God and History - Walter Martin

MARCH 08, 1975

We trust it will be an encouragement to all the true and sincere people of God to be reminded of several long periods of time in the earth when men dwelt without fear for their families, loved ones, and property, due to kings, rulers, and governing authorities who would not countenance or put up with lawlessness. May I ask any or all in whatever category you may belong who claim to believe that the "death penalty" does not prevent crime: Did you ever see a dead man commit murder? Did you ever see a dead man rape a woman or girl? Do you reckon there was any rape, adultery, homosexuality, or other crimes in Sodom on that morning shortly after Lot went out of the City and God rained fire and brimstone from heaven upon it?

The following statement is made not for the purpose of offending any man, but rather for the purpose of the writer not offending God Almighty: From my knowledge of The Bible, if I take the position the "death penalty" does not restrain and prevent, I make God out to be a liar many times in His Word, and in fact reject the entire economy of The Almighty revealed in John 3-16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Maybe we need to meditate on these words of The Lord Jesus Christ: "Ye do err, not knowing The Scriptures, nor The Power of God!" Meditate on them, and repent!

Regardless of what others do, or profess, you continue to "Fear God and keep His Commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." "Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season we will reap, if we faint not." "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in Heaven. Deliver us from evil." Remember that a number of times God has told us in His Word: "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." For nothing should the people of God more devoutly pray than that "their great men might be good and God-fearing men!"

"Democratic Institutions exist by reason of their virtue. If ever they perish it will be when you have forgotten the past, become indifferent to the present, and utterly reckless as to the future." "When you have forgotten the past!" The following is a reminder of a few incidents of the past:

Not forgetting the past: let's turn to Oliver Cromwell about the 1650's A.D., and remember that God used him in England, Scotland and Ireland to put down evil, rebellion and disorder.

Not forgetting the past: in the year 617 A.D. Edwin was crowned King of Northumbria, one of the seven divisions of England in the period of The Heptarchy. It was from this King that Edinburgh got her name. It was said first of him that in his days "a woman with her babe might walk scathless from sea to sea." The people tilled their fields and gathered their harvests in quiet and safety. Men no longer feared the thief and robber; stakes were driven by the roadside spring, where the traveler found a brass cup hanging for his use, and no thief durst carry it off . . . "Thus the church as the great civilizer, had already begun its work in Teutonic Britain."

Again, not forgetting the past; in the year 1066 A.D. the grandson of a Norse pirate was recognized as King of England. His ways were masterful and his measures severe, but the results were beneficial. He was a hard drillmaster; but England needed a drillmaster, and the English were the first to recognize it. Life and property were protected as they had never been done and protected under native English kings. Even the Chronicle is forced to recognize "the good peace he made in the land, so that a man might go over the realm alone with his bosom full of gold unhurt. Nor durst any man slay another, how great so ever the evil he had done." "The good peace he made in the land!"

Don't forget again that the conqueror's son, Henry I demanded respect and obedience to his laws, and won the title -- "Lion of Justice." "And no man durst misdo against another."

Not forgetting the past: around 1200 to 1230 A.D., Genghis Khan came out of the Gobi desert and conquered the cities of civilization. No other man except Alexander the Great, long before the time of Genghis Khan ever made such a change in the world during one lifetime. Southern China was conquered, he swept over Russian princes, and over the brave Poles and Hungarians. His general, Subotai, got as far as Vienna, where his forces turned back from Europe of their own accord -- doubtless because France and Germany went to their knees in prayer to God Almighty! Genghis Khan demanded obedience to his Law: Mongol accounts say cart loads of gold and silver stood nearby without any guards to watch over them, so utterly was the Law of Genghis Khan, which forbade stealing, obeyed!

Somewhere, somehow, this Magnificent Barbarian had gotten ahold of God Almighty's Commandment: "Thou shalt not steal." He believed it! He enforced it! (Would God we would do the same!) Because of that Law peace prevailed for thousands of miles around him. At a "Council of his Conquerors," he said,

"I have gained the mastery by carrying out our Law. Only severity keeps men obedient. An action is only good if you carry it out to the end."

His commandments were obeyed even after his death. It was as if he sat on the raised throne of the council of the Mongol Khan. Everything written down in his Law was carried out by the generations that followed him. When his grandson, Batu Khan, ruled there was a saying in Russia that "a dog cannot bark without permission of Batu Khan." And it was also said that a young girl alone could carry a sack of gold safely from the River Don to the City of The Khans. What is wrong with such power when it is used to stop stealing, and protect women?

Above records of five rulers testify to the ability of men to keep law and order. Suggest we think on our ways. What is the trouble?'The answer is as plain as the nose on your face: We have forsaken the Commandments of our God!