Humanism This is an amazing irony. Creation Science has been successfully kept out of the public schools by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.) on the grounds that Creation is religious, and the government should not support religion in any fashion. "In fact, evolution became in a sense a scientific religion; almost all scientists have accepted it, and many are prepared to 'bend' their observations to fit with it." (H. S. Lipson, FRS, Professor of Physics, University of Manchester, UK, "A Physicist Looks at Evolution", Physics Bulletin, vol. 31, May 1980, pg. 138).

29. Secular Humanism Yet Evolution has not been proved. Sir Arthur Keith, a famous British evolutionary anthropologist and anatomist, confesses, "Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable." In fact, it seems that the Theory of Evolution is contrary to established science. George Wald, another prominent Evolutionist (a Harvard University biochemist and Nobel Laureate), wrote, "When it comes to the Origin of Life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance!" ("The Origin of Life," Scientific American, 191:48, May 1954).

30. 3rd Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:21 & 22 • Rebellious teenagers. • No respect for authority. • An increase in crime. • Property vandelized. • “Highways desolate” (vs. 22) – gas crisis? Commerce declines.

31. 4th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:23-26 • The 4th Cycle increases the intensity of the 1st through 3rd Cycles (vs. 24) – “…punish you seven times more…” – a metaphor for “a whole bunch more!” • “I will bring a sword against you” – refers to not doing well in military battles. • May also refer to a civil war in our own country – look how fast the “Arab Spring” spread. • There is much racial unrest in our nation today – it wouldn’t take much to fan its flames into a very similar movement in this country. • Every coin has 2 sides – the flip side to God’s mercy (loyal love) is vengeance (vs. 25a). When a nation begins to spit in the face of God’s blessing by saying, “The power of my hand has gotten me this wealth” (Deut. 8:17), then that nation is choosing vengeance. • Those that cast off God deserve that He should cast them off.

32. 4th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:23-26 • “Pestilence” (vs. 25) – a pandemic occurrence of sickness that causes widespread death; such as a bubonic plague (a bacterially spread attack on the lymph system) – epidemic diseases raging throughout the cities. • “Shall be delivered into the hand of your enemy” (vs. 25) – bad decisions bring defeat with all the horrors that go with it. • “Cut off your supply of bread…” (vs. 26) – broken economy; loss of economic stability. • “You shall eat & not be satisfied” – Economy goes from recession into depression. • The people still have time for repentance – but not for much longer.

33. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • The 5th Cycle increases the intensity of the 1st through 4th Cycles (vs. 28) – “…chastise you seven times more…” – a metaphor for “a whole bunch more!” • The time for repentance is over. • Characteristics of the 5th Cycle: • Cannibalism (vs. 29) – natural ties are broken (would possibly include family members turning one another in). Widespread death. • Destruction of places of “worship” & the false idols of the nation (vs. 30 & 31). What does our nation worship? • Destruction of the cities (vs. 31). • Destruction of the land (vs. 32). • Dispersion to other lands as slaves (vs. 33). • Fear will become the normal modus operandi of any who are still alive (vs. 36, 37). Cf. Deuteronomy 28 & 29.

34. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • The reason for the 5 cycles of discipline is found in Leviticus 26:34 & 35 – DISOBEDIENCE! • Every 7th year was to be an year of rest for the land – God would provide an abundant harvest in the 6th year that would last them for the following 2 years (they could take food from the land that grew naturally as they needed it – but no harvest during that time). • At the end of the 7th year, on Elul29, all debts were to be released (Deuteronomy 15:1, 2, 9; 31:10). • The word “release” is shemitah(schme-tah) – the release; the remission (the cancellation or reduction of a debt or penalty). • All debts were wiped clean – the nation’s financial accounts were wiped clean. • 29 Elul is called The Day of Remission.

35. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • Israel & Judah had driven God out of their lives & the Shemitah from their land. • What they had refused to observe freely would now come on them by force. • We either adjust to the Justice of God, or the Justice of God will adjust to us. • The northern kingdom of Israel went into the 5th cycle of discipline in 721 B.C., & never returned. • The southern kingdom of Judah went into the 5th cycle of discipline in 586 B.C. (after abundant warnings). • Judah was in captivity for 70 years until the law of the Shemitah was fulfilled (II Chronicles 36:15-21). • And, as we study history, we find that 586 B.C. changed history big time (nations rose and fell around this time frame).

36. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • Haggai 2:6, 7 talks about God shaking the nations to get their attention. • On 9/11/2001 (23 Elul 5761 on the Hebrew calendar) America received its first real shaking. A destruction of buildings & lives. • This was at the end of a Shemitah year, which began in September 2000. • On 9/17/2001 (29 Elul 5761) after being closed for a week, the stock market plunged just over 7 percent, or nearly 700 points, and occurred in response to the 9/11 attacks. A collapse of American financial & economic power.

37. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • On 9/29/08 (29 Elul 5768) the stock market dropped 777.7 points, or 7 percent, and took place in reaction to the U.S. Congress failing to approve the first vote for a Wall Street bailout during the financial crisis that year. The nations financial accounts were basically wiped clean. • This was at the end of a Shemitah year which began in September 2007. • This was America’s 2nd shaking. • We have driven God out of our lives & out of our land. • What we have refused to observe freely will now come on us by force. • We either adjust to the Justice of God, or the Justice of God will adjust to us.

38. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • On September 16, 2008, failures of massive financial institutions in the United States, due primarily to exposure of securities of packaged subprime loans and credit default swaps issued to insure these loans and their issuers, rapidly devolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of bank failures in Europe and sharp reductions in the value of stocks and commodities worldwide. • The failure of banks in Iceland resulted in a devaluation of the Icelandic krónaand threatened the government with bankruptcy. Iceland was able to secure an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund in November. • In the United States, 15 banks failed in 2008, while several others were rescued through government intervention or acquisitions by other banks. On October 11, 2008, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the world financial system was teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown."

39. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • We have just entered a new Shemitah year, which began on September 24th at sundown until sundown on September 25th, and will end at sundown September 13th 2015. • September 13th 2015 therefore is Elul 29, The Day of Remission. • At sundown on September 13th 2015 to sundown September 14th 2015 (Tishri 1), the Jewish New Year begins with Rosh Hashanah – The Feast of Trumpets – The Day of Judgment. • God’s judgments on America seem to be increasing in intensity – what will the next Day of Judgment be like? • It is very possible that this also begins a Year of Jubilee, which will be covered in another study.

40. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 I do not claim prophetic utterance! We are a non-prophet organization! I may be wrong – I hope I am. Nothing may happen this Shemitah that we have just entered into. I am not a date-setter. HOWEVER, I feel a burden that there is a very distinct possibility that a lot is getting ready to happen. God has given watchmen to proclaim the danger of impending doom (see Ezekiel 33:1-6). If the watchman fails to proclaim the warning to the people, & it comes to pass, then their blood is on his head. If he does proclaim the warning, & it comes to pass, then their blood is on their own heads.

41. 5th Cycle of Discipline – Leviticus 26:27-39 • Jonah is a great example of what happens when a watchman proclaims a message of impending judgment & the people actually heed his words. • He told the people of Ninivah (his hated enemies) that they were going to be judged. • He probably really enjoyed telling them that they were going to hell! • THEY BELIEVED HIM & REPENTED! • As a result the doom that was sure did not come on them at that time (it did later, but only because they fell back into their old ways). • Jonah had a big-time problem with their repentance – he wanted them to go to hell! • Just like us, he had a lot to sort out in his people/circumstance testing!