The Scourge of Seduction!

If you’ve been around Church folks for any length of time, you may have heard about Balaam, the prophet whose donkey protested being hit with a rod three times. In furious response, Balaam swore he’d have killed the animal if he had a sword in his hand. It’s amazing what anger can do to someone’s intellect. If your dog stared into your eyes and demanded that you stop mistreating it, would you threaten, or be stunned that an animal talked to you in a human voice?

But what was Balaam so furious about anyway?

Greedy for Filthy Lucre

In the Authorized version of the New Testament, the wording ‘filthy lucre’ appears five times. Paul used it four times, twice in his epistles to Timothy and twice to Titus. Peter used the same phrase one time. In every instance, it’s a warning against eying monetary gain as the incentive for religious service!

As Israel journeyed from Egyptian captivity, they came to Moabite territory. Moabites and their Midianite neighbors were very scared that Israel would dispossess them and take their land. So, Balak, king of Moab summoned Balaam, a Midianite prophet to curse Israel.

…And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “A people went out from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they dwell next to me. ⁶ And now, please come curse this people for me because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I will prevail, and we will defeat them, and I will drive them out of the land because I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” ⁷ The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went with the divination payments in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak… ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Please, let nothing hold you back from coming to me, ¹⁷ because I will promote you to very great honor, and anything you say to me I will do. Come please, curse this people for me.’” (Numbers 22:4-7, 16-17 ~MEV)

This great Bible documentary covers three chapters of the Book of Numbers from 22^nd to 24^th, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. Before Balaam set out to meet Balak, God strictly warned him not to go! But the prophet was so enthralled by the king’s gifts, he was determined to go. When he eventually set out, an angel withstood him and would have killed him had his donkey not intervened to save its master.

Reflecting on that episode, Peter wrote a hard-worded-epistle warning folks against self-delusion.

¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and have gone astray. They follow the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness, ¹⁶ but who was rebuked for his iniquity. The mute donkey speaking with a man’s voice constrained the madness of the prophet.¹⁷ These men are wells without water and clouds that are carried by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. ¹⁸ For when they speak arrogant words of vanity, they entice by the lusts of the flesh and by depravity those who barely escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ Although they promise them freedom, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by that which a man is overcome, to this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn back from the holy commandment that was delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and “the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mud.” (~2 Peter 2:15-22 MEV)

That amazing story gives us a glimpse of a religious man so blinded by greed he couldn’t think straight. As the prophet salivated for a chance to cash in on his religious privilege, God warned him that nobody could curse what He had blessed! A hateful opponent could not reverse God’s blessings over Israel. That is also true regarding every child of God. However, when Balaam realized that he could not curse Israel, he contrived a strategy by which Israelites could destroy themselves—illicit sex!

The Folly of Self-delusion

In His address to Pergamos, one of the seven Churches of Asia Minor, Jesus reveals what Balaam did. “…I have a few things against you: You have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.” ~Revelation 2:14 (MEV)

When Balaam could not personally invoke curses against God’s people, he set traps against them. Using Midianite women, he enticed Israel to sexual sin. And having made lovers out of enemies, Israeli men followed prostitutes into Baal temples, like oxen to slaughterhouses!

¹While Israel dwelt in Shittim, the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ² They called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ Israel joined himself to the Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was inflamed against Israel. (Numbers 25:1-3 ~MEV)

The allure was so intoxicating that God commanded Moses to kill those who’d engaged in such depravity. As Moses led many in weeping over Israel’s predicament, a son of a prominent Israeli elder escorted a Midianite prostitute to his tent in full view of everyone!

⁷ When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the assembly and took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stopped from the children of Israel. ⁹ Those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. (Numbers 25: 7-9 ~MEV)

The Bait of Satan

Just as monetary greed drove Balaam’s motivations, the allure of harlotry drew Israelite men to a national disaster. Twenty-four thousand lives were lost in one day! Do you get the point? Israel brought upon themselves the curse that gangs of determined foes could not! What the Moabite king could not achieve through sorcery, Israeli men brought upon their own people. They were fixated at gratifying short term pleasures of sexual lust. In the epistle of James, we read: –

¹² Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil; neither does He tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death. (James 1:12-15 ~MEV)

Satan is forever set on destroying people’s lives. Sex perversion has been one of his best tools, since antiquity. Nonetheless, hell’s cohorts have no capacity to curse God’s people because they can’t reverse divine blessings. Yet, as in the story we’ve referenced, someone can use his/her God-given freewill to self-destruct! Self-destructive tools are all over the place. That’s why seductive popups jump out at you from television and other electronic gadgets, social media sites and so on. Sex perversion is a major tool in the destruction of people’s lives. Sex is a multibillion-dollar criminal ‘industry’ if you can call it that. The pain and misery it has inflicted on countless families and individuals is simply immeasurable.

Every time you read of a missing child, chances are that the poor kid has been sold as a sex slave! Even those who enter the sex trade on their own volition quickly regret it and wish they could regain their innocence. But they are trapped by tyrants they cannot rid themselves of. There’s nothing fun or enjoyable about abuse, and the cheap sex that’s advertised through pornography and other deceptive forums is just that—ABUSE! Pornography not only degrades people who God created to be loved and cherished, it also invites demonic hordes to enslave minds with filthy obsessions that are hard to eliminate. Whatever you enter into by duress you cannot relinquish at will! Whatever you cannot forsake at will has made you its slave. That is the definition of bondage!

For anyone who has been hooked, all is not lost. God still delivers captives. While it’s a painful process that takes time and effort, fight for your freedom, even if you must die fighting! This article isn’t intended for folks needing deliverance, but for those toying with dangerous proclivities. I pray these words speak to someone’s heart. As the apostle Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” (Acts 2:40 ~NLT)