Study from God’s Word… 2nd Kings 23: 29-30 [2Chron 35: 20-25]; 2Kgs 23: 30-35 [2Chron 36: 1-5]; Jeremiah 22: 10-17 and Chapter 26… Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 26: 10 – 11 … NIV 10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!"
My Journal for Today: What a mess! Reading about the contentious battle between the truth speakers, i.e., God’s Prophets, like Nahum and Jeremiah in these days when the tribes of Israel and Judah wavered back and forth in disobedience and even seasons of obedience, we read of Jeremiah being accused and threatened with death from false prophets, soothsayers, and the seers of the day. They had seen many of Jeremiah’s prophesies unfolding; but when Jeremiah prophesied against them, they would rather see him dead than listen or contend with God’s truth.
Dr. Smith, my devotional author, is right when he compares this time in Jeremiah’s life to the Passion of Jesus when our Lord was brought up on trumped-up charges and even killed unjustly. But Jeremiah was delivered from his life threatening dilemma because of God’s need to use this Prophet remained. However, what happened during these times is certainly an historical reflection of what we see going on in our world today.
We have the “prophets” of political-correctness and those who promote false-doctrines like the word of faith movement coming out and loudly attacking God’s truth. The former would like to “kill” the concept of “God” or “Christ” in the public arena, and strike down every vestige of The Bible from the view, study, and consideration by a public whose mind they want to control with policies of death and the flesh such as their views on pro-abortion, homosexual marriage, and the like. … Then there are the religious soothsayers of our day, such as the Oprahs or Osteens, who preach a feel-good gospel. And these false-teachers don’t want anyone to tear down their empires of thought control which produce vast wealth for them. Who wants to hear “the truth” when non-truth is so lucrative and produces so much power? So, all of these arch enemies of GOD’S truth do all they can to bring down those who are purveyors of the real-deal truth, which I believe is being preached in our days by modern day Jeremiahs, … men whom I so greatly admire, like John Piper, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, and others.
Once again I return in my thoughts to the marvelous witness of the Bereans when they heard what they thought was a “new” message of hope from an Apostle who used to be a Christian killer, … that Saul of Tarsus who had become the Apostle Paul. We read about (see Acts 17: 10 – 15 - linked) what these Bereans did when Paul came to their area, preaching the Gospel of Christ. They carefully searched the Scriptures as they knew them (the Torah and the words of the Prophets); and God helped them see His truth being preached by His man, Paul; and they believed.
And that’s what we need today, … discerning Christians who know God’s truth – from His word – so fully and clearly that we can readily see the counterfeit message being taught in our culture. When Oprah puts forth her gospel of self-dominance or Osteen his “take control of your life with your thoughts” messages, we need to go back to the ONE source of real truth, … God’s word, and discern that these messages just don’t measure up to the plumb of God’s will for our lives.
When the social gospel preachers of political-correctness do all they can to manipulate our political systems to eradicate “God” from the market place of ideas, we need to stand up for God as did the Jeremiah’s and other Prophets of truth in their day. The question, from Dr. Smith today, gets to the core of our lives, when he asks, ”What am I willing to forfeit in defense of the truth?”
Personally, it needs to be all I have; … and I will pray today that it is.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to be a trumpet for your truth even if my very life or freedoms are threatened. Amen
Showing posts with label false religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label false religion. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
2010 – July 30 – When Even Prophets Doubt
Study from God’s Word… Jeremiah, Chapters 13 – 15: 1 - 9 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 14: 13 … NIV But I said, “Ah Sovereign Lord, the prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ “
My Journal for Today: It’s no wonder Jeremiah was called the “weeping Prophet,” because there was so much disobedience, doubt, and despair evident among God’s people in his day, as well as those who mocked God with their behavior. And even Jeremiah had some doubts, especially with many false prophets providing messages to the peoples in those days which were much more comforting than that of Jeremiah. In today’s highlight passage we read of Jeremiah’s quandary; but God reassured him that he was indeed God’s messenger, taking God’s message of doom/gloom to Israel and Judah.
Today there is much confusion on the religious horizon. You can read the word of God interpreted by orthodox Reformation Theologians like R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, and others; and then when you read the writings of “prophets” calling themselves “christian” teachers, like Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, or Kenneth Copeland, you wonder if these men are reading and interpreting the same Bible. Then there are those who espouse later prophetic belief systems, like the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or those following more new age belief systems like Scientology or “the church of Oprah.” And with so many belief systems, labeling themselves as “truthful,” whom is to be believed?
Well, that is why one must have a rock to affix his/her anchor of faith; and that ROCK – for me (and I pray for you who read here as well) is Yeshua Hamashiach, … Jesus, The Messiah. He was the one foretold by the ancient Jewish Prophets, including Jeremiah; and He is the Son of God Who has fulfilled the Covenant of God by coming as the God-man, dying on a cross, being resurrected, and now sitting as the re-glorified Magnate in Heaven. And all of that has be chronicled in His word, which as 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17 documents, is the God-breathed Rock of our Faith.
Jesus is the only way, as He Himself declared (in John 14: 6); and to pursue any other is the path to eternal doom. God’s word, The Bible, is the only word of truth to know Christ as Lord and Savior; hence, I look to those who teach/preach the Gospel truth in these confusing days of religious smorgasbord. If a message of teaching/preaching doesn’t square with God’s word in this day of false prophets, I will not follow it. And that is my prayer today for any who read here with me.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, shine Your light of truth so brightly from Your word that it helps to reveal the counterfeits of the day. Amen
My Journal for Today: It’s no wonder Jeremiah was called the “weeping Prophet,” because there was so much disobedience, doubt, and despair evident among God’s people in his day, as well as those who mocked God with their behavior. And even Jeremiah had some doubts, especially with many false prophets providing messages to the peoples in those days which were much more comforting than that of Jeremiah. In today’s highlight passage we read of Jeremiah’s quandary; but God reassured him that he was indeed God’s messenger, taking God’s message of doom/gloom to Israel and Judah.
Today there is much confusion on the religious horizon. You can read the word of God interpreted by orthodox Reformation Theologians like R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, and others; and then when you read the writings of “prophets” calling themselves “christian” teachers, like Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, or Kenneth Copeland, you wonder if these men are reading and interpreting the same Bible. Then there are those who espouse later prophetic belief systems, like the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or those following more new age belief systems like Scientology or “the church of Oprah.” And with so many belief systems, labeling themselves as “truthful,” whom is to be believed?
Well, that is why one must have a rock to affix his/her anchor of faith; and that ROCK – for me (and I pray for you who read here as well) is Yeshua Hamashiach, … Jesus, The Messiah. He was the one foretold by the ancient Jewish Prophets, including Jeremiah; and He is the Son of God Who has fulfilled the Covenant of God by coming as the God-man, dying on a cross, being resurrected, and now sitting as the re-glorified Magnate in Heaven. And all of that has be chronicled in His word, which as 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17 documents, is the God-breathed Rock of our Faith.
Jesus is the only way, as He Himself declared (in John 14: 6); and to pursue any other is the path to eternal doom. God’s word, The Bible, is the only word of truth to know Christ as Lord and Savior; hence, I look to those who teach/preach the Gospel truth in these confusing days of religious smorgasbord. If a message of teaching/preaching doesn’t square with God’s word in this day of false prophets, I will not follow it. And that is my prayer today for any who read here with me.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, shine Your light of truth so brightly from Your word that it helps to reveal the counterfeits of the day. Amen
Saturday, June 05, 2010
2010 – June 05 – Lord of Hills AND Valleys
Study from God’s Word… 1st Kings 20 - 22 … Passage for Reflection: 1st Kings 20: 28 … NIV 28 Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’”
My Journal for Today: Yes, Dr. Smith is right on today with a devotional we all need to study and believe. These people in Israel’s history, the Arameans with their king Ben-Hadad, believed that they could defeat the armies of the North in Israel if they fought them in the valleys; because they made the assumption that the God of Israel was a “hill-god.” And we read about such superstitions and haughtily look down on these ancient middle-eastern pagans as if they were so crude and idolatrous in their beliefs.
Yet, are their “pagan” beliefs that much different from our own? Don’t we perpetuate such “hill-God” and “valley-god” beliefs? Don’t we think that God is blessing us when we’re rolling along on the mountain-top highs of spiritual experience; and then, somehow, we think that some valley low in life is a “curse” from our God? But haven’t you, as a Christian, seen our God bring about incredible victories in the valleys as well as the hill tops of life? Well, I sure have.
As an Elder in our church, we’ve had brothers/sisters in Christ come forth with fatal prognoses out of obedience to God’s word (in James 5: 13-16) seeking healing prayer to God from their Elders. And we Elders prayed as we are exhorted to do in James 5, and some of these with “fatal” illnesses were delivered out of this valley of fear and despair, being healed where doctors could not explain the healing except to label it as a “miracle.” … I have personally experienced my God deliver me in the lowest valley of my life, when I could not find deliverance from my addiction to obsessive-compulsive sexual sin, … God providing me with the enabling/empowering grace I needed to walk out of that valley and climb to the mountain-top with my faith. So, you can’t tell me that the God of Israel in 1st Kings is not a God of the valleys as well as a valley on the hilltops in life today.
The question of our faith boils down to our belief level in the truth of in God’s Word in passages like Romans 8: 28, Romans 8: 31, 2nd Cor. 12: 9, and Phil. 4: 13; and I hope (and pray) that you have all of those memorized and internalized in your heart; because if you truly believe those passages, you know that we serve and worship a God of the valleys of life as well as of the hilltops. And when we read and study passages from Scripture like Isaiah 41: 10 and Proverbs 3: 5-6 and 2nd Tim. 1: 7 and Phil. 4: 6-7, we can be lifted up, clearly directed, and provided with the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding. Yes, my dear one, the more you know your God, the more you know that He’s with you in the valleys of life just as much as He is on the mountain-tops.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You are ALWAYS with me. Amen
My Journal for Today: Yes, Dr. Smith is right on today with a devotional we all need to study and believe. These people in Israel’s history, the Arameans with their king Ben-Hadad, believed that they could defeat the armies of the North in Israel if they fought them in the valleys; because they made the assumption that the God of Israel was a “hill-god.” And we read about such superstitions and haughtily look down on these ancient middle-eastern pagans as if they were so crude and idolatrous in their beliefs.
Yet, are their “pagan” beliefs that much different from our own? Don’t we perpetuate such “hill-God” and “valley-god” beliefs? Don’t we think that God is blessing us when we’re rolling along on the mountain-top highs of spiritual experience; and then, somehow, we think that some valley low in life is a “curse” from our God? But haven’t you, as a Christian, seen our God bring about incredible victories in the valleys as well as the hill tops of life? Well, I sure have.
As an Elder in our church, we’ve had brothers/sisters in Christ come forth with fatal prognoses out of obedience to God’s word (in James 5: 13-16) seeking healing prayer to God from their Elders. And we Elders prayed as we are exhorted to do in James 5, and some of these with “fatal” illnesses were delivered out of this valley of fear and despair, being healed where doctors could not explain the healing except to label it as a “miracle.” … I have personally experienced my God deliver me in the lowest valley of my life, when I could not find deliverance from my addiction to obsessive-compulsive sexual sin, … God providing me with the enabling/empowering grace I needed to walk out of that valley and climb to the mountain-top with my faith. So, you can’t tell me that the God of Israel in 1st Kings is not a God of the valleys as well as a valley on the hilltops in life today.
The question of our faith boils down to our belief level in the truth of in God’s Word in passages like Romans 8: 28, Romans 8: 31, 2nd Cor. 12: 9, and Phil. 4: 13; and I hope (and pray) that you have all of those memorized and internalized in your heart; because if you truly believe those passages, you know that we serve and worship a God of the valleys of life as well as of the hilltops. And when we read and study passages from Scripture like Isaiah 41: 10 and Proverbs 3: 5-6 and 2nd Tim. 1: 7 and Phil. 4: 6-7, we can be lifted up, clearly directed, and provided with the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding. Yes, my dear one, the more you know your God, the more you know that He’s with you in the valleys of life just as much as He is on the mountain-tops.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You are ALWAYS with me. Amen
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2010 – Mar. 24 – False Comfort From Religious Trappings
Study from God’s Word…Judges 17 – 18 … Passage for Reflection: Judges 17: 13 … NIV 13 And Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."
My Journal for Today: Wow! When I read the story of Micah, who sold out to idolatry in these times of no kings and self imposed religion, I couldn’t help but think of the rise of Oprahism in our times. As we read in these passages in Judges, Micah was a man who deluded himself into thinking that the God of Abraham would be pleased because he set up his own brand of religion. He then bought out a Levite, one from the clan of Priests; and because he could purchased this religious leader’s blessing, he conned himself into thinking that he was living in and being powerful in the favor and will of the one true, and only, God.
And isn’t that what is going on right now in our times with Oprah Winfrey, who has established her own form of religion, even invoking her own line of “priests,” who parade themselves onto her TV show, having been purchased by her influence to sell their books and peddle their brand of religiosity. Oprah is a modern day Micah; and like many people of Micah’s day, there will always be people who’ll buy into a religious line of thought as long as it has the trappings for religion and is endorsed by enough fools who seem to have the credentials to call themselves religious leaders.
I stand amazed at the number of so-called “christians” Oprah can get to come on her show and agree with her brand of new-age malarkey, … giving Oprahism the credibility of men or women who claim to be agents of God, … some promoting their books and others who are selling concepts like “angelology.” And Oprah comes off being able to claim that she promotes a form of religion which is all inclusive and non-offensive to anyone.
I pray that no one who is reading what I write here has bought into this modern-day priestess of evil; because Oprah Winfrey, like Micah of Ephraim, is deluded and dangerous, capturing a lot of influence and moving her followers toward a brand of idolatry which will lead to the absolute and eternal death of anyone and everyone who follows after Oprah’s new-age delusions. Beware, my beloved fellow readers, of those like Oprah who can sell their ideas as idols and get others to buy into their disastrous form of religion. Follow Oprah to your peril, dear one.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, open our eyes to Your truth and keep us focused on You in the face of many false religions in our world. Amen
My Journal for Today: Wow! When I read the story of Micah, who sold out to idolatry in these times of no kings and self imposed religion, I couldn’t help but think of the rise of Oprahism in our times. As we read in these passages in Judges, Micah was a man who deluded himself into thinking that the God of Abraham would be pleased because he set up his own brand of religion. He then bought out a Levite, one from the clan of Priests; and because he could purchased this religious leader’s blessing, he conned himself into thinking that he was living in and being powerful in the favor and will of the one true, and only, God.
And isn’t that what is going on right now in our times with Oprah Winfrey, who has established her own form of religion, even invoking her own line of “priests,” who parade themselves onto her TV show, having been purchased by her influence to sell their books and peddle their brand of religiosity. Oprah is a modern day Micah; and like many people of Micah’s day, there will always be people who’ll buy into a religious line of thought as long as it has the trappings for religion and is endorsed by enough fools who seem to have the credentials to call themselves religious leaders.
I stand amazed at the number of so-called “christians” Oprah can get to come on her show and agree with her brand of new-age malarkey, … giving Oprahism the credibility of men or women who claim to be agents of God, … some promoting their books and others who are selling concepts like “angelology.” And Oprah comes off being able to claim that she promotes a form of religion which is all inclusive and non-offensive to anyone.
I pray that no one who is reading what I write here has bought into this modern-day priestess of evil; because Oprah Winfrey, like Micah of Ephraim, is deluded and dangerous, capturing a lot of influence and moving her followers toward a brand of idolatry which will lead to the absolute and eternal death of anyone and everyone who follows after Oprah’s new-age delusions. Beware, my beloved fellow readers, of those like Oprah who can sell their ideas as idols and get others to buy into their disastrous form of religion. Follow Oprah to your peril, dear one.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, open our eyes to Your truth and keep us focused on You in the face of many false religions in our world. Amen
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