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Prophe-Zine Issue 074
PropheZine #74
Mar 1, 1999
Bob Lally Publisher
Mimi Nila Senior Editor
Rick Woodcock Asst. Editor
Abraham George Asst. Editor
Lori Eldridge Asst. Editor
Bob Ippolito Asst. Editor
ARTICLES
Tom Stewart..................How to Identify a False Prophet
Lambert Dolphin........The Church At The End Of The Age And What To Do About It
Ray C. Stedman................Controlling God
PROPHEZINE COMMENTARIES
Berit Kjos..............Movie Review - The Prince Of Egypt
Lee Underwood ...................F.Y.I. - Israel in the News
Louise Gouge..................The Burden
BIBLE STUDY
Terry Denbow..................What Is A False God Anyway..?
*********************************************************************
Hello Everyone,
I hope this newsletter finds all on this list praying for our friends and families who are not saved. It seems that false Gods are appearing everywhere in forms of all kinds, whether the false God is in your heart or mind or both doesn't matter to Satan, just as long as he can keep your focus off of Jesus. As long as Satan can provide a distraction from the only true and living God, Jesus Christ, people will be deceived, and are being deceived at an alarming rate. It is as if Christ is simply not adequate to meet people's needs, people are filling their needs with false Gods and experiences, or physical human beings falsely professing to be the answer to all that is missing in their lives. Isn't what the aposles' taught in Acts 2:42 sufficient? What happened to the breaking of bread, fellowship and prayer for those professing to be Christians? It is always amazing to me how many people will believe almost anything without checking the facts! I hope the articles and studies will draw you closer to God and help you to recognize what Jesus desires from us, our complete attention and focus on Him.
My other prayer for our readers is for you to share this newsletter or parts of it with your friends and family that are not following Jesus Christ, and that in the sharing of this newsletter, the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified.
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13)
"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty"' (John 6:35).
In His Service,
Mimi Nila
Mnila@ibm.net
|==========================================
|
| How to Identify a False Prophet
| or A Guide to Keep You From Opposing True Prophet
|
| by Tom Stewart
|
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22).
Preface
The Saints of God are unique in that they have been given the Holy Spirit to teach them the very Scripture of Truth (Daniel 10:21) that is a "Light unto [our] path" (Psalm 119:105) to guide us away from the snares of false prophets. "But the Anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things, and is Truth, and is no lie, and even as It hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him" (1John 2:27).
The inability to discern a false prophet from a true prophet, will open the way for the deception of the False Prophet-- the beast "out of the Earth" (Revelation 13:11)-- who is the End Time co-worker of the Antichrist. All the marks of a false prophet should be understood by the Body of Believers and applied to our daily discernment of who ought to be believed and who ought to be rejected. "
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the Word of Righteousness: for he is a babe.14 But Strong Meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:13-14).
Our LORD did not excuse the hypocites for their lack of discerning the "signs of the times" (Matthew 16:3). Nor will He excuse the world for allowing the False Prophet to deceive them into worshipping the Antichrist. "And he [the False Prophet] exerciseth all the power of the first beast [the Antichrist] before him, and causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (Revelation 13:12). Then, why should the LORD allow those of us that name the "Name of Christ" (2Timothy 2:19) to be ignorant of the false prophets, who are currently deceiving the "Flock of God" (1Peter 5:2)?
Disobedience and a False Prophet: He Hath Spoken to Turn You Away From the LORD (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) * "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder," (Deuteronomy 13:1).
"prophet, or a dreamer of dreams", who gives a "sign or wonder" (13:1) recalls the signs the LORD gave to Moses to convince the Children of Israel that Moses was truly sent from God-- turning Moses' rod into a serpent and back again (Exodus 4:2-4), and turning Moses' hand leprous and back again (4:6-8).
* "1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they [the Children of Israel] will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee... 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs [the rod into a serpent, and the leprous hand], neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land" (Exodus 4:1,9).
* "And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;" (Deuteronomy 13:2).
We are to not think it strange that even a false prophet can make the "sign or the wonder come to pass" (13:2)-- by the supernatural power of Satan.
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24).
Of course, the Almighty must first give permission to Satan before Satan has the slightest ability to accomplish anything. Or, as the LORD Jesus plainly explained to Pontius Pilate concerning the limit of Pilate's control over Himself: "Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from Above" (John 19:11).
Pivotal to the concept of identifying false prophets, is that a false prophet seeks to turn people away from the LORD Jesus Christ, i.e., "Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them" (Deuteronomy 13:2). If we understand that our loving obedience to the Word of God is the basis for our certainty that we belong to Him, then we also know that anyone who is clearly in disobedience to the commands of our LORD Jesus Christ, is a liar.
"3
And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments. 4 He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His Commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in Him" (1John 2:3-4).
* "Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 13:3).
Just as we are to "prove all things; [and] hold fast that which is good" (1Thessalonians 5:21), the LORD desires to prove us "to know whether [we] love the LORD [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul" (Deuteronomy 13:3). Not only does our proving "all things" (1Thessalonians 5:21) keep us away from evil, but it confirms to us what is good.
"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what
doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8).
* "Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His Commandments, and obey His Voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him" (Deuteronomy 13:4).
This points to the First and Great Commandment (Matthew 22:38), which is, "Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (22:37). As can be seen, it is morally impossible to love God and serve worldly treasure at the same time. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). If we "cleave unto Him"
(Deuteronomy 13:4), Who is "[our] Life" (30:20), then we will not sin against our God. "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not" (1John 3:6). In fact, at that moment, we cannot sin because we will not sin-- as we are kept by His Spirit.
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (3:9). [See our article, "<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/../Fellowship/He.Will.Subdue.Our.Iniquit.html>He Will Subdue Our Iniquities", for help with abiding in Christ.]
* "And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee"(Deuteronomy 13:5).
Though the New Testament Church has not been given Old Testament Israel's commission to slay the false prophets, we are to mark and avoid those who give offence to the Body of Christ.
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17).
Devotion and gratitude to the LORD that "bought [us] with a price" (1Corinthians 7:23), will keep us from faltering from the LORD.
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1John 4:16).
When assailed with doubts-- "without were fightings, within were fears" (2Corinthians 7:5)-- if we would cling in loving obedience to the LORD Jesus, He will deliver us from our fears.
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (1John 4:18). [See our article, "<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/A.Prophet.Among.Them.html>A Prophet Hath Been Among Them", for more discussion of this topic.]
Lack of Fulfillment and a False Prophet: If the Thing Follow Not (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)
* "But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die" (Deuteronomy 18:20).
The so-called prophets of the LORD lied to Ahab about his upcoming success against the Syrians.
"10
And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. 11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them. 12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king's hand" (1Kings 22:10-12).
The prophet Jeremiah did prophetic battle with Hananiah the prophet (Jeremiah 28). Jeremiah contended that the LORD would punish Judah 70 years in servitude to the king of Babylon. "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years" (25:11). Only after those 70 years would Judah be allowed to return into the land. "For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My Good Word toward you, in causing you to return to this place" (29:10). Hananiah objected to Jeremiah, and declared "in the presence of all the people" that the LORD said, "Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years" (28:11). To this Jeremiah responded, "15 Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the Earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD" (28:15-16). And, the result was predictable to the Righteous. "So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month" (28:17).
Again, Israel was to kill the false prophets from among them.
"And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal;
let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there"
(1Kings 18:40).
Also, Jehu magnificently executed the will of God in cleansing the prophets of Baal from the land.
"And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end
of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal" (2Kings 10:25).
* "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?" (Deuteronomy 18:21).
Always compare everything to the Word of God. "Thy Word is Truth" (John 17:17) was the LORD Jesus' certainty about the trustworthiness of God's Word.
"19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them" (Isaiah 8:19-20).
* "When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22).
Remember that even false prophets are known to have successful fulfillment of their prophecies.
"1
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them" (Deuteronomy 13:1-2).
So, fulfillment-- or lack of fulfillment-- must be viewed in light of the false prophets' call to obvious disobedience of the LORD, i.e.,
"Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie" (Jeremiah 28:15).
Notice the phrase, the "prophet hath spoken it presumptuously" (Deuteronomy 18:22). This indicates the spirit of the passage, i.e., the character of the prophet is arrogant, proud, and rebellious. The very fact that the prophesied event does not come to pass is proof that the prophet was either,
* (1) not from God (i.e., "hath spoken it presumptuously"), or,
* (2) that a situation developed which changed God's mind (i.e., "that I may repent Me" [Jeremiah 26:3]).
But, before a prophet is labelled a false prophet because of the lack of fulfillment of his prophecy, we would do well to carefully study Jeremiah 26.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be
swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19).
Misunderstood True Prophets: Jeremiah and Micah (Jeremiah 26:1-19)
* "1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this Word from the LORD, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the Words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a Word:" (Jeremiah 26:1-2).
The prophet Jeremiah was commissioned to speak "in the court of the LORD's house, all the Words that [the LORD]
command[ed him] to speak unto them; [and to] diminish not a Word" (26:2). God's prophets have been called upon to correct defects in the worship of God in both Israel and now the Church.
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1).
The Apostle Paul succinctly told the Ephesian elders, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Even so, Jeremiah was faithful in delivering his commission.
* "If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings" (Jeremiah 26:3).
The Holy Jehovah declares to Jeremiah some of His purposes and counsels.
"Thy counsels of old are Faithfulness and Truth" (Isaiah 25:1).
"If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way" (Jeremiah 26:3), demonstrates that "God is a merciful God" (Deuteronomy 4:31). Though it is completely just for the Almighty to reward the "wages of sin" with death (Romans 6:23), it is "according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5).
* "4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My Law, which I have set before you, 5 To hearken to the Words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; 6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the Earth" (Jeremiah 26:4-6).
God deals with His moral subjects as those who should use their "image of God" (Genesis 1:27), i.e., their moral agency, to freely choose right from wrong. "4 If ye will not hearken to Me... 6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh" (Jeremiah 26:4,6). Their disobedience is threatened with the abandonment of His Temple in Jerusalem-- in the same way as He did to the Ark of the congregation at Shiloh--
"The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there" (Joshua 18:1). In the days of Eli, the "Ark was taken" (1Samuel 4:11) by the Philistines, because Eli, his sons, and Israel were wayward. The LORD remonstrated with Eli, "Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people?" (2:29). Tragically, the result was that Israel lost the Ark of the congregation for 7 months to the Philistines (1Samuel 6:1). "He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men" (Psalms 78:60).
* "7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. 9 Why hast thou prophesied in the Name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. 11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears" (Jeremiah 26:7-11).
God's prophets already understand that their lives may be forfeit for their faithful reproduction of the LORD's message to His "stiffnecked people" (Exodus 32:9).
"37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the Earth" (Hebrews 11:37-38).
And, the LORD Jesus warned us that "whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16:2).
* "Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the Words that ye have heard" (Jeremiah 26:12).
The prophet Jeremiah fearlessly proclaimed his credentials in the hearing of all the people, i.e., the "LORD sent me"(26:12). Ezekiel also knew the same type of audience that Jeremiah addressed.
"And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:5).
Jeremiah's message was uncomforting to the hearers because it spoke of God's judgment for their sin.
"12
Go and proclaim these Words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My Voice, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 3:12-13).
* "Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the Voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you" (Jeremiah 26:13).
The familiar Words of God's Prophet, the LORD Jesus Christ, rings out, "Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"(Matthew 4:17). Likewise, Jeremiah clearly and faithfully delivered the LORD's message to sinful Israel.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).
Jeremiah was giving away God's merciful favor, but at the cost of the sinners' repentance.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).
* "14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. 15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these Words in your ears" (Jeremiah 26:14-15).
But, back to the physical reality of Jeremiah's situation, i.e., "I am in your hand" (26:14).
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound
into the midst of the burning fiery furnace" (Daniel 3:23).
"They brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions" (6:16).
"Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob" (Psalm 44:4).
Further, Jeremiah warned them that ill would happen to them if they killed him.
"Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" (Psalm 105:15).
* "Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the Name of the LORD our God" (Jeremiah 26:16).
Thank God for His opportune intervention!
"When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even
his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7).
* "17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of Hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls" (Jeremiah 26:17-19).
The prophet Micah's foretelling of Zion's judgment is here remembered by certain princes and elders of the land. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah during the reign of Hezekiah.
"Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest" (Micah 3:12).
King Hezekiah humbled himself before the LORD God of Israel.
"For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs... 10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us" (2Chronicles 29:6,10).
What was the point of the recounting of Micah's prophecy? Just as Jeremiah threatened God's judgment upon Jerusalem, i.e., "4 If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My Law, which I have set before you... 6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the Earth" (Jeremiah 26:4,6), Micah had previously pronounced the certainty that "Jerusalem shall become heaps" (26:18) to Hezekiah-- who believed him and caused reformation in the land.
The point was that Micah had pronounced the certainty of judgment against the land during Hezekiah's reign in Jerusalem.
Micah prophesied that the "LORD cometh [present tense, is coming] forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the Earth" (Micah 1:3). The result will be that "Jerusalem shall become heaps" (3:12). Hezekiah led Judah in repentance before the prophecy could be fulfilled. "Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah" (2Chronicles 32:26). But, who was complaining about the lack of fulfillment of Jerusalem's destruction, since "the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them" (Jeremiah 26:19)? A situation had developed which changed God's mind.
The Sovereignty of God in the Fulfillment of Prophecy
he key to understanding how God could instruct His prophets to prophesy the certainty of an event that does not take place is seen in Jeremiah 26:3, "If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings." In other words, the LORD is instructing His prophets to give us prophecies that cause the hearers to act in a desired manner, i.e., repentance (Hezekiah), testing at the hands of a false prophet (Hananiah). As the LORD of All the Earth (Joshua 3:13) is sovereign in His judgments, He is completely justified in holding back the fulfillment of a prophecy-- that He promised by the mouth of His prophets. "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not" (Jonah 3:10). God can rightly and sovereignly change His mind about the fulfillment of something He said He would do. "And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people" (Exodus 32:14).
But, lest we think that God acts arbitrarily, i.e., rewarding evil and punishing good, the Unchanging God (Malachi 3:6) always acts consistently with Himself, for "He cannot deny Himself" (2Timothy 2:13).
"7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them"(Jeremiah 18:7-10).
In particular, for those who have felt compelled by modern prophecy to expect the fulfillment of an End Time event, such as the Rapture of the Church or the judgment of America, the Sovereign God has chosen not to bring these events to pass-- yet--
to accomplish His purposes in us and in the world.
"1 The Word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My Words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel" (Jeremiah 18:1-6).
We are aware of some of Jehovah Jesusâ purposes in sovereignly choosing not to have yet brought to pass the fulfillment of some End Time events (that we expected already to be fulfilled):
* (1) testing and refinement of the Saints in the delay of the Rapture, i.e., "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold"
(Job 23:10),
* (2) greater opportunity for repentance of the ungodly in the delay of the judgment of America, i.e., "The LORD is not slack concerning His Promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2Peter 3:9), and
* (3) filling of the cup of iniquity of those who will be ultimately damned and destroyed, i.e., as the LORD Jesus said to the hypocrites,"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers" (Matthew 23:32), and as the Almighty told Abram, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Genesis 15:16).
Summary
The inability to discern a false prophet from a true prophet, will open the way for the deception of the False Prophet. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11). Since the LORD Jesus will not excuse the world for allowing The False Prophet to deceive them into worshipping the Antichrist, why then would He allow His people to be ignorant of the false prophets of today, who are trying to deceive His sheep? Even the four-legged sheep-- beasts that they are-- recognize and follow their own shepherd.
"3 The sheep hear his [the shepherd's] voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out... 4 he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers" (John 10:3-5).
Can there be any excuse for us, who are made in the "image of God" (Genesis 1:27), and led by a totally selfless and Divine Caretaker, to not know Him?
"14 I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. 15 As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep... 27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:14-15,27).
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). It is morally impossible!
The fundamental concept in identifying false prophets, is that a false prophet seeks to turn people away from the LORD Jesus Christ, i.e., "Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them" (Deuteronomy 13:2). It is not enough that "the sign or the wonder come to pass". The success of the prophecy, its fulfillment and timing, does not define the character of the prophet. The fulfillment-- or lack of fulfillment-- must be viewed in light of the false prophets' call to obvious disobedience of the LORD, i.e.,"Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them".
Therefore, in evaluating a modern prophet, your defining question should be, "Does this prophet provoke me to disobedience of the sure Word of God?"
"Thy Word is Truth"
(John 17:17).
If "yes", then mark and avoid them.
"Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). "To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them" (Isaiah 8:19-20).
If the prophet does not provoke me to disobey God, but rather, he does "provoke unto love and to good works" (Hebrews 10:24), then you have your answer.
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the LORD" (Colossians 3:16). "That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (1Timothy 6:18). "Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification" (Romans 15:2).
The defining question should not be, "Did this prophet's words come to pass?" Because, if the answer is "yes", we are to not think it strange that even a false prophet can make the "sign or the wonder come to pass" (13:2)-- by the supernatural power of Satan.
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24).
And if the answer is "No, this prophet's words did not come to pass." Then the prophet was either,
* (1) not from God, i.e., "hath spoken it presumptuously" (Deuteronomy 18:22), or,
* (2) that a situation developed which changed God's mind, i.e., "that I may repent Me" (Jeremiah 26:3).
God is completely justified in holding back the fulfillment of a prophecy-- that He promised by the mouth of His prophets.
"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not" (Jonah 3:10).
So, fulfillment-- or lack of fulfillment-- must be viewed in light of the prophets' character and call to obvious disobedience of the LORD, i.e.,
"Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie" (Jeremiah 28:15).
Remember, before a prophet is labelled a false prophet because of the lack of fulfillment of his prophecy, we would do well to carefully study Jeremiah 26.
Related Topics:
<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/../Timeline/Does.God.Test.People.html>Does GOD Test People Like That?
Biblical Examples of Failed Prophecy, Testing, and Refinement
<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/../Timeline/For.the.Elects.Sake.html>For the Elect's Sake
That a Merciful God Will Shorten the Tribulation Week
<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/../Prophecy/Rapture.Judgment.At.Hand.html>Rapture And Judgment AreAt Hand
The LORD's Response is to Silence the Scoffers
<http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Prophets/A.Prophet.Among.Them.html>A Prophet Hath Been Among Them
How to Discern a True Prophet From a False Prophet
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| THE CHURCH AT THE END OF THE AGE
| AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
| By Lambert Dolphin
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The church of Jesus Christ is described by at least seven symbols, or figures, in the New Testament:
1.Jesus is the Great Shepherd and we Christians are the sheep (Jn 10:1-18).
2.He is the True Vine and we are the branches (Jn 15:1).
3.We are "living stones" building built into a house which is a habitation for God---Christ Jesus is the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-7, Ephesians 2:19-22).
4.The Lord is described as a merchant who finds and buys a single pearl of great price (Mt. 13:45).
5.He is Great High Priest over the household of faith, and we are his servant-priests (Heb. 4:14-16).
6.The church is the Body of Christ, every one a member of every other, and all under the direction of Christ the Head of the Body (1 Cor. 12:12-14, Ephesians 2:11-18, 4:4-16).
7.Finally the church is the Bride of Christ and Jesus the waiting Bridegroom (2 Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:26, 27; Rev. 21:9).
Jesus announced the calling out of a new believing community, the church, on the occasion of Peter's testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) Incidentally, Jesus was here speaking of the church prevailing in an offensive, not a defensive posture. The very gates of hell itself, he said, would not be able to resist or withstand the assaults of his church.
The church was intended to be a formidable powerful opponent which would overcome all evil, "Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:10). Paul closes his letter to the Romans with the admonition, "...I would have you wise as to what is good and guileless as to what is evil; then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Rom. 16:19-20)
The amazing fact which the Scripture clearly declares, but which thousands of Christians have failed to see, is that God has designed that his church should be a kind of government on earth undergirding visible governments. This would make possible a climate of benevolent law and order, the rule of justice and peace, and would hold in restraint the wild forces of tyranny, anarchy and murder. (See Matt. 5:13, 14; Phil. 2:14, 15; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2.) Whenever the church has approached the biblical pattern, righteous conditions have begun to prevail. And when it has turned from this divine pattern to rely on secondary forces it has become proud, rich and tyrannical, or worldly, weak and despised by all. (Ray C. Stedman, Body Life, 1972, 1995).
The calling out of Gentiles and their grafting into believing Israel as a whole new class of believers under a New Covenant with God was not revealed in the Old Testament. It is a "mystery" which in the Bible means something previously hidden but now made known by the Spirit in the New Testament:
"When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace...to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3)
Jude, the brother of our Lord, began his short epistle urging his readers with all diligence and earnestness "to contend [epagonizomai, from epi, upon or about, (intensive) plus agon, a contest], for the faith which was once for all time [hapax]
delivered [paradidomi, or delivered over, handed over] to the saints." Jude is talking about the faith, the total content of the Christian faith, not just simple faith or trust in God. This faith was handed as a package from the Lord Jesus to the Apostles and was then transmitted from one generation into the next, person to person. Finally, we, too, in our own time were reached with this glorious good news, transmitted to us by faithful witnesses. We are now responsible for the whole package and its communication to the next generation, undiluted and unpolluted. The package includes all that the Old and New Testament have to teach us accompanied by a sound heritage of interpretation and wisdom from God imparted to his people. That way the church maintains its central integrity and orthodoxy.
Though Christians may differ in certain peripheral matters, we all need to seek and hold on to a core of sound understanding and to establish a Biblical world-view for ourselves. We are all strangers and pilgrims in an evil world, en route to the heavenly Jerusalem---traveling companions with those saints who have gone on ahead of us.
An urgent, diligent concern for balance, wholeness and the content of the faith is reflected in Paul's last words to the elders at Ephesus where he had labored long and arduously:
"And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: 'You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ...I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears...'" (Acts 20:17-31)
There is little doubt that today many churches in America promulgate a contentless Christianity, and false teachers certainly abound on every side. Not only does Paul warns of these "fierce wolves" who will draw away many by subtle enticements of slightly off-centered teaching, he also indicated that men will become less responsive to truth as the age draws to its end, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Tim. 4:1):
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears [knetho, itching, is a metaphor meaning eager to hear (anything that suits them at the moment)] they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)
In their concern for doctrinal corrections and theological orthodoxy in teaching, the Apostles wanted all believers to be acquainted with the "whole counsel of God." How can we do the will of God if we remain unacquainted with his ways and his character and his plans for mankind?
Yet orthodoxy in doctrine and full Biblical knowledge is not sufficient---as the Lord himself warned the church at Ephesus (they excelled in doctrinal excellence), "I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." In the faith, (which was once for all time transmitted to the saints), lifestyle, conduct, self-giving love and godliness are vitally important.
Truth not acted upon is lost and hypocrisy is something God deeply hates. Mere profession of faith not backed up by a changed life is worthless. In his great chapter on love (1 Cor. 13) the Apostle warns that "If I have no love it profits me nothing," and Peter says, "love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8) God seeks for wholeness in his children, which requires doctrinal integrity plus a responsive daily walk with God---in order that our lifestyles come around to match our beliefs. Indeed we are to pursue holiness, "without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
The church at Pergamum was warned against the doctrine of the Nicolatians. Many Bible scholars hold that this departure from the truth concerns clericalism: the establishment of a division between a paid-professional clergy and a more or less passive laity. Elders are to encourage the flock as shepherds, and not run or manage the affairs of the church as if it were a business, professional, organization. The New Testament calls all believers into the ministry. All receive enabling spiritual gifts, all are priests under one Great High Priest, Jesus. Infiltration of the world's values into churches has certainly brought serious problems today, for instance the introduction of top-down management rather than servant-authority into church government.
Jesus said clearly in this regard, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-27)
Jesus said, "When the son of man returns will he find (the) faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8) These words cause us to question the final state of the church around the world at the time of Second Advent. The Old Testament is a dismal record of Israel's continued and repeated failure---despite the patient long-suffering love and mercy of God. Why then should we expect the church to succeed where other sinful sons of Adam have failed? True the promises of God and provisions made by the New Covenant are stronger and more powerful than those given to Israel under the Old Covenant, but it is biblical to say that the predicted end of the church in the New Testament is failure. Only a "remnant" will be saved out of professing Christendom---as was the case with Israel. The majority of professing nominal Christian church-goers will, sadly, go into the false, or harlot church of the tribulation period.
The idea that the Gospel would gradually subdue the people of the world and eventually bring them to the feet of Christ is contradicted alike both by the Scriptures and by history, and the result has been the rapid decline in the twentieth century of optimism in relation to the triumph of the church in the present age...A survey of Scriptural prophecy as it relates to the spiritual trends of the present age should have made clear to any inquirer that the present age will end in apostasy and divine judgment rather than victory for the cause of Christ through the triumph of the church. Major passages of Scripture deal with this subject and the expositor is embarrassed by the wealth of material which plainly teaches that the end of the age will be characterized by apostasy (Matthew 24:4-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 1 Timothy 4: 1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 4:3, 4; 2 Peter 2:1-3:18; Jude 3-19;Revelation 3:14-16; 6:1-19:21).
An examination of these major passages on apostasy in the New Testament will reveal that the development of apostasy will be in three stages: (1) the doctrinal and moral departure in the church prior to the rapture, i.e., during the last days of the true church on earth; (2) the apostasy in the professing church after the true church is raptured, i.e., in the period immediately following the rapture: (3) the final apostasy in which the professing church as such will be destroyed and the worship of the beast, the world ruler, as the human representative of Satan will be inaugurated (Matthew 24: 15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; Revelation 13:4-8; 17:16-18). Of major importance is the fulfillment of the prophecy relating to apostasy in the church being fulfilled in the contemporary situation, a subject to which the Scriptures give considerable space. (John F. Walvoord, The Nations, Israel and the Church in Prophecy, Zondervan, 1967) In seven parables of the kingdom of heaven recorded in Matthew 13, two apply directly to the weakened decadent, corrupt state of Christendom at the end of the age of the church:
"Another parable he put before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.'"
Ray C. Stedman comments on this parable as follows:
Mustard seeds are small seeds and ordinarily grow into reasonable shrubs. Mustard is a spice, an irritant, used in earlier times to make burning mustard plaster, which when placed on the chest was thought to cure all manner of ills. Here Jesus describes the state of the kingdom of God (at the end of the age) as an outlandish, overgrown, useless tree in which the vultures perch. The final state of the church will be like an inefficient bureaucratic organization infiltrated with evil birds of prey, no longer a company of pilgrims on a journey out of this life-pilgrims who should be salt and light wherever they go.
How visibly this has been demonstrated in our day when from the pulpits and the spokesmen of the church have come up a flood of stupid, crazy, mixed-up ideas---evil concepts which have blasted and blighted and ruined the hearts and minds of people, just as our Lord said. These things have only occurred since the tree has become fully grown and branched out, as we near the end of the age. (Ray C. Stedman, Behind History p76, Word, 1976) The second parable is equally ominous in its warning about the course of the age:
"Jesus told them another parable. 'The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.'" (Matthew 13:31-33)
Ray C. Stedman comments on this parable as follows:
Leaven in scripture is always a symbol of evil. The measures of flour represent the fellowship God intended for his people to enjoy with him and with one another. The pervasive influence of the leaven of hypocrisy which was the leaven of the Pharisees, the leaven of the Sadduccees which was rationalism, the leaven of materialism, characteristic of the Herodians, the leaven of legalism---all have worked together to ruin the quality of spiritual life God intended for his church.
Our Lord is looking down the centuries to follow and he sees the thing which is most precious to God about the work which he himself has begun among mankind. This is the fellowship of God with his people, the sharing of life with each other and with God, the family of God, the oneness of the body of Christ, with all the members sharing life in openness and honesty together under the love and forgiveness of the Father. And into that wonderful fellowship these false, evil principles are introduced by those who had the right and the authority to preserve this fellowship, i.e., the leaders of the church. It is they who introduce the leaven into it, who permit it to come in and do not exclude it as they should. Those who are charged with the responsibility of developing the fellowship of God's people nevertheless allow hypocrisy, formalism, ritualism, rationalism, materialism, legalism, immorality---all of these things-to come in. And when these things set into a church they destroy the fellowship of God's people.
What an instructive parable this is! As we apply it to ourselves we can see that this is what has been happening.
This is why churches are oftentimes charged with being cold and unfriendly-because there's no fellowship. It is too often only on the most superficial basis that people come and sit together in the congregation, not as members together of one great family, but as individuals listening to a service but not relating to the person next to them.
But that isn't Christianity as it is intended to be manifested. That is only a form, only a moment in the Christian life.
The major part is to be the sharing of each other's concerns, the bearing of one another's burdens, the confessing of our faults one to another and praying for one another that we may be healed, the opening of our lives and the transparency of our actions before others. This is the great fellowship that our Lord is seeking.
As you trace this pattern down through history you can see how leaven has been working. The very ones who were responsible to keep God's house free from it---the leaders, the pastors, the elders, the teachers within the church---are the ones responsible for allowing these conditions to come in and to prevail. And each time they have done so they have destroyed this marvelous fellowship. (Stedman, Behind History, p90) A great apostasy, or falling away, from true, biblical Christianity is another clear sign of the end of the church age according to Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians:
"Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day [of the Lord] will not come, unless the apostasy comes first...The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2) Each of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation (Chapters 2 and 3) contains a special message to the remnant of true believers in every congregation and in every age. This minority group in every church is described as overcomers. Each of these groups is given a special challenge appropriate to their situation and circumstances.
All Christian churches now in existence can be described as belonging to one of these seven generic groups. In addition, the course of the church age from the First Century till now has enjoyed a season of time in which each of these churches in turn has been the congregation of predominant influence in that age---beginning with Ephesus and closing with Laodicea.
To the church which is doctrinally sound but has lost its love, warm and openness (Ephesus) the remnant is urged to recover that lost love fervent love for the Lord Jesus---and for one another. They are promised: "To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
To Christians who are suffering persecution and great hardships, Smyrna-type believers are encouraged to not fear and to endure, if necessary, to the death. "He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." Pergamum-like churches with their hidden idolatry and permissive attitude towards immorality need urgently to repent and correct these serious problems.
Their faithful remnant is promised: "To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it."
In both the church of Pergamum and Thyatira, Jesus was gravely concerned about their continued toleration of sexual immorality and associated idolatry infiltrating in from the pagan world outside. Thyatira's faithful remnant was given the challenge, "He who overcomes and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Sardis' remnant Christians, who have not soiled through garments through defilement by the world are encouraged, "He who overcomes shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
There can be little doubt the church in America today is fully Laodicean. The age of Philadelphian Christianity has quietly slipped away from us in the past half-century. The Philadelphian Christian remnant was told, "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Since the Laodicean church is representative of the church as a whole at the close of our age we should pay special attention to the Lord's analysis of this church and his words of exhortation to the faithful remnant that remains at the end of the age.
"The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Returning to the various symbols of the church mentioned in the first paragraph, the figure of the church is a reminder that Christ is calling a virgin bride out of an idolatrous world:
"...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:26,27)
The church described as the body of Christ, with Christ the head of the Body (Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12-14) is a reminder that the true church is a living organism, not an organization. We need one another and depend on one another as the various organs and systems of the human body are interdependent. Each member of the church reports directly to the Head, there is no hierarchical leadership in the church. All members have spiritual gifts and all are called to the ministry. "If one member suffers, all suffer, if one rejoices all rejoice."
"But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift...And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, in order to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love."(Ephesians 4:7-16)
Ray Stedman describes the fellowship and Body Life of the church and how to recover it in our time:
Now, openness and oneness of the body together is the key to all revival. Every time the Spirit of God has ever moved in history he has always begun here. He has restored to the church the sense of belonging to each other and to God together, the sense of openness and honesty and transparency, of the need to bear each other's burdens and to uphold one another before God, to be concerned and to care for each other, and to demonstrate it by deeds of help and mercy toward each other---all because we share the life of God. We are free to do this because we do not have to be hung up with defensiveness about ourselves. We have received the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, and that frees us to be at one with someone else. This is the most precious thing in the world in God's sight...
That is what is often lacking in the church today. We have taken away the koinonia, the commonness of the body of Christ. We have lost that to a great extent in the church in general. But we have held onto the kerygma, the preaching, the proclamation. We expect to convince everybody by an intellectual presentation of truth. But the reason why the evangelical church of our day is rejected and set aside in so many quarters is that people who come to it are disappointed because they hear great words but they don't see great lives; they don't see warmth, they don't see love and acceptance, they don't see understanding and forgiveness. What they too often run into is strife and bickering and fighting and quarreling and unforgiveness, jealousy and bitterness, grudges and splits and feuds and divisions, hostility and anger, worry and anxiety. They listen to the preaching of these great words that the church has to say and then they look at our lives to see how it works. And what they see convinces them that the words are not true. What they see is exactly what they find in their own lives and homes.
So they say to us, "What are you Christians talking about? What's the difference? What do you Christians have that we don't have---without the inconvenience of having to go through all the rites you go through. What is so great about this message? Why doesn't it do something for you? Why should we believe it and go to all the trouble of becoming a Christian when we can live the same way ourselves? We don't need the church or the Bible to teach us how to fight. We don't need the gospel to help us to be angry and resentful and bitter and divided against each other. We can do all that without it." And so there is an immediate loss of attention to the message that we are proclaiming because there is no evidence of the witness of communion. What is missing is the oneness, the precious fellowship together of the people of God living the life of God. (Stedman, op.cit. p91ff)
What can we as
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ at the close of the age of the church? From the messages of Jesus to the seven churches it is clear that Christ offers special words of encouragement to the overcomers in each church. Each of us can make himself or herself unconditionally available to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not necessary for us to get dragged down by those around us if our individual congregation has departed from the truth in teaching or conduct or has lost its first love. We can study to show ourselves approved, (2 Tim. 2:15), we can turn aside from the base things of the world and seek God's best so that we are worthy of the Master's most honorable use (2 Tim. 2:19-21).
Above all, we can pray. And we ought to pray for revival, for those "times of refreshing" God gladly brings to his church when a few of his people turn to him in real repentance and intercession. In response to Solomon's great prayer on the occasion of the dedication of the First temple in Jerusalem, the Lord spoke these words to the King:
"When I (the LORD) shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:12-14)
Email: dolphin@best.com
Web Pages: http://www.best.com/~dolphin/
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| CONTROLLING GOD
| By Ray C. Stedman
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In Genesis we have the only realistic explanation I know of for the straining forces that twist, heave, and pull at the plastic mass of society as we know it in our day. If we hope to understand life and handle it properly, we must understand what is going on in human society by understanding these issues that are presented here. We shall, in the passage that we look at on the tower of Babel, find the answer to one of the great mysteries of life, the mystery of a race that hungers after unity and is forever seeking to be one, but is also ending up splitting itself into fragments and dividing into splinters, schisms, and cliques. Why should this be so? Well, we shall attempt an answer as we look at this passage together. We begin in the days when the race was yet one undivided entity.
Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated in the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." {Gen 11:1-4 RSV}
When this account says, "the earth had one language and few words," it literally is saying it had one language and one set of words. It is not "few words," as we have here, but one set of words, i.e., "one speech" as the Authorized Version puts it. It is this that is the noteworthy feature of the humanity of that day: they were still one undivided people.
The atmosphere of Chapter 10 is one of movement, migration. People are thrusting out from a center, like spokes of a wheel, radiating out into the corners of the earth. This chapter opens on the same note. As men moved about they came into the plain of Shinar, an alluvial plain lying between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The name, Shinar, indicates to us that these people were Hamites, descendants of Ham, because in Chapter 10 we were told it was the Hamites who settled in the land of Shinar of Babylonia (Mesopotamia, as we know it today). It was a branch of the Hamitic family that migrated into the Tigris-Euphrates river valleys and found a level plain there upon which they settled.
Immediately, the inventiveness of the Hamitic people becomes evident. Remember that these were the technicians of humanity -- technologically gifted people. Their native inventiveness becomes evident in the way they adapted to the environment in which they lived. This is always characteristic of Hamitic people wherever they have gone. They did not find rocks and stones to build with, such as they had in the land where they had previously lived, so they made bricks out of dirt and clay. Later they discovered the process of burning them, first in the sun, and then in a furnace, until they became hard and impermeable brick such as we know it today. All this is given to us in one sentence in the Bible, but we know from history that it occupied a period of time. Man did not discover all this at one time but learned how to make bricks and later how to burn them. They also lacked lime for cement so could not make mortar, as we know it, but some inventive Yankee among them discovered a tar pit which was filled with natural asphalt (these are common throughout the Middle East). They discovered that the tar was sticky and they used this natural bitumen, this asphalt, for mortar. They had then a substitute for stones and cement. They made bricks and used asphalt for mortar and thus demonstrated how adaptable they were to the situation they found.
Now their success in doing these things fired their ambition. This almost always happens. When they discovered that they could use other than natural materials for building, but could invent their own, they were fired with desire to put these to work.
They began to talk excitedly about building a city and a tower. The two things they mentioned are very significant, very revealing. The appearance of the first city was back in the story of Cain and Abel, when Cain went out and built a city. It illustrated the hunger of humanity to huddle together for companionship, even though they were not really ready to do it (as they still, obviously, are not ready to live together successfully in cities). God's final intention is to build a city for man. Abraham looked for "a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God," {Heb 11:10 RSV}. But man was not yet ready for that. Now here they are, again ready to build a city to satisfy the desires of body and soul. There is nothing that does this better than for human beings to live together in cities. Cities are centers of commercial and business life where all the needs of the body can best be met. Also, cities are centers of pleasure and culture, where all the hungers of the soul can be satisfied: hunger for beauty, art, and music and all the ingredients of culture.
The tower, on the other hand, is designed to satisfy the spirit of man. Here we see, reflected in these two things, a fundamental understanding of the nature of man as body, soul, and spirit. All are to be satisfied in these two elementary needs, the city and the tower. A number of years ago, digging in the plains of Shinar, archaeologists discovered the remains of certain great towers that these early Babylonians had built. Some archaeologists have felt that they may even have found the foundation of this original tower of Babel. That is very hard to determine. But they did find that the Babylonians built great towers called ziggurats, which were built in a circular fashion with an ascending staircase that terminates in a shrine at the top, around which are written the signs of the zodiac. Obviously, the tower was a religious building, intending to expose man to the mystery of the heavens and the greatness of God. That, perhaps, is what is meant here by the statement that they intended to build a tower with its top in the heavens. They were impressed by its greatness architecturally, that is, it was a colossal thing for the men of that day to build and they may have thus thought of it as reaching into heaven. But they also unquestionably were thinking of it as a means of communication with God, of maintaining contact with him. God is not to be left out, you see, in the city of man.
He is there, represented by this tower.
However, the heart of the matter is made clear in these words, "let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Already a haunting fear had set in. They were conscious already of a disruptive influence in their midst, of a centrifugal force that was pushing them apart so they could not live too closely together and which would ultimately, they feared, scatter them abroad and leave them unknown, unhonored, and unsung, living in isolated communities where they would be exposed to great danger. The fear of this caused them to build a tower and a city. The ultimate motive is expressed in these words, "let us make a name for ourselves."
From that day on, this has been the motto of humanity, "let us make a name for ourselves." I am always amused to see how many public edifices make a plaque somewhere on which the names of all the public officials who were in power when it was built are inscribed: the mayor, the head of public works, etc. "Let us make a name for ourselves," is a fundamental urge of a fallen race. It reveals one of the basic philosophies of humanism: "Glory to man in the highest, for man is the master of things." That is the central thought of humanism, glory to mankind.
The fact that this was a religious tower -- and yet built to make a name for man -- reveals the master motive behind religion. It is a means by which man attempts to share the glory of God. We must understand this, otherwise we will never understand the power of religion as it has pervaded the earth and permeated our culture ever since. It is a way by which man seeks to share what is rightfully God's alone. This tower was a grandiose structure, and undoubtedly it was intended to be a means by which man would glorify God. Unquestionably there was a plaque somewhere attached to it that carried the pious words, "Erected in the year xxxx, to the greater glory of God." But it was not really for the glory of God; it was a way of controlling God, a way of channeling God by using him for man's glory. That is what man's religion has always sought to do. It is a way of making God available to us.
Man does not really want to eliminate God. It is only sporadically, and then only for a relatively brief time, that men cry out for the elimination of God. Atheism is too barren, too pessimistic, and too morally bankrupt to live with very long. The communists are finding this out. No, we need "dear old God," but let's keep him under control. Do not let him get out of his place. "Don't call us, God; we'll call you." This is the fundamental philosophy of society. It is the tower of Babel all over again.
Now in the next section we get the reaction of God to all this. It is a section of exquisite irony.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do now will he impossible for them." {Gen 11:5-6 RSV}
I know that in certain circles the idea of a God who comes down to visit earth is regarded as an expression of a primitive concept of God -- that God lives up in heaven somewhere but is cut off from direct communication from earth and is dependent upon certain messenger boys who travel back and forth to keep him informed. Somehow a message reaches God about man's tower and he decides to come down and investigate. But this language is not a primitive concept of God. It is impossible to read it that way if you read it in the light of what has already been said about God in the book of Genesis.
Already God has been presented as the maker of heaven and earth, the One concerned about the minutest details of creation, the Omnipotent, Omniscient God who knows everything, sees everything and is all-powerful.
No, this is not a primitive concept of God at all; it is an ironic expression. It is a humorous expression, if you please, designed to indicate to us, in a very clever way, the ridiculousness of this whole situation. Here is this tower that men erect, thinking that it will take God's breath away, it will threaten him. Men think, "Here we are, we wild Promethean creatures; we've dared to invade the heavens! You had better watch out, God!" But up in the real heavens this tower is so little that God can't see it. It is so tiny that even the strongest telescope in heaven does not reveal it. So God says, "I'll come down and investigate." It is language designed to set in contrast the ridiculousness of the suppositions of men, and the greatness of the Being of God. He "came down" to investigate this tiny tower that men had erected.
Then, in all seriousness, we are given the divine analysis of the situation. There are three things that God took note of. First, man's unity. "And the Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language.'" Second, he noted their creativity. "This is only the beginning," he said, "of what they will do." This creativity is part of the image of God which he conferred upon man; this inventiveness, this ability to think and reason, to deal in concepts and put them together and to come out with very practical applications. The nature of it is suggested here. Notice that God does not suggest that man does everything at once; he builds gradually. One man discovers an idea, another man improves it, and a third man links it with another idea. So gradually there takes form inventive solutions to the technical problems of life. God took note of that fact, that man is an inventive creature, and he is a united creature.
As a result of these two factors at work in society, God comes to a startling conclusion: "Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible to them." That sounds rather up-to-date, does it not? That is exactly what man has thought about himself and what he is saying in a thousand ways today. He loudly announces continually, "There's nothing we can't solve, nothing we can't do." The startling thing from the Scriptures is that there is truth in that. God himself acknowledges it! He says it is true; if man puts his genius to any given, specific task, then his native creativeness and his persistent spirit will solve the problem eventually. Nothing will be prevented him. Now look at God's action.
"Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. {Gen 11:7-9 RSV}
That is startling, isn't it? Here these people had built a tower and a city in order that they not be scattered abroad over the face of the earth. But the net result is, because they built the tower and the city, they were scattered abroad throughout the face of all the earth! They ended up doing the very thing that they feared.
What is behind God's actions here? Is he jealous of man? Is God threatened after all by this tower of mud and slime that these men have built? Does it mean that he is afraid that men will master all things and that he cannot any longer control them so that the very foundations of the universe will be threatened by this inventive man? No. That is the way man wants to read this.
Forever we have been telling ourselves that we can do anything we want, if we want it badly enough! Therefore, we don't need God; God is optional in human life. We are ready to dismiss him, or at least to remove him to a quiet corner of the house where he won't bother anybody except when we need him occasionally to run some special errands.
It is true, as we have already seen, that God admits that man can do things if he puts his mind to them. He can do anything, but what about be? That is the question. You see, there is a fatal flaw in man's thinking. What does he actually purpose or propose to do? The final answer is, to glorify himself, to be the center of things, to be the master of the universe; to be God, in other words. God knows that man is incapable of this; he is a creature. He is a dependent being; he always was, and always will be.
The very forces he thinks he can manipulate to accomplish his aims are forces that are part of his own life which he did not make and upon which he continually depends. Therefore, he is constitutionally incapable of being the God he attempts to be.
It is always the old, old story of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Remember the story in mythology of the boy who hired himself out to a sorcerer to be his servant and to carry his water for him? Like all boys, tiring of the work, he looked around to find some easier way of getting the job done. One day when the master was away he prowled around among the sorcerer's magical paraphernalia. He found certain books with magic words, incantations, in them. He learned a few of these and tried them out on the broom. To his amazement he found that he could command the broom to carry water in buckets. He sat back, opened a magazine, and read while the broom carried in the water, bucket after bucket. But after a bit he detected a little moisture on the floor. To his consternation he realized that the tubs and basins were all full and the broom was still carrying in the water. He decided he had better do something about it. He arose and uttered the magic incantation, but the broom kept on carrying in the water, dumping it on the floor. As it began to rise around his ankles the boy panicked. He didn't know what to do. He cried out every magic word he knew, but nothing worked, and the broom kept on carrying in the buckets and dumping them on the floor. Soon the water rose around his neck, and he began to cry out in anguish, realizing that he hadn't learned enough. He was saved at the last moment by the return of the master who, in a few words, cleared up the whole situation.
That is a parable of the tower of Babel. Man, in his inventiveness, thinks he can master the earth. But the very solutions he works out become the bigger problems which he can no longer encompass. The whole vast scheme of things eludes him; he is not able to put them all together. Thus, for man's sake (this is the heart of it), for man's sake -- not because God is afraid of man -- but for man's sake, to protect him from himself, God says, "Let us go down and confuse their language." Let us stop man, in his mad folly, from destroying himself off the face of the earth, because he is not God enough to handle it." So God came down and suddenly, as the workers gathered for work one morning, they found they could not communicate with each other any more. What a scene this must have been! The foreman would give orders, but the men would shake their heads; they didn't understand. The foreman would yell, but they wouldn't get it. They would try to explain but he couldn't understand them.
You can imagine what fist-shaking, table-pounding and yelling went on here. It was utter confusion.
The Bible plays upon the name for Babel, and links it with the Hebrew word for confusion, balal. It says this was a veritable Babel of confusion. It is interesting that the name, Babel, means "the gate of God." That is what man named the tower. But in the ultimate outcome, Babel became the place of confusion. "The gate of God," in man's eyes, becomes "confusion" in the eyes of God. Since that day men have been divided by this confusion of tongues. It is most striking that the confusion of tongues is most evident, even today, in the Hamitic families of earth. Linguists know that most of the languages of earth can be gathered into family groups (e.g., the Indo-European family of languages), and in the Japhetic line and the Semitic line they are quite closely allied; it is not difficult to group those various tongues. But in the Hamitic languages all is utter confusion. Tribes of people, growing up close by one another, have completely different languages. It still persists into this day, and it still divides mankind. We are all aware of the attempts to overcome this with awkward devices of translation. The United Nations cannot even meet together without mechanical gadgets of translation by means of which they can understand one another.
We think we have solved this confusion by translating one language into another, but any linguist knows that language is much deeper than words; it is a basic, fundamental element, reflecting the thought of life and cultural pattern of a people. Merely to know the words of a man's language by no means guarantees that you can communicate with the man. This confusion of language represents a loss of basic understanding between peoples, the loss of the ability to communicate at the deepest levels of thought. I was struck by a quotation taken from a world traveler recently who said,
On my trip to Asia, the word Coca Cola was the one word I understood in every language. It sprang out familiarly from signs written in the most alien characters. What is wrong with a world in which this is the only word that has survived the Babylonian confusion of tongues? We can still talk to one about Coca Cola, but not about freedom, not about God, not about what a neighbor is.
Is that not striking? The impressive thing to me is that man is still haunted today by the lack of unity. He feels the need for it. He feels that if we can only get together, then, with our technological abilities, if we can just cooperate, we can do anything. Is that not the dream that hangs over humanity? If we can merge -- this is the day of the merger: corporations are merging, nations are merging, companies are merging, churches are merging -- if we can just become one great community again, then, with our technological excellence we can master the earth. The dream still endures, but God still scatters. God yet continues the confusion of tongues. This may be hard for the Wycliffe translator who is seeking to put Scripture into the various languages of the earth, but nevertheless it is the kindness of God that confuses the speech of men. It is God's way of preventing the ultimate catastrophe. When man at last gets together again, and, under the illusion of technical ability, thinks he can master all the great and intricate mechanisms of life, we will have achieved the ultimate disaster. This is why God continues to humble men everywhere, to scatter, to humiliate, to bring low the proud. Why? Because, as Jesus said in the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit (the man who has nothing, the man who has lost everything upon which he can depend, outside and inside himself) for his is the kingdom of heaven," {Matt 5:3 RSV}. When you no longer depend on anything in you, then God is ready to give you everything he possesses. That is the basic message of the Christian faith.
Prayer:
Who has been thy counselor, Lord? Which of men has instructed thee? How we need to quietly listen and remember that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" that without your mind we will only make a continual mess of things, both individually and as a race. Teach us this, Lord, above all else. We ask in Jesus'
name, Amen.
http://pbc.org/dp/stedman/index.html
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PROPHEZINE NEWSLETTER - Commentaries
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THE PRINCE OF EGYPT
Reviewed by Berit Kjos
"Did you see the Prince of Egypt," my son David asked a friend who called during Christmas vacation.
"No, and I don't plan to," Ron answered.
"Why not?"
"Because it's biased and religious, and I don't want to be influenced by it."
"But you saw Pocahontas and Seven Days in Tibet. They are biased toward Native American and Buddhist religions. What's the difference?"
"This is from the Bible. It's so blatant. I think it's wrong for parents to let their children see it before they have a chance to make up their own mind about religions."
Ron calls himself a Christian, but he resents biblical absolutes such as God's unchanging moral standards and the Ten Commandments. He "respects" David's right to his own view of truth, but as a fourth-year Education major, Ron has embraced the values of the education establishment. Its multicultural focus demands that children be protected from the biblical absolutes that hinder conformity to the new global beliefs and values.
If Ron had actually seen the Prince of Egypt, he might not have found it all that offensive. While the movie reminds us to see life "through heaven's eyes", the biblical bias has been tempered with a more universal focus which should be acceptable to most viewers. In light of the variety of spiritual advisers to DreamWorks listed below, that's not surprising.
Christian parents who take their children to this movie would do well to read the first 20 chapters of Exodus first and to alert their children to all the changes made. Use their desire to see the movie to stir interest in God's actual Word. They would surely enjoy the movie, especially the dramatic crossing of the Red Sea, which highlights the excellent quality of DreamWorks production. You will appreciate the fact that Moses does trust God and obey his command, difficult as that choice may be.
But you will also see Aaron portrayed as a doubting fool, not as Moses' spokesman 1, which could sway a child's perception of God's chosen high priest. And, unless your children know God's character and purpose from the biblical account, they may not understand how the God who leads Moses differs from all the "other gods" the biblical Moses warns us to shun.
Keep in mind, today's most dangerous deception is the distortion of the nature and purpose of God.
Even if everything else lined up with Scripture, an unbalanced view of God would change the meaning of the rest. In His eyes, perhaps we depreciate His awesome holiness when we so readily condone tampering with His holy and unchangeable Word. For He told us in Proverbs 30:5-6 that --
"Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
"Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar."
While I sincerely appreciate DreamWork's willingness to invest millions in a movie based on a biblical story, I have three concerns about teaching God's truths to children by way of Hollywood.
It
1. undermines the absolute, unchanging quality of His Word 2. adapts God's eternal truths to fit our times 3. puts God's Word into a multicultural context giving new meaning to important truths 4. encourages group dialogue based on questionable study guides available through its website
You may not share my concerns, but let me try to explain how this well-done animated film fits into today's quest for unity in diversity -- a unifying global spirituality that allows each person to define their own god(s) but bans the "exclusive" and "intolerant" absolutes that could offend the masses.
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1. UNDERMINES THE ABSOLUTE, UNCHANGING QUALITY OF GOD'S WORD.
Following in the wake of mythical Hollywood films such as Hercules, the Prince of Egypt may appear to many children as merely another story based on ancient myths or legends. The movie doesn't tell its general audience the biblical facts about God that children need to differentiate between the God of Moses and the Great Spirit of Pocahontas, the mighty Zeus of Hercules, and the ancestral gods of the Lion King all of which were given power to perform miracles. In fact, within this genre of entertainment, the line between truth and myth has been virtually erased.
DreamWork's story of Moses from birth to age 80 ends with a glimpse of the former prince descending Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments. But the actual commandments were never read, spoken, or even mentioned. Unlike the Ten Commandments in Hollywood's original version of Moses, they were merely suggested by fleeting pictures to those who already know the biblical account.
This is an important omission, because the Ten Commandments represent God's absolute truth.
Since biblical absolutes tend to be offensive to today's world where "the only constant is change, 2" it's not surprising that there were few such absolutes left in the film to offend those who, like Ron, reject the Bible. God's unchanging truth simply doesn't fit today's emphasis on interfaith unity, good feelings, continual change, group consensus, and tolerance toward everything but biblical standards.
On the other hand, compromised Christianity, which leaves out God's absolute standards and our need for the cross, is acceptable. So is the story of Moses, as long as God's unique character and eternal truths are left out. No wonder, since "the whole world is under the control of the evil one"
(1 John 5:19), who hates our God, His truth, and His followers. Turning biblical truth into entertaining stories suits him well, as does our human tendency to laugh along with the masses at man's clever and unholy interpretations of God's holy Word.
However, God gave us His Word as His standard for living, as a moral compass, as a plumb line or reference point, and as a mental filter that separates right from wrong. This truth doesn't change with time any more than God Himself changes. 3 When we rewrite His eternal Word into pleasing sentiments or politically correct stories, the words cease to be His Word. And if we become accustomed to adding, deleting, trivializing, or changing parts of His word according to our will and imagination, we will have traded God's clear, moral standard for the world's moral relativism. No longer would we hold truth as the mental filter needed to discern between right and wrong. We, like the world around us, would tend to drift, like ships without rudders, with every social trend and popular wave of thought.
That's one reason why the God who led Moses doesn't smile at our efforts to adapt His Word to our times. While people have always tried to soften or popularize truth, the following Scriptures show the seriousness of altering His immutable Word:
"You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. " (Deuteronomy 4:2)
"I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life...." (Revelation 22:18-19)
"... if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.... Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." (Gal. 1:8-10) 4
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2. ADAPTS GOD'S TRUTH TO OUR TIMES.
To conform the film to contemporary trends and a global marketplace, its makers used the basic framework of the biblical account, retold it in a multicultural context, and replaced many of its lessons with nice sentiments and suggestions that match the social climate of our times.
In other words, the Prince of Egypt is storytelling at its best. It weaves in historical facts, but it makes subtle suggestions that change biblical truth. It introduces children to Moses but adjusts his biography to create a different personality. It wisely shuns token violence and sex, but it imprints lasting images on our minds that can confuse or reshape the actual message in the biblical account.
(As Dean Gotcher - says, "The eyes are stronger than the ears.") It demonstrates animation at its best, but good entertainment doesn't excuse taking liberties with God's eternal, unchanging Word.
Unlike the Old Testament prayers, the prayers in the movie don't usually clarify which god is the object of the prayer. For example, Moses' mother rightly places the basket with her baby in the flowing Nile, but then she sings the following prayer: "River, 0 river....Such precious cargo you bear. Do you know somewhere he can live free?
River, deliver him there...."
In the movie, the mother is not asked to take her child and nurse him. Yet Exodus 2:8-10 tells us that "the child grew" in her care, where he probably received a sense of his true identity, until "she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter."
In the movie, Pharaoh' wife, not his daughter, finds the basket and cares for the baby. Moses and Ramses (Rameses), the heir to the throne, grow up together as reckless and irresponsible brothers.
However Acts 7:22 suggests that Moses was trained in the kind of princely disciplines that would prepare him for future leadership.
"Some of the changes in the movie have parallels in the Jewish or Islamic tradition," explains Rev. Bert F. Breiner, Co-Director for Interfaith Relations of the National Council of Churches, whose "Guide for the Effective Religious Use of the Film" is available at DreamWork's web site, <http://princeofegypt.com>. "In the Islamic tradition, Moses is found by the wife of Pharaoh, Asiyuah."6
At age forty (but still looking like a youth), Moses finally learns about his Hebrew roots through a chance encounter with his sister Miriam. Confused and upset, he runs back to the palace and confronts Pharaoh Seti , his wise and caring adoptive "father". The Pharaoh, together with the hieroglyphics on the wall, tell the story of his deliverance from death and his arrival at the palace.
"Why did you choose me?" asks Moses.
"The gods did," answered Seti.
This comment may seem innocent enough, but it sends a subtle suggestion that could mislead children who are bombarded with pagan stimuli. Since the storytellers make no moral judgment concerning faith in "other gods", a child would tend to see idolatry from a multicultural or approving perspective rather than from God's point of view. The unspoken fact is that God, not Egyptian gods, chose Pharaoh's court as a training ground for Moses. But since the contrary message came from a supposedly wise and respected ruler, it brings a strong and deceptive suggestion.
Hebrews 11:24-29 tells us that "Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." Yet, Hollywood's Moses sings a song tuned to the new story:
This is my home with my father, mother, brother Oh so noble, oh so strong.
Now I am home, here among my trappings
and belongings I belong And if anybody doubts it They couldn't be more wrong I am a sovereign prince of Egypt....
Surely this is all I ever wanted
In response, the Queen-mother lovingly sings:
This is your home, my son Here the river brought you...
When the gods send you a blessing You don't ask why it was sent...
The film shows Moses escaping through the desert as in the Exodus account, but he is saved through a miracle not mentioned in the Bible. He joins the family of Jethro, high priest of Midian, as told in Exodus, but the rebellious and assertive Zipporah whom he marries was first introduced in the film as a captive slave brought to Pharaoh's palace.
DreamWorks admits that it took liberties with Scriptures and suggests we read the Exodus account. That's good advice, but it may not be enough to correct the mental framework and faulty images left by a memorable movie that has altered the truth. Its subtle suggestions would prompt a person to conform future Bible study to the images in his mind - especially if using some of the study guides I saw at the Prince of Egypt web site. That the main story line sounds biblical doesn't help. A good counterfeit is usually the biggest rival to God's best.
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3. PUTS TRUTH INTO A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT WHICH CHANGES ITS MEANING.
That DreamWorks would compromise God's Word comes as no surprise. Unless film-makers know God, how can they understand His ways or appreciate the integrity of His truth?
They can't, which brings up the third concern: the politically correct message inserted into the framework of a biblical story. The story of Moses seems to be lifted out of its biblical context which shows that paganism is intolerable to God, then placed into the contemporary context which commends all religions as long as they renounce divisive absolutes that could hinder the quest for interfaith unity.
For example, when Jethro's family sits down to eat, the priest offers a prayer that reflects Christian traditions, not the pagan Midianite culture. 7 His words, "Let's give thanks for this bountiful food," sound like those of a devout church-going father, but they send the message that there is little difference between God's people and those who follow other gods and spiritual practices.
In today's multicultural context, children are taught to avoid moral judgments that could sound "intolerant". They must never offend those who choose contrary beliefs or lifestyles. So it's not surprising that DreamWorks presents Egyptian occultism as fun, exciting and empowering rather than as serious evil. In the movie, the entertaining Egyptian priests or shamans soften the evil of their ritual with their funny performance. Fun times are good for us, but the song inviting children to learn the names of pagan gods and sing along is no laughing matter:
"By the power of Ra, Mut, Nut, Khnum, Ptah....
So you think you've got friends in high places With the power to put us on the run Well, forgive us these smiles on our faces You'll know what power is when we are done
Son...
You're playing with the big boys now...
Ev'ry spell and gesture Tells you who's the best....
By the might of Horus You will kneel before us Kneel to our splendorous power..."
From the multicultural point of view, pagan empowerment may well seem "splendorous." The movie-makers are careful to present all perspectives in as good a light as possible. But God calls both occult practices and those who participate in them "an abomination" and warns us to shun them. "Walk as children of light," writes the apostle Paul, "finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
(Ephesians 5:8-11)
The movie doesn't mention that the first and second commandment warn us to shun polytheism:
"You shall have no other gods before Me.... For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...."
(Exodus 20:3-5) Nor does it remind us that the time of oppression in Egypt served to separate God's people from the gods and practices of Egypt and to prepare them to follow God as a nation into the promised land.
Centuries earlier, God had told Abraham what would happen. In Genesis 15:13-16, He said:
"Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And the nation whom they serve I will judge;
afterward they shall come out with great possessions. .... But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
From God's heavenly perspective, the Amorites and other pagan nations in ancient Canaan were not yet wicked enough to warrant His judgment. But by the time God leads His people into the land, that final level of "iniquity" would have been reached. The key to Israel's victory would be their obedience to God and refusal to compromise.
Children watching the movie without the benefit of biblical discernment are likely to hear a distorted message. They may think that --
there are many gods
all gods can perform miracles
miracles can happen when you believe in one or more gods and have learned the spiritual formulas
the gods of Egypt are more fun and willing to do what their "priests" command, but
the God who spoke to Moses is more powerful.
For more information about "lifelong" training in the new global values, read Brave New Schools (Harvest House Publishers) and A Twist of Faith (New Leaf Press - 800-643-9535) by Berit Kjos. Available through Christian bookstores
web site: www.crossroad.com
1 800-643-9535.
e-mail andy-berit@crossroad.to
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Tzemach News Service
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Tzemach News Service
Week Ending: 27 February 1999 / 11 Adar 5759
Vol. 5 No. 2
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"For the L-rd has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it." Psalm 132.13-14
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THREE SOLDIERS KILLED BY BETRAYAL? Three Israel Defense Force (IDF) officers were killed Tuesday when Hizb'Allah terrorists ambushed and attacked a paratroopers unit in Lebanon. Another soldier was severely wounded, another is in moderate condition, and four more were lightly wounded. A small group of Hizb'Allah terrorists surprised the force, which itself was planning an ambush, and opened fire from a very short range. Just as they had waited for the Israelis outside the village of Ansariyah two years ago, killing 12 before the remnants were rescued by helicopter, so Tuesday's trap was carefully arranged by Hizb'Allah, which had been tipped off about the Israeli raid, according to a report by THE INDEPENDENT (London) quoting "impeccable sources in Beirut". At Ansariyah in 1997, Hizb'Allah had unmasked an Israeli agent in Lebanon and forced him to supply an Israeli commando force with a map that would supposedly lead them to ambush and kill a senior Hizb'Allah official. Following the map -- which had been drawn by Hizb'Allah -- the Israelis walked into a minefield. An Israeli inquiry last year confirmed that they had been betrayed. Israel's intelligence "eye" in Lebanon has been virtually destroyed, its collaborators arrested or killed.
A day later, four terrorists were killed in more conflict on Wednesday in the Security Zone, HA'ARETZ reported. The IDF sustained no casualties in the incident. The incident took place when a unit of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) discovered a large cache of explosives in the village of Markaba. Israeli warplanes raided suspected terrorists bases in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
Meanwhile, according to security sources, 125 Iranian airplanes bearing Hizb'Allah-bound weapons have landed in Damascus since Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996, MA'ARIV reported. The equipment includes highly advanced weaponry and technology. A senior Israeli security source said on Wednesday that in addition to weapons and technology, Iran continues to send monetary aid to Lebanon via Damascus. (ARUTZ-7, ZINC, AP, ISRAEL LINE)
ARAB MK SUPPORTS HIZB'ALLAH: Member of Knesset (MK) Hashem Mahmeed, of the Arab Hadash party, has again made severe statements, this time in support of the Hizb'Allah terrorist organization, which claimed responsibility for the death of three IDF soldiers late Monday night. In a gathering at Haifa University, Mahmeed said that Hizb'Allah is a "national liberation movement of the first order." He said also that Lebanon will become a graveyard for any conqueror. In response, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Uzi Landau said that the Israeli Arabs are placing "question marks" on their degree of loyalty to the State of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state. The Attorney-General said that he will investigate the matter. (ARUTZ-7, MFA)
NEW JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD IN EASTERN JERUSALEM: The "Settlers of Zion" association, under the sponsorship of MK Rabbi Benny Elon and the Beit Orot yeshiva in eastern Jerusalem, has recently acquired six new homes in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of the city. Members of the association moved into the buildings, not far from the American Consulate, last week. A large part of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood there was owned by Jews in the past, but was abandoned during the War of Independence. Unmarried students are temporarily living in the homes -- which were legally acquired in video-taped transactions -- and families and married couples are scheduled to move in very soon. The Palestinian Authority (PA/PLO) did not react to the neighborhoods' old-new residents, as opposed to previous similar cases.
In a passing observation, the other day a story reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP) had a dateline of "Occupied Jerusalem". (ARUTZ-
7)
ISRAEL OFFERS TO MOVE FORWARD ON WYE: The Israeli government Thursday offered to move ahead on some aspects of the frozen Wye River agreement, freeing Palestinian prisoners and opening a land-corridor between autonomous areas, but not withdrawing from more disputed territory. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office said a further pullback of Israeli troops would not take place until the PA/PLO fulfilled its obligations to fight terrorism, a spokesman said. PA/PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat described an unacceptable any proposal not involving the handover of more land to PA/PLO control. He dismissed the offer as an election ploy by Netanyahu, whom he said wanted to appear to be moving the process ahead, without making real concessions. The Palestinians maintain they have honored their security-related commitments. The US administration has backed the PA/PLO position on compliance. (ICEJ)
PA/PLO SEEKS UN RECOGNITION: The first "preparatory committee" of legal experts for the new international criminal court concluded its meetings at the United Nations to develop the rules and procedures on Friday, amid attempts to get recognition for "Palestine". [How ironic that an international criminal court would try to obtain legitimacy for the PLO- ed] The Arab Group on Friday submitted comments on a US draft proposal that was intended to discuss elements of crime, and in a political move listed "Palestine' among the member states. The treaty for the permanent international criminal court was approved by 120 nations at a conference in Rome last July. The tribunal would prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Israel said that the Arab countries had politicized it by including an article determining that establishing settlements in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip constitutes "war crimes". The court will begin operating after the Rome treaty is ratified by 60 nations. So far, only one - Senegal - has done so. The US and Israel, citing different reasons, both refuse to sign the treaty. (JERUSALEM POST)
ARUTZ-7 IS LEGAL: ARUTZ-7 is now a licensed radio station! The Knesset voted 40-30 Tuesday to grant immediate recognition to any station that has been in continuous operation for the past five years. A radio station associated with the Shas party is also included in the bill. Opposition MKs submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court against the legality of the new law less than two hours after the vote. Station executives say that they have received numerous legal opinions affirming that there is no legal basis for disqualifying the proposed bill. They claim that political, not legal, motivations are behind the objections of the State Attorney's office. At this point, it remains unclear as to who will defend the new law, as the State Attorney's office -- whose function it is to defend government laws -- refuses to do so. Chief PA/PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat says that the decision is dangerous and "encourages acts of terror against the PA". He said the PA/PLO would ask the US to pressure Israel to cancel the decision. (ARUTZ-7)
US MAY WITHHOLD AID: The US administration may hold back funds earmarked for Israel under the Wye agreement, while releasing Wye-linked aid to the PA/PLO and Jordan, according to a report in GLOBES. "If it is decided, Israel will not shortly receive $1.2 billion financing for re-deployment, since it is not pulling out of the territories. On the other hand, the Palestinians will receive the $300 million aid promised them, plus a promise to act to turn it into long term aid." The PA/PLO would thus benefit financially as well as politically from the US in exchange for its agreement to postpone declaring an independent Palestinian state on May 4, the report said. In negotiations now taking place, agreement is being formed to postpone the declaration, following an official approach by the "Oslo countries" to Arafat, asking him to postpone the declaration by six months. The Oslo countries include those that provided patronage of the agreement, including the US and the European Union. (ICEJ, GLOBES)
DFLP DEMONSTRATIONS: Some 200 Palestinians, members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), demonstrated last week in Jenin on behalf of Kurdish terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan. [Israeli President Weizmann had shook hands with DFLP leader Hawatmeh at king Hussein's funeral.-ed]
Egypt's AL-AHARAM newspaper cites an article in another one of the Arab dailies which reiterates the Israeli Secret Service's involvement in the successful Turkish capture of Ocalan. The Israel government has continually denied it had anything to do with Ocalan's capture. Certain political pundits surmise that the publicizing of these accusations is meant as a prelude to a joint Mubarak-Arafat program to start riots in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinians may therefore soon begin demonstrating in protest of Israeli treatment of their "Kurdish brothers".
Meanwhile, a report by the Israeli secret service has found that three security guards at Israel's consulate in Berlin were justified when they opened fire on Kurdish protesters last week, killing three and injuring 16. (ARUTZ-7, BBC)
ISRAEL-EGYPT TREATY TO BE CANCELED? An independent deputy in the Egyptian parliament, Ahmed Yehia, said that he will present with deputies from El-Tagamoa, Wafd, Amal, and El-Naseri (opposition parties inside the parliament), a draft law that calls for canceling the peace treaty with Israel. March coincides with the 20th anniversary of the signing of the treaty by Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on March 26, 1979. Among the participants in signing the new draft law are the head of the leftist Assemblage Party, Khaled Mohie El-Din, El-Wafd party deputy Ahmed Naser and independent deputy Ahmed Taha, who were among 18 deputies who voted against the treaty's ratification in the Egyptian parliament 20 years ago. The explanatory note of the draft law that justified canceling the treaty stated that peace conditions with Israel had ended with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that Egypt is his country's southern enemy and it said that the treaty is not worthwhile any more due to aggressive Israeli policies against Egypt.
(ARABICNEWS)
YESHA SEALED OFF: Total closure has been clamped in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip and security services have gone on heightened alert in response to warnings that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists may try to carry out attacks during the Purim holiday. The closure went into effect at midnight Saturday night (27-02-99), barring Palestinians from Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip from entering Israel. It does not include the border industrial zones, which means that the 15,000 Palestinians employed there will be able to go to work. The closure also does not restrict travel for journalists, VIPs, medical personnel, and clerics. Defense Minister Moshe Arens ordered the indefinite closure on the recommendation of security forces, the IDF said.
Meanwhile, Saturday night an infant was lightly injured by glass shards after stones were thrown at a car she was riding in near the village of Husan near Bethlehem, the IDF said. The infant was treated by an IDF medic and released. (JERUSALEM POST)
ARAB 'PIRATE' RADIO STATION: The owners of an Arab pirate radio station broadcasting from northern Israel have found a way to continue broadcasting without interference: They turned to the PA/PLO and received a license to operate from its territory. "Al-Balad", the first pirate radio station in the Arab sector, broadcast from Nazareth and Daliyat al-Karmil until recently when it was raid by the police and the Communications Ministry, which confiscated his transmitters. About a month ago, Hadid came up with an idea on how to solve his problem: He turned to the PA/PLO and asked for a license to broadcast from its soil.
The PA/PLO responded favorably, and the station started to broadcast from northern Samaria. Qaddurah Musa, the PA/PLO official in charge of the Jenin area, said: "The station will continue to broadcast, and we have nothing to do with its contents". Our correspondent Ora 'Adif adds: Communications Ministry Director General Dani Rosen said that "the Oslo accord allocates wavelengths to the PA. They used some of them for Palestinian broadcasting. As far as I know, private radio stations are illegal and, to my regret, the PA is not doing enough to shut them down."
(ARUTZ-7, ZINC)
ADVANCED ARMS FOR UAE: According to a story in U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, the United Arab Emirates may soon find itself with the most advanced F-16s in the world. Features include * A radar system that can target objects on the ground the size of a yardstick. * An infrared targeting system twice as capable as those on the jets flown by American forces. * A new engine design that will make the plane both more powerful and more agile than fighters in use today. And when the UAE has the equipment there is no telling where it ultimately may end up. So much for insuring the balance of power in the region. The US Defense Department insists that the sale will not alter the military balance in the Persian Gulf. The report notes that signing of a final contract, however, is delayed because the UAE, not satisfied with the promised top-of-the-line electronic-warfare hardware, wants access to secret software codes that have never been given to a foreign nation. That matter is now in the hands of top American military officials. (IMRA)
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:
February 23 1352 BCE (7 Adar 2488): Traditional date of the death of Moses. He was also born on the same date 120 years earlier. 1921: Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir are elected the first two chief Rabbis of pre-state Israel.
February 24: 1147: In Wurzburg (Germany), a Christian body was found in the river. Jews were accused of murder. Twenty two men, women and children were massacred, including the rabbi, Isaac ben Elyukem.1942: The sinking of the Sturma: This was one of the "illegal" immigrant ships on which 768 of the 769 passengers perished. The Sturma was a former coal barge-turned-rescue ship, and although not seaworthy, loaded 769 passengers in late 1941. The ship reached outside Istanbul, Turkey, but was not permitted to land until the British would issue assurances that they would be allowed to proceed to Palestine. The British refused to allow them to land under the White Paper agreement of 1939. After two months of pressure, the British relented and agreed to allow children to leave the ship. Although they promised to notify the Turkish, they delayed for 10 days. Giving up, the Turks had the boat towed out to the Black Sea where it was sunk presumably by a Soviet submarine.
1569: Pope Pius V orders the eviction of all Jews from the Papal States who refuse to convert. Most of the approximately 1000 Jewish families decide to emigrate. (<I>WZO)
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Tzemach News Service
"For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest" Isaiah 62:1
'TNS' may be reproduced & distributed in any form. Please give proper credit.
Send comments to Lee Underwood at: fyi@tzemach.org
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THE BURDEN
By Louise Gouge, Moody Mag. Feb. 1993
Why was my burden so heavy? I slammed the bedroom door and leaned against it. Is there no rest from this life? I wondered. I stumbled to my bed and dropped onto it, pressing my pillow around my ears to shut out the noise of my existence.
"Oh, God, I cried, let me sleep. Let me sleep forever and never wake up!" With a deep sob, I tried to will myself into oblivion, then welcomed the blackness that came over me . . . .
Light surrounded me as I regained consciousness. I focused on its source: the figure, a man standing before a cross.
"My child," the person asked, "why did you want to come to Me before I am ready to call you?"
"Lord, I'm sorry. It's just that . . . I can't go on. You see how hard it is for me. Look at this awful burden on my back. I simply can't carry it anymore."
"But haven't I told you to cast all of your burden upon Me, because I care for you? My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
"I knew You would say that. But why does mine have to be so heavy?"
"My child, everyone in the world has a burden. Perhaps you would like to try a different one?"
"I can do that??"
He pointed to several burdens lying at His feet. "You may try any of these." All of them seemed to be of equal size, but each was labeled with a name.
"There's Joan's," I said. Joan was married to a wealthy businessman. She lived in a sprawling estate and dressed her three daughters in the prettiest designer clothes. Sometimes she drove me to church in her Cadillac when my car was broken. Let me try that one. How difficult could her burden be? The Lord removed my burden and placed Joan's on my shoulder. I sank to my knees beneath its weight.
"Take it off!" I said. "What makes it so heavy?"
"Look inside," said the Lord.
I untied the straps and opened the top. Inside was a figure of her Mother-in-law, and when I lifted it out, it began to speak. "Joan, you'll never be good enough for my son, it began. He never should have married you. You're a terrible mother to my grandchildren . . . ."
I quickly placed the figure back in the pack and withdrew another. It was Donna, Joan's youngest daughter. Her head was bandaged from the surgery that had failed to solve her epilepsy.
A third figure was Joan's brother. Addicted to drugs, he had been convicted of killing a police officer. "I see why her burden is so heavy, Lord, but she's always smiling and helping others.
I didn't realize . .. ."
"Would you like to try another?" He asked quietly.
I tested several.
Paula's felt heavy. She was raising four small boys without a father.
Sarah's did too: a childhood of sexual abuse and a marriage of emotional abuse.
Then I came to Ruth's burden, I didn't even try.
I knew that inside I would find arthritis, old age, a demanding full-time job and a beloved husband
in a nursing home.
"They're all too heavy, Lord," I said, "give me back my own."
As I lifted the familiar load once again it seemed much lighter than the others.
"Let's look inside," He said.
I turned away, holding it close. "That's not a good idea," I said.
"Why?" "There's a lot of junk in there."
"Let me see!"
The gentle thunder of His voice compelled me. I opened my burden. He pulled out a brick.
"Tell Me about this one."
"Lord, you know it's money. I know we don't suffer like people in some countries or even the homeless here in America, but we have no
insurance, and when the kids get sick, we can't always take them to the doctor. They've never been to a dentist, and I'm tired of dressing them in hand-me-downs."
"My child, I will supply all of your needs..... and your children's. I've given them healthy bodies. I will teach them that expensive clothing doesn't make a person valuable in My sight."
Then He lifted out the figure of a small boy. "And this?" He asked. "Andrew . . . I hung my head," ashamed to call my son a burden. "But Lord, he's hyperactive. He's not quiet like the other two. He makes me so tired. He's always getting hurt, and someone is bound to think I abuse him. I yell at him all the time. Someday, I may really hurt him?"
"My child," He said, "if you trust Me, I will renew your strength. If you allow Me to fill you with My Spirit, I will give you patience."
Then He took some pebbles from my burden.
"Yes, Lord, I said with a sigh, those are small. But they're important. I hate my hair.
It's thin and I can't make it look nice. I can't afford to go to the beauty shop. I'm overweight, and I can't stay on a diet. I hate all my clothes. I hate the way I look!"
"My child, people look at your outward appearance, but I look at your heart. By My Spirit, you can gain self-control to lose weight, but your beauty should not come from outward appearance. Instead, it should come from your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is a great worth in My sight."
My burden now seemed lighter than before.
"I guess I can handle it now, I said."
"There is more," He said. "Hand me that last brick."
"Oh, you don't have to take that. I can handle it."
"My child, give it to Me." Again, His voice compelled me. He reached out his hand, and for the first time I saw the ugly world.
"But Lord, this brick is so awful, so nasty, so . . . . Lord! What happened to your hands?
They're so scarred." No longer focused on my burden, I looked for the first time into His face.
In His brow were ragged scars - as though someone had pressed thorns into His flesh.
"Lord," I whispered, "what happened to You?"
His loving eyes reached into my soul.
"My child, you know. Hand me the brick. It belongs to Me.
I bought it."
"How?"
"With My blood."
"But why, Lord?"
"Because I have loved you with an everlasting Love.
Give it to Me."
I placed the filthy brick into His wounded palm.
It contained all the dirt and evil of my life: my pride, my selfishness, the depression that constantly tormented me.
He turned to the cross and hurled my brick into the pool of blood at its base. It hardly made a ripple.
"Now my child, you need to go back. I will be with you always. When you are troubled, call to Me and I will help you and
show you things you cannot imagine now."
"Yes Lord, I will call on You." I reached to pick up my burden.
"You may leave that here if you wish.
You see all these burdens? They are the ones that others have left at My feet.
Joan's, Paula's, Sarah's, Ruth's. . . When you leave your burden here, I carry it with you.
Remember, My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
As I placed my burden with Him, the light began to fade. Yet I heard Him whisper,
"I will never leave you . . . nor forsake you."
A peace flooded my soul.
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What Is A False God Anyway?
By Terry Denbow
What is it? Oh yeah, it's
like having a statue of Budda in your house and you sit down and bow down to it several times a day. This is of course after you have lit the incense, tried to think holy and put on a placid face.
A false god is you something you talk to and seek comfort in. This worship becomes part of your daily routine and you look forward to your time of worship. You find time to be alone with your false god and are angry or frustrated when that time is interrupted. You make sure it is safe and will do anything to maintain your relationship with it. It calls your name and you come but the comfort you seek from it is never enough. It always leaves you wanting and perhaps feeling guilty or condemned. You have to cater to it because it is not self-sustaining. It only takes and never gives you what you thought it would; not really.
So what are these false gods? Something man has erected and not the true and living God. We set them up all the time, even though God has forbid it. They come in the form of a delusion, not a statue, so we don't recognize them these days. They are socially acceptable, politically correct and everybody has them. What are they in the form of? Cars, TV's, gossip, money, drugs, cigarettes, food, sports, alcohol, anger, hatred, unforgiveness, wanting control, sex, pornography, computers, etc. Are all these things false gods? They most certainly can be. To some they are a stronghold that they cannot escape, nor do they want to. For others they remain in a state of denial that they even exist as a false god. (Well, at least not for them.)
Jeremiah 10:3-5 says this about false gods,
"For the customs of the peoples are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good."
So how do I know if I worship a false god?
Let's define "worship". Worship is giving honor or reverence to something; an expression of admiration or devotion. It's loving something passionately with a whole heart and giving it a special place in your life. You often think about it and plan around it. You'd sacrifice most anything to have or be with it. But has it sacrificed anything for you? The true and the living God has. He gave His only Son to be a sacrifice for your sins and yet some of us give our time, energy and devotion to another. And that other keeps us captive and steals time away from being with God. Worshipping false gods is sin to the true God.
The first commandments says,
"You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God,..."
Exodus 20:3&5
Deut. 11:16&17
"Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you,..."
In your mind you may be saying I don't worship any false god and maybe you don't. Praise God for that. Others may be in denial because false gods come in many shapes and sizes. Like laziness, complaining, hatred, bitterness, not being content, over-exercising or working out, complacency and pride. You see, worship comes from the heart first and foremost. It is a passion and a feeling that controls your actions. You defend this passion with excuses. You invent reasons to justify why you do it. Or why it's O.K. or necessary but, in reality it keeps you from an intimate relationship with God. It slowly erodes the hope of ever being right with God because you feel trapped with no way of escape. Condemned, because you know it holds a higher priority in your life than He does. And if you are prideful, you may never see your false god. For you must be humble and broken and willing to obey God to be free of it's clutches. You must run to Him instead of it every time it calls your name. You see, it is like have a love affair or adultery with someone else besides your mate. You go to them to receive what you want and need.
Hosea 4:12
"My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviners wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God."
Hosea 5:15
"I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."
Only in a place of humility will we be able to see that we have a need to be delivered. For when our heads are high above the clouds it is difficult to see the shackles on our feet.
Ask the Lord to show you if you have erected any false gods in your life. See if He shows you anything or anyone you love more than Him. If He does, here's what you do:
1. Confess it to God.
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
2. Ask for deliverance
Psalm 68:20
"God is to us a God of deliverances; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death."
2 Corinthians 1:9&10
"indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,"
3. Every time the false god calls you to it, choose to run to prayer or the word instead.
Psalm 119:29&30
"Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your law."
"I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me."
4. It will lie to you (or the devil will); quote the truth. Lies like, "you deserve it. I don't care I just want to. It won't hurt just this once. I have every right."
Matthew 4:3&4
"And the tempter came and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
Jesus chose to give up all His rights for you and for me; to accomplish a greater purpose and glorify the Father.
Matthew 4:10&11
"Then Jesus said to him,' Go Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.' Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him."
5. You will be tested but if you continue to trust God and obey, you will have victory to break free from this false god.
Deuteronomy 8:2,3&10
"You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you."
Please remember that these "things" in and of themselves are not bad, we are. We are the problem, they're not. God gave us the desire to worship, but it was meant for him. The world goes around and says we need to change our environment or put the blame on something or someone else and in that way we can have an excuse of why we sin. In Romans 6:13&14 it says, "and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over, for you are not under law but under grace."
Ask God to give you the grace to overcome your weaknesses. Don't make excuses but disciples after you've been delivered. Give up your "rights", get down on your knees and get right with the real God. The One who is able to deliver, listen and help.
Remember that you were saved for Him and you didn't join His family because you were adding your distinctiveness to His own. You had nothing offer, He did.
May His name be glorified through you and me.
BibleBabe@eee.org
