Prayers without substance is as useless as  Jack-O-Lanterns warding of evil spirits

 

The Celtic pagan practice of hollowing out a pumpkin, carving a grotesque face and illuminating it  on October 31  was believed to ward off the evil spirits of dead people would come back that night and wreak havoc on those who did them bad during their lifetime.  Obviously, it's based on a faulty theory that dead spirits can actually return to earth, when we know from the parable Jesus told of Lazarus and the rich man in that they most certainly cannot return to earth.

If you know me, I always use metaphors to describe the life of a believer.  I find pumpkin carving a good metaphor for the prayer life of a believer not rooted firmly in the Whole Counsel of GOD.    In its natural state it is attached to the vine which is firmly rooted in the fertile soil and full of what GOD put in it, i.e., seeds and  the leafy veins that feed the pulp of the pumpkin that cause it to grow. When you carve a pumpkin, pull out all the seeds and that slimy stringy substance all you have is an empty shell. You don't really have a thriving vegetable anymore, you just have a mess that will rot away in a very short time.

There seems to be this growing trend of prayer teams popping up with a party line of prayer calls on a weekly basis.  Likewise struggling believers seeking prayer support from strangers has flooded social media.  I really wonder how many of those who respond actually stop and pray for that person.  How do they pray, what do they pray?  How does that person know that those prayers are doctrinally or Scripturally sound?

Everyone is seeking the mystical more these days without seeking Scripture or the historical context of those Scriptures.  The answers that some responders give are usually some worn out verses  that  carry no weight.  How can Scripture carry no weight?  They can simply by being used in the wrong context with the wrong historical context.  Not all Scriptures are meant for every believer, however, the principle behind the Scripture usually can be.  A perfect example is the one Scripture I hate the most.  How does one hate a Bible verse?  One can hate how it’s over-used and used incorrectly.  Jeremiah 29:11, is that one Scripture that irritates the heck out of me.  Jeremiah gave that Scripture in context to the Jews and the 70 year exile that He had ordained for them to bear for their disobedience in idolatry. What exactly is idolatry?  It is mixing GOD’s formular for worship with man’s own ideas and made-up traditions for worship.  In my one of my previous posts, I used Christmas as a perfect example of that practice of idolatry.  The church loves Christmas, because they have their own man-made traditions regarding its practice, but it was never ordained by the LORD as a spiritual act of worship.  (Romans 12:1.) 

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet was letting GOD’s people know that after their exile, He had a plan to use them, again.  The principle behind that Scripture is true, for the most part, however, it is NOT for everyone.  Who is it not for? It is not for the person who has turned his back on GOD and walked away to the point of being of no use to Him, anymore.  It is NOT for the believer who is Christian in name only, doing his own thing, worshiping GOD in his own way, whether it is agreeable to GOD or not, because he feels good about what he’s doing.  Folks, it isn’t about us feeling good about worship or service to Elohim.  Usually, the church goer is  not interested in learning anything new.  What his pastor has told him is good enough for him, and seeking out the historical context to Scripture is unimportant to him because he already knows as much as he wants to know about the Adonai that he is allegedly worshiping.  Many times, it’s isn’t even Elohim, but an imagined one, one who thinks like he does.

There are some real whacko's out there, self-proclaimed prophets who have decided in their own minds that YHWH has appointed them prophet to the nation.  All you have to do is go to YouTube and in the search box type, "Rapture dream," and every self-proclaimed Joe-apostle/prophet has a video describing some kind of cataclysmic tidal wave or atomic/nuclear war.  It's chicken-little times a million or more. Listening to most of these people, you know that they are not Biblically grounded, but they are mystically assured of their calling.  In other words, they do not realize that what they are saying is not supported by the Bible, as a whole, but the select verses that they choose to support their mystical experience.  Many of them are listening to deceiving spirits that boost them up to prophet status when it was never GOD who called them as prophets, but their own inflated sense of importance in the Kingdom of GOD. 

Now, I'm not saying that GOD doesn't speak to us in dreams, we have Biblical examples that He did, but really, people, do you suppose He is really visiting as many "self-proclaimed" prophets as is on YouTube and other social media sites?  The Bible covers a span of approximately 4,000 years give or take a millennium, and how many times did and Angel of the LORD actually appear in the dreams of His servants?  A handful of times, I would say, and look who He appeared to, what they accomplished, and for what purpose?  I mean there must have been at least a couple of million  of GOD’s people on the earth during those years, and he only appeared to a handful over a 4,000 year span. So what's the chance that He is popping in and out of dreams, sending telepathic cryptic messages to every Joe-YouTube-Prophet? 

I once calculated how many false self-proclaimed prophets might be out there, based on 450 to 1 in 1 Kings chapters 19 and  22, (Elijah/Micaiah). Now, today, if there are 4 billion Christians, using those statistics,  then less than ten thousand or so would-be bonafide authentic people holding the true office of a prophet, called specifically of GOD.  (See To Be or Not to Be a Prophet )

How does this relate to empty pumpkins?  Let me explain. The pulp, the vein and the seeds could symbolize the Whole Counsel of GOD.  The veins and pulp are the people, events, and theme of sin and redemption that interconnect all people, typology, doctrine, and history, in the Bible, and the seeds are the actual Scriptures.  You have to have a perfect balance of pulp, veins, seeds to outer shell and stem rooted firmly into the vine which is nourished in the fertile soil to have a perfectly balanced pumpkin. Once you cut the pumpkin from the vine, you still have a whole pumpkin, which is a useful fruit, but when you hollow it out, taking out the most important parts, then all you have is empty shell. That is the prayer life of a believer not rooted firmly to the Vine with all its parts intact, working properly to balance out the believers knowledge of GOD.

If we don't know the Word of GOD, backward and forward, then our prayers do not carry the power that they are meant to carry.  Do not get me wrong, I’m not saying that I do not believe in prayer, but what I’m saying is that prayer NOT based on the truth in the WHOLE counsel of GOD does not carry the same power. 

Far be it from me to tell anyone something so unScriptural as to stop praying, or that our prayers are not heard by GOD. What I am saying is that if one's prayers aren't bathed in the full knowledge of Scripture, based on solid doctrine in Scripture, with historical context in the content of those prayers, then one might as well be praying to the tooth fairy. Yes, GOD hears our prayers, but is that always GOD answering?  The Spiritual Realm is a very real and very dangerous place if the wrong people enter it through their prayers. (see So You Want to GO Swimming) May I suggest that the devil’s minions assigned to us hear our prayers said out loud?  Do you think it may be possible that they know who is Scripturally inept and who can be deceived? 

Satan is so crafty that even those who are well-endowed with the knowledge of Scripture can find it difficult to discern what is from GOD, what is our own concoction, and what is the enemy feeding our egos and flesh with some kind of nonsense that does not agree with Scripture?   A true prophet of GOD is going to know Scripture like the back of his/her hand, because surely GOD would NOT send out any prophet to preach or be a voice for Him if they were not fully bathed in the full comprehensive knowledge of Scripture and the historicity of GOD’s dealings with His people. .

I've heard some nutty "famous prophets" capitalizing on their 15-minutes of fame, spewing off the craziest stuff, claiming that GOD gave them these prophesies to write down.  To be truthful, his prophecies, and I emphasize the word HIS prophecies sound more like Dr. Seuss on religious psychedelic drugs. I can assure you that  GOD will not give anyone any new prophesies that are not already written in the canon of Scripture.  Whenever you hear anyone prophesy saying that they operate in the prophetic, that should raise a red flag, as that concept is a man-made doctrine, not straight from the Word of GOD.  If he says, “The Spirit of the LORD says,” you can be sure if he is not quoting exactly from the Word of GOD, it did NOT come from GOD. Unless what he says is and exact quote from the Bible, it’s not from GOD in the context that he is using it. 

Back in the days before Christ, the Holy Spirit fell upon GOD’s ordained prophets, and they became a prophet to the nation, however, we are living in the last days where the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer, so national prophets proclaiming that they have a message, (outside of Scripture) for the nation are NOT of GOD.  If there is a national prophet, he/she will speak ONLY the Words straight from Scripture that applies to the spiritual condition of the church. If a stranger comes to you and tell  you he has a message from GOD for you, thank him and let him know that you also have the Holy Spirit, and he doesn’t need an interpreter to give you a message.  He will speak directly to you through your study of Scripture.  In other words, if you aren’t studying Scripture, then more than likely you are not hearing from GOD.  Does GOD give personal revelation? Yes, He does, but for the individual  believer only, one on one, not for the believer to send a message to a nation or an individual.  Sometimes, I will come across a person in whom I sense the Spirit of GOD working, and I let that believer know that I believe GOD is going to use in the future.  I never give details, because I do not claim to know that person’s personal walk with the LORD or the detail of his life.  I just let them know that I have a feeling, and that’s all it is, a feeling, not necessarily fact. I direct them to the Whole Counsel of GOD and I advise them to seek out GOD for their own revelation from Him.

What I am trying to say to you is that the easiest way to tell a hollowed out pumpkin and a fully intact one is the by the weight and mass of the pumpkin when examined.  Careful analysis of what is being said compared to Scripture and the history of GOD's dealings with His people is how one can correctly scrutinize another's "prophetic ponderings."   The only way to be able to weigh the pumpkin and prayers is to know all that there is about what's inside both the pumpkin and the Bible. Therefore, if one is not fully equipped in their knowledge of the historicity of the Whole Counsel of GOD, one can easily be manipulated to believe any deceiving spirit that comes along, and let me tell you, those deceiving spirits are quite cunning and crafty sounding very Scriptural.  Remember, the devil knows way more Scripture than you and I do, and he know just how to use them to trip us up. 

In essence, if one posts a tweet seeking prayer, it is right to pray for that person, but it is even better to direct that person to the Whole Counsel of GOD for help in hearing from GOD.  I’ve spent over a decade in the fiery furnace of affliction and my only means of survival hasn’t been prayer only, but prayer combined is careful study of GOD’s people, especially those who have spent some serious time in the furnace of affliction, where GOD refines the dross out of the sinner and his flesh. 

Someone needs to speak for those who cannot!

 

 I have no husband, to speak of, so I know what it's like to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, misnamed, dishonored and labeled or black-listed.  Rumor has it, I have been black-listed among the pastors of my small town.  How bad can a woman be who is black-listed among alleged men of the cloth?  I cannot tell you why, but I can tell you this, I know the Bible, front and back. Am I an expert? Heck no, but I know more than many.  I say this not to boast, actually, these days, if you are a woman who knows the Bible, you are not liked among men.  I didn't read it to become holy, I read it because I hurt, and hurt a lot. So, a woman who knows what the Bible says is  black-listed, because of sinful human pride, something that comes so naturally, we don't even know it's there.  

My first blog that I ever wrote was titled, "The Woman at the Well was no Ho!"  It goes on to explain how it is that we with 21st Century eyes have labeled what could have been a very a holy woman as a "whore."  That poor woman was not an immoral woman, she was set apart. Oddly enough, the actual definition of the word holy means to be set apart.  She was set apart to be the first missionary, and now, because of the misogyny bigotry of men,  she has a bad rap.  She was a holy woman.  She had  rough life.  She was married five times, and the man she is living with is not her husband, said Jesus.  Now, let me ask you, besides being described as  Samaritan woman, where in Scripture does it say that she was shacking up, sleeping around, spreading herself thinly among the men of the town? I will tell you where, NOWHERE! 

In order to understand the context, one must know the historical context. It was a patriarchal system back in those days, a woman could not live alone. A woman could not work, unless she was a harlot, the oldest profession.  Even those women weren't there voluntarily, no more than the ones of today.  They were forced into it, because either they were abandoned, or had no other way to make an income, because people did not hire women for anything back in those days. Maybe she had no male relative to take her in and care for her.  A woman could become a slave, or servant, if she could find someone to take her in as one. 

 She had five husbands, that doesn't mean she fooled around on them, that means she had five husbands. Back in the day, if a woman made a bad meal, a man could toss her out, and without a family of her own to take her in, her only option would be to become a concubine, find another husband, or become and indentured servant.  Also, the lifespan of a man was somewhere in the mid 40's or 50's.  She could have been widowed one or more times.  

Maybe she was dumped by five husbands, because she was barren. A barren woman in those days were shunned. They were shamed, second only to lepers. This woman could have been one who was taken in as a servant, by a man, thus she was living with a  man who was not her husband.  Maybe she was living with a brother or son-in-law, or a brother-in-law. Here's something else to really consider, no one knows how old this woman was. She could have been 85 years old for all we know. Maybe she was  too old, not of child-bearing years, or she had a reputation of being bad-luck for a man.  

A woman who had been widowed several times was considered a holy woman, believe it or not.  It was said of her that GOD had set her apart to be holy, to be His.  I get this, believe me, I get this.  I was set apart.  Set apart for what remains to be seen, but being set apart means being put through the fiery furnace of affliction for many years, even decades.  She was burned all right, and to this day, she is still being burned, as a woman who was immoral when GOD favored her.  My husband left me.  Does that make me an immoral woman? Let's not just assume things about people, because we can't see people through GOD's eyes, we have human eyes, flawed as they are. 

      So why do I think that she may have been set apart, a holy woman, not immoral? Simply by her conversation with Jesus. She knew Scripture.  She knew what to look for in the Messiah. She understood the significance of Jacob's well, and she knew the controversy between where the Samaritans worshiped and where the Jews worshiped.  She quoted Scripture.  Let me ask you, how many prostitutes do you know that can quote Scripture? Not too many.  

Last but not least, this woman was believable.  This woman was bold enough to bear witness to Jesus. Respectable men back then didn't follow prostitutes when they bore witness about a holy man or a prophet.  Would you follow a prostitute who came up to you in the town square and said, "Come and follow me, I have found the Messiah!"  I am going to gather that you would not.  Neither would I.  However, if a woman who knew Scripture, who was reputed to be set apart by GOD, said, "Come and see what the Messiah has to say," Would you follow that woman? If you were set apart, you'd go to where that woman pointed you. If you were a proud seminary-taught man, you would black-list her and call her a trouble-maker. This I do know, by experience.

So, please, let's cut this poor woman some slack and stop referring to her an immoral woman. She was GOD's chosen instrument to bear witness to the town of Samaria to the Christ, the first one to do so. That's an honor, not a reason to be black-listed as a "ho!"

 

 

 Oh, Not So Holy Night!

 

I have held this off as long as I could, because I do NOT enjoy bursting the bubble of Christians, but once I learn a truth, I’m obligated to share it.  You are free to disagree with me if you like, or you can take the next 363 days, to pray, research, and search the Scriptures to either prove me right or wrong in your own minds, hearts, and conscience.   I don’t answer to GOD for what anyone else does in their relations and worship of Adonai, I only answer to Him for myself and my actions.  I have to do what I’m led to do, based on the truth YHWH reveals to me through Scripture, revelation (Rhema’s), and what I can discover based solely on historical facts.  Believe me, this was NOT an easy decision for me to make. 

We had a very toned down Christmas this year, because to spring this on my children that quickly, so near to the Christmas season, I felt would be unreasonable as a parent. After all, I’m the one who taught them from birth that Christmas was indeed a holy event, because we said it was, but not because Scripture said it was.  We followed the traditions of men, and one man decided in order to coaxed the pagans into this new state religion called Christianity, it was best to adopt their pagan practices, slap a Christian title on them, and declare them holy, because a lie from the pit of hell told these men that they were vicars for Christ, and infallible when it comes to revelation from GOD. 

So, yeah, I’m going after Christmas and going to pop that bubble to for some of you who truly have a heart after GOD, who are more afraid of offending GOD, than man.  This hasn’t been easy for me, either. Heck, I love those traditional Christmas songs from “Last Christmas,” to “Walking in the Winter Wonderland,” (which has NOTHING to do with Christmas, actually) to “Jingle Bells,” (again, Christmas not mentioned), to “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” to “Away in the Manager,” to my absolute favorite of all the hymns, “Oh Holy Night.”  I didn’t sing a single one this year, nor were any of them shaking the paint of the walls of my bedroom while me and the girls belted out our favorites with my speakers jacked up to full volume as we danced around the room, having the time of our lives, doing what we do every Christmas.  It was a difficult decision, and I missed the fun of it. 

Once, I learned of just how offensive the whole Yuletide season was to Elohim, I just could not enjoy doing it anymore. The kids really put up a fight about the Christmas tree, and I must say, I caved and let them put one up this year, unbeknownst to them, it’s going out in the trash the next day Rumpke comes to haul away the torn-up gift wrapping paper.  Yes, we did gifts, but there was no Christmas dinner, no holiday music, just gift giving, because they had their gifts picked out before all this truth came in and wiped away fifty-six years-worth of Christmas celebrations and traditions. 

Included for your reading enjoyment is the Twelve Christmas Traditions rooted in Pagan Culture  that the Roman Pope decided, “if you can’t beat them join them,” and slapped a “Christian” title onto these offensive-to-Elohim traditions.  Feel free to take this link, do your own research, and come up with your own conclusion. Again, you answer to GOD for your holidays, and I answer to GOD for my festive days I celebrate in honor of Adonai.  For example, we celebrated Hanukkah this year for the first time. It’s a Jewish tradition based on the celebration of the Maccabees defeat of the first anti-christ, type, (or example) in Antiochus IV of Epiphanes.  That was one cruel anti-semite, who paid and placed his own high priests in the Jewish Temple, and who tortured into submission the majority of the Jewish nation that was left after the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple around 3-4 centuries before him.  Even Jesus honored that Festival of Lights in John 10:22, as he went up to the Temple in the winter to acknowledge the deliverance of GOD’s people from a tyrannical murderous demon covered in human skin.  It is not one of the Hebrew feasts that the LORD ordained in Leviticus, as none of those six feasts are observed by the church today.  That’s a whole new topic on the anti-semitism in the gentile church, which they will emphatically deny is practiced, but yet, is so clearly practiced by gentile Christian church, replete of all signs of any Judaic traditions, lest they be called out as Judaizers and heretics, bring up the Torah in the church.  How dare they do that? Another blog post in the future will be titled, “Oh Where Oh Where has the Torah Gone? 

If the LORD elected to choose a people to Himself, an then only, He should be able to ordained that which is  an acceptable practice to worship Him.  Copy-cat worship is not something He is okay with, because He is GOD and there is no other.  Every time I mentioned this new conviction to someone this year, I got the same argument that I used to give, that we are honoring the birth of Jesus, and yes, you are, but on the wrong day, in the wrong season, and with traditions seeped in idolatry.  GOD’s definition of idolatry in the Old Testament was for His people to adapt the religious practices and false gods of the pagan nations into their worship of the Most High. That was the sin of the high places that the divided nations were guilty of, instead of doing worship exactly how it was prescribed in the Torah.  It was what got them divided as a nation, then the ten tribes of Northern Israel virtually annihilated, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin sent to Babylon for seventy years of exile, until they learned their lesson.  Let me tell you, when Elohim sends you into a 70-year time out, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll want to repeat the offense, by worshiping Him the way the pagans worshiped their false gods. It is most assuredly offensive to the Most High.

Someone who is truly adept at the New Testament will bring up Romans 14, when Paul declared one man’s unholy day an another man’s acceptable holy day. At least, I would have, and did, until I read the Scripture more closely, and realized that there was an exception in that rule was ( 10 For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11 For through your knowledge the one who is weak is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died. 1 Corinthians  8:10-11)   Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 10, the example Paul used referred to the eating of foods sacrificed to idols which was an abomination to GOD.  The details are different, but the principle of the practice is there.  When Jesus came to earth to fulfil the Law, he did not abolish it, he just took the principle of the Law to a whole new level of understanding.    He taught the depth of the Law, the meaning behind the Law. 

  Scripture must verify Scripture and one text taken out of text does not nullify or justify and action that may or may not be ordained by GOD.  With YHWH, it’s is always a heart thing, and never a performance thing.  So, celebrating a pagan’s traditional worship to their pagan gods is essentially the same thing eating foods sacrificed to idols.  Paul said that if they knew the food was sacrificed to an idol or a false god was strictly forbidden, then in essence  us knowing that holly and mistletoe and Christmas tree in your home is doing the exact same thing.  It is not allowed or accepted by Elohim, and it is an offense to Him.

Once the LORD pricks my conscience in this manner, like He did this year, then, I just could never see Christmas the same way ever again. It went from a holy event to a very unholy night/season, and for the rest of my life, I just cannot perceive it as a joyous event if the LORD says in Scripture that it is an abomination to Him.  What I thought for five decades was worship, now I know was an offense.  We are responsible for what we know at the time and what the LORD teaches us, when we are taught it, not before.  My  more than five decades of celebrating  Christmas was not a sin, because we are only sinning when we know it’s a sin. There are unintentional sins in which we will not be held guilty of, and then there are the outright rebellious sins we know to be wrong, in which we will stand and give an account. 

I just can’t do it anymore, knowing what I know, now,  because my conscience before GOD won’t let me.  I would rather offend man, even though it’s NOT what I like to do, than to risk  offending GOD.  If I have to choose between GOD and man, well then man  loses out. So, if I have offended you, I truly am sorry, but I will not repent of something that I now know the whole truth and nothing but the truth about, lest I offend my GOD and Savior. Next year, there will be no Christmas tree in our house, and I hope no Christmas presents. We are going to have to find a suitable substitution, and I can assure you, it will not be on or near December 25, at least as long as I am still breathing on this planet.

 After that, my children will answer to Him themselves.  As I advise all parents of adult children, they are not your children when they are adults, they are GOD’s, and you have to give them back. They now become just your offspring and any advice or counsel you want to give them must be sought out by them, not offered freely or oppressively, because you are not their mommy anymore. You do not answer to GOD for what they do as adults. You are only obligated to the LORD for teaching them what you do know while they are still under your stewardship. When the LORD teaches us new things, it’s because we have come to him to seek new things to be taught. He never oppresses a man into morality, it is always a choice on our part out of the love in our hearts for Him. For that is your bodily act of worship, and the only kind of sacrifice he wants from us.