A new believer should be very similar to a brand new infant in the natural, in the sense that they are "a new creature in Christ",as newborn babes, the appetite for "the sincere milk of the Word" should be like "fire, shut up in my bones"...but sadly, many do not get past the first three grounds Jesus teaches in the "sower and the seed."Luke 8:4-15 (King James Version)
4And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
5A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
6And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
8And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
9And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
10And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
14And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
15But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Notice vs 10, the Lord speaks of "the mysteries of the kingdom of God"...the first 3 grounds is where those who never "Get It!" find themselves "returned to the wallow-vomit" or a pew warming "tare" deceived that they are "not a tare." vs 14 "and bring no fruit to perfection" both fruit of the Spirit and souls won as the "fruit of LOVE" compels them into the Masters service.
Four "grounds"...the good ground is "The secret Place" Psalm 91
1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
"The secret place of the most high" is simply a child of God who; 2Tim 2:15"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Most Christians who do not "continue in the Word" have not found that "secret place" mixed with FAITH! Because they may have had a less than diligent study ethic in their secular education, they fall short of having faith that "The Holy Ghost will lead them to all truth and understanding" ...and they do not "desire" it enough to pray and fast, and believe God to shine his "marvelous light " upon them to the saving them from bad ground ..."into the good!"
So they cling to "legalism"..."Pharisaical hypocrisy" and "false "easy believing heresy." In Pentecost, it is unfortunate that many believe they are OK when they "pray through to tongues" repenting for their inaction without turning around in action all over again, and again, mistaking speaking in tongues as God's anointing that they are forgiven, even when they continue in their "Ommision of Commission!( soul winning, bearing fruit) Rom 11: 26 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He will bring you to the place of victory, if you will advance and not go back to the "sin of ommission."
2 Tim 3:8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 3:9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. 3:10But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 3:11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 3:12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 3:13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.3:14But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 3:15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 3:17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
All good works....."Faith without works are dead."
Winter...2005
I was evangelizing in the northwest at a church where the Pastor was taking his first church although he had ministerial experience in other areas. I had prepared myself as God has spoken to me that a mighty revival could be won beginning at this particular church.
The irony of it all was when I was 14, myself and 3 friends ran away and stole a pickup truck 800 miles away, but was caught and arrested in this town.Fasting and praying I sensed a fierce spiritual battle would ensue and conveyed this to my friend.
The church had "Ahab and Jezebel" on their board, and when revival began to break out... and the Pastor would gain much respect and backing from the congregation...that he needed to be the scriptural leader, These "tares" tried to cut off the finances where the Pastor could no longer support the revival.
The Pastor was well intentioned, but his spiritual state was less than prepared to discern the "wiles" of the enemy to destroy revival. One of the most powerful moves of God I have been in the middle of, began at this church, but lack of his fasting and "studied ...to rightly divide the word of truth" cut it short.
We both witnessed a powerful manifestation of the two "strongmen" that shared this principality. One was an American native "arch devil" the other was the "Masonic/Jezebel" arch devil."
I always record my messages because of "satanic power of the air"...as I preached one night after there were saints that did not understand why the "Ahab and Jezebel left...(God gave me wisdom to help the pastor take them off the board, and they chose to leave) and the enemy was trying to turn people against the 'preacher." The pastor was sitting with his family three rows back, as I was preaching and from the row behind him the enemy changed the words I preached, for all those behind the pastor and several spoke out against me immediately. Of course I told them that what they thought they heard was not what was said, and the pastor backed me up, but until we played back the tape they were convinced of what the enemy had done in this deceptive supernatural manner.
Even though the pastor became aware of the demonic attack we were under, he became offended when I took him to task on his lack of prayer and fasting, and allowed bitterness to find ought against me when the devil got into another man who had not yet repented and filled with the Holy Ghost, manifested a spirit of "hatred and variance towards me as the enemy possessed him.
Originally there for a 3 day trial,,,we were in our 8th week 4&5 nights a week, with miracles and healing under the most powerful anointing I had ever experienced, but God moved me out. I truly believe we were on the precipice of winning that entire city.
The entire district was gripped by these powers, but God was using my ministry to see "deaf ears unstopped" Gout healed overnight, with signs and wonders following confirming the word of God.
It was not long before "the accuser of the brethren " began using "jealous spirits and fearful Jezebel leadership to try and stop my barnstorming this district as God had me doing. The enemy even brought in another "evangelist" who was a "Wolf in sheep's clothing" to deflect some of my invitations. I saw his "quackery" firsthand in one of his meetings where he was 'coaching' and manipulating a false "baptism of the Holy Ghost, even to the extent of manually grabbing their chins while shaking them and using "auto-suggestive "witchcraft!"
But because these churches could "claim 15-20 got the Holy Ghost" it helped these carnal preachers agenda that they "had a move of God!"
But we also have actual "counterfeit supernatural manifestations as of Jannes and Jambres to contend with. 2 TIMOTHY 3:1-4 describes a class of dissolute brothers and sisters that would arise from within the ecclesia “in the last days”. These reprobate brothers and sisters are summed up in verse 5 as being people “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”.
Verse 6 outlines a key tactic of these corrupted brethren: “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts”. Such people prefer to work privately to promote their views. Note Paul’s use of the sinister word ‘creep’. Sadly, this is consistent with how errors have been propagated in the ecclesia throughout history; we may expect it be so “in the last days”.
The victims of these false teachers are captives, “led away with divers lusts”. The false teachers tempt them, stimulating their desires. And to what desires or lusts does the teacher of error appeal? It is evident from verses 6 and 7 that novelty is the great lust to which they appeal. There is a certain mindset that is happy to discuss everything and settle nothing. Like the Athenians in Acts 17, there are many who love to “hear some new thing” (v. 21); Paul warns there will be some who are willing to play on this by promoting new theories and presenting what they claim are new facts. Those who have for any reason become disenchanted with ecclesial life and may have withdrawn somewhat from active ecclesial participation are particularly at risk of being captured by this means.
Verse 8 compares these false teachers to Jannes and Jambres: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith”. The word with which verse 8 commences has the idea of ‘just like’. In other words, the case of Jannes and Jambres is an example of the problem Paul has just been describing.
Who were Jannes and Jambres? They are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, but they are mentioned in Jewish traditions as two magicians in Egypt who confronted Moses at Pharaoh’s court. The Targum of Jonathan inserts their names into the text of Exodus 7:11. Some Jewish traditions suggest they were sons of Balaam, while other traditions suggest that they instigated the making of the golden calf in Exodus 32. Hasting’s Bible Dictionary says Jannes means ‘he who misleads’, while Jambres means ‘he who opposes’.1 If this is correct it may suggest that the Jewish traditions adopted symbolic names to describe the effect of these men.
Most commentators regard these men as Egyptians, but this idea, if we give any credence to some of the traditions, seems at odds with the suggestion that they were with the Israelites in the wilderness. Brother Harry Whittaker, picking up on this, claims their names are Jewish, not Egyptian, and that Jannes and Jambres were renegade Jews who sided with the magicians against Moses.2 This fits Paul’s comparison of them with false teachers who arise from within the ecclesia, who are “reprobate concerning the faith”.
Whittaker aligns these men to the Judaisers in the first century who opposed Paul’s teaching. If we extend this line of reasoning to our own “last days” we may conclude that the concept applies to any individual or movement that arises from within the Christadelphian body which preaches a corrupt gospel and which seeks to capture and mislead the unwary.
We need not despair, however, that such reprobate influences arise, because verse 9 says these people will come to a sudden end. In the “last days” of the first century the Judaisers certainly met a sudden end when Jerusalem was sacked. In our day it will be the return of Christ which cuts short their work.
1. Hasting’s Bible Dictionary, Vol. 2, pp. 548-9.
As Moses' staff turned into a serpent, Jannes and Jambres duplicated this miracle. However God's power consumed the false! While in "Christendom" we are aware of all the many false revivals and the "lying signs and wonders that accompany this "strange fire"...the claims that God turns ceramic tooth fillings into gold etc...is against God's own word.
Deuteronomy 18 forbids any form of sorcery and witchcraft. Alchemy is sorcery.
Alchemy, an important part of the occult tradition, has been practised in a complex network of schools and philosophical systems spanning at least 2,500 years, in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Japan, Korea, China, Classical Greece and Rome, in the Muslim civilizations, and then in Europe up to the 20th Century. In general terms, alchemy refers to any process that might add value or usefulness to unrefined materials, although it is often thought of as a medieval philosophy and an early form of chemistry, and it usually conjures up images of a medieval “scholar” in his laboratory, surrounded by piles of rare books and manuscripts, test-tubes, retorts, alembics and other paraphernalia generally associated with chemical experiments. Over time, it has come to be used in popular language to refer to any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.
The best-known (although by no means the only) goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into gold or silver, the creation of a panacea or elixir of life which would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely, and the discovery of a universal solvent with the power to dissolve every other substance. Medieval Arabic and European alchemists invested much effort on the search for the "philosopher's stone", a legendary substance believed to mystically amplify the user's knowledge of alchemy so much that anything was potentially attainable.
Gold, Money and The Mark of the Beast 666
One of the most convincing characteristics that suggests that the Mark of the Beast is a physical object is its requirement to buy and sell. In contrast, it's very difficult to imagine how a spiritual symbol could be used for such purposes. There's an important verse in the Old Testament that supports the Mark of the Beast's close connection to money and 666.
1 Kings 10:14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
The law of first mention gives a special significance to the first use of a word or symbol, a significance that is carried throughout the entire Bible [1]. This is the first occurrence of the number 666 in the Bible. Many scholars have attempted to link 666 to Solomon or the Queen of Sheba but the plain fact is that the direct context of 666 in this verse is gold, six hundred threescore and six talents of gold to be exact.
Another verse directly related to gold is found in the book of Daniel. This verse describes an idol that represents a succession of worldly powers, the first of which is described as a head of gold. 
The last kingdom, represented by the idol's feet, will rise in the last days to be ultimately destroyed by Jesus Christ (the stone that was cut without hands.)
The last kingdom, represented by the idol's feet, will rise in the last days to be ultimately destroyed by Jesus Christ (the stone that was cut without hands.)God marked Cain...Cain killed his brother Abel, God declared to Cain, "Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth" (Genesis 4:11-12). In response, Cain lamented, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me" (Genesis 4:13-14). God responded, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him" (Genesis 4:15-16). What was this "mark" that God put on Cain to prevent vengeance from being taken against Cain?
The nature of the mark on Cain has been the subject of much debate and speculation. The Hebrew word translated "mark" is 'owth and refers to a mark, sign, or token. Elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, 'owth is used 79 times and is most frequently translated as "sign." So, the Hebrew word does not identify the exact nature of the mark God put on Cain. Whatever it was, it was a sign/indicator that Cain was not to be killed. Some propose that the mark was a scar, or some kind of tattoo. Whatever the case, the precise nature of the mark is not the focus of the passage. The focus of the passage is that God would not allow people to take vengeance against Cain. Whatever the mark on Cain was, it served this purpose.
In the past, many believed the mark on Cain to be dark skin, that God changed the color of Cain's skin to black in order to identify him. With the corresponding curse that Cain received, the belief that the mark was black skin caused many to believe that people of black skin were cursed. Many used the mark of Cain as an excuse for the African slave trade and discrimination against people with black/dark skin. This interpretation of the mark of Cain is completely unbiblical. Nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures is 'owth used to refer to skin color. The curse on Cain in Genesis chapter 4 was on Cain himself. Nothing is said of Cain's curse being passed on to his descendants. There is absolutely no biblical basis to claim that Cain's descendants had dark skin. Further, unless one of Noah's sons' wives was a descendant of Cain (possible but unlikely), Cain's line was terminated by the Flood.
What was the mark that God put on Cain? The Bible does not specifically say. The meaning of the mark, that Cain was not to be killed, was more important than the nature of the mark itself. Whatever the mark on Cain was, it had no connection to skin color or a curse on the descendants of Cain. To use the mark on Cain as an excuse for racism and discrimination is blatantly and absolutely unbiblical.
God also marked the Ephraimites with their speech.
| King James Version |
1And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. 5And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
One might not see God exposing their evil by their speech without breaking down the word; Shibboleth water,flood,Shibboleth flowing water, flood, Shibboleth
Or (feminine) shibboleth {shib-bo'-leth}; from the same as shebel; a stream (as flowing);
37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
So we can see that people not born again of the Spirit, with rivers (shibboleth) of living water(evidence of speaking in tongues w/ other gifts and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit) are marked!
Wolves in sheep's clothing will still begat wolves, not sheep. Sheep begat sheep!
Wolves in sheep's clothing will still begat wolves, not sheep. Sheep begat sheep!
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