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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Modern Day Balaams
The BDM Letter
(Numbers 22-24)
Balaam was a diviner (one who uses omens to determine God’s will), the practice of which was condemned in Deut. 18. Yet by all appearances, Balaam was a man of God–a genuine prophet: Balaam’s "God-talk" seemingly attested to his being a prophet (Num. 22:8,13,34,38; 23:12,28; 24:13); God was speaking to him and through him (Num 22:9,12,20,32-35; 23:4,5,16,18-24); Balaam appeared to worship God in spirit and truth (Num. 22:31); and he blessed the people of God (Num. 23:5,7-10,18-24; 24:2-9,15,19).
There are other instances in the Bible where God appears to pagan peoples and reveals Himself: Abimelech in a dream (Gen. 20:6,7); Pharaoh (Gen. 41:25); Nebuchadnezzar before his conversion (Dan. 2,4); Pilate’s wife through suffering in a dream (Matt. 27:19); Saul (I Sam. 19:23,24); and to Caiphas (Jn. 11:51,52).
Therefore, just because God "uses someone" today doesn’t mean that the person is a genuine "prophet," let alone a believer in Jesus Christ. The person could be a pagan/false prophet that God is using for His purposes. God speaking through a false prophet does not signal a believer, any more than Balaam’s donkey was a believer because God spoke through him (Num. 23:21-30).
In fact, the deception of a false prophet appearing to be from God was so prevalent in Old Testament times that God established another screen for true prophets (in addition to accurate predictions)–Do they lead you to worship other gods (Deut. 13:1-5)?
The bottom line is that we must examine a teacher's fruit of doctrine. If his doctrine is impure, avoid him (Rom. 16:17; II Jn. 10,11). Even though his "God-talk" may proliferate, we must examine the fruit of his doctrine–"diviners" cannot be the children of God.
We have a professing Church today that tolerates Balaams–"They say some good things. They use the Bible." Yes, but their doctrine gives them away. They are false prophets, corrupting and destroying the Church from the inside!
The issue is not whether there is some good in their teachings. The issue is their erroneous doctrinal teachings from which the Bible commands us to separate. Inclusivism because of areas of agreement can never take precedence over our obligation to separate because of error.