Deuteronomy 13: 1 – 18
We’re Non-Prophet
13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. 6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you. 12 “If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13 ‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— 14 then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. 16 And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. 17 So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, 18 because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
You might be thinking that I misspelled the topic when I listed it as ‘We’re Non Prophet.’ You might have thought did you mean ‘Non-profit’? No, the words that I listed are exactly what I meant to say.
But since we all are probably associated in a church body somewhere. The factor that churches face is twofold; First of all did you church register and qualify as a non-profit religious organization. Secondly, did they apply and was granted tax exemption. So, before we move on to today’s scripture, let’s take a look at these two areas.
A great question to consider is this, ‘Are nonprofit and tax-exempt statuses the same?’
No, but they are closely related. Nearly all organizations that are nonprofit wish to be tax-exempt as well, so the terms are often confused. Many charitable organizations, for example, are nonprofit organizations and are recognized by the federal government as being tax-exempt. But becoming nonprofit and becoming tax-exempt are different processes, done at different times (usually), and by different government agencies.
So, if you are considering starting a church this information might be quite useful for you. If this does not interest you then skip down a few paragraphs and join me in the study of today’s scripture.
A first important distinction to make is that granting nonprofit status is done by the state, while applying for tax-exempt designation (such as 501(c)(3), the charitable tax-exemption) is granted by the federal government in the form of the IRS.
To apply for federal tax-exemption, you need to have been granted nonprofit status first. Further, not all nonprofits are eligible to be tax-exempt.
Let's look at each term individually.
Nonprofit status
A nonprofit organization in its simplest variation is any organization for which those who control or support it do not earn a profit. This doesn't mean that a nonprofit can't make a profit--quite the contrary is true. A nonprofit organization can produce goods and services, and it can earn a profit while doing so. It can even invest those profits (in the stock market, for example) in hopes of earning more money. However, all of the money made must go back into the organization - there is no "profit sharing" among members. Generally speaking, these organizations don't have any owners.
This is one reason that nonprofits are known more and more commonly as "not-for -profits." They may make a profit to help them stay in business, but making money is not their reason for being.
Individual states, and not the federal government, grant official nonprofit status. They may do so in slightly different ways, and give slightly different advantages for obtaining it. However, the federal government can recognize your nonprofit status. If you want to apply for tax-exemption, for example, you must be recognized as nonprofit by the federal government.
There are three types of nonprofit organizations that are recognized for this purpose by the federal government:
A corporation
An unincorporated organization
A trust
Becoming a corporation is perhaps the most common choice for community organizations. For incorporation, the organization must be structured according to specific state laws. These laws include having a "creating document" commonly known as the articles of incorporation, and rules of operation which are commonly known as bylaws. Usually, there is a board of directors and officers, and state laws (usually) limit the liability of members in varying degrees.
Often, incorporation is the best choice for a community organization. Part of this is simply a matter of perception, or of comfort, of the people with whom you work. People are familiar with corporations; they're used to working with them, and often perceive corporations as serious and dependable. Also, the limitations on personal liability mentioned above can be quite helpful.
Basically, the personal liability protection means that if someone feels the organization or one of its members has harmed him, only the organization may be sued, and not individual members if you have this protection. For example, if a potential employee feels she has not been hired because she is hearing-impaired, she can sue the organization as a whole, but not the person who interviewed her. Likewise, if the organization's director gets in an accident and hurts a passerby on the way to a coalition meeting, the organization, but not the director, may be sued.
It's important to note, however, that the limits of this liability do vary from state to state, and you should be aware of the laws that govern what you do. There may be circumstances in which directors or members of corporations may face personal liability. Some insurance companies offer additional insurance for directors and officers of nonprofit corporations.
An unincorporated organization is a group much like a corporation, and often has similar bylaws and purposes. Although the name seems to suggest otherwise, it is still a formal structure with an official structure. However, a constitution or other policies may take the place of the articles of incorporation, and there is no protection against personal liability. Additionally, much less reporting to the state occurs.
A trust generally has more narrow interests than a corporation or an unincorporated group. Many laws which govern trusts are created with charitable trusts (i.e, groups that give away money) in mind. Because of this, becoming a trust is rarely appropriate for a community group.
Federal tax-exempt status
Organizations that are exempt from federal taxes are described sections in the United States Tax Code. The best known type of tax-exemption is 501(c)(3), also known as the "charitable tax exemption." This designation allows exemption from federal corporate and income taxes for most types of revenue. Also, organizations designated as 501(c)(3) are able to solicit tax deductible contributions. 501(c)(3) is most appropriate for many community organizations, and (except where indicated otherwise) it will be used interchangeably with the term tax-exempt for the remainder of this section.
However, before we move on, we should mention that there are a total of 26 exemptions under the tax code for different purposes, and some community organizations might find one of them more appropriate.
Generally, an organization becomes tax-exempt by applying for the status. This is a fairly long process. The application form (Form 1023 for 501(c)(3) organizations; Form 1024 for others) is approximately 30 pages, and the IRS suggests that it (1023) will take about eight hours to complete--and that's after you have done record keeping (on expenses, revenue, and the like) and learned the law. It usually takes several months to be granted status.
However, several weeks after you complete and mail the forms, the IRS will send you a letter saying your status is "pending." This letter is usually enough proof for funders and others who might require proof of your exempt status.
When status is granted, the IRS will send a "letter of determination" that your organization can then use to prove its tax-exempt status on a more permanent basis. You might need the letters to show to foundations when applying for a grant, for example, or when you are applying for state tax-exemption.
Today we are not going to discuss any further non-profits but we are going to learn about ‘non prophets’. Our Holy Lord Yahweh wants us all to know that there will be forces that try to counter any work we attempt to do for our Great God. The enemy of our souls will send into your company his messengers. They will attempt to cause all kinds of havoc to cause disruption in your work for the Lord. Today, he is going to mention about false prophets who insert themselves into your fellowship. Our Lord wants us to be aware of this happening.
I should point out that it didn’t just occur way back in Moses’ time. This type of sabotage has been an active cancer that affects the house of the Lord throughout the ages. Paul the apostle warned his friends and church leaders this in the book of Acts chapter 20, “27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
This chapter continues the closing theme in chapter 12 where emphasis has been laid on observing the word given by God to Moses. It warns against those who would seek to lead men astray from that word by various means. The chapter begins with how to deal with false prophets who come from their midst with signs and wonders (verses 1-5), goes on to deal with family members and close friends who may seek to use their influence to lead their family astray (verses 6-11), and finally ends with how to deal with cities led astray, not by foreigners, but by worthless people ‘in your midst’, that become bastions of idolatry so that men are led astray by persuasive leaders and popular opinion (verses 12-18). These were the three major influences on their spiritual lives, preachers, family and environment. They must ensure that they were not led astray by any of them.
The emphasis in all three cases on the fact that this was ‘the enemy within’ explains the harshness of the sentences. They should know better. They were acting as traitors ‘in the midst’. And in times of emergency, as this would be, such people could only be dealt with in one way, by death. The purity of Israel could depend on it.
For the Christian the lesson is that we also must beware lest we be led by such people or such influences away from ‘the simplicity which is in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 11.3). There is only one test of truth, the words that come from God.
13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
The danger warned against here is that people might come with impressive ‘signs and wonders’ and pose as prophets, or dreamers of significant dreams which they claimed, and even believed, to come from a divine source. They might point to signs and wonders that were coming, or that they performed (compare Matthew 24.24). These might for example include eclipses, or interpretations of weather conditions, or some manufactured situation brought about by conjuring or ‘magic’ (compare Exodus 7.11, 22; 8.7, 18). They may arise through bold claims which are fulfilled by some coincidence, or from some cleverly manufactured situation, or from some unknown phenomenon which could be explained given all the facts. Or it may be by means of ‘spiritual healings’ which were really psychosomatic (the result of the effect of the mind on the body. The body can be strongly affected by the mind).
Please notice the reference statement ‘Which you have not known.’ This has a dual aspect to it. First of all it may indicate an attempt to arouse interest by introducing something new. They were, said their proponents, unknown, powerful gods (Acts 17.21. While these were not Greek intellectuals many people who are not intellectuals also cannot resist novelty). Secondly Moses is pointing out that they had no practical experience of such gods. They have not ‘known’ them by experiencing what they can do. How foolish then it would be to trust in them and follow them. On the other hand they did know through experience what Yahweh could do, for He had already done it. They knew precisely how powerful He was. Let them therefore look only to Him. To turn from the One Whom they knew through long experience, to supposed gods whose credentials were totally unknown, would be totally inexcusable. This point is made by Moses again and again
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God Is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The point is now made that it is important not to listen to those who come with anything that contradicts what God has said, and especially when what He has said has been stated plainly, even though they come with signs and wonders and extraordinary dreams. God does allow such things to happen as He did with Balaam (although He does not deliberately act to bring them about) in order to test whether we will follow His word closely. But those who love God with all their heart and soul will soon discern truth from falsehood.
We are reminded again that ‘love’ is the true covenant response. The Christian looks not to outward signs, but to the witness within of the Spirit to His word (1 John 2.20, 27). Those who are true speak what is true (1 John 4.1-2), and those who are true hear what is true. Some of these wonderworkers will be such that if it were possible they would even deceive them, but thankfully that is not possible (Matthew 24.24), for they look to His word (in this case the word of Moses) and judge all by that.
4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
Please look and see the contrast with verse 5 - ‘You’ on the one hand, and ‘that prophet’ on the other. This is how the believer can keep on the true path, by wholehearted loyalty. By walking after Yahweh his God, by fearing Him, by keeping His commandments, by obeying His voice, by serving Him, by cleaving to Him. They are to be like sheep who diligently follow the shepherd. As our Lord Jesus said, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and none shall pluck them from My hand’ (John 10.27-28). Such will never be led astray by false teaching.
This is a good description of different aspects of the Christian life;
. ‘Walk after God.’ Our lives are to be a daily walk with Him as He walks with us through the day.
. ‘Fear’ - we could do with a little more of the fear of God.
. ‘Keep His commandments.’ We must observe them and do them.
. ‘Obey His voice.’ We must ever be open to His prompting, and sensitive to what He requires, sensitivity acquired by reading His word and by worship.
. ‘Serve Him.’ This includes both worship and doing His will. We must never forget that we are servants.
. ‘Cleave to Him.’ This involves true responsive love and not allowing anything else to come between us and God.
The prophet or dreamer of dreams who seeks to lead them to worship false gods shall be put to death for urging rebellion against their Lord. This was always the sentence on traitors. The greatness of their offence is stressed by the reminder of the gratitude that they should have had for their Lord. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt delivering them by a mighty hand, and had redeemed them from the house of bondage. How then can they now turn against Him? The stress on ‘redemption’ emphasizes how He had exercised His power on their behalf. They had much to be grateful for.
The evils in mind were considered to be so serious that the death sentence was usually required. Evil was put away by carrying out Yahweh’s sentence, and Moses wants them to see how important the putting away of that evil was.
6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,
However close the relationship of the person (and all had a responsibility to protect their close relatives), and however dear the person might be, if they sought to entice them in secret to follow any other gods of any kind, whether gods of neighbors or gods from afar, even to the ends of the earth, they were to be put to death at the instigation of the whole people. It does not refer to just a speculative comment in private which could easily be brushed aside with a stern rebuke, but a persistent effort, even within the privacy of the family circle.
8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
The offence is so serious that they must in no circumstances listen to them, nor must they conceal the matter, nor must they have pity. ‘You shall surely kill him.’ That is, begin the procedures that will lead to his death, and take part in the execution, as would be required of a witness. This was not a requirement to kill them there and then. It was not in the end a private matter. It affected the whole community. They must denounce them and have them put to death by public execution. There must be a proper enquiry.. The witnesses always had to lead the way in stoning). The offenders must be stoned with stones (because ‘untouchable’) because they have sought to lead them into treachery against their Lord Who has done so much for them.
11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
The purpose of this was so that all Israel might be aware of it, and might fear, and avoid such wickedness. It is the severity of the offence rather than the desire for punishment that is being stressed. In fact it was rarely carried out as far as we know, partly because in the first instance the warning worked, and then later because of general apathy. But all must be aware of the seriousness of the crime. It was a capital offence.
It is a reminder to us that we must never play around with sin, but put it from us immediately, especially if that sin directly involves our obedience to Christ, and that if others seek to lead us astray we should separate ourselves from their influence.
12 “If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13 ‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— 14 then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. 16 And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again.
The same was to be true for any city in Israel that turned after idolatry. It must not be tolerated. But note the extensiveness of the enquiry that should be made first. This was no place for hasty judgments. ‘Enquire -- search -- ask diligently.’ It must not be done on the basis of a rumor, but only after intensive investigation. All that was in that city must be devoted to Yahweh, and destroyed, and the city itself made a ruin never to be rebuilt because it was tainted with blasphemy. The offence was so great that all that was connected with it must be destroyed.
The general principle behind these words should be noted, that no judgment must be passed without a fair hearing. To judge someone summarily and without fair consideration is to follow the Evil One, and sadly too many Christians, and even ministers, do it. Someone made this wise statement regarding churches today, ‘They put out of their churches individuals that they should have ministered to and minster to those they should have put out.’
What an important general principle is established here for us. If you ‘hear tell’ you must not do anything without a thorough investigation. That is one difference between gossip and truth. Gossip is mischievously passing on rumors. Truth is something not spoken about until full enquiry has been made. The amount of harm which would have been prevented if only Christians and Christian leaders and others had taken this to heart is inestimable.
Once the thing was proved the sentence must be carried out. The contamination was so great that the guilty were to be slain, their cattle destroyed, their goods burned with fire. All had been defiled. It was as though they had the plague. It was to be given back to Yahweh in the most devastating way. It was to be handed over to Him. It was to be ‘devoted’. Nothing must be saved from it. It was forever to be a heap of testimony to what had been done.
17 So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, 18 because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
Not a single thing must be saved from the destruction, and above all no one must be tempted to take anything for themselves (compare Joshua 7). They must not let anything cleave to them. All was tainted. It must be devoted to Yahweh in order to cleanse the land. Then Yahweh would not need to come and exact justice on a rebellious and tainted land.
We are to recognize that we are as much guilty for sin that we allow, as for sin that we commit. Unless we have done what we could to be rid of it we are equally guilty.
When we respond and hate sin like our Pure and Holy God does and obey His word then like He said to the Israelites we will obtain mercy. compassion, and He will multiply you’, indicating complete vindication. They will not share in the guilt of the city. And they and we will find that Our Holy Father Lord God Is as gracious as He was before. He will neither punish the innocent nor clear the guilty. He will continue to fulfill His covenant. Amen, thank you Blessed Lord Jesus.
