| I have been through two major movements of God in my short life (and even shorter walk with God). I was originally "saved" as a young boy in a Baptist church and walked with the Lord, as I understood it, until I was a young teenager. i went away from the Lord and stayed away until I was in my late 20's. The Lord "found" me one day in a little Pentecostal church as I was doing my "duty" by attending church on Sunday morning (for many in the south going to church is part of "normal" life). During this time, the Brownsville revival movement was beginning and I found myself going down to Pensacola, Florida several times a year over the next five years. What I saw was wonderful, I saw people who really loved God with all of their heart being touched by God's Spirit and being renewed to a fresh zeal and passion for the Lord. What a day I was living in! I started seeing something else during that time though, it had nothing to do with the revival, per se, but I noticed it among the people who attended. There was a very subtle, underlying expression of what I have come to recognize as rebellion, masquerading as freedom. The sad thing is today that same spirit of rebellion is still very much "leading" people into rebellion. Unfortunately, the person being led thinks they are walking in the spirit of freedom. During this time of revival I was able to speak with many people from all over the world from every religious background you could think of. many times I would hear things like; "My church is not "on fire" like Brownsville, I am really "praying" about what to do, if they don't get on fire, I feel I will have to leave the church and go to another church that moves in the Spirit". This sounds understandable on the surface, but as I talked with more and more people, this kind of thing became more and more prevalent. I began to see something in the Spirit, a terrible spirit of rebellion. This spirit was against Spiritual authority and hid behind Spiritual hunger and some sort of misguided "freedom" to choose. At the minimum, this is birthed in ignorance of the word of God. God's Word has to be our guide in the world, not some feeling or even a spirit. Remember, God's Holy Spirit only leads us in accordance with the Word of God. I would like to addressthe earlier statement I wrote in the article; "my church is not "on fire" like Brownsville, I am really "praying" about what to do, if they don't get on fire, I feel I will have to leave the church and go to another church that moves in the "Spirit"". Although this is not a direct quote, it embodies the essence of what I was hearing and in some cases still hear. Many people ould read that statement and say, thats right brother, you have to "follow the cloud", "follow the Spirit wherever He leads". These kinds of statements smack of the kind of rebellion that hurts the heart of the Father. Follow the cloud, follow the Spirit Although I understand this kind of mentality and I understand what the Scriptures say in John 3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit". It also says in Rom 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God". These scriptures taken by themselves and misapplied, could lead a person to believe they are "free" to just be led around by the Spirit like the wind. Again, I agree with this to a degree, but what is our compass to know the the voice we are listening to is the Spirit of God? I will show that God gave His Word as a guide book and His ministers as shepherds, to lead the children of God through safe apstures; the Christian's responsibility is to follow the "man of God" he has been placed under as he follows the Cloud/Spirit. In the past I have heard people say, "I must follow the cloud". As good and as spiritual as that sounds is it correct? What does our guidebook say? In Ex 13:21 we read; "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. 14:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel,...." This is the first look in the Bible at the cloud, just a basic look at this passage and we could say, see, God sent the cloud to "lead the people" but is this true? Let's look a little further in the scriptures and let God describe His cloud. Ex 19:9 "And the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I come to you (Moses) in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you (Moses), and believe you (Moses) forever". God's cloud did lead the people but only as they followed Moses who was being led by the cloud. At this point I would like to mention some people who decided not to follow God's choice as their Spiritual leader. Num 12:4 "Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!" So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. Then He said, "Hear now My words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. What was Miriam's big rebellion? What did she do to deserve this punishment? Click on the link below for Freedom or REBELLION Page 2 |
| Freedom or REBELLION |