It is possible to inherit lies, that is, to believe in something just because your father and his father (and so on) did. Jeremiah 16 refers to today’s regathering of the Jews to their own land as greater than their exodus from Egypt under Moses. Verse 19 says, “the Gentiles shall come to [the LORD] from the ends of the earth and say: “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanities, and things wherein is no profit. Verse 20: “Shall a man make gods unto himself and they are not gods?”
The question we must ask ourselves is, “What lies might I have inherited without question?” I am not a revisionist. I think that most of what we have inherited from godly men and women down through the history of the Church has been a great blessing. But more reading of scripture and a bit more introspection never hurt anyone. I would hate to be a passer of inherited lies — even if they were just errors. Better to uncover them ourselves than to be informed of them by someone we would least expect.
“God stands in the congregation of the mighty.” In Old Testament times the “mighty” were the judges or magistrates. In those days there was no separation between the civil law and the religious law: they were one and the same. Today the “congregation” is composed of those who believe the words of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Verse 2 reads: “He judges among the gods.” (Hebrew “elohim” — see Exodus 22:28) God accuses the judges of favouring the rich over the poor. He exhorts them to defend the poor and the orphaned by delivering them out of the clutches of the wicked. These days, those who judge seem to think more of the future of the offender than that of the victim. Progressive liberalism has infiltrated the minds of the children of those who were influenced by Woodstock, LSD and flower-power. When the power of the Spirit of God falls, these influences will be seen for the demonic attractions they were and still are, and will be rejected by the grandchildren of this deceived generation.
Psalm 82:6: “I have said, You are gods [magistrates that stand in God’s stead and make decisions on His behalf], and all of you are children of the Most High.” Then God pronounces His judgement of the crooked and unjust judges (verse 7): “But you shall die like [ordinary] men…” Now hear this: If you are a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not called to fraternise socially with the rich and famous, or to tack with the prevailing winds of popular opinion, or to compromise God’s message when interviewed on television by ungodly, so-called celebrities. Paul the apostle wrote to the Christians at Corinth that those who were unruly and divisive were “carnal” and “walked as men” (1 Corinthians 2:3). They were men, of course, but should have been spiritual and walked as Jesus walked in the world. The psalmist concludes with the words, “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.” Hear these words: “The court will now rise!” See Jesus the Judge take the place of the appointed but disgraced “gods”! Hear the word of the LORD: “Woe unto those who all evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) There’ll be no wrist-slaps on Judgement Day.
We believe our natural and ecclesiastical “fathers” because “they must know” but that’s not always true. Jesus said the traditions of the fathers had made God’s Law ineffective. Many religious cults came into being when people perceived that incorrect things were being taught in Christian churches. The cult leaders added their own particular errors, but they focus on errors in church tradition. “The church is wrong about this and this and this”, they say. Well, they are right about some things, but even a broken clock is right twice a day — but never three times.