-Part II-

Text: (I Kings 1-11:13)

The Builder

(I Kings 7,9)

His Houses

For 7 years Solomon built the Temple; for 13 years, he built his own house. (7:1) His winter house {7:2) measured 150 feet in length, 75 feet in width and stood 45 feet in height. Its magnificence was punctuated by 4 rows of cedar pillars that numbered 45 in all. Three windows were set "light against light." "The doors and posts were squared with the windows.

He constructed a porch of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide.

He built a porch for his throne which was called "the porch of judgment," and covered it with cedar.

He placed 200 targets of gold in his house, each weighing

600 shekels of gold: If 50 shekels is equivalent to 20.148 ounces, then each target weighed 241.776 ounces. As of this writing, approximately 435 paper "dollars" must be exchanged for an ounce of gold. At this rate, each target would be valued at 105,172.56 "dollars". The 200 targets that were made to serve as wall decorations would be "valued" at 21,034,512 "dollars."

And Solomon made 300 shields. He put 3 pounds of gold into each shield. This was 3000 years before the acceptance of the troy measurement in which 12 ounces of precious stones or metals equals 1 pound. Therefore each shield contained 48 ounces of gold, and at the present rate of 435 "dollars" per ounce of gold, each shield would be "valued" at 20,880 "dollars." The 300 shields would be "valued" at 6,264,000 "dollars" as served the same purpose as the targets --to hang in the house as wall decorations!

All the vessels within the house were of gold --even the drinking vessels.

He then built the Millo, the tower at Jerusalem and gave the charge of it to a young man named Jereboam who after him would divide his kingdom. He built the wall of Jerusalem.

He constructed the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, Bethhorn the Nether, Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness.

The Ruler

(Kings 4,9)

In express violation of the commandment of God not to multiply horses and chariots, gold and silver Solomon brought 1400 chariots from Egypt and built stalls to house 40,000 horses. The transaction for each chariot involved 1,208.88 "dollars" in silver or in all 1,692,432 "dollars" in silver.

If the 40,000 horse stalls were filled, and indeed they may have been since Solomon had 12,000 horsemen, then each horse was exchanged for 302.02 "dollars" in silver or 12,080,800 "dollars" in all.

What king is militarily strong, or what people are economically strong that ignores the country’s coasts and its waterways? Therefore, Solomon built a navy in Ezion-Geber on the tip of the Red Sea.

The navy Solomon built brought from Ophir 420 talents of gold or 220,871,145.60 "dollars."

In chapter 10, the Queen of Sheba presented Solomon with a gift of 120 talents of gold or 63,106,042 "dollars" besides much spices.

Each year 666 talents of gold or 350,238,530,88 "dollars" of gold flowed into the coffers of Solomon. It is said of silver, "It was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon for the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as Stones ... " (I Kings 10:21,27). Yet, Solomon declared the merchandise of wisdom is "better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold." (Proverbs 3:14)

His Naughty Heart: "But Solomon loved many strange women."

(I Kings 11) (vs. 1) God had forbidden the kings Israel to multiply horses or chariots, silver or gold, or wives (Deuteronomy 17:16,17), yet Solomon had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. "Solomon clave unto these in love." (I Kings 11:2)

They were "strange" or heathen women, and God had forbidden intermarriage with the heathen and warned, "Ye shall not go in to them neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods."

Instead of writing him "a copy of the Law of God that he read therein all the days of his life that he might learn to fear the Lord and to keep all the words of His Law," his heart was lifted up in pride. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) "For it came pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods" (I Kings 11:4) and he pursued the worship Ashtoreth, the Zidonian goddess of erotical love; Moloch, the Ammonite demon that accepted the sacrifice of infants. "Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father." (Verse 6)

On the hill before Jerusalem, Solomon built a "high place" for Moloch and for Chemosh, the Moabite demon. Solomon pleased the idolatrous hearts of his wives by burning incense unto their gods. The Apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10:20 – "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils."

His Judgment "And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his

(I Kings 11) heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared unto him twice." (I Kings 11:9) God had commanded Solomon not to pursue other gods, "but he kept not that which the Lord commanded." (Verse 10) Consequently, as the Lord had warned, He cut off the son of Solomon that he should not continue as king over the kingdom. (Deuteronomy 17:118-20)

"And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad... of the King’s seed in Edom. (I Kings 11:14)

And, "God stirred Him up another adversary, Rezon, the son of Eliadah. (I Kings 11:23)

"And Jereboam, the son of Nebat...Solomon’s servant...even he lifted up his hand against the king.... Solomon therefore sought to kill Jereboam. And Jereboam arose and fled into Egypt...and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon." (I Kings 11:26,40)

"And Solomon slept with his fathers." (I Kings 11:43) Neither his great wisdom, nor his great riches enabled Solomon to sin and escape punishment.

The Angelus -- For the second time in 4 months, we have to combine editions. Since we lost our church building in March, monthly gifts have been cut by at least 90 percent

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Does an individual have the "right" in the privacy of their home to commit adultery, or sodomy, or to view pornography, or to use drugs?

Individual "rights" are founded upon Law, not upon lawlessness.

There is a marked difference between "liberty" and "license" and our generation appears to have lost the knowledge of that difference.

There is only one Lawgiver--that is God, and it is from Him that we receive certain "rights." God is the Author of liberty. Freedom is not a privilege granted by civil government. It is our inalienable right.

According to the only Law God knows anything about, men are at liberty to do all the good they can do, but because personal freedom is predicated upon His Law, no one has a "right" to do evil.

One may go into the privacy of his or her home and there commit acts of adultery or sodomy, or view pornographic movies or magazines. etc. but God has not given anyone anywhere at any time the, "right" to act out his depravity.

If men had the "right" to do wrong, God would not judge them. However, He has ordained government to be a "terror to evil-doers;" and government officials are His ministers "for good." Therefore they have the power of the sword in order to "execute wrath upon (them) that do evil." This is the reason we pay tribute.

(Romans 13:1-7)

No one has the "right" to do evil.

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The Pilgrim’s Bible Church --Since March when our church building was sold out from under us, we have been conducting services in our living room Sunday morning and evening, and Wednesday night.

The Lord has brought three additional families to worship with us, but we are not yet able to find alternate facilities. Brethren, pray for us.

Text: Revelation 9:1-11

When Moses asked God for His name, he was asking about the nature of God, and as the names of the Almighty reveal His nature, so the nature of the Devil is revealed by his names.

He is called "the Angel of the Bottomless Pit," called "the

Abyss" in the Greek. Although he was once a messenger who served in heaven, he is now fallen, and by God’s design he serves as the messenger of the pit.

He is the "Prince of the Power of the air," the "Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." He is the first apostate.

But his most revealing name is "Abaddon" in the Hebrew, and "Apollyon" in the Greek. His name in the latter is a compound name coming from the word "apo" used in the intensive form, and "olluo" which means, "to destroy." It is the same name as "Apollo" and was derived from the word "destroying." The Hebrew form is from the root word "abad" meaning "He destroyed."

The chief pleasure of Apollyon, the Devil, is to destroy—to destroy men, and in doing so, to destroy families, and in doing so, to destroy nations.

His business is "to destroy." His plan is "to destroy." His pleasure is "to destroy." He destroys for the sake of destroying. He destroys for the love of destroying. God has created ""he Waster to destroy." (Isaiah 54: 16)

He is the "Weakener of nations" and the "Shaker of kingdoms." It is he who has "made the world a wilderness" and who has "destroyed the cities thereof." (Isaiah 14:12,16,17)

He has destroyed families through lust, abortion, and divorce. He has destroyed churches by sowing discord among the brethren.

It is on account of him that "judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off:" that "truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." (Isaiah 59:14)

It is Apollyon who has beguiled men with "lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." (II Thessalonians 2:9,10)

But the day will come when the Devil that has deceived them shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet will be, and there he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

AN ACT OF GOD

Saturday morning, October 11th, pastor Bobby Hankerson picked me up at my home at 7:45 A.M. Our destination was the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Lincolnton, Georgia, where I was scheduled to conduct a 4 hour seminar for the Black Ministerial Alliance on the "Office of Deacon."

We were proceeding on Washington Road north of Pollard’s Corner when we came upon an automobile accident involving one of his deacons. It seems he was struck by a pine tree!

The gentleman who is approximately in his 6O’s is according to pastor Hankerson a man of integrity. That morning, he was on his way to the Ebenezer Baptist Church when he noticed the tree falling. He did not have time to divert his direction and before he could bring his automobile to a halt, he had pushed the tree a good 10 feet!

The tree struck the car at the right headlight. Branches dented the hood and the top, and cracked his windshield, but the deacon was not injured.

As we left the scene, Pastor Hankerson and I began to muse. To come upon a tree fallen in the road is one thing, but to have a tree fall upon you while you are driving down the road is something else.

There was hardly any breeze perceived. The tree itself was a large pine tree, and while green at the top, it was rotten in the middle. Its fall was precisely timed--not during the night, nor in front of his vehicle, but singling out his automobile, it fell.

Consider this: Pastor Hankerson has put on 129,000 miles on his automobile. The distance from our eastern coast to our western coast is approximately 3200 miles. I wonder how many trees he has passed along the way?

I had never heard of such a thing occurring, and I lamented the fact I had not brought my camera. "The Lord has something very special for us today," I remarked to Bro. Hankerson as we proceeded on our way.

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Addenda to "The Kingdom Of Antichrist" --In February, we opened our home to a 13 year old boy named Edward. The Family and Children’s Services were about to place him in a foster home. We went to his defense knowing he would most likely not be allowed to attend to see his family again.

At the time, my wife and I agreed to tell the state we wanted no financial assistance from the taxpayer. The Children’s Services representatives were pleased.

Then I received a note from the Social Security office. I told them we would not accept any financial assistance from the taxpayer --that we were not socialists--that we did not want a handout. We believe it to be the duty of the church --the people of God--to relieve one another.

The Social Security representative told me they had a check to send. I informed him I would return it and suggested he use it to alleviate the "National Deficit."

Still he persisted by asking if I would object if the check were sent to one of Edward’s relatives. I expressed disbelief that I was an American who was willing to take a young man into my home and treat him as I would my own sons, but the government would not allow it?!

The Computer--Nine months ago I stated that we had an opportunity to obtain a computer that would drastically cut our labor. WE HAVE THE COMPUTER. Many thanks to Mr. Mrs. J. H. Barrett.

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hornby and Dr. Roy Davis have enabled to get it functional. Thank you friends.

In order to put our mailing list into the system, we are trying to obtain a word processor on a S5inch hard disc. Can you help us?