Archive for the 'Prophetic Word' Category

How to Protect Yourself From False Spiritual Teachers and Prophets.

Published January 15, 2023 Hearing God , Prophetic Word , World Leave a Comment
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If you wondered about the name of this ministry, Arming the Saints, let me explain.  It is our heart to give God’s people the knowledge, wisdom and training to be armed against the battles of this world and in the supernatural realms and the lies of the enemy that keep many people blind to their true blessings and authority in Christ.  It is so heavy on my heart that so many are being blinded and deafened by the world and religious miscommunications, false prophets and teachers and incorrect human interpretation of Biblical truth and maybe you are too.  So here are a few posts on how to protect yourself.

  1.  Do not believe everything someone tells you, especially if they attach any religious words or titles with it.  What I mean is test everything as we are told in 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  Testing the words of your pastor, TV spiritual teachers and spiritual friends is perfectly acceptable and highly recommended!

Know that spirit comes in the form of spiritual influence that come to us in feelings, emotions and most obviously in words.  The best way to test the spirit (or teachings/statements) is to know the truth in the Word of God.  This truth comes from studying the Bible not just reading it and asking for wisdom and understanding.

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The Signs of the Times; Are You Truly Saved?

Published January 9, 2022 Current events , Prayer , Prophetic Word Leave a Comment
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If you’re pressed for time, or if you already understand the biblical signs of the times, I invite you to skip to the end of this post to the prayer so that you can commit or recommit your life to our Lord.  The best protection for peace, safety, and provision you have in this scary and uncertain time is by pressing into God and studying His Word.

Over the last couple of years we’ve had a lot of misinformation thrown our way, mostly in politics, but also in science and, unfortunatly, theology and religion.

In my opinion, this misinformation is the root of the unrest, unhappiness, and flat out hatefulness being manifested today. As Christians, however, we should not be surprised at misinformation or, frankly, at anything happening in the world today. Indeed, the Bible talks about some signs of the times as an indicator of the end of our current world, and I believe we’re seeing many of these Biblical signs today. 

Simply take a look at Matthew 24:4-14, with a few of my notes in parenthess:

Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 

(We see deception and lies running rampant, and we’re being warned here to be on guard.  We’ve also heard some political-Christians and others refer to some political figures as a savior or even “The Savior,” conjuring notions of Jesus, which is frightening on its own. Frankly, until the last four or five years, I never quite understood various biblical passages describing people who see but don’t perceive, hear but don’t understand. These days, I see it happening all the time. What, exactly, are we to do when some public figure actually tells us not to believe what we see? Some commentaries say that messianic pretenders don’t have to say they’re Jesus — merely that they represent Jesus – in order to deceive and to “sanction lawlessness.” (Baker))

You will hear of wars, and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 

(We’ve heard about wars and rumors of wars for many years, but in my opinion, the calling out of nations and kingdoms here seems to intend to encompass more than just what we normally think of when we think of “nations against nations.”  Even secular dictionaries have defined a “nation” as a specific ethnic group, or a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own. So, when looking for an intensifying of “nations against nations,” we look not only to traditional international conflict, but also within our own borders, such as what is happening with the controversy surrounding the 2020 election and the division of the people in the USA.)

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

(We’ve had more extraordinarily severe natural disasters in the past several years, and this is exactly what Jesus meant – not that we’ll see things we’ve never seen before, but that there will be an intensifying of these things that will be noticeably worse. And, indeed, what we’ve seen has been noticeably worse, if not altogether unprecedented in severity, with destruction from fires, volcanos, floods, tornados, in addition to changes to global climate, drought (which tends to precede famine), pandemics, cyber-attacks, and yes, earthquakes.  All of these are the earth telling us that it is suffering and we suffer as well.)

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.

(According to at least one media outlet, Christian persecution increased in 2021, with over 340 million Christians affected. This means that about 1 in every 7 Christians has experienced or is experiencing persecution. This increase is due, in part, to the need caused by various natural disasters to sort people for various benefits; for example, with the pandemic came an opportunity to overlook Christians when it came to food and aid distribution.  And note the subtlety of the persecution. It’s not what you might think, with Christians being jailed or tortured. It’s often simply people disregarding or ignoring Christians for various reasons simply because they are Christians. Some of this is self-inflicted. Right now, we have a fairly large division in the Church, with at least one side seemingly in an open war of hate and unloving actions against the other. And that’s within the church! Look, I’m not going to mince words. If you see someone post something on Facebook about loving God within minutes of posting another thing about “hating libs,” you know there’s something really wrong with the church.)           

 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 

(Where do I start? The years 2020/22 may as well be called the years of the false prophet. False prophesy about the pandemic, about the election, about a “new revival.” Let’s face it –prophets can get things wrong. But what this latest series of prophesies shows us is that these so-called “prophets” – even when wrong – do nothing to apologize, repent, or otherwise alter their original prophesy. In fact, in one notable case, a pastor who dared to repent and recant his prophesy over the election was actually attacked by his own flock for “giving in.” Eventually, he abandoned his ministry altogether due to the unprecedented hatred to do merely what the Bible says a prophet should do. And yet, there appears to be no end to the number of people lining up to announce that they are “prophets of God” with an important worldly message for all Christians. Look, I believe in modern day prophets. But if you hear from one, you really, really need to check and re-check that prophesy by assessing what they say – and how they react to being wrong – with the Bible.)

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 

(We see the love of people for each other has grown incredibly cold in the many actions that we are witnessing on airplanes, in restaurants, in grocery stores, and in hospitals. You only need to look as far as your social media account (I suppose mine is mostly FB) through the constant posting of hateful memes ungodly discussions when someone merely disagrees with another. I suppose isolation and the increased anonymity of the Internet have some part to play in all this, but that just means we must work to make sure our own love does not grow cold.)

but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

(Now to our HOPE.  Those of us standing firm will be saved.  Standing firm means operating out of obedience to God and his main commandments as stated in Mark 12:30-31; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”  Those of us who are dedicated and have committed ourselves to God and who practice operating out of love will be and are saved!  Are we always perfect in operating out of love?  No, I wish we were, but we should be striving for perfect love to all of God’s people – regardless of personal preferences, political or religious affiliation, cultural heritage, etc.)

I’m not saying that the world will end tomorrow – but what if it did?  In fact, when people ask me worried questions about eschatology – i.e., “End Times” (including notions surrounding the book of Revelation, the tribulation, resurrection of the dead, etc.), I often tell them that they should be far more worried about their own personal end time. And that could happen at any moment. After all, people have been predicting the end of this world for a long, long time, and those people have all passed. So, are you absolutely certain, beyond a shadow of any doubt that you are in good standing with God?  Whether you are or not, I invite you to pray this prayer, out loud and activate your future with the Lord.  Then get out your Bible and try to read it for a few minutes every day and see what new insights and blessings the Lord shows you.

PRAYER:

God, I come to you today and I admit that I have fallen short of your plans and expectations for my life and I ask for your forgiveness. Lord, I admit that I know that you sent Jesus to come into the world in human form to die on the cross for my sins and to fix my relationship with you, and I know that Jesus doing so is the only way a person like me could ever be in a right relationship with a perfectly holy God. I know that Jesus died and was raised from the dead and is now seated next to you in Heaven. Thank you Father that you wipe every sin away and that you love me. Lord, your word says to love others, and so please show me how to love your people here on earth. I want to live my life for you and to be a blessing to others. I want to follow your commands. I pray all of these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.

If you’ve prayed this prayer, I invite you to messenger me or post it here so that I can specifically pray for you for all of the blessings promised to us and for wisdom, knowledge, peace and safety during this time we are in today! 

Feel free to pray this prayer often — even every day — as each day brings not only new challenges, but also new opportunities for overcoming those challenges and to bless others.

Complicity of the Church Today

Published February 5, 2021 Characteristics of Believers , Prophetic Word , World Leave a Comment
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There is complicity among large parts of the Christian Church (not my particular church, the church as a whole) in the events of January 6th insurgency at the Capitol of the United States. To illustrate this, I want to focus both on the fact that Jeremiah Johnson, a Christian leader and self-proclaimed “prophet,” recently decided to apologize for his role in making people think that their Christian ideals should be sacrificed for a political candidate as well as on the Christian “response” to that apology.  

As you may know, when Donald Trump won the Presidency, he was embraced (to an almost unnatural level) by mostly white, evangelical, Christian churches. Leaders from those churches solemnly yet gleefully stood with hands on the President, saying he was chosen by God to lead America to a revival of holiness. Slowly, the gospel of Trump was preached in church buildings across our country, and it was fully embraced as some sort of divine will – like an addendum to the Bible – by the Republican Party. One prominent Republican actually told Trump that he was “the chosen one,” apparently meaning at least that God had picked him to lead America into revival, and that no earthly event could reverse that decision.  

Throughout the term, these churches became more obvious in their idolatry of a political candidate over the person they claimed to worship, Jesus. On many occasions, I tried to point out how they were showing both bad theology and a hypocrisy that was actually deterring people from seeking God. As 2020 neared, though, they became only more brazen.

Indeed, as 2020 neared, many of these leaders “prophesied,” saying that they were told by God that Trump would win again to finish the job. Some were very specific, providing exact dates and saying that he would win by a landslide. I’ve seen lists of as many as 50 of them. Jeremiah Johnson was one of them.

Accordingly, after Trump lost, people (including me) were hoping these so-called prophets would repent and apologize for being wrong. I mean, that’s what you’re supposed to do – even the prophets know that. But only one did, and even he withdrew his apology due to political pressure from his own congregation.

All of the others kept saying, “Just you wait,” “It isn’t over yet,” and “You need to keep praying so that God will show his mighty hand against these evildoers (meaning, I suppose, people who didn’t believe the election was stolen).” Some prophets began to backpedal, saying that maybe God didn’t mean Trump would win this time – maybe he would win next time, in 2024. Others began to re-define their terms, like saying that the “landslide” they mentioned was a landslide of evidence that would eventually show fraud in the election. All of this was being broadcast, announced, and otherwise posted to Christians across America right up until January 6.

After the January 6 insurrection (and it was an insurrection by any definition, but especially as it is used in the federal criminal code), Jeremiah Johnson decided to repent, apologize, and warn Christians to repent of their own idolatry of Trump. Sure, it would have been nice if he had done it earlier, but I chalk that up to him not completely understanding how the political process and the law work. Nevertheless, he wrote: “I would like to repent for inaccurately prophesying that Donald Trump would win a second term as the President of the United States. I refuse to blame the saints and say, ‘It didn’t come to pass because they did not pray enough.’ Nor will I proclaim, ‘Donald Trump actually won, so I was right, but now it has been stolen from him.’”  

Okay, I can get behind that. And you’d think a healthy Christian church would understand the need to apologize and repent.

Yet, a mere three days after his apology, he had to write, “Over the last 72 hours, I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry.”

To his credit, Johnson wrote: “If I helped to prop up this ideology concerning [Trump], I will need to repent again and stir up even more hell.”

Start repenting again, Jeremiah, because you did.

But you so-called Christians who threatened Johnson and said all those vulgar things to him need to repent as well. Maybe you were misled by people like Johnson, but that’s no excuse.

The reason that the “Christian” church of which I am a member is fully complicit in causing a treasonous insurrection against our Constitutional system is because it’s allowed politics to become dangerously intertwined with its theology. You can tell it’s true by merely looking at the pictures of the riot, which seemingly has equal numbers of Trump and Jesus or God flags flying above the chaos. It’s clear now that in many places in America, the church’s teachings are flawed, its theology is wrong, and its use of the term “evangelical” is laughable due to its actions, which are actually driving people away from God and the Bible. And we’re able to point to a clear culprit, which is politics.

The church is obviously split, because I (and others) railed against it for the last four years.  It’s time for the church (the body of Christians) to repent for sin and idolatry and come back into healthy and theologically correct teaching.  And it’s time for church members to kindly guide their church leaders toward a more biblical view of life and the world. If your pastor or church leader is preaching a primarily political message – subtly or overtly – without teaching our role as followers of Jesus as aliens in the natural world, then confront him or her for their own good. If they refuse to respond, then leave and find a church leader preaching/teaching the True Word of God and worshipping Jesus alone.

Note: After I drafted this, Sid Roth (It’s Supernatural) also “apologized,” but it was actually more of a justification than an apology. Moreover, despite seemingly understanding his error, he still couldn’t help himself from making overt political statements. There are good and true prophets out there, but you’ve got to use your discernment to find them.

Illumination and Separation

Published November 15, 2020 Characteristics of Believers , Prophetic Word Leave a Comment
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Our pastor started off this year by announcing that it would be a year of “shaking.” Man, he was right. It’s also been a year of illumination and separation, especially in the church. Some of it hasn’t been pretty.

I imagine some churches are acting exactly like a church Denise and I know about here in Denver. We had gone to this church a couple of times, but we stopped when people began inserting gratuitous political messages into the services. No big deal; we’ve always belonged to Colorado Christian Fellowship, and even though we visit other places, we always have a home there, where the Truth of God is always foremost in the message. Our pastor has been pretty clear that as Christians we are aliens in the world and will undoubtedly find fault with any political party if we look hard enough.

Nevertheless, we had occasionally kept up on this other church to see what it was up to. Well, we noticed in October the church had suddenly stopped doing in-person services, opting to stream online instead. If you scan the various messages in October, you find out that the reason was because several of the staff and congregation had tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, the pastor there said the closure was due to his desire to keep everyone safe. Okay, so far so good. There is absolutely no reason that “church” has to be held in a building. Our pastor has been live-streaming since the whole thing began, and we’ve only grown larger as a congregation.

Then – quite suddenly after the election – everything in that other church changed. Despite having closed due to the virus in the church, the pastor now blamed the Governor and county officials for creating rules requiring his church to be shut down (in point of fact, the counties really do these things on their own, and it would actually likely be better to have the Governor issue some sort of a statewide rule). He spoke of being “at war” with those who want to keep people from meeting in person. He spoke of “draining the swamp.” He spoke of the “horrible” and “dark time” caused by the “discouraging” and “disappointing” election. He equated not tithing with “looting,” a word thrown around quite frequently in certain political circles and perhaps hinting at a major reason why churches like his balk at closing their doors. Instead of talking about God’s will, he spoke about meetings with his attorneys, the First Amendment, and civil disobedience. The previous justification of “member safety” was lost as blamed others for their situation. I actually saw him laugh while pondering whether his congregation would ever wear a mask, even if they were asked. This had nothing to do with safety. In short, this church went full-on-political.  

And this is the illumination and separation happening in the churches. Some are focused on God, and some are focused on political ramblings. 

No time for any elaboration today, but we’ll soon have more to say about “political Christians” and churches, like the one above, which has decided to incorporate so much political rhetoric into its message. Moreover, in the future we’ll have plenty to say about so-called Christian “prophets,” who claim to speak for God but who focus mostly on politics and – whether right or wrong in their prophesies – drive people away from their search for God. But for now, just realize that church leaders who emphasize a mainly political message, implying, basically, that God somehow can’t do His will without we humans voting a particular way, have no business being church leaders because they have lost sight of an inclusive and supreme God who is at work with us, in us, and for us.   

A Word From God

Published April 24, 2020 Current events , Hearing God , Prophetic Word , Uncategorized 1 Comment
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I hope that everyone is weathering this unusual time, and I pray that everyone is healthy both in body and spirit.

I had a word from the Lord a week or so ago, but I’ve been putting off sharing it due to its somewhat political nature. Frankly, I have an aversion to the politics of this age because it’s been used by the enemy so successfully to divide people. It all reminds me of our civil war and how divided our nation and families were in that particular time. Nevertheless, I’ve been convicted by my lack of obedience since I have received this message, and so here it is. Those of you who are in more charismatic churches know that if someone gets a word, he or she must share it verbatim and not try to clean it up just for the sake of cleaning. I’m not apologizing for the message, but I will simply tell you to open your heart and mind and ask for the Truth to be revealed from the Lord.
What God told me is this:

“Tell my people to stop worshiping Trump. He is just a man and I am God. I am He who knew you from before you were formed in you mothers’ womb. He is a not a man after my heart. The things happening now are to break down the idols you have come to worship that take your focus off of me and the good things I have for you. Trump is your president because your nation picked him. Yes, I use all things to my honor and to show my face – but he is not to be worshipped and set on a pedestal as one who is above me or the laws. Look at his fruit and test him by my Holy Spirit – open your eyes.

Break off/break down your idols that you worship – that which you focus on – money, wealth, politics, vanity, pride – these are not lasting, but I AM. I am the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end. Turn your focus to me and prepare to be blessed immeasurably.

This time you have while you are removed from the busyness of the earthly world is to be used to renew your bonds with me, remember me, spend time with me as you would a long, lost friend. Get to know me and reflect on the good things in your life and know that I orchestrated those times. Look at your growing and learning times and know that I was with you and that I remember your sorrows and heartaches. Know that I have never left you.

Come back to me, rest in my arms, enjoy my peace, stand in my protection, seek my heart for you and your family and see how much better it is than the worldly, fleeting pleasures. Invite me into your home and heart so I can heal your woundedness and prepare you for your True blessings. Also know that I am a jealous God and disobedience and forsaking me angers me. I created you, I created the heavens and the earth, the sun and moon, the stars in the sky, the food you eat. I created you to love me and fellowship with me and yet you have created altars and idols to worship who can’t speak, or bless or save you. Come back to me. I forgive your sins – nothing is too great for me to forgive – just ask me. Put down your pride. I love to heal your brokenness and purge the lies set in you by the enemy.

Stop hating your brothers and sisters because they don’t believe the way you do. Stop taking in everything your people say as truth and look for my Truth. If you don’t see me or my heart in situations or people it is not my Truth. Be careful what you feed your body to be healthy and in the same way be careful of the things you feed your mind. If it is not my Truth it creates a trash heap in your heart where the enemy finds pleasure in exploiting and growing lies, hatred, misinformation, deceit, pride, covetousness, and busyness to blind you from my love.

Come back to me – not for just a moment like you did after 911 where I protected and rescued many – but for your lifetime. Make your time on earth matter by knowing me and loving my people, helping my people not just in a crisis but every day. Come back to me. I Love you.”

A little more revelation from this past week. Know that the words I heard from the Lord, above, are addressing the adoration and admiration of idols, but especially people’s (believers and non-believers) adoration with our current President, as shown especially by comments that he is a man of God and has been chosen by Him apparently to bring people back to God. In fact, the current President is not a “man of God,” as shown clearly by tests gleaned from adherence to scripture and by spiritual fruit, which we have discussed a bit before. But there appears to be more confusion over the President’s particular role given God’s providence over all things.

I suppose this will require a longer explanation in another blog, but for now simply realize that God uses ungodly people to do His will all the time, and His will is not necessarily what you might hope it would be at any given time. For example, in Luke, Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow, whose pleas wore down a man who “neither feared God not cared what people thought.” Luke 18:1-8. Jesus used this particular ungodly man to make a broader point about God’ justice. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s Temple and initiated Babylon captivity of the Jews. Cyrus rebuilt the Temple and allowed the Jews to return from Babylon. In each of these things, God’s will was done – and would always have been done – whether or not people agreed with the Kings or even remotely knew their ultimate purpose.

The Bible is clear in stating that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” (Romans, 8:28) and those things include both good and bad – godly and ungodly – rulers. But at any given time, we simply don’t know what the “good of those who love him” actually is. Indeed, to build His Kingdom, it’s quite possible that God will use ungodly rulers to force some of the more unpleasant parts of the end times to occur. So, we don’t know why someone is in charge – we only know, given a strong sense of divine providence – that God has everything under control and, in the end, will use it for good of the Kingdom he envisioned at creation. In fact, if you go down the path of saying, “God placed this person on his or her throne to make us a more godly nation,” then you’re stuck in a logic problem of trying to determine why, for instance, God placed any other particular President – or even some dictator – on any particular throne at any particular time. Is one placed there to bring people to God, while another is placed to punish – each for our ultimate good? Or is it the other way around?

The point is that, even with a strong sense of divine providence, we don’t exactly know why a person is allowed to rule. So, again just for now, realize that God’s plan for this particular President might be for something altogether different than to bring our nation “closer to God.” Indeed, simply from the current news surrounding the church, an equally plausible reason appears to facilitate separation of “the sheep from the goats,” the true believers from those who only practice a shallow, if not anorexic belief.

The main point is not to worry, but to allow God to work. And, accordingly, not to try so hard to define and, indeed, prompt that work that we stray from Biblical principles. God will do what He will do, and we may be puzzled by that at any given time. But as for daily living, we have clear guidance: Follow God, relying on His moral law, scripture, and, in some cases, particularized revelation, to make daily decisions – each of which brings glory to God. If you find what you are doing is, instead, practicing a sort-of idol worship, not only by coveting the things of the natural world, but also by constantly standing up for ungodly decisions, ever=defending unscriptural actions, and persistently agreeing with notions that sow hatred and division, then it’s clearly time to turn back toward God.

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