Connections are Everything

Lately, in my relationship with God, he has been underscoring an extremely important principle he taught me years ago.

I went to hopeless carnal churches, sporadically, when I was a kid. I got nothing from it. Later in life, I belonged to charismatic churches which were still surprisingly carnal. During that time, I grew a lot, but I can’t think of any part of that growth that came from listening to the people up front. It came in spite of them.

God told me that I was supposed to pray in tongues a lot, and that he would improve me through it. He told me I needed to be rid of my iniquities; the bad habits that drove sin. He told me I needed to be rid of demons. He showed me he wanted to do most of the work.

I quit going to church, and things got much better. That has continued to this day. When I talk to people about God, I tell them the same things God told me. I don’t tell them to find a preacher to teach them. I don’t recommend a denomination, although there are plenty I could tell people to stay away from.

Yesterday, I got stuck at the post office for about two hours. My wife had made a very bad decision without asking me. She bought maybe 75 pounds of stuff to send her relatives. I once sent a letter to her in Zambia, and it cost $155. I would have told her to send money and tell them to go to a mall. They have malls in Zambia.

I got her to reduce the gifts to a weight that would fit in a large Home Depot box, and we searched around for the best shipping deal. The Post Office came out on top, to the tune of over $500. What are the contents of the box worth? My guess: under $200.

Dealing with the box has been a miserable experience. Getting her to take things out of it. Looking for shipping options. Trying to tape it up to prevent it from bursting (Home Depot boxes are made from recycled cardboard that repels tape).

Yesterday, we sat in the Post Office for ages while she filled out customs forms. Needless to say, we will not be sending any more boxes to Africa. I had a lot of time to read the Bible.

Once you have a consistent habit of spending time in the Spirit, the Bible’s purpose changes. In the beginning, it’s your handbook. You have to consult it in order to know what to do. Once you get to know the person who wrote it, it becomes an instrument of confirmation. The Holy Spirit tells you things, and then you see them confirmed in the Bible. Often, he will tell you things that seem to conflict with the Bible, and then it will turn out the Bible you have is wrong because of a poor interpretation and translation.

In the post office, I read from John 16. Yeshua was getting ready to be crucified, and he was telling the disciples things so they would be prepared for his death and the aftermath.

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended [made to stumble].

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

Here, you can see Yeshua said the Holy Spirit would guide us into “all truths.” He calls him the Spirit of Truth.

He didn’t say the Spirit would give us a few helpful tips when we couldn’t get our priests or preachers to return texts. He said “all.”

He said the Holy Spirit would hear. Yahweh speaks, Yeshua hears, Yeshua repeats, the Holy Spirit hears, the Holy Spirit repeats to us, and we are supposed to hear and repeat.

Look what Yeshua said about religious people, not atheists and pagans. He said religious people would expel his followers. Why would they do this? He told us. He told us the religious persecutors would not know God.

He didn’t say they wouldn’t read the Bible. He didn’t say they wouldn’t go to church. He didn’t say they wouldn’t baptize or cast out demons. He said they would not know God. This is what separates ignorant persecutors from the childen of God. As Paul said, as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.

You can claim this only applies to Jewish Messiah-deniers, but that is not true. Christians are no different. Nominal Christians have burned a lot of people, including actual Christians, to death.

If you think you’re a good Christian because you go to church often, you study the Bible, you give to ministries, you serve as a volunteer, you go on mission trips, and so on, you are deluded. Those things only count when you do them because the Spirit told you to.

No one has tried to kill me for telling the truth, but I was rejected by two churches in a row, and the first church I belonged to, back in the 20th century, had problems that motivated me to leave.

Lots of Christians have attacked me for telling the truth. The pompous. The arrogant. The deluded. People who wanted money, admiration, and promotion. People who memorized Bible phrases they didn’t understand, to justify obeying their childish flesh. I went on to greater blessings, and they stayed as they were or got worse.

Now that I think about it, I can’t recall ever having friction with other Christians because I was doing something wrong. It was the right things I did that set them off.

I’ve had trouble with people who rejected the Holy Spirit and therefore did not know God. If they had known God, they would have heard me when I told them things God had told me.

Heaven is like an exclusive nightclub. If you’re not on the list, you don’t get in. How do you get on the list? You have to know someone.

If you don’t know the Holy Spirit, you can’t know Yeshua. He doesn’t live inside us and tell us things minute by minute. He tells the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. Sure, Yeshua comes to people whenever he wants and interacts with them, but he doesn’t do what the Holy Spirit does. God is triune, and we have to accept every part of him.

When Yeshua came to me, he most definitely remained outside of me. I can tell you that for a fact.

As for the Holy Spirit, he definitely lives in me, even though there is no shortage of wickedness inside me that still needs to be cleaned out.

If you’re not speaking in tongues a lot, you’re not receiving most of what the Holy Spirit wants to say to you. You’re listening to dangerous prattle that comes from evil spirits, arrogant men, and your own imagination. You’re creating your own religion, or you’re following a false one other people made up.

I hope this is helpful to you, because we are living in a dangerous time that is going to become much more dangerous.