Posts filed under ‘israel’
New Age’s Intentions, Pt 1
It is important to understand that the New Age firmly believes their revealed knowledge to be true. Of course, it is NOT true in any way, shape or form. However, there is a grain of truth in what they teach, just like there is a grain of truth in what Satan teaches. But as a grain and not the whole, everything they teach is based totally on lies.
Dawn of the Satanic Age
If Satan were to be successful, he would actually destroy Christianity and God. Of course, he can’t do this, but those involved in today’s mystery religions believe he will. Why? Because Satan has told them so and they believe it and have joined with him to make this happen. His followers are united in their belief that Satan (Lucifer), is the true “light-bearer;” the good guy. Jesus is the bad guy.
God Will Strengthen You
Many portions of Scripture speak of how obedience to God looks. In verses leading up to Isaiah 58:11 we learn of several ways to obey God. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Would you consider yourself a fool or wise? It is easy to determine. Do you fear the LORD God? Do you hold Him in absolute, profound and reverential awe? Do you strive to obey His commandments so that your relationship with Him grows and deepens and so that He can recreate within you the character of His Son, Jesus?
Discerning the Times: Departing the Faith
Of course, what is just as concerning, if not more so, are the many leaders within Christendom who have not yet physically left the faith, but have remained, teaching heresies to followers, which results in creating heretics. This latter group may be far worse than the first, though both are clearly problematic. While the first group has at least been honest enough to admit their own failure to believe truth and have, realizing they cannot remain, the latter group has walked away from the truth and replaced it with lies, yet they remain in positions of authority within Christendom.
Fear Not
God wants us to “sit down” on the inside by empowering us to live as He would have us live. Interestingly enough, if we actually learn to biblically fear God, we will, I believe, at the same time, be learning to “fear not” or to “rest in Him” as He works in and through us for His good pleasure.
Ahab’s Evil Politics
But in spite of all the terribly godless things Ahab did during his 20-year reign, probably the thing that most disturbs me is Ahab’s tacit approval of the murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21), to take Naboth’s vineyard/land. Here was a godly man of Israel simply trying to live in obedience to God because he obviously feared God, which enabled him to stand up to the king. How else could he have stood up to Ahab? Obeying God was far more important to Naboth.
Lessons From Ruth
However, though the times were spiritually disconsolate, there were blessings for some people who had not cast God off. Because of that overall spiritual void though, it is understandable (yet still wrong), that Naomi (the mother-in-law of Ruth), felt completely abandoned by God after her husband died and then her two grown, married sons also died, leaving her and her two daughters-in-law widows. Naomi believed God’s hand was against her because of the deaths of the men (v 13). Isn’t that like us? When bad things happen, we are often tempted to think God has not only left us, but is punishing us for something. Certainly, He could be chastising us for unconfessed sin. Yet, the more we know about how God works (through Scripture), the more we know that this is not always the case (i.e. Joseph in Genesis).
Focusing on the Future, Pt 11
At any rate, all I can strongly suggest is that the Bible becomes the main book read each and every day. All throughout the Old Testament, it is very clear that the emphasis was on what God had said to Moses and was later written down by him so that the people could constantly go over His Words with a fine-tooth comb and do what that Word said, and do it from the heart. Unfortunately, as we know, this rarely happened with Israel in the Old Testament and by the time, Jesus arrived on the scene physically, there was even less of it happening. His was an uphill battle from start to finish, but finish He did!
Judges: How Low Can They Go?
Many of the 14 judges are simply named and only noting how long they judged. Not much more is provided. There are a few judges with whom the Scriptures elaborates and provides a great many details, like Deborah and Barak, Samson, Gideon and a few others. In almost all cases, the Lord reminds us that “the people did evil in the sight of the Lord” and it was usually the time between each judge. As soon as a judge dies, the people fell back into their evil ways so God raises another judge. As noted, this was before Israel had any human kings at all (and this statement also implies Israel did not see God as their King), and the people constantly did what was right in their own eyes. In other words, anarchy was the result.
Discerning the Times: Truth for Christians
Ironside clearly enunciates the truth of Scripture and proves that while our lives should continually improve because of our standing and position before Christ and the progress that we are to make as we daily surrender to Him, the fact remains that those caught up in some form of holiness movement become either entirely hypocritical or have some type of breakdown and/or falling away from the faith. This belief that we can reach a state of absolute pure and consistent holiness without ever again sinning is not taught in Scripture and Ironside explains that very clearly.
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