We are walking in today: Let No Man Steal Your Crown!!!!! Part 3
Witness idol throughout the Bible: H457 'eliyl --of nought, good for nothing, worthless; of false gods
Leviticus 19:4Turn ye not unto idols, H457 nor make to yourselvesmolten gods: I am the LORD your God.
The Torah testifies...............
Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols H457 nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 31:7For in that day every man shall cast away his idols H457 of silver,and his idols H457 of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
The writings bear witness.......................
Isaiah 31:7For in that day every man shall cast away his idols H457 of silver,and his idols H457 of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
Idolatry: Another Crown-Stealer
In the early days of the First Century, the following warnings were given to the Believers:
"...our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist; pervert], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15-16).
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [wanton; lacking restraint], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:3-4).
In the early days of the apostles, as the above passages tell us, there were some who had crept in unawares, perverting the words of Paul, and thus teaching a perverted doctrine of Grace to the people. This twisting or perverting of Paul's words continues to this day. A modern, twisted or perverted form of the Bible doctrine of Grace has turned the lives of multitudes of Born-Again, Spirit-filled Believers into wantonness, into lives that are unrestrained and unaffected by the eternal Law [Torah] of The Most High.
Not only has the doctrine of Grace been perverted today from its Biblical meaning, but many other Biblical Doctrines have been wrested, or twisted away from their original meaning. This twisting occurs when man's own ideas or opinions are added, giving the Scripture passages a different spin or paradigm, causing men to think these passages mean something different from what Scripture intends. Just as the keeping of The Most High's Sabbaths has been hidden from the people, likewise the teaching of the importance of the Second Commandment has been obscured from the people.
The Second Commandment deals with removal of idols and idolatry from the lives of The Most High's children. Today, most Believers have been taught by their Pastors and spiritual Leaders a twisted version of the apostle Paul's words, to say that idols 'are nothing.' Thus in the thinking of the majority of Believers today, the Second Commandment has no relevance. Fiveamprayer, if the Second Commandment has no relevance today, what is the purpose of the following passages? Let us look carefully at these:
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:14)
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21)
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2:14)
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20)
Fiveamprayer, if the Second commandment were not very important for us today, the above passages would not be there. In fact, most Believers today have their lives filled with idolatry, and they think they are simply Believers in good standing with The Most High, because of what their Pastors and leaders have told them. They think that idols are not relevant, and idolatry is not relevant, because of the non-Biblical notion of 'Grace' that most evangelical Pastors and teachers have embraced.
Most Pastors today are not teaching their people about the importance of avoiding idolatry. "If we commit idolatry," as they go on to explain, "We are forgiven!" Then they go on to say, "When The Most High looks at us, He does not see our sin, He sees the Blood of Yahushua." What does The Most High say about such un-Scriptural ideas? We must warn every child of The Most High that has heard such teaching, to repent, and obey the Gospel of Yahushua, which was preached unto both the New Testament Disciples, and also to the Israelites in the Wilderness.
If idols are nothing, then why are we warned to flee idolatry? Yahushua has also warned us that two of the seven churches in Revelation had one fault: they taught the people to eat things sacrificed to idols. Now, if idols are nothing, why did Yahushua mention it? It is evident that Yahushua thinks as highly of the liars that teach such teachings to His people, as He does of idolaters, as they will both be excluded from the City of The Most High! Fiveamprayer, Yahushua describes many of the modern-day Pastors and Teachers and their followers. Notice the following warning given to us by the apostle John:
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4)
The Bible tells us the Liars are those who say they know Him, but do not keep The Most High's Commandments! This should be a strong enough warning to send every sincere little one to the prayer closet, to cry out for mercy and understanding, that the Light of The Most High’s precious Word would be revealed and understood.
Stealing Your Crown: The Doctrine of Balaam
Fiveamprayer, we also see from Yahushua's message to the Seven Churches that some of them held the Doctrine, or teaching, of Balaam. Let us remember what Balaam did. The Most High had told him once not to go with Balak, but with a new and better offer in hand, Balaam decided to ask The Most High once again, just to 'confirm' things in His own mind. After all, this is a lot of money! And, it is a very great honour that Balak is offering!
"Perhaps The Most High has done a New Thing," Balaam might have mused. "Perhaps the old things are passed away, and all things are become new." So then after Balaam sought The Most High again for new confirmation, The Most High told him, "Go ahead, but say only what I tell you." And as he was going, The Most High would have killed him, if it had not been for Balaam’s ass, who saw the Messenger of The Most High in the way, ready to kill Balaam with the Sword of The Most High.
Fiveamprayer, the Believers of this generation today have not understood the Doctrine of Balaam. We have been told by our Pastors and teachers that the Doctrine of Balaam is greed, or avarice, and is a spirit of covetousness. Yes, those are certainly some of the fruits of the Doctrine of Balaam, and they can be the motives for the Doctrine of Balaam. They are not, however, the Doctrine of Balaam itself. The Doctrine of Balaam is actually simple to see in Scripture, and easy to understand, because it can be observed in the actions of Balaam.
As an overview of the Doctrine of Balaam, we can say that it is simply what Balaam did — the rejection of one part of The Most High's Eternal Word, while accepting another part. It includes the notion that, even though The Most High has said something once, we must 'hear it again' to confirm what He has said.
Yes, The Most High spoke His Commandments to us once in the 'Old' Testament, but we have been taught by our spiritual Leaders that we must see them once again in the 'New' Testament, before we obey them. As a brief illustration of its application, let us look at the following passage:
Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:3)
Let us first notice that the above passage is in the 'Old' Testament. The apostle Paul tells us that we are not under the Law, but under Grace — so that when we hear teachers wrest, or twist Paul’s words telling us this means that the Law has been abolished, we have simply ignored the above passage in Leviticus 19:3. The notion that the Law has been abolished, is a popular, but twisted meaning of Paul's words.
With that in mind, let us next notice the truth the above passage in Leviticus 19:3 reveals. Yahushua, who is the Word of The Most High, has told us three times [in the 'Old' Testament] that we are to fear, reverence, and honor, our mother and father. But we have been taught to look in only the 'New' Testament to see whether a commandment is repeated by Yahushua, or repeated by the apostles, before we obey it.
Now, notice what Yahushua said [in the 'New' Testament], in the following verses:
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death" (Matthew 15:4).
For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death" (Mark 7:10).
"Well, Yahushua repeated it, and it's in the New Testament — so it must be for us" we recite. We have not realised that we have been trained by the Doctrine of Balaam. We have been trained to split Leviticus 19:3 apart, — to keep the first half of the verse [fear every man his mother, and his father], and to discard the second half [keep MY sabbaths]. Never mind that there are fifteen occurrences of the phrase "My Sabbaths" in the Old Testament, and only three references to fearing and honouring one's father and mother!
Most would agree that the use of caution is necessary when distinguishing between what is shadow of the Old Covenant, from what is fulfillment of the Old Covenant. However, the requirement that we must hear a New Testament repeating of an Old Testament commandment, before we obey it, is a Classic example of the Doctrine of Balaam, which Yahushua mentions to us as a warning, in the Book of Revelation!
So we see how the Doctrine of Balaam is in operation in our own Congregations, today in our generation!
By embracing and teaching the Doctrine of Balaam today, most Pastors and spiritual Leaders have lost sight of the New Covenant purpose. We could say the same about the subject of idolatry, and of many others. In this writing, however, we will simply restate The Most High’s overall intention for the New Covenant. Ours is not a Covenant of compulsion to keep The Most High's eternal Commandments, but is an eternal Covenant of Love as a motive, whereby Messiah is 'birthed' within His people, and lives within them, to provide His Grace — His enablement to keep the His eternal Commandments!
We must remember, under the 'Old' Covenant, we are commanded to love The Most High, with the penalty of death as our motive for keeping His commandments. Under the 'New' Covenant, also called the Everlasting Covenant, we are not compelled to obey His Commandments. We do obey His Commandments, however, but we do so because of a new motive – one of love. Thus we see that love is stronger than death, as a motive for obedience.
We obey Him, and do what we know pleases our Lord, because we love Him; and we do so because He has given us the understanding, desire, and ability – by His Grace – His enablement, to keep His Commandments. Under the 'New' Covenant, we have been set free from bondage, and now we are to simply choose which 'Master' we will serve, and choose which Husband to whom we will be married (betrothed). We then set out to find out, to learn, and then to do, by His Grace and virtue, what is His will, and to do what pleases and delights Him.
Conclusion
We have seen that by embracing man-made doctrines, Believers today continue to live in disobedience to the eternal Law of The Most High, resulting in the potential loss of their Bridal veil — their future place as being among the Bride-Company. We have also seen that by the same disobedience, Believers face the potential loss of their crown — their future dominion and rulership with Messiah.
We have seen that Believers are exhorted to keep, and hold on to their Bridal veil, and their crown. We have seen that we can prevent any man from taking, or stealing our veil, and our crown, by guarding against embracing man-made doctrines, and by seeking carefully to walk, by Father's Grace, in obedience to the eternal Law of The Most High.
Fiveamprayer, the entire 'Old' Testament is full of details about Father's New Covenant, also called His eternal or Everlasting Covenant. It is in the 'Old' Testament that we find the details of what pleases our Master, and also the details of what He hates. It is in the 'Old' Testament that we find Father's delight, and His pleasure, all of which are tied in with the mystery of His will.
Fiveamprayer, The Most High is pleading with His redeemed people to return to Him! He desires that you would be a part of that Company who will receive the veil of Betrothal, and the crown of ruling and reigning with Him.
To accomplish this, you must be vigilant — and let no man steal your crown!
Shema selah...there is no more time for the doctines of man or Balaam!! What is true? What does His pure word say??
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