Snake Attack!!

The first attack that came upon mankind was through a slithering serpent.  This of course has given these creatures a bad reputation and snakes have done little to help their own reputation as they do tend to bite people and sometimes kill them.  And so in the prophetic realm, I have not often heard an analogy of a snake used to the positive. They are usually negative, very negative pictures of attacks, temptations, spirits and more.

I used to be a pastor of a church which had many people who had migrated to America from Africa.  In that church, I heard visions and prophetic words on a regular basis about snakes and the ultimate thing that you didn't want was for a snake to bite you.  This was probably the case because many in the congregation had at one time in their lives lived with the very real possibility of being bitten by actual snakes. 

One example was of a member who received a word from a visiting pastor from Ghana which said, if you go out from under the umbrella of the covering of this church, the snake will bite you.  That guy proceeded to leave the church and what happened in his life certainly could be associated to the analogy of being bitten by a snake.  But he did recover.  I think that having received that word in advance, even though he went against it, helped him to ultimately recover.  God never does anything without first alerting some of His prophets.  (Amos 3:7)  So awesome!

The reason for this article is that I want to share with you some recent insights I have experienced in my own life as I have literally been bombarded (in a good way) with prophetic messages from many different sources about snakes attacking me and my household.

The first one came a few weeks ago that there is a green snake with a red ruby on its forehead and it is very angry at me.  It is gossiping and lying about me.  The reason is because in the past, when it has tried to get me, I overcame the attack, killed it, and lifted up its skin to expose it to the world for what it really is.  Of course not everyone chooses to see the truth, but at least the lies of the enemy are exposed for those who love the truth and are not blinded by their own ideas.

So the green to me meant, "green with envy", anger, etc.  The red ruby on the forehead meant something precious that is designed to entice me to reach for it.  If I would come out from the covering of God to reach for whatever that represents, I would be bitten.

A week and a half later, I was in a car accident in which the driver unwisely went through a light.  It was not technically his fault, but if I had been driving, I wouldn't have gone.  It was as if he was reaching for the red ruby on the green snake.  The red light.  The result was that we were hit by a van and a car.  The most serious impact was at the back door where I was sitting.  And so the word of warning was accurate.  Because the driver reached for something that he shouldn't have reached for, going through a light turning red, the enemy was able to try and kill me.  And he might have if God had not miraculously protected me.

I learned from this that the attacks do not even necessarily have to come from me stepping out from God's protective covering.  It could even be through someone that I am with.

But more prophecies about snakes kept coming.  Another one was that there was a black snake trying to gain access to my house.  It had tried the doors, the windows and any crack it could find but it couldn't go in.  So it went underneath the house and found a hole.  But just as it was about to go into the hole, a double edged sword was placed in the hole and the snake was not able to enter.  The sword represents the word of God and the Holy Spirit that should be on guard in my life 24 hours a day seven days a week.  If the sword is removed even for a second, that snake who is on stake out at that hole will slither in and do its destructive work.

Later on, I received another word that there is a hole in my life that the enemy would like to gain access through and it is a family member.  And so as the head of the household, it is my responsibility to continue to make sure that the word and the Spirit are being applied 24/7 in my family members life in order to protect not only him, but also myself and the other members of the household.

Then another prophecy came just a few days ago while I am in a different country for ministry. (even at the time of this writing)  Another black snake is in the shadows trying to hide.  I saw it and I was able to grab it and remove it, but what I didn't see is that it had already laid eggs.  Many eggs.  The purpose for the prophecy was to show me that snake eggs had been planted against me.  I discerned that they were seeds of discontent and little gossipy lies being planted by those who are jealous or who I may have rubbed the wrong way.  Some were there planted by others as a hedge or as a retaliation for things that had been exposed in their lives or ministries through prophetic means.

I was with a group of people including some from a team from the Philippines who were with me.  I said that I believe that this prophecy was referring to the Philippines where there are some who are against me that the devil is able to use because of openings in their lives.  Then one person said, "yes, but it's not just in the Philippines, it is here in this country as well." 

I didn't pick up on that in my spirit because ministry in this country has been really wonderful and I was not aware of any attack like this.  But then I got socked a few days later when it was revealed that I had stirred up a hornets nest...  or rather, a snakes nest.  But thank God for His warning so that my heart would be prepared for the attack.

How many of you know that when you go where God wants you to go and say what God tells you to say and do what God tells you to do, you're gonna get into some trouble?!?  Can I get a witness??  Amen!  :-)  He always is faithful to protect, lead, guide and He works in all of these things.  He is IN CONTROL!

The enemy is on a stake out just waiting for that moment when we might reach for something that we shouldn't or for us to get lazy for a moment and remove the protective sword of the word and the Spirit.  These are perilous times and the enemy isn't playing games.  he intends to steal, to kill and to destroy.  We must stay in grace, blessing, covering and we must stay in the word and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 26:41a (NIV) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Don't Judge Another Persons Journey

Theology is only kept pure if we do not base it on experiences. And so we cannot change our belief in God's Word because of any experience we have had. The Word of God is our standard, our filter, our anchor.

But things do happen in our lives which are not addressed in God's Word or are not clarified to the extent that we can make difinitive decisions about them.

If God's Word speaks neither for those experiences nor against them, then they can become an acceptable part of your journey, but we never make them a part of our core belief system.

We must make an area for these experiences in our lives. They are more like Permanant Residents or Green Card holders but not Citizens. They are always subject to deportation if they ever get out of alignment with Kingdom Law which is God's Word.

With that in mind, we have to not only allow for these experiences in our lives, but in the lives of others as well.

It is very easy to judge another persons journey and to become like a movie critic, evaluating and forming opinions about their life from a distance. Giving them a thumbs up or a thumbs down rating in our mind. Things get even more out of hand when we start sharing these opinions with other people. I think you already know this, but that's called gossip.

Luke 6:31 (NIV)

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

We should apply this principal even to the way we talk about or think about other people.

Legalistic judgmentalism and gossip is one of the most prevelant and destructive sins in the Church today, as it has always been. We don't seem to be making much progress in cleansing our spiritual communities from this. It's to the point that when we find a Church that is more free from it, it is shocking, but in a good way.

We often hold standards over people much in the same way that the Pharicees did in Jesus' time.

Matthew 23:3-5 (NIV)

"3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;"

What the Bible says must be strictly adhered to. But on all of the subjects in which the Bible does not make distinctions, we must apply wisdom, discernment and grace. How much of what we believe is opinion or comes from tradition or even from culture rather than from pure application of the Word of God? Allot!

So the next time you begin to judge someone because of what they drink or how they entertain themselves, where or who they hang-out with (like the Pharisees did to Jesus), how a person dresses, what they do for a living, how they raise their kids, how they spend their money, what kind of Church they attend, the way they met their fiance or spouse, or the next time you start thinking to yourself that a person is "getting what they deserve" when things go wrong for them, stop yourself. That's not the devil attacking you, that's your own carnal mind bringing you down.

Will you sometimes see things that are clearly wrong according to God's Word?  Yes!  And you should confront those things with firmness and with grace.

If there are those who have a different stance then you do about the debatable issues in the Bible, then you cannot walk with them. But at the same time, you simply cannot waste your time criticizing them or being in competition with them. Let them go their way, and you go yours. Bless them then leave them alone.

Amos 3:3 (NIV)

"Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?"

Don't judge someone else's journey, because if you do, the next journey that may be judged by others could very well be your own.

Luke 6:36-38 (NIV)

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

How to get to the next level...

I received an Email today from a well known minister in America which was an Easter greeting inviting the readers to click on the button to receive their breakthrough which included going to another level.  If you clicked on it, you would be directed to a secure portal to give your miracle seed offering by Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.  The big hint he was giving is that if you give to his ministry, he will included you in his prayers (I doubt personally since there will be thousands who click) and you will receive your miracle and hit your next level since you had the faith to sow into his ministry.

 

What came to my mind is that after Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine, the next thing He did was go and cleanse the temple in Jerusalem of people who were making God’s house into a marketplace.

You obviously have deduced by now that I probably don’t believe that giving of your finances will necessarily take you to the next level.   Well, it’s not that simple.  If God tells you by His Holy Spirit to give, then I do believe that you should and that there will be great benefit based on your obedience.  But you need to beware of manipulation.

So, how do you get to the next level?

Matthew 23:23-24 (MSG)

^23-24 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required.  Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

What is normally thought is that you have to make a change in order to make it further in this Christian life, in blessing, in anointing, in calling and more...  And when using human intellect, this would make sense.  Common sense.  After all, we know according to a famous quote by Albert Einstein that "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  In other words, if you keep doing the same thing and expect different results, you will continue to fail.  In many ways I agree, but not in achieving a higher level the Kingdom which requires the use of UnCommon Sense!

In God’s Kingdom, we must not be like the Pharisees and try to get fancy, trying to figure out some new thing or focusing on some minor thing.  (the minor thing Jesus accused them of making too big of a deal about in the above scripture was in being legalistic about tithing, but it’s just one example)   Instead, we must always be diligent to get back to the basics of what God’s Word requires of us.  If you did the basics to get to where you are now, don’t get off track, instead, get back on the track... the very same track that got you this far and go around again!  It’s like a lap race.  The more laps that you complete on the same track, the more levels you will achieve in your relationship with Christ!

What are the basics?  Jesus did not go into great detail in this scripture.  He mentioned as example, fairness, compassion and commitment.  But there are many more basics.  I will not complete the list but will add prayer life, worship, study of the Word, having accountability relationships and more.  The big word that I believe describes the basics in our Christian walk is “consistency.”  The key to achieving another level is being consistent in the basics over long periods of time. 

It is consistency in the basics that promotes you!

The more worn your trail of the basics in your relationship with God gets, the more familiar you are in the basic disciplines of your faith, the deeper your relationship will be to Jesus who is the source of all power, all wisdom, all anointing and every good thing you could possibly desire.  My advice to you?  Find out what the basics of God’s Word are and make your goal to put them into practice every day and in every way that you can.  Before you know it, you will have completed another lap in this race called life, another level in your relationship with God!

WONDER

We often say that Christmas is filled with “WONDER.”  Usually what we are talking about is how little kids are reacting to the sights & the sounds of seeing big trees lit up or when they see a present with their name on it.  I suppose they have wonder about such things because they only get them or see them occasionally. 

But we know that the Reason for the season, the only One who can provide lasting wonder in our lives is Jesus Christ.  Everything else, the decorations, the gifts and such only delight us for a moment.

But what does “wonder” really mean?  It is being so impressed with something that you wonder how it could have happened.  How did they build the pyramids?  It’s a wonder!  How did man fly to the moon?  A wonder!  More importantly, why did God send His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins??  That’s the greatest wonder of all!

But there are more wonders.  Wonders which are yet to come.  The Bible speaks often about Signs & Wonders being performed through believers by God and by the Holy Spirit.  Signs and wonders include miracles and supernatural deeds of all kinds.

And so I leave you with this.  If this is a season of wonder, shouldn’t it be our job to fill the lives of others with signs and wonders?  And not just by presenting those we care about with greetings and gifts, but by truly ministering to them to the point that they “wonder” how God could care about them so much as to touch them by sending you as His vessel to their life and situation for such a time as this!?

So go and prophesy, go and pray for people, go and speak the good news, go and make Christmas a miracle for somebody by walking in the power of God through the Holy Spirit!  Then it will truly be a Merry Christmas, filled with Joy and Wonder because of your faithfulness as an agent of wonder!

We don't need Leaders like "Napoleon"

I was in Melbourne, Australia a few months ago speaking for a Church camp and conducting some other Church ministry.  A friend of mine took me to a wonderful museum in which we visited an incredible exhibit about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte which featured many relics & paintings.

Since then, I have thought about his life, the glory & the tragedy of it, quite a bit.  Thinking about him has impacted me more than I ever could have imagined. 

Napoleon was a key person in the French Revolution which featured overthrowing the Absolute Monarchy, Marie Antoinette, the Bastille and more.  Many movies and the classic book "A Tale of Two Cities" feature this famous time in history.   

He helped to free the French people through his efforts as a young officer who acheived fame, only later to make himself not only Emperor of France but of much of the world.  He freed people only to put them under his own foot of control.  They got rid of a King and got an Emperor instead.  What's the difference??

This reminds me of many leaders in the world and especially in the Church today.  I often see the results of ministers and ministries who have loosened the ties of the enemy on the lives of people through the power of the Gospel only then to bring them into a new kind of bondage.  It is as if they were set free from the forces of darkness only to be be re-shackled under the influence of modern day Pharisees.

The problem is that people often will follow the most charismatic, the most dynamic visionaries and they can be blinded by it all.  No wonder Jesus said the Pharisees were like the blind leading the blind.  (Luke 6:39).  I have discovered that just because somebody can preach very well, that doesn't make them qualified to lead and it certainly doesn't mean they know how to raise up disciples, which is what it is really all about. 

If we are to follow a visionary, which we should, we must make certain that their vision is from God and for God and not from their own imagination of becoming someone great by using God.

And even more importantly, we need to make sure we don't become little Napoleon's in Christ's Church.

Once we have freed people from the enemy, we must be the vessels which connect these new branches to the Vine (Jesus) directly.  Not making branches connected to other branches.  We need to guide them from a position of not being in the way and not making them relient on us.  Not controlling or driving them.  Not owning them and not receiving glory but rather giving all glory to God by building the overall Kingdom of God rather than our own sub-kingdoms.

Galatians 5:1-3 (NIV)

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law."

The 787 Dreamliner Wineskin

While preaching a while ago on the far South Side of Chicago, almost to the Indiana border, I received a vision for that Church which also helped me further shape my understanding of the words of Jesus.

Matthew 9:16-18 (NIV)

¹⁶ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

I saw Wineskins flying in the air.  They were Boeing Wineskins.  Not that the Boeing Airplane Manufacturer makes Wineskins, but this is a vision with some artistic license.  There were the different varieties of models of Boeing Airplanes I have flown in.  I'm not old enough to go back before the 727, which I flew allot when I was a young boy.  I also saw the 737 which is still very popular now.  There was the 747, which we are starting to see in the sky less.  Singapore Airlines is retiring it's last one soon and is having a special flight with it.  The 757 was there as was the 767 which are both still around but not too many now.  The 777 was there too and it is still very popular today.  Then I saw it.  The new 787 Dreamliner.  The airplane the world has been waiting for.  Just a few have been delivered so far.  It was the newest Wineskin in my dream.

I watched a video presentation on a United Airlines flight recently in which the CEO was excitedly talking about the fact that they have ordered 50 of these new 787 Dreamliners.  He said something along the lines of, "we will be able to fly routes that we previously have been unable to fly."  Interesting.  Because of the new technology used and the new construction materials now available never previously used, they have been able to make an airplane which can go further, more efficiently than any commercial aircraft before in history.

I remember as a kid, flying between Manila and Seattle on the first Pan Am 747's, we had to stop in Honolulu to refuel.  Airplanes haven't needed to do that in years.  Most US aircraft now fly from Tokyo to any city in America they want.  Because of newer technology in the newer aircraft.  And now it is going to even a greater level!

God is doing something new and He is raising up a new breed of Churches...  not even Churches necessarily...  A new breed of Christ followers who are bringing in the Harvest, the New Wine and are refusing to put them into Old Wine Skins.  As a matter of fact, this new generation knows that they are not a part of the Church, they realize that they are the Church!  That is so awesome because not only will this cause the Old Wine Skins to not burst (because putting New Wine in Old Wine Skins will burst them), but it will fill the New Wine Skins with people who will go further and more efficiently than they ever could have gone before!  Why would anyone want to be in an Old, Limited, Outdated Wine Skin anyway?  They can...  God allows it.  It's part of His plan, but you can't put the New Harvest in there.  Of course there are those who want the Old Wine Skins for reasons of comfort , tradition and more.  Leave em' alone.  It's OK...  For them...

Wanna hear something weird?  Jesus never said you can't put Old Wine into New Wine Skins...  Personally, I know that I'm Old Wine even though I hide it pretty well.  I'm stuck in some traditions and I struggle with legalism, religiosity and compacency deeply inbred because of my upbringing.  But I don't want to!  I want to get inside a New Wine Skin!  What about you???

I want to fly higher, farther, more efficiently and with as many folks on board as I possibly can!  My prayer continues to be that God will show me the new ways, but without falling prey to the gimmicks and games which some in the Church often wrongly believe are the New Skins.  God wants us to adapt, but not to compromise.  Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's from God..

In my thinking, part of the new thing that God is doing is He is mobilizing people to "GO", not trying to build up big groups of people who are isolated from the world, but going into the world and being the salt and light.  Not that this isn't what He has always wanted, it is!  But He is breaking down the walls of tradition and demolishing wrong mind-sets as we speak.  People are becoming true desciples.  Not just learners, but those who learn and train others to learn and train others so that multiplication occurs.  These are exciting times!

All aboard!!  Let's get onto the newest Wine Skin now, but remember, there will be an even newer one coming sooner than you expect.  Don't get too comfortable or fall in love with this one...
 

Good Karma?

In my journey, I am now being asked to do some things not only secularly within the Call Center industry here in the Philippines, but also within the publishing industry.  My hope is to be salt and light in the world, in the market place.  In order to be effective, I cannot be outwardly evangelistic.  Below is an ariticle I wrote for a journal designed for college students.  I know some people do not understand this approach, but please pray for me as I attempt to inspire this generation in creative ways, to think about and seek after God.
_______________________________________________

“Good Karma”

We live in an age where language has become more flexible, more adaptable, less specific but at the same time more impacting through creativity…  We freely and intentionally break the rules of language in order to make our point clearer and stronger.  It is actually becoming hard to determine what good sentence structure or grammar is anymore as the languages of the world continue to progress, or according to many opinions, digress.  Personally, I love it.  I love words and the power of them.  I love the fact that we can be free in our linguistics in a way that we can make a powerful impression with our words, though we would have achieved an F in class.

And languages and concepts are now blending.  In Asia, we have “Taglish”, “Singlish” and others, there is British English, Australian English American English and more…  there really is even Filipino English, Korean English, Thai English and more.  Just about every country which has embraced English now has their own version where some of the same words have differing meanings from country to country and culture to culture.  It can get confusing if you don’t pay attention, but I find it fascinating.  Because when you know the way a person speaks, you know more about the way they think.

For my subject today, I want to take the word “Karma” which traditionally comes from East Indian and Chinese roots.    www.M-W.com defines KARMA as “the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.”

I find in the Western world that the idea of Karma has become so popular that it is literally all over television and the bookstores are filled with hundreds, if not thousands of books loosely based on the topic.  But where in Hinduism and Buddhism, Karma is more about the ramification of a persons actions affecting their “next life” as those religions believe exist, most people try to use Karma to affect a person’s near term consequences also referred to by many as blessings.  In most Christian traditions, the followers believe that they can by performing good deeds, improve their life now and increase their “chances” in the after-life.  Christians often refer to this concept as the principle of sowing and reaping, which is farming terminology.  Whatever “seed” (deed) you “sow” into the ground (work you do), care for, water, etc., then it will grow and you will eventually end up able to “reap” it (harvest it), thereby benefitting from your previous effort.

Whether the idea of Karma or of Sowing and Reaping, neither has to do with fate or luck, but they do have plenty to do with destiny.  What we need to remember about destiny is that for the most part, outside of whatever divine intervention you may believe in, you make your own destiny.  So, how’s your KARMA?  In other words, how are you doing, working on your destiny?

Many people that I know when they speak of a successful person with a hint of jealousy often refer to them as lucky or they make some kind of an excuse as to why that person is successful and the one speaking, possibly, is not.  A friend of mine who dropped out of medical school always speaks negatively of doctors.  He says, “they came from rich families, they are more favored, they are lucky,” etc.  But at the end of the day, every doctor that I know had to sacrifice and work hard to get to where they are today.  Of course they have talent, ability and opportunity, but the point is that it wasn’t fate or luck.  They are where they are today because they took the resources and opportunities that they had and made the best of them.  I was at a Doctor’s office last week and the two Doc’s who share the same office had their diploma’s on the wall in the waiting area.  One graduated from Stanford University in California.  One of the finest, most famous Medical School’s in the world.  It obviously cost his family a small fortune to send him there.  I believe that he probably was born with a golden spoon in his mouth (that means he was a high class baby).  The other graduated from a local University in the Philippines.  If you are not from the Philippines, you likely have never heard of it.  He probably had a silver spoon in his mouth growing up (middle class)…  Or maybe a wooden spoon (low class)…  But today, they earn and are respected about the same.  My point is this.  They both made the best of their situations, they both worked hard, and today in modern use of language, they both have “Good Karma.”  They achieved this by working hard.  They made their own destiny!

Once when I was in a desperate financial situation, just the right amount of money came from an anonymous source.  It really blew my mind!  But later, I found out that it came from someone who I had years earlier, helped financially while he was a young student.  Was it Karma?  Was it sowing and Reaping?  Yes!  Because I had done something good in the past, something good happened to me in the future!  And that really is how life often works!

We make the most of every opportunity to help people, to work hard, to improve others lives and to improve ourselves.  Later, there will be a reward.  Invest in the lives of others and in your future liberally and generously my friends!  Then you too, in the modern use of the word, will experience “Good KARMA!!!”

So if you see me on the street and ask me, “do you believe in Karma?”  My answer will be, “I’m not a Hindu, but if you mean that if I do something productive today, I will benefit from it later, then the answer is YES, I believe in Karma!”