Changed By Love

This is a paper that my son just wrote. The Lord gives him amazing revelation. I believe that all American Christians would benefit from learning about how our Father really sees us and wants to relate to us and how He wants us to relate to Him and to each other.

Please read this and tell us what you think.

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Reinstating The Father Revelation

“For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!”
(Romans 8:15, MKJV).

There is a serious issue in the American Judeo-Christian Church of our time – a system of belief and practice that is contrary to the Gospel of God’s Kingdom, and which is reminiscent of the Nicolaitans who rose up near the beginning of Church history.

Principally, the Nicolaitans held the doctrine that there are two groups of people in the Church: the special, gifted people who are superior in the kingdom of God, and then there are those who are less gifted and inferior to the first, and who are therefore of less importance. They believed that the specially gifted people of the first category were meant to rule over the general “laymen” of the second category who were supposed to devote their lives to serving the specially gifted people of the first category, the Church “leaders”. Basically, the Nicolaitans taught that the Kingdom of God is a caste system, and that there is a big division between those who are the anointed leaders or “clergy” and the common people or “laity”, with the clergy being the aristocratic class of God’s Kingdom, and the laity being the lowly peasants and serfs who are here on earth to serve the clergy.

This setup is not at all according to the purpose and nature of authority and leadership in the Kingdom of God, which Christ set forth in the Gospels (see Mt 20:25-28; Mr 10:42-45), and which Paul also modeled in his apostolic ministry (see 2Cor 1:24). In fact, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is diametrically opposed to the teaching of Christ, robbing believers of their inheritance in Christ and the dignity that belongs to them as sons of God. But what has God said? “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the sons of Israel” (Exodus 19:6, MKJV). And it is also written, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Peter 2:9, MKJV; see also Re 1:6; 5:10). It is no wonder that when speaking in regard to the Nicolaitans, the Lord said: “I hate their deeds and their teaching!” (paraphrasing His words in Re 2:6 and Re 2:15).

Now what is the connection between this Nicolaitan caste system and the spirit of bondage? They are both joined in opposing the Spirit of adoption which brings the revelation of sonship and fatherhood. We are shown throughout Scripture, that a slave in the household is the opposite of a son (Joh 8:35; Ga 4:7,30). This does not mean that sons are exempt from serving, but those who have been freed and made sons in Christ (see John 1:12; 8:36), the same should use their freedom as servants of God (see 1Pe 2:16), not as servants of men (see 1Co 7:23).

The problem with the Nicolaitan caste system – or any other caste system for that matter – is that it takes men who are rightfully sons of God, and it makes them into slaves of other men instead of servants of God. This cannot be done without tearing down or severely diminishing the belief that we are God’s sons, because a son is also an heir of God and joint-heir of Christ, and therefore inferior to no one and dependent only on God’s loving care for them. For the caste system to be successful, there must be an established ideology in two classes: 1) the “common” people must believe that they are inferior to and dependent upon their human “lords”, and therefore they must serve them; 2) those who are gifted or simply positioned in leadership must believe that they are superior to those of the lower classes, and that the common people cannot properly exist without the rulers running the show.

But in contrast, a person who is established in the truth that he is God’s child and a joint-heir with Christ will never bow to the rulers of such a system, but he will conduct his life freely and outside of the control of the “ruling class”. And the true leaders of God’s Kingdom – those who walk in the revelation of sonship – will not conduct themselves as the rulers of the caste system, but they will recognize that the authority they have been given is to serve God by serving their brethren. The leaders who walk in the Spirit of adoption will conduct themselves as fathers, training and teaching the spiritual children that God has given them – not to become dependent upon their leaders and think of them as superior – but to grow and mature in Christ and the abilities God has given them, until they too can become leaders and spiritual fathers.

Because of all this, the spirit of bondage and its caste system are at war against the Spirit of adoption and His system of sonship. And it is due to this deeply entrenched enmity that the Spirit has not been welcome to move in much of the American Church, because we have given in to the spirit of bondage by giving in to its caste system. One of the biggest indicators of this, is the fatherless state and/or attitude of so many teens and young adults in our day. This in turn, has caused an increase in bondage and lawlessness which is unprecedented in our nation’s history, and which is threatening America with a quick collapse from within – self-destruction because of our increasingly diverse and intensified sins. This is a sign along with many others that we are reaching the close of this age.

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b, KJV). God is not through with the Church in America, but He has reserved a weapon for these last days, which will be able to overpower the strongholds of the spirit of bondage and usher in the Spirit of adoption and God’s Kingdom: “Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, that I not come and strike the earth with utter destruction” (Malachi 4:5,6, MKJV). This prophecy is not concerning a literal visitation from Elijah, but it is referencing the spirit and power of Elijah which John the Baptist walked in to prepare the way for Christ’s first coming (see Lu 1:17), and which will be released in an even greater measure to the Church in these last days, so that the earth will not be struck with utter destruction.

So what is the purpose that the power of the spirit of Eijah is given to accomplish? Just what was written: “…he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers…” The purpose of the spirit of Elijah is to bring reconciliation between the fathers and the sons, and most importantly, between the Father and His sons. The spirit of Elijah is being released so that the hearts of the children of God will be turned to know their Father, and their hearts will then be turned in the Father’s love toward their children. The spirit of Elijah then, is being released to tear down the resistance, release the spirit of Adoption into the lives of God’s people, establish them in the revelation of the Father’s heart towards them.

But the devil is not so foolish as to helplessly wait for God to finally unleash this dynamic weapon. The adversary has been spending these thousands of years cultivating a spirit to war against the spirit of Elijah. Just as Jezebel was the Prophet Elijah’s greatest adversary in his day, so the greatest adversary of the Elijah in these last days is Jezebel. Just as Elijah is mentioned in end-times prophecy and represents a spirit and power rather than the man himself, so Jezebel is mentioned in end-times prophecy (see Re 2:20) and she too represents a spirit and power rather than the evil woman of that name in history. The spirit of Jezebel is the opposite of the spirit of Elijah in every way, its purpose being to prevent the hearts of the fathers from being turned to the children, and especially to do its best in preventing the children of God from ever turning their hearts to know their Father. However, just as the Prophet Elijah was not defeated by Queen Jezebel – but on the contrary, he succeeded in his calling to raise up sons, and she failed to prevent this and came herself to a gruesome end – so the spirit of Elijah will be victorious over the spirit of Jezebel in these last days. It is important, though, that we do not underestimate the spirit of Jezebel and we are not fooled by its strategies.

One of the particular manifestations of the spirit of Jezebel which reveals that spirit at work, is when a father or grandfather is prevented by his wife from showing love to his children in discipline, reproof and instruction. The wife who is under that spirit will always run interference, and prevent the man from being the father he is supposed to be to His children. In the woman’s mind, she thinks that she is protecting the children from the father, who in her mind doesn’t understand the situation or know how to handle the children. Because of this, she does her best to prevent him from taking his role as a father, and she does her best to ensure that only her methods and personal judgment are exercised.

What does this do to the children? They end up lacking the full influence of their father, which they deeply need so that they can have a right identity and be secure in who they are. Because of their incomplete/skewed understanding of their father, they are not able to relate to God the Father properly, as their concept of a father altogether is false. This also severely hinders them from ever connecting properly to a spiritual leader or father in God’s kingdom, and they will gravitate towards false father-figures within religious and secular systems. The net effect is that they will be inclined towards the caste system and the spirit of bondage, and they will be repelled from truly knowing God.

This is only one of many strategies used by the Jezebel spirit, but many of its devices include the base strategic element of undermining those who are meant to be the leaders (i.e. fathers of the family, spiritual fathers), and usurping their authority. This is usually done in a subtle manner, and while there are instances where the spirit of Jezebel may take a more aggressive and blatant approach, the general rule is deception and shadowy manipulation.

Here is something I picked up from Arthur Burk: another prevalent pattern that can be witnessed in a person who comes under the influence and becomes a carrier of the Jezebel spirit, is that she is usually a woman who has accepted the false belief (whether consciously or unconsciously) that no one will ever take care of her and do what she needs (including God), and she thinks that the only way for her to get what she needs and wants is to get it herself – usually through contriving devices and behavior patterns designed to get it out of others. The basis for the strategies they use is always rooted in manipulation and control.

Why is it usually a woman who is under this spirit? Because a woman who is wounded in her self image – usually being malformed because of deficiency in her upbringing, lacking the influence of a good father, or else having the influence of a bad or abusive father – fits the mold of the Jezebel spirit more naturally, and men who are deficient usually default to other patterns that are more suited to their psychological makeup. But a woman has the fundamental need within her to know that she is loved and that she will be cared for and not abandoned or left to fend for herself. If this need is not met by her family when she is young, by her father in particular, then often she will come to the unconscious conclusion that no one will ever love and take care of her, and therefore she must figure out how to protect herself and acquire the things that she needs (i.e. emotionally, physically, etc.). And if this is further reinforced by a mother who also holds the same ideology, whether consciously or unconsciously, then she will very quickly become a perfect container for the spirit of Jezebel. And it is usually from within this context in childhood that a woman with Jezebelic tendencies will emerge.

It is vitally important to realize that such women who are under the sway of this spirit, are actually just wounded and hurting inside, and because of what is lacking within in them, they have been targeted by a spirit that has completely taken advantage of them. God still loves them, and He wants them to be freed from this false belief and the spirit that feeds on it and so cruelly uses them. That is one of the saddest things about women who have come to a Jezebelic view of life: they think that even God doesn’t love them and even He won’t take care of them. So even if they do come to some degree of relationship with Him, they don’t really trust Him, and they are so deeply rooted in their belief that they must take care of themselves and influence the outcome for things to be well for them, they even try to manipulate God in ways similar to how they manipulate other people. They usually aren’t even aware that they are living their whole lives based on this belief, but it is established on such a deep level in their identity, that they are often completely unconscious of the way that they are living their lives.
There are even many Christian women who believe that they are just normal, whole human beings living for Christ, but they are actually living from a foundation of Jezebelic beliefs and tendencies. These women believe that God exists, and often they even have a good theology on how God works in relation to humanity, but their perspective is skewed on such a foundational level, that even with all of this understanding built up, they still cannot properly relate to God, and they unconsciously reach for something and hold on to anything that gives them a feeling of being able to control God. They don’t see this; they think that they trust God!

But what they have learned has only touched the surface of their lives, and the depths of their foundations are still untouched. And this same internally distorted view of God, malignantly affects every single relationship they have like venom, especially with their most important human relationships: their friends, their children, their spouse. The closer the person, the more this Jezebelic foundation influences every aspect of the relationship. And where there is the Jezebelic foundation, very often the spirit of Jezebel will find a resting place, because it has agreement with the host. Remember the words of Jesus in regard to the demonic: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest, and finds none. Then he said, I will return into my house from where I came out. And when he has come, he finds it empty, swept, and decorated. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and live there…” (Matthew 12:43-45, MKJV; see also Lu 11:24-26). Where there is an emptiness, a void of truth and the absence of the Spirit of Truth, then there is an opening for the demonic to dwell there. That there is such an emptiness in even some Christian women, is evidenced by the untruth of the foundation which these women with Jezebelic tendencies live upon.

What, then, is to be done about all of this?

In regard to the spirit of Jezebel, we must develop and exercise our discernment, seeing where Jezebelic tendencies are evidenced in our lives and the lives of others. And then, we must commence praying intentionally and specifically for those who are under this bondage, asking in the Name of Jesus that God would reveal to them His true heart towards them, and that He would penetrate the lies that are at the foundation of their being, and replace them with His Truth. We should pray that God breaks the stronghold of the spirit of Jezebel and the spirit of bondage over them, and that He would pour out His Spirit of adoption upon them and establish them in His truth and love.

It may or may not be wise to attempt to engage with a person who has a spirit of Jezebel, to try to awaken them to the truth. The only chance that they have to be brought out of the deception, is for the Spirit of Truth to shed the light and love of God abroad in their hearts, and if He is not upon you and leading you to facilitate this, then it is likely that things will only be made worse. As is the general rule with spiritual warfare, prayer is the primary weapon against the spirit and stronghold of Jezebel. However, be sure that you remain within your proper bounds of authority in reference to the spirit of Jezebel itself. You should not attempt to directly bind, rebuke, or cast out that spirit unless you know that you are doing so with the permission and agreement of the person who is under it, or because it is within the bounds of your authority in Christ and is according to the leading of the Spirit. Whatever action you take, do so according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and based on God’s counsel.

Besides this, we must also ask the Lord to release the spirit of Elijah according to His promise for the last days, on the basis of Matthew 9:37,38 – so that there would be well equipped and empowered laborers for the great harvest, which is at the end of this age (see Mt 13:39). We must seek the Lord concerning the nature of the spirit of Elijah and seek an understanding of its operation from Scripture and the revelation of the Spirit. When we see those who are walking in the spirit of Elijah, whether we recognize them as they are presently fighting the battle for the restoration of the Father Revelation to the Church and in the world, or we see that they have the potential within them and the calling to walk with the Lord in this purpose, we should pray for them to be strengthened and prepared for this mission. We should pray that God raises up the Elijahs in these last days, to contend against the spirit of bondage and the spirit of Jezebel, men and women who will not rest until the Spirit of adoption has been fully received in the Church, and the way has been prepared for the coming of the King of Kings. We should pray that they are successful in their mission, and that they are protected from the wiles of the enemy and his schemes against their lives – that they will be victorious over the spirit of Jezebel and not overcome by it.

They are unique people who will not fit into the same mold that everyone else has fit into, so they are perceived and painted as rebels and miscreants by the present system. They will have a natural dislike for caste systems and every system of bondage and control, and they will always be the number one enemy of the spirit of Jezebel and the spirit of bondage and of the leaders who are devoted to the continuation of the order governed by these spirits. Because of this, the plan of the enemy is to recognize these Elijahs as soon as possible, and then to do everything in his power to crush them and make them feel inadequate, worthless, and stupid. We must pray that they will not be lost in this relentless attack of the enemy from every direction in our culture, but that they will instead be strengthened by the opposition because of being pushed to rely even more on the power of God in their lives.
As the Lord directs us, we should do whatever we can to discern these forerunners of the Lord’s coming, to help them in every way that His Spirit leads us.

Where the spirit of bondage is concerned, we must discontinue our support of every leader and organization that operates according to a system that is in alignment with the teaching of the Nicolaitans. This does not mean that we become adversarial against them and totally reject any degree of relationship with them, but simply that we do not bring ourselves under the wrong authority of those who are actually rulers of a caste system and under a spirit of bondage, and we do not “advertise” for them in such a way that others would have the idea that things are right in their society. We should pray that the Lord would set them free from the spirit of bondage, and that He would pour out His Spirit of adoption and bring them to an understanding of the order of God’s Kingdom.

We should examine ourselves to see if we are living according to the spirit of bondage or the Spirit of adoption, and if there are still areas of our lives where we are still thinking according to its ideology as in Nicolaitan doctrine and the caste system.

And in regard to the Spirit of adoption, we must ask Him to come and fill us, and to examine and set right the foundation of our deepest beliefs, taking out everything that is false and replacing it with His truth. And we must be determined to walk in the revelation of the sonship and fatherhood, knowing who He is and who we are in Him. We should pray also according to the promise in Joel 2:27-29, that God would pour out His Spirit in these last days, and that the Spirit of adoption would be established in the midst of His people. We should do what ever we can to facilitate the move of the Spirit of adoption, following Him in all that we do so as to bring reconciliation and restoration of God’s true purpose for His Church and their leadership structure.

Throughout the Prophets, we are asked the question, “Who shall be able to stand in the day of the Lord?” (see Joe 2:11; Na 1:6; Mal 3:2; Rev 6:17). It is clear that the nations will not be able to stand (see Jer 10:10), but it is God’s intention that His people shall stand and remain established through it all (see Psalm 9:3-10; 58:10,11; Isa 3:10,11,13,14; 40:10,11; Dan 12:2-4; Mic 4:1; Mal 4:1-3).
But who is the person who can stand in the day of the Lord? What is the substance of their being that will enable them to endure? This is a question we must answer for ourselves as we strive to draw near to God and enter His rest, submitting ourselves to God to be formed into the people that will stand with Him in the end.

I believe that a crucial part of our preparation for the day of the Lord, is to understand His plan and how we fit into it in these last days. It is for this reason that I have written the things that are in this article. We need to know what God is going to do and how we are to cooperate with Him in it. And we also need all of the accompanying understanding that He is releasing to us, so that we will be able to discern between the works of the enemy and the works of God, to tear down the demonic strongholds and build up the city of God – to remove every obstacle and make straight a highway in the wilderness for our God (see Isa 40:3-5). As this was the calling of John the Baptist to go before Christ in preparing the way for Him, so it is the calling of all of the Church in these last days.

As the Prophets asked under the inspiration of the Spirit – and as I believe God is asking all of us in these last days, challenging us to set aside every hindrance, and calling us to draw near to Him – I ask you now to answer within yourself: Who shall be able to stand in the day of the Lord? Will you be ready, having His power abiding in you to stand?

Get ready; be prepared, for He is coming quickly.