The lectionary for this week offers several difficult passages including: Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30. Alternate passages include Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 and Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12.

Judges 4:1-3 – The Israelites again did what was evil in the site of the LORD, after Ehud died. So the LORD sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

I must admit that I have a hard time visualizing a God who would send me, much less a whole nation, into slavery as punishment. With that said, I do believe that God is ultimately in control despite not understanding what the phrase “God is in control!” fully means.

Prayer: God of Mystery, your power astounds and humbles us. Help us to better sense your steadfast presence in our lives so that we might know your will more completely. AMEN.

Above:  The Last Judgment, by Fra Angelico

It is Getting Dark in Here

The Sunday Closest to November 16

Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

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FIRST READING AND PSALM:  OPTION #1

Judges 4:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version):

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died. So the LORD sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him,

The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.”

Psalm 123 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 To you I lift up my eyes,

to you enthroned in the heavens.

2 As the eyes of the servants look to the hand of their masters,

and the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

3 So our eyes look to the LORD our God,

until he show us his mercy.

4 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy,

for we have had more than enough of contempt,

5 Too much of the scorn of the indolent rich,

and of the derision of the proud.

FIRST READING AND PSALM:  OPTION #2

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 (New Revised Standard Version):

Be silent before the Lord GOD!

For the day of the LORD is at hand;

the LORD has prepared a sacrifice,

he has consecrated his guests.

…

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the people

who rest complacently on their dregs,

those who say in their hearts,

“The LORD wil not do good,

nor will he do harm.”

Their wealth shall be plundered,

and their houses laid waste.

Though they build houses,

they shall not inhabit them;

though they plant vineyards,

they shall not drink wine from them.

The great day of the LORD is near,

near and hastening fast;

the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter,

the warrior cries aloud there.

That day will be a day of wrath,

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of ruin and devastation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness,

a day of trumpet blast and battle cry

against the fortified cities

and against the lofty battlements.

I shall bring such distress upon people

that they shall walk like the blind,

because they have sinned against the LORD,

that blood shall be poured out like the dust,

and their flesh like dung.

Neither shall their silver nor their gold

will be able to save them

on the day of the LORD’s wrath;

in the fire of his passion

the whole earth shall be consumed;

for a full, a terrible end

he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

SECOND READING

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version):

Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say,

There is peace and security,

then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

GOSPEL READING

Matthew 25:14-30 (New Revised Standard Version):

Jesus said,

For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The Collect:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Some Related Links:

Matthew 25:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/week-of-proper-16-saturday-year-1/

1 Thessalonians 5:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/week-of-proper-17-tuesday-year-1/

Addressing a Specific Form of Foolishness:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/week-of-proper-27-friday-year-1/

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Today I choose to leave the Gospel reading to a related post while I pursue another track.

Proper 28 is the penultimate Sunday in the Church year; Advent is nearly upon us.  So the lectionary readings have turned toward the apocalyptic, as they are prone to do in November.  Nevertheless, I write these words in late May 2011, just a few days after the predicted rapture that never occurred.  This was no surprise for me.  To state the case simply, Harold Camping does not know more than Jesus:

But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  (Matthew 24:36, New Revised Standard Version)

It is customary that, in The Episcopal Church, to read an assigned text then say,

The word of the Lord,

to which the congregation responds reflexively,

Thanks be to God.

If the reading comes from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, the priest or deacon concludes the lesson then says

The Gospel of the Lord,

to which the people say,

Praise be to you, Lord Christ.

Yet I recall one 6:00 P.M. Sunday service at my parish, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, when our Rector, Beth Long, read the designated Gospel text, which was rather grim.  An awkward silence followed before we said with hesitation,

Praise be to you, Lord Christ.

What else were we supposed to say?

That is the sense I take away from Zephaniah.  My fellow liturgy enthusiasts might know that the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass used to include the “Dies Irae” (“Day of wrath and doom impending”) section.  More than one composer set it to music gloriously, with Verdi’s version being the one that plays inside my cranium most often.  The lesson from Zephaniah was the basis of that Latin text.  Anyhow, am I supposed to say “Thanks be to God” after the reading from Zephaniah?

It is vital to remember that we are looking at just a portion of the sacred story; the tone is quite different on Easter Sunday, for example.  There is a time and a season for everything, if not every verse, within a well-constructed lectionary.  There is a time to rejoice.  And there is a time, as we read in 1 Thessalonians, to be serious.  Yet there is never a bad time to put on the breastplate of faith and love.

May we wear it always.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/it-is-getting-dark-in-here/

Lesson Two: The Peg (continued from previous post)

Here are three illustrations drawn from Jael’s “nail” (what we would call a “tent peg.”)

1. The peg was a hidden weapon.

The first thing Sisera would have done when he entered Jael’s tent would have been to look around for a sword or a dagger. Being a trained warrior and a man on the run, not sure who he could and could not trust, he would have immediately scanned the tent for possible threats or advantages. But he probably didn’t even notice a peg and a hammer. These items would have been common.

The weapons of our spiritual warfare are spiritual weapons – they don’t look like material weapons. Prayer, for example, doesn’t seem like a weapon, but, like a tent peg, it stabilizes. It also marks out the boundaries of the territory God has given you. Maybe God has given you a spouse or children. Maybe he has placed you in a Sunday School class or some organized group of fellow Christians. If so, those are some of your “territories,” your “tents.” The peg of prayer is very important. How would you like to come back to your tent and find that it has been blown away? Prayer is simply talking to God. It should be an everyday, ordinary thing. It’s always lying around the tent. You mostly use it in secret, but it is potent. When the enemy invades your tent, you can reach for it and defeat him.

2. The peg was a honed weapon.

“Honed” means “sharp.” Jael’s tent peg had to have a very sharp point in order for her to be able to pound it into the hard baked earth in that part of the world. When it comes to spiritual weapons, we have the sharpest weapon of all – the Bible.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God pierces and cuts. It stings. It gets past the superficial into the heart of the matter. It breaks up hard ground. A Bible looks like a book – everyday leather and paper. Like a peg, it doesn’t look especially dangerous – until an expert pegswoman or pegsman wields it. The business end of the Word of God can go right into a man’s brain and it can make a serious difference.

3. The peg was a handy weapon.

Prayer and the Bible should always be handy if you are a Christian. However, there are times when your Bible might not be right there next to you. There may be times when you are willing to pray, but, in a crisis, you are not always afforded the time to gather your thoughts, have some peace and quiet, and pray effectively. One of the handiest weapons we have in spiritual warfare – the one that’s always right there – is love. Love is always right at hand. You don’t have to special-order it. If you’re truly a Christian, it is not even “second nature” to you – it’s first nature! Love is the key component of Christianity.

Prayer, your Bible, and love are three of the tent pegs of the Christian life. They are the hidden, honed, and handy weapons of our warfare. Jael’s tent peg slew Sisera; these weapons slay sin. Sin is kind of like Sisera if you think about it. Sin is an oppressor. It will control people. It will dominate their lives. It will steal their possessions, but, more importantly, it will steal their joy. It will put people at risk. It will create danger in lives. Sin is cruel to begin with, but when it starts to get routed – like when Barak routed Sisera – and when it gets “on the run” in our lives – look out! Sin will get desperate, and will be especially eager to come into your home.

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

Judges 4:18-19, emphasis added

Sin wants to be hidden.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

Judges 4:19, emphasis added

Sin is thirsty. It will dry you up, and create a desire for more.

Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

Judges 4:20, emphasis added

Sisera wanted Jael to lie. Sin breeds more sin – and different kinds of sins.

And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

Judges 4:19, emphasis added

Deborah was the one who encouraged Barak to fight against Sisera. Her name meant “bee.” Bees are associated with honey. Jael used milk to sedate Sisera. Therefore, Sisera had trouble in the “land of milk and honey.”

Now, here is something that many Christians don’t realize: Sin can be sedated. I Peter 2:2 calls the Bible the sincere “milk” of the Word. Sin can be sedated by Bible study, prayer, accountability, safeguards, even will power – to some extent. But those things can’t “kill” sin. It will inevitably (and sooner rather than later) wake up, escape, and wreak havoc. Sin can be sedated by the lesser “pegs” we have talked about, but it can only be killed by one truly great PEG.

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

Judges 4:22, emphasis added

Christ was held to the Cross by “pegs” (nails). He knew no sin, but was made sin for us. To claim the victory that Christ wants you to have in Him, you are going to have to come into the tent and see sin slain. Get a good look – see sin slain on the Cross of Christ – then look in the tomb and see the Slayer of sin has risen – victorious!

I find it significant that the Bible makes a point of saying that the peg went through Sisera’s “temple.” Your temple is the place between your eye and ear – the place where you “conTEMPLate.” It is also the word we use for the place where people worship. Have you made your mind a place of worship – a place where Christ is the center of all your thoughts?

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

Judges 4:23

That’s when God will subdue the “Jabin” that is invading your thoughts. Worship Him – the Lord God – as King of your “temple.”

Lesson Two: The Peg

[In Lesson One, I renamed Shamgar's ox-goad a "prod" (as in cattle prod). Now I'm going to call Jael's "nail" a tent "peg" - even though, where I'm from, "Jael" and "nail" rhyme.]

Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Judges 4:21

Both Shamgar’s prod and Jael’s peg were strange weapons, even though the days recorded in the Book of Judges were not such strange days. In fact, they were eerily similar to our “days,” in the sense that people were generally doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

Judges 4:1-2

It appears that Jabin was king of the Canaanites, but his captain, Sisera, who had 900 chariots of iron, was the one who really terrorized the Israelites. He did not, however, terrorize their God:

And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

Judges 4:15-16

This battle took place in the area around Mount Megiddo where – according to Revelation 16:16 – the battle of Armageddon will be fought. There were a number of Biblical battles fought at this location, and it is also the place where Napoleon defeated the Turks under similar circumstances in 1799. God sent a storm, the river overflowed, and the chariots bogged down and got stuck in the muddy and drenched ground.

Barak (who shares a name with our current U.S. President) wiped out Sisera’s army as they fled on foot. Sisera himself, however, escaped to the the village of Heber the Kenite, and to the tent of a lady named Jael. Which brings us to…

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

Judges 4:18

The “mantle” was sort of a blanket (maybe one of those “snuggies?”). Sisera was tired and he wanted to hide.

And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

Judges 4:19

The “milk” was sort of like what we would call “half and half” or “yogurt” – it was possibly fermented. Jael tucked in Sisera with his milk and his blankie and put him “night-night.”

Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

Judges 4:20

Sisera asked Jael to lie for him.

Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Judges 4:21

Jael, whose job, as a woman in a tribe of nomadic desert-dwelling people in those days, would have been to regularly take down and put up the tent in addition to other hard physical types of labor, was probably big and strong (with arms like the Arm and Hammer Baking Soda man).

The name “Jael” meant “mountain goat,” so it’s kind of hard to envision her as petite and dainty.

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

Judges 4:22-23

There is a tendency here to feel a little sorry for Sisera, considering he was on the run, desperate, and hunted. He turned to this woman for help, and she coaxed him to sleep and slammed a tent peg through his brain!

But before we feel too sorry for Sisera and start being too critical of Jael, we need to remember that if Sisera had won the battle against the Israelites, or if he had escaped and raised another army, or if he had been able to come back with reinforcements, he and his men would have raped the women and taken all their valuables.

Jael’s weapon – her tent peg – was a strange weapon in her day. So too are the weapons of our spiritual warfare in our day. Next time, I want to make three comparisons between the peg and the spiritual weapons we must wield against our enemy who has come to kill, steal, and destroy.

Two rival gangs, Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels, battle for control of a drug trafficking route along the Texas border.  Marisol, described as tiny but energetic, finds herself in the midst of this war.  She says she plans to hire more women, but “will leave most of the decisions about weapons and tactics to the town mayor, Jose Luis Guerrero.”  Marisol has two body guards, but chooses not to carry a gun of her own.

About the same time Marisol took the job of police chief in her Mexican border town, another woman “top cop” was murdered.  The CNN report on her death read, “One of a small number of women who have filled a void by becoming police chiefs in violence-torn Mexico was gunned down” in November 2010.  Hermila Garcia, 38, was not a mother.  She was a lawyer and willing to serve the people of Meoqui.  “Was she courageous or foolhardy?” asked CNN.

Several reports on these two women read the same.  The situation in the Juarez Valley along the Mexico and U.S. border has become so desperate that women are filling the void.

I am reminded of Deborah.  She was a prophetess and judge filling a void during a desperate time in Israel’s history.  She sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor . . . and I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”  But, Barak replied, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”  (Judges 4:4-16)

Deborah said, “I will surely go with you.  Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”  Deborah went with Barak, but only as far as Mount Tabor.  She did not go down into battle.  She fulfilled her role by encouraging Barak and his troops with the words and promises of God.  The woman into whose hand the enemy general, Sisera, was “delivered” was Jael.  When Sisera was being pursued by the Israelite army, he fled to the tent of Jael.  Jael, the wife of Heber, killed the enemy general not with a sword or military weapon, but with a tent peg which was a common household item.  (Judges 4:17-22).

Marisol is a mother living in the midst of a Mexican drug corridor.  In a desperate situation, with no men stepping forward, Marisol is filling a void.  In doing that, she is a target for enemy fire.  No biological children of Deborah are mentioned in the passages from  Judges.  However, in a desperate situation with no men stepping forward, Deborah filled a void.  In filling that void, she did not position herself as a target for enemy fire but, instead, played a motherly role by encouraging and strengthening her people.

The question posed by Marisol and Deborah is this: When the enemy threatens a family or nation, a woman can step up to face him, but should she?

A long time ago, life in another quiet farming community was threatened.  Eve was tempted to engage the enemy.  Adam did nothing.  God’s order for His beloved creation was ignored.  What were the consequences?

So often I have heard of people speak of throwing out a fleece before God as though this were a great act of faith. They have a vague recollection of Gideon and the fact that he had done this very thing. The idea is that this was done to determine God’s will and therefore it is a good thing for us to do as well. Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth.

In reading Judges 6 we are introduced to the man Gideon. In all honesty Gideon seems like a normal guy. He is out working in the fields and doing what needs done. However Gideon himself reveals to us, that by reputation he is the least of the least. It is therefore a bit of a surprise when God calls him a “Mighty warrior (Judges 6:12)”.

The incident is related of Gideon being called by God to save the nation of Israel from Midian. Now there are doubts on Gideon’s part during this call, he wonders if he is really dealing with the true God. So during the call some miraculous things occur and Gideon realizes the truth of his encounter. We know this for in Judges 6:22 we are told, “When Gideon realized that He was the Angel of the LORD, he said, “Oh no, Lord GOD ! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!”

Gideon knows what just happened. He was in the presence of God. And he has an initial rush of courage. But shortly thereafter he doubts. And it is this lack of faith that we see the fleece presented.

In Judges 6:36-40 Gideon presents his doubts to the Lord and asks for a sign through the fleece, not once, but twice. And it isn’t a “God I don’t know what to do”, or “I’m not sure what you want,” rather it is a “God will you really do what you say?”

This is cowardly, it is doubting to the extreme, it is questioning God’s integrity and his word. In fact,when Gideon asks for a sign a second time even he knows he pushing the limits, for he says, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece (Joshua 6:39).”

What is impressive is the patience of God. He doesn’t get angry. He allows the test. And he shows Gideon repeatedly what His will is.

And this is how we can know God better through this moment in Israel’s history. It is not to show us an example of how to find God’s will. Rather it is intended to show us God’s patience. It shows us God’s choosing to use the least to give Him the greatest glory. For he does not need us, but he wants us and is willing to be patient with us.

There is no doubt that Gideon is an example for us, but not one to emulate, rather it is one most can already identify with. And for that we are to be encouraged. For despite our doubts, our questioning, our lack of faith, God still reaches out to us patiently waiting for us to take His hand and follow Him.

In browsing through the Old Testament, one can come to find that there are a few spots where prophetesses are mentioned (Ex. 15:20; Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14). This fact alone discredits the complementarian view pretty strongly. The fact that these women are prophetesses is something that really needs to be reflected on, especially since these passages are from the Old Testament. This means that at this point everyone does not have the Holy Spirit and since prophecy is a gift of the Spirit, it means that God Himself specifically anointed these women out of all Israel to be his ministers. While prophecy may not be a pastoral position, in some senses it is actually quite higher. It includes caring for and teaching people, but it is done more so through the mouth of God rather than the mouth of human.

And if you want to take this point to the next level, then it is quite interesting to see that Deborah, the prophetess found in Judges 4, actually goes on to become one of the judges of Judges! This is quite a position to be put in and it seems quite obvious that God used her leadership to liberate Israel. And as a side note, it was Jael who, in the same chapter, ended up assassinating the leader of the opposing army. In general, Judges 4 seems to be trying to say something about women doing great and powerful things that typically only leaders would do.

These are examples of women living outside of their own culture. Not that long ago, America itself was fighting for the rights of women. With this being true, imagine what the culture for women must have been like in the Old Testament. All of this is summed up quite well in the Bible Reader’s Companion. “Women are equal to men in ability, and gifted individuals should be encouraged to use their abilities within, and at times outside of, culturally defined expectations.”

Moving into New Testamental themes, we now realize that all believers have the Holy Spirit. If this is so, then we also recognize that there are many chances for women to become prophetesses and teachers among other things. Yet, for whatever reason the complementarian view seems to understand such ministerial gifts as being given to men alone. Or at the very least, they believe women can do whatever they want in ministry so long as they do not take a lead pastoral position in a church. I would have to disagree as one of the most important statements I ever heard made in regards to women in ministry came from Andy Stanley at a leadership conference. He was simple and straight about it and said something along the lines of, “Women, if God calls you to ministry, do it.”

The biggest case against women in ministry is found in Paul’s writings when he says that women should not teach or have authority over men (1 Tim. 2), or even speak in church for that matter (1 Cor. 14). Yet I believe that what Paul has said has been taken out of context. If it is read within the context of the culture at the time, it has a completely different understanding. But here we find that an absence of background work brings an absence of truth. It seems that the specific churches that Paul wrote this to simply needed correction just as other churches needed their own corrections. If the men were having a problem speaking in church do you think Paul would have let that slide?

There is also a good understanding as to why Paul said women should not teach, which also happens to be related to culture. During this time there were women from cults that involved prostitution and it would be bad for the entire faith if anyone made the wrong connection between Christianity and these cults. Women also may not have received as much education back then to be able to teach on it (hence the asking questions in 1 Corinthians 14:35), but today education is equal and culture has changed. So if we take these verses in their cultural context, it appears that today men and women have an equal chance to take on the pastoral role. But if we would rather live in that culture still, we might as well make sure our women still cover their heads while we are at it. However one wants to look at it, Willmington’s Bible Handbook makes a good point. “Paul’s teachings on the role of women in the church should be seen in light of his recognition of and respect for the spiritual gifts of women in his day (1 Cor. 14:26–40) and his proclamation of the equality of men and women in Christ (Gal. 3:26–4:7).”

Bibliography

Stanley, Andy. Proc. of Willow Creek Leadership Conference, South Barrington, IL.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996).

The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (394). Wheaton: Victor Books.

Willmington, H. L. (1997). Willmington’s Bible handbook (734). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale

House Publishers.

JUDGES_4.1_DEBORAH.mp3 (2266 KB)

JUDGES 4 “DEBORAH: AFTER EHUD, the ISRAELITES did EVIL AGAIN & GOD gave them up to JABIN, KING of CANAAN, whose ARMY COMMANDER was SISERA , & for 20 YEARS he ‘HARSHLY OPPRESSED ISRAEL’ ; MEANWHILE DEBORAH was the LEAD JUDGE of ISRAEL & SAT UNDER A PALM TREE & MADE DECISIONS; BARAK, AN ISRAELITE, had been COMMANDED to ATTACK CANAAN but he said he would NOT GO unless DEBORAH goes with him; so DEBORAH joined BARAK & they DEFEATED CANAAN & CHASED SISERA; SISERA HID in the TENT of HEBER, & HEBER’s WIFE, JAEL’s POUNDED A PEG into the HEAD of SISERA as he slept” recorded for your spiritual enrichment by vanderKOK

4:1 Deborah
When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.
19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’”
21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
NKJV

Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” “Very well,” Deborah said, “I will go with you.…” Judges 4:8-9a (NIV).

“Go with me,” she said. I didn’t want to go with her. After all, she was the one who volunteered to baby-sit for a church-sponsored transient family at a local motel. She was having second thoughts about going alone into an unfamiliar situation. Grudgingly, I went with her.

Barak was in command of an army, a professional soldier. He knew Sisera was a formidable enemy. Also, he also must have known about former Jewish commanders who, following God’s direction, had taken on more powerful enemies and won. Yet, he asked Deborah to go with him. Did he not trust God, or did he not trust that Deborah spoke for God when she said he would win the battle?

Either way, Barak experienced a moment of doubt. He did not get credit for the capture of Sisera, although his army totally defeated the Syrians. But, Barak is mentioned among the heroes of Israel in the “roll call” of the faithful (Hebrews 11:30) along with Gideon, Samuel and David, and he’s mentioned again in 1 Samuel 12:11.

Like my friend, Barak just needed someone to go with him. Deborah’s physical presence testified to her faith, and bolstered Barak’s confidence, that God would provide the victory.

Thought for the Day: Thank God for friends who encourage you when you have doubts.

Like I said, Judges is a really sweet book.  It’s all about Israel’s repetitive sins; every judges encouters a similar situation where Israel has turned their back on God and begun following the pagan gods of the surrounding nations.  Judges 4 is no different…

Israel has been handed over into the hands of the Cannanites and is living in slavery.  They are severly oppressed by a king named Jabin and his army commander Sisera.  We are told that Sisera has a fleet of 900 iron chariots, the equivalent to modern day tanks.  With an army like that, there was little to no hope of Israel every living in freedom as an independent nation again.  They cry out to God for deliverance, and he begins developing an escape route for Israel.  At the time, a woman named Deborah is judging Israel.  This is very significant.  The Bible doesn’t provide specific background on why she is in charge, but the most logical and likely reason is that the men of Israel are too caught up in sin to step up to lead.  In a way, Deborah’s being in charge is a form of God’s judgement upon Israel’s men for being to spiritually weak to do their job.  Deborah is in a position that she should never have had to be in.  This is not to say, however, that women should never take any spiritual initiative and simply sit back on their heels to let men do all the hard work.  Women should be pursuing righteousness, and they should be following after God’s commandment.  Like Deborah, Godly women will be used when men don’t step up first.  Also, women will be used in different ways that only women are intended for.  The pattern of the Old Testament, and the direct command of 1 Timothy 2, show that men should be in the area of leadership over an entire nation or church body, but older women should exercise authority over younger women and mentor them to become Godly wives, mothers, and females within the church. 

But back to Judges…Deborah is told by God to summon Barak to lead an army to liberate Israel from the Cannanites.  Barak is promised to completely destroy the Cannanite army, but rather jump on board with God’s plan immediately, Barak tells Deborah that he will only go if she accompanies him.  What a coward!  Barak is promised a victory by the same God that tumbled the walls of Jericho, and yet he insists that a woman lead him into battle!  Again, just a sign of how weak the men of Israel were at this time…Deborah does go along with Barak, but she tells him that because of his hesitance, God will see to it that the glory of the battle goes to a woman.

Out of nowhere, 10,000 men volunteer to answer Barak’s call to battle and the army of Israel is prepared for battle on top of Mount Tabor.  Sisera got word of the uprising and collected his troops and chariots on the feild at the base of the mountain, a field border by Tabor on one side and the river Kishon on the other.  Without any intrusion, Sisera’s chariot fleet would have been enough to wipe out the Israel resurgance easily; but as the battler began, God intervened with commanding force.  The heavens opened up and a massive storm rained down on Sisera’s army.  The Kishon river overflowed it’s bank, creating a difficult field for battle.  The chariots would have been useless in the mud and muck, and Israel destroyed the entire army with swords.  Only Sisera escaped the slaughter.

As Sisera fled, he reached the tent of a woman named Jael in the middle of nowhere.  Jael was married to a Kenite, the decendants of Moses’ father-in-law.  So Jael was on somewhat friendly terms with Israel, but Judges 4 also shows that she had good diplomatic relations with Cannan.  When Sisera arrived at her tent, he convinced her to allow him to take shelter in her tent.  He was tired and hungry from running away, so he asked Jael for some water.  She gave him milk, possible even curds or yogurt, and that heavy food, along with fatigue, cause Sisera to pass out asleep in the back room.

In the most gruesome scene of the passage, Jael takes up a tent peg and a hammer and sneeks back to where Sisera was asleep.  At the time, women were in charge of putting up the tents whenever a family moved, so Jael was skilled with these tools.  She put the tent peg to Sisera’s temple, and struck it with enough force to drive it through the commander’s head into the ground.  Sisera was dead.  His army was now defeat.  And the Israelites went on to destroy the whole nation of Cannan.  Just like God had promised, the fall of Cannan was at the hands of a woman.  Ultimately though, through both the storm and control of Sisera’s demise, God is the reciepient of all the glory!  When God defeats sin, he shows off His glory.

Like Israel, we are captive because of sin.  In a similar way, God defeats our sin to show off His glory.  In John 12:27, we see Jesus in the final days before His crucifixion.  Jesus is about to go to the cross to bear our sins for us.  He is going to ultimately pay the price to free us from captivity.  And here, we see that Jesus main motivation behind what he’s going to do is not His own pride, or even our neediness, but the glory of His father.  After Jesus dies on the cross, he was buried, and three days later resurrected from the grave in glorious triumph over sin.  And through his work on the cross, Jesus glorified His Father and in turn God glorified Him.

So what does that mean for us?  Well, we see that Jesus is our glorious deliver.  In Judges 5, the response of Deborah and Barak is to sing a song declaring the might and power of God.  Following that example, our reaction to the glorious work of Jesus should be to worship Him.  We do this not only through song, but as Romans 12 says, with our entire lives and with everything that we do.  What we think, what we say, what we do oughta reflect the glory of our savior. 

For guys, one way to do this would be in how you spend your free time.  The content of your movies, video games, and music reflects on how you view Jesus.  If he is glorious in your life, the activities in your free time should reflect that glory.

For girls, your worship can be displayed through your dress.  The clothes you wear will either 1)show off only your physicl appearance or 2)allow your personality to be shown along with your external beauty.  If the only thing people can see when they look at you is the former, the result is only self worship and glorification.  But if your personality is allowed to take center stage and your dress isn’t a hinderance to that, you have a platform to show of Jesus’ glory with your actions.

Judges 4-5 points out a prime example of how God shows off His glory.  His ultimate display is shown through the work and person of Jesus.  And because of that glory, followers of Jesus ought to worship his glory with all that they are.

PRaP 1/26/2009

“The Song of Deborah”

No I don’t have a new girlfriend!  Deborah was a wise woman in the Old Testament.  She took out an evil king by the name of Sisera.  He came to her to hide him from death and when he asked for water she gave him milk.  When he asked for a place to hide she threw a cover over him and when he thought he was safe she drove a tent stake through his temple.  Deborah was a prophetess and was held in high honor and when it came time for a battle the king of the time Barak was afraid and wouldn’t go into battle without her by his side.  Wrong thing to do!  A woman back in those times was not to hold places of honor bestowed upon a man by God and she warned Barak that he would be shamed by his decision because God gave her the ability to defeat the evil king Sisera.  Pretty powerful stuff a highly recommended read for you men out there you can find it in Judges 4 and finish up with Deborah’s song in Judges 5.

Happy Chinese new year the year of the Ox and also Happy Australia Day to my friends down under.

Judges 5

Key verse:

Judges 5:31
“So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.
Judges 5:30-31 (in Context) Judges 5 (Whole Chapter)

Jesus Bless you,

Pastor Steve

2. Trinitarians must embrace our Oneness brothers. I know people in the Assemblies of God who were taught all their lives that the Jesus worshiped by Oneness Pentecostals is “another Jesus.” The Lord told us to love one another, but we have avoided this by declaring that our brothers aren’t really in the family.

So what excuse is there for calling Charisma Magazine anything but what it is, which is apostate? Even better:

It all sounds like pointless doctrinal hair-splitting to us younger types. After all, who can explain the mystery of God’s triune nature? Instead of fussing about terms or reducing the gospel to a baptismal formula, why can’t we rally around our common belief that the Father sent His Son to save the world?

Excuse me, but what vital Christian doctrine CANNOT that be said about? Creationism? It is too hard to understand. Baptism? It is too hard to obey. The incarnation? Can’t believe it. The resurrection? Can’t accept it. Salvation only through the cross? Can’t put up with it. Eternal damnation in the lake of fire for sinners? Can’t conceive it. Adulterers, liars, thieves, necromancers, occultists, homosexuals, and apostates in the pulpit? Judge not, touch not mine anointed and do my prophet no harm! Look, A FALSE GOSPEL CANNOT SAVE!

But enough of that digression. J. Lee Grady claims that Sarah Palin has the Deborah anointing. Now my position is that all of these various spirits that Pentecostals and charismatics speak of do not exist, as there is one Lord who has one spirit, the Holy Spirit. Also, the word “anointing” means “choosing”, when one is “anointed by God”, it means that a person was given a calling by God to a specific calling or ministry in service to the Lord and His people. So I would discourage Christians from going around saying that someone has “a David anointing” or “a Hezekiah anointing” or “Paul’s spirit”, but I will go ahead and say that it is a crude and possibly incorrect but still understandable way of saying that someone has the same office, calling, or task as another Christian.

On J. Lee Grady’s part, this is very problematic for two reasons. First, the Bible commands us to “lay hands quickly on no man.” That is 1 Timothy 5:22. Now the best context for this verse was the practice of the church laying hands on people when they choose officers for the church. Please recall that when Stephen the martyr and Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas were appointed as deacons in Acts 6:1-6. Verse 6 states that after the church selected them, the apostles laid hands on them after praying for them. Though laying hands on people was part of the ritual or process of actually choosing and placing people in the position of service, it became a shorthanded reference for the act of choosing and installing a person into Christian service itself. But please note Acts 6:1-6 and interpret it with 1 Timothy 5:16-25. In both cases, it is obvious that a person should not be laid hands upon, or chosen, or anointed, unless the person had demonstrated their worthiness for the position by their fruits: excellent reputations, spiritual maturity, strong knowledge of and adherence to the Word of God in the eyes of the local congregation.

Now unless Grady has some extensive past history with Sarah Palin that he for some reason chooses not to reveal in his column, he has NO BASIS for claiming under New Testament church standards that God has called this woman to leadership or anything else. If he has been in longtime Christian fellowship with Palin, he should have let us know this. Otherwise, we can presume that like 99.9% of America, he was so ignorant of this woman’s existence that he could not have picked her out of a lineup until now.

So claiming that Palin was appointed by God to anything is irresponsible, reckless, and dangerous because it causes Christians to presume that she is generally acting and leading according to God’s desires and even non – Christians that respect our faith to presume that she is basically honest and moral. Such claims also damage how Christians view church doctrines and practice. Talk like this hinders people from knowing that being called by God or even elected to service by the church MEANS SOMETHING. That there are STANDARDS that these people must adhere to in order to be eligible for their appointment (in the case of a deacon) and AFTER their appointment (in the case of church appointed deacons and God – called everything else). That people keep throwing around  ”I have an anointing, he has an anointing, I feel a great anointing and move of the Holy Spirit in this place” with the same level of care and discernment as they would use to say “boy that was a mighty fine and tasty bowl of oatmeal” is a great reason why we allow anyone – especially if he is a Christian – do whatever they want with no accountability whatsoever. 

So what is Grady’s basis for alleging that Palin has a call on her life? Her politics. Her values. Her culture. Her family. Her actions as mayor and governor. And keep in mind: he knows NONE of these first hand! He only knows them by their reports from people who have a motive to portray Palin in the best possible light for worldly reasons, and of course Grady is ignoring all of  the people with opposing views of this woman’s performance and character. They’re just liberals who reject the Bible, right? Now if they were “Jesus Christ was born again in hell” Word of Faith teachers, “Jesus Christ was rich” prosperity doctrine teachers, or “God the Father suffered and died on the cross” United (oneness) Pentecostals, they’d be good credible people, right? 

This is replacing true Christianity, which is of the spirit, with a works – based religion of the flesh. Of the circumcision. And you know what? It is a very shallow one at that. Islam, Judaism, Hinduism … do you know what those religions require before a person is declared worthy, a lifetime process of rigorous spiritual, religious, and personal demands? Muslims according in particular to their belief system have no assurance of their salvation when they die (unless they perish in a holy war) no matter their dedication to Islam during their lives. But Grady – and those like him – are willing to say that just because we like what we KNOW of her church (its denomination is similar to mine), her culture (small town self – reliant Alaska outdoorsmen are more holy and sanctified than those inner city welfare mothers?), her lifestyle (a married mother of five is more holy than, you know, a married mother of two or a single mother of any amount?) and her political beliefs?

The last one is key. Because she shares my values, her daughter being pregnant out of wedlock is fine. It is covered by, you know, grace. But since Jamie Lynn Spears and her family does not share my values, it is horrible. No grace for you! And as for Obama, we can dismiss him by saying that if it was his daughter he would have forced her to have an abortion, convicting him in advance for something that he hasn’t even done yet and we have no idea whether he would! The opposite of grace for you! Never mind the fact that pro – abortion people who have unwanted pregnancies choose to have the baby all the time. Never mind the fact that pro – life people who have unwanted pregnancies have abortions all the time. (Studies assert that evangelicals have the same abortion rate as the national average, some claim that it is even higher.)

Now, THIS is where the 30 years of James Dobson Focus on the Family religious right mindset of conferring righteousness on people based on their lifestyles, cultures, affiliations, and political beliefs has gotten us. And we really are entering a sort of danger zone here. Where J. Lee Grady has generally not been one given to trying to influence politics, he goes and calls this woman God’s prophet. And Albert Mohler, usually a no – nonsense figure who also avoids religious right politics and is no supporter of Pentecostalism, has basically endorsed Palin, something that I can find no evidence whatsoever that he did for Mike Huckabee, a leader of his own denomination. If this is not Phariseeism as expressed in the political and cultural context, what is?

As I said of Grady, if Mohler has some pre – existing relationship with this woman that causes him to regard her as being worthy of his endorsement based largely on her being a Christian (or should I again say a Christian with the “right” cultural markers … where in the Bible does it say that shooting bears, eating mooseburgers, living in the frontier, and having 5 kids places you closer to the kingdom of heaven or is evidence of the inner workings of the fruits of the Holy Spirit?), then he should let us know. Otherwise, it is AT BEST reckless and irresponsible. At worst, it is showing much more respect than he ever would to even another professed Christian that came in different packaging. Would Grady and Mohler be as effusive over a Methodist from Chicago or Episcopal from Baltimore, especially if they were Democrats, even if they were right on the doctrinal issues and the political ones directly related to them (i.e. abortion and homosexuality)?You know the answer to that question and so do they. 

And that is just the first part. The second concern is not nearly as lengthy but even more important. Go back to the book of Judges, chapter 4 in particular for this “Deborah anointing” issue. What was the situation? The children of Israel were at war with an enemy that, oh well, could be compared to the Muslims of today without being too far off. What did God choose Deborah to be? His prophetess through whom He spoke His Word. Again, why did God raise up prophets and judges in those days? TO USE THEM TO LEAD ISRAEL IN BATTLE AGAINST THE ENEMY. And what happened? Though Barak was the judge and the leader of the army, THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF, he would not go into battle against the ancestors of today’s MUSLIMS, in particular THE PALESTINIANS, without God’s prophetess Deborah on the battlefield leading him. Why? Because though Barak had been called by God to lead the army, because of his weak character and faith he was unwilling to do so without a woman of stronger character and faith at his side.

So here we are in America in a war against terror against a Muslim ideology. And – if their electoral hopes and dreams are fulfilled as I think they will be – the commander in chief will be another Barak, a man who professes Christian faith (raised Episcopal but now Southern Baptist evangelical) but does not wear it on his sleeve in the appropriate manner or keep company with the right and proper powerbrokers in the evangelical world (as a matter of fact Palin is his third try at short circuit people like Dobson and also the more Baptist – oriented evangelicals for lesser known Pentecostal figures like John Hagee and Rod Parsley) and is not sufficiently socially conservative in his beliefs.

So where Barak fell short in his true faith, McCain similarly falls short in this new universalist pluralist ecumenical dual covenant (or truthfully many covenant!) works based religion that serves the aims of the religious right. Again, never forget that the preferred candidate of most of this crowd was Mormon Mitt Romney, who fit their “culture and views” requirements precisely and the fellow’s actual religious doctrines (as well as his basic honesty and integrity or more accurately his complete lack thereof) was of no consequence. (Extending this a bit, this also explains J. Lee Grady’s embrace of oneness pentecostal heretics, whose beliefs are totally wrong, but who nonetheless have been a part of the Pentecostal religious scene since 1916, are growing in prominence and influence especially in music and with famous preachers/televangelists and their many theologians in Pentecostal seminaries and Bible colleges, so they must be accepted.)

So the morally flawed less than faithful Barak – McCain needs the pure and faithful prophetess Deborah – Palin at his side to fight the Lord’s battle and win against the Philistines – Muslims. (Please note: correlating Philistines and Muslims is not so coincidental when you consider that the term Palestine, or PALESTINIAN, is what the Roman Empire came up with to denote the Philistines, and they named Israel Palestine after their ancient enemies to spite and mock the Jews.)

I suppose that in this imagination, their first Muslim conquest will be on election day against Barack HUSSEIN “McCain has not made in issue of my Muslim faith/I still remember the Muslim call to prayer at my madrassa, one of the most beautiful sounds in the world” Obama. That is fine. What then? Will the prophetess Deborah – Palin tell Barak – McCain to put every Muslim in Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Somalia, Chechnya, Turkey, Kosovo, Kenya, PALESTINE, etc. to death with the sword? Or more accurately WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS? I don’t know Mr. Grady, that sounds more like McCain anti – Christ Palin false prophet to me! (So you folks thinking that Obama is the anti – Christ may have the right time but the wrong candidate!) Maybe your interpretation of scripture is different. Then again, it would have to be for you to claim that we are brothers with people who blatantly deny scripture by rejecting Trinity, not to mention those who preach the false prosperity and Word of Faith doctrines.

You might say that Grady did not have a militaristic – eschatological intent in calling Palin “Deborah”, that he was only looking for a woman in a leadership position. First of all, even if that were the case, the guy is still wrong. Do you know why? Because words mean things. Especially words from the Bible. We can’t just go around throwing Bible terms and references around because they sound nice, make us feel good, and help us advance or win arguments (or elections). God raised up Deborah to a specific office to perform a specific task. Claiming that a woman that is being appointed to run a college or a bank or even a church ministry is bad enough because of the context. But saying the same of a woman who actually would be the advisor to a commander in chief to a nation that is at war is making a direct parallel between McCain and Palin and the actual Barak and Deborah of the Bible that cannot be ignored!

Also, this paragraph by J. Lee Grady proves that he is not merely applying a Biblical female leadership analogy, even in poor context:

When McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate, I was reminded of the biblical story of Deborah, the Old Testament prophet who rallied God’s people to victory at a time when ancient Israel was being terrorized by foreign invaders. Deborah’s gender didn’t stop her from amassing an army; she inspired the people in a way no man could. She and her defense minister, Barak, headed to the front lines and watched God do a miracle on the battlefield. In her song in Judges 5:7, Deborah declares: “The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel” (NASB). Sometimes it takes a true mother to rally the troops.

Seriously, what else am I supposed to think when I read something like that? So in less than 30 years Christians have gone from cheering when Ronald Reagan largely endorsed the claims of Mormon founder Joseph Smith in declaring America to be New Jerusalem in his “we are the shining city on a hill” speech (which basically gave salvation to all who earned it by agreeing with Reagan culturally and politically, and condemned all dissenters to the lake of fire … hey didn’t Palin’s pastor do largely the same in alluding that Bush critics and Kerry voters are going to the lake of fire?) to claiming that God will use Palin to raise up his army? 

This is where the religious right and the false doctrines surrounding it is taking Christanity, people. (The religious left is no better, so don’t even try it.) If you wish to make your calling and election in Jesus Christ sure, you had best repent yourself of it and love the next world and not this one.

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. Num 11:1 (NIV)

I classify the following as a dream, although it had many of the characteristics of a vision, and could be claimed as such. In particular, it had no spoken words, and I did not interact with it in any way.

Like the Moving Hills vision, I was strictly an observer. In this case, I had definitely been asleep, and it apparently occurred just before I woke up. If it was a vision, it occurred as I was still half asleep as I was beginning to wake up from a good night’s sleep.

Like a vision, the scenes in the event are still with me today, and I can recall it in detail at any time. It is reported because of its unusual connection with scripture and the healing message it imparted to me.

When the dream started, I was standing about 40 or 50 feet from a group of about 10 men that were lined up loosely left to right. All but two of the men were facing a house, which was more like a one room hut.

The hut had a grass or reed-topped roof which had been clearly on fire. It was still smoldering. It was night, and I could see stars shining above the horizon. The two men on the right were facing each other and also turned partially toward me. It was dark and I couldn’t see their faces, but I could make out how they were dressed, and the colors of their clothes.

The men which were facing the house were agitated and moving around excitedly. All the characters in the dream were dressed like biblical characters, with cloaks, and/or furs, and one man had on a turban like headdress.

As I looked at each one, left to right, a bubble with words appeared over their head, like in a comic strip. As I finished reading each bubble, the bubble disappeared, and as I moved to the next one, a new bubble appeared.

The words were clearly readable as if I had perfect vision or as if I was reading a regular comic strip. However, the people were moving about and waving their arms throughout. The third man from the left was clearly the owner of the house and he was exclaiming that he had barely escaped.

I don’t remember the exact words in any of the bubbles, except for the last two, those that were facing me. Their words are as clear today as when the dream/vision occurred.

The question.

Of these two men, the man to the left was wearing the turban and robes, and the man to the right was wearing a shaggy animal-skin coat. They spoke in the bubble, not out loud.

The man with the turban spoke first: “How can I get through to them Lord?”

The man in the animal skin answered: “I don’t know Hobab, they are too busy talking!”

At that moment I woke up. I told my wife that I had just been told a joke in a dream, but it didn’t seem funny. I know that I didn’t laugh in the dream.

She didn’t think it was funny either, and I wondered if there was a deeper meaning, since it was not a funny joke.

The answer.

After breakfast I looked in the Bible to see if there was a Hobab listed in the Bible. His name was not in the index of my Life Application Bible (Tyndale) which is a New International Version (NIV) but I found the name “Heber.”

I looked up Heber in Judges 4:11 thinking that I might have misread the bubble. As it turned out, I had not misread it.

Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
Judg. 4:11 (NIV)

If that was just a coincidence, it was a remarkable one. The only reasonably short name anywhere close to the one that I was searching for in my index led me to the word I was actually looking for!

The side notes in this verse led me to Numbers 10:29, and the verses that I found are exerted here:

Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.” He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.” So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. Num. 10:29-33 (NIV)

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.
Num. 11:1-3 (NIV)

I found that Hobab was the brother-in-law of Moses in Numbers 10:29. In verses 10:30-32, he first refused to go with Moses to the promised land, but Moses persisted, and he decided to go. Moses told Hobab that he would help find campsites and “you can be our eyes.” Moses would also share all good things the Lord gives to them with Hobab.

In verse 10:33, they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days with the arc of the covenant before them, and the cloud of the Lord was over them by day.

In verse 11:1-3, the people began to complain about their hardships and when the Lord heard them he became angry and sent fire which destroyed some of the outskirts of the camp.

When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.  Moses named that place Taberah, because of the fire. The name means “burning” and in this case, God’s “burning anger” because of the complaining Israelites.

The solution to Hobab’s question was in Moses’ prayer. Prayer is the answer for getting through to them.  Prayer!

There could possibly be a cross-link to the Moving Hills vision in this dream and the passages from scripture, but any such link is tenuous at best. In the Moving Hills vision, I was looking out from a mountain when I was seeing a clear path across the plains and through the hills ahead.

In the scripture, Hobab was to have the eyes that looked out from the mountain of the Lord across the plains of the desert for campsites. Did I see with Hobab’s eyes? Was he talking to Moses?

God’s burning message.

In any event, I began to deliver God’s burning message as the Holy Spirit began to move me.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:13-14 (NIV)

What I have found is that the Holy Spirit will have you say what He wants you to say whether you want to or not. He is not too embarrassed or too shy to put words in your mouth to defend what He wants defended. He is never sleeping.

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  Rom. 13:12 (NIV)

NEXT:  the End Times Hymn