Jephthah, Mighty Man of Valor

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Many Thrust Out Today

There are a host of valuable lessons from the experience of Jephthah applicable today. A multitude of true and faithful “Israelites” have been “thrust out,” “driven away.” I watched it start with the removal of men from the Structure who dared to stand up for the right and against wrong. In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive purge of faithful from positions of leadership took place. From academy principals up to the dean of the Seminary, and positions as high as vice-president of the GC, it happened.

The Dragon Wages War Against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman

There was something far, far deeper going on than just a policy matter, just a different approach to adapting to change, a getting rid of the “old guard.” This was war-a war against the remnant of the seed of the woman-a war about by Christ in the first recorded sermon that He preached to Adam and Eve after their sin, a war spoken about in Revelation 12:17: “and the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” What the Structure hated about these men was that these men hated sin, hated Satan, and hated rebellion against God.

“With awed yet exultant spirit he [John the Baptist in the desert] searched the prophetic scrolls the revelations’ of the Messiah’s coming, the promised seed that should bruise the serpent’s head.” DA 103.

Christ Declares, “I Will Put Enmity”

This verse, Revelation 12:17, ties in directly with Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel.”

The word translated ‘enmity” means in Hebrew “enmity,” “hatred” The basic verb from the noun here is derived means “to be hostile to,” “to treat as an enemy.” [TWOT]. Every person who still retains the enmity of the seed of the woman, placed in the heart of Christ, the enmity and hostility against apostasy, the enmity and hostility against rebellion, the enmity against sin, becomes the target of Satan’s enmity.

Raw War Against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman

It is the seed of the woman, those who hate sin, Satan, the world, self and sin, those who are hostile to apostasy, whom Satan wars against by his forces that have taken over the Structure with ecumenism, Church Growth, Willow Creek, Neural-Linguistic Programming, the Purpose Driven Life, Pantheistic New Age, self-esteem, rap and rock music, New Theology, Celebration, and all the rest of the package of the devil’s three-demon ecumenical movement of Revelation 16:13.

It is raw war against the remnant of the seed of the woman-those who still retain the enmity against sin and rebellion-hostility implanted by the Holy Ghost and Christ. And that great fact can never be forgotten or diminished in its clarity and power.

It is Christ Himself Who Implants Hatred Against the Serpent

Christ, the seed of the woman, is the One Who puts enmity-hatred-against Satan, sin, rebellion, and all that pertains to Satan. The remnant of the seed of the woman are those who still retain that hatred against the Serpent, a hatred planted in the heart by Christ Himself.

“The incarnation of Christ is a mystery. The union of divinity with humanity is a mystery indeed, hidden with God, “even the mystery which hath been hid from ages.” It was kept in eternal silence by Jehovah, and was first revealed in Eden, by the prophecy that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that he should bruise His heel.” 6 BC 1082

 

The Purge Turns to Church Members Who Dare to Manifest Hostility Against Rebellion

By the mid-1980s, the purge turned to the disfellowshipping of those who dared to stand for the right and confess the Biblical Christ-and those who dared to hate sin and oppose rebellion against God. Forces of satanic power had taken over the highest echelons of the Structure and were seeking to rid the Structure completely of those who still were the remnant of the seed of the woman.

 

Rise of the Independents

To provide a spiritual home for these, many independent ministries came into being, upholding the true faith, and the true gospel orientation of full surrender to Christ. Scripture warns us to have ‘the patience of the saints,” for time has lingered, and many Independent ministries have been seduced by the Structure with promises of favor and access if they will drop their hostility against Satan’s rebellion. Others have lost their orientation, some have just collapsed internally, some have been threatened with death with a mysterious Masonic death code, some have gone back for social reasons, choosing the fellowship of man above the fellowship of Christ and His sufferings. It is the same kind of attrition that took place in Nazi Germany with those who dared to stand up against the takeover of the church by the forces of Nazism.

However, others, the true remnant of the seed of the woman, have remained faithful to the Lord God of heaven, who looks lovingly upon them for their steadfastness.

 

Lesson From Jephthah

1.      Jephthah kept his faith under the most difficult personal circumstances, and in a place that was removed from an Israel that was in deep apostasy. He did not go into apostasy or fanaticism.

2.      In a land removed from the rest of Israel, he developed character, strength, fortitude, faith and courage, as God gave him training for what lay ahead.

3.      Jephthah knew the history of God’s true people. It was very important to him, especially when the crisis broke. He maintained the orientation of true faith. His faith went deep below the apostasy of Israel, anchoring in the Rock, Christ Jesus. The experience of true Israel he cherished and loved, and the day would come when he would be catapulted to the realm of international affairs, when he could repeat that history by heart for all Israel and all the enemy to hear in his challenge to the sons of Ammon.

4.      We must intimately know and cherish the history of God’s truth and God’s dealings with His people revealed in the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy, and history. Such knowledge of the history of God’s people in the bible, of the Waldenses, the Sixteenth Century Reformation and the rise of the true Seventh-day Adventism are crucial for our times and the days ahead.

5.      He did not return to an apostate Israel, but a spiritually revived Israel came to him, returned to him, for help in the hour of crisis. Taught by Christ and the Holy Spirit, he was following the divine principles that God would state to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:19: “let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.” As Elijah, John the Baptist, Noah, Daniel, and Jesus revealed, one man following God is the norm, and not an entire nation-church following apostasy and Baal.

6.      Jephthah did not dilute his faith in the slightest. He would not even go with the elders until he had their most solemn oath that they would bring him back into a situation in which the faith that he stood for would be guaranteed by them putting him in a position where as judge he would be the determiner of the faith of Israel. Only then, did he go back and serve as their general and judge.

7.      Jephthah was not going to fight a war just so Israel could go back into rank apostasy. There had to be a guarantee that Israel would be placed under his judgeship, guaranteeing a new, faithful Israel, at least in his time.

8.      Having that guarantee, that he would be recognized as the one who determined the faith of Israel as Judge, he had the greatness of soul to accept the responsibility and fight for faith and Israel.

9.      For his faithfulness, God was with Him, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, giving him victory in the war, and a judgeship over Israel for years after the war.  

10.  However, even then, after the war with Ammon, the battle was not over. The Ephraimites challenged Jephthah with death by fire, accusing the Gileadites, who with Jephthah at their head won the victory over Ammon, of being fugitives from Ephraim. Jephthah had to fight a bloody civil war with Ephraim in which 42,000 Ephraimites fell, to establish his judgeship over all Israel. Judges 12:1-7. Such are the battles of faith.

 

God Must Be God

Both John and Jesus Made God to be God in their life, not “the church.”

 

God, To Be God to Us, Must Be the Absolute Center of Our Lives

Our faith, our religion, is only of the true nature, when God is God to us-that is, He is the great center, the One alone whom we worship, the only One that we seek glory or honor from. The pen of Inspiration, commenting on the change required by the lessons of Christ in the disciple of Christ declares, “In order to be honored by Heaven, they must sacrifice the honor of men.  If they obeyed the words of this new rabbi, they must go contrary to the opinions of the great thinkers and teachers of the time.” DA 241.

Crucial point: It was the religious leaders of God’s professed people, that they must go contrary to in order to be honored by Heaven. It was not some hazy religious leader “out there” somewhere.

“Truth was unpopular in Christ’s day. It is unpopular in our day.” DA 242.

 

Idolatry of the Church

When the church becomes the center of focus instead of God, we are involved in idolatry, and we will ultimately join with, and side with, all other idolatry. The training of ministry now across denominational lines, instead of focusing on the salvation of the soul, focuses on “body life,” or the life of the church, “church growth,” a management by objectives approach to “growing” the church, where whatever increases church growth is good, whatever decreases it is bad-thus setting up a false standard of right and wrong. This has, of course, led to the Schuller “New Reformation” of self-esteem, which is an abomination to God, but which is loved by the lovers of self. This has led to Neuro-linguistic Programming to bring to heel those who do not submit to the authority of a church run amok. This has led to pantheism for the youth, rock and rap, and a host of other features of apostasy.

 

Vibrant Growth

However, the true believer focuses his soul on God, the Living God, Who sits on the throne of the universe. Every day is the vibrant with growth in God, and increasing true faith and the knowledge of God in others, growing in God’s Word, in God’s truth, in God’s love, in faith of Jesus.

 

Christ’s Withdrawal From Judea Repeated Over and Over Again

God’s truth must be exalted above ecclesiastical authorities and “the church:” “As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again, the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but he religious leaders would no tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day, few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented.  Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience.” DA 232.

 

Heaven Must Be Exalted Above Earth

These words are divine truth, not to be dismissed on any account. Heaven’s light and truth must take its place above every other institution, religion, or ecclesiastical body. Christ Himself is the Good Shepherd. He must be followed alone. No turning back. He is the One Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The same decisions for Him and His truth made by the disciples, the Waldenses, and the Reformers, must be made today. Christ and His honor, His Word, comes first of all.

John the Baptist went into the wilderness to get away from all distracting, weakening, and degrading influences. He wanted God alone to shape his perception of God’s greatness, glory and power in wonder and awe. God alone was to be His teacher teaching him through revelation-the Word, through nature as nature’s God, and through providence.