Rehab

(Learning to Love God)

Post 240

In the last post we concluded that the solution of our regularly provoking God to anger, is to learn to love him. We saw that these provocations were evidence that we do not actually love God. The question then became:

“How do I learn to love God when I really don’t?”

* * *

I do not believe it is too presumptuous to declare that most American professing Christians actually desire to love God but find they cannot. Yes that is a very broad brush, and as already stated in the previous post; love is really hard to put on a scale. Yet I believe by the end of this post you will be able to see the reason why our churches are filled with both adults and youths who perpetually struggle and fail with all manner of sin though they declare they love God.

The evidence of the struggle itself suggests a desire to rise above the sin that they obviously know is destructive, and so it is concluded that these wish to have a healing relationship with God greater than what they have but are powerless to get there. Clearly they have some feelings for God but the love that transforms is missing. They know it’s missing but if you don’t love, how do make yourself love? Isn’t love an emotion that comes and goes of its own volition and is uncontrollable? We are too often told that it is. The answer to this problem of perpetual failure, which is most often provided by religious leaders, is that “All men sin and it cannot be overcome; It is a part of our nature and this is why there is grace”. The obvious conclusion of such a simplistic false doctrine is that the only difference between the saved and unsaved is that the unsaved don’t struggle in their sin. But isn’t there something else to this salvation? Is it actually possible to break the unbreakable chains? “How can I learn to love God when all my efforts have utterly failed?”

To answer that, we need a different perspective than the one we have that does not work. To get that perspective, God gave us a word picture where the lights come on as we finally “get it”. We get that word picture when we honestly ask; “Why did God take the Exodus people on that miserable trip from Egypt to the Jordan River, through the wilderness?”

Now don’t just assume you know the answer or you wont look for it. Sure we all have reasonable explanations that we come up with off the top of our heads, some are even based on the misunderstood reason that God himself gave;

“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea…” Exodus 13:17-18a.

So are we happy with the generic and simple explanation that God wanted to take them the long way, which was so far in distance and through the un-passable Red sea, that they couldn’t go back if they decided they wouldn’t face the war at the end? This perspective of God’s explanation is practically and geographically illogical on several points:

1.      The very common and familiar trade route from Egypt to Canaan was the most direct and shortest; it was the I-5 freeway of that region. It is foolish to assume that by taking them on a long detour, they would get confused and think it was too far back to Egypt.

2.      The Red sea is not on that short route, so taking them through the sea was no topographical hindrance to their return; Head north and hang a left.

3.      At the end of the long route God picked for them, they still changed their minds (repented) when they understood the intended war, and failed to accomplish the job of entering in.

So did God’s “Extended Red Sea Route” plan fail? It did if this is the way we want to interpret his explanation, but that’s ridiculous; God has a completely different meaning for his explanation.

* * *

God’s explanation of taking them the long way is not about the distance. What God said was that he needed the longer course to complete the process he designed for them so that at the end of it they would not return to Egypt when things got too tough. We know by his statement that the purpose for the wilderness program was that at completion they would be altered enough NOT to go back to Egypt, whether they failed to engage the war or not. And we know they did not return to Egypt but wandered around in the wilderness the rest of their lives. God’s plan succeeded! (More in later posts).

So now we just need to understand the process that he carefully designed that brought about the change in them that would keep them from returning to where they were before they left. Why the Red Sea miracle at the start? Why the wilderness? Why the hardships? The bitter water, the lack of normal food and the carefully rationed special food, the exclusion from others, the lack of water, the extended stay at the rugged mountain camp? What did God have in mind for all these miseries, when he constantly comforted them with the cloud, showing them he had their best interest at heart? To make sure we get the I Corinthians 10:11 application, the same questions must be asked regarding why God sends us through the tough times in our own “wilderness journey” of life in preparation of entering into the kingdom of heaven.

The answer comes clear when we realize that God had to run them through the world’s first recorded addiction rehab program. It was not that God wanted to make them suffer, but that the suffering was simply a necessary by-product of the detox and withdrawals from the life of Egypt. When you send your Heroin addict son or daughter to rehab, it is not a punishment, or an intentional suffering that you wish upon them, it is an act of love and hope while you mournfully empathize with their great miseries that you put them into! but in their condition they cannot yet see it as help;

“And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage” Exodus 6:9.

In spite of the motivation of love and the needed treatment, the suffering is still very real and the addict really struggles with feeling like you hate them and are trying to kill them! And this is exactly the reaction God received from the Exodus people as he confiscated their familiar lusts of Egypt from them;

“And they were sore afraid…And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness” Exodus 14:10b-12.

In this drug induced confused mindframe, could they be held accountable for their words? Did they have the clearness of mind that would allow them to make an intelligent decision for themselves? No. and Moses did not rebuke them for it, he just comforted then in their sorry state and said;

“…Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” Exodus 14:13-14.

But even in this drug induced state, we cannot force a grown adult into rehab, it is something they have to allow us to lead them into, it’s a legal thing, and God likewise tells the Exodus people that they must walk into the clinic and sign themselves in;

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:”

Exodus 14:15

The door to the wilderness clinic is the Red sea of baptism. The wilderness clinic is God’s. The detox program is God’s. He provides the facility, the medicine, the food, the water, the caregivers, and the mental rehabilitation program, but it’s the patient’s job to do the doing and the doing is difficult.

Once all the patents entered the clinic God shut the door of the Red Sea, not to keep patients from escaping but to lock out the world they had been rescued from (Exodus 14:19-31). While Christians wrongly assume that salvation is the whole plan and the end of the work, the entrance into the clinic is only the beginning of the rehab program.

* * *

Have you ever had any proximity to someone with a drug problem? Do you know anything about the foundational altering effects that drugs have on a person’s mind will and emotions? Their personality? Let’s use Heroin as an example:

From the outside perspective, a person under that influence is narrowly drug focused and disconnected to the reality that the rest of us live in. One of the Thamkrabok rehab monks said it like this: “Heroin creates this sort of bubble around you. You’re in a false environment, a false world. So once you take that away the only way to describe it is that you’ve just knocked the wall down and the real world comes at you a million miles an hour” *1. But before that wall is knocked down, you can still hold some semblance of a conversation with them, and they may even weep emotionally in sad recognition that they are destroying their own lives as well as those whom they love and who rely on them, but there is no successful link between recognition and the needed behavioral change. They simply cannot make it happen. How does a person on Heroin make the needed change? Do they try harder to be a good mom? Do they will themselves to perform better? Is it even possible, or would such an effort to improve themselves be more evidence that they really don’t have a clue to the problem?

We might give them examples of their problem, not as rules they must conform to in order for us to be happy with them, but as evidences of their problem that goes far beyond behavior. But in the utter helpless impossibility to improve, our comments are only received as judgment (law) to them.  “Doing better” is not the present need but is a by-product of the intended goal. Heroin has no redeeming qualities and is only utterly destructive to the addict as well as those around them. Yet to the addict, they are sure they cannot live without the Heroin even after they cease wanting it because the thrill is gone. They are trapped because the withdrawals are just too painful to bear, and are frustrated that you cannot “accept them as they are”.

But the greater problem, are those who have seemed to manage their addiction in moderation where they can mostly participate in reality. These people cannot see the merits of your argument and defend the drug with vigor (Revelation 3:25-18), in this state these cannot be rehabilitated, and in today’s sophisticated society we are seeing a great increase in these who are managing their addictions and they are now filling our seats of government with their twisted perspectives, writing insane laws to which we all must conform.

I recently watched a documentary called “Heroin: Facing the Dragon” about a Thailand monastery rehab center for Heroin addicts *1. It was interesting as they followed two young British girls through the program, but what really fascinated me was the amazing direct overlay this had on the scripture’s documentary of the Exodus journey from Egypt. The medication and purging, the waiting while detoxing, the seclusion and foods, the expected attitudes and personal wars, the restructuring of the mind, etc., all are shown paralleled in the Exodus.

I recognize that I am stepping outside the authoritive scripture to make this overlay, and it has no direct scriptural validation to declare its merits, I only offer it as a current perspective of God’s intent for the process he used, that may help us accept the events with purpose and see ourselves in a new light allowing us to interact with God’s process in deeper understanding and surrendered compliance.

* * *

The Wilderness Drug Rehab Program:

After the first three days of detox (Exodus 15:22) without the familiar drug of Egypt life, the next thing on the agenda for the new Exodus rehab patients was some very distasteful medicine the scripture calls “bitter water”, and the patients complained of its bad taste (Exodus 15:23-24). So Moses, the clinic director, went to the designer of the clinic program to see what could be done. And God provided a sweetener for the medicine; though the medicine still had to be drunk (Exodus 15:25a). But that’s not the end of it; we are told what the medicine was for:

“…there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters” Exodus 15:25b-27.

In essence, God gave them the raw medicine so they could taste how bitter it really is, then he gave them an additive that made it actually tasty and they were expected to drink it, and by doing this he provided a tangible pattern of the clinic principle he was about to make; which was to purpose in your heart to “get on board” with the program and follow the rules whether you liked it or not. The promised result is that the patient will be healed and avoid all the diseases that plague the addicts they were just rescued from; God informed them that the purpose of the clinic was for him to heal them. And after drinking the medicine, they were taken to a pleasant place where they could wait out the detoxing affect. But the withdrawals had not yet begun.

30 days into the program (they left and arrived on the 15^th of each month; Numbers 33:3+Exodus 16:1) the affects of withdrawals had begun and their reaction was typical of withdrawals from Heroin;

“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron (the clinic staff) in the wilderness: …Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” Exodus 16:2-3.

Understanding the reaction of an addict in rehab helps us comprehend why the Hebrews would react so dramatically, they were addicted to the lifestyle and product of their addiction and they could not bear to be without it. Today the same phrase is; “I wish I were dead” and at this point in the program they really mean it. They had forgotten how miserable they were back in slavery, and now without the drugs of that life, the affect is all they can think about.

Here we see that God provided them the most perfect foods (Exodus 4-19) to give them all the needed vitamins and minerals and proteins and such that their depleted systems desperately need to recover, and no mater how much or little they collected daily, it always turned out to be a specific ration by weight (Exodus 16:18). Was it supposed to be received as a placation for the desirable Heroin of Egypt? No. It was what they needed. And God watched their rehabilitation progress by how they received it (Exodus 16:4,12); Some, while still miserable from the withdrawals accepted the treatment program as necessary and were grateful to comply, while others fought with the whole process (Exodus 16:20) and could not figure out the point of the rules and so struggled to comply (Exodus 16:27). Now think about it; these are Heroin addicts who have shown a failure to manage their own lives with good mental processes, now arguing with the rehab director and staff about how the operation should be run! That didn’t go over so well;

“And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” Exodus 16:28.

God was holding Moses responsible for the smooth operation of his wilderness facility and we see in the next verse that a detailed explanation accompanied the lack of manna on the seventh day so even the frustrated could go along; “so the people rested on the seventh day” Exodus 16:30.

Chapter 17 begins by implying they made it through the worst of the withdrawals in the Wilderness of Sin and now moved on to focus more on their mental rehabilitation. But we see that withdrawals from the mental addiction is perhaps even harder than withdrawals from the physical addiction, though in a different way. By now they have a bit more strength and have recovered some will power, but misapply it to their base needs as if in fear that the program managers have suddenly lost their proven skills and designs for their best interest. In ignorance of the carefully designed program the patients turn on the staff and demand what they feel they need (Exodus 17:2-4,7). And in love, patience, and compassion for their pitiful condition, God again provides (Exodus 17:5-6); not because they demanded it, but because it was already in his perfectly scheduled plan, as we see evidenced by prophecy all through the scripture from the fall of Adam to the second coming (Genesis 2:10, 9:4+6, 3:15, 4:8+Hebrews 12:2, Zechariah 14:4 etc.).

Next in the program, after the life giving water of the Rock of Christ, the patients were provided a first battle with the Amalikites (Exodus 17:8-13) of the children of Esau (Genesis 36:12). I have long wondered why this is here in the narrative? It really doesn’t seem to fit in the rest of the Exodus narrative, What meaning can this have to us? With this rehab overlay perspective we find in Deuteronomy 25:17-18 an aid to understanding this part of the program;

“Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindermost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God”

Deuteronomy 25:17-18 KJV.

In attempting to define “smote” I was led to the LXX Greek Septuagint, which in translation reads;

“Remember what things Amalec did to thee by the way, when thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt: how he withstood thee in the way, and harassed thy rear, even those that were weary behind thee, and thou didst hunger and wast weary; and he did not fear God” Deuteronomy 25:17-18 LXX.

This was not the only battle these people would face; in fact being prepared to face the actual war at the end is a significant purpose for the whole rehab program as God already made clear at the beginning (Exodus 13:17). This Amalek battle was only a carefully controlled strength and endurance training as a part of their rehab. Here in Deuteronomy (written to the next generation that WOULD go in) we are informed that Amalek specifically targeted the weakest among the patients falling behind, with intent to harass them. Now while the KJV translation declares this attack came when they were all faint and weary, the Septuagint lends to the idea that the battle made them hungry and weary.

The lesson to be learned here is that weariness and faintness is indeed going to be a part of the war in real life after rehab but those who are the weakest will take the brunt of the harassment. Since this was designed into the program we can conclude the purpose of God was to motivate the weak to kick it up a notch; to be better prepared for the next time. And not only the weakest, but all of them were exercised in the event to become stronger as a unit by the increase of their individual strengths by exercise.

The whole bit with Moses’ arms, was to drive home the point that in the long and laborious battles against evil, we will face weariness. In our weariness of the battle the enemy will gain the upper hand. But when we come together for mutual support of each other’s faith in uplifting our weary arms to God (from whence comes our help), we will find strength and the LORD will sustain our diligence and give us victory through our efforts; “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” Galatians 6:9 (+10, also Exodus 23:29-30, II Thessalonians 3:13).

Now Deuteronomy 26 goes on to direct a memorial First Fruits sacrifice to remember this concept of the source of our success while weary, but the Exodus generation failed the final exam of this concept and so were not given chapter 26. If you are of the second gen kind of believers, it would be valuable to read Deuteronomy 26:1-11, not as a rule but as a concept of understanding the deep meaning of first fruits with this in mind.

This is rehab!

Exodus 18 is a very interesting diversion from the rehab program itself, and goes into some inner workings in the management of the wilderness rehab center. There is A LOT of fascinating understanding found here far more than just symbolic to our own “real life” management as we are all patients, now in the staff, to aid those less stable in the program, but I must pass over the details to continue the documentary of the patients. Only keep in mind that this selection of Jr. staff members from among the patients (Exodus 18:25) is not the same event as when, the faithful among them are later officially sanctioned as staff by the anointing of God’s Spirit (Numbers 11:16).

Two months into rehab (they left and arrived on the 15^th) they are taken to the Sinai mountain camp for an extended stay and a new phase in their rehabilitation (Exodus 19:1-6). It is here that they are given a whole new set of rules to live by now that they are mentally healthy enough to receive it. The toxins of their Egyptian addictions are now cleansed from their system, and the exclusion from any other social distractions has prepared their minds to accept the training of a completely different lifestyle from what they had known. But here their hearts will suffer the challenge of choosing the life they WANT. Here is where will be tested their success of how they applied the first rule of rehab;

“If thou wilt diligently hearken (8085) to the voice of the LORD thy God…” Exodus 15:26

Hearken 8085 shama; a primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.)…

As a child, I would sometimes get in trouble even though I had intended to followed the specific directive of my dad. He used the line “going through the motions” to express that although the letter may have been followed, I had missed or ignored the whole spirit of the directive. From disinterest I did not “hearken” to his voice though I attempted to do what he said, the results were self evident that I was just going through the motions.

Here at the mountain of God in Sinai, they were about to be graduated into the next phase of their rehab and given guiding rules to live by (Exodus 19:9-11), but if their heart was not committed to this new way, all the rules would fall flat and miss the whole purpose. They were not strung-out on the drug of Egypt anymore so whatever they decided to do was simply a clear choice of their heart’s desire approved by a clear mind. Their decisions were legitimately their own and they could be accountable to them now.

After giving them the verbal rules (Exodus 20:1-17), it was no mistake that Moses “left the room” to spend time in the mountain of God; it was a part of the program to see how the patients were doing on their own in preparation for “real life” choices (II Chronicles 32:31).

They didn’t do so good;

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not is become of him” Exodus 32:1.

Now it’s easy to criticize them for their quick departure, but remember this whole program had only been going for two months and now Moses the rehab director goes absent for more than a month! (40 days per Exodus 24:18), that’s not insignificant.

If the patients had understood that this was like today’s term; “halfway house”, they would have carefully and diligently applied the rules in Moses’ absence to make sure they graduated successfully from the program. But as long as they assumed they were but patients, they felt no personal responsibility and actually felt their failure was Moses’ fault for spending so much time away! Incredible the damage allowed by a wrong perspective! And this irresponsible perspective is what got them hooked as slaves to Egypt in the first place. But is this not exactly what modern Christians do today while waiting for Jesus to come back? “I want to do right, but without the director holding my hand, I just can’t help myself.” Somehow that doesn’t sell so good from this overlay interpretation of the passage. This failure to apply (act of the will) the law with the mind, is directly due to a failure to rehabilitate (repent) the heart. The whole package can be called a wrong spirit. Caleb had another spirit (Numbers 14:24) as he accepted his personal responsibility to succeed in the program with diligence.

I don’t want to belabor the shameful details of their full return to their former conduct even without the actual Egyptian Heroin of slavery to overtake and influence them, but that they still had not eradicated the lust for the former pagan pleasures they retained in their hearts. This problem is made very clear in any rehabilitation program by expounding on the great captivating dangers of even once falling back into the evils you have been saved from. There is a very long (and often declared life long) weakness to the addiction that was left behind, and this weakness must be guarded against diligently though the deep wrestling stops when the heart actually changes. But the heart cannot fully change until the toxins are dispelled and the withdrawals come to an end; All the factors are combined to a successful rehabilitation.

Moses the director, comes back after his extended absence; sees the regression and shame, and breaks the tablets in anger (Exodus 32:19, more on this in later posts). But by the documentary we see that he was not angry at the people but at their failure; Moses is not the creator of the program but only the director, and he must go to the creator and appeal to him not to throw out the whole lot *2 (Exodus 32:30-31). He could not make such an appeal if his heart was angry with the people in the way we tend to think, yet before he made his appeal he had to remove from the program some of the patients as a serious lesson to the rest if nothing else, but more likely as a redemption of the whole lot he was about to seek forgiveness for (Exodus 32:27-29+ Hebrews 9:22+ Matthew 26:28).

The appeal for forgiveness is not approved (Exodus 32:32-35) though they do receive a pardon and they get to stay in the program, but the creator makes note that all is not forgotten (Exodus 32:33-35+Jeremiah 14:10) unlike in forgiveness (Psalm 103:12+Hebrews 10:17). The incredible importance to these few verses is quickly ignored by the patients who are just happy they didn’t get ejected… but this should not be; there is very serious instruction here if we will accept it; remembering that Moses is the ensample of Christ Jesus our atonement for sin (Exodus 32:30) that only goes so far with God. In today’s confused “Christianity” such a concept is viewed as heresy as they party with the golden calf worshipers while waiting for Christ to return!

At this point (unlike addicted Christians today) the Exodus rehab patients know they really goofed, but they had no idea what would come of it. As they stand there quietly waiting (Hebrews 10:27), they know they are still in the program but clearly the administration is making changes because of them (Exodus 33:1-17). What we see, is that originally God was right in their midst as the tabernacle was in the center of the camp with the Levites and priests, but now the tabernacle was removed from the camp and from the presence of the priest’s domain, and the LORD went with it to abide alone, outside the camp. God was still there, Moses was still there, Aaron was still there, the Levites were still there, but somehow there was a separation from God, and it was stark (Exodus 33:8-10).

How does this apply to our Christianity today? Is there really no permanent damage done when we choose to sin because Jesus is our atonement? Hardly! Such a thing is a warning sign of an unreformed (unrepentant) heart that if left unchanged will result in failure to enter in because of fear, which is a lack of faith. The lack of faith in fear is Unbelief (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:6,16:14, Romans 11:20, Hebrews 3:10-12,19).

* * *

Bad Friends:

So things are patched up (with a few diminishing changes) and Moses gets a new set of tablets (Exodus 34:1), and by this we learn that indeed we are not God’s people because of our great righteousness, but rather because of God’s incredible mercy on these still pitiful, former spiritual-drug addicts floundering to get their feet under them (Exodus 34:5-7). The second set of tablets is an incredible sign of full failure and yet a second chance *3 (Jeremiah 18:1-6+). But with a second chance comes a double punishment if a further failure is not avoided (Jeremiah 16:18). And with this last chance concept the patients are given some pretty hard words regarding their social interactions:

“And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: Behold I drive out before thee the (six named nations). Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it (your covenant) be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods” Exodus 34:10-16 *4.

I write all this out because it’s important to see the scripture itself in this hard command. Today in our “enlightened” age, we take pride in being tolerant of everyone and everything as if it is a virtue of God. I remember back in 2001 when I heard on the news that the Taliban had invaded Afghanistan, and blown up some huge ancient images carved into the cliffs *5. Foolishly I was appalled that anyone would destroy such ancient relics, even if they are gods we don’t choose to accept; “It’s ancient history they are destroying!” But as conquerors are they not purifying their new possession for their god just as our scriptures told the Hebrews to do for their God?

Today’s Christian cannot stomach the idea of such violence, even in the face of those who openly declare they intend to kill us or enslave us. In spite of the willingness of our forefathers’ to fight to the death for what they believed was theirs by the hand of God, our generation is so passive in confused “faith” that we cannot stand against anything and so reject the natural law of “right of power” to do as it wishes (II Kings 19:10-13). And so not standing against anything, we cannot stand for anything; not even for the God of All Power to rise against their challenging power as did Hezekiah (II Kings 19:15-19). And so, like the Exodus patients in Moses’ absence, we just passively blow with the wind and do what comes natural in the moment while guiltlessly waiting for our director to come back and lead us; “If not him, then why not someone else? It’s all the same so long as we are led.” This is still the mind of a slave, which is what the rehab program is trying to alter.

Is our acting president not making covenants with the enemies of our God in violation of this Exodus 34 principle? (also Deuteronomy 17:3-5). Are our people not eagerly willing to defend their imagined rights on our soil, even over our own rights? Are we not as a nation trying to incorporate their people’s values and their laws into our own nation as an act of kindness while they openly defy our God? This is exactly what God commanded the Exodus people NOT to do, and he explained why just to make sure they couldn’t confuse his meaning.

Keep your eye on the news first, and then in your own home as your children adopt Chrislam *6 right before your Christian eyes! This is a promise of God for taking this forbidden path of tolerating foreign wickedness in our own Christian land. But we are so intoxicated with our now familiar iniquities and confusions that we cannot comprehend what God actually meant for us to do;

“Didn’t Jesus teach us to love everybody?”

Yes, that’s why we entered the war to stop Hitler! A simple mind is hardly better than one on drugs. Although many are quite happy in their simplistic faith of warm and fuzzy, the Lord is not quite so happy with it because such a weak standing will not prepare you to face the spiritual war that must be fought between the holy and the blasphemy (Ephesians 6:10-18). There is simply no use for armor to the lily livered Christian who’s faith will not allow him to stand against wickedness because he is covenanted with it.

The second set of tablets (new covenant) have been given in the birth of Jesus the Messiah. It is not a new set of rules on the new tablets, but a rewriting of the old (post 232 New Old Commandment http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-old-commandment.html).

* * *

You’re Not Home Yet:

One year, one month and five days into the program, the rehab center was relocated from the mountain of God and moved to the Wilderness of Paran (Numbers 10:11-12). Three days after packing up out of the now familiar Sinai retreat, the patients whom had by familiarity grown reasonably comfortable there, began to whine again presumably because of all the efforts of moving (Numbers 10:33-11:1).

We are not told much about the conditions at the Sinai camp but for some reason they had not been complaining until they started moving again. Apparently they had learned to accept it by familiarity as “the way it is”, but now with the change came fresh whining. The Greek Septuagint make the whining more than casual;

“And the people murmured sinfully before the lord”

(Numbers 10:1 LXX)

and God was really not wanting to hear the whining and sent fire in the camp to stop it (Numbers 11:1-3). It seems his patience is wearing thin as their number of provocations reaches the limit. Now the complaining is more than surface discomfort as before, and they were really no longer rehab patients but a people now in control of their faculties and quite familiar with the wilderness “clean” life. But the moving awoke their displeasure and they suddenly realized they were really sick of camping, and in spite of the warning fire, the murmuring turned into serious lusting for the pleasures of their former life while utterly forgetting the miseries they paid for them (Numbers 11:4-6).

Here is where, of all their provocations of God, I can empathize with their complaint, so here is where I have to be diligent to learn the lesson provided. I really don’t like being uncomfortable, I like luxuries and vacations and toys and the things money can buy. But I have learned to be content with far less because the purpose of my life is not to indulge in my personal pleasures. Yet once in a while I focus on the wrong perspective and I see my personal condition head on, and I don’t like it. And here I have two choices;

1.      I can remind myself that God is in control and he has me exactly where he wants me for the time being, to do what he has planned for me, or

2.      I can complain to God that I’m tired of it and want a change, as if God owes me better.

When my heart is focused on “me” my attitude is horrible, but when my heart is focused on the Lord and his work of the kingdom I find myself very happily content. Frankly, like Paul, by the experience and practice of surrender, I have learned to be content and the resulting happiness is far more desirable than misery (Philippians 4:11-12, I Timothy 6:6-9, Hebrews 13:5). And so though compassionate for their struggle with the extended wilderness lifestyle, they needed to find their contentment only in the LORD, which was the reason for the long delay in completing their program.

“Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent…” Numbers 11:10.

This is not good; they took option 2.

Here is where we spent some time in previous posts exploring that Moses in the image of the Christ to come, actually got weary with the burden of these perpetual whiners and cried out to God for relief. And so God gave him 70 elders from among the best of the rehab patients, to share the management of the people in anticipation of their graduation and move across the River from the wilderness rehab facility. I will only here note Luke 10:1-20 to show that indeed these spirit filled seventy were actually a type of a later seventy of Jesus Christ, who shared in his ministry to spread the message that the kingdom of God was very near.

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What Makes Moses so Special?

It seems strange to me that Miriam, Aaron’s sister, would persuade Aaron the priest to challenge Moses’ authority at this late point in the program. But as they say; “familiarity breeds contempt” and so after so long of seeing Moses and Aaron working as a team, Miriam was not so sure Moses was all that special. It really rankled them that Moses had married a black woman after his first wife, and so they said; “…hath the lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?...” Numbers 12:1-2.

I don’t list this as one of the ten provocations of the people, because it was not. But what this did was begin a doubting of Moses as the only spokesman of God. They did not declare Moses was NOT the spokesman of God, only that perhaps they too were equals in hearing from God, and frankly they were pretty sure they heard from God that he was not happy with Moses’ black wife. The high priest and his sister the prophetess in effect were challenging Christ himself in the image of Moses *7! What I find hard to comprehend is that God did not open the earth and drop them in as he later did with Korah (Numbers 16) a by-product of this challenge. But God was interested in making a very public statement to confirm that indeed Moses was his only man with no equal, (and the position of priest held tremendous sanction by God even when wrong);

“and he (the LORD) said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream” Numbers 12:6.

That’s pretty great! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be such a prophet to have God reveal himself in a vision or hear from God in a dream? But God is not done with his thought;

“My servant Moses is not so (like that prophet), (Moses) who is faithful in all mine house (above all prophets). With him (Moses) will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently (4758: the act of seeing), and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Numbers 12:7-8.

Wow! Moses has no equal in humanity but the Christ of whom he is a Type! And to confirm this powerful declaration from God himself, Miriam became a sudden leper (Numbers 12:10). Aaron the priest begged Moses to forgive them both and then begged Moses for Miriam’s life, and in love for them personally Moses turned and likewise begged God for her life (Numbers 12:11-13), and God spared her though not till seven days (v.14-15).

Today, we often find ministers of God who in reading their scriptures find themselves inventing something other than what Christ has written. This is because like Miriam they presume to hear from God that which challenges the Word of God. This is utter folly and destruction;

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” Galatians 1:8.

But to know if it is a false gospel, you first have to know the scriptures!

Now finally, after all the experiences in the wilderness rehab center, the program is finished and their graduation is at hand. God just confirmed that Moses was not some whacko coming up with his own ideas but that he was hearing from the mouth of God directly. And now the mouth of God was commanding them to go in and conquer the land in the Power of God. And to do so there would be 12 spies to plan the way (Numbers 13:1-3)… but was it really the voice of God or of men? (Deuteronomy 1:22-23).

I find this apparent dichotomy a fascinating study that will have to wait for another day. But I will say here that the people of the first try were not ready in faith to hear the details that the next generation were told on the second time around. There is no dichotomy when you study the details and understand how God speaks through his Spirit in man, but here in their limited faith “the word was given by God” to first send in twelve spies. How easily the doubt creeps in at every little apparent scriptural glitch that plays against our doctrine of faith, and instead of a sudden rush of excitement to see God provide an answer, the doubts spring up choking weak faith and tarnishing anticipation (hope).

And so when the twelve spies returned, ten reported the prospect hopeless and by the ten reports the people were so greatly discouraged as to respond in a violent refusal to meet the challenge in faith. As ex street junkies these people could not actually see themselves acquiring the new life and had no confidence in the one who had completely turned their lives around as if being born again. Like Peter sinking in the sea, they focused on the wrong things and became afraid. Boldness and confidence in faith do not suddenly come by working it up, you have either acquired it by experience or you have not. Standing at the river’s brink is not the time to work up the faith that they should have acquired through the program. Unlike them, Caleb was eager to charge the river and lead the people into battle and witness the victory of the LORD. How it must have broken his heart to be told No, they would not go. I imagine he and Joshua must have spent many lonely nights playing checkers beside the tabernacle as they quietly talked about the glories they saw of the Promised Land that had to be left behind. Forty years they wandered the wilderness with this bunch of faithless aimless people, but forty years did not diminish their faith as they were still ready to go when they again came to the river they had not seen for so many years.

That is faith indeed! It is the faith of Abraham, it is the faith that each of us must have if we are to join them on the other side of the river! (Hebrews 11:39-12:4).

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So how do you learn to love God when you actually don’t?

It takes a rehab program to first eliminate the debilitating drugs of life that block your spiritual mind, will, and emotions from seeing anything other than your present driven situation. To try to love God while strung-out is pointless and ignorant of the real problem.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.

This redemption is so wonderful it is nearly unbelievable that God would love a wretch like me that much! God heard the cries of the suffering People in Egypt and gathered them to himself while they were still really messed up! That’s you too! All he asks is that we go through the rehab wilderness and actually apply ourselves to success in the program he provides. It didn’t matter that they had very little to give, the program would do that for them. They just had to accept it for themselves, they had to want to be healed, and willing to depart the life they knew.

Sneaking in other “lesser drugs” is not the approved way, and looking down at Heroin addicts suffering in detox and withdrawals while you pop socially acceptable spiritual Valium, is a violation of the whole philosophy of the program. The common sinners on the streets are suffering under spiritual Heroin, but the churches are also filled with spiritual Ritalin addicts; a “socially approved” drug. If you cannot see that your addiction is the same as those on the street, with just a different name and side affects, then you will never be able to be free from the mindframe of the habit, even after going through the entire program as a Christian.

How do you love God when you really don’t?

Be fully committed in your heart and mind and spirit to seriously kick the habit that stands between you and being a healthy Christian, and out the other side will be a love for God that you have always dreamed of!

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13 (also Deuteronomy 4:29).

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*1 “Heroin: Facing the Dragon” trailer: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJMTXir7_nk&feature=related)

*2 Pardon:

Here in response to this bold and clear act of disobedience without any excuse of ignorance or powerless external manipulation as before, there was not the usual forgiveness. Moses appealed to God by atonement; asking God for forgiveness but he had nothing to stand on (Exodus 32:32). They got a pardon, but this is a completely different thing than forgiveness (Exodus 32:34b-35).

*3 Scriptural Second Chances:

Another scriptural support reflecting the Exodus second chance tablets is Jeremiah 36:23-29, showing that God can and will bring back his Word a second time, even after it is destroyed. Of course this clearly represents Jesus the Word of God, killed the first time and coming back a second time to speak again salvation to man. The two Baruch rolls of Jeremiah 36 speaks of captivity and punishment but we see God’s intent for it in verse 3;

“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin”

Jeremiah 36:3

My entire Blog has been a harsh report and perceived as “doom and gloom”, but this is because what I have written is God’s purpose to do to us. But the hope is that by hearing the warning of God’s intent, we may like Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-9), earnestly repent from our wicked addictions and turn God’s plan of destruction (Jonah 3:10, Matthew 12:41).

*4 The Covenant:

It is too easy to bunch the whole paragraph and assume the covenant is the bit about segregation from the wicked, and it is. But the bit about God doing; “before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee”, is not referencing that he will drive out six nations or set them up in their own kingdom, these kinds of things had been done many times before.

The marvels that have never been done before, that will be before every nation on the earth where the Jews are, is that terrible thing God will do with the Jews when they violate the covenant he is here making! And so we have indeed seen God do so with the Jews something never before seen; A people who cannot be destroyed though nearly every nation on earth cries out for their destruction! A people so abused that even their enemies are dumbfounded that they remain. This is the terrible thing that God said he would do when they did not obey the covenant to keep their land segregated from the wicked, but instead joined with them in pacts. This is the sin of the well-meaning Glenn Beck “Restoring Courage” event in Israel last year; It encourages Israel to spit on this covenant as ignorant. May God forgive him for his ignorance because like Saul/Paul, he did not know what he was doing.

*5 Taliban Blows up Buddhas:

March 2001: Buddhas fall to Taliban dynamite

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1214384.stm)

*6 Chrislam: (http://www.chrislam.org/)

is the blasphemous blend of Christianity and Islam that our new confused age will force upon us at the point of punishment for being narrow minded and bigoted.  The way of modern peace is to compromise our faith. This will become a social burden and not remain a private choice.

*7 Moses’ Black Wife:

We find a clue to the identity of this prophetic Ethiopian wife of Christ as we read the Song of Solomon. What Miriam and Aaron the priest found hard to swallow was that the Messiah would include into his person the greatly undesirable and unapproved. But more on this will have to wait for another time.

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