The Demon Spirit of Confusion

The demon spirit of confusion is the agent responsible for the resignation of millions of ministers over the centuries of Church History.  No other force has caused so many innocent hearts to eventually wave the red flag of surrender.

Mr. Confusion has a clear strategy.  Like a catfish enjoying the depths of a murky pond, Mr. Confusion swims furtively around Bible colleges and churches.  He knows that if there is nothing too muddy, he cannot confuse.  Therefore, this spirit waits until enough of the Word of God has been measured out to the believer he wants to isolate. Then, he thrashes in and confuses it. 

If a person is in the process of changing a belief system through the Holy Spirit, it is not this spirit of confusion.  The Holy Ghost has been given to change our belief system, where it needs tweaking.  The Spirit of God will draw us through the uncertainty of things that we have once held onto that are incorrect, and lead us into further revelation and truth.  And, when God brings you further into a truth, you won't despise those who, either inadvertently or on purpose, kept you from it.  You will still honor them, have compassion for them, desire to pray for them, and give humble thanks that Holy Spirit has let you see the truth. 

Not so, for the person blocked by confusion.  Watch the attitude.  It is the confirmation that the negative power of confusion is thwarting someone: everything they ever appreciated is undermined, and the teachers whom they used to hold in high esteem become villains who sold them a lie.  It won't be long until truth becomes relative, and confusion's victim feels hypocritical for saying anything that may have substance. Confusion makes us back-pedal and wonder if truth can be found. 

The believer who yields to the spirit of confusion is like one who breaks his spine.  At the onset, this spirit tells the person that they are missing out on great teachings found elsewhere and, through curiosity, gets them digging in other places.  The material they discover becomes damaging, but not as damaging as the resentment festering toward previous mentors.  False humility sets in, and the individual makes himself seem more enlightened around his former coterie, all the while feeling vexed at heart. 

If the strongman has his way, he will lead the person into giving up the pursuit of truth, or he will carry the person into heresy.  If the person gives up, he or she will never be effective for the Kingdom.  If they keep going and enter into false doctrines, they will lead others astray.  The only two destinies that this strongman leaves its victim are that of a poor steward, or that of a false leader (if confusion runs its whole course).

As preachers, we must be ever watchful, guarding the edifice of revelation knowledge that the Spirit of God has erected in us over the years that we have served the Lord.  When we spend time, daily, praying and meditating the Word of God, we are digging a moat around our spirit and mind, which protect it from this demon spirit of confusion.

Excerpt from The Believer's Journey: Blazing the Path Of Transformation © by Chris Palmer.

Faith Connects Two Realities

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God;"  -Eph. 2:8

The Bible tells us that when we are saved we become sons of God (Rom. 8:16).  We are adopted into the family of heaven and we take on the nature of our heavenly Father (Eph. 4:24).  As children who are highly prized in the eyes of our loving creator, we are recipients of the different graces that God bestows upon us.  In Ephesians 2:8 we are told that the faith that brings salvation is a gift of God.  Anything that is given to us as a gift by God can be utilized to fulfill our intended purpose: "...let them HAVE DOMINION..." (Gen. 1:26).

We are told in Romans 12:3 that EVERY MAN has been dealt the measure of faith.  Paul is not speaking of every man in the world, but rather, every man who has come under the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).  Every born-again person walking this earth has faith in the inner man, whether they are conscious of it or not.  There is such a man walking this earth without faith, however, the Bible calls him "unreasonable and wicked" (2 Thess. 3:2).  

It wasn't enough for salvation to just cover our access into heaven.  Unfortunately, religion has painted a sloppy picture in our minds of the saving power of God.  Salvation is the all-inclusive word of the gospel and incorporates every aspect of our natural human existence (Mk. 10:30).

Faith was given to us by God as a channel of connecting heaven and earth.  James tells us that "every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights..." (James 1:17).  Stop and think about this for just a moment.  Look what this verse just told us.  The good and perfect things of God must COME DOWN.  Until they come down, they remain spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3).  Thank God for spiritual blessings, however, they were never intended to just stay within that realm; they were meant to be sent into this human, earthly realm.  As soon spiritual blessings cross over into this realm of touching, seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling they become natural blessings or physical blessings.

Not to step on any religious toes or kick over sacred cow, but what good would it have done us if Jesus stayed in heaven?  The prophets would have continued to speak of him coming and it would have brought refreshing to the hearts of the people.  But that is not enough to satisfy the demands of sin.  Despite all the comforting words of prophetic heralding, the human race would have still been stuck under the slave master of sin and death.  The Father knew that the son had to LEAVE HEAVEN, where man cannot touch, taste, see, hear, or feel, and come into the realm where man CAN touch, taste, see, hear, and feel (Phil. 6:6-8).  This was the first and greatest example of a spiritual blessing being made a physical reality.

The procedure of things coming down from heaven has not changed.  It is through earnest expectation and FAITH (Phil 1:20).  Why did Jesus come?  He was expected!  Every time an Old Testament Saint made a blood sacrifice that was faith offered up to God expressing earnest belief that the Messiah was coming.

Putting a demand on heaven with the faith that has been given to us is pleasing to God. When we use our faith to touch heaven, the blessings of God flow.  Faith is the highway that spiritual blessings use to cross over into earthly blessings.  And it is just the opposite.  "By faith Enoch was translated..."(Heb. 11:5).  Faith was the highway that Enoch used to cross from the physical to the spiritual.

Friends, we have FAITH!  It is so pleasing to God when we use it because we stop working under the weak and beggarly elements of this world and start operating as HE does!  When a Father sees his son on the basketball court scoring all the points, while the other team struggles to defend him, the father says, "That' my boy!"  Well when we use our faith, God says, "That's my child!!"

Use YOUR FAITH today.  It is your greatest tool!

Where You Go I Go

"Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whiter the Lord had sent him to prophesy..."  -Jer. 19:14

"Tophet."  When Jeremiah heard the Lord speak to him regarding his next assignment, I think it would be safe to assume that he was anything but thrilled.  Jeremiah was one of God's mightiest prophets.  Part of what made Jeremiah mighty was his determination.  And this is why God chose him for the task.

In 2 Kings 23:10 we read that Tophet was a place where parents made their sons and daughters "to  pass through the fire of Molech."  Molech was a Middle-Eastern god affiliated with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Canaanites, and was the national god of the Ammonites.  The idol was hallow and brazen, having the head of an ox and outstretched human-like arms. Within the base of the idol fire was kindled so that sacrifices could be made to this pagan deity.  When the arms of the statue would get hot, little children would be placed within them to be slowly burned.  So that the father and mothers of these children would not have to hear the cries of their little ones, the priests would beat drums to drown their screams out and to soothe the souls of the sacrifices.

After this practice was outlawed by King Josiah, Tophet became a place of refuse.  In today's vernacular we would say a trash pit, a garbage heap, and a dump.  Here animal carcasses, human waste, the dead bodies of criminals, and trash were piled up.  Needless to say, disease found its home here in Tophet.  To keep disease and sickness from spreading and to keep the air purified as best as possible, hot fires were burned almost all the time.

When speaking of the lake of fire where the wicked dead would go after their resurrection and judgment at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15), Jesus carefully chooses this place as his illustration.  Tophet was the best example of eternal hell that existed during the life and times of Jesus.  And he warned his hearers that such a punishment existed in the afterlife for those who would not follow him into everlasting life (Mt. 10:28-33; Jn. 14:6).

What do you think Tophet smelled like?  What do you think it looked like?  What was the condition of the people who made their dwelling there?  I would say that crazy, appalling, and inhumane would be deep understatements.  And yet, Tophet was Jeremiah's assignment from God.  And notice what the verse said, "Then CAME Jeremiah FROM Tophet..."  Jeremiah did what God asked him to do.  He had taken the elders and priests into this place and preached God's Word of righteousness to them.  If Jeremiah had it difficult, think of Christ.  He was called to go into the underworld of wicked spirits and preach the word of righteousness to demonic spirits (1 Pet. 3:19). 

As preachers of Jesus Christ, some of the places God calls us to preach will look like, smell like, and have the very appearance of hell.  But this is where the captives are held (Lk. 19:10).  When we make the decision firmly in our hearts and cry, "Lord where you go....I go," then we will be able identify will the great apostle when he said, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. 12:9).  Tophet or no Tophet, let's follow.

Intimate Evangelists

1 Cor. 6:16,17 - "What? Know ye not that he which is joined unto an harlot is one body?  For two, saith he, shall be one flesh.  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

We have all been there as evangelists.  The pastor is making his way through the introduction of the special guest minster for the evening and it just happens to be YOU. Bible in hand?  Check.  Shoes shined?  Check.  Shirt ironed?  Check.  You whisper one final prayer under your breath that sounds something like, "Holy Ghost, move."  And before you know it the mic is in your hand and the show is yours.  You are now at the technical point of your sermon that any orthodox homiletics teacher would call "the Introduction."  So what do you do now?

There is something profound that we can gain from Paul's writing to the Church at Corinth that, I believe holds, a key to blowing a service up.  Paul is talking about physical bodies.  He says that when an individual engages in the act of intercourse he joins himself physically to his partner (v. 16).  In v. 18 he goes on and exhorts Christians to flee fornication and to live pure lives.  However he inserts v. 17 between the two verses and says that "...he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."  In other words you could say, "He that has the indwelling Holy Spirit is now one with the Sprit."  There is no insignificance to the fact that Paul digresses one verse from speaking of physical bodies and makes reference to our relationship with the Spirit of God.  Why?  Because Romans 1:20 says that "...the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."  When we get revelation that the intimacy shared between man and woman in the act of intercourse is metaphorical of our life of walking in the Spirit, we can easier understand why God protects sex and doesn't want to see it defiled.

When a man and woman engage in intercourse a physical union takes place in which there is absolutely no distance.  It is the highest level of intimacy that two physical bodies can involve themselves in.  In this union of intimacy the participants feel the same things, think the same things, and are in a harmonious rhythm that will ultimately bring forth life.  Paul uses this to demonstrate that there is a rhythm in the things of the Spirit that can only be picked up by having a close intimate fellowship with Him that is unbroken by harlots and other lovers.  When we have that intimacy we can function in that rhythm and know just exactly how the Holy Ghost wants us to move.  In this rhythm with the Spirit we will think like Him, talk like Him, and act like Him to bring forth life where there is no life.

You see, as evangelists our job is to function the way the Holy Ghost would desire in that particular moment.  We aren't just supposed to make our best effort to be passionate all the time.  Sometimes being too passionate can cause us to miss what God is doing because we too fired up to listen.  God likens the Holy Ghost to water in John 7:37-38.  But water has several different forms.  Like John 7 says that sometimes it is a mighty, violent, rushing river that is capable of great power.  Other times water is like consistent rain that brings refreshing and renewal.  And other times it is peaceful and quiet, like a gentle brook.  And of course, water can be like a thik mist that just hangs around and creates an atmosphere.  These are all ways that the Holy Ghost can and has manifested himself in and among his people.

I have watched passionate prayers for the sick get offered up and later watch those same sick people die.  There is no question abut it, the prayer didn't lack passion and fire.  But sometimes passion and fire is not enough.  Evangelists must be Spirit led and Spirit directed.  We must walk close enough with the Spirit to recognize what the Father is saying and respond with obedience and faith.

The next time the mic is given to us, let's check our Spirits.  If the atmosphere is energetic and calls for energy, fire, and passion...knock it out!  But if you sense the Spirit leading in a different way than respond accordingly.  I can guarantee that the results of doing so will blow your mind (Eph. 3:20).

Classified Information

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  BUT GOD HATH REVEALED them unto US by His Spirit…the deep things of God…We have the mind of Christ.” -1 Cor. 2:16

“All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, he shall take of mine, and SHALL SHEW it UNTO YOU.” –John 16:15

It is exiting being a soldier in the army of the Most High God.  Our commander in chief, Jesus Christ, has arranged this mighty force on the earth, called the Church, and has given it everything that it needs to fulfill its preordained plan.  And although Paul told Timothy that we were going to have hardships like any other solider would, those difficulties cannot compare to the exceeding and eternal weight of glory that God has wrapped up in His Word (2 Cor. 4:17).

The Word of God holds within it the blueprint of victory for the individual soldier, as well as the rest of the Army.  When we begin in Christ we are placed in boot camp.  Here we are fed with milk and taught simple combat maneuvers that every soldier ought to know.  Within the confines of this army, those maneuvers are: knowing and resisting the enemy, getting along with fellow-soldiers, using weaponry, treating wounds, respecting officers, claiming enemy territory, obeying orders, and communicating with and honoring the commander in chief.  Simple stuff.

As time goes by and we remain committed, the Commander In Chief sends His special agent to promote us.   A soldier knows he has been promoted when his commanding officer gives him security clearance to begin seeing classified information.  This information is so sensitive that not everyone gets to see it because if they did, they would not be able to keep it a secret.  In their inexperience and immaturity they would somehow leak what they were entrusted with.  The consequences are many and could range from a hurt soldier to a lost battle.

In Mark 4:11 Jesus told the 12 disciples that they were authorized to hear the most profound truth concerning the Kingdom of God, which he hid in a parable, so unauthorized people couldn’t understand it.  In fact the word “mystery” here is musterion.  It simple means “hidden forces that retard or excel the plan of God on the earth.”  The Lord was going to take His disciples to a new depth that no prophet, up to that time, had ever been able to go.  Why?  Because the 12 disciples actually walked with Jesus.  They had developed intimacy with Christ and through that intimacy, trust was birthed, secrets were passed along, knowledge was revealed, and the world was shaken after the Lord ascended because of the information that these ordinary men possessed.  

What made these men unique was not their knowledge of Scripture, per se, but rather the Scriptures had been unlocked for them.  They were seeing things that the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and prophets of old were not allowed to see because they hadn’t developed the communion with Christ (2 Cor. 13:14) the way these men did 

Through the person of the Holy Ghost, Christ wants to engage us in an intimate fellowship with him.  When we respond faithfully, He will show up everyday and begin handing out the bread of life to His hungry soldiers. (Jn. 6:35)  When this occurs, we won’t ever be able to causally read a scripture again and say, “yea that sounded good.”  We wont be able to just pass by the Scripture on the refrigerator without thinking twice.  We will get excited because what used to be locked up and hidden will be alive and active within our spirits.  It wont take long before it leaks out of our mouths and begins to create those things around us !

His thoughts and ways are higher than ours but that is typical of any commanding general.  As time goes by, He will slowly begin to reveal these thoughts, one by one, until we have completely put on Christ and become lost in His identity.  I thank God for basic maneuvers, but let’s not stop there.  Let’s access the classified information kept secret from the foundation of this world!