Contemplative Prayer (Part 1)
The Nation that Forgets God

Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.

This study will challenge the doctrines that many, many have begun to follow. One thing I have observed is that when people realize their pet beliefs are being challenged, they immediately close their eyes and ears as they reject what is being said – even if the challenge is coming from the word of God. It was once said that the word of God is the anvil that has worn out many hammers. If you believe this to be true, you should also have the confidence that the doctrines that come from the scriptures will be just as ironclad and will hold up under the worst of scrutiny. Many teach in error that we cannot truly know doctrine or what the Bible means. Nothing could be farther from the truth for we have the promise that if we have the Holy Spirit within us, He enlightens us to the truth of scripture and teaches us all things.

The only time doctrine gets off target is when scripture is taken out of context and not examined in the light of the entire word, or it is mingled with something outside of the Bible. Almost all error comes from the beliefs of others which have originated without biblical study. I only ask that if you are offended that you would read this entire study and allow the Bible to challenge your belief or affirm your belief. The word is truth and anything founded on that truth will endure to the end; after all, “heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Stand firm on the word and let whatever is not of the word be shaken and removed.

I will forewarn you that this is not a pleasant message, but it is a necessary message and critical for our day and time. If you are a preacher or teacher and you proclaim these things to your congregations, it will not bring praise or fame. In fact, it will likely bring ridicule and criticism. Everyone who warns the nation or even the people of God will be rejected and despised. Consider the prophets whom God used to write the very Bible we profess to believe. We look at the prophets and think of them as great men of God that were highly respected. They are respected now because the word of God was proven to be true in their mouths; however, they were not respected by the culture or the religious people of their day. They were commanded not to speak the word of the Lord (Isaiah 30:10, Jeremiah 11:21, Amos 2:12). When the people were straying from the Lord, they had no tolerance for anyone who warned them to turn from error.

Every prophet was persecuted and most were killed. The prophets were killed by the sword, put into prisons, and even thrown into pits of mire to be forgotten. Not one of the prophets you read were accepted by the religious community or the nation they were sent to instruct. If you warn those turning from God to repent, you will also be hated. However, this does not exclude you from the responsibility God has given you. Look at Ezekiel 3:17-21   

¹⁷ "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:  ¹⁸ "When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.  ¹⁹ "Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.  ²⁰ "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.  ²¹ "Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul."

God could not have given a more stern warning and nothing has changed since the days of Ezekiel. We are still called to be watchmen over the church and it is our responsibility to keep the people of God in remembrance of the ways of God. You cannot make anyone turn from their sins, but you can provide a light. You are not responsible for the results when you instruct others in the truth of the word; you are only called to proclaim the truth of God in love. I always try to reiterate this point; if we love our brothers and sisters, we will seek their eternal good. It is not love to seek to comfort someone who is going toward destruction. Anyone who speaks words of comfort when someone is in error is self-seeking not self-giving. If you are seeking to be liked and accepted, you are serving yourself. If you love, you will seek the good of another even if it costs you. Hopefully our brethren will understand and turn and we can all be comforted; however, if not, we still should love them enough to speak the words that are good for their eternal benefit.

The Watchman Desires Peace

When you read the writings of the prophets, they are filled with warnings; however, if you notice, God’s warnings are always filled with good news. For example, when God sent Jeremiah to proclaim the coming judgment and destruction of His people, God also promised in Jeremiah 2 and 3 that if His people returned, “I will not cause My anger to fall upon you”. From the beginning God instructed His people that if they walk in His ways and obey His word, they would walk in God’s blessings; however, if they walk away from God’s commandments and disobey His word, they would depart from His protection and blessings and will be judged for their sins (Deuteronomy 11:26-32). When God sends someone to warn His people, it is because they have begun to stray into the curse and away from the blessing. The warning is not new; it has been the same since the beginning. Human nature seeks to pursue fleshly desires while at the same time hoping to keep the blessings of God. You can only have one or the other. The things of the Spirit are eternal and bring peace in this life while the things of the flesh inherit corruption and lose peace with God.

The watchman is sent by God to remind the people of the promises of God while also warning them of the judgment of sin. If you examine the bad news of judgment in the prophets, you will see that God always reminds His people of the promise of hope if they turn from their sins and begin to walk in Him. The prophet (and watchman) does not take pleasure in the warnings of judgment but desires the pleasure of God and His blessings on the people of God. A good example of this is found in Jeremiah 28:1-6  

And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,  ² "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.  ³ 'Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.  ⁴ 'And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,' says the LORD, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.' "  ⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD,  ⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD's house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.

…

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah's neck and broke it.  ¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.' " And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

Notice Jeremiah’s response, “Amen! The Lord perform your words which you have prophesied”. Jeremiah wanted these words to be true and He believed this to be true. After all, Hananiah spoke in the name of the Lord and declared that God had spoken to Him and sent him to encourage the people. There was a problem. The people were still in rebellion against the Lord and the reason God sent King Nebuchadnezzar was to judge His people and show them the need for repentance (Jeremiah 25:9). The nation of Israel was afraid of the kingdom of Babylon and its threat to their sovereignty and instead of repenting, they sought out prophets that would give them good news. Hananiah was a respected man, the son of a prophet and it was assumed that he was carrying on the light of his father. Jeremiah believed the lie until he saw that the word of the Lord was in contradiction. A true man or woman of God will always turn from deception once it has been revealed as a lie by comparing it to the word of God.

Jeremiah left the temple rejoicing and encouraged but then the word of God came to him and he was sent back to proclaim that Hananiah was a liar and that the Lord did not proclaim freedom for Israel but rather judgment (Jeremiah 28:12-17). The people refused to turn back to the Lord and Jeremiah was sent by God to warn them that God would judge them and the city would be overthrown by Babylon. Rather than repenting and seeking God’s face, the people chose to silence Jeremiah. They considered killing him but instead decided to throw him into a miry pit deep inside a dungeon (Jeremiah 38).

You can expect no better reception when you see the departure from the faith and warn the church to seek the Lord. While we may not be thrown into dungeons, the church will seek to silence anyone who reminds them of the words of the scripture after they have determined to follow unbiblical doctrines of men. In this study, we will look at the evidence that the church has indeed departed from the faith, the evidence that God has begun to judge and how we should respond as faithful watchmen ordained by God. As I stated, the subject is not pleasant; however, it can be if God’s people set their hearts on faithfulness and obedience. In fact, I will conclude this study with the hope of God’s promises and show how God gives us a sure promise that He will raise up deliverance and restoration to any nation that repents. He also promises deliverance to the church that remains faithful even when those around them are not.

False prophets agree together

A false prophet almost always speaks what the people want to hear. We have been forewarned that in the last days the church will seek out teachers who will tell them what they want to hear and that there will be no tolerance for the truth (2 Timothy 4:3), but we are commanded to be watchful and make sure that we fulfill our ministry. Jesus also warned that all men will speak well of the false prophets just as they did in the past. When the masses speak well of us, it should be a warning sign that we are people pleasers and not walking in the truth (Luke 6:26).

Why do people love psychics, horoscopes and other divinations? It is the same reason they love false prophets. A psychic will always foretell good things. You will be promised romance, new friendships, wealth, health and prosperity. Almost all divination tells you what you want to hear. If a psychic told a customer bad things, who would return to pay for new fortunes? People, by nature, want to be told that all their dreams will come true. The false prophet also gains power and honor by foretelling wealth, health and prosperity. Would the Word of Faith teachers be able to convince the masses to pour money into their coffers if they did not promise wealth untold? Would the false prophets be able to draw mass crowds if they did not preach a feel good message? Of course not. In the present and in the past, the false prophet gains power over the people by promising success without submission to God and blessings without obedience to the gospel.

Another unfortunate fact is that the man of God will almost always be the lonely voice speaking against the crowd. We have already looked at Jeremiah. The people rejoiced at the good news the false prophet foretold, but they did not receive Jeremiah’s prophecy and even accused him of being evil and seeking to harm the people. Look at Jeremiah 38:4   

⁴ Therefore the princes said to the king, "Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm."

If you do not go along with false teaching you will be called a spiritual abuser, a causer of division and the one who weakens the ‘move of God’. Was Jeremiah seeking to discourage the people? No, if you look back, Jeremiah warned the people and showed them how to avoid judgment. No one wanted to believe that God would judge, so Jeremiah’s testimony was rejected and he was labeled as a troublemaker. The same response happened with God sent Amos to forewarn Israel. Look at Amos 7:12-13   

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos: "Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, And there prophesy.  ¹³ But never again prophesy at Bethel, For it is the king's sanctuary, And it is the royal residence."

The true followers of God are being told the same thing today. In our churches we are being told not to prophesy and not to speak the word given to us in the scriptures. We have made the church into a sanctuary of comfort and desire to live like royalty without hearing anything that will discomfort us. While our churches are existing for entertainment and comfort, the world around us is spiraling out of control without the light of the gospel. Anyone who sees the darkness closing in on our culture and sounds the alarm are sternly warned to never again prophesy in this place. The true prophets are driven from churches all across this land. Remember, a prophet is someone who proclaims the word of the Lord without compromise. False prophets proclaim what the people want to hear and what glorifies themselves.

This same scenario is played out again in 1 Kings 22. In the beginning of this chapter, two kings of Israel are preparing to go to battle. Both of these kings have rebelled against God and have allowed paganism to mingle into the religious practices of Israel. Like the church today, they kept the sacrifices to the Lord so that they could feel religious, but they adopted the customs and practices of the pagan culture around them and turned from the Lord. As they prepared for battle, the kings decided to inquire of God to affirm to them their future success. They gathered 400 prophets who all said in one voice that God would prosper them. They even declared that these 400 prophets were prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 22:5-6). Even so, they still wanted to hear from the prophet Micaiah to hear the true word of the Lord. Deep down they knew that the word of the 400 was not true; however, they felt the need to get affirmation from a true man of God. They did not want truth, but affirmation. Look at 1 Kings 22:13  

Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, "Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement."

The people did not want the servant of God to speak the word of God, but instead they insisted that he agree with the 400 prophets that all spoke in agreement with the prosperity gospel they wanted to hear. These prophets were declaring “Thus says the Lord” as they declared prosperity to the kings, yet the Lord Himself declared that a lying spirit was sent to be the voice of these false prophets in order to persuade these wicked kings to go and fall in battle as God’s judgment. God even plainly warned them that they would be destroyed and that the people following them should not go unless they wanted to fall in battle. In other words, God provided a way to escape judgment if the people would hear the final warning of the Lord. The people did not heed but instead cast Micaiah into prison. The Bible says,  “The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” (Jeremiah 5:31).

One thing is certain, the one who truly proclaims the word of the Lord (the Bible), will not be praised by the people. In Elijah’s day, he stood alone. Micaiah stood alone. Jeremiah stood alone. Amos stood alone. Ezekiel stood alone. Do you see a pattern? There are times when God’s word has a great influence on the people; however, when the people of God begin departing from the faith, those who stand faithfully will stand alone. Every prophet felt loneliness, but they remained hopeful because of the promises to be later revealed. Look at Jeremiah 15:15-19   

¹⁵ O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.  ¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.  ¹⁷ I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation.  ¹⁸ Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?  ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.

Notice the testimony of Jeremiah: I have suffered rebuke; I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers; I sat alone; You have filled me with indignation; my wound refuses to be healed. The people of God departed from the truth and Jeremiah remained in the truth. For this reason, he sat alone. God commanded, “You shall not return to them, let them return to you”. You, the faithful Christian, must remain in the truth. If you find yourself alone, do not return to the assembly of mockers of truth but remain alone with the Lord. Let any who will obey God return to you, but you must not leave the truth to go be with them.

The Bible has repeatedly foretold that in the last days the church will depart from the faith, wolves will come in, false teaching will abound, the people will not endure truth and that the masses will follow the lie. We are living in this time. One other certainty that you should not forget, “All who desire to live godly will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). As in the times of old, the faithful ones will find themselves rejected by the culture and rejected by the religious community. Even so, our hope and trust is in the Lord and as we will see later in this study, there is great reward and great promises for those who stand on the Rock of Christ and are faithful to proclaim His truth. Your trust must be in the Lord and not in the praise of men.

Trusting in Man

Just because someone says, “Thus says the Lord”, does not mean that God has spoken to them. We have already seen several examples of this from Jeremiah and 1 Kings. The men who came to give council to Job during his trials also proclaimed that the Lord had spoken to them and they offered ‘the council of the Lord to Job’. In the end of the book of Job you see clearly that these men did not speak on God’s behalf, in fact, God declares that they did not speak rightly of Him but Job did. They called Job a liar and God called them a liar. You can expect the same thing if you hold to the truth of the Word.

I have often wondered why it is that so many teachers, even many who once had good doctrine, could go astray and even proclaim the same false message. Why is it that teachers and preachers stray in masses while leading their congregations astray in mass? I believe the answer is found in a passage that I have used many times before. Look at Jeremiah 17:5-6   

⁵ Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.  ⁶ For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.

We live in an age where the leader is looked upon as God’s man. People are taught that the pastor is ‘the man of God’. If a pastor was truly a man of God, he would be affirming to his congregation that they are also men and women of God. The pastor and the teacher do not have a ‘special anointing’ but rather they are appointed by God as God has seen fit. The Bible makes it clear that there are many gifts and functions within the church, but we all have the same Spirit. Look at 1 Corinthians 12:7-13   

⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:  ⁸ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,  ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,  ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.  ¹² For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.  ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The pastor, teacher, or leader does not have any anointing that is different from the other members of the church. We all have the same anointing according to 1 John 2:26-27. The pastor has the same anointing as the average layman. He has the same anointing and the same Spirit, but a different role and different gifts. There are many gifts, but one Spirit. The purpose of the teacher is to edify the church. The purpose of the gift of administration is to edify the church. Each person, if they are faithful, works to provide a critical need in the church. We look at the gifts as though they indicate status, but this is not so. A pastor who is faithful will be rewarded just as the administrator who is faithful will be rewarded. You do not have a choice in the role or spiritual gifts God will give you. Your only choice is faithfulness and obedience. When the church changes what God has given into a man-made structure that elevates one member over another, the work of God is hindered. Instead of all members working together within their God-appointed roles to accomplish His work, we have taught church members to relinquish their role and make way for the ‘anointed ones’. God will not honor this.

A true man of God will seek to put the focus of others onto Jesus Christ. A true man of God will teach people not to be dependent on the teacher, but on the Holy Spirit. A teacher’s role is to bring others to a point of spiritual maturity where they are walking in the Spirit and in faith as they have learned to depend on the Word and the Spirit of God to reveal the word directly to them. After someone has grown into this level of maturity, a teacher’s role is to continuously put others into remembrance of the word so that nothing slips (2 Peter 3:1-2, 2 Timothy 1:6, 2 Timothy 2:14, etc). Many religious leaders have fallen in love with status and honor of man and because of their own pride, have had their hearts depart from the Lord. Because of the love of status, they are now teaching their congregations to look upon them and be dependent upon them rather than looking to Christ alone.

It is vital that you do not become dependent on man or make man your trust. It is vital that preachers and teachers disciple those committed to their trust by God so that they do not become dependent on any man, but that they learn to walk in the Spirit and trust in Christ alone. Anyone who puts their trust in man is under the curse and their heart will depart from the Lord. This is why you see people turn from the truth in unison. Their trust is in the teacher and as the teacher goes, so goes the follower. Look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:8-10   

⁸ "But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  ⁹ "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  ¹⁰ "And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

The leadership of almost every church has failed in this basic command. Jesus is not talking about being identified as someone who teaches. There is nothing sinful in saying, “I am a Sunday School teacher”. The scripture is speaking about being put in a place of undo honor. Earlier in the chapter Jesus is criticizing the ways of the Pharisees. He warns that His followers are not to adopt the ways of the Pharisees who like to have the honor of man and place themselves over the people. They liked to have people become dependent on them and their traditions became the doctrine others followed. A man of God is not to be called Rabbi, teacher or father to the people. The term Rabbi relates to being looked upon as a spiritual master. In Christianity, we all are on the same level ground. I am a teacher by teaching and living out the word of God, not by setting myself above the congregation to be looked upon as a spiritual master or ‘the man of God’. I am a man of God just as you are a man of God and anyone else who follows God in obedience to His word. Anytime a pastor or church leader becomes the focus of adoration, they have stepped outside of the realm of Christianity and are now on dangerous ground.

The leader who disobeys this basic principle will be judged for his or her disobedience and for the disobedience of their followers. As a pastor or leader gets lifted up with pride, they begin to drift away from being led by the Spirit and their doctrine begins to take on a tone that does not come from scripture or the hand of God. As God works in our hearts to draw us back to His ways, we must either respond to the conviction of the Spirit or resist the will of God. When church leaders begin to resist God, they will also begin to depart from the faith and in the end may find themselves fighting against God. You cannot blatantly disobey without consequences. You cannot be lifted up with pride without consequences. This is how the prophecy of Acts 20:30 is fulfilled:

Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have heard preachers on the radio peddling their book or tape series and then saying something like, “This book I have written will change your life”, or “this tape series will change your life”. How can a man be of God and declare that his own works will be your life-changing power? A book cannot change your life – at least not for the better. A book may offer good and useful practical advice or may be a good resource that can be a tool, but anyone who claims that they have the power to change your life is not speaking by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that it is wrong to say, “if you follow these biblical principles your life will change”. This would be a true statement because the power comes from God and His word. It is those from among you, the church, who will rise up, pervert the gospel and draw disciples after themselves. You are not to be a disciple of anyone but Christ.

The Bible continuously warns us not to look to man or put our trust in man. We are not to call any man our teacher (or the source of our spiritual knowledge), our master, father, or spiritual guide. The Bible forbids the practice of the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2. The name Nicolaitans means to rule over the laity. The leadership is never allowed to be above the congregation in true Christianity. Even the apostles did not practice lordship over the church that Jesus used them to found. Jesus strictly forbids His disciples not to exercise lordship over each other (Matthew 20:25-26) and we as Christians are not to submit ourselves under the spiritual authority of anyone but Christ. The ONLY head of man is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3).

When a man puts himself in the position of becoming a mediator between the people and Christ, he is challenging the authority of Christ. When Christian leaders claim to be ‘the man of God’ that we must look to for spiritual knowledge, they are challenging the scriptures. What today’s church leaders are doing is diverting our attention away from the truth and to themselves. God cannot honor a church that puts allegiance in a man. Every true man of God should and must point people back to the head, Jesus Christ. The man in the pulpit serves a role but does not substitute for Christ. His role is to proclaim the truth of scripture and teach others to serve Christ as the scriptures instruct. The purpose of a teacher, preacher or prophet is to proclaim the truth of scripture while instructing others to follow Christ and stand upon Him alone. He alone is our rock and foundation. If we try to build our foundation on anything else, we will fall away from truth.

This, I believe, is why the church is going astray. Because we have disobeyed in this basic principle, God is allowing or even sending a lying spirit to be a voice in the mouth of our modern day prophets. When a lying voice deceives the people, the truth is made evident. When deception becomes evident, people are forced to choose between the lie and the truth. While that line remains blurred, it is unclear who the people of God are and who are the followers of men. God allows deceivers to rise up and draw away masses so that the children of God and those following men are manifested. Once someone has put their faith in men, they are under the curse and they will follow the man even when God makes it clear that they are departing from the truth of scripture. A true man of God will always uphold scripture and point others to Christ.

Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com

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