We believe we are born alive into/onto a living world, from which we one day die. What if we mistakenly have it backwards?

May 12, 2024, while spending time with God and His Word, I wrote the gist of this in my prayer journal: According to Almighty God, as a result of the fall from His grace by Adam and Eve, all their descendants (that’s us) are tainted with a sin-nature (recall, the wages of sin is death). Therefore, when we’re born into this existence, we are born as dead men into/onto a dead and dying world, one God will destroy before creating the new Heaven and Earth that have never been touched by sin. The only way to be saved into eternal life as Almighty God intended for us is through salvation under the covering of the precious blood of Messiah Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

We are “dead men walking” until we are born again by accepting the sacrifice of the cross that Messiah Jesus made for us. In John 10:10 CJB, Jesus tells us, “I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.” Without the covering provided by the New Covenant between the Father and the Son, we remain dead men walking. Here’s the tricky aspect about that: The Adversary knows this and knows that most people, including Christians, do not understand this as they/we should.

May 19, 2024, while spending time with God and His Word, I asked Him to make clear to me what He wanted this June article to be about. Several hours later, I turned my computer on and found this sermon video from Benjamin Faircloth, dated 05.19.24, and took his title and topic as confirmation from God: “Dead Men Walking!” 5-19-24 (youtube.com) – I pray/hope you’ll watch it with an open heart and mind to what God is saying to anyone who will listen.

In IT IS FINISHED by David Wilkerson, we connect more “dots” about this through his section on strange fire and our being spiritual lepers without realizing we are:

In 2 Chronicles we learn that King Uzziah, otherwise faithful to God for decades, decided he was a “good enough/holy enough” servant of Almighty God that he could go into the temple and do a task that God had assigned solely to Levite priests, who confronted him. Because of this offense, God caused leprosy to break out on Uzziah, and he lived alone in that condition until he died.

Wilkerson wrote, “In the end, what does Uzziah’s story say to us? It tells us that no matter how hard we may try to conquer sin—no matter how much we may trust in our own works, flesh, and energy to get victory—the leprosy of sin will keep breaking out on us. . . .  Uzziah thought he was holy because of his fifty years of faithfulness to God, but the moment he tried to act as his own high priest, he saw his true condition. Likewise today, whenever we try to bring our own works and energy to God, the Holy Spirit causes us to realize just how weak and unclean we are. . . .  King Uzziah was a leper all along, but he never knew it. And now I see I’m a leper too. We’re all lepers. We are so distant from the Lord’s holiness, we are utterly sin-sick.”

We are, indeed, a sin-sick world, one filled with spiritual lepers: We are those spiritual lepers, despite how godly (or “woke”) we may choose to see ourselves. We’ve believed the Adversary’s deception that says our “good works,” our “sincere efforts,” are acceptable incense to bring before God, when in reality, it is a form of strange fire forbidden by God, and stated as such by God: “…All of us are like someone unclean, all our righteous deeds like menstrual rags…” – Isaiah 64:5(6)

This is manifested in Social Justice – that hub of the great web from which spokes of related deceptions spring forth these days. Opposite this is the Church Body’s arrogance and unforgiving hearts. Both are strange fire that bring a stench to God’s nostrils. Why the “bitter quarrel” between us? Because we are distorted mirrored reflections of each other. That’s something for each of us to ponder and bring to God our Father in prayer.

Several weeks ago, I listened to this podcast by Frank of Remnant Call Radio, in which he spoke about purifying silver and how to know when it’s pure. I pray/hope you’ll also listen to it at Spirit and Fire (youtube.com), but the gist of that podcast segment is this: A silversmith places silver into the center of a very hot fire and never leaves it during this process. He watches over it carefully because there’s only so much heat it can take in the purification process. Beyond that, it’ll be destroyed. When asked how he knows the silver is purified, the smith replied, “When I can see my reflection it it.” Now, imagine Jesus saying that.[

Political or not, too many people are focused on being their own high priests in this sin-soaked world they value so highly. But the Church is worse—because, supposedly, they/we are in a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and again, supposedly, live as commanded to live, by the Spirit. “For if you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die; but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.” – Romans 8:13 [emphasis mine]

How often do we read those three words in bold font—by the Spirit, meaning Holy Spirit Who is supposed to live within us—and blip right over them as though they aren’t there, being primarily focused on our abilities and will-power. In fact . . .

“Moreover, understand this: in the acharit-hayamim [latter days] will come trying times. People will be self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good, traitorous, headstrong, swollen with conceit, loving pleasure rather than God, as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power. Stay away from these people! For some of them worm their way into homes and get control of weak-will women who are heaped with sins and swayed by various impulses, who are always learning but never able to come to full knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-7 CJB

Here’s the thing about that scripture you just read: it’s about the Church—not the lost.

We are to go before God humbly submitted to the truth that He is holy and we’re not. Most of us, if we’re honest about it, not only don’t really understand what holy means, but give it very little thought. Were it not for the New Covenant between Almighty God and His beloved Son, Messiah Jesus, we could not approach Him. His holiness is so pure that we would be incinerated upon approach as were the servants in Daniel 3, who were charged with making the fire seven times hotter for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (whose Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah).

There’s something else we also tend to understand backwards: David Wilkerson called it the Secret of the Lord. “What is the secret God wants to share with His people? It is not just about the Holy Spirit coming into our hearts to break sin’s dominion over us. His secret is about how the Spirit accomplishes this work.”

Wilkerson uses Elijah as an example, picking up after Elijah called down fire from God to prove to the 400 prophets of Baal, Who the One true Almighty God is, and then, frightened of Jezebel after he’d slaughtered her 400 prophets, ran and hid in a cave. “When the Lord found him there, He said, ‘Elijah, I want to speak to you.’ Then God showed the prophet His secret with a power greater than any manifestation Elijah had seen. . . .  It was the still, small voice of a loving Father—a forgiving voice full of lovingkindness speaking to a downcast servant full of confusion. . . .  Here is the secret of the New Covenant: It is not some sudden rush of supernatural power in us, enabling us to resist an overwhelming temptation. Rather, it is God’s still, small voice, revealing His love to us in the midst of our failure and testing.”

It’s actually an open secret, addressed throughout the Word: If we love God, we’ll obey/live His commands, and that God counts trust and obedience as righteousness. But there’s more to understand about this. The secret is in the full-on realization of God’s deep, pure love for each individual who seeks to have a genuine loving relationship with Him, and then becoming—not just knowing about but becoming—one with that love, just as Jesus’ love for the Father and the Father’s love for the Son. Becoming one with the Father’s love changes everything: It’s meant to, though usually happens over time in us. Immediate or gradual, if it doesn’t happen, the quality of our love for God needs consideration and assessment.

May God our Father open our hearts to this level of love because the foundation of God’s power in us is not some “Hollywood-type special effects” experience, but the quiet healing restoration of that level of love—pure, mature love. This kind of godly Christ-like love carries life to those drowning in the effects of this sin-sick world. It’s the life-giving preserver that rescues, sets free. The Adversary wants us to believe we are irredeemable failures not worth saving. He and or his minions tempt and torment us so we stumble and sin—again—and believe we are undeserving of God’s forgiveness and, thus, causes us to believe we are also undeserving of His love, and to forget to trust God’s love and His promises and His faithfulness to them—and to us.

From Experiencing God: “You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You cannot continue doing things your way and accomplish God’s purposes in His ways. . . .  Earlier (chap. 7) you studied the relationship between love and obedience. You found that obedience is the outward expression of your love of God. . . .  If you have an obedience problem, you have a love problem. . . .  Choosing not to obey is rebellion, and such disobedience will bring serious consequences.” [Emphasis mine.]

 Obedience brings blessings from God, and obedience closes doors to demons.

   With God, love is not permission to choose to think, speak, and behave according to our sin-nature. Keep the Messiah Jesus-as-Silversmith story in your mind at all times. Just be sure to follow the Messiah Jesus of the Word—both Old and New Testaments, not the false Jesus of the world. You want to include ALL of the true Jesus’ aspects, especially His loving obedience to the Father—even unto death, should that be required of you/us as well. Missionary David Livingstone said this: “Forbid that we should ever consider the holding of a commission from the King of Kings a sacrifice, so long as other men esteem the service of an earthly government as an honor.” We’ll forego how that latter sentence part fits into today’s political quagmire. Stick with Livingstone’s heartfelt intent.

     We know the word—obedience—but not necessarily how to live it as it relates to God. For one thing, it’s in direct contrast to how the world tells us to live. And then there’s the purpose-driven crowd, as in What’s my/your purpose?—a mega-million-dollar enterprise, for sure. From Experiencing God: “Some people want God to give them an assignment. They vow to do whatever He asks. But when God observes their lives, He notices they have not obeyed in the things He already has told them to do. . . .  God’s commands are not given so you can pick and choose the ones you want to obey and forget the rest. He expects you to obey all His commands out of your love relationship with Him. When He sees you are faithful and obedient in a little, He will be able to trust you with more.”

      BIG HINT: God’s commands are not just the Ten, nor do I refer to the 613. But if you don’t read or marinate in the Word—Old and New Testaments, you won’t know all He instructs about walking in His Kingdom ways—out of your love for Him, as Jesus did and still does. This is more involved than I’m going into here because, as Jesus said, His burden is easy, His yoke is light. But there are those who want you to believe otherwise.

 Have you ever asked yourself to what degree God can trust you? Ouch. Ever made a New-Year’s Resolution you didn’t keep? Ouch-ouch. How many other “commitments” have you made to yourself or someone else that, for whatever reason … well, you know … ouch-ouch-ouch.

Last one from Experiencing God: “When you come to a moment of truth, you must choose whether to obey God. You cannot obey Him unless you believe and trust Him. You cannot believe and trust Him unless you love Him. You cannot love Him unless you know Him.”

   God already knows everything there is to ever know about us. We then need to ask Him to help us know Him better. The more we know Him, the more we begin to love Him—a genuine feeling is what I’m talking about. We are to walk in the fullness of a deep abiding love together with and of our God. This kind of love cannot be faked: God knows the heart of each person. And, it will feel less tedious if/when we focus more on our true love for Him and less on ourselves. I didn’t say it makes it easier, just less tedious. Change the target so our aim is where it should be: on Him, by the Spirit, not in us by our flesh-nature.

To revisit how this topic opened: After we leave our bodies when God says our time here is over, we either continue in eternal life with Him or continue in living death with the Adversary and his demons. God does not send people to Hell: He gave us His Word – His Story, which is our shared His-story, and the free will to choose where we’ll spend eternity and with whom. Only one of those is worth the cost. Eternity is a long time.

          I’ll close with a prayer I invite you to pray as well:

     Father, give me ears to hear, a heart to trust, and hands to act. Take away the temptation to carry out my plans and leave Yours until later. You know who I am better than I do myself. You know the adjustments I must make. Work in my life through Your Holy Spirit. Create the image of Christ in me so that I have the character to fulfill any assignment You give me. Show me the way to serve You according to Your purpose for me. (Paraphrased in part from Experiencing God.)

Help me, Lord, to be strong through You and the power of Your might. Help me to trust in You with all my heart and not to rely on my own understanding, but to acknowledge You in all things, believing Your promise to then level my path.

I thank and praise You, Father, for hearing and answering this prayer, which I pray for me and those who are saved, as well as those who still can be, prayed under the covering of Messiah Jesus, King of kings, Lord of lords. Amen.

EXTRA:

Does God still do miracles? Night of Miracles in Wisconsin – Mario Murillo Ministries