Jesus, Your Church Needs Help!

 Jesus, Your Church Needs Help! 

cliparting.com/free-sick-clipart-40041/

One of my kids asked what I thought of the statement “we pray from a place of authority.” Apparently this statement was part of the message at their church tonight. Let’s talk about this statement. 

Do we pray from a place of authority? Many scriptures are probably running through your mind as you read this. Scriptures that mention that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and that we have authority because Jesus gave it to us (Luke 10:19). Hebrews 4 says to come before the Throne of grace boldly. But is this really where the initial statement is taking us? 

Nope. 

Think about it again in the context of prayer “we pray from a place of authority.” Prayer is to Someone—God. We pray to God. Do we have a place of authority before God? Is it right doctrine to believe we do? When we pray we are petitioning God, hopefully according to His will, but even if we are just presenting our requests, we are not in a position of authority before God—He is God. Sounds kind of mixed up, doesn’t it? 

Jesus didn’t presume to have authority when He prayed. He painfully said, “Not My will but Yours be done.”(Luke 22:42) Furthermore, probably the greatest display of prayer is Jesus praying to the Father in John 17. There is not a hint of an authoritative position from Jesus. He simply was talking to and asking the Father. 

Even now as I was scrolling through posts on facebook I saw this from a prominent prophetic voice—someone who is a regular at conferences (at least was before Covid-19): “God wants to use you to transform the world back into its original purpose.  Which means you're really powerful.” My reply: Kind of looks like it is God Who transforms the world back to its original purpose and is really powerful:

Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.”

2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 

Note the difference? Even when God uses us in His purposes, the power is of Him working through us, as 2 Corinthians 4:7 says: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 

We—the Charismatic Church—really have a problem. The understanding of the Church, maybe not the whole church, but the Charismatic Church is way off plumb. It’s very sad. She needs teachers to teach the foundations of the Word of God. Psalm 11:3 If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? 

No wonder our nation is such a mess. 

The Church is a mess.  

I have heard all about You, LORD.

I am filled with awe by Your amazing works.

In this time of our deep need,

help us again as You did in years gone by.

And in Your anger, remember Your mercy.

Habakkuk 3

 

A Most Disturbing Scripture

 A Most Disturbing Scripture 

Read this section of scripture slowly, then read it again: 

…the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence [operative power] so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 

This section of scripture is embedded in the context of the second coming of Christ. Verse one initiates this context: “…with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed…” 

God Himself actively sends an influence (Greek: operative power) to those who would not love the truth.¹ 

He does this for two reasons:

1.    that these people (who would not love the truth) will believe a lie (some translations say “the lie”); 

2.    so that God may judge them.

Why does God judge them?  For two reasons:

1.    they refused to love the truth;

2.    they took pleasure in wickedness. 

This is extremely disturbing and intense! 

Let’s dive into these scriptures deeper: The word, a "mystery," is not something unknowable. Rather, it is what can only be known through revelation, i.e. because God reveals it (Strong’s). Also the word truth <225> is directly related to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.¹ These followers of the antichrist are not just believing some sort of lie, they are believing and following “the lie.” The lie may refer back to Genesis 3 where the serpent lied to Eve. Though it quite obviously relates to an exchange—to something from Jesus Christ—since anyone who believe in Jesus (the Truth) will receive salvation. These people do not receive salvation, rather they receive judgment. God only further solidifies their choices by sending them the operative power of deception. He gives them over to their ways. 

Truth, real truth, matters and it matters whether or not we believe it. In these days it is easy to see how a deluding influence could happen. The media and governments working together with spiritual forces to deceive the people. 

Last night in Bible study were looked at Eve’s deception in the Garden. Isn’t it interesting how little she got wrong and how huge the ramifications were. One little phrase “or touch it” was all that was added to what God had said. Did she touch it then think, “Oh I didn’t die. God must have lied.” But that isn’t what God said. He never mentioned touching it. She was off only a little, or was she? 

Let’s be lovers of truth—The Truth incarnate and His truth. What we believe matters. What we believe about the Bible matters more. What the Bible actually says matters most (quote from Confronting the Wind). 

¹John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth <225>, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth <225>, comes, He will guide you into all the truth <225>; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

One Woman—Four Views: Part 2

One Woman—Four Views: Part 2

The Woman is the Constellation Virgo and Jupiter is the Child 

Please read One Woman—Four Views: Part 1

There are four dominate views of Revelation 12’s woman: The woman is:

1.    Israel: past and/or present

§  Mary representing Israel—Israel’s descendant.

2.    The constellations Virgo and Jupiter is the child

3.    The Bride of Christ: all the church or part of the church

4.    A synthesis of all the faithful throughout history

5.    And finally, my thoughts. 

The Woman is the Constellations Virgo

Seriously, I have not wanted to write this blog and have been putting it off. I just cannot find much credit to this view, so I feel it a waste of my time. However, to be thorough it must be addressed, since it is one of the prominent views. 

Introductory thoughts:

1.    All of Revelation following chapter 4:1 is an experience John is having while in heaven—the heaven where God’s Throne is:

     After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. Revelation 4:1

2.    There are two signs in Revelation 12: the woman with child and a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

3.    Part of Revelation 12’s storyline takes place in heaven (a sign appeared in heaven) and part on the earth (the dragon was cast to the earth and pursued the woman, the earth helped the woman). All is being seen by John while “up here” where God’s Throne is.

4.    The two signs in chapter 12 are “video clips” mirroring activity taking place on the earth. We see in the dragon the spiritual masterminding of governments and powers on the earth to pursue the woman. Ephesians 6 tells us that we fight against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

5.    Revelation 12 takes place right at the beginning of the 3-1/2 year tribulation. Revelation 12:6 (Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.) is not the rapture of the church. The rapture is at the end of this 1260 days and before the most dramatic of God’s judgments—the last 30 days that Daniel prophesies. (Daniel 12:11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.”)

That said, let’s get on with Virgo and Jupiter. 

Here is the deal: will the constellations align so that a case could made that there is a woman (Virgo), a child (Jupiter), the moon under the woman’s feet, the sun somewhere in the picture, and somehow throw in the 12 stars? Yeah, with a sledgehammer, but it can be done. Obviously, since many have. This sledgehammer alignment takes place regularly—not every year, but it is in the earth’s regular orbit. 

Furthermore, Revelation 12’s heavenly act doesn’t end with the woman and her child. There is a whole scenario, almost like a play, taking place scene by scene. No one I've read or heard addresses the sign of a dragon who waits in hungry anticipation for the male child to be born. Which constellation is the dragon anyway? There isn’t any constellation for him and they all leave out verses 4 about his tail sweeping stars out of the sky. The dragon pursues the woman after the child is snatched up to heaven. So now we have Jupiter totally out of the picture, Virgo with her star-crown, sun clothing, and moon platform running into a heavenly desert? (That must be a meteor shower to behold!) See how it all breaks down? The constellation theory just doesn’t work. 

Nevertheless, Genesis 1:14 states that the lights in the heavens are for signs, seasons, days, and years. So let’s look at Genesis 1:14-19: 

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 

(As a side note, I think it’s funny that God created light before He created the light bearers.) The heavenly lights are for signs, seasons, days, and years. For example Israel’s feasts were centered on the lunar orbit. I also find it funny that when blood moons fall on Jewish feasts people get all out-of-sorts about it; they write books, prophesy, and preach about a new thing God is doing or the end of the world. All because the blood moons were on a Jewish feast, when all Jewish feasts align with the moon. 

Joel along with Acts 2 both describe end-time signs in the sun and moon: “I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” 

There will be more signs in the heavens before the Lord Jesus returns, however it won’t be Virgo as the woman of Revelation 12. 

Below is a fantastic article discussing the constellations Virgo as the woman in Revelation 12. This article is concise and informative:  

https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/stars/what-will-happen-september-23-2017/

An Echo or a Voice?

An Echo or a Voice?

Today is January 8, 2021.

The election is over. 

The prophets were wrong.

Who do we listen to now?

There is a problem in the church. Is it with the prophets? Why yes it is, however it is with all of us. We are ALL supposed to hear the Holy Spirit. We are ALL supposed to be a voice. We are all able to hear Him firsthand. And when we do that makes us a voice. A voice for the Holy Spirit. He speaks to people and they in turn speak out what He is saying. We are supposed to recognize His voice whether from Him directly or from His people.

ALL the prophets missed the Covid-19 virus and ALL the prophets missed the election chaos. ALL the prophets missed 2020! It looks like God does do things without revealing it to His servants the prophets after all^1. Who do we listen to now? The One we should have been listening to all along: The Holy Spirit. 

It is time to go back into your closet and return to the Lord. We have been distracted with life. We have let weeds and thorns grow up and choke us. Everything it seems matters—but some things matter most. What will He say to you on that day? That day you stand before Him Face to face? On that day I don’t want to be talking to a Stranger, do you? 

John the Baptist was a voice. He recognized God. He recognized the Holy Spirit descending upon Him. Think about all the other voices that John must have been hearing—from the religious leaders to the people. And think about the OT Scriptures John must have been perusing over. Yet he was able to hear and see God. Why? First of all John lived differently. He lived in the wilderness away from the people. Does that mean we leave the city to live in Wyoming? Of course not. But we must not be of the world nor love the world. We are citizens of a different world—people of His Kingdom.

Secondly, John ate differently. He ate locust (yuck) and wild honey (not so bad). We too, if we want to be spiritually alert and sharp, we too must eat differently than the world. Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34) Jesus also said that He is the bread of life. What we eat determines to a large degree our fitness. It’s time to choose locust and wild honey. It’s time to be a voice of one crying in the wilderness, because we recognize Him.

¹ His servants the prophets: Many believe this scripture in Amos 3:7 is still for today: Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. But let’s shine a light on it in its context. This scripture is embedded in a direct word to Israel saying: “… O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: 2 you only have I known of all the families of the earth…” If we are going to isolate verse 7 declaring that God only does things when He reveals it to His servant the prophets, then we too must believe that Israel alone are His people. See how that works? Yeah, me either.

What is the truth then? In John 16 Jesus states that all His people can and should hear the Holy Spirit:

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

We don’t need to wait for the prophet as they did in the OT. NT prophets have their place, but they not take the place of each of us hearing the Holy Spirit for ourselves.