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Staff
Meeting at TWI HQ on 04/14/1996
L.
Craig Martindale
We'll
go to Galatians 5. I expect Camp Gunnison and Indiana Campus
are on, correct? Ok.
The Prevailing Word in the Promised Land of the Household, or
Promised Land of the Prevailing Word in the Household--I guess
either way would work. That's been the way it's jelled in my
soul in defining our overall vision, our goal. Like for years
we worked with the Word Over the World concept in our thoughts
and hearts, and it helped us make our decisions and prioritize
our lives, and as we move into Generation II of The Way
International Ministry of Research, Teaching, and Fellowship,
there has to be ways to focus our thoughts and define it, both
culturally and in language that communicates, as well as
Biblically and spiritually. And it's just like we learned to
understand it in Dr. Wierwille's ministry--we looked at the
Word, we studied the Word, we adapted concepts and ideas and
functions and programs to the times in which we lived; and did
all we could to make the Word of God available and
establish--to use military terminology --beachheads. As I said
in the Book of Acts teachings, centers of reference, or
spheres of influence in the culture, that would make available
the Word of God.
This cannot be evaluated in a senses manner--only to a certain
extent. If we worked for McDonalds, we'd pull out our map and
see everywhere we had a restaurant, and we'd decide what gaps
we have. It can't be looked at in that manner, because if you
look at it in that manner, I don't think we could say the Word
is over the world. I think sense-knowledge-wise that would be
contradicted. Certainly there are many gaps on the maps. But I
look at it in terms of the impact. Like I taught in the Book
of Acts, expansion is defined numerically, geographically, and
in sphere of influence. Now that means all three have to be
considered as a unit in terms of what we would say the Word is
over, or the Word is available to a section of the country or
the world. And that sphere of influence is especially
noteworthy in terms of energized ministries. And I believe I
see that deeper than ever before indicated as such at times
and over the years, because I know I've made the point that
every section in the Book of Acts opens with an energized
ministry functioning.
Of course, the reason you have energized ministries is for the
perfecting of the saints. So that implies that there are
active disciples in areas that are part of that sphere of
influence. It isn't just to be an Elijah sitting in the
wilderness by himself, or an Amos or Jeremiah--pretty much
rejected, mourning the unbelief. But obviously there are to be
disciples, pockets of believing, because the purpose of the
ministries is first the perfecting of the saints.
But from that numerical and geographical setting, then the
great key to the Word over the world is what I always call the
"sphere of influence," or the impact of that Word in
that part of the world. I think as we grew and learned, many
times we thought of that impact in terms of cultural or senses
impact. And we had to learn; we had to grow. We thought in
terms of dominating the music business or dominating
Nashville; at times we thought in terms of great works of art
and literary pieces moving to world renown. Well, we learned
over the years that that is not really what it meant and
means, because that never happened. And indeed, in a lot of
cases, it hurt the ministry more than helped it to pursue it
in those categories, because people at times didn't stand;
they couldn't handle the spiritual pressure; they copped out
and broke down. So that isn't what it meant. Remember, Corps
Principle #1 is "Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception
and aware- ness" of the Word. Whether I understand
everything going on in the world or not has relatively little
significance. Only what the Word directs me to understand
what's going on in the world. So it isn't a case of the Word
dominating the culture. I think at times that's what we
thought it meant. That's not what it meant, obviously and
clearly, because that is certainly not the case in any stretch
of the imagination.
Now, that the Word has had some positive effect on the
unbelieving realm, I think it's logical to say, but to
document that is very difficult, because we have very little
interaction in the great realms of politics and government and
military and the arts and culture. We've had believers in
these fields, and just having an appreciation for the Word of
God, the spirit of God, I think generally we can say, yes, we
have had an effect on the senses realm. Maybe we've kept it
from going as rotten and evil as it could have been if we
hadn't been around. But that is not the point. The point is
#1: That sphere of impact is available.
The old analogy of a stone hitting a lake that Dr. Wierwille
would often use, where the concentric ripples of the waves
would eventually reach the shore. To me, that's a good analogy
of sphere of influence. And what you're always out to do is to
make it available to those that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. So therefore whether we could document it
sense-knowledge-wise, which we can't, and even to look at it
sense-knowledge-wise would cause me to doubt the revelation
God gave me that the Word is over the world. Which I don't
doubt, but I could see how the senses realm could cause you to
doubt it because of the immensity of it and the sheer numbers
of people, numbers of countries, numbers of dialects and
cultures, which certainly cause you to doubt it if you looked
at it from a business point of view or military point of view.
So to me that's even more evidence to prove it has to be
right.
But again, the believing of it is your heart in the Word of
God, and your humility to the Word, and your humility to what
God has energized in our heart in the household to present and
share and teach. I think as you are humble to that, God can
keep teaching you to see that. Because it really has very
little to do with its impact on culture--that's only
secondary--the unbelieving culture. It's just like Israel:
even when Israel was a nation, a political, geographical,
ethnic, genetic country, their impact on the rest of the world
was always second or third in importance. The importance was
the purity within their ranks; the purity within their walls;
the purity of the Word. Then, to the rest of the world they
would be a delightsome land, a nation of priests, a blessed
land-- "what nation is any other that has a god that
cares for them like God cares for you"--statements like
Moses made.
At times we see in the Word they would be intimidated in a
good way by the strength of the believers and leave them
alone, but as far as large-scale adapting of Israelite
practices spiritually, you didn't see that. The Canaanites,
Moabites stayed idolatrous. The Amorites, Amalekites stayed as
evil and dastardly as they ever were. The Philistines, who
might have been the closest companions to Israel through
David's day, never adapted anything. At times they'd respect
them. At times they'd come through and clean their clock. It
just depended on what was available to them. You didn't see
any large-scale change of mind and cultures that Israel had
contact with. Egyptian--are you kidding? About the closest was
Nebuchadnezzar who at times showed real humility to the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Cyrus and Artaxerxes who
allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild first the Temple then the
walls then the city. They showed respect for God's people.
Maybe there would even be an element of believing in some of
these unique, rare men--like the Pharaoh who allowed Joseph to
move to such a position of influence and power. But these were
individuals who had a heart tender to truth. And I believe
they will be rewarded in the judgments in the future. To what
extent only God knows. I don't understand it all. I know
there's a resurrection of the just and unjust; I believe those
noted in the Word who helped God's people are going to be
rewarded for it, because God is so just. Just like people who
are kind to us and help us in our day, God will not forget
that. Even in this life their lives are blessed when they are
kind to The Way Ministry and help us in what we do and help us
do the things we need to do to make the Word of God available.
I think it's a continual growth and learning, and certainly
one of the great ways to express what it means, the Promised
Land of the Prevailing Word in the Household, is certainly the
spiritual quality of life. That more and more can be
appreciated and enjoyed by the believers of the household and
disciples, and more and more God gets the glory and praise for
within the house- hold. It's His joy to bless His people. And
within the household, that purity and that sanctified living
is most important. And the majority of what we call the
household of God are functioning disciples. That minority
would be those that we are giving the opportunity to become
functioning disciples. And that's the only way you're going to
build the true quality of life, is not allowing it to become
laced and contaminated with spiritual leprosy. Even the Church
Epistles are very adamant--get on or get off. They are very
adamant. Grace and mercy are for those that humble themselves.
Grace and mercy are not to be used as a club and a lever
against the faithful. But that's definitely what the accuser
does. People that chronically fail, that are chronically hard-
hearted, chronically unwilling to change their minds and
habits--first in their practical life as I've taught, then it
becomes doctrinal, (as Dr. Wierwille taught and I think I've
embellished and expanded and explained) that the greatest
attacks are in the practical realm.
Isn't it something that the ones that need to change the most
many times are the most indignant when you reprove them--most
adamant, on a soapbox. More and more they don't stay long on
that soapbox because we are learning to have the courage--at
least some of us--to mark and avoid and separate and confront
them and tell them to leave. We are learning what
righteousness means. It means the guts to take a stand against
evil and not let the accuser make you think you're wrong
because you're running off the damned lepers. And yet still we
have too many people that refuse to believe that that's the
love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. You want to
believe that the love of God or for God in the renewed mind in
manifestation means you tolerate everything, and that's a lie.
And it's a doctrine of the devil-spirit realm, and you ain't
going into the Promised Land. That mind set will eliminate you
from the joy of the experiential reality of the quality of
life that awaits us when and if the Word really prevails in
the household. It's private interpretation; it's reading in
your opinions of what love means; it's not reading what the
Word actually says. I for years have shown you references from
every Church Epistle that tell us to separate, mark and avoid,
withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly; so I'm
sure some believe that and practice that, and still some in
the depth of your heart, you don't really believe it. You
think that love and grace and mercy mean you're supposed to
tolerate everything. That's exactly how the devil spirits
nearly took this ministry over, (which we're still cleaning
out,) with that lack of resolve to the truth, that private
interpretation of what the scripture says, that vague, general
mind set about what Jesus Christ really wanted. And yet people
refuse to see scriptures where Jesus Christ confronts Simon.
Jesus withdrew himself from those men at times when they were
not up to levels, even his best men; and Jesus Christ had
very, very few people left from all the thousands and
thousands that he taught and ministered to and healed. He had
only about 120 who wanted to be recognized as his followers
after his ascension. He would be considered a resounding
failure in our contemporary world. We've got more people left
on our mailing list than he had on his.
I still think some of you feel bad about the lack of numbers
and you almost feel insulted or feel disgraced. And you're
just not thinking spiritually. You have a carnal mind that's
enmity against God. And we've got to get that out of the
leadership of The Way Ministry. And we're working on that as
you know. I don't tolerate it. I confront it. And those that
back me up confront it also. And we cannot have that kind of
mind set in any way working at our Root Locales because it's
pure contamination. The Root Locales are not spiritual
infirmaries for spiritual winos and deadbeats and drunks that
need to have radical overhauls in their lives and minds. It
cannot be that in any way. People that need help, if they want
help, can go to Twig and see if they can put up with that
spiritual pressure. People that want help have no business
living here. You come here to serve, you come here to give,
you come here with commitment, fully persuaded mind set, and
that obviously has to be the key for our whole Way Corps
household, that functioning house- hold, our Way Disciples,
and eventually, all our Twig coordinators; although I'm sure
there's still a lot to do there that we just haven't had time
to get to.
But the quality of life enhanced and dominant is what we're
talking about in the Prevailing Word. And Galatians 5:22 is a
simple way to put it. "But the fruit of the
Spirit"--remember that's usage 5, the gift in
manifestation. "Is love"--that's that love for God.
That first and foremost dominates. That the Word of God holds
regnancy in our minds. Everything else is secondary--whether
it comes from family, friend, culture--the Word of God holds
regnancy. It prevails, it dominates. And as I've worked this
"prevail" concept over the years, to me it indicates
permeate, saturate, dominate. When the Word is prevailing,
it's at that level. When the Word prevails, it's hardly ever
even a registering of temptation, if any. It's hardly an itch,
that you'd even think about not doing what the Word says, even
if your closest friend tells you in a subtle way. Or even if
family, a relative or something--it's ludicrous that anyone
would think they could get me to not do the Word of God in
contrast to their opinion. I've been through all that. It's a
joke to think they could somehow bribe me with the horizontal
so that I would not do the vertical. That's one way of putting
what "prevailing" means. If you're still tempted to
consider it, the Word does not prevail. It has not permeated,
saturated, and dominated.
I said to the Corps at that Corps Night in Texas, if you're
still sitting there doubting the sagacity of our decisions and
doubting the words I say, even things I just said about what
Word over the world did not mean--it did not mean those things
once we learned and grew. If it did, we would be running the
Nashville business. We would have dominating novelists writing
the top sellers of the day. We would have believers making all
the hot movies in Hollywood. All the Jews would be kissing our
butt out there. That does not happen and is not going to
happen. There could be rare, exceptional situations. Never put
a lid on what God can do. But, for instance, Joseph was a very
rare scenario. Joseph became a dominant man in a foreign
culture, but look at the spiritual reason. It was to save the
Christline. The adversary would have wiped out the twelve
tribes and their progeny through the famine if he hadn't have
been elevated to that position in Egypt. He saved Jacob and
the sons, including Judah out of whom Jesus Christ came.
That's the reason Joseph moved to the top, understand? There
would be a reason.
And for the most part, I don't see many reasons why we should
have to have dominant people in positions of influence in the
country. For one thing, it's so evil I don't know what
difference it would make. It's almost a miracle day by day
that we have the freedom to live that we have, and I think
that more depends on the solidarity and the purity and the
strength of the household that we can control, and not those
things we have no control over. And it's very difficult to
measure what kind of impact our ministry has had on the senses
realm. I don't know how to document that, except in vague
notions, unless God would show me something I could pinpoint.
Maybe the rage now in some places for people to get out of
debt, maybe that does have something to do with our teaching.
I could make the connection on a general basis, but I'm not
sure specifically how to document that. I don't have time to
worry about that kind of thing too much. We have too many
concerns keeping what we can control clean, and you can't
worry about what you can't control.
I heard them say that on the Masters yesterday. Greg Norman is
lapping the field now. One of the announcers said every guy's
just got to go out there and shoot his best. He can't control
how good Greg Norman's going to play. He can only control what
he does. And that's all you can do. Otherwise you drive
yourself crazy. I thought now there's an apt analogy of our
function in this world. I can't worry about things I have no
control over. The RC, Protestant, Ecumenical travesties going
on; the dismantling of our military; the building up of the
Red Chinese military machine--again we're heading toward a
showdown. I almost think a showdown would be good. It would
shock our nation back into some awareness that we've got to
get some strength back in our military. But if the adversary
could stumble someplace and jump too soon with the Chinese
stuff, that's where the real military threat is coming from
now. From what I've read, they've hired all the former USSR
nuclear geniuses and they're helping them build their nuclear
arsenal. It makes a lot of sense to me. The adversary just
keeps funneling them one way or the other.
"But the fruit of the spirit"--the gift in
manifestation-- "is love, joy." That inside job,
joy. We're never going to get to the place that there are no
problems, but there's definitely a difference between
gut-wrenching anxiety and just taking on problems with that
inner peace and that joy on the inside. I'd like to see more
of the second one.
"Peace" is the third listed, which is complete. And
remember the Word says "righteousness and peace have
kissed one another." There is no genuine peace of God
unless there is righteous thinking and righteous conduct.
There is no genuine peace. It's counterfeit, a fabrication, a
grit- your-teeth-and-hope-so, a religious peace. And
eventually it's a spirit possession, where the spirits numb a
person's mind and then they label it peace. But it's really a
devil spirit just causing apathy and unconcern about things
that we should be alarmed about. That's how the spirits
counterfeit peace. Then people call it the peace of God. Sure,
they call it the peace of God! They read the Bible, they call
it that, but their unrighteous thinking and their unrighteous
practices have opened them up to devil-spirit infiltration;
and that would be the last guy to ever admit he has trouble.
The Word of God says so. They know not what takes them over;
it says that in Isaiah. Dr. Wierwille taught it to us. The one
possessed doesn't know it. How would he know it? He's so
blinded in that category of his mind. I explained in the
Advanced Class that the bad habits have so grooved his mental
patterns, grooved the chemical, physical properties of his
mind, that a spirit just slips in underneath a bad habit.
Because the bad habit has become so habit, and Biblical people
have to justify their bad habits with scriptures, and then
that spirit's right in there and they're out of control. Now
sometimes the spirits make mistakes and they go overboard, and
then it freaks the person and they wake up; but they're good;
they've been at it for thousands of years. And they pretty
much know how to stay quiet, and then at the right times tweak
the right buttons to exercise control. No wonder discerning of
spirits is listed seventh in I Corinthians 12, which is the
listing of the importance of the manifestations in the
household, remember. And it's the discerning of spirits that
really keeps things on any divine, spiritual maturity or
tending towards perfection.
But it all starts with practical error--slothfulness, lack of
disciplined thinking--and then it moves into lack of
disciplined conduct. Righteousness and peace have to kiss one
another--they have to touch, full share. They have to fully
share, fully communicate. There is no peace of God without
righteous thinking and righteous living--none. And
righteousness is not just a sonship right to be used as a club
against anyone that wants to confront you. That is evil. That
is a devilish practice, which has been used many times. I
suppose at some times you'll see it's still used by people:
"I'm righteous; leave me alone." You're righteous,
shut the f--- up and do something about it. Show me you're
righteous. By their fruits they're known, not by sonship
rights. Everybody's got them--what do you do with them? Too
long that has been used as a club and an excuse, and the devil
spirits hide behind that. So you don't back down. I'm talking
about when someone is wrong and you've got the goods on them
and you show them the Word of God.
Many times the most hard-hearted will be the most indignant
when reproved--chronically speaking, over a period of time.
Again we had an example this past week of someone who's been
taught and taught and taught, and finally removed themselves
from the household. And now they're all bold and adamant. I
get a phone call from the wife two nights ago, adamantly
wanting to speak to Rev. Martindale to give me the facts on
why they left the ministry. What do I want those for? I've
already evaluated it spiritually and told you at lunch the
other day what happened. I gave you enough. Now she's bold and
adamant. She hadn't wanted to talk to me since I've known her.
I've tried to get her bold and adamant about the Word of God
for a couple of decades. Now she's bold and adamant. Tell me
how genuine that is. I've tried to get her to stand for God
and speak up and be a true leader like she has the ability to
be for years. She never wanted to do it. She wanted to be a
house mouse or something. Now she wants to lecture me about
how wrong I am. Where's that confidence coming from? Not the
God I love and worship. You have to understand something about
the spiritual conflict that is waged.
For these things to prevail, it means the conditions necessary
for love, joy, peace, longsuffering to prevail, are dominant
among the majority of the household. That's what I mean. The
majority of your functioning household has to be disciples.
Then you always have an element of raising up those that
hunger and thirst and want the Word, and they have a period of
learning. Not just our children, but other people we reach out
to and give the opportunity to see the delightsome land of the
Promised Land of the Prevailing Word in the Household
functioning. And there's always that element. But you have to
have enough disciples, with the Word prevailing and dominating
where nothing takes precedence over it, in order to maintain
that wonderful spiritual equilibrium that makes life worth
living. And even more important than that, that honors and
blesses the God Who's waited for centuries for somebody to
figure this out and do it for longer than a year and a half.
The first century church didn't last too long in the true,
vital functioning of a genuine, vital household of God. Since
Pentecost, there is very little success to look at. At times
in the Old Testament you see periods where Israel was just so
strong. When they functioned under the judge--one period was
80 years; one period 40 years; another one 20--it sort of got
less and less. At least for periods the people lined it up,
walked the chalk, and the committed dominated and God's people
were a delightsome land and lived abundantly. And God was
honored to see that His Word was being lived and worked and He
was getting the glory by the quality of life people lived, as
well as their conscious recognition. And that's what you're
after. That's why "love" is first. That is first a
love for God. And the only way to show a love for God and to
have a love for God is to obey the Word of God.
Then longsuffering is fourth, indicative of what we do need
within the discipleship household. We need longsuffering to
give people an opportunity to grow. We need longsuffering to
continue to teach and teach until something really finally
does click for people. And again that's something you can't
hardly make a definitive statement about. How long do we keep
teaching people they ought to tithe and abundantly share? I
guess that's relative to every circumstance. Some people have
just rejected it so often I don't think they hear it at all.
It's just a matter of time before they're outside the walls. I
read a letter I just sent to Howard yesterday or the day
before where a former Corps couple had gotten themselves in
debt, and they had responded to the admonitions and they just
bought a beautiful new house on a straight cash basis. They
owe nothing. They shared some of the details they went
through--the ways the world tried to subtly get them to go in
debt. They decided if they sold one of their extra cars and
their camper then they'd have enough money to buy the house.
Sometimes the most obvious isn't obvious until you get in a
position where you have to think outside the context that
you've lived in. I thought that was intriguing. They said they
still have believers come up to them with excuses. That's like
Acts 17: "We will hear thee again of this matter."
In the Old Testament, God tells Israel--we're talking about
longsuffering, but look at Numbers 14. One reason I wanted to
take the three weeks off is first I believe the Father put it
on my heart, because it's not anything I walk around thinking
about. Then I began to think through some of the profit: it
would give us a rest from running the top-notch meetings and
all the preparation required on many of us. Really, the whole
Staff is on call of course, at least by Sunday, and many of us
are working all week long, every week, toward these Sundays.
But I also wanted to just sit down with the Staff and really
give you the opportunity to think something through. We share
a lot of depth at meals and I think that's great. I love it
and I ain't going to stop it, but I think there's still some
things that you can't really communicate with kids crawling
all over you and knives and forks in front of you and thinking
about what you're getting ready to go do next. I just felt we
needed some focus time. You got to focus your mind to learn in
depth. Usually you have to set your own environment and life
and make up your own mind and set your learning environment
like at your homes and offices where you can think in depth.
Because if you can't think in depth and reason through a lot
of variables, you can't become an in-depth spiritual man or
woman. You have to think in depth. The Word of God is a thick
book. The most demanding logic in life is required to think
this thing through. If you can read, you can think in depth. I
don't care about your educational background. What Word over
the world, the Pre- vailing Word in the Household means--you
got to think this stuff through. It doesn't just hit you over
the head because you speak in tongues. You got to think.
Anyone can speak in tongues. That doesn't prove anything. A
false teaching over the years was people thought that if all
they did was speak in tongues, go to meetings, then they were
living righteously. Dr. Wierwille never taught that. He said
the Word, the Word, and nothing but the Word! But human beings
are always looking for a slothful way out.
Years ago, when we were in that whole political realm, people
acted as if all you had to do is pray for your country and
vote, and God will take care of the rest. What a bogus piece
of advice that is. Vote? What does that mean? All it is is a
ballot of clowns no matter which one you vote for. What
difference does it make most of the time? You think that has
an impact? It's ok to vote, but that's not what is keeping our
nation free. Who are you voting for? A bunch of idiots all cut
from the same egotistical, selfish cloth. The love of money.
That's why Dr. Wierwille said why is it that a guy like Jesse
Helms can raise 10 million dollars to campaign for a $50,000 a
year job. It didn't make any sense to him. It's a pretty bogus
imbalance. It's still a good example.
Numbers 14: At what point does God just shut it off? At what
point is that mercy no longer available, therefore the
functioning in the household no longer available? In the Word,
it's 10 times with Israel. Not saying that's the way it is
always, but it certainly was measured and God took an account.
Numbers 14:20: "And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word." Once Moses interceded, stood in
the gap for Israel.
"But as truly as I live." I'd say that's an oath.
God says: "all the earth shall be filled with the glory
of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory,
and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness,
and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not
hearkened to my voice."
Bullinger's Bible documents the ten major places where the
people rebelled. So God counts them. God keeps an account. And
I guarantee He's got an account of everybody in our day also.
The only way your book is clean is if you honestly confess
your broken fellowship. Then He remembers it no more. So your
slate is clean except for reward account. But for those that
have turned their back on the Word of God and walked away, who
have not genuinely confessed their broken
fellowship--sometimes they hit with this: "Where's the
love and forgiveness in The Way Ministry?" I would
respond with this: "Where's your confession of broken
fellowship?" That's the issue here. Where is your honest
recognition of you missing the mark? Remember, the Word
confess is homologos, same word. Where is your honest
willingness to get back to the Word, then you'll see your love
and forgiveness, not until then. Well, you might see love, but
they won't interpret it as love. It will be in terms of
confrontation. It is very loving, though. It takes a lot of
work. It takes a heck of a lot more work to confront people
than to turn your back and walk away. It takes a heck of a lot
more love to stay on people. Ask any parent. To ignore it is a
counterfeit love; very religious and it just opens the doors
for the spirit realm again.
Ten times God put up with them. Now this is when the door
comes down like an anvil on them ever getting into the
Promised Land.
"Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see
it:
But
my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit [or heart]
with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into
the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
(Now
the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To
morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of
the Red sea.
And
the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
How
long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur
against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of
Israel, which they murmur against me."
In my heart, if this thing works the way it's supposed to, and
I believe it is to the best of our ability to this day, when
us Trustees get together and we make a decision before God,
whether it's something to teach or to implement in the
practical realm, those that murmur against that in their minds
and at times even among themselves, God says they're murmuring
against Me. So those that are not persuaded on the present
truth are murmuring against God, and eventually that
contamination has to be flushed and eliminated. To get people
to humble themselves: all the elaborate ways I raise the
volume of my voice; all the elaborate ways I try to teach the
records of the Word to get people's attention. Some just
continue to reject it. I think at times people have allowed
the adversary to manipulate their minds to think that it's
their sonship right to disagree with the functioning ministers
in the Body. And that's a lie. If that's true, you show me the
Word that backs that up. Now if the ministers in the Body are
wrong, then you should be able to prove that from the Word and
then there is a decent and in order basis to handle that in
the household. But obviously, I don't believe we're wrong. We
live day by day. We certainly could make a mistake. But
certainly in our hearts we are not wrong in our allegiances
and loyalties to want to do God's best.
I'm more aware than any of you how a wrong decision can be
made. Even though you want to do what's right you can get
tricked by a lot of things. But when your heart is there and
you love God and want to do what's right, He gets you through
it. Like Luke stuck with Paul and that was the thing to do
even when Paul went to Jerusalem. Everyone else forsook him
toward the end of his life, most of them. People think it's
their sonship right to argue. They don't look at it as arguing
with the Word, but it is. They are arguing with the
presentation of that Word or the implementation of it. Now to
have honest questions, that's life. There's a big difference.
That's why we as leaders often bend over double backwards to
explain the decision, especially to you who implement it from
Headquarters and our Root Locales and our leadership, our
Corps. You know how we do that. We just did that at Trustee
Heart Time. We explained background on how we've gotten to
conclusions on things and why we're emphasizing, for instance,
why our young people should go to college. We spent a very
measured period of time on that. I talked about Dr. Wierwille,
I talked about my own upbringing. I just elaborated on it. I
talked about Moses learned in the ways of the Egyptians. I
explained it from multi-angles; covered every base the best I
could. I covered it from the point of some people not having
that desire and that's fine, and I even covered a lot of our
Corps today that never went to college but came in the Corps.
I covered for them by saying the Corps experience has taught
them what the four years of college would have provided. I'm
not saying all of us Corps now that are in our 40s, 50s, and
everything else should necessarily go back to college if we
haven't been. I covered every base, you under- stand? So those
would cover honest questions that come up.
But belligerence and adamancy and just the knee-jerk reaction
in a person's mind to immediately argue, that's sin. And if
that's where your mind is, you better change or you better go.
And that's exactly why you see people recently are still
going. They've hidden that adamancy and hidden that mental
debate they always had with us, and they learned that from
Chris Geer and they're still doing what he said they should
do: argue with everything. He basically gave people the right
to think evil of the leadership in The Way Ministry. I know, I
stood against the brunt of that for 2 1/2 years, where I
couldn't even stand up and make the simplest announcement in
the lunchroom without feeling the attacks and thinking evil
coming at me. It continued until we started cleaning, but it
has certainly lessened where you can stand up in front of a
group and have somewhat of an environment of love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, goodness, faithfulness, on down the line; where
you can really communicate and teach something. Although no
man is big enough mentally to register exactly what is going
on, but in the inner man, I know when I'm being fought. I know
when the Word of God is being hardened against. To the best of
my ability, that's why I respond with such spiritual rage at
times when it might not be evident to a group or why. Because
God knows and He works in me, and He is the Heart Searcher,
and He is not fooled. And I work for Him.
And it is never meant to make the faithful or the righteous,
those that are doing their best, to feel guilty. I think
that's a temptation at times and you have to watch that. But I
have to confront things that are still lepers in the
household, or the seeds of spiritual leprosy. Many times I
find out about it later--weeks and months later, where
somebody has been harboring an attitude that's finally
flushed. And I know why, when people have finally admitted it
and wanted help, I realized why I hadn't been hitting that
issue as much or hadn't hit it in the last Corps Night or so.
But you don't always see that. But the inner man registers
that. But for those that are doing their utmost, I imagine
it's like I was with Dr. Wierwille, if he was yelling about
something, I would check myself, but if I knew I was doing my
best in that category, I wouldn't sit there and condemn
myself. I wouldn't let the accuser get to me. I don't have
time to sit with everybody in the Way Corps household
individually every week, or the Staff. So for those that are
doing certain things right, there's obviously learning in the
confrontation because it's never just yelling; I'm always
teaching. There's teaching in it, logic in it, explanation in
it, Biblical records, contemporary illustrations, learning if
you're there listening to learn--you're seeing how the
adversary and the spirits are infiltrating with that kind of
stuff. So there's always a profit to it.
Like for the few that did stand, I'm sure there was great
profit, and there it is recorded in the Word: it says you guys
ain't going in. And He counted it, ten times. So that tells me
God pays attention. It's not to the extent where if I have to
confront somebody ten times, they're out. I'm not going to do
that. But God pays attention--there's the lesson. And for
them, ten was it. Ten was the completion of a cycle. It's a
unit--ten commandments, this kind of thing. So ten was it. For
our learning, it's more in the figurative significance, that
at a certain point, in a certain cate- gory of your life, if
you have continued to reject the Word of God, there is a
certain point where that cycle is over with. And God just, in
essence, turns His back because you have rejected it. And the
household has to turn its back. Mark and avoid. And then
because at times people continue to exist in the household
even though they've crossed that line where they have
chronically rejected the reproof and correction offered to
them from multi points of view--whether it's me at lunch or a
friend in the dorm or a tape you're listening to when it hits
your heart again--God knows. He's the Searcher of hearts,
isn't He? It's like Dr. Wierwille's great section in The
Life-style of a Believer: the measure of your life is what do
you think about when you don't have to? In the quietness of
your own soul, most people just drift, daydream, fantasize.
What do you do with your mind? There is a duty of disciplined
thinking. That's indicative of your genuine love for God. God
is Spirit. He's always there. He knows your thoughts. Do you
care? Do you give a hoot to love Him with sound logic, to keep
your mind and life in order? Do you care? Obviously, some
people don't. Because then like Proverbs says, in a time of
trouble, an unfaithful man is like a broken tooth and a foot
out of joint. You don't see that in the easy times. You see it
in the time of trouble. Which clearly indicates they have not
controlled their thinking in the private moments of their
life; they have not dedicated themselves to good, sound
spiritual thinking to the end that when the time of trouble
was there, they would respond. And as a leader, I'm
responsible to see that and make appropriate decisions. Get
the leprosy out, or the weakness that could lead to that
spiritual leprosy. Leprosy is a good example because it has
life of it's own, chewing up that physical body. Which is what
devil spirit does in some phase in the household of God. They
do nothing but deteriorate and tear down. They do in no way
build up anything. Jesus Christ said that "the thief
cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy," so there's no good thing that the infiltration
of those spirits provides. Isn't that true that when they
x-ray your teeth they can not only see cavities but also
weakening areas? Spiritually, if there's a cavity, you got to
get the rottenness out and fill it with the Word. But as a
leader, if I see weaknesses that could lead to a cavity, then
you want to start confronting, and if people will respond that
part can be made healthy again. Get the old spiritual dental
floss in there and start flipping the compost piles out of
your head. We use spiritual x-ray, which is the Word. Within
the Word, revelation, but it isn't like anybody's walking
around reading anybody's mind, but there are times when
definitely God lets you know. Like the couple I mentioned, I
knew two weeks ago God told me they weren't going to stand. I
prepared my heart for it; I was ready for it. It isn't like I
thought about it every moment after that, I didn't. In fact,
by God telling me that I could quit wondering about it. Just
put my mind into what I had to do. But when the occasion hit,
it hurt me, it always hurts. But it didn't shock me into
numbness or inaction in a capacity where my mind didn't
function properly.
Like yesterday, you know that situation happened in Ohio which
has a widespread impact. And I was on the phone yesterday to
the Panarellos and the Howes in a conference call, updating
them on where I saw this thing was going next spiritually so
they could be ready for the onslaughts and attacks that would
be coming. They had already been involved in some
confrontations and dis- cussions and they had reported to me
on it, and I was thankful for that. I was grateful they'd
gotten on it. Yesterday on the phone I gave them where I saw
this thing was going. They were at their Advanced Class Grad
weekend.
So He heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which
they murmur against Me. It's like Acts 17. Remember Paul says
of those that they searched the scriptures daily whether those
things were so. But that wasn't a search out of adamancy or a
critical attitude. It was a search of joy and thanksgiving and
humility. They were so thrilled to hear the Word of God that
Paul taught they wanted to make it their own. The word
"search" there in Acts 17:11 is anakrin, which is to
make right judgments, to divide properly and make proper value
judgments. What they were doing was lining the values of their
personal lives up with what the Word said that Paul had
taught. That was "whether those things were so." It
wasn't what happened years ago, where every time a person said
something it was to be assaulted, adamantly and bitterly
attacked. And it was called "honesty," or "not
being a yes man." Where people have assumed in their mind
that it's a sonship right to attack whatever a leader says.
That's leprosy. That's contamination. Somewhere in the Word it
says, "What? Did the Word of God come out from you? Shut
up!"
And remember, I taught Numbers 12 where Miriam and Aaron
murmured against Moses; they had obviously crossed the line.
The name "Miriam" occurs 7 times. I said that was a
perfect lesson, because Miriam was the instigator. When Aaron
humbles himself, she stays hard-hearted. She's the one that
gets leprosy physically and is put outside the camp for 7
days. But that of itself is not a complete lesson. She
murmured, she led another guy into it, his weakness allowed
him to be caught up in it, when the confrontation came, she
did not humble herself, she got the conse- quences of it, was
put outside the camp. But the key issue is, she did humble
herself, they did wait on her, and she's back with the
household as they move on. But she did spend 7 days out in
netherland spiritually, isolated. I think that's an example of
delivering someone over to Satan. Remember, Satan is indirect
influences. What better way to explain delivering someone over
to Satan than by their own treachery and their own
unfaithfulness having to put them outside the protection of
the household? Isn't that delivering someone over to Satan? I
think it is. Now, their response to that will vary. In Timothy
it says that they may learn not to blaspheme. So for some,
they learn. And we've seen that. Some that we've put outside
the household, it has really gotten their attention, and they
have come back with genuine humility, and we'll see what
happens. I don't want to be jaded and sarcastic about it; I
want to give them the opportunity. We got a letter from one of
those homo people thanking me for letting her take the
Intermediate Class. So she's Corps Alumnus and she's proven
herself clean the best we know, and she's going to be in the
Intermediate Class. And she's come back. So for some, they
learn not to blaspheme, but others, it's for the destruction
of their flesh, which is their whole body/soul life, which
it's up to the adversary how that happens, understand? It's
his business now. Some of them will look to prosper, be
abundant; they won't even miss being in the household of God.
But there is imme- diate spiritual consequences. They get
possessed, or those spirits come in seven more wicked, and
they are more locked away from the light of the True God and
more fooled than ever. Some show more immediate physical
consequences. We've had some of the Corps die, ordained
clergy, but for the most part it's like Saul: the spirit realm
will use them as long as they can be used. That's why it's
absolutely ludicrous to look at it from a senses point of
view.
We had another report last week of a couple that used to be
here on Staff. They were confronted and confronted and finally
told to leave. They caused nothing but trouble on the field.
Now they're outside the household. And now they're calling
false ministers that used to be in The Way Ministry asking how
they're doing. They are seeing if these people seem to be
getting along and thinking of joining that group. Talk about a
carnal mind that's enmity against God. They're just walking
right into the trap with their eyes wide open. They're not
believing a thing I've taught them over the years about how
the spirit realm contaminates and how the Word guarantees it.
One copped-out minister is making all kinds of money. So what?
Does that impress you? Only from the point of view of what the
spirit realm will do to cover itself--it impresses me there.
But as if there's any truth there--there's not even an itch of
a temptation. How could you even be tempted to think that? If
you still are, the Word of God does not prevail in your mind,
and you are teetering on disaster. This is not an open
meeting. If you still wonder what it's like outside of The
Way, if you're still playing with that idea or even
considering what would I do if I left The Way Ministry, what
are you doing?
Years
ago, when Dr. Wierwille first got us going in the Corps, I
remember the First Corps were all freaked out that Dr.
Wierwille was going to throw them out of the ministry because
he was setting the standards. He wasn't looking to throw
anyone out. He wanted them to live the Word. But they were
terrified that they would fail and be kicked out of the
ministry. I learned how the adversary can do that to people.
Rev. Moynihan sent me a letter from a guy that wrote and said,
"We have no disagreement with where Rev. Martindale is
taking the ministry. We just don't think we can live up to it
anymore. Therefore we're leaving." That would be
disobedience from another angle. They're not acting adamant;
they're just saying they can't keep up with the quality of
life we're expecting them to live, so they're leaving the
household. Well, the consequences are the same. You go outside
the walls of the city whether you're mad at how it's being
orchestrated, or whether the standards are too high--you still
get attacked by the wild beasts and the enemies outside the
walls. So you can't let it happen from that point of view,
either. That's where you got to grab your Reebok jock and pump
up your balls and do it, man. [Laughter] In essence, all I'm
saying is gird up the loins of your mind. How dare you say to
God that you can't live at this level. That's treasonous also.
You're calling Him a liar. Sure you can! Just get rid of your
icons, your bad habits. Permeate yourself with the truth.
The Monday after Word in Business I was exercising down in the
fitness room, and about ten feet away from me was Riddick Bowe,
one of the two great heavyweight boxers in the world, him and
Mike Tyson. A guy came in and climbed on the stair climber
next to me and I didn't know him. He exercised and finished
and he sticks his hand out and says, "I'd rather meet you
than Riddick Bowe any day!" He was a believer that had
been at the conference. One of the things he said, a simple
statement, but it got me thinking of a lot of things:
"Man, the abundance of the Word of God this year has just
been incredible!" The Advanced Class Weekends, Sunday
Nights, Way of Abundance and Power Classes--and I thought,
that's right, it has been abundance, and yet still, it's not
an overabundance. We still have people we have to eliminate
from the household. And for some people, they're probably
still hanging on because of that abundance. It takes an abun-
dance of the Word of God to live. If that's the way God
directs it, if He wants us to keep throwing classes at people
every month until they get the idea that this is what it takes
to live abundantly with their own discipline, then I'll keep
throwing the classes at them every month. I got a lot of
health and vitality most of the time. It takes an abundance of
the truth to live abun- dantly. It takes a daily abundance of
the truth, where you love it so much that's what you want to
think about when you have time to think about it in the midst
of your responsibilities. That's a requirement, not optional
equipment. And as the world waxes worse and worse, we have to
wax better and better or we lose. Whatever "good
spirituality" was 10, 12, 15 years ago won't cut it today
in my life. I would lose. I could not keep up with what I do
and the challenges if I wasn't better with the Word and put
more of the Word of God through my mind in a day than I did
10, 12 years ago. And it's not a time question, but more of a
quality of thought, depth of thought. And what are you
thinking about when you have time to put something through
your mind on the Word of God? I can process more Word of God
through my mind now than I could ever do before. I can get
something done. This "ten" thing has answered so
many things for me, and in about a two-minute period this
morning I found that. And all of a sudden floods of
understanding --it clicks. I can process more Word through my
mind now than ever. That is progress; a way to explain and
define "permeate, saturate, dominate."
We haven't gotten beyond verse 27, but boy, murmuring against
the present truth is sin. It's not having an honest question
where you want to understand something better. You can tell
the difference. A belligerence is sin. That's cause for
spiritual leprosy. That's a weak point on your x-ray.
I'm not sure but that the space of grace is over with that
we've talked about from Nehemiah a few months ago--a space of
grace for people to get their lives in order where we can move
to the next plateau. I'm not so sure that's not over with. I
think Placements we'll know. Obviously in certain cases it is,
as they've proven themselves unworthy, and their fruit has
proven evil and corrupt and putrid like in Ephesians. That's
what "no corrupt communication" is--putrid fruit.
But I believe we got to reach this point at some point. I
don't think we can keep biding our time and treading water. In
releasing The Way of Abundance and Power, I got to have Corps
that I know are Corps and Staff that we know are Staff. Not to
say there might not be some failures at times, but it should
be more isolated. It shouldn't be in such patterns. And again,
that's more of a spiritual evaluation than a numeric. Because
when you have patterns of copout going on, it takes so much
out us. It's just a kick in the gut. Spiritually, every time
that happens it's such a recovery. You have to stay in top
spiritual condition, which to me includes the physical and the
mental obviously to withstand these hits. Like Dr. Wierwille
used to say, you should be able to recover from any hit within
a 24-hour period. Most of the time I don't need that long
before I'm back up teaching, confronting, making decisions,
dealing with things. But at times these things just numb you,
they hit you so hard. It's like you have to initiate a healing
process. You can't be there in the fast lane of the outreach
of the ministry making good decisions because you've taken
such a punch again.
That's a good example in sports. The quicker someone can
recover from a blow, the better they are. In the Masters
yesterday, Norman is leading and he comes to the 12th hole,
which is the toughest par 3 in tournament golf. It's only 140
yards but it's treacherous. It looks like the area of a
postage stamp with water in front and woods behind with a trap
between the water and the front of the green. It's a hard
green. It makes all the top pros' knees shake, especially on
Saturday and Sunday when the tournament is on the line. Years
ago, Tom Wyskoff was leading the Masters and comes to the 12th
hole and makes a 9. He hit 4 balls in the water. Even the best
players can turn into duffers on that hole. It's so visually
intimidating besides being so difficult. So Greg Norman walks
up there and hits his ball in the water. And that was a real
critical turning point, because now you have to take a penalty
stroke and lay it out and hit. So he's nervous, upset. He has
at that time a 5-stroke lead but it could dissipate in one
hole. But Norman hits a great approach to within 8 feet of the
pin, and an 8-foot putt is still tough, especially at Augusta,
which has the toughest greens in the world. He walks in there
and knocks it right in the center of the cup. Talk about
recovering from a blow--he got out of there with a bogie so he
only loses one stroke. And the announcer, Ken Ventura, says
"He feels like he just got a reprieve from jail
there!" Sure enough, next hole he blasts his drive right
down the middle. Hits it on two putts for a birdie. But his
recovery from the blow was so quick, so immediate. And I think
that's where we get. Some of these things we go through could
knock people out for a week or two as far as emotionally, even
physically. It does affect your physical body.
This "standing in the gap" stuff is not just poetic
language. When you really stand in the gap between the
adversary and hurting people that you're responsible for, it
affects your physical body. So Corps Principle #3 is just as
vital as Corps Principle #1, because if you break down on #3,
there's nothing left to use in #1 or #2 or #5 or #4. When
there's no other explanation, I'll wake up in the morning and
be sore all over and it isn't from physical exercise or being
out of shape, but because of the spiritual attacks that I've
been standing against. It starts with the intensity of the
mind required. Then the intensity of thought and all the
chemicals that have to be energized throughout your whole
body. It's all intertwined--body, soul, spirit. So the
intensity of the concentration required to make good
decisions, to recover from attack, to make sure I'm doing
everything I can to protect our household from spiritual
infiltration first; after that other types of hurt. If nothing
else, the tenseness that it puts your body through is almost
like pumping weights and running a 400-meter sprint. You just
feel it the next day. Even top-conditioned athletes after
their most intense competitions are sore. Spiritually, no
one's ever taken the time to document what it puts your body
through. So these admonitions to the Corps to get their bodies
in control. Those who've copped out and are puffing cigarettes
are saying I'm a Pharisee; ministry is legalistic because I've
told people to quit smoking. Smoking has nothing to do with
how spiritual you are until God makes it a commandment in the
present truth of that day. The guidance in our day is to get
our Corps in the best shape possible to stand and withstand
the pressure to truly stand in the gap, that's why it's a
commandment of the Lord. Not because you're righteous or
unrighteous for smoking a cigarette. Then there's other things
in the physical category we could require to help our people,
but to me that was an obvious one. Especially after it was Dr.
Wierwille himself who initiated the standard in the
in-residence Corps. The criticism would have been even louder
if I would have initiated it, who've never smoked. They'd
blame my Southern Baptist background, etc.
Well, ten times He gave them and then the door shuts.
"Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye
have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you."
In other words, God heard every murmur, gripe, they made. Not
just what they said, but what they did in their minds and how
they let their minds go unchecked. We used to sing that song:
"He is watching; do not dishonor Him." God knows
your every thought. But most people don't care. They just go
about their renegade business. Think it's their right to think
like a savage.
"Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all
that were numbered of you, according to your whole number,
from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against
me."
Talking about longsuffering. The quality of life in the
household certainly expressed in fruit of the spirit. Psalm
25:
"Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul." The only
way to lift up your soul is your thought patterns. Soul life,
breath life, is your heart, mind.
"O my God, I trust in thee: [he does think of God] let me
not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me."
That's a concern certainly if you're in leadership. At times
you're deeply concerned about that. Why is it the adversary
still seems to be able to attack us? He can attack, but don't
let him triumph over us. Don't let him win.
"Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be
ashamed which transgress without cause.
Show
me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
Lead
me in thy truth, and teach me." There's a man who has God
on his mind.
Verse 9: "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the
meek will he teach his way.
All
the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep
his covenant and his testimonies.
For
thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is
great.
What
man is he that [respects] the Lord? [only one way to respect
the Lord--have to think about Him and do what the Word says]
him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose."
Now it says in Psalm 10:
Verse 2: "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the
[humble]: let them be taken in the devices that they have
imagined.
For
the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the
covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth."
I get sick of hearing about these athletes "pursuing
their dream." And they tell all these kids: "Don't
forget your dream, pursue your dream." What a bunch of
egotistical crap! Who cares about your dream? What's God's
vision? What does God want? Your dream is all selfishness and
ego. Tonya Hardy, who had that other girl assaulted, said
"I have a dream, my Olympic dream." What a classic
illustration of the egotism.
What's God's dream, vision, heart, purpose? That's what we
care about, because we're here to honor Him. We were formed,
made, and created to honor Him. In that is a life which is
more than abundant. That's why the Word has to stay the
passion of your soul, even when emotionally it isn't there, it
still has to stay the passion of your logic at least. It's
God's vision--the Promised Land of the Prevailing Word in the
Household. Those that sinned those ten times were not allowed
to go in. God had to wait for their carcasses to dump in the
wilderness.
Verse
4: "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance,
will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."
Or as the literal reads in the margin: "or all his
thoughts are there is no God." And for those who do not
think the Word and line their judgments, values, and actions
up with the Word, it's as if they are saying there is no God.
That's what that is. The Word says "The fool has said in
his heart, there is no God." For these people who've been
in the household, even Corps that have not personally lined
their thoughts, conduct up with the Word, it's as if they're
saying in their heart there is no God, because they ignore the
Word. God is not in their thoughts. They are worthless and fit
for the dunghill. Once I'm over the hurt, I couldn't give two
cents for their lives. Just potential thorns in the flesh.
I worked verse 3 and 4 about a month ago and wondered when I
was going to get the opportunity to share them.
Verse 5: Because God is not in all his thoughts, "His
ways are always grievous."
By their fruits they're known. Their actions are a direct
extension of their thought life. Don't blame me if you screw
up. It's your brain. It's we who take a stand who get
attacked, as if we're unloving by pointing it out. That's
counterfeit. So we got to fight the accuser off and if you
know someone's taking a stand you ought to help, support him,
back him up.
"Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all
his enemies, he puffeth at them." They just blow; they
don't move.
"He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I
shall never be in adversity.
His
mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud...."
But the key is they don't think His Word and they pursue their
own heart's desire--their selfish fantasies of success, or
life--and that's all a lie, a contradiction of the Word of God
and is out of alignment and harmony.
So we go back to Numbers:
Numbers 14:29: "Your carcases shall fall in this
wilderness; [this wilderness--pretty good] and all that were
numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty
years old and upward, which have murmured against me."
Adults were numbered to fight in the armies.
Numbers 14:30: "Doubtless ye shall not come into the
land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save
Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
But
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I
bring in [See, those who would grow up and be Joshua and
Caleb's army.], and they shall know the land which ye have
despised." They've despised it because they haven't
obeyed the Word.
Numbers 14:32: "But as for you, your carcases, they shall
fall in this wilderness.
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years,
and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the
wilderness.
After
the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even
forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your
iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of
promise [or what it means to alter my purpose, the
consequences of it].
Deuteronomy
4. I believe this applies directly. If we want to move into
what we're describing figuratively as the Promised Land of the
Prevailing Word in the Household, what's the key to that?
Moses tells them how they got themselves ready to go in.
Remember Deuteronomy is in the 40th year. Written to those who
are ready to go in. The others have died off.
Verse 1: "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the
statutes [doctrines] and unto the judgments, [practices] which
I teach you, [that's the root lamad, which
"disciple" comes from] for to do them, that ye may
live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of
your fathers giveth you."
Now stop a minute. So what's the whole key to them being able
to go in and possess the land? Do the Word! Keep the
commandments! That's why we have to be so strong, adamant. We
that have had access to this Word so much, do the Word. We
have to be strong in that. Or else we're not going to go in
and claim the Promised Land of the Prevailing Word in the
Household. It'll always be laced with weakness which always
deteriorates strength. Because weakness is either laying the
groundwork for or is a living spirit cause that deteriorates.
It never leaves you alone; it attacks. Weakness is not
passive. It is active. It attacks, eats, deteriorates. So it
must be eliminated. The causes have to be taken out, just like
the cavity in the tooth. You can't just ignore it. Pretty soon
it takes your whole mouth and rots the bone system of your
mouth out. Any weakness won't stop until it kills you. Like
Dr. Wierwille taught, a splinter could kill you if the body
wasn't focused to attack it. Any contamination in the physical
body could lead to death if it isn't checked. That's why we're
called the Body of Christ in I Corinthians 12. Any spirit
contamination that is allowed to go unchecked can eventually
cave the whole thing in. So there's no gray area here. We
either do it or we lose it. We either stand for the truth,
demand the truth so the majority of our household is
sanctified and purified and functioning so then we do have the
room, or the space of grace and mercy to bring up the young,
immature; give them ample oppor- tunity to grow like we've
had. But for the majority of us, we have to live at these
levels. And we can't put up with that contamination. First
it's a personal decision. But this is how even Israel was to
prepare to go in and militarily conquer foreign lands--was to
do the commandments. That was their greatest preparation.
I got a sweet letter from a teenage girl who was coming in the
Family Corps asking what she could do to prepare. And do you
have horses? I wrote her back yesterday and said the best
thing you could do is love God and His Word. That allows you
to adapt to anything. What I wrote was I'm glad to see you
love God and His Word, because it was a beautiful letter. I
sent the letter to Bev Mosqueda so she could answer her
specific questions. I suggested to Bev that they have the
Junior and Mini Corps write the incoming Junior and Mini Corps
to encourage them and bless them. It was a sweet letter from
this girl.
You know, "possess the land" means claim it. Take
charge. It's yours. Use it. How do you prepare yourself to
claim and use and take charge of what God's made available?
Hearken unto the statutes and judgments that are taught you to
do them that you may live and go in and claim what is yours to
enjoy: the fruit of the spirit; the experiential reality of
love, joy, peace, long- suffering, goodness, etc. But it's
that decision to the truth, or are we going to be like a fool
that acts like there is no God; and just refuse to personally
and intimately line my own thoughts, judgments, decisions,
opinions, emotions up with the Word of God.
About emotions and not letting them run you: We don't mean
that it's wrong to have emotions. We mean that what becomes
wrong is to allow that emotion to become a state of mind and
then that state of mind colors and valances and sets the
values to all your decisions. Then you're wrong. And that's so
often what happens to people that become adamantly adamant
when they're confronted. It shocks them because they've been
so stupid. They might become embar- rassed because they're
confronted in front of two or three or the Church. And so they
take that attitude of shock and embarrassment and then they
turn it into anger. And that becomes not just an emotion that
they get hit with that they should deal with and get rid of
before they make any decisions, but that becomes their mental
state. And when an emotion becomes a chronic mental state,
you're talking pretty much possession. Because the human mind
and body is not made to maintain emotional states. Anger
eventually dissipates. Circumstantial hilarity eventually dis-
sipates. When an emotion becomes a state of mind, you're in
deep doo doo by your own willingness. And they want to hang on
to their hurt, anger, embarrassment as a state of mind--you
got to have help to maintain that intensity, and that's
spirit.
I read a letter yesterday from an Alumni Corps. She said she
was initially angry and embarrassed when she went alumni, but
as she thought it through, she realized she wasn't at that
level of ability, and she's been more blessed than ever.
Thanked me for allowing her the privilege to take the
Intermediate Class. She could have let that anger and
embarrassment become her mental state. Then she could have
become indignant and cut herself off if the household is
healthy. If unhealthy, that kind of thing is normal. I don't
want that. God doesn't want that. I won't allow it. Every
emotion should be fleeting.
Like two days ago, two boys called Tim "Wayfer," and
Donna and I were so upset because he was so hurt. Boys, when
they get pushed in a corner, that's what they resolve back to.
We were so angry. I was ready to start a war. This happened
Friday before the open house concert. I was ready to boycott
the open house. But I cooled down and reasoned it through. It
would have caused more harm than good. But emotionally, that's
what I wanted to do. But there's no way you can win that way.
Now if it was revelation I would do that. But I knew it was an
emotional reaction. And God provided some wonderful things.
Tim called one of the boys and they got it settled. And the
boy backed off. Donna has again written a letter to the
principal asking what else to do. And we gave some suggestions
about recess time. That prejudice goes back years and you're
not going to change it. We haven't had this come up in months.
After Word in Business, people copped out, back went out on
me, then this--it was really taxing. But I don't think it was
much over 20 minutes and I was pretty much over it. Donna was
over it--she immediately had to go to a meeting. That's what I
mean by recovering from the blow. I went through my thoughts
and reasoned it through. Now if God wants me to do something
and I'm at peace and rest in my heart, then it's spiritual,
and God will back us up. I want to do what's right. I don't
want to stir up more hatred. I believe it happens to our kids
because of who I am and who Donna is and the adversary will
always pick there first. I don't like it; I hate it and
despise it. At times I get very angry, but I vent my heart to
God. I thought of II Corinthians 12. Paul thought the same way
about the thorns in the flesh: "I besought you three
times to kick their ass, Lord." God just says "My
grace is sufficient for thee." It's a chronic state of
the adversary's realm that there's going to be thorns in the
flesh. Wednesday night I confronted the Corps that if you're
afraid for your children, that's going to cop out your
ministry; that's an idol. But these boys open up to spirits
and the viciousness of the spirit realm works through them. So
they need more supervision over these boys at recess. Told
Donna to suggest sending out another high school kid to
referee. It all started because they disputed a game call. The
spirits have to start it somewhere. If you can keep from
starting it, then you can avoid them being able to function.
Everyone knows that age group argues. Certain age groups and
genders are more vulnerable. So don't let it start.
So I felt guilty about not going to the open house. But Leah
knows I make spiritual decisions. I knew if I went I would be
tempted to start a ruckus. Donna suggested I stay home and
she'd get Rosalie to go. That gave me some peace. I knew Tim
and Leah understood. I knew it would hurt the ministry if I
went. I asked Rev. Linder to stay close to Donna and Rosalie.
I knew it would not be right--I can't fight my son's fight. I
have to help spiritually so he would have an even playing
field--an opportunity to stand. Because if I get involved it
would become a feud and get out of control. But I was in a
vulnerable position. So I was at peace. And I understood Leah
really distinguished herself there. It was an anatomy of a
decision in our lives. It was right I didn't go, because that
little kid sat just ten feet away. If I'd been there, I
would've fumed. I would've had to recover for a few more
hours--it would've set me back.
I cannot be in a high state of emotional upheaval and be able
to think in depth. You can't do that. That's why you got to
get on stuff when it comes up so it doesn't fester to some
soap opera emotional-type state. You have to get over negative
emotions quickly. You got to use the positive emotions to
think soundly. Remember Peter's emotional state of happiness
almost led him to baptizing those people. But "then I
remembered the words of the Lord Jesus," remember?
Emotions always should be fleeting. Sometimes you'd like for
them to last. If you're angry for a good reason, it feels
good; happy, etc. Emotions are fleeting. Can't be in a state
of emotional upheaval constantly or chronically, or you cannot
think the Word, make sound spiritual decisions.
I had to admit it made perfect sense that the adversary would
attack my son. He's so pissed off that we kicked his ass at
Word in Business. I taught so much depth of Word. We're
sending those teachings out, we're running the Advanced Class
Grad Weekends; he's got to be mad as hell. So it just makes
sense he would attack through my children, who are the closest
thing to my heart. I'd rather they take me on than attack my
children or my wife. But they don't do that. So even as I'm
angry, all these logical thoughts are there. That's an example
of the Word prevailing. And the emotions were fleeting. I did
not stay angry. But to get over the emotion before it was
allowed to get into a danger zone of wrong decisions--that's
what you have to protect against. That's what I mean when I
say control your emotions, understand? It's not wrong to have
them, be hurt, embarrassed, etc. But where does it go from
there? You have to maintain a spiritual equilibrium, mental
sobriety, and you can't live in a state of emotional upheaval.
People try to live that way and they get contaminated. You
can't do it at any level. Whether it's a positive or negative
emotional state. You have to have the Word of God in your
mind, which requires in-depth thinking. You cannot think in
depth when you're in an agitated emotional state.
So the way they prepared themselves to go into the Promised
Land was to hearken to the statutes and the judgments and do
them and live them that they might claim what was rightfully
theirs.
And let's just close with Galatians 5 again. So I got through
about a tenth of what I'd prepared. We got room for more Staff
Meetings.
Galatians 5:22: "But the fruit" indicates quality of
life. And it's the fruit of the gift in manifestation. And the
gift in manifestation has to work in a pure, sanctified mind
set and heart. It can't be a carnal mind that's enmity against
God if you expect the manifestations to work.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy [second],
peace, [completeness] longsuffering [horizontal level],
gentleness [by grace], goodness [sixth, and then] faith, [is
faithfulness. Which is solidarity, steadfastness.]
That's the seventh one listed. That's what you have to expect
in the household to have a genuine, divine
perfection--faithfulness to hearken unto the statutes and
judgments and do them.
And then "meekness" is the eighth one. Meekness is
always a new beginning, no matter how you've messed up.
There's two reactions to these confrontations: humility or
indignancy, adamancy. There's no gray area. Which is ok with
me. Let's find out who really wants to stand; who's really a
disciple and who isn't.
Meekness and finally temperance, which is really intriguing.
Temperance is self-control. That's the ninth one--finality,
complete completeness, 3 x 3. The result of all this is
self-control in all phases of life. The body holds the same
relationship to reason as reason does to the spirit. That's
what it means to go in and possess the land--manage it,
control it, utilize it for what it's there for. The ninth
fruit of the spirit--makes tremendous depth of sense here.
Then "against such there is no law." It means the
Word of God is not violated. When these qualities of life are
there based on the conditions we've talked about, no part of
the Word has been violated. The Word does not stand against
these qualities of life. You can't violate any aspect of the
Word if you expect these nine qualities to function in your
life. You have to do the Word to manifest these nine fruit of
the spirit. I think it's the figure antimeria. It says it in
the opposite way to add emphasis. People have used it as an
excuse--just manifest the fruit and you don't need the law.
Not what it means. It means to not manifest it is against the
Word, the law, the standard. You have to do the truth to bring
these things to pass.
LEAD 249 heads out next week. We'll believe for them to have
as great a time as the first group. Ed, Paul, Corps listening:
I know spiritually that we should not allow the Corps to
hitchhike back from Gunnison. Things are too treacherous;
stirred up too deeply; we have hurt the adversary so badly. It
would be a breach of spiritual protection to hitchhike. Ed, I
would recommend you do that map reading challenge.
Dr. Wierwille said the greatest reason to have the Corps
hitchhike is all the witnessing they did. Well, the Word's
over the world. And I'll guarantee you just because people
could hitchhike did not guarantee they'd stand. So we are not
sacrificing the integrity of LEAD in our day and time.
Thanks
a lot. Love you all. Bless you.
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