CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

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CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

 

 

Scripture Meditation:

 

John 2:14-17

 

14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  (NIV)

 

 

Comment:

 

From an economic point of view, the Temple did not need to be cleansed.  After all, how can you have blood sacrifices as commanded by God’s law without sheep, goats, cattle and doves.  God’s word was that those sacrifices be made and they do not just appear magically.  Neither did people come from all over the world bringing their sacrifices with them.  The fact of the matter is that they came with money and bought the sacrifices and took the sacrifices into the temple and carried out the commands of God. 

 

In addition, remember that Jews came from all over the Roman world.  When it came time to buy their sacrifices, they needed money to do it.  When I travelled over the world, when I got to a foreign airport there were always money changing Kiosks where I could convert my American dollars into the coin of the country where I was visiting.  In short, there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the sale of sacrificial animals or the exchange of money in order to purchase those animals.  The issue is not what was going on but instead the issue was where it was going on.

 

Jesus went to the Temple expecting to find a “place of prayer.”  Instead, the merchants had made it a “den of thieves.”

 

Jesus was angry.  And he had a right to be angry.  It was his Father’s house and it is OK to be angry when we see the Father’s house being trampled with pigs.  Jesus expected his Father’s house to be a place of prayer, a place of teaching and a place of love.  He also expected it to be a place of holiness.  I believe that Jesus expects the same things from His church today.  Instead, we have made his house a place of commerce.  Christianity in America has become a place where money is made.  Large ministries are funded, a music industry has grown up around the church, you can buy weight-loss products, self-improvement books, skin care products, and even Starbucks in our churches.  We have compromised with the world.  Our services are often more like night-clubs in an effort to bring in the lost.  We want them to feel at home.

 

We have become so worldly, that we have become no earthly good.  (I am sure that someone has said that before!). We have compromised with the world.  Jesus says that when the salt has lost its savor it is good for nothing other than to be thrown out.  Compromise has cost us our saltiness.  We are like the church at Laodicea.  We are neither hot nor cold.  As Jesus said in Revelation 3:16:  “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

 

The “meek and mild” Jesus which the world loves so much, does not seem so “meek and mild” when it comes to the church.  The world loves a Jesus who does not judge and who never gets angry.  Unfortunately, when Jesus returns it is not to be meek and mild but to judge.  God came into the world to save people from judgment.  However, judgment will come.  Our modern world wants a Jesus without judgment and they want a universe where sin is always forgiven even if there is no repentance.  The world is doomed to be disappointed because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.  Jesus shed his blood for us but that gift must be accepted—not ignored or trampled upon.

We live in a world which loves the “never angry” Jesus.  Did Jesus have the right to get angry because his father’s house had been made into a den of thieves.  I believe the answer to that question is “YES!”  Sometimes we say in our family “Not our circus and not our monkeys.”  In other words, in your house you can be as crazy as you please, but you can’t be as crazy as you please when you come into our house.  If it is our house, we have the right to decide what monkey business goes on.

Keep in mind, when Jesus got angry, it was his Father’s house and if it was his Father’s house, then he had the right to decide what did and did not go on there.  Jesus has the right to decide what goes on in his Father’s house.  He also has the right to decide what goes on his holy temple and we, his church, are that holy temple.

I believe that it is time that the Bride of Christ becomes more pure and that involves throwing out the sheep, the cattle, the pigs, the doves,  the money changers and the merchants who are using the Body of Christ to make money for themselves.

We have compromised way too much with the world and have excused ourselves for doing it under the guise of saying that we are doing it to bring in the lost.

 

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (NIV)

James as James 1:27 says:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

 

So…what do we do?  I believe that holiness begins at home.  We seem to be more than willing to begin cleaning up the church but Jesus warns us that we need to get the beam out of our own eyes before plucking out  the splinters in the eyes of others.  Holiness begins at home.  Before Jesus cleansed the temple he had cleansed his own heart.  He had also instructed his followers to deal drastically with sin in their own lives.  Jesus took a drastic and “no holds barred” approach when he dealt with sin.  He told his followers that if your eye leads you into sin then pluck it out.  Now I don’t suspect that most of his apostles walked around only with one eye.  The message, however, was clear.  We must stop compromising with sin.  Moreover if that means shedding your own blood to resist sin, then that is what you must do.  Most disciples got the message and tried to deal with sin both drastically and definitively in their own lives.

 

It is time for the people in the Body and Church of Christ to deal drastically with sin.  We must cast the sheep, goats, cattle, doves and money changers out of our lives.  As we clean up individually, I believe we will see the bridal garments of the Bride of Christ be more attractive and more pleasing to the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.  After all, the church is here to do the work of Jesus and to please Jesus, not the world.

 

We are not called to be successful or large.  We are called to follow Christ.  The problem is not that the churches are too small or that we are losing members, the problem is that we are too big and too “successful” because we have compromised with the world.  God has called us to the narrow path instead of the broad, successful highway of destruction.  We are called to the more narrow path of holiness.

  
 

IT IS NOT SAFE OUT THERE

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I have asked my adult daughter to write the post for today.  As men and as members of the Church, we need to do better.  Here is her post.

It’s ugly out here, and your boys need a clue.
 
That’s it, that’s the whole story in one sentence, but the reality is a bit more complex.  Living online has not been helpful to any of us, really.
 
Honestly, being single in the church wasn’t something I ever planned to deal with. I’d been married for nearly thirty years when my (traumatic, awful, necessary) divorce was finalized two years ago. I was a wreck of a human with a whole host of issues to handle, and the church I was in had nothing whatever for singles of any age – much less for single Gen X people. So when my uncle and aunt suggested their church, I gave it a shot.
 
It was the largest Baptist church in the area – not a selling point on either count, for me. But it had a large, active singles department with its own building and its own ministerial staff. Age-guided classes, some coed, some just for women. I was ushered into the co-ed midlife group and immediately felt at home and accepted. And when I was hit on by nearly every man in my class and beyond, it was flattering. At first.
 
Two years later, the male attention hasn’t stopped. It hasn’t slowed down. Some of the same men I said “no thank you” to in 2021 are still asking. Some have gone beyond asking into insistence, mansplaining, and telling me about their “anger issues”. More than one has suggested prayer would help me and offered to do the honors. One very interesting guy messaged me on social media at midnight, several times, to ask me to pray for him. His immediate follow up question was whether I’d be interested in a hot tub party at his place. I could go on, but you get the idea. It’s ongoing. It’s not cute. And I’m editing for my audience, but it gets more graphic from there.
 
Long story short, sexual harassment is a problem in today’s church. A big enough problem that I am meeting with my church leadership this week to talk about what can be done to keep single women like me from walking away from church entirely. And I had to threaten to remove my membership to get even that response.  My initial email went unanswered for most of a week before I followed up with a terse “so your response is no response, then” and only now is that meeting forthcoming. I’m not optimistic.
 
So… what changed? What led me from “oh this is a little weird but it’s fine, I’m just not used to being single” to “I want a meeting or I’m leaving and I’m telling the internet why”?

I said no. Several times. A few of the better guys got it the first time, but mostly… they didn’t. And I don’t like going to church, anymore.
 
It’s long been known that church is where one goes to meet Christian people. And as single adults it makes sense that dating and even marriage will be on the table. There are three dating couples in my class, one of them engaged. One couple is almost certainly living together. We’re grownups over 40, nobody is surprised that the very lax “no dating while you’re in the same class” rule is routinely overlooked.
 
One problem is that newcomers to any singles group are, for want of a better term, fresh meat. Everyone who’s on the market for a mate will check out the new person, male or female. But in the evangelical culture, it’s still men who do the asking, for the most part. There is also the expectation within the church that single people not remain single for too long. If you do, you’re likely to find your ministry opportunities very thin and the side-eyes very intense. Are you gay? Are you just a terrible person? It’s much calmer for everyone to just … be with someone. The peer pressure at any age is real.
 
Single women in particular are relegated to children’s ministry, or a special needs ministry. But any teaching or mentoring of married people is not usually done by someone who is not, themselves, married. Even if they were married at one time. Maybe especially then.
 
More than that, single women are not easily accepted into married groups in the church, be they church-based or home groups. Wives don’t like single women hanging about too much. After a few run-ins with men in my church who turned out to be married, I totally understand why.
 
I wasn’t offended or upset by being asked out. The issue was that when I said “no”, I was blatantly disregarded. I’d tell a man “no” one week and have him sit right beside me the next Sunday, making conversation and suggesting we go out as though I had said nothing at all. And if one guy was smart enough to sit somewhere else, that seat was quickly taken by the next one in line.
 
I learned pretty quickly to be sure of events and locations, to be polite but distant when answering texts (and not to answer them immediately), and to refer men needing “prayer” to a male leader in the group.  That helped. For awhile.
 
Over time, the attention became intrusive to my learning and worship. It caused me anxiety and sometimes fear. (Hint: do not back a woman into a hallway or a corner area and stand where she has to duck around you to escape. It’s not a good look.) I began to arrive early to class so I could be seated at a table next to a female friend, or arrive late so I could scope the room before sitting. I began leaving early. And after I had to block a few men off my socials and tell one very clearly to Just. Stop. Asking., I realized that the problem was not me.
 
If a woman says “no”, that needs to be it. No means no, the first time. In church or out of it.
 
Women like me need to learn that being a good Christian does not equal being nice, or saving someone’s feelings in the name of Christian fellowship or peace in the church. Nobody’s been overly concerned with my feeling peaceful. “Single” does not equal “available” does not equal “willing”.

And men in the church need to realize that church is not a bar. Church should be at least as safe as the workplace for women. Especially single women who may be divorced, who may have traumatic reasons for not dating, who are looking for Jesus – not for a man. Because believe me, if I find a man attractive enough, I’ll tell him so and let him decide what to do with that information. It hasn’t happened yet, but it could. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
 
The church is not safe for women in 2023. We are heard less and valued less than at any time in my memory – the incel movement is real and it is very strong among single men. The alpha-male, red-pill, extreme stances of cultural manhood right now are not compatible with empathy, respect or kindness toward the female gender. The societal issues at play are  disheartening to many single women – this is borne out by a simple Google search or an hour on Reddit or Twitter. I’m not the only girl out here having this problem. In fact, I would say that if it’s happening to me, it has happened and is happening to someone you know.

If I’m dealing with this at my great age, what are the 25-year-olds handling? And we wonder why Gen Z is leaving the church en masse?
 
 
But since we’re here, I have two small pieces of advice:
 
If you’re a man, don’t hug a girl or woman without permission. It’s not hard to ask “can I hug you”. Better yet, wait to be hugged. And it’s fine to tell a woman outright that you find her attractive. She may say “thank you” or she may get flustered. But if she says “no thank you” or puts you off or doesn’t answer texts within a day or two? She’s not interested, buddy. Let it go. You are not going to convince her. She has either friendzoned you or no-zoned you and either way you are not getting a date. Be polite, like you would at work, and move on.
 
If you’re a woman, teach the girls and women around you that it is okay to say no. Yes, even in church.
 
 
 

NOT NEGLECTING THE HOUSE

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“We will not neglect the house of our God.”

 

In Chapter 10 of Nehemiah, Nehemiah and the Israelites make a covenant with God.  As part of this covenant, Nehemiah, the leaders of Israel and the people agree that they “will not neglect the house of our God.”  Part of that covenant included items such as not intermarrying with those who were not Jewish believers, keeping the Sabbath, following the commands of the Law and giving to the priesthood and to the Temple. 

 

“Not neglecting the house of our God” includes our giving of our tithes and offerings for the maintenance of those who serve God full time, for the spread of the Gospel and for the simple maintenance of those places where we assemble to worship God.

 

In the New Testament we are commanded at Hebrews 10:25 that we are not to be “giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

 

In my opinion, Satan used the past COVID-19 epidemic to try to shut down the church at least in the United States.  Although, we need to use good sense, it seems to me that to allow people to gather at Wal-Mart to shop for physical items while precluding the gathering together of people to partake of spiritual food was hypocritical.  That being said, in emergency situations it is not unreasonable for there to be precautions.  Christian leaders, considering all of these considerations, often came to different decisions in good faith as to what to do.

 

Sadly, I have seen some who dropped out during the COVID-19 situation, fail to return to the church as the health risks began to subside.  I suspect that some of the failure to return may have resulted from spiritual laziness.  To the lazy there are always clouds in the sky so that they cannot sow seed and a lion in the streets so that they cannot go out. 

 

God has chosen for his people to have an individual experience with Him; yet at the same time He has also chosen that we have a corporate experience with him.

 

My experience during the COVID-19 epidemic taught me that a “Zoom” experience is not good enough.  It is better than nothing, but it is not better than being in the physical presence of one another.  For instance if I am travelling overseas and call my spouse in a “Zoom” call, that is better than not calling at all or just calling on a telephone but not seeing her.  However, a “Zoom” call does not replace the physical joy of being in the presence of the one I love.  That being said, televised services or “Zoom” services are helpful to the incapacitated or who can otherwise not get out.

 

Our Faith involves loving God and loving one another.  Love always has a greater opportunity to begin, increase and grow as we are close to one another in physical proximity.  When I was a teenager, I could talk on the phone to my girlfriend, but it was always better when I could go out on a date.  Love rejoices in closeness and proximity.  When we are really in love, we are just happy being in the presence of the one whom we love.

 

The early church gave what they called the “right hand of fellowship” to Paul and Barnabas in Galatians 2:9.  Although this may mean membership to some and fellowship to others, I believe it also contains the concept of a “covenant relationship.”  We somehow become part of something larger than ourselves.  In many churches, including the Moravian Church, it means shaking hands all around.  By coming together, we make peace not only with God on a corporate basis but also with one another.  I believe it also takes a face to face meeting to enter into covenants and to make peace.  Perhaps that is why so many “peace conferences” politically involve face-to-face meetings, not just a telephone meeting or a signing of documents.

 

Other churches use other methods to make substantive this relationship of God’s love and love for one another.  For instance in 2 Corinthians 13:12 we are instructed “to greet one another with a holy kiss.”  This is another example of the physical contact that is so essential to us.  Interestingly, I have travelled overseas and have been greeted “with a peck on each cheek” but thus far I have not experienced this in church.

 

When I first visited a Charismatic Church, the pastor who I attended with warned me that I might be hugged at the door going in or going out.  It is a good thing he warned me because I was and I was prepared for the experience.  As time passed I found that hugging was a wonderful experience.  There are times “we just need a hug.”  When we are hurt or lose a loved one, sometimes the best medicine for us is a warm, innocent and loving hug.  An honest hug is healing in nature.

 

God intends for there to be physical involvement in our worship.  We are a loving people and loving people touch.  They hold hands.  We see this often in our worship.  People hold hands and sing “Sweet, sweet Spirit.  They hold hands to pray.  They shake hands to greet one another.  They hug one another.

Even in formal churches we “pass the peace.”  Both in the Jewish Temple, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church we use incense.  Even our nose gets involved with worship.  Our prayer is individual prayer but it can also be a group corporate experience.  We lay hands on one another.  We anoint with oil.  We sing individually but we also sing corporately.  Unfortunately, I cannot seem to sing well while watching television or participating in a Zoom Conference.  My ability to worship is even more limited in those circumstances.

 

As I write these words, I am listening to music on the computer (we used to have radios).  The music is good.  However, the radio or computer experience does not compare to the Concert experience.  People prefer to go to a Lollapalooza Concert or a BTS Concert rather than hear it play on the radio.  Likewise, some prefer to go to a football game in person for the whole experience rather than just watch it on television. 

 

I encourage all of you, if you can, to participate in the “full” church and worship experience.  Other believers can play a role in helping you to draw near to God.  It is hard to confess your sins one to another if you are sitting on your couch watching television.

 

In conclusion, do not forsake the “house of God.”  Engage in both individual worship and in corporate worship.  Come together as the physical body of Christ to love God corporately, to worship God corporately and to love one another.  If we don’t love our brothers and sisters who we see and know locally how can we ever really love our brothers and sisters who are far away and we who do not see.

WASHING OF THE WORD

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THE WASHING OF THE WORD

 

 

Ephesians 5:26 (NIV)—Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of the water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

 

In this edition of Locusts and Honey, I want us to consider the above scripture.  In one sense, most of us realize that the church becomes clean through the blood of the Lamb.  Jesus takes our sins and makes them “whiter than snow.”  A miracle occurs when we become a Christian.  The filthy rags of our life are washed in the blood of the lamb and through that blood miraculously become white.  Our rags are transformed into the marriage and feasting garments that are supplied by the One who calls us to the feast-God Himself.  That is a miracle.  However, it does not end.

 

We are called for a holy purpose.  That purpose includes becoming a holy people and doing the work of God which is to destroy the work of Satan through men and women who believe and follow Jesus Christ.  Good works will not save us; however we will not become holy without good works.  We are saved for a  purpose and that purpose is to do good works.

 

If you are like me, you want to see the Church become the “radiant” church and to shine brightly in a dark world.  Instead the church has become an object of derision.  We tolerate false shepherds who commit adultery and whose desire for wealth is open and shameful.  We show disunity and fail to love one another.  One must ask how our churches, at least those in the United States, have fallen to such an abysmal state.  Many of our churches put the churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation to shame.

 

Due to our weak and debilitated state we are experiencing a “great falling away.”  Over the past generations, a number of people have joined the church not because of faith in Christ but in order to further their careers and their social status.  Instead of there being a cost to becoming a Christian they joined for the “benefits” of Christianity.  Some of the benefits were social but others were economic.  Many have hoped to improve their wealth by following the religious formulas for wealth accumulation—“Name and Claim it.”  Now it is true that following Christ is likely to bring wealth by its nature.  For instance, if you are a heavy drinker or drug user and due to becoming a Christian these vices are eradicated, your wealth as a natural principle can’t help but increase.  However, those who “become Christian” to further their wealth will invariably be disappointed. 

 

Many years ago, I sat around a table at my law school and listened to a bunch of senior law students discuss which church they were going to join when they graduated in order to further their legal careers and obtain clients.  These same attorneys had not attended any church while in law school.  It was all done for wealth. 

 

Early missionaries to China saw the same thing happen.  Many Chinese joined the church for the free rice handouts.  They were called “Rice Christians.”  When the rice stopped, they stopped attending.  Today we have many “Rice Christians” and they are starting to fall away.  Jesus predicted all of this when he talked about the seeds that were sown and as the sun came up and there was persecution, those who had joined when things were nice, fell away.  Today, as there is less benefit to being a Christian (and often a penalty for being one) the Rice Christians are falling away.  We are only in the middle of this process.  As persecution for our beliefs increases, we will continue to see more fall away.  On the other hand, they were not really with us anyway.  As the offended and carnal fall away, the church will indeed shine more brightly.

 

Part of our failure to shine brightly results from the fact that we have not been washed in the water of the word.    This has happened for a number of reasons.  One of them is that we individually have not spent sufficient time washing ourselves in the word of God.  By bathing ourselves in the word of God and in prayer, we will shine more brightly in the world.  The reason we don’t do this is our flesh.  We default to God’s grace instead of doing the hard work of making ourselves holy on a day to day basis.

 

The world is our drug.   And like most addicts, we are addicted to the world.  You who have had addicts in your family, know that addicts will do anything for a fix.  They will sell themselves or even family members to get the next fix.  The carnal church has become addicted to the world.  It will do anything to get the approbation of the world and to get the benefits of success.  What steps will we not take to get the next “sinner” through the door.  If we need to act like a nightclub or have our churches be like the Bachelor (Christian, of course), we gladly do so.  1 John 2:15 says:  “Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

 

Another reason why our churches are not washed in the word of Christ is that after all of this time, we for some reason, cannot understand the ministry gifts.  We claim to understand them and yet constantly confuse the ministry gift of being an evangelist with the gift of being a pastor-teacher ( Note: this edition does not deal with where there is one or two gifts or the differences between ministries and gifts).  Instead of selecting pastor-teachers to lead the church, we love to select evangelists to lead our churches.  The evangelist focuses upon the salvation message.  They get people “through the door” and evangelists are an integral part of the church.  However, instead of utilizing a leadership of multiplicity, we select a leadership model which looks like a pyramid with the evangelist at the top.  We then confuse things even further by calling the “evangelist” a “pastor.”  It is no wonder people are confused.  In the smallest churches, there is often only an evangelist called a “pastor” who leads it.  Surprisingly many churches do not grow.  They find that people are flocking to come in the front door and then are secretly leaving through the back door.  People scratch their heads and wonder why.  The answer is simple, the people are not being fed by pastors and teachers.  They join the church and then are not fed often hearing the evangelistic sermon cooked a thousand different ways but always at the end tasting the same.  In short, people need the washing of the word.  The evangelistic message preached over and over is not the “washing of the word.”

 

People need to hear the word of God regularly preached.    In addition to salvation, they need to know that we are to love one another, we are to work with our hands, we are to give to the poor, we are to lead humble lives and that we are to live holy lives and when necessary endure with patience suffering and tribulation.  These are not popular messages.  In other areas of life we expect discipline.  We know we are to eat right and exercise regularly.  It is not easy.  The same is true spiritually.  To become holy, we must engage in regular and consistent spiritual disciplines and exercises.  Just like we have a nation of couch potatoes, we have developed a church full of spiritual couch potatoes.  It is time for us to get up and exercise ourselves spiritually.  Regular and consistent Bible Reading, prayer and attending worship and washings of the word are a discipline.

To conclude, Christ allows us a role in becoming the bride with a white garment and a sparkling witness to the world.  That role involves being “washed in the word.”  We need to be washed in the word in the corporate gatherings of the word, through the ministry of those moving in the gifts of pastor and teacher.  Also we need to be washed in the word individually through the disciplines of becoming holy by regularly having personal Bible study and prayer.

 

Until next time, keep on hopping.

GIFTS TO THE LOCAL CHURCH

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Locusts and Honey

1 Cor. 2:13

2023-Edition 12

The title to this edition of Locusts and Honey might suggest that the topic is about the ministries and the gifts.  However, I am not discussing that important topic.  Instead, I am addressing a much simpler question which is simply “How can I contribute to my local church?”  Because of theology, circumstances or simply age, your local church may have small interest in the abilities that God has given to you as giftings to the Body of Christ.  Circumstances, such as health, age or other conditions, may practically limit your ability to walk effectively in your gifts and ministries.  In some cases, God in his great generosity allows you transcend your physical limitations.  For instance, Moses began his most productive period of life between the years 80 and 120. 

 

For those of us dealing with health and age issues we may even find it difficult to regularly attend church after a serious health event or disability.  Now that I am nearing 80, I encounter some of the limitations which were not present when I was younger or in better health.  Many years ago I remember President Kennedy’s famous statement that we should, “Not ask what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country.”  That statement was a great statement that captured the very best concepts of our country at the time.  From it was born the Peace Corps and other efforts made by citizens to make our country and the world a better place.  It engendered an optimism that is sadly lacking in our country today.  The counter-part to Kennedy’s question is what can we give to the church today especially if we are battling issues of health and age.

 

First, there seems to me a big difference between what Christ gives to me and what He demands of me than what the church gives to me and demands from me.  Perhaps there should be no difference.  I am not sure.  However, let me first address the question as a Christian.  Christ gives to me all and demands all.  I will not deal with this theologically.  However Christ gives me salvation, eternal life and joy.  Christ grants to me His Spirit.  At the same time, he demands all including my life, my goals, my desires, my loves and my all.

 

The local church, however, is a different proposition.  It gives me a place to go on Sunday morning, a place to teach and to be taught, an opportunity for worship with those of like minds, a place to be ministered to by the gifts of the Spirit (for those who might be so fortunate) and a regular place for Christian religious services which can take a variety of forms.  There is also an opportunity to come into contact with others for like-minded prayer.  These blessings are not inconsiderable.  Unfortunately, for many of us (including myself on many occasions) we can be satisfied with a place to go on most Sundays with corporate worship for 30 or 40 minutes and the occasional fellowship dinner along with other aged outcasts of the modern church.  We experience a few public prayers and move on with life.  Also, unfortunately we seem to get out of this local experience about what we put into it which is very little.   Church, instead of being satisfying fresh and hot bread, becomes stale bread which barely keeps us alive, but even if stale, is better than no bread at all.

 

However, in this edition, we will gloss over what our local church does for us and consider what it is that we can do for our local church.  Again, some of your ministries or gifts may not be wanted by your local church.    For instance, if your gift involves tongues or interpretation of tongues, it may not be particularly welcome if, for instance,  you are attending a Baptist or Church of Christ Church.  Likewise, if it is in the music area and you are aging and your voice is cracking, your gift of praise may not be particularly welcome either by your choir director or your church.  So the practical issue is what can I give my church in the event that my spiritual gifts are neither appreciated or wanted and I have disabilities due to age or health.  There are still some VERY VALUABLE contributions which you can make:

 

·        Loyalty.  I can speak positively about where I go locally and about other churches and Christianity in general.  This is a characteristic which we can learn to emulate from our Jewish friends.  Generally, Jewish people make it a custom, so far as possible, not to speak poorly of others of their own faith.    They do this for a number of practical reasons including from their experiences of being a persecuted people.  Persecution helps us to resolve our differences and stand against those who persecute us.  This is also a situation we find in war where people with differences put them aside and depend upon one another to defend against a common enemy.  Differences between races or religion are put aide when you are in a fox hole fighting an enemy.  So speak positively about your local body of Christ.  Faithfulness and loyalty is welcomed by local churches.

·        Money.  I am not getting into whether or how much to give.  However, whatever you are led to give to the church, you are welcome to give.  I have been in a number of situations where my spiritual gifts or teachings or opinions have not been welcome, but never once in my life did any local church which I attended ever tell me to stop giving.  Your money is always welcome and is one of the things that you can give despite age or health.

·        Words of Encouragement.  Just like being positive, words of encouragement are always welcome.

·        Praise.  Within certain parameters, praise and worship is normally welcome and I can praise God at my church.  That being said, in certain churches I may need to leave my tambourine at home.  Alternatively, I can look around and find a church where they like tambourines.

·        Helping the needy.  Jesus said we are to take care of the widow and the orphan.  He also said we are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty and clothe those without clothing.  I am happy to report that most churches do agree with these admonitions and are happy for me to participate in local or international ministries which take these actions.

·        Praying for others.  Most churches are happy for me to pray for the leadership of the church and to pray for others within the church as long as such is done in a good spirit.  This is even more true if my prayers are quiet ones.

 

In all these ways, I can give back to the church even though I have the disadvantages of age or disability.  As I have thought about the ability to contribute to my local church, I have recently come across a surprising way that I can contribute.

 

As a teacher in Christ’s church, I am very aware of the value and power of words.  This is even more true for those of us who come from a background of positively confessing the word of God in our prayers and over our problems.  We know the value of “speaking the word of faith.”  However, we are less enchanted about the virtues of keeping silent.  From our generally Protestant backgrounds we look askance at Catholic orders where they take a vow of silence.  Unfortunately, we ignore the virtues of silence today.  Solomon would suggest that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent.

 

Recently, I was reading a church covenant from the first non-Catholic church in the Mississippi Territory.  My ancestors were part of  this particular church.  The church in the Mississippi Territory was  called Salem Church (not to be confused with the Salem Church in New England known for their focus upon the witch trials).  This early Christian church which met in the early 1790’s just outside of Nachez Ms. had the following in their church covenant:

 

“Not to expose the infirmities of each other by any means where it can be carefully avoided.”

 

A “church covenant” is like an agreement regarding beliefs or actions among the members of the congregation.  The covenant to keep things among church members confidential is almost similar to our more carnal statement:  “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

 

The admonition to “keep secrets” is understandable.  In the Salem Church, if it got out you were not Catholic, the Spanish Commandant sent soldiers to arrest you.  This actually happened to the pastor or that young church.  From a Christian point of view keeping your mouth shut and being silent is also important especially since we are commanded to “confess our sins one to another.”  Confession of sin is a part of our Christian beliefs.  To our Catholic friends this is done to a priest.  In the church today, confession is generally a forgotten command .  Who wants to confess their sins to other Christian believers and have those sins rebroadcast to a world with itchy ears.  This has become even more true in recent years with the ascent of social media. Something which might be confessed in church might quickly find itself in the social media including Twitter, Facebook and the like.

 

The value of silence regarding sins confessed in church is attested to by the willingness of priests to go to jail rather than to break the secrets of the confessional.  We often find similar vows of silence within the Legal and Medical professions.  Attorneys are generally forbidden to reveal the secrets of their clients.  However, there are generally some exceptions, such as to prevent the commission of a crime.  The point is that silence can be a great virtue.  All of that being said, we cannot use silence as an excuse to hide sin including the sins of sexual predation.  Thus we are always walking a tightrope between keeping secrets and at the same time preventing those who do evil from continuing their evil practices.

 

Some of us in our old age, do not see or hear too well.  Although, this appears to be a disability, in the church it does not necessarily need to be a disability.  We need to have dim eyesight so we do not see the flaws of those around us.  We do not need to see every action or hear every word.  Solomon said:  “Don’t pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you.”  (Eccl. 7:21).  We need to have both selective hearing and selective speaking in the church.  We should not hear the complaints of everyone, join in criticism of everyone, or speak every word which comes into our mind.  Today, in social media, people are bold to “call out” every short-coming of others.  Their boldness comes because they can do so while hiding behind the cowardliness of anonymity.  We as Christians should not say everything that comes to our minds.  We do not become the anonymous judges anointed by our reader count on social media.

 

At any rate, even those of us who have our limitations, can contribute to the “stew of the Church.”  We have the right to contribute to the church our silence, our forgiveness and our love which hopefully will cause the food of the church to be welcome and nourishing to those involved.  As it says in 1 Peter 4:8, OUR LOVE CAN COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS.  Our silence can do the same thing.  After all without wood, a fire will soon go out.

 

 

LIES AND DECEIT IN THE MEDIA

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LIES, DECEIT AND THE DEMISE OF TRUTH IN THE UNITED STATES

We are far along in the process of devolving into that of what we used to call a “third world country.”  As our country has rejected God and spiraled downward into sheer materialism and self-centeredness, we have rejected the concepts of absolutes such as God, truth, the Ten Commandments and other concepts which have distinguished us from the animal world.  In fact, our science has concluded that we are just highly advanced animals and without a soul.  As we have rejected God, it is hardly surprising that He has rejected us, our government and our culture.  Truth has gone out the window.  There are no absolutes.  Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, who sought truth would need to go elsewhere.  Not only have we abandoned truth, absolutes and man as higher than the beasts, we have also abandoned basic concepts of sexuality.  At first it began with the abandonment of the concept of marriage of a man and woman but then it even extended to the very concepts of what is a man and what is a woman.  Now we have men claiming to be women participating in women’s sports.  We have women who want to be men and men who want to be women.  I submit that the basis of our society and our country is fragmenting because we have rejected God and we have rejected his Word and even the basic concepts of truth.  (See further Romans 1:8-32).

 

Nowhere is the rejection of truth more apparent than in our news media be it on the television or internet.  People no longer trust the news and why should they?  My comments about the corruption of the News Media are not limited to one political party.  It is not just one political party which lies.  It is both.  Liberals do not have a monopoly on lying.  Like all infections, lies corrupt everything they touch.  I have been following the litigation brought by Dominion against Fox News.  It is incredible to me that Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have admitted such things that they knew that the claims of the election being stolen and the fraudulent claims of defective voting machines by Dominion were “incorrect” and “total bs” but Fox was concerned that its viewer ratings were dropping precipitously due to Fox’s early call of the Arizona election.

 

Amazingly, Carlson’s attorneys as well as Judges in New York and Delaware have openly admitted that even though these commentators knew that what was being said was not true, the nature of their telecasts were entertainment and that reasonable people would not conclude that they were factual.  Au contraire, I know numerous “reasonable people” who believed that these conservative commentators and their guests were telling the “truth.”

 

Dominion’s suit for 1.6 billion against Fox will continue in Superior Court of the State of Delaware.  I can summarize the conclusions from these factual scenarios succinctly.  You can’t believe what is said by a political commentator and they generally will not be held liable for making incorrect statements.  In short, you cannot trust the media.

 

Besides that, the media often reflects the views of its owners.  And some owners own a whole lot of the media.  For instance, Rupert Murdoch and his family control such media as :

 

The Wall Street Journal

Fox News

Fox Sports

HarperCollins publishing (Including the Christian publisher Zondervan)

New York Post

Barron’s

Dow Jones

National Geographic Chanel

20th Century Fox

The Sun (British)

The Times (British)

And many more.

 

In improving the bottom lines of Murdoch’s media he increased the emphasis of his media on crime, scandal, sex and sports.  It was a formula which worked and made him very rich.

 

Lack of trust in the media is not a new phenomenon.  Deceit is as old as the Serpent in the Garden of Eden who deceived Eve and Adam.

 

Deceit in the media is as old as man himself.  Julius Caesar is thought to have used his accounts of the Gallic Wars to influence the people of Rome.  Nero used deceit to blame the Christians for the fire in Rome which some suspect to have been set by himself and his henchmen.  In the Second World War, Goebbels used false information to deceive the German people into following Hitler and supporting the war movement.   As the master of propaganda, Goebbels said:  “If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes accepted as the truth. “   He also said, “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.” Russia used false information and news to deceive the Russian people. It is beyond ironic that the name of the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was “Pravda” which is the Russian word for “truth.”  All countries claim to have a monopoly on truth even while disputing as to whether the truth really exists.  For instance in the U.S., the motto of the Defense Information School is “Strength through Truth.”  Do we still believe in an absolute truth in the U.S. ?

 

The use of propaganda is not an exclusive domain of the Nazi’s and the Soviets.  The use of inaccurate journalism has been utilized by our country as well.  One of the more strange incidents is that in 1782 Benjamin Franklin produced a fake issue of a Boston newspaper.  The primary story in it was a fictitious story that American soldiers had found bags of money and scalps along with a letter to the King of England asking that he accept the scalps as a token of friendship.  This “fake news” enhanced hostility against both English and Indians.

 

By the end of the nineteenth century the growth of “Yellow Journalism” was in full flower with the competition between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and the New York Journal owned by William Randolph Hearst.  Te term “yellow journalism” generally referred to news articles with little factual research and catchy headlines.  The movie Citizen Kane released in 1941 was based on a character Charles Foster Kane who was a combination of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.  The “yellow journalism” of Pulitzer and Hearst are often thought to have been a major cause of the Spanish American War.  The result of “yellow journalism” apparently is not education—but vast wealth.  It is no accident that the fictional Kane lived in a mansion called “Xanadu” which was based upon a line from Samuel Coleridge’s famous poem “Kubla Khan” which went “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure- dome decree.”

 

My point is that “fake news” is not a recent phenomenon.  It is an old phenomenon but now has gone viral thanks to social media and the computer where it can be spread instantaneously and often anonymously or through fake identities.  “Fake news” has always been here but the difference is the speed by which it can be spread.  From the accounts of the Kennedy Assassination to the coverage of COVID-19, we no longer trust the media to tell us the truth.  Political commentaries are political theater which our courts have treated as reliable as articles in The National Inquirer.

 

But what does all of this have to Jesus Christ?  Jesus said:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).  Do we as a nation believe this?

 

Some other verses Jesus said about the truth:

 

John 8:32—And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

John 8:44—“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 

Unfortunately our country has thrown out the concept of an absolute truth because that truth ultimately is Jesus Christ.  Like Pilate, our leaders ask “What is truth?”  Absolutes such as the 10 Commandments have been abolished from the public forum.  Meanwhile, lies prosper in our society because we have rejected Truth.

 

In our rejection of Christ and the truth, we put our society upon sinking sand.  In lieu of the truth of the Good News of the Gospel we have embraced the false news of the media.  Where there is no absolute truth how can there ever be a defense to what is libel because without truth there can be no libel in the first place and further truth is not available to be a defense against libel.

 

Also, we no longer expect our leaders and political authorities to tell us the truth.  Their defense, for better or worse, is the protection of freedom of speech in the First Amendment.  So in the important things, such as news and government, there is little penalty for telling lies.  Likewise police authorities are permitted to lie in order to get someone to confess to a crime.  They can make claims of evidence which they do not have.  In short, our police authorities are exempt from telling the truth and often do not do so with impunity.  If those in authority are exempt from the truth, it is no wonder that truth is ultimately becoming a rare commodity in our marketplace and in our country.  Economically, the line between advertising and false advertising is quickly disappearing.  Again, if there is no truth, how can anything be false.

 

If there is no truth, how is it possible not to bear false witness against our neighbor as prohibited by the Ninth of the Ten Commandments.  If there is no truth then there is no false witness and no lying, but Jesus, to the contrary, makes clear that Satan is the “father of lies”.  Lies are the language of this fallen world.

 

In another context, we look to truth in our oaths.  We take oaths of government and oaths before we testify.  If there is no truth how can one expect there to be a penalty for taking a false oath.  Our country depends upon oaths and pledges and underlying all of this is the basic concept of truth.  Even our Presidents take an oath of office as do members of our military.

 

If we throw out absolutes, including truth, we will reap a whirlwind of our own making, 

 

As for me and my household, we choose to believe that there are absolutes.  And we absolutely believe that Jesus is the truth.  Like you, we want to be the salt in this tasteless world.  I encourage you to speak the truth in love.  As Christians, we must speak truth, I am trying to do so in these editions of Locusts and Honey.  As Jesus said in so many instances in his ministry, “I tell you truly….”

THE GREAT ASBURY QUENCHING OF 2023

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 I continue to be disturbed in the spirit regarding what I call “The Great Asbury Quenching of 2023.”  One of the reasons that I am disturbed is that the church universal seems to have taken little note of it and has not recognized what has happened.  In the great book by C.S. Lewis called the Screwtape Letters, a senior demon, Screwtape, gives advice to his young nephew and apprentice who is called Wormwood.  Much of this advice relates to how to keep an individual from coming to know about Christ and when they come to know Christ how to stunt their growth and development.  It is easy to imagine that Uncle Screwtape might advise about the need to shut down a revival as quickly as possible so that things do not rage out of control and that many people be saved and renewed.  If I were Screwtape, I would advise shutting it down in the name of Jesus so that order could be reinstated, that the neighbors be satisfied (Jesus said to “Love Thy Neighbor”), that education be continued, that laws be obeyed, that the public health be maintained, that the name of Christ be protected from peculiar manifestations of the spirit and further that all of this be done in Jesus’ name and for his sake.  As preposterous as all of this may sound, this is exactly what happened at Asbury.

 

To make things worse (and more hypocritical, in my opinion) both Asbury College and Asbury Theological Seminary, which is located across the street as an independent entity, will eventually profit financially from their association with the “Asbury Revival.”  The college will have the reputation of a very special Christian College because it is here where the Holy Spirit fell in 2023.  They will be remembered for the outpouring of the Spirit of God despite the fact that even Asbury admits that the origination of the outpouring was a sovereign act of God.  In short, this is an example of where you can “have your cake and eat it too.”  Asbury gets the credit and good press (at least Christian press) of having the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and yet after having shut it down and “quenched the Spirit” gets to maintain the benefits and be free from any inconvenience to its educational programs. 

Hinting that the meetings would be transferred elsewhere off campus or to another part of the state seems to be a puff of smoke or a wisp of a promise which has now dissipated into thin air.  In short, the college shut it down and the revival was not officially moved elsewhere.

On the bright side, the law enforcement people of Wilmore, Kentucky can be satisfied that the local occupancy codes are being obeyed and that parking and order has been restored to the Citizens of Wilmore.  Street congestion has been eliminated. Further, health concerns have been eliminated.  Apparently the local health officials had confirmed that a student with a case of measles had actually attended Asbury’s services on Saturday, February 18.  We can all perhaps be thankful that diligent health officials did not attend the services of Jesus especially because he came to heal the sick and not the healthy.  I suspect that Satan has learned a few tricks in recent years that health scares can be a primary way of shutting down the spread of the Church and the Gospel of Christ.  After all it is much preferable that people burn in hell (I guess that the Gen-X Jesus does not allow that any more) than they possibly catch a communicable disease.  Could this be the same Jesus who said it is better to go into heaven maimed than remain in sin un-maimed?

The college officials and professors at Asbury can now return to teaching as normal without disruptions.  The theologians and students at the Asbury Seminary no longer have to wonder why the Spirit might fall at the college as opposed to the Theological Seminary next door where the theological experts about Jesus were housed.

Although I am not aware of any bizarre manifestations of the Holy Spirit at Asbury, it does seem that one or two bizarre statements were made by the Asbury President, Dr. Kevin Brown.  In his release he says, “I have been asked if Asbury is “stopping” this outpouring of God’s Spirit and the stirring of human hearts.  I have responded by pointing out that we cannot stop something we did not start.”  This strikes me as a bizarre statement.  Of course, you can stop something you did not start.  Can you imagine a group of police standing around saying, “We can’t stop this riot because we did not start it” or a group of firemen saying, “We cannot stop this fire because we did not start it.”  That is absolutely ridiculous.

He goes on to say piously, “Rather, we are encouraging the continued movement of God through other people, places and ministries.”  In short, it has been great but it is time for this circus to move on.  This is the phenomenon known as “Nimby.”  “Nimby” means it has been great but Not In My Back Yard.  The whole problem, of course, is NIMBY.  We all want the Holy Spirit but not in our back yard. 

My criticism of the actions of the City Officials and Administrators of Asbury is to some degree unjustified, because we quench the Holy Spirit regularly and repeatedly in our churches.  And like the good citizens of Wilmore, Kentucky we do it for a number of good and religious reasons.  Even so-called charismatic, spirit-filled, and Pentecostal churches lock down their services tightly lest the Holy Spirit come and things get out of control of the Pastor, the Elders and the Church Trustees or Boards.  Therefore, I believe that thousands of churches just within my own state quench the Spirit with regularity.  Sometimes this quenching is by denying that the Spirit operates at all today.  However, it is obvious to most of us that the Holy Spirit is alive, acting and moving today.  In other churches, it is the effort to control the Holy Spirit and keeping everything moving decently and in order that things not get out of control and that sermons end promptly in time for Sunday lunch.  We are careful to feed the body if not the spirit.

Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians that we are not to quench (stifle or extinguish) the Holy Spirit.  The God’s Word translation says: “Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire.”  I believe this is what happened in Asbury and this is what happens in most of our churches today.  Does not quenching the Holy Spirit mean that there is absolutely no order?  I believe the answer is that a spirit of order and the move of the Holy Spirit are compatible.  1 Cor. 14:32-33 says, “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.  For God is not a God of disorder but of peace-as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”  While there may be order where the Holy Spirit is, there is generally no printed agenda.  An agenda suggests control and the Holy Spirit is not controlled by man except to the extent that believers can allow the Holy Spirit to move under the Spirit’s agenda or they can quench the Spirit and move on the agenda of mankind.

 

Let’s face it.  The issue is simple.  It is about “control.”  Will man be in control or will the Holy Spirit be in control?  If it is man, then we are in the ludicrous position of man having God on a leash .  Yet amazingly that is exactly what we do.  In our churches, if a prophet has a word from God, then the prophet in many cases is not allowed to speak.  If the church allows the prophet to speak then generally, he or she must take their word to the pastor and let the pastor determine if it is OK to speak the word.  Otherwise, things might get out of control.  Frankly most churches never have the problem of things getting out of control and frankly some might benefit if they did lose control from time to time.  Instead, we sacrifice risk and spontaneity and the move of the Spirit for the stale bead of a predictable agenda for their worship service leaving the body of Christ feeling dry and malnourished.

It is our fear of losing control of our worship services which drives us.  Ironically most of the quenching in our services is done according to those in control for the good of the faith and in Jesus name. So the Holy Spirit needs to do things orderly to come to our services.  This might logically include such things as seeking permission of the Pastor, Board of Trustee and those in authority before moving or speaking.  Of course, the Spirit does not want to offend the police, the mayor, the City Council and the health officials while operating.  Requisite permissions and occupancy permits must be in order.  As you can appreciate, my example goes overboard and is far-fetched.  However, the key issue is who is in control, the Holy Spirit or the church authorities or the administrators of this world.  We are left with a spiritual conundrum.  We do not want the Holy Spirit unless we can control the Holy Spirit.  At the same time, the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead and sovereign.  The Holy Spirit will not fall where the Spirit must comply with the requirements of men and jump through the hoops of spiritual and political mandarins.

We fear what we cannot control and we simply cannot control revival or the Holy Spirit.  I write this additional edition of Locusts and Honey because the Church is moving ahead with business as usual and is not really addressing what really happened at Asbury or what is happening in our own churches as we regularly and continually “quench” the Holy Spirit of God.

ASBURY

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ASBURY

 

 

As many of you know, my wife, Janene, prophesied about a strong move of the Holy Spirit which was coming.  That word was passed on to you on February 15 in an Edition of Locusts and Honey entitled “A Freight Train is Coming”.  At that time I referred to the prophecy as having come a couple of weeks prior to that.  That prophetic word came to Janene during a church service on February 5, 2023.  The Asbury Revival of 2023 broke out at a service held at Asbury University on February 8, 2023.

 

I am delighted that God would move powerfully among students and young people.  However, I am disappointed to find out that College Authorities, Civic Authorities and Law Enforcement have determined to shutdown this powerful move of God by having the Asbury College Authorities  mandate that the last public worship service be scheduled for today, February 20 at 2:00 P.M. and the last evening service for college-age and high school students be held on Thursday, February 23.

 

All of this is concluded due to the fact that parking and seating capacity has been exceeded and a desire to maintain a spirit of “good-will and humility” with the community.  The President of Asbury states that they are trying to “discern the right balance between orderliness for our university students, faculty and staff and our campus visitors—and creating space for individuals to have a life-transforming Christ-centered encounter.”  Despite these pretty words, there apparently is no room at the Inn for the life-transforming revival which will be moved to some unnamed location elsewhere in Kentucky. I find this to be disappointing.  

 

Ask yourself this question:  Does God desire to see this revival to continue?  I believe the answer is “Yes”.  Also, ask yourself, does Satan desire to see this revival continue?  The answer is “No”.   Do the actions of this college help the revival to continue or instead to shut it down?  The answer is obvious.

 

In short, revivals are nice but let’s get back to what is really important which is doing business as usual as a teaching university and as a city.  We don’t need the crowds, the congestion or the life changing power of the Spirit.  Like the people of Gadara in the Bible, they want to get back to business as usual.  We would rather live with the demon-possessed in chains and our pigs on the slopes instead of inundated by the water in Lake Galilee.  When the people of Gadara had spoken, Jesus did as they wished, got into his boat and left for elsewhere.

 

We talk of revivals and moves of the Spirit, but when they come, we really don’t want them.  The long-suffering town of Wilmore, Kentucky (30 miles from Lexington, Ky)  with its college and seminary and population of 6,000 people weathered the revival and outpouring of the Holy Spirit for a total of twelve whole days.  It is time to get back to the reality of studying about revivals rather than participating in them.  What a shame. 

 

In contrast, the Azusa Street Revival went on in Los Angeles in 1906 through 1915.  I wonder what would have happened if it had been shut down after 12 days so that there would have been a good witness to the community.  I think we need to be much more concerned about offending God than offending our neighbors.  The early apostles in Acts kept on preaching rather than obey the dictates of the political authorities of their time believing that it was more right to please God than to please man.

 

The closing down of churches and revivals are often masked with the very best of motives.  Here we see such excuses as the need to comply with parking requirements, capacity requirements, and the need to be nice to our neighbors and to our businesses.  It seems to me that the excuses go more to the approval of men and secular authorities than to God.  I have written in the past in my 2018 Book entitled Death of the American Church- Volume Two about how zoning, occupancy and parking restrictions can be used against the church.  Further, all of us have of late experienced how health promulgations have been used against the church during the COVID Epidemic, including the shutting down of churches.

 

I can imagine how modern statutes such as those we have today might have been used in Biblical times.  When Peter’s house was filled to capacity and the lame man was lowered from the roof through the ceiling, the local police might have showed up and shut down the meeting due to too many donkeys in the area and the violation of zoning ordinances and capacity restrictions.  Obviously there was not enough seating.

 

With thousands later on the hillside, hearing the Beatitudes, the police might come and shut it down due to the fact that there are not enough food vendors and porta potties.

 

In actuality, Jesus did have to move out of houses and even out of cities as the crowds became too big.  We find Jesus teaching on the hillsides and from boats along the shore because of the crush of people.  People are seeking God and when God wants to move, people want to be there.  It is unimaginable to me that we want to kick God out of a revival and want to return to business as normal.  God has come to break the pattern.  He wants to change lives not to slightly improve their education.  In my opinion, you would do better to get out of the way and let God do what he wants to do than seek to manage God and his revivals.

 

Perhaps, God in his mercy will allow this revival to spread.  Perhaps other places will catch fire and only embers will remain at Asbury.  I don’t know.  I do know that it is wrong to seek to manage and control the Spirit of God and his work in renewing people.

 

God can use any number of adverse situations for His plan.  He used the Persecution after the death of Stephen to spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.  Perhaps God in his mercy will use this situation to further spread the fire of revival elsewhere through our country and the world.  I hope so!

 

 

FALSE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS-Part 2

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Introduction

 

In our last edition, we primarily looked at false prophets and teachers focusing upon two false prophets in the Old Testament who were Balaam of Peor and Hananiah.  This is the second part of the teaching about false prophets and teachers.

 

What Jesus said about False Prophets and Teachers

 

There was a prediction by Moses that there would come a prophet after Moses who would be “like Moses”. (Deut. 18:15-19 )  That great prophet was Jesus.  Also Jesus was the great teacher.  We have Jesus in the Temple learning from the scholars and asking them questions when he was twelve (Lk. 2:41-49).  As an adult Jesus confounded the Pharisees with his teaching and the people commenting that Jesus taught “with authority.”(See Matt. 7:29).  Jesus confounded those who sought to trap him and answered the hardest questions.  His teaching on the Sermon on the Mount is considered to be one of the best examples of teaching the world has ever seen.  Jesus was the Great Teacher.  In other words, Jesus is the True Prophet and Teacher.

 

Jesus warned us about false prophets in Matthew 7:15-16 which says:

 

Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly

they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you shall recognize them.

Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

 

Jesus also warned his followers to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. ( Acts 16:11).  In essence, this meant that the teaching of the Pharisees had an element in it which was of the world and was not holy.  Often, teaching which is a mixture of truth and lies is meant to deceive and to mislead.  This false teaching resulted in Jesus labeling the Pharisees as “hypocrites”(Matt 23:13,15), “blind guides” (Matt. 23:16, 24) and “blind fools” (Matt. 23:17).

 

When asked about the destruction of the Temple and the end of the age, Jesus warned his disciples about false messiahs and false prophets.  In Matt. 24:11, Jesus said that “At that time…many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”  Similarly, Jesus at Matt. 24:23-25 Jesus said the following:

 

At that time if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah! Or “There

he is!” do not believe it.  For false messiahs and false prophets

will appear and perform great signs and wonders and deceive,

if possible, even the elect.  See, I have told you ahead of time.

 

Indeed, false messiahs and false prophets did appear as warned.    Various individuals encouraged the Jews to revolt against the Romans, many of whom claimed to be the Messiah.  Some of them were:

 

·        Dositheus the Samaritan who claimed he was the Messiah

·        Theudas who appeared during the time Cuspius Fadus was procurator (44-46 A.D.).  He claimed to be able to part the Jordan River.  He failed to do so.

·        An Egyptian Imposter around 55 A.D. who had about 30,000 followers

·        Simon Bar Giora.  He wore a white tunic and a purple cape and called himself “King of the Jews”.  He fought against the Romans and ultimately was defeated and taken to Rome and executed.

·        Simon Bar Kokhba-rebelled against the Jews and set up an independent Jewish State.  Eventually Bar Kokhba and his followers were killed at the Battle of Beitar near Jerusalem (circa 135 A.D.).

 

In short, Jesus warned his followers that they could expect to encounter a spirit of deception.  This deception can take many different forms including false shepherds, false apostles, false prophets and “antichrist” spirits.  Keep in mind that the term “antichrist” can mean not only against Christ but an alternative to Christ such as false Messiahs.

 

The antichrist spirit

 

Anything which is set up as an alternative to Jesus Christ can fall within the term of an “antichrist” spirit.  False messiahs fall within this term because they are alternatives to Jesus Christ.  Again, the antichrist spirit is associated with false prophets and false teachers.  1 John 4:1-6 says the following:

 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

 

Therefore one of the tests is whether the spirit confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh.  See also 1 John 2:18-23 which says:

 

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.[a] 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

 

As the young Christian Church expanded, it did run into false prophets, false teachers, false apostles and  antichrists.  Some, as John said in the passage above, left the church and began to preach heresy claiming that Jesus had not really died, that Jesus had not been fully human and that it was all right to sin because sin only caused God to move in additional forgiveness and mercy.  Further, the young church ran into other false teachings including that Jesus had never come in the flesh and various beliefs such as Gnosticism.  A number of heresies denied that Jesus was fully man or fully God or that Jesus had really come in the flesh.  The intent of these heresies and false teachings and beliefs were to water down the gospel of Jesus Christ and the concept of salvation through God’s grace through faith and the sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and Savior of the world.  In particular, John focused upon those who would deny that Jesus was the Christ (or promised Messiah) referring to such people as “antichrist.”  Further, John taught that the denial of Jesus as the Messianic Son of God was in effect a denial of the Father as well. (1 Jn. 2:22-23).  Similarly, John links the false prophet with the spirit of the antichrist stating that we as believers must “test the spirits” for many “false prophets have gone out into the world.”  John states that every spirit which does not acknowledge that Jesus “came in the flesh” is not from God and that this is “the spirit of the antichrist” (1 Jn. 4:1-4).

 

The young church would run into false teachers and false prophets.  Some of the false prophets which the believers encountered in the New Testament were people like Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-11), a false prophet known as Barjesus (Son of Jesus) in Cyprus (Acts 13:6-10) and a young slave girl who prophesied with a spirit of divination in Greece (Acts 16:16).

 

 

Paul and False Prophets and Teachers

 

The Apostle Paul was emphatic in warning the young Church about false prophets and teachers.

In Acts 20, Paul prayed with the elders of Ephesus and said at verses 29-31:

 

I know that when I leave, savage wolves will come in among you, and

will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will

arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

So be on your guard!  Remember that for three years,

I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

 

Note that Paul used words similar to Jesus about savage wolves.  One of the characteristics Paul mentions was that these false leaders would sow disunity and draw people away through distorting the truth.  Much of the distortion of truth relates to false teachings that would occur about the nature and saving work of Jesus.

 

In Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth he talked about “super Apostles” who came into the church.  These individuals often pushed the concept that in order to be saved one must first follow the Jewish law.  They promoted circumcision of the flesh instead of circumcision of the heart through faith.    Paul said the following about these individuals at 2 Cor. 11:13-15:

 

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

 

The young church was in a war against deception, counterfeits, false prophets and false teachers all who through the will of Satan sought to keep the church from carrying out its mission.  Unbelief and worldliness attacked the church from without but false doctrine and teaching attacked it from within.  All of this time, God through the work of the Holy Spirit and the faithfulness of the apostles and believers protected the truth of God and the message that God had sent His only son to save the world and further that the Son of God was both fully man and fully God.

 

Paul warned the people at the church at Rome regarding those who would come in and cause strife and division at Romans 16:17-19 and described them as follows:

 

17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites,[a] and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

 

Paul warned his churches about those who would come in and preach a different gospel than the one which he delivered.  The language which Paul uses, at least to me, echoes the language Moses used at Deuteronomy 13:1-5 when he warned people not to believe in false gods even if there were signs and wonders.  Paul says at Gal. 1:6-9:

 

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

 

Paul was concerned about those who came into the church and taught false doctrines about Christ.  He described these false teachings and false teachers in more detail in his letter to Timothy.  He tells Timothy that in these “later times” deceiving spirits would come into the church and teach things based upon salvation by acts such as not marrying and abstaining from certain foods.  This is described at 1 Tim. 4:1-3, 5; 1 Tim. 6:3-5:

 

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

 

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound  words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

 

In essence, false teachers would come into the church.  They deceive by distorting the gospel.  They often teach a gospel of works instead of a gospel by grace.  They are likely to teach false views regarding who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us all.  Part of their motivation for coming into the church is to draw members into obeying the false teachers and making money off of the members of the church.

 

Another early Christian author, Jude, described these false prophets and teachers at Jude 1 4:

 

4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

 

Jude, therefore, describes the same false prophets and teachers as being identified through their immoral actions and having doctrines which deny Jesus Christ.

 

 

Characteristics of False Prophets and Teachers

 

Our study of scriptures identify numerous characteristics of false teachers and false prophets.  Some of those characteristics are the following:

 

·        False shepherds, prophets and teachers masquerade as real shepherds, prophets and teachers.

·        They proclaim “freedom” but are slaves to the flesh

·        They are licentious and sexually immoral. 

·        They cause dissensions and draw people away from true shepherds.  They cause conflict.

·        They are greedy and seek to make money off the flock.

·        They corrupt good teaching through bad teaching.

·        They attack the faith through weakening the key aspects of our Faith regarding who Christ is and what the work of salvation is.

·        They often encourage people to earn salvation through ascetic or other practices.

·        They require other things for salvation such as being circumcised, eating the right foods or taking other actions.

·        They promote controversies and deceive with clever words.  They use smooth talk and flattery.

·        They describe themselves as apostles of Christ.

·        They often come up with new “revelations” from God.

·        They depart from the Bible and the written word of God.

·        They deny that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

·        They deny that Jesus came in the flesh.

·        They deny that Jesus was truly God.

 

A few historical comments

 

I conclude this section with a few historical comments regarding false teaching, false apostles and false prophecy.  As most of you can imagine, the attempt to deceive the church is not new.  In fact I believe that it began in the Garden of Eden and continued to manifest itself with the prophets, during the time of Christ and through the church age.

 

Without going into any detail, the early church was barraged by a succession of heresies including Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism and many, many more.  The attempt of the historical church to deal with these heresies led to the development of a canon where the church sought to determine the books which should be included in the New Testament such as the Muratorian Canon in 180 A.D.  As various ideas tried to creep into the church about the nature of Christ, various councils and creeds were developed to define the nature of Christ and beliefs which were central to the Christian Faith.  Among these creeds were creeds such as The Apostles Creed and The Nicene Creed.  These creeds developed after much effort, prayer and debate and therefore, in my opinion, should not be taken lightly.  I would encourage you to respect these efforts.  I personally recall sitting down one evening in a church meeting and hearing people discussing their beliefs in Christ and found that I heard at least eight different heresies which in the first four centuries of our Christian history had been determined to be identifiable and theological error.  It seems to me that we do not need to “reinvent the wheel” but should take advantage of our early church history without having to continuously refight the same Christological battles.  It is for this reason I both subscribe to the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed.

 

We live in a time in which false belief is often found in churches because people are not taught the Word of God or the Bible.  In addition, people are relatively ignorant of the church’s efforts to identify theological truth.   Further, our intellectual institutions and even seminaries have weakened the strength of the Bible and its authority over our lives.  This is not a new development.  Satan has long sought to dilute the word of God and bring it into disrepute through false prophets and false teachers. 

 

Unfortunately in the age of televangelism we have seen a plethora of false teachers and false prophets.  We have been amazed at the amount of money which they have extracted from the poor flock.  Moreover, we have been horrified by a succession of Christian leaders who have exhibited sexual immorality to the world and brought the way of Christ into disrepute.  A number of these have shown token repentance and have been “restored” only to continue to the next episode of their immorality.  Even worse, the victims of their immorality are often not believed and are stigmatized.  Truly among, this corrupt crew of teachers and profits “godliness” has become a gateway to great gain for them personally. 

 

Further there are a number of books and articles which attack the divinity of Christ, the ability of Christ to save, the actual existence of Christ and the authority of Scriptures as being from God.  All of these things can fall under the heading of being “false teaching.”  The purpose of this false teaching is to deceive believers and defeat the church and the plan of God to bring salvation to mankind.  Again, Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy and he constantly re-utilizes the concept of “Has God really said?”  Other related concepts are that “You can’t believe the Bible!”  Satan does not want you to believe the Word of God or to have faith.  If Jesus says, “I am the way to God and there is no other way” then Satan’s response is “There are many paths to God.  You can get to God without Jesus, just be a good person.”  In short, Satan presents an “antigospel” or an “alternative gospel.”

 

Both I and my readers have a number of views regarding the Book of Revelation and the End Times.  These are areas where fellow Christians have disagreed since the very early years of the church and disagree about even today.  However, it is clear that the early church believed in the existence of false teachers, false apostles, false prophets and an antichrist spirit.  That deception which began in the Garden, existed at the time of Christ and continued afterwards is expected by many believers to become even more pronounced as time goes on.

 

Jesus and Paul and others warned us that the church would be attacked by ravenous wolves and it has and may be again.  Jesus even warned us that there will be those who use His name and do miracles who He will not acknowledge at the end of time.  We are left with the sobering verses from Matthew 7: 21-23

 

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

 

 

 

Final Comment on False Prophets

 

We live in a time in which history is either being forgotten or rewritten.  As I look at the history of the church, I find that much has been written regarding the evils of the historical church but little has been written about the good that it caused.  Likewise, our beliefs today about religion and the decrease in those who believe in the historical tenets of Christianity warp our view regarding the history of Christianity.

 

One can scarcely talk about the beliefs that false prophets would arise without touching upon Islam and Mohammed.  Today to suggest that Mohammed was a false prophet is almost a heresy in a society that accepts all varieties of faith without outrage other than evangelical Christianity which seems to be red-circled for abuse among the elite and the “educated.”  If one looks at older commentaries such as The Pulpit Commentary and many other commentaries, it is clear that authors in prior years saw Mohammed as a “false prophet” and falling clearly under the terms of “false prophet” as used in Scripture. 

 

Some of the reasons from a historical reason for this conclusion might include:

 

·        Practical eradication of Christianity in countries where Political Islam is in control.

·        Historical methods of wiping out Christianity such as forbidding evangelism, increased taxation of Christians and practical discrimination against Christians in Muslim Countries.

·        Historic wars between Islam and Christianity including having to stop Islamic expansion military including various key military battles which stopped the expansion of Islam militarily into the West.

·        The wiping out of areas which were Christian strongholds in North Africa and elsewhere.

·        The conversion of the largest and most glorious church in the East, St. Sophia’s, into a stable for horses and later into a mosque.

·        The eradication of Christianity in the area where the seven churches of Revelation are mentioned and conversion of those areas into Islamic territories.  The seven churches are now eradicated and that area now totally belongs to Islam and has for fourteen hundred years.

·        At every key Christian location in the Holy Land including the places where Christ was born, buried and resurrected, mosques are built and there is a continuous cry regarding Mohammed being the Prophet of God across from Christian Holy Places.  Islamic prayer and the Islamic proclamation of Mohammed as Prophet is open, obvious and aggressive.

·        On the Dome of the Rock over Jerusalem there are clear antichristian proclamations including the following Arabic inscriptions:

 

“The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of God and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him.  So believe in God and His messengers, and say not “Three”-Cease!

 

“Muhammad is the Messenger of God”

 

“Praise be to God, who hath not taken unto Himself a son and who hath no partner in the Sovereignty….”

 

 

It is relatively clear to me from a historical standpoint, that Non-Christian religions (including Islam) can fall under the categories of alternative Christs, false prophets and false teaching.  Although our study has generally focused upon deception aimed at the local church, it is also clear that Satan can use deception at the macro-level including national deceit.  After the Millennium, Rev. 20:8 states that Satan will go out and “deceive the nations”.  Although people have different views on what and when the Millennium is, I believe that the framework is already in place for national level deceit.  Historically, I believe that such things as the notion that slavery of blacks is justifiable is a national level type of deceit.  Moreover, concepts such as a Master Race and Persecution of the Jews was a national level deceit which was promulgated and enhanced by people such as Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler.  Today national level deceit might be illustrated by concepts such as abortion is not only permissible but a good thing might be an example of deceit at a national level.  Further the concept that any type of sexuality is permitted and those who object to it are bigots might be an example of deceit practiced at a national level.  The drawing of the national and world community together in closer proximity through information media and the internet facilitates the ability for deceit and falsehood to expand exponentially.

 

In these end times, false prophets, teachers and alternatives to Christ and the means of salvation will continue to grow.  We have seen these types of deceptions in the historical context and can expect to see them in the future.  We will not only see them in terms of the local church, in terms of false alternatives to Christianity through an assortment of pagan and modern religions, but we can also expect to see them increase politically in history.  We see examples in the past through national movements which demand sovereignty over belief in God.  These might include such historical instances of antichristian political leaders such as Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, Frederick II, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and others.  These political authorities proclaim themselves as supreme and seek to usurp the place of God who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Alongside these despotic leaders is always the alternative of fleshly religious practices and a worldly and secular materialism all of which offer themselves as alternatives to Christ.

 

To stand against them we have the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, the written word of God and the Church which is the Bride of Christ.  Do not be dismayed by our enemies.  We are the Army of God and against Christ the enemies of God will never prevail even though heaven and earth may pass away.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

FALSE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS-PART 1

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Introduction

 

In our last edition of Locusts and Honey we discussed true and false shepherds.  Generally where you  have false shepherds, you will also find false prophets and teachers.  The characteristics of the false shepherds are very similar to the characteristics of  false prophets and false shepherds.  In this edition we will review some instances of false prophets and teachers in the Bible along with the characteristics and fruits of  false prophets and teachers.

 

The Origin of False Prophecy and False Teaching

 

The origin of false prophecy and false teaching can be found at least as far back as the Creation Story; but it may have even existed prior to that time by the seduction of angelic authorities by Satan.  However, we can find false prophecy and false teaching in the Garden of Eden.  As we know from the New Testament, the purpose of Satan is to “kill, steal and destroy”.  One of the ways that this is carried out is by deception, and deception is what we find in the Garden of Eden.  For instance, the Serpent lied to Eve and said, “You will certainly not die….”  The Serpent deceived Eve (Gen. 3:4).  In Gen. 3:1, the Serpent is described as “crafty.”  Deception, lying and craftiness are the hallmarks of false teaching and false prophecy.  Satan uses false prophecy and false teaching as a way to entrap and harm mankind.

 

False prophecy and false teaching often results in false religion and heresy.  It is not always easy to detect.  Part of the reason why it is difficult to detect is that there is often an element of truth in it.  Sometimes it is an unhealthy mixture of truth and falsity.  I had a friend one time who said that “heresy was truth taken to an extreme.”  False prophecy and false teaching can sometimes manifest itself as truth taken to an extreme and at other times it can be a confusing mixture of truth and error.  One of the reasons why deception works is that there is often an element of truth in it.  An example of how deception works could be taken by a simple admonition such as “Obey your Shepherd.”  If one makes this the mantra of your spiritual life where this is the highest command, you may end up obeying false political leaders like Hitler or false spiritual leaders like Manson or Jim Jones.  In short, truth is balanced.  Do not rely entirely only on one Scripture but seek the whole counsel of God.  Satan uses deception to confuse and harm mankind.  The origin of deception through false prophecy and false teaching is not new.

 

Moses and False Prophecy

 

Deuteronomy 13: 1-5 warns against false prophets.  It says:

 

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces a sign or wonder,

and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says,

“Let us follow other gods (gods you have not known) and let us worship them,”

you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer.

The Lord, your God, is testing you to find out whether you love him

with all your heart and with all your soul.  It is the Lord your God you

must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him;

serve him and hold fast to him.  That prophet and dreamer must be put to death

for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt

and redeemed you from the land of slavery,  That prophet or dreamer tried to

turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow.  You must

purge the evil from among you.

 

In short, Satan can  use a false prophet who appears to tell the truth or presents a sign or a wonder as a means of subverting God’s people.  The goal of the false prophet (or false teacher) is to turn you away from God, and to cause you to move in rebellion to God.  The purpose is also to divert you away from God to false gods and false religions.

 

 

Two Examples of False Prophets in the Old Testament.

 

Although there are many examples of false prophecies and false prophets in the Old Testament, we shall look at only two of many.  They are Balaam who was outside of the tribe of Israel and Hananiah a prophet of Gibeon, who was a prophet during the time of Jeremiah and who was part of the nation of Israel.

 

Balaam

 

Balaam was a Midianite prophet during the time of Moses.  As Israel travelled to the Promised Land, the Moabite Nation which was an ally of the Midianites asked that the well-known Midianite prophet, Balaam, come and pronounce curses over the Israelites.    The story of how Balaam sought to curse Israel and other attempts to seduce Israel into following false gods is found primarily in Numbers 22-25.

 

The leader of the Moabites was Balak. The tribes of Moab and Midian allied themselves and sent for a well-known prophet to come and curse Israel.  The prophet was Balaam and he was at first reluctant to come.  Balak promised to reward Balaam for his efforts and after a couple of refusals Balaam agreed to come but told the Moabites that he could only say what God told him to say.  Most of us are familiar with the story of how the Angel of the Lord sought to block Balaam from cursing the Israelites.  On three occasions the donkey on which Balaam was riding to curse the Israelites avoided the Angel of the Lord and was beaten for his trouble.  Finally, God gave the donkey a voice and the donkey asked Balaam while he was being beaten by him.  God finally opened the eyes of Balaam to see the angel of the Lord.

 

On three occasions, Balaam tried to curse Israel but instead could only bless them to the consternation of Balak. Balaam finally was sent back home by Balak failing ever to curse Israel but instead only blessing them.

 

The story is interesting in a number of different ways.  Balaam is not your normal prophet.  He is called both a prophet and a diviner.  Apparently Balaam did not just prophesy God’s word but he also had the ability to curse which falls more into the category of witchcraft.  Balak says to Balaam, “For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”  (Nu. 22:6).

 

Interestingly, Balaam had some type of real communication with God.  Some examples are:

 

  • God spoke to Balaam and Balaam responded to God  (Nu. 22:8;12).
  • Balaam initially refused to curse the Israelites and sent the messengers of Balak back (Nu. 22:13).
  • Balaam says:  “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.”  (Nu. 22:18)
  • God gives Balaam a prophetic word for Balak (Nu. 23:16).

 

Ultimately Balaam is never able to curse the Israelites and only blesses them.  He is sent home by Balak. The Israelites not only defeat and kill most of the Moabites but the Midianites as well including Balaam. (Nu. 31:8).

 

Balaam is an interesting example of how there can be a mixture of what is true and what is false.  Balaam hears from God, but his desire to please the rulers and his desire for money cause him to ally himself with the enemies of God.  Ultimately despite hearing from God, he causes God to be angry with him and he later perishes with the Moabites and Midianites who were enemies of the people of God.

 

Another interesting aspect of the Balaam story is that the efforts to curse Israel are closely tied to money.  When the Midianites agree to have Balaam pronounce a curse on Israel, they are given a “divination fee.”  (Nu. 22:7).  Balak in Nu. 22:17 promises to reward Balaam “handsomely” if he will curse the Israelites.  In bitterness, Balak tells Balaam that God has kept Balaam from being rewarded “handsomely” at Nu. 24:11.

 

Closely associated with the attempt to use a prophet to curse Israel, the Moabites use another method to turn Israel from following God.  The events are recounted in Numbers 24 where Moabite and Midianite women begin to draw away the Israelites from following God by involving them in sexual practices associated with the false god Baal.  The use of sex was associated with false religion and with the intent of Satan to deceive Israel and draw them away from worshiping God.  We will see later on that adultery and sex are methods that Satan uses which are often closely associated directly or indirectly with false prophecy and false teaching.

 

Balaam and 1 Peter 2.

 

Most of what we need to know about false prophecy and false teaching is summarized in 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter teaches us about false prophets and false teachers.  Although it is long, I am reproducing a portion of 1 Peter 2 below.

 

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping….

12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood!

15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.

16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.

19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

 

 

Peter lumps together false prophets and false teachers in this chapter.  Some of their characteristics of false prophets and teachers include:

 

  • Heresies
  • Denying the Lord
  • Depraved conduct
  • Causing the Faith to be held in disrespect due to these actions
  • Greed
  • Fabricating false stories
  • Following the flesh
  • Despising spiritual authorities
  • Abuse and disrespect of angels of God
  • Adultery
  • Empty and boastful words
  • Promising freedom (while they are personally enslaved to the flesh)
  • Overcome by the world
  • Carousing
  • Appeal to the lustful desires of the flesh

 

Hananiah and Jeremiah

 

Balaam had been a prophet from outside of Israel.  Hananiah was a false prophet who was a prophet inside of Israel and who lived in the time of Jeremiah.   The name “Hananiah” means “Jerhovah is gracious.”   Hananiah is bold and forceful, but he is wrong and does not hear from God.

 

Jeremiah had been told by God to wear a wooden yoke on his neck to illustrate that God had given the nations, including Israel, to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  (Jer. 27:1-6).  The false prophet Hananiah confronts Jeremiah in the Temple before the priests and states that the God of Israel has said that he (God) would break the yoke of Babylon and would within two years bring back the exiles which Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon.  Jeremiah responds by saying that this was wonderful however people had better wait to see whether Hananiah’s words were true.  (Jer. 28:5-9).  Hananiah then rips

off Jeremiah’s yoke and smashes it proclaiming that in the same way God would smash the yoke of the King of Babylon.  (Jer. 28:10-11).

 

Afterwards, God spoke to Jeremiah and said that although Hananiah had smashed a yoke of wood, God would replace the wooden yoke with an iron yoke and that Nebuchadnezzar would rule the nations with an iron yoke.  Further Jeremiah had a word for the false prophet Hananiah which is repeated in Jer. 28:35-37:

 

Listen, Hananiah!  The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded

this nation to trust in lies.  Therefore this is what the Lord says, “I am

about to remove you from the face of this earth.  This very year you

are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.”

In the seventh month of the same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

 

Hananiah was a forceful individual.  He obviously had a strong charismatic personality.  He prophesied openly against what Jeremiah said; however Hananiah was a false prophet and was wrong.  Jeremiah was giving the words of God to Israel in the hope that the people of Israel would repent of their wicked ways.  Hananiah was telling them good things and comforting words rather than the words of God.  In reality Hananiah was preaching “rebellion against the Lord.”  Rebellion against God and His word is how Satan caused angels to fall in heaven and rebellion against the word of God is what Satan sowed in the Garden of Eden by causing Eve (and Adam) to eat of the fruit despite God’s express instructions not to taste of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  False prophets and false teachers lead mankind astray from God and are used to kill, steal and destroy.

 

Satan is happy to use nice and encouraging words if those words will prevent people from repenting and turning from being disobedient to God.  Today, some false prophets and teachers may use encouraging and uplifting words to dissuade people from feeling like they need to repent.  The Israelites no doubt thought that Jeremiah’s call for repentance was too negative and even defeatist.  On the other hand, Hananiah gave them good words.  He gave them hope; however it was a false hope and a hope which did not demand that they change from their evil ways.

 

In our next edition of Locust and Honey, we will be looking at what Jesus said about false prophets and teachers along with some examples of false teachers and prophets found in the New Testament period and later in history.