The spirit of Balaam
Yesterday I posted up what is really the first part of what I really wanted to comment about.
Revelations have John in exile in Pathos before it was a tourist destination, having been caught up in a spiritual state, and actually talking with God, in heaven! Hey, sign me up for that trip, I’ll go today! God is talking to John about things to come because God, who created the physical universe can be everywhere and has a vision of all time. He sees the distant past and he sees the distant future. So, God was giving John a prophetic view of what the end times looked like so that mankind would know and, really, have no excuse for that coming day of judgment.
Take just a moment, a personal one, and imagine the scene. You are in a great pearl and white hall. You are awestricken by the enormity and majesty of the place. You may be a bit scared, but you have this strong feeling that there is absolutely nothing you can do to affect the outcome. Before you, on a throne, sits God himself and he is staring at you. On the circular walls which rise to blend into the perfectly spherical roof are a thousand of what look like videos playing. Every single one of those videos is of you. It portrays a place and a time in your life. You see the time when you were sitting in church and for a fleeting moment you may be reassured. But right there beside it is another scene of you shoplifting a pack of gum from Walmart. Now you’re not so sure how you stand.
Then you notice God’s eyes are intently focused on a particular scene that is playing out behind you, so you turn to look at it. It is odd because although you have your back to God, you can still see him, and in fact everything that is going on there. Now there are ten thousand scenes that are all coming into sharp focus. But there’s just this one that God is focusing on. Then you recognize it and remember it clearly. It was the summer of your second year in college when you were home for a month. Mr. Adams the old man two houses down was always good to you. He was trusted and you often thought of him as an uncle. You now remember oh so well.
You are sitting in that favorite swing on the porch, and he is on that ancient rocking chair. He is talking to you about Jesus. He has your attention because you trust him. His expression is one of both caring but also betrays the gravity of his words. He is talking to you about accepting Jesus, and the words are hitting bedrock. In the next moment you…
You know of course that what happens to you in that majestic place of judgment all comes down to what you know that you did next, or what, perhaps, you did not do…
Revelations talk about a particular concept that I see in play all over America today. In Revelation 2:14, the church of Pergamum is scolded for tolerating the “teaching of Balaam,” or the “doctrine of Balaam.” Balaam’s name is also invoked in 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 1:11, both in warnings about the conduct and message of false teachers.
The church of Pergamum, one of the seven original churches, was an otherwise strong church. In fact, it was attacked several times, by others challenging its teachings. The faith of the people of that church stood strong enough for God to praise it and for Satan to come against it in an unexpected way, a back door of sorts. King Balak of Moab was an enemy of the Israelites. It’s a long story, but Balaam who knew the ways of the Israelites and who, himself wanted to be recognized for his prophetic powers convinced King Balak to offer up the women of Moab to Jewish men for sexual pleasure. The plan was a simple one, really, to lure the dog off the hunt and to get otherwise faithful men to play around a little on the side and also participate in pagan rituals.
Balaam’s way was to seduce not only the body, but also the mind to the point where the “Religious” jew would be able to justify the transgressions and compromise a little bit. You know, embrace the fun stuff while still remaining holy. Having come from a background of special operations in the Army I learned how the psyops folks duped people, spun the truth, and could change your way of thinking. All it took was that initial crack. Get you to take the bait and a year later you could scarcely recognize who you were when all this first started.
This Balaam’s way perverted the grace of God into a license for immorality. Think about that for a moment and make it personal. Have you ever sinned, knowing that on the back end all you had to do was to pray for forgiveness then you were back on track? Sadly, I have, and many times, and I’m darned ashamed of it. But the reality is that Jesus is coming back. Not on the back of a donkey this time. Next time, he comes back as the ruling king. That Donkey is liable to be an Abrams M1A3 or in the cockpit of our newest F35.
Like that F35 which operates from the relative safety of radar invisibility and stealth, Jesus is just liable to just pop up out of nowhere, unannounced. If he did, how do you think he would view you?
