Valley of Decision
Joel 3:14 (NASB)
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
The phrase “The Valley of Decision” can be used as a means of illustrating a clear choice either “for” or “against” God. This valley lies between two mountain ranges and no one passively leaves this valley. This means that they will be forced to make a willful choice either “for” or “against” God in order to make their exit from the valley. At the same time, they also cannot continue to live in the valley forever because each person will be forced to make a clear choice. There is no middle ground and everyone must choose which way they will go. This is a valley of testing and the choices humans make will determine their future eternal abode whether it be in heaven or in hell.
To the right way to choose is obedience to God and walking with God and the other choice remaining is that of human independence and living for themselves. Those who live for themselves are like a sheep gone astray and choosing to go in this direction will land them in perdition and eternal damnation!
The principle of the “Valley of Decision” is related to the choices. God has given humans the freedom of choice and God will not supersede the human freedom of choice but allows people to make a freewill choice either for or against him.
Sometimes God will even use circumstances to force people to make a clear decision and force them to choose either for or against God.
Genesis 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground–trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God provided Adam and Eve with the freedom of choice. God then placed two trees in the middle of the garden which were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is like having two paths that diverge at a fork in the road with one going to the right and the other leading to the left. Each person is forced to make a decision which pathway they will choose but they cannot walk on two paths at the same time.
The two trees in the Garden of Eden represent two options or two possible choices. Eating from the tree of life would result in them living eternally and eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would result in spiritual death and separation from God.
Genesis 3:7 (NIV)
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil speaks of human good and human evil. Human good in fact sends more people to hell than human evil because it creates a false sense of self-righteousness in people which hinders them from coming to God to be justified by faith. Human “good-works” generate human self-righteousness as is typically seen in those who are part of false religion and suppose they can earn their own righteousness by human self-effort. The fig leaves used by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness speaks of human self-effort to attain their own covering for sin. But God provided skins of animals which necessitated the shedding of blood for the remission of sin. The principle of the innocent dying for the guilty and the shedding of blood to make remission for sin is reflected by the animals sacrificed for their skins. This also speaks of the blood of Jesus the Jewish Messiah which was shed for the sins of the whole world (just like a lamb which was slain for making atonement for sin).
Humans were given a freewill and Adam and Eve used their freewill to choose sin and death rather than eternal life.
It must be noted that there could be no human freewill expressed if Adam and Eve did not have a choice to obey God or disobey God. The two trees represented obedience and disobedience and eating from one brought life and eating of the other brought spiritual death and separation from God! The two types of trees provided a choice to go either to the right and receive eternal life or go to the left and receive spiritual death.
The Tempter has a Role
Genesis 3:1 (NIV)
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Oddly enough the Tempter Satan has a role in the overall plan of God because Satan operating as the “adversary” is a force which incites and pushes and tempts humans to do evil and disobey God’s commands. In this sense Satan also fulfills God’s plan and purpose on earth by testing humans and creating resistance for them to do what is right and resistance to them making the right choices. If there was no temptation there would be no choice to be made for humans to resist that temptation!
Again, we see that no one is going to drift into heaven in passive manner. They have to make a willful choice to go all of the way with God and obey God. If they are passive or undecided then Satan the Tempter will work hard to bring them to the wrong decision resulting in their own eternal destruction. That is Satan’s job and he is good at it and has had thousands of years of experience in tempting humans to make the wrong choices which will send them to hell!
Satan would have no power over humans whatsoever except for his tools of deception and lies. Satan is the evil genius and he can twist the truth and deceive humans and get them to justify their sin against God.
Genesis 3:2-5 (NIV)
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan knew that the woman was the easiest to deceive so he started his evil work of deception upon Eve and Satan began to call into question what God had commanded. Eve had misinformation about the tree and said that if she even touched it then she would die. The devil exploited Eve’s ignorance and said that was not true and so when Eve touched the forbidden fruit and did not die then she began to doubt what God said when he commanded them not to eat of the tree or they would die. So, she proceeded to also eat of the tree and that is when she experienced spiritual death!
Satan took advantage of Eve and her feminine sense of “Equality-for-All” (which all women possess) and told Eve that it is not right that God was on a higher level than she was. If Eve would only eat of the forbidden fruit then she would become like God or become equal with God! This appealed to Eve and her feminine sense of equality and so Eve took leadership and ate the fruit and died spiritually before she offered the fruit to her husband. This is the first example of a female assuming leadership over a man and it resulted in bringing a curse to the entire world.
1 Timothy 2:12-14 (NIV)
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Adam was not deceived to eat the fruit but instead he made a freewill choice to commit spiritual suicide because of his great love for his wife and not wanting to be separated from her by spiritual death. So, Adam willfully ate the forbidden fruit knowing full well what the outcome would be and he died spiritually together with his wife Eve.
Thus, the Tempter Satan first used his twisted lies upon Eve (the easiest one to deceive) then it started a chain reaction because Adam did not want to be separated from his wife by death so he willfully ate the fruit and joined with his wife in destruction.
Again, it must be emphasized that this was all about making choices and exercising human freewill to decide either “for” God or “against” God! When humans obey God, they are choosing life and when humans disobey God they are choosing death. The Tempter serves the purpose to force them toward one way or the other. They cannot remain in the valley between two decisions forever because they will be forced by circumstances to make a clear choice either “for” or “against” God!
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
To obey God is to choose life and to disobey God is to choose death. God wants humans to freely choose to obey him and receive eternal life. Humans are not created as robots programmed to act in prescribed manner. Humans are given a freewill and they must use that freewill to choose to obey God even against pressure and temptation to do otherwise!
1 Kings 18:21 (NKJV)
21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
Elijah asked the people how long they would falter between to opinions. They had to make a clear choice to serve the Lord or go the other way and serve a false idol called Baal. They could not remain neutral any longer but God was calling them to make a clear choice either for or against him!
1 Kings 18:22 (NKJV)
22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
Jezebel was running the country by usurping the authority away from her passive husband Ahab so that she could control things. Jezebel systematically began to cull the prophets of God and replace them with the priests of Baal and sought to replace the worship of the God of Israel with the worship of the false idol Baal. At this time on Mount Carmel Elijah was standing alone out of all the prophets of the Lord but the false cult prophets of Baal numbered 450!
1 Kings 18:13 (NKJV)
13 Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid one hundred men of the LORD’S prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
In that time and era, it was not popular to serve the Lord and the government (run by Jezebel) favored and financed the false religion of Baal worship while killing off any real prophets that Jezebel could find.
At that time, it was popular to make the wrong decision to worship Baal and it was dangerous to worship the God of Israel when there was a threat of death for doing so. This is a case where the woman Jezebel created resistance to serving the Lord and forced people to make a clear decision either for or against serving God. If they wanted to serve God, they would have to risk their lives to do so and make willful choice to accept death in the event they were caught! Only those who were not willing to compromise would remain faithful to God in a time of spiritual apostasy and testing such as this!
God often uses situations like this to allow the wicked to rule the land and persecute those who are godly and this results in people having to make a willful choice to follow and obey God even when it is not popular. If people are willing to risk imprisonment or torture or death to serve God then they are true believers! God often causes people to be tested like this to see what decision they will make under pressure!
Time of Testing
Revelation 3:10 (NIV)
10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
A time will come when everyone on the whole earth will be tested if they will choose God or go against God under pressure. Only those who are faithful to God will be opted out of this time of testing.
Hezekiah Tested
2 Chronicles 32:30-31 (NIV)
30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook.
31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
Hezekiah was a godly king and obeyed God and was prospered and blessed by the Lord. But his downfall was pride and God left him to test him and expose what was in his heart. The rulers of Babylon came to see Hezekiah and his pride got the better of him and Hezekiah showed the men from Babylon all of the riches God had blessed him with.
2 Kings 20:12-18 (NIV)
12 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness.
13 Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses–the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil–his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
15 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:
17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
God left Hezekiah alone to test him and Hezekiah ended up showing all of his treasures to his foreign visitors. This resulted in an invasion from Babylon and all of the good things Hezekiah once owned were all plundered and carried off to Babylon!
God will test human hearts and use circumstances and human pressure to expose the heart motives of people. Often God will even cause them to make a choice for or against God using circumstances to put pressure upon them.
Apostles and the Valley of Decision
It is along this line where God often uses an apostle to deliver the last warning. It is for this reason that the Valley of Decision and the office of Apostle are closely related.
God Delays Giving Direction
Jeremiah 42:5-7 (NIV)
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”
7 Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.
The Jewish survivors of the Babylonian invasion swore to Jeremiah that they would follow and obey any direction that God would give to them from the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet. But God did not answer them or give a response to them for ten full days! After ten-days then God spoke and revealed his will.
Why did God wait ten-days before answering the people who inquired of the prophet for God’s direction? It was because God wanted them to make a clear decision before, he gave them his answer!
Jeremiah 42:8-22 (NIV)
8 So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says:
10 ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.
12 I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’
13 “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the LORD your God,
14 and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’
15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there,
16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.
17 Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’
18 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach; you will never see this place again.’
19 “O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today
20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’
21 I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you.
22 So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”
After the refugees had fully determined to go to Egypt (to escape the Babylonian threat) then God answered them and gave clear directions that they should not go to Egypt. They were to remain in the land of Israel and God would look after them and give them favor with the king of Babylon and they would live and not die.
Jeremiah 43:1-7 (NIV)
1 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God–everything the LORD had sent him to tell them–
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’
3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD’s command to stay in the land of Judah.
5 Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.
6 They also led away all the men, women and children and the king’s daughters whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
7 So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes.
As is typical of those who disobey God’s word, they will use the age-old and worn-out trick of finding-fault with the delivery boy! If they do not want to obey the word delivered by the prophet then they will just justify their disobedience by fault-finding and so they falsely accused Jeremiah of lying and said that God was not speaking through the prophet. They instead said that Jeremiah only wanted them to be destroyed by the Babylonians! Thus, they absolved themselves of obeying the word of the Lord by accusing the prophet of being a liar with false motives therefore they did not have to obey what he told them. They then went to Egypt against the clear commands of God and they ended up being destroyed in Egypt just as God had promised would happen to them!
Delay in Warning of a False Cult
My own experience with this came when we were in the Philippines and we had a phone call from someone who asked us for God’s direction because they were thinking of joining a church in Korea and wondered if it was a false cult. The fact that they called us shows that they knew something was not right with this so-called church. But God never gave me any response for them and I had nothing to say at the time. Later we ended up going to Korea ourselves and while we were present in that country then the word of the Lord came to me clearly which warned that this so-called church was indeed a false cult. This word of the Lord came a long while after these people had contacted us for guidance and advice about this so-called church.
One could question and ask why God waited so long before giving the answer? When the answer finally came it was after this couple had already joined this false cult. As it turned out this elderly couple went to live in the household of their eldest son who was the one who got them to join this false cult that he himself was attending. This elderly couple even borrowed money and combined it on the house loan of their eldest cult son so they would have a place to stay with his family. They joined the false cult church in order to please their eldest son who was now providing their housing under this arrangement of a joint-home loan. Everything was working toward creating pressure for them to remain in the cult and at this time (after they had made a clear decision to remain) then the word of the Lord came which exposed this so-called church as a false cult.
The word of the Lord came through me by the operation of Word of Knowledge to know present situations. The word of the Lord described the cult in great detail without me having ever once visited this false cult church. I wrote the word of the Lord in English then my wife interpreted what I had said in Korean language to this couple who had originally asked our advice. The husband saw it clearly and remarked about what I had said by the Spirit of God saying, “It is as if you were there in person yourself to have written these details!” There was no question that the word of the Lord came by inspiration of the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit could have known these things!
At first, they were shocked at the detailed prophecy given to them and they determined to get out of this cult and even stayed home from the cult for several gatherings after this word was delivered to them. But later the wife began to count the cost and realized that they had taken out a loan and combined it with the house loan of their cult son. There was real pressure upon them to remain or lose their share of the house loan money! Also, as an elderly couple they feared being homeless on the streets with no provision and being too old to work. There were a number of factors that put pressure upon them to remain in the house of their cult son and remain in the cult to please their son who was providing their food and lodging.
In the end the wife made the decision for her husband just as Eve assumed leadership and made the decision for Adam when she ate of the fruit. The husband had no answers about where they would go if they left the home of the cult son so he submitted to the leadership of his wife and passively let her make the decision to remain. Thus, the woman called the shots while the passive husband followed her like a puppy on a leash (not knowing what to do)!
Things did not work out well for them and the man died soon after that and his widow who remained in the cult seeking security in the home of her cult son lost even the security she was seeking when their cult son managed to lose the home by financial mismanagement. So then she was a widow who made a clear choice against God and she even lost her place to stay and the security she compromised her relationship with God in order to obtain!
Judgement Strikes Man First
It should be noted here that when judgement falls it will typically strike the man of the household first because he is the head of the home. If the man submits to his wife and disobeys God then he will be the first to be judged for it.
Exodus 4:24-26 (NIV)
24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him.
25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched [Moses’] feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
When Moses was on the way to Egypt the Lord met him and sought to kill Moses because of the disobedience of not circumcising his second born son. Apparently, his pagan wife Zipporah was opposed to this and forbid him to do that after she witnessed the rite of circumcision preformed on the firstborn son. In order to keep peace at home Moses allowed Zipporah to have her own way and disobeyed God instead (by not circumcising his second born son). So, God was about to kill Moses over this sin of disobedience but Zipporah knew full-well why she was about to be made into a widow so she circumcised the boy herself and then God let Moses go and did not kill him.
The point to see her is that God sought to kill Moses (not Zipporah) because Moses was the head of the home and God held Moses responsible. Zipporah would have received her judgment after she became a widow.
The same principle can be seen also with passive Ahab whose wife Jezebel ruled the country under his usurped authority. It was King Ahab who died first and later Jezebel was killed when she was thrown out of an upper story window and trampled by horses and fed to the dogs! The judgment of God will fall first upon the passive husband for following his wife and after he is judged then the judgment will fall upon is rebellious widow who had been making the decisions in the home while her husband was still alive.
The same thing happened with this couple who joined the false cult. The wife was the one who made the decision to remain in the home of the cult son and remain in the false cult to please her benefactor. The husband was passive and just followed his wife’s direction. He however was the first to be judged and he died a short time afterward. It was later that his rebellious widow received her judgment when she was left alone as a widow with no means of financial support and even lost her place to say when her cult son lost his house!
Tested by Circumstances
The point to make here is that God used circumstances to test this elderly couple. First God did not respond to their request for direction and guidance when they first called us about joining the cult. God did not respond until after they had already decided to move into the home of their cult son and mingle their finances together with their cult son. Under this situation all pressure was upon them to remain in the home of the cult son and remain in the cult that he had joined. If this couple wanted to obey God, they would have to pay a big price for it and faced the fear of being forced to go live on the streets as homeless!
God often does this sort of thing to put pressure on those who drifted into sin by passivity. The fact that this couple called us and wanted to know if this so-called church was a cult shows that they knew the answer already or they would not have called us for direction. Yet they disobeyed their own impression from God and they joined anyway seeking security in the home of their cult son.
This is why God left them and did not answer immediately. God waited until they were firmly situated in the home of the cult son and had joined his false cult and then God gave a supernatural word of the Lord that exposed this so-called church as a false cult! They could not deny that this was the word of the Lord and out of their own mouth they acknowledge this prophecy had to have come from God! But later when they counted the cost and feared being homeless then the wife made the decision to remain and her passive husband just followed his wife (the same way that Adam passively ate the forbidden fruit after his wife had already made the decision to do so)!
2 Chronicles 32:31 (NIV)
31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
Again, God left Hezekiah to test him and did not warn him not to reveal his treasures to the foreign visitors. In the same way, God did not clearly answer the couple who called us about if the church they proposed to join was a false cult or not. It was only after they were firmly established and made a decision to join that cult did God reveal in supernatural manner it was indeed a cult!
But after the cult was clearly exposed, they were faced with a decision. If they obeyed God, they risked losing a place to stay and food to eat and feared being homeless on the streets! That fear put pressure on them to make the wrong decision to choose the cult (and perceived financial security) over obeying God’s word to get out of it and separate themselves from their cult son’s home!
Jeremiah 42:7 (NIV)
7 Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.
Again, God waited ten-days before he responded to the people who inquired of Jeremiah for God’s direction. The same thing happened to this elderly couple who contacted us and asked for direction about if the church they proposed to join was a cult. The answer from God was delayed a great while until after they had made the firm decision to join this false cult in hope of receiving security in the home of their cult son.
God allowed the pressure of circumstances to force them to decide for or against God. If they wanted to come back to God, they would have to pay a great price and risked being homeless on the streets! This pressure caused them to deny God and remain in the cult for hope of financial security. But even that security was short lived because the husband who passively followed his wife’s decision to remain in the cult died for his sin shortly afterward. Not long after his death his widow faced the same insecurity she once feared when she lost her place to stay when her cult son lost his house!
They made a choice against God under pressure to do so and made the wrong choice and one experienced death as judgment and the other experienced widowhood and lack of security and homelessness.
Valley of Decision
This again points to the principle of the “Valley of Decision” and people being forced to choose for God or against God. Typically, God will allow the pressure of circumstances to pressure them toward making the wrong decision. If they want to do what is right, they will have to do so willfully against all pressure to do otherwise.
Valley Surrounded by Steep Walls
It should also be noted that the valley of decision is surrounded by steep walls and there is no getting out except by willful determination to climb out over steep terrain! God will typically put pressure on humans to make it difficult to choose for God. If they want to serve God, they will have to make a willful and determined decision to do so against all pressure for them to make the wrong decision. This pressure is like the effort it requires to overcome and climb up a steep and difficult canyon wall. If they passively drift from God, they will have to make a drastic and difficult decision in order to return to God. The farther they drift away from God the harder it will be for them to make a decision to return again. Every type of circumstance will put pressure upon them to make the wrong decision (against God) and if they want to come back to God again, they will have to pay a big price to do so!
Paying a Big Price
I also know of a girl who drifted away from God seeking financial security. She ended up living with a wealthy businessman in an immoral relationship only to enjoy the prosperity and comforts and financial security this relationship provided for her. But this all came to an end when someone invited her to attend a church service with them. While in that church the Holy Spirit came down upon this wayward girl in powerful manner! She just wept and wept and when she came to her senses there was no one left in the church except the girl who brought her who was patiently waiting to give her a ride home again. During this encounter with the Holy Spirit she knew clearly that she had to repent of living in adultery and forsake her immoral lifestyle and the financial security it provided for her! She also knew this was her last chance and if she did not repent, she would go to hell!
She is to be commended for making the right decision and she broke up with the rich man and moved out of her nice lodging and had to dispose of the nice clothing and things she could no longer carry with her. She ended up going from one cheap lodging to another and suffered such financial insecurity that she had nightmares for decades later of being homeless on the streets and looking for someone to take care of her! She drifted away from God for years of being passive and carnal and living her own life but in order to return to God again she had to pay a big price. She was a foreigner in a strange country when the separation occurred and was left with nothing and was living like a transient person with no permanent place to dwell.
The point of this is not to say that God is cruel but yet God will test those who have passively drifted far from him. This girl new the Lord in her youth but drifted away from him later in life and she had to pay a big price to return to God. She even threw away the contact information of her former provider so that she would not be tempted to return to him again when she was tempted or destitute or under pressure by circumstances. She determined not to go to hell but she had to pay a big price and go against all pressure in order to return to the Lord again!
Again, this can be compared to the Valley of Decision where there are steep mountain walls on both sides and if they want to go to God, they will have to pay the price and be determined to make a willful decision to return to the Lord.
Not everyone will have to pay the high price that this girl paid to return to God. It depends upon how far they drifted away from the Lord. If they remained faithful then there may not be such dramatic circumstances that will face them or pressure them as this girl experienced to come back to God. But she drifted far from God for many years and the price she had to pay to return to God was large! It is not easy to come back to God when passively drifting away for many years!
Cutting off Sin
Another factor or pressure point to resist people from returning to God is the bondage of sin. Jesus compared overcoming bondage to sin as something as dramatic as cutting off one’s own hand or foot!
Mark 9:43-46 (HCSB)
43 And if your hand causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell—the unquenchable fire, [
44 where Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]
45 And if your foot causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell— [the unquenchable fire,
46 where Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]
If parents are passive with their children and let them run wild with immoral friends then there is a strong chance their children will become ensnared in some sort of sin. This often occurs when teenagers are left unsupervised to run with wild companions whose only goal in life it is to experiment with sin. Many youth have passively played with sin only to develop bondage to sin that followed them into adult life!
Homosexual sin is of this nature and there is a high suicide rate among them for this reason because they become helplessly ensnared in this bondage and many commit suicide feeling there is no avenue of escape for them. For a homosexual to come back to God he has a huge price to pay because cutting off this sin is like sawing off his own arm or leg! This bondage can become so strong as if it was part of their own body and it will not be an easy task to get free of it. But if they fear God and want to avoid eternal hell, they will pay that price and there are many who have become free. But they will have to make a willful determination to get free because it will be no easy task.
Typically, they become ensnared in such sin when they are passive and do not resist the advances of dirty companions in youth. It would have been much better for them if they had strict parents who did not permit them to run with wild companions but kept them pure at home for as long as possible. The older they get the greater chance they have of resisting such sin because those who are mature have more self-control. But if they are defiled in youth, they may develop a spiritual bondage that can drag them to hell later in adult life!
The point here is that if they are passive with sin in their youth and drifted into it without resistance then they will have to pay a huge price to come back to God later. It will be like trying to saw off an arm or a leg to forsake such bondage to sin! It will not be easy at all.
This same thing can be applied to substance abuse and it will not be easy for them to get free. They will have to make a determined decision to get out against all pressure to remain in their bondage.
The human mind can trigger orgasms and cravings and thirst for sin so they will have to renew their minds with the word of God and fight a great battle. If they can control their thoughts then they can control their bodily appetites as well. Eventually if they do not think upon or mediate upon the bondage that once ensnared them then the lustful passions will subside and fade away.
There was a homosexual in a church in Nebraska who got free from the sin for decades but he later traveled to San Francisco and visited a gay bar and got hopelessly ensnared in this sin again and contracted AIDS and later committed suicide. Indulging in old sins can bring back bondage to sin that believers were formerly set free from. Going back to old sin is like a dog returning to his vomit again.
2 Peter 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
It would be better for someone not to have known the Lord at all and for them to have forsaken God and returned to their old sins again. Returning to their old sin again like a dog returning to its vomit and will bring unspeakable damnation upon them. A believer who knew Christ but turned back will have a worse damnation than the unbelievers who burn in hell!
It is far better for parents to protect their children in youth and keep them pure for as long as possible so that they will be able to mature and gain self-control. Once they grow to be adults, they stand a better chance of resisting temptation to sin than they do as teenage youths!
Psalm 25:7 (NIV)
7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.
The sins of the youth speak of the time of life when young people often passively experiment with sin. But they have no idea about the power of bondage to sin and how difficult it will be to get free of that bondage once they are ensnared in it!
2 Timothy 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
This scripture speaks of people cleansing themselves from sin and fleeing from the evil desires of their youth. Again, this means that the youth are in great danger of defilement and entering into bondage to sin that can send them to hell in later life!
It is impossible that people will not be defiled while living in the immoral society of the world’s system but if their parents protect and shield their youth (and not allow them to run with dirty companions) then they have a much greater change of escaping bondage to sin. It is better not to develop a severe bondage in youth that will be hugely difficult to escape from later in adult life! Getting free is not “impossible” because all things are possible with God and whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord can be saved from bondage to sin. But if they never had the bondage in the first place, they would be much better off!
This principle can be applied to any type of sin or bondage that can be imagined. Typically, people will passively indulge some type of sin that seems innocent enough at the time but later becomes a great bondage and addiction to them. The passivity in drifting into that sin will have to be paid for later with a big price if they want to get free and return to God again.
If they should happen to get free from a bondage of sin (but then go back to that old sin again) then they are in danger of gaining a bondage that is permanent and for which there is no more escape and the end result for them will be eternal damnation!
Mark 9:43-46 (NKJV)
43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched–
44 where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched–
46 where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’
Again, Jesus warns that it is better to cut off bondage to sin while still alive on earth than to be passive with sin and allow it to remain and end up in eternal hell! Yes, it can be as painful and difficult to cut off sin as it is to cut off an arm or a leg! But it will be well worth it to make the quality decision to get free and stay free rather than to go to hell eternally!
Valley of Decision
This is part of the valley of decision so if people passively drift into sin they will have a much more difficult time to get free later. There will be great pressure upon them to remain in sin and they will have to use their human freewill to resist that temptation even though they feel like they are dying when refusing to yield to it. If they resist it successfully then the bondage will lose power over them and weaken until they are set free. But never under any circumstances should they return to the old sin again because they will not have a second chance and the second bondage will be impossible to break since they used their human freewill to choose to go back to it in willful manner. Such a choice to return to sin is a choice against God and says that they love the sin more than they love God and so they chose to go to hell with the sin by their own human freewill.
The valley of decision is about making a choice for God or against God and there will be great pressure to make a choice against God. They will have to be determined to overcome this pressure because if they are passive, they will always side against God!
Calling of Apostle
The calling of apostle is related to the valley of decision because often God will give a rebuke to a person or a group of people through an apostle and then they have to make a decision to either obey or disobey the word of God delivered to them. But one thing is for certain and it is that they cannot continue the same as they did before the rebuke was delivered.
On one such occasion I delivered a rebuke to a church which was full of disorder. I systematically went through the word of God and defined and exposed the disorder present within this church. After I finished the systematic and detailed teaching lesson, I then turned the guns upon them declaring, “And you are the guilty ones!” This had explosive effect and they could no longer continue in the disorder they were engaged in the same as they did prior to hearing this apostle’s rebuke being delivered to them!
2 Samuel 12:5-9 (NIV)
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Nathan the prophet told a story a a rich man who seized the only sheep of a poor man to feed to his guest despite the fact he owned vast herds himself. When David said this man deserves to die then Nathan said, “You are the guilty one!”
Often Apostles and prophets will expose a sin in systematic manner only to turn the guns on their audience and declare “You are the guilty ones!” At that point they have nothing they can do to resist because their sin was exposed in great detail before they were confronted! This is a supernatural occurrence used to expose sin and evil motives within the hearts of those who are causing disorder or other disturbance within the congregation! There is nothing the guilty party can do but to sit and gnash their teeth in a rage! They are left speechless when this type of message is delivered under the power of the Holy Spirit to confront them and expose their sin!
Acts 7:51-54 (NIV)
51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him–
53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
The last sermon of the Messianic Jew Stephen was like this as he went through a long and detailed discourse exposing the stubbornness and hardheartedness of the religious Jews who were just like their ancestors before them. Stephen also made it clear that they were the guilty ones and they were strung into fury and gnashed their teeth at him in a rage!
This is the typical response to a sermon delivered under the power of the Holy Spirit. The words of Stephan were like barbed arrows that pierced the hearts of the hard-hearted audience and when he turned the guns on them and said, “You are the guilty ones!” then they were stung to into a rage!
As an apostle, I have often witnessed this same response in individuals or congregations who were the targets of a special message of the Holy Spirit and who exposed their sin with such clarity that they were left speechless and could only gnash their teeth in a rage. They had no idea where the sermon was leading until it was too late and the truth bomb was dropped upon them as I said, “And you are the guilty ones!”
Another occasion I as in a remote place in Negros Island in the Philippines and I gave a lengthy and detailed sermon about the vanity of legalism just as the Galatians who left living by grace to try and keep the Mosaic law. Unbeknown to me there was a Seventh-Day Adventist in the audience of this Baptist church congregation and the sermon struck her and her legalism with such force that she was sick for three days and unable to go to work! It totally blew out from under her everything that she had been vainly standing upon for all of her life! She was left speechless and though she wanted to confront and oppose me she had not one word remaining left to say because I had thoroughly and systematically covered every detail related to this subject. Then I had turned the guns on them and discovered it was a sermon directed toward this one person who was in bondage to legalism! It was a sermon under anointing of the Holy Spirit and was given in a Baptist church that was not in need of such a rebuke but there was one person in that congregation who needed to hear those words and she was never the same after that! She could no longer continue the ways that she was before the sermon! It totally blew her false doctrines out of the water. It was overkill like blowing up a rat-invested shack leaving nothing left but a huge crater in the ground! Nothing was left of her false belief system and that was the reason she was ill for three days in a row!
The apostle will commonly expose disorder like this and the gift of apostle/teacher will use the systematic teaching of God’s word to expose disorder then turn the guns on the audience saying, “You are the guilty ones!” It is a means of calling people to repent after their deception and their resulting disorder is fully exposed!
At this point however they will instantly find themselves in the valley of decision because the apostle has blown their self-deception clean out of the water! They cannot continue being comfortable in deception from that point forward because they are looking with both eyes open at the sin and disorder that was exposed by the apostle. They must make a decision to either repent and acknowledge their sin or by default they will slip away into eternal darkness. They cannot remain in the valley (in self-deception) any longer but are forced to make a choice. They can repent and acknowledge their sin and be saved but if they refuse to repent then they have made a choice against God and have chosen to go to hell with the disorder and sin they love so much!
Last Warning
As an Apostle/Teacher I have often been used by God to deliver a last warning to those who are wayward. One time in the Philippines I was teaching a pastor’s conference and there was a laymen intruder present who was intruding into the holy office of the Fivefold Ministry. He did not have a call from God but only determined to be a Pastor of his own initiative. My sermon was a detailed teaching about the Fivefold ministry and I clearly showed that no man can honor himself by intruding into the office without being called by God. A man with a Fivefold Ministry Gift is born with that gift from his mother’s womb! After teaching for four-hours on this subject (in detailed manner) this man knew I was talking about him. He therefore stood up before the entire congregation and said, “I thank God that I was called from my mother’s womb into the ministry!” The men who were present were Fivefold Ministers themselves and it takes a Fivefold minister to recognize the gifts and calling of others who are also a Fivefold minister. All of these men knew that the man in question had no Fivefold ministry Gift. I have the operation of the gift of discerning of spirits which also works to discern who has a Fivefold Ministry Gift and who does not. So, I knew this was a layman intruder who had no Fivefold Ministry gift of being a Pastor.
But this man insisted on having his own way even after he had received a lesson that took four-hours of detailed scriptures to teach. This was his last warning and he failed to repent but hardened his heart and determined to go forward with this farce that he was called into the ministry.
No one could argue with a man like this because he refused to acknowledge the truth! The next time that I arrived back in that same area again, I was told by the other Fivefold Ministers that this man in question had a stroke shortly after I left and died a few days later! He was given his last warning and he had an opportunity to repent but hardened himself in his self-deception and persisted after the clear rebuke was given.
This sort of stubborn behavior and refusal to repent is like a man who sees a warning sign on the road that reads, “Bridge Out Ahead” but instead of stopping and turning around the stubborn driver steps on the gas and accelerates with abandon toward his own destruction! When God supernaturally provides a clear warning and rebuke and call to repent but someone stubbornly refuses to heed the warning then they will go forward and meet with judgment! It was God’s grace to give the man a last warning but he resisted and refused to repent in stubborn manner and so he died shortly after the rebuke was given!
The gift of Apostle/Teacher is often used to deliver the last warning to wayward Christians and if they do not repent or stop what they are doing then they will often experience judgment. Some fall away and continue living in darkness the same as before the rebuke but they also will meet judgment when their life expires on earth. Sometimes if they have little influence, they may not die instantly but those who are causing disruption and have a greater influence over more people may have an immediate judgment.
I know of another laymen intruder whose only congregation was his wife and children so he was not harming too many people by his fake ministry. He had some demonic afflictions (like paralysis of the face) but it was not life-threatening because his sin was not affecting others. But later this same man was ordained before a congregation and once this happened, he was struck down with a terminal disease for which there was no cure and he soon expired after that! Sometimes God will give them a lingering death so that they have a chance to repent before they die. This is God’s mercy to allow them the opportunity to save themselves from hell. But if they do not repent but stubbornly hold onto their sin then they will end up in hell!
Therefore, the office of Apostle is often related to the Valley of Decision because every time the Apostle exposes disorder and delivers a warning from God to repent then the target audience is placed in the Valley of Decision. They are forced to make a decision at this point because they no longer can proceed in self-deception as they did before the rebuke was delivered. If they refuse to repent then they have made a clear and willful decision against God and judgment will follow. If they do repent, they have an opportunity to save themselves. So, the guilty party will be forced to choose right or left or choose life or death! But one thing is for certain they cannot remain in the valley any longer without making a final and decisive choice! If they try to ignore the rebuke and call to repentance then it is a clear decision against God and is a choice for damnation. If they try to follow the age-old and worn-out trick of finding fault with the delivery boy then they have made a clear choice against God and it will result in their own destruction!
The apostle is gifted to deliver the last warning and God often sends the apostle to give this last warning to those who have been intruding into the holy office or living in unrepentant sin or causing some other type of disorder (possibly for decades before they are finally rebuked). But once the last warning is given, they are forced to make a decision and anything they do (other than repent) will send them to hell! All decisions (other than repenting) are a clear choice against God and will bring judgment upon them!
When the Apostle’s Mouth is Shut
There are times however when someone has gone too far for too long and God will no longer give them a rebuke of any kind. This is because the guilty party has been stubborn and willful for too long and has been in unrepentant sin for many decades! Such people are not worthy of a rebuke from the Lord. In one such case I ended up in a church in a small town in rural Nebraska and as it turned out the pastor of this church invited me to preach. But this man was using drugs as a pastor and many of his congregation members also used recreational drugs. When I got up to preach it seemed like the Holy Spirit grabbed my tongue and held it! I could not do any teaching at all and had to sit down again! This druggy pastor was offended because he had to carry on in impromptu manner with his talk to continue a sermon which he did not prepare for thinking I was going to be preaching. But in fact, I could not preach and later God revealed to me that this pastor had crossed the line of perdition after decades of unrepentant sin and so by his refusal to repent he declared that he loved his sin more than God! God was not going to give him a rebuke or warning or call to repentance anymore. I was forbidden to give a message of any kind to that fallen Pastor or to his congregation!
Ezekiel 3:26 (NIV)
26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
If an apostle is not permitted to speak then it means that congregation or individual has already crossed the perdition line and is sealed up for hell! The same was true of the prophet Ezekiel who was not permitted to rebuke the rebellious Jews of his day and age! His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth meaning that he was restrained by God from speaking any words of rebuke to these rebellious people. Whenever an apostle or prophet is restrained from rebuking a group of people or an individual then this means that those people have been wayward for a long period of time and grew stubborn and hardhearted and God has sealed them up for destruction.
Delivering a rebuke by an apostle or prophet shows God’s mercy to give them a chance to repent. But if they do not take that opportunity to humble themselves and repent then they will seal themselves up for damnation! If they have gone too far then they will not even be given the luxury of having a rebuke.
This druggy Pastor did not have instant judgment and it seems he is preaching what his druggy people want to hear. It seems they are all sealed up for damnation together and provide a form of temptation or resistance for others who are passive about dabbling in recreational drugs. Possibly they are a force left in place to test others with the same weakness. Again, this brings us back to the subject of the Valley of Decision because this druggy church can even justify Christians using drugs and is a force to push those who are passive into bondage or cause people to be shocked and leave. Either way people will be sorted out to either be separated from the druggy people or join them and justify the sin which they love so much! This is yet another expression of the Valley of Decision as people will either reject or accept this druggy lifestyle and in doing so, they are making a choice for heaven or hell!
See the link “Fivefold Ministry Gifts” for more details on the office of Apostle.
1 Corinthians 11:34 (NKJV)
34 . . . the rest I will set in order when I come.
Only the KJV and the NKJV use these words, “The rest I will set in order when I come!” but in fact this is an accurate translation and can be used to describe the office and ministry of an Apostle. An Apostle is used by God to set things in order. Part of his gift is being able to discern what is in disorder and then using systematic teaching he can set this disorder back in order again.
When dealing with individual or corporate disorder of a congregation the Apostle can deliver rebukes and correction. I have typically done this after using detailed teaching to expose and define the disorder that is present. Once this is defined clearly then I often turn the guns upon the offenders and say, “And you are the guilty ones!”
Again, the office of Apostle is closely related to the principle of the Valley of Decision because every time the call to repentance is given then the offenders instantly find themselves face to face with the truth and are then they are standing in the Valley of Decision. They cannot go any further without making a clear decision either for or against God.
If they repent and obey that is the only decision that is for God and anything else is an automatic decision against God. Some examples of against-God decisions are:
1. Finding fault with the delivery boy. This is an age-old trick used to vainly absolve themselves of having to obey the word of the Lord given to them. They merely say that this was not from God and therefore they are not required to obey it. But the supernatural manner in which the word was delivered and the explosive effect it had upon the people indeed removes all doubt if it was from God or not. To say it was not from God is pure rebellion and is a clear decision against God and a willful choice for eternal damnation.
Jeremiah 43:1-3 (NASB)
1 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God—that is, all these words—
2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’;
3 but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.”
These men did not want to obey the word of the Lord delivered by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah so they found fault with the delivery boy and said that Jeremiah the prophet was lying and that what he said was not the word of the Lord. Ascribing God’s word to human origin is a clear choice against God. The offenders foolishly assume that if they find fault with the message or with the delivery boy then they are absolved from having to obey that word given to them. But again, this is a clear choice for hell and damnation and every one of those who rejected this word of the Lord from Jeremiah were all destroyed by sword and pestilence and famine in Egypt where they went to seek refuge.
2. Ignoring it and pretending nothing happened. If they attempt to continue to proceed the same as they did before the rebuke then they have made a clear choice against God. They cannot continue the same as usual once the rebuke was delivered because they have been thoroughly exposed and their self-deception no longer holds up. Choosing to ignore the word of the Lord is a clear decision against God.
3. Stubbornly resisting the word of the Lord. This is like the example of the guy standing up and publicly declaring he was born with a Fivefold Ministry Gift from his mother’s womb when in fact he was proven to have no such a gift. Resisting the word of the Lord is rebellion and it brought about a quick judgment upon him!
4. Trying to buy God off with good works. I know of a woman who thought to buy God off of her idol and unrepentant sin by witnessing to unbelievers. She would witness to everyone that she saw trying to do God a favor and buy God off of the idol she refused to repent of. But people cannot pay for disobedience by sacrificing in other areas. She was telling God by her actions, “OK, God I know I have his one Idol and unrepentant sin but I will do you a big favor and be ten-times more zealous in other areas (like witnessing to unbelievers)!
1 Samuel 15:20-23 (NIV)
20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.
21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
King Saul was to destroy the Amalekites and everything that they had but instead he kept the best livestock for himself and his men. Then Saul thought to buy God off of his disobedience by offering to sacrifice of some of these animals as burnt offerings to God. His actions were telling God, “OK God I know I disobeyed your command and kept the best livestock for myself but I will do you a favor and offer some of them as burnt offerings!” But God cannot be bought off disobedience by offering sacrifices (as if God could be bribed by such actions)!
The same is true for disobedient believers who harbor some type of idol and unrepentant sin in their hearts. They cannot buy God off by becoming ten-times more zealous in other good deeds like witnessing or giving money to the church or other Christian activities.
5. Intimidating the prophet. Those who attempt to intimidate the prophet to silence him are acting presumptuously as if the prophet is speaking is own words derived from human origin rather than speaking words that are coming from God.
2 Chronicles 25:15-16 (NIV)
15 The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?”
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?” So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
King Amaziah bowed down to the idols of the people he had just defeated so God sent a prophet to rebuke him for this sin of idolatry. But the king told the prophet to shut up or he would be struck down and killed. This is using force of intimidation and threat of death to try and silence a prophet from speaking God’s word. Again, this is presumptuous as if the king assumed that prophet was speaking words of human origin rather than speaking a rebuke from God. This wicked king was later assassinated (destroyed by God) for not repenting and taking heed to the rebuke delivered to him by the prophet!
Trying to silence a prophet or intimidate them shows scorn for the word of God which they carry. To disdain a prophet of God and his message from God is a clear choice against God that will land the offender in hell!
Jeremiah 38:1-4 (NIV2011)
1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said,
2 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’
3 And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’ ”
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
Jeremiah the prophet carried a message from God that those who surrender to the King of Babylon would live and those who refused to surrender would perish. The wicked Jewish leaders however dishonored the word of the Lord and acted as if the words of Jeremiah were merely of human origin instead of coming from God. Disdaining the word of the Lord which is given is a clear choice against God and those who abused the prophet and disdained his words all perished by sword and famine and pestilence just as Jeremiah had predicted.
6. Contradicting God’s Word. This often happens when the word of the Lord is delivered and the offenders speak the exact opposite of what God has declared and contradict the word of the Lord delivered to them.
Jeremiah 44:17-23 (NIV)
17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm.
18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”
19 The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes like her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,
21 “Did not the LORD remember and think about the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your fathers, your kings and your officials and the people of the land?
22 When the LORD could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became an object of cursing and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today.
23 Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”
The prophet Jeremiah rebuked the women who were worshipping the female deity that they had invented called the Queen of Heaven and told them it was because of this idolatry that God was angered and brought destruction upon the nation! But these idol-worshipping Jewish women contradicted the prophet Jeremiah and said the opposite. They said that the reason they have had sword and famine and pestilence was because they were not worshipping their idol enough therefore the Queen of Heaven idol was angry and brought all this trouble upon them!
Speaking this sort of nonsense is a clear choice against God and literally calls down destruction upon themselves. Not one of those rebellious idol worshipers survived the judgment God brought upon them!
God gave them their final rebuke and warning through the prophet Jeremiah before they were destroyed so that at the moment of their death, they would know the reason why God had killed them off!
Ezra 9:13 (NKJV)
13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this,
The proper human response to God’s rebuke is to acknowledge their guilt and say that God has punished them less than their sins deserved.
Psalm 103:10 (NIV2011)
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
To repent means to humble oneself and acknowledge sin and not contradict God or deny or find fault with the delivery boy or attempt to intimidate the prophet into silence or any of the human tricks people play to avoid having to repent.
Only Repentance is a Choice for God
There are a multitude of human tricks that people play in order to avoid having to repent or obey God or change from their wayward ways. The only correct response is that of humbling oneself and repenting. This is the only way to choose God but all other methods and anything else except repentance is a clear choice against God. Those who engaged in self-deception and play human tricks to avoid repentance will be counted as having made a clear choice against God and from that point forward they will fall away toward darkness and eventually perish and go to hell.
This is all related to the Valley of Decision because God uses both Apostles and Prophets to expose and rebuke disorder and sin. Apostles define and expose disorder and Prophets define and expose unrepentant sin. Both offices carry the word of the Lord and to reject that word is a choice against God.
1 Corinthians 12:28 (NASB)
28 And God has appointed in the church, first Apostles, second Prophets, . . .
This portion of scripture shows that the first and second offices of importance in the church are the Apostles and Prophets. The Apostles and Prophets are like a right and left-hand punch to knock out disorder and sin from the lives of the congregation and from individuals within the church. Apostles and Prophets are masculine gifts that carry the divine authority of a rod of correction. This is unlike the gift of Pastor which is a feminine gift which gives only love and edification like a mother.
Matthew 10:41 (7KB)
41 Anyone who receives a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, . .
This portion of scripture above says that anyone who receives a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. The reward of a prophet is holiness and fear of the Lord. The same can be applied to an Apostle because whoever receives an Apostle as an Apostle will receive an Apostle’s reward which is divine order.
But if someone attempts to receive an Apostle as a Pastor they will be in for a big shock! Instead of love and edification they will receive a masculine rod of correction in the form of a rebuke from God and a call to repentance. The Apostles correct disorder and the Prophets correct sin but their ministry goes hand in hand and they both have a similar ministry in many ways that overlaps one another.
Ephesians 2:19-20 (NIV)
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
20 built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
The church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets which is divine order and holiness and the fear of the Lord. The Apostles expose disorder and put it back in order again with systematic teaching of God’s word. The fruit of the Apostles is divine order for that reason. The Prophets expose and define and rebuke sin so the fruit of the Prophets is holiness and fear of the Lord.
It is the fruit of both Apostles and Prophets that provides the foundation of the church which is divine order and holiness and the fear of the Lord. To resist the message of either office is to resist God and it is a clear choice for judgment and damnation!
The only time that someone can make a choice for God is if they honor the word delivered by an Apostle or Prophet and then repent and change. If they attempt any of the multitude of human tricks to resist, they will make a clear choice for judgment and damnation.
It is for this reason that the Valley of Decision is heavily involved with the offices of both Apostles and Prophets who are the foundational gifts of the Body of Christ on earth. God often uses these gifts to expose and correct disorder and sin and those who resist the message of God from them are making a clear choice against God.
The Valley of Decision involves humans using their human freewill to choose either for or against God and often God gives them their last warning by an Apostle or Prophet. Once the last warning is given, they are instantly faced with a decision to either accept or reject the message and their decision will determine if they will ultimately end up in heaven or hell!