God is Beneath Your Feet - Daniel Yordy

. Christ Our Life From: Daniel Yordy                                                                 October 16, 2011 Dear Friends, To read this article on the Internet:  God Is Beneath Your Feet  PDF Version  for printing and distribution.  May the Lord bless you and keep you through the time of your transformation, Daniel Yordy God Is Beneath Your Feet ". . . the way of the wicked He turns upside down." Psalm 146:9 God is alive in me and new every morning. Thus, as I write a response such as this, what He teaches me goes in a direction I did not know and things that seemed important at the beginning, though truth, fade away in the present bubbling spring. More and more of God's people are becoming excited about the meaning and reality of the manifestation of the sons of God. This fills me with such joy, for it is further confirmation that God fulfills all He speaks in us. But we must understand that Christianity as it has been cannot ever produce such a break, such a shift in reality as the birthing of liberty and the elimination of darkness upon this planet really must be. I have never once thought that I would become an "expert" on Genesis 3. Yet I find myself back there over and over again. Genesis 3 is the entirety of what must be broken and cast off. Our return to full union with God and the revelation of God through us to all creation parallels in every way the original break with Him. I have looked only briefly at the casting off of the curse found in Revelation Chapter 12 that corresponds point by point with every part of the curse spoken by God in Genesis 3. Understanding the psychology of Adam and Eve helps us so much to identify the difference between Christ and the pretender of Christ forced by human imagination and ruling in the church. But it is that path of Jesus from Gethsemane to the resurrection that shows us the incredible meaning of our full union with Him. Here's the difference. Adam ran from that path as fast as he could. Look at the length of time between Adam's confrontation with the real task God had given him and his flight. "She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." See that comma after "her." That's it. And so the path of Jesus from Gethsemane to the Resurrection is a path Adam did not take; this path does not run parallel, it runs beyond. The only reason we look back to the garden is to understand the path Adam continues to refuse, the path upon which we walk. Now, this glorious exercise through which the Lord has taken me over the last couple of weeks, has given me a picture of the three parts of Jesus' defeat of sin and death that we must know. Remember, I taught in the series on Our Union with Christ, that we do not "follow" Jesus in this portion of His reality; rather, He takes us into Himself and carries us in Himself through it. Yet, I am seeing now that our union with Him inside this portion of the path is more than profound and utterly unexpected. First, no matter how willing we may be, we cannot carry our cross. The Father alone carries it for us. Second, Jesus accepted the "shame" of His nakedness. The outer frame God had crafted for Him was fully acceptable to Him, He was content. When Jesus said, "Father, forgive them," when He said, "Hey, mom, there's your son, John," he was stark naked, stripped of every human dignity and respect. Third, Jesus cast Himself utterly upon the Father, refusing to reach for His own power, even when the overwhelming darkness flooded His soul in the agony of defeat and separation. But through all three of these steps into weakness, there runs a mighty cord, a simple cord, filling the heart and mind of the very human Jesus, a two-fold cord. One mighty strand of that cord was giving thanks, giving thanks, giving thanks for all things. The other mighty cord was the expectation, the certainty, the overwhelming confidence that the Father Himself would resurrect Jesus from the dead. God would raise Him on high. It was not a "god" who died upon that cross, but a man. That's why the rulers of the Jews killed Him. They expected Superman to come out of the sky, blasting thunderbolts at his enemies. The main reason they hated Him was that He was powerless and human; how could the Messiah, the revelation of God, be so weak! If Jesus had been strong, they would have bowed to Him, they would have obeyed Him, that is, until they could figure out how to finagle behind the POWER and thus, in the end, gain control over Him. They persuaded the Romans to kill Him because He was beneath their contempt. The entire church has done exactly the same thing with Him, deifying Him, expecting that when He comes this time, this time we know He will come as Superman out of the sky, blasting thunderbolts at his enemies. Sure the rulers of the Jews had it wrong then, but we don't, we have it right! A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. The human mind despises weakness. Look at how the church has deified every element of Jesus' weakness. From the halo on the baby to the crucifix on the wall to the Nicene Creed, every attempt of the Father to prove to us that He reveals Himself through weakness has been turned into Superman. And those believers in Jesus who discover the incredible reality that they, IN their weakness, are just like Jesus are called "blasphemers." I cannot express how important it is for us to comprehend the fulfillment of the three feasts of Israel in the life of the church and in the life of each individual believer. We are not talking about being born again. We are not talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are talking about the final entrance into the city of God, the fullness of Christ revealed through us in the earth. The third feast is what everything else is for. The entrance into the third feast gives purpose to all that comes before. Drawing back from the third feast makes all the rest of redemption of limited value for the present time. This three-step passage of Jesus IS the pearly gates of the city. Pearls: our response to pain and humiliation. We give thanks with joy AND we expect with all confidence that the Father is about to raise us on high. But we never cover our weakness with pretending and we never reach for our own power separate from Christ living as us. The weapons of our warfare have nothing to do with our outer frame, but they are mighty. I am going in a direction I have never seen before; I hope to unveil things I have never considered. Yes, my title is provocative, but when you see what I mean, you may well be in tears as I am. In my last letter, I talked about the outer frame of disability. Now I want to look at the outer frame of ability. We humans possess both a physical body and a spirit body in equal proportions. Our soul exists at the point of union all through these two bodies. Our persona, our individual human ways and characteristics, are determined by the metabolism of these two bodies in equal proportions. Every human's spirit is as much a contributor to their person as their brain and heart. Just because we are blind to the spirit realms does not mean that our spirit does not function fully. A so-called psychic is just someone who is a bit more in tune with his or her spirit than most. Yet everyone is a "psychic" whether they know it or not. That is, everyone derives half of their persona from their spirit. Paul instructs us to walk in our spirit merged with the Holy Spirit. The church calls such a practice "new age." It is "new age" when a person enlarges their unregenerate spirit, but every "Christian" manifests spirit all the time, even if they know nothing about any union with the Holy Spirit. Our spirits are as complex and as ordered as our physical bodies. They contribute entirely to our outward persona or form as much as our physical bodies. People move out from the nature of their individual spirits equally as much as they move out from the nature of their individual bodies. The reason we don't know that mentally is we are blind. What blind person do you know that goes around pretending and arguing, convinced they are NOT blind at all, but that everyone is lying to them about this so-called "ability to see"? Real blind people ask questions, all the time. When Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," he was referring to the quality of knowing that we, in our present state, are unable to see whole realms of normal human existence and expression. He was referring to the quality of a child to ask questions. Someone who says, "I don't need the gifts of the Spirit," is saying that they are happy to be half a human, crippled and blind, with no interest in what they really are. Back to human ability. God crafted, by His sovereign choice, the outward form or persona for each individual one of us to walk in all the days of our life. That outward persona comes from the characteristics of both our physical metabolism and our spirit metabolism joined fully in equal measure. Here is a person that is never sick; there is a person who is always sick. Here is a person that sees success with everything he or she touches. There is a person who sees things fall apart every time he or she makes an attempt to rise up from failure. Here is a person who is continually bubbly and optimistic; there is a person who is continually grumpy and pessimistic. Here is a sanguine; there is a melancholic. Here is one who is powerful and dominating; there is one who is timid and withdrawing. Here is a person who is disciplined and put together; there is a person who is scattered and undisciplined. These are all qualities that come out of the construction of both spirit and body merged together. These are the extremes, but God fashioned every form of in-between as well, including the outward form that is the ability to move along a scale from say, undisciplined to disciplined versus the inability to move along that scale at all. There are 15 billion different human personas, every one different and unique. You and I did not choose the form we live in; neither can we change that form. Absolutely NO human form is in any way "better" before God than another. God does not play favorites to any outward form, capable or incapable. When I lived in a certain place, a brother who was a dear friend of mine ran a small construction crew in the nearby town. I ran the construction work in the community. We both heard from God all the time. He heard God speak to buy this tool and that tool, to engage in this increase and that increase, all with great joy. I heard God speak, "No," every time I sought to purchase for myself even a screwdriver. I was disturbed by that for awhile until I realized that God has an entirely different path and persona for each individual person, though we walk side by side in Christ. Since that time I have refused to place my nature and persona onto anyone else as the "expectation" of what they ought to be doing in God. I accept completely that God can speak to my brother in a very different way than He speaks to me. I am unusual in the realms of Christianity. When I raised the question that God had placed in my heart the desire to write, the only response I received back was from one who said that twenty years before God had told her to lay down the desire to write. And that was the end of that. As if that had anything to do with God in me! One of the greatest sins we commit against one another is to lay upon our brother the obligation and expectation that whatever God speaks and does with me is what that brother ought to be hearing and doing. It is sin, and the practice of it does not take place inside of Christ. "You ought to change; you ought to practice a different persona than the one God fashioned for you," is a charge we burden one another with - weights NO ONE can bear. The charge that I should not "talk about Asperger's" is a personal offense. It is contempt thrown against me; no different than lepers have always been treated. I have lived with that condescending, "If you were really in Christ, you would be like ME!" all my life and it still - well, I do give thanks in my frustration. I was "reviewed" in my teaching ability again this week. And again this week, I was told that I ought to do the things I cannot do. I could write a book on the things they say, but I cannot do them. Yet I am a well-loved teacher with a track-record of students who learned from me what they did not learn from others. Yet I do not have the group "people-person" abilities found in the "teacher's manual." I compensate for what I do not have by showing deep compassion and the utmost respect to them as persons whenever we are one-on-one. No evaluator has ever seen that, nor is there a place for it on their forms, but my students see it and there is a place for it in their hearts. Yet, going through this review, I was fully aware that I have never been treated in the educational world with the contempt by which I have been treated (by some) in the church. I say "some" because not all are like that, but those who are seem to stand out and often to lead. The world does not expect you to "be like Christ," Christians do. And they torment one another with that expectancy, turning Christ into a whip. Now we have arrived at what I have been driving towards for some time in these letters. First, in a previous letter I explored the Greek words for Philippians 3:21. Here is the paraphrase I gave with the two critical Greek words: (Jesus) metaschematizo our lowly body that it be synmorphizo His glorious body . . .out from His dynamite energy bringing us into His full sway. "Metaschematizo" refers to the alteration of our outward form or persona. "Synmorphizo" refers to an element of internal union with Him far beyond our present ability to know. God will change our outward form or persona in the resurrection, that is, the fullness of the Third Feast, but NOT in the way humans would expect in their present ignorance. May I suggest that you obtain and read Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I have read and taught this book over and over because it gives me such great hope. Much-Afraid is very much afraid; she is hit with attacks by craven-fear over and over. She is crippled and twisted. She stumbles and falls every step along the way. When she reaches out for "help," all she gets in one hand is suffering and in the other, sorrow. NO ONE believes that she could possibly "know" the Shepherd. Her change does come. But NOT in the way she or anyone else expected. Rather she discovers that all along, sorrow has really been Joy and suffering has really been Peace. She discovers that her "blemishes" are now beauty, and that her bruises and her tears and her failings ARE now the jewels of her crown. But "metaschematizo," or the alteration of the outward form, is used elsewhere by Paul in an entirely different application. Here it is found three times, all underlined. ". . . those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness . . ." 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 We are not talking about Dracula's here, but Christians. Paul is referring to those who, finding that they do not care for their outward persona crafted for them by God - primarily because it does not give them an advantage in the eyes of others - then work on and alter their outward form until it gives them a place of advantage and preeminence in the church, in the eyes of other Christians. However, here's the deal. It is impossible for a human being ever to alter his or her outer form or persona. Certainly, God fills our hearts with joy and peace where once we did not know His love. But those are qualities that shine from the inside out, always coming through an honest and real expression of our outer form. Of course, we believe God for healing - and He heals, and we rejoice to see Him transform us. But it is God who transforms us, we do NOT transform ourselves. Therefore, when someone alters their outward form for advantage or approval in the eyes of others, they are not actually changing anything. All they are doing is draping their own version of fig-leaves upon themselves. They are pretending. I know such people (a few), very, very well, having walked with them side by side every day for years. They are fake. Yet they fill most churches, and every one of us have practiced this fakery to greater and lesser extent much of our lives. Notice, in 2 Corinthians 11, that Satan and his ministers "transform themselves." Don't do it; be real. Christ is in YOU. Next, let's look at the upside-down unreality we call "church." "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh (no human outer form or persona) should glory in His presence." 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 God does not call very many of the people to whom He gave the outward form or persona of success and achievement and human capability. Quite the contrary, most of the people God calls are people to whom He gave the outward forms of inability, of failure, of stumbling, of ineptitude. The majority of people whom God calls into His church are the kind of people that humanity despises. But He does call some of the others as well. Let's say, for discussion purposes, that 10% of the people God calls into His church are outwardly capable. Since no one chooses his or her outer form, it is no one's fault if they are capable and successful in this world. One who is capable and successful is well able to know Christ revealed as them, and to enter into the fullness of Christ in the firstfruits. But NOT MANY will. Look at that word, "wise according to the flesh." We have always read that wrong. We read it as being "wise according to evil." But that's not what it says, it says, "Wise according to outward human ability." That is, the people we naturally look up to as wise and capable leaders, those whom we call "examples." Here is one of the biggest problems with Christianity. Even though only, say, ten percent of those whom God calls into the church are outwardly capable and successful leaders, still, it is those people almost entirely that become the ministry and leaders in the church. Now, even though this reality is upside-down, it has been God's order for the present in-part age of the church. I will explain why. But first, I want to give an illustration to help us understand all reality. When Adam rejected the way of Christ, God turned the world and all humanity upside down. Technically, as believers in Christ, we have been turned right side up, but we hardly know that. For the most part, we Christians have lived in the same understanding as the world, that of being upside down. But humans do not hang upside down all on the same plane. The nature of being upside down takes the form of a pyramid. Consider a pyramid. If you are an American, you can pull out a one dollar bill and look at the pyramid on the backside. The eye at the "top" is the eye of Lucifer. The levels of the pyramid from "top" to "bottom" are the levels of the hierarchy of human authority. Those near the top are most like Lucifer in their definition of "God." They sit upon the ones who are beneath, ruling over others with their wisdom and their human abilities. Those at the bottom, according to the upside-down version of reality, are the ones sat-upon, the crushed, the despised. Now, turn the dollar bill "upside-down." You are looking at reality as it is. Lucifer is FALLEN. He is far lower than man. Yet man, hanging upside down, arms flopped down towards Satan at the bottom, defines God the Father and Jesus the Christ by the definition Satan gave himself. What is it that keeps man from falling as low as Satan? God caught man and is holding him by his feet. If you want to see God, do not look "up," look down. God is beneath your feet. But look again at the pyramid turned right-side up, that is, with the point at the bottom. In this illustration, God does not hold onto the entire pyramid. No, He has His grip entirely upon the top of the pyramid, that is, upon that thin wide layer of the despised. It is the despised of humanity who are "closest" to God. All the rest of humanity owe their entire survival to those same despised. Think about this: modern protest rails against the "top 1 percent." They imagine that "people power" can bring that "top 1 percent" down. They are delusional. The "top 1 percent," who or whatever they might be, and however they might be defined, got there only because they are more ruthless than all of the 99% put together. They can bring down, not the other 99%, but the in-between 98% in a moment by such stunning evil and cruelty that no man can take a breath. We will likely see them do it. (And the majority of "rich" people probably are not in that ruthless 1%.) But no one on this planet is looking at the 1 percent at the opposite end of the spectrum. No one is looking at the blind, the maimed, the crippled, the homeless derelicts standing at the street corners. No one is looking at the autistic, the Down syndrome, the lepers, the unhealed. No one, except God. It was impossible for Sauron ever to imagine that hobbits could be some sort of threat to him, especially two weak, hungry, worn-out, defenseless hobbits stumbling without outward hope through the darkness and horror of his realm. Sauron never considered weakness, neither did the Pharisees, neither does the world, neither does the church. In the third Pirates movie with Johnny Depp, there is a particular scene. The pirates had passed into the unseen realms of death in order to rescue a "dead" Captain Jack Sparrow. Now they are faced with the puzzle of how to return to the world of the living. They hit on the "solution." Now - everything about the scene and the movie is absurd and ridiculous. If you have not seen it, I am not suggesting you do so, even though, to silly boys such as myself, it is a fun movie. What is important is the concept. In order to pass from death into life, the pirates had to turn the ship "upside down." They succeeded in doing so, only to be frozen in the probability that all was lost. Then, surging into the light, they found themselves right side up and back in the world of the living. Two fools who had thought to "transform themselves" by their own abilities before the ship went under, were now seen, still hanging upside down. "Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:21-23 (I suggest you read the whole chapter.) Jesus was not talking here about being born again. He was not talking about receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was not talking about fellowships of deeper-truth Christians or years of ministry and service, and He especially was NOT talking about "going to heaven." Jesus was speaking of the revelation of Jesus Christ, of the fullness of the Feast of Tabernacles manifest in the church upon this earth. If we want to know the way into the fullness of Christ, we had better go looking for people who never get it right, for people who are crippled and maimed in body and in soul; we need to follow the blind. If we want to know God, we better find a Down syndrome boy and ask him to tell us the secret; we better find an autistic girl and learn what makes her sing. God is found among the lepers; He is there on death row among the "criminals." Ask a drunk, homeless, Vietnam vet standing on the street corner holding a soiled cardboard sign to show you Christ. We KNOW this is the gospel. The first shall be last and the last first. The valleys shall be exalted and the mountains brought low. Except you become as a little child you won't even see the kingdom of God. To be the greatest in the kingdom become the lowest of servants. And a little child shall lead them. If you want to see God, look down. The revelation of Jesus Christ will shatter the sensibilities of every human being upon this planet. Ninety percent of all Christians will be deeply, deeply offended by Him (in more ways than one). How dare He! To come in weakness, to walk as the despised. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. When God turns the world right side up, 99% of all humanity and 90% of all Christians will find themselves hanging upside down. They will not be impressed. The very last thing most Christians want is for Jesus to come again. When Jesus said, "Whatever you do unto the least of these My brethren you do it unto Me," He was not speaking figuratively; He did not mean "it is the same thing as doing it unto Me." The lowest and most despised people in the church, the ones who simply cannot appear "Christ-like" no matter how hard they try and no matter how many tears they shed, are He. He bears their sorrows and He carries their grief. But what about that 10% in the church, the "not many" who are called as capable, as leaders, as wise, as successful? What about that 10% whom the church always places as pastors, as elders, as apostles, as bishops, as the leaders of the church? Is there any hope for them?   There is always hope in Jesus. My pastor, Joel Osteen, is a prime example of one given a wonderfully successful outward form and persona by God. Everything he touches prospers. He is a sincere and humble man. There is not an ounce of "I control you" that comes through him; if there were even a shadow of such a thing, we would never return there. Yet he does get it wrong. There are times when he suggests that God blesses him outwardly (and it is God blessing him outwardly) because of some element of his "getting it right." I am not impressed when people who, not knowing Joel Osteen, criticize his outward persona. I am not "exalting" Joel Osteen; I am using him to make a point. Every single Christian and every single assembly does the same thing. We pick people to be the "leaders" because they are wise and sensible and capable. We imagine that, because they are wise and sensible and capable, because they are outgoing and socially astute and gifted, that they are closer to Christ than the rest of us, and that their outward persona is more like Christ's than ours. And this is not wrong for the capable ten percent to become ministry in the church. God has established this order for His church during this in-part time. The problem is this. Most of those who are capable imagine that their outward persona of success and leadership makes them "more like Christ," and that is why God "anoints" them. They are completely wrong. God anoints them because of the Blood so that He might move through them to touch those who ARE "closer" to Him, the ones who are incapable of "leading" anyone. Now, some of the brethren whom I have spoken of, who were such a blessing and strength to me through life, were both outwardly gifted and anointed of the Lord. One in particular, everything he touches prospers. He is not "rich," but at every turn God leads him with favor, doors open for him, things fall into place. He is a continual optimist. Yet, never once, not in all the years we walked together, did there come from him any shadow of thought that his outward persona made him any different than me in my outward persona, but at all times he walked together with me as an equal in the Lord, heart to heart, side by side. Even the mistaken idea that "I experience continual favor and health and success because I must be doing something right," is not a problem for our Savior. The horror that is created in most Christian circles is when that belief about "what Christ looks like" becomes a club to beat the precious ones God has entrusted temporarily to those with "successful and capable" personas or outward forms. Jesus said it this way: "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:48-51 Now, I can accept that the anti-human prejudice of the translators could have made this sound worse than Jesus actually said it, but even so, it still must be pretty awful. Yes, there will be pastors, there will be elders and apostles, there will be bishops and priests, who do enter into the fullness of the Kingdom. They will be those who follow right behind the lepers. They will be those who keep their hands upon the Down syndrome, to know which way to go. They will be those who sit at the feet of the blind and who listen carefully to the crippled and the maimed. The time is at hand. Are we ready for a world, are we ready for a church, turned right-side-up? The princess must kiss the frog. I do suggest that you rent the movie, Penelope, with Christina Ricci. It is the classic fairy tale in a modern setting. It is the absolute truth of God. Pay close attention as you watch, after Penelope has escaped the horrific manipulation of her pretending mother, after she has embraced her deformity with joy, after she has been transformed, listen to the little boy speaking to Penelope, his teacher. Write down his words, ponder them in the setting in which they are spoken. "It is not the curse. It is what you do with the curse." "Fix it" yourself and lose. Give thanks with all joy and be transformed. www.dyordy.com

Something Didn't happen today.....

Something Didn't happen today that may....may turn a page in history
.Note on Facebook by Chris Welch on Monday, 21 March 2011 at 21:55.
There is a Word of God over Havant Church that says its character, its name is "Turnaround Church".

Perhaps now dear Facebook friends can understand why I am hanging around. The calling over Peter Stott's life (the original church leader) and indeed his family members is one of revival.

The jury is still out on what "Turnaround Church" means.I know what I'd like it to mean, but a church is made up of people like myself that "volunteer" in the Day of His Power. We cannot speak for each other. That is coercion.

All I can say is that after meeting with 2 leaders today some things didn't happen.

Every generation that has moved on in light has usually faced a wall of resistance. Luther was excommunicated. Wesley persona non grata in the Anglican Church. The Quakers too. And so the same tale for hundreds of years. The charismatic independent churches were no exception.The wife of the Methodist minister that I grew up with, now 40 years on still asks if I am in the same cult.

So here we are on Facebook and blogs. We, I think,are all pretty confident we are entering something new, a completely new step change. In my opinion it is so huge a transition it will actually make the charismatic move seem like a relative blip.

Thing was the charismatic move had lots of bells and whistles.What some of us are calling Christianity 3.0 or the third level (from Chapter 31 of Norman Grubb's book Yes I Am) is deceptively unimpressive AT FIRST. Then you look round and you realise Romans 8 is starting to mould itself round you. Bits of creation getting set free. And only then does it really hit you the enormity of what is just beginning.

So many thousands have now left church. Voted with their feet. Rushing to be as far away from church pyramid structures as they can safely get. See the Darin Hufford Heidi Venie interviews

http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2010/11/darin-hufford-talks-to-worship-leader.html

And this has been the normal pattern now for hundreds of years, and a lot of us have quoted "ecclesia" as the called out ones. Hebrews 13.13 talks about going outside the city walls, just as Jesus did for us. But then, suddenly , you notice a verse like this one.

Psalm 45 :16 In place of your fathers will be your sons;

You shall make them princes in all the earth.

17I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations;

Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever.

Did you catch that in the Spirit?

Instead of the Old Guard for ever and a day holding their Truth up high, and calling themselves for ever by that name, instead the People of God begin to choose willingly and freely to be called by the revelation, the light of the sons. Of the NOW Word, not the THEN Word. And in such a climate permanence is weaved, because it's all about GOD's Name being remembered in all generations. One of the biggest handles the world has on unbelief is how the Church is far from permanent. Well as structures of stone and museums of Law and sadness they may have a permanence, but here the verse is about engendering a dynamic praise among "the peoples". The nearest we have seen to that in the last weeks is the testimony of the Chilean miners, whose emergence caused a sir over the whole of Chile, but rippled out through the whole world.

http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-really-happened-down-in-chilean.html



So by rights the two leaders shouldn't have even given me elbow room today. But they did.

Can i just mention that although a lot of us are aware of the sadness and bondage in the former "triumphalist" charismatic networks, there actually is a breed of leader that has demured since. I know several who were at the head of these awful pyramid apostolic structures who have now totally backed out from that style of leadership.

The people in Havant are in that state of transition.



After today I am still none the wiser really. The enormity of what some of us have been through to start to get hold of Father level truths we wouldn't really wish on anyone. Almost without exception it has involved "the cry of desperation" which is something that grips your inside like the pain of childbirth. You know there is an answer out there somewhere, why, because deep down you know your God is not a liar. So you go right out on a limb to find it. Or perish and be damned.One thing you are clear on.....if Christianity has to be "made to work" because it doesn't work of itself...then who wants it?! Leave that to some other fake religion. Our Jesus said His truth would set us free. That's what He said. He either comes through for us or if not then He's a liar. So this way we get our own testimony. This becomes "my gospel" and out of that the Word that comes out of my heart, mouth and life can set others free.



So I was listened to. And a bridge was again built. Actually i am not really sure about the quality of the previous bridge because I think that was built around me being some kind of "charismatic prophet" and doing charismatic type things, whereas now the gloves are off. I am me. This message is me. I cannot be split from it since Jesus is My life. I do not intend to jump through any more charismatic hoops to share the message of Christ as me in my form. For it is the only Christian message that really worked from the apostles onwards.


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June Melanson, Cathy Rheeder, Elaine Waterfield and 2 others like this..
Elaine Waterfield the fact is you were listened to was the actual bridge not just passed by or made to feel like some looney tune. Even if they didnt agree the listening part is the bridge. The call over Peters life is bigger then you think and bigger than he knows but he needs to be obediant and at the minute he needs to listen to what God is saying and be more in tune with him and the calling on his lfe . Maybe the conference will bring this out maybe the picture will become a lot clearer?
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Two Facebook Notes on Shepherds - Chris Welch

Ezekiel 34....Shepherds Today
by Chris Welch on Monday, 24 January 2011 at 15:22


1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying , 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy , and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds ; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

This is a bit Steve McVey. Nothing wrong in that though.

I think we are clear that the outer context of this passage has changed. It has changed since I was a Christian in a Baptist Church too. But the demon spirit lives on, and operates in current situations.

Let's specify the obvious sort of things Watchman Nee, followed by Norman Grubb would have said.

The Christian Life is about my death and resurrection in Christ, 2000 years ago. The New Covenant is not a set of even more stringent laws for those who found the Old Covenant Laws boring. The New Covenant is about our total inability to keep those laws, and in our despair to realise that God has thought of all this ahead of time, and

plunged us into His death, then bound us up with Himself in a resurrection exactly like unto His. If we call upon the Name of the Lord we will be saved. But this "savedness" is nothing like you hear preached in most churches. It's HUUUUUGE. It has connected you with the centre of everything big time...GOD HIMSELF and the central plans for this Earth.It is now nolonger you that live, but Christ who lives within you.

The ministry gifts are placed into the Body of Christ to implant this message into you. You may say, well, I've just read it. But God's words are Spirit and Life, and when transmitted either directly to you from Himself, or via Holy Spirit gifted servants, they will change your life completely from the inside out. Jesus said in John 4, from now on it is about worship in Spirit and Truth. if it's not true and real for you yet, you need just to hang around the Body of Christ a bit.

I feel challenged about this whole pastor/shepherd area.


There are naturally caring people around. They are nurturers.It is natural for them to gather people around them, make sure they are OK. This is not the Holy Spirit gifting of pastor. It may use some of these aspects. But any ministry in the Spirit does the above work: getting people to see WHO they are in Christ....that it is Christ in them as them, and how the faith life operates.

When I see sheep wandering.....I don't care if they are supposedly in a particular church, under this mythical delusion of a pastor pyramid....I just "see" the wandering and like Jesus looking over Jerusalem, grieve.

verse 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.



So Ezekiel 34 in our current context is sheep wandering around lost, uncared for, whether "outwardly" they are in a great stadium church, or here in a good church like Havant.

People who have had Christ implanted in them properly do not wander. They have definition. Purpose. Strength. God's vision. They are properly knit into the Spirit-built Body of Christ......and not necessarily, as the Apostolic Network Pyramids used to preach....knit into some outward structure that everyone can stand back and marvel at , saying "Wow, this Terry Virgo fella builds great networks....or this Gerald Coates geeza sure makes trendy housechurches with disco lights an' all!." Outwardly, a lot of times it could be a mess. Like Jesus' operation during the Cross weekend. Or the first church at Jerusalem, when the Jews blasted it to smithereens. Now in the Spirit, this was always bang on cue. This is the genuine church being formed in different outward manifestations.

Makes no sense to someone who thinks in bricks and mortar and Pastor pyramids.

A shepherd gets Christ into folk, then moves on to fresh folk....or whatever else Christ is doing through him or her.

Verse 2 above is disturbing and the demon spirit lives on.

This is an "office " of shepherd. Paid. Actually paid well. You can't take the analogy too far, because I don't think any shepherds are actually doing a Hannibal Lecter, and eating the people.

The abuses of the Anglican church were so clear, that the1800s Brethren denomination reacted totally and forbade paid ministry. Everyone held down a job. It was making law, what St Paul did voluntarily to give him complete freedom to work unfunded in new areas.

Are we there again?

Paid ministry , like the unscriptural positioning of ONE pastor over a Body of people is self-perpetuating, in the same way that we all employ people in Brussels to frame new laws, then complain at the amount of laws.

Like that's what we paid them to do, dummies!!!! So they don't shirk their work and frame laws!!!!

Pastors have to think what they do next to justify being paid. They also cannot allow for any other ministries alongside, because some Pyramid apostle has installed them at the head of a local pyramid, and to do anything else would be disrespectful!!!!

You have not so learned Christ!

True pastors

There are pastors all over the place in the Body of Christ.

Most of them shut out from operating. Thankfully the Spirit of the Lord is now speaking Ezekiel 34 all over the Earth, getting us to wait upon Him for the wineskins of the church. A church, every church, raised up in the Spirit has loads of pastors, who pastor naturally. UK history is littered with abuse of power according to this scripture.

For example let's name a place. The King's Church High Wycombe shut down Mr Cain, who in turn was more or less forced to set up the independant church Shalom. Shame on you King's Church.

The King's Church High Wycombe shut down a beautiful house group of quite a size under Mr Ron Knight. Many were so bruised they never attended church again. If any of you know me, then you know Ron. Ron never built around himself, he built us into Jesus. If any of you consider me to know anything in Jesus, know that I was privileged to be squeezed into Ron's life during my teenage. And it was he, 40 years ago that was teaching us about Christ in me. Everyone else was teaching about "things that you do" to grow. He was teaching WHO we believe , in order to grow. So once agin King's Church, shame on you. And as I have never been connected with you, I say quite impartially, I hope this goes into all the world about you. Now deal with God about it.

True pastors have the Spirit blueprint of the building - in their heart

Psalm 85:

5 How blessed is the man whose (H)strength is in You,


In whose heart are the (I)highways to Zion!

6Passing through the valley of [a]Baca they make it a spring;


The (J)early rain also covers it with blessings.

Compare verse 6 above with Ezekiel 34: 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.

Ezekiel 34 :4 says ......neither have ye sought that which was lost ; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

The situation i recently found myself in where leaders tried to step in to correct a rift was handled so badly it caused me to really listen to the Spirit to see what was going on.

While it was going on the leaders did not contact us, keep us in the picture. The friend who still gets depression quite badly could have topped herself....we just did not know. You can read my findings here:

http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2010/11/ocd-church-believing-yourself-into.html

So in this situation it wasn't that NOTHING was being done

it was that a person's life was being addressed by committee

without direct heart contact in it all.

This then opened my eys to the whole operation.



Shepherds are shepherds from the heart. But not just compassion for people. That's just a common human trait, strongest in the caring folk among us. Shepherds have an internal map of the Kingdom in their heart.

They don't preach the New Testament as if its just a fresh lawbook....something grittier to get your teeth into. The WORD they impart, which is the New Covenant Word of Christ living His life as us is so powerful

that over time we see a Romans 8 kind of result....a bit of "all creation waiting until the sons come into their own" and we see a small part of creation turn around.



The Fake law gospel doesn't turn any keys in the lock. There is no outside mirror effect. When the Word happens, when true shepherds flow, the end result is showers of blessing....trees of fruitfulness.All these centuries Israel has not blossomed. When the Jews returned, there was a turnabout naturally. I know this is only a start.

When the community at Darmstadt showed me around, I gazed at some redeemed features. This is only a start.

We can't fake that bit.

Also we can't fake when sheep are meandering all over the place in depression and sickness....this cannot be covered over, or explained away.....this is the result of Ezekiel 34 poor shepherding. The demon spirit of torment lives on.



It's time to be defined church. Accept no lower standards.

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Cheryl Lowry, Paula MakeSparkles Chambers, Cindi Estep and 2 others like this..
André van der Merwe Loved this Chris, thanks for tagging me!
24 January at 15:36 · LikeUnlike.Chris Welch thx...it's so great to get feedback....and so fast
24 January at 15:37 · LikeUnlike.André van der Merwe Like me, I could sense you'd also been hurt and lied to by religion in your life.

Your words ring true and clear in my heat!
24 January at 15:40 · LikeUnlike.Nancy Gilmore ‎... a voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.
24 January at 16:24 · LikeUnlike.Chris Welch Probably the big thing capital T is to sell all you have for the 70s move of God only to learn it was only the "young man"stage.Hopefully more the hurt somethong positive is co£ming thru .Another book alerted me to the fact that Song of Sol...omon could have 3 people in it.Jesus,the Shulammite and organisational religion.It seems Galations shows we have to be hurt to learn Spirit maturity. Abraham had to go thru the Hagar incident to be fully clear on the child of promise.Other Christians have wanted to pray for my" hurt", but I think it's just the pain of learning the True from the false.It offends other believers....but I think this mountain bounding hind life of Christ is offensive.....it's so bloomin free it shouldn't be allowed in a world system of devil control!!!! Hey.....they say..you're not in chains...something must be wrong!See more
24 January at 16:32 · LikeUnlike.Nancy Gilmore I remember the beginnings of the father's outworking in me, as me, and I heard the Lord saying very clearly; "You hate my plan for your life, but not a sparrow falls that I didn't will it."
24 January at 18:25 · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading....Cathy Rheeder Shoo thanx chris,Nancy,andre,i identify with u all,greatful for sharing,been there.
24 January at 20:19 · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading....Chris Welch Nancy...great input today.Cathy thanks,you know I have trouble with Kobus....could be he has too many peeps....or hjis securitu settings are set to fortress!!!
24 January at 21:19 · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading....Allison Choice Good morning Merrill, thanks for the mornimg bread Thy good and faithful Shepard.
25 January at 13:45 · LikeUnlike.Julie Willcox Yey!
25 January at 21:42 · LikeUnlike.Chris Welch hi Allison and Hi Julie


Shepherding-Three Spirit definitions

.by Chris Welch on Saturday, 29 January 2011 at 12:32.In a comment to Paul Anderson Walsh who is looking into shepherding as we see it now:

The three principles laid into me on shepherding are:

1. it's some sort of supernatural outworking of this scripture in Isaiah32:1-2.Behold, a (A)king (Jesus and not some sort of network pyramid apostle or pope) will reign righteously

...And princes will rule justly.2 Each will be like a (B)refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm,......

And it ain't someone dividing a church into lists of 12 names and calling them housegroups!!!!

2. It's Joseph,the surrogate Dad of Jesus,who takes all the flack but it never is HIS Son

3.Jesus Words some are born eunuchs, some become eunuchs,some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Again a eunuch takes care of the Bride....but there's no question of "false reproduction en route." A denomination is where there is "false reproduction en route" Something other than just Christ is reproducing at the same time like a virus, that clings to the work of God to make it impotent.

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Brian Mirte Longridge wow, love this, thank you Chris, especially the part "refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm" in the midst of such chaos and brokenness, a place where people should want to flock to where they do not feel used, abused, manipulated and can learn to trust again and truly live.......
29 January at 15:02 · LikeUnlike.Chris Welch Brian this was the vision of the Fisherfolk Community.If you have not already read Martha Keys poem and some accompanying music off my CD then turn up this post
http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2009/05/from-mystery-of-sin-to-mystery-of-syn...-v.htmlSee more
29 January at 15:06 · LikeUnlike.Brian Mirte Longridge sure thanks Chris will do that now....
29 January at 15:10 · LikeUnlike.

Letter to Jack Fortenberry

Jack
the USA is really interesting.
The good thing is so many are born again. In Britain a huge
number of churches function without people knowing
Jesus much at all. This had the spinoff that a lot of us
were effectively chucked out straight away as soon as we became Christians.
So we were forced to make new churches 30-40 years ago.We have consequently
had all this time to try and figure out why our renewed pyramids are not working!

Many in the States are leaving structured churches at a later state of development.
This is why the USA is different from here. But I don't think it has hit many over there yet
that all they are building is new pyramids. I really think your book could possibly take off here first.

Doing this animation stuff is like wading through treacle. The treacle of compatibility issues.
Soon it will be more normal to have flash videos with sound, but til then we have to take it out
of flash ,add the sound in Windows moviemaker, then put it back into flv format on You Tube.
It's a bit like how it was when computers started!!!

It's all getting closer though!!
Thanks for your offer about books and your concern.
Chris