Mailing #75 War In The Church Chapter 2 Part 12 (Word to the Church)
I am, again, constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to present practical facts of “seeking” and finding.
From the beginning, none of us knew how to “seek” the Kingdom, seek the narrow way, seek the Lord. Yet, these are God’s commandments for us. God had not given them to us just to read, but to DO them as well. (Jam. 1:22) Hence, the Spirit is ever ready to teach us and guide us into doing these vitally important steps in our spiritual and physical life. I believe that a few basic pointers should be sufficient to show the reality of seeking in our own practical life.
You will agree that “walking by faith” is an absolutely “crazy thing” for our natural man. So is seeking something that you cannot see or even imagine. True? So how do I know that I am “finding the narrow way”? From my beginnings, I have no way of knowing it since I cannot detect it with any of my senses. I must either trust those who are walking on it and have sufficient experience to advise me about it, or else I must start questioning the Lord Himself and discern my own walk. The truth is that…
I START WALKING ON MY NARROW WAY WHEN I START DOING THINGS FOR THE LORD WHICH I NEVER WANTED, PLANNED OR DESIRED TO DO IN ANY WAY, OR THAT I MIGHT HAVE OUTRIGHT FEARED OR HATED TO DO BEFORE! THIS INDICATES THAT I HAVE STARTED TO “DENY MYSELF”… AND THUS HAVE “TAKEN UP MY CROSS”.
This is an important pointer and it will continue to be your sign as you keep doing such things or will be brought into doing them by others who are used by God.
One typical example that I will never forget happened to me when I was a very young believer sitting in the very last pew of our auditorium behind a tall man. When we stood up at the beginning of our service, the pastor usually called on someone to “lead us all to the Throne of God”. So I was hiding behind the tall man and the pastor could not possibly see me. Yet, he clearly called my name and I was stunned and fear gripped my heart. This was the first time I was called to pray publicly and “lead the congregation of about 600 people to the Throne of God”! I had no choice though the exit door was five feet from me and opened. But I remained brave and stammered out something that resembled a prayer. Where I was leading the congregation, I had no clue, but we never found the Throne that day.
That experience was for me a “spiritual milestone”. Later on as I meditated on it, it became clear to me that it was not just the pastor’s idea, but that he must have been guided by the Spirit. The Lord saw me even behind that tall man, of course. Such examples are clear signs that the Spirit is guiding you to a narrow way, which you never sought, never walked before and had no intention to start walking on it by your own desire. That is precisely why it is called the “way of overcoming” yourself.
I had many more such experiences both inside of our church and outside. Finally, in May 1974, I started to teach our home Bible class, which was the beginning of our Body of Christ in Montreal and of our current ministry. I was teaching from the book “The Spiritual Man” by Watchman Nee. Had somebody told me in 1970 that in four years I would teach a Bible class in my house, I would have laughed in his face. Do you see something?
I could see the start of my “narrow way” very clearly and then I could also see how I continued to “walk on it” by doing things I was not prepared to do in my nature. In fact, it is not much different even today. Had somebody told me four years ago that I will write a book like this, that is, “Word to the Church of Jesus Christ”, I would have laughed at him maybe even more. Only the Lord knows what I will be doing four years from now… and I may not be ready for it, either.
The same applies to “seeking the Kingdom”. (Mt. 6:33) Whenever you see, hear or witness certain things, people or their actions, you automatically judge those things, people or their actions. We all continually judge everything we see, hear or witness whether we are aware of it or not, whether we like it or not. But the Spirit never guides you to judge unrighteously, to judge-condemn (Rom. chpt. 14), rather to judge-assess everything in everyone in the Light of the Word of God. (1Cor. 2:15)
IF YOU SEEK SUCH RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS, YOU SEEK THE KINGDOM because the Kingdom will be the place of righteousness and righteous judgments. If you shun such judgments or dismiss those judgments made by other servants of God, you are not seeking the Kingdom.
IF YOU SEEK TRUTH, HOW THE WORD OF GOD APPLIES TO VARIOUS SITUATIONS OR PEOPLE, YOU ARE SEEKING THE LORD because He is the Truth and the Word. To know how the Word applies to anything or anyone in this world means to know and understand how the Lord views, thinks, understands and judges anything or anyone.
The above examples should be sufficiently practical to shed light on some mysteries of the Word of God so that they would cease to be mysteries and we might start to live them in our everyday life.
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Satan will never lead you to read, preach or consider in any way any Word of the Lord that is outright dangerous to him, to his kingdom and to his rule over you (ex. Mk. 9:43-49). Have you ever heard preachers explaining the above quoted Word of God during your Christian lifetime? Has anybody encouraged you to become “violent” toward your true enemies that stand in the way of your personal Salvation? We will say more on this topic later on.
C. WAR IN THE CHURCH
Since Adam’s fall in the Garden, we are all in a war whether we like it or not, whether we are aware of it or not. All believers who were never aware of this fact are already deceived. So was I! The Lord Himself declared this war right at the beginning of mankind and before He commanded Adam and Eve to be thrown out of the Garden. The Lord clearly declared to Satan the following:
“And I will put ENMITY (WAR) between thee (serpent-Satan) and the woman (future Israel and Church), and between thy seed (children and servants of Satan) and her seed (Jesus Christ and His children and servants); it shall bruise thy head (shall destroy you) and thou shalt bruise his heel (shall wound Jesus and His children).” (Gen. 3:15)
Was not “the heel” of Our Lord bruised on the Cross? Are we not bruised, wounded and in pain and suffering ourselves on our crosses? If this is true, then it is also true that Satan is destroyed, defeated, rendered powerless by the Cross of Our Lord because his head is bruised! For Our Lord the war is over, but for us it is not. He had overcome, but we have not yet. We may feel we are doing pretty well in this world, prospering and acting victoriously. But this may not be a spiritual victory at all. Listen…
GOD IN HEAVEN BRUISED THE HEAD OF SATAN UNDER THE FEET OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WHEN HE – BEING OBEDIENT TO HIM – WENT ON HIS CROSS! EQUALLY…
OUR GOD WILL BRUISE SATAN (SHORTLY) UNDER OUR FEET AS WE – ALSO BEING OBEDIENT TO HIM – GO ON OUR CROSSES! (Rom. 16:17-20)
NO BELIEVER IS DISCHARGED OR EXCUSED FROM THIS WAR DECLARED BY THE LORD. NO BELIEVER IS EXCUSED FROM HIS OWN CROSS, FROM HIS OWN OVERCOMING.
If any believer tries to avoid this war and keep his flesh during his earthly life, he will have to fight this war under much worse conditions after his death! Since he refused to fight the war and crucify his flesh under the Grace and Power of the Lord now (Gal. 5:24), he will have to do it under the power and hatred of Satan (1Cor. 5:5) in darkness and weeping and gnashing his teeth (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30// Lk. 13:24-28, see more later). I have never heard this fact being preached either, and if some preachers preach it, I bless them in the NAME of the LORD and kiss their cheek.
If we should only consider our physical body, the same war for survival is also going on there. There are billions of bacteria, viruses and toxins incessantly attacking the living cells and tissues of our bodies day and night. DEATH WARS AGAINST LIFE, and we feel it. And the defensive war in our bodies never stops! We may not be aware of this war until we fall sick or end up in a hospital. True? Can we neglect this war in our bodies and go about our life as if it did not exist? Wouldn’t we shorten our earthly life even considerably if we would neglect this war or be totally ignorant of it? Our spiritual war is no different and no less important. Why do we then neglect it or prefer to be ignorant of it?
Another spiritual fact, which is “hidden” and rendered by Satan as unimportant about this war is when Apostle Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. He counselled him to be a “…good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Tim. 2:3,4,7) and he committed unto him this charge that he “might war a good warfare” (1Tim. 1:18). Paul did not just write to some young Greek somewhere, and it is not just an interesting verse in the Scripture. When the Holy Spirit talks to Timothy, He also talks to all the former Greeks = Gentiles whom he, Timothy, represents! And the Lord speaks to them through a converted Jew who before was a blasphemer, persecutor, injurious and a chief sinner. (1Tim. 1:12-15) But now he was entrusted with this “ministry of warfare” to the Gentiles. (Acts 26:15-18) It is a true warfare between the “old man” and the “New Man” and Paul was also made to suffer and endure all things for our sake! (2Tim. 2:10)
Let me now tell you something very unusual, perhaps, very unexpected. One of the valuable and useful books outside of the Bible itself that I have ever read is called “Bodyguard of Lies[16]” by Anthony Cave Brown. The most shocking news that this book brings is that World War II was not actually won by weapons alone, but primarily by DECEPTION!
If one sentence should sum up this truth then it would be the famous statement uttered by Winston Churchill (the former Prime Minister of Great Britain) to Joseph Stalin (the former leader of the Soviet Union) at the Conference in Teheran, in December 1943, which I quote:
“In war-time, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
And it certainly was – at all costs. The greatest secret of World War II was the computer called “Ultra”, which gave the War Cabinet of Great Britain all the necessary information about the war operations, tricks and tactics of Nazi Germany. Churchill himself sacrificed much damage caused to his country by the Nazi warplanes just to keep the very existence of “Ultra” secret. For 30 years after the war, people still had no clue that such a thing ever existed.
Churchill and his War Cabinet were able to engage in a very successful war of espionage, counterintelligence and deception deceiving the enemy about the true intentions and operations of the Allied forces. Thanks to this war of deception, the famous D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy in France, on June 6, 1944, was such a great success as it surprised the enemy in every possible way and to such an unbelievable degree; also, the famous victory of the British General, Sir Bernard Montgomery at El Alamein in Egypt against the German General, Erwin Rommel. This battle is also known as the “turn of the tide” and it was largely due to the deceptive steps taken by the British rather than the measure of their firepower alone.
In these physical wars, we at least could tell who is on whose side in the battles. What is the greatest tragedy in the spiritual war between the two kingdoms, one of Christ and one of Satan, is that the majority of believers battle on the WRONG SIDE OF THE WAR! HELLO? Can you believe it?
Christians do not fight satanic forces, they FIGHT THEIR OWN BRETHREN IN CHRIST! Why? Because they might hold different doctrines and beliefs, they might wear different banners with different names and colours, or they might be upsetting them by touching their flesh… by speaking truth to them! (Gal. 4:16) If this were not a true tragedy, it would most certainly be the greatest comedy in the history of all mankind.
Some Slovak religious leaders are engaged in a fierce battle against me, as if I were their enemy. They call me “brother axe” and they have forbidden my books to be read! They wrestle with flesh and blood and not with the spiritual forces of evil, which are destroying them. So they live and act against the Word of God, which Word they are supposed to know and preach. (Eph. 6:12) They should be glad and rejoicing that the Lord is sending them someone with an axe (2Cor. 13:10) – not to cut off their heads but to cut out the roots of their “old man”, their pride, arrogance, fears, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, selfishness, darkness and other evil (“go and chop wood!”, p.145) and to open their way to the Kingdom of Heaven. I am sure that they are not aware of these spiritual facts. And if they believe that such horrible things cannot possibly be in believers, then they are already deeply deceived. SO WAS I… before I was delivered. Will they ever be delivered? Only God knows their hearts and their future decisions.
Two thousand years ago, John the Baptist said:
“And now also, the AXE IS LAID UNTO THE ROOT OF THE TREES (people); therefore, every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Mt. 3:10; 7:19// Lk. 13:6-9// Jn. 15:6)
SO IT IS NOW! The process of the Salvation of Mankind is coming to its end, and an AXE (Judgment of God’s Word through His true servants) is involved again. Praise the Lord.
Should you ask them how they wrestle with the spiritual forces and evil principalities, they would look at you with an open mouth. And should you tell them that those forces may be in their own souls, they might stone you. But this only shows the TRUE DEPTH OF DECEPTION to which such believers have become victims.
One more important word I want to direct toward the leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that I am not liked or welcomed or even considered in your circles. The reason is not that I do not like you or would pick a fight with any one of you in particular. Not at all! I desire and I am also called to judge righteously before the Living Christ. But it is not possible to judge righteously and have respect of persons whether they be “poor sheep” in the pews or “mighty ones” behind pulpits and TV cameras. (Lev. 19:15// Pr. 28:21// Rom. 2:11// Col. 3:25, etc.) Yet, there is a reason why I, more often than not, turn toward the leaders, elders, pastors, preachers, teachers or evangelists and have more harsh words toward you. The reason is simple. If you understood in your heart the true depth of deception described in this chapter, you should understand that – YOU are the prime target of it!
Satan is not without wisdom, he knows what he is doing and why. In order to deceive a large congregation of believers, all he has to do is TO DECEIVE THEIR LEADER! One man can serve his goal very well, thank you. Is this not the most efficient way to win a war? In deceiving 1,000 leaders, Satan may deceive and thus control many millions of “ordinary” believers! Are you aware of this?
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One such example is the document called “Meeting with the angels”, which the Lord had directed to my hands. It is beyond belief. Roland Buck, a man from Idaho, USA, pastored a church from 1950 to 1979, when he died. His testimony says that angels from Heaven descended to him at various times, “socialized” with him and brought him precious messages from God. They appeared in his dark bedroom (at night) and he could only see their dark contours. (Angels of God always appear in the light, never in darkness and they never come to “socialize” with anybody.)
They were “sent by the Holy Spirit” to fight for Mr. Buck against his enemy and to explain to him the basic truths of the Bible! (the Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into all truth and never the angels – Jn. 16:13)
Then God gave him 2,000 verses from the Bible so that he knew them by heart, could preach them and did not have to learn them! (Why would God do such a strange thing with R. Buck but not with His apostles? God never breaks any principle, which He established in His Word, ex., 2Tim. 2:15. The very idea that God would give me 2,000 verses from His Word and I would not have to study them diligently is in itself foolish.)
The “golden nail” of his testimony is that God brought him up to His Throne Room and showed him also His great archive with the files of His prominent people. R. Buck was then given an opportunity by God to look into and read from the personal files of Apostle Paul, Abraham and Sara and also certain things from his own file! He was also allowed by God to ask Him any questions. (This looks like a guided tour of the Library of Congress in Washington. Apostle John, whom Christ called “beloved” and who wrote the Book of Revelation never had chances as R. Buck had to look into God’s private archive and ask Him questions!)
Finally, R. Buck testified that God told him that He loves people and wants them to have the same power as that of His angels! (Wow! How about 1Cor. 6:3?!)
Such deceiving documents are being disseminated around the world so that “people would believe and come to the Lord Jesus!” REALLY? Do people realize that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light? (2Cor. 11:14) That he knows the Scripture? (Mt. 4:6) That he has the ability to take a man of flesh and blood and transfer him to a high place in a moment? (Mt. 4:5,8) Satan could have taken Mr. Buck and “raptured him to his throne room and archive”, presented himself to him as God and done with him what he wanted. Unless, of course, it was all Mr. Buck’s dream, or bad illusion. Have we ever read and considered the clear warnings of Jesus Christ about deceptions? (Mt. 24:24-26)
Did Mr. Buck ever ponder why God would do such a “tour of His Throne Room and archive” for him alone? What was the true purpose for such an experience? Did he compare the words of his “god and angels” to the Bible? Did he ever discern in his spirit and conscience that God never appears, speaks or behaves as he described Him, or that His angels never appear, speak or behave as Mr. Buck described them?
The fact that Mr. Buck could have been a sincere man and preacher does not mean anything. There are thousands like that around the world. God never gives a tour of His Throne Room to a mortal man just to tell him that He loves people and desires that all should be saved. This fact is plainly written in the Bible and does not need a tour of His Throne Room. Furthermore, a mortal man does not speak to God Almighty, the Creator of this Universe as if He were a “local librarian”. Man cannot approach God and live!
I do not know more about this case, but people may easily confuse spiritual experiences from God with those from Satan. It includes a large number of various “apparitions” and other supernatural spiritual phenomena. Finally, the Lord has not only given us the gift of discerning of spirits (1Cor. 12:10), but also the spirit of a sound mind (2Tim. 1:7) to judge whether something has any sense, or not. This particular testimony is without any sense whatsoever.
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To be continued next week in part 13
brother Hanola
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