Word to the Church of Jesus-Christ

CHAPTER 1

OPENING OF HEART

Nowhere in the Word of God, the Bible, do we find that our Salvation begins or depends on our mind. The Lord is not discarding our mind but brings our heart to the forefront as the most important organ of our soul concerning our life and Salvation. The Lord speaks continuously about human heart and describes it in every necessary angle – what is its natural condition, what it does and what are the consequences of its actions or inactions.

A truly thick book could be written just about this one topic. Should you begin to read the Word of God from the very beginning, you would need much time just to find all the references to the heart of man and then ponder all their significance and practical meaning. It is almost impossible to absorb all that Our God tells us about our heart in His Word.

I will bring only few but outstanding examples concerning our heart, how the Lord sees it, explains it and deals with it. We will see that the heart and will have a clear predominance in the Word of God and that mind follows them in the Salvation process with a certain delay.

All main stages of our Salvation depend first on our heart and not on our mind! The Lord rejected our mind with its knowledge of good and evil, its thoughts, imaginations, reasoning even its understanding as the way to our Salvation and chose the way of faith and of our heart. (Gen. 3:22-24// Eph. 2:8// Ps. 94:11)

All the main issues of our life, and thus of our Salvation, are dwelling in our heart and not in our mind. (Pr. 4:23)

It is absolutely vital for us to see and understand the important role of our heart in our Salvation, in dealing with the Lord and with each other within His Church. We do not, of course, talk about our physical heart pumping our blood but about the deepest organ of our soul located in the navel area of our body and not among ribs. (Jn. 7:38) Where our physical life began, there also our soulish and spiritual life began.

HEART AND OUR SALVATION

When man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he disobeyed God through reasoning and lust. His soul became corrupted with that sin and new knowledge, which was not intended for man to have. Though the knowledge itself is not sin, disobedience is. Mind, which is the seat of intellect, is the organ containing knowledge in its memory, understanding and reasoning power. Furthermore, man died as foretold by God (Gen. 2:17), which means, he was separated from the Life, Holiness and conscious Presence of God in his soul. Death always represents separation and never cessation of existence.

Therefore, God rejected man’s mind, man’s intellect, psychology, intellectual knowledge, thoughts, reasoning, imaginations and intellectual understanding as the way to man’s future Salvation!

Firstly, God chose His faith giving the measure of it to every man (Rom. 12:3) so that every man, pagan, could believe in the Saviour and become a believer. No man is born to this world as a believer. This “initial measure of faith” is not to be confused with the “gift of faith” (1Cor. 12:9), which is given to them that are already believers (1Cor. 12:2) and need it to go through their young spiritual age. This is the same with the “initial measure of the Spirit” by which the pagan who believed and confessed Christ Jesus (Rom. 10:9) was sealed (Eph. 1:13). Then, an additional “gift of the Spirit” and His Power is given to him, who is already redeemed and baptized being willing to die to his old life, to continue in his Salvation (Acts 2:38// Heb. 6:1), which, without the Power of the Spirit, is an absolute impossibility.

Secondly, God chose our heart to be the recipient of His faith, also the interpreter and performer of that faith. God could then speak to us, communicate with us and have fellowship with us in our heart. And just as God gave the “initial measure of faith” to our spirit (Rom. 12:3) to enable us to believe, be redeemed and born-again in our spirit, so also, after our Redemption, He gave us an “initial measure of the Spirit” into our heart (2Cor. 1:22) to enable us to be born-again also in our heart and thus in our whole soul! The Lord’s faith then becomes “our faith” and has to be believed and interpreted to our soul by our heart. No man can obtain his Salvation through his mind bypassing the heart. (see^[7])

An intellectual believer is NOT a born-again believer because neither faith, nor new birth come from or through the mind!

When the Gospel is preached, it points to that faith-reality in man’s conscience and the word of that faith gets into man’s heart and mouth. Then, when he speaks out that faith with his mouth believing in his heart that God raised Christ from the dead, that man shall be saved. (Rom. 10:8,9) Man is not required to use his mind, intellectual reasoning, understanding or other thinking about Salvation. Man’s reasoning would, in fact, stand in the way of his Salvation… as it does in every unsaved pagan. True?

“For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 10:10) No mind, no thinking, no reasoning, no psychology, no speculation, no intellect.

Mind cannot have faith! Mind has logic and logical beliefs-convictions. It has no access to faith and can never understand the faith, which the Lord builds, deposits and finishes in man’s conscience and then in his heart. (Heb. 12:2) Hence, God does not deal with or speak to our mind directly until it is renewed by His Spirit and thus enabled to receive and comprehend God’s thoughts. (Is. 55:8,9) This comes in a much more matured state of the believer.

Shall we then say that our mind has no importance? Of course not. Our mind is as important as our heart and will, which form the (inward) trinity of our soul. God is a Trinity – Three in One (1Jn. 5:7) and man was created in God’s Image (Gen. 1:26), so he is also a trinity. In fact, man is a triple trinity: outwardly – body, soul and spirit (1Thess. 5:23), which are one man; inwardly – heart, mind and will, which are one soul, and – conscience, intuition and communion, which are one spirit. (see also^[7])

But our Salvation does not start or continue with our mind. Even the renewal of our old mind into a new one, spiritual one, is done through our heart. Our heart must first see, believe and interpret the faith, which the Lord builds within it showing the state of our mind. It must also see where do our thoughts, imaginations, reasoning and understanding come from and what spirits are influencing or even ruling our mind. Only then can our will decide to get rid of any offensive or evil spirit and darkness from our mind. This is how (the spirit of) our mind is renewed. (Eph. 4:23). This will be discussed later on.

When Apostle Paul tells Timothy to “study to show thyself approved… rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2Tim. 2:15), he knows that Timothy must study and understand the Word first with his heart and its faith, pondering and meditating on the Word. His mind is not set aside but is set as dependent on his heart and faith.

Mind alone is incapable of grasping the Word of God in its spiritual meaning, its depth or height.

On the other hand, our heart may be renewed, recreated without the assistance of our mind. God can create a new, clean heart even in a person who may be intellectually inferior or disabled. However, if the heart remains wicked and refuses God, then even the most brilliant and knowledgeable mind can do nothing for that man.

What is then the practical outcome of the above facts? I believe, the Lord will graciously show us more of His Light on the next pages. We will start with our natural heart, mind and will and how the Lord sees their spiritual conditions according to His Word and not according to man’s beliefs, assumptions, thoughts or speculations. We will then proceed with the new heart, mind and will and how the Lord conducts their respective renewal, recreation, revival. We will discuss three main verses in the Letter to Ephesians pertinent to this process of renewal of the three organs of our soul.

This renewal of our soul completes our Full Salvation since our spirit is already governed by the Spirit of the Lord and our mortal body will be renewed, or recreated at our resurrection. This process is described more fully and in more detail in our booklet “Truth about Salvation^[7]”.

NATURAL HEART AND MIND

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer. 17:9,10)

It is not a pleasant Word and we are never inclined to preach it, ponder it or explain it unless we talk about others. We would never admit that this Word applies to our own heart! That our own heart may still be desperately wicked and deeply deceitful even after our redemption while doing a lot of good works, joining or helping other ministries who spread teachings according to our own beliefs.

It took a great pressure of sins to bring David to begin to cry to the Lord: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” (Ps. 51:1)

And then he begged the Lord: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” (Ps. 51:10,11// Pr. 20:9)

David cried unto the Lord like this being in the midst of his wars for the Lord, doing unto Him a lot of good deeds, being himself after the Heart of God and chosen by God to do His Will! (Acts 13:22// Ps. 89:20) Are you with me? This Word also means, that we need to cry like that unto the Lord even after many years of our ministry and “wars” for the Lord. None of us is better than was David. True? Do you really believe this?

Believers that never cry, never shed tears to the Lord still possess the same old desperately wicked and deceitful heart whether they are aware of it or not! Thus the Holy Spirit may not be allowed into our soul though He dwells in our spirit. No believer is an exception because we all started with a deeply deceitful and desperately wicked heart whether we have already seen this fact, or not yet!

If, therefore, the Lord had not started to create in us a clean heart, it is still in a wicked state and we only “talk” about the Lord. Our lips preach, speak or sing about Him, but our heart is far from Him… as He is also far from our heart. (Is. 29:13// Mt. 15:7-9)

The Lord declares clearly that: “…those things, which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the (wicked) heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…” (Mt. 15:18,19)

An important fact should be realized at this point. The heart of many believers, especially those who work for the Lord, who do something for Him, may not be “desperately wicked” any more, BUT it may still be deeply deceived! Therefore, what we do for the Lord may not be fruitful and fully acceptable to Him. It is better for us all to admit the above possibility rather than remain deceived and continue producing wood, hay and stubble. (1Cor. 3:12,13)

You see, the real problem is not what we speak or do but what are the true intentions of our heart! Our heart is especially tested by the Lord in circumstances involving our family or brethren that are close to us. Our heart will reveal itself sooner or later, and usually, when we do not even realize it. Our actions or reactions, including speaking about others behind their back, will clearly show whether our heart is right or wrong, cleansed or wicked or corrupt. Also, I always believed that it is only our mind, which is able to think, ponder, reason, plan, understand. But no! The Word clearly declares that it is primarily and most importantly our heart, which thinks, ponders, reasons, plans, decides. It must understand the Word of God, hear His Voice, see His Ways and do His Faith and Judgments placed in our conscience. Faith is never placed in our mind and our mind can never interpret it or understand it. The Lord spoke to Israel, His chosen people, in parables and the reason for it, He declared as follows:

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross (grew fat, satisfied, unresponsive), and (therefore) their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted (changed, restored), and I should heal them.” (Mt. 13:15// Is. 6:9,10)

Thoughts, imaginations, intentions, wisdom, foolishness, willingness, seeking, searching and similar actions of man’s heart, as well as man speaking, pondering and deciding within his own heart, these all are mentioned on every other page of the Bible. Start at the very beginning of the Bible (ex. Gen. 6:5) and try to find for yourselves how many times this fact is brought to the light by the Lord.

Some examples: Gen. 8:21; 17:17; 24:45; 27:41// Ex. 35:5, 35; 36:2// Num. 32:7// Deut. 4:9,39; 7:17; 8:2,5,17; 9:4; 10:16; 15:7,9; 18:21; 29:4,19; 30:14// Judg. 5:15// 1Sam. 16:7; 21:12; 27:1// 1Ki. 3:12; 8:61; 12:26// 1Chr. 22: 19; 29:18// Ezra 7:10// Esth. 6:6; 7:5// Job 8:10; 9:4; 17:4,11; 22:22; 38:36// Ps. 10:6,11,13; 14:1; 15:2; 19:14; 33:11; 36:1; 49:3; 53:1; 77:6; 95:10; 119:11,161; 140:2// Pr. 2:2,10; 6:18; 8:5; 10:8; 11:29; 14:33; 15:14; 16:1,9,21; 19:21; 22:15; 23:7,12,15; 24:2; 28:26// Ecc. 1:13,16,17; 2:1,3,15; 3:17,18; 7:22,25; 8:5,11; 9:1// Is. 10:7; 14:13; 32:4,6; 33:18; 44:19; 47:8,10; 49:21; 59:13, etc., etc…

I have only reached the Book of Jeremiah and already it is quite sufficient to see the above examples. Now, the word heart is mentioned 582 times while mind is only mentioned 21 times in the above quoted Bible passages! You should take time and read those verses quoted above and especially those underlined to see what our heart can do and what place of prominence and responsibility it has before the Lord. It may completely change the way of your current “religious life and understanding”.

Believers may ask how can they tell whether a thought comes from their mind or their heart. Actions of our mind can be recognized since they come from our head and we know when we are thinking, searching or pondering with our brain. Actions of our heart come from “deep within” our belly area without our mind being exercised in any noticeable way. These thoughts and intentions of our heart may come without our prior focusing on them in our mind. They often come out of our heart spontaneously. The difference between the actions of our mind and of our heart is of a great importance. The thoughts of our old mind are not valuable before the Lord, Who declares:

“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” (Ps. 94:11)

Whenever then believers say: “I think that…” what follows has no spiritual value when it comes from his brain. Please note, that the Spirit of God never led Jesus to say: “I think…I assume…I hope…I guess…perhaps… maybe”! Whenever the Lord spoke, He said: “Verily, I say unto you… I tell you in truth…” – no “thinking”, no assuming, no guessing and no reasoning. That also means that the Spirit will never lead you to express yourself in spiritual things as the above examples show, but rather as the Lord Jesus spoke. These examples come from the natural soul and not from the Spirit of God. Do you believe this fact?

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to remind ourselves at this point, that in committing errors due to our wrong thinking, we may not thereby sin against God. But by assuming and presuming without verifying the facts, we do sin against God! These sins then have dominion over us, they rule us and we cannot be upright and innocent from the great transgression. (Deut. 13:14// Ps. 19:12,13)

* * *

So what is important is what the believer “believes and knows in his heart”. When the heart is not yet renewed in any noticeable degree, the mind is unrenewed, as well. It is yet in darkness, it may even be numbed or paralysed and thus impotent to think or consider rightly the things of the Lord and His Word.

It is impossible to control thoughts in our mind (2Cor. 10:5) without our old heart being touched and cleansed first and its own thoughts controlled first.

On the other hand, such an unrenewed mind is always ready to engage in endless religious discussions, doubts, arguments, questions, explanations and other forms of running around in intellectual circles and getting nowhere spiritually. It is a typical “intellectual” religion or religious psychology, which produces no spiritual values, no spiritual progress or growth, no spiritual maturing of any kind.

This is a perfect place to quote another Word of God, which touches this subject in its very core. It says:

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he:…” (Pr. 23:7)

* * *

The Spirit of the Lord constrains me to declare what I see with the Lord when I repeat this spiritual fact: “We are what we think in our heart!”

This extremely important Word declares not only the spiritual reality of our person before God but It also “hides” within Itself the following consequential facts:

a) We cannot become a different person without starting to think differently in our heart.

b) We cannot start thinking differently in our heart without starting to see something different in our heart.

c) We cannot start seeing something different in our heart without departing from the existing darkness, which prevents us from seeing something different in our heart.

d) We cannot depart from the existing darkness in our heart until we allow the Light of the Lord to come in.

e) We cannot allow the Light of the Lord to come in because we cannot believe that there could be darkness in our heart and that what we read or hear about ourselves or what others tell us could be actually true!

Let us now reverse the order of these facts and begin to see and understand what the Lord wants us to see here:

a) When we begin to pause and even admit that our thoughts, intentions, plans or deeds pointed out to us by others may indicate darkness, foolishness or evil in our person – we are becoming Overcomers.

b) When we begin to believe this truth, the Light of the Lord comes into our heart (Hab. 2:4// Rom. 1:17// Heb. 10:38).

c) That Light will enable us to start seeing different (new) things in our heart, which we never saw before.

d) Seeing different things in our heart will enable us to start thinking different (new) thoughts in our heart.

e) When we start thinking different (new) thoughts in our heart, we will start becoming a different person!

This is the way of Salvation and the transformation of our person before God into the Image of Christ Jesus. From my own experience I may state that the only painful stage in this process is in point a), where we have to “overcome ourselves”, our image, pride and fears, and then in point b), step out of our boat on the water (begin to walk by faith) and walk on the water to Jesus. (Mt. 14:28-29)

* * *

It is quite amazing that our personality is not expressed by what we think in our mind, but what we think in our heart. That is why the Word of God focuses on our heart and testifies about Itself as follows:

“For the Word of God is quick (living, life bringing) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing (it pains human souls) even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit (outer and inner man) and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12// Rev. 2:12, see also page B2^[7])

Why is the Word of God discerning the thoughts and intentions of our heart and not of our mind? Why is the Lord knocking on the door of our heart and not on the door of our mind? (Rev. 3:20) These questions have one simple answer and it is found in another Word of God, which says: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Pr. 4:23)

The issues of life do not reside in man’s mind, but in his heart! Hence, the thoughts and intentions of our mind have no power to decide about our life, to be realized in our life, to change our life, our character and our mind itself. They cannot renew or bring life to our soul in any way. They can be compared to our “New Year’s resolutions”. It takes our heart and the Word of God in it to do that salvation work. Seeing, believing and using this fact in our future life would revolutionize the whole Church. [Whenever we now mention the “Church”, we will always mean the “Church-Israel” made One; see more later.] It would lift us above all the deathly and earthly things and give us the glimpse of the lively and heavenly realm, which we might openly or secretly yearn for in our hearts but are unable to attain it. (Jn. 3:12,31-34// Phil. 3:18-20// Jam. 3:14-18// Col. 3:2, etc.)

I, therefore, believe that it is not only desirable but also vital for us all to learn to distinguish and discern our heart from our mind both in their thoughts, reasoning, ponderings, and other actions, reactions or inactions. So, let us…

never confuse our heart with our mind for we could be commiting dangerous errors, which could keep us in deception and slowly lead us to perdition!

This chapter should not be concluded without the Word of God, which I desire not only to quote, but also to pray joining the great Apostle Paul in his prayer:

“That the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of your (spiritual, not natural) understanding being enlightened, that ye may know…(in heart)” (Eph. 1:17,18)

I propose that we would beseech Our Lord to graciously answer the above prayer for us all and draw us deeper into His Truth, that is, into Himself, and higher above all the earthly and temporal things, which are about to perish anyway and which may otherwise stay in our way as mighty obstacles.

NEW HEART AND MIND

(1) “That ye put off concerning the former conversation (old way of expressing yourself) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts…

(2) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind…

(3) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

(Eph. 4:22-24)

These should be well known passages of the Scripture which we will now consider in the light of the above facts concerning heart, will and mind. These three above verses will be kept and considered separately as it is important to see the “process” of our Salvation as to our heart, will and mind. (see also Col. 3:9,10)

Our old man, old nature, old creation consists of old heart, old will and old mind. All three have to be renewed, transformed, revived. In their old natural state, they live emotionally and intellectually, but spiritually they are dead. (1Tim. 5:6// Rev. 3:1) If we are born again (Jn. 3:3-8), the Life of God only revives and begins to rule our spirit, but does not rule our soul! This old, dead man ruling our soul has to be “put off” being corrupt according to his deceitful lusts and thus totally unusable and unacceptable to the Lord and for His desires, goals and intentions.

1. Verse 22 points to the renewal, recreation of our old heart and will.

2. Verse 23 points to the renewal, recreation of our old mind.

3. Verse 24 points to the “putting on” of the new heart, new will and new mind, which form our New Man.

Instead of submerging ourselves into a lot of theology, I prefer to give my living experiences and faith of how the Lord goes about this “process” with every believer.

1. Ephesians 4:22

The very first fact we have to notice in verse 22 and 24 is that WE have to “put off our old man” and “put on our new man”, God will not do it for us! God will only provide the power and guidance enabling us to make that decision in our heart and do it! If we just “wait on the Lord that He might do in us what He wants”, we are terribly deceived and are missing our Salvation. (see also 2Cor. 7:1// Phil. 2:12) God’s basic steps and guidance for us are as follows.

Firstly, the Lord starts knocking on the “door” of our heart (Rev. 3:20) after we are “weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts”. (Is. 28:9) This is to say, that after we have finished our spiritual childhood (Heb. 5:13) and are ready to learn spiritual knowledge and understand it in our heart (Mt. 13:15), the Lord knocks and waits whether we open our heart to Him, or not. The “door knob” is only on the inside and no one can open our heart, only us. He keeps knocking (maybe even through this book or through similar means) until we open our heart to Our Saviour, Who only lives in and rules our spirit. When we open our heart to Him, He may get in and slowly and progressively establish His rule in our heart and then in the whole soul.

Before He is allowed into our heart and rule there, we have no right to call Him “Our Lord”! He is Our Saviour, but WE keep ruling our soul and life and not Him! (Lk. 6:46) Ponder this truth in your heart.

Being in our heart, the Lord may then start to fellowship with us. Through that fellowship, He may begin to “know us” and we may begin to “know Him” (Mt. 7:23; 25: 11,12), and that, not just as Our Saviour, but also as Our Lord with Power and Authority over our life!

Concerning fellowship, it is the same in our physical life where only close friends who fellowship personally can get to know each other well. No matter how much we read or hear about a person, we never know that person until we begin to meet personally and talk and share our hearts and minds. True? This is also the reason for dating before marriage. We are also supposed to “date” Our Saviour and Lord before our “marriage to Him”. He will not marry us unless we become wise virgins. And if we do not “date” Him, we will not know one another, not have His Life and we will remain foolish virgins. (Mt. 25:8-12// Jn. 5:40)

After entering our heart, the Lord brings His Light, Truth and Life into it and slowly begins to show us, here a little and there a little (Is. 28:10), the pride, self-righteousness, unbelief, deceptions, bitterness, wickedness, stubbornness, unwillingness or other evil, filth, and undesirable features in our old heart. It is like opening the gate to our property, garden, vineyard, which we did not keep (S.Sol. 1:6) to a master-gardener. He would begin to change our “jungle” full of strange, dangerous, poisonous, creepy creatures and plants into a lovely garden full of beautiful flowers, shrubs, grass fields, ponds, waterfalls and spices. (S.Sol. 4:12-16) We alone could not do that but Our Master-Gardener will require our time and cooperation at every step.

Secondly, the Lord works also in our will so that we would be willing to do HIS good pleasure also and not always our own. (Phil. 2:13) What is His good pleasure? To create in us a new, clean, pure heart (Ps. 51:10), as it were, a new garden, vineyard (S.Sol. 4:12-16) with a new spirit, and make us spiritually living… for why should we remain (spiritually) dead? The Lord has no pleasure in our death (separation from Him). (Ez. 18:30-32; 36:26,27// Ps. 24:3,4)

When we then ask, desire and allow His Spirit to take away that evil part from our heart, which He showed us, we are working out our own salvation! (Phil. 2:12) In other words, we are cooperating with God in fear and trembling to create our new heart … little by little… through His Word, which causes us to fall back and be broken and taken and snared in our old heart. (Is. 28:13)

This is done in us as we are growing up into Christ, and this process continues until our heart is new, clean and pure. (Mt. 5:8// Eph. 4:15) This usually lasts our lifetime and, maybe, a few hundred more years into the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (see page B4^[7])

Our heart and will must first be sufficiently renewed in order that our mind could also follow its renewal process. The order of these verses is thus Divinely set and shows that the Lord does not start with our mind.

2. Ephesians 4:23

Whenever a filthy, evil, dead part was removed from our heart (through discipline and repentance) and a new, clean, pure and living part created, the issue of our life in that part of our heart (Pr. 4:23) was also revived and it is now able to “see, hear and understand” God! This new and living part of our heart and the new part of our will are now united and totally subjected to God and His Will. This is an important fact and, I also believe, it is absolutely necessary for any subsequent renewal work in our mind. The full impact of this fact will be seen later on as we discuss this issue and penetrate more into the mysteries of Salvation and the progressive re-creation of our old soul in Christ Jesus.

God then reaches into our mind and brings into it the same light from our renewed heart showing the areas of unrighteous thoughts, judgments, foolishness, darkness, stubbornness, and other evil. The mind is then enabled to depart from its darkness and evil, be cleansed and begin to think righteously, wisely and truthfully in that same area where our heart and will have already been renewed. Thus our heart and will are united supporting that same light in our mind. There is no opposition, no disagreement, no discord within our own soul – in that area.

The renewed issue of life in our heart has become the basis of new thinking, reasoning and comprehension in our mind. The three organs of our soul are becoming united into one – in that renewed area.

The renewal of our mind is thus dependent on the renewal of our heart and will – in any particular area of our life, in any issue of our life. It is a slow process as the Lord already indicated in His Word – here a little, there a little. He could not show us our whole old heart or mind and expect us to be able to give up all of our old life at once, which is impossible, but rather progressively. It is sufficiently hard and painful to give up a little here and a little there. You must have experienced on at least some occasions that your heart and mind “did not agree” on some important life issues, and your will had a hard time to make a decision. You were simply undecided. This also means that there was no unity in your soul. True?

Many times we may agree with some truth in our mind – but our heart is opposed to it! there is a conflict within us and thus we are unable to use or live that truth in our life! Our “house” is divided and we may not be fully aware of this fact! (Mt. 12:25)

We may not be aware that our heart may not go along with our mind. Hence, in some crucial moments, we are not able to follow and live the truth, which our mind “accepted and agreed with” because our heart is not in it! This then results in a mental religion where we may agree with one another while we remain impotent to do or live what we agreed on.

Haven’t you ever noticed it in your own life? Haven’t you noticed that no matter how much religious knowledge you may have accumulated in your mind and agreed with, it did not help you in the time of need? No matter how many important notes you put into your notebook, in real daily life, were you ever able to execute your notes or did you fail every time? Why? Because your knowledge and notes were not “transferred” into your blood, which is your life (Deut. 12:23), they only remained in your memory, if at all.

Hence, the corresponding life issues in your heart remained untouched, thus, unchanged!

Why are such things possible? Because the heart has not been touched by the Spirit and no spiritual work, no spiritual change has occurred in it. Why? The Lord was not allowed access into your heart even though you might never admit or believe that. But your fruit always shows the reality as opposed to your wishes, dreams or persuasions.

Whenever our fruit is not good, we try to defend ourselves and find the causes for our mistakes or shortcomings outside of us, in what we do or do not do, thus derailing the attention from the main problem. The main problem is usually inside of us. It is not what we do or do not do, but what we are inside. Our efforts may be commendable, our ways always clean in our own eyes, but our spirits (of our mind, heart and will) are continually “judged-assessed” by the Lord! The Lord keeps weighing, judging our spirits in which we walk and do our deeds. He judges the source of our deeds and not the deeds themselves! (Pr. 16:2) Hence, conflicts within us cause conflicts outside of us.

Yet another fact to remember and believe is as follows. We may be singing beautiful hymns, hands raised toward Heaven, tears streaming down our cheeks, emotions filling our soul. There is nothing wrong with that – yet – that does not mean or prove that any spiritual change has been done in our heart, will or mind! It may just be an emotional religion. How do I know? I went through these things for years myself, together with many brethren who were in the same congregations. Yet, our pride, arrogance, stubbornness, foolishness, fears, envy, darkness and other undesirable things in our hearts remained unaffected and unchanged!

Again, I experienced it myself. Right after our blessed service, the Lord tested some of the souls that sang and praised Him loudly – and they failed. They could not even shake my hand, look into my eyes, greet me or speak freely with me, their spirit could not meet me face to face. (see also page 13^[8]) Why? What spirits had their grip on them?

True Salvation involves a true overcoming of our own selves and it is always accompanied by at least some degree of suffering and pain and death!

To change our mind is not painful, to change our heart is! To hear truth about our old self is always painful! That’s why Christians do not desire to hear or seek the truth about themselves. They fear they would not like it… and they are right!

To speak truth from the old heart is extremely painful, almost impossible! You have to get really angry to start speaking truth from your old heart! The power of your “anger” must outweigh the power of your hypocrisy in order for you to speak like that. Is that true?

Christians always seek love, happiness, peace, prosperity, health, fame and approval from others, and that, under all circumstances… just as pagans do. I know that there is the Word of God in 3John 2. But there may be very, very few believers, who understand this Word in their heart as the Spirit means it, and not just logically.

Firstly, the health and prosperity is meant in – spirit, soul and body – in that order! (1Thess. 5:23) Many believers and ministers (even famous ones) love to take the order backwards. But if my body prospers, it is because my soul prospers first, and my soul prospers when my spirit prospers first. Any carnal Christian may feel that his soul or body prospers, but the Lord knows that it is but a “sweet deception” because true prosperity starts in the spirit.

Secondly, prosperity with God is something very different than prosperity with men. Outside of the Spirit, believers are extremists, they either believe that a “good” Christian must be “always poor and always suffering”, or he must be “always healthy and lacking nothing good”. But both beliefs are from the flesh. The Lord’s truth is that no righteous person was ever forsaken, poor and begging bread (Ps. 37:25). On the other hand, believers must not be covetous, but content with such things as they have, as the Lord granted to them. (Heb. 13:5) They also have to learn in whatever state they are, therewith to be content. (Phil. 4:11) These Words of Our Lord should be the true frame for the picture of our prosperity.

Thirdly, true prosperity from God is conditional on our obedience and service to Him. It is true that…“He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous,” (Job 36:7) But He also shows them that in their work and their transgressions they have exceeded. And then…

“He opens their ear to discipline and commands that they return from iniquity. IF they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity…” (Job 36:8-14, see also Jer. 22: 21, 22 and judge yourselves).

This way of the Spirit may thus be a far cry from the fleshly attempts of many ministers to define the prosperity of their flocks and possibly deceive them thereby.

True prosperity is an individual affair between God and each believer conditioned by the believer’s heart, his spiritual state and his true needs as judged by God… not by the believer.

The Lord often allows us to get into situations where we are tested, sometimes severely tested, and where we either remain standing or we fall. Our fall, our defeat is not a tragedy if we learn from it and allow the Lord to build our faith, spiritual strength and wisdom in that area. Then we stand up and continue. The tragedy is when we refuse to stand up and allow the Lord to strengthen us, teach us, build our patience, perseverance, wisdom, faith. It is also tragic when we harden our heart and do not care any more for what the Lord is doing with us, in us or through us, when we do not realize that we have to stand up not just for our sake, but also for the sake of all those to whom we are called to minister and become a blessing. We do not live just for ourselves, for our personal blessings! (Rom. 14:7)

Let me bring to your attention one more Word of God, which also shows that our mind is renewed as the last part of our soul following our heart and will. We are beseeched by Apostle Paul: “…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may (be able to) prove (by your life) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2) Only with our whole soul renewed we can prove the perfect Will of God in our life and never before.

At this point, I would wholeheartedly refer every reader to the excellent book of Watchman Nee “The Release of the Spirit^[2]”, which is devoted to this most important topic in our Christian lives – the breaking of our “outer man”. Brother Watchman calls our spirit the “inner man”, our soul the “outer man” and our body the “outermost man”. Unless our outer man, our soul, which is corrupt, evil and sinful is broken, our New Man, (spiritual inner Man) cannot take over “the helm” and we cannot start living and acting through him. Let me quote just a few important lines from his excellent book, which, no doubt, came to brother Watchman by the revelation from God. He writes on page 14:

“The Lord employs two different ways to break our outer man: one is gradual, the other is sudden…The timing is in His hand. We cannot shorten the time, though we certainly can prolong it. In some lives the Lord is able to accomplish this work after a few years of dealing; in others it is evident that after ten or twenty years the work is still unfinished. This is most serious! Nothing is more grievous than wasting God’s time. How often the church is hindered! We can preach using our mind, we stir others by using our emotions; yet if we do not know how to use our spirit, the Spirit of God cannot touch people through us. The loss is great…”

He continues on pages 57-59:

“For the outer man to be broken, our full consecration is imperative…It takes consecration plus the discipline of the Holy Spirit to make us vessels fit for the Master’s use… Notice how far the discipline of the Holy Spirit transcends our consecration. How often we are caught unprepared and we conclude that such a drastic thing is not our need. Many times His discipline descends upon us suddenly without our having prior notice!…

External things can strike the outer man most painfully. So it is that God uses external things in dealing with our outer man … Do you not realize that all the events of your life for the past five or ten years were ordered by God for your education? If you murmured and complained, you grievously failed to recognize His hand. If you thought you were just unfortunate, you were in ignorance of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Remember that whatever happens to us is measured by the Hand of God for our supreme good..”

Finally, on page 60, he may give multitudes of believers a shock of their life in saying the following:

“We receive grace through meetings, through messages, through prayers, and so forth. But surely the greatest means of grace, which we cannot afford to neglect is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can be compared with this means of grace – not prayer, Bible reading, meetings, messages, meditation, or praise. Among all the God-given means of grace, it would seem this is the most important!… None of the other means of grace can replace it.”

The important fact to declare at this point is that God almost always does this work of breaking our outer man, our soul, through others, chiefly those that we may despise or be angry with or hate or look down upon or judge unrighteously or even love! So, our emotions as well as our thinking and reasoning powers are “attacked” and we show the “true colours” of our outer man, which also means, his true needs.

Before we conclude the subject of this verse, it is not to be forgotten that any renewal of our heart, will and mind is not liked by the powers of evil and darkness. They will never leave our character voluntarily or watch our salvation process passively! It is normal to experience either their resistance or an outright assault on every part of our soul. Our enemy may attack our heart and its emotions, our mind and its thoughts and also our will and its ability to make right decisions. There may be days when we feel depressed or disgusted, distracted or quite impotent to move or make any decisions. Have you noticed such occurrences in your life? And even if you have, you may not have discovered or understood their true spiritual roots and reasons.

It is desirable to mention that our enemy attacks also our bodies. He often hides behind our legitimate weaknesses or illnesses and magnifies them so that his actions are difficult to detect. He may also induce into our body such hellish sicknesses as, for example, cancer. Physical cancer indicates a pre-existence of a “spiritual cancer”, which then affects our soul and then body. Cancer is always associated with an “uncontrolled growth” in spirit or in body! At this place we will not enlarge upon this subject more than just stating the above as it would derail us from the main topic. We will, however, return to it later on since there are important spiritual experiences and facts connected with the healing of our bodies.

3. Ephesians 4:24

This verse summarizes what the Spirit worked out in the previous two verses. It also tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit is now to be practiced in our daily life that it may become our habit, our “new life”. That is how our New Man is “put on”.

In fact, the Lord leads us to experience His work in our heart, will and mind and subjects us to testing so that we could see ourselves that we are not the same persons in those new areas. We are different wherever He has performed and has finished His work, first in our heart and will and then also in our mind. Start discerning your own selves and you will see the truth of this Word.

The heart, which has been sufficiently cleansed, renewed, recreated will not be pricked, offended, shaken or upset by anything, any news and anybody. You can thus verify the state of your own heart.

We will be even surprised that the things we could not do before are now easy to do. We will be able to do them spontaneously without forcing ourselves, without painful faces, without “steaming our head or biting our nails”. We will experience this new abundant Life (Jn. 10:10) and also find out that its glory, joy and perfection is worth far more than the “suffering we had to suffer for a while”. (1Pet. 5:10) God is thus making us perfect according to His Will.

Some believers-Overcomers confided in me that others tell them frequently: “You can’t be perfect here, God will make you perfect in Heaven. So, just be satisfied with things as they are, they could be much worse, you know. And do not elevate yourself over your brethren, it is better to be humble.” And so on… and so on. Well then, what shall we say about such words?

Little do such brethren know that by their foolish words they make their Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ a liar! Yes, a liar! Also, they bring condemnation to their souls unless they repent to Him and speak that way no more. (Mt. 12:37) It seems to be an unwritten law or pattern that whoever is overcoming himself and pressing to do the whole Truth and Will of God reaching for his perfection is always considered proud, self-elevating, an elitist or non-conformist by his carnal brethren. These carnal believers have no intention to follow the Word of God, yet they accuse, point fingers and speak foolish and arrogant words at those that love the Lord and are following His Word.

Consider the Word where the Lord Himself commanded us directly and clearly saying:

“Be ye therefore perfect…” (Mt. 5:48).

The word “therefore” means “here and now” and not in Heaven. Why? If your heart is set to do His Word in the previous nine verses (Mt. 5:39-47) then the Lord considers you (your heart) perfect! Why?

First, your heart cannot do any better than that. And second, in Heaven, nobody will smite your cheek, nobody will sue you in court or take away your coat. You will have no enemies to try to love over there, nobody will curse you or persecute you in Heaven. So how do you want to be made perfect in Heaven? Can you tell me? And if you do not do these verses (Mt. 5:39-47), you are not even considered to be the children of Our Father, which is in Heaven! (Mt. 5:45// Rom. 9:7,8) You can’t even enter Heaven unless you are perfect! Should I say to you: Hello?

Heaven is not the place for perfecting ourselves, the place is here and the time is now while we live here. Are not the words of such “brethren” quoted above truly foolish? Those words are also evil because they come from hell.

Also, Apostle Paul being led by the Spirit of God says: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded…” (Phil. 3:14,15// also 2Chr. 16:9).

Wow! Where did Paul get “perfect believers”? He was still on the earth himself and “pressing” to lay hold on the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! True? Well? Is it not clear even from this Word of God that the heart, which is pressing, focusing, set to do His Word is considered perfect in His sight? No heart can do any more or any better than that. Even Israel was required to be perfect with the Lord their God! (Deut. 18:13) Were they really? Their long and miserable history is the fruit of their disobedience.

REALITY AND EXPERIENCES

I do ask the Lord to grant us a brief but clear, precise and necessary truth, which would have His power to penetrate and pierce the hearts and do the work therein, which He would be pleased with. The last thing I desire is that the above facts would be just another theory or doctrine or information for curious Christian minds.

I want to bring several important and very practical examples showing the spiritual facts and reality described in the above sections. They show the state of the Church including some individual believers and leaders as the Lord sees and judges them and their state. He desires to grant that same view and understanding to the hearts where He dwells and works out His pleasure.

A. Ministry in Slovakia and Czech Republic

During my missions in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in Central Europe, I had opportunities to minister to many believers and also to preach in several congregations. The one spiritual fact, which I experienced in almost all my missions was that I could clearly see a definite spiritual difference between the church leadership and all the other believers whom I met.

All of the elders, pastors, preachers or other leaders I met displayed either a reluctance or even tremendous fear to allow me to contact, preach or otherwise minister to their “sheep”. In some churches I was allowed to preach, in others I was not. I understand their fears and I do not blame any of them for their attitudes and fears. Also, the younger leadership displayed a greater hostility and arrogance toward me than those more aged and experienced. This just proves that aging does diminish our cockiness and mellows us even without being disciplined by the Holy Spirit.

What the leaders fear the most is that their form of religion, doctrines, ways, habits, desires and future plans could be affected and derailed to new ways. They do not believe that the Lord would like to “stir their church”, expose any shortcomings, perhaps, even death in their midst or to correct anything! Their church and they themselves are all perfect in their own eyes, and there seems to be “absolutely nothing for the Lord to correct”. An old form of religion, as an old habit, is a very comfortable one and no one desires to depart from it voluntarily especially when the Lord’s ways are known to be quite uncomfortable to our fleshly ways, life and ministry. So, do we truly need the Lord’s corrections?

What was even funny, was my experience in a small congregation (Brotherly church) in Batizovce, a small town just near the High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. I was not allowed to say anything to their congregation, but I was invited to a “talk” with their elders after the service. The talk proved to be a true inquisition where I was interrogated with all kinds of questions concerning my book^[14] (which they possessed) and also my personal beliefs and opinions.

When they asked me whether I “speak in tongues” (1Cor. 12:10), I said “yes”. I was then told that the Holy Spirit gave tongues only at the beginning of the Church and that He is not doing these things any more! So my gift was, in effect, labelled false. When I asked them where in the Scripture had they found this fact, they replied that it is not in the Scripture, but that their Annual Conference established it so! It looked like God “forgot” to inform us in His Word about this important deadline for giving us the gifts of His Spirit. Decent and aged elders were able to present this farce to me and remain serious and not blink their eyes.

Then I asked them whether they give gifts to their newborn children. They said “yes”. Then I asked them again: “Why do you think that the Holy Spirit should stop giving gifts to His newborn children when you keep giving gifts to your newborn children?” They were stunned and did not answer one word!

Then I asked them whether they read my book “Thy Kingdom come^[14^]”. They said “yes” but the chief elder declared that a part of my book was written in one kind of spirit and part in a different spirit. I asked him whether such a thing is possible. He replied “yes”. Then I gave him the Scripture that it is impossible that out of one fountain comes forth both salt water and fresh water. (Jam. 3:11,12) Again, they were speechless and nobody said a word.

Then they kept asking me a lot of other questions. I tried to stop their questioning, but it was not easy to quiet them down. I said: “Why should I answer your questions when you do not answer mine?” So then they quieted down and waited for my question.

Finally, I asked them whether a believer may lose his Salvation. They responded that there was no way. I told them that they do err not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. (Mk. 12:24) I gave them only one of the important verses where the Lord will blot the name of a born-again believer, who does not overcome, out of the Book of Life, which is the loss of Salvation. (Rev. 3:5) Again, there was no response! Truth makes people speechless!

The meeting was closed without any profit to anyone. All the elders were adults, but they behaved like children who were never even dreaming of seeking the truth, seeking the Kingdom, seeking the Lord with an open heart. All their religion was in their heads. It was all brains, all reasoning, all stubborn debating and obstinate attitudes defending their traditions and persuasions. They all lived a dark and dead form of Christian Judaism without any willingness to receive or even search for any new light from the Lord. The depth of their spiritual death was astounding.

I was then preaching in the Baptist Church in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. The Word given was about the Lord’s coming as the Bridegroom and the pertinent passages were from Mt. 25:1-13; 7:21-23, Rev. 3:16-22 and also other Scriptures on this subject. After the sermon, there was a true excitement and many of us embraced and kissed and promised to be in touch (including their chief preacher). I asked them to write especially if some parts of my book^[14] needed further explanations.

Then we parted and for many months, there was no response. So I wrote a letter to the elders. There was no response. After another number of months, I wrote again. No response! Clearly, their excitement and “love” vanished shortly after my departure. Their hearts remained the same as they were before my preaching. According to their hearts, it was not convenient or desirable to answer me, never mind what the Word of God commands. (Heb. 13:16) The powers of darkness and evil in them started to fear. The Lord knows their hearts and that there is no love in them because “there is no fear in love… he that fears is not made perfect in love.” (1Jn. 4:18)

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Living Lord to state the following truth.

Love is not feellings, love is commitment! Feelings are its companions and they may be very sweet or very bitter, joyful or mournful, self-indulging or self-sacrificing. And it is those bitter and mournful and sacrificial companions, where we are able to see whether our love is true or a colour dream, which can vanish any time… whenever we are not satisfied in our self. (1Cor. 13:4-8)

* * *

Another example worth mentioning touches my book “Truth about Salvation^[7]”, which the Lord granted me and allowed me to write it in the year 2003. By chance, I came across an article “Eternal Safety” by Dave Hunt, published on the website of the Slovak Fellowship NKZ in the town of Prešov, Slovakia. It was published in the Slovak language (as “Večná Bezpečnosť“) and I read it with interest.

I found out, that the article contained dangerous and untrue statements that could easily mislead believers into a deception that “no matter what they do or do not do”, none of them could lose their Salvation! The works of flesh, which may be equated with the works of law (Rom. 3:28), were clearly confused by the author with the works of faith. (Jam. 2:24) Some important verses of the Scripture were completely ignored as if they did not exist. Furthermore, the principles of Salvation were clearly confused and misunderstood. This is dangerous to the very life of any believer who may read such articles!

* * *

The Spirit of the Lord again constrains me to declare at this point the following important truth.

Very few believers seem to understand or be able to reconcile Eph. 2:8,9 or Rom. 4:5 with Jam. 2:24; or Rom. 4:2,3 with Jam. 2:21-23! In 1972, in one of his sermons, one of my former Pentecostal pastors declared that “Paul would have some lessons to teach James!”! Wow!

So, the Book of James is not really inspired because it contradicts our human understanding of God and His Ways and Judgments! The Holy Spirit apparently inspired James to write contradictions. Even today, many prominent preachers, pastors and other ministers publicly declare that our Salvation has nothing to do with our works! How short-sighted and truly deceivable statements are these that oppose the very Word of God and all His basic Principles of Salvation!

I must in the Name of Christ the Lord show a few simple but absolutely basic proofs that without our works we cannot be saved! This is not a “word game”. Let us consider diligently the Word in Eph. 2:8,9 and Jam. 2:20-26 and the following facts:

1) Rom. 10:9,10 – is the confession of our mouth our work, without which we could not be saved, or not?

2) Rom. 10:13 – is our calling upon the Name of the Lord our work, without which we could not be saved, or not?

3) Acts 2:38 – is our repentance and water baptism our work, without which we could not be saved, or not? Yes, or no? The Lord is asking you these above questions, not me, and He expects your honest answers, not me.

4) Phil. 2:12 – is “working out our own salvation” our work or not? Do we know what that “work” really involves and how to work it out? Have any of you preachers ever preached THIS Word of God and explained it to your congregations? Really? In truth? And how will you reconcile Eph. 2:8,9 with Heb. 11:4-40? What works are those?

5) Mt. 16:24,25 – is “taking up our cross, denying ourselves and following Him” our work, or not? If we do not work out this work, shall we save our life or lose it? Hello? What do you preachers believe and why don’t you preach and explain THIS Word of God also? How can we neglect to preach, teach and explain such important facts from the Word of God to believers and feel fine? The Lord waits for your honest answer from your own heart.

Never hang your life on one verse of the Holy Scripture, which is pleasant and sweet to your soul, and neglect all the rest of the Bible!

Can you tell faith from the works of faith and from the works of flesh? Why are then many preachers in churches or on TV or radio networks preaching that “our Salvation has nothing to do with our works” and that “it is an unconditional gift from God”? This is an outright lie!… whereby the decisions of our heart and will, and the works of our faith are totally taken out of the context of all God’s Principles of our Salvation!

Nothing from God is unconditional toward men except His Word and men’s obedience to His Word (or willingness in men’s hearts to obey It)! That also applies to His love and mercy, which are also conditional and are not applied “across the board”. God loves unconditionally only those that He foreknew, called and predestinated (Rom. 8:28-30) because they also love Him unconditionally, struggle toward Him and do His commandments! (Jn. 14:21) But God hates those “chosen ones” who disregard His commandments and His Salvation! Shall we say then that God is unrighteous? (Rom. 9:13-18, etc.)

Is the above from the Spirit of the Lord or is it just my personal opinion? How do you discern it in your spirit, heart and conscience? Will you, please, preach this truth the next time?

* * *

Let us continue…

I wrote a letter to that Fellowship in Prešov and also attached my booklet “Truth about Salvation” requesting them to read it and respond to me. I considered the subject very important and I did indeed hope that they would see it that way as well; that they would consider the Word of God pertaining to that subject and would take the article out of their website. My booklet is short, so I hoped for their early answer.

After several months, I received a brief note where their elder questioned whether I was “under the power of the Lord’s Spirit” when I wrote my letter to him. I was told that I was “too authoritative”, and coming to them “from above” and not “from below”; plainly speaking, “I was elevating myself above them.” No mention of my booklet or of the serious matter of losing one’s Salvation!

I wrote them back again telling them that coming with authority and “from above” does not mean a self-elevation. Every true servant given by the Lord to the Church was given “from above” and never “from below” and was always given the necessary authority by the Lord. This is clear throughout the Scripture and requires from the Church the discipline to discern and assess the given Word. A true servant of the Lord without authority doesn’t exist. Furthermore, we should all know what kind of servants come “from below”.

Then their elder wrote back a brief letter where he admitted that he did not read “The Truth about Salvation” at all, he would not be expressing himself about it and that “as far as he understands the Lord”, he will not communicate with me in any foreseeable future! Wow… what an astonishing answer! Any common sense stops right here! The Lord, Whom that elder tries to understand says: “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.” (2Tim. 1:7)

I am asking myself a simple question: Where is the love and the sound mind of that elder when I am receiving from him such a spiritually sick and arrogant answer? Is it possible that we both were given to the Church by the same Lord and are responsible to Him? Or is he responsible to some other lord?

It seems that the Church is guided by a modified Word of God, namely: “A new commandment I give unto you, That you understand one another; as I have understood you, that you also understand one another… by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have understanding...” (Jn. 13:34,35?) But mutual and right understanding comes only through love… and suffering.

After another three months without response, I finally decided to write my third letter to that elder stating my belief that he did not like any discipline or authority “neither from above, nor from below” and that his decision not to communicate with me is not of the Lord! (Heb. 13:16) Hence, it had to come from somewhere else. That was in May 2004 and I do not expect any more replies from that offended elder. But he will have a hard time before the Judgment Seat of Christ explaining his decisions on the basis of the Word of God. (Rom. 14:10)

In the conviction of this elder, God cannot speak to them or correct them through anyone that He Himself sovereignly chooses! They are “perfect”, thus they need no counsel, no help, no instructions, no corrections, no advice of any kind. They can neglect the Word of God, His warnings or any needful and appropriate action and “feel fine”. Is this possible in the living Church of Jesus Christ? Well, of course, it is! Today, it is the norm in the Church.

The Lord granted me the knowledge that this particular elder himself hated it when a woman was leading a fellowship in the City of Košice in Slovakia because the Word of God is against it! (1Cor. 14:34,35) So he left the fellowship. I say: Good, he did it with the right motive. But when I, in a similar way and with the same right motive, hate it when somebody acts, speaks or writes against the Word of God and tell him about it, he considers me proud and not under the power of God’s Spirit!

So, 1Cor. 14:34,35 is the Word of God worth considering, but Rev. 3:5; 20:15; 22:19// Heb. 6:4-6// 2Pet. 2:20-22// Jn. 15:6// Mt. 3:10; 12:31,32// Lk. 13:6-9// 1Jn. 5:16 and many other verses (see^[7]) are not the Word of God worth considering! Is he living under a double standard? The only other explanation may be that the case with 1Cor. 14:34,35 hurt his pride while Rev. 3:5; 22:19 and the other verses shown above did not, because pride is not really concerned with the perishing of people.

A proud heart is never set to reply to truth, receive any counsel, advice, correction, discipline or any authority, not even from the Word of God! A proud heart hates instructions, despises reproofs, hates learning new things from the Lord, learning obedience and never needs help from anybody! (Pr. 5:12-14)

Here the Lord declares to all the proud elders and leaders in His Church this simple truth:

Unless you learn to be under the authority of those that I set over you, you yourselves cannot have authority over anyone else!

Proud people are non-submissive, disobedient, over-sensitive and stubborn, seeking only their own satisfaction. True, or not?

A proud heart can be hurt by any little thing. I know. My heart also received wounds, which it never expected, and which were not healed in 24 hours. But they all worked for my good simply because I love the Lord and am called according to His purposes! (Rom. 8:28) Thanks to the wounds by which the Lord afflicted me, I am today able to pause without discarding what I do not like or what hurts me. I am now able to turn to the Lord and enquire of Him whether I am breaking or neglecting His Word, whether I stand for the truth or against the truth or just for myself. I am able to keep His Word and not go stray. (Ps. 119:67)

What do you believe? Is it normal that anyone calling himself an “elder” in the Church of Jesus Christ would totally disregard the vital question of losing one’s Salvation? Should he not even respond? Also, should he keep publishing on a world-wide website anti-scriptural writings dangerous to believers? Should he refuse to read facts about it and reply at least in his own human honesty?

Too many Christians have lost even their common sense! Unfortunately, many will not return to their senses and they will not move until God’s fire touches their own skin! And it will… soon! They will then remember that God CAN choose any man He wants and send him “from above” and give him His Authority! And if Christians with their leaders cannot discern this simple fact or even admit it, they will then reap very unexpected consequences as is clear throughout the Word of the Almighty God.

The truth may also be shown from the following angle. The Word of God says: “Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth…” (Jn. 16:13)

Is this a reality or a dream for believers? When they see something, hear something, read something or stand before a problem, many of them never turn to the Spirit, Who lives in them, to guide them! They either consult and trust their own heart and mind (in which case they are fools – Pr. 28:26) or come to other men and say: “Well, what do you think?” (in which case they are not any better – Ps. 94:11// Jer. 17:5). And if the respected men say it is wrong, then they will not touch it, whatever the Spirit may say. Because most of the respected men also consult their own hearts and minds and do not turn to the Spirit and do not verify it in the Word of God. Don’t you see this?

It is ever so easy for any believer to keep saying: “the Spirit has shown me this… He showed me that… He told me this… He led me there…”. Really? In truth? What more obedience to the Word of God has He produced in you or through you to others since He started to “show you things” or “speak to you”? Has He ever guided you to your cross, seeing that your cross is the most important truth to you? (Mt. 16:24,25) If not, then it is a very strange spirit that is guiding you and speaking to you. This kind of deception may be fatal for your destiny and for the destiny of those that you are leading or giving advice to.

The blindness (the darkness of body) of carnal believers is not natural – it is supernatural caused by the devil, the god of this world. He and his forces of evil and darkness have blinded the minds of them that do not believe (pagans and “believers that do not believe”) so that the Gospel of Christ, the Word of God, is not shining upon them (2Cor. 4:4).

The eyesight (the light of body – Mt.6:22,23// Lk. 11:34-36// Acts 26:17,18), which the Lord gives is also supernatural. You may have 20/20 perfect natural vision and be totally blind in spiritual matters. But this spiritual eyesight does not come to us easily, but rather slowly, as we mature and battle the forces of darkness. Whatever the Lord desires to show us, Satan will always oppose, thus, there will always be a conflict and a battle between light and darkness. Do you see and believe these above facts?

Another spiritual reality is that God will not judge the blind because they do not see. He will judge those blind that refuse to see! He will judge the blind that refuse to admit they are blind and insist that they see!

The Lord says: “For judgment I am come to this world, that they which see not (and admit it and ask for eyesight) might see; and that they which (claim that they) see might be made blind”! (Jn. 9:39)

The Lord had not come just to heal the blind, but also to make blind; to shut the eyes of the proud and worldly prudent that they might not see. He also came to close their ears and make their heart fat – unresponsive – for they have never had intentions to perceive and understand! (Is. 6:9,10) If you have no desire to see, you will gradually lose the ability of seeing again! The same for hearing, perceiving and understanding. If you keep not wanting, you will lose the ability of ever wanting again.

If you are (now) sowing unwillingness, you will be (later on) reaping inability. (Gal. 6:7, Lk 13:24)

And then there is a man, whom I brought to the saving Grace of the Lord, baptized him in water, fed him with the Word and gave him my love and substance. Whenever I came to Slovakia, he travelled with me and I paid all his vacation, food, lodging, travel and whatever else was needed. After several years of being a struggling, but good and willing brother, he wrote me one day a letter claiming that he was “also right” in some thing, which “thing” he never specified. Therefore, he decided to stop helping us but “his door remained open to us”. Really? In truth? We wrote him back seven letters within three years. He never answered even one! Well then, what door does he keep open to us?

He is also living in the City of Banská Bystrica where he attends the same Baptist Church where I preached and whose elders never answered my letters. He has become an unfaithful, disloyal and treacherous man. Why? Down deep in his own conscience he knows! But Satan keeps him from speaking. Yet, nobody asks how the Lord sees and judges, how He looks on this man, on his family and their future, if there is any future for his pagan family. (2Pet. 2:21) Yet, I am never losing hope that His Great Mercy will prevail and that they may not perish if the Lord just detects a tiny whisper of desire to repent to Him in their hearts.

But I thank the Lord even for this man though he is presently fulfilling the Word of God in 2Pet. 2:22. Through him and others like him, the Lord had brought me into the “fellowship of His sufferings”. And through them I gained more of Him and of the power of His resurrection, and I am being made more conformable unto His death. (Phil. 3:10).

The Lord gave the man four years to repent and start bearing at least some fruit. And if not, He would cut him off from His “vineyard where he was planted” after he was baptized. (Lk. 13:6-9// Mt. 3:10) It is a heartbreaking thing and this truth is more bitter to me personally than others. Deep sufferings only come when deep love is hurt.

One part of “His sufferings” is when the Lord desires to help us – but we refuse! When He is ready to forgive us if we would just admit our fault, our sin, our unrighteousness – but we refuse! The Lord must watch evil in our soul resisting Him, even laughing at Him – with our approval! These are His sufferings, and He brought me into the same.

I also had opportunities to preach and hold seminars in Brno, the Capital of Moravia, in the Czech Republic. The beginnings were very promising. After my first sermon, I received a spontaneous applause, which I did not expect in the least. It took me by surprise and I did not even know how to receive it. Even later on at another seminar, people were very friendly and the question-and-answer period was quite lively. I was in Brno three times ministering and each time we had profitable and promising fellowships. One organizer kissed my cheek and expressed his love for me.

But then, as it is in many cases, the communications came to a grinding halt. The powers of darkness did not like one bit of what they had witnessed. So, I was accused of stupid things by the two chief organizers and never invited again. Those that had applauded me disappeared behind the horizon and a typical quietness descended on their spiritual wilderness. Their hearts were a “way side” and could not receive and profit from the Word sown to their hearts. (Lk. 8:11,12)

Then, I preached once in Pezinok, near Bratislava, the Capital of Slovakia. A small congregation of mostly middle aged and good-hearted women, and a few men gathered together. Then, unexpectedly, one of the chief elders from the church Headquarters in Bratislava also came. He sat in the first row with recording equipment on his lap making (probably unconsciously) noise during my preaching.

He showed his true colours after the sermon when a question period was announced. There were no questions and no answers because he started to bombard me with his criticism of my book^[14]. He was demonstratively leafing through it holding it above his head and looking for anything he could “hang” me on or accuse me of. Clearly, there was not even one sentence in the book, which would have been profitable or a blessing to the poor “spy”. How transparent the devil, “the accuser of brethren”, (Rev. 12: 9,10) can become in men. The Spirit, Who was there during the preaching had become silent as the elder kept saying: “I think that on this page… and I think this… and I think that…”. Finally, I told him that what he thinks has no value for the Lord, and for anyone of us, and it is vanity. He looked at me totally astonished. So I asked him to read Ps. 94:11. He did and stopped talking… the Lord shut his mouth.

There was no sense in him for the Spirit of the Lord, no spiritual intelligence, no seeking of truth, he just came in like “an elephant into a china shop”. What is more, some of those women, as I was giving them personal goodbye, told me privately that this particular elder was so vain and proud that it pains them whenever he comes to their assembly. So much for that fact and experience that further confirms the despicable state of the leadership of that particular church organization.

And then there was a man who was supposed to help our Mission in Slovakia and we put our trust in him. Little did we know what was in his heart even though he was a believer for many years. His dwelling place was found to be a true mirror of his heart: dirty, poorly maintained, in disrepair in many ways. He himself had no job and was not seriously looking for one. He was slothful and preferred to live on government welfare with his wife (who was rather diligent) and their six children (1Tim. 5:8). He had no taste for any diligent work except to “preach” in churches. Later on we found out that he turned our Mission into his personal “milking cow” charging us everything he possibly could including his private car trips. It did not occur to him that he was wasting the Lord’s money.

Such believers are simply absorbed in themselves, fully occupied with their own interests, and the Spirit of the Lord is nowhere. Yet, the Spirit knows us completely and sees exactly what obstacles there are in our heart and soul, which effectively prevent Him from guiding us and taking us further than just to our bare redemption.

One example of this man’s soul is this. In one of his letters (Sept. 7, 1999), he wrote to me: “My dear brother, I do not know who you are, but I believe that you are the Servant of the Most High God and that you are the Voice of God for my life, that it might be built for His Praise and Glory.”

In another letter, he wrote that having been a believer for about 25 years, he experienced the “whip” of the Lord and His chastisement for the first time. (Heb. 12:5-8) Everything seemed to be going the right way for that man. But later on, his “old man”, old nature with his plans, desires, intentions, beliefs and habits proved too strong for him to continue on this “narrow way”. The true reason for his inability was the fact that all his religion was in his head, his beliefs were all intellectual and not in his heart. He also suffered from a great selfishness. This fact generally applies to every carnal believer.

Our old self (old character) stands in the way of God, and God will not force it away. God often brings our self into a deep despair, great problems, storms, sufferings and conflicts and pains in order to complete in our soul a necessary further work. And if God does not do that work, our old self prevents us very effectively from receiving from God any further light and truth and blessings.

Let us never forget that our “old man”, old nature, our self is quite able to become religious and quite successful in religious circles, to pray nice, even elaborate attractive prayers, to “praise the Lord” when it feels good, or when it is expected of him, to preach or teach his intellectual knowledge of the Bible to others, to behave as a “good Christian” and thus become an “example” to others. How is it possible? Because he is blind to himself and thus self-deceived! Because his source, his life, is not of God! This applies to multitudes of believers and many ministers. Furthermore, our “self” is not different from the “self” of pagans, except that our “self” went to the baptismal water with us… if we were baptized at all!

Now, we understand our former brother and those like him. It was not uncommon for believers to consider us as a “rich American Mission”. Hence, we were supposed to pay for all that they did, planned or dreamed about. Nobody ever enquired about the reality concerning us and this ministry. Nobody knows that we are now only four families receiving no subsidy from anyone! We never undertook any fundraising and never will. Yet, we write, edit and print our books and send them free & post-paid to 68 countries of the world! And for all our ministry to the Church in these countries, we pay from our own salaries and pensions! You might as well consider it a true miracle from the Lord what you are holding in your hand and reading right now. It is truly His gift to you (see also page ii, and 1Cor. 1:26-29). Back to our man…

When he was finally deposed from his position in our Mission, his pride was deeply hurt and he became furious. He mailed personal letters to the addresses he had from our Mission accusing us how we owed him money and refused to pay him. He spewed his poison of bitterness all around and managed to take some of our former “brethren” away from us. We are sure before the Lord that to this day he has no clue what he has done and that he has done it to his own Saviour (if he is truly saved) and to His vineyard. I would not like to be in his shoes when he stands before the Judge of all the dead and living. Nevertheless, I pray to Our Lord to graciously look down on this victim of the devil, to forgive him and prevent anyone from his family to perish. Amen.

The tragedy is that none of such men seem to be willing to pause, ponder, see, admit, repent, be forgiven, cleansed and delivered from the powers of evil that had caused them to do all that evil, and go on unto perfection. (Heb. 6:1)

The Church of Jesus Christ is only as good as every individual Christian is. how we are individually affects the whole Church – and Her Head.

I want you to see and understand in your heart and not just in your mind that the experiences described above are very serious. They show how believers, no matter how sincere, decent or in what church leadership position they are, may be deeply deceived when their heart is not renewed and cleansed by the Spirit of the Lord; when it is only their mind that tries to understand, direct and govern their religious life. I am also sure that many of such believers do not believe in the powers of darkness and their influence on their own hearts and minds.

For that reason, I must quote from the excellent book “The Battle for Life^[3]” by T. Austin-Sparks (page 99):

“You can never undo divisions among the saints by bringing saints together to discuss their differences, and to ask them to make them up. The only way in which such things can be dealt with amongst the Lord’s people is to get down on your knees and deal with the forces behind. The power of the enemy behind that thing has to be broken. You can never ever patch up a situation like that, because it is devilish.”

The Lord is showing the state of the Church and of its leadership whether it is a large denomination, small fellowship, house group or other gatherings of believers. Most of their leaders, not all, are sufficiently self-righteous not to recognize the voice of the Lord, His desire or judgment for HIS Church, which HE is building and not them! (Mt. 16:18) They would not respond to anyone who shows the slightest sign of endangering their image or their position or their traditions or their way of doing things!

The most tragic fact is that many ministers do not care for the Word of God! Thus, they do not fear God! May the Lord be mercifull to them in the day of their Judgment… for it is their flesh that is trying to build His Church and do the work of His Spirit. They will never succeed in their efforts.

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I am constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to destroy, at this junction, the deception that Satan has been propagating by many preachers in the Church of Jesus Christ concerning “flesh”. Flesh is not a way of thinking, it is not our mind-set! The way of thinking and our mind-set is the result of flesh, and not flesh itself.

Flesh is our old satanic, sinful, filthy nature and dwells in the old man – old unrenewed soul of every pagan and born-again believer and minister of Jesus Christ! And all carnal believers and pagans live in it.

Flesh is the pride, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, self-righteousness, stubbornness, wickedness, disobedience, deceitfulness, foolishness, hypocrisy, envy, fears, hatred, malice and other evil and darkness in every old, unrenewed soul of every man!

The Lord commands us all that this truth must be preached and taught and not our own humanistic ideas deceiving His people.

Furthermore, the Lord desires us to see and understand the following vital truth about flesh. Whenever we believe a lie and cherish it in our mind or heart, that lie becomes the ground within our soul occupied by the powers of darkness and evil, which ground they can then use as a basis for their operations. Such a basis constitutes flesh within us in addition to all the above stated and framed facts about flesh. Whenever we believe a foolish thought, judge unrighteously based on untruth, wrong or insufficient information, past experiences, appearances, etc., (Jn. 7:24), we build within us a new flesh. It can then be rooted into us and persist in our soul for years to come.

Therefore, unless our wrong beliefs and lies dwelling within us are destroyed, the devil will keep his territory in our soul and will effectively stand in the way of our Salvation, spiritual growth and spiritual maturing.

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B. Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN)

This TV station operates from Santa Clara, California, USA and it brings all kinds of religious programming on the air. Their programs are aired to many nations of the world and influence millions of people around the globe. I watched their programs for over four years together with some of my brethren from our Body of Christ. On one hand, we thank the Lord that such a station exists and broadcasts also programs, which are highly desirable not only for pagans to be brought to the saving Grace of the Lord, but also for believers and their continued Salvation.

On the other hand, the Lord showed us that some programs are clearly not of His Spirit at all, they are offensive to Him, defying His Word and are undesirable for people to see, absorb and be guided by. We will point out those the Lord considers offending later on. This Lord’s light and His corrections are absolutely necessary to guide His Church during these last days before His Coming.

Many readers of this book might be familiar with this station and might have watched many programs themselves, so they could also ponder what the Lord granted us as His light and judgment of some of the programs and ministers appearing on TBN channels. There are many, many things that could be written showing both beneficial as well as detrimental effects on TBN channels.

It has been my faith, experience and a firm conviction that every ministry should be continually exposed to the Light of Truth and necessary corrections from the Lord if it is to be justified to continue in His Presence. (Rev. 1:14-16; 2:5) Its function and fruit must continue to be acceptable and desirable to the Lord of all lords. The Lord’s message to the seven churches (Rev. chpts. 2,3) must not be taken lightly by any believer and by any minister unless we are ready to suffer the consequences thereof.

I will divide His Light granted to us about TBN into three sections. Those spiritually negative and detrimental examples shown below indicate the state of their churches (Rev. 3:17-19) as well as the corrections needed. They should remember from whence they have fallen (Rev. 2:5) and why these below ministries are not acceptable to the Lord and why His Spirit is truly grieved and suffering.

1. Indecent ministries

The Lord says: “Let ALL things be done decently and in order” (1Cor. 14:40)

a) In January 2003, the Lord showed us bishop Earl Paulk’s church auditorium (we only saw the end part of the “service”) where a white guest speaker with a black man were without their jackets as they ran and then slid on their bellies and shirts across the podium! The guest speaker then came to the pulpit and the black man jumped on his neck and shoulders from behind. He then wobbled away from the pulpit carrying the black man on his shoulders, both men wildly laughing. These so-called “ministers” acted as “crazy people possessed by evil spirits”.

This is what the Lord says to them: “It is written, My House shall be called the House of prayer; but you have made it a house of clowns and a circus”. (see Mt. 21:13)

This Word applies to all such “clowns” in the Church of Jesus Christ who seem to run religious fun clubs calling them “churches”. The Lord requires a public repentance from those “ministers” (we do not know their names) and from bishop Earl Paulk for spreading this religious dung on worldwide television. Many pagans are more decent and intelligent than many so-called Christians. The true joy in the Spirit is always decent and never crazy.

b) Some ministers use His Holy Name in a derogatory sense as if the Almighty Lord, the Creator of this Universe were their “buddy”! [The Lord points to J. Duplantis, ex.: “Jesus, take off your shirt and show your back.” The Spirit never speaks and never guides any one to speak in such an arrogant way about the King of all kings! The Lord says that the “ministry” of Jesse Duplantis is blasphemous and a religious comedy where he shows no fear and no knowledge of the Lord whatsoever!]

Other ministers indulge in sexual preaching even putting their words into God’s mouth! [The Lord points to John Hagee, ex.: “And God said: Let there be sex.” God never said that, His Spirit never guided Jesus or anybody else to speak like that about what God created to be intimate. It is dangerous for any man to put his words into God’s mouth and feel ‘fine’.] And there are others like that.

Have such ministers ever had a true reverence and fear of the Lord? Have they ever feared the Word of God in Mt. 12:37? Their gospel is often mixed in with fun, laughing, screaming and improper joking at improper times! This may be very attractive and highly entertaining, but it is spiritually primitive, at times even indecent and offensive to the Lord, without spiritual understanding, intelligence or knowledge of the Lord. It produces no spiritual values, never changes the character of believers and is purely an intellectual and emotional religion. Their ministry may be very impressive, done with human boldness and persuasiveness, but it is abhorrent to the Lord. (Jam. 1:26// Eph. 5: 3,4) The Lord says that such ministers serve Him in their own human cleverness, and in “standing firm for God”, they only express their own strong soulish personalities!

The Lord asks where is their spiritual discernment? All such ministers are called to repent to the Lord, change the ways of their ministry, stop grieving the Holy Spirit – or else, the Lord will remove their candlestick, which may thus be giving more spiritual darkness than light! (Rev. 2:5)

The Lord says that such have not known Him in spirit, never honoured and worshipped Him in spirit and in truth but only in their flesh! (Jn. 4:24) The chief reason is twofold: their strong proud soul is not broken and is not divided–separated from their spirit. (Heb. 4:12) This indicates that such were not subjected to the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Also, they regard their good intellectual knowledge of the Word as the revelation from the Spirit, which it is not! This type of “religious entertainment” has started in the USA and has been exported to all the world bringing shame to the Lord and to His Church and greatly grieving His Holy Spirit!

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Let me add this in my own words: Yes, the Lord has an excellent sense of humour. Yes, I myself love good jokes and also jovial believers rather than the “undertakers”. Yes, we have the right to laugh and be happy – at the right time, right place and right manner. (Ecc. 3:1,4) But many ministers have no spiritual discernment, they only talk about the Spirit of the Lord! They may hate me for this statement, they may not be able to believe me, but that is not my problem, it is theirs. I declared the Truth and Judgment from the Lord and I do hope that they will at least consider it in their hearts.

Now, I also must say this: I do appreciate them in the Lord and appreciate their enduring commitment to the work for the Lord. The Lord is using them in other ways, but they tolerate “flies in their ointment”… maybe much more than just flies! (Ecc. 10:1,2) And if they have any doubts about the above judgment of the Lord, then they should go to Him on their knees and ask Him… and He will confirm it to them.

Let me continue my own words saying also this: It does not belong into this chapter of “Indecent Ministries” at all!… yet, I chose to say it right here for comparison. There are good and excellent ministers and preachers on TBN. I have it in my heart to mention at least one such preacher – Charles Stanley from “In Touch Ministries”. He never puts his hands in the pockets of his pants showing pride, giving an impression that he “knows it all”. He never strives, sweats, screams his head off, runs across the stage like a zealot, says improper jokes or begs for money. He is composed, decent, humble, unpretentious and gives to his congregation very practical Words of God for their daily life …and the Lord is pleased with him! And I do not flatter him one bit… I love him very much.

It was also delightful to see sister Dollar teaching the Bible to children on one TBN channel. The Lord is pleased with women who minister within the limits of the Word of God and are able to discern their role in serving Almighty God. The Lord loves such lady-ministers, and so do I.

[So, here you have a balanced truth.]

Let me conclude my own words by this statement. The churches in North America and Europe would, in my belief, need preachers, teachers, pastors and evangelists from some poorer countries of the world (Africa, Asia, South America) to bring them the right kind of Christianity, a more humble, pure and living, less bombastic, less showy and a less self-conscious one. Too many North American and European church leaders have abandoned spiritual ways and the Full Gospel of God and they now walk the ways of this corrupted world and their soul is far from the Spirit of God. Thank God, there are yet pastors and preachers in the “uncivilized countries” who have open, simple and humble hearts. It is a true pleasure to minister to them the simple and meek Christ (2Cor. 1:12; 11:3// Mt. 11:29) and His Majestic Salvation. And they believe and receive the Word without any spirit of pride, arrogance, self-righteousness or fears.

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I am constrained at this point by the Spirit of the Lord to testify also about the following sad fact. No sooner had the poor nations of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe emerged from under the satanic oppression, deception and terror of communism, when they were submerged into another danger and deception – this “Las Vegas” kind of Christianity from the USA and other religious garbage published in books, magazines or through mass media. The Cross has been taken out, personal holiness and righteousness disregarded, preaching of prosperity, fun and “prophecies” on how the world will end, and also other similar messages saturated Central and Eastern Europe and reached catastrophic proportions.

True evangelistic efforts are certainly needed and most welcomed. To bring pagans to Christ is necessary, wise and blessed, but then to submerge them into this kind of “religious dung” is not only silly and counterproductive but outright dangerous for those souls. When the converts of Pharisees were turned into “sons of hell” (Mt. 23:15), then what are these converts being turned into?

Satan has evil wisdom, he knows what he is doing and too many believers are foolish enough to serve him wholeheartedly in the Name of Jesus Christ! Lord, have mercy on us! I also tell you in the Name of Christ Jesus that North America and Europe, being the largest bastions of Christianity in the world, have become the richest and also largest spiritual cemeteries in this world. Most of the churches in these “civilized countries of the world” have become spiritually and morally corrupt! They may evangelize and preach the basic Word to millions around the world, but with it, they also minister their corrupt spirit! The Bride of Christ shall rise mostly from the poor countries of this world and only few men among them will be theologically educated. (1Cor. 1:19,26-29)

* * *

Back to TBN…

c) The Lord admonishes those that publicly dishonour Him and bring shame to Him by their indecent appearance defying His Word in 1Cor. 14:40. They may not be conscious of it at all since their conscience may be dead or seared with a hot iron (1Tim. 4:2):

• Men who have long hair or earrings or even other piercing. They additionally defy His Word in 1Cor. 11:14 and should be ashamed before the Lord while they sing, or “worship” or even preach. They are repugnant to the Lord and to His Spirit and the Lord does not accept their “ministry”, which is not of His Spirit and cannot bring forth any good fruit.

Should His Spirit speak to such men, He would first guide them to the truth in 1Cor. 11:14 and would not give them any other “revelations“. Based on this Word, the Lord Himself never had long hair as He has been portrayed by artists for centuries! He would never go against His Own Word!

• Women who have short hair (boy’s hair cut) or with their heads “uncovered” while praying, prophesying or otherwise ministering in the Church are repugnant to the Lord and they are also dishonouring their heads as if they were shorn bald. (1Cor. 11:5,10,13,15)

• Women ministering in pants and other men’s apparel are repugnant to the Lord and to His Spirit; it is the devil who created “unisex” and not God. The devil causes men to be effeminate and women to be like men, but God hates this mixture, any mixture. [ex. Deut. 22:5,10,11// Neh. 13:3// Is. 1:22 // Dan. 2:41-43// Hos. 7:8-10; since Jesus Christ is the Word (Jn. 1:1,14), then He is also the Old Testament Word!]

• Women who wear indecent wigs, big earrings, heavy make-up or long polished nails and look like witches rather than daughters of God are dishonouring the Lord directly. They may be less decent than many pagans and unaware of what kind of foul spirits they are projecting onto the TV screens affecting millions of people while they try to “minister” and use the Name of Jesus Christ – the Creator of this Universe!

At this place, the Lord points also to Jan Crouch (the wife of Paul Crouch, tbn Founder) and considers her appearance abhorrent to Him. She should be an example to other women, yet, she is like unto Tammy Bakker from the former PTL Club, who, God says, has been a cursed woman. [PTL Club was destroyed, it served the devil, brought shame to the Lord and we interceded before the Lord to destroy it; see also pages 160-162^[8]]

The Lord also questions Benny Hinn and his spiritual discernment when he one day said to Jan Crouch on a national TBN telecast: “Oh, you are a doll”!? The Lord will not tolerate such spiritual darkness with any of His servants and that with no respect of persons. (Lev. 19:15// Deut. 1:17// 1Pet. 1:17) This Lord’s warning applies specially to all the ministers that are exposed on the national or even worldwide television and carry a much greater responsibility and accountability before Him than many obscure ones do.

• Young ministers, especially singers, who seem to minister or “worship” looking, and many times even sounding, like heavy metal bands. They seem to believe that “the more noise, the higher the screaming, the better the worship”. It may be sufficient just to use the Name of Jesus in order to get to perform on TBN channels. For spiritually dead believers, it might be a “lively music”, but there is no spiritual discernment as to what is from the Lord’s Spirit and what is from hell, what is acceptable, even pleasant, to the Lord and what is abhorrent to Him.

2. Carnal ministries

The Lord says: “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; ...in meekness instructing...”. (2Tim. 2:24,25)

The Lord asks why many TBN ministers continually strive sweating, screaming, jumping, or running across stages? [The Lord points to R.Parsley, T.D.Jakes, Juanita Bynum and many others.] The Lord says that in the sweat of our face we will eat our bread (Gen. 3:19), but we cannot minister in the Inner Court of the Lord’s House! (Ez. 44:17-19,23)

Decibels do not show spirituality, do not prove any truth and do not produce any spiritual work or fruit acceptable to the Lord! Striving is never done in the Spirit of God but always in our flesh!

The Lord is also asking such ministers why do they appear “normal” while speaking from their offices or from elsewhere, but behind the pulpit they change into different creatures striving, screaming, sweating? The Lord also asks where is their meekness and spiritual discernment?

I believe that throughout the years, we all developed certain styles of ministry and this “mode” has then become our “mould”. It is difficult to get out of it. If the Lord does not mind our habit(s), all is well. But if He speaks against it, we must pay attention for there is something wrong with us. Striving comes from flesh, from its anxiety and restlessness, never from the Spirit! These ministers are restless and anxious and, hence, the Spirit can not bless such a ministry or make it spiritually beneficial or fruitful because it is conducted in fleshly spirits.

Such ministers have become masters of their “religious performances” and are themselves clearly enjoying them together with their usually large audiences! The congregations usually come with the expectations to be entertained… but not to take another step to “die to themselves”! (1Cor. 15:31) Hello? Are you with me? The Lord says that pride and self-glorification is involved in the hearts of such ministers. Why?

Well, the Lord says: “He that glories let him glory in the Lord.” (1Cor. 1:31) In the light of the above paragraph and in my many personal experiences, I must say that there are countless ministers who just “glory in their performances”, in their own efforts, their own religious successes, in constructing large and magnificent buildings and filling them with large congregations. Their zeal for the Lord is stirred by their flesh and blood and not by the Spirit. They have pride in their own achievements while they claim that it was the Lord who built it. Really? The Lord allows men to build what their hearts plan and desire. He then only directs their steps so that it might become as beneficial for His purposes as possible under the circumstances. (Pr. 16:2,9)

The Spirit of the Lord is not limited to our buildings, radio or TV networks or other man-made means as we may believe or imagine that He is. The first Apostles and the early Church that turned the world upside down by their voices had used nothing of that sort. (Rom. 10:18) Very few people can imagine that the Spirit can create anything He wants out of nothing! That He showed the light of Salvation to all men centuries before men dreamed about TV or radio or missionaries. (Tit. 2:11// Ps. 98:3) My heart knew the Lord before it knew anything about religion.

The Lord builds His Living Body and not magnificent buildings with large congregations! We now live in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. Today, His Temple is spiritual, not physical! We must thus see and understand also the following fact.

a congregation is not the Body of Christ! It is just a big or small group of individuals, born-again or not, with the most divergent minds, hearts, faith, intentions, desires and will, having only superficial relationships with one another, sitting in some building with a cross on the roof. And that is unfortunately the only place where the cross may be found, on the roof, and not in their souls! But that is as far from a local expression of the living Body of Christ, as is East from the West! Had you been born with such a dysfunctional “body” yourself, you would have been in a wheelchair from your birthday!

So, if you build a large congregation without providing for smaller home units (sometimes called cells), where the Lord’s Spirit can truly work, then you are just building a large audience that may bring in a lot of money and some glory to you – but to the Lord’s Spirit it may bring only more suffering and pain. (Eph. 4:30) However, large audiences during evangelistic rallies (ex. B. Graham or others) for the purposes of Salvation are a different matter.

The Lord will never provide to the ministries, which minister pride – He resists them! He resists the proud because they are not submitted unto Him, they do not resist the devil and do not draw nigh to God. They all are double minded and have filthy hands and hearts. They should be afflicted, mourn and weep and humble themselves in the sight of the Lord! (Jam. 4:6-10// Mt. 11:29) [Here, the Lord points to K. Hagin, jr., who keeps his hands in the pockets of his pants even while reading the Word of God, preaching, praying or worshipping God, showing a horrible pride and darkness! And there are many others who are proud though they may not all keep their hands in the pockets of their pants, they may have gowns or skirts.]

What then can such ministers give to their “sheep” except their own pride and darkness? This is all they have. They cannot give them what they do not have. Many times they themselves may preach about flesh, identify evil and sins of flesh, even the necessity to condemn it and get rid of it all. Yet they are not delivered from it themselves. Why? Because it is foolish to assume that our mind can expose our own sinfulness! It takes the Light from the Lord and not the effort of our poor, selfish and proud soul. Yet, even the proud may preach and people may be saved, but they cannot grow and mature beyond the spiritual state of their own preachers or shepherds!

The Presence of the Lord is usually not found in magnificent buildings or auditoria where the proud are often preaching, only His Grace is present there. He is usually found in the hearts of simple people in the rooms of ordinary houses… and mostly out of the reach of mass media.

* * *

The Spirit of the Lord constrains me at this point to declare to all ministers and servants of the Lord Jesus Christ the following important spiritual truth:

The fact that God raised up and blessed a ministry, mission, instrument or individual vessel does not mean at all that He has to continue with it!

It does not mean at all that He cannot close it or discontinue it or abandon it altogether when it departed from Him, from His Word, from its own spiritual purity and usefulness for Him! (ex: Rev. 2:5)

The above applies not only to great, famous or otherwise well-known (radio or TV) ministries, but also to their individual leaders who may have started well and with the Lord but were found in the mire of their own ideas, plans and zeal… and without the Lord! And they may not be aware of it! So they continue as those priests in the Tabernacle in Shiloh or Gibeon where they were doing “according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel” (1Chr. 16:40// Josh. 18:1) though the Ark (Christ) was not there!

The Ark (Christ) was foolishly taken out of His House by their leaders to defend Israel and was taken by their enemy, the Phillistines! (1Sam. 4:3,10,11) Amazing!

The priests of Israel forsook the Lord and so the Lord forsook them! (2Chr. 15:2; 24:20// 1Sam. 4:3// Jer. 7:12-16// Ps. 78:59,60)

Was “that” Lord different from the Lord “we have today”? (Heb. 13:8) Hello? Are you with me? Many believers and ministers alike may also be “forsaken” by the Lord and they may not even be aware of it, and they continue “ministering according to all that their religious convictions require”. Of course, “forsaken” may not mean eternally, but for their ministry to the Lord and to His Church.

My question is: Has the Lord changed His Ways, His Mind, His Judgments in the New Testament? Not one bit! Are we, the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, willing to verify with Him where we stand in His Judgment? It is not that difficult to honour Him with our lips while our own heart may be far from Him! (Mt. 15:8-9, Mk. 7:6,7)

* * *

3. Unacceptable ministries

The Lord says: “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under silence, as also says the law... for it is a shame for women to speak in the church... the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” (1Cor. 14:34,35,37)

May I ask who in TBN cares for the Commandments of the Lord? Can anybody reply to the Lord?

The Lord further says: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1Tim. 2:11-14)

Ladies on TBN channels “preach, teach and usurp authority over the man” in an open rebellion against this Word of God! The Lord says that it is disgusting to Him and to His Spirit! That there is no love for Him or His Word in their hearts, they love themselves and their “ministry” (Jn. 14:21,23,24// Ps. 119:158). Any person trying to serve God or His Church who was not called by God to do so offers unto Him a strange fire, he/she is engaged in an extremely dangerous activity and will suffer horrible consequences. (Lev. 10:1,2) Behold, the Lord is warning you women publicly, therefore, you shall have no excuses!

They preach and “minister” the Word of God in defiance of the Word Itself!

The Lord says that they have put themselves into the place of authority where He never put them! [The Lord points to Marilyn Hickey, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Juanita Bynum (also Jer. 23:21), and many others]. The Lord asks whether their reasoning, beliefs or devotion to serve Him is superior to His Word? The Lord also asks: Is My Word written in vain? Can any believer do what he/she “feels like doing” without any consequences? Will any responsible person at TBN or the preachers on TBN channels answer these simple questions to the Lord?

Those ladies who may believe that Apostle Paul was a “male chauvinist” are referred to Phil. 4:3. Here, the same Paul desired help for “those women, which laboured with me (Paul) in the Gospel”! So, women may also labour in the Gospel in the right way and spirit. And this verse of the Scripture was also inspired by the same Spirit of God!

The Lord says that some of these women are also striving, jumping, twisting their bodies, talking like a machine-gun or screaming their heads off as if being crazy, bringing their listeners to an emotional frenzy. [The Lord points predominantly to Juanita Bynum, Paula White and others.]

The Lord says that it is hellish and NOT of Him! They may appear as “ministers of righteousness” quoting the Bible, mentioning the Name of the Lord, showing their zeal, knowledge and self-confidence, allowing others to publicly call them “pastor, prophet, preacher”, etc. But their end shall be according to their works. (Pr. 24:12// Mt. 16:27// Rev. 2:23; 22:12, for more details, see also pages 167-178^[8]) If any of these women have true respect for the Word of God, and if they believe that the Lord had given them the ability to teach or preach, then they should direct their ability toward ladies or children, but not toward men. And they must have the right spirit within them for thus far, the Lord says, they have not known Him in His Spirit.

If they, therefore, repent, which is to say, change their ways and ministries and stop blatantly breaking the Word of the Living God, then the Lord will abundantly pardon. And if they do not repent and do not change their ways and their current “ministries”, the Lord says this to them:

“I am not mocked, what you are sowing, you shall surely reap... and you shall be thrown to outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Gal. 6:7// Mt. 7:22,23; 8:11,12; 13:41,42)

The Lord also warns those pastors, evangelists and other ministers who allow their wives to become their “partners in ministry” that they may be committing the same grave error as is described above. Anyone who tries to “minister” to God and the Church without being called by God, is risking his/her own life! Your unbelief of this truth will only make it much worse for you in the Day of your Judgment, which is coming. Satan pushes women into the ministry of the Word, not the Spirit of God.

The men of God associated with TBN are called to oversee and discern all that is broadcast whether it is of the Spirit of God, or not! If they keep losing their spiritual discernment, their respect for every Word of God and are becoming “modernists”, then the Lord will abandon and remove each such “candlestick” out of its place very quickly so it would not produce more darkness than light… unless they repent and change their ways. (Rev. 2:5)

Again, it may not be realized by those responsible for the programming on TBN channels that while one ministry may spiritually build up, the next “ministry” may pull it down! If a decent and highly profitable ministry of, say, Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, Jentezen Franklin, James Merritt, David Jeremiah, Adrian Rogers and many others is followed by something that looks like “Michael Jackson’s Anniversary Special”, then I do wonder what “devil” got into the programming and what spirit is “guiding” those responsible and into what? (Jn. 16:13)

All those responsible for the programming should start asking themselves this question. They all may believe that the Spirit is guiding every believer to all the truth. Not so! He is only guiding those believers that truly desire to see, understand and live that truth. And He is only guiding the meek to His Judgments and to teach His Ways! (Ps. 25:9) The problem may be a lack of meekness and of the fear of the Lord in those that make programs for TBN channels, otherwise, such things would not be broadcast to all the world. And while some Christian “creatures” might get entertainment, such programs bring shame to the Lord and not glory.

And when your men of God are heavily propagating and praising the film of Mel Gibson “The Passion of the Christ”, I am asking them this: Do you really believe that the Spirit of the Lord ever asked, led or inspired Mel Gibson to do this kind of film? Do you really? Since when has the Lord commissioned Hollywood to help Him on the evangelistic field? Would the Spirit of God desire us to hear of blood and see bloody scenes, massacres and similar evil when He expressly says:

“He that… stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil (including blood); he shall dwell on high…”? (Is. 33:15,16)

The Word of the Lord also says that “…whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely… think (imagine, meditate) on these things.” (Phil. 4:8, also Col. 3:2) Is the “bloody mess” of Gibson’s film pure or lovely? Does it fit this Word of God? Yes, or no? How will you answer? … not to me, but to the Lord?

And another Word of God says: “Turn my eyes from beholding a vanity.” (Ps. 119:37) This film is a vanity and serves no purpose for the Almighty Lord. His Spirit can even today add such to His Church as He may choose (Acts 2:41,47) and that without any gladiator scenes. Satan has been butchering people since Cain and none of it ever helped any man to turn from evil and be saved! Just as the daily murders, bloody scenes and other trash on TV screen will not bring even one soul to the Lord!

Finally, the Word says: “I would have you wise (well informed) unto that which is good, and simple (uninformed) concerning evil.” (Rom. 16:19b)

Today, our enemy is seeking to occupy the believers with evil in various ways and forms. What Israel and the world had done to Christ was the greatest evil ever imagined. The devil keeps showing his “masterpiece” to the believers and naïve leaders are praising Satan’s work by propagating it. Should then ordinary believers believe and follow such leaders and their opinions or the Word of God? What will you answer? And do not start defending your logical opinions, start defending the Word of God… for a change. The Spirit will never lead you to see or seek physical images of how Christ suffered because of your flesh and sins. But He will always lead you to see how you keep refusing to suffer and keep defending and cherishing your flesh.

The following conclusion seems to be perfectly fitting for every believer in general and for TBN in particular. It is quoted from “The Battle for Life^[3]”, (page 48) and every true believer should ponder it in his/her heart:

“… there are multitudes of things done for the Lord, which are not done in the Holy Spirit. There is a whole mountain of activity proceeding from the purest motives for the Lord’s interests, but they are not the Holy Spirit’s activities. I believe the Lord is generous and gracious, and that because it is a matter of ignorance, He is patient with us, and seeks to lead us into better ways. The mistaken course may be due to want of light, and while fuller light is not available, or until it breaks in, the Lord continues alongside and gives as much blessing as He can.

But that does not mean that in the long run all that past activity is going to meet with acceptance, and prove to have been for the accomplishment of Divine ends. At some point it will break down, and those who are in it will break down, and they will have to come to a recognition of the fact that, after all, a great percentage of all that work for the Lord has not counted: and the earlier we come to that recognition the better.” …(!)

This is what the Lord says to the believers and ministers described or named above, also to those that are like unto them and are either appearing or ministering on TBN channels or through any other mass media or are in any other church:

Be zealous and repent and change your ways, your ministries, your appearance, your worldly approach. do less but in My Spirit rather than expand and grow big and compromise My Word and minister flesh and that, which is evil in my sight – or else, your judgment is sealed and you shall not escape. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto you at this hour.

“I pray to You, Lord Jesus Christ, to uphold, maintain and strengthen the preaching of the Gospel and every decent and needful program on TBN, which fulfils at least some of Your purposes. But I pray strongly to You, oh, My Lord, and in Your Name I condemn all the leaven, which is of the flesh even of the powers of evil and darkness, all that defies, abuses or neglects Your Holy Word on TBN channels and in any other mass media and I am asking You to destroy it! Amen.”

C. Ministry of the Word of God

In this paragraph we should consider some important and practical facts concerning the ministry of the Word as it is widely practiced in the churches, even at home groups or fellowships. This is the part where the mind and intellectual knowledge is predominant and where the heart is barely present. It is thus a situation opposite to the one described in the Scripture and required for our Salvation.

Brother Watchman Nee was my first spiritual teacher appointed for me by the Lord. He was a true servant of God greatly blessed with many revelations, experiences and truths of God concerning the true nature of man and of his Salvation. Large parts of his teachings were about our cross and the absolute need for believers to die in their old nature and acquire the new Nature of Christ. This fact he stressed particularly to all the ministers of the Word. The book “The Messenger of the Cross^[1]” contains many important truths about this topic. One quote about the teaching of the Word is particularly fitting to this place where brother Watchman says (page 86):

“In seeking truth, many come with a wrong motive. If they are not seeking to satisfy their own lust for knowing, they are preparing messages to teach others. Their basic motive is to solve mental difficulties and not to cultivate their own spiritual life. Since such is their intention, they feel quite comforted if they are able, in the end, to understand. For they can now teach others. Clearly, they are not seeking for spiritual reality.”

Then he continues with what may be shocking to many preachers of the Word and evangelists (page 135):

“Please, beware that we may even sin while saving souls. If we do not depend on God but trust in our own understanding and experience of the Gospel, we will be sinning and not saving souls in the sight of God even if we have spent time and energy in persuading people to believe in the Lord! If instead of sensing our utter weakness and leaning entirely on the power of the Lord, we try to edify saints on the strength of our knowledge of the Bible and our excellent speech, in God’s eyes we will be sinning while preaching!…

The Lord does not ask if we have done well; He only examines if we have trusted in Him. Whatever is done out of one’s self will be burned up on that day at the judgment seat of Christ, and what is done out of God shall remain. The meaning of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is none other than being active outside of God, seeking what is good according to one’s thought…”

Knowledge or understanding of biblical facts and truths is not Salvation. Emotions are not Salvation. Increasing our biblical knowledge, understanding or emotions does not increase our Salvation!

My personal experiences from my past life have all been very profitable to me. They all were prearranged by the Lord, hence, they all worked for my good whether they were good or bad, sweet or painful! (Rom. 8:28) The Lord was recreating my heart to have His understanding and with it grace, patience and wisdom. When our heart understands others, it can also dispense grace, patience and wisdom, otherwise it cannot. There is a great lack of grace, wisdom and of the fruit of the Lord’s Spirit in the Church.

Whether I was present in a congregation listening to a sermon or watching TV programs (like TBN), one important fact always emerged from the ministry of the Word that was conducted. From its beginning to its end, it was usually an intellectual or emotional exercise, or both. The congregation was expected to always understand and appreciate the preaching and be willing to do what was given to them because it was beneficial and they would be blessed. There is nothing wrong with such expectations … except that they are highly unrealistic… most of the time totally impossible!

The fruit of such a preaching is that believers gather more and more information about truth, but their hearts remain unchanged.

The heart’s content is untouched, the powers ruling therein are untouched, the heart’s thoughts and intentions are unchanged. If the hearer receives the Word in the power of his intellect and without the power of the Spirit, then “the truth remains the same truth and the believer remains the same believer”! Nothing has really changed. But God’s Word is living (Heb. 4:12), hence, the believer who listens and does not show life has not heard the Word of God! Are we able to see this spiritual fact?

Their minds may be all for it, their feelings may be welling up in them so that they may be writing many notes in their notebooks or, perhaps, lifting hands and praising the Lord – but the core of their heart is not changed! Therefore, whenever the Lord would test them in a real life situation, real problem, real danger, real difficulty, real devilish temptation – they would fail. I know! I was failing too… and nobody told me why. At least, I am now able to tell you why… without elevating myself. Will you listen? But even this testimony will not help you if you do not open your heart, receive it and believe it there.

[I do not say, that people should stop writing notes, rather, that they should ask the Lord to bring the notes into their blood, which is to say, into their life (Deut. 12:23) through the discipline and training of the Holy Spirit.]

The reason for spiritual stagnation, deprivation or destruction is that the minds of believers may be opened but their hearts are definitely closed! And so are the hearts of many preachers and ministers.

What is the result? A lot of truth may be preached, taught and heard. There may be a lot of agreement, people nodding their heads sometimes even applauding or standing up to signify the excellency of the truth preached. The people are told what they should do and what they should not do! Where they should be careful and what they should watch for and why. The topics may be neatly divided into logical points and sub-points, each point may be clearly explained by the Scripture. The problems may be seen and understood, the Scripture given may be quite fitting, the intentions to follow it may all be there, even true sincerity may not be missing.

YET, after hundreds of sermons and hundreds of the most sincere counsels, no valuable changes seem to have happened in the lives of those believers. Many of them remain the same… if they do not become worse! They are surely more educated, they may be much more enthusiastic, but with the same spiritual inabilities. They somehow keep doing what they should not do… and they are somehow never able to start doing what they should do, and they are still not careful and still not watching.

In other words, theory is brilliant, practice is miserable. I am sure that many of you that are not in a “deep religious sleep” but walk with the Lord have experienced this fact very often. I also believe that we all experienced it many times without being necessarily aware of it. Why is it so? I believe that this is so because people are never told the basic truth that they should hear and which I personally have never heard preached to me either, namely, that…

…our ability to stop doing what we should not do, or start doing what we should do, is obtained only on our own cross! Our old nature must first die! It cannot perform any truth preached to us from the pulpits! It cannot follow the Lord.

Our old nature cannot end up in the Kingdom. It is the enemy of Christ! Christ will never enable our old nature to do His Word, live His Life! If we do not know our cross, we cannot do His Word, we cannot do God’s Will… and we do not know what to do!

Show me the preachers who preach this truth and explain it and I will show you the true and fruitful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the above truth is never preached and explained by the Scripture, how can the Lord build it in our hearts? It is simply never believed and the faith of believers has a big hole right in its middle! This faith is simply and completely missing in the Church!

God responds to our faith,

not to our knowledge!

Another reason why this faith is missing in the hearts of millions of believers is that the preaching of the Word is generally done along a very specific line, namely, that…

believers must feel good and be satisfied and not necessarily God! They desire salvation that will satisfy their expectations, understanding, hopes. They must have their own way, keep their natural life and, preferably, their way and life should be “blessed by God”.

The Cross, they say, was only for Jesus Christ, not for believers! The Lord died on the Cross, so then believers, they say, do not have to. This is the main deception and it has reached catastrophic proportions in all the churches of Jesus Christ! (Mt. 16:24)

Another truth and faith, which is completely missing in the Church is that believers are taught or encouraged to “stay out of temptations”. This is a false doctrine. I am not saying that believers should be looking for temptations and purposely crawling into them. Not at all. Yet, the Lord in His perfect timing allows temptations to get into our way in order that He may change us into His Image! Temptation is not a sin! Temptation is a way to try our faith and heart. Yielding to it brings us into sin. The Lord was tempted Himself, yet, He never failed. (Mt. 4:3-10; 16:21-25// Heb. 4:15)

Our Lord tells us that we should “count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing this that the trying of your faith brings (works into us) patience.” (Jam. 1:2,3)

Wow! How many Christians do you know that truly rejoice in their temptations? Have you ever counted them? And have you yourselves ever rejoiced being tempted? Judge yourselves. But if you do rejoice, it is a proof that your old nature is not ruling you completely because you are already doing this Word of God… to whatever degree.

The Lord says, “Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he is tried (and endures), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him.” (Jam. 1:12// Rev. 2:10)

We must be tempted, tried and endure to obtain the crown of life that the Lord promised to us who love Him! That is our only proof that we truly love Him…and not just talk about loving Him.

Yet another truth and faith, which may be missing in the Church or is distorted concerns our tribulations. Apostle Paul writes: “…but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works (into us) patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.” (Rom. 5:3,4)

Do we truly glory in our tribulations? Since when do we glory in them? As I remember from my young Christian life, any tribulation was a perfect cause to be miserable, long-faced, sad, even questioning God where He was and how come He allowed such a thing, and how are we going to survive it and what will our brethren think about us and about our Christianity, etc. Tribulation is a pure suffering of our flesh, so, how can we enjoy it or glory in it when our flesh is not dead in any detectable way? It is thus totally impossible to “rejoice or glory in our sufferings”, which idea in itself is illogical and squarely against our nature.

But if these basic truths and faith are missing in the hearts of believers, other truths cannot be as profitable as they should be. The reason is that all the other truths of the Word of God are vitally tied to the above basic truths in some way.

Without the Cross of Jesus Christ, there would be no Christianity; without our crosses, there would be no ability whatsoever in us to DO or LIVE the Word of God in our earthly lives. True? Does your heart agree?

The Lord declares it saying: “…the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Heb. 4:2)

Either their heart and conscience were closed or else the necessary faith was not there. If this basic faith about ourselves is missing, how can the other truths of the Word of God truly profit us? Their benefit is limited whether we are aware of it, or not.

When a “new truth” with a promised earthly prosperity or other blessing is preached, many believers may be very excited and it is usually written all over their faces and countenances. But tell them just a tiny truth about their true spiritual state, for example, unwillingness to suffer any pain for the sake of the Lord or of their brethren, unwillingness to admit their pride or arrogance or impatience or fears or spiritual impotence, stubbornness, unrighteousness, laziness, prejudices or any other facts, which the Lord can easily and clearly show through their life deeds… and you would see their real heart, the real face of their old nature.

Such believers are always deeply offended, their peace and joy taken away in a split second. You will lose their esteem, friendship and most certainly their “deep love for you” in no time. They will become your enemies because you spoke the truth to them (Gal. 4:16) and that, not according to your personal feelings or bias against them but based on their own fruit shown by the Lord to all those present.

There are many practical examples, which I could give regarding the above facts. Many of them have the same main feature. When the other party does not respond, you may be sure that you do not walk along their “religious road”. Their heart is closed! They either do not know what to say or they may be offended or “very busy” for the Lord or may have many other excuses. But the Lord has been recording their “deeds” or lack of them, in His books. (Dan. 7:10// Rev. 20:12) And they may have no clue about this reality either or they may not care about it at all.

It does not seem to register with many Christians that we all belong to the One Body of Jesus Christ and that Christ, being our Head, feels all our evil deeds. If your left hand hurts, your whole body hurts and not just your left hand. Even if your little toe is wounded, your whole body takes care of it as soon as possible. This is a living body. A dead body does not hurt, has no conscience about its various parts and members and does not take any care of any of them in any way. True?

Also, believers may have never read and understood in their heart what God says in Heb. 13:16. Communicating is indeed a sacrifice, which is to say, it does require an effort, overcoming and suffering of our flesh and that not always for our own good, but often for the good of others. So then, why should Christians communicate and thus suffer? They prefer to avoid communicating and remain “at peace”. But none of such believers can truly serve the Lord if they communicate only with those that they like or prefer or agree with. They may not salute even their own brethren… then, where do they truly stand in the Lord’s Judgment? (Mt. 5:47)

If you failed to communicate with another servant of the Lord, Satan has a victory because he succeeded in cutting the line of possible future life and blessings not just for the two in question, but possibly for many other souls!

It is painful to open one’s heart and speak it out or write it on a paper! It is painful because it needs to break the power of our enemy satan, who MUST keep our hearts closed if he wants to keep us in his power, that is, in his darkness, his lies and his deception!

He MUST keep our nature, our old creation, which is his possession, his “food”(Gen. 3:14,19) and the field of all his operations, intact and “living”, that is, keep it from its death on our cross. (Mt. 16:24// Rom. 8:13// Gal. 5:24, etc.) When he loses it, he has nothing in us and we become like Christ! (Jn. 14:30)

Our faith is authored by Our Lord Jesus into our conscience (Heb. 12:2) and from there it gets into our heart^[7] and no further. Our heart is the only recipient and interpreter of faith, which is a spiritual substance and evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1) and no soul can ever produce it. Our mind can neither receive nor interpret faith.

But when believers keep the door of their heart closed to the Lord and to His true servants tried in fire (1Pet. 1:7// Rev. 3:18), they deprive themselves of the blessings, which would have followed. That includes faith and with it the hope for progress, for maturing, for spiritual growing up into Christ in all things. (Eph. 4:15)

Is this not a typical example of the failure of so many believers? Has it not been a dominant feature of the Church for a long time? It is like sitting at a mass going through all the prescribed ceremony and liturgy and hope that you will come home with a changed character! Not in two thousand years. My question is: Is this the true Church of Jesus Christ, where the “old man” never dies and the “New Man” never grows? Let your own heart answer this.

My simple belief is that whatever lives, grows… and whatever grows, changes. If something does not change, it does not grow and if it does not grow, it is dead. Is your belief the same?

Is not this fact clearly observable even in our physical world? Has God not created our physical world, plant and animal world to reflect also the spiritual world so that we would have a good guidance?

D. Ministry of the Gifts of the Spirit

Firstly, there are legitimate gifts of the Spirit given to every believer to profit withal (1Cor. 12:7-11// Rom. 12:6-8) and then there are fakes… because Satan and his ministers can imitate every such gift! In fact, they can also imitate God’s gifts to His Church – the offices of His servants. (Eph. 4:11// 2Cor. 11:13-15)

So, the first problem we face is to discern what gift (person) ministers or what gift is being ministered. The fact that gifts are ministered “in the Name of Jesus Christ” does not guarantee that they are from Him! Much damage has been done and is still being done in the Church “in His Name”!

Secondly, His gifts are given to us when we are born by His Spirit, that is, in our spiritual childhood. They are to help us (and others through us) in our spiritual younger age. Then, as we mature, if we mature, the gifts take a “second place” in our spiritual life and what should come into the forefront is the Life of Christ with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22,23). You see, the fruit of the Spirit can not be imitated! If you do not have it, you cannot pretend that you do, and vice versa. The true ministry for the maturing of believers must be done through the fruit of the Spirit and not just using His gifts. Love is not a gift, it is a fruit. (Eph. 4:15, etc.)

A Gift is something, anything, that can be given and received and used in a moment. It can also be neglected and unused or misused, imitated or covered.

A Fruit is something that grows slowly and it takes a living thing to produce it. It cannot be misused or neglected. If the fruit of the Spirit grows in me, I cannot pretend that I do not have it, and I cannot “misuse it”, neglect it or cover it! It is part of my life and it is acting spontaneously. That is why the Lord said: “Ye shall know them by their fruit.” (Mt. 7:16-20). The Lord never declared that we should know them, the true ministers or brethren, by their gifts of the Spirit! Nor should we know them by other things such as theological knowledge, oratory skills, smiles, pleasantness, human humbleness, a lot of good deeds, etc.

Thirdly, even the right ministry of the true gifts of the Spirit, chiefly healing, may not be viewed and understood as the Lord views and understands it. I do not believe that the Lord is just making for us a “miracle show” without any further considerations or aims (we will return to this topic later). The miracles and joy may seem to be sufficient for that moment and people may all be satisfied.

I do praise the Lord for His healings and actions of His Grace and Power. I do not desire to take away from His work anything or belittle it or judge it unrighteously in any way. The Lord knows my heart and can witness such statements by His Spirit. Therefore, I am not afraid to “go below the surface” and see and testify what is there and how the Lord views and judges this kind of ministry.

If the above statements were not true, how would the Lord justify His Own Word saying:

“Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that is doing the Will of My Father, which is in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? And in Thy Name have cast out devils? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works (including miracles of healing and other gifts of the Spirit)?” (Mt. 7:21,22)

In other words, the Lord says that His servants will ask Him whether He knows that they ministered His gifts in His Name (such as prophesy, working of miracles, healing, raising dead, etc.). They will not ask Him this today or tomorrow but “in that day”, which is the day of His Judgment Seat and of His Coming to establish His Kingdom. (Rev. 19:11-16) It will be too late to do anything about it “in that day” because the Lord will declare to some particular servants ministering His gifts:

“And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” (Mt. 7:23).

What we should clearly see and realize is that this truth is not apparent today, it will be abundantly apparent “in that day”. In that day, we will all be there and the Lord will announce the truth publicly! It will be a totally different story from what we witness today, for nothing shall remain hidden and what is covered today shall be revealed in that day. (Mt. 10:26) Many believers will be utterly shocked.

At the end of the point on Eph. 4:23 (page 13), we mentioned that there were some important spiritual facts and experiences related to the healing of our bodies. The simplest fact is that Satan can imitate any gift of the Spirit, as we said at the beginning of this section. He can give false wisdom (it looks like wisdom but it is not), false knowledge, false faith (false sense of reality), false healing (imitated or temporary healing), false prophecies, false discernment, false tongues with false interpretation and, finally, working of miracles, which miracles may not be “false” as such, but are done by devils for deceptive and evil purposes. (Rev. 13:11-14; 16:14) The sphere of ministering the gifts of the Spirit is thus the prime target of Satan to penetrate, hide behind, confuse, deceive and ultimately use it for his evil purposes. His chief purpose is to keep all true believers from their ultimate goal, which is their full Salvation, not just their Redemption.

Believers must thus understand that Satan MUST keep them from their cross! (Mt. 16:24, etc.) Hence, he will try to entice them by false gifts or even false demonstrations of the Spirit. He will “heal” their bodies, give them a time of uncontrolled laughing, dancing, false joy, false prophecies, false “word of God”, false word of encouragement, false sense of peace and well-being, false anything as long as it keeps them satisfied and from the destruction of their old nature, “old man” and from putting on their “New Man” created by God in righteousness and true holiness! (Eph. 4:24)

We may at times be confused as to what is happening to us and whether it is from the Spirit of God, or not. Well, the best way to learn the difference, gain wisdom and avoid any future ‘gifts from Satan’ is to see the consequences of the demonstrations of such gifts. Is the experience of a gift leading us to a greater obedience to the Word of God? Are we drawn more to the Lord, to read His Word, to meditate? Is there any change in our personality indicating the work of the Spirit in our soul with the first signs of the fruit of the Spirit appearing? Simply said, is there any personal profit for us from such gifts? True gifts are for us to “profit withal”. (1Cor. 12:7) If these are the consequences of the gifts we experience, then the gifts are genuine.

If there is no positive change in the person, in his behaviour, intentions, desires or obedience, then we should question such gifts and their origin. If the person changes for worse, if he grows more stubborn, more disobedient, more proud and arrogant, less willing to read, meditate and obey the Word of God, then the origin of the “gifts” is clear.

These are very dangerous affairs because Satan can lead us away from the Lord rather easily through false gifts. It may be easier to recognize false interpretations, false prophecies, false faith, false knowledge, false wisdom, but it may be very difficult to see and recognize, for example, a false healing of our bodies.

Let us be quite clear also on the point of healing of our bodies. We all desire to be healed whether we are believers or pagans. We cannot say that in believers, it is always the New Man who desires that our body would be healed. It is more so our old man, our old nature that has that same desire. The Lord is gracious and understands our desires concerning our healing especially when doctors can do nothing more. He may heal us sovereignly without us being aware why He did it, or whether our faith was “sufficient”, or not. (Mk. 9:24)

I do not believe that any of us can decipher the Lord’s mysterious ways or intentions with every healed person under all circumstances. The fruit of the healing itself or the Lord Himself may show us later on. There is, however, one specific fact, which we should never forget or misunderstand and it is the following. The Lord’s ultimate purpose is to bring believers into their Full Salvation according to His Will, which is to change us into His Image-character! I do not believe that it is His desire or intention to heal our bodies while He foreknows that it will not help us achieve any of His purposes. There is no grace in logic, but there may be logic in grace.

The Lord knows (and we know) that our present body will one day perish whether we believe in Him or not, whether we walk on the narrow way or the broad way. The Lord may heal a pagan foreknowing that he will become a believer and fulfil the Lord’s Desire and Purpose and Will.

The Lord says: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world (including his physical health) and lose his own soul?” (Mt. 16:26a)

His emphasis is on the soul (and spirit) and not on the body. Also, the Lord allows believers to become sick or wounded so that through their illnesses and weaknesses and pains, He might enable them to reach His ultimate purpose. This includes the cases where the Lord wounds us purposely to achieve His intentions and then He heals us! (Deut. 32:39) I know that “with His stripes we are healed“ (Is. 53:5), but we are healed IN Him, not outside of Him. And in order to grow up and get into Him and be healed by His stripes, He must wound us, use sicknesses and pains, otherwise, we would not “voluntarily“ grow up into Him! (Eph. 4:15)

We must see or begin to see and understand that many believers will not “move” toward Him or grow up into Him unless they are forced by circumstances and pain. Any believer in great danger or in great pain “suddenly knows” how to turn to the Lord and how to pray. He does not need anybody to teach him how to pray or prod him to it. True? Doesn’t this show a total depravity and an utmost selfishness of our old human nature as well as the need for this kind of “spiritual whip and reins”?

When we speak about the Lord purposely wounding and then healing us, the question should be asked: How is He healing us? Is He touching us by His gracious hand and healing us? In my faith, the answer is: NO! God does not heal us in ourselves just as He does not make us better or more righteous or more sanctified in ourselves. God has done and finished all His works IN Christ – not outside of Him! Outside of Christ is destruction, death and hell.

We are healed in Him, we have our righteousness and sanctification in Him. We were crucified and are being crucified in Him, we are dead and are dying in Him! We are putting on our New Man by “growing up into Christ in all things”. (Eph. 4:15,24) Nothing is done outside of Christ, meaning, only in ourselves! God will not give us even our New Eternal Life, we find It in Christ. (Col. 3:3) In Him we are complete (Col. 2:10) and outside of Him we are nothing. So, even Is. 53:5 and 1Pet. 2:24 apply to us IN Christ Jesus. This is the principle of Salvation IN Christ Jesus established by Our Father, which is in Heaven. (Eph. 1:9,10) Yet, God may sovereignly and for His good reasons (ex. based on His foreknowledge) heal any one who may yet be pagan without faith (2Ki. 5:9-14// Mt. 8:13) or give gifts of His Spirit to any one who is yet a Gentile. (Acts 11:12-17)

It seems wise to conclude this point by saying that we also must focus on the ultimate purpose of the Lord and not just on secondary issues. Just to desire a physical healing and pay no attention to the Will of God, to His Word, to our spiritual development and change in our soul, would be very selfish and inappropriate. I do not know of any parent who would gladly give cookies or other sweet gifts to stubborn, arrogant or disobedient children who would not care one bit about their parents’ love, rules, interests or desires.

I also know that after we leave our spiritual childhood, the Lord takes extra care of us and of our affairs IF “we take care” of His affairs (please, understand this in the right spirit). Since I believed in Him, the Lord healed me of a number of chronic ailments, kept me from all hospitals and all medications, and kept me in very good health… and that, without me “begging Him” for it. It almost happened unnoticed throughout few years. He also granted me immunity against many hellish sicknesses and illnesses that ravage humanity including believers. I know I cannot contract them and I do not even age in the same way that many others do. Praise the Lord. That is not to say that my body is perfect and I never have any pain.

This is not mysterious to me because I am devoted to do His Will according to His Word, and I desire the same what He desires. How well I perform is another matter, but my heart has been focused on Him and His Word since day one of His “apprehending of me” by His Spirit. And I know that any believer, who will do likewise, will acquire from the Lord the same that I have acquired. That is His Justice, Grace and Wisdom. Also, His dealings with us are based on His foreknowledge, which we do not have, therefore, we are prone to misjudge easily His ways, judgments and dealings with us.

With the above facts in our conscience, we should be able to discern also the healing experiences and should not be deceived by false healing. False healing is usually temporary and the original symptoms return and may cause even more damage. But nobody will know because the “healed” person usually disappears from our horizon. When a wicked spirit or spirit of infirmity is able to return to man, he may take with him seven other spirits more wicked than he himself and the state of that man is always worse than before. (Mt. 12:43-45// Lk. 11:24-26)

All true ministers given to the Church by the Lord and responsible for shepherding believers should pray to the Lord to grant them the gift of spiritual discernment. Without that gift functioning properly, Satan then has an open “playground” in their churches or fellowships deceiving people through manifold false gifts, utterances, spiritual manifestations, “revelations” and other phenomena. They must not remain ignorant of his devices for through them he may cause a lot of irreparable damage to many congregations as well as to their ministers. (2Cor. 2:11)

In addition to Satan’s devices, there are countless believers and ministers who practice a “humanistic religion”. This is just as dangerous as any other deception from Satan. Humanism is the “earthly nature of man”, which already has this satanic character and cannot be accepted in the true Church of Jesus Christ in any form, shape or function! (see later the passage about the fruit of the Spirit) It is exactly this “earthly nature of man”, which desires to guide the Church and govern all the Church affaires! And it is exactly this nature that has to be destroyed and replaced with the Divine Nature-Character! (2Pet. 1:4)

Without the gift of discernment, “humanistic religion” can play havoc in any congregation or fellowship and can destroy any part of the Church of Jesus Christ rendering it totally ineffective. Humanism is based on the foundation of an “inherent goodness in the human nature“, which is in total and absolute contradiction to the Word of God and of our Salvation! Hence, the Church is generally “governed and built“ by that “old man“, which brought Christ to His Cross and was crucified with Him by the Will of Our Father. (Rom. 6:6)

Our human “self” (character) is the root of all evil and thus God’s greatest enemy. It lives independently of God, does not seek God, does not trust God, does not believe God, does not obey God and does not need God for his earthly life!

Our self is capable to guide and govern our life without God and oppose God in every important life issue. Our “self” brought Christ to His Cross.

Humanism may also be defined as the “self living and directing his own earthly life and deeds”. We will devote more time and space to this subject in Chapter 3. At this point, I would only add the following notes from my own faith and experiences.

The earthly life, which we live in our self is created life. It belongs to the old creation. It is a natural life and is polluted with sin and sinful spirits and is not eternal. We live it in our natural body and in our “old man”. There is no difference between the natural life of the “old man” in pagans and in believers. Sometimes, this natural life in pagans may be more pleasant, humble, kind, understanding or loving than the one in believers! Do you have your own experiences? I do.

Just as there is a natural body and a spiritual body, so there is a natural life and a spiritual life. (1Cor. 15:44) Unfortunately, most believers cannot tell the difference!

The Life of Christ, which we can live only in Christ and not in our self, is uncreated Life, which God Himself lives! It is the spiritual Life and is Pure and Holy and Eternal. We live It only in our “New Man” and will live It in the New Creation of God. (Rev. 21:1)

This Life of Christ makes the only difference between believers and pagans! There is none other.

The energy in which we do things in our natural life is also natural and not spiritual. It does not come from the Spirit of God, but from other spirits, which are not of God. Our nature–flesh is energized by other sources than the Spirit of God. Therefore, anything done in or through this natural energy, including “serving the Lord”, is undesirable and unacceptable to God because it is done, we may also say, in or through death. Because...

...natural life is spiritual death! And...

Spiritual life is death to all the natural!

There is only one way, one means, to destroy the natural with its root and sources and bring in the spiritual. The Cross of Christ and our cross destroy the sinful and natural, and bring in the living, holy and spiritual.

* * *

We may conclude this chapter by making a statement, which we will probably use and repeat in different forms and in different parts of this book. It may be a shocking statement to many believers and it is the following:

True Christianity is not primarily a matter of attending a church, reading or hearing the Bible, singing, praying, tithing or giving offerings, fellowshipping, helping others or doing any other activity that we may define as “Christian“ or as very important or even indispensable.

Ultimately, true Christianity is solely a matter of spiritual LIFE – or – spiritual DEATH!

All of our Christian activities originate either from our natural life or from our spiritual Life. They all are secondary to what is the primary and ultimate Will of God, which is – WHAT WE ARE IN SPIRIT and NOT WHAT WE DO! (Num. 14:24// Pr. 16:2// Lk. 9:55, etc.)

We, Christians, are all either spiritually Living or spiritually dead. But in both cases, we are quite capable of performing all the above mentioned “christian activities”. Therefore, these activities alone do not show us who we are and whether we are IN Christ, or not. Our reactions to the Truth of His Word as well as to one another show us whether we live that new, spiritual Life, or not.

Of course, when we are in the right spirit, when we live spiritually, we also conduct the right and necessary Christian activities, we live the right earthly life, satisfying life, successful life, otherwise we cannot. We also enjoy peace and contentment and prosperity, because we must first prosper in our spirit, then we may prosper also in our soul and then in our body, never vice versa.

The above fact will prepare us for the next chapter where the Lord will convince us that we are in a War for our spiritual Life, which War He declared and we cannot avoid it. Any notion that we do not have to do anything, to fight any battles just because we are under the Blood of Jesus and under the Grace of God is false and squarely against about one half of the Bible!

CHAPTER 2

WAR FOR OUR LIFE

It would be absolutely superfluous to write extensively about this subject knowing that there are other more excellent and experienced authors who wrote extensively on this very important subject in our lives. I myself was highly blessed by their writings and will whole-heartedly give the necessary references to those of you who would desire to know about the war for our life in more details.

I have an impression within me to write my personal experiences and understanding of this war thus giving a more practical view on it. This should add to the existing excellent books and writings rather than repeat the facts already written. My impression also tells me that in certain nations and areas of the world, there is a desperate lack of this particular knowledge and understanding despite its vital importance.

It was many years ago when for the first time in our meetings, I was prompted by the Spirit to clearly declare: “We are in a war.” The Lord then progressively introduced us into this fact showing us the realities of this Cosmic conflict and our important role in it. We tried to absorb all the interesting information about the war and began to recognize it in our minds. So we embarked on the war in our minds trying to “bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. (2Cor. 10:5) It did not work!

We had to wait on the Lord patiently to begin to see, realize and accept the following simple fact:

The state of our mind is just a reflection and symptom of the spiritual state of our heart!

If you have ever tried to control or renew your mind without first opening and renewing your heart, you must have experienced a total failure! Your mind cannot renew itself without your heart being renewed first. Equally, your mind cannot open your heart or force it to act no matter how logical such a step might appear. The heart may still be closed and ruled by the powers of darkness though not necessarily as a whole (as it is before our Redemption), but in some of its areas, in some of its “issues of life”! (page B3^[7])

Let us not forget that our soul – heart, will and mind – has been the territory occupied by Satan all our life – and it may still be so even after our Redemption! It remains his territory until the Lord, as Our Captain with His Sword (Word) drawn, gets into our heart and starts to lead us into a war against our enemy! (Ex. 15:3// Josh. 5:13-15// Mt. 10:34// Heb. 4:12) Not because the Lord needs to fight, not at all. On His Cross, Christ had defeated the enemy completely and totally. IN Him this war is over and victory full and final both for Himself and also for us. But he leads us to our war because in us this war is not finished until we defeat our enemy on our own cross and in our own experience using His Sword (Word). (Mt. 10:38,39; 16:24,25) Why is that so?

The victorious and indestructible Life of Christ has so far been just a theory for multitudes of believers. But every believer is expected to live that Life and prove It in his own earthly walk by faith and by following Its ways and deeds. The moment you start searching for that Life within yourself and putting It into practice, you will start experiencing opposition, problems and conflicts you never thought were possible or necessary in Christianity. But this is exactly the way, the only way, where you will prove that “Christ lives today”! Because He lives not only “somewhere in you”, but should live “through you”. He should be visible in your countenance, walk, talk, decisions and all your deeds.

No amount of doctrinal statements or proclamations of your most true and accurate faith will prove the Life of Christ! Even in quoting the Bible, you are proving nothing. The letter kills, the Spirit gives Life to live by. (2Cor. 3:6) But you just cannot detect that Life in multitudes of born-again believers. Too many Christians are preoccupied with many earthly problems; health problems, economic problems, family problems or many other kinds of problems in their lives. Though they may not live in earthly pleasures, many “live while they are dead”… they only exist. (1Tim. 5:6// Rev. 3:1)

If this “death” reigns in our life, we also become consenting, lethargic, lazy or passive, accepting things as they are and not forging ahead with the Spirit of Life. Can you discern yourselves in this area? You should be able to discern death from the Life of Christ. As we keep maturing – growing up into Christ (Eph. 4:15) and coming to Him (Jn. 5:40) – we keep receiving and living the Life, which is in Him and is available to us. What is amazing is that in physical life, if we live, we can recognize a dead man from a living one easily. Why can’t we do the same in the spiritual life? Do you know?

If I could express the truth in the above paragraphs in few simple words, I could say this:

It is not sufficient to read, study, remember, reason, preach, teach and believe the Word of God – we must live It. That means, we must become the Word! Then you are transformed into Christ’s Image because He Is the Word. (Jn. 1:1+14) You are what you speak, teach and preach. And if you are not what you speak, teach and preach, then you are hypocrites and walking libraries with a lot of maybe interesting, but dead information.

The same applies to our faith. We may have a lot of it but it may all be dead… if we do not live it in our daily life and deeds. I could compare our faith to an electric bulb. If our faith is living, our “bulb” shines because there is power flowing through it. If our “bulb” is dark, our faith is dead, there is no power. Again, in physical life, we can easily recognize a shining bulb from a dark one. Why can’t we do the same in the spiritual life? Do you know? For physical bulbs we need physical eyes, for faith we need spiritual eyes.

Let us return to “our war” and let us realize that the Promised Land of Israel in the Old Testament represents the Kingdom of Heaven of the Church in the New Testament. Spiritually, this Promised Land, this Kingdom of Heaven, is within us! (Lk. 17:21) It is first in our spirit and from there it must be enforced into our soul!

Israel did not inherit a Paradise of peace, love and prosperity but a territory full of their enemies being at war with them! They had to fight for every inch of their land! So, outwardly, they were in a war, but if they fought according to God’s judgments, righteousness and guidance, I believe, He granted them peace of mind and joy in their hearts. When they refused to carry out God’s judgments, fear and discontent returned to their souls.

The same goes for the Church and every Christian. The Kingdom of Heaven is not any Paradise of peace, love and prosperity but a territory in our soul full of our enemies being at war with us! Even the physical Kingdom of Heaven on Earth will not be a place of peace, love and heavenly bliss as some might imagine, but a place of enforced discipline and righteousness where the nations will be ruled with a rod of iron and the disobedient will be broken to shivers. (Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15) This is not exactly a picture of love, joy and peace. The Kingdom OF Heaven means a kingdom on Earth ruled BY Heaven, it is not a Kingdom IN Heaven. But this is an outward picture. Inwardly, if we carry out the Lord’s Will, Judgments and Righteousness, we shall enjoy peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.

Are you getting some picture? Are you truly shocked? Apostle Paul talked about warfare very vividly. (Eph. 6:10-18) This is not a popular subject to talk about. It somehow does not fit into our picture of Christianity – full of love and peace. The truth is that we are in a war and we are called to battle the spiritual forces of evil, darkness, wickedness and death. They are in the high places in the world, in the air and in our souls just as the forces of God are, and we can not neglect either of them. We will have plenty of rest, love and peace in the New Jerusalem, but not here.

We are in this war whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, whether we are aware of it or not! And it is not straightforward to persuade believers about this war, show its character, necessity and reality. Satan has not only deceived the world that he does not even exist, he also deceived most of the Church that he is “finished, has no power and no influence on us – because we are saved!” This is, perhaps, the greatest deception that he managed to concoct and it works for him just fine.

I know that some of you might argue that “greater is He who is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1Jn. 4:4) True. But He who is greater in you (Christ) has permitted him that is in the world (devil) to tempt you, pressure you, make you sick, deceive you, keep you from your cross, from the Lord and thus from your Full Salvation! He has not permitted him to overcome you while you trust the Lord and remain in Him. (Mt. 16:18// Jn. 15:6) Is this fact also true?

The Lord in His Wisdom uses Satan and his powers of evil as tools for our Full Salvation!

Let us repeat again that the Word of God has been for many of us a theory, a pure theory where we only had the experience of being born-again and (maybe) baptized and we became a “member of a church”. We lived only those two parts of the Word of God, or only one. We may have experienced some healing, prophecies, tongues, miracles whether ministering them or receiving them. Now, how about the rest of the Bible that touches us personally? We only talk about it – if we talk about it! Do you need some examples? You may find many of them, I will give you only this one: “But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Mt. 5:39)

For very many believers, this Word is also a theory that they never lived, never experienced. And if the Lord had brought them into this Word – they always failed. Do you remember your own Christian life? Have you ever lived the above Word of God? Your cheek could have been smitten many times (and not necessarily physically) but have you ever offered your other one? Or do you believe that this Word is not for you? Then for whom is It? I believe It is for every believer especially for all those that “go on unto perfection.” (Heb. 6:1) I live this Word in my earthly life, my cheek was slapped by words, unrighteous decisions and judgments several times. There is a world of difference between Its theory and practice! Believe me.

And how many believers resist evil with all their might and “faith”? It might be all of us! We either “propagate evil” without being aware of it or resist evil without being aware that we are breaking the Word of God! We ought to hinder evil (by our presence) but not actively resist it or fight it. (2Thess. 2:7) There is a great difference. But every time the Lord brings us to live some part of His Word, we always end up in pain, troubles, failures and battles with the enemy who is opposing our every step in that direction.

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Living Christ at this point to say to His Church this important Word from the Lord concerning evil.

God permitted Satan to corrupt various governments, institutions, politics, economics, culture, religion, justice and everything else in this world!

God permitted Satan to set up his agencies, which oppose and forbid the Word of God and anything related to the Word, which your soul may desire to keep and cherish!

God permitted Satan to make lunatics, fools or even idiots out of many men whether they be pagans or those born-again believers who love themselves, the world and their flesh rather than God!

If you, therefore, resist and fight these types of evil, you resist and fight GOD!

Did the Lord Jesus ever fight any of His enemies? Did He resist them? Show me one such instance in the Scripture and I will burn this book. Is it not then our religious flesh, which fights our enemies?

Is it not a lack of wisdom and of His Spirit when we resist a block of dead stone to be removed from a building (in Alabama, USA) just because the Ten Commandments were written on it? Don’t you know that the Lord had written His Commandments into your hearts… if you gave Him access to it? And that no man can remove those? But too many hearts have been closed and God couldn’t write anything into them! (Jer. 31:33// Rom. 2:15) One fruit of such a foolish act is that the people of Alabama lost a great living judge… never mind a dead block of stone.

* * *

In addition to Eph. 6:10-18, there are some other passages in the Scripture that I want to bring forth at this point and show their deeper meaning as applicable to our war.

This world is not a holy place but an evil place. It is sometimes called the “vestibule of hell”. We were left in this vestibule of hell by the Will of Our Father and of Our Lord, Who prayed quite clearly saying to the Father:

“I pray not that Thou should take them out of the (evil) world, but that Thou should (leave them in this evil world and) keep them from the evil (thereof).” (Jn.17:15)

We are thus left in the midst of evil in this world. Why? We must taste the evil for ourselves! Yet we are kept from it in terms of not being overrun and destroyed by it, but we are not kept from its presence, deception, pressure, bruises, influence and myriad of temptations! When Peter testified about Jesus that He was indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Lord declared:

“…upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18)

The “gates” mean the government, counsels, plans, plots, decisions of hell. “Prevail” means that these gates are allowed by God to press against us, affect us, influence us, tempt us, fight us – but they shall not prevail against us, overwhelm us who are His true Church (except during the Tribulation – Rev. 13:7). And if the forces of hell are in these days prevailing against some believers including ministers, then these believers should start questioning their Salvation and membership in His true Church.

Most Christians believe that as long as they attend their church once or twice a week, listen to an interesting sermon, sing, pray, give offerings, engage in some church activities, etc., they are doing fine. Let us be clear about this matter – there is nothing wrong with any of these activities… but they are to be our means, our steps to reach the final goal and Will of Our Father. If His Will is not reached then such Christians are being perpetually deceived through these very same activities and these activities then become substitutes for God’s Will!

Why and how are they deceived? They would testify that they are ‘fine’, they do not see any war in their life or any need for it. They do not have to fight any battles with the devil, they already enjoy “peace and joy that the Lord granted them”. And their prosperity is growing day by day … all they have to do is “praise the Lord” or just “wait for the Lord”. Right? There is a definite reason why multitudes of believers do not wrestle with the powers of darkness, and why the Word in Eph. 6:10-19 is just an interesting information for them. The reason is: the Lord is not in their heart and they have no true fear of the Lord. Because “the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life.” (Pr. 14:27) This proves that they are spiritually dead! They do not live the Word, have no knowledge of It, and no intentions to have any! And when we do not live the Word of God, we are no witnesses to Our Lord and to Our Father… and there is no war in us! Listen…

Satan does not mind our church organizations, denominations, fellowships, how many believers are gathering in rooms or in auditoria, a dozen, thousand or a million. He does not mind how many are baptized, how many healed or speaking in tongues. He does not mind our sermons even if they bring sound doctrines and are from the Bible. He does not mind how much religious worship is going on in our churches, how many activities are conducted by their members, how many books are written and read, how much money is collected and what is done with it. He does not war against these things! In fact…

Satan supports many such activities, programs and expansion projects, which do not endanger but rather preserve or even expand his kingdom of darkness and death in the Church and also in the souls of believers! Must I truly say: Hello? Are you truly registering this truth? I praise the Lord if you are truly and genuinely shocked over such facts… you should be… as I was!

But Satan definitely and furiously wars against one thing – the Life and Rule of Christ wherever it is poised to replace satan’s false life (death) and his rule, including the soul of believers! The moment the Lord starts destroying darkness and death in our soul, reviving our heart, will and mind – Satan is there with his army! He will immediately start to attack – but he will not prevail! It is the Resurrection Life of Christ and His Lordship, which Satan is against. Why?

Because the Life of Christ destroyed Satan’s kingdom of darkness and Death! The devil had the power of death. (Heb. 2:14) Our religion with all its activities, forms and paraphernalia does not do that! Our best wishes, plans, intentions, sermons, excitements, desires or dreams do not do it! Apostle Paul was not stoned because he was educated and agreed with the Word of God, but because he became a living witness of the Word!

Until the Word of God lives in and through you, It remains a dead letter and Satan is not disturbed one bit! He will let you “enjoy your peace”!… Hello?

Our knowledge of the Bible has the same value as our knowledge of any other history book. Satan is very satisfied as long as we keep showing that though we know, preach and teach the Word of God, yet, it does not show in our lives, has no effect on us or any practical value in our lives. And if we do not live It, we do not really understand Its true meaning and purpose for which God gave It to us. Even scientists could tell us that theories may be very nice, even brilliant, but they have no real value if they are never put into practice and realized in our life.

I want to share with you at this point the Light of the Lord concerning Satan’s false “life”, which is “death” and which became our “life”, and the Eternal Life of Christ, which came out of His death by His resurrection. How do we know the difference between the two and how can we interchangeably talk about death and life? How can life be equated with death, or vice versa, and how can life come out of death?

Let us see these facts in their physical interpretation, which should be easier to comprehend than their spiritual reality. The key is the definition of death as being a separation and not a cessation of existence. (see also page 2)

Satan exists forever, but his “life” is death because he is separated from the true Life, which is with God and in God! When Our Lord died on the Cross, He was separated from God, from His living Presence. (Mt. 27:46) In His death, He went to hell where He spent three days and three nights preaching to those disobedient spirits. (1Pet. 3:18-20) And then?…

Then God called Christ back to Himself because He overcame (Rev. 3:21) and accomplished the task of Salvation. Christ was resurrected–reunited with God, with His Presence. Christ thus destroyed the death–separation from God in Himself and in all believers who also overcame. (Rev. 21:7)

The “life” of pagans and carnal believers is thus “death” because they live in their flesh, that is, in a continual absence from God and in a continual presence of sin and Satan. Thus, they “live his death” (they exist in flesh and its separation from God) and do not live the “Life of God”.

So, how do we know the difference between this false life of Satan and the true Life of Christ? One very good and clear example is that of Cain and Abel. Let us open our heart and consider the following.

Cain was a very religious man. He believed, respected and worshipped God just as Abel did. Now, Cain offered to God the best products that he produced himself through his own life, efforts, resources and intellectual potential, and Cain sincerely believed that God would appreciate and accept them. But God refused them! Why? Because in doing so,…

Cain neglected all that Christ had done to reconcile us to God and effectively nullified the work of the Lord on the Cross of Calvary!

Cain was of that Wicked one, his works were evil. (1Jn. 3:12) yet, he built an altar to God, worshipped God sincerely and sacrificed to Him his best products and efforts!

Hello? Is our heart open? Are we registering the enormous meaning of the above spiritual fact?

If our heart is open then we should come out of our spiritual comma and start seeing, understanding and also believing what we may have never seen, understood or believed before. What is it that we should start seeing, understanding and believing?…

That a wicked person, who is doing evil works... CAN build an altar to God, CAN sacrifice to God, CAN sincerely worship God and CAN effectively deceive millions of believers who are also in the same spiritual comma! We may need more exclamation marks here!

Let me just say very honestly and from my experience that our best product, which we also might desire to offer to God may be “our ministry to God”! But God will not accept the ministry, which does not offer blood = the old life of believers! (see more later) In other words, God will not accept the ministry conducted by uncrucified, unbroken ministers ministering in their natural life… which is spiritual death.

All the history of Israel from Exodus, chapter 12, until the death of the Messiah is based on the shedding of blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission! (Heb. 9:18-22) Let us understand that the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) belong to the Old Testament! It is only their portions after the Resurrection of Christ, which start the New Testament. What was done in the Old Testament physically is now done in the New Testament in spirit. But the Principles of God did not change in any way!

Let us conclude that the Lord may use an uncrucified believer or pagan or animal or thing or devil himself as a tool for His purposes, but His true servant must be crucified and (sufficiently) dead to his old natural life, to his self! This also means, that His true servant has (sufficiently) died to his former relationships, plans, hopes, expectations, “important” things, personal judgments, opinions, to his own logical, academic, philosophical or psychological understanding of spiritual facts and truths and to all such things of his old, natural life. He is then, and only then, fully open to the Lord’s supernatural revelations and Light, which do not come from his own soul but from the Spirit of God Alone. There is a world of difference between the two. Do you see and believe this spiritual fact? Really?

Abel offered God a lamb, which represented his own life and thus it was a sacrifice of blood. So he, in effect, laid down his own life before God! That pleased God and He accepted Abel’s “blood” sacrifice with a true pleasure. (Gen. 4:4) When Christ said that He could do “nothing of Himself” but laid down His Own life before the Father, it pleased God and He fully accepted Christ’s sacrifice. I hope the Word in Jn. 5:19; 10:17; 13:37,38; 15:5, 13// 1Jn. 3:16// Gal. 6:3 will take a deeper meaning for us now.

Furthermore, by His Word in Jn. 5:19, the Lord gave us an example how to follow Him. So, why can we do nothing of ourselves? Why should we do nothing of ourselves?

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I am constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to present His Light enabling us to see the very core of this fact!

Any born-again believer who remains intellectual, or emotional remains exactly the same soul, which he was before he believed, before he was redeemed. He only changed the field of his studies, interests and activities, which now became religious, but he did not change their source! All that he needs he keeps drawing from his re-oriented but unregenerated, unrenewed soul (mind & heart) and NOT from the Holy Spirit of God! The Spirit dwells in his spirit and rules his spirit but NOT his soul. Hence, the Spirit of God does not direct his soul, his knowledge, deeds and activities!

When such a believer then studies the Bible, teaches or preaches the Word or otherwise ministers to others, it does not really matter what activities he is engaged in and how he is performing. What matters to God is what source his faith, deeds, activities and knowledge come from, who directs and governs those activities, beliefs and deeds, God or man.

One absolutely basic and deciding consequence of the above mentioned fact is that whatever we do drawing from our own religious but unrenewed soul comes to nothing. Its final fruit will be zero because we simply did it without the Lord … though we may have done it FOR the Lord!

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Therefore, the Lord is not seeking believers who know the Bible and can talk, teach or preach from It about Him. There may be many like that. He seeks such that will “pour out their old life unto death” and will live His Word, manifest His Life and thus His Victory over death and over him who had the power of death, that is the devil.

The Lord achieved His Victory through His Own death, laying down His Own life. (Jn.10:15// 1Jn. 3:16) How shall we achieve it? Just by believing in this fact? Or by getting baptized? Our baptism is necessary and it should show our willingness to die to our old nature. But it does not take away our old life, old character, old nature, it does not make us instant conquerors (Rom. 8:37) or new creatures or priests and kings unto Our Father. (Rev. 1:6) True? It takes many years, many prayers, much faith and suffering and the power of the Holy Spirit to change us and make us more than conquerors according to His Word.

How shall we then conclude or recapitulate this most important factor of our Christianity and the very essence of our Salvation prepared for us by Our Heavenly Father and executed by Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ? I believe, we can express it as follows.

The essence of Christianity, of Our Salvation is the war between the Life and Good (of Christ) and the Death and Evil (of satan). (Deut. 30:15,19// Is. 7:15)

At our Redemption, the Life and Good of Christ is in our spirit and the death and Evil of Satan is in our soul (Mt. 7:11; 12:34).

Our war starts after Our Redemption and baptism and it takes place between our spirit and our soul and thus we are the battleground! Our spirit represents the heavenly humanity and our soul earthly humanity. it is thus a war between these two humanities – the old one and the new one.

Though we are possessed by Christ in our entire being, we are oppressed, harrased, deceived, pulled to sin and away from christ by satan and his powers, which are both outside and inside of our soul. The power of Christ with our faith and decisions of our heart and will decide our war and also its progress.

Everything else, which is not the object of this war, is unimportant. We must overcome ourselves and achieve the same victory of Life over Death and Good over Evil in our own experience as Our Lord achieved it for us. (1Tim. 6:12// Rom. 8:13; 12:21// Rev. 21:7, etc.) If we are willing to “lay down our old natural life”, then we will also be resurrected by the same Spirit and obtain the same Life, which we have in Christ and which is Eternal. This is the cornerstone, “raison d’être”, the whole basic purpose of Salvation and of the high calling of God upon our lives. (Phil. 3:14// Heb. 3:1-6, etc.)

We were not saved just to be forgiven our sins, to be healed from our physical sicknesses, to live a prosperous life here on Earth and then somehow avoid hell and get to Heaven. The true purpose of Salvation has depth, height, width and breadth, which transcends any imagination or understanding of our poor minds (Eph. 3:17,18, we will discuss this topic later on). All our own efforts to build different religious forms to suit our own beliefs, desires, plans and understanding are of no value whatsoever before Our Lord.

We may be preaching or appealing to one another with the most sincere and intelligent efforts, also with all our understanding and wisdom, supported by a vast research of any biblical topic that we might choose. We may attend Sunday or Sabbath Schools, theological seminaries and study the Bible with all human sincerity. We may sing in the church choir or play in the church orchestra. We may also scream and sweat trying to show what we know and are persuaded about its truth and importance. We may pace across the stage banging our Bible or fist on the pulpit, emphasize our “profound statements” with organ or drums or perform any other athletic feats [R.Parsley and others]. In themselves, these and similar religious or non-religious acts will never produce any spiritual fruit or any spiritual progress. Why?

Because these and many other similar religious acts, though some of them may be desirable or even absolutely necessary, do not crucify our old nature. Of themselves, they do not create within us a new and clean heart, do not change the spirit within us! Of themselves, they may increase our intellectual knowledge, they may (even deeply) affect our feelings. True preaching may bring faith to us (Rom. 10:17), but if that faith is not performed in our life, it remains dead. (Jam. 2:20) Hence, no fruit and no change in spirit is produced within our soul.

If there is to be any spiritual fruit and progress, these religious acts must be followed by the work of the Spirit of God in the destruction of our old nature, old man, through repentance, discipline, obedience and chastisement. (Heb. 12:5-11)

This is the battle with the powers of evil and darkness in our soul, which we all genuinely hate, do not want to believe it and desperately try to avoid it. Most believers prefer to ignore those powers and serve them, be at peace with them rather than battle with them and destroy them. Do you see it? Or not?

Our Lord has no intention of educating or blessing our “old man”, but to destroy him with our own consent and cooperation on our own cross. (Mt. 16:24-26)

Every true Christian is in this spiritual war whether he decides to battle, surrender or whether he never decides to start his war. Those who do not fight it now will fight it later and under much harder conditions.

Let me give you a “military” example from physical wars, which should well reflect how our spiritual battles are conducted in our souls and why most of the above religious activities may not bring any fruit or any victory.

First, you must believe that you have an enemy and that he has the power to destroy both your body and soul in hell! The Word of God is clear. (Mt. 10:28) Here, the Lord was not warning pagans! There are already too many believers who fear neither God, nor Satan. They are doomed unless they wake up from their spiritual coma and start fearing for their own life. Is it possible that the Lord only wanted to frighten us with His Word foreknowing that, in reality, we were quite safe? What do you really believe about His Word quoted above?

Second, once you believe and admit that your enemy is living within you (just as the Lord lives within you), you will be able to decide in your heart to face your enemy with the Power of the Lord’s Spirit.

Third, in any battle with any enemy, physical or spiritual, there are two stages to destroy the enemy. Every good general will tell you that unless you know where your enemy is, what his movements, intentions, strengths, fortifications and deceptions are, you can do nothing except sit and wait or, perhaps, “chase windmills”. That general must first search out and find the enemy, get all the necessary information about him in order to have any hope for a successful operation and victory. Is that true?

Fourth, when you invite the Lord into your heart and when you open your heart to Him (Rev. 3:20), He starts to shine His Light into your heart and soul and shows you your enemy, his strength, hiding tactics, his origins and intentions. You may be very happy at this stage and praise the Lord and also believe that you are delivered from your spiritual problem that was bringing very bad fruit in your life.

But this is NOT your deliverance, as yet. This is like when the general sends out his reconnaissance planes to take aerial photographs of the enemy positions. But the enemy is not destroyed just because you start to see him and recognize his field of operations, strength and his deceptive tactics and thus the source of the evil fruit. (Mt. 7:16-20)

Fifth, the general then sends out his bombers to bomb the enemy to dust! You yourselves must first see those powers in you, hate them, desire to be delivered from them and then ask the Lord to destroy them! Only then the Lord can “bomb” those parts of your heart to destroy the powers, which He showed you through your previous fruit and thus to deliver you. This is the time when you feel the pain and suffering the most since it is your own soul, which is the battlefield. THIS is your deliverance, the Will of the Father for your earthly life and the reality of your true Salvation.

Is this “military” example useful? Are you beginning to see and believe that many of our religious activities and forms of our religious life may actually work against us? How? They may easily distract us from our deliverances and true Salvation and thus from the Will of Our Heavenly Father! As long as we keep building, living, performing and continuing our form of emotional or intellectual religion within the area of our mind, its reasoning, understanding, imagination and its “power” of New Year’s resolutions, we will keep failing and wasting our time. Until we begin to see this fact clearly, we will remain in our deep deception and spiritual misery. The Lord knows. Let us never forget another fact, namely, that…

the war of our Salvation is fought entirely in the spiritual world and never in the physical or mental world where it has only its reflections!

If any man desires to achieve anything valuable – he must be crucified in his flesh, in his natural character! I am not the only “extremist” who dares to declare this truth to the Church of Jesus Christ, Our Lord! This is the perfect place to quote a profound and for many of you, I am sure, shocking statement of brother Austin-Sparks who in his booklet “The Christ, the Antichrist, and the Church^[5]” (page 23) boldly declares the following:

“One of the greatest tragedies is that the Church has served Satan’s purpose so well, because it is not a crucified Church.” …(!)

It is also my experience that many believers, mostly those in the leadership of the Church, like to get into many arguments, discussions, debates, questioning and doubting those things they do not like or understand. We know that what logic or an argument can construct or build up, the same logic and argument can destroy and pull down. This is like a big circle, which never ends and leads nowhere. Our Lord never engaged in such meaningless exercises.

I cannot but reach again for an excellent quote from “The Battle for Life^[3]” (p. 82), where brother Austin-Sparks declares the following spiritual fact:

“If the enemy finds that he can hold the situation by keeping us in that circle, that awful going round of debate, argument, discussion, of analysing, of questioning, of doubting, he will keep us going round; he will whip us up like a circus horse to keep us running round all the time, while we never get beyond the point where we started. If you keep going back there all the time, not making one fragment, or fraction of real spiritual progress toward victory, you can go on so for fifty years.” …(!)

One important quote is, again, found in the book “The Messenger of the Cross^[1]” (pages 38,39) where brother Watchman states the following:

“…if we are not willing to deliver our soul life and its power to death, we will never receive afresh the Word of God in our spirit. If we as His servants wish to be used by God to save sinners and to revive saints – that is, to proclaim the word of the cross – we must let the cross first work in us:”

“Satan hates the preaching of the word of the Cross. If we faithfully proclaim the Lord’s Cross, we will suffer opposition from him. He often assaults the messenger of the cross in the following ways. He may attack by weakening the latter’s health – causing him to lose his voice or to encounter many physical dangers – or by oppressing his spirit to near suffocation. He may work in the environment to create misunderstanding, opposition, and even persecution. He may disturb the weather, hindering people from attending meetings. He may cause disorder or confusion in the meeting. He may incite the dogs to bark or the babies to cry. Sometimes he may work in the atmosphere, making the meeting heavy, suffocating, oppressive or gloomy. All these are the works of the enemy which a messenger of the cross must recognize.”

During my ministry, I have myself experienced a good number of the enemy’s actions described above by brother Watchman Nee. This is thus my personal testimony to the truths quoted above.

OUR OLD AND NEW WILL

The very first and basic fact that we must declare and understand in every circumstance of our entire life is this:

God gave us (and his angels) a free will!

We can choose for Him or against Him, for His Will or against His Will, for His Word or against His Word!

Nobody can make our decisions for us. This free will given to us by God is limited to our own self, to decisions about our own self. Nevertheless, it does not affect or limit God’s omnipotence in any way!

The consequences of this fact will follow us throughout our earthly life and throughout our Salvation. This fact also determines and explains every event in our earthly life. Furthermore, this fact also tells us clearly that…

We are wholly responsible for our decisions and no one else – not even God Himself! God will never take our decisions and He will never go against our decisions, against our free will! Likewise, Satan can not take our decisions or go against them, either!

The multitudes of pagans that are going to perish in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:12-15) are the proof of this fact. God provided Salvation for every man on this planet. But every man decides either to receive it, or reject it. Our faith is essential, but it must be followed by our decision to do our faith. Also, man must receive his Salvation as prescribed in the Word of God.

God does not decide who will be saved and who will not! Every man decides for himself. God only knows about our decision before we do, and that by His foreknowledge. (Rom. 8:29)

Also, God never “forces” His Salvation on anyone, nor does He “force” any man after he is redeemed (born-again believer) to follow Christ. Christ said quite clearly: “IF any man will come after Me…” (Mt. 16:24) thereby leaving that decision to men. Yet, God is leading us to our Full Salvation, to all truth and to all the right decisions by His Spirit.

The best example of this fact touches Our Lord Himself. The execution of our Salvation was NOT in the hands of the Father but in the hands of Jesus – The Son of Man! Furthermore…

it was NOT the Will of Jesus-The Son of Man to go to the Cross, it was the Will of His Father! NEVERTHELESS… Jesus decided to do the Will of His Father and not His own Will whereby He desired His Father that the cup (cross) be removed from Him, if at all possible! (Lk. 22:42-44// Mt. 26:39)

Equally, it is NOT our will to go to our cross or deny ourselves, to lose our old life (Mt. 16:24,25) and put on the New Man (Eph. 4:24). It is the Will of Our Father! NEVERTHELESS…shall we do It? Or shall we continue doing our own will whereby we refuse to drink the cup from Our Father? (Jn. 18:11)

The same applies for entering the Kingdom of Heaven or the Marriage Supper of the Son of God, which begins in Heaven before the Tribulation begins and before the Kingdom is established on the Earth. God set a clear condition for believers to enter the Kingdom and it is this: Believers must do the Will of the Heavenly Father. (Mt. 7:21) It is up to each believer whether he decides to do the Will of His Father or his own will, which is different.

It is thus not up to God to decide who will enter into the Kingdom and who will not but up to each individual believer. God has invited all believers to the Marriage Supper, but many believers decide to refuse His invitation through many stupid excuses. God then considers such believers as unworthy to enter the Marriage Supper or the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 22:2-8) God does not decide for them, they decide themselves!

It also applies for the opening of our heart to the Lord Who says: “IF any man… open the door, I will come in”. (Rev. 3:20)

The Lord will never force His way into our heart. It is our personal and conscious decision to invite the Lord into our heart. If we do not know how to open our heart or are unable, that is another matter. Once we decide and tell the Lord that He is welcomed in our heart, He will lead us how to do it and will enable us to do it. That then becomes “His problem” to solve. But He cannot and will not make that decision for us and will never invite Himself into our heart!

It is absolutely imperative for every believer to understand this important matter of our free will and also of the absolute necessity to make our decisions before God in our heart before God can act upon them. This is an absolutely unchangeable principle established by God.

Two typical examples are in Deut. 30:19 and in 1Cor. 14:32. Here, prophesying can only be done in the Spirit of the Lord through the spirits of the prophets. Their spirits are subject to them, to their own free will. Without their own free decision to speak, they would not prophesy though they might have received Words directly from God.

Let us now examine some important issues concerning our will and the above principal facts.

1. Our old will always tries to satisfy our own self in all situations, conditions and circumstances. Even if we try to satisfy someone else, it is because of our own satisfaction in doing so. This is the natural state and character of our old will and we have no intentions to change it in any way.

2. If we are facing situations where we have to decide against our satisfaction, then we have to be “talked into it” or “forced” to do it depending on the seriousness of such a situation and on the degree of deviation from our “original” satisfaction, original planning. But we are willing to deviate only to the “degree of the force used in the argument”. The decision of our will is thus made under the pressure of possible consequences.

We decide to “move the line of our satisfaction” to a new position where we could say – well, it is still all right, it could have been much worse. But we would not go any further. We are thus “satisfied” with our new decision since we had no better choice. This is our nature, the way of least resistance. If we realize that these things are happening quite often in our earthly life, then it should be easy to translate these facts into our “religious life” as well.

3. Having considered the above two points, it should now be much easier for us to understand what the Lord is doing with us when He says:

“God has been working in us that we would be willing to do His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13, paraphrased)

Clearly, the Lord has been working in our will and we may have never been aware of it or noticed it in any way! But the Lord has been employing the same principle, which is given to us in the above point. To achieve in us any willingness to do His pleasure, His satisfaction, which is often quite different than ours, the Lord had to create pressures and problems for us. These would “move the line of our satisfaction” to a new position where the pressures would cease, the problems would be solved and the consequences would be acceptable for us. (Jon. 2:1,2 + many Psalms)

We usually only see, feel and understand the problems, pressures and the associated pain, suffering or displeasure. We do not see the Lord’s hand behind these events. It thus appears absolutely necessary for the Lord to cause us some pain, suffering, pressure, or displeasure so that we would be…

…willing to do what we would normally never do! the Lord is enabling us to become Overcomers… and we are often unaware that it is done through resolving our problems and conflicts and taking our decisions according to His Will.

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Let me insert here a brief but very practical paragraph concerning the above point 3. and some of the ministers on TBN channels previously mentioned.

Is it possible that T.D.Jakes, R.Parsley or others on TBN channels would stop screaming and sweating or running on stages and change their ministry? Is it possible that J. Duplantis would stop mixing the Gospel with fun, jokes and mundane talk? Is it possible that the ladies would stop their preaching? Or that J. Bynum would hear the Lord’s admonition and stop screaming her head off and stop her religious hysteria, which brings nothing but shame to Him? Is it possible that other ministers would also change their ministry after reading the above assessment and judgment of the Lord in this book? Is it really? Under the current circumstances, I say: NO! Why?

First, they are unable to believe that their ministry is not acceptable to the Lord and that His Spirit has nothing to do with it and cannot bless it or make it fruitful! They are unable to believe it because they do not see it. They only see the outward picture, people (at times multitudes) listening and enjoying their sermons. They neither see the spiritual picture, nor themselves. The Lord has to show them first their own selves!

Therefore, the Lord leads me to pray the following:

i ask You, Lord Jesus Christ, to show to all those mentioned above the true picture of themselves and Your Judgments, that they may see themselves and also what they do! And whosoever shall receive Your Truth and your Judgment, bless that soul and prepare him for Your coming. I pray for your sake and for the sake of Your Church. Amen.

Second, even if the Lord shows them the true picture and His Judgments, it will take their decision to change, to ask the Lord to help them change because they can’t do it of their own power. Will they be willing to open their heart and receive these Truths and Judgments and start (slowly) changing? It depends on whether they belong to Is. 6:9,10 or not! And they all should also read Ez. 3:20,21 and understand why these passages of the Bible are written.

But this is only a small example of the practical Christianity, of our Salvation and how the Spirit of the Lord has been executing it in our earthly lives from the start of our Redemption.

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4. The result or fruit of the above is something to be considered and cherished. Every time our will decides to do His pleasure, His satisfaction, the Lord accomplishes some change, some renewal in our heart (here a little, there a little). But this “little” work is eternal, which is to say, permanent! This means, that we will not have to “be forced or pressured” again to do the same thing in the future. Our heart and will are now able to act and decide spontaneously in this area – without pressure or pain.

Thus our problems and pressures are not an everlasting merry-go-round, as it is for pagans. The problems, pressures, pain, suffering, at times even dangerous or hopeless situations and other numberless things arranged for us by the Lord work together for our good! (Rom. 8:28) We keep moving and our will and heart keep deciding for the Lord and for His Will, which is His pleasure. That is the “secret” of our spiritual progress, growth, maturing. It is also the “secret” of our temporary suffering, pain, problems, displeasure, discontent.

5. There may be many Christians who question God, where He is or where He was when this or that happened. How could He allow this or that. How can a loving God allow some terrible sickness to fall on our loved one, how can He look at such and such injustice, evil or other thing?

Let me say this very emphatically: God allows men to do their free will, which may cause horrible consequences! God never sends sicknesses on men, men bring it all on themselves. Men decide by their free will to begin destroying their bodies and souls right from their young age. They smoke, drink, eat anything that lands on their plate, exhaust themselves or bring themselves to horrible situations. In their own foolishness and stubbornness, they crawl into dangerous situations where they even risk their lives or serious injuries.

Is it not written that “whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap.”? (Gal. 6:7) Then, why do many Christians accuse God or even question Him when they are harvesting exactly what they sowed? It is dangerous to accuse God of such things, which He would never do. If they would allow the Lord to enter their heart and would start fellowshipping with Him and knowing Him, they would discover the truth how good God is, what He does and what He never does.

6. Let us consider an “obscure” Word of God which says: “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.” (Jam. 4:17)

Somehow I believe that none of us has ever imagined the true depth and meaning of this little verse. I will give my faith and understanding of this Word of God to the depth that, so far, I have been able to see myself hoping that it may be beneficial to the readers.

The very first application of this Word is in “doing good and communicating". (Heb. 13:16) If I am supposed to communicate with someone, return a call, reply to a letter, etc., and I do not do it though I could, I am not doing the good, which is expected and required from me by the Word of God, and which I could do, if I wanted. In the eyes of God, I hereby sin… against Him and the other person!

If the Lord gives me truth about some situation or person, which is needed at His appropriate time and I keep it “secret” within myself and do not declare it, I hereby sin! I may decide in my heart to keep it secret for different reasons, for example, to preserve my image, to keep my friend or family member from embarrassment, to gain a kind of advantage for myself, etc. If I know the truth about myself, my actions, deeds, failures, damages done, etc., and I am asked about it in the Body of Christ and do not speak the truth, I am an hypocrite, I do not do good to the Body, which I could do, then I hereby sin! Whenever I go against the voice of my conscience, I refuse to do what I know is “good or needful and truthful” at that time, then I hereby sin!

Have you ever thought about such applications of this “little” Word of God? How many times we have thus sinned against God and against our brethren, friends or against one another?

7. Finally, I would like to conclude this paragraph with another unusual but important fact. Many believers might find themselves in a situation where they “know” in their conscience and would like to open their heart to the Lord but are somehow unable to decide to do so! It may be that their will is bound or oppressed or even paralysed by the powers of darkness. Let us never forget that whenever we desire to do something for the Lord or for His pleasure, these bastardly powers of evil are always there and would do anything to prevent us from doing it – especially allow the Lord into our heart to destroy their kingdom there. Do you have such experiences?

The solution is that we may have to ask the Lord to strengthen our will so that it may decide for Him and also to enable us to open our heart to Him. The Lord answers even the most feeble whisper of our heart toward Him.

It should be abundantly clear from the above that…

the decision of our will and heart to open to the Lord is the most important step and decision in our earthly life because it determines our destiny in eternity and also our way to it! A closed heart is a doomed heart because it does not need God!

Because of its enormous importance, I want to bring to your attention one fact, which should belong to the chapter “The true depth of deception”, but I kept it purposely for this place to show how our will and heart interact in this decision and how they can “fool” us all. From my own experience, I can tell you that our heart is quite able to show that it is indeed “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jer. 17:9)

Man may repent in tears and promise that he desires to follow the Lord with all his heart. That man may start performing much better and we may all be satisfied. The truth is that it may be his mind that decided to do better and not his heart! Few weeks or months later, he displays the same spirits that were in his heart before his repentance. He then repeats his repentance with the same promises and decisions. He again improves his work, diligence, care, etc. Few weeks or months later, he is found back in his spiritual pit. No wonder the Lord told us clearly that we shall know them by their fruits. (Mt. 7:16-20) His fruit is bad!

The fruit always grows in our heart and not in mind and shows the truth about our heart and will!

The heart first deceives its owner and through him also everybody else.

Therefore, the Word also clearly declares that “he that trusts in his own heart is a fool”. (Pr. 28:26)

It may take quite a long time and repeated repentances and efforts to “come to the Lord” before the Lord shows us the actual and true problem with our heart and will. The first attempts to repent and change are usually plagued with self-pity and all the “foxy moves” of the old man trying to “make a deal” with the Lord or with the brethren. But everyone who persists will see the final and very good fruit from the Lord’s Spirit.

The greatest tragedy of the Church of Jesus Christ is in the unwillingness of many believers to open their hearts to the Lord and be honest at least to Him!… if they are not honest to themselves.

The Lord thus cannot help them to abandon their old life and ways (the broad way), their old nature, which can never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and can never enter the New Jerusalem. Multitudes of believers are unwilling even to ponder these spiritual facts and admit that they are not sure how the Lord views their walk, their religion and how He judges their works and fruit. I know from my own experience that to open our heart is not easy, but it is essential for our continued Salvation. The Lord knows this and understands, and is ready to help us and enable us!

If you are not on the narrow way, then you are on the broad way, there are no other ways. And the broad way, where many believers are walking, leads to destruction. It is not my personal opinion, it is the Word of God. (Mt. 7:13, 14) When the Lord says “...many there be which go…”, He is not addressing pagans! The notion that all believers walk on the narrow way and all pagans on the broad way is a lie from hell! If this were true, the Lord would have never urged His believers to strive to enter in at the straight gate! (Lk. 13:24) Is this true?

Hence, when we believe and are redeemed, baptized and thus sanctified in Christ Jesus, we are not saints yet! we are righteous and called to be saints. (Rom. 1:7// 1Cor. 1:2) We are not set on the narrow way, we must seek and find it! (Mt. 7:7,8,14) If we do not seek it, we will never find it and will continue walking on the broad way! Hence, the “many” means born-again believers who, though they have the Heavenly Father, they are still evil (Mt. 7:11) or are not yet His sons and daughters. (2Cor. 6:17,18) I desire to say to the “many believers” on the broad way this word:

a) If you would consciously and definitely know that you walk on the road leading to your destruction, would you continue walking on it? I believe you would stop. It is entirely possible that you may be walking on the broad way and not be aware of it at all! Please, be not surprised that you may be deceived in this very important fact of your life and destiny. Deception is a very potent weapon in the arsenal of our enemy, the devil. Satan will tell those walking to destruction: “You are just fine, do not listen to anyone telling you otherwise or criticizing you or judging you… you are doing your best”. And to those walking on the narrow way, pressing, suffering, wrestling, he will say: “You are not doing well, you will never make it; the Lord is not satisfied with you otherwise He would not punish you and let you suffer like this. Abandon your way and do what all the others do.”

I repeat, the Lord says clearly: “Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (see Lk. 13:24-27)

When the Lord says STRIVE, is He talking to pagans? What do you believe in your heart? So, Satan would again “conveniently forget” the Word of God in order to deceive you and you would have no clue that he is deceiving you, just as Eve had no clue in the Garden of Eden.

Those that do walk on the narrow way understand the above very well. Those walking on the broad way cannot understand or see this truth. They must turn to the Lord and ask Him to show them where they walk. They must then decide to leave that broad way and begin to find the narrow way with the Lord’s help. But how will they do this important step in their Christian life when nobody tells them anything about it? My question is: Who preaches and explains this truth in the light of the Scripture? Who cares and is responsible before the Lord for those souls, if not their shepherds?

b) How do you know on which way you are walking? You must have a testimony in your conscience and in your heart that you walk on the narrow way with the signs and fruit following! If you do not have it, then you are walking on the broad way. It is that simple.

Nobody walks on the narrow way without being conscious of it! Nobody walks on the narrow way breaking or ignoring the Word of God and not being made conscious of it by the Holy Spirit! Nobody walks on the narrow way without growing up and being changed in his life, faith and deeds. Nobody starts walking on the narrow way by accident, without deciding for the Lord – to do His Will and not his/her own. (Mt. 26:39) It never happens to you “somehow”. You never drift to the narrow way, you must find it.

Nobody is saved by “accident”, without being conscious of it. Nobody is pleasing the Lord without being conscious of it, without having a testimony in his heart, which is the Lord’s “stamp” of approval. Our own pleasant feelings, assumptions or hopes are insufficient. Nobody walks on the narrow way without producing any fruit of the Spirit! Do you have at least some fruit of His Spirit? How do you recognize your fruit? Does it correspond to the description in the Word of God? (Gal. 5:22,23)

* * *

I am at this point constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to declare the following important truth.

The fruit of the Spirit is not equal or comparable to our own human qualities and virtues!

We have our own human love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, beliefs, meekness, temperance. We may have any or all nine of them. But they are NOT the fruit of the Spirit! They are part of our natural creation, part of our carnal soul, hence, they are soulish and not spiritual. The fruit of the Spirit is spiritual.

There are pagans who might display human gentleness, goodness, humbleness, generosity or other human virtues, yet, the Lord’s Spirit has never produced any of His fruit in any pagan. Also, there may be many pagans who display a far greater human virtues or talents than many Christians! True? How can we tell the difference?

Well, our own soulish qualities and “virtues” are very shallow, short-lived and greatly limited. Our own love, joy or peace are able to disappear very fast whenever the conditions for their existence disappear. The same goes for our goodness or gentleness or temperance or any other soulish virtue.

The very first problem that may “hit you” after leaving your blessed church service could, in seconds, rob you of all your peace and joy that you enjoyed at the service! Your good friend whom you respected and loved deeply may one day tell you that you are self-righteous or proud or envious or that you live in some sin. Your “deep love and respect” for him might disappear in no time. Or someone may do an injustice to you, to your loved one or your friend and your temperance could leave you in a flash.

Just ponder these few examples from your everyday life and imagine: If the Lord would love us with this kind of love, if His patience would have such a “short fuse”, we would not even be saved today! The reality is that the Lord always acted toward us kindly and through His Spirit. Even His work in us after our Redemption is being done through the same fruit of His Spirit and that is why it is bearable though it may be painful at times. But I believe that it is always far more painful for Him than for us.

Do we not know, do we not have our own experience that the best medicine is the most bitter one? So, they sugar coat the pills so that we might be able to swallow them. The bitter spiritual truth is also sugar coated with His Love and Grace so we can “swallow” that truth by believing it in our heart. And that truth, once it gets inside of our heart, shall make us free from the darkness, wickedness and other evil in our heart. (Jn. 8:32) It will definitely and permanently cure us and uproot in our heart all the bitter and evil plants that kept spoiling our life and the life of all those around us.

The above spiritual realities also point to another fact. If our ministry is to be successful and fruitful before the Lord (not necessarily before men), it must primarily be done through the fruit of His Spirit and not just through our soulish virtues and biblically educated intellect. It must not be done through endless persuasions, reasoning, debates, questioning, doubting, feelings or the like while even a basic kindness, openness, wisdom, faith and grace may be missing. That is why an uncrucified minister of God will achieve very little in terms of spiritual values, in spiritual progress, growth and maturing of believers.

Toward man, we have to be meek, graceful, patient, kind and understanding. Toward hell in man, we must be authoritative, uncompromising, unyielding even forceful and violent (in words) whenever necessary. It all depends who is addressing you, man or the hell in him. For that we need the true discernment from the Lord. Do you see this spiritual reality? If you do not, the Lord can enable you to see even this reality.

The Lord Himself was dealing differently with different people. With ordinary people who might have been misled, deceived or otherwise ignorant of the truth, He spoke graciously (ex. Jn. 8:10,11). With the hell in Pharisees and Scribes, He spoke harshly, forcefully, impolitely, undiplomatically and did not mingle His Words. (ex.: Mt. chpt. 23)

* * *

THE WAY TO VICTORY

The first fact is that the victory does not come to us the way we expect or prefer. The darkness and death in our old soul cannot possibly predict what the new Life will do, how It will enable our soul to “live It”, how the Spirit of Life will express Himself through our soul.

The second fact is that we will have to learn – slowly and painfully – to start doing things we never did before and to stop doing some things we always did! Does this sound reasonable? Of course, it does. This is the way to abandon, deny, lose our old soul life and start gaining the new Life of Christ. (Mt. 16:24,25) This is a lifelong process and it never goes according to our expectations, prayers, wishes or logical explanations. Even our reasoning may be set aside and many of our former strong beliefs and persuasions may also need drastic revisions or modifications.

One big problem is that we cannot just “walk away” from our old life, old character, old creation, old habits, old ways! Often, we must be “torn away” from it step-by-step by the power of the Holy Spirit, which may be painful and a totally unpleasant, impolite, “unchristian” action!

Another big problem is that whenever the Spirit leads us to practice Mt. 16:24,25, we do not start denying ourselves, we start defending ourselves! Have you ever observed this powerful feature of your character? Just try to “walk away from it” and you will experience its power. So, even after some years, we must never think or believe that “now we are perfected and can minister flawlessly”.

We all know how difficult it is to change any of our old habits and learn a new one. That includes the habit of how we conduct our ministry! While we were children, such a change was rather easy (especially seeing a belt in our father’s hand), but after being fifty, or so, it is a “pain in the neck”. Fortunately, this effort is not to be all ours and we are not the only ones trying such impossible feats. Let us remember that without the Lord we can do nothing! (Jn. 15:5) Also, we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. (2Cor. 13:8) And the Lord without us will also do nothing! It is both ways or no way. If we ask and seek, we shall receive and find. (Mt. 7:7,8)

The third fact is that in the process of this renewal and revival of our soul – during the walk on this narrow way – we will be progressively discovering two most important pillars of our future spiritual knowledge:

a) We will begin to know the Lord Himself, His mind, heart, thoughts, intentions, goodness, judgments; also His true love, patience, power, wisdom, grace and other beauty and virtues. It will not be just the knowledge about Him but of Himself!

b) We will also begin to discover and know ourself as we never knew ourself before and all the things we never thought were in our heart. I guarantee you that you do not (and cannot) know yourself before you start knowing the Lord. It is in the Light of His Personality that you can start seeing yourself. We need His Light to see ourself, even our sinfulness. We cannot see our true character and personality just because somebody tells us about it or we read a book (such as this one) or a letter written to us. We have to see, be aware and also hate our sin if we are to truly repent and be delivered and cleansed from it. We have to start seeing our heart before we could start opening it to the Lord.

After this discovery, we will also begin to see better why it must be “here a little and there a little” (Is. 28:10) and why the Lord cannot renew us and give us His Life in one “big bang” but that this process must be progressive and protracted.

The fourth fact is that whatever the Lord renews, recreates, revives in us, is an eternal, permanent work and can never disappear or be destroyed by any power. The Eternal Life, which the Spirit of the Lord brings into our spirit and soul can never die or be destroyed, hence, His work in us can never be destroyed either. However, it may happen from time to time that we will feel as if we had lost what the Lord had given us and we might even end up in despair. There are three possibilities here, which we should ponder and understand:

a) The Lord may choose to keep you unaware of His work in your heart in order that He may build a higher, stronger or purer faith in you. To teach you not to depend on your own heart (its feelings, emotions) or on your own mind (its thoughts, reasoning, understanding) but that you would stand on your existing faith (spiritual knowledge, understanding, vision in your conscience)! Also, you may be led to remember your previous experiences and work that the Lord had already done in you and which cannot just disappear “into thin air”, as we say.

b) The Lord may choose to keep you unaware of His work in you and prevent you from using (or misusing) it when you are found in a sinful situation, unrepented sins or rebellion, which means, unwillingness to stay His Course, His Plan, His Judgment. Let me underline at this point that here we are not talking about misusing the gifts of His Spirit, which is possible to do whereas misusing His Life is not possible to do.

c) There is a danger in the Scripture for born-again believers to lose their Salvation under certain conditions^[7]. Such believers may have been anointed by His Spirit for a ministry in His Church but they kept going their own way, did not carry out His commandments, did not keep His Word and feared people more than God. They never decided in their hearts to deny their will and do the Will of the Father. (Mt. 26:39// Lk. 22:42) The time may come when the Lord removes His Spirit from such believers (1Sam. 15:1-3,9-11,21,23; 16:14; 18:12) and they will not even have to be aware of it! Instead of a victory, they will end up in tragedy.

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the One Lord of both Testaments to declare the following truth.

Every biblically educated believer knows that the men and events in the Old Testament also have a spiritual meaning and significance. And every man and woman of God in the Old Testament typifies someone or some spiritual principle in the New Testament.

Saul was the king of Israel anointed by the Lord and that through Samuel the prophet. (1Sam. 15:1) He typifies the rulers in Israel who feared people more than they feared the Lord or they did evil in His sight or did not carry out His Commandments (His Word) or did not enquire of Him, but enquired of flesh. Therefore, the Lord killed Saul and his three sons! (1Sam. 31:6// 1Chron. 10:13,14)

GOD, Who is Love (1Jn. 4:8) and Who is the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – killed His anointed king of His chosen people! This has had and will have enormous repercussions for the Church.

Saul typifies all those New Testament rulers and leaders of the Church who also fear people more than God, who do not enquire of God and do not obey His commandments, His Word! Saul and his people spared Agag, the king of Amalekites, and the best of their possessions and did not destroy them utterly as clearly commanded by God. (1Sam. 15:9)

A very brief picture summarizing this passage of the Old Testament is as follows. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, the father of Edomites (Gen. 36:9,12) whom the Lord hated. (Mal. 1:2,3// Rom. 9:13) Esau hated Jacob his brother and planned to slay him. (Gen. 27:41) Amalek was thus the enemy of Israel and fought Israel in Rephidim. (Ex. 17:8) He who defeated the Amalekites was Joshua and he brought Israel into the Promised Land. (Ex. 17:10-14) The Amalekites “laid wait for Israel in the way when they came up from Egypt” and were headed for their Promised Land. (1Sam. 15:2).

Today, the Amalekites represent the spiritual enemies of the chosen people of God – the Church – and they “lay wait” for them as they come up from their “Egypt through the Red Sea”, which is their Salvation and head toward their Promised Land, which is the Kingdom of Heaven! These “spiritual Amalekites” are the powers of evil and darkness who take a stand against them and against their “going on unto perfection” (Heb. 6:1) and entering the Kingdom of Heaven. These spiritual powers of evil were in Pharisees and are also today in the believers and ministers with pharisaic hearts. (Mt. 23:13)

Therefore, the Lord commands the rulers and leaders of His Church whom He anointed to also fight and utterly destroy these powers which oppose all those believers who decided to keep walking to their perfection and to the Kingdom of Heaven! The Lord had also sworn that He will have “war with Amalek” (his forces) from generation to generation, which means, to the end of the age until they are utterly destroyed. (Ex. 17:16)

Hence, all those rulers and leaders in the Church who refuse to fight these powers and to lead their people to also fight them and keep destroying them, will be in grave danger. The Lord may one day “kill” them and their sons (killing means separating them from His Presence).

These are the leaders who fear people and do not fear God, who disobey His commandments (His Word) and do not enquire of the Lord but seek advice from flesh… and then follow it in their life and ministry.

And as Saul did not know what was waiting for him and for his three sons, so also these leaders of the Church do not know what is waiting for them, and for their families – unless they pause and seek the truth from the Lord – and repent and change their ways… if it is not too late!

Saul admitted he sinned and asked for pardon, but it was too late, for the Lord rejected him to be king over Israel! (1Sam. 15:24-26) If you have a heart to see and understand this both in the spiritual world and in today’s Church, then see and understand.

* * *

The fifth fact is that the Lord may never choose for us a man, vessel, instrument, which we would choose and prefer. And if we do like that man from the beginning, later on he might “disappoint us” in speaking truth to us which might be ever more bitter than any time before. Whoever is “cutting” our heart, our feelings, whoever opposes our good reasons and many excellent excuses – that man is not welcomed in our life any more! Is that true? You may have your very own experiences even in this area. We never look at ourselves whether that bitter truth might be correct and applicable to us. No! We first look at our “tormentor” and try to find out everything unacceptable about him. This is our old human and filthy nature.

But this is exactly that devilish thing in us, which the Lord is cutting out of us that He may replace it with His Divine Nature. This takes a heart, which is unconditionally and truly after the Lord and is willing to suffer that little pain, pay that little price and continue unto his perfection.

The sixth fact is that only few believers find the narrow way, which leads to Life (Mt. 7:14), which means, to the Victory. Why? Because only few believers seek it! Those that seek, find (Mt. 7:8) and those that seek not, find not! But why do only few seek it? What is the true reason?

One reason is that this truth is never preached so believers are ignorant of this truth. The second reason why the majority of believers do not seek it even after being told is that they do not want to seek it… they do not want to change! But the Lord cannot help the unwilling. Their hearts refuse to seek the narrow way, the Kingdom (Mt. 6:33) as well as to seek the Lord. (Deut. 4:29// 2Chr. 15:2,12-15// Ps. 9:10; 22:26; 27:4// Acts. 15:14-17; 17:26,27, etc.)

I would like to quote at this place from the letter of brother Arthur Pink (page 16^[13]) written on September 5, 1933 to a man named Lowell Green :

“Now in Matthew 7:14 the Lord Jesus declares there are ‘few’ who find the narrow way which leads to life, and were I to tell you that these ‘few’ are much fewer than nearly all the Bible teachers, preachers and evangelists of this day believe, you might think I was too pessimistic. Again, in Luke 12:32, Christ declares that God’s ‘flock’ is a little one; and were I to tell you that it is probably much smaller than you now suppose, that there is a vast difference between the actual size of His flock and the totality of Christian workers and church-members, you might be far from agreeing with me.

But as your experience widens and you come into closer contact with, or have business dealings with church-members, you will find that all is not gold that glitters and that there are multitudes who call themselves Christians who have never passed from death to life spiritually – Proverbs 30:12. It is only as one comes to learn this personally, that one gradually discovers and discerns how empty and worthless is much of the zeal, toil and activity which is going on in the religious realm; that, after all, it is but the energy of the flesh with a coat of religious paint over it.”

(underlining and bold lettering is mine)

However unbelievable or illogical it may seem to be, but the truth is that the majority of believers has decided in their heart not to seek their own Life, Truth and Victory! According to my faith already expressed above, only two reasons may exist for such a tragic decision:

(a) they are deceived and nobody tells them anything,

(b) they love their old life and do not want to lose it.

If they are deceived, they have a chance here and now to receive the truth from the Scripture quoted and discussed also in this book. The Light of the Word will effectively and permanently destroy all their deception in this area.

If they love their old life, I have for them only one Word of God, namely, Mt. 16:25. Let them choose.

The seventh fact is that there are three types of success, three types or degrees of victory that may be distinguishable in the life of believers:

a) The first victory is in the fact, that believers may study the Word of God diligently and sometimes acquire very extensive and excellent intellectual knowledge of the Word of God. They are then able to teach it, preach it, discuss it or argue about it intelligently and persuasively, yet, remain on the intellectual level and have no spiritual discernment. They cannot distinguish spirit from soul, spiritual life from spiritual death. They have no sensitivity for the Spirit of God, for His voice or guidance. They have none of His spiritual senses working in their lives, chiefly an eye to see, ear to hear and heart to understand. This is an “intellectual victory” and though it is a desirable stepping stone for the next 2 victories, it is still useless in itself, inadequate and cannot produce spiritual fruit of any kind.

Unfortunately, most believers do not achieve even this first success or degree of victory. Most ministers of the Word of God, who have achieved this first victory, do not have it in their heart to go on to achieve the second and third victory!

b) The second victory which the Spirit leads us to is to acquire the spiritual knowledge where we see and understand the breadth and length and depth and height of the Word, which we never saw or understood with all our intellectual knowledge. We also begin to acquire the knowledge of the Lord Himself since He and His Word are One. This comes when we learn obedience by the things we have to suffer (Heb. 5:8), when we are subjected to Him and His Word with the necessary seriousness and have a true fear of the Lord; when our basic pride, arrogance and selfishness is at least reduced sufficiently to permit this kind of spiritual understanding.

Then we begin to see our selves in the Light of the Lord! We begin to see and understand in our own heart that all our intellectual knowledge is insufficient and does not constitute our salvation! That our ways and deeds are not all clean, wise and marvellous… as we believed before we saw ourselves. That the Lord weighs, judges our spirits and not our knowledge. (Pr. 16:2)

c) The third and final victory, which is the most precious in the sight of the Lord is the victory in overcoming our old man, old character, old self and in putting on the Character of Christ, in acquiring His love, meekness, lowliness of heart, grace, mercy, forgiveness, patience, wisdom and longsuffering. This far surpasses all the knowledge and understanding that we may have ever acquired in our life and all the good deeds and activities that we may have ever done or undertaken in our entire earthly life.

The eighth fact is that nothing in this world is perfect and nothing goes as we expect it! Our best, most desired, most noble or perfect wishes, plans, intentions or expectations do not come true, and if some do, it may be a pure miracle. Equally, neither in the Church, nor in our Christian life anything is or ever will be perfect except for the Spirit of Our Lord and His work within us.

Hence, the conclusion to this section “The Way to Victory” is rather simple. What we have done or gained in this physical world is not truly important and it is not our true victory. (2Pet. 3:10-12)

What we have done and gained in the spiritual world, that is judged as our true Victory in the eyes of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:11)

THE TRUE MEANING OF THE CROSS

I will take the risk of repeating some statements or quotes concerning this extremely important subject of our Christian lives. I will try, again, to present a practical side of this subject as well as my experiences rather than just quote verses of the Scripture, which may be quite well known though in a rather narrow and shallow way.

Every believer believes and knows quite well that the Saviour died on the Cross so that our sins may be forgiven us and we may thus be reconciled to Our Father, Who is in Heaven. (Eph. 1:7// Col. 1:14// Rom. 5:10// 2Cor. 5:18, etc.) So then, the only thing such believers need is to join some church, some congregation and sit there, hear sermons, pray, play music, sing, give offerings, read the Bible or join in some other church activities. As I already declared, there is nothing wrong with any of these activities… but there is everything wrong with making them the aim of our life!

This is a true tragedy because believers miss the true meaning of the Cross and Salvation and with it the true aim, desire and Will of God, Our Father, Who planned the Cross of Our Lord and also our cross in our Salvation.

The tragedy is that this limited faith and knowledge stops right there! It stops right at the very beginning of our Salvation. Why does it not go any further, deeper, higher? Why does it not encompass the Full Vision of God as revealed in the New Testament?

Why is the most important part of our Salvation and of the true will and desire of our God, that is – our crosses – not preached, taught, explained as the number one priority in all churches? Why is it only the Cross of Jesus, which is preached (if it is at all!) as if our crosses did not exist? Are they not an important part of our personal salvation? (Mt. 16:23-25)

Millions of believers may not even know that they have their own cross prepared for them by their Father, which is in Heaven!!! And even if they are ever told, they may have no clue what that cross is, how indispensable it is for their salvation and life eternal. Hello??? This is one of the most important truths concerning our personal Salvation!

It seems that after we are redeemed, we are led by our leaders to the broad way where we are free to live our new religious life and enjoy our Salvation “as we like” and “as it suits us”. And we are quite content with that way because it is pleasant to our old soul and we see nothing wrong with it. As long as we “come to a church or work for the Lord”, all is well, we praise the Lord and feel good.

I see two kinds of born-again believers on the broad way (Mt. 7:13): (a) those that clearly enjoy it and have no intention to abandon it, and (b) those that may not enjoy it that much, or they are not satisfied at all. It takes time for both these groups to start experiencing the fruit of their walking along the wrong way. To those that do not seek truth and have no intention to seek it, the Lord will not grant truth. The Lord will cause you to find when you seek… because the Word of God is not a theory, you see, It applies to your life. (Mt. 7:7)

Those that are content with their “misery” and do not ask or seek the truth concerning their misery and the way out, the Lord will let them “enjoy” their misery for as long as their heart may wish… until they are “fed-up” with themselves! And if their heart would never desire to get out of their misery, they will never get out! Yet, the Lord has provided the way out of all misery, deception, destruction, evil and death for every one of us – but we have to seek it! And the way out is through our own cross! Every other way leads to our destruction. Are you truly registering this truth in your hearts?

I am not asking you how do you feel (you may feel terrible). I am asking you whether you believe what God says in His Holy and Eternal Word, or not? And if you do not believe, is it because you did not know it before? In that case, keep reading, the Lord will show you the necessary truth what you need at this time of your life.

For those that will not believe this Word of God, feel free to stop reading and throw this book to the garbage. One day you might find it there again as you will walk through it. But then, you should also cut out of your Bible Mt. 3:10; 16:24,25; Mk. 8:34,35; Lk. 9:23,24; 13:6-9; 2Cor. 7:1; Gal. 5:24; Heb. 6:1-6; Rev. 3:5; 22:19// 1Jn. 5:16 and many more passages and also throw them to the same garbage! Furthermore,…

…the heart that does not believe or refuses to believe is EVIL! (Heb. 3:12) Though it is redeemed, if it does not change, it will be destroyed. (Jude 5)

Let us come back to our main topic and try to answer why many of our leaders have not led us to the narrow way.

I believe the reason are the powers of evil, death and darkness, which are “bodyguards of lies” trying to guard the secret of the whole truth of the Cross – its true meaning and true victory! By keeping the whole truth from the believers, the evil powers thus prevent them from being “fully saved” and matured into sons and daughters of their Father. Believers thus remain spiritual children and keep their carnal souls for the rest of their earthly lives. But children never go to war because they love their own lives and thus have no word of their testimony! Therefore…

…childish believers cannot overcome the Devil though they are covered with the precious blood of the Lamb! (Rev. 12:11) Should I again say: Hello?

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to destroy at this place a very deep deception of the devil and the consequential false doctrines or beliefs propagated in the churches of Jesus Christ world-wide by many leaders. Ponder the following:

a) Every believer is under the precious Blood of the Lamb and is covered and protected from being destroyed by the powers of hell. Hell cannot prevail over any believer (Mt. 16:18) provided that that believer will remain under that blood! It is possible for any believer not to abide under the blood just as it is possible for him not to abide in Christ! The Lord says very clearly: “IF you abide in Me and My Words abide in you…” (Jn. 15:7) That is to say, the Word of God must dwell and live in that believer.

It is not enough to believe and sing about Jesus while you disregard or take His Word lightly and live your own old life thus making the most important Aim and Will of your Heavenly Father null and void!

b) The fact that hell cannot prevail over a believer does not mean that the believer can prevail over hell! While he is a spiritual child, he is “holding his mother’s skirt”, is protected but cannot overcome the Devil. To do that, in addition to the Blood of the Lamb, he needs a strong spirit, the word of his own testimony and he must not love his (old) life even unto death! (Rev. 12:11// 1Jn. 2:14)

The word of our testimony is not about being covered by the Blood of the Lamb! Satan knows this fact. It is the word of our New Soul about the defeat of Satan in our old soul on our own cross! Our Old Soul has no word of any testimony, which would overcome Satan! Please note, that the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony are two separate facts in Rev. 12:11.

I am sorry to say that many evangelists, preachers or other ministers are plainly deceived in this vital question! Furthermore, with this deception, the powers of death still retain the chance to get some of the believers back. It is but deception and closed hearts, which bring pagans to their final destruction. True? It is nothing but deception and closed hearts, which may take such believers out of the Book of Life and into the same destruction! (Rev. 3:5; 20:15; 22:19!)

There are probably many books written on this subject and I have read some of them. What leads me to write on this subject again are my experiences, which speak loud and clear that the Cross, Desire and the True Will of Our God and Father have not been preached, understood and experienced by multitudes of believers. There lurks a very great danger especially for the believers with stony and closed hearts who are “eternally unwilling” to change, grow up, get rid of their old, sinful nature, which is absolutely abhorrent to Our God and will be definitely destroyed by Him in His perfect timing.

* * *

So, what about the Cross of Jesus Christ?

Is there something more than what we have always known and believed? Let us ponder this question in greater depth, breadth, width and height. I believe the Lord can enable us to grasp a much greater picture of His Cross and Glory.

1. Yes, all our sins, past, present and future, are under the Blood of Christ. Yes, we obtained the forgiveness of our past sins and were reconciled to Our Father. No, our present sins, which we commit now and are aware of are not forgiven us automatically – just because we were redeemed or baptized in water or in the Holy Spirit! I repeat, all our sins are atoned for by the Blood of Christ, but not all are forgiven until a confession and repentance is made by the believer when the Spirit shows the sins to his conscience, either directly or through others.

“IF we (born-again believers) confess our sins (which the Spirit shows us in our conscience), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn. 1:9)

These may include sins, which we have committed after our Redemption and never confessed or repented of. If we do not confess such sins, they shall not be forgiven us. Has this been clearly preached? Not in my experience. And there is more to be said about our past sins, which we had committed against men and not “directly” against God (see two excellent books^[11][12] by brother John Adejoro-Oluwa).

Furthermore, if we do not forgive men their sin or trespass against us, neither will Our Father forgive our sins or trespasses against others. (Mt. 6:15; 18:35)

Furthermore, it is also clearly written:

“if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1Jn. 1:8) Wow.

This Word also means: “If we say we have no hell in our soul, we deceive ourselves”, because sin is born or originates in hell, sinful nature is hellish nature. Why are we scared to talk about this fact? Does it hurt our image? It does! Does it shock us? It does! Does it contradict our firm persuasions and beliefs that we are already holy, righteous and fully sanctified? It does! (Rev. 22:11)

* * *

I am again constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to share with you at least briefly a very important spiritual fact, which affects all of us because we all have sinned and keep sinning wherever our old man is not dead… wherever he rules.

When we repent of our sins, the Lord forgives. Also, the Lord forgets, but we do not! I do envy the Lord’s ability to forget and never remember whatever He chooses to forget. I would love to do likewise. Wouldn’t you? The result is that the memory of our sins may be “bothering us” for a long time. The same applies to the sins, trespasses or offences by others against us though we may have forgiven them! The hell keeps dragging us back to our past by all available means especially using our memory! True?

So, how do we overcome this problem? We know that the Lord will not erase our memory because we repent to Him. It does not work with us as with our computers where we erase anything and never see it again. Here the Lord gives us a different weapon than forgetfulness. After our true repentance, He grants us faith and keeps building it up in us, which faith shows us how we are before Him, how He looks at us. In this light, any sinful memories lose their power and influence over us even if they keep appearing for a while. Then they fade away as an old picture, which you stored in the attic of your house. It starts gathering dust and you will not remember it any more… unless you purposely keep going to your attic.

Another effective weapon in our hands or rather heart is the fact that you can look straight into the devil’s face and tell him that he is ultimately responsible for all your sins and trespasses and weaknesses and sicknesses and all that! He brought sin and destruction to all this beautiful Creation of God, for he is the destroyer. (1Cor. 10:10) You are free to accuse him even before the Throne of God… because he cannot bear this truth. This should be a part of your faith, which will permanently shield you from his accusations.

* * *

Now, what does the truth in 1Jn. 1:9 also indicate? I believe that it proves the fact that though there is forgiveness of sins flowing from the Cross of Jesus Christ, yet…

the Cross of Jesus Christ has not stopped our sinning! We still possess our sinful nature and we keep sinning. True? So, what has the Cross accomplished concerning our sin when we keep sinning even after our redemption?

It may seem that the Cross of Jesus Christ has not truly given us the final victory over sin. Right? Well, let us explore with an open heart this extremely important truth of God on which depends our very life. Let us declare the most important truth about the Cross of Jesus Christ.

2. The most important truth about the Cross, which I have never heard preached to me or to any of my brethren during my “church years” is the following:

The Cross has not stopped our sinning during our earthly life, but in the eternal counsels of God – the Cross stopped US altogether! It stopped our humanity, our old nature, our old creation! It stopped and judged ALL the old creation and nothing will get beyond It. We will discover this fact later on, after our death or rapture.

God judged with finality our old man, old creation, old nature, old humanity in killing it, crucifying it in His Son and in the view of the whole world.

The Cross did not just kill the Son of God but the whole Old and corrupted Creation, which corruption God allowed and foreknew and judged in His Son in Whom God made a New Creation!

The destruction of the old humanity is about to come again (Gen. 6:5-8) in the coming Tribulation when God will allow satan to devastate almost all old humanity and the old Earth! (Mt. 24:21,22,37)

There is absolutely nothing from the Old Creation that can get behind or beyond the Cross and exist! Nothing! None of us can get beyond the Cross or try to bypass It while living, without dying to ourselves! That is absolutely impossible. (2Tim. 2:11,12) It is equally impossible for anyone of us to go beyond the Cross and keep sinning! (We will touch this subject later on.)

There is absolutely no man who can receive Christ’s Life unless he dies on his own cross! Not one. Even Enoch and Elijah died to their old life on “their crosses” before they could “walk with God” and be anointed and taken to Heaven. (Gen. 5:24// 2Ki. 2:11)

No “old man” ever walked with God or was anointed and taken up! Do you believe this simple fact? So, each of us has his own cross (Mt. 16:24) and the Holy Spirit in us is leading us to take up our cross – just as He led Jesus to take up His Cross. (Mt. 26:39-46) The Lord has prepared for us a real shock. Please, read this very carefully…

If the Cross of Jesus were sufficient for our Full Salvation, our cross would not be needed! Then, it would have never been mentioned by Jesus Christ in the Word of God! (Mt. 16:24,25// Gal. 5:24)

Hello? Is your heart opened? Are you truly registering this spiritual fact? Are you shocked? You should be… as I was also when I received this Light!

I beg you to re-read the above Word of God ten times and begin to see the depth of deception in which we all have been submerged. Our life depends on this clear Truth! Of course, there is a big difference between the Cross of Our Lord and our small crosses. The difference is in the type of death we are to die and also in the process of dying, which is totally different from that of Our Lord.

3. God’s answer to our continued sinning (frame on p. 114) and to our Full Salvation is – our cross! If we should in truth consider the Word of God (ex. Mt. 16:24,25// Mk. 8:34,35; 10:17,21// Lk. 9:23,24// Jn. 12:25,26) then we would have to make the following conclusion as truth:

On the Cross of Jesus Christ we died in Him without our conscience and without the decision of our free will and faith. It was the Will of God.

By believing in Christ, we receive the forgiveness for our sins and reconsiliation to God. By our water baptism, we agree with our death in Christ as willed by God, and are also willing to die to our old nature, old life on our cross. Pagans refuse it all!

On our cross, we choose to die to ourselves with our conscious and free will decision based on our faith! God accepts our sacrifice with a true pleasure and His Will and our will are being united.

Our cross reveals our heart and what is in it, what it is able or unable to do, what it loves and what it hates! It will bring the death to our sinful nature. Carnal Christians refuse it all!

Our cross is our narrow road where we take those decisions we do not like to take, and do those things we would not and could not do in our old nature.

In the above verses, Our Lord tells us plainly this fact: IF anyone of us desires to follow Him and inherit the Life Eternal, he must choose with his free will and faith to deny himself and take up his cross and follow Him. (Mt. 16:24,25) These are direct Words of Our Lord, which I have never heard preached or explained to me in any true and living way! So, if we do not take our cross and deny ourselves, we cannot and will not follow the Lord! True?

How can we then end up at the same place where He is going? Can you tell me? (1Pet. 2:21) And if we do not go where the Lord is going, then where on earth are we going? Did the Lord give us another destination? In fact, He did: outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth… somewhat different from the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 8:12; 13:41,42,50; 22:11-14; 24:50,51, etc.) If we desire by our free will and conscience to be resurrected and receive the Life Eternal – then we must by the same free will and conscience decide to die first! True? No living man was ever resurrected. Listen, please, without any prejudice…

We cannot possess and live two lives simultaneously – one Divine and Holy and one sinful and filthy. True? Our old sinful and filthy life will not be taken from us by force or without our conscious consent. Even our physical death will not take the old sinful and filthy life of our soul away from us! If you can’t believe this fact, please, continue reading.

At the Rapture of the Church, Apostle Paul talks about our body, flesh and blood, and not about our soul! He talks about how “…this mortal must put on immortality.” (1Cor. 15:50,53) This is our body. Our soul (sinful soul is called a worm by the Lord) cannot die, cannot put on immortality because our soul is immortal! (Mk. 9:41-44,46,48) So, at your resurrection, at your rapture you might have your immortal body – and a filthy soul! Is it possible? Well, have you never read or heard the words of Our Lord saying: “…for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good (the Will of their Father), unto the resurrection of Life; and they that have done evil (their own will, iniquities), unto the resurrection of damnation.”? (Jn. 5:28,29)

Is it not clear from this Word of God that man may be damned with his resurrected and immortal body? Pagans will also be resurrected with an immortal body, otherwise, they could not suffer eternally in the lake of fire! (Rev. 20:10,15) Do you believe this?

Let me share with you another truth. Redeemed people have the Tree of Life in their spirit and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in their soul! Most of them keep eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thereby increasing their spiritual death – separation from the Tree of Life. They never eat from the Tree of Life, which is the Lord Himself. (Jn. 14:6; 5:39-40) And at least some of them try to eat from both these trees at the same time! They probably never read or understood Gen. 3:22-24. The simple conclusion is: choose one tree and with it you will choose your future life or future death.

Before I conclude this point, I must declare to all the believers in Christ Jesus that “he that does not take his (own) cross and follows after Me (Christ) is not worthy of Me.” (Mt. 10:38)

If we refuse to take our own cross and follow Him, His Spirit, His Word, then we do not deserve Christ and to be with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven or in the New Jerusalem. This is not brother Hanola speaking, it is Christ the Lord speaking to us all with His own mouth!

Can you truly meditate on the above facts at least for your own sake? The Lord is able to confirm His Word in your own heart, conscience and spirit… if you are willing to hear and follow that truth.

4. There is absolutely no one who will enter the New Jerusalem who never died on his cross, which also means, never followed the Lord! Because “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie; but they which (have overcome and) are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Rev. 21: 27)

Everything in our old creation, old nature is defiled and is an abomination and is false and a lie and there is no holiness or truth in it. Everyone who dies on his cross is also called “Overcomer”. It is a clear principle of God that every one must overcome. The Lord has given promises only to those that overcome. (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12, 21, the only promise to non-Overcomers is in Rev. 2:11 and 3:5)

Those that will keep refusing to overcome shall be blotted out of the Book of Life and shall not enter into the New Jerusalem – because by their own will they refused to do the Will of their Father! (Rev. 21:7) It is a terribly bitter truth to us and to our old nature and all hell has been vehemently opposing it and covering it! However, every believer has his specific overcoming to do and his specific narrow way to take. Even the hearts, which are “good ground” bring different harvests. (Mt. 13:8) And with some believers, the Lord shortens their overcoming by not putting on them other burdens and tells them:

“But that which ye have already (overcome) hold fast till I come.” (Rev. 2:24b,25)

“Holding fast” is also a kind of overcoming, which is overcoming the forces that desire to take it from us. Is it not true? (Rev. 3:11) But every believer must carry his burden, overcome his self and walk the road set before him. This is the minimum condition set by the Father and all hell will vehemently try to keep the believer from fulfilling it.

The truth about losing one’s Salvation is a very real one and I believe that there are already believers today who have lost their Salvation or are “close to the edge”. They may not be easily recognized and they might not be aware of their own situation and destiny. It might be so because nobody tells them and nobody warns them. Shame on us!

This is a greater tragedy than the perishing of pagans because the latter end of such believers is worse than the beginning. They may be bringing more shame to the Lord and to His whole Church than pagans and because of such, “the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2Pet. 2:1,2)

“But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2Pet. 2:22) The Lord compares such believers to dogs and swines! May the Lord have mercy on us all.

5. We must see, believe and realize that taking our cross and denying ourselves is not an optional way for us to survive! There is no other way to survive!

You will either decide and ask God to destroy in you what God hates and condemned, or you decide to keep it and perish with it because it will be surely destroyed. No dead man has ever come back from the dead and told us where he ended up and whether he is in torment, or not. I now talk about believers. And even if someone would come up from the dead and tell us, we would still not believe him! (Lk. 16:22-31)

The reality is that people, in general, including multitudes of believers have no assurance where they are going even at their very last breath! They may have hope, human belief or a wish, but they may have no assurance from the Lord. And when they appear on the “other side”, it is too late to return to the earth or change their new “habitation” even though it is a temporary one and it will, again, change after the Last Judgment.

It seems that the people who keep refusing to believe what God is telling them plainly in His Word and through His true servants and who keep closing their ears to hear and their heart to understand, are those that are “happily committing suicide”. God will not do anything more for the people who by their free will have decided not to listen, not to see, not to ponder, not to meditate, not to understand and not to believe.

His saving Grace is for those that believe, are open to His Word and willing to listen, ponder, meditate, admit and seek. They may be struggling, suffering, battling, under great pressures, even bleeding… but the Lord will make sure that they all will make it to the Kingdom – and will give them His Assurance abundantly. (2Pet. 1:10,11)

I thank the Lord for His Assurance. I know where I am going and that is not because of any qualities that may be in me. Not at all. But for the past 36 years, my heart has been continually open to Him, to His Word, to His Judgments, to His Ways and focused on Him. I not only study and preach His Word, not only believe His Word, I am being enabled to live His Word. No man can live His Word in his old nature though he may know the Bible from cover to cover.

Apostle Paul said: “I die daily (to my old nature)” (1Cor. 15:31)

For him this was not a doctrine but his living experience. Similarly, I lay hold on the Divine Life of Christ as I fight the fight of faith and die to my old life – here a little and there a little. (1Tim. 6:12,18,19// Pr. 3:13,18// Is. 28:10) This is the principle that applied to brother Paul and it applies to all of us also who walk on the same narrow way. If it was not so, I could in no way write a book such as this one. It would be absolutely impossible. So I have a living testimony with the Lord and also fruit with many brethren. And that is also a part of my true Assurance.

What assurance do you have? Has it any value? Have you ever pondered this question? When you travel abroad, you should have your passport and visa but for this most important travel of your life, you may not have a valid visa that you assumed you had. What if you end-up in a wrong place with no chance to return and try again because this “travel” will only be one way? And the “wrong place” may not be the lake of fire and brimstone as the eternal damnation, yet, it could be a place of darkness and torment and weeping.

If you do have the Assurance (the visa) from the Lord, Praise the Lord. If not, do you desire one? If so, keep reading, pondering, meditating and realizing that this book is not a theological study guide. It is a living part of my heart, it contains living experiences with my Lord and with many brethren. It is practical and through it the Lord might help you on your way.

6. It does indeed take a superhuman effort to achieve the Full Salvation of our soul, which is the end of our faith. (1Pet. 1:9) Our effort alone will not do it. The Lord in His Love, Grace and Wisdom always prepares the right conditions for our success and contributes His Power. With His Power our own effort will always become superhuman.

First, it takes your willingness to make such an important decision, not in your thoughts but definitely in your heart. The thoughts in your mind have little power, but a decision in your heart will bring your willingness into movement and fruition.

Second, it takes your heart to believe that the Lord will do in you what you cannot possibly do. You ask and He gives. You seek and He brings you to it. You knock and He will open the door for you – because He knocked and you opened the door to Him.

Third, read His Word and ask Him to open your inner, spiritual eye, ear and understanding (Lk. 24:45). Let us remember that without Him we will do nothing and without us and our cooperation, He will do nothing. (2Cor. 6:1)

God does not need our help,

God needs our cooperation!

We must start going, moving. To start moving generates the greatest resistance. Once you move, the resistance will greatly diminish, every engineer will tell you that, including myself. And though it will always be our heart, which will devise our way, the Lord will always direct our steps! (Pr. 16:9// Ps. 32:8,9) Otherwise, we would continue on the way to our self-destruction, to our suicide – and not be aware of it! This Word assures us that we will always reach the right destination. But the Lord cannot direct anyone who is not moving, just as you cannot steer any car, which is not moving. So let us start moving, believers, who do not move – in the Name and the Power of Our Lord!

Once the Word of God gets into our heart, we are able to believe It. And once we believe It, It shall begin to release the Life of Christ into our heart, because His Word is living and powerful. (Heb. 4:12) That, which lives has the power to overcome and take out that, which is dead. True? What is also true and we must discover it on our own skin is the fact that to believe in something, which may seem impossible, is rather hard and at times protracted spiritual work.

When the Holy Spirit comes to live in your spirit and heart, He will guide you into all truth (Jn. 16:13), lead you to your overcoming, enable you to overcome, comfort you whenever the need comes and, finally, give you the true Assurance. Do you believe this? That is all you need at this time – to believe and never doubt God, His Word, His Faithfulness and His Power.

7. The Cross is a spiritual Principle, it is a Law, which was established by the Counsels of God before the foundation of this world. In these Counsels of God, Our Lord was crucified (and we in Him) already before the foundations of this world. (Rev. 13:8) This Principle and Law was applicable not only to Our Lord but to all of us who were placed into Him by God Our Father.

Just as there is the Law of the Spirit of Life, so there is the Law of Sin and Death. (Rom. 8:2)

The Cross destroyed the Law of Sin.

The Spirit destroyed the Law of Death.

These Laws are not unlike the laws of nature. Every man knows that he cannot defy or neglect the law of gravity. It exists and affects him whether he believes it, or not, whether he likes it, or not. Man has no choice. Have you ever tried to neglect the law of gravity? If not, then do not neglect the Law of Sin and Death, either.

If believers would view and believe these Laws of Sin and Cross, Death and Life as something not only existing but immutable, unchangeable, affecting their lives and also determining their destiny, it might finally move their hearts to search and find out under which Law they are currently living their earthly lives. If you do not know whether you spiritually live or are dead, then the Lord can send someone who knows and could tell you.

Before we conclude this highly important point, vital for us in every way, let us see how the Lord presented to us this Principle, this Law of the Cross at the very beginning of mankind. God presents to us two people, two believers, one accepted the Cross, the other one rejected It. Every believer knows the story, but not every one might see what God is truly showing us. Let us, therefore, look once more at the very core of this story of Cain and Abel and repeat the following facts from the viewpoint of the Cross.

Abel made an altar, which typified the Cross, and he offered to God a lamb, which represented his own life and also the future Lamb of God! Abel thereby satisfied the Law of Sin and the Cross. Therefore, Abel was accepted and blessed.

Cain also made an altar, which also typified the Cross, but he did not put on the Cross his own life. He offered the best that his own life produced thus preserving the Sin in himself! God rejected his offering since the Law of Sin and of the Cross was not satisfied and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was nullified! Hence, Cain was rejected and he was cursed! Then Cain killed Abel his brother. (Gen. 4:3-11) So, the curse in him showed itself immediately in this great sin.

What kind of deep and terrible truth is the Lord showing us from the very beginning of mankind? He is showing us that all the believers will be divided into two kinds of “brothers”. One kind will accept their cross and offer their own selves, own lives to God. He will accept their offering with pleasure and will bless them and (slowly, progressively) replace their old, natural, sinful life with His Divine Life. The other kind will refuse their cross and instead of their own selves, they will try to offer to God the best that their old sinful nature has produced! God will reject their offering and instead of being blessed, they shall be cursed.

I have a strong intuition in my spirit to declare at this place the following truth and spiritual fact concerning the curse:

Born-again believers may be cursed! (Jer. 17:5; 48:10 // 1Cor. 16:22, etc.) Please note that the Old Testament references also apply to the New Testament believers in the spiritual sense.

This is another bitter truth, which we must not neglect. Let us first pause at this very important truth and consider the following light from the Word of God. The Lord says through Jeremiah:

“Thus says the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm (strength), and whose heart departs from the Lord.” (Jer. 17:5)

Please, do not think or believe for one second that God here speaks to pagans and somehow excludes His chosen people of Israel and the future Church. The simple proof of this is that the heart of pagans cannot depart from the Lord since it was never with the Lord!

A born-again believer is righteous in his spirit because he believed, but he may have a wicked and deceitful heart and unrighteous thoughts. True? This born-again believer is asked by the Spirit to return unto the Lord! (Is. 55:7) So, at some point, his heart departed from the Lord and he started to trust men and became cursed!

* * *

I am constrained at this place by the Spirit of the Lord to draw an important fact from the Old Testament applicable to us today in our spiritual life concerning the curse.

Sincere and honest believers may also become cursed by believing and accepting from other deceived believers or leaders fleshly ways to “handle” the truth or to support their religious projects, which may be contrary to the Word of God.

Many believers may be quite familiar with the story of Uzzah and his sudden death while trying to steady the Ark of the Covenant transported on a man-made cart, when the oxen shook it. Uzzah, a sincere and honest Israelite with a noble intention was smitten dead by God for his error…and David, the King of Israel was displeased! (2Sam. 6:3-8) Does this old story have any significance for us today? It does.

As we already said before, every personality and every event in the Old Testament has a spiritual meaning and significance in the New Testament. Uzzah represents the sincere and honest and well meaning believers in the Church who are touching the Glorified, Exalted Lord, King of kings, seated on the Throne of His Father in Heaven with their hands of flesh! David (in this story) represents the Church leaders who are ready to “transport the Lord” by their man-made means and not according to the Word of God.

The Ark was supposed to be carried by Levites for they were chosen by God for this task, and in a manner prescribed by God, and not by men. (Ex. 25:10-15) This was declared by the same David who was before displeased. (1Chr. 15:2) In the New Testament, the Lord–Truth is also to be “carried” by those chosen by God and given to the Church for that purpose and not just by anybody! He should also be carried in the manner prescribed by God and not as men may imagine. The Spirit decides who shall “carry” the Lord–Truth and how, and who needs first to be perfected and edified by those that were given to the Church for that purpose. (Eph. 4:11)

The Lord indeed said “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations…” (Mt. 28:19), but it does not apply to every born-again believer!… as many preachers falsely preach and teach. The Word applied to the eleven disciples to whom the Lord spoke (Mt. 28:16,18) and who were chosen for this task. These eleven, in fact, represent all the future disciples (Jn. 8:31), but not any or every believer! Can’t we see this simple fact?

Is Our God the God of order or of chaos? Since when can we “serve God and His Church” however we want, whenever or wherever we want, in whatever way we want or whoever so wants? If Moses and Aaron were not given the liberty to do for God what they wanted or imagined, then why do we think that we have such a liberty? Are we greater than Moses who spoke with God face to face? (Ex. 33:11) Are Moses and Aaron “grafted into us”, or are we “grafted into them”? (Rom. 11:24)

Then why many ministers teach, preach, direct or allow others to “serve” in these “whatever, however, whenever or whosoever” fashion without enquiring of the Lord? They may cause many believers to commit the same error that Uzzah did, and be “stricken dead” by God. They become cursed because death is always associated with curse, as life is with blessing. But their blood shall be required from the hands of those that led them into it, failed to warn them and teach them the truth. This applies to both sincere and honest (but ignorant) carnal believers, to all the immature ones as well as to all the wicked ones trying to “serve”. (Ez. 3:17-21)

We would do well to register one more fact. It must have been disgusting for the Lord to see His Ark of the Covenant, which represented Himself, being pulled by oxen on a cart and not carried by Levites on their shoulders. It must equally be disgusting to the Lord whenever we try to “carry” His Holy Name and Truth on our fleshly vehicles pulled by our religious ideas… oxen. You judge whether this is so, or not, if you have a heart to understand.

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The same fact of being cursed applies to the ministers who work in the Lord’s vineyard as sluggards, hypocrites, foxes, snakes or deceivers or try to serve the Church in their own “wisdom” and not according to the Full Gospel, Full Truth. For such servants, it is written:

“Cursed be he that is doing the work of the Lord deceitfully (or negligently), and cursed be he, that keeps back his sword from (drawing) blood.” (Jer. 48:10)

Now, what does this Word mean to us in the times of the New Testament? The first part of the Word is, I believe, clear and self-explanatory. The second part means that he, who is to minister to the Lord and to His Church must use his Sword (Word of God, Eph. 6:17// Mt. 10:34) to draw blood = the old life from believers! The Sword (the Word) was given to us for that purpose and not to soothe our flesh, that is, our old, natural, sinful life… but to destroy it!

The old, natural, sinful life is in the blood. (Lev. 17:14// Deut. 12: 23) The new Life is in Spirit. (Jn. 6:54,63) The Resurrected Lord had flesh and bones but no blood! (Lk. 24:39) Therefore, any minister who uses the Word of God to “soothe the flesh and thereby satisfy the old life, and does not touch blood in believers in any way” is cursed!

How can you soothe the flesh and satisfy the old life? By preaching partial truths, quoting the sweet promises of God while neglecting the bitter truths of God; preaching those passages of the Word, which never touch the old life (old nature) of believers, which is the enemy of Christ. Do you believe this fact?

Finally, 1Cor. 16:22 indicates very clearly that all those believers who loved themselves, never denied themselves, never took up their cross, never followed the Lord and thus never truly loved Him, are to be cursed at His Coming! This is what “Anathema Maranatha” means. This is what the Spirit of the Lord inspired apostle Paul to openly write to the church at Corinth!… and thus to all of us. Are you truly with me? Has this truth ever been preached in the Church? Not even in our dreams!

Are you willing to verify your own conscience in this respect? Does it make any difference to you whether you are blessed or cursed? Are you aware of your own spiritual state, or not? What you believe about yourself may not be true in the flaming eyes of the Lord. (Rev. 1:14) We may not be aware of many important things in our Christian life. Let us then see and realize what the Lord is truly showing us in the above and also the following important paragraphs.

Let us come back to Cain and Abel. Those refusing their cross, being cursed will always be nigh “killing their brothers” who accepted their cross and are blessed! Again, “killing” means “Cains” separating “Abels” from their presence, rejecting them, their message, their word of life, their fellowship, rebelling against them, denouncing them, accusing them, opposing them and their efforts, cajoling other brethren away from them, forbidding others to even read their writings, attend their meetings, etc. Is this not enough for “killing”? Do you see now why they are cursed people? And Cain was not cursed by Abel, but from the earth, which received Abel’s blood! True? (Gen. 4:11)

What is dangerous is that all these Cains of today are otherwise undistinguishable from other believers. They live right among us and have no fear of God. They are typical “workers of iniquity” that shall be thrown into outer darkness. Their conscience is dead and it cannot be revived without faith. They accuse Abels showing them verses from the Word of God, which suit their purpose, which Word those Cains do not live themselves, are unable to live and have no intention to live. Either they are totally blind that they themselves do not see this or they are hypocrites of the first degree since their fruit testifies against them!

Can a cursed believer become blessed again? Can his dead conscience be revived again? Well, we know that with God all things are possible, even to him that believes, all things are possible. (Mt. 19:26// Mk. 9:23) The Lord is able to detect the smallest movement in man’s heart toward Him and begin to “do something about it”. That “something” we might not know or even sense in ourselves, but we should at least believe it knowing the Character of Our Kind and Merciful Lord.

There are different Cains as there are also different Abels. I believe that ultimately, many Cains may be changed into Abels in the course of their life by the incessant and endless Grace and efforts of Our Lord Who is “…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”! (2Pet. 3:9)

We may thus say that…

…a dead conscience may be revived and cursed believers may become blessed believers, IF they are brought to a true repentance from their heart, and become willing to lay their old lives on the altar of God. They must be willing to love their brethren rather than to ‘kill’ them. It takes our prayers and the goodness of God to lead them to such a true and effective repentance. (Rom. 2:4b)

The above means that the cursed believers must turn away from their wicked and cursed ways. (Is. 55:7) Well, the same happened to all of us. As pagans, we were all cursed, and when we repented to the Lord and were converted, turned around, we became blessed. True?

Let me at this point share with you what I believe may be the ultimate tragedy within the Church of Jesus Christ.

The worst Cains are those, who are condemned to hell already today! God foreknows. And some may be pastoring, preaching, teaching, leading congregations or otherwise “ministering” to the Church of Jesus Christ! Some others may be professors at theological seminaries. These all are, as it were, the New Testament Pharisees who are already condemned to hell today just as the Old Testament ones were. (Mt. 23:33-35) The Lord was very angry with them, and so am I, and so should you be also.

Put yourselves into their shoes and see through their eyes and understand through their dark, self-righteous and hypocritical mind, and comprehend their pride and hatred of anything and anyone that does not agree with them. You might then be able to see that whenever they saw Jesus coming, they said within themselves something like this:

Here comes this “guy”, this carpenter from Nazareth, again… with his band of vagabonds, fishermen and other riffraff. He is upsetting all our religion, all our traditions, all our beliefs… desecrating Sabbath, eating and drinking with harlots … even without washing his hands. And not only that, but he is destroying our reputation… publicly, before the people of Israel … challenging our authority, arrogantly questioning our knowledge… he has no respect before us who are the leaders of Israel! Is he not dangerous to us? And to all Israel? And to our religion and all of our traditions?…

“If we let Him thus alone, all will believe in Him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place (of leadership) and nation (of Israel). And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them: Ye know nothing at all. Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man (Jesus) should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” (Jn. 11:48-50)

Out of their religious zeal and to preserve their dead religion and traditions and their own places of leadership, they finally decided to kill the Man who was “endangering” it all! Never mind that He was their Messiah, the Lord of Glory, …this did not matter! They wanted to preserve their dead religion and their positions at all costs.

They understood absolutely nothing about the Man, about His Message, His Gospel, His Words or His Mission. He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil it all by His Life (Mt. 5:17), to bring His Life into their dead religion. But they would not have it. The Lord wept over Jerusalem, which means, over His own people (Mt. 23: 37,38) and not over pagans.

The New Testament Pharisees are exactly the same in their nature and intentions. They want to preserve their dead religion and their places of leadership at all costs! They are ready to crucify any man who dares to challenge it. And they have the power to incite their people to cry: “Away with him, away with him.” Not only that, but the Pharisees, the leaders of God’s people, publicly acknowledged that their king was Caesar (Jn. 19:15), which means Satan, and not God! They betrayed themselves very clearly and without even knowing it.

Open your eyes, believers, if you desire to survive. Such condemned people may be leading you away from the Kingdom of heaven today, shutting it for you, because they themselves are not going in. (Mt. 23:13) They are proud, arrogant, foxy, hypocritical and are even casting you out of “their religious organizations”! My advice to you in the Name of Christ is this: Do not fear them and do not fear to depart from them and their organizations in due time which is foreknown by the Lord! Do not decide on the basis of your anger or wounded emotions. You will recognize the timing of the Lord in your own hearts.

To conclude this section, I must add a very important and also practical fact, which touches very many believers, who are also pharisaic in their nature. Let us understand the Word of God and see Its implications in at least two very important points:

(1) Leaders of the Church, God’s chosen people of the New Testament, which have these pharisaic hearts, have the ability, zeal and means to travel or broadcast around the world to make new converts to their form of religion and to bring them into the Church. The tragedy is, that these new converts are then by the same leaders made twofold more the “children of hell” than such leaders are themselves! (Mt. 23:15) These converts may thus become like unto the tares sown in the field by the enemy (the devil). And the Lord said that they should be left in the field until the harvest and then they shall be separated and burnt. (Mt. 13:24-30) So we must live together with them (also in the Church) until the end of the world.

(2) Whenever the Lord spoke to the Pharisees and scribes, He said “Woe…”. The significance of His Word is tremendous and has tremendous implications for very many Christians. The Lord is using the very same Word to them that “call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! WOE unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Is. 5:20,21)

[Some leaders have applied the same verse to me hoping that the “woe” will come upon me!]

You do not have to be a Pharisee to fall under the same condemnation, which “woe” really means. If believers do not respond to the Lord’s calls, pleas or invitations, if they ignore His servants and think or believe that they are right and do good while the Lord’s servants are wrong and do evil – then they are under the same WOE!

If new-born believers who are barely “dry from their water baptism” start to correct, oppose or otherwise judge those that can be their spiritual fathers, or even grandfathers, then the same WOE applies to them… until such believers repent and start growing out of that condemnation and start changing. This is not a religious theory, it touches our very life and destiny.

There may be thousands of practical examples where the WOE is applicable to the believer who is fulfilling this Word of the Lord in Is. 5:20,21. It is ever so easy to put light for darkness, or sweet for bitter, or good for evil. All such believers are also called the “workers of iniquity”. I have plenty of experiences with such believers in the above-mentioned areas. The flesh in many believers is so proud, arrogant and hellish that only a “woe” may cure it or dispose of it. No amount of preaching, teaching, counselling, admonishing, rebuking or discussion will do the job.

So, what about this WOE? It is just a three-letter word, which otherwise has no physical effect on any believer. Is that right? Wrong! It will be a horrible living experience for believers to go through. The real woes are coming as the “reward” to them who turned the Word of God upside down and lived that way without fearing God one bit. If you desire to know more, please, read the Book of Revelation (ex. Rev. 8:13; 9:12; 11:14; 12:12) where the three last trumpets are called “woes” by the angels of God. And the Church in general will be raptured at the very “last trump”, which means, at the “last woe”! (1Cor. 15:52// Rev. 11:15; 14:12-16, see more in Chapters 4 and 5 of this book)

Every true believer who is under the Blood of Christ will be saved from the wrath of God, which are the seven vials, (Rom. 5:9// Rev. 16:1-17) but not necessarily from the seven trumpets and the woes of the last three! Only the Overcomers are not subjected to the “woes”, they are all raptured before the trumpets and woes and are seated on the Throne in Heaven. (Rev. 12:5, see more in Chapter 5)

Now, the “workers of iniquity” are those who do the abominable things of turning the truth upside-down (Is. 5:20,21). They are also many of the ministers who minister to the Church various gifts of the Spirit (prophesy, knowledge, healing, working of miracles, etc.) without knowing the Lord in any living way. (Mt. 7:22,23) And there are many more facts written about these workers of iniquity. Let us consider some truly revealing examples from the Word of God concerning these workers.

They all are recipients of a strange punishment (Job 31:3; 34:22-27), they are hated people (Ps. 5:5), they have no knowledge of the Lord and do not call on the Lord (Ps. 14:4). They are hypocrites, compared to the wicked people and have mischief in their hearts (Ps. 28:3).

They are proud, their fall is confirmed, they shall be cut down and wither as a green herb. (Ps. 36:11,12; 37:1,2) They are also insurgents shooting secretly at the innocent (Ps. 64:2-8) and those of them that will never repent of their iniquity shall be destroyed forever for they are enemies of the Lord! (Ps. 92:7,9). They are also boastful people (Ps. 94:4), their ways are crooked (Ps. 125:5), they lay snares and traps for the righteous, (Ps. 141:9) etc., etc., etc.

Shall we continue… or is the above sufficient? And these “workers of iniquity” are among us and many “minister” to the Church! The way of the Lord is strength to the upright – but destruction to the workers of iniquity. (Pr. 10:29; 21:15) So, what is their WOE? The Lord tells us this:

First, their house (also means their family, fellowship) shall fall down and great will be the fall of it. (Mt. 7:23,26,27)

Second, they shall be thrown out of the Kingdom and cast into the outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 8:12; 22:2-14; 25:11,12,26,30// Lk. 13:24-28)

Third, they will be beaten with many stripes or few stripes, depending on each case. (Lk. 12:47,48)

Fourth, consider another terribly bitter truth spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ (Mk. 9:42-50) and see to whom it truly applies and why. Consider also how the Lord understood and meant His Words and whether we can afford to forget them since we might not understand them properly.

I believe the bitter truth is far more bitter in reality than we ever realized, imagined or were ready to believe. Now, brother Hanola did not write even one word of it. But brother Hanola is hated simply for bringing the Word of this bitter truth to the attention of believers and of the Church and for quoting it! Brother Hanola does it because (with the exception of very, very few) nobody else quotes it, preaches it, explains it plainly, so nobody “draws blood with his Sword” (Jer. 48:10). Satan hates this truth and tries to cover it with everything he has at his disposal and through every one of his servants that he has in the Church of Jesus Christ.

The greatest opposition to the Truth does not come from the world but from within the Church and from most of its leadership! Let us never forget that Satan’s seat is IN the Church and not in the world, and he dwells also among us! (Rev. 2:13)

So, why is Satan hating this truth so bitterly? Satan hates this truth, opposes it and fights it because this truth alone destroys his great deceptive works into smithereens. And when it does, Satan and his evil powers will become naked. Once they are naked, they are finished having no other weapons to fight with as they cannot operate in the open. They only operate in secrecy, behind curtains, in darkness, being unnoticed, hypocritically. The Lord will grant us much more in the next chapter. The day should come for every true believer when these powers of evil should start fearing him and not the reverse.

Will you ponder these above things and facts in your heart and mind? Are these things a revelation to you? If they are, praise Our Great and Magnificent Lord Jesus Christ. And if you have seen and experienced these facts in your life, then I also praise the Lord for you. You are blessed and called and chosen to serve the King of all kings in the most fruitful way. Your love for the Lord is genuine and your reward shall be beyond imagination. (1Cor. 2:9)

THE TRUE DEPTH OF DECEPTION

The first thing I want to bring to the light is a spiritual fact, which may not be realized by many believers. I have experienced many times that whenever the powers of evil and darkness are mentioned, or whenever Satan is mentioned by his name, many believers take it as a “cold shower” and they clearly feel highly uncomfortable. They have no freedom to speak about these powers of evil and their actions.

Many may even be offended or perplexed when Satan is given derogatory names and is not treated “with dignity”! Their apparent stumbling block is the Word in Jude 8,9 because they do not understand that Jude was never inspired to call devils “dignities”. Also, Satan was not yet defeated at the Cross of Calvary when archangel Michael disputed with him the body of Moses. At that time, Satan was still the “prince of this world” (Jn. 12:31; 14:30). Furthermore, Satan as Lucifer was the former “governor” of archangel Michael. From this viewpoint, the Word in Jude 9 is quite understandable and true. But after the Cross, Satan lost all his power and also “dignity” and so did all his evil princes and powers.

Satan had his archangels, who were made princes over various parts of this world (ex. Dan. 10:13). These devils, the princes of this world, crucified Our Lord of Glory because they had no wisdom, they were stupid. (1Cor. 2:7,8) So, when I call Satan a “stupid fool”, I am expressing the truth from the Scripture. And when men of Sodom and Gomorrha are called “filthy dreamers defiling the flesh” (Jude 7,8), then how much more filthy is Satan, who defiled them? When I, therefore, call Satan “filthy”, I only express the truth from the Scripture. Satan is a “filthy dreamer defiling the flesh, despising dominion and speaking evil of dignities” (Jude 8) and that much more than any people whom he thus destroyed. But Satan remained a “dignity” in our old nature where he still governs. Our old nature may thus be easily perplexed or offended when Satan’s dignity is not regarded or when it is even attacked.

The majority of believers do not want to hear about these powers or make mention of them. They never use the name of Satan, many only say “that evil one” as if they were unable to mention his name. Their desire is to stay far away from these things and teachings. Multitudes of believers would naturally be appalled to learn that some of these powers may still dwell in their old souls, old nature and may influence or direct their lives! This spiritual fact is something unthinkable, unacceptable, horrible to even ponder by any “good” Christian. Yet, it is true for all of us!

Let us begin to realize that a large part of the deception by which these powers operate and deceive believers may not appear as evil, ugly, disgusting or horrible at all! In fact, the opposite is true! They may deceive us, deeply affect our lives, derail us and keep us away from the Lord by either natural or supernatural deeds, words, testimonies, apparitions or other phenomena, which all seem to be true, heavenly, biblical and thus desirable! They may deceive us through human goodness or exaggerated prosperity without our cross and without denying ourselves! (Mt. 16:24) That is, perhaps, the greatest deception by which they cover their operations.

You would never suspect a nice looking preacher, elder, bishop or evangelist (man or a woman!) holding the Bible and talking to you from the pulpit of a church to be “serving” Satan and his powers of darkness and evil! Would you? Really? Truthfully?

Well then, let us stop avoiding these important issues and consider the truth from God’s Word in our hearts and minds. These facts may be completely new and surprising to many believers and may truly revolutionize your Christian outlook, faith, walk and progress. They may also save you from a lot of future deep troubles, shocks and even from death.

I pray that the Lord would strengthen you to consider His Truth in your heart and mind concerning these evil powers, see their true deception and be delivered from it.

Whenever someone mentions the name of Satan, many believers automatically imagine that the person talks about an ugly, horrible or repulsive creature. Not at all! Satan is described in the Book of Ezekiel as “the king of Tyrus” and you should read the whole portion where God talks to him (Ez. 28:11-19).

I want to bring to your attention the fact, which might be quite shocking to a majority of believers. That fact is that Satan, formerly Lucifer (Is. 14:12) was created “…full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” (Ez. 28:12) What does this fact mean to us today? A lot! And unless you are willing to believe these things and get out of this horrible deception, it may cost you your life! Listen…

The Lord never took away from Satan the wisdom and beauty with which he was created as Lucifer! I know that it might be absolutely unbelievable, perhaps, even shocking for many readers, but continue reading and see for yourselves. The Lord never takes back what He gives. The Lord only told him the following:

“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness;” (Ez. 28:17)

This Word of God informs us that Satan’s wisdom was corrupted. What does that mean? I believe that his wisdom, his intelligence, his cleverness, his brightness had not disappeared but became sinful, which means, set against God, against His Truth, against His Plans, Purposes and Desires, set for a war for God’s Throne, set entirely for evil purposes. Evil intelligence may be a very high intelligence, indeed, but directed and used exclusively for evil purposes. His beauty was also corrupted in the same sense, that it became sinful. What does that mean? Again, I believe that it did not vanish as such, but is used almost as bait for evil purposes. Many women may be naturally beautiful, but many use their beauty to entice or destroy men. Then their beauty is corrupt and evil for it is used for evil purposes.

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. To keep thee from the evil woman… Lust not after her beauty in thine heart;…” (Pr. 6:23-25a)

It cannot be said more clearly that beauty does not have to disappear in order to become corrupted or evil. The New Testament proves the same point by declaring clearly through Apostle Paul that: “... Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore,, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2Cor. 11:14b,15)

An angel of light was never ugly, horrible, disgusting or evil looking! Are you registering this above truth, please? A beautiful woman can preach to you from the Word of God, which Word prohibits her to even speak! (1Cor. 14:34) God is most certainly not speaking to that woman or hearing her prayers. She is serving satan and she may not be conscious of it at all, and nobody tells her! Must I say: Hello?

These verses (2Cor. 11:14,15// 1Cor. 14:34,35) have also not been preached with the intention to uncover and bring truth to the people of God. There are certain passages in the Word of God, which Satan has made “taboo” to preach, teach, discuss and bring to the light in the Church of Jesus Christ! Why? Because their truth is the last thing, which Satan wants us to learn. Their truth is so dangerous to him and his kingdom of darkness that it may destroy him in no time. But if this truth is unknown and unused by the Church, then it is the Church which is destroyed, meaning, disabled in its battle, put on a stretcher, helpless, beaten, inoperative – as it truly is! And the chief reason for this lamentable situation is deception and closed hearts!

Therefore, the only way out for believers is to open their hearts to the Lord, His Word, His Spirit, His Truth! That’s all! He sees our heart anyway as He sees all hell and destruction! (Pr. 15:11) Will any believer that reads this consider this spiritual reality in his heart? Here comes the issue of our willingness again. Open heart and willingness – that is all that the Lord asks from us!

Will the Church finally respond to the Lord? The Lord knows. My human optimism is near level zero because it is based on the facts of the history of both Israel and the Church and on my own experiences. Yet, the Lord has not stopped asking, speaking, knocking…asking, speaking, knocking… asking, speaking, knocking.

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One clear sign of the times, which I will now mention and which does not require an open heart, just open eyes, is the following. The sect of Satanists has been in existence for many years in California, USA. They are now found in other countries of the world and spreading fast.

They pose as a “religion” and publish articles that should be in comic books. One such article that came to my attention while ministering in Slovakia was found in the Czech newspaper “Právo” (September 18, 2004, page 16), where the Satanists boldly declare their so-called “Nine commandments”:

Ø Satan means satisfying lusts, not denying them!

Ø Satan means living existence, not invented spiritual fairy-tales!

Ø Satan means immaculate wisdom, not hypocritical self-illusion!

Ø Satan means kindness toward those who deserve it, not love wasted on the ungrateful!

Ø Satan means revenge, not turning the other cheek!

Ø Satan means responsibility toward the responsible ones, not care for psychological blood-suckers!

Ø Satan means a man as a mere animal, sometimes a better one, most of the time a worse one than those that walk on all four; a man that, thanks to the “divine spiritual and intellectual evolution”, has become the most corrupted animal!

Ø Satan means all the so-called sins, which lead to physical, mental and emotional satisfaction!

Ø Satan is the best friend that the Church ever had, because for all those years, he kept her on the go!

This is how far Satan is going today and has plenty of followers! Do you need more dung for your souls? Satan, of course, will never tell you what will happen to you after you die, who he really is (Jn. 8:44) or what will happen to him, and that, very soon! He will first be thrown into the bottomless pit (prison) for 1,000 years. (Rev. 20:1-3) Then he will be loosed from his prison for a short while and then, thrown to the lake of fire and brimstone, where he will be tormented day and night forever! (Rev. 20:7-10)

So – ►Satan means death, prison and a torment for ever and ever! He also means an immaculate stupidity and the greatest hypocrisy and deceitfulness in this Creation!

This quoted published material is the proof that Satan has also become desperate enough not to hide himself any more but show himself even taking the risk to be perceived as the greatest fool of the Universe – which he is! (see also pp.180,191^[8])

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Let us now consider the true, and for many believers a new depth of deception, how can we perceive it and how to stay out of its highly destructive consequences.

Deception is the greatest weapon of our enemy. We have no way of knowing or being aware that we are deceived except when the Lord shows us either directly or indirectly through others, and that, by our fruit, deeds, intentions, words, etc. Once we see or learn that we are deceived, we are not deceived any more. True?

This deception may be so subtle that man would never believe or even imagine that he could be so deceived and led into an error or trap or deed or wrong conclusion, which might have serious consequences. For example, a believer may have a thought which may seem to lead to an innocent fun not indicating any ensuing danger, loss or destruction. At the same time, his awareness of his surroundings or circumstances may be dulled. He may not be able to foresee any consequences of his actions or inactions and even his natural instincts (never mind the spiritual ones) “disappear”. He may even be warned by his friends or others, but he “happily disregards them all”. Those serious consequences may not always be physical, but they are always spiritual!

If we never question our thoughts, their source, aims, basis and possible consequences, then any thought may easily lead us astray… slowly, one step at a time, one thought at a time, one shallow and subtle deception after another… until we are sufficiently derailed and ready for a much deeper and much more effective deception. This applies to our biblical knowledge and convictions, as well.

I do not say that it applies to our faith because faith is only one, it is authored by Our Lord (Heb. 12:2), it cannot be deceived, it has nothing to do with our thoughts and, hence, there can be no differences from one believer to another in true faith. But the above fact of getting deceived applies to our knowledge and convictions since they are shaped by our thoughts and reasoning; every believer has his very own convictions and reasoning.

For example, if you are taught or you hear or read that a born-again believer cannot possibly lose his Salvation, then you can become an easy victim to this thought. Why? Because it is logical, it fits well with the Love and Grace of God and with some verses of the Scripture. Yet, it contains such a subtle deception, that should you never diligently search the truth in other passages of the Scripture, you would remain in that deception until you die… and nobody could persuade you otherwise. This principle of deception through thoughts and reasoning leads to all the different convictions of all the different believers of all the different denominations without exception.

Thoughts, reasonings, convictions of honest

believers divide the Church into smithereens!

Thoughts, reasonings, convictions of honest

pagans bring them all to eternal damnation!

I could give many practical examples of the above spiritual facts, but it should be sufficient to see, understand and be aware of the principle described above.

I will not bring a lot of theology and mental exercise into this vital subject of deception. The Word in 2Cor. 11:13-15 is quite sufficient and can be observed quite frequently at many places and in various forms. The devastation, which issues from the fact of this Word of God can be clearly observed in anything that bears the name Christianity. Some of the outstanding points and experiences, which should be very helpful and beneficial at least for the willing and open hearts are briefly described in the following points.

A. Internal divisions in the Church

Never in history was the Church of Jesus Christ so divided, so deceived and so unwilling to follow the Lord, His Word, His Light, His Truth, His Ways, His Judgments, His Will, as now. The result is a pure tragedy and hopelessness since the Church cannot stand being so divided. (Mk. 3:25) It must be painful for the believers who truly love the Lord to watch this situation, which in fact, is getting worse almost by the day. One could write a thick book just about this topic. But even that thick book would not help any believer with a closed heart and unwilling soul.

I will bring before you only two examples, which may be typical and generally known among many believers so that many could relate to them and ponder them.

1. The leadership of the “Anglican church” is discussing the issue of ordaining gay ministers. They are serious about it and they appear to try to resolve it righteously and to a mutual satisfaction. We should ask a simple question: What issue do they have? Is this a true “issue”? Who has brought this issue to them? The Lord? NO! Satan has! How do we know? The Word of God is crystal clear.

Was not Satan in the Garden of Eden and was he not asking the woman: “Yea, has God said… Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”? (Gen. 3:1-3)

Is he not doing exactly the same thing today with another woman (Anglican church) saying: “Yea, has God said… that they, which commit such things (homosexuality), are worthy of death…”? (Rom. 1:27-32// Lev. 18:22; 20:13!)

The matter is simple and clear in the Word of God and there are no issues to be resolved by men because they were already resolved long time ago by God Himself. God does not ask us for our help in judging – He asks us for our obedience to carry out His Judgments. True or not?

So those that “discuss this issue” and are even willing to ordain gays are servants of Satan! Why? Because they do not hesitate to neglect or question God’s Word, or to make God either a liar or incompetent in deciding this important issue! God’s Judgment is clearly not acceptable and righteous to these wicked, evil and deceived souls! Who dares to propagate such an idiotic idea except Satan?

It is Satan who “creates” these gay men and lesbians in the first place. Now he tells them that their “different lifestyle” is perfectly acceptable to God and that God loves them and welcomes their service! What a truly idiotic idea! But many believers including many ministers in the leadership are so deeply deceived today that they are well able to accept idiotic ideas and even propagate them. This is a tremendous victory for Satan! Their leaders base their decisions on a “democratic vote” of sinful souls rather than on the Word of the Holy and Righteous God! It is absolutely disgusting and vomiting stuff.

And I am not even mentioning the question of “same-sex marriages”, if such a thing exists. This is truly satanic stuff. Soon men might marry their dogs, horses or cats; there is also “love” between the two, is there not? Even animals are morally higher than these men as you will never find a “same-sex couple” in any nest or den. I am vomiting! So should every believer in Christ.

2. A problem may arise in a congregation, fellowship, or any group of believers. This is becoming quite a frequent occurrence in these days. One elder may voice a different idea or solution than others. There is nothing unusual or wrong with that. What is wrong is how such a problem gets resolved. In many cases, the Lord has no “chance” to present His solution or give His counsel. The church leaders use their own ideas, understanding, cleverness or authority, which may be in a direct opposition to the Word of God. The Lord has no “clerical collar”, no title such as “Doctor”, “PhD” or “ThD”. He is never called “Reverend”, “The Most Reverend” or “Right Reverend”, so, the “poor” Lord of all lords is out!

Am I sarcastic? Yes, I definitely am. If a sinful, filthy and mortal man assumes the title “Reverend” that only belongs to the Lord of all Creation, then it is clear that the title came from Satan to build up man’s pride. We may “reverence” a person (Eph. 5:33// Heb. 12:9), but not give him those titles, which breed pride. Also, any minister who loves to show his academic degrees or religious titles is proud of his very own achievements! He is far from being crucified and useful as a minister of the Lord. The “Gospel of Dr. Luke” does not exist! Therefore, it seemed good to Our Father to hide these things, mysteries of Truth, from the (worldly) wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes. (Mt. 11:25,26)

So, problems are “resolved” by the rule of majority or the solution is achieved by men with titles irrespective of what the Word of God may say in such cases! Man usurps God’s authority and tries to rule His Church while it is the Lord Alone Who builds and rules His Church. (Mt. 16:18) Then how come that man does not turn to the Lord for His directives whenever needed? Or what is it that man “tries to build” or govern? Is it his own human institution and to his own liking? Man does not own anything. Yet, it is not man but Satan through man that may thus direct the Church affairs without being detected!

Problems are also resolved (if at all) by employing humanistic approaches. Many leaders try to resolve problems through their own goodness, understanding, compassion, psychology, etc. But where is it written in the Bible that God needs men to help Him resolve problems? God needs men to carry out HIS solutions and judgments, and not the reverse. And where is it written that one elder from among four or five cannot receive any light or revelation from God to resolve any particular problem in the fellowship? So, according to many leaders, God cannot choose an open heart and give it His Light! Right?

I was asked the same question by the pastor of one Apostolic Church where I was fellowshipping for some time and had given three prophetic messages (which were ignored). He asked me why God gives me the light about his church and not to himself? I told him that God gives His light to every open heart and that irrespective of the person. So, were there four or five open hearts in his assembly, they would have all received the same light and answer to their problems as I had received it. No “rule of majority” was ever valid with the Lord, but the rule of an open heart and meek spirit. The Lord never gives His Light to resolve our problems to our old man since he himself is the problem.

Here is another noteworthy example from Slovakia. One elder quit his eldership, left “his flock” and his faithful co-elder and disappeared from his church for about one year without any explanation. In his absence, the faithful co-elder cared for the flock. Then one day the unfaithful one returned and wanted somehow to “resume his ministry”, with the condition that the faithful co-elder should lose his eldership and have no authority over him to even chastise him for his misbehaviour in any way.

The unfaithful elder succeeded because the faithful co-elder was demoted from his eldership without any valid reason and against the Word of God, by a regional preacher and was made a member of the “Team of Collabourers of the Preacher”. The preacher [D.Uhrín] said: “Though it [demotion] is not biblical, but in my view it is right”! The Lord says that the preacher is thus wiser than the Almighty God, since the Bible is His Word and His Wisdom! Wow! It shows the preacher’s pride, arrogance, darkness and the danger he is in! (Num. 15:30,31)

The faithful co-elder was deposed to the same level as his wife and three other women of that church including the unfaithful elder! How is the Lord of Heaven and Earth looking at this masquerade? Have you ever experienced such a thing? This is not all, read on and see the miserable state of the leadership of this (Baptist) church.

The behaviour, reasons, intentions and accusing spirit of the unfaithful elder were never judged by the Word, but humanly. The perception and faith of the faithful co-elder, who remained with the flock, were disregarded, ignored and unappreciated. His preaching was frequently disrupted, criticized and otherwise attacked or devalued in front of the congregation by the unfaithful elder. No one from the leadership has questioned why he was doing it and what kind of spirit was causing him to interrupt the ministry of the faithful co-elder. The Holy Spirit would never lead anyone to do such a devilish thing because He says: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1Cor. 14:40) Even ministering a gift of the Spirit, such as tongues, must not be interrupted by men. (1Cor. 14:27-33)

Only a diabolical spirit would publicly interrupt the preacher during his ministry and break the Word of God! Do any of the leaders of the Baptist Church in Slovakia care for it or judge it according to the Word of God? Not at all! Would they allow their sermons to be publicly interrupted? If a sermon of any of the church leaders were publicly interrupted even once, would it be left unnoticed, unreprimanded? Hello? The true fruit is visible through deeds and they show the truth. (Mt. 7:16-20)

Do you have experiences in these areas or you might not even believe such things? Then you may not know how the devil deceives and spiritually kills believers and how his many servants (also from among the leadership) are operating directly in the sheep-folds. They may not even be born-again by the Spirit of God!

Another “pearl” is also from the Baptist church of Slovakia, which shows their leadership and touches the same faithful co-elder described above. He faithfully served his Baptist congregation for over 13 years and his faith and ministry was never questioned. He preached, sang, taught and composed his own songs and he was serving all those years without any pay. He has his own house and a young family. Since the year 2003, he has been without work and thus he believed that he would be offered a paid position of a preacher in his own or in some other Baptist congregation near his town where he was also desired and needed.

First, the church leadership sent him a questionnaire, which was more intricate and cunning than had he applied for a membership to the communist party of North Korea and which no other preacher was required to submit. He refused to fill it in.

He was then invited to the Council of leading elders where he was interrogated as if he were a pagan or a spy for a counterintelligence. He was questioned about his faith, religious attitudes and opinions. This happened in spite of his truly impeccable past and faithful service, and also despite the fact that he successfully completed his studies at the Theological Baptist College in Banská Bystrica and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from his own church! Finally, the former Chairman of the Baptist Church in Slovakia (Tomáš Valchář) told him: “Go to the forest and chop wood”! There were about seven churches without a pastor at the same time. Hello? Are you able to believe this? If not, read on… and consider also the Word of God in Rom. 12:10-13 and 1Jn. 3:15-18.

This is what Jesus Christ tells T. Valchář and to all the elders that agreed with him: “for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again!… Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them. For this is the Law and the prophets.” (Mt. 7:2,12)

And this Lord Jesus Christ, whom they do not know, asks every one of those elders: “But why do you judge your brother, or why do you set at nought your brother (consider him as nothing)? For you all shall stand before My judgment seat… so then every one of you shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:10,12)

The Lord Jesus Christ continues: “And have I not ordained that they, which preach the gospel should live of the gospel? (see 1Cor. 9:13,14) Or have I at any time sent My preachers to chop wood? If, therefore, you will not repent to Me and to your brother and turn away from your wicked ways, your iniquities will not be forgiven you, and you will be thrown into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (see also Mt. 8:12; 13:41,42)

Where is this organization going when it has leaders who are sending their own Bachelors of theology to chop wood? And they demote them from eldership without any reason and thus totally irresponsibly? And do not care whether their brethren have anything to live on? Even Pharisees of the Old Testament, who were condemned to the eternal damnation, may not have done such things! (Mt. 23:33)

It is written: “Cursed be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully (hypocritically, unrighteously, negligently, slothfully)” (Jer. 48:10) Are these leaders willing to consider whether the above Word of God just might apply to at least some of them?

And now, I will disclose to the readers, what is the true reason for the above religious “masquerade”. The simple and clear truth is this. The Baptist leaders in Slovakia unofficially told the faithful co-elder to either renounce Hanola or forget their church! However, officially, they sent him a very polite but cunningly formulated letter where they advise him to continue in his congregation as an unpaid worker! (Jam. 2:14-17,19) Little do they know that their “letter” together with the intentions in their hearts are also recorded in the Books of the Lord, which will be opened at the Day of Judgment. (Dan. 7:9,10// Rev. 20:11-15)

Their Jesus must be a different person than the One described in the Scriptures because “love” may be in their dictionaries, but not in their hearts. The Lord knows and I know, as well. I have experienced the “love” of some of their elders in Banská Bystrica. (see again page 25)

What testifies against them the most is the fact that to this very day, not one of them has presented even one single specific evidence of any heresy or wrong teaching in my writings based on the Word of God! Not one! I would be happy to repent and correct any errors in my books! The Lord Jesus Christ is my Living Witness.

But they hate me and denounce me without any cause. Little do they know what the Lord says about this spiritual fact, namely, that “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer… no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1Jn. 3:15) This is what Israel was doing to their own Messiah, Jesus Christ Himself. (Lk. 6:22,23// Jn. 15:25) Wow!

This is a typical feature of the “accusers of the brethren”, they never present anything specific! They may show their fury through a lot of religious general gibberish, subjective opinions, thoughts or own beliefs – but never the Word of God! When they are forced to finally show their disapproval in a specific way, they present those verses of the Scripture against you, which may fit their mental arguments but which they themselves do not live or practice. Their fruit is clearly and squarely against those same verses! Of course, they do not see it… because they are blind to their own fruit… which stinks! But showing someone a Word, which you do not live yourself is like showing a direction to where you have never been, and where you may have no intention of ever going.

Why are such believers able to attack their brethren with verses of the Bible, which seem to be suitable for their purpose? And why are they equally able to rudely break or totally disregard other verses of the Bible? Because what believers can get out of the Bible is determined by the state of their mind and heart, that is, by what they are. It is quite clearly expressed by Watchman Nee in his excellent book “The Release of the Spirit^[2]”, page 51:

“It is beyond question that what we ARE determines what we get out of the Bible. How often man in his conceit relies on his unrenewed and confused mind to read the Bible. The fruit is nothing but his own thought. He does not touch the Spirit of the Holy Scriptures. If we expect to meet the Lord in His Word, our thoughts must first be broken by God. We may think highly of our cleverness, but to God it is a great obstacle. It can never lead us into God’s thought.”

This seems to be a good place to quote from a booklet of Horst Schaffranek “The Judgment starts in the House of God^[18]”, page 1, where he starts with a question: “Shall I address you as beloved of God (Rom. 1:7) or shall I speak to you as spiritual sluggards? Sluggards are people, who read the Bible but do not follow what they have read. A beloved of God is somebody who does what he reads.”

The Lord tells those Baptist leaders this: “Execute true judgment and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother… and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” (Zech. 7:9,10b)

But they still imagine evil in their hearts. And if they refuse to hearken and stop their ears and refuse to do justice as the Lord commands, then a great wrath will come from the Lord. And just as He cries and they do not hear, so the day is approaching quickly when they will cry and He will not hear. (Zech. 7:11-13)

Would at least one wise Gamaliel be found among them to counsel them to stop fighting and opposing this work, to stop persuading people not to read or even to burn my books! For if my work is from myself, it shall come to nothing by itself. But if it be truly from God, then you, Baptist leaders are fighting against God! Would you have enough humbleness to receive this biblical advice? (Acts 5:34-39) For if not, the blood of all those that you persuaded and deceived shall be required from your hands by the same Almighty God against Whom you are today vehemently fighting! Be it, as you decide.

But that Hanola, whom they hate, prays this:

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on them. Give eyesight to those that desire to see and grace to those that have open hearts because they are in danger of perishing. I see them as victims of evil and there is nothing in my heart against them though they have a great bitterness against me and it defiles them and leads them to perdition. I forgive them for they truly do not know what they are doing to others and where they are leading them. Amen.

Satan is clearly furious with me and I thank you Lord because this fact is a true compliment to me personally. The Baptist Church of Slovakia probably suffered the most during the terrors of the communist era and was always considered as the most fundamentalist, conservative and biblical. If this church has deteriorated into this spiritual state and is “neither brotherly, nor united, nor yet biblical”, then what is the state of the other churches in Slovakia? Have they all become candlesticks that give more darkness than light? They all should carefully read Rev. 2:5.

B. Are you serving God or satan?

Every man on this earth serves either God or Satan. There are no exceptions, no “neutral people”. Every pagan serves Satan and every believer serves either God or Satan. If believers do not serve God in harmony with His revealed Word and do not live and walk in His Spirit, then they serve Satan in some way – whether they are conscious of it or not! Is this not a horrible statement? Of course, it is. The main point is that it is true. God is not surprised but we are. We were all serving Satan all those years before our Redemption – and we were not aware of it! Is that true? There is a strong root and tendency in our natural soul to keep serving Satan after our Redemption and, again, not be aware of it! Because nobody tells us the full truth.

Try to tell any decent, educated, polite, compassionate pagan that he is linked with Satan and serves him! Try to tell the same thing to an educated but spiritually dead theologian or to any other carnal, soulish believer. If you dare to do it, you might not escape in good health. Yet, you spoke truth. But for those people to believe such truth is totally and absolutely impossible!

Do we dare to explore this issue? Do we dare to admit that this horrible fact just might be true? The full truth may be more shocking than we dare to imagine. But so is the full truth about our Salvation shocking. And it should be! We all need to be shocked from time to time.

Unless our fat and lazy spiritual heart undergoes a true “shock treatment”, it will not start beating!

Before I give some practical examples from my own experience, I would like to make certain fundamental statements and lay a solid foundation from the Word of God for this extremely important and vital subject. For this purpose, we will go all the way to the beginning of mankind and see and understand in our heart what was happening.

1. Let us first see and comprehend the true depth and result of Satan’s deception upon Eve and Adam. Satan was following a very cunningly devised scheme whereby he would turn man’s attention and desire from God to man’s own personal interest. Man was offered an opening of his eyes, the status of a god and the knowledge of good and evil. When Eve looked at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, its fruit looked promising indeed, so she took it and ate and gave also to Adam, her husband, and he ate also. (Gen. 3:4-6)

The woman was deceived and not Adam (1Tim. 2:14) in that she would gain a personal benefit by eating the forbidden fruit. That was the basic bait used by Satan and it produced selfishness in man, which is Satan’s character! It is the exact opposite of selflessness or meekness, which is Christ’s Character. (Mt. 11:29) Is this true? Do you truly believe this?

Before Adam fell to sin, he was entirely linked with God in his spirit and soul since God was in Adam’s spirit and soul and he thus had God’s Character and a living fellowship in the Presence of God. After his failure, Adam “died” – was separated from God’s Life – though he continued living his own natural, fleshly life on earth. The most important word is:

Adam disobeyed God and prefered to follow his own will and personal interest!

Adam thus became separated from God by being thrown out of the Garden and losing his vital link, his living union with God, God’s Presence and thus God’s Character! This separation means his “spiritual death”, which was much later followed by his physical death.

2. When Adam disobeyed God, he obeyed satan and became vitally linked with Satan in his human spirit and soul! Through that link, Adam obtained Satan’s “life” and presence in his spirit and soul and thus his character. If this were not so, we would have never, in all mankind’s existence, experienced and known pride, envy, arrogance, fears, jealousy, stubbornness, wickedness, falsehood, stealing, lying, bitterness, murders, and other Satanic “virtues”, all growing from selfishness and pride! Before his fall, Adam never knew such things since none of them were ever in God’s Character and Spirit! True?

With this evil character in Adam, God had no desire to keep him in His Presence, to fellowship with him or let him eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. (Gen. 3:22-24)

3. When the Last Adam – Jesus Christ – came, He never followed His personal interests, never did anything for Himself and of Himself (Jn. 5:19), was meek and lowly in heart (Mt. 11:29) and always did the things that pleased the Father. (Jn. 8:29) He humbled Himself and, most importantly, obeyed God in all points including His death on the Cross. (Phil. 2:8)

“Though He were a Son (of God), yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that OBEY Him.” (Heb. 5:8,9)

The Lord has not become the Author of eternal Salvation unto those that believe that He is the Saviour and have knowledge about Him, yet disobey Him! This is to say, that they disobey His Word because the Lord is the Word = Logos. (Jn. 1:1+14) None of us is saved by our desire or wish but solely by our obedience to the Lord and to His Word.

Don’t you (born-again believers) know that you are servants to him whom you obey? (Rom. 6:16)

What do these above facts show? The most important word associated with both the Fall of man and of his Salvation is the word, which is neither propagated, nor taught, nor preached, nor yet practiced in the Church in any acceptable way. That missing word is – obedience.

Any man may begin his Salvation if he obeys the way that God established for him. It basically contains three steps from the Word, which every man must do:

a) believe in his heart (not head) that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess it with his mouth (Rom. 10:9,10). Based on this act of faith, the man is redeemed and sealed by the Spirit of God as a “new possession” of God. (Eph. 1:13,14// 2Cor. 1:22)

b) repent from his heart for the remission of his sins (Acts 2:38). Based on this act of faith, he becomes born-again by the Holy Spirit. (Jn. 3:3-8) After his being born-again, he must…

c) be baptized in water (by immersion, Rom. 6:4,5). Based on this act of faith, he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, His Power (Acts 2:38// Jn. 1:12) without which he cannot even start, let alone continue, his Salvation process of going on unto perfection. (Heb. 6:1)

If you have never done the above steps a) and b), you are not even redeemed, you are still pagans! If you have not done step c), you have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit and cannot start working out your own Salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil. 2:12) You may be attending any church or any fellowship you like, sing, pray, give offerings and do all as the others do, but you will never be able to:

d) take up your cross daily and deny yourself, deny your old, natural, sinful character and follow the Lord, follow the Word of God (Lk. 9:23),

e) add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge (of the Lord, Phil. 3:8// 2Pet. 1:2; 3:18), and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (2Pet.1:5-9),

f) give diligence to make your calling and election sure (2Pet. 1:10 ),

g) fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on Eternal Life to which you are called. (1Tim. 6:12) If Timothy had already had the Eternal Life just by believing in Christ, Apostle Paul would have never told him to “lay hold on It” after his redemption! True?

To do the above and thus continue unto perfection (Heb. 6:1,2) without the Holy Spirit is absolutely impossible. If the believer obeys all the above steps, he (gradually) becomes a partaker of the Divine Character, Divine Nature according to the precious promises of God (2Pet. 1:4). His living link with God is being slowly established, his calling and election made sure and his entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be ministered unto him abundantly. (2Pet. 1:10,11)

This is our Full Salvation!

To be sure, the above points d) to g) are just the basic examples taken out of the Scripture, which are showing to us that IF we are to obtain the Eternal Life and the entry into the everlasting Kingdom of Our Lord , then…

our obedience to and cooperation with the Spirit of God must surely continue after our Redemption.

Otherwise, we will not obtain the precious promises of God. God will not give access to the Tree of Life (Christ Jesus) to those that disobey Him. He made it clear right from the Garden of Eden. (Gen. 3:22-24)

If we do not obey God and His Word or are unwilling to obey, then we do not serve God. If we do not serve God, then we serve satan because we obey satan’s desire that we would not do what God says!

That proves that every believer serves either God or satan depending on his heart and on the decisions of his free will. Man cannot serve two masters at the same time, (Mt. 6:24) nor can he serve anyone else except either God or Satan… because there are no other masters for men to serve.

If you read the above Words of God, you can see that they are not my words or ideas but it is, indeed, the Word of God. If you re-read Mt. 6:24, the word “mammon” does not only mean money but anything, which is an idol or goal of our earthly life and can thus be our “master”. Our master may be any lust, which is powerful enough to lead us to sin. And all lusts are born in our selfishness.

Whenever we, therefore, serve our selfishness, own ideas, opinions, plans, desires, lusts or personal interests in the affaires of God, then we serve Satan. Brother Watchman Nee says:

“It requires a great power to be obedient! If God does not fill your heart first, you will not succeed, no matter how you try externally… I speak to you today in this manner because I have a deep sense within me that the return of the Lord is imminent and that the Kingdom is at hand. Henceforth, temptations will be greater, dangers will be multiplied, and deceptions will be deepened. Previously it was the matter of getting rid of sin; now it is the matter of getting rid of pleasure.”

Let me present to you at this point the very root and nature of selfishness as God sees it and as many, very many believers may be totally blind to it.

The Lord compares our selfishness along with its pride, disobedience, arrogance, defiance and other ‘virtues’ to leprosy, which turns our skin white as snow. God first demonstrated this on Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, the chief Priest. When she together with Aaron spoke against Moses and in the lust of their selfishness made accusations against Moses, the Lord allowed Miriam to become leprous, white as snow. She had to be separated from the people of Israel for seven days until she was healed. (Num. 12:1,2,10-15)

The white skin indicates the deeply devilish, deceitful nature of leprosy and thus of selfishness. It shows people as white (saintly, blessed, elevated and accepted by the Lord) while inside they are rotting, rejected, cursed! The Lord indicated the same fact to the Pharisees. (Mt. 23:27)

This devilish and deeply deceitful nature of selfishness can also be perceived in its lust to readily mix itself into the holy affairs of the Lord trying to “serve Him” in its own power, intelligence, understanding and desire. And then it is also ready to “personally receive” any blessings, favours or grace from the Lord and misuse them as proofs of its own sincerity, rightfulness and spirituality. We become “somebodies” in the Church and are puffed up more than when we “served the Lord” the first time. We thus become so self-deceived and blind that it is impossible for us to recover ourselves from it until the Lord gives us a glimpse of Himself. Only then we can see our own leprosy.

The Lord showed this deep truth and fact to His great prophet Isaiah. After being His prophet for some time, one day he exclaimed:

“Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean (leprous) lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Is. 6:5)

Isaiah saw and proclaimed that he spoke the Word of God through leprous lips and dwelt among the people of leprous lips. He needed a “live coal from off the altar” to take away his iniquity and sin! (Is. 6:6,7) And do not tell me that he became God’s prophet only after this cleansing of his lips. The first five chapters of his Book clearly show what significant Word of God came through him already before his lips were cleansed. This also shows that our heart may be open to the Lord, yet, our lips may at the same time still be leprous. This should also humble us!

What does this fact further signify to us? It shows us that the Word of God may flow from our lips while our lips are leprous! We need these “live coals from off the altar” (our crosses) to cleanse us from our iniquity and sin. So, man may preach, teach or testify about the Truths of the Bible and in the sight of God he may be a leper living in sin and iniquity! In truth, I do not know how else or from where would God get the “workers of iniquity” that serve the Church and do wonderful works! (Mt. 7:22,23) Do you know?

Now, such a man may not be conscious of his state until he sees the King – the Lord of hosts! But the Lord shows Himself only to those that seek Him (Deut. 4:29// Jer. 29:13,14a) and that keep His Word, (Jn. 14:21// 1Jn. 2:3,4) and not to the workers of iniquity. But no one, absolutely no one could persuade such ministers that their lips may be leprous, proud, selfish! That they can preach or teach the Word with the spirit of pride and selfishness all over them. So they speak the Word with pride, self-assertiveness, self-success, disobedience to the very Word they preach (all lady preachers), with self-glorification, self-importance, and so on. They have to see the Lord to believe this!

May I add that this leprosy can also be equated with the “leaven”, which was also ascribed to the Pharisees for the same reason. (Mk. 8:15) Both leaven and leprosy start at a given point and grow… and grow… and keep growing, as it were, a spiritual cancer. But man who is a leper needs a “seven-fold” obedience, seven-fold death for this leprosy to depart from him (2Ki. 5:1-10,14)… or a “live coal from off the altar”, which is his cross, which is his “narrow road” where he is losing his leprosy step by step.

Now, speaking about pride, self-assertiveness, self-success, disobedience to the Word and leprosy, I desire to bring to the forefront the Word in Mk. 14:3. Here the Lord is in the house of Simon the leper and a woman came to Him with an alabaster box full of precious ointment. She broke the box and poured it on His head. Is there any meaning in this act for us today? The Lord said that what that woman had done shall be together with the Gospel spoken of for a memorial unto her. (Mk. 14:9) So, I do speak of it now.

The true and deeper meaning of this fact, which the Lord desires us to understand especially today, has come to my spirit as follows. I see the house of the leper representing the current House of God in the New Testament. All of us believers have sin – leprosy in the sight of God. (1Jn. 1:8) The woman represents the Bride of Christ who loved Him so much that she did not hesitate to brake the alabaster box with the precious ointment. The box represents our flesh, hard shell, outer man, “old man”, earthen vessel (2Cor. 4:7), which must be broken in order for the precious treasure of His Spirit to be released. This braking is done on our cross, on the narrow road, not instantaneously as the woman did it but slowly. It is only the Bride of Christ who is willing to do this in the House of God while the others murmur and criticize. (Mk. 14:4,5)

Hence, the most important comment that I would make to the above facts is that no believer can obey the Word of God in his self-power or self-ability! All he needs to do is to believe, be willing and ask the Lord. This is the only part for the believer to do. The rest is the “work of God” and also the Lord’s part. The believer who asks Him will then be empowered by the Lord to both obey His Word and to break his “alabaster box”. If, therefore, any believer would desire to do this “work” for God, the Lord would answer him the following:

“This is the work of God that you believe on Him, Whom He (the Father) has sent.” (Jn. 6:29)

That you believe in your heart Who the Lord truly is, what is His power and what He can do, namely, that He “…is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power (His power) that works in us.” (Eph. 3:20)

Believing is our work! It takes spiritual energy and strength to believe in the face of adversity. And when there is no adversity, no problems, no troubles, no danger… there is no need for faith! True? When we ask Our Lord to enable us to obey His Word, it will be a true pleasure for Him to enable us to do it in our soul and that exceeding abundantly above all that we might think or imagine! His true pleasure, I say, because for His pleasure all things are and were created. (Rev. 4:11)

The way to Heaven and Eternal Life has been opened to every man on earth, and it is a simple way: We ask (according to His Will) and God will do it. (1Jn. 5:14,15) At that point, our will and His Will merge into one. But the door to this way was closed by the deceptive and evil work of the powers of darkness and evil. Satan stands at the straight gate (Mt. 7:14) and gives you the most idiotic ideas, beliefs, persuasions why you should not enter the narrow way. Then he leads you to a more appealing broad way and tells you that it leads to the same place, but is more comfortable. It is true that the broad way is far more comfortable, but it does not lead to the same place! When believers reach its end, there will be darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth! (Mt. 8:12; 22:11-14; 24:44-51; 25:11,12,30) The Kingdom of Heaven with the Lord of Glory Personally Present will be the end of a different way, the narrow way.

Is this not a grand deception? It is like those credit card commercials: Buy now – pay later; live it up now – drop dead later; have a pleasant time now – suffer horribly later. And how many millions of believers are caught in it? How many born-again believers serve Satan without even being conscious of it? Only the Lord knows.

Satan will never lead you even close to the narrow gate and narrow way. And if you do find it by the help of the Spirit of God (Mt. 7:14 – we must find it) and keep walking on it, Satan will start pestering you all the way! This is another typical feature of hell – pestering. Have you ever noticed that? Every fly will keep pestering you until you kill it. So will Satan, with stupid thoughts, lies, temptations of all kinds, colours and shapes… until you “kill him” by your faith, which means, “separate yourself from him” or resist him by your faith until he flees from you. (Jam. 4:7) Do you believe this?

* * *

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.

* * *

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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Do we not know that the Lord is choosing His servants after his own heart, desire and purpose? (Acts 13:22) Is it so difficult to admit that Satan is choosing his servants in a similar way? And is it not the best advantage for him to choose a person with the greatest power and authority right in the middle of the Church? Have you never read or heard the unbelievable stories about spies (so-called moles) operating right next to the office of, say, the President, Chancellor, Prime Minister or Minister of National Defence of the enemy? These are real facts in real life.

The most incredible fact that I am about to tell you is that those spies knew what they were doing and whom they were serving. But Satan is going further than that! He is able to choose his man without the man knowing about it! without the man being even conscious of it! Should I, again, say: Hello? Can you believe this?

So, behind some pulpits, there may stand a true enemy of Jesus Christ and His Cross without realizing that he is one! (Rom. 16:17,18// Phil. 3:18,19// 1Cor. 11:29; 16:22, etc.) And if he is not conscious of it, how can the congregation be, which depends on him? Can you believe this? But your unbelief will not change the truth. The Lord knows.

Imagine a spiritually dead man who may be brilliant in his intellectual knowledge of the Bible. What he gives to his congregation are two things: brilliant intellectual knowledge of the Bible and spiritual death – because that is all that he has. So those believers in his congregation who are not lazy have a chance to acquire brilliant intellectual knowledge of the Bible… and remain spiritually dead. The leader, the man behind the pulpit, is a seed, which is able to multiply himself and bring forth others just like him! Every man (plant) has seed within himself (itself) and brings seed after his (its) own kind. (Gen. 1:11,12) This is applicable not only physically, but also spiritually.

The above is a spiritual fact and I have many experiences from my ministry in the United States, Canada, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which prove this fact. That is why I also testified and expressed this fact in the first paragraphs of section A (page 23). I thus hope that the leaders who have the right heart would see and understand the above and cease resisting Christ in me and start resisting and battling their true enemy and the true enemy of their own families and of their own brethren in their congregations.

However, those whose hearts are wicked and evil will never understand this judgment from the Lord. They will keep sowing iniquity and reap vanity. (Pr. 22:8) It is those that seek the Lord with their whole heart, they understand all things. (Pr. 28:5)

D. Dealings within the Church

First, we should understand that the situations in large congregations compared to smaller fellowships, such as, house gatherings are completely different. The conditions for the work of the Holy Spirit in believers, their chances to undergo His “treatment”, are completely different. That is why in some churches they have a system of, so called, “home cells”.

Two believers (gathered in His Name) are the smallest church. Wherever there are two believers, there are already disagreements, tensions, unrighteous judgments, problems of all kinds. You may ask any husband and wife. You may also consult the Word and see what the Lord means when He says that “... if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything…” (Mt. 18:19) Doesn’t this Word alone speak volumes?

With each additional believer these problems multiply exponentially. This might also be one reason why Our Lord chose only twelve to make out of them future apostles. And even to them He said at one occasion: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you…?” (Mt. 17:17)

I have yet to meet a pastor who would speak like that to his congregation (even though, afterwards, he might “enjoy some loneliness and quietness in his life”… should he survive such a “sermon”). Now, we should talk more seriously about this very important subject.

What I will expose below may be totally unbelievable facts, which, had I not witnessed them myself and had my brethren never testified about them in the Spirit of the Lord, I myself would have never believed them as possible and as existing in the lives of believers.

First, I must say that the things described below are not detectable or discernible in humanly accessible ways. Their detection and exposition is impossible without the Holy Spirit and without brethren with open hearts willing to search the truth in the very depths of their hearts.

Second, things of this nature may be happening in our everyday life and not necessarily in a church environment. However, since they are deeply engraved into our souls, they are automatically transferred into our church life and spiritual work. Most of the time, the situation leads into trying to resolve some sort of confusion, misunderstanding or other problem. Also, it often involves a repentance of a brother or sister during which, or after which, such things may be discovered.

Third, the things described below are usually common to the believers who are found in early stages of walking on the narrow way, during the first transition from the soulish to the spiritual. While the soulish is always “dependable” or “tangible”, the spiritual, like walking by faith, seems like “flying in fog without instruments”… ask any bush-pilot. You seem to lose all bearings in your life. You must, as it were, “switch off your brain”, stop thinking, neglect your emotions, become still in your soul… and allow the Lord to show you Who He is and what He wants to give you or what He desires from you! (Ps. 46:10)

Is this natural? No! It is exactly the opposite to all our natural ways and instincts. And it does take time for the Spirit to develop our spiritual senses and teach us to use them. This is the prime stage where the things given below may surface for many believers. They are usually engaged in a serious working out of their Salvation (Phil. 2:12), hence, the powers of darkness are also working in and around them full time.

Here are some important points observed also in our own Body of Christ in Montreal, which the Lord founded in May 1974. Since that time, we have been meeting from house-to-house every week without fail and the Lord has been working in His mysterious ways also without fail.

1. During a church service or preaching or teaching or important sharing in a fellowship, believers may hear and believe things that were never said!

This phenomenon happened in our own fellowship and it takes a real opening of the heart and asking the Lord what is true. One side vehemently claimed that things were said and it was not true or right or it had offended somebody. The other side likewise vehemently claimed that such things were never said by anybody! It took some time of diligent searching and enquiring before the Lord and speaking the truth from the heart by witnesses to finally come to the conclusion that those things were, indeed, never said by anybody!

The Lord then showed that the powers of darkness could deceive people even in this way that they hear and believe what was never said! That brings offences, misunderstanding, bitterness and other effects into believers’ hearts. The goal of it is obvious – division in the Body of Christ – and that is the goal of those powers of evil.

2. What also happens quite often is the opposite of the experience described above. Believers may not hear things that were clearly said! they do not register facts! Or they do not understand but are afraid to ask… perhaps, to preserve their (proud) image!

I am not alluding here to the situations where you may be “daydreaming” or napping during sermons or thinking about your lunch. These situations are obvious though even these may be caused by the same powers of darkness. Here, we are primarily talking about people who are listening and paying attention to what is said. They are not distracted in any way. Yet, they may miss the most important words that were said very clearly and apply to them or to their personal problem or situation. It could be a Word of the Lord to resolve their own particular problem.

But when they do not register facts or misunderstand simple and clearly expressed facts then it is quite clear that their mind does not work properly! It is usually affected by the spirits of darkness or foolishness or inattention. I have living experiences with men who manifested a far better and more brisk thinking before they were saved than after. After their salvation, it was a “hell of a job” for them just to follow the most basic and clear instructions! They were never able to do that, in fact, in many cases they did the exact opposite! It showed a complete loss of common sense and the only explanation is an interference from the powers of darkness. These powers may then be discovered and proved by a diligent enquiring of the believers in their own hearts through the Spirit of the Lord. We never failed to discover a curtain of darkness imposed by hell. This is one such clear step in renewing someone’s mind.

3. It may also happen that believers may speak words they do not mean at all as to their true comprehension, meaning and consequences in the spiritual realm; or they are unable to speak clearly!

We are talking about intelligent and elloquent people that can express themselves and describe things very well, until they get into spiritual matters. In this area, they are, as it were, led to speak any particular word or words without realizing their true meaning, their true consequences or impact on others. This is done without them being aware of what meaning such words may have conveyed to the other person(s) and the given picture is then unclear, unprecise.

This may equally bring a serious misunderstanding, misconception, bad spirit or confusion into the situation. It cannot be traced and corrected without the Holy Spirit and diligent enquiring. The person, who is unaware of this must go sufficiently deep into his own heart and begin to search and see for himself that this indeed has happened! And it is not always easy.

4. This point is more obvious than the above ones in that in many occasions, believers may understand or imagine things that were said in a totally different light and meaning than they were actually meant!

In this case, it may be either the “fault” of the speaker or of the listener. This phenomenon also causes a mutual misunderstanding and thus a division between the persons involved. Here, we are not dealing with psychological problems and things pertaining to our physical life, rather we are purely dealing with spiritual things, problems and topics. The cause can usually be traced to the darkness in the believer’s mind concerning the things of God or of this world. This darkness is the natural state of a believer’s mind, especially concerning spiritual realities, before the mind is sufficiently renewed in its spirit. (Eph. 4:23)

5. If our mind is not sufficiently renewed by the Holy Spirit, we have no choice but to speak and express the thoughts or imaginations which are produced purely by our natural mind. Since our natural minds differ in various ways and there is no unity, and since our natural minds can not receive and understand the things of the Spirit of God (1Cor. 2:14), our words may very easily bring confusion, misunderstanding, misconception and chaos. This is then used by the powers of darkness to divide us, keep us separated, bring bad spirit into our midst and keep the Lord’s Spirit away from us.

Since (the spirit of) our mind is the last to be renewed after our heart and will have sufficiently been cleansed, recreated and strengthened in any particular area, then it does indeed take a comparatively long time before any group of believers can trully “be of the same mind” or of “one mind”. (Rom. 12:16// 2Cor. 13:11// Phil. 1:27; 2:2// 1Pet. 3:8)

It is especially this area of our renewal where the rule “here a little, there a little” (Is. 28:10) applies without any shortcuts. It thus takes a long time, patience and perseverance to cross this mire of darkness and deception and to change this “workshop of Satan” into the “workshop of Christ”. (1Cor. 2:16// Phil. 2:5// 1Pet. 4:1)

Whenever the believer says: “It did not occur to me…” when we deal with simple or logical matters, it always shows some darkness in his mind and heart. This should be brought before the Lord as soon as possible in order that He might show the root of the problem and deliver the individual from it.

In my faith, the disunity of the natural and dark minds of believers are the “foundation stone” of all the existing and horrible divisions in the Church of jesus Christ!

These divisions may disappear only where such minds have been sufficiently renewed by the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 4:23) This shows that the church in general is soulish (intellectual) and not spiritual.

Natural, dark minds exist because their hearts have not been opened to the Lord and His Spirit has not been allowed to create in them clean hearts.

6. One chief cause of these horrible divisions among believers and thus in the Church is our hypocrisy!

Hypocrisy is the natural branch of the pride in our old natural heart. It acts as a “gate guard” which is supposed to prevent any disclosures of our pride and its secrets in our Christian life. It thus sifts any information that can leave the heart and prevents you from speaking out your beliefs or intentions. Hypocrisy is the opposite of holiness!

Hypocrisy means that we speak, write or otherwise express things as “facts” that are not true within us, within our heart or mind! We lie! Why? To preserve the pride in our heart, to preserve “our image” or to gain something unrighteously. What is on the outside of us does not correspond to what is inside of us! We simply cannot afford to speak the truth because it would convict us, it would show who we truly are and we would thus lose our self-made Christian “mask”, our Christian image.

Sometimes we are truly not aware of the things, which may be in our hearts and how deeply they may deceive us. At other times, we prefer to keep deceiving ourselves that we are “not that bad” as others may be telling us. We consciously suppress speaking truth and thereby uncovering the powers of darkness hiding within our soul. Why? Because pain and shame are involved in exposing them. But this is exactly the price of our deliverance and overcoming ourselves.

Holiness is our transparency where what is inside of us is clearly shown on the outside and vice versa. This is a part of “Christ’s Image” to which we are supposed to be transformed through the Power, Grace, Wisdom and other virtues of Our Lord and our cooperation with Him. (Phil. 2:12; 4:13// Eph. 4:24, etc.)

Unless we follow (or acquire) holiness, we shall not see the Lord! (Heb. 12:14)

Can you clearly see that hypocrisy and holiness are exact opposites? Can you see why the Holy Lord hated hypocrites? Why they were already condemned to hell? Well, read again Mt. 23:13-33 carefuly. Imagine the loving and merciful Lord Jesus speaking like that. Imagine His Heart and Soul, His anger, His pain. Do you not see from His Words and from the above spiritual facts how devilish, evil and damning hypocrisy really is? It has the power to bring us to hell and it helps to bring there also those that we may affect and deceive. That includes our family, our loved ones, our spouses and those cute children of ours. In reality, we may be preparing their final destiny, which we would, in fact, never wish for them in our wildest dreams.

To “open our heart” then means to overcome the power of our hypocrisy, to disarm and subdue this “gate guard” and enter our heart. It is never without certain painful experiences, certain conscious effort on our part. But this is exactly the proof that WE are working out our own salvation (Phil. 2:12), that WE are putting on our New Man (Eph. 4:24), that WE are cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! (2Cor. 7:1// 1Jn. 3:3) That it is not the Lord doing it all Alone or somehow automatically, which means, without our conscious participation and cooperation. And by opening our heart, we are gaining our FREEDOM!

Normally, people are not free to speak truth or what they believe is truth! On the other hand, many people seem to be ready to open their hearts and divulge their most private matters on national TV talk shows or at media interviews rather than to their brethren or pastors from the Lord. Do you see it?

This flies squarely into the face of Satan’s principal deception of telling believers that they are “fine”, they just have to sit in their church and “be good Christians”. Of course, Satan does not mind if they pray, worship, sing, give tithe and offerings, participate in the activities and programs of their church provided that they do not start to participate in their own salvation, fight their own hypocrisy and open their heart to the Lord! No, no, no! Satan would throw at them all his devilish and demonic forces, tricks, temptations, lies and deception the moment they dare to do that. Why? Well, if they would open their heart to the Lord, Satan’s kingdom in it and its influence or governing of their souls would be destroyed without any doubt! It would just be a matter of time.

7. After considering the above described phenomena and spiritual facts, I do not believe that it should be difficult for us to see and understand, what may be happening in the Church of Jesus Christ in terms of preaching, teaching or just sharing or fellowshipping.

We may have never considered in our mind and heart that the things described above are possible without us even being aware of them in our own conscience. We may have never felt that there might be something wrong with us or in us, in our mind or in our heart. We may have never believed that the Lord may have different ways and priorities for us than we have.

In our mind, we are always “fine” and all our ways are clean and wise in our own eyes. (Pr. 16:2) We are not prone to foolishness or make mistakes, hence nobody should tell us what to do, how to do it or give us any counsel of any kind. Right? Well, this is exactly the true depth of our deception! And this also applies to many ministers who may have been ministering 15, 25, 35 years or more. For many of them it is absolutely unthinkable and impossible to receive counsel from anyone else!

They know it all… they will never need any counsel, instruction or correction of any kind… even from the Lord! and they have no time… They “work for the Lord”, they are very busy… but He may have no access to their closed hearts! And what keeps them from the Lord’s necessary counsel or correction? Pride! That is all!

Imagine that I should come to Joyce Meyer (of TBN, see p.47) and tell her: “Sister, you are breaking the Word of God and are in danger of God’s Judgment. You should stop your ministry and ask the Lord what you should do according to His counsel.” Do you think she would reply: “Oh, thank you brother very much for telling me this truth. I am so glad that you came and told me. I will go to the Lord immediately”? Forgive me, please, but this could be the greatest joke on this side of the Universe. The Lord says that it is only God’s fire that will change her mind! (Heb. 12:28,29) Do you believe this simple fact? Well, you might see it if you live long enough.

Try to ask anyone in any church: How are you? You will get only one answer: “Fine…” even if the man may be divorced, have cancer, be in deep debt and his two children were in jail! Many Christians are such masters of hypocrisy that they should deserve an “Oscar” for their performance. However, the “Oscar” they are going to get will be awarded to them at a different ceremony and on a different stage.

unless we open our heart to the Lord and with His help diligently search its depths, we will never find anything wrong with us or in us!

We will never find out that such phenomena and spiritual facts may happen in us or to us from others and that we might not even be conscious of those facts.

8. I also want to share something about our relationships, our dealings with one another whether it be in churches or home fellowships or just between some individuals. These dealings create our relationships with one another, with the Lord and also show our spiritual progress or regress or our stagnation.

Let me give you one very practical example of what I mean. Get an elastic band, attach one end to a solid support and begin to pull the other end away from the support. It is only a matter of time when you reach a certain distance from the attached end of the band and... it snaps! Suddenly, no warning. So it is with our relationships. When we move in a certain direction and the other person keeps sitting, we cannot remain together for long. Our mutual departure may come very suddenly and without any warning. It should be easy to translate this fact into our spiritual life.

The soul that moves, “presses” forward focusing on the Lord, growing up into Him, cannot fellowship for long with the one who loves to sit and play in his “religious sandbox” and has no intention to move! The brethren that the Lord removed from our fellowship in Montreal were typical examples. They just loved to do “their own thing” and had no intention to step on the narrow way, deny their old life and childish religion and begin to grow up in spirit, mature. So, the time came when the spiritual situation became intolerable, the link snapped and we were suddenly separated from one another – by the Spirit of the Lord Himself! Then they disappeared into their spiritual wilderness never to be seen again. (read also detailed accounts in Parts VIa and VIb^[9])

Some brethren just desired to “sit in our boat” and not row at all. They allowed the other “foolish” brethren to toil in rowing while they “enjoyed the scenery”. (Mk. 6:46-48) It took us a long time before the Lord finally showed us that this is not exactly what He expects His disciples to do. The truth is: Row or swim … or walk on the water… if you can. Choose one of these, because our “boat” is not a cruise ship where you are fed without moving your finger.

We must realize that the Lord first sends us His Light by spoken or written Word through His servants and then He gives us a sufficient span of time to consider it, repent and change our ways, if necessary. Only then the Lord brings His Judgment, but never without first warning us and granting us sufficient time. (Rev. 2:21)

9. Speaking about judgments, I will share with you how I learned to judge many situations prepared for me by the Lord. I learned many of them on my own skin so what I will share is from a practical Christian life.

a) It happened many times that the Lord had quite clearly shown a problem, either created by a believer or magnified by his words or actions or inactions. When it was pointed out to him, his reply was: “So, that means that next time, I have to be more careful, right?”

On one hand, his reply was not bad since he did not try to “weasel out” of his part in the problem. On the other hand, it was a true surprise for him to learn that “next time he does not have to be more careful!” I told him, in fact, that next time he should be LESS careful! He was puzzled. But this kind of a “puzzle” has enormous applications in our earthly lives and in our salvation process. Why?

Whenever we create or become part of a problem, we try to fix the problem instead of fixing ourselves! Most of our problems are either created or magnified by our old self. Often the problem is not the “problem” – the problem is our self. The problem often dwells in our flesh and not in outside circumstances. We need to be delivered from the offensive, evil or foolish spirits in our souls and not “try to be more careful” in our flesh and thereby preserve it or improve it! Our “New Man” will not create such problems, hence, he does not have to be “more careful”.

Problems will never cease or change for better. If we, therefore, desire a true success with problems, we must change and not the problems. If we do not change, our specific problems will never disappear. This may not be difficult to imagine but rather difficult to do.

b) Another situation may arise quite frequently when a believer has sinned, done foolishness or offended some other man, or the Lord may have uncovered unrighteous deeds from his past. The believer repents in tears and even on his knees. He declares that he hates it and does not desire to repeat such things in the future. He desires to do what is right and close the door to his past. Thus far, all is well.

Then, maybe in less than 30 minutes, he becomes jovial, making fun and jokes. Next week, he repeats the foolishness or takes the wrong he had done in the past lightly. His fruit clearly does not correspond to his repentance including his tears! But, what a performance of the old man! Of course, his tears are “crocodile tears”, which he is shedding primarily in self-pity that he was caught and exposed. We do need such shocks to start perceiving the true depth of deception and recover from our human naivety.

It took me quite a while to recognize a simple fact, that our old man is truly a master of performance and is well able to deceive even the most experienced ones. Tears of self-pity are common, promises of “the moon and stars” are also common, declarations that “I am doing my best” are most common. The man is able to deceive himself by such performances. How true rings the Word of Our Lord where He says that “we shall know them by their fruits” and by nothing else! Our old man is a “corrupt tree” in us and cannot bring forth good fruit. Our New Man is a good tree in us and cannot bring forth evil fruit. (Mt. 7:18-20)

c) Another situation, which I have observed many times depicts a believer who has been convicted of wrongdoing, sinning, unrighteousness or some foolishness at the meeting of the Body of Christ. He is unable to repent or say anything acceptable. He has the countenance of a man “fallen from Mars”. He is absolutely convinced that he is a “nice guy” and we all have been judging him unrighteously… and he does not deserve it! Satan is working overtime to give him the most stupid and untrue thoughts to justify himself and fight any truth. He cannot stop his thinking process and grasp some faith because faith, if any, is in his heart and, thus far, his heart has been closed & locked. So, even if the Lord had deposited into his heart some faith about the man himself, he has no way of grasping it and thereby overcoming himself and also his sinful or awkward situation.

He begins to defend himself with everything available to him, then to accuse others of being responsible for some of his failures or problems mentioned. He tries to “weasel out” of the situation by any means. Then he starts complicating things by bringing chaos into an otherwise clear situation or bringing doubts into what is absolutely clear to everyone else. He is able, without blinking an eye, to stand alone against several brethren who have the same mind and faith about him! Finally, he tries to say in a long speech what he is going through and how he is suffering. He will take any step to avoid declaring that he is the guilty party and is willing to start his recovery in the hand of the Lord. It is clear that the man is blind and desires to stay blind. So, the Lord has to send thunder & lightning into his life to crack open his heart and give him sufficient Light so that he would start seeing himself and thus be enabled to repent and change his course. Moreover, when he overcomes and admits his guilt, his burden will depart and he will feel light as a “feather”.

d) A very important situation arises when such a man is finally “cracked” and becomes able to see at least some of the truth about himself. He may even admit that, yes, he was wrong, his spirit was evil at such-and-such a time, he showed pride, jealousy, self-righteousness, selfishness, fears, etc. He is then able to repent, BUT… he is still unable to perform the truth that he received. He can only see and understand the truth, but his heart is unable to execute it, live it. There is still a deep resistance in the heart, and the flesh of his heart is still proud and unresponsive.

This man needs some time to “cook” in a spiritual pot; in a pressure cooker of adversity, where the “flesh” of his heart would soften up and he would finally be willing in his heart to live the truth. This is the last stage of breaking Satan’s bunkers and defence lines, breaking the very “spine of his nature” in the believer’s heart and soul!

How should a believer be “cooked”? There are many ways to do it. If we follow the Lord, He will always give us the wisdom, which again depends on the circumstances of each believer. The Lord will teach us everything that is necessary for every believer. (Mk. 1:17) The Lord will also arrange the degree of adversity, its temperature, pressure and timing so that the saint will “come out of the fire” meek and thankful, precious as refined gold. (1Pet. 1:7// Rev. 3:18) Do you know what I am saying here? Do you believe it?

Have you ever observed such situations in your church meetings? I am not speaking about auditoria with hundreds or thousands of people, but about smaller home or cell fellowships. If none of the above situations has ever happened in your meetings, then it is hardly the Lord’s living Church. It may just be a gathering of believers debating the Bible or their never-ending problems with no real work of the Spirit taking place, with no change in the nature of the believers, no deliverance of their human soul from the spirits of darkness and evil.

Before we conclude this important chapter on the true depth of deception, I must mention two perhaps unusual facts, which nevertheless greatly influence and determine the road to our destiny.

(1) The first fact touches my own spiritual childhood and what was, in my faith, the most important step, which the Lord took with me about 2 years after revealing Himself to me by His Spirit. I must be extremely brief because, in fact, such steps continue and we have to take them in some form or another during our entire Christian lifetime.

The very first thing the Lord started to show me was my spiritual naïvity! Then He showed me that I was not any exception, but rather the rule because every born-again believer at the beginning of his narrow road is spiritually totally naïve! In what way and why? Well, all believers are born into a totally different spiritual world, into a Family with a totally different Character, Life, Existence, Reality! None of us had any clue about this new spiritual world and its Reality!

Even after our Redemption, we all have the tendency to keep living in our imaginations, expectations or soulish dreams unless we start to desire and allow the Lord to begin revealing to us this New Family, Reality and Life and how He lives It. Very few believers aspire to His Reality. The main reason is that the Lord will never take the hand of our “old man” and reveal to him anything. Hence, the majority of believers remain naïve as children, but not innocent as children! They seeing see not, and hearing hear not, neither do they understand anything because their heart is closed – unresponsive. (Mt. 13:13-15) According to the above Word of Our Lord, such believers are not even converted or healed.

If we refuse to mature, we remain naïve in all spiritual matters. We will never understand those that truly mature and will always resist them and judge them unrighteously.

(2) The second fact touches the way which God has provided for people to get out of their darkness, deception and naivety. In the Old Testament, God had given Israel some prophets who received the Word of God, which means, Light from God and gave It to the people. This Light from God for the people was the only means to keep them from darkness and deception, from remaining naïve! No one else could see what only the prophets, the “seers”, could see. (1Sam. 9:9// 2Ki. 17:13// Is. 30:9,10)

In the New Testament, the Spirit of God was given to all the born-again believers who were baptized in water. (Acts 2:38) We are told that He will guide us into all truth. (Jn. 16:13) The Israel of the Old Testament never had such chances but had to rely completely and totally on their comparatively few prophets whom God had given them.

YET, in the New Testament, God, again, gave to the Church “some prophets”. (Eph. 4:11) What does that mean?

Our God must have seen it as wise and necessary to have the office of a prophet, seer, he who sees the spiritual world, also in the New Testament. This despite the fact that the Spirit dwells in every born-again believer and is able to “guide him into all truth”, meaning, that “all truth” that he personally needs for his functioning as a believer, also as an evangelist, pastor, teacher, preacher, etc. But to interpret the Mind and Heart of God to the Church at large, to judge or warn the Church about various dangers and to demystify important steps or Judgments of God belongs to the prophets. This is a very unthankful work for which they were and still are hated, rejected, killed or otherwise mistreated. (ex.: Mt. 23:30-34// Rom. 11:3// 1Thess. 2:14-16)

The truth is that no man can call himself, or study to become a prophet or an apostle. No seminary, no amount of study or knowledge will make you a prophet and no one can ordain you to be a prophet or an apostle. These are not just offices that man may assume or someone else may assign to you. Not at all. It is a sovereign calling of God usually from man’s birth. What man IS in himself, is what makes (or does not make) him a prophet. Prophecy is his life and not just his “office”. Great prophets have been called from their mother’s womb, (Is. 49:1,2,5// Jer. 1:5// Lk. 1:15 // Gal. 1:15,16) no man had ordained them but God! Man may ordain elders who are to direct churches in different cities (Tit. 1:5) but not apostles or prophets.

When such a man is called to speak what he sees with God and we do not listen, we are automatically in big trouble! If you do not believe me just read what happened to the chosen people of God who did not listen to the One sent to them. He Himself wept over them and told them plainly that they killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent unto them. Then He told them: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Mt. 23:37,38)

For two thousand years, the chosen people of God became so desolate that no other people in the history of mankind suffered such desolation! And the Holocaust seems to be, as it were, a “crown of thorns” of that desolation. Shall I continue?

* * *

I pray to the Lord Jesus Christ to help every reader who desires sincerely in his heart to change his ways, his life, his circumstances, his living conditions, his fears or doubts about his future and his destination itself. May the Lord enable every such soul to begin walking on the new way, the narrow way, which leads to Life Eternal, to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and finally to the New Heaven and New Jerusalem.

I know that He will answer this prayer to every reader who turns to Him and opens his/her heart to Him. Amen.

CHAPTER 3

SOME FACTS OF LIFE (A–TO–Z)

I sincerely admire those readers who have come thus far and were not derailed by some pretty tough and bitter pages of this book. I assume that for a few it has been a “sweet music”; likewise for a majority, it may have been a mixed experience, a “hard” reading; and many others, I assume, may have never arrived at this point.

But this book has been written primarily for those that will come to its end and will still be able to ponder, meditate, compare, assess, search, seek and finally take the right decisions in their heart. They will not be afraid to redirect their life and step on the road they may have never travelled – the true road to Life and to the Kingdom of Heaven. They will not put this book on a shelf and promptly forget it as if they had never read it. This is my prayer to the Lord because these are the hearts the Lord seeks, especially now, before the end of this age comes.

Our life, especially spiritual life, is so complex and mysterious that no man can write about it hoping that he explained it sufficiently and the reader is now clear about it all. I have read many excellent books from far greater servants of the Lord than I am. I have found out that no matter how “insignificant” some things that they wrote may have appeared, they were of extreme importance to me and my own spiritual growth.

Through their writings the Lord had always provided me with all the necessary “nutrition” for my own maturing process. Additionally, the Lord always provided brethren who were excellent “irritants” for my flesh so it would burn fast and efficiently. What I will testify of below should have practical value for every reader with an open heart. Listen…

My own pride, arrogance, self-righteousness, spiritual foolishness, fears, selfishness and other “virtues” of my flesh were burning on the “altar” of the Lord for years! And some of them are still “smouldering”. Can a proud and self-elevating believer make such a testimony about himself to the world-wide Church? Well, there goes my “image”! Can you make a similar testimony about yourself? Unless your “fleshly virtues” are burning on His altar, you absolutely cannot!

This is my testimony before the Lord and He is my Living Witness. I am not afraid to write it down and tell the truth. You see, I was not born holy or in the New Man. Nobody is. My old man was no better than yours or anyone else’s. I was in pain and suffering and wondering and I also went through those deep valleys of frustration, despair, disappointments, failures and death. No different from anyone of you.

Now, I have no plan of my own what to put into this chapter. I do believe that the Lord can sovereignly give unexpected, or unplanned “pearls”, which are able to change or affect someone’s life even profoundly. So, let me start declaring some of my experiences and facts of life, which may bring both shock and comfort to your own soul and life.

a) When a brother and his wife from a fellowship south of Montreal told me at our first church meeting (after having read my books) that I was proud and elevating myself over my brethren, I could smile at them. I told him: “Brother, you cannot offend me.” (Ps. 119:165) Then I embraced him and he was rejoicing, nigh to shedding tears. This is a simple fact of life, simple proof that pride did not respond from within me, rather, my New Man, my New Nature responded. A truly proud man would have been pricked and offended and would have responded totally differently. But even this did not change their mind and heart.

When I came again with other brethren to the second meeting with them, we were embraced and warmly welcomed. But later on, that brother was told that he and his wife acted unwisely during our first meeting… accusing me publicly and never repenting of their false and unfounded accusations. They both were very offended and we had to leave their house without embracing or even waving hands. They were stunned and unable to even finish the song they were singing. Their little daughter was waving good bye to us. This is another simple fact of life. But I am almost sure that they did not see themselves how they behaved and what powers were moving them. Oh, the depth of deception is truly great.

What is important for me is that I have nothing in my heart against them except compassion, understanding and pain that I cannot give them what I received from Christ.

There is another reason why I am quoting this episode for the readers to ponder. It is almost like an unwritten law that when you speak or write truth to a proud, arrogant or self-righteous believer (or pagan), it is he who will always consider you as proud, arrogant and self-righteous! Why? Because the spirit of pride and self-righteousness, which is living in that person is offended by that truth. He cannot receive it or pause and righteously ponder it or verify it impartially in the Word of God. Such an offended brother then becomes inaccessible and unapproachable as a strong city with high walls. (Pr. 18:19)

Furthermore, an offended brother can never judge you righteously! An evil spirit of his old nature begins to affect his soul, darkens his eyes and begins to grow a root of bitterness and malice in his heart. Nobody could offend the Lord Jesus Christ, He was never proud, He always judged and acted righteously and with grace. Yet, it was He who was always considered arrogant, proud and a blasphemer by all the proud and self-righteous ones! (Mt. 26:65-67)

To be offended is not difficult – to search the true root why we got offended is difficult and without the Spirit of God, it is absolutely impossible. This is a very great obstacle on the way of every Christian and we can overcome it only on the narrow way.

b) The greatest lessons we can learn in life, including our spiritual life, are the lessons learned in our defeats! A continual success without any defeats can in time blind us. Defeats can teach us precious lessons. In my belief and experiences, this is exactly the reason, why the Lord allows us to go down into “defeats” in various circumstances and stages of our life – to deal efficiently with our pride.

All those that seek any victory in any area of their life, including spiritual life, should realize and freely admit that they are defeated in that area! Otherwise, they would not seek or need victory. Right? It is a simple fact of life, but we may have never considered it from this angle. Once I have victory, I do not have to seek or fight for it, right? I may have to fight in it, though. It almost sounds incredible but on one hand we all have our victory in Christ Jesus. This is a simple truth. On the other hand, we “do not have it” in our life! This is not such a simple truth. We all have to fight “for our victory”, which we have in Christ! How and why?

Well, we are to fight IN the Lord’s victory FOR our victory – with our faith! Nevertheless, we have to fight, press, conquer, use our spiritual weapons and armour. So, do we have that victory or do we not have it? How would you explain it? Is this a mysterious fact of our spiritual life? It may be a mystery until we realize that we have our victory in Christ but not yet in ourselves, in our very own experience, own soul, own life.

Similarly, we have Eternal Life in Christ Jesus, yet, we have to “lay hold on it” in order to have it, right? (1Tim. 6:12) In fact, to fight the fight of faith seems to be the only way to lay hold on the Eternal Life – the One we already have in Christ Jesus! Is this any less mysterious than the question of our victory? Can we comprehend these things in our poor human mind? That is why we have to live by faith and not only by our mind. (Hab. 2:4// Rom. 1:17// Gal. 3:11// Heb. 10:38)

In Christ Jesus we have righteousness, wisdom, peace, forgiveness, mercy, grace and all the other virtues of His Divine Life. Yet, we all seem to be desperately short of them all! They are not outwardly manifested in us. Do we have to fight for them also? It appears so! It appears that…

…our war has to be first won inwardly, in our spirit, so that its victory can then be manifested outwardly through our soul and body.

If we live in peace, are happy, feel no guilt or are unaware of any evil within us – that is no proof that there is no evil within us! The Lord knows and can show us that evil during our maturing process. We are usually shocked by what He is able to bring out of our hearts… and in front of our very own eyes.

c) Anything dead and sinful must be at times literally “ripped out of us” in order that the Lord may replace it with something living and sinless. And if that “something” dead and sinful in us is part of a stony heart, then the Lord might have to use some additional fire or a “spiritual sledge-hammer” to crack open our stony hearts. (Jer. 23:29) Have you ever experienced THAT from the Lord? Are you with me? We all started with a desperately wicked and deceitful heart (Jer. 17:9), but not all of us necessarily started with a stony heart. I do hope you understand the difference.

If you, therefore, feel your heart is in intensive pain or is failing due to great fears or is in anticipation of horrible consequences, or dangerous situations then, perhaps, the Lord is igniting a fire… because you could not hear His voice during the previous year or two… or ten, or more! Or you did not respond to Him at all, or you keep stubbornly going along your way, stuck in your rut and unable to get out of it because you do not see or hear or understand anything (a stubborn heart is blind and deaf).

The same may happen with the mind. Many believers have such a strong mind that they just cannot help themselves. All their Christianity is in their heads! Unless they reason and understand everything in their heads, they cannot believe. Their heart is completely closed. But this is not Salvation, it is an intellectual religion. Furthermore, if you can “believe” only what you understand – this is not faith because your understanding can never produce faith. In doing so, You put Christianity upside down and you might get a hearty handshake from brother Thomas. (Jn. 20:24,25)

I know a brother who had this specific problem and what the Lord did was unbelievable and unimaginable for both of us. The Lord “cleared his mind” to the degree that he did not know what was happening to him. He lost all his “bearings”. Everything became new to him and he was looking at everything as if he were just born to this world. He could understand nothing of it and it was going on like that for some days. His wife became afraid that he was literally “losing his mind” and becoming a psychiatric case.

Only the Lord knows how damaged and in what pitiful state our mind may truly be before His Spirit begins to renew it in any way. Our mind is a powerful tool of our soul and can easily suppress and overrun faith or even our conscience. It can argue with Almighty God, it can oppose Him standing defiantly against His Word and Judgment and have no shame or fear. If we could only see ourselves as God sees us, we might not survive His sight. Therefore…

…whenever we have any argument with our own conscience and we lose – we win!

Let me declare at this point a very important fact concerning faith. Faith does not argue or reason! Within faith, either something is or it is not. Period. Faith never says: it may be, could be, should be, might be, hopefully, perhaps, etc. No. Therefore, as soon as you are willing to “discuss” your faith with people or with the powers of darkness and consider their arguments, your battle is over before you even start it, and – you have already lost it.

Faith is neither inherited, nor produced by our soul. It is both a gift and the fruit of the Spirit of God. This gift must thus be grown (in us) into a fruit.

Yet, faith is our victory (1Jn. 5:4) and that is why “all things are possible to him that believes.” (Mk. 9:23)

This, however, does not mean that you can actually do “all things”. The reason is that you do not have all the faith for all things. The Word rather means that all those things are possible to him who has faith for those things, where the Lord built faith in him for those things. He cannot do any other things where his faith is missing (was not given to him).

Furthermore, you should never argue about your faith, never try to persuade anybody about your faith or show it off. You have to keep your faith living in your heart and perform it whenever the Lord leads you to such actions because He built it in you so that you would live by it. (Hab. 2:4// Rom. 1:17// Gal. 3:11// Heb. 10:38, repeated reading of the Word of God never hurts)

d) Let me come back at this junction and give my faith concerning the impossibility of our sinning after our cross. (see again page 115)

Our “New Man” is created by God in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph. 4:24) That which is righteous and holy cannot sin. Furthermore, whosoever is born of God (our New Man) does not sin. (1Jn. 5:18) When we are “born-again” (Jn. 3:3), we are “born” of God and not of sinful flesh. Whatever part of our old man is then crucified and replaced with this New Man created by God, that part of us does not and cannot sin!

You must have definite experiences that wherever your old soul life was crucified, it lost the power to cause you to sin. You must have also lost any “taste” or desire for sin. That part of your old life, your “old man” was replaced by the “New Man” who has the Divine Nature and thus a “new ability” to serve God spontaneously and not to serve Satan.

I have to testify before the Lord that when I look back at my past, I see a completely different person. There are many areas in my own life where I see, feel and recognize the work of the Spirit in my soul. I am aware of the power, which holds me where I cannot possibly hold myself; which gives me strength where I would otherwise fall; where I exercise faith and wisdom, which are clearly not mine. I do things, which just few years back, I would have never done or even dreamed about. My thoughts are different, my judgments are different, my goals in life are different, my understanding of others and also of my own self is different, my perception of the Lord and the understanding of His Word is different. My spiritual sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch even comprehension are totally different, they do function. This should be your testimony, as well, if you walk on the narrow way. Everything grows, changes and matures.

e) Just as our spiritual “new” birth was based on our conscious and free will decision to confess the Lord and be baptized, so also any replacement of any part of our old man for the New Man is done with our conscious and free-will decision before the Lord. This decision is opposed by all hell and that is where our war begins.

The existence of this war is the proof that there are two active powers in your soul – one of God and one of Satan. If there were not two powers, there would be no war! True? Both God and Satan desire your soul and you feel the conflict! Do you feel the conflict? If you do not, your soul is carnal, full of flesh (a non-flattering but true statement) or you are not even born-again in your spirit.

If there is no war in your soul, it just proves that there is only one power in your soul and it has no other power to fight or resist. So, you are either a pagan or a born-again Christian with the Spirit of God in your spirit only, but not in your soul^[7], as yet. This may indicate that you are either a babe in Christ or a carnal Christian and the Lord has not yet entered your heart and led you to your war.

Such believers may then do funny things like singing “I surrender all… all to Jesus I surrender…” while in their heart they “fight the Lord” tooth-and-nail! They strongly resist any kind of counsel, discipline or authority from the Lord, which is absolutely necessary for them to surrender anything in their life! Or they may sing “Onward Christian soldiers…” while they fight their spouses and other brethren! Any true servant of God sent to them is “stoned” or insulted or accused or ignored and most certainly hated. He is labelled as proud, elevating himself over the brethren, coming to the brethren from “above”, not from “below”. So, how do these believers imagine their surrender and denial of their old life on their cross? Do they have a more comfortable way, which God “does not know about”?

Imagine soldiers in any army who would do what they want, when they want and however they want. They would readily refuse to listen to any of their superiors. What an army! Well, this is the Church of today! It is the most miserable army you can imagine in the history of mankind! It is no better than Israel in the wilderness, which also refused to listen to their superiors given to them by the Lord, so the Lord let them all perish there. (1Cor. 10:1-12// Jude 5)

And the Church at large, which we see and experience today and is in the wilderness of this world, is also nigh “perishing”. Only their children and those represented by Joshua and Caleb will survive and cross into the Kingdom of Heaven (Promised Land) – because these two had a different spirit within them (Num. 14:24,37,38) and they represented the Remnant of Israel… and those of a different spirit today also represent the Remnant of the Church.

f) Nowhere is this attitude, this spirit of rebellion, this evil in our old nature more pronounced, more tested than in our family relationships. There is a war between husband and wife, among children, between parents and children, between parents and in-laws, between parents and grandparents, between children and their uncles, aunts, cousins and friends, also between neighbours or any human beings without exception. We fight one another and totally neglect our true enemy! This is the picture of the world and, unfortunately, also the picture of the Church.

The devil is misusing one man against another. The devil is also misusing our cute, loveable children and, the Lord says, if you do not beat them with a rod, they may grow up into evil bastards and end up in hell! (Pr. 13:24; 19:18; 22:6,15; 23:13,14; 29:15,17) I know, this is not nice to say. I want to point out again that this is what God says, I only repeat His Own Words. Every parent that loves his children beats them and corrects them and trains them so that they would not grow up as wild animals, as evil beasts ending up in hell! So does the Lord with us also, especially while we are yet little, disobedient, spiritual children… though we may be 50 years old! (Heb. 12:6-11// Rev. 3:19) If you disagree with this, please, tell the Lord, argue with Him and show Him your wisdom or your better solutions.

Is it not Satan himself who is trying to outlaw spanking and disciplining of children on “humanistic” grounds? Is it not he that causes children to rule their parents? I am witnessing this new devilish system everywhere. Are we supposed to fight this system? Not at all! God tells us clearly “resist not evil” (Mt. 5:39) because, you see, evil also has to ripen that it may be harvested and thrown into the fire. (Rev. 14:17-19) So this is not against the plan of God, this IS the Plan of God. He always has ways of how to outwit the devil and protect the parents who want to live His Word. Our task is not to fight evil, not to resist it, rather, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:21) Also, we should hinder evil by our presence and prayers. (2Thess. 2:7) Let me say it in a brief form:

Religion in flesh resists and fights evil. the Spirit of God in flesh hinders evil and overcomes it with good.

Evil is fast overcoming this world and the false church (paper Christians) and it is quite natural and prophesied. We will not save the world or improve it; we should rather hasten unto the Day of God. (2Pet. 3:12) As we read, evil grows and increases day by day and no man will stop it. Its ripening and harvest is mentioned above as a spiritual fact, but there is something deeper in this fact which touches us personally. There is a principle involved, which includes our personal maturing and growth and also the Glory of the Lord.

God does not judge a seed but waits until its fruit has grown out of it. (Mt. 13:28-30// Rev. 14:18-20) This means that God does not judge any initial appearances of evil or their immediate consequences. God waits. Not only that, He may cause or allow His true believers and servants to “go longer and deeper into evil” and experience greater effects of it before God finally judges it. Have you experienced that?

Any move of God is resisted by hell and God seemingly allows it “not paying too much attention to it”. But His servants may sometimes be quite frustrated and may not understand this kind of approach. We often tend to use a sledge-hammer on any fly that appears evil, and that as soon as possible. Clearly, this is not God’s way.

One typical example of the above may be illustrated from the Book of Exodus where Pharaoh kept resisting God and frustrated His efforts through Moses and Aaron for a very long time. So, why did God allow this little mortal creature to stand against Him for such a long time? Was it a question of God’s patience? I do not believe so.

One reason is that the powers of hell are to be exposed as fully as necessary and almost exhausted before the Lord decides to act. So, He may allow hell to come to their end, exhaust their wits, power, stubbornness, resistance and then He begins to execute His Judgment.

The second reason is that when the Lord shows His true Power and Wisdom, He obtains Glory. In the case of Pharaoh, God obtained Glory throughout the earth. (Ex. 9:16; 10:2// Rom. 8:17)

We may not experience such profound examples as did Moses and Aaron, yet, the above principle of God applies also to us and our circumstances. Sometimes our battle with the powers of darkness is protracted and does not seem to have an end. It taxes our patience, perseverance, endurance, faith and spiritual capacity; and this increases our strength and power and it is also thankworthy in the eyes of the Lord Himself! (1Pet. 2:19)

g) My experiences show me that my spiritual state and behaviour can profoundly affect others around me. If I am dead, I spread death around, and if I am alive, I spread life around. This same principle applies to every area of our spiritual life and, in fact, to our social life, as well.

If I were with another 7 soldiers in a battle position and 6 of them would one day say: “Ah, to hell with this battle, we are fed-up, we quit!”, where would that leave me and the other soldier by my side? A seasoned soldier would know immediately, but many Christians may wonder with an open mouth what I mean. But this is precisely what happened also to me. Satan knew very well what he was doing and why those Christian “soldiers” that were with me deserted me; they were too selfish, too proud, too foolish and too blind. So the Lord in His Wisdom allowed that only two of us would remain in that particular battlefield. There might be a question asked; how can the two of us continue and hope for the same success in our war? Well, the answer is always in the Word of God because God foreknows all things and He always makes all the necessary provisions since He can clearly foresee them all. God says:

“O, that they (those 6 soldiers), were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight…” (Deut. 32:29,30a)

This Word of Our Lord gives us strength, hope and assurance of victory even now, when we are only two in this small war theatre. But instead of two thousand, we are able to chase ten thousand. Should we be four living ones, we might chase one million (this is the Lord’s mathematics). This also shows that the “dead believers” never count in the war since they cannot “chase anybody”! We never know what the Lord has planned and prearranged, but it is always good, profitable and His Word never fails.

h) Speaking about spiritual blindness, no man will ever admit that he is blind! He, in fact, cannot admit such an incredible thing because he does not see that he does not see! He needs the Light from God to start seeing! This Light comes by believing those that do see. (Rom. 10:17) Faith is Light. It is not easy or simple, and there is usually a long preparation of such a blind believer, to take a step of faith and start receiving his spiritual eyesight. But a closed heart likes darkness and does not need God’s Light!

Whenever Apostle Paul says: “I would not have you ignorant” (Rom. 11:25// 1Cor. 12:1// 1Thess. 4:13) he simply means: “I want you to see, understand and realize!” He says that because of the simple fact that our Salvation brings us new eyes, ears, taste, smell and touch! Pagans are all spiritually dead because they are spiritually blind, deaf, insensitive and cannot smell, touch or taste spiritual things. So are the carnal Christians, who have not developed or trained these spiritual senses (Heb. 5:14) because these senses belong only to a maturing New Man.

But the Spirit gives us these new spiritual senses. That is why the Lord said to those that were listening to Him and each had two ears: “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mt. 11:15, also Deut. 29:4// Ps. 115:4-8// Is. 30:20,21// Jer. 5:21// Ez. 12:2, etc.)

Have you ever pondered such “unrealistic” statements of Our Lord? It is, of course, not about hearing sounds but hearing the spiritual truth that the sound brings us. But the Lord knew their hearts where the seat of spiritual senses happens to be. He knew that…

…in their heart they did not want to hear the truth! And in their heart they did not want to see the reality! Is your heart the same? Do you know?

I speak to many of you because I have truly endless experiences with an endless number of believers and also with myself. So you cannot fool me. If believers would truly like to hear or see, they would act differently, they would take a totally different approach, display a different attitude. They would ask, search, enquire and not crawl into their “hole” and remain silent! And if you cannot believe this simple fact, then you do not have the faintest clue about our old nature, which is so deceitful, foxy, touchy and possesses weapons that we may not understand ourselves. It is like that snail that hides inside its shell immediately when it is even slightly touched. It is its natural instinct.

Why is it like that? Because for us to hear or see the truth means that what is untrue inside of us is confronted and must come out. God has to bring out of our soul whatever He sees there as untrue, false, unacceptable, unprofitable, unhealthy and destroy it… with our permission. That causes certain pain, suffering even shame on our part as the price for the eyesight and revelation that God wants to give us. That is precisely the reason why we prefer to crawl into our “hole” and remain silent. But a few of us know that in doing so, we are exponentially increasing the pain and suffering, which will come to us later on, instead of securing a peaceful and joyful future. Because in that “hole”, we won’t change for the better, we will grow much worse. But even this is the characteristic of the sinful and stupid “old man”, who thinks that in that “hole” he will be safe and fine.

i) The Lord usually does not ask us to do things that we can do. He asks us to do things we cannot do! Why? My many experiences are that the Lord’s first reason seems to be to show us that without Him and His power, we are totally impotent to do any spiritual work or task. His Word is thus proven true. (Jn. 15:5) Though we can do many things without Him, but they will all result in nothing!

The Lord’s second reason may be perceived as setting before us a need to come to Him and seek His Way, His Answer, His Power, His Wisdom, that is to say, Himself. If we would only do for the Lord what we can do in our own power, we would never need to go to Him. That includes the working out of our own Salvation, which for us to do without Him is absolutely impossible to even dream about. No man can change his own heart, his own character or dispose of his own sinful nature. That is absolutely impossible. And we find the same problem if we just try to “help” our brethren in their Salvation process. This work is simply outside of our power, wisdom and capacity.

Therefore, whenever we stand in front of a very great problem, impossible or dangerous situation, impasse, wall of Jericho, blind alley with no way out or no solution, we should immediately realize and believe that the Lord knows all about it. Furthermore, He prepared it for us! Finally, He has the solution, the way out and He knows exactly what to do! You see, He is God! He knows everything, and if there is no way, He can create a way. There is nothing too hard for Him to do. (Gen. 18:14// Deut. 17:8// Jer. 32:17) This “theory” must one day become our living experience.

We should stop looking at the problem and start looking at the Lord! (Heb. 12:2) This could reverse our problem or a “hopeless” situation within minutes! I do not say that it is easy. No! Even a thought of turning to the Lord never crosses our mind unless we are in a hopeless or dangerous situation. Before, we were used to asking questions and were very satisfied to get “right answers”. At this stage, there are no answers from anyone, that is, except from the Lord. But His answer does not come in the same way. We must open our heart and come to Him with trust and faith. And that is exactly what that trouble or problem was designed for by Him to accomplish in us.

It would not help us if we were just told something by someone. At this stage, there must be something done in our heart to overcome and “get true answers” this way. We learn by life experiences from the Lord and not just by asking questions. We have to endure even this kind of life’s training. It contains suffering, pain, wondering when will it all end, if ever, amazement, bewilderment, and other reactions within our soul. We do feel the associated pressures.

We would always be on the safe side if we were just aware of the fact that behind problems, obstacles, danger, impasse, enmity, impossible situations, conflicts, battles, etc., we always find the powers of evil and darkness! Without exception! Therefore, not one of these situations can be satisfactorily resolved unless we deal with those powers. And this can only be done through Christ, Who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:13) This strengthening must also be done in us before the conflict occurs and not at the same moment. We must come to our conflicts already with a sufficient spiritual strength and capacity to combat the enemy powers and root them out. Otherwise, we will find out our spiritual weaknesses and the battle in question would have to be repeated until we are strong enough to win it.

If we do not deal with these powers, we might be able to “fix” the problem temporarily so that it would seem that the problem disappeared and was resolved. Not so! The root of it remained and only its symptoms receded. It is much like an illness. If you only treat your fever, you are not treating what is the chief cause of your fever. Fever is never the problem, only a symptom, or “weapon” of your body to defend itself against some other more dangerous problems. Every physician will tell you that.

Without the Lord, we cannot hope to battle and win over any spiritual problems and thus get them permanently resolved. That is the reason why we might continue living in a spiritual misery and this spiritual misery then brings about the misery of our soul and body. And we may be wondering why we are so sick while we are taking all those pills and treatments. There are no pills to treat our spirit!

j) The most effective and devastating weapon the Lord has given us to destroy the kingdom of darkness in our soul is – tears! I know, it does not sound as a mighty weapon in the muscular hand of a valiant fighter. Every man might smirk at this and give you a very strange look (women might be far more understanding in this).

“But God has chosen the FOOLISH things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the WEAK things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And the BASE things of this world, and things which are DESPISED, has God chosen, yea, and things which ARE NOT, to bring to nought things that are.” (1Cor. 1:27,28)

I have seen many battles where tears had destroyed the powers, which seemed so mighty and proud and arrogant and defying and unwilling to quit and leave the soul of the believer. (Ps. 126:5,6 + many other references) No amount of religious education can do that. No amount of personal wishing, desire, or even prayers can do that, unless the prayers lead to repentance in tears. Our tears are the true “holy water”. If you sprinkle the hellish powers with them, they flee.

If a believer has never truly repented and shed tears before the Lord for himself, he may be 100% sure that his soul is occupied and ruled by the powers of evil and darkness! Please, keep reading, this may save you from a mountain of pain, suffering, misery and finally your death. The Lord is able to give you the light you may have never seen, heard or understood in your entire life. And I am not elevating myself in telling you this truth. I am telling you this and many other truths because I am living what I am writing in this book! These truths of God are not a theory or theology for me but a living reality. I myself have shed “rivers” of tears in the first years of my Salvation.

I have also seen and witnessed obscure believers who had more power and authority from the Lord than many “famous” preachers or ministers. The obscure ones are like “nobodies” (just as I am) and yet, Satan fears them more than many of the “mighty ones” who may preach to thousands, even millions of listeners. God’s ways are clearly different and much higher than our foolish ways. So are His thoughts. (Is. 55:8,9)

There are four points I want to underline and bring to your attention at this time and place. These are not theoretical points, they are from my own experience and ministry.

j1) The most important powers that shape man’s life and destiny are those that man is not aware of! He does not see them, does not feel them, does not understand them and would never admit that such may even exist in himself and influence his life!

Therefore, God had to Personally intervene and “speak” the truth into our life. And He did… by His Son! (Heb. 1:1,2), that is, by His Word. Shall we receive and live His Word?

Every believer should freely admit that he was never seeking his Salvation. He might have been seeking “something” but not his Salvation. True? It took God to come down and seek us, open our eyes, heart and faith for us to see, admit, believe, repent and be baptized.

God is similarly coming down now with His Word and Judgment. He is intervening in our affairs showing us plainly that we neither seek the Lord, nor His Kingdom! (Mt. 6:33// Acts. 17:26,27// Jam. 4:8, etc.)

We are seeking everything else. And if God would not tell us even today, after 2,000 years, we would, again, not be aware of it! Is that true?

If you are unable to believe the above fact, your unbelief will not annul it. The unbelief of pagans does not wipe out the existence of God and all that He created and established. They will just find out later on.

If you are able to believe the above fact, the Lord can start His work in you immediately in showing you the roots (or bunkers) of those powers of darkness and evil in your soul. And then He will show you how HE will destroy them in you and liberate you. He may do it in you directly or, usually, through His servants, whom He has sovereignly chosen and tried in the fire (Rev. 3:18), who are thus able to serve Him and minister to His Body.

* * *

I am constrained at this point by the Spirit of God to bring forth another principle of God, which affects us all.

Whenever God decides to speak to us through whomsoever He chooses, (Lk. 10:16) He gives us an opportunity to see our life, our deeds and ourselves as He sees us. Also, He gives us an opportunity to do what He judges as necessary for us at that time. We simply must understand that such an opportunity may never come back again! If we miss it, we may literally “miss the boat”.

Every potential in our Salvation (see more later on) is for us an opportunity to realize it, reach for it and obtain it. Every time God speaks to us through a spoken or written Word, through dreams or by any other means, it is an opportunity to reach for and obtain that particular potential of our Salvation. Every missed opportunity (responding to His Word) will judge us in the last day. (Jn. 12:47,48; 13:20)

* * *

j2) All the above important and vital problems have their spiritual roots (or bunkers) established by the powers of evil and darkness in our souls. They are very, very, very deeply rooted! They were built and kept reinforced in our soul through our own sins and trespasses and offences, and through those done by our parents, grandparents and other relatives back to our fourth generation! (Ex. 20:5) Here we talk about the Scriptural “generation cords” (see excellent book “Generation Cords and their Effects on You^[11]” by brother John Adejoro-Oluwa).

j3) These powers of evil and darkness will not leave you upon your request! They will never leave their bunkers no matter how much you wish or try to “talk them into it”. They will only be uprooted and displaced by a spiritual force and authority, which is superior to their own!

We either have that power and authority ourselves (Lk. 9:1) or have to intercede before God to deliver us Himself or by His servants. If you are unable to believe the above fact, then you are yet ignorant of Satan’s devices, his nature and his advantages over you (2Cor. 2:11) all of which were permitted him by God! And if you are ignorant of Satan’s devices, then how can you resist them or deal with them? You cannot. You are then a helpless victim “trying to do your best” but without any success.

j4) There are two types of battles and two types of deliverances:

· One is concerned with “casting out devils” that dwell in man. (Mt. 8:16; 8:31; 10:7,8; 12:28// Mk.1:34, etc.) Man is bound and ruled by them and is influenced to do what they direct him to do. This kind of deliverance may take but a moment. The evil spirit is a “tenant” in our soul. It dwells there and is sometimes “discovered” only by the Lord’s dealings with us. The true believer is not possessed by any evil spirit, he is possessed by the Lord, but he is oppressed by that evil spirit! Please, do understand this very important distinction.

· The other one is concerned with “dying to our old evil nature” which is in us and will likewise not leave us upon our request! This deliverance may take the rest of our earthly life. It is a slow process as expressed in Is. 28:10. There are no “tenants” in our soul to be cast out. Our old sinful nature cannot be cast out of us but must be destroyed in a progressive dying.

k) I may have already mentioned that I found many pagans more friendly, honest and pleasant to deal with than many Christians. The main opposition to my ministry, in fact, comes from Christians and many of their leaders and not from the world! And I am not the only one who found this out. Brother Austin-Sparks writes the same thing in his other excellent book “The Recovering of the Lord’s Testimony in Fullness^[17]” (page 89) where he states:

“Is it not strange that, when you are bent upon the whole counsel and purpose of God, you find your main opposition from Christians and Christian leaders, far more than from the world?”

Brother Arthur Pink wrote a letter on August 19, 1934 where he declares the following:

“My greatest grief today is that, after moving so much from place to place, travelling entirely around the world, I do not know of a single Christian (apart from my dear wife) who gives the slightest real promise of becoming a prevailing intercessor before God. Numbers I had hoped might become so, but my hopes have been dashed to the ground, until at times I feel like burying myself in some isolated retreat, where I would never meet another Christian on earth again. They are all like those referred to in Ezekiel 33:31-33.” (see “Letters of Arthur W. Pink^[13]”, page 43).

It almost looks like man must become a born-again Christian, baptized in water in order to “lose” a great part of his clear mind, logic, common sense, pleasantness, diligence, friendliness, openness and any desire to seek truth, righteousness or justice (all credit to the exceptions). He may easily become a religious robot devoid of many good senses and instincts, which he could have had before. He starts a “new” religious road, which in spiritual value may be just as worthless as his old pagan road. Outwardly it may look different, but it leads to the same pit. He may still be full of restless energy of his flesh, but now it is diverted into a new religious channel and serves different idols – religious idols – but not Christ. He may look very religious but the Living Christ, Who came into his spirit is nowhere to be found or touched. Brother Austin-Sparks further writes: “I sometimes wonder if religion is not God’s greatest enemy in this world.” (“The Battle for Life^[3]”, page 47)

I myself was wondering for a long time why is this so and whether this is not just an illusion. Well, it stopped being an illusion after the Lord shed His Light on this fact also. As all the other spiritual mysteries, this also may sound incredible. We just have to get used to a simple fact that whatever is caused or done by spiritual powers, which are unseen and undetectable to our human physical senses and understanding, all their action may be considered incredible. Listen…

When a pagan believes and is born-again by the Spirit of the Lord, the kingdom of evil and darkness in his soul “gets a notice” that there is a “new Tenant at his border” who is very dangerous to the kingdom. Satan knows well that he cannot “play” with this new “Tenant” or underestimate Him because that Tenant had already defeated Satan and his powers through Man-Jesus Christ. Hence, Satan has no chances against any man-landlord with such a Tenant – except one! What is that chance?

Man – the landlord, takes all the decisions and not the Tenant! Hello? Are you truly with me?

I am again constrained by the Most Holy Spirit to repeat it: Man takes all the decisions concerning his salvation and all its potential – not God! God has secured our Full Salvation and presented it to all men (Tit. 2:11// Col. 1:23). He then draws men to that Salvation – to Jesus (Jn. 6:44), and then guides those that believed to all truth as well as to all the right decisions-judgments. (Jn. 16:13// Ps. 25:8-10)

God also strengthens them to take and do the right decisions (Phil. 4:13), but God will never take their decisions for them!

Satan’s strategy is simple but very effective: Deceive the man so that he would take wrong decisions! He must be separated from the Tenant at all costs, never allowed to contact Him, fellowship with Him, ask Him for help and get it. So, the man would start assuming, presuming, speculating, reasoning and not believing and following what God plainly tells him in His Word! The Tenant (Holy Spirit) has thus “no chance” to get into the believer’s heart, mind and will and start the war against Satan and his kingdom in that soul where Satan’s kingdom dwells and rules.

Our born-again experience did not destroy one bit of our “flesh”, old sinful nature. Our flesh remains the same as it was when we were pagans. The flesh in pagans and carnal christians is exactly the same! Its destruction waits on the Lord’s Spirit to enter our heart and soul and get our consent to destroy it.

If the new believer is satisfied with “this form of fleshly religion”, Satan is also satisfied and will not spend more of his energy and resources on that man. Such a believer is no danger to Satan’s kingdom inside or outside of his soul. In the meantime though, the believer may have lost a good part of his common sense, logic, diligence, even reasoning powers, which were originally given to him by God. He has no desire to search, enquire or seek the Lord, His Truth, Righteousness, Judgment or the Kingdom of God. Ask any such Christian how he is “seeking the Kingdom of God” (Mt. 6:33), and he will look at you as if you fell from Mars!

Such a soulish believer may just come to “his church”, sit down or step behind the pulpit with a thick Bible having no idea what is happening in the spiritual world in him, or around him!

That is also the reason why such Christians are “less wiser” than pagans, even in financial matters. (Lk. 16:8) They are less friendly, less open and less pleasant to deal with but more hypocritical. Their religion thus becomes an enemy of God (as earlier quoted from brother Austin-Sparks).

The most important fact of this subject is that every new believer after his water baptism and after he receives the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38) begins to draw the attention of hell! The powers of darkness in him seek to neutralize him and strengthen their defensive positions in his soul… and that, as soon as possible!

The believer may retain his testimony of being saved, he may retain his soulish joy and happiness as well as his zeal to “do something for the Lord”. But he also retains the kingdom of darkness in his soul – and he is not aware of it! Nobody tells him this, you see? And that evil kingdom is strengthened in him because of the new Tenant! So, that is the true reason why a vast majority of believers become worse in their soul after their Redemption than they were before. Can you ponder this fact and see its consequences on the spiritual reality of our Christianity?

Are you able to see that by neglecting the bitter Truths of the Word, we all have a totally distorted picture of God Himself and of His Word and of our Salvation and of all spiritual realities?

If you think I am dreaming, look at the history of wars in this world. Every time a king brought a powerful force to the border of another kingdom, the other king began to mobilize his army immediately, strengthen his fortifications and do everything to defend his kingdom, including all the necessary steps to deceive his enemy! Is that true? Yes or no? You should be honest at least to yourselves.

Well, where do we stand here? Our physical world is but a reflection of the spiritual world, so why are we surprised when our war with the kingdom of Satan is similar? Why are we surprised whenever the Lord shows us that we are deceived? This should be something normal for us, in fact, something to be expected rather than an exception.

Every Christian is deceived. it is just a matter of in which area of spiritual realities and to what depth. Are you able to believe this simple spiritual fact?

I will shock you even more just by saying publicly that even now, I can still be deceived through some brethren whom I have known for many (10-30) years – as their elder! I do not say that they do it to me purposely, but I am sometimes shocked what the Lord can “pull” out of their hearts so that even they themselves are shocked, amazed and in disbelief!

Yes, we are amazed, even shocked. But the Lord is showing us that we should not be. Again, His reason is simple: Look at your physical world. Nothing is built in one day but slowly, step-by-step. World War II was not finished one day after the “turn of the tide” (see p. 152), but it took many months to slowly dislodge the enemy army from every occupied area. So it is in the spiritual world and spiritual war. The sinful nature must be fought and dislodged in every area of our soul, step-by-step. (Is. 28:10)

It is then very easy to be shocked should the Lord lead us to another (usually deeper) repentance after some days, weeks or even years of “peace and sweet self-deception” that we are now perfect and there is “nothing to repent of”!

The greatest deception that I know of as existing in this world is the one whenever man thinks or believes that he cannot be deceived any more!

l) Many, many believers do not believe God’s Word or His Judgments because they “do not understand them”. As already said before, they thus put all of Christianity upside down! Our calling and duty is not to understand the Word by our brains but to believe and obey It in our heart! Children are called to believe and obey their parents whether they understand them, or not.

These believers make the Word of God to bow down to their intellect rather than making their intellect to bow down to the Word of God – their Creator! So, man is wiser than God! Hello???

This indicates great pride, self-will, self-satisfaction, self-interests, in short, selfishness. The reason is that the Word conflicts with their own opinions, persuasions, judgments and lusts of their flesh! They would rather follow psychologists or other “great men” and neglect the Word of God Almighty! They have no clue that meekness is flexibility, pliability, teachability of the spirit and heart and that this is an important part of the Character of Christ (Mt. 11:29// Heb. 5:8), which we must acquire.

Their spirit and heart are haughty, stony, stubborn and they refuse everything that does not satisfy them – including the Word of the Almighty God. They refuse the Word whether it is preached to them or delivered to them by the brother whom the Lord sends for that purpose. Instead of receiving the brother and his message or at least verifying it with the Word of God, they accuse him or ignore him or mistreat him or judge him unrighteously. (Mt. 10:40) And they never show him any specific error or fault or reason why they are doing this to him! I do wonder how they plan to justify or excuse their deeds when they stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. (Rom. 14:10) They live and act as if the Judgment Seat of Christ did not exist or as if the day of their appearance before the Son of God were never to come.

Speaking about flexibility, we all have to learn a great lesson, namely, that our natural tendency is to keep running in our old rut and never change our direction. But this is not the way of Our God. The way of the Spirit, and of him born of the Spirit, is described as the way of the wind and we cannot tell from where it blows and where it goes. (Jn. 3:8) God also tells us plainly that we should not consider old things (ways) or remember them because “I will do a new thing;” (Is. 43:18,19a) What does it mean for us practically?

I believe that though God will never change any of His Truths or Principles, His Will and Word, yet, He changes His methods how to achieve His Will. When God’s servant meets an obstacle, for example, humans opposing Him, His Spirit may lead His servant to wisely bypass or avoid them (Mt. 10:16) or make a way right through them. (Is. 43:16) If believers, therefore, resist God and His true servant, He may pass them by and leave them to their own ways and devices or He may “break their resistance”, in which case it would be far better for them.

So, if God starts speaking to you through someone or something, which He may have ‘never’ done to you before, He may just be doing a new thing and you should recognize it. You should not reject it outright just because it “never happened to you before” but pause and ponder it.

m) Very many Christians including those walking on the narrow way – the Overcomers – are found discouraged over many things. For the believers who are in the early stages of their Salvation, it may be many unanswered prayers, struggling with the same problems over and over again, lack of spiritual help or counsel for their various needs, never ending problems in their families, churches, etc.

The older “soldiers” on the front, the labourers in the Lord’s vineyard, may also be often discouraged for lack of progress, for accomplishing very little compared to what is yet necessary to be accomplished. It may often seem that no matter how hard they work, pray or intercede, it does not bring the expected results. There is always something wrong somewhere with plenty of disappointments. Their brethren disappoint them or leave them on the battlefield without one word of explanation or a valid reason, or their brethren are like mules and do not move no matter what is said or done. Perhaps, you also have such experiences.

Our ideals are always far away and seem to be totally unreachable. The progress, if any, is terribly slow, everything seems like climbing Mt. Everest. It may even seem that the Lord does not always go along with our efforts, rather, He allows us to suffer, struggle, crawl along the narrow way, and when we row in a boat it is always against the wind. (Mt. 14:24// Mk. 6:48) I am noting these things for those who are on “active duty” in this war, since they do understand what I am saying, others cannot understand or experience such things.

So, what should we, who are battling this seemingly “losing war”, do? Complain? Despair? Quit? Such thoughts may have crossed many minds, including my own. I had complained to the Lord myself, and not once or twice. I had expressed to the Lord quite clearly that I was just a human being and can bear only so much and that He should thus “understand me”. Two or three times, I also expressed to Him my “unequivocal decision to quit” as I saw no way out of those hellish situations and no valid reason under the blue Heaven to continue. The Lord had never accepted my tended resignations. [Today, I praise Your Name for that, Lord.]

I had to learn several very important facts in my spiritual life and ministry, which has been a “ministry of war”… a “ministry of war between Life and Death”.

One fact, which the Lord made quite clear to me was: “My grace is sufficient for you”. (2Cor. 12:9) For me, this ceased to be an interesting verse in the Scripture given to a man I never met. It also ceased to be a Word just for our Apostle and brother Paul because it is the Word for every Christian who is engaged in the war for Life. I began to experience the truth of this Word in my own life and ministry exactly whenever “all hell broke loose”.

Another fact I learned was, that the narrow way does not bypass hell – it goes straight through it! We have to pass through death (hell is a place of darkness and death) and emerge on the other side living! If you cannot possibly believe the above fact, then let us confirm the truth in the Word of God.

While we live on this earth, we are supposed to pass through and overcome the hell in our own soul by walking on the narrow way – through the “valley of death to our old life”. (Ps. 23:4) That is the only way where we start in death and emerge on the other side living! This way leads from our death to our Life. (Mt. 7:14) Overcoming the “hell” in this world is also true in our earthly, physical life. Is it not?

Believers, who walk on the broad way and refuse to pass through and overcome hell inside and outside of their souls will end in “destruction” and not in Life. (Mt. 7:13) Destruction is hell, which is the place of death and fire, and death and fire destroy. Yet, hell with its death is only the “first death”, a temporary separation from God, while the lake of fire is the “second death”, which is the everlasting separation from God. (Rev. 20:14) Hence, these believers will have another chance to reject their “old man”. When? After their physical death, they will pass through hell – the first death. If they are raptured before they die physically, they will be thrown into that hell – place of darkness, death, weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 8:12; 22:11-13) True?

I know that there is the Word, which says that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment;” (Heb. 9:27) For a very long time, I had a real difficulty reconciling this fact with the future of all the believers, who walk on the broad way to “destruction” (Mt. 7:13), who will be cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22:13; 25:30), who will be shut out of the Marriage Supper (Mt. 25:10-12) and of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 8:12), who will have to depart from the Lord (Mt. 7:23), etc. But then the Lord shed His Light on the word “judgment” and I saw and understood that in Heb. 9:27 He does not specify a single one-time judgment for all people!

In my belief and understanding of this Light of the Lord, this “Judgment” means the Last Judgment for all pagans sealing their eternal condemnation. After physical death, there is no other chance to be “born-again”! But this “Judgment” also means the Judgment of Christ for all believers, who shall stand and give account of themselves to God (Rom. 14:10-12), and that, before the Last Judgment. This Judgment Seat of Christ for born-again believers only will take place at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The Last Judgment will be at the end of this Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (Rev. 20:11-15)

The believers mentioned in the preceding paragraph, in the above examples from the Word of God, will be judged by Christ at the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven as unworthy of Him!… unworthy of God, of Eternal Life, of being in His Presence, at His Marriage Supper and in the Kingdom of Heaven! (Mt. 10:37-39// Acts 13:46// 1Thess. 2:11,12// 2Thess. 1:5) These will then be thrown into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) and there they will get their last chance to deny themselves and overcome. All these will be also subjected to the Last Judgment and if they overcome and remain in the Book of Life, the same shall be saved. (Rev. 20:15; 21:7)

It is similar with Israel, which was overthrown and perished in the wilderness displeasing God, tempting Christ where the people were “destroyed” by serpents – devils. (1Cor. 10:5-15// Jude 5) Yet, the Word also says that “all Israel shall be saved;” (Rom. 11:26) I leave the understanding of the above Word of God to your heart and faith.

So, let us continue on this basis and conclude this matter as follows.

IF passing through hell, these carnal, fleshly, soulish, intellectual believers will finally reject their “old man”, they may only be hurt (not consumed) by the second death (Rev. 2:11) before they finally overcome! I believe that these will remain written in the Book of Life. This Word of God also testifies that all those that keep refusing to overcome need to be hurt by the second death, to get a “foretaste” of the eternal separation from God! This shows the utmost depravity of the old human nature, if we truly need such a horrible experience to become Overcomers!

IF these will still keep their “old nature”, they will be blotted out of the Book of Life (Rev. 3:5; 22:19) and thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death! (Rev. 20:14, 15) You read the Word of God and you judge in your own heart whether the Lord means what He says… or whether He will consider your doctrines when you will stand before Him.

IF we emerge from hell, that place of death, living, that will be the only proof that we truly live the Resurrection Life of Christ and not just talk about it or preach it. It is the only proof that we are a “New Creation in Christ Jesus” (2Cor. 5:17) and are, therefore, not subjected to death! All our intellectual beliefs, activities, persuasions, opinions or any other efforts on this earth will not matter one bit. So…

…every man has to go through hell!

This may be a shocking revelation to many believers. The question is, who will emerge on the other side and who will not, which is to say, who is IN Christ by his own will and decision and who is not. Outside of Christ is hell and death! In Christ is Heaven and Life!

Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ also went to hell after His death. He preached to the spirits disobedient to God during the time of Noah, when he was preparing the ark. (1Pet. 3:19,20) The Lord was there three days and three nights (Mt. 12:40) and having gone right through hell, He emerged victoriously from this place of death – living! (Lk. 24:6,7// Acts 2:31,32) True? (consider also Mk. 8:34-38)

Our old heart is also a “place of darkness, wickedness, deceitfulness, death (hell)” (Jer. 17:9) and this death must be swallowed up by Life, just as it will be done with our mortal bodies. (1Cor. 15:54) And if we go through the literal hell (as Christ went through the literal hell) or through the hell in our soul, we are not there alone and not on our own. The Spirit of the Almighty God is there also with us, for He is present even in hell! (Ps. 139:7,8) True?

Are you getting a picture, which might be totally different from the one your religion is presenting to you? Can you imagine yourself going through hell and have any hope of emerging from that place of death living? Again, “living” means having and “living the Life of Christ in your soul” – not just in your spirit. Would you see any of the things you presently possess or know or understand as helping you in that battle with death? Would your past or present preachers, pastors, teachers, elders or friends in high ecclesiastical positions help you in any way to pass through death and emerge living? Is it not written that vain is the help of man? (Ps. 60:11)

So, in whom will you put your trust? Whom will you follow through that place of death, darkness and evil? Will you follow a man because he can preach or pray nicely or he is nice to you? Or he has right answers to some of your questions? Or will you trust and follow Him, Who already passed that way and knows how to get through? Who has the Power, Wisdom, Grace and Assurance to bring you through, if you would only be willing? What will you say? It is a matter of your life and not the reading of a book.

If you, therefore, see and believe that apart from Our Saviour and Lord, there is no one who could help you pass through death and emerge living, then why do you not seek Him? Why do you trust men and not the Lord? Why do you follow men and not the Lord and His Word in His true servants who also follow Him and not themselves? (1Cor. 4:15,16; 11:1// Phil. 3:17) Why do you trust even your own heart? (Pr. 28:26)

We have no clue how many of those millions that are already dead have actually made it. We may guess or hope or even believe especially for our loved ones. But we have no assurance where they are except if we had experienced their fruit of the Spirit of God, which would point to them being Overcomers.

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to draw at this point an important fact from the Old Testament, which has a very clear spiritual meaning for us all in the Church.

Many believers may be acquainted with the story of Elijah and Elisha. Many may not distinguish the two, at all. The Lord desires us to see and understand the true spiritual meaning of these two men of God and to judge ourselves whether we live the Life of Christ, or not.

Elijah represents Christ and Elisha should have represented the Church but did not. The Church is, de facto, represented by the wretched and miserable and poor widow who had but a little oil in one vessel! (2Ki. 4:1,2// Rev. 3:17) Elisha represents the few within the Church who were called by Christ to live by and minister the Life of His Spirit, that is – the Remnant within the Church. The Spirit of Christ is here represented by the “mantle” of Elijah.

When Elijah first passed by Elisha, he cast his mantle upon him. (1Ki. 19:19) This represents all the future calls of the Lord whereby He called His twelve disciples by the power of His Spirit. When Elijah was taken to Heaven, his mantle again fell on Elisha. (2Ki. 2:11-13) This represents the ascension of Our Lord and the falling of His Spirit upon the early Church. As Elisha did, so did the first believers also when they “rent their old clothing in two pieces, and put on the mantle of the Spirit, and departed to Jordan”. This represents their willingness to “put off their old man and put on their New Man” (Eph. 4:22,24) by going to the “narrow way”, which leads to the death of our flesh (Jordan) and to our Life in the Spirit. (Mt. 7:14)

Wherever Elisha went he confronted and changed physical misery, wretchedness and death into life, and leprosy into cleanliness. The most famous examples showing clearly his ministry of defeating death by Life are the following:

a) The bad waters and barren ground at Jericho were healed by the salt, which Elisha ordered to be brought in a new cruse. (2Ki. 2:19-22) The waters are people, the barren ground is their heart, the new cruse is a believer’s New Man who has salt in himself. Salt is fire and the power that heals anything bad and then preserves it in health. (Mk. 9:49,50)

b) Elisha provided a new supply of oil for the poor widow mentioned above. (2Ki. 4:1-7) Oil represents the work of the Holy Spirit in a human soul (vessel) and its presence and quantity determine our poverty or richness, our foolishness or wisdom and our entry into the Marriage Supper (Mt. 25:1-12) or our rejection at the closed door.

c) A dead child was raised to life by Elisha. (2Ki. 4:32-35) This points to the resurrection of a damsel by Our Lord (Mk. 5:41,42) and to the fact that the spiritually young may also die.

d) Elisha destroyed death in a pot of pottage by casting in the meal. (2Ki. 4:38-41) The meal represents the Word of God, which is a wholesome food. (Job 23:12// Mt. 4:4// Deut. 8:3// Is. 55:10,11) There is a lot of death in the “pot of the Church” today with good and bad, true and false mixed together and this mixture has potency to poison multitudes of believers. Only the pure Word of God has the power to destroy this death and poison in our spiritual “food”.

e) Elisha commanded Naaman, the Syrian leper, to dip himself seven times in the Jordan river and he became clean. (2Ki. 5:1,10,14) This points to the healing of a leper done by the Lord. (Mk. 1:40-42)

f) Finally, even after his death, the bones of Elisha retained his life-giving ministry. When a dead man was hastily lowered into the sepulchre of Elisha and touched his bones, he revived and stood up on his feet! (2Ki. 13:21)

Elisha ministered Life in this physical world and the Church is supposed to minister Life in the spiritual world. The physical healings, casting out devils, doing of miracles done by gifted believers in today’s Church do not correspond to the ministry of Elisha! It is but exercising the gifts of the Spirit, while such ministers may not live in the New Man, may not have salt in themselves and thus may not know the Lord, and the Lord may not know them. (Mt. 7:21-23)

The ministry of Elisha in today’s Church is to bring carnal, fleshly and spiritually dead believers to the personal knowledge of Christ and to living His Life. This ministry may leave believers spiritually revived, yet, physically sick, as did Apostle Paul with Trophimus. (2Tim. 4:20) Hence, this ministry does not minister the gifts of the Spirit, rather, it is the overcoming of spiritual death by spiritual Life.

The Lord concludes the above described biblical fact by declaring that His Church today is not only like unto that poor widow of Elisha’s time, but she is worse! That widow believed and obeyed Elisha by faith whereas today’s “widow” does not hear or obey or believe any “Elishas” sent by the Lord. Today’s “widow” thinks and believes that she is rich, increased with goods, has need of nothing and does not know that she is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! (Rev. 3:17) This is especially true about many rich churches and ministries in the affluent countries of North America and Europe. The physically rich churches and ministries may be spiritually very poor; and the physically poor churches and ministries may be spiritually very rich.

As a consequence, spiritual death within the Church is not being destroyed and replaced by Life, and leprosy is not being cleansed with the washing of water by the Word. (Eph. 5:26)

The Life of Christ is thus the most precious but also the most rare treasure in the Church today.

He who ministers in spirit at least some of the above described deeds under a) to e) is like unto Elisha, knows the Lord, loves Him in spirit and in truth, lives His Life in truth and belongs to His Bride. He who believes and receives his ministry is also on the narrow way and is counted worthy of God and of His Kingdom. (Col. 1:10// 1Thess. 2:12// 2Thess. 1:5 // Rev. 3:4, etc.) Apostle Paul was like unto Elisha, he brought Life where there was (spiritual) death. Even today, Paul lives through his epistles, which are like unto his “bones” so that when a (spiritually) dead believer touches them, he may be revived in his spirit.

I am furthermore constrained by the Spirit of the Almighty God to declare at this junction the following.

Many, very many believers and their leaders believe, teach and preach that when a believer dies he goes straight to the Presence of the Lord. He “went to Heaven” or “he went to the Glory”, they say. Really? On what basis are we to believe such things? Just by reading 2Cor. 5:6-8? Are we willing to consider other facts from the Bible? Are we willing to admit that 2Cor. 5:6-8 may not apply to every believer? It may not apply even to some preachers who preach it. The Word in 2Cor. 5:7,9 may already exclude “half of the Church”! They were saved by faith, but they may not walk by faith and labour to be accepted by Him after their Redemption. “Old man”, old soul, uncrucified old nature does not and cannot walk by faith! True?

Paul is giving us a frightening example of this fact declaring that some believers did not hold their faith in a good conscience and had made a shipwreck, and two of them Paul personally “delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (1Tim. 1:19,20) To deliver a believer to Satan would today be considered a highly unchristian-like, unloving and ungraceful act! True? Hello? Do you register also this Word of God and His Spirit in such judgments?

Let us go further and allow the Spirit of Our Lord to enable us to see this enlarged picture of the true spiritual reality.

After the Lord was resurrected, “…many bodies of the saints which slept (were dead) arose and came out of the graves…” (Mt. 27:52,53a) True? Yes, true – but not ALL saints! “Many bodies” could have been a tiny fraction of all the dead saints from the Old Testament. And I believe that those that were resurrected were the Overcomers from the Old Testament, but not the rest of the Lord’s people. I might call them the “firstfruits of the future firstfruits”. (Rom. 16:5// 1Cor. 15:20,23; 16:15// Rev. 14:4)

Furthermore, the “many” in Mt. 27:52 is the same as “many” in Mt. 8:11. That means, that the children of the Kingdom in Mt. 8:12 will be cast out into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! Is that the Presence of the Lord? Is that the “Glory”?

Furthermore, all those Lord’s people, which were bidden to the Marriage of His Son in Mt. 22:1-14 were not worthy to enter in! The Lord does not speak to pagans. Pagans are never invited to the Marriage Supper of the Son of God! Only the born-again Christians are invited and they themselves do not want to go in! Where, do you think, they go? They are bound hand-and-foot and cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They all are represented by the guest who had not on a wedding garment! For “many” are called but few are chosen. (Mt. 22:11-14) So, again, where do those “many” go? To the Presence of the Lord? Really?

Furthermore, all the foolish virgins were shut out from the Marriage of the Son of God because the Lord did not know them. (Mt. 25:10-12) Where, do you think, the foolish virgins go? Do they go “to the Presence of the Lord” when they were shut out from the Presence of the Lord? Are there foolish virgins in your congregations or fellowships? They are those that have “no oil in their vessels”, which means “no work and no fruit of the Spirit of God in their souls.” Many of them may have already died. Did they truly go to the Presence of the Lord? On what Scriptural basis would many of you believe and even preach or propagate such a theory?

Furthermore, where do all the unprofitable servants of the Lord go, when they are also cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? (Mt. 25:26-30) Do they also go “to the Glory?”

Every believer received at least one “talent” from the Lord and every believer is, in fact, the Lord’s servant! True? Well… where do we stand in this Light?

In all the above passages of the Bible, the Lord is not speaking about pagans but about His own people, children, virgins, servants, saints. Why are then many pastors, teachers, preachers and other ministers deceiving “many” in their congregations and lying to them about their destiny after they depart from this world? How do they know, which saint is going to be with the Lord and which one will not? Which ones will go to outer darkness? Are all saints in their congregations “dying daily” as Paul was? (1Cor. 15:31) Do they all suffer losses of all things and do count them but dung, that they may win Christ? (Phil. 3:8) For Paul “to live was Christ and to die was gain”. (Phil. 1:21) Is it the same for all your congregations? Are they all Overcomers? They may all “look saintly”, but many of them may be judged as unworthy of the Lord! (Mt. 10:37-39) True? What do you believe, where do such believers truly go?

The Lord demands that all such ministers repent to Him and start teaching and preaching the Truth warning believers in their congregations or fellowships and declaring to them the above Truth! The Lord sees such ministers as those blind leaders of the blind that shall both fall into the ditch. (Mt. 15:14)

One more spiritual fact is desirable to be mentioned at this junction that also sheds light on the above matter. The two thieves crucified with Jesus (Mt. 27:38) represented:

(a) all pagans (the thief on His left hand side), and

(b) all believers (the thief on His right hand side).

After they died, they both went to hell! The thief on His left went to the compartment for the condemned, and the thief on His right went to the compartment for the righteous. There is a gulf fixed between these two compartments, which no man can cross. The compartment for the righteous is called “Abraham’s bosom” (Lk. 16:22-26) and also Paradise (Lk. 23:43), especially when compared to the other compartment of torment. The thief that “called on the Lord” (Acts 2:21// Rom. 10:13) came with Him into Paradise according to the promise of the Lord. (Lk. 23:39-43) But this Paradise is not Heaven where the Lord ascended and has been for almost 2000 years!

After three days, the Lord left this Paradise, Abraham’s bosom, returned to the earth and then after some days was taken up to Heaven. (Acts 1:9) In my faith, the Overcomers from the Old Testament rose up from the dead after Him (Mt. 27:52,53) and were caught up from this First Paradise in hell, or Abraham’s bosom, into the third heaven which is the second Paradise, and is also the “heavenly place IN Christ Jesus”. (2Cor. 12:2-5// Eph. 2:6)

In my belief, here are also caught up all those that die as Overcomers, that are IN Christ and are ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where they wait for the right time. I also believe that Apostle Paul was caught up here – “to be with the Lord” – represented by the Tree of Life in that place. (2Cor. 5:6-8// Rev. 2:7) Heaven is still polluted with the presence of Satan and his evil angels! (see more later)

All believers non-overcomers go to the first Paradise, to Abraham’s bosom, to the compartment in hell for the righteous, to wait for the rapture of the Church at the last, seventh trumpet. (1Cor. 15:52) The Lord is not bodily present in this Paradise after He left it being there three days and three nights. So, when believers, who refused to overcome, die, they are NOT with the Lord more than they were on the earth, and they are not going to any Glory! These believers have been disobedient in the same way as were those at the time of Noah. (Mt. 24:37) And as only a small remnant (8 souls) were saved from the Flood, so also a small remnant (from the Church) will be saved from the Tribulation. (1Pet. 3:18-20// Mt. 24:40,41,50,51// Rev. 3:10)

The fact that Our Lord went to hell (prison) to preach to those who were disobedient at the time of Noah proves that He gives the disobedient another chance and hope to overcome and become obedient! (1Pet. 3:18-20; 4:6) The Lord would never preach to anyone, if His Words could not benefit or give hope in any way. (Is. 55:11) The same will happen now to those who will be found disobedient at the Coming of the Son of man. (Mt. 24:37-44) Whosoever has a heart to understand, let him understand.

There is yet much more to be said and discussed, but we have to cut this topic short as it is too large for this book.

* * *

Let us go back to seeking the Lord…

If you were never seeking the Lord, what is it that is hindering you, standing in your way, restraining you from starting to seek Him right now? Let me put it bluntly to you: Satan is!

As I said before, Satan has evil wisdom, he knows that the Lord is the only Person, only Power, only Guide, Who can bring you through hell and death and into Life Eternal, Life that never ends. If, therefore, Satan can keep you away from the Person of the Lord, then…

satan has the chance to succeed in keeping you in death indefinitely!… ponder this fact in your heart.

Would you like Satan to retain this chance over your life? Or will you decide to care for your life eternal? It is your decision, not God’s and not Satan’s, but yours! And I encourage you to first believe it and then take it – in the Name of the Lord – to be assured of your Eternal Life for yourself and your family. Do not trust even in your present religious life, what you know, what you do, what you hope for your future. You can only trust in the Assurance that the Lord gives as a testimony into your own spirit and heart – your open heart, not your head. So, kneel down and ask Him to lead you to His Life. He will. I know it.

n) Let me now share with you my faith as well as my experiences concerning the truly mysterious question of “being in Christ” and “not being in Christ”.

Since my spiritual childhood, I was taught that “we are in Christ” and are thus new creatures because we believed and are born-again by His Spirit. There are many passages in the New Testament where it is written “in Christ Jesus” in connection with believers. Also, it was God, Who put us into Christ Jesus (1Cor. 1:30), so, we all believers must be in Him. I accepted this fact for a long time without any reservations or enquiries. The above Word of God is true and the explanations given from It were all correct and also logical.

But that doctrine later on proved to be only a human understanding of God’s mystery and a “half-truth”! It was “one half-truth” that caused Eve to plunge mankind into this sinful mess, darkness and death! (I state this as a matter-of-fact, not blaming Eve at all, but blaming Satan.) Hence, after some years, this doctrine did not “sit well with me” as it did not correspond with the reality in any way. I began to study the Scripture and enquire of the Lord about this issue. I was finding passages in the New Testament, which put this fact of us being in Christ in a somewhat different light. The Lord then began to grant me some glimpses of the reality of this “mystery” and it fit the overall picture of God’s principles and of our Salvation process perfectly. My faith and understanding began to enlarge and today I am sharing them with you as follows.

Our Father had placed us into Christ Jesus both to die with Him and be resurrected in Him before we existed! (Eph. 1:4// Rom. 6:8// 1Thess. 4:14) True? We were thus placed into Christ by the Will of Our Father and not by our own will! This has been already declared when we talked about the Cross. The important question of our free will decisions was discussed in the section “Our Old and New Will” and I beseech you to consider again the facts thereof very diligently in your heart and mind. Our free will is one of the very basic principles of the Creation of God. It is His gift to us and it has an everlasting importance and impact on all our earthly life as well as on our Salvation and our future Life or death.

There is one particular word, which I am definitely led to introduce at this point. I do believe that the Spirit of the Lord will through this word give us a mutual understanding and faith concerning this present issue.

The word is – POTENTIAL.

I not only believe, I am seeing and experiencing this word in everything touching my own Salvation and the Salvation of every believer, as well. The Word of God especially in the New Testament points to this fact quite clearly, namely, that…

everything in our Salvation is POTENTIAL!

Salvation Itself is available to every man on the Earth and everything that It offers is potentially his after he is redeemed. The New Man is his, the Kingdom of Heaven is his, Eternal Life is his, all the virtues of Christ, all His Character is his, all that Christ has is his, his place IN Christ is his, Christ’s Throne in Heaven is his, the New Jerusalem is his, all the promises of God are potentially his!… Under one condition! What is that condition? Let us consider it as follows:

Man must receive his Salvation by faith AND by his free will decision to do–live that faith. he must obey the Word and receive every potential aspect and promise and inheritance of his Salvation in the way prescribed by God in the Holy Scripture! man will receive nothing according to his own imaginations.

Therefore, if the Will of God, by putting me into Christ, is also my will, then I must still by my free decision receive it, experience it and live it according to the Holy Scripture and deny my natural, sinful life!

Nothing will fall into my lap just because I mentally “agree” with God, His Word and His Will. You may know, agree and believe every Word of God in the Bible and be lost… if you do not do It, if you do not obey It! The Lord has become the author of eternal salvation only to them that obey Him, that also means, obey His Word! (Heb. 5:9// Jn. 1:1+14)… not to them that only know something about Him and believe in Him.

Satan and his devils also know and can freely quote the Scripture when it is convenient for them; they also believe in God… and they are all lost and condemned for ever! (Mt. 4:6// Jam. 2:19)

If you do not do the Word that you know, agree with and believe, It will do nothing for you and you will achieve nothing. You cannot even be blessed; rather, you will remain deceived within yourself even more. (Jam. 1:22-25)

Had you not done the Word in Rom. 10:9-10 confessing with your mouth, which is a work of faith, you would not be saved today. Period. Had you decided not to be baptized thereafter, you would not have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Period. (Acts 2:38) No human discussion, reasoning or even prayer will ever change the Word or Promises of God.

I give you a few examples to ponder in your own heart concerning the issue of your being-living in Christ:

* I would not have to “grow up into Christ” (Eph. 4:15), if I were already in Him just by believing in Him! True?

* I would not have to “die daily to my old man” (1Cor. 15:31), if I were already in Christ… because my old man was already crucified with Him. (Rom. 6:6) True?

* I would not have to be formed into Christ’s Image (Rom. 8:29// Gal. 4:19// Col. 1:28,29), if I were already in Him because to be in Him means to be like Christ. True?

* I would not have to be “alway delivered unto death” for Jesus’ sake if I were already in Christ. (2Cor. 4:11) True?

* I would not have to be chastised or learn obedience to Him (Heb. 12:5-10; 5:9), if I were already in Christ for there is no disobedience or chastisement in Christ. True?

* I would not have to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14), if I were already in Christ. To be in Christ Jesus IS our high calling. True?

* I would not have to “do the Will of my Father” (Mt. 7:21), if I were already in Christ because to be in Christ IS the Will of Our Father. True?

* I would not have to “run the race set before me” (Heb. 12:1), if I were already in Christ because the race leads into Christ, and in Christ is its end. True?

* Christ would not have to “knock on my heart” and I would not have to “hear His voice” (Rev. 3:20), if I were already in Him. He would not have to knock on something, which is already in Him. True?

* I would have truly nothing to “overcome”, if I were already in Christ because to be in Christ means that I had already overcome! True? And so on… and so on…

* If we were truly in Christ (in our living reality, not in doctrine alone), we would have His Character. We would love what He loves, hate what He hates and we would live His Word.

Verify yourselves in this light and see whether you are truly living in Christ, and to what degree.

So, when you believe and come to Christ – you are not a new creature yet! When you are baptized in water – you are not a new creature yet! You will only receive the gift of His Spirit Who can then help you work out and attain what Our Heavenly Father has potentially given you in Christ – your New Creature! (Acts 2:38// Phil. 2:12; 3:14, etc.)

I beseech all ministers of the Word of God (including brother J.Swaggart) to ponder these spiritual facts in their hearts and allow the Spirit of the Lord to grant them the right faith about this important issue! The New Testament declares various conditions and the way how to obtain, experience and live everything what Our Father has prepared and given us in Christ Jesus and which is potentially ours!

Furthermore, had we been “new creatures” just by believing in Christ and being born-again, we could in no way lose our Salvation! Then we should cut out many verses of the Scripture, which I have already quoted at least twice, and discard them as if they were totally unimportant and invalid!

For those, that still cannot believe the above facts and cling to their old doctrines, I say the following. Most of the preaching and teaching and ministry that is being carried out in the Church of Jesus Christ especially in these last days before His Coming is clearly and predominantly a humanistic and intellectual understanding of God and of His Word and of His Ways and of His Judgments!

This humanistic-intellectual understanding of God, of His Word, of His Ways and of His Judgments causes us to remain in our naivety about the true spiritual reality. It keeps us in a lazy, comfortable position with no responsibilities on us. It gives us a totally distorted picture of God, of His Truth and of our Salvation, and it comes from hell to deceive us. We need to be shocked out of our dreams and religious comfort and humanistic understanding. One such shock is also this:

God put into Christ the new man for all pagans that were ever born to this world! They all have been IN Christ together with our new man! Will you open your heart to the living Word of God?

Does this upset your beliefs and doctrines? If you can not believe this than tell me how else has God provided His Salvation for all mankind? (Jn. 3:16// Heb. 2:9, etc.) How else could Christ become a propitiation for the sins of the whole world? (1Jn. 2:2) Do you know?

Let us continue with the following statements…

Every man born to this world is born as a pagan and may become a believer later on in his life.

Every man in this world has his New Man, New and holy Creature, waiting for him in Christ!

Our New Man was already IN Christ while we, born-again believers, were yet pagans, sinners and enemies of christ! (Rom. 5:8) True? Or not?

When any man comes to Christ (Jn. 3:16!), he always comes as a pagan who believes! So, if that pagan was not IN Christ, he could not come to Him with any hope for his Salvation! Hence, the difference between believers and pagans is that believers believe in their heart and freely decide to receive what has always been potentially theirs IN Christ since the beginning of this Creation. Pagans refuse it all!

Children are an exceptional case. When children, who have not reached the age of their accountability, die they are ready to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as they are (Mt.18:3) since they had no chance to know good and evil and thus to sin and repent. They do not need baptism to be saved since they had no chances to do anything for their Salvation; just as the criminal crucified with the Lord did not have any chance.

So, how can we conclude this issue to the satisfaction of the Lord and His Truth? Let us ponder the following.

We are slowly (Is. 28:10) getting into Christ (if we are) where Our Father had already placed us.

We are slowly starting to die to our old self life (if we are), which death was already executed for us in Christ by Our Father.

We are slowly starting to live eternal Life (if we are), which was already fully given to us in Christ by Our Father.

We are slowly starting to sit together in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus (if we are) where we were already seated by the foreknowledge of Our Father! (Eph. 2:5,6// Rom. 8:29,30)

We are slowly working out our own salvation (if we are), which was already fully executed for us in Christ Jesus! (Phil. 2:12)

We are IN Christ and live His Life only to the degree to which Christ lives in our soul! (not only in our spirit)

pagans are not doing any of the above… neither are carnal, intellectual, soulish christians!

We are doing all of the above by our faith and will, by the desire of our own heart, by our obedience to the way prepared by Our Father and by the mighty power and strength of the Lord’s Spirit who was given to us for that main purpose. And if our willingness, desire of our heart and wilful obedience are not found in us, then we are not getting anywhere and we are not obtaining any of the potential of our Salvation; that is the real danger!

This is my faith about being in Christ. It would be an extremely comfortable religion if all I had to do was to believe in Him and do nothing else. It would be squarely against all His Word! We are not saved by “dead faith” but by the works of faith, by a living action based on our faith. (Jam. 2:17-24// Rom. 10:9,10// Heb. chpt. 11) The Salvation of our soul is the “end of our faith”, and of our works of faith, not the “beginning of our faith”! (1Pet. 1:9// Phil. 2:12) And how many believers keep walking after their (religious) flesh and not after the Spirit? Are they IN Christ? NO! They are under a potential condemnation! God says so, not me. (Rom. 8:1) Believing in Christ does not make you walk after the Spirit and follow Christ! (Mt. 16:24// Jam. 2:19) You judge this in your own heart.

Furthermore, Christ is Holy, Sinless and there is no darkness in Him at all. (1Jn. 1:5) How can we be in Christ when we are yet filthy, with powers of darkness ruling in our soul, with hearts full of hypocrisy, wickedness, pride, disobedience, arrogance, jealousy, envy, stubbornness, fears, etc.? Can anyone tell me? How can we be in Christ with this kind of filthy soul and live and move in Him and not contaminate Him? I believe that His Spirit can come to us and dwell in our spirit without being contaminated by the filthiness in our soul – but not the reverse. In Christ we are already complete and circumcised so our body of sins is already put off. (Col. 2:10,11) This is my faith because this is the Word of God.

Would anyone of you put a rotten apple into your apple pie? I could not believe this. Our old man is rotten, how can you place him into Christ while he is still living and producing his rotten fruit in us? After you put him off and your New Man on (Eph. 4:22-24), then you can be IN Christ in your own experience. But I have no power to change your faith except share mine with you. So, let your potential destiny be according to your faith.

* * *

I am at this point constrained by the Spirit of God to conclude this matter by declaring another important and also practical fact applicable to us all. We will never feel or believe or declare at any point in our future that “I am now perfect and thus ready to meet the Lord.” So, no matter how true all the above spiritual facts are, we will never be able to achieve them during our earthly life and pilgrimage in our conscience and understanding! Is it true?

The facts (in the above frame) tell us that we are slowly achieving all the potential, which Our Father has already given us. But in my honest opinion, we would need about one million years to live and get to the end of such a transforming, renewing and quickening road, if at all. How then shall we ever meet the Lord after our meagre struggle of a few years? How shall we ever become acceptable to Him?

I greatly praise the Lord for His Grace and Wisdom. The Spirit of the Lord leads us into another truth at this place, which should bring us a very needful comfort and light in the question pondered above. Namely, that…

once we are found on the narrow way, once our heart is proved “perfect” (see again pp. 21,22), we are acceptable to meet the Lord and be with Him for ever.

We do not have to finish our “perfection” on earth to our satisfaction but to His satisfaction, not along our way but His way of understanding and proving our heart, our love and devotion to Him.

To be “found on the narrow way” also means to be “found working in HIS vineyard”, not in OURS. Please, read and understand in your heart the whole Word in Mt. 20:1-16. Furthermore, it means to be “found in the boat rowing against the wind” (Mt. 14:22-25) where the wind means spiritual pressures, and the rowing means conflicts, battles, works of faith. Once the Lord enters “our boat”, we shall immediately be in the land where we are going – the Kingdom of Heaven (Jn. 6:21), we shall know Him (Mk. 6:54) and shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. (1Jn. 3:2) Let us not forget that we will have another thousand years to complete our perfection at the Lord’s side before entering (or becoming) New Jerusalem. Even His disciples who, when the Lord entered their boat, had their hearts still hardened. (Mk. 6:50-52) Also in our earthly marriages, man may marry a “perfect” woman only to find out later on that his assessment was slightly defective. (Of course, the same applies to women.) But then, both have many years to improve their imperfection to a mutual satisfaction. Is this true? Or do you doubt it?

* * *

Before I abandon this point, I want to return for a brief moment to the word “slowly”, which I used liberally in the above declarations.

It may seem strange to many believers that we must go on slowly and seemingly forever and the road never seems to end no matter how hard we walk or press forward. Yet, the “mystery” may not be complicated at all. It can also be seen in our physical and mental nature. After we are born, we need years to “slowly” learn, acquire knowledge and experiences and the tools for our chosen profession. We do not become an engineer, doctor or a scientist in one “big bang”, but after years of hard studies and much effort.

In my understanding, it is all a matter of our capacity. We do not acquire our capacity at our birth nor do we inherit it. We may inherit some talents. Our capacity to acquire knowledge, skills, experience and other needful things in our life grows with our own efforts. True? Why can’t we then see it in our spiritual life?

Our spiritual capacity after our Redemption is next to zero! And unless we keep increasing it through works of our faith, we shall never have sufficient capacity to acquire spiritual knowledge, to battle or occupy spiritual territory or to gain spiritual benefits and blessings and keep them. Our faith at our beginnings is also much, much smaller than the mustard seed (Mt. 17:20) and it also needs to grow and become stronger.

The above is also the reason why the Church is unable to occupy the Lord’s (spiritual) territory or property even in this world because it has precious little spiritual capacity. The Church is full of spiritual babies desiring to play in their “religious sandbox” and not to battle anything. Believers try to avoid anything where the Lord would put them through demanding tasks or experiences. Especially in these last times, there exists an enormous spiritual immaturity and childishness and thus lack of spiritual capacity in the Church of Jesus Christ. (1Cor. 3:1-3// Heb. 5:12-14, etc.) Very few believers have a strong spirit or steady devotion, persistence or perseverance to keep going on through sunshine and storms and not to quit at the first sign of trouble or danger.

Israel had to conquer their Promised Land “little by little” as the Lord promised them and as their capacity to occupy increased sufficiently for another conquest. (Ex. 23: 29,30// Deut. 7:22// Is. 28:9,10) Therefore, believers who never fought spiritual forces of darkness and evil have no capacity for such battles and can not retain territories in their soul, which may have been evacuated by those forces. You see, those forces of wickedness will always try to come back and reclaim what they lost! If you do not believe, try it. I saw many believers lose what they received from God. But once we develop a “fighting spirit” and become angry at the evil powers, the Lord will lead us to battle and build within us the capacity to occupy His property in our soul, our house, our fellowship, our nation. (Lk. 19:13,17// 1Cor. 1:27)

o) Let us now turn to the Word of God, which gives us another angle on our self, on our earthly life and walk. God gives us also His promises, encouragement, strengthening, hope and final victory. This is just as necessary, important and vital for us who struggle as anything else discussed above.

I know from my many experiences, that the Lord purposely allows us to go through our disappointments, failures, despair, delusions, discouragements, afflictions, mourning, hopeless situations and at times really painful experiences. Through them the Lord teaches us His Ways, Statutes and Judgments thus drawing us to Himself. Before we are abased, afflicted, we go astray and do not walk with the Lord, nor do we keep His Word! (Ps. 119: 67,71,75) Why?

Well, man that does not mourn needs no comforting, he who is not discouraged needs no encouragement, he who never failed, needs no strengthening, he who was never “in the pits” needs no hand of grace to pull him out. Man that never experienced evil in a tangible way, was never nigh losing his last hope, he that never saw any depth of evil and sinfulness within himself, will never need any Saviour. True?

Without problems, no man would ever seek the Lord or draw himself closer to the Lord in the desire of his own natural heart! That includes the Shulamite Maiden, the Bride of Christ, in her young age! She asks her Beloved to draw her so she could run after Him. (S.Sol. 1:4) Similarly, we cannot draw nigh to God with our own power and our natural heart. (Jam. 4:8-10) Have you experienced that?

As we know from the Scripture, God also created evil and darkness. (Is. 45:7) The question may be asked, why? What was the real purpose for them? Has God not therewith also created for Himself a lot of problems, troubles and sufferings? Has God not foreseen the consequences of the creation of evil? God is not embarrassed when we ask Him such questions, we might be embarrassed at His answers. If you truly desire to penetrate more and deeper into these mysteries of Our Almighty God and Father, I refer you to the “Mystery of Reality^[9]”, chapter IX, page 189 where the Lord granted us some basic Light on the above questions and also on His Basic (eight) Judgments touching His Creation.

My faith concerning evil is as follows.

God uses evil to achieve His purposes and desires in His Creation, which includes us. God uses crises, conflicts and battles to grant us higher, purer, stronger faith, stronger spirit, greater boldness and righteousness. Every truth is always established through conflicts and battles. Otherwise, it remains a theory which has no practical value for anyone and cannot move our heart one bit.

There are too many believers including some potential leaders who are dissatisfied with their circumstances, who may murmur and wonder where is the Lord. When someone receives His Light and starts seeing, he may soon perceive that everything around him is dead. There is no life and no desire in the local believers to get out of their death, evil and stagnation. That soul then tries to endure and waits for a change – but it is not coming. The change must first occur in him in that the religion in his head (expectations) has to get down to his heart, which heart can understand the Light and reality from the Lord.

Then he has to realize that God is present in him and in the place where he lives. God always desires to work and build His House (no matter how small) in any place where He has an open heart. And if God will not build anything in the place where the blessed soul lives, then nobody can. In that case, God may, in His timing, move that soul to the place where God would build what He desires.

But every believer must be serious with God. If he is not serious and open with God, God will not be serious and open with him. He may not necessarily lose his Salvation, but he will lose his usefulness for God and thus his reward, or inheritance! (1Cor. 3:15// Rev. 21:7; 22:11,12)

If your own heart is not moved within yourself in any sufficiently deep or decisive way, God is quiet. God moves when He hears man’s heart moving, crying to Him. Then He delivers him from all his troubles and not before! Otherwise, God waits until those troubles have achieved some “breaking or softening” of man’s heart, which was the true purpose or aim of those troubles in the first place! (Ps. 34:17-19) In fact, our heart will not be moved within ourselves one bit until we see and know ourselves as we truly are in His sight. This would definitely move us to our knees and to cry over our own self.

Let me quote at this point brother Watchman Nee, who, in “The Messenger of the Cross^[1]” (pages 103,104), clearly says the following:

“What lesson God wants to teach His children now is the same lesson He tried to teach the Israelites before. And the lesson is that we may know ourselves. God desires His people to know that they are corrupt beyond repair, that they are full of sins, uncleannesses and weaknesses…

Yet few believers are aware of this. Few really know they are full of corruption and uncleanness as well as know they are totally useless. Few deem themselves as having nothing. Most believers think of themselves as being trustworthy in many respects. And they feel they are stronger than other believers…

Let us understand that God had no need for our defeats and failures – only we do; …He realizes that except for sinning we can do nothing else. When we are doing good, He knows we are corrupt. And when we are doing evil, He again knows we are corrupt. He does not need to wait until we fall to realize our wretchedness. But it is we who need these defeats and falls, for without them we are unable to know ourselves…

He allows us to sin, to fall, and to draw back. All these will cause us to know how utterly corrupted beyond natural help we are.”

Then he continues with these shocking but true statements (pages 107-109 and 113^[1]):

“Christians view themselves as loving God, boasting of their perfect consecration towards the Lord and their diligent labour on His behalf! …Or believers may think of themselves as totally for the Lord and holding nothing for themselves. In response, God causes them to experience praises and accolades of men in order to show them how they subtly steal His glory and seek for men’s exaltation.

…God would rather have His children sin than do good… otherwise, they shall never know themselves.

Self is God’s greatest enemy, because self always declares independence from Him... Whatever man possesses and is able to do without seeking, waiting and depending on God is self. Many are those that take “self” as the guiding principle of living. Almost everything is for self and almost everything proceeds from self. Such believers are much more dangerous than other people.”

Finally, (on page 118) he concludes by saying:

“Knowing the self is a lifelong lesson for a believer. In order to arrive at this purpose of God, a stubborn believer may have to go through defeats, which others do not have or need to. He may even conclude that the Lord is especially hard on him, not realizing that this is due to his stronger tie to his “self”. For not long after he gains a victory, he has begun to become self-important once again… So back to failure God sends him once more.”

I have to add that we have experienced the above truth in our own Body of Christ thus testifying that the above is not a theory but the true ways of Our Lord.

On the other hand, is it not true as well that the devilish powers often attack our heart accusing us of our wretchedness, unworthiness, unholiness, unrighteousness, wickedness, sinfulness, weakness, inability and all the rest of it? And doesn’t it affect our emotional life? Doesn’t it make us even more feeble or furious, disgusted, discouraged or even unwilling to continue on this road?

Now, may I ask you a simple question: Do you believe that the Lord knows about such attacks? Of course, you do. May I ask you another simple question: Do you believe that the Lord had to permit the hellish powers to attack your heart and mind and accuse you? Ah, that probably never occurred to you at such times. The truth is that without the Lord’s permission, hell can do nothing! He rules hell and death because He has also the keys of hell and death. (Rev. 1:18) To have the keys means to have the rule. The question then is this: Why does the Lord permit hell to attack us? Well, read again the truth about evil (in frame above). Our heart needs “breaking and softening” before it starts turning to the Lord and opening and crying to Him and before the Lord can deliver us from our troubles. If this were not true, the Word of God in Rom. 8:28 could not be true either.

The point is that after each deliverance, our troubles are over BUT our heart is softer, meeker, more acceptable to Him. God thus achieved His desire (and progress) in our Salvation through evil!… the same evil, which destroyed Lucifer and his angels and which Satan has been using to try to destroy mankind since the Garden of Eden! Hence, God does not listen to the elaborate prayers of our heads or those read from prayer books or to our many explanations, excuses, deliberations or detailed instructions to Him as to when, how or what He should do to satisfy us. Our “cool” head prayers never ask Him in truth to do His Will in us, which would satisfy Him and not us. Furthermore, there is a world of difference between prayers from our head and prayers from our heart! Are you able to discern the two?

Do we now see better the true purpose and reason why God had created darkness and evil? Whether we see it or not, we should at least admit and understand that God had never created anything, which He would never need or use for any purpose. True? If man in his foolishness would not do it, why should we expect the All-Wise God to do it?

Let me now bring to you the Word of God, which gives hope, faith and satisfaction to those that labour in His vineyard, who are actively engaged in the war with Satan, who fight a good fight of faith and who might be discouraged, disappointed or too heavy laden.

Many readers who have come thus far might feel that true Salvation brings nothing but pain, suffering, troubles, wars, battles, fights, bitterness, crosses, blood and bruises and this is all there is to Christianity. Well, not so!

It is true that this book is devoted to the “bitter truth” rather than to the sweet truth. The reason is that all hell keeps this bitter part of the Truth from the Church! Hell does not mind the sweet truth because Satan knows that without the bitter part, we can never achieve the sweet part. Please, continue reading this book with this understanding.

Therefore, this bitter truth must be exposed to all believers to destroy the deepest deceptions that hell has so far mastered against us and against the Will of God.

* * *

I am brought by the Spirit of the Lord to remind all of the ministers in the Church of Jesus Christ that we must (or must begin to) realize in our heart the following.

Quoting only the sweet promises of God from the Scripture to believers without the bitter truths – soothes and comforts their flesh! It counteracts the Spirit Who is there to first destroy the flesh! Then he may comfort us. The bitter truths are an indivisible part of the sweet truths. The sweet Salvation started with a very bitter Cross. this bitter Cross (including ours) remains in all of the sweet truths and promises of God concerning our sweet future.

Just as the first is natural and afterward is the spiritual (1Cor. 15:46,47), so also the first is the bitter truth and afterward is the sweet truth.

Satan can quote the Scripture so that we would be deceived and not be aware of these bitter truths!

He also tried it with Our Lord! (Mt. 4:6 + Ps. 91:11,12) So, if you quote any Scripture, it does not mean that you are presenting the required balanced and full truth of the Word of God as desired by the Spirit!

No wonder there are auditoria with thousands of believers gathered therein who love to come because they need religious entertainment, they need to comfort their flesh. Their poor souls need a weekly injection so they could “endure another week of their salvation”! [Here the Lord points to Joel Osteen and other similar preachers on TBN and elsewhere who are guilty of “keeping their sword (Word) from blood (old life) of believers” – Jer. 48:10 – and of keeping the Cross, our crosses, self-denial, suffering and any afflictions successfully out of their “ministry”! (Acts 14:22// 1Pet. 4:1, etc.) The Lord says that the old nature of the believers in their congregations is not only preserved, but taught by them how to be more successful in this world! That the destruction of their old man, old character is never preached! Their ministry is rather a “smooth talk” about some interesting biblical truths, which talk does not do any spiritual work, does not destroy evil in man and does not produce any spiritual fruit. Their ministry is, therefore, totally barren and is cursed, as per Jer. 48:10!]

Such believers need something to “hang on to” for dear life, so, they gladly fill these auditoria to hear the “soothing gospel”. Who cares that they all, and their ministers, hang on to false hopes? Who cares about the Whole Word of God, when we can focus just on our success in this world? Do you truly see this or are you blind to this spiritual fact?

There is nothing wrong with the sweet truth of God but there is everything wrong, if we sever it from the bitter truth of God! Every preacher must establish the bitter truth and not make it void by preaching the sweet truth only! (Rom. 3:31// Ps. 19:7-14)

let us see and understand a simple illustration: the bitter is as a negative pole and the sweet is as a positive pole. If you do not keep these two poles connected, the (electric) power will never flow through and you will never accomplish anything! True?

One typical example of soothing our flesh touches our Salvation. A loss of Salvation is considered impossible, it is a “taboo” subject in the Church. In my knowledge, no believer was ever warned against this danger though it is clearly taught by the Lord in His Word! (I repeat: Rev. 3:5; 20:15; 22:19// Heb. 6:4-6// 2Pet. 2:20,22// Jn. 15:6// Mt. 3:10; 12:31, 32// Lk. 13:6-9// 1Jn. 5:16, etc.) Why are these parts of the Word of God totally neglected? Apostle John says very clearly that my believing brother may sin the sin unto death (separation from God) and I am not even expected to pray for it because God will not hear me!!! (1Jn. 5:16) Is this also “taboo” to be preached and explained in the churches?

On the other hand, one favourite verse used to soothe the flesh of believers is Jn. 10:27-29b, which says:

“(a) My sheep hear My voice, (b) and I know them, (c) and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand… and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”

Is it true? Well, of course, it is true! The question is: Does this apply to every born-again believer in your congregations or fellowships or house groups? What do you believe and on what Scriptural basis do you believe it? Let me again point out three basic facts, which have already been brought to light and discussed in this book and are widely neglected in the Church:

(a) My sheep hear My voice – Every believer has two ears, but how many in your congregations have ears to hear His voice? (Deut. 29:4// Is. 6:10; 32:3// Jer. 5:21-25// Ez. 3:10; 12:2// Zech. 7:9-13// Mt. 11:15// Rev. 2:7, etc.) From the multitudes hearing Him, only His disciples had eyes to see and ears to hear Him. (Mt.13:10-16) Are all believers in your congregations disciples? Really?

(b) and I know them – Many believers and ministers do not know the Lord and He does not know them! (Mt. 7:23; 25:12, etc.) Are there such in your congregations? How many?

(c) and they follow Me – All your congregation may sincerely believe that they follow the Lord (and also love Him) and many of them and their ministers may thereby be terribly deceived. They think they follow and love the Lord, but how many have taken up their cross and denied themselves? (Mt. 16:24) Then how do they follow Him? And how many may be cherishing their wicked hearts? Are there believers around you that may be just “dreaming in colour”? Who is warning them about these facts? And what about the Word of God in 1Cor. 3:16-20? Does this truth annul Rom. 5:6-10 or 8:31-39? Not at all! But it does annul our own theological understanding and our colour dreams about His Ways and Judgments and the Whole Truth!

Beloved brethren and ministers of the Word and those who have been made the watchmen over the Lord’s sheep, read also the Word in Ez. 3:17-21 and consider it diligently in your own hearts. The Word is applicable to us all as much as it was in the Old Testament time and its consequences are the same today as they were then and are very serious.

Another fact, which the Lord desires that we see and understand is that the Jews, the chosen people of God from Jn. 10:24, were not of His sheep because of their unbelief. (Jn. 10:26) Similarly, the believers, the chosen people of God, who do not hear Him, follow Him, know Him, do not purify themselves and do not believe His every Word are not of His sheep!

This Principle, this Bitter Truth must be applied to every “sweet” Word of God! (including 1Jn. 3:2,3)

The Lord concludes that many ministers and believers in their congregations are not of his sheep! They do not hear His voice, do not follow Him and He does not know them. So, do not give to believers this Word of God (Jn. 10: 27-29b) without giving them the Full Truth and explanations, lest believers should after the sermon go home comforted in their flesh, fully satisfied “in their religious old man” and be more deceived than before.

* * *

I also read books, which give very precious and sweet promises of God without which we would not go very far, in fact, we would not go anywhere! It means, there must be a balance of truth preached, taught and explained. One such book is called “The Believer’s Promise Book^[15]” by Larry Richards, which contains over 700 promises offering inspiration, comfort and challenge for every believer. And I believe that there could be more of them in the Scripture being applicable to every possible situation of any believer. So, there is a lot of sweet truth as a fruit of the bitter truth.

A very bitter Cross brings a very sweet Salvation. Winning a bitter war brings sweet peace.

Now, many of us may have delusions, wonderings and discouragements why there has been so little accomplished when so much time, effort and financial sacrifice has been done. For the answer, I will turn to the Word for the necessary light and hope and encouragement. I myself have received this hope and encouragement only after some time of wondering and questioning the Lord about this matter.

It is written: “Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.” (Eccl. 11:1)

The “bread” is you yourself and the “waters” are people. The Lord said: “I am the bread…” (Jn. 6:35) When I say “yourself”, I mean your new nature, virtues, values, faith, fruits of your new life, your substance both spiritual and financial. The very next verses (Eccl. 11:4-6) speak about sowing and reaping. Here sowing means “sowing yourself”, because you as a person are a “seed”, which has the power to reproduce itself also in the spiritual world.

When Paul says: “And He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;" (Eph. 4:11), he means that the Lord gave to His Church some gifts of persons as living seeds able to reproduce their life in others by His Spirit. Unfortunately, the situation today is lamentable since these “seeds” are mostly spiritually dead and not living! Consider the truth in the following statement by brother Horst Schaffranek^[18], (page 8):

“Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers today are our own construction, made according to our own ideas. Consequently, if some one does not fit into our scheme, we reject him or try to bend and manipulate him, until he does fit into our idea of what he should be.”

We are advised to sow “our seed” both in the morning and at evening because we do not know, which seed will prosper. But we are assured that we shall find “it”, meaning, the harvest, after many days, meaning, many years. I have living experiences also in this area, which prove also this Word of God to me as true. Hence, this is another living testimony from my life about the Word.

The above truth speaks to us clearly that we should worry neither about the conditions, nor the results of our sowing. We shall see it after many years. What is truly happening in the meantime, between morning and evening, only God knows. Man cannot find out this work of God that is done under the sun though he may seek it out, he shall not find it. (Eccl. 8:17)

Furthermore, the Word of God clearly declares that “One sows and another reaps”. The Lord sent others to reap where they bestowed no labour (in sowing). Therefore, I am not supposed to look whether my sowing is bringing harvest now, or not. It might not bring harvest during my lifetime because the Lord may send others to reap. But we that are now sowing shall rejoice together with those that shall reap and also with those that shall be reaped. (Jn. 4:36-38// Rev. 14:14-20)

We should also understand in our heart and mind the Scripture where Paul says: “I have planted (sowed), Apollos watered (with the Word – Eph. 5:26); but God gave the increase (caused to grow up and ripen).”

Paul continues saying: “Now he that plants and he that waters are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God;” (1Cor. 3:6-9)

I thus desire to impress on the hearts and minds of the true labourers who plant or water that we should never look and judge our sowing or watering by their immediate results. God Alone knows what is growing up, where and when. And He declares that it is HE Alone that is responsible for the harvest and not us! It is HE Alone that knows how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child and not the mother or father who planted the seed! (Eccl. 11:5)

Let the above be a true spiritual encouragement, let it greatly strengthen the faith, hope and love of all believers because all believers are called to plant and water! The Lord has not set aside millions of people to sit in pews and observe what few others are doing! No, this is not His Church, it is a religious organization where few are doing something and the many are allowing the few to do it. Do you have eyes to see and a heart to understand?

p) The Foundation was laid – which is Jesus Christ, and we all build on it! We can build gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble… or nothing! (1Cor. 3:11,12) Gold typifies holiness, righteousness, truth. Silver typifies self-sacrifice, suffering, cross. Precious stones typify the fruit of the Spirit and also the fruit of the trees that are good for food. (Gen. 2:9) Wood typifies sinful humanity and its activities. Hay is the fruit of the humanistic religion (preaching, teaching and activities based on human flesh, its virtues and understanding) and is a food good for cattle, but not for the children of God. Stubble is used to make bed for cattle and it ends up on a dunghill.

Apostle Paul then confirms: “Every man’s work (not just that of pastors, elders, preachers, etc.) shall be made manifest …it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” (1Cor. 3:13-15)

Our reward or loss will depend on what and how we worked. The True Church is the Body of Jesus Christ, hence, it is the Foundation, which was laid. We may thus ask ourselves: What kind of work have we bestowed on the Church of Jesus Christ so far? Does it have any value in the eyes of Our Lord? When it is put through the fire (reviewed by the fiery eyes of Christ – Rev. 1:14), will it remain or will it be burnt? Whatever we do to the Church, and especially to the least of His brethren, we do to Christ. (Mt. 25:40)

Furthermore, we may as well ask ourselves whether we are building anything at all on that Foundation? May we pause just for a moment and see ourselves in our religious activities? How many believers just come to a meeting, sit on a chair or in a pew and wait for what will happen? Who will say what, who will pray what, who will do what? It may never occur to them that they bring nothing to the meeting! They bring nothing because they have nothing from the Lord. They have nothing from the Lord because they do not go to Him. They do not go to Him because they may have no hand to practically guide them to Him. Is that true? Is this your church?

Why do I ask you this question? Well, it is not really me, it is the Lord Himself asking you:

“How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” (1Cor. 14:26)

Well? How short of this reality are we falling before God? Do we have any hope that within the next 20-25 years something will change? I doubt it. Of all things, I want you to see the utter impotency of the present “church systems” to bring believers into any kind of spiritual maturity. We all may have had thousands of religious instructors behind pulpits, but few, if any, fathers. (1Cor. 4:15) We had no opportunities or guidance to grow up, stop “drinking milk” and become teachers to others. (Heb. 5:12) We only kept sitting forever in pews waiting what will happen at the next meeting, next service, next fellowship.

Congregations may have a desire to come and listen to preachers for ever and ever… and do nothing with what they received. Preachers may preach and preach, until they may run out of the topics for messages and then they might change their congregations. But where are those that would form Christ in us? (Gal. 4:19)

q) Should we not present ourselves before the Lord of all Grace and Power and repent to Him for this colossal failure? Should we not ask Him for guidance how to remedy this situation? Or how to be enabled by Him to at least provide for those FEW in the congregations, who truly desire to grow up into Christ, mature into sons and daughters of God and be prepared for His Coming? Those hearts, which are open and willing to know Christ, receive His training and chastisement and any spiritual work, which may yet be necessary for their maturing, should begin to gather before Him in small groups (say, 4-12 believers) and beseech His Spirit to conclude what He had started in them. (Phil. 1:6)

[The Lord started such a group of seven believers in my house in May 1974 and I did not even realize that through it the Lord would effect my own growth and maturing… through my ministry of teaching. From the beginning, I, their teacher, was learning more from them than they learned from me! Well, this is also reality of the work of the Spirit of God in man. But the fruit of the Spirit in us all has been beyond all our expectations! Thank you, Lord.]

And if we would not do even this, the Lord will have to take such souls out of our impotent religious systems and take them into His own hand and give them what no “pulpit” could give them! And if the Lord would not take them out, their leaders themselves will in time throw or “ease” them out, because they will become undesirable and disruptive elements in their dead religious systems. (3Jn. 10) Nevertheless, the Lord will always make sure that their hearts receive what they need and desire. Then they will also start building on the Foundation something valuable to the Lord and His Church. Because every believer is to build and not just their leaders. (1Cor. 3:13)

So, let us briefly say the following. If we work out with God holiness, righteousness and truth into ourselves and then into other souls in the Church, then we are building gold on the Foundation. If we suffer for Christ’s sake, deny ourselves, carry our cross and follow the Lord and then help and lead others to do likewise, then we build silver on the Foundation. If we spread among believers our ideas, thoughts, religious psychology, humanistic doctrines, or if we preach, teach or do acts, which are against the Scripture, are “half-truths” or only sweet truths, then we are building wood, hay or stubble on the Foundation.

If our works shall pass through the fire, we shall be rewarded; if they shall be burned, we will suffer loss, but we will be saved; yet so as by fire. (1Cor. 3:14,15)

r) Whenever you join a congregation, house group or any other fellowship, you will be “fine” for as long as you meet their expectations. The moment you will start to deviate, you will be under suspicion of what might be your true intentions. Should the Lord Himself give you a revelation, light, truth, anything new, which had not been preached, taught or otherwise known in that place at all, you are in for a rough ride! And should you continue and not repent from your “heresy”, you will not be welcome in that place any more. Have you had such experiences?

Well, that was exactly my own experience in my first congregation in one local Pentecostal church and one of the reasons for writing my book “Open Letter…^[8]”. In its first chapter, I am describing some of my experiences and rough rides.

The second congregation where I experienced exactly the same thing was in one local Apostolic Church. Three times the Lord opened my mouth and I either prophesied or otherwise declared to them God’s Word. The third Word I brought to them started with my own public repentance to one of their elders seated on the stage of their church. Then I concluded the Word from the Lord saying that “unless ye do likewise, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” While they accepted my repentance with joy, they somehow could not swallow the other “bitter” part of my ministry to them and to their pastor. So, I was out of there.

These experiences only prove the same old story and the same old fact: Many brethren, and especially their leaders, do not see or spiritually discern whether something actually comes from the Lord, or not. They cannot believe that the Lord would give His Word for them to a “stranger” and not to them! They automatically judge how it conflicts with their own position, own understanding, own feelings and own form of religion. They only watch and judge whether you are trying to “stir their nest” where they are so comfortable and altogether lazy to learn to fly! (walk by faith) But the Lord is in the business of stirring our comfortable nests and throwing us out of them when our time comes to start learning to fly. (Deut. 32:11) And let me say also this: Once you know how to fly, you do not have to learn it again. True?

They will not allow even God Almighty to “meddle in their affairs”! They cannot imagine that there might be anything wrong with them or in them and that the Lord might actually desire to correct something in them or in their “perfect church”! This truth applies to large congregations with a numerous leadership as well as to any small house fellowship with one leader or no leader. God is simply not allowed to interfere! Can you believe that? And what stands in the way of God? Their flesh and pride! Whether you believe it or not, it is a true reality in the vast majority of congregations, fellowships or any other gatherings. Will it ever change? Well, Not voluntarily. It always takes pressures from the Lord in order to change anything anywhere.

Let us remember that where two or three are gathered together in the Lord’s Name, they are the church because the Lord is in the midst of them. (Mt. 18:20) And they have problems whether they have a leader or not because they are not of one mind and not of one faith. This ideal of unity of mind or faith comes from our crosses after many years of suffering and training and learning. So the Lord has plenty to correct and renew and build for many years. Is this not a humbling truth?

s) When I started to walk on the narrow way and thus grow up in the Grace of the Lord receiving from Him light, truth, revelations, understanding and knowledge of Himself, of His Ways and Judgments, my spiritual pride was also growing up! For some time I was not aware of it! So it was not difficult for me to judge any brother who would not walk the same way and have the same light, understanding and knowledge. Why? Because…

“knowledge puffs up, but love edifies”. (1Cor. 8:1)

Wow! But this Word is not logical, right? Knowledge does edify, doesn’t it? Why are we edifying ourselves and others so much? Just to be puffed up? Of course, not. Yet, the Word of God says such an unusual thing and we have to admit that God knows better than we do. Moreover, I have living experience with this Word and I proved it in my own life, hence, I am not trying to persuade myself. I am bringing this reality to the brethren, friends and ministers to ponder and draw from it what God desires to show them at this time. This also shows the state of the Church and of the ministers who minister both to the Church and to pagans.

* * *

I am constrained by the Spirit of the Meek and Lowly Lord to declare the following to all those that minister His Word to the Church or to pagans.

Every minister called by the Lord and given to the Church passes through this stage of spiritual pride! Nobody is an exception, not even the naturally humble. Unless such ministers are sufficiently crucified in their natural pride, they will not pass through this dangerous zone of spiritual pride. Such ministers will then remain in their natural and spiritual pride and will never become meek and lowly in heart! (Mt. 11:29// 2Tim. 2:24-26) The Lord could use them as “tools” but not as His servants.

It is not that difficult to see and recognize proud ministers, who are enlarging their spiritual pride by enlarging their biblical knowledge (Jn. 5:39,40) and are becoming less and less accessible to the Lord for corrections and guidance. Furthermore, they remain dry in their innermost man and no rivers of living waters are flowing out of them. Why? Because they do not believe in the Lord as the Scripture has said, but according to their own one-sided picture and their favourite verses that satisfy their own thinking, feelings and understanding. (Jn. 7:38)

The Lord is advising His every servant who ministers His Word to the Church to look into his own heart and come before the Lord on his knees. He may thus assure himself that he is behind this great danger and is sufficiently or fully acceptable to serve the Lord and His Church.

* * *

We may not know exactly how this mechanism of “being puffed up” works, but we could observe it and turn away from it once we know that it exists. In practical life, we may be demanding from a believer to stop doing some foolish things or foolish decisions. And if he repeats them in the next week or month, we are amazed… forgetting that we may have needed 2-3 years to stop doing the same foolish things or decisions. We may be honestly unaware of this fact until the Lord reminds us of it. Simply said, we are prone to use our knowledge toward others through our anxiety and in our timing and not in the Lord’s way and His timing. We do not acknowledge or remember that Isaiah 28:10 applies also to all the others and not just to us.

I believe that the Lord’s Light on His Own Word in 1Cor. 8:1b may be expressed as follows:

the knowledge, which puffs up is the knowledge bringing the awarness of our performances or of our “superiority”, which enlarges the existing pride of our old soul. We may not be superior or perform well at all, but we think and believe in ourselves that we are superior and perform and minister well.

The next Word of God explains it further: “And if any man think (in head or heart) that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” (1Cor. 8:2)

So, what puffs us up is what we think we know and how we think we perform! Our mind is glorifying our own self, which betrays the darkness within it. Even naturally “humble” believers may become quite puffed up when they begin to see, be aware, believe or just think that they know more than others, that they perform much better than others or what others cannot perform at all.

After our Redemption, we all started from the same starting line and took off along our many different ways. If after years you ended up as a well-known minister, with a great ministry, admired, followed, sought after by many people, there is more than just a slim chance that you may have become puffed up. The gifts of the Spirit (1Cor. 12:8-10) are also ideal not only to be imitated by devils, but also to be used to puff up the gifted believer who is ministering them. Do you need examples? I will give you three typical ones:

(1) When I was a member of a Pentecostal congregation, I soon observed that it was clear in our minds and hearts that we were “special” in Christianity because we spoke in tongues. We did not publicize it, we would never admit it outwardly, but it was in our minds and hearts. We thought we had knowledge and performance, which multitudes of other believers never had.

(2) The minister that has the gift of healing and performs many “miracles” among many people cannot possibly escape this “spiritual pride”. He would never admit it, he would “ascribe all the glory to the Lord”, but he would be puffed up in his mind and heart. He would think and be aware of his gift, his knowledge and performances and he might often indulge in the pride of his mind because “it feels good”.

(3) Any successful preacher, teacher, evangelist or any other minister or theologian whose mind can clearly think and be aware of what he knows and how he can perform behind the pulpit or elsewhere, is usually entangled in spiritual pride. If he additionally performs on a radio or TV ministry or at a seminary and is well known, his “spiritual pride” may only be a question of size and depth. And I am not even talking about the ministers who may be raising the dead! Even the Word in Mt. 7:22,23 should now have a deeper and clearer meaning to us. But the hearts which are truly after the Lord will have victory also in this battle.

So, how are we supposed to see, understand and avoid this great stumbling block in the Church when nobody tells us, when nobody preaches it or explains it? How can any victim of this spiritual pride preach it and explain it and warn against it? It is absolutely impossible because he would have to preach against himself and give himself as a bad example, which is not to be followed! Have you ever met such a preacher? Not in your life. I began to see and recognize the devastating effects of this spiritual pride only after the Lord enabled me to truly “pick up my cross, deny myself and follow Him.” In other words, every such minister must be sufficiently crucified and that is the only way out of this curse of spiritual pride.

Now, what is the result of the ignorance of this tragic fact? The result may be totally shocking. This is yet another shock, which we have to absorb by our poor souls and admit that without love there is no true edification of any individual or of the Body of Christ, in general. And without this kind of edification, there is no growing up into Christ in any other way!

To grow up into Christ and finally be in Christ is achieved by speaking the truth in love! (Eph. 4:15)

It is a very nice Word of God but how can we live It? There may be many believers who speak, teach or preach the truth, but how desperately short of true love we must be in the Church of Jesus Christ.

I want to quote again from the booklet by brother Schaffranek “The Judgment starts in the House of God^[18^]” where he says (on page 10):

“If you want to be full of love, you not only have to get rid of your sins, you have to get rid of yourself”. How true this is.

This shows how important our cross and thus our spirit truly are even if we speak pure truth. The spirit of pride can speak but cannot deliver pure truth so that it may truly edify, profit and “make you free”. (Jn. 8:32) It is both “ingredients”, truth and love, which are necessary, one cannot do the whole job without the other. (Jn. 8:36) Pride and true love are mutually exclusive.

So, we are, in effect, leaving the gifts of the Spirit and are coming at this point to the fruit of the Spirit! We should start realizing in our mind and heart that…

ministering the gifts of the Spirit in the religious, uncrucified flesh without possessing any true fruit of the Spirit, or without being in the right spirit, may be a rather dangerous activity for believers! (Lk. 12:47,48// Mt. 7:21-23// Rom. 12:6-13, etc.)

I know, this is another incredible statement and totally impossible to accept let alone believe in your heart. But, please, read the Words of God again in the frame above (in brackets) and ponder them in your mind and heart before the Lord. He can confirm the above statement in your spirit and heart. It takes time to be prepared for any ministry, but our natural zeal often cannot wait.

During our meetings, I used to say to our newcomers: “Brethren, fear not, the most difficult are the first twenty years.” They were laughing, but after being 8 or 10 years in our Body of Christ, they agreed that my estimate was “not that bad”.

It takes time and a conscious effort for every believer and minister to start seeing and realizing that when he was a young believer, he was exactly the same pitiful creature as anyone else having nothing. And what he has or can do now, he received as a gift. Even his mental knowledge is a gift from the Lord. Without the Lord, he could not even breathe and keep his earthly life because God “…holds our soul in life”! (Ps. 66:8,9// Job 12:9,10) Anything we have and any ministry we do is a gift freely given to us by the Lord.

“For who makes you to differ from another?, and what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it (as if you had created it yourself)?” (1Cor. 4:7) Hence...

every gift of the Lord may in our hand and mind become a tool of our spiritual pride and thus of our curse!… especially, if we are rebellious. (Ps. 68:18)

Now, it is impossible for any unrenewed, untouched, uncrucified human heart to truly love no matter how much knowledge is accumulated in the head. That’s the time for the Cross to start operating and break up the fallow ground in the heart. (Jer. 4:3,4// Hos. 10:12,13) We may be preaching even this Word of God to others and yet have this same fallow ground in our own heart and not be aware of it!

It was the Cross that changed my heart and caused me to hate no man. I hate Satan and his powers of darkness and I hate the evil character in man! I only hate the man who hates the Lord and good and loves himself and evil. Even God hates such people and we must never consider God as unrighteous! (Rom. 9:13,14)

But I have been enabled by the Lord and through my cross to love my enemies, bless them that curse me, do good to them that hate me and pray for those that persecute me. (Mt. 5:44) This is that narrow road where our old nature is destroyed. How well I am truly performing is up to the Lord to judge and not up to men. (1Cor. 4:3,4) Sometimes I am aware that I am failing, sometimes I am not. But I have been on this road for many years and have covered a long, very long distance. And I have no intention whatsoever to ever look back. The Lord is my Witness. (Lk. 9:62)

Let me conclude this point by saying that it has not been a lack of knowledge or zeal or other efforts in many brethren and leaders, which I was missing. No. It was this spirit of love, pleasantness, kindness, openness (as opposed to hypocrisy), friendliness, etc., which I have been missing chiefly from elders who are responsible for forming Christ in their “sheep”. (Gal. 4:19) How can they ever do this task without having these virtues of the Spirit of the Lord in their own soul is totally beyond me.

According to the Word of God, they should lay down their lives for the brethren (1Jn. 3:16). Instead, they lay rules and laws for their brethren telling them even what they can or cannot read! This is what communist leaders were doing to their nation trying to rule even their thoughts, beliefs and conscience. They lured people into “their communist party” and all the other parties were forbidden! Communism was from hell and so is the system of these leaders. They do not care whether I write truth. They care how that truth affects their image and their own plans. Too many religious leaders seek their own affairs and things and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. (Phil. 2:20,21) The satisfaction or pleasure of the Lord of Heaven and Earth is clearly not on their list and may never be!

Whenever I talk to some leaders in denominations, I feel I should have a lawyer by my side. Any initial general pleasantness disappears quickly the moment you go a little beyond the traditional religious “gibberish” and make statements, which they are unable to “swallow”. They can very quickly sense that I am not “one of them”. Their flesh can be deeply offended in a matter of seconds. And that is the end of our fellowship and of any hope that they might be of any help to me. Behind their human façade there is no spiritual virtue, which one could touch. There is no sense of true love, compassion, grace, or any other virtue, just a cold, sharp doctrinal knowledge, self-righteousness, pricking spirit, ever-present suspicions or unteachable, non-flexible, stubborn, proud spirits. Such have never lived any Word of God… especially in Col. 3:12-16, and many of them may not even be born-again.

They have the power to infect other souls with their poison and turn them into their own image! (Mt. 23:15) Somehow I believe that they were never rebuked, trained or disciplined by any truly spiritual leader in their entire life. They were only stuffing their heads with knowledge and then after passing their studies or just some courses and exams, they were ‘ordained’ or otherwise installed by their organization to some leadership position. They may have never been on the Lord’s list of whom HE gave to the Church. (Eph. 4:11) But many hate me just because I tell them the truth. (Gal. 4:16)

t) The true knowledge of the Lord through love will also give us the true knowledge of the true Church since the true Church is His Body and His Fullness. (Eph. 1:22,23) And with this true knowledge, we will not judge anything and anyone unrighteously. On the contrary, we will judge righteously and in truth because we will not be doing our will or desires but the Will of Him, Who called us and gave us to His Church. This is truly an awesome thing to acquire from the Lord and to live it.

There are many implications of this truth. I will share with you one of the most important ones. We know that in the Temple of God, The Tabernacle of God, The House of God, there are only two kinds of believers:

1) those in the Outer Court and happy to be there, and

2) those in the Inner Court or struggling and pressing to get into the Inner Court because they are not satisfied with the Outer Court.

Those that are struggling and pressing from the Outer Court to the Inner Court are those “growing up into Christ in all things”. (Eph. 4:15) They are the sons that “the Lord loves and chastens and scourges” as parents chasten and train their sons – while there is hope! (Heb. 12:6// Pr. 19:18)

This is to say, they are pressing and struggling from the Outer Court of the Tabernacle into the Inner Court, which is the Holy Place and the Holiest of all – merged into one. The merging happened when the Lord died on the Cross and Our Father tore the veil between these two places from top to bottom. (Heb. 9:2-8// Mt. 27:50,51) To get into the Inner Court, the Holy Place, means to finally be in Christ. You have fully grown up into Him, so you are in Him, in the Holiest Place. You are the Bride and Wife of Christ, you are the City of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9,10) and the Manchild. (Rev. 12:5)

The other ones are those who are happy in the Outer Court and have no intention to ever go into the Inner Court. They live in the racket of the Outer Court and believe that this is true Christianity and that they “know” the Lord and they are missing nothing. They have no clue that they are missing the Holiness of the Lord as well as His Divine Character because they never passed the laver and the altar which stand guard at the entrance to the Inner Court, the Holy Place! They keep “selling or buying pigeons or lambs” to be sacrificed on the altar, but keep refusing to lay their own selves on the altar! They are represented by the “Moon” on which the Woman stands (Rev. 12:1, see more later) and they are the basis of the “nations that shall walk in the light of the City of New Jerusalem”. (Rev. 21:24)

Because they were deeply wounded and hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11), they will need the leaves of the Tree of Life for their healing. (Rev. 22:2) But they are not the City of New Jerusalem Itself, which means, the Bride and Wife of the Lamb! (Rev. 21:9-23) Yet, both the City and the nations walking in It are One Body of Christ, which is His Fullness. (Eph. 1:23) He who has a heart to understand, let him understand.

the two groups of believers have totally different needs. Accordingly, they receive different Grace, different Love and different chastisement from the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that struggle and press into the Holy Place, into His Glorious Presence, are chastised MUCH MORE and MORE SEVERELY than anyone in the Outer Court! This may seem unbelievable and illogical to many believers. We might thus ask the question, why is it so?

My faith is this: Because the closer they are allowed to the Holy Lord, the holier they must become! We either grow more filthy walking on the broad way, or we grow more holy walking on the narrow way. This is, in fact, the Command of the Lord! (Rev. 22:11) As their old lives are being burnt on the altar, they keep acquiring the holiness, which is required and without which they cannot enter the Holy Place, His Glorious Presence and see the Lord! (Heb. 12:14// 1Pet. 1:15,16) No filthy soul, no uncrucified soul is allowed to enter that Holy Place or to even approach the Lord of all Glory!

The Lord alone knows who should overcome what, when and how. We do not know it. Unless the Lord gives us a definite Word for some of those who love to stay in the Outer Court, we who are struggling into the Inner Court, the Holiest Place, should leave such “in peace”. Even when you receive a Word and deliver It to them and they keep refusing, remaining arrogant, not answering, ignoring you… that does not mean that the Lord knows nothing about it. Leave the judgment to Him and go on to do your task, your ministry irrespective of who listens to you and who does not, who obeys His Word and who does not. The final judgment and also revenge belong to the Lord. (Mt. 8:12; 13:41,42// Heb. 10:28-31)

Finally, “Christ as a son (is faithful) over His Own House, whose House are we, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts…” (Heb. 3:6-8a)

And also “IF ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons;” (Heb. 12:7a)

It is the “manifestation of the sons of God”, that will finally bring about the true House of God (Rom. 8:19) and not the manifestation of the disobedient believers. But this will only happen at the Coming of the Lord with His Overcomers to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. (Rev. 19:11-16)

u) We must not bypass or neglect a specific “virtue of our flesh” which shows itself rather prominently in many believers. It is their lack of responsibility.

I view this particular weakness as a branch growing from the root of selfishness combined with laziness, fears and a total disinterest in the affairs of the Lord and of other brethren. Its effects may be observed rather easily, but its root may not be recognized immediately. Usually, its root is inherited or it grows from the early childhood, but it always has a long history of existence and influence on one’s life. It cannot be “cast out”, quickly corrected by a one-time repentance or in any other easy way. It does take a great and repeated pressure upon the heart of the individual and a harsh dealing with the spirits that cause this particular “evil virtue” in man’s soul.

Yes, I call it evil because it is born in hell and stands in the way of the Lord and His plan for the believers. God had not created lazy, fearful and irresponsible creatures, no, not even in the animal kingdom. Lazy, fearful and irresponsible wild animals would perish in their natural habitat in a short order. Only people can afford to be so in their character and not perish. Such people, when they become born-again believers, will be useless in the hand of the Lord for the rest of their lives… unless they change. What may be interesting is that such people might be highly talented and capable of achieving higher goals in their life. But those evil spirits in their heart are as a “wall of Jericho” and will not allow them to move even though such believers might from time-to-time try in their own power. Without a true overcoming, failure is their destiny and no man will help them.

It takes pressures from the Lord’s Spirit to “squeeze” their heart so that they may “cry-out” those powers, which are very hard to dislodge. Sometimes, they may have to resort to fasting and prayer in order to break these forces. Furthermore, the Lord seems to “take His time” with this particular deliverance. It also seems, that the Lord has different priorities when it comes to our deliverances than we may have. Since this evil branch grows from selfishness, it seems necessary that the Lord has to first deal with our selfishness and not the lack of responsibility or laziness. As this root is dealt with being diminished, rendered incapable of growing more branches or supporting them, then the existing branches will also automatically diminish until they disappear.

What is important to observe is the defence of the “old man”, his tactics, foxiness or hypocrisy to preserve himself and his evil virtues. I do beseech Christians everywhere to pay attention to these facts and to begin to see and understand the deviousness of their own old soul and the warfare, which we have to deal with. They might help themselves or their brethren more efficiently if they have the knowledge of the enemy’s tactics.

When a believer is first warned about the continued bad results of his actions or efforts, he will not see himself as the “guilty party”, but will try to shift the blame to somebody else or somewhere else. Only under a continued exposing and pressure of facts, his self-defence may start slowly crumbling down and he may finally admit that he did “something wrong somewhere”. He may promise that he will pay more attention to the affairs next time. He may even repent in tears, if the damage was more serious.

Of his own accord, he will decide in his mind that he must do things more responsibly, attentively and diligently. And, indeed, his performance may improve – temporarily. The proof of his lack of responsibility will be his “yo-yo” performance. It may take a few years and a relentless pressure from both outside and inside of his own mind until finally he will admit that he “never loved the job”… in fact, he hated the job and did it all against his own heart! He may also admit that he never cared for the job and in his heart he passionately hated any instructions and responsibility given to him! All his work was for show and nothing had been genuine or from the Lord’s Spirit. It was a show of his religious flesh, pride and selfishness preserving his “image” in front of his brethren. In the meantime, he created chaos, did a lot of spiritual as well as material damage and is not aware of it until the Lord shows him.

How do I know it? I have been doing and participating in such deliverances for years. Furthermore, among the believers that the Lord gives to your care, you might at times find some of the most lazy and irresponsible believers to deal with. Why is that? Well, there might be two reasons for it:

a) the Lord may not have enough diligent, unselfish, responsible and dependable brethren for the tasks or needs of your particular church or fellowship,

b) you are expected by the Lord to do the “impossible” and thus be forced yourself to walk with the Lord very closely depending on Him for every move with such believers. This may be a very exhausting affair, but usually it is also a “shortcut” to your own development, spiritual maturing, patience, perseverance and grace!

Let me close this point by saying that in my belief, the above deliverances are only possible in small fellowships or house groups where the dealings and the works of the Holy Spirit are more intimate and direct. The Spirit will not do this kind of work in large congregations.

v) The first several years of my spiritual growth and walk with the Lord, I always asked the Lord for what I deemed and believed as necessary for me. I always wanted to get something from Him that was important for me, at least, in my view. Don’t we believers all do it? All of my brethren around me were doing the same thing for years. We were all praying to get from the Lord everything that we deemed needful for us. Is there anything wrong with it? Well, nothing. Yet, let us see, whether there is more to it than what meets the eye.

One great deception that, in my faith, holds believers in its grip is that we always have to get something from the Lord just by asking. The Word of God (ex. Mt. 7:7, Jn. 16:24) is used as the basis for it but, again, the rest of the Bible somehow does not come into the picture. So, we are happy when we do get what we asked for because most of the time our prayers seem to remain unanswered… or not answered to our satisfaction. In my faith and understanding of the Word, there are three basic reasons for not receiving what we ask the Lord for in His Name.

1. We may ask without faith, which is a necessary “ingredient” (Mt. 21:22) and is not mentioned in the other verses. (Mt. 7:7// Jn. 16:24) The Lord may not give us the needed faith for every petition that we might ask of Him!

2. We may ask “amiss” to fulfil our lusts, which is not acceptable to the Lord. (Jam. 4:3) It is not readily recognized by many of us that most of the time, our prayers may be “selfish” and we may not care how the Lord understands things. We must abide in Christ in order to ask “anything” because in Christ we do not have selfish requests. (Jn. 15:7) This applies to point 1. above, as well.

3. We may ask without first giving to the Lord what He desires and needs from us before He would give us anything back! This means that we must first give (to the Lord) then expect to receive what we asked. (Lk. 6:38) The Lord does not need our gifts or just the work of our hands or minds (see more in the next chapter), He needs our life – which is our all. This may explain many unanswered prayers.

I know that there is the Word in Phil. 4:6,7,19, but unless you have truly given yourself to the Lord in your heart, you are not able to fulfil this Word and “not be anxious”. You see, anxiety dwells in our flesh and this spirit will always “colour” our prayers whether we are aware of it, or not, whether we desire it, or not. Furthermore, Our God will indeed supply all our need, but according to HIS Judgment of what we need and not our own. (Phil. 4:19)

We may conclude the above in stating the following.

Just as we are deceived in waiting to receive from the Lord without asking, (Mt. 7:7) so we may be deceived in waiting to receive from Him without first giving to Him what He asks from us! (Lk. 6:38)

Just a few more words about giving.

It is a large topic, but a few brief statements should give us a sufficient picture of what the Lord desires and what men actually do. The Lord does not need our money! He is not looking primarily how much we are giving but looks at and weighs our spirit (Pr. 16:2) and thus the true intentions in our heart. (Heb. 4:12// Mk. 12:41-44)

There is much giving going on in the churches, which may not count with the Lord at all! Why?

Men may give automatically, just because somebody asks or begs for a project or membership fee in their organization. They may calculate in their heads what is needed or what they will receive “back” from the Lord. They may also give grudgingly or of necessity or to show off before other brethren. They may give to any person, any institution, church, charity, agency, etc., but not to the Lord Himself. They do not give Him consciously anything!

Furthermore, big and expensive cathedrals, auditoria, basilicas, other buildings with rather expensive furnishings, orchestras, equipment, private jet planes, etc. are never inspired or sanctioned by the Lord but rather by ambitious men who think and believe that they “serve the cause of the Lord” or that the Lord “deserves our best” (see again p.75 and 115 about Cain). Many such ministers and founders of projects are then continually in need to extract money from somewhere through endless fund-raising campaigns and by any other means, which they then try to justify from the Scripture. People might keep giving in hope that they are “sowing to the Lord”. In many such cases, it is usually their “religious old man” who is giving. The Lord will never bless our “old man” who cannot have any harvest from Him! True?

Man must give consciously to the Lord as he purposes in his heart (not in his mind), not grudgingly and not of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver! (2Cor. 9:7) Then the harvest will come to such givers. But those that misuse the donated gifts for their own ends or projects are accountable to the Lord and will answer to Him, not today, but at His Coming!

Also, man is advised to give with the spirit and attitude of honouring God and not just with a spirit of profiteering from his giving or regarding it purely as a transaction. God is not a banker or investment agent. Man’s gift to God must also be as the firstfruits from his increase and not his leftovers! (Pr. 3:9) It does require some spiritual discernment and right spirit in man to do the right kind of giving, which God could then receive with pleasure and satisfaction and which He could bless and multiply abundantly.

Finally, we should offer ourselves to Him, not only to receive from Him according to His riches but also in hope that He might use us in this cataclysmic time when things will start happening without warning. Everything around us will start falling and sinking as in quicksand. Who will remain standing? We need the Lord’s Grace, Strength and Wisdom to keep standing. If we do not need His Wisdom today, we will be crying to Him tomorrow… but He may not answer us! If we do not listen to Him today, He in His Wisdom will not listen to us tomorrow. (Pr. 1:24-31// Zech. 7: 11-13) If we are on our own today and need not to follow the counsel of the Lord, we will be on our own also tomorrow following… well, I do not know what, or whom.

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w) In this point I will share a few facts about the last days of this world, of human self-government and about the journey of the Church toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

Prophecies for the end of this world are being fulfilled before our very eyes. Horrible black clouds are covering the horizon and they are heading our way. All the world wars put together were a “picnic” compared to what is truly coming. Antichrist will first bring a short peace and economic prosperity to the world so that he will be admired and also trusted. The world will be ready to worship him and willingly take his number “666” (Rev. 13:18) in order to economically prosper. But later on, he will break his peace covenant with Israel (Dan. 9:27) and will unleash all his fury upon the Apostate Worldwide Church, called “The Mother of Harlots”, (Rev. 17:1-18) and upon that part of the true Church-Israel left behind. Furthermore,…

Satan shall make war against the saints and overcome them! (Rev. 13:7) God will permit it! Has this ever been preached? Why not? Is this not a valid and also very important Word of God? Hello?

Who are these “overcome saints”? Well, I see four kinds of saints in my spirit as follows:

1) Those few typified by Apostle John, whom the Lord loved (Jn. 20:2; 21:7) and who are the Remnant, the Bride of Christ. They shall be raptured before the Tribulation starts (Rev. 3:10; 12:5, see more later) and none will be killed as some other faithful brethren will be killed. (Rev. 6:9-11)

2) Those typified by some other Apostles according to their character and spirit who will remain written in the Book of Life and will be resurrected at the first resurrection and raptured at the last, seventh trump. (1Cor. 15:52// 1Thess. 4:16// Rev. 11:15)

This part of the Church-Israel (Woman) is in Her place in the wilderness, which is prepared by God, where She is fed for 1,260 days (~3.5 years), which is the first half of the Tribulation. (Rev. 12:6, see more later) And then She is fed for another “time, and times, and half a time” (~3.5 years) after the Dragon is cast to the earth and is persecuting Her, which is the second half of the Tribulation. (Rev. 12:13-17) This also proves that a large part of the Church-Israel will go through the Tribulation before She is raptured.

3) Those typified by other Apostles according to their character and spirit who will also remain written in the Book of Life, but will be resurrected at the second resurrection and “hurt by the second death”. (Rev. 2:11; 20:6) These saints will be overcome as per Rev. 13:7.

4) Those typified by Judas Iscariot, the disciple of the Lord that betrayed Him. Their names will be blotted out of the Book of Life and they shall lose their Salvation and will be destroyed. (Rev. 3:5; 22:19) They shall be resurrected at the second resurrection, judged at the Last Judgment and then thrown to the lake of fire and brimstone for their names shall not be found in the Book of Life. (Rev. 20:15)

The comfortable religion of today, earthly prosperity, proud laziness and freedom to cater to self-satisfaction will be turned into a horrible shock. Nothing will remain the same and human hearts will be trembling with fear for their very lives as well as for those of their families and relatives and those charming children. (Mt. 24:37-39) Many will seek death as the way out from the horrors of those days, but even death will flee from them. (Rev. 9:6) And this will include born-again believers, the chosen people of God. And if you cannot believe it, then just remember the Holocaust where six million Jews, the chosen people of God perished in the horrors of gas chambers. God permitted it! In the coming horrors, this kind of death will be considered a “luxury”, comfortable way out.

The hand of the Lord, which has been stretched out to this perverse generation for centuries will be withdrawn and evil will be tasted by all those that neither appreciated the Goodness and Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor cared for His Word and His Judgment.

Since this subject is too large for this book and its purpose, the above is considered sufficient. Some points will, however, be further discussed later on in Chapter 5.

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x) Pride is a deep rooted and poisonous plant from which grow many and various branches. One of the most damaging ones is selfishness. Here, we are not only hurting ourselves but also many others and also the Lord Himself! Selfish believers only look at themselves, how they feel, how they understand and whether they are satisfied, or not. They never look at others and they never look at the Lord, how He feels, how He understands, whether He is satisfied or not and what they do to Him!

And then, out of selfishness, there always grow other branches like envy, jealousy, self-righteousness, hatred and others. And jealousy and hatred may produce other plants, which shoot down their own roots, namely, bitterness often associated with malice. And one plant or root of bitterness in our heart is able to defile not only ourselves but many people around us. (Heb. 12:15) All these evil plants are like weeds. You do not have to sow them, they come from ‘nowhere’, grow by themselves even in the most impossible places. And how quickly they multiply, every gardener knows very well. I have to fight for every blade of grass in my garden, water it, spray it, dung it, cut it to the right height, air the soil and do other gymnastics just to keep it living until the next round of treatment. But weeds, well, they keep growing under any impossible conditions without any care and the war against them seems to be completely futile.

With bitterness, many believers may become “filthy” without any extra effort on their part! And if the situation persists and nothing is done about it, this plant of bitterness grows stronger and all these believers are becoming filthier by the day and thus riper for the Judgment. (Rev. 22:11)

I desire to bring this particular point up to show from the Scripture and from my own experience the deep danger and tragedies associated with bitterness and what process of deliverance it actually requires.

I do not believe that there is even one believer in the world who never lusted after something, who never desired to have something, go somewhere, do something, be somebody. If such a believer then sees the object of his desire or lust, which his heart loves, he immediately desires to have it. This is a natural reaction and the person may not even be aware of it. If he cannot have it, jealousy may start its deadly work without delay. And if the object is possessed by another person or persons, the jealousy is directed toward that other person or persons, as well.

It does not take a long time for jealousy to start producing a root of bitterness. And this root or plant starts to grow without any time wasted depending on the magnitude of the lust or value of the object lusted after. Yet, the object may be anything from a large new house or a new car to any small ridiculous item such as a collectible lapel pin from some football team worth a few pennies. There are no rules for our lusts and thus for our manifold jealousies.

Bitterness may also start rather quickly whenever any one tells us or does something to us, which we may hate, be hurt thereby, offended, pricked or put to an open shame. At times, we may be an innocent party while others may be hurting us by causing us a deep injustice, knowingly or unknowingly. But the bitterness is exactly the same with the same consequences. The greater the injustice, offence, shame, hurt, the greater the bitterness, ensuing insensitivity, loss of trust, faith, desire to pray and fellowship with the Lord. This also produces the “spirit of unforgiveness”, which becomes like an armour against the Spirit of God and His influence on the heart of that bitter man.

What does your bitterness then do? It builds an unseen barrier between you and the other person(s), produces poison, unrighteous judgments and builds within you hatred, malice, anxiety, anger and hypocrisy. If you do not open your heart to the Lord or disclose your bitterness to the brethren that love you, you can never be delivered from it and its deadly effects. It first poisons you and then also the others around you and your relationships. Its effects are the same whether you are the guilty one (with jealousy) or you are innocent and hurt by others.

Nobody seems to be able to figure out why your relationships are not open and friendly and trustworthy but rather awkward, strange, something always “hanging in the air” between you and the other person(s). And quite often, the other person just cannot “put his finger on it”. In fact, he or she may be completely deceived about you. Or, you may be innocent and the situation may be reversed.

It truly takes the Lord to arrange your circumstances in such a way that your bitterness comes out pointing to your unfulfilled lust or your being hurt. From there, jealousy can be traced more easily, if the object of your lust is or was possessed by other persons that can be identified or if your specific hurt is finally confessed. It takes some pressures and questioning of your heart. The Lord will then show you and your brethren the root of your bitterness, which was spoiling your relationships standing as a barrier between you and the others.

This is a typical case of overcoming when you finally decide to confess it to the Lord and to your brethren. After your deliverance, you will experience a new and true freedom, which you may have never known before. But the time to bring you to your confession and deliverance may be quite long, and the pressure upon your heart to confess relentless.

Now, the worst and most dangerous kind of bitterness grows in you when some other person is doing to you or in your presence things, which your heart hates. This kind of bitterness may increase your hatred, may paralyse your thinking and reasoning, may poison you more by bringing malice into your heart and may increase your hypocrisy tenfold!

Typical examples of this type of jealousy and ensuing bitterness, hypocrisy, malice and uncontrolled hatred were the Pharisees, not all, but most of them. They so hated what Jesus did and spoke and were so bitter against Him that they decided to kill Him – their Messiah and an absolutely innocent Man! Their hearts kept refusing to seek truth, ponder or meditate on what the Lord was saying to them.

Do we have to search more to see, understand and hate any jealousy or bitterness in our hearts? Do we need more to perceive the great dangers coming from our selfishness, or jealousy, or bitterness, or hatred or malice? In the meantime, we may be praying to the Lord to “guide us, bless us, prosper us” and wonder why He is not answering us at all! The Lord never guides, blesses or prospers hypocrites in any way, He hates them! (Mt. chpt. 23) We first must be delivered, then we may be blessed.

We may not be the same cases with the same depth of jealousy, hatred, malice and hypocrisy as the Pharisees were, but the principle is the same. The Lord will answer our prayer when and if we ask Him to take out that root of bitterness from our heart, deliver us from jealousy and selfishness. That prayer would be answered instantly!

But the Lord will not accept from us any other prayer or worship or fellowship with Him before we first deal with our jealousy and bitterness and before we obtain forgiveness also from the other person(s). (Mt. 5:23,24)

The process of deliverance might take longer, but the prayer would be heard and acknowledged positively by the Lord in the same hour when it would spring from our heart and lips. Our Father knows our true needs before we ask Him. (Mt. 6:8)

And let not any believer tell me that he is not aware of his bitterness. He would be lying because our “heart knows his own bitterness;” (Pr. 14:10) You must start being honest first with yourself, then with God, then with those that you may hate or be bitter against. May the Lord help you in it.

Do you see and believe the above facts? Are you one of many, many victims of this poison that can kill the human soul the same way as cancer kills the human body? If so, the Lord is your only hope. I pray to the Lord to deliver you from this dangerous poison.

y) I now want to present to you a rather unusual fact of our spiritual life and development. I started to notice it and penetrate its meaning after many years of my ministry. Now I can see it and appreciate it as “the way of the Lord” which is higher than our ways. (Is. 55:9) The fact is rather unusual in that one would not expect such a phenomenon to exist in deliverance ministry or in cleansing one’s soul.

The essence of this fact is that the Lord may be waiting for another person’s deliverance before He delivers you or before He completes your deliverance. The practical outcome of this is that the Lord may not meet your expectations or intercessions for another person before some spiritual work or goal is achieved in you first.

Suppose that you were a proud hypocrite harbouring bitterness or jealousy in your heart. As a result, your heart and mind were producing unrighteous thoughts and judgments. Being a hypocrite, you kept them for yourself and outwardly you portrayed a completely different person. No one could tell what was in your soul and what you were hiding, but the fruit of your works was not good.

One day the Lord began to show these things to your brethren through your fruit. It could take one, two or more years before someone might start to clearly see your pride hidden deeply within your soul. You slowly started admitting to the bitterness and jealousies in your heart, even to your pride. The Lord started leading you to repentance and a gradual deliverance. After some time, you started enjoying new freedoms and blessings (like spiritual discernment). Your New Man started growing even though you were still weak in spirit. And then, another believer is found in the same spiritual misery where you were 2-3 years ago. You can now see it and are sure that you can help him since now you understand him and his condition because you went through it all yourself. But nothing goes according to your prayers or plans or desires. Finally, you start wondering how can this man be like that forgetting that you were in the same position not long ago. The truth is that the Lord starts giving you through that other person “your own medicine” so that you may start seeing “your old self living in front of you”.

The moment you see it and understand it in this way, you start living also another Word of God, which says: “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (Pr. 27:17)

This simply means that the Lord is using us to deliver one another. Without one another, our full deliverance and cleansing and with it our full freedom may never be achieved during our earthly lives. Another reason for this way of the Lord, as I believe and understand it, is that you have to start dealing with the deliverance of that other believer and thus learn and grow stronger in your own spirit. By thus working on the deliverance of the other believer, you are being delivered from the weaknesses of your own spirit and soul. Had the Lord delivered the other believer “unilaterally”, you would have surely missed your opportunities for completing your own deliverance and spiritual growth, increasing the strength of your own spirit and soul.

z) In this last point, let us take time to consider and also ponder one of the most effective weapons of the devil – FEAR. It has many tentacles and forms and covers many areas of our life and activity. We may fear anything at any time, we may have good reasons for our fear or none whatsoever. Fear is thus very unpredictable, but may be easily detectable when it is sometimes “written all over our countenance” or displayed in our behaviour.

I believe that as hypocrisy “guards” the door of our heart because of pride, so fear “guards” our soul because of its selfishness. Most of our fear is there because of our selfishness whenever there is danger that our self would not be satisfied or left in peace or whenever our image might be in danger of being exposed! We could write another book just about this one fact. Let us be brief and focus on this weapon of the devil in the spiritual area of our life.

I also believe and have many living experiences that there are multitudes of believers who do not move or do what they know they should do because they are gripped with fear and ensuing doubts and uncertainty.

Fear takes away our freedom and puts shakles on

our limbs and on our heart, mind, will and tongue.

I have already mentioned fear among the leadership whereby many genuinely fear anyone who might stir their “religious nest” with a prophecy or preaching the Word of God, which would not fit their form of religion. But the same applies to multitudes of believers who might be exposed to a prophesy or Word of God they never heard or understood before or they kept resisting for a long time.

Any “breath of fresh air”, any change in the formal life and doctrines of any denomination is absolutely “taboo”. I believe and have living experiences that many believers may only get a “breath of fresh air”, which is the undiluted and full Truth and Freedom of the Spirit of the Lord (2Cor. 3:17), outside of their particular denomination or other religious organization.

I am now speaking to those believers that the Lord is stirring up from their long sleep and “religious dreams and naivety” bringing them to the reality of His Word and His Spirit. I am speaking to those that do not have to be thrown into darkness, weep and gnash their teeth (Mt. 25: 30) in order to finally “wake up and hear the Voice of their Lord”.

I give a glaring example to those who are not entirely spiritually dead. Suppose you were attending an Orthodox congregation and the Lord had granted you the light that you should repent of your sins, be baptized in water by immersion and receive His Spirit according to His Word. (Acts 2:38) Are you going to find a priest who would baptize you by immersion without blinking his eye? You may sooner fly to the Moon. So, how are you going to do what the Lord has shown you? You must be baptized outside of that place and overcome all your fears what will people think, how they will look at you, judge you or gossip about you! Either you will be following the Lord or people! It is your choice. And if they would not fellowship with you after your act of faith, you must leave that place! Is it a drastic step? Perhaps, but this also proves that you have to become “violent” against the forces stacked up against you. (the question of “violence” will be discussed later on)

Now, you may believe that water baptism is not necessary for you and that you feel “fine” as you are and that your religious life goes on fine, as well. It is your flesh that feels fine, but re-reading some key verses in the Word of God should change that feeling very fast. All believers not baptized in water by immersion (buried) should realize that they are not baptized into Christ Jesus! And if they are not baptized into Christ Jesus, they are not baptized into His death. (Rom. 6:3,4) And if they are not baptized into His death they are not “dead with Christ”. And if they are not dead with Christ (in their own experience and by their own decision) then they shall not live with Christ. (Rom. 6:8) Hello?

I did not write the Word of God, I am just bringing It to you to consider It in your heart and mind and conscience. Will you still follow your own reasoning or understanding or traditions rather than the Word of God? It is your choice the same way as it is your choice to stay in your old place or leave it. God will neither force you to do His Word, nor will He decide for you. BUT, He will give you the power to do His Word and overcome all fear, if you decide for Him and His Word in your own heart. And if you have decided to leave the place and do the Word of God, another fear may come to you when you realize that you may have no other place to go to. What will you do? The faith that enables you to overcome all forces stacked up against you may be described as follows.

The Lord knows exactly where you are and what problems you are facing in every detail. He also knows that your heart decided to do His Word. He has thus prepared for you in advance all that you will need now and in the future including your new place! If the Almighty God could not take care of His own children that desire to do His Word, He would be a rather “poor” God. (I speak foolishly for your sake) So, what is your faith about Our God?

Leaving your old place would, in fact, afford you a living experience of the Word of God in Lk. 9:23-25, which otherwise you would never have. You cannot get rid of your fears without denying your self. True? And if you cannot deny yourself by yourself, then you will be able to do it “through Christ which strengthens you” (Phil. 4:13). And if you need Christ to strengthen you, you have to ask Him. And when you ask Him, you shall surely receive (Mt. 7:7,8) because you are asking according to His Will and because you have first given yourself to Him, that is to say, to His Word. Is not the Word of God beautiful and sufficient for all our needs? So, where is your faith at this point?

What do you value more in your heart, your future Life Eternal or opinions of people? Do you value your old place, old ways, old habits, old doctrines and old form of religion more than your future in the Kingdom? And whom do you desire to please in your heart, the Lord, your own self or people? Whom do you fear and obey in your heart, the Lord or people? Your own heart and conscience will tell you. (1Sam. 15:24-26)

Your choice may not be easy, but it is clear and it is yours. You will also begin to “feel” and experience the power and strength of hell within you, which, so far, you may have never truly experienced at all since the powers were satisfied with your state and, therefore, had no reason to resist you or even attack you!

In order to complete this paragraph, I have to tell you in all simplicity and honesty that if you do not believe in your heart that you need to be baptized as commanded by the Lord, then, please, do not “get wet” just because somebody tells you. It would serve no purpose. In fact, you would be going against your “current faith” and thereby you would be sinning! Why? Because, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23)

On the other hand, if the Word of God brought faith into your heart, the Lord expects you to do what you have believed lest your faith should become dead. (Jam. 2:17,20,26)

I desire to note that the above points (a-to-z) I have seen, witnessed, experienced and understood at various stages throughout the past 36 years of my ministry.

* * *

I am concluding this chapter with one very important testimony on my part.

I have forgiven from my heart all the persons mentioned, described or even named above who have become my “enemies” and I have nothing in my heart against them! I have compassion, understanding and love for them. Should they ever see and repent to the Lord for all their iniquities, trespasses and unrighteous actions toward Him, toward their brethren and toward me, I would be truly happy to embrace them and establish, or resume, a right relationship with them in the Spirit of Our Gracious Lord.

The Lord Jesus Christ is my True Witness to this testimony and I am very glad that His Spirit led me to it and allowed me to declare it at this place.

CHAPTER 4

NEW CREATION

Why would God speak about a New Creation if the Old One were still good? When our old house is deteriorated we may not destroy it, we may renovate it. But what if our old house is beyond repair? What do we do? We tear it down, destroy it and build a new one. So does God. God is giving us a clear message that He has no intention of repairing His Old Creation in any way, but He will destroy it and replace it with a New One!

Let us now consider this subject very diligently as it will give us the final reason and proof of the Plan of God. It will give us the final Light of God on all things living and dead. It is God Almighty, Who decided to destroy His Old Creation, it is not man. Man has only two choices: (a) accept this fact and guide his life and destiny accordingly, or (b) reject this fact, neglect or disbelieve it and be likewise destroyed with the Old Creation.

I desire in my heart and pray that the Lord would grant us the reality of His final Light in a clear picture, which we may see, understand and be guided by.

* * *

I am constrained at this very point by His Spirit to bring the following vitally important truth and fact before every believer and reader of this book.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was born Holy and Righteous and of the Will of God – just as our New Man was born. (Eph. 4:24// Jn. 1:12,13) Nature, the Old Creation of God, had contributed nothing to Christ or to our New Man. It has no part in Christ and thus has no part in our New Man. Nature, the Old Creation only contributed to Jesus His mortal body, so that He could become a Man of flesh and blood and thus be able to “carry the sins of mankind in His flesh and pour His blood unto death” and thus save men. Also, He could thus destroy the works of the devil (1Jn. 3:8) because the devil works in our flesh and causes men to sin in their flesh. Without His fleshly body, the Lord could not have saved us and destroyed the works of the devil. But even that mortal body of Jesus was discarded and replaced with a glorious body at His Resurrection. It is very important for us all to understand at this point – the separation of these two Creations of God.

Our “New Men” form the Body of Christ (the true Church) and Christ became the Head of all these New Men – this New Creation – this New Mankind.

Whenever Christ brings His Word, Sword, Judgment to our attention – it is the time for our decision! It is not the time to wait, discuss, speculate, procrastinate, take it lightly. Our very life and destiny depend on our timely decisions. I believe the Lord always gives us enough time to pause, ponder, ask, seek and then decide… and to repent, if it is shown to us by the Lord as necessary. But the Lord never gives an unlimited time for lazy and proud souls resisting repentance or necessary decisions. (Rev. 2:21)

There is the right time for every purpose under Heaven. (Ecc. 3:1) This is the time when Christ is speaking to us through His Word, which is His Sword, His Judgment and I am just a small voice called by Him to present His Word to you for your sincere consideration. (Ps. 119:137-141) The Lord is not a fireman whom we only call when there is fire in our house, neither is He an ambulance driver whom we only call when we fear for our life. He is not sitting beside us waiting “until our majesty decides” to turn to Him with a request to satisfy us! Either He is Our Lord and we wait on Him to obey and satisfy Him or we are our own lords and obey only ourselves.

The LORD is near now, He can be found now. (Is. 55:6) Now is the time for us to answer Him, to receive His Word, His Truth, His call and to satisfy Him. This opportunity may never come back to us again. He is waiting for our meditation and decision now.

Today we are deciding our future, which place we will be brought to and also the way how we shall get there. I encourage you to turn to Him now in truth, in trust and with your open heart. (1Jn. 5:14,15)

The KING of kings and LORD of lords (Rev. 19:16) will be waiting for us but a short time only!

* * *

We are living at a time when the House of God is in ruins and God desires to restore it to the most splendid and glorious Temple in the Lord Jesus Christ. This Heavenly Temple will never decay again or become ruined but will be for ever. The Lord says that He will shake the earth and Heaven again (Heb. 12:26) and He will do it also through His servants that will cooperate with Him in this shaking and Judgment.

The last great men the Lord used to restore His House and the wall of Jerusalem were Ezra, Nehemiah and some others. If we re-read these two books of the Bible, we should get the picture of what the Lord is doing now in the spiritual world and in His Spiritual House. He is searching for Ezras and Nehemiahs who would cooperate with Him in this last restorative spiritual work of the Lord.

As a small Remnant moved from Babylon to Jerusalem to do this great work, so also a small Remnant of today moves from the spiritual Babylon, which is the Church at large to Heavenly Jerusalem, to the spirits of just men made perfect. (Heb. 12:22,23) And as they had first established the altar (Ezra 3:3), so the Cross must first be established in the true Church (the Remnant). Then they built the wall and we must also build a spiritual wall whereby we will be separated from anything that defiles and refuses to be crucified and obey the Almighty God. Finally, they rebuilt the House of God. We are called to do likewise and to cooperate with the Master-Builder. The first step is to judge-assess, then to judge-condemn all that must be removed, destroyed, overturned, shaken. (Jer. 51:6-9)

We shall make an important observation at this point concerning the Remnant, the Firstfruit, the Manchild (Rev. 12:5), the undefiled dove – the Shulamite Maiden (S.Sol. 6:9,13), the current Bride of Christ. (Note that the Bridegroom writes His New Name on His Bride only – Rev. 3:10-12) After the work of Nehemiah was finished, lots were cast and one tenth of the people (“tithe of people”) that returned from Babylon, freely moved to live in Jerusalem, while the 90% lived elsewhere. (Neh. 11:1,2) This was the “Remnant of the Remnant” of Israel. In these days, a spiritual “Remnant of the Remnant” is also chosen by the Lord, elected by the “lots” of His foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29,30; 9:27; 11:5) and they “move” to become His Holy City willing to pay the price.

Wherever the Cross is not (re)established, that house with all its inhabitants will fall (Mt. 7:26,27), will be ruled out and destroyed with the Old Creation, which cannot satisfy God. All Nature, all Old Creation including our bodies continually grow old and decay. And that, which grows old and decays must vanish away. That includes the Old Covenant, which was replaced by the New Covenant. (Heb. 8:7,13) So it shall be with the Old House–Babylon in order that the New House–New Jerusalem may be established. All this great work will be done and accomplished by the Great Power of God and by His Great Grace toward us who believe and are willing to be subdued to Him and to His Work.

Let us re-read the “True meaning of the Cross”, point 2. (page 108) and consider this important fact again. Let us also enlarge this fact because the Cross of Our Lord does not apply only to us believers. It applies to all pagans and to all the Old Creation! Its effects are so far reaching that we may have never considered and understood them during our entire Christian life.

Let us, therefore, repeat the basic facts, believe them, also understand them and keep them in our mind and heart.

All the Old Creation ends at the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ! All the Old creation is being judged there! Nothing from it goes beyond the Cross! Beyond the Cross, there begins a brand New Creation, holy and immaculate, which will last for ever and ever!

The above reality touches both physical and spiritual Creation. Physically, there shall be a New Earth and a New Heaven and the old Earth and Heaven, which are polluted, will be destroyed or will pass away. (2Pet. 3:6,7,10, 13// Rev. 21:1) There will be a New Jerusalem and the Old Jerusalem will also be destroyed. (Rev. 21:2) Every spiritual “old man” and every physical man of flesh and blood shall be destroyed and none shall enter into the New Creation.

“Except a man be born-again (NEWLY born of the Spirit and not of mortal flesh), he cannot see the Kingdom of God (or the New Creation).” (Jn. 3:3)

Only the New Man shall enter into the Kingdom of God. The New Man is the man who was born-again, baptized and passed through his cross, which God prepared for him! This is the only way to destroy the old man, old creation and gain the new man, new creation! And he that passed through his cross is the Overcomer from the Book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. It is he “whose life is Christ” (Col. 3:4) and that not in theory but in his own living experience. He has Christ’s Character and Virtues, His Authority, Beauty and also His Glory. (Jn. 17:22)

“He that overcomes (dies on his cross – denies himself) shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Rev. 21:7)

“But the fearful, and unbelieving (pagans and “fearful and unbelieving believers”)… shall have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8)

We should not be fearful and scared to consider very diligently and prayerfully the above Word of God and Its true meaning for every one of us individually and also for the Church.

I have already received accusations from all sorts of believers and “ministries” saying that I am nothing but a prophet of “gloom and doom”. Yet, I am only quoting what God says. And God is neither a prophet of gloom and doom, nor a prophet of prosperity or heavenly peace (Mt. 10:34) and happiness for anyone not believing and not obeying His Word. God tells us plainly what He provided for man and then shows him the consequences of his decisions. And I only bring it to the light and conscience of believers in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is hell, which is furious that I dare to expose their deepest deceptions and, may be, rob them of many potential victims.

What else should I say about the “believers who do not believe” the Word of their Saviour and Lord? Do we realize that when we do not believe the Word of God, we are making the Almighty God a liar? Unbelief is the greatest sin man can commit against God! That applies to every Word of God and not just to our favourite verses. (1Jn. 5:10-12// 2Tim. 3:16) That is why the unbelieving heart is considered evil! (Heb. 3:12)

And those of you that neglect or ignore any Word of God are making God unimportant. This would be the most terrible thing for any believer to do or continue doing. Unfortunately, it is a very sad and tragic reality with very many believers.

Let us now devote the necessary time to explore the reasons why many believers do not believe and why they prefer to lead a spiritually miserable and unfruitful life. Also, why many ministers “serve God by breaking His Word”! The chief reason is that they stand on the basis of their natural life and keep satisfying their natural desires and personal interests and not the interests of the Lord of all lords – Jesus Christ! (Phil. 2:21) The fact is that…

by succeeding in the natural, they are damaging the spiritual. They always greatly misinterpret all their natural successes as blessings from God!

They always look at spiritual things from the viewpoint of their own natural understanding and personal interests; whether following the spiritual things would bring them advantage or disadvantage, whether those things would be in their personal interest, or not! They also confuse spiritual with natural thus committing very grave errors.

Take any situation where the Word was given to us or we were admonished or advised to change something or do something or go somewhere… and immediately our mind started to manufacture its evaluations, comparisons, fears, disadvantages, dangers to follow the Word or advice given! True? Please, do not tell me that you do not know what I am talking about! We may seldom, if ever, look at the Word and spiritual things from the viewpoint of the Lord and see what kind of disadvantages we put Him into when we neglect, forget, disobey or simply do not care to do His Word; or when we postpone doing His Word for several years. Has such a thought occurred to you how might Our Lord be affected by our disobedience or neglect of His Word? What may the Lord be losing thereby?

Don’t you see that every time the Lord desires from us a decision concerning His Word, His Way, His Judgment, His Will, His need – we start reasoning how it affects us and what we stand to lose? Because we might lose too much, you see! We might lose some brethren, our position of an elder, usher, chief musician, deacon, respected leader or preacher. We might also lose our salary or part of our congregation or our “warm nest” in our own denomination. True? The effects of our decision for the Lord and His Word may be reaching as far as that, or farther. Every time I decide for the undiluted Truth of the Lord or for an uncompromising stand for Him, I always end up in some “trouble”, in some opposition, chiefly from Christians! And I quite often lose something or someone to whom I may have ministered for years. (Jn. 6:63-67!)

It is not easy for many believers to admit these things since the degree to which they follow their nature is also the degree of their spiritual blindness. That simply means that they do not see what they are doing to the Lord, to themselves and to their brethren.

My question to you is simple: Where is your New Man? Have you already met your New Man inside of you? Have you experienced Him in your heart and spirit? Have you seen or tasted His fruit?… because He walks and lives by faith, not by reasoning.

With faith, you don’t count what you may lose, you count what the Lord gains! You judge in your own heart, if this is so, or not. (Phil. 3:8)

Now, who is this New Man? The first “New Man” that opened up the way from hell to Heaven and satisfied God the Father was His firstborn Son Jesus Christ. He, as a Man, always did the things that pleased His Father. (Jn. 8:29)

Jesus “made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant… and being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death by the cross.” (Phil. 2:7,8)

Therefore, God has raised this NEW MAN Jesus from the dead and highly exalted Him. God has also “appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness BY THAT MAN Whom He has ordained”. (Acts 17:31)

God, being fully satisfied with this man, set Him as the Head of the New Creation and also as a standard for His Judgments of all other men in this world. Pagans, of course, cannot measure up to Jesus Christ, as they have no means to achieve it. Believers are called to measure up to and be like Jesus Christ, be New Men, as they were given the same Spirit that was in Jesus-Man during His earthly life and ministry. Consider the following facts:

1. Jesus-Man received the same gift of the Spirit of God after His baptism (Mt. 3:16) as we received. (Acts 2:38)

2. Jesus-Man was led into temptations by the same Spirit (Mt. 4:1) as we are led into our temptations to learn to resist the devil. (Jam. 1:2-4; 4:7-10// 1Pet. 1:6,7) He was a true Overcomer as we are also called to be Overcomers. (Mt. 4:1-10; 16:21-23// Jn. 16:33, etc.)

3. Jesus-Man was strengthened by angels from heaven (Mt. 4:11// Lk. 22:43), we are strengthened by His Spirit (Eph. 3:16) and by His glorious Power. (Phil. 4:13// Col. 1: 10,11// 2Tim. 4:17)

4. Jesus-Man had to bear the chastisement of our peace upon Himself (Is. 53:5), and we have to bear upon ourselves the chastisement from the Lord. (Heb. 12:4-8)

5. Jesus-Man had to learn obedience through the things He had to suffer. (Heb. 5:8) We have to learn our obedience through the things, which we have to suffer. (Rom. 16:19// 2Cor. 7:15; 10:5,6// Philemon 21// 1Pet. 1:2)

6. Jesus-Man could do nothing of Himself but had to deny Himself and decide to do the Will of His Father and not His own. (Jn. 5:19// Mt. 26:39// Lk. 22:42) We also can do nothing of ourselves, must deny ourselves and decide to do His Will and not ours. (Jn. 15:5// Mt. 16:23-25)

7. Jesus-Man was not of this world, neither are we of this world. (Jn. 17:14-16) As His Father sent Him to the world, so also He sent us into the world. (Jn. 17:18)

8. The glory, which the Father has given to His Son Jesus, the Son has given to us – that we may be one even as the Father and the Son are One. (Jn. 17:22)

Jesus-Man was sent to this world by His Father and sown as a Heavenly Seed, which was to be reproduced and bring forth the harvest of fruit and seeds after His Kind! Every plant that grows from His Seed was planted by the Father. This plant brings forth the fruit and seed after “His Kind”. The plants, which the Father did not plant, shall be rooted up. (Mt. 15:13) The Lord-Husbandman, patiently waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it. (Jam. 5:7) This is the Will of God!

To be transformed or conformed into His Image (Rom. 8:29; 12:2), to be formed into Christ (Gal. 4:19) means the very same thing – to be transformed into this New Man, who is holy and righteous because the “old man” must perish.

This change into His Image is worked out step-by-step by the Spirit of the Lord (2Cor. 3:18) and its basic points are briefly described in the above 8 points. If you have not experienced any of the above 8 points, you are in a sad spiritual shape and should start questioning your Christian life and your Salvation process. The Spirit of the Lord may not live in you or be working in you at all! The process of your transformation may not have started as yet or may have been halted due to some reasons. Your New Man is not growing and shaping up. Be not afraid or scared, it is good to be warned by the Lord and get back on the right road or to finally begin walking on it.

You should start asking yourself certain important questions, like: What kind of seed am I in this world? What kind of fruit am I bringing unto the Lord? Does it have any resemblance to the Seed, which the Father sowed in the earth? Does it produce the Kind of Man that the Father patiently waits for? And then, your own heart has to answer these extremely important questions. It has to. Whether your answer is yes or no or maybe – your life depends on it. If you do not believe me, believe the Word of God, which determines your life and future.

This New Man is made in us by the Spirit of God and our conscious cooperation with God “for we are labourers together with God…”. (1Cor. 3:9) The Spirit was sent to us for that purpose. You may claim that He was sent as a Comforter (Jn. 14:16,17). You are right, but this is not His only task. Notice the previous verse where the Lord says:

“IF ye love Me, keep My commandments (My Word). And (then) I will pray the Father…” (Jn. 14:15,16)

The Lord has no intention to send you the Comforter if you have no intention to keep His Commandments, His Word! The Comforter is not sent to comfort our flesh, our old nature, but to comfort the soul that suffers and struggles to obey and keep His Word! (2Cor. 1:7)

We are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience …” (1Pet. 1:2) Hence...

he who does not obey the Spirit and does not live His Word or is not even willing to learn to live His Word, is not elect! Do you believe this? Or not?

If we are not chastised by the Lord, we do not need any comforting. The Holy Spirit knows all our intentions, thoughts and plans and He thus knows well when we need comforting and when we need a “spiritual whip”. When we refuse His whip, He will refuse His comforting. Let us understand that the Spirit was sent to testify about the Lord Jesus (Jn. 15:26), to show us this NEW MAN, chosen, accepted and ordained by the Father. He was also sent to…

“...guide you into all truth… He (the Spirit) shall glorify Me (Jesus Christ), for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you.” (Jn. 16:13-15)

To guide you into all truth, show you and testify about the Lord also means that the Spirit (if He lives in your soul) may be telling you in your daily life things like these:

“This plan is not from Me, it is from you… The words you spoke at the meeting were your own, I do not speak like that… When you went to that place, it was your decision, you ignored the red light that I put on your road… You just judged your brother unrighteously, repent to him … You have not responded to that person because you are offended… You were a hypocrite this evening… That was an evil deed you had done… Why did you lie in response to that question?… Your intention is very selfish… These are your thoughts and not Mine… You should apologize to that person, you have hurt him …You are seeking your own goal here and not God’s… What you preached is true, but you do not live it yourself…You may feel fine about what you did, but I am grieved… You say you have been waiting on the Lord, the truth is, the Lord has been waiting on you…” , etc., etc…

The Comforter will first be to you quite uncomfortable about many things in your life. He will also be pointing out to you the way you eat, drink, sit, walk, talk, dress and do many things, because the Will of God touches every detail of your earthly life. He will also assess your thoughts, intentions, desires and other details of your life, which need His attention! He will start comforting you when your flesh starts burning on the altar of the Lord. And if the Holy Spirit has never spoken to you like this, your conscience may be dead or seared with a hot iron (1Tim. 4:2), you may have no spiritual ear or you may be too proud to be guided into anything. Now, can the Spirit truly guide you into all truth? You judge.

We must be guided into all truth because we do not know all truth and are unaware how we speak, think, walk, sit, act and what intentions and reasons are truly behind our deeds, thoughts, plans. He knows us well. Do you really want to know yourself? Do you really want to know how your character compares to Christ Jesus – that new man chosen by God? And do you really want to know why you do not want to know? And do you in truth want to know what is God’s plan for you personally? What God expects from you now? In God’s Mind and Will, it is not sufficient for you just to be saved, but you must become a living part of His House!

Let me illustrate this on something very practical. You desire to build a house on your lot to live in. This is something practical and normal. So, you buy a lot of stones, bricks, lumber and other material. You have a big heap on your lot and when you look at it, you are satisfied and you do nothing else. Right? But where is your house? You have to start building your house, piece by piece, inspecting every piece for the right size, kind and quality.

God may have a heap of saved individuals on His lot and when He looks at them, He is not satisfied just as you are not satisfied with the heap of material on your lot. Most of the Church has been just a “heap of saved individuals” who have no intentions or even ability to live with one another! Just to “unite” faith and mind of two believers is a “hell of a job.” I do not know how many of you can say “Amen” to this fact.

Part of my calling by the Lord is to do exactly this kind of job! Believe me, it is absolutely impossible to have even two believers to live together in peace, love and harmony unless the Spirit has crucified both of them in their old nature! Can you believe me? So if I tell you that it is a far more difficult and demanding task to unite believers to live together, to build them into His House than to save them, you should also believe me.

That’s why there are multitudes of saved individuals… but few of them are crucified and made, built into the House of God.

This present Judgment of the House of God is precisely for His purpose to assess its present state; how big a heap of “material” is still on the lot and what is necessary to be done so that all the House may “fitly framed together grow unto a Holy Temple in the Lord.” (Eph. 2:21, also 1Pet. 2:5)

The House of God will not be all finished before the Coming of the Lord as Our Bridegroom (Mt. 25:6) or as the King of kings and Lord of lords in order to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (Rev. 19:11-16), which are two different Comings of the Lord! The finishing of the House will continue but a certain part of It, which represents the current Bride and Wife of Christ must be finished now, and this Judgment is for that purpose of the Lord – the bridegroom.

Let me insert a spiritual fact from the Old Testament and say that God chose Israel to be His people and to be His House where He would dwell. But they never became His House. Why? Soon after crossing the Red Sea, they refused and despised God’s discipline and chastisement. They never became His sons but remained bastards. (Heb. 12:5-8) But the House of God is occupied with His sons and not bastards. True?

I am saying this at this point because the Church is in the same position. Multitudes of believers are not willing to endure the chastisement from the Lord, they refuse and despise it. They only desire to “have a good time and prosperity”. Today’s Church is accurately described by the Lord Himself in Rev. 3:17!

Hence, most of the believers therein cannot mature into His sons and they cannot occupy His House! Do you see this? Do you believe this? The Lord declared that in His House of Israel He found prophets and priests, which were prophane and wicked! (Jer. 23:11) Do you truly believe that such things are impossible in His New Testament House of the Church?

The Lord “does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous…” yet, “He opens also their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity … But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.” (Job 36:7-14)

And if you cannot believe or imagine that you do need discipline and chastisement, then remember your children. As long as you play with them and have fun, everything is fine and they are so cute and cuddly. The moment you start demanding from them any discipline, they immediately begin to show their “true colours”, that is, what is truly in their cute little souls – a devilish character, stubbornness, selfishness, malice, jealousies, disobedience, arrogance, etc!

What makes us think that as children of God we are any different? Do we not behave before God in the same way as our own undisciplined children? Before we are delivered, we all behave the same way. As long as God “plays” with us and blesses us, we are fine. The moment He starts disciplining us, we show our “true colours”. Am I telling you some kind of mysteries or true facts of our earthly and also spiritual life?

Are you beginning to see and believe that God has no intentions to play with us, adults, sweet religious games? This has never been His intention. Furthermore, there is no time for that. After long centuries of darkness, He needs our willingness to receive from Him what He has to show us, assess us, guide us and thus prepare us for His Coming.

Why was there a need for John the Baptist to come? I am sure that you know. To cry out in the wilderness: “Repent… Prepare the way of the Lord…” (Mt. 3:1-3// Is. 40:3-5)

There is an equal need today to cry out in the spiritual wilderness of this world and of this Church: “Repent… Prepare the way of the Lord”. (see also Mt. 25:6) I believe I am also one of those small voices called to cry out to the Church in her spiritual wilderness even by this book. Who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Mt. 11:15; 13:9,43, etc.)

We must start seeing and understanding what God is doing today, how He is doing it and what our task is in it. Evangelism is not everything! Preaching the Word is not everything! It is a part of His Will. Changing our nature from that of Satan to that of Christ is everything! You need to know your own self before you can cooperate with God in working out and finishing your Full Salvation (Phil. 1:6; 2:12) and thus becoming a living part of His House.

We should be shocked to learn what is in our heart and why and that we have no power to change anything in our old nature, old creation, except when we accept our cross and the Power of the Lord’s Spirit. Therefore…

if our old man is not crucified and replaced by the New Man whom God created for us in holiness and true righteousness (Eph. 4:24), then we must perish together with our old man whom we loved more than our New Man! (Mt. 16:24-26// Mk. 8:34-38// Lk. 9:23-26) We can never live in the House of God – in Christ – in our old man, in our old sinful and uncrucified nature.

Compare this true Eternal Will of God, His Word, His Plan of the true and complete Salvation with your church services, Sunday or Sabbath schools, prayers, biblical or home cell meetings or fellowships and see whether there is any part of this Will of God done or at least considered at your place of worship and fellowship.

Let us start seeing, pondering and understanding this basic issue of our Eternal Life in the everlasting Presence of Our Father in Heaven. He is not satisfied with just some “saved individuals”, He must have His House–the Body of Christ–Fully saved and matured sons and daughters of God. Is it really so difficult to see this? I agree that it is easy to come and sit in “your” church, play some music, sing few hymns, listen to an interesting sermon (even make notes on paper), put some money on the offering plate and go home satisfied and believing that all is well! But is the Lord truly satisfied? Has anybody asked Him this question? Has anybody asked Him how He views your church, your services or your activities? NO! How do I know? Because I went through such religion for several years myself! And I still see the same religious form continuing after all those years. It also took me a long time to start asking the Lord such questions! And He responded to me, and I was shocked by what He was showing me^[8].

It is natural that we all start learning somewhere, and we all start being guided into “some truth” and that it may take a year or two to start seeing something and hearing the Lord. I also went through my spiritual nursery and primary school. I have learned many basic truths, basic facts, much biblical history and also had the necessary fellowship.

I am truly very thankful to my former pastors and elders for all my basic education and guidance and fellowship, which I needed during that time. But then after that, what else? Then I was on my own, wondering… is there anything else, anything more? Is that all?

Once you received the necessary biblical information and could discern Moses from Aaron, Jacob from Esau, Naomi from Esther, Peter from Paul, Cornelius from Pilat, etc., you had seemingly reached your plateau. You could pitch your tent there and begin your everlasting stagnation! And, though it seems incredible, many believers did, and still do, exactly that. And who is to blame? Do you know?

After almost 2,000 years, the Church was supposed to have matured and be ready for the Lord and for His House. We should have been “sons & daughters of God” forming a Corporate New Man in Christ Jesus, which is to say, a New Mankind!

But we may be much worse than the Early Church, more childish, more fearful, more disunited, more lazy, more arrogant, more selfish, more disobedient, more complacent, more self-gratifying and, yes, I will say it… more foolish. God’s satisfaction and final goal may not be on our list! There is…

No authority, no chastisement, no obedience, no discipline, no true purpose, no true vision, just self-satisfaction, dreaming colour dreams and sweet deception. This is the state of the Church of Jesus Christ, in general.

The Church has completely failed its very important mission and calling in the area of spiritual maturing of born-again believers!

All in the Remnant can see it clearly. Others cannot see it, not until the Lord grants them spiritual eyesight.

So, the Lord Himself has to take the hand of any soul that desires more than the current Church has been offering. There may be no one else to give that soul more than just biblical information, religious shows or emotional entertainment. And that soul has to walk with the Lord separated from all those religious forms and performances of today’s organized religion where there is “everything for everybody” out there. In 1969, I heard my former Pentecostal pastor say on his radio program to an enquiring listener: “You do not have to come to our church …’shop around’… and find a church, which will suit you…” Hello? God knows where He wants the man, where he belongs and not where he likes it or where it suits the man.

Is this not a great success of the powers of evil and darkness to keep the Lord’s people in this state? To keep them from their true and complete Salvation as is intended and purposed by God Almighty? And to even keep them in a “danger zone” from where they could slide back and perish? Our hearts should be weeping.

Now, would God allow such a thing to happen? Well, God allowed it, otherwise, it would have never happened! God allowed His chosen people of Israel to perish in the wilderness soon after their “Salvation”, which means, after their departure from Pharaoh (Satan) and from his kingdom and crossing the Red Sea. I do not mean “perish eternally” (Rom. 11:26), but perish from the world (as in the Holocaust). Has God changed His Mind or Will about the chosen people of the New Testament – the Church? Not at all! God never changes in His Character and Will. (Mal. 3:6,7)

It may be worse with the Church of Jesus Christ than it was with Israel! The Church may be bringing greater shame to the LORD than Israel did, which was never born-again by His Spirit as the Church has been! Therefore, the Church shall go through the Great Tribulation and saints shall also be overcome by the Devil… a kind of “Christian holocaust”! (Rev. 13:7)

Let me share with you my deep convictions as well as my experiences of what God allows and what we do to Him and most of the time being totally unaware of it.

A page above, I write about people coming in and sitting in their church and, generally, “taking it easy”. They may sit quietly listening or taking notes or jumping around praising the Lord, singing, crying or being ecstatic. As I wrote before, no matter how the people in the congregation behave, there is never a guarantee that any work of the Spirit is done in their soul – heart, mind and will. And, may I say this quite frankly and openly – this is not their fault! They generally do what they are led to do by their leaders. Do the leaders give their people the Life of Christ or just some religious education, tons of religious lectures, hymn singing, emotional experiences or a classy religious entertainment?

I must, again, say a few words about the leaders, and I include myself (without elevating myself). We are just as divers in character as are all the believers in the pews or chairs. Most of us preachers or teachers or pastors may be satisfied with our preaching. There could even be a great fascination about the topics preached and how we present them. It feels very good to present our wisdom, especially, if it fits well with some verses of the Bible. It is also good to see and know that the people are impressed and nodding their heads or even applauding.

BUT, there is a but, which we might genuinely love to neglect. What is it? There are two basic points, which we must diligently consider in our hearts before the Lord:

A) We may be preaching and preaching and preaching and people may be listening and listening and listening, But nobody is doing anything with the truth preached! The leaders are not leading their “sheep” TO DO that truth… (Phil. 4:9) and the sheep are glad not to do anything about it! Their lives and spirits do not show any noticeable change. They may intellectually understand the doctrines, the sermons, the intentions, the truth, but their daily life does not show any change! Yet, each week they come for more! This is like “building sand castles on beaches” where the first sea wave will wash them all away without a trace.

Now, the reason behind this may be twofold: a) such believers have ears dull of hearing or a fat heart (see also point 2 below), or b) the words preached are from man and have no power to penetrate the “fat of the old man” and touch his nerve. So, “man” was speaking and not the Spirit of God, hence, despite the possible correctness of the message, no life was imparted to people. Do we realize the consequences? Here they are:

1. Any new faith that the people may have received from hearing the Word (Rom. 10:17) remains dead (Jam. 2:17) because no action ever followed the sermon! It may have satisfied people’s curiosity and demand for new messages. But after years, there may be “tons” of dead faith within their hearts… and anything dead usually starts rotting. Is this situation desirable for such believers?

2. Any Word brought to the people through preaching may have been stored in the “warehouse of their memory” as interesting and left there for “future references” but their hearts may not have believed the truth to be applicable to their own selves! And the proof is that the truth preached produced no real and living faith and thus no further action! But the more truth is accumulated and disbelieved in their hearts, the greater judgment will come on the people! (Jn. 12:47,48// Lk. 10:16) God is not giving us His Truth in vain or casting His pearls in front of, well… read Mt. 7:6. The result is spiritual stagnation, fat (unresponsive) hearts, ears dull of hearing, closed eyes (Mt. 13:15), apathy, lethargy, decaying, spiritual death… while at some other time, the same believers may be jumping and praising the Lord, speaking in tongues or singing beautiful hymns!

B) We may be building the faith of our congregation, group, fellowship, radio or TV audience on our wisdom and intellectual cleverness or oratory skills. But Paul writes clearly from his experience: “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1Cor. 2:5)

What does that mean? How can this upset our otherwise excellent preaching or render it fruitless? In my faith and experience with the Lord, there are three basic points, which can easily upset our preaching and render it fruitless. Are you willing to ponder them together with me?

1. Our preaching may not take into account the full truth, only a partial truth. Partial truth does not bring the Spirit of the Lord into any action! Partial truth (so-called “half-truth”) may be likened to speaking in an unknown tongue without an interpreter. It may also be likened to “the trumpet, which gives an uncertain sound, and so, who shall prepare himself to a battle?” (1Cor. 14:8)

Partial truth always lacks the necessary clarity and ingredients, which make it a wholesome truth, which is strong, pointed, powerful, pure and undisputable in any way. Full truth always incorporates both sweet and bitter truth; that, which men like and that, which men hate. God is not a diplomat or a politician, but many preachers are, or may very well be. Many of them like to be admired and approved by their flock, they desire to keep the flock and, if possible, enlarge it. That might be one of the true reasons for leaving out, bypassing or neglecting the bitter truths and only propagating the sweet truths.

2. Partial truth tells people either what they must stop doing or what they must start doing. But it does not tell them how and why! When I expounded the Scripture to my brethren and then told them to stop doing this or that, I then sincerely believed that they would stop it. Ha, ha, ha! You see, I was also naïve and dreaming. If Christianity could work this way, we could all have been in Heaven a long time ago. The Lord had to show me a simple fact, which is the following:

believers are unable to do what they hear from the pulpits! They can do nothing in their flesh, sinful nature, which must first be crucified, destroyed. The Lord will never enable their “old man” to do what we might tell them to do in all truth, in all our understanding, in all our sincerity, in all our faith!

So, we keep preaching as if the powers of darkness and evil did not exist; as if the sinful nature in believers would leave them by their wish or by a simple prayer; as if the people were just waiting for our instructions and were eager to carry them out when they come home from the church service. Mind you, some of them may be eager, but they will soon find out that their well-meant zeal will result in nothing. Don’t we see that? Aren’t we truly experiencing it? And, please, let us not confuse an earthly success with a spiritual success from the Lord.

3. The most shocking news the Lord had for me and now has for you also is that Satan is doing precisely the same thing! He transforms himself into an angel of light (2Cor. 11:14) and preaches “half-truths”! (meaning lies mixed with truth) He started with a partial truth right in the Garden of Eden as he deceived Eve, speaking to her both a lie (Gen. 3:4) and a truth. (Gen. 3:5) Satan has been continuing with it because it was such a grand success and because he knows that in this way people will never do what they are supposed to do and will never achieve what they are supposed to achieve! They will permanently settle into a form of “sweet & peaceful” religion and “sweet & peaceful” delusion. And that is precisely where the Church is today! Ignorance is bliss... and much wisdom and knowledge increases sorrow and grief! (Ecc. 1:18)

Can we truly swallow the above pill from the Lord? That pill would effectively undo the spiritual blindness, which has set into the Church of Jesus Christ and is purely a devilish work of deception. It is satanic and it works for Satan very successfully (2Cor.4:3,4 applies also to the “unbelieving believers”). After many years we may still be unable to perceive that nothing changed in “our church” and that it grew into a religious merry-go-round, which should help us “endure” or keep our Redemption.

The Lord declared that He came to “destroy the works of the devil”. (1Jn. 3:8) How did the Lord destroy them? Did He destroy them through His preaching of truth? No! Did He destroy them through His miracles of healing, raising dead, feeding multitudes, walking on the water? No! He destroyed them at His Cross!

Do we destroy the works of the devil through our preaching of truth? No! Do we destroy them through the miracles of healing or other wonderful works? No! Do we destroy them by screaming, sweating, striving, jumping, dancing, persuading or other physical performances? No! Do we also destroy them on our own crosses? What do you believe? I believe that…

Without their cross, there is no true Christian. Without the Cross of Jesus, there is no true Church. There is no true ministry, no true minister of Christ, no true believer in Christ who has not been crucified. This is the Absolute Essence of our Christianity.

Apostle Paul writes this truth clearly and eloquently in some of his letters to the Church, for example:

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (1Cor. 2:2)

To the Galatians, he also writes very clearly:

“And they that belong to Christ have crucified their flesh (old man, sinful, devilish nature) with the affections and lusts.” (Gal. 5:24)

They that belong to Christ (born-again believers) have crucified their flesh! Have you – the readers of this book, the born-again Christians – crucified your flesh? How did you do that? Or, have you not even started it? How will you reply to the Lord?

YOU, dear reader and friend, if you truly belong to Christ, you must crucify your flesh! God will not put your cross on you but you must take it up by your free will decision! (please, read again Mt. 16:23-27 + 26:42// Lk. 9:23-25 + 22:42)

This is not my suggestion to you, it is the Word of God to you. The Lord will enable you to do it, but He will not do it without you! Do you believe this Truth? And if you do not belong to Christ as yet, then, by believing in Him as your Saviour, repenting to Him of your sins and confessing His Name, you may be saved and belong to Him. Then, be baptized in water and you will receive His Spirit and will be standing at the starting line of your way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not despair, there is yet time to do it, you only need to open your heart and mouth to Him... and keep opening them as you march along your way to the Kingdom. That is all!

Let me bring another Word of God into my message on this extremely important and vital subject and what the Lord is clearly showing us. Here the Lord speaks directly to His future apostles saying:

“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.” (Mk. 16:16// Rev. 21:8)

The Lord does not say: “He that believes and is (now) baptized is (now) saved.” No, He says: “He that now believes and is now baptized – shall be saved.” Thus, the Lord sees the whole necessary future salvation process in front of the new believer. When we combine this Word with those quoted above, the Lord is telling us principally the following truth about our Salvation:

by believing and being baptized, we are not saved yet! We are redeemed, belong to God, have Eternal Life in Christ and shall be saved!

And we shall be saved IF we continue doing the Will of Our Father, which is in Heaven as He requires in His Word. God doesn’t need more educated people, but NEW people with a new spirit, new soul, new body.

This truth may change the whole concept of your present Christian beliefs, desires, hopes and expectations! Will you consider it in your heart?… or will you hold on to your own beliefs?

Do you believe this as true in your heart verifying it in the Word of God or are you checking this only in your own thinking or feelings or with what you have heard thus far? I do not know, but first check the Word of God and then your conscience. Do not hate me for bringing you this Truth from the Lord Jesus Christ that alone can save you from hell and damnation and bring you to Heaven… and your house. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” also means: “Believe His Whole Word.” (Acts 16:31)

If your life were not important to the Lord (and to me), I would have never been led to write this book, waste my own time and money for printing and postage. But because the Lord cares, His Spirit causes me to also care, and so, I am sending this truth of His Word to YOU. If you reject it, you will be just like pagans. God offered them His Salvation – and they rejected it.

So, all pagans go to hell with no hope to ever return or ever change their situation. But just as our Salvation may not be apparent since we believed and were baptized, so also their damnation may not be apparent since they disbelieved and turned away from God and from His Grace. In fact, those saved and those damned may be mingling together in the world and in the Church and they may be indistinquishable. But this is not really my problem, my problem is with us, born-again Christians, future kings and priests unto God and Our Father. (Rev. 1:6)

What will your decision be? According to my faith and deep conviction, you should…

…stop pondering whether God is satisfying YOU, your hopes, your desires, your expectations and your will, and…

…start pondering whether you are satisfying GOD, His Will, His hopes, His desires, His expectations and His conditions for your Full Salvation and your Life Eternal as clearly described in His Holy Word.

Will you do that?

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

Should this book be concluded by saying simply: “Take it, or leave it”? I would prefer to say: “Take it, re-read it, ponder it, bring it before the Lord and be blessed and do not leave it!” This is, after all, the same choice that God presents to His people saying:

“See, I (Your God) have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;…I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore (you) choose life, that both you and your seed may live.” (Deut. 30:15+19)

Before I say anything else, I must declare a simple fact concerning our choice. God would never ask us to choose from something, which we would not know, see, perceive, comprehend and not be able to make an intelligent decision. Therefore, every one of us knows the difference between life and death, good and evil and thus we will have no excuses before God for making our choice. I do not believe that I should beg you to believe and accept the truths in the Word of God quoted and discussed in this book. Why? Because your heart knows and responds spontaneously while you are reading. Your conscience, if it lives, also knows and speaks to you while you are reading.

So by now, you have either believed and received, or disbelieved and rejected. No one remained neutral. And I have no power over this inner voice and decision of your soul. God Himself will not overrule your decision though He has the power to influence you and show you the real consequences of your decision. Read the whole fifth Book of Moses (Deuteronomy), chapter 30, and get the sense of this Word of God for yourselves.

It is also written:

“He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself; he that believes not God (His Whole Word) has made Him a liar; because he believes not the record that God gave of His Son (the New Man).” (1Jn. 5:10)

So, if you have believed in your heart the truths in the Word of God presented in this book, you have the witness in yourself and nobody has to persuade you. And if you have not believed, you likewise have the witness in yourself that you disbelieved and nobody will persuade you otherwise.

For those believers who say that they cannot do what the Word says, I say, you are absolutely right but also absolutely wrong! In yourselves, you cannot possibly do any of it, there you are right. But I would like to greatly encourage you in presenting to you another Word of God, which, I am sure, has been essential in the life of every Overcomer and in my own life also, which says:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13// Mt. 14:28,29) For multitudes of Christians, this Word is, unfortunately, nothing but a theory on paper!

I will now give you the Word of God showing the picture of the future and what will happen to born-again believers, if they will physically live to see these coming events. There are only two choices for all of us:

a) we decide to keep satisfying ourselves and to keep in us the things that God hates and will destroy, or

b) we decide in our heart to satisfy God and overcome the things in us that God hates and will destroy.

With the first choice, we do not have to do or change anything; just keep going and doing what we have been doing thus far. We are free to disbelieve and disregard what the Lord is giving to all of us in His Word and in His Judgment (also on the pages of this book).

With the second choice, the moment you decide in your heart to start walking this narrow way designed and set before you by God (Heb. 12:1// Mt. 7:14), which is the only road leading to the Kingdom and Life, the Lord will keep strengthening you as you will need in order to keep walking. I testify of this truth from my personal experiences with the Lord. I needed His power and strengthening every step of the way, although I never knew or understood how the Lord was really doing it. I have been only experiencing it. And I will need His strengthening all the way to the end. So, I am not walking alone, but with the Guide, Who knows every step of this way for He travelled it and had overcome Himself. This is the basis of the Lord’s promise where He says to us, who are likewise called to overcome:

“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with My Father in His throne.” (Rev. 3:21)

This Word was never preached and explained to me in any church and, as far as I know, to anybody else whom I knew in any religious organization or any denomination!

All of us who walk on this narrow way through the strength of the Lord and under His watchful eye are at this present time a Remnant according to the election of grace. (Rom. 11:5) We are overcoming not only hell, but also the world and finally the most difficult part – our old nature, old selves. And we are of a good cheer because the Lord had overcome the world (Jn. 16:33)… and hell.

* * *

What I have presented in this book is the truth about the New man, New Creation, which is coming soon, and the old man, Old Creation that will be destroyed soon.

I have also presented at least some reality, which I experienced in the Church of Jesus Christ and which I have been witnessing with the Lord for some 36 years now. The picture is getting worse as we are approaching the most important event in the closing stages of the history of man governing himself.

That event is the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom for His Bride only (Mt. 25:6), which is not the whole Church! The Bride is the wise virgins (Mt. 25:1-12), the Remnant in the Church, the Overcomers within the Church who love the Lord and He loves them (Rev. 3:9,10), the Firstfruits, the Manchild (Rev. 12:5), the Shulamite Maiden. (S.Sol. 6:9,13) Therefore, the Bride is not all that is the Church! This is (in comparative sense) similar to them that are not all Israel, which are of Israel. (Rom. 9:6)

Those believers that form the Bride of Christ are the only force that today stands in the way of the antichrist and his self-revelation, until they are taken out of the way, that is to say, they are raptured. (2Thess. 2:6,7)

The Rapture of the Bride out of the Church shall come before the son of perdition is first revealed to the world. (2Thess. 2:1-9// Rev. 3:10; 12:5) This is later on followed by the seven-year period of Tribulation. The majority of the Church-Israel (all non-Overcomers) will go right through the Tribulation until the last, seventh trump, third “woe”, when they will be raptured or “reaped”. (Mt. 24:29-31// Rev. 11:14,15; 14:14,15// 1Cor. 15:22,23,52// 1Thess. 4:15-18)

Then come the seven vials full of the wrath of God, (Rev. chpt. 16) which are not intended for the true born-again believers who are under the Blood of Christ. (1Thess. 1:10; 5:9, see also Mt. 3:7// Rom. 2:5-11; 5:8,9// Eph. 2:3; 5:6,7// Col. 3:5-12, etc.). And then, finally, after the seven vials of the wrath of God, Our Lord comes to this earth with His Bride to establish His Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (Rev. 19:11-16; 17:14// Mt. 20:16; 22:14, etc.)

All these above events may take place within the next 24-27 years! This means, the Rapture of the Bride may take place anytime from now and within the next 17-20 years, which is seven years sooner! This is not really my prophecy, it is my spiritual perception after studying prophecies for many years and understanding them and their signs with my heart and not with my head. I am aware of the Word in Mk. 13:32. Yet, I believe and know within myself that though we will not know “that day and that hour”, we may know “that year, or even that month”. Every bride senses within herself the “closeness” of the bridegroom’s coming… just as the bridegroom does. (ex. Mt. 24:33)

But this is how close we truly are to the end of this era of human government and to the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven with Christ ruling from the throne of David in Jerusalem. And we shall rule with Him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4) And after the thousand years, comes the Last Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15), New Earth, New Heaven and New Jerusalem. (Rev. 21:1,2,10-21)

This seems to be a good place to present to the Church another shock, which means, another truth from the Word, which thus far must have been a mystery as I have never heard about it during my entire Christian life.

The Church has been waiting for the “Second Coming of the Lord”. May I humbly say that the Church missed His Second Coming by almost 2,000 years? May I also humbly say that there are four Comings of the Saviour and Lord to this earth? Would you believe it? Well, here is the Word of God for you to see and ponder.

God, Our Creator put on this earth number “4”; there are four seasons, four cardinal points, four heads of the river that went out of Eden (Gen. 2:10-14), four winds and four “corners” of the earth (Rev. 7:1). Even the Ark of the Covenant (Christ) was carried about by four golden rings. (Ex. 25:12) Therefore, the Saviour and Lord makes four Comings to this earth. The first was at Bethlehem. Then, immediately after His Resurrection and after speaking to Mary (Jn. 20:16,17), He ascended to His Father to receive from His hands the book sealed with seven seals. He appeared in the midst of the Throne, so there “stood a Lamb as it had been (freshly) slain...” (Rev. 5:1-7) And the same day, He returned to the earth to visit His scared disciples. (Jn. 20:19) This was the Second Coming of the Lord to the earth!

The Third Coming is about to happen when He comes as the Bridegroom only for His Bride (wise virgins). (Mt. 25: 6-12) And then His Fourth Coming is when He comes with His armies at the end of the Tribulation to establish The Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (Rev. 19:11-16) When the Church at large is raptured at the last, seventh trump (which is supposed to be His Second Coming), the Lord will NOT come to this earth, but the believers shall meet Him in the air. (1Cor. 15:52// 1Thess. 4:17)

Is this contradicting your current beliefs? If it does, your true future may also greatly surprise you!

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Just as I am writing this book, news from South East Asia arrived describing the horrible catastrophe and human suffering caused by a powerful earthquake and the resulting tsunami (tidal wave) near the island of Sumatra on December 26, 2004. It hit many coastal countries as far as Eastern Africa and caused countless thousands of dead and missing and destroyed vast coastal areas with towns and villages. I do not want to dwell on this subject except to share with you the faith received from the Lord concerning this unusual catastrophe of almost Biblical proportions.

The Lord is pointing us to His Word (Heb. 12:26, also Mt. 24:7) so that we would see and understand that this is a “precursor” of the shaking of the earth, which is increasing. The Lord had started to shake the earth as well as His House according to His Word. In fact, this catastrophe is a “small preview” of what will be happening during the Tribulation time of the second trumpet when the third part of the sea will become blood, and the third part of all living creatures in the sea will die and the third part of all ships will be destroyed. (Rev. 8:8,9) And during the second vial, all the sea will become as the blood of a dead man and every living soul will die in the sea! (Rev. 16:3)

My friends, the Word of God is being fulfilled in front of our eyes and it unmistakably shows also another truth, namely: “Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God”. (Rom. 11:20-22)

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As in my other writings, I was compelled by the Spirit of the Lord to present in this book that part of the truth, which is neither preached, nor taught, nor explained in any sufficient depth, width, breadth and height. (Eph. 3:17,18) Believers are thus kept in a deep deception and darkness by the powers of darkness and very few servants of God seem to care. The blood of millions will be soon required from the hands of those that were called to care but did not. (Ez. 3:18-21) It is a heart-breaking situation. We might truly need another Jeremiah to lament over us in these last years.

Nevertheless, I know that there are such believers that will keep pressing toward the prize of the high calling of God upon their lives. (Phil. 3:14) They will not seek only self-satisfaction and approval from men, but God’s satisfaction and approval. They will, if necessary, “cut off their hand or their foot or pluck out their eye” in order to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Do we believe this? Do we understand this? Well, let us take one more look at the Word of God pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven and our entry into it.

As we have already established, no believer shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven just because he believed in the Saviour and was born-again and baptized or by chance or somehow automatically. If believing, water baptism and forgiveness of sins is all that we need in our Christianity then why are there countless other passages in the Scripture expanding the true picture far beyond any such limits set by men? This “man’s version” of Salvation could have all been written on one page of the Bible! Then, for whom and for what purpose are there these hundreds of other pages with other spiritual facts and realities?

The fact, which I want you to ponder and see the reality thereof, is the Word of Our Lord saying:

“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into Life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into fire that never shall be quenched. Where their worm (old soul) dies not and the fire is not quenched.

And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter halt into Life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.

For every one shall be salted with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” (Mk. 9:43-49// Mt. 18:8,9)

Wow! Has anybody ever preached and explained this Word of Our Lord in any church or fellowship? Really? I have never heard this Word preached or mentioned even once in my entire Christian life! Furthermore, the Lord is not addressing His Word to pagans and is not warning them – they are condemned to hell already no matter how many feet or hands they will cut off or how many eyes they will pluck out! The Lord warns His twelve disciples! (Mk. 9:35) And if He warns the future twelve Apostles then He surely warns the whole Church and every Christian!

What do these harsh Words of Our Lord really mean to us today? We know that whenever the Lord speaks, it applies to all times and to every believer. It is, therefore, more than desirable to devote our undivided attention also to the above Word of Our Lord and search its true meaning. Our life and ultimate destiny depends on believing His every Word including the above One. So, let us consider the above Word of God.

Firstly, the Lord speaks quite clearly and literally about hell and the “fire that shall not be quenched”. The Lord repeats the fact that the fire shall not be quenched three times, just so none of us would miss this vitally important reality. Then the Lord repeats three times that “their worm dies not”, which proves that our soul is immortal whether it be holy or sinful. After death, people will not cease to exist, but will consciously suffer in the flames for ever and ever without being consumed. (see also Ex. 3:1-3) Their “worm” means their old, sinful soul ruled by the old, evil life, the satanic nature, which they had lived and never denied.

Secondly, the Lord speaks symbolically about the “cutting off” of a foot or hand or “plucking out” an eye. Our hand “offends us” when what we do offends the Spirit of the Lord and His Word! Our foot offends us when we go to places or when we walk the roads where the Spirit of God would never bring us and where He is offended. Our eye offends us when it views things that offend the Spirit and His Word or when it directs the works of our offending hand or the walk of our offending foot. (ex. Ps. 119:37// Pr. 6:16-19, etc.)

To “cut off” our offending hand means to “stop its work” by which we are offending the Spirit or His Word, for example, causing physical or spiritual harm or wounds to brethren or to other people, serving the purposes of the powers of darkness rather than those of the Lord. Similarly, we may interpret the “cutting off” of an offending foot or “plucking out” our eye.

Now, offences are like sins whereby we may offend or grieve not only the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) but also brethren and other people. Offences also draw “woes” to the man through whom the offence comes (Mt. 16:23; 18:6,7) and they may have horrible consequences (see again pages 130-133).

We should now return to the subject of our war, battles and violence. One mystery in the Bible is usually solved by another mystery in the Bible and so it is in this case.

In addition to Mk. 9:43-49, let us consider another Word spoken by Our Lord where He says:

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent (non-peaceful, non-lazy, non-complacent) take it by force.” (Mt. 11:12)

This Word applied first to Our Lord Who brought the Kingdom to the earth in Himself, preached it and suffered violence because of it. It also applied to John the Baptist who started to preach it (Mt. 3:1,2) and to those who believed and were baptized by him. They all suffered violence, as well. It equally applied to all the believers who also believed and were baptized later on by others and were called to the Kingdom being made kings and priests by the Lord unto God, His and Our Father. (Rev. 1:6) We may say that every one that truly seeks the Kingdom (Mt. 6:33) suffers violence in some way or another.

The Lord also said: “The Law and the Prophets were until John (the Baptist); since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it (is forcefully entering in).” (Lk. 16:16)

The above Word of Our Lord was equally not preached and truthfully explained in any church. It represents a real stumbling block since a belief exists that all born-again believers are automatically going to the Kingdom, hence, there is no need for any violence on their part! But how could pagans ever get to the Kingdom by violence remains equally unimaginable and totally unexplained. Satan made also this Word “taboo” as many other verses of the Scripture, so preachers are bypassing them with no hesitation.

Let us also remember the Word of God from the very beginning of mankind where He declared the WAR between Himself and His seed, and Satan and his seed. (Gen. 3:15) You might find it desirable to review some portions of Chapter 2 of this book.

Let us now add to the above portions of the Scripture the Word sent to the Church in Ephesus. The Spirit of God through Paul tells us here about our wrestling and war against the powers of evil and darkness. (Eph. 6:12-17) Furthermore, add to this the Word to Timothy, who represents all the former Gentiles, how he is advised to endure hardness and be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2Tim. 2:3)

Finally, let us go to the Old Testament and realize the spiritual picture of king David and his son Solomon.

David typifies those that love and serve the Lord and do not hesitate to battle against His enemies. He is after the heart of the Lord and ready to fulfil all His Will. (Acts 13:22) Because king David was engaged in many wars for the Lord and shed much blood, he was not allowed to build the House or Temple of God, but his son Solomon was called to build It. (1Chr. 22:7-10) Solomon in his glory, possessions and wisdom (but not in other features) typifies the Lord, Who is coming to establish His Kingdom.

Now, Solomon’s father, king David, prepared all the material necessary to build the House of God – gold, silver, brass, iron, timber and stone. (1Chr. 22:14 – each such material has a spiritual meaning, but we will not go into it here).

We, the Remnant, are like unto king David, engaged in spiritual wars for the Lord, battling and preparing the spiritual material (different souls) for the building of the House of God and we also shed much blood. (see pages 126,160,161) We do not war just for our own sake, but also for the sake of all our brethren who also desire in their heart to be a living member of the true House of God and to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

When we now consider all of the above together, the true and grand picture emerges more clearly than seeing each Word separately.

The Lord leaves us in no doubt that we are in a war, battling and wrestling with powers of evil. That our task is to wrestle and destroy the kingdom of evil and darkness first in our own soul. Otherwise, the Kingdom which is within us, (Lk. 17:21) cannot be enforced from our spirit into our soul. Then we should also help our brethren to wrestle and destroy the same kingdom of evil and darkness in their souls. Then we must battle and win over the influences of men and those religious organizations, which serve these powers. They all stand in our way! Some believers may have already discovered this fact, many others have not.

We must understand that our destination, which is the Kingdom of Heaven, will not fall into our lap by chance or out of nowhere. That we must use violence to get there, to defeat the powers of darkness! You cannot deal peacefully with the powers of hell, which stand in our way to the Kingdom and oppose our entry! We must be prepared to “cut off” our foot or hand or “pluck out” our eye, if necessary. (Mk. 9:43-49) Why all this?

Well, I have never heard about a war where there was no violence and people were never wounded, even their limbs cut off, maimed, halted, blinded. They were glad that they remained living. They came as victors and were heralded. After the Second World War, there was a parade of troops before the British King and Queen in London. The troops were greatly applauded. But when the war amputees were paraded in their wheelchairs, the King and Queen stood up and bowed their heads to honour them and express their thankfulness!

It is then quite clear that the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within us is under violence! It is thus also clear that we have to become violent in taking, appropriating the Kingdom of Heaven by force! We must become violent with any power, any thing, any person standing in our way, violent even with our old sinful and evil nature! We must possess a fighting spirit and not a lazy one. There are great powers, which stand in our way and we must overcome them all! (ex. Rev. 12:11) This is the Will of Our Father and of Our Lord Jesus Christ for us – the Bride. Jesus-Man had to overcome them all as well giving us thereby an example how to follow Him!

These spiritual powers listed below [except c)] have also been against Jesus Christ and thus they are also against us and we may divide them into four groups as follows:

a) Principalities and powers of evil and darkness in the air and in high places, their temptations and works of evil. (Lk. 10:17-19// Col. 2:15// Eph. 6:12// 1Jn. 3:8, etc.)

b) The world with its temptations and lusts. (Jn. 16:33// 1Jn. 2:14-16; 5:4, etc.)

c) Our “old man”, which is our flesh and self-will. (Jn. 5: 19,30; 8:28,29; 15:5 // Rom. 8:13// 2Cor. 7:1// Eph. 4:22// Col. 3:5, etc.)

d) Principalities and powers within the Church and Israel; Old and New Testament Pharisees and Scribes, many ministers in all kinds of positions and in all kinds of religious organizations, denominations, sects and fellowships, and other believers who have the same heart and power to keep you away from the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 23:13) They are enemies of Christ and His Cross, they were never subjected to Him and to His Spirit! (Phil. 3:18,19)

The above spiritual facts may truly be a shocking news for many believers. But it is better to be shocked and start rowing than to continue sleeping or dreaming in your boat, which is drifting toward murderous waterfalls.

If it is truly hard for you to believe the above or even imagine it, then you should remember your conversion or even baptism. Did you start and go through it all without any problem? Was it all “smooth sailing” with no effort of your own or no opposition? Opposition from your friends or parents or teachers or others or from within your own soul? Was there no resistance in your own mind and heart? And if it was not all smooth at the starting line of your Salvation, how much less “smooth” it must be to come to the finish line? Ask any marathon runner.

Now, all the above may be very true, but we by our own strength cannot do any of it! True? So, what do we do?

I see our impotence to even remember and sort out all these facts we read above, never mind trying to implement them in our lives. Even in this, we must see our weakness, impotence, disability, impossibility to do anything without the help and Power of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And until we truly see our utter weakness and inability, the Lord cannot use us for any meaningful ministry toward Himself and toward His Church, which is, His Body.

Let us, therefore, turn to what I believe is the only answer that there is for all of us, the only hope that there is for all of us, the only power that we all need to succeed absolutely, totally and with finality. It is exclusively…

The LIFE of CHRIST = LIFE of the CROSS!

Not any religion, not doctrines, not studies, not our intellectual understanding, not our feelings, not our own efforts, not our life – but the life of Christ! It contains everything we need, it is the power that overcomes all the other powers including that of death! We obtain It ONLY on our own cross and nowhere else!

Do you have His Life and do you live It in your soul? Do not answer too quickly. Even if you believe that you have It, that does not mean that you live It! Our Lord said:

“I am come that they (His sheep) might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10)

This also means that He came because we – His sheep – were (spiritually) dead and had no life! Yet…

…we do not live His Life just by believing in the Saviour, being baptized, going to a church, giving tithe and offerings, reading the Bible, listening to the sermons about His Life and believing them!

So, how do we obtain the Life of Christ, which we already have in Him and in our spirit and should begin to live It in our soul? The Lord says to us clearly:

“Ye search (read, study) the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life, and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come (in)to Me that ye might have life.” (Jn. 5:39,40)

1. The first truth the Lord declares to us all is that we think … we think… we think... we remain in our brains and never get into our heart. If we cannot get about 20 inches down with our body (to our knees), we will never be able to get about 20 inches down with our religion (from our head to our heart)! Try it with your body and you will see what effect it will have on your religion… and your future life.

So, we think that we have Eternal Life because we search or read, teach, preach or write about the Bible. The Lord’s answer is clear: NO! We do not gain Eternal Life because of that activity. And as long as we keep thinking the same thoughts, we will remain deceived and never obtain His Life, which we thought we had. But if we believe what the Lord says in the above Word, then it will be possible for us to stop that thinking and beliefs and self-deception.

The Lord desires to tell us this simple truth:

When we eat and drink with our mouth, we feed our body. When we “eat and drink” with our mind, we feed our soul. when we “eat and drink” with our heart, we feed our spirit! (Lk. 4:4) Except we “eat the flesh” of the Son of Man (Word) and “drink His Blood” (Spirit), there is no life (of Christ) in us. (Jn. 6:53-56,63)

We can think and reason and debate the Word day and night, we thereby do not “eat and drink It” into our spirit. In our spirit we starve to death… if we are not spiritually dead already. But if we come to Him, He gives us of His Life and also faith to keep that Life! Fighting a good fight of this faith, we are then able to “lay hold on this Life of Christ”, keep It and live It. (1Tim. 6:12// 2Tim. 4:7)

“To come to Him” also means to “come to the Word” with an open heart and faith, for He is the Word. (Jn. 1:1+14) The Word is an incorruptible and living (Life containing) seed, which needs to get into our open heart, which is the field. It is sown there and grows by faith and brings forth the fruit of the same kind – incorruptible and living. This is a simplified way to describe the process of receiving Life from Him when we come to Him. We have to keep coming, keep sowing and then keep harvesting His Life. Of course, we come to Him directly in our spirit and with our open heart… not just with our intellect, imaginations, expectations or wishes.

And if we do not come to Him, He will arrange for us painful circumstances, sufferings, storms, battles, conflicts and other unpleasant conditions in our earthly life, which will “force us” to come to Him! Because it really takes highly foolish believers who would refuse to come to their Saviour and Lord to obtain His Life.

The Lord also declared:

“Blessed are they, which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Mt. 5:6)

Righteousness is not physical or mental and it is never acquired by reasoning. Christ Jesus was made our righteousness, hence, it is something spiritual and of God, and we can only obtain it by coming to Christ Jesus. (Rom. 10:3// 1Cor. 1:30// Phil. 1:10,11, etc.)

One more spiritual fact about “coming to Christ” is the following. Our “old man” will never desire or be able to come to Christ. Whenever we do come to Him, we lose a part of our “old man” and whenever we lose any part of him, our New Man, possessing the Life of Christ in himself, will grow and increase. We may also say that “coming to Christ” is, in fact, “coming into Christ” (Eph. 4:15) unifying our characters, our personalities. We are thus progressively becoming one with Him! (Jn. 17:21)

We may also obtain His Life through those servants of Christ who were already (sufficiently) crucified and have become “carriers” of His Life. Watchman Nee has this to say about this fact (“The Release of the Spirit^[2]”, page 21):

“When the Holy Spirit is working, He needs to be “carried” by the human spirit. The electricity in an electric bulb does not travel like lightning. It must be conducted through electric wires. If you want to use electricity, you need an electric wire to bring it to you. In like manner, the Spirit of God employs the human spirit as His carrier, and through it He is brought to man. (Jn. 6:63)

Whether he (believer) can be used by the Lord (for this purpose) depends not on his spirit but rather on his outward man. The difficulty with many is that their outward man has not been broken. …So, God’s Spirit is “imprisoned” within man’s spirit and is not able to break forth… (because man makes decisions by his free will)”.

The above paragraphs are a clear proof of the fact that if we are only taken up by doctrines, debates, interviews, biblical stories, seminars, conferences, teaching, preaching or intellectual activities of this sort, then we may very well be spiritually dead or starving to death. This means that the Life is only in our spirit and “imprisoned”, and has not broken through our soul, which is our outward man.

Can you discern your life whether it is Christ’s or your own “religious” life? Can you truly? If you have no spiritual discernment, you cannot.

The fact, that you speak or preach about the Life of Christ, that you understand the subject, that you use these expressions and terminology in various religious debates, interviews, teachings or sermons, that you perform or minister the gifts of His Spirit, does not mean at all that you actually live the Life of Christ yourselves.

Only life produces life, death cannot produce life. The gifts of the Holy Spirit cannot produce life! Biblical knowledge cannot produce life!

No activity of our soul can produce life! Only when we lose something of ourselves (our old life), may we gain something from the Lord (His Eternal Life).

Only when we keep dying to ourselves (1Cor.15:31) may we start gaining and living the Life of Christ! Only when we are dying may we start producing the true fruit of the Spirit unto the Lord! (Jn. 12:24// Gal. 5:22,23) His Life is Spiritual, not soulish and cannot be even imitated by our souls.

Furthermore, in any war, feeding the army is not an option! The outcome of the war rests on this important fact that the army needs not only weapons and ammunition but also food. Our war is spiritual so the Lord’s army needs spiritual weapons, spiritual ammunition and spiritual food!

You may have ten thousand believers or many more in your congregation, each having five Bibles, two concordances and one hundred religious books on every subject in the Bible. But if they are all spiritually dead, your war is over before it even began. Are you with me?

2. The second truth the Lord declares to us is that we do not want to keep coming to Him, to keep obtaining His Eternal Life. The Word in Is. 28:10 applies here, as well. Clearly, this is not the same problem as with the first truth above. Here, I would like to say that it is “easy” for the Lord to tell us that truth, but for us it is mighty difficult to do it… to come to Him. Why?

When we believe in the Lord in our heart and confess our faith with our mouth (Rom. 10:9), we are redeemed and born-again but only in our spirit. (Jn. 3:6) Our sinful nature or character has not departed from us! (repetition of basic facts does not hurt) At this stage, it may not be easy for us to come to the Lord with all that sinful nature in our soul. It needs an opening of our heart and faith to come to Him. (Heb. 11:6)

I must confess at this place the truth, which at this stage applies to all of us: it is mighty difficult for us to open our old heart to anybody, whether it is to our brethren or to the Lord Himself! We cannot open it even to our spouse! True? As soon as you try to open your old heart and speak truth out of it, you will start experiencing the strength of hell, which tries to keep your heart and mouth shut! But it is very good to experience such a shock and see the powers of evil trying to keep the truth hidden so that their lies, deception and other works of darkness would not be exposed! It is equally beneficial to experience the power of the Lord, Who at such times can enable you to open your heart and mouth and give you the freedom to speak, declare, decide and taste your victory.

I must now ask you this: Have you ever seen your old wicked, deceitful heart and what was (or still is) in it? If you have never seen it then to this day, you have been a deceived soul, ignorant about yourself. If you have seen it and it was not changed, renewed in any way, would you desire a new, clean heart? If yes, who will destroy that old, wicked, deceitful one? How is the Lord supposed to do it?

You cannot live with two hearts or two minds or two souls, one holy and one wicked! Is it true? We either live our life through our self or His Life through Christ! (1Jn. 4:9) So, you either lose your self or you lose Christ! Hence, one day, you will have to open your heart to the Lord of Glory, Who must enter in, start destroying the old heart and create a new, clean heart in you. (Ps. 51:10// Pr. 20:9) He will do it by drawing you into Himself. He will create nothing new in you, as a person, outside of Himself.

[Oh, My Lord, oh, My Lord, how unable we all are to do anything. Without Your Patience, Grace and Strength, we are totally and absolutely helpless. Help us, Lord.]

So, how do we come to the Lord? Well, as a “cat to a hot bath” fighting tooth & nail. We must literally be pulled or cornered like a wild animal that is wounded and does not know that the One who is cornering it, will give it a new life. Of course, I am exaggerating, right? If you think so, then you have never seen, perceived or understood what is going on in the spiritual world. The life-and-death battles continue there daily – as in the jungles of Africa – and there is no mercy. In hell, there is no love, no mercy, no justice and no hope… ever! We have access to love, mercy and hope on this earth, and we do not appreciate it and do not come to the Lord of Life. This is the unbelievable, unimaginable and absolutely incomprehensible part of our “religious reality” as well as the mystery of our Salvation.

Every Christian that I have met wants to go to Heaven and be with the Lord forever. Are we surprised? Well, no. But may I ask a simple question concerning this desire? If Christians truly desire to be with the Lord forever, why do most of them not truly desire to be with the Lord even two minutes today? I mean, in spirit and in truth? Are we able to answer this penetrating question truthfully at least to ourselves? I doubt even that.

Let us now consider another simple fact concerning our coming to the Lord and obtaining His Life, which we cannot obtain in any other way.

Imagine that you are desperately seeking something, which you lost and you desire or need, which is precious and you know that it is somewhere near you and there just must be a way to find it. You must overcome many problems, difficulties, failures or disappointments. Perhaps, you must also overcome discouragement from your “friends” and many obstacles, which may be thrown under your feet. What you are seeking may be a thing or it may be the way out of a deep forest where you are lost. You are thus seeking the way out to preserve your life, otherwise, you know you would perish there. But then, finally, you find the way out and your joy is very great.

Tell me now, is this not the same with seeking the Lord?… and with overcoming many obstacles, failures, disappointments, discouragements, and what have you? And when you finally overcome all these obstacles, are you not an “Overcomer”? You see, to “over-come” simply means to “come-over”… to a new place, new character, new Life.

Every one of you is an “Overcomer” already today in your earthly life. You had to overcome many things, failures, problems, difficulties, disappointments. All your life on earth, you have been fighting to preserve it for those 70-90 odd years. And as we said already before, you have been fighting a similar war in your own body where your body is fighting billions of bacteria, viruses and toxins daily. True? Why are you then not prepared to battle also in the spiritual world? Are you not ready to fight for your Eternal Life, which will never end? Is your Eternal Life not worth infinitely more than your earthly life? Do you see the true and real power of deception?

Do we, Christians, really need a “cattle prodder” to start moving in the right direction? We do! This shows the true depravity of our old character and the true depth of our deception! When will we be finally “fed-up” with ourselves and start seeking the way out of this deep forest of deception to save our life? He who seeks, finds! True? (Mt. 7:8) This Word of God is His true encouragement to us and I do not believe we need more than that at this point… or ever.

So, let us start and believe that the Lord will bring us to the end of that road and to our inheritance in Him, which is Life Eternal. If you have decided in your heart and mind and will about it, then you will join me in our prayer at the end of this book. And you will be on your way… and you will be also experiencing at least some of the things, which I write about in this book. They will become for you like unto “sign-posts” along your narrow way.

Let me add an important note and my strong belief concerning the Life of Christ. We do not need His Life for anything in our earthly life that we can do in our own power, wisdom and effort! We may continue our earthly life just as before and do all the things we always did and, perhaps, add some new things or activities or projects. We may continue doing what we think or believe that we should do. We may also continue “working for the Lord” in the best way we know how, and many believers do just that. But…

We absolutely need the Life of Christ in order to wrestle, to war and overcome the spiritual powers inside and outside of our soul, to become a New Man and to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We have no power of our own against these forces or against our own old life, which tries to “work for the Lord and please Him” in order to save himself! Are you with me? Do you see this basic dilemma of our Christian life and experience? Have you experienced and recognized any of the four great spiritual powers stated above? (page 297) How do you propose to overcome them without the Life of Christ? I tell you from my own living experiences, it is a sheer impossibility.

We absolutely need to keep coming to the Lord, to keep obtaining more and more of His Life for our greater and greater needs. One “visit” to the Lord will not turn you into an Overcomer! One prayer will not assure you of the Kingdom of Heaven. One visit to the seminary will not make you a doctor of theology. True? We must get into the habit of coming to the Lord and receiving His Life, His Power, continually. Once we get into this desirable habit, all questions, problems and battles of our Christianity will be resolved! All our enemies will be overcome and defeated. Our destiny and entry into the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to the New Jerusalem will be abundantly assured. (2Pet. 1:11)

Is this not what we all desire in our heart? Do you also desire this? So, why don’t you go for it? Why don’t you start seeking the Lord right now? I encourage you to do it wherever you are and whatever you are doing right now. The time is very short. This also applies to all the believers and ministers who may know the Bible from cover to cover and may have been ministering its Truth for many years, may have university degrees, and in their soul they may be spiritually dead – without the Life of Christ.

* * *

Before concluding this last chapter of this book, I am clearly led and constrained by the Spirit of the Lord to declare to the Church in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ the following truth.

The single most important failure of the Church in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, which the Lord keeps judging even in this book is the fact that the Church has not heeded the Light and Warnings of the Lord through His true servants, chiefly brother Watchman Nee from China, Austin-Sparks from Great Britain and others.

They started and also continued preaching, teaching, writing and thus showing to the Church that believers must do more than just believe, get baptized and then join “some church”! That by believing and being baptized, believers only opened the door to their Salvation, but much truth and reality of their Salvation was not yet true in their own souls! It is all true in Christ, but not in them!

Though brother Watchman Nee wrote only one book (The Spiritual Man), great efforts were made to transcribe his numerous excellent sermons and teachings and publish them world-wide. Great light and understanding was given to him by Our Lord and through him to all of us. I personally have been greatly blessed through his writings! The Lord, in fact, guided and enabled me to start my spiritual ministry by teaching from his book “The Spiritual Man” (see pp. 18,19,54 in this book, and p. 51^[8]).

Yet, his books never made it to any church or denomination that I know of. In our Pentecostal church, the very existence of his books was never even mentioned, let alone their truth and light preached, taught and explained to the Lord’s people!

The same is applicable to the numerous and excellent books of brother Austin-Sparks though I came to know them myself much later on in time when I was already taken out of the religious systems of this world by the Lord.

The deep Truth–Light from the Lord is still being unrighteously neglected, not preached and explained to multitudes of believers! This is inexcusable.

Those multitudes of believers included me, a member of a Pentecostal church speaking and singing in tongues! This colossal failure has precipitated the present conditions within the Church, which are totally unacceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ – Her Builder! (Mt. 16:18// Ps. 127:1)

God rejects “this house” built by men and not by the Lord, with those that dwell in and are unwilling to change, to obey His Whole Word, which house is Babylon… and not the dwelling IN Christ Jesus.

I am also very strongly constrained by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to declare to the Church leadership the following important truth and light from Our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is absolutely imperative that WE ALL would diligently consider this Lord’s Truth and Light in our hearts and souls and would be guided thereby in the remaining time of our Christian life and ministry on this earth before His Coming.

We all have proud and deceitful hearts before the Lord who sees our nakedness, whether we call ourself a bishop or prophet or pastor or teacher or preacher or minister or reverend or the right reverend or by any other name or title!

If we cannot see it, then we have never met and seen the living Christ! We only read about Him or heard about Him by our ear. (Job 42:5,6)

The Lord sees pride, self-righteousness and foolishness in us all without exception especially when we keep displaying our university degrees and other academic or religious titles as if they would mean anything valuable to the Lord or to His Church! It is nothing but a show of Pride of our old man and his achievements! (1Cor. 8:2) No part of the Bible was written by a ‘Th.d’ or a ‘Ph.d’, yet, we feel free and competent to explain it, comment it or preach it by our intellectual knowledge and prowess.

The Lord calls us to repentance and humbleness because we are responsible for what we do to Him and to His Body – the Church. Whether we present great and wise sermons, heal multitudes of sick or bring our congregations to an emotional frenzy, or whether we ourselves strive, scream, yell or sweat like fools… if we are not willing to depart from the evil within us and within the Church – we shall be judged and will not escape His Sword!

Let us not think for even one second that we are great and have a great ministry, that there is nothing wrong with us or in us or nothing to repent of or nothing to change. Deceived and blind leaders bring millions of believers to their destruction and ditch, (Mt. 15:14) and that includes whole multitudes of those sincere believers. Their blood shall be required from the hands of those leaders. (Ez. 3:17-21)

This is the Word from the Lord, Who despite our evil (Mt. 7:11) continues to keep us through His Grace.

* * *

Let me now come back to the reality of the Church at large and declare how the Lord sees Her and keeps Her.

On one hand, it is true that an intellectual and emotional religion especially of these days is far better than none at all… because it keeps millions of believers from backsliding and perishing! Hence, the Lord is preserving His saints (or called to be saints) by His Grace in whatever spiritual state they may be foreknowing who will overcome what and when and how.

On the other hand, we are called to provide what is necessary to those desiring to truly know the Lord and be prepared for His Coming as the Bridegroom. We should help them to find the narrow way and start walking on it, to seek the Lord and keep coming to Him for His Life. Because (I must repeat)...

...only those that are found on the narrow way shall be considered worthy of God and of the Kingdom (1Thess. 2:12// 2Thess. 1:5// Mt. 25:10-12) and taken to the Marriage Supper and to the Kingdom of Heaven. All the others will go through the tribulation of seven years and the rule of the antichrist.

Here, the Lord brings us to yet another spiritual fact, which is to be considered in our heart and spirit. That spiritual fact is the following.

We should not be seeking the Lord and coming to Him just for our personal reasons and benefits. This is also a kind of selfishness and individualism that has nothing to do with the objectives and Will of Our Lord. He cares for the whole Church and so should we. We must see all those others for whom we live and fight, “for none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself.” (Rom. 14:7// Phil. 2:4) Therefore…

If we fail to gain the Life of Christ and be engaged in the war with the powers of darkness, then it is not just our personal failure. We also failed all those for whom the Lord appointed us to fight and live (physically and spiritually) and to minister to. How we fare in our salvation process affects the whole Church and also the Lord, Who in His Love for us keeps suffering for us and within us even during this process. (1Cor. 13:4-8// Eph. 4:30// 1Jn. 4:8-11)

I hope that despite this deplorable state of the Church, there may be many believers who will heed this Word from the Lord and will desire to be ready for His Coming. I say, ready, but according to His spiritual requirements, not our imaginations or dreams or opinions. Hence, I want to give all such believers a more specific picture from the Word of God concerning their future and the way to it.

In the above paragraphs, I am mentioning names like Bride of Christ, Remnant, Firstfruits, Overcomers, Shulamite Maiden and Manchild. These all point to the same group of believers who have made the decision in their heart to love the Lord, His Word, His Truth, to follow and satisfy Him and be prepared for His Coming as His Bride. They are a small part of the Church, a little flock (Lk. 12:32) who walk on the narrow way and, we may say that, they are…

…coming out of the Church-israel, their mother, as if being “born” out of Her.

They are the “Shulamite Maiden”… “My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her (the Woman)…” (S.Sol. 6:9) They are the “Manchild” also “born out of the Woman”. (Rev. 12:5, see more below)

Now, the mystery of the Woman and the Manchild (Rev. 12:1-6) has been a point of controversy for a very long time and it may possibly remain a mystery at least in some of its aspects. I do not pretend to resolve this mystery with an “infallible conclusion”, rather, I want to present what the eye of my spirit sees as fitting into the overall picture of the Scripture. I believe the following:

The “Woman” represents the Church & Israel made One (Eph. 2:15-19) from the foundations of the world since the Lord was already slain from that time. (Rev. 13:8)

She is clothed with the Sun (the righteousness of the Messiah, the Christ – Job 29:14// Ps. 132:9// Rom. 3:22; 10:4// 1Cor. 1:30// Gal. 5:5// Phil. 1:11; 3:8,9, etc.);

The “Moon” under her feet (Her base are those believers from Israel and the Church, who from time to time reflect the Light of Christ-Messiah as the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, but inside they are yet dead as the Moon is, though we should all be like the Sun [bright stars], living and bearing the Image of Christ- Messiah);

And a “crown of twelve stars upon her head” (12 is a symbol of Heavenly Government and Eternal Perfection; it also represents the 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles, 12 gates, 12 foundations, 12,000 furlongs and 12x12=144 cubits of New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:12,14,16,17).

The Manchild is within the “Church-Israel” and He causes Her pain. At the time of the vision, She is still on the Earth because, after the birth of the Manchild, She flees to the wilderness, which is not in Heaven but on the Earth. (Rev. 12:6,13-17) This furthermore shows and proves that the Church-Israel in general will go through the Tribulation of seven years until the last trumpet and before the seven vials of the wrath of God.

The Manchild represents the Lord Jesus Christ and also His Overcomers, the called and chosen and faithful ones (Rev. 17:14), His brethren. (Mt. 12:47-50) They are caught up to God’s Throne and will after the Tribulation and together with the Lord rule the nations with a rod of iron. (Rev. 2:26,27; 3:21; 12:5; 19:15; 20:4) This Manchild is also the Bride and Wife of Christ – the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9,10) because only the Wife of Christ will carry the Name of God and of God’s City and the New Name of Her Husband, Christ Jesus. (Rev. 3:12)

The Manchild thus represents not only Jesus Christ, Who was also born out of the Woman (Gen. 3:15) but also His Bride and Wife, His Overcomers! Jesus Christ was raptured to Heaven in the sight of His Disciples including John! (Acts 1:9) When John saw the vision of the Woman, Christ was in Heaven already for many years. Similarly, His Wife will be raptured in the sight of the “Woman”. (Rev. 12:5)

But the time factor and our human logic must never derail us from the right interpretation because the “great red Dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads” also existed from before the foundation of the world. He will only be manifested as such in these last days. One proof is that “his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven (angels) and did cast them to the earth”. (Rev. 12:3,4) This was his rebellion against God before the time of the Garden of Eden.

In the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, we thus witness events from before the Garden of Eden to almost the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the span of over 6,000 years. Also, the same Dragon that John saw in Heaven (Rev. 12:3), he saw again 2,000 years ahead of time on earth as coming out of the nations. (Rev. 13:1)

It seems desirable at this point to repeat the spiritual fact that Apostle John, whom the Lord loved (Jn. 20:2; 21:7), represents the Bride of Christ, Manchild, the Shulamite Maiden. On the other hand, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed the Lord, represents all those believers including disciples who will lose their Salvation and whose names will be blotted out of the Book of Life. (Rev. 3:5; 22:19) After being “disappointed with the ways and judgments of Jesus”, Satan will enter (or re-enter) these believers and they will stop cleaving to their own Saviour and will leave Him and will be destroyed! (Lk. 22:3// Jn. 13:27// Deut. 4:2-4) I assume that none of such believers are reading this book or getting this far in the book. The other ten Apostles represent the rest of the Church according to their own ways, characters, calling and ministry.

After the Manchild is raptured, the “Woman” is fed in the place prepared for Her by God for 1,260 days (~3.5 years – Rev. 12:6) This brings us to the middle of the “week” spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, which is the Tribulation period of seven years. In the midst of the week, Satan will break his covenant (with Israel) and will cause the sacrifices (by Israel’s priests) to cease and will make it desolate. (Dan. 9:27) Why?

The most important event at that time will take place in Heaven and it will be WAR! Michael and his angels will fight against Satan and his angels and will prevail. Satan and all his wicked host will be cast out of Heaven down into the Earth. (Rev. 12:7-9) Satan will have a great wrath knowing that he has but a short time. (Rev. 12:12) That is why he will cause the antichrist to brake his covenant with Israel, and the Great Tribulation of 3.5 years will start.

Let us see and perhaps be shocked again that God allowed Satan and his wicked angels to resist Him and accuse us not only here on Earth and in our own minds and souls, but to do their evil work of accusation also in Heaven!

Satan and many of his evil angels have been in Heaven, not in Hell! Is this also a shocking fact? God patiently waits for the Church – the Fullness of His Son – because the King of all kings will not rule as a bachelor but with His Queen at His side!

When Satan and his evil angels are finally cast out of Heaven (Rev. 12:9// Lk. 10:18), THEN the true Salvation and strength and the Kingdom of Our God and the Power of His Christ will finally come never to be hindered or opposed again – in heaven! (Rev. 12:10)

This is the “middle” of the tribulation period of seven years. satan has but a short “time, times and half a time” (3.5 years). (Rev. 12:12-17) And just before the seven vials of the wrath of God, at the last, seventh trump, all true believers, non-Overcomers, are raptured or “reaped”! (Rev. 11:15; 14:14-16)

What is extremely important for all of us who are willing to receive the discipline and training from the Lord thus maturing into the sons of God (Gal. 4:19) is that Satan and his wicked host of angels will be overcome not only by Michael and his angels but also by US – the Manchild who were caught up to Heaven just in time for the war! Why us? Because we will have the word of testimony from our own crosses and we did not love our (old) life even unto the death. (Rev. 12:11) Do we also see this Light and believe this Truth of the Word of God?

Let me bring to you the Word, which the Spirit of the Living God is giving to us right now before this book is concluded. It should give comfort and hope to all those that have been living in an uncertainty and fears. It says this:

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near (soon the Lord will not be near and will not be found). Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” (Is. 55:6-9)

The way of the Lord for us is to come to Him so that we may obtain His Life, to open our heart to Him so that He may come in and establish His Kingdom in our heart, mind and the whole soul. Shall we come to Him with hope and trust that He will do it? Will you join me in expressing your heart and soul to the Almighty Lord? And if you can’t find adequate words in your own soul, you may say with me my own words. If your heart agrees with them, the Lord will hear and understand… because He has been waiting for you, maybe, a very, very, very long time. It shows His tremendous Patience and Grace. But the door, which has been open to us all will soon be shut and when the Lord shuts it, no man will open it! (Rev. 3:7) And when the foolish virgins (foolish born-again believers) start knocking at the closed door thereafter, the Lord will tell them: “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” (Mt. 25:10-12) Don’t tell me that it will not be a shock to believers.

Similarly, Noah and his family (which was also a kind of Remnant) were shut in the ark when the Lord closed the door just before the Flood so that no one else could enter in and save himself from death! (Gen. 7:16// Mt. 24:37-42) Yet, that “door” was opened to every one for about 120 years during which time Noah preached about the coming Flood and the need of repentance!

* * *

Well, it has been a true joy to my spirit and soul that I was allowed, even called, to labour and cooperate with the Spirit of the Lord and write the above Judgments of the Lord. (Pr. 21:15a)

I am now ready to conclude this book by a prayer to Our Gracious, Merciful and Loving Lord Christ Jesus. Yet, I am being brought by His Spirit to one unusual experience in my life, which I must share with you with hope that it might give you a practical picture of ourselves as the Lord sees us before and after our Redemption.

One day I visited the famous prison on an island near San Francisco in California, USA, called Alcatraz where the most dangerous criminals were kept since it was impossible to escape from there. I volunteered to be put into one of the famous solitary confinement cells. A heavy steel door was closed and locked behind me and I found myself in an absolute darkness and quietness and cold. There was nothing inside but bare concrete walls, concrete floor, concrete ceiling with a small ventilating opening and additional steel bars with an opening for feeding the prisoner. After some time, I started to feel the horror it must have been for the prisoners who spent there days or weeks without getting out even for a moment. The only things missing there for me to feel like in a true damnation were flames of fire and some brimstone. (Rev. 20:15; 21:8) Fortunately, the tourist guide remembered me and after some minutes he unlocked and opened the door and I walked out.

Imagine that you are on a death row waiting for your execution. (That is how we all were before our Redemption in the eyes of the Lord.) Every time steps are heard in the corridor, your soul is trembling whether they are coming for you or for your neighbour. And then one day, your door is noisily opened and instead of the executioner with shackles in hand, there is a nice looking officer. You are told that your crimes have been paid for in full, you are pardoned and you are a free man! Is this a sweet news? Can you truly feel it… appreciate it? Probably not, unless you were shut into a similar solitary confinement… for a short time at least.

But then, you are also told that there are conditions for your release into the freedom: You must agree to clean yourself (spirit, soul and body) and put on a new, clean clothing. (2Cor. 7:1// Eph. 4:22-24) But you say: “Oh, no, no, no… I do not want that! For years I have been filthy and wearing this rags, I feel fine, I am used to it, I do not want to change, I just want to go out into my freedom as I am.”

You are then told that the freedom is only for new, clean men in clean clothing, and the decision to fulfil these conditions is yours. Also, that the door will not remain open forever but one day, about which you do not know, it will be shut never to be opened again.

So, the heavy door of your solitary confinement has been opened, but you keep sitting inside peeking out to the sunshine and freedom, yet, not being allowed to get out! Will you be shut in again and die there rather than be cleansed and clothed in new, clean clothing? What do you say? Do you see yourselves in that situation…of your spirit and soul?

If not, then you should know that the Lord may see you exactly in such circumstances, and He desires to tell you and to confirm it in your own heart. He desires to tell you that He not only paid for all your sins and provided for your release, but that He will also help you in your cleansing and putting on the new, holy and righteous man. And He has been waiting for your decisions maybe a very, very, very long time!

The above is just my personal experience and interpretation. But it compares to the true reality of our Salvation rather well. Perhaps, you would like to read it again and again… and meditate on it and realize that…

Christ did not die for us just so that we might attend some church, join in some religious activities and try to be “better” than in our past. He opened for us the door to a New Creation… and His Will is to make us magnificent New Creatures suitable for that New and magnificent Creation!

Because our New Man was already created (Eph. 4:24), God waits when we shall “die… put off” that old man and “put on” and live that New Man! Everything else in our Christianity was, is and shall be totally unimportant and meaningless, if we do not reach this final Will of Our Heavenly Father!

What else do we, believers, need to hear or read in order to pause, ponder and admit that we are not infallible in our hearts and beliefs and that our future is worth reviewing in the Light of the Word of the Almighty God? I am sure that there may be multitudes of believers who may read Mt. 25:6 and think that this is a future event. Not so!

Midnight has arrived and the cry has already started! The Spirit of the Lord is crying even through this book. Do you hear His voice? He says clearly:

“Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go ye out to meet Him.” (Mt. 25:6) Go to meet Him by opening your heart to Him… and do it now, not tomorrow.

Finally brethren, the last thing to which the Spirit of God is directing me is to imprint into our hearts the true “two-sided picture” of Our God, His Ways and Judgments. We must see and realize that Our God uses both goodness and severity, love and whip, good and evil, sweetness and bitterness, peace and tribulation toward all whom He had called and chosen to be His people, whether Israel or the Church.

And I must repeat at this point that Israel and the Church are ONE in His sight. They have become branches of one tree with one root (Rom. 11:16-24) and were made into One New Man (Eph. 2:11-16) because the Lord had slain the enmity thereof. Therefore, Israel and the Church have been made brethren in Christ Jesus!

What God uses toward us depends entirely on us, on our hearts, our willingness and our decisions. Hence, God uses…

…Severity toward all those that fell in the past and are fallen or falling even today by continuing in their pride, fears, arrogance, hypocrisy, iniquities, unrighteousness, in defying or neglecting His Word, His Ways, His Judgments, in mocking His messengers, despising His Words, misusing His prophets and thus abusing His Grace (2Chr. 36:15,16,19),

…Goodness toward those that continue in His goodness, in pressing toward His high calling upon their lives, in being willing to obey His Word, walk His Ways, accept His Judgments and be thus transformed into the Image of Christ Our Lord. For if we would not be willing to continue in His goodness, we shall also be cut off! (Rom. 11:22)

Please, read and meditate on this important Word of God showing God’s True Character, His Ways, His Principles and His Judgments in both Old and New Testaments. God will not act according to our expectations or understanding or wishes. His Ways, Thoughts and Judgments are different than ours. (Is. 55:8,9)

Let us also realize that Despite all His Great Love, Grace, Mercy and Desire that no one should perish, but all should come to repentance (2Pet. 3:9), God yet allows the disobedient people to go to their everlasting damnation! Why? Because…

…His Great Love, Grace, Mercy and Desire will never change any of His Principles of our Salvation or any part of His Word! If you thus only consider His love, grace, mercy and desire but refuse to be obedient to His Word, you are terribly deceived and it may cost you your eternal Life! (ex. Mt. 5:18// Rev. 22: 18,19)

We should then not be surprised when God is dispensing to people both tribulation and comfort. Tribulation to that part of the Church, which refuses to do His Will, and comfort to those that do His Will or are willing to do It or are learning to do It.

Therefore, in accordance with the above and being called by Our Lord Jesus Christ, and with a true joy in my heart,…

… I am in His Name WARNING all those described above and through this book who will keep refusing to do the Will of the Father according to His Word. (Ez. 3:18-21) They shall go right through the coming Tribulation and the reign of antichrist. They shall be thrown to outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They shall be called to overcome their old lives, crucify their flesh under very different conditions and sufferings and pains. Since they refused the hand of Grace to deliver them and destroy their flesh, they shall be delivered to Satan to destroy their flesh that their spirit may be saved. (1Cor. 5:4,5) When that time of darkness, suffering, weeping and gnashing of teeth comes upon them, they will, even in the midst of it all, recognize it as an extended and, as it were, the “Final and Greatest” Grace of God toward them.

…I am in His Name COMFORTING those that do, or are willing to do, His Will according to His Word and are ready to suffer for It. The Lord has been comforting me that I may be able to comfort others also. (2Cor. 1:4,5) For we also go through our tribulations, pains, troubles, afflictions and sufferings until now. But they are different in character, magnitude and duration. We suffer for “a while” under the Grace of God and thereby we are perfected, established, strengthened and settled. (1Pet. 5:9-10) Our fruitfulness in the knowledge of Our Lord is assured and our entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be ministered unto us abundantly! (2Pet. 1:1-11)

The final Verdict of God is simple and it is this:

To those that are disobedient and comfortable now, God will send a whip and Tribulation and hell. And to us, who are in tribulation, go through hell and are under his whip now, God sends His comfort and sweet love. Blessed be the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (see also Lk. 12:47-49; 16:25// Rom. 2:5-13)

The final Mystery of God is also simple and it is this:

What Satan lusted after in his pride, jealousy, independence and disobedience against God (Is. 14:12-14), the Lord God will GIVE TO US in our own meekness, our humbleness, our total dependency on God and in our total obedience to God in Christ Jesus! (1Cor. 2:9// Jn. 17: 22-24// Eph. 2:6// 2Pet. 1:4// Rev. 3:12; 21:9-11) Amen.

He who has a heart to see and understand,

let him see and understand.

Let us pray together…

♥ ♥ ♥

“Beloved Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. I greatly praise You and Your Holy Name. I greatly admire You and the Beauty of Your Holiness, Your Glory, Your Character. I fully rest in Your Grace and Love and Word and will never depart from It. I will never leave You nor forsake You! This is what You promised to me (Heb. 13:5-9) and this is what I am also promising to You… by my free will and decision of my heart and soul (and, please, help me keep my promise for, in myself, I have no strength to keep it).

There is not a slightest shadow of a doubt where You are leading me and what you have been creating in me. I am looking forward to our first personal meeting, to our Marriage-Union-Oneness (Jn. 17:21), to our Life together, to the future that will never end in Your New Creation.

I am interceding for every soul that You foreknew and chose from this world for Yourself in these last days before You come. I am also interceding for every soul that is joining me in this humble and truthful prayer trusting in Your Grace, Mercy and Word. Together we stand before You and Your Holy Throne, the True and Faithful Witness, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the True and Righteous Judge.

Please, grant each such soul and heart ALL that he needs at this time according to Your Wisdom, Power, Grace, Mercy and Your calling upon that soul, that he may come forth victoriously and together with Your Spirit accomplish Your calling. May it also please You, Lord of Grace, to grant us what we never deserved from You, yet we always needed from You at all times, so that Your Glory may shine to Your whole Creation.

Help us, therefore, Lord to sacrifice on Your altar all that is evil, filthy, abominable and unacceptable in Your sight and in Your Presence, including our own selves, old lives, old creation. Help us put on our new Creation, new and clean heart, mind and will – New Man – that would satisfy You fully for all eternity and that You can love for ever. Help us to break our “alabaster box – the shell of our soul”, our earthen vessel, and to anoint Your Head with its precious content; to part with all that is precious to us while You are in our house of lepers, for we all are lepers in our unbroken alabaster boxes and unsown corns of wheat. (Mt. 26:6,7// 2Cor. 4:7// Is. 6:5// Jn. 12:24-26) Finally, enable us to anoint You while there is time and not to start seeking You when it is too late. (Mk. 16:1)

Then we will all greatly rejoice in You and with You and will become a true pleasure to Our Heavenly Father, Who before the foundation of this world had designed our Great Salvation in His Heart and with It our Eternal Life and future in His Eternal Presence.

I desire to express my deepest gratitude, thankfulness, love, admiration and a true appreciation to My Heavenly Father, to My Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ and to the Most Holy Spirit through Whom all things have been created and accomplished. Let my New Man be the fruit of Your works that will fully satisfy You and worship You in spirit and truth for ever and ever. Amen.

♥ ♥ ♥

EPILOGUE

Just before this book was to be submitted to the printers, the Lord provided His closing word through brother T. Austin-Sparks from his brochure “The Kingdom that can not be shaken, Part 4”, published by The Golden Candlestick Trust, Twello, Holland, pages 2,3 and 4:

“We will not – we must not – put Romans 8:28-29 into any lesser category than God’s purpose for all in Christ; that is, we must not say that this is for a certain number in the thought of God. It is for all in Christ, and this is God’s will for all His people, but as has always been the case, the majority of the Lord’s people do not follow on spontaneously, and the Lord has continually to have in the midst of them, amongst them, before them, a company embodying and representing and expressing His full thought, to be a ministry of revelation and a ministry of strengthening and exhortation to His people. It is a ministering vessel in the midst of His people, and that vessel not just having special information to give, but that vessel being the embodiment of that, which the Lord would have all His people know and be. Paul put himself into that category in a personal way…

…He put himself, therefore, in the position of one, who was the full embodiment of God’s thought for the church, and so Paul became in very truth a dispensational man; that is, the individual in whom the whole supreme meaning of the dispensation was gathered up experimentally; and the church, the Body of Christ, being the supreme feature of this dispensation, had its embodiment and expression in a living way in that one man.

Now what was true in him as an individual early in the dispensation has had to be true and be repeated again and again through the dispensation in instruments, which God has raised up; that is, that there shall be a living voice – not a voice of teaching, a voice just of truth in the technical or academic sense, not just the proclamation of something, but a living embodiment and expression of God’s thought amongst His people. The Word of the Lord to such a vessel at all times will be: “whether they will hear or whether they will forbear”. (Ez. 2:5)

It is so easy from time to time to let go, to sag because your message is not wanted and because you see no place for it, no room for it, or because you see almost universal opposition to it; to conclude, or to take the attitude as though you had concluded, that this is not the message for the time, the people are not ready for it, they are not open to it, they will not have it. Whether they will hear or whether they will forebear, is the Lord’s word to an instrument, which He raises up for any purpose. That is, although you may be speaking in the wilderness, you have to get on with it; although no one will listen to you, you have got to go on; although you may see no response, but just universal antagonism, you have to go on with your work, “whether they will hear or whether they will forbear”.

For the fullness of God’s thought a vessel has to be constituted accordingly, and if the fullness of God’s thoughts is sonship as the means of the universal dominion of which this letter speaks, the universal dominion of Christ, then our training is along the lines of sonship, for we are called to that ministry…

…What is the basis of the training of sons? It is the cross. What is the pattern of the training of sons? It is the Son. What is the sphere of the training of sons? It is in the spirit.”

Amen.

List of Literature

[1] “The Messenger of the Cross” by Watchman Nee. Published by Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc., 11515 Allecingie Parkway, Richmond, Virginia 23235, USA.

[2] “The Release of the Spirit” by Watchman Nee. Published by Ministry of Life, Box 74, Route 2, Cloverdale, Indiana 46120, USA.

[3] “The Battle for Life” by T. Austin-Sparks. Published by Emmanuel Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

[4] “Strong in the Day of Battle” by T. Austin-Sparks. Published by Emmanuel Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

[5] “The Christ, the Antichrist and the Church”, Part 1, by T. Austin-Sparks. Published by The Golden Candlestick Trust, Twello, Holland.

[6] “Our Warfare” by T. Austin-Sparks. Published by Emmanuel Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

(Note: There are too many books from W.Nee as well as from T.Austin-Sparks to be quoted here. The above ones were chosen as the most pertinent to the topics discussed in this book.)

[7] “Truth about Salvation” by brother Hanola. Published in 2003 by Montreal Remnant Ministries (MRM) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (also in Slovak translation as „Pravda o Spáse“)

[8] “Open Letter to His Majesty and Excellency Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the only true God” by brother Hanola. Published in 1986 by MRM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (also in Czech translation as „Otevřený Dopis Jeho Výsosti a Excelenci, Ježíši Kristu, Králi králů a Pánu pánů, jedinému pravému Bohu”)

[9] “The Mystery of Reality” by brother Hanola. Published in 1995 by MRM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (also in Slovak as „Tajomstvo Skutočnosti“)

[10] “Seek Ye First the Kingdom” by brother Hanola. Published in 1990 by MRM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (in English only)

[11] “Generation Cords and Their Effect on You” by John Adejoro-Oluwa. Published by Plummet Publishing, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. (also in Slovak translation as „Generačné Povrazy a ich vplyv na vás.“)

[12] “Dealing Wisely with the Sins of My Youth” by John Adejoro-Oluwa. Published by Plummet Publishing, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. (also in Slovak translation as „Hriechy Mojej Mladosti a ako s nimi múdro jednať.“)

[13] “Letters of A.W.Pink” (During the Period 1924-1951) by Arthur Pink. Published in 1978 by The Banner of Truth Trust, Pennsylvania, USA.

[14] “Thy Kingdom Come” by brother Hanola. Published in 1983 by MRM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (in Slovak only as „Príď Kráľovstvo Tvoje“)

[15] “The Believer’s Promise Book” compiled by Larry Richards. Published in 1982 by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

[16] “Bodyguard of Lies” by Anthony Cave Brown. Published in 1975 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd. Toronto, Ontario, Canada and also by Harper & Row, New-York, N.Y. 10022, USA.

[17] “The Recovering of the Lord’s Testimony in Fullness” by T. Austin-Sparks. Published by Emmanuel Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

[18] “Judgment begins at the House of God” by Horst Schaffranek. Published in 1993 in Lemgo/München, Germany (English translation from German)

WORD

JESUS CHRIST

OPENING OF HEART

HEART AND OUR SALVATION

NATURAL HEART AND MIND

NEW HEART AND MIND

CHAPTER 2

WAR FOR OUR LIFE

CHAPTER 3

SOME FACTS OF LIFE (A–TO–Z)

CHAPTER 4

NEW CREATION

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION