One of the first things new
Christians learn, or should learn, is to cease from any form of divination or
spiritism.Per Deuteronomy 18:11,
we are admonished not to ‘call up the dead’.But what do we do if the “dead” call us up?
I
often have house dreams.Most of
my house dreams are of complicated houses containing secret hallways, back
staircases and convoluted floor plans.Usually I’m looking for something, or trying to find a hidden room, but
the house always seems to be mine, and is vaguely familiar to me, like I’ve
been in it before in other dreams.But last night was different.
In
last night’s dream, my wife and I both were in our house, and we knew a
relative was going to visit us in the house, and we were apprehensive because
the relative had been recently “loosed” from somewhere (in reality, the
relative has been dead for many years).
To
get ready, we closed off some hallways and opened others, trying to be tactical
in our preparations. But finally,
my wife and I entered a large, dark room in single file. I could see my wife,
but I could not see in front of her.She encountered the relative somewhere in the dark to her front, and I
asked her if it was him, and she told me it was.I then woke up.
It
would have been easy for me to dismiss the dream as just another non-sensical
event, but instead I began to think about it, and I remembered all the dreams
we’ve both had where our departed parent(s) would be in our dreams, mute, but
notably in the dream.Concerning
my dream last night, here is what God told me:
The
house represented our persons, the contacting relative was a demon in disguise,
contacting us in a frontal assault upon our persons.In effect, we had just been involved in spiritism, which
originated not with us, but with the demon!
None
of this made me afraid in the slightest, but I was very grateful for the
lesson.I immediately got up and
prayed, demanding the contacting demon leave us immediately, and I prayed until
I felt it had.I just love it when
God’s light unmasks the devil!
Some
of you reading this may think all this talk about demons is a bit over the
edge, but I assure you, any concept endorsed as valid by Jesus Himself, should
be taken seriously – and if you’re not taking it seriously, be assured it has
already taken you with impunity.
I
see no place in scripture where we are admonished to fear demons, or quake in
their presence; we are, however, commanded to cast them out.In other words, we are to be engaged in
an offensive attack on Satan’s kingdom of darkness wherever it’s
encountered.
If you are purposely avoiding the
demon issue, be aware you have already capitulated to the enemy, and he doesn’t
have a shred of mercy for your stance of non-participation.With Christians, ‘ignorance is no
excuse’, but rather a ticket to ineffectiveness at best, and it will eventually
lead to torment (sickness, disease, etc.).You cannot wrap yourself in safety by ignoring the
devil.With him, there is no middle
ground, no neutral zone, and choosing not to fight is to lose the fight.Fight or flight are the only two
options, and as I read it, God’s ‘breastplate’ has no backplate.
Many times, God will give us His
version of R & R, a brief respite from our warfare, but it comes from Him
and in His timing, and it is brief.Our warfare does not consist against flesh and blood, and will continue
until Jesus returns.The
principalities and powers of darkness that we fight don't rest, and never
relent.We beat them, or they beat
us – if we let them.
It is our great honor to enforce
the victory that Christ already won in His resurrection.It is not always easy or fun; it’s
often down and dirty, but it’s good for us to fight because we gain eternally
by enforcing, and bringing His Kingdom to earth.
And as warriors, we need to be
aware we are the doorkeepers to ourselves, and some who knock on the doors of
our houses need to be aggressively turned away.
It’s
important that we become students of human nature and students of God’s nature,
particularly now.Several problems
immediately arise.First, if we
assume God is a bigger, cosmic human, we look no further than ourselves in our
search for Him.Secondly, if we
assume God is so incomprehensible as to be “otherworldly”, we give up and
again, look no further than ourselves.Third, if we look to some one human to be our “Spirit guide”, i.e.:
guide to the Spirit and God, we forfeit the role of the Holy Spirit in our
lives, as designed by God.Fourth,
if we look to the Holy Spirit and don't let Him drive us into the written Word
of God as our primary source, we open ourselves up to the wrong spirit.Fifth and last, if we become so afraid
of making mistakes that we don't search for God at all, Satan wins, and we
stand to lose our place at the table.
Elevating the spirits of deception above God’s Spirit, and
reacting with fear, or non-participation, we fail to be effective for the
Father, and we begin preaching fear in one form or another.With regard to ‘signs and wonders’,
it’s quite common to run into Christians who are so afraid of being deceived
that they refuse to pursue God through anything other than their particular church
doctrine.
While
originally conceived to keep believers within the guidelines of the Word of
God, as judged by the early apostles before the New Testament was completed,
doctrine quickly ascended to the throne.In many denominations, doctrine controls believers within it’s own
structure, while keeping them away from the liberty of the Spirit.For instance, what purpose would
Presbyterian doctrine serve if it allowed Presbyterian believers to grow out of
itself and into the whole counsel of God?Of course, that question continues to make no sense to those trapped
within the concrete walls of their doctrine because they don't see the trap,
but in fact, their doctrine might just be keeping them IN while keeping the
Holy Spirit OUT.
Right now, many mainline
denominations are in a dither over declining membership, and it would appear
they are being abandoned by all but the “satisfied”.Pew warmers have been left behind because they were never
searching for more of God in the first place, and the escaping droves are
staying home on Sundays because football is more relevant to them than “church”,
or “religion”.This is so obvious
it’s sadly funny when the denominations hold leadership meetings in vain
efforts to upgrade their relevancy.I can just imagine James, the brother of Jesus, calling just such a
meeting in the early church, can't you?NOT!!
The fact comes down to one simple
principle, and I can put it into one sentence:
Only the Holy Spirit
brings LIFE to God’s Word, but He will NOT operate outside of it; problem is,
many churches haven't let the Holy Spirit operate at all!
They’ve done this for what they
consider good reasons – they are afraid of the Holy Spirit (indeed, they are
afraid of ANY spirit!), because once out of their doctrinal box, who knows
where He might lead?As an unknown
person, He might be uncontrollable!!Can’t let that happen, now can we?
But there needs to be some control,
and here it is; first, we must let the Holy Spirit of God operate in our
churches – MUST – failure to do so is killing our churches and leading the
congregations into spiritual anemia at best, and potentially, hell itself.Secondly, we must trust the Holy Spirit
to work only within the confines of the written Word of God – again, MUST.And third, we must trust the Holy
Spirit to give us the Wisdom of God as we administer 1st John 4:1
within our churches.That’s the
job of every Christian, not just the leadership of the churches.However, they are the point of the
spear, or should be – that’s why God put them in charge.
Many years ago I had a close,
Christian friend who portrayed himself as a prophet.He wore overalls and an Elijah body odor!I don't think he ever got within arms
reach of a razor, or had made it past the sixth grade, but he prophesied in
fluent King James, so he always attracted quite a following.The problem I didn’t see at the time
was that while he was acting as a prophet to many different groups, he was
committed to none.I was honored to be inside his close circle of friends, and
we shared many revelations together as I began to grow in Christ.
My prophet friend owned nothing but
a banger of a pickup and a worn out Bible.He lived gratis outside the county on a farm owned by a
widow.Do you see where this is
going?Is it any surprise that he
took the widow’s mind captive and eventually “inherited” the farm and dropped
out of sight?That was in the
70’s, and I haven't heard from or about him since.And my question remains: why wasn’t this man judged right up
front by the collective leaders of the groups he frequented?And if he indeed was, why wasn’t anyone
made aware of the danger he demonstrated; it would have made a great lesson at
the time; it did for me.
But you know, even though I was
deceived at the time, because I had learned early on to work ONLY within the
confines of the written Word of God, rather than elevating signs and wonders
above it, I suffered no harm, and in fact, learned a good lesson.Today, I thank God for that lesson, and
it’s on my mind this morning as I write, because we “seekers” have been
presented with good news and bad news, and we must be cognizant of both if we
are to enter into God’s plan for each of us.
Yes, it’s totally and holy (pun)
healthy to seek more of God, but as we expectantly seek more of Him (which
makes Him glad!), we need to be aware of the thin ice we tread.Only our absolute reliance upon the
Holy Spirit will help us, and the closer we approach to Almighty God, and the closer
He works within us, the ice around us not only becomes more and more thin, but
the solid ground becomes a minefield.
ONLY the Holy Spirit can direct our
course – after all, it’s His job, and if we let Him, He’ll do it well.If through fear of deception we back
away from the table set before us, someone else will do our job – and eat our
food in the process.He who begins
to plow and looks back…..
Expect the Holy Spirit to reveal
more and more of Jesus to each of us; expect the Holy Spirit to dramatically
demonstrate His mighty power through signs and wonders….DO NOT expect the Holy
Spirit to operate outside of the written Word of God, because if he does, it
isn'tHim.
I think
a good movie could be made from the above references.First, in Numbers 11:23, we have God’s word to Moses, ‘The
LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’S power limited?Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or
not.”, and Moses related this Word to the people.With that in mind, a three-foot deep covering of quail fell
outside the camp in response to complaints about no meat!With regard to the ‘severe plague’ that
fell on the meat eaters, perhaps it should be metaphorically noted that “meat”
that falls outside the camp, is not good for us to eat!
It
should also be noted that throughout the Bible we see God’s delegation of
authority in operation.In Numbers
12, a complaint concerning Moses was interpreted by God as a complaint against
Him.That happened because Moses
was chosen by God to represent God to Israel – Moses was God’s delegated
authority, and that authority was not to be taken lightly.(Recommended reading on authority: Driven
By Eternity, by John Bevere).
With regard to
delegated authority, in Numbers 13, God told Moses to send spies into the land
of Canaan.In verse 17, it says,
‘..Moses sent them..’.Now
if the spies had the slightest understanding about delegated authority, they
would have realized their ultimate report should be given to the one who sent
them – Moses.Instead, they viewed
their report through their eyes of human reasoning, became fearful and
consequently lost all semblance of faith in God, and gave the report ‘to all
the congregation’, in verse 26.In
all reality, Moses was probably the last to hear their report!
The
original commission the spies received from God via Moses is found entirely in
Numbers 13: 18-20.Nowhere in that
commission are they asked to spy out the land and give their advice, especially
fear-based advice.But even if
they had become fearful, even then, if they had reported directly and only to
Moses, the situation probably could have been handled with Moses’ faith.Instead, by giving the fear-influenced
report to the people, the spies fomented rebellion against God.This wasn’t a little mistake or minor indiscretion;
it cost forty years of time and the lives of an entire generation, including
their own, with only two exceptions.
I’m sure
the congregation was breathlessly waiting for the return of the spies, and when
they came back with a load of grapes, I’m sure the questions flew, but the
spies should have deferred any response to Moses – the man who sent them.But, like most of us would do in
similar situations, the spies went over and around their authority and took it
upon themselves to fearfully inculcate fear to the congregation.
They
reported to the wrong people and they reported from their fear-based
perspective.It should be noted
that fear-based decisions are not one of the options for God’s people – then or
now.As Pastor Bill Johnson writes
in his book, When Heaven Invades Earth, ‘Fear is faith in the devil.’
(page 50, ¶ 2).
Probably
the biggest tool the devil uses against God’s people (or anyone, for that
matter) is fear.Harkin back to
Numbers 11: 23, and compare it to all the texts we have concerning the
oft-quoted, divine command: ‘Fear not’, in both the Old and New
Testaments.I haven't counted
them, but someone told me recently that there are 366 instances of ‘fear not’
in the Bible – one for each day of the year, plus 1!Even if there were half that many the point would be well
made.
My
conclusion is this: 1) be ever-cognizant of your chain of command (authority),
including who you are responsible to report to, and 2) know that fear-based
living will cut you out of the Promised Land.To quote my favorite author:
Parable of the Ten Virgins and Holy Communion [NASB]
A.Parable of the Virgins:
Matthew 25: 1-12
1.Opens with the word ‘Then’ = refers to
a time in history = events in Matthew 24.
2.Similarities between ‘prudent’ and ‘foolish’:
a.all were ‘virgins’, i.e.: keeping themselves for the
bridegroom.
b.all were waiting for the bridegroom’s return.
c.all had lamps.
d.all went to sleep while waiting.
3.Dis-similarities:
a.‘prudent’ and ‘foolish’ pre-determined before the body of
the parable.
b.‘prudent’ had ‘extra oil’ in ‘their flasks’, while ‘foolish’
had no extra oil and no extra flasks.
c.the ‘prudent’ were so because, (1.) they possessed the extra
oil while they waited on the bridegroom, and (2.) they valued the extra oil so
much they would not even think about sharing it – besides, it belonged
to them.
4.Conclusions:
a.the primary difference between the virgins was the extra oil
in the flask(s).
b.this difference comprised a vital
difference.
5.KEYS:
a.‘prudent’ = Prepared in advance.
b.‘foolish’ =Not prepared
c.Prudent = waiting in Faith; Foolish = waiting in Hope –
Faith –vs- Hope the difference btwn being prepared and not prepared.
d.‘lamps’ = their lives.
e.‘oil’ = the (S)pirit of their lives.
f.flasks of extra oil = promises of God that convey His Life.
6.Verse 12: ‘I do not know you.’
a.contrast verse 12 with Matthew 7:21-23
for the “rest of the story”.
b.the ‘know’ in verse 12 suggests an INTIMATE KNOWING, and here is the tie-in with Holy
Communion:
B.Holy Communion – Matthew 26:26+; Mark 14:22+; Luke 22:19+;
1st Corinthians 11:1+
1.In all four portions of scripture:
‘This IS my body’ and (blood).
2.The bread and wine ARE (spiritually – by faith) the body
and blood of Jesus Christ, and they are used to signify, or witness to the
blood covenant (‘New Covenant’) the partaker is attesting he is a part of.
3.Why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper is explained – what
it means is not.
C.Notes:
“Salvation”
is more than “belief” because if that were the only aspect the demons would be
“saved”.Salvation is (my
definition): a belief in the absolute and only Lordship of Jesus Christ as a
direct result of a faith choice by the individual believer that allows the Holy
Spirit to bring about an intimate relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.
In
Matthew 25, the foolish virgins possessed belief in the bridegroom, and had
knowledge of his imminent return, but they had no revelation knowledge because
that’s only available through the Holy Spirit.They knew “about” the promised return, but didn’t have the
promise imparted to their spirits by Him due to revelation, and without that,
the knowledge they had of the promise had no ability to impart life to their
spirits.
In
contrast, the prudent virgins had both knowledge and the revelatory impartation
of the bridegroom’s life found in his promise(s).This is evident because they had gathered ‘extra oil’ into
their vessels, and valued the extra oil as much as their lives.The extra oil not only symbolized the
promises of the bridegroom in their individual lives, it also symbolized that
his life, living their vessels, was the deciding factor on who attended the
wedding as his bride – and they recognized it was that important – before his
return; that’s precisely why they are called the ‘prudent’.
I
mentioned in B3, above, that why we celebrate Communion is readily apparent in
scripture.Jesus told us to do it
‘in remembrance of Me’, but even this explanation needs more explanation.What it means when we do celebrate
Communion is almost never explained, and forms the basis Paul’s stern warning
in 1st Corinthians 11: 27-30.He is saying, in effect, that he who attests to having an intimate
relationship (intimate as in “marriage”); a “knowing” relationship, while not
having it – brings a curse on himself.
The
inferior testifies to the superior, not the other way around.Our natural world is a mere shadow of
the spiritual world, and can't help but testify to its greater reality.Nowhere does heaven point to the
natural world as a greater existence.With that in mind, our earthly processes of procreation testify to a
greater spiritual reality, not vice-versa, and Holy Communion (earthly
Sacrament) attests to an almost spiritually sexual intimacy (1st
Corinthians 6: 17) each true believer should have with the Lord.
In
other words, by taking the bread and wine of Communion inside our bodies,
we testify/signify taking the very Life of the Lord inside ourselves, as a
ratification of the blood covenant we profess to be in with Him.To signify otherwise would be to lie
about a covenant relationship we do not have, and would indeed make
sense of the harsh judgment rendered in Matthew 7:23 – a fully justified
judgment.
To
partake of Holy Communion without the required blood covenant intimacy, equals
an extreme mockery of God, observed in Christ’s sacrifice.It says, in effect, “I want the benefits
of this blood covenant without the required relationship with Christ.”It is casting dirt on the sacrifice of
Christ and into the face of God.
This teaching
could easily be expanded to show why God ‘hates divorce’, and why just “living together” is sin in His eyes.
In the Bible,
God names Himself using several compound names, names which communicate and
describe His attributes.In
Genesis 22, God is called, “Jehovah-Jireh” = the God who provides.And it should be obvious that the
reason God discloses Himself in this way is to disclose to us Who He Is.
Contrary to
public opinion, even within our churches, God greatly DESIRES for us to know
Who He Is.But all too often,
we want Him to remain mysterious so we can claim ignorance of Him as an excuse
for our lifestyles.We only fool
ourselves, and make fools of ourselves when we do.
When I began
to acquire the knowledge (not mine) that He wanted us to know Him for His true
self, I began to be desperate for God to reveal Himself to me; not His stuff,
not His power – just Him.In my
reasoning, I figured He was the One responsible for my longing, and therefore,
He would fulfill it.
Of course, all
my preconceived, religious notions of God, good and bad, got dumped, and I
figured He would replace them with His truth.I now believe He is doing it a little bit at a time, and
since I am a finite creature, this is a mercy.Remember, the promised land wasn’t acquired in a day – and
for good reason.
In some of our
churches we are taught to trust God to provide for our needs, and His Name,
Jehovah-Jireh is taught.The
church members are encouraged to have faith in Him for their provision.I think it’s wonderful!But the other night I was watching a
“Christian” television station wherein the second-generation leader of a once
world-wide ministry was talking about “seeding” into the ministry.The message didn’t bother me until I
realized that it WAS the message!
Personally, I
find it irreprehensible to think Almighty God called into being a Seed
Ministry!I’ll go further – I
believe there will be an incredible, eternal judgment against those who feel
the “call” to gather seeds of this nature, and I don't for one minute, think
the seed call was from God.Perhaps it’s just another example of beginning well but ending badly.
I, and many
others like me are feeling the hunger pangs of spiritual starvation, and only
the real God has the food we need.More and more, I feel the extreme urgency of wanting the God to Whom the
impossible is possible, to reveal His face and heart to me.I will die on doctrine.I will starve on religion.The good news – Jesus came so we could
have (His) life, and have it in abundance!And that is His will in the matter.
As a result,
I’m trusting God (Jehovah-Jireh) to provide me with the things only He can
provide.I’m not referring to
money or possessions, I am asking for His love, His faith and His
heart, to be given to my heart as revelation - gifts no man can ever
provide.
Don't
misunderstand, I’m not against God providing money or possessions, but if my
needs were made known to man – man could meet them. While I’m not turning away
any money that arrives unbidden in my post office box, I’m praying for the
gifts that only the God of the impossible can provide.
I believe God
desires to make His true self known.I believe He wants to display His true nature, His true love and His
true power to a hardened and skeptical world.And I believe He wants to do it now.
I want the
real Jehovah-Jireh to arise!It is
the time.
During our
daily devotional readings this morning, my wife and I read out of Job 41:11 –
‘Who has given to Me that I should repay him?Whatever is under the whole heaven
is Mine.’
This
particular verse has always been highlighted to me, but this morning it struck
a chord in me that resulted in my thinking of “ownership”, specifically, my
ownership of others.
When we hold a
debt against someone else, even (especially) God Himself, we are exercising a
kind of ownership, for the debtor is owned by the debt holder in the amount of
the debt.As “good” Christians, we
are adept at forgiving others, or so we like to think, but sometimes we don't
consider holding another in our debt as unforgiveness.
For instance,
I’ve been seeking God a lot lately, and as such, I’ve been nagging Him to keep
His promises to me.But while I
think we are encouraged to pray for the fulfillment of God’s promises to us, we
have no right to place an ownership interest against Him until He does.
Realizing I
was guilty of doing this, I began to pray, and asked God’s forgiveness – but
that simply wasn’t good enough; I also told Him, and anyone else He was using
as a witness, that I released Him from any perceived debt I had out against
Him, and I told Him, “You owe me NOTHING!”
Having done
that, I began thinking of my filial brother, who in my estimation, wrongly
acquired a possession of mine years ago, and still has it.I have forgiven him for that
transgression quite some time ago, but in the back of my mind always felt he at
least owed me an apology – again, ownership.I relinquished my ownership of my brother in that regard,
and gave his ownership back to God.
On a roll, I
released my ownership of a debt I held against an old (ex) friend in
Kansas.I again told God, “He owes
me nothing.”My prayers of
relinquishing ownership of other’s perceived “debts” went on for a while, and
in each case, involved those I know I’ve previously “forgiven”.
As it stands
now, God owes me nothing.If He
never answers another prayer I pray or keeps any of His promises to me – He is
still God, and I am not.I
will always owe Him.Always.The others I prayed about are now debt
free in my eyes, and I see this morning that without this specific release, I
was allowing myself to hang onto the debts, and remain living in a deception of
forgiveness.I was wrong.
Looking back
on my prayers this morning, I consider my release of God to be the most
important, indeed vital, prayer of all.All of my other releases sprang from that one, but all were extremely
important.But here’s the
interesting part: releasing all the others made me free!How cool is that?!
If you’re
reading this, I recommend you consider those you’ve previously “forgiven”, and
if there is anything you feel they owe you – even if they really do, my
recommendation is that you dump your ownership rights.Maybe you’ve been deceived like me.
To the degree that you own another, to
that degree you are in bondage to them, and bondage is not free – it’s
expensive.
Name: John Miltenberger ChristiansUnite ID: jmilty Member Since: 2006-08-22 Location: Estes Park, Colorado, United States Denomination: Born-again believer About Me: Retired from Overland Park, Kansas and now living in Estes Park, Colorado. Another escapee from the Midwest!!
Email: jmilty@q.com