Do you think God knew what He was doing?
Every person ever, living or dead, yearns to be thought of as legitimate and validated in their endeavors. Criminals seek to hide the criminality behind legitimate business concerns.
Business owners want their endeavors to be successful.
False prophets seek to find people who will make them seem legitimate by listening and propping them up.
Charlatans seek to dupe people into believing they are for real.
We have proof that so many are willing to listen and believe anything, you need look no further than the princes of Nigeria, P.T. Barnum, Jim Jones.
In the book of Judges we have the same situation.
Jdg 17:1 And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
Jdg 17:2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.
Jdg 17:3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
Jdg 17:4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
The character of these 2! The man steals from his mother, the mother curses the thief, the man restores the money and the mother blesses him (sarcasm I am sure), took 200 instead of 1100 to make a graven image.
Please note that when she had lost the money she cursed the thief, but when the son returned it she blessed his name. (That's a whole other story right there but I will leave that to Freud).
She says she had wholly dedicated the full 1100 to the Lord to make a graven image, which by the way is the second of the 10 commandments to keep. (Do you see the deception?)
These two were made for each other, I can smell the smarminess coming off the both of them.
So she takes 200 of the 1100 she had "wholly dedicated to the Lord" to have a graven image made.
She lies to her son, lies to herself and pretends she is doing it all for the Lord.
No other God but our God would tell of the seediness of people, the false religions do all they can to prop up their sacredness, to "present" their leaders as infallible.
The Lord has made sure that we see the good and the bad as an example, and they do not get much worse than these two.
Jdg 17:5 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Jdg 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Jdg 17:7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
So the man Micah had a house of "gods" and all the accouterments, he then appoints his son as a priest over this "religion" of his. So he created the "gods" he wanted to serve, and the son he raised and taught he gave the authority of this "religion". He truly wanted to be the author and finisher of his faith. He truly wanted control of the situation, he was the master and commander of all in his life, and then he goes even further.
He had to go out and find someone from the very tribe that God had consecrated to His Priesthood, to further "legitimize" the scam he was running. Now the scam part is from me, why else would you spend all this money and time unless there was a reason? To be well thought of, take people’s money, to be thought of as righteous when in reality nothing could be farther from the truth.
So he is trying to mimic all the things God set aside for His priesthood yet he does not just turn to the true God he is so desperately trying to emulate. Why didn't he just turn to God? That is the question. He is doing all he can to mimic and recreate what God did, yet he refuses to see the true God. His accountability now is to himself, his own thoughts and opinions. He no longer has to worry about what is right and wrong because he is writing the rules!
Jdg 17:9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.
Jdg 17:10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.
Jdg 17:11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.
Jdg 17:12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Jdg 17:13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
The Levite was looking for a place of his own and Micah made him an offer he could not refuse. He would be fed, given 10 shekels a year and clothes to play act for this Micah. So he was going to have all his needs met and a position of authority in the house, plus spending money and all he had to do was act as if he was a priest.
So what happened to the son he had just appointed as the priest? What would the son think? would he be hurt, disappointed, bitter towards his father now? The man placed his son in authority and then immediately kicks him out of the place he had just been put in. This man Micah, seems to care not a whit for his family or the mental of health of them, but only for his own standing, his own image. What a son and father this guy was.
Micah was now certain the Lord would bless him for he had a priest! Never mind the graven images, the deception, the lying. His heart was not right, and isn’t this where sin is, in the heart? He was sinning against God, he had no idea who God was what God was about but in his mind he was going to be blessed.
Oh what a statement on today, how many dress up, go to church, go home and say the Lord will bless me now!
People it is the heart that matters! Defilement comes not from without but within!
Do you see the full self deception and delusion?
Yet he does not just sin himself, he brings his family into it and then, he corrupts another all for the sake of legitimacy.
Then he truly believes he would be blessed of God.
At one point I almost believed he thought he was right, at one point I almost thought he was trying to serve God.
You say well he tried, he did his best, he did what he believed was right.
Well you would be sadly mistaken for there is no other way but God's way. He had the judges for an example, he had the Law of Moses for a guide. He had all he needed to live right, to have a pure heart but he refuse that guidance and did what was right in his own eyes.
It matters not what the world may say is right, it matters not what your mother or father say is right, it matters what God says is Right!
Be aware that what you think or feel is right can easily be over ridden by others who are convinced they are right.
Yet if you serve God, follow His Law, His Word you can not be over rode for God is always right.
What man, human law, elders of the church, even the pastor says can not be right if it goes against the Word of God. The Word of God is inviolate and true no matter what any ANY man may say.
This man made his own religion, based on lies, deception and theft. He set up the tenets of this "religion" He made it say what he wanted it to say, appointed people who would tell him what he wanted to hear. He made his own "gods", he was his own religion, he did that which was right in his own eyes.
This man thought God would bless him. The sheer audacity, or perhaps the misguided intentions. Yet he never once inquired of the Lord. He never once read the Word. He never stopped to ask the Levite what was right and just. He made his own doctrine, his own way of worship.
Let this never be true of us that we put our "law", our idea of right ahead of God's pure and Just Word.
If we ever get to the point where our opinion is of more value than God's Word, then shut the doors turn out the lights and go home. For we are Micah.
Nothing is more important today than the Word of God, The Grace of God, The Mercy of God.
Nothing is more important today than getting back to God and the Word of God.
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