Day 159

   “They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works And His wonders that He had shown them.”    (Ps 78:10-11, KJV)

In the previous teaching we noted that there were four spiritual horns which challenge God’s authority at the bronze altar and bind individuals to false authority. These false horns do not gather and reconcile, but instead they scatter and destroy (Matt 12:30; 2 Cor 5:18). It has become clear that a hardness of heart, which leads to a state of being unrepentant, is a crucial indication that God is being approached in a wrong manner. This means that people may align their will and their mind to the concept of serving God, but that this remains a somewhat clinical decision, more related to religious tradition than to the reality of God.  Their approaching of God does not occur through a prompting of the Holy Spirit, but on the grounds of certain other motives which we shall now explore.

The most prominent reason people flee to the horns of the altar, is because they find themselves in troublesome situations. God is called upon in times of crisis to save them from their circumstances. This may lead to a state of faith which is more half-hearted than truly committed. Whereas Jacob kept on pursuing God once God had answered his cry for help in the midst of a difficult time, these individuals are not interested in engaging with God once their problem has been solved. They are like most of the Israelites, who “believed His words; they sang His praise. They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel.” (Ps 106:12-13).

There are times that people approach the altar because they are being pressured by others to do so. Well-meaning evangelists attempt catching souls the way one would catch birds, using nets and trapping them (Ezek 13:18-20). Nobody can be trapped into the kingdom. Often emotional threats are employed (Turn or burn; It’s your very last chance) to scare people into entering the kingdom. I have attended sermons and concerts where people accepted Christ only because they feared hell. This in no way correlates with the character of the Word of God – “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18).