1 Kings 13:18 KJV
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
Albert Barnes makes an interesting statement here, "It is always to be remembered that the prophetic gift might co-exist with various degrees of moral imperfection in the person possessing it. Note especially the case of Balaam."[1]
Over the years I have witnessed several men who were obviously talented so far as the ministry is concerned only to discover that they were involved in things that are immoral. It seems like the two cannot mix, but Barnes points out that sometimes they do. King Saul would be another such case.
As I have meditated upon this today I am struck with the fact that each of us is responsible to open the Word of God and find out what it says for ourselves. God does place in our lives men of God; a pastor, an evangelist, a missionary, or a godly church member whose spiritual counsel and advice we ought to heed. But at the same time, we are responsible to check in the Word of God and make sure that our man of God is telling us what the Word of God says.
It is not right to dismiss the man of God's message just because we do not like it. Jeroboam's arm withered when his anger was pointed toward the man of God. This is not permission to ignore the preacher just because we don't like his message. On the other hand, neither can we claim innocence if we should follow the Word of a professed man of God without our own study of the Bible to insure that his message is from the Lord.
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
Albert Barnes makes an interesting statement here, "It is always to be remembered that the prophetic gift might co-exist with various degrees of moral imperfection in the person possessing it. Note especially the case of Balaam."[1]
Over the years I have witnessed several men who were obviously talented so far as the ministry is concerned only to discover that they were involved in things that are immoral. It seems like the two cannot mix, but Barnes points out that sometimes they do. King Saul would be another such case.
As I have meditated upon this today I am struck with the fact that each of us is responsible to open the Word of God and find out what it says for ourselves. God does place in our lives men of God; a pastor, an evangelist, a missionary, or a godly church member whose spiritual counsel and advice we ought to heed. But at the same time, we are responsible to check in the Word of God and make sure that our man of God is telling us what the Word of God says.
It is not right to dismiss the man of God's message just because we do not like it. Jeroboam's arm withered when his anger was pointed toward the man of God. This is not permission to ignore the preacher just because we don't like his message. On the other hand, neither can we claim innocence if we should follow the Word of a professed man of God without our own study of the Bible to insure that his message is from the Lord.
I have always wondered: do you blame the Hitler's, the Pol Pot's, the Stalin's, the Nero's...or do you really blame the unthinking masses who willingly followed them into any and all imaginable depravities?
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