The Danger Of False Prophets - Jeremiah 28:15

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. - Jeremiah 28:15

    I was watching the TNT production of “Waco;” the story of the Branch Davidians and David Koresh. Just like many other issues in history, there seems to be two contrasting points of view as to how the events leading to the deaths and destruction of the compound transpired. I will not entertain such arguments. My point here is to address those who claim that they have literally and audibly heard God’s voice speaking to them as Koresh claimed. I know that this subject is going to be both a slippery slope and thin ice at the very same time; that’s why I have chosen it for this post.
    We have been instructed by the Bible and many of the greatest commentators in history to be very skeptical when considering the claims of those who insist that God has made a new revelation available exclusively to them. “But I fear . . . if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” - 2 Corinthians 11:3-4. Lest we forget the words of Jesus Christ Himself in Revelation - “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” - Revelation 22:18-19.
    Does God speak to us audibly? Can we actually “hear” Him speak to us? This is indeed a very, very slippery slope! But the Bible does assure us - God has indeed spoken to us in the past through His prophets.  “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” -Hebrews 1:1-2.
But does he now choose to speak directly to us? And which of us does He choose to speak to? Are the words of Christ in Revelation now moot because God has, after all these years, chosen to make new revelation? To whom? Even the most star-struck and naive individual must be able to see the speciousness of such claims. And when they don’t, they have false prophets like David Koresh (even his name was a lie!), Jim Jones, and others to convince them otherwise.
    Let us make no mistakes here: God can do as He pleases, in any century, in any era. If He were to choose to speak to one of us today at His behest, He could and would do so! However, according to Holy Scripture - the canon of Scripture is now closed. There will be no new revelation by God to anyone . . . period. So when someone comes forth with the claim that God has spoken directly to them and commanded them to perform some specific act, especially an act that lacks common decency and godliness, we would do well to proceed with extreme caution. John the Apostle gives us a true “litmus test” when we hear such audacious claims -
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1.
    We are all aware of God’s standards as given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The “shalls and shall nots” were and still are literally written in stone. God will not communicate a desire to anyone to defile the holiness of His laws. It would go against His very nature and attributes. So neither should we let some self-appointed prophet nor the ever fluctuating laws of society convince us God’s laws no longer apply! “You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 18:4.
    The tragedies of Waco, Jonestown, and other forays into Satanic manipulation have left us with a bitter lesson: we must carefully weigh the words of such men to see if they match the ordinances of God. When the two diverge, we must always trust and follow God’s true and inerrant word before that of men. The prophet, Jeremiah warns us of these wolves in sheep’s clothing - “Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.’” - Jeremiah 28:15. Moreover, God Himself has witnessed against these harbingers of deceit - “For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.” - Jeremiah 29:9.    Lord, we pray that You grant us the spiritual and practical discernment to know Your true word from the falsehoods of the liar.

Which Law? - Acts 5:29

“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’”
 - Acts 5:29

    As Christians, we are held to a higher standard than the latest laws of our legislators and decisions of our activist judges. In fact, for a true Christian, it is as difficult for us to navigate the twists and turns of human law as it is to chase down a chicken in a barnyard. Our words are often held against us as are our resolutions to avoid conforming to the world. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” - Romans 12:2.
    So the immediate question arises: to whom then do we owe our obedience, God or man? A very basic primer in truth is that we all need to grasp the importance of discerning the eternal difference between the laws of man and those of the one true God. The following are a list of the characteristics of man’s laws and a list of God’s -
    Man’s Laws are: temporary, unreliable, changing, imperfect, arbitrary, discriminatory,
capricious, malleable, and corruptible.
    God’s Laws are: Eternal, Wise, Unchanging, Perfect, Righteous, Just, True, Holy, and Incorruptible. Obviously, these two lists are not exhaustive.
    Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of God’s law is the freedom and liberty man enjoys in it. With men, we are free to do as we please; with God we are free to do as we should.
“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” - 1 Peter 2:15-16.
    With man’s law there are always the traps of subjectivity and relativity, quaking and shifting beneath our feet like a viscous mud-pit, without a solid anchor point of surety. While God’s law provides us with a rudder to steer us to the rock of His will - His will, not ours, and to a foundation like no other. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” - Matthew 6:10.
    The rock of God’s holy will provides us with the liberty to stand for truth and righteousness in the face of doubt and ambiguity. His will provides us with the liberty to resist temptation and to shun iniquity. This rock is a mighty fortress indeed! “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness . . .” - Ephesians 6:14.
    From the moment God dictated His commandments to Moses over 3,000 years ago, His law has remained unchanged. Murder is still murder; theft is still theft; falsehood is still falsehood, and sexual sin is still sexual sin. Man’s law changes as the breeze blows. What was wrong yesterday suddenly becomes right today and visa versa, as it suits us. As often as we can change our minds, we do so. Therefore, to seek the North Star of truth and righteousness we need to stand before the face of God, not an activist judge. Man’s law is born from a humanist agenda based upon political expediency, with an eye on accommodation and inclusion rather than upon the will of God. And while many of these activist judges may believe they are like gods, rest assured - they are merely imperfect men whose self-estimation exceeds both their discernment and the truth. “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” - Galatians 1:10. “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men . . . .” - Ephesians 6:5-7.
    May God grant us the ability to obey the laws of man as long as they do not insist that we break His holy law. And may He grant us the wisdom to know the difference and to comply with His will above all others.               

The Murder Of Innocents - Jeremiah 2:34

Also on your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, but plainly on all these things. - Jeremiah 2:34

    Anyone who has ever read any of my posts knows that I seldom mince words. I would like to attribute that trait to my age. Unfortunately, I would be misleading you if I tried to impress that upon you. Still, the truth remains the truth, and from it, I will not wander. It seems as if the biggest cry from the secular progressives today is that it is wrong to deport a child but it is perfectly fine to abort one. The convolutions of atheist extremism continue.  I say “atheist extremism” because you cannot believe in the holy God of the Bible and support abortion or even the right to choose one!
    The shedding of innocent blood remains a sin against which God’s holy wrath will not be withheld. “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood . . . .”- Proverbs 6:16-17. To one who has decided he or she holds the right to destroy human life, let them be cautious in both their discernment and action: God has already spoken twice on the issue of murder; He will not speak again. “You shall not murder.” - Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17.
    Innocent blood. How much more innocent can the blood of an unborn child be? A child conceived by intention, accident, or crime is still innocent blood and no man or woman has the right to shed its blood! A human life is not about convenience or expediency; it is about God’s will. And to violate or transgress God’s will is a sin. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” - James 4:17.
    Not only have we decided to commit this atrocious act, we no longer even hide the fact. We point to a horribly and erroneously contrived Constitutional “right” to murder our own flesh and blood and insist that our courts, judges, hospitals, clinics, doctors, and nurses become accomplices in our sins. A Constitutional right? To murder?!
    As fallible human beings, we cannot devise or imagine what is right in our own hearts. There is but one standard of righteousness and it is God’s. “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You.” - Psalm 5:4. The standard for holiness is God’s and God’s alone. He will not share His throne with mankind.
    And what of those who have committed the heinous act of shedding innocent blood? Because God is a God of holiness, wrath, love, and mercy, He is faithful to forgive us our transgressions if we repent and turn from our sins. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9. Our good and gracious God is always willing to forgive us and longs for us to return to Him in humility and contriteness. “‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’” - Joel 2:12. We can be forgiven for the things we have done wrong. For while the wages of sin is death, there is no automatic death sentence for sin if we but repent. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” - Acts 3:19. But with the promise of forgiveness also comes the warning - “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24.
    When we come to our senses about the terrible sin of infanticide and seek humble submission to the Lord let our words echo those of Israel - “We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” - Jeremiah 3:25.
    The murder of innocents must stop in our lifetime. Let us pray for the will of God to rule in our hearts.

We Are The Evidence - John 1:3

   
 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. - John 1:3

    A thought occurred to me the other day and I wondered why it seems that unbelievers never seem to think in this way. As I looked around the living room, I took a minor inventory of all the things that were occupying space there. From the ceiling texture to the tile floors, the walls, the tv, the unopened letters on the counter, the newspaper, the couch, the coffee table and everything else in that room. Everything in that room from the roof to the floor had both a designer and a fabricator, everything!   
     I went to the window and looked out at the street where I spied my mailbox, the asphalt street, the telephone poles, my driveway, my car. Again, taking this issue to the point of absurd redundancy: every man-made thing I saw was . . . made by man! In fact, the only things that weren’t made by man were those elements of the natural environment, i.e, the trees, the grass, the clouds, the sunshine; all the things that were just as tangible and as observable as the man-made things. All of which brings me to this question: why can’t unbelievers sense a designer and creator in the elements of nature? “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”- Colossians 1:16
    It’s only a reasonable extension of logic. If every man-made artifact has a designer and a maker then why do we draw the line at nature? If you walked into my home, saw a beautiful Gauguin print hanging on the wall and asked me where I got it and I told you that I blinked my eyes and just appeared there, you would think I was a lunatic. How much crazier do the unbelievers sound when they dismiss the idea of God? “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.’” - Psalm 14:1.
    Everything from the furthest reaches of our universe to the center of the earth and all that is in between was designed and created by none other than God Himself. There really isn’t any good reason to doubt the facts as described in the Bible. Unbelievers simply “choose” to reject the idea that our intelligent designer is God!  “. . .  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart . . .” - Ephesians 4:18.
    The prevailing attitude for many is their uncertainty (when it’s not outright denial) of God. And as simple-minded as it is, one of the main reasons for their doubt or denial is that they cannot see God. Well, I didn’t see the men who were responsible for building my car but I’m 100% certain that it was both designed and built by men. Why? Because it’s sitting in my driveway! This is the evidence: that it exists! No, it doesn’t take rocket science. What lies at the base of this belief is much more powerful than science. It’s faith. And faith like this is of the utmost importance because of what man does when he refuses to acknowledge God.“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting . . .” - Romans 1:28. Unbelievers will persecute the faithful unto death if they are not restrained rather than admit they recognize the one true God of creation. Our scientists are not shallow minded men and women; they are bright and intelligent, yet their deception runs deep because to admit the existence of God implies an accountability to the One who has created the universe. Men such as Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson carry their condescending and arrogant hatred for God on their sleeves. Yet they too know in their darkened hearts that God exists, but they hate the idea of subservience and obedience to something or someone they cannot view through a telescope or a microscope! “. . . because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse . . ." - Romans 1:19-20.
    And in their intentionally flawed reasoning, they would be correct: we do owe the Holy God of creation our very lives. We owe Him reverence, obedience, awe, and glory. The evidence of God’s existence is you and I, and based on the traditional definition of empirical (i.e., observable and experiential) it doesn’t get any more empirical than that! We are the evidence of God’s existence. Again, we are the evidence because we exist.
    Two of the greatest reasons we can reliably believe in the one true living God is the intricacy with which the liars have woven their whole cloth theories for denying His existence. Anyone who has ever known a liar understands that their lie is never simple; it is always intricate and complex. So, we must understand that whenever a liar has a story to tell, their details or “narrative,” as it is referred to today are so convoluted it would be hard for water to follow the course.  But such stories must have a beginning, a first cause; their’s has none. Our narrative does -  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1.
    Second, we look at the law of problem-solving credited to the English Franciscan monk, William of Occam, also known as “Occam’s Razor.” The concept states when two or more hypotheses compete with one another, the one with the least complexity is usually correct. God is primo causam - “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Genesis 1:27.
    May we always put our faith in the one true and holy Father and Author of creation, His only begotten Son, Jesus; and His Holy Spirit.