Family of God: Re: [FamilyofGod] Job's Three Friends

Sounds familiar huh thanx Micheal

On Wed Dec 8th, 2010 7:41 AM EST Michael J. Knight wrote:

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>Job's Three Friends - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar
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>When Job's three friends - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar - heard of his
>adversity, they came to visit him, saying they wanted to comfort him
>(Job 2:11). But they didn't actually comfort him at all, when we see
>the way they spoke to him later on. They only criticised and accused
>him. All three of them were in fellowship with the devil, the accuser of
>the brethren.
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>These three men were jealous of Job, because Job was a godly man and a
>rich man and everything was going well for him and for his family.
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>Many believers are jealous of godly men, when they see their influence
>and ministry - and are often waiting for some calamity to hit them. We
>know that the devil is eager for some calamity to befall godly people.
>But there are believers who wait for that too, and who are secretly
>happy when it happens.
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>These three men pretended that they were very sorry for Job. They wept
>when they saw Job and tore their robes and threw dust over their heads.
>They were really good actors. But secretly they were delighted, because
>they were jealous of him. These three preachers only knew about God.
>They didn't know God personally. That's why God couldn't
>point out any of them to Satan.
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>Godly men/women suffer attacks from the devil, sometimes from their
>wives/husbands, sometimes physically, and at times financially too as
>God takes them through many trials to sanctify them. But perhaps their
>greatest trials are from their friends and brothers who are jealous of
>them! Unfortunately there is a lot of this in Christian work, where
>Christian workers hope that something bad will happen to a more anointed
>worker, so that that his ministry will be destroyed. When God's
>blessing and anointing are on a godly man, and someone else is jealous
>of him, God may allow some physical calamity to come to that man, in
>order to expose the other person's wicked jealousy. Once the other
>man's evil has been exposed, God will heal the sickness and restore
>the godly man to health.
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>All three of these men could not truly understand why Job suffered as he
>did. They could only find fault with him. That is because they were
>religious people like the Pharisees later on, in Jesus' time. There
>is a difference between a spiritual man and a religious man. Spiritual
>people have been misunderstood by religious people in every generation.
>The Bible says that "all who live godly in Christ Jesus will be
>persecuted" (2Tim.3:12). There are no exceptions to this rule. So,
>if you don't want to be misunderstood by other people, then
>don't be godly!
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>1Corinthians 2:15 says that "a spiritual man cannot be discerned by
>those who are not spiritual". A godly man is therefore a very lonely
>man - because very few can understand him. His actions are misunderstood
>and his words are misunderstood, even by those who know the Scriptures
>well. Religious people know only facts about God. They don't know
>God Himself. In the midst of many religious people, one will find only a
>few who know God Himself. Job was one of those rare individuals. If you
>are a person who knows God, you will be misunderstood by people who only
>know about God.
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>Remember that religious people could not recognise Jesus and thought He
>was the prince of devils. How can they recognise a godly man today?
>There were two religious groups in Jesus' time, the Pharisees and
>the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the fundamentalists, and the Sadducees
>were the liberals. But of these two, the Pharisees opposed Jesus more
>than the Sadducees. In the same way, today, it won't be the liberals
>who criticise a godly man as much as the fundamentalists.
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>But even though a godly man may be a lonely person in this world, God
>does not forsake him. God allows the trials he faces to give him an
>education. James says, "We count those blessed who endured. You have
>heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome or the end of
>the Lord's dealings that the Lord is full of compassion and is
>merciful" (Jas.5:11). The testimony of every godly man will be:
>"The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Even though I could
>not understand the difficult ways He led me through, it was to fulfill a
>glorious purpose in my life, and above all, to glorify God in heaven
>where the conflict was going on between God and Satan."
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>In the very first book of the Bible, we see the beginning of the modern
>"health and wealth gospel". Three preachers there told Job that
>he had lost his health and his wealth because he had lost the blessing
>of God. Their message was that the blessing of God always brings
>prosperity and health. Note that this health and wealth gospel was first
>preached by people who did not know God. It is the same today. Remember
>that. Job who lost all his wealth and his health was in the perfect will
>of God. But the three preachers who preached the "health and
>wealth" gospel were completely out of the will of God. This is clear
>from God's words to them: "I am angry with all of you. Ask Job
>to pray for you, lest I punish you"(Job.42:8).
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>The book of Job is a great encouragement to us because he faced what we
>face today.
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>The three preachers are not a picture of our enemies or even of
>unbelievers. They are a picture of believers who trouble us,
>misunderstand us and criticise us. It is always more painful when a
>believer attacks us and accuses us than when an unbeliever does the same
>things. In the last 12 years, I have faced a thousand times more
>criticism from believers than I have faced from unbelievers. That is
>also the history of every servant of God in the history of the church.
>Jesus faced more opposition from the Pharisees than from the Greeks and
>the Romans. Pilate wanted to release Him, but Annas and Caiaphas wanted
>to kill Him. So don't be surprised when you find your maximum
>opposition coming from believers who spread false tales about you. They
>are the followers of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
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>Remember
>Only one life, will soon be past,
>Only what is done, for Christ will last.
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>The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
>communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians
>13:14)
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>Love & Prayers,
>
>Michael J. Knight.
>
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/
><http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/>
>
>What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
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