“Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” (Daniel 5:24-31)

Notice in particular verse twenty-seven: “Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”

Belshazzar and his kingdom had been weighed in the balances and come up short. Now it was time to pay the fiddler. God took his kingdom from him and gave it to Darius the Mede.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 12:16-34 of a rich man who decided to build bigger barns for his possessions, with no thought of tomorrow. Notice in particular verses 20-21:

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Both Belshazzar and the rich man in this parable placed their trust in themselves and their possessions. Neither gave no thought of tomorrow, and for them, their tomorrows had run out. Most people today are doing the same thing.

Years of training are expended in our lives to communicate with each other, to learn a trade, to enjoy a hobby, but how much interest is devoted in our lives to meet God?

Two groups of people will meet God. They are: (1) all those who are not His and (2) all those who are. In other words, all will meet God, either for judgment or as a member of God’s family without judgment.

How much time in our lives does it take to be one of His? As long as it takes to put our faith, our belief, our trust in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Seconds? A moment? There is no need to spend years trying to gain an entrance into the family of God. Why? All the work has already been done by Jesus, and He finished the job nearly 2,000 years ago on a Roman cross. There is nothing else for us to do, but put our trust in Him and ask Him to save us. When we cross that milestone, we are His.

What about group one above (those who are not His)? How much time needs to be spent in their lives to remain apart from God? All they want. What action needs to be taken to avoid being adopted into the family of God? None.

So there you have it. To become a child of God only takes a moment in our life in which we call upon Him to save us by His grace and through His Son Jesus. From that point on, the rest of our life is spent in growing in our relationship with Jesus. If you don’t want God in your life, all it takes on your part is no action at all. Just do nothing.

Belshazzar and the rich man chose to do nothing. Then one day they both were “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” They left this world as “not one of His,” but with judgment hanging heavily over their heads. The next stop for them was hell to await the final judgment at the end of the Millennium. And there they wait.

To the contrary, the Philippian jailer that asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16:30 “what must I do to be saved?” is in Heaven today. Jesus took all his judgment. There is no judgment he will ever face. The same is true with the thief on the cross (Luke 23:32-43). In the short time it took for him to believe in Jesus who hung beside him on the cross next to his, he became a child of God. He is in Heaven today with Jesus.

When Belshazzar and the rich man are weighed in the balances, Jesus will not be there for them. They chose their way instead of God’s way, and are found wanting.

When the Philippian jailer and the thief on the cross are weighed in the balances, they are not found wanting, because Jesus took their place.

The fashion statement today is to say that there are many ways to God. Jesus said there is one way.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

Now the question is: Are you going to choose to spend eternity with Belshazzar and the rich man or the Philippian jailer and the thief on the cross?

Jesus has given us Himself. For those who come to Him, He has taken our place on the scales of judgment. He is coming again, soon. I believe very soon. Time is running out. Night is falling upon this world. The Church age will soon end.

As I previously stated, this dispensation is quickly coming to a close. The Church will soon be removed from this earth and transferred to Heaven, and then all those who are left behind will suffer under the most dreadful time period the earth has ever seen.

The scales of justice are about to tip. Do you want to avoid the judgment coming upon this world? You may, if you will.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

One final thought. It is my opinion that our country has been “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” Judgment is on the way, and it could be very soon. We, as a nation, have turned our back on God’s Son, and He will not stand for it. He is longsuffering, but have we crossed the line? I believe we have. As individuals though, we can still fall on our face before Him in repentance.

In part two I will continue with Weighed In The Balances from a national viewpoint.

 

Grant Phillips

The Mrs. and I have been occupied with interior work at the house for what seems like forever and I have been unable to get to our computer most of the time. Obviously, this has put me behind on the articles I write, but finally I am able to squeeze in some time.

I wrote an article last month titled “Another Gospel” of which most people followed my line of thought, but with no surprise, there were a few who zeroed in on one issue that was totally irrelevant.

The accusations were primarily that I supported Hank Hanegraaff, simply because I mentioned a book, one book, he wrote, and recommended it for reading since it pertained to my subject matter. I have written numerous articles, and those who have taken the time to read them should know I do not support everything Mr. Hanegraaff believes. I was even accused of speaking unfavorably of Billy Graham. I still haven’t figured out where that one came from.

Let me see if I can make this real simple for some of you. The subject matter of the article was about “another gospel by false prophets.” It had nothing to do with the Rapture, dispensations, replacement theology, or anything else. That was it; “another gospel by false prophets.” I even gave a few examples of my line of thought, as shown in the following paragraph from the article:

Some of the blasphemies these scoundrels spew from their venomous mouths strive to elevate themselves over God. For example they teach: Jesus is not God; We are gods; Jesus suffered in hell and battled Satan; God can do nothing without our permission; God lost His right to rule; We can speak into existence anything we want; God wants us to be rich; Jesus was rich; If we are sick or poor, it is because we lack faith; Our money to their ministry is “seed” faith; We can order Satan around; There are three gods; and on and on and on they go. This is just a sampling! It seems they each try to top their buddies by coming out with something even more ludicrous than what has been said beforehand by another of their kind.

Toward the end of the article I stated the following:

While writing this article, I came across a book on this very subject that I would recommend. It is called “Christianity in Crisis 21st Century” and it is written by Hank Hanegraaff. He goes into the specifics of what I have been warning about for a long time now and examines the false teachings of many of these false teachers with another gospel. In his book, many quotes from these false teachers are discussed.

I still recommend this book, not every book he wrote, but this one, for further reading for those who are interested. Does that mean that I agree with everything in the book? Of course not! You’re adults. Read the book. Check the information as best as you can. Compare what is said with God’s Word, the Bible, and let God guide your thoughts.

The “Dear Abby” column is in most all newspapers and is heavily slanted toward support of homosexuality and gay marriage, not to mention other atrocities. Does that mean you aren’t going to read another newspaper? Of course not! Does that mean you and I support all that we read in the newspaper? Of course not! Common sense people! Use it! I might recommend you read my hometown newspaper, but I certainly do not support much of what is written in it.

Mr. Hanegraaff and I do not agree on some issues, but I feel he is a Christian and understands how and why God saved him. I do not know the man, but he is my brother in Christ, I am not going to turn my back on him simply because we do not agree on some issues that are not of an eternal consequence, or just because a few people are so narrow minded.

This reminds me of all the attacks by Christians against one of their own when a book called The Harbinger was introduced. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Jonathan Cahn is a Christian and my fellow brother in Christ, even though I’ve never met him either, and what he had to say was well worth reading.

Instead of attacking the veracity of those who are truly Christians, we need to stop turning a blind eye from those who are nothing but charlatans and leading people away from Jesus Christ instead of toward Him.

The subject matter of “another gospel” and the false prophets delivering a false gospel that is not Christ’s Gospel is of extreme importance. Millions of people today are being duped into believing much of this garbage that is being shoveled out. Why is that? It is so because most of those who call themselves Christians are ignorant of God’s Word. They’re generally fine people, but many are blind to what God actually says. They wouldn’t know the truth of God’s Word if it bit them on the nose. For those who are not Christians and believing this nonsense, their eternal state may be at stake.

Now if I may, I’ll throw in a little end time “stuff.” We are in the last days of the Church Age. Some of the greatest signs that the Church Age is nearly over are apostasy, false prophets, false teachings, greed and indifference from alleged church leaders, etc. These so-called leaders are everywhere. They are in the pulpits, on the stage, on the television, on the radio, on the Internet, and they love to write books.

I have personally heard much of what has been said by these false prophets (teachers) mentioned in Mr. Hanegraaff’s book, and he didn’t address them all. There are too many. He mentioned some that “maybe” I would not have been as critical, and others he mentioned that I would have been even more so.

The false teachings coming from these snakes can only come from one source. That source is an evil heart being guided by sin and nudged forward by Satan’s influence.

Partly due to the saturation of false teachers in our society with another gospel, which is a false gospel, we are most definitely in the Laodicean age of the church. If you haven’t read Revelation 3:14-22 lately, maybe you should. It is a very clear photograph of our current spiritual condition in this country.

[Jesus said,] “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16)

Often these false prophets come across as God-fearing folks, but that isn’t the case. They always mix some truth in with their false teachings, and if you are not familiar with what the Bible actually says, you will likely become another one of their victims. They know what to say, and how to say it. They often use the righteous tone of voice that is normally accepted as being very Christ-like, but they are far from Christ. They take verses and even passages and twist them to their own perverted gospel. They are not of God! Beware of them!

The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Paul is saying the same thing that Jesus said. The false prophets are devious in portraying themselves as belonging to Christ, but they do not. Satan also masquerades as a Christian, if I may put it plainly, but we all know, or should know, where he stands.

Paul told Timothy, his protégé, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NKJV).

This is EXACTLY what has happened today. Another gospel sounds so much nicer to the ear than the gospel which says that we are condemned without true faith in Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the only way to God, that there is no other way, that God is in charge and He will have His way regardless. In other words, the true Word of God is found in His book He provided for us; i.e. the Bible, not from the mouths of arrogant apostates.

My dear friends, Jesus was not rich while on earth. His desire is not for us to be materially rich (even though some may be) but spiritually rich.

Our physical healing is not nearly as important as our spiritual healing. By His stripes we are healed … spiritually, if we will just repent and believe.

God is in absolute control of everything, and it is by His grace that we are saved.

Jesus did not suffer in hell. It was finished at the cross. He said so.

Jude wrote a very short book, but what a punch it packs. He said, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts” (Jude 17-19).

Many, many, many of the so-called spokesmen (and women) of today who say they speak for Jesus, are lying to you. They mock God, and if they do not repent and call upon Jesus to save their souls, they will spend eternity in hell. There may be even some who are Christians, but are out of God’s will. Their soul is secure, but they are inviting the Father to take them out to the woodshed, and they will have no reward in heaven.

Folks, just because these false teachers may look nice, wear nice clothes, have the “churchy” smile, provide beautiful music, pray, and maybe even produce a tear now and then, does not mean they are of God. Their father is Satan.

Jesus says of them, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not” (John 8:44-45).

The Pharisees, Sadducees, false prophets, scribes and hypocrites of yesterday are the false teachers of today. They will lead you away from God, not toward Him. Beware of another gospel.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-10, ESV).

 

Grant Phillips