March 16 - Deuteronomy 13:1-16:17

Good morning everyone,

This morning we begin our reading with Moses warning the Israelites against false prophets who encourage the worship of false gods. Some speakers or “door to door-ers” can be pretty persuasive, twisting words from the Bible, using them out of context to try to convince you to worship other gods or convince you to buy into what their idea of life with god looks like is more accurate than what God himself tells us in the Bible. In 13:8-9 says “do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death.” Now, does this mean that when you see those nice young men in their black suits, with white shirts and black ties, carrying the book of Mormon, come walking up to your door that you run to get a butter knife to kill them? No, no, no. It means we are to put to death any time we are giving any such talk. We should never entertain talk of any other religious system, even from a friend or family member; when you do you are allowing a foothold for the enemy. Beware of the smooth talker who says all the “right” things for instead of leading you toward a deeper knowledge in God of the Bible they may be directing you toward a god that’s got nothing for you or maybe even themselves. I would encourage you to carefully test any ideas some one is feeding you against the truth of God’s word. See what the Bible has to say about it before you claim it for your life.

Chapter 14 begins with “Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead”, this was how the Canaanites would mourn their dead, it was a cult behavior. God clearly wanted the Israelites to have nothing to do with this form of worshiping the dead rather to focus on the living.

Also in chapter 14 we read about animals that were clean and unclean for eating. I personally love very clear “do’s and don’t’s”, they grey areas always get me waffling “should I??? shouldn’t I???” but it was abundantly clear what the Israelites should not eat and there were many reasons for it. One of the reasons being because the people were not to eat blood or animals they found dead, so nor could they eat the predatory animals who would do just that.

Running our of room here but I do want to touch for just a moment on tithing; the Bible makes it perfectly clear we are to tithe. We are to give back to God a portion of what He has allowed us. Not only that, but as we read today we are to care for all those less fortunate than ourselves. In a world where it seems like everyone is trying to get into your wallet, it is hard to know where to draw the line. It is easy to say “forget it” to everyone and just keep your money, but that is not what we are called to do. We are to give and give with a cheerful heart. It may not necessarily be money that you are to share, there are plenty of ways to give of your time and service so I would encourage you to pray about where God would have you help with your tithe, offerings or what ever else He has in mind for you to share and then be obedient to His direction. 

Have a super good day, to God be the glory.

God bless you all …