Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends all around the world,
Next Tuesday, March 1, has the words “Mardi Gras” on the calendar. I wonder what that means to you wherever you live in the world? In our recent days with Moses and the Hebrews, preparing to leave 40 years of wandering the desert and move into the land of Canaan, we have come to one of Moses’ farewell messages which contains some powerful verses which address what “Mardi Gras” symbolizes, at least in some parts of the world. I see it in Deuteronomy 18:9-13 and I invite us today to dig in and see what God has for us to understand here as “Mardi Gras” 2022 approaches.
Moses said to the people: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD…” (Deut. 18:9-12) Repeatedly Moses had been calling the Israelites to recognize how unique they are as a ‘people of God’! And therefore, how their values, their lifestyles, their families, their relationships with each other, their morality, their business ethics, and their relationship with God should ALL be rooted in the word HOLY, because God is Holy! The Apostle Peter echoes this strong sentiment: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14,15)
The word “detestable” is a powerful word isn’t it my friends? It seems to take ugly, or wicked, or evil to a different level. Some things that we humans think, say, choose or do are ‘detestable‘ to God. It means they are abhorrent and they motivate God to a judgment response. Moses gave us a very specific list in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 didn’t he? Look at the first one: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire…” This has been a horrible but not uncommon practice, in many different cultures, down through the generations. In some cases, when pagan worship is unusually desperate, in extreme circumstances, parents have actually killed their children. Often the distorted thinking behind this is that the ‘gods’ or demons the worshipers are seeking to contact will be moved to action by such outrageous, desperate acts of a parent sacrificing their child! But I have an important question for us to consider in 2022: what is the difference between parents sacrificing their living children on altars of desperate worship or parents sacrificing their living unborn children through abortion? It’s all detestable to the LORD!!
And Moses continued: “Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery , interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or is a medium or spiritist or consults the dead.” Now that’s very clear isn’t it my friends? Depending on the part of the world where you live, these people and their demonic trade may go by different names, but it’s all the same… human beings contacting Satan and the demons. In doing so they are rejecting Holy God, of course, for you cannot live long in the antithetical attempts to have a relationship with both Jesus and Satan at the same time!
Perhaps you are wondering WHY? Why is God so opposed to any efforts by human beings to have contact with Satan or demons or the evil, dark world? It’s because Satan and those ‘fallen angels’, demons, rebelled against God. They once were all holy angels in God’s presence, but Satan became jealous and led a rebellion against God, seeking to become God’s replacement as the supreme leader with all allegiance of the angels coming to him. (Isaiah 14:12-15 & Ezekiel 28:12-17) God threw Satan and all the angels who joined him in this rebellion, out of heaven and they established the kingdom of darkness which is always fully opposed to God, God’s truth, God’s purposes and God’s people. You’ll see Jesus refers to this in Luke 10:18 & John 8:44. Therefore any attempt by any person to glorify or celebrate or honor or have contact with the kingdom of darkness is open rejection of Holy God, and a defiant blaspheme, mockery of all Jesus Christ has done to make it possible for us humans to be redeemed by God and rescued from our sin condemnation. Now friends, I urge you to read that again… ponder it deeply. Do you understand this?
Moses concluded this powerful statement in Deuteronomy 18 with this warning: “Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD will drive out those nations before you. You must be holy, blameless before the LORD your God.” (Deut. 18:12,13) This is clear isn’t it my friends, but may I give you a remarkable announcement of good news? While the actions of attempts to contact the demonic world are detestable to God, the human beings caught up in this are people God desires to see rescued from this bondage and drawn to Jesus! These are people Jesus died for as He paid the full price for their redemption and sin forgiveness.
Both the Apostles Paul and Peter address this issue in their writings. Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to call the Ephesian Christians to consider that the dark kingdom works continually to develop schemes against followers of Jesus. But we need not fear, for we have the power of God in us IF we have placed our full trust in Jesus and God has accomplished the full work of His salvation and transformation work in us. Paul wrote: “Be strong in the Lord Jesus and in HIS mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)
Do you hear Paul’s call to courageous standing firm against all schemes of the dark kingdom? Do you understand how to do that my friends? As you continue reading this powerful section of Scripture do you see Paul is warning us that the devil and his dark kingdom are continually scheming to attack us, especially those of us who have trusted Jesus to save us from our sin bondage? Do you also see Paul calls us to understand the spiritual weapons God has made available to all who are redeemed by Jesus? Paul calls it the ‘armor of God’, using a military metaphor.
Paul says: “Stand firm then with the belt of truth…and the breastplate of righteousness… and the gospel of peace… and the shield of faith. The helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray on all occasions…” (Eph. 6:14-18) Do you see my friends how these verses are in direct contrast with the efforts of those who seek to connect with the dark kingdom through sorcery and divination and magic and all the other activities Moses named? God’s truth will always be a target of attack by lying Satan and his deceitful demons, according to Jesus’ words in John 8:44. Satan reminding us of our sinfulness is always a scheme of darkness but as Christ followers we can celebrate our forgiveness and our justification. God has declared us righteous, forgiven, cleansed according to Romans 5 & 2 Corinthians 5:21. Our faith in God is a powerful weapon with which we defeat the demonic schemes of doubt, fear, worry, shame and every other emotion the devil tries to overwhelm us with. Oh my friends I urge you to read and re-read Ephesians 6:10-18 and celebrate God’s truth available to you of the powerful ability God gives you to stand strong in the face of the schemes of the dark kingdom!
Finally, in closing today, let’s ponder Moses’ closing appeal to those Hebrews standing before him in Deuteronomy 18:13 “You must be blameless before the LORD your God.” It is both a warning and a call to courage for these people and for us. The Apostle John echoed Moses’ words for his generation and for us with these words: “This is the message we have heard from Him (Jesus) and declare to you: God is light [holy and truthful] in Him there is no darkness [evil and deceit] at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him (God) yet we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us..” (1 John 1:5-8)
So my friends, as we consider the approach of ‘Mardi Gras’, on the eve of Ash Wednesday, and you contrast what those two days symbolize… I wonder what you hear today from God’s Word as a call from God to you and me, to live holy lives and reject at all times every attempt of the dark kingdom to draw us away from God and into the immoral, unethical, evil of the darkness all around us?
May I urge us to talk with Jesus about this today, and here’s a song to help us consider our call to be holy as God’s people:
Today’s Scripture is Deuteronomy 18:9-13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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