To people who refuse to obey God, He
says:
Rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft!
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity [sin] and idolatry. Because you have
rejected the Word of the Lord, He also has rejected you (1 Sam
15:22,23).
One day we received a phone call from a
woman whom we had never met before. Somehow she had got our number from the
web. While I was amazed at that, I was even more surprised by her
questioning.
She didn’t introduce herself, nor start
with the usual small-talk or pleasantries. She launched straight into a
clinical interrogation of what we believe.
“Do you keep the Sabbath?” she quizzed.
“Yes.”
“Do you keep the Jewish festivals?”
“Well, yes, I observe the festivals of
the Old Testament which many call ‘Jewish’ but they are actually supported
by the New Testament also. ...But... er... may I ask who you are? Why do you
ask?” I responded cautiously.
I thought it was a newspaper reporter,
seeking material for a column. I was completely wrong.
For some reason, which as you will
later see is ironic, she had searched the web and ended up looking in a
Directory of Sabbath- Observing Groups, where she found our name and address
listed. God had led her to find us that way. It is the ONLY inquiry we have
ever received from that directory! God certainly moves in mysterious ways.
This lady (I will call her June – not
her real name) was a Christian, looking for help. We found out later that
she was seriously demonised (yes, Christians can ‘carry’ demons), but she
had not been able to get the deliverance she needed. She had attended
various churches, but drifted from one to another. She came to us (God
‘engineered’ it) looking for help.
After our chat, I offered June some of
our literature, which we sent in the post. A short while later, she got in
touch again. This time she explained more about the gravity of her problem.
It was demons. I told her that Helena has a gift of being able to cast out
demons from others, and she made an arrangement to come and visit us,
seeking the spiritual help she needed.
So far, so good.
The Power of Praise
June came to stay for a few days. On
the Friday evening, we played a CD of praise music. She joined in with
gusto, singing and praising God. That rather surprised me. It was clear that
she was getting some deliverance just through the music, as she allowed her
spirit to submit to God.
Helena commented to her that she was
receiving some release through that avenue of praise. But she didn’t receive
the comment well. You could tell that she didn’t want to be told that.
Demons were resisting the internal transition.
[You can and should] enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and
into His courts with praise (Ps 100:4).
Praise and giving thanks to God
releases people from spiritual bondages, enabling them to come into God’s
presence. As the Holy Spirit finds a home within, the evil spirits are
pushed out. The onus of this change rests with the person and depends upon
their will – what they choose.
Charismatic churches know very well the
huge spiritual value in praise and worship, and June knew that. But she
needed more.
Rejecting Correction
During our Sabbath fellowship meeting a
prophetic word was received which encouraged anyone who has fallen down to
pick themselves up and carry on. God will help and strengthen, when we show
resolve to obey God and continue in that obedience.
Certain things were mentioned in our
meeting about how the prevalent teaching in most churches annuls the Word of
God about keeping the Sabbaths of God holy. We didn’t spend a long time
going through a detailed scriptural exegesis, but enough was said by the
Spirit’s prompting to be a witness to her about this matter.
As I received some prophetic words in a
time of prayer towards the end of our meeting, Helena noticed that June was
waving her arms curiously. She was not in control of them, but the silent
gestures were dismissive of what the Spirit of God was giving. She was
waving away, or brushing aside, what was being given.
After the meeting concluded, she was
noticeably more stand-off-ish. She didn’t join in with anything we did, and
was not communicative. She did make a point of saying that she thought she
should get an early train home the next day.
The next morning, she announced to
Helena “I have decided not to keep the Sabbath.”
Helena adroitly responded: “Don’t tell
me, tell Jesus!”
What then followed from Helena’s lips
was a long uninterrupted ‘speech’ that rebuked June for her stubbornness,
showing where she was denying God in her life and welcoming demons in. It
was courageous and prophetic. It was not something that just came from
Helena. Nor was it an angry outburst, although it was very forceful. It was
inspired by the Spirit!
June just sat there, terrified, wanting
to get out but glued to the spot. It was not long before her train was due
at the station a mile away, so Helena gave her a lift to the station and saw
her on her way. But she did not say goodbye without giving her more
counselling and helpful advice to encourage her. Unfortunately, June
rejected it all!
It was not to be the last we heard from
her. Two days later a parcel arrived with all the literature we had given
her, along with praise tapes to help her with her deliverance. She sent them
all back! She wanted nothing to do with us! It was a last gesture of
defiance against God and against us for being His witnesses against her
rebellious lifestyle.
The Value Of The Sabbath
God purposefully showed her that she
needed to keep His Sabbath each week. It would have helped her more than
anything else in finding the deliverance she needed from oppressive evil
spirits.
Why? Because it is a discipline that
must be exercised every week. It is not a harsh discipline; it is one that
is wonderful and uplifting, liberating and restful.
When you take time out – the holy time
of the 7th day God has decreed – to worship God, to draw into His presence,
He draws near to you. It is the greatest single missing piece of the jig-saw
puzzle of holiness that the Church needs today.
But does it want such a good thing? No
way!
The Church’s Demonocracy
June is not alone. Besides her demons
which keep her company, she has many friends in the Church.
The demons that control most churches
do NOT want the truth about God’s Sabbaths! Labelled as ‘bondage’, they are
actually gloriously liberating! June can find many to side with her in this
‘demonocracy’.
There is terrific resentment and
hostility against this aspect of biblical truth because it is one of the
greatest single themes which can bring freedom to those held in spiritual
prisons. June was in terrible bondage, and God wanted to set her free, but
He could not help her while she was unwilling to help herself.
Some people may wonder why Helena,
since she has a gift of being able to cast out demons (she can do this at a
distance, through the exercise of thought coupled with the Holy Spirit),
could not simply cast out the demons from June. The answer is simple.
Because June made them welcome.
If you open the door to evil spirits
through disobedience to God, no one else can put them away from you. They
may go momentarily, but they will be back faster than you can say “Jack
Robinson”! And if your ‘house’ is nicely swept clean, they will bring even
more back with them to foul it up!
Keeping God’s commandments is so basic
and so vital to proper moral and spiritual living that it is trite to have
to mention it. But it seems the Church is so deceived about obedience to God
that it’s possibly the biggest issue that must be pointed out.
June is typical of nearly the whole
Church. She is in rebellion against God!
If you present the truth of the
Sabbaths to the Church at large, you will get as much persecution as Hitler
poured on the Jews sixty years ago! Oh, how in need of liberation the Church
is!!
Demonic Strongholds
There is yet more to this story. God
allowed it to occur, and even arranged it, to show the huge strongholds of
the devil inside what we refer to conveniently as the Christian Church.
The day June arrived, Helena felt
unwell. That was unusual, and it became more unusual as time went on.
Despite her feeling sick, Helena
managed to keep going. But after June left, Helena became very ill! The
symptoms indicated a severe kidney infection. She was in real pain, could
not sleep, and could not pass water or take much in. She could only manage
to sip tiny amounts. Her body went into ‘shut-down’.
This serious condition lasted for a
number of hours and on into the next day. We knew that if it continued, it
would be life threatening. Then Helena was moved to ask Zenya to pray in
tongues. After that, she slept for some hours and awoke feeling much better.
Over the next few days she gradually improved as God totally healed her.
The affliction was caused by June’s
demons. God allowed it to show the power they hold over the Church. Only
intercession and rejection of heresy will bring deliverance! &
Further
Reading: Apostasy in God’s Church! (£2.00)
Symptoms of Rebellion
Why is it that the keeping the Sabbath
according to the fourth commandment is so hard for many people to do today?
Of course, it's not the only difficult test by any means, but it is a
'whopper' for most.
The difficulties with it are tied in
with:
-
pride,
-
prejudice, and
-
fear.
Taking the last one first, any who
allow fear to cheat them of doing God's will won't be in the Kingdom of God,
unless they fight it within themselves. Notice the line-up of those to be
destroyed in the final fire of Gehenna. First on the list are the cowardly
(Rev 21:8).
People fear for all sorts of reasons.
There is no sin in fear by itself, but there is when you allow it to stop
you doing something you should. In relation to keeping the Sabbath holy,
there's:
-
fear of what others might say, if
you do, or
-
fear of losing security – you could
jeopardise your job or career, or
-
fear of missing out on something
else.
All these fears are groundless in real
terms. I mean in spiritual terms. If you realistically consider what is
important, are other people important really, compared with God? No. Is your
job or career that important? Not really. God can arrange a better
alternative for you if it suits His plans. And, as for missing out on the
things of this life, is there anything that can compare with the wonders,
the glories, the bliss of eternal life in God's presence? (Ps 16:11.)
Hardly!
Once we have the right focus, all human
considerations pale into insignifance. The problem for most people is that
their focus isn't in the right place.
I had lengthy communications with a
missionary in Africa by e-mail. Because he seemed open – more than most – I
was hopeful that he would 'bite the bullet' and start to keep and promote
the Sabbath in his region, and to the church which backed him.
I had sent him Our Sabbath Rest,
which proves the authenticity, according to the truth of the Bible, of
keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day and not on Sunday as church tradition
has promoted – by human decree or assumption. He had read Our Sabbath
Rest and, admitted that he agreed with it. He now knew what the Bible
truly said on that matter.
He also received The Controversy
Concerning Law and Grace and Sunday Versus Sabbath: The Final World
Crisis, which settle the matter for anyone with any lingering doubts –
IF they have an open mind. This missionary certainly seemed to have an open
mind! I was impressed.
But I 'spoke' too soon. Then came the
awful realisation a few weeks later, when he said that he had not
implemented the knowledge of this 'new' truth. He had not yet started to
keep the Sabbath for various human reasons. They were several, and I'll
mention them here because others will doubtless find equal difficulties and
could allow the devil to steal away their obedience in like fashion.
Here were his excuses:
He had asked me where he might find
such a church, but I warned him that most seventh day churches are
spiritually lifeless – 'dead' (Rev 3:1). They don't welcome the Spirit, or
allow such moving in their meetings. They are legalistic, ritualistic, and
most of them deny the gifts of the Spirit and do not permit audience
participation, other than in a very organised, pre-approved manner. They are
humanly led and humanly controlled. There is no door for the activity of the
Spirit.
He had been to a Seventh Day Adventist
(SDA) church on a Saturday and discovered it predictably just as dead. That
was not for him! And I don't blame him. It's not for anyone who has
experienced what true worship should be like.
-
He claimed that he needed to follow
the biblical exhortation to assemble together with others of like faith
(Heb 10:25).
-
He insisted that was essential
because, he claimed, there needed to be mutual exhortation, as
Colossians 3:16 invokes.
Here I had been admonishing or
exhorting him to keep an immutable Commandment of God, but, to him, that was
secondary to other factors! He was saying that he could only keep God's
command- ment if all the various things that HE considered more important
were in place first!
God certainly tested him and he was
weighed in the balances and found wanting.
He was putting the cart before the
horse.
Just because he could not find others
with whom to fellowship was no ground to desist from observing God's
Sabbath. What should come first? What God says, or our human desires?
When I first learned the truth about
the Sabbath at age 16, there was no one with whom to spend the time. God was
there, in it. My observance of His holy day was to Him, for
Him, and with Him. So, what more could I want?
Our fellowship is FIRST with Him, then
secondarily with one another as John pointed out:
If we walk in the light as He is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another... (1 Jn 1:7).
Isn't that interesting? If you are
obedient to God, as you fellowship with Him on the Sabbath, that union draws
you into an unseen fellowship with others also. It doesn't matter that you
don't see them. There is a common bond through the Spirit.
What God wants us to do is to put Him
first in everything. If we put ourselves, with our desires or considerations
first, we commit idolatry, and John ended that first letter of his with this
stern admonition:
Little children, keep yourselves
from idols (1 Jn 5:21).
Idolatry is rampant in churches! And
the least seen idols are those closest to home – ourselves, OUR ideas, OUR
wishes, OUR desires. Our own desires deceive us. That was the missionary's
problem.
God gave Helena a dream about him with
an idol in his lap. And God gave me a different dream showing that he didn't
really want the Sabbath. Although he had been 'forced into a corner', he was
not going to keep it. It didn't fit in with his plans or aspirations.
Excuses For Disobedience
If you're self-willed or
self-indulgent, it's easy to find excuses to put off doing what you know you
should do, but don't want to do.
It's what Saul did. He knew that he
should have followed God's instructions implicitly, but he didn't. He made
excuses to justify himself. They sounded laudable excuses – to him! But not
to the prophet Samuel. When Samuel turned up, he vehemently corrected Saul.
You can read the account in 1 Samuel
15. It all started when Saul lost his humility (1 Sam 15:17). He became
lifted up through his position as king. He came to see so much of himself
that he lost sight of how great God is. Once he (Saul) took God's
place in his own mind, his downfall then became inevitable.
Samuel had to tell him:
Because you have rejected the word
of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king (1 Sam 15:23).
It was the same thing that led to
Judas' demise. He rejected obedience in favour of doing what he wanted. He
satiated his own lusts – in his case, greed for money – instead of humbly
submitting his own will to God's.
In stark contrast, as Jesus faced the
most agonising hours in His life, He lay down every vestige of wanting his
own way, saying:
Not My will, but Yours be
done (Matt 26:39, paraphrased).
God has a the test of allegiance for
all of us. Thankfully, for most of us, it's not as severe as it was for
Jesus. But, it is severe to us! You will find it hard. I will find it hard.
We will all find it hard to obey at some point. When that moment of truth
arrives, we cannot afford NOT to say as Jesus did! Otherwise, we could lose
out on the reward He offers everyone who will simply do His will as Abraham
did, without arguing or rebellion.
Don't let pride, prejudice or fear
cause you to lose out.
Watch Out For Church Leaders!
I have detailed briefly what personally
hinders most from moving on as the Spirit leads. But there is another very
real and strong threat. It comes from church leaders. Most of them have a
compromised agenda, one which places themselves, or their
church or organisation above all else. God warned of this in a dream. I pass
it on to you here:
26th
October 2001. M. Opposition from a major church.
We had managed to get our literature inside what seemed to be a major church
or denomination in this country. It may have been the Church of England.
Some people were interested to read it.
This
caused quite a stir, particularly among the church leadership who didn’t
like this happening. They tried to put a stop to it, and furtively took
steps to pressurise or influence those who were reading our literature.
On the
outside the church leaders tried to look completely unbiased and open, but
the actual truth was much different. They behaved very defensively and tried
to prevent us from reaching church members. I was not shown what steps they
would take against us, but the dream indicated that they were actively
opposing us, perhaps even slandering us and falsifying what we were saying
to try and minimise the good effect of our words.
Jesus faced similar problems with the
self-willed religious leaders of His day (Matt 23). Their position was more
important to them than obedience to God. It's no different with many church
leaders today. They can find many manipulative words to soothe your brow if
you get upset by their obdurate or cool stand, but their approach is
rebellion!
Beware church leaders!
These things I have spoken to you,
that you should not be made to stumble (Jn 16:1)... They have not known the
Father nor Me (16:3).
But you can know Him. Simple obedience is the key.
Malcolm B
Heap
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