Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

5/7/08

Well now I am totally wrecked once again! HA! It’s a good thing to be wrecked! It is so good this wonderful feeling of “nothingness”! I have once again come to the end of myself! HA!! I have once again come to the end of what I think, simply because what I have just experienced is outside my capacity to think! And I realize again that I cannot figure out or define what God does among those who believe for the radical. I am just wrecked! All I am left to say is, “Come Lord Jesus, come!”

As I write, it is Wednesday, May 7th, 2008. My wife, daughter and I have just returned from Lakeland, Florida and the Todd Bentley/Fresh Fire Revival. We spent four days on the road and the weekend in place just hungry for more of the Lord. We knew this Revival was a wonderful outpouring from the Lord. When we got there, we dove right in. The Spirit met us in power. We saw wonderful healings and radical miracles like body parts growing back, the dead being raised (2 by that date) and gold teeth being installed supernaturally. Even my dear mother-in-law was deeply touched by the Holy Spirit. She had gold dust manifest on her body as she was being prayed for. It was just awesome! We were rendered wasted on the ground time and time again in a state of drunkenness in the Holy Spirit. We met people from revivals all around the world.

We had divine appointments again and again on each of the three days we were there. We received and gave out as the Lord lead.

David Vaughn from Wales, England was with us. My old revivalist friend, Jim Samuelson from Fargo, North Dakota was with us. Many revivalists from around America and around the world were in attendance this last weekend. We were prophesied over by some of the most anointed prophets in the world. Every single word was a confirmation and an increase of former words we have received. The Spirit was moving so strongly in the place that we were on the floor as much as we were in our seats!

David Vaughn regularly tested my level of offendability in the flesh! Indeed David carries a mantle of the Welsh Revival upon him. As he laid hands on us, as did so many people in each meeting, we went deeper and deeper in the Holy Spirit and in the love of the Father. Jesus was magnified to great heights! Meanwhile we fell lower and lower of self under the weighty revelation that God is God and we are not.

Now the Spirit of the Lord has been moving in power around the world for many years. Since the end of World War II, there have been certain outpourings of the Holy Spirit that have been preparatory for these end times. Though there have been great revivals before then, there seems to have been a shift to end time purpose since the end of WW II. World War II was the war of the ages and which was a manifestation of the natural that came forth because of the great spiritual battle that was going on in the Heavenlies. Somehow I think that the enemy was being served notice back then that the end times were close at hand.

I have been in this outpouring of the Spirit since 1997. But this particular release of God’s Spirit in Lakeland has come with a purpose far greater than just a few Godly people getting healed, delivered and blasted in God’s manifesting love! No, we were getting set up to be sent out! This manifestation is the great outpouring that has been prophesied for years that would reap a great end time harvest.

A Vision

One night (The Saturday night meeting 5.3.08), I saw in the Spirit a great wave of waters. Like a great tidal wave cresting, it was just hovering just behind the stage. It went from the north horizon to the south horizon. I knew that it was about to just brake down over us. I was waiting for it to come, but it just stood there, many hundreds of feet high and but just a few miles away.

Then I saw in the Spirit three lightning bolts strike the center field of the baseball park. In a moment of holiness and weighty presence, I saw each lightning bolt strike the same exact spot on the ground. Each one came slowly and with a pause in time between bolts. BOOM… (everyone just froze in position in terror)…………… BOOM… (everyone was shocked that it came again)……………BOOM… (now everyone just fell to their faces under the weight of the knowledge that God had just come). Then I heard the Lord say, “Lightning might strike the ground twice in the same place. But, three times is impossible. THIS IS GOD!”

Now I knew that what was happening in Lakeland was the very hand of God doing his plan in his timing.

End vision.

Indeed we do not know the day or hour of Christ second coming, but we can and should know the season of it. Without a doubt, we are in the season of the end times.

Now it stands to reason that if by the power of the Holy Spirit a great harvest will be reaped, we must know that every accusation, effort, strategy, tactic and plan of satan will come against such outpourings to prevent them from coming to pass. For it is true that by the power of the cross we can see thousands of souls won in a day, so it is that this power is what the enemy of God would come against the most.

Now even at these Lakeland meetings, I saw people who were clearly offended at the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that were happening before their very eyes. I was shocked to see how most received, but some rejected what they were seeing as a work of man’s flesh. This greatly saddened me.

Lord! Let it never be said of me that I got in the way of God to stop others from pressing in to deep relationship and fullness with the Father!

Now this must be spoken of, and in a word of knowledge and prophetic sort of way!

A Prophetic Word

There will be people who will scoff and mock this outpouring. There are many who would say, “This is not of God.” Even now there are some who would say, “This is nothing special and unique.”

It will come more from the religious “church” than from the world. Though there will be persecution from the world, it is the Spiritless church that will mock this the greatest. It will come most from those who have something to loose. They will crusade against these moves with publications and accusations of impropriety and error. Do not be surprised. Do not respond to offenses with an offense.

If the Spirit filled church will love the spiritless church then many will be saved. In such a way, many dry places will be filled. But if the Spirit filled church responds in anger, the divide will become great.

God will forever be checking the condition of our hearts to see if we will become less so that God can be great among us. And so we who are going deep in the Lord must know and be willing to take the slap and respond in love. Do not be surprised by judgments, accusations and offenses taken up by those who call themselves people of God. We must remember, it is not the mind that makes us people of God, it is our hearts. By our hearts, we know what is true. So it is that by our hearts, do we respond.

Rom 12:17-21 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let no one steal your joy because they accuse you of error. Let no one pull you down because of condescending judgment. Be submitted to your church leadership who are themselves submitted to the Holy Spirit of God. But do not allow the spoken or written words of those who pass judgment against Revival hold you back from the radical stuff God is now calling you into.

End Word

Taking Ungodly Offense

In John 6, Jesus was speaking to the disciples regarding the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. They did not understand the teaching because they needed the revelation of what this radical teaching meant. When revelation is missing, the mind takes over. When the mind takes over, interpretation error is sure to follow.

John 6:60-64 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.

Revelation does not require the mind, it requires the heart. God shoots right past the mind to check the condition of the heart. Then and only then does God bring revelation knowledge. The results are mental judgments against anything that one does not believe.

Where the spiritless church is concerned, these mental judgments arise from man’s interpretation of the literal “logos” written word.

Man has fallen into the trap of taking on the responsibilities of God to judge the church.

These are the people who are quick to quote:

1 Thess 5:21-22 Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

They neglect the revelation of the scripture that precedes it:

1 Thess 5:19-22 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything . Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

Today’s church has so divorced itself of the manifestation of the supernatural that it rejects the restoration of, or any manifestation of the supernatural.

We should know that there is power in passing judgment. But that power only applies to the world. In the Kingdom of God, the only one with the power to pass judgment is God Almighty. Whatever judgments man might pass against the church is powerless against the church so long as the church remains in the Spirit of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, we must not make any judgment, lest we gain the punishment due the world. But we must love, allowing the Father to judge.

Woe be it to those who pass judgment against the real moves of God! Here are many scriptures that directly speak to this issue:

James 4:11-12 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Rom 14:10-13 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written:

“As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Oh my goodness, let it never be said of me that I have placed a stumbling block at the feet of those who are doing the radical stuff of God! And Father forgive me for ever speaking a word of presumptive judgment against anyone who has moved in the radical of the Lord!

A Warning

Those who are passing judgments against what is a real and true move of God must be warned. If the Spirit of the Lord manifests in power to bring healing, wonders and strange manifestations of drunkenness and seeming disorder to the people of God, who is it that one comes against if one passes judgments against such things? The answer is the Holy Spirit. The result of such a judgment is to accuse the Holy Spirit of bringing a false manifestation, or, to accuse that which actually is of the Holy Spirit as not being of the Holy Spirit. That is a form of blasphemy. One definition of blasphemy is this: “The act of insulting or showing contempt for God.” Merriam-Webster

People who publicly pass judgment against a true move of the Lord are showing a form of contempt. Contempt is defined as: “A willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a… judge.” Merriam-Webster

Jesus spoke a fearful and powerful word of warning in the following:

Matt 12:30-32 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

It might be argued that a person is acting in what he or she thinks is right, not knowing the truth. Thus in not knowing, they are not responsible for their own actions. But I say to you that people who persecute do so in the pride of the flesh. Those that persecute, in most cases, do so from a place of inner woundedness. They judge from a place of presumption. If they knew God, they would never do such a thing. If they knew God, they would know the truth. See John 16:1-4 below…

These are the people who warn us about the “strange teachings” talked about in Hebrew 13. But they do not include the context and revelation of the scripture that speaks only to false teachings of the full and basic Gospel of Christ.

Heb 13:7-10 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

If we are to imitate the faith of those who went before us, are we not to do what Jesus did? Are we not to be like the twelve Apostles? Are we not to manifest the same things that came to these Apostles at Pentecost? Are we not to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead? Are we not supposed to be seeing 3000 souls save in a day, as was the product of Pentecost? I tell you this; I will imitate the faith of Todd Bentley way before I imitate the faith of the religious.

We must remember the words of Jesus Christ, as written in John 16. These will be the people we are warned about:

John 16:1-4 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

That’s how far an offense will take a person. It starts with disbelief. It then manifests into a judgment. The judgment manifests into hatred. Hatred manifests into murder. This is how the Saints become martyred.

Of these things, the Body of Christ should have no part. We must know that the hatred leveled against us must be answered with love, lest we fall into the snare of the trap of strife and division. The devil is always in the business of tempting the Body of Christ to fall into this trap.

If I am nothing and He is everything, whenever an offense comes my way, it is not my offense. It’s not my offense to be offended about. It deflects off of me to the One who is everything. If God truly owns all of me, it is He that has the right to be offended, not me. True humility means that all I am is his. Therefore I have no right to carry an offense. It’s not my offense.

As such, when we commit an act of offense to someone of the Kingdom of God, in reality, we commit it against God. The Lord says that all the vengeance is his.

Todd Bentley and many other apostolic leaders who are moving in the radical of the Lord are stewards of the mysteries of God. It is of these people that God writes:

1 Cor 4:1-5 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

These men, women and yes children will be people who do not deny the power of Jesus Cross. It is the revelation and manifestation of this very power that the religious come against the most. But look at how God considers those who deny the power of Christ’s Cross:

2 Tim 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

The denial of the power of the Cross is lumped in here with a large list of great sins! The scripture is clear… have nothing to do with them.

If we deny the power of the Cross, we deny the Chief Cornerstone of the Church. We deny Christ directly.

Isa 28:16-18 and 20-22 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the grave will not stand…

…The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon —
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
Now stop your mocking,
or your chains will become heavier…

So now all that is left for us to do is to get wrecked and stay wrecked! In as much as we become less, God will show us great things and move us into great exploits. But as much as we operate in the flesh of our being, we will not see it. And the result will be the pride of our self-defined certainty. What manifests then is judgment. May we never fall into that trap.

1 Cor 3:18-23 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come — all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Zech 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit ,’ says the LORD Almighty.

This, therefore, is the strategy of the devil. He desires that we get tripped up by others accusations and enter into strife with them.

James 3:13-18 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

1 Cor 3:3 For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Have nothing to do with the Spiritless false accusations that are sure to come in the days ahead. Love those who bring them, but do not receive such strife. And above all, do not come into agreement with man made cranial arguments that cheapen the Cross that usually end with, “I don’t see that in my Bible.”