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Archive for May, 2014

What spirit are you of?

Posted by appolus on May 28, 2014

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luk 9:51-56)

What spirit were the disciples displaying in their zeal for the Lord? Is it not true that zealous men are often proud men? You see here we see what many today would have regarded as a virtue but in fact was a sensual earthly wisdom that led directly against the Spirit of God. Do you wish to call fire down upon your modern-day enemies? Homosexuals? Abortionists? Muslims? Do you incite others to do the same? What spirit are you of? Are you a son of God and a peace-maker? I have heard men who will endlessly recount gory details of martyrs. Now, what spirit is that of? Does it stir up within the hearer a Godliness and a love for their enemies? Perhaps the teller of such stories would say that he was only trying to wake people up from their slumbers? This is why I love the story of Algerius , the martyr from 1557. I have told that story countless times and never once gave the actual gory details of his three years of torture, enough to know that he was burned to death in the end. What spirit would I raise up in men and women by recounting the horrors of his years of torture?

No, just like the story of Stephen, the focus of the story is not the individual blows and what was happening to the flesh, the focus of the story is the visions each men were having, the encounter they were having with the living God thus proving the word that He would never leave us nor forsake us and that when the enemy comes in like a flood that He would raise up a standard within us. This is glorifying to God. Religious men always focus on the flesh, it is entirely their focus when recounting stories. And why? Because they are of the flesh, this is what spirit they are of. Flesh cannot discern spirit and indeed wars against it. Some men raise the spirits of others to look up to the glories of God, other men feed the fears and the paranoia and disgusts of the flesh and this in turn breeds mistrust and hatred. Religious men abound today and have found fertile ground in cultures that are in steep decline. Beware brothers and sisters, do not get caught up in this spirit. The Spirit of God encourages us to love more, especially those who are most un-loveable and yet in their sin. The spirit of man encourages fear and hatred and mistrust and all the while disguises it as a virtue and a service to God. What spirit are you of ?

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

As the Deer

Posted by appolus on May 27, 2014

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As I walk each morning I am always on the lookout for deer. It is a heavily forested area I walk through and so it can be difficult to see anything. Of course you could walk at dusk or dawn and increase your chance of seeing them, but you just never know. I was walking the other day and looking into the foliage and suddenly realized that I was looking right at the deer and she was looking right back at me. It was as if just one second before she was invisible but then she just appeared before my very eyes and I wondered how I did not see her before. The whole time my grandson was visiting me a few weeks ago, I was desperate for him to see a deer. I took him at the right time and the right places but we never saw one.

I thought about the manifest presence of God. I thought about seeking God. I thought about the wind and how we never know where it will blow next. It seems to me this is the way with God. If I only walked every now and again, or gave up walking because I never saw deer, it is likely that I would never see the deer. Yet, because I walk every day and seek every day, all of a sudden, there is the deer right there, looking at me. As it is with the deer, so it is with God. He is looking for those who will search diligently for Him, in fact the word says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And the reward? To come into His presence. To ” know,” that He knows you, that He sees you, that He is watching over you. May our souls long after Him today and every day and if they do, all of a sudden, there He is.

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »

We would see Jesus!

Posted by appolus on May 21, 2014

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Leave a Comment »

The Black Dot or the White Canvas?

Posted by appolus on May 16, 2014

When I was a younger man I went to an art museum and wandered around. I loved the paintings of portraits and landscapes and anything that captured a scene. In a very real sense these paintings were snapshots, photographs if you like, capturing a moment in time and space. I have never cared much for modern art though, although I like splashes of color with oils. I came to a painting that has stayed with me. It made me mad. It was a painting of a black dot in the middle of a large white canvas. Just a very tiny black dot. Yet oh how it grabbed the attention of bespectacled rich looking people. I thought how nice it must be, thinking satirically of course, to have the time to stand about , index finger and thumb on chin, and mull over the meaning of the black dot. I imagined the painter(probably dead) of the black dot laughing somewhere about how easy it was to pull the wool over the eyes of people with more money than sense. It was hanging in a well know gallery so I assumed it was worth a lot of money. A lot of money for a black dot. The height of pretension I thought.

It is only as I have gotten older that the painting has begun to make more sense to me. Here is this large beautiful white canvas with one single tiny black dot in the middle but all of the focus is on the black dot. I have known so many people over the years, that despite all the good things in their lives, they have all of their attention on the black dot. Despite the fact that it is so tiny, it dominates the canvas. For the Christian the white canvas is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is eternal salvation, it is our husbands and wives, our children, the food on the table, the clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads and a warm bed to sleep in. We have all these things but if we are not careful, this one percent, this tiny dot can draw all of our attention away from the huge white canvas of our lives.

Can I ask you a question. Do you focus on the black dot? Is there a disproportionate focus on the things that you do not have rather than a thankful focus on what you do have? Admittedly some people’s dots are bigger than others,but when you lay down your head and get ready to take your final breath, will you be able to look back on your life and know that you focused on the white canvas of your life? What you see with the eye affects every part of who you are. What do you see? Out of the heart of the thankful man flows rivers of love and joy and peace. He can see the beauty in life even in the rain. He can love because he sees the best in others. He can forgive because he can see the potential for reconciliation. He has peace in the midst of storms because His eye is fixed on something bigger than the storm. He has joy because no matter the circumstances of his life he has access to the throne-room, he can see God high and lifted up, his eyes have seen the glory of God. When you look at this world do you see what motivated God to send His only Son for the who-so-ever? Only with these eyes can one love as God loves.  What do you see?

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34) 

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 7 Comments »

Buckets of Living waters

Posted by appolus on May 15, 2014

I have met two groups of people in my life. The first group is small. They have wisdom and understanding. They draw from a deep well placed within their hearts by God Himself. From there they bring their buckets of water and if you desire more they simply draw again from the limitless source placed within them. The second larger group have buckets of water too. Within these buckets are knowledge. The contents of their buckets they have gleaned over the years from other men and from their own wisdom. Some may even have more than one bucket. But when these buckets are spilled out and shared, there is nothing left. These men have no eternal resources within themselves. They have to begin again and collect from those who do. These men are shallow and two dimensional. They do not have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. They only have ears to hear what other men are saying. Second hand information is a cheap commodity in a day and age where one more quote is merely a touch of the finger away. To know God and to hear His voice is to swim in a perpetual sea that has no end. That which flows from the throne through the saints to the hearers is recognized by the hearers as touching God.

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Swing the Sword

Posted by appolus on May 15, 2014

Sometimes it seems like I am permanently out of my depth
And situations often seem to be completely over my head
How good it is to fall back upon the Lord
Shut my eyes, take His hand and simply be led

Walking into the wind and the rain
Every step it seems is marred with pain
Swimming up the river in a perpetual spring time flow
Seems to be the way that I must go

Stand and fight or fall onto your knees
Swim with all your might or drown in stormy seas
Get up from bloody battle-fields
With your face into the rain
Swing your sword with all your might
Then swing your sword again

Time and again and wave after wave
The enemy rushes in
And all around the battle-field
You are surrounded by deadly sin

Did you think you’d walk in meadows
Ye soldiers of the cross?
You may not have reckoned for the fight
And that you would suffer loss

The suffering of these present times
Of those the Spirit’s sealed
Cannot compare to what’s ahead
And the glories there revealed

Stand up, stand up stand up my child
Stand up in Christ alone
Lift up your eyes ye Royal priest
And see God’s awesome throne

You are more than a conqueror In Christ your King
Nothing can separate you, not anything
From the glories of heaven and from the reward
For those who stand and swing the sword

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »

Emnity between the Spirit and the flesh

Posted by appolus on May 14, 2014

I have discovered that men who are zealous for other men tend not to be partakers in the freedom that was wrought for us by Jesus. The irony I have found is that those most zealous for the law and the lifting up of men, are typically lawless. The fulfiller of the law must be relegated by those who would be under the law and so they are lawless, for the Lord is Lord of all. Lawless men in bondage are destined to always be the sworn enemies of those who walk in the freedom of Christ. Jealousy always lies at the heart of the matter, whether Cain with Abel or Saul with David or the Pharisees with Jesus. Those who have the legitimacy of the world and it’s systems , detest those who have the anointing of God. It has always been that way and there can be no other way for there is enmity between the things of the world and God.

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Leave a Comment »

The Story of The Church- Arthur Wallis

Posted by appolus on May 11, 2014

This article was originally written as a ‘Special Introduction’ to a reprint of Frank Bartleman’s ‘What Really Happened At Azusa Street?’ renamed ‘Another Wave Rolls In’ published by Voice Publications (USA) in 1962. It is included here as one of the earliest documents we have found that shows the seminal vision of a ‘restored church’ enjoying both recovered truth and the power of the Holy Spirit before Jesus returns.

Arthur Wallis, of Exeter, England, is a son of the late Captain Reginald Wallis and author of the well-known books, In the Day of Thy Power and God’s Chosen Fast. This article is taken from a booklet en­titled, “Revival and Reformation of the Church” which in cooperation with the author we have adapted and expanded.

I deem the principles set forth in this article and Kokichi Kurosaki’s book, One Body in Christ, the most important and strategic message we have published. It is one thing to be right with God and enjoy a real measure of personal communion with Him. It is quite another to understand His greater purposes and let our personal ex­perience be properly related to that all-inclusive end.

John Myers, President
Voice Publications

The story of the Church by Arthur Wallis………….

“Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:18,19 RSV

In relation to this theme of revival and spiritual re­covery, let us first survey the past, then view some of the significant trends of the present, and finally say a word about the prospects of the future.

THE PAST

If we are to understand what God is doing in these days—if we are to perceive His “new thing” for our day—we need to study the past. Not merely from history books, with their limited human viewpoint, but we must study history as we have light cast upon it by the Spirit through God’s Holy Word.

Let us take a brief panoramic survey of the work of God’s Spirit in the years that are past. As we scan the centuries let us try to discover the principles on which God has been operating. What has He really been after during the years of the Church’s history? This is impor­tant, for what God is doing today can only be rightly understood as we grasp the pattern of what He has been doing down through the centuries.

Obviously this is a large subject which could occupy volumes, but here we wish simply to point out what has been the master-strategy behind the successive quickenings of the Spirit that have blessed the Church in the past. In a word, we want to show that every wave of spiritual blessing has not only had in view the immediate renewal of spiritual life in that generation, but also the recovery of spiritual truth. That is, that in all the great spiritual movements through the years, the Lord has been seeking to recover lost truth and bring His people back to orig­inal Apostolic Christianity.

This reformation, or “recovery,” aspect of God’s moving through the centuries is unmistakable—and usu­ally has been a balancing thrust in one or the other of two directions. Since truth and experience are insepara­ble and must be in balance if either is to reach its divine objective, we see the Lord moving either to emphasize doctrine and principle, or and fullness of life and power.

But whatever may be the emphasis or particular truth or phase of experience involved, in the mind and purpose of God there has always been but one final ob­jective in view. That objective is a Church—washed by the water of the Word of God—which shall fully experi­ence and fully express Christ, not only in the earth but in the whole universe.

But let us go back and trace through history this principle in action.

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The American Saints

Posted by appolus on May 5, 2014

Here is my firm belief. There is perhaps 20-30 million genuine saints in America. This may only represent 10 percent of professing Christians but it is still a huge number. I believe that is why every time I come back from a trip over-seas I know there is something different about this land. Now, it’s not the land nor the myth nor the dream, it is the saints. I thank God in heaven above for the saints of America who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God bless my brothers and sisters who have refused to bow down to the gods of this world. What an amazing thing it is to dwell for so many generations in Babylon and still belong, heart and soul, to our King Jesus. Now the darkness may be increasing in the land, but only because the shades of grey and dimness have given themselves over fully to the darkness that has always been alluring to them. Now the true light, like stars in the heaven, begin to shine out brilliantly as the competing human lights are blacked out. Even one small candle on a dark night, with unobstructed view, can be seen for almost seven mile’s , one small candle!!! Now imagine the greatest darkness there has ever been and think how 20-30 million candles will shine to the glory of God!!!!

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Counterfeit Kingdom

Posted by appolus on May 2, 2014

Many know that after the sin of Solomon, the Kingdom was divided into two parts, there was the ten tribes to the north, Israel, and the two tribes to the south, Judah. Now in the broadest terms, we can see two kingdoms today. There is Christendom, which for our example is representative of Israel to the north, and there is God’s remnant Church, Judah to the south.

Now Israel had a king and his name was Jeroboam. Jeroboam had a big problem. Jerusalem, the city that houses the Temple of God and His presence was in the south in the land of Judah. Jeroboam’s solution? He creates two golden calves and houses them in two cities, one called Bethel and the other was called Dan. There the people came to bow down and worship the ” god,’ that took them out of Egypt. This form of worship had their own priests and prophets and system of worship which mixed the elements of the truth with idolatrous practices. It was indeed an abomination to God.

What is the comparisons between Jeroboam’s Israel and modern-day Evangelicalism or Christendom? Well, the divided Israel was separated from the presence of God. By sin and error it had been separated from access to the presence of God. And its solution was to set up alternative, counterfeit places of worship where the central aspect of worship was the golden calves. Modern day Christendom by sin and error is separated from the presence of God. And what is the solution of modern-day Christendom? Rather than seek out the genuine presence of God, it merely bows down to idols of Gold and indulges in a counterfeit worship , a man-made, man centered from of worship.

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Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »