[Deuteronomy 13]: Who is Your Mother and Your Brethren? In this chapter, God calls on the people to be accountable for outbreaks of idolatry in their midst. If their leaders led others into idolatry, they were to be executed. If loved ones and family members fell into idolatry, they were to be stoned. If cities became idolatrous, they were to be put to the sword. There is no record that the people of God ever carried out these terrible judgments, but the message against idolatry and against comprise is very clear. God is a jealous God even over our lives today.
[Deu 13:1-18 KJV] 1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 [Namely], of the gods of the people which [are] round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. 12 If thou shalt hear [say] in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 [Certain] men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, [if it be] truth, [and] the thing certain, [that] such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that [is] therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; 18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do [that which is] right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
In our study, we see a warning against false prophets and idolatrous behavior. Under the Old Covenant, deceiving leaders were to be put to death. The sign of a false prophet was not whether or not his word was accurate, but what the influence of his teachings was. If he led others into idolatry or to seek after other gods, he was to be executed. I remember a friend who connected with someone I knew who operated in a strong divination spirit. We pointed it out, and the leader brushed it off, saying, “but she is accurate…” True prophets are not psychics or clairvoyants. Just because a prophet is accurate doesn’t mean you listen to them. What is the outcome of their influence? Are they magnifying who Jesus is in your life or drawing attention to themselves? Do they leave you with a larger picture of the power of God in you, or do they leave you impressed with how spiritual they are? At the same time, we should be thoughtful about hurling charges of apostasy here and there. The scripture is quite plain regarding what constitutes a false teacher or prophet:
[1Jo 4:3 KJV] 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
[2Jo 1:7 KJV] 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Notice that the word “antichrist” means “anti-anointing.” Joel said in the last days, God would pour out his spirit on ALL flesh. Those who are elitist, who present themselves as the “special” servants of God set aside from “the common people” are crossing a line. We often see groups or denominations that we would not say are not saved, but we functionally deny them – the Christ in them because we want nothing to do with them or their beliefs. The party spirit or sectarian nature of Christian culture is a spirit of antichrist that completely grips the denominational church system today.
Always look to the after-effects of the ministry you partake of. The true prophet will always leave you more enamored with who God is in your life than who God is in their life. It matters not if you remember Russ Walden; what matters is that upon being ministered to that who Jesus is in your own heart and life has been enlarged and magnified.
In v. 6, we see that sentence against idolatry did not exclude the most intimate family relationships. Where is your dependence? Where are you willing to compromise your faith? Family relationships can and often do conflict with faith. We hear it said that the church is built on the foundation of the family. The saying goes among pastors, “if you get the kids in the church, you will get the whole family.” This is idolatry. According to Eph. 2:20, the church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the apostles and prophets. Jesus dealt with this in His own early ministry:
[Mat 12:48-50 KJV] 48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Where do our commitments lie regarding the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are we following the family or following the anointing? I’ve seen people who claim to love God refuse to leave a dead church because it was where their family attended. Parents allow their children to be raised up in nominal, cold churches “for the sake of the family.” Spouses consent to go to churches with no anointing or move of the Spirit to keep harmony in the marriage. I remember one family who loved God and had a robust Pentecostal testimony – but they let their son go to a church because that rejected the fulness of the Spirit because their little Spirit-filled church didn’t have any young people. That decision had a devastating effect on that son in later years as he struggled with the disconnect between the rejection of the move of the Spirit and his own spiritual development. We indeed make many sacrifices for our family, but there is a place where a line must be drawn. Our fidelity to the Father comes before our desire to have a harmonious home.
Many times, these compromises are made with the pretense saying, “I just want to keep the peace…” Let us remember the words of Jesus:
[Mat 10:34-38 KJV] 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes [shall be] they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
The family doesn’t come first. The church isn’t built on the foundation of the family. Your fidelity to God comes before all else, even your spouse, children, parents, or any other relationship. This is a sobering truth that will qualify every one of us in our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In vs. 12-13, we see that even cities were not exempt from maintaining a testimony of fidelity to God. In our day, personal liberty is a higher value than personal holiness and faithfulness to God. In Oklahoma City, an altar to Satan was allowed next to the manger scene at Christmas, all in the name of personal liberty and fairness. God is not fair. Fairness is not God’s highest ethic. Even Jesus in His teachings rebuked whole cities for their ungodliness. There is an accountability to God that impacts your life regarding the city where you live and the testimony that city maintains. Sodom and Gomorrah are an example of this. Jerusalem itself is an example of this. They crucified the son of God in the name of political expediency, and 27 years later, the city was destroyed along with the temple, and all Jews were expelled from Palestine.
We should pray for our cities. We should know that we belong in the city where we live. We should hold everything loosely where our relationships and commitments are concerned in the light of our commitment to the Lordship of Christ. If the minister or leader in your life is ministering in a self-aggrandizement spirit, we need to withdraw. If our faith in Christ challenges the harmony of our family relationships, we cannot compromise our fidelity to Christ for the sake of peace in our marriage or our home. If our city flaunts its commitment to personal liberty above honoring God, we better pray and find out whether or not there is another city that God would have us locate to. These are all intrusions into our personal life that Christian culture rejects completely, but the bible teaches plainly. Mainstream Christianity will brand this thinking as bordering on cult-like behavior. Still, the imposition of expectation doesn’t come from a cool-aid swilling charlatan, but the words of Jesus Himself. Our God is a jealous God, and He demands not just a blended partial faithfulness but full and total commitment regardless of the cost.
