Eph 6:12, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We attended a bullfight in Spain. I can’t say that it is an enjoyable experience, but it is an interesting one. Having grown up on and around a farm, the kill before butchering was never something that I looked forward to. Some would argue that the death of the bull in a bullfight is as humane as the death in a slaughterhouse. Well, amen, they both happen. After watching six bulls fight the matadors, my admiration for bulls has gone way up.

Religion is religion, and Jesus isn’t a religion, He is a relationship.

As a child, I was never allowed to even touch a bull. There was the temptation when feeding the cows and petting them to do the same to the bull. However, any advance toward the bull was met with a strong rebuke from my grandfather. He had hauled several and seen men gored; he never trusted any bull. The bulls in Spain enter the arena full of attitude, strength, and catlike quickness. They look for anything that is moving and immediately charge. The power is awe-inspiring to witness; they send every matador scrambling behind a thick wooden wall, and then they hammer the wall with their horns. I just had never witnessed that in a bull, nor had I seen that kind of endurance. It is impressive.

Because of the bull’s strength and superiority, the fight would take hours if the bull were not slowed down. Nothing about a bullfight is fair (the only way to make it less fair would be to remove one of the bull’s legs). Carrying a spear, a horseman rides in on a heavily padded and blindfolded horse. The bull will immediately head for the horse. The first bull we saw actually knocked the horse over and was able to gore it, even as the rider, falling down, drove the spear deep into the bull. Next, four matadors begin to wear the bull down by having the bull make a series of charges at the pink cape. When the bull is sufficiently tiring, another matador will come with two colorful skewers. He will let the bull charge him straight on and then jump, driving the skewers into the back of the bull and maneuvering sideways just in time to be missed by the horns. This is repeated three times. Still, the stamina of the bull at this point is awing. The matador, with his large, red cape, will now come out to work the bull until it finally has its strength bled out of it. With an air of satisfaction he draws a sword; the great beast bows its head, ready to charge one more time at the rag that has given it so much grief, and the matador drives the sword into the heart of the great beast. Some are better at this than others, but ideally, the bull’s demise is quick, and it drops, immediately dead. The whole exhibition takes around 15 minutes.
Personally, I think the matadors should wear little tight pants because they fight like girls.

OK, why all this talk of bullfights? I couldn’t help but think about our fight against the “rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness.” In Christ, the battle is won. On the cross He did not say, “To be continued!” He said, “It is finished.” We in Christ, like the bull, have the superior strength. However, the bull makes one fatal mistake by thinking the cape, a simple piece of lifeless rag, is the enemy, the source of its pain! I kept thinking to myself, If only you would stop fighting the rag, stop looking down, look up at the head, and move eighteen inches to the right! The battle would be yours. Even to its dying breath, the bull was eyeing the rag as the matador drove the sword deep into his heart. A physically superior creature defeated because of a wrong focus. How often in our spiritual battles the enemy has our focus on something other than him; we never pay attention to his ugly head.

So many times I have talked to couples ready to divorce over absolutely nothing but a rag. However, the enemy keeps poking and making them think that the rag is what is hurting them. It isn’t the rag! It is the one behind the rag. Move eighteen inches to the right, go for the head, and you will see the truth of it. Many times, I will stop in the middle of a situation and just say, “The Lord rebuke you!” I know the issue isn’t the issue; there is someone behind the issue and I want to go for the head. The believer has the superior strength, but it will do no good if it is focused in the wrong place. So many just bow and let the enemy drive the sword deep into the heart. There will nearly always be the need for 20% improvement in any relationship (the rag). Why let the 20% steal the 80% joy? On any given day, you should immediately be able to say three things that are right about your situation and about your mate. Well, again, we need grace to go for the head.

The believers in Spain, as in Portugal, have to labor. Christians are not embraced; Catholicism, with its religious spirit, has driven the least little desire out of the people to look for something spiritual. Therefore, Jesus just isn’t easily considered. I can’t say the people are hardhearted; it is just that their definition of Jesus includes suffering, crawling, misery, bondage, lack of joy, confinement, and total deadness. With that definition, why look any further into the prospect? Our friends have worked here for 12 years, and the end result, in part, is this little meeting that we are going to have in the morning. They have invited their friends and coworkers. They have done everything to make it a beautiful experience for them.

We are to be in a small room in a new “meditation” lodge. We will have four hours of teaching and then a vegetarian meal. Nine people arrive. Two are unbelievers. I have been told by the Lord the direction to take in the teaching. I will spend the first three hours talking about how we live, how we feel, what we think, and the struggles of man. I will not mention Jesus until the end. After three hours, it was obvious that Jesus had, as He always does, the right people there. If He gets all the glory, then He must do all the work, and He does. As I talk about Jesus, everything must be redefined, for the words that we commonly use have one meaning to us but another to them. Nearly every term has a distorted religious meaning. I just stick to Jesus, His uniqueness, His love, His difference, His life, and all that He is. Then we talk about His being our life. Not praying, “Jesus, help me,” but praying, “Jesus, come and be my words, my life, my love, my joy, my everything.” I wasn’t saying anything that I have not said a hundred times before, and yet, when I looked up, there were only a few dry eyes. The one girl, an unbeliever, came immediately up to me, and crying said, “Something has awakened in me! I knew I needed something; I knew I was being called!” The fellow, who we were really surprised even came, was right into it.

As we shifted to dinner, the topic was Jesus. One brother, with a beautiful heart, has labored for years and only has a few couples around Spain that have come to Jesus. He was excited and said, “This approach of life, of getting in the person’s skin, of showing in that context the need for Jesus, will be received. We will pray about putting a conference together for the couples I know around Spain.” Well, amen, I am also tagging along, building on the work of others.

Next we move to the house. I wanted to show my friends how the approach worked individually. That was great fun. Then the two “former” unbelievers showed up with dinner. We talked about Jesus until nearly 1:00 a.m. As I was being driven home, my friend turned to me, “In twelve years, that is the most openness that I have ever experienced with a group of people. It is the deepest conversation that we have ever had.” It excited me, and yet it vexed me, for I could see how he and his wife had suffered here in loneliness, going it by themselves, how much they forfeited to be with these people and to labor in such a religious environment. Again, the ugliest religion in the world is Christianity. There is nothing that will kill the spirit of man like the Christian religion. Why? Every other religion is made to be a religion. Christianity is centered in a great God Who lives through us. Try to make it a religion of lists, and the standard will become so high that the people will be wiped out; they then will focus on some insignificant speck that they CAN accomplish, as though it were of ultimate importance, in order to avoid the fact of their failure to be “like” Jesus. It becomes so obvious that at some time and place during the history of the Catholic Church, it became expedient, to the carnal, to have a “Christian religion.” This religion would stir the pride of the masses and make them forget that they should not be fighting for the earthly kingdom of a man and actually forsaking Jesus. The whole thing tends to sicken us in light of the fact that Jesus is alive (mind you, we wouldn’t have that light without the revelation of the Spirit, and this will always soften our criticism).

I have a silent disgust for all things religious. I suppose that I shouldn’t, in fairness, contain it to the Catholics, but Jesus is not a religion. He never wrote anything, and His emphasis was that there was no obstacle between man and God. Religion is religion, and Jesus isn’t a religion, He is a relationship.

I Tim. 2:5, For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

“Why didn’t Jesus tell me?”

Over the years I have had similar experiences to yours of people walking up to me and telling me that they had a word from Jesus for me. The words have been as varied as the people. Some have told me I was out of God’s will to be traveling to minister and needed to return home immediately. Others have told me that the Lord was telling me to go out. Go out or come in, which is it? All purport to be speaking on God’s behalf. How do we know the difference? There is no doubt that genuine words from Jesus can come through the conduit of another believer, but His word will not be an attempt to create something in us, but to witness to what is already there. God is a very intimate God and doesn’t tell our secrets to others; He is far too confidential for that. Therefore, someone’s telling me about a “hidden sin” or a “dark heart” is not received. When a word does come that could be construed to be negative, it will–if it is truly from the Lord–lift the spirit, for with the word will come the power and the truth to set me free. There is another problem with some so-called “words of the Lord.” The carnal will use them as a method of manipulation, invoking the Lord’s name and our love for Him to move us in their direction. Saying, “The Lord said . . .” really means, “Keep off the grass and don’t question me.” A sure sign that this is happening is that the one speaking refuses to be questioned. The carnal want theirs to be the last word. Probably the most pertinent question when judging if something is from God or man is simply, “Why didn’t Jesus tell me?” Any parent will tell you that when one child is representing the parent to another sibling, something isn’t right. If I want to tell my child something, I simply tell him, I don’t send another to speak for me. If God wants to tell us something, and we know His sheep hear His voice, why would He send someone else? There are examples of His doing that in the Old Testament, and the people knew exactly what the prophet was talking about; it wasn’t something vague or something that they couldn’t see was wrong. This brings us to one other point, which is that the carnal make things vague to protect themselves. It reminds me of the Indian fortuneteller standing on the corner and saying to each person passing by, “You seem happy, but something is wrong deep inside!” On any given day, he would be spot on for at least half of the people. God has no need to be vague, and the “words of the Lord” calculated to appeal to the flesh are. “You are going to have an expanded ministry!” “You are going to have all your riches returned to you!” “You are going to have healing!” It is all so appealing to the flesh. I would rather hear, “You are in Him, and so being in Him, He will bring the revelation of Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Carnal men want to give a word that is spectacular. Again, always question the motive behind what is being said to you. Is the motive to move you toward Jesus? The “word” should bring neither condemnation nor exaltation; it should be about Him. Now, I have received tremendous encouragement from the words of believers that were not from them but from Him. Therefore, don’t let all the phony words deter you when a blessing is to be had. Simply judge what is being said.

It is only as we find THE TRUTH that true things become appealing and compelling.

II Cor. 4:4 ”in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.” When Christ enters a heart, a man’s eyes are opened to see things as they are. He can see clearly. The illusion of the world is revealed, and this knowledge is then used to turn him to the pursuit of the invisible kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of God. Now, here is the problem. As a Christian you see things clearly, you have revelation, and this revelation is freeing. You are discerning and verbalizing things that you never could before. It is only natural to believe that others would like to have the revelation that you possess. You see the inconsistencies and the lies of the world. You see things that are so obvious. It is estimated that across the United States 50,000 new laws are passed every year. In twenty years that is one million new laws. Each law could be construed as a means to take away a public right. At a minimum the government has determined that a million rights that you had twenty years ago may no longer be “rights.” In fact, the government doesn’t seem to believe that we have “rights” that cannot be eroded, and yet an attempt is made to stir women into thinking that abortion is a “right.” It is ridiculous to believe that abortion is a right. Clearly, not all unbelievers would like to listen to this type of logic, and it is a mistake to believe that carnal man wants truth (neither did you when you were carnal). It is only as we find THE TRUTH that true things become appealing and compelling. Therefore, our job is not to persuade men concerning their inconsistencies and illogical thinking, but to persuade people of the TRUTH. Many Christians have gotten involved in politics because they see things clearly and assume that constituents want to hear true things. (I am not making a statement concerning Christians and politics. If God calls someone to that, amen!) Carnal, fallen man does not want to hear true things no matter how intellectual or refined the thought might be.

All things created have an awareness of their Creator, for it is in Him that all things are held together.

To destroy anything mindlessly is a sin against Jesus.

Romans 8:19, For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. I feel sorry for creation, from the cows and chickens that are forced by man to be cannibals, to the fish that have industrial waste dumped on them, to the forests that are destroyed. All things created have an awareness of their Creator, for it is in Him that all things are held together. To destroy anything mindlessly is a sin against Jesus. God never intended us to mess with His artwork the way we do. There is nothing wrong with need; you can eat a cow and you can eat the calf, but you are not to boil the calf in the mother’s milk. Putting genetic material from one being into another doesn’t lead to improvement but to distortion. The trees and mountains proclaim Him. Jesus said that even the rocks would shout out His name. No wonder creation longs for the revelation of the sons of God. As a child I remember killing a small bird, not to eat, but for nothing. It haunted me and still does. I know that coming to Christ changed my view and treatment of creation. It just wouldn’t be right to visit my earthly father and break everything he has made around the house. It is not right for man to break what the Father in heaven has made. The abuse of creation is most obvious in countries without a Christian base. Where there is abuse of man, you can imagine the abuse of creation. I am not a “greenie”; I just love what my Father has made. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

In the grace of God, we see him rise from the ashes with a new message, THE message of Christ.

To me this question actually has two answers. First, our responsibility is to judge the message, for it always takes precedence over the messenger. Paul makes this point repeatedly, such as in Galatians 1:8, saying no matter how beautiful the messenger is, the message is what counts. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” Again, Paul sees the message as being much more important than himself, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” Even when it came to having a messenger who had wrong motives, Paul remained interested primarily in the message. Philippians 1:17, 18, “the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” Therefore, if the message was correct when the writer or performer was walking with Jesus, the message is still valid today, and I won’t throw it out. David had a moral failure; I will not throw out what God had clearly given him before his failure. It would be my loss. When one takes the position to discredit everything that has been said by a fallen believer, he is walking on thin ice, for God may define for him anew what fallen means. In, Galatians 5:19-21, Paul gives a description of the flesh. Who can boast that at some time in their life they have not fallen into some of these things? Who can rightly judge the messenger? Now to the second answer:
some have not promoted the message, but rather they promote themselves. It is their plan that whenever we hear their music or read a particular paragraph, their picture, not Christ’s, flashes into our minds. Paul talks about such people. II Cor. 4:5, “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” There are those in the business of riding on the back of Christ to create an image for themselves. They don’t make a distinction between the message and themselves. They are the proof of their message. They, in fact, believe they are propping up Jesus. The focus is constantly on them and their faith, their talent, and their cleverness. Their formula, writing, or music and how it makes them stand out is one with their image. “17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.” When such a believer falls, it is impossible to separate him from his message, for in reality he was the true message, with such a high standard set for himself and others that he will have trouble finding grace. Such a one is left having to clean up the mess on his own. In interview after interview he will try to separate himself from the message, so that the message can retain its integrity, but it is too late to separate himself from it. It becomes impossible to defend his message when it is revealed that it wasn’t THE message of Christ. People quickly abandon him. The books and the music will find their way to the trash bin, but though his reputation is also in the trash bin, the person is not! The blessing in all this is that God will use it to move him into clinging to the proper message. In the grace of God, we see him rise from the ashes with a new message, THE message of Christ. Well, amen!

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and {began} to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Are we happy to be in the company of the Unknowns? To go into the ministry of the unknown, ministering to the Unknowns? This is the true ministry of faith. He came, God in Man, unknown! He didn’t attempt to make Himself known, He wanted the Father to be known. Divine humility! Amazing! We too are to be unknown. We are making Him known.

Why are we unknown? Being unknown keeps us safe. Being unknown will keep the elect from kingdom building, self-righteousness, glory, and image. All these things must be broken at His feet. It is the kind of wealth that we don’t need and belong to Him. We must lose everything to discover the power of the life within. It is crucial that we are unknowns. Amazingly, we are entrusted with the greatest message and kingdom and no one wants to know us! We represent Him, we have direct access to Him, and no one wants to know us. We will judge angels and no one wants to know us.

A ministry of the Unknowns, a company of the Unknowns, all with the same vision to remain attached to the life of the vine, the life of the vine to flow out of the Unknowns. We are all one, yet all different; all tapped into the same life, not branch to a branch but a branch to the vine. The ministry of the Unknowns is a WITH ministry. Unknowns band together. Unknowns are not recognized. We work without recognition.

This world’s system is not an accident. It is all permitted. It is all in the plan of God. It is all there for a purpose: the breaking of kingdoms, righteousness, pride, strength, glory. It is all in the plan of God. Permitted. It is, well, nice, that He is using man’s stupidity. It all works to His end. Nothing is bad. This is the best possible life. How do we judge that things are good or bad? The soulish judge them on the basis of their outer life, their soul life. The soulish don’t like their outer life broken. They fight against being Unknown. However, everything must go that hinders the release of the life in me. Nothing is bad that accomplishes that. Being Unknown accomplishes that, and remember, we are known by Him!

“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Col. 1:27

Traveling, I hear many stories. Many choose not to believe them. Well, I don’t believe all of them either, but I am just reporting the story. I am not asking any to believe them. Here is a report.

I know a man who says that he was caught up into heaven. While standing before the Father’s throne, he was asked if he had a question. The man said, “What is it in me that makes me carnal?” At that the Father leaned over, held the man’s head between his hands and kissed him on the forehead. He said that next the Father began to gently shake him. As he was being shook, it was as though the shaking was making what appeared to be little drawers all over his body open and spill their contents. All that came out was junk, useless little things. He thought to himself this must be all the useless little things I keep and hold dear that make me carnal. The Father stopped when all the drawers were empty and closed again.

Next, the Father reached toward his heart and opened a secret drawer and took from it a little box. The man said that he became frightened, just knowing that little box held the thing that made him carnal. He watched as the Father took out of the box a grand jewel! It was the most beautiful jewel. The Father didn’t put it back in the box but put the grand jewel back into the drawer and closed it. The man was quite confused when the Father spoke to him. “Yes, there are little things that make all men carnal. That is known. I am not interested in what makes you carnal, I am interested in the grand Jewel that has remained hidden in you. My Son is in you. You must not look for the carnal any longer but examine and discover the Son who is in you.” At that he was sent away.

Believe it or not, I like the story. I believe that too much time is spent in self-absorption and not enough time examining the grand Jewel that is in every child of God.

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Genesis 3:8-10.

Here is a secret: God does not fight our failures. He uses them! One aspect of the Glory of God is He is never undone, wringing His hands hoping that we will come through with a plan, for He always has one. He does what He wants, and He uses all things! “For My own sake, I will act . . . And My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11)

The Glory of God is a wonderful thing; who can comprehend it? Especially if it is hidden! God will not give His Glory to another; you are another, and therefore, a threat to the Glory of God. But how are you a threat? There is only one thing that will mask the Glory of God: a man’s own counterfeit glory–pride. This is exactly why God does not work in the midst of the self-righteous, those who are up and out. Their own glory blinds them from seeing the true Glory of God.

Adam walked with God and had his own glory. Adam was not perfect; if he had been, he would not have fallen. His imitation glory hid the true Glory. Adam’s glory allowed him to take lightly the Glory of God, so lightly that he would sell it for a piece of fruit. However, after the fall a contrast was created, and Adam could see the Glory of God, appreciate it, long for it, and seek it as something valuable. God used Adam’s failure to allow him to lose his own glory and discover the Glory of God. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

The Prodigal Son is another example of deceitful glory. He had lived so long in the father’s house that somehow he had come to believe that he had made some significant contribution toward all he’d experienced. In the pigpen he fell out of pride into reality.

Many leaders have lived so long on the borrowed gifting of God that they start to think, in deceitful glory, that they are the source. Failure is their awakening! Oh, for the Glory of God.

“For this reason I have often been hindered from coming to you.” Rom 15:22

God will often give the believer a call to accomplish something, and then close every door to make the fulfillment impossible. Why? Because with the call comes a provision.

The same One who gives the call must also accomplish it. However, the flesh of man will take the call and not the provision. The flesh will look for fulfillment in self power, and if completion is possible, sink into glory, kingdoms, pride, strength, and righteousness.

The call and the provision are one. The problem is that we don’t see them as one. Therefore, immediately after the call, all attempts to fulfill it must fail. You need not look far for an example. Joseph, after the call to be the leader of his family, actually thought it a turn of bad luck to end up in a pit. Then, good luck to be taken out of the pit. Then, good luck to be head of a house and then another turn of bad luck when he ended up in prison. In the end, though, he saw it was God who brought Him out. It was all God. The call and the provision were one. He completed the call with the provision and took no glory.

This is to be the end result of a perfect call of God. A call and provision. When you get a call, don’t think that is all of it. Listen and wait for the provision. Don’t try to do the thing on your own. You will only end up in a pit.

Leadership is an interesting thing. In the Bible we see that some are born to be leaders while others are chosen to lead. However, in the family every man is commanded to lead. The world in contrast has taught that the family is ruled via majority. The media has imposed upon men the idea that children should be consulted before making decisions, that the wife need only submit to the husband who is in mutual submission.

As an Irish brother once exclaimed, “What passage in the Bible are these teachers using?” Good question. Accepting this definition of leadership has produced a generation of Christian fathers who are what might commonly be called passive dads.

The father is not to rule through consensus; he does not take the counsel of children. Rather, he seeks God for guidance, and he will find it in every situation. A leader has followers; followers will always have high expectations of the leader, and rightfully so. When we submit to a leader we desire that he be better than us, for our identity becomes intertwined in his. If I submit to a righteous man, then my self-esteem goes up. I feel good about being his servant. In fact, I see the glory of being subjected to him. I respect, admire, and appreciate him. I also want his direction. My hope is that he might lead me to the place where he is.

Obviously, he knows the way and is respected for it. When he asks of me things I do not understand, I obey, for I know that somehow it will benefit me. Therefore, the two most frustrating things to a follower is a leader that cannot be respected and one who will not lead.