SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2015
1:55 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 False
Prophets
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Micah 2:6-11
Message of
the verses: “6 ’Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But
if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned
back. 7 “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ’Is the Spirit of the LORD
impatient? Are these His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking
uprightly? 8 “Recently My people have arisen as an enemy-You strip the robe off
the garment From unsuspecting passers-by, From those returned from war. 9 “The
women of My people you evict, Each one from her pleasant house. From her children
you take My splendor forever. 10 “Arise and go, For this is no place of rest
Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction. 11
“If a man walking after wind and falsehood Had told lies and said, ’I will
speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’ He would be spokesman to this
people.”
“6 "Don’t preach," say the preachers.
"Don’t preach such stuff. Nothing bad will happen to us. 7 Talk like this
to the family of Jacob? Does GOD lose his temper? Is this the way he acts?
Isn’t he on the side of good people? Doesn’t he help those who help
themselves?" 8 “What do you mean, ‘good people’! You’re the enemy of my
people! You rob unsuspecting people out for an evening stroll. You take their
coats off their backs like soldiers who plunder the defenseless. 9 You drive
the women of my people out of their ample homes. You make victims of the
children and leave them vulnerable to violence and vice. 10 Get out of here,
the lot of you. You can’t take it easy here! You’ve polluted this place, and
now you’re polluted—ruined! 11 If someone showed up with a good smile and glib
tongue and told lies from morning to night—’I’ll preach sermons that will tell
you how you can get anything you want from God: More money, the best wines…you
name it’—you’d hire him on the spot as your preacher! (Message)
I think that sometimes when I look at the Message
Bible, which is not an interpretation but one man’s idea of he believes the
Bible says, that I get a better idea of what Micah is saying.
As mentioned in yesterday’s SD these false prophets
were deceiving the people, not only deceiving them but robbing them and in the
process sinning greatly against the Lord.
They were robbing them and giving them false hope in the process.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “God originally gave the Jewish people
the land of Canaan to their ‘rest’ from the trials of the wilderness wanderings
(Deut. 12:9-10; Josh. 22:4; 23:1). After
they had conquered the land and claimed their tribal inheritance, they should
have enjoyed rest and blessing in the land, but instead they turned to the
idols of the surrounding nations and rebelled against God. God punished them in their land by bringing
in different nations that robbed and enslaved them (see the Book of
Judges). But the nation didn’t learn
from its history; the people repeated the same sins as their ancestors but thought they would avoid the same consequences. Since they had defiled the land, God removed
them from it.
“Micah urged the people to get out of the land
because no rest would be found there, in spite of what the false prophets
promised. These men would preach any
message the people wanted to hear, just so long as they were provided with
their strong drink! The false prophets were using religion to make money and
enjoy pleasure, and they had no concern for the future of the nation.”
As stated in yesterday’s SD I see a strong parallel
in our country today with the political leaders. No longer does our nation have a desire to
hear the truth and to live by it, but they only want people to give, give to
them without the hard work it takes to enjoy the freedoms that we have. The more that I look at the OT prophets, and
we have been looking at them since July, 2, 2013 the more parallels I see in
them with things going on in our country.
I am in no way saying that our country is Israel, but when you look at
the mistakes that Israel made, the sins they committed and the punishment they endured
because of their sins I see similar sins in our country which if I understand
the principles of Scripture there will be consequences to pay. Israel would kill their children by
sacrificing them in the fire, we have allowed over 50 million babies to be
slaughtered in the womb since 1972 when abortion became legal. There are other social issues that we allow
that Paul wrote about in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, and I
will conclude this SD with those verses.
Note the phrase “God gave them over.”
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19
because that which
is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not
honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and
of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the
lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored
among them. 25 For they
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this
reason God gave them over
to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that
which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural
function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with
men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty
of their error. 28 And just as they did
not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those
things which are not proper, 29 being
filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of
evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without
understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval
to those who practice them.” One
more sin that our nation is committing is found in Genesis 12:1-3: “1 Now the
LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I
will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who
curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be
blessed."”
12/19/2015 2:21 PM
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