PROPHETIC WORD

Slavery Or Freedom?

My people get hurt over and over again by unscrupulous thieves who lie to them about the things of My Word.  But so many of My dear saints are very reluctant to sever ties with their favorite celebrity preachers, regardless of overwhelming evidence that their so-called faith formulas don’t work, and all the preacher is after is their cash.

Why can’t My people cut themselves free of the ties that bind them to an illusion fabricated out of fantasy and misapplication of Scripture?  Why do so many of those who have the evidence right in front of their eyes still want so desperately to believe the lies they’ve been taught?

This happens because the flesh nature likes to act religious and take the credit when things do go right in a person’s life.  When, against all odds, material blessing comes to a donor, that one feels vindicated for believing people, rather than listening to other Christians who caution them to stick strictly to a right dividing of My Word.

There is an innate fear in human beings of not always being in total control. That is a legacy of the fallen flesh nature which cannot trust Me to take care of things beyond the power or sphere of man.  Christians desperately want to think they’re helping Me bring them their miracle.  So many have been lied to and told by preachers that unless THEY themselves “plant a seed to meet their need” I have nothing to work with and My hands are effectively tied. They trust in what is visible more than in the Invisible God Who made them.

Before any of you were born, I created the world out of what you term nothing.  I did not depend on anyone’s cash donations to fund the greatest building project that ever was: this immense universe with its vast star constellations, galaxies, and planets.  I can certainly support any true work in this earth which is worthy of  carrying on.  I don’t need to deprive some poor elderly saint of food in the winter in order to fund the works of My hands.

My people have been CONDITIONED by foxes in the pulpit to think that unless THEY do something, their faith in My finished work on Calvary is in vain.  And that something is nearly always a work of the flesh.  Send the preacher money or you’ll never receive a blessing from the Lord, so many hear.  There is something emotionally satisfying about  keeping your hands busy, or digging into your pocket “as a point of contact” so as to try to force My own hand to action.  But that is not My way.

Faith without works is dead, preachers say, quoting out of My Word for their own wicked purposes.  But the works of My Spirit and the works of fear and desperation are two different things.  I will LEAD you to take this or that step, I won’t pressure you or drive you to empty your bank account as a “leap of faith” to “prove God” before a certain period of time expires.  Preachers tell YOU to wait in patient expectancy because I have My own time to reward you. That sounds like it is pure truth, but the clear inference is that I WILL endorse the preacher’s schemes by bringing monetary reward or healing in exchange for your “sacrifice”.  One of satan’s favorite tricks is to mix a tiny dose of error into a stream of truth.  He casts doubt on My faithfulness by allowing me to be “praised” by emotional preachers, with stirring music in the background.  That moves emotional saints to give TO THEM, praising Me for such a wonderful speaker who gave a wonderful “new revelation”.  I feel compassion for those who ignorantly fall into this snare, but I cannot give credibility to false doctrine by rewarding the practice of it.  And when poverty or illness strikes the donor harder than ever before, that one’s faith is shattered because I allegedly failed to keep My Word.  I am wounded afresh and put to an open shame (Heb.6:6).  I, being innocent of the preacher’s deceit, am wrongfully blamed for what the ravening wolf has done to defraud the innocent because he used My name fraudulently.

The most unscrupulous will brazenly promise that before so many days have promised I will make you materially wealthy, or otherwise exalt you to temporal prosperity.  They don’t worry about the failures and the heartbreaking disappointments their listeners go through, because a whole new batch of new faces will soon appear to watch their antics on TV, and to cheer them on. While preachers expect YOU to be patient, they want to be very sure they get THEIR pleasurable things to waste upon their own lusts as soon as possible.

Don’t jump to their tune anymore. I said plainly in My Word, I would have you to REST in My works and to cease from your own.  Abraham got way ahead of Me and produced an Ishmael with his slave woman.  Today you still see the resultant conflict going on. The seed of this present-day Mideast turmoil was the anxiety in Sarai’s heart that unless SHE acted first and Abraham planted a seed in fertile ground, their miracle might never come.  The son of the flesh was quick and convenient, but it was not miraculous. I was gracious even in the messy aftermath of Abraham’s bad judgment.  For his sake I promised to bless Ishmael and make him fruitful.  I brought some good out of Abraham’s misstep in that I love the Arab peoples as much as any other ethnic group on earth.  I have brought many sons to faith in Christ out of Arab nations, even as I have from all other peoples.

Sarah and Abraham meant well, but plenty of other people got hurt.  Hagar was used by others to get something out of her. Childbearing was much more dangerous in the ancient world.  Unmindful of the strain and pain Hagar endured to bring forth Ishmael, and the personal temptations this poor slave woman suffered from the position others put her in against her will, it was easy for Abraham and Sarah to consider only themselves.  Hagar fell prey to arrogance and prideful behavior toward Sarah, but in a backward culture where people were constantly striving for status to safeguard their own personal wellbeing, Hagar was not strong enough to overcome such feelings.  Hagar was tired of feeling like a chattel to be used.  She wanted human dignity and worth as a person, to be more than just a slave. Hagar’s owners tended to treat her as an economic asset rather than a full-fledged person with an eternal soul.  They felt that they alone would be the beneficiaries of what could be produced by Hagar’s fertile young body.

Seething jealousy and strife flared up from bottled-up tensions.  After many years of very depressing barrenness, Sarah finally had a son of her own whom they named Isaac. Now another worry was eating at Sarah. Isaac was not so powerfully built as Ishmael. What if the physically stronger son of the slave woman seized control of the inheritance?  Unless she took action, Sarah thought, her own personal security might be threatened again, along with Isaac’s well-being.

The conflict in Abraham’s camp came to a head when Hagar and her son were banished into the desert as liabilities and troublemakers.  Sarah no longer wanted the fruit of her own hasty decision to hang around. Simple enough to her. Mother and child must go.   Abraham possessed vast wealth.  But the two ex-slaves were sent away unescorted without any compensation for services rendered.  They were given  only a small amount of food and water.  Now homeless wanderers, they must  fend for themselves.  But I looked after them because I truly cared about them as human beings.

Abraham did feel bad about sending Hagar and her son away, but he was oblivious to the hurt all  his own descendants would suffer in their continual  conflict with each other. This hurt perpetuated for countless generations and is still unresolved today.  So before you listen to some fool on TV urge you to take a leap of faith into your personal frying pan, learn from the repercussions caused by Abraham’s error of hasty judgment.  Never , never make any major move in your life lightly.  Don’t proceed until you are certain you do so with My guidance, wisdom and leading.

Don’t rely on your own strength to keep you afloat in the realm of the Spirit anymore.  It just won’t work.  Only through the blood of My Son do any of you have the right to ask Me for kindness and loving favor, not through anything you think you do “for God.” Preachers KNOW you aren’t likely to get blessed with a monetary miracle for pampering them with your cash. As they take your money over and over again, THEY’RE the ones who marvel at the miracle of My people’s gullibility.