A Prophet from the Midst >>> Deuteronomy 18:14 - 19:21 ~ Our Spiritual Safari is flying Deuteronomy Airlines and we are on auto-pilot right now. I’ll be honest with you readers – because I always am honest with you – I had my parachute on, I had disengaged the lock out device for my ejection seat and my finger was on the switch. I had every intention of bailing out and letting this plane crash into the sea of the Word of God – with YOU on board. Anyone that is flying Safari Airlines would have surely perished because there is not a single one of you that could fly or land this plane. This world does not have qualified, capable men who truly love and believe God teaching His Word. That’s why YOU are totally, completely and disgustingly ignorant of the Word of God. Honestly, with the exception of two or three of you faithful friends – you are beyond laughable as you play church and act like a smart saint that you ain’t! Does this not sound lovely and nice? Well, then – I have a suggestion – stop reading and drop dead. In case you haven’t noticed, I do not need to learn the Bible – it’s YOU that are totally stupid. Does that sound arrogant? Boastful? Prideful? – In the cross of Christ I sure do all of those things; now, see how pathetically ignorant you truly are? You likely won’t remember three sentences from this report when you finish reading, either; because in addition to being stupid you have no reading comprehension. Let’s put it this way – most of you are complete phonies. Mainstream religion – YOUR religion - is a joke to God but only funny to you. If you’re getting your baby talk psycho-babble from the ilk that is on TV – and I mean ALL – ALL – ALL of them; then it’s no wonder you are such an imbecile. Those slick looking ‘’preachers’’ on TV – ALL of them – yes, ALL – that have the same sermon every day entitled ‘’Why Did Jesus Have to Die’’ and other idiot-dreamy stupidity stuff – well, they have literally stunted your growth and you are going nowhere. From what I see, men are not even capable of developing a thought that exceeds a half a paragraph. The teaching of the Word of God has been hi-jacked by pseudo-theologian crack heads that are piping a drunken tune for rats to follow. You will never grow – in fact – you shall surely die in your religious abominations following after that dung. Do you understand that, friends? I see a lot of people here playing the Jesus card and you are not saved, friends. You are lost. This whole church thing is nothing in the world but a burden to you and you know it – IF you are honest with yourself. I doubt very many of you are honest with yourself because you sure are not honest with God. We have Jesus plastered on the wall around here but we see NO Christianity – again – I will exempt two or three individuals; it’s not many. Isaiah ridiculed the people in his day that turned to idolatry. Is your religion a burden to you today? I would bet my life it is a cumbersome, burdensome and dreaded chore for you to study your Bible – now isn’t it? Or does Christ TRULY carry you over the hard ground? I promised you the test for the false prophet in Israel – according to the Bible that is – two reports ago. I’m going to give it to you here and I advise all you soft-hearted, soft headed, super-duper saints to stop reading and make some cocktails – or whatever you little Jesus people do when others are not looking – because this report is aimed at YOU with both barrels and, friends, I intend to look you in the eye – and shoot you in the face! So, if you dare – keep reading! We have considered some very pertinent rules and regulations in the last several chapters regarding the priesthood. God didn’t mention how the king or the prophet was to receive his salary for being king or for being prophet; but God laid out exactly how the priest was to be paid. Interestingly, the salary of the preacher today always seems to be a touchy issue. Well, God laid it all on the line and spelled out exactly what the priests were to receive. We also examined warnings against all types of spiritualism and satanic worship in the last several reports. The reason God gave them these commands is because these were the things that were going on! If these things were not a problem then God would not have even mentioned them. The people that occupied the Promised Land and who Israel drove out and slaughtered were being punished for doing these things in verse fourteen. They are being removed from their land as a direct result of their sins. So, with that, we finally come to the test of the false prophet and I am more than delighted to share this with you…. XVIII 14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; ~ God tells them in no uncertain terms to listen to His prophets. The prophets just happened to be the ones telling the truth – that’s primary. More importantly, however, listening to the prophets would prepare them to recognize, identify and OBEY the final Messenger – the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people ask me why God doesn’t reveal Himself today if all of this is true. My answer, my friends, is that the period at the end of our sentence is the Lord Jesus Christ. All that follows Christ are the quotation marks that designate the end of a paragraph. At the end of His Book He wrote ‘’finished!’’ God has NOTHING to say to this world that He has not already said to YOU! If Christ returned right now He would be quoting Scripture – and likely Deuteronomy. Well, we’re told to hear Him and to hearken unto Him! The voice from Heaven right now in this report says, ‘’the Lord Jesus Christ is My beloved Son from Heaven in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!’’ Are you listening to God as you read along in His Word? Are you truly listening to Him? God has the final word in your life, my friends. Christ is God’s ultimate, final and full revelation of Himself to this earth. The only way to discover more of Christ is to get off of this planet; but, being as ignorant of the Bible as you are I would HIGHLY deter you from attempting that. Moses, way back at the beginning, said all of this first…. 16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. ~ The Lord Jesus Christ said again and again that He spoke those things that the Father sent Him to speak. Jesus makes it more than clear that He had come to do God’s will and nothing else. Well, Jesus did God’s will and when He had finished His earthly ministry and we arrive at the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus said, ‘’I have finished the work that Thou gavest Me to do!’’ Everything that God commanded Jesus to speak was spoken by Jesus here on earth. Jesus said it all, friends; and Jesus has nothing left to say to you. Most of you desire for God to say something new to you and you find no satisfaction with Him repeating Himself over and over and over again. That’s one reason it would be well with you to let astrology alone; for the rest of you people, this is why your religion is such a burden to you! See, either way you play church with God – you lose. It is the innate tendency of man to want to explore the unknown. Man wants a glimpse into his future and he will pay everything for that illusion. I get that. Man has an insatiable humanly natural desire to probe the mysterious. Man has dug down into every crevice on this earth and has gone out as far as he can get in space – where he has lost himself. Abraham went out not knowing wither he went – but God knew where he was going and He was leading him every step of the way. I suppose the spirit of Columbus is a natural default state of mankind. Our current probe into outer space is not only a scientific disaster; but it is financially impossible – not to mention the fact that man cannot live naturally in space. We seem to be so predicated on nature that the entire space race is just another manifestation of mankind’s hopelessly contradictory self! We would not have a complete report here without examining man’s other scientific mistress: the investigation of time. Yes, the mysterious future is an element of life that man just can’t resist. We think we need to know what’s beyond tomorrow! I would like to know it – wouldn’t you? Well, anyone that claims themselves to be a prophet today has ALREADY missed their prophecy! If you’re anxious and unsure about tomorrow then you won’t like what I have to say: because the future is a closed door. Memory can take us into some of the past but we have no vehicle to advance us into our future. The doorway to the future has a personalized message for you – ‘’Keep Out!’’ Today was tomorrow but yesterday! Time, space and matter just happen to be our limitations right now, friends. So, these ‘’spiritualists’’ and ‘’astrologers’’ rose up to fill that gap in mankind’s philosophies. Man has a love affair with necromancy and divination and – guess what? – God hates it and God hates those who engage in it – even those who just dabble in it a little bit! This is ALL connected with idolatry and it is ALL satanic in origin. If you have enough experience with the occult then you will know there is a certain degree of accuracy. The Oracle at Delphi that the Greeks had were a fascination to mankind for a while. There was a certain amount of satanically correct information gleaned from that thing, I’ll be the first to admit it. Adolph Hitler is said to have resorted to some sort of fortune-telling type trick. In Washington, D.C. the fortune teller is a hot commodity – trust me. If you browse the classified ads today you’ll find many people making a fine living by simply speaking of the uncertainty of the future! Man just happens to have never been given dominion in the future. Mankind has no authority whatsoever in the futuristic dealings on the planet earth. God alone holds these secrets and He isn’t whispering His secrets in anyone’s ear. The single most unique character of the Word of God is that it moves beyond the present. For me, personally, the irrefutable proof that the Bible is the Word of God is fulfilled prophecy. There was a time I would have said that number one proof was transformed lives; but I have found I can’t really discern the transformed life too well – but I sure understand the prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth as the Son of God and dying, being buried and resurrected on the third day according to Scriptures. I won’t even debate prophecy – if you don’t believe all the prophecies concerning cities, nations and circumstances; that just means you do not understand prophecy properly – nothing else. Your complete ignorance does not mean things aren’t true. Under these conditions, of course, the false prophet arose and we still have them today. They attempt to steal the status and position that belongs to the true prophet designated by God. Well, Israel had a very definite way to detect the counterfeit prophets. The false prophet cannot apply the rules and regulations of the Word of God because they have no idea what they are! Jeremiah really tells us all about the false prophet. Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. It’s easy enough for any crack head to speak of the coming kingdom centuries in the future; anyone can do that. Well, Jeremiah spoke into the future; but how do we know if Jeremiah was accurate? Of course, the answer is that most of his prophecies have been fulfilled. God gives out a very definite test, however, that we can also follow along for the so called ‘’prophet’ in our day…. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. ~ Isaiah was a true prophet of God; of course, his prophecy was that of a virgin who conceived and gave birth. Isaiah marked out clearly the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; and His birth, life and death, also. Now, let’s suppose someone in Israel challenged Isaiah’s prophecies. If you asked Isaiah how long it would be before this all happened he would have certainly told you he had no idea. Naturally, the crowd would laugh at that and they would wonder how they could possibly know if this were true; after all, it was seven hundred years later before Christ came to the earth. Well, the test had to be a local and immediate prophecy; a local situation would have to be spoken into correctly BEFORE any long term prophecies would be received by the king or by the nation. If that local prophecy wasn’t fulfilled EXACTLY as stated then that prophet was out of business and would prophecy no more, if you know what I mean. There were no second chances, you may be sure. That little fact alone disqualifies EVERYONE on our scene today that thinks they can tell the future. Once in a while we see one that takes a good guess – usually more of an educated hypothesis than a prophecy – but sometimes they hit the nail right on the head with that guess; but more often than not they miss the nail altogether. We look back to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy two thousand years ago and we know he was accurate. Well, the only reason they accepted that was because Isaiah had previously told Hezekiah what would happen with the Assyrian army. Isaiah told Hezekiah not to be afraid of that army because not one arrow would come over the wall. The Assyrian army had mowed every nation in the world down at this point. With two hundred thousand men on horses and Sennacherib saying those awful things he was saying at the wall of Jerusalem I find it amazing that one soldier didn’t just lob an arrow over the wall to see if someone yelled ‘’ouch!’’ Not ONE arrow flew and we know the rest of the story! IF one arrow had flown over that wall Isaiah would have been out of business before word one was written about or by him. We find the prophets – all of them – again and again speak into a local situation and they just happen to get every single one of them correct. Israel had no trouble whatsoever determining a true prophet of God and a false prophet of Baal or Belial. Those are the only two kinds of ‘’prophets’’ there are today, too, by the way. Men throughout history have come and gone predicting the end of the world. Of course, we’re all still here. Interestingly, the church is never warned against false prophets, either! The reason for that is because they just aren’t doing business in the church – we don’t have them – prophets do not exists and they aren’t needed anyways! We have no need to listen to someone guess at things when we can open our Bible and get our own answers by listening to the Holy Spirit speak of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter told us very specifically that ‘’as there were false prophets amongst the children of Israel so shall there come FALSE TEACHERS among you!’’ Friends, you better listen SUPER carefully to ANYONE that says they are a teacher of the Bible because there are many sweet, soothing voices that sound very pious and, I’ll grant you, many of them sound very sincere and correct. They are NOT teaching the Word of God. This is so critically important I cannot stress the imperative enough to beware of and stay away from false teachers. This section of Scripture is so important I could not quit right in the middle of it – although, again – I would sure like to have! You’re welcome! ~ XIX ~ We have examined the ‘’city’s of refuge’’ before and these were cities that were established exclusively to provide sanctuary to the man that had accidentally slain someone. We’re talking about accidental deaths where there was no malice or forethought involved. This chapter gives the examples of exactly what these were. That city of refuge was a protection for that man until a fair trial could be held. I suggest you read this chapter entirely and carefully but I will only hit the high points…. 8 And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers; 9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; ~ OBEY – OBEY – here we are again – OBEDIENCE is required to walk in His ways. Interestingly, the other three cities were never established and they were never even needed. As we considered, Israel occupied about thirty thousand square miles out of the three hundred thousand square miles they were promised by God. Further, we have few accounts of the utilization of the cities of refuge…. 14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbours landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. ~ Here is the protection of rights to property in verse fourteen; and in verse fifteen we begin a revelation of how awesome the law really was – and what it IS! Anyone that thinks they want to live under the Mosaic Law ought to take some time to find out what it really is first! You better thank God He isn’t judging you on the basis of His law. You better be able to thank God He saves you by grace. If God were saving by law we would all be hopeless. You could never measure up – in fact, you would ALREADY be dead! Law is law; we have a careless attitude towards the law these days in this affluent society. If you have enough money you don’t even THINK about the laws of this land. Well, God enforces His law and it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, too! You better view the throne of Christ as your mercy seat; and it is only available to you because Christ died for your sins! If the blood of the covenant had not been sprinkled there and if Christ had not paid the penalty then you and I would be O-U-T- OUT! The pardon for sinners today is not in keeping the law; God saves us by His remarkable, enigmatic, wonderful and merciful grace! This section of Scripture is so wonderfully and supremely important in these days FULL of false teachers in which we live…. 14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbours landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. 21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. ~ That grace is available to anyone who will come to Christ and confess they are sinners who cannot meet the requirements of the law. When you accept the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and trust Him as your Savior – then, and only then, will Christ save you. Christ is the only One Who can provide the perfect righteousness that the law demands. Will YOU finally turn to Him today; or will you continue to deny and disobey Him? In the next leg of our Spiritual Safari we’re going to examine warfare, the draft and the conditions under which a man is NOT to serve in the army. Israel had the same problems we have today. God places certain rules down that would prevent a man from going to war. If we had paid attention to God’s law – instead of talking our current advisors advice – then we simply would not be in the mess we are in today as a war-torn nation; and that’s exactly what we are ~
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:55:25 +0000
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