ISRAEL'S & OUR ENEMIES (Part 3) The spirit of the Canaanites

 

The spirit of the Canaanites

The word Canaanite means: Trader or merchant. This is the spirit that tries to bring us low, by trade or traffic and it deals with our money

The nation of Israel had crossed over the river Jordan. They had just won a mighty victory at Jericho and a few days later they were about to suffer their first defeat, all because of this Canaanite spirit. They had come to the town of Ai and Joshua sent some spies to see what the place was like and the spies came back and said ‘There is no need for all the people to go up; let some two or three thousand men go and attack Ai. Spare the whole people such toil; the enemy are not many’. (Jos. 7:3-4).

The Israelites attacked the town and they literally had the living daylights beaten out of them; this caused ‘the people to lose heart and their courage melted away’. Joshua and the elders lay down before the Lord to seek his face and to enquire of him why this happened.

 

The Lord replied, ‘Israel has sinned; they have violated the covenant I ordained for them. Yes, they have taken what was under the ban, stolen and hidden it and put it into their baggage. That’s why the sons of Israel cannot stand up against their foes; why they have turned their backs on their enemies, because they have come under the ban themselves. I will be with you no longer unless you remove what is under the ban from among you’. (Jos. 7: 11-12).

Before the taking of Jericho they were told that everything had to be put aside for the Lord. They were told not to be covetous and take anything for themselves, because in doing so disaster would strike the whole camp. ‘All the silver and the gold, all the Things of bronze and things of iron are consecrated to the Lord and must be put into his treasury’. (Jos. 6:17-19).

 

The next morning Joshua told each tribe to sanctify itself before the Lord and as the clans and families of each tribe came forward, they finally came to a man called Achan. The test was ‘Give glory to God’, and Achan admitted that he had sinned. He got his eyes on the gold and the silver and a Babylonian robe. They searched his tent and found them there. Achan, his family, his tent, his possessions, his livestock and the articles that he had stolen, were all taken to the valley of Achor and there they were stoned to death. Achan had come under the influence of this trafficking trading Canaanite spirit and it got the better of him and he lost everything because he had succumbed to that temptation. Now there is nothing wrong with gold or silver, as long as you are not hanging onto that which belongs to God.

 

You see, there are things, which God has said that we are not to touch. And that is represented by the Babylonian robe or garment. That’s a representation of the world. You could put it like this, touch not; taste not and handle not. The world has nothing to offer us except pollution and defilement. There are things that God has said, that are rightfully his, and to withhold that which rightfully belongs to God becomes an accursed thing in our hands, instead of a blessing. One tenth of all our income God says belongs unto him. If we withhold that which rightfully belongs to him then that becomes a cursed thing in our hands.

 

There is the story of Gehazi the servant of Elisha. You will recall how great a ministry the prophet Elijah had and Elisha was his servant. Elisha received a ‘double portion’ of the anointing of the spirit that rested on Elijah and he performed twice as many miracles. Gehazi had the opportunity to become twice as great as his master Elisha but this spirit of the Canaanite caused him to lose everything.

 

There is the story of Naaman the army commander of the Syrians who had leprosy, came to Elisha seeking healing and the prophet who told him to go and bath seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman did as Elisha told him and he came out of the Jordan completely cleansed. Naaman tried to give Elisha a gift for his healing and the man of God refused the gift¾why? Because the gifts of God are without money.

You can’t buy your salvation, you can’t buy your healing, you can’t buy your righteousness, they are all gifts from God. So when Elisha is offered the gift, he refuses it.

 

Then Gehazi his servant said to himself, ‘my master has let this Syrian Naaman off too lightly, by not accepting what he offered. As Yahweh lives I will run after him and get something out of him’. So he set off in pursuit.¾Gehazi lied to Naaman and told him that Elisha had sent him because two other prophets had arrived and he needed money for them, so Naaman gave him two bags of gold and two bags of clothes which Gehazi took and hid in his house, then he went and presented himself to Elisha as if nothing had happened. (2 K 5:20-24).

‘Elisha said, ‘Gehazi, where have you been?’ ‘Your servant didn’t go anywhere’ he replied. ‘Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever’. Then Gehazi left his presence a leper as white as snow’. (2 K 5: 25-27).

The spirit of the Canaanite got hold of Gehazi and not only did he lose his ministry, he lost everything because he coveted after that which he should not have at that time. It was not the ‘right time’ for him to have that wealth. The Scriptures are quite clear about times for us to receive money and about times for us not to receive money. There are times to accept gifts and there are times not to accept gifts. You have to use the wisdom of God when receiving gifts and money for your ministry. If we try to make money outside the season of the Lord than we can end up as spiritual lepers.

 

In the midst of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church a great tragedy happens. It is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property and they promised to give the money that they received for it to the Lord. Ananias kept back part of the money and brought the rest and put it at the feet of the apostles. Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ¾You have not lied to men but to God.’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.¾Three hours later his wife came in not knowing what had happened to her husband and told the same story and she too died instantly and great fear seized the whole Church. (Acts 5:1-11).

The money was theirs to begin with and they could have done what they liked with it. Their problem was that they had made a promise to give the proceeds of the land to the Lord and then they went back on their promise. That’s where the judgement of God comes, when we promise to give something to the Lord and then withhold or lie about it. These people were greedy for profit and this trading spirit brought them low.

 

There is the story of Judas, and it’s an interesting story because we are told that he had a covetous nature and when the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, broke the alabaster jar of ointment, we are told that Judas and some of the disciples said that the jar could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor; and we are told that Judas wasn’t concerned about the poor for he held the bag. Later on we are told that he had a covetous nature and the enemy, this spirit of the Canaanite was able to whisper into that area of his covetousness and Judas succumbed to his weakness and he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. When he realised what he had done, he was full of remorse and he went out and hanged himself. That’s the nature of this trading spirit, it is out to rob, and out to destroy and to cast us down by getting us to do the exact opposite of what Jesus told us to do. It wasn’t that the rich young man had wealth; the wealth had him. The real test is, do you have money or does money have you? There is nothing wrong with money; it is the ‘love’ of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. People who seek for selfish motives, profit; that seek for selfish motives, gain; those who think that ‘godliness is gain’, are only deceiving themselves. (1 Tim 6: 6-10).

 

In the middle ages the teaching arose that if you were a godly person you would have money. This was suppressed, so in order to follow their religious beliefs, the early fathers of this doctrine that godliness was profit and that you would be able to trade freely, emigrated to America. When those Pilgrim Fathers came over to America they did not start Churches, what they did was to set up ‘trading companies’ to practise what they believed. They believed that as a sign of your godliness you would profit financially. Unfortunately this ‘prosperity’ gospel is still being pushed around today, that if you have faith, then you are going to be financially prosperous. Now, that is fine ‘if’ God wants you to prosper that way. But the test of universal truth is that it must be accepted universally in every nation, to every people, to every creed and to every race. If you go around and talk about prosperity as it being taught today and go to Russia or go to China where, when you come to Christ you become a pauper and are left destitute. You talk to these people about prosperity and godliness being linked together and they will mock you and laugh in your face.  Because universal truth can only be preached universally. This type of teaching only brings people under condemnation. Do I believe in prosperity? Yes I do, but it must be in God’s time and if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then what you possess is what God wants you to have. The Canaanite spirit wants you to believe that prosperity and godliness go hand in hand. Prosperity comes by an attitude of heart.

One of the darkest sins of England was reported in the China inland mission.

The business interest of these British trading companies had grown opium in India and they could not land this opium in England. So they turned to China with that opium and the Chinese Government refused to allow them to sell their opium in China. So these traders began to smuggle opium into China, but because of their financial ‘pull’ in England, these traders ‘moved’ Parliament to send the British navy to go and shell undefended cities of China and for twenty seven hours they shelled defenceless cities till finally the Chinese Government opened those ports up so that opium could be traded into China. Because of that trafficking, because of that Canaanite spirit, millions upon millions of Chinese became slaves to opium. What spirit do you think was behind the ‘Gulf war’, and all the other wars? It’s all because of finances. Think about all the destruction and the loss of lives, all because of this trading spirit.

 

You can see this spirit operating in the life of Lot the nephew of Abram. There came a time when their flocks had increased so much that the land could not support them while they stayed together. On top of that there was quarrelling between their herdsmen so they decided to separate. So Abram who was wise in the things of God, told Lot to choose for himself whatever land he wanted and that he would take whatever was left over. Now it takes a big person in God to be able to give someone else first preference. It’s got to take a big person in God to be able to make him or herself poor in order to make others rich. So Lot gets his greedy eyes on the lush land of the Jordan and set out towards the east and he settled near Sodom. When Lot chose this land he was judging according to the flesh because of his covetousness. If he had been in the spirit he would have seen the end result, the destruction of his own family and the destruction of that city. Paul says, ‘Never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus’, why? Because when we do things by ourselves the end results may have disastrous consequences for us. This is what James writes about. ‘What causes fights and quarrels among you¾because you covet after things’?

This is the influence of the Canaanite spirit. At this moment in time the world is going ‘claim’ mad, because it’s a quick way to make some money. The one thing that will make you ‘sociably’ acceptable is money. It doesn’t matter how you get it, as long as you have plenty of it the world will look up to you. Why do you think people go out on strike? They are rejecting the word of God that says ‘be content with what you have’. (1 Tim 6:9).

‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility always consider others to be better than yourself’. This is what Abraham the man of God did. If we have our hearts set on money and gain, we will have anguish and anxiety; if we set our hearts on the Lord we will have life and peace.

This spirit of the Canaanite is one of the tools in the arsenal of the Antichrist. We are told that ‘he also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name’. (Rev 13:16-17).

 This trading spirit has taken control of the banking systems of the world so that he can imitate God who said ‘would supply all our needs’ (Phil 4:19) and he wants everyone to be dependent upon him so that everyone would have to depend on him for their needs. Up until the mid 70’s we all got paid cash in an envelope; the majority of people never had a bank account. Now everyone has to have a bank account and operate under their system. Did you know that Jesus never handled money, and it’s interesting to note that Caesar head was on the coin and it belonged to him. Today the Queen’s head may be on coins or bank notes but they don’t belong to her.  But I’ve got news for you; all the wealth in the world is coming the way of the Church. That’s why this trading spirit is trying to hold on to it.   ‘The wealth of the wicked is being stored up for the just’. (Pro13:22).

 

‘We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it; but as long as we have food and clothing, let us be content with that’. (1 Tim 6:7-8).