"Is it the TIME
... ?
to receive money and clothing, olive groves and
vineyards, sheep, oxen, male and female servants?"
With these words, Elisha the Prophet issued
correction to his guileful servant, Gehazi, a correction which Gehazi
never forgot.
Elisha's corrective was accompanied by a most
dire consequence: instantly the leprosy of Naaman descended upon Gehazi. Gehazi left the presence of Elisha leprous, as
white as snow.
It was also promised to descend upon his family
line forever.
What did Gehazi DO
to warrant such terrible consequences ?
Let's look at the account in 2 Kings 5 of
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, being healed of leprosy.
First of all, Naaman was NOT a Jew and was NOT
part of the commonwealth of Israel or Judea.
He came to the king of Israel to be healed of
leprosy, and the distraught king said,
" Am I THE ELOHIM, to kill and make
alive...
to heal [Naaman] of his leprosy ? "
Elisha intervened and comforted the king,
telling him to send Naaman to him that Naaman “might KNOW there is a prophet” of
The Most High God “in ISRAEL.”
Likely, there were quite a few OTHERS who
received this knowledge, along with Naaman !
Naaman almost missed his blessing, though, angrily refusing to dip himself in the
Jordan River.
However, he eventually listened to the
pleadings and counsel of his servants who seemed to have loved him, calling him
“my father.”
Humbling himself to listen to servants, humbling himself to set aside his anger, humbling himself to obey, obediently dipping himself 7 times in the
Jordan river, Naaman was miraculously cleansed.
Thus, Naaman's healing was a testimony to this
important army commander himself that THE ELOHIM really existed and was known among GOD'S people
Israel.
NAAMAN'S RESPONSE ...
"Now I KNOW there is no ELOHIM in all the
earth, except in Israel," Naaman the Syrian said, in open testimony before Elisha, who now
received the Syrian.
Naaman was so thankful to be healed of
that dreaded leprosy that he wished to bless Elisha with silver and changes of
garments.
Elisha refused all gifts, vowing before The
LORD
"… before Whom I stand" to
receive NOTHING.
GEHAZI'S RESPONSE ...
Gehazi , unlike Naaman, seemed not so
impressed with the miraculous healing. Perhaps, Gehazi was not so glad
GOD healed someone who was not of the tribes of Israel, saying, " ... my master has spared
Naaman this Syrian." vs. 20
Obviously, Gehazi DISAGREED with Elisha's refusal
to take a blessing, a gift, Naaman offered after his healing.
THUS, a disgruntled
heart about the Syrian's healing and a disagreement in the inner man with his
master Elisha's decision nested in Gehazi’s bosom.
Two problems Gehazi had in his heart. Two problems not dealt with in righteous repentance before GOD. Two problems paved the way for a life-time of sorrow.
BECAUSE Gehazi ignored
those two UN-righteous things working in his
heart ... Gehazi’s judgment
became skewered. Thus, we next see
Gehazi DECIDING to step beyond
the authority Elisha had placed upon him.
Operating out of his now-warped judgement,
Gehazi planned out exactly what to do in order to control the situation for his benefit and receive
temporal wealth and goods.
He pursued Naaman's chariot, and that good man
stopped to see if all was well.
Gehazi promptly told lies to Naaman in order to
receive silver and garments; now they become STOLEN GOODS and he used Elisha's
name to do it.
WHAT HAD HE DONE ?
Gehazi injured Elisha's word to
Naaman, when Elisha said, " As The ELOHIM lives, before Whom I stand, I
will receive nothing."
Gehazi, you see, told Naaman that "... my
master has sent me.... please give ..."
Elisha would not receive a gift for Naaman's
healing because the healing was from GOD, The ELOHIM.
Naaman's healing was
freely given to him. It was to be used as a witness to The ELOHIM to draw
all the nations unto The ONE TRUE GOD.
Naaman's healing
showed the character of GOD. It showed The ELOHIM'S mercy to sinners when
they humble
themselves
to
obey
The Word of the LORD... whether they like it or not, whether they even
understand it or not.
Instead of reflecting the true character
of The ELOHIM ,
Gehazi reflected the character of the father of lies and his
demon, mammona.
His eyes still dazzled by the demon mammona,
Gehazi's judgment was confused enough to lie to the Prophet Elisha !
WRONG Move...
Elisha's heart, Scripture says, accompanied
Gehazi when he met Naaman in his chariot. vs 26
We notice that Naaman did NOT give
Gehazi "... olive groves, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male and
female servants."
Those plans were only in Gehazi's guileful heart. The SPIRIT of The LORD made Elisha very much
aware of these secret schemes.
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There is NO hiding place where The SPIRIT of GOD cannot see, hear, or go. To invite
the demon mammona into a miraculous healing from The LORD is anathema to The
ELOHIM.
To invite the demon mammona into ANY workings of
The LORD GOD ELOHIM, is asking for anathema to be written upon one's project
and upon one's Self. Remember
Ananias and Sapphira.
JESUS said
it is IMPOSSIBLE
to serve GOD and mammon.
Beware of the spirit of
Guile.
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Psalm 139
O LORD, THOU hast searched me,
and known me.
THOU knowest my downsitting
and mine uprising,
THOU understandest my thought afar off.
THOU
compassest my path
and my lying down,
and art acquainted
with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue,
but, lo, O LORD,
THOU
knowest it altogether.
THOU hast beset me behind and before,
and laid Thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from Thy SPIRIT?
or whither shall I flee
from Thy PRESENCE?
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A warning to the
organized religious systems in the West and elsewhere.
Is it a time ... to seek more
material goods, bigger houses, more land, gold and silver, guns and ammo?
The TIME is upon us... to begin to live our lives as
The MESSIAH-The Eternal SON+ of GOD-YHWH Adonai, has taught and commanded us to
live them, to become anchored in CHRIST JESUS.
It IS
Time to stop bringing
reproach on HIS+ Precious and most Holy Name with our man-made doctrines and
traditions of IGNORING HIS+ Words whenever they do not fit our
self-serving life styles or the political
"correctness" of the world.
Will the REPROOF of ELISHA settle on a Reprobate church
system that refuses to separate from materialism, hedonism, politics and
endless mammon-serving?
The Time for Repentance
is NOW.
If corporate Repentance does NOT happen, then by all means
SAVE yourself from this untoward and rebellious generation.
Individual Repentance IS possible, even if the
religious systems refuse to repent.
When the Fire of The Judgment and Wrath of The LORD GOD/YHWH
ELOHIM falls upon a religious system that has brought shame and reproach upon
HIS Beloved SON+, it will be too late to avoid
being taken in the judgment with the worldlings.
TAKE HEED what you
hear.
TAKE HEED not to mingle society's standards
with The LORD'S RIGHTEOUS WAYS.
Now is the time
to Humble ourselves under The Mighty Hand of GOD, and seek
HIS Face while HE may be found.
Time is short. Judgment
approaches.
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LET US PRAY:
O Gracious Heavenly FATHER, we humble
ourselves to YOU. We admit that YOU know us better than we know
ourselves. YOU understand the hidden desires of our heart,
both good and evil.
Help us not to hide from YOU. Help us
not to run from YOU or ignore Your conviction of warning. Help us to come clean
in purest honesty when we react. Help us to admit our guilt when we hold
unrighteous thoughts that go against Your Word... that besmirch Your character.
We are ashamed of our guile. Our hidden
agenda, expedient for us, is not hidden to YOU, LORD. We are ashamed of
pretending to be pure, when we are not. We know, O Righteous FATHER, that
we have grieved Your Heart with our secrets and schemes.
And worse, we have ignored Your conviction
sent to warn us that we are harboring wrong things. How can YOU bless wrong
?
We are sorry to have hurt YOU, dear LORD.
We lay our hearts open to YOU to
remove those desires --- both good and bad --- that are not Your Will for us;
we freely give them up to YOU... good desires as well as bad.
Set us straight on the path of total
honesty before YOU. We yield the controls over to Thy
Righteous SON+ JESUS CHRIST, our LORD and SAVIOR.
Then shall YOU be glorified in our lives, and
rivers of Living Water will flow forth from us, Your children.
We ask Thy help for the sake of Thy Beloved
SON+, our LORD and SAVIOR , JESUS CHRIST ... Who+ lives and reigns
with THEE and Thy Blessed HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD, both now and forever.
Amen.
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