There Is a Coming Civil War in the Church - Part II

It is not very difficult to see that numbers of God's children are slaves to various kinds of sin, but it is more difficult to understand that we are often in bondage to a hidden enemy that may be strengthened by the teachings and government of the Church. The enemy I am talking about is so subtle and hidden that even some of our strongest and most insightful leaders are often blind to it.

What we need as never before are true Prophets. The nature of the prophetic ministry is that it must not have any hidden agenda or political ties. The true Prophet must know that he is called to represent the heart of the Lord and His heart only. He must be free from political motivation, financial considerations, and absolutely free from the fear of man. It has taken some time for the present prophetic ministry to begin to be purified enough to do this. Yet even God's most renowned Prophet was subject to the enslaving spirit I am writing about.

If the Prophet Elijah could be affected to such a degree by the power of this spirit, what about you and I? The manifestation of this enslavement leads to confusion, depression, loss of vision and a feeling of deep insignificance.

1 Kings 19:4 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" NKJV

Remember this, Elijah was not a novice. He had won some major battles and had been used by God to begin to break the prevailing religious spirit of his day. Indeed, we will need experienced and deeply insightful prophetic ministry to guide us in this hour. May God grant us to recognize them when He sends them to us.

When Jesus was instructing his disciples about the last days he made a statement that for the moment sounded a bit confusing. Yet today we are able to see clearly what He was stating.

Matt 17:11-12 11 Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.

12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, NIV

Restore NT:600 from NT:575 and NT:2525; to reconstitute (in health, home or organization)L (emphasis mine) KJV - restore (again). (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance

When we look at the context of these words we realize that the Lord is telling His disciples that there is an Elijah anointing that is coming in the last days that will "restore all things." He goes on to say that John the Baptist was a type of Elijah and that the religious people of the day rejected and ultimately killed him.

Matt 17:12-13 but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. NIV

While seeking the Lord about the end time Elijah anointing I asked the following question. "Lord, what will the Elijah anointing accomplish?" Here was His reply "the Prophetic anointing will confront and destroy strongholds that will not yield to anything else." Dear one, to reject the Lord's end time Prophets is to condemn ourselves to the enslavement of strongholds. Truly, the worst kind of stronghold is the one that we do not see or recognize. Still, if we find ourselves weary, confused, depressed, or discouraged it is very likely that a stronghold is working very powerfully behind the scenes.

Someone has said that a stronghold is "a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that accepts as unchangeable those things that we know are contrary to God's will." Although that is an excellent definition it needs further insight. The stronghold that is even more destructive and dangerous is the one that we have come to believe is the will of God and is protecting us.

Countless believers find themselves depressed, confused, discouraged and fearful. This will eventually lead to a lack in almost every area of our life, including finances, vision, and hope. Yet they have no idea what is causing or creating these debilitating feelings. This is where the true Prophetic ministry must come in.

Jesus made another profound statement when He said:

Matt 10:41 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. NKJV

What is the Prophets reward? Part of it is the ability to see, confront and destroy hidden strongholds. When Jesus gave the five-fold ministry to the Church each of the five-fold ministries was to equip the saints for the work the Lord has for them to do. The major role of the Prophet in equipping the saints is to empower them to "see". Many times the seeing must come through "dreams and visions." One of the reasons the Lord uses dreams and visions is so that our religious thinking cannot block His truth.

If you have found yourself discouraged, depressed, confused and a dwindling amount of resources, be prepared to cry out for "the Elijah prophets" with all of your heart. They are God's gift to the Church and they will begin to help us to see again.

Rev 3:18-22 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Emphasis mine)

We will begin to uncover and destroy the hidden strongholds in coming articles. Pray for God's prophets to see and speak with unprecedented clarity and power.

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There Is A Civil War Coming In The Church!

I pastored a church once that gloried in the fact that they were not very educated yet were very spiritual. What was sad is the fact that many of the scriptures they quoted were misquoted and out of context. Over a period of time I began to try to help them see that they had actually memorized and were quoting words that were not in the scripture. Do you know what happened? In a moment of heated frustration they finally said "we don't care what the scripture says this is what we believe". I then went to the Lord about all of this and asked Him what I was to do. He said something very frightening to me and yet very hopeful. He said, "Men will die and kill for what they believe, even if it is wrong, because it is all they have. If they give up their error they believe they are giving up their salvation. You must give them something to hold onto first, and then they will let go of their error." What the Lord was saying was this, "If you attack their error they will fight to the death for it is all they have. Give them truth in love and they will eventually give up the error".

The thing that Abraham Lincoln feared about the Civil War was that when it was over their would be such a division created by the way the war was waged that the nation would be forever divided. He wanted to fight the war with the constant thought of reconciliation. Can a war be fought with love as the primary motivation, or does the nature of war and the battle field rule out any such naïve hope? Can we look over the barrels of our rifles that are aimed at a perceived enemy and say, "I fight this war and shoot this bullet because I love you"?

Almost every war is fought over the perceived loss of something. The other guy wants what I have and I will not give it up. Usually it is about land, finances, ideology and freedoms. The great difficulty that I see in the coming Civil War in the Church is that it will be very difficult to distinguish who is wrong. The presentation of truth will be so accurate that we will find it hard to know who is right.

How then can we know we are on the right side of this battle? The right side, of course, is the one the Lord himself has chosen. Perhaps the following will help us.

The Lord once spoke these words to my heart, "Truth that is not spoken in love is only a half-truth no matter how accurate the facts. I am the Way the Truth and the Life, and I am Love". When we try to defend a truth without walking in love we will certainly end up deceived.

Dear ones, it is time for the deepest kind of discernment available to the Church. Not only do we need to know and understand the scriptures like never before, but accurately presenting and studying them in their context with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But we will have to know a depth of love that is presently lacking in the body of Christ. Most in the Church right now put a far greater emphasis on being right and not having their rights violated than they put on love.

One of the reasons I have written on the subject of the "Coming Civil War in the Church" is the result of the following dream. Of course, this dream is not the only reason I write on this subject. It is clear that the Church is moving towards this Civil War at a fast rate for many other reasons beside this dream. Nevertheless dreams often give us insight and revelation that we would not otherwise have, as in the case of Daniel and John the Revelator. Dreams and visions should always be judged and this one is no different. Please read and judge for yourselves. As always, comments and insight are not only welcome but desired.

Dream 3/11/09 -

I was a young man again, standing with a group of other young men when Abraham Lincoln came up to our group, looked at me and said, " I need leaders for the coming war and I want you to be one of them". I looked at my friends and they looked at me and I eventually walked over to where Abraham Lincoln had gone. When I approached he said, "I can do one of two things. I can scavenge troops from the other divisions and give you a command of your own, or I can put you under a great and experienced General". I responded by saying, "I would like to be under you." Abraham Lincoln then said, "That will not be possible, but I will put you under one of my greatest and most experienced Generals". He then pointed out a short stocky man with a short beard and a strong resolve and countenance on his face. He was elderly but not old.

The Scene Changes -

I have gone home and am packing. I am gathering the right clothes and things I will need for the Army. My Mother is helping and my brother ( my mother and brother here are not the ones I had in real life they represent the Church). As I am looking for the right boots to where, Abraham Lincoln gave me some boot liners made of soft leather on the outside and soft lamb's wool on in the inside. Before I can finish packing a knock comes on the door. My brother goes to answer it and Abraham Lincoln is standing there and says, "It is time to go" I say, "I am not finished packing." He says, "No, you must come now". I put on my union officers coat; It is dark blue with two rows of buttons running down the front. I step out the door to join Abraham Lincoln and my brother has a boom box on his shoulder playing very loudly, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Coming of the Lord, he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored... His truth is marching on". As I step out the door the entire Union Army is waiting. It is time to go to war!!!!

Dream ends and I awake to pray. At first I pray for our nation but do not sense an anointing for that, a burden yes, but not an anointing. I then pray for the Church and both feel an anointing and a crushing burden.

I am looking forward to hearing from you. I prayed this morning on what to do about all of this and the Lord told me to "sharpen the two-edged sword." He then showed me the stone with which we were to sharpen it with. He also said, "It will take great patience and skill to sharpen this sword in the way it must be sharpened". He then showed me the strokes used to sharpen the sword were the opposite strokes most men use to sharpen their swords. May the Lord grant His spirit of revelation to us.

Dear ones, only love will be able to keep us on the right track in the days of the coming chaos. May we cry out night and day for "The baptism of His love".

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