Exodus 7:10 – And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

Exodus 7:11 – Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

Exodus 7:12 – For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

2 Corinthians 11:4 – For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

2 Timothy 3:8 – Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

Hey all, haven’t posted for a couple of weeks (too long!) but I am back with what will probably be (hopefully!) a short blog today and hoping to post more in coming days and weeks. I often have a lot I want to write about, but I have been busy with work, and often writing tends to beget writing making some of these blogs quite a lengthy process! Anyway, today I will be looking at the story of Pharaoh’s magicians versus Moses. When Moses stood before Pharaoh to begin to deliver Israel from Egypt, he threw down his rod on the ground as God commanded and it became a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians did the same with their rods, but Moses’ rod which became a serpent swallowed up their rods which became serpents. So it was a snake fight, and all the snakes were from the rods that they had in their hands. There is a ton that we can learn from this account, but today I will mainly talk about the rod that Moses had versus the rods that the magicians had. Because a whole multitude of rods are in play today. Whose rod will prevail? Moses’ rod did.

Because the rod of Moses represents God’s pure, sure, eternal, preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible word. Isaiah 11:4 – But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. The rod of Moses represents the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the written word, the Bible. They are one and the same. Mindblowing. John 1:14 – And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. The rod represents not just any Bible, not just any “word”, but THE Bible, THE Word of God, and furthermore the Authorized King James Version Bible, which is the very rod of God. There are many rods in “Christianity” today, just as there were many “voices” at the tower of Babel, but these rods have the same limited, doomed power that the foolish Egyptian magicians had. The rods of the world and worldly religion, even worldly religion that has “Christian” facelift have a different source, a different origin, a different power, they are a corrupt stream that flows from Satan, not from the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 11:1 – And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. What rod do you have in your hand? “New” Bibles with “new” words which are “easy to read” and “smooth” to the hearer, which deliver another Jesus, another gospel that Paul warned us about. But God and his true word always has, always does and always will prevail, and eventually the folly of vain words and power shall be shown, and Jannes and Jambres, the two foolish magicians, representing a corrupt Old and New Testament of the new Bibles, will be manifested as the truth and true power is revealed and established. Egypt represents the world in the Bible. Egypt is a bad place for the believer. A major theme of the Bible is God getting his people out of Egypt, and not just getting out but staying out of Egypt! The rod of the magicians represents the false word, false power and false authority of false religion, and also the false rod of all the new Bibles that are in play today… the Bibles which are the tares among the wheat, giving the word that kills faith, an uncertain trumpet sounding, producing wavering, faithless, uncertain, unsure converts, that distort the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose word does eat as a cancer, just as Paul said.

Below are verses from Exodus 4 where we first find out about the rod of Moses.

Exodus 4:1 – And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

Exodus 4:2 – And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

Exodus 4:3 – And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

Exodus 4:4 – And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

Exodus 4:5 – That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

We see that first of all Moses was worried that his authority, his person, his mission would be questioned. After all, what made him so special? What signified and sealed his authority and purpose to the people? What proved who he was claiming to be and what he was doing? What was God going to give him that would give him the authority, which would seal himself to his people? It was his rod, which God gave him. Which was proven to him, as God’s word should be proven in each of our hearts. It is the sure word. And it was in Moses’ hand. We need the rod in our hand, because the rod of the Word of God is what gives us true authority and power in our life. Jesus said to Satan three times, It is written. There is more power in the Word then we know. Not in our words, but in God’s word. That is why we should submit to it, humble ourselves to it, meditate in it, abide in it, keep it, obey it. As the Bible says, Let God be true and every man a liar. And Moses cast it to the ground, and it became a serpent. The serpent is a picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 3:14,15 –  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus was referring to a different event to our text, but the same serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness after they were bitten by fiery serpents pictures the same thing as the rod that became a serpent in Moses’ hand. Jesus is from above, he is from heaven, we are of the earth, we are earthly. Jesus is God, and is the Son of God. He is God’s only begotten Son. He came to earth, born of a woman, God in the flesh. And Jesus died for our sins, to forgive us our sins, to give us eternal life, which he gives freely to all who receive by simple faith. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Moses fled from the serpent, and so we flee from Jesus Christ. We flee from him for many different reasons, because he is one to be reckoned with. Sinful man hates Jesus Christ. And all forsook him at his betrayal. Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Noone helped  Jesus at the cross, the work was of God, not of man. There is nothing for us to boast about, to glory in. Jesus said the work of God is to believe on him who he has sent. This the message of the brazen serpent in the wilderness – Look and live. We can only look on, we can only look and believe and receive what he has done for us. It is by faith. It is not of ourselves. We are born of God when we are truly saved, we are not born of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It is because of him, what he has done, who he is, his grace and mercy and love towards us.

We see from the story that the magicians actually had some power. They were able to turn their rods into serpents to combat Moses. They were also able to perform some of the plagues that Moses did. But unlike Moses who threw his rod down by faith, in obedience to the word of the Lord, they used enchantments, sorcery and witchcraft to perform these feats. What a heavy burden of worldly religion and worldly, devilish power. Many people want power in their lives, but they don’t want the power the God freely gives, they want a sad Satanic imitation, which they spend a life in pursuit of, which is nothing but lies and deceit and completely unattainable. The magicians, and those who receive magicians power rather than God’s power, had to perform something to make things happen. But the true power coming from the true God trumps Satan’s power, and that is why Moses’ rod ate up all the other snakes. Satan’s power is a weak, counterfeit imitation. True Christianity is not magic, and has nothing to do with magic. Jesus Christ performed miracles not magic, and that is a big difference. Study magic versus miracles in the Bible. The new Bibles are counterfeits, the are corrupted seed, they are the product of magicians – a duplicate of God’s word, an imitation power, a counterfeit word, a works based humanistic religion. The word of false Bibles and false religion present their own serpents, but their own serpents are inferior, because they only produce another Jesus, another gospel. Another messiah, another truth, another declaration. But Jesus Christ IS truth, any other truth apart from in him is not real, sincere truth. A true Christian loves truth, receives truth, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit of truth works through the word, never around or in contradiction to the truth of God’s word. The magician’s Bibles do not declare the person, the work, the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not offer free and full eternal life and forgiveness. They are wells without water. And they bring a distorted gospel and distorted truths. It is not about faith. Faith is dead. Truth is fallen. They bring a gospel of things, of vanity, of doing and performing. They declare that we must think more positively, we must speak things so that they happen, we need to unlock more faith, we need to invoke God’s power, we must speak with tongues, we must be water baptized, we must be circumcised. It goes on and on. This is how Satan works, it is bondage. Satan’s power is “conjured”, “invoked”. That’s why witches and wizards need a wand, draw circles, say magic words, cast spells, they need things, and to do things, and to perform things. This is not faith, this is works, and works based bondage carries many different forms, many of which are very subtle and enticing.

God delivers us and does things for us too numerous to name or mention that we are not even aware of. He forgives those who are saved of the sins of their ignorance … sins you do not even know you committed. We sin and don’t even know it. We don’t even know the depths of our own depravity. He saves us even if we don’t feel saved. He does things for us that we don’t ask for, that we are not even aware that we need. He gives us freely. We ask, and receive. We live according to the truth of God’s word, we have faith in what God has said. There is nothing about feelings, emotions, mystical rubbish. Feelings change, truth does not. Our salvation is not based on feelings, but on the truth of God’s word.The Galatians had been taught they had to be circumcised, they had to “do” something to perfect their salvation. Something to get more of the Spirit… sound familiar? A spiritual gift is not a gift if it is worked up, or worked for. Witchcraft is so subtle. It is all performance based. The modern “Christian” movements  where you have to think positive, or “say” things and they will happen are complete garbage. The word faith movement, part of charismatic, ecumenical, worldly Christianity for instance demands that you must say positive things and good things will happen. If bad things happen to you its because you arent doing it right. Your faith is not enough, you need MORE faith. You haven’t released enough faith, you haven’t been able to invoke God. It’s witchcraft, witchcraft is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20), and the flesh loves wordly, humanistic, human efforts, human centered religion. Look at the example of Jacob when he saw the bloody coat of his son Joseph in Genesis 37:33,34 –  And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. Yet Jacob saw his son again. He mourned his whole life for Joseph. He was reduced to a negative, insecure mess. But God was with Joseph, God saved Joseph, God brought them back together.

Paul said in Galatians – Who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Have you been bewitched by the false rods of Egypt? The false Bibles? The false words of false prophets of false teachers? Are you in a counterfeit imitation religion? You may be a “Christian” in name… but is your Jesus “another Jesus” and your gospel “another gospel” that the Bible warns of? Try the spirits, whether they be of God. Try the spirits. Try the spirits. How do you try the spirits? With God’s word. Because God’s words are spirit. Line up spirits (your own life, the life of those around you) against the plumbline of God’s word. Does what your teacher, your pastor, does what you say line up with God’s word? Are you in agreement with God’s word? Are you a guilty hell deserving sinner? Do you need God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness? Is God true and you a liar? Does your Jesus give forgiveness and eternal freely, fully and forever? Are you saved by grace through faith, is salvation a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast? Is Jesus Christ the Lord, is he God, is he the Son of God? Did you receive the Spirit by faith, or did you work up more of the spirit? Did you receive the Spirit of truth, or the spirit of the world? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you abide in him? There is a true Jesus, and there are many fake Jesus’s, all of which may resemble the true Jesus in some way, but who are just a product of the magicians of Egypt, which is the house of bondage, the iron furnace, which God’s true people need to and want to be freed from forever. There are many who go by “Jesus’ but there is only one true Jesus, the Lord God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of glory, the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty. Jesus said in Matthew 24:24 – For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Are not the “Christs” of these false Bibles false Christs? Are not these false Christs deceiving many?

Moses’ rod turning into a snake was a miracle, and gave glory and power to God. The magician’s rods gave no glory to God, but to themselves. That’s what magic is all about, glorifying the magician. And so false Christianity and false religion does not glorify God, but glorifies themselves. False religions declares the sufficiency of man. The magicians worked for Pharaoh, who represents Satan, and not God. They had to perform things to invoke the limited power they had, which is infinitely inferior to God’s miraculous power… God, who spoke the world into being and by his word the world exists and consist… HIS word, not your word or my word. False religion declares the sufficiency, the goodness, the worth, glory of man. False religion is like Herod, who gave a great oration, but did not give God the glory, and was eaten of worms. False religion is like Cain, who brought the cursed work of his own hands instead of Abel, who through obedience to the word, brought a lamb, a picture of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The magicians religion exalts man against God, just as Lucifer exalted himself against God. Satan is the king of the children of pride. Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil. Who is your true spiritual father? Do you bear Christ likeness or Satanic likeness? The magicians represent imitation Bibles, presenting imitation gospels, which have no true power of God. And that’s why  the world is going down the drain today, Christians have departed from the faith. We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The word of God has been given up, surrendered, the sword has been laid down, not by force… but willingly… people have forsaken the jawbone of an ass, the rod of God, for an imitation, a counterfeit word. But God’s word stands sure, God’s word is with power, and the Pharaoh’s magicians said this is the finger of God, as the plagues worsened and their power not only stopped, but the plagues were upon them as well. Revelation 22:18 – For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. This is a serious issue.

“Christianity” today is full of worthless, worldly Egyptian religion with a Christian facelift, just as Jezebel, who painted her face up attempting to con King Jehu. But as the eunuchs, invulnerable to her sexual, fornicative wiles (as they were eunuchs) threw Jezebel down, so God’s pure word, and those faithful and obedient to the word are able to through the power of the true king (Jesus Christ) throw down the whore of all false religion. Do not fornicate with false religion. There is physical fornication, spiritual fornication is worse. Revelation 18:4 – And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. You need the word of the King to throw false religion down, after all Jehu was king, he gave the word of a king, and at the kings word those eunuchs chucked that evil, evil woman to her death. The word of a king is what throws down Jezebel. The Bible, God’s word, is the Word of the King. Jesus Christ is King. Jezebel represents false religion, she represents Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. Babylon, which traces back to Genesis 11, at the tower of Babel. And what was the goal of those at Babel? Let us make OURSELVES a name. And they had bricks for stone and slime for morter. They didn’t want the stone that is Jesus Christ, they made up their own stone. Another Jesus. Another gospel. Man’s religion. What the children of men builded. Man’s tools. Man’s name. Man’s effort.

So this blog went a lot longer than I anticipated! In summing up… the rod of Moses, the rod of the Word of God is the true authority and is what will prevail. Luke 4:32 – And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. Gods true, preserved word contains the true gospel of the true Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want the real “Jesus” or the fake “Jesus”. There are many different rods in Christendom today. Jannes and Jambres are at work in Christendom today. They withstand God, they withstand truth. The Bible says these men were reprobate concerning the faith. And that is the key. They kill faith. They don’t build faith. Do you have faith in God? Or faith in yourself? Faith in his Word? Or faith in man’s word? Is your faith dead? Not faith in yourself, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jannes and Jambres were utterly defeated by God. They went down. False religion including false Christianity is going down. It is a sinking ship, the whole lot of it. They have rods, but they don’t have THE rod, they have some power, but God is all powerful. God’s word, what God says, what God says is right, what God says to do, how God says to live, the salvation that God gives, the Son that God gave for us is who and what always prevails in the end. So… what will you settle for, what rod is in your hand? The magician’s word, which has power derived not from God’s word but from man’s effort and self effort? Do you have things and stuff in your hand or do you have the word of God in your hand? What are you armed with? Sorcery and enchantments or truth? Magician’s don’t have God’s power because they don’t have God’s word, their power which they have is derived through things and stuff. True believers are armed with the truth of God’s word, truth which sets us free from bondage. Do you want magic or miracles? The magic of Egypt or the miracles of God? Magic power of God’s power? Will the pure water of the word of God be turned into blood for you as you reject it? Or will Jesus Christ turn the water into wine … happiness, joy, life … in your heart? A well of water springing up into everlasting life. So one is works and performance and deceit and lying and bondage, one is faith and truth and love and hope and life. One is man’s power, one is God’s power. Are you a child of the bondwoman, or a child of promise? Works of the law or the hearing of faith? Ultimately, just as the Lord God said to Moses … What is that in thine hand?

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