| Balaam the son of Bosor A Message to the Prophet 5/14/06 George Poulo But there were false prophets among the people... Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone Astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, Who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But was rebuked For his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice Forbad the madness of the prophet. 2Peter2:1a and 15-16 Balaam is sited in Numbers 22-26 in the O.T. and in 2Peter and Jude11 in the N.T. He is referenced in the New Testament as a warning to the anointed, especially to the prophet. The story of Balaam is the story of a prophet who having heard the word of God chose to follow the rewards of wealth and worldly honor instead of obedience. When God told him not to go to Balak the Moabite, he went anyway. God then used a dumb ass to make him aware of his error (an indication of the severity of the sin). One becomes a false prophet when one does not obey the voice of the Lord God Almighty. The consequence to the Israelites was disastrous. Because an anointed prophet was in the enemy camp, God could not allow the Israelites to destroy the enemy as they were doing in the past, and instead of destroying them, they commingled with them, committed idolatry, and all the Israelites twenty years and older were annihilated except for Caleb and Joshua. (It is interesting to note that the implication for the Israelite was kill or be killed, cohabitation meant extinction.) The effect of one person on the many is a scripturally documented fact. In 1Chron21, David sinned by taking a census and seventy thousand Israelites perished by pestilence. We also know of the consequence of Adam's sin and contrariwise the obedience of Christ. The message to the prophet and all the anointed of God is this. The force of the word of God is that it is the voice of the Lord. There may be no feeling attached to the word, no promise of reward, no enticement, just the word. The temptation, however, may be pleasing to the eye, pleasing to the flesh, and appealing to the pride of life (1John2:16) and is used by Satan to get us to follow a disobedient path. The subtlety of the temptation is that unless we are led by the Spirit of God, we may very well fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal5:16). The result will not only be personal loss but loss for the many as well. "Through the disobedience of one many shall be made sinners" (Rom5:19a) captures the end result of disobedience. Many people suffer when we do not do what God tells us to do. One becomes a false prophet (or teacher for that matter) when one looks to personal gain rather than obedience to the word or speaks his own word and not God's word or a word that God did not give or from a deceiving spirit and becomes a rebel and sins. When one�s hearts desire is to obey God, good follows. The temptation comes when one shifts from being led by the Spirit to being led by the flesh. It is a subtle shift. We must learn to stay in the Spirit. It is a life dedicated to God. It is a life of charity. A life of charity never fails. We must be dead to sin and to the flesh. But when the flesh rears its ugly head, we must squelch it with the word, with authority, with conviction, and likely without feeling or impulse. What we learn from Balaam is to constantly be on guard, to follow the Spirit, and avoid the occasion of sin and the flesh. Let us pray for one another, confess our sin one to another, and walk in love. Amen |
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