20120909-Judges- Time of Apostasy/ A different Micah

Judges 17:1" And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah"
Judges 17: 7" A young Levite from Bethlehem...came to Micah's house.."
Judges 18:1 "..In those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel"
Judges 19:1" ..there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim...concubine.." {Dan & Benjamin fight}

A Time of Apostasy Indeed
This Micah in Judges is not the minor prophet Micah.
Sadly, this Micah was a thief who stole from his mother, kind of repented and returned his money back to his mother. Yet his mother blessed him and used the money to make graven molten image! And so Micah had a house of gods, he made himself an ephod and teraphim and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. Well, Micah did what which was right in his own eyes as in those days there was no king in Israel. Not only that in 17:7, he even 'bought' himself a Levite young priest and let him stay in his house. He was only deceiving himself when he said in v13" Now I know that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest"

How does Dan come into the picture?
The Danites had not got their inheritance then.  They spied the land and came into this Levite staying with Micah. They took Micah's stuff - graven idols, ephods and made the Levite an offer! 18:19" Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us , and be to us a father and a priest; is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?"

Too tempting for the Levite. The offer was bigger and better! So he left with the Danites! The whole contingent fame to Laish and they built it down and renamed it Dan. Sinned all the way.  It is hence no wonder that in Rev 7, this tribe of Dan was not even mentioned among the 12 tribes! What a sorry state! Their name was left out in Rev7! 

Judges ended off with quite a gruesome story of rape and murder in chapter 19, leading to a fight between the 2 tribes Dan and Benjamin.

Such is the whole story of Judges - Sinned, Sold, Supplicate, Saved. A span of over 300 years of various judges raised to grant the land some peace.  But the people never learn.
Chapters 17 onwards showed a time of apostacy - a falling away of beliefs - both at personal level as well as corporate & national level.

Reflections
Does this sound familiar in our present times?
Do we have such people or pastors today like Micah of Ephraim? Or like the Levite who sold himself out to lead a bigger group  Or a type of tribe like Dan who led the whole squad in delusion?
The idolatory of building molten images is no different than today's idolatory of materialism and prosperity coveted by many. 
What is the standard of man versus God's standards? What is right and what is wrong? How do measure against the right plumbline?

Apostasy.  Leaving the fundamental faith. We are indeed destined to reign. But who are we reigning with? Let's pray that it would never be like Mammon Micah of Ephraim but another Micah - the one whose name means "Who is like Yawheh" or be the deluded Levite or in another dangerous situation - being in the so called tribe in Dan, embracing all they were doing, seemingly right religiously, but totally missing the whole point.

‘Prosperity is right. Amen’

 September 4th, 2012 |  Author: Online Press

(4 Sep) – At “Miracle-Seed Sunday” inSingapore’s New Creation Church last month, the pastor’s sermon was preceded by PowerPoint and video presentations, and donations were overseen by Deloitte & Touche LLP auditors.

Centuries after Catholics established missions in Asia, Singaporeans are flocking to a new species of churches making appeals more in common with “Material Girl” pop-singer Madonna than the Jesuits. Wearing a white leather jacket and jeans, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince asked God to reward a crowd of about 1,200 with houses, cars, jobs, pay raises and holidays if they contributed to New Creation’s multimillion-dollar funding drive.

Prince’s 24,000-strong flock belongs to a flourishing breed of churches from Houston to Sydney winning followers with a focus on personal well-being. As the rise of so-called mega churches helps make Christians the fastest-growing religious group in majority-Buddhist Singapore, their fundraising prowess is also making its mark, allowing groups including New Creation and City Harvest Church to invest in some of the island’s biggest commercial properties.

“Mega churches have been able to articulate Christianity in a very contemporary manner,” said Terence Chong, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies who has researched such groups. “Being able to adopt the language of pop culture, mass consumption — we think this appeals to the new middle class, people who are aspiring middle class.”

In a city state of 5.2 million people occupying a quarter of the area of Rhode Island, the mega churches stand out with their gatherings of thousands, near-celebrity leaders and outreach methods that range from magic shows and concerts to musical worship backed by electric guitars.

At the New Creation service, PowerPoint slides showed attendees how to write checks to the church, while armed security guards watched the cash. Worship and Holy Communion were followed by a video about a woman who donated on Miracle Seed Sundays even when her husband’s cancer treatments saddled the couple with debt. Images of a Volkswagen and a condominium showed the rewards that came to them for giving.

“As they come forth Lord to sow, release upon them Father the power to get, to create, to receive wealth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Prince said in the rented Rock Auditorium at the Suntec City Mall. “Prosperity is right. Amen. We prosper to prosper others. We prosper to prosper God’s kingdom, so come believing.”

The special session sought to raise funds for the church’s half of a S$976 million ($783 million) retail and entertainment complex, which includes a 5,000-seat auditorium. The venue, which will double as New Creation’s meeting place, is set to open in November with concerts by musician and producer David Foster and friends including Chaka Khan and Babyface, according to a statement from the theater.

Like the grandfather's clock above, here is the tick tock tick tock "awakening"...