R3TURN to Me

I always hear this or something like it said;

"God was a tyrant/unloving/unmerciful in the

Old Testament, and yet He was full of Grace/Love/Mercy in the New."

This, and statements like it, is nothing more then biblical ignorance. First and foremost God doesn't change..

"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent." 

[-1 Samuel 15:29-]

"For I am the LORD, I do not change"

[-Malachi 3:6-]

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

[-Hebrews 13:8-]

God not being full of love and grace in the "old" is absolutely false. This statement that He has changed or was any different then He has always been can be proven false in so many different ways. For instances, do you think God was oblivious to the fact that the Israelites would backslide? Do you think He was surprised when they started worshipping idols and false gods?

Do you think He was like: "…hmmm…I did not think they would turn from me, I totally didn't see this coming."

If you think so, well you are wrong..check out Deuteronomy 31

And the LORD said to Moses: "Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go [to be] among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

"Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God [is] not among us?'

"And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

"Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. "When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.

"Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore [to give them]."

Deuteronomy 31:16-21

"For I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land which I swore to give them." hmm..doesn't sound like God is oblivious to the fact that the Israelites would turn away from Him.

God knew before they even set foot in the land He promised them, that they would eventually turn away.

Yet God still fulfilled His promise to His chosen people, and knowing they would turn away still showed mercy and forgiveness. In Deuteronomy 30 The LORD says;

"Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call [them] to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you,

"and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.

Deuteronomy 30:1-3

Return to ME, God was willing and is willing to forgive because He is loving and merciful. Look at Jeremiah chapter 3

"They say, 'If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again?' Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:1

If a man divorces his wife and she becomes another man's, there is no returning back to the first man,

She is considered unclean. Israel had turned to so many different idols and gods, she had many "lovers"…like a whore….YET God being as loving and merciful as He is simply says "Return to Me"

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

"And I said, after she had done all these [things], 'Return to Me.'

Jeremiah 3:6-7

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I [am] merciful,' says the LORD; 'I will not remain angry forever.

Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD.

"Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:12-14

What a tyrant God is…so unmerciful He is, to forgive an adulterous nation who turned their backs to Him, but not their faces. God had and absolutely has mercy, he asks you to return to Him, even after all of Israel's backsliding, all their abominations and idolatry God wanted them back! and He still does! Even after all your backsliding all your abominations and idolatry and sinfulness God still wants you, Yeshua Hamashiach-Jesus Christ the son, God in the flesh coming and taking the wrath we deserve is the ultimate proof of that.

Thank God for the breath of life in your otherwise dead lungs, each day amongst this completely wicked world He holds back the return of the SON is a testament of His mercy. Each day we wake is a chance of repentance, every time a non-believer wakes God is showing His mercy! seeking repentance He simply says "Return to me!" 

"We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

"Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, '[If] you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;

'but [if] you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, [yet] I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.'

Nehemiah 1:7-9

A Gentile asks Forgiveness

You know what I find interesting….Acts 28:28,

now you may be asking yourself why is that interesting?

or actually probably not, because I mean it does state that the salvation of God(keywords salvation of God)

has been sent to the gentiles and they will hear it!

Amen..right? Gentile of course meaning anyone not jewish. But this is not why I bring up the verse, you see Paul being the apostle of the gentiles(a jew himself) is speaking about salvation to the gentiles has come, and he is saying this to jewish leaders in Rome. I want you to go read Acts 28, the whole chapter, I want you to notice this, these jewish leaders listened to Paul, some agreed with what he was saying about Jesus, and others disagreed but they all departed after Paul said one thing.

Now they had a disagreement amongst themselves about this Jesus Paul was speaking of but they didn't all leave until Paul said "Salvation of God has been sent to the gentiles" that was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back. You see back in that time the jews didn't understand how or why God would want to give salvation to gentiles, to them, they were very unclean ungodly people..heck they were not even circumcised. This is even a dispute in Acts where certain gentile believers are troubled by certain jewish believers telling them they must be circumcised and keep the law:

Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"*—to whom we gave no such commandment—

Acts 15:24

My point is this, certain jewish believers were disgusted with the thought of Gentiles being brought into God's good graces, they would force their laws and traditions on a converted gentile believer, or at least try to. It seems today however, things have flipped…I mean obviously back then the majority of real believers in Yeshua(Jesus) were Jewish, all the apostles were. But now in 2012…would you say that's true? of course not…the majority of believers in Christ are gentiles, and I'm not saying anything is wrong with that. But you see, like the certain jewish people who were trying to force gentiles into being jewish to earn salvation, now we as gentiles have forced ourselves on the jew's saying they must become like us for salvation. Don't get it twisted…YES

a jewish person(or gentile for that matter) must recognize Jesus Christ(Yeshua Hamashiach) as LORD and savior to be saved..

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Romans 1:16

HOWEVER, we don't then say they must become as gentiles too. Just like a believing jew doesn't tell a believing gentile he must adopt his customs. What we as gentiles have done through the years is curse the natural branches..

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Romans 11:17-18

Us being the unnatural branches(gentiles) we have taken promises that God has given to His chosen people, we even dare say things like we are the real Israel or we are the real chosen, like God has taken His hand away from those He promised to bless and, His chosen, and He has cast them aside all for our glory.

We get puffed up against jewish believers and we ridicule them, some even going as far as despising and cursing them. Then we wonder why they refuse to hear about Yeshua(Jesus)? 

I wrote the following a month ago after reading

"Our Hands are stained with blood" by Michael Brown.

It has everything to do with this subject.

Abba forgive me, I apologize for what has been

done against your chosen people in your Holy

name. Those who claim to follow Yeshua(Jesus)

The Son, have risen up to destroy your first love…

As gentiles you grafted us into the tree, like a poison

we have decided to destroy the roots of the seed.

Gentiles stealing your promises for your chosen,

and making it all about them. As if Israel and your Jewish people you no longer love, in the name of Christ we've trampled them down, instead of asking for your love in them to abound.

From people like Luther who wanted to see Jews burn, to Christians today claiming to be your new chosen. So much injustice we have brought into the church.

In your Holy name we reject them, say that you yourself have rejected them, and not even Jesus can save them.

in effect we curse the natural branches, the ones to whom you have made promises! Lord forgive us of this treason, and let us instead proclaim Yeshua to them our roots of our faith, our brothers and sisters who were never taken from the covenant to never return again.

O LORD fulfill the promises you made them, bring them into Your glorious Kingdom recognizing Yeshua Hamashiach for who He is, and as gentiles and jews let us stand together as your sons and daughters.

Why I LOVE and support Israel

Does Israel matter today? A question on many minds here in America "Land of the confused Christian". With it being voting season, it's a topic that comes up all over the place, specially in this particular season when you got a person like a Ron Paul. Now I know there are a lot of Christians who don't like diving into political issues because they don't want to;

A. offend anyone

B. don't think it really matters where you stand

Well if you want to read such or listen to such or have your ears tickled then go to your local westernized American church, they're not hard to find. I on the other hand live to offend, Jesus is offensive and standing by God's word will offend and piss people off hence why I am offensive(I offend because I stand by His word). I'm not mr.political or anything, but I'll plainly state what is right and what is wrong and I do think it matters who you support. The following is something I wrote and I feel it explains why I love Jewish people and the land God gave to them(Israel). I also included a radio broadcast that I urge you to listen to by Dr.Michael Brown that has to do with the question "Does Israel matter?"  my reasons and his for standing behind Israel and God's chosen people are very much the same, he just explains it better then I could(although If you read my blog consistently you would have already seen my reasons, but i'll explain them here again)

The question "Does israel matter?" I find to be a stupid question. I can't help but to have an overwhelming appreciation for Jewish people, God's chosen people, when I read God's word. Am I insane? Am I missing something? or maybe just maybe we are suppose to have such feelings towards the Jewish people. Jesus(Yeshua) was Himself Jewish(just incase you missed that or were confused by the images portraying Jesus as very roman looking) 

"He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them."- by the way that's biblical, Yeshua said it Himself in Matthew 5:17-18. He also said He was sent for the lost sheep of Israel, and almost didn't heal a gentile woman's demon possessed daughter until he saw her faith- that's also biblical it's 

Matthew 15:21-28.

Yeshua doesn't contradict the "old" testament and prophets He fulfills them, He stands by God's word because He was there when it was formed.

Also biblical read John 8:58. 

While Yeshua was Jewish in the flesh, He is also God, not a god.... but GOD.

He and the Father are absolutely unequivocally ONE through the trinity, three distinct persons Father/Son(Yeshua)/ Holy Spirit as GOD.
 That my friends is biblical for several reasons…

1. Yeshua says it Himself: "I and [my] Father are one" (John 10:30)

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

(John 14:7-10)

and two because the bible over and over again says there is only ONE GOD

(Isaiah 43:10-11) "Before me there was no God formed nor shall there be after me" is just one example. Now you may be saying something like;

"Oh absolutely I totally agree Jesus is God in the flesh, but what does that have to do with Israel and Jewish people?"

It has everything to do with it, if God is one, Then Yeshua is obviously God and that means they would not contradict each other and when it says that the jewish people are God's chosen people then that means they are Jesus's chosen too. Or are you saying that when God said "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" Genesis 12:3 are you saying Christ Jesus doesn't agree with that statement? of course He agrees with it, Jesus was there at the beginning of time, and He only does the will of the Father.

Now, just to make a clarification… if a jewish person doesn't recognize Yeshua as LORD and Savior then just like a gentile they will be forever separated from God. So yes, they must surrender to Christ like everyone else. They however are the roots of the christian faith, God chose them to work through not because they are a superior race, He chose them because He chose them;

For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that [are] upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people:

But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

(Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

Lets also not forget that the disciples were jewish. Saul or better known as his greek name Paul had a burning desire for the jewish people to turn to Christ, they were his brethren and countrymen. He even wished he himself could be accursed for their sake(Romans 9:2-4) Paul also says God didn't cast away His people who He foreknew(Romans 11:1). That of course is a given to anyone who actually reads the bible, God made promises to Israel and God keeps His promises.

Paul was the one whom Christ appeared to, and Christ told him to preach the gospel to the gentiles. Paul in preaching to the gentiles wished to drive his brethren to jealousy(Romans 11:13). You see as Romans 11 continues to emphatically state….we as gentiles have been grafted into the tree, the tree that has it's roots set in God, the tree that God chose to sprout through Judaism. God has through the Son grafted us gentiles into this tree, and Paul warns us not to mock or boast against the natural branches (The Jews) this is simply stated in Romans 11:16-21.

I've run into plenty of people who completely ignore this and they hate Jewish people with a passion, I shouldn't have to state just how unbiblical that is. Because if you read the bible and then hate jewish people and you become hostile towards them and wish for their death you are a not only completely blind…you're also completely stupid.I personally don't care how much you claim to "know" Jesus, if you hate Jewish people  then you don't have a clue about Jesus.

I have a heart.. a love for my brothers and sisters in Israel and around the world, they need to recognize Yeshua Hamashiach and I pray for them and I support them not because I feel like it, but because GOD tells us to. I'll bless them because we are called to and I refuse to support or stand by those who don't support the lost sheep of Israel.(cough) Ron Paul (cough)

Listen to this awesome broadcast from Dr. Michael Brown on this very subject he explains way better then I can, it's about two hours but it is well worth your time. Reasons like this is why I stay on Facebook, I would like to thank a new friend who sent me this broadcast through a friend request(Rick Estrada) who probably wont read this but still, give credit to where it is do.

Dr. Michael Brown's Radio broadcast on Israel

King Solomon

Solomon is credited as being the wisest King that ever lived..

Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked

long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself,

nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked

for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold,

I have done according to your words; see, I have given

you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not

been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you

arise after you.

And I have also given you what you have not asked:

both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone

like you among the kings all your days.

1 Kings 3:11-14

Solomon was David's son who's mother was Bathesheba.

Solomon was also the one who built the temple, the temple

David himself wanted to build for the Lord God, but God

told David that his son would build it. Solomon was so wise

that people from all over came to seek his advice, so well respected

was Solomon that he even had Pharaoh's daughter as his wife

(Well one of his wives).

You may be thinking so what? well...while it was popular in those times

to have marriages between other nations, as it was a way of creating

alliances between the two nations involved,(the idea being

that through the marriage the two nations became an extended family)

It was not something the Egyptians did, they were totally against giving

their daughters to foreign kings. So obviously Solomon was looked

at with great esteem by the egyptians because it would obviously

be looked at as quite the privilege for him to be married to Pharaoh's

daughter.

Probably the most popular story of Solomon's wise judgment

is the story of the two "harlots"...

Now two women who were harlots came to the king,

and stood before him. And one woman said,

"O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I

gave birth while she was in the house. Then it happened, the third day

after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth.

And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except

the two of us in the house. And this woman's son died in the night,

because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night

and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept,

and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead.

But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not

my son whom I had borne."

Then the other woman said,

"NO! but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son!"

And the first woman said,

"NO! but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son!"

thus they spoke before the king. And the king said,

"The one says, 'This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one';

and the other says, 'NO! But your son is the dead one, and my son

is the living one.' "

Then the king said,

"Bring me a sword."

So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said,

"Divide the living child in two, and give half to one,

and half to the other."

Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for

she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said,

"O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!"

But the other said,

"Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him."

So the king answered and said,

"Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him:

she is his mother."

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they

feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him

to administer justice.

1 Kings 3:16-28

Further more just as Solomon's father David was credited with writing

"Psalm's", Solomon is credited with writing "Proverbs" from the wisdom

granted to him by God. Israel thrived under Solomon and his wisdom..

And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding,

and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's

wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom

of Egypt. For he was wiser then all men- then Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,

Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding

nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand

and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to

the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke of animals, of birds,

of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings

of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom

of solomon.

1 Kings 4:29-34

One person who came to see Solomon was the Queen of Sheba

(In modern times Sheba would be somewhere around ethiopia and

Yemen) showing that Solomon was obviously not just a wise man

to the Israelites and Egyptians, but just as the word of God says

he was considered wise amongst all nations that have heard

of him.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon

concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue,

with camels that bore spices, very much gold,

and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon,

she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

So Solomon answered all her questions;

there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not

explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen

all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

the food on his table, the seating of his servants,

the service of his waiters and their apparel,

his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up

to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.

Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard

in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

However I did not believe the words until I came and saw

with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me.

Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.

Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever,

therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness."

Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold,

spices in great quantity, and precious stones.

There never again came such abundance of spices as

the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10:1-10

God promised Solomon that as long as he didn't turn away from him

and worship other Gods that God would bless Solomon and Israel.

It turns out that's exactly what happened in Solomon's old age....

Solomon had seven hundred wives...most of which came from

other nations that did not worship God, even still some came from

nations God warned the Israelites not to intermarry with, because

they would turn their hearts away to other gods. In the end

Solomon's heart was not right with God as he let his wives

turn his heart to other gods, even with all the wisdom and the wealth

that God provided for Solomon he still turned away. Should be

a lesson in there somewhere right? Gods wisdom is something we can't even begin

to even try to comprehend, even us calling God "Wise" is a joke

as our understanding of wisdom is extremely limited. Our wisdom

is like the size of a grain of salt compared to Gods almighty wisdom.

...you can know all there is to know, you can be the smartest

person on this planet, but if you don't know God...you know nothing,

your "wisdom" is pointless.

The FEAR of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools

despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Who said that? oh yeah......only the wisest king that ever lived.

David's Census

When you talk about David's sin in the bible,

the sin that comes to everyones mind first..

would obviously be the sin with Bathsheba,

and the murder of Uriah her husband.

An interesting sin that comes up in

2 Samuel/1 Chronicles is the census that David takes

of Israel. I say interesting because all

David does is he takes a census of the

Kingdom of Israel. Why then was taking

a census considered a sin?

Again the anger of the Lord was

aroused against Israel, and He moved

David against them to say "Go,

number Israel and Judah."

So the King said to Joab the commander

of the army who was with him,

"Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel,

from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people,

that I may know the number of the people."

And Joab said to the King

"Now may the Lord your God

add to the people a hundred times

more then they are, and may the eyes

of my lord the King see it. But

why does my lord the King desire this thing?"

Nevertheless the King's word prevailed

against Joab and against the captains of the

army. Therefore Joab and the captains

of the army went out from the presence

of the king to count the people of Israel.

2 Samuel 24:1-4

You may be asking yourself,

"Hey, wait a minute..didn't it just say the Lord

moved David to take the Census?"

I could see how that could be confusing,

but in Chronicles it says Satan moved David

to do the census. Of course like in the story of Job

It was God who allowed Satan to "move against" Job.

So technically it was God who allowed it to happen,

because Satan can't do jack without God letting

him. You can't leave out the first verse in 2 Samuel

24 where it states "The anger of the Lord was against Israel"

And truth-fully there was plenty of reason for God to be angry

with Israel, it's not like God was being unjust in allowing

satan to tempt David into doing the Census.

Now Satan stood up against Israel,

and moved David to number Israel.

So david said to Joab and to the leaders of the people,

"Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring

the number of them to me that I may know it."

And Joab answered, "May the LORD make His people

a hundred times more then they are.

BUT my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants?

Why then does my lord require this thing?

Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?"

Nevertheless the King's word prevailed against Joab.

Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel

1 Chronicles 21:1-4

Chronicles as you can see gives a little more detail

to Joab's reply to the king. Joab wasn't particularly

a righteous person, he was pretty selfish

actually, and for him to question the reasons

for taking the census was pretty strange, if you think about it.

Joab was essentially saying;

"Why number the people? don't they all belong to the Lord?

The Lord fights our battles, it doesn't matter how many

men we have. Why sin against all of Israel

with your lack of faith?"

For you see, the only reason to do a census back then

was to know how many fighting men you had,

So then David could know how big his army was and

hence he could decide, in his mind, If he could win

in a certain battle or not depending on how many men he had.

FOR THIS REASON the census was a sin, because David

wasn't trusting in God, David was struggling with a lack of Faith..

The reason the 1 Chronicles 21 and 2 Samuel 24 verses

(which both explain David's taking of a census)

are somewhat confusing is because it doesn't

exactly explain why the census was considered a sin...

it just says

And God was displeased with this thing; therefore

He struck Israel. So David said to God,

"I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing;

but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant,

for I have done very foolishly."

1 Chronicles 21:7/2 Samuel 24:10

We know however that God is Righteous, He is just,

and he wouldn't punish without reason.

Really all you need to do is look at the reasons

for taking a census back then, as it was a popular thing

to do for the kingdoms in those times. They wanted to know

how many men they had so they can either brag about it

and feel all proud and mighty, which obviously would also

be a sin for David, or they wanted to do a census to count

all their men who could fight so they could determine

if they could hold up in a fight against the enemy.

Either way there was a lack of trust, a lack of faith

in God. Which is why David realized what he had done

was a sin because he didn't put his trust in God.

Doing a census in itself isn't a sin BUT the reasons

behind it could be.