Forty Prophecies in Forty Days #14 Smack dab in the middle of the bible belt

The following is a repost of an article I wrote last summer. I think it is indicative of what I hear the Spirit saying to the churches. It is time to liberate the fortress!

Well, I have lived in Memphis for a year and a half now, and reflecting on my new life here I had an epiphany the other day. I was looking at 2 Corinthians 10:4 and I thought about strongholds and fortresses. If you look in NASB, a version that I particularly like, (no it is not perfect, and believe me once you understand just a little Greek, you will know that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, I digress…) Anyway, I used to wonder about the word fortress that is used in many of the new translations. I always thought that stronghold was better. Not so any longer!

Of course, the Greek word, OCHUROMATON (the last two o’s are omegas and not omicrons) means castle or fort so fortress is certainly more correct than stronghold in a literal sense. But until yesterday I preferred stronghold. Thus the epiphany; I believe for good biblical reasons that the strong man that so many folk speak of is none other than Satan himself and his stronghold/fortress is as the demon of religion. That is the strong man.

I suddenly realized that religion has a stronghold in California, a stronghold in Michigan, a stronghold in New York, but here in the Mid South… smack-dab in the middle of the bible-belt it is indeed a fortress!

Stronghold does not begin to adequately describe the hold that the demon of religion has on the bible-belt. If there was ever a place where wooden legalism, devoid  of the Spirit exists, it is here. It saddens me to see that the people of God are so oblivious to it. They seem to get excited about legalism as much as they get excited for the liberating gospel of grace.  Where is the discernment?

It is almost as if Isaiah 29:10-13 is descriptive of the state of evangelicalism in the bible-belt. NASB “For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers.  (11)  The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, "Please read this," he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed."  (12)  Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, "Please read this." And he will say, "I cannot read."  (13)  Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

The Lamb has opened the sealed scroll. Jesus showed his immediate followers that the scripture was about redemption. It is the redemptive narrative and it is NOT a legal constitutional document. Not for Christ followers at least. It was a legal constitutional document for national Israel in Old Covenant times. No so today!

 

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days # 13 The Papal Spirit the anti-Christ

I have written before about the strong man being the demon of religion. Here are two posts from a while back that I make that claim in. Smack dab in the middle of the bible belt and Wiping out the handwriting of commandments that was against us. Satan, the strong man makes his greatest weapon religion. Paul explains it this way; “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2Co 11:14.)” and “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2Co 11:15.)” The *spirit* of anti-Christ was already in the world according to the apostle John 1John 4:3.

What if the man of lawlessness was the Pope and the *papal spirit* as was thought by the Reformers? Let’s look at 2Th 2:3-4  “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  (4)  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

If you do some research you will see that John of Gichala fulfilled this in the natural when he took over the temple and killed the High Priest and instated his own High Priest. You can read all about him in Josephus, The Wars of the Jews. However, we are told that in the spiritual realm, the body of Christ became the temple also. This is where the pope and the papal spirit comes into play. The pope claimed that only he could speak for God. Many of the reformers saw the pope as the anti-Christ for this reason. It is only recently that people have begun to look for a world leader to be the man of lawlessness.

Now look at the *papal spirit* that is so prevalent in churches today. The CEO Pastor, that is the covering, the only one really hearing from God, the one with all the vision and instruction is so pervasive. That individual has entered into the temple of God, wanting to be worshipped as the mouthpiece of God. This is nothing more than the demon of religion and the papal spirit rearing its ugly head. I ask you to think about it: how many pastors have you known who want to be worshiped by the people? Yes, we must consider the fact that what has passed for orthodox evangelical Christianity is really the strong delusion of 2Thess 2:11. They did not love the simple truth of the gospel that Jesus had made us all right. They wanted to add to it, and so God has turned the church over to a strong delusion so that it would believe that which is false. Of course it makes perfect sense! It is speaking loudly to your spirit right now… more to come

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days: # 12 True transformation

Rom 5:1  Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Here in a nutshell is the catalyst for true and real spiritual transformation. Grace via the gospel of Christ Jesus is the source of the peace. Peace with God means the removal of all fear of God, and removal of all fear of God removes all fear of punishment. Being made right in God’s sight by faith is the love that casts out all fear (1John 4:18.)

So then, peace with God produces love for God. Once all fear is gone, and one is resting in the goodness and grace of God, amazing love for God is the result. Grace is the offer that one cannot refuse. The gospel message is really truly good news. Look at this passage from 2 Corinthians 5. It is a very concise statement of the gospel. 2Co 5:19-21 NLT  “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  (20)  So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!"  (21)  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Peace with God comes from being reconciled. This leads to a deep profound love for God.

Basking in the peace of God brings about the ability to reflect on what pleases God without fearing God. This is the source of real spiritual transformation… transformation that results in genuine loving obedience. This is almost nonexistent in today’s evangelical environment. The reason is simple. Current evangelical doctrine focuses on self-induced obedience. It focuses on self-reformation.  This is impossible to do because of the nature of our flesh. It drives us to the depths of fear and discouragement because of our failures. People who are involved in reformation secretly are miserable and devastated. The reason is that self-reformation of necessity involves legal obedience and self-righteousness. Ultimately the saint involved in this always ends up unable to really rest in Jesus and have true peace with God.

That is why peace with God is so very, very important. Peace with God eases the mind. It produces joy and love… joy with, or in spite of our circumstances... and also love for God. It actually produces the fruit of the Spirit. Peace with God produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.  How you ask? The answer is simple… it casts out all fear.

Isn’t it interesting that having faith in God’s unlimited grace does just the opposite of what most evangelicals fear. So often I hear folks say that if you teach grace people will feel confident in sinning. Isn’t that the most absurd idea you have ever heard? Actually, God’s unlimited grace produces peace with God that leads to spiritual transformation.

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days: #11 Establishing legitimate authority

Mat 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  (19)  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

It is important to observe a time line when examining scripture. It is also important to understand who the intended readers were. Let me present a gospel timeline. The gospels have a specific timeline that really makes a lot of difference in understanding what is written. The timeline can be best illustrated here by events. First you have the forerunner, John the Baptist, the last Old Covenant Prophet who’s mission was strictly to Jews under the Old Covenant. Then you have the ministry of Jesus, Prophet, Priest and King who is the Messiah of the Jews which they were expecting at that time in history according to the prophecy of scripture. All of Jesus mission on earth up until the cross event was to the Jews under the Old Covenant. Next, you have the cross event, the death burial and resurrection of Jesus, which instated the New Covenant (Matt 26:28.) Finally, in the gospels you have the risen Lord with instructions for the new covenant era, after the end of the age of the mosaic covenant. Whenever you see the end of the age in the New Testament you can rest assured that the end of the Mosaic age was meant. The end of the Mosaic age would also be the beginning of the Messianic age.

The above passage of scripture from Matthew 28 was given, spoken by Jesus after the cross event in a time when the New Covenant was instated. Prior to this, there was an authority of Moses known as *Moses Seat.* Jesus said prior to the cross event, as he was still in the Old Covenant aspect of His ministry, that the “scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Seat so observe and do all that they say” (Matt 23:1.) During the Old Covenant, Moses was the authority. What that really meant was the Torah or Pentateuch which was written by Moses was the authority.

However, in the above passage from Matthew 28 we have Jesus stating that all AUTHORITY has been given to Him by virtue of His resurrection. There was a new power structure; authority had changed hands. Jesus authority is legitimate authority from on high. By contrast, now that He had risen and was about to be seated on the right hand of the Father in heavenly places the Pharisees had become an illegitimate authority.

ProphetRuss Walden, over at Father’s Heart Ministries has a daily email ministry called “The Father Says Today.” He has written several prophecies where he mentions illegitimate authority. What I believe he is referring to is authority that stems from the leaven of the Pharisees and the *strong delusion.* It is the illegitimate authority that the Reformation came against. It is the power of the Pope to speak for God. When people use illegitimate authority to control others it is the “Pope Spirit.* It is interesting that so many pastors and leaders today act as though they are little Popes, sovereign over their congregations. This is illegitimate authority in its most pernicious form.

As the church faces the fork in the road, this illegitimate authority will be done away with over time. The government of the kingdom of God comes from gifts… gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers that have legitimate authority to represent God. They will not be OVERLORDS. They will be servant leaders! … More to come

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days: #10 Thirty thousand denominations

We are 1/4 of the way there!

 

Eph 4:4-6  “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;  (5)  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,  (6)  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

We have a two thousand year history of the church, and when has this passage ever been fulfilled? If you do an internet search, you find that there are as many as thirty thousand denominations today, and the number is growing. Many of these will not fellowship with others, will not believe that others are even saved. There is very little unity of the Spirit, and it is not in the bond of peace. But Paul speaks of unity in Ephesians chapter four. He says that the five-fold ministry was given as a gift for and I quote; Eph 4:12-13  “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  (13)  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” Let’s face facts; this has NEVER happened YET!

This too is part of the choice facing the church today as it stands poised in a fork in the road. Facing a fork in the road is a powerful metaphor. We have seen an explosion of prophets and apostles in the last ten years. It seems that almost everyone is a self-proclaimed, prophet, apostle, evangelist. Of course, since the reformation there has been a plethora of self-proclaimed pastors and teachers. I want us to challenge our business as usual doctrines. How many modern day apostles are mostly interested in the title, their name on a card, usurping the Bishop system, and taking an authority that is difficult to question. How many have adopted the same old doctrine, structure and governing that has been in place for the last two thousand years?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you are not an apostle. I am asking; how did that call come to you? Did the Lord God burn it in your spirit so that it is a driving factor in your life? Did you doubt it time after time only to have the Lord reinforce it in your mind? Did people over time, who do not know you, speak a word of reinforcement? It is really an important time to examine the source of the call and pray over it. I have already shown that according to Acts 14:3, the reason for powerful miracles and signs was to establish the truthfulness of the gospel of grace. Is grace your focus? Is it your driving factor? Is the gospel of grace the driving force in your life? Does Father allow you to see people with his compassion? Do you have the drive for an Isaiah 61:1-3 ministry? Do you see Jesus as the total focus of your being? All of these are very important questions to ponder and pray over. God wants to fulfill Ephesians 4:12-13. He wants to establish the pristine gospel of grace that turned the world upside-down. More to come!!!!

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days: #9 Opening their understanding to understand the scripture

Luke 24:45  “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,”

This is one of the most important considerations as the church faces this fork in the road. I really believe that the Spirit of God is actively wooing many new covenant prophets. It is imperative that we listen. The question to ask is, can one properly hear, and believe if they are clinging to the old paradigm, especially when it comes to scripture understanding? This is precisely why Jesus and His first century followers changed the paradigm back then. The problem that we face is that the early church fathers of the second through fourth centuries ignored Jesus paradigm, and returned to the Pharisees paradigm. The early church fathers greatly influenced church dogma and doctrine and it has moved forward through the centuries and still affects us today. Didn’t Jesus warn about the leaven of the Pharisees? Didn’t He say that the leaven was the doctrine/teaching of the Pharisees and could it be possible that the last two thousand years of evangelical orthodox doctrine was in fact the *strong delusion* of 2Thess 2:11?

Of course I am referring to the legal constitutional view of scripture which was the Pharisees old covenant model. It is important to see that Pharisees did not understand the scripture. Jesus had to open the understanding of His followers to understand the scriptures in the above passage from Luke’s gospel. Look at the fifth chapter of Revelation. It was the Lion of the tribe of Judah that was able to unseal the scroll (understand the scripture.) There is a direct correlation between Luke 24:45 and Revelation 5:9. He alone was the only one worthy to open the book and He alone was able to open the understanding to understand the scripture. Look at Isaiah: Isa 29:11-13  “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:  (12)  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.  (13)  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:” It was prophesied in Isaiah that the scribes and Pharisees would not understand the scripture at all.

And yet, we adopt the method of the scribes and Pharisees to understand the scripture. It is little wonder that we are in such a state as we face today. We MUST adopt the redemptive view of scripture. We must use it as the story of redemption and not a legal constitutional document. It saddens me when I hear apostles and prophets claim to be so sure of what they are saying when they are in reality adopting a legal constitutional view of scripture.

Isn’t it obvious that we would be able to accept the prophecies that are currently given if we have had our paradigm shifted to view the scripture as Jesus did and as he taught his first century followers to do… More to come tomorrow!

Forty Prophecies in Forty Days #8 Misusing the scripture Part 2

When you look at the teaching of evangelicals, fundamentalists, Pentecostals and charismatics today you will find this phenomenon. You will find people that emphasize law, holiness and obedience, and those who emphasize grace, love and forgiveness. These groups are constantly at war against each other and often doubt the salvation of the other group. The former group, those who emphasize law always have a legal constitutional view of scripture. If one takes a hard line on the legal constitutional aspect of scripture it is impossible to come to any other conclusion. You end up with a schizophrenic view of salvation. Yes, we are saved by grace and not law obedience but we prove our salvation by law obedience and if there is no *law-obedience* then salvation is questionable at the very least. John Calvin stated it this way; “faith alone saves, but faith that saves is never alone.” This means that there will always be obvious law obedience with all who have been saved… Not necessarily and this is the source of the problem.

The legal constitutional view of scripture ultimately leads to fear of not measuring up. Come on now, look in that mirror tomorrow morning and say it isn’t so This is why Jesus taught the redemptive view of scripture. He knew that grace (believe it or not) leads to obedience from the heart. Grace changes the heart. Peace with God, (Rom 5:1) develops a supernatural love for God because of His love, mercy and grace. The supernatural love is what enables one to be obedient. One develops what Paul calls the obedience of faith (Rom 16:26 & 1:5)

Paul said it this way in his letter to Titus: Tit 2:11-12  “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,  (12)  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” The legal constitutional view of scripture robs the effectiveness of transforming grace. This is probably the single most prohibitive factor in a broad acceptance of the paradigm shift that is ever increasing in the ranks of day to day Christians.

Believe me when I say that the New Covenant way of viewing scripture is solely redemptive. This can be proven. In fact, I have proven it over and again over the three hundred posts of this blog. Here is the crux of today’s prophetic word. We must shift the paradigm to a redemptive view of scripture. It will not diminish in any way the inspiration of scripture. It will however bolster faith in the gospel and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When one puts the legal constitutional view of scripture to the test it does not really stand up and that is why there are so many liberal Christians that deny the resurrection and the deity of Jesus Christ. More to come on this topic tomorrow!