{"id":62303,"date":"2023-02-10T17:44:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T17:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=62303"},"modified":"2023-02-10T17:44:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T17:44:13","slug":"balaam-part-1-of-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=62303","title":{"rendered":"Balaam\u00a0 (Part 1 of 7)"},"content":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 The Uncommon Prophet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the lone lamp in the night, to which insect populations merrily flocked, Balaam was an internationally famed Old Testament prophet of God with a busy traffic of willing clients.\u00a0 He was a man so endowed that God and angels spoke with him freely and often.\u00a0 We might say that he had a hot line with Heaven.\u00a0 Unlike some of us, he did not need to go to asleep before God could get his attention in a dream or some other revelation.\u00a0 Like the clearness of a smooth mirror, he saw visions with his natural eyes open (Numbers 23:3-4).\u00a0 Unfortunately, this great prophet got seduced by his kingly clientele, by the material privileges that his office brought.\u00a0 He met one king the encounter with whom veered his path forever from the divine, until his name became a regrettable eternal metaphor for greed, for mercantile priesthood, for ministry that served the belly (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11).\u00a0 His kind has not been uncommon in every generation.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Oblivious Drifts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like an anchorless log on the sea, Balaam drifted slowly off, and sadly did not seem to care that he was getting far from shore.\u00a0 First, he forsook \u201cthe right way\u201d \u2013 there\u2019s always a right way; a right way to do things.\u00a0 Next, he went \u201castray,\u201d lured by what he loved \u2013 \u201cthe wages of unrighteousness\u201d (2 Peter 2:15).\u00a0 That is as the Scripture says: \u201cBalaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one often leads to the other \u2013 forsaking the right way, then going astray, but who dared to tell such a great preacher that he had strayed?\u00a0 Which lesser mortal dared say to such an opened-eyed prophet unto kings and nations, that Heaven thought differently of him than his ever-increasing and ever-applauding noble clients did?\u00a0 He was involved in no obvious idol worship.\u00a0 He was no adulterer.\u00a0 He was just a famous busy traveling preacher, being invited by kings and other nobles for \u2018special ministrations.\u2019\u00a0 Which underling donkey would have had the audacity to confront such a self-excusing man with the sore indictment from Heaven?\u00a0 The first donkey that tried it had it very rough (Numbers 22:22-34). Alas, can a mighty prophet be so blind to what is so plain even to dumb donkeys!\u00a0 Could the sword have been so close, and the prophet did not know!<\/p>\n

Can a man who prophesies to others be in such an error and yet not know it for himself?\u00a0 Could one who so clearly heard God and angels on other matters, even for nations, have shut the eyes and ears to such a rebuke from Heaven?\u00a0 Does everyone always know that they have strayed when they have strayed?\u00a0 Can a mighty Samson who always enjoyed the awesome anointing of God be so unaware when that blessed Presence tragically departs (Judges 16:20)?<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 They have Gone<\/strong><\/p>\n

While they sing our songs and take an honoured place on our podiums, according to Jude, \u201cthey have gone\u201d (Jude 1:11).\u00a0 They are with us in body but no more in spirit.\u00a0 They have our titles but not our character.\u00a0 The drift did not start today but since, and now, already, \u201cthey have gone.\u201d\u00a0 Where are they headed?\u00a0 Where are they gone to?<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0eThe Preacher can be reached at +2348035115164;+2348035115025; info@thepreacher.info; https:\/\/thepreacherdiary.com\/; https:\/\/facebook.com; www.thepreacher.info\/<\/strong>
\nwww.thepreacher.info;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher 1.\u00a0 The Uncommon Prophet Like the lone lamp in the night, to which insect populations merrily flocked, Balaam was an internationally famed Old Testament prophet of God with a busy traffic of willing clients.\u00a0 He was a man so endowed that God and angels spoke with him freely and often.\u00a0 We might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[5551,5552,5553],"class_list":["post-62303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","tag-anointing","tag-greed","tag-kings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}