Does anyone remember Balaam? In Numbers 22 we read that Balak, the king of Moab, called for him to place a curse upon Israel. Israel was camped out on the plains of Moab and Balak had already heard what Israel did to the Amorites. He knew he was next.

Balaam was a prophet, but not an Israelite prophet. He was actually described by God as a diviner in Joshua 13:22. Anyway, he could not curse Israel because God would not allow him to do so, but he finally figured a way to help out old Balak and get paid for it. He told Balak to entice the Israelite men with the Moabite women. Because of this, false gods were introduced among the Israelites.

I suppose to Balaam’s surprise, God did not destroy Israel, but He did discipline them. In the end Israel was disciplined, the Moabites were destroyed and Balaam met his demise at the end of an Israeli sword. Perhaps Balak did too. I don’t know.

Throughout the Old Testament we read of God warning Israel of false gods, and they are just as plentiful today as they were then. False gods are anything worshipped by man instead of the one true God in Heaven. The material gods of that day were basically made of gold, silver, wood, etc. Ours today are the same, but not normally made of the same materials. Our major gods in this country are probably money, sex and power.

When they were in Egypt, the Egyptian gods were everywhere. Now they are in the land of Canaan and all the gods of that area are there to entice them. One in particular brought Israel much sorrow and judgment from God.

“While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.” (Numbers 25:1-3)

Vulgar, sexual acts were performed in worshipping Baal. (I cannot even hint at them here.) Even worse, they would sacrifice their children upon the red-hot altar of this false god.

The obedience to the Law that God required of Israel was to show them that they were sinners, they needed a Savior, and the Savior would be provided (the Messiah). Also, it was to keep them from false gods.

There were many, many hard and fast rules that God required of Israel. Read the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, and you will see what I am saying. Why so many rules? God kept Israel not only spiritually healthy, but He also kept them physically healthy. People in other nations had many health problems. There were many diseases and many were consumed with STDs because of their loose morals and sexual practices in idol worship.

For example, all down through the Roman era and through the Dark Ages loose living shortened many lives, but God watched over His people Israel. It was often thought that plagues were brought upon the people because of a curse from the Jews. Why is that? The Jews basically were healthy, while others were dying. The truth however is that God’s many laws kept Israel healthy. If Israel had also followed God laws concerning false gods more stringently, they would have been better off spiritually.

God has a message for us today, and it is the same message He had for Israel in the days of Moses. That message is, “Look at Me.” Now that’s an odd message, but those three words say a lot. They are saying that if we keep our eyes upon God we will suffer far fewer consequences from a sin-polluted world than we would otherwise.

When man takes his eyes off God everything around him falls apart. We in the 21^st century are overrun with crime, immorality, STDs, greed, and on and on. Why? We have taken our eyes off God.

Did not Jesus say, “Follow Me?” In Matthew’s gospel alone Jesus said six times, “Follow Me.” Allow me to state very plainly, if we follow Him, we don’t do stupid things, but when we take our eyes off Him, what happens? We do stupid things. What happened to Israel when they stopped looking toward God? They did stupid things.

Most all of our problems are brought upon us by our own actions. Granted, many are not. I’ll give an example. If an individual is walking through the woods and gets bitten by a rattlesnake, it certainly isn’t his fault. However, if he handles a rattlesnake to prove how spiritual he is and gets bitten it is his own fault. That is doing a stupid thing.

Folks, it doesn’t matter how old we are, when it comes to mankind and God we are like little children, we need to keep our eyes upon one who is much smarter than we are. Just as young children need to listen to their parents, we all need to listen to God. Parents make mistakes, but God does not. Parents are not perfect. God is.

God is saying to mankind today, just as He did to Israel many years ago, “Look at Me.” He wants us to follow His lead. If we will do that, we can avoid a lot of sorrow. Life has enough problems without our adding to them. But what about those times we suffer through no fault of our own? Suffering is never easy, but it is much easier to endure when our eyes are upon Jesus. Frankly, I can’t imagine traversing through this life without Jesus Christ.

Let’s say that you are a cliff climbing student. You’re half way up the cliff and then you freeze in stone-cold fear. You look down and want to scream, but not a sound will come out. Your instructor sees your predicament and comes to you and says, “Look at me. Don’t take your eyes off me. I’ll get you through this.” As long as you kept looking at the instructor, the fear subsided because of your confidence in him/her. Finally, you’re safe on the ground again, and planning a new hobby.

As a Christian, have you noticed that when you start glancing away from the Lord, the peace and security you once had starts slipping away? It worsens when our time spent with Him becomes shorter. Excuses were made to skip devotion time with Him. Before you know it, you no longer spend much time reading your Bible, praying or just thinking of Him and His greatness. The television is on much longer than it used to be. The world’s influences are creeping into your thoughts. Doubts and fear start to set in. All this because we stopped looking at Him.

Are we still His child? Of course we are, and as His child, He gently touches our chin, turns our head, and says “Look at Me.” A Christian can never be truly happy when not beholding the Lord our God.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

God and the Fool
There has always been wickedness in the world, but without question it is increasing rapidly in these last days prior to our Lord’s return.

In this country, decent people are no longer safe at their work place, in their church gatherings, at a restaurant, in the schools, walking down a street, and even in their own home. Every crime imaginable is being committed by lawless heathen, largely due to our spineless justice system administered by Godless politicians.

The entertainment industry is the mother of filth that is openly and brazenly regurgitated upon mindless citizens. No sexual act or vile word has been omitted from their trash they deliver to their zombie groupies.

Finding a true statesman among the political world is as likely as finding gold in your backyard. Nearly everything coming from these scoundrels is fool’s gold.

The religious arena has become so corrupt, only a few good men remain who actually serve the one and only true God. Elijah could tell us much about these miscreants.

There is no area I can mention that is not corrupted by evil, the type of evil that looks at God and says, “So what!” The sports world, the business world, even many homes across this land can be added to the list and are serving the god Baal.

The general attitude among most people in our land can be summed up with the following Scripture passages.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” (Psalms 14:1)

“The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” (Psalms 36:1)

Whenever the Rapture of the Church does take place, most people will be left behind. Most of those dying now, prior to the Rapture, are not arriving in Heaven after their last breath, but in hell.

God wants all to come to Him in repentance and be saved, but He will not force Himself upon anyone. The following verse is very clear that God will not make an exception. There is no respect of persons with Him, and He cannot be bribed.

“Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.” (2 Chronicles 19:7)

Most people today are fools, because they think there is no God. They have become totally corrupt; whether by violence, lewdness, false piety, etc. The wise man is different. He fears evil and departs from it, but not the fool.

“A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” (Proverbs 14:16)

We have been blessed in this country like no other nation in history. No nation has ever had the riches of spiritual and material blessings that have been heaped upon us. It is no mystery why everyone wants to live in this country. Unfortunately, we are now so corrupt; there is nothing remaining but certain judgment. God is patient, and He will allow us just so much rope. Please notice carefully the next verse.

“But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:48 emphasis mine)

When judgment comes, and it will come, I don’t know how or to what extent, but we will pay dearly for our sins as a nation simply because we have been so richly blessed and then turned against the very God who blessed us. I do feel strongly that after the Rapture, this country will be reduced to a dead carcass that will be picked clean by our enemies. However, there is no promise that God will wait until after the Rapture. It could be before that glorious event.

This next passage is from God to Israel, but the message is just as much ours to claim.

“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11)

As a watchman on the wall, I simply reiterate what others have said, and that is we need to repent and we need to do so today.

Don’t be a fool. Even though most in this country, even the world, have gone mad with satanic glee, wake up. Remember this. Every person in hell believes in God and would give anything to have another chance. There are no atheists in hell. What we do with God while we are in this body will remain with us for eternity.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html