HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, November 11, 2024 – Were the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness a social experiment conducted by God as a way to kill off several generations of unrepentant sinners while allowing their offspring to be formed under the newly minted religious laws?

It certainly looks that way.

Less than three months after God had miraculously rescued the Hebrews from their cruel Egyptian taskmasters, the Hebrews started setting up their demon idols in the wilderness. Nice way to thank God, people!

Were the Hebrews even worth saving?

God didn’t think so, and if it weren’t for Moses’ interventions and pleadings, all of them (except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb) would have been wiped out in an instant. Still, God was willing to give the children of the Hebrews a chance, which meant that anyone under the age of 20 at the time of exodus would be allowed to enter the promised land 40 years later, whereas anyone 20 years or older would die in the wilderness, with the sole exceptions of Joshua and Caleb.

The idea behind this social experiment was to see whether the Hebrew children, who would be raised in near total isolation from the demon-worshiping cultures of the heathens, would become godly adults who were fully obedient to God and his laws or if they would continue in their parents’ sinful ways. I believe that the laws and statutes given to Moses by God were unduly plentiful and the punishments unduly harsh in order to form the young ones appropriately (like at a boot camp) while at the same time punishing the parents for their disobedience. The parents were still in charge of raising their kids, but they would do it knowing that God (or one of his agents) was perpetually breathing down their necks to make sure they were doing everything right. If they didn’t do everything right, they could potentially forfeit not only their own lives, but also the lives of their children, which would mean the end of their bloodline.

The outcome of this social experiment has clear implications for us today. During the 40 years in the wilderness, the youngest generations willingly absorbed God’s laws and statutes and were generally obedient. In fact, after all the people who were slated to die did die, and their adult offspring were preparing to enter the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, there was total consensus that they would do whatever they were instructed to do, and would do it to the letter and with no murmuring. So far, so good, and this must have pleased God immensely.

However, after they’d entered the promised land and taken over the cities and towns Joshua had instructed them to take over, the children of Israel began to disobey God and his laws. The more they interacted with the heathen, the worse they became, until eventually the children of Israel were indistinguishable from the devil worshipers they lived among.

We can see from this social experiment the benefits of living in relative isolation from unbelievers. We can also see the benefits of living under stringent laws that have unduly harsh punishments. If God (or Moses, or some other godly person) were my taskmaster, I frankly would have no problem living under either of those conditions (i.e., in total isolation and under strict laws with brutal punishments) and would in fact welcome such a living environment: I’d see it as being for my ultimate (i.e., eternal) benefit. The dispersion of the children of Israel among the heathens meant that not only were the laws and statutes mostly a personal choice from that point onward, but the punishments were also sporadically and unevenly applied by the religious PTB. The social contract between God and his people was broken, as it takes all affected parties to agree to a contract, and the Hebrews had, by their creeping disobedience, effectively bowed out.

This may surprise some of you who are reading this, but we, as born-again believers, are under contract with God today. The Kingdom of God, the spiritual Zion where born-again believers spiritually live and breathe, is the new promised land. Our contract is no less rigorous than the one entered into by the children of the children of Israel and the terms of agreement are the same: Be obedient to God and his laws, and you will prosper spiritually; be disobedient, and you will die spiritually, and there’s no coming back from that death.

In this latest of God’s social experiments, which began at Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago, God has given us – his adopted children – massive leeway to live among the heathen, all while trusting us not to become like the heathen. To enable us to remain loyal to him, he’s given us his Spirit through rebirth, opening up a 24/7 communication line that is a combined hotline, helpline, and spiritual 911, and he’s always there to answer. This is how God is breathing down our necks now, and I thank God that he is.

Mind you, the devil is also betting that the demonic influences around us will be our undoing, as they were the children of Israel’s undoing, but it’s up to each one of us to prove the devil wrong. The Church established by God and lorded over by Jesus is impenetrable to the forces of evil. So, as long as we remain behind our holy firewall by remaining obedient to God and following Jesus, we’ll be fine. We’ll live and thrive spiritually.

But if, like the descendants of the children of Israel, we allow ourselves to slip-slide away from God by taking on the cares and concerns and interests and characteristics of unbelievers and of those in the worldly church, we’ll give the devil the victory. We must never do that.

God has given us every motivation and every means possible to remain loyal to him, so let us remain loyal behind our holy firewall.