The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2019 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 64

If the Right One Don’t Get You…

Satan is the great deceiver. He deceives the whole world. People underestimate him, at their peril.

The human heart is also deceitful above all things.

So when you combine the natural human tendency to deceive itself with the power of the great deceiver –

You get a lot of deceived people.

What does it mean to be deceived?

It means that they think wrong is right, and right is wrong. Most of all, the deceived think they are right, regardless of what the Word of God says. They simply twist the words of the Bible to say what they want them to say.

In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford had a hit song that was number one for ten weeks. That song, Sixteen Tons, about a coal miner, had this line.

One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t get you, then the left one will.

Satan uses that left-right approach. He tries force, and if that doesn’t work, he tries seduction. As he did with Balaam and Israel.

Balak, the king of Moab, tried to bribe Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam was a strange guy, for sure. In Joshua 13:22, he is called, in English, a soothsayer. That same Hebrew word [qacam] is used elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures for a diviner or sorcerer.

Deut 18
10) There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

14) For these nations, that you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice sorcery, and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.

An Israelite who was a diviner was to be put to death.

Lev 20
27) “‘A man or a woman that is a medium, or is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.’”

But Balaam the diviner was a Midianite, not an Israelite, so he was alive and well.

He obviously had a reputation for communicating with the spirit world, which is why the king of Moab went to him. The modern world with its emphasis on “science” totally discounts a spirit world beyond the physical that can be seen. These scientists and rationalists conceitedly think they can see everything that is. As the end time draws on, these folks are in for a big shock, as Satan and his demons become more apparent. Somehow Balaam was familiar with the spirit world and was able to communicate with it, as was the witch of Endor that Saul went to, who had a “familiar spirit.”

Balaam knew who Yahweh was, knew how Yahweh was and, in a bit of a surprise, the spirit of God gave messages through him, just not the ones that Balaam wanted.

Num 22
2) Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
3) Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
4) Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.
5) He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.
6) Please come now therefore curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
7) The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

The rewards of divination = prophecies for sale. It said there that by whatever power, whoever Balaam blessed was blessed and whoever he cursed was cursed. So Balaam wanted to curse Israel and get the rewards of divination. Like many would-be prophets, he thought prophesying should be profitable. Many modern evangelists also think they should be well paid. After all, important executives in worldly corporations make high salaries, don’t they?

But when Balaam took the proposal to curse Yahweh’s people to Yahweh, Yahweh heard him, answered him –

And disagreed with him.

12) God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people; for they are blessed.”

Well, what little lesson can we learn from that?

Simply this. If you are really part of spiritual Israel, you are blessed and uncursable.

Ok, that’s not a little lesson, that’s a big lesson.

So Balaam gave Yahweh’s message to Balak. The Moabite king then upped the price, but Balaam answered —

18) Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of Yahweh my God, to do less or more.

Strange – Balaam there called Yahweh his God.

Balaam did double check with Yahweh, though, about cursing Yahweh’s people and getting the bribe, just to make sure it was still a no-go.

19) Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what Yahweh will speak to me more.”
20) God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do.”

You recall that when Yahweh planned to destroy Israel after the golden calf, Moses protested.

Exod 32
9) Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10) Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

That was quite an inducement to Moses, to have Yahweh’s people come from Moses. They would still be from Abraham, but only through Moses. Moses, though, overlooked his own glory and pleaded with God not to destroy Israel.

11) Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12) Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
13) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14) Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

Moses refused the inducement. But when Yahweh told Balaam to go ahead and go to Balak –

Balaam did not protest.

In fact, he left early the next morning. He wanted to curse Israel, or at least he wanted Balak’s bribe.

Num 22
21) Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

It seems that Balaam was too eager. His income seemed too meager. It’s like he got Balak’s boys out of bed — “Hurry up, guys. Let’s go!” Perhaps that’s why God, after telling him to go, got angry when he went.

22) God’s anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of Yahweh placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
23) The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way.

Who was this angel of Yahweh looking to kill Balaam with the sword? Consistently in the Old Testament, the angel of Yahweh refers to the one who became the Messiah.

Balaam was on his way to get riches and power, and he couldn’t get his donkey to stay on the road. Haven’t we all had a morning like that, where we just couldn’t get our donkey to stay on the road? Poor Balaam was out in left field, and he didn’t even play baseball.

24) Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
25) The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he struck her again.
26) The angel of Yahweh went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

That was a pretty smart donkey. When he saw the heavenly messenger in the road, he just walked off the road out into a field. That’s pretty smart. Then when stuck between two walls, the donkey crashed into one of them. Finally, with no place at all to go, the donkey just lay down in the road. Pretty smart donkey! Don’t mess with a sword swinging angel!

27) The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

Oh, yeah – that smart donkey could also talk.

Usually donkeys bray. That donkey talked.

28) Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
29) Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.”
30) The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?”

We need to visualize the scene here. Balaam apparently was used to receiving certain supernatural visions, but we can say with some confidence that he had never before discussed his travel plans with his donkey.

In spite of that unusual situation, Balaam continued this conversation and honestly answered the donkey’s question.

30) He said, “No.”

Again we have to keep the visual picture before us. The donkey asked Balaam, ‘Have I treated you like this before?’ What happened then? Balaam raised his right eyebrow, thoughtfully rolled his eyes upward, then his voice trailed off as he said, “Nooooo…”

Surely by this time Balaam must have been thinking, ‘That is one smart donkey…’

And the donkey was thinking, ‘That is one dumb dude.’

31) Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.
32) The angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me:
33) and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive.”

This brings up one of the great theological questions in the Bible, about Balaam and his donkey, which through centuries of time theologians have never satisfactorily answered –

Which one of those two was really the donkey?

34) Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, “I have sinned; for I didn’t know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again.”
35) The angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

So again, there is the angel of Yahweh giving the word of Yahweh — the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak. And that would seem to be the one who became the Messiah.

Even Balaam’s donkey could have figured out that Yahweh did not want Balaam to curse Yahweh’s people. But when Balaam was told to go to Balak, the greedy prophet again did not protest.

When Balaam met Balak, the Moabite king took him to a worship place of Baal, a high place where they could see the multitudes of Israel.

Num 22
41) It happened in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there the utmost part of the people.

So there you have Balak, Balaam and Baal. They went to a high place of Baal to get Yahweh to curse Israel.

That won’t work. The intended curse became a blessing.

Num 23
7) [Balaam] took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.
8) How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?
9) For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10) Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”

Isn’t it interesting that Israel, who later wanted a king like all the nations, was not to be counted among the nations? They were to be different than all other nations, different than Moab and Midian, and were not even to intermix with them.

Just as happened with Satan and Job, the curse of the devil became the blessing of God.

11) Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.”
12) He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

Then Balak took Balaam to another high place, maybe hoping that the God of Israel wasn’t over there. But He was, and Yahweh again put words in Balaam’s mouth.

20) Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.
21) He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
22) God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

Or as the Jewish Tanakh puts it, “the shouting for the King is among them.”

Balak was Moab’s king. Yahweh was Israel’s King. So if Balaam knew that Israel’s king Yahweh was among them, why was he so eager to go with Balak? Ah, the rewards of divination, the profits of a prophet, gold before God.

Balak took Balaam to still another high place, thinking the curse might work from there.

Nope. Didn’t work from there, either. Balaam blessed Israel again.

Num 24
8) God brings [Israel] out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
9) He crouched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
10) Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.
11) Therefore now flee you to your place! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor.”

But before Balaam left, he apparently did two things.

One, he blessed Israel again and included a curse on Moab.

Num 24
15) He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says;
16) he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open:
17) I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18) Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly.
19) Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city.”

So the first thing that Balaam did was to further bless Israel and then to curse Moab. After that, Balak went back to his kingdom and Balaam went back to where he had come from.

So what was that second thing that Balaam did?

Balaam in mentioned several more times in the Bible.

2Pet 2
15) forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;

Jude 1
11) Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.

Rev 2
14) But I have a few things against you [Pergamum], because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

At some point, Balaam, who couldn’t curse Israel, taught Balak how to bring a curse on Israel. He simply got Israel to mix with Moab, so they absorbed their pagan morality, which included sexual immorality.

The same thing has happened in America’s government anti-Christ schools. Baal wasn’t real. There was absolutely nothing there. All pagan religions are just human reason, idiotic ideas in the absence of God. In the same way, modern scientism and humanism are just human reason — idiotic ideas in the absence of God. Scientism and humanism are religious beliefs, about creation and existence, just as Baalism was. America’s young people, including almost all from Christian families, mix with Moab almost every day when they are taught the religion of Baal — human ideas about life, without including God.

And the plague of opposing God has now fallen on the nation of America, as it fell on Israel.

Num 25
1) Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab:
2) for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.
3) Israel joined himself to Baal Peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel.

And against America.

In one of his prophecies, Balaam had said that he who curses Israel is cursed. Balaam did bring a curse on Israel by getting them to mix with Moab, so what was the curse on him? When Israel attacked Balaam’s people Midian, the blood of Balaam was shed with theirs.

Num 31
8) They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword.

16) Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.

Balaam, or really Satan, did bring a curse on Israel. When Satan couldn’t eliminate them with a curse from God in his right fist, he simply turned to his left fist and advised Moab to mingle with them. Almost two millennia later, Satan did the same thing with the Christians. First he tried the right fist of force and persecution. When that didn’t work, then he cleverly used the left fist of seduction.

Clever being, that Satan!

One fist of iron, the other of steel,
If the right one don’t get you, then the left one will.