Philosophy View of Pressure
Continuous physical force exerted on or against an object by something in contact with it.
The use of persuasion, influence, or intimidation to make someone do something.
Biblical View of Pressure
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. Zechariah 13:9 KJV
Have you ever found yourself resisting spiritual influences of a wrong kind? As believers I am sure most of us have. It Is easy to understand how such conflict can arise in our marriages, homes and also our families where there are no believers but conflict is one of the most common issue that causes break down in our relationships.
It is difficult to understand how it happens in Christian families. This also brings to mind that even the most committed families who had left Egypt found themselves under enormous pressure by members of their own family to abandon their covenant faith and “worshipped other gods”. The Bible said because we are in the world, we will have tribulation and trials. It is an unavoidable part of life on this earth, back in the beginning God’s original plan was for us be free from troubles. The garden of Eden was a place of perfect peace.
Deuteronomy 13:6 echoes that the pressure came “secretly”. This sort of thing is happening today! Perhaps it has come to you secretly as well. The influence can come, as it did in Israel, from a brother, son, daughter, wife, husband or close friend! Temptations are always the hardest to resist when it comes from those who are dearest to you.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers.
Deuteronomy 13:6 KJV
What if one day your daughter came home from college or trip abroad and suggests that you worship false gods “who comes from the end of the earth” or your sister got involved in a New Age Group of “people who lives nearby”
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. Deuteronomy 13:7 KJV
Whatever faith or religion is proposed the Lord is drastic in his response to such apostasy. In the days of Moses, the offender was to be stoned to death by the community. Trying to draw someone away from God was considered by him to be a crime worthy of death.
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he dies; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Deuteronomy 13:10 KJV
Thank God we are no longer living under the law, but we are now living under the dispensation of grace, also called the Church Age, which refers to the expansion of the church creation (Matthew 16:18). God bestowed grace to humans through the death of His Son and the coming of the Holy Spirit into believers’ lives
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 KJV
This penalty may seem excessively harsh, but of all the potential crimes in ancient Israel, this was the worst. To undermine allegiance to God was considered by him to be treason, we need this warning as Christians, our responsibility is to influence every member of our families for him, not against him. God will not hold us guiltless if we bring spiritual confusion and conflict into the closest of our relationships. We can be sure this will not be treated lightly by the Lord. Whatever position we hold in our family, when the “secret” temptation comes let us overcome and stand for God in our faith. We must not give in or listen.
Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him
Deuteronomy 13:8 KJV
READ AND BE BLESSED
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