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SCRIPTURE – NUM. 22:32-33                                                                                                                                                           OCTOBER, 2023

And the angel of the LORD said unto him,
Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:
And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

SUBJECT – A LESSON TO BE LEARNED FROM BALAAM!!

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The message for this month, takes a look at a common misconception that many people, including Christians make, when making plans about how they go about pursuing their goals in life.

This misconception stems from the fact that they believe that no matter what it may be, God/Christ is right there supporting, and encouraging them to go forth. And, with that being the case, anything that comes up that tends to slow down, or block them from that goal, has to be from the enemy/Devil!!

The fatal flaw in this position is that, if the person does not know God/Christ personally, as they should, they could very well be attempting to do something that He is attempting to stop them from doing.

The reason could be because God knows that there is a threat to them, or their loved ones, if they continue going down that path.

Or, the main reason is, that He sees them as attempting to do something that shows their defiance to Him and His Word.

To get the picture of what I am talking about, let's look at the subject verses of scripture.

In them, we see that an Angel of the Lord, is addressing a prophet about his actions concerning his beating of his jackass, because the ass resisted his direction to proceed down the path that he wanted it to go.

The Angel told him that if he had continued down that path, which the Angel was blocking, that He [the Angel], would have killed him, and spared the ass.

To capsulize the story, which starts at the beginning of this chapter, some men came to this prophet, Balaam, and wanted him to curse the Children of Israel.

Well, Balaam, at first, to his credit, seeks God's direction as to what he should do. And, He tells Him not to go.

The king that sent them, sends another group of men with greater authority, and a promise to give the prophet whatever riches he may want. But, to his credit, he rejects being bribed to do what this king wants.

The prophet tells them that he will ask the Lord what He wants him to tell their king.

In verse 20, God gives him specific instructions as to what he should do, if the men come to him again.

However, the next verse tells us that he got up and went with them.

The thing is, there is no mention of them coming to him, which is not what the Lord said, which kindled His anger against him.

This leads to what happens in verses 32-33.

In the preceding verses, we see that Balaam's ass, saw this Angel, and turned away from Him, while Balaam kept trying to get it to keep going down the path. He resorted to beating the ass for not obeying him.

Finally, the Lord makes the ass speak to Balaam, and Balaam tells the ass that if he had had a sword, he would have killed it.

Then Balaam sees what the ass saw [the Angel], which then leads to this conversation.

If you will notice, this was a God fearing man, that God had evidently used in the past, that had a reputation of being able to curse people, otherwise, why did this king send men to him to curse these people??

So, this man is quite close to God.

Yet, in a moment of weakness, he evidently forgot, or just ignored what God said, and as a result, set himself up for destruction.

But notice, God set about to stop him at least 3 times, before He took a more drastic action.

Now, what does this situation have to do with us today???

Well, if we look around us, or maybe at ourselves, we will see someone who, is so consumed with achieving their goals, that no matter what happens that appears to be an impediment to that end, it has to be from the Devil/enemy. And as such, we have to hunker down, and push forward!!

It doesn't enter in to our minds, that it just might not be the enemy, but God, who is trying to stop us from destroying ourselves.

We might accept God doing something like this, if, in this case, it was doing something

that was going against God's moral principles.

But, we wouldn't think He would do this, if our goal, was morally Just, and Good.

However, if we look at it from the standpoint of disobeying Him, in any way, it is considered to be rebelling against Him, then you can begin to see where the problem comes in.

It makes no difference what it is that a person is trying to achieve, if God has said 'No', or, 'Not Yet', and you continue to push ahead anyway, you are asking for trouble. And somewhere down the road, you are going to get it!!

This is one of the main things, that is causing the mess this nation, and especially the black community is experiencing today.

In far too many situations, we are attempting to do things that, even though they may be Righteous, from our standpoint, the timing or the way we are going about doing them, is bringing us in to conflict with God.

Ecclesiastes 3, starts out telling us that there is a season for everything under the sun.

What this means is, everything that we do, has to have God's support, for it to go forward successfully. IF, any part of what we are trying to do, IS NOT IN GOD'S TIMING, OR WILL, then He will put the brakes on it, to either slow us down, or stop us altogether!!

This is why a person needs to have a complete knowledge of His Word, and Him, so that we will be able to see where the problem lies, and respond accordingly.

Is it Him, the enemy, or us??? Only the Holy Spirit, can reveal which it is, and guide us as to what to do. [John 16:13]

Now, the question should be asked, 'just how did we get like this?'

To make a long story short, we have been listening to 'motivational speakers' as they are called.

These are people who make a living by getting people to pursue their dreams, with vigor.

They tell them that the reason they are in the rut they are in, is because they aren't doing what is necessary to get ahead. They are letting people hold them back, by discouraging them. They are being made to feel that success, is not for them. They should be content to stay where they are.

Now granted, there are people that will do this to you, to keep you from becoming successful, which, if I were you, I would get as far away from them as possible.

However, as I mentioned earlier, impediments to your achieving success, don't always come from an enemy.

Just like in this story, Balaam, was determined to do something that God did not approve of. In his case, it was his ass, that was holding him back, and for good reason!

In our case, it, more than likely, would be someone who is sent by God, to tell you that you need to 'stop, or slow down!!'

But, if you have been indoctrinated in to believing that anyone that is standing in your way to success, is your enemy, then you will take the message from God's messenger, the same way, and move them out of the way, and continue on until trouble happens.

Looking at the black community in this nation, I can clearly see the result of going against what God has to say, when it comes from someone like myself, that doesn't fall for all the hype that those motivators are shoveling out, to people that are starving for recognition and equality.

The thing is, when you become desperate, you will accept/do things that you would normally reject.

A person that is starving to death, will accept garbage, 'road-kill', or worse, just to get rid of that hunger. They will do whatever it takes.

Ever seen an animal in pain??? Even some of the most docile animals, will turn extremely vicious, when suffering. Another thing is, what most animals in the wild will do, to protect their young. They will even sacrifice their own lives for them.

Well, even though we are not animals, and are far more intelligent than them, most of us, in a lot of instances, tend to think and behave like them.

I have seen people in my community, that call themselves Christians, completely abandon the principles that Christ has given us to follow, for the misguided actions to attain what God has promised.

Just because God has promised you wealth and prosperity, doesn't mean that gambling, turning to crime, or other things that are proven to leave most people in financial ruin, are the way to go.

You seek a higher position in the company you work for, or maybe even a political office, and you are willing to lie, cheat and even do some type of harm to those that you are competing with, just so you can get it.

In the Church, you seek to be a deacon, pastor or bishop, so you go about doing deceitful things to achieve that goal.

That person you feel you want to spend the rest of your life with, and you decide to go all out to get them, may not be the right person for you, in God's plan for your life.

But, you pursue them anyway, and get married. Now you are catching all types of hell, and you don't know which way to turn!!

There is nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself. However, doing so, when you are running afoul of God/Christ, will put you at odds with them. And you can either stop what you are doing, or keep going until you meet destruction.

Even in the most sacred of institutions, the Church, we find people vying for elevation to positions which, at first seem to be of no consequence, but can destroy, the person, and eternally damn their soul.

Did you know, that in spite of equal opportunity for women, in the workplace and society, that is not the way it goes, in the Church?.

The Church is governed by God/Christ/the Holy Spirit, and not by the Constitution, or any of the other legal , or sociological whims of mankind.

Women as pastors and bishops, are totally out of line in the Church. Yet, women protested and fought for equal opportunity in the Church offices.

In order to conserve space, I will refer you to these scriptures. [1Tim. 3:1-5] describes the qualifications of men for the office of bishops, which also includes pastors.

When it comes to women pastors and bishops, [1Tim. 2:9-15] eliminates that position being available to them. The only position that they should have is in educating the younger women how to be the types of wives and mothers that God says they should be [Titus 2:3-5].

Anything other than this, they are going down a path with the Angel of the Lord is standing with His sword, to destroy them. The reason being that their actions are perverse to Him, just like Balaam.

I am not going to address active homosexuals and lesbians in these offices, because that is an abomination. And any officials that put a stamp of approval on this debauchery, is themselves, in danger of ending up with them, in hell!!

Notice, I said 'active!' That means, they are unrepentant!!

There are 'former' homosexuals and lesbians in the Church, that God can use to deliver His message on Salvation. But, even in this case, only males should be in ministerial offices, and only if they are 'called by God!!'

Pursue your goals in life, but remember this. If something appears to be standing in the way of your getting there, it would be of great benefit to you, to seek God about it first, before you seek others' opinion.