A little honey will make the poison slid right down!
Judges 11:30,31 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
The Israelites had once again turned away from the Lord to worship the idols of Baal, Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammonites and the Philistines. Because of this the Lord sent the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress the Hebrews for eighteen years. When they cried out to the Lord for help God told them to go to their gods or idols they had chosen for help, because he told them that he would not help them. But because they repented of their sin and got rid of their foreign gods and turned to serve the Lord, the Lord it says could not bear their misery no longer.
The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah the Gileadite, and he was to lead the armies of Israel to free Israel of their oppressors the Ammonites. But before Jephthah went to war he made the vow that if he would win the battle, whatever would come out of the door of his house to greet him, he would sacrifice to the Lord as a burnt offering.
Now we need to remember that God did not tell him he must do this. In fact what Jephthah was going to do was was strictly forbidden by God. Sacrificing children by fire was an abomination to God. This was the practice of the idol worshippers of the Sidonians and Ammonites the very people they wanted to defeat in battle. Maybe in Jephthah’s mind he thought he needed to appease their gods, so that he and his men could defeat them. Whatever reason he had was certainly not from God as we see in Jeremiah 19:5 how God hated this practice. Sad to say when he returned home victorious in battle, his beloved daughter came out first to greet him. Staying true to his vow he killed her. What a terrible shame! Jephthah while sincere in trying to honor God was doing just the opposite. Jephthah had served the idols so long that he didn’t even know or remember the laws of God or what pleased the Lord. He didn’t even seem to know that a vow could be redeemed. God had this provision in place just in case a vow was not correct or regretted.
Sometimes a little knowledge can be very dangerous! In Jephthah’s case he may have been familiar with with idol worship and maybe some aspects of the worship of the Lord, but it is obvious that he didn’t understand what the Lord wanted and didn’t want. He probably thought that idol worship and that of the Lord could be mixed. He was very wrong! His little knowledge opened up a sense of openness to his feelings of self confidence in doing what he felt best.
Satan and the powers of darkness have been doing this since Adam and Eve. God says one thing and Satan and the powers of darkness say well but you can use your own common sense in this and it doesn’t matter if it is exactly what God has said. Close enough is good enough! Not! All cults start off with some truth and then add to it what is critical to undermine that truth. A case in this is the Mormon religion. They say that Jesus was a historical figure that was a great prophet of God. Then they change one little word in John 1:1. It says in the traditional Christian Bible that was translated from the very early texts that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the book of Mormon it reads,” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.” Did you catch the difference? It was only one word and in fact it has only one letter and it is a. It really couldn’t get any smaller could if? Yet this little change by this little word or letter destroys the entire nature of the Christian concept of the Divinity of the Godhead. The Mormon bible is saying that Jesus is just a God implying that there are many Gods, and infact they take this to mean that every person that becomes a Mormon will become a God of their own planet. The husband and wife here on earth will go to an uninhabited planet, and start making spirit babies that will become people on their own planet. And this continues throughout the universe. They do not believe as Christian, Jewish and Islamic doctrine states that there is but just one God. They state this in the book of Mormon under the plurality of God and found explicitly in their Pearl of Great Price / Book of Abraham 4-5. This goes directly against the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah and the book of Quran for Islam. In the Bible it says in Deut 4:35, “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God, because there is no other.” Verse 39 says,“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other.
In the Christian Bible there are about 28 verses that affirm this Christian, Jewish and Islamic doctrine. In the Christian faith we believe that we have one God that is made up of the Heavenly Father, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Godhead is similar in concept to the government of the United States. We have one government that is made up of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. We do not have three governments, and Christians do not have many Gods! In the last days before Jesus returns Dan 7:25 tells us something very interesting and important. It says, “He (antichrist) will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.” (3 ½ years)
The antichrist and false prophet will certainly know endtime prophecy very well!
They will know what the Lord plans to do before his return and they will try to avoid or change things in the minds of the saints so that they can be deceived.
Matt 24:24 says, “for false Christs and false prophet will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible.” I believe it will be very possible, and the reason is the spiritual ignorance of most Christians.
In these days of so much information and most people taking everything at face value, Christians all over the earth are treading on very dangerous ground. Do you know incorrect doctrine when you hear it, or do you even care? I hope you do care, because your eternal destination depends on it!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, in these last days before Jesus returns we know from your word that the antichrist and false prophet will bring deception and try to change events so that they can remain undetected. Please help us to have the wisdom, knowledge and insight, so we will not be deceived and caught in their traps. Please keep us unto our salvation Lord Jesus. We love you Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit and Jesus.
