Sometimes Things Do Change

We have muddled through the crises of the past couple weeks. The DSL has been repaired so I can publish again. The work related stress has been eliminated. Life is good. In fact, life is better than good. The reason for that is exciting things are happening at the mission. Telling you about current events in the lives of two of the program men there should amply demonstrate what I mean.

Tony is at the mission for a second go around. He only spent six months there the first time when the program was a full year for most men. He has come back to do six more months and has been promised a graduation certificate when he completes that time. What you need to know about Tony is that he originally came to the mission as a committed Catholic. Ok, maybe not very committed, but definitely Catholic. He also did not know anything about the Bible. He learned quite a bit the first time through, but it was mostly information and not much revelation to speak of.

Pastor Bill Winston, whom we have mentioned before in these posts, says that the fall of man was a fall from revelation to information. What he means by that is that, man, being in perfect fellowship with God before the fall, received his understanding about God via direct revelation from God. However, after the fall, man became dependent on gathering information about God and the world he lived in. Believe it or not, there are actually some theologians who believe it is not possible for us to receive direct revelation any longer. (I think that is because if they admit it is possible, they would have to explain why they do not receive any.)

Watchman Nee explains that when man fell, his soul came between his spirit and God so that revelation is inhibited because now we have to decide how we think and feel so we can decide how to act rather than simply acting on what God says to us. Both men are saying the same thing in a little different way, placing the emphasis on different aspects of what happened.

Tony returned to the mission with much more knowledge than the first time. Part of his return was precipitated by the death of his mother. Now his sister is trying to settle the estate and that sometimes causes a little stress in his life.

He was walking up the stairs earlier this week and he said, "Deuteronomy." That was it, just Deuteronomy. He did not even know it was a book in the Bible so he asked our chaplain who told him that much. He came to my office and asked me to explain what was going on. Like I would know right? We sat in my office and I began reading him the passage headings from the the NIV Bible and give a brief description of what each passage was about. He kept saying things like, "That is exactly what is happening right now. " We did that through about 26 chapters and he seemed to get something out of most of them. Then he asked me why he said Deuteronomy in the first place. I suggested he might have just given himself a word of knowledge or perhaps a prophecy. Granted it was only one word, but assuredly Tony was hearing from the Holy Spirit. That is huge.

Jon came into the program a little over six months ago. Under normal circumstances (whatever those are) he would have started his second phase last week--except that he was in jail for 37 days. It is not important why he was in jail except to say he was never arrested, only detained. The problem was being detained alerted the parole department and his parole agent placed a hold on him until everything could be sorted out.

You have to understand that Jon is a very intelligent man. There is nothing he could not have already accomplished in his life had he not been distracted by methamphetamine. So he went to jail for 37 days. It was an uneventful 37 days except that he prayed with five fellow inmates to receive Jesus as Lord while he was there. Hey, I would have to take off my shoes and borrow some other fingers and toes to count how many pastors have not lead five people to the Lord in the past 37 days. Of course I guess it helps to be around unsaved people if one is going to do the work of an evangelist. (2 Timothy 2:5) I am thankful it was Jon in jail doing that and not me.

Oh yes, make no mistake, things are going on at the mission. I only chose the most dramatic things, certainly not all the things that have happened recently. Oh, by the way, the mighty men count is up to five. One of them is really a rapscallion, but then such were some of us. Still, he chose to be a mighty man and, although haltingly at times, he is trying to walk worthy of his calling. (Ephesians 4:1) If he is going to follow, I am going to make sure he has the best example possible to follow. See you next time. God bless.

Grasp the Concept of This Battle

Spiritual warfare, generally speaking, is carried out by The Church against spiritual forces. If we accept the premise set forth in the previous post, our battleground is the land and the people in the area of our battle. That is not to say the land is the problem or the people are the problem. Remember, "...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12) Demons stake out their territory and work their mischief in the area they control and on anyone who comes into that area. Our case in point is the demoniac of Gadara who is mentioned in all three of the synoptic Gospels.

There is no course one can take called Demonology 101 as far as we know. Even spiritual warfare courses and texts only go so far and will never be able to accurately identify the spiritual problems unique to any geographical area. The Bible has surprisingly little to say about demonic spirits. There are over 300 references to angels in the Bible, but fewer than fifty unique references to demons or evil spirits. Most of those spirits are not identified by name. We will only be able to know what kind of spirit we are battling as the Holy Spirit gives discernment, knowledge, and wisdom. It is therefore imperative that we are Holy Spirit led and spirit focused whenever we engage in spiritual battle.

The purpose of this blog is not to do any kind of detailed teaching on various Biblical subjects. It may evolve into that in time, but for now, our purpose in this writing is to recruit soldiers and keep them apprised of the different aspects of the battle. Again, if you are not located in or around the Santa Maria valley, please consider yourself a vital part of this fight. There is no limit to what God can do through your prayers from wherever they come. Think of yourself as an Air Force or missile battery commander. Send the airplanes for air support or send a ballistic missile or cruise missile into the area with targeted prayer. I know some of you reading this are now, if you were not already, thinking I have totally lost it. I must be making this stuff up. Listen folks, I am neither that creative nor that intelligent. I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet. I teach. I tend a few sheep and I sow a few seeds. I am simply a man who received a commission from God for this battle. I am under orders from the Lord Jesus Christ to take this battle to the enemy and I am doing it as best I know how.


Without a complete rehash of earlier posts, let us be reminded that we are dealing with a religious spirit that has taken this valley in its grip and held it for at least twenty years. During the course of that time it has allowed just enough effective work to be done by the churches in the valley to make it appear they are being successful in evangelism and discipleship. In truth, that is not the case. There is so much more that could be done if the churches and pastors would cooperate and if The Church were not so fragmented.

There are those who think more church buildings and congregations in an area are a good thing. That is true to some extent, but a physical plant has a cost to establish and maintain whether it houses a congregation of fifty or several hundred. The devil likes to divide us and will use anything to drive wedges between us. We need the fellowship of the saints. When we understand the concept of "church" in the New Testament, it is closer to the small group concept that has enabled the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea to grow to over 830,000 members and become the largest church in the world as of this writing. That church meets as a whole on the weekends and fills a stadium-sized building many times over. The real work of the ministry is done in the small groups meeting in homes, businesses, and public places. The major difference between Yoido and the New Testament church is that there were no places in that early church where thousands of people could ever come together for celebrations of praise and worship. They simply met from house to house.

The real problem is that we have the whole concept of "church" messed up in so many ways that what we see now only vaguely resembles what Jesus Christ came to give his life to start. I would be delighted to tell you what it should look like, but as I sit here today, typing this message into the computer, I really do not quite know. Yoido is a good example even if the entire congregation were hundreds rather and hundreds of thousands. I must admit, I do take some solace in knowing it is not my job right now to pastor a church. I already told you what my job is. I do pastor a few men--and some of their family members from time to time. I do that within a corporate structure which bears little resemblance to a church as we think of it. Recently I have been asked on an almost weekly basis why I do not start a church. Been there, done that. I am not opposed to doing it again, but that is not what Jesus is saying to me right now. Thank you Jesus.

I know what I am to be about now. I had lost my vision for some of that for awhile. I felt like God had put me on the shelf. In fact he had. When I mentioned this to him in prayer perhaps three years ago, I felt a peace that I was where God wanted me to be. I knew there were people on the front lines who would need to be reinforced. For those of you who have carried the battle in the past, thank you. I am down from the shelf now and ready to do my part as the Lord leads.