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Now in chapter 22, of course in the last chapter if you remember that was where David had eaten of the showbread, Ahimelech had given him something to eat, gave him the sword of Goliath and sent him on his way. Well David's on the run, Saul's hunting for his life and it says in verse 1 of chapter 22, David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dolom and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. So he's hiding in a cave here, he's on the run, his family finds out, they come to him and I'm going to come back to verse 2 but it says in verse 3, David went thence to Mizpah of Moab and he said unto the king of Moab, let my father and my mother I pray thee come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me and he brought them before the king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hole. So basically David's hiding out, he's on the run from the law, his family comes to see him and he decides to move his family out of the country, he said you know I don't want my parents and my brethren to be harmed by Saul. Now Saul's definitely capable of doing that because later in the chapter one man does something that he doesn't like, remember a high tub who had helped out David and he said thou shalt surely die, look at verse 16, the king said thou shalt surely die him like thou and all thy father's house. So we see that Saul is definitely capable of just killing people's family for the sin of one guy. Now the Bible is very clear on this that that is not a biblical thing to do, the Bible says that the children shall not be slain for the sins of the fathers, neither shall the fathers be slain for the children but every man shall die in his own sin and so it is never right to punish the parents or to punish the children when people do wrong. If somebody commits murder, if somebody commits a crime, they themselves are the ones that are supposed to be punished and that's reiterated over and over again in the Bible and remember we just read it on Sunday I believe with Amaziah that he put to death the conspirators but he did not put their children to death, he did not put their families to death. Now this has doctrinal significance because of the fact that there are a lot of people who teach what's called original sin and that's not a biblical term but that's a false doctrine that the Catholics I think teach that and Calvinists I believe are the ones who are big on this. You know I'm not an expert on all the false doctrine but I do know what the real true doctrines of the Bible say and the Bible is really clear that we are condemned because of our own sins not because of Adam's sin. Now a lot of people will teach that the reason that people go to hell is because they're being punished for Adam's sin, that's called the doctrine of original sin, that is a false doctrine, that is a lie. No one has ever gone to hell for Adam's sin except you know when the Lord Jesus Christ died for him and spent three days and three nights in hell before he rose again. But I'll say this, the key verse on this doctrine is Romans 5-12, part of the Romans wrote, it says wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, that's talking about Adam right, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men, but wait a minute the last phrase is the key, for that all have sinned. The reason that death has passed upon all men is because all have sinned. Now sin entered into the world through Adam because he obviously as the first man on this earth sinned and caused death to pass upon all men. Only because he passed upon us the sin nature. We commit our own sins and God is not punishing us for the sins of Adam or anyone else. We are punished for our own sins only. Now that's not to say that there aren't consequences that can be passed upon someone else, but it's not a punishment. For example, let's say that my dad is a drunk, okay, and let's say God's going to punish him for that. He's not going to punish me for the fact that my dad's a drunk, and I'm not saying my dad is a drunk, I'm just saying if he were. Let's say I'm a kid and I'm at home and my dad gets drunk and beats up the family every night or whatever. Okay, now hold on a second, am I suffering because of my dad's sin? Absolutely, because if your dad's a drunk or if your mom's a prostitute or if your mom's on drugs, you're definitely suffering because that's going to affect your home life, that's going to affect your family, they're bringing all kinds of sin into the home. You're going to suffer the consequences of that, but God's not going to punish you for what somebody else did in the person of your father or your mother or your children. He'll punish you only for the things that you've done yourself, but obviously there will be consequences that lots of people will feel. For example, when God sent judgments in the Bible of famines and pestilences and everything, obviously it affects everybody, it harms everybody. If America is being judged by God, hey, we're all going to suffer, but it's not right for us to punish people because of what their parents did or because of what their children did. And so Saul is dead wrong here, but David knows that that's what he's going to do, so he very wisely gets his family out of there and he's in hiding. Now a prophet comes to him in verse 5 and the prophet Gad said unto David, abide not in the hold, depart and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Herod. So this is David, he has to step out in faith here. He's in hiding, he's far, far away from King Saul who's after him and this prophet tells him hey, God wants you to come and be in Judah, he wants you to stay in the land. And so he comes out of hiding. Now back to verse 2 that I skipped, it says in verse 2, this is when he's escaped, he's in hiding, it says and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them and there were with them about 400 men. Now what's interesting about this is we see the story play out, this becomes a powerful force of troops. These 400 guys and some more that get added to them become a formidable force and he, it says, became a captain over them. He's going to train them and teach them, he's really taking people that don't have a lot going for them. I mean look at it, everybody who's distressed, everybody who's in debt, okay now in America that would be like everybody, okay. But anyway, back then it wasn't as common as it is now. Everyone that was in debt, everyone that was discontented and basically we're just talking about people who don't have anything going for them. I mean they probably didn't have a good job or any job or they just really don't have anything going for them and they're financially failing and so they're just following David, they're just joining up with them and becoming a part of this band and he becomes a captain over them and a leader over them and he turns them into some great guys. And that's what we ought to do as believers, we ought to be welcoming to those at our church, we ought to be welcoming to those who are maybe what the world would consider a failure. Like the Bible talks a lot about the poor, those that are the lame, the blind, the whole. We ought to reach out to people that are maybe different than us and don't really have a lot going for them. We don't want to be in this church where we look down on poor people. The Bible goes on and on about this, you know, somebody walks in with the goodly ring and the nice clothes and we treat them well and put them in a good place and then a poor person walks in and we treat them with disdain or a lack of respect. You know, had not God chosen the poor of this earth rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he had promised to them that love him. And God often uses people that the world would consider an outcast or I guess the word would be like a loser. You know, these guys that gathered themselves under David, probably a lot of people would have looked at these guys and said, this guy is a loser. But David became a captain over them, he led them and he out turned them into what they needed to be. And just as Jesus said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And we ought to be willing to take people and take them under our wing, not just the good looking or the talented or the well to do or the wise or the powerful. But rather just to take somebody who says, here am I, then me. You know, somebody who wants to serve God and obviously David here could be a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ here. And they're gathering themselves unto him and he says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. And we see that we should have our doors open to the so called loser. You know, those that are failing as the world sees it. And realize that people can grow and people can learn and move forward. And that's what we see here. A bunch of guys who were kind of the off scouring of society, but David turns them into a powerful force. These become mighty men. And that's what being a pastor is about and that's what being a Christian is about. It's about helping people grow and helping people learn and to do better. And I've seen people change a lot over the years. You know, I've seen people start out one way and then they get under the preaching of God's word. They start reading the Bible and there's a big change in their life. Okay. And honestly, I've even, I've seen people who were not really intelligent type people. I mean, they weren't intellectuals. I'll put it that way. And I've seen them start reading the Bible and just get a lot smarter and really just get a lot smarter in every area of life because the Bible says that the word of God is making wise the simple. Right. And so even somebody who's maybe not that smart, man, if they get in this book and read it and study it and come to church and hear Bible preaching, they're going to get smarter. We're going to, you know, we'll make them smart. Okay. And we'll, we'll teach them something. And that should be the goal of what our church is about. It's about taking anybody who is saved and anybody who wants to serve God, who wants to follow and become a fisher of men and helping them reach that potential and teaching them that. Not disdaining them or rejecting them or not wanting to do it. And you know, it's always made me, it's always angered me. It used to make me mad even when I was a child because you know, when you're in school, you know how it is if people get ostracized, you know what I mean? Like maybe they're, they, maybe they don't talk, they talk wrong or they, maybe they're just shy or maybe they're ugly or maybe they are poor or you know, they're, they're paying for their lunch with the food stamps or whatever from the government and you know, whatever the reason and, and they get ostracized. I mean, everybody knows what I'm talking about. When you were in school, it was like that and you know, it used to always make me feel sad. It would always make me feel bad. You know, see kids getting treated bad and, and, and, and ridiculed and you know, you expect that from children because they're immature, they're, they're dumb, they don't understand, you know, that they shouldn't hurt other people's feelings that, that, you know, through no fault of their own, you know, or maybe even through some fault of their own, have whatever issue and so we don't want our church to ever be like that, okay? We don't ever want to look down on people or make fun of people because they're different or because they're a little, and look, sometimes you're going to meet people that are kooky, weird people, right? But you know, you shouldn't just, oh well that, these people are cool like us, you know, we're cool, we're smooth, we're good looking and you know, I don't know if we really need this creepy person in our church or this, this weirdo, this, now look, today there's all this stuff where the government wants to intervene, you know, oh we need laws against bullying and whatever and I'm not saying the government should intervene here, okay? I mean if you want, you know, if somebody wants to call somebody, you know, a derogatory name, I don't think that should be illegal, okay? You can't make it illegal just to say what you think but I am saying that as Christians we shouldn't be like that and I'm not talking about sodomites, I'm not talking about people who are just evil, reprobate predators and pedophiles, that's not what I'm talking about. You know what I mean, some people, maybe they grew up in a secluded place or whatever and they're a little backward, they're a little shy, they're not, they don't have the social skills, maybe they're even a little strange or something, you know, and there have been people, you know, and we don't have anybody in our church like that, I'm just saying, you know, what do we do? I'm just saying, you know, don't ever be the type of person who would reject that person because you know what, they could become a great soul winner someday, they could become a great servant of God someday, sometimes it's the people that you'd least likely think that even could get up and preach one day and preach a great sermon and so, you know, you don't want to be a type of person that would have rejected these people, David said okay welcome aboard and he helped them to become what they needed to be, he didn't just blow them off and just, oh well, you know, you're a loser, get out of here, he welcomed them and he taught them and he helped them grow and that's how our church ought to be, so if somebody comes in and maybe they're dressed like a, like a dorky, you know, person would dress, right, don't just look at that, oh, we don't need these kind of people, you know, and then what are people going to think about our church if they walk in and they see all these, you know, people who look like they're homeless or they see people that, you know, or they look like they're a dork or they, you know, they dress like they're Amish or whatever, you know, whatever's wrong with them, hey, we ought to just realize that look, not everybody's just like you, not everybody's just like me, okay, everybody's got their issues, I have my faults, you have your faults, let's help people grow and learn and not just reject people, like we're some kind of a junior hire or something, you know, I don't want to be seen with you, we ought to reach out to people and help them and, you know, come aboard and be a part of the church and I think that's what God's trying to show us here because we see these people, God makes a point to tell us, look, these people are failing in life financially, they're a little bit of a, you know, a lower class of people but later on we're going to see them do great exploits and be great servants to David and so that's what God's trying to show us there. Look at verse number six, it says, when Saul heard that David was discovered and the men that were with him, now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand and all his servants were standing about him. Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, hear now ye Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me and there is none that showeth me that my son had made a league with the son of Jesse and there is none of you that is sorry for me or showeth unto me that my son had stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as at this day. So here's Saul, get the picture, he's sitting under a tree, there's no battle going on, there's no foreign enemy invading, he's sitting under a tree, he's surrounded by all his troops that are at his service obeying him and he's just sitting there saying, you know, you guys are all on David's side, what's wrong with you people? What is he offering you? What's he paying you? And they're standing there thinking, what? They haven't done anything wrong here, they're obedient. So this guy Doeg the Edomite pipes up, okay, you know, because he's going to show him, hey, I'm with you here on this. It says in verse 9, then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was said over the servants of Saul and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him vittles and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. Now the part of this that's not true is that there's no record in the Bible that he inquired of the Lord for him. He gave him food, yes. He gave him a sword, yes. He didn't even know because David lied to him and he basically just thought that he was on an errand for the king. So he said, okay, well, here's the sword of Goliath that you slew. Here's some food for you. That's all. So Doeg is embellishing the story a little bit here. He's adding to it. It says in verse number 11, then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest and the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob. And they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, Here now thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my Lord. And Saul said unto me, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him brand and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in wait as at this day. Now, do you notice that he's a little bit paranoid here? I mean, he's sitting around by a tree surrounded by all his obedient troops that have not done anything wrong. And he's just railing on them that they're all out to get him. Everybody's after me. Why? Because I've noticed that sometimes people that are not right with God, they're the most paranoid people because they have a guilty conscience. So it's like they know something bad is coming. And often I've noticed that wicked people are the most fearful people. You know, and that's why our country is getting more and more fearful all the time. Like everybody in our country is just scared. Oh, you know, oh, man, the terrorists are going to get attacked. You know, and we're all afraid and threat level orange because I think people just realize that God is not with us. You know, God's not blessing us. And when you have a guilty conscience, you don't feel like God's going to protect you. You don't feel like God's going to bless you. Saul knows he's doing wrong. He knows that his destruction is coming. I mean, it's already been told to him by Samuel that God's going to take the kingdom from you. He's going to give it to someone else who's better than you. He already knows. And so he knows that he's not right with God. So he's very paranoid. Everybody's out to get him. And and he's just scared all the time. You know, fear doesn't come from God. Fear comes from being disobedient to God. When you're living for God, you're not a fearful person. The Bible says there is no fear and love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment. He that fear it is not made perfect in love. And the Bible says God's not giving us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And when you're living for God, you have confidence. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. But was God with Solomon? Was with Saul here? No, he departed from him. That's why he's scared. That's why he's afraid. That's why he's paranoid. And the reason that our country is so paranoid today is because we know that God departed. That's why we're scared. And every there's there's an Al Qaeda operative behind every tree and under every bush, you know, because we're scared all the time. That fear has to do with the fact that we've that God has forsaken us as a nation. Obviously, he's with us personally. Obviously, he's with us as a church, but as a nation, he's departed from us. And so we see that he's just totally paranoid here and he's just making up all this stuff. Our high tubs out to get him and all his troops and everybody. So he's accusing. I'm sorry, him elect the son of a high tub. He's accusing him of being in league with David and doing this on purpose. And it says in verse 14, then a him like answered the king and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants is David, which is the king's son in law and go it at thy bidding and is honorable and night out. So really, here's another reason why Saul shouldn't be treating David this way. But, you know, in laws can be sometimes. But anyway, everybody's in laws have tried to kill him at one time or another. But but he said, You know, hey, I didn't try to do this. I thought that he's your son in law. I thought he's your best servant. What are you talking about? He says in verse 15. Did I begin to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me. But notice he's not denying, giving him food. He's not denying and giving him the sword. That's what he did. But he didn't inquire of God for him. Be it far from me. Let not the king impute anything unto his servant nor to all the house of my father. For thy servant knew nothing of all this less or more. See, I didn't even know what you're talking about that even in America, there's a law that says that you can't be charged with a crime or be or be convicted of a crime if you didn't know that you were committing that crime. Now, let me explain that. Obviously, if you if you do something and say, Well, I didn't know that was illegal. That's no excuse. But for example, let's say Brother Dave calls me up on the phone. Okay. And I answered my phone and I say, Oh, and Brother Dave says, Hey, Pastor Anderson, you know, hey, I'm stuck on this part of town. My car's broken out. I need you to come give me a ride. And I say, Okay, you know, and I go to pick him up and give him a ride. Well, what I don't know is that he just robbed a store and I'm and I'm his getaway car. Okay. And he's playing this whole thing out. So let's say I pick him up. He just robbed the store. He's got the money and everything. And then let's say I get pulled over and here I am an accomplice. I'm the getaway vehicle of this robbery. Well, if I can prove that I didn't know that he robbed that store and that I was just picking up a buddy, I can't be convicted of something if I didn't even know that I was doing it. Okay. And so that is a that's a that's a defense that people use all the time is I believe the Latin term they use mens rea or something. It means that you knew what you were doing. And so they always establish that in court. Hey, did you know that you were doing this or did, for example, when I was in court, they said, you know, did you know that that was a police officer that was telling you to, you know, to get out of the car or whatever? Yes, I did. You know, and so that was part of it is that, you know, that I knowingly disobeyed. Okay. Because that because let's say a police officer tells you to do something and he's in plain clothes and you don't even know these on duty or he's wearing a jacket covering his badge or something, then you could use the defense. Well, I didn't know that guy's a police officer and he's asking me for my idea or whatever the case may be. That's a defense. It's an unmarked car and I didn't even know it was a police car or whatever that matters. And so here is a guy who didn't even know that he was helping. Now, first of all, David wasn't even doing anything wrong. David's just running for his life. If you knowingly help someone commit a crime, then you are guilty both in the Bible and in our justice system. But if you don't know that you're helping a bad person, then there's no problem. For example, you know, the Bible tells us that if someone comes along preaching a false gospel, you know, and they're preaching another gospel, another Jesus Christ. Like, for example, the Mormon shows, it says, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed for he that bideth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. So if someone is doing evil, if somebody is doing wrong and you bring them into your house and you feed them and help them and send them on their merry way, then you've done wrong. But if you didn't know that, if you didn't know that they were a wicked person, you're just trying to help somebody out. And then later, it turns out they were wicked person, then that's not your fault. Okay, so it's okay to give people the benefit of the doubt. Now here, of course, David was not doing anything wrong. So even if he had knowingly helped him, hey, no problem, because David was in the right here. But we ought to be careful about helping the wrong people and participating in their evil deeds, whether it be people who are preaching a false doctrine or murderers or liars or whatever it is, we need to not participate in that. And that's why you ought to be careful to you know who you vote for. And I would rather just not vote than to then to vote for somebody who's who's an evil person who's going to do evil and, you know, commit a lot of wickedness and bring our country down the wrong path. And, you know, people really always get on you for not voting. And I've heard people even just rail on you, you know, if you don't vote, then shut up, you know, and that kind of thing. But honestly, I think it would be better if you don't know what you're doing, if you don't know the issues. And if you don't know who the candidates are, you'd be better off to just not vote. And honestly, I've gone into the voting booth many times and just, you know, I see a bunch of people's names and I just, I don't vote for them because I don't know who they are. And I don't want to just vote for random people. And just because they belong to a certain party, that doesn't really mean much. Right. That's right. I mean, there are people, there are people that cross all kinds of parties, so-called lines. And I mean, there'll be, you know, you say, well, as long as I vote Republican, I'm good to go or whatever. You know, no, that's not the case. You know, you got to look at it person by person because a lot of these people are promoting a lot of wicked things. And so I would have more respect. I think you'd be better off to just not even vote if you don't know what you're doing. And many times I've walked in there and just, I've checked the box for just a few people that I knew were good people that I wanted. And obviously no, nobody who's running for office is really a righteous, godly, born again, child of God who's serving God or else the world would hate them, persecute them and so forth. And they wouldn't be running for office or getting elected. Okay. I'm thinking about running for office. Yeah, right. Because anybody, any, I mean, any preacher who's, who is a preacher that you have any respect for in this nation, you know that he's not running for office. And if he did, he'd get destroyed because the world's not going to love the unrighteous, but I mean the righteous, the world's going to love the unrighteous, but you know, you, you, you, you vote for people that, you know, that are going to do the right thing and that are going to promote justice and truth and everything like that. But if you don't know what you're doing, just don't vote on it. And some, some propositions, if I don't understand the issue, I just won't vote on it. And a lot of times I'll just go in and most of the propositions, I know what I'm doing on those. And so I vote on all those and then sometimes I vote very little on the rest of the issues. Now, sometimes I'll go down the ticket and I will do this because the Bible says, you know, I suffered not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. And the Bible teaches that women should not rule over men. And so often I will just go down the list of the judges because the Bible talks about judges and it says that they're supposed to be men. All right. That's really clear men. So it's, you know, you know, those things to confirm the judges, do we keep them? Yes or no? I don't think anybody knows who those people are when they vote, do they? You just say no on all of them? Yeah, but the thing about that, I see what you're saying, but the thing about that is there could be one really good judge and you know, you're saying no, but yeah, you're probably right about 99% of the time if you do it that way. But you know what all of it, some, you know, I don't even vote yes or no on those two because I just don't even know who they are. Now, you know, if they have names like Susie and Rebecca and Barbara and you know, like, like clearly feminine names, then I know that women should not be ruling over us because that's what the Bible teaches. So that's, that's a no brainer, you know, but then I come to one that's named like, you know, uh, uh, what's the name that can go either way? You know, Pat, you know, and I'm like, oh, what's another one that can go your way? What? Renee. Well, that depends if it has a little accent on it, you know, but yeah, you know, Renee, Pat, whatever and you're like, oh, I don't know. But anyway, I'm just, I'm just telling you, don't just, don't just vote for people because everybody's doing it. Either know, know the issues, know what you believe in or you'd be much better off just abstaining from voting than to vote for wicked people and then later you're going to reproach yourself. Oh man, I'm, I, I voted for this guy and he's, he's horrible. He's evil, you know? And so be careful with that. Be careful with voting. You know, you'd be better off not to vote than to vote for a bunch of wickedness and we can be, and if everybody in this country who didn't know anything about politics and didn't know anything about the real issues and didn't understand anything about our history or our constitution or our government abstain from voting, then this country would be a much better place because you got all these mindless idiots watching MTV rock the boat, you know, and they're just going to go down and they don't even know what they're doing. And then they're like, oh, this is great. We have all these people voting. No, it isn't because it there, if there's some idiot teenager, you know, that's just watching MTV all day, like, do we really want these people controlling our destiny as a nation? No. And so either, either figure out what's going on. You say, I don't want to research it. I don't want to know. Then just don't vote, honestly. But, but you know, if you research or at least just go down there and just, you know, check yes and no, you know, check no if they're trying to raise our tax or whatever, you know, but if it's obvious stuff, you know what I mean? But if you have any doubt, I would just not even mess with it. That's just my advice to you so that you don't get God's wrath of, of your supporting really bad people. And so, uh, but, but here at him, like he's helping out David and of course David is, uh, is not doing anything wrong, but it says in verse 17, so he says to him, like in verse 16, you know, that's our surely diet him, elect thou and all thy father's house, him and his whole family. Basically verse 17 says, and the King said unto the footman that stood about him, turn and slay the priests of the Lord because their hand also is with David and because they knew when he fled and did not show it to me, but the servants of the King would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. And so he's commanding them kill all the priests because they're all Confederate with David. Of course, that's totally made up paranoid statement. Now it's not just the him elect in his father's house, but now it's just all the priests kill them all. But thank God that the servants of the King's would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. Thank God that these guys said, no, we're not going to do that. And by the way, you know, if you're ever commanded or ordered to do something wicked by your job or whatever, we ought to obey God rather than man. And we can't just kill a bunch of innocent people and just say, well, Hey, I'm just following orders and I'll just do what I'm told. Okay. That doesn't work. Here's some guys who had the backbone to say, Hey, wait a minute, I'm not going to kill the Lord's priests. So he has to turn to this low life, Dohag the Edomite. And it says in verse 18, and the King said to Dohag, turn thou and fall upon the priests. Now this is something that governments have done throughout history is turning to foreign troops because the Bible is very clear to tell us over and over again, the Edomite, the Edomite, the Edomite. You see the ones that were of the children of Israel, they're not just going to turn and just start slaughtering their own people here. They're not just going to turn and start slaughtering the priests of the Lord. This guy, Dohag the Edomite, he doesn't care about the Lord. That's not even his God. That's not even somebody he worships. This guy is perfect to just blindly obey because remember he's trying to score points with King Saul earlier. He's just going to fly a little bay and just slaughter whoever just because he's told to do so. Governments have done this throughout history. I was reading a book not too long ago about the Soviet Union and the Hungarian revolution and they bring in, it's like they bring Asian troops into Europe and then they bring basically European type troops into Asia because they didn't feel as bad about killing people who are of another nation. They did that in America. France hired mercenaries. There you go. So they hired mercenaries. The British hired mercenaries in the Revolutionary War, the Germans and basically people and especially when you cross racial boundaries. Obviously it's not right. The Bible says God has made us all of one blood but when you cross racial boundaries it's just a proven fact that people just don't feel as bad killing someone who speaks another language, who looks different. They can relate more to someone who looks more like them and is from the same area and they're less likely to turn and kill their own people as they would to just, yeah he's a bunch of Muslim, blankety blank and dehumanize the enemy basically. Most people in America today can't relate to Islam. They look at a guy and maybe he's got a turban on his head and he dresses weird and he talks a weird language and he's got a weird religion that was founded by Mohammed who was married to a nine year old. That makes him a pedophile. You got these people that are Islamic and so people just think, yeah just kill them. Just bomb them. Just kill them all. Let God sort them out. Which is one of the slogans of the Marine Corps. Kill them all and let God sort them out. That's what governments do. They try to get you to feel like, oh these people are trash. Let's just kill them. Who cares? If we drop bombs on them and kill civilians and stuff, doesn't matter. But if those same people were called, hey drop bombs on England or drop bombs on the United States or Canada, they'd feel differently about it. Let's just, well we're at war. Let's just wipe out whole cities. But if it's Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan, people feel differently about it. And it's the same with those people. It goes both ways. And so here we see Saul brings in the foreign troops to execute this horrible crime upon his own people. And people think that governments are not capable of this. But kings and rulers and dictators have done this throughout history where they kill their own people. Now I don't understand why people don't realize that our government is capable of the same thing. They're not capable of doing it. I mean it's not this thing where our government is wonderful and they would never do that. All these other governments throughout history that would torture their own people and kill their own people. But our government would never do anything like that. So let's just give them unlimited power and unlimited force. Now I don't try to politicize all the time in my sermons, but this chapter is just crying out, politicize. This chapter shows us so many things about our nation. And I want to kind of give you the outline of this here. Number one, the foreign troops are brought in. Okay? But number two, the people are unarmed. How in the world does one guy slay 85 priests? Because we just learned in the last chapter, they said there is no weapon here. We do not have a weapon in this town. Do you remember that? Because David was there in chapter 21. They had zero weapons except Goliath's sword, which was on display. So when we get to chapter 22, Doa Edomite is a mighty warrior and he's armed with a formidable weapon. He's got a sword. He's a trained warrior and all the priests of the Lord and all the town are just sitting ducks with no weapon. And this warrior comes in with a powerful weapon and he defeats 85 priests of the Lord who are totally unarmed, according to chapter 21. But not only that, well, let's read the story here. It says in verse 18, the king said to Doa, turn now and fall upon the priest, since his own troops were godly enough to not do it. And Doa Edomite turned and he fell upon the priest and slew on that day four score and five persons that did where Elin and Ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests. Now there's no record that Saul even told him to do this. He just takes it a step further. This guy is just on a bloody massacre. This guy is just a bloodthirsty monster because then he turns, it says, and Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with the edge of the sword. I mean, this guy just goes on a rampage and just kills everything. There's no record that Saul even told him to do that. I mean, I don't see Saul stopping him from doing it. I don't know how involved Saul was with this. Saul definitely told him to kill the priests, the 85 men. He kills them. They're sitting ducks. They're unarmed. Then he goes into the city again. The people are unarmed and they're all slaughtered. And it wasn't just the 85 priests. There were other men that were killed and their wives and children and sucklings and, and even the animals are slain. It's just, this guy just loves blood and carnage. So he just goes in and just slaughters everybody. And you know, this is why it's foolish that people today in America, they just trust our wicked government. We know that the government is not of God. We know, and I'm talking about our current government. We know that it's not of God to promote sodomy. They publicly have done that. They publicly passed resolutions. I don't know if you know this. I'm just educating you tonight. In the House and Senate, they passed resolutions that, that, that, you know, we need to treat sodomites well, and we love sodomy and everything like that. They pass resolutions like that. The United Nations passed a resolution like that. The United States government have passed, look it up. They passed resolutions just saying, we condemn bad treatment of homosexuals worldwide. The House has passed that. The Senate has passed, who knows what I'm talking about? They passed things like that where they said, hey, we condemn anyone who treats homosexuals badly worldwide. I mean, they condemn other countries. The United States Congress has condemned countries like Uganda for putting homosexuals to death a la Leviticus 2013. Okay. And so our government promotes sodomy, promotes abortion, promotes whatever's ungodly in this world. Now look, I'm not trying to overthrow the government. I'm not trying to rise up against the government. I'm preaching God's word. I'm winning souls. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You know, it's a spiritual battle that we're fighting here. But what I'm saying to you tonight, I'm not saying that it's our job to rise up against the government. We're going to change this country. You're not going to change it. You know, it's under God's wrath because of sin. That's why we're under bad leaders. But what I am saying is that you're a fool if you trust the government and think that they're wonderful. Okay. Just because I'm not rebelling against them doesn't mean that I'm going to sit here and pretend that they're wonderful and trust them and, and, and, and think that they're great. Look, I wouldn't trust them because governments throughout history have done wicked things and have harmed their own people. And that's why the people need to be armed. And that's what the second amendment is all about. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm talking about just a defensive weapon because you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what foreign troops may invade our country someday or be brought in, whatever. The bottom line is when people are just totally disarmed, that's when the government gets out of control. Cause think, think about this for a second. I'm not even saying that the purpose of being armed is necessarily even to ever have to use that weapon. But just when you're armed, this sort of thing just doesn't happen. Because think about it. If everybody in that town would have been armed, would one guy have just walked in? Okay, I'm going to take on the whole town. No way. Now, why did one man go like the Edomite, just walk in and just take on the whole town? What gave Saul the confidence to tell one guy to go do it when all the rest of the troops said no. So here's the thing. If we were to put this in perspective in America, let's say everybody in America is armed, right? And then our government tells the United States troops, hey, go attack these people, these protesters or these whatever, these people who are not obeying your laws of putting their kids in school or you know, whoever they go after. And you know, you laugh at that, but you know, Hitler went after the homeschoolers. Hitler made homeschooling illegal and homeschooling has been illegal in Germany to this day from Hitler. And so whatever they say, hey, troops, kill the American people, you know, in whatever form, whether they're protesters or whoever they are that they're told to attack, then the United States Army says, no, we're not going to. We're not going to kill our own people, right? And then the government says, hmm, should I bring in the foreign troops? And then they say, well, wait a minute, everybody's armed. We're going to have to back down here. Okay. But if everybody's not armed, if nobody's armed, well then they can just bring in the foreign troops. And you know, I think that they say that one man with a machine gun can control a hundred disarmed people. I mean, think about that, you know, especially in today's world, the weapons are even more advanced than they were back then. And so that's why I believe that we should be armed. I think it's biblical to be armed. The Bible talks about having a paddle on the back of your weapon. And he basically takes for granted that everybody in the land of Israel had a weapon. And when they got used to not having weapons was when the Philistines took over earlier in the book. That's when they took away all their weapons and made it illegal to have weapons. And the only ones who had a weapon were Saul and Jonathan. Okay. That mentality has continued up to this chapter, apparently in chapter 22, where no one is armed. And I'm not saying that, you know, I just want to pull out my gun and just start blowing people away. But, and honestly, I probably, you know, I'm 30 years old and I've never had to engage in any kind of mortal combat with anyone. And honestly, I probably will go through my entire life and never fire a gun at any person. I mean, chances are, that's what I believe. I don't believe I'm ever going to point my gun and, and use it against somebody. I don't believe that. But, but here's the thing. Part of the reason is because I have those guns. So, okay. And so you, you have a weapon there just as a safeguard and it's also a deterrent because people are, I mean, look, I read about a church where, you know, all of these people came in and just invaded the church during a service and attacked, you know, here's the thing. We've never had anybody attack our church. No, look, obviously nobody wants to, you know, pull out a weapon and use it. You know, it's only for defense of, of, of your life or someone else's life. Okay. It's not just to be, you know, just lightly just pulled out and just, Oh, you know, shoot now, ask questions later. But because of the fact that so many people in our church are armed, just as an American, just as an Arizona person, you know, you're just armed. Well, that just makes the evil people of this world think twice about waltzing in here and trying to, you know, pick some kind of a violent fight or something like that. So it's not that we want violence or that we're, we're, you know, aggressive people or that we're out to fight some kind of a battle. No, it's just smart to be armed because if everybody's armed, then that keeps the government from just getting too powerful, too out of control to where they can just bring in foreign troops and everybody's just a sitting duck just, Oh man, what's going to happen? You know? And these guys really, I mean, I don't know, this story just blows me away how this one guy can just go in. I mean, have you thought about that? When you read the story, I can just go in and just wipe out all these people and nobody's fighting back. They didn't have the right weapons. That's the problem. And so I have all, I'll come right out and say it. I have weapons, you know, I have, I have a shotgun, you know, and that's, that's what I'm going to reach for. You know, I have a few other weapons, but that's what I'm reaching for. That's what's loaded. You know, that's what's ready to go. Okay. And I'm, I'm ready to reach, but I pray to God that I'll never have to reach for it in my own life. And I probably never will, but it's just good to know that it's there and that it's loaded and that it's just, it's ready to go. Okay. And that is a deterrent to people because if, you know, if people have that, then they're less likely to get broken into. I mean, think about it. If you're a criminal and you know, you walk up to that house that says, you know, still like my house, for example, it says, steal here, die here. Okay. You know, when you see that, that makes you think twice, you're going to go to the next house. The one that says like, you know, make love, not war on the window. That's where you're going to break into the one, the one that says, you know, uh, trespassers will be shot. You're going to go to the one that says like Obama, you know, or Obama Biden or whatever, you know what I mean? That's probably where you get to go because, you know, you're going to go to the one with the rainbow sticker in the window. You're not going to go to the one that says, you know, nevermind the dog beware of owner. I'm just saying it is a deterrent. I mean, this is a fact if you're armed, it's a deterrent. And so I, I, I believe that it's biblical to be armed. Jesus said, Hey, if you don't have a sword, sell your garment and buy one. He wasn't kidding. And look, they took it literally because they responded to him because, Oh, it's just figurative. He just meant by a Bible. Here's the thing. And the Bible is the sword of the spirit, but they turned around and said to a master, we have two swords. And he said, it is enough. So he said, okay, great. You know, we've got a couple of swords. We're good to go. Now I, unless Peter cut off the high priest's relative's ear with his Bible, you know, unless it was a paper cut, that was a real sword. Okay. Cause he chopped off the guy's ear with it. So I believe that the Bible clearly teaches in many places to be armed, not to be on the offense, not to be on a killing spree, but rather just as a, as number one for two reasons. Number one, as a defense, but number two, as a deterrent, not even, hopefully you don't even get to the defense stage. Hopefully it just works as a deterrent that people will just say, Hey, wait a minute. Do I want to break into pastor Anderson's house? You know, that shotgun is going to blow me apart. You know, it's, it's loaded with, it's loaded with buckshot. It's got slugs in it. It's going to put a hole in me. I don't know if that's what I want to do. Okay. But anyway, let's keep reading. It says a knob, the city of the priest verse 19 smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with the edge of the sword. And one of the sons of a himalek, the son of a high tub named Abiathar escaped and fled after David. So this one guy escapes and he figures, well, Hey, Saul's out to kill me. I guess the safe place. I might as well just go join up with David. So he goes to David and Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priest. Now notice who had slain the Lord's priest? Doeg? No, Saul, because when Saul said to Doeg, Hey, slay the Lord's priest. God is holding Saul responsible for that. And you know, a lot of people today, they, they try to, uh, say that, you know, let's say, uh, our leaders who, who, who order something to be done. And then you say, Hey, that's, he's a murderer. And they say, no, he's not a murderer. You know, he hasn't killed anybody. You know, and I'll say, I'll say Bush is a murderer, you know? And then, and you know, George W. Bush orders, uh, all these people to be killed and bombed and tortured. And people will say, you know, well, he's never done anything. He's never killed anybody. And, and you know, I, I believe he should go. I believe George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and all these guys should be put on trial and executed for murder as murders. And you know, people, people say, Oh, you're crazy. You know, it's, it's funny because, and I don't, it has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. I I'll say it about both sides right now, because here's the thing. People act like I'm insane. There's actually a book and I'm not recommending this guy, but who's ever heard of Vincent bull Yossi? Nobody. Who's ever heard of Charles Manson? Okay. Vincent bull Yossi was a famous Los Angeles attorney who is the one who got, he was the prosecutor who got Charles Manson convicted. Now, Charles Manson didn't kill anybody himself, but he ordered other people to kill. And so he was put on trial for murder. He was convicted of murder. He was convicted and the, he was sentenced with the death penalty, but there was a time in our country when they made the death penalty illegal. And then Charles Manson was commuted to a life sentence. And then when they put the death penalty back in place, once you, once you're off death row, you don't get back on again. So Charles Manson today is in, is in prison. Okay. Of course, anyone would agree that Charles Manson's a murderer, even though he didn't physically carry out the act, he ordered his cult members to kill. And so he was convicted of murder. And this guy, Vincent bull Yossi, he wrote a whole book called trying George W. Bush for murder. And he, this is a renowned attorney. I'm not saying I agree with everything about the guy, but he wrote this big, long book laying out the exact case of George W. Bush being a murderer. And he even said that his intent with writing a book and you say, Oh, you're a crazy pastor. No, this is a top attorney who wrote this book. And he said that his intent with that book was that an actual municipality would take that book and actually press the charges and actually literally put George W. Bush on trial for murder. He said, that's why he said he wrote the book in a way that lays out the case, but, but you know what, our leaders are above the law. So that's why it's never going to happen, but he lays out the exact case in the book of how to put them on trial for murder. Why? Because God always holds people accountable. When they tell someone else to do their dirty work for him, he always holds them accountable. When David tells Joab to put Uriah in the hottest part of the Bible and then withdraw the troops from him, God condemned David and said, you have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the children of Ammon. You didn't do it with your own sword, but you killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon. And so God holds people responsible when they, you know, have someone else do it for them. They are still the one who gave the order and Saul here gave the order for Doeg to kill those 85 guys. And God's holding him responsible for that because it says Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests and David sent him to Abiathar. And by the way, just like the Jews, remember they yelled crucify him. The Jews didn't hammer the nails into his hand. It was Roman soldiers that actually hammered the nails and hung the cross. But over and over again in the book of Acts, he says unto the Jews, you have taken him with wicked hands and have crucified him as also did your rulers. Why? Because they shouted, crucify him. His blood be on us and on our children. They shouted that out and God held them responsible. The Roman soldier who carried out the order, oh, he was guilty of course as well, but also the people who ordered it just like Doeg was guilty and Saul was guilty. It says in verse 22, and David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. So David's feeling bad now because he thinks, oh man, this is my fault because I knew Doeg was there. I figured that this would happen. And he said, David said unto Abiathar, I knew it, verse 23, abide thou with me, fear not for he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. Now, let me give you one more thought on this final verse. Remember, David is often in the Bible a picture of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the son of David. We talked about it earlier how he was accepting of the so-called dregs of society or lower classes and he was going to turn them around and turn them into godly people and into great warriors and great soldiers. Well, here we see David reaching out to Abiathar and he makes this statement, for he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. This could be applied to us and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus said, marvel not my brother in the world if the world hate you. He said, if they hated you, you know that they hated me before they hated you. That's what Jesus tells us. He says, marvel not my brother if the world hates you. He said, the world is going to hate you because the world hated me. And just as he's saying, you know, hey, he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. Jesus Christ said many similar things to us and said, look, if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them as household? He says, if they persecuted me, they shall persecute you. They wanted him dead, they're going to want you dead. They hung Jesus on the cross, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. And I think it's the same with Jesus Christ. You know, if you really follow Jesus and you really stand up for the word of God, people are going to persecute you like they persecuted him. They're going to hate you like they hated him. But you say, Oh man, you know what, what am I going to do? I'm going to be killed. I'm going to be harmed. I mean, but, but Jesus says, Hey, wait a minute with me, you'll be in safeguard. He said in John 16, 33, these things have I spoken unto you. And it's a great chapter where he warns them about persecution early in the chapter. He says, look, they're going to put you out of the synagogue and there's going to come a time when whosoever killeth you will think that you do with God's service. And at the end of that chapter, warning them about persecution, he says, these things have I spoken unto you that in me, you might have peace in the world. You shall have tribulation, but be a good cheer. I've overcome the world. And I think this could apply also. Hey, he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life, but with me, thou shalt be in safeguard. And there's a wonderful picture there of the fact that we're going to be persecuted. If we follow Christ, this guy's going to be persecuted for following David for doing the right thing here, but he's going to be safe with David just says, we're safe with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. You know, the shotgun is loaded and prepared, but safety is of the Lord. God's the one who ultimately has to protect us and keep us safe. Why was also paranoid? Cause he knew that God wasn't with them. We don't have to be paranoid today. We don't have to, you know, be afraid and worried and look under the bed every night before we get into bed and scare. And you know, some people are like that and people get fearful and you know, all of us get fearful from time to time. But when we are fearful, just know that that's the flesh talking. That's not the spirit. The wicked flee when no man pursue it, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Here we see Saul fleeing. Nobody's pursuing, you know, he's just scared, paranoid, nervous that he's under attack. There's nothing going on. We don't want to be that way. We want to be as bold as a lion. We want to realize, okay, maybe people are out to get us. Maybe somebody does want us dead, but you know what? With Christ, we'll have safety. He'll keep us safe. He'll protect us. He has given his angels charge concerning us. The Bible says that the angel of the Lord and campus round about them that fear him. I mean, think about that. Literally those that are servants of God and the fear God. The Bible says that God's angels are literally camped out around you to protect ministering spirits that are there to keep you safe and to protect you. You know, you've heard the concept of a guardian angel. I mean, that's where that comes from. It's a biblical concept of God's angels protecting you and keeping you safe. And so we don't have to go through life scared and worried and nervous. Just know, hey, there's going to be persecution. There's going to be hard times, but God can protect us and keep us safe through anything. Look how many people in the Bible people tried to kill them and God just kept protecting them and keeping them safe and feeding them and clothing them. Look at Elijah and look at all the different guys in the Bible who escaped the edge of the sword, as the Bible says, because God was protecting them. Just make sure that you're right with God. This kind of ties in with what I was preaching Sunday. You know, God will fix your finances and God will take care of you and make sure you're not going to be killed or imprisoned. You know, and the Bible says, fear none of those things with thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of light. So the Bible is telling us if something does happen, if you are attacked or killed or thrown in prison, it's only because God allowed it to happen that you might be tried only if God allows it because God can easily protect you from all harm. And most of the time he keeps his people safe. Now, you know, he makes them go through trials and tribulations, but he usually keeps them safe. Sometimes there'll be martyrs like Stephen, but many are going to make it out alive, the Bible teaches. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.