You Asked

The first Christians were accused of being a cult, and Jesus was accused of being the leader of a cult. In Acts 28:22 the Jews in Rome told Paul that they had heard of his “sect” (cult) and “everywhere it is spoken against.”

 Just as the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day could not argue against the Truth of the words that came from Jesus’ mouth, the enemies of God and Christ cannot argue against the Truth of the REAL Gospel and Plan of God – so they must attack the people who spread the Truth instead by calling us names and spreading lies, because they “received not the love of the Truth”. This is a tactic often used by Satan and those who are blinded by him, so if someone accuses us of being in a “cult”, and it is because of our witness of the Truth of the Gospel message, then we should REJOICE to suffer for Jesus’ sake!

In 2 Corinthians 12:2-3 Paul describes how he was caught up down the stream of time, had a glimpse of next dispensation ( “world to come”)- new condition of things as they will be under spiritual control of Christ.       

It is important to note that Paul’s vision was NOT a “near death experience.” Paul was not only fully ALIVE, but was shown a vision – by GOD – of future prophetic events specifically for the edification of the Church in the flesh. “Near death experiences” (“NDEs”) are not prophecies of future events and are not for the edification of others and the glorification of God or Jesus. The visions given to the prophets and apostles have always been expressly for the warning, instruction, or edification of God’s own people, and it is also important to note that not a single prophecy in all of Scripture was given as a so-called “near death experience.”

According to the Bible, it is very clear that such an obvious deception is used by Satan – our Adversary – as a means to deceive the blinded world of mankind and to distract from the Truth of the Bible. While the individual who has had such an experience may truly believe what they saw, it is no different than any hallucination that others have experienced under the influence of various conditions or circumstances (for example — drugs, lack of oxygen, duress/stress, dreams or nightmares, hypnosis, etc). Many of these experiences can feel very REAL to the person having them.

As far as a “trance” is concerned, this is a different matter, often associated with hypnosis or other practices that are designed to put a person into a mental state that is easily influenced by other individuals or fallen spirit beings (demons, etc). You may have seen where one person has put another person into a “trance” and had them act like an animal or perform acts that, once awakened from their “trance,” they had absolutely NO recollection of their behavior while in the “trance” state. This differs greatly from the prophets and apostles who had FULL recall of the information given to them by the Holy Spirit while they were in their prophetic or “dream” state.

A true Christian must ALWAYS be on their guard to not be deceived by such experiences and tactics of Satan. The more we entertain such things, the more easily we will fall prey to Satan’s deceptions.

WATCH and PRAY!

1Ch 16:22  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 

Psa 105:15  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Samuel anointed Saul as King of Israel. David was also anointed, but he waited for the Lord to put him into office in the Lord’s time.

When Saul found that he was defeated, he asked his armour bearer to kill him, and he would not, so he fell on his own sword. This man came upon him as he was almost dead and apparently finished him off by putting him out of his misery.

But he came to David thinking he would be rewarded for what he did. He got his reward.

A “Disturbing Question” deserves a comprehensive answer:

There are many Scriptural reasons why David was fully justified to put the man to death for claiming to have killed King Saul.

First, it is important to understand that, in many cases, the Office is more important than the Person occupying the Office – especially when that Office is King of Israel or that of the High Priest. When the Apostle Paul insulted the High Priest in Acts 23 he was rebuked. Both the High Priest (Ananias) and those with him were evil, but Paul realized that the Office – not Ananias personally – was to be respected, so he apologized for rebuking Ananias, who occupied the Office of High Priest of God at that time.

In 1 Samuel Chapter 9, we see how wonderful a person Saul was (verse 2) at the time YAHWEH specifically chose (verse 17) and anointed him (1Sam 10:1) to be the first King over all Israel.

Seeing how important the Office of King of Israel is, and seeing that Saul was YAHWEH’s anointed, we come to two companion Scriptures – 1 Chronicles 16:22 and Psalms 105:15 – which state “Touch not mine anointed…”

Then we come to David – if anyone had just cause to kill Saul, it was David. Yet, when we read 1 Samuel 24:6, we see that David sinned in secretly cutting off a piece of Saul’s clothing! David is greatly distressed “David’s heart smote him” because he did this thing and says to his men “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.”

David was in a position to kill Saul multiple times, but never did. In fact, David swore an oath to Saul that he would not kill him (verse 21-22).

Another point is one that is recognized to this day – Kings do not kill Kings. While most do this because they realize that they may one day be the King on his way out and hope to have the same courtesy shown to them, there is also the very important matter of the “rule of law.” Israel’s King was chosen and anointed by YAHWEH. David realized that only an illegitimate King would take the life of his predecessor and usurp his throne. If David killed Saul – or had Saul killed – many would view his authority is illegitimate and it would undermine his authority.

David hoped that Saul would repent and return to being the good King of Israel that YAHWEH had originally anointed. It was important that David not defile the Office by forcing the matter and taking King Saul’s life through violence.

So, if David utterly refused to lift his hand against the LORD’s Anointed, then anyone else of the House of Israel who did so would certainly be punished!

We see how King Saul (and all his son’s, providentially ensuring that none of Saul’s offspring could lay claim to the Throne of Israel, when “all his house died together” — 1Chron 10:6) was killed – he took his own life in suicide by falling on his sword.

The interesting reason given for the death sentence of Saul (1Chron 10:13) was not because of his sins against David or as King of Israel, but because he sinned against YAHWEH when he sought counsel from “a familiar spirit” recorded in 1 Samuel 28! (This should be a warning to us to not seek counsel outside of God’s people or His Word!)

There is also a Divine Irony in that King Saul is killed by the very people he spared when he disobeyed GOD by not destroying the Amalekites many years before! You can be sure that irony did not escape King Saul just before he took his own life.

Lastly, onto the man who claimed to have “mercifully” killed King Saul and his Big Lie about how the event happened: a) The man was an Amalekite (2Sam 1:13), b) his Big Lie was an attempt to gain favor from David and perhaps get something from him, c) he openly confessed to killing “the LORD’s anointed”, so David (2Sam 1:16) gave the man his just reward — DEATH!