Before I get further into the subject matter of this post, I checked with Aaron earlier today in follow-up to yesterday's post and he had yet to field even a single email concerning his testimony as a witness. I perceive the need to address this further. It may be presumption for me to simply say that I appreciate your trust in my integrity that my word plus brother Aaron's willingness to stand as a witness alongside me was sufficient. Ask yourself is that is enough for you, if it's sufficient to take whatever appropriate measures are called for in your life. If not, contact Aaron and probe further until you are satisfied. Take the testimony back to John if this is required of you. Prove the case, whether one or any of us is justified in our claims.
I feel very strongly that this is no time for passive lurking. This is a time to be engaged as one who is fully awake, with a passionate love for the Lord and those who are His. As recorded in Esther 4:14, who knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? I've never been much of a cheerleader but I perceive the need for a call to action because some among you are slumbering on while the alarm clock buzzes. Awaken and prepare for what will yet be required of you. If this is for you, you are at risk of forfeiting great reward.
I may tell you at some point some of the blessings I've received as I've accepted the Lord's invitations to engage with folks in such challenging ways. This is a quite remarkable thing! Especially for someone who has been as passive and eager to avoid conflict as I have been for most of my life!
OK, moving on.
"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division."Luke 12:51
Division brought by the Lord is good because He is only ever good. He separates the holy from the profane, what is His from what is not. There is a contrasting work of division that is bad, brought by His enemy. How can you tell which is which? Get discernment. Eyes that see and ears that hear can discern with the Light that is truly Light. Someone who works to separate you from any true friend is working evil. Tamra's activity that works to cut me off from people is really directed to cut those off who would be ministered to by the Truth (Y'shua) through me. Any impact upon me personally as the agent that threatens her work and exposure is really of lesser concern in the bigger picture. John (with great presumption - "the Baptist") Seitzinger's labor to divide by isolating me from his crew wasn't to protect anyone from harmful contact with an enemy of the Lord but rather to protect himself from being exposed and those in his eunuch network from being set free - the covert work of evil.
Note that the name Satan means "accuser" and "adversary." The workers of evil will typically betray themselves in an ironic fashion when they accuse. It's like pointing a finger where three fingers point back in the gesture. They falsely accuse the brethren of what is even their own very issue. It compares to the pot calling the kettle black, when the kettle is not black but the pot is. This is "Spiritual Warfare 101" material, which some of us need to learn to discern and follow along, tracking with what the Lord is revealing.
What you will know about Tamra with that insight is that it is she herself, or with a more precise attribution, the spirit of Jezebel that exercises control over and manifests through her, hates women. Think about that and seek the Lord for further insight. The spirit of Jezebel hates subjection to the Creator by anyone, but most particularly, women who would be subject to men and the men who accept their appointment of headship. She is counter to Sarah, the Bride of Christ model, who is all about submission. Jezebel is all about her own rule with unchallenged authority. Tamra apparently was triggered when she read about "Propriety in the Assembly" because that addresses her own MO, her method of operation. Anyone who believes the truth you'll find in that study will have light shined on the Jezebel operation, exposing even Tamra's public activity as sinful rebellion. That snare she sets only works in darkness. When it's exposed to the light, the gig is up.
Had you noticed in the last post how the subject line of the email had been modified when John forwarded his copy of an email I sent to his network? When he falsely accused me in the email (where he subtly commanded and threatened his band of eunuchs to keep them in line), I had sent it with the subject line, "Walking the walk," and he expanded it to "Walking the walk [STRAIGHT TO HELL]." The irony is that it's his own chosen path and the one he leads his followers down. An example of self-reflective declaration may be seen in where he wrote, "I had a run-in with Bob earlier today on this subject mater and he refuses to back down." If you followed the thread you see there was no referenced run-in where I was approached with anything from which to back down. Why did he write that? Was it made up "out of thin air" just so he could seem like a tough guy? Well, I believe the best answer is that devils will betray themselves and you will perceive it if you pay attention. In the instance of John's email, what really happened was that when John received the "Walking the walk" email he should have repented at being convicted by the holy spirit. Instead, he "didn't back down." He stood against it. He spills the beans that he did receive a conviction and rebelled against it. Is this a familiar dynamic?
I'm not telling you this just to shame Tamra and John (though I do hope they read here and are ashamed, convicted and brought to repentance). These examples have come for our learning. Should the enemies of Yahweh and His people be sheltered from the light or protected from judgment? The Devil does not need an advocate and we should not be found facilitating deception by providing cover for his agents. The kind of "love" that enables sinners will be judged to be no love at all.
In the book of Acts, a couple named Ananias and Sapphira resisted the holy spirit and were dealt with in such a way that great fear came on all the church. I invite you to read that account to refresh your memory.
"And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things."Acts 5:11
I write this not to suggest that the same end will come to John and Tamra but to state my conviction that the time is coming when power and authority will be manifested once again. As you should know, Acts is more than just a history book, it's prophetic. Until then, even while most of our engagements seem to us as exercises in futility, our tolerance even particularly of Jezebel is not to be. Such tolerance is soon going to cost some dearly. If you think intolerance is going to cost you plenty, you're probably right. Yet, compare it to what tolerance will cost.
18) And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
19) 'I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.
20) BUT I HAVE THIS AGAINST YOU, THAT YOU TOLERATE THE WOMAN JEZEBEL, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
21) I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
22) Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, AND THOSE WHO COMMIT ADULTERY WITH HER into great tribulation, UNLESS THEY REPENT OF HER DEEDS.
23) And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I WILL GIVE TO EACH ONE OF YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR DEEDS.
24) But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them--I place no other burden on you.
25) Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.
26) He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;
27) AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father;
28) and I will give him the morning star.
29) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'Revelation 2:18-29
Will I continue to tolerate Jezebel and be brought under judgment? Will you? There is great consequence and great reward at stake.
Brothers and sisters, this is a time to let your own relationships and associations be tested and proven. Judge well with His eyes and ears, with His standards of approval and not your own, which will utterly fail. Let me encourage you not to get caught up in John and Tamra. Most of you have your own adversaries and this is really about what you have done and have yet to do, at the Lord's direction and with his help.
There are a few more passages of scripture I am compelled to present.
25) Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
26) If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27) Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28) For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29) Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30) saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
31) Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32) Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33) So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34) Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
35) It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."Luke 14:25-35
Compare the salt that is thrown out to what we read in Revelation 2.
21) I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
22) Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, AND THOSE WHO COMMIT ADULTERY WITH HER into great tribulation, UNLESS THEY REPENT OF HER DEEDS.Revelation 2:21-22
Are you tasty salt or "useless either for the soil or for the manure pile"?
"Adulterers and adulteresses! Have ye not known that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever, then, may counsel to be a friend of the world, an enemy of God he is set."James 4:4 (YLT)
"No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval."I Corinthians 11:19
At the outset of this post I wrote "Take a lesson as one who is wise, receiving the Lord's counsel about discerning your own friends and enemies." Let me encourage you to take this to the Lord and let your relationships be tested. Let me share an insight I received this morning before rising.
There is a set of perspectives set forth in the gospels that may be seen to conflict.
"For he who is not against us is for us."Mark 9:40
"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters."Matthew 12:30
Luke 11:23 agrees with Matthew 12. One perspective is different from the other. In the same context, both cannot be true. Both are true, and discerning the applicable context determines which of the two is appropriate for a given situation. If I understand what the Lord was revealing, and I believe I do, we are transitioning from a Mark 9:40 to a Matthew 12:30 time. This is to say that our consideration and discernment of and behavior toward those who are for us and those who are against us is a current affair in the Lord's agenda for those He is wooing as His Bride. Those of you for whom this is intended will require no further commentary from me.