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The Marks Of An Apostle Endtime Prophecy Legalism vs Grace
A. The marks of an apostle (signs, wonders, and miracles).
B. The revelation of true Christian maturity and freedom.
C. Having all the love and faith that are in Christ Jesus..
D. Death and crucifixion to the world system, to all political power and witchcraft.
E. The continuance of all the fullness of Galatians 2:20 - (the continuing life and ministry of the Son of God).
F. Anyone who claims to live in him - must walk as Jesus did.
1. Legalism - Chapter One
2. Legalism - Chapter Two
3. Legalism - Chapter Three
5."Common Demons In Creation & Spirits Of Religion "
In the gospel, the scriptures reveal the real purpose for the law and for principles of law in general.. Christ came to uphold the law.. It is specific and clear that the entire world is subject to the laws jurisdiction. (Romans 3:19). In Apostle Paul’s dissertation in the book of Galatians, he creates an analogy that describes the differences between the law of Moses and the law of Christ as the contrast between an inheritance given to an adult and that of one given to a child.. (Galatians 4:3) As children - we were raised under the supervision of guardians and trustees - locked up under the basic principles of this world..
The law of Moses imposed mandatory offerings, sacrifices, rituals, and external observances. These sacrifices are a constant reminder of sin.. In Paul’s analogy - the heir inherits the inheritance of a child - having his real adult inheritance placed in trustee care for some future time... As long as the heir is a child he is no different from a slave.. He remains under the supervision of guardians, baby sitters, rules, boundaries, and legal restrictions... These provisions are incidental to his needs since he is only a child - designed to restrain him for his own good. These external disciplines and ritual practices delineate safe boundaries...Everybody knows that a stop sign at the end of the street is there to maintain order and prevent confusion - and even destruction. But when a man has a pregnant woman in the car - it’s OK to skip through a few stop signs as long as he proceeds safely and cautiously. (This is approximately what David did when he took the consecrated bread that was dedicated for the priests.. He broke the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law...)
Although the commandments were given by God through Moses and were holy and good - they did not account for or ameliorate the sinful nature of man - for through the law sin was identified as sin and it became utterly wicked.. (It was impossible for the blood of bulls , goats , rams, and Passover lambs to take away sin) ..
The sinful nature of man was aroused by the commandments themselves and made the child less disciplined . (Apparently the more you tell someone not to do something - the more they want to do it...) And as far as failure is concerned - the child would always screw up and miss the mark.... Invariably, through the commandments, the standard of God’s judgment against sin and wickedness increased... And the power of mans grappling with sin also increased. For when the commandment came - sin sprang to life and brought more spiritual death.. (The power of sin is the law..)
The law is not based on faith but on legal perfection - the man who does these things shall live by them or the man who does these things shall live in them.. Cursed is the man that does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law... So even one sin was enough of a consequence to condemn a man.. For even if the child did not commit adultery, he most assuredly had broken some other requirement. Love the Lord your God with all your strength, soul and mind. Even if his own soul did not perfectly love God - he became a law breaker...
So the law stood against us and brought condemnation and exposure to sin.. It did not bring life, but rather the increase of trespass through the law of sin and death.. For even though the law reveals God’s standard for righteousness, we were not able to attain it through our own efforts...
In conclusion, the Law was a ministry that was designed to discipline children.. And the righteous are to live by faith.. Now that Christ came; we are not under the supervision of the written code... We have been set free from what once bound us and are positionally free of the sinful nature. Sin shall not be our master - we are under grace - not under law.
Through the example of the scriptures and the law, we see the correct way to raise our children. We set boundaries and parameters for them - until the time of their fullness/ maturation.... And in the church dispensation - there are also boundaries and parameters in the new testament that are designed to give the Church structure and lead the Church toward maturity...
To interpret God’s intentions for a single scripture without embracing or giving credence to the whole summation of scripture is a near sighted practice.. For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Entering into Christian maturity is a process of divesting oneself from the parameters of law and the works of the flesh and fully entering into grace..
When someone reads a scripture such as “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers”, the first inclination is to believe that all Christians should stay away from all outsiders and solely remain among other Christians.. But this is a very superficial and legalistic approach to this scripture. We are clearly under a covenant of grace and not under law. More appropriately - Paul was speaking to those with weak consciences... “If the Lord tells you not to associate with someone that is leading you astray - you should listen..” This could include desisting from contact with all forms of legalism. Anything that does not come from faith is sin. However, for the record, it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him...To say that Christians must not make friends with unbelievers is near sighted.. I will reiterate my point - there are scriptures that are specifically designed to rear young Christians toward maturity and keep the Church structured....
There are some church authorities that compel believers to meet with one another constantly and observe the Sabbath day.. Nevertheless, they are obligated under the law of Christ to enter into God’s rest - instead of establishing a rest of their own.. And specifically concerning the Sabbath rest in the new testament , let's read from the prophet Jeremiah: The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” And from the prophet Isaiah: Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose.”
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free - do not be again burdened by a yoke of slavery.. Christ is the end of the law so that the righteous requirements of the law might be met in us.
Again in reference to the scripture in the book of Galatians spoken of in Chapter one - we now see the conflict more clearly between the first covenant of law and the second covenant of Grace. The first covenant was a covenant of slavery and immaturity (religious servitude) - the second covenant , a covenant of sonship and adoption.
In that the law was weakened by the sinful nature - Christ came as a sin offering in order to accomplish what was previously left undone under the first covenant. So through Christ - the law was upheld in it's proper use and was even amended and added to.
Lets again talk about the contrast between being under law and under the new covenant of grace .. In the book of Ezekiel 4:12 - the prophet Ezekiel is told by the Lord to use human excrement to cook his food.. This instruction was a symbolic gesture depicting the years of judgment ahead for Israel and Judah - the entire nation was going to have to eat defiled food in all the places it was scattered.. In this instance the Lord tells Ezekiel to directly break the Law. So we see here again the conflict between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law....Also we see a revelation of God’s freedom. We know that God’s freedom and righteousness are the opposite of slavery. They are the fulfillment of the requirements of the letter and the spirit of the law.
So why now are the Lord’s people aliens to the freedom of Christ? It is because after receiving salvation, the heirs of salvation prefer the principles of servitude and slavery, and deliberately turn away from the way of sonship. If the church is approaching God out of a spirit of slavery rather than freedom, then in the law of their minds, the righteousness of Christ is by the work of the cross and by faith - but in the law of sin (sin living in them) it is by sight and by a spirit of pride, boasting, sacrifice, and human attainment. In their sinful nature, God’s righteousness is not solely by faith and grace - but by faith and works combined in an obvious effort to reject the full way of the cross of Christ Jesus. Now that the church already knows these things and everything else about God’s righteousness, I’m sure they will even know more about his judgments, patience and the book of prophecy...
What is God’s righteousness? If you read the scriptures back and forth and study every book written by men - memorizing passages and quoting scriptures; becoming the most erudite theologian and scholar - is this the righteousness of God? Even the pharisees did that?. If you are articulate and prepared & perform miraculous signs and healings, driving out demons - but you are also well versed in the politics of the church establishment and have yourself planted many churches - is this the righteousness of God? Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven. If you want to be a great teacher, and you are zealous to protect the church, but you intend to lead everyone back into a spirit of servitude and slavery - is this the righteousness of God? Of course not! So then, no more boasting about men!
(Roman 12:2) If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Even if you don’t practice what you preach, at least preach the truth so that someone else might benefit from it... In the gospel a righteousness from heaven has been revealed that is by faith from first to last! And a servant cannot be corrected by mere words; though he understands, he will not respond.” Prov 29:19.
Maybe one can rationalize that being like Jesus (entering into Christian Maturity) means that they must do the works that Jesus did. If Christ observed the feast of dedication or Passover during his lifetime then it would follow that we must observe religious festivals or honor special days such as Christmas, Easter or even a Passover as part of the process of becoming mature. Perhaps some may rationalize, if Jesus or the Apostles performed healings and miracles - then it would follow that anyone who performs miracles in Christ's name and healings must be approved by God and complete in him.
If that were true, then Christian maturity, righteousness and freedom would then be based on the works that Christ practiced, performed and instituted and no longer on the principle of grace.. If the feasts and festivals of the old testament are in themselves pathways to freedom, shadows of the things that were to come in the kingdom age - why then does it say that the reality (or the righteousness) of what was practiced under the old testament is contained in Christ? (Colossians 2:17)
Invariably, the scriptures teach us to “remain in Him”. Anyone who claims to remain in Him, must walk as Jesus did... The pathway to freedom says - to the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. Apostle Paul would take religious vows, and at other times when around Gentiles would not observe the feasts and festivals, or take Jewish vows. He was free of the law on the basis of the principle of grace.. On the contrary, he made pretense efforts to win souls - as far as his own freedom was concerned - he detested pride and legalism and spoke out adamantly against it in his message to the Galatians and Colossians... [You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!] (Galatians 4:10) It’s not as though the Lord’s people haven’t read the book of Galatians, it’s the way they read the book of Galatians... How can we save the world if we can’t even live as free men the way Paul did? Paul said, become like me for I became like you. Live as free men... And in addition - Paul made every effort to preach the gospel to those who had never heard the message of Christ before (2 Cor 10:16) - he never stayed in the same place longer than he was supposed to..
Lets say only a small minority of Christian believers enter into maturity or at least some semblance of maturity. Let’s have this minority group administrate over meetings, compel others to meet with one another and observe feasts, festivals, and holy days. Let this minority group teach a message of Christ that neither fully heals nor fully destroys, so that the church must depend on itself in these external observances and meetings as if without them they are completely nothing. If the scriptures declare that you are all sons of God, how is it that by continually meeting with one another you still haven’t entered into this reality? As it would seem, you have to do many things to be justified apart from just believing the message. In conclusion, if the Lord tells you to get into counseling, why don’t you do it? If the Lord tells you to start obeying his commands - why don’t you listen? If the Lord tells you to stop going to a specific Church fellowship - why don’t you do it? And if the Lord tells you, “Do not forsake meeting with one another as some are in habit in doing..” Then in the correct spirit of this scripture - start meeting with the Lord exactly as Christ determines. Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there I Am in their midst.
A legalizer in the Body of Christ is at best an intervener. ( If I rebuild what I destroyed - I prove that I am a lawbreaker.) (If you’re not able to stop doing all the things that you feel you must do - things the Lord wants you to get rid of - then it is no longer you doing it - but sin living in you doing it. And this will occur when we want to bring back the principles of law.) Christ’s power and anointing are diminished in effect if you don’t know the Lord face to face and teach others to live the same way.. I would describe depending on one another in groups as extremely weak. If anyone is sent from God, and is an apostle, he must teach a message that individually leads God’s people into maturity - face to face - one on one with the Lord... If you continue to be judged by one another and not to be judged face to face by the Lord, watch out, you will certainly learn to know and depend on one another and become the slaves of one another.
If we treat the actions of Christ as if completion / maturity in him were by Christ’s deeds, or by His miracles, or just by living in a spirit of worldly power - we are teaching a form of legalism and slavery.
Apostle Paul and the early church never ceased to be culturally Jewish; they weren’t called to cease thinking like Jews or to cease being Jews. On the contrary, “Salvation is from the Jews.” John 4:22. However, they were being called to stop observing the law. It was not by works, but by the gift of God’s grace in Christ. In Galatians, Paul was speaking to Jews and Gentiles that were being influenced to return to observing the law, as well as to those that were observing other forms of principles of law, notwithstanding - compelling gentiles to be circumcised. Galatians 4:9 would most assuredly speak to gentile believers that were returning to worship pagan feasts and as well to Jewish / Gentile converts returning to offer traditionally Jewish sacrifices with the intention of rejecting the full message of the cross. Most gentiles were well acquainted with the Jewish traditions and what was required of them - Acts 15:21 - For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. I'm sure that some or many of the gentile converts to Christianity in the early church were individuals that already knew that justification was by faith, and they were part of a believing remnant that already knew God at some level. In this particular case, it was perfectly natural for them to get hooked up with Christ; by witness of conscience - God’s old testament covenant was made with Israel. Until Christ came, believing gentiles were forced to interact with the temple and the religious institution in Jerusalem. The scripture seems appropriate “God's Name is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:24
In essence, there’s nothing wrong with the Jewish feasts and festivals or even a Sabbath day, provided one is not observing them as a means of obtaining righteousness or using other legal principles as a substitute for remaining under grace. Apostle Paul had the freedom to desist from observing traditionally Jewish practices or gentile practices for that matter. Everything he did was for the benefit of the church, Jew and Gentile alike.
Chapter 4.
There were approximately 100 prophecies given before the First Coming of Jesus to the Earth. He fulfilled every single one of those prophecies to the minutest detail. No one should have missed His First Coming — but most people did because they didn’t know the prophecies.
Today we are living just before the Second Coming of Jesus to the Earth. We don’t have 100 prophecies; we have closer to 1,000 yet the Scriptures tell us that most people will miss the Second Coming. Again, this will happen because people do not know the prophecies.
This Understanding the End Time series was designed to explain the prophecies of the end time in easy-to-understand terms. After viewing Understanding the End Time no one should miss the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
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"Common Demons In Creation And Spirits Of Religion"
1. spirit of sacrifice - offers human effort based sacrifices, honors days, sabbaths, festivals and holy days.
2. spirit of institutionalism - Embraces and incorporates the church organization as part of the World system.
3. spirit of church attendance based righteousness - upholds weekly church attendance or membership as a prerequisite for a right standing with the Lord.
4. spirit of the order of worship - controls the various church services and structure of worship for each church. Upholds the spirit of institutionalism.
5. spirit of the order of prayer - controls the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and directs prayer ministry. Upholds the spirit of institutionalism.
6. spirit of legalism - includes all legalistic observances, repetitive rituals, patterns of self generated prayer and human effort based spirituality. All forms of must do-ism, self imposed worship and law.
7. spirit of asceticism - (do not taste - do not handle - do not touch) - false assertions of righteousness based on self imposed sacrifices and resistance, self denial and stringent devotionalism.
8. spirit of self abasement - a false repentance - a pretense act or effort asserting true devotion that is really non existent..
9. spirit of false humility - a sense of righteousness based on a spirit of sacrifice or self accredited effort.
10. spirit of hypocrisy and of the Pharisees - a spirit that self justifies evil behavior and disobedience to Christ and his commands because of compromise with the world system..
11. spirit of self promotion - seeks glory and attention for an individual in a worldly context rather than for Christ - directs attention away from Jesus..
12. spirit of false authority - claims to have the true authority of God but in reality embraces the spirit of the institution and the world system rather than God. Manifests itself in witchcraft.(*witchcraft is synonymous with control - demonic power)
13. spirit of political control (political spirit) - delineates executive authority to a political body within the church rather than to God. Supplants the Head of the church who is Christ.
14. spirit of prostitution or harlotry (spiritual adultery) - a manifestation of indulgence and dissipation in the world system. A spirit of compromise.
15. spirit of Cain's sacrifice (spirit of impurity - Zechariah 13:2) - representing all the forms of religious beliefs in the world that deny the efficaciousness of the cross and Gods approach to the redemption of fallen man.
16. spirit of independence - the manifestations of the efforts of sinful man to resist looking to his creator to meet his needs for identity and purpose. Embraces the mind set given fallen man and the wisdom of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.(You don't need God to meet your needs,you can do it yourself. You can be like God without God.) The very point where an individual turns away from becoming a child and becoming like Jesus.
17. spirit of rebellion - overtly turning away from what's right in the eyes of the Lord.
18. spirit of death - the efforts of the spirits of lawlessness along with Satan to steal, kill & destroy, and bring spiritual blindness and physical death to man. (Seen over creation in manifestations of plagues, diseases, earthquakes, tornados, attacks from wild animals, and natural devastation; also witnessed in the manifestations of the sins of man (Genocide, hatred, murder, destruction, child abuse, perversion, self seeking, sexual immorality, counterfeit gospels and religion, false prophets, mental illness etc..)
The spirit of death can be found in the church in the form of religious apostasy, having a form of godliness but denying it's power (desertion of God), and in manifestations of the spirit of independence throughout the body of Christ.
Death first manifested in Adam when he disobeyed God. The result was physical death and spiritual separation through the one man for the entire race. (The earth was subjected to a curse by the will of God - conceding subjugation over the natural realm to the rulers of this age and to Satan and to the spirit of death.) The effect of sin entering into the world made physical death a universal condition of fallen man. The wages of sin is death. (the law of sin and death - Romans 8:2) After eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the spirit of separation and independence from God entered into Adam. This spirit of separation discussed here is in itself a manifestation of death. (Eternal separation from God.) Adam's race acquired a new nature governed and controlled by sin; held as slaves to the power of sin and lawlessness in them, locked up until faith could be revealed. (the law of sin - sin living in me - Romans 7)
19.spirit of Jezebel - the demon of proud insubmissive woman.
20.spirit of Saul - manifests itself in Church leadership. Like King Saul of Israel, these individuals start off in their faiths with the anointing and calling of God on their lives but they soon after balk and fail to do what they're supposed to do. (rationalizing disobedience)
21 spirit of religious pride - a demon of pride that embraces the natural order of Church institutionalism and the world system in the Body of Christ.
22.spirit of depravity - the spirit that enters into sinful man because of his disobedience and self reliance. Manifests itself in all forms of perversion and extreme lawlessness and unnatural behavior.
23.spirit of Lamech (Gen 4:23-24) - a demon of insolence and lawlessness found in sinful man (also is a manifestation of the spirit of depravity) - a haughty spirit that manifests itself in violent behavior, retaliation, self gratification and soulish prowess. A spirit that can be found among gang communities, ritual child molesters, murderers and destroyers throughout the world.
b. Fear of Losing Control
f. Fear of Looking Ridiculous
g. Fear of Disapproval
h. Fear of Satan
25.Atheist spirit (spirit of the Sadducees) denies the existence and the eternal nature and power of God.
26.spirit of antichrist - the spirit of opposition and defiance to devine authority that represents itself in counterfeit to be God. Commonly works in agreement with the spirit of Cain's sacrifice.
27.spirit of religious silence - a manifestation of false humility and a spirit of sacrifice - prevents an individual from speaking under a facade of piety and devotion to God.
28.spirit of community worship (community spirit) - maintains that the believer must worship God in community rather than one on one with the Lord.
29.spirit of false worship - defines worship as a religious service rather than a daily lifestyle of personal offering as living sacrifices, embraces the community spirit, maintains a standard of worship of God that invariably resists the worship of the Father in the realm of the soul
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