{"id":4625,"date":"2021-06-24T05:10:41","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T10:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2021-06-26T06:19:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T11:19:09","slug":"the-doctrine-of-balaam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/the-doctrine-of-balaam\/","title":{"rendered":"The Doctrine of Balaam&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4574 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/balaam-wizard.jpg?resize=125%2C125&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" \/>The &#8220;doctrine of Balaam&#8221; (\u1f21 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03c7\u1f75 \u0392\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u1f71\u03bc) is the wicked strategy of enticing others to sin by encouraging them to &#8220;eat food offered to idols&#8221; and to engage in sexual immorality (Rev. 2:14). This was how Balaam was able finally to curse the Israelites at Baal Peor, after all (see Num. 25:1-10; 31:16). In short, Balaam&#8217;s doctrine was one of &#8220;syncretism,&#8221; advocating a mindless &#8220;tolerance&#8221; that arrogantly claimed that all religions are equally true, and therefore all are equally false&#8230; Such &#8220;tolerance&#8221; is a charade for moral and spiritual nihilism that creates weakened people easily controlled by political fascism. In ancient Rome, official &#8220;tolerance&#8221; led to the brutal intolerance of the &#8220;Imperial Cult&#8221; where the power of the State (represented by the Emperor) was worshiped. In our age, the doctrine of Balaam first entices people to &#8220;eat food offered to idols,&#8221; that is, to partake in the irrational dogma of &#8220;absolute tolerance&#8221; and unthinking universalism. After opening the heart to accept such idolatry, sexual immorality is the natural expression, a consequence of self-deception. We must remain vigilant: God sets us free from the slavery of surrounding culture to become a witness of the truth. Assimilating with this world and its political ideals and cultural idols is a form of spiritual adultery. Do not fool yourself: Whoever makes himself a friend of the world is an enemy of God (James 4:4).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Hebrew Lesson:<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4626\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/psalm51-10-analysis-1.gif?resize=575%2C533&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4625-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/psalm51-10-jjp-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/psalm51-10-jjp-1.mp3\">https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/psalm51-10-jjp-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/Blessings\/Blessing_Cards\/psalm51-10-lesson.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psalm 51:10 Hebrew lesson page (pdf)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;doctrine of Balaam&#8221; (\u1f21 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03c7\u1f75 \u0392\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u1f71\u03bc) is the wicked strategy of enticing others to sin by encouraging them to &#8220;eat food offered to idols&#8221; and to engage in sexual immorality (Rev. 2:14). This was how Balaam was able finally to curse the Israelites at Baal Peor, after all (see Num. 25:1-10; 31:16). In short, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-dvar","category-hebrew-reading-practice","category-torah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4628,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}