Monday, January 27, 2014

Why "do not touch My anointed ones" is A Verse That Should Not Be Used Today to Silence Dissenters





The following is an excerpt of the new book Twisted Scripture, Twisted Theology by Brannon Howse. In this book Brannon untwists 42 of the most commonly twisted scriptures. Download your copy of this EBook now here:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/store/product.php?SessionID=&CustomerID=0&ProductID=2115 [2]


The Scripture: Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.

The Twist: I have had Psalm 105:15 used against me many times when writing or speaking against pastors such as Joel Osteen or Rick Warren, who are false teachers. I’ve also seen it invoked when someone simply disagrees with his or her pastor and someone in the church tries to manipulate or intimidate the “dissident” into silence by using Psalm 105:15 out of context.

     The problem is this: We are called to expose false teaching and false teachers. Romans 16:17 commands, “Mark those who are contrary to doctrine and avoid them.” To mark them you have to identify them, and to avoid them you have to know whom you’re avoiding. However, in today’s politically correct world, we are often told we are not to judge. As we will see in another chapter, even this is completely unbiblical.

Many self-professing Christians will tell you that you are not to speak out against false teachers because they believe these false teachers are anointed of God. That, of course, is their first problem, isn’t it? These people believe that a false teacher is proclaiming truth, is anointed of God, and that God approves of his message. But God does not approve of false teachers. He makes it clear in His Word what He thinks about false teachers. In Matthew 7, Jesus says that many of these false teachers, on the Day of Judgment, are going to say to Him, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name?” And He is going to answer, “Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.” With that, the Lord God will cast them into the darkness where there is the gnashing of teeth.

False teachers convince people to believe spiritual lies. As a result, their followers will defend the false teachers and say things such as “How dare you speak out against someone like Benny Hinn or Joel Osteen or Rick Warren or Kenneth Copeland! Scripture says that we are to ‘Touch not God’s anointed ones.’” They are using Psalm 105:15 completely out of context in order to defend their favored teachers.

So what is the meaning of Psalm 105:15? Again, we’ll check out the context. Let’s look at verse 9: the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance,” when they were few in number, indeed very few, and strangers in it.

And verse 13: When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no one to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
The context in Psalm 105 is the kings of Israel, as well as the Old Testament prophets. Scripture is speaking here about the covenant made with Abraham and then passed on to Isaac and to Jacob. The nation of Israel is the subject. In particular, these verses refer to the kings who were anointed and to the Old Testament prophets like Abraham.

So what does this tell us about verse 15? “Saying, ‘Do not touch My anointed ones’”—that would be the kings of Israel—“‘and do My prophets no harm.” This is not talking about some teacher today. It is an instruction specifically to not bring harm or do harm to the Old Testament prophets or to the kings of Israel.

We also need to remember the significance of anointing then and now. Who is anointed today? The answer is: all believers. All who have repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ are anointed ones.

One reason we know that this is referring to the kings of Israel is that David himself uses this same warning about touching God’s anointed. Take a look at 1 Samuel 24:3-7: “So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs.” We see there that David is warning about not touching Saul, the king of Israel at the time, whom David said was God’s anointed.

The situation is that Saul went into the cave to relieve himself. What he didn’t know was that “David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.” So Saul walks into a cave in which David and his men were hiding, and this prompts an interchange between David and his men: Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

David’s men wanted David to kill King Saul. But David said, “No, I cannot touch God’s anointed. He is an anointed king by God of Israel.” This scripture recounts one of two times David says this about Saul. In 1 Samuel 26:7-12, here’s what happens: So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!”

But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” David said furthermore, “As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.” So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got away; and no man saw or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

Twice when David has the chance to kill Saul, the king of Israel, he refuses to harm “God’s anointed.” But when people quote Psalm 105:15, they usually mean something like, “Hey, you can’t speak against this Christian author or writer or pastor that way.” Many times they’re defending false teachers, and you need to explain that these teachers are not God’s anointed. All true Christians are God’s anointed, but if someone is a false teacher, that person is certainly not anointed because a false teacher by definition is not a Christian. Another question we need to address is: do we have prophets today? No, we do not. I’ve explained before that the office of prophet is closed, as is the office of apostle. We no longer have prophets and apostles in this Church age. We don’t need them because the foundational doctrines of the Church have been laid down. We have the Word of God, and, as a result, the prophetic and apostolic offices are no longer necessary. This means Psalm 105:15 does not apply to someone you might speak out against today so as to expose their unbiblical teaching.

Finally, one added point is helpful about the warning to “Touch not God’s anointed.” As you can see from the two David incidents, “touch” is actually referring to doing them harm—striking, hitting, or killing the anointed one. In the way the scripture is misused, people are talking about speaking out against false teachers. No one is concerned about physically hurting someone. Psalm 105:15 would not have prevented someone in Israel from pointing out the error or ungodly behavior of a king of Israel. In fact, that is exactly what the prophet Nathan did when he called out King David, the king of Israel, because of his affair with Bathsheba.

 The bottom line? Don’t let someone intimidate you by twisting Psalm 105:15 to keep you from speaking biblical truth or pointing out the error of a pastor or religious leader. Doing so is part of your anointing.

3 comments:

  1. You had me until this: "Another question we need to address is: do we have prophets today? No, we do not. I’ve explained before that the office of prophet is closed, as is the office of apostle. We no longer have prophets and apostles in this Church age. We don’t need them..."

    Really? Not according to Joel 2:28 - "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"

    We're living in a day God is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh willing to receive Him. Yes, this is happening in this Church age.

    I find it rather ironic that you're making reference to false teachers and then you make a statement contrary to scripture.

    What say you?

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    Replies
    1. Hello! This prophecy in Joel will be fulfilled in the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
      The prophets often associated the Spirit with the eschatological era, but they did not always do it in precisely the same manner as did Joel. As H. W. Wolff points out, Ezekiel promised that in the age to come God would by his Spirit enable people to obey God from the heart (Ezek 36:26–27). Isaiah foretold a day when God would pour out his Spirit in order to create a new community and a new people of God (32:14–18; 44:3–5). In Joel, by contrast, the gift of the Spirit is prophetic. It enables people to prophesy, to experience revelatory dreams, and to see visions. These different aspects of the eschatological outpouring of the Spirit do not contradict but complement each other. The gift of the Spirit connotes direct experience with God, as in Joel, as well as the grace that enables his people to love God from the heart, as in Ezekiel. It also is the distinctive sign and mark of membership in the new people of God, as in Isaiah. In short, the coming age would be an age marked by the presence of the Spirit (contrast 1 Sam 3:1).

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    2. Also consider this Ma’am: Charles Feinberg states "The prophet is speaking of the latter days for Israel, a period which covers both the Tribulation period and the reign of the Messiah which follows it. At that time God will pour out His Spirit, the blessed Holy Spirit, upon all flesh."...Several truths are implied here: (1) the figure employed is taken from the analogy of the rain (see Joel 2:23); (2) the pouring out reveals the Spirit is from above; and (3) the Spirit is given in abundance. The outpouring of the Spirit is to be upon all flesh. It will be universal in character and scope. But does this mean universal for all Israel or for all mankind generally? Expositors of the passage are divided, some holding to one position and others holding to the other position just as positively. No one, however, will deny, from the context and the prophetic teaching of other portions of the Old Testament, that all Israel surely is included. Differences of age (young and old), sex (sons and daughters), or position (servants and handmaids) will constitute no barrier nor hindrance to this gift of the Spirit. (The Minor Prophets)
      If we compare the words of Isaiah and Peter, we note that the last days are the time when Mount Zion will be the chief mountain in the Millennial reign of the Messiah. It is at that time that the prophecy of Joel which Peter quotes will be fulfilled.
      Isaiah 2:2-note Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
      Acts 2:17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;

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