Moses warns us of practices that can entrap us.

Deuteronomy Chapter 12: The Laws of the Central Sanctuary and Idolatry

Deuteronomy 12:1-32 – Highlights of The Passage and Some Thoughts

In this chapter, Moses is reiterating the need for the sons of Israel to destroy all evidence of idol worship by those that occupied the land they will conquer. And in verse 4, he tells them that they are not to act like that toward the Lord their God.

Sometimes I wonder if God expects us even today to be more like that.  That is, to take a stronger position against God’s enemies and do more not to be like them. Somehow, I feel we’ve let Him down in that regard.  Thankfully, His Grace abounds.

There’s yet a little gem hidden in verse 7 where Moses says, “There you shall eat before the Lord.” I wonder how much eating (and drinking) we do that we forget the Lord is there with us. We order too much or we order the most expensive thing just because we can. I’m not suggesting that we always eat poorly but I am suggesting that we be mindful that whenever we eat, we are eating before the Lord Who makes that possible for us.

Verse 8 is most interesting. Moses says, “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” Seems like the world hasn’t changed much and the Bible warns us about that both in the Old and the New Testaments. When you have a minute take a look at just two of such verses:

Judges 17:6 ESV, In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Romans 8:7 ESV, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

In verse 9, Moses tells us why the children of Israel may have been behaving in this way and thus offers us a glimpse as to why we might be as well. He says it’s because “you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord Your God is giving you.” That certainly may well explain how or why our human nature still fights God’s spirit that He has given us as we live our lives and we have to carefully guard against it gaining ground.

In verse 13, Moses warns them to be careful not to worship (i.e. offer their sacrifices) anywhere they feel like (especially a ‘cultic’ place) but rather (vs. 14) only in the place where the Lord chooses for you. That’s big for me. Have you ever had to decide you should go to church? I know that is a difficult decision for many. And to be honest, we take a lot of things into consideration when we make that decision. We consider the preacher, the music, the children’s program, the location, the building, who goes there already, and so much more. Oh yes, theology and doctrine are important too. But I wonder if we’re doing it all wrong. Maybe we just need to let God choose it for us. Let Him lead us through circumstances and through the gentle nudging of our hearts to the right church. And by the way, it won’t be perfect, especially once you (or I) start attending.

In verse 19, there’s a strong reminder that we are not to neglect the needs of our pastors, our modern-day Levites. I know that today many well-known pastors are well taken care of financially and as far as perks are concerned – they get free use of some neat assets that some folks in their congregations have – be it cottages at the lake, or condos in the South, etc. But what about their own spiritual, social, or emotional needs? Is someone taking care of those things, noticing when help is needed even though not asked for? Also, while some pastors are very well taken care of financially, we must remember that others, often are not – the more junior ones that have debt, no house of their own, and as many children as God has given them. Is someone watching out for them, or do we just leave it up to the senior pastors to take care of them?

Lastly, I would point out verse 30 in which Moses advises the children of Israel to not even enquire about the gods of those people that were driven out of the land that they were to possess. They were not to even enquire about how these heathens served or worshipped their gods. The fear was that somehow, they would do likewise. And God hates that. And that same fear is operable today for us, or for our children, or grandchildren who may dabble with the study of other faiths or religions or cults. God says don’t do it.

David Guzik says reminds us of an old proverb that says “curiosity killed the cat” but he goes on to add, “ungodly curiosity has also killed many spiritual lives. No, it’s not okay for a Christian to start investigating Freemasonry.

Wrap-up

When I first looked at this chapter and the headings that were assigned to it, I thought I wouldn’t find too much here that God wanted to see to me, and to you, today. But again, I was surprised by the gems hidden in it.  Let me summarize the 7 things I learned today, and hopefully, you found them helpful as well:

1.     Don’t act like idolaters of other religions.

2.     Recognize you are still living in ways that are right in your own eyes, to a certain extent, and work on it.

3.     Recognizing your resting place is ultimately with Christ in heaven, and your perfection won’t be achieved until then.

4.     Do all your eating ‘before’ the Lord and recognize Him as your guest at the table.

5.     Let God choose where you go to church.

6.     Make sure your pastoral staff’s needs – not just financial – are taken care of.

7.     Don’t concern yourselves too much if at all with the study of other religions.

Would love to hear from you in one form or another. Send me a response on the media by which you Walked Thru this scripture with me.  See you again soon.

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

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PRESENTS: JERUSALEM

When Laura Steen of the Toronto office of Allied Integrated Marketing offered me an opportunity to attend the Canadian advance media screening of Jerusalem, at the Ontario Science Centre, I readily accepted.  Jerusalem is big in our life – my wife has gone twice, I once with http://fifthgospelencounters.com/.  In many respects, the trip galvanized my love for the city.  I regret not having done a similar trip many years earlier.  However, better late than never.

I knew the film, as advertised to the press, was not going to be about Jerusalem’s pivotal role in my Christian faith.  I could not expect that of the key players that made it possible – very capable people like Director, Producer, and Writer Daniel Ferguson who has done excellent work on previous IMAX movies (yes, the film is delivered to us courtesy of four different cameras – an IMAX 15-perf 65mm; a Sony F65; a RED Epic; and a Nikon D800E); Producer George Duffield; Executive Producer Jake Eberts (who has 65 Oscar nominations, 27 of which he won; films include Gandhi, The Killing Fields, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves, A River Runs Through It, and more); National Geographic; local film Patrons Mohammad & Najla Zaibak and Mark & Suzanne Cohon; and of course, the very public Ontario Science Centre.  No, this film was clearly going to challenge my ‘ownership’ perspective of this much-coveted part of the world that at one time was seen and acted as the centre of the known world, being well-situated geographically where Africa, Asia, and Europe meet.

The city is presented through the eyes, thoughts, lives, and hopes of three very real lovers of Jerusalem with strong ties to their beloved place of residence as well as their respective faiths – Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

Through these brilliant and forthright young women, the film aims to change the way people think about Jerusalem.  It certainly does that.  It is evident, as one of the ladies said in the press conference after the screening, “the beautiful ancient wall around the Old City of Jerusalem is not the only wall in the place; while that one needs to remain, the social walls inside need to be torn down.”  The reference was to the fact that all three of the residents felt their people lived alone in the city, not knowing much about their neighbors who held two other religious and cultural perspectives.  But although the need was recognized as to what had to change, all agreed this was not “yet the time”.

Ferguson also wanted the viewer to feel he/she had actually been to Jerusalem.  He wanted to achieve that in a unique way, trying to capture over 5,000 years of history in 45 minutes by putting the camera into very special places and giving us glimpses of Jerusalem most of us would never see on our own or in groups.  Getting permission for some of those shots – low aerials over the city, underground tunnels and tombs, and even the now closed to non-Muslims Dome of the Rock – took years to obtain.  But it was indeed worth the wait.

 

It took me very little time to declare the film a success from a cinematic perspective.  It took me much longer to determine just how I felt about its purpose.  I noted a couple of things in the script.  When an American archaeologist shares some of the events that took place on the famous “rock” over which the Islamic Dome of the Rock now stands, she was very careful to state that “here Abraham was tested when he was asked to sacrifice his son” with no mention the son’s name.  For the Christian and Jew it was Isaac; for many Muslims it was Ishmael.  (You can read more on this at: http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/sacrifice.htm.)  I also noticed that even where all three religions were in agreement on a historical event that had significant religious, and often Christian implications such as the aspects of Christ’s existence and ministry, the script, otherwise handled excellently by all, including narrator Benedict Cumberbatch (you’ll remember him from his portrayal of Stephen Hawking, as well as the movie War Horse, The Hobbit Trilogy, Sherlock, and Star Trek into Darkness) often simply introduced it by saying “it is believed” or something similar.  The film could have benefitted both in its credibility as being capable of handling a religious topic – for as much as Jerusalem is a physical place, there is global agreement that it has spiritual significance – and in its purpose of trying to help us see it differently by not taking the “politically correct” or “scientific defense” of such facts.

In the Gospels, Jesus asks one of His close disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  That’s a question that everyone ultimately answers, even by totally refusing to answer it or ignoring it.  As I watched Jerusalem I wondered how many might be facilitated in their attempt to provide an answer if they first considered the question, “What then is Jerusalem?”  The film goes a long way to answer that comprehensively.

Jerusalem opens March 7^th at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto (http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/imax/film/40/), but hopefully will be seen elsewhere in Canada soon.  It has already opened in other countries.  See it.  Go there.  Better late; never is not an option.

 

-- Ken B. Godevenos, Toronto.   February 26, 2014

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