Rogue Faith Must End In Divorce

When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.” [Ezra 9.1-2] 

Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them: “You have committed a terrible sin. By marrying pagan women, you have increased Israel’s guilt. So now confess your sin to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women.” [Ezra 10.10-11]

In 2017 I wrote the article We Must Divorce The World. Since that time, and having remained faithful to read and meditate on God's whole Word every day, my understanding of Ezra's 9th chapter has only become more congealed. 

The course of action Ezra lead God's people to in Ezra 9-10 is indeed the course of action necessary for God's people to take today. The problem then and the problem now are one and the same: idolatry.

Ezra's reference to the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites is summed up in the word idolatry. These people groups were all well-known and well-documented in the Bible for their gross idolatry. Instead of trusting in and relying only on the LORD God, they were beholding to a plethora of idols. And from that base of idolatry, all manner of detestable practices was the norm. For this reason, God's people were strictly forbidden from intermingling with the idolatrous Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

The reason God prohibited comingling with idolatry and idolatrous people is because it renders the faith of the comingling offender ineffective. It did then, and it does now. Faith in anything other than, or even in addition to, God is "rogue faith" finding its basis in the reasoning of man. This rogue faith was first identified in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve, at the behest of Satan, believed a "reasonable" assumption about God over what God had specifically said. 

Rogue faith sounds good and makes perfect human sense - however, it disregards God's Word thus removing itself from God's protective and abundant blessings (see Deuteronomy 28) thereby earning curses instead. In this condition, the idolater must rely on his own ways and means (his man-made idols) for blessings otherwise provided miraculously by God.

Rogue faith is exactly what Jesus prohibited (as should be expected from the Son of God) in His version of the first three Commandments:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24] 

Rogue faith believes that man's industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are allowed by God. So perverse has this idolatry become that God's own people have even come to believe that these idol industries are gifts from God! IT'S NO WONDER GOD'S MIRACULOUS POWER IS GLARINGLY ABSENT FROM THE MODERN CHURCH! 

It is also unsurprising that the abovementioned man-made idol industries all promote perverse activities strictly forbidden in the Bible that are undeniably traceable to idolatry. Hardly a commercial advertisement of these man-made industries does not depict some form of perversion. And yet, God's people sign right up for the goods and services of these industries thinking nothing of paying for interest, premiums, prescriptions, and gadgetry that unashamedly have "nasty" written all over them. 

Again, it is rogue faith that believes God uses these industries and, is in violation of the first three Commandments: #1) Only God, #2) No idols, and #3) Don't confuse the two (misusing God's name).

“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. [Exodus 20.2-7]

I am not presenting new theology here. I am simply uncovering the truth that has always existed in the pages of the Bible but has been masked by centuries of growing unchecked idolatry. "Divorce" is in store for God's people (if they are indeed God's people) to rid themselves of the idols they have adulterously become a common-law spouse to. Jesus is returning for a spotless bride (Ephesians 5.27) - not one in bed with every idol known to man.

Father, "divorce" is a hard word. And yet, after years of living in rogue faith sin with man-made idols, it is the only solution. How will we survive without our idols? We will survive trusting only in You through Your Son, Jesus Christ giving up our own way, taking up our cross, and following Him! May we be found so doing!

Christians, Have We No Shame?

This is a re-post of Have We No Shame? (A Letter To The Church) from this date in 2024.

And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer. [Ezra 8.21-23]

Dear Christians,

May all praise be to God Who has promised to protect and keep those who worship Him, those He cares for as a father identifies and cares for his children.

In light of Ezra 8.21-23, have we no shame in proclaiming God is our one and only provider, protector and peace while giving ourselves to the world's idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology? Should we not fast and pray trusting in God alone for all the provisions He has so generously promised in His Word? Should we not repent and turn from these idols?

Brother and sisters, should we not see and understand that all the curses we remedy with debt, insurance, medicine and technology are identified in His Word as the expression of God's fierce anger against rebellion and disobedience? Again, should we not correctly repent instead of adding to our sin by turning to idols despising the name of our God: God Our Provider, God Our Protector, God Our Peace?

Should we not deny the world any claim to our sustenance strictly reserving ourselves for the One True God to Whom we belong and Who compels us to worship Him singularly?

Let us humbly acknowledge our adultery against God: our polytheistic trust in and reliance upon the world's idols. May we be found repentant for our idolatry, repentant for our faithlessness, repentant for our hypocrisy before all who are watching, including our Heavenly Father.

Let our prayer rise up to God in humble sincerity:

Father in heaven, forgive us for our adulterous and idolatrous ways. Forgive us for our shameful testimony claiming Your protection and provision with our mouths while fully engaging the world's idols with our actions and our money. May those who truly trust in You heretofore be set apart, sanctified, from the world and its ways. May Your glory be seen in and upon us, not in the shallowness of our words, but in the fathomless depths of Your miraculous provision for us. God help us. So be it.

God's People By Choice

In every province and city, wherever the king’s decree arrived, the Jews rejoiced and had a great celebration and declared a public festival and holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews themselves, for they feared what the Jews might do to them. [Esther 8.17] 

Wait a minute... people who were not Jewish became Jews by choice?

What is revealed in Esther 8.17 supports the fact that "Israel" in the Bible, while certainly identifying the lineage of Jacob and his twelve sons, also identifies people who were not of Jacob's lineage but became "Jews" by choosing to serve the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - living their lives God's way.

The Apostle Paul actually cleared this up:

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. [Ephesians 2.14]

What is revealed here is that being a Jew by lineage was not differentiated from being a Jew by choice because the whole point of being a Jew was about being God's people - not about lineage. Yes, lineage was important for the sake of prophecy in providing a clear line to Messiah, but then, Jesus came to earth. In other words, "God's people" were identified as "Jews" up until Jesus came, and then, after his Advent, "God's people" were identified as "Christ-followers."

The New Testament records this transition from Jews as God's people to Christ-followers as God's people in great detail. It was indeed a difficult transition and, for many, it still has not taken place. People, by and large, have not accepted Jesus as the only way to God... even though Jesus said:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.12]

In his letter to believers in Galatia, Paul confirmed this: 

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” [Galatians 2.16] 

Yes, the way to God - being "God's people" - for a time required strict human adherence to the rules and rituals associated with being "God's people" (whether they were Jewish by birth or Jewish by choice as seen in Esther 8.17). However, after Jesus died on the Cross, effectively completing the purpose of all those rules and rituals, strict human adherence to Him became what is required to be "God's people."

Jesus said it like this:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24] 

Strict human adherence to rules and rituals, even though demanded by God at first, and for centuries, eventually became "man's way" to God. For all who can see it, the rules and rituals were necessary in order to give contrast between man's strict adherence to rules and rituals (that he failed miserably at), or man's strict adherence to Jesus Christ, entirely giving up his own way and depending only upon Jesus' work on the Cross. 

Both before and after Jesus' Advent, man's greatest struggle has always been, idolatry: adhering to (trusting in) anything other than, or in addition to, God. God sternly warned of it in the 1st and 2nd Commandments, and Jesus, accordingly, sternly warned of it in Matthew 16.24.

It amazes me how much fuss is made today over being a Jew - almost as if it is a huge distraction - when the only and most important thing on earth is to be "God's people." We hear national leaders and people alike crying out "I stand with Israel!" not realizing that "Israel" was and is God's way, from ancient times, to identify "His people." To stand with Israel is to stand with "God's people" who are distinctly "God's people" by the Way of following Christ.

I do not deny the obvious and clear revelations and manifestations regarding the modern-day nation of Israel. I am suggesting however that "Israel" means more than just a geographic location and people group as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.14. While, what happens in and to Israel today indeed may have Biblical significance, it very much has symbolic significance to "God's people" the world over. As the Book of Revelation reveals, every living soul who has, or ever will live, will be determined as "God's people" ONLY by Jesus Christ. 

I believe much of the confusion about God's people and end times today comes from insistence on differentiating between Israelite and non-Israelite... "God's people" are all "God's people" and there is only ONE way to be "God's people": strict adherence to (faith in) Jesus Christ. That decision to follow Christ, foretold by the decision to become Jews by those who were not in Esther 8.17, is the ONLY Way to God. Anything else man turns to is an idol.

Father, help us to process and accept what the Bible actually says in spite of popular opinion. And, while many may choose to argue about my thoughts here, may they, more importantly, give up their own way, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. He is the ONLY Way to You, Holy Father, regardless of nationality... So be it.

Those Who Cannot Speak For Themselves

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” [Esther 4.14] 

If it's right, and you have a voice in the matter, but you don't use your voice in the matter, God will handle the matter another way and you will not enjoy the blessings you failed to speak up for.

Esther's story establishes the precedent above regarding any and all injustice. The murder of innocent unborn children comes to mind... And, my friend, Melissa, comes to mind, who faithfully runs a pregnancy center...

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. [Proverbs 31.8-9]

Father, may we never miss our timing on speaking up for what is right. And, may Your richest blessings be on those who fight for those who cannot speak for themselves. So be it.

Call Me Crazy?

Ask the LORD for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture. Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; [Zechariah 10.1-2] 

Upon reading today's One Year Chronological Bible reading, I felt at first compelled to use Zechariah 9.9 again as my starting place as I have done so many times. However, as I reviewed previous years' writings on that particular passage, I decided instead to look deeper into today's reading to see if anything else would stand out to me... surely it would... and it did.

As I read Zechariah 10.1-2 the second time today, I realized how much we need rain in my particular geographic location. Zechariah 10.1 speaks directly to the need for rain. It says to ask the LORD for rain... for He makes the storm clouds.

But then, in reading further in the context of Zechariah 10.1, there is Zechariah 10.2: Household gods give worthless advice... Then, there was this sickening realization of the potential for an idol so common as to be called a "household" god.

Do I have household gods?

We must see the contrast Zechariah 10.1-2 is providing us! On one hand, we are told to ask God for rain, and, on the other hand, we are warned about the advice of household gods...

I am going to over-simplify here to make a point. Whether the reader agrees or not is strictly up to the reader!

If I look at the ground in my yard currently, I see the undeniable need for water. Most of my grass has died off and the shrubbery and tress are suffering.

Question: What do I do?

Answer: Ask the LORD for rain? Or, check my phone for a weather forecast?

What is revealed here? I am afraid it is our household gods which have amazingly all become quite unified in one manifestation: our smartphone. Instead of asking God for rain, we grab our phone and check the local forecast...

Am I really going there? Is this just the culmination of all my "idolatry" realizations over the past few years gone to seed? Is it time to consider institutionalization for me? Have I finally lost it?

The thing is, everyone who thinks me crazy at this point suffers the same curses I suffer (a comprehensive list is found in Deuteronomy 28.15-68). Christians know and persistently claim God is our Provider, Protector, Healer, and so forth, and yet, we live in an extremely abstract realization of this "truth" (as we call it), while experiencing every sickness, need, and vulnerability described in Deuteronomy 28 - all without His tangible miraculous intervention. Now, who's crazy? But, it gets worse...

Even though most of what we know as the Old Testament - the ongoing story of God's people from the creation of the world - reveals, rebukes, and demands repentance for idolatry, we remarkably make no association today between our curses and idolatry as if Jesus came and idols simply went away. If that was the case, Jesus would never have made the following demand:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24] 

Christians ARE promised deliverance from all the curses in Christ...

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13] 

...but nothing of Jesus' work on the cross applies to an unbeliever. In other words, they will continue to experience every curse assigned to their disobedience - their idolatry.

If this is true, "believers" today must face the reality of their present circumstances: are they, or are they not redeemed from curses? If they are not, then there are two possibilities why. One of those possibilities is that, regardless what they think, the would-be Christian who still experiences curses does not truly believe. The other possibility is that the would-be "believer" is (consciously or unconsciously) beholding to - trusting - idols (instead of, or in addition to, God) thus Biblically rendering himself an unbeliever. Based on the history of mankind, as recorded in the Bible, the latter of these two possibilities is the most likely culprit holding man under the judgment of curses.

All the "faith teaching" in the world cannot redeem would-be "believers" from the curses attached to them if they are holding onto - trusting - idols. They don't need more faith - they need instead to place their faith only in God. Peter didn't need more faith to walk on the water - he needed ONLY to look to Jesus! True believers turn away from EVERY idol and turn ONLY to God - it's called repentance. Then, and only then, is God pleased with their faith in Him ALONE through Christ as the ONLY Way to God evidenced by them giving up their own way (mankind's historically-established way of idolatry), taking up their cross (so focused on Jesus that not even death would deter singular faith in Him, Hebrews 11.32-40), and simply following Him.

The simple presence of "household gods" - those idols so common to mankind that every household has them, is the main (Biblically supported) reason "God's people" are powerless (compared to Jesus) in the earth today. 

Do we order our lives by the promise that God is Provider or by our credit score? Do we order our lives by God our Protector or by our insurance policies? Do we order our lives by God our Healer or by our medicine? Do we order our lives by the Word of God or by the weather app? In the storms of life today are we looking to man's household idols of finance, insurance, medicine and technology OR are we looking ONLY to Jesus?

Father, may these words stir us to true repentance and pure undivided faith. May we see the reason Jesus demanded that we give up our own way, take up our cross, and follow Him. May we see and hear Jesus' call to, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." May we see that idolatry has been the ongoing burden all along keeping man separated from God and His promises that must be given up. So be it.

Legitimate Question - Legitimate Answer

But Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues soon arrived in Jerusalem and asked, “Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and restore this structure?” [Ezra 5.3] 

This was a legitimate question. It was answered with a legitimate answer.

“In the first year of King Cyrus’s reign, a decree was sent out concerning the Temple of God at Jerusalem. “Let the Temple be rebuilt on the site where Jews used to offer their sacrifices, using the original foundations. Its height will be ninety feet, and its width will be ninety feet. [Ezra 6.3]

The problem today is that we are asking legitimate questions but are not getting legitimate answers. Religion is a greatest offender in this regard.

I was sent a video to watch today. In summary, the video was a preacher insisting that God's people must suffer because the Apostle Paul suffered. It was in fact an answer to the question many people have today, "Why suffering?"

Now, the preacher's explanation in that video "sounded good" - another person in the text group even responded immediately with a "heart" emoji. But, when I finished listening to it, I simply replied back as follows:

"I wonder why people who believe that to be true [the suffering message] are the same people who insist on taking medicine, and being insured to the hilt? If God intended that we suffer... shouldn't we suffer then?"

The entire message of the Bible is about God's relationship with man - not about man's relationship with God. The difference between the two is all about who is in charge. [Spoiler Alert! That would be God!]

God made man and established His rules. Man disobeyed God and suffered for it - he suffered then, and he suffers now. The Bible chronicles God's relationship with man over many centuries including great detail about man's repeated betrayal of God through idolatry. God repeatedly reminded man that his suffering was tied directly to his idolatry. Sometimes His people responded correctly but most of the time they did not. God promised and sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem man from the terrible curses assigned to him (suffering and ultimate eternal death) demanding in return that Jesus be wholly and exclusively "believed in." As would be expected, Jesus came to earth healing the sick and even raising the dead. Jesus declared Himself the only Way to God. Jesus demanded exclusivity of His would-be followers to "give up their own way, take up their cross, and follow Him" furthermore instructing them to do the exact same things He did. After His death, burial and resurrection on their behalf, Jesus said He would come again for His followers. Shortly after His ascension to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit from God (as promised) to insure that His followers were operating in the exact same power that raised Him from the dead. This was God's plan from the very beginning. 

It was and is God's plan and God's playbook - not ours - it is not to be trifled with! But then along comes religion...

Religion answers the legitimate question, "Why suffering?" with a barrage of illegitimate answers, most of which completely ignore or deny altogether the story of the Bible. These illegitimate answers all "sound good" and are delivered with great "authority," but at the end of the day, they cannot be traced to the entire story of the Bible - God's plan. Instead, they cloak pride in man that refuses to see the Bible's clear answer to the question "Why is this happening to me?"

Every curse (suffering) upon mankind is the result of idolatry and the sin it leads into. God warned of it early-on eventually "writing it in stone" as man continued to digress. Here is the gist of that warning:

“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. [Exodus 20.2-7]

In short, religion is an idol of man's making designed to justify all his other idols making him feel good about his relationship with God when, in the first place, it's not about his relationship with God but about God's relationship with him! 

The Bible is about God's relationship with man. Religion is about man's relationship with God. See the problem?

What's more, Jesus did not do away with God's plan - He simply came to "flesh it out" and said as much:

Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. [Matthew 5.17]

Jesus then captured the full essence of all the law and the prophets when He made His exclusive demand:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24] 

To be sure, "your cross" is indeed suffering ...but it is not the suffering that religion falsely tells us is God's plan. The suffering Jesus calls all His would-be followers to is the suffering of exclusivity to God's plan and God's plan ALONE - the willingness, and yes, even the desire, to face death itself just to remain loyal to God and God ALONE avoiding even the hint of idolatry. The cross Jesus calls us to bear is the same cross Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego embraced when they told Nebuchadnezzar that they simply would not bow to his idol whether they lived or died.

"Why suffering?" then, is definitely a legitimate question. We just need to be sure we get our answer, the only legitimate answer, from the Bible and NOT from religion! In the subject verse of this article, a legitimate question was asked. It was then seen that the legitimate answer came from the actual decree written by Cyrus. So, we need to get our legitimate answers from the decrees written by God - HIS WORD!

Father, help us to understand that the relationship we are in is all about You. Help us see this fact as Jesus "fleshed it out" demanding that we give up our own way, take up our cross, and follow Him. So be it.

Is Anyone Really Saved?

Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.” “What is it?” I asked. He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.” Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again. Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky. “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel. He replied, “To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.” [Zechariah 5.5-11] 

A basket for measuring grain is doubtless a symbol of commerce. The woman named Wickedness is obviously symbolizing the use of sex to promote commerce. The temple built for the basket symbolizes the worship of commerce. The basket is filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land - the way of commerce and its inherent sin is the way of man.

What could better identify our situation today? We don't need to "Look up and see what’s coming" because it is already here!

It sure seems like commerce has become all-important today. It seems that commerce has been given 'religious worship' status. It seems that commerce, the way of man, has sadly become central to the institutional church as much as in all the world - finance, insurance, medicine and technology.

Hmm.

Jesus said:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

Jesus said:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33] 

If commerce is the way of man to provide himself everything he needs, we don't really need better explanation of the Bible. We need to live it.

If being a follower of Jesus is what the Kingdom of God is all about, then we should understand that we are given clear direction to give up our own way, take up our cross, and everything we need will be provided as we follow Jesus. 

But no one really believes that today, do they? Is anyone really saved then? (Just asking for a friend...)

Father, may our eyes be opened to the truth of Your Word about how we don't have commerce, but commerce has us. May it enter our understanding that "commerce" represents all the idolatry (sin) of man in one word. May Your true followers be found giving up their own way, taking up their cross, and following Jesus - in Your Kingdom provision of everything we need. So be it.