Asleep In The Lap Of Delilah: by Len Paxton
Lets read in Judges 16:15-19
15And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
16And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;
17That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
18And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
19And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
To me, this is a perfect picture of the modern church. Asleep in the lap of those who would destroy her by their false and pernicious doctrines.
Delilah is “The Word of Faith message” “The Government of 12 message” The “Purpose Driven deception” and the “Prosperity Cults”. Also, the psychological message and the false holiness message would fall under the Delilah category. So would the modern false prophetic movement and scores of other “fads” out there today.
So many in the church have fallen asleep and do not even know that the true power of God is absent from so much of what we call church. This is exactly what the scripture says in verse 20: 20And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
The true power of Almighty God only comes when the correct message is being preached and that message is Christ and Him crucified. Any other message will be empowered to deceive by demon spirits. Many in todays pulpits are actually anointed by the devil to deceive and scores are following them as idols. We have allowed the church to go to sleep in the lap of our seductive enemy because we have not lifted our voices and brought a true word and correction from God. For far too long we “
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.” (Rev 2:20-21) and the results have been tragic to say the least.
So many are so groggy with slumber that they love their favorite pulpit personality far more than they love Jesus… Thousands accept anything they hear their idols say without ever looking at a Bible. Many run all over the world looking to get a “word” while ignoring “The Word” of God that has gathered dust for years…. Others only bother to look at those verses that they have twisted to promise them “their best life now” and ignore God’s true message; the message of the cross.
Many idol preachers of today give the impression they no longer need Jesus, The Cross, The Blood, The Word, or The Holy Spirit. After all, they have memorized the 12 steps to happiness and if you send them a thousand dollars, they will teach you to do so also.
Read what Jesus said about them in Rev.3:15-19
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The true riches; the true power of God will be found only in who Jesus is and what He did at the Cross.
Masses of people in the church have fallen asleep in the lap of Delilah and have exchanged the power of God for a cheap, psychological thrill and a few goose bumps. These other messages (any message that is not the cross) have an allurement and excitement to them because there are demon spirits involved with them. Any message that is not the message of the cross is “another Jesus” promoted by “another spirit” and forms ” another gospel”. (2 Cor.11:4)
The sad fact is that while all the hoopla is going on in most churches, Jesus is standing outside knocking on the hearts door trying to get invited in.
20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.(Rev 3:20-22)
When will the sleeping church hear the knocking of the precious Savior? Will she ever be aroused from her slumber of sleep. You know, some never will because they love their idols more, far more than Jesus. But God does have a remnant that will hear us as we begin to lift up Christ and Him Crucified.
Our problem has been many times we have been to afraid to rock the boat when God has called us to tip it over. We have cried for “unity” but unity that is Biblical must be based on truth. We have been silenced and put to shame by liberals who ardently seek to further their demonic agenda while we try to be polite and let our Jesus get trampled by their unworthy feet. Yes, we have indeed been asleep but I hear a going in the tops of the mulberry trees…. I can hear the sound of an abundance of true, Holy Spirit rain coming… Thanks to Sonlife Broadcasting and hundreds of cross preaching churches springing up all around the world; the Holy Ghost is sounding His last days alarm clock.. A Holy Remnant will be aroused just prior to the coming of Jesus.. I plan to be a part of that Remnant, how about you friend? Will you cast aside all idols (including your favorite preachers) if they are not preaching the cross? Will you stop worshiping the Copelands and Hagins and Meyers and Capps; and all the others who are preaching a man made, man centered gospel? Can you handle being corrected by the word of the Cross? Many cannot. They will perish in the coming storm. Where will you be?
When the church embraces the message of the cross, which is the true message of the Bible, then we will see true miracles, healings, and deliverances. I would rather have 1 miracle that is genuine and from the power of God than 50 lying wonders performed by demons to deceive. The only true power of God will come when and if the cross is being preached… All else is a lie.. all else is as sawdust in our mouths.. We need a real move of God instead of this hype and man powered “move(s)” we have thought was God. We cry for an unction from the Holy One…. It will ONLY come when the Church once again worships the Jesus of THE CROSS…… Many have been and are worshiping a “Jesus” that their own minds have invented… The real Jesus; The Jesus of the Bible, is the Jesus of the Cross… Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done at the Cross…. that is what we need and desperately crave,whether we know it or not……
I encourage you today to put away your idols.. I can encourage you to do it but God demands that you do it. Serve only the real Jesus of the Bible. Reject those who have exploited and made merchandise of you… Cling to the cross with every fiber of your being.. Run to the cross… Jesus, The real Jesus, will meet you there.
God bless
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