The dangers of hitchhiking……………..13june09
A number of years ago I was travelling north along one of the main routes in England. I had forgotten to fill up with fuel before leaving so I was on the lookout for the service area. As soon as it came in sight I indicated and proceeded to the fuel area. I very soon regretted my decision as the price would have required a bank loan to refill my tank. So I just sailed past and started down the slip road onto the main highway again. As I accelerated towards the road I was aware of a figure at the side of the road with his thumb out hitching a lift.
Now, gone are the days that I hitchhiked or regularly picked up hitchhikers, however I sent a quick query up to the Lord, “shall I stop”.
Feeling a distinct affirmative from the Lord I screached to a halt 50 yards past the man and blasted my horn, whereupon he came running after me.
He climbed in with profuse thanks, and settled down for the ride. He was a stonemason, I guess about thirty years old, who had been working on one of the ancient cathedrals of England. He told me that he was now on his way to visit his mother.
Mixed with general conversation his story unfolded. While he talked, I started to quietly ask the Lord about this total stranger who was sat beside me.
With obvious emotion he started to speak about his childhood, his family having split in what sounded like an acrimonious divorce. He being taken by the father and the rest of the children remaining with the mother. He hardly knew his own mother and now she was sick and he was, with trepidation, visiting with a view to restoring a lost relationship.
That he was hurting badly inside was obvious. He then said something like, “my father must have really hated me, taking me from my mother like that”.
I listened a little more, and then as the Holy Spirit prompted me I simply asked him, if he thought his father hated him so much, what did he think his Father in Heaven thought about him.
At this point he started to lose all control of his emotions.
I was also by now over a hundred miles further along the road and most desperately in need of fuel, but had up to that point not wanted any reason to distract the conversation. The next service area was at hand and I pulled off to refuel.
This also was the parting of the ways because he needed to go in a different direction on the road ahead and this was the only road legal place for him to get another lift. In order to continue the conversation I therefore asked him to wait whilst I refuelled so we could go inside and get a coffee and a bite to eat, which he was gratefully accepted.
We sat down and picked up the conversation. In a short while I had given him a rundown on the Father’s love for him. He and I prayed together and the presence of the Holy Spirit radiated in that corner of the cafe as he wept his way into the Kingdom. I confess that I was not at all dry eyed.
As he regained his voice he suddenly started to say again and again, “this was meant to be, this was meant to be……”
Shaking with emotion he explained.
” I stood at the side of the road and said, GOD IF YOU ARE REAL, GET ME A LIFT”
He got much more than just a lift, from a very real and very loving God.
I was equally shaken. If I had not listened to the whisper of God’s voice telling me to stop………..?
Welfare=infantilism in people and church…..7 june 09
I cheat a bit on my Blog.
I find myself so engrossed in other blogs and adding comments that I don’t spend sufficient time posting here. However there are some excellent debates going on out there. I get inspired by the questions being addressed and this leads me to cut and paste what I have written as comment elsewhere. This post is one such example pasted from a comment I put on Larrywho’s blog yesterday.
Go see the whole story on larrywho.wordpress.com
When the final true revival comes, it will be because congregations have realised they have been robbed, robbed of what God ordained them to be. They will realise that they have been robbed of their personal Holy Priesthood by the men and women in robes or dog collars which they asked to stand at the front. Robbed by those who tradition alone calls priests or ministers, and who have orchestrated the church’s walk for over a thousand years.
When that same pew fodder finally gets out and puts Elijah’s mantle on and enters the battle, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD ALONE, rather than another man, then we might see some butts kicked, (spiritually speaking I mean). As Larry rightly says, Luther changed the doctrine but not the wineskin. Until the wineskin of church structure bursts, the saints will always be labouring under a burden of manmade leadership ideology, an ideology that didn’t originate in God.
I feel sad for America. King Obama is on the throne now. His clear and declared intention is to do in one presidency, what has taken sixty years to achieve in the UK. ie destroy a nation by deception and the infantilising of its people. The “Land of the Free” becomes the Land of the Feeble, like Britain, everyone kept in the spiritual, social, financial play pen so they don’t get hurt.
The promise of the Labour government which came into power in the UK after the war was that their new “Welfare State” would take care of everyone from the cradle to the grave. ie the state would become Mummy, Daddy, Nanny, Nurse, God etc. (or pastor priest vicar etc)
The UK is now in a state of acute moral degeneration. Socialism is the biggest vote purchasing scheme imaginable. Keep throwing money at the lazy and undeserving and they cease to be productive or responsible. The constant cry in the UK is, “why doesn’t the Government do something”. The idea of anyone personally doing anything, through a simple sense of mature responsibility has long gone from most of this nation. In fact most such actions are now illegal!
My prayer for a long time has been for the massive collapse of our Welfare State. (I am hoping that we may just be seeing the first shoots of that disintegration. Only time will tell.)
There is a distinct connection between strong Church leadership which makes decisions on our behalf, and strong state leadership which also makes all decisions on our behalf. It is called “Abdication”, it is an “Ahab” spirit, a spirit of immaturity which refuses to take responsibility for personal decisions and risks.
It is evident in the Israelites when they demanded a king to rule over them. God said that it was rebellion against his personal reign over them. However they insisted, despite Gods most stern warning. God said that when the king that they choose becomes a tyrant, “don’t come to me about it as I won’t listen to you”. Likewise I don’t think he listens to those who protest about tyrannical church leadership. “You chose that system, don’t complain to me!” Its like expecting a crocodile not to eat people! (The very reason I exited the church system)
The Saints have adopted the same spirit in demanding “strong leadership” to make the decisions for them instead of getting before God and learning to hear His voice and do His will.
The voters have demonstrated the same heart as the church in demanding a “Big State” to rule over them and take the decisions for them. The two are very connected, the same demonic power is very clearly at work. Its purpose in both cases is to create a passive people. To quote Larry,- “Three corporate church and personal sins we all struggle with are apathy, lethargy and compromise.”
WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED TO THE RISK TAKING, PIONEERING AMERICAN PEOPLE?
The saints, vast numbers of which voted for social welfare both in the UK and the States, MUST take personal responsibility for their walk before God, instead of letting their Pastor or minister carry it on their behalf.
I believe that God is challenging the Saints to come out into the wilderness, away from the safety of their cozy congregations.
I believe he is challenging the Saints to take risks in their walk without the safe “covering” of church leadership.
I believe Christ is saying, as he did to Peter when he was in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, “come”.
It is time for the Saints to get out of their manmade boat, the church, and walk over the water with Jesus.
Come and discover the “Covering” of Christ himself rather than another man. Then we will experience Revival. There will be mistakes on the way, but those who don’t make mistakes usually don’t make anything.
Does God speak or give dreams to sinners?…….6 June 09
The question in the title above represents the thoughts of many Christians I have encountered. Why would God who is Holy, speak to non Christians. Also because they are in rebellion they wouldn’t be able to hear him until they are born again? The additional problem is that the average Christian rarely seems to experience the voice of God, therefore it would be entirely wrong to countenance the idea of God talking to his enemies when he doesn’t seem to give time to talk to his own. There is another way of considering this question. Does Satan talk to unbelievers and sinners. Does Satan draw them both along with evil ideas hoping that evil fruit will ensue. I know its a bit of a daft point, but often when you reframe a question or statement in a slightly obtuse or inverse way the answer stand out in neon lights. Satan can, and constantly does, speak into both saints and sinner’s lives. Witness Adam in the Garden of Eden, or Jesus in the wilderness and also all those demonised people who Jesus healed in the gospels. If Satan or demons are shown doing such things, then to maintain that God doesn’t, can’t or won’t speak to ANYONE who listens is plain absurd. (or perhaps just religious). Delving deeper
- Everyone, saint and sinner has a spirit man, (remember we are body, soul, and spirit) . Our spirit man has five senses like the physical man. The problem is that in the western world, we have put our spirit senses to sleep, in favour of our physical senses. Our physical senses however are deaf and blind to the things of the spirit. This makes actually hearing God an unfamiliar idea. Remember, “he who has an ear to hear….”
- Disconcerting though it may be, many New Agers can comprehend things of the spirit far better than most Christians I have met. The problem with New Agers is that they keep bad spiritual company, and are thus also likely to be deceived.
- Christians on the other hand obviously know much better, they just disallow all spiritual voices out of fear, (unless they’ve checked it with their Pastor). They instinctively know such voices must be demonic!
- If the gospel is “spiritually” discerned, how can a non Christian possibly understand it, when his spirit is supposed to be dead?
- What about Nebucadnezzar’s dreams? They were clearly from God.
- What about Pilate’s wife’s dream, whatever that was, it troubled her greatly!
- What about the Muslims, many of whom are receiving dreams about the deity of Jesus?
- What about Jesus who was God in the flesh, (if you have seen me you have seen the Father), who spent all his time with sinners for the very reason that they would hear him whereas the religious leadership wouldn’t listen.
Perhaps maybe just a little, God does talk and give dreams to sinners as well as saints! Has anyone experienced God speaking to them, in words or dreams, before they “became a Christian”.
Very big hole very flat tyre.—————30 May 09
Back in the seventies when I was a college student I owned a little mini car. That mini was like an extension of my persona.
I remember my Dad saying to me, “you don’t have an accelerator pedal on that car do you?”. ”What do you mean?” I asked him a little perplexed. ”You’ve just got an On-Off switch haven’t you,” he replied with a grin. Dad had a great humour.
I laughed knowing what he was getting at. Get in, slam the door, foot flat to the floor. Being a mini it stuck to the road like glue, and went where you aimed the wheel. There is no point in being slow when you are young!
I gave my life to the Lord while I was at college, (although I had known the Lord since a child) and everything became crazy for a while.
My Mini needed new tyres and being a tight fisted Northerner I wasn’t going to pay stupid prices for the tyres when I knew that the cheapest place for tyres on planet Earth was back in my home town several hundred miles from college. I owed my parents a weekend back home.
However I was literally cutting it a bit fine as far as the tyre tread was concerned. I was not too worried though as I was confident that they would last until then.
The weekend came and I thrashed across the moors and mountains to the other side of the country, arriving at my parents late on the Friday night. All was well and it was good to be home. My plan was to go the fifteen miles into the nearby town on the Saturday morning, straight to the tyre shop and get a complete set for all four wheels. However it didn’t work out quite like that.
First thing Saturday morning we got a phone call from a friend back at college saying that some crisis had happened to a close friend whose life was now in danger, and they were specifically asking that I urgently return.
I apologised to my parents for the rapid cancellation of our family weekend, and set off in the return direction with my foot flat on the floor. The journey was uneventful apart from being stopped for speeding by the police. He joked that it must be a life or death issue that I was in such a hurry, and was taken aback when I said yes. When I explained, he told me to clear off and be more careful not to let him catch me speeding through his patch again.
Anyway the event turned out to be all a storm in a teacup. There was no crisis, just some idiot being over dramatic. I was annoyed because it had spoiled a weekend, cost me a lot of money in fuel, and meant that I was even more at risk on my even more perilously worn tyres.
However the next weekend came, and again I arrived at the family home on Friday night after thrashing the car over from the other side of the country. Saturday first thing I headed straight for town, top priority being new tyres.
My destination was part of a big car sales and spares and repair complex. The actual tyre depot was at the far corner of the big car park, accessed by a track around the perimeter. As I entered the site, I saw that another car was slowly negotiating the route in the direction of the tyreshop. Now being young impatient and cocky, I decided to take a short cut at speed through the car park. This meant that I had to zigzag through all the parked cars, slotting through all the empty spaces. The carpark was a gravel surface, and I was going fast, racing against the other car heading the same way from the opposite corner. He of course was not racing, he was just another peaceful driver going about his business.
I did get there first and raced into the tyre bay, braking sharply to a halt. This is where it all got a bit strange.
I slammed the brakes on, stopping with a screech. I instantly switched the engine off, and made as to leap out of the car. However, before I could move, I felt a very distict and sudden drop at the front drivers corner of the car. I jumped out and looked at the wheel. The tyre was totally flat. However that was the easy part, the problem was the hole in the side wall of the tyre which was so big that I could put my hand through it!
At that moment, I started to realise the presence of angels, and I goosebumped all over. I knew the presence of God was there. The tyre fitter was standing beside me a little perplexed. “You didn’t drive here like that did you, that’s crazy”. Well I hadn’t just driven, I had raced, I had zigzagged, on gravel, through the narrow gaps between the parked cars!
THAT TYRE, ALTHOUGH IT HAD A HOLE THE SIZE OF MY HAND IN IT, WAS ABSOLUTELY NOT FLAT WHILST I WAS DRIVING. I WOULD HAVE KNOWN BY THE HANDLING THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG. BESIDES I FELT IT SUDDENLY DROP WHEN I SWITCHED THE ENGINE OFF. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG THE HOLE HAD BEEN THERE.
I know without a doubt that the angels of God were riding shotgun on my journeying that day!
I got my new tyres and drove home, a little more sedately and thoughfully on that journey.
cow jumps on car————————-27 May 09
A number of years ago, I was travelling home from a powerful Christian businessmen’s meeting. It was gone ten o’clock at night, pitch black and raining. I was on a country road which, although fairly straight, was a bit of a switchback making overtaking difficult as the road kept disappearing into the dips.
I am sometimes a little impatient and was watching closely for an opportunity to pass the long line of cars. Looking back it now seems a bit crazy, but I knew the road well and knew each overtaking place. As I watched the long line of red lights in front, I suddenly heard an urgent voice in my spirit. “Pull back, pull back, pull back!”
Instantly my foot came off the pedal, my speed rapidly fell from about 60 mph and the line of lights ahead started to disappear as I slowed down feeling a little perplexed.
Suddenly a huge black shape lunged out of the night from the hedgerow and straight across my front. I skidded violently on the wet road and slammed into a large black cow which was then thrown over the top of the car.
I jumped out and ran back to try and warn any other cars. To my amazement, the creature got up making an almighty indignant bellowing and ambled off in the direction of its milking shed, followed by the rest of the herd, which was by now milling around the road causing havoc with the traffic.
As I gathered myself together and surveyed the damage, I realised how close to tragedy I had come. The cow, which was totally black, had leapt through the hedge and fence wire almost on top of me. Impact with an animal of that size at the 60 mph I had originally been travelling could easily have destroyed the car and all within.
My car had escaped lightly. The evidence of impact on the front of the car extended well beyond the centreline. My Renault Espace has a fairly wedge shaped front so the streaks of mud showed it being swept upwards and around the side. It took the side mirror off and broke the passenger window leaving my passenger a little shocked and covered with glass. There was a little fracturing to various trims, but that was all!
The following day I traced the farmer regarding the insurance. He was amazed at what had happened, and confirmed that he had only one all black cow in the herd, the rest being multicoloured.
As I contempleted what had happened, I realised how much I had been protected by the Holy Spirit. His clear word to pull back on my speed undoubtedly saved mine and my passenger’s lives. I also realised how easy it was for Satan or his angels to goad the one and only black cow to leap the fence when my car was at the right place. Satan comes only to kill steal and destroy, and only God’s mercy had thwarted Satan’s plan.
For me this again confirms that “Salvation” is not merely going to heaven when we die, but rather God’s power to deliver us from evil in this life!
It also shows the importance of being always vigilant to the whisper of God’s voice in our spirit.
How many others have experienced God’s word of salvation in comparable circumstances?
THE PERSON FORMALLY KNOWN AS YOUR LEADER
http://retrofited.blogspot.com/2007/06/person-formerly-known-as-your-leader.html
Please only glance at this excerpt pasted below but GO TO THE LINK ABOVE FOR HER AMAZING POST, AND AMAZING BLOG
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I am the Person Formerly Known as Your Leader
Because of all this, I need to repent and ask your forgiveness. I was wrong. I thought wrong things. I believed wrong things. I modeled wrong things. I taught wrong things. I was wrong. I have sinned against you and the others and against my grace loving, mercy giving, all powerful, all loving God.
- I repent for teaching and modeling that the “covering” of our church, my leadership, and our network would keep you from going into rebellion or deception.
- I took your private confidences and passed them on to the other leaders regardless of my telling you that I wouldn’t. I told myself that this was an accepted practice to gain wisdom in dealing with your situation. Now I see it was probably mostly to garner, in some twisted way, the favor of my leaders, to show my loyalty and to gain a better placement of myself in their leadership system.
- I taught, modeled and practiced tithing. I taught you that if you didn’t tithe, bad things would happen to you and/or your finances. Now I understand the fallacy of this. It is a fear tactic – and it is not of God.
- I did not stand up and speak up when I heard and saw something wrong being taught, lived, or modeled. In this way, you, as people who respected me had neither voice nor protection. There were many times I should have spoken up gently/humbly to correct other leaders around me. I wrongly felt that it was up to God to correct and deal with them. That it was not my “place” to correct “God’s Anointed.”
- I wanted to be seen by leaders as loyal and mostly I wanted to be in what I perceived as one of the “inner circles of friendship.” I bought their friendship with flattering words, serving them unconditionally, not making waves, not challenging them and being disloyal to what I sometimes knew was wrong. I was a religious whore.
- I taught you that with leaders, you did not have the right to expect friendship or any sort of loyalty back. I told you that you should become what I had become, completely a servant. They owed you and me nothing. I have learned to watch out for “friendships” where I am the servant only. I have learned my “servanthood” was nothing more than trying to manipulate myself into prominence.
- I taught that the church was an Army and that we therefore needed Generals and Sergeants to lead us. (I of course saw myself as the sergeant – not the head but certainly one of the right arms of the head.) Again, I did not read my Bible.
ETC, ETC.
PLEASE ADD COMMENTS HERE AS WELL AS ON HER BLOG
hear His voice, harden not hearts————– 9mar09
As he sat talking with me in my office, Mike suddenly asked, “ok then, how do you know when God is speaking to you”?
This question is a troublesome one for many Christians, let alone a non-christian. For a moment I was stumped, and sat back silently crying out to God in my spirit, for urgent help that would be crystal clear to Mike.
Just as quickly as Mike had asked me, the answer became clear.
“Mike, you know when you’re in some place, where you didn’t ought to be, doing something you didn’t ought to be doing, (in his case frequently) and there is a very small voice inside saying MIKE,- you didn’t ought to be here, and you certainly didn’t ought to be doing this. Is this familiar?”
He looked at, me grinning sheepishly. “Of course it is, who hasn’t been there.”
“Well imagine that same voice saying,–this is the way, walk with me.”
His look of recognition said it all. “Now I understand,” he said.
I challenged him to start asking God to help him understand a little more, and to give him some direction. God would speak to him if he asks. I did, however, tell him that he had to recognise that, if God is God, and Mike a created being, then he had to be a bit soft in his heart towards God otherwise he would never be able to hear through his arrogance and anger. This was all ok and understandable to Mike and he agreed willingly, he’d give it a go. This had nothing to do with going to church?
He was curious, and the curiosity got him past the rejection of God, Church and Christians.
A short time later he came into work whistling and singing cheerfully, quite an out of character occurance. One of my guys, a believer, asked what was going on. “Just talking to God, just talking to God,” was all he said, grinning widely.
One day he came in saying that God was talking to him about a difficult situation at home with his partner. He was being seriously challenged to do something, well outside of his character, to resolve a family issue which had caused her anguish for years.
He had said to God, “that doesn’t sound like the way I think, and you know I’ll probably forget it, so God, if that is your thoughts then remind me about it again on the way home tonight”.
God did speak to him again, and Mike did what God said and saw a miracle reconciliation in his partner’s family.
Mike was very impressed with God.
Mike still didn’t want church, he had found God though and carried on dialoguing with Him until he left the company, and I’ve not seen him since.
One man plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. I have no idea what finally became of him, but the transformation in a young man who had never had a father, into one who knew the Father was worth every moment.
Sadly Christians often object to the theology of this account. Belonging to the church system fosters a dependancy on the leaders of the system to tell them what God may wants for their lives. The church system itself, however, does little to foster a close sensitivity for the still small voice of the Spirit at work in a mans heart.
Because I didn’t get Mike to pray the “sinner’s prayer”, they object that God would not possibly talk to Mike nor could Mike really hear God. I put this down to jealousy from those who, caught up in the institutional system, had their ears well and truly hardened with education from the pulpit and had yet been beaten by a spiritual child.
Heb 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
Heb 3:15 while it is said, “Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
Heb 4:7 He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” (after so long a time). Even as it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
The same thing is repeated three times in succession, and then he is only quoting King David.
PLAINLY PUT, IF WE WISH TO HEAR GOD THEN WE MUST SOFTEN OUR HEARTS TO HIS VOICE INSIDE US.
Our conscience is the inner ear we need to learn to follow more that any other religious activity.
I had to totally drop the typical “churchy” gospel, to speak revelation that went straight to his heart.
Heaven when you’re dead, or kingdom now 21 feb 09
This posting is based on a previous comment I put on-
http://chrismccarley.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/true-religion/#comment-19
How did people get saved before Jesus?
What does “salvation” mean?
If you look at the Old Testament you will see virtually no reference to where we go after we die!
To them salvation
WAS NOT- HEAVEN WHEN YOU’RE DEAD.
To them salvation
WAS- DELIVERENCE FROM PHILISTINE FAMINE AND PLAGUE.
Jesus started his ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth, with this reading.-
Luk 4:17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And unrolling the book, He found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed,
Luk 4:19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
NO REFERENCE TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU’RE DEAD!!!!!
His anointing was not to preach heaven when you’re dead!!!!!!!! Read it again to verify this!!!!
His anointing was not to preach heaven when you’re dead!!!!!!!! Read it again to verify this!!!!
His anointing was not to preach heaven when you’re dead!!!!!!!! Read it again to verify this!!!!
Imagine Jesus meeting a blind man or a cripple. ”Don’t fear my son, just believe in me and it’ll be great when you’re dead. “
When John the Baptist, and Jesus, and the disciples, went forth preaching the gospel, what was it they said?
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is AT HAND.
“At hand”, meant that it was right where they were, available but hidden from view. Jesus then proceeded to show exactly how close “at hand” it was by doing all sorts of ”kingdom” things.
What does the church say? “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is WHEN YOU’RE DEAD”. It is “dead” easy to promise the uncheckable and unprovable.
Why do they change the meaning of the message? Simply because the church no longer has the faith to demonstrate the truth of the invisible Kingdom of God like Jesus and the early christians did.
FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY SONS OF GOD IN THIS EARTHLY LIFE, HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE IS, HOWEVER, SIMPLY A TRANSITION. –TIME TO GO HOME TO FATHER!
And please note that eternal life starts when you are reborn, and it cannot be lost through sin or rebellion etc. otherwise it could never be ETERNAL!!!
Notice, when Jesus rebuked Nicodemus,-
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:4 Jesus answered, truly truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
It was about seeing and entering the hidden kingdom. It requires new birth, from above. This was not about having to believe in what Jesus was going to do on a cross three and half years later!
All the Old Testament saints were “Born from above” , and this was obviously well before the cross.
IT IS A FACT THAT JESUS PAID THE PRICE FOR ALL SALVATION WITH HIS BLOOD!
It was not and is not a fact that we need to comprehend about this to get to heaven when we die. Otherwise no one from before the time of Jesus would be there with us at the last day.
It is about time we took the mythology out of Christianity. It would help us to understand what the actual purpose of the Gospel is.
ie. What the bible says it is
Understanding about the cross, is about walking as a believer in the power that the cross gives.
The purpose of the Gospel is about the REIGN OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THIS LIFE!
IT IS ABOUT LIVING FROM OUR DWELLING PLACE IN THE HEAVENLIES.
If you have just read this posting, and pass on from it without comment, doesn’t that make you indifferent to challenge? Or maybe you totally agree with me.
I welcome your thoughts on this post.
King Saul and the thief—————-15 feb 09
This is based on a comment I put on http://fivepeasinapod.wordpress.com/ a posting 11 feb 09.
I look forward to meeting the thief on the cross. He didn’t have much time for preparation.
I would also like to meet King Saul, who had lots of time for preparation.
The reason I like these two characters is the incredible similarity of the stories.
THE THIEF.
This man, undoubtedly evil, and having nothing in his favour, by the skin of his teeth in timing, gets a free pass to the Kingdom of Heaven. This being purely on the basis of the redeeming blood of the lamb.
Despite being next to Jesus, the thief had no theology to grant him understanding of what was REALLY happening on the crucifix next to him, yet he clearly sensed righteousness, AND GRABBED IT.
Luk 23:40 But answering, the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are in the same condemnation.
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly so, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this Man has done nothing amiss.
Luk 23:42 And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, TODAY YOU SHALL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE
SAUL.
This man had everything going for him. He was even counted among the prophets. Yet he had rebelled, and lost the anointing for the kingship. He, however, still claimed the throne for many more years, spending the most part of it trying to kill the one who actually possessed the anointing, David.
Saul ends up calling on a witch to read the future. A shock awaits. The long dead Samuel appears.
1Sa 28:15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am grievously distressed, for the Philistines are warring against me. AND GOD HAS LEFT ME AND DOES NOT ANSWER ME ANY MORE, neither by prophets nor by dreams. And I have called you so that you may make known to me what I should do.
1Sa 28:16 And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since Jehovah has left you and has become your enemy?
1Sa 28:17 And Jehovah has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For Jehovah has torn the kingdom out of your hand and is giving it to your neighbor, to David.
1Sa 28:18 Because you did not obey the voice of Jehovah, nor execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Jehovah has done this thing to you now.
1Sa 28:19 And, Jehovah will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. AND TOMORROW YOU AND YOUR SONS SHALL BE WITH ME……
Sounds very similar to the words of Jesus on the cross.
Wicked Saul, he should be cast into OUTER DARKNESS WHERE THERE BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.
Having plenty of time for preparation, Saul blew it. However, having been a son, even a rebellious one, he was still a son of the Father.
Where was Samuel that Saul should join him? As a faithful believer SAMUEL WAS IN PARADISE. (Abraham’s bosom)
Saul too, like the thief, gets in by the redeeming Blood of the Lamb, not by any goodness.
I am all too aware of my own fickleness. If I look forward to eternity, relying on my own stalwart obedience or sinless life to maintain the course, it frightens me.
I remember too clearly God very bluntly saying to me one day. “Every day, YOU do what Adam did!”
I would rather rely on the righteousness of Jesus for my meal ticket.
I will, between now and my time of going, like John the Baptist said, work at bringing forth “fruits worthy of repentance”.
church that satan set up —— 12 Feb. 09
About ten years ago, I was at a meeting of Christian businessmen in a hotel.
The anointing of the Holy Spirit flowing at those monthly meetings was sometimes extremely tangible.
I remember times when I looked at the floor, it was as if there was thick golden oil flowing in swirls all over it, and I had to sit with my feet (minus shoes) on the bar of the chair. If I put a foot on the floor, I would fall off the chair under the anointing of the Spirit!
On this particular occasion, I had taken an old prophetic friend who had not been before. He was sat at my right side around the table talking to another, and I had my back to him talking to the man on my left. I had no idea what his conversation was, nor do I remember mine before that point.
My friend suddenly nudged me in the back, and as I turned to him he said, “give me a definition of the church”.
I opened my mouth and out came these words.
“THE CHURCH IS AN INSTITUTION THAT SATAN HAS SET UP TO PREVENT CHRISTIANS DOING THE WORK OF THE LORD.”
I was taken aback.
My friend very firmly said, “THAT is the rhema word of the Lord.”
I knew, without question, that the Lord had just spoken through my prophetic answer, but I was nevertheless shocked at the clarity of the unexpected answer.
I started to consider the words and the seriousness of them.
Yes, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (1cor14v32), and I could have kept my mouth closed. However, as already stated, the power of God was tangibly over the meeting.
The words didn’t come out of nowhere though. God had been working on me for a number of years about the false leadership structures in the church.
We must not be confused over prophetic words. Responsible prophets tend to only prophesy within the level of their faith. Therefore, God has to constantly challenge their personal faith through revelation and scripture in order to move the church forward.
Prophets frequently end up standing well out on a limb from the main church. This is because the church at large is thrill seeking rather than following God. (If Christians were truly following God, then not just a few prophets but all the five-fold ministries would be in abundance throughout the church)
When a prophet misses the mark, the church is the first to demand his stoning.
Shame on you weak, impotent men of God!
You Churchgoers!
Get off your butts and start chasing after God, rather than your Christian heroes.However, this prophetic word was absolutely of God, and it hit at everything many hold dear. The response when I mention it is either anger and offense, or a realistic recognition of the actual words spoken.
The clue is in the word “institution”. Sadly, this includes virtually all churches.
The church of Jesus Christ was an organism. Man has exchanged this for an institutional organisation with an earthly system of hierarchical government.
It is this which gives rise to the rebellious idolatry of, “I must obey my pastor”.
This attitude cuts the believer off from any clear personal hearing of what the Lord might call him to do.
There is no precedent in the bible to expect one man to be able to give direction to a whole load of other Christians as to what God calls them to do in their lives.
Placing a pastor, or any man, between ourselves and God is an abdication of personal calling and a working of the spirit of antichrist.
Antichrist simply means “another anointed”. ie. a substitute for Christ.
THIS IS WHAT THE PASTOR SYSTEM IS: A SUBSTITUTE FOR CHRIST!
“But the Lord loves his bride,” you say. I’ve got news for you. The church out there is not the bride. It may contain the bride, but that is all.
Therefore, I will reiterate the prophetic word that the Lord gave me -
THE CHURCH IS AN INSTITUTION THAT SATAN HAS SET UP TO PREVENT CHRISTIANS DOING THE WORK OF THE LORD.
1 Corinthians 14v29
“. . . let the others judge.”I challenge you readers – do not simply read and pass by. Write your considered discernment in the Spirit in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
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