Born of God: A Lesson from Balaam and The Israelites

And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. Numbers 23:14.

Some Nigerian churches have taken it upon themselves to know every curse the enemy or evil one or demons or wicked people had laid on them so that they can by themselves address these curses in the place of prayer and send them back to those whom the curse originated from.

This belief system is very common among several so-called evangelical or protestant churches in Nigeria which have hooked their imaginations to the dark realities of the evil one and taken their eyes away from the provisions of eternal security we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I recently saw the video of one of such preachers who has a great following but feeds them a lot of ungodly content in the name of being deep in the deliverance and prayer ministry. In the video, this man talked about supernatural and unintentional covenants made by men with women they deflower or disvirgin and the covenant women made with men who also have sexual intercourse with them.

The strange and unchristian message forgot completely the word of God in John 1 which stated that those who were born of God were not born of sex, sperm, the will of a husband, or of the flesh.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone is coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Those who understand the finished works of Christ on the cross can never preach such a message. No covenant made in the flesh by anyone with any being can survive the translation of the individual out of darkness into the light after he has given his life to Jesus Christ. People who had gone deep into the dark world of occultism, fetishism, demonism, and other forms of darkness who encounter Jesus find themselves unable to operate in the power of darkness like they once did once they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The salvation we were brought into in Christ was complete and without any loophole or blemish

Once we came into it, we became absolutely immune to curses and the works of enchanters and diviners. It became impossible for witches, wizards, and their kind to announce their presence, operate, or speak where we are talk less of attacking us.

A good example for us to learn from is the story of Ballam and the Children of Israel.

Balaam was a famed prophet of international repute whom kings often hired to curse their foes.  He was so highly ranked that, like flocking insects to a night lamp, nobles were his clients (Numbers 22:4-17).  He was a man of such aura that even animals took up a human voice in his sessions (Numbers 22:28-30).  That was whom Balak the king of Moab consulted to cast a spell over the Israelites in transit from Egypt.  To do that effectively, Balaam raised seven consecutive altars in each of three separate locations, making a total of twenty-one altars, to wage just one battle of a curse.  Unfortunately, those many altars with their lavish sacrifices failed against his innocent and unaware targets (Numbers 23:1, 11, 14, 29).  How many altars make a potent curse?

The innocent Israelites were oblivious of Balaam’s many altars against them, yet their not-knowing did not make them vulnerable.  You need not know of every curse to be untouched by it.  You need not know about every altar for them to be powerless against you.  Every knowledge does not help every battle.  Knowledge is strength, but not every knowledge is.  We do not have to investigate every altar to be able to defeat them.  Some things are better known until they are over.

Some altars don’t need prayers to be silenced.  The oblivious Israelites prayed no prayers against Balaam’s altars.  They were not even aware of Balaam’s devices; how could they have prayed about what they did not know?  God answered for them – or their clean hands did.

There are some altars we investigate only to awaken old wars and worries.  There are many battles from which God delivers us without our knowledge because He “hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel” (Numbers 23:21), “And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Peter 3:13).  Clean hands are powerful (Psalm 24:4).  You are the most beneficiary of your breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14).

A Christian is not only fully immune from the fiery darts of darkness but he or she is now dwelling in an atmosphere that can never be penetrated by any arrow of darkness or any power of the enemy. Hebrews 12 states this clearly

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[d] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous, made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Ephesians 2 also affirms this truth

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

According to the spiritual sensibilities of Balaam the ancient prophet, one altar is sometimes not sufficient for some spiritual tasks, and one location is not advisable for all the altars.  Consecutive altars in scattered locations become an option, each fortifying the others.  Abram raised an altar in Bethel and in other parts of the land of Canaan, then Isaac followed, then Jacob: three consecutive generations on the same land (Genesis 12:7; 13:3-4; 26:25; 28:18; 33:20; 35:1-3).  Centuries later, their children continued (Exodus 30:28).

On the flip side, intercessors sometimes erroneously assume that one altar destroyed is the end of all battles, whereas there could be six more related altars, and other sets of seven altars, or more, poised in other scattered places.  Every victory is important, but some victories are merely a steppingstone to the next crucial conflict.  Don’t be so distracted by one altar victory that you become a victim of the next (1 Kings 13:1-5, 18-26).

Small matters might require small altars but matters of national magnitude might require firmer altars.  Notwithstanding the rank of the priest, one prayer does not answer all matters, sometimes. Balaam knew this well.  This, however, was only applicable in the Old Testament.

Jesus is the eternal sacrifice that closed the door to all the beliefs and traditions of the Old Testament. The born-again Christian of the New Testament is a new creature. A living sacrifice that is forever accepted by God. As long as he believes and is saved, there can be no other altar raised by any entity that is made of plant, animal or human sacrifice that can ever be potent enough or appealing to God so that the desire of the wicked will then be considered or accepted as binding over the righteous. The death and resurrection of Jesus completely changed the way things work in the realm of the Spirit. The Born-Again Christian is now a “Touch not” because he dwells forever in the presence of God.

-GSW-

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