Recovered In Christ

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Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Dear God, thank you so much for keeping it real with me! Thank you God for teaching me how to get real and stay real with you. Thank you for giving me a heart and soul that seeks truth – like a plant drawn to sunlight, is my soul drawn to truth. Whatever it has cost me to come into this truth, is nothing compared to what it cost you. Thank you that you made me and keep me willing to KNOW the truth, really know it. All of Satan’s lies, all of the world’s illusions and all of my delusions are exposed simply by the dawning of light on my mind – Light that can only come from you. In you there is no darkess, in you discerning what is good and evil, what is right and wrong, is made simple and easy. As simple as seeing the road ahead on a bright sunny day. Thank you that I was willing to put down my candlelight and my flares, in order to come to you – The Father of ALL Light. I love you. Amen.

THE CULMINATION OF THE FLOOD TIDE OF DECEIVING SPIRITS SHOWN IN 2 THESS. 2

The culmination of the flood tide of these deceiving spirits sweeping upon the Church, is described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of the manifestation of one, who will, eventually, have so deceived Christendom as to have gained an entrance into the very sanctuary of God; so that “he sitteth in the sanctuary of God, setting himself forth as God . . . ” The “presence” of this one being a “Presence” like God, and yet “according to the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and wonders, of falsehood, and with all deceit . .” (2 Thess. 2: 9, 10, R.V. See margin R.V.).

Confirmation of the Lord’s words recorded by Matthew, is found in the revelation given by Him to John, on Patmos, that at the close of the age, the main weapon used by the deceiver for obtaining power over the people of the earth, will be supernatural signs from heaven, when a counterfeit “lamb” will do “great signs,” and even “make fire come down out of heaven” to deceive the dwellers on the earth, and thereby exercise such control over the whole world, that “no man shall be able to buy or sell, save he that hath the mark of the beast” (Rev. 13:11-17). Through this supernatural deception, the full purpose of the deceiving hierarchy of Satan, thus reaches its consummation, in the foretold world-wide authority.

Deception of the world with deepening darkness; deception of the Church through “teachings,” and “manifestations,” will reach the highest flood-tide climax at the close of the age.

THE SPECIAL WARNING TO THE CHURCH BY THE WRITER OF THE APOCALYPSE

It is striking to note that the Apostle who was chosen to transmit the Apocalypse to the Church, in preparation for the last days of the Church militant, should be the one to write to the Christians of his day: “Believe not every spirit” (1 John 4: 1-6), and earnestly warn his “children” that the “spirit of anti-Christ,” and the “spirit of error” (deception) was already actively at work among them. Their attitude was to be “believe not”–i.e., to doubt every supernatural “teaching” and “teacher,” until proved to be of God. They were to prove the “teachings,” lest they came from a “spirit of error,” and be part of the deceiver’s campaign as “anti- Christ,” i.e., against Christ.

If this attitude of neutrality and doubt toward supernatural teachings was needed in the days of the Apostle John–some fifty-seven years after Pentecost– how much more is it needed in the “later times” foretold by the Lord, and by the apostle Paul. Times which were to be characterised by a clamour of voices of “prophets,” that is–in the language of the twentieth century–“speakers” and “teachers” using the sacred Name of the Lord; and when “teachings” received supernaturally from the spiritual realm, would abound. “Teachings” accompanied with such wonderful proofs of their “divine” origin, as to perplex even the most faithful of the Lord’s people, and even, for a time, to deceive some of them.

DANIEL’S PROPHECY THAT “TEACHERS” SHOULD “FALL” AT THE TIME OF THE END

Daniel, in writing about this same “later time,” said “Some of the teachers shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even at the time of the end” (Dan. 11: 35, R.V. m.). Yes, the truth must be faced! The “elect” may be deceived, and, from Daniel’s words, are apparently permitted to be deceived for a season, so that in the fire testing they may be “refined” (the word refers to the expulsion of dross by the smelting fire): “purified” (the removal of dross already expelled), and made “white” (the polishing and brightening of the metal after it has been freed from its impurities). Probably it is in connection with this solemn word, that one strange statement about the war at the close of the age is made, when it is said of the attack of the leopard-like beast, that “it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” (Rev. 13: 7).

Daniel also speaks of the same prevailing of the enemy for a season: The horn “made war with the saints, and prevailed against them” (Dan. 7: 21). Daniel adds: “Until the Ancient of Days came . . and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” It appears, therefore, that in the “time of the end,” God will permit Satan to prevail for a season against His saints, even as he prevailed over Peter when he was handed over to him to be sifted (Luke 22: 31); as he apparently prevailed over the Son of God at Calvary, when “the hour and power of darkness” closed around Him at the Cross (Matt. 27: 38-46); and as he is shown to do over the “two witnesses” described in Rev. 11: 7, and in the last great manifestation of the dragon deceiver’s triumph over the saints, and his power over the whole inhabited earth, in Revelation 13: 7-15.

All these instances have taken place at different periods of time in the history of Christ and His Church, and in the Apocalypse picture, the prevailing of the leopard-like beast may refer to the saints on the earth after the translation of the Church; but they show the principle that God’s triumphs are ofttimes hidden in apparent defeat. The elect of God must therefore take heed, at all stages of the war with Satan as deceiver, not to be swayed, or moved by appearances; for the apparent triumph of supernatural powers which appear to be Divine, may prove to be Satanic; and appearances of outward defeat, which appear to be the devil’s victory may prove to cover the triumph of God.

OUTWARD SUCCESS OR DEFEAT NO TRUE CRITERION FOR JUDGMENT

The enemy is a deceiver, and as a deceiver he will work and prevail in the later times. “Success” or “defeat” is no criterion of a work being of God or Satan. Calvary stands for ever as the revelation of God’s way in working out His redemption purposes. Satan works for time, for he knows his time is short, but God works for eternity. Through death to life, through defeat to triumph, through suffering to joy, is God’s way.

Knowledge of truth is the primary safeguard against deception. The “elect” must know, and they must learn to “prove” the “spirits” until they do know what is of God, and what is of Satan. The words of the Master, “Take heed, I have told you , ” plainly implies that personal knowledge of danger is part of the Lord’s way of guarding His own, and believers who blindly rely upon “the keeping power of God,” without seeking to understand how to escape deception, when forewarned to “take heed” by the Lord, will surely find themselves entrapped by the subtle foe. (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Ch.1)