TEF15 - Restitution by Daniel Yordy

Why am I sharing all this? Because Christ is always and only made personal through us, and because the future will be the same as the present, as the present really is in truth. That is, the Great Story of God does not change just because someone loses their earthly body and lives in heaven only. And the Great Story of God does not change with the passing of human folly.
So yes, there is no question in my mind that when God restores all things stolen in the darkness, He will do so through us His body, in very specific and personally meaningful ways. That has nothing to do with atonement for sin. – By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Rather, it is the justice of God, the restoration of all things.God is not a static vibration, oozing good vibes. He is action in Person; He is adventure forevermore.God is service; He is practical and detailed love out-poured. D. Yordy

The original of this post and alternative audio formats plus PDF download is available here,where you may also contact Daniel and give feedback.

© Daniel Yordy 2013

I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. I am He who lives and was dead. A song from Revelation 1
 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19-21
In my letter, “Judgment in Heaven,” I spoke concerning the restoration of all things. The word means “to give back.” God will restore everything that was ever stolen. BUT, there is a big difference. God now has a body, and He does all things through His body.
In my previous letter I speculated concerning that restoration, God bringing all things back into balance, the fulfillment of justice in all respects. First, it is not possible for us to know what the future looks like for real. We can only surmise from our present limited knowledge of God. Yet all of our surmising comes out of present seeing, and our present seeing is pressed from all sides by the darkness and unbelief of separated Christianity.
Here is what I said:
And the rapist who found mercy in the terror of judgment? I am convinced that in the ages to come, out of that forgiveness, out of the Blood of the Lamb, out of the rivers of living water flowing out of his belly, he will return to that girl double of what he ever took from her.
God is just.
Some will need many ages of time to meet the requirements of God's justice.
Being a son of God does not remove us from the requirements of God's justice in any way. In fact, being a son of God does the opposite. It is the only possible way by which we can meet the requirements of God's justice. That is, it is the only possible way we can “subdue all things,” that is, overcome, that is, bring all things into subjection under His feet. The heart of Christ in us desires to make all things right for each individual person.
You see, God does not want us to live by the law, for that is only death for us. But the law is still of God. And although the law limited human justice to take back only that which was stolen, an eye for an eye, yet God Himself requires the return of double. All sin, all evil, is theft. All theft will be payed back double by the thief to the individual from whom that thing, whatever it was, was stolen. God has plenty of ages yet to come for all that to take place. Physical death cannot remove the requirements of justice.
All things will be brought back into a correct balance. All things will be restored.

~~~

A dear reader wondered how this view of justice fits in with the atonement. How could some future action atone for the wicked sin of rape? How could a rapist ever atone for his crime by some future payback?
God is changing the way we think. I hope to be a part of that, that as God transforms my thinking, so, by His grace, He would use my little bit as He transforms yours. Thus I am so grateful for this sister's questions, both because many others will hold similar questions and because responding to them in the gracious Spirit of Christ also enables me to see Him more clearly.
Atonement and restoration are two absolutely different things separated from each other by thousands of years.
Look at the line from Revelation 1 again: I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.
Do you see that little phrase “was dead”? All atonement for all things in all ways at all times is PAST tense. All atonement happened for all, at this moment that I write, 1984 years and two months ago. There is no other atonement.
Sin is not and cannot be an issue. Yes, sin must be dealt with in the heart, it must cease, but sin is no issue with God. All sin is absolved.
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2
Consider a rapist attempting to atone for his sins by serving the girl he raped. It would be offense piled upon offense, an abomination to her and to God.
All thought of the penance of Catholicism must be banished from our minds. All “penance” is an offense; it is gross unbelief. It is piling sin upon sin. A rapist, attempting to atone for his sins, is simply adding sin to sin. He does not know Christ; he is yet bound in his sins. His motive is self-pity; his actions are disgusting.

Do you see that little phrase “was dead”? All atonement for all things in all ways at all times is PAST tense.

As I wrote concerning the justice of God in the restitution of all things, no element of atonement or “penance” was anywhere near my thinking. All I saw was rivers of joy; the joyous ministry of Christ.
Another problem is that we still so easily think separation. One who was formerly a rapist is that no more. All that is gone in “was dead.” He is a new man in Christ; he is the body of Christ. He is the revelation of God; God fills him full and moves through him in all ways and at all times.
As I shared concerning the justice of God in the restoration of all things, I was thinking only out from full union with Christ, that all that He does, He does as and through us.
Let's speculate a little further concerning the future. As I said, I cannot see clearly. But one thing is for sure: I see much more clearly now than I did when I viewed the future out from Nicene Christianity only.
First, all sin is theft. But there is sin and there is theft. There is a huge difference between the two. The sin is a moral offense, a breaking of God's law, a wicked deed of darkness and evil. The theft is possessing something that belongs to another. Finding full atonement for the sin part of things does not give back what was stolen.
Let's make it small. Say I steal ten bucks from my brother at church. He left his wallet lying on a table, and when he wasn't looking, I filched a ten dollar bill out of it. Later, I spent that ten bucks on a hamburger and coke. The money is gone. Now, let's say that I am convicted of my sin. I go to the brother and confess. I ask forgiveness. We pray and together place my sin into the atonement of Christ, into the forgetfulness of God. My brother forgives me, and we are restored into joy.
Do I keep the ten bucks?
You see, there is no more sin. There can be no shadow of penance. Does that mean I get to keep the ten bucks?
Do I owe my brother ten dollars? Not really. Owe no man anything except to love one another.I do not owe him a thing. But my brother needed that ten bucks. It belonged to him. And it wasn't “ten dollars” that I stole, but rather the thing the brother would have bought, but now had to forgo, something that was his possession, but was now lost to him. More than that, the ten dollars was part of the opportunity of Christ God had placed in the brother's hands, that he might reveal Christ. Everything God designed us to be and placed into our hand is for the revelation of Jesus, even if it's eating lunch. If someone steals that, we no longer have the opportunity to reveal Christ through it, however small it may be.
Here I am, a new man in Christ, filled with all the fullness of God, love abounding in my heart, rivers of life flowing out of me. How is it that love would not delight in giving my brother, not just his ten bucks, but much more?
Justice is God; God is love; justice is nothing other than the outworking of love. We cannot think of justice in any other way. The restoration of all things is the joyous operation of love; it is the river of life.
There is no doubt that the vague ideas about our futures that we have held inside of separation cannot be true. We should never be surprised that the Lord would, from time to time, blow them quite out of the water.
Separation is huge; it is Adam's coloring of everything. That separation is found only in the imagination of our minds, in the continual telling of our own false story. It is the ego, the “I,” created by a story not Christ. Yet that story of separation in the human mind has colored everything with separation.
Two things bound up in separation in the imaginative stories the Christian mind has created are heaven/earth and present earthly life/future heavenly life. Let's see if we can bring them back together.

Heaven and earth are intrinsically tied together. One could say they are mirror images of each other. We can see that in the human part of heaven, our spirit is larger than our body, yet it permeates all through our body and relates to it at every point. It is more than the energizer of the body; it is related in far more complicated ways, organ by organ and cell by cell. Yet our spirit is utterly heaven, it lives and moves in heaven and not earth. Our body is utterly earth, it lives and moves in earth and not heaven. Yet the two, our spirit and our body, are married. Yet, they are completely different in substance and operation. Yet they are very much alike, when seen from a heavenly perspective. And we, our soul, draws from and moves out through both equally all the time.
We can understand that in this way. I have read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy twice. I consider it the greatest work of creative fiction ever written. It is a unique story with its own characters and plot. However, if you gave me the book Anna Karenina without telling me who wrote it, it would not take me long at all to look up and say, “This is written by Leo Tolstoy.” How could I say that? It is a completely different story with different characters and plots.
Very simple, the evidence of authorship runs through both. The same mind and heart that formed one formed the other.
Heaven and earth are of different substance, yes, they have differing characters and plot taking place in them, yes. But the same author designed both, and His mind and heart permeates both to equal measure.
Yet in the separated mind of Christianity, heaven and earth are just completely other. On earth we work, we live in houses, we play, we buy and sell, we eat and drink. In heaven, we sit on clouds, play harps and exude goodness. On earth, events are measured by time; we plan and we execute. In heaven, everything just is, instantly. There is no doing. (I am repeating human non-thinking and misconception.)
Heaven, in the mind of most, us utterly, insipidly, painfully BORING.
That is not possible.

There is no doubt that the vague ideas about our futures that we have held inside of separation cannot be true. We should never be surprised that the Lord would, from time to time, blow them quite out of the water.

Think of all your unfulfilled desire. If I could list all the things I have tasted and love to do and really want to do in fullness, you would be amazed. Yet I suspect you have your own list. That list is God in you. He designed you for endless adventure and doing.
But most of all, He designed you for service.
I love to design and build houses. Now, I walk through Lowes and feel a vast nostalgia over something that is so familiar to me, yet no longer in my life. I hated building houses for money, working for some contractor. I loved building houses for people whom I loved.
I like teaching college, but I MISS junior high kids, the 8^th through 10^th grade range. There is an emptiness in my heart that can be filled only by them. The problem is, I just can't handle too many of them at once.
God created us to serve, yet to serve with all the innate expression of our ability, to serve in the many ways that affirm us as the individuals of His design.
The future for us is filled full with service to others in all the creative exuberance of the expression God made us to be, in all wonder and ceaseless adventures and unexpected journeys, yet always coming home to family and friends and goodness.
I am so very much like my mother was, both filled with a heart of love, but with an outer form that is simply incapable of speaking good things to others. My mother never once spoke an encouraging word to me. I found it nigh to impossible to respond to her in that way either. Yet we visited warmly in the goodness of the Lord; yet to call her on the phone was something I just could not do.
I could not have survived adulthood without the continual assistance freely given to me by my mother. Yet I am not the only one of her children who must say that. She was generous beyond measure, sacrificing herself always for us. Yet, when I could no longer hold a full-time job, I could no longer pay her back. Neither could I respond through the enormous block that existed in the inability of both of us, inability carried utterly inside of Jesus.
Why would I be prevented from devoting hundreds of years of future service to my mother, paying her back double and again for all I could not do inside my earthly limitations? I do not condemn either me or my mother for our earthly inabilities. Yet part of my hope is for that time yet to come when, as a brother in the Lord to a sister in the Lord, I can serve her double for all she ever did for me.
You see, life does not end when we die. Life continues right on from the day we are in our physical bodies to the next day when we are not. If you die in a car crash, you will get out of the car. You will look back and be astonished at seeing someone still in the seat where you just were. You will not understand why the people rushing up to help will not talk to you. Your life will continue on without a break. Yet your expression will be confined to heaven only, you will no longer be able to express yourself in the earth.
You will pursue what is presently in your heart. There is no huge and instantaneous change into something totally other. The development of your own person in God will continue in the same way as before.
I fully intend to build many beautiful houses in the future, for myself and for others – community is shared life. I intend to grow wonderful gardens and raise lots of chickens, for myself and for others. I never envision myself alone. I fully intend to travel the world and the universe, stopping and visiting along the way, meeting new folks, embracing good friends I haven't seen in some time. I fully intend to teach school, to fill my classroom and my heart with young people.

You see, life does not end when we die. Life continues right on from the day we are in our physical bodies to the next day when we are not.

Listen, a chicken came out of the same Heart and Designer as any harp on a cloud. And I glorify God as much by tending a flock of chickens as I would by any “heavenly” convolutions or vibrations someone might imagine.
Yet all service comes out of the river of life flowing out of our bellies. Yet the word of Christ through James cannot be dismissed, even ten thousand years away from the time of human folly. (My paraphrase) If your brother is in need, don't just say, “Be blessed,” give him what he needs, for goodness' sakes.
And that is the whole point of restoration.
Everything stolen in the darkness is something that BELONGED to the person from whom it was stolen. It was something in particular given by God to that person as an essential element of the revelation of Christ through them. The Covenant of God is to restore all that was lost. We're not talking about a general, “Oh, I love you, that's enough, don't expect anything else.” Such is not God. God restores double what was stolen, yet He does so by the only means available to Him – through His body, that's you and me.
A life for a life?
YES!!! The whole message of the gospel is found in these words:
 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16
Even a murderer is not prevented from restoring, out of a river of joy, all he ever stole from the one he once murdered, and to do so as Christ at the heart of the gospel. Why would we imagine that the love of God, filling the heart of one who, in former times, murdered, would not desire with all fervent joy, to restore love and life, over and over, to the one from whom he robbed so much?
May I suggest that you read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. This little book informs my thinking very much, not literally, but as a way of seeing and understanding.
Over and over, the one sent by God to draw the lost soul out of their false story of self, was the very one who had offended that lost soul in life on earth. The reason is, so very often, the false story the lost soul has woven all around their hurting self, is hatred against that very person. Thus, the only way they could possibly escape their false story was through the love coming now through that same person who had done them so much wrong on earth.
Read The Great Divorce to gain very specific insights into the psychology of the false stories of self different people tell themselves and how those stories are counteracted by the true stories coming from those who have escaped their own false story, and who have escaped all the doing that comes out from that false story.
You see, there was a brief time in my life when I “blamed” my mother for my troubles. If I have ever sinned, that was sin. Yes, it's true; my mother never once spoke an encouraging word to me. And if I had wrapped my story all around that lack in her, weaving the horror of my self into an endless weeping over what she “stole” from me, then the only grace that God could have sent to me would have been my own mother, by love poured out, drawing me out, bit by bit, from the insanity of my own false, but wicked story.
And that new story of love poured out would have come through the open and laughing acknowledgment of her own inability. And you know what, that may yet happen. I tell you what, were my mother to come to me now, together with my father, laughing in joyous acknowledgment of their own inabilities, yet speaking Christ all through me as I am, if I were remaining in any kind of limitation, that sure would bust me out.
One of the largest deliverances of my life came by writing an assignment in my Family Lifecourse in college. We were to write about how our parents had raised us. I wrote something along these lines. “My father was unable to express his love for me with words, yet I know now that he did love me with all his heart and gave so much of himself for my sake.” That was the first time I had thought, let alone expressed such an idea, even though it was clearly true. I tell you what, at that very moment great kingdoms of darkness vanished from my mind and heart. I spent the next several days in the clouds of heaven, and that particular darkness has never returned.
Why am I sharing all this? Because Christ is always and only made personal through us, and because the future will be the same as the present, as the present really is in truth. That is, the Great Story of God does not change just because someone loses their earthly body and lives in heaven only. And the Great Story of God does not change with the passing of human folly.
So yes, there is no question in my mind that when God restores all things stolen in the darkness, He will do so through us His body, in very specific and personally meaningful ways. That has nothing to do with atonement for sin. – By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Rather, it is the justice of God, the restoration of all things.
And I suspect that, for the sake of all, God will do the same through all.
The thing we must do is escape the false story of separation and see only the joy of Christ flowing out from us in service to all. God is not a static vibration, oozing good vibes. He is action in Person; He is adventure forevermore.
God is service; He is practical and detailed love out-poured.

TEF14 - Judgment in Heaven by Daniel Yordy

Judgment is the vanguard of mercy. Judgment goes before to prepare the way that mercy might follow. Judgment and the Curse are two very different things. Judgment is the first part of God come to us; the curse is contrary to God's will. Death is the consequence of separation from God, of rebellion. Judgment is the bucket of ice water dumped over one's head to wake that person up to the reality of the curse and thus to seize hold of mercy.
The original post and alternative audio formats plus PDF downloads are here. You may ofcourse respond directly to Daniel on his site.



© Daniel Yordy 2013

To understand judgment, we must define two other things: consequence and mercy. Just as jumping off a high building results in the certain consequence of death because of the law of gravity, so eating of knowledge results in the certain consequence of death because of the law of life. Separation from the source of life in the imagination of the mind, human perception, can result in nothing other than death. Death is consequence, not punishment.

Yet God, moving out from Love, would have mercy. But mercy is easier said than done. It is easy for God to extend mercy; it is difficult for the cursed to receive it. God never forces Himself upon anyone; life remains by invitation only.

Here is a man plummeting to his death because he has severed himself from life. The hand of God extends mercy to that man, but he prefers separation regardless of the death. He neither likes nor trusts God.

The consequence is certain – death. You see, the only other option is life, and life is God, and God cannot force Himself upon anyone. All of this is taking place in the man's perception, his view of reality. The man exists only in God; he has already been reconciled to God, his sins already purged. But he will not know it is so, and God cannot force.

So, what is God to do? Just let people die because they will not regard His mercy?

Enter judgment.

Judgment is the vanguard of mercy. Judgment goes before to prepare the way that mercy might follow.

Judgment and the Curse are two very different things. Judgment is the first part of God come to us; the curse is contrary to God's will. Death is the consequence of separation from God, of rebellion. Judgment is the bucket of ice water dumped over one's head to wake that person up to the reality of the curse and thus to seize hold of mercy.

From the human point of view, judgment and curse look the same; they are not. The problem is that people blame God for both. Yes, God is responsible for the judgment; it is His mercy, Himself. But God has nothing to do with the curse, even though He spoke it. The curse is entirely of man's own hand.

Now, a man can see judgment as curse and, in the end, merge it together with the curse in accusation against God out from death. Those who end in death see everything of life as the curse, including all the judgment occurring because mercy is at hand. Those who end in life see everything of life as blessing, including all the judgment sent to birth that blessing.

The curse, in all of its forms, including death, is not the desire of God; it is the certain consequence of living as a self separate from God in the imagination of the mind.

Judgment, whatever it looks like, is the holy desire of God extending mercy.

Those who say, “God is love; He won't send judgment to anyone,” are saying that God will simply let people die and make no effort to save them. That is a strange kind of love.

A wonderful example of the extreme value of judgment in a man's life is the movie, “It's a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. If you have seen it, you'll know what I mean; if you haven't, it's one of the great classic movies, well worth watching.

A man has everything a man could want in life, but he does not know the value of what he has. Then he loses it all (judgment). Out of his loss, he chooses suicide (curse – death), but the mercy that sent the judgment is already working. Thus he is shown the reality of his life until he repents of his desire for death and embraces life and mercy.

There is curse and there is judgment. They may look similar, but they are utterly opposed. Curse is the enemy of God; judgment is the first parts of God in mercy entering into a man's life.

Consider a man, arrogant, proud, boastful, filled with the conceit of self. What will save him from death? Facing the certain inevitability of death – consequence – will such a man reach for mercy? Not even! And so, out from the mercy of God comes judgment. Judgment strips him of his fortune, humiliates him before his friends, causes him to be the loser he really is. There, at the very bottom, he experiences a moment of honesty, the first such moment in his life. In that moment of honesty, he sees mercy for what it is and grabs for mercy with all of his heart. Such a man will bless judgment forever.

But judgment is always and only for a specific purpose; judgment is not God's first choice. As God's full will is revealed, we will all be as blessed with abundance as Abraham.

The Bible is filled with judgment verses and it is filled with blessing verses. Though part of God, the judgment verses are there ONLY to allow the way for blessing to come. But teachers of the word tend to pick a handful of verses they like, verses that fit their own bent. Those who have a bent towards the blessing verses teach blessing and ignore judgment. Those who have a bent towards the judgment verses teach judgment and preach against blessing.

Pastor Joel is one who has a bent towards the blessing verses. He teaches what God says; every blessing verse is there in the Bible. But Pastor Joel also brings into view a consideration of judgment. Yet that judgment is always only a servant of blessing. Judgment finds its meaning and place only inside of blessing.

In contrast, those who have a bent towards the judgment verses do not just ignore blessing; rather, they speak against it. Thus blessing remains in their minds as an enemy of the work of God in a man's life. This perversion is a misuse of Scripture; it gives, in fact, a sense of superiority, a stroking of religious ego.

God is all about blessing and abundance; sometimes He sends judgment to pave the way for His abundance. We never remain in judgment nor exalt it as a fetish. Rather, we allow judgment to release God's blessing into our lives. In so doing, we abandon ourselves into all that God is, both abundance and peace.

As sons of God at this time, we go forward seeing clearly the extreme difference between judgment and curse. Yet the people who so desperately need the mercy coming as judgment, to them both judgment and curse look identical, and they will curse God for both. Yet curse is their own doing, and judgment is God's love in them.

Without judgment there can be no mercy.

Forgiveness of sins is terrible. A man must see his sin as it is in order to know forgiveness. There is nothing more terrible to face. The very act of forgiveness is judgment.

To say, “Oh, it's okay, raping that little girl was no big deal. God just forgives everybody,” is to be far away from God. If a rapist buys into that lie, nothing can save him from the curse. In complete contrast, the forgiveness of God comes first as judgment; the man sees the full horror of his sin and is broken by that horror. Then, out of his brokenness, he sees the mercy of God extended to him. That is forgiveness; it is terrible.

And if God “just forgave everybody” in that way, what would God Himself say to the little girl. “It was no big deal, after all”? For God to say such a thing, or even to hold such a reality, would make God as evil as the rapist.

God requires justice.

God's justice first sends judgment to make mercy possible. If judgment does not win a man's heart, then God withdraws that judgment and the full consequence of sin must now take its course. But God's will was the mercy behind the judgment, never the consequence – death.

And the rapist who found mercy in the terror of judgment? I am convinced that in the ages to come, out of that forgiveness, out of the Blood of the Lamb, out of the rivers of living water flowing out of his belly, he will return to that girl double of what he ever took from her.

God is just.

Some will need many ages of time to meet the requirements of God's justice.

Being a son of God does not remove us from the requirements of God's justice in any way. In fact, being a son of God does the opposite. It is the only possible way by which we can meet the requirements of God's justice. That is, it is the only possible way we can “subdue all things,” that is, overcome, that is, bring all things into subjection under His feet. The heart of Christ in us desires to make all things right for each individual person.

You see, God does not want us to live by the law, for that is only death for us. But the law is still of God. And although the law limited human justice to take back only that which was stolen, an eye for an eye, yet God Himself requires the payment of double. All sin, all evil, is theft. All theft will be payed back double by the thief to the individual from whom that thing, whatever it was, was stolen. God has plenty of ages yet to come for all that to take place. Physical death cannot remove the requirements of justice.

All things will be brought back into a correct balance. All things will be restored.

You see, that's part of why the “Christian” concept of God's “banishing the lost to a state of eternal hopelessness and uselessness” is so contrary to the justice of God. No individual in such a “hell” can restore anything he has stolen to the individual from whom he stole, and thus God's required justice would be denied.

God's justice cannot be denied.

But as sons of God in this hour, we must move forward in the wisdom and understanding of this God who fills us full. Judgment goes forth in three different directions. We must understand each of the three and how each differs from the other.

Understand the implications of “filled with all the fullness of God.” That means that whatever God does, wherever He does it, and however He does it, all of it is contained inside of us as well and all of it goes out from us as well. If all the fullness of God is inside of me, then all the fullness of God is inside of me. I know it's a stretch to grapple with such a reality, but there it is. God said it, and He always tells the truth.

All judgment flows out as the first part of the God who fills us with all that He is. All judgment is pure and holy and good.

Judgment is the enemy of death. Judgment causes death to cease. Life causes death to cease; judgment is life.

First judgment comes to each individual person as an individual without reference to anything or anyone else. That judgment comes to every single person, human or angelic, alone before a holy God.

Second judgment comes upon the rulers of heaven, the principalities and powers in the spiritual realms.

And third judgment comes upon the rulers of earth, the men and women who manipulate and control others for their own gain. A pastor in a church who abuses his flock for his own gain is in the exact same category as a dictator who slaughters millions. He is a ruler of the earth, and the rule of his abuse must be broken as the judgment of God comes into his church.

Judgment must come upon the rulers of heaven before it can come upon the rulers of earth. The demon ruling that abusive pastor must be broken before the pastor can find brokenness.

God is so kind; that's why He comes as judgment to everyone. He wants everyone to know mercy.

Let's start with the judgment that must come upon the rulers of heaven, the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. That judgment comes through us.

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. . . Romans 16:20

This is a profoundly meaningful statement. Most read it as incidental, but it cannot be incidental. This is an absolute that we will know right here on this earth.

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. . . You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

“You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.”’” Ezekiel 28:11-19

The first time I used the word “Lucifer” in my letters, I received a fiery reply from a good brother who is a leader in the ultimate reconciliation arena. This email included an article “proving” how this reference CANNOT be towards any element of the heavens, but is restricted entirely to a single earthly man, the king of Tyre in Ezekiel's day. I took the time to read the article, but I could find no sense in any of the argument.

People do not know the heavens. They do not know a Spirit word, because they choose to remain in the outer court, in the light of their human intellect alone; they will not be immersed in the Holy Spirit that they might know the reality of the heavenly realms in which they live. They look at a word like this, and all they can see is earthly things. They see earthly things only because they remain earthly. They do not know a Spirit Word.

Jesus said, “Earthly seeing profits nothing; the words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.”

Nothing exists upon the earth except that thing comes out from a spirit reality in the heavens. There is no earthly evil except that which flows out of its direct counterpart in the heavens. There is no earthly purity except that which flows out of its direct counterpart in the heavens. More than that, the earthly and the heavenly have no “distance” between them. The are utterly and intrinsically tied together in all ways and at all times. There is nothing earthly that is not also heavenly first. There is nothing in the realms of spirit that does not show itself in its immediate form in the earth.

If there are wicked persons in the earth, their wickedness can come only out of wicked persons in the heavens. There are no “innocent” human “victims.” All humans who close their hearts to God, do so with full willfulness for some “value” of self-gain they have measured for themselves. All humans who close their hearts to God make an agreement with heavenly evil to do so.

Now, if this brother would humble himself and allow Jesus to immerse him into the Holy Spirit, allowing that Holy Spirit, then, to open his eyes to heavenly reality, he would know a Spirit word when he sees it in the Bible, Old Testament or New. He would know it by the knowing of his spirit.

These verses from Ezekiel 28 are clearly a Spirit Word, using earthly symbols to open our understanding to heavenly reality. Because we see through eyes of fire, we see all things as God sees them.

Now, I say these things in order to bring in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, because, as Chris Welch often says, part of what God is doing with us now in the revelation of Christ is zeroing in on the first things that went wrong in the history of heaven/earth, and dealing with that wrong in the birthing of what God intended from the beginning.

Judgment deals with first things.

...Take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; he who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders...

Part of seeing so differently is the growing awareness of how horrifically wicked the practice of seeing a “fallen human nature” inside of us really is. It is the tree of knowledge; it is death, the carnal mind.

“Sheol from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your stringed instruments; the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.’

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

“Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’” Isaiah 14:4-17

Again, reading through these words, it is impossible for me to comprehend how people can read them and not see a Spirit word, but see earth alone, as if earth could possibly exist separated from the heavens. But that is why God does not measure with Christ at this time those who remain in the light of human and earthly seeing.

My intention is to bring in a full picture. The serpent is never alone; he is always accompanied by hosts of heavenly spirits under his whip. Anything God speaks of the serpent is also equally true of all who wail under him.

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born...

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him... Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Revelation 12:3-12

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. . . Romans 16:20

So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” Joshua 10:24-25

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:12-14

I am putting all of these verses here in this way for us to have before our eyes a clear picture.

An essential element of our knowledge of God at this end of the age, a knowledge intended by God for us, is the full feel of the neck of the defeated accuser under our feet. God intends for us to explain to our hearers through all the ages to come, just exactly what that is, what it means, what it feels like.

How, exactly, do we defeat the accuser? We defeat him by speaking Christ our only life, by persisting in that speaking against all voices until we see all things only as God sees them.

I would testify to you as filled with Christ as I can be, that this seeing is utterly different from most Christian thought I have known, heard, read, and experienced. Part of seeing so differently is the growing awareness of how horrifically wicked the practice of seeing a “fallen human nature” inside of us really is. It is the tree of knowledge; it is death, the carnal mind. Yet there is no condemnation of our brethren in such seeing; Jesus is Savior, and He is exceptionally gifted at His job.

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. Hebrews 2:8

Inside the church age, this present age of Christ-in-part in which we live, the writer of Hebrews said, “Right now, we do not see all things under our feet.”

Yet the Covenant we signed with God requires God to crush the accuser permanently under our feet.

I have no stomach for people who are planning for death to execute them, but who also say, “Well, Jesus has already won; we are already resurrected; Satan is already fully defeated.” When I read those things as a dismissal of the fullness of Christ revealed now through us here upon this planet, I find myself in complete frustration.

How can anyone be satisfied with such trite when all iniquity stomps cruelty across this earth. Yes, it is all defeated, as a seed. Yes, it is all finished, as a seed. But seeds must come to full fruit. And right now, Jesus is sitting down, waiting, expecting, looking for the day when someone else brings all of His enemies solidly and forever under his feet. Right now Jesus is planted as that seed inside of us, that He might prove all things through us in all reality.

We will know all-fullness by no demons in the heavens of this earth, by no rule of wicked men, by resurrected bodies that can never die, and by the glory of God covering this earth as the waters cover the sea. And I will not rest until God proves all that He speaks through me right here in the reality of this planet.

I am in no way separate from Jesus nor He from me. If He does it; I do it. If I do it; He does it. Jesus and I are one.

Judgment begins in heaven before it can show itself upon the earth.

The judgment of God against Adam was Abraham. All Adam has to do to know his own folly is to look at Abraham, a man who did not have 1/10 of what Adam had, but who chose God against all else anyway.

The judgment against the accuser is the sons of God.

The serpent is a heavenly being at the present moment. He does not have an earthly form. Yet Revelation 12 suggests that he will be cast out of the realms of spirit and possess only an earthly form. That earthly form will still be the accuser from the beginning.

What this means for sure, I do not know. I do know that the entertainment industries are preparing all mankind for the entrance of “alien beings” into the experience of man, coming as our “saviors.” I do not devote myself to this kind of knowledge as some do; I only maintain an awareness of what is being said concerning many different arenas.

Yet we must reckon with the possibility that some “people” upon this planet, particularly those psychopathic individuals in high office across the earth, may simply not be human at all. Now, we do NOT make a big deal out of this thought, we do not trumpet it around or study it out or any such foolish thing. We are taught of God alone; we are sons of God sent into this earth out from the Father for His purposes. We are sent into the world as it is. We are wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, as Jesus said.

What is the thing that causes this great shift in the reality of heaven/earth?

Judgment.

And where is this judgment found?

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives to the one death of Christ.

As we continue to speak Christ our only life, we are altering the fabric of the universe.

The ax is laid to the root. That begins with Christ as us, but it continues on from there to engulf all things.

Now, I want to get as practical as I can.

I have posited three arenas of judgment and three arenas of speaking the prophetic Word of Christ. Let's match them up. Speaking the prophetic Word of Christ to ourselves, that Christ is our only life, is the judgment of God in the heavens, the casting down of the accuser. Speaking the prophetic word of Christ as a testimony against evil in this world, turning the lights on, breaking the false identities people hold to so tightly, is the judgment of God on the earth, towards the powers that rule the earth.

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. . . Romans 16:20

And speaking the prophetic Word of Christ as a blessing upon all others is the judgment of God coming to each individual person.

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:20-21

The goodness of God leads you to repentance. Romans 2:4

Wrath is directed only towards the systems of darkness binding people with chains, the false identities, the hiding behind cruelty. The goodness of God is the judgment sent to each individual human being. Pretty cool, eh? Yet judgment as goodness can still seem painful to the receiver, even though it is pure goodness.

Judgment on earth is coming up in another chapter. Judgment in the form of goodness I will leave for a discussion of the New Jerusalem. Here I want to bring to a conclusion the judgment of God through us upon the powers of heaven, casting down the accuser.

...the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty ...in Eden, the garden of God... /the anointed cherub who covers... established... on the holy mountain of God... in the midst of fiery stones... /perfect in all... ways from the day... created, till iniquity was found in(side).

By the abundance of... trading... filled with violence within, and... sinned; therefore... cast... as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and... destroyed... from the midst of the fiery stones.

...heart ...lifted up because of... beauty /...corrupted... wisdom for the sake of.... splendor... /...defiled ...sanctuaries by the multitude of ...iniquities, by the iniquity of ...trading; therefore ...fire from your midst... devoured... /have become a horror...

I have reduced the wording so we can see exactly what God says about this covering cherub. I don't understand it all, but I must see what God says clearly.

The argument that this is speaking of some individual man descended from Adam, or even Adam himself, was more empty of substance than almost any argument I have ever read. I say that so no reader will be tempted to send me any such argument again. Adam rebelled by hating the way God made him; Lucifer rebelled by exalting himself as the image of God. God created Adam weak, that Adam might be His image; God created Lucifer wise and glorious, that he might serve man. This is not a description of Adam; Adam was ashamed of his whole being.

In fact, just as God created horses to be man's primary servant in the earth, so He created Lucifer and other cherubs as man's primary servants in the heavens. A horse is far stronger than a man in the earth; a cherub is far stronger than a man in the heavens; they are both for riding, for taking us as fast as the wind.

We dance for joy in the middle of ruin. We see Jesus only, though we are blind as a bat. We declare His absolute victory in all things in our lives while we feel as if all is lost. We rejoice in tribulation, we pray for our enemies, we repay evil with good, we give thanks for all things.

Our desire is to break evil where it began, to cast this accuser, the original serpent, the heavenly dragon, Satan, out of the heavens. This is the one that God said we will know fully under our feet. Satan cannot be under our feet and running around doing cruel and wicked things to people at the same time. It's the one, first, and then the other; he is not omnipresent. When Satan is under our feet, his work is finished, over with, no more.

When accusation is cast down, it has a short time to vent its fury in the earth, as part of God's judgment upon human government, upon the nations, and then all accusation ceases.

Understand that we are speaking of the words, “Did God indeed say.”

It is Christ, the Word God speaks who is spoken against. Accusation is the speaking of anti-Christ. “God does not speak the truth.”

As we speak Christ against all accusation, against all anti-Christ, we are casting down the accuser.

Listen, this is for real; it is, in fact, the gospel.

From the moment I began to speak Christ as me to myself, in early spring of 2008, from that moment a more viral form of accusation hit me than I had ever known. More viral and ugly, yes, but, at the same time, accusation that was entirely weak. Accusation that was not difficult to cast down. Yet it rose in fury, yet I cast it down.

From the very start I knew without question that I was engaged fully in the fulfillment, not only of And they overcame him, but also, of the war breaking out in heaven. Michael never moves separately from us; he is a servant only of the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). I knew that the immediate result of my victory over ALL accusation is the casting down of the accuser out of the heavens.

I knew that my winning all victory against all accusation is the cause of the fury of darkness being released now upon the earth. And when I say, “my,” I never imagine that I am alone. I know I am a member of the body of Christ, a body prepared for God.

It was Paul who said that God crushes the accuser under out feet; it's an essential part of the gospel. Revelation 12 is God showing us that He fulfills the gospel in our lives on this earth. It is normal for Jesus to defeat the accuser; it is the normal Christian life for us to know the feel of his neck under our feet. It is Christ as us.

An essential part of our mission, of the sending of God, is to cast every ounce and shadow of accusation out of our minds and hearts. Any form of “I wish” is an expression of the accuser. Any shadow of seeing ourselves as other than Jesus Himself is an expression of the accuser. We are at war. We ruthlessly cast him down.

We do not allow the accuser to mock Jesus; we do not allow him to mock us. We refuse to see anything but Christ as all that we are.

“Did God indeed say” is the true nature of the accusation we hear, but it comes to us in the form of: “You are not Christ.” We see the cross and we say, “I am.” It comes in the form of: “Look at your sin.” We see the blood and we say, “I do not know sin.” It comes in the form of: “Who do you think you are.” We see the resurrection and we say, “I am Christ. All that He is, I am. All that I find myself to be in the present moment, is He.”

We dance for joy in the middle of ruin. We see Jesus only, though we are blind as a bat. We declare His absolute victory in all things in our lives while we feel as if all is lost. We rejoice in tribulation, we pray for our enemies, we repay evil with good, we give thanks for all things.

And as we do so kingdoms of darkness all through the heavens are reeling, they are shattering, they are giving way. Rank after rank of Michael's forces are breaking through. At the appointed moment, all heavenly darkness collapses. It is cast into the earth, the accuser and all his hosts of wickedness.

Then judgment begins in the earth. Once the evil of heaven is broken, God in us now turns His attention to the evil powers of earth.

Before we continue on with judgment, however, we must look at two things. We must have a clearer view of the Main thing and a clearer view of the Main other thing. There are two lambs in John's vision, not one.

Judgment by Bonnie Morris

   In an earlier article: (A Fuller Meaning of the word Name) we discovered that the word NAME meant more than nature; it also means authority… To know someone well is to know their nature and their authority…  

   Let’s look at one of the words that falls into the category of God’s authority: JUDGE 

   The understanding of the word judge,  must be taken from the whole of scripture.  To just pull out a couple of scriptures and try to build a picture of the judgment the scriptures speak of, simply does not work.

   So, let’s begin with a sovereign judgment by God:

John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.  This he said, signifying what death he should die.

   We see by this, that God judged the world when Jesus died.  Here was the result of this judgment: God declared ALL of us innocent and reconciled ALL of us unto Himself.  Herein is love…not that we loved God, but He loved us.  This was a one time judgment, wherein God included all of humanity.  We understand from this what is meant by the scripture that says…God is no respecter of persons. It has to do with salvation for everyone.  He is the savior of all - especially to those who believe.  This judgment was NOT condemning any person and was motivated by God’s love for the world.  It took care of Sin as a noun/ a thing.

   Because of this scripture, many believe that judgment of any kind ended on that day.  But, this is not what scripture bears out.  When the bible speaks on a certain subject at least 785 times, to think that one scripture will give you the whole picture is ridiculous.

  I declare: “There are times, when we, as Christians are to make judgment calls and times when we are not”.  I believe it is imperative for the sons of God to learn judgment.  WHY? 1st. Cor. 6:2a Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?  Obadiah 21: Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau.  There is the understanding of sin as a verb/action after the initial experience of salvation.  Just like there is a grace extended in salvation whereby works have nothing to do with it.  However, if you make Jesus the Lord of your life, the grace of God that is then extended to a believer is to empower believer to walk uprightly…For faith, without works is dead.  When He comes to live through us, grace is the ability to do the will of God.  He continues to forgive us when we sin, but hopefully that becomes less and less as we grow in our understanding of His nature.   

   I would never imply that we should always judge.  In fact, it’s possible someone is not mature enough to judge. However, I cannot go along with many who say that we are to never judge.  Scripture simply does NOT convey this.  John 7: 24 says: Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.  

   Over the years, I have come to see the importance of, (at least) these 5 conditions before judging anyone.

  1. All  judgment  must   be  motivated  by  love.   In this scenario,  Someone may feel condemned, but it is not because of the one judging; it is because they do not believe.  Jesus said: “He that believeth not is condemned already…And this is the condemnation: that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light”.  Yes, I only used a portion of this scripture because in context it is speaking about those who do not know the Son… but I desired to show you the principle that is at work when we, as believers, don’t believe what is written or spoken about judgment.  So, if someone comes to me with a judgment concerning something I am doing that is damaging me and I don’t believe them, I may very well feel condemned.  Without mercy, judgment will never produce the desired results (which is correction unto Life). Remember the words of Jesus in Matt. 7:2 “For with what judgment ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.“ If you are swift to judgment, you are NOT merciful. God has been merciful to us; likewise, we should exercise mercy towards others.  A Japanese proverb says to “search seven times before you judge”.  

  2.  Judgment must be according to the word of God!

The primary stipulation given for Christians regarding judging is that we are NOT to proclaim our own judgments (based on our own opinions) but to pronounce the judgments of God (based on truth).  Jesus serves as the best example on this matter.

Jesus speaking: 

John 5:30:  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. This is NOT a judgment after the flesh which Jesus opposes as He states in John 8:15-16 that only judgments that come from God are true: “Ye judge after the flesh: I judge no man. And yet if (when) I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.  In context, Jesus is saying that he does not judge any man after the flesh.

   3.  An understanding/wise heart is necessary for judging.   

1st Kings 3:9 “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.  James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and UPBRAIDETH (insults or rebukes…for asking) NOT; and it shall be given him.   

   4.  A truly fair judgment is blind and deaf to any outer influence. Proverbs 24:23 “These things also belong to the wise.  It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment“.

For example…letting your children get away with something that you would judge as error in someone else’s child. 

   5.  Judge yourself first…1st Corinthians 11:30-31 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  We are to judge and improve ourselves as the people of God.  

  There are several words in the Greek language that all mean judge when translated into English.  I liken it to the Greek word Love… Love has 3 greek words that describe the different meanings of love and yet we always use just the word love.  It is still love, but concerning different aspects of it.  So when the KJ bible uses the word judge, it often is describing different aspects of the word, however it still means judge.

  The biggest problem with the word judge is believing it always carries with it condemnation.  One of the reasons for this is that our Webster’s dictionary never equates discernment with judging.  The majority of the time judging does not carry with it any condemnation.  God judged sin and condemned sin in the flesh.  Man is condemned by the natural penalties in government.  But, the word judge or form of the word judge is used at least 785 times in the bible and very few have any connection with condemnation.  It is sad that we have connected judging with condemnation as it has prevented growth. I think the reason we have is because often the person receiving the correction feels condemned…But judgment of God does not condemn them; they simply feel condemned because in their rebellion, they do not believe. 

   I have personally, been in Christian circles who teach it is always wrong to judge and sin runs rampant in those circles.  Unfortunately, I have also been in Christian circles that judge unrighteous judgment and in those places, the body of Christ could find no peace.  It is safe to say that judging has NOT been handled correctly by the body of Christ and has created horrible atrocities.  Too often, the baby has been thrown out with the bath water.  It is up to each one to learn proper judgment.  We are teaching balance today.

  

    To rightly divide when it is right to judge and when it is not:

1. Concerning your own life:

   1st Cor. 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  The Greek word for judge here is diakrino and it means judge, discern, make a distinction and is used as a verb.  Psalms 139: 23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  I like to pray that God would show me what I believe that is not true… it is a way of judging my understanding.

   1st Cor. 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.  This word “judged” in the Greek is “anakrino” and is used as a verb: judge (in both a general and a legal sense): judged, judgeth, examined, asking question, searched.   

  On the surface, these two scriptures seem to contradict themselves concerning judging.  But, if you will read them in context, you will see that we should judge our own selves and we will find that we are not condemned with the world and that we have the grace to live uprightly.  When Paul said he wasn’t going to judge himself, he had reference to the thing that man was judging him for and this, in context seems to me to be concerning the end of his stewardship.  We cannot examine and pass sentence on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of our own stewardship, or anybody else’s for that matter.  This judgment is the Lord’s.  He is the One appointed to determining the results of our lives.  1st Cor. 4:4 He that judgeth me is the Lord.  2nd Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  This has reference to rewards.

   2.  Concerning those weak in the faith: 

   Romans Ch. 14 discusses meat and drink, esteeming days and unclean things.  Ch. 14 makes a point about those who are weaker in their faith; they cannot do some things that others have the liberty to do.  Do not judge anyone who MUST worship on a certain day, who CANNOT eat certain things without it violating their conscience, etc.  Happy is the man whose heart does not condemn him in that which he allows.  The Greek word for judge in Rom. 14 is krino and it means to decide, consider, as preferring one thing over another or determining the correctness of a matter.  By extension: to judge, pass judgment on, condemn in a legal sense: sue at the law.  Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.  These are NOT subjects worthy of your time, so let’s not make judgments on these non moral issues.

  3. Concerning the religious:

   Romans Ch. 2 speaks to the religion in man and the hypocrisy of it.  If there is something you are doing and you judge another person as wrong for doing it, you are in error.  Rom. 2:1: Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another  thou condemns thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.  Although, at the time, Paul was addressing the Jews (who were very religious) and telling them that they were judging the Gentiles for the same thing they were doing, the principle still applies today that when we judge others we should make it a rule to examine ourselves on that very point.  

 4.  Concerning who has God’s authority to judge

   1 Cor. 5:15 He who is spiritual judgeth all things… The word judge in verse 15 has reference to examining or trying … in the amplified it reads: But the spiritual man tries all things… that is, he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things. Vines dictionary points out that this is a discerning judgment of all things to their true value.  This word judgeth in the Greek is also “anakrino”.  Vines goes on to point out that this man who judges all things is not judged by any man (speaking of mere man) for the merely natural mind can’t estimate the motives of the spiritual.  Paul said in 1st Cor. 7:25b that he had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful and in context it is speaking of giving his judgment on something wherein there was no specific commandment.  It appears that obtaining mercy to be faithful is a qualification for judging.

If judging is not squarely based on God’s word (as it is the authority of the believer: scripture means authoritative writings) and love for our brethren or humanity, then It is best to keep thy mouth shut!  

  In conclusion let’s remember 2 scriptures: Psa. 37:30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment.   Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment…. Why?… v.10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

Following is a question from Janelle to Gary Sigler.  It so echoes what I have written that I asked Gary to let me

 include it for your consideration also.

   Good morning Gary,

   I want to ask you what you see about judging and when it stops being discernment and truth to being opinionated and stubborn.  Can a person never say something about a matter that is damaging a person unless they are judging?  I have my own thoughts about this, but I would like to know what you feel.  Thanks

   Janelle,

   How many times have you heard someone whine - judge not lest ye be judged.  This verse of scripture from Matthew 7:1 is often quoted out of context by people who never want to hear any form of correction.

   There seems to be a lot of misperception about judging.  Some say we should never judge but then you hear them making judgments often.  We all make judgments every day and yet we know Jesus did say judge not that you be not judged.  Some who say we should never judge are quick to let you know when you are discerning something wrong that you shouldn’t judge.  If we are never to make a judgment about anything that happens this world would be a much darker place.  When Jesus taught that you should not judge he was not saying that you should lose your discernment or that you should never bring correction in a situation.  We all need and should desire judgment.  The scriptures are full of judgment.

   With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I see thee early; for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.  Isa: 26:99

   We should not judge except in a righteous way.  If you are judging someone and your emotions are involved and you are acting out of anger, you should stop immediately.  Our judgment should be from a heart of compassion and a desire to bring righteousness in the situation.  We can be harsh if need be, but with a heart to bring peace and restoration.

   As God’s ambassadors we have a responsibility to do as we feel is best for the community as a whole.  Usually the ones who cry “you should not judge” are the ones who cause disruption and then say we are judging them when we bring correction.  We should never judge someone and then think we are better than them or that we are not capable of doing the same thing.  Usually when you judge someone wrongfully is when you may later find yourself doing the same thing that you are judging another for.  That is why Jesus said not to judge.  He never said to throw out discernment or correct a bad situation.  When you truly have the heart of the Father you do not want to hurt anyone and you want to please each person but you realize that is impossible.  So, we do the best we can do according to what’s in our hearts.

   Hope this helps Janelle.

We are Judged as Servants by Gary Sigler

Facebook on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 at 15:54
from Coming Out of Darkness Part 26

"For the Son of man

shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward

every man according to his works" (Matt. 16:27).

We are judged according to what we do and how we do it. Do you go to church every Sunday? Do you read

your Bible every day? Are you a "Good Christian"? You may discover

when judgment comes that some of those things were to no avail. How could that

be, you say? When God comes to you, He is not looking for good people, He is

looking for Christ. He is looking for His Son in you. How much of Christ

has been worked into you? If you stand in God’s presence and hear Him say,

"Well done thou good and faithful servant," it will be because Christ

has been formed in you. You would have to fall at His feet and give Him the

glory for working His life into you. In all the things that I have accomplished

for God, I can never see where I have done anything, but I can always

see the miraculous power of God that has been working in my life. I cannot

personally take credit for anything. This is why if we are given a crown in the

natural sense of the word, we will throw it at His feet. It is He who deserves

the crown. It is God who has worked in us both the willing and the doing of His

good pleasure.

We Shall Be Tried by Fire

"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any

man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,

stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,

because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work

of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he

shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer

loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. 3:11-15).

The judgment here is what you use to build on the foundation and how you did it. The foundation is

"Christ in you".

When we are regenerated by the Spirit, the foundation is

laid. How you build on that foundation in yourself and in others is what you

will be judged for. You can build with gold, silver and precious stones, or

wood, hay and stubble.

Building with wood, hay and stubble represents building with our human nature. Anyone who has studied

typology will tell you that wood represents human nature. For instance, the Ark

of the Covenant in the Old Testament was a type of Christ. The Ark was made of

wood overlaid with gold, signifying that Jesus was human and divine. Gold

represents the divine nature.

To build on the foundation with wood simply means that we work by and with our human nature. This can be

very good. We can teach Sunday school, be a missionary in Africa, give a tenth

of all we receive, and write Christian books. These are all very good things,

but if they are done out of our natural human effort, our works will be burned

up when the fires of judgment come. Wood is consumed in the fire. An example of

this is Cain’s offering. He brought the best his hands could produce and

offered it to God, but God rejected it. Able didn’t bring anything of himself;

he just brought an offering according to God’s direction.

We can build with wood or gold. Gold represents divinity, the divine life. So these two items, wood

and gold, represent two ways to build on the foundation of Christ. I can build

by, through, and in the Spirit, or I can build with the natural human religious

concept and work for God all of my life, and when judgment comes, everything

will be burned up. I won’t be lost, but I will go through the fire. This judgment

is not just a future event; this takes place at various times in the Christian

life. Many work for God for years, and then realize they did it with human

effort and not by the Spirit.

Building With Gold

We must learn that everything that has lasting value and can withstand the fires of judgment is

only that which we do out of the Spirit of God within us.

"Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD

keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Ps. 127:1). Unless

it is Christ in me, by His divine life and nature flowing through my humanity,

my work is in vain. It is what we do by the power of the Spirit, not by natural

human resources, that will gain the Lord’s favor.

In the book of the Revelation, we are told that the New Jerusalem has streets of gold. Streets

represent the walk and gold represents the divine nature. This simply means

that those who are living in the reality of the Kingdom of God, which is the

city of God, are walking in the divine nature. The New Jerusalem is to be

entered into now. John said,

"And I John saw the holy city, New

Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for

her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the

tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be

his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God"

(Rev. 21:2-3).

Christianity always puts things off in the future. There is a day coming when the New Jerusalem will be realized fully in a people, but we must begin to enter into the experience now or we will miss it

in the future. If we are progressively walking in the Spirit, we are being

transformed into His image and are walking at least in a degree today in the

New Jerusalem.

Building With Silver

We must not only build with gold, but with silver. Silver in typology means redemption. There should

not be anyone on this earth who does not know that they have been redeemed.

Jesus paid the price of their redemption on the cross. There will come a day,

because of our Father’s heart and His love for humanity, that He will cause all

to bow before Him in worship. No one should feel as though they are not

redeemable in His sight, no matter how bad or corrupt they are. We should be

building on the foundation with the redemption of Jesus. No matter how many

times we sin and miss the mark, we must realize the silver. We have been

redeemed back to God, purchased by His blood, and we belong to Him. And because

we belong to Him, He will continually judge us and work in us, until one day we

will stand complete in Him, giving Him all the glory and honor. His fire will

one day purify everyone who comes to this earth.

We are not transformed by lighting candles, by saying long and repetitive prayers, by reading the

Bible or by anything else we may do. Our redemption is based on His work.

If we could have possibly made it into the Kingdom by our good works and human

effort, then the Cross would not have been necessary. Oh, how the world needs

to know that they are redeemed! The price was paid.

God was in Christ,

reconciling the world unto Himself, not holding men’s trespasses against them.

To build with silver means to build with

redemption in mind. We are not trying to get people saved. We realize that the

Blood of Jesus redeemed every person. We just need to let people know of their

redemption. We are not saved by our performance. The system of Christianity is

a performance-based religion. Christians are not built with redemption, but

with performance. If you are good, God will bless you, if you are bad, you go

to hell. How sad that the gospel of salvation for all has been reduced to a

performance. If you understand redemption, you can minister to a prostitute

without condemning her. You get her to understand that God loves her just the

way she is and that he paid the price for her sin at Calvary. Because of that,

she can turn to Him and fellowship with Him and find that her life will be

transformed, not by her performance, but by His Spirit arising within her. Once

God begins to grow in her, she will forsake her old way of life and begin to

flow in the new. Oh, how I wish the world could have the realization of His

redemption! One day all the peoples of the earth will know of this marvelous

plan.

Building With Precious Stones

We build on the

foundation with gold (the flowing of divine life), with silver

(redemption, what he has done for you, not what you can do for Him), and with

precious stones

(the transformation of the inner man). Precious stones are precious

by transformation. A natural stone has gone through a process and become

precious. In the books of Genesis and the Revelation, we see a river with

precious stones. The river represents the Spirit. In our spirit is the flowing

of the Holy Spirit and as we continually turn our hearts toward the Spirit in

our spirit, the river in us begins to flow. As the river flows from our spirit

into our soul, our soul is transformed into precious stones. The natural man

becomes transformed by the flowing of God’s Spirit within.

If you minister as a precious stone, then your ministry changes people. A true minister dispenses

the life of God. We become ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter,

but of the Spirit. As we speak or write, people are fed with the Spirit of

life, and life always brings change. If you are living, you are always

changing. Dead things never change. That says volumes about the system

of Christianity. If you never advance beyond the fundamentals of Christianity,

then you are dead and not alive. If you have been a Christian for a few

years and you are the same today as when you were saved, you are not alive, but

dead. To be alive means that Christ has quickened you by His Spirit and He is

constantly bringing change and transformation to your life. You can only be

effectual in ministry by ministering what you have experienced.

What you have experienced of God, you can minister to another.

You can go to Bible school and learn how to prepare sermons, how to market your ministry, and learn homiletics and hermeneutics, but that will not qualify you to minister life.

When people feel a call of God on their life, most of them immediately fall

into the trap of religion. When the Apostle Paul was called, he was taught of

the Lord. Larry Hodges, in his article on the "Oxcarts" from The Shofar Letters, issue 6, 1997, says:

When God had summarily

arrested this man, Saul of Tarshish, He did not send him to the

Bible School at Jerusalem with its noted teachers and preachers. They

undoubtedly had the credentials. They had been eyewitnesses to things others

would never know unless they told them. They had personally been with Jesus

for more than three years. They heard more fall from His very lips than most

men of that day ever hoped to hear in their lives. They had been designated

by the Lord Himself to help lay the foundations of the Church! What a

wonderful opportunity for this young man, Saul of Tarshish! A year or two

under this sort of ministry and he could be trusted to be sent (of Man) any

place with the gospel of the kingdom.

But God did not send

His man, who was to become the apostle of apostles, to Jerusalem for

instruction and training for ministry.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and

my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). God turns this

young man toward the desert’s school of obscurity and isolation and a

crash course in intimacy with God. There is something infinitely better than merely knowing the Bible. It is knowing the Bible’s Author.

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his

grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen;

immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to

Bible Cover - Kremlin-Gold,silver,precious stones

Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and

returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem

to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw

I none, save James the Lord’s brother."

This is why the apostle Paul could say he was a minister, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. He

ministered by the Spirit, not from a book of prewritten sermons or learned

Bible knowledge. He was ministering as a precious stone in God’s Kingdom. He

had the transforming power of the Spirit of God in his life. To minister by

intellectually learned knowledge is to build with wood, hay and stubble. When

God comes to bring judgment, wood, hay and stubble will be burned up.

The fire does not consume the gold, silver and precious stones.To be continued