Judges 2:1-5 And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
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We who are of God, often try so hard to be a friend with people of this world and to fit in. But to do that is to withhold the word of God from them.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
If we are a friend to them, we support their works. To give support to them in their evil works is to be an enemy to God.
When we speak the word of God to them, we drive them out.
But because we do not want to drive them out, we withhold the word of God from them and by our silence we end up supporting their evil works.
When we speak, they flee.
Inwardly we suspect they will leave us if we speak truth from God to them.
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There are many lessons for us from the examples of the Old Testament.
Judges 2:10-14 and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which HE had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and HE delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and HE sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:
And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and HE delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and HE sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
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Judges 2:15-19 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
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Here is a penalty from God upon the children of Israel:
Judges 2:20-23 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and HE said, Because that this people hath transgressed MY covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto MY voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered HE them into the hand of Joshua.
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The judges raised up by God:
* Othniel
* Ehud
* Shamgar
* Deborah
* Gideon
* Abimelech
* Tola* Jair
* Jephthah
* Ibzan
* Elon
* Abdon
* Samson
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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The New Testament church:
The apostles judge doctrine and establish doctrine in the church today.
After the life of Paul, much perversion came into the churches.
Paul said:
II Thessalonians 2:3-4 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
II Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
John 4:21-24 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship HIM.
The apostles judge doctrine and establish doctrine in the church today.
After the life of Paul, much perversion came into the churches.
Paul said:
Acts 20:29-30 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
For 2,000 years men have set up their churches by their own will and by their own fleshly interpretations of the New Testament scriptures, adding all manner of abominable acts to the church gathering, which are not in the Bible.
Each generation of New Testament apostles have declared correct doctrine in spite of that which men do in their churches. The apostles always speak correct doctrine by the New Testament, whether they will hear or not.
Today we have incredible abominations in the various churches.
This is antichrist in the churches.
(Antichrist is not one man but is a spirit in many men. When churches fall away from portions of scripture antichrist moves into the church and takes over both in the pulpit and in the hearts of the congregations.)
Paul said this "falling away", the apostasy, would take place before Jesus returns and it has and we see it now in the church gatherings as they depart from scriptures.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
(How is it possible for a Catholic to sit in those buildings and not see graven images all around the assembly room? And they even kneel before those images built by human hands and read prayers or religious sayings. How can they recite the 10-commandments and fail to notice that God forbids those graven images? This has to be some form of strong delusion to ignore this.)
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
And even in the protestant churches today, I've seen graven images hanging on the walls in the form of "religious" photographs which are made up by man ... and in the images inserted into their stained glass windows ... and in wooden carvings.
The wearing of crosses on their bodies and their religious medallions testify against them also.
Anything you can see with your natural eye is fleshly, made with human hands, and not of God for God forbids the hewing of stone by man, as the work of man's hands and not of the spirit of God.
Jesus says:
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship HIM.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.
When it is spirit, you can't see it.
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