Numbers 14:42-45 “Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you. “For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the LORD. And the LORD will not be with you.” But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.” Jesus said in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'” This is a difficult passage to many people. Our culture puts a huge value on sincerity. God also values that. However, it doesn’t count if God clearly spells out His instructions. Sincerity when one knows or suspects they are in opposition to God’s way, doesn’t count. Today’s passage is such an example. The people were told that they were going to be in the wilderness for the rest of their days. If that wasn’t enough to upset them, God showed His disappointment. They were disapproved of by Moses and God and they were living out their days in the desert. The people were very upset. In their grief and disappointment, they chose to go and fight. Moses warned them not to go. He even said that “God will not be with you.” They ignored Him. This may have been a mass suicide. That is a topic for our day. However, it seems to fit. They may have rather been dead than to stay in the desert connected to a God that didn’t allow them to do what they wanted. We also get stubborn in what we want to do. We may know that we are outside of His will, but we do it anyway. Our culture says that young people will sow their wild oats. It also speaks of going wild in college. The parents almost describe it with approving mischief in their eyes. Many of these things are against God’s ways. We are condoning the sin of our children. God doesn’t excuse it. Proverbs goes to great lengths to warn young people about avoiding youthful sins. It’s sad that our culture excuses it. We are giving an ungodly message to our youth. We may be doing this because we still are involved in those things or possibly because we justify the indiscretions of that age. God doesn’t excuse it. The message of the multiculturalists is that each religion is valid. That doctrine is heavily taught in our schools. This is going against God’s message. His Word is supreme. The multiculturalist would say that that’s not fair. They are missing many things with this stance. Many of these faiths have massages that are in opposition to one another. They can’t coexist. For example, some faiths say there is one god, while others say there is many. They both can’t be true. The multicultural doesn’t go there. Fairness trumps logic. Some think that the multiculturalist does what he does to minimize the dominance that christianity has in the West. God looks down and frowns. They may think they have made God irrelivant, but they only bound Him with tissue. He doesn’t feel any restraints. There will be a reckoning. God’s way will win out. Either in the afterlife or at the second coming. The Left Behind movies show the great grief of those who didn’t go up in the rapture. Some are transformed. Others will do as the people did in today’s passage. An obediance of an old command. This is stubbornly doing what they think is right. Still others will excuse it. Many people believe in aliens. I’ve heard that some will blame the mass disappearance on that. While that may appear to deny the obvious, I think those that aren’t following God now are ignoring the obvious. Lord, help us to follow You according to Your way. While there may appear to be rational safe places, if they are in opposition to Your words, help us to cling to You.