Psalm 82
1 God presides over heaven’s court;
he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
2 “How long will you hand down unjust decisions
by favoring the wicked? Interlude
3 “Give
justice to the poor and the orphan;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
4 Rescue the poor and helpless;
deliver them from the grasp of evil people.
5 But these oppressors know nothing;
they are so ignorant!
They wander about in darkness,
while the whole world is shaken to the core.
6 I say, ‘You are gods;
you are all children of the Most High.
7 But you will die like mere
mortals
and fall like every other ruler.’”
8 Rise
up, O God, and judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.
Leaders
are God ordained and are established to rule over us and we are meant to submit
to their authority. (Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit to governing
authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of
authority have been placed there by God.) The New Testament church is governed
by Elders; also called Pastors, Bishops, Shepherds or Overseers. (Hebrews
13:17 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for
they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work.[a] Let
them do this[b] with
joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.)
In
psalm 82; God is seen ruling over appointed human leaders and indicting evil
rulers for their oppression of people they are supposed to be representing. (Verse
3-4 tells these leaders that they are supposed to: “Give
justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the
destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil
people. Instead; the rulers mentioned in the psalm oppressed their
people and did not know justice or upholding rights. (Verse 5: But
these oppressors know nothing;
they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness while the whole world is
shaken to the core.)
These
leaders are called “gods” amongst the people because they exercise ruling
authority over others in a similar manner that the One True God rules over
heavenly beings and all creation. (Psalm 82:1 God
presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings, (Psalm
115:3 Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases.)
The finality of the matter is that the days of leaders is counted and they too must die as other humans and be judged for their deeds. (Psalm 82:7 But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.) Christ Jesus; during his earthly ministry was apposed by evil religious leaders who assumed the role of gods too but their days were counted because their rule was oppressive. (John 10: 33-36 They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God. ”Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures[a] that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’[b] 35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So, if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.) God was about to judge the unworthy rulers of Jerusalem for their oppressive and ungodly rule. (Matthew 3:10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. (Luke 23:28 But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.)
Give
justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the
destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil
people.
The
invisible church today tolerates far too much oppression by the oppressive gods
(human leaders or rulers) within visible Christendom in the word of faith
movement. The word of faith movement teaches adherents that they can manipulate
reality by the faith within their spoken words rather than their faith in God.
Essentially; God is dethroned as sovereign and people’s spoken words become the
sovereign authority that governs the universe. It goes something like this: If
you are sick; declare healing and “poof”; your faith has made you well. If you
are in financial misery; declare wealth and prosperity and “poof”; your faith
has made you rich. If your dreams go unfulfilled; declare God’s destiny upon
your life and “poof”; your faith has made you successful in life. Of course;
word of faith teaching does have an appearance of godliness because word of
faith adherents is to declare all these marvellous blessings: In Jesus’ name.
Jesus’ name is seen a token genie in a bottle that one rubs to get their
desires met. (2 Timothy 3:5-7 They will act religious, but they will
reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!)
Contrarily; Asking something in Jesus; name means that we ask God the Father
for things according to His will; not ours!
In
the word of faith movement; God’s will is not sovereign and can be overturned
or activated by the faith of those who believe they can harness God’s power to
achieve their desired goal. This is an idolatrous, erroneous view that exalts
man’s will above God’s sovereign will. In the First Testament; such an example
of this is found in 1 Samuel 4 and ends in catastrophic consequences.
4
1 And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel.At that time Israel
was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer,
and the Philistines were at Aphek. 2 The Philistines attacked and defeated the
army of Israel, killing 4,000 men. 3 After the battle was over, the troops
retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord
allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with
us, it[a] will save us from our enemies. 4 So they sent men to Shiloh to bring
the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned
between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there
with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 When all the Israelites saw the Ark of
the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud
it made the ground shake!6 “What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s
all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because
the Ark of the Lord had arrived, 7 they panicked. “The gods have[b] come into
their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face
anything like this before! 8 Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of
Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when
Israel was in the wilderness. 9 Fight as never before, Philistines! If you
don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up
like men and fight!”10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was
defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that
day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11 The Ark of God was
captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.
The
theological problem with the word of faith movement is that it adopts a
distorted interpretation of psalm 82:6 (I say, ‘You are gods; you are
all children of the Most High) in which humans can call things into existence from nothing using
their faith force in a similar manor in which the One True God created the
visible universe from nothing by speaking it into existence. (Genesis 1:3-5
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he
separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the
darkness “night.”) The problem with this understanding of scripture is that the
One True God is the only being in all existence who ever created anything out
of nothing. (Revelation 4:1111 “You are worthy, O Lord
our God, to receive glory and honor and power For you created all things, and
they exist because you created what you pleased.”) (Nehemia 9:6 Nehemiah 9:6
“You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the heavens and all
the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve
them all, and the angels of heaven worship you.)
The
damaging impact of adhering to this false understanding is that poor, needy,
downtrodden saints are confused and disillusioned when their positive
confessions of faith don’t manifest and they are still left with health
problems, financial difficulties, and lack of fulfillment within their lives.
Word of faith creates impossible expectations in which failure in any area of
life is demonized and we are deemed unworthy and faithless if we do not possess
enough faith to manipulate all of life’s circumstances to produce an ideal life
full of ease, comfort, and pleasure.
A
proper and balanced view of faith is that we can trust the Son of God for
eternal life. (1 John 5:13 I have written this to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have
eternal life.) However; life on earth during this age cannot be ideal because
of sin, a fallen world, and demonic activity. Throughout history; all of God’s children
have struggled with disappointment and distress within their earthly lives. How
do we expect to go to heaven on a road paved with ease, comfort, and pleasure
without trouble or disappointment?
Let
us pray: Dear Father in heaven; thank you for being the sovereign over our
lives and allowing or disallowing certain difficulties and burdens within our
lives. We trust you with our eternal souls and believe that the grace given
within your Son Jesus Christ is enough to overcome all of life’s difficulties
and trials; until we reach our heavenly home; In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
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