Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 27

Balaam was so Desperate for the Lord to Change His Mind that he was in Madness/Insanity 2 Peter 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. KJV Note: NLT=New Living Translation; NKJV=New King 👑 James Version What was revealed in the message of Volume 26 was that this man Balaam was indeed in communication with the One True God/Yahweh/Jehovah (Read Numbers 22-24). Balaam inquired of the Lord God when he was faced with a decision he needed to make concerning the request that Balak king of the Moabites made to him. If this man was indeed a true Prophet of God (whereas many over the centuries refute this) then why does the Apostle Peter and Jude the brother of the Apostle James and our Lord Jesus say of these modern day false teachers of God's Holy Word (who we know are not true Christians) that they (the false teachers) have gone in the way of Balaam or the error of Balaam? It is because Balaam was revealed in the Word of God that he was actually an Apostate, that is, someone who never had true alliance, allegiance, or affiliation with the Lord God/Yahweh/Jehovah, for Balaam had within himself a burgeoning, that is, a growing and flourishing greed for the finer material things of this fleeting world, so he proved himself to be unfaithful. Balaam instead of heeding the clear command of God in Numbers 22:12-13 (as it seems that he did initially) and that being the end of the matter, he allowed the second inquiry of Balak king of the Moabites to cause him to go back to God, and the Lord God's response has confused and confounded many over the years, as it is written, "And the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, 'Balaam refuses to come with us.' Then Balak again sent princes, more numerous and more honorable/distinguishable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, 'Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.'' Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, 'Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.'" (Numbers 22:14-19) (NKJV). Balaam appears to be obedient and honoring to the Lord God, but do not miss what he says here at the end to the prince's of the Moabites, 'that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.' The LORD had know more to say or a different command to give, for He commanded Balaam not to go with these evil people desiring to do evil against My people Israel. Now here is where the confusion and confounding comes for many over the years by God's response to Balaam's second inquiry of Him, as it is written, "And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, 'If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.' So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab." (Numbers 22:20-21) (NKJV). Well it seems that Balaam might have been correct in thinking that the LORD might say more to him concerning these people of the Moabites. And the LORD would say more to these Moabite people through Balaam, just not what he thought, for as it is written with these words, "So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the LORD to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again." Why was the LORD angry that Balaam went with the prince's of Moab? Didn't the LORD tell Balaam to go with them? The LORD was angry because Balaam inquired a second (2) time of the LORD concerning these people when He had already commanded Him the first time not to go with these people. Yes the LORD told him to go the second (2) time he inquired because the LORD saw within Balaam a desire of greed as he was trying to play both sides, that is, to serve two (2) Masters. Jesus said this, "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." (Luke 16:13) (NLT). Balaam wanted both and this is what revealed him to be an Apostate prophet because he wanted profit more than loyalty to the LORD and His Word, which is just what every modern day false teacher of the Word of God wants, so they even twist the Scripture to make it appear that it is also what God wants for His children, that is, for them to be healthy and wealthy thus was born the false prosperity gospel which millions of unfortunate souls have bought into (figuratively and literally) to their eternal ruin. Eventually the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey and gave it (her) the ability to speak to Balaam with a human voice and in human language, as it is written, "Then the LORD gave the donkey the ability to speak. 'What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?' it asked Balaam." (Numbers 22:28) (NLT). Balaam was in such madness/insanity he actually carried on an argument with his donkey as if he were talking back to another human being (Numbers 22:29-30). Finally, the LORD opened Balaam's eyes that he then saw the angel of the LORD and then was rebuked by the angel then Balaam confessed his sin, however, his repentance proved to be disingenuous as we will see later on (Numbers 22:31-35). The English word 'madness' the Apostle Peter uses in 2 Peter 2:16 is translated by the Greek word paraphronia (used this one time only here in the entire New Testament) and it means insanity, that is, foolhardiness: - madness. Balaam was in such insanity that he did not react like a normal human being would if or when any animal would open their mouth and speak to them in human language. Balaam was spiritually blinded and wanted to get to where Balak was to appease him and get the earthly reward he had promised to render to him. Even though the LORD prophesied through Balaam to the people of Moab concerning their end at the hand of the children of Israel, Balaam went on to give counsel to Balak and the Moabites how they could get the children of Israel to be chastised by the LORD Himself and that was to have the women of Moab to entice the men of Israel to have sex with them (which the LORD forbade the children of Israel to do) and so it was done and Balaam supposed his hands to be clean of cursing the children of Israel for they indeed brought the anger of the LORD upon themselves by going into the women of Moab, as it is written, "And they warred against the Midianites, just as the LORD commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword." (Numbers 31:7-8) (NKJV). However, the men of Israel spared the women of Moab and this drew the anger of Moses, as it is written, "Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle. And Moses said to them: 'Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately." (Numbers 31:12-17) (NKJV). We see the sad end of Balaam son of Beor (he too was killed) who thought he had kept his hands clean by not cursing the children 🧒of Israel but instead counseling Balak to cause the men of Israel to be seduced by the women of Moab. God is not mocked!!! Amen!!! "Perversion as Shown in the Character of Balaam.—Repulsive as Balaam's character is, seen at a distance, when it is seen near it has much in it that is human, like ourselves, inviting compassion, even admiration; there are traits of firmness, conscientiousness, nobleness. And yet the inspired judgment of his character as a whole is one of unmeasured severity. Our main lesson in Balaam's history must ever be to trace how it is that men, who to the world appear respectable, conscientious, honourable, gifted, religious, may be in the sight of God accursed, and heirs of perdition. Balaam illustrates perversion." 'Unknown by me' "Following the way of Balaam: They are like Balaam, who was guilty of the greatest of sins – leading others into sin, and that for the sake of his own gain. Balaam had to be restrained by a dumb donkey because he would not listen to God." David Guzik "The life of Balaam should bring to the heart of every follower of our Lord Jesus Christ to rely on His Word and to revere His Word and to respect His Word. We must be in the way of killing our sin and putting it to death daily, as Paul said of himself, 'I die daily' and so must we do likewise. We should never want to massage the Word of God to make it fit to our feelings or to our fortune or to our favor, for in doing so we ourselves bring the anger of the LORD unto us and as it is written, 'For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The LORD will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'" (Hebrews 10:26-31) (NKJV)." Clifford D. Tate, Sr. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...