Posts Tagged ‘worldly kingdom’

What will History’s testimony of this generations disciples be?

Posted: September 11, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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By Russ Welch

We must ask ourselves what is “untouchable” in our lives? I mean, what is there in our lives that we are not willing to sacrifice in order to serve the Lord? Is it work? Family? Friends? Reputation? Finances? Houses?

Whatever it is, until you are able to surrender it upon the alter of obedience, you will never truly be sold-out to the Master. The enemy knows it as well and it is that very thing that the enemy will key in on until he has you cornered.

Radically sold-out to Jesus or sold-out to the world?

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matt 16:24-27)

We can see how this passage strikes a death blow to the current trend in much of the modern day Christianity that echoes and leans toward self-centered consumption. Many people wish to identify themselves with Christianity only for what they can get out of it. They view Jesus as a utilitarian genie, fulfilling every whim.

Sadly we find that some (with a growing number) in the Charismatic movement say Jesus wants to make you healthy, wealthy, and happy. If you are not all those things, then you supposedly don’t have enough faith to appropriate what’s yours. They claim Christianity is designed so you can get everything you need and want.

We even see where evangelicals and fundamentalists through the years have been guilty of propagating a Jesus who is a panacea for everything. They promote the get without the give, and the gain without the pain. Self-esteem promoters tell us Jesus came to boost our self-image. But they have fallen victim to narcissism–the pervasive self-love of contemporary society.

We must have a radical mindset transformation to where we realize that true disciples (radical disciples) have counted the cost, weighed their options, and they have stood their ground upon a personal & spiritual conviction that there is nothing in this world that can even remotely compare to the Lord nor is there anything that would hinder them from whole hearted totally abandoned life of servant-hood to Him….Just as history testifies to when we read about the radical disciples in the early years of the Church, when men and women who had counted themselves as bond servants unto their Lord, King and Master Jesus Christ even in the face of death.

We can read in the scriptures of how first century disciples “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41). These simple, humble, but dedicated and convicted people were willing to risk and, if necessary, lose security, property, limb, and even life for Christ’s sake. And yet we think we are “suffering above and beyond the call of duty” if our religion might cause the loss of some “friends,” the approval of our family, or the esteem of the social leaders in our area.

History testifies to the fact that disciples of the first century Church, as well as those of earlier periods in our own nation, could always be identified because they lived “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12). Although they did not seek to be “odd-balls” or non-conformists just for the sake of being eccentric, they were different even as Peter indicated in 1 Peter. 2:9-12.

Yet with great sorrow we find that a large scale portion of the modern day Christianity has ushered in the era of being,”more tolerant” and “open-minded” about sin than before. To such an extent that we have become amassed with those who call themselves followers of Christ who dress (or undress), curse, drink, smoke, fill their minds with smut, and divorce, etc., just like the world around them to such a degree that it is next to impossible to tell who is the Christian and who is not by the way they live.

Brothers & sisters, these things ought not so to be!

Now, I am not saying that these qualities do not exist anymore today, or that the church is failing. There are many devoted disciples; I know some of them. We must realize that the Lords people in this generation have great possibilities. Yet we must also realize that these trends seem to be developing among us as they have in every previous era and I mention them only to warn us to be on guard. Unless each one of us has the kind of attitude displayed by the people of God of the first-century as revealed in the New Testament, we cannot be the kind of influence He wants us to be in this life, and we simply will not get to heaven

So, one of the questions that must be asked today is;

How shall history look back upon this generations disciples?

Shall History testify to a generation of “radical disciples” who were Radically sold-out servants to Christ the King or will it testify to a generation of “servants of compromise” who sold-out their King for the comforts of this World……?

However if My people who are called by MY Name……

Posted: July 12, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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By Russ Welch

“Bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hand-cut stones. Fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” (Isaiah 9:10)

Like that of ancient Israel, God has been sending signs to America. And although many are trying to erase America’s true history in regard to the foundation upon which it was built or even the fact that before America was, it was dedicated by Christians as the New Zion even as Israel was dedicated to be a Nation unto the Lord.

Today we see people believing both in the Church and out of the Church that the cure to America’s woes are based upon an economic turn around yet that is a mere symptom of the real crisis at hand, for it goes far deeper to the very soul of this Nation and it’s continue progression away from God.

We can liken Sept 11, 2001 to ancient Israel when the hedge was breached instead of realizing that it was a Spiritual sign they looked at it as a sign that they needed to strengthen their nation defense. Now for a few brief moments America turned to God yet in its pride it sad we can become stronger, we can build a better defense system so that this will not happen again. The Churches for a brief moment were filled with people bowing low and crying out to the Lord. Now today we have people bowing low and worshipping mammon once again and seeking a human to solve their problems.

Look at the commentary of John D Watt’s on Isaiah 9:10:
“There is no way for the people to ignore the obvious disaster. Yet they choose not to recognize the deeper meaning…they do not respond to God. They only respond (inadequately) to the threating situation.”

And the Church remains silent on the matter. For much of the Church is sold out to the worlds systems (I said most not all) and has entered into the political arena spouting off who they believe will be better for the nation. Totally blind that the only hope for this nation lays in the hands of one man, and that man is Jesus Christ.

They have not even looked at the depth of sin in their own ranks; they have ignored the signs of God because they know Him not. Many will say God had nothing to do with 9 11 or that that was the Old Testament God, not the New Testament God of grace. Sorry but the Word is clear – the Lord God is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Did God cause 9 11? No He did not He merely lifted His hand of protection over this nation. Ironically the very descendants of those who attacked ancient Israel are they who attacked America on 9 11 – the Assyrians. And although the Assyrian language is dead – the remnants of its language is closely tied to that of Arabic.

The hope of America is dwindling day by day. At some point the Lord will lift His hands of protection all together, unless as He states in His Word “However, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, search for me, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear [their prayer] from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country.” (2 Chron 7:14)

Now God is not only the God of Mercy, He is as well the God of justice and He can’t not allow America to continue on her path and still bless her. Even as He judged Israel as we read in the book of Judges for her open rejection of Him and their vile display of sin, so must He justly deal with America:

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. (Judges 2:14-15)

We are blind if we do not see America being sold right from out under our feet – look at the debt we owe to China, what will happen when they decide call in their notes. Look at our ports and see who the companies that run them are from – China.

Our government is selling our rights and our religious freedoms and we remain silent – yet our silence should not be broken by merely changing the people in Washington – our silence must be broken by a crying out to God and possible a changing of the leadership in His house who like the politicians of this world are steeped in political games.

Thus the problem of America is bigger than what a mere political campaign can solve – it is a Spiritual sickness that not even an outward reformation will solve – it must be an inward transformation of His people turning back to Him and Him alone.

For if His people in America do not turn back to Him in humble repentance– we can be assured that even as He prophesied over ancient Israel, so Has He prophesied unto America:

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:5-6)

We must make a radical cry to Heaven – we must radically change our lives from that of serving the world with our actions and merely attempting to appease God with our lip service – we must radically serve Him and His Kingdom as true disciples armed with His Word, hardened with calloused knees having spent hours in prayer. With purified hearts and clean hands

One Hope, One God – Awake, awake oh sleeper for Your Husband stands at the door!!!

Has the Church been sold back to slavery?

Posted: March 7, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Has the Church been sold back to slavery?

by Russ Welch

We live in a day when slavery has surpassed any other generation along with that we are faced with imprisoning vices on all sides. Has the Church grown powerless or has it in a large part sold out to the customs of this world?

We must, as radical Christians realize that “Though worldly cultures and customs are apt to change with each generation the culture and customs of the Kingdom of God are eternal!

There appears to be a war within the very House of God, the lines have been drawn and the gulf is getting larger and larger. The liberal Christians [Those accustomed to feeding the flesh] have drawn a line called legalism and regretfully many good intentioned Christians have taking a stance that any social justice is outside of their calling.

For a number of generations the Church has remained silent on subjects that it should have released the roar of Heaven over. Today we see human trafficking happening right here in the USA and the Church to a large part remains silent

Why? Has the Church become ruled by a King other than our Christ? Has in it in its attempts to avoid taxes sold out its sovereignty to the Government of this land?  And in doing so has it sold its authority and power to that of the rule of mere men?

Immorality indorsed by national leaders!

When we see young ladies seated before the government of this world proclaiming a life of sexual immorality many are more outraged that people would question her life style rather than the fact that she is living a immoral life and expects others to pay for it.

We have the leader of this nation saying she should be proud. The very same leader who stated if his daughters had a “mistake”, he would not expect them to live with that mistake, rather that they should have an abortion! Since when is a creation of God labeled a “mistake?

This nation voted in the last presidential election with their first gripped about their wallets, while seated upon their morals and hide the Bible and any sense of Christian values in the closet. Saul this nation wanted, and Saul the Lord has giving this nation. And many Church leaders in this nation not only endorsed this mane, they proclaimed him as the hope of this nations future!!!

What has happened to America and especially the American Church (Maybe that is the problem ,it is the American Church and not Christ’s Church).

Idols of the American Church setting the stage for immorality.

Today sexual immorality has become a large scale erosion of the character of men and women within the Church it self along with greed and selfish ambition.

We have high profile pastors such as Paula White and Eddie Long who can divorce their husbands and wives and still be promoted as good, ethical, moral, holy and righteous Church leaders by the Main Stream Christian circles.  We have pastors committing horrendous sexual acts and paying off their accusers and the stories swept under the carper. We have high profile pastors being brought up on corruption and tax evasion charges, yet told this is part of the persecution of the saints!

What this is a corrupted generation of leadership at its best and they are trying to hide under the guise of holiness and proclamations of self induced persecution because they have not only broken the laws of the land, they have broken the very laws of a Holy God!!

We can see that 1Timothy 6 states a clear picture of our day;

A godly life brings huge profits to people who are content with what they have. We didn’t bring anything into the world, and we can’t take anything out of it. As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.

 But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief. (1 Tim 6:6-10)

Now Paul instructs Timothy how to battle such a plaque in verses 11-21;

But you, man of God, must avoid these things. Pursue what God approves of: a godly life, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the Christian faith. Take hold of everlasting life to which you were called and about which you made a good testimony in front of many witnesses.

 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and in the sight of Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony in front of Pontius Pilate, I insist that, until our Lord Jesus Christ appears, you obey this command completely. Then you cannot be blamed for doing anything wrong. At the right time God will make this known. God is the blessed and only ruler. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honor and power belong to him forever! Amen.

 Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.

 Timothy, guard the Good News which has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless discussions and the claims of false knowledge that people use to oppose the Christian faith. Although some claim to have knowledge, they have abandoned the faith. (1 Tim 6:11-21 GWT)

If we opened up the Bible to Romans Chapter 1, we would see that we are living in the very days described therein.

Has the Church taking a step backwards?

Sadly many in the Church today have taking on the Garden Mentality” in that they believe they question every aspect of God’s Word if it intrudes in their own life style and agenda not realizing that they are surrendering the very liberty that the Word brings to their lives.

Those of the grace, grace, grace movement who cry out “legalism” the loudest have birthed a generation of rebellious, anti –obedience people who have set them selves in the very seats of those whose name they label all who would disagree with them “Pharisees”. They claim to live a life filled with grace, yet they attitude towards those who are not holding to their doctrines is nothing short of that which John the Baptist called the Pharisees of his day “Brood of vipers” for they would eat their own if they disagreed with.

We must take a radical stand in our day and open the prison doors!!!

Unless the Church radically falls upon it’s face and repents and returns the sovereign rule of the House of God back to Jesus and out of the hands of men, this generation will not see the Glory of the Lord falling upon the earth.

We must wake up for the harvest fields are white before us, we must be willing to go on radical fasts, spend radical amounts of time engulfed in the Word of God & in prayer. We must radically raise our voices in the face of such rebellious acts against the Lord and His Word.

We must be a people who are radical in grace and mercy, who radically change our life styles of comfort in to that of servants. We must go into the highways and byways. We must not cower before the calls of social justice rather we must radically grab hold of these causes and impart the compassion, grace and mercy of our God into these situations.

We must radically change how we tithe and give of gifts. We must radically change our self-willed lives into that of Spirit lived lives.

Yet in all these things we must realize that we, in and of ourselves can not do it.

No, my friends, we must take that radical step towards the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Radically surrendering our wills and picking up our own crosses that have been dipped in His blood, baptized in His death and walk the life of obedient disciples, laying our lives down daily for the sake of the Kingdom of God, for the sake of the Gospel Message, for the sake of a lost and dying world, for the sake of seeing our lives break forth in such a way that His Glory is released throughout the world via broken and surrendered vessels such as we are called to be!!!

Let us step out of the prison of self indulgence today and into that of Radical Disciples of Jesus Christ for indeed we do serve an Awesome and Mighty God!!!!

Four Safeguards (Protection Against Deception)

Posted: November 15, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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So our proclamation this time is the last three verses of Psalm 19. Psalm 19:12–14:
Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

In the two previous sessions I’ve dealt with, what I consider to be a serious problem in the first session, and in the second session I’ve tried to give a scriptural explanation of how the problem arises. In this final session I want to deal with four scriptural safeguards to keep us from the problem. The first safeguard is contained in 1 Peter 5:5–6, starting at the end of verse 5 and going through verse 6.
. . . God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

I believe that’s the first essential requirement—is that we HUMBLE OURSELVES. The Bible says, “God resists the proud…” So if we are trying to get into the presence of God and we have pride, we may push but He pushes against us, and He pushes harder than we can.

In the Bible there’s no place where it says that God will make us humble. Always, God puts the responsibility upon us. We have to humble ourselves. It’s a decision. We have to make it. No one can make it for us. People can pray for us, and preach to us, but we have to make the decision to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us in due time.

I said already, I think, pride is the greatest single problem, and the most common problem, and the most destructive problem. We saw earlier that “pride goes before destruction.” If we do not turn back from the way of pride, our end will be destruction.

Now there is something in Psalm 25 which I find very helpful and inspiring. Psalm 25:8–9:
Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.

It’s the grace of the Lord that He’s willing to teach us sinners at all. But God enrolls His students, not by their intellectual qualifications, but by their character. A lot of people can go to a Bible school or a seminary or whatever else, but never be enrolled in God’s school, because God only enrolls the humble.

“The humble He guides in justice, the humble He teaches His way.”

The Old King James used to say the “meek.” I find in the modern translations that word “meek” has just dropped out. What’s the difference between humble and meek? As I see it, humble is your inner attitude, meek is the way you express it. We don’t need the word meek very much now days, because there are very few people to whom it applies. It’s very significant the words that we’re no longer using. Usually there’s a reason.

The next safeguard is in 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12.
The coming of the lawless one [that’s the antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

Bear in mind, Satan is capable of producing power, and signs, and wonders. I have frequently commented that the obvious place for the antichrist to arise would be in the Charismatic movement, because most Charismatics seem to thing that anything supernatural must be from God. That’s not so. Satan is capable of great supernatural signs and wonders. So how do we protect ourselves? It goes on:
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

So what is our protection against deception? RECEIVING THE
LOVE OF THE TRUTH. And again, it’s something we do. God will offer it to us, we have to receive it. Now those who do not receive the love of the truth, God says this:

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.

That’s a frightening verse. God will send them strong delusion. If God sends you strong delusion, you will be deluded.

In 1994, this is a personal subjective comment, I got up one night to go to the bathroom in Jerusalem, and I was walking back to my bed, God impressed upon my mind very clearly that He had sent strong delusion to the present Israeli government. I think everything that has happened since amply confirms that. It’s a very significant statement because if God has sent strong delusion, it’s no good praying for people not to be deluded. I think there are a lot of sentimental prayers about the Middle East which don’t amount to anything.

There are two words that are used in a soulish way to manipulate people. One is peace, the other is love. So the people of the Middle East, and I think probably the people of the world are being manipulated by the offer of peace. You see, if you’re against that you’re wicked. Anybody who is against peace is a bad person. How can you afford not to agree with it.

There are conditions for peace. In Isaiah, the prophet says, “There is no peace to the wicked.” And in Romans it says, “The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy.” You cannot have peace apart from righteousness. I know lots of Christians that are praying for joy, but if they don’t meet the condition of righteousness it’s not available to them. I find that peace is a word that’s used by politicians to manipulate people. They are deceiving people, because peace will not come to the unrighteousness.

The other manipulating word is love, which is used in the church. We talk a lot about the love of God, be loving, God is so loving, He is so kind. It’s all true, but God is also a very strict God. I have personally come to this conclusion on the basis of my own experience and observation of people close to me—you cannot get away with anything with God!

Nothing! You may think you’ve got away with it and God may forgive you, but you’ll still expect the consequences. See, God forgives but He does not always release us from the consequences of what we’ve done. So it’s better not to do it. So don’t have any sentimental picture of God. He’s not a Father Christmas doling out candy to little children. He’s very just, very righteous, very loving, but in a sense very severe. You cannot get away with a thing with God. So don’t try.

I feel that love is being used to manipulate people at the present time. People are talking about the love of God and God is so loving. It’s all true, but God’s love is expressed in surprising ways. As I quoted earlier, Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” That’s love. God is our Father and He loves us, but He also disciplines us.

There are two wrong ways of responding to the discipline of God. We look in Hebrews 12 for a moment and this is addressed to Christians. Hebrews 12:5–8:
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Now there are two wrong ways of responding to God’s chastening. The first one says, “Do not despise the chastening of the Lord.” Do not just shrug your shoulder and say, “Well, so what?” My observation is that many mature Christians don’t believe that God will discipline them any longer. The truth is, He never stops disciplining. This was brought home to me so vividly when I was reading the account of Moses. At the age of 80 God chose him and commissioned him to be the deliverer of Israel from Egypt, sent him back to Egypt. But on the way, the Lord met him at the inn and tried to kill him.

Extraordinary! Why? Because he had not circumcised his son. He had disobeyed the sign of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and his descendants. So God would rather have seen Moses die than go through with his ministry in disobedience.

Sometimes we say, “Satan is resisting me” and the truth of the matter is it isn’t Satan. It’s God. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The other wrong reaction is, do not be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. Don’t say, “This is more than I can take. God why do you let this happen to me. I can’t stand this. I’m not going to take it.” Those are the two wrong reactions. Despise it and be discouraged.

What about the love of the truth? The Greek word for love there is the one we are all familiar with “agape.” It’s a very strong word. It’s the strongest word in the Greek language for “love.” So it’s not just reading your Bible every morning, or going to church and listening to the sermon. It’s a passionate commitment to the truth of God. That’s what we have to cultivate if we are to escape delusion. God will send strong delusion to those who have not received the “agape” love of the truth. That’s more than just having a quiet time or reading your Bible at week ends. That is a passionate commitment to the truth of God.

I think I can say without being boastful, God has given me that. I’m not boasting, but I think God has given me a passionate commitment to the truth. Every time I hear something that I don’t think is truth, something in me rises up. So that’s something that God can do for you, but you have to let Him do it. So that’s the second safeguard.

RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH.

The third safeguard is to CULTIVATE THE FEAR OF THE LORD. A lot of Christians say there’s no more fear in the Christian life. That’s not true. Certain kinds of fear are excluded. I’m going to give you a list of Scriptures now. Ruth and I have memorized at least 20 different passages about the fear of the Lord. The promises are so exciting that I can’t understand why anybody doesn’t want the fear of the Lord. I will give you some of them. Psalm 34:11–14:
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit [guile].
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

So the implication is that the fear of the Lord will cause God to give you many days of good life. The first area that God deals with is what? The tongue. “Keep you tongue from evil, your lips from speaking guile.”

Then in Psalm 19:9 it says:
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The fear of the Lord will never cease, it endures forever.

And in Job 28:28:
. . . ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’

Notice that the primary requirement for wisdom and understanding is not intellectual, it’s moral. It’s to depart from evil. There are lots of clever fools around.

Proverbs 8:13:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.

Notice, you cannot be neutral about evil if you have the fear of the Lord. You have to hate it. And the first thing you hate is what? Pride. Arrogance.

Proverbs 9:10–11:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

For by me your days will be multiplied And years of life will be added to you.

So you want a long life? Cultivate the fear of the Lord. And a good life. It’s not enough to live long. You can live long in misery. But the fear of the Lord, God offers us a long and blessed life.

Proverbs 14:26–27:
In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And His children will have a place of refuge.

So the fear of the Lord doesn’t make you timid, it gives you strong confidence, and it provides a place of refuge for your children, which in these days I think is very important. The next verse says:

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
To avoid the snares of death.

That’s a very vivid picture. Satan has set snares. Snares of death. How can we avoid them? Through the fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 19:23 is almost incredible. I can hardly believe, but it’s in the Bible.

The fear of the LORD leads to life.

And he who has it will abide in satisfaction;
He will not be visited with evil.

How can you turn down a promise like that? “Abide in satisfaction, not be visited with evil.” It doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy life.

Proverbs 22:4:
By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.

You’ll find at least 50 per cent of the time, the fear of the Lord is directly connected with life. It is one primary condition for a good life. And then, I think most important of all, in a way, is the prophetic picture of Messiah. Isaiah 11:1–2, and I think we all know that this is fulfilled in Jesus.

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. [All the New Testament scriptures confirm that this is Jesus. Now listen.]
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit and wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
It’s interesting to see that the Spirit that rests on Jesus is seven-fold. Seven is always the number of the Holy Spirit. It says in Revelation 4:5 that before the throne of God there were seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God. Personally I understand this passage to reveal to us the seven Spirits of God.

The first is the Spirit of the Lord, that is the Spirit that speaks in the first person as God. Then they all come after that in pairs. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. I think it’s important to see that knowledge has to be balanced by the fear of the Lord, because knowledge puffs up. But the fear of the Lord keeps us humble. It speaks volumes to me that that Spirit was upon Jesus; the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. Though He was the Son of God, He had the fear of the Lord. It rested upon Him. It never lifted from Him.

Continuing with the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is a counter balance to joy. It’s very important that we don’t just get excited, but we’re anchored by the fear of the Lord. Again, I think this is a tremendous weakness in the Charismatic movement. People get all excited and happy and clap their hands, dance around, which is wonderful. But, not without the fear of the Lord. Psalm 2:11 says:
Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.

Now that seems to be inconsistent, but it’s the balance. You rejoice but with trembling. You stand in awe while you are rejoicing. This is carried over into the New Testament in Acts 9:31 it describes the growth of the church in Judea, and it says:

Then the churches [or the church] throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified [or built up]. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Again, notice the balance. The Holy Spirit comforts us, but we have to walk in the fear of the Lord. We can be encouraged, we can be built up, but that must be balanced by the fear of the Lord.

Well you might say, “Well, Brother Prince, I’ve been redeemed. I’m a child of God. Surely I don’t need to fear God anymore.” The answer is you do all the more, because you are redeemed. Because of the price that God paid to redeem you. That’s stated in 1 Peter 1:17–19:

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work [and each one includes you and me], conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay [or sojourning] here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

So the very fact that we’ve been redeemed is a reason to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, because God invested so much in us. He paid for us with the blood of Christ. So we have no excuse to be flippant. You see flippancy is really a denial of the fear of the Lord.
Then the fourth and the final safeguard is MAKE AND KEEP THE CROSS CENTRAL. I looked at the example of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1–5:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to the testimony [or mystery] of God.

You have to bear in mind that in that culture the highest achievement was oratory. If you were anything, you were an excellent speaker otherwise you were probably despised. So Paul when he says, “I laid aside excellent speech,” in a sense was saying “I am not bowing to this culture.” For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

We looked at the fact that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. When we have all the strength we need of our own, we don’t need God’s strength. God has to bring us to the place where we don’t have strength. I have seen in my own experience in ministry continually, if God is going to use me in any significant way He has to bring me to the place where I know I can’t do it. Where I know I am totally dependent upon Him. That I am weak, then His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

Let me say something else in this connection. I just discovered that the opportunities to serve God seldom suit our convenience. Generally speaking, if God gives you an opportunity to serve Him, it will be inconvenient in some way. That’s to test the sincerity of your motives. But if we want God’s strength manifested in our lives, in our ministry, in our congregations, we have to cultivate the fear of the Lord.

We have to cultivate a sense of dependence, an acknowledgment of our total dependence upon God. This is just personal, but every time before I preach, I tell God I know, “I don’t have the ability. I’m totally dependent upon You. If You don’t anoint me, if You don’t inspire me, if You don’t strengthen me I cannot do it.” Every now and then I may stand up to preach and forget to do that. And mentally in my mind while I am preaching I’ll say, “Lord, please remember I’m dependent upon You. I cannot do it in my own strength. And then Paul goes on to say,

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

And I pointed out, the key to releasing the power of the Holy Spirit is to be focused on the cross. There’s a hymn which says, “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory die. My richest gain I count by loss and pour contempt on all my pride.” When we really see the cross we have nothing to boast of. It’s interesting, the original version of that hymn, which was written by an Englishman, was “When I survey the wondrous cross where the young Prince of glory die…” He was pointing our that Jesus was cut off in His prime. He died in His very best age. I believe one of our greatest needs is to focus on the cross.

I’ve see people very ambitious, striving for success, wanting to build a large church. Sometimes they succeed. But unless the whole message is focused on the cross, they don’t have much but wood, hay, and straw.

I’m reminded of a well-known English preacher of a previous generation called Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist, and he was continually emphasizing to his students the importance of focusing on the cross. One day he said something like this, “To preach the principles of the Christian life and make no mention of the cross, is like a drill sergeant giving orders to a squad of soldiers who have no feet. They can hear his orders and understand them, but they lack the ability to carry them out. And it’s only through the cross that we get the ability to do what God tells us to do.”

So let us look again at the first five verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. These are some of my favorite verses because I came to the Lord sovereignly from a background of Greek philosophy. And when Paul speaks about wisdom as he does, he’s talking about Greek philosophy. So I think, I’m particularly able to appreciate the impact of what he says about wisdom.

We need to understand when we read these verses that Paul is speaking about a certain part of his ministry journey. In Acts 17 he was in Athens, which was the intellectual center, the university city of the ancient world. He preached a sermon unlike any other that is recorded. It was a somewhat intellectual sermon. He adapted himself to his audience and even quoted from a Greek poet, which I don’t think he ever did at any other time. I wonder whether Paul was really led by the Holy Spirit. At any rate, the results were very disappointing. Just a few people believed.

From Athens Paul went on to Corinth. Now Corinth was a port city, somewhat like the major port cities of our present world. A very wicked city where every kind of sin flourished. Somewhere between Athens and Corinth, Paul made a decision which is recorded in these verses.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the mystery of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words or human wisdom, but of demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

So Paul made a revolutionary decision somewhere. He wasn’t going to preach that kind of message in Corinth that he preached in Athens. He said something which, for a Jew, is remarkable. He said, “I determine not to know anything.” And basically the Jews are a people who know a lot. Often their confidence is in what they know. He made an amazing statement, “I determine not to know anything. I forget everything I’ve learned at the feet of Gamaliel, in all my studies. Forget it all. I’m only concerned with one thing—Jesus Christ. And not just Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ crucified. That’s the center and the focus of my message.”

I believe it should be the focus and the center of our message. I believe that if we ever get away from the cross as central we are in danger. I notice that Paul expected the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. I find today in our contemporary church that if you preach about power, everybody gets excited. If you appeal to people who want to receive power, many people will come forward. Personally, I believe this emphasis on power if extremely dangerous. Observing, as I’ve observed over a good many years, what happens to people who focus on power, they end in trouble. They usually end error.

Power is something that appeals to the natural man. Some psychologists have said that the desire for power is the number one desire in the human personality. Paul said, “I want power, but I want it on a different basis from that which the world understand. I want to forget all my wisdom, all my knowledge, all my theological qualifications. I want to focus on only one thing; Jesus Christ crucified.” Then he said in effect, “When I do that, I can be sure that the Holy Spirit will come in power.”

So, I’m just going to close with one of my favorite Scriptures, Galatians 6:14:

But God forbid that I should glory or boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Let me just recapitulate my four suggested safeguards.

No. 1 HUMBLE OURSELVES – and in that passage Peter says, “Our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” So the devil is very powerful and very active. Any theology that tells you different is a deception. I was meditating on the list yesterday evening and I was thinking, suppose that an announcement was made that a lion was loose on the ground floor of this hotel, and you needed to get out. I don’t think you would walk through the lobby humming a cheerful little chorus. You’d be very circumspect how you made your exit and you’d be very interested in closing the door behind you.

That I believe is a picture of how we need to conduct ourselves, because our adversary the devil is walking about like a roaring lion. We can’t change that. Incidentally, you know why lions roar?

It’s to terrify their prey. To paralyze them. So don’t be paralyzed by the lion’s roar. Be very cautious. Be very circumspect. But you don’t have to give way to fear. So that was number one safeguard—HUMBLE OURSELVES.

No. 2 RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH

NO. 3 CULTIVATE THE FEAR OF THE LORD

NO. 4 MAKE AND KEEP THE CROSS CENTRAL.

Now, I want to suggest that we quote Galatians 6:14 together. I don’t expect you all to know it by heart, so I’ll say it phrase by phrase and you say it after me.
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
Amen.

By Derek Prince

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT… LYING SIGNS AND WONDERS?

Posted: October 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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2 Thessalonians 2:8-11: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

We live in an hour when there is an emphasis on things that are supernatural. Many movie, video and T.V. programs are delving into the supernatural. What does the word supernatural mean? It is referring to things that cannot be explained with a scientific or natural explanation. It is beyond the natural, a wonder that seemingly defies logic and is not explainable by the known forces or laws of nature. There are two sources that supernatural phenomenon can come from. Supernatural manifestations are actually things that have their source of power from the spiritual world. The spiritual world has two active powers in existence: God and His angels and Satan and his devils (also known as fallen angels).

Satan uses his supernatural “lying wonders and signs” to trap men into following him, while the Lord uses His miracles to lead men in a righteous path to follow Him. From the above verse we see that men can be deceived into believing a lie if they are deceived into accepting lying signs and wonders. The Church is experiencing a lot of miracles at this time, but along with the true miracles of God there are also false gifts of power, signs and lying wonders, that are not of God. How do we discern the difference so that we do not get caught up in something that is not of God which could lead us into error?

We can see that the devil is able to perform miracles as well as God by reading of a miracle that Satan’s magicians performed and how God did a greater miracle in Exodus 7:9-12: “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.”

Most Christians want to receive those things that the Lord is doing that are miraculous, however some of the so called miracles of God are not coming from Him at all, but are glorifying men and not God. As Christians we cannot receive nor accept all miracles, signs and wonders just because the word “God or the Bible” is attributed as to being the source of those things. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

What should our role as Christians be in regard to acceptance of a sign, miracle or wonder? We are told to prove all things, not to reject them because they might be strange or new to us. However, we should not receive them either, until we first prove them. How do we prove things? All true Christians are in agreement that our standard is the Word of God, the Bible. God left us this Book as a reference, standard, or gauge so we could know whether something is good or evil, truth or error, right or wrong. (II Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”)

Here are some questions we need to ask when proving things. Does the sign, miracle or wonder line up with the Word of God? Is God receiving the glory for this miracle or is a man or woman being exalted? Can you picture Christ performing this miracle? Does the miracle draw attention to Christ or to the man performing the miracle? Does this wonder cause you love and worship God more? What is the purpose for this miracle? The Lord does not perform miracles just to exhibit His power to men. He does them for specific purposes and reasons.

This is demonstrated by the account of Jesus’ temptation of the devil to perform a supernatural feat so people would know He was God’s son. Look at Matthew 4:5-7: “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Here, Jesus refused to do a miracle just to demonstrate He had power. He called this tempting God. God displays His power, signs, wonders and miracles for His purposes. Here are some of the reasons and purposes in the Bible where the Lord demonstrates His signs, miracles or wonders. This is only a very small listing of miracles in the Bible:

(1.) Wonders of Apprehension (There are accounts of many men and women throughout the Bible who experienced supernatural happenings to them individually when the Lord called them for a special purpose.)

Moses at the Burning Bush (Exodus 3) In the presence of God He experienced God’s requirement for holiness.
Saul on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9) In the presence of God, Saul was shown his rebellion.

(2.) Miracles of Provision (When God’s people had a need that could not be met at the moment in the natural.)

Feeding of the Five Thousand (Matthew 14:16-21)
Provision of the Manna to the Israelites (Exodus 16:35)

(3.) Miracles of Protection (God keeps His people with angelic protection when they are in danger.)

Daniel in the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6)
Three Hebrew Children in the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3)

(4.) Miracles of Deliverance from Plotted Destruction (God sends angelic messengers to warn His people of danger and the way of escape.)

Joseph and Mary with Baby Jesus (Matthew 2)
Peter from Prison (Acts 11)

(5.) Miracles of Healing (God heals His people from all manner of disease and suffering through miracles.)

Healing of the Blind, Lame, Diseased and Sick by the Apostles (Book of Acts)
Healing of the Demonized Gaderene (Luke 8:26-39)

(6.) Miracles of Divine Revelation (God gives divine understanding of His Word and His plans.)

Jesus Reveals the Scriptures to His Disciples (Luke 24:45)
Daniel Receives Visions and Revelation from God (Daniel 10)

From these accounts of miracles, signs and wonders we can see that the purposes of God were performed. Some of the supernatural manifestations that are occurring in the present move of God do not come from God at all. They are from another source, the devil. Some Christians do not recognize them as coming from the devil as they quote having feelings of ecstasy in these meetings or feeling what they call the anointing or glory of God. There is a true feeling of the presence and the anointing of God however, some of what is happening is not of God. Many Christians live in a feeling realm with God and just go from meeting to meeting so they can “feel” good. God’s true anointing and glory will cause men to change, not merely feel good. If you are in the presence of God’s true glory you will begin to see your sin and repent and desire to do His will. God’s true glory is a revelation of His nature and attributes.

One of our major faults as Christians is that we tend to listen to men on certain subjects instead of referring to the Book God gave us. We recognize that God gave us men to lead us into the truths of God, but our problem becomes who are the true men of God and who are the false ones that Christ warned us about? Sometimes we tend to evaluate men according to the size of their ministries, their popularity with men, or their endowment of certain gifts, etc. The true test should be to test them by evaluating their fruit according to Galatians 5:22-24: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

Not only are we to test or try the spirits in men, but we are to do the same with any supernatural manifestations that we might experience. Today, when the world is being exposed to so many false things we need to be careful not to expose our spirits to false dreams, visions, revelations, prophecies, voices, signs, miracles, wonders, etc. The Word of God definitely teaches that God can manifest Himself in any, or all, of the above things; yet we are not to accept everything that comes in the name of Jesus. We need to test or prove these also. One of Satan’s greatest devices is to counterfeit the real things of God and come to us disguised as the working of the Holy Spirit.

One reason some people move too quickly to accept the things they believe to be God is that they are fearful of disobeying Him, and thereby angering Him. They do not yet understand the loving and patient nature of our Father. The Lord never minds us testing or trying things to see if He is in them. It is only when we put God on trial that we do wrong. If we come to Him with a humble and sincere heart, wanting to know the answer to an honest question, He is more than willing to reveal to us the truth about the matter. The only time we will not get an answer from God is when we approach Him rebelliously, demanding an answer from Him.

Many Christians are hesitant about proving or testing things as they tend to categorize this right along with “judging,” and they have been taught they are to judge no man. Most of us are familiar with the Scripture in Matthew 7:1 that says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” If we look at only this one verse, and we are trying to judge a situation, we will feel guilty about making an evaluation. However, we should look at all the other Scriptures related to this one, so we know how we are to judge.

Let us continue to read the rest of this Scripture, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:2-5).

Examining all these Scriptures, we see that Jesus is not saying we are not to judge, but rather how we are to judge. We are to judge mercifully and according to the Word of God.We need to humbly submit the thing in question to the Lord and ask Him to show us if it is of Him or if the sign or wonder is from the devil.

We need to go to the Word of God and seek the answer in the Bible. If the sign is from Him it will bear witness to our spirit, we who have the Spirit of Truth within us will be able to witness to and hear that truth. If we are uncomfortable about a sign, miracle or wonder, this could be the Holy Spirit warning us to test this thing.

If a service is reduced to a circus atmosphere with weird things that don’t agree with God’s nature, His gifts and His Word, it simply isn’t our Lord. Some things just don’t pass the test. 1 Corinthians 14:40 says “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

Although things are different in certain services it does not mean it is not God however, you will have a witness in your spirit that this is of God if you are seeking God with your whole heart. Ask Him to show you the truth and be open to receiving all that is from Him. On the other hand, ask Him to show you when something is not of God so that you will not be deceived. I make it a practice to run everything through what I call “the Holy Ghost filter”.

I always ask the Lord to show me the truth about things. I trust the Lord to guide me and show me what is of Him and to change my ideas if they are wrong about something. I also expect Him to confirm to me when I am right about things. John 16:13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.”

by Betty Miller

If you say “angel,” why can’t I say “devil”?

Posted: October 17, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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There is an occult movement among Christians. Some are seeking signs and wonders in spite of what the Word of God says:

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. – Matthew 12: 38-40 –

NOTE: It was the the Scribes and Pharisees who asked for a sign. Such are the very same ones today doing the very same thing. The true Pharisees of today have twisted the truth in such a way, that if you dare question or challenge them in an area, then you are the Pharisee in their eyes. Bride of Christ, this is straight from hell and a tactic of the enemy. It is meant to intimidate you, to silence you, to keep you from testing things.

The things being called signs and wonders today are such silly and stupid things; gold teeth, angel feathers, gemstones, gold dust – it makes anyone with half a brain wonder if the church truly has gone mad or have they just not grown up. It appears they are stuck in some infantile state preferring spook stories than the unadulterated word of God. Would not surprise me one bit if someone at some point had a word from God saying that we all must suck our thumbs in order to receive a greater revelation.

One of the biggest claims now is orbs. Round balls of light that people are calling angels. Uh, really, now? Where is the proof? Some people are even taking pictures in hopes of catching an orb or two in their photo. This would be silly IF it were not so serious. What makes it serious is people are opening themselves up to the occult. There is absolutely no proof if these things are superantural events or not. Could be the lighting, could be the camera, could be any number of things. Yet Christians everywhere are claiming these things are angels. Well, if you can say angel, why can’t I say devil?

Shock! I can just hear some of you thinking I have committed the unpardonable sin by daring to question. I will ask you, where is the proof? The fact that you may think you feeeeel God’s presence? The fact that others — your special annointed teachers — say so?

Friend, I tell you now whoever you are, if you do not start testing things NOW, far greater delusions will come upon you and you will be primed to BOW before the first false image that comes your way. You are already bowing and do not know it. You are bowing to vain imaginations of false teachers/prophets/preachers each and every time you take their teaching and not test it.

The following video I put up once before, but in light of the orb thingy, I have put it up again in hopes that some will see and come out from among this deception.

You can go youtube and see all kinds of “orbs.” Some are even in so-called haunted houses. Some are fakes I’m sure. Others? It does not matter. What matters is people seeking out these things. You may as well go to a cemetery late at night and take pictures.

In the video below, whether fake or not, I don’t know.

You say angel, I say devil.

When I saw this, it reminded me of how today’s Christians are so easily taken in by deception. The following is more believable than the angel feathers, fake gold dust and the cheap gemstones falling from heaven — all of which can be bought in any craft store. One of the most stupid miracles out there is the gold teeth miracle. Think about it, people: God creates the real deal. Why would He give anyone a gold tooth when only He can make a real tooth? The people following this garbage are creating a fake and lying god for us to follow.

I was rebuked a couple weeks back by friend for not believing the many lies being brought into the church. I have decided no more will I be on the defensive. I am on the offense now with and for the truth. Those of you who are so big in decreeing every little thing in the name of your phony god — here’s one for you: I decree war on your lies.

THIS is what God has to say about your false teachers and lying prophets:

An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land:

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end? — Jeremiah 5:30 –

Enjoy the video. And remember, it is fake. As fake as the lying signs and wonders being committed in the name of a holy God. Except, this sign and wonder is much more entertaining than feathers falling from air ducts.

Wonder how long it will take before some phony in that whore who pretends to be the Bride of Christ tries to create something like this and call it God?

From: http://redeemedhippiesplace.wordpress.com/category/false-signs-and-wonders/

Walking in the radical power of the Kingdom……

Posted: October 12, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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(I recently had the opportunity to not only listen to a man with such authority, but had the time to set down and talk with him. I came to see in Dan Mohler, such a person who is not merely speaking about the radical power of the Kingdom of God, but one who lives in it and releases it on a day to day basis).

There is a season of God coming upon the earth in which many will come into the glorious reality of a relationship with God that will allow a release of the miracle working power (dunamis) of God into the world on an unprecedented scale.

Never before has the world seen the awesome release of the mature sons of God walking in His supernatural power on such a large scale. Works of God that exceed the works of Jesus and the disciples in the first century will come forth on the earth as the conditions are met by the sons of God to receive the authority to flow the power of God. God greatly desires to release His power from heaven on earth through many sons. (Rom 8:19) (Heb 2:10)

God’s purpose for releasing His power in mankind is the redemption of the world. The salvation of man for heaven after death is a part of that redemption, but God’s purpose is larger and more comprehensive. God’s purpose in releasing power from heaven is to bring forth the kingdom of heaven on earth as it is in heaven.

The unlimited power of God is potentially available to change the world with and through mankind. The entire planet can be changed from the ways of men and the devil to the holy ways of God. The sin of man can be wiped from the face of the earth and the glory of God established in every area of life on the planet. The power of the Creator is available to work with and through man- kind to create the kingdom of heaven on earth. What will it take for this power to be flowing in your life?

The unlimited power of God is potentially available to change the world with and through mankind. The entire planet can be changed from the ways of men and the devil to the holy ways of God. The sin of man can be wiped from the face of the earth and the glory of God established in every area of life on the planet. The power of the Creator is available to work with and through man- kind to create the kingdom of heaven on earth. What will it take for this power to be flowing in your life?

Man must have specific authority from God to use the force or power of God in the world. Great power must always be accompanied by great authority. To be safe and effective, power must be restrained and focused. Power must be released in the right place at the right time at the correct rate. It must be directed toward the target and restrained from other non target areas.

Another Greek word sometimes translated “power” in the New
Testament is “exousia” and means primarily “authority”. It is defined as follows: G1849. exousia, ex-oo-see’-ah; from G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subj.) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (obj.) mastery (concr. magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence:–authority, jurisdiction, lib- erty, power, right, strength.

Man must receive the authority (exousia) from God to use the miraculous power (dunamis) from God. There are conditions that must be met in the heart and life before these power gifts from God can be received by man. Many Christians seem to think that just because they are of the Christian faith they have power and authority over the devils and things of the world. Yet many continue to be plagued with demonic oppression and disorders in their lives and are unable to be a substantial factor in overcoming evil in the world. Many who seek to minister continue to find their efforts produce little or no real fruit and long for the power to make real change in peoples lives and subsequently the world.
All power and authority is given unto Jesus. (Mat 28:18) Only Jesus can give the miracle working power and authority of God to man.

Luke 9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

Later Jesus sent out seventy others and gave them power and authority over evil spirits and disease. Jesus often demonstrated power and authority over all the works of the enemy and over all nature. But only on a few occasions did He share that power with a few selected people. (Luke 10:1)

Before Jesus’ crucifixion He promised that many would be given the power and authority to do the works that He did and even greater works.

John 14:12: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

At Jesus’ resurrection and ascension the miracle working power of God, which was on the earth in Jesus, left the earth with Him. It was necessary for the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the return of the power (dunamis) of God in Jesus by the Holy Spirit to in-dwell believers. At Pentecost the awesome power of God re- turned to earth and in-dwelled those believers who were chosen to be filled with miracle working power and given authority to change the world by overcoming the works of the enemy and establishing the ways and works of God.

These began immediately to speak by the Spirit with authority and began to manifest astonishing demonstrations of the Spirit

. Their teaching and preaching became like Jesus with authority and demonstration of miracle working power. The people had been astonished when the power of God was evident in Jesus as he spoke with authority and power and cast out unclean spirits. Now they were seeing that same authority and power in these disciples.

Luke 4:31-36: Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are; the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

Why did Jesus choose to give this power and authority to only a select few during His life on earth and why did He through the Holy Spirit come first only to those waiting in the upper room?

Why is it today that some are seeing these great miracles in their life and ministry and some are not? In these days of revival, more people are being chosen to receive authority to demonstrate the miracle working power of God. Yet there are others who call themselves believers who are not receiving it? What makes the difference in one who only wishes for the miracle working power of God to flow in and through their lives and those who actually see the miracle working power of God working through their lives?

Perhaps, the real question for you and me is: How can I obtain the authority (exousia) to have the power (dunamis) of God flow through me?

We don’t need more theological discussions or religious formulas about this. We must have what the twelve and the seventy received from Jesus. We must have what people like that of Dan Mohler and many others have in their lives today. What makes them different? How are they different from many others who wish they had the power of God and who seek it and may even try to act as though they have it, but do not have the reality of the power of God flowing through their lives?

How and why did these receive the impartation of the power of God? How can we receive the impartation of the power of God?

There may not be a simple one, two, three answer to these all important questions, but perhaps we can get some help from a brief look at some characteristics of those walking in (dunamis) power.

One thing that sticks out is that the twelve and the seventy had all been with Jesus. They had sold out and given up other things in life to just be with Jesus — to walk with Him and be a part of what He was doing. Jesus is the anointed one and the anointing of power flows through Him. He is the one in authority and is the one who can impart that authority. The word in the Bible translated anointing means to be rubbed on with oil. Those who were close to Jesus were the ones who received. Those who were not close and were busy about other things in life did not receive the transference of authority and power.

The men and women of today who are demonstrating the power of God on a consistent basis and have authority to carry and impart the power of God all have sold out other things in life to focus on the one thing of being with Jesus. Often they have spent time with other men and women in whom the authority and power of God are present. The gifts and anointing are often transferred by the laying of hands by those who are anointed with Christ and filled with His power.

Only those who have been given the authority from Christ to receive the gifts and power will receive from the laying on of hands — those with whom He has been intimate — who have proven them- selves trustworthy and have a pure heart and no other gods in their lives. God will not allow the authority to remain for an extended time on those whom He does not know and trust.

A touch from God is not the same as impartation. A touch can prepare one to give their life to God. But an impartation is for those who have figuratively sold all and can now be trusted with the awesome power of God. They will use what they are given only according to the desire of God. There are no other needs or priorities that drive them. Obedience to the Spirit of God is essential to walking in power. God will not release true spiritual authority to those who are not walking in obedience.

No amount of money or sacrifice can purchase the power of God for a believer with impurities yet existing in the heart. The wounded and yet unhealed heart containing any amount of resentment or bitterness in any form cannot obtain the authority of Christ to flow the power of God.

Acts 8:18-23: And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! “You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

“Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. “For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

The authority and power of God is only in God. God desires to in-dwell believers and to demonstrate His power and authority through us. Yet, He is a holy God and cannot dwell with iniquity. True inner holiness in our hearts is the only place for God to dwell and to rest His authority and power. Sometimes the road of purification to holiness can take one through much repentance and brokenness. Only our love for God and our sincere desire for Him can bring us through deep purification. Seeking Him with our whole heart will bring us into a relationship with Him that allows His life and power to flow through us.

We must make a radical decision to surrender all at the alter of the Lord, allowing Holy Ghost to come into our lives and perform a radical transformation. We must be radical in our decision to let go of the things of this world, all that ties us to it, all that has become an idol set up between us and our Holy God.

For indeed true disciples of Christ, the matured sons and daughters are they who have made the radical decision to follow none but God, to lay their lives down, and in a lowly position pick up their cross and follow Christ.

For our God is a radically Awesome God!!!!

A Different America

Posted: June 22, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, wilderness
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History books are written and re-written according to what someone wants to say to promote their position. I don’t know what the history books will eventually say about the America that I grew up in, but I do know what I have seen and experienced over the past 75 years. In that period of time, it is like I lived in another country in those early years and at some point moved into the country that I live in now. Both from a natural and from a spiritual perspective, it is indeed a different place than the one that I knew. My hope and faith is that 75 years from now there will be a different and better nation and world than the one we live in now. I pray and believe it will be a much more godly world.

I remember sincere patriotism that was real and was deserved. The most godly nation in the world became the most powerful force in the world for good. The world was filled with bad things like Hitler and his rampage that brought about World War ll. However, America was always seen as on the side of right, fighting for freedom and liberty of the oppressed peoples. Always seeking to stop the invaders and prevent their oppression of other peoples and nations.

The churches that were on almost every other major street corner in small town America may not have had it all right but were corporately the greatest force in the world for sending the message of Christ Jesus as Saviour to all the world. Multitudes of sincere and dedicated missionaries left their families and the safety of their homeland to take the message of the cross to most every land in the world. They gave their lives without reservation to help the people of the world. To carry the gospel of Jesus Christ was a noble and highly respected service to the world.

From the fertile farm lands of America, more tons of food than anyone can count have been delivered into foreign lands to feed the hungry. Medical missionaries left potentially lucrative medical practices in America to help the suffering and carry the love of God to the remote regions of the world. We could go on and on with the sacrifices of many lives and much goods that have flowed to the world from America. Back when I was young, it really felt so good to be an American and to know that you and your country would give its all to preserve peace and freedom and well-being for the world.

In those days there were bad things in America, but not nearly so much, and at least we knew bad things were bad. A man and woman who lived together unmarried was a shame and a disgrace to their families and the community. It was called shacking up and was rarely practiced and then only by the non Christian bottom rung of immoral society. Women were moms and wives, and men worked hard to provide for their families. Meals were family affairs where much communication and informal training took place as parents passed on the wisdom of their fathers to the children.

Prisons were few, and the people who were in them were seen as different from the general population. Movies and even early TV shows were believable and taught good morals. The good guys always won, and it was not hard to tell them from the bad guys.

A child born out of wedlock was known as a bastard child and was a rare happening. Some people had pre-marital sex, but they knew it was bad and usually got married sometimes by what was called a shotgun wedding. That is the girls dad showed up with a shot gun and politely told the young man that he had taken his daughter’s virginity and would find it greatly to his advantage and continued good health to marry her NOW. After the wedding he was accepted as part of the family.

Homosexuality was not tolerated and was known to be a deadly sin. None of us could have possibly imagined that this would become known as a lifestyle alternative with gay marriages. Even the word gay meant a happy excited light feeling back then and had nothing to do with sexual perversion. No one could have imagined the violent in-your-face and in-God’s-face actions of homosexuals of today. Neither could we have believed the push by society to train our children in public schools in the acceptance of this life-damaging practice.

A man’s word was his bond and most would suffer great loss before they would go back on their word to someone. A written contract was not needed when a man gave his word, and a handshake sealed the deal.

When someone had need, the neighbors jumped in to do what they could to help. Welfare was not needed to be administered by the federal government. The local community took care of its own. When state-run welfare did begin, it was a shame to have to live off of someone else’s money, and only people in the most dire situations would accept this charity.

Americans were among the best educated in the world. Illegal drugs were unheard of in schools and across the countryside. Only in the big city slums were drugs a problem. There was alcohol, but even that was not for sale everywhere. Many areas of the country were known as dry, and no liquor was legally sold in those areas.

Housing was modest and simple. Only the most affluent had brick homes. Fishing boats used paddles, and only the rich had boats with motors. Time payment credit plans were just getting started, and most saved their hard earned money until they had enough to buy what they needed. Children were even taught to save at school.

Most higher learning institutions began for the purpose of teaching the Bible and biblical standards of life and conduct to the people. Public prayer was normal in schools and the name of Jesus was commonly used in prayer as the Son of God and not a curse word.

I could go on and on with how things have changed in my 75 years, but I think you get the picture. It wasn’t perfect, and there was bad stuff; but it was a very different America.

What happened? How has America fallen into spreading the filth of Hollywood and perversions of sin and filth to the world? How is it that young people are trained in sexual immorality and violence as pleasure? How have our business, church, and government leaders become known as greedy and selfish? How is it that the great institutions of learning have become filled with hate for Christ Jesus and the truth of the word of God? How has it happened that we have become known as the invader rather than the protector? How is it that “One Nation Under God” has rejected its God and is hated by much of the people of the world? All this and much more has come about in my lifetime.

Is it that there was always a hidden crack in our solid quest for liberty? Was our foundation of a nation under God noble and right but with an underlying flaw? In our early national history, had we preached Jesus to the native Americans while driving them from their homes, taking their land, and breaking the strength of their existence? What about the importation of Africans and treating them as chattel property rather than human beings. Yes, the strength of the church and the work of God played a big part in the continuing cleansing of the evils of oppression committed in the foundations of America.

During my lifetime there have been great strides toward righting these wrongs. But did we have deep within the fabric of our culture a remaining need that led to greed and immorality? And is that what is surfacing again as we become seen by many as the aggressor and the oppressor instead of the deliverer for the oppressed?

Is our underlying flaw a fatal flaw?

The flaw must be identified and corrected if it is not to be fatal. Perhaps many views at different levels would be seen by various people as the primary flaw. However, the need is to get to the very deepest level of the problem, recognize it, and change it. In my opinion, the Lord is in this season revealing the fatal flaw that has been the downfall of every powerful nation of history and is now in the process of taking down America and the coalition of western powers.

Our potentially fatal flaw did not originate in America. It was seeded into this nation from its European roots. The early settlers brought it with them as one of their greatest strengths. Some of you may think I have gone mad when I reveal to you what I believe the fatal flaw of America and other powerful nations over two millennia of history has been. However, please see me through and consider the full depth of this situation before you cancel your subscription or send me hate mail.

The fatal flaw is religion and religious systems. Let me explain. The only nation or power on earth that will ever remain without end is the nation ruled by God, empowered by Him and directed by Him. It is the assigned role of the church, the holy people of God, to bring forth the pure holy reality of Christ Jesus in man by the Holy Spirit to rule and reign on earth. The religious church systems failed to do this and substituted empty religion for the reality of the love and power of God indwelling the people through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Religion has enough appearance of godliness to cause the people to think they are where they are supposed to be with God. Therefore, the people stop seeking for more of God and His kingdom. Religion is like a vaccination that keeps us from catching the real thing. When in reality, religion has only the appearance of godliness without the power and reality of God. Our nations without the power and reality of God have moved far from the ways of God and established man-centered, self-focused secular ways that were easily infiltrated with spiritual darkness.

2 Tim 3:5: having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Mark 7:9: He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

Col 2:8: Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Religion instead of the reality of relationship with God is our fatal flaw. This is why our forefathers could preach Jesus to the Native Americans and destroy their lives at the same time. That is why this nation could buy and sell Africans and go to church on Sunday and pray. This is why Christian leaders fall into greed and immorality. That is why the deceptions of spiritual blindness allow this nation to be led by the greed and lust of the hearts of deceived people. That is why the western nations are becoming a violent immoral people fit for destruction.

I am not anti-American and not anti-Western and surely not anti-church. I love America, the church, and all the western nations, and I am sincerely thankful for all the value we have been. I love too much to sit back and say nothing when God is speaking and our hope depends on seeing who we really are and in what condition we really are. I love too much to not search for a road to change.

The good news is that the road has been found, and the way is open. Many people are getting up and moving out on the road to the reality of God and the establishment of His nation of holy people within many nations. People are moving out of the religious systems that are the fatal flaw and moving into Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, becoming the holy purified Body of Christ. The kingdom of God from heaven can come forth in His people on earth. A fresh new extreme abandonment of all that our greed and lust has built and a passionate to-the-death commitment to God is the way to God’s power and love flowing rivers of living water into the nations of the world. There is a passion for God and for His people coming forth in people. Especially youth are giving birth to a new generation with a new level of passion for God and His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Rev 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Kingdom revival is a passionate move of God in people that leads to the kingdom of God lifestyle in the made-alive people of God. It is the life-giving Spirit moving upon and within, transforming ordinary people into maturing supernaturally-empowered men and women of God. People in every walk of life and every part of the world can get in as the Spirit of God is moving across the world. The substitute religion is being washed away by the life-giving Spirit of Christ Jesus moving upon our hearts. Get connected to and become one with the Spirit of Christ and connect with other passionate believers; then preach the kingdom, anticipating the power of God to move through you to touch and change the lives of the people who come within the sphere of the Spirit flowing through your life. Let your faith become without limitation and speak the truth in love. Do the work set before you, and we shall see the hand of God move to bring change and heal our fatal flaw.

This is not a time of fear and despair. This is the time to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Psa 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Psa 144:15: Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

Keep on pursuing love.
It never fails.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

KINGDOM DOMAIN – THE WORLD

Posted: May 23, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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Doctrines developed in the past apostate church age offered little or no hope for man or the world in this present life. The essence of these doctrines is that the world and its systems are hopelessly tainted with sin and, subsequently, evil. They, therefore, are fit only to be destroyed and replaced by a newly created planet. In this view there is no hope for the present world to be cleansed and restored. The only hope for the planet is total destruction by the judgmental fire of God melting and dissolving the very elements of the planet.

Some fruits from the essence of these teachings are:

1. A release of man’s responsibility to preserve and care for the natural systems of the planet. There is little or no incentive for man to cooperate with natural laws of God’s order. Short range, more immediately profitable actions are often chosen over those that align with God’s natural order, which are designed for the continued existence of the planet’s systems. The underlying rationale seems to be, “Why be concerned since it is all going to burn and be destroyed anyway, and probably soon”?

2. A lack of appreciation for the wonderful creation of the beautiful, life- supporting planet. The glorious essence of God can be seen in the beauty of His creation. The intense blue of mountain lakes reflect more than the breathtaking awesomeness of the magnificent mountain scenes. It also reflects something about our loving, great God. The unfathomable complexity of the chemical, physical, biological, zoological, meteorological, ecological, and other systems of the planet all speak of our God, who created them. They are all designed to intricately work together to support continuing life on the planet, and the continued life of the planet itself.

3. A lack of respect for life on earth and man’s awesome and exciting potential with God. Man is the only part of God’s creation designed to intimately relate to God, to actually experience knowing Him. Man is designed to rule and reign with Him now in this present age. A lack of appreciation for God’s natural creation leads to a lack of respect for the life of man himself. Man is linked to and a part of the world’s systems.

Do these fruits seem to line up with the words of Jesus and the nature of God? Jesus came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. It is God’s nature to give life, to heal, and to deliver. Someone else desires to destroy. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). It is not God’s plan or desire to destroy the earth, but rather to purify it. Jesus often spoke of the wicked being removed and the righteous shining forth on earth (Matt. 13:24-30, 37-43).

The scripture also speaks clearly of God destroying those who destroy the earth.
Rev. 11:18b: And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.

Since the essence of the teachings that the earth is bad and fit only to be despised and destroyed does not appear to line up with the words of Jesus and the nature of God, we need to reexamine the scriptures that seem to affirm these teachings.

Does God love the world’s systems or despise them? Are we to love the world or to despise it? Certainly, we know God loves man. However, God does not love man’s sin and evil nature. God loves the world, but does not love the evil in the world implanted by the devil. In our considerations, we must make a distinction in our consideration between the created planet and the two systems that seek to rule life on the planet.

One ruling system is the evil order of the enemy and the other ruling system is the order of God from heaven. Both of these systems are referred to as the “kosmos” in the Greek New Testament text.

One of the most well known scripture verses is John 3:16, which many Christians have taught to their small children. Many correctly use this verse to instill in children that God loves them so much that Jesus came to save them and everyone who will believe. We may read the verse, “For God so loved the world”, but think in our minds,

“For God so loved me or mankind”. Granted, the individual and mankind are the focus of what is being spoken of here, but more than mankind is being referred to as the world.

The word translated “world” here is the Greek word “kosmos,” which is generally interpreted as “world order”. Strong’s Concordance Greek Dictionary defines the word as orderly arrangement, and by implication, the world and its inhabitants.
[ “G2889. kosmos, kos’-mos; prob. from the base of G2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by impl. the world (in a wide or narrow sense, includ. its inhabitants, lit. or fig. [mor.]):–adorning, world.” The root or base is: G2865. komizo, kom-id’-zo; from a prim. komeo (to tend, i.e. take care of); prop. to provide for, i.e. (by impl.) to carry off (as if from harm; gen. obtain):–bring, receive.]

Jesus came to save more than mankind; He came to save the world. God desires to redeem all the “kosmos,” all the adorning and decorative systems. Since God has given mankind authority and responsibility to have dominion on earth, man must first be redeemed and brought into order with God and His ways for the world to be saved or restored.

God chose to limit himself by ruling through man on earth and has never rescinded that position. Man has the free will to make decisions regarding the order of rule in the world. Therefore, God had to become a man to save the world. God became a man in Jesus Christ. His original created order is for man to have dominion in the world (Gen. 1:26-28).

The man Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, now rules in the world as he lives within believers on the earth by the Holy Spirit. As human beings receive Christ Jesus into their lives by the Holy Spirit and yield control of their lives to the Spirit of Christ within, the will of God is done from heaven on earth through man.

The kingdom of God from heaven rules in the world and the ways of God redeem and restore the kosmos.

The key to the redemption of the world is the salvation of man. Therefore, man’s redemption is the world’s only hope.

In every instance, the word translated world in John 3:16-17, is kosmos.
John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

In these verses God speaks of man being saved in relation to the world being saved.

There is no distinction made between mankind and the rest of the world as the object of God’s saving love. The priority in these verses is that the kosmos be saved.
Mankind is a major part of the kosmos and is God’s caretaker for the planet. Even the root of the word kosmos, (komizo and komeo) means to tend or take care of, to provide for and keep from harm. Man is to carry out the order of God’s design on the earth. The kingdom of God, the will of God, is to come forth through redeemed man–more specifically by Christ Jesus within man.

Two Worlds On Planet Earth
Obviously, God loves the world (the world He created and its systems of life). Yet, other scriptures make it clear that we are not to love the world (evil world order) or the things of the world (evil works in the world).

In scripture, there is one planet but two worlds spoken of. First, there is the world system that God created and loves and that we are to love as well. Second there is the evil fallen world system that was released by Adam and that we are told not to love. These two world systems are kingdoms–the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness is evil but offers attractive enticements that appeal to the lust of the flesh and seek to lure people under its influence and entrapment.

We are not to love this evil world system or the things it offers. Neither of these world systems is the physical planet but spirit-led systems working to guide and empower humans beings that have dominion on the planet. Human beings have the authority to decide which system is released into the world. Neither system will have dominion in the world without the will of mankind releasing it.

In every instance the word translated world in 1 John 2:15-17, is also kosmos.
1 John 2:15-17: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Man is not being instructed not to have loving concern for the world, but is being told to not have the love of (from) the evil world system. The world has its own kind of selfish, lustful, greedy affection–the desires of the flesh. We are not to have that love of the world. We are not to lust after the things of the world. However, we are to be filled with the love of God for the world and desire its redemption.

The love of God satisfies.
The love of (from) God is a fully satisfying inner abundance. Individuals filled with the love from God feel no anxiety or frustrating need for anything else. Nothing further is required for their spirit and soul to be at perfect peace. From this inner abundance flows a great desire and potential to love the kosmos (the world and its inhabitants).

This leads to serving mankind and the world around us by seeking to make things better for everyone, which brings the peaceful, prosperous, order of God to the kosmos. Love from God is a giving kind of love.

The love of (from) the world is not really love at all, but lust for the kosmos. It is seeking to fill an inner need that exists because the love of (from) God is not filling the individual. In reality the world’s kind of love (lust) is not love at all. It stems from the lack of the presence of God’s love within. The inner need created by unlove leads to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The inner need becomes like a great vacuum trying to fill the void with the kosmos (the world and the things in it, including people). The kosmos is consumed, used, and destroyed as the inner need drives the individual to get more, have more, be more, and experience more. The love of (from) the world is a taking kind of unlove.

The love of God is in Christ Jesus. The potential for the very love of God in your life and mine is in Jesus. If the Spirit of Christ rules our hearts, the love of God is manifest in our lives.

John 17:26: And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

Christ in man is the practical method by which love from God fills one’s life until no room exists for the love (lust) from the world system for the things in the world.

There is a vast difference between having loving concern for the kosmos (as God also does) and seeking to possess or consume the kosmos from our lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of this life. The Spirit of Christ Jesus living and ruling within by the Holy Spirit guides and empowers individuals to walk in freedom from the lust of the flesh and to be filled with the love of (from) God. All people that do not have the love of God abiding within them by the Spirit will have lust for the things of the world. It is not possible for one in whom Christ Jesus does not dwell to be filled with the love of God and to be free of the love of (from) the world.

Gal 5:16-17: I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Many Christians may need to rethink their worldview.
A belief that God does not love the kosmos may have led us to devalue much of what God loves, and sent His Son to save. Man is inseparably a part of the kosmos. To harm or destroy the world is to harm one’s self. To bless and redeem the world is to bless one’s self. As man takes care of the world, the world takes care of man. I’m reminded of an old saying that farmers once used, If you will take care of the land, the land will take care of you. This same wisdom applies to all of the kosmos.

The world is not inherently evil. It is a marvelous and wonderful creation of God. The systems and order of the world are awesomely grand beyond all we can think. The complex intricacy of biological systems, ecological systems, and the physical make up of all things is more than all the minds of man together could ever understand. Yet, it all fits and works together to perpetually sustain life. The beauty of the colors, shapes, and patterns of the mountains, lakes, forests, plains, and mighty oceans are marvelous beyond compare. The delicate, delightful fragrances of the rose, the flowers of the field, the spruce or fir tree, or the pine tree on a still spring evening, all speak of God’s love and provision for the world.

It is humbling to realize that God has put man in charge of caring for His marvelous creation. To not be concerned about caring for the people, animals, and the ecology of the world is to be apart from the plan of God. As man, by the power of the indwelling Christ, walks in accordance with God’s ways, the kosmos is healed. Mankind, seeking the kingdom of God and His righteous ways of being and doing, moves man and the world systems toward healing and restoration (Matt. 6:33) (Rom 8:19-22).

Mankind, seeking his own way apart from God, moves man and the world systems toward disorder and destruction. God has not planned the destruction of His creation. The power of Christ in man is sufficient to heal and restore the kosmos.

John 3:16a, 17b: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that the world through him might be saved.

John 1:29b: Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,
Ron McGatlin
http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

What of those with a reprobate, corrupt mind?

Posted: May 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching
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What does the Word have to say about those who once followed Christ with all their hearts, experienced His presence yet now live a life entrenched in the wickedness of this world? The ones who know His word enough to use it as a defense but have no relationship with Him to experience His grace?

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28)

“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.” (2Timothy 3:8)

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16)

The fact is even if we don’t know what the definition of the word is, we can see from the context clues that it doesn’t mean anything of a complimentary nature! Someone didn’t like to retain God in their knowledge, so they became reprobate; men of corrupt minds are reprobate concerning the faith; someone denies God and is reprobate regarding good works. It sounds as if these people are not living the right way. They don’t seem to have a desire to please God. The result of their approach to life is this state of being reprobate.

If we dig deep enough we can often find more of what a verse means by comparing how other Bible translations render a word or sentence. For example, notice the same verses mentioned above taken from translations other than the KJV:

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:28, NIV)

“Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;” (2Timothy 3:8, NKJV)

“They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (Titus 1:16, NASB)

The same Greek word translated reprobate in the KJV Bible (Greek: ἀδόκιμος or adokimos, Strong’s Concordance Number #G96) is translated as depraved in the NIV version of Romans 1:28, disapproved in the NKJV version of 2Timothy 3:8 and worthless in the NASB version of Titus 1:16.

Now back to the question of how are we to know about someone who has a reprobate mind? We know from Romans 1:28 that the people under discussion did not like to retain God in their knowledge. As a result, God gave them over to this reprobate, depraved, disapproved and virtually worthless state of mind.

It is clear here that the people Paul is discussing in Romans chapter one are godless and wicked men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18). Paul states regarding these men:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:20-23, NKJV)

We can see here that Paul is railing against some vile people who crept into the early church and began to teach other things, other doctrines, other gospels, and were successful at leading many astray. It was a problem right from the start, and it has continued to be a problem down to this very day! Perhaps as we continue reading what Paul said in Romans chapter one, we might recognize some people or organizations in the news today!

As we study the history of Christianity we come to know some of the early heresies of the first century church. Among the leading heresies was Gnosticism, from “gnosis” (knowledge). These liars taught a special kind of “inside knowledge” that led many away from the truth they had recently learned from the apostles! May I recommend reading the article “Are We under Bondage to the Law?”

In understanding Paul and the writers of the epistles are written as a direct defense of “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3, NKJV) against the onslaught of Gnosticism and other heresies. Paul wasn’t pulling any punches when he railed against these enemies of the truth, whether you’re reading about it in Romans or any of his other epistles. Paul was very concerned about the danger these snakes could do to the church members. He rightly called them depraved, debased, and ultimately, rejected!

And what of this question in regard to you and me? Might we be reprobates? The good news is, truly converted followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ don’t have to worry that they will be found reprobate – disapproved and disqualified – as long as they remain on the narrow, difficult path leading to the narrow gate of salvation (Matthew 7:13-14).

by Russ G Welch on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 8:36pm

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