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God’s message to me: Faith and the fear of God should always be a part of leadership. Religion should never be a matter of politics. It works one way but not the other. The goal of God is to provide protection and prosperity to His people. As such it is wise for a leader to look to God for direction and to guide his leadership based on God’s direction.
When leaders begin to set up principles and call them religion, WATCH OUT. The goal of the political leader is power and the quest for personal power is hindered by recognition of God’s power. For as long there have been governments there have been men willing to lead people down the wrong path in the guise of religious values. Always remember that truth is found in the bible not in philosophy. No matter how good something sounds or how convincing the speaker, if it disagrees with the bible it will lead to destruction.
Promises: God can make you great or destroy you and the fact that He has made you great will not stop Him from destroying you if you turn from Him and by your action lead others astray.
Commands: Turning from God is an act of evil but, intentionally turning the hearts of others from God and leading them into the sin of worshiping false gods is worse. Jeroboam turned most of Israel to false worship in order to secure political power and God promised to destroy his house for that sin. He also promised that the false priests and false prophets of those false religions would be killed on their own alter.
Timeless principles: Leaders fear what they cannot control. The Israelites served God and looked to the temple in Jerusalem as their most holy site. Jeroboam felt that they would turn against him and back to Rohoboam if they continued to go to the temple so he set up idols and strengthened worship in false gods so that the people would look to false religion outside of Jerusalem and not have a chance of their religion guiding their politics.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Understanding the bible and what God truly intended for us is the only antidote to political correctness. Politically correct is just the current standard that politicians can convince people is right. They will use all the right words to make it seem like it is of God but they will lead you straight to hell.
Freedom of choice sounds like a good thing but amounts to murder. Euthanasia seems like a dignified act of love but amounts to patricide(killing your parents). Population control is the political effort to avoid starvation, poverty and other evils brought on by overpopulation. It also goes by the name of Eugenics, National Socialism(the Nazi Party), Holocaust, Forced abortion, extermination of the weak or “defective”. In other words, all the evils that led to the worst and darkest days of the last century. Think “ethnic cleansing.”
It sounds great when people say we should give back to the community but the community didn’t give you anything to begin with. God did. Charity is wonderful, socialism is destructive. Remember this basic principle. Any beautiful thing that God creates, Satan will try to adopt, pervert and undermine. The best lie is the one hidden in the truth. Forced charity is anything but charitable. Volunteering isn’t an act of selflessness if you don’t have a choice not to volunteer. Sharing the wealth is charity, tax and spend is theft.
more to learn for in-depth study: Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Acted foolishly in his first big decision as king. He could have kept all of Israel united by following the advice of those his father had chosen as advisers. God intended to break up the kingdom and so Rehoboam listened to his personal friends instead.
Those who had a rough time under Solomon asked to be treated better and that would have been wise. Rehoboam was not wise and his friends even less so and he listened to the advice of his friends who said that he should be aggressive. Faced with those who wanted more fairness he promised less and all of Israel, except the tribe of Judah in which the capital lay, turned against him. When he sent out the tax collector to demand the money he expected to receive as king the people killed the tax collector. The king was left to run away and the rest of Israel appointed Jeroboam as their king.
tomorrow: First Kings 14-16
Showing posts with label false religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label false religion. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Deuteronomy 10-13
God’s message to me: Certain religious traditions, many of them Christian, have, in the past, made a habit of incorporating the practices of other religions and cultures into their own system to reach others and out of a desire to improve their own worship. While the Goals are lofty the method is all wrong.
God isn’t honored by worship in the style of false religions no matter how beautiful or uplifting their ceremonies may be. These religions were abominations to Him before and their practices are still abominations now, even if they are done in His name.
Promises: God provides us the good of the land and does not hold it back. Eating meat wasn’t just a religious practice reserved for temples, wild game and cattle slaughtered for meat but not for sacrifice could be killed, butchered and eaten at home.
Commands: Do not do anything which follows after false Gods. Here is a command opposite of what we do and think. When conquering the enemy, destroy all temples, religious art, religious artifacts, religious icons and writings, worship sites, alters and anything else having to do with the false religion. Do not adopt their practices no matter how good they seem. Do not use their religious sites no matter how beautiful they are. Do not salvage their artifacts and paraphernalia no matter how nice or valuable it seems to be. I’ve said it before, the Taliban made us all look bad when they had the guts to destroy the giant Buddahs in the mountain on their land. The followed their religion and, despite the fact that our religion teaches the same thing, we condemned them for it.
Timeless principles: Why do we go to church? That question could develop a lot of study and detail but the basics start here. God set aside places which where to his name where people could go to worship and bring sacrifices. The Tabernacle and the local temples of the tribes were the proper place for the religious practices. Religious ceremonies like sacrifices that were held elsewhere were considered worship to false Gods, with only rare exceptions(e.g. Passover). As we see in the teachings of the New Testament, He caused His people to gather at certain locations to ensure what God calls “the fellowship of the saints”.
Having a place of gathering causes believers to come together for mutual strengthening rather than living apart and unconnected. The Way of God is not a solitary path but one of community. Each member of the church has certain abilities, talents and gifts to bring to the table and only together can they be effective. No one has all the abilities within themselves and that is because God wants us to work together.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Signs and wonders cannot replace knowledge of the bible. Chapter 13 describes clearly the idea of being told to do something you shouldn’t. God never contradicts Himself. Let’s create an example based on the chapter.
Pastor Christian Pilgrim of Christian Heritage Ministries has a Television ministry that has become a worldwide phenomenon. In two years he went from a local congregation of 50 members to a world wide TV ministry to over 1.5 billion viewers and has safely secured TV ratings better than any other Sunday broadcast. Reverend Pilgrim comes on the air on the first Sunday in January and says that he has received the world of the Lord. He says that God told him everyone who truly loves God and wishes to go to heaven should purchase a small statue of Jesus from his ministry for $1 and pray to that from now on. He also says that they should not do so now. Instead, he says that God will provide proof that what he says is true. He says that God has promised a great wonder, to prove Himself and that on the first Saturday in February it will snow in Tahiti. If the sign does not come then he is false.
Just under a month later, for no reason anyone can explain, the tourists in Tahiti wake up to find the temperature has dropped to 30 degrees Fahrenheit and there is 3 inches of snow on the beaches. The next morning the preacher demands everyone recognize God’s sign and worship the statuettes of Jesus.
God forbade us to make statues of Him or to Him. He would not let the Israelites see anything but a pillar of cloud or fire so that they would have nothing to make statues or images of. God commanded us to never worship any such image. Given the sign of the snow compared against the Word of God, how would you worship? Deuteronomy 13:3-4 should give you your answer.
more to learn for in-depth study: Isn’t it harsh to say, Kill the false prophet? Consider this. for the past year you have been hounded by a local hoodlum. He hasn’t much power and his gang is of about 8 people but he has become a criminal mastermind in that he never seems to get charged, let alone arrested for his crimes. You see him, on average, twice a month. You don’t intend to but, it’s impossible to avoid him completely in the small city in which you live. Every time he sees you he tries to kill you. What do you do?
The false prophet is trying to lead you from the path of life eternal in Jesus Christ and in the presence of Almighty God to the eternal death and damnation of separation from God and eternal torment in the lake of fire. Left to his own devices, Rev. Pilgrim will do whatever it takes to keep his place of power and wealth and lead much of the world to Hell. Would you preserve the life of someone who wiped out 1/6 of the worlds population? What about someone who led 3,000,000 to the gas chambers, that’s about 10% of the US Population. 37,000 people is about .01 percent of the population of the United States. Is it reasonable to assume that atheists have led 1/100 of one percent of the population to hell? What would you want to see happen to someone who killed the entire population of Minot, ND as an act of terrorism. The population of Minot is less than 37,000 according to the 2000 census.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 14-17
For the record, I'm feeling a lot better today and hope to finish these studies for you by the end of the day so that we are caught up for the week and continue in the morning from where you should already be.
God isn’t honored by worship in the style of false religions no matter how beautiful or uplifting their ceremonies may be. These religions were abominations to Him before and their practices are still abominations now, even if they are done in His name.
Promises: God provides us the good of the land and does not hold it back. Eating meat wasn’t just a religious practice reserved for temples, wild game and cattle slaughtered for meat but not for sacrifice could be killed, butchered and eaten at home.
Commands: Do not do anything which follows after false Gods. Here is a command opposite of what we do and think. When conquering the enemy, destroy all temples, religious art, religious artifacts, religious icons and writings, worship sites, alters and anything else having to do with the false religion. Do not adopt their practices no matter how good they seem. Do not use their religious sites no matter how beautiful they are. Do not salvage their artifacts and paraphernalia no matter how nice or valuable it seems to be. I’ve said it before, the Taliban made us all look bad when they had the guts to destroy the giant Buddahs in the mountain on their land. The followed their religion and, despite the fact that our religion teaches the same thing, we condemned them for it.
Timeless principles: Why do we go to church? That question could develop a lot of study and detail but the basics start here. God set aside places which where to his name where people could go to worship and bring sacrifices. The Tabernacle and the local temples of the tribes were the proper place for the religious practices. Religious ceremonies like sacrifices that were held elsewhere were considered worship to false Gods, with only rare exceptions(e.g. Passover). As we see in the teachings of the New Testament, He caused His people to gather at certain locations to ensure what God calls “the fellowship of the saints”.
Having a place of gathering causes believers to come together for mutual strengthening rather than living apart and unconnected. The Way of God is not a solitary path but one of community. Each member of the church has certain abilities, talents and gifts to bring to the table and only together can they be effective. No one has all the abilities within themselves and that is because God wants us to work together.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Signs and wonders cannot replace knowledge of the bible. Chapter 13 describes clearly the idea of being told to do something you shouldn’t. God never contradicts Himself. Let’s create an example based on the chapter.
Pastor Christian Pilgrim of Christian Heritage Ministries has a Television ministry that has become a worldwide phenomenon. In two years he went from a local congregation of 50 members to a world wide TV ministry to over 1.5 billion viewers and has safely secured TV ratings better than any other Sunday broadcast. Reverend Pilgrim comes on the air on the first Sunday in January and says that he has received the world of the Lord. He says that God told him everyone who truly loves God and wishes to go to heaven should purchase a small statue of Jesus from his ministry for $1 and pray to that from now on. He also says that they should not do so now. Instead, he says that God will provide proof that what he says is true. He says that God has promised a great wonder, to prove Himself and that on the first Saturday in February it will snow in Tahiti. If the sign does not come then he is false.
Just under a month later, for no reason anyone can explain, the tourists in Tahiti wake up to find the temperature has dropped to 30 degrees Fahrenheit and there is 3 inches of snow on the beaches. The next morning the preacher demands everyone recognize God’s sign and worship the statuettes of Jesus.
God forbade us to make statues of Him or to Him. He would not let the Israelites see anything but a pillar of cloud or fire so that they would have nothing to make statues or images of. God commanded us to never worship any such image. Given the sign of the snow compared against the Word of God, how would you worship? Deuteronomy 13:3-4 should give you your answer.
more to learn for in-depth study: Isn’t it harsh to say, Kill the false prophet? Consider this. for the past year you have been hounded by a local hoodlum. He hasn’t much power and his gang is of about 8 people but he has become a criminal mastermind in that he never seems to get charged, let alone arrested for his crimes. You see him, on average, twice a month. You don’t intend to but, it’s impossible to avoid him completely in the small city in which you live. Every time he sees you he tries to kill you. What do you do?
The false prophet is trying to lead you from the path of life eternal in Jesus Christ and in the presence of Almighty God to the eternal death and damnation of separation from God and eternal torment in the lake of fire. Left to his own devices, Rev. Pilgrim will do whatever it takes to keep his place of power and wealth and lead much of the world to Hell. Would you preserve the life of someone who wiped out 1/6 of the worlds population? What about someone who led 3,000,000 to the gas chambers, that’s about 10% of the US Population. 37,000 people is about .01 percent of the population of the United States. Is it reasonable to assume that atheists have led 1/100 of one percent of the population to hell? What would you want to see happen to someone who killed the entire population of Minot, ND as an act of terrorism. The population of Minot is less than 37,000 according to the 2000 census.
tomorrow: Deuteronomy 14-17
For the record, I'm feeling a lot better today and hope to finish these studies for you by the end of the day so that we are caught up for the week and continue in the morning from where you should already be.
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