The Baptism in the Holy Spirit & How To Receive It

The Baptism in the Holy evidenced by the gift of tongues is a separate and distinct experience to salvation. Both salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, however, are a work of the Holy Spirit. In salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within the believer — this is the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. In the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the believer is enveloped by and immersed in the Holy Spirit; that is to say, the Holy Spirit comes UPON the believer in contrast to INTO the believer. These facts are clearly supported by Scripture and are exemplified by the experience of Jesus Himself, who is our supreme Model.

It is a very simple matter for any believer to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is a gift bestowed by God totally on the basis of grace, not merit. Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. God's Word says He will baptize any believer who in faith believing asks Him to baptize him or her in the Holy Spirit. The believer need only to receive it by faith, not by any humanly-invented form or formula.

1. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit into human form in a similar way as believers are Born Again (it was not necessary for Jesus to be "born again" because He was not born of the sin nature as are humans, but rather was "begotten" of God the Father).
1. Mat. 1:18-20
2. Luke 1:26-38
2. Jesus Himself was Baptized in the Holy Spirit, and thereby became the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit.
1. Luke 3:16-23 Jesus' personal experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
2. Acts 2:33 Jesus, The Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, baptizes the early Church.
3. The first work of the Holy Spirit is in regeneration, that is, in the Born Again experience, or salvation.
1. John 3:3-8 The regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in salvation.
2. John 4:7-14 Here, Jesus speaks allegorically of the Holy Spirit becoming "a well of water springing up to Eternal Life" as He takes up residence in the Born Again believer.
3. John 14:16-20 The Holy Spirit "will be IN you."
4. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is another working of the Holy Spirit, effecting an adjunctive, i.e., separate and distinct, experience from regeneration (i.e., salvation).
1. John 7:37-39 Jesus describes here the effect of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in which the Holy Spirit becomes "rivers of living water" flowing out unto others, compared to the personal work of the Holy Spirit within the believer in regeneration in which the Holy Spirit is as a " well" (container) of water, as mentioned in C,3 above. In regeneration, the Holy Spirit comes to live in the believer, bringing the Life of God manifest in the fruit of the Spirit, making the believer a CONTAINER of the Life of God. In the Spirit-Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon the believer, bestowing the power of God manifest in the gifts of the Spirit, making the believer a CONDUIT through whom the supernatural giftings of the Holy Spirit flow out unto others.
2. John 20:22 The early disciples received the working of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. In simple terms, when Jesus breathed upon the disciples, He was dispensing the Holy Spirit for regeneration unto them, that is, to be saved. This was the first dispensation of the Holy Spirit in salvation after Jesus completed His priestly mission, thereby providing salvation. It was at this point, that the disciples were saved and experienced the rebirth.
3. Luke 24:44-49 Though the disciples were saved and the Holy Spirit had come to live within them, still Jesus instructed the disciples to "wait" in the city of Jerusalem until He sent forth yet another promise of God the Father upon them, which would result in them being "clothed with power from on high," to wit: the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
4. Acts 1:1-8 In his second book, Luke recounts again the last dissertation of Jesus prior to His ascension. However, he also adds some very important details which did not appear in his synoptic book. In verses 4 and 5, he includes Jesus' interpretation of His phrase, "the promise of the Father. ("Which you heard of from Me" indicates that Jesus had taught the disciples about this matter on previous occasions as well.) Jesus clearly and explicitly defines the promise of the Father as being the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In verse 8, Jesus explains that the effect of the Holy Spirit will be that the disciples would receive supernatural power to bear witness of Christ.
5. Acts 2 "The proof is in the eating." The fulfillment of Jesus prediction conclusively proves that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the accompanying evidence of the gift of tongues is the "promise of the Father," and that it is a subsequent and separate experience to salvation. The disciples were saved in the upper room on Easter Evening, at which time they received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in themselves (i.e., in their regenerated human spirit); yet it was after salvation, that they were clothed with, or enveloped in, or immersed (the meaning of the word "baptized") in the Holy Spirit.
6. Further evidence that that which occurred on the Day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of the prophesied "promise of the Father," is evident in Peter's declaration, "this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I shall pour out of My Spirit UPON all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (prophecy can be manifested in the common languages of the hearers or in the variable form of tongues accompanied by interpretation of tongues). The portion of Joel's prophecy reiterated by Peter in verse 18, to wit: "And on My servants and handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy," offers further proof that this outpouring of the Spirit would fall upon saved believers as a separate and subsequent experience to salvation.
5. The initial (not exclusive) evidence that a person has been baptized in the Holy Spirit is tongues. Proof-positive of that fact is found in the fact that ALL of the early believers (including all of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb) who were baptized in the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues.
1. Acts 2:1-21 The Apostles of the Lamb and Early Church disciples.
2. Acts 8:5-19 Samarians are baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues. (Note: While Luke's account here does not specifically state these believers spoke in tongues when they received the Spirit Baptism, Simon "saw" something that was tangible evidence they had indeed received it, which evidence was most likely tongues.)
3. Acts 9:1-18; 1 Cor. 14:18 The Apostle Paul is baptized in the Spirit and received as a result the gift of tongues.
4. Acts 10:34-46 The first group of Gentiles are baptized in the Spirit.
5. Acts 19:1-6 Ephesian disciples of John The Baptist are baptized in the Spirit.
6. 1 Cor. 1:4-7; Chps. 12,13,14 The Corinthian believers were Spirit-Baptized and recipients of the gift of tongues. The Apostle Paul had to write to delineate some "rules of proper order" for exercising the gifts of the Spirit in public assemblies.
   
6. God desires for ALL believers to speak in tongues — 1 Cor. 14:5.
7. All believers should pray and sing in the spirit, that is to say, in tongues — 1 Cor. 14:14,15. (In verse 14, Paul clearly indicates that one is "praying in the Spirit" when he prays in tongues.)
8. Praying in the Spirit (in tongues) is praying in the perfect will of God — Rom. 8:26,27.
9. Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks Him for it — Luke 11:13.
10. Anyone who is thirsty for the Holy Spirit need only to come to Jesus and DRINK (i.e., ingest; receive by faith) of the water of the Spirit — Jn. 7:37,38.
11. What to do to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
1. If you are a believer, you can receive the Baptism (Immersion) in the Holy Spirit.
2. If you earnestly desire to be totally immersed in the "rivers of living water" of the Holy Spirit, you can be, right now. All you need to do is to ask Jesus and then simply drink in the Holy Spirit. Lift both hands to Heaven and pray this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I have believed upon you as my Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit lives within me. I know I am already saved. But, John the Baptist testified you were the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I ask you now to baptize me in the Holy Spirit and clothe me with power from on high. I receive this baptism now by faith.

3. Now take in a deep breath and "drink" in the Holy Spirit. Receive by faith! You will now begin to sense a "bubbling forth" sensation from your innermost being in the region of your belly. Open your mouth and begin to speak the praises of God in the unknown utterances the Holy Spirit speaks forth through you from within. Don't be concerned if only a few short sounds that you do not understand come forth initially — just speak them forth in faith, abandoning pride and self-consciousness. Remember unknown tongues are words and languages you yourself do not understand (but God does).
4. Exercise your prayer language whenever possible, and it will continue to develop. If you do not use it, it is possible to lose it.
5. Be prepared for the attack of the devil and his attempts to steal from you what you have received from God — resist his lies; he is a liar and the father of lies! A common lie he comes to you with is that this is just all in your imagination, and that you just got caught up in an emotional moment; you didn't really receive an "unknown language" — you were just making those sounds up yourself. He's a liar! Think for a moment; ask yourself two things: did these sounds seem to come out of your head? did you think about it and make the sounds up? Or, did they seem to "float up" out of your innermost being ("belly," Jesus called it)? Secondly, have you ever done this before? If not, then why did these sounds just start to "float up" out of you when you asked Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit? The devil is a liar! — command him to leave you in Jesus Name, and he will flee!

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This teaching is now available in a book (print, ebook & audiobook), DUNAMIS! Power From On High, by Dr. Lambert.

Cessationism Refuted

My good friend, Charles Carrin, as a Baptist pastor for more than twenty-five years, was much like Apollos before Priscilla and Aquila "took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." Like Apollos, he was "an eloquent man...and he was mighty in the Scriptures," he "had been instructed in the way of the Lord" in Baptist schools, was "fervent in spirit," and "was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus," meaning the Gospel of Christ's sacrifice. However, Charles, like Apollos and myriad other sincere and fervent traditional denominational ministers today, was "acquainted only with the baptism of John," the original Baptist.

This simply was the way it was for this very eloguent and learned Bible scholar and teacher for nearly three decades of service as a Baptist pastor, until one day when, in the midst of severe trial and spiritual dryness and emptiness, he had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit, and despite all his refutations, protestations, and contrarian beliefs, was thoroughly IMMERSED or BAPTIZED in both the water and the fire of the Holy Spirit! Himself and his theology forever changed! From that day forward, cessation theories for Charles Carrin were thoroughly expunged from his theology, but more importantly, his personal relationship with the God-Head. From that day forward, He had no more questions regarding the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, no not one!

After nearly eighty years of living and over sixty in the Kingdom, Charles has come to some specific conclusions concerning what the Spirit says in the Word of God about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as well as the Dunamis-Power of God unto supernatural manifestations of the Spirit throughout the Church Age. This learned and articulate servant of God in this article does a masterful job of refuting the wholly indefensible cessation theories espoused by so many denominations and so-called "fundamentalists" today, who, unfortunately, continue to "invalidate the Word of God by their traditions."

KINGDOM FAITH OR KINGDOM FICTION — WHICH IS IT?
By Charles Carrin

The New Testament gospel is powerful, eternal, perpetually true. Two thousand years after its presentation to the world it is still relevant, unabridged, unchallengeable. When Charles Spurgeon was asked how he defended the gospel, he replied, "I don’t defend the gospel any more than I would defend a lion. I just open the cage and let it out."

Jesus called His message the "gospel of the Kingdom." That message has never been, nor will ever be changed. Nor will it become a gospel of the church. The Kingdom knows no failure. The Kingdom is triumphant, victorious, all-conquering. The Kingdom is permanent, unchanging. The Kingdom needs no such excuse. To absolve herself of blame.

The church is subject to great failure. The church is schismatic, self-indulging, unreliable. The church is temporal, justifies herself and vindicates her failures. The church has invented an escape-hatch called Cessationist Theology. This pleasant sounding expression declares that God has withdrawn the Holy Spirit’s miraculous power from the church. The church has a book — the Bible — and little more than that. We have no power because God has removed it. The fault is not our’s.

Much of modern, evangelical Christianity is a parallel of the ministry of Apollos. It is sincere, eloquent, accurately teaching Bible truth as far as it allows itself to believe. But its doctrine is measured by its own opinion–it is afraid to measure its doctrine by Scripture.

Dispensationalism — the claim that miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit passed away — dominates traditional Christianity. Jesus said there would be no such change. Hear His words: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:20. Jesus fully expected the church "at the end of the age" to believe and teach "all things" that He had commanded the original disciples.

The Apostle Jude did not believe the cessationist claim. Instead, he presented one of the New Testament’s strongest defenses for the gospel’s unalterability. He said, "I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The "once for all" in our English Bibles comes from a valuable little Greek word, "hapax." In spite of its small size hapax carries significant authority. It means: "one, a single time, conclusively, absolutely all, every one."

This hapax-expression appears at least eight times in the Greek New Testament. It is translated "once for all" five times in the New King James Version. Three additional times the New International Version translates it as "once." In every instance hapax establishes the unchangeability of its subject. Six of the references below apply directly to Jesus, one applies to the believer, and the final one to Kingdom faith. In four instances in the Greek text the preposition "epi" (upon) is added to reinforce the "once for all" meaning.

The Hapax Scriptures

1. Romans 6:10. "For the death that Jesus died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."

2. Hebrews 7:27. "Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this Jesus did once for all when He offered up Himself."

3. Hebrews 9:12. "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood Jesus entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."

4. Hebrews 9:26-27. "He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

5. Hebrews 10:2-3. For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

6. Hebrews 10:10. "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

7. 1 Peter 3:18. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

8. Jude 3. "Beloved ... I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

To which of these hapax–"once for all" — passages are you willing to apply Cessation Theology? Would your theology be complete if any of the "once for all" references were removed from the work of Jesus? Would you like any of these subjects to be vulnerable to change? Are you genuinely glad that they are "hapax" — "once for all" — secure? If so, it is impossible for you to endorse Cessationist Theology. You cannot accept the works of Jesus as hapax and then deny the Holy Spirit the same respect in His maintaining hapax in the permanency of Scripture. You cannot do it and uphold integrity with the Word!

Modern Christianity has convinced itself that Jesus provided two distinct gospels and two distinct faiths — one for the first century church and one for those who followed after. The first was miraculously empowered; the second was not. The first had the baptismal gift of the Holy Spirit; the second was merely given a book telling what the Holy Spirit had achieved in the past. Hear the truth: Jesus provided everyone — past, present, future — with a faith which was hapax-true, hapax-strong, hapax-forever.

The fact is this: Whether you and I accept it or not, the original "faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" is still intact. It is unaltered. In a conclusive, unchangeable way the faith of the Apostolic Era was delivered for "all time" intact to every subsequent generation. There will never be another.

Someone argues, "But I have never seen the miraculous works of the Holy Spirit in my church!" True. But the fault lies with the church, not with God. The contemporary church is a victim of its own unbelief. It has created its blighted condition.

Observe that the Apostle Jude said he:

1. Found it "necessary"
2. To "exhort you"
3. To "contend earnestly"

This agrees perfectly with Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 28:18-20 that believers to "the end of the age" be taught to "observe all things that I have commanded you" (the original disciples). Then, as if to emphasize the unchangeability of the gospel’s time-span, He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Observe the expression "all things". What did He mean by that expression? Scripture does not leave us to wonder. Matthew 10:7-9 makes it very plain: "As you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." When He said, "teach them all things...to the end of the age," this is what He meant.

The obvious message is that the gospel — and the faith arising from it — have been permanently given one time and will never be given again. That initial provision is sufficient "once for all" time and "once for all" people. In an emphatic way, this says that New Testament faith, doctrinally and experientially, as it was originally presented by the Holy Spirit, is unchangeable. It cannot be added to or taken from. Any cessationist claim otherwise is a hoax. Such an accusation insults the Cross and the work of the Holy Spirit (cf., 2 Peter 1:21).

Even so, the idea is rampant in modern Christianity that parts of the Covenant-Book which Jesus ratified by the sprinkling of His blood (Hebrews 9:11-15), have lost validity. This supposedly occurred at the death of the Apostle John in 70 a.d., or when the New Testament books were canonized into one volume in a.d. 367.

The truth is, modern Christians have invented that monstrous idea. We have done so because we do not want accountability for our own failures. If we can justify the absence of God’s miraculous presence by claiming He withdrew it from us, we don’t have to accept blame for our having withdrawn ourselves from Him.

The Bible’s Example

The Book of Acts gives us a working model of a conscientious, godly pastor who preached a powerless gospel. Like many today, Apollos was pastor of a small, struggling congregation. He was faithful, loved God, served the congregation, but was totally bereft of power. While he was away from his home at Ephesus, Paul came and found his church of 12 male disciples with wives and children. In spite of Apollos having excellent credentials for ministry, Paul immediately recognized powerlessness in the man’s flock. Both Paul and Apollos were servants of God, both equally loved the church, and each possessed vast knowledge of Scripture. Even so, a major discrepancy existed between their ministries. Paul had power; Apollos did not. Paul preached the gospel of the Kingdom; Apollos obviously knew nothing about it.

In light of the Apostle Jude’s exhortation to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints," we see how Apollos — though innocent of any evil intent — had accepted a partial gospel and experienced partial results. The ministries of Paul and Apollos are a parallel of pastors and churches today. I emphasize the fact that Apollos was ignorant because he had never been taught — not because he had knowingly rejected the truth. In our day pastors fall into two groups: Those who have never been taught and are innocently ignorant of spiritual gifts and those who willfully reject spiritual gifts. Carefully observe these seven facts which Scripture records about Apollos:

1. He was a Jew.
2. An eloquent man.
3. Mighty in Scripture.
4. Instructed in the way of the Lord.
5. Fervent in spirit.
6. Taught accurately the things of the Lord.
7. But: He knew only the "baptism of John" — that is, he knew nothing about the Baptism in the Spirit. He had a partial gospel and a partial faith.

When Paul recognized spiritual-powerlessness in the Ephesians, he asked the all-revealing question, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They responded, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." This tragic ignorance existed because Apollos knew only the "baptism of John." He knew nothing about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and had left his congregation in that same condition. Paul immediately instructed the Ephesians about the Holy Spirit's empowering and when he "laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." That event proved to be a cataclysmic change not only for Ephesus but for the rest of the Roman world.

Under Apollos' ministry, the church at Ephesus accomplished absolutely nothing to awaken the city. It demonstrated no Kingdom power, remained spiritually paralyzed, and except for the local Synagogue, its presence was virtually unknown. In that state, the congregation had no effective witness, made no impact on the people, was no threat to "powers, principalities, rulers of the darkness of this world," etc. Instead, the dark cloud of paganism gripped the land with unchallenged control. The Temple of Diana — or Artemas — already famous as the greatest of all Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, dominated the area. It was in the shadow of this formidable enemy that this minuscule church, ineffective and unknown, lay dormant.

That changed when Paul arrived. When he came on the scene, Ephesus experienced a "Kingdom of God" earthquake. Paul was not the power but he was the instrument for the truth that produced the shaking. He merely provided the window through whom the power roared; Apollos and twelve other windows were already present in Ephesus but they had never been opened.

Jesus Said "The Scripture Cannot Be Broken"

"Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law*, 'I said, "You are gods'? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand." (John 10:34-40) [*Psalm 82:6]

Jesus reminded the Jews that it was David — not Himself — who first wrote about God miraculously empowering the saints. Those fortunate ones to whom "the word of God comes" are so changed and endowed that in the eyes of the demonic-world — in a comparative sense — they become gods (with a little "g"). Simply stated, Jesus intended the saints to exercise power over the demonic realm (cf., Luke 10:19).

It was Jesus who said "The Scripture CANNOT be broken." That means that the New Testament is still intact. No part is out-dated and it cannot be victimized by cessationist teaching. In believing it we open ourselves to receive a miraculous imparting of its "word". Those to whom the word of God comes are changed from ordinary humanity into extraordinary humanity. The "word of the Lord came" to Abraham, Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, John the Baptist, the first disciples, others. All of these experienced transformation when the "word of God" came to them. This is the only sensible explanation for the explosive growth of Christianity in the Roman world.

What Happens Today When The True "Word of God" Comes With Power?

1. Psalm 107:19-20. "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."

2. Matthew 8:16-17. "When evening had come, they brought unto him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all who were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses."

3. Luke 4:31-36. "Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. And 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 you 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 is this! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

4. Acts 2:40-41. "And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that about three thousand souls were added unto them."

5. Titus 1:1-3. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began; But has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior."

6. I John 2:4-6. "He who says, I know him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him: By this know we that we are in him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." (The "Word" is already perfected, so what is being perfected? The one who receives the word.)

7. Luke 1:38. Mary was impregnated when she told the angel, "Be it unto me according to your word."

8. Matthew 4:4. Jesus said: "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

9. Matthew 24:35. Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass a way but My words will by no means pass away."

10. God the Father said: "My Covenant I will not break nor alter the Word that is gone out of my lips." Psalm 89:34.

11. John 17:8. Jesus said to the Father: "For I have given to them (the disciples) the words which You have given Me, and they have received them...."

12. I Peter 1:25. Peter said: "But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

13. II Peter 1:21. Peter said again: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

14. II Timothy 3:16. Paul said: "Be diligent...rightly diving the word of truth." II Timothy 2:1. Paul said again: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable."

15. Galatians 1:8. Paul said once more: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed."

16. Psalm 119:89. David said: "Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in Heaven."

If you are one of those believers whose Cessationist Theology denies the integrity of Scripture or the Holy Spirit’s miraculous gifts, stop it! You are on the losing team! You are on God’s opposing team!

Kingdom faith is fact, not fiction! Hapax — "once for all."

Charles Carrin
Apr 23, 2009

The Curse Of Unauthorized Covenants

For nearly thirty years, I have been doing all the Lord has allowed, anointed, and enabled me to do to set captives of spiritual authoritarian abuse free from the bonds of witchcraft, or the "yoke of slavery," in which they are ensnared.

In the last few years, the Lord has kindled a fire in my belly for the State of Florida in particular. Not only to do what I can to set the captives residing in this State free, but also to be used of the Lord to ignite prophesied fires of revival and refinement in the humanly nicknamed "Sunshine State," but Heavenly named, "Sonshine State."

Florida is an apostolic state, in that the apostolic anointing and function is a "first-in" anointing and function (1 Cor. 12:28) — a forerunner, pioneering, breakthrough anointing. Virtually all the original famed explorers' forays into the New World were along Florida's then surreal sand-covered beaches. Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, is accredited with the original discovery, in 1513, of the pristine paradisal peninsula, which is encompassed on three sides by the immense waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The lush flora and foliage pervading it partially influenced the awed adventurer's naming of the newly found land.

Further demonstrating the State's apostolic roots, though it is not been widely chronicled, a number of critical conflicts, conflagrations, and events precipitating the colonization and early establishment of America occurred here in Florida.

Florida is a proverbial "Fort Knox," financially speaking, because much of the world's wealthiest and most influential people reside in or hold properties or interests somewhere in the pearled peninsula. For multiple consecutive years, the sparse, exclusive enclaves of Jupiter/Hutchison Islands have been ascribed the wealthiest per household hamlets in America. The unimaginable dense concentration of mammon represented in the State of necessity then comprises a lion share of the "wealth of the wicked" God declares is stored up for the righteous of the End-times Church Jesus is building that is required to finance the final great global in-gathering of souls.

For these reasons and much more that cannot be addressed in this article, one of the most ferocious pitched battles between Heaven and Hell is over the 60,000 total square miles of land mass comprising the State of Florida, but more importantly, over the some 18 million souls who inhabit it. Numerous profound and portentous prophecies by prominent voices foretelling major moves of the Spirit of God have been trumpeted during the 20th and now early part of the 21st Centuries. What some have purported to be a "Prophetic Movement," which is a precursor of the nascent "Apostolic Movement," was launched from the panhandle of Florida, where one of the most significant modern protracted outbreaks of the Spirit, the "Brownsville Revival," also occurred. The sleepy Central Florida town of Lakeland was the somewhat unlikely host of the so-called "river" or "laughing" revival in the early 1990s through the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne and the aegis of Carpenter's Home Church, itself a significant phenomenon, burgeoning into a multi-thousand-member super-church over the span of three decades in the late 1900s. Similar growth bursts transpired during that same span in a number of other Florida locales as well. Still today, Florida is graced with a number of mega- and super- and large Neo-Pentecostal churches that are offshoots of the spectrum of spiritual streams flowing in the State.

Unfortunately, however, as an apostolic State, the master-deceiver, the "prince of the power of the air," has also in times past hijacked the spiritual air-currents of the fair State whose name is also partially derived from the Spanish word for Easter, for propagation of some of his most diabolical and damaging handiworks of deception — "winds of doctrine," i.e., false movements founded on "doctrines of demons" — in modern church history. One of the most prominent of those false movements was the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement of the 1970s, spawned in the South Florida coastal town of Fort Lauderdale. The deviant doctrines dispersed through that false movement eventually permeated the fabric, foundation, and functions of the Charismatic Movement, ultimately effecting its derailment and demise, as well as the defilement of its myriad of spiritual offspring (believers, churches, ministries) with the spiritually decimating disease of hyper-authoritarianism.

From the vantage point of 2005, it is clear that the effect of the spiritual plague was of epidemic proportions. Veritable spiritual genocide has transpired. Not just in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal but denominational and non-Charismatic consortiums as well. None of the present streams of the Spirit — i.e., spirit-oriented churches, groups, ministries, and networks — are unaffected by it. The constant stream of communications and counseling requests to my office by victims of authoritarian abuse demonstrate the validity of these assertions. The streams that are supposed to make glad the City of God (the church Jesus is building) [Ps. 46:4] have been polluted by it and instead made the Church sad. Vast portions of the Body of Christ reel in the downward spiritual spiral of witchcraft! It's almost as if the events initiated by the sounding of the Third Angel's trumpet of Revelation 8:10,11, wherein a great star named Wormwood — "fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters....and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died (spiritually) from the waters, because they were made bitter" — has some latent application.

What is the answer? I believe the answer is inherent in a prophetic word the Lord gave me in July 2004. It tenders the key that unlocks the chains of bondage in which God's people who are called to be "Sons of God" as opposed to "slaves of men." The false teaching of illegitimate authoritarianism has brought curses upon the Body of Christ that must be reversed in order for the people of God to possess their inheritance. This past week the Lord dropped this phrase into my spirit, "Poised to Possess!" I believe the Spirit is saying the Church is "poised to possess" the Promise Land, but like the Israelites, they must be delivered out of the tyranny of spiritual Pharaohs that are holding them in bondage in order to possess it. The Body of Christ at large, and to some degree the Church of Florida more so than any other, is in serious crisis! Yet, sadly the majority of believers are thoroughly brainwashed and thus hoodwinked to the horrific state of affairs that pervades the Church.

As I write, my spirit is exceedingly sorrowful and grieved. But I have been at this prophetic thing long enough to know that it is not really me that is sorrowful and grieved, but rather God. Really, when you stop and think about it, what is it to me? Why would I, as just another person, care about these matters? No, I'm seeing and sensing what God sees and senses. Prophets are "seers." They see things; often things others do not or cannot see, at that time. Oftentimes others will not see the things a prophet sees until like Elisha with his servant, the prophet prays that God open the eyes of the blind so that they can see what he sees. But prophets are also "sensers" they sense things that others do not sense — often the heart or feelings of God (yes, God has feelings). I know without any equivocation that what I am seeing and feeling in my spirit is what God sees and is feeling. This is not a Steven thing, this is a Spirit thing!

One of the objectives of the Spirit of the Lord and anointing that was upon Him, which is likewise the anointing under which every true minister on His behalf operates, Jesus stated was/is to "set the captives free" (Lk. 4:18,19). The Holy Spirit commanded through the Apostle Paul, "It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject AGAIN to a YOKE OF SLAVERY" (Gal. 5:1)! Jesus declared, "He whom the Son sets free is FREE indeed" (Jn. 8:36)! He also said that true disciples of His, who abide in His Word, will be SET FREE by the Truth that they KNOW (Jn. 8:31,32)! It is clear from just a few snippets of Scripture such as these and the preponderance of Old Testament chronicles concerning the people of God as well that God is intensely desirous of His people being FREE of ALL kinds of bondage, no matter what it may be! GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE FREE! Free to be HIS! He is a jealous God who, above all else, wants us to be free to belong to Him, and Him alone!

Satan himself, the original rebel and defector from God, is the master-taskmaster! He is the arch-megalomaniac who is absolutely possessed with the altogether foolish figment of conquering and controlling God's entire Creation, and enslaving the crown jewel of that Creation — mankind. Yet, the most succinct expression by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God of the purpose of the Son of God's manifestation and visitation is "that He might DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL" (1 Jn. 3:8). Essentially, "the works of the devil" are invisible chains of captivity to the rebellion against God that the devil himself originated. God wants you free from his bondage.

My spirit cries out to the Body of Christ today: BE FREE FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF SATAN AND SIN, INCLUDING THE SIN OF IDOLATRY AND SPIRITUAL ADULTERY! I implore you to hear the voice of the Lord crying out in the wilderness today! Pray and ask God if you have sinned and brought a curse upon your life by entering into unauthorized covenants.

Father, I pray now, in the name of Your Son, whom you sent to set the captives free, that you open the eyes of your people, to see the yoke of bondage that they have been under, and that you set them free from it today! I give you praise, honor, and glory, for hearing my prayer and doing it! Amen!

After reading this prophetic word, if you have not already read my book, Charismatic Captivation, I strongly urge you to order your copy today and read it, in order to be set free from "the yoke of slavery" to illegitimate human mediators. You may read more about the book and order it from our website at: http://www.slm.org/pubs/index.html. On the left side of this page are also books by other authors among the recommended reading list for victims or suspected victims of spiritual abuse that you can order through our affiliation with Amazon.Com.

The Curse of Unauthorized Covenants
By Steven Lambert, ThD (7/7/04)

One of the last books Derek Prince authored prior to his recent death was Blessings and Curses (Revised version, 2003; Chosen Books, Grand Rapids Michigan).

It has been well-documented how that in the 1970s Prince had been one of the originators of what became known as the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement. To his credit, however, when the doctrines associated with that movement were challenged by numerous prominent church leaders, the highly-respected Bible teacher was the first to publicly acknowledge that the teachings were erroneous, recant them, repent, and ask fellow believers for forgiveness from the spiritual harm he had been instrumental in wreaking upon the Body of Christ.

In Blessings and Curses (p. 46) [emphasis and bracketed comments added], Prince writes:

In Exodus 23:32-33 God warned Israel about the idolatrous nations whose land they were about to enter: "Do not make a COVENANT with them or with their gods...The worship of their gods will CERTAINLY be a SNARE to YOU." If you make a solemn agreement with people who are under the power of evil forces, you come under that same power.... As Christians, we are all in a covenant relationship with the Lord and the ONLY other valid covenant is that of marriage between a husband and wife. Covenants are very powerful, and to enter into a covenant relationship on any other basis but these can be extremely dangerous. If it is a scriptural covenant [which the author states are only those between a believer and the Lord, and between a husband and wife], its effect will be a blessing. But, if it is unscriptural, its effect will be a CURSE. Solomon offers an urgent word of counsel in Proverbs 6:4-5 to anyone who has made a pledge or vow binding them to an evil ASSOCIATION:

Allow no sleep to your eyes,
No slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

What you have said with your own lips [unscriptural/unauthorized pledges, oaths, covenants] only YOU can unsay. At the same time, get rid of any articles associated with the ungodly covenant. It is best to do this in the presence of Christian witnesses who can support you with their faith.

It is clear in Scripture that human covenants, pledges, and oaths other than the only two that are authorized by Scripture (marriage and God's with believers) subject the participating parties to curses that bear the potential for great harm and grave danger.

Contrary to the adage quoted even by occultists, Jesus did not teach that the truth itself will automatically set you free. Rather, He taught that it was the truth that we KNOW — the truth that lives (abides) in us and that we live in — that will set us free (cf, John 8:31,32). Indeed, the Word of God is literally filled with Kingdom Truths that bear unfettered power to liberate all who will accept and apply them to their lives, yet that glorious result cannot occur until we first KNOW those Truths. It is incumbent upon every believer who comes into this knowledge and understanding regarding illegitimate covenants to immediately repent and renounce every such improper covenant, and replace it with a confession of the two appropriate covenants, in order to "free yourself" from the "hand of the hunter" and "the snare of the fowler" — for improper covenants make us captives to the hunter and make our lives ensnared by the fowler, (Satan) who has the authority to fowl everything in our lives that is unprotected as the result of our removing ourselves from the protective covering of God through improper spiritual covenants and associations made with humans, which produce enslavement (Rom. 6:16).

Ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men, as postulated by the erroneous Shepherding doctrines, have brought the State of Florida under a curse — from the Southeast coast to the Northeast extremities of the panhandle. Let every preacher and believer first "free" his or her self from these covenants of enslavement and the curses they bring upon the participants, then preach, proclaim, and declare the message of freedom and liberty to fellow believers, and thereby deliver ourselves and the church of Florida that Jesus is building from the scourge of the curse!

When the scourge of this self-imposed curse is finally removed, we will begin to see God's hand of favor and approval released upon the church of Florida, and the fulfillment of the many prophesies predicting an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit and God's Glory upon the coastlines of the State![end]

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The following is an excerpted section from Chapter Two, The Movement Goes Underground, from my book, Charismatic Captivation, first published in 1996, which proffered back then more warnings concerning the dangers of unauthorized and unscriptural "covenant relationships," and traces the roots of the concept to the Discpleship/Sheperding controversy that emerged in the mid-1970s.

However, what has transpired over the course of time is that in order to avoid the adverse effects of controversy, the majority of Discipleship proponents and practitioners have gone "underground," so to speak, employing less overt and less conspicuous methods and means of propagation, cloaking and camouflaging their operations behind more subtle and euphemistic, cryptic language.

For example, the extreme concepts initially referred to as concepts of "pastoring" are now termed "shepherding" principles. To give it a more sophisticated and sanctimonious ring, the obsequious relationship between the subjugated (the sheep) and their subjugator (the shepherd) now is called "covenant relationships." These "relationships" (if you accept that appellation) in many groups espousing Discipleship/Shepherdship/Covenant doctrines and employing variations of the practices advocated under that teaching are actually codified in the form of a "Covenant Agreement" signed by the subjugated in which the subjugated pledges his eternal oath of allegiance and unquestioned obedience and obeisance, along with his financial support, of course, to his "shepherd." Usually, this "covenant" requirement is a matter which is not addressed openly in the public meetings, but is introduced "in private" to attendees who have been around long enough to have become fully indoctrinated with the group's ways and teachings, and to have become psychologically dependent on the group (more on this and other psychological mechanisms employed by Discipleship groups later).

Allow me to say in passing that to me, oaths such as these bear little dissimilarity to the secret oaths and pledges required of initiates into secret societies such as the Free Masons, Ku Klux Klan, and the La Cosa Nostra (Italian Mafia), which essentially bind the inductee to that group for life, or in other words, "Til death do us part." In fact, it has been my experience in dealing with hundreds of people in deliverance from demonic powers that the pledge taken by inductees into these secret societies is precisely the same in terms of the spiritual impact it induces as those taken by members of Discipleship/Shepherding/Covenant cults (as we shall discuss later, this is precisely what these groups are cults). A plethora of spirits of bondage, witchcraft, and idolatry saunter right through the door willfully opened by the person who enters into such demonic "covenants" of allegiance to men. Additionally, terribly debilitating and subversive satanic soul-ties are formed with the individuals with whom they have "covenanted." But, in actuality, the spiritual dynamic that is being instigated in the unseen spiritual realm when a person "covenants" with another human being in this manner, agreeing to subject himself to a mere human rather than unto the Lord Jesus Christ, is a pact of idolatry, because, spiritually speaking, wittingly or unwittingly, the subjugant has in essence pledged to submit his human will to his subjugator. In effect, the subjugant has just become the willing slave of his subjugator, for the Spirit says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are SLAVES of the one whom you obey" (Rom. 6:16).

The ultimate result of such a "pax idolatrus" is that that person has in actuality made the pact, not with that leader, but with demons, for in reality there is no such a thing as an idol, but the idolatrous homage rendered unto "idols," whether they be human or inanimate is "sacrifice to demons, and not to God" (1 Cor. 10:19-22). In other words, anyone who makes a spiritual covenant with anyone other than God, covenants with demons, whether they intend to or not, for "You cannot drink the cup of (fellowship with) the Lord and the cup of (fellowship with) demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (Ibid, v. 21, parenthesis added by author). If you do so covenant and so partake of fellowship with idols (other gods), or demons, you "provoke the Lord to jealousy" (Ibid, v. 22). Thus, in actuality this "covenanting" business and paying homage to human leaders is tantamount to pagan demon worship. The Bible explicitly constrains us against making such "covenants" with anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It specifically commands, "Do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor. 7:23).

Dear Friend, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men such as what are addressed in this word, I urge you to "Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids" until you "FREE YOURSELF, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler" by renouncing all such ungodly covenants and thereby break the self-imposed bondages and curses over your life. Repeat the following simple prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, my eyes have been opened to the error of these improper covenants I have made with men in ignorance, and sense the inner conviction of the Spirit regarding them. I ask you to forgive me of my sin and error. I want to FREE MYSELF from the witchcraft resulting from those false oaths, pledges, and covenants right now. So, in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Name above every name, I now renounce those covenants I made and demand by the Spirit of the Lord that the illegitimate yoke of slavery that has been upon me now lift off of me! I am now free of all false burdens and responsibilities, and free to serve YOU as my Lord. Thank you, Jesus!

[Original Post Date on Prophetic Perspective E-zine: 11/19/2005]

The Purview of Apostolic Authority

Editorial Note: Recently I received an email from a subscriber who was asking me for answers to some questions he had concerning some troubling issues related to the nascent apostolic renewal. It was not until I was finishing the last paragraph of my response that I heard the Spirit tell me that I needed to post my answer, because it would also help others who have had similar thoughts and questions. Just bear in mind as you read my response, that this is not intended to be a theological treatise or comprehensive exposition on the matter of the apostolic or even this aspect of it, but rather I offer it to you as just one tiny little patch of the quilt the Spirit is weaving on the matter at this time in the Church..."line upon line, precept upon precept, a little here, a little there."

Question: I hear a lot concerning "apostolic authority." What does apostolic authority mean? I have known apostles who march into churches and tell the pastor he has to submit to them because of apostolic authority or they will ask the pastor, who is your apostle? Does the apostle have authority over the pastor in the local church? Help!!

Reply:
I will try to give you a relatively succinct answer to a rather complex matter, without fleshing it out much. I will answer the first question in what follows. The last question, which is the essence of what you are asking, I will answer directly first: No, an apostle does not have authority over the leadership of local churches of which he is not a part and is not esteemed as the "set man" of that assembly merely by virtue of some perceived "authority" inherent in the title of "Apostle." Indeed, a true God-anointed, God-appointed, Spirit-trained apostle would never even THINK of such a thing.

Unfortunately, the kind of attitudes you describe represent what "Apostolic Authority" means to many misinformed and misguided people. A major problem in dealing with the matter of local church government, on the backdrop of the renewed awareness concerning Fivefold Ministry and the restoration of the Apostolic and Prophetic offices, in particular, is that while they are related, they are not the same, and the terminology we have been using regarding ministry offices or positions in the church has been contrary to Scripture.

Namely, in the last hundred years or so, predominantly, the Church has been using the term "Pastor" to refer to the chief or top leader in the local church, despite the fact that government, i.e., "ruling," is not included in the office of the pastor, per se, as delineated in Scripture. The Bible is clear that "elders...rule" (1 Tim. 5:17, et al.). The local church is to be governed by a presbytery of elders (plural). However, here again most local churches have had that wrong as well, as to who elders are, especially denominational churches. According to the preponderance of Scripture, the eldership of a local church should be comprised of those who God has appointed to Fivefold Ministry Offices (Eph. 4:11), which appointment is attested by the anointing (spiritual gifting) inherent in those offices. And, among the Fivefold Ministry Office, those functioning in the apostolic, prophetic, and teaching should be regarded as preeminent in the government of the church (1 Cor. 12:28).

This picture becomes clear when the entire mosaic of Scripture is put together rightly ("rightly dividing the Word of Truth" [2 Tim. 2:15]), which is too complex and expansive of a matter for us to deal with here, but I will offer the following. Jesus chose Twelve of His disciples, and appointed (named) them "Apostles" (Mat. 10:1-5). These Apostles of the Lamb were His chief delegates, surrogates, or representatives in the Early Church following Jesus' ascension. This set the precedent of Apostolic Appointment.

Additionally, 1 Cor. 12:28 clearly states the order of preeminence of ministerial authority and government in the local church: "And God as set in the CHURCH, FIRST Apostles, SECOND Prophets, THIRD teachers...." Notice that the pastoral office is not mentioned in this verse, per se. In fact the word "pastor" (poimen) only occurs once in the entire N.T., which is in Ephesians 4:11. So, using Scripture as the sole precedent and paradigm (and this order is clearly further corroborated throughout the N.T.), the office of apostle is unequivocally the preeminent ministry office, functionally speaking, with prophets and teachers respectively following next in succession. The Greek word in this verse translated "first" is the word "proton," which connotes, first in time, first in order, first in rank, first in function, first in priority. (Now, while I fully realize that such teaching is controversial to those unfamiliar with it, exegetical development of these concepts is simply beyond the parameters of this article. Though, they are developed in several of my books and will be addressed further in forthcoming books.)

Now, the problem is, since the church fell into apostasy in the third and fourth centuries, it has not been recognizing these offices, and erroneous cessation theories purporting that the apostolic and prophetic offices ceased with the death of the Apostles of the Lamb have been prevalent, especially in mainline denominational doctrine. And then, somewhere along the line, primarily, as I said, within the last hundred years or so, local churches began calling the chief minister "the pastor," even though that office, according to Scripture, does not entail government, per se.

But, the Scriptural pattern is that there is a "set man" (Num. 27:15-23) whom God recognizes and has appointed as the chief leader or elder in a local church. Functionally, this person is actually a "local apostle," according to the Scriptural pattern, and should possess and demonstrate the giftings or anointing of an apostle, which are the entire range of the Fivefold Ministry offices. This man is esteemed by the other elders as a "chief among equals," as was Peter among the Twelve, as was James in the Jerusalem Church and as the presiding elder at the Jerusalem Council (Ac. 15), as was John over the churches of Asia Minor in the latter part of his ministry, and as was Paul over the churches he founded, or to whom he became the spiritual father, for example.

However, "Apostolic Authority" is intrinsically parochial; that is to say, limited, to the particular local church(es) where God has established the apostle relationally—usually churches which they have had a part in founding, or existing churches that voluntarily have placed themselves under the leadership of an apostle who has become a "spiritual father" to those people and its leadership. Thus, "Apostolic Authority" is decidedly not some sort of automatic universal authority inuring to an apostle by virtue of the title of apostle. Morever, legitimate "Apostolic Authority" is never organizational, but rather is always relational. And it is vital to remember that all relationships among Fivefold Ministers are horizontal, not vertical. All Fivefold Ministers are peers with different functions, giftings, anointings, and callings. None is more important than another, or superior or inferior to another.

The church is the family extended and the family is the church in miniscule; thus, the principles of governance are the same for both (cf, Eph. 5:22-33). The family has ONE head — the husband/father (male). While a man is the husband/father of his OWN HOUSEHOLD, his authority is limited to that one household; his title/office of husband/father does not mean that he is the husband/father of any other household, and indeed he would be a trespasser and unlawful intruder if he tried to assert his husband/father authority over any other household. In fact, God's Word expressly addressed that scenario through the writings of the Apostle Paul, dealing with the unlawful actions of deceived deceivers who were attempting to do that very thing in the Early Church:

For among them are those who worm their way into homes {households, NAS} and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually-dwarfed women, loaded down with [the burden of their] sins, [and easily] swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses. (2 Tim. 3:6; AB)

So, in the circumstance today in the local churches, regardless of what term is used to refer to him, the local church has a "set man" who presides as the chief leader, rightly so, because he has been so anointed and "set in" to that place of authority by God. Government and leadership of the local church is not a matter of titles, ascendancy, and authority, but of function, servitude, and esteem.

When multiple Fivefold ministers are laboring together to provide pilotage (leadership) to a local church, the proper Spirit-inspired attitude should be to regard one another as co-equals ministerially and functionally, though there is one among them who is esteemed as being the "leader of the leaders," a la James in Jerusalem. Their goal as leaders should be to ascertain the "consensus of the Spirit"; in other words, to reach unanimity based on what the Spirit is speaking to them individually yet collectively. "It seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit...." "WE have the mind of Christ." Christ reveals His full "mind," counsel, to a plurality of elders, not a solitary leader. The notion that God speaks the entire vision and direction for a church to a single "vision-holder" is nonsense, unbiblical, and the height of hubris. I wouldn't follow someone across the street who said he had no need for the counsel and consensus of other leaders. Apostleship is anything but autocracy.

Governmental AUTHORITY is limited to the role of leadership of the local church, and is not personal authority (i.e., authority over people), but authority to provide spiritual impartation as well as "pilotage" to the church and its affairs. Beyond the local church, there is no "authority" among ministers — Jesus told the apostles they were "all on the same level as brothers" (Mat. 23:8, LB), meaning they were co-equals. Thus, there is no ascending authority structure, or rank system, or "chain-of-command" among Fivefold Ministers, that is to say, no one of the ministry offices has authority or ascendancy over another, as purported by the erroneous concept of "positional authority.") In other words, the premise is not that apostles are over prophets, prophets over evangelists, and so on, as if there were "rank" inherent in the the Fivefold Ministry Offices. That's just not the way it works.

Though, clearly, as mentioned earlier, there is a preeminence among the Fivefold Ministry Gifts in terms of FUNCTION and ROLE — its governmental role, in particular. Governmentally and functionally speaking, the apostolic function is first, or preeminent, followed by the prophetic, and then the teaching function (1 Cor. 12:28). Among those functioning in the Fivefold Ministry offices, there is to be no envy, competition, or jockeying for position, but a faithful and willing subjection to the Scripturally-revealed Kingdom order. The commanders of God's Army understand authority, march in line, do not deviate from their assigned lanes of function, and do not break ranks (Joel 2:7,8).

Nevertheless, there is, however, a deference, among Fivefold Ministers that is based entirely on earned ESTEEM, not any perceived or ostensible "authority." Such esteem and deference toward proven and attested senior ministers, wherein believers, including ministers, esteem highly certain other ministers for the spiritual giftings, wisdom, leadership acumen, they demonstrate, is proper, appropriate, and Scriptural:

"But we request of you brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction (lit., admonition, warning, correction) and that you ESTEEM THEM HIGHLY IN LOVE because of their work."

I hope this helps somewhat to answer your questions.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 10/08/2003]

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Tricks Only; No Treats!

For more than half a century the debate has continued in American churches regarding if it is right or wrong for believers to participate in Halloween. The tragedy of the enduring controversy, however, is that the issues of overriding importance regarding Halloween are overlooked in the heat of the debate and almost never discussed even among anti-Halloween believers. Those oft forgotten issues are the focus of this post.

A plethora of pages debating the origins of Halloween, its beneficence or maleficence, and advocating for or against the observance of Halloween and its associated practices populate the Internet. All of that has its place, I suppose, though my experience is that people are going to basically believe what they want to believe about the matter, especially those intent on personal participation in Halloween festivities. Relative few are those who are convinced by the evidence and consequently change their position. But, to me, the tragedy of all the controversy is the issues that are almost never discussed even among anti-Halloween believers. This post is not a rehash of all the pros and cons of Halloween, but rather a discussion of the oft forgotten issues of overriding importance regarding "All Hallows Eve."

As we begin this discussion, I want to make it clear that I'm really not addressing my comments to unbelievers or those who claim to be agnostics or atheists, but rather to believers. My goal here is not to debate the matter with unbelievers, but rather to appeal to believers to consider some matters rarely taken into account.

There are thousands of documents on the Internet espousing every possible perspective concerning Halloween, so it is not within the scope of this post to merely recite all of the facts and information available about it. But, if you are interested in a primer on Halloween from a Christian perspective one of the great sources for information regarding Halloween for believers available on the net is at:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/halloween.html.

Halloween as it has evolved to what it is in this country is largely a post-WWII, "boomers" phenomenon. In fact, in the early years of the genesis of our nation, there were laws prohibiting the practice of Halloween because the early founders and political, social, intellectual, and religious leaders wanted to ensure that there was no proliferation in the new republic during its formative years of "the influences of the east" that had been so injurious and detrimental sociologically in the "old country." The observance of Halloween with its macabre and occult practices only began gaining traction following WWII as the troops came home from the various eastern theaters in which they had been deployed.

Whatever Halloween has been in the past, for many participants on the extreme end of the spectrum it has evolved now into a day of hedonism, debauchery, and unrestrained revelry; in essence a nationalized Mardi Gras. Some of the benumbing events in the news in last couple of weeks leading up to this year's Halloween, such as those occurring in San Francisco, in which demon-possessed and deranged debauchery-costumed sodomists and gomorrhists invaded a Catholic Mass to partake of the Holy Eucharist sacrament, and other incidents elsewhere, testify to that. Although, happily there are an increasing number of communities across America who have taken a stand against the diabolical side of Halloween and have instituted limitations on Halloween practices for the sake of protecting and looking out for the best interests of their children. Hopefully that trend will continue and expand.

There is nothing merely accidental or coincidental about the fact that Godless, hedonistic "Hollywood" has over the years become inextricably linked with Halloween. Satan has played Hollywood and other distribution media like a fiddle in using entertainment and the arts to condition children to accept Satan as being a good and benevolent person, and that all the things associated with his kingdom are good -- calling evil good and good evil. People become "bewitched" as a result of their fascination with the elements of darkness and of that which is "hidden," i.e., the occult. The Harry Potter series is another sterling example of Satan's handiwork in indoctrinating children and preparing them for his final coup de gras of accepting the Antichrist as the ultimate super-hero who will suddenly emerge out of nowhere on the international scene to save the world from destruction and (they believe) from those evil "Christians" who have been the source of so much damage worldwide and throughout human history.

All this is part of Satan's scheme to deceive people concerning the Antichrist and the establishment of his kingdom on the earth, especially the end time generation. One of Satan's elementary yet most effective "tricks" is to brainwash people into believing that everything associated with his kingdom is benign, harmless, or only mythical. "It won't hurt you, it's just play and pretend, it's not real." Artists have long caricatured him as a fantastical part animal, part human, horned, cloven-hoofed creature, with a long tail and a goatee, wearing red pajamas, and wielding a tri-tined pitchfork (trident). No reasonable and reasoning person in their right mind could possibly place credence in the existence of such a creature if that is what he looks like, thus such a creature could only be a myth. This, along with a multiplicity of schemes of deception Satan is orchestrating in these last days to mask the existence and operations of his demonic cohorts on the earth and to brainwash the extant generations into accepting demons as friendly and benevolent beings, is all part and parcel of Satan's ancient plan to deceive the unbelieving of the world into receiving the Antichrist whom he himself incarnates in his last-gasp effort to seize control of the world (2 Thes. 2:1-12).

The Bible warns against being taken captive through the vain philosophies of man, the world, rather than according to the principles of Christ and the Kingdom of God: "Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ" (Col. 2:8). Capturing people's minds is the essence of Satan's master-plan.

The Spirit also admonishes not to be ignorant of the "schemes (strategies) of the devil" (2 Cor. 2:11). We are also told that the result that will inure unto those who continue to trifle with and/or buy into Satan's strategies and schemes of deception, will be "strong delusion" or a "deluding influence" that God Himself actually sends upon those who refuse to separate themselves from and participation in Satan's Antichrist and anti-God plans and purposes (2 Thes. 2:1-12). Finally, after so much divine grace, mercy, and longsuffering has been extended, God will finally give the defiantly unbelieving over to a reprobate mind and to believing the lie! That's the essence of Satan's ultimate plan.

Despite all the debate and controversy, including the plethora of documents on the Internet regarding its origins and its beneficence or maleficence, and advocating for or against the observance of Halloween and its associated practices, the preponderance of credible evidence comes down on the side that all the philosophies and theories, genesis, history, paraphernalia, accouterments associated with Halloween are predicated in the occult, Satanic, demonic, and "the kingdom of darkness" (Satan's kingdom), out of which the Word of God specifically states that the believer has been translated. Certainly there is no Scriptural support for the observance of Halloween since there is nothing in the Bible about it, but rather only numerous admonitions against such pagan practices. Even the colors associated with Halloween are the unmistakable signature of Satan, whose colors (according to ancient traditions of pagans, occultists, and devil worshipers) are black, red, and orange.

On and on we could go delineating the long litany of reasons opponents often cite in opposition of the observance of Halloween and participation in its satanically-inspired and -associated practices. But for most bona fide Born Again believers of any tenure at all, all this is to varying degrees "old-hat," and they have some measure of awareness, if nothing more than generally and cursorily, of the pros and cons that have been out there for a number of decades. Nothing new here, essentially, and most believers have already drawn their conclusions one way or another.

The focus of this post is not the rehashing of the usual arguments regarding the origins of Halloween practices, nor to further debate the controversy of whether or not Christians and children of Christians should participate in the traditional revelry of Halloween or whether participation in an alternative "festival" provided by a church or other entity is a good option. All that to me is really a no-brainer and not worthy of the effort and energy required to write about it all. As I say, most informed bona fide believers have already made their decision in that regard.

Although, I will throw in at no additional charge my observation that Scripture admonishes in several places not to even make mention of or acknowledge the false gods of and practices of pagans and worshipers of false gods. Additionally, believers are told by God in His Word not to elevate one day above another, for every day is alike to the Lord and is the day that He has made, and thus we are to rejoice and be glad in each and every one, because it has been made by God. All the festivals of the Old Covenant were made obsolete, ineffectual, unnecessary, and void by virtue of having been fulfilled in and by Christ with His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. Jesus also stated categorically that the observance of the traditions of men invalidate the Word of God (Truth) in the life of the person who observes them. While the Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Spirit adjured believers not to participate in the evil deeds of darkness but rather expose them, and to separate themselves from the world and their evil practices, and come out from among them, for there is no partnership of righteousness and wickedness, believers with unbelievers, no communion or cohabitation of light with darkness, no harmony between Christ and Satan, and no unity or union of God's temple with the temple of idols. Paul also said that if you drink the cup of demons you cannot also drink with effectualness the cup of the Lord, referring to the sacrament of Holy Communion. The Holy Spirit also warns against believers allowing themselves to be taken "captive through the philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

But, again, none of that is the focus of this post. Rather what I feel impelled by the Spirit to write about in this post is the effects participation in the macabre and demonic practices and revelry associated with Halloween engender due to the demonic incursion to which it opens participants and, by extension, their children. To me, as someone who has worked for more than three decades to deliver people from aberrant, abnormal, and improper behavior through the casting out of the unseen demonic forces behind it, I can testify with extensive firsthand knowledge of the adverse spiritual impact Halloween practices can have upon participants. This is the real, oft forgotten issue regarding Halloween.

The first myth that must be debunked is the prevalent notion that I hear all the time from counselees is that they never really took any of it serious or put any stock in all its demonic associations and connections with witchcraft and devil worship, and all that. Rather, they just considered it a game, kind of a form of entertainment or amusement. Their theory is that because of their attitudes about it all -- i.e., not taking it serious, and not doing it to invoke evil spirits or to worship Satan, etc. -- their participation in it therefore was benign; a "no harm, no foul," kind of thing. Well, that theory may sound good and right, but it is not at all how it works. The problem is that that theory is predicated on what would be right in a system where everything operated according to what was right and just. But, what people fail to understand is that Satan is the original outlaw and rebel. Satan vehemently defies everything that is right and just. He has no propensity whatever to do what is right, just, and proper. His rebelliousness exceeds all human imaginations of evil, wickedness, and lawlessness. The Hitlers of history, the most insane of megalomaniacs, could never in their wildest imaginations conjure up the diabolical schemes of wickedness Satan muses upon routinely.

By the Spirit, the Apostle Peter warned concerning the master of madness, "Your Adversary, the devil, roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Since he was evicted from his glorious status and estate in heaven, and cast down to the earth as punishment for his utter perdition and insurgency against God, Satan has been relentlessly roaming throughout the earth in search of every human-being he can possibly deceive and seduce into alliance with him and his supremely dastardly scheme of rebellion and revolt against God and his eternal plans.

Bottom-line is: SATAN DOES NOT PLAY FAIR! I know that is a shock to many people's system, but it is the undeniable, indisputable fact!

So, it matters not whether in one's participation with the deeds of darkness, it was with subscription to or rejection of the beliefs and demons behind the practices, the door of demonic incursion was opened none the less. That is the "tricks" that Satan hands out to unsuspecting victims, not just on one day of the year, but every day, and the "treats" he dispenses are nothing but an illusion, dirt painted gold.

We are admonished in Scripture, "Give no place to the devil." The devil can go no where, enter no place, where he has not been given permission, whether intentionally and deliberately with knowledge or inadvertently and unwittingly, whether proactively or by passivity. It makes no difference. Satan and his demonic cohorts always enter through open doors, either those opened by the host individual themselves, or by the ancestry of the individual. One of the worst problems with all that, especially in the context of our topic, is that many people who are now parents unknowingly opened their children up to demonic influence by their participation in Halloween practices and revelry when they were a child and then passed those influences on to their children.

A parent's worst nightmare! But it happens all the time. A great percentage of the demons that need to be cast out of people who are being troubled by demons are those that are "inherited," that is, passed on from one generation to another. This to me is the ultimate reason why demonized people should come forth and be willing to repent of whatever it is that is allowing demons to have a place in their life, and seek real deliverance from the demons operating in their lives -- to ensure that their CHILDREN and their CHILDREN'S CHILDREN are not affected by demonic influence. The overwhelming desire of every loving parent should be to see the captives set free, especially when the captives are their own children, and by extension, their entire posterity.

Though polemic preaching about such things as judgment from God is far from vogue today in the atmosphere prevailing in much of the church which requires preaching be candy-coated and of the "easy-listening" variety, there is a strong and sobering admonition from the Savior Himself applicable to all those who would so casually expose young and innocent children to the vile evils and stark wickedness of the "kingdom of darkness," especially those of the households of the believing:

"but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!" (Mat. 18:6,7)

Just a few of the evil influences associated with Halloween: are death; fear of death or fright, and therefore all manner of fear, because all fear is rooted in the fear of death; fascination with "the deeds of darkness," meaning all the things associated with darkness (occult, hidden); fascination with the macabre such as vampires (blood, death, defilement, damnation, sadism and abominable sexual acts); fascination with fantasy (play world, never-never land, Disney World, make-believe, living a fantasy, thespianism, play-acting, no reality, denial of reality and truth [unbelief, agnosticism, atheism]). All these involvements can potentially lead to numerous psychological disorders such as: neurosis, psychosis, DID (formerly, MPD), schizothymia, schizophrenia, and others. They are also a doorway to involvement in a multiplicity of forms of divination, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, familiar spirits.

That's only the beginning, there are so many more that space and time simply won't allow. And, remember, none of what I have written is theory, rather it has been proven out in deliverance counseling sessions and deliverance ministry I have personally conducted in private sessions and public meetings. Some of the things I experienced in deliverances would be incredible and unnerving to most people.

In the vein of our topic, I remember one woman to whom I ministered deliverance and all the demons that came out of her that were associated with Halloween. One of the first spirits the Lord had me to call out of her was a spirit of harlotry, which the Lord showed me by the Spirit had entered her when her mother had her to masquerade on Halloween when she was only ten years old as Marilyn Monroe who her mother thought she looked like and wanted her to grow up to be like to gain fame and fortune. Frequently this now grown woman of thirty years old, who was genuinely Born Again and even Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, would be taken over by this spirit of harlotry during her normal course of life and her entire body, her gestures and body language would dramatically change to mimic a seductress, her manner of speech and voice would also totally change and she would speak exactly like Marilyn Monroe when Betty Jean was "being" Marilyn Monroe. I'm telling you, no impersonator ever sounded so perfectly like Marilyn Monroe, and none could, unless, like her, they were giving themselves over to a familiar spirit like the one that operated through Marilyn Monroe that was behind her supernatural seduction. But, what was so strange was that when I called that spirit out and told it it must leave her now, first it began crying, then when I told it I didn't feel sorry for it and it had to go, it then began its seduction trying to seduce me. Then when I told it that was not going to work and COMMANDED it to LEAVE NOW, it let out one of the loudest and most blood-curdling ROARS I've ever heard...out of this petite, barely five-foot, 110 pound, blue-eyed, blond-haired, young woman, no bigger than a minute, as they say. It was so loud and eery sounding that another Christian couple part of my ministry team who were in another room on the other side of the some 4,000 square feet home we were ministering in said it was the eeriest and scary sound they'd ever heard and it made the hair stand straight up on the back of their necks.

In another deliverance session with this same woman a year or so later, when I was walking out of my office in our home to meet her and my wife in the living room where they had been waiting on me, the Holy Spirit said to me, "Take your Thesaurus with you." "My Thesaurus?" I asked in incredulity. "Yes, your Thesaurus," the Spirit answered. The long and the short of it is that as I prayed before ministering to her, the Lord said that today, the stronghold we would be casting out of her was the spirit of fear. As I began ministering to her, the Lord told me to open up the Thesaurus to "phobias," and discovered to my utter amazement that there were some 265 human phobias, or fears, identified and recognized by modern psychology. Then the Lord also told me that a great many of the fears this woman had had come in through years of bizarre Halloween practices at the insistence of her mother who herself had a strong spirit of harlotry, fascination with the macabre including with vampires, witches, warlocks, and deviant sex, and other kinds of associations with the kingdom of darkness. As the Lord identified the fears my deliveree had and I asked her if she had that fear, she would manifest with extreme body language and manifestations that reacted to the thing named. In the end, I cast out some 200 devils of fear from that same woman, and her life was forever revolutionized, as God demonstrated that truly, "GOD has not given us a SPIRIT of fear" (2 Tim. 1:7), but rather that fear is a SPIRIT, an evil spirit, sent by Satan.

Participation in such ungodly and worldly traditions as Halloween has the effect of invalidating the Word of God (Truth) in the lives of even those who have been genuinely Born Again, and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Born Again believers life, because one cannot drink the cup of demons and partake of the "delicacies" of the table of the devil, and contemporaneously drink the cup of the Lord and partake of the food on His table. Either make the tree and its fruit good, or make it bad, Jesus instructed, but it cannot be both simultaneously. With the Lord, there is no black mixed with white to make gray. Rather, it's either black or it's white. Period! You can call that polemic, but God calls it TRUTH!

Have you ever considered how confusing it is to children for an authority figure in whom all their security and trust is entrusted and ensconced to encourage or require them to dress up as and emulate people who have become caricatures, icons, or symbols of certain values and behavior, mostly evil and bad, one day of the year, and then teach and preach principles of character, morality, and integrity the other 364 days of the year? You know, it wasn't the kid's idea; he or she did not wake up on October 31st and say, "Mom, Dad, I'd like to dress up today like a vampire from Transylvania, or a witch, or a warlock, or an immoral Hollywood star, with a mask to conceal my real identity, so I can go out tonight after dark and scare and startle some people, and go knocking on the doors of strangers, saying, "Trick or Treat!" so that I can extort a bunch of candy and goodies from them under threat of mischief and vandalism if they refuse!" Kids know nothing about such tom-foolery until they are introduced to the whole concept of Halloween BY THEIR PARENTS!

Have you ever stopped to think how strange and bizarre some of the traditional practices of Halloween are? How about the one of having your children masquerade as someone who they are not (deception) in order to deceive complete strangers as to their real identity and sending them to those strangers' doors throughout your neighborhood (or a wider swath of the city or area you live in, today) to beg for food and treats? Something you would never even dream of doing any other time. Most would be mortified at just the prospect of sending one of their children next door to ask a neighbor who they KNEW to BORROW a cup of flour for a recipe they were cooking, as was fairly common still when I was a child. The whole practice of begging is not something Christians should be modeling for their children considering in light of such passages of Scripture as King David's testimony concerning the fact that in his life he'd never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. Children, especially young children, become very confused when their parents have them to do things that are contradictory to their beliefs. Practically no mother in America would allow her children to eat food given them by some stranger out in public no matter how sweet, kind-hearted, and benign they appear to be, yet they allow their children to eat the "treats" handed out by complete strangers whose doors they've knocked on and posed as beggars. The whole scenario makes no sense! Even when you say, "Oh, it's only play; it's only a custom; it's not really real!"

Truth is: there is no GOOD reason to participate in Halloween celebrations and practices; certainly no Scriptural reason, since there is nothing in the Bible about Halloween, but rather only many admonitions against such practices.

Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:7-16)

If you have in the past participated in Halloween, whether before or after you accepted Christ, there is a strong possibility that you could greatly benefit from deliverance. That also applies to your children. I have ministered to hundreds of "boomers" who into their fifties and sixties still carry with them the effects of participation in Halloween as a child. There is no scriptural evidence that once demons gain entrance, they subsequently leave on their own without being driven out through deliverance. So, if demons ever entered, whether in your soul (mind, will, or emotions) or your body, if you are a Born Again believer, and your spirit, if you are not, then they are still there and affecting your life, and will continue to do so until they are cast out of you by a believer operating through the anointing of Jesus, the Deliverer.

I urge you to visit DeliveranceNow.Com to learn more about deliverance. It contains a lot of information about the matter as well as information about where you can obtain more information about deliverance.

Idolatry of Trusting in Riches

Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion. (Prv. 30:8)

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1)

This is the fourth of a five-part message contrasting what could be called, "The Poverty Gospel," against what some have called, "The Prosperity Gospel." In this part, we look at the "negativer" side of the coin, and focus on the deceitful characteristics of riches.

If you did not read, the previous posts, please do, in order to have the proper backdrop and foundation for the message in this post. Otherwise, you may draw erroneous conclusions from reading this post as a stand-alone article.

As I have been indicating in some previous posts, in many Kingdom-related matters, the difference between truth and error is excesses and extremes. Those excesses extremes can be at either end of the spectrum.

Such is the case with the real truth regarding the matter of prosperity and success versus whatever is the diametric opposite of that, which I suppose is poverty and failure. The real truth, that is, the Truth of the mind of God that is both concealed and revealed in Christ through the Spirit of Truth, lies somewhere between these opposing messages. The extremes on both sides are error and deception. We must be careful not to swerve too far to either side so as to fall into a spiritual ditch of error. There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers" (3 Jn. 2). But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. From God's perspective, true prosperity is commensurate with soul-prosperity, and not defined by the amount of mammon, or material things, we possess. Prosperity and success, and divine healing and health, taken to extremes and taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God: "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1).

(Please read the preface on the previous post for more on this aspect.)

Before I get to the topic of this post, I feel compelled to say I truly believe that this whole matter I am discussing in these posts are far from being a mere side-bar. I feel what I am about to say is of a prophetic nature. I believe it is a critical Kingdom Matter that the Church must turn its attention to in order to be delivered from the dastardly and destructive spirit of mammon that now pervades the Church. Many individuals in the Church are obsessed with the spirit of materialism, and if they continue in their ways and in giving place to the devil, what is an obsession now, will continue to escalate and take more and more ground in their heart until materialism, the love of money, will totally possess them. Some who were once bona fide believers and members of the Body of Christ, have become apostate in their heart having yielded to the allure of purely material "wealth," and as a result are already possessed by the spirit of mammon. I believe the judgment that MUST begin with the household of God has begun, and will continue in the form of the economic collapse America and the nations of the world are facing. But, as I have written in so many words in so many of my writings, this judgment that God is bringing upon the Church precedent to the judgment He shall bring upon the world is a judgment of purification and refinement. It is a corrective and reproving judgment to purify the Lamb's Wife for the imminent return of Christ to claim His Betrothed as His Eternal Bride and Helpmate suitable to partner with Him in the judgment of the nations in the Day of His Fierce Wrath.

What I see is that there is two sides of this coin regarding this matter of God's provision for us. The focus of the previous post was what the Word of God tells us about God's desire to prosper and abundantly bless His people. Like Abraham, he has promised to not only bless us, but also make us a blessing. In this and the next post, my focus will be the abundance of Scripture that counterbalance the "prosperity" side of the same coin.

The Parable of the Sower (see, Mark 4:1-20), according to what Jesus Himself said about it, could be aptly called "The Paramount Parable." When His disciples asked Him to explain it to them, He responded, as He did on several other occasions, with seeming frustration at their spiritual dullness, saying, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?" Jesus also indicated that this parable contained the key to understanding the "Mystery of the Kingdom." That is the title of a book I wrote and published in 1984 in which I explained what the Lord showed me concerning the meaning of this Paramount Parable and the "secrets" it unveils of how to bear Kingdom Fruit as well as "hidden" principles of how the Kingdom of God operates here on Earth. The rest of this post is taken from that book. Click here to read more about the book, which is available in both e-book and print versions.

Mark 4:7,18,19
7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
19 and the worries of the word, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Jesus identified in the Parable of the Sower four different categories of hearers, all of whom heard the Word, though only one responded properly and became doers of the Word, thereby producing Kingdom Fruit in their lives. As Jesus said, the Seed of the Word of God was sown on this category of hearers, which means they heard the Word, but there were also thorns growing in their lives along with the Word that eventually choked out the Seed, and thus it "yielded no crop" -- that is, it produced no Kingdom Fruit in the lives of these hearers. In His explanation to the disciples, Jesus indicated these thorns were "thorns of worldliness," and identified them as being, 1) the worries of the world, 2) the deceitfulness of riches, and 3) the desires for other things. He said these thorns of worldliness entered into these believers' lives, and choked out the Seed which was sown into their lives by the Sower (Fivefold Ministers) as the two grew together in the soil of their hearts, and prevented the Word from becoming fruitful. In the previous post we began examining one of those thorns of worldliness -- "the deceitfulness of riches." I continue that discussion by addressing the Idolatry of Trusting in Riches, taken from the book, The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Idolatry of Trusting in Riches
God says He is a "jealous God," and that we are to have no other gods before Him, and that we are not to make or serve any idols (Ex. 20:1-5). An idol, or false god, is something you attribute undue homage and affection to, or something you trust in and place your faith in and look to, to deliver you, and to help you overcome the adversities of life, and to attain unto personal desires, ambitions, and aspirations.

By that definition, money is the false god of multitudes of people in this world. This has always been true, but never more so than it is in this last day in which we live, something which was explicitly prophesied by the Spirit, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, LOVERS OF MONEY..." (2 Tim. 3:1,2). Money, however, is such a vain thing in which to trust. God says, "He who trusts in riches will fall" (Pr. 11:28). Riches are only temporal, they do not last forever. They can be here one day and gone the next, as the following scriptures indicate:

For riches are not forever. (Pr. 27:24);

Do not worry yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth surely makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. (Pr. 23:4,5);

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to...fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God. (1 Tim. 6:17);

Let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. (Jas. 1:10,11);

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. (Jas. 5:1-3);

But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into this world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. (1 Tim. 6:6,7);

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Mat. 6:19)

Without realizing it, multitudes in the world today have made money their god. They trust in it to deliver them from every adversity of life, for personal validation and to give them a sense of dignity and rightness, to afford them prestige and preeminence, to garner for themselves the favor and deference society bestows upon the wealthy, and to provide them with a sense of security, satisfaction, and fulfillment. In a nutshell, people look to money and riches to give them the peace, happiness, contentment, and sense of general well-being to which people commonly aspire. It is in looking to money to supply all this, that people unconsciously make money their god, notwithstanding the adamant denials of most that they have done so in their own case.

But, it is Jehovah God who is the true Supplier of all these things, and He desires that people recognize Him as such. In fact, all these things can only be realized in their truest form through fellowship with God. To seek any other object or entity as a source of these things is idolatry, and is making a false god of that object or entity.

The love of money, or covetousness, which is idolatry, is a natural motivation of the carnal nature which is inherent within us all, however (Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5:19,20). In varying degrees, before we were saved and began renewing our minds according to the Word of God, we all trusted in money for all the things we are supposed to trust God to accomplish in our lives. Thus, most people commit their entire lives and energies in the quest to acquire more and more money, the more the better. They seem to think that the more diligent they are in the pursuit of it, the more favorable the false god of money will be to them. The more they have of it, the more it will deliver them from the adversities and tribulations of life, and fulfill the various yearnings of their heart. So they think.

How often have we all thought at one time or another in our lives, "If I can just get this one bill paid off, then I just know everything will be alright." Or, "If I can just get that new car," or "that new house," or whatever, "I just know everything will be fine, then." Or, "If I can just save up $10,000 in my savings account," or "make this one great stock purchase," or "buy this new business," or "get that new job," or "that promotion," or "that raise," -- "well, everything will be great then!"

That, my friend, like it or not, is IDOLATRY. It is placing a false trust in money. It is making money your god. It is trusting in riches, and in your own power to make wealth. But, even more than all that, such reasoning indicates you have been deceived by "the deceitfulness of riches!" The truth of the matter is that once you do get that one bill paid off, you only get more and even larger bills to contend with, and everything is still not "alright." Or, have you ever noticed, after you buy that new house or car, everything is still not "fine?" Or you save up that $10,000, or purchase those stocks, or buy that new business, or you land that new job, or get that promotion or raise in pay, and then everything is still far from being "great?" Instead you have even more problems. That’s the deceitfulness of riches; he who trusts in them is heading for a fall (Pr. 11:28).

You see, God does not want everything to be "alright" merely through the means of monetary gain and because of financial wealth. He does not want you to be trusting in money as your savior and deliverer. If you do, money is your master and god, not Him. God delights in the prosperity of His servants, but therein is the key: He wants our lives to be prosperous in every way, not through the self-glorifying means of self-achievement, but through serving Him, whereby all the glory for our prosperity is attributable to Him alone. He wants to be our total Source, our only Savior and Deliverer, our Master, and our very present Help in the time of trouble. He wants to be the object of our affection and trust.