“Five-fold Ministry” or Dead Kings?

by Michael

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“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (1Co 3:21-23 KJ2000)

As we read chapter three and four of Ephesians we see a reoccurring theme: “each, every, all, etc.” and they all refer to the functioning of Christ in His body. But when we get to vs. 4:11 we read “some.” This is a tip-off… somebody cooked the Book! The word in the Greek for “some” here is “ho.” It is the definite article. Now try reading that verse this way, “And he gave THE, apostles; and THE, prophets; and THE, evangelists; and THE, pastors and teachers;”

 Here is another place the definite article “ho” is found, “In the beginning was THE Word, and THE Word was with God and THE Word was THE God.” You see, it is THE WORD who is THE Apostle, THE prophet, THE Evangelist, THE Pastor and THE Teacher. It is not about us, but rather it is ALL about Him. These enablings or graces are all HIM and as we “live and move and have our beings IN Him” and not in ourselves and we will find them working BY Him in each (ALL) of us. God is NOT a respecter of persons. It is time we start living IN Him outside of the box (read “steeple house”) mentality and find Christ as our total sufficiency and KNOW that we should seek to live in the fullness of Christ. The verse before Ephesians 4:11 says, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Eph 4:10 KJ2000 – emphasis added), not just “some.”

Notice this Eph 4:11 in the English Standard version. They seem to have got it, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,” (Eph 4:11 ESV). These five nouns can be translated either singular or plural and more often than not most of them were used in the singular. So, with this in mind it could and should read, “And He gave the Apostle, the Prophet, the Evangelist, the Pastor and Teacher…” Jesus is THE Apostle (See Heb. 3:1). He is THAT Prophet (See Acts 3:22-23). He is THE Evangelist (euaggelistēs), the one who brought good news (euaggelizō) from the Father to us all. He is THE Teacher (See Matt. 23:10). and He is THE Pastor, The Shepherd of our souls (See 1 Pet. 2:24-25). In short HE is our All in all. Christ is our sufficiency in all things (2 Cor. 3:5). We in our old adamic natures are quick to put a man where only Jesus belongs and would do well to read 1 Cor. ch. 3 again with this in mind.

Once He showed me the definite article in this Ephesians chapter four  passage it all became so clear. Christ is ALL in ALL, not just in some. He manifests different parts of that ALL that is Him at different times in each of us. Paul was not a lone spiritual freak who could say, “I can do all things through Christ who is my strength.” or “For me to live IS Christ and to die is gain.” This is our inheritance as we live IN Christ!

I just got back from a trip to Phoenix, AZ with George Davis. It was evident that God was sending us down there by the way the saints were moved on by Him to finance the whole trip, our lodging, food and everything and it all happened without us ever even suggesting it or asking for a dime from anyone. George Muler once said that when God conceives a work He also is its source of supply. Now that we are back and have seen the spiritual fruit of that “sending out,” “apostolos” (envoy or sent one) event, we know that it is Christ who was the Apostle in us for that brief season. Tomorrow, He might be another part of His ALL in us or He might have us do nothing but rest in Him and wait before Him.

Are we privileged? Are we entitled, now to call ourselves “apostles”? Are we to start beating the drum and enticing others to “invite us into their areas” and then obligate them to “give to the work”? NOT hardly. This is a false paradigm and NOT His kingdom in action. Claiming a particular ministry or title is limiting God in us at best and can quickly become idolatry in the worst form as we seek to take on a larger than life form before the saints of God. George is nothing, Michael is nothing… just mere men like you who yielded to His will for a moment in time. This walk is all about HIM, dear saints. “In Him we live and move and have our beings.”

Dead Kings or the Living Christ?

 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their harlotry, nor by the dead bodies of their kings on their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them put away their harlotry, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. You son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house… This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole area round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. (Eze 43:7-12 KJ2000)

Israel had built tombs for each of its dead kings around the temple of God. Their thresholds were over against the threshold of the house of God. They had put a wall between Him and them by these abominations. Today it is not all that difference. A great man of faith will rise up and what do we do? We set out to build an institution or a denomination around them. Today we have followers of “dead kings” in the church. They became followers of Luther, Calvin, John Wesley, Meno Simons, Alexander Dowie, William Branham, Kennith Hagan, Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsey and many others who were larger than life who’s light shown for a season and now they are dead. Most of these men did not set out in the beginning to have men follow them, but carnal followers always desire a king to rule over them (see 1 Samuel ch. 8) and thus another Christian sect is born.

Let not we who serve in the body of Christ build our temples over against the House of God and our door posts over against His door posts as we attempt to draw men into our soulish spheres of influence while we seduce them away from HIS house which you all are (See Hebrews 3:6). George and I are through with the houses of dead kings and committing spiritual necrophilia with their carcasses. We would see Jesus in ALL His saints not just some! Isn’t Ephesians 4:11 followed by, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:12-13 KJV2000)? As long as we are followers of men this will never come to pass.

There was a time when God’s men detested the thought of taking what belongs to God alone unto themselves (see Acts 3:1-12, 14:11-15 and 20:29-31). Today we need more ministers who will rend their garment, expose their flesh and point all men away from themselves to Jesus and no other.   Remember, for many of us the last god to die is called, “MY MINISTRY.” “To HIM be the glory for ever and ever, Amen.”

Signposts or Idols?

by Michael

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from you. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: (Mat 12:38-39 KJ2000)

For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (Heb 13:11-14 KJ2000)

I was on the phone today with a brother from Arizona and God had been talking to him about signposts and how men who have revelation of the truths of God are like signposts. Then he said, “The trouble is that when we find one of these “signpost” that are clearly pointing to God we want to sit on the signpost and we refuse to go on!” He is right!

We in our fallen human natures tend to be both idolaters and campers. The first thing that Cain did when going out from the presence of God was to go into the world and build encampments or cities. Finally, in few generations later men in rebellion against God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply”and spread through and take dominion over the whole earth (an early type of the great commission… they all gathered together in Babel around a leader named Nimrod and he convinced them to build a city “least we be scattered across the face of the earth” and to raise up a tower unto the heavens that they might “make a name” for themselves. Ancient history goes on to show that Nimrod and his wife Semiramis became the very first idols of men and down from them came the other cultural pagan gods of Baal, Moloch (Molok), Jupiter, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Diana, etc.

Nimrod was the first king in the Bible narrative. It is interesting that melek is the Hebrew word for king! When Israel demanded of God a human king to rule over them instead of Him (see 1 Samuel 8), they became worshippers of Moloch instead of God. No wonder He was so offended with them! His chosen people preferred a man to watch over them and go before them in battle whereas God had been doing that all through their history for them and they never needed a human king before. This was the beginning of the end for Israel. Most of their kings were human despots who led them away from God and only David (their second king) was “a man after God’s own heart.”

So, after many failed kings and kingdoms in the land of Israel and many “keepers” of God’s own vineyard – His chosen people — God send forth His Son to take possession of His vineyard for Him and what happens? “But when the tenants [of the vineyard] saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize his inheritance” (Read Matthew 21:33-43KJ2000).

You see the tenants of God’s vineyard, the leaders of the Jews, rejected His Son, Jesus, when He came to them. They required a “sign” instead of Him! So they plotted to kill Jesus…

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. (Joh 11:47-48 KJ2000)

Who’s place and who’s nation??? The chief priests and Pharisees claimed God’s people as their own! They were lords over the flock of God. The temple was theirs, it was their place, their center of power. and they guarded it against God’s chosen and sent ones with great jealousy. How often have we heard a pastor or other minister use the terms, “my church” or “my ministry”? This is s symptom of a terrible disease.

God had sent the Jews other holy men and prophets ahead of Christ and their fathers persecuted and killed these men for the same reason they killed Christ! Jerusalem had become a city of blood. Is it any different to day? Aren’t we who call ourselves “Christians” doing the same thing? God gives us a man or a woman with a vision, a revelation, spiritual understanding or spiritual power to proclaim Christ and point the way to Him and His kingdom and what do we do? We idolize their wisdom and knowledge and rally around their vision and teachings. They were only meant to be a signpost pointing the way down the path to God’s eternal city, the New Jerusalem, His holy Zion where Christ rules supreme, but we create our own Babel and camp around the signpost, our new king, and another Christian cult or denomination is born.

In the Matthew twelve passage above, Jesus equates this seeking after a sign as adultery. Why? Because the love and devotion and the preferring of HIS voice (yes, His sheep HEAR His voice – see John ch. 10) that should be in us for Jesus is given to a mere human signpost. Instead of moving on and obeying the upward call of Christ, we camp around them and their teachings. This is spiritual adultery! Jesus is our Husband, not gifted men and women!

Paul wrote:

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1Co 1:22-24 KJ2000)

Christ crucified, not a sign! HE is the very substance of God, not a shadow. Paul later wrote in chapter three that the Corinthians were “yet carnal” because they were devoted and attached to high profile leaders in the church including him! In Hebrews we read that the scriptures themselves all point to Christ and that they are only a shadow of Christ who is our substance. Yet in our carnal ways, we even make this book our idol and refuse to listen to God’s voice via His Holy Spirit. Yes, God can and does speak through the Bible, but it is nothing but a book without the Spirit of God opening its words up to us. Reading it on our own without His revelation, we will invariably turn its teachings into false doctrines, even doctrines of demons. When the Spirit uses it words to speak to us it is still HIM speaking. The Book is only a sign pointing to Jesus and only He is to be our All in all. Christ is our power and wisdom. He is our knowledge and our very source of all things pertaining to God and godliness. It is “in HIM that we live and move and have our beings.” “All things are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” It is time that we start living in the fullness of the Son.  http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001837.html

The Anti-Christ Spirit vs. the Holy Spirit in the Church

by Michael

Have you ever considered that the nuts of Protestant denominations never fell from from the parent tree of Catholicism? Yes, many of these churches were started by men of great spiritual insight, but the systems that have formed around them is not that different than that of the Catholics. I find that Protestantism has changed the names in its own hierarchic systems, but it still places men as its authorities and spiritual guides such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, and more recently the newer off-shoots of the same system of men lording over the Lord’s vineyard, Kenneth Hagen, Ken Copeland, Peter Wagner, Rick Joyner, John Wimber, Mark Driscol, etc… all these are popes in their own rite. For these we use titles like “Founder” instead of pope. We don’t use “Bishop” as the Catholics do, but rather “District Superintendent” We don’t use “father” or “priest, but rather “pastor” or “Bible teacher.” Yes, many of them have come forth placing Christ as the Head of the Church in word, but in reality, they still rule supreme over those under them — the very body of Christ. No one has dared to reform that original usurping system that Jesus spoke against when He said, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45 RSVA). It was Jesus who said, “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mat 23:8-12 RSVA -emphasis added). I am afraid that our church traditions speak louder than His words.

John amplified on the dangers of hierarchy in his first letter to the church saying,

“Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; by which we know that it is the last time. THEY WENT OUT FROM US, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1Jo 2:18-19 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

“went out from” is translated from the Greek word exerchomai

Thayer Definition: 2d) to come forth (from privacy) into the world, before the public, (of those who by novelty of opinion attract attention)

Paul warned the elders of the early church that this would happen saying, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.” (Act 20:29-31 KJ2000 – emphasis added).

If you get into the teachings of each of the afore mentioned men (and thousands of others since Christ, calling themselves “church leaders,”  you will find “perverse things” in their teachings. The more power that they garnered to themselves, the more perverse they become. This is why Jesus spoke against the Gentile king paradigm and demanded that we be servants like Him… one with the Father and seeking the lowest seats in our gatherings, not as lords over the flock of God (see 1 Pet. 5:3) . These men come “out from” and “rise up” over the people of God with their teachings. This is the anitchirst spirit in action. This Greek word “antichristos” not only means “against Christ,” but “instead of Christ” or to “displace Christ” of His rightful place in the ekklesia of God.

John went on to write, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth… These things have I written unto you concerning them that deceive you. But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” (1Jo 2:20-28 KJ2000)

You see, deception comes in when we prefer the teachings of men and hew out for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water as we forsake the Fountain of Living Water (see Jer. 2:12&13) — the very Spirit of God which Jesus promised would come and abide in our midst (see John 4:10 & 7:8) and lead us into all truth (see John 16:13). As we abide in the Spirit of Christ and are obeying HIM, we will be confident “before Him at His coming.” Yes, anointed teachers can share things with us from God, but they were never meant to take the place of the Comforter who leads us into all truth.

May God bless you as you listen to His voice and follow the Lamb wherever HE goes.

To Whom Is the Arm of the Lord Revealed?

by Michael

Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and rely upon his God. Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that encircle yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow. (Isa 50:10-11 KJ2000)

Many of us have known lives filled with disappointment, rejection and sufferings. I want you to know that as you have given yourselves over to God, it is all in His plan for you and that there is His light waiting for you at the end of the tunnel you have been in. I dedicate this teaching to you.

 Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no stately form nor splendor; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isa 53:1-5 KJ2000)

Verse one in the above passage in the Amplified Version reads, “WHO HAS believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed? (Isa 53:1 AMP). This is a great question that proceeds a great passage about our Savior and His great sufferings on this earth spoken by Isaiah the prophet. I think Isaiah was skeptical that anyone could hear his message about the Messiah. Yes, just WHO will believe and trust in the cling to a Saviour such as this? A tender plant? A gnarly root on top of the ground with no beauty about Him for men to see? Rather they rejected Him and He had no honor in His own home town or among His kin. The despised Him so much that they sought to kill Him more often than not. If today’s evangelists came to us in this form would we receive their gospel messages? Would we treat them any different? Yes, who will know the arm of the Lord in their lives? Who will know the power of His might, first to save them and then to refine them through sufferings into the sons of God? Ours is a Hollywood gospel that appeals to our flesh, spoken by smooth talking, handsome men in three piece suits wearing expensive shoes who time their messages by their Rolex watches. Isaiah had none of these in His description of Jesus and it was not receive back then either. To whom then is the arm of the Lord then revealed? David wrote, “The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psa 34:18 KJ2000).

“The arm of the Lord” also refers to His power to do the miraculous. Many Christians come to Christ and want His power, but that power only came to Jesus as He was obedient to His Father and did HIS will, not His own. Satan often tempted Him to take the power He had to Himself for His own purposes. “You are hungry, Jesus, turn this stone into bread.” “Prove to all in the temple you are the Son of God and leap off its pentacle in front of them. Doesn’t the scripture say that your Father will bear you up with His angels?” Or how about the temptation that came out of His disciple’s own mouth when He told them about how He had to go up to Jerusalem and suffer and die at the hands of the leaders of the Jews? “Be it far from you, Lord! Spare yourself!” To which Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan! For you desire the things of men and not the things pertaining to God.” If He had listened and put first the things pertaining to His life and comfort we would all be lost because that is exactly what Satan did that brought about his fall. He sought power over the kingdom of God without obedience to Him.

This chapter in Isaiah is all about Jesus and what He went through to be fully formed into the manifest Son of God on this earth. He learned obedience by the things He suffered. In Hebrews we read,

 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Heb 5:7-9 KJ2000)

Not only was Jesus made perfect through suffering, but so are we. It was because of Him loving not His life even unto death that He had power. He moved in that obedience as the Son of God, only doing what He saw His Father doing and only speaking what He heard His Father saying and the demons trembled! Because of His great obedience, His was the arm of the Lord. It is no different with those of us who are being conformed into Christ’s image as the sons and daughters of God. Before power can come through us, God has to break us and pour us out for others as He did the Son. Paul wrote, “For just as Christ’s [ own] sufferings fall to our lot [as they overflow upon His disciples, and we share and experience them] abundantly, so through Christ comfort (consolation and encouragement) is also [shared and experienced] abundantly by us” (2Co 1:5 AMP).

Many want the power of God to flow through them, but they don’t want to pay the price by which it comes. In those last hours that Jesus was with them on earth the disciples asked if they could sit in seats of power at Jesus’ side in heaven, but there was a price to pay for that to happen…

 “When you come into your glory, please let one of us sit at your right side and the other at your left.” Jesus told them, “You don’t really know what you’re asking! Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from or be baptized as I must be baptized?” (Mar 10:37-38 CEV)

Why did Paul have power over sickness and demons? It was because He wanted ALL that Jesus is in His life. Power is only part of the package and the cup of suffering is not optional. He wrote,

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but rubbish, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Phi 3:7-10 KJ2000)

This man not only wanted Christ’s power and authority, but He wanted ALL of Christ! He counted all his former life and his very Jewishness and rabbinical accomplishments as rubbish as well as everything else that he once held dear that He might attain all that God had for him in Christ. Most of us read the above passage and narrow it down to part of one verse, “That I am know… the power!” We all want resurrection power. We want to stand before men and heal the sick and raise the dead and would love to get the attention that goes with it or we want to rule over the lives of the saints of God when Christ is the Head of the church and is the ONLY Mediator between God and man. We like to take things out of context like this passage…

 Therefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men… And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers…” (Eph 4:8-11 KJ2000)

But Paul goes on and tells us the purpose of this empowerment from God…

 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we from now on be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive; (Eph 4:13-14 KJ2000)

From what I have seen those who have the so called “five fold” use it to keep aloof and above the saints of God, maintaining the false clergy-laity separation instead of demonstrating in all lowliness the UNITY of all saints, great or small. Didn’t Jesus say that those among us who would be the greatest must become the least and the slaves of all? There is no division in a perfect body. For it to work it must be unified in every way with each member having no less a part in that perfection than another. It is this dis-unity brought about by a hierarchal system in todays visible church that is why we so often are tossed about by every wind of doctrine and sleight of men with their cunning craftiness and deception. Paul warned it would end up that way (See Acts 20:29-30) and could see it starting already before he died.

After prophesying all the sufferings that Jesus would go through, Isaiah ends by saying,

 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa 53:10-12 KJ2000)

Yes, Isaiah 53 is about Jesus and HE is the Savior, but the context says it is also about those “to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed,” as well. His sufferings and righteous obedience to His Father was so that we also could overcome in our sufferings and know His righteousness in us by His sacrifice.

What does this mean, “when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand”? When did Jesus see His spiritual offspring and prolong His day on this earth? It was after He suffered and died! The will of His Father prospers in His hands through those of His offspring who “live and move and have their beings” IN Him! We who are the sons and daughters of God because of what our Brother Jesus has done are His offspring. It is by living out His resurrected life in us that He is prolonging His days here on earth. Didn’t Paul say, “…but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phi 1:20-21 KJ2000)? It is in hearts like this that the will and power of the Lord prospers in Christ;s hand.

The power that Paul demonstrated by Christ in Him was also constantly accomplished with suffering just as Jesus said it would in their first encounter, “…he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Act 9:15-16 KJ2000). Oh how we would love to be so respected that we would stand before kings and presidents, but for Paul that also came with much suffering.

 I once was moved to tears as I watched a movie called “The Green Mile.” It was about a simple black man with no shoes and in bib overalls who was falsely accuse of murder who just wanted to take away the sufferings of those around him and somehow he had the power to heal and take their sufferings into his own body. As I watched the movie I wept and asked the Lord if He could trust me with His healing power like this man. He answered me in a very personal way by casting that role of John Koffee in an actor named… Michael Clarke Duncan. I wept so hard upon seeing this in the ending credits that it was a good half hour before I could drive home. He had my name! Later my wife who was with me looked up “Duncan” in a book about the Scottish clans and the slogan on their family crest is, “Learn to Suffer.”

 “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.” ~ Jesus of Nazareth

May It Be

by Michael

(lyrics by Enya from “The Lord of the Rings”)

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadow’s call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way

Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now <end>

Jesus is the Bright and Morning Star. The Son is our sun. He is the Promise that Lives within us to carry us through the night. May it be.

A New Day Is Coming

by Michael

God has always called only a small remnant to go ahead of the rest by faith (or go into battle as with the story of Gideon for the sake of others). Most often the people that they risk all for to help don’t appreciate them and sometimes they even try to kill them as it was with Jesus. A small percentage of the whole of what is called “church” these days have been called out (ekklesia) to bear the brunt of the battle and pay the price of following Christ and obeying His voice. It is not a thing to get proud about as some who claim to be in the lead or “on the cutting edge,” but rather it is a labor of love both for and with Jesus and for the rest of His people. After Gideon and the 300 God chose won the battle by letting their lights shine and standing firm against the enemy, God did the rest and their enemy was scattered…. all while they rested in Him and watched!

Years ago a sister who didn’t know me spoke a word to me saying, “I have never heard God say this before. I just heard Him say about you, ‘You will boldly go where no one has gone before.'” I laughed and told her that during  the Vietnam War I served on a ship called the U. S. S. Enterprise. A couple years after that I was sitting in a meeting and heard the Lord say, “You have not been this way before.” Yesterday, twenty years later, God put the two words together in my heart and showed me what is going on in the Spirit in this hour. He has His “Gideon’s army” that He has called out to lead the way for the rest in this New Covenant people as well. God told Joshua just before they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, “You have not been this way before (see Joshua chapter two).” The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant went into the Jordan River first and just as their feet touched the water the river backed up and they went out into the middle of the stream bed with the ark on dry ground and stood there while the others crossed 2000 cubits (3/5 of a mile) down stream, also on dry ground, just as God instructed. After everyone had crossed (about 2 1/2 million people) they were instructed to place 12 stones in the middle of the river bed where the arc had stood and to take 12 more from the river bed and stack them on the west bank in the Promise Land as a monument of that famous day for future generations to see where they had crossed in such a miraculous way.

These priests also had to go first and stand in that dangerous place so others could pass safely. They boldly went where no man had ever stood before. The people passed 2000 cubits down stream from the arc as God commanded. Figuring a year for a cubit, the church has been in a spiritual wilderness (“the church in the wilderness”)  for 2000 years and is now about to cross over once again. Stephen, speaking to the leaders of the Jews spoke of Jesus in Moses saying, “This is he (Jesus), that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and [with] our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt…” (Act 7:38-39 KJV). Men’s hearts who rebel against Christ never change.

Consider these two passages with all this in mind…

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hos 6:1-3 KJ2000)

But the heavens and the earth, which now are, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2Pe 3:7-10 KJ2000)

After two days (two thousand years) He will revive us! And in (not after) the third day (third millennium since Christ’s advent on earth) He will raise us up and we will dwell in His sight! LET US PRESS ON TO KNOW THE LORD! We are about to see a NEW morning as the beginning of the third day dawns upon us.

As the election in the U.S. was going on on November 6th George Davis and I felt such a peace. It was like we were safely in another world watching it all happen. We were! We were dwelling in heavenly places in Christ and not in the kingdoms of men! That peace continues regardless of what is going on in the kingdoms of men. It is for “a time such as this” that many of us have been called as His kingdom of priests bear the vision of the New Covenant (See Jer. 33:31-33 and Hebrews chapter eight) for others. We hear “restoration” and “He will raise us up.” God will arise and his enemies will be scattered. As it was with Jesus so it is with us. What has been dead (His man handled church) will live again in HIS newness of life in His new land, that Zion which is from above.

I also heard Him say yesterday, “Haman is about to hang himself on the scaffold he has made to hang God’s people on (see the story of Esther).”  Remember, Satan and his cohorts always over play their hand and their evil plans against God’s people are always foiled. I also heard “Aslan is on the move. There is a thaw coming and no longer will it be perpetual winter with no Christmas” (from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis). When the enemy comes in like a flood, God always raises up HIS standard. His holy people, the ekklesia of Christ, will prevail as they rest in Him.

What Spirit Are We Of?

by Michael

What a different world it would be today if even the so called “Christians,” much less “Christian nations,” followed Jesus’ commands and teachings…

“You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Mat 5:43-45 KJ2000)

When we return evil for evil, curse for curses, hate for hate and murder for murder, who do we manifest as the one who is our father? The same father as those who sought to kill Jesus Who said to those self-righteous Jews, “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (Joh 8:44 KJ2000)

Do we know what spirit we are of in this hate filled world? I think that there is a lot of room for some real soul searching and repentance among those of us who claim Christ as our Savior and times like this show us what is really in our hearts.

From Whom Shall Come Our Help?

by Michael

ImageRecently a sister in Canada included this passage in her post to me, “Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you:” (Act 3:19-20 KJ2000 – emphasis added).

As I read it I was taken with these words, “times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord… and He shall send Jesus Christ…” Where do we as “typical Christians” seek our times of refreshing? Most of us seek the presence of other Christians. We run off to a “church service” or a Christian gathering with little thought about seeking the Lord’s personal presence. “Fellowship” with the saints is a good thing, but it can be a substitute for the best fellowship there is and rob us of that personal touch that only the Lord can give if we don’t understand that our “times of refreshing” are to be found in “the presence of the Lord.” HE is our total sufficiency in all things.Too many of us rely on special Christian gatherings to take us into God’s presence. What will we do when we get cut off from all that in days ahead?

Paul wrote, “And such trust have we through Christ toward God: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” (2Co 3:4-5 KJ2000). It is evident that very hard times are coming upon us in the near future. In America and in much of the developed world we are looking at the impending collapse of our economies. We look to bankers and politicians for help and they demand more power to “fix the problem” and what happens? It only get worse. The answer is not to be found by seeking help from men, but rather in our individually seeking our help from Jesus. If we learn to know Him as our help in time of need, now, when the waters are only starting to rise, we will be ready when the enemy comes in like a flood. When the dam breaks and the waters are rushing down upon you, it is no time to be shopping for a boat.

“For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses; but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16 KJ2000)

Now is the time to learn to come boldly into the throne of grace. We are in great need of faith in Christ as our High Priest… faith that will carry us through the days ahead.

Are We IN Christ or Just in Church?

by Michael

Paul wrote, “And of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” (1Co 1:30 KJ2000). Notice that little word “in.” Paul did not say “about” or “unto” or “upon,” but rather he used the intimate word “in.”

It is the Father’s doing that we who have believed INTO His Son (the true meaning of John 3:15, 16, 18 and all the other salvation verses in the N.T.) are placed IN Him by that same faith. The word “in” referring to Christ Jesus is found in more than eighty verses in the New Testament, yet we spend our whole religious lives oblivious to where we live and to how many are the privileges we have in where the Father has placed us. Instead we see ourselves in this world to the extent that we are OF the world. The church system has inoculated us against who we are IN Christ.

Paul, speaking to the Athenians said, “In Him we live and move and have our beings” as the saints of God. He did not say, “In the world we live and move and have our being.” Nor did he say, “In church do we live and move and have our being.”

We in Christendom have been taught that the more we are in our respective churches and their functions, the more we are “in Christ.” The “church” has become “our wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption” not Christ Jesus. Even focusing on being “out of the church system” can fall short of who we are IN Christ when it becomes our identity.

When Jesus is our All in all, then we have unity for IN Him we all have the same redemption (salvation), the same wisdom of the Spirit, the same righteousness and the same sanctification. It is ALL of Him and not of the whims of religious men and their doctrines or of ourselves. Only as we each live and move and have our being IN Christ Jesus will we know the unity in the Father which is ours.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” LITERALLY!

Mere Religion vs. Revelation

by Michael

Jesus said to the learned scribes and Pharisees, “You search the scriptures and in them you think you will find life and it is these which speak of me, but you will not come to me that you might have life.” The more that things change, the more that the mind of religion remains the same.

T. Austin-Sparks wrote:

…the difference between soul and spirit is very clear and definite. The spirit is the organ of spiritual knowledge, and spiritual knowledge is very different from natural or soul knowledge. How does God know things, and by what means does God come to His conclusions, decisions? On what basis of knowledge does He run the universe? Is it by reasoning inductively, deductively, philosophically, logically, comparatively? Surely all this laboriousness of brain is unknown to God. His knowledge and conclusions are intuitive. Intuition is that faculty of spiritual intelligence by which all spiritual beings work. Angels serve the will of God by intuitive discernment of that will, not by argued and reasoned conviction. The difference between these two is witnessed to by the whole monument of spiritual achievement. If human reason, the natural judgment and ‘common sense’ had been the ruling law, most, if not all, of the giant pieces of work inspired by God would never have been undertaken. Men who had a close walk with God and a living spirit-fellowship with Him, received intuitively a leading to such purposes, and their vindication came, not by the approval of natural reason, but usually with all such reason in opposition. ‘Madness’ was usually the verdict of this world’s ‘wisdom’. Whenever they, like Abraham, allowed the natural mind to take precedence over the spiritual mind, they became bewildered, paralysed, and looked round for some ‘Egypt’ way of the senses, along which to go for help. In all this we are “justified in the spirit”, not in the flesh. The spirit and the soul act independently, and until the spiritual mind has established complete ascendency over the natural mind, they are constantly in conflict and contradiction. In all the things which are out from God and therefore spiritual, “the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6). This, then, is the nature of spiritual knowledge.

The only knowledge of God which is of spiritual value for ourselves, or for others by our ministry, is that which we have by revelation of the Holy Spirit within our own spirits. God never—in the first instance—explains Himself to man’s reason, and man can never know God—in the first instance—by reason. Christianity is a revelation or it is nothing, and it has to be that in the case of every new child of God; otherwise faith will be resting upon a foundation which will not stand in the day of the ordeal.

‘The Christian Faith’ embraced as a religion, a philosophy, or as a system of truth, a moral or ethical doctrine, may carry the temporary stimulus of a great ideal; but this will not result in the regeneration of the life, or the new birth of the spirit. There are multitudes of such ‘Christians’ in the world today, but their spiritual effectiveness is nil.

The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the secret of everything in his life and service was the fact that he received his gospel “by revelation”. We may even know the Bible most perfectly as a book, and yet be spiritually dead and ineffective. When the Scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and of the truth as the basis of eternal life, resulting in being set free, doing exploits, etc., they also affirm that man cannot by searching find out God, and they make it abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind.

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001341.html