Where have they gone?

 Where have they gone?

 

In the Gospel of Matthew 9:33-34, we have an account of Jesus healing a man unable to speak.  The story is told like this: “As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him.  And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke.”  The Scripture states that this man was oppressed by a demon.  Webster’s Dictionary makes this statement about the word oppress: cause (someone) to feel distressed, anxious, or uncomfortable: he was oppressed by some secret worry.  If we look at the definition for demon, you will find something like this:  an evil spirit or devil, esp. one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell.  

 

 Are we to assume that all people who are mute have a demon that is oppressing them?  The Scripture does not say anything like that.  A person who would imply such would have little or no understanding of Scripture.  But we do have this account of Jesus healing, or setting free, by casting out the demon that made this man mute.

 

In the book of Luke, chapter 4:31-37, we have an account of a man in Capernaum, a city of Galilee, who had the spirit of an unclean demon.  While Jesus was teaching, this man said, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are – the Holy One of God.”  Jesus said, “Be silent and come out of Him!”  And the story goes like this: the demon threw the man down amid all the people Jesus was teaching and came out of him.

 

It is clear that the demon living in this man knew who Jesus was, and the crowd had no understanding of who was talking to them.  The Scripture states that the people were all amazed at his authority and power.   So, it seems that demons live in people, and they are from the spiritual realm, and they have a clear understanding of who Jesus is.  If you look down in the same chapter to verse 41, you will see that this happened many times when the demons came out of people and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

 

In the 12th chapter of Matthew, verses 22-32, we have an account of Jesus healing a demon–possessed man who was blind and mute.  The Scripture states very clearly that Jesus healed him.  Now, the religious guys at that time were called Pharisees, and they were telling the people that Jesus was a demon, and that was how he was casting out demons.  You can read for yourself Jesus’ reply to that nonsense  

 

 So far, we have seen demon-possessed people, but in Matthew  8:28-32, we see Jesus healing two demon–possessed men.  Earlier, I defined an oppressed person. Now, let us look at the word possessed.  The dictionary states this about the word possessed;

 being possessed) (of a demon or spirit, esp. an evil one) have complete power over (someone) and be manifested through their speech or actions: she was possessed by the Devil.        

 

This sounds like the demon has total power over the one it possesses.  Once more, we must pay attention to the fact that the demons knew Jesus.  Verse 29 states the following: “And behold, they cried out, 'What have you to do with us, O Son of God?  Have you come to torment us before the time?”  It also seems that they know that a time is coming for Jesus to come back and that they will be judged and enter into damnation.  Once more, that is a truth that some people who call themselves Christians do not understand, and if they do, then they do not believe it to be true.

 

The Scriptures are full of accounts of demons and unclean spirits; in I Timothy 4:1-3, we see that some will depart from the faith.  “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”  When do the later times begin, where untruth is preached?  Are we living in such times?

 

So I go back to the title, “Where have they all gone”?  Why do we not see or hear about demons in our day?   When was the last sermon you heard preached in your church on demons?  When was the last time you saw someone with a demon and you or others in the name of Jesus cast out the demon?  Have we gone so far that we no longer believe in demons?  Have we begun to call them by new names, names that fit better into our modern times?  If we, you and I, were confronted with a demon living in someone we loved, would we have the belief to cast it out?  Have they just gone away, or are we so lost that it is easier to live among the demons?  To have them in our Churches, and our homes, and not run to Jesus, the only one who has authority over them?  Many may be oppressed; I believe the Scriptures make clear that we are in a war, and we need to get dressed in the armor that is listed in Ephesians 6:13-18.  

 

As you can see, I have a problem, I do not know where they went, but I believe their still with us.  I believe they live in our governments, in our schools, in our churches, and in our homes.  I believe many professors in our university are being controlled by demons.  The hardest battle to win is when you do not believe you have an enemy.  What would happen if our pastors began to call things what God calls them?   Would the demons fear?  In James 2:19, we are given this account of what the demons fear: “You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe and shudder!”  

 

Is our problem with demons the same problem we have with the Word of God? It just does not fit into our society.  So, we sit and let men and women who are evil steal from us our rights and the freedoms of our children and grandchildren.  We have unbelief, and so we do not pray, and we do not confront, and the reason is, we have left our first love.  Do we have a worldview that is closer to demons than it is to God’s word?

 

Let me share an example:  Focus on the Family Action published the following: “Last year, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to acknowledge that preborn babies feel pain, and to protect them from agony as much as possible during the killing process.  Not even a dog or a cat would be “put down” legally in such a painful way.  As drafted, the bill would provide women seeking an abortion a brochure stating that there was “substantial evidence” that her baby would experience pain during the abortion.  The House voted in favor of the bill by a vote of 250 – 162, but a two-thirds majority was required for its approval due to the rules of debate.”  And you ask, “Where have they gone?” No one but a demon from hell would put the value of a dog or cat above the value of a child.  But in the church today, many “love” their dogs and cats more than the child next door.  If you and I would just believe the Scriptures, in Ephesians 6:12, we are told, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”   Our battle is not with people.  And I know that a follower of Christ cannot be possessed, but they will encounter spiritual forces of evil.  Just ask Kim Davis, who f

 

“Where have they gone?” Open your newspaper, watch TV, listen to the marketplace.  They are all around us, and they live in many of us. We learned to call them new names, and we have tried to come up with drugs to cope with them.  I believe they are in our Churches, in our Families, in our Governments; they are the unseen, and they are unacknowledged, and they are doing what the Scripture said they would do.  We are told that they are liars, murderers, deceivers, that they have one goal: to steal and destroy.  So, I am asking each of you where they have gone, for this, I know they have gone from the mouths of most of our preachers and most of the teachers.  I also know they are not to be feared but confronted, with the authority of Jesus Christ.

 

I ask my very dear friend Larry, who was our pastor for a very short time in we moved from that area, for his thoughts.  These are some of them; I love the stories of Jesus healing and casting out demons from many in the NT. What I love most is that in many cases, it was not only to show His authority over them but also to restore a person who was suffering greatly. He loves hurting people so much. How did the demons possess these people? Sin? Hatred of God?  I’m not sure. Maybe each situation was different. I personally have only seen this happen once in my life. It was wild, to say the least. This person came to one of our services in Mexico. He came forward during the invitation and began vomiting and falling to the floor. He was evil-looking. Then all of a sudden, he was filled with joy and looked totally different. I can’t explain it except that Jesus restored this man to sanity and saved him. 

 

In closing this paper on where they have gone, in no way am I suggesting we start looking under the pews for demons.  When you read about people who kill young children and people they do not know, are they not controlled by the devil?

 

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Jethro's Advice

 

Exodus 18:1-12

 

September 13, 2024

 

Jethro's Advice

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),  and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).  Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.  And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.  Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.  And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

 

Have you wondered why Jethro said her two sons with her and not your two sons?  Me too, and the Scripture does not shed light on this subject.  Moses's first encounter with his father-in-law since leaving for Egypt was very warm, and yet Scripture tells us not one thing about how he reacted toward his wife and sons.  One must understand that Moses was following the customs of the time he lived.  It had nothing to do with the joy of having his wife and sons back.  He showed great respect for his father-in-law, and he listened to his counsel.

 

But let us look for applications for our walk with the Lord.  Scripture tells us to honor our elders; in Leviticus 19:32, "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”  We have this command in 1 Peter 5:5, “ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  If you do not do this, you will find it very hard, maybe impossible, to show honor to God.  1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

 

Moses gave an account of what God had done for him and the people of Israel, making Jethro understand that the God of Israel was the only God worthy of worship.  Once more, an area where many of us do not proclaim what God has done for us.  But that also is a commandment from our Lord, as you go tell what God has done for you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Israel Defeats Amalek

 Exodus 17:8-16

September 10, 2024

Israel Defeats Amalek

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  So, Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So, Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, ^“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

 

AI Overview

The Bible verse "a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" appears in Ecclesiastes 4:12. The verse can be interpreted in a few ways: 

 

·      Strength in numbers: Three people are stronger together than an individuals. 

 

·      Defense: Two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. 

 

·      Unity: God's people are stronger together than they are as individuals. 

 

·      Need for each other: People need each other.

As I read this account of Moses, the verses from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 came into my mind, God could have given Moses Victory by holding his hands up, but instead, God wants to show us how much better we are when we work together.  “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

But as I began to look, there was a lot of Bible instruction on coming alongside another person to help or encourage.  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(Hebrews 10:24-25)

I was sure glad that God did this; I do not want to think about my life without Jan; Genesis 2:18, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So many verses, what if the follower of Christ obeys this verse in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

         From the Back Porch,

         Bob Rice

Water from the Rock

 

Exodus 17:1-7

September 9, 2024

 Water from the Rock

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”  But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  So, Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.  And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?

Several Scriptures tell us 600,000 plus Israelite men crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, and this is what “Got Questions” had to say on the subject.  “This phrasing is traditionally interpreted to mean just over 600,000 adult men, implying a total population about four times that size, or 2.4 million.”  And you have a small group of 1200 that shows up on Sunday, and they grumble, and by doing so, you wonder why God has put this burden on you?  I bet they have not planned a stoning party for you.

Clearly, they had a trust problem, and its focus was Moses, but it was God they refused to trust.  Moses is just like a pastor who knows he is not a hired hand, and his only Master is God, not a bunch of adults acting more like two-year-olds who have ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see what the Spirit is doing.  That was the problem for Moses and Aaron, and not one thing has changed.  The culture of today is very different than then, but the hearts of people have not changed. As I stated in an earlier paper, I fight my desire to grumble; it is clear that we do not want God or man to mess with our plans.  

Now here is the problem, God loves you too much, not to mess with your plans, His plan for your life is not about you but Him.  He, the Truth, He is Love, and He is the one who saw you before you were and numbered your day.  Why then would you want to follow the folly of a culture that is built on lies and deception?  Jesus had this to say to us in John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Any other claim is a lie, for Truth has spoken.  

Note: From Bob, Following Jesus is not easy. You will find that often those you love reject you, and often they call you names like a religious person, and that is one of the nicer ones.  I have found that the enemy of my soul brings up, even from childhood, my many sins.  He loves me to confess things about my person that are not true, like I am dumb, and when that does not work, he tells me I’m too smart to buy into the Truth in the Scriptures.  His favorite is that you deserve, and when that does not work, he talks about your little worth, but he is a liar and the Father of lies.  So, I’ve learned, when I heard those messages, to run to Jesus, for it is not from Him, and I am redeemed, and God has stated that He does not remember the sins of His saints that are confessed.  So that only leaves one source, the devil and his demons.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

God's Faithfulness

 

 

Exodus 16:13-36

September 8, 2024

 

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, dew lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.  When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”  And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.  But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.  And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”  But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.  Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,  he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”  So, they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.  And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?  See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”  So, the people rested on the seventh day.

Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”  As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.  The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

I had no understanding of Omer, but the Lord commanded them to gather as much as each person needed to eat.  I read two sources that say it would be about two quarts per individual.  When I was young, we had, I believe, what was called the blue law, that stores were not open, and those that were could not open till 1:00 pm.  No adult beverages were sold on Sunday, and many other things.  

It was designed to get people to attend Church, to have a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.  One big problem, it is not their present God, it is their heart.  Today, Sunday, is not even a day of rest; it is just one more day of the week.  For many years, Sunday was the day we attended our local church, but after Church services, I came home and did whatever was needed, mowed the lawn, washed the car, and I was acting like my neighbors who never attended Church but for weddings and funerals.   The bad thing about sharing a conviction is that God convicted me that I was not having a day of solemn rest, and that it was a bad testimony to my neighbors.  If He has not told you to do so, then go about your Sunday as you have been doing.  

Many of the things God gave Israel as commands were to help them. God, being all-knowing, knew we needed a day to rest; many of the problems in our health are that people are not getting the rest they need.  When it comes to your Spirit, it needs to be able to sit in a quiet room and seek the Lord for counsel on many things that have us all worried and unsettled.

For forty years, the people of Israel wandered around in the wilderness because of unbelief.  Your life may seem as if you can’t get to a place of contentment and peace. Could it be that you are not ready to trust God with your life? You do not have to stay there; just ask Jesus to take over. He is waiting for you to seek Him, listen, and do as He guides you out of the wilderness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Bread from Heaven

 

 Exodus 16:1-12 

September 7, 2024

 

Bread from Heaven

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.  And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,  and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.  On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”  So, Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,  and in the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us? “And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”  And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.  And the Lord said to Moses,  “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight, you shall eat meat, and in the morning, you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

 

This was very convicting and easy for the writer to apply to his life, and, to be honest, you also are a grumbler.  I’m going to list some of the things I’ve grumbled about when traffic seems to be going 20 miles under the speed limit, when people run red lights, do not seem to know how to turn, and sit waiting for the light to change.  Are sit at a red light when it changes because they are on a cell phone.  You may do some of that also; we as a people want things to go according to our plan.  We grumble at church when the lights are so low you cannot see the print on your Bible, or the lights are so low, but the stage is fully lit, more like a concert than worship.  What about when one of you has a memory issue, and things get hard for you, spending a lot of time looking for things put in the worry place?  And I’m sure you never gripe about those public servants, who are a lot like us, who forget that they were sent to represent us, the people, and whose focus is on more power and wealth.  

It was easy for me to hear God speaking to me in this, my wilderness is very different than the people of Israel, they were three days without water, and then it was bitter, and it had been a good while and they wanted meat to eat, and bread, do they cry out to God who they worshiping after seeing what He did to the army of Egypt, no they grumbled against Moses and Aaron.   But Moses made it clear, and the same is true today, it is God we are grumbling against, not the men who lead us.  

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Perils of Power

 

 

The following is a paper I wrote back in 2010, once again it time I should be a sleep, at 1:30 I had a coughing attack and was not able to sleep.  Before going to bed, I ran across a paper I had written in 2010, nothing has changed.  I’ve come to this conclusion, when we the family of God humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face, God will heal our land. 

 

Good morning, it began with someone calling the house at 5:50 a.m. and no answer when I awoke from a deep sleep.  It has been very windy so far but the sun is breaking through the clouds and I’ve been reading on page 1427 of (The Complete Works of O.C.) title Perils of Power.  This thought came to mind; the perils of power are taking place in our Congress?  Jan and I were having a discussion on this and she thought not, because many of them are not Christian, but as Oswald states, it is God who places a person in a position of honor, as he did Pharaoh.  King Nebuchadnezzar, came into my mind and how God gave him great power till the terrible peril of pride entered his heart, and God hardened his heart and only after seven years of eating grass did God extend grace and bring him back to rule.  It was at this point, we see a man who understood that his power was a gift, and that the God who gave the gift, was more than able to remove it at His will.  

 

Chambers used this line, “The inevitable result of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.”  That quote reminded me of what Pastor Joe, the missionary told me as a young Christian, “Sin is akin to darkness, at first it is so dark, but the longer you stay in the darkness your eyes adjust, and before long it is not dark.”  Is that what has happened to the Congress, do they not even know that they are sinning; when they, lie, steal, and break the public trust with the very people who sent them to Congress to represent them?

 

Just Pondering,

 

Bob

 

If you do not have the book “The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers” I am adding the article.

 

Perils of Power (Jeremiah 23:1-3; Luke 22:24-27)

 

Temporal power is merely the manifestation of a Divine purpose, leaving ample room for the prostitution of that power.  “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”  When once a man is placed in a position of honor under God’s providence and does not maintain a right relationship to God, the very position in which God has put him will harden him against God.  Power we must have, whether we like it or not, but power is a terrible peril unless it is rooted in God’s grace.

 

Bear in mind the distinction between the results of sin and punishment for sin.  Verse 2 refers to the latter – “… behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.”  The inevitable result of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.  The punishment of sin is that God banishes the sinner from His presence.  What is being forgotten today is that there is no punishment – “This is simply the result of having made a mistake.”  The suffering that comes to the children of bad people is the inevitable result of sin, not its punishment; punishment is meted out here or hereafter to the parents who may never suffer in this present life.  In this case, God interfered with the punishment because they were His people.

 

“Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away…” Beware of the possibility of being confronted by God at some time with the lives you have caused to be driven out.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/