Yes I am 37 - Modern Science Helps

Yes I Am by Norman Grubb

Chapter 37

MODERN SCIENCE HELPS

Though not directly affecting us, yet it is both encouraging and helpful to take a glance for a moment at the radical changes in the attitude of modern science to the material universe. I do it as an ignorant amateur, but one greatly interested.

We see how great has been the break-up of the old materialistic concepts of a generation ago, with a move over from the material to the immaterial. These concepts don’t affect our living faith, which has wholly other foundations, but the startling changes are interesting and greatly intriguing, and we would say helpful to faith.

Science has really taken a great leap to a certainty that, as the Bible said long ago, the visible is made out of the invisible. Mass is energy, and matter is really trapped light. The physicists have reached so far these days that they have passed beyond the atom to the sub-atoms, all those mysterious so-called particles; and their remarkable findings are that these can no longer be tied down to being what we would call "material particles," however minute. They can only be described as "events" where there is a conjunction of space and time; and they are moving so rapidly that they can only be spoken of as "patterns of probabilities." They can only be known by their interconnectedness with the whole, and these interconnections are inseparable, so that everything is contingent on the existence of the rest. Thus, for instance, a spin dryer, which by its motion throws out the water from the clothes, only does so "by its relation to the fixed stars"; and if the stars disappeared, the force of the rotating body would disappear also. Thus everything in the universe is interconnected. There is no such thing as empty space. All is filled with dynamic energy, just as much as visible matter is. Indeed, as Einstein said, all are "fields of vibrating energy," and what we regard as matter is "constituted by the regions of space where the field is extremely intense." All is really an unbroken wholeness, and absurd as it sounds to us in our ignorance, "a single particle contains all other particles." With that has come the new recognition, which was the basis of Einstein’s relativity theory, that all depends on us, the observers. All is relative to where we stand and how we see a moving thing. There are even suggestions (still more absurd to such as us) that all things are products of the observers, even to the effect that we could influence or change past history as well as future. Fantastic! But is not all this pointing to matter as a product of mind, and don’t we believers know Him who is the one Mind of the universe? Does it not also take us nearer to Paul’s statement that the whole groaning creation waits to find its deliverance by the manifestation of the sons of God? "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,... because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:19-21). And it was God Himself who "made the creation subject to vanity," with that glorious purpose in view.

Our present interest is that this is showing us that what we used to call "material substance" is altogether broken up today. Researches are going on into what they call a "fourth dimension," where space and time are interrelated in a way beyond our natural understanding. It is in that realm that the true origin of our material universe is found, where all is really energy. For mass is but energy divided by the inconceivable speed of the speed of light multiplied by itself (M = e/c2, or E = mc2). And we are now seeing how all this is being connected with the involvement of the observer with what is observed. It is an approach to the dimension to which we have already come, to the dimension of spirit, where Paul said long ago of Christ as Creator: "By Him all things consist [cohere, are held together]" (Col. 1:17), and that God’s revealed purpose is "to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth" (Eph. 1:10). The physicist, however brilliant, cannot, with only his natural mind, find ultimate truth through science; truth is a living Person, the living Christ, and He can only be found person to person at the foot of His cross, whether by a Nobel prize-winner or an uninformed layman. But scientists are more allies than opponents in accepting the spiritual as the real when they say that all is really light, "trapped light." For "God is Light."

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WHAT ARE WE EXPECTING? by Doug Fortune

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19)

I realize in broaching this subject which has drawn controversy because of possible excesses and error in the past, that there will be those who will not be able to hear the message. Avoid it as we may like to, nevertheless according to the Scripture, all creation is earnestly expecting something. I too know a little something about expecting. I remember waiting, expecting, planning, dreaming, making preparations, wondering... all this went on for nine months. At first there were no visible signs, as my wife was never one to begin ‘showing’ right away, but there were inward changes happening daily. Pregnancy... what an awesome, and sometimes awful, time. We knew what was coming though... we knew what we were expecting. We knew we were going to bring forth a child, a new creation into this world, something that up to that time had not yet manifested. Knowing what the expected outcome was heightened the good times and helped us get through the bad times.

Once the initial flurry of excitement faded, then there was the ‘morning sickness’. The things we ate yesterday made us sick now. In fact, we weren’t really quite sure what we could and couldn’t eat, and how it would react with our new ‘metabolism’. (For the sake of being poetic, I’ll write as though I was personally participating in the process of pregnancy. In reality, I kept on eating whatever was in sight!) Some in the Church today are experiencing spiritual ‘morning sickness’. The things we ate yesterday make us sick now. We recognize the worms in yesterdays manna; it doesn’t nourish us and frankly doesn’t even sit well on our spiritual stomach. Many times yesterdays manna results in a bad reaction with our new ‘metabolism’ of the Kingdom. The trouble with the first trimester (3 months) is that there is still some uncertainty. We know there’s more than the Charismatic/ Pentecostal theological diet, but we’re not quite sure what we should and shouldn’t eat. During this time, there’s a possibility that we may encounter some ‘spiritual meat’ that will not sit well on our stomach because of our religious conditioning, but in reality the ‘meat’ is good. Let’s make sure we’re not hasty to judge that which we are not familiar with.

Once we got through the first trimester things started going much better. There was almost an ethereal feeling of invincibility... we could do anything! By now, there was no question that we were pregnant, as we were definitely starting to ‘show’. (Funny thing is, every time my wife got pregnant, I started to ‘show’ first. I’m still not sure who gained the most weight!) Some in the Church today are in the second trimester. Mentalities are positive and expanding, and borders are being stretched to accommodate the ‘new thing’ that is forming within. This is a very productive time of Kingdom advance.

The last trimester seemed to be more serious. Things were actually getting pretty uncomfortable, even the maternity clothing didn’t fit so well. There was a restlessness that settled in. It was like the baby was really ‘in charge’ these days, we had no control. Because of waking up in the night and occasional naps during the day, it was as if we were on a different time zone that was more tied in to the pregnancy than to the clock the rest of the world watched. We were definitely ready to bring this thing to a culmination! Some in the Church today are in the third trimester. Things are uncomfortable, none of the old ‘clothing’ fits. We have transitioned in our view of time; the kairos appointed time (the time of the spiritual realm) has overtaken the chronos (the time of the natural realm), and there is a great acceleration occurring. There is a restlessness and resolve to bring this thing to a culmination in God’s timing.

Through all these stages of our being ‘expecting’, the question that keeps surfacing in my mind is, “Do we know WHAT we are expecting?” I believe that the Scripture gives us a ‘spiritual sonogram’ that we can look at to gain understanding. If we read further in our text, Romans 8:23 in the Literal Bible goes on to say, “we ourselves in ourselves groan, adoption eagerly expecting, the redemption of the body of us.” Did you catch that?... it said “the redemption of the body of US.” It seems to me that we have usually thought of that verse in terms of an individual application. However, the emphasis is on the CORPORATE body of US (plural). Hebrews11:39-12:1 explains a little further, even connecting the generations that have gone before us. Speaking of the many heroes of faith, it says, “they did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised, because God had US in mind... so that they should not come to perfection APART from US... we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses...” (Amplified Bible) Do you see the connective joining there? We are sharing in the spiritual substance of restored truth revealed through those who have gone before us, and they, in turn, share in the spiritual substance of Christ revealed through US. So, it would appear that the ‘holy thing’ that is being birthed is a corporate expression, rather than individual.

So, we know that what is being birthed is a corporate expression, but what IS it, who ARE these ‘sons of God’? “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) Here we see that Jesus Christ was the FIRSTBORN of these many sons. True, all four of my children are very different, however they all have the same DNA because they are my children. So it is with us, as children of the Father we are all different, but we have the same DNA (Divine Nature Attitude) as the Firstborn, Jesus Christ. John helps us to understand how this new DNA is made possible, “...to as many as received Him, He gave the power to BECOME SONS of God... who owe their birth neither to bloods, nor to the will of the flesh, nor to the will of man, but to God - they are BORN OF GOD!” (John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible) I believe that ‘sons of God’ are those who understand their TRUE origin because they are expressing their TRUE life, which is eternal life, the Christ-Life. “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even ETERNAL LIFE.” (1 John 2:25)

You see, the only life that is eternal is the Christ-Life. The word translated as eternal in 1 John 2:25 is aionios in Greek, meaning perpetual- also used of PAST time, or past AND future as well. The word translated as life in that verse is zoe in Greek- the spirit Life, NOT psuche in Greek, which is the soulish life. The true Life of ‘sons of God’ is the Life without beginning or end, the heritage not determined by natural lineage, because it is the very Life of Christ being lived THROUGH us. This is the Melchizedek priesthood we have been called to as sons of God. Sons of God live as kings and priests in the earth, releasing Life without beginning or end, not bound to the earthly existence of natural lineage. “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a CHANGE also of the law... Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an ENDLESS LIFE.” (Heb.7:12, 16) This is the zoe Life that Jesus lived in the earth and the zoe Life that He came to give us abundantly. (John 10:10)

If my paradigm is that the soulish life of Doug Fortune (life lived from my mind, will and emotions) will last forever so that I can do all my favorite things and the things I didn’t get to do while on earth, a sort of ‘nirvana’ in the sky, then perhaps I need to re-think things. You see, eternal Life is NOT about ME and MY mansion. Eternal Life is about Christ expressing His Life through me as I dwell in Him (the dwelling place) in the family of the Father. The only life that is eternal is the Christ-Life, the soulish life is temporal and will be consumed; “He planned for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and CONSUMMATE them IN CHRIST, both things in heaven and things on the earth.” (Eph. 1:10 Amplified Bible) Life that can be measured with a beginning and an end is not eternal.

There’s an old Negro spiritual song that comes to mind that goes something like this, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The true answer is YES, I WAS there! For Romans 6:6 tells us, “we know that our old self WAS nailed to the cross WITH Him” (Amplified Bible) In fact we were ‘there’ even before that; “He CHOSE us- actually picked us out for Himself as His own- in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world...” (Ephesians 1:4 Amplified Bible) Apparently, that makes us pretty old. So, when exactly WERE we created?... “For we are His workmanship, CREATED in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath BEFORE ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) There is another fascinating verse in Job that has often made me wonder... “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 8) If we were created in Christ and chosen before the foundation of the world, then perhaps WE were there in Christ doing the shouting? Many, including myself, have been saying that God is redefining the Church in this hour... perhaps, in reality, He is re-DIVINE-ing the Church to our original DNA.

Sons of God are those who understand that their true Life transcends all limitations of time and the natural realm, “because as He IS (that’s present tense!), so are WE in this world.” (1 John 4:17), because it IS His Life being lived through US. In essence, we are being birthed into a whole different realm of existence, a new heaven and a new earth, even while yet in this world. Our new realm of existence, our new abode is IN Christ, IN the Kingdom... for the only thing IN the Kingdom IS Christ. Yes, you read that correctly, I believe that the only thing in the Kingdom IS Christ. The only thing that really pleases God is Himself, and He is looking for the deposit of Himself to be birthed and formed within US! “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you...” (Galatians 4:19) We must realize that “without faith it is impossible to please Him:” (Hebrews 11:6), and that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). Obviously, if faith comes by hearing, then faith is something SPOKEN... hold that thought, we’ll come back to it.

It also helps to define what exactly faith is. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) Yes, faith is the SUBSTANCE, it brings what we HOPE for to manifest. And what is our HOPE? “Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech... But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the SAME IMAGE from glory to GLORY, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” AND “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the GLORY of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But WE have this treasure IN earthen vessels (Christ IN US, the hope of glory!)...”(2 Corinthians 3:12, 18 and 4:6-7)

Yes, for God who SAID let light shine out of darkness!... God SPOKE a word of destiny, a word of FAITH, into every man and it is this word of destiny, the seed-potential of Christ that we must call forth out of people. Like the Father who “called forth light out of darkness”, we must be those who release the ‘word of faith’ that is filled with the HOPE of becoming who God created us to be! “The Word, God’s message IN Christ, is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word- the message, the basis and object- of faith, which we preach.” (Rom. 10:8 Amplified Bible)

So the faith that pleases God is the word of destiny, the word of FAITH, the deposit of Christ that He has spoken into us. I’ll say it again, the only thing that really pleases God is Himself, and He is looking for the deposit of Himself to be birthed and formed within US! As this happens, we in turn are birthed into a whole different realm of existence IN Christ, IN the Kingdom. “For IN Him we live, and move, and have our being... For we are also His offspring... we are the offspring of God.” (Acts 17:28-29)

During this time of transition and birthing, when it seems that “we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed...” (2 Cor. 4:7-9), let us keep in mind that we are in the birthing of our destiny! And what is it that we are expecting?... let us remember that “to as many as received Him, He gave the power to BECOME SONS of God... who owe their birth neither to bloods, nor to the will of the flesh, nor to the will of man, but to God - they are BORN OF GOD!” (John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible) Perhaps it is time to take a deep breath and PUSH!... Come forth, Sons of God!

— with Carlene H. Appleby, John Castleman, Ravi Kapoor and 22 others.

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• Sylvia Dunn Mobley and 9 others like this.
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  Sylvia Dunn Mobley AAY-MENNN!!!!

  about an hour ago · Like · 1
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  Deanna Newlun I agree Amen!!!

  39 minutes ago · Like · 1
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  MaryJean Cordoza McMurray Very deep. Open the eyes of my heart Lord. Give me spiritual insight and understanding. I believe O Lord, I believe!

  28 minutes ago · Like · 1
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  Michael D. Cudd you will seldom if ever hear me say this but all of this is EXACTLY as I was shown and as I believe! Even as the Lord showed me this last year about on the day adam ate of "selfhood apart from God" poison his DNA went dormant and death DID enter into his body as it became mortal. It took 900+ years for that death to fully manifest but he was a walking dead man since that day. But as surely as his DNA went dormant through disobediance, through the obediance of Christ it SHALL BECOME ACTIVE! As this mortality MUST put on IMORTALITY! It IS happening NOW! When the water breaks LOOK OUT! Cause this ain't no babe in a manger but a MANCHILD! We may have decorated a baby's room FOR NOTHING! As we have gone through all the nameing proccess and the plans of what we will do and been very excited but here on this bed in travail all we can think of is BREATH! PUSH! BREATH! OUCH! AAHHHH! BREATH! PUSH! I DON'T CARE! IT WILL BE WHAT IT WILL BE! JUST VRING IT FORTH WHATEVER IT IS! AAAHHH! BREATH PUSH!

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KOG11 - Salvation Revealed by Daniel Yordy

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5 

A friend posted my Augustine article on Facebook. In the discussion, someone with whom he is conversant raised a question concerning my statement that nowhere does the New Testament connect "salvation" with a place called heaven to which we go after we die. The brother asked, "What about 1 Peter 1:4?"
I operate under the assumption that I am deceived. I realize that is an unusual assumption to hold; but we must hold it because it is true. How do I know that I am deceived? Simple. I look around me and see cruelty and death sitting upon this planet. I look in the New Testament and see the glorious liberty of the sons of God. I look at myself and see that the Christ who fills me with His glory is not noticed by that cruelty and death.

 The mind that is separate from God, that lives in the tree of the knowledge of GOOD (and evil), demands definitions, it demands ideas about God, black and white, neatly tucked in. But the mind of Christ, that lives in the tree of life, knows God, but doesn't know anything about God except by the Word made flesh, by the always speaking of God always flowing through.

It's a simple equation. There is one difference only between the manifest sons of God setting all creation free from the bondage of corruption and you and me. They believe what God says; we do not. We are not bothered by that reality. We know that God's seasons and times concerning us are perfect, and that the Daystar is arising in our hearts.
Nevertheless, if we don't KNOW that we are deceived; we will imagine that the manner in which we view all things right now is accurate - that is, exactly the same way we will see all things after creation is set free. If we don't KNOW that we are blind, we will imagine that we see. If we don't KNOW that we are ignorant, we will imagine that we know God to the fullest extent that a created being can know Him.
It's a given. When we are in the act of setting creation free, when we witness with our eyes rivers of living water flowing out of our bellies, healing and bringing life to this planet, when we participate in the removal of every demon spirit from the experience of man, when the Lord Jesus stands side by side with us, His hand on our shoulder, His words, "This one is Mine; He is My glory," in that moment, we will see all things a good bit differently than we see them right now.
What will have changed? Will all creation and God Himself as they really are change? If we see all things accurately now, nothing could be different in that day. Or - for us to see all things differently then, God and heaven and Christ and creation will all have to change. What a presumption! 
Or will it be that our own eyes open, that our own ignorance ceases, and that we have left deception behind forever?
The mind that is separate from God, that lives in the tree of the knowledge of GOOD (and evil), demands definitions, it demands ideas about God, black and white, neatly tucked in. But the mind of Christ, that lives in the tree of life, knows God, but doesn't know anything about God except by the Word made flesh, by the always speaking of God always flowing through.
That Word is always saying, "I am meek and lowly of heart. I have come to take the lowest place." How can you take such a continual speaking and turn it into some definition of God that fits the way in which we "see" things now?
What human definition of God would discover the reality that the throne John saw in Revelation 4 IS literally and only the hearts of those who believe in Jesus? My heart and yours? Only those who see the unseen could see such a thing.
God is so different from what we think. And SO IS heaven.
Peter used the word "heaven" in verse 4, then he used the word "salvation" in verse 5.
Here's what I am attempting to do all through what I write. There is an utterly false, un-Biblical definition of, especially, these two things, salvation and heaven, that is forced on the words of Scripture by the carnal religious mind that lives separately from the Word always flowing through them. People grow up with these definitions firmly ground into their brain, like an iron skull. They read the words of the New Testament and all they can see are the iron skull definitions tentacled all through every synapse connection of their grey cells.
It is impossible for anyone to see what Peter is actually saying with that iron skull fixed firmly on their minds and hearts. Paul calls it a "veil." It is darkness.
Let me explain further.
There are a number of things in Scripture that are stated as absolutes. These statements rule over everything else God says. Every way in which we approach everything else we find, both in the Bible and in creation, must be guided and governed by these statements of absolute truth.
Here is one of the most important. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3
Eternal life, the life of the age to come, ZOE Aeonian, is one thing and one thing alone. That one thing has two distinct parts. The first part is to KNOW God; the second part is to KNOW Jesus Christ whom God is always sending.
Eternal life is not anything else. It has nothing to do with "eternity" or "living forever" or "going to heaven." In fact "eternal" and "eternity" are not Biblical words, the early church did not know those terms. They are Latin and darkness - when used to rule over Christ.
Knowing God is two things. It is knowing our complete and utter union with Him, intimate heart with heart, and it is the knowing of a God who is always flowing through us to reveal HIMSELF as He is to His creation as we are. That is, Jesus Christ, whom God sends.
Any definition of "God" that is not immersed in this knowing of intimate and complete union and of sending and release has nothing to do with God, it is simply a definition of how Lucifer wants to see himself.
 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3

This is why I refuse to depart from the words God speaks when seeking to know Him. The moment we create words that sound good to our ears because they satisfy the mind that lives separately from God, we no longer know God, we now know the imagination of a serpent who likes to pretend.
1 Peter 1:3-5 (and all of chapter 1) is one of the most glorious declarations of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It says the very opposite of what many who might ask, "What about 1 Peter 1:4," hold in their mind.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
There are three primary words that Peter uses here that relate directly to the question we are discussing. Those words are: inheritance - heaven - and salvation.
Let's start with "inheritance." The New Testament is very specific on what, exactly, our inheritance is. Our inheritance is expressed in these statements, bold and underlined. Read all the words first, then go back through and read ONLY what is bold and underlined, skipping all other words. 
The meek shall inherit the earth.
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that (the Spirit of truth) may abide with you forever . . . and shall be in you.
That where I am, there you may be also - At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
You can see that 99.99 percent of our inheritance is stated by Jesus in John 14. Our inheritance is God Himself, the Son of God and the Spirit of God in intimate and utter union with us, we in Him and He in us - God making His home in us.
This 99.99 percent of our inheritance has nothing to do with where we are, whether in heaven or on earth.
When Paul said "Absent from the body and present with the Lord," he was speaking into the confinements of babes in Christ. Inside of Paul's words there in 2 Corinthians 5 he says this: "We walk by faith, not by sight."
It is by sight only that it appears to us that we are "absent" from the Lord while walking in our present bodies upon this earth. But you and I do not walk by sight; we know that such a thing is impossible. How can we be absent from the Lord when He lives in our hearts?
When immature believers lose their physical bodies, they lose the thing that has kept them blind and thus "absent from the Lord" in their limited understanding of reality.
But what is the other .01 percent of our inheritance? All things. That is, all created things, both heaven and earth, that is, all creation belongs to us, it is our property, to do with as we please. But inside of "all things," the Lord Jesus delineated specifically that this EARTH is also a significant part of our inheritance.
And that is what 1 Peter 1:3-5 is all about.
The second word Peter uses is "heaven." We must have an accurate definition of heaven. Heaven is the realm of spirit. Peter uses the Greek word ouranios which means "the heavens" or "the realms of spirit." Heaven is all around us; we live and walk in heaven, that is, in the Spirit, all the time. I cannot "go to heaven." No one has ever or will ever "go to heaven." Such a thing is outside of reality, it is a fantasy drummed up by minds that live separate from God.
Heaven and earth are two sides of the same thing. You cannot have one without the other; they never exist separately. Neither is there a "third" place called "hell." Hades, the place of the dead, is part of the heavens, that is, it exists in the realms of spirit. Everything that is in heaven finds its counterpart in the earth; everything that is in the earth is an extension of what is in the heavens.
My spirit right now lives fully and totally in heaven. I will never be in heaven more than I am right now. The problem I labor under is that, because there is still sin in my physical body, and because of sin, death, I am blind. I cannot see the obvious. People who "die" do not "go to" heaven. All that happens is they lose half of themselves. They are dead. They lose their physical body and thus cannot be seen in the earth, nor interact directly with physical things anymore. They are still alive because their spirits continue in heaven as they always were. But they are only half there, they are only half human, and that is why the New Testament says they are COMING BACK. They want their bodies back. They want to be fully human again.
God specifically and deliberately caused Jesus' physical body to ascend before the eyes of His disciples. They watched that same physical body that they had touched physically just moments before, a resurrected incorruptible physical body, flesh and bone, ascend up until it was no longer visible to their eyes. God did it that way for a definite purpose.
God wanted us to know that Jesus, the Son of God, in His eternal state, is a MAN, that He is always God manifest in the FLESH. God in the earth is the Word made flesh.
When God created us in His image, He made us exactly like Jesus, the Son of God. He is the first One of our kind. (It is only minds who live separately from God and do not know Him that would imagine I might be claiming that Jesus "began" at a certain point in "time.")
God is always speaking: Jesus, the Word made flesh, is always appearing to creation. God is always now. Time is nothing other than the eternal showing up in the earth.
And that IS what Peter says about salvation in 1 Peter 1.
Here is where we get excited.
Peter said, "Salvation ready to be revealed in the last TIME."
Salvation is all about GOD showing up in the earth and in time.
You see, when we understand reality as it is, that is, as God actually says in the New Testament, stripped of all the fantasy definitions of powerful, separated-from-God intellects from 2000 years of the serpent planting lies in the church, then my next statement makes perfect sense.
It is earth that knows salvation first, not heaven. Heaven will know salvation only as it comes to heaven from earth. Those who are in heaven are not saved, that is, they are not yet in the fullness of what salvation is.
Now, those who insist on an un-Biblical definition of the word "saved," cannot comprehend such a statement.
But how can someone who is missing half of himself call himself whole? More than that, the writer of Hebrews said that they without us cannot be made perfect. Those who are dead and in heaven do not yet know the full salvation that all creation is groaning for.
Angels were created to live in heaven only. When they show up in the earth, they have to force themselves down into a lower frequency, it is not their true being. Animals were created to live in the earth only. When they die, their spirit vanishes into the earth, they retain no heavenly form. Man was created specifically to reveal God in both heaven and earth all the time and forever.
The earth is my inheritance. It is impossible for me or any believer who knows the Lord in heaven or on earth to be content while the earth is ravaged by darkness and cruelty.
Carnality sees salvation as earthians "going to" heaven. We see the opposite.
We are heavenlians manifesting God in the earth. We are sent by our Father to reveal salvation now, inside of time and on this earth.
Now, reckon with what Peter is saying. His words are momentous. He says the same thing a few verses later about grace.
Peter is claiming here that there is both a salvation and a grace that we who are born again, we who are filled with the Holy Ghost, we who possess a heavenly (spirit) inheritance, DO NOT KNOW.
Peter was an apostle of Jesus Christ living fully in the Church age. Jesus birthed His church on the day of Pentecost through Peter's voice box!
But this apostle of Christ who walked in union with His Savior said that there is coming a SALVATION that we do not now know. Now, the words he uses to define this salvation are very specific. (This is why I so abhor "the Bible says," throwing around Bible verses without stopping for a moment to see what God actually says.)
First, Peter said, "Apokalyphthēnai." That is the "to be" verb form of the word "apocalypse," to take off the cover. And then specifically in the last time. The Greek words mean "last" and "time," but specifically "the right moment" or "the suitable time."
We know that Peter is referring specifically to this definition of salvation because he says, "to take the cover off." In other words, we know now, by faith, that Christ is our life, but we do not "see" it with our eyes - only because we are blind.
The apocalypse is nothing more than the moment God takes the cover, the scabs, the blindness off our eyes so that we can, for the first time, see the obvious.
The moment we see the obvious, we walk forth in the liberty of the sons of God, setting all creation free. And that IS the salvation ready to be revealed in the opportune TIME.
Time is an earth word; time is not a heaven word. Time is heaven showing up in earth.
Salvation. Full and complete salvation. The Lord Jesus revealed in all of His glory through us is seen in the earth first before it is seen anywhere else. We know that heaven has to wait until the next age before they can begin to comprehend the salvation that we know.
Salvation. This salvation ready and willing and waiting to be revealed in the opportune time is not for us. It is not "our getting saved." Christ is our life right now. We are utterly in Him and He fills every part of us RIGHT NOW absolutely and totally. Our present ignorance defines nothing.
This great salvation Peter is setting our eyes upon IS US invading earth. We are the Salvation of God, Christ in us and as us and through us, bursting upon the present scene, in this most opportune of times, the "last" time of this present age.
We are the sending of God. We are about our Father's business. We are heaven invading earth. We are the full and final salvation of God now being revealed upon this earth.
Let's get our eyes fixed on the real nature of reality.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Romans 8:18-22
"The glory which shall be revealed in us" IS the exact same thing as Peter's "salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Now, let's fix our understanding on the nature of reality. All creation, heaven as much as earth, is right now groaning and laboring in birth pangs. Heaven as well as earth has set its hope eagerly, eagerly, eagerly in great agony of travail, in a heavy labor under great bondage and darkness - all creation, Heaven and Earth - filled with a desperate, desperate looking and hoping towards WHAT?
Salvation.  
Which is?
The glorious liberty flowing out of the bellies of you and me, the sons of God, the rivers of living water.
This is reality. Everything other than this salvation that poses and struts inside of broken, fallen "Christianity" is nothing more than the fantastic imaginings of very powerful and very dark minds.
This is not a game we are in. "Go, go, go to heaven." Paul said, "Don't ever say that."
Why? Because Christ, Salvation, Reality, is inside of you, in your mouth and in your heart - right now.
And Salvation is the moment when He is revealed through us IN the earth, first, and then to heaven, after. "Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

Deliver the Creation by Daniel Yordy

God has pressed me the last few weeks with a topic that clearly fits next in the Kingdom of God series, but one also that must move me out of my comfort zones. This is a topic I have kept "on my shelf" for a while, but God has pressed me to draw that topic off the shelf and bring it into the present revelation of Christ.

For one, I have knocked up against an issue of contention among some, and for another, good people have asked me specifically for clarification on these issues. I prefer to write in answer to a genuine question to one individual person more than writing from a "need" to "correct" what I see as blindness. Thus I include those questions in these letters. (It will take three letters, at least.)

"I have heard so much opposing information in regards to the practice of deliverance from demons. The Bible does not go into near as much detail and process as I see being promoted by certain ministries. On the other hand some say that it is impossible for God and the devil to co-habitate in a believer.  My question is does a believer have to go through decades (maybe this is extreme) of casting demons out of them to finally walk out their destiny and clean up their past?  Is it really just a matter of what people are willing to believe? What do you know of this?" Jim

And again: "I know this is an important question for today as many are coming into a new revelation of grace.  I have discussed this with many people who find this a murky area and are seeking clarity.  I have been asking for clarity.  Since you will address your answer to my question specifically for the purpose of sharing it abroad I would like to add a couple curious things I have witnessed. 

"1. I have seen during the course of 'ministry' a person who I considered to be a believer speak in a strange way as if it was another person. 2. I have seen during corporate worship a person begin to scream and flail about. My impression was that it was a known believer.

"I understand that these could have been demonic entities. Or perhaps the people only thought they were believers or acted like they were. But I am also aware that the power of suggestion and belief is tremendous.  Someone could act in accordance with programming. Is this not how hypnotists operate?" Jim

Thank you, Jim, these are important and critical questions, even more so as we seek God to fulfill the Father's will in the earth in all the fulfillment of the Covenant and the deliverance of this earth and all mankind from this age of human folly and all the horrors it has brought.

We do not flail the air blindly, but neither do we sit in the passive unbelief that says, "Well God will just take care of everything." We are sons; we are responsible agents with God, He in us and we in Him. God will do nothing apart from us; we can do nothing apart from Him. Yet the whole saying of "apart" has become for us irrelevant and non-existent. In all things we know the One who is always filling us full and flowing out of us to heal and set free.

Let's begin with some pretty clear and graphic Scriptures.

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease . . . Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:1 & 8

So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine." Matthew 8:31

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:28

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues . . . Mark 16:16

I am a holistic thinker, that is, I must understand things from the whole to the parts. If I cannot see the whole, then I do not know what to do with the parts. Thus I must always begin with the larger picture before coming down into specifics.

We MUST begin with this absolute certainty. We are BLIND, and we cannot see. We are IGNORANT, and we do not know. Specifically, even though we are half spirit and half of our being lives and walks in heaven all the time, yet, because of the mercy of God, we remain utterly blind to the realms of spirit.

Thus, when most Christians describe or think about "heaven," they think only in terms of what God says about the age to come, or things that are symbolic of Christ and the church. Heaven, as it is right now, is NOT in the age to come. The age to come has not started; it is "to come." Heaven is as much in the present age as earth is; those Christians who are in heaven only are certainly not in the age to come. The age to come begins with a marked and significant event, the first resurrection.

You see, when you eliminate Jerome's "eternal" from the New Testament and replace it with the word used by Jesus and the apostles, "aeon," or "an age," or, "a period of time," in all places where it is found, then the understanding of many things must change to fit the same understanding of those things held by the early church.

Heaven right now is as blighted as earth, only more so. God has no intention of saving heaven as it is. He intends fully  to create a new heaven at the same time that He creates a new earth, thus destroying the old by swallowing it up into the new. That new heaven and that new earth begins with us as a seed, but grows out from us to include all the works of God's hands, each in its time.

 People can say, "Well, that's not true," all they want, but what they cannot do is prevent some foolish little saint who takes God at His word as if it is true, from blowing their unbelief right out of the water with reality.

There are three truths of absolute reality that are essential for us to know in all fullness. Gale force winds are blowing in the heavens right now like never before; we must be anchored in reality as it is to hold against the storm. I will list those things here and then go more into depth on each.

1. Heaven and earth are utterly connected. There is nothing physical that does not come out of spirit powers in the heavens. And there is nothing in the heavens that does not have its direct and immediate counterpart in the earth. It is not a matter of here is one and there is another. Rather, sustaining life (or death) force comes out of this or that spiritual reality in the heavens and gives immediate and constant shape to its counterpart in the physical and on the earth.

2. ALL reality in God, every word that comes out of His mouth, passes through three specific steps BEFORE it is known visibly, outwardly, and permanently. God shows us these three specific steps in every possible way in the Bible and in nature. The primary metaphor God uses, however, is the conception, the gestation, and the birthing. Everything God speaks begins as a seed. It is planted in the darkness, in the womb, where it grows inside of faith. Then, when it is fully formed, it is birthed into full reality.

3. We are NOT "getting saved." We are sons of God sent into the earth by our Father in just the same way He sent Jesus and for the same purposes. ALL of our thoughts are about how we in God and God in us in all fullness are accomplishing our shared purposes together upon this earth, bringing SALVATION to the entire creation. We continually think about how the river of life from the throne of God, our hearts, MUST flow out of us in specific and tangible ways to set the captives free and to deliver ALL creation, both heaven and earth, from the bondage of corruption. As the elect of God, we ourselves are not "connected" to things in the heavens, either good/godly or evil/demonic, but rather, we come out of the Father's heart separate from the heavens. Our direct connection with God is a shared heart of daring boldness. Our spirit lives utterly in the Holy Spirit and thus walks through heaven only from there. 

You can see that, if these three things be truth, then the human mind and experience, blind to and ignorant of these three realities, must be just like the six blind men from Hindustan, grabbing onto this and that without a clue of what anything is about.

Now, you say, "Many are coming into a new revelation of grace." This is beyond wonderful, and if all anyone sees is the glorious wonder of God's grace and love, they are absolutely and forever blessed. It is not necessary for most to see the purpose of all things. Their time will come. I do not say that condescendingly and I abhor any spirit of "elitism." God has dealt with that thing ferociously in me. Rather, it is for their sakes, beloved and precious to Jesus, that we give ourselves to the calling of God upon our lives.

Yet many teachers of grace and love and Christ-our-life place a period after what they say. It is never a wise thing to put a period on God. God doesn't do well with periods; there's something in Him that finds it necessary to blow periods away. No one has the power to stop God from doing what He says through those who honor Him by believing what He says. People can say, "Well, that's not true," all they want, but what they cannot do is prevent some foolish little saint who takes God at His word as if it is true, from blowing their unbelief right out of the water with reality.

Everything is about purpose; everything is about what God wants out of this whole thing called creation. And we know what He wants because He tells us: many sons, just like Jesus, walking together as one body, revealing God to all creation as He really is.

And how does God obtain these many sons just like Jesus, walking together as one body, revealing God to all creation forever?

That's easy; He tells us. Two things. First is the atonement of Jesus, from the prayer that birthed the Kingdom, John 17, to Jesus' sitting down at the right hand of the Father upon the throne of God, and WE IN HIM. Second is that God has placed us, we who are seated right now upon the throne of God, into and under a total mess and then He says, "Hey, let's clean this mess up, you and Me together."

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Romans 8:19-22

Now, over the last few weeks, God has brought me in contact with a teaching that says there is no personal Satan, nor any demons. That is, no angel ever was given freedom by God, and no angel ever took that freedom to go his own way. Maybe they don't think there are angels, either, nor any Spirit reality. This idea assumes that "sin" is nothing other than a way of mental thinking, reserved entirely to the human brain. Think positive and "sin" vanishes. This is "Christian Science" from 150 years ago in modern form.

I know that God wanted me to be aware of this teaching; I also know that it is 100% a waste of time to address it. Worse than that, any attempt to address this teaching, point by point, would do nothing other than divert our spirits away from the purpose and intentions of God. That I will not do.

Thus I will simply state my understanding and go on in the purposes of my Father. Those who wish to follow that other teaching may certainly do so. I do not go with them.

All humans are persons; all animals are persons. That is, each one is an individual with his or her own will, mind, and emotions. It is the same in the heavens. I suspect that there are as many species of angels as there are species of animals. All are personal. Even the rocks sing God's praise and the trees clap their hands!

God is love MEANS that all created beings are free of Him; it means that He highly regards and respects the integrity of each individual one. God has as much respect for Satan today as He did for Lucifer in the beginning.

God is light MEANS that God always tells the truth to every created being, "You are free of Me; I will not force you in any way."

But God also HATES evil actions that bring pain and suffering into the lives of others. God's hatred is always carried inside His love, but it is as real as God.

There is no such thing as "evil." "Evil" does not exist as something in itself.

The will is the first part of person. Thus, "Not My will, but Thine be done," MUST BE the first step of the atonement.

Sin begins as the decision of a moral being to steal what belongs to another for some perceived self-gain. Yet the sin shows itself only as the ACTION of theft.

Now, I am a person. As a person, separate from the atonement of Christ (which I am not, but let's assume for understanding's sake), I am free of God. I, by my will, my thinking, and my feeling, I am free from God. But God gave me, as a human, two bodies. (Animals get only one body, a physical body, and angels get only one body, a spiritual body.) If I wish to do, I can do only through one or the other of those two bodies. (Actually, our two bodies always work together, that is, the body without the spirit is dead, and the spirit without the body is simply a disembodied spirit, having lost its other vital part, though it continues alive in the heavens for a temporary season.) I can do through my physical body in order to operate in the earth, and I can do through my spiritual body in order to operate in the heavens.

Both bodies are God's property, not mine, as Paul said in 1 Cor. 6. In order to steal from my neighbor, I must first steal one or the other of those two bodies from God in order to commit my acts of wickedness.

All sin is theft. All sin begins with theft from God and then proceeds outwardly to steal what rightly belongs to another, whether life or property or integrity.

All sin is a moral act. Sin is NOT a mental state. James makes it clear that sin begins in the human as a mental temptation. "Every man is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed." Jesus was tempted in all ways just like us, that is, Jesus was drawn away by his own lusts and enticed. But that temptation does not become "sin" until the act. Thus Jesus, though tempted as thoroughly as we are, never acted out from that temptation.

- We ourselves do not live in sin. We live in the atonement; we live in Christ who does not know sin. - 

More than that, all sin begins in the heavens first. I'm not speaking just of the temptation, but of the act of sin itself. Every individual act of sin in the earth begins first in the heavens.

If a man rapes a little girl, that horrific act of theft, robbing her of everything holy and pure in body and in soul, began first in the heavens and proceeds entirely through a continual direct connection with the heavens. That act of sin operates entirely by a spirit of disobedience. That spirit is a morally responsible person, fully aware of his own wickedness, and taking full pleasure in the horror and distress inside the little girl. I say this graphically because it is graphic. Now, if the man had refused the temptation, that spirit would not have moved through his sin. But the moment he gave himself to the temptation, he was now only an agent of the demon.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Ephesians 2:1-3

Yes, the desires are in the flesh and in the mind, desires created by God and holy, but turned now to perversion and theft, wanting to steal from others what is offered to us freely by God. This is not a "mental state," but comes entirely out of spirit powers in the heavens.

Fallen man has no identity in himself (there is never a "self"). Everything he or she is proceeds out from the spirit of disobedience. However, there is NO "universal" spirit of darkness; rather, there is a hierarchy consisting of billions of individual spirits tied together by fear and lust. A "cosmic mind" or "force" other than the Holy Spirit, does not exist.  

Whenever I read through those who claim that "sin" is only a mental view of the mind and the lower "parts of God" and that our only goal is to switch over to the "right way of thinking" and thus be positive and happy, my spirit, irrespective of my mind, cries to me, "Unclean, unclean."

All the "Christ, Christ" and "Love, love" thrown in speaks nothing to me. I lived in Christian community for eighteen years. Those who shout, "Love, love" the loudest in the public arena very often show themselves to be the most viciously "not love" and "not Christ" in the pinch. In community you learn that the real is quiet and deep and that public exclamation is, so very often, not real at all.

Whenever something is spiritually unclean, words are not the method of counteracting it, rather, the demonstration of the Spirit and power.

(Now, I am answering your question in this way because Christ is always personal, thus I must speak personally. Listing doctrinal points cannot ever be Christ. The only way my answer could be Christ is if it is, fully, personal. Yet my expression of the personal always comes out of what God actually says, a contention that you must prove out for yourself by both Word and Spirit, for Christ is also fully personal in you.)

I find a huge limitation in so many who teach on all these things including grace and "Christ as us." They do not know the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and they do not speak in tongues.

God has set aside the outer court at this time. Those who know God only by their minds, no matter what they "say," or how much they "believe," cannot be part of this pin-point work of "Gideon's 300," as I shared at the end of "The Matrix of the World." That is not a problem; their time will come. But the hour is too critical to speak to that realm; their only hope is in the birthing.

The word is the conception. Nothing can grow in the womb except it begins as the word God speaks. Yet the conception, by itself, cannot be anything. Thus people see that "word-only" just doesn't do it. Then, for some stupid reason I cannot comprehend, their conclusion is to throw out the Bible!

Without the Word, there is NO Holy Spirit, though there are plenty of other spirits eager to take His place, fully capable of "feeling" very loving and spiritual, fully capable of speaking "Christ."

The purpose of conception is gestation. And the purpose of gestation is the BIRTHING!!

Gestation is all about Pentecost and the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit.

Let me explain the critical importance of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit, including and especially speaking in tongues, that is, praying in the Spirit. Those who choose not to know God in the gestation CANNOT know Him in the Birthing.

The pattern of God's word is so very clear. Those who wander from the path do so only because they do not measure all things by the patterns.

The Promised Land was filled with giants and open, savage, warfare. The heavens are dark, blighted, and filled with powers hostile to God. Yet you and I are created by God with re-created spirits to live and walk in those same heavens. God abandons no part of His creation to hostility and darkness ever, the idea is absurd. Our spirit, living fully in the heavens right now, exists fully. Yet God has not opened our eyes to see, not yet - BECAUSE He is kind!  (God's method always is to birth the new; the old is "destroyed" as it is swallowed up in the new.)

What female egg, infused with the male sperm or not, can survive on its own outside the womb? No word spoken by God can survive except it pass first through gestation and the birthing.

Everything is about the birthing. If an egg passes out of the womb without gestation, we call that a miscarriage. Early miscarriages cause momentary sorrow, but are soon forgotten. All those who refuse gestation, because they imagine all they need is "the word," cannot be birthed. God never does anything "to" us apart from our permission; He respects us too much ever to do that. None of this "locks them out," all things are in their time, each one in his appointed season.

My spirit is blind to the heavens in which it (I) fully lives. The majority of Christians are 100% ignorant of the heavens in which they live. God has given us a specific means by which our spirits are to grow step-by-step into a full knowing of all heavenly reality.

Speaking in tongues (praying and singing in the Spirit) over many years both in spiritual warfare and in the groaning and travail of the Spirit in seeking to know the living God serves a MOST Necessary purpose. It enlarges our spirit to know the heavens in which we live and the power and demonstration of the Spirit. Praying and singing in the Spirit is not the only thing that accomplishes this purpose, thought it is one of the most powerful tools God has given us. Faith, prophecy, true praise and worship in the Spirit, miracles, spiritual warfare, all the other gifts and anointings of the Holy Spirit serve the same purpose when we move in them according to God's heart.  

I have never understood people who say they don't need what the Holy Spirit offers! My mind just goes blank when they say such things; I do not know what they say. 

Let me give a clear example. Many people who rejoice in Christ-our-life have latched onto the phrase, "God all in all." They use that phrase to assume, against the clear teaching and pattern of the entire Bible, that it's all over with. End of story. God is now, fully, all in all. Thus, they find it necessary to eliminate the entire teaching of "battle" from the entire fabric of the Bible, Old Testament and New.

God says, "God all in all" two times in the New Testament, both through Paul. In one instance it is present tense; in the other it is clearly future, limited entirely to a state of reality that comes ONLY after all creation is brought into submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews says, "We do NOT NOW see all things under His feet."

Because we hold to the patterns of God's word, these two forms of "God all in all" make perfect sense to us. Everything God speaks begins as a seed. Everything found in the final form is found fully inside the seed. But the seed must "fall into the ground and die," that is, the egg must pass through the gestation inside the womb before what God really means is birthed into the full reality of all creation. Thus we call those things that "be not" as though they are.

Pentecost, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Place, the gifts and operations of the Holy Spirit, ARE the gestation. But especially the altar of incense, which is ONLY an experience over time directly with the Holy Spirit.

You cannot get from the outer court to the Holiest of All without passing through the Holy Place. You cannot get from conception to birthing without passing through gestation.

You cannot get from being born again to standing upon the earth as the manifestation of the sons of God setting all creation free without Christ being formed in you, that forming is the direct work of the Holy Spirit through particular things.

The Holy Spirit is a Person who works specific things in us only through our will. We receive in our lives all the purposes of the Holy Spirit only if we ask, as Jesus said, with earnestness and sincerity of heart, never letting go until we know ALL that God says.

The whole point of everything is found at the junction of the Word God speaks, a woman in travail, and the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:1-5)

The birthing is everything. Without the birthing, the conception, as glorious as it is, fails. Without the birthing, the gestation, as wondrous as it is, fails.

The first thing we see in the birthing is the face of the serpent. We have a job to do, God in us and we in God, and we come out of the womb running.

Thy people are ready and willing and able in the day of Thy power. (My paraphrase)

Do you see, Jim, how understanding the purpose and patterns of God makes everything fit. Everything makes sense when we allow all that God speaks to be birthed inside of us.

Only now can we come to the next important question.

Why demons? Why on earth would God have a creation filled with nasty things called demons? Why on earth would God place us under the horrific vanity of a life of continual assault by demons?

That's easy. God tells us why.

HOPE!!

I have the integrity to honor God with the conviction that He knows what He is doing and this place we find ourselves in IS the only way for God to have what He wants.

(I am also convinced that evil exists entirely because God is love and truth, that is, God never binds any created being and God always tells them they are free. Thus the only way God could ever have a creation is to win it all back through the love of Jesus, one person at a time.)

I honor God with the firm conviction that He alone is just and right in ALL things and that every present difficulty is carried fully and only inside His love.

Yet God is also just and He does not have the right to strip justice away from those who have suffered the theft of any part of what is theirs by another. I believe that inside the Blood, inside the forgiveness of God, there still MUST BE a full and total restitution of all things stolen in the darkness. But that is another topic.

God HOPES that out of this mess will come a company of sons, walking together as one, with Him and each other, setting all creation free.

In that HOPE, God sent His Word into the darkness. God fully expects that Word to come back to Him having birthed itself in and as the many.

I see three essential things inside the gestation in the womb of the church.

1. Interaction with God through the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit inside our interaction with other believers in Jesus.

2. Interaction with God through spiritual warfare, through the demonstration of the Spirit in power, through groanings of the Spirit, through victory over spiritual powers of darkness, together with other believers in Jesus.

3. Interaction with God through all the circumstances of life He appoints for us, the wonderful and the difficult, the ups and the downs, placing ourselves and all that we are and go through utterly inside of Jesus inside of the Father, particularly in our interaction with other believers in Jesus.

By themselves the gifts of the Spirit, spiritual warfare, and the processes of life by which the altar of incense takes us all apart are, in themselves, of little value. What makes them of value is our interaction with God in faith through those things with our eyes focused on the birthing, carrying fully in our hearts all those who belong to Jesus - in the womb of the church.

"He teaches my fingers to fight and my hands to make war." David

"For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit - And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Paul

"To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne." Jesus

Casting out demons was a normal and natural part of Jesus' ministry and of the ministry of the apostles. It is a normal and natural part of our lives and ministry.

Whole legions of modern scientific experts and Bible textual experts can all trot out to explain just exactly why all that just ain't so. The hilarious thing is that all that it takes is one simple-hearted saint who just takes God at His word, walking together with Him, to shame all the experts with the simple demonstration of power. In fact, that's exactly what we are called to do.

I have reached the end of eight pages without answering any of your specific questions, Jim. I intend to answer them, but I can see that it will take two more articles. First, "In the Womb of the Church," in which I will share my own experience in these things. Then, "Set the Captives Free," in which I will answer your questions with specifics as I presently understand them.

The whole point of everything is found at the junction of the Word God speaks,

a woman in travail, and the face of the serpent.

People may not understand what is meant by these words and by the symbols of John's vision, but I will say them again and again until their spirits open and they see and know the power of God's reality and the cry of their hearts becomes only, "Holy, holy, holy."