Inner appetites behind tattoos, et al

A computer term that fits with the illustrations/types given in the Bible is “meta-template,” explains Jordan. God sets up a template about how He’s going to do things, then uses examples through the Scriptures and ultimately explains, “You see how I did that back there, and how I did this and that, and you see how that worked? That’s how the REAL thing is!”

“When you think about what God’s going to do in the universe, He gave a picture of how He’s going to do it with the nation Israel, focused on the earth.

“He’s brings Israel out of Egypt where they were in satanic captivity. God judged the gods of Egypt. That’s why there were 10 plagues. He judged each one of the 10 gods that ran Egypt, demonstrating He was God and they weren’t.

“He brings them out to the Red Sea, carries them across, divides them away, destroys the Egyptians following them, puts them on new life ground and makes them His nation, giving them new life. Then He sends them into Canaan.

“Moses brings them to Canaan but doesn’t go in with them. He writes the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in order to explain to Israel what they experienced in Egypt and what they’re to face in Canaan. It’s not just that they were in slavery; they were enslaved to satanic captivity. That’s what those plagues were telling them. It wasn’t just that Pharaoh was a (slave ruler); there was a satanic force behind him. They wouldn’t have known that if God hadn’t told them and demonstrated it to them!

“In fact, when it says in Exodus 1 a Pharaoh came on the throne that didn’t know Joseph, Isaiah 52 calls that Pharaoh an Assyrian. The Assyrian in the Bible is one of those little tag words, or identifiers, of the Antichrist.

*****

“In Numbers 33, Moses instructs the children of Israel that when they go into Canaan, [52] Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
[53] And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

“So they’re first to go in and ‘dispossess’ the inhabitants, throwing them out. Then they can possess the land. They were to get rid of them and destroy all their pictures and molten images and pluck down all their high places.

“Immediately when you read this you think of the Tower of Babel, where they went out and worshipped on the high places, saying, ‘We’re going to go up here on this high place above everybody and do some things that will get us to God!’

“Pictures and images are representations of the spiritual forces that are behind those things. It was pornography and that kind of stuff and it wasn’t just pictures on the walls; we looked at passages where they painted pictures on their bodies. We call them TATTOOS. They carried around SIGNS of these gods. They are all physical manifestations of the life.

“He’s talking about, ‘Don’t get involved in idolatry that’s used to represent the forces that are back behind all that stuff!’

“You wind up trying to worship in connection with the invisible powers of darkness those (images) are used to represent. And you serve it because there are acts of service in connection with any kind of worship that produces a culture and a lifestyle; the inner appetites.

“When Moses says, ‘Lest thou be driven to worship them,’ he’s talking about that stuff putting an internal compulsion in you; an appetite. It sears your conscience and puts an appetite in you to go after it, not just in you, but in the culture.

“What God’s telling them is, ‘Go destroy all this physical and philosophical filthiness associated with Beelzebub.’ You remember that title of Satan? The ‘sons of Belial,’ the sons of Beelzebub, the ‘lord of filth.’ It’s the unclean spirits that produce that kind of stuff and He’s warning them about the seduction of their hearts: ‘Don’t adapt to the worldview that produces that kind of stuff! Get rid of it! Drive it out! Destroy it!’

“You see, that satanic darkness--the philosophy, or the thinking that produces a bunch of images and lifestyles that are based on a worldview, on an ideology, a culture; that’s the expression of the extension of the worship of your heart and these things come from the darkness. Before they could possess the land they had to rid themselves of the lifestyle of the things that caused them not to be able to possess the land.

*****

“Deuteronomy 4:5-7 says, [5] Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
[6] Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
[7] For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

“Where were they going to get the ability to have people look at them and say they were wise and understanding? Moses writes, ‘I’ve given you the Word of God; I’ve given you what God says to you and it’s going to give you the ability to carry out His purpose and demonstrate His wisdom and understanding. People are going to watch you and say, ‘Wow, what nation has such wisdom and understanding about what creation is about?!’

“As Isaiah 33:6 says, ‘And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.’

(new article tomorrow)