SONS OF BELIAL
By Adesoji Fasanya
NB
- All Scripture are quoted from the King James Version except otherwise stated
- Image sourced from Wikipedia.
I know how catchy the title of this piece sounds. I promise that it’s not a clickbait title but a title that captures the pain and urgency in my heart.
A few days ago, I had a vision that left me with so much heartache. I saw a preacher and he was famous in the vision that I saw but he taught heresy and perverted the truth of God’s word. Yet he had so much follower-ship and built a system of hypocrisy and lies; selfishly sitting and perverting the hunger of young and ignorant people to his selfish desires and cravings. He gave in to so much lust and the power of it that he became a house of demons. He feasted with demons till he could no longer and I saw seven ugly-looking demons seeking his destruction.
For days, I was praying and seeking the face of God until I found one of Pauline’s instructions to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV). Those who will fall prey to deceitful spirits and demonic doctrines will fall “through the hypocrisy of liars” or according to ESV, “through the insincerity of liars”. What Paul is insinuating is that deceitful or hypocritical living is attractive to demonic forces and anyone who sustains such an insincere lifestyle qualifies to be a channel of opportunistic demonic oppression and forces into such a life and others who are under such a tutelage.
What is the hypocrisy of liars?
It is not to be found lying but to be found living in falsehood and justifying such a life to the degree that one develops a system that accommodates the proliferation of such false and deceptive living.
We found such a lifestyle with the Pharisees and Jesus told them that they were of their father, the devil (John 8:44). But they weren’t the only ones, let’s go further into the Old Testament.
In 1 Samuel 2:12, the sons of Eli were called the sons of Belial. Why? In their craftiness, they developed a system to disrupt the principles of Divine trust that were established for the priest. The custom was that the priest was to dip the fork inside the pot while his eyes were fixed on the expanse of the sky and whatever comes up will be his portion for the day. However, Eli’s sons taught if they demanded raw meat, the servants would have to send choice meats to the priest. Inadvertently, building a system that is anti-divine principles.
In Judges 19:22, we read about certain men of Gibeah called sons of Belial, who demanded that they wanted to defile another man’s wife. They had their way but it led to a civil war in Israel.
In 1 Samuel 25:25, we read about Nabal who was called a son of Belial because he dealt shrewdly with people and in this case, David.
The list goes on, but what is consistent with all of them is “selfish expressions”; sustaining a pattern of self-centeredness in direct opposition to Divine principles. For instance, in 1 Samuel 30:22, a certain son of Belial wanted the spoil of battle to be just for soldiers who fought and soldiers who defended the base shouldn’t take part of the spoil. It felt reasonable except that it was an excuse to be selfish. He wanted to build a system of falsehood without sincerity of heart.
Showing a similitude of truth while wallowing in the hypocrisy of deception and falsehood is attractive to demons and these ugly-looking creatures can take advantage of this lifestyle of deception, building a strong network of demonic oppression, they will afflict those who are not discerning enough to be subjected to their vices and manipulation.
This very thing was what the preacher in the vision earlier was given to. I, therefore, write this with caution to every young person with a hunger for God to be discerning and careful not to be like Abigail (a woman of understanding and uprightness who lived with a man of loves wickedness and built his wealth on the back of evil — Nabal).
I also write this with a sense of warning to everyone who has a level of influence over others to be careful and self-reflect often, so that they can catch self in its wit and when it’s trying to proliferate and also mortify it because self, if left untamed will grow into sin and sin into death. This is why Paul said, “Judgment will begin in the house of God”.
We therefore pray that by the Holy Spirit, we are wise in all discernment and we receive the help of God’s Spirit in dealing with traces of flesh and fleshy desires. Amen.
Historically, the Dead Sea Scrolls found amongst the Qumran community show that Belial is the opposer of everything Yahweh. He is a timeless adversary, a leader of anti-theistic forces who will be destroyed at the eschatological end time. He was not simply an adversary to be defeated, but rather, a supernatural force opposite from and nearly equal to God.
Some OT version translates “Belial” as worthless, this is because the root word can also mean ruin or destruction. This goes to show the level of ruin or worthlessness that oozes from anyone who sustains a deceptive or falsehood lifestyle with a seared conscience — a conscience that can no longer police them into holding firm godly principles.
Sons of Belial are sons of worthlessness and ruin; sons of destruction and evil; men and women given to self and fleshy desires, not that they fall occasionally into temptation of lust but they live consistently in it without remorse to the degree that they’ve now built a system that permits them to live in such falsehood away from the eyes of others — hypocrisy at its peak!
Let me conclude by reiterating that THE KING IS COMING with judgement and justice.
Shalom 🤗
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