The Witch and
the King - Purity 860
Purity 860 10/12/2022 Purity 860 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the greener than green grass on the
hillside below Edinburgh Castle in the United Kingdom comes to us from a friend
who decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean for a vacation with a friend and shared
this photo on social media yesterday.
Although the skies over said castle seem foreboding,
and this scene is “hilly” rather than mountainous, I was drawn in by that
vibrant green grass and decided that this “hump” of rock built into a fortress had
enough novelty and beauty to adequately visually represent our arrival to the
summit of another work week. So happy
Hump Day or “Latha Crom” in Scottish Gaelic.
Now don’t be saying that to any Scots today to seem cool because even
though I said it, it may not translate well – as Google Translate interpretted that
phrase as “Lean Day” when I ask for the English translation. So much for the accuracy
of Google Translate, so be warned.
This photo and the fact that we are in the “spooky”
month of October had me thinking of Hamlet seeing the ghost of his father and had
me misremember my knowledge of Shakespeare and led to me doing a failed search
for a line in Shakespeare’s work that included the word “Edinburgh” as in ‘get
thee to Edinburgh” or something like that but according to my search of the
Complete Works of Shakespeare on my kindle app, Edinburgh appears 0 times in
all his works.
Anyway I also thought of Macbeth and Shakespeare’s
use of witches to offer their prophecies of doom. And yeah, even though that play takes place
in Scotland, all of the action takes place north of Edinburgh. Not
that any of this matters, Edinburgh wasn’t on
on my thoughts this morning until I saw my friends photo, but I was
thinking about ghosts and witches.
As the Lord direct our steps, I just happen to be studying
1 Samuel 28 this morning which tells the story of Saul, the doomed king of Israel,
in his desperation going against the word of God and seeking out the help of a
witch to contact the departed spirit of Samuel for a “word from the Lord.”
John MacArthur’s commentary on the text pulls no
punches and says that even though the Christian understanding of “ghosts” and
the contacting of the dead by spiritist is best understood as deceiving spirits
that are in league with Satan, Macarthur stands on the word of God as true and
states that Saul’s encounter with Samuel was a special miracle allowed by the Lord
in this one instance. For the Lord’s
purposes, Samuel’s spirit was brought forth to speak to Saul.
1
Samuel 28:12 (NKJV) tells us
12 When the woman saw Samuel,
she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why
have you deceived me? For you are Saul!"
The
witch of Endor’s reaction reveals that this “conjuring” was not like her usual
brand of magic. But beyond this surprise, Samuel’s words reveal that, unlike
other supposed spirits brought forth by mediums and spiritists that speak of a
happy place where faith in Christ isn’t required, He was indeed sent for the One True Holy and
Righteous God.
1
Samuel 28:16-19 (NKJV)
16 Then Samuel said:
"Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD
has departed from you and has become your enemy? 17
And the LORD
has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD
has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David.
18 Because you did not obey
the voice of the LORD nor execute
His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD
has done this thing to you this day.
19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you
into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be
with me. The LORD will also
deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."
Saul
had disobeyed the Lord and lost the kingdom and when he decided to use a witch
to get a “word from God”, He got more than he bargained for. He got the hard
truth that he already knew and he got a prophecy of doom that came to pass.
Saul’s
story reiterates the truth of the word of God spoken in:
Leviticus 19:31 (NKJV)
31 'Give no regard to mediums
and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am
the LORD your God.
Leviticus
20:6 (NKJV)
6 'And the person who turns
to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My
face against that person and cut him off from his people.
Saul
disobeyed God repeatedly and through this dabbling in occult practices, he was
learned that his days were numbered.
So
as we go further into the month of October, I would just like to point out that
there is no “good magic” or “good witches”. The practices of mediums, spiritists,
and witches are denounced by the word of God and Christians should warn their
friends and family to have nothing to do with any occult practices that promise
knowledge of the future, a word from departed loved ones, or the casting of
spells for good or ill. Those who
practiced such things are deceived or have actually made a covenant with Satan
and are thus separated from God.
And
as much as we may be entertained by films like Hocus Pocus 2 or Hereditary and
view such things as harmless fiction, we have to realize that God didn’t
consider them to be harmless and commands his people to shun such practices.
So
as a person how loved a good scare, and still do, I would just say that to ask
for the Lord’s guidance in the things that you expose yourself to and to seek
to apply His word to your life to be wise.
What
I used to watch for entertainment, I now watch with a critical eye to see how
the enemy operates and the reveal lies that our society is believing.
The
scariest things that I have seen lately is not the movies that depict the spiritual
forces of darkness but the reaction of our youth who disbelieve the existence
of God and who seem unable to discern good from evil and have sympathy for the
devil.
So
keep walking and talking to God and encourage others to know the truth of God’s
word and what it says about witchcraft and to avoid it as it defiles all that
it touches.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
2 Timothy 2:21 (NLT2)
21 If you keep yourself pure,
you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you
will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.
Today’s Bible verse speaks of the importance of purity in the walk
of a Christian and how remaining pure prepares you to be used for the Lord’s
good work.
So yes, we should remain undefiled avoiding witchcraft as stated
above, but this encouragement from the Apostle Paul directs all of us to be
pure for the use of our Lord.
So we are to avoid sin, particularly sexual sin. Any sexual activity outside of the
interactions between a man and a woman untied in marriage is sin. Our sins make us impure. They defile us.
But the good news is that Christians have been washed clean by the
blood of Jesus. So all the sins we commit are covered by our covenant relationship
with God through faith in Christ. And
if we sin, anew, we simply have to go to the Lord and confess it to reestablish
our harmony with Him.
But we shouldn’t take our forgiveness and use that as a license to
sin. Instead we should listen to the abundance of scripture that directs to repent
of our sins and to live a life that is good, clean, and holy.
We benefit so much from living a godly life. Abstaining from sin
keeps us free from guilt and shame and give us peace and joy in their
place.
But the best benefit to a pure life is that the Lord will invite
you to work for Him and guide you into good works to further your relationship
with Him and His will on the earth.
So repent of your known sins, avoid defiling passions and things
of the occult, and live pure life through God and for God,
___________________________________________
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
Chapter Six
The
Sermon on the Mount
Matthew
5
On
the “Extraordinary”
of Christian Life
The
Beatitudes – Continues
“Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Disciples live with not only renouncing their own rights, but even renouncing their own righteousness. They
get no credit themselves for what they do and sacrifice. The only righteousness
they can have is in hungering and thirsting for it. They will have neither
their own righteousness nor God’s righteousness on earth. At all times they
look forward to God’s future righteousness, but they cannot bring it about by
themselves. Those who follow Jesus will be hungry and thirsty along the way.
They are filled with longing for forgiveness of all sins and for complete
renewal; they long for the renewal of the earth and for God’s perfect justice.
But the curse upon the world still conceals God’s justice, the sin of the world
still falls on it. The one they are following must die accursed on the cross.
His last cry is his desperate longing for justice; “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?” But a disciple is not above the master.[27] They
follow him. They are blessed in doing so, for they have been promised that they
will be filled. They shall receive righteousness, not only by hearing, but
righteousness will physically feed their bodies’ hunger. They will eat the
bread of true life at the future heavenly Supper with their Lord.[29]
They are blessed because of this future bread, since they already have it in
the present. He who is the bread of life is among them even in all their
hunger. This is the blessedness of sinners.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our
“Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
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These
teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to
receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My wife,
TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask,
Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 )
and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship,
ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 106.
