The Teaching of Balaam

Excerpt from Monte Judah of The Lion and Lamb Ministries:

Jesus says:

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

Revelation 2:14

In particular, Yeshua speaks of a teaching of Balaam that is a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. What exactly is the teaching of Balaam and how is it a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. Who exactly are the sons of Israel He is referring to?

If you recall, Balaam was a prophet hired by Balak to curse the children of Israel under the leadership of Moses. The teaching of Balaam was to get the sons of Israel to marry foreign daughters. This would cause Israel to loose their distinctive definition as being the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This would mix other customs with theirs and thus diminish the value of their heritage. This would change the teaching so that Moses was just one of their teachers and move them gradually to a different point of view. In the end, the counsel was to assimilate Israel and make them just like anyone else, by separating them from one another and removing their identity.

The teaching of Balaam is to tell the sons of Israel that they no longer have a covenant with God through Moses. The teaching of Balaam diminishes and removes the Torah (the teaching of Moses).

Today, the teaching of Balaam is rampant. It comes in the form of the following precept: Jesus Christ came with the purpose to do away with (fulfill?) the temple service, the Torah (Law), and alter the customs of Moses. The teaching of Balaam is to replace (at a minimum to diminish) Israel's identity as the chosen people, the teaching of Moses in the Torah, and to alter the customs of Sabbath and Biblical holidays. Today, a new Christian believer will run right into these stumbling blocks with churchmen disputing Sabbath, holidays, and the idea of keeping the Torah.

The spiritual reality is that holding to Moses and the Torah is in direct conflict with the teachings of Balaam. It follows that those holding to the teachers of Balaam even take issue with the Messiah when He speaks of Moses and the Torah.

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.

Matthew 5:17-18

The Messiah has said that the Torah is still with us and valid. However, this is not enough to convince the followers of Balaam. They dispute the meaning of the word "fulfill." However, it is clear from the context and any basic dictionary that the word "fulfill" is not a synonym for "abolish." The teachers of Balaam teach the opposite of Messiah Yeshua and forms new meanings for words on this point.

Yeshua emphasized that not one part, down to the letters and strokes of letters, would diminish prior to heaven and earth passing away. I would remind everyone that heaven and earth are still with us, therefore, every part of the Torah is still valid and with us. All has not been accomplished yet. That is clearly evident with the subject of the second coming. There is more Scripture about the second coming in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. All has not yet been accomplished.

The Coming of the Lawless One - 2 Thess. 2:9-12

By Bill Cloud



“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess. 2:9-12)


The Bible is clear: at the end of days the Adversary will employ the miraculous in an effort to deceive the world. Y’shua warned that false prophets would arise, showing signs and wonders intended to deceive, if possible, “even the elect” (Mk 13:22). John the Revelator recorded that the false prophet will perform very impressive albeit deceitful signs (Rev 19:20), even causing fire to fall from heaven (Rev 13:13). The Bible also makes it clear that the reason these lying signs will be so effective is because the people did not want the truth but “had pleasure in unrighteousness” willing even to take the mark of the beast. So then, what distinguishes a true prophet from a false one? How can I know if the sign is from God or not?

The Bible is very specific about what a prophet is. According to the Word of God a true prophet will never speak presumptuously or entice God’s people to turn away from His commandments (Deut. 13:1-5, 18:20-22). In short, a prophet of God will always call the people of God to teshuvah or repentance. Teshuvah is what Elijah called for, as did others including John the Baptist. Even Y’shua initiated His ministry with a call to “Repent!” (Mt. 4:17). God’s prophets have indeed supported this message with the demonstration of signs and wonders, even predictions of future events. However, these supernatural manifestations were always intended to serve as evidence that the one speaking had indeed been sent by God. Thus, a true prophet is one who calls the people to return to God and His Torah.

In contrast, a false prophet is one who seduces God’s people away from His Word, and by that I mean, any part of it. The Spirit of Truth will never speak or operate in contradiction to anything written in the Word of Truth. Notice, however, that God makes it clear these false prophets will sometimes make accurate predictions of the future (Deut. 13:2) and will perform signs and wonders (Mk 13:22). The only way to detect if they are false or not is to listen to (hear) what they say and observe what they do and determine if their “hearing” and “doing” lines up with the Scripture. Y’shua said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:16) and the fruit will always reflect the seed that wrought it. In other words, a true prophet will faithfully exhibit fruit that is borne of the seed of the Word of God (Mk 4:14). They will in no wise teach as God’s Word anything that is plainly contradictory to the Word.

So then, even if they make blind eyes see or deaf ears hear; even if they accurately predict a future event or call fire from heaven, those things in and of themselves do not offer conclusive proof that they are a prophet of God. The measuring stick is what they say and what they do - is it in harmony with God’s Word or no? Furthermore, we need to understand that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). When God imparts a gift or calling upon someone – in this case, that of a prophet – He doesn’t revoke that gift just because that person is not walking in accordance with God’s will. Sadly then, the gifts of God can be misappropriated. For example, consider Balaam the son of Beor and King Saul. In both cases these men possessed a genuine gift from on High. Yet, in both cases, they possessed character flaws that neither could overcome, but that overcame them. In the end, they misappropriated both their anointing and gift.

In the case of Saul, the Bible says that he was a very attractive man anointed of God to be king (1 Sam. 10:1). Furthermore, Scripture tells us that the Spirit of God would come upon him and he would prophesy even to the point that men wondered if Saul was one of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:10-11). In spite of these auspicious beginnings, Saul apparently possessed or grew to possess a great deal of pride and that is what eventually led to his downfall. In time, God removed His Spirit and permitted an evil spirit to come upon Saul and trouble him (1 Sam 16:14). Still, even when the evil spirit came upon Saul, the king continued to prophesy even if the unction came from a different source (1 Sam 18:10). The point is that the gift and calling of God is without repentance and so we must be spiritually discerning and scripturally sound if we are to detect the true prophet from the false one. Remember, Paul warned against being as children, “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Eph 4:14).