1 Thessalonians 5:18-22 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic [a]utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every [b]form of evil.
I'm looking for a copy of The Holy Bible part 2. There must be a newer testament that tells us to be nice no matter what. That's what I am hearing all around me, that Jesus is nothing but nice. The last testament I read, the New One, is not all about being nice. I won't mention Saul was struck blind to help him see Jesus or anything about Ananias, and his wife Sapphira falling down dead for lying, but what about the woman at the well? Is it nice to say, "Go call your husband and come here", knowing she not only had no husband, but had been married 5 times and was now living with a man? If I did that to someone, I would be labelled mean. I can only imagine what shame she was feeling and maybe embarrassment. Is that nice? Scripture does not say there were other people around so maybe He was nice in approaching the subject in private, but whatever knowledge we have about how things were back then, we don't know that others were not listening in on their conversation.
I have experienced times in my walk that I would not call Jesus "nice" and there are people who do not believe it was Jesus. Why? Because they have been programmed in niceness. But when I tell my stories to some who have experienced similar things they break down, because they realize they are not crazy. We have a bigger problem and it stems from this niceness. People, leaders, those who have walked with Jesus longer are too quick to say, that's not Jesus. I have friends, most of my friends who have not experienced Jesus the way I have, but, they know me, and they know my relationship with Him and the experiences I have. I would say the most difficult, the most abandoned and betrayed I felt from the way Jesus was treating me was in my room a few years back. Try to imagine, I was coming to terms with the truth that Jesus was not the cause of years of abuse. I had felt betrayed by Him my whole life and was just beginning to understand this thing called "freewill". As I was worshipping in my room, deep in worship and I could feel His presence before me, as I was on my face, suddenly He moved away and a demon appeared. I could still feel Him to my right, but was completely confused as to why He would move away and allow this demon to sit in front of me. I was angry, I was hurt, I was confused and if this thing wasn't blocking me I would have walked out. Jesus said, "Make it go." I yelled back at Him, "You make it go. I can't believe you would turn me over to this thing after I was beginning to believe you." He repeated, "Make it go." I said, "You make it go, You're Jesus." After several minutes of being consumed by my hurt, disguised in anger, I did make it go and He showed me the lesson. I had learned my authority and He was with me. It was the most difficult lesson, but one of the most freeing. Was He nice? NO! Was it necessary? It worked. I will never forget it.
As I grew in confidence and my fear faded, I began to share my experiences with others. Then it happened to me. The one person who had spent many hours trying to convince me Jesus loved me and that I did hear Him, suddenly changed his story when I told Him something he didn't want to hear. Since then I fight doubt all the time. When I finally asked Jesus why I could not surrender that last little piece of me I was hiding away from Him, as though He really couldn't see it, He brought this up. In the gentle way He does things, He led me to a teaching. It was one I was only half listening to as I was focused on other things, but one sentence caught my attention. My spirit jumped and I had to get paper, pen and rewind the teaching.
This man was speaking about people leaving the church in great numbers. Many have had a spiritual experience they did not understand and because the church did not know how to answer their questions, they go looking elsewhere. One example John told of was when he was having a conversation with the head witch from New England. This guy had a spiritual experience and asked his pastor what was happening to him. The pastor said, "God doesn't speak that way anymore. That was the devil." He told the pastor, "I have seen more power in this experience than I've ever seen in the church. I'm going to find the devil." He did. As John was talking with him, the Lord revealed that the experience was a call to be a pastor. The man had several gifts. A gift to understand spiritual things, a gift to rally people together and a gift of bringing people into a new destination. The witch knew it was true and his eyes filled with tears. He said, "It is too late, now." John didn't give up on him and they spent a lot of time together, but four months later he died of an over dose. Somebody, probably led by satan, injected him with a lethal dose of drugs. Why? Because he was getting to know God. I totally understood this. Though I would never walk away from God, I have tried to give the Lord back my gifts. I have shied away from ministry on several occasions. Doubt. Doubt is a killer and instead of saying someone is hearing the wrong spirit, we need to walk them through scripture that confirms or denies. This is a bigger problem than we realize.
At New Age fairs, many, many of the people once went to church and believed in God, but the spiritual power they felt, whether it was from God or the enemy, compared to a passive church that does not know it's authority was to enticing. They had to go find a spiritual being to submit to and it is not always God they find. By looking at the sleeping church today, it often appears the enemy has more power. The world has changed the meaning of the word spiritual. All this New Age stuff is talking about being spiritual, but you are your own God or we are all part of a bigger god. Some don't realize it's not the one and only King of Kings and other's don't care. John Pail Jackson said, "The only time darkness wins is when we find darkness is more submitted to their god than we are to ours. We are far too passive with the majesty of God. This passivity which may even become apathy, to the majesty of God is what keeps authority from growing in us."
This apathy, I believe, is also contributing to this "niceness" that is spreading like wildfire. Can't we all just get along, hide our heads and pretend everything is okay? NO! Things are not okay. Hebrews 5:7-8 says In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. (8) Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. Really? Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered? Then why are we so afraid of pain? Why are we so afraid we are going to hurt some one's feelings? Why are we afraid to suffer? Most people will tell you it was in the suffering they found Jesus.
The elect may be fooled, because the enemy has been working out this plan for a long time. The words from the teaching I was listening to, that stood out to me were "they will flatter you. They will tell you things you will become" As I went back and listened I realized, I had fallen for this. Romans 16:18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own [i]appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. False teachers and prophets use flattery. I had one tell me I was going to do something great that changed this geographical area and though there were many more words, that was really all she said. I fell for the flattery for a short time, but then I saw it. The problem with too much niceness, is it sounds a lot like flattery. Without sharp discernment, how will we know the difference? Even the elect may be fooled.
Also in the teaching the thing that stood out to me is how God woos us back to Him if we wander off. The father running out to meet the prodigal son on his return is often used, because it is a great example. John compared it to the dark spirits when you wander away from them. "They don't just say, sorry to see you go, they then threaten you, cajole you, roust you, come to you and with violence want to bring you back." If you walk away from a relationship and this is the behavior you experience it's a good sign to keep walking. It was more clear to me than ever what was going on.
As our prophets become psychics and our evangelists and pastors become voices for the enemy, the church sleeps. In fact, many in the church are listening to these false teachers who are teaching there is more than one way to God. Marianne Williamson for example bases her teaching and writing on a set of books called A Course in Miracles, a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy, based on universal spiritual themes. According to Time magazine, "Yoga, the Cabala and Marianne Williamson have been taken up by those seeking a relationship with God that is not strictly tethered to Christianity. Many churches offer her courses as she appears on Oprah Winfrey and they agree there is more than one way to God. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY and it is through Jesus.
People are looking for a spiritual guide and when we as the Church do not introduce them to the Holy Spirit, they will go looking elsewhere and there is one who is more than happy to fill that need. The Church's fear of the supernatural is causing many to fall away in different ways. Are you in the wrong church? Have you asked God is this is where you're supposed to be? I am blown away at what I am seeing the Church doing. They won't allow speaking in tongues, yet they have grace for the guy who cusses like a sailor. They will not allow dancing during worship, yet post pics of their monthly outing to dance at the local bar with a dance floor. They won't use wine for communion, to protect the alcoholic, yet the pastor gives his sermon with the smell of beer on his breath. There are witches, warlocks, and Satanists sitting in our churches, cursing church members and casting their spells, but the church is unaware, except for the Jezebel who sits in the back laughing and then shakes their hands as they leave. "See you next week."
Why have so many left the church? Because they see into the spirit realm and know the truth, yet when they speak up they are called judgmental and told shut up or leave. The enemy has control of many churches and people don't even realize it. Most Church members have no idea of the authority they have. That authority comes through a close walk with Jesus. The closer you are the more authority He gives. But the sleeping Church is putting too much faith in a human pastor. A pastor who is afraid of the demonic. Until we truly walk with Him, know who we are in Him and find our authority in Him, the world is not going to change. Power is a gift and satan lost his authority when he fell, but he did not lose his power. The only authority he has is what we give him and many in the church have handed authority over to him. We all fear hearing the words from God, "I never knew you." What does that mean? Consider this, Adam knew Eve and she bore a son. It's intimacy that produces a son, works produces a slave.
We are too dependent on the natural. We are too aligned with world thinking. Wisdom from God is not from experience or education, but a form of revelation. John Paul says "The problem with us humans is divine logic seems to be chaotic and illogical to our lower logic. Divine logic flows from an uncreated, unlimited source. It flows from deity." When are we going to realize that we are not smarter than God? We are following those smooth tongues who in reality are only submitted as far as they can understand or control. When you try to control the Holy Spirit, you quench Him. You put Him in a box. Most of those controlling pastors set the box out behind the church building. If we have Jesus in us, demons should shriek and run, but instead they are handing us the collection plate each Sunday as they say, "Good Morning".
There is a realm of the spirit we can walk in that the new age craves. The reason they are not in church is not because they don't crave God. It's because the Church is unresponsive to their experience. - John Paul Jackson
No comments:
Post a Comment