THE GIFT OF SUSPICION
Or KINGDOM REVELATION
We have a friend named Aleen, who had a friend who was a witch, although Aleen did not know her friend was a witch. This witch would have people pose for a picture instead of signing the guest book. Then the witch would take these pictures and have them dubbed into a compromising photograph so cleverly done that the only way one could tell that it wasn't good 01' brother so and so would be by revelation.
The defeated devil is working increasingly overtime in order to make look good what's bad and to make look bad what's good, so much so that increasingly the only way that we will be able to tell the difference will be by revelation. (Notice: I said revelation, NOT suspicion!) That's the only way they were able to recognize Jesus and the disciples in those days, and in these days, too. Please allow for the possibility that had you lived during His time that you might not have recognized Him. You might have been one of the religious evangelical leaders of Christ's day, plotting His death. It was the 'fundamentalists' of Christ's day who crucified Him.
They read the Scriptures more, fasted more, led more religious lives, kept the legalistic rules. And we can miss Him today also. Yes you really can!
It's an interesting historical fact, that the thing God brought forth in one generation, has almost always persecuted the thing God does in the next.
The amazing thing about deception is that A DECEIVED PERSON NEVER KNOWS WHEN He IS DECEIVED. Thus, we all need to be very humble, taking heed lest we fall. Do you know all there is to know about God? We don't either. So, could we agree to be very patient with one another as we experience this marvelous adventure of being led into all the truth by God's Holy Spirit?.
Jesus spoke in parables not to make the message plain, but to make it obscure or hidden from those not entitled to know. "To you it is granted to KNOW THE MYSTERIES OF the Kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables; in order that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand" Luke 8:1O.
And in another place, "At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, 'I praise Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them unto babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well pleasing in Thy sight.' " "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." "And turning to the disciples, He said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them'" Luke 10:21-24.
Still another example, "And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjonas, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.'"Matt. 16:17. This was in response to when "He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Simon Peter answered and said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.' " Matt. 16:15,16.
They have perfected the communications media to the extent that they are able to take a number of tapes of a person and from those tapes comprise a thesaurus of words and phrases from which one could manufacture a message, phone conversation, or teaching totally opposite from the original, so that the only way one could tell who's who or what's what would be by a revelation from God.
THE TRUE BASIS OF LOVE OR A WALK WITH GOD
Contrary to all teaching to the contrary, the true basis of love, or a walk with God is a COMMITMENT OF THE WILL BASED ON THE WILL OF GOD!, not on the basis of thoughts, feelings, imagination, finances, circumstances or intuitions.
DASTARDLY DEMONSTRATIONS OF DEMONIC DEVICES
The following illustrations are hopefully helpful ways we will know, and thus avoid the enemy's attempts to deceive us.
MOVIEHOUSE OF OUR MIND OR HINT, HUNCH, AND HUMBUG
Sometimes the enemy is able to sneak into the moviehouse of our mind and portray upon the screen of our conscious awareness lying or invalid or deceptive thoughts, imaginations, feelings, suggestions, emotions, intimations, intuitions, perceptions, convictions, conclusions, assumptions, hints, hunches and humbugs that are not the will of God. But, if you've seen the movie before, or have read the story already, and know how the story is supposed to go, you are o.k. So also, the way to always be sure at a time like that is to switch over to the auto-pilot of the Word of God, the Will of God, and the sure leading of the Spirit of God.
ONE MUST NEVER DETERMINE THE WILL OF GOD BY LOOKING AT FEELINGS, FINANCES, OR CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT BY THE WILL OF GOD, THE WORD OF GOD, AND THE VOICE OF GOD!
One area where the enemy is able to be most destructive is the marriage. In our book on marriage, THE SEXUAL MINISTRY, available by writing to us at KOG. P.O. 7123, Minneapolis, MN., 55407, this topic is discussed at length, but here are a few examples.
THUMPITY THUMP AND FLIP FLOP
On Lover's Lane a week before the marriage, while simply holding hands, the heart was going thumpity thump, the stomach was doing flip flop, there was a zzzt behind the eyes, the knees were weak, the bells were ringing, birds were singing, it smelled like spring time, etc. Now, years later, you came home to your pregnant wife and noisy kids, she's got bad breath, hair in disarray, a pimple on her chin, she's got a cold, no make up, and for some reason it doesn't smell like spring time and the birds ain't singing. But you love her! Then when you go to the store for some milk, the gal at the checkout register looks like Delilah, Bathsheba, and Cleopatra all in one body, (a friend of mine just asked me, "What store is this?"), and it smells like spring time, and your heart goes thumpity thump and your stomach does flip flop.
For years, Hollywood and Babylon have pushed this lie that love is based on feelings and flip flops, not on a commitment of the will based on the will of God, and that thumpity thumps and spastic thoughts somehow justify adulterous thoughts and acts.
If the man going through the check out counter has it together and has not accepted the lie, he can say to Delilah, "God bless you, lady," hand her a Kingdom Gospel Contract, and head on home to the loyal wife of his love. And though, from time to time, the birds don't sing nor bells ring, NEVERTHELESS, THAT LOVE IS SURE AND STRONG AND PURE BECAUSE THAT LOVE IS BASED SOLIDLY IN A FIRM COMMITMENT OF ONE'S OWN WILL, BASED ON THE WILL OF GOD!!! Everything in our walk with God must have the same foundation. Our worship, praise and rejoicing, our reading of the Word, our attendance and tithing, our love for each other, our being led by the Holy Spirit, must all be based on a CHOICE or commitment of our will, based on the Will and Word of God. Thus saith the Lord!
REMEMBER: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark - ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" Eph.6:12 (KJ).
The following illustrations include several ways in which the defeated enemy tries to bring division and separation and misunderstanding into the body of Christ: The Bible says that "we are not ignorant of his (satan's) devices". II Corinthians 2:11.
LAUREL & HARDY - ABBOT & COSTELLO
Remember in the cartoons or movies where two friends are walking along when a third person from hiding hits one of the two friends? The hit friend, seeing no one but his friend, ASSUMES that this friend hit him, and says to himself, "I can't let my friend hit me for no good reason." So he hauls off and
hits his friend, who says, "I can't let my friend hit me for no good reason." So they are fighting while the enemy is full of glee, still in hiding. It's funny in the cartoons, but not so funny in the family or marriage or in church or among friends.
INVISIBLE WEDGE SHAPED PRINCIPALITIES
Imagine that the enemy would sometimes send an invisible wedge shaped principality between you and your friend. If you are not discerning, you may assume that the problem is coming from your friend, and/or your friend from you.
PASS THE TOAST - TWISTER SPIRIT
Imagine a husband and wife sitting at breakfast, when the husband says to her, "Pass the toast." But what he really means is "Darling, I love you so much, I can hardly wait to get home from work to see you, you sweet thing, you are so precious, I'm so glad I married you, and, by the way, would you purty please pass me the toast?" But, remember, all he said was, "Pass the toast." (Maybe he was still waking up.) But suppose she got the wrong impression and that the enemy twisted the intent of his message so that by the time it reached her ears she ASSUMED that he meant, "Hey, you old bag, pass me the toast before I hit you in the mouth." She responds by saying, "WHADDYA MEAN, 'PASS THE TOAST?
GlDITCHERSELF!" I've seen this kind of thing, happen often in people's interpersonal relationships. But in this illustration, suppose that the husband
meant something negative, but because of her love and her trust and her faith, she responded sweetly by saying, "Oh darling, I love you too, you precious sweet thing, you, and I can hardly wait to see you, and by the way, here's your toast for my honey." (See our book on THE SEXUAL MINISTRY.) For even, though he may have originally meant something negative, he can't help but respond to her faith and trust and love. Get the picture?
One time the husband and wife were arguing, when, suddenly the husband saw "the light" reflected from his wife's wedding ring. He stopped midsentence, walked around to where his wife was sitting, gently put his hand in hers, and said, "Darling, I'm on your side!"
HITCHHIKER SPIRIT
We have a friend that people would become aggravated with for no apparent reason. People would want to haul off and hit poor Richard even though he had done nothing to cause this kind of reaction. Finally, a man of God discerned that the enemy had sent an aggravating kind of spirit to follow this person to create this kind of reaction in people. Richard was actually a very friendly guy.
IT'S CURTAINS FOR THE ENEMY
Sometimes this situation exists in circles or in waves or curtains around a person especially called of God or chosen of God for a special work or ministry, and usually to the extent of that ministry's importance in the Kingdom of God. In every case, the LORD HAS GIVEN US POWER OVER THE ENEMY, TO TAKE AUTHORITY OVER THE SITUATION. But in this illustration, when approaching a person, one may feel reactions of rejection, lust, hate, isolation, arrogance, aggravation, confusion, or deception. It is important to KNOW THE PERSON’S HEART because these conditions may only exist in the atmosphere around a person who is called of God and who is,in fact, a loving accepting, humble, anointed man or woman of God. Someimes, unless a person is very sharp in discerning, one may interpret as coming from another person something that in reality is not in that person's heart, or being, at all.
Remember: THE ENEMY IS ALWAYS TRYING TO MAKE LOOK BAD WHAT'S GOOD AND TO MAKE LOOK GOOD WHAT'S BAD so that it is always necessary to move in a state of KINGDOM REVELATION or DISCERNMENT. Evil men do not understand justice, but THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD UNDERSThND ALL THINGS" Pro 28:5. Remember - it's the revelation gifts of knowledge, discernment, wisdom - NOT the gift of suspicion!
We've known folks who thought of themselves as being spiritual when in fact they were religiously suspicious and doudting.
A man of God has said that he would rather err in trusting love and be wrong by having trusted with faith and love as a basis 999 times, than to be wrong 1 time in 1000 through unrighteous judging, with suspicion and unbelief as it's wrong basis.
We've seen churches split, ministries destroyed, or hindered, or delayed, God's glory shamed and the will of God not done because of these things. One cannot describe the unbelievable heartache these things have caused. We’ve seen this happen time after time!
I have referred to the following story before, but please allow me to do so again. One summer when our family was ministering in the eastern half of the country, we heard about a small child that had been attacked and injured by a man. When I heard the details I was almost overwhelmed by a feeling of outrage and righteous indignation. But then the Spirit of the Lord gently reminded me that it's as bad or worse for God's humble children of the Lord to be verbally and spiritually & psychically attacked, abused, dismembered, and murdered by the rest of us in the Body of Christ. On the radio the other day I heard a man preaching from the book of James, that more people have been murdered by the tongue than in all the wars put together in history.
Several scriptures illustrate this:
1) Matthew, Mark and Luke all refer to this one, but we'll quote Jesus in Matt. 18:3-6, " . . .Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My Name receives Me; But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy , millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Here Christ talking about the humble citizens of the Kingdom.
2) Matt. 5:19-24, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' [good for nothing) shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, 'Thou fool, ' shall be in danger of hell fire. "
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." (KJ)
3) I John 3:14-18, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us~ and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his heart of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (KJ) I John 4:20-21, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." (KJ)
NAZI SLAUGHTER
It is right to be outraged at the Atlanta Murderer, or the Nazi slaughters, but we need to feel equal or greater outrage at the spiritual, psychic, emotional, or mental murders and assaults and torments WE members of the body of Christ commit against each other as husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, family members, pastors, evangelists, members of the body of Christ - and especially the 'humble ones' who are trying earnestly to fulfill the will of God and the Great Commission - the brothers and sisters and mothers of Christ! When Paul was persecuting the Christians, Jesus said, "Why are you persecuting ME? (Acts 9:4b), and "I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting"! (vs 5). Notice, Jesus did not say, "I am Jesus, whose people you are persecuting." No, He said
to Paul that when he persecuted them, then he persecuted the Christ. And so it is today!
One of the members of our church came to me one day really troubled about a dream he had had. He said, "In this dream, I was stabbing and chopping this person to death. I don't know what this means. Can you tell me?" I said, "No, but let's ask the Lord to be showing you what it means." The next day, he came to me in tears and repenting, said, "God showed me that the man I was murdering - - was you!" He then confessed that he had been guilty of murmuring, back biting, and sinfully critical of the ministry. Then, through his tears, he asked me to forgive him, which, of course, I did.
THE WISDOM OF GOD
Please study with me for a moment about the nature of this revelation knowledge and wisdom and how it works from this Scripture:
"That your faith should NOT rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are MATURE, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
"But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the HIDDEN wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
"The wisdom which NONE of the rulers of this age has understood; for IF they had understood it, they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory;
"But just as it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.' "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit;
for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God, "Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
"BUT HE WHO IS SPIRITUAL (not unspiritual) APPRAISES ALL THINGS, YET HE HIMSELF IS APPRAISED BY NO MAN.
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" I Cor.2:5-16.
When it says "natural man", most Christians automatically assume that they are not a "natural man" and that this verse does not apply to them. But they are wrong, just as Holy Apostle St Peter was wholly wrong, when Jesus, right after giving Pete the keys, looked at him and said, "Get thee behind Me, satan, for..." Peter, you are thinking like a natural man, or to put it back into the Shakspearian manner of King James: "...thou savourest not the things that be of God, but of man." And if you and I are not careful, we won't "savour" either.
Job's friends were wrong. Eli the priest was wrong with Samuel's mother. David's brothers were wrong when he wanted to kill Goliath. Saul was wrong when he wanted to kill Jonathan. And you may be wrong also! Remember: the greatest key to knowing the will of God is to have a deep Deep DEEP commitment to DO THE WILL OF GOD!!! (John 7:17) I say again, do you know all there is to know about God? We don't either. But can we agree to be patient with each other in this marvelous adventure of being led into all truth by the Holy Spirit?
MOST DISLIKED BIBLE VERSE
I have a least favorite Scripture. I don't like it, but I must agree with it.(Truth doesn't change just because I don't like it, or because I don't agree with it. But I agree with all Scripture, because it is God's love letter to me). Remember that Verse where Jesus, after walking with the disciples for three years, told them, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." John 16:12? I don't want the Lord to have to say that to me. Remember that definition of the word RUT = "a shallow grave with the end knocked out"? God, deliver us from our ruts, and from every negative conditioning of our thinking, every limitation on our expectancy, every barrier to overflowing faith!!! And cause us to be a people that You can lead into all truth, revealing that which is to come, revealing to us the things of Christ. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
This, then, is the means by which we recognize the citizens and messages and representatives of the Kingdom of God. A representative of the Kingdom of God is ANYONE THE KING HAS CHOSEN TO REPRESENT HIM IN ANY REGARD AND WHO IS FUNCTIONING WITH THE INTEGRITY OF THE KING.
"I praise Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and didst reveal them to babes." Luke 10:21.
In the last two chapters, we have been talking about the importance of unity in the Body of Christ, and now, about knowing the will of God. Here is something that ties these two thoughts together.
BODY GUIDANCE
Please allow me to refer to these following points again, also. There should be more allowance in the Body of Christ for each other to be led sovereignly by God, led by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God" (KJ). Sometimes God leads in strange ways and it behooves us not to be critical of the way God may be sovereignly leading. Acts 21:14 gives an example of a difference of opinion, that was only solved by the dear ones in lovingly committing this brother to the grace of God and saying, "The will of the Lord be done!" Instead, sometimes we will purposely, psychically intimidate and alienate our brother or sister when we think they are not doing the will of God as we see it for them. But this is not fair or wise. We can tell them what we think, but then it is our responsibility not to judge or be critical. Their God, Jesus Christ, has a right to lead them, without obtaining your approval. In that case, we lovingly commend them to the grace of God and love them and pray for them and keep the door open to them. If they are wrong, they will have difficulty enough, now and later, without us adding to their problem our judgement and criticism. Jesus is still saying to us today, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me!" (John 21:22b)
Recently, I became freshly impressed that it is not enough for me to accept Christ as my Lord alone, but it is also necessary for me to accept and receive Christ Jesus as The Lord of my brother and sister in Christ as your Lord too!!
God be merciful to all of us as we seek diligently to please Him in everything.
Romans 14 is good in this regard. Now we are NOT talking about things in the Bible that God has clearly said is sin. But there are a multitude of other areas where we are guilty of judging. Verse 4, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. And God is able to make him stand." (KJ)
So, we see that there is such a deep need for us to love each other unconditionally, without criticism, strings or walls, character assassination or resentment. The Lord says that it is not enough to love one another tolerantly, but that we are to "obey the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH A PURE HEART FERVENTLY!!!" (I Pet. 1:22).
We worship You, Oh Lord God of the Universe, Lord Jesus Christ and we also will be careful to-honor You, and appreciate You, in our brother and in our sister! We repent for not having rightly related to You in the least of the brothers and sisters. And ask that by Your grace we will always rightly relate to You wherever You are found.
We ask You Lord Jesus for the Spirit of Wisdom, Revelation and the Knowledge of our God to rest upon us, unceasingly - increasingly. Yea Lord, Be our Life. Love through us with a pure and fervent practical "I Corinthians 13" and "I John" type of love. Please help us always to be rightly related to You in the dear ones, and to never be wrongly related to You, in them. Oh Dear Father, always BE our LIFE, and help us to always relate to our fellow Christians as though You are their life, too. In Jesus Christ's Name we pray and believe.
Amen.
CHAPTER 5-REVIEW
1. Complete this sentence - The defeated devil is working over-time trying to make look good and to make look bad .
2. How will we know the difference?
3. What religious group responsible for crucifying Christ would compare with today?
4. What is the only way the disciples were able to recognize Christ? Then - now?
5. Tor F - That which God did yesterday has almost always persecuted what God is doing today.
6. Yes or no - Do you know all there is to know about God?
7. Tor F - A deceived person never knows when they are deceived?
8. T or F - Jesus spoke in parables to make the message plain.
9. Complete the sentence - The true basis oflove or a walk with God is .
10. Name at least 5 things that are totally unreliable indications of the will of God.
11. Name at least 2 things that are always reliable indications of the will of God.
12. Complete this Kingdom principle: "One must never determine the will of God by looking at a)_______ b)________ c)_________ but by looking at d)_______ e)______ & f)__________ .
13. Name at least 5 symptoms of "being in love" that are not at all valid in determining whether or not one is loving according to the Will and Word of God.
14. If a person "falls out of love" with one's spouse and "falls in love" with someone else - does this justify adulterous thoughts and/or actions?
15. Explain as briefly as possible the following illustrations on disunity and deception:
a)Laurel & Hardy
b)Invisible Wedge Shaped Principalities
c)Pass the Toast
d)Hitchhiker
e)Curtains for the enemy.
16. What sins in the body of Christ are equal to or worse than a child murderer or the nazi-criminals?
17. On the basis of John 7:17, what is the best way to know the will of God?
18. What was the definition given of a "rut"?
19. Define "Kingdom Representative".
20. In addition to receiving Christ as OUR Lord, what is also necessary in our attitude toward our brother/sister in Christ?
21. What is meant by the phrase "psychic intimidation"?
22. What does Rom. 14:4 say?
23. How does I Peter 1:22 say we are to love each other? (See also 4:8).