May The Lord Bless you richly with His Grace In All Things,
Joseph,
2Pe 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
Not sure if Glenn Beck is the dumb ass or the prophet full of madness. He is not alone though. There are many in this category these days. It seems that God Almighty is using every dumb ass possible to speak to this generation. Within Glenn Beck's latest speech he says, and I quote "Irene is a blessing from God". How could Irene or any storm for that matter be a blessing from God? Extreme situations call for extreme measures. God has always used suffering to wake people up. Should the citizens of the United States be any different?
Without question God is merciful. Again He is using the Dumb Asses in this hour. Is anyone hearing God's voice through this? I do not believe Glenn Beck is a saved, blood washed child of God. This is why I say he is in the category of a dumb ass. We read in the Scripture that God is willing that none should perish, be lost in Hell for eternity. Without question He proved this by sending His only Son to be crucified for the sins of the whole world. It seems that the Lord is pulling out all stops and now speaking through the Dumb Asses in this hour. Who are these Dumb Asses speaking to?
Notice the Scripture above. The crazed prophet was disobedient to God and wanted to
curse God's people and would have, if God had let him. However God intervened and the Angel of the Lord was standing in the pathway of the disobedient prophet. The donkey would not go forward and the prophet became angry and began to beat the donkey. After the crazed prophet had smitten the poor donkey the third time God opened the animals mouth and allowed her to give the prophet a piece of her mind. Hear what she had to say, "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Then the crazy prophet began to have a conversation with a donkey! "Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. Then the donkey answered back again, "Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.
Now something amazing happens! God opens the prophet's eyes to see what the dumb ass was already seeing. When Balaam saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the pathway with his sword drawn, he fell down flat on his face and repented.
In conclusion:
If you would like you can go on and read how this ends. Numbers 22:31- However the point that the writer wanted to get across is that we need an intervention from God if we are going to see a real revival in America! Will you pray for true revival?
Gen 19:28
And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.Exo 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Prov 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
The Sun is getting Hotter For A Reason and it's not "Global Warming"
Isa 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
Mal 4:1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
"He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)."
These seven words found in John 3:30 contain the entire mystery of God's dealings with man from ages past to eternity future. "He [Christ] must increase." All of God's works are towards this end of increasing Christ. In other words, everything God has done, is doing, and will do is related towards revealing His Son and bringing us into the full-knowledge (epignosis) of Him. The goal is for Christ to have the preeminence in all things, beginning with us individually as disciples, then with the Church, and finally with all creation, "that He may be All in All."
He MUST increase. Isaiah tells us that there will be no end of the increase of His government and peace. In the beginning was the Word, and we can see how God has worked steadily from the beginning to increase Christ. From types and shadows in the Old Testament we see Christ coming into view. Then the Word is made flesh and dwells among us, and Christ is increased yet again. Next He comes to dwell within us, and this is a major increase. Finally, He begins to conform us to His own image through the indwelling Life. If we are growing up into Him then He is increasing daily. Eventually every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Beyond this, we are told that God will continue to reveal His Son in the ages to come, bringing us into depths and dimensions of Christ that we cannot fathom.
God is not moving backward, but in the Son and through the Son, He moves steadily forward. Christ MUST increase. This is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Just as we cannot have gravity without having the law of gravity, so it is impossible to have the Life of the Lord but not have the Law of that Life. And the Law of Life is that Christ must increase.
"But I must decrease." Why doesn't God reveal His Son to us, in all His glory, all at once? What prevents Christ from filling all things and having the preeminence now? Why do we not yet see all things submitted to Him? Because we must be decreased. If He is to become greater then I must become lesser. When Paul says, "Not I, but Christ," he is saying "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Just as all things are working together towards God's purpose of increasing Christ, so all things are working together towards decreasing us. It does not matter if we understand it or comprehend it. It does not matter if you believe in it or agree with it. You are being decreased just the same, and Christ is being increased. It MUST be so, therefore it IS so. Scientists call this decreasing "entropy", and it means, "inevitable and steady deterioration". We can observe this in creation. The present things are groaning and travailing in pain, deteriorating in order to make way for a new heaven and a new earth. We begin to die as soon as we are born. We can look in our own bodies for evidence of "inevitable and steady deterioration" as we move towards a redeemed body. But more importantly, WE, the "I", the "Self", is being decreased that Christ may fill us.
How are we decreased? Let us say right away that it is not your duty to decrease yourself, to become an ascetic, and crawl around in the dirt in abject poverty. It is not an outward decreasing, but an inward decreasing, a coming to the end of ourselves. The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. Earlier, John said, "A man can have nothing except he receive it from heaven." Now we may have quite a bit, but if we obtained it from a source other than Christ, it amounts to nothing. Only those sufficiently decreased, the poor in spirit, can see this. This poverty cannot be achieved through self-effort. In fact, part of the decreasing process is the realization that I can do nothing of myself, including decreasing myself. Just as I cannot commit suicide by crucifixion, so I cannot crucify my flesh. The only way to learn this is to fail hundreds, even thousands of times. Then we will learn to say, "I have no confidence in the flesh."
In the world we will experience temptations, testings, and trials. We will experience persecution, tribulation, and afflictions of soul and body. We will experience mistreatment and misunderstanding. It is not a question of God allowing or not allowing things to happen. It is part of living. Some things we do to ourselves, other things we do to each other. Our Father knows about every bird which falls to the ground, but He does not always prevent it from falling.
What are we to learn from this? That our response to what happens is more important than what happens. Here is a mystery: one man's experience drives him to curse God, while another man's identical experience drives him to bless God. Your response to what happens is more important than what happens.
If we see that offenses are bound to come, that there is no way to live in the world apart from what happens, then we must see that the difference between overcoming and not overcoming lies in our response to what happens.
Paul did not pray to be weak so that he could be strong. Naturally speaking, we despise weakness. We prefer strength. But human strength is an illusion. It is not true strength. The Lord shows us His grace is made perfect (or, is matured) through our weakness. Now, Paul rejoices in his weakness, in his being decreased: for "when I am weak, then I am strong." To the degree that we accept the decrease of ourselves, to that degree will we experience the increasing of Christ.
We cannot walk the narrow path until we have entered the narrow gate. But we cannot assume that because we have entered the narrow gate we are now finished. Most people lay stress on the gate, and their goal is to get people just far enough through the gate that they can claim salvation. That is where most of the Church sits today, just inside the narrow gate, rejoicing in a future salvation, a future heaven, a future return of Christ, and a future reward. But the narrow gate is only the beginning. The narrow gate only opens the door to the narrow way. It is the narrow way which leads to Life, and few find it. Fewer still walk to the end of it.
Now what we are discussing is an event as well as a process. There is a once-and-for-all decision to follow Christ, but we have to keep on following. Entering the gate is a once-and-for-all event, but walking the path is a process. We gain everything when we enter the gate, but we must walk the path in order to now live out of what we have. We are new creations, but we are being changed daily into the image of Christ. We died with Christ once: yet we die daily. We were crucified with Him once: yet we take up the cross daily. We were raised with Him once: yet we experience His Life daily. We were ascended with Him and we were seated with Him in the heavenlies once: but we live out the heavenly position in our daily walk, daily ascending above the earth, above the natural, to sit with Him in His throne as overcomers.
God wills that "all men would be saved (narrow gate) and would come to the full-knowledge [epignosis] of Truth (narrow way)." Those who merely enter the narrow gate have yet to satisfy God's heart. There is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, but as Arthur Katz has said, "Many are saved, but few are converted." It is God's will, His desire, that we come to the end of ourselves so that Christ may have the preeminence in us. Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." Hebrews tells us that Christ is the brightness of God's glory, and the express image (or exact representation) of His person. Likewise, God's purpose for us as disciples (and by extension, the Church) is "if you have seen a disciple, you have seen Jesus." The Christian is to be the brightness of Christ's glory, and the exact representation of His person. I lack the vocabulary to express this adequately, but I trust the Lord will show us.
This is beyond "mere salvation", this is conversion, this is conformity to the very image of Christ. He most certainly does not have the preeminence in us now, thus, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
We have emphasized the Church for so long that we have lost sight of the individual disciples of which the Church consists. If one member lacks, the entire Body goes lacking. It is not so much a problem with the Church failing to apprehend its fullness as it is the individual disciples of the Lord failing to count the cost, suffer all as loss, and progress down the narrow way towards Christ as All in All. As the disciples go, so goes the Church. If Christ does not have the preeminence in the Church, it is because He does not have the preeminence in us as disciples.
If we have truly entered the gate and are walking the path, if we have truly yielded our lives to Him and long to know Him, then everything we experience is working to increase Christ and decrease us. On the positive side, the Holy Spirit is working to bring us into a more perfect knowledge of Christ. The Spirit is increasing Him, leading us into "all Truth", towards epignosis. On the negative side, the principle of the Cross is working to decrease us, to bring us to the end of ourselves, to reduce us to nothing. Eastern mysticism has long been aware of this positive and negative at work, it has simply misunderstood what it means and misappropriated it towards an end other than Christ. They have observed a principle but lack the Truth to explain the principle.
We must see that for every decrease of Self, Christ is increased. Even in our discussions we groan inwardly about having to die daily, having to give up our way and our will. We ought instead to be excited about Christ being increased, and how much He stands to gain in us and through us. He MUST increase, but you MUST decrease. It is better to relinquish everything now, on a voluntary basis, and lose our lives in order to gain our real Life. It is more glorious to enter the Kingdom out of a desire to give Christ the preeminence than to enter kicking and screaming and crying because we love ourselves too much. Make no mistake, if it is the Kingdom you seek, the Kingdom you will find, but you must be changed in order to enter therein. If you seek power from God you will have to accept weakness in yourself. If you want to rule with Him you must suffer with Him. If you want His Life you must give up your life. You can have either one you want, but you cannot have both. There is no increase without decrease, and there is no decrease without increase.
May the Son be increased through these words. Amen.
Mat 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Next Lesson: Ishmael Portraying Himself As Isaac - Islam is not a peaceful religion. In fact it's God's curse upon the world.
Heb 12:16 Lest there be
any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Bitterness troubles and defiles
Trouble - to disturb the mental calm and contentment of; worry; distress; agitate.
Defile - To taint. or make unclean. Even death.
I would like you to look at a few words with me.
Christian - Christ like.
Christain - No such word. However did you see the word that is in this?
Entertainment - Enter - Tain - Ment Notice what is in the word entertainment. The word tain or to taint or defile. Entertainment is saying ENTER DEFILEMENT.
Do you see what happens when Christianity becomes entertainment? It becomes defiled. Being a Christian is not something we do before people, it's a life lived before God. When Joseph was tempted with fornication with another mans wife, he said,
Gen 39:9
There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?Conclusion:
Joseph was a man that lived his life before God. May we live our lives before God and not before men. If we are living a life pleasing to God then men will see this testimony in our lives. We are not putting on a show, we are living a life. Entertainment is not real. It is fake. What would the world do without entertainment? Now the Church is opening the doors to this defilement as well. Let us who are the Day live soberly and righteously in this present world.
If you asked 100 people whom they thought was the most evil man who ever lived, the majority of them would give the title to Adolf Hitler. The one-time dictator of Germany earned the distinction by being history's most documented despot.
Hitler is the one who started World War II - the most costly war in human history, which left 60 million people dead. He also implemented the Holocaust - the systematic persecution and genocide of the Jews and other groups he deemed "racially inferior" or "undesirable."
All evil springs from a revolt against God. Satan is the leader of this rebellion. Hitler sought to destroy the Jews because the devil knows that redemption history works around the Jews. If he could eliminate the Jews, then the plan of God could be derailed.
The next most recognized evil man is Joseph Stalin. At one point, he was the head of the largest dictatorship in history. While Hitler let other people do his dirty work, Stalin was directly involved in the death of millions of people.
How To Get To the Top of the Evil List
The most shocking examples of evil are always attacks against the most innocent members of society. It is always an outrage to hear of children being molested, elderly ladies being mugged and the mentally handicapped being abused.
God is the most powerful being in the universe. He is also the most innocent, being completely free from sin. Anyone who attacks the Lord is committing the most evil act possible.
Someone can wallow in the pig sty of lust, greed, and debauchery and be evil. But until they pick up a lump of mud and fling it at the Creator, they have not truly been to the dark side. Why else would it be so common for people to use the Lord's name as a curse word?
Satan loves to use men who claim to represent God as vehicles for defaming the Lord. Because the devil knows how holy God is, he may be hesitant to defame the Lord on a personal level. I don't recall anywhere in the Bible where a demonic being attacks God directly. The devil leaves this task up to man. It is like the old saying, "fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
James Eugene Ewing
I recently discovered a man who has excelled in defaming the Lord. Over a 40-year period, he has rubbed mud in God's face, and he has helped prevent millions of people from finding eternal redemption. His name is James Eugene Ewing.
Unless you found his page by doing a Google search for "James Eugene Ewing," I'm sure you have never heard of this man. You would have a better chance of catching Santa Claus coming down the chimney than you would of finding footage of Mr. Ewing. He is the type of person who likes to hide in the shadows.
According to statements from his own ministry, Ewing was born in Texas in 1933, the son of south Texas sharecroppers. He served four years in the Air Force, claiming through his magazine that "many soldiers gave their lives to Christ with Bro. Ewing kneeling by their side in airplanes, in barracks or anyplace." After his stint in the military, he chartered Camp Meetings Revivals in the Dallas area.
Ewing's tent-revival crusades were focused on healing and liberation. A full-page ad in the 1963 Tulsa World announced a "Deliverance revival: Gene Ewing coming under one of the world's largest tents."
Despite having little formal education, Ewing managed to build a massive direct-mail empire from his mansion in Los Angeles. All his ministry mail is directed to a Tulsa post office box. Ewing's computerized mailing operation, Saint Matthew's Churches, mails more than 1 million scam letters per month, many to low-income, uneducated people, while Ewing lives in a $2.2 million, 6,400-square-foot home above Beverly Hills and drives a small fleet of luxury cars.
The Germination of Seed Faith
If you watch much Christian television programming, you may have heard a preacher talking about the "seed faith" principle. This modern movement can be traced back to a meeting that Ewing had with Oral Roberts.
In 1968, donations to Roberts' ministry had plummeted after Roberts alienated many of his supporters by joining the United Methodist Church. To raise money, Roberts decided to sell the ministry's corporate airplane.
Ewing came to see Oral about buying the plane. When he arrived at the ministry headquarters, he had something to sell to Roberts. The first thing out his mouth was, "Oral, you are in trouble, and I can help you." And did he ever.
According to Wayne Robinson, then the vice president of public affairs for the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, "Gene laid out one of the most sophisticated fund-raising campaigns I had ever seen. He said, 'Oral, I want you to write your supporters and tell them you are going in the prayer tower, and you are going to read their prayer requests and pray over them.' He stayed there three days. I forget how many hundred thousands of letters we had, but it was huge."
The core of Ewing's advice to Roberts was the seed-faith philosophy. "You give to the ministry, and God will reward you with a financial blessing."
By the following year, income to Roberts' ministry had doubled, going from $6 million to $12 million. Roberts was so happy with Ewing's guidance that he gave him the plane.
"God's Ghostwriter"
Just by helping with Oral Roberts' ministry, Ewing could be regarded as the father of the modern-day 'seed-faith' concept. Many preachers joined the health-and-wealth gospel bandwagon by emulating old Oral.
Unfortunately, Ewing did not stop the Roberts. Once word got about his magic touch, several other ministers sought his services. T.L. Osborn ran into Ewing at an airport and hired him to direct his fundraising.
"We were down to counting pencils and paper clips until Gene came along," boasted Osborn.
Ewing's flair for effective, dramatic direct-mail appeals won him jobs writing for evangelists including Robert Tilton, Rex Humbard and "Rev. Ike." In many cases, the letters were identical but contained different signatures.
The Trinity Foundation, which is run by Ole Anthony, was the first to dub Ewing as "God's Ghostwriter." Anthony managed to find a single letter that nine different televangelists had claimed as their own. The only difference was the signature.
"We had nine different televangelists essentially sending out the same letter," Anthony said. "He (Ewing) makes most of his money by selling these packages to televangelists."
Never mind the fact that many of the letters speak of revelations that God directed the sender [insert name] to give the recipient. The only name that matters to these hucksters is the one on the seed-faith check.
"Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter" (Isa. 56:11).
A Skunk by Another Name Still Stinks the Same
The most obvious evidence that Ewing is crook at heart is the number of name changes for his ministry. The vast majority of religious organizations stick with the same name; Ewing goes through a new one every few years.
Here are a few examples of ministry names that have been linked to him:
Church of Compassion
Rev. Ewing's Evangelistic Ministries Inc.
Church by Mail Inc.
Church and Bible Study in the Home by Mail
Twentieth Century Advertising Agency
Saint Matthew's ChurchesThe frequent name change seems to be designed to ditch the IRS. When the Feds begin to investigate one of his corporate entities, he relocates his operations under a new one.
Over the years, the IRS has questioned the legitimacy of many of Ewing's organizations, but has failed to take any action. In one court filing, the IRS argued that funds generated by Church by Mail "inure to the benefit of private individuals." Another IRS brief stated that, "Ewing and McElrath (his partner) sit at the top of a very lucrative set of organizations which they totally control without interference."
The listed address for two of Ewing ministries points to the headquarters of his lawyer, J.C. Joyce. His current ministry, Saint Matthew's Churches, was also incorporated at Joyce's Tulsa law office.
Every Gimmick Under the Sun
When I first came to faith is Jesus Christ, I spent much time listening to Christian radio. Being eager for information, I wrote to all the programs that invited listeners to contact them. Many of the men on these programs were clients of Ewing who sent me an endless series of appeals for money.
Even as a baby Christian, I could tell that these prosperity preachers were wolves in sheep's clothing. Their only purpose in writing me was to get money.
To them, the Bible is just a tool for extracting funds. While Bank jobbers use guns, they utilize Scripture to pull these heists.
Ewing came up with an endless number of gimmicks to be mailed out by ministries. What made them appealing was their context to Bible verses. Some mailings would contain items like prayer cloths, "Jesus eyes" handkerchiefs, fake golden coins, miracle water or oil, communion wafers, a prayer rug made out of paper, and "sackcloth billfolds."
To conceal these letters from family members who might have better financial sense, the recipients were told to open the letters in private and not discuss them with others: "Try to take it to a room or somewhere where you can be alone with the Lord." Other mailings asked for a donation before opening a second letter marked "Personal and private."
One mailing from Ewing included a $10,000 "faith check." The bogus check was from the "Bank of Heaven." Of course, the bank president was God, the Father, the vice president was Jesus, and the secretary and treasurer was The Holy Ghost.
"Place the faith check in your wallet and keep it there until the blessing unfolds," the letter states.
"Whisper the name of Jesus three times as you write your name on the back of your Faith Check."
A lot of Ewing's ideas seem as if they were inspired by a book of witchcraft. The Bible does not tell us to make practice of "repetitious" prayer. The Lord is not like a slot machine; you don't keep blindly pulling His arm until He finally pays off. We receive God's blessing by seeking Him on a personal level.
The Day of Reckoning
I've never been temped to go down the prosperity path. Even as I read of the wealth some of these folks have raked in, and of the luxurious lives they lead, I want nothing to do with it.
No amount of money is enough to make it worth losing your eternal soul. I can't imagine how someone who preys upon the poorest and most desperate people in our society can be regarded as Christian brothers or sisters.
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 16:25).
The funny thing about men who are truly evil: They tend to envision themselves in a positive light. Somehow they manage to find a way to view their evil deeds as helping their victims.
I imagine that James Eugene Ewing someday expects the doors of heaven to swing wide open for him. After all, he is the one who brought great hope to people who replied to his prosperity mailings.
The reality is that Ewing has done a huge amount of damage to the Kingdom of God. The teachings that he set in motion decades ago have grown in monstrous organizations. The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a haven for evangelists who have adopted his principles. It reaches tens of millions of people around the globe.
I recently talked to one pastor from Zambia who testified that the prosperity teaching has been very destructive to the church in Africa. He confirmed that many Christians have become inactive in the faith, choosing rather to sit around and listen to American preachers.
If Ewing had any concept of the massive hole he was digging for himself, he probably would have long ago retired from the business. He continues to add to his judgment because he obviously likes swindling people.
In the end, the main anguish of hell for people like Ewing will not be caused when they roast in an eternal flame. Their ultimate pain will be when they realize how easy it would have been to do the right thing. After all, they had the word of truth, they had the ambition, they had the financial resources, and they had the organization--but they did nothing to advance the name of Jesus.
"Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" (Mat. 18:7).
