The Heart of the King
2 Samuel 4:5-12:
Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at Ish-bosheth’s house during the heat of the day while the king was taking his midday nap. They entered the interior of the house as if to get wheat and stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped. They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom and stabbed and killed him. Then they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled by way of the Arabah all night. They brought Ish-bosheth’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here’s the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, the One who has redeemed my life from every distress,when the person told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ he thought he was a bearer of good news, but I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was my reward to him for his news! How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from your hands and wipe you off the earth?”
So David gave orders to the young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took Ish-bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.
First, a little background. King Saul, David’s longtime enemy, had died and his son Ish-bosheth had been improperly named king. In that day, once a new dynasty took power it was customary to annihilate the descendants of the former king.
Rechab and Baanah thought they were doing something that would please the true king of Israel. I’m pretty sure they were shocked by his reaction. Beyond the fact that their motive was likely reward, their main failure was not knowing the heart of the king. Logic would lead them to believe that David would appreciate such an act of vengeance against his long-time enemy. To them, it seemed like the right thing to do. What they did not take to heart, however, was that Ish-bosheth was the brother of David’s best friend Jonathan. To David, he was family.
How often do we act on logic or with these same motives without knowing the heart of our King? I’m reminded of Matthew 7:20-23:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers! ’’
Religion about God but without God is futile, and sometimes even counterproductive. King Yeshua wants to share His heart with you; once you get it, you’ll act on it naturally. He was moved to action not by compulsion, loyalty, or the promise of reward, but by compassion.
Quit trying so hard, and just know Him.
Who Said It? You might be surprised.
“… I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, `Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.’ And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. I have sometimes seen persons nudge their neighbours with their elbow, because they had got a smart hit, and they have been heard to say, when they were going out, `The preacher told us just what we said to one another when we went in at the door.’”
Answer: Charles Spurgeon, who is apparently speaking to the validity of modern prophetic revelation. Interesting, coming from a man widely-regarded as a cessationist.
Fight Obama’s Social Healthcare
Barack Obama is urging Congress to pass his socialist healthcare reform plan (I would conversely urge them to take their time; look what happened last time they rushed a bill without reading it through). While we definitely need some sort of reform, I do not believe a government-run social healthcare model is right for America. I charge any American who thinks he or she wants government healthcare to visit a V.A. hospital and see for themselves what they could look forward to.
As South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint stated, “Americans aren’t being fooled and are discovering the truth about his plan which includes rationed care, trillions in new costs, high taxes and penalties that will destroy jobs, and even government-funded abortions.”
Please be one of those Americans and find out what is being proposed for our future, then write your Senators and Representatives.
For the sake of all that’s decent and holy, do not support “Brüno”.
After reading about Brüno, all I can say is: “SICK”. I couldn’t even make it through half of this content description. I’d encourage you to read the review at Plugged In Online.
I can’t express how distraught and disgusted I am that such perversion (sexual, cultural, religious, etc) is considered mainstream entertainment. How did this happen to our society? I know it crept in little by little because of our mass compromise and tolerance – but how can we sanction or extol such shame?
Please, for the sake of all that is decent and holy – I mean that literally – do not support this film.
I agree with Jody Trautwein in saying, “I pray God has mercy on Sacha Baron Cohen.”
Lessons From An Ass.
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” -2 Timothy 4:3
This is what I thought was going on in Nashville (regarding teaching on prophetic ministry such as that being given at Emanate). However, through much mediation, study, and discussion, I am both glad and humbled to find out that I was in fact wrong about that. As it turns out, those teachings are compatible with the truths I used to challenge them; just in ways I had not previously understood. As I stated in my last note, most of my arguments were based on personal misconceptions or ignorance of what was being taught. Unfortunately, I assumed…and we all know what happens when you assume. But fortunately, I take comfort in knowing that my God can use an ass – Balaam’s even prophesied 
I’ll share some of what I’ve learned.
- The Bible only allows for 2 kinds of prophets; true and false. Yes, but what is a false prophet?
“When David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the LORD’s covenant is under tent curtains.”
So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your heart, for God is with you.”
But that night the word of God came to Nathan: “Go to David My servant and say, ‘This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house to dwell in. From the time I brought Israel out of [Egypt] until today I have not lived in a house; instead, I have moved from tent to tent and from tabernacle [to tabernacle]. In all My travels throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, asking: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?” -1 Chronicles 17:1-6
Here Nathan initially speaks a message in the Lord’s name that He did not command him to speak. Does that condemn him to death as a false prophet, according to Deuteronomy 18:20?
“who dares to speak in My name a message I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.”
God apparently didn’t think so, and Nathan was not killed or even discredited. Never caught that before. What gives?
Well, I believe the context of Deuteronomy 18:15-19 is talking about Christ…so verses 20-22 seem to refer to the occultists and diviners in 9-14, but are also compatible with Jesus’s warnings against false prophets, false messiahs, and anti-Christs in Matthew 7:15-23 & Matthew 24:11;24 . It is a matter of properly defining the term, “false prophet”. A false prophet, like the anti-Christ, is a poor copycat of the real thing. False prophets are either making it up, deluded, or demonically-powered — and their fruit will show that.
Nathan was not in the company of any such evildoers, but was called and empowered by Yahweh, so he was not a false prophet. He just made a human mistake. The test of a prophet is his fruit and to which god his message leads.
- “No prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Yep, but “the prophets’ spirits are under the control of the prophets” (1 Corinthians 14:32).*
Prophecy, the Word of Yahweh, is totally inerrant. The problem is: He uses fallible humans to convey His Word to the world. Why? That’s my question…but isn’t it wonderful? We can only attribute that to His grace. A bit more on that later.
I find it interesting that even Moses — perhaps the highest-regarded prophet – was apprehensive about his call because of his speech impediment. But God still sent him, and He didn’t take it away. Instead, He sent Aaron along to help Moses. Isn’t that good stuff?
Anyway, when a prophet makes a “mistake”, it is never prophecy which is to blame, but human error or misinterpretation. The Lord gives divine revelation, but many times it’s up to us to ask Him for the interpretation and what to do with it. This is exactly why we are instructed to test and weigh “what is said” in both the Old Testament and the New, such as in 1 Corinthians 14:29.
This is also a great reason not to boast or focus upon any person but Jesus Christ.
In Acts 10 Peter initially misinterpreted his vision, thinking it was contrary to Scripture — just like I did with this teaching on prophecy. As it turns out, the meaning of his vision was about men, not food. As it also turns out, this teaching is compatible with Scripture, just in a way I had not previously understood. Cue Princess Bride quote, “I do not think that word [false prophecy] means what you think it means”.
*sidenote: I know the context of 1 Cor. 14:32 really refers to speaking (or not speaking) a message, but I believe it shows the human element, so I think it fits here.
- “According to Scripture, prophecy is Yahweh speaking through the mouth of the saint.” Right-o, but sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly.
Just like with Peter’s vision (and so many other examples like Ezekiel, Daniel, John, etc), revelation does not always come in clear sentences. Yahweh reveals Himself and His truth to His people in many different ways. Sometimes visions, sometimes feelings, signs, angels…whatever He wants to use, really – because He is sovereign! The beauty of that is: He leaves it to interpretation so that we must approach Him for the meaning. Prophecy requires relationship. We’re not just puppets. We’re His children. Somebody shout! We goin’ have some chu’ch!
- “What teaching is needed, and who taught the unlearned apostles on and after Pentecost? You may bring up Paul’s discussion of the use & misuse of prophecy and tongues in the Corinthian church. However, he was not teaching them how or how NOT to prophesy or speak in tongues, but about the appropriate settings for each.” Yeah, pretty much.
I really jumped the gun on this one. From what I can tell so far, Paul’s teaching is exactly the nature of that at Emanate. Although, Alyn’s focus is hearing the voice of God. Awesome.
- “I have had prophetic knowledge and have spoken prophetically into other believers’ lives, but it is always the Lord’s idea, not mine…1 Corinthians 14:1 says we are to ‘desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy’…He will respect our desires (because they’re His, he gave them to us) as it says in Matthew 7:9-11, but will do so in HIS timing and by HIS sovereignty!” Like I said a couple points back, yes…but we’re already called to minister and to step out in faith.
It’s probably easy to see the Reformer in me here. The thing is: theology only goes so far. It serves as a foundation, but there’s more. Faith without action is no faith at all. We serve a loving, active, and powerful God who wants to use us to accomplish His purposes. John 14 says a lot to this. Ministry – like the prophetic – is not done by the saint’s own will, but by the Father’s love (1 Corinthians 13). If a prophet compelled by the Lord’s love for a person opens his mouth to deliver an exhortation (in faith), the Spirit will back him up. See, Jesus’s commands for us to be His witnesses and proclaim Him are open calling to “go”! The Sovereign King does deliver specific messages, missions, and callings, but also has already dictated for us to make disciples, serve, organize, heal, teach, evangelize, pray, cast out demons, raise the dead, prophesy……
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! – John 14:12-14
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” – Matthew 10:8
“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
Funny how He also continually reveals new things to us in Scripture, no matter how many times we read it. Let’s boast in Jesus and make much of Him!
Re: Prophecy blogs
It might be awhile until I reflect upon what I’ve learned about prophetic ministry via a followup blog, but I believe that I should address some things regarding the way I’ve handled the topic so far, which may have been: inappropriate, perhaps dishonorable, and a bit immature. I honestly did not realize (until very recently) that my methods or writing could be interpreted as malicious or divisive, which I promise was never my intent. After the fact, I see how my zeal and strong wording may have come over as arrogant, or that I seemed to speak with authority I do not have. On occasion, I’ve even jumped to conclusions about the teachings and beliefs of others without being sure of them. It was also dumb to refer to my conversation with Don on a public blog in the way that I did (I’ve written him an email about that).
So, I apologize whole-heartedly for those things which I handled inappropriately. I will not make excuses, but I wish to assure you that I really am just asking for my current understanding to be challenged, but I’ve let my passion for orthodoxy influence my method and writing. Most of these mistakes were due to misinterpretation/misunderstanding/ignorance of what was being taught — and in some cases, things that I’ve never caught when reading through the Word, thus not understanding how some of these concepts fit. For example: it seems I’ve misunderstood the human’s role in prophecy. When I used the term “false prophecy”, I said it with the understanding that it referred to any word spoken by a prophet which does not properly convey the intended message — but Alyn Jones helped explain the distinction between false prophecy (which implies misdirection) and merely misinterpreting or misspeaking a prophetic message, i.e. making a mistake.
I’ll have to let some of this bake as I read and meditate on it before I write more. Again, I regret the way I’ve pursued those truths, but I am thankful and glad to be growing.
If you go to Emanate Nashville, please read and respond.
Dear Emanate friends,
I love you dearly and do not want any of you – my brothers and sisters – to be misled by false teaching. Please beware of teachers like James Goll and Alyn Jones who believe that spiritual gifts like prophecy can be taught and practiced by the will of man, and who tolerate false prophecy. Weigh these teachings against Scripture! I’m hoping I am wrong on this issue and that I have much to learn. I would welcome a Biblical challenge to my current understanding of the Spiritual gift of prophecy. I’m just a Baptist-raised kid who was dramatically and radically changed by a work of the Holy Spirit about 4 years ago, so I know I’ve got room to grow. So anyway, here’s what’s going on…
About a year ago, during New River’s pastoral transition, I raised concerns about some flaky teachings and activities going on at Belmont Church (and associated ministries) because I was afraid that some of those things might trickle down to New River. My concern was escalated when New River hosted a Powerhouse Ministries “Prophet School” event whose leaders and marketing presented a very New Age stigma. I engaged in conversations with leaders at both New River and Belmont, and was assured that the leadership of New River Fellowship would be “on the wall” to guard against “weirdos”.
However, I still had my questions regarding the teaching about prophecy coming from Belmont and other teachers in Nashville. Don Finto briefly addressed some of my concerns, and you can read about that in this blog post. Please read that before continuing on so you can understand what I’m discussing.
As you can see, many of my questions remain to this day unanswered. I somewhat gave up at that point and agreed to disagree for the sake of peace.
Unfortunately, this issue is once again heavy on my heart and troubling to my spirit, as I discovered that a recent theme at Emanate is “Prophetic Training”. I have not been to Emanate, but I listened to the “Introduction to Prophetic Ministry Part 1” podcast; it’s just as I suspected.
It appears to me that these teachers simply don’t know the difference between the Spiritual gifts of prophecy and exhortation. Prophecy is not merely the saint speaking Biblical Truth into someone’s life (especially not just because he or she wants to). That is exhortation. According to Scripture, prophecy is Yahweh speaking through the mouth of the saint. I believe these teachers are taking it too lightly. In case you’re curious: yes, I have had prophetic knowledge and have spoken prophetically into other believers’ lives, but it is always the Lord’s idea, not mine.
2 Peter 1:21 says, “because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God”.
Why would – How COULD – a man teach another how to prophesy? If we need men to teach us Spiritual gifts, who taught the apostles to prophesy on the day of Pentecost? This is simply not Biblical. If I am wrong there, please prove so.
Both brother Don Finto and brother Alyn Jones cite and preach from 1 Corinthians 14:1 that we are to “desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy”. This is true, as spiritual gifts are profitable to the Body of Christ. However, we are also to long for the return of the Messiah – but we cannot of our own will bring Him back! He will respect our desires (because they’re His, he gave them to us) as it says in Matthew 7:9-11, but will do so in HIS timing and by HIS sovereignty! Alyn, on the contrary, implies that the saint can demand prophecy on the spot. I’m not saying God won’t respect such a request; but that this concept should not be taught if it is not Biblical, especially since it places so much emphasis on the servant rather than the Sovereign.
He also makes a distinction between the “office” of a prophet and prophetic ministry, saying that the job of the New Testament prophet is to equip the saints for ministry. Where is that in the Word? It’s not in 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that such is the Word’s job. If it is in there somewhere that I missed, please help me out.
Again, the main problem I see here is the over-emphasis on the person, rather than on Jesus. But unfortunately, that is no the only issue here. The tolerance of false prophecy (taught by all these fellows) is dangerous. Doesn’t that bother anyone else? Can anyone tell me – using Scripture – why making “mistakes” when prophesying is okay? The Bible makes 2 distinctions between prophets: true and false. It also warns us to be on the lookout for said false prophets, such as in Matthew 7:15-23. I could go on and on, but many of my concerns regarding false prophecy are stated in the cited blog, so I will not echo them here.
Please, brothers and sisters: I charge you to take heed, or to tell me if/how/why I’m mistaken.
Set Apart
In this season of my life, I’ve been fostering a mild obsession with holiness. I know there’s nothing I can do to make myself holy (or holier) in the eyes of God – I’m just a sinner saved by grace, so He sees Christ’s holiness as it is credited to me rather than my sinful nature – but there are things I do (or abstain from) to remind myself I’m set apart as one of Elohim’s chosen people, such as eating Torah kosher.
We the redeemed are in fact “in the world, but not of it”, as Yeshua prayed in John 17, and most of us are probably familiar with that phrase. Unfortunately, I’ve heard it too often misquoted as a command or challenge, i.e. “we are to be in this world but not of it”.
That being said, though we are set apart by grace, we have been entrusted as stewards of our daily decisions and therefore are challenged to practice discernment and discretion. This is an oft-discussed/debated topic, and I think the important thing to grasp is the foundational purpose of discretion. I do understand that it’s important to be “above reproach” to an extent that we “don’t hurt our witness”, but we must be careful not to become legalistic. Yeshua Himself was regarded as a glutton and a drunkard on account of the company he kept, yet He was sinless. At the end of the day, you’ve got to reach lost sinners where they are, but if you’re trying to share the Gospel with an alcoholic and you struggle(d) with that yourself, do not go to a bar with him. I hope you catch my drift; I could go on a tangent and discuss this much further, but I don’t know how much priority we should really be placing on this aspect of Christian behavioral discretion, as it’s not laid out in much detail in Scripture. When it is discussed, the focus is its effect on our “weaker” brothers and sisters and our own health.*
So, if holiness is not about behavior, nor behavior about holiness, what is this whole “set apart” thing about? What I have misunderstood for a long time is that we are not just set apart from the world. We are set apart in this world for a purpose. If your purpose as a Christian were to be altogether separate from the world, you would be dead. Our destiny and destination as children of Abraham is the Promised Land, the Father’s presence. Your location on earth is evidence of your purpose in the world. We, the redeemed who are still alive in our bodies on earth, are holy agents of the Gospel and love of God among the spiritually dead. We are promised in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of Hades will not overcome the church. This is another verse (and concept) often misinterpreted – probably much due to mistranslation and lack of understanding of the Hebrew concept of Sheol and its Greek equivalent, Hades [I will not get into that now...please do a word study of Hades (Sheol) and its differences from Hell (Gehenna)]. Very basically, I believe Hades as it is referred to here is little more than the concept of the land of the dead.
I’ve always thought and been taught that it’s saying satan and his forces will not overpower the efforts of the church. However, if you read it in proper context, it’s really saying the church can overpower death’s door! We, whom Messiah has made holy, can be victorious in the land of the dead!
And we really are living in the land of the spiritually dead. The world is ultimately and unanimously inherently dead, but we can be used to bring life to it through the message of Love.
Somebody shout or something – I’m ’bout to have some church up in my office!
*Disclaimer: I am in no way saying we should just do whatever we want. My sentiments echo Paul; everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Should we go on sinning since we are covered by grace? No! It is still important to do the will of God and follow His law, but I believe that Spirit-filled Christians are given the desire to do so. That’s why I see discretion as a bit of a separate issue.
From Darren Tyler: Faith That Works
Today I’m just linking to a friend’s blog, where his latest post makes a simple, yet profound point and serves up a call to action.
A few decades of event
driven ministry, how’s that working out? If Barna is right and over
80% of our kids are walking away from the Lord after graduating High
School, I might suggest we have a hole in the boat.
Read it here.
Haiti Trip: Who’s coming?
If you haven’t heard, Kimmie and I are leading a trip back to Jacmel, Haiti to visit and serve with our friends at Restoration Ministries June 4-11. I’ve heard several folks express interest in joining us, but time is ticking away so we need to get our airfare nailed down. Last time I checked, it’ll be around $500 round trip [unless we get at least 10 people, then we get a group rate]…setting the total trip cost to about $1000* including airfare and ground fees (lodging, food, taxi, etc).
What this means is that we need your commitment in the form of a $100 deposit by April 15 if you are going.
If that’s you, just contact me and I’ll let you know how to make out the check and where to send it.
We look forward to having you on board!
*ballpark figure based on previous trips
