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- PRAYER AGAINST THE TORMENTS O... | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page Top of Page Empowering Prayers Prayer Against the Torments of the Mind SAY THIS OUT LOUD: Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Lord, let Your pure fire and glory be like a mirror around my mind and heart, let it reflect back upon the spiritual sender’s head sevenfold the evil that he intended against me. Satan you are a liar, in Jesus name I rebuke you, the Lord rebuke you Satan. For God has not given me the spirit of fear. Indeed, the Lord has given me the spirit of Love, Power and of a Sound Mind. In Jesus name it is done. AMEN! Back to Empowering Prayers
- DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page The Deliverance Ministry DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” In Ephesians chapter four Paul is dealing with the church from the perspective of what God’s call is to the body of Christ for ministry, Paul is dealing with all levels of ministry. By the time that he gets to the end of the chapter he adds the above warning: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, almost as a redundant warning of something that should have been obvious to all who were serving our Lord back then, and that is that, without the Holy Spirit there is no true ministry. Unfortunately, what was very clear to the believers of Paul’s day has become somewhat muddled in our present time, because there are many ministries today that do not function under the unction of the Holy Spirit. Let us begin under the assumption that the ministers and ministry types that we are going to examine here, are all called by God and abide in true service to God; then let us ask this question: How do I personally, and how do we as a body, keep from grieving the Holy Spirit of God when rendering to Him what is our due reverence to Him, our service? Number One: We need to know what our calling is! Ephesians 4:1 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Not knowing what our calling is, and that we are all called, will surely hinder in us the flow of the Holy Spirit that is so vital for our spiritual growth, and so necessary for our training and edification. Imagine getting hired to work in a large department store or factory, and when we get there we have no idea as to what place or division we are to report to. We wouldn't just start working and serving aimlessly somewhere in that place in the hope that somebody from the placement department that hired us to begin with will eventually find us and send us to our proper destination. Yet, that is what many Christians do, after they get saved instead of seeking what God’s ministry and calling is for them, they just serve out of place where others are glad to have their help, but it will not profit the person that is in the wrong place any, because as far as management is concerned they did not show up to work where they were needed. Number Two: We need to have the right attitude, a humbled spirit! Ephesians 4:2-3 “With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another with love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” There are some that after they get saved, have a desire to serve in a ministry that they are not called to perform, because in their eyes this other ministry is a more glamorous ministry than the one they know they were called to; this too is grievous to the Holy Spirit. So that we are not only supposed to be in the right ministry but we also need to have the right attitude about the ministry that we are in. Humility includes lots of patience also, and patience is needed because in a sense we are all in training. If we think that we can do a better job at what another person has been called to do, our tendency might be that of doing their part just because we can do it better and or faster than they can, and by us doing what they are supposed to be doing, we hinder their calling to the point that they will never get the training necessary to eventually fulfill their calling. I was involved in the making of a TV commercial once for the company that I worked for at that time. The setting was in a beautiful three story house in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific ocean. I was spraying the outside stucco of the house with a life long texture coating material, the owner of the company had arranged for a Hollywood crew that filmed commercials to be there the day that I was spraying. After they finished filming my part, they set up to the side of the house a tarp over the grass and put a bucket of paint into which one of the commercial making crew was to through a paint brush into, to make the emphasis that if you put our product on your house you could get rid of your paint and brushes, for you would never have to paint again. There were about eight people in the commercial filming crew, and this one fellow was assigned the task of throwing the brush into the paint bucket, a smile still comes to my face as I am telling you the story, for this fellow could not hit the inside of the bucket no matter how hard the poor fellow tried. Take after take, changing the angle, getting closer to the bucket, nothing, they tried everything. Others on the crew would have no problem hitting the inside of the bucket in just one or two tries, to which somebody in the filming crew suggested to the director that they might have to use somebody other than the person that was assigned for that job originally, so that they could get the commercial done. To my amazement, the director told them that this fellow was hired by the commercial company for that purpose and that the company knew best, and that they would be there until that poor fellow got the brush into the bucket. Encouraged by the unshaken commitment of his boss as to what his calling was, the young man got the brush in the bucket in the very next take, the cheers from all of us who were there were heard all the way back to Los Angeles. But I learned a spiritual lesson that day that has served me well through the years. When it comes to God’s calling for a person’s life, only God knows the magnitude and the impact that His gift and calling will have in that person’s life, and after all is not how you begin, but the depth of your heart’s commitment to your call that really matters. So that when serving the Lord in ministry, as I recognized the gift and the calling of God upon a person that was serving in whatever ministry it was that I was in charged of at the time, I would immediately set out to help them to develop their gifts no matter how inept or uncomfortable they appeared at first, knowing that someday that person would glorify Jesus in the exercising of their calling. I found out that if I kept getting myself replaced by somebody that was better than me at whatever it was that I was doing, that the body of Jesus was being edified and better served, after all that is what really matters. Ephesians 4:4-7 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Although each one of us receives personal gifts, these gifts are always for the purpose of enabling and equipping the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the One body of Christ. Ephesians 4:12-13 “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Number Three: Know what the function and emphasis of the five different offices of ministry are, for they embodied the qualities of leadership under which the church is and should be governed. Ephesians 4:11 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” The church represents the physical body of Christ here on the earth, a physical body has five different senses, vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, by which it navigates through life. The five offices of ministry are a spiritual representation of those five senses through which the body of Christ operates here on the earth. In order for us to be more effective in ministry, we need to know under which of those five offices, or combination of these offices, any given ministry into which we are involve with its functioning, for the spiritual emphasis will be different under each one of these five offices. Isaiah 29:10 “For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely the seers.” Here we see how the Lord uses that metaphor against Israel. Their eyes represent the spiritual vision that enables their prophets to prophesy God’s Word to the nation, and if you cover the entire head, they are no longer even able to process the Word of God that they already had. The Apostolic and the Prophetic Ministries In our present day the apostles and their apostolic ministry, along with the prophets and their prophetic ministry, represent the foundation upon which the entire church is built. Ephesians 2:20-22 “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building (the church), being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” If an apostle is one who lays the foundation, and he is, then no other foundation can be laid but that which has already been laid by the founding apostles, and all true prophets will testify to that. 1 Corinthians 3:11 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The apostolic ministries of today are ministries that start brand new churches in places where no other churches existed before, but if their foundation is not that which has already been laid, then that ministry is not part of the building of God, for it has not been erected on the original foundation which Christ laid when He built His church. The ministry of today’s prophets is not the same as it was for the prophets of Jesus’ days, for through their prophetic ministry God gave to us the books that comprise the New Testament through which the foundation of the church was established, hence: Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets there is nothing new that we can add. However the prophets of today are the ones that proclaim that which was prophesied by the prophets of old, in both the Old and New Testaments, as being extremely relevant to what is going on in the world of today, they keep God’s yet to be fulfilled promises alive to the present generation. Also the prophets of today testify against the so called churches that are not built on the solid foundation of God’s apostolic church, but are built on a deviation of what God originally intended His church to be built on. And if you are involved in an apostolic ministry that aims to start new churches where none ever existed before, make sure that they are being built in the apostolic pattern laid out for us in the New Testament, and in you helping them, model your service to them in the same manner that those who helped the apostles build their churches back then did, that is why we have His Word in the New Testament to aid us. The Evangelistic Ministry An evangelist is one who preaches the Gospel for the purpose of making converts. You may ask, how does that differs from one who teaches and by his teaching leads others to the Lord? Or from a pastor who preaches and makes converts through his preaching? Salvation is not limited to any one ministry, for the Holy Spirit convicts sinners every time the Word of God is proclaimed no matter who proclaims it. But just like the eye may see something and it is confirmed by the ear hearing something, the evangelistic ministry is designed to work hand in hand with the other two. The heart of a true evangelist however is in leading sinners to Christ, he is not as concerned with who is going to disciple the convert, or who is going to teach them spiritual principles, for the evangelist knows that that is the work of the church. 2 Timothy 4:5 “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” The Ministry of the Pastor The ministry of the pastor revolves around the task of keeping the flock together, as his title implies. A pastor’s main concern is that of maintaining the house/church in proper working order. He not only feeds the flock with the Word of God but he also steers it away from danger. God has appointed the pastors as the overseers of the spiritual heath and well being of the flock. If the enemy, like a wolf, comes against one of the members of his church, that enemy will have to go through that pastor’s authority and watchful eyes in order to get to that member. So that the pastor is not overwhelmed by all his responsibilities, God brings into the church teachers, evangelists, administrators, and divers helps, that means everybody in the congregation, that allows that pastor to focus his energy into keeping his flock safe from spiritual attacks. If a pastor surrounds himself with wise elders that will inform and advise him truthfully about the spiritual condition of the church, what they see from their perspectives, that pastor will have everything that he needs to maintain his people safe, but if he ignores their wise counsel, his people will suffer the consequences. Nothing worse than a pastor that thinks that he knows everything, even David a wise shepherd himself, needed the counsel of the seers that God provided and surrounded him with. A pastor’s ministry is to build others up and not to tear them down, his ministry can be summed up by this verse of Scripture: Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” The Ministry of the Teacher Matthew 13:52 “He said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law (the Word of God) who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’” NIV Jesus really paints it with this verse as to what the nature and calling of a teacher really is. I once, during a time of fellowship with some very close friends who were asking if we could play some kind of constructive word game, suggested to them that we pretend that we were stranded in a desert island without our Bibles, and told them, let us see how much of John chapter one we can recreate from memory, and after we have exhausted every one of our recollections we will look it up and see how well we did. Well to begin with we could not even remember how many verses were in the whole chapter, can you without looking it up? A teacher of the Word of God may not really be able to literally, from his memory, have the ability to reconstruct all or even parts of the Word of God, but the essence of what that chapter was about was firmly etched in my heart. For that word had become real in my heart, and I went on to preach from it that night without opening a Bible. So that the ministry of a teacher of the Word of God is to store in the storeroom of his heart, the essence of the revelation that the Word of God brings to his enlightenment. To treasure the revelation that the Holy Spirit reveals into his heart to such a point that, they not only remember the revelation, but how it made them feel and the circumstances that brought the revelation about. An anointed teacher can be likened to a spiritual reservoir that can bring to a thirsty church rivers of living waters in the time of drought. 1 Samuel 3:1/19 “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation...So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his (God’s) words fall to the ground.”
- COMPROMISE | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page The Deliverance Ministry COMPROMISE 2 Peter 2:1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” In our last deliverance lesson, Kings and Priests , I taught about the separation of powers that God ordained for mankind after the flood, and how Jesus has restored to us—His church—the ability to exercise His authority in both the spiritual and the physical realms. Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions (demonic spiritual entities), and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Matthew 21:21 “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain (which is in the physical realm), “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” it will be done.’” The key to this power is the faith which comes by hearing, and the hearing of the uncompromised Word of God. Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Now you can see how important our opening text is, in relation to the power that has been given to the church. There will be false teachers among you. Peter is telling us that false teachers will come and pervert the Word of Truth that has empowered us, so that our faith is disarmed to the point that it becomes ineffective. 2 Peter 2:2 “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed (or perverted).” We can see a mechanism here that begins to emerge. The devil knows that our Lord has given to us authority over him and over his demonic hordes. He can also see that our Lord has given to us authority over the physical realm as well; so how does he stop us from deploying our faith for the purpose of destroying his kingdom? Since the key is, that our faith comes through us hearing the Word of God, the devil’s aim is, to disarm our faith by perverting the Word of Truth that we have been taught to believe in; which are the great and precious promises that have been given to us. 2 Peter 1:3 “As (or according to) His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (physical and spiritual), through the knowledge of Him (we know Him through the hearing of His uncompromised Word) who called us by glory and virtue.” False teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, for the purpose of separating us from the promises in the Word of God that pertain to the dual power that has been given to us in God’s Word. 2 Peter 1:4 “By which has been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature (which allows us to exercise authority over both, the physical and the spiritual realms), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” What is the key element that the enemy uses in order to detach us from the great and precious promises that empower us? Compromising the Word of Truth for the sake of selfish ambitions! 2 Peter 2:3 “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” Our power is exploited through deceptive words that appeal to our physical nature and its natural desires, thereby separating us from the spiritual mind set—which is the mind of Christ—to where we become physically minded and forego our spiritual responsibilities, which are to trample on serpents and scorpions by exercising our dual authority over all the power of the enemy. Romans 8:5-7 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death (no power), but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (power in both the physical and the spiritual realms). Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” How do we get delivered from the negative effects on our faith, that all the deceptive words that we have been exposed to through the doctrines of false teachers that are in the ministry for self-gain, have caused us? 2 Peter 1:5 “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge.” Peter, well aware of the tactics of the devil, begins to instruct us as to how we can prevent, and also how to be delivered, from the damage that false doctrines can bring to our faith in the Word of Truth. Giving all diligence means this is a top priority, we must not take this lightly. A weak or compromised faith not only weakens our authority over the enemy, but it also lowers our covering shield that protects us. It may surprise you to know that the word virtue used by Peter as something that we need to add to our faith, means manliness, (valor). How do we add manliness, or valor, or courage to our faith? Knowledge is what adds virtue or manliness to our faith! What type of knowledge adds virtue or manliness to our faith? John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Is this not obvious to all? If belief in the perverted or compromised Word of God weakens our faith, wouldn't belief in the true and uncompromised Word of God add to our faith the strength and manliness that it needs? 2 Peter 1:6 “To knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness.” We cannot exercise control over something that we do not know or understand. Knowledge is what motivates us into exercising control over that which we know to be wrong and that we know is weakening us. Once we know the factual truth that our faith is purposely weaken by false teachers who teach perverted doctrines, we can add virtue or manliness to our faith, by courageously turning away from their demonic doctrines that we know are hurting us, thereby acting in self-control. False teachers are not going to vanish just because we find out about their false doctrines. False demonic doctrines permeate all facets of life, these false doctrines will continue with their allure for us to compromise our faith, especially in the face of the resistance and opposition that this corrupt world system continuously hurdles against our stand for the Truth of the Word of God. That is why perseverance is required of us, and what motivates us into maintaining our perseverance, is our desire for a godly life that pleases God, as we continuously walk in the self-control that is guided by the knowledge that strengthens and adds virtue/manliness to our faith. 2 Peter 1:7 “To godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” We fulfill the Law of God, when we love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and when we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Now, think about it? Since selfish desires or covetousness, are the allure that the devil uses against us; if we operate under the law of love and brotherly kindness—by putting the needs of others first—we insulate ourselves from the need to compromise that will lead us into accepting the perverted doctrines that weaken our faith in the Word of God. Philippians 2:3-4 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better that himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” This is the mind of Christ—and as long as we operate within the mind of Christ, we do not compromise the power and authority that our Lord has given to us to use on behalf of others, for their benefit, as well as ours. 2 Peter 1:8 “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is a proper flow to this authority that has been given to us in our call as kings and priests to Christ—a flow that we do well to heed if we want to be effective in administering this dual power that has been vested in us. 2 Peter 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Since Jesus is our example, let us look at the ministry of Jesus and how He handled the physical and spiritual authority that was given to Him, as King of kings over all physical matter, and as our High Priest over all spiritual hierarchies. John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The simplest way to put it is this, before we can rule as kings on this earth, we need to serve as priests of the Most High God. We are not to call for the destruction of our human enemies, but for their salvation. And the weapon that we are to implement on their behalf, for their deliverance from the forces of darkness that keeps them blind, is the uncompromised Word of God that shines as a light in a dark place. The Word of God is like a double edge sword, as we wield it without compromise; it shines as a light that not only delivers us personally from the allures of this world system, but it shines through us into the world, and convicts and exposes the darkness that has befallen all who have fallen for the worldly desires that binds them. And through our uncompromising stand for the Word of God it gives them hope. Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.” We are the light of the world; and the light that we are to radiate can only come through the uncompromised Word of God that we live daily for all to see. Here is a true saying: If we live as priests we will reign as kings.
- A CHRISTIANS TRANSFORMATION | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page Top of Page A CHRISTIAN'S TRANSFORMATION Recorded by Lisa Kane Published on 2/4/23 Back to Other Teachings
- THE FOUR WAVES | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page The Deliverance Ministry THE FOUR WAVES Luke 21:25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.” If we look at the above verse from an entirely spiritual perspective, we see four places that are mentioned, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth, that will be hit by a great shaking, and this shaking will come in the form of waves. We obviously live here on the earth, but during those days there will be things that are happening in the entire cosmos that will clearly have an effect upon us here on the earth. Luke 21:26 “Men’s hearts failing them from the fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” When our text declares that the powers of the heavens will be shaken, it is clearly referring to both, a physical and a spiritual shaking that will be taking place during those days. Hebrews 12:26 “Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only earth, but also heaven.’” The number four is significant here because it includes the entire creation, both physical and spiritual. The spiritual emphasis that I want to deal with in this lesson is revealed to us in the form of waves, like in the waves roaring, that is waves making loud sounds that are audible. If you read some of my works, you know that I believe that there are always four spiritual forces that work together in tandem to bring about the conditions that God requires in order to bring about His desire results in any given physical situation. Like the four horseman of the apocalypse, the four trumpets, the four seals, the four winds and so on. These waves are sometimes revealed to the saints in visions or dreams; now there are common threads that link the different revelations to one another, and there are some very unique and individual aspects of the revelation that apply only to the individuals receiving them. Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” In the Old Testament, only certain people were filled with the Holy Spirit. All of the prophets of old were filled with God’s Holy Spirit, since God is Spirit and all His works always begin in the spiritual realm. Those who are filled with His Spirit are in a position to receive the revelation of what God is doing in the spiritual realm that affects us here on the earth. In the New Testament, all the believers are filled with His Holy Spirit, for no one can be born again without being born of the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized (plunged) into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” So that to His church, the body of Christ, revelation is continually flowing corporally from His Spirit that bears witness of what God is presently doing in the spiritual realm. That is why when the Holy Spirit is doing a personal work in us, it seems almost like there is a conspiracy of some sort, for we see the Spirit moving through many different venues to assure us that it is He, and Him alone, not man, who is dealing with us. And when He is revealing things to His church as a whole, many different individuals, oceans apart, will have the basics of the same revelation of what God is doing or is about to do. For that is what Amos says, God will reveal His secrets to His servants, for a testimony to the whole body of believers. My personal experience with dreams of big waves started early in the decade that started in 1990. Previously to my first dream, I do not recall ever hearing about dreams of big waves from any body. In all four of my dreams that covered a span of several years, there were always two things common on every dream, I knew what cardinal direction I was facing, and I was completely overwhelmed by the size of the waves that were always coming my way. In my first dream, I was facing north while standing on a sidewalk in front of a small country church. I was watching as people were coming out of the church when suddenly a huge massive wave arose from behind the little church. The wave was comprised of water and mud and was coming towards the church from behind. It was moving so fast that I did not even have time to tell the people to turn around and look, I just instinctively crouched behind a small retaining wall in the perimeter of the front lawn. I was so scared that my heart almost stopped, and I remember thinking that I was going to die by breathing in muddy water. I awoke right before the wave hit me, and realized that my body was shaking and I was breathing extremely heavy. In the next two or three years I had two more dreams that were just a different version of that first one. On the second dream I was facing east, there was a chain link fence in front of me, when a huge wave rose up, not as muddy as in my first dream, as I crouched down and grabbed the chain link fence, I remember thinking that the impact would probably rip my fingers off, thankfully I awoke again right before it hit me. In the third dream I was facing south when a huge wave rose again as before. The dream of the fourth wave came a couple of years later, I was facing west in the South Bay area of Los Angeles CA, looking at the San Pedro/Palos Verdes hill, when out of the Pacific ocean a huge, more massive wave than any of the others that I had dreamed before rose up. It was made of pure crystal clear water, and just as beautiful as it was awesome. In this dream I did not fear, I did not crouch, and I didn’t wake up before the wave hit me, for even though I was very scared, I welcome that which was coming my way. The wave went over me and through me with great energy, but I was still standing, and as I looked around, all the houses and buildings were gone, and in their place, pools of living waters were drawing in the weak and the feeble to drink freely of it. In March of 1997, I had the privilege to travel to the Brownsville revival that was taking place in Pensacola Florida. For three marvelous days I witness the power of God moving upon thousands of people that were gathered there for that wonderful experience. We attended the Sunday morning service before we left that day and there was a guess speaker teaching that morning. He spoke about four spiritual waves that would hit from four different directions before the Lord returns for us. Can you just picture my jaw dropping as he started his message? He spoke about a revival that was taking place in Toronto, Canada, as the wave from the north, the revival in Pensacola as being the wave from the east, the revivals that were going on in South America, as the wave from the south, and get this, he spoke about a final outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was yet to come from the west. That was over sixteen years ago, and I knew that it was from the Lord, but as you know, we walk by faith and not by sight. The spiritual decline of the last few years, not only in the churches but in the nations as well, makes it hard for me to see how and where from that final revival that I am so certain, even today, that is going to come. But you know how the Lord works, just when we seem to have forgotten something that at one time seemed very important, the Lord is always there to remind us that His timing is not our timing, and that just because it has not happened yet, that it should be no reason for us to not keep looking up in excitement for what He has promised. A couple of days ago I read a prophecy that was given by a 90 year old woman in Norway, back in 1968, to an evangelist named Emanuel Minos when he came to her town to preach. The evangelist wrote down the prophecy as she told it to him, but he thought that it was so extreme that he kept it in a drawer and forgot about it. This is how her prophecy started: I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. Then, she mentioned four waves: This is part of what she saw in the first wave: There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. Remember that she spoke this in 1968 while the cold war was raging, and it raged on until 1989. There have been 24 years of peace between the super powers of the east and west. This is part of what she saw in the second wave: A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity. Here is part of what she saw in the third wave: People will live together like married without being married...TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. This is some of what she saw for the fourth wave: I will not see it, but you will. Then suddenly, Jesus will come and the Third World War breaks out. It will be a short war... All that I have seen of war before is only child’s play compared to this one. I wrote some of what she saw in her vision and some of what I saw in my dreams, to show those of you that might have experienced something like what she or I’ve experienced, that even though our perspectives differ greatly, there is a common thread that unites the flow of the revelations. In her case she saw peace in the first wave, when the first seal was opened after Jesus rose from the dead, the spirit of antichrist was released which is still very much at work today to bring forth a false peace. In my first wave I saw extremely polluted waters/doctrine sneaking behind the church. That explains why in her second wave she saw unparallel lukewarmness and a falling away from true living Christianity, for they are the results of demonic doctrines introduced to the church. But the key point that I want to emphasize is in the fourth wave, for that is when the powers of the heavens are shaken, and the Lord is revealed, and from her perspective she saw the start of World War Three. Now let me show you two different perspectives from Scripture about that same event. Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake (in the earth); and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon (remember our opening text) became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free men, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” From this perspective we see that the land of Israel has been invaded by an army of a confederacy that's lead by Gog, of the land of Magog, from the uttermost north, according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Most of the people that you see running for the bomb shelters in Revelation chapter six are about to be wiped out by the wrath of the Lamb as He returns to show Himself holy before the nations of the world, and to save the people and the nation of Israel from sure destruction. Acts 2:19-21 “I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” From Joel’s perspective, whom Peter quotes in Acts, we see that those who witness the supernatural destruction of this mighty army that has invaded Israel, will realize that the Lamb is real and that His judgments are true, and they will have an opportunity to repent before the great day of His wrath begins. One way to see the fourth wave is as that of the beginning of a war that will end the world as we know it. Another way is to see it as an opportunity for as many people as possible to call upon the name of the Lord and be delivered out of this world before the wrath of God is unleashed upon it, and its destruction made certain. I know that in my dream I did not fear the immensity of the fourth wave, for it brought with it crystal clear living waters for the purification of the soul, and it was made available to all those who were feeble and weak in body. Those who fear and partake of the Word of the Lord now, will not be afraid in the day when His fullness is revealed to them. If only the scoffers would repent before that day catches up to them. Revelation 22:1 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Back to Deliverance Ministry
- THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULLNESS OF THE | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page End Times THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULLNESS OF THE TIMES Ephesians 1:10 “That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” What is the dispensation of the fullness of the times? Through the centuries theologians have discovered that God deals with humanity through differing epochs of time called dispensations. Each dispensation of time differs from another by the rules under which God deals with humanity in each unique dispensation of time. Theologians also figure out that there are seven such dispensations revealed in Scripture, with the last dispensation being the dispensation of rest, also known as the Kingdom Age, when Jesus will rule and reign over the entire world and all of its inhabitants for one thousand years. There were only two people under the jurisdiction of the first dispensation, Adam and Eve, and their time in the Garden is called the dispensation of innocence, and it was the first dispensation, and there was only one rule that applied to them while in Paradise: Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” After Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God’s command not to eat of the fruit that would cause them to become self-aware, they were driven out of the Garden Paradise and into a different place and dispensation. Although we are not told how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before they sinned, we know that the next dispensation that they were put under lasted 1,656 years, and ended with Noah’s flood. This new dispensation was called the dispensation of conscience because Adam and Eve and their descendants became very much aware of their nakedness that they inherited through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Genesis 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Once man became self-aware of his sinful nature and realized the hopelessness of his situation, eventually he gave himself to think of only evil continually, and became in their consciences worthless to God, who then had no choice but to swiftly destroy them. In both judgments, the dispensation of innocence and the dispensation of conscience, the judgment of God was final. What that means is that we can never come to God again in innocence or in conscience, in innocence because all the descendants of Adam and Eve are conceived and born in the consequences of their sin which is death, we are born mortals. And in conscience because our carnal minds are enmity to the Word of God. Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” So that through Adam and Eve we’ve not only inherited corrupt bodies that lost their innocence, but we also inherited a corrupted mind that can never be brought under the jurisdiction of the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 2:16 “...But we have the mind of Christ.” Just in case some of you were wondering about our present estate of mind. Our sinfulness is blotted out by the blood of Jesus and our old mind set is replaced by the mind of Christ which is given to us at the time when we become born again. Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death (because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to the Word of God), but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (because the words of Jesus are Spirit and they are life).” Now our next dispensation was not judged completely when they rebelled against God, for its final day of judgment has been reserved for the day of the dispensation of the fullness of the times, which is where this lesson is headed, but first let me enumerate the rest of the dispensations so that we can put them all into the proper context. Genesis 11:8-9 “So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel (means confusion), because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” After the flood of Noah’s day, all the waters that were in and around the poles of the earth froze immediately, leaving the water levels of the oceans a lot lower than they are today, and causing a land bridge between the continents. It was God’s plan for humans after the flood to migrate to all the continents and fill the earth before the majority of the ice melted, which that happened during the days of Peleg when the land bridges that connected the continents were divided, buy submersion or by the melting away of the ice that connected some of the land masses. But mankind had other plans, they wanted to make a name for themselves, so they congregated together in rebellion against God’s command, and decided to build a tower that reached to the heavens, but God just simply confused their languages so that they could not communicate with one another, and so they scattered through the continents as was God’s original purpose, but God did not fully judge them at that time. Their dispensation was called human government, or what the book of Revelation calls, the kingdoms of this world, and they are very much still around today, for their dispensation has not yet been brought to a close. Today the European Union headquarters is a building that looks like an unfinished tower of Babel, for after all it will be the revived Roman empire whom prophecy foretells will give all its power to the antichrist to face Jesus during the final battle of Armageddon. Since mankind could not save themselves in innocence, or through their own consciences, or even when the power of human government did not bring about obedience to the commandments of God, that was when God decided to introduce His Promise. When the dispensation of promise is completed it will be known as the dispensation of the fullness of the times, for its at that time that God will bring to a close all the yet to be finally judged dispensations. Genesis 12:7 “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” When God entered into a covenant with Abraham it was a two-fold covenant, a covenant that spans two dispensations. For out of that covenant comes the nation of Israel and their deliverer, Moses, through whom the dispensation of law was given. And the promise of salvation for the Gentile nations was given through the dispensation of grace by the Lord Himself in His Gospel. John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:1-2 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you.” So here is a list of the seven dispensations: The dispensation of innocence. The dispensation of conscience. The dispensation of human government. The dispensation of promise. The dispensation of law. The dispensation of grace. That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. And after all the above dispensations are finally completed, then all the believers that come out of every dispensation will be resurrected each in their time and ushered into the final dispensation of God’s rest, to rule and reign with Christ for one thousand years. The seventh is the dispensation of rest, or what will probably be called at that time the Kingdom Age. Now why are all these unfinished dispensations relevant to us today? Scripture teaches us that before God brings something or someone into the judgment, he restores them into the condition that they were in when they first rebelled, so that we know for a fact that the dispensation of the fullness of the times judgment cannot begin until all the yet to be judged dispensations appear together at the same time in history, since we also know that God is going to judge them all in the same period of time. The judgment and restoration of Peter gives us an example of how God will bring about the judgment of the dispensations. Peter got saved after he witnessed the miracle of the catch of fish in his net, which he lowered into the sea at the command Jesus, even after fishing all night and catching nothing. Peter rejected Jesus while hanging around a fire just trying to keep warm the night that Jesus was arreste. He was confronted by a girl who accused him of being one of Jesus’ disciples. John chapter 21 tells us that Jesus appeared to Peter again after he was fishing all night and did not catch anything, Jesus tells him to cast the net on the right side of the boat and a miracle happens again, the net is full of fish. Then when Peter drags the net to shore he finds that Jesus had kindled a fire of coals with fish and bread on it. So that all of the elements are in place to bring Peter back in his soul to the places of where he experienced his salvation and to the place where his rejection took place as well, then Jesus asks Peter a very simple question, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? Peter was not only judged there, but he was restored there as well. We witnessed in the twentieth century something that had never happened before in the history of mankind, the dispensations of human government, law and grace all came together for the first time in the same form in which they were after God had dispersed them. The Jews who were driven from the Holy Land after as a nation they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, were once again restored as a nation back to the land where they were driven from 1,900 years ago, while still rejecting Jesus as their Messiah as a nation, so that the dispensation of law which came through the nation of Israel and it must be judged in the nation of Israel was set in place awaiting their final judgment. The kingdoms of this world who have been scattered since the days when Nimrod was cut to pieces for his rebellion against God over 4,000 year ago, came together once again as one group in the middle of the twentieth century as the United Nations, where all their many languages can be translated instantly and a speaker can be understood by all the different nations no matter what language he speaks. It was also in the middle of the twentieth century that the apostolic revival began to take roots within the church once again. So that the three dispensations whose judgment it is yet to be finalized are presently in their prophetic places, Israel, the church, and the United Nations, all awaiting for the fulfillment of God’s promised conclusion to be meted out to them at their appointed time. Matthew 25:31-34 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” I believe that the last piece that has to fall into place before the final judgment begins is the United States government. Our constitution has been a great hurdle that those who longed for the revived Roman empire and the new world order have not been able to overcome until now. After years of brainwashing the American populace, through all kinds of mediums, into having an open disregard for the constitution and the values that it fosters, this is the closest that they have come to succeeding, for our present day government is in total disregard for constitutional law and it is not being held accountable for it. If America does not recover from this evil that has befallen it, and I do not see any of our leaders calling for a nation wide repentance, then our time here on this earth is pretty much over I believe. Let us continue to pray for His preservation for those of us who believe.
- MATURITY VS. INFANCY | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page The Deliverance Ministry MATURITY VS. INFANCY 1 Corinthians 3:1 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.” The difference between a mature person and a childish person can be ascertained by their ability to engage in substantive communication. Paul made the statement to the Corinthian church that he was unable to communicate with them due to their lack of understanding spiritually mature subjects, he simply said to them, trying to talk with you about spiritual issues is like speaking to little children about things that they are unable to comprehend. In the natural all children grow up, that is, eventually they all mature into an adult understanding of the realities of everyday life. However, not all baby Christians mature into an adult understanding of spiritual life, and that is sad. Imagine living your entire adult life with a child’s mindset. The ministry of deliverance is a great tool that the Lord uses to bring baby or carnal Christians into spiritual maturity, for the word deliverance also means liberation, and a person matures as his/her mind is liberated from childish thinking, or foolish thinking, that unfortunately keep many Christians from ever coming into the maturity of the faith. 1 Corinthians 3:2 “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.” What is it that keeps so many Christians from growing up spiritually? There are several elements to this problem, the first and the most basic one in my opinion, is the tendency of the church to hold on to its converts, instead of seeing them as seed that they are to scatter abroad. If we look at the church from a business model perspective, the first question that we must ask is this: what is the product that the church was created to produce? Matthew 28:19 “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.” The goal of the church is to duplicate itself wherever it goes, that means that those who are converted are to be raised up in the expectation that they themselves will grow up to become servants of the call of Jesus for all to go and to make disciples. In the business model some have to stay in the churches that are planted, to mind the store if you will, but always with the expectation that they might be called to convert others and to make disciples out of them, even outside of the realm of influence of their local church. Like in their work place, or family members that are not part of their local community. The ideal church is one that is raising up mature believers that hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and since the end goal is the same for those who stay as for those who are called to leave, there is no acrimony, for their aim is to go and to make disciples, here or there, or everywhere, it matters not, as long as our goal remains the same; to fulfill the call of Jesus to go and to make disciples of every nation. 1 Corinthians 3:3 “For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” Envy is always the result of selfishness, and it always brings with it strife and division. The devastating result of selfishness within the church is that it changes the goal for which Jesus established the church. 1 Corinthians 3:4 “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal?” Once the goal is changed, the product changes as well. If the farmer decides that he is going to keep and eat most of the corn that he harvested, and greatly reduces the amount of seed that he is suppose to scattered abroad, not only the quality of the product is vastly reduced, but the amount that he produces suffers greatly as well. How does that principle of selfishness applies to the church today? Hebrews 5:13 “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” Imagine going to a church where they do not want you to ever leave. How many sermons on maturing spiritually so that you can go out and make disciples are you going to hear? Not many, I venture to say, for it would contradict their goal of keeping you there. How many sermons on how your spiritual walk is so totally dependant on them and what they offer you will you hear, that you wouldn’t dare think of ever leaving them? You see, if they want to keep you they have to create a need of them in your life. Hebrews 5:12 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” If I can paraphrase You have come to need milk, You are a babe and you are hooked and in need of milk not solid food. Can you see the deviation from the original call? As long as you stay with their milk you will never mature and move on to your higher calling, and that is their aim if they are acting selfishly, for in their mind is the thought of why would we make faithful disciples to go out and plow in somebody else’s field? There is just one field for those of us who believe, the Lord’s field, and it does not matter who on this earth seems to get the credit as long as the great commission is proclaimed to the entire world, as we believers come into the maturity of the faith as one body, under one Lord, Jesus Christ! If I am one of those infants who is hooked to their baby formula, how do I get out of it? Hebrews 6:1-2 “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection (maturity), not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrines of baptism, of laying on hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Everything enumerated in the verses above are doctrinal foundations of Christianity, that is why on verse three he states that: And this we will do if God permits, in other words, that is the message that we are to proclaim to the new converts. But those of you who have already learned the foundational principles need to move on, he said leave that discussion, and move up. If every time you go to church you find that you have to repent all over again every time that you hear a call to repentance, something is wrong, chances are you are hooked to babe’s milk and in need of somebody to lay hands on you and feed you some more formula, or change your spiritual diaper. How do I move up? Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are full of age (mature), that is, those who by reason of use (practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” There is an Old Testament Scripture where God compels those to whom He is speaking to come up higher and to reason together with Him. Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Why don’t we do that right now. Think back to when you were first saved, did God know every sin that you had ever committed and still saved you? He not only knew every sin that we had ever committed and forgave us when we first got saved, but even all those sins that we did not even know we had committed or remembered, He forgave them all as well. As you probably know, God is all knowing; so on that basis let me ask you again, did not God know all your future sins as well and still forgave you when you first got saved? He forgave us of all of our future sins when we first got saved through a mechanism He put in place where we could in the future bring to Him those sins that were yet to be committed by us? 1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” So that as Christians when we sin, we do not lose our salvation, we do not have to get saved all over again, we simply confess and acknowledge our sins before Him and He is faithful and just not only to forgive us of the sins that we have perpetrated since our salvation, but He also cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Knowledge and an understanding of this fact will mature you faster than anything that I know, for knowingly or unknowingly those whose aim is to keep you hooked to their baby bottle will always go after the inconsistencies of the flesh in their sermons, to get you back to the basic principles of salvation all over again, to where you will never leave them even if you knew that the Lord had called you, for you would feel so inadequate in your infant mentality. Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” After the Lord calls us to leave the elementary things behind, things that can be perverted and used by the enemy to stunt our growth, He places the above and very important Scripture to illuminate us into the revelation of the eternity of our salvation that He calls the heavenly gift. Although the above Scripture can be difficult to understand, specially for baby Christians, if you want to grow into maturity you will have to deal with it, that is why the Lord put it there right in the midst of the discussion about immaturity, for it deals with the subject of whether a true believer can loose his/her salvation. Listen carefully, if a born again believer could lose his/her salvation, that is, if it were possible for a true believer if they fall away, then Jesus our Advocate before the Father would be the one that loses the case, and that is contrary to Scripture. John 17:12 “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” One cannot be born again unless he/she is a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and it is during salvation that we first taste of the heavenly gift, it might be milk, but is heavenly milk, the sincere milk of the Word of God, so that we are babes at first, but still babes in Christ the unmovable rock of our salvation. Although we are called to maturity, our salvation does not depend on our maturity for it is a heavenly gift from God. Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” It is fear that keeps many from maturing in the faith, but God’s perfect love casts out all fear. Fear of losing the gift of our salvation has been used against many to keep them bound, and it is still used today to keep many from leaving the herd and fulfilling their call. God did not call us to sit on our blessed assurance, but to become fruitful workers in the kingdom of God, do not let any human control you or your actions, Jesus is the head of the church, and He speaks to us His children daily, all we have to do is to read His Word with a sincere heart and meditate on the truths that the Holy Spirit reveals to us in His Word.
- THE FOUR CRAFTSMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page End Times THE FOUR CRAFTSMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE Zechariah 1:20 “Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.” In the second vision that God revealed to Zechariah we are given a unique insight into the realm of spiritual warfare from an Old Testament perspective. It is my belief that all six of Zechariah’s visions are intricately connected to the prophecy in the book of Revelation about the four horseman of the Apocalypse that God had appointed to be revealed to those of us who are alive during the end of this age. Zechariah 1:8 “I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.” In his first vision Zechariah sees horses of four different colors that the Lord sent to walk to and from throughout the earth. These different color horses are symbolic of the watchers that keep watch over the affairs of men and their relationship with God’s people here on the earth. Isaiah 62:6-7 “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” If we understand the underpinning of Zechariah’s first vision we will be able to make better sense, not only of Zechariah’s second vision as it pertains to spiritual warfare, but about the spiritual warfare that is going on right now, for we are presently living in the days of the unveiling of the four horseman of the book of Revelation. Zechariah 1:11 “So they answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have walked to and from throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.’” The first thing that we need to recognize in order to make sense of the visions is that they revolved around the city of Jerusalem. For seventy years the Lord had removed the Jewish people from the land of Judah and from the city of Jerusalem, to give the land the Sabbath day of rest that they owed the land. When Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he instructed them that when they entered into the land that the Lord was giving them, that they were suppose to give the land a year of rest every seven years. No sowing and no reaping, they had to trust the Lord to provide for them a double harvest during the six years that would last them for the whole seventh year that they were not supposed to be tilling the land. They violated the law of the Sabbath rest for the land, for four hundred and ninety years consecutively, so that they owed the land seventy years of rest: 490 / 7 = 70 years. When the time for God’s judgment fell upon them, God used the nations of the earth to remove them from the land and to keep them out of the land for the seventy years that they owed. Zechariah 1:12 “Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?’” Zechariah, in his first vision is privy to an event that is taking place in the spiritual realm; he sees horses and asked what they mean. After he is told that they are the watchers that watch over the affairs of men, the Angel of the Lord speaks to God in front of Zechariah, reminding God that the seventy years are now over. God answers the Angel of the Lord with good and comforting words in verse thirteen. Then the reason is revealed as to why the Lord had given Zechariah a ringside seat, if you will, to what was going on in the spiritual realm, after he is told that he is to prophesy, within the context of all that he had witnessed, to the Jews that were in exile. Zechariah 1:14-15 “So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal. I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helped—but with evil intent.’” The Lord reveals that He is angry with the nations that He used to remove the Jews from Jerusalem and from the land of Judah, because of their evil intent while He was using them against His own people. As always the Lord’s judgments against the nations of the earth have to do with how they treated or mistreated His own people. Remember what God told Abraham when He entered into a covenant with him? I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. Then Zechariah proceeded to proclaim to the Jews of his day that God was restoring them back into the land from where they had been exiled for seventy years, and that God would again choose Jerusalem as its capitol. Which leads us right into the second vision that deals with how the Lord removes the demonic strongholds that Satan placed over the nation of Israel, when he took advantage of them, while they were in exile for their disobedience to the commandments that God gave them through Moses. Zechariah 1:18 “Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns.” Zechariah’s first vision began at night, which is symbolic of the spiritual darkness that was all around the nation of Israel at that time. In the second vision the Lord is revealing to Zechariah the source of the spiritual darkness that is all around him. Zechariah 1:19 “And I said to the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these?’ So he answered me, ‘These are the horns (powers) that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.’” When God’s hand of blessing is over a people, there is absolutely nothing that the devil can do against them, for our God is Almighty. The enemy knows that, as long as God’s protection is over His people, he is powerless against them, so he is always at work to temp those who belong to God into rebelling against God. Obedience to God always brings enlightenment, and disobedience to God always brings darkness. Zechariah 1:2-3 “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to Me,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts.” The Lord was very angry with the fathers because of their disobedience to the commandment of God in regards to their obligation to give the land a year of rest every seventh year. Now that their debt is paid in full, for they have been out of the land for seventy years, they can be restored back to their land if they return to the Lord first, and acknowledge that without God in their midst they are in darkness. Zechariah 1:20-21 “Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, ‘What are these coming to do?’ So he said, ‘These are the (four) horns (powers) that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.’” In warfare whoever controls the high ground has the advantage over their adversary; because of their disobedience to the Word of God Israel was put at a disadvantage where they could not lift up their heads and have a clear picture of their spiritual condition. Now that they are returning to God, the Lord sends them four craftsmen or carpenters to dismantle the demonic infrastructure that prevents them from regaining the upper hand, the lifting up of their heads. Notice the language that the angel uses that describes how these demonic hordes will be terrified by these four craftsmen before they are cast out. What are these four craftsmen symbolic of? 2 Corinthians 12:12 “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” The four craftsmen are symbolic of the apostolic anointing! The apostolic anointing is the force that God brings about to dismantle the four horns or powers that keep God’s children in darkness. What are the four horns symbolic of? Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (which is light, and those who practice those things are still in darkness).” The four horns are symbolic of the works of the flesh! PERVERSION: Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness and Lewdness. DIVISION: Hatred, Contentions, Envy and Jealousies. FALSE RELIGION: Idolatry, Sorcery, Dissensions and Heresies. MALFUNCTION: Outbursts of Wrath, Murder, Drunkenness and Revelries. At the center ofcourse is Selfish Ambition the soul motivator before we became born-again. For more information on the above read my book, The Liberation of the Human Soul , chapter titled; Understanding the Demonic infrastructure within the Soul, in the books section of houseoffaithministries.org There are seventeen works of the flesh listed by Paul to the Galatians. I took the liberty of dividing them into four categories that revolve around the self motivated soul. The number seventeen is the seventh prime number. Zechariah’s first vision is recorded in chapter one, beginning in verse seven to verse seventeen. A clear double emphasis that the Holy Spirit reveals to us to show us how important to our present day Zechariah’s visions are. Also, all of us have sixteen great-great-grandparents in our family tree, and if you form a pyramid with self sitting on top of it, with two parents directly below, four grandparents below them, eight great-grandparents below them and sixteen great-great-grandparents as the foundation of the pyramid, it shows how our soul is affected by the iniquity of the fathers which is with whom the Lord was angry in Zechariah 1:2. 0 = 1 Self 0-0 = 2 Parents 0-0-0-0 = 4 Grandparents 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 = 8 Great-grandparents 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 = 16 Great-great-grandparents. Exodus 20:5-6 “You shall not bow down to them nor serve (worship) them (idols). For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me (idolatry is seen by God as hatred towards Him), but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” We are living in the age of grace, and the church has been established on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with our Lord Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. The time for our redemption is now, for our sin debt that we owed God has been fully paid for by our Savior on the cross. As the Lord spoke during Zechariah’s day, that if we return to Him He will return to us. We are living in the days right now when those that call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But remember also that with our salvation comes deliverance from the forces of darkness that kept us bound. It is the apostolic anointing that terrifies the devil, for through its revelation we become empowered. Remember the words of Jesus, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free! Yes, we are living in the days of the white horse, the antichrist, for there are many out there striving to deceive those of us who are the children of light. Yes, we are living in the days of the red horse, the days of war and terror as our Lord predicted. Yes there is a global economy being forged right now that is paving the way for a one world government, the black horse that will control all commerce and all of its financial transactions. The pale horse whose rider is death, followed closely by Hades, soon will be given power to bring war over one fourth of the earth. This is the conflict that will usher in the rapture of the church; let’s be ready for it. Zechariah 2:10/13 “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst...Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!” Back to End Times Teachings
- MAN'S FINAL DESTINY | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page End Times Personal Introduction MAN’S FINAL DESTINY The Revelation Unveiled By Pastor Marcos Marrero It was early morning Sunday, February 12, 1989 in the Southern California city of Garden Grove, somewhere about 4:30 AM that I was dreaming about my little hometown of La Isabela where I was born and grew up, in the northern coast of central Cuba. It was one of those dreams that just seemed to keep on going all night long. It was a very dark night in the dream and my wife was walking with me, I was trying to get to “my father’s house,” that’s how I was referring to it in the dream even though in reality I always called that house “my home.” Since I was born in that house in 1947 and it was from the front porch of that same house that was built on stilts over the water, that I got in a small boat eighteen years later and came over to America where I was granted political asylum in 1965. In the dream there was a great deal of gunfire that had erupted throughout the entire small town, which made it very difficult to navigate the narrow streets to “my father’s house” where we would be safe. In the dream I was feeling so guilty that I had gotten my wife in such a mess, since in real life she refuses to travel to Cuba where she feels that it is not safe to go. Continuing with the dream, I knocked on the door of a house less than a block from where I was trying to go, and we were given shelter within that house. However, I was so restless that I kept pacing back and forth and could not find rest, trying to figure out how I was going to get us to “my father’s house.” Finally I got so exhausted that I found a chair in the kitchen where my wife had been sitting around a table and gratefully enjoying the company of our gracious hosts. As I sat down, my mind was still racing; I refused to engage in trivial conversation, keeping my focus on the dangers that surrounded us and on the goal of getting safely to my appointed destination. Realizing this, those who sat around the table asked me to teach them about all that was taking place and what it meant. Breathing a sight of release I said to myself: “Finally someone is taking seriously all these events that encompass us and are now desirous to know what they mean.” In the dream I immediately began to tell them that these were the signs of the end times; I had barely spoken these words when all of the sudden the walls around me disappeared, the darkened skies rolled away in an instant and I was not dreaming anymore! It is so hard to accurately describe what takes place during a spiritual vision because what one experiences is usually lost in the narrative, since the feelings cannot be adequately explained. In an instant I found myself in a realm more real than anything I’ve ever encountered in my life. How could I explain the shock I experienced when faced with the empirical evidence of the existence of another dimension? I was in it! There is no human way to describe how the spiritual mind is able to process so much more information when heighten into the euphoric state of the dimension of the heavenly lights. Instantaneously I was able to think, reason, question, test, and apply myself to understand what was happening within me in many different levels simultaneously, while at the same time observing and participating in the external events that were unfolding around me. John 21:25 “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” This Scripture is not an exaggeration! The events that take place in one second of time in the spiritual realm in which Jesus operates, would take millions and millions of words to properly detail, catalogue and explain. Within seconds my eyes saw Him! As the skies receded and I was looking up into the bright white sky, Jesus came out into full view out of the east. He was walking in the air towards me at a very rapid pace but yet at the same time, it was like if He was moving at the speed of light. I know that what I am saying does not make sense, but like I said; extra dimensional experiences elude natural explanation. It was like if someone was rapidly walking on top of a flat train cart going forward while the train is moving at an incredible rate of speed. I was able to perceive both movements at the same time that they were occurring even though He was headed towards me on nothing but bright sky. I feel so inadequate trying to explain the multitudes of feelings that I experienced the very instant that I first saw Him. Next month it will be nineteen years since I had the vision and this is the very first time that I am truly making an effort to write about it in detail. And the only reason that I am doing it, is to try and put into context the why I am writing this expository work on the book of Revelation. My desire is to prepare you for what I believe to be the time for the soon coming of our King and Savior, even our Lord Jesus Christ! A variety of things happened within me when I first saw Him; there was no order as to how they happened, I was able to experience them simultaneously. I remembered seeing His eyes intensely focused on me, the expression on His face was: I AM coming to get you! I was trembling to my very core, there is a Scripture in Isaiah 6:5 that really nails this experience: “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!’” I swear I could feel every cell in my body trembling so hard that they became unglued from one another, while at the same time marveling at the fact that I, for the first time in my life was fully aware of how many of them it took to form my physical body. While I was experiencing both, the joy and the fear of His glorious countenance from a still great distance away with a kind of natural telescopic vision, a very intellectual discussion was taking place in my mind as to whether I should try to remember what Jesus looked like and be tempted to make an mental image of Him when I came back, or erase His likeness from my cognitive mind so that I would not have to deal with that aspect of the vision when I came back. So here I was fully aware that what I was experiencing was not the actual rapture but a rehearsal of it, with the ability to retain or release certain parts of the experience. From the time that I first saw Him and had the manifold experiences of which I just shared a couple with you, to the time that He reached the place where I was standing there could not have been more than a couple of seconds. It happened so fast that even though my mind was processing information at a great rate of speed, He was much faster than even my ability to turbo-think. It was like a violent collision, He came from a great distance away with great velocity; without slowing down He crashed into my chest. That was how it felt at first, but then I realized that it was His right hand that had reached and grabbed my chest as He flew by. The closer that He got to me the more that I trembled, that’s when I realized that His holiness was too glorious for my carnality and the cells that form my body were rapidly dying their own individual deaths. I found myself going from zero to the speed of light in less than a microsecond. The speed into which I was suddenly thrust into caused my tongue to flatten like a pancake within my mouth, causing me to feel the empty cavities of missing teeth feeling up. In an instant everything that died became alive, I could feel new teeth growing inside of my mouth, and every cell in my body became reanimated into a perfect man. His touch together with His glorious light brought forth an indescribable new life. While I have been describing the physical aspect of my experience in the catching away, there were other things taking place as well in my spiritual side. The closer that Jesus came to me, the more aware that I became of my spirit man within me. I was able to experience the “real me” for the first time in his full entity. The more of the physical “me” that died, the stronger the spiritual “I” was able to emerge, such dichotomy cannot be properly explained, it has to be experienced. But this one thing I know for certain, in the midst of the torrential flood of emotions that I was experiencing, a vigorous new man rose up from within me, and with a strong masculine voice and with uninhibited zeal, he cried out incessantly with strong conviction: “HALLELUJAH! HE KEPT HIS PROMISE!” Over and over again he repeated this shout with greater exuberance each time he shouted it. The duration of the entire vision, not counting the dreaming part, could not have lasted over a minutes’ time. But in those precious few seconds I experienced more love and more fear, more death and more life, than I could ever experience if I could live hundreds and hundreds of years. I now have a totally different concept of reality, and an ability to understand visions from a very different perspective as you will see as your read my rendering of the visions detailed for us in the book of Revelation by the apostle John. My wife was abruptly awakened when she felt my body shaking uncontrollably as I was lying on the bed. She reached over and grabbed me on the chest to wake me up; my chest and belly areas were so sensitive from experiencing Jesus’ touch, that when she grabbed me I screamed so loud that it brought me out of the vision. After experiencing that other dimension, coming back to this one was so disappointing, but my experience was so vivid that I could not stop talking about it to my sleepy wife at 4:45 in the morning. I got up and went into my living room to pray, but I could not stand still not even for a second. I phoned my mom and woke her up crying that Jesus was coming soon and that she needed to get ready, it was before five am. I was so charged from the experience that I repented before God of all the people that I had neglected to witness to. I swore that I would tell everyone I knew about Jesus plus everybody else; I was so on fire with the zeal of God that the only thing that mattered to me at the time was winning souls for Jesus Christ. Whether good or bad that euphoria waned as the day passed. If I didn’t come down I know they would have locked me up. As I taught adult Sunday school that morning, people were staring at me in a weird sort of way, no doubt wondering what kind of happy influence I was under. By the time evening came I got in bed early so that I could feel closer to the experience, as I lay there, my belly and chest areas got so sensitive again that I could not bring myself to close my eyes, fearful that he would touch me again, and just as fearful that He would not. A few months later, having given myself enough time to digest the experience and with the knowledge that I could now make a rational decision as to the purpose for which God revealed the vision to me, I came to the conclusion that Jesus wanted me to learn about end time prophecy and about the sign of His soon coming. My wife and I entered into a new covenant with the Lord that year; we gave to Him our future, our business, our home, as well as all our personal desires. Needless to say our emphasis changed from normal church attendance and our normal church involvement which we were part of since we got saved in 1976, to a radical pursuit of preparation, training and the all needed times of deliverance that we had to go through, in order to fully let go of those things that hinder the flow of revelation from the Holy Spirit. Eight very difficult years went by; I learned that when God reveals radical things, the enemy steps up with equally radical tricks and attacks. But I also learned that those are the things that God allows in order to refine us and to bring us to total trust in Him and Him alone. During those eight years we had months and months out of every year with no work and no income, every morning I got up I had a choice to make, I could worry about our desperate situation or see it as one more day of home bible schooling, I stayed true to the revelation and chose to study the bible and the signs of His soon coming. After many long hours, months and years of studying and seeking the revelation that only the Lord is able to bring, the framework that would allow me to understand the book of Revelation became clear. Everything made perfect sense all of the sudden, all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. I remember thanking Jesus for His great patience, and I wondered inwardly as to how many times Jesus though how hardheaded I was. I had piles and piles of notes, charts and genealogies all over the pool table that had become my working station, as I wrote the date in a notebook where I made entries of important discoveries, I realized that the day when I finally received the understanding of the framework of the book of Revelation, was much to my surprise February 12, 1997, exactly eight years from the time I had experienced the rapture of the church of Jesus Christ in a vision.
- THE DUALITY OF LIFE | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page End Times THE DUALITY OF LIFE Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” The one thing about life is that your are either in or you are out. When the final judgment day comes it will be the same, you are either in or you are out. What decides as to whether one makes it in or out depends on what we believe. Those who believe the Word of God and try to live by its precepts will have the right to enter into the celestial city, however those who choose not to believe what the Word of God says will be left out. Faith is what casts the final vote, for even atheists believe, for they have faith in their belief that there is no God. Everyone that chooses not to believe in the Word of God practices a lie, and by their own actions they keep themselves out of the celestial city. After all I bet that you never heard of a person that wants to travel to a city that they do not believe it really exists. Revelation 22:6 “Then he said to me, ‘These words (and the fulfillment of these prophetic words) are faithful and true.’ And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.” So that it is the words that are written in the Bible and their prophetic fulfillment that we are required to believe in if we want to enter into His eternal abode; for failure to do so will keep us out forever. Revelation 22:7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” A person that is allowed to enter through the pearly gates into the celestial city is in deed truly blessed! What is it that draws people to believe what the Bible teaches? Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” Three things are listed that progressively will lead a person to take the water of life freely, which is to have faith in the Word of God. You have to have ears to hear the invitation of the Spirit and the bride. A person who is not thirsty does not look for a drink, for there is no desire, no thirst within him. Such a person does not hear the call until there is a need. Jesus told us that in this world we would have tribulations. For as it turns out, it is mostly when we are having problems or are in a desperate need that we try to reach out and hear from God; and that is God’s desire for us, that we turn to Him even if it is only when we are in need. However, once we hear Him, His desire is that we progress into thirsting for eternal things rather than the temporal things that we usually crave. As we begin to read and study the Word of God, the emphasis for our life will begin to change from that of temporal things to eternal things. Once our desires are changed, the things that we thirst for will also change, but none of that can happen until we hear from the Word of God. Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” This is why we preach and teach the Word of God, so that when there is a need in your life that the world cannot cure, and remember that the world’s cure is always worse than the disease itself. You would turn to Him who is able to satisfy you with His living waters, that once you partake of, you will never thirst again for they are eternal. In the list of those who are kept out we see a progression as well: Revelation 22:15 “But outside are dogs (unbelievers) and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” It all begins, or should I say begin and end, with a lie, which is the absence of the truth, for those who refuse to hear the Word of God. God is truth. His Word is truth. A man’s refusal to believe in the truth makes that man a liar, and a person that is a liar is an idolater. For that person refuses to believe in the truth, or in what is real, and the purpose of believing that which is not truth or real is a delusion. Zechariah 10:2 “For the idols speak delusion; the diviners envision lies and tell false dreams…” Idolaters are void of the truth of God’s love and the opposite of love is hate; hate that leads to the murdering of those who believe in the truth. John 8:43-44 “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Sexual immorality is the physical representation of idolatry, which is the lusting after the things that are not really real. Things that do not offer real satisfaction, for the lusting after them is based on diluted reasoning. 1 Corinthians 10:8 “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.” Sorcerers traffic in the trade of illusions that are manufactured through the manipulation of the human senses by external as well as internal means, as in drug abuse. Sensuality goes hand in hand with sexual immorality or in other words, the allure that they both offer is an illusion that will never truly satisfy the thirsty soul. So that none of those lying crafts or those who continue to practice them will make it into the heavenly New Jerusalem, for God will judge them. Jesus told us that it all began with them not being able to hear, for had they been able to listen to His Word, their desires would have been transformed into godly desires as the Word of God judged them internally by exposing the desires of their hearts that were based on a lie, and they would have thirsted for that which is real and satisfying instead, which is the truth of God’s Word. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 “For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person.” Those who can clearly hear the Word of God will develop a thirst for it, and those who thirst after the Word of God will have all their desires totally satisfied, as it is written: Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely! So which side of life do you want to be on? Do you want to be in the inside of life, or on the outside of life? How you regard the Holy Scriptures will determine which side of life you end up with! The devil, the world, the secular media, secular humanists, godless politicians, godless professors, the supreme court, and everybody else that they can get to ride their omnibus, will try to persuade you not to listen or prohibit you from listening and adhering to the Word of God and to its life giving principles. The irony is that you truly have a choice, choose life!
- THEY SEEK THE DEAD THAT WILL NOT RISE | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page End Times THEY SEEK THE DEAD THAT WILL NOT RISE Isaiah 8:19 “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?” I believe that the main reason why God is going to bring total and complete destruction upon the earth and all its inhabitants during His Day of Wrath, is to rid it and its human population from the demonic infestation that in now present, both on the earth and on humanity itself, because humanity has opened so many doors to the underworld that there is no other way to cleanse the earth or its people. Isaiah 24:5-6 “The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate (held guilty). Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned (with the fire of purification), and few men are left.” During the days before the flood of Noah there was an opened door that allowed easy access between the humans that dwelled on the earth at that time, and the creatures that inhabit the demonic realm, the underworld, or the place of the dead, for the creatures that inhabit that realm are and will forever be separated from God, which is what real death is. Due to the fact that the humans of those days lived life spans of nine hundred years or more, it was easy for these demonic entities who are eternal, to manipulate the human genome for the purpose of creating hybrids through whom they could rule the world, since the physiology of these demons is not suited for them to operate here on the earth. So that they created for themselves a physical hybrid of human bodies that they entered into and indwelled for the purpose of ruling over the humans to whom it was originally given the dominium over the earth. Jude 6 “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” Genesis 6:4-5 “There were giants (nephillim, fallen or mighty ones) on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (like superheroes who possess supernatural powers). Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Since demons, or fallen angels, do not have physical bodies with which they could impregnate a woman, the only way that they could have women bare them children would be through artificial insemination, demonic dna mixed with human dna to bring about a physical body that was suited for its demonic host. Daniel 2:43 “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Daniel is prophesying about the end of time, our present day, where genetic engineering is a reality, and in Genesis we are told that not only before the flood this was taking place but also afterward, that is why human longevity was so drastically reduced after the flood. Imagine a time when women lived over nine hundred years, and were fertile for most of their adult life, conceivably they could produce children that are hundreds of years apart, a geneticist dream that would become a nightmare in a society hell bent in creating a race of monsters that are clad with superpowers that allows them to do whatever they wanted to, to a race of regular humans that would be at their mercy. That is why the world of old was destroyed, it was contaminated with a demonic infestation that caused the human race to, in the intents of their hearts, dwell on evil continuously, however it is said that Noah was found righteous in his generation. Genesis 6:9/11 “This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect (blameless, without flaw) in his generations. Noah walked with God...The earth was also corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” So that in the destruction of the flood, God removed the breath of life from every physical human body, hybrid or otherwise, and from every physical creature that had the breath of life in it, for the purpose of ridding the earth of the demonic infestation that was transmitted through the violent and corrupted air that they were breathing, and the violence that was enforced upon the humans by these fallen mighty angels. Only Noah and his seed, and the animals that God selected for the repopulation of the earth, were spared from the global cataclysmic destruction that rid the earth of the demonic infestation of that day. The length of human life was shorten drastically for the purpose of keeping the human generations that would follow, from being so drastically manipulated by future demonic infestations that would surely come as the result of man’s disobedience to the laws of God. Isaiah 26:13-14 “O Lord our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name. They (the old masters) are dead (in everlasting chains under darkness), they will not live; they are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.” These are the dead that our opening text is warning us not to seek when it says: Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? These hybrids will not rise from the dead on resurrection day, even though they had quasi human bodies, all those humans who died during the flood will rise from the dead on resurrection day, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2 , but not them. Real humans have a soul, and all real humans will have to answer to God for the lives that they lived while on this earth, so that all humans that died will be resurrected and answer for their deeds while here on earth; as it is written: It is appointed unto men to die once, then comes the judgment. But these hybrids did not have a soul, for that was part of what was genetically removed from them, so that they could inflict massive pain and mayhem upon humanity at will, yet without a thought of conscience to bother them. Remember that it was said of that generation that their thoughts were evil continuously, that is how callous their hearts became under the demonic influence of those fallen angels. Today these demonic influences are alive and well here on the earth, courtesy of the mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter the old demonic doctrines through our present culture. The evidence points to an increase of cold blooded murders that continue to take place, extremely violent events seemly for no rhyme or reason. In many instances the perpetrators do not seem to have any sense of remorse whatsoever, and in many cases they have a blank stare that makes you wonder how deep have their souls plunged. Isaiah 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” If we go back in time to when the courts decided to remove prayer out of our schools, and ask the question of what was it that our children were praying for back then in their classrooms? I heard that their prayers were for the well being of their parents, their teachers, and the leaders of our nation, that simple. It was not long after that simple petition was removed from our schools that we saw a steep decline in the well being of the family unit, so that today, even the institution of marriage is under assault. The teachers and the quality of their teaching degraded so much that the decade of the sixties produced a generation of illiterate students that received in many instances a high school diploma that they could not even read. And what shall we say about the government and our elected officials? Not only did we lose a president, JFK, to violence in the sixties, but we also lost a war with thousands dead and hundreds of thousands of Americans injured, both physically and mentally. And can anybody honestly say that it has gotten better today? Right now our government is partially closed, there is a debt crises looming that if it is not resolved our nation will default on its debt obligation for the first time in its history. But the worst thing that we are having to deal with is the hatred that its so rampant between Americans today; is it any wonder that the ones that are hated the most in our nation right now are those of us who believe in the Bible? For they do not want to hear what our last verse of Scripture told us, To the law and to the testimony! And that is because our nation is under the demonic influence of the same dead and imprisoned demons of long ago, whose doctrines of death have been brought to life because we as a nation have turned our backs on the sound doctrines of our Judeo Christian values upon which our nation as well as most of the western nations were founded. Isaiah 8:21-22 “They will pass through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry (for things to go right) that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom and anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.” It is inevitable that our Lord has to come one more time to rid us and the earth of all these demonic influences that are destroying the very fabric of our society today, hopefully our waiting will not be long. Malachi 3:1-2 “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way for Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like a launderers soap.”
- THE EFFECTIVE WORKING WORD | HoFM House of Faith Ministries
Top of Page The Deliverance Ministry THE EFFECTIVE WORKING WORD 1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” The Word of God has many functions, it created everything, sustains everything. But in a more personal level, the Word of God effectively works deliverance in those who believe in it. What is deliverance? Deliverance has to do with freedom. Since sin enslaves men, deliverance from sin is the act of being made free. John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free .” Since the Word of God is the embodiment of all Truth, those who believe in the truth of the Word of God are delivered from all their sins. Deliverance from sin follows three stages; we are immediately delivered, we are continuously being delivered, and we will be delivered. The reason the work of deliverance follows three stages is because we are being delivered completely, spirit, soul, and body. Let’s take a look at the spiritual aspect first. Our spirit can never die, for the spirit that gives us life originated from God, and like God it is eternal. In our mortal human nature we are considered dead in trespasses and sin, but death when referring to the spirit speaks of separation from God. When a person dies in their sins their spirit becomes separated from God for ever, that is what is called eternal damnation. When a person becomes born again, or born of the Spirit, their spirit is immediately regenerated and will never again be separated from God. Our spirit is delivered instantly the minute that we accept the Word of Truth. If we were to die a second after salvation our spirit would rise up to God in an instant. 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” The only thing that our spirits need after we become born again is to feed in the truth of the Word of God. For a weak spirit, one who is not being nourished by the Word of God, is not strong enough to influence our souls to turn its back on its sinful ways. We need to realize that our spirits are either dead, that is separated from God, or alive in Christ through the born again experience, there is no in between for the spirit man within each person. Not so for our souls, for they are always going back and forth depending on which spirit is driving them. When our spirit is inspired by the Word of God it motivates us to do good works. When we neglect spiritual nourishment our soul is moved by the sensuality of this world, through the spirits of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, to do sinful things. That is why Paul is commending the Thessalonians for receiving the Word of God and is telling them this: Which also effectively works in you who believe. By using the word effectively works in you, Paul indicates that the deliverance of our souls is always a work in progress. Galatians 5:24-25 “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” If we are born again, we live in the Spirit of God who made our spirit alive in Christ, so why not also walk after the Spirit of Truth that can also deliver our souls from the deadness of this world system? Our physical bodies will not be delivered until the day when the resurrection of the dead takes place. Even if we are born again, our bodies will continue to decline and decay with the passing of time, for the Word of God declares that: Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” So that in our everyday lives, the ministry of deliverance is the process of working out of our souls its dependency to the desires of the flesh, that is why the crucifixion metaphor is used, those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since crucifixion implies a slow painful death, that is what the separation from the desires of this world entails, a slow painful death. Matthew 26:38 “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’” The hardest thing for us humans to accomplish is the death of self. Our self life is who we are and how we see ourselves. But when how we see ourselves and who we are does not align with the Word of God, there is no other choice, our soul has to die to self or lose its reward. The effective working Word of God is the only power that can bring about such transformation in us. This is what Paul told the Thessalonians, When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. We cannot die to our self life until we realize that our lives are not our own, for they belong to God. Reason dictates that if we belong to God, our lives should be modeled after the Word of God. As we welcome the dictates of the Word of God for what our lives should be, that is we receive them as if directly from the mouth of God, that’s when the effectively works part sets everything in motion within us. 1 Thessalonians 2:14 “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans.” Immediately the world around them began to persecute them, just as the churches that they had modeled themselves after were persecuted. The world will always persecute those who desire to fulfill the Word of God in their lives. Now why is that? Very simple, those whose desire is for the Word of God, which is Truth, cannot be lead stray by the deception of this world system. If you don’t move with the flow of the world you become an impediment to the flow of the world. John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Hatred from the world means that the Word of God is effectively working in us the transformation that God wants to accomplish in us who believe. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation (deliverance) through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Notice how the process begins with salvation, then sanctification by the Spirit, and all comes together by belief in the truth. Would you agree that the world is waging war against the Word of God? Here in the United States if a student takes his Bible into a public school building it would cause so much trauma to the local ACLU chapter that you would think that the end of the world had arrived. Just a lonely cross standing on a far away hill causes enough distress to those who are under the influence of this world system, that they will not rest until they find a way to remove it. You cannot have such a disproportionate reaction to small things like those, unless it is because it offends the spirits of intolerance that are behind those who feel threaten by the presence of something that they know can delivered them from the power of those demonic influences. Think of it, that was us before we got saved, being moved by the desires of our flesh to lust after the things of this world, and to hate those who take a stand for the principles of life that are taught in the Word of God. And now as believers, are we going to tolerate these same demonic entities just so that we can be part of this world system? Of course not! But remember that deliverance from them requires us to fully commit our lives to the true teachings of the Word of God. Following with this threefold principle of salvation, sanctification and belief in the truth, we can take a threefold approach as well in our stance against these demonic entities. I call it repentance, renouncement and restoration. We repent before God for all of our sins, He forgives us and cleanses us from all of our sins. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We renounce the world and the things which are in the world. 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Remember, we know that His Word is effectively working in us when the world hates us. And as we truly repent of our sins and renounce this world system, then the Lord takes it upon Himself to restore our souls to the divine setting that He originally created us to fulfill. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 “So that He may establish your hearts (souls– self life) blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”