As this text is written, Israel is very comfortable with her new religion “the two calves of gold.” This altar, one might say, was a “bastard” altar, designed by man, which referred to golden calves as god. There was only one altar in all of Israel that God would recognize, and that was in Jerusalem. The Altar that was in Jerusalem at the Temple was designed by the Holy Spirit and it portrayed Calvary, yet to come. This “altar” of Jeroboam would deliver no one and is representative of the many altars of this world today devised by the hand of man, sadly, even many within the modern church. Josiah, a type of Christ, would destroy 350 years later, exactly as this prophecy predicts, and through Christ and Christ alone is all false religion exposed and its power destroyed! The church must return to the true altar, which is in reality the Cross of Christ!
By Chris McDonald
Before we get into this message I feel the Lord has laid on our heart today, I want to share with you something we have posted before on a message we wrote about 4 years ago now entitled "The Old Altar and the New Altar," from A.W. Tozer, who penned what I believe is one of the single most important messages of his entire Godly ministry entitled "the Old Cross and the New Cross." Here is what he said:
"Unannounced
and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular
evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are
superficial; the differences, fundamental.
From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from
that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique -- a new type of
meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same
language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as
before.
The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it
meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the
law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a
friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean
fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life
motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes
delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing
bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though
the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.
The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The
evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be
received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into
public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands;
rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level.
Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is
cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious
product is better.
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a
cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the
self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for Christ." To the egotist it
says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the thrill-seeker it says,
"Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship." The Christian message is
slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to
the public.
The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity does
not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses
completely the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a
human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the
road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was
going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing,
spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try
to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had
finished its work, the man was no more.
The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape.
God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or
beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and
then raising him again to newness of life.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the
ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The
faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to
Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the
cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents
sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine
ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the
world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our
message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of
death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it
must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just
sentence against him. What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man
who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into
life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go
on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing.
Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the
stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.
Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from
Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the
earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised
Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ....
Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we...
alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old
cross and we will know the old power." (A.W. Tozer, 1963, months prior to his
death)
Every time I read this tract I just weep
as I am doing now because within the framework of what Rev. Tozer wrote is the
dilemma we face today in the modern church; a dilemma sadly that is costing
millions their eternal souls because the church has abandoned the preaching of
the cross of Christ. As this text is written, Israel became very comfortable
with her new religion that was built around an altar with "two calves of gold.”
This altar, one might say, was a “bastard” altar, designed by man, which
referred to golden calves as god. There was only one altar in all of Israel that
God would recognize, and that was in Jerusalem. The Altar that was in Jerusalem
at the Temple was designed by the Holy Spirit and it portrayed Calvary, yet to
come. This “altar” of Jeroboam would deliver no one and is representative of the
many altars of this world today devised by the hand of man, sadly, even many
within the modern church. Josiah, a type of Christ, would destroy 350 years
later, exactly as this prophecy predicts, and through Christ and Christ alone is
all false religion exposed and its power destroyed! The church must return to
the true altar, which is in reality the Cross of Christ!
Neighbor let me plead with you today with everything I muster through these words. Your eternal soul is more precious than gold itself. What shall a man gain if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? What shall a man profit and give in exchange for his soul? Where is your faith today? Are you trusting in a church? Are you trusting in a denomination? Are you even trusting in an experience? I feel these words of A.W. Tozer reverberate through to our day like a thundering clasp of warning from the heavenlies that the time we live in is short and the end is near. It thunders to us today that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God and there is NO other way to God except we come through HIM! The Words of Almighty God are laced with promises that are "yea and Amen," and no matter, as Tozer put it, that men try to alter the pattern and tamper with the truth, the TRUTH of the LORD JESUS CHRIST and what He accomplished for us at Calvary will always remain! We preach Christ Crucified, we preach Christ Crucified! The cross of Christ is the ONLY thing standing sir, between us all and eternal hell. The Cross of Christ and what was Accomplished there through the Lord's precious Shed Blood is the ONLY protection we have against disease, sickness, bondage, demons, devils, death and eternity without God. The Cross of Christ is where the price was paid for the Holy Spirit, healing, deliverance, miracles, prophetic utterances, the gifts of the Spirit, the working of the Spirit, the anointing of the Spirit, the ministries of the Spirit.
The Cross of Christ is where Satan's legal claim against men because of sin was ripped to pieces just as the veil in the Temple was rent "from top to bottom," the day the Lord cried "IT IS FINISHED." Neighbor, when He said "IT IS FINISHED," He meant "IT IS FINISHED!" Sin's power over man is FINISHED. Sickness and disease is FINISHED. POVERTY is finished. Depression, sadness and all other mental disorders ARE FINISHED! Satan's hold on mankind through drugs, alcohol, greed, and avarice are FINISHED. All bondage - the bondage of homosexuality, perversion, and the like are FINISHED because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other source or place one can find healing and deliverance! There is no other ONE who can set the captive free except the One who hung of the Cross 2,000 years ago at a place called Golgotha, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain! It's the Cross, it's the Cross! There is no power in hell or the Earth that can stand against the power of the BLOOD of the Lord Jesus Christ! If you're bound today by drugs, plead the BLOOD! If you're bound by homosexuality, repent, and PLEAD the Blood! If you're bound by poverty and a spirit of lack, plead the BLOOD and ask the Lord to bring you out! Jesus declared, "He has ANOINTED ME to preach the gospel to the POOR," meaning sir, if you can't change 2 nickels and are so broke you can't pay attention- YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE HE WAS SENT TO PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL TO! My Lord, I'm shouting myself happy as I write this right now. If the words slur or you see a bunch of typos, blame me and the Holy Ghost, because I feel Him so strong right on my hands I can barely write. My Lord, My Lord, it's the Blood, the BLOOD OF JESUS is against you Satan! Praise God.
We have been somewhat on a short hiatus this summer from writing to seek the face of God and sincerely seek to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the church in these last days. As we write this journal, the first one in nearly two months, we feel the hand of God sorely pressing our hearts to proclaim even louder the message of the Cross of Christ and the truth about the anointing of the Holy Ghost.
As I sit writing these words late into the night and early morning hours in mid-August 2007 my heart to be frank hurts a bit at some of the events that have occurred in our ministry this past year, especially since January 2007. Doors have been shut, sadly, relationships have been severed over doctrinal differences and it seems the brook has dried up in many areas we thought were going to be open doors of utterance. We understand that sometimes when one door shuts, yes God opens another, but questions always remain in one’s heart as to whether we handle things as Christ would have us handle them. We don't intentionally use Spirit Journals to hurt people's feelings or cause religious fires of war by what we write. When we write though, we literally pour our hearts into these journals and write what we feel the Spirit of God is constraining us to speak through written words about certain things and issues the church of the Lord Jesus faces.
We never know if some poor soul searching for answers on the internet is going to come across our site and as a life raft in a howling storm at sea, they may find the truth that will not just save their soul but set them free from years of bondage, sin and demonic hold. People have the right to disagree with what we say, and some do without a doubt. I don't think I've had as many emails laced with the venom they have been laced with as we have experienced in 2007. But let this writer assure you this. Spirit Journals, which incidentally turns 10 years old next year in 2008, is going to keep on keeping on! I want to say it again, this time for the devil to hear it. I don't care how many emails we get telling us how we're not being team players and going along with what the rest of the Body is doing or believing (if what is being done is blatantly false and ungodly). We're not going along with everyone else. We're here to write "thus saith the Lord" and let the Holy Ghost do the rest. If you're getting mad, there is a good chance, a great chance, a wonderful chance, what we're writing is worth the time taking us to write it!!! If everyone is sending us roses for what we're saying chances are not we're not preaching too much to be honest. It's when we get cussed and cursed and accused of divisiveness and everything under the sun that I know we're turning the corner and getting to the place where God wants us to be with Him.
I told my family recently that should the Lord take me home to glory before the rapture in the future and they remain behind that Spirit Journals MUST go on. I also told them that if the Lord reveals to me in heaven they are writing some new age garbage and junk on this website I'm going to ask the Lord to burn down the internet and have lightning strike the computer they are using to say such. This site is a GOSPEL site. This site is a site where you will hear about CHRIST and the Cross. You won't come here finding messages about the latest PDL module, the latest psychological craze in the church, or the "Secret" which is now causing many churches all across the land to have spiritual sugar fits as I predicted it would about 6 months ago. We're here to proclaim to humanity there is only ONE way to God and that is through the blood stained hands of Jesus Christ, and FAITH in what He did for them at the Cross!
As we turn our
attention to our text, those who study their Bible know that the things that
happened to Israel are examples for us today; we are to learn from their
mistakes, to do what they did which was right, but reject and not do the things
that caused them great difficulty and brought God's judgment upon the nation.
As we read our text in 1 Kings 13, we need to understand a bit of the history
that preceded the time of Jeroboam, one of Israel's most wicked leaders even
though he was Solomon's son and David's grandson. Solomon had gained the throne
in the will of God after death of his father David. Adonijah, the fourth son of
David (2 Sam. 3:4) became heir-apparent to the throne after the death of his
elder brothers, Amnon and Absalom. However, in God's plan for Israel, Solomon, a
younger brother, was preferred to Adonijah, who however, when his father was
dying, caused himself to be proclaimed king. The Lord used Nathan and Bathsheba
to stop this power play by Satan by inducing David to give orders that Solomon
should at once be proclaimed and admitted to the throne. When this took place
Adonijah fled and took refuge at the altar, and received pardon for his conduct
from Solomon on the condition that he show himself "a worthy man" (1 Kings
1:5-53). However, as human nature causes most to do when they receive mercy,
they ultimately reject that mercy and despite Solomon's grace to him, Adonijah
made a second attempt to gain the throne, but this second time was seized and
put to death (1 Kings 2:13-25).
Solomon at age 20 became King and was so loved by God that, as you read the original Hebrew and the word structures, when it says God grew “angry” with him for allowing his wives to bring in heathenistic gods, which were to reap bitter fruit for centuries for Israel, God had to force himself to be angry with Solomon, he loved him so much. Think of that. God literally had to force Himself to be angry with this powerful King of Israel, David's son, the one who raised his hands to God in the middle of the Temple altar and said "GIVE ME WISDOM instead of riches"! Think of that friend. It shows also how deeply God was hurt to see Israel fall into such deep and depraved idol worship after blessing Solomon so! To be frank, there is no scriptural evidence that Solomon himself engaged in the heathenistic worship of his wives who worshipped gods such as Baal, Moloch, Chemosh, Milcom, and Ashtoreth, but he condoned what they did and made it possible for them to worship these heathen dieties. Some of these gods required human sacrifice and promoted the deepest grossest forms of bestiality and perversion known to man.
1 Kings 11: 1-10 - But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; [2] Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. [3] And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. [4] For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. [5] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. [6] And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. [7] Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. [8] And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. [9] And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, [10] And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. [
One of his wives, Naamah, the Ammonites, who worshipped the heathen god Milcom, would turn their son Rehoboam into an idol worshipper. The message in this is clear as crystal: If you follow the Lord, He will bless you! If you disobey the Lord, judgment will surely come! If you insist going against His word, judgment will ultimately come for God cannot condone sin. I want to deal with that a moment here for there is a stream of thought in the Body of Christ today that feels God is not in the judgment business anymore but only loves loves loves loves; that statement is absolutely RIGHT on the surface but a misunderstanding of God's love has led the church world down this path of apostasy we find ourselves in today.
I read an article the other day (You can access it by clicking on our "Spirit Blog" link) that basically said the recent tragedy of the bridge collapse in Minnesota had nothing to do with God's displeasure over Minnesota electing the first Muslim representative to the House of Representatives in the HISTORY of this nation. This same man refused to take his oath of office on the Bible and blasphemes God's name DAILY on the House floor. NO, and I mean a thousand times NO, I don't think God deliberately made the bridge collapse and kill those who lost their lives in this tragedy. But friend at the very least He allowed it to happen and could have prevented it. HOWEVER, when a state OR a nation rejects God, God takes His hand of protection off that state and that nation! Hear what I say to you today America. Hear what I say to you CHURCH.
This lady used
the term a "smack down" God as to describe the God those who viewed the events
in Minnesota as a warning to the nation portrayed to the world. She didn't feel
there was ANY connection whatsoever to the tragedy and God's displeasure over
the Muslim being put into office by the state.
With all do respect and in the spirit of meekness, I ask you as I asked her a
simple question. Were the prophets of the Old Testament who warned Israel over
and over that captivity was coming and judgment was headed her way unless she
repent of her idolatry presenting a smack down God too?
Friend, no true believer takes any pleasure nor gloats when these tragedies
occur or life is lost in these events. As I write this we've had three
earthquakes in less than 7 days in this nation including a 5.3 magnitude quake
that jolted Hawaii early this morning prior to the writing of this journal.
Hawaii is also in the bulls eye of a Category 3 storm, Flossie, whose power has
the capability of possibly putting the entire state under water in the Pacific!
Last week we watched as the stock market went into convulsions just about as it
dropped nearly 500 points in 2 days - a loss of over $1 billion per day to
investors! Think of these things friend. Wake up and get your head out of the
seeker sensitive play book and manual of the modern church.
Our view of these tragedies tell us a lot about of how we view God Himself! Many want to make it seem that who believe God is using these events to get our nation's attention are laying the "blame" at God's feet for the tragedies which is absolutely not the case. When the prophets of old warned Israel what was coming they were not warning Israel saying God would be the blame for their captivity. NO! ISRAEL was to blame! Satan was to blame! Idolatry was to blame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT GOD!
Abraham did not blame God for Sodom and Gomorrah. It was not God's fault those two cities sank into depravity that our modern day vocabulary cannot comprehend or put into words; and America is sinking into this same abyss! When fire fell from heaven, Abraham and Lot did not say "GOD is evil because He destroyed two cities!" NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sodom's inhabitants were to blame. Gomorrah's homosexuality was to blame. NOT GOD! As Leonard Ravenhill wrote so long ago though "SODOM HAD NO BIBLE!" We have tens of thousands unopened in American churches and homes. Sodom had no churches; we have one on every half block. Sodom had no "light" be it Lot who was not much "light" at all but was mocked by the city's inhabitants including his own sons in law who refused to leave with him and his daughters when the angels came and warned them judgment was about to fall. HEAR WHAT I SAY TO YOU CHURCH.
Did
Noah sit in the ark and blame God when the flood covered the earth and destroyed
all of mankind? Did God send the flood or was that too just a course of natural
events as these preachers who get on Fox News trying to soothe people's fears we
may be under Divine wrath say? Would it be fair to say that children were among
the victims of Noah's flood? Everyone outside the Ark of safety PERISHED, young
and old alike, with NO exceptions. ALL THAT HAD BREATH IN IT DIED! Does that
make God unjust and unfair? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It speaks to the
condition of man's heart and the earth's state of corruption which cries out for
redemption and a REDEEMER, Christ Jesus, Yeshua, who has come and redeem it from
it's wicked, fallen state! Yeshua declared "except you repent you shall
likewise perish!" (Luke 13:3) It also speaks to the fact that there are no such
thing as "innocents" in the human race. I hear that term often in this discourse
about God's judgment, mercy and His dealings with humanity. David said he was
"shapened" in iniquity. We come into this world SINNERS and under God's wrath as
well as His sentence of death. If we are not born again we will LEAVE this world
in the same state! It's only by God's mercy through the blood stained hands of
Yeshua and His grace upon our lives any of us are alive at this moment and
breathing. It is also by HIS GRACE we are SAVED from His wrath through the blood
of Christ!
We are part of
Adam's natural race whose characteristics are similarly and strikingly marked in
the Scriptures: "And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in
his own likeness, and his own image; (Gen. 5:3.) "Behold," said David, "I
was shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceived me." (Psa. 51)"The
wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies." (Psa. 58:3) "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned." (Rom. 5:12.)
The children of the "first Adam" are born of the flesh and are earthy in all
their feelings and affections; the children of the "last Adam", are born of the
Spirit and are by nature heavenly or spiritual in all their feelings and
affections. The children of the first are born for the earth; the children of
the last Adam, are born for heaven. Those of the "first" are born of corruptible
seed; and those of the "last" are born of incorruptible seed. The "first"
necessarily partake of human nature; the "last" of the divine nature. The
antagonistic principles attached to the two men necessarily result in the
warfare. The original act of transgression is, by the Bible, considered
the act of ALL who come after Adam! And ALL who come to CHRIST are by HIS act at
the Cross made free and set free from sin's power and penalty!
"And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." "There is none righteous, no not one." (Rom. 3:10.)
No one knows for sure the reasons for this tragedy in Minnesota or other
tragedies that befall the human race, but we need to be just as careful as not
to dismiss these tragedies as mere coincidence and circumstance. God's
character is rooted in love AND justice and while I am not that familiar with
this man Ellison, the first elected Muslim in U.S. history, I can assure you
that his being elected by Minnesotans was a slap in God's face as is the
sentiment of the entire nation right now. Our iniquity has literally "come up "
before Him as Sodom's with this barrage of homosexuality and abortion. Many
preachers come precariously close to insinuating to the world through their
proclamations many times over television that our national sins of homosexuality
and abortion will not be judged and those who warn of these things are just
"negative" Bible-thumpers from the "old school of thought!" HEAR WHAT I SAY TO
YOU CHURCH! Whether this event in Minnesota was a wake up call or not who knows.
But we do not need to dismiss it and get angry at those who may feel it was a
warning to the state for placing a man in office who does nothing but blaspheme
God's name at every turn and refused to put his hand on the Bible to even take
his oath of office. I'm sure God was overjoyed that such a man is now in a place
where political decisions that affect our nation are made. NOT!
Now, listen to me.
When Rehoboam became king, the Scripture says he actually followed the Lord for
3 1/2 years. That does not mean however, that he had a relationship with God but
merely means that for 3 years he did not worship idols. Think of that. The
grandson of David, who was without a doubt the greatest worshipper of all time,
while not worshipping idols, never worshipped the true and the Living God! What
does that say to us today? It says "you can do the right thing, but if there is
no relationship with the Lord, the “right” thing will not last and it will
always produce division and illegitimacy!"
Solomon had a relationship with God, despite losing it at one point. David had a relationship with the Lord that was unassailable even though at times he failed God at and wound up in great depths of sin and delusion. Ask yourself this question, "What does it mean to have a relationship with God?" Does it mean to go to church? Does it mean you read your Bible a little bit once a year? Does it mean we pray when we think about it? If you have a relationship you will definitely do those things but those things don't necessarily mean you have a relationship. Some two years after Rehoboam fell into idol worship, God sent the prophet Shemiaiah to him and pointed Rehoboam back to the relationship David, his grandfather, had with the Living God. Despite the warnings and counsel, Rehoboam ignored the words and counsel of the prophet sent to him and as a result the nation became divided; 10 of the tribes broke away and appointed Jeroboam, Rehoboam's brother, and formed the northern kingdom, and was named "Israel," which ironically, never had one single solitary godly king in its history starting with Jeroboam, who led Israel into the grossest of all idolatry. Before I go on let me make one quick statement about Rehoboam rejecting the words of the prophet. America is rejecting the words of her true prophets today.
I want to say it louder and more clearer: the church in America is rejecting the words of the prophets. Yes, there are many false prophets who run around all over God's green earth prophesying lies and falsehoods, claiming they are prophets when they are nothing more than spiritual clowns, pimps, and charlatans, that is a given. However, there are many prophets who are NOT doing such and proclaiming the truths of heaven but are being rejected and stoned in many ways by the world and the apostate church within the true Body of Christ. We don't use rocks today, we use our tongues and the power of our associations to reject and push out those we don't agree with doctrinally and want to see silenced. But hear me today, if we head the words of the true prophets among us we will prosper! If we reject them we will wind up as Israel of old did - divided and in apostasy.
2 Chron. 20:20
And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa:
and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be
established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
As stated,
Rehoboam was the son of Naamah "the Ammonites," some well-known Ammonites
princess (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chr. 12:13). He was forty-one years old when he
ascended the throne, and he reigned seventeen years (B.C. 975-958). Although he
was acknowledged at once as the rightful heir to the throne, yet there was a
strongly-felt desire to modify the character of the government. The burden of
taxation to which they had been subjected during Solomon's reign was very
oppressive, and therefore the people assembled at Shechem and demanded from the
king an alleviation of their burdens. He went to meet them at Shechem, and heard
their demands for relief (1 Kings 12:4). After three days, having consulted with
a younger generation of courtiers that had grown up around him, instead of
following the advice of elders, he answered the people haughtily (6-15). "The
king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the Lord" (comp.
11:31). This brought matters speedily to a crisis. The terrible cry was heard
(comp. 2 Sam. 20:1): "What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance
in the son of Jesse: To your tents, O Israel: Now see to thine own house, David"
(1 Kings 12:16).
As a result the kingdom was rent in twain. Rehoboam was appalled, and tried concessions, but it was too late (18). The tribe of Judah, Rehoboam's own tribe, alone remained faithful to him. Benjamin was reckoned along with Judah, and these two tribes formed the southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital; while the northern ten tribes formed themselves into a separate kingdom, choosing Jeroboam as their king and Shechem as its capital. Rehoboam tries to win back the revolted ten tribes by making war against them, but he again prevented by the council once more from the prophet Shemiaiah (21-24; 2 Chr. 11:1-4). Thus two brothers, once under the same roof of their father Solomon, and the influence of their grandfather David, now remain enemies throughout their lives.
The conduct of Rehoboam played into the scheme of his brother Jeroboam, who was
accordingly proclaimed "king of Israel" (1 Kings 12: 1-20). Jeroboam begins to
reason in his mind, "for me to have control over my kingdom, I have to stop them
from going to Jerusalem," to worship in the true Temple; thus he rebuilt and
fortified Shechem as the capital of his kingdom and built Penuel. He at once
adopted means to perpetuate the division thus made between the two parts of the
kingdom, and erected at Dan and Bethel, the two extremities of his kingdom,
"golden calves," which he set up as symbols of Jehovah, enjoining the people not
any more to go up to worship at Jerusalem.
Thus the Holy Spirit distinguished Jeroboam forever as the man "who made Israel to sin." Think of the import of that statement. Think of the horrible connotations attached to such for any man to be labeled and seen as such by God. This policy was thus followed by all the succeeding kings of Israel. This scheme was in essence trying to stop those under his influence from going to the "old cross," which would in turn, in his thinking, cause him to lose control over his kingdom. That is why he enjoined and commanded worship upon the high places at Dan and Bethel, telling the people to NOT go to Jerusalem in the southern Kingdom to bring their offerings to the true God Jehovah, but bring their offerings to the shrines he had erected.
Listen friend,
whenever ANY ministry forsakes the cross, they always wind up seeking to control
the people through manipulation, domination and intimidation which always comes
from the root source of false worship! Hear what I say to you and let those
words sink DEEP within the recesses of your soul. Most never understand what is
happening to them from spiritual leaders they have entrusted their spiritual
lives to but they are trying to control you, mister, with fear, or with a carrot
at the end of the rainbow. When ministries forsake the cross, things are said
often like, “if you follow me you will get rich.” "If you follow what we tell
you to do we'll feed you every week and make sure your belly is full." One
ministry we heard of recently had a leader who told his people "if you leave
this ministry then God will strike you dead." Control is always is the root
cause of the "strategy" sessions men play in church today.
Let me tell you this. This ministry does not have a stratagem, a scheme or a program to offer you. We are here to proclaim one message and one message alone and that is is Christ and him crucified! We don’t have forums to discuss the benefits of the Purpose Driven Life modules, or John Maxwell's formula for leadership, or psychology, or the reasons why Christian rock concerts are ok to be held in our churches, or the reasons why its ok for ministries to check people into rehab centers instead of finding them the only real help there is - at the FOOT OF THE CROSS and the power of the HOLY GHOST. When you reject the Cross and the Holy Spirit you will ALWAYS be left with such that seeks to control men instead of set men free! What we preach is the same message of the Cross the Apostle Paul preached; it's what Peter preached. You say, "why is the cross so important and why do you talk about it so much?" Because the cross, and the Cross ALONE, has the power to "kill" you and that is what you need! The old man, as A.W. Tozer said, has got to to GO! It does not need to be redirected but CRUCIFIED on the Cross with CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are "crucified with Christ," so then and only when the old man "goes," the NEW MAN comes forth in newness of life!
Romans 6:3-15
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? [4] Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection: [6] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. [7] For
he that is dead is freed from sin. [8] Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with him: [9] Knowing that Christ being raised from the
dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. [10] For in that he
died, he died unto sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God. [11]
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. [12] Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. [13] Neither yield ye
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God. [14] For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye
are not under the law, but under grace. [15] What then? shall we sin, because we
are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
A Bastard Altar is Built
1 Kings
12:25-28
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out
from thence, and built Penuel. [26] And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall
the kingdom return to the house of David: [27] If this people go up to do
sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this
people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they
shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. [28] Whereupon the king
took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much
for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 12:28 –“These be your gods.”
Listen, and listen carefully because this is where this text gets even more serious for us today. Jeroboam did something clever, identical to what is being done today in that he built a new altar and set before it two golden calves, which in realty, according to some Hebrew scholars, indicate that it was not calves but "cherubim" that he built around the altar as a mockery of the TRUE place of worship in Jerusalem. He holds these "calves" up and tells Israel, "these be your gods." It's eerily similar to what took place when Israel came out of Egypt and Aaron did the same thing at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Notice, mind you, he did not build a new altar in the name of Chemosh or in the name of Ur, Milcom, Baal, and all these heathenistic awful gods. It looked just as religious, just as pious, just as godly, as anything Judah had in Jerusalem to worship at. Yet he holds the relics from this false altar up and invokes the name of the True God to be attached to his bastard altar. Get the picture? Are we not doing the same today? Attaching God's name to our bastard altars and false church programs while making people think and believe these false altars are saving them and delivering them?
We must grasp the fact that in the Old Covenant, the "altar" was the center of circumference in Israel’s religious history. It was more than that really it was the HEART of all that Israel was in God's sight and would become. The brazen altar in both the Tabernacle of Moses and Solomon's temple was the most holy of all pieces of furniture probably other than the ark itself. As a priest, one could not enter the tabernacle and temple except one first come through the brazen altar! With nearly 1 billion pounds of pure gold in it and around it, the Temple, of which revolved around this brazen altar, would have cost into the trillions in today's economy.
Standing some 30 x 30 x15 feet high, the fires burned on the brazen altar day and night, and was the place God had said, “you must not offer sacrifice anywhere else.” God didn't put a comma on that command but a PERIOD and made it clear to Israel they were to worship no other place but THIS ALTAR! That is why God's anger grew hot so many times when through the words of the Old Covenant writers it'd say "they did not remove the 'high places'" provoking the Lord to anger. It was at these "high places" as Jeroboam had erected where the nation would worship God and invoke his name despite not worshiping instead at the brazen altar, a type of Christ and the Atoning work He did for us at the Cross. Only one place of worship and one place of worship ALONE was acceptable to God; one asks, "why not ten, why not five?" Another may say, "well Jeroboam was only trying to do what is good in not causing the northern Kingdom to have to travel all that distance to worship in Jerusalem." What was so wrong one may ask to these "new altars" that looked just like the old altar in Jerusalem?
We must grasp the importance of that altar in the mind of God to understand the answer to those questions. When the Temple fell years into the future and Israel stayed 70 years in bondage and then came back, nothing was left of Jerusalem and I mean nothing. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it all, leaving no remnant or even a small residue of Israel's past existence in place when he came with Babylonian fury and power and took Judah captive and sacked Jerusalem. Upon coming back, the very first thing God told them to do was “build an altar,” which in reality was the command to rebuild THE altar, the brazen altar, a type of the Cross. This altar had four horns going north, south, east, west, representing the future coming message of the Cross going to the "whole world." It was always in the center of God's mind that the CROSS would be the center piece of ALL worship!!! And when we say Cross, we're not talking about the wooden beam or some gold trinket on a chain used by some spiritual idiots as a talisman to ward off evil spirits. We're talking what took place at the Cross 2,000 years ago when Jesus Christ hung between heaven and earth, stared the devil in the face and shook the gates of hell with His precious blood and set the captive free.
Neighbor, hear this writer. Backslidden, apostate church leaders hear this writer. New age gurus dressed up in suits manipulating and sending people to hell with your damnable heresies and doctrines of devil, hear this writer. THERE IS ONLY ONE CALVARY. THERE IS ONLY ONE CROSS, THERE IS ONLY ONE JESUS CHRIST, THERE IS ONLY ONE FAITH, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO THE FATHER, THERE IS ONLY ONE HOLY GHOST, THERE IS ONLY ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ALTAR UPON WHICH MAN MUST LAY HIMSELF UPON AND BE BORN AGAIN AND THAT IS AT THE FOOT OF THE WORLD'S REDEEMER, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE FIRST AND LAST, THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE END THE ROSE OF SHARON THE DARLING OF HEAVEN CRUCIFIED, THE BRIGHT AND THE MORNING STAR, THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS.
When Solomon first dedicated the Temple he sacrificed 120,000 lambs and 20,000 oxen, producing literal rivers of blood painting a prophetic portrait of that which was to come through Christ, and telling us for all eternity that not one ounce of the shed blood of those lambs and oxen could not match the ONE sacrifice of Calvary. Praise God, Praise God. Hallelujah! Praise God. All the lambs in the world would not suffice in removing Israel’s sin and match the matchless, glorious, powerful, all-cleansing, all-delivering, all-healing, all miraculous, sacrifice of the Cross. At the Cross, at the Cross where we FIRST saw the light and the burden of our hearts rolled away; it was there by FAITH we received our sight and NOW we are happy all the day. It's the Cross, the cross, the cross, the cross! Don’t let the Devil tell you you have sinned too much. Don't let the enemy lie and tell you that the Lord can’t forgive you. There is not a crime He did not atone for, a sickness He did not atone for; there is not a symptom of poverty He did not atone for; there is not a disease He did not atone for; there is not a bondage that He did not atone for. Homosexual, are you hearing that? You don't have to be "gay" and happy. You can be FREE and happy! You can be set free from the powers of darkness and live a normal, happy life with another woman or another man, if you are a lesbian. The devil has LIED to you and told you things like "you were born this way," or these things are hereditary. Sadly some preachers are repeating the same lies behind pulpits and in denominational pamphlets. LET THE DEVIL BE A LIAR AND GOD BE TRUE - YOU CAN BE FREE TODAY YOU CAN BE FREE TODAY!
What Jeroboam presented Israel was a heathen, or bastard, illegitimate altar and I submit to you today, what is being presented today to the church by heathen and false leaders and teachers and then in turn presented to the world is a bastard altar! It has the same traits as Jeroboams - all the trappings of the real and even invoking the name of God in doing what we do and say, but it lacks God's approval and anointing upon it. Panaceas of proposed solutions, and wild claims, and false answers are presented by the thousands from pulpit to pulpit today but NONE OF THESE PROPOSED SOLUTIONS ARE OFFERING THE REAL SOLUTION TO MAN'S ILLS! The HOLY GHOST says through PAUL - God FORBID that I should Glory IN ANYTHING but CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED! IT IS THE POWER OF GOD! God did not send me to baptize but to determine to know nothing but Christ and Him Crucified! We preach Christ Crucified!!!!!
1 Cor. 1:18-23
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us
which are saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent. [20] Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of
this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? [21] For after
that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. [22] For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: [23] But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
[17] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it
is written, The just shall live by faith.
1 Cor. 1:14-17
I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; [15] Lest any
should say that I had baptized in mine own name. [16] And I baptized also the
household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. [17]
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
"Altar, Altar, Thus Saith The Lord."
1 Kings 13:2
And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar,
altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of
David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high
places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
God sees what is taking
place and He sends an unnamed prophet to Bethel, the site of one of these
bastard altars, and during a time Jeroboam is standing by the same altar. The
prophet does not address the king nor does he address the mighty of Israel
standing around this heathen furniture. He does not address the black robed
priests, who were not of the Aaronic priesthood, but were appointed by Jeroboam
to oversee this damnable scheme of worship. The prophet looks at the altar and
says "ALTAR, ALTAR, THUS SAITH THE LORD."
The prophet tells the altar
that a child is coming, meaning Josiah, and in reality, ultimately Christ, who
will " offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and
men's bones shall be burnt upon thee." Christ's work would be in light of HIM,
the TRUTH, all false religions would be burned! Now I am just a South Georgia
boy and sometimes things don't register mind wise as quickly as my more educated
northern friends. But as we say in the south, "I think God is so angry He is
about to shuck the corn down to the kernel, and get down to business." You mean
God had a prophet declare judgment on a heathen altar and predict He'd burn the
bones of the false priests on it? Now that don't' sound like the God that we're
being led to believe today that exists. If God is this syrupy syrupy Deity that
is all love and never moves in judgment then this prophet in 1 Kings 13 was just
a false prophet and God wasted a lot of time sending him from Judah into Bethel
to stand in front of the king and decree such. If that prophet would have been
around today and prophesied such about America or a movement or whatever he'd
been stoned to death and outright rejected by the Body of Christ. We don't want
to hear these type things today. We don't want to come to grips with the fact
that eternity is real and men's souls who do not and are not anchored in the
Cross of Christ are headed for a place called hell.
1 Kings 13:3-6
And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath
spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be
poured out. [4] And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the
man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his
hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth
against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. [5] The
altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the
sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. [6] And the king
answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God,
and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God
besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it
was before.
The prophet goes on and says "the altar shall be rent and the ashes that are poured upon it shall be poured out." Friend, if a ministry is false the only thing they are feeding are "ashes." When a ministry is false and it collapses, "ashes" is what pours out of that ministry and believe me more of this is coming! These things we clamor after right now will be a distant memory in five years because God is about to move in such a way these false prophets and teachers and preachers are about to be exposed for who they are and their false altars are about to be rent and the ashes poured out! We need prophets! We need men and women of God to expose the false altars of today and declare to these false altars as this prophet did "THUS SAITH THE LORD!"
In closing, let me make a few more statements. We will pick this theme up in a later journal coming soon. The King Jeroboam puts forth his hand to strike the man of God, because he don't like what he hears but instead of striking the prophet, the king's hand withers and freezes up. How many denominations are withering and freezing up because they have touched the prophetic anointing of God and have rejected the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues? How many denominations are withering away because they have removed the true altar of the preaching of the Cross of Christ and in exchanged put up a new, bastard altar in its place and because someone has exposed that bastard altar, they have "put forth their hands against him (or her)?" I was in a Baptist forum the other day on the internet and saw with my own eyes a resolution that was passed this past July 2007 in the Southern Baptist Convention putting into law the demands that missionaries are not to pray in tongues either privately or publicly if they are SBC missionaries. The resolution was written by a Baptist pastor in Texas and said this:
"therefore, be it RESOLVED,
That the messengers to the Southern Baptists Convention meeting in San Antonio,
Texas, June, 12-13, 2007, declare that Southern Baptists typically believe that
the modern practice of private prayer languages lacks a tangible foundation in
Scripture; and be it further RESOLVED, That we are opposed to unscriptural
teaching relating to speaking in tongues, whether such speech be done in private
or public; and be it further RESOLVED, That we support the policies and
guidelines of the International Mission Board and the North American Mission
Board concerning glossolalia and private prayer languages in the appointment
process of missionary candidates, and be it further RESOLVED, That we encourage
our six Southern Baptist seminaries not knowingly to hire professors or
administrators who endorse or engage in the modern practice of glossolalia or
private prayer language, and be it further RESOLVED, That we also encourage our
Southern Baptist agencies not knowingly hire anyone who endorses or engages in
the modern practice of glossolalia or private prayer language, and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage all Southern Baptists to be patient, kind, and
loving toward one another (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) regarding this ancillary
theological issue, which ought not to constitute a test of fellowship; and be it
finally RESOLVED, That we encourage all Southern Baptists to refocus their
attention upon the public and intelligible proclamation of the saving gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the divine Trinity, Who became a man, died on
the cross, and arose from the dead, so that those who believe in Him may have
eternal and abundant life."
Umm, I wander how resolved the Baptists have become over this issue watching their denomination sink quicker than the Titanic in the last 5 years as droves of people are leaving in mass exodus and a barrage of demon spirits are attacking their ministers with child abuse allegations reaching Catholic-Church level proportions?
I responded to this forum and my comments are still "awaiting moderation" to be posted ( :D that was about 2 weeks now and I still haven't' seen them posted, don't know why :D )
How long do you keep denying the power of God while entertaining such false
doctrines while embracing the with the forces of darkness that drive the PDL
modules and every new age nuance under the sun that parades itself through the
mouths of dead preachers preaching dead sermons to dead congregations? How
precariously close you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit! Laugh this off, which is
what most will do, but I say to you under the unction of the Spirit of God that
while rejecting the moving and operation of the Holy Spirit, you are watching
with your very eyes your ministers succumb to spirits that are causing you to
have a molestation problem in the pulpit that is reaching the same levels of
pedophilia in the Catholic Church?
As a former Southern Baptist who does speak in tongues and knows the power of
God and is not ashamed of it and weeps deeply over the unbelief among so many of
its preachers of this once proud denomination - "how long do you resist the Holy
Spirit?" Trying to stop the movement of the Holy Spirit among your missionaries
is like you sticking your little pinky in a hole the size of Texas in the
Niagara Falls dam and thinking you're going to stop the flow of water. These
words are not laced with malice or resentment but with deep love and abundant
grace as a prophetic voice calling out for you to repent and come back to the
power of the Cross of Christ. Where do you think that power comes from? Rick
Warren? Your 12-step psychological seminars? NO! The power of God unto salvation
COMES FROM THE CONVICTING and DRAWING power of the HOLY GHOST! Reject Him and
His work and neighbor you are rejecting the very Person who alone brings sinners
to Christ! You can't pick and chose what ministries the Holy Ghost you wish to
have in your midst and those you wish to not believe in or reject. It does not
work that way, never has, and never will!
I'm not making light of this and I'm not wanting to start a spiritual civil war between the Baptists and the Pentecostals. But how long are we going to keep touching God's anointed prophets and preachers full of the Holy Ghost and continue to wither and die and freeze up?
When the king's hand freezes, he turns to the prophet and asks for prayer. I ask you a serious question, "why didn't he ask the black robed priests standing there at the altar to pray for him?" They were the ones who built and maintained this bastard altar which he had used to manipulate and control Israel for years, and yet when the true man of God came on the scene and prophesied and displayed the power of God the king went running for cover from this false altar and asked the prophet of God to pray for him. Neighbor, the day is coming when the world is going to get in such shape they will realize there is no where to go but one place - and that is those of us who been anointed by God and have power and authority in heaven to heal withered hands and unstop frozen joints.
I want to share a short story and then I'll close. One of the largest Baptist churches in this state about 2 hours south of me had a pastor recently who was on the brink of death. This man's church had money, buildings, and programs coming out of ever orifice you could think of. His church however didn't know what to do when he came down sick and almost died with a blood disease that doctors could not treat because they did not have either a name or a cure for. They didn't believe in divine healing and for sure did not believe in people praying for other people in other tongues as the Spirit of God directed them and gave them the utterance. This pastor himself didn't believe in those things for that matter and had preached hard and I mean hard against the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Now laying on his back all of his education, his money, his big church, his fame and name in the city could not save him from dying.
About 10 miles from this man's church was a small Church of God that had about 40 people coming to it and a pastor that loved God. One day in prayer the Lord spoke to this Church of God pastor and said "Go pray for him and tell him in the hospital room you're there to pray that he might be healed and filled with the Holy Ghost." This Church of God preacher testified later that he questioned that voice over and over for days before finally obeying saying he felt like nanias going in to pray for Paul the persecutor of the church before God saved him. This Church of God preacher knew exactly what this Baptist pastor stood for and against and had heard the man say so many times. He was not too thrilled at the assignment God gave him but, obeying the Lord, He went to the hospital, walked into the room, introduced himself and told the Baptist pastor, "I'm here to pray that you may be healed today and filled with the Holy Ghost." A year before this Baptist pastor would have laughed this man out of the room and mocked him left and right. But now, dying, having everyone come in and say some liturgical words and unbelieving garbage that meant nothing and did not move heaven one inch, he began to weep as he began to feel the presence of God come into the hospital room. He looked at the Church of God preacher and through tears said, "brother, I'm without answers at this point and I'm willing to receive from God whatever He has for me." This church of God preacher, full of the Holy Ghost, shut the door, and began to tremble under the power of Almighty God and laid his hands on this Baptist pastor and said, "Lord in the name of Jesus, HEAL him and baptize Him in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues."
A few minutes into this prayer this pastor began to tremble under the power of God and felt heat go through his body and as he lifted his hands to start thanking God, he began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance!" Please please please please if I'm laying on my death bed, get somebody like this church of God preacher to come pray for me! Get somebody full of the HOLY GHOST who believes in the power of God to pray over me! Get somebody who believes in miracles; Get somebody who don't believe these things stopped with the apostles or deny the spiritual gifts are in operation today. Find somebody full of the HOLY GHOST; find somebody full of the power of God; find somebody full of faith that can reach beyond this natural realm into the spirit realm of glory and touch God!
Glory to God! I could go on but the Holy Spirit says "that's enough." It's been a while since we wrote a brand new journal and I pray these words sink into your soul today. We must return to the old cross and experience the old power of Pentecost. When those who oppose the Spirit of God began to wither and freeze, they're coming to look for those who believe God still and trust in His Almighty power through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. "Altar, altar," THUS saith the Lord. That is what we must do to the false religions and false altars of this modern church atmosphere - proclaim ' THUS SAITH THE LORD'"! Praise God.
"Heavenly Father, we ask you today to help us return to the power of the Old Cross, the true Cross, the only Cross, In Jesus name we pray. Help us Lord to declare "Thus Saith the Lord" to the bastard altars of our day and not flinch in doing so. We thank you Father for your goodness and ask Your protection over this website and family ministry today in Jesus name we pray Amen and Amen."