Today, Holy Spirit is after an INWARD TRANSFORMATION of heart—not an OUTWARD expression of religious compliance having nothing to do with original intent of SOUND DOCTRINE!

I don’t know if you can follow my rambling here—but remember guy holding on to rat’s tail and declaring discovery of his elephant; even so, they who extract “bits and pieces” of God’s Word and extend their discoveries into doctrinal absurdities for their own purposes are guilty of very charge to which Paul bespeaks in I Timothy chapter 1 and of which Apostle Peter derides in II Peter:

“No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation” (II Peter 1:20).

The word “private” in Greek connotes “one’s personal interpretation” as in “idios” (from whence word “idiosyncrasy” is derived). Here, we discover that prophetic Scriptures are not only isolated one from another—they become “personal fiefdom” of those who manipulate them for their own idiosyncrasies; and, thereby obscure both their meaning and intent. Is there any wonder that Peter follows up this explanation of prophetic Scriptures with following exhortation:

“But there were also FALSE PROPHETS among people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber” (I Peter 2:1-3).

In sum, “Gospel of Grace of God” has been turned into a “system of outward works” having absolutely nothing to do with “the Lord who bought them!” Instead, these FALSE PROPHETS/TEACHERS “blaspheme . . . way of truth” and for “covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.” I hate to beat a dead horse (or donkey)—but if you carefully read II Peter 2, you will discover these FALSE TEACHERS inevitably covet “yours not you.”

“They have a heart trained in covetous practices . . . they have forsaken right way and gone astray, following way of Balaam son of Beor, who LOVED THE WAGES of unrighteousness (and we’re talking about MAMMON here—money!) . . . but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained madness of prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved blackness of darkness forever” (II Peter 2:14b-17).

“The Way of Balaam” is nothing more than a “prophet gone false” for he has “sold his soul to devil” for filthy lucre—having been bought by wealthy to perform whatever services deemed appropriate (in this case Balaam was “hired” to prophesy against Israel and to do so under idiosyncrasies of Balak, King of Moab (Numbers 22-24) (Note: “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond word of Lord my God, to do less or more” 22:18). This strange and contorted couple (Balaam and Balak) conspired to curse Israel—instead all gold and silver could not keep Balaam from blessing Israel and foiled “Way of Balaam.”

Notwithstanding Balaam’s claims that “he could not be bought” – “The Way of Balaam” would be forever denounced in Holy Write, especially in context of prophetical Scriptures: WOE TO THEM! FOR THEY HAVE GONE THE WAY OF CAIN, HAVE RUN GREEDILY IN THE ERROR OF BALAAM FOR PROFIT . . . .” (Jude 10).

FROM TETZEL TO TBN

Tragically, history past and present is littered with WAY OF BALAAM.....

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With that, angel vanished.

In stunned exaltation, Muhammad went and told Khadija what had happened. She embraced him and unequivocally expressed her faith in his vision and his mission, saying, 'Rejoice, dear husband. He who holds in His hands life of Khadija is my witness that thou wilt be messenger of His people.'

But Muhammad could not accept his own vision. How could he, an ordinary man so far from perfection, be such a messenger? He feared that he might be deluded or perhaps insane. Days passed. He waited for another sign, for further confirmation so that he might believe in himself and know how to proceed. But no sign came.

At last, he returned to cave on Mount Hira, seeking angel Gabriel. He waited and prayed, but to no avail. In despair, haunted by terrible doubts and assailed by fears of madness, Muhammad climbed onto a precipice and prepared to leap to his death. At that very moment, angel appeared before him again and, raising his hands, repeated, 'I am Gabriel, and thou art Muhammad, Messenger of Allah.' Muhammad froze on edge of chasm in a spellbound trance. Hours passed. That night one of Khadija's servants came and found Muhammad still perched on a crag, lost in ecstasy, and led him home.

After that event, Muhammad began to quietly spread revelation of his new faith among only a few close friends and family members. But in this tightly knit culture, word spread quickly. Before long, his persecution began--gossip, brutal beatings, plots against him, and attempts against his life. Over time, his honesty and virtue, words of scripture revealed through him, and mysterious workings of fate brought about conversions of several of Mecca's greatest warriors. All this greatly strengthened fledgling faith of Islam and drove fear into hearts of its enemies.

People demanded that he perform miracles as proof of his divine mission. Muhammad answered that he had not come to perform miracles; he had come to preach word of Allah. Challenged to move a mountain, he gazed toward it but it did not budge, so he spoke now-famous words demonstrating his wisdom, humor, and humility: 'If mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to mountain.'

From beginning to end, Muhammad acknowledged himself as an ordinary man, full of faults and limitations--a man chosen by God, for reasons he did not understand, to deliver a new revelation of Islam, which means 'submission to God.' Islam required faith in God, charity, purity, and a life free of idols, lived with courage of a warrior in battle, with prayer as a cleansing immersion in His spirit.

The citizens of Mecca were roused to fury by Muhammad's attack on their cherished idols--and by his declaration that there was but one God, named Allah, and that he, Muhammad, was His prophet. Forced to flee across desert to city of Medina, he began his mission anew, once again a lonely prophet with a handful of followers in a city of unbelievers.

Over time, angel Gabriel revealed scripture to Muhammad, which he recited aloud and which Khadija and others wrote down. This scripture became known as Holy Koran (Quran). The Koran was Muhammad's defining miracle--the writing of this masterpiece of poetic religious scripture by a simple, semiliterate man might in itself have earned him fame as a prophet. But this feat was only one chapter in life of Muhammad.

Persecuted as a heretic for nearly two decades by people of Mecca {How was Khadija still alive if he spent almost two decades there? The math doesn't work, but perhaps semiliterate don't worry.}, including many of his own relatives and former friends, once young Bedouin became in old age a fearless military general. More than once, Mecca's army laid siege, seeking to destroy Medina, where Muhammad and his followers lived--their war would not end until Muhammad or Mecca fell. In final battle, while outnumbered three to one, but filled with power of Allah, Muhammad and his followers descended like a storm upon Meccan army and destroyed it. This battle turned tide.” (1)

The people who ridicule legends of Indians and natives aren't funny and it isn't right for me to do it either. Still it seems a poor role model to win followers by sword of Allah or Yahweh (Yahu) or Shiva. We are all paying price these story-tellers have wrought since day of Caliph Omar and Constantine who took fledgling new beliefs and built empires under their spell of ignorance. Omar said there was no need to read anything other than Koran as he commanded one of raids to destroy great library at Alexandria that housed all knowledge; we need to really know about our roots. Islam has much good and is less intolerant than other Ur Story based religions. The Caliphate still has its stranglehold on souls of people. It does not want people to have knowledge – so it encourages reading old books with limited meaning, as I see it.