Are You Going Backwards?

Are You Going Backwards?

My first major introduction to rejection due to being involved in the deliverance ministry came at the hand of a church pastor – a rabbi of a Messianic synagogue. My mother and I wanted to join the church, but we disagreed about telling the pastor about the deliverance ministry. She wanted to tell him, I didn’t think it was necessary. She merely wanted him to know about it – she didn’t necessarily want to minister there, unless he wanted her to. We agreed to pray about it.

One day she called me and told me that she had been reading her Bible, and she felt the Lord plop a big word of knowledge upon her – exactly what to tell the pastor and in what order. When she told me this, I felt it confirmed in my spirit that she was right, we needed to tell the pastor. So we made an appointment. She left her books with him and asked him to pray about us joining the church.

Many weeks went by, and we still hadn’t heard an answer from the pastor on whether we could join or not. She called him, reminded him who she was, and was curtly told that they weren’t in the same “place” and it wasn’t going to “work out”. He was very abrupt with her.

After I got over the disbelief and shock, the pain started to set in for me. I wanted to be a part of this congregation badly. My mother and I loved going to worship there. We felt the Holy Spirit was in the music and dance, and even though I felt the Spirit was often “quenched”, I felt something special there. We were making lots of friends, and it broke my heart to think we couldn’t go back.

I prayed, I cried out to God, and I pondered all this a lot. One day my mind went back to thinking, “why?” As I pondered why would the pastor be so rude to my Mother, as I pondered what was the “root” of his problem, all of the sudden, my mind was taken back to the meeting we had with him, and I distinctly remembered a thought that entered my mind while my mom was giving her testimony. I thought, “It must be hard for a man of God to hear that if this nice little old lady had demons tearing out of her, that he might have demons living within him too.” Mom was saying that she was a “good girl”, and yet she had plenty of deliverance the first time she was ministered to.

I felt the Spirit telling me that this was the root cause: this man didn’t like what she was saying and it was due to pride, his own pride. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone implying that he might have demons. And what does the Bible say about pride, was my next thought. “Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) I thought, this man is going to fall if he doesn’t repent about his attitude.

Then I thought, but the pastor appears to be so humble and worshipful in front of the congregation. Yes, but there is a demon of pride “lurking” in the background, was my next thought. “But he, a Gentile, was called by God to establish a Messianic synagogue. How could a man called of God to do such a thing be so prideful?” The next thought was, “Because even if you’re called by God, if you don’t keep growing in the things of God, if you get complacent, if you don’t keep seeking God, some thing is going to seek you – a demon. If you don’t keep growing with God, you’re going backward.”

I started realizing that there’s no such thing as reaching a plateau in your spiritual walk, unless you let it become a plateau. If you get a prideful attitude, like someone I know who has said, “I’ve heard ALL the teachings,” you’re opening yourself up for demons to enter and distort your mind and take away the wisdom, counsel, knowledge, understanding and the Fear of the Lord that God had previously given you.

I had just finished reading the books of Kings and Chronicles and I was constantly amazed and shocked that several kings would start off being good, righteous, God-fearing kings, and then somewhere along the line, they became rebellious and corrupt in their latter, aging years. I got the idea that the pastor had started off young on fire for God, but somewhere along the line, he missed it, like the Kings of Judah. He got his big, beautiful new building for his congregation now, so he’s “made” it. So he thinks. But when someone presented him with the next phase in his growth, to learn about Jesus’ deliverance power, he rejected it. Plus, I had the feeling God was not pleased with him quenching the Holy Spirit in the worship. I had often noticed how at crucial moments in the worship when I thought the Holy Spirit was going to move with a message, the pastor would jump in and start talking and stop the flow.

Back to the statement mentioned earlier that if we don’t constantly seek God, something will seek us – a demon. I had just read the first 10 chapters of Job this morning, where Satan went before God and asked Him if he could destroy Job. The point is Satan is out to destroy us. He wants to sift all of us like wheat. Period. We can’t give him an opportunity. And if we are a man or woman of God doing some kind of ministry or work for Him, even more so do we have to guard our thoughts and our mouths and seek God’s will all the time.

Later on, I had been reading the Proverbs, and I came across this one proverb that caught my attention:

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. (Proverbs 28:9)

One morning as I was waking up, this Proverb came to my mind, and I started thinking, “The law, the law. There are so many laws in the Torah. God wouldn’t look upon someone’s prayer as being an abomination if they ate pork, would He?” As I was pondering this in my mind, very suddenly, these scriptures came to me:

36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22)

I realized that, as Jesus said, on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. The Pastor, because he addressed my mother with such a lack of respect and a spirit of haughtiness, did not follow these two commandments, or “all the law”, at all. He did not love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul and mind, because if he did, he would not have been embracing Jesus’ deliverance power, not rejecting it. And he certainly didn’t love his neighbor as himself, or he would not have been so arrogant and rude to my mother about the topic.

A few weeks later, I was reading the book of Jeremiah and I came across this scripture that caught my attention:

But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 27 “Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. (Jeremiah 7:23)

Since I have not been super-experienced in hearing God’s voice, I had been wondering if all these words I had received from the Lord were my imagination or not. Then I saw the word “backward” in this scripture and it clicked with the word I had received about going “backward”. If you’re not going “forward” as the scripture says (I heard, if you’re not growing with God – same thing), then you’re going backward. AND, to top it off, the night before, I was listening to a Patricia King recording, and the Lord brought to my remembrance that she had said, “The Lord doesn’t tell anything to His people that He doesn’t back up with scripture.”

About a week later I was finishing reading a great book called, You Can Hear the Voice of God by Steve Sampson. I was on the next to the last page when I came across this:

“The Lord deals with all of us. To the Christian, He corrects us, He provokes us, He challenges us and He convicts us of sin. When He calls us to change, whether it is in repentance over a specific thing or a change in any part of our life, we have a choice—we can hear His voice, or we can harden our hearts.

The moment our hearts resist Him and begin to harden, we cease to move forward but rather backward.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (Jeremiah 7:24)

“We think when we become callused or hardened we are simply not moving forward. But when we are not moving forward, our movement is actually backward, because His movement is always forward!”

Yet another confirmation!!! Thank you, Lord!

Remember, remember, remember: the take-away from this article is that you have to constantly seek God – that’s loving God with all your heart, soul and mind. And then you won’t go backwards, you won’t have to concern yourself with becoming like the reprobate kings of the Old Testament. Keep going forward with God!

Flying Saucers, Abductions and the Bible

Flying Saucers, Abductions and the Bible

For a long time, I have been interested in UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and abductions. I have heard many testimonies of abductions, studied about different kinds of ETs (extraterrestrials) or aliens, and determined that they are demons, also called Nephilim in Hebrew.

Following are some stories from the Bible that seem to be abductions, and like UFO abductions, the abductions are from the earth to the sky. As you read these, remember that it’s been said that the devil always tries to imitate God – the counterfeit supernatural imitating the real supernatural.

“Abduction”

Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24)

There were no witnesses, but Enoch was not found.  One good book to read is the First Book of Enoch, which was found in the cave of the scrolls (near the Dead Sea). Enoch and God were friends, a relationship comparable to the relationship that Moses had with God.  God just took him with his body, and he never came back.

Abduction, IFO (Identified Flying Object)

And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.  Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.  Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” (2 Kings 2:1-13)

Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho.  Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.  Now Elijah took his mantle (tallit), rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

God had told Elijah that He was going to “abduct” him. Elisha, who was with Elijah, identified the chariot he saw as “the chariot of Israel”. This tells me that at this time this chariot was known and called by this name, even if the Bible does not specifically mention it as such.

IFO

The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.  Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.  Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze.  The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings.  Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. (Ezekiel 1:3-28)

As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.  Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning.  And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.

Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces.  The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.  When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.  As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them.  When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads.  And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body.  When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings.  A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings.

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.  Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.  Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

What Ezekiel saw years later was what Elisha had called “the chariot of Israel”. There was a throne on it, and God was sitting on the throne.

“Abduction”

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. (Luke 24: 50, 51)

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1: 9-11)

These passages refer to the ascension of Jesus. He went into a cloud. When this happened, He was already resurrected and had a glorified body. It is interesting that the angels said that He would come back in the same manner.

Some videos on the Internet show UFOs going into clouds to hide. I believe the chariot of Israel was hiding in the cloud that received Jesus.

Whitney Strieber is a man who claims to have been abducted several times. His first abduction, if I remember correctly, occurred when he was driving in the country and saw a ball of fog on a road. Curious, he drove into the fog where there was a UFO hiding that abducted him.

And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. (1 Kings 8:10-11)

I believe that the dimension in which God and the angels are also holds demons. God’s chariots and UFOs are in that dimension. When someone or something from that dimension moves to our dimension, something that looks like a cloud or fog (a low-lying cloud) is formed.

A quick note about ETs or aliens, who in reality are fallen angels: there are several kinds of them since they have different appearances. The ones reported commonly by abductees are the reptilians and the insectoids.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

We have power over them. The Lord says so. Amen.