Bible as dictionary (iniquity and godliness)

I did a search for the first occurrence of the word 'iniquity' in the Bible, using that method Riplinger writes of, and I thought it was a dud. But it was staring me in the face. The first occurrence mentioned 'the iniquity of the Amorites.' So obviously to know what iniquity meant I had to do a full Bible study on the Amorites. (I actually at first thought I was suppose to do a first mention of 'Amorite' which *did* lead to nothing, but that is not the process. The process at that point was to know who the Amorites were and how they did iniquity.)

So the first mention thing worked.

After going through references of the Amorites in Scripture (and Amorite is also sort of synonymous with Canaanite in Scripture) the deeper theme that emerged was that the Amorites were a long-running bad influence on the Israelites, always attacking them or tempting them to idol worship and other bad behavior, and trying to destroy them through subversion, if you will, from inside. This is the mystery of iniquity, how the Devil and his spirit are always at work turning anything good into evil, subverting, upturning, redefining, bringing wolf wickedness in sheep's clothing.

In any current day politics the discernment necessary to see this is demanding because of all of our early life allegiances to various things and our early-formed beliefs about everything. So when I go off on the leftist evil vs. liberty [this post was originally an email] and all that and some of you get weary of it or angry you question my discernment and trust your own, but we all have to see for ourselves these aspects of tyranny vs. liberty and how they play out. Or before that just what *is* true tyranny and what is true liberty. The Nazis called a death camp a placed where 'work makes free.' Potemkin Villages all over the Stalinist Soviet Union, etc. Deception is myriad in this world where the Kingdom of Satan has power. On these political subjects I often write as if the various nuances are a given, which causes confusion. Anyway...

So, interestingly, I just now did a first occurrence search on 'godliness' [1 Tim. 2:2] (remember the two biblical phrases that only occur once are 'the mystery of iniquity' and 'the mystery of godliness') and again I thought it was a dud, but lo and behold with a little effort to actually 'see' it was surrounded by the concept of chain of command authority which is the deep definition of faith. I.e. recognizing chain of command and honoring it (the centurion). Jesus being at the top of that chain. Knowing your place in the chain (the woman who said she would take the crumbs that fell off the table). So godliness has to do with faith and recognition of Jesus as King and Lord and the whole life that follows from such recognition. And it is that which the forces of iniquity dog and attack and attempt to subvert and all the rest...