1Kings 13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
The prophet from Judah was sent to Bethel in Israel to proclaim judgment upon the alter to the false god, Baal, that King Jeroboam had set up, leading the Northern Kingdom away from the one true and living God.
God had told the prophet not to eat or drink at Bethel, and to head back to Judah a different way than he had traveled to get there.
An older prophet in Bethel heard what the prophet from Judea had done at the altar in Bethel, and caught up with him as he headed back to Judea. He was a prophet. He spoke what he said God had told him. The prophet from Judah believed him, But he lied unto him.
There are a lot of people who speak about spiritual things today, But they lie.
There are a lot of people who speak out about what God commanded, contradicting what we know the Bible says, But they lie.
From the beginning of time, the devil has been driven to cause people doubt the Word of God, But he lies unto them. Satan told Eve she would not surely die if she disobeyed God’s command, But he lied unto her.
Later in Scripture, King Ahab’s prophets told him he would have victory at Ramoth-gilead, but they lied, and Ahab died.
In speaking to people in His day, Jesus said Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
When the Rapture takes place, many people will believe the antichrist, because they refused to believe the Gospel; But he will lie unto them. (2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12)
The prophet from Judah was held accountable for acting on the lie he believed. He listened to someone other than God, and he paid the price.
Being deceived is a terrible thing, but it happens to people who refuse to believe and hold onto what God has said. Rejection of God’s truth, or departure from it, leaves a vacuum for deception. Being deceived is a result of not believing and relying on the truth.
We need to trust God’s Word and not be mislead by any who discredit it or contradict it.
Pilot asked, “What is truth?” In prayer to the Father Jesus said, “Thy Word Is Truth.”
Romans 3:4 “… let God be true, but every man a liar;”
Whose word are you trusting?
Pastor Jim Whitman
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