When God Speaks
I was preparing some written material about raising the dead, when God
spoke. He said: “Take X, multiply by Y, multiply by 7, multiply by 13,
multiply by 37, multiply by 37 again.” When I did so, in the screen of
my calculator I saw our phone number! I was astonished. (I have
concealed two numbers for obvious reasons.)
But God had not finished yet. He then
said, “add the digits.” (The digits in the phone number, not the numbers
above.) They totalled 33. Then He said, “turn to Ezekiel
33.” When I got there, He gave me
verse 33:
And when this comes to pass –
surely it will come – then they will know that a prophet has been
among them (Ezek 33:33).
God does not speak for fun. These words
are hugely significant!
I had been writing about the raising of
the dead – an end-time sign to wake up a Church that for the most part
wants to slumber. And to create a sounding board for the gospel of Jesus
Christ to impact all nations before the Great Tribulation closes in upon
us.
Huge meaning is enmeshed in what God says
– and – by the words He selects – what He also implies!
What was implied but not said directly in
Ezekiel 33:33 is that the prophet’s message would be rejected, and that
a considerable delay in time would occur first.
Why God Speaks
God speaks according to:
1) His purpose, and
2) a spiritual need associated with that purpose.
A man stayed with us many years ago,
after exiting a cult. I will call him ‘Bill’. One night before going to
bed, God spoke to a member of our family. God told him that Bill would
have a dream. Sure enough, he did.
In this dream Bill saw three large tanks
of water but the water coming out of them was dirty and impure. He also
saw one much smaller tank, where the water coming out of it was clear
and pure.
That morning, we and he knew what God was
saying.
He knew of three breakaway groups from
the cult he had left. These were depicted by the three dirty tanks.
Their teaching was impure. In contrast, God was telling him that the
little tank, which represented MM, had pure teaching.
Later, he left our company, and had no
further contact with us. That’s why God gave the dream. It was a
warning, to remind him of what he needed to remember. What was unsaid in
the dream was about his spiritual negligence and hardness of heart which
caused him to be stubborn and self-willed.
God will speak before He acts. He will
either:
1) Bless you – if you respond positively,
or
2) bring judgement / punishment upon you if you rebel. Self-will pushes
God away from you.
God doesn’t speak for entertainment. He
speaks with purpose, and there is great import in His words. That dream
still judges – condemns – Bill to this day.
He will have to answer to God for his
response. Deep, heartfelt repentance must take place first if he is ever
to enter the Kingdom of God (Matt 10:40).
Will You Listen?
God reveals His purpose in His
communications with man:
With the merciful You will show
Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself
blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the
devious You will show Yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble
people, but will bring down haughty looks (Ps 18:25-27).
Humbling
is one over-riding purpose of God! He will recompense you according to
your righteousness (Ps 18:24). Your spiritual state governs His
response.
People with a big ego want to hear God
speak to them! But they won’t like what He has to say. Too many
people can’t see their own pride, stubbornness, rebellion and self-will.
It’s no wonder they don’t hear. Why should God waste His ‘breath’?
First, He has got to bring you to the
stage when you will be receptive. Then He can speak. He can light your
lamp (Ps 18:28) when you no longer want darkness.
First,
God speaks to you through His written Word in the Bible. Secondarily, He
speaks through prophets. If you are not properly heeding the former, He
will send you the latter. And if you dismiss the latter you may be in
for the ‘high jump’.
In Why The Holy Spirit? there is the story of the
terrible massacre of millions in
Armenia in 1914. Many
Christians died in forced marches, barefoot in snow. Why did God not
spare these people this horrendous fate? There was a significant reason.
In August 2005, one morning as I awoke, God spoke this: "Whoever
resists your words resists Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me.”
That was why those people died. God had
raised up a prophet in Armenia. God was speaking to the believers
through him, but only the Pentecostals accepted him. Shortly after the
turn of the 20th century God told him that the Christians should
emigrate to America. This ‘word’ confirmed what the prophet had been
shown by God in vision 50 years earlier as a boy. That was how God
spared those who listened to God’s voice through one of His prophets.
Those Pentecostals didn’t treat him as
their only oracle and fail to listen to the Spirit themselves. Far from
it! They were in tune with the Spirit, too. The Azusa Street revival
broke out in 1906 amongst them. And revival can do so today. But it
won’t come to those who don’t listen to the prophet He sends.
This is what happens to them:
19th August 2005. M. 1) God’s
judgment is lethal!
A man was doing something with electricity around an upturned
boat. It was only 240 volts, but the dream conveyed that if water
were to come over the hull of the boat, there would be thousands of
volts! It would be lethal! The dream was to convey how vital it is
to listen to God, and not just do ‘your own thing’, otherwise you
can easily get ‘electrocuted’.
Heeding God’s Voice
At this late Midnight hour, the
restoration of God’s truth is central to His purpose. Remember He
promised through Malachi that He would send Elijah the prophet to
restore (Mal 4:4-6). Look at verse 4.
That injunction begins with the word
Remember. But most prefer to forget. So they don’t hear from Him.
If you are willing to heed God’s voice,
you will hear from Him. Those who are sold out to His purpose and ways
never fail to hear from Him. Just look at all the dreams which God
constantly gives to Kassahun (on pages 18-25). Why? Because he is in the
centre of God’s will for Ethiopia. So God can speak to him and through
him to the people in that land.
But, humanity being carnal and opposed to
the will of God, only the few heed. It’s the same with us. Rejection is
far more common for us than acceptance.
When God takes us to others, to convey
some- thing ‘new’ to them from His Word (this is mostly done by sending
written material), you soon find out that the real value of God’s Word
to them is substituted by something else. It’s not number one on their
list.
Church teaching or tradition has taken
the place of God’s Word. Pure biblical truth has been supplanted. In its
place, for them, is a human impostor. They would rather believe what
their church or their denomination or their ministers teach than what
the Bible actually says on various subjects. If you are in that
position, you have accepted an antichrist.
Antichrist does not just oppose Christ
(which he can do through very subtle and seemingly innocuous means), but
he replaces or substitutes Christ. There are many antichrists in the
Church at large.
As long as you prefer to heed what other
people say than what God actually says in His Word, or through one of
His prophets, you won’t hear much from heaven yourself. You have shut
the door on Jesus and He stands outside, knocking (Rev 3:20). So:
He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says [is
saying] to the churches (Rev
3:22).
Your will is very much involved in
accepting new truth. The majority of Christians reject truth and prefer
to remain in deception because of choice. God does not override your
free will. You have to choose to accept pure truth. You have to want it.
If you don’t, you won’t hear much from
Him.
The secret of the Lord is with
those who fear Him, and He will show them... (Ps 25:14).
Of course, there are many false prophets
and many false charismatic believers who “seek God” and seek to hear
from Him. But, not being in the centre of God’s will, and not wanting
pure truth above all else, they hear a compromised mixture. The devil is
only too pleased to get in on the act, and to contaminate what God is
willing to give for their spiritual enlightenment.
If you don’t want to heed all God
says, you can forget about being enlightened!
The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do...
(Ps 111:10).
If you aren’t prepared to do His will,
you won’t have the divine understanding you need. This is why so many
sit in darkened churches, their comprehension equally darkened. The
human will is very much involved in accepting God’s truth.
That’s why God says Remember.
Humanity wants to forget the very code of
obedience that would unlock the storehouses of God’s treasure to us –
the Law of Moses (Mal 4:4), the Law of Noah, the Law of Enoch – the Law
of God! All righteous men were willing to abide by God’s Law.
Why shouldn’t you?
Abraham heard from God:
Because Abraham obeyed My voice
and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws (Gen
26:5).
God appeared to Jacob for the same
reason:
And he was afraid and said, “How
awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven!” (Gen 28:17).
You are part of God’s house (1 Cor 6:19).
But do you have the awe and fear of God that Jacob had?
God says to you:
I will dwell in them and walk
among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. There-
fore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do
not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a
Father to you... (2 Cor 6:16b-18a).
Wisdom is known by her children (Matt
11:19).
Malcolm B Heap
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