(Deuteronomy 13:1-18) “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.
12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that 13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 16 Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
We should not be tempted to even contemplate what others are saying if it goes against God and His will. We should also be careful not to believe accusations against people without there being proof. Thinking through how these two things might work together towards deception and destruction, I can see that one of my acquaintances uses both tactics. Maybe she does this to shake my faith, but I don't know what her true motive is, as I cannot see into her heart, soul and mind. What I can see is that she constantly points out what the world believes, while at the same time pointing out flaws in Christian people and churches, as well as TRYING to poke holes in the Bible itself.
Fortunately, my faith is not placed in people! Also, I know God's word well enough to confidently believe that there are absolutely no inconsistencies in the Bible! And when we love the Lord Jesus, we will desire to follow Him, fear Him, listen to what He says, remember what He says, do what He says, serve Him and cling to Him. We will know to avoid sin and evil, because there is no benefit in being attracted to or being seduced by it. But we don't have to fear it, when we fear the Lord.
What we fear, we will attract - seek - and create!!! What we focus on will become our target. So if we only fear and focus on the Lord - we will move closer to His love, goodness, peace, joy and security... And we will become more Christ-like as we ask Him to work in and through us, in His wisdom and strength, all to His glory.
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