A HOLY PEOPLE

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 13-14

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).

A camel is there to greet tourists at the “Sea Level” sign when you descend from the hills of Jerusalem (2,500 feet above) to Jericho (1,200 feet below). Jesus often made that 24 km journey, as did the “Good Samaritan” in Jesus’ parable.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 13:3

You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

“A camel is a horse put together by a committee,” someone jokingly said. At any rate, it may not be good for us to eat camel…it’s definitely not good for the camel! Moses was concerned with the physical health of the people as well as with their spiritual and moral health. The Elders in the Jerusalem church decided that non-Jewish believers should observe only these food prohibitions: “Blood, things strangled, and meats offered to idols” (Acts 15:20). The entire Jewish Kosher system of eating is derived from the last sentence of Deuteronomy 14:21.

Our key verse gives a prohibition which is just as valid today as it was then. There are false teachers and fraudulent prophets everywhere. Second Peter chapter 2 (click here) warns us of the danger, the destruction, and the description of those who would seek to turn us away from the truth of God’s Word. This is why we need to affirm the historical understanding of doctrine, for example, the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed (click here). On the internet there are often side-bar items that ought to be ignored. False prophets, cult leaders, are trolling for a certain kind of fish. Let us not be suckers. These people, who are themselves deceived, will do their best to draw us into their heresies.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, keep me true to You and in solid Bible teaching. You promised, Lord Jesus, that, “When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Guide me, Holy Spirit, I pray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My all-time favourite course in Bible College was “Doctrines of Salvation.” I took it twice, not because I failed the first time, but because I had a job for a year before college to earn some money, and during the night shift I was required to check the equipment every 15 minutes. That gave me time (with the blessing of my boss) to take some studies by correspondence. The courses I took that way may have had a greater impact on me than the lectures on the same subjects later at college. You may want to do as I did; they now call it “distance education” via the internet. Check it out here with a link to my alma mater.

Yours for learning sound doctrine, and sticking to it,

David