In the past few days I have had three different individuals write to me regarding using bank debt to insure their present survival, or to finance their preparations for the coming hour of trouble which is coming upon the earth. These letters have come from across America; from Idaho, Alabama, and New Jersey. This is a very important matter to discern correctly and I have sensed it to be the Father’s will that I share something publicly on this topic. If you are in debt, or are considering using debt to finance a home, or to make preparations for this coming hour, I urge you strongly to take the time to read and prayerfully consider what is shared here.
I have written on the subject of debt previously. I want to begin this post by including a portion of the article titled With Malice and Forethought. The purpose of sharing this article is not to specifically address the questions and comments of those who wrote to me. Rather, it is to lay a foundation of understand how far the church has departed from the will of God in this hour. It is necessary to see a contrast between the principles upon which this world operates, and the principles of the kingdom of God, before specific issues can be addressed and questions answered.
http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-malice-and-forethought.html
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One of the great transgressions of this late hour in the sight of God is that the people who are called by His name have embraced many false doctrines that have been used to justify a pursuit of the world and those things in it. The church is called to be as a pure virgin espoused to Christ, having her affections set upon no other thing. The church has acted as a harlot by adopting a prosperity gospel that equates material possessions and a life of ease and pleasure with spiritual attainment. The church declares her love for Christ, but her actions and focus reveal that she is very much in love with the world. This is the hour of the Laodicean church.
Revelation 3:17-19
You say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
Those whom Christ loves, He reproves and disciplines. This reproof must be severe, for the people of God have manifested an intractable spirit in regard to these things. Despite many warnings and reproofs, they have hardened themselves in their deceit, and consequently the discipline must be made more severe in order to loose His people from that which they cling to so stubbornly.
Hebrews 12:5-6
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives."
For many years, beginning in the early 1990’s, the Spirit led me to pray regularly that He might raise up unto Himself a people for His praise in the earth. Such a people have not been observed in the Western church due to the corruptions of Laodicea. Even as Christ manifested great emotion when He found the merchants and money changers in the Temple of God, He is equally incensed that the temple constructed of living stones is filled with all the noise and activity of commerce and money changing in this hour. The cleansing of the Temple of God will come with great violence, for “Zeal for My Father’s house has consumed” the Son of God.
The instrument in the hand of God to accomplish this cleansing of the church will be none other than Satan and the evil men who are given over to accomplish his will. This should not surprise the Christian, for in numerous Scriptures we read of instances where God employs Satan to accomplish His purposes.
I Corinthians 5:5
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Yahshua.
II Corinthians 12:7
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me - to keep me from exalting myself!
There has been a plan which has been patiently executed by evil men under the inspiration of Satan to bring about a one world government. That this plan includes the subjugation of the entire world, and the loss of personal liberty and freedom, is of no concern to those who are laboring to see it accomplished. The goal is the control of all people and things. America has long been a nation whose citizens have known tremendous liberty and freedoms, and therefore the Constitution that has guaranteed these liberties and unalienable rights, must be cast aside and the Union established by the founding fathers must be destroyed.
Once more we see the hand of God in this. The church in America has used her liberty to pursue a course of worldly idolatry. The church has loved the world and the things in it. Therefore these things will be violently wrested from her grasp.
I John 2:15-16
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
As the people of God have embraced a love of the world, she has also embraced the Satanic principles of debt and usury.
Exodus 22:25
"If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.”
Leviticus 25:35-37
“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.”
Deuteronomy 23:19-20
"You shall not charge interest to your brother - interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.”
The practice of charging interest for money loaned is antithetical to the Kingdom of God. The principles of God’s Kingdom are “Freely you have received. Freely give”; “Owe nothing to any man except to love him”; “Having food and covering, with these we shall be content.”
In contrast, the world system (Babylon) is built upon covetousness. In order for men and women to attain the things they desire they are willing to submit to the tyranny of this fallen world system where “the borrower becomes the slave to the lender.”
Throughout history there have been men who have understood that the practice of lending money at interest is unnatural and contrary to God’s character.
The most hated sort of money-making, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself and not from the natural use of it-for money was intended merely for exchange, not for increase at interest. And this term interest, which implies the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money, because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of money-making, this is the most unnatural.
[Source: Aristotle - 350 BC]
Interest is the invention of Satan.
[Source: Thomas Edison]
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken from the banks, and restored to the people to whom it belongs.
[Source: Thomas Jefferson]
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of the moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our Government to trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
[Source: Thomas Jefferson]
(Insert: What Thomas Jefferson predicted is precisely what has been accomplished in the past couple decades. The banks promoted a great inflation of home prices and they removed all barriers for borrowing money to purchase homes whose values were increasing. As long as homes were increasing in value by double digits year after year, the people perceived it to be a good investment to purchase a home with debt. Many were enticed into taking on greater debt by the lure of making money in the burgeoning real estate market. When the banks then deflated the price of homes through the collapse of the market, millions of people found that their homes were no longer worth the amount they had borrowed on them. They could not sell, for they owed more than the value of the home. Neither could they afford to pay the exorbitant mortgage fees, especially those who had adjustable rate mortgages whose rates were set to increase at specific intervals. The result has been millions of people have lost their homes, and many who have homes have overextended themselves and are struggling to make ends meet.)
The founding fathers of America, although deists, understood that usury was a form of slavery. They therefore strenuously opposed the encroachment of private banks into the operations of government. The Constitution of the United States placed the right to print and coin money in the hands of Congress. No involvement by private banks was necessary, or desirable.
This led to a long fight between banking interests and the government. Lincoln fought a war against the Confederacy and won. However, when he took on the banking interests he lost, being assassinated by them. Andrew Jackson had better success. In a meeting with bankers in the White House he made the following declaration:
Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out!
This battle between bankers and the government of the United States continued for a prolonged period. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the bankers began to gain ground, led by men such as JP Morgan. JP Morgan held so much power over the financial and commercial sectors of this nation that many in the Federal government began to be alarmed.
In December 1912, Morgan testified before the Pujo Committee, a subcommittee of the House Banking and Currency committee. The committee ultimately found that a cabal of financial leaders were abusing their public trust to consolidate control over many industries: the partners of J.P. Morgan & Co. along with the directors of First National and National City Bank controlled aggregate resources of $22.245 billion. Louis Brandeis, later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, compared this sum to the value of all the property in the twenty-two states west of the Mississippi River.
[Source: www.wikipedia.com]
In the early 1900s, Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr, revealed to congress the existence of The Banker’s Manifesto of 1892. Some have attributed it to JP Morgan who was the greatest banker of the time, and perhaps in all of American history. Following is an extract from it.
The Banker’s Manifesto
Capital must protect itself in every way, through combination and through legislation. Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed as soon as possible. When through a process of law the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law, applied by the central power of wealth, under control of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expand their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been generally planned and successfully accomplished.
[End Excerpt]
A few days ago I read an article that forebodes much evil in the days ahead. The government and media have been falsely reporting that the housing market is stabilizing, suggesting that a bottom has been reached and it will now begin to rebound. At the same time they are declaring that foreclosures are down, and that this is a sign that the banks’ balances of bad debts are improving and things are correcting. Such reports are deliberately false and deceptive. Nothing could be further from the truth. The housing market is predicted by credible sources to fall another 50%. Additionally, there is no improvement in American’s ability to pay for their home mortgages. The number of delinquent home loans continues to grow, however a very remarkable thing is occurring. Banks have ceased for a time in aggressively pursuing foreclosuress. They are building up a huge backlog of home loans that are delinquent, but are not foreclosing (YET!). Consider the statements taken from the article mentioned.
Prepare for the Coming Housing Collapse
Business Insider
...
We have been told that the rate of mortgage delinquencies has been declining over the last year. Let’s see.
In the NYC metro area, the banks drastically cut back foreclosing on properties in the spring of 2009 and have never changed their policy. This has nothing to do with the robo-signing scandal which occurred 18 months later.
Through sheer persistence, I obtained accurate statistics on serious delinquencies from the New York State Division of Banking. Let me explain.
In late 2009, the NYS legislature passed a law requiring all servicing banks in the state to send a “pre-foreclosure” notice to all delinquent owner occupants. It warned them of possible foreclosure and explained steps they could take to prevent this. These servicing banks were also required to report to the Banking Division all notices that were sent.
The Division published preliminary figures in October 2010 but has never updated these numbers. Here is what I learned.
Through the end of March 2012, a total of 192,000+ pre-foreclosure notices had been sent to delinquent owners in NYC. This does not include delinquent investor-owned properties because the law did not require servicers to send notices to them. There are lots of 2-3 family homes in the four outer boroughs of NYC. I estimate that there are roughly 75,000+ delinquent investor-owners.
This means there are roughly 265,000 seriously delinquent homeowners in NYC who have not yet been foreclosed. Why so many? The banks do not foreclose in NYC. As of May 24, foreclosure.com reported a total of 301 foreclosed properties on the active MLS and 103 in Brooklyn. Together, these two boroughs have a total of 4.7 million residents. That is more people than live in Maricopa County where Phoenix is situated.
Hard as it may be to believe, the situation is even worse on Long Island. With fewer than 3 million occupants, Nassau and Suffolk Counties showed a total of 175,000 pre-foreclosure notices sent out as of the end of March...
If you think the reduction in foreclosing is limited to the NYC metro markets, you’re mistaken...
Bank repossessions in Maricopa County plunged from 3,159 in April 2011 to a mere 767 a year later. Clearly, the banks are gambling that this will help to stem the decline of home prices.
Or let’s take a look at Miami -- a market that suffered one of the largest price collapses since the bubble popped. In 2010, the banks repossessed 23,000 properties just in Miami-Dade County. They foreclosed on 54,000 properties in the 3 south Florida counties of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. Although they sharply curtailed repossessions in 2011, that number still totaled roughly 35,000.
I spoke with the head of data for the Miami Association of Realtors on May 18 and was amazed to learn that there were only 282 repossessed properties on the active MLS.
A similar tactic has been occurring in Phoenix. During the height of the credit crisis in early 2009, 2/3 of all homes sold in Maricopa County were repossessed properties. That percentage was down to 40 percent a year ago. Take a look at this chart from Phoenix broker Leif Swanson.
In April, only 17 percent of all homes sold in the Phoenix metro were REOs on the active MLS. Banks are hoping that this cutback of foreclosed properties for sale will steady home prices.
[Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/another-housing-collapse-is-coming-soon-2012-5]
Although this writer has revealed the truth about the state of delinquent home loans, I would suggest an alternate motive for the banks holding off on foreclosures. The entire system is being manipulated until that moment when those in positions of power have determined that the great collapse should occur. They are prolonging the moment of complete systemic collapse by creating a huge backlog of properties that they now have complete legal rights to possess. As the article reports, this number of homes totals 265,000 in New York City alone, with an additional 175,000 from Long Island. This is 440,000 homes in this one metropolitan area.
If you extend this out over the entire nation, there are undoubtedly many millions of seriously delinquent homes that the banks have not foreclosed on yet. Understand, the banks have done what the law requires and have served pre-foreclosure notices where required. This absolves the banks of any further action before foreclosing on a home. They are merely waiting for that moment that has been determined by the money powers who control both the huge global banks and the Federal Reserve System.
Can you foresee the chaos that will ensue when the banks foreclose on these millions of homes all at once? Not only will millions of Americans wake up homeless in the land of their forefathers, but the sudden flood of repossessed homes on the real estate market will further collapse home prices. Real estate prices will fall precipitously. This will create a domino effect as millions of additional Americans find that their homes are not worth the amount owed on them. When all is said and done (and it will occur swiftly), nearly all property in the United States will be owned by the banks.
Let me interject here something that I have been pondering for a few days. Back in 2009 my attention was arrested by a news article that reported that the winning word from the Scripps National Spelling Bee was “Laodicean.” You can find the article I posted at the time here:
http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling-it-out-for-church-in-america.html
Following is an excerpt from that post:
If the details of this spelling bee were an isolated incident, there would be less reason to be so certain of the meaning that is derived from them. Yet God has been sending a myriad of witnesses that testify the same message. “It is time for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?”
Yahweh has been signifying to many people that it is time to prepare an ark. He has been declaring that judgment is at hand, even as it came in the day of Noah’s flood and the day when Lot fled from Sodom. We see the same focus and activity among Christians today that was present in those days.
Luke 17:26-29
"And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.”
A Laodicean church has embraced a pursuit of the world and the things in it. The church is focused upon worldly pursuits and material acquisition. When Christ vomits them out of His mouth, their own deluded sense of divine approval will lead to shock, for they do not anticipate the judgment of a holy God...
God has “spelled out” His judgment upon His people. The final word is “Laodicean.” Let those who have understanding prepare their hearts and be in readiness for His judgments. They are coming swiftly.
[End Excerpt]
The 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals were held a week ago on May 31st. The winning word this year was “Guetapens.” This words means “ambush, trap, snare.” I believe there is a message in it for the people of God. Satan has lured multitudes of saints into embracing Babylonian principles of living. The promise has been that they will be able to live the good life by acquiring bank financed homes, automobiles, furnishings, and other material possessions. An honest evaluation of the banking system, and the powers who stand behind it, reveals that there is a malevolent spirit driving them. Satan comes to enslave people, and one of his most effective tools is financial debt.
The hour is near at hand when the trap will be sprung. It will come suddenly. Multitudes will lose the labor of their entire lives, for they have used Babylonian methods and practices to gain the things of the world. This judgment will come from the Father who would purify a people for His Son’s soon return.
For many generations Christians have assumed that it was normal for them to live very similar lives as those in the world. They have assumed that it was God’s will for the disciples of Christ to own houses and lands and much material goods just like the members of the societies in which they lived, and to use bank loans, mortgages, and credit cards to finance it all. An honest appraisal of the life of Christ and His disciples reveals that when a person surrenders to be led of the Holy Spirit they will find themselves going through radical alterations in their lives as they relate to this world system. When Christ called twelve disciples, their lives were impacted in very basic ways.
Matthew 19:27-29
Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" And Yahshua said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
Nor was it only the original twelve who were called to make radical adjustments to their lives and expectations. Christ stated the following to the Scribe who said he wanted to be His disciple.
Matthew 8:20
"The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
People of God, these words have too often been glossed over. Christ is telling this man that He cannot promise him that he will be able to have a home like other people in society if he becomes a disciple of Christ. Christ was content to receive whatever the Father chose for Him. The Father never gave Christ a home of his own. At times He slept in the open fields. We read of Him sleeping in a boat. At times He stayed in the homes of friends. He accepted whatever the Father chose, for His focus was upon a heavenly kingdom. Yahshua knew that His earthly experience was temporal. Therefore He said to His disciples:
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Christ’s words to the twelve and to the Scribe were broadly applied to all who would be His disciples. Yahshua declared:
Luke 14:33
“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his possessions.”
We see that the church took this very literally in their early days when their first love for Christ was pure, before they began to be enticed once more by the allure of the world.
Acts 4:34-37
For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
People of God, what I am declaring here will certainly strike most readers as radical, perhaps fanatical. Consider, however, that becoming a disciple of Christ is truly a radical matter. Indeed, it is the most profound alteration of a person’s life that can be known on the earth today. You would never know this by looking at the church, for there are hardly any true disciples in the church. There are myriads of professors of Christ, but disciples who surrender their lives to be led of the Spirit in all things are the rarest of all men and women.
Christ instructed those who would be His disciples to count the cost for a very good reason. The cost is very high. You will have to give up the world, and live by very different principles, if you become a disciple. Most will find the cost too high.
What the church has done today is to re-write the gospel message. They have expunged the cost of discipleship from the preaching of the church. They have removed those parts that would call the people of God to come out from this Babylonian world system and be separate. They have substituted Christ’s message of self denial and a radical departure from this world system with a prosperity gospel. What the church proclaims today is the message of the Laodiceans who equated material prosperity with godliness. Christ has a very different view of things. He says such ones are “naked and blind and poor and wretched and miserable.”
I have shared in this blog that Yahweh has told me that He has called me to be a forerunner for this present generation. What He has led me through in the last 12 years He will now lead a remnant portion of the body of Christ to experience. The first matter the Father dealt with in my life back in 1999 was this matter of debt and material possessions. I had used this world system of debt to acquire the goods of this world. I lived a very comfortable life. I had a house, and cars, and furnishings, and many material goods. I also had a mortgage, credit cards, a car loan, and was using the Babylonian system of finance and debt to live a life similar to others in the society in which I lived. I was dwelling in Babylon, and I was living like a Babylonian.
Yahweh stripped me of my material possessions. In the process He also delivered me from financial bondage. I surrendered, or sold off my worldly goods. I filed for bankruptcy at the end of 1999 and began the year 2000 a poor man, but free of all debt. The stripping process lasted for some months and was very painful. I experienced the scourging of the Father because I had walked in covetousness and had conformed myself to the ways of this world system. The stripping was not pleasant, but when it was over I had a liberty I did not formerly possess. Since 2000 I have not had a penny of debt. I have lived within my means, content with that provision Yahweh sent to me.
Let me share something about this, lest you pass over it too quickly. When Yahweh told me to surrender to Him in 1999 I anticipated that due to my obediently surrendering to go and do whatever He asked that He would bless me with an on-time abundance, permitting me to enjoy the same lifestyle and standard of living I had known. This was not to be. Yahweh will humble His sons. His firstborn Son lived His life as a homeless man. He was content with whatever His Father chose for Him, whether He was abased or abounding. All the disciples of Christ must learn this lesson.
Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Since 2000 I have not owned a home. The Father has led me to rent quarters at times, especially when my family was still with me. In 2004 my wife left me and our son who was 14 at the time went with her. Our daughter was 16 and the Father opened the door for her to live with another family from her church. I have been on my own since 2004 and the Father has led me through many experiences. For 5 months I lived out of a car. 80 days of that period was spent camping in a small tent in a national forest. I was led to a rescue mission where I lived for a year in the men’s dorm. I then spent two more years living in what the mission called a “second step” house while I worked for the mission at their thrift store. This home was old, rustic, and had been minimally repaired to make it livable. Each man had a small bedroom and shared a kitchen and living room areas. The house backed up to a drug infested neighborhood with crack houses on one side and the county jail on the other side.
In 2008 the Father directed me to leave the mission. For a while I lived in the home of an elderly brother in Christ who graciously invited me to stay with him. I then spent an entire summer parking my camper/van on the mission property next to the second step house. I had no electrical or water hook-ups. It was summer time in Georgia, which is quite warm and humid. I got a membership at a downtown gym for $34 a month and I would take showers there. I would go to the library during the day, and oftentimes go to a small Christian coffee shop at night until it cooled down enough for me to return to my van. I rode around town on my bicycle. Some nights it did not cool down enough for me to sleep until near midnight. That was probably the cheapest I had ever lived, and it was one of the best summers of my life.
Since then the Father has led me across the nation in my van on a number of occasions. In 2008 I went to Fort Wayne, Indiana to speak to a small group there. In 2009 I traveled about 8,000 miles going to New York, Indiana, Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana, before returning to Georgia. My van had no air conditioning when driving. It was over twenty years old, but Yahweh kept it together. I had no mechanical problems on that trip, spending two months on the road.
In 2010 the Father led me to go even further. Once more I took my van, but now I was pulling a small trailer. Randy Simmons traveled along in a nearly identical camper/van. We went to North Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, California, Washington State, Idaho, Wyoming, Indiana and Illinois, conducting meetings in all of those places. We lived out of our vans. At times we stayed at or in the homes of people who were hosting meetings. Sometimes we stayed at campgrounds. We went 11,000 miles and spent 4 months on the road.
When I returned to Georgia the Father led me to renovate an old school bus I had purchased and use it for my home. The school bus is forty years old, having been built in 1972. I leave it hooked up to water, sewer and electric at various RV parks I stay at and I use my bicycle for local transportation. I have baskets on the bike to carry my groceries. I have never been happier or more content. I said the same thing when I was living in my van. I was content living at the rescue mission in the dorm, and in the second step home. I have learned the secret of being content with whatever the Father chooses for me.
Although my life has been very similar to that which the Bible describes of Christ’s life, or the missionary journeys of Paul, it has been very different from the typical Christian’s life today. Most Christians approach life with an assumption. The assumption is that God would have them to live a life that is closely conf0rmed to the society around them. This means they are to either own their own home and property, or to rent a home or apartment, to acquire furniture, a vehicle or vehicles, and many possessions. This is how I used to live!
I discovered, however, that when we yield our lives to be led of the Spirit we must also lay aside our assumptions about that life we will live. Yahweh will choose a path for His sons and daughters that will produce humility and contentment in them. He would have them to be free of a desire for the world and the things in it. At this very hour He is dealing with many hearts on the issue of yielding to Him in this area. Some will be directed to sell their home, or give it back to the bank. Others will be directed to downsize radically, dispossessing themselves of a lifetime of accumulated possessions. What God leads His people to do will be viewed as radical when compared to societal standards and practices. This is to be expected for Christians are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. The disciples of Christ are aliens and strangers in this land.
I foresee one of two things occurring in Christians lives at this time. Some, (a small remnant), will yield their lives to follow Yahshua wholeheartedly. What He instructs them to do, they will do. Where He directs them to go, they will go. They will experience many profound changes. Their standard of living will be greatly altered, but at the same time they will be loosed from entanglements with this world system.
II Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
These men and women will experience similar things to what I have experienced. To some the transition will not be as painful. I believe it will depend upon how much covetousness has been an issue in their lives. Those who have been less covetous will find the transition easier. Not everyone will be led down the exact same path, but there will be similarities. This is why Christ has spoken universally to all who would be His disciples about surrendering all possessions to Him. One of Babylon’s great attractions is its material offerings. Yahshua must set the hearts of His people free from the material world.
The second thing I see occurring, and this will likely be experienced by a larger group of saints, is that some will not surrender to be led of the Spirit regarding the Father’s will for their lives and possessions. These will hesitate, doubting what they are hearing, or being hindered by unbelief or a desire to hold onto material possessions. Fear will be a factor in many lives. Some will fear what others will say if they follow Christ down radical paths. Others will fear that their needs will not be met, or they will not be protected from suffering if they yield to follow that path the Spirit is setting before them.
Yahweh, having determined that such ones should be delivered from Babylon, will strip them through other means. Yahweh has on many occasions caused His servants to lose their material possessions through outside forces. This could be brought about by sudden economic setbacks, or even through oppression and persecution.
Hebrews 10:32-34
But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
Without argument, it will be far better to yield to the Father now in the matter of giving all possessions into Christ’s hands than it will be to have one’s goods taken away by external means. There is a reward for obedience, and great grace is given to those who voluntarily surrender to follow Christ.
Fear, Unbelief, and Covetousness will be the chief hindrances to believers whom the Spirit is calling to surrender to His leading in coming out of Babylon.
As Christians see days of tribulation approaching this nation, some will respond in fear. Their chief desire will be to preserve their lives and avoid suffering. It is not the will of Yahweh that His people be motivated by fear. He would have them to be led by the Spirit. When fear takes hold, Christians begin to make decisions in their souls. They may see danger coming and experience a “fight or flight” response. Among such responses are those who will look to guns and bullets for protection, as well as those whose souls would direct them to flee into some wilderness stronghold with a great store of food and supplies for the coming days. Although Yahweh is directing some to prepare places of sanctuary, and some are being directed to store up grains and supplies (myself among them), the saint must discern what the Spirit is speaking and not be driven by fear. The only thing acceptable to Yahweh is obedience. If He directs us to do something, we should do it.
One way I have often tested whether a particular course is from Yahweh, is to see whether He sends forth the provision to accomplish the work. One has to be careful, and exercise understanding in this, however, for the soul can be easily misled.
There are times when Yahweh directs us to do a thing, but the time to do it has not yet arrived. Therefore the provision has not yet manifested. There are also times when Yahweh directs us to a work where He requires faith and obedience on our part before He reveals His provision. An example of this in Scripture is when Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River. The priests were instructed to take the Ark of the Covenant upon their shoulders and walk out into the water. Only after their feet were in the water did it part. Faith and obedience preceded Yahweh’s provision.
One thing I have a real caution about is Christians believing God has called them to do some work, and then trying to accomplish that work through human strength. It is particularly when they resort to Babylonian methods that I would urge them to stop and review the matter carefully. If a brother or sister is using bank financed debt, credit cards, or similar methods to make provision for a day of trouble, then I would caution them to test and see whether their soul is directing them. When Yahweh God calls His sons and daughters to perform a work, I do not believe He will lead them into bondage to this world system to see it accomplished.
In those years when I walked according to the counsel of my soul, I incurred debt on many occasions. Repeatedly I saw a pattern played out. Yahweh would not allow me to enjoy those things I had acquired through disobedience, unbelief, or covetousness. Those things I had purchased for myself were in the end enjoyed by other men.
I strongly suspect that many who are laying up stores through the counsel of their soul, and are using debt to do so, will find that in the days ahead that those goods they have set aside will end up in the hands of others. This judgment will come from God, and it is just. Yahweh is seeking to teach His sons and daughters to abandon their lives into His hands. He is seeking to teach them to come to an end of soulish works, to do nothing of their own initiative. He desires to be the initiator of every work they do. This is Sabbath rest, and nothing else will satisfy the Father.
It is contrary to the soul of man to place oneself in an exposed and vulnerable position. The soul does not hesitate to suggest some course that will remove exposure and vulnerability. Yahweh, on the other hand, will oftentimes direct His sons and daughters to embrace a very vulnerable position or path while trusting in Him to watch over them. Yahweh does not want His children looking to anything aside from Himself for their security and safety. For years my daughter has had the following verse appended to all her e-mails.
Psalms 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
Back in 1999 the Father first led me to make myself very vulnerable. I had to submit to a stripping from all my worldly possessions, from credit cards, from health insurance, and the other things I had found comfort and security in. I did not see the Father’s hand of provision manifested in my life until I first obeyed Him by making myself vulnerable. He required one step of faith after another, which I have described in the book Evidence of Things Unseen.
http://www.heart4god.ws/id426.htm
I can understand the fear that others experience when they think of coming out of the Babylonian system of this world. Where will they live if they do not have a mortgage on their home? How will they afford an automobile without a bank loan? How will they deal with emergency expenses without a credit card? How would they live if Yahweh told them to quit their job? Of the following I am certain, an exercise of faith will be required of all those who yield their lives to follow the path God has chosen for their lives. Fear and unbelief are the enemies of faith. They must be faced and overcome.
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