Deuteronomy Part 4

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

January 6, 2018

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 3:1-5:

1) “Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

2) And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not; for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand, and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.

3) So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.

4) And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5) All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, beside unwalled towns, a great many.”

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“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false”—William Casey, CIA director, 1981.

Before we begin the study of Deuteronomy in this sermon, we will look at one of the things that happened this past week. I found a December 25, 2017 People Magazine at work. Looking thru it, I found an article entitled, “Remembering Sandy Hook, Return to Newtown—5 Years Later.” They had four pictures on the first two pages and 26 photos on the last two pages of the article. The pictures on the first two pages were photos of Nicole and Dylan Hockley, Mark and Daniel Barden, and Alissa and Emilie Parker. Do you remember them? The 26 photographs on the last two pages were pictures of every person that died at the school that day except for the shooter, Adam Lanza and his mother who was (supposedly) murdered at her home.

The following is from the hometown Newtown Bee which said:

The interview was of the DEAD principal, Dawn Hochsprung and the fake picture in the upper right-hand corner. Under the photograph it says, “State police personnel led children from the school, following the shooting,--Bee Photo, Shannon Hicks.”

The picture on the upper right was supposedly taken by the Newtown Bee reporter, Susan Hicks, at 9:45 AM on December 14, 2012 (15 minutes after the first shots were taken). She received the “Photographer of the Year” for this photograph. It is the same picture that was in the present issue of People magazine. The information given below the picture in People says, “Children were led from the school (on Dec. 14, 2012) while their principal, teachers and classmates lay dead inside.” Now, why do you think that Susan Hicks would not admit she took a fake photograph, especially after receiving the “Photographer of the Year” award for it?

“In a photograph taken by Shannon Hicks, police and teachers lead children away from Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday, Dec. 14.”

But this picture is cut. If you look at the entire photograph you will notice that there are more people that were there that were trimmed out of the picture. Notice, also, that the cars are painted with different colors, i.e. green, red, white, blue, etc. There were supposedly 469 students. Why were there no other pictures of other students being led to safety?

Why do so many people not believe the story put out by the government on Sandy Hook? Well, why was there:

1. No surge of EMTs into the building,
2. No string of ambulances to rush the bodies to hospitals,
3. No Med-Evac helicopters,
4. No evacuation of 469 students,
5. No bodies on the triage tarps,
6. No doctor who pronounced the people dead,
7. No autopsies done in the hospital,
8. No parents allowed to see the deceased children, only photographs,
9. No videos taken by anyone at the school or the firehouse,
10. No interviews given by the only living eye-witness, the one day janitor, Rod Thorne.
11. No one killed in 2012 in Newtown in the FBI report on murders in the state.
12. No one killed, outside of the shooter and his mother, in the Social Security report in 2012.
13. No child was carried by the police officer from the school seriously wounded, as reported in the Newtown Bee.
14. No children were escorted from the school under state police protection, as reported in the Newtown Bee.
15. No person, let alone three people, were transported to Danbury to the hospital by ambulance, as reported in the Newtown Bee.
16. No interview given by the school principal about the shooter in the Newtown Bee, because she was supposed to be dead.
17. No children fled Mrs. Soto’s massacred room to Gene Rosen’s house on a school bus. No school bus that I know of would be allowed to pick up children from a school and drop them off at a house and let them be alone while school was still in session.
18. Etc., etc., etc.

None of that happened because no children had been shot. Cars in the lot were all the same color—black in the incident that occurred on December 14, 2012. In the famous evacuation picture taken by Susan Hicks, all the cars were different colors. 

Compare these two photographs. Is there anyone who believes that these pictures were taken in a mass-murder emergency situation?  The “iconic” photograph that shows a string of 15 students being led to safety by a policewoman, which was sent around the world at the time, turns out to have been staged. There is a second photograph, taken at practically the same time, showing a group of parents casually looking on with their arms crossed as the officer rearranges the kids to get “a better shot”:

Newtown Bee photographer Shannon Hicks has admitted taking both photographs, but has yet to explain how parents could have been present for photos taken during an emergency evacuation. Someone would have had to take time out from coping with the catastrophe to call them to come down to the massacre, which is absurd. Plus, there wasn’t enough time to do this anyway. And why would there be the same people along with different students in the two pictures. What did they do, evacuate some of the same students twice?

This elaborate hoax appears to have been planned long in advance, where Attorney General Eric Holder met with Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy on November 27, 2012 to discuss the administration’s programs for gun control. And, on January 16, 2013, Barack Obama signed 23 Executive Orders to restrict the right to bear arms.

Did anyone hear of any interview with the police officer who was leading the children away? Did anyone hear of any interview of any of the children? Where was the teacher? What class was this? Where did the children go? Did they go to the firehouse? Why were there no pictures of them arriving safely there? Where are all the other children? Did they just have one class leave? Why is there no picture of the other 454 students evacuating?

The second issue in the magazine article was that People magazine had a photograph of Alison Wyatt. But it originally was the picture of Lily Gaubert. For several weeks, all the news media used the picture on the left and said that this was Allison Wyatt. But it was the wrong picture!

Lily Gaubert and Allison Wyatt
 The media used a photo of a different girl, Lily Gaubert (shown here on the left), for Sandy Hook victim Allison Wyatt (on the right). This went on for a couple of weeks.

On her Facebook page, Cathy Gaubert says someone lifted her very much alive daughter Lily’s picture from her Flickr page and used it as Sandy Hook victim Allison Wyatt’s.

Only when Cathy Gaubert found out that her daughter’s photo was identified to be that of the dead Allison Wyatt that the media replaced the photo of Lily Gaubert with a photo of Allison Wyatt.

The photograph of Lily, which was taken in August of 2009, was not the picture of Allison! And everything that they said about Allison was written underneath the picture of Lily. Lily was alive and well and a couple of years older than Allison was supposed to be. Can you imagine the frustration of her mother trying to correct this hurtful situation? And where were Allison parents in all of this? Why weren’t they upset?

And lastly, there is the short notation under Noah Pozner’s picture. It says, “Arielle, Noah’s twin sister, is 11 now, says their father, Lenny, who moved the family to Florida after the shooting. ‘I see my daughter grow, and I wonder what Noah would look like now. He was a perfect little boy.’”

Lenny, who at the time of the murders, was living in Florida. He and Noah’s mother were separated or divorced. But what happened to his mother, Veronique?

Veronique, like Gene Rosen, was constantly on the television giving interview after interview. Her most famous one, was her green screen interview with Anderson Cooper, who just happens to be a former CIA agent, who was working for CNN at the time he had his question and answer session with Veronique. She shortly, after this television dialogue, became embattled with her brother over the funds that were set up in a trust, days after the shooting at Sandy Hook.

Her brother, Alexis Haller, is a Vatican lawyer representing the Holy See in court cases involving child sexual abuse cases against the Roman Catholic Church. What!? And his sister, Noah’s mother, was a Swiss Agent for the United Nations on gun control. What!?

What has become of her? Her son was supposedly shot 11 times by the most accurate shooter in mass murder history, the autistic child, who because of this illness, had impaired motor skills and coordination, Adam Lanza. But that is enough.

What do you think the people will believe when you have three towers all fall in a few seconds over sixteen years ago? Osama Bin Laden did it when he was living in caves halfway around the world. It was time for war in Iraq.

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false”—William Casey, CIA director, 1981.

Let’s go on with our study in Deuteronomy.

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Moses was giving the Israelites their history over the last 40 or so years. They had just completed the victory over Sihon, king of the Amorites, and destroyed him and his people. He then tells of the battle with king Og. He tells of seven things that happened:

1. The LORD God delivered king Og into the hands of Israel with all his people. God was the one who gave Israel their victory; it was not Israel on their own who defeated king Og. All people of the earth were not equal in the eyes of God. His covenant people were His elect. Other races were fit for destruction.
2. Israel smote Og until there was none remaining. Israel, under their God’s orders, committed genocide.
3. Israel took all his cities, being 60 walled cities, many villages, and unwalled towns.
4. Israel destroyed all of the individuals in Og’s kingdom—men, women, and children as Israel did the Amorites under king Sihon.
5. Israel took all the cattle, and the spoil of all the cities and villages as a spoil to themselves.
6. Israel took from these two kings (Sihon and Og) all the land along the river Jordan from the Arnon River on the south to mount Hermon on the north, which was beyond the Sea of Galilee.
7. Israel took all the cities of the plains, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan.
8. Israel gave all this land to half the tribe of Manasseh, all the tribe of Gad and all the tribe of Reuben.
9. Israel camped at Beth-peor.

Israel captured 60 cities and a great many unwalled towns in the region of the Argob. Where was that? It was a region east of the Jordan River, part of the kingdom of Og. The Argob as well as all the kingdom of Og was inhabited by giants at one time. This is evident from the massive structures, some of which still are in existence. Some of the walls are 5 to 8 feet thick and built of large square blocks, with some ceilings 20 to 30 feet high with doors 10 feet or higher.

 Edrei was the fascinating capital of Og, and an ancient city formed of natural volcanic activity. It was an impregnable fortress of nature. Scholars point out the natural security of Edrei’s volcanic formed walls. The city consists of clefts and crevices. Many of the ancient houses still stand, a result of the walls, ceilings and doors, for the most part, being completely made of stone. The city itself sat twenty feet above the plain; hence it was a naturally formed volcanic and rock fortress towering above the surrounding countryside.

The ancient territory of Bashan now lies in southern Lebanon, western Syria, and part of the disputed Golan Heights. How could a province measuring not more than 30 by 20 miles support the reported number of fortified cities, especially when the greater part of it was a wilderness of rock? But, mysterious and incredible as this seems, the cities built and occupied 4,000 years ago by giants exist even yet. 

These ‘cities’ are really walled towns normally only about a hectare (2½ acres) in area. They appear to be scattered around the ancient fortress just outside El Khodor, which is built on a high volcanic plug. This fortress has been built and rebuilt several times since, but there is plenty of evidence of ancient foundations and structures dating well before the Roman ruins, which are obvious. I imagine that King Og ruled from this fortress.

These ancient cities contain probably the very oldest complete specimens of domestic architecture now existing in the world. Various Bible writers describe Bashan as almost an earthly paradise:

• The strength and grandeur of its oaks,
• The beauty of its mountain scenery,
• The unrivaled luxuriance of its pastures,
• The fertility of its wide-spreading plains, and
• The excellence of its cattle.

Remnants of the oak forests still clothe the mountainsides. Ancient Bashan comprises a vast field of basalt, elevated some 30 feet above the plain. It is called the “Lejah”. Here stood the giant cities. Surrounding it was the fertile plain of Bashan.

The most fascinating element of this mysterious city, however, is the city built underground, beneath the imposing fortress towering above ground. Many feel it was hollowed out as a refuge for those living above, though this is not known for certain. The precise function of this underground city remains shrouded in wonderful mystery.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Og and Sihon, the last of the Rephaim , also connected to the Nephilim, also shrouded in mystery, dwelt in such a fortified city with a mysterious underground city as well. It is quite remarkable, when viewed in this context, that the Israelites, led by the men of the tribe of Manasseh, defeated the mighty King Og. These were giants, fierce warriors. The Israelites were much, much smaller people. Edrei was a mighty capital for a mighty king.

Deuteronomy 3:13b:  “…all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.”

God used His small, insignificant army to shame the mighty and proud enemies of His people.

Deuteronomy 3:6-11:

6) “And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

7) But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

8) And we took at that time, out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, the land that was on this side of the Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto Mount Hermon.

9) (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amortizes call it Senir);

10) All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

11) For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breath of it, after the cubit of a man.”

Israel, after facing the wrath of Moses when they did not destroy all the Midianites (Numbers 31:13-19) afterward destroyed all they were supposed to, of the subjects of Sihon and Og. The Israelites took all their cattle. The word “cattle” means all kinds of different livestock:

• Cattle
• Sheep
• Goats
• Donkeys
• Oxen
• Other animals

for they were to be spared and divided among the men of war and the congregation of Israel.

Deuteronomy 3:12-17:

12) “And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

13) And the rest of the Gilead, and all Bashan, bring the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

14) Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day.

15) And I gave Gilead unto Machir.

16) And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

17) The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward.” The land that was conquered from the Amorites was divided out to 2 ½ tribes of the Israelites. Half the tribe of Manasseh, Gad and Reuben were the tribes who received this land. Later, they were also the first to be taken captive by the Syrians, followed several decades later by the remainder of the kingdom.

Deuteronomy 3:18-20:

18) “And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.

19) But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;

20) Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.”

Instructions given to the 2 ½ tribes that had just received land east of the Jordan River. They had to cross the Jordan and help their brethren fight to win the land west of the Jordan. Their wives and livestock and the older men, as well as their children, would remain in their new homes in the former kingdom of Sihon and Og.

Deuteronomy 3:21-22:

21) “And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest.

22) Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.”

Moses tells Joshua that you should not fear the enemy that you are going to fight. The reason: The LORD your God shall fight for you! You can be just as victorious as you have been against them as you have been against Sihon and Og.

This is the part that is crucial if you say that you believe what the Bible says. What other people on the earth did the LORD God say that He was fighting on their side? It says very plainly that the LORD God was fighting on the side of the Israelites and that He was not fighting on the side of the two Amorite kings—Sihon and Og. If God is on our side, that is the crucial question. That is what determines who the victor will be, isn’t it?

Deuteronomy 3:23-29:

23) “And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,

24) O LORD God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

25) I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

26) But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.

27) Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shall not go over this Jordan.

28) But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shall see.

29) So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.”

Moses asks God if he could go over the Jordan River and enter the kingdom with the rest of the Israelites, but the LORD was steadfast in His ruling. He said “No.” The LORD gave him two commandments to keep:

1. Go up into the top of Pisgah, to see the land, for you will not cross over the Jordan River.
2. Charge Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before the people, and shall cause them to inherit the land.

The congregation of Israel was located at Beth-[Baal]-peor or the “house of Baal.” It was here where there was a house or temple where Baal was worshipped. It was located on the mount of Peor. This land was later allotted to the tribe of Reuben.

Beth-baal-peor and surrounding area.

Deuteronomy 4:1-3:

1) “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statues and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

2) Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandment of the LORD your God which I command you.

3) Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.”

Where Israel was camped, they could see the temple of Baal that was on the mountain. The LORD God of the Israelites had destroyed, all the worshippers of this false god. What was the difference?

It was the commandments of the LORD God that He gave to only Israel. They were not to add or take away anything that had been told them. They were to keep all the commandments of God.

They had been a witness to what the LORD did because of the Baal-worshippers:

Deuteronomy 4:3:  “Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor; for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.”

He was referring to the incident that had happened at this place several decades earlier. What happened when Israel journeyed to this very same place about 40 years previously?

Numbers 25:1-3:

1) “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughter of Moab.

2) And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

3) And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.”

The most beautiful women prostitutes of Moab and Midian were set apart to tempt and seduce the men of Israel to commit the sins of idolatry and formication or race-mixing. The Israelites were beginning to take part in sex orgies with the prostitutes of Baal who were consecrated to their gods to commit such sins to attract more devotees to their religion.

What has happened to America and the other Israel nations in the last 50 years? They are worshipping Baal. Why do I say that? One of the main tenets of Baal worship is free love and inter-racial marriages and love making. When we were young, inter-racial marriages were against the law in most of the states of our country. Since 1967, the Supreme Court said that inter-racial marriages were unconstitutional. So, now anyone can marry anyone of any race. That’s Baal worship. It is against the law of our God.

You can’t help but see miscegenation on the television shows and commercials. Magazine ads are full of mixed-raced couples. Pornography is running full stride, with little interference from the government. Pedophiles are having a field day, with little repercussions. Most people who marry are not virgins anymore. It is politically correct, but it is wrong in the eyes of our God. What did our LORD God do to the Israelites who were seduced by the Baal prostitutes at that place where they were now encamped—Baa-peor?

1. God became angry at Israel.
2. God had 1,000 of the chief men executed.
3. God slew every man that was joined in race-mixing union in worship of Baal.
4. God sanctioned and blessed the act of Phineas who slayed Zimri.
5. God sent a plague which killed an additional 23,000 Israelites who participated in race-mixing at Baal-peor.
6. God commanded the destruction of the Midianites because of this sin.

In contrast to the destruction of the 24,000, the rest of Israel was preserved. This outstanding example for Israel was that they were to be separate. No integration. Why? Because it would lead to Baal-worship. It would lead to race-mixing, which would eventually lead to the annihilation of the Israel nation. If our LORD God was mad in Baal-peor, what do you think He is now?

Deuteronomy 34:6: “And He buried him (Moses) in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day.”

Moses died where? In the land of Moab, near Beth-peor. But Beth-peor was given to the tribe of Reuben. The Moabites used to live in the land from the Arnon River, which was its southern border north to the Jabbok River. But they were defeated by the Amorites. The Moabites then lived with the Arnon River to its north and the Zedek brook on its south. Why is this important? Because that is important to understand where Ruth had emigrated to: “…The land or country of the Moabites.” She had gone to where the Moabites formally were located; where Reuben was now in possession of the land.

Moses died on his birthday. He was 120 years old. But Moses died the youngest of all his kindred:

1. Levi—Moses’ great-great grandfather died when he was 137 years old.
2. Kohath—Moses’ great grandfather died when he was 133 years old.
3. Amram—Moses’ father died when he was 137 years old.
4. Aaron—Moses’ older brother died when he was 123 years old.
5. Miriam—Moses’ sister died when she was at least 126 years old.

Moses was one of the greatest of all the prophets of the LORD God of Israel; in many respects greater than all the others, except for Jesus the Christ. Many times, Moses was face to face with God who was also in visible form. But Moses had committed a sin which ruined the type, and God would not relent. The mantle was to be passed on to Joshua.

To be continued.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.