The Believer's Armory

There are countless religions today that practice polygamy.  Many of these groups are not what we would call Christian, but there are some Christian groups that adhere to polygamy as an acceptable practice.  These groups use the scriptures to justify their belief system.  On the other hand, there are other christian groups that reject the practice of polygamy; they too use the scriptures to justify their belief.  So, which one is right?  To know the answer we must delve into the scriptures in an effort to unravel the truth.  There is no better place to begin than the beginning – God created Adam.  After this, God saw that Adam was in need of a companion.  He caused Adam to sleep, removed his rib, and fashioned a woman.  The scriptures record Adam’s response,

²³ And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24 NKJV)

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The rod and the staff were two entirely different shepherding implements.  Sometimes these two items are morphed into one in the minds of many.  We are able to note, however, that psalms 23 refers to both implements in the same statement demonstrating that they are two separate tools utilized by the shepherd.  The staff was a long slender stick used for walking and gently nudging members of the flock.  The rod was completely different.  It was typically fashioned from saplings from one of three trees: poplar, almond, or chestnut according to Genesis 30:37.  It was shorter and used the root ball to form a club like head.  The rod was used as both an offensive and defensive weapon.  a person was able to use it to strike a wolf with enough force to kill it and even hurl it with deadly accuracy. continue reading…

The third of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7 NKJV).  This is a commandment that Many modern Christians break on a daily basis.  The reason they do this is two-fold: (1) they are Christian in name only and honestly don’t care, and (2) Ignorance.  I think many people today do not wholly understand the concept of taking God’s name in vain.  They think that this means do not use God’s name as a curse word.  While I agree that using God’s name as a curse word is not good, that is not what the third commandment is referring to. continue reading…

The first use of the phrase Jehovah Jirah is found in Genesis 22.  Here we find the narrative portraying the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham.  In short, God requires Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  This is significant because Isaac was the son of the promise.  God had told Abraham that He would bless him and make his descendants innumerable.  Now, God was asking Abraham to end that lineage before it began.  Believing that God was able to bring Isaac back to life, Abraham set out to fulfill God’s mandate.  In the seconds before Abraham plunged the knife into Isaac’s chest, God stopped him and charged him to not harm Isaac.  God’s reason for the assignment was to evaluate the faith of Abraham.  Obviously, Abraham passed with flying colors.  It is at this time that we come to the following passage in which Abraham uses the phrase Jehovah Jireh.

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The story of Jacob and Laban begins with a girl.  Jacob is sent by his parents to his mother’s family in an effort to find a wife.  When Jacob arrives he is smitten immediately at the site of Rachel.  He contracts with his uncle, Rachel’s father, to provide his services in lieu of a dowry.  The relationship between Jacob and Laban ultimately come to a close with Jacob fleeing the pursuit of Laban.  This pursuit was initiated because of the fact that Jacob was leaving the relationship very wealthy and Laban was not.  These two men were family: they lived and worked together. Yet, God blessed one and not the other.  Why was this the case?  To understand the end result of both we must delve into the intricacies of their relationship, and hopefully learn a thing or two about how we should interact with others. continue reading…

Many modern Christians maintain a faulty understanding concerning Boldness in the face of God.  We use the scriptures to support this faulty understanding by claiming that we are able to come boldly to God.  Our practice, however, is much more indicative of insolence.  By way of example, there are those who feel that they can call God to task much like they call management to task when they get their order wrong at McDonald’s.  If these individuals were provided with a physical throne, they would barge in “boldly” and make their demands before God.  The problem with this is that it completely rejects the Lordship and sovereignty of God.  God is worthy of our respect and and admiration.  God is not our minion that we send out to fetch prosperity, happiness or even health for us.  In fact, I think the main reason we do not see as much healing in the modern American church is because we come before God in this mindset.  The mindset we should have concerning God is fearful reverence.  So, How do we understand the claim that we can come before God with boldness?  The answer is found in the context in which this claim is made as well as tempering that understanding with the rest of scripture.  In this way, we keep from building our entire theology on one passage – a task that leads to errant teachings. continue reading…

Samson represents an interesting dichotomy.  He personifies one of the strongest and weakest individuals presented in the scriptures.  The physical prowess of Samson is outstanding.  On several occasions, Samson was able to win battles against impossible odds, and he performed magnificent feats of strength.  Due in no small part to these two realities, Samson was a scourge to the Philistines who where oppressing the Israelites.  On the other hand, Samson was also a very depraved person.  He refused to obey his parents, sought marriage with a woman that was forbidden, ate unclean foods, broke his vows, and generally lived in the same manner as those he was fighting against.  In fact, the scriptures seem to assert that Samson’s marriage to a philistine woman was necessary in order to stir up a conflict between Samson and the philistines (see Joshua 14:4).  Samson seemed to be quite at home with the philistine lifestyle and even longed to be united to it in marriage. This all begs the question why was Samson so strong and used so mightily against the Philistines.

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¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  (Matthew 6: 16-18 NKJV)

In the classic entitled Moby Dick, Herman Melville wrote, “And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves, and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.”

Fasting is about disobeying one of the fundamental necessities of the body.  When a person fasts and prays they are in effect saying that God is more important to them than the food that keeps their body alive.  This makes fasting a tremendous example of offering to God a sacrifice of praise. continue reading…

The first downfall of humanity was a result of Adam and Eve’s sin.  The second began as a result of Lamech’s desire to have more than one wife.  The downfall was not an immediate result, it happened after a period of time.  It is my opinion, however, that Lamech’s choice was the basis for a practice that became so common place and destructive that God felt the need to cleanse the earth.  We see the situation progress to the point described as follows:

¹ Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the individuals described in this passage.  Who are the sons of God and the daughters of men?  What was the difference between the two groups?  No doubt this passage is difficult to understand.  Some argue that the daughters of men were human women and the sons of God were fallen angels.  I believe this interpretation to be unequivocally false for several reasons. continue reading…

Deception, Bold-faced lies, little white lies, lies of omission, self-deluding lies, harmful lies, harmless lies, protecting lies, and half truths – They all have one thing in common.  They are all lies.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matt 5:33-37 NKJV) continue reading…