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Gideon
and how God worked with him
The Bible and especially the Old
Testament is full of records that show us the way that
God worked with various men. One of these records, that
of Gideon, will be examined in this issue.
1.
The background
Regarding
the time of our story, we are in the period where Israel
was governed by judges. The last judge (before Gideon)
was Deborah, a woman of God through whom "the land
had rest for forty years" (Judges 5:31). However,
this rest didn't last forever. Judges 6:1-6 tell us:
Judges 6:1-6
"And THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL IN THE
SIGHT OF THE LORD. And the Lord delivered them into the
hand of Midian for seven years. And the hand of Midian
prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the
children of Israel made for themselves the dens which are
in the mountains, and the caves, and the strong holds. So
it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come
up; also Amalekites and the people of the east would come
up against them; They would encamp against them and
destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and
leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor
donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and
their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they
and their camels were without number: and they would
enter the land to destroy it. SO ISRAEL WAS GREATLY
IMPOVERISHED BECAUSE OF THE MIDIANITES."
(NKJV-KJV)
After
forty years of rest, Israel, because of the Midianites,
was under great oppression. As the text tells us, they
destroyed their property to such a degree that "no
sustenance, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey" was
left for them (Judges 6:4). However, all these calamities
didn't happen accidentally. Judges 6:1 give us their
reason:
Judges 6:1
"AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL IN THE
SIGHT OF THE LORD: and the Lord delivered them into the
hand of Midian for seven years."
(NKJV-KJV)
"The children of
Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord". This was
the reason of their oppression1 which nonetheless had also a
positive result. Really, Judges 6:6 tells us:
Judges 6:6
"So Israel was greatly impoverished because of
the Midianites AND [as a result of their oppression] THE
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CRIED OUT TO THE LORD."
(NKJV-KJV)
Because
of their oppression, the Israelites cried out to the
Lord. Again, this was not the first time that they acted
like this. Really, though many times they did evil in
God's sight, worshipping other false gods, when the
calamities started falling on them, they used to turn and
seek again the true God2. Verses 7-10 tell us how God
responded to their calling:
Judges 6:6-10
"And Israel was greatly impoverished because of
the Midianites and the children of Israel cried out to
the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of
Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites,
that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel,
who said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel:
I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the
house of bondage; And I delivered you out of the hand of
the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed
you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their
land; And I said to you, "I am the Lord your
God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
you dwell:" but you have not obeyed my voice."
(NKJV-KJV)
As
a response to Israel's calling, God sent a prophet who
gave them His word, reproving them for what they had
done. Obviously, God neither kept silent nor he continued
to be angry with them. Instead, despite the fact that
many times they had forsaken Him, worshipping woods and
stones, when they returned to Him, He was there, ready to
deliver them again. In our case, His first step was to
sent a prophet who reproved them, giving them His Word.
However, this was only the beginning. In the sections
that follow, we will see what else He did to deliver
them.
2.
God and Gideon: the beginning
After
God sent a prophet reproving Israel, His second step was
to approach a man called Gideon. Judges 6:11-12 tells us:
Judges 6:11-12
"And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat
under an oak which was in Ophrah, which belonged
to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat
by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to
him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of
valour."
(NKJV-KJV)
When
we read that an angel appeared to Gideon, let us not
imagine a blond white-dressed being, flapping in the air
with two big white wings. That an angel is like this is
nothing else but myths and imaginations. Really, the
Bible no-where says that the angels have wings, or wear
white cloths or that they are blond. What the Bible says
is that they are "ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation"
(Hebrews 1:14) and therefore as such should be
considered.
Returning to our subject, see
how God saluted Gideon. He called him a "mighty man
of valour". And yet, he was a poor man that threshed
wheat, to hide it from the Midianites. However, for God
He was a mighty man of valour, a man that, as we will
see, believed and followed God, executing obediently all
that He commanded him to do. The verses that follow gives
us Gideon's reply, to the angel's salutation:
Judges 6:13-14
"And Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the
Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?
and where are all his miracles which our fathers
told us about, saying, "Did not the Lord bring us up
from Egypt?" But now the Lord has forsaken us, and
delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the
Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this your might,
and you shall save Israel from the hand of the
Midianites. Have not I sent you?"
(NKJV-KJV)
Gideon
questioned how God was with them, when all these
calamities had fallen on them. Nevertheless, it was not
God that wasn't with them, BUT THEY that weren't with
God. As a response to Gideon's questions, God told
him to move ahead, assuring him that he would be the one
that would deliver Israel. "Have not I sent
you?" He told him. Really, it was God that sent him.
This mission wasn't something that Gideon made up. He was
there threshing wheat to hide it from the Midianites.
Most probably, he may never had thought that he could
ever be the one that would deliver Israel from the
Midianites. However, from what the angel said we can say
with surety that he now had many reasons to start
thinking about this prospect seriously. Verses 15-16 give
us Gideon's reply:
Judges 6:15-16
"And he said to him, "Oh my Lord, how can I
save Israel? behold, my family is poor in
Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
And the Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and
you shall smite the Midianites as one man."
(KJV-NKJV)
People
easily follow someone that they know that he is a leader,
as for example a king, a general etc. But Gideon? Who
would follow him? He was an unknown man. Nevertheless,
for one more time God assured him that HE would be with
him. "Surely I WILL BE WITH YOU, and
you shall smite the Midianites as one man", He said.
That's why Gideon had no reasons to fear. However,
sometimes God promises something that because it is
extremely good we are slow to believe it. We wonder
"will really this wonderful thing happen to
me?", "will God really give me this?".
Such thoughts had also Gideon. Verses 17-24 tell us:
Judges 6:17-24
"Then he said to him, "If now I have found
favour in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you
who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until
I come to you, and bring out my offering, and set it
before you. And he said, I will wait until you come back.
And Gideon went in, and prepared a young goat, and
unleavened bread from an ephah of flour: the meat he put
in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he
brought them out to him under the oak, and
presented them. And the angel of God said to him,
"Take the meat and the unleavened bread, and lay them
on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did
so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the
staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat
and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock,
and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the
angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. Now when
Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord,
Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for I have seen an angel
of the Lord face to face." And the Lord said to him,
Peace be with you; do not fear: you shall not
die." Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord,
and called it Jehovahshalom [Jehovahshalom: that is, The
Lord is peace]"
(KJV-NKJV)
This
is the first time that we read that Gideon asked and
obtained a sign from God. However, it is not the only
one. There are more that we will see as we read on. Among
them is also the well known one with the fleece. We will
reserve therefore our commends about the signs that
Gideon asked and generally the practice of asking for
signs, for later. For the moment, it is enough to say
that before asking for a sign, Gideon knew the will of
God about the situation. He didn't ask the sign in order
to determine the will of God through it. Instead, he
asked it to confirm what God had already told him, and
which therefore was the will of God. To this petition of
Gideon, God responded positively, giving him what he
asked for.
Though as it is obvious this
day was spiritually very active for Gideon, this activity
didn't stop but continued at night as well. Verses 25-27
tells us:
Judges 6:25-27
"And it came to pass the same night, that the
Lord said to him, "Take your father's young bull,
the second bull of seven years old, and throw down the
altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the
grove that is by it: And build an altar to the
Lord your God on top of this rock, in the ordered place,
and take the second bull, and offer a burnt sacrifice
with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down. Then
Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord
had said to him: but because he feared his father's
household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it
by day, he did it by night."
(NKJV-KJV)
God
told Gideon to throw down the altar of Baal and cut down
the grove that was there. The existence of the altar and
the grove and the reaction of the people that, as it can
be seen by reading further, were angry when they saw them
destroyed (see Judges 6:28-30), confirms that the evil
that Israel did in the sight of the Lord was the idol's
worship. It also shows that only a part of Israel turned
to the Lord and not all of them. Yet, because of this
part, God would deliver ALL the nation.
3.
God and Gideon: the battle with the Midianiates
Having
seen how God appeared to Gideon, after the Israelites
cried out to Him, and how He made known to him that he
would be the one that would deliver Israel, let's now
move ahead to see what happened next, starting from verse
33:
Judges 6:33-35
"Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and
the people of the east, gathered together, and went over,
and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of
the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and
Abiezer was gathered behind him. And he sent messengers
throughout all Manasseh; who also gathered behind him:
and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali;
and they came up to meet them."
It
seems that the time for the execution of Gideon's mission
had arrived. The enemies of Israel, "the Midianites
and the Amalekites and the children of the east"
were all gathered together in one place. At this time,
God prompted Gideon to send messengers calling the
Israelites to be gathered behind him. See here that it
was GOD that moved Gideon to arrive at the decision to
start the fight at this time, prompting him to call the
people. This shows that God was the planer of the fight
while Gideon was the executor of God's plan. Without God
telling him what to do, Gideon was impossible to know
what God wanted him to do. Without Gideon believing what
God had told him, so that to act upon it, the will of God
would remain unexecuted. Therefore, the success of the
whole operation was dependent on the cooperation between
God, the commander, and Gideon the executor of what God
said. It was not Gideon who decided and executed, but God
who decided and Gideon who executed. This principle is
the same, anytime we want to follow the will of God: God
is the one that has to make known to us His will - which
He does, through His written Word or by revelation - and
we are the ones that have to walk on this will. This is
the only way that guarantees success in everything we do.
Returning to Gideon, God not
only told him what to do but He also helped him to
believe and do it. Really, as we saw previously when
Gideon asked God for a sign, God gave it to him. However,
He didn't stop there. Instead, He went further as Gideon
really needed more help. So after Israel was gathered
behind Gideon, he again asked God for a sign. Verses
36-38 tells us:
Judges 6:36-38
"And Gideon said unto God, "If you will
save Israel by my hand, AS YOU HAVE SAID, behold, I will
put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if there is
dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the
ground, then I shall know that you will save
Israel by my hand, as you have said." And it was so:
for he rose up early on the morrow, and squeezed the
fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a
bowlful of water."
Moreover, see what he
did next:
Judges 6:39-40
"And Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry
with me, but let me speak just once more: let me prove, I
pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry
only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be
dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry on the
fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground."
(KJV-NKJV)
The
above passages that describe what is known as the
"fleece of Gideon" have unfortunately been
greatly misunderstood, as many people use this passages,
putting various signs by which they want to determine the
will of God. So some, decide what is the will of God by
throwing a coin. Others through the......"Bible
bingo" (it is the opening of the Bible to a random
page) and others through other similar ways.
Nevertheless, any connection of such practices with the
"Gideon's fleece" is totally unbased. The
reason is that by the sign Gideon didn't seek to
determine the will of God. Instead he wanted TO
CONFIRM WHAT HE ALREADY KNEW, BY REVELATION, THAT IT
WAS GOD'S WILL. Really, verse 36 tells us: "And
Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand,
AS YOU HAVE SAID,.................". The phrase
"as you have said" shows that Gideon already
KNEW God's will3. Thus, he didn't ask the sign in
order to determine the will of God by it. Instead, he
asked it to confirm what HE ALREADY KNEW AS THE WILL OF
GOD. Regarding signs, something
else that should also be pointed out is that nowhere the
Word of God obliges God to give us a sign, when He
already has made known to us His will, through His
written Word or by revelation. When we don't know the
will of God, we try to learn it. We study the Bible, and
pray to God to reveal it to us, if of course He hasn't
already revealed it in the Bible. We should not put
restrictions to God or predetermine the time and type of
God's answer. The Word of God doesn't oblige God to give
us the answer that we like most or to give us the answer
when we want it to be given to us. Instead, God is
obliged by His very nature as God of love and care, to
give us the BEST answer at the time that HE THINKS as
BEST. Regarding the practice of asking for signs, what we
can say with surety based on His Word, is that God will
CERTAINLY help us to follow His will (if of course we
want to follow it). However, no-one can restrict Him in
the way that He will help us. He will do what He thinks
as best. When something is God's will, God will support
it to the full extent, even if this means to keep a
fleece dry when all the other land is dew, or to give a
supporting passage in the...........................Bible
bingo or to do whatever else is required to help us
believe and do His will. No one says that God does not
use signs to help us follow His will. HOWEVER, when these
are given they are not given as substitutes to the Word
of God but as supportive ways to believe what is the
already declared will of God.
Going the discussion further,
I believe that the greatest sign about whether something
comes from God or not is the way it flows. Everything
that comes from God flows smoothly and is continuously in
harmony with the Word of God. As Proverbs 10:22 tells us:
Proverbs 10:22
"The blessing of the LORD, makes one rich, and
he adds no sorrow with it."
Also as Ephesians 3:20
tells us about God:
"[He] is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think"
Moreover James 1:16-17
adds:
"Do not err, my
beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning."
Everything
that comes from God is a PERFECT GIFT. It is more than
what we ask or think. THERE IS NO SORROW IN IT. It is
perfect in the short term in the mid-term and in the long
term. In contrast, what comes from the devil, will sooner
or later end up in the exact opposite from what comes
from God, i.e. in tears, pain and wounds4.
Returning to our case, after
the miracle with the fleece, Gideon was certainly
strengthen, which was what God wanted by answering his
petition. However, this is not the end of the story.
Really, after the gathering of the Israelites and despite
the fact that they were facing a vastly great army, God
suggested to Gideon to reduce the army. The verses that
follow tells us:
Judges 7:1-2
"Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all
the people that were with him, rose up early, and
encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of
the Midianites was on the north side of them, by the hill
of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, The
people who are with you are too many for me
to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel
claim glory for itself against me, saying, My own hand
has saved me."
(NKJV-KJV)
God
wanted to show to the Israelites that HE IS GOD, a God
able to deliver irrespective of the magnitude of the
enemy. So He commanded Gideon to reduce the army. Judges
7:3-8 tell us:
Judges 7:3-8
"Now therefore proclaim in the hearing of the
people, saying, "Whoever is fearful and
afraid, let him turn and depart at once from mount
Gilead." And twenty two thousand of the people
returned, and ten thousand remained. And the Lord said to
Gideon, The people are still too many;
bring them down to the water, and I will test them for
you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to
you, "This one shall go with you", the same
shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you,
"This one shall not go with you", the same
shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water:
and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps from the
water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart
by himself; likewise every one who gets down on his knees
to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting
their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all
the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink.
And the Lord said to Gideon, By the three hundred men
that lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites
into your hand. Let all the other people go, every
man to his place. So the people took provisions and their
trumpets in their hands: and he sent away all the rest
of Israel, every man to his place, and retained those
three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him
in the valley."
(NKJV-KJV)
Finally,
after God's selection, only 300 men remained. Through
them God would defeat the great army of the Midianites
and their allies. The fact that despite the great
difference in numbers the fight would be victorious for
Israel, was absolutely sure from what God said to Gideon.
Really as He told him "By the three hundred
men........will I save you, and deliver the Midianites
into your hand" (Judges 7:7). It was therefore
certain, that if Gideon believed and followed God's
instructions, the fight would be victorious for Israel,
for God had promised it. However, not only God gave His
assurance for the victorious of the fight but he also
helped Gideon to believe this promise, and move ahead.
Judges 7:9-14 tell us:
Judges 7:9-14
"And it happened on the same night, that the
Lord said to him, "Arise, go against the camp, for I
have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid
to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant,
and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your
hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.
Then he went down with Phurah his servant to the outpost
of the armed men that were in the camp. And the
Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the
east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and
their camels were without number, as the sand by
the seashore in multitude. And when Gideon had come,
behold, there was a man telling a dream to his
companion, and said, "Behold, I have had a dream
and, lo, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of
Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell
and overturned, and the tent collapsed. And his companion
answered and said, "This is nothing else but
the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel:
Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole
camp."
God
not only made known to Gideon His will but He also helped
him to believe it. And see the wonderful way that He did
it: He sent him to the enemies' camp to hear by his own
ears someone to describe his victory against the
Midianites!!!! The result of this help is shown in verse
15. There we read:
Judges 7:15
"And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of
the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped, and
returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise,
for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your
hand."
(NKJV-KJV)
As
soon as Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he
became sure that the Lord had delivered the enemies' camp
into his and the 300 men hands.
Judges 7:16-22
"And he divided the three hundred men into
three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's
hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the
pitchers. And he said to them, "Look at me and do
likewise: watch and when I come to the edge of the camp,
you shall do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all
that are with me, then you also blow the trumpets
on every side of the whole camp, and say, "The
sword of the Lord, and of Gideon". So Gideon,
and the hundred men that were with him, came to
the outpost of the camp in the beginning of the middle
watch, just as they had posted the watch: and they blew
the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in
their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets,
and broke the pitchers - they held the torches in their
left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands for
blowing - and they cried, "The sword of the LORD,
and of Gideon". And every man stood in his place all
around the camp: and the whole army ran and cried out and
fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the
Lord set every man's sword against his companion,
throughout the whole camp: and the whole army ran and
cried out and fled"
(NKJV-KJV)
Gideon
following a daring plan and going to fight against a
great host with only 300 men, armed with
.....................trumpets, lamps and pitchers,
finally bit this great army. Now, if one asks why he
decided to fight the Midianites with such means, the
obvious answer is because GOD TOLD HIM SO. Really, as we
may remember it was God that told him that he would
deliver Israel. It was also God that told him to gather
Israel for the fight and it was He Who from the host of
the Israelites finally chose only 300 men. It was thus
also God that told Gideon to follow the plan that was
finally followed that night. The result was a tremendous
victory for the Israelites. As the text says: "and
the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even
throughout all the host. and the host fled to Bethshittah
in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah,
unto Tabbath". Verses 23-25 give us the final part
of this great victory of the Israelites:
Judges 7:23-25
"And the men of Israel gathered together from
Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the
Midianites. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all
mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites,
and seize from them the watering places as far as Beth
Barah and the Jordan". Then all the men of Ephraim
gathered together, and seized the watering places as far
as Beth Berah and the Jordan. And they captured took two
princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew
Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the
winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the
heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the
Jordan."
(NKJV-KJV)
As
it can be seen, the final phase of the battle assumed the
contribution of the other Israelites as well. Verse 28 of
the eighth chapter give us the magnitude of the triumph
and the deliverance that God gave to Israel through
Gideon:
Judges 8:28
"Thus
Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that
they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was
in quietness for forty years in the days of Gideon."
(NKJV-KJV)
When
the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord,
forsaking Him and worshipping other false gods the result
was affliction and great poverty. However, when they
returned and sought His deliverance, He sent to them a
prophet who reproved them by His Word. Moreover, He
raised up Gideon to be their leader. He, though he was a
poor and unknown man, was willing to do what God wanted
him, and God in turn helped him all the way through to
carry out the mission of Israel's deliverance. The result
was a great deliverance for Israel and quietness for all
the years that Gideon was alive. Gideon of course was
also greatly blessed. As Judges 8:29-32 tells us:
Judges 8:29-32
"And Jerubbaal (Gideon) the son of Joash went
and dwelt in his own house. And Gideon had seventy sons
who were his own offspring, for he had many wives. And
his concubine that was in Shechem, also bore him a
son, whose name he called Abimelech. Now Gideon the son
of Joash died at a good old age, and was buried in the
tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the
Abiezrites."
(NKJV-KJV)
He
also had a quite and long life, no more trying to hide
the wheat from the enemy but living with his family in
peace.
To conclude therefore: the
departure from the Lord the only that brings is
oppression and calamities. However, even if it is done,
God is always there ready to forgive and deliver everyone
that returns to Him.
Apart from this, something
else that is also taught from the records that we read is
that when God says something He is also willing to help
us to carry it out. Such things as signs when they come
from God have to be in accordance to the Word of God, and
support what is the already declared will of God. God has
given us His Word and the manifestations of the spirit to
make known to us His will. If we now need help on the
way, we should be sure that we will have this help. I
don't know what kind of help this will be. What I do know
however is that it will be enough to support us all the
way through exactly as it was enough for Gideon as well.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1.
Unfortunately, this is not the only place where the
phrase "the children
of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord" occurs
in the Bible. There are many more (see for example Judges
2:11-15 4:1-2, 10:6, 13:1, I Kings 11:6, Nehemiah 9:28)
that additionally show us that the evil that Israel did
was the idol's worship and the subsequent abandonment of
God. Also, as a look at these records makes clear, this
evil was always followed by destruction, calamities and
oppression (press here to
return where you stopped).
2. See for
example Judges 3:7-9, 3:12-15, 4:3, 10:10, Nehemiah 9:28
(press here to return where you stopped).
3. We saw
in verses 11-24 how the angel made it known to him
(press here to return where you stopped).
4. The
devil can also produce signs, but false ones that aim to lead us into his traps. That's
why we should be very careful with signs. Our guide is
not the signs but the Word of God. Whatever is in
accordance with the Word comes from God. Whatever, is in
contrast to this Word comes from the devil. Signs are
valid when support a situation that flows in complete
harmony with the Word. Otherwise, they have NO validity (press here to return where you
stopped).
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