For the remnant of God in the Western World
Apr. 16, 2017
I had a death experience (being out of the body for 3 days) after Easter time in 2004. I was baptized by the Holy Spirit in a small bedroom.
It happened before my water baptism. It took many years for me to fully to reconcile my understanding with the living operation of God unto me in person. Inevitably I had to learn to rise up in order to break off the man-made religious chains imposed by others. I began to understand that many were merely speculating God’s ways, often build their understanding based on their imaginations or on limited personal experiences, rather than being truly “taught by God”. This tendency of many, even devout and gifted ones, is often a sign of spirtual stagnation and poverty.
Few years later, a brother and I took a walk on a trail by Lake Austin. We found few little chicks in the grass. On the way, I was discussing with him about the cry of Jesus over Jerusalem:
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Matthew 23:29-37,39
https://www.bible.com/111/MAT.23.29-37,39
We had no idea that day was Easter. But I remember the impact of the power of the Holy Spirit. I began to firstly detect and appreciate what spititual darkness means and what it can do to God’s people. It always leads to “crucify the Lord AGAIN”, as the author of Hebrews puts it.
This year, I had a terrible time leading to Easter. For about 3 days, it was as if I was buried inside a grave. How my peace and confidence in God was disrrupted by my powerlessness against my sinful nature and the on-slaught of evil! In the thickness of the struggle, I felt very much defeated and extremely discouraged. In my desperation, I cried to God to take me away and be released from the groaning and the burdens of life.
Upon waking up from this “death”, while earnestly seeking the Lord for the whys, the Lord started to enlighten and encourage me (in paraphrase):
“Don’t not be troubled, my son, my good servant. You have tasted fully the bitterness of the power of sin and death. Now, arise! For the power of death will never overtake you again. “
“I have given you the keys of death and Hades.”
This morning, prior to the meeting. The Lord spoke this into my spirit:
“Today, the Ark is revealed (in your midst).”
For now it is a time of scattering of those who are meant to be scattered, but what is coming is the time of In-Gathering of God’s holy remnant. This is the very time I had been waiting through all these years. The time God and all His saints has been waiting across the ages.
Now we will turn to the “gentiles”. Let him who has ear, let him hear!
Scriptures:
Hades:
Psm. 118; Rev. 1:18
Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:27;
Num. 7:16; Lev. 5:6;
Luk. 16:19-31; Rev 6:8; Rev. 20:14;
Ark:
Exod. 40
Rev: 11
Isa. 8-11
