"..Saying, Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm..." - Psalms 105:15.
Someone once told me that " when a man takes the TEXT out of CONTEXT, he becomes a CON - An instance of deceiving or tricking someone".
And in my experience in church and "Christianese" that is what God's word has become to many of us, a means to an end.
We want money we quote "..Give and it shall be given to you..", meanwhile that scripture has nothing to do with money.
When we want to teach people greed that we call Prosperity, we quote "..money answereth all things...", but on the contrary, that scripture points out clearly those things that money have answers to, if only we would read in context and not read our GREED into HIS CREED!
One of those scriptures we've misused and quote out of context is Ps. 105.15. An individual in the place of leadership, within the body of Christ has misused his/her authority or abused his/her office, instead of taking up the cloak of humility, we respond with either by citing the story of Moses and his siblings in Numbers 12:4-10, then back it up with Ps. 105.15 or 'we' place people under a curse { I wonder if we understand scriptures at all ... we place God's people under a curse, after that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us} HABA!!! O ga ooo. I hope to look into that another time, if God wills.
The truth about Psalms 105:15.
This psalm was written by David, it was first delivered up into the hands of Asaph (a Levite, Chief of those appointed by David, to minister before the Ark of God) and his brethren in the day they brought the Ark of God into the midst of tent that David pitched (that is what the bible would latter call the tabernacle of David).This Psalm was PROBABLY rewritten (or formatted, in today's language) as additional verses were latter seen to be added, which were not originally there. Compare [1 Chronicles 16:8-36 <=WITH=> Ps. 105:1-15(THEN check verses 16-45 of Ps. 105)]
Who is [are] the anointed [ones] and the prophets?
1. This Psalm was a psalm of thanksgiving from the position of what God has done in the history past of Israel as a nation or a people. So David was not talking about himself or someone or some people in the future.2. Read this scripture from any translation, you will discover that it is talking about a COMMUNITY of people not AN INDIVIDUAL!!!
Read Ps. 105. from verses 12-15
When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
When they went from one nation to another, From one kingdom to another people,
He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
Saying, 'Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.'
These verses summarize the past of this community of people, and how God kept them.
There are three major events in scriptures that spells out what these verses are talking about:
a.) Dinah, Jacob's daughter got raped: Gen 34:1-35:1-5.
When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite raped Dinah and afterwards will want to marry her, Simeon and Levi her brothers through deception killed all the males in that city because of what Shechem had done to their sister.
Hear what Jacob said from where the statement "When they were few in number" came in Gen. 34:30
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I AM FEW IN NUMBER [ did you see that? ], they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.
See how verses Ps. 105:15 then occur in this case: Gen. 35:5
..And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob...
So, the anointed [ones] and the prophets here is the whole community not just an individual. [For the record, Simeon and Levi were punished for that action later by their father.]
b.) Twice, Abraham traded his wife for his safety: Gen.12:10-20,20:1-18.
If you read these verses,
When they went from one nation to another, From one kingdom to another people,
He permitted no one to do them wrong;Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,..
You wonder how? This correlate with the life and times of Abraham. He had married his own sister i.e Sarah (from the same father but NOT the same mother). She was very pretty so much that at an old age of Sixty plus, kings were still "running" after her. Abraham knew that his wife was beautiful so he had a pact with her saying " always tell them you are my sister!" for his own safety.
Twice, this happened, and twice God rebuked kings!! In fact, in one case, God told the king in a dream you are a dead man. Why? "....because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.?" and called Abraham a prophet, who will pray healing for him and his household "Now therefore, restore the man?s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.?"
God was not only protecting Abraham here, he was also protecting Sarah and all of their household that later became a nation.
These were the primary events that form the backdrop on which these verses 12-15 of Psalm 105 was written.
Who then are the anointed [ones] now?
Please let me quickly say that these gifts of Christ as stated in Ephesians 4:11-16, has nothing to do with TITLES or POSITIONS. I wonder why we have Pastor so and so, Apostle so and so, etc but we don't have Teacher so and so. These gifts of Christ were given (not attained or achieved) for FUNCTIONS!So, who are those that are anointed, If we are to "apply" the scripture Psalms 105.15 today?
a.) Scripturally, Psalms 105:15, is for our exhortation not "shut-ING-up" words. To see what God has done in the past, and so believing in him that he would keep his words in the NOW.
b.) You will also notice that the scripture is not for a certain individual within the community against another group of persons within THAT family or THAT community of anointed ones and prophets! In fact, God used the plural PROPHETS!!! NOT PROPHET!! Read any translation!
c.) We are all ANOINTED !!!
That is God's word!
..But you have an anointing [unction] from the Holy One, and you all know..... But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him [ the anointing is not OIL, it is a person ]. 1 John 2:20,27.Of course you have to read from the verse 1 to see these in context.
In conclusion: There is of course, a place of honor for those who labor and who are put in charge as leaders or Shepherd by God [ We are all the same before God, it's our functions that defers, just like body parts ].
However, we are charged by scripture "..Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith...", it is when we do this that we realize that Jesus is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever. Why? Because what God is working in their lives following the Lord, will be the same if we follow him so!
We are to CONSIDER the OUTCOME of their way of LIFE and FOLLOW their FAITH!!! God doesn't have grandchildren!!!
Clearly it obvious that Psalms 105:15 is not the exclusive reserve of the elitists within the church!
I can only Pray that the Lord grant you understanding in all these things!!
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It is only those who have the spirit of GOD that can understand his words.
ReplyDeleteEven if God himself will come down those who will be blind will be blind.
The above is still a simple one, how I wish you can also tell them about this statement of Paul:
"...therefore, let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the MARKS of our Lord Jesus Christ"
even if you conduct a survey in the Churches, only very few of many church leaders knows the meaning of the statement but almost everybody use it daily wrongly.
I just those os us who use it will just do a little research on it:
"...therefore, let no man trouble me (about circumcision again) for I bear in my body the MARKS (Stigma, shame, scars etc) of our Lord Jesus Christ"
hmmm
Well said br timothy BUT it's half true..since dia was no nation of Israel before Abraham and God still refered to Abraham as his anointed ones that means it affects his seed(Christ too),secondaly,every Pst,Bishop etc are Christians FIRST even with a great level of homour cos of d ANOINTING of their office. Not every Christian is a Prophet(in OFFICE) even though we are Prophets(in Nature)..I sAy,we are not those who hang th dirty linen outside. You said the Bible might be altered,if true den all Bible is wrong..GOD FORBID..I pray for forgiveness for ESe Walters.
ReplyDeleteIt is you who needs forgiveness,for idolising your so called pastor instead of looking to Jesus the Authour and Finisher of your faith,
DeleteClearly you need deliverance.
Pastor Coza repent and turn to God, so that your Ministry will be preserved..
But for now having not come out to answer the allegations, your testimony is tainted.
Let us call a spade a spade and stop being overly santimonous and sentimental.
In JOSHUA 1:8 GOD told JOSHUA to READ his words as written by PROPHETS before him. So one do not need a "special" spirit to read and understands God's word-the Bible. All that is needed are undisturbed CONCENTRATION, freeness of mind (not reading to find fault in others interpretation) and meditation.
ReplyDeleteCHRISTAINDOM will always defend their selfishness, by telling their GULLIBLE CONGREGATION that they need their mumu "holi spirit" in other for them to successful understands the BIBLE.
Anyway, all these must happen for the PROPHESY to be FULFILLED.
Hmmm.…an altered bible. "God's words" dt r subject to change by human? Pls show me 3 diff versions of bible dt r dsame.
ReplyDelete"I say,we are not those who hang their dirty linen outside"
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any dirty linen - I sincerely don't get what you're pointing out. Timothy has spoken the truth.
Please I beg you all, enough of all this. Real wisdom is getting along with others. I think you should reserve your comments to yourself and emulate Jesus who never argued with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He simply spoke the truth and it was up to whoever to believe or not. If you are a follower of Christ pls follow the teachings in HIS WORD allowing the Holy Spirit grant understanding and not to idolize anyone and if you are a preacher be sure of what you feed God's flock cos you will give account one day. I don't expect a child of God to now publish any castigation simply because you don't agree with an opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but know that every idle word spoken will surely be judged. If you do not agree with whatever preachings on the pulpit pls just quietly leave the church and join a bible based church where the WORD is preached according to the teachings of CHRIST and not to call them "LIES FROM THE PULPIT". If the man is speaking "LIES", its up to him to continue or stop. One day "Monkey go go market, e no go return", he'll surely be judged.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you Timothy. This what I have been trying to tell people. Do not take the scripture out of context. Always search the scripture after or during a sermon to see if it actually aligns itself with the word of God.
ReplyDeleteI agree with almost everything you said except for the alteration of the bible. Because if the bible has been altered that much, I have no reason to trust that the other parts are unaltered.
I wrote the 1st comment and still say that God forgives those who are ignorant when criticizing preachers,are God's lawyers? By the way,Holy is His nature and Spirit is His character,so Holy Spirit is not His name cos His is the Spirit of God(foolishness to those who are perishing though),pls keep your judgement to yourselves..Jesus said..He will build His Church and the gate of Hell will not prevail!
ReplyDeleteOur problems are in plain sight -- very clear. In the absence of good political leadership to provide us with essential political goods (economic development), preachers will forever hold sway.
ReplyDeleteONE DAY ALL THAT MAN THINKS HE CAN MANIPULATE AND COVER WILL BE OPEN. THE WISE DOES NOT ALLOW HIMSELF TO GO TO A JUDGE BEFORE HIS SIN RATHER HE ALLOW HIS SIN TO GO TO THE JUDGE FOR MERCY BEFORE HE APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGE. BE WISE! STOP MANIPULATIONS!! THERE IS AN END TO ALL FORM OF EVIL. SAW A GOOD SEED THAT WILL BE REMEMBERED IN ETERNITY. BILLIONS OF YEARS IN ETERNITY IS JUST A FRACTION OF THE TOTALITY OF TIME IN ETERNITY. THERE IS NEW HEAVEN/NEW EARTH AND THERE IS HELL/HADES. TITLE WILL FADE EVEN HERE ON EARTH BUT WHAT WILL OUT LIVE US IS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS. BE WISE AND BE WARNED!!
ReplyDeleteONE TRUTH I KNOW IS THAT GOD CAN GIVE UP THE WHOLE NIGERIA FOR JUST ONE OF HIS ANNOINTED OR PROPHET....
ReplyDeleteGOD HAS NEVER AND WILL NEVER CHANGE, What HE has said about HIS PROPHETS Still Remains the same today,, BUT THOS WORDS CAN NEVER BE CLAIMED, like most pastors of this sinful generation do.
So who are his prophets? Self acclaimed jet-riding pastors? The writer has only touched a tiny fraction of the deception of "christianity" in Nigeria. There are a lot more
ReplyDeleteIWO DURO LASAN LAI SISE KAN. NIGBATI AWAN ELO MIRAN SISE.
ReplyDeleteOJU OLUWA NWO ISE RE AWON ANGELI MIMO NKO WON.
I BA SE RERE TABI IBI,
ERE ISE RE LI IWO YIO GBA.
THOSE SAME ANGELS ON THOSE MASSIVE SPECKLED HORSES WHO GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE WORLD WRITING DOWN OUR DEEDS ARE STILL VERY WELL ON DUTY.
What do we say about this, that a man of God or a priviledge shepherd store up wealth for himself and his generation yet unborn and are named among the richest 'men' of God on Earth running in millions of Dollars and yet there are so much people in their congregation who cant pay their children school fees, living like destitude and in hell of life situation among them and aid is giving to these ones. You can say, it is not his fault that they are poor. Then ask yourself, why do God make them rich and put these 'poor' people in their midst? What would Jesus have done? From the supplies he got in support of his ministry, he gives to the poor, feed them and comfort them. I am sure these are in our Bible, no matter the version. @and for those who argue about the different version of the Bible, I wonder how you will see your pastor speaking the English spoken in 1214, when Cambrigde was just a campus of Oxford.
ReplyDeleteAs usual many will fail to accept the truth when they are told because they are gullible....SIMPLE!!!!
ReplyDeleteHowever, Timothy said this well and this is my opinion and I think instead of arguing here, instead make a choice either to accept or not......
The most important thing I believe is understand God's word believe in Jesus and the teaching of the Gospel and have a good relationship with God....