The "Doctrine of Balaam"

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus instructs John to write letters to seven different churches. These letters speak prophetically to the Church today. To the church at Pergamum, Jesus says this,

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.” –Revelation 2:14

So who was Balaam, and what did he do? We read about Balaam in Numbers 22. He was a prophet who used his gift for personal gain. King Balak tried to pay Balaam to corrupt God’s people by cursing them. God wouldn’t allow that. So Balaam came up with a crafty plan. 

He sent Moabite women to infiltrate God’s people, marry with the men, and led the Israelites astray through the men. It worked. The men followed their wives to worshipping other gods and God’s people became corrupted.

So what is Jesus warning us about today? Who are those on the outside who have tried to get the Church to abandon Christ’s teachings but have failed and are now trying to infiltrate the Church? I believe one of these “Doctrines of Balaam” is evolution. For years the world has tried to get the Church to abandon theGenesis account of creation and embrace a more naturalistic evolutionary view of the origins of the universe.

That hasn’t worked out so well. So now what has happened is the world has convinced a few Christian leaders to embrace atheistic evolution and they are now infiltrating the Church leading God’s people astray that way… Just like Balaam did. 

But what’s the big deal? Why is it important that Christians hold fast to what is written in Genesis 1 and 2? I mean, would it really be a big deal if in fact, the Genesis account of creation is not true and human beings truly are just animals that have evolved from primates? Consider these observations.

If the Genesis account of creation is not true then our entire faith begins to become unraveled. If the creation story is just a parable, then that means death and suffering happened before The Fall in the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us that before Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, there was no suffering, disease, or death. 

In fact, Genesis tells us that The Fall is the cause of suffering, disease, and death in the world. If the earth has existed for billions of years and life forms have been evolving for billions of years, then obviously there has been disease, suffering, and death long before any man or woman came on the scene or any “forbidden fruit”. If that is true, then everything we believe about sin is false, and so is your salvation.

That would also mean that Adam could not have been a historical person, and his subsequent fall could not have been a historical event. That means that many crucial passages in the New Testament must be false and the Word of God is a lie. For example,

“Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was the pattern of the one to come.  –Romans 5:14

“So it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life giving spirit.” -1stCorinthians 15:45

“For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” -1st Timothy 2:13

Adam being a historical person and The Fall in the Garden of Eden being a historical event are crucial foundations in the doctrine of sin, Jesus, and the resurrection. If the Genesis account of creation is not true, then that means Jesus was a liar. A naturalistic evolutionary view of creation says that the universe has existed for billions of years as has the earth, and that mankind came billions of years after the beginning of creation. Jesus says something different.

“But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.” –Mark 10:6

Jesus didn’t say that mankind; male and female were made billions of years after the beginning of creation. Jesus said that the human race was made AT THE BEGINNING of creation, not billions of years after the fact. Not only that, but Jesus also says in Matthew 23:35 that murder began with a literal person; the murder of Abel.

Now, if Jesus considered Abel to be a historical person, then Abel’s father must have been a historical person too. Abel’s father of course was, Adam. In fact, if we say that the first six chapters of the Bible are myth, story, hyperbole, allegory, etc, then that means thatmuch of the genealogy of Jesus listed in Matthew and Luke are myths too. That would make everything our Lord and Savior claimed He was a myth. Jesus was and is a real person, and He is not the descendant of myths.

That would also mean a lot of people in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 are myths too. You see, you just can’t explain the first six chapters of Genesis as stories. They are crucial and they are the foundation for our entire faith. If we change or erode the foundation, the rest of the house is sure to collapse.

That is what the teachers of this “Doctrine of Balaam” want however. They want to lead the Church astray.They couldn’t do it from the outside, so they have sent people to infiltrate the Church to lead us astray from the inside. Leave these churches that deny Genesis and teach evolution behind. They are false churches led by false teachers. Return to God’s true Church.

From Bulls to Baals

Something is happening to Christianity that is unsettling. Churches and even entire denominations are watering down the Gospel, compromising the Word, approving of immorality, and incorporating other religions into our faith. The Presbyterian Church recently opened up their annual meeting with a prayer to “Allah” and even invoked the name of the false prophet Muhammad. 

The United Methodist Church voted to begin discussing the possibility of approving homosexuality and allowing openly gay ministers to serve in their churches. Even though that process is not yet complete that didn’t stop them from nominating three openly gay ministers to high positions of office in the UMC.

The Southern Baptist Convention recently supported the construction of a Mosque. The Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, Disciples of Christ/Christian Church, and many others now accept gays and lesbians into membership and welcome openly gay ministers.

The Churches of Christ even teach the demonic doctrine that you have to be baptized to be saved.There is a movement going around called “Chrislam” which seeks to unite Christianity and Islam into one religion.

Why is this happening? Why are entire denominations and churches watering down the Gospel, compromising the Word, blessing perversion, and including other gods and religions into our faith?Allow me to turn your attention to 1st Kings 12:28, 31-32.

“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people… ‘Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’

Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eight month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.”

Notice that King Jeroboam of Israel did not create a new religion or make a new god. He said to the people, “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.” King Jeroboam in his mind, didn’t create a new religion, he simply made a false counterfeit version of the one that was handed down by the Lord to Moses. 

King Jeroboam even instituted a counterfeit priesthood and a counterfeit version of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles to imitate the faith of the Israelites (1stKings 12”31-32). The New Testament says as we approach the conclusion of the Last Days, the same thing will happen to Christianity.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”  -1st Timothy 4:1

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”  -2nd Timothy 4:3

That is exactly what we see happening when we see these “Christian” denominations watering down the word, coming out in approval of gay marriage, and incorporating Islam into their worship services. This “apostasy” will continue until eventually what we will see is a false counterfeit version of Christianity. 

These denominations and “churches” that I have mentioned are not seeking to create a new god or institute a new religion. They are just creating a counterfeit version of Christianity. The Bible tells us this will continue to happen. During the End Times the Bible tells us that a false ecumenical church will arise and dominate religion and global politics. 

This “church” will be a sugar coated, watered down, distorted version of Christianity that approves of eviland includes aspects of other religions in order to appease the culture. King Jeroboam did the same thing.It didn’t stop there. In 1st Kings 16, King Ahab led the Israelites from following a counterfeit watered down version of Judaism to following the Baal religion and worshipping the Baal statues.

Revelations chapter 13 tells us that the same thing will happen to this apostate ecumenical church. During the Tribulation, the Antichrist will abolish this “church” and create a religion centered around himself and will even have a statue of the Antichrist that people will be forced to worship.

“He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” -2nd Thessalonians 2:4

“He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast…” –Revelation 13:14

Saints, this is why we must stay in the Word. These denominations will continue to distort and water down Christianity. They will continue this until the dominant form of Christianity in our nation will be counterfeit version of our faith that we won’t even recognize. Then after God’s TRUE Church has been raptured, they will follow the Antichrist to worshipping him and his image.

If your church or denomination has “departed from the truth”, I encourage you to heed the words of God found in Revelation 18 when he spoke of this end time counterfeit church,

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” -Revelation 18:4-5