We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone

For anyone who does not know, these are some of the lyrics from Another Brick in The Wall, Part 2, from The Wall by Pink Floyd.  Pink Floyd is my favorite band of all time.  I haven’t really listened to them since I came into the Kingdom but I still can’t deny that I think this. 

Roger Waters wrote this song as an attack against a specific type of learning. The lyrics rebuke those teachers who use “thought control” and “dark sarcasm” to mold the school children into mindless drones of society. While there seems to be no specific allusion to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, there are certainly parallels between Huxley’s vision of future “education” and the rote learning of Pink’s (Waters fictional character) teachers. Huxley’s novel presents children learning largely through hypnopedia, a process of repeating fundamental lessons to each child as he or she sleeps. Although the specific lessons depend upon the child’s social status, there are certain governing “truths” that are taught which all must abide by.

The outcome is a loss of individuality and the molding of each child into identical cells in the body of society. Though the educational system Waters is speaking out against is not as subliminal as Huxley’s vision, the effects are the same, producing social clones who know the definition of an acre yet who cannot produce an original, imaginative thought throughout the majority of their lives. This is a song about reclaiming stifled individuality; it’s a criticism regarding the types of teachers and systems that ridicule an imaginative child for writing poetry, as in Pink’s case.

So what does all of this have to do with what I am talking about in this thesis on spiritual warfare and how we are to be combat ready?

In this post, I wrote that I believe our adversary uses Academics and the pursuit of knowledge as a weapon against us.  One way that I believe the enemy has corrupted theological education and knowledge is by the division of doctrinal thought to a degree that keeps us from being willing to hear another side, leading to the current state of disunity in the body of Christ concerning a lot of doctrinal issues. 

I read a lot and I read all sides.  I am not afraid to read viewpoints from Pentecostals, Catholics, evangelicals, fundamentalists, Calvinists, Armenians, atheists and even devil worshippers.  I feel a need to know what other believers believe and what non believers are doing.  Without this knowledge, how can I possibly be prepared for an assault?  Can I even recognize an assault?

Shouldn’t all knowledge and the pursuit of it lead to a better understanding of God?  Instead, in most of what I read, I do not necessarily see a pursuit as much as a presentation of what I should believe.  Those who hold to a deterministic view of God’s sovereignty will quickly declare the open theist a heretic.  A lot of tongue talking Pentecostals will not give a cessationists book a second glance.  And just let someone declare misgivings or misunderstanding concerning the trinity. 

We are never going to agree on everything but shouldn’t we be teachable and open?  Shouldn’t we be able to listen with an open heart and mind and be willing to accept that maybe, just maybe, we might be wrong? 

On another site I was in a discussion about free will when someone commented that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted.  (Job 42:2) She meant it in the sense that whatever happens does so because God wants or causes it to happen. When I questioned her about evil, of course she went back to that statement taken from Job and that is where she made her stand.  I realized I was wasting my time after having that one verse thrown, like some kind of grenade, at me numerous times. It may sound harsh but I do not think she has an open mind and will probably never think on her own.  She has been “taught” a certain doctrine and is okay staying right there.  It brings her comfort but I doubt that someone who just lost a loved one from a long drawn out terminal illness, or a child to a disease, or a spouse cut down in a gangland shooting, would find her “grenade” any comfort at all.

The schools and seminary’s seem to be divided along denominational lines and it seems that almost all of those that go to reformed schools stay reformed, fundamentalists stay fundamental, and so on.  Which in any other type of learning would probably be okay. 

But if there is one Holy Spirit who is supposed to guide us into all truth and we all have that Spirit in us, then why are there so many different schools of thought, and why do we have to attach labels to everything?  If we all do not agree, then someone is wrong.  We must be willing to admit that it might just be me and hear someone else out.  And what about those educated, distinguished, esteemed teachers of the truth, (that never seem to bend or give.)?  They need to realize that in the training of the body of Christ there is no room for “thought control” and “dark sarcasm”.  We do not need any more mindless drones in the Kingdom of God.  We need thinkers.  People willing to possibly go outside the normal theological stances and see what exactly we have wrong. 

And we are wrong.  There is just too much evidence of it.  Not only the division of the body but there is the lack of empowerment and influence to even maintain current levels of Kingdom population.    

A final thought on all this takes us back to what I said in the post linked above.  In the Word of God  there are some warnings about knowledge and the pursuit of it.  (Luk 11:52, 1 Cor 8:1, 1 Cor 13:2)  If knowledge is not shared, if it brings about pride, or if it is presented with no love, it is not of God or of any good to Him.  God wants us to seek knowledge and wisdom.  But it is Godly knowledge not worldly that is to be sought.  Any other becomes a deadly weapon to be exploited by the enemy. 

Some of our most intelligent, intellectual theologians have reached a place where they are no longer teachable.  And in their arrogance they do a lot of harm to the body of Christ thru division and debate.  They have become prideful and unloving in their exposition of truth.  The more some learn about God the less they look like Him. 

Our Father asks us to “Come now, let us reason together… Isa 1:18.  I believe this reasoning with God and with each other is a necessary component of our combat readiness training.

Education and knowledge contribute to wisdom, but they are not wisdom.  You won’t get that from seminary.

So I can’t say “We don’t need no education” but I can definitely say “We don’t need no thought control”.

Love you all

I was two years old when my parents divorced.  The man that I cannot call father didn’t care enough about me to stay around and I have never met him to this day.  My mother met another man, married him and he adopted me.  His name was Bill and he is who I call father. 

I hope this does not sound bitter because I am not and have never been.  The man who adopted me could not have loved me any more if he was my biological father.  I actually am grateful in a way that all of this worked out this way. 

Now I have been adopted by another Father.  My heavenly Father.  I am blessed more than some because I can truly say I have three fathers.  One did not really love me.  One loved me as much as man can.  And the last loves me more than any man can.  My Father, God, wants the best for me.  He wants me whole, and healthy.  He wants me fed and sheltered.  He wants me to rest in peace and to find joy in all things.  He wants me to prosper. 

In this ongoing series in which I am trying to develop a battle strategy against our adversary, I have presented some areas that I believe he is deceiving us.  This is the next one I will address.

A false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth.  I just listed some things that I truly believe our Father wants for us all but as I said here, I believe the enemy has twisted and distorted Gods word and has either deceived or collaborates with many people who teach the so called ‘prosperity gospel’.  I think this is very dangerous weapon the enemy has unleashed.  This ‘gospel’ teaches that God wants us, above all else, to be happy, healthy, and prosperous. 

We are being taught that God is my father and as a ‘Kings Kid’ (Fred Price, Kenneth Copeland, and others) there is just no way He wants anything less than the best for us.  What does the Word of God say?

3Jn 1:2  Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

These guys teach from this that God wants us to prosper financially.  Is that what is being said here?  When I read that short letter that John wrote I find that it seems to be about Gaius being commended for his walk, his ministry, and his love.  His soul was prospering and I believe John meant that he wanted him to prosper in his work and walk with God.

Joh 10:10  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

They want us to believe that Jesus was telling us that we all should live in mansions and drive Rolls.  Is this the abundant life?  I thought life lived in joyous communion with God through the Holy Spirit was the abundant life. 

Luk 6:38  “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure–pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

This is the part of the lie that is the most dangerous and for anyone with any degree of discernment, it should be obvious.  Everyone of the leaders that claim that this verse teaches that giving money will get you more money in return, also tell you how much it will take and who is supposed to get your money.  And it is always them.  Not a missionary in your church.  Not a charity that feeds starving children.  No, you have to send them your $999.00, and you have to do it in the next twenty minutes or the windows of opportunity for this special blessing will be closed in heaven.  At least until next week. 

But did you notice that this verse is right in the middle of a lengthy discourse on true LOVE.  Love is what we are to give.  Love is what we are to sew.  Love is what will be poured back in our laps; pressed down, shaken together, and running over. 

Mar 10:30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age

Here is where we get that hundredfold blessing.  Send in ten dollars and receive one thousand.  Wow.  God is so good.  But wait, is this really happening every time we give?  It doesn’t in my life.  God gives me back a hundred fold blessing all the time.  But it is not money very much at all.  Look at that verse again in context.

Mar 10:29-31  Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Those that forsake all for Christ’s sake will be blessed a hundred fold with a lot of what they forsook.  Even persecutions.  Did you hear that from the televangelist? 

I could keep on and on.  Every scripture used to propagate this deceptive message can be proven to be taken out of context.  We are ‘Kings Kids’.  And God does want us to prosper.  But He wants us to prosper in the mission laid out for us.  And that is to advance the Kingdom by invading and overthrowing the enemy’s territory.  This false ‘gospel of prosperity’ is a major stronghold that we must take down.  We can only do this by rising up against this false teaching and exposing those who proclaim it for who they are. 

If we do not, someone is going to lose their standing as a ‘Kings Kid’.

Love you all

I am driving down the road in the middle of an older subdivision.  I see the stop sign coming up but can see that there is nothing at all coming or even a sign of life in sight.  I drive on through the intersection without stopping.  I break the law, intentionally. 

Have you ever done this?  Do you drive 75 mph on the interstate highway instead of the posted 70 mph?  Do you speed up at yellow lights or slow down?

There are laws in our society.  They serve dual purposes.  They serve to keep us or someone else from harm or they serve to stave off the chaos that could result from a lack of laws.  I am sure most of the readers here have never murdered someone.  I am also sure that most of the same readers have broken a law of society. 

Sometimes there are consequences such as fines or incarceration.  Sometimes we get away with breaking the law.  In fact, we actually get away with breaking the law most of the time. 

How does all of this compare with the laws of God?  Do you believe there are any laws of God? 

We know that God gave us the Ten Commandments.  Some of us know that God gave an exhausting list of laws to the Israelites while they were in the desert.  There are 613 recognized laws to be observed in the Torah.  This is known as the Mosaic Law.  From the study and implementation of these laws, the priesthood, by the time Jesus came on the scene, had developed the practice of following these laws into what I am calling pharisaical legalism. 

Pharisaical legalism.  This is an old tactic that the enemy still uses in our day and time.  I define this as; the forming of a set of rules and laws that man decides are necessary for righteousness.  These laws come from interpreting the bible with the help of the wrong spirits. This tactic is losing its effectiveness, I believe, in most religious settings today but, it is far from gone.  It was not that many years ago, in my own denomination, where a bunch of manmade interpretative laws were followed to assess the state of one’s soul.  Laws such as the length of hair and what jewelry, if any, could be worn by a servant of Christ would signify whether you were right with God or not.

Some will argue that some of the Mosaic Law is for Christians to follow, some for all, and some for none.  How are we to know?

Jesus said the following in the gospel of Matthew:

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

What does that mean?  Are we to follow the laws or not? 

The word interpreted as fulfill is pleroo in the original language and according to Thayer means the following, in part; to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full, to render full, i.e. to complete, to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim, to make complete in every particular, to render perfect,  to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking), to carry into effect, bring to realization, realize, of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, to fulfill, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfillment. 

Our modern dictionary has the additions of these two meanings; to satisfy and to bring to an end.   

Paul had the following to say;

Gal 5:18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

So we do not have to follow the laws of God, right?

Wrong. 

God’s purpose for the law was twofold.  First it allowed all to realize certain things are required of us to experience a real relationship with Him.  But it was also given in an era, before the Holy Spirit, when man was incapable of following the law because we were slaves of sin.  This is the second reason He gave it.  It was to show us we could not keep the whole of the law.  If we could, there would have been no need for Calvary.  The intent of the law was over and done with when Jesus came

We have to follow the law of God but, it is not through the system of legalism that the enemy pushes so diligently, it is through holiness.  There is simply no place for legalism of any kind.  Grace is the order of the day.  When Paul says that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, he is saying that a true believer, one that has sold out to Jesus, listens to the Spirit inside himself, cannot break the law of God. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are slaves to sin and death no longer.  Paul says a whole lot more about the Law and Grace.  Read the book of Romans, especially through chapter eight.   I used the statement from Galatians because there is absolutely no way I can see that it can be misconstrued.  And Romans 8:1 affirms we cannot be condemned. 

Are there any rules or law for us to follow?  Yes, there certainly are.  But they are not to be understood in the enemy inspired legalistic form of keeping or memorizing a sin list.  They are not to be realized by coming up with acceptable dress or hairstyle.  There are many more ways that the enemy has corrupted these laws.  I won’t keep on here. 

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace and He is the only one that can tell us what God wants from us.  Listen to Him.  He is the only one that can change us.  Let Him.  He is the only one that can lead us down that narrow path.  Follow Him.    

We must stop trying to do His work, before and after, we let people in the door.  Jesus told us that the whole law was simply to love God and everybody else.  If we do this, we won’t keep breaking the law.

Love you all

A few years ago, if anyone had told me that I would speak in tongues, dance around in church in front of all, weep when reading the bible or a story of someone overcoming hardship with grace, or hurting for others, or rejoicing when someone came into the Kingdom, or just having the peace that I have now in spite of some tough personal situations, I would have told them they were crazy.

But they would not have been, since all of these things and others have and do happen to me now.  They just do not happen as often as they seem to do to others.  I know that the Holy Spirit has come to live in me, guide me, comfort me, teach me, and love me.  I know that the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ is real and for this ‘day’ and that Jesus has baptized me in Him. 

But what spirit is this we see all around us today? 

If you read any of these theological blogs or forums much at all you will find this topic being discussed.  This Holy Spirit baptism is misunderstood and much maligned.  Most Christians on the internet seem to vociferously denounce the workings and gifting that we, the Pentecostals, know as certainty.   And forget about the non believers ever accepting or attempting to understand what is going on. 

You might wonder why all this is so. 

I believe a lot of things lend themselves to this mind set.  But I believe it is mostly our own fault.  We sometimes in our zeal add to the unbelief.  We do this by presenting what I have termed false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  There is just no way that everything that is happening and being displayed is really from God.  Instead, I believe it to be another enemy tactic.  He just loves to take the things of God and pervert them, so we can be deceived and ultimately killed. 

I know this is harsh and it is not easy for me to write.  I have both friends and family that will probably get a little mad at what I am saying here.  But the truth has to be put forth if the enemy is to be defeated. 

Why do I think this is happening?  No, why do I know this is happening?

It is because I am inherently a skeptic.  I spent most of my life doubting or in unbelief, so one of the main things I have asked God for is to experience everything He is, does, and has for us to experience.  I also continuously ask for the wisdom and gift of discernment.  And He has given me these things. 

When I see a person that I know is not living for the Kingdom but at just the right moment manifests a gift, I know it is not the Holy Spirit.  Some are just deceived and some are probably fully aware of what they are doing.  Why would someone fake the gifts of the Spirit?

There are probably many reasons but, I believe at the top of the list is the need to be accepted, loved, part of something.  If someone is not saved then they are naturally not filled with the Spirit of God.  Still, there are a lot that, although not willing to submit to our Lords leadership, want desperately to belong. 

Then there are the deceived.  They have just never spent enough time with God or the Word to fully comprehend what is sent from Him and what is not.  They jump from one revival or movement to another; seeking a personal emotional experience that the enemy has them convinced is not only good, but good for them.

Those that are deliberately faking the things of God are the most detestable and will probably suffer the most someday for their alliance with the enemy.  If you do not believe they can easily deceive, then look up Marjoe Gortners younger days as a “healing evangelist’.  Then look up some of the modern movements and see if there was any fruit.  I am going to stop there and be nice, for now. 

So what are we to do?

Counter attack strategies against false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The first step towards defeating this enemy tactic is something called discernment.  Paul told us to test everything and keep only the good. (1Th 5:21) Good is from God and bad is from our enemy.  A really simple test is therefore, the aroma and the flavor of the fruit coming from all spiritual manifestations.   If God is involved in any experience, some good should come from it. 

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…

Are any of these coming from those observed? 

For the second step we must go way back.  All the way to Mt Sinai.  We have been given a commandment to never covet what anyone else has.  (Exo 20:17)  This goes for spiritual gifts also.  Stop faking tongues because someone else has that gift.  Stop falling down because everyone else is.  Stop pretending to talk for God just because the prophet is getting all the attention.  God already has something special in mind just fro you, if you submit.

My third suggestion would be to never, ever exalt a man for doing the work that only God does.  No man heals.  No man prophesies.  No man imparts gifts.  God alone does these things.  Sometimes through a man.  But He doesn’t have to.  He can and will do it for you.  You do not have to chase a prophet, or an evangelist, or sell the car to get to a certain revival, to have God work the supernatural.  If He is going to do it for you, He will do it where you are.

I believe that there are probably many leaders today displaying bad fruit now but they didn’t always.  They started out with Christ like motives and pure Godly hearts, but we lifted them up on pedestals with our adoration so high that they couldn’t help but lose sight of the narrow way. 

Mat 7:22-23  “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Deceivers, deceived, and the improperly motivated are treading on dangerous ground.  Let’s do our part by not fueling ‘strange fire.’

Love you all