F4F | Do Prophets Need to Practice Hearing God's Voice?

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God.

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Now, have you ever been told that if you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, you need to practice hearing the voice of God?

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Yeah, if you've ever been told that, go ahead and like the video, hit the subscribe button down below, and don't forget to ring the bell.

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You've been taught something false regarding God. Now, this is gonna be a long segment, and the reason it's gonna be long is because I'm gonna throw in some some major Bible teaching into this installment of Fighting for the

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Faith. If you've never heard the story of Balaam, yeah, Balaam and, you know, his donkey that talked to him.

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Kind of an important thing, and it has everything to do with what we're gonna be taking a look at here on this installment of Fighting for the

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Faith. So we're gonna start, if you would, in a crazy spot. We're gonna start in a crazy spot, and we're heading over to the

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Christian Post. Let me pull up my desktop, and back at the end of May, this is the article that was published, and it says,

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Vision Church of Atlanta adds psychic medium to ministerial staff.

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Psychic medium, that's right. So I mean, I don't know if you've noticed this, but Scripture forbids these practices.

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Let me show you the text for that real quick, and to kind of bear this out,

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I'm gonna duplicate my tab here, because I'm like all over the place and making, you know, decisions on the fly as I am recording this installment of Fighting for the

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Faith. Of course, I spelled Deuteronomy wrong. All right, there we go. Deuteronomy 18, and listen to what the

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Lord says. He says, when you come into the land that Yahweh your

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God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

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So you'll note that God, by His commentary, makes you know really upfront what

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He thinks about these things. These are abominable practices. There shall be no one among you who burns his son or daughter as an offering.

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Anyone who practices divination, or tells fortunes, or interprets omens, or is a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a necromancer, or one who inquires of the dead.

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All of these practices are foreboding, and you'll note that even in the New Testament, you know, there are people who practice these things, and upon becoming

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Christians, they literally burned and got rid of all of their spells, scrolls, and things like that.

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That's in the Book of Acts. So these practices are forbidden, and these would fall under the kind of the general category, if we were to think about the

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Ten Commandments themselves. Idolatry is in play. You shall have no other gods before me.

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But the other one is, thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And so the idea here is that we are to go to Scripture, we are to go to those sources where we know

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God is speaking, and not to sources where God has forbidden us to go to, to, you know, to look for good and answer questions and things like that that we might have.

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Now, you may not get the answer to your question, but so the idea here is is that if you're lamenting and you're mourning the loss of one of your close relatives or somebody that you were very close to, you do not go and, you know, inquire of the dead or spirits or mediums or necromancers or people like this.

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No, you limit everything to speaking to the one true

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God. You were to look to Him and Him alone for good and help in time of need, not to dead spirits or anything like that.

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All of that being said, coming then back to this, so vision Church of Atlanta adds a psychic medium to ministerial staff, and the story reads this way, the

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Vision Church of Atlanta, Georgia, a progressive congregation. You know, they're progressing all the way into the fires of hell.

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That's how progressive they are. They've added a psychic medium who claims to commune with the dead to their staff.

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LaCara Foster, who holds a doctorate of ministry from the Interdenominational Theological Center, is now a licensed minister at the

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Vision Church of Atlanta. Rolling Out reported she is the creator and star of the

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YouTube series, The Gift, which she argues God told her to do, and it follows her life as a medium minister and a spiritual teacher.

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Now here's...we'll sample one of her YouTube videos where she's practicing her craft, shall we say, as a medium and somebody who communes with the dead, which

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Deuteronomy 18 forbids, but let's let's check in and see, you know, what this woman's up to here, shall we?

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My name is LaCara Foster, and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. Yeah, a little bit of a note here,

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David Hogan said he grew up in Louisiana and that he didn't know anybody who practiced witchcraft. Well, I would just point to LaCara here.

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See, I told you there was strange stuff going on in Louisiana. What a lot of people don't know is that I possess an extraordinary gift.

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Now I... You do? Wow, you you must be extraordinary then. Don't call it anything, but some people may refer to it as a psychic or a medium.

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So she publicly and openly admits she's a psychic and a medium, mm -hmm.

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This is obviously a self -produced

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YouTube series. She needs to get a good sound editor. I am LaCara Foster, and on today's episode, not only are we going to be facing the gift, but we're also going to be facing some of our past.

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I am right here at Pure Bella Spa, and I want to call this sister a business owner, but really, she's more like a mogul, because this sister is doing her thing.

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Let me introduce you all to Markita Cook. I've done a reading with Laura over the phone, and I've done a couple of other things that were kind of similar to,

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I guess, psychic readings before. So you've done other psychic readings before, got it. I've never, um, none of them

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I believed in. So you never believed in them, but you spent the money for that.

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Why? I don't have many reservations about it, just because that first little encounter kind of was real, and I didn't know what to do with it.

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I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. It was unexpected. And there are a couple of things that if she says, if she touched on it, then yeah.

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Alright, so we've set up some kind of internal test. If she's mentioned those things, then… yeah, then she must be real!

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Now, a little bit of a note here… If you've ever watched people claiming to be psychics, they're on cable television all the time.

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There's a technique that they engage in. In fact, several people who claim to be prophets engage in these same techniques, this cold reading idea.

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And the best way I can put it, it's like playing Battleship. If you've ever played

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Battleship, you got the two things set up and your opponent is hiding their ships somewhere in the seas on the grid on their thing and you're hiding your ships over here.

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And so the idea here is you call out. It's time for your attack and you say,

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A -6. And your opponent goes, miss.

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And then your opponent calls out, C -3, miss.

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And then it's your turn. You go, D -7, hit.

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And see, when you get a hit then, you want to fire back.

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And so I got a hit on D -7. I wonder if the next one is like at D -6. So you go again.

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Now my next move, D -6, miss. Bummer. It's not that way.

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It's the other way. And so what psychics or people who claim to be psychics do, they are engaging in psychic battleship.

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And basically doing a cold reading is all about scattering out all of this information and then paying real close attention to the feedback.

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Because when you get a hit, yeah, you get a hit, well, then you know. You know that you know that you know.

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And then you can kind of drill down on that stuff. Whereas I would note that when you compare that to people who've actually heard from God, and we'll take a look at a fellow in scripture,

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Balaam. We'll talk about that shortly, but not quite yet. This is a fellow who is a practicer of divination.

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He's not a he's not even a believer. And he heard the voice of God and he gave a very, very specific prophecy.

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And it it it didn't involve any kind of psychic battleship or anything like that.

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But we continue. That would be interesting. And I'll tell you a little bit about how my process works.

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Typically spirit comes in like I feel like spirit is already in the room. This is how her process works. The spirit thing does.

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Already trying to boss me around. Okay. Um, but when it comes in, it comes into me like I don't see anything with my physical eyes.

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So I tell people I don't see dead people, right? Which is no such thing as dead. So let me say that. It's just that when we leave this, when we leave these bodies, we just go back to being energy.

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Energy can't be. So when we leave these bodies, we go back to being energy. This is your theology, woman.

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This has nothing to do with biblical theology at all. Created or destroyed. So we literally just release ourselves from these physical bodies and we just become souls again.

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Three males that have departed that are coming to visit for you. Does that make sense for you? All right.

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So now the psychic battleship has begun. Three males have come to my mind, you know, regarding you.

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Three males. And the way it's coming through, it's almost like, um, it's coming through on three different levels.

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And then it's three males and it's coming to me and on different levels. Uh huh.

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Yeah. Do you have a father or a grandfather figure?

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Who doesn't? And so you'll note then she's fishing here for a response.

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And she'll get a hit now because like everybody has a father figure or a grandfather figure. Um, so is it a father figure that has passed?

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Okay. Is it a grandfather figure as well? Is that your father's father that has passed? Yeah. Hey, listen,

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Lee, you're supposed to be the psychic. Why don't you tell her? Why are you asking? You know? It could be my mother's.

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I don't, it's weird. I don't know who my biological father is, but my father raised me to pass.

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Okay. So that's fine. It's your father figure. Okay. And then my mother's father is deceased.

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Deceased as what? Were you close to him as well? I was very young, but yeah. Okay. So, and so what they're showing me is that these three males are very protective over you and your girls.

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Okay. So yeah, well, now that we've got confirmation, because I ask questions rather than make statements, now

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I'm going to tell you more about these and we're going to just engage in continued vagaries. So you'll note then that this is the woman,

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La 'Kara Foster, who is now, she's claims to be a psychic and a medium, and she's been added to the ministerial staff at the

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Vision Church of Atlanta, despite the fact that Scripture forbids this kind of nonsense.

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Now, in the same vein here, I want to point something out. We're heading over to the

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Facebook for Chris Vallotton of Bethel Church, and Chris Vallotton is the prophet of Hogwarts, also known as the

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Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. And I want you to consider the vagaries of this particular thing that he put out.

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You may be prophetic if, okay, you may be prophetic if, and listen to this,

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I mean, just watch the checklist. You tend to be more focused on the future than the past.

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You sense things before they happen. This sounds like the same kind of list you can make for somebody who claims to be a psychic or a medium, right?

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You love to pray for others and listen to what God has to say about the people you love.

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And you have vivid dreams, often filled with imagery and metaphoric symbols, and you see patterns in life via numbers, symbols, or colors that God uses to speak to you.

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Now note, the same list could apply. You may be a psychic. You may have psychic powers and abilities if these things are true.

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I mean, there's nothing Christian about this at all, and it's just kind of weird. Now, since we're picking on Bethel, let's throw

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Jen Johnson into the mix, and I want you to consider what she has to say here, and then we'll launch into our teaching regarding Vallotton, because you're going to note, then, the people claiming to have these special abilities, they're hearing from God, they're hearing from the

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Spirit, they, well, they really have bad hearing. You know,

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I mean, really bad hearing. And that's kind of the point, because, you know, you have to engage in psychic battleship, or you, you sense things, whatever that means, and you kind of, sort of are hearing -ish kind of stuff.

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But listen to what Jen Johnson says here. Something super practical, like how do you get good at playing the guitar?

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By practicing, yeah, yeah. How do you get good at anything? Same with a prophetic.

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No, not at all. So the way you get good at the prophetic is by practicing.

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Now, so here's the problem, is that basically this presupposes that God is incapable of communicating to human beings and being heard.

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I mean, have you, I mean, this is nonsense. This is just gobbledygook. Consider it this way.

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I mean, there's God in the beginning, bereshit bera, you know, in the beginning,

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God created the heavens and the earth. And so what does it say? God said, let there be light.

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And it doesn't say, and then creation went, what?

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I haven't practiced hearing you. You want me to do what again? Could you, could you repeat that God?

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I'm not sure. God goes, I said, let there be light.

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Oh, okay. Yeah. With that light. Yeah, that we could do that. You know, and this is nonsense. When God speaks, he is going to be heard regardless of whether or not the person has practiced, because that's how it works.

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By the way, I mean, you parents out there, do your children have to practice hearing your voice?

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No, not at all. And so you say to your child, child of mine, whom

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I love, it's time for you to take out the trash. And your children don't sit there and go,

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I think I'm hearing something. I think I'm, I, I'm mom.

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Was that you talking to me? I need to practice hearing you more.

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Yeah. At that point, you know, yeah. I'm just saying that corporal punishment may or may not be involved, but you, you get the, this is nonsense.

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Okay. Since when is God communicating and people are unable to hear him unless they practice hearing him.

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This is absurd on its face. It's not going to be one day all of a sudden, just because you were, came out a newborn baby and the five -fold gift of God on you is a prophet.

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You have to practice doing everything. That's why babies don't come out walking. Yeah. No biblical text says this.

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This is just something that sounds reasonable to her apparently. You have to practice. So give yourself a break, stay in submitted community.

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And a really beautiful way to approach prophecy as you're practicing is to say,

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I mean, you can come in with a say of the Lord, but good Lord, it better be the Lord. Um, and I just don't recommend it, but, um, so she doesn't recommend that.

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No, no. So what do you recommend instead? A beautiful approach to encouragement or prophecy of any kind is

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I'm just practicing hearing God. Can I tell you what I feel like I'm getting? What?

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Oh yeah. So this is Bethel's idea of like prophecy. I, I, you know,

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I'm, I'm practicing, you know, so there you are, you're at Walmart, you know, and you know, you're over there and you know, in the aisle because you need to get, you know, get some new shampoo or something like that.

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And so you just like, you know what, you know, I think I feel like I'm hearing the voice of God here. And so there, there's some lady there, you know, she's looking at the suave shampoo herself and trying to make decision if she's going to get the lavender scented, you know, you know, conditioner for it, you know, to go along with it.

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And you say, you know, I feel like God's saying something to me about you.

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And I'm just, I'm still practicing, you know? Uh, you know, cause I, I'm not, I'm not really good at, at, at this prophecy thing yet.

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I've, I've got a, I've got to practice in order to get better, you know? So can I tell you what I feel like God might or may not be saying?

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Cause you know, I, I'm really not that good yet, you know? Oh, this is nonsense.

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And that just takes all the pressure off of God, if it is or isn't. And then if it is and it resonates, then it'll just go straight, you know, it'll connect straight to God.

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But it just, If it resonates, does that mean it's surrenders and says uncle? Takes that edge off.

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And so you can practice on people in the grocery store. You can practice on people in the church. Um, but a simple, beautiful, humble approach is just say,

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Hey, you know, I'm practicing hearing the voice of God. Could I tell you what I feel like I'm getting? And you know, I've had people tell me no.

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And I went, okay, have a great day. You know, don't, don't like shove it down their throat, you know? But I think a beautiful, humble approach is just to say,

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Hey, can I practice telling you what I feel like God's... Oh, it sounds so humble. A beautiful, humble approach would be to say,

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I'm practicing hearing the voice of God. Again, this all presupposes that God communicates and is not able to be heard.

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That this is ridiculous on its face. Now here's the part where we'll do a little bit of biblical work.

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We're going to take a look at some passages regarding Balaam.

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Now you may have heard about this fellow because it's the famous story of Balaam and Balaam's donkey, but you need to know a little bit about this fellow.

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Balaam was a guy who practiced divination. One of the forbidden practices.

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So he's not a prophet of God in the sense that he's a believer in Yahweh.

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He is trusting in Yahweh and that he is going to join forces and become part of the community of Israel and worship and serve the one true

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God. No, not even close. In fact, this guy is, it's awful about this fellow.

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In fact, I'm kind of trying to figure out where I want to start with them. So we'll start in Jude. We'll start in Jude of all places, because there's several cross references as it relates to Balaam.

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And I think kind of working this out will help us out here. So Jude writes, starting in verse five,

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I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe and the angels who did not stay with their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.

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He's kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

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Yet in like manner, these people, these false teachers he's warning us about, relying on their dreams, sounds a lot like Bethel to me, and like the entire

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NAR, you know, relying on their dreams. They defile the flesh. They reject authority. Yes, they do.

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They blaspheme the glorious ones, but when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but he said, the

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Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

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Now remember Jen Johnson's argument? Well, you know, so you're born a baby, but you've been given a five -fold gift of prophecy.

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You've got to practice hearing the voice of God. This, again, is not based on any biblical text. This is just some weird thing that's based upon what she thinks is true.

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It's kind of what she believes or understands instinctively, but it's not a biblical doctrine. So Jude says, woe to them.

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They've walked in the way of Cain. Cain is held up then as an archetype of a false teacher.

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If Cain is the fellow who goes through religious activities, has no faith, none whatsoever.

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So he just goes through the motions, but he doesn't believe at all. And then, abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

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So our first instance then, we'll note that Balaam is held up for us as a who is into money.

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And we learn also that he was also into divination. And let me close this up.

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I'm going to close that one. And here's what it says in the book of Joshua, chapter 13, verse 22.

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It says, Balaam, also the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain.

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And so here we again note that Balaam was a fellow who practiced divination.

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You can't say he's regenerate. You can't say he's a believer. You can say this guy is like a psychic or a medium or a necromancer or someone who basically is in it for the money and he practices divination.

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So we learn a little bit more about his character from that text. Peter writes in 2

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Peter, talking about the false teachers, he makes kind of the same point that Jude makes.

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And here's what he says in 2 Peter 2, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, he cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

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If he did not spare the ancient world but he preserved Noah, who was a herald. You can say here we got

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Keroux. You can say he was a preacher. He was a preacher or herald of righteousness with seven others.

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When he brought a flood upon the earth of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what's going to happen to the ungodly.

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And if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the central conduct of the wicked, for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.

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Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passions and despise authority.

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Bold and willful these false prophets are. They do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas the angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the

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Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.

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They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. There are blots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you.

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They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls.

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They have hearts trained in greed. They are accursed children, forsaking the right way.

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They have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Baor, who loved gain from wrongdoing but was rebuked for his own transgression.

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A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness."

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So you get the idea. We're doing a little foundation work. This guy is not a Christian. He never went to the

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Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, never had his prophetic gift activated by the apostle

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Ryan Lestrange after paying him $500 or anything of the sort. So you'll note that we got a little bit of his credentials worked out here.

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But then Balaam is also mentioned by Christ himself. Now, remember, in the book of Revelation, there's a whole portion of the book of Revelation that is red letters.

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These are the very words of Jesus. And so they're every bit as much red letter as what

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Jesus says in the Gospels, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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So here's what it says here in Revelation 2 .12. We'll put another stake down here, learn a little bit more about them.

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And the authority here speaking about Balaam is Christ himself. So to the angel of the church of Pergamum, write the words of him who has the sharp two -edged sword,

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I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast to my name and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

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But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught

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Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

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So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, therefore repent. If not,

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I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. So there's a little bit more to Balaam, and that's where the follow -up comes.

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And this is where Christ helps us out here, is that not only do we learn from Jude and from Peter that Balaam was a prophet for profit, and that he practiced divination according to Joshua, but also that he intentionally put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

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And we'll talk about where and when that happens as we take a look at this text in the

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Old Testament. So we're now in Numbers chapter 22. Numbers 22.

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Children of Israel, just for a little bit of context, they have almost completed their 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

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They are approaching the Promised Land, they are to the area where Moab is.

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Moab is in the southern eastern portion of the

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Dead Sea. That's where the Moabites lived. So that kind of gives you the idea where they're at.

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They're not quite up to where Jericho is. They've gone through Midian, but you kind of get the idea of what's going on there.

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So it says this in Numbers 22, the people of Israel set out, camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the

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Jordan at Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that all that Israel had done to the

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Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people because they were many.

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Moab was overcome with fear, fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, this horde will now lick up all that is all around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field.

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So Balak the son of Zippor, who was the king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Baor, at Pethor, which is near the river in the land of the people of Ammah.

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And to call him, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth.

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They are dwelling opposite me. Come now and curse this people before me, since they are too mighty for me.

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Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

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So note what's going on here. We've got to curse these people. Who's up for the cursing?

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It's Balaam the son of Baor. And we're going to learn that the means by which he does his cursing, and he receives money for this, for cursing and blessing, is through divination.

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Verse 7 then says, So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand.

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Any question about what's going on here? This is a pagan. This is a pagan who is into divination.

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He's being hired for the purpose of cursing the people of Israel, and the means by which he's going to do it is divination, and you got to pay him for the privilege.

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That's what's going on here. There's your context. So they came to Balaam and gave him

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Balak's message, and he said to them, Lodge here tonight, and I'll bring back word to you, and here's the fun part, he invokes the name of the

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God of Israel as Yahweh speaks to me. So Balaam at this point is going to try to get

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Yahweh on the line, you know, maybe give him a phone call or something to that effect. Of course, he's going to do this through divination, and the weirdest thing happens.

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Yahweh's going to pick up the phone, and Yahweh's going to talk to Balaam, and he is going to be quite unhappy with the experiences, the best way

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I could put it. So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam, and then God came to Balaam and said,

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Who are these men that are with you? And Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent me, saying,

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Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now you got to note here that Balaam has not practiced at all hearing the voice of God, no practice at all, and yet he's really good at it, like immediately good at it.

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As soon as God spoke to him, he heard him, and God asked him a question right off the bat.

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Who are these men with you? Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent me to you.

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Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. Now come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.

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God said to Balaam, you shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.

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And note that Balaam has no problems whatsoever hearing God, none, no practice at all.

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It's like, yeah, I mean, this guy is, I mean, he's a savant. I mean, he's just, I mean, when it comes to prophecy, he clearly is so gifted, he didn't even need to practice at all.

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Again, I'm saying that in jest and sarcasm, because you kind of get the point. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, go to your own land, for Yahweh has refused to let me go with you.

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So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, Balaam refuses to come with us.

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And you're going to note here, he's going to lose a lot of money, potential fees, if you would, because God at this point is not going to allow him to engage in the cursing business via divination in order to curse the people of Israel.

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So once again, Balak sent princes more in number and more honorable than these. Maybe he thought that, you know, so Balak is going, man,

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I shouldn't have sent this, the third string guys, you know, from my government. I'll send the second stringers instead.

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So they came to Balaam and they said, thus says Balak, the son of Zippor, let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me,

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I will do. Come curse this people for me. But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold,

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I could not go beyond the command of Yahweh, my God, to do less or more.

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Now here's the note here. This first encounter with God has made him realize that Yahweh is actually

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God. And so he's saying that he is his God, but he's not really a penitent at this point.

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You know, Satan can say that one true God, that Yahweh is his

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God, but that doesn't mean that Satan serves, worships, obeys, trusts, or anything like that in the one true

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God. So don't think for a second that this is a statement of faith. It's more or less just a statement of fact.

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So you too, please stay here tonight and that I might know what more Yahweh will say to me.

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So God came to Balaam at night and said to him, if the men have come to call you, rise and go with them, but only do what

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I tell you. And note Balaam's going, but I've never practiced before.

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How am I supposed to know if you're really... No, none of this stuff. He has no doubt whatsoever he's hearing from God.

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So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. Now you're going to note

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God's really putting Balaam into a very tight box. He doesn't want him going to the right or to the left.

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God doesn't trust this fellow as far as he can throw him, and he can throw him all the way to the other end of the universe if he wanted to.

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So God's anger then was kindled because he went and the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as his adversary.

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Now he was riding on the donkey and his two servants were with him, and the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand.

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And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field, and Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road.

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Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on either side, and when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she pushed against the wall and pressed

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Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again. Then the angel of Yahweh went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left, and when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she lay down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

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And then one of the more amazing things happens here. So Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, what have

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I done to you that you've struck me these three times? And rather than saying, wait a second, donkeys aren't supposed to talk, watch what happens to Balaam.

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So Balaam said to the donkey, well because you've made a fool of me, I wish that I had a sword in my hand, for then

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I would kill you. So then the donkey said to Balaam, am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life long to this day?

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Is it my habit to treat you this way? And he said, no.

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So then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword and his hand, and he bowed down and fell on his face.

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And the angel of Yahweh said to him, why have you these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me.

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So you want to know what God thinks of Balaam and his practices and his theology and all that divination stuff?

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Yeah, I'm going to come out here with a drawn sword, and I'm going to oppose you because your ways are perverse before me,

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God has said to him. And you'll note again, with no practice whatsoever, Balaam is communicating and having a conversation with God, and there's no ambiguity as to what

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God is saying. So the donkey saw me, God said, and turned aside before me these three times.

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If she had not turned aside for me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live. Yeah, so the donkey is more valuable and precious to the

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Lord than Balaam is because his way is perverse. So then Balaam said to the angel of the

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Lord, I have sinned, I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it's evil in your sight,

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I will turn back. And the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, you go with the men, but you speak only the word

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I tell you. So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak. In other words, at this point,

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God's in charge, and in case you're not paying attention, Balaam has been compelled by God to only speak the words that God gives him.

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No practice necessary, and this guy perishes. He's killed because of his divination and perverseness before the

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Lord. So when Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the border formed by the

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Arnon at the extremity of the border. And Balak said to Balaam, did I not send to you to call you?

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Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? Balaam said to Balak, behold, I have come to you.

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Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must

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I speak. So then Balaam went with Balak and they came to Kiriath -Huzoth, and Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent for Balaam and for the princes who were with him.

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And in the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Baamath -Baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.

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And Balaam said to Balak, build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.

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Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

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And Balaam said to Balak, stand beside your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me and whatever he shows me,

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I will tell you. And he went to a bare height and God met Balaam.

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And Balaam said to him, I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

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And Yahweh put a word into Balaam's mouth and said, return to Balak and thus you shall speak.

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So note here, God's not concerned about his inability. I mean, he's just an infant prophet. He hasn't even practiced.

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No, God gives him a word and he's going to say exactly what God spoke to him. And here's the important part.

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Those words of God are recorded in scripture. The person who uttered these words is an absolutely detestable and horrible, abominable man.

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And what he does to Israel in retaliation for what's happening here is beyond the pale, just demonically evil.

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But we're still in the middle of the story. And you'll note that this diviner, this sorcerer who's been hired to curse

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Israel, he now is going to speak with absolute precision the very words that God gave him with zero practice at all.

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And they end up being recorded in the Bible. So you can kind of in a backhanded way say that Balaam is one of the authors of scripture.

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And I mean that because he's the one who received these words from God and then Moses records them for us.

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So we return to him and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering.

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And Balaam took up his discourse and he said, from Aram, Balak has brought me the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.

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Come curse Jacob for me and come and denounce Israel. How can I curse whom

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God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced? For from the top of the crags,

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I see him. From the hills, I behold him and a people dwelling alone and not counting itself among the nations.

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Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright and let my end be like his.

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And so you'll note here from the top of the crags, I see him? See who?

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This is a messianic prophecy given by God, put into the words of the most detestable person who ever prophesied in the

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Old Testament, Balaam, an actual prophecy regarding Christ. Let my end be like his,

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Balaam says, because God gave him those words. No practice necessary. And he spoke with absolute precision.

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Numbers 23, then 11 continues. So Balak said to Balaam, what have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies and behold, you've done nothing but bless them.

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And he answered and said, must I not take care to speak what Yahweh puts in my mouth?

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And the answer to the question is, yeah, you better take care to speak what Yahweh puts in your mouth because God has put a sword to your neck and let you know you're going to die if you even deviate at all regarding the words that he gives you to speak.

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So Balak said to him, please come with me to another place from which you may see them and you shall see only a fraction of them and you shall not see them all.

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Then curse them for me from there. And so he took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah, built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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Balaam said to Balak, stand here beside your burnt offering while I meet with Yahweh over there. And Yahweh met

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Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, return to Balak and thus shall you speak.

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And he came to him and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering and the princes of Moab with him.

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And Balak said to him, what has Yahweh spoken? And Balaam took up his discourse and he said, rise,

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Balak, and hear. Give ear to me, O son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should lie, nor is he a son of man that he should change his mind.

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He has said and he will not, and it has he said and he will not do it, or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?

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Behold, I received a command to bless and he has blessed and I cannot revoke it.

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He has not beheld, he has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel.

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Yahweh their God is with them. And here's another messianic prophecy. The shout of the king, a shout of a king is among them.

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That's right. The ancestors of Christ are among them, the shout of a king.

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And so again, you hear this little messianic prophecy in the mouth of Balaam of all people and recorded for us.

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Again, no practice on his part, and yet he got this. He nailed it perfectly. So God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of a wild ox, for there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel.

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Now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, what has God wrought? Behold, a people as a lioness, it rises up as a lion, it lifts itself.

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It does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain. And so Balaam himself has to say, because God told him to say that there is no divination that will work against Israel.

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And this has just got to be galling for him because he's not able to enjoy the money associated with his labors at this point at all.

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And he's losing lots and lots of money and honor as a result of this whole thing. God's got him compelled to only speak what

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God tells him. So Balaam said to Balaam, do not curse them at all, and don't bless them at all.

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Stop that, please. So Balaam answered Balaam, did I not tell you all that Yahweh says that must

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I do? So Balaam said to Balaam, come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please

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God that you may curse them for me there. So Balaam took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert.

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Now this is going to be an important piece that'll come up in the next chapter, and is referred to always again as the incidents regarding Baal of Peor.

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And so we'll note here that this is an important place that plays into the rest of the story regarding Balaam.

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So Balaam took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. And Balaam said to Balaam, build for me there seven altars, prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.

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And Balaam did as Balaam had said, offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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And when Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to look for omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

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And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel camping tribe by tribe, and the spirit of God came upon him.

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And he took up his discourse and he said, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Peor, the oracle of a man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the

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Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered. How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments,

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O Israel, like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that Yahweh has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.

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Waters shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

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And here we go again, another messianic prophecy coming from, of all people, the unpracticed

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Baal, sorry, Balaam, you know, of Peor, the son of Peor.

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Unpracticed, and yet he's giving a messianic prophecy. Nailed it, and it's written down for us.

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So God brings him out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations, his adversaries, and he shall break their bones in pieces and pierce them through with his arrows.

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He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness who will, who will rouse him up. Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you.

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So Balaam's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together, and Balaam said to Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies, and behold you have blessed them these three times.

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Therefore now flee to your own place. I said I will certainly honor you, but Yahweh has held you back from honor.

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And Balaam's gonna owe Yahweh a grudge, because at this point, what

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Balaam is saying is true. The Lord has held Balaam back from receiving honor from Balaam.

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So Balaam said to Balaam, did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, if Balaam should give me his house full of silver and gold,

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I would not be able to go beyond the word of Yahweh to do either good or bad of my own will.

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What Yahweh speaks, that will I speak. In other words, he's trying to say, I'm speaking against my will.

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I'm only speaking what God told me. I can't unless I want to die. So now behold,

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I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.

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So Balaam took up his discourse, and he said, the oracle of Balaam, the son of Baor, the oracle of a man whose eye is open, the oracle of him who hears the words of God and knows the knowledge of the

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Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now.

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I behold him, but not near. Again, messianic prophecy. A star shall come out of Jacob.

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A scepter shall rise out of Israel, and it shall crush the forehead of Moab, shall break down all the sons of Sheth.

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Edom shall be dispossessed. Seir, also his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly, and one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of the cities.

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And then he looked upon Amalek and took up his discourse and said, Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction.

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And then he looked on the Kenai and took up his discourse. Enduring is your dwelling place. Your nest is set in the rock.

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Nevertheless, Cain shall be burned when Asher takes you away captive. And then he took up his discourse and said,

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Alas, who shall live when God does this? But ships shall come from Kittim and shall afflict

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Asher and Eber, and he too shall come to utter destruction. Then Balaam rose and went back to his place, and Balak also went his way.

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So you'll note the unpracticed sorcerer into divination and the reading of omens, who never once practiced hearing the voice of God, nailed it every time, so much so that his very words are recorded in scripture for us.

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And we again note that Joshua says of Balaam that he practiced divination, and he was eventually killed with the sword of Israel.

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But again, remember what Jesus said regarding Balaam. And here's what he said.

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Writing to the church at Pergamum, Christ says that there are those who are following the teaching of Balaam who taught

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Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food, sacrifice to idols, and practice sexual immorality.

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So what comes next in the book of Numbers, in chapter 25, this was all

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Balaam's idea. Since he couldn't be honored by Balak and he couldn't curse

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Israel, he came up with this scheme. And here's what it says. While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.

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These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

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So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, and the angel of Yahweh was kindled against Israel.

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And Yahweh said to Moses, take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before Yahweh, that the fierce anger of the

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Lord may turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.

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And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in the side of Moses, and in the side of the whole congregation, the people of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

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And when Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly.

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Thus, the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were 24 ,000.

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So it was Balaam, the son of Baor, in retaliation to the fact that he wasn't honored by Balak, couldn't curse

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Israel. He's the one who taught Balak, you want these people cursed?

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Send your hot chicks into the camp where the people of Israel, get them to come to their families' houses for a barbecue, offer sacrifices to Baal, and engage in sexual immorality with them.

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Then God's anger will be kindled against them. And it was Balaam who came up with that whole plan.

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It tells you something about that guy, a complete scumbag. It's kind of the best way that you can put it.

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And so that scumbag is the one who did this. Numbers 31 says this regarding him.

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Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against Yahweh in the incidents of Baor.

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And so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has been known by lying with him.

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So it was Balaam, his advice, send your hot women in, and entice and seduce

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Israel, get them to engage in idolatry and adultery, and then God will curse them. More than 20 ,000 men were killed as a result of that.

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So, and you'll note that Balaam never practiced hearing the voice of God, never once.

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Let's hear again Jen Johnson. Something super practical, like how do you get good at playing the guitar?

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How do you get good at anything? Same with a prophetic. It's not going to be one day all of a sudden just because you came out a newborn baby, and the fivefold gift of God on you is a prophet.

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You have to practice doing everything. That's why babies don't come out walking. Yeah, again, this is just what she teaches.

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It's instinctive to her. What her unreasoning mind, you know, you know, how does

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Peter say, you know, like, like, you know, like animals instinctively believing and reasoning. This is all her instinctive reasoning.

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It has nothing to do with what God's word says. And again, it always assumes that God can communicate and we wouldn't hear him.

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Practice. So give yourself a break. Stay in submitted community. And a really beautiful way to approach prophecy as you're practicing is to say,

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I mean, you can come in with a say of the Lord, but good Lord, it better be the Lord. And I just don't recommend it.

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But a beautiful approach to encouragement or prophecy of any kind is

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I'm just practicing hearing God. Can I tell you what I feel like I'm getting? And that just takes all the pressure off of God, if it is or isn't.

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And then if it is, and it resonates, then it'll just go straight, you know, it'll connect straight to God. But it just takes that edge off.

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And so you can practice on people in the grocery store. You can practice on people in the church. But a simple, beautiful, humble approach is just say, hey, you know.

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This isn't humble. It's just nonsense. I'm practicing hearing the voice of God. Could I tell you what I feel like I'm getting?

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And you know, I've had people tell me no. And I went, okay, have a great day. You know, don't, don't like shove it down their throat, you know.

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But I think a beautiful, humble approach is just to say, hey, can I practice telling you what I feel like God. Yeah, most important words there that she said were,

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I think. No biblical text teaches this. And again, it just assumes that God is capable of communicating and not being heard.

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And yet the evil, wretched, abominable, diviner and omen reader and, you know, and the guy who came up with the idea of getting retaliation for him not being honored,

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Balaam, he had no problem whatsoever without any practice hearing the voice of God.

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Yeah. Hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share this video is down below.

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Faith and Pirate Christian Media is also down there, joining our crew, sending in a one -time contribution, becoming a patron on Patreon, all that information is down there as well.

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So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.