Life On Earth, Part II
October 14, 2010 by Mike Wells
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
Revelation 4:21, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
There are two things that strike me in this passage. First, it is a deathblow to the prosperity preaching that raises its ugly head from time to time. The passage acknowledges that in this life, in a Spirit-filled believer, there will be pain. I read that the denomination with the healthiest, longest living members are the Seventh Day Adventists. Apparently, those in denominations constantly harping on the exercising of “faith” do not live as long or as healthfully. I have discovered that the longing for physical healing is equal to a person’s lack of inner evidence of the indwelling Christ. It the past, I was baffled when I saw all of the longing for physical healing, but then I realized that it was slanted more toward being validated by God than physical comfort. I did not say that, He did! “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.” Does this mean that we are not to pray for healing? Never! God does heal, but He does not do it to affirm His acceptance of us, to make a show of it, or to prove Himself. We are commanded to pray, and we must. I like what Andrew Murray and Watchman Nee taught: Death is our enemy. We do not yield to our enemy until the day that God tells us to. We pray for healing until the day that we know God is calling us out of this body. Often I have had it in my spirit to pray for the healing of someone. I actually witnessed the raising of a child from the dead, and, to my surprise, it was not spectacular, but in the normal course of ministry it was Jesus being Jesus, and no one stopped at the miracle but went on with Jesus. Also, I have told believers it was time for their departure when I knew that to be true in my spirit. I asked them to write letters to their families, sort out all of their finances (not to leave a mess for the kids to handle), and make sure all relationships are right. I am all for healing; however, I am also for God’s using our sickness. I was very ill in Nepal and prayed through the night, “Lord, You must heal me, for I am not returning home. I have much work to do.” The answer came early in the morning, “I will not heal you, but I will carry you through this sickness. You will not miss a meeting, and I will take you home.” It was remarkable to be carried, in the arms of love, from meeting to meeting. It took me a few days to enter into the faith of what was happening and to believe that He would take me home. But He did! Since that day, no matter how sick I am, I remember that experience of how “He carried me.” That occurrence of having been carried is one that I would not exchange for all the health in the world, for it has given me a wonderful confidence to move on, no matter how I feel, into the proclamations of “Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Bad Memory is Godliness
October 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgression for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins,” Isaiah 43:25.
There are two things in the passage that strike me. We are made in the image of God, Who says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake.” When those to whom you minister, those who minister to you, those you minister with, and those to whom you will never minister do something to hurt you, the thought of the transgression can haunt you for years. It only takes a name being brought up, an event of the past, or a painful experience to renew the transgression. If the hurtful person completely disappears from the scene, never to be heard of again, he can still take up residency in your head and heart. As I often note, the purpose of forgiveness in the Bible is restoration. However, there are those who do not want restoration; hence, they would see no need for forgiveness. There are relationships I have tried to restore in the past by asking for forgiveness, only to be told of more offenses and to stay away. For my own good, I need to forget. Oh, to able to forget, to wipe out a transgression, to remember the sins no longer, just for our own sakes. When I got married, Betty quickly realized what was ahead of her, for each day I would ask, “Have you seen my keys? Have you seen my wallet?” Everything would shut down while we looked. Then a few years ago I got glasses, and we have added them to the list of things that are lost daily, along with a cell phone and the key to the mailbox. You get the picture. “Betty, have you seen my keys, wallet, glasses, phone, and key to the mailbox?” One day, justifiably, she said, “Can’t you remember anything?” I jokingly said, “Forgetfulness is a sign of godliness. Only God could wipe out transgressions and remember no more, and we are in His image. I am glad that in His image, I can forget. I just do not want to remember everything from my past, and if not being able to remember where my keys are is part of not remembering, then it is a fair tradeoff.” You can see why I can be difficult to live with! However, to forget is a great blessing. Research (if it can ever be trusted) says that the average person only loses about 10% of the ability to remember. The difference is that past age 60 it takes more physical effort to correct the forgetfulness. In the younger years, we forgot the mail and thought nothing of running back to get it. In the older years the extra effort is a frustration. My grandfather used to complain about his memory loss, and I would remind him that I had worked with him most of my life and never remembered his having a razor-sharp memory, only now it was annoying him. Start this day knowing that the Lord wipes out your transgressions for His own good. He does not want to think about your failures all day long, so why should you? Second, He does not remember your sin; it is the enemy coming from your past. Guilt is the undertaker’s best friend.
Marriage Under Attack
October 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
Nothing is said in the Bible about marriage being under attack, the struggle of marriage, or the conflict in marriage; nor is there anything said about marriage and regret, marriage and happiness, or marriage and fulfillment. Basically, the main theme concerning marriage is that the two will become one flesh. Biblically, flesh is that part of man, who is made somewhat in the image of God, that wants to be God. This means that two “fleshly” people become one “flesh” and will attempt to be God. Well, only God could think of that! Two people yielding to God, wanting to be God, and working to make the other spouse into their image! Wow! At that point I can only say that the purpose of marriage is to make a person miserable and to reveal both self-centeredness and the desire to be God and rule over others. While that is unfolding, he is denying any blame as he casts himself and others into a living hell. Sounds like what I have been seeing; in the last twenty-four months I have encountered more Christian marriages under attack than in the previous ten years. I am not totally objective, I realize that, nor am I the answer man; Jesus is the Way to every answer. However, it amazes me that I could spend time with a husband and enjoy the fellowship or visit with his wife and enjoy the fellowship, but they cannot seem to spend one content hour together. Satan has so clouded the eyes of the believers that they only see the negatives and cannot see God. Amen, I understand the grief in women when they are living with a drunk, drug addict, child abuser, physical abuser, adulterer, and more (things Paul says that we ought not even talk about, and I am thankful that the Lord lets me sleep at night from some of the things I have heard). However, the things that I am hearing lately are completely petty. “You did not support me! You did not initiate intimacy, you do not court me, you only pick out the negatives, you do not support me with the children, you are someone different when we are out with others than at home, you are a fake as a believer, you do not pray with me, and you will not do what I ask you to do.“ Amen, every issue has some validity, but not grounds for bitterness, anger, hatred, emotional walls, and everything else that the believer is not to have even for an unbeliever! Is anyone ever ashamed of this behavior? There seems to be a genuine lack of communication among Christian couples; it has been replaced by a series of reactions. The world already offers us financial, social, and physical strain; do we want discord at home, too? Are we asking God, “What is the deal? What do You want me to do? Maybe I should hit the guy, and maybe I should love him.“ I do not know what God knows. I have been asking people to write, once each day for thirty days, something they love about their mates. They might last about ten days and then come up blank. However, they can write for sixty days all that is wrong with their mates. Attitude is everything. I believe that Jesus is coming, and therefore, no matter what happens in world politics, I am comforted. Do you believe that God brought your mate to reveal something in you? Let Him reveal the selfishness, the lack of love, the list keeping, the dissatisfaction that the flesh always harbors, and turn to Him. Get on your knees and say, “Jesus, what do You have for us? We are finished; we need a Source that lives outside us and inside us.” He is God, it is His responsibility, and He will come. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Do we think that He did not love our mates? Listen, His coming is near, and there are three things a marriage needs: communication, common goals, and intimacy. Ask Him to show you where you have gone astray. Honestly, you did not marry your mate because he/she was a complete ass! You did not take vows while looking forward to the day that you would despise seeing the other entering the room. Intimacy in communication and in the physical will break down all barriers. Brothers and Sisters, we are in a battle with a voice that just will not shut up. We will win, and we are those that conquer because of our Lord who already won. One deathblow to self-will brings a refreshing rain on the garden of your relationship. Please follow Christ, take up the cross, deny yourself, and let your marriage flourish.
Only One Faith
October 28, 2009 by admin
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6).
For years I would read the passage in Ephesians and attempt to discern what was the “one faith” of the Christians. I think I had read the passage so many times with a religious pair of glasses that I was missing the context. The “one faith” referred to is not the one faith among the many faiths in the world, but a statement of fact that there is but one faith, and everything else is a religion. The basic difference between faith and religion is that religion’s success will somehow end at the feet of the worshipper, whereas the success of faith ends at the feet of God. Hence, religion is all about man, and faith is all about God. Religious people are not exercising faith in God; just listen to them talk to realize that life for them revolves around their behavior, knowledge, or attitudes. Whether it be the piety of the Buddhist, the meditation of the Hindu, the gyrations of the Voodoo priest, the Law keeper, the candle (or incense) lighter, the kingdom builder, the “cutting edge” preacher, or the doctrinally correct, there exists between them the fellowship of the religious. Among them, too, a great lie is perpetrated that the exercise of their religion somehow either alters the very flesh of man or the plane of flesh on which all men live. Religious people have an appearance of godliness, as described by Paul to Timothy: “For men will be lovers of self . . . lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these.” Religious people define what form the godliness will take, so oddly enough they succeed at their own definition! Honestly, I have no vested interest in stating the obvious, but all religious people are failures. The adherents of humanism–which is one great competitor of faith–continue to take human beings’ less than 1% success at playing God and amplify it in their minds and communications until it looks more like 100%. Any of us could come up with a lengthy list of famous people that have been sainted beyond human recognition. Christians have done the same general distortion through stories and images of believers to the point that they would be unrecognizable to those that actually knew, lived, and worked with them. The saddest thing is that many, upon hearing of the exaggerated portrayal of a spectacular spiritual life, begin a lifelong journey to emulate the Christian, who in reality is non-existent. This imitating leads to the disastrous consequences of “acting religious” as they flesh out phony copies of the exalted. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Religious people, no matter what the religion, have fallen short of the glory of God. It is interesting that religious people will focus on certain aspects of religion that most cannot achieve in order to maintain their “position” in their manmade religion. Amen! There is one faith, and in that one faith God deals with man by putting success at His own feet. He gives an attainable faith, for God’s goal is to bring in as many as possible, while religion’s goal is to be as exclusive as possible. “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Paul, seeing the difference between the efforts of man that lead to religion and the work of God that leads to the one faith, rightly says, “Where then is the boasting?” “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” Religious people are like shadows that do not exist in the manner in which they would like to portray themselves. If there were one thing I would have changed in my early life as a Christian, it would have been to take all of the religious people and move them to the fringe of my life, keeping Christ in the center. In this one faith, there will be times of discouragement, failure, doubt, bewilderment, rebellious children, loneliness, outbursts of anger, walking in the flesh, and more. There will also be times of unspeakable joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, encouragement, faith that is mountain moving, and unwavering focus. We are unique creatures, half spirit and half flesh. Just as we walk on two legs we must, for now, walk in two realities, that of the flesh and that of the spirit. Religious people seem to want to go through life hopping, either on the leg called flesh and wanting everything that the visible world might offer, or on the leg called spirit, living a life of avoidance of the world. Did you know no revival has ever taken place around a monastery, whether Buddhist or Christian? We must be of the one faith, of those that see this physical world as one in which life with a small “l” will reveal and perfect Life with a capital “L.” The human being is not an accident, but is exactly what God wanted, for the physical must come before the spiritual. This earth, our bodies, our souls, and our spirits have a common goal: the revelation and choice of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Just as we bring a bit of heaven to earth, we will also take a bit of earth with us to heaven. Our minds will not go blank when we enter heaven. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.” When we enter heaven, we will remember and rejoice all the more in the Lamb that was slain.
What is the ALMI Organizational Structure?
October 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under About ALMI
Often we at ALMI are asked, “How can I become a part of this ministry?” Here is a secret: You already are a part of this ministry. ALMI does not strive to become that which is typically associated with being an international organization: methods, programs, buildings, and staff members. ALMI does not seek to create a kingdom. Instead, it recognizes the organism that already exists called the Vine and the branches. Imagine two separate branches in vases on a table, each trying to graft other branches onto themselves and both competing, but neither completing. The branches in the vases are recruiting to themselves. In contrast, now imagine two branches connected by the same Vine; though unique, both have the same Life flowing in them, creating a perfect completion. Christ is the Vine, and we are all connected to His organization and Kingdom, which is a living organism. We at ALMI are not recruiting but recognizing. Once a branch is recognized as having a like call and passion, we encourage that personal ministry by offering training and the free use of the materials. It is not our goal to add staff in the conventional sense, but to recognize staff throughout the world and support them as co-laborers. Because it is our conviction that with the call comes the physical provision, we recognize that a branch’s provision comes from the Vine, not ALMI. This has been a very effective approach over the years, since there are now hundreds of Vine-connected branches who have started their own self-supported ministries or stayed in their place of ministry to share the abiding life. We call this a WITH approach to ministry. One branch is neither above nor under another, but they minister WITH one another on the Vine. ALMI’s resources are not funneled into the physical realm of financially supporting staff and buildings, but rather are used specifically for training, the translation of materials, the publication and distribution of materials, and the hosting of conferences in developing countries.
How is ALMI supported?
October 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under About ALMI
I was visiting an old saint when he was asked a question by a visitor, “What are your financial needs?” The old man paused, stared, and responded, “Why? Did God tell you to give me something? If God told you to give me something, and I were a millionaire, you should give it. If God didn’t tell you to give me something, and I am naked and starving, you shouldn’t give me anything. The most important thing is that you listen to God and do what He tells you.” I learned a lot from that man that day, and that is the policy we follow at Abiding Life Ministries International. It’s been our conviction over the years that God gives us supporters as opposed to our recruiting them, and He gives us, in turn, to the supporters. It has been a miracle how He has multiplied the ministry over the years through those on our support team’s hearing Him and giving a gift at the perfect time. I also follow John Wesley’s advice that the people deserve to know what the need is and at the same time be left alone to hear God. To that end, once each year we send out a short letter that tells of the needs of the coming year with a trip report detailing the activities in another country. This is the only reference to funds that is made in the course of a year. If you would like to receive that package, please e-mail your name and physical address.
Abiding Life Ministries International operates as a 501 (c) (3) organization. All donations are tax-deductible and will be receipted in such a way as to indicate that “no benefits were received by the donor in exchange for the gifts referenced above other than intangible religious benefits
Living to Man!
October 8, 2009 by Mike Wells
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
Proverbs 29:25-26, The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted. Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.
Living to and for men is one of the worst kinds of bondage, for anyone living to man cannot live to God, the Giver of freedom. We have a saying, “I love you, but I do not live to you. I live to God.” I will again preach of my own weakness: I determined some time ago that I would no longer meet with politicians. Why? I always compromise! I have met wicked men in places of authority and found myself compromising. The men should have been rebuked. If Jesus did not go to the “leaders” in His day, then what business do I have going? There is just something about being in the presence of image that shakes me. It is my weakness; I am sure some can withstand it, but I cannot. I end up living for man.
There are several ways to live for man: giving glory, taking glory, giving judgment, receiving judgment, showing partiality because of worldly resources, groveling at the image or position of “greatness,” discussing man’s “secret” failings, refusing to ask a question, avoiding a confrontation, or reacting to criticism. I have done it all, and I tell you it is a miserable way to live. What makes it so miserable is the awareness that there is another way to live, free from man-pleasing; however, this freedom comes through faith. We must believe completely and unreservedly that we have a God who provides for us in every way, financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We must believe that He opens doors, provides the way, and gives us wisdom. We must believe that He gives us everything needed, and that in Him we will find everything that we have looked for elsewhere in vain.
For it is only in seeing that God meets all our needs that we are free from the root of living for men, that root being the belief that man can provide something that we need. If assurance, significance, value, and worth come from God, what does man have to offer? If man has nothing to provide that we need–no praise, position, nor possession–then we are free not to live to man. Again, living for the approval of man has at its root the belief that man can give us something that God will not. Therefore, we compromise our own eternal goal to get something perishable, even though what man offers always seems to come at a high price. When we live to men, we must ask ourselves what their favor will give us: our name on a piece of paper, a conversational piece of name-dropping that will elevate us when in a social setting, a job interview, or their approval over our work? Once we move in faith toward the Provider of all, we will be free, free indeed. It is great to trust God and not trust man, it is beautiful to acknowledge that God provides, and it is wonderful to let the heart become a graveyard for criticism because of the understanding that people’s praise would not fill the void that only Christ can fill. Now, some will say, “Then we can be hermits; we do not need men!” Not at all! We need them to love.
Satan and His Children
October 8, 2009 by Mike Wells
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
A lie can produce physical symptoms in a person.
“The father of lies”
I was being told of many people in Africa, believers and unbelievers alike, who suffered afflictions put on them by demons. I can understand a demon’s dwelling in an unbeliever; however, nowhere does any writer of the New Testament–despite dealing with a variety of sins, behaviors, and problems—refer to the casting out of demons as a way of deliverance for a believer. Paul had to deal with immorality, idol worship, and all the deeds of the flesh. His solution was to point people back to Jesus. Here there are visible signs of demonic attack among many of the believers: wounds, sores, and a variety of ailments that have beset them because of the demonic. However, I don’t think Satan is the primary cause of such oppression. Satan is the father of lies. When a father and mother divorce, the father is given a piece of paper that gives him the legal right to visit his children. A lie is Satan’s child; if you invite in a lie, Satan has the legal right to come and visit it. A lie can produce physical symptoms in a person. This is most obvious in the Aboriginal culture of Australia, wherein a witch doctor can “point the bone” at a man and the bone will start to grow in the man until it kills him. Doctors, though, have found a solution; they will give the man a local anesthesia, make a large cut, put on butterfly stitches, and give the man some unrelated random piece of bone as if it had been removed. At that the man gets well. The man had received a lie that manifested itself in physical symptoms that would lead to death. The same is taking place in Africa. Remove the lie and both Satan and the physical symptoms will leave. The lie that needs to be removed is that Satan has more power than God. The people have been taught this through parents, culture, and experience, and they have received it. Because of this false concept of God, the lie is received that Satan can harm the elect, a lie that is used by the enemy to steal joy, confidence, and victory. I would recommend that the focus on Satan might be removed and all such lies invited out, so the Christ within can flow freely to fill the void, and the father of lies can have no legal right to visit. Some believers focus on Satan and deliverance for the removal of the symptoms, and it is better to get deliverance from the source of all freedom, which is Christ. It is important that we all guard against any part of the lie that Christ is weak. Again, the revelation of the truth of Christ will fill the void left when the lie leaves, and the symptoms will go.
Identify the Enemy!
October 8, 2009 by Mike Wells
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
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.
What is the Flesh?
October 8, 2009 by Mike Wells
Filed under Articles by Mike Wells
No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus.
Job 34:15, “All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.” John 1:13, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
No one will be born of the will of the flesh. It is impossible. For in the flesh are the senses of man that constantly need feeding. One may think of them as instinct gone amuck. Senses in the body are given attention either by pain or reward, feeding or starving, or consciously avoiding or obsessing on. Either way it is in being activated that they are kept alive and in charge. The greater truth is that the senses want to be activated; the lesser truth is how they are activated, which is by eating from the tree of good and evil. The desire for food (wish fulfillment or fantasy) will keep senses alive just as much as condemnation from eating too much. Look at the anorexic or observe the obese, and both scream “flesh in control.” An overwhelming desire for sex or the condemnation of looking at porno both scream that the flesh has regained control. Thinking of oneself as intelligent or stupid are both still flesh. Again, flesh is simply the senses in control. The east denies the flesh in an attempt to appease it and the west feeds it in an attempt to appease it. Of course, the west doesn’t have a choice in that nothing is enough to satisfy it, nor does the east really choose, since there is ultimately no way to withhold from the flesh. Nevertheless, the flesh is flesh and is hostile to God. Now, why does flesh desire to be in control? It is because flesh desires man to be flesh-centered. If man becomes Christ-centered, the senses of flesh would not be fed but would be sublimated to Christ. The flesh can never be more than a slave, and a rebellious one at that, for by the works of the flesh will no flesh be justified. No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus. The flesh constantly screams for attention and has a thousand methods at its disposal to get it. Believers and non-believers alike have flesh. The saddest thing is to witness someone who has abandoned his will to flesh. Like a tick, flesh will feed until it explodes and destroys itself. I meet many Christians that struggle with the sin of homosexuality but are not homosexual, and if you were to meet them, you would never guess what their particular deed of the flesh is. However, meet someone who has, by choice, yielded to that area of the flesh, and it is evident in his or her body. Just a few minutes with that person reveal to what they have yielded their flesh. Now, why would God put us in flesh? I am not talking about a physical body, but the desires of the senses that reside in the physical body. Well, it has been said that the greatness of a man is not determined by what he does but rather by what he refuses to do. The man who feeds his flesh through adventure and the procession of praise for victory or the mockery for defeat is not as great a man as he who says, “Not my will but Thy will be done.” Having flesh and its senses allows man the unique opportunity of choice, of living on the earth but not being of the earth, of living to God and not to senses, and the discovery of something higher in this life, spiritual fulfillment. Flesh, or rather the call of the senses to stay alive, is a constant reminder that we must move our eyes to Jesus. It is another stronghold allowing us to stay focused. If God is for us, then who can be against us? Again, the flesh is never a friend; you may buffet it and make it a slave, but it will never be a friend. The flesh is a strange thing in that it cannot live on its own but must live on something that is living. It adapts to resemble the thing on which it lives, but it isn’t really a living thing. When man dies, the fleshly condition of the man dies. It is weird.
