illusions – Praying Pint

10.v. “Leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

Micah 2:10 Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!

1 Kings 22:21-23     Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’  And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’  Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”

Jeremiah 14:14    And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.

2 Peter 2:1-3     But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

2 Thessalonians 2:11   Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

Isaiah 30:10-11   who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,  leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

Jeremiah 5:31    the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

The Old and New Testament is ripe with examples of Kings, Preachers, and Prophets speaking falsely. The worst part of them speaking lies to the people is that most of the people want it this way. They don’t want to hear that they need to stop being neglectful and complacent and repent. They have become confident in their soft undisciplined lives. Their itching ears for lukewarm preaching about what they can get from Jesus Christ if they would just ask, without having their hearts, minds, and souls fully committed to honoring, glorifying, following, obeying, listening, trusting, and relying on Him. They itch for an easy gospel of peace, rest, prosperity, and ease of life preached to them. They do not want to hear about sin, repentance, and the need for forgiveness. They wallow in self-centered wants and self-reliance for their shallow Christian lives. This ought not to be so. Our lives ought to be hungering and thirsting for truth and desiring to have Jesus Christ show us our wickedness and wayward thoughts with a heart deep seeking to honor and glorify Him in all we think, do, and say. This ought to be our want for every day not just for times of crisis, trials, and troubles. When our first thought is to dig into His Word for truth, guidance, and knowledge we are at the beginning of maturing in Jesus Christ. We can not continue to listen to watered-down preaching. It will zap our souls of sound doctrine, God-honoring, and glorifying lives. If sin is not preached how is it we will examine our lives for it? If sin is not preached how are we going to see a need to confess it? If Sin is not preached how are we going to search The Word of God to lead us toward godly lives? Ask God to show you your heart and if there is anything in it that is contrary to that which will honor and glorify Him.

171. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching

I Kings 22:1 For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!”

Isaiah 30:10    who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,

Micah 2:11    If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!

2Timothy 4:3  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

From the old testament to the new and even now people have an appearance of wanting the the truth but God’s word is far from them. We see a great example of this in the King of Israel and Jehoshaphat having 400 prophets who spoke favorably but they did not want to hear from the one prophet that spoke truth, howbeit unfavorable, to them. The new testament says that people will become hearers only and not doers of the word. James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Paul says to Timothy “People will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”

2Ti 3:5 “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” “they are always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth”

Where has the searching scripture for knowledge and understanding and wisdom gone? It used to be the daily bread of life in the heart and mind of Christians but seems to have been replaced with emptiness. God’s word used to be valued, read, and studied every day because it was known to be “profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”. If His word is not reverenced and valued for each new day how are we to be equipped for what that day brings into our life. When we become lovers of self more than lovers of God we will see a falling away from wanting and desiring to know His word. We will become complacent and neglectful. We will come up with a host of reasons why we do not spend time in His word. Day after day our heart will become harder and harder, our eyes blinded, and our ears deafer to the things of God. When this happens our lives bear no fruit, have no power, and give no honor to God.

How are we to be used by God when His word is not known by us? How are we to be a light to the world when His word is dark to us? How are we to honor and glorify God when we determine we no longer have time to spend in His word? How are we to grow in Christ without His word in our lives each day? How are we to make disciples when His word is not in our heart and mind? How are we to find purpose and meaning in life apart from knowing and being in His word? How are we to fight satan’s lies and attacks on our lives? How are we to find a place of refuge, power, hope, peace, joy, trust, courage, and strength when the very word of God that brings this knowledge to our heart, mind, and soul is neglected and put aside?

Neglecting God’s word and having Itching ears for words of worldly comfort will never bring us closer to Jesus Christ. Now is the time to intentionally commit to a life of being in His word each day for the single purpose of being able to humbly know Him, honor Him, glorify Him, follow Him, obey Him, trust and rely on Him.

They did not Listen

“Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.”

“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.”

Malachi 2:1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you, If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.

Deuteronomy 28:15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

Isaiah 30:8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

With all of the promises in God’s word for blessings I wonder if we overlook the warnings. Notice “if you do not listen”, if you do not take to heart”, and “because they did not listen” make known the warning and actions taken by God. God is not mocked – what a man sows so shall he reap. With God in our lives we have peace, hope, joy, comfort, and rest. He is our rock, refuge, strength and power. In Him we can do all things and endure all things. Desire to know Him. Commit to humbly serving Him. Honor, follow, and obey Him. Listen for the whispers of guidance as you read His word and contemplate it. Our purpose this side of eternity is to serve Him fully.