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Prophecy: Prophecy Primer #3-Walking Amongst The Spirits
January 9, 2010


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TODAY'S WORD
INTRODUCTION:
Several days ago, the Lord was speaking a series of things to me in my spirit, and He said this:
"My people need to walk in the Spirit so that they may have victory in the Earth, but instead, they are "WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS".

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
It is one thing to know that God has spoken to you, and another thing to do something constructive about it. First of all, when God speaks, I do not assume that He is immediately pointing to everyone else and leaving me out of the effective radius of the situation. I assume first that I have the problem. In this case, God was speaking to "My People". Since I am one of "His People", I'm included.

So, I had very good intentions. I was going to leave for Tennessee in the morning, and I resolved that I was going to spend the great majority of my time there in solitary meditation with the Lord, and in the word. What followed, once I arrived, was one problem after another. This thing broke, that man broke His promise, weather changed, the phone rang, emergencies flared, tires went flat, frustration grew, exhaustion overwhelmed and my good intentions flew out the window.

Then, the weather changed again, and I was compelled to change my location, relocate to a hotel, where I watched too much TV and read too little word. In short, I WAS HINDERED.

I do not want to blame everything on "the devil", but do any of you have any recollections of a time like that in your life, where you set your heart to seek God, only to find that circumstances seemed to rise up en masse and intervene? It seemed as if there was a collective mind behind all that opposition, did it not?

Paul, for example, had a deep desire to go to Spain. He never got there. He had also wanted to visit Rome for a long time, but in Romans Ch 1, v13, he said that he had been hindered until that time. Who hindered Paul? He does not say. He simply realized that he had been hindered. Was there a hinderer? Certainly! Does he take advantage of bad things that happen in our lives? I have no doubt!

WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS
So what is this that the Lord was speaking about? Well, consider these things that the Lord brought before me:

  • When we cruise the internet, and visit sites that contain provocative pictures or profane and vulgar language, we are WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS.
  • When we turn on the TV and channel surf, we are WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS.
  • When we pick up a magazine, and leaf through the pages, we are WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS.
  • When we turn on the radio, and the song conjures up a vile image in our minds or triggers an impure memory, we are WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS.
  • When we go to church, and everyone is seeking a spiritual manifestation, or wants to be knocked down, or see a bolt of fire, or break out in laughter, or bark like a dog, we are WALKING AMONGST THE SPIRITS.

    THE EFFECT
    The Lord brought a real "B Movie" image before my mind. Some of you might recall the Clint Eastwood movie, "The Gauntlet", where our hero Clint is trying to get to the courthouse. There are more than a hundred police cars blocking his way, and all these police officers open fire on Clint's car as he runs this gauntlet. Well, it was a crazy scene. There is no way that anyone could survive that hail of gunfire, but that is what the Lord says is happening to us when we spend hours upon hours, every single day of our lives, WALING AMONGST THE SPIRITS. We are running a gauntlet of evil spirits.

    It reminds me of the pictures I have seen of the Amsterdam "Red Light" district, where prostitutes sit in their display windows, advertising what they have for sale. We run this gauntlet of demons every day, and they each have their little road sign and their display window. They call out to us as we pass by with our eyes wide open, our ears a "lis-nen" and our noses "sniffin".

    This is a problem that does not seem to dissipate all that much with age. I remember my friends John and Mary (names changed). They were in their eighty's, and they had been missionaries for more than fifty years. John was an associate pastor in my church. Mary found out one day that John had gone down to the beach at lunch time. This particular stretch of beach is known for its' large population of young women wearing almost nothing. Mary said to John, from across the Wednesday night church dinner table: "John, it is difficult to renew your mind when you go down to that beach"!

    We know that in order to be transformed, we must renew our minds. Me must allow our thinking to be dominated by Godly and pure thoughts, but that is getting harder and harder to do.

    To paraphrase Mary from above, how can we be transformed if we drive to the beach every day to gaze upon a wild bikini? And some of us do not get into cars to drive down to look. Some visit that place and worse with a few computer keystrokes.

    SELF JUSTIFICATION or SELF DECEPTION?
    I believe that in order to have the victory, we are going to have to develop some strict self discipline with respect to our time spent on internet, radio and TV. We justify to ourselves that we are spending all this time, looking at news sites, for prophecy fulfillments. But, what are we really doing? Are we building faith, or exposing ourselves to more and more opportunities for daily defilement?

    TAUGHT TO ACCEPT EVERYTHING
    The going rage in church during the last twenty years is to be a seeker of the signs. Everyone wants to witness a spiritual manifestation, it seems.

    Some of the leaders of these movements have taught us to take an angel home with us, but non of them ever taught us to test that angel, to see if that angel was an angel of the Lord, or a fallen angel.

    We have been told that we do not need to discern. We are told to take it all in, and receive it all. Yet, the bible tells us to test everything, and to test every spirit.

    We have been taught to ignore and to override all of our basic common sense reactions to things that are simply weird and not right. We have all been in these situations where deep inside, we know that something is wrong in a given spiritual situation, yet we tell ourselves that it is spiritual, and so, we must just press the override button, and we remain seated through the entire service. We would not want to be seen as the only one to stand up and leave, would we?

    Our leaders have taught us to turn off all discernment. We are told that Jesus taught us to "judge not". Yet, the bible is clear that with respect to any and all kinds of spiritual teaching, we are to be like the Bereans, and line up everything with the written word of God.

    Our leaders have told us to "touch not the anointed". And so, it has now become illegal to openly question things that are going on in our churches. Any questioning...any attempts to seek spiritual and scriptural backing for what is being done is perceived as an attack against the Lord's anointed, and we are shunned. We are taught to be like good Mormons, and to have a pure and untroubled faith. In doing so, we run a gauntlet of demons. WE WALK AMONGST THE SPIRITS.

    SATAN'S END GAME
    You can be sure that whenever Satan has set up a system like this to trip up the believer, there is a catastrophic end game plan in store.

    Many, it seems, have a rather flippant attitude about this type of sin. It is, after all, primarily a sin of the thought life. Therefore, our society has taught us to regard it as a victimless crime.

    Our pastors are eager to draw in more and more people, and many will go to any lengths to obtain more and more power. Why did a certain televangelist camp graveside at the tomb of Amy Semple Macpherson for a period of three days? Does not any unsaved adult of sound mind find this to be very creepy behavior? Yet, we accept it...we hit the override button regarding the creepiness factor.

    Still others are afraid to shut anything down in their churches for fear of offending anyone. We might cut down the attendance and you know what happens then. The take decreases. How will we ever pay the mortgage?

    So what is Satan's endgame here? Everyone says to himself that "God will forgive me", so sin of all types is handled in a casual and cavalier manner. We are talking about brethren here, after all. We are all saved! What is the big deal after all?

    The big deal is this: A CHURCH WITHOUT POWER! REAL POWER! GODLY POWER! Instead, counterfeits are accepted and welcomed. Demons and evil angels proliferate and we are still in our sins.

    The big deal is this: When you are in your sins, you are separated from God. You are not useful to God until you repent and are restored. God will not hear your prayer if you regard sin in your hearts, according to Psalm 66. Yes, you are still saved, but you are neither effective nor productive during your "down time". Satan may not be able to drag you into hell, but he may persuade you to live there during your time on Earth. Yes, the blood will still wash you clean, but how much time are you spending, here on the Earth, living in a clean condition? Are you clean at all? Or are you diving daily into a bucket of filth?

    REDRESS
    The enemy has another side to this whole plan. He has raised up certain men who are viciously attacking the brethren. They attack their every apparent failing, and their desire is to totally destroy the reputation of the minister and the very life of the man, if that is possible.

    And so, one pastor allows people to bark like dogs in the fellowship, and another man enters, holding a bible, and embarks upon a campaign of vicious smear and character assasination.

    CONCLUSION
    God has said that HIS PEOPLE have a problem here. And that problem has many facets. We can rejoice that we are still His people. We must disregard those who would attack His people and treat His ministers as though they were not even saved.

    At the same time, we cannot allow all of this disorder to continue in our assemblies and in our lives. It is time to clean house, both corporately and individually. Running the gauntlet of demons is not a strategy for success. We must walk in the Spirit if we have any hope to keep from giving in to the lusts of the flesh.

    Blessings,

    Stephen L. Bening



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