1/7/12
Greetings,
I am excited for the arrival of the New Year! I hope that you enjoyed the holidays. I was personally blessed to spend quality time with both my side of the family as well as my wife’s. However, with all of the festivities finished we are at a crossroads. As with every New Year, it brings with it the potential for change. Many view the changing of the year as an opportunity to change direction, to pursue new dreams, or to simply right old wrongs. At BRIDE Ministries this year will bring several new things which I am already thanking God for.
This year, and actually within the next couple weeks, we will be able to begin receiving tax-deductable donations. That’s right! BRIDE Ministries is being incorporated as an official 501c3 non-profit ministry. The donations that we will be able to receive will allow us to pursue greater projects and bring into the realm of possibility many things that up until now have remained ideas written on paper. I want to challenge those of you that have found true value from these letters or the online teachings to prayerfully consider giving towards the vision. For those of you that are newer to this letter, my vision is to promote unity in the body of Christ worldwide and assist in the creation and development of sheep nations.
Last year the focus of these weekly emails was the power and purpose of unity in the body of Christ. All of those teachings have been titled and posted to my blog if any of you would like to review the concepts and lessons that were shared. This year we are going to transition into spiritual warfare.
It is truly unfortunate that this still seems to be a relatively controversial subject in certain circles of Christianity. Spiritual warfare, plain and simple, is something that Jesus said Christians would do. Furthermore, when He said we would do this, He used a covenant word—“shall.” Covenant words like “shall” and “will” indicate absolute resolution that what has been said will be.
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.” (Mark 16:17)
Understand that the casting out of devils is not to be approached narrow-mindedly. Some assume that casting out devils is limited to driving demons out of individual people. If this were the extent of spiritual warfare it would certainly be nice, but the issue is much larger than this one aspect of “casting out devils.” Devils, otherwise known as evil spirits, not only occupy people, but can be attached to objects, ritual sites, homes, neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations. There are even spirits with international authority like spirits attached to religious systems. Beyond this there are spirits that rule over other dimensions like Abaddon who is the fallen angel that rules a realm known as “the pit” (Revelation 9:11). At the very top of the hierarchy is Lucifer, otherwise known as Satan, who is called by the Bible the “god of this world”.
“In whom the god of this world [Lucifer] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
I am going to approach this subject very similarly to the way I approached the subject of unity. Each week will be a nugget of truth. At times, I may string one lesson across two or three weeks but for the most part each letter will address one aspect of spiritual warfare.
I do not plan on censoring myself in this process. Jesus has walked me out into the realm of the spirit for a reason. I am not setting out to read a doctrinal thesis and regurgitate it to you. I am going to keep this very real, very relevant, and grounded in the Word of God. I will be sharing personal experiences and explaining things to you the way the Holy Spirit has explained them to me. Many of the things I will be sharing will stretch you, but my goal is to equip you to be a threat to the enemy.
The sad truth is that the enemy scoffs at many people that consider themselves Christian. The reason is because they do not know how to exercise the power of Christ against him. Furthermore, many do not want to and some even try to oppose those that do. The devil looks at them like idiots, and rightly so. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute.
Imagine that you are trying to build a factory that will manufacture nothing but poison. Poison will be packaged and sold for a profit and more poison will be released from the smoke stacks. Moreover, poison will even be illegally dispensed underground so that it can get into the water supply. Eventually, everyone in the city will die from the impact of the factory. You’re not worried about it though, because that is actually your purpose for building the factory. When you begin building you purposely go out to hire all of the crooks and bad guys in the city. When you waive the cash and opportunity in their faces they immediately get on board. However, there is a group of people that has just been sent to the same city to establish a beautiful and healthy environment.
As you await the inevitable opposition you watch as an illogical thing begins to occur. The group that was sent in to establish a beautiful and healthy environment begins to argue. Some begin to declare that you are not actually building a poison factory and that everyone that believes you are doing that is crazy. Others say that if they talk about the factory too much, it glorifies evil, so they should only sparingly talk about the factory and not commit to opposing it lest evil be more greatly glorified. You begin to chuckle when some of them come to you in secret to ask for jobs. It gets even more ridiculous when the group begins to punish and mock the members that suggest it is time to oppose the factory. By the time the factory is completely built and a large portion of the city is already dying from its impact you are rolling on your back laughing that the group is still failing to organize and oppose your efforts. The most ridiculous part is that they actually hold the title deed to the land you built the factory on and can evict you from it at anytime.
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18)
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18)
“For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26)
Jesus is the ultimate authority. He has all power in heaven and in earth. He has legal rights to the earth and “the fullness thereof” right now. In the parable, the poison represents sin and things leading to it. The devil and his cohorts propagate sin through the various devices that they erect (2 Corinthians 2:11). This is represented by the factory in the parable. The devil receives rights to build his empire in this earth from people who choose to cooperate with him. This is because God appointed men to have dominion over the earth even though He owns it (Genesis 1:26). Through his deceptions the devil has usurped authority to the point that the Bible declares him the god of this world. However, when his rights are taken away by the people of God (because that’s our job) the devil and his cohorts must evict the territory. This territory can be an individual’s life, a home, a city, a state or a nation.
My goal is to help Christians give the devil a major headache and take his stuff away according to the power granted to us by Christ. In order to do this, I must give you understanding on new levels. If someone tells you that you can get coconuts from a tree you might get excited. When you get to the tree however, you will promptly realize that you cannot get any coconuts at the base of the tree. If you’re a real thinker, you will realize that the tree must be climbed in order to get to the coconuts. Most Christians, when it comes to spiritual warfare, do not look up and obtain a vision of their potential inheritance or try to climb the tree which requires training, time, and effort. Instead, they just stand there. Every once in a while, by the grace of God, gravity will pull a coconut to the ground and they will exclaim, “Aha! Our faithfulness has produced progress and it fits our belief system!” Please don’t be that guy.
I am going to show you what it means to climb the tree towards the inheritance we can have as experts in spiritual warfare. These letters will inform, train, and equip you throughout the year. In addition, I will attach an audio file (.mp3) to every email of me praying. These prayers will be based on the lessons and concepts contained in the emails every week. They will provide you with both impartation as well as a model for incorporating the information into your own prayers. These will replace the question section of last year’s emails.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4)
