“False Prophets, Pt. 2”

Joshua 13 lists how the areas of Canaan were divided up among the Israelites, & while I was reading a familiar name popped up as someone else who got put to the sword: Balaam son of Beor, the diviner (soothsayer).

You’ll find his story in Numbers 22, but here’s my cliff notes [but go read it for yourself still, these stories be 🔥!]..so there’s this king, Balak, that knows the Israelites are coming and he wants a guaranteed victory over them so he sends for Balaam - prophet for hire. He sends crazy amount of jewels and wealth to come curse the Israelites, so Balaam consults with GOD (who tells him NOT to go, then permits him to so he can do ONLY what GOD tells him). So he sets off for Balak, which sets GOD off😤 (guess it’s like when your parent would tell you not to do something, then allow you the opportunity to choose hoping you chose right..and you chose WRONG!).

So after having to beat his “talking donkey” (gotta go read it I’m telling you 😄) he gets to Balak and tells him “I’m here like you asked but I can only do what the Lord tells me to do, and say what He tells me”. He ends up NOT being able to curse the Israelites bc GOD only allows him to speak blessings over them (God’s Promise to Abraham, Genesis 12:3).

So back to false prophets..we oftentimes think if something is false that means it’s the opposite of truth. In this case, it wasn’t accuracy that Balaam lacked, it was his intentions and motives that made him evil. He used his gifts for personal gain. Moreover, he used other sources to receive spiritual insight (divination, and Numbers 24:1 says he “turned his face towards the wilderness” aka consulted with nature, when divination didn’t work).

“So you mean to tell me there’s other ways to commune with the spiritual realm??” ABSOLUTELY! When we as believers come against “false prophets” (tarot card readers, psychics, etc) it’s not bc they’re “fake”, bc there are those who legit have the gift of prophecy and choose to use it not in accordance with what GOD wants. What should be confronted is how the gift is used, as well as the source.

A knock-off item isn’t fake bc it doesn’t exist, it’s fake bc it didn’t come from THE authentic source that created the design! On this day I pray those that read purify their intentions & return back to THE SOURCE!

(Matrix reference 😉)