Wholly Devoted to the Lord

God commanded His people not to follow false prophets. They were not to join with a sibling, a child, a spouse, or a friend who wanted them to follow false gods. They were to put false prophets to death. They were to destroy cities of Israel that left God to follow false prophets and false gods. [1]

False prophets rob people of the greatest treasure, namely, eternity with God! Thus, God’s judgment of them is severe. Even so, God occasionally saves a false prophet from destruction.

Simon was such a man. He deceived people. The Lord gave him the opportunity to repent and become a devoted follower of Christ. And glory to God! He did.

“There was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the great power of God.’ And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.” [2]

Simon had everyone in Samaria convinced that he had the great power of God. But when Philip the Evangelist preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, many Samarians including Simon believed in Christ.

However, God was not through with Simon yet. When Simon saw people being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered the apostles money to give him this power. Peter rebuked him, saying, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for, I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity!” [3]

Wickedness relates to unresolved guilt. Bitterness stems from unforgiveness. Iniquity refers to crimes of inequality (unfairness). Simon wanted to be greater than others. He wanted to be like a god among people. He totally misunderstood the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t exalt angels or people because “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” [4]

Thankfully, Simon responded humbly to Peter’s rebuke, asking, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.” [5]

Talking about a man deceiving a city! Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) deceived many! He was touted as a disciple of Christ. He attended Liberty Christian Church. He read his Bible every year from cover to cover. He taught Sunday school. He claimed that a female angel spoke to him. She told him that he could absorb information from books by laying his head on them, and he did. He was known as the sleeping prophet because he would tell people what their illnesses were and what medicine to take by going into a trance and listening for a voice. During the first 22 years of his ministry, he used sorcery to mainly help people and did not make much money from it, but in 1923, Cayce went seriously astray from the Bible. He rejected Jesus as the Son of God. Cayce was said to heal people, but what was the price they paid for it? Perhaps, the price of their eternal salvation. [6]

How many today are deceived? Horoscopes, Ouija boards, tarot cards, palm reading, and séances are not of God. The animal that is snared by the hunter is always killed by the trap that he or she did not suspect.

God says, “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, keep His commandments, and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.” [7]

God says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” [8]

The New Testament pattern of dealing with false prophets is to expose and rebuke them. To warn people about them! To fully trust God via prayer to either convert or end their influence over people!

Be wholly devoted to the Lord! Renounce the devil and all his ways. Don’t take the evil one lightly. He wants to steal your eternity with God from you. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you in regards to faith in Christ, righteousness, and the judgment. [9] Your eternal future depends on knowing the truth and walking in it. Jesus Christ is the only One who died on the cross as an atonement for your sins and rose again on the third day for your resurrection. Be wholly devoted to Christ.

[1] Deuteronomy 13:1-18
[2] Acts 8:9-19
[3] Acts 8:20-23
[4] Revelation 19:10
[5] Acts 8:24
[6] forgottenword.org/cayce‎
[7] Deuteronomy 13:1-5
[8] 1 John 4:1-6
[9] John 16:8-10

Are You Right with God

Have you ever had a close brush with death? Did that moment make you think about the afterlife? When Jesus Christ walked this earth, He spoke often of the afterlife. Once, Jesus told religious leaders a story to help them rethink their priorities and warn them of what awaited them unless they repented. [1]

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The time came when the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” [2]

Jesus Christ urges us by His Spirit to be in a right with God when we die. The outcome of not being saved by the Savior is so severe that even those who end up in hell pray that their loved ones won’t be with them.

[1] Luke 16:14
[2] Luke 16:19-31