![]() ![]() This theme of the “battle of the gods” runs through the Old Testament, as you can see from this text in Isaiah:ġ3 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 “Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you 15 ‘nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’ 16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern 17 ‘until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 11 “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them” (Exodus 18:10-11). “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).ġ0 And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. “‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD’” (Exodus 12:12). The issue was, whose “god” (or “God”) was the true God? Whose God was able to do what His prophet promised?ġ Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’“ 2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:1-2). By and large, any people who worshipped a “god” had some kind of prophet to speak to and for their “god.” The exodus was not about whether or not there was a God. This heathen king knew what a prophet was-a prophet was one who spoke for his god. God did not need to define the term “prophet” for Abimelech. In Genesis 20:7, God informed Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet. “Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:19 see also Judges 3:5-7). There were heathen false prophets of the gods of the Canaanites and the nations surrounding Israel: Let us begin this lesson by surveying some of the categories of “prophets” we find mentioned in the Bible. It is important to recognize that in the Bible, the word “prophet” covers a very broad spectrum, from those who are false prophets to those who are godly. Moses is one of the great prophets of all time, and he is also a prototype of Christ. ![]() Abraham may not have been the first prophet, but he is the first person to be called a prophet in the Book of Genesis. So far in our study of the Old Testament prophets, we have considered two prophets-Abraham and Moses. We shall consider the first of these two warnings in this lesson-Deuteronomy 13:1-18. Two foundational texts which instruct us regarding false prophets are found in the Pentateuch, one in Deuteronomy 13:1-18 and the other in Deuteronomy 18:1-22. As we continue in our study of the Old Testament prophets, we must, of necessity, consider the subject of false prophets. It is popular today to seek “spiritual counsel” from sources that are clearly forbidden and condemned in the Bible. 11 I gave my friend a book to read which addressed this subject from a biblical point of view, hoping that he might come to see the fallacies and the dangers of pursuing guidance from below, rather than from above. Worse yet, she told him some things about his future that greatly troubled him. He was convinced she could not have known the things she told him without having possessed some supernatural revelation. ![]() ![]() But when he met with this person, he was, in his words, “blown away” by all that she knew about his life. He told me that a friend had persuaded him to consult a psychic, and that he had done so, very skeptically. Some time ago, an acquaintance (who does not attend our church) came to me and asked what I thought of psychics. ![]()
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