Judges 18

Men of Dan meet Micah’s priest verse 1- 4

In those days there was no king in Israel

and in those days the tribe of the Danites

sought them an inheritance

to dwell in

FOR to that day all their inheritance had not fallen

to them among the tribes of Israel

And the children of Dan

sent of their family five men from their coasts

men of valor – from Zorah – Eshtaol

to spy out the land – to search it

And they said to them

Go – search the land

who when they came to mount Ephraim

to the house of Micah – they lodged there

When they were by the house of Micah

they knew the voice of the young man the Levite

and they turned in thither

and said to him

Who brought you hither?

What makes you in this place?

What have you here?

And he said to them

Thus and thus deal Micah with me

and has hired me

and I am his priest

Priest prays for five men of Dan verse 5- 6

And they

said to him

Ask counsel – we pray you – of God

that we may know whether out way which we go shall

be prosperous

And the priest

said to them

Go in peace – before the LORD is your way wherein ye go

Men of Dan discover people of Laish verse 7

Then the five men departed – and came to Laish

and saw the people that were therein

how they dwelt careless

after the manner of the Sidonians

quiet and secure

And there was no magistrate in the land

that might put them to shame in any thing

and they were far from the Sidonians

and had no business with any man

Men of Dan report back to tribe verse 8- 10

And they came to their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol

and their brethren said to them – What say you?

And they

said

Arise – that we may go up against them

for we have seen the land – and – BEHOLD

it is very good – and are ye still?

Be not slothful to go

and to enter to possess the land

When you go – you shall come to a people secure

and to a large land

for God hath given it into your hands

A place where there is no want of anything

that is in the earth

Six hundred men of Dan come to house of Micah verse 11- 13

And there went from thence of the family of the Danites

out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol

six hundred men appointed with weapons of war

And they went up – and pitched in Kirjath-jearim – in Judah

wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day

BEHOLD – it is behind Kirjath-jearim

And they passed thence to mount Ephraim

and came unto the house of Micah

Men of Dan steal the gods of the house of Micah verse 14- 17

THEN answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish

and said to their brethren

Do you know that there is in these houses

an ephod – teraphim – graven image – molten image?

now therefore consider what ye have to do

And they turned thitherward

and came to the house of the young man the Levite

even to the house of Micah – and saluted him

And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war

which were of the children of Dan

stood by the entering of the gate

And the five men that went to spy out the land went up

and came in thither and took the

graven image – ephod – teraphim – molten image

and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the

six hundred men that were appointed with

weapons of war

Priest questions men of Dan verse 18

And these went into Micah’s house

and fetched the carved image

ephod – teraphim – molten image

THEN said the priest to them

What do you?

Men of Dan ask priest to come with them verse 19

And they

said to him

Hold your peace – lay your hand upon thy mouth

and go with us

and be to us a father and a priest

Is it better for thee to be priest to the house of one man

or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?

Priest goes with them verse 20- 21

And the priest’s heart was glad – and he took the

ephod – teraphim – graven image

and went in the midst of the people

So they turned and departed

and put the little ones and the cattle

and the carriage before them

Micah and some men chase the men of Dan verse 22- 23

And when they were a good way from the house of Micah

the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house

were gathered together

and overtook the children of Dan

and they cried to the children of Dan

And they turned their faces – and said to Micah

What ails you – that you come with such a company?

Micah tells men of Dan his reason verse 24

And he said

You have taken away my gods which I made

and the priest

and you are gone away

and what have I more?

and what is this that you say to me

What ails you?

Men of Dan threatened Micah verse 25- 26

And the children of Dan said to him

Let not your voice be heard among us

lest angry fellows run upon you

and you lose your life

with the lives of your household

And the children of Dan went their way

and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him

he turned and went back to his house

Men of Dan kill all those in Laish verse 27- 28

And they took the things which Micah had made

and the priest which he had

and came to Laish

unto a people that were at quiet and secure

and they smote them with the edge of the sword

and burnt the city with fire

And there was no deliverer – because it was far from Sidon

and they had no business with any man

and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob

And they built a city and dwelt therein

Men of Dan built a new city and named it Dan verse 29- 31

And they called the name of the city Dan

after the name of Dan their father

who was born to Israel

howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first

And the children of Dan set up the graven image

and Jonathan – the son of Gershom – the son of Moses

he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan

until the day of the captivity of the land

And they set them up Micah’s graven image – which he made

all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 5 And they said to him, “Ask counsel,” we pray you, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. (7592 “counsel” [sha’al] means enquire, request, consult, find out, question, pray, or beg for)

DEVOTION: Here are five men from the tribe of Dan that were going to look for a new place to live because they didn’t want to live in the area that the LORD had assigned them through the lot of Joshua. They wanted a different land because they were unable to conquer the people who were in the land assigned them.

Now they come to a man who is acting like a priest who is not qualified to be a priest to pray for them regarding their journey. They were already out of the will of God and asking a man who is worshiping through a house of false gods. They ask him to talk to Elohim instead of Jehovah. They were not asking the personal God of Israel but the general God of creation.

So Jonathan gives them the answer they wanted to hear and they go off to find a land where they can live. How could Jonathan really get an answer from the LORD when he was working with false gods?

We find that there are people today who will go to a religious leader for answers but they don’t seem to be concerned whether the person is a Biblical leader or not. They just want an answer that will please them and there are many religious leaders who will say what people want to hear rather than what the LORD really says in HIS Word, the Bible.

There needs to be discernment in understanding the difference between genuine believers who are leaders and those who are just playing the role without honoring the God of the Bible.

Far too many leaders are out of tune with what the LORD expects of HIS people. Far too many leaders tell the people what they want to hear rather than what the LORD is commanding them to say.

CHALLENGE: Who are we listening to for Biblical advice from the LORD? Are we consulting poplar religious speakers on television or radio or those who genuinely teach the truth of the Word of God?)

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein you go. (7965 “peace” [shalowm] means prosperity, success, welfare, state of health, the state of being safe or free from danger, secure, or ease)

DEVOTION: Notice that the false priest gave them an answer to their request in the name of Jehovah rather than in the name of Elohim. The five spies asked him to consult or pray to Elohim which is the name used for the Godhead that created the world. The name Jehovah or LORD is the personal name for God that HE uses when HE deals with HIS people in the Old Testament.

So this false priest is telling them that the personal God of Israel is going to make their way prosperous. Now remember that Dan is not satisfied with what the LORD had already given them and so they are seeking a place that HE has not given them.

We need to make sure that we ask the LORD to give us wisdom regarding what we are doing that we are not asking because we are not satisfied with what HE has already given us.

There are people who will tell you what you want to hear and that should not be what you really want from those who are spiritual leaders in your life. You should accept their counsel when they tell you things that you don’t want to hear. It is hard but sometimes we need to hear when we are heading in the wrong direction.

The tribe of Dan was heading in the wrong direction and with their new location they set up false worship through not only the gods of Micah’s house but a golden calf when the tribes split. Their new location was not one that worshiped the God of the Bible.

CHALLENGE: Make sure you are attending a church that speaks the truth found in the Word of God not just what you want to hear.

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: 10 When you go, you shall come to a people secure, and to a large land: for God has given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth. (982 “secure” [batach] means to trust, be confident or sure, be bold, careless, put confidence, or trust)

DEVOTION: Many people trust in their location to keep them out of trouble. Many people count on their circumstances to keep them safe.

The people in this large land had a false confidence in their location. They were careless in their living and arrangements for protection from attack. These people were ripe for the picking. They had fertile land for the tribe of Dan.

The five spies saw that it would be easy for them to take over the land and live in peace. The five spies went back and took six hundred men of war with them. The tribe of Dan defeated them without any trouble.

However, we note that the spies wanted the advice of God from a Levite acting as a priest. The end of the chapter gives his name as Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Moses. This is the oldest son of Moses and Zipporah. So we have a descendant of Moses serving as a priest which only the descendants of Aaron were to do.

This established a false religious center in Dan instead of in Shiloh where the house of God was located at this time. This false religious center was in existence until the time of the captivity of Israel. This religious center used made images to represent the God of Israel which broke the second commandment.

We need to be careful that we are not careless in the way we live. Too often the enemy is looking for a way to defeat the children of the King. The enemy sees when we are not looking to the LORD for protection. We sometimes think that we can get along without the LORD.

Some of us get to the point that our communication with the LORD is not necessary. Some tend to think that they are self-sufficient. We are never self-sufficient. If we are children of the LORD, we are always dependent on the LORD.

Let us show our dependence and keep in close communication with HIM. Our strength is in HIM!!! HE is our only HOPE for VICTORY over the enemies we face.

CHALLENGE: Show the LORD your complete dependence on HIM by daily watching for signs of false worship in your life. Remember that straying from the LORD doesn’t happen overnight but slowly when we don’t ask HIM for daily counsel.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. (2895 “glad” [towb] means to go well with, to please, to be agreeable, pleasing, to be merry, joyful, make successful, or it pleases or is agreeable)

DEVOTION: What made this false priest happy? Why was he glad to follow a group of men who were stealing the false gods from the house of Micah? He had no honor. He wanted to have a larger congregation and would do anything to help them steal false gods.

Sometimes the temptation to accept a call to a larger congregation can be great even today. If the larger congregation is not really interested in the true preaching of the Word of God but just wants their ears tickled by someone who will preach what they want to hear it can be a real problem.

Those who are genuinely called of God would not have done what Jonathan did here. He was not really called to be a priest. He didn’t care what the people who called him believed. He was just interested in having a place to live and so people who would pay for his needs.

He took the false gods of Micah’s house and established a false religion for a tribe that didn’t want to accept the land the LORD had given them. He was catering to their desires because they were catering to his desires.

Too much of this is happening today in our society. Many churches and denominations are forgetting the principles of the Word of God to be politically correct rather than being Biblically correct.

Those churches that are more concerned with being Biblically correct are being condemned even by other churches that are not willing to stand on Biblical truth. This causes a lot of confusion for the people who are searching for truth and end up in a church that is not teaching the truth.

We need to watch for false teachers preaching a false gospel to a people who just want their ears tickled with a religious service rather than a Biblical message from the LORD.

CHALLENGE: A pastor or priest should never be happy just because their congregation grows but that they are pleasing the LORD.

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: 31 And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. (3117 “time” [yowm] means daylight, a period of time, lifetime, today, or as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1.)

DEVOTION: This is the first mention of the House of God. It was set up in Shiloh at this time while the children of Israel were more concerned with themselves and the true worship of the LORD.

The children of Dan were happy to have someone come with them and be a “priest” for them, as long as, he told them what they wanted to hear. This is true even today.

We like to go to a place of worship that will confirm that what we are doing is right even we know that it is wrong.

False worship is being set up across our country as we read this chapter. People set up worship that is pleasing to them but is not pleasing to the LORD. We have churches across our country and around the world that worship the god of self rather than the God of the Bible.

There are still a number of churches that preach the Word of God faithfully. The people in these churches want to hear the Word of God but the problem with many of them is that they are not going out of church and spreading the Word of God to their neighbors. They think that if they leave their neighbors alone, they won’t bother them and their place of worship.

Once a church that is biblical starts moving into the community and tells people what the Bible really teaches about sin there will be trouble. So many just sit in church and soak up the Word of God and sour when it comes to reaching others for Christ.

There was the true place of worship in the Old Testament and a false place of worship. The children of Dan liked the false place of worship. How do we feel about the gods of this world that were part of the worship of the children of Dan?

CHALLENGE: Don’t settle for false worship. Look for a church that wants to reach its neighbors for the LORD.

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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Jonathan the priest asked to pray verse 5

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

House of God in Shiloh verse 31

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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

God – Elohim (Creator) verse 5, 10, 31

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 6

House of God verse 31

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

Laish verse 7

Manner of Zidonians verse 7

Quiet and secure

No magistrate

Far from other Zidonians

No business with any man

No deliverer for Laish verse 28

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

Levite serving as priest verse 3, 4, 6, 17- 20, 30 Slothful verse 9

Ephod verse 14, 18, 20

Teraphim verse 14, 18, 20

Graven image verse 14, 18, 20,

30, 31

Molten image verse 14, 18

Stealing verse 17, 24

False gods verse 17, 18, 20,

24, 30, 31

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Inheritance verse 1

Counsel from God verse 5

Peace verse 6

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

No king in Israel verse 1

Five Danites looking for inheritance verse 1- 7

Five men

Knew the voice of Levite

Ask counsel of God

Prosperous

Place of not want

House of Micah verse 2, 13- 27

Five children of Dan lodged there

Army came to Micah’s house

Place of false worship: ephod,

Teraphim, graven image,

Molten image

Micah gathered men to go against

tribe of Dan

Six hundred of tribe of Dan verse 8- 31

Five spies returned with report

Six hundred men with weapons

of war

Stood at Micah’s gate

Took all Micah’s false gods

Asked Micah “What ails you?”

Killed men of Laish

Built a city called Dan

Set up false gods

Kirjath-jearim in Judah verse 12

Called Mahaneh-dan

Mount Ephraim verse 13

Levite verse 15, 18- 20, 30

Told to hold his peace

Choice of one man or a tribe

Jonathan – son of Gershom

The son of Manasseh

Priest to tribe of Dan

until captivity of land

Danites built a city and named it Dan verse 29

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events)

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QUOTES regarding passage

29–30 The new city was renamed “Dan” (v.29) and became the northernmost outpost of Israel in the proverbial “from Dan to Beersheba.” There Micah’s idols were set up and Jonathan son of Gershom served as priest (v.30). Gershom was a son of Moses (Exod 2:21–22), but the Masoretes inserted the letter “nun” in his name so that “Manasseh” was read instead (see Notes). Their intention was doubtless to remove any taint of idolatry from Moses’ revered name, but one only has to read about the golden calf of his brother Aaron to realize the family’s potential for idolatry!

Dan and Bethel were selected by Jeroboam I as sites for his golden-calf worship for the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12:28–29). He may simply have continued the idolatrous tradition introduced at the founding of Dan. (Wolf, H. (1992). Judges. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Vol. 3, p. 488). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

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18:28b–31. The Danites rebuilt the city and named it Dan after their tribal forefather. More significantly (and sadly), they established a tribal center of idolatrous worship under the priesthood of Jonathan son of Gershom (cf. Ex. 2:22) which extended through his descendants until the time of the captivity of the land. Many scholars refer this to either the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 722 b.c. (2 Kings 17:6) or the captivity of the Galilean population under Tiglath-Pileser III in 733–732 b.c. (2 Kings 15:29). However, an early monarchial date of the authorship of Judges suggests that the statement refers to an earlier unknown captivity (some have suggested the Philistine capture of the ark; cf. 1 Sam. 4:11). For Moses the Hebrew text has inserted a superlinear n into the name of Moses (mōšeh) to make it read “Manasseh” (menaššeh). This was apparently a pious scribe’s attempt to relieve Moses’ grandson, Jonathan, of involvement with idolatry. The reference to the house of God … in Shiloh (modern Seilun 19 miles north of Jerusalem) implies that the worship at the Danite shrine opposed the true worship of the Lord at Shiloh (cf. Josh. 18:1). This false worship in Dan was a forerunner of that of Jeroboam I who later established a Northern Kingdom shrine at Dan (cf. 1 Kings 12:28–31). (Lindsey, F. D. (1985). Judges. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 410). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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Idolatry (vv. 30–31). The tribe of Dan was the first tribe in Israel to officially adopt an idolatrous system of religion. Even though there was a house of God in Shiloh, they preferred their images and idols. Years later, when the kingdom divided, Jeroboam I of Israel would set up golden calves in Dan and Beersheba and encourage the whole nation to turn away from the true and living God (1 Kings 12:25–33).

The account of Micah, Jonathan, and the Danites is more than a story from ancient history. It’s a revelation of the wickedness of the human heart and the hopelessness of human society without God. Our modern world has substituted idols for the true and living God and has devised its own humanistic religion, complete with “priests”—the experts who tell us that the Bible is wrong but their way is right. But neither their idols nor their priests have any power against the violence of the human heart.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of the United States, he called a “White House Conference on Children and Youth,” hoping to find solutions to the juvenile delinquency problem that was then plaguing the nation. I was supposed to attend that conference but couldn’t go because of family obligations.

However, a friend of mine from Youth for Christ International attended and gave this report (I paraphrase): “I sat in the room for hours, listening to psychologists and educators and criminologists talk about teenagers and how to help them, and I got sick of it. Finally, I asked for the floor and told them of our experiences in Youth for Christ, how delinquents had been changed by the power of the Gospel. The room became very quiet, and then people got embarrassed and began to clear their throats and shuffle papers. The chairman thanked me for my words and immediately moved to the next item on the agenda. Then it hit me: they didn’t want to hear!”

William Butler Yeats was right: “The center cannot hold.” The home, the ministry, and society are disintegrating before our eyes, and people don’t want to hear the truth! But whether they want it or not, the world must be told that Jesus Christ died for lost sinners, and that the power of Christ can transform hearts, homes, churches, and society if people will only trust Him.

“Christ beats His drum, but He does not press men,” said English preacher and poet John Donne (d. 1631); “Christ is served with voluntaries.”

Are you available? (Wiersbe, W. W. (1994). Be available (pp. 136–137). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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Ver. 30. And the children of Dan set up the graven image, &c.] In their new city Dan, and very probably had a house built for it, peculiar to it, in the same place where Jeroboam, in after-times, set up one of his golden calves. The Danites having succeeded, according to the oracle in Micah’s house, they had a very great veneration for the images they brought away with them from thence, and set them up for religious worship in a proper place; for though only mention is made of the graven image, yet no doubt the molten image, and the teraphim, with the ephod, were all placed together for devotion and consultation: and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan; not to the whole tribe, but to that part of it which resided in this city, called Dan; and this Jonathan seems to be no other than the Levite Micah took into his house, and made a priest of; and whom the Danites took with them to Laish, to be their priest, who is said to be the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh: now Gershom was the son of Moses, and this man is thought by some to be a grandson of his; and with this agrees the time in which he lived, for as Phinehas the grandson of Aaron was now living, ch. 20:28. so might a grandson of Moses; and though he is called a young man, he might be a younger son of Gershom’s; nor is his being a Levite any objection, since it is a clear case that Moses made no provision for his family, so disinterested was he, which may be observed against the deists: and it is remarkable that the nun, or N in Manasseh, is suspended over the other letters in our printed copies of the Hebrew Bible, and so without it may be read, Moses; and the Jews have a notion, that this was done for the honour of Moses, and to observe that he was more like a son of Manasseh than of Moses; though rather this being the first letter of נשה, to forget, may suggest, as Alting observes, that he had forgot the virtues of his grandfather; and the Vulgate Latin version reads, the son of Moses; and some^e are of opinion that this is the true reading of the text; though it may be that another Gershom than the son of Moses, and another Manasseh we know nothing of, are here intended, so Marcus Marinus: however, this man, and his sons in succession after him, were priests in Dan, until the day of the captivity of the land; not till the captivity of Sennacherib or Salmaneser, when Dan, with the rest of the ten tribes, were carried captives, as Jarchi; for this idolatry, and these idolatrous priests, can hardly be thought to be continued here through the times of Samuel, David, and Solomon: nor is it to be understood of the captivity of Israel by Jabin king of Canaan, as Ben Gersom; for as the other is too long a time, this is too short, since it is clear, by the next verse, that this idolatry continued all the time the house of God was at Shiloh; and which directs us to the captivity here spoken of, when the ark was carried captive by the Philistines, and the house of Shiloh was forsaken; which is the sense of Kimchi, R. Isaiah, and Abarbinel; and may be illustrated and confirmed by some passages in Psal. 78:58, 59, 60, 61. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 2, pp. 374–375). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

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FROM MY READING:

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)

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President Biden’s policies and personnel selections are “normalizing” transgenderism for Americans in the same way the push to legalize same-sex marriage transformed attitudes on that issue, says theologian Albert Mohler.

Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said on a recent episode of his podcast The Briefing that Biden’s selection of Rachel Levine for a role in the administration is “big news” for both sides of the LGBT debate. Levin, a transgender woman, was picked for the role of assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Based on the press coverage, Mohler said, “we are being told that it’s to be celebrated” as a “massive advance in a necessary moral progress towards full inclusion for LGBTQ persons.”

“This is now going to bring the power of coercion,” Mohler said. “And it’s going to bring about the process of further normalization.”

Mohler defined “normalization” as the process of turning something that was once “unthinkable” or “abnormal” into something that is normal in a society.

“This is exactly what has happened with same-sex marriage, just to give an example,” Mohler said. “A majority of Americans thought it was abnormal and ought not to be legalized. And then just a few years later, a majority of Americans decided, ‘No it’s perfectly normal. Let’s move along.’ When it comes to transgender, the same effort is now very much underway, and it comes with coercion. That’s the issue. The coercion is found in the language that is mandated, whether it’s pronouns or even a name in this case.”

Biden is part of a “transgender revolution” and a “moral revolution,” Mohler said.

Mohler emphasized that the biblical position on transgenderism shouldn’t impact how Christians treat others.

“It is entirely possible – indeed by common grace and by the reality of the image of God … to like someone whose lifestyle or gender identity we cannot accept,” he said.

In a different episode of The Briefing, Mohler criticized a Biden executive order that prevents discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. The “transgender revolution,” he said, is “in direct collision” with “religious liberty” and the “liberty of conscience” of religious Americans.

The executive order, Mohler said, will impact public schools.

“You’re going to have biological males in the girls’ locker room” under the executive order, Mohler said.

The executive order also means, he added, “the effective end of girls’ sports,” with biological boys now being allowed to play on girls’ teams.

Mohler asked: How many parents who support Biden’s executive order will still do so “if it means that their daughter isn’t going to get the sports scholarship because a biological male identifying as female is going to win the trophy instead?”

In Connecticut, two biological boys who identify as girls won 15 girls’ state track titles.

“How many parents, no matter how liberal they think themselves to be, how many of them are actually ready for there to be unisex changing rooms?” he asked. “For locker rooms, basically, to be determined in terms of admission basically by however one identifies when it comes to sex and gender? How ready are they? Furthermore, how ready are their daughters?”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Albertmohler.com

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. (Christian Headlines)

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IS SANCTIFICATION AN EXPERIENCE?

We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18
Is sanctification an experience? There are large numbers of stories about people who have had marvelous experiences, of people, for example, who had a bad temper or something like that. I accept the experiences without any hesitation at all. Thank God, I am able to testify to some such experiences in my own life. So what of them? Well, here is my answer. First and foremost, there is no evidence at all in the New Testament that this kind of experience means sanctification. It may be a part of sanctification, it may greatly aid sanctification, but it is not sanctification in and of itself. We must not base our doctrine on experiences but on the teaching of the Word of God.
The teaching of the Scripture is that “We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Sanctification is a growth, a development; it is a going forward. But it seems to me that the main trouble with this teaching about experience is that it confuses two things that are different, and the two things are these various experiences that we get in the Christian life and the grace of God in sanctification.
Sanctification is not an experience—it is a condition. It is my relationship to God: I am “changed into the same image [of Jesus Christ] from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Sanctification involves experiences and is helped by them, but in itself it is not an experience. Sanctification is that process of growth and development that starts the moment we are saved, the moment we are justified, the moment we are regenerated. The experiences are not the process of growth, but they do help and stimulate it.
A Thought to Ponder : We must not base our doctrine on experiences but on the teaching of the Word of God. (From God the Holy Spirit, pp. 216-218, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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Thou Hast Made Me Glad
“For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.” (Psalm 92:4)
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High” (Psalm 92:1). So begins this “Song for the Sabbath day” (heading), the psalmist extolling the virtues of praising God both day and night (v. 2). The true believer, with a proper understanding of God’s majesty, can see, in every situation, His lovingkindness and faithfulness. There is no better way to begin and end the day than to rehearse manifestations of His loving control over each event and circumstance and express confidence in His ability to handle new situations. “O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep” (v. 5).
Vexation over the seeming prosperity of the enemies of God is understandable, but we must rest in the fact that God will act justly at the proper time, when it best suits His purpose. “The wicked…shall be destroyed for ever: But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD,.shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered” (vv. 7-9).
Conversely, the righteous will ultimately flourish. Whether in this lifetime or in the next, God’s justice will prevail. “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God” (v. 13).
The claim of ultimate victory must not be considered as vague, insufficient, and improbable, as skeptics have always claimed. The reputation of God Himself is on the line. He will not allow His name to be tarnished. He must act “to shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (v. 15). As in our text, we can even now be “glad” and “triumph” in His works, whether we see them in this life or in the life to come. “O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep” (v. 5). (JDM, The Institute for Creation Research)

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Franklin Graham shares: I appreciate politicians who don’t back down and are willing to do the right thing. North Carolina’s new Lt. Governor

Mark Robinson

isn’t afraid to speak out against abortion, and I’m glad to see it. He said, “In this nation, they will send you to jail for destroying the egg of a bald eagle, or convict you for killing a manatee in Florida. [But] we are going to allow murder of the most innocent human beings on Earth,” he said. “They want us to quit. They want us to be silent. I will not … I will continue to raise my voice.”

Tennessee

Gov. Bill Lee

was also in the news this week for taking a bold stand against abortion. He responded to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tweet to make the point that “Abortion isn’t healthcare” in response to her recognition of the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. He’s absolutely right.

Pray for our leaders who are standing in defense of our most vulnerable population—babies in their mothers’ wombs. Let Gov. Lee and Lt. Gov. Robinson know you appreciate their stand in the comments below:

The first black lieutenant governor in North Carolina’s history urged pro-lifers during a rally this month to continue speaking out for the unborn, saying their activism is similar to the abolitionists’ fight against slavery in the 1700s and 1800s.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican, made the comments during the annual Rally and March for Life Jan. 16, which was held exactly one week after he took the oath office. Robinson won election in November with 51 percent of the vote.

He told the pro-lifers at the rally that “life begins in the womb.”

“If we do not purge abortion from our shores for the cause of life the same way we purged slavery for the cause of liberty, this nation will not continue to stand,” Robinson said.

Abortion, he said, is a moral evil like slavery. He also compared pro-lifers to the abolitionists of yesteryear.

“Years ago, there were some other folks who stood where you’re standing – [and] understood that a nation that believes that all men were created equal could not stand and say those words and allow slavery to be on our shores. It is the same way with us today,” he said. “We cannot say we believe in equality, we cannot say that black lives matter, or all lives matter, or blue lives matter, until we say that unborn lives matter. Because that is where we all started.”

Robinson sparked controversy during the general election with his outspoken nature. He didn’t mince words at the pro-life rally, either.

“In this nation, they will send you to jail for destroying the egg of a bald eagle, or convict you for killing a manatee in Florida. [But] we are going to allow murder of the most innocent human beings on Earth,” he said. “… They want us to quit. They want us to be silent. I will not. … I will continue to raise my voice.”

Robinson, though, said he doesn’t blame pregnant women for the nation’s abortion rate.

“Those mothers who were caught in bad situations and make bad mistakes, I do not hold them accountable. I cannot hold them accountable,” he said.

Instead, he blames “those people who are marching in the streets, calling wrong right, promoting the idea that it’s okay to kill your children in the womb.”

Robinson said he prays for pro-choice activists. He prays that “somewhere along the line that their hearts would be touched, their minds would be turned, and they would come to know that what they are doing is against humanity and is against our Father in heaven.”

“God Almighty is watching them,” he said.

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Exodus 3
God calls Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.

INSIGHT

The wisdom of Egypt was not adequate to equip Moses to serve God, so God took him out of the limelight — into solitude and obscurity. There Moses met God and learned to walk with Him.

The pattern was the same for many of God’s servants: Joseph, David, Daniel, Paul, and John. Occasionally it will appear as though we have been set aside. Properly used, that time will equip the Lord’s servant for the next level of ministry.

Be faithful. Without deserts, there are no deliverers. (Quiet Walk)