Beware of deceit.
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and one in Dan—for the Children of
Israel to worship, and God was angry.
Jeroboam had caused the Children of
Israel to fall into idol worship, and the
man of God had been sent to deliver a
message of judgment from the Lord.
And it came to pass, when king
Jeroboam heard the saying of
the man of God, which had cried
against the altar in Bethel, that
he put forth his hand from the
altar, saying, Lay hold on him.
And his hand, which he put forth
against him, dried up, so that he
could not pull it in again to him.
And the king answered and said
unto the man of God, Intreat now
the face of the LORD thy God, and
pray for me, that my hand may
be restored me again. And the
man of God besought the LORD,
and the king’s hand was restored
him again, and became as it was
before (I Kings 13:4,6). One minute,
the king was ready to take hold
of that man of God; and the next
minute, he was begging him to pray
for him to receive a miracle.
Never Disobey the Lord
King Jeroboam was so happy to
receive his miracle that he invited
the man of God to his home to
receive a reward; but the man of God
answered, If thou wilt give me half
thine house, I will not go in with
thee, neither will I eat bread nor
drink water in this place: For so
was it charged me by the word of
the LORD, saying, Eat no bread,
nor drink water, nor turn again by
the same way that thou camest.
So he went another way, and
returned not by the way that he
came to Bethel (I Kings 13:8–10).
The man of God knew exactly what
the Lord had told him to do.
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An old prophet of Bethel heard
about what had happened between
the man of God and the king, and he
knew what God had commanded the
man of God to do; nevertheless, he
sought out the man of God and invited
him to his home. Again, the man
of God repeated the same thing he
had told the king—that the Lord had
commanded him not to eat, drink or
return the same way he had come.
Then the old prophet lied to the
man of God. He told him that he had
received word from the Lord through
an angel telling him to bring the man
of God back to his house to eat bread
and drink water. Unfortunately, the
man of God listened to the old prophet
and went with him. Afterward, the
Lord declared judgment on him for
disobeying His commandments. And
it came to pass, after he had eaten
bread, and after he had drunk,
that he saddled for him the ass, to
wit, for the prophet whom he had
brought back. And when he was
gone, a lion met him by the way,
and slew him (I Kings 13:24,25).
The Lord gives commandments
in His Holy Bible, and we are to obey
them no matter what someone else
tells us. If we do not obey them, the
end result will be death just like it was
for that man of God. For the wages
of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord (Romans 6:23).
Always Follow God’s Way
The Lord had given the man of
God three simple instructions—do not
eat bread; do not drink water, and do
not return the same way you came—
but he failed to do all three of those
things because he chose to believe an
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