The first comment is wholly accurate and respectful of God. It shows that Balaam knows better. The second comment however shows that he does not like the answer and wants to continue to "seek God" in the hopes that the answer changes. This speaks to the willingness and propensity of the wickedly deceitful human heart to dress up what they know is wrong with false piety. This is rampant in the church today. Saying "In Jesus name" has become a catch phrase used to try and lend credibility to even the most unbiblical practices and teachings. The error of Balaam can be seen in the widespread pastoral practice of "proof-texting"; where preachers prepare sermons on pre-conceived ideas and then scour the Bible to find verse fragments that might support their point. The problems with this are many. First of all, you are not listening for what God wants to say. Secondly, they invariably rip the verses out of context and twist them to match the point they want to make. Jesus is making it very clear in this letter to the church in Pergamum that he will not tolerate such abuses within His bride. The letter concludes:
Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.' -- Revelation 2: 16-17 (ESV)
What better way to war against such unbiblical practices than with the Word of God! The message is simple beloved - repent! The church must repent if God is to use them again. The modern church is obsessed with an end time revival that is not promised in the Bible. The Bible does however promise and end times falling away and that is what we are seeing. We are seeing a church enamored in the world and striving for relevance to the world, while dressing up their carnality with Christianese so they can feel like Balaam did when he said the right things though his heart was far from the Lord.
But God does not change beloved. What He has said, He has said. We need to stick to the Bible. Not our perspective disguised as a "different interpretation." There is only one perspective. There is only one interpretation. As long as you do not alter what God has said there may be multiple applications but the meaning belongs to God. There are rewards for the one who overcomes. But unlike the baubles of this world that were promised to Balaam, the rewards we seek are eternal. Manna of course is heavenly food. It means we will rely solely upon the Lord for our sustenance, no longer corrupted by being fed by this world. White is the color of heaven and the name upon the stone is the name of our Lord and Savior. Forget what the world has to offer you beloved. Each of these churches that are falling away will have a remnant of those who will conquer. Let him who has an ear hear what sayeth the Lord.
　
Reverend Anthony Wade - November 22, 2016
