From Believing to Knowing: The Testimony of A Drug Addict who Finds Deliverance in Christ

I would like to use my personal testimony to explain a (3) phase process that all true believers must go through.  First of all, it is because of the fall of man recorded in Genesis that all mankind is born into unbelief. Only the power of God’s Word can lift us up out of unbelief:

Romans 10:17 (NASB)

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

I went through 3 phases in my life that led me into the supernatural experience of being born again, here they are:

(1)     Unbelief – born into this

(2)     Unbelief to Believing

(3)     Believing to Knowing

As you read this please, do not misunderstand my conversion experience; I was converted in the twinkling of an eye. I am in no way trying to say that my conversion happened over a long period of time. Once I crossed that line from believing to knowing it was an instantaneous conversion from death to life. Below I have endeavored to describe the details of this process:

As I think about my own salvation experience and the period of my life leading up to that, there are many numerous biblical principals that I can relate to. First of all I was as Paul described “without God in the world”, or “atheos” in the Greek. This is actually where we get the English, “atheist”. Both words mean the same thing, without God, that was definitely me, godless. I was a spoiled, rebellious child with no respect for authority at school or my parents. At the age of 13 a manifestation of this rebellion surfaced in the form of drug use. From the age of 13 until the age of 21 my life consisted of sin and addiction that progressively became intensified. I became a binge addict, to the point that I would go on binges until all of my money and drugs were depleted. In fact, it got to the point where I would binge for days, weeks and a few times even months. When the latter would happen I found myself waking up in a rehab center not knowing what I had done for the last weeks and months. I would remember some of the details, but for the most part it was like coming out of a total blackout. I would be very sick and it would take days for me to detox and get all of the drugs out of my system. You would think that an experience like that would deter you from every touching a drug again, however for me it was a never ending and vicious cycle. I would always go back to the thing that was destroying me, no matter how bad the consequences became. I ended up going through many “rehabs”, the first starting at the age of 17. In total, I lived in 5 impatient treatment facilities and 2 halfway houses, not including numerous group and outpatient counseling. Also, I literally attended hundreds of A.A. meetings. All of this happened before the age of 21. You know it would be easy for me to criticize the many “secular” programs that I went through, as I have done in the past. The thing is, I do not believe that any of these programs cure addicts, however they were stepping stones that led me to the cure.

You see the first thing they tell you when you arrive at these facilities, is that you have a serious and life threatening disease that is comparable to cancer, it is called addiction. Then they proceed to tell you that some folks can go into remission, just like with cancer. However, they inform you that only those who have had a spiritual experience go into remission, therefore the bulk of time in rehab is trying to use 12 steps that help you to enter into a spiritual experience. The reason that I call these treatment centers that I went to stepping-stones is because prior to entering them, I was in total unbelief. I did not even believe that there was a God. The bible says in Psalms, the fool has said in his heart, “there is no God”. You know what I was a fool because not only did I believe that in my heart, but the way I lived my life was as if there were no God. Coincidently, perhaps “prophetically”, I was born on April 1^st, the fools’ day. You can say, I was born a fool. So, I go into these programs in total unbelief and along the way something spiritual does indeed happen to me, I began to acknowledge that there was a possibility that God did exist. I began to believe in God, but not the God of the Bible, just a God.

I did not realize it at the time, but I actually crossed a line, spiritually speaking. I crossed the line from unbelief to belief. For someone who was “without God”, this was a huge step. It didn’t take long after that, just a few years and I would cross another line, a line which once crossed, there is no turning back. The line that I crossed this time was life transforming; I crossed over from death into life, from hell into heaven, from sin and wrath into grace. This transformation took me from believing to knowing. That is correct, it was not good enough for me just to believe, scripture tells us “demons believe in God and shudder.”

Knowing is totally different from believing because you come to a place that you know that you know that you know that God is real and furthermore that Jesus is real! And no one, I mean NO ONE! can convince you otherwise! It is in this place of knowing that the transformation occurs, it is at this place that one becomes genuinely “born again”, that is to say “born from above”.  This occurs when the Light of Christ shines on our dark heart and reveals sin, once sin is revealed we have ability to “repent” and lay down all of our known sin at the cross of Jesus and in exchange receive His divine nature, which gives us the power to live a righteous life.

It is because of the way that I became born again that I have been able to recognize many maladies that plague the church. This is one, because the gospel message is defective and adulterated, the outcome is we have defective converts. It is because people aren’t taught how to properly be “born again” that we have a large number of so-called Christians who are not saved. The have not come full circle in the process I have described, many have left the place of unbelief and entered into the place of belief, however they have not been able to cross the line from believing to knowing. This is the reason that sin is rampant in the church, this is the reason that worldliness is prevalent it is because we have only enough truth to make believers and not enough to transform them into knower’s.

John 17:3 (NASB)

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Hebrews 8:10-11 (NASB)

10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

11 “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.

You may be thinking now: “All of this sounds great, but how do I know that Jesus was not just a prophet, how do I know that His teaching came from heaven, could it not be possible that he was just a man that created his own philosophy and religion. Who is to say that you didn’t just think that you had some kind of experience, after all the mind is a very perplexing subject and it is capable of convincing us of all kinds of things that aren’t necessarily based in reality.” I know that there are people who think like this, because I use to think like this. I thought that conversion was just possible because of weak-minded people who basically needed some type of crutch. To answer this question I will close with the words of Jesus. He spoke these words when the religious leaders of his day were confronting Him and basically asking, how are we supposed to know if your teaching is from heaven or if it is from man? This was Jesus’ reply:

John 7:16-17 (NASB)

16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.

Until, the believer becomes willing to do His will, he will remain just a believer. It is once we genuinely become willing to do the will of the Father, that we cross the line from believing to knowing. This is the cure for addiction, it originates in heaven and it can only be discovered by those who are sick and tired of living out their selfish will and have become willing to abandon that and do His will. It applies to the addict and ever believer who is not a knower!

The Fragrance of the Knowledge of God

It is through the gospel that the knowledge of God is made manifest to the ignorant, unbelieving mind. The hearing of the gospel is a divine appointment, it is a crossroad where the ignorant mind intersects with an understanding of its origin and a manifestation of its creator. At this crossroads the ignorant are no longer ignorant for God is revealed in His Son Jesus the Messiah. Here at this crossroads where the ignorant, darkened, natural mind encounters the knowledge of God, a choice must be made. A yielding to the Lordship & Deity of Christ occurs or the contrary, a hardening of the heart and a stiffening of the neck takes place. Either way the hearer will never be the same again. Perhaps it is for this reason that Paul states:

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (NASB)

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;
16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Paul said every place they went the knowledge of God penetrated through the ministry and he compares this phenomenon to a “fragrance”. He explains in the simplest of metaphor to those who hear and yield an aroma of life to life and to those who remained hardened and hostile to God an aroma of death to death exudes. What language is he using, from life to life and from death to death? In other words the picture here is one group goes higher and higher into the riches and blessing of Heaven. However, the other group goes lower and lower further away from the “True” life and power of the creator. One starts on his journey to grow closer and closer in intimacy with God. Unfortunately, the other “hearer” continues on the broad and wide path of destruction that he was previously on. The difference is that before, he was on this path in ignorance and now he continues on willfully and knowingly. Why, would someone do that? Why would anyone smell the fragrance of the knowledge of God and reject it. The reason is because to truly yield to God, it cost everything. Consider the parable Jesus spoke concerning the Pearl of Great Price:

Matthew 13:45-46 (NASB)

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

To receive this treasure we must sell all that we have, we must crucify our old lives including all of our ambitions. We must trade in the plans we have made for ourselves an accept the plan of God. We must no longer set our will above His will. Have we heard this simple message so much that we have deceived ourselves into thinking that we have fulfilled the call. Why do you think Jesus said we must daily pick up our cross, what does that mean.? Paul said “I die daily”. Notice what the merchant in the parable does he beheld a pearl of great value and in seeing it, he sees that it is worth him getting rid of all else in order to obtain it. We must not do this once in a lifetime but we must behold Jesus daily. Here in lies the Christian life, in beholding Jesus on a continual basis and letting the consuming fire of God purge anything of the old life that we would hold on to. After the purging of the bad comes the filling with the good. We can not be filled with the treasures of heaven until we are emptied of the worthless things of this world. We say that we are a “Spirit” filled church, however that means we are filled with heaven. To be filled with heaven means being consumed continually with the things above. Why then is it if we are Spirit Filled are we clinging so tightly to thing of this world. Why is it that we spend more time on the internet in front of a computer than we spend beholding Jesus. Why is it that we no longer filter the entertainment that we ingest on a regular basis. Why are we more concerned with the mortgage and our earthly bank accounts and totally unconcerned about our heavenly bank accounts. We are spending vasts amounts of our time storing up treasures on the earth where moth and rust destroy, but how much time are we spending storing up our eternal treasures in heaven where nothing can destroy it and no thief can break in and steal it. We are so worried about our earthly goods that we haven’t realized that Satan has come in like a thief and has stolen our heavenly goods! Could it be said of us that in every place we go the fragrance of God is manifest to the world or have we come dangerously close to becoming a stench of religion in the nostrils of those we could have reached if only we stopped compromising…. Paul said:

“And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”

Are we peddlers of a dead word or have we allowed ourselves to be a vessel, molded and crafted in the wilderness by the hand of the Living God and sent forth from Him. Are we sincere about the message that we have within us….who indeed is adequate for these things?

The Coming of the Lawless One and His False Gospel

The book of 2 Thessalonians, is a prophetic book because within its pages, Paul gives us several prophetic details concerning the end of the age and the time of the Second Coming of Christ. He begins to speak about the lawless one being revealed, the one whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth when He returns to the earth. This lawless one of course is the antichrist. When I was first introduced to this shadowy character at the beginning of my Christian walk, I had the picture in my mind that he would primarily be a political figure. The Bible reveals that initially, he will appear on the world scene as a man of not just ideas, but also solutions. He will be instrumental in bringing a false peace to the Middle East conflict and he will do many other things such as this, of course afterwards his true colors will be revealed. As I read in 2 Thessalonians, I am beginning to see this “lawless one” not just as political figure, but also a spiritual or religious world leader. First of all lets examine the Scripture:

2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 (NASB)

8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;

9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

When he appears on the world’s stage, he will seem as a mystic of sorts. He will not appear as just another political superstar with colorful rhetoric and charismatic oratory skills. Surely he will be a man of charisma and charm, however the Bible clearly tells us his appearing will as be associated with a flurry of supernatural activity and happenings. There will be signs and wonders, there will be a show of power, however, obviously this will not be power from the creator, but rather it will come forth from “the one” who wants to destroy us.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 (NASB)

10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,

12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

Jesus, said that before His return the gospel would be preached to all the earth. In fact, this is one of the “signs” of his return. We currently live in the age of internet and satellite television. There is not a place in the earth today that you can go and not have access to gospel preaching. In fact anyone that can access a computer can pull up the Bible in hundreds, if not thousands of different translations and languages. Unfortunately, in the same way that the gospel is being spread throughout the entire earth, so will this new religion of the Antichrist also cover the globe. Through satellite television and internet and even cell phones, billions of people world wide will witness the inception of this new phenomenal religion as presented forth by our up and coming world leader.

God in His mercy and grace allowed the gospel of righteousness to come forth first. It is the gospel of the Messiah, who didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to hang on a cross for our sins. (This is in stark contrast to Antichrist, who will come to be served.) He has allowed this knowledge to go throughout the earth for over 2000 years. The Word of God says that “it is his desire that none should perish, but that all would be saved.” Can we see God’s grace here!!! The True gospel came first to the whole world and lasted 2000 thousand years, this false gospel will come second and last no more than a decade. Everyone of us has had a chance to embrace righteousness and repent of our sins, however this passage is speaking to the world an ominous warning: Everyone who has not received the gospel of truth, WILL be deceived, they WILL believe the lie and they WILL enter into God’s severe judgment. Look at what is says in verse 11, GOD will be the one who will send this deluding influence. Doesn’t this one passage just throw a wrench into all of our superficial theology about God’s false love. Sure He is a God of love to those of us who have embraced the greatest act of love, the cross, but He is a God of wrath unto those who have shaken their fist in His face and trampled under foot the blood of Jesus. God is beginning to shout through His vessels, BELIEVE THE TRUTH! He is equipping and sending forth His messengers. Will we listen or will we perish. I want to close this brief exhortation with the words of Paul found in the 1st chapter of 2 Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 (NASB)

6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,

8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

Who then will receive His retribution? …..”those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel.”

The Current Economic Crisis in Light of Scripture

The United States is undeniably the richest and most powerful nation ever on the face of the earth. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. is larger than the next two biggest economies combined, which in China and Japan. The U.S. economy outproduces the combined economies of over forty-seven poor nations, which account for 53 percent of the population of the world. These forty-seven nations include China and India. But on an individual scale, just how does the income of the average American compare to the average income of the poor of the world?

In 2000 the per capita income of the U.S. was 360 percent higher than the world’s average per capita income (CPI). The U.S. boasted a CPI of $34,100 while the average world CPI was $7,410 (measured in international dollars).

According to statistics from the World Bank, 56 percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty. They survive on an income of less than $730 per year or $2 per day. Half of the worlds poor who comprise 28 percent of the world’s population live on $1 or less per day. In comparison, the average American earns from 46 to 92 times more than the poverty stricken comprising over half the world’s population.

These statistics are staggering, this shows that the average American is not only wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world, but compared to 56 percent of the population we literally live like kings.

Now here we are in 2009 and the future of a once wealthy nation is now in question. Our politicians and our “wise men” are frantically running around trying to figure out a solution to America’s financial woes. Putting a band-aide here, plugging a hole in the dam there, desperately seeking ways to hold back what is coming. We now have the latest trillion dollar stimulus package passed by a democratic Congress and signed by our new president. If you ask me it almost seems like instead of finding a way to “bail” us out it actually seems like they have signed legislation that will deliberately sink us further into debt. It is as if they are deliberately trying to crash the American Economy permanently.

We are now living “in” the time of God’s judgment on America, he has given us leaders after our own heart, just as he did when he appointed Israel’s first King, Saul, in the Old Testament. Why would God’s judgments focus in on our economy? Why not allow us to be overtaken by enemy nations, like he did to Israel in the Bible. Why not more natural disasters that could permanently handicap us as a nation.

If we look into the Scriptures, which represents the perfect mind of God, we can get spiritual insight into any circumstance and any situation. Let’s consider a passage out of the Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 19:16-26 (NASB)

16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”

17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 Then he said* to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS;

19 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

20 The young man said* to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

24 “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?”

26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Look at the dilemma this young ruler finds himself in. He wants to enter into the Kingdom of God, upon questioning Jesus he realizes that he does not qualify, because he was one who owned much property and he was unwilling to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. It wasn’t that Jesus is commanding everyone to give up what they own, as this Scripture has been falsely interpreted over the centuries. Rather Jesus was telling the man this in order to show him what was in his heart. He was in idolatry, he had another God that he served, in whom he was unwilling to part ways with. It reminds me of a story of a young man who hears the gospel for the first time. He gets excited and goes tell his grandfather. As he began to explain what it was he heard concerning Jesus and how intrigued he had become, the man then pulled out a huge roll of money and waved it in his grandson’s face and said “this is my god”. What a perfect metaphor for this American nation, there are voices preaching Truth to those whom they love and all they can do is pull out their roll of bills wave it in God’s face and say “this is the god in whom we serve”.

Jesus told his disciples that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. To this statement they exclaimed ”Then who can be saved!” Jesus said with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Is it a possiblilty that the current judgments that we are entering into is a fulfillment of this very Scripture. God is at work, by tearing down our high and mighty financial status, God is actually bringing us low, humbling us to a place where money is  no longer our God and all we can do as a nation is look up and cry out to God for mercy. In the mind of God, He knows that “it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.

In the famed “beatitudes” Jesus spoke forth “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God”. Obviously he was not talking about being poor in the natural, however he was talking about those of us who have come to a place of “spiritual bankruptcy”, these shall inherit the kingdom of God. It is not until we come to a place where we know that there is nothing we can do to pay off our sin debt, that we can be born again and enter into the kingdom of God. Because in realizing that there is nothing we can do, we come to the revelation that it is in fact Jesus who paid the price of our redemption! Is it possible, that God is bringing this nation to financial bankruptcy so that he can take us to a place of spiritual bankruptcy? Personally I don’t know for sure what the answer to that question is, however I am glad to have the mind of God in my house, so that when his judgments hit, I will not faint because I know that I know whom it is that keeps me!

Does the Bible Mention Anything About Hurricanes?

Does Scripture give us any information concerning the phenomenon of hurricanes in the last days? As I was reading the Bible a few days after Hurricane Ike slammed against the Texas and Louisiana coast I came across this passage:

Luke 21:25-28 (NASB)

25 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,

26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

27 “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory.

28 “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Not only does the Bible speak of these type of storms, but Jesus Himself is the one who made mention of them. Obviously in the Bible days the word Hurricane had not yet been invented, however look at what language is used here: men would be “…in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and its waves.” The morning prior to me discovering this Scripture I had been reading news articles concerning Hurricane Ike and they interviewed one women who had lived in Galveston, TX all of her life and had been through many hurricanes, some that had hit even stronger than Ike and she could not understand how this time much more devastation had occurred. She was absolutely shocked because the sea had come all the way up and was as high as her garage. She said “we have never seen this before.”

Even where I live near Lafayette,LA we have had some serious issues when Ike hit. There is an area about 20 miles south of here that experienced flooding from the storm surge for both Ike and Hurricane Rita in 2005. Both Hurricanes caused people in the area including some close acquaintances of mine to abandon their homes because of flooding. In 3 years this area experienced serious flooding twice due to the storm surge from the Hurricanes. On the local news people being interviewed began to talk about how they had lived there 30 to 40 years and had been through many hurricanes and they never seen flooding like this. Why was it that in only 3 years they began to see type of flooding not just happen once, but also a second time as well. Could it be that the words of Jesus are being fulfilled in this very hour that we live. Men are starting to be perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.

The Scripture says that men will begin to faint because of fear due to all of the things that are coming upon the earth. It seems like it wasn’t to long after Ike passed in 2008, we had another storm hit America. We began to have a economic tsunami sweep across the nation as part of the fallout from the housing market crisis. In the same way that this women in Galveston was astonished at the rising waters coming up past her garage towards the second story of her home, Americans also found themselves astonished as the waves of this financial crisis began to roll and hit closer and closer to their own neighborhoods and into their own lives.

So what is in store for 2009? Will we find ourselves being pulled out of a recession as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said this morning? or will the headlines continue to read like the words of prophecy spoken by Jesus? Will 2009 be a year of dismay among nations, men fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming upon the earth; will this be the year that America as well as the rest of the world begins to see the powers of the heavens begin to shake….

Hebrews 12:25-29 (NASB)

25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.

26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”

27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Related Articles:

Bernanke: Recession May End This Year

Voice of Revolution Online Magazine

I am recommending this online resource. It is called Voice of Revolution. I know it sounds just like the name of my blog, however the editor Marcus French came up with the name of this site at the exact same time that I came up with the name of my blog. We discovered each others site and learned that we had both at almost the exact same time frame, named our sites with almost identical names. I have the word “the” before revolution. Needless to say that it is not just a common name that we share it is also a common heart and that is to see restoration in the body of Christ and “righteous” revolution manifest upon the earth:

Obama the Messiah and My Dream that McCain Won the Election

The Scriptures tell us that in the last days that many false Messiah’s would rise up and deceive many. Well we have seen this phenomenon on several fronts already, however now it can be seen on the political front. Not just any political front but it is in the race for the highest elected office in the world, the president of the United States of America. There are millions of people who are actually looking at Barack Obama as a Messiah type figure who will deliver them from both external and internal problems and conflicts in their life. Film director Spike Lee was actually quoted saying:

“When that happens, it will change everything. … You’ll have to measure time by `Before Obama’ and `After Obama,'” Lee said during the panel. “It’s an exciting time to be alive now.” …   – Spike Lee

Can we fathom how blasphemous of a statement this actually is. Currently it is the incarnation and death of Jesus on the cross that measures time from B.C. to A.D. Is Spike really implying that he wants to replace Jesus Christ with Barack Obama. Probably 40 or 50 years ago no one in American would have believed that a multitude of American people would ever worship any earthly man as a god. However in the 1960’s & 70’s Hindu gurus from India began invading and setting up shop here in America. Multitudes dogmatically followed and devoted their entire lives to these so called “godmen”. Even mainstream icons such as the Beatles began to follow and promote one such leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. You must understand that a large segment of that culture in the late 1960’s looked at men like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, not just as a great teacher or philosopher, but as a bona fide god in the flesh. In India they follow these men around and worship the ground that they walk on, literally by kissing the ground and rubbing themselves with the dirt that just touched these men’s feet. To be honest I do not think that a majority of Obama’s supporters look at him as a savior, however the fact that there is a counterculture that is ready to embrace him as such is shocking and even frightening. On the website ObamaMessiah.blogspot.com, 100’s of pages of comments have been left, some referring to supporters of Obama as believers and his non supporters as unbelievers. Louis Farrakhan, before a very numerous congregation claimed that the youth are now hearing the voice of their Messiah(video below). Furthermore he called Obama “the Hope of the entire world”.  Yes, the days spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24 are no longer just on the horizon they are here! Am I trying to say in this article that Obama is the Antichrist? ….Absolutely not!!! However what I am saying is that the people of America are ready to embrace a man or even a political leader as being a Messiah.

On another note, I had a dream about a week ago that John McCain won the election. In the dream after he won, I saw Obama and let’s just say that he was not too happy with the results. In the dream he was fuming with anger. I do not necessarily think that this was a prophetic dream, however it will be interesting if this is the scenario that plays out.

Obama Messiah?

The Revival that Jesus Went To

Here is an audio message by  Jimmy Tate. Jimmy is a dynamic preacher out of Lafayette, LA. he delivers an insightful and powerful message concerning modern revivals. In modern times Christians have been holding sensational events and conferences claiming them to be revivals and outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Do all of these gatherings weigh up to Scripture?  To answer that question the speaker goes into the gospels to a revival that Jesus actually attended. The answer to the first question then brings us to a second one, “would Jesus attend our modern day revivals?”

The “prophetic” is the manifestation of the heart of God.

The perfect picture of the prophetic is found in John’s gospel at the last supper. It was John the prophet, the revelator who had his head next to Jesus’ chest. He was listening to the very heartbeat of God. That is the true prophetic call, it is to hear and then express God’s heartbeat. The true prophetic is birthed out of genuine intimacy with our Lord. Anything short of a genuine expression is a mockery of God. There are so many words and expressions these days that are passing themselves off as true “prophetic”. However instead of bringing glory unto Jesus, the propagators of these expressions bring glory unto themselves. Sadly, much of what we hear labeled as prophetic is a sickening counterfeit of the real thing. Now is the time for the prophets of God to rise up with the Fire of His Word shut up in their bones. Bold men with backbone who lend themselves as pure vessels unto a Holy God and become the modern day “voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Men who are not intimidated, who do not adulterate and will not be corrupted. Vessels prepared by God, who do not fear men but fear God alone and prostrate themselves daily before the One who lives forever and ever. Here is an exert of a message explaining the call of John the prophet: