Bookstore Two
Soldiers are tested by combat, not dress parades. You’re not a soldier because you can beat a drum and march down the street. You’re a soldier because you’ve proven yourself in combat. You’re a saint because you are sanctified, and you will continue in the education of sanctification. Soldiers are tested by fire, not religious pep rallies on Sundays. Steel is tested by fire, and saints are tested by the fire of trials. You are a soldier and a saint of God because you have been close enough to the dragon that you can feel the fire of his breath.
If you want to declare a mighty victory, you must prepare and go through a mighty valley. The soldiers of the cross are made in the valleys, not the mountaintops. This can only be determined when the fine metals of the soul have been tested by combat and fiery trials. God only uses fighters that He has put into the blast furnace to check their fortitude factor and commitment level—to see if they are a wimp or a warrior. God wants soldiers with grit, grace, focus, and fortitude. God sent David a lion to kill, then a bear, before He sent the giant. God gave you the fight you are fighting now to develop your faith. God is making a champion of grace out of every single one of us. Life is a series of storms. God uses no one until He puts you in a storm as great as your mission. The greater the mission, the greater the storm. If you cannot survive the storm, you will not be able to endure your mission. If you have a million-dollar calling, you will have a million-dollar storm. Storms are seminars on faith. Your storm and wilderness are calibrated for your calling. The higher the calling, the more adversity. The higher the calling, the hotter the refiner’s fire—which means a darker wilderness.
Through hardships and struggles, our faith begins to blossom into a rich spiritual harvest. Our faith is like a mighty white oak tree that starts off as a little seed that is planted in the bosom of the earth. The seed, to be a mighty tree, must push its way through the hard soil and face endless desperation of adversity. It must fight its way up only to face the thunderstorms, harsh winters, and the heat-blasted sun year after year of endless and relentless adversity to become a gorgeous, mighty white oak tree. What brings results is persistence through resistance. The path with the least resistance can make men and rivers crooked. The resistance of the water makes it possible for a ship to sail. The resistance of the air makes it possible for a Boeing 747 to fly. The resistance of gravity makes it possible for people to walk. A rubber band gets nowhere until it’s stretched. A turtle doesn’t move until he sticks his neck out. A teakettle doesn’t sing its finest song until it gets neck deep in boiling water.
It is through the struggle that our faith and our character are built. What looks like struggle and trouble is faith on its way to greatness. Struggle is the essence of growth and development. Struggle is proof that you have not been conquered. Struggle is proof of passion. Struggle turns up your fortitude factor. Struggle strengthens you and turns your limp-wristed, spaghetti-spine into steel. Struggle is proof positive that you are a card-carrying member of the human race and must call upon the name of the Lord.
Some people think God created the universe, and some people think nothing created the universe. The “nothing” people make fun of the God people and say God doesn’t exist. Do you know what definitely doesn’t exist? Nothing! That is the defining characteristic of nothing: it doesn’t exist. So either you think God created the universe—something you cannot touch, taste, photograph, and science can’t prove—or you believe nothing created the universe—something you can’t touch, taste, photograph, and science can’t prove. That is a very magical nothing, a Walt Disney delusion. The “nothing” people say that when you die, you go back to nothing. So basically, the “nothing” people merge back with their creator: nothing!
Atheism is a mentally diseased gospel. Atheism is a mental case! If you are a Styrofoam-brained atheist, you need a caseworker. “Yes, let’s celebrate mating-migrating monkeys!” Atheists flaunt their degrees as a license to validate their own prejudice and foolishness. I see many ignoramuses giving a ten-page essay on their social media profiles about why they do not believe in God. I’m like, did you just spend an hour of your life flaunting your ignorance? Poor pitifuls! Ignorance loves to play a person like a ventriloquist dummy.
Atheists flaunt their ignorance like a prostitute on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to get a gram of china white. When a person speaks their ignorance against the truth, it is by far one of the most unattractive garments a person can wear. When people are stained in the dungheap of ignorance, they often worship and bow down to their own ideas and opinions and try to assassinate the truth. The god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the ignorant. Paul scrubs these people’s veil-view, godless portraits: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, NIV).
“In the beginning, God.” This is an absolute saber in the throats of the ignoramuses who believe in the evolution theory. Atheists are mesmerized by their monkeyism and worship the god of evolution: Satan incarnate. Satan has deceived billions of people with spiritual deception and a false doctrine called evolution. Many people seek this false, monkey-manufactured theory and lose their souls because they would rather believe a lie than the truth. Atheists believe they are the offspring of a monkey seed. Imagine going to hell because you believed you were an offspring of primates, monkeys, and tadpoles.
Evolution says that after a few billion years, a little tadpole started to wiggle. The little-wiggle tadpole was able to swim back and forth in the water. After a few months, the little-wiggle tadpole made its way to dry ground and then climbed a tree, grew a tail, hung upside down, and that is your future spouse. Some of you believe this matchless, marvelous, and miraculous functioning universe is the result of an ecological accident but believe your ancestors and your soulmate came from a pool of algae with mating microorganisms. That might be your family tree, but it’s not mine. Atheists are molecules in motion who got too big for their britches and became self-aware.
In orbit, these celestial bodies are not the byproduct of NASA, launched from Cape Kennedy. Anyone can stand under the canopy of stars and know that they are the product of a master plan, and if there is a master plan, there is a planner. If there is a design, there is a designer, and if there is a thought, there is a thinker. Only a fool will look up and see all the spherical planets and say the Earth is flat, and only a fool will look up and say that creation was all an accident. That is like saying a Rolex watch just accidentally came together. All the Rolex’s gorgeous and unique parts and features, the steel mainspring, gold casing, bulletproof and waterproof glass cover, and diamonds blew in from the outer cosmos of space; they all leaped together simultaneously, and by random chance, the Rolex watch was created. The watch is beautiful and breathtaking, and it systematically tells the precise date and time. It takes more faith to believe in that nonsense than it does to believe and have faith in the one true God.
“The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.”—Psalm 97:1–4 (NIV)
Atheists have spiritual cataracts. Atheists believe in the Big Bang, yet have never seen the Big Bang; so get off your moral high horse. Atheists are deranged people. They hate God and fight God, and they do not even believe He exists. That’s derangement! Pocket-dial atheists spend their whole lives trying to disprove something they don’t believe in. Who is more irrational? The man who believes in a God who he cannot see or the fool who is offended by a God he doesn’t believe in? To be an atheist is to be a fool. You would have to believe nothing produced everything, non-life produced life, randomness produced precision, and chaos produced order.
Atheists say, “Why worship a God who you can’t see and believe in something you can see?” The truth is, no one can see the atomic structure of an atom that is made up of the nucleus, protons, neutrons, and electrons. The whole theory behind science is held together by the molecular structure, but it’s not visible to the naked eye. The point is that even though atheists can’t see it, they still believe in it. This book is a configuration of atoms, moving quickly, swiftly, and tightly, but you cannot see them.
I worship a God who I can’t see, and He can’t be analyzed in a test tube. A god that is so shallow and so small that it can be explained in a picture or confined to a mathematical equation is not worthy of anyone’s time and worship. A god so shallow that can be explained in a book is too small to adore. A god that can be explained in a scientific explanation is too small and pathetic to save to the uttermost. People have puny and pathetic images and idols to cut God down to what their cerebral cortex can absorb and try to manage Him and contain Him.
I worship a God who is so vast, so infinite, and full of glory and majesty, and exceeds the intellect of the minds of men. I worship God in spirit and in truth, whose power extends far beyond the mental capacity of mental midgets. All of our mental genius is complete idiocy compared to the genius of God. The finite confines of the mind of man cannot express the infinite splendor and grandeur of God. “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19, NKJV).
There is only one true God! Darwinism rejects that! Atheists do not believe that! Secular humanism doesn’t like that! The occult hates that! Public schools and universities do not teach that, but God’s Word says that, which confirms that, so I accept that, and I love that!
Stephen Hawking said, “Religion is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” John Lennox said, “Atheism is a fairy tale for people afraid of the light.” Atheists are smudged in foolishness, diseased, and contaminated in ignorance. If an atheist were allowed to experience any one of my supernatural encounters, they would not walk to the altar but run to the altar—the place of consecration—and cast their unbelievable, unintellectual, and philosophical sin at the foot of the cross and repent! An atheist would cry out from the pew of their soul, asking for forgiveness! These people are on a slip ‘n slide of foolishness and drenched with pathological ignorance.
Atheism is ruled, riddled, and retarded with ignorance. Atheism has never painted a portrait of a beautiful masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled hopelessness, worry, or fear. Atheism has never healed, nor ever given peace of mind. Atheism has never given an intelligent answer to the creation story. Atheism is bankrupt, empty, and utterly brain-dead. Evolution is a theory; it has never been proven, and it never will be proven because there is only one true God who created all things for Him and by Him. Once you evolve into a child of God, you will see how slapstick evolution is. Evolution and atheism, ain’t a thang chicken wang!
Joyce Kilmer says, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” Sometimes I think God needs a public relations firm hanging signs on trees that say, “This tree is placed here through the courtesy of the Almighty. Washington can’t do this. Harvard can’t create this. The United Nations can’t produce this.”
The Catholic cult has changed the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange gods before Me. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. They removed the original 2nd commandment, which says, “You shall not make yourself an idol,” and used the word “covet” twice for the 9th and 10th commandments.
Why a book on the Ten Commandments and God’s Moral Law? Our major national problems of crime, AIDS, abortion, divorce, and the fentanyl crisis would cease to be. The cedar-fever feeling for sin would become a pinch of sawdust. The war of wills would cease-fire. Delinquency would be a thing of the past. Playgrounds, which have become deadly battlegrounds, would succumb. This is class warfare. Shootings in the streets—a social phenomenon among domestic tyrants—would die out. Drug rehab centers would be empty because people would overdose on the Holy Ghost and not try to reach the pinnacle of the seventh heaven on cannabis, crystal, crack, china, and coke.
There would be a revival of abstinence, sexual morality, and purity. There would be no gay parades with men parading and kissing each other, which is the kiss of eternal death. There would be no polka-dotted, prima-donna, and pop-tart homosexuals using the cross as a stripper pole. The transgender and LGBTQ communities of bearded, poochie guys prancing around in bras, thongs, and stilettos, completely indifferent to public opinion and public decency, would be no more. Never again would Phil try to be Jill, and Jill try to be Phil, looking like Tarzan, walking like Jane, and smelling like Cheetah.
If we came back to our First Love, the House of God would be filled with enjoyable, huggable, and lovable people every week because illicit passions would not dictate priorities. There would be a system of ethics, and humanity would love one another. The pleasures of self-gratification, to create the Ishmaels of the world, would become a vintage memory.
The sanctimonious, selfish, self-centered, self-satisfied, and self-contained attitude would come to a screeching halt. Perversion, porn, and the lewd acts of prostitution, which have reached the pinnacle of sexual exploitation, would end. Tyranny, the abuse of government power, would implode like a house of cards. National economic prosperity would surge like fountains of fortune. The national debt would vanish in the blazing sun, and taxes would plummet. Why? There would be no jails, no prisons, and no open borders! Borders—where spiritual and physical boundaries are absent—chaos rules. A country without borders is like a man living outside of God’s obedience.
Thousands of American citizens are murdered by illegals every year who have multiple felonies, and many are wanted for homicide cases. One woman was just stabbed thirty times by an illegal with thirty convictions who was wanted for second-degree murder. So, all you Christian cowards who make the asinine statement, “Love our neighbors; don’t deport them,” I dare you to obey Jesus in the Great Commission and go over into Mexico and evangelize to the Mexican cartel.
With borders, we wouldn’t have terrorists flooding into the country. Terrorism is to kill one and terrify a million. Eventually, we would be fighting them here. Because our borders have been so pathetically mismanaged for years, terrorist sleeper cells are all over this nation. The courtrooms would only be filled with people who received traffic tickets. Most of the police force could retire. It would end the stupidity of political correctness, and people would discover how to tell the truth. Who wants to be politically correct when you can be right? We are in a politically correct stupor! To anger a conservative, tell them a lie. To anger a liberal, tell them the truth. Liberals are literally vaccinating themselves, transitioning themselves, and aborting themselves into extinction.
We wouldn’t have politicians who pander to the pleasure of sexual degenerates. If people could live by the simplicity of the will and the Word of God, the psychiatrists and counseling sessions would be blatantly empty. You wouldn’t have clinical antidepressants, centerfolds, condom crusades, and cocktails as vices to revive this nation’s flatline. There would be a bonanza of benefits and the riches of a righteous revolution.
Our sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the blackness of our hearts. Stop living in the slave market of sin gracefully and handing over your life to unauthorized dealers. God the Father is our Maker! Only God has the genuine spare parts for our lives. Let us come back to the Manufacturer of our hearts and sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. We must bear in our bodies the marks of Jesus Christ.
If we return to the Bible basics, we will again be one nation under God. As the Bible says, “It would be the days of heaven on earth.” If everyone had a golden blaze for the zeal of God, there would be an explosion of purpose, power, and personal holiness. There would be a revival of divine purpose for our nation. How do we take this nation back? Return to God and the blueprint for your life—the Word of God—with integrity, loyalty, and fidelity. It’s time to turn back to the one true God. He is the basis of our greatness! God is asking, “Where art thou?”
The first time we hear the voice of God in Scripture, it is the voice of love calling for Adam and Eve after they had sinned: “Where art thou?” This is not the voice of thunder and crushing rocks asunder. This is the voice of tears: “Where art thou?” It is not the voice of the arresting policeman with a Glock and attack dogs. It is the wailing voice of a broken-hearted Father searching for His lost children, His children who have violated the Word of God, wounded by sin, and hiding in terror. And so God came into the garden, asking Adam and Eve, “Where art thou?” Just as certainly as God asked Adam and Eve, God the Father is walking the aisles of your heart, the churches, homes, and streets today, and He’s searching for you with tears in His eyes, like weeping through the eyes of Jeremiah, whose lives have been stained and crushed by sin, saying, “Where art thou?”
Nazi occultism involved the fascination of some high-ranking Nazi officials-particularly Heinrich Himmler-with mythology, paganism, and esoteric beliefs to create an "Aryan" religion and justify ideology. While often exaggerated in popular culture, elements like the Thule Society influenced early Nazism, and the SS studied the occult, runes, and legends.
Pervitin, a brand name for methamphetamine, was widely distributed to Nazi German soldiers to increase stamina, alertness, and combat aggression, particularly during the 1940 blitzkrieg against France. Millions of tablets were distributed, aiding in rapid troop movement by minimizing the need for sleep and hunger. A drug that brought Germany to its knees, and is now bringing millions to death and hell.
The Nazi regime extensively exploited Martin Luther's virulent late-life anti-Semitic writings to justify their ideology, calling him a "great anti-Semite" and using his work, particularly On the Jews and Their Lies, to endorse persecution. While Luther's hatred was theological (demanding conversion), the Nazis converted it into racial antisemitism, leading to the Holocaust, though some historians distinguish his motives from Nazi ideology. Nazi Exploitation: The Nazis celebrated Luther's birthday in 1933 as a national holiday and frequently cited him in propaganda. Julius Streicher, publisher of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, invoked Luther's writings during the Nuremberg trials. Luther's Writings: In 1543, Luther published works calling for the burning of synagogues, the destruction of prayer books, the restriction of rabbis, and the confiscation of money. These matched Nazi actions of stealing, destroying, and forcing Jewish labor.
The Roman Catholic Church schools birthed Jewish hatred in the heart of Hitler, saying, "The Jews are the killers of Christ!" The Roman Church (The Harlot) was notorious for killing Jews and Christians. Nazi hatred for Jewish people was a foundational, core tenet of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party's ideology, characterized by an extreme, pseudo-scientific form of racial antisemitism that evolved into a state-sponsored genocide known as the Holocaust. Unlike previous, historical forms of religious or social persecution, the Nazi version was based on the false belief that Jews were a distinct, inferior, and parasitic race posing an existential threat to the "Aryan" German population. Nazi, many who were baptized would kiss St. Peter on the toes, and then through Jewish children into the gas chambers.
The Nazi propaganda poster from 1933 reads, "Hitler's fight and Luther's teaching are the best defense for the German people." Hitler had pamphlets of Martin Luther handed out throughout the Third Reich. Hitler exploited Luther's writings. The Nazis saw Luther as a "spiritual father" of their movement, utilizing his antisemitic writings, like On The Jews And Their Lies, as justification for their persecution of Jews. THESE ARE LUTHER'S WORDS.
The sin of antisemitism is a denial of the Christian faith. It's the death of Christian love. Love and hate cannot come out of the same mouth; that mind is evil, that life is evil, and that soul is evil. There is no such thing as Christian antisemitism. Christian antisemitism? I think not! That is an oxymoron! A Christian is a synonym for God's love. The words Christian (love) and antisemitism (hate) do not go together.
The birth of antisemitism, the teaching of church fathers Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, John Chrysostom, and Jerome, birthed the antisemitic hatred in the soul of Martin Luther. "Scholars have debated Calvin's view of the Jews and Judaism. Some have argued that Calvin was the least antisemitic among all the major Reformers of his era, especially in comparison to Martin Luther." I'm not trying to be offensive to Lutherans, but this is something you weren't taught in Lutheran catechism class.
Here are some quotes: "Jews are a base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth. They are full of the devil's feces... which they wallow in like swine. The synagogue was a defiled bride, yes, an incorrigible whore and an evil slut." "Set fire to their synagogues or schools and... bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, or blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians."
"The worse a Jew is, the more arrogant he is, solely because he is a Jew."
"The devil with all his angels has taken possession of his people." "If I had to baptize a Jew, I would take him to the bridge of the Elbe, hang a stone around his neck, and push him over with the words, 'I baptize thee in the name of Abraham.'" "The Jewish people should have their tongues cut out of the back of their heads!" Then Martin Luther wrote, quote: "Know this, Christian, that next to the devil himself, you have no more bitter enemy than the Jewish people. They should have their tongues cut out through the back of their neck, and their synagogues should be burned to the ground." Martin Luther made that statement. Martin Luther soon died after that.
In 1933, Hitler marked the 450th anniversary of Luther's birth. The Nazis organized a nationwide "German Luther Day." The event's main speaker praised Luther's "ethno-nationalist mission" and called for the "completion of the German Reformation in the Third Reich," associating Luther's legacy with Nazi goals. Hitler used Luther's birthday for Kristallnacht. Nazi propaganda also highlighted the coincidence of the Kristallnacht pogroms in 1938 with Luther's birthday, November 9-10, likely seeking to link the violence against Jews to Luther's antisemitic writings. Seeds planted by Luther took root in the mind of Hitler, resulting in a systematic, antisemitic theological harvest of hatred for the Jewish people. Adolf Hitler also attended a Roman Catholic school as a child and was mentally poisoned by the mantra, "The Jews are the killers of Christ!"
Question One: How did a religious movement begun by a Jewish Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, and His twelve disciples, evolve into a worldwide organization within 300 years-an organization that, at times, adopted policies resulting in the persecution and even killing of Jews? How did this transformation happen? The sobering reality is that not one Christian in 10,000 can explain this, and even fewer preachers address it with clarity.
Question Two: Has God replaced Israel with the Church? This teaching, known as "Replacement Theology," is being preached from pulpits across America. Why does this matter to you? Because the Word of God commands us to bless Israel, and if you are not blessing Israel, God will not bless you.
Question Three: Has God broken His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Question Four: What should your attitude be toward the Jewish people? God, through the Apostle Paul, gives His position on this matter in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11. Many evangelicals use Romans 11 as a basis for the doctrine of predestination, but the truth is, these chapters have nothing to do with Gentile predestination or denominational debates. Today, I will give you several irrefutable, Bible-based reasons why Romans 9, 10, and 11 do not refer to Gentile predestination. I want to show you scriptural proof that we are living not just in the closing hour, but in the closing seconds of the dispensation of grace. I will share the story of Joseph and Jesus, and you will see by the end of this message that we are mere nanoseconds from the coming of the Son of God.
Read Romans 11:1-"I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." Now, Romans 11:11-"I say then, have they [the Jewish people] stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles."
Let's return to question one: How did a Christian organization, begun by a Jewish Rabbi who taught "love your neighbor as yourself," evolve in less than 300 years to adopt policies that led to the persecution and even the killing of Jews-a trajectory that ultimately contributed to the horrors of the Holocaust in the 20th century?
Through the veil, into the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, is the most important piece in the Tabernacle, and not just the Tabernacle, but in the world, because it was where God lived. The Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat are one and the same. It held Aaron’s rod, a gold platter of manna, and the Ten Commandments. God was on top of the Mercy Seat, and the law was in the Covenant. Once a year, the high priest would pour blood onto the Mercy Seat. So, when God would look at the law that demands our death, He would have to look through the blood of the sacrifice and see that the atonement for sin was satisfied for Israel. Sadly, Indiana Jones has not found it and is still looking for it.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood... ‘You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat... there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.’”—Exodus 25:10 (NKJV)
The Ark of the Covenant had two staves, making it very portable to carry. From Egypt, the type of sin and slavery, through the wilderness, and to the Promised Land, which is a type of heaven, God manifested His presence so that they knew He was there with them every step of the way. The Ark went before the twelve tribes. It marched with them around Jericho seven times until the walls imploded. When they crossed over the Jordan and the temple was built and the wilderness was behind them, they set the Ark in the temple and pulled the staves out because they were finally home.
Rumor has it that when the temple was destroyed, the Ark left with Jeremiah, and he may have hidden the Ark in a cave under the Skull, Golgotha, where Christ would be crucified in the future. So, when Jesus climbed the stars of Calvary and died for the sins of the world, His blood would drip onto the stony ground and seep through the ground and drip into a barren cave and onto the Mercy Seat. What an amazing thing if the blood of the Savior of the world is still stained on the Mercy Seat where He was crucified. Only God knows, and I believe it will be revealed to the church in the near future, after the holocaust of the world has passed away.
Concerning the Ark of the Covenant, Jesus Christ is the Ark of our salvation, and He goes before us every step of the way. He is the Light of our pathways from the wilderness of life to the Promised Land of heaven. When you come to your Jericho, and the walls are trying to keep you from the diadem of destiny, the walls will fall because Jesus Christ will shout on our behalf. When you walk through the shadows of your personal Gethsemane, He will be there. When Judas betrays you with a contract, handshake, or a kiss, He will be there.
When you feel like you’re in the camp of death, He will be there. When the doctor tells you that you are beyond the reach of a medical cure and science, He will be there. When you feel defeated, discouraged, and distressed, the Lord, Lamb, and Light will be there. When the saved are standing on the river banks of the Jordan, facing the last enemy that we must face, death, the Giver of life is there. When you go into death itself, He will be there.
God, the High Priest, cut the Lamb—literally splitting Him in half. There was a darkness that could be felt that day, just like in Genesis when Abraham received the blood covenant for the sacred land—the Promised Land, Israel. God and His Son were walking in the sands of Calvary, reciting the contents of the covenant. As the Father holds the hand of His dear Son, the Father asks, “Son, what are the contents of the covenant?” The Son says, “The veil has been ripped from top to bottom! They don’t need a priest, pastor, or pope—they can come boldly into the Holy of Holies and gleam in My presence, and I will answer them! I will tabernacle among them and in them!”
The Ark of the Covenant means that God is a God of covenant. “Covenant” is one of the most important words in Scripture. When you see a rainbow in the sky, it’s not a matter of atmospheric condition. It is a matter of a God of covenant with a massive, beautiful billboard that says, “I keep my word to a thousand generations.” Covenant is the foundation of Christianity because of the blood covenant. Covenant is the secret to an amazing marriage. Covenant is the secret to divine relationships. A covenant relationship with God gives you a walk with dynamite power. Covenant is the key to salvation by the blood. God does nothing significant without a covenant. Look into the pages of pagan religions: their pop and potbelly gods demand a great sacrifice. Sadly, when a Buddhist kneels before the beefy, beaky, bulging Buddha, he is actually taller than his god. The God of Covenant, who created the earth, could hold every pagan god and statue within the diameter and parameters of the earth.
Covenant is a word that the longer you study it, it’s like swimming in the ocean. It gets deeper, richer, and better. Nothing like it in all the world. There are three kinds of covenants in Scripture. First, there is a shoe covenant, with which Boaz married Ruth. The kinsman-redeemer (close relative) removed his sandal and offered it, and the redeemer transferred the purchase price to purchase Elimelech’s land and marry Ruth publicly. Secondly, there is a salt covenant, which is a covenant of loyalty. Ministry partners across the nation and around the world are called salt covenant partners. Thirdly, there is the blood covenant, which is an eternal covenant. It is an unbreakable covenant when it’s made before God. What are the steps in making a covenant? The first step in making a covenant requires a sacrifice. Secondly, you speak the contents of the covenant. There is an oath that’s taken. Thirdly, there is an exchange of names. And fourthly, there is a covenant meal. Every blessing that you have is a product of the covenant.
In the Middle East, there is a saying: “Blood is thicker than milk!” A blood covenant is far more binding than family ties—our Kinsman Redeemer was sacrificed at Mount Calvary to make us one under His blood. God will perform miracles to keep covenant. God doesn’t break covenant, and neither should you. We are closer than brothers and sisters in the flesh, bound together by God the Father and to each other by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the veil was ripped from top to bottom, and now we have access to the Holy of Holies—to stand in the very presence of God Himself. Jesus is the Ark of the Covenant who goes before you every step of the way. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant give us the full covenant: the Word of God, the covenant of truth. Covenant is the soil in which every flower of Scripture blooms. Everything you find in the New Testament has its foundation in the Old Testament. The Old Testament points to the cross, and the New Testament points back to the cross. If the church loses the centrality of the cross, we have lost the focus of the gospel. The precedent is established in the Old Testament, and the application is made in the New Testament. The Old Testament is God’s will concealed; the New Testament is God’s will revealed. They go together to make a perfect gyroscope of the light of heaven that leads us to the perfection of heaven.
What is the symbolism of the communion? It is symbolic of the blood transfusion from the veins of Jesus Christ. Regarding the communion covenant, none of the apostles had to have a “First Communion” to receive a circle’s covenant communion—the Holy Communion. Communion is a covenant meal. Wine represents the stream of blood that flows from the veins of the Lamb of God; the bread represents the broken body of Christ. When you take communion, you are bound by blood. When you understand the communion, you will have a whole new, major-league dimension in your life. Whenever you have Jesus and drink the communion of blessing, hell sobs.
Jesus said, “This is My blood! Drink ye all of it!” Why? Through Adam, we got the virus and the blood poisoning of sin. Adam died with a blood poisoning of sin that was so contagious that, six thousand years later, it thrives in the bloodstream of every carnal mortal on earth until they get a spiritual infusion from the Son of God—a blood transfusion. The deadly blood poisoning passes through every person and every generation; every person has the blood poisoning of sin. Jesus went to the cross so His blood would cure your blood of this deadly virus of sin.
Many of us have viruses in our bloodstream right now, but you must have Jesus to remove the virus of sin from your bloodstream. If you have not gone to the cross, that deadly virus is in your body right now. Unlike AIDS, this virus will give you an eternal death doctor’s report. The only solution is the blood transfusion from the cross. When we lift the brim of the communion cup to our lips, we symbolically take in the supernatural, life-giving blood into our being and body, which drives out the virus of sin and its deadly effects in our lives.
In Revelation 13 John sees a hellish vision of a dragon and two beasts. The first beast comes out of the sea and receives power from the dragon, or Satan. This beast is a true monstrosity: “It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion” (Revelation 13:1–2). Daniel’s vision of the beast is similar in many ways to John’s (Daniel 7:7–8, 19–27). Studying both Daniel and Revelation in tandem is profitable.
In Revelation, the term beast refers to two related entities. Sometimes “the beast” refers to the end-times’ empire. The seven heads and ten horns indicate that the beast will be a coalition of nations that rises to power to subdue the earth under Satan’s control. Later references to “the beast” in Revelation picture an individual—the man who is the political leader and head of the beastly empire.
The beast will receive a deadly wound and be healed of it (Revelation 13:3). He will exert authority over the whole world and demand worship (verses 7–8). He will wage war against God’s people, and he will prevail against them for a time (Revelation 13:7; Daniel 7:21). However, the beast’s time is short: according to Revelation 13:5 and Daniel 7:25, he will only be permitted absolute authority for forty-two months (three-and-a-half years).
We believe that the beast in Revelation is the Antichrist, the one who will “oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He is also called “the man of lawlessness” and “the man doomed to destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). In Daniel’s vision, the Antichrist is the “little horn” that rises from the head of the terrifying beast (Daniel 7:8).
When the Lord returns in judgment, He will defeat the beast and destroy his empire (Revelation 19:19–20; cf. Daniel 7:11). The beast will be cast alive into the lake of fire. The identity of the individual who will become the beast of Revelation is not yet known. According to 2 Thessalonians 2:7, this man will be revealed only when God removes the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit from the earth.
It is interesting to compare the differing biblical visions of the kingdoms of the world. In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of the kingdoms of the world as “a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance” (Daniel 2:31). The prophet Daniel later sees a vision of the same kingdoms, except he sees them as hideous beasts (Daniel 7). In John’s vision of the final worldly kingdom, the empire is portrayed as a grotesque and misshapen beast. These passages present two very different perspectives on the kingdoms mankind builds. Man sees his creations as imposing monuments and works of art fashioned of valuable metals. However, God’s view of the same kingdoms is that they are unnatural monsters. And the beast of Revelation will be the worst of them all.
Head (fine gold)—lion with wings of an eagle (Babylonian Empire)
Chest and arms (silver)—bear with three ribs in its mouth (Medes and Persians)
Belly and thighs (bronze)—leopard with four wings and four heads (Greece, Alexander the Great, and four generals)
Legs of iron (iron)—eastern and western divisions of the Roman Empire) Feet (iron and clay)—beast with ten toes (the final Gentile power, the revitalization of the Roman Empire, and ten kingdoms, ruled by the Antichrist).
This is a worldwide religious system. It is sitting upon a worldwide political system represented by these seven heads, which are the beast that represents the Antichrist empire. There is a merger. There are seven heads and ten horns. Those ten horns are the same ten that are represented by the ten toes of Daniel’s image.
Stone (cut from a mountain)—this stone is the Precious Stone, the Corner Stone, Jesus Christ, the Elect, tried and true (the everlasting kingdom of God). After the parade of nations comes the stone cut without hands to destroy the massive image. Notice the image of metals: getting cheaper but much stronger, speaking of military strength and moral corruption. How could a Hebrew slave, Daniel, know which king would follow which king, which kingdom would follow which kingdom, and know their military techniques thousands of years in advance? He served the God of heaven!
Daniel was in the Old Testament, and John was the last in the New Testament. They never had access to each other, never compared revelations, and yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these two Jewish men wrote down exactly the same things in detail, hundreds of years apart. If you read the book of Daniel, you’ll find the battle plans Alexander the Great used. How did a Jewish captive know there would be four kingdoms, or which would follow which, or the different military tactics one would use over another? Only by divine revelation from God. Everything Daniel spoke literally came to pass. He could not have known how long the Roman Empire would last, since it died, and the Bible says, “It was, and is not, and yet will be again,” meaning the Roman Empire will be reborn. Even now in Europe, they talk about the rebirth of the Roman Empire. The Bible is far ahead of the news and is deadly accurate.
Under Alexander the Great, the four wings represent the four generals of Alexander’s Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire once sent 2 million men to war at once. Alexander the Great was the first blitzkrieg—he attacked so quickly that you were conquered before you knew what happened. The four generals were the ones who inherited his empire because Alexander died at the age of 33, reportedly under a tree with syphilis, crying because there were no other worlds to conquer. After Alexander the Great decided to rebuild Babylon, he died. Why? Because God said Babylon would never be rebuilt.
The known world was then divided among these four generals, representing the four horns on the ram. Out of one of these horns came the little horn in Daniel 8:8–12, known in Scripture as the Antichrist (Daniel 7:7–8). The ten horns God gave Daniel match the ten toes of the statue’s feet. Think of what you saw: a lion, a bear, a leopard (Alexander the Great), and ten heads. This is the last position of the New World Order, a satanic kingdom run by Satan’s son, the Antichrist. He will have ten crowns, making seven heads with ten horns. Daniel seals the prophecy, and John reveals the prophecy.
Daniel was in the Old Testament, and John was the last in the New Testament. They never had access to each other, never compared revelations, and yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these two Jewish men wrote down exactly the same things in detail, hundreds of years apart. If you read the book of Daniel, you’ll find the battle plans Alexander the Great used. How did a Jewish captive know there would be four kingdoms, or which would follow which, or the different military tactics one would use over another? Only by divine revelation from God. Everything Daniel spoke literally came to pass. He could not have known how long the Roman Empire would last, since it died, and the Bible says, “it was, and is not, and yet will be again,” meaning the Roman Empire will be reborn. Even now in Europe, they talk about the rebirth of the Roman Empire. The Bible is far ahead of the news and is deadly accurate.
Now I asked you, how could a Hebrew slave know which king was coming after which? How could he know which kingdom was following which kingdom? How could he know their military technique? How could he know that thousands of years in advance? How could he know Alexander the Great was going to divide his kingdom into four generals and that out of that would come the Antichrist? I’ll tell you how, because he served the one true God. He served the God of heaven who knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. He is Almighty, All-knowing King of kings and Lord of lords; He is the Lord God, and there’s not another liking under Him in the heavens above, on the earth, on the world beneath, give Him praise and glory. Check that out, atheist and agnostic: this is a historical fact in every major library in every major city. And then check it out in the Bible, because God said it before the library ever knew it!
This is, in my mind, the most profound example of the accuracy of Bible prophecy. The Persian King Artaxerxes issued a decree allowing the Jewish people in captivity to return to Israel and rebuild Jerusalem and its walls under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2). Daniel was praying in Daniel 9:24–27, and God sent Gabriel the Archangel to tell him the exact day Jesus Christ would ride into Jerusalem. Daniel prays—Hebrew scholars say it took about three minutes—and Gabriel arrives with heaven’s answer, saying, “We heard your petition in heaven, and I am come to give you the answer.” Heaven is beyond the North Star, and yet the answer arrived immediately, illustrating the supernatural speed and power of God.
Gabriel tells Daniel the exact day Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Daniel 9:25): “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem… until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.” In biblical prophecy, a week is seven years. Seven weeks (7 x 7 = 49 years) cover the rebuilding of Jerusalem, ending in 397 BC. The next period, 62 weeks (62 x 7 = 434 years), spans the rebuilding to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Combined, from Artaxerxes’ decree, exactly 483 years—or 173,880 days—later, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as Messiah. Jesus himself acknowledged this prophecy’s fulfillment in Luke 19:42: “If you had known in this day the things that make for peace… because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Jesus knew the significance and the timing, which could be traced precisely from Artaxerxes’ decree.
We tell people that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives, which is only partly true. God also hates sin and will punish unrepentant sinners with eternal torment. The gospel is incomplete and imbalanced if it avoids or conceals those truths. Any false gospel that fails to define and confront the severity of sin is a deficient, malnourished gospel. People want the beneficent, benevolent love of God, but not the redemptive love of God.
The phrase “God is love” does not mean we are to love you all the way to hell. People worship the attribute of God and do not worship the one true God. You cannot take one attribute of God, isolate that attribute, and use that attribute to define God. God is not some “Say You, Say Me” sentimental lover. Most people think Jesus is just the loving, peaceful, sentimental Son of God. But Jesus is ready for the fire of judgment more than anyone, and this may be alien to your understanding of who Jesus is. “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49, NKJV).
The world says that the God of love loves everyone unconditionally. The God of love says, “...anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed!” (1 Corinthians 16:22, NIV). In Scripture, only one attribute of God is raised in repetition, not to the first degree or the second degree, but to the third degree. It’s not “God is love, love, love,” but the seraphim shout, “God is holy, holy, holy!”
Love is being weaponized. You just have to love and love so to build that bridge with your gay co-worker, gay son or daughter, your trans teenager, whatever it is, you have to use their language. To use people’s pronouns, that makes one a liar. You have to compromise and be flexible so you can bend with them and build that bridge to the cross. No one comes to the cross of Jesus Christ through deception; they can only come to the cross through truth.
When many people say, “God is love,” they are saying God will accept their godless lifestyle, and if you try to correct them, you are a narrow-minded, right-wing, Bible-thumping bigot. People try to believe that when they are living in a sinful, loving relationship, it’s okay; it’s God-ordained because God is love. Wrong! For many, the love of God means that God is good-natured, easygoing, kind, and a benevolent granddaddy sitting way off in the heavens, goo-gooing over everything you do in your godless life and smiling at your sin as you waddle into the House of God every Sunday or two. Wrong!
John, who wrote about the God of love, is the same God who opened up the fountains of the deep and drowned every man, woman, boy, girl, and animal on purpose because of sin. The God of love whom John speaks of is the same God who sent Israel into captivity, where they lived in poverty, were beaten to a bloody pulp, and watched their children die because they disobeyed Him. Paul, who speaks about the God of love, is the same God who sent fire and brimstone to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality. The God of love is the same God who will cast you into the lake of fire if you live a life of sin and reject the gospel.
If you think the love of God means you can live like hell and go to heaven, look at the cross and see what God did to His precious Son. Jesus became the Scapegoat, and it pleased the Father to bruise His Son! God’s love bruised His only Son for your sin. So, repent! Your mind cannot fathom the hell that awaits you if you reject the love of God. If God spared not His only Son, what makes you think, when you come to the judgment bar, He will spare you? He will not. If there is pony, prancing, practicing sin in your life, God sees it, and God hates it. Your only chance is to run to the cross and say, “Father, I have sinned.”
Ezekiel, who wrote about the God of love, penned, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone! Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” People were slaughtered because of moral corruption (Ezekiel 9). What’s the message? The message is, God has a zero tolerance for sin, and He still has a zero tolerance for sin. One, judgment begins at the House of God. Two, judgment comes first to the elders in the House of God. Three, judgment is universal and severe. It included women, children, the young, and the old. There were no exceptions.
Fourthly, God marked those in the city who cried out against the moral corruption. They were not called extremists, as the media calls people. They were not labeled as right-wing Bible-believing radicals. They were not labeled as hate-mongers. They were not called homophobic prudes, but they were salt and light. They were righteous prophets who refused to be corrupted by the nation’s moral sewer, and they never shut up about it. It’s amazing what heaven’s view is, and what the world’s view is.
The immoral lepers were totally unconcerned about the moral condition of their nation. In Amos 6:1-6, the prophet describes a nation at ease. And then in the last verse, he says, “But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” Joseph is a phrase used to describe northern Israel, the title of the northern kingdom, which was under God’s judgment and perished shortly thereafter in total judgment.
America is doing the self-same thing. So I ask, if the man with the inkhorn walked into a church and down its aisles, would he mark you as someone who is aggressively lifting up a barrier against the moral corruption in America? Would he put the mark on your head as saying this person is still fighting the good fight? Or would he look at you and say you’re at ease in Zion and let the man with the broad axe come to you and bring the judgment of God? Are you concerned about America? Are you concerned about going to a very real hell?
Or do you have the attitude that Israel had just before judgment came? We’re doing fine. We’re comfortable. We all have good jobs. We love user-friendly churches. We don’t require commitment here. We don’t take tough stands on tough issues. We don’t preach about the crucified life. We don’t want to talk about discipleship. We don’t want anyone to be embarrassed about the immorality of their life. We love our trans man. We love our six-colored rainbow, bunny flag. People can come to the House of God, clap their hands, sing a few happy songs, and go home untouched, and live like hell. That’s what we want. That’s what the devil wants. All love, no wrath!
The Girdle of Truth is the first thing a Christian puts on in warfare, holding the entire assembly together. If you think a Playtex girdle that can shape a rebellious figure into an hourglass figure is powerful, you haven't seen anything yet. In time of battle, soldiers would tuck their war skirts into their belts so that they would be ready for a fight. Tuck your war skirt in the Girdle of Truth and get ready for a fight.
The word "truth" from the Girdle of Truth is ἀληθείᾳ (alētheia), meaning sincerity or not being hidden. Sincerity comes from two Latin words, "sine" and "cera," meaning "without wax." In the time of Paul, statues that did not have a hairline crack were priceless. When a crack developed in a statue, the owner took wax and rock dust and poured them into the cracks, making the statue appear perfect. The solution for the purchaser was to take the statue outside and let it sit in the sun until all the wax ran out of the cracks, obviously manifesting the hidden imperfections. Many of you look great on the outside but have hairline cracks with wax, and underneath the cosmetology of the heart there is hidden, secret sin. God is turning up the heat and exposing the fakes, the phony, the pompous, and the religious stuffed shirts. Walking wax Christians are covered in wax-put them in the heat and see how sincere they are.
What is the difference between a Playtex girdle and the Girdle of Truth? One is cosmetic, and the other is the real deal. Are you a cosmetic Playtex Christian, or are you the real deal? Are you wearing a miracle Playtex girdle or the Girdle of Truth? Are you real? Are you sincere? Are you rebellious, or are you righteous? Are you a counterfeit, or are you consecrated? Are you artificial, or are you actual? Are you a pretender, or are you a possessor? Are you a buff for flakes and fruit theology? Are you a cookie-cutter, counterfeit Charismatic? Are you attracted to the ritual, or are you redeemed? Are you attracted to the ceremony, or are you attracted to Jesus Christ? Are you singing about a heaven you are never going to see? Do you want to feel good without being good? Are you trying to get into heaven while trying to live like hell?
Do you receive the truth with sincerity? Sincerity without truth is deception. Many are sincere about their false doctrine but are leading the hordes to hell. Deliverance ministers dialoguing with fake, made-up Charismatic spirits are sincere but are in the blows of deception. Charismatics looking for plastic in each other's ears are sincere but are in deception. Spiritual people blowing bubbles, trying to communicate with goldfish, are sincere but are in a watery deception.
Secular humanism is a doctrine of deception; man is not the answer. Secular humanists hate the Word of God, and if Christians lived like them, they would too. New age is deception. You can't hum into crystals and commune with God. Harmonizing with a glass of crystals will get you laryngitis, not the Lord of glory. New agers worship everything but God. New age is tolerant of every religion but Christianity, because Christianity has the Bible, and the Bible is not tolerant toward sin. And the new age is tolerant toward every sin. The sin of the new age is being intolerant of anyone based on a moral basis. Neo-paganism and flower-sniffing environmentalism-the worship of mother earth with all her earth spirits and dream catchers-is a demonic deception. Pagan momma earth and momma nature dupe the biblical illiterates and are in deception. Eastern philosophies where man is god are a deception.
Paul puts his pen to parchment and writes, "Put on the whole armor of God." This is tailor-made, God-manufactured armor. It's not Baptist armor. It's not Assemblies of God armor. It's not Calvinism armor. It's not Nazarene or Lutheran armor. It's not Methodist armor or armor from the Roman Church. Why did Paul say, "Put on the whole armor of God"? Because there are plenty of phony manufacturing companies that have a false design to protect you but will, in fact, lead you to the loins of hell. This armor has been imitated, but it cannot be duplicated. Each of the implements of the whole armor of God is the manifest presence of Jesus Christ.
The Girdle of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Gospel of Peace
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword of the Spirit
You will notice that there is no back piece to this armor. The army of Jesus Christ is never in retreat; we are always on the offense to destroy the works of the devil. Every one of these elements is essential for the bride of Christ to be victorious. Going to war partially prepared is absolutely dead.
God commands us to put on the whole armor; it is not a request. Saint Paul writes, "Fight the good fight of faith; we are more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ." The outcome of this spiritual warfare is based on God's performance, not our skill. This supernatural war is a fight to the end. Many people assume that the armor of God is some cookie-cutter, charismatic cliché that they can applaud and make them feel all happy-clappy. Putting on this armor will determine whether you make it or not (live or perish). You must literally, physically, and spiritually put it on and wear it at all times. If you do not put on the armor, the negative things in your life will continue to consume you. If you are dominated by sin, the flesh, addictions, hatred, bitterness, negativity, worry, or fear, these weapons will keep dominating you day in and day out until you put on this armor. Saying monumental, memorized prayer mantras from a Charismatic deliverance warfare pamphlet, is not putting on the armor. The armor of God is not an imaginary, symbolic prototype you pray on. The armor of warfare is battle-ready machinery that you walk out in all truths, in season and out of season.
WHAT IS THE FLESH?
What is the purpose of Christ in your life? The purpose of Christ in your life is not to take your old vices and your old carnal logic and restructure them to make a new, self-humanistic you. The purpose of Christ in your life is to crucify the flesh, to kill it so that you’re dead to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Now consider the works of the flesh: the flesh is defined as your sinful nature. As soon as you say “the flesh,” people think about your body. That’s not it. Your flesh is your Adamic nature—the nature that you inherited from Adam in the fall. The flesh is not your physical body. In the Bible, your flesh can’t be purified, it can’t be glorified, but the flesh must be crucified. That Adamic nature, which gives in to sex sins, spiritual sins, and social sins, must be crucified. You can’t put up with it. Your flesh will send you to hell, but it won’t go with you to hell.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”—Galatians 5:19–21 (NIV)
God didn’t put it here just because He needed something to write in the book of Galatians. It’s all-encompassing. Paul writes concerning those who live in the flesh: those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul wrote this to believers in the church in Galatia, not to a horde of professing pagans. The book of Galatians is a spiritual X-ray of every soul. If you walk in the Spirit, you will see heaven, and if you walk according to the flesh, you will see hell. You will not see the Promised Land of heaven if your flesh rules the spirit. I want to be so dead to the flesh and so crucified in Christ that if a bee stings me, it will sing, “Christ, I Adore Thee!”
Those who sow in the flesh will reap corruption (Galatians 6:8). This came from the Roman sense that if you killed someone with intent and malice—premeditated forethought—you were a criminal, condemned. There was a law in the Roman court that made the condemned criminal carry the murdered corpse strapped to their back; they had to live with it, eat with it, and sleep with it until the rotten corpse killed them. Maggots invaded the rotten corpse, and the maggots ate the corpse, and then the maggots ate the criminal alive. What God is saying is that if you live in the flesh, your corruption is a stinking pile of maggot food—a corpse eaten alive by maggots.
The works of the flesh breed corruption. The corpse of your flesh is tied to your back, the gut-wrenching stench is disgusting, and every day you wake up, the day is already fouled up because of the corruption of your flesh. A person’s reaction to the flesh should be pitiless because evil is within the flesh. Jesus died for sin; you must die to sin. When Christ says, “Take up your cross and follow Me,” He doesn’t mean to wear a cross around your neck. He means, get on it and crucify the flesh. That means to carry your cross and die on your cross—crucified and sanctified. If you are trying to carry your cross and walk in the flesh, you will be crushed by the weight of it. Most can wear a cross; only a few can bear the cross.
We are incarcerated by unredeemed flesh. The Roman crucifixion was for the worst of criminals in the days when the Roman Empire was established. The crucifixion means we do not treat it with courtesy, compassion, or compromise. When something is crucified, it means to kill it. As Christ’s followers, we need to kill the flesh and let it suffocate on the crucifix. No one in world history has ever survived the crucifixion. Don’t let your flesh talk you into a peace accord and talk you out of crucifying the flesh. Don’t be confused about what the Bible calls the flesh; the flesh is rebellious, old nature, selfish, evil, pleasure-seeking, hates the light, loves the darkness, and an enemy of God.
This is the threefold presentation of the flesh: the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is a demolition team that will implode the towers of the flesh: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is kryptonite to the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world comes around us. The devil comes against us. Our flesh wars within us. Being at peace with the world, the flesh, and the devil is treason against the courts of heaven. The world, the flesh, and the devil will tell us not to get hung up on sin because life is too short—so live life to its full potential of unlimited pleasures. Basically, party like a rock star until you end up in the back of a cop car.
FRUIT
Are you dominated by the flesh? Do you love to steal, cheat, watch pornography around the clock, engage in sex outside of marriage repeatedly, get drunk or high habitually, lie pathologically, have a mangled vocabulary and malformed speech, and, without a care in the world, use the Lord’s name in vain? If you can practice this kind of behavior without conviction, you are not saved, because the fruit you produce is rotten and is 180-proof of pure stench. You have a corrupted, calloused, citrus grapefruit! You are so self-driven and fleshly that the god you worship is the god you see when you’re shaving or giving yourself a perm.
I don’t care if you uttered the sinner’s prayer; you are ruled by the flesh! If you are 100 percent ruled by the flesh and 100 percent carnal, you are 100 percent unconverted. Your carnal flesh doesn’t care if you go to hell, because it’s not going with you. You cannot find the description of a Christian in the Bible; it was actually a derogatory term given to us. Anyone can put the word “Christian” in their portfolio. The only way to define a Christian is by the fruit factor: God is Spirit, and animals are flesh. When you walk in the Spirit, you are more like God, and when you walk in the flesh, you are more like an animal.
This is not a message of the past. This is a message of the present and the future. These seven letters are not just a message to reading this, but also to America-what our country must do to spiritually and morally revitalize itself. When we, as a nation, have reached a place of moral, political, and spiritual corruption, as we are now, we need a rebirth. We need a new beginning, and this is the message about how to get there. These seven churches are not the only churches in Asia Minor. There are many churches in Asia Minor, but these are located at seven major points of communication in the Roman Empire. God knew that once the message was planted there, it would spread to the whole earth. When John, on the Island of Patmos, wrote the book of Revelation, God gave it to His Son, His Son gave it to an angel, and the angel gave it to John. John scribbled it down on parchment. It was smuggled off the island when Diocletian died, was recorded by the churches, and became for us one of the most encouraging and victorious books in all the Bible. Let's read To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.' God gives all these things to the one who overcomes-not the one who stops at the midpoint, but the one who overcomes.
Let's begin with this thought: the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Why is it important for you to know this? Because until you see Jesus in the book of Revelation, you have never truly seen the real Jesus. Now, let's consider the setting of Revelation chapter 1. John the Revelator was exiled on the Isle of Patmos, a barren, rocky island in the Aegean Sea about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. John was a pastor, Apostle, who had been arrested and removed from his church by Rome for refusing to confess that Caesar is Lord-a practice known as Caesar worship. If you refused to confess Caesar as Lord but declared Jesus as Lord, you were considered an enemy of the state and sent to a place like Patmos or to the Colosseum to face execution by wild beasts. Our spiritual forefathers paid a great price for their faith. John found himself placed on this island among criminals.
He hears the screeching seagulls and endures the brutality of the Roman soldiers. It was Devil's Island. I have written a novel about John's experience. John was the Galilean fisherman who dropped his nets to follow Jesus Christ as a teenager. Now, at about 84 years of age, John faces brutal treatment. He was the one who placed his head on the breast of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, part of the inner circle with Peter and James. John witnessed his master hanging between two thieves, kneeling beside Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus was covered in blood; the 39 stripes from the Roman whip left his body emaciated and bloody. In agony, Jesus cried out, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' At that moment, Jesus Christ did not appear as the King of Kings or the Messiah. He did not look like anything but a future martyr. Now, God sends the revelation of His Son to the church, urging believers to look to Him. The last time they saw Him, He was on the cross, but now He is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, with power and glory. He is no longer wearing a crown of thorns, but a crown of crowns, for He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
The Seven Churches and Their Messages:
Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7): The Loveless Church. Praised for work and discernment but criticized for abandoning their first love.
Smyrna (Rev 2:8-11): The Persecuted Church. Encouraged to remain faithful unto death; no rebuke given.
Pergamum (Rev 2:12-17): The Compromising Church. Commended for holding fast to His name, but warned against tolerating false doctrine.
Thyatira (Rev 2:18-29): The Tolerant Church. Commended for love and service, but heavily criticized for tolerating sexual immorality and heresy.
Sardis (Rev 3:1-6): The Dead Church. Warned to wake up and strengthen what remains, as they have a reputation for life but are dead.
Philadelphia (Rev 3:7-13): The Faithful Church. Encouraged for their perseverance and keeping God's word; no rebuke given.
Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22): The Lukewarm Church. Critically rebuked for being neither cold nor hot, advised to be zealous and repent.
Common Structure and Themes:
Each letter begins with "I know your works," emphasizing Jesus' oversight of his church.
Each ends with "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches".
They are interpreted as both local messages to 1st-century churches and universal instructions for believers throughout history.
Many of us have wandered astray like the prodigal. We have wandered off into rebellion and away from the Father—proud, selfish, conceited, self-centered, and narcissistic. While we are out in the far country of sin, we become crushed and devastated by sin. We come back to the Father as a tear-stained, snotty-nosed, trembling wad of protoplasm, ready to be humble servants to the Father. If you go out into the far country of lawlessness, prepare to be crushed and broken.
The far country is not a place; it’s a condition of the heart that is away from God. People will sell their souls for a fling in the far country. In the far country, casual Christians are harlots, high-headed, and high-minded, and confuse the world when they act like the world. The far country is where addicts are made, and abortions are committed. The far country is where trans people are made, and they flaunt their perversion on parade. The far country will crucify you with guilt and send you home smelling like a sow.
It doesn’t matter how deep your sin is or what prodigal is in what pigpen. The love of God can reach down into the lowest hell and redeem you. The love of God is still pursuing you, and, like the hound of heaven, He will save you! In the dryness of your days, God will baptize you with rivers of love. In your darkest Gethsemane, when Judas is lurking in the shadows, you will hear a voice behind you that says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, even to the ends of the earth! I am with you, and hell can’t take you! God is with you! The Holy Spirit is in you! The anointing of heaven is upon you! The armies of heaven are before you!” A mother will walk away from a suckling child, and a woman will walk into a death clinic and slaughter the fruit of her lust, but the love of God will never leave you. The love of God can transform you from your bulldog disposition into the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Your soul cannot contain the totality of God’s love, and when God’s love fills your soul, your potential explodes.
With every battle, every heartache, and every tear, the love of God gets more precious and sweeter as the days go by. God’s love bathes us in a divine glow of His presence. Many people’s goodness is their badness. They feel like they live such a good life that they don’t need Jesus. They sit with poker-slumber, religious faces, thinking they have it all together. On the other hand, there are those who have been scarred by the surgeons of sin and know what it means to be forgiven and consumed by the love of God.
There was a woman who walked several miles to church every night. She would sit in the front seat, her face a radiant glow, while others sang the church songs with rather religious and somber expressions. She appeared enveloped in a heavenly glow, and tears would flow down her cheeks. This woman was a former prostitute who had struggled with drug addiction, selling her body to support her habit. She lost her children and her husband during that dark time.
However, God’s amazing love reached into her life, saving and redeeming her from the living hell she was in. Now, she is remarried to her husband, her children are back home, and she loves the Lord passionately. Do you love the Lord passionately? When a flood fills a valley, the water remains in the valley, and the water brings life, vitality, and hope. I want you to hear this: a dry valley is worthless. But when you put water in a valley, it becomes a resort. Put another way, when the love of God floods your life, love, light, and liberation explode. To try to explain the love of God would drain the oceans dry, nor could all the scrolls contain the whole.
Do you remember your First Love and when He first found you? Has your relationship with Jesus become jaded and lukewarm, and are you not nearly as excited about Him as you once were? Does your heart pant after God like a deer that pants after water? Do you love the Lord passionately? Many have served the Lord in the past with a heart of passion, but the fire of passion has been put out and is nothing but dry embers. If that’s the case, you need to rediscover your First Love! Don’t ever lose the basic ingredient for a relationship with Jesus Christ. You need to return to your First Love and the cross of Christ.
All the rebels, renegades, and runaways; all the prodigals who got lost along the way; all the backsliders, up-all-nighters, every dreamer shattered, bruised, and battered; every heartbroken and searching soul sitting all alone—come home. All the outcasts stuck in their past, all the stones cast, judgments passed—repent, because eternity lasts, and come home, because He has forgiven you. Come home. Jesus wants to rip off those tearing and ripping rags of sin and robe His children with splendid robes of righteousness, which He intended.
God’s love is stronger than death: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39, NIV).
A true story was told of two art critics watching a fly crawl across a masterpiece painting by Raphael. The painting was about six square feet. As the critics saw this fly on top of the painting, one critic said to the other, “What do you think this fly sees?” The other critic responded, “Right now, all this fly can see is one brush stroke, and what is immediately under it is nothing but black—it’s ugly and irregular.
“If the fly could talk, it would say, ‘This is the most miserable mess I have ever seen!’ But if the fly could back up and see the totality of the painting, it would know it was the genius expression of a master artist.” Today may be black, dark, and demonic, but in God’s tomorrow, you will see the most grand and beautiful masterpiece that your mind can’t even fathom. You can’t fathom the totality of the masterpiece of the love of God for you. God is love!
Here is a sweet story—a portrait of God’s love. A six-year-old boy stood in front of a pet store. His nose was pressed against the window. His eyes were riveted to a black-and-white spotted puppy jumping around in the display window. The boy went into the store and told the owner he had seventy-five cents and wanted to buy the white-and-black puppy that was jumping around. The owner said, “That puppy costs seventy-five dollars, son.” The little boy’s face fell. His shoulders slumped in absolute disappointment.
Then the mother dog came trotting into the room with four or five little black puppies behind her. Then there was another puppy that was about four or five feet behind the very last puppy. That puppy was limping and dragging its back legs to keep up. The little boy pointed to that lame puppy and said, “I want that one.” The store owner said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy, because that puppy has been born without a hip socket. He will never be able to run with you. He will never be able to jump and do all the things that little puppies do with the little boys who like to play.”
The little boy reached down and pulled up his pant legs to his knees, and pointed to the heavy steel braces that were on both sides of his legs as a result of polio. The little boy pointed to his legs and said, with tears in his eyes, “I need that puppy because that puppy can understand me, and I can understand that puppy.” The little boy said, “I’ll give you seventy-five cents now and seventy-five cents every week until I can pay for him.
Why do so many people have such a difficult time understanding, comprehending, and believing that there is a very real devil and a supernatural war going on for the soul of man and the nations of the world? Ignorance! The ignorance of God in America is evident, and this ignorance hinders revival in our nation, and especially within the church. We are not fighting Adolf Hitler or another human being, but the evil, gripping, gothic genius—the devil himself.
This is an unseen, powerful, shrewd, highly organized, supernatural enemy. We are fighting his high command—what Paul calls the battle cry of Ephesians 6: the principalities (head officers), the powers (staff officers), and the rulers (divisional leaders) of darkness of the unseen world in the heavenlies. This means we are to go to war—a spiritual slugfest—with the unseen host of demonic powers of the air, which is the evil empire under the demonic command of the prince of darkness.
The Bible says Satan is a prince (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11; Ephesians 2:2). Satan is a ruler (1 John 5:19). Satan has a kingdom, and his kingdom is not divided (Matthew 12:26). Satan is the master of a mighty demonic army (Matthew 25:41). Satan is called a god (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan is a religionist and has his own religion (Revelation 2:9). Satan has his own gospel (Galatians 1:8). Satan has his own ministers (2 Corinthians 11:15). Satan has his own doctrine (1 Timothy 4:1). Satan has his own communion table and his own cup (1 Corinthians 10:21). Satan is the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience.
A VERY REAL ENEMY
Before the twenty-first century, very few people actually believed in a real devil. Now, we have millions of people worshiping him from coast to coast. America has made Satan the object of worship and the new superstar of this generation. The devil’s portrait is sketched as a red-horned monster with a tail and pitchfork—a medieval-time character who has become the object of laughter and comedy.
The devil is not a myth; he is a monster. The devil is not an idea or an evil concept. He is not a Hollywood actor, a sinister comic-book character; he’s not an evil imagination or a conspiracy theory; he is very real. The devil is the master of deception, and he denies his very own existence. The greatest deception the devil has ever used on mankind is to make the world believe he does not exist—this is the devil’s trump trick. The two things Satan hates: being exposed and being expelled. Satan’s tactic is to cover himself with sheepskin and slip into the flock undetected to slaughter, to wound, to injure, to divide, and to devour the body of Christ. The shepherd’s job is to kill that wolf. King David said, “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
The devil is called old because he was first seen in Genesis when he appeared to Adam and Eve. He is considered crafty because he sneaks into a person’s life, trying to deceive and annihilate a person’s mind—spreading discord, divination, and division; turning spouse against spouse, children against parents, parents against children, and nation against nation. It was a very real devil that attacked Job. It was a very real devil that appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was a very real devil that appeared to Jesus in the wilderness, saying, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to be turned into bread.” It was a very real devil that was defeated at the cross. It was a very real devil that was cast down from heaven, as his fall is recorded in Isaiah 14. It is a very real devil that will spend eternity in the lake of fire. It is a very real devil that wants to take every human being to hell.
The Lord’s Prayer—“Deliver us from the evil one”—is proof that there is a very real devil. Behind every temptation is the tempter. Behind every lie is the father of lies. Behind every murder is the devil, the murderer from the beginning. Behind every act of darkness is the prince of darkness. Behind every false light is the angel of light. Behind the daze of deception is the master of deception.
You can’t believe in God without believing in the devil. Why? Because the same Bible that teaches there is a very real God teaches that there is a very real devil. It’s amazing to me how many people who go to church and call themselves Christians believe in God but do not believe in a real devil. They believe in the Holy Spirit but not a demon spirit—especially not in their church. How can you believe in the cross and not believe in the devil?
When asking the average person, “Why did Jesus go to the cross?” they will say, “To save me!” That is true, but that is very elementary. Jesus went to the cross to defeat Satan! In the flesh, Jesus beat the devil with a simple, crude, and bloodstained cross. The point is, you cannot believe in the redemption of the cross and not believe in the purpose of the cross, and the purpose of the cross was to destroy a very real devil. It was the precious Seed of a virgin who crushed the devil’s head to a woman’s soft matte face powder, black powder, gunpowder. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15, NIV).
The hordes say, “I don’t believe in the devil. The devil doesn’t bother me!” The devil does not harass people who don’t make a threat to him and are completely worthless in the kingdom of God. People like this don’t have enough of God in them to make a used demon chase after them. He will drag you and your children into the bowels of hell and laugh at you because you were foolish enough to believe he didn’t exist. Satan attacks the children of God because he hates God’s property. Satan attacks anyone who is walking in the kingdom of light, because he is the prince of darkness. Satan attacks anyone who represents the truth, because he is the father of lies. Satan attacks every redeemed child of God who is a soldier of the cross and covered under the blood of the Lamb.
Prayer will evict hell out of your mind and bring heaven into your heart. It's time to be bold, act, and ask God to break the fetters of the wicked one. Have you been marked and scarred by Satan and the surgeons of sin? It is time to discover God's presence and His love, which is a divine flood that will crush the fetters of sin and drown them in the sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered anymore. The dawn of hope will begin to explode in your soul while despair and depression retreat. Delight will thunder through the door of your heart, and out of your mouth will flow rivers of unspeakable joy. Today is the day to stop being a slave to sin and Satan and attack the gates of hell! Attack! Attack! Attack him until you drive him out of your life! How? Prayer! And remember, obedience, locked and loaded, is one of the most powerful atomic weapons for every believer.
If you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord does not hear you. Secret sin short-circuits your prayers
Why Pray?: God is as close as your next prayer. Prayer should be your first choice, not your last chance.
Our Father: Many of you cannot call God your Father until He becomes your Father through the grace and Savior of Jesus Christ through the cross
Hallowed be thy Name: Using the Lord's name in vain is utterly dangerous. You can split hell wide open using His name in Vain. Words are common as blossoms, but have the power and might to destroy a life. Corrupt forms of worship is using the Lord's name in vain. Title Idol worship is using the Lord's name in vain.
Thy will be Done: You must crucify self-will to do God's will (Get rid of will worship)
Daily Bread: God provided manna for the children of Israel, and there was not one feeble among them according to Psalms (Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Manna, our Daily Bread).
Forgive us: You cannot have a right relationship with God and a wrong relationship with His children. You lose enemies when you make them your friends
Evil One: Exposing the Occult, Witchcraft, and Satanism
Thine is the Power and the Glory: If you are a child of God, the kingdom of God is inside you... If you do not inherit the kingdom of God, you cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Now, let me answer the question: when will the tribulation take place? The answer is immediately after the rapture. The Antichrist is going to make his appearance, and the tribulation will begin. Let me give you Bible proof that the church is not going through the tribulation. There are preachers all over America preaching that the church is going through the tribulation. That is not true. That song Matthew just sang, “O Blessed Hope,” is one of the reasons. If Christ is the Blessed Hope and we have to go through the tribulation, that’s not much hope.
In Revelation 4, the church is clearly seen in heaven. This is a picture in Revelation 4. You have the 24 elders—the 12 from the Old Testament and the 12 from the New Testament. In Revelation 4, the bride is in heaven. Say that with me: the bride is in heaven. And how do you know it is the bride? Because Revelation 4:4 says that they are seated together with Christ. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul says, “We have been made to sit together in heavenly places.” Our spiritual seat in the heavenly realms is a position of high honor, much like being seated at the VIP table of a presidential luncheon or the king’s table. We have been given the royal privilege of being enthroned with the Son and will one day partake in His glory while here on earth. I also believe Revelation 4:4 exactly fulfills Ephesians 2:6.
Secondly, I know it’s the body of Christ in Revelation 4:4 because they are wearing white robes. While angels do appear in white, white garments are commonly found among believers, symbolizing Christ’s righteousness imputed to us at salvation. “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments…” (Revelation 3:5, NKJV).
Thirdly, they are wearing crowns of gold. The bride of Christ receives the crown of life. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10, NKJV). The word “crown,” translated in Revelation 4:4, is the victor’s crown, worn by those who have completed and won the fight.
Many of you will be offended at the golden crowns in heaven, and will ask for plastic crowns from Burger King. Many have been taught to have a poverty complex; if that is you, suffer through it. Get a new car, and these poverty-complex Christians will say, “Whew! We can’t fellowship with you anymore, brother!” They want you to have a mule, not a Mercedes. The church should be against the prosperity gospel and the poverty gospel.
Lastly, these three things only happen to the church: crowned, robed, and seated together. The church is seen in heaven in Revelation 4:4. The Antichrist appears in Revelation 6, riding a white horse. Six comes after four. Would you agree? That means we are not here. How simple can something be? First Thessalonians 1:10 clearly states that the church is delivered from the wrath to come. The wrath to come is the tribulation. First Thessalonians 5:9: “For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The purpose of the Tabernacle of Moses was to provide a place where the people could properly worship God. The message of the Tabernacle given to Moses by God Himself, is one of the most powerful messages in all of the Bible because it is the perfect portrait of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, and it is applicable for us today because as the Tabernacle held the Holy of Holies, our body, our temple is the Holy of Holies indwelt by the living God. The Tabernacle is the colossal and physical revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has three offices: Prophet, Priest, and King. Jesus is our Prophet, who came with a brazen message, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” In the Holy Place, Jesus Christ is our High Priest who intercedes for us before the Father. In the Holy of Holies, He is Christ the King, the King of kings. He tabernacled among us, and now He dwells within us. The Tabernacle makes up the threefold man: the outer court (body), the Holy Place (soul), and the Holy of Holies (spirit). If you have Satan in your Tabernacle, you are lost and without God.
Every word in the Word of God is important, and certainly every chapter has a major contribution to the Word of God. God did not just give chapters because He needed a filler, but it’s a revelation of who He is. He gives one chapter to the Creation story, less than a chapter to the Ten Commandments, and uses around fifty chapters in the Pentateuch and the book of Hebrews to infill us with a revelation of information about the Tabernacle, the personality, and the Man of Jesus Christ. God says that the Tabernacle is the physical portrait of My Son and the pictorial picture of redemption.
We are a walking Tabernacle! Jesus died at the age of thirty-three; our spine has thirty-three vertebrae, and the number isn’t random: it’s by divine design. The spine holds us up, just as Jesus was held up and carried the world for thirty-three years. We have twelve ribs on each side, like the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel. God literally built His covenant into our frame. The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the heart to the digestive system, and it calms our internal storms just as Jesus calmed the storm, and the sea became like glass. On the third day, Jesus arose, and science says that a three-day fast sparks cellular regeneration; the body literally renews itself and eats away the dead and broken cells. Our heart’s rhythm, our tears chemistry, and our bones memory all reflect God’s glory and divine design.
To become a Christian in the Christian race, you must go through the door—Jesus Christ—and kneel at the foot of the cross, the brazen altar, and the Lamb’s blood will drip down to the base of your soul. You must go to the laver, the Word of God, and be cleansed and sanctified daily. Take a bath in the laver if you have to. Then go into the Tabernacle and eat the Bread of Life and look through the room because the revelation of truth, the Light of the world, the Menorah, is the eternal flame that now burns in your bones.
Go to the altar of incense and stand tall as you kneel and pray to God, from your soul, not a mantra. Through the cross, the veil has been ripped from top to bottom; go in and soak in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies. The blueprint of the Tabernacle is not for looking pretty, prestigious, and precious, but it’s a divine blueprint for entering into the presence of God. In the day of trouble, He will hide you in the pavilion of the Tabernacle. Listen carefully: the farther you walk in the entire compound of the Tabernacle, the more your faith will grow, and the more revelation with God you will have through the Word of God and your Christian life.
A young man who was so hungry for God asked his pastor, “How do I have more power with God?” The pastor took the young man to the river, and the young man obediently followed him, thinking he was going to get baptized. The pastor lured him out to about chest-deep water and then thrust his head underwater. Feeling like he was drowning, the young man violently grabbed the pastor and threw him off. As the young man’s head finally broke the water, he gasped for air, and the pastor asked, “What did you want more than anything when your head was under water?” The young man said, “Air!” The pastor said graciously, “When you want Jesus Christ as much as you wanted air, you will have more power with God.”