November 20

Journey-through-the-Bible-with-us

READING FOR NOVEMBER 20, 2024: DEUTERONOMY 13, 2 PETER 2, PSALM 119:49-56              DEUTERONOMY 13 Moses here gives Israel, and us, a crucial warning about not following false gods and prophets/teachers. He mentions that prophets may appear to have authority by virtue of their ability to predict the occurrence of a sign or wonder. Moses said if these prophets try to make others worship false gods, don’t listen to them, but put them to death.  This raises some questions. 

  • Can false prophets have supernatural powers (vs.1-3)? Remember back when Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharoah:  ”Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.  Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts” (Ex. 7:10-11).  The magicians were able to duplicate two more miracles after this. Also remember the female slave Paul encountered in Philippi: “We were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling" (Acts 16:16). In these cases, and in all cases in the Bible, God’s power eventually overrode the power of these ungodly miracle workers.
  • How can one tell if a prophet or teacher is false (vs. 1-3)? We have to pay close attention to the content of the prophet’s/teacher’s message: “If the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet” (Deut. 13:2-3).  In the New Testament, Paul puts it this way: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). Luke holds up the Bereans as an example to follow: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). 
  • Is there any sense in which the church should “purge the evil from among you” (vs.5)? Paul does give guidance for dealing with folks in the church who are blatantly disobedient: “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you” (1 Cor. 5:11-13).
  • Should we really put to death false prophets/teachers, even if they are family (vs.6-9)? While Israel was a theocracy, a nation state totally following Judaism, they were required to put to death false teachers. When they were subject to Roman control during the life of Jesus, they no longer had that option. That’s why the Jewish leadership, who thought Jesus was a false prophet, brought Jesus to be tried before Pilate. The church also should not execute false teachers. But neither should they be given a platform: “They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain” (Titus 1:11). 

READING FOR NOVEMBER 20 CONTINUED: 2 PETER 2, PSALM 119:49-56                                      2 PETER 2 Peter warns his readers, certainly including us, that there are false teachers among us. Not every preacher/teacher teaches the truth today. How can we identify them and not be misled? Peter gives us some clues. Watch out for teachers who are “denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (vs. 1). When teachers claim Jesus is not “sovereign,” that is another way of saying He is not God. Hundreds of Biblical scholars in universities throughout America teach this to many thousands of mostly Biblically illiterate students each year. When people deny Jesus is “Lord” (i.e., master), they are saying Jesus’s commands do not need to be followed. Often, they claim they are no longer culturally relevant. More often, they deny He is Lord by not even knowing what Jesus has taught in the Bible. Thus, they can’t submit to or teach what they don’t know. When they don’t believe Jesus “bought them,” they are denying that they need to be saved from sin through faith in what Jesus did at the cross and with the resurrection. They don’t embrace the Gospel, our only hope. Peter said these false teachers often also can be recognized by their greed. They will be the ones who pay dearly in the end. 

Peter anticipates our asking if God will really judge these folks just because they taught these false concepts to others? He says, look at God’s track record. God imprisoned wayward angels, destroyed the vast majority of people during the flood, and burned Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes. He can and will rescue true believers and condemn deceitful teachers. He singles out those so-called modern thinkers who pursue their ungodly desires, reject authority, and deny the supernatural, including spirit beings. They are deluded into thinking they are free when in fact they are “slaves to depravity” (vs 19). The very worst are those who once had faith in God (including many famous cases today). They are like dogs returning to their vomit. Nasty image.

PSALM 119:49-56 The Psalmist asks God to remember His word to him. This another way of stating the practice of praying God’s word back to Him. Such a practice cannot fail according to John 5:14-15 because God’s word is guaranteed to be God’s will: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”  It would be wise practice at least once day to “pray the scriptures.”  Also, we need to take careful notice that, when we as Christians are mocked for being hopelessly out of date, we need not conform our beliefs to our current cultural norms, but instead take comfort in God’s eternal word and not turn from it. How timely! On the other hand, we who truly believe God’s ways are truth, should be disturbed when His ways are so widely disregarded. It is sad for those who don’t follow God, not because it causes us problems. The Bible should be our theme song no matter where we find ourselves. Even at night when no one is watching, our obedience must be complete.