Heathen Plots
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FHHWiwVkgD4?list=PL4ByrircmXL4AIWLkRrpeoEq_A6VmA54y
Every device that the prince of darkness can suggest will be employed to induce God's servants to form a confederacy with the agents of Satan.
They that forsake the law praise the wicked. Proverbs 28:4
*Sanballat and his confederates dared not make open war upon the Jews; Pretending to desire a compromise of the opposing parties, they sought a conference with Nehemiah, and invited him to meet them in a village on the plain on Ono. But enlightened by the Holy Spirit as to their real purpose, he refused.
*Sanballat and his companions hired men who professed to be the friends of Nehemiah, to give him evil counsel as the word of the Lord. The chief one engaged in this iniquitous work was Shemaiah, a man previously held in good repute by Nehemiah. This man shut himself up in a chamber near the sanctuary as if fearing that his life was in danger. The temple was at this time protected by walls and gates, but the gates of the city were not yet set up. Professing great concern for Nehemiah's safety, Shemaiah advised him to seek shelter in the temple....Had Nehemiah followed this treacherous counsel, he would have sacrificed his faith in God, and in the eyes of the people he would have appeared cowardly and contemptible.
---Nehemiah's fearless answer was: Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. Nehemiah 6:11
When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as did Nehemiah.