And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them:

Deuteronomy 7:2

After hundreds of years of slavery, who wouldn’t want want to feel a little more secure?  After wave after wave of persecution, what normal person wouldn’t want to take every precaution to make sure that they are not overthrown again, and not dragged back into slavery?

But, God’s had a plan, namely Himself.  To the eye of man, allies are a good thing.  To Jesus, they are merely barbs, hooks, and thorns in the flesh.

There is simply no fellowship between light and dark, between good and evil.  There is no good thing in the flesh, whatsoever, and it is only Christ, and His Spirit, that we live.

When God brought them Israel out of bondage in the world, He knew that for them to have partnership with any thing other than His absolutes, they would always be a snare.  He knew that if they intermarried, borrowed customs, or entered into any other binding arrangement, they would be snared in their hearts, they would be divided, and, as history demonstrated, they would fall into sin, judgment, and reproach.

But, despite their fears, despite their smallness of size among the nations of the Earth, God knew that He was sufficient to protect them, and simply wanted them to trust Him.

Antichrist must be destroyed, because of his exceeding covetousness. Religion, such as it is, is the thing pretended to; but the great things of this world are the things really intended by him in all his seeming self-denials and devotions. And for this covetousness also it is that this destruction is to fall upon him. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, (to his church,) that he may set his nest on high: for he could not do the one before he had obtained the other. For then indeed they began to be high, when they had so inveigled Constantine that he bestowed upon them much riches and honor; and then it was cried, by an angel, and the cry was heard in the city of Constantinople, Woe! woe! woe! this day is venom poured into the church of God.

Nor has any generation, since the world began, been so insatiably greedy of gain, as these POOR people have been. They have got kingdoms, they have got crowns, they have got—what have they not got? They have got every thing but grace and pardon. Did I say before that religion was their pretence? Doth not the whole course of their way declare it to their face? Every one of them, from the least even to the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest, every one dealeth falsely. Money, money, [Footnote: Similar is the testimony of an eminent historian. “In every misapplication which the popes now (thirteenth century) made of their power, money was the object. Every new operation which they performed, was one of extortion; and every new act of oppression was on their part, a financial speculation.” Planck.

–Paul Bunyon

When the church adopted the hierarchy of Rome, incorporating politics of men with the offices ofGod, “venom” was release into the church.

This venom, the same from every false covenant supposing to bring security, always ties one to the very thing from which God brought us freedom from, though promising us “saftey” through greater numbers and allies.

But, with God, it is always enough, and His way has always been absolute purity of heart and of soul before Him.

Any other way will not work, and any other source other than Himself is to be utterly despised.

Psalm 121

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.