Oh! Such a Heavy Load to Bear
Yes, I must stand before the Lord
And answer in that day
For everything that I have done
For all I think and say
Kind of scary in a way, isn’t it? To have all our thoughts and deeds uncovered before our very eyes. I suppose when John Wesley penned these words, he must have been reflecting upon his own mortality as he took stock of his life. Probably like most Christians, he was thankful that God granted us Grace and has forgiven our indiscretions.
Yet, what about a nation, in particular, a True Israel nation? Could these few words possibly apply to Britain, America, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand? Let’s look at this possibility in light of what Jesus Christ said, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” If you think about it, who could have been given more than was given Jacob Israel’s favourite son, Joseph? He was blessed far beyond what any of us could imagine. I must confess that until I read a chapter of Professor Edward Odlum’s book, “God’s Covenant Man,” I always considered that all the tribes of Israel were blessed. Yet, as Professor Odlum pointed out, a careful review shows that only the tribe of Joseph was blessed and not one word was spoken to the other eleven sons about blessings.
He pointed out that Joseph was blessed no fewer than six times. That the burden of the material riches of this world, for all future time, was given to Joseph, including the richest lands in the world. Genesis 49:22 states, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by the well; whose branches run over the wall.” Is it any mystery why countries like Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia and many others were sitting practically desolate, awaiting colonization from the tribe of Joseph, the ultimate fulfillment of the prophesied great nation and company of nations? Joseph, through his sons Ephraim & Manasseh, inherited the very name of Israel (Genesis 48:16). You can read and study to your heart’s content, but you will never find any evidence that the name was ever abandoned or relinquished to another people. God had deemed that Israel would be known by another name, it’s true, but the name “Israel” still belongs to Joseph, notwithstanding its use today by the modern Israeli State.
Israel’s Stone was given to Joseph. As Professor Odlum wrote, “Joseph was given the shepherding of this wonderful emblem of God’s presence, power and permanent protection. This stone was the only official God’s house on earth. Jacob’s pillar is “God’s house.” The nation that is in possession of God’s house is God’s chosen people. Britain holds that stone today. Ergo?”
Joseph was promised God’s protection.
Professor Odlum pointed out that Moses went up to the Mount to receive God’s Law, laws that were to be the guide and rule, not only for the individual, but for national life.
The same holds true for the Sabbath. Until attitudes began to change a few decades ago, the Sabbath for the most part was rigidly respected. In fact, the Sabbath is another way of identifying True Israel, as no other nations keep the Sabbath.
We have to bear in mind that Joseph was the Birthright tribe; that along with the blessings came the awesome responsibilities connected to the Covenant God entered into with Abraham. As Genesis 12 suggests, along with the blessings that God would bestow upon Abraham’s descendants, that in Abraham and his descendants, all the families of the earth would be blessed as well. Today, of course, our theologians teach that God changed all this; that the Church has replaced Israel and the “everlasting covenant” fell away. It’s funny how so many of these shepherds believe in God, yet, have difficulty believing God. God made His intentions abundantly clear in Exodus 6: 2 when He stated “….I have remembered My Covenant.” So many other places in the Old and New Testaments contain references to the same principle, but then, perhaps if one is blinded to their identity, they will also be blinded to the truth.
Professor Odlum said of the Law, “they [God’s Laws] have been part of the foundation of the Israel nations and at the very worst, our nations acknowledged the God of Israel, and His Law, to be just and right.” This, my friends, is the total reason for our past greatness, but sadly, it was the destruction of that foundation that has been the leading component of our servitude. Remember, Ephraim Britain and Manasseh America did do much of God’s work and have been the blessing to other nations, despite not knowing their identity. They introduced much of His Law around the world. They have also been the leading missionaries to non-Christian nations. They have been a blessing to other nations through their inventive ingenuity, military protection, the sharing of their wealth and many other ways. They were not always charitable, or loving, or fair, or just. Yet, the revisionists have painted a false picture of them through their movies, television documentaries and magazine articles, making these descendants of Joseph appear as exploiters of humankind.
The Bible tells us we reap what we sow. Through trickery Jacob Israel obtained the Abrahamic Blessing Isaac intended to pass to Jacob’s brother Esau, his first born. It doesn’t matter that God intended the Birthright to be Jacob’s anyhow. Through his actions, Jacob therefore sowed the seeds of deception and in doing so, set forces in action to reap the fruit of that deception. On his deathbed, he chose Joseph as the Birthright tribe, inheritor of both blessings and without it being said, the fruit of deception. From Joseph, they were passed through to the descendants of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And the buck stops here. Not many realize but God held the trial at the time of the crime of deception and had passed sentence. Genesis 27: 40 clearly sets out the terms of the punishment; that a time would come when Esau would gain dominion over Jacob and then would have his way with Jacob’s descendants. To emphasize Esau’s tortured state of mind at the time, the next passage is important to understand in light of events then, conditions throughout history and events of today, “then I will slay my brother Jacob.”
Well, the dominion changed hands several decades ago. Ironically, God’s name of “sheep” for His People Israel was well selected because we almost passed it over on a silver platter. Every decade since, we have experienced more of the pangs of servitude. We have become a people of compromise, willing to relinquish our independence, our customs, our beliefs, our pride, our wealth, our future and our lives simply for a longer ride on the slippery slope. So, when John Wesley said “Yes, I must stand before the Lord and answer in that day for everything that I have done,” should True Israel hang her head in shame?
What will our answer be when we have to explain why we permitted our enemies and their subjected Israelite politicians to do away with the mention of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in our schools and other public places? Will we feel a little embarrassed when called upon to account for the watering down and convenient changes of His Word to comply with the new reality imposed upon us by God’s enemies? How will we react as a nation when confronted by the charge that despite God giving us our Israel lands, that we have virtually shut the borders to our brethren in favour of immigrants from non-Israelite nations? Or, how will we react when called upon to account for the dissipation of our great wealth, why we have allowed corporate power to usurp the individual and through tax, debt and legislation reduced the majority of our brethren to near poverty status? Will we feel a little squeamish when called upon to account for the filth that we eagerly permit on our movie and home screens? How are we going to account for our being aggressor warlike nations or making treaties everywhere with non-Israelite nations? How guilty will we feel when the charge of sacrificing our children to Molech via abortion and other ways is presented to us?
I could go on and on but you get the picture. The truth is that as Israel nations, we simply do not measure up to God’s standards, despite our perceived greatness in the world today. In fact, one of our significant acts, particularly over the past half-century, is to become the hated peoples prophesied for Joseph in Genesis 49: 23. It’s easy to point to the Esau dominion as the reason, and it is true, but it goes beyond this. With some exceptions, Christian Israelites have stood passively on the sidelines as the strategy of “divide and conquer” has been implemented in all aspects of our life. I am reminded of the oft-repeated story of the frog placed in water that is slowly brought to boil. At what point, I wonder, did the frog sense the danger. Can we analogize True Israel in this way, having been placed in the waters of servitude several decades ago and slowly but deliberately permitting events of history, like wars, terrorist acts or perceived threats as justification for the heat being turned up? The question is, when will True Israel realize the danger, when will we understand Christ’s admonition, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”
Sadly, we seem to have gone well past the point that we are able to do for ourselves. “Take back our country” is only a slogan for politicians and movies. It will take an event of mammoth proportions to bring us to our collective senses and drive us to our knees seeking healing for our lands. That event will likely be the fall of Economic Babylon and happily signals the return of the King of kings who will restore righteousness in short order. Come quickly, Lord.
