25/04/13

The Reformation

2 Chronicles 15: 16,17 - And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.


In the Old Testament we see waves of reformation happening not once, twice but thrice before Jesus came and by His Spirit caused the greatest reformation.

In the books of Kings and Chronicles we read of people like Aza, Hezekiah and Josiah who repented the way of the spiritual life of the Israelite people and the things they did with regards to worship. They found people were worshiping other things while they were also worshipping God. They had contaminated their belief with the beliefs from other religions and thus imported gods and practices into their worship towards Jehovah.

In today's message we read of Asa the young king who was the first reformist and the thing he did. We see one thing common through all the reformists that they all rooted themselves to the Law and Commandment of God. Thy all solely depended on scriptures and it was the holy scriptures and their relationship with God that cause them to see the mockery people were doing towards God and in His name.

The people during their time and also during the time of Jesus were not totally against God they all called themselves worshippers of God but they were doing something else while they were worshipped God. During the times of the 3 kings we see two common things one was a goddess that was worshipped along with Jehovah and second they worshipped in high places. Worshipping in high places did not specifically means God did not want them to build a place of worship on a hill or mountain but symbolically meant their worship was more a blasphemy and less an acknowledgment, praise or thanksgiving to God. In their so called worship they were mocking the things holy unto God.

During the time of Jesus they did not have the goddess factor but the worship in high place was there and these they called traditions. Jesus became their enemy because He spoke against and even broke their religious traditions. The bases on which Jesus like the other 3 kings founded their fight against the so called worshippers of God were the Holy Scriptures.

Unlike the 3 kings who did good in the eyes of God yet they compromised at some place and thus continued things like worshipping God in high places among the people of God. Josiah stood tall among the 3 and other than stopping the people from worshipping the goddess he also stopped them from worshipping the dead.

During 1500AD we saw another reformation that took place. At that time too the people who gave importance to scriptures saw the Christians worshipping the goddess Ashtoreth the Queen of Heaven in the name of Mary the mother of Jesus and also worshipping the dead.

Like the reformation which happened during the time of the kings so also what happened around 1500AD was not a complete reformation. Many of the worships in high places were compromised and these practices are seen even today among Believers.

The Jewish disciples who followed Jesus were led by the Spirit of Lord to separate themselves and caused them to be recognised as Christians and not Jews.

We need a reformation like that which Jesus led His disciples to. He built them in knowledge of scriptures and got them later to separate themselves spiritually from the beliefs and practices of the Jews. They did not call themselves by a name but the people gave them names for they found them different from the rest of the Jews and other people. We too do not need to break away from so called Christian by forming another group or Church. We need to be like the disciples, they by their belief, way of life and the power of God working through them made the people to see them different from the main stream believers.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, your people do not need another religion or denomination they need You, your Word and your Spirit. Time and again your people have been deceived to do the same spiritual fornication. They are made to spiritually prostitute themselves by their worship of the strange woman goddess Ashtoreth the Queen of Heaven in her different forms. They are made to worship the dead and blasphemy You in their practices called worship by them. They time and again have shown the stiff neck, fleshy nature and hatred against the things of your Kingdom. They prefer things of darkness and reject the things of Light. Lord we pray a spiritual reformation that the world will see You in them and know You through them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
Proverbs 2:1-22
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 5:1-13
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!


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