Deuteronomy 13:1-18
13:1-2 God understands people. He understands that we are easily manipulable. Moses uses this chapter to caution us from being drawn away from God by impressive people. On both large and small, individual and collective scales, leaders and ideas have been able to sweep us away.
The message here is that, no matter how miraculous a person or entity is, if that entity is preaching a different message from the one God has given, it is corrupt. As humans, we like shiny and beautiful. We like what looks and sounds good and we easily abandon our values to follow those things and people sometimes. Little by little our faith leaks out and we replace it with idol worship.
The children of Israel's journey happened long before our own but their journey mirrors ours. In the New Testament, we are repeatedly warned about false prophets. In fact, throughout the entire Bible God warns us of fake imitations of Him and Jesus, Matthew 24:24 specifically.
Matthew 24:24
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Moses writes "if" but we should prepare for "when" because we are forewarned of false prophets. Part of the benefit of knowing God's word is knowing when someone/thing twists it, even a little bit. When we notice the tiny tweaks, we recognize corruption right away. We must not forget that these corrupt "tweakers" have come and will come again, increasing in power and ability to captivate.
We have the tendency in modern cultures to depict monsters as ugly, bold and scary. The problem with that is the Bible tries to prepare us for a monster who comes as a beautiful, subtle, charismatic entity. God has strengthened His studious students against these false prophets but as we read above from Matthew, even they would be convinced by this entity.
13:3 To reemphasize the point: remember that our familiarity with the True God will always rescue us and keeps our mind, body, and spirit strong against deceivers and other enemies. God knows who you are, do you know who He is? An impostor pretending to be you would never fool Him because He knows you so intimately. He would notice if that impostor had a single hair less than or more than you do, Luke 12:7.
The question here is: would you notice if some impostor tried to impersonate your God? What ever they were skilled? Supernatural? He has promised that a powerful entity will come and pretend to be Him... and impostor is coming, will you recognize that entity as a deceiver? If you become familiar with God you will.
13:4 The more we absorb the word and will of God the less chance we will be deceived. The more we allow ourselves to be absorbed by the word and will of God the less chance we will be deceived. Time, study, thought, prayer spent with God is tightening the knot that keeps us tethered to Him. Time away loosens our grip on Him and leaves us vulnerable to manipulation and deception.
13:5 The deceivers eventually, inevitably are exposed and extinguished by God. The false messiah is the only entity that has been declared sentenced to death by God: John 17:12. The son of perdition: Revelation 20:8, will deceive most of the world. For that, he is put in a pit, exposed, shown to the world and extinguished: Isaiah 14:3-21 and Revelation 9:2.
1 Corinthians 10 is enormously important: In it, we are told that the events of the Old Testament happened so that we would be prepared for "the end" the culmination of life on earth. These "past" events we are studying are prophesying our future.
In study, we are constantly referring to other verses in the Bible, from different chapters and testaments. The reason is because this word and will of God is all linked. The reason is because we are the posterity of the children of Israel and the gentiles, scattered and mixed up. We are part of the story as it continues throughout generations past, present and future. Everything, everyone is linked.
13:6-7 Moses cautions us against following the people we love because we trust them. Yet we learned in the New Testament that above everyone else, we should love and trust God. Matthew 10:37 can be a complicated verse to swallow. Yet what God is explaining to us is that we must love and trust Him above everyone else because only He can love and be trustworthy to the people we love they way that He can.
By loving God first and above everything/one else, we learn how to love others more deeply, selflessly and unconditionally. Of course God wants us to love our friends and family without bounds! We are told to love each other throughout the Bible, to give our lives for one another. Yet when it comes to trust and learning, He needs to be first. He is the purest, deepest, brightest love. Putting Him first will help us not to be vulnerable to the mistakes the fallible people we love sometimes make (like following false idols).
And the Bible prophesies that there will be a time in the world where families are split apart because some fall victim to the false prophets and messiah and others do not. One trusts in the True God and the other is wholly convinced by the false god, Mark 13:12, Luke 12:53, Matthew 10:21.
13:8-11 Moses implores us to shut it down. Shut deception down. One of the commandments is that we must not murder, preemptively plan or kill an innocent. Yet God has always understood that sometimes war is necessary (He Himself has sent prophets into war to save innocents). Moses wants us to go to war against evil and deception.
Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
It is dangers to give evil even an inch. Moses calls on us to destroy evil -- and sometimes that means using our voice. Sometimes that means using our hands, producing good fruit. Unfortunately, that sometimes means war. (We should not actually stone people: John 8:7.)
13:12-15 Moses wants us to be attuned to even a hint about evil and corruption. We are meant to diligently search and inquire (not mindlessly, hastily react) into such rumored threats. If they end up true, we are meant to shut it down. Pull it out by the roots.
13:16 We are meant to completely eliminate its place in our world, society, nation, state, region, community, neighborhood, home and individual mind. We are meant to figuratively burn it into nothing.
13:17 If we oppose evil, we are on God's (the winning) team. Whoever opposes evil receives His boundless, magnanimous mercy and love. God fiercely pursues and delivers our blessings as fiercely as He pursues and delivers evil to its grave. God has a lot of power, ability and energy... which end of it do you want to be on?
13:18 If you want to be on the end of fierce blessing, "...do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God."
