I Kings 13:1-6 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
(Jeroboam, king of Israel, had set up priests who were not of the house of Levi and Jeroboam even made himself to be a priest, which he was not authorized by God to do, and here we see Jeroboam is standing by the altar to burn incense. What an abomination this would be to God.)
And he (the young prophet) cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
(Today the appointed prophets by God to the NT church, who have been omitted by men who set up churches to suit themselves, also cry "against the altar" as they speak against the perversions in the churches of our time as did this young prophet to Jeroboam.)
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Josiah, king of Judah, began to reign over Judah when he was 8 years old. Josiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. The Word of God had been missing and was found by a workman when they were doing some reconstruction work. They took this book to king Josiah. When he saw the words in this missing book of God, he fell down before God weeping. When the prophet inquired of God, this is what God said:
II Kings 22:18-20 ... As touching the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.
The evil would come upon the land and the people but Josiah would not have to see that evil for he would die before God brought the evil upon Israel and Judah.
This is like that great tribulation that God will bring upon this present world before the end. The people who are really of God, following the word of God, will be removed before the plagues of Revelation 8-16 happen.
Josiah took action after reading the book of the Word of God.
II Kings 23:4-8 And the king (Josiah) commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
And he (king Josiah) put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
And he (king Josiah) put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites (the homosexuals), that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
14-15 And he (king Josiah) brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
20 And he (king Josiah) slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. (as was prophesied by the young prophet to king Jeroboam in I Kings 13:2)
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Continued: The young prophet speaking against the altar to king Jeroboam:
I Kings 13:3-5 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken;
Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
As we will see in this next verse, this made king Jeroboam very angry when the prophet spoke against the altar.
And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.
And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
I have seen exactly the same thing in the NT churches today. Men changed the doctrine away from the Bible. God sends HIS prophets to speak against the NT churches who have departed from portions of scriptures in the Bible. The ministers of these corrupt churches and their congregations hate the word delivered by God by the NT prophets. They do not repent over their own sin which is going along with the perverted doctrines.
Here is an examples of the perversions in the churches today.
Jesus said: Matthew 5:32
- The husband who divorces a faithful wife will be the cause of the faithful wife's adultery if she remarries.
- The faithful wife commits adultery if she remarries.
- The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 5:32 ... But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Scriptures such as this are changed today or completely eliminated from the NT church today.
And churches also depart today from this which the apostle Paul says is a commandment of the Lord for today's church.
There are many other scriptures changed from the Bible today in the churches. The above are just two examples.
I Kings 13:7-10 And the king (Jeroboam) said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
I Kings 13:20-22 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet (the old prophet) that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
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And when he (the young prophet) was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
I Kings 13:27- And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
And he (the old prophet) went and found his (the young prophet's) carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
And the prophet (the old prophet) took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
I Kings 13:33-34 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
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I Kings 13:7-10 And the king (Jeroboam) said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
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I Kings 13:11-19 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?
Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
He (the old prophet) 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.
So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
Galatians 1:7-10 but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?
And he said, I am.
Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
The old prophet is going to lie to the young prophet:
He (the old prophet) 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.
So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
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The apostle Paul said to the NT church:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
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We must hold fast to that word we have heard from God, keeping secure that assignment God has given to us.
Of what value are we to God if we allow men to draw us away from the message that we believe to be from God?
In approximately 1982, God said to me: The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
Shortly after telling me this, God began showing me various sins that were being committed by big-time radio-television preachers.
When I tried to deliver the message to those preachers, I couldn't get the message to them. So I spoke the messages on my radio broadcasts, naming these preachers by name. This got the message to these preachers.
In Seattle, the radio station manager said to me: "Joan ... you have many good messages. Just speak those messages. If you keep speaking these judgment messages I don't know what is going to happen to you. We might have to put you off the air."
The Holy Spirit arose in me to reply: "George ... If I don't speak the message that I believe to be from God, then I don't have a message and I may as well be off the air."
We must speak exactly what we hear at that precise moment. Otherwise that "good" message we speak may bring damnation to us and to our listener.
Paul said:
Acts 20:25-27 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
We must be faithful to God who appointed us. We must speak that message that is brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit otherwise we will be accountable to God for the blood of that person to whom we failed to deliver that message.
Ezekiel 3:4-11 And HE (God) said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with MY words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Moreover HE (God) said unto me, Son of man, all MY words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Of what value are we to God if we allow men to draw us away from the message that we believe to be from God?
In approximately 1982, God said to me: The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
Shortly after telling me this, God began showing me various sins that were being committed by big-time radio-television preachers.
When I tried to deliver the message to those preachers, I couldn't get the message to them. So I spoke the messages on my radio broadcasts, naming these preachers by name. This got the message to these preachers.
In Seattle, the radio station manager said to me: "Joan ... you have many good messages. Just speak those messages. If you keep speaking these judgment messages I don't know what is going to happen to you. We might have to put you off the air."
The Holy Spirit arose in me to reply: "George ... If I don't speak the message that I believe to be from God, then I don't have a message and I may as well be off the air."
We must speak exactly what we hear at that precise moment. Otherwise that "good" message we speak may bring damnation to us and to our listener.
Paul said:
Acts 20:25-27 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
We must be faithful to God who appointed us. We must speak that message that is brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit otherwise we will be accountable to God for the blood of that person to whom we failed to deliver that message.
Ezekiel 3:4-11 And HE (God) said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with MY words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Moreover HE (God) said unto me, Son of man, all MY words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Ezekiel 3:17-21 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at MY mouth, and give them warning from ME.
(If the message is about adultery, that is what we must speak. If the message is about forgiving those who trespass against you, that is the message we speak. We have no choice in the message we speak. We must speak that which is called to our mind by the Holy Spirit as we speak.)
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
This is the work of a prophet, both in the old and new testaments.
If we, as prophets, are trained by God to hear the Holy Spirit, and we learn to follow HIS Holy Spirit, speaking faithfully.
Many have told me I can't be an apostle/prophet, the calling given me by God. But I just keep doing that work of those ministry offices as I am assigned by God.
If a tree bears apples, you can tell that tree that it is not an apple tree, but if that tree keeps bearing apples, how does your telling that tree differently make your word true, when the tree is bearing that fruit of apples?
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But the young prophet left the word of God and followed the old prophet. He might have thought the old prophet knew better than he did, but his turning and obeying the old prophet and disregarding that word given to him by God, cost the young prophet his life.
The consequences:
I Kings 13:20-22 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet (the old prophet) that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
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I Kings 13:23- And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
And when he (the young prophet) was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
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I Kings 13:27- And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
And he (the old prophet) went and found his (the young prophet's) carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
And the prophet (the old prophet) took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
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There are many sins in the NT churches today. There are many forms of idolatry taking place in the NT churches today. They have added to the church many things that are not in the new testament, Holy Bible.
We warn the people about this.
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I Kings 13:33-34 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
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For the New Testament church:
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: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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