Moses Warns About Being Lured into Idolatry and How to Deal with Apostasy in our Faith

Deuteronomy Chapter 13: More on the Law of Idolatry

Deuteronomy 13:1-18 – Gems and Thoughts from the Passage

In verses 1-5 the children of Israel were cautioned most strongly against false prophets or dreamers or seers who would lead them against what they know God has already said. It is a warning to us about modern-day prophets. I am not saying there are none that are from God, but I am saying it is our responsibility to do our due diligence with respect to what they are saying. If it in any way contradicts what God has said in His Word, then we are to stay away from them in every respect. In fact, the Israelites were told to put such people who would lead them astray to death. We can’t do that today, but I certainly don’t believe in going easy on them in every other way and to use the full extent of the civil law against them. [I am thinking about false prophets who dabble with people’s finances or health in particular.]

Church Smith says the following on this passage:

“Because someone is able to bring to pass some kind of a phenomenon for which there is no scientific explanation, does not necessarily follow that that phenomena come from God. Satan is a deceiver and he is able also to create all kinds of spectacular phenomena. Thus, we are not to be drawn to phenomena and use phenomena as a criterion for truth.

The person who is seeking after miracles is on a dangerous territory for when the anti-Christ comes he is going to come with lying signs and miracles that he's able to work before the people. There is an unhealthy absorption in miracles in many people's lives.”

So, even if they are able to do what appear like miracles, if their words do not match God’s, they are false.

I note that in the margin of my Bible besides these verses, I had once written, “This explains why the Jews arrested Peter and John” when they first heard them. They were saying things that were so beyond what the Old Testament scrolls were saying. Thankfully, today, we have the entire sixty-six books of the Bible from which to glean what God is saying to us.

In verse 6 and following, Moses warns the sons of Israel what to do if a close family member (or close friend) entices them to worship other gods. They were not to yield to them or follow them. But more than that, they weren’t to protect them, but rather to expose them -- lest they cause others to fall away. This was and is a serious business. In fact, the one being enticed was to play a key role in stoning the person doing the enticing. Okay, we can’t do that today.  Fair enough but we can have nothing to do with this person and we can expose the dangers of listening to them to save others. Unfortunately, the Enemy works in the hearts of many to stay close to such a person telling us the lie, “how else will you be able to set that person back on the straight and narrow?”  Sorry, friends, in this case, the Bible is clear – have nothing to do with them.

Now verse 12 takes a further turn and one that is a little more difficult to understand. As I understand it, Moses is warning the Israelites that if some of them (in their cities that God had given them) go to another city and start worshipping their gods, the sons of Israel were to investigate and if true, they were to destroy all the inhabitants of that other city, and burn every aspect of it to the ground so that it will never be rebuilt. God has no tolerance for idolatry from His own people. And in verse 17, they were to “take no souvenirs”. Not so sure that we can do that today – we just have to leave these people who go from among us to God to take care of.

This last scenario also speaks to the idea that the Church has a responsibility to protect the community, the city, and in fact, the nation, from such false prophets and idolatry. I must admit that’s one responsibility we have not taken up very well lately.

I like what Matthew Henry says on this passage:

“Though idolaters may escape punishment from men (nor is this law in the letter of it binding now, under the gospel), yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgments. The New Testament speaks of communion with idolaters as a sin which, above any other, provokes the Lord to jealousy, and dares him as if we were stronger than he, 1 Co. 10:21, 22.” Some good advice we must not ignore.

Wrap-up

So, what are the lessons from Deuteronomy chapter 13?

First, do your due diligence with modern-day prophets. Check their words out against God’s Word in Scripture.

Second, stay away from and expose false prophets.

Third, that includes loved ones and friends who encourage you to follow other gods.

Finally, let go of, and stop associating with, those who were among the Church Body but have become an apostate to the faith.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

One Word Says A Lot

Simply Trees by God’s Design

Author: Renee Bennett

Publisher: WestBow Press, Bloomington, IN, 2019

This book is unique not so much for what the author says but for what she has done, how she has done it, and the fact that, via her efforts, we are encouraged to duplicate the process – perhaps not with respect to ‘trees’, but with just about any other word of significance found in the Scriptures.

Renee Bennett has taken her passion (nature), combined it with what she believed God was asking her to do, (write about trees) and then simply did it. The result is her delightful book Simply Trees by God’s Design.

Many people study the Bible and its contents. Some take a thematic approach.  Others take book by book approach seeing what God has to say as one studies chapter after chapter (or verse after verse) of any given book or epistle.

Bennett took a different approach. She took a word that described something that fascinated her – trees, and then proceeded to see what the Bible and its divine author (God) wanted to say through the human authors He utilized to record it for us. What good were trees?  How were they utilized?  What did they symbolize?  And so on.

To do this thoroughly requires a lot of patience, sticking to one version of Scripture (in her case, the King James version) and a good and full concordance. For example, my concordance indicates that the word ‘tree’ is found 201 times in 169 different verses in the King James. The plural version ‘trees’ occurs 157 times in 136 verses in the same version.

What Bennett did was take most, if not all, of those references, identify them for us, and then describe what she believes God’s purpose for the word ‘tree’ or ‘trees’ was in each case. Then she invites us to step back and take a look at the ‘big picture’ to determine any trends or patterns of the specific use of the words through the Old Testament, the New Testament, and of course the whole Bible.

It’s a most interesting piece of work, or one could say a piece of art. While she has some interesting thoughts and shares them in her comments on each instance of the word’s use, I believed she could have gone much deeper into the interpretations than she did.  Perhaps that is something she was hoping we would do if we want to take her ‘project’ to the next level.

But Bennett seems to be more interested in getting her readers to follow in her footsteps but with totally different words.  Some that come to mind are blood (447 times in the KJV), murder (9 times), brother (376), forgive (56), and so on.  You get the idea; the list is endless. Just pick a word that fascinates you and go to work.

With some systematic discipline, some creative thinking, and asking God for wisdom in your interpretations, you could write the first or next volume of what could end up a series.

Bennett’s book helped me get a much fuller understanding of what God thinks of trees, and how He used them, and how He intends us to use them.  For example, trees feed us and tempt us.  Trees provided shade to some and were used to hang others. And many more meanings and uses that I had never given much thought to.

Can you imagine how much this kind of research and writing style could add to the understanding of God’s Scripture and world.  I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book, enjoy it, and then pick your ‘word’.

·      Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, March 8, 2020, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Almost Thou Persuadest Me . . .To Be a Universalist, But Not Quite

That All Shall Be Saved:
Heaven, Hell and Universal Salvation

Author: David Bentley Hart

Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2019

Full disclosure: this book was sent to me by the publisher for review. As always, “I call them as I read them” and this review is no exception.  Read on.

There are three ways to review this book on Universalism. One is as an English teacher (I used to be one). The other is as a relational human being (some say I have a long way to go here). And the third is as a Christian (I know I am).

Let me cut to the chase, covering all three types of reviews very quickly with respect to David Bentley Hart’s book. I read the book very carefully.  You should see my margin notes.  

As a literary work and as a position paper, Hart deserves an A+. He goes about his work with passion throwing every argument he can possibly come up with at his adversaries (those who disagree with him on the issue of universalism). As you will see from my comments and quotes below, Hart is a master of the English language. For this I would give the book 5 stars.

Viewing this book from a human perspective, I found it fell extremely short on all counts. I am sure I am not alone in finding the author’s style to be very patronizing (and all the synonyms that fit). The author goes so far as to claim his own version (translation) of Scripture. Wonderful if that’s what we’re studying, but not so apropos if one uses this as one of his tools for arriving at his conclusions. Hart admits to writing a book “that is at odds with a body of received opinion so invincibly well-established that I know I cannot reasonably expect to persuade anyone of anything, except perhaps of my sincerity.” He is correct on the former premise, and wrong on the latter. From his introduction and throughout his book, this reader feels that the author does not give two hoots for anyone who picks up his book and disagrees with him. Early on he writes, “Not that I am accusing anyone of consciously or cynically seeking to manipulate the minds of faithful Christians” but he does exactly that and worse still, he, in my humble opinion, is guilty of the same crime.  He has no trouble at all taking some fundamental Christian tenets and commenting on them with a wave of his pen as “Happily, all of that is degrading nonsense.” Elsewhere he tells us that we need to guard against the “…relative rhetorical gifts of the author” when considering traditional thinking, to which I respond, “You’re one to talk, Doctor.” Do you get the idea? For all of the above, as a reader- or people-friendly work, I would only give the book 1 star.

That leaves us with the content perspective as I view it from the point of view of a western hemisphere modern Evangelical Christian – the group that Hart has little use for when it comes to what he believes about salvation and those that will be granted it. One of Hart’s major arguments throughout seems to be found in the phrase (and I paraphrase here) – “how can one believe in a God who creates a reality in which the eternal suffering of any being is possible, and if He can, how could He be the God of love that Christianity says He is.” May I respectfully suggest that the author’s failure to accept that possibility is not a problem with God, but rather the limitations he places on God based on his own limited human understanding. He writes, “God, of course, ought not to be measured by the moral imagination of even as great a poet as Dante – or, for that matter, by anyone else’s.” Yet he seems to be doing exactly that. His view of God is limited by his own imagination, albeit, supported in his mind and perhaps by those that would agree with him, with some creative arguing.  Hart does, throughout his book, present some good arguments and suppositions. [The average review length will not permit me to make reference to them. I am all but tempted to write a lengthy critique of his book, but I’ll save that for a later time. For me the issue at hand is best addressed, not so much by what I have been taught over the years on one end of the spectrum, and what Hart believes on the other – but rather, on two points – a) God, because He is the ‘Unquestionable I AM’ can do whatever He wants with His creations and b) knowing what He will do should not make any difference to the way that one of His children lives their life.]

Allow me to make some final points. Hart provides the reader with ten pages of Scripture verses he believes support Universalism and he goes to the great trouble of quoting those verses not only in English, but also in the original (koine) Greek. Admittedly, I am not a Greek scholar, but I (as a Greek) can understand it enough to boldly suggest that the interpretations the author makes are often not the only ones that someone can make from the original text. Secondly, Hart renders the book of Revelation an almost useless work as far as assisting us in getting a handle on what God may have in mind for the “end times”. Thirdly, Hart seems to rely more on the writings of both believers (early Christians) and non-believers (poets, etc.) than he does on Scripture itself. I believe most of Hart’s readers (especially Christian readers) would find one or all of these positions untenable. For all of the above and much more (with which I could write my own book), I would give the book 3 stars with respect to his contentions.

In conclusion, and using my limited statistical capabilities, the overall rating I would assign to Hart’s book is 3 stars.  It’s a good read.  He may have intended it to support Universalism, but in many cases his readers will use it (primarily due to his attitude and his own arguments limited by his own human intellect) as a means by which their own more traditional beliefs are upheld.

The book is clearly written for those used to hearing post-graduate university lectures. For any sharp individual, however, who is courageous enough to stand up for what he/she thinks or believes, this book will either make your blood boil or you will find comfort for something you thought or felt but were afraid to state publicly.

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n  Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, November 8, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.