Making it a Den of Robbers

Jeremiah 7:11
Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

Matthew 21:13
"It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.' "

Mark 11:17
And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.' "

Luke 19:46
"It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.' "

Who has made the house of the LORD into a den of robbers? How has it been made into a den of robbers? What is the motive behind this irreverent act? What will be the consequences of turning the house of the LORD into a business centre? Did a "den of robbers" imply that it is where robbers gather, plan their robberies and share their looting among themselves. Is that the place they take cover?  How will this bring God's punishment on us? If it is a house of prayer, then how come everyone obeys the sinful nature of the Devil there to be greedy and covetous instead? How come their families themselves own wealth and riches that they could boast with the world about?  They  have become cheaters in businesses and dishonest in all their dealings at work place? All these questions will be answered with the clearest detail. You will be able to see who are the actual robbers after this.

You will be able to see for yourselves how these robbers live very luxurious lives. You will be able to scrutinize what they and theirs own.Where did all the lootings come from? I thought that you were suppose to be busy making God's house "a house of prayer"?. But, obviously you have been busy making yourself a world-class robber. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ first say this? He said this when He saw them doing businesses of buying and selling in the compound where they had gathered,  making the vulnerable a prey of their businesses. Their thoughts were only filled with money-making intentions all the time of the day. Nothing else filled their thoughts. They didn't care for God's flock but wanted to be successful like the world. If they wanted to be successful like the world, why not go and join them. Why make a mess of the LORD's house by misusing His name. Why do they pretend to do God's work but use it to carry out their own money-making businesses in the name of God. They were not afraid of God at all. They did not fear Him. All they thought about was living in luxury as the world does. They boasted about their business pursuits bravely while misusing His name. The Lord Jesus Christ never did this. Except for Judas Iscariot, no other apostles of the Lord did this. In fact they taught against this evil practice. What do you think is happening today? The same situation or worse than what it was before?

Has mankind changed on the whole? Never! Many still obey the sinful nature of the Devil and still do things out from that cursed nature but only this time carrying it out in the name of God. Making money in the name of God for personal and family benefit only. Who told you that you should not be 'whipped' as the Lord did.? Who told you that you should not be "chased out" of misusing His name anywhere. You claim that misuing His name is your right and you cannot be told off because you are better businessmen and women. Who said so? Something different is coming now. Be ready yourself. "Change", you talk about it but that's what is coming to you now. Someone else is coming to take your place that you have misused all these years. You are guilty of using the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to make money for yourselves to live pleasurable lives. You taught your wife and children to do the same. You taught your whole gang who follow you to do the same. Why not stop using His name altogether so that you do not misuse it? Your time has finally come for you. You have lied to everyone. What you have been told to teach, you did not teach but you brought in what you have learned from the world and say it is God's. You used the devilish wisdom to trick God's sincere people who want to come to God. You did not teach what is in the word of God. You hid those truths for your own selfish pursuits and you dare say that God told you to do this. When did He tell you to do this?

Hebrews 13:5-6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can human beings do to me?"

1 Timothy 6:3-10
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions  and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Someone Stronger is Here

Luke 11: 22
But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.

That someone stronger is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When He is formed in you. He becomes your armor and He will attack and overpower the sinful nature of the Devil within you that has been ruling you all this while. In this way, the Devil will be made powerless over you. The Devil won't be able to hold you in it's grips anymore. This is  what will happen within you when Christ is formed in you. But, how is Christ formed in you? By your obedience to everything Christ had commanded. There is no other short cut. If you say you believe in Him, then the fruit of your faith in Him is your obedience to all that He has commanded. That will result in all parts of His divine nature to be formed in you gradually and permanently. When this happens within you, you are stronger, not because of your own strength but because of His strength that is already formed in you through your complete obedience to Him. Going on the offence to the sinful nature of the Devil within you  won't be difficult for you anymore. What more, if you can take plunder from the Enemy who has stolen from you and taken what rightfully belongs to you. You will be ready to go on the offence and remove every evil armor of the Devil. The Lord Jesus Christ is the most powerful One besides the heavenly Father. He has given Him all the authority and power in heaven, on Earth or even underneath the Earth so that no one can oppose Him. He is the Mighty One. Who can stand before Him and challenge Him to a fight and not be defeated? But, not with the weapons of this world but with these.....

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

Now, you may ask the next question? What are the strongholds, arguments and pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of Christ? We will be back shortly! Meanwhile, get ready, more is coming your way.You haven't seen anything yet.

 

False Sight

Colossians 2:20-23
Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Do not believe  all that only appears to be truth but is false. You must be able to discern who is behind these rules, the elemental spiritual forces of this world which are evil, or all that Christ had commanded. The former gives a false sight. Do not believe everything you see with your eyes. The false sight these demons provide may appear like they are of God or His Christ but they are not. "Do not touch this", "taste this" or "handle this" they say but that's just to provide a false sense of humilty to trick those who are foolish and blind like them. It's just a show of wisdom but it's foolishness in every sense of that word. Foolishness because when you watch them closely, they are greedy, covetous, lustful, violent, cruel, abusive, cheaters, liars, deceivers, people who lack self-control, tricksters, and people who love money above God. All these they do to cover up their sensual indulgence in wealth, pleasures, their wants,desires and urges of the sinful nature of the Devil in them. They will show off their harsh treatment of their bodies to trick others into believing in them but, they will continue with pleasing and obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in them. All that they display outwardly is only for a show of piety and respect so to say,  but inwardly they still burn with lust. They do not practice self -control. They eat like uncontrollable gluttons and lust after the things that do not belong to them without any qualms. They do not feel guity of the sins they commit towards God and His Christ anymore. Their lives are a show case of a false sight. They have selfish and ulterior motives behind all their actions. Be ware! We live in such evil times.

Do not trust what you see of them. It's deception of the highest kind. There are other things that they are after. It might seem like they are 'good' and 'caring' but they are not. You will know about them soon. God knows what they are up to and He has set a day and time for them, calling it "pay-back" time. That day will surely come for them. How long can you cheat and trick others into believing in you and your cunningness? God knows all your ways.Everyone too, knows your ways. You just want everything for yourselves. You feel you are special when you are not. He is going to show to everyone that you are not.

Empty Way of Life

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."  Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,  but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

Think of the words and the deep meanings of the passage above. Are you fully alert and sober of what is happening around you and what is about to happen? Or, are you just following the motions? Who or what are setting things in  motion around you, the sinful nature of the Devil or the divine nature of Christ? You must be aware! By the way, you can't be alert and sober if you keep obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in you. Though we don't see a real physical war but there is that spiritual war that is going on and on, endlessly. Do not comform to the evil desires you lived in ignorance at one time. You know your calling now. The call for full Christformation in you.

Don't choose that empty way of life? What is that empty way of life? The empty way of life is found in Matthew 12:43-45. A life without Christformation in you is an empty way of life. Another words, a life without your obedience to all that Christ had commanded is an empty way of life.  What is living your life as foreigners here on Earth and in reverent fear of the Lord, then? Life isn't just about making money and wealth. Money and wealth of this world cannot redeem you from that empty way of life, where you only live to obey the sinful nature of the Devil in you. This life filled with the divine nature of Christ fully formed within your born again spirit, starts with the washing of your sins and consciences through that powerful blood of Christ shed for us on the cross at Calvary. His blood is perfect blood that could wash our sins and consciences so that we do not obey the sinful urges of the nature of the Devil within. His sacrifice for our sins  is without blemish or defect. There was and is no sin in Him. That's what He is interceding for us too at God's right hand now. He wants to free us from obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in us. That is true and everlasting freedom.

We were or are born again through a powerful way and the born again spirit comes from God's powerful word that is eternal and it will contiue in that way. It does not stop anywhere along the way. God the Holy Spirit continues to lead and guide you to God's word and everything Christ had commanded. Christformation in you goes on and on until Christ is fully formed in that born again spirit.  Only the Word of God formed in you through your obedience to Christ will endure till the end. Everything else will fail. Nothing else has the quality or strength to remain forever. Being "fruitful" here in the passage below refers to Christformation in you that remains forever and ever.

Matthew 13:22

The seed falling among the thorns refers to people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

 

Who Can Stand Before Jealousy?

Proverbs 27: 1-7
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.  Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips. Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.  Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

A provoker is a very a dangerous person. He or she who provokes others to act according to the sinful nature is a very dangerous person on this Earth. The Devil himself is one of them. In fact, he is the chief of it. He cunningly provoked God against Adam and Eve. He succeeded in doing just that but he and the demons were eternally cursed. Man still have a chance of gaining eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord but the Devil, the demons and those who keep obeying the Devil's sinful nature are doomed forever already. The Devil is still the one who provokes God to his wrath today. He still keeps provoking God. How is this done? If it is possible, he will  make everyone obey his or her sinful nature within so that God will be provoked to His wrath. The Devil is incurably evil. That's why he and all those who follow him will be destroyed in the lake of fire forever. Why does the Devil provoke God? Because, he is jealous of God. He wants God to punish all mankind because he is condemn already in the sight of God. He wants everyone to join him in that condemnation of God. But, there is no condemnation to those who obey Christ and all that He had commanded.

Romans 5:8-11
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Reconciliation with God comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. Why was this reconciliation necessary? Because of our sinful separation from God since Adam's sin of disobedience. How is this reconciliation possible now? Through the obedience of Jesus Christ our Lord to the Father. One disobeyed and the other obeyed the Father in heaven.It's through the obedience of Christ our Lord that we could have reconciliation with God. There is no other way we could come to Him.The Devil was jealous of God so he provoked God to His wrath but the Lord Jesus Christ turns everyone who believes and obey him back to God.


 

Touch No Unclean Thing.

Isaiah 52:11-12
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD's house. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

You who carry the articles of the LORD, what articles? Who are they? What unclean thing? How do one come out of this and be pure unto the LORD? Come out from where? How do one become pure?First, the "articles". Are you called and chosen to be faithful to the LORD in bearing or carrying the divine nature of Christ within you? Come out from obeying and serving the sinful nature of the Devil in you. You are unclean before the LORD as long as you obey and serve the desires and wants of the sinful nature of the Devil in you. You can't put to death in haste or be in flight from it. That would mean, you won't be able to do it on your own strength. You have to depend on God the Holy Spirit to put to death the sinful nature of the Devil in you. The LORD Himself who is the Good Shepherd will go before you and lead you, if you will obey His voice. He will even protect you till you completely put to death the sinful nature of the Devil in you. His promise is, no harm can befall you, if you do that. Now is your time to do this before it's too late.

The articles in the ark of the covenant, who or what do they represent? They represent the different parts of the  divine nature of Christ. The ark of the covenant represents the born again spirit today. That's what the ark of the covenant must be filled with, the complete divine nature of Christ. The articles in the tabernacle of the LORD, what do they represent? Also the divine nature of Christ. So, what does God require of you today? Yes, to be filled with the whole  divine nature of Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18
 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
 

Experts in Greed

2 Peter 2: 14-22
With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.  But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--an animal without speech--who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them."  If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud."

The eyes are enough for you to commit adultery, in God's eyes. If the eyes are dark, then everything becomes darkness in you. At one point of time or another, we all would have had our eyes dark. We walked in total darkness. When does the light really come into us? When we start obeying everything Christ had commanded. Until then, we will remain in the dark. The day we start obeying Him, our eyes are opened. Until then, it remains closed. Because, when we obey Christ and whatever He had commanded, His divine nature gets formed in us. This is where the light gets formed in us. Until then, we still live in darkness. When we are still in darkness, we will never stop sinning. We will keep obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in us. We will be seductive and we will seduce others to obey the sinful nature of the Devil in them too. Who are the unstable? Those who are double minded. They who do not know which to obey, the sinful nature of the Devil in them or all that Christ had commanded. These who speak confidently, even though they live according the sinful nature of the Devil in them, will be the ones who are the experts in greed. They will speak like an expert all the time. They will attempt to teach you all the art of living.

They will attempt to teach you, the art of living when their life is all a sham in itself. The art of making money when the world will be a better place without them. The art of doing all things when all that they are doing proceeds from the urges of the sinful nature of the Devil in them. For intsance, they will teach about the art of having peace when they themselves go to war displaying violence. How ironical? They will teach about the art of finding the truth, when all the time they speak lies in God's name. They will teach you how to overcome sin by obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in them and not obey everything Christ had commanded. They will atempt to teach you how to be successful in this world by being greedy and covetous. They will teach everything which deliberately opposes what Christ had commanded.

For example, throughout from the books of Genesis to Revelation, it has been clearly stated that all forms of idolatry is sin, including the worship of Money but yet they go on teaching you the art of filling your mind with the thoughts about Money, twenty-fours in a day, even when you are asleep. They have learnt the secrets of Balaam, the false prophet. At the start, he wasn't a false prophet but he bacame one because of the urges of the sinful nature of the Devil in him. That urge overtook him. He was overcome by the sinful nature of the Devil in him completely. It's a kind of madness. The madness for Money like Balaam's. God's way of dealing with such madness was using the donkey in his midst to talk sense into him. The greed for Money has already mastered him, so how does God set free this kind of slave. He is a slave and he doesn't admit it. He is a slave to what had mastered him. In this case, it's greed for Money which becomes the worship of Money for that slave. His thoughts are always filled with this and nothing else. Even when he thinks of God, he links it to Money too. So, Money becomes his God. In whatever he does, he associates himself with his master, and that is, Money.

James 4: 13-17
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. So then, if you know the good you ought to do and don't do it, you sin.

Praise THE LORD.

Psalms 83:17
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD-- that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Praise The LORD, no one man or woman or anyone for that instance could raise their head above the Most High over all the earth. No one could steal that glory from Him. He is the Sovereign One over all men, women and everything that has breath in them. He rules the earth, the seas, the skies and the whole universe. Who is like Him. who can challenge Him? Who can be compared to Him? He is marvelous and all powerful. He is to be praised forever and ever. Who can stand before Him? Who can match His strength and majesty. He reigns supreme over all men, women and everything that has breath in it. Can anyone question Him and get away without receiving an answer from Him? How dare you question Him? Read the whole 83rd Psalm and be scared. Fear Him, and then read the passage below.

Job 38:1-41
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Prepare to defend yourself; I will question you, and you shall answer me. "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,  when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?  "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,  that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. "What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years! "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?  From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt?  Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth? "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?  Who gives the ibis wisdom [about the flooding of the Nile], or gives the rooster understanding [of when to crow]? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?  "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

When you don't know a lot of things mentioned in that passage above and cannot do the things questioned there by LORD, then you have to submit yourself fully and obey Him. You need to walk in reverence of Him on Earth and not live a life that lacks the fear of Him. Think and compare  what He can do and what you can do with all your own limitations. Come to your senses. Job, a righteous man came to his senses after considering this rebuke of what the LORD could do, as compared to himself. How limited his knowledge and the things he could do on Earth! He listened to the LORD's rebuke and changed. What about you?  Are you still stubborn and rebellious to Him? Change now! Do not be arrogant anymore.