EARLY MORNING MANNA

We here at Rivers in The Desert Fellowship are still basking in the glory haze of our Sunday night’s Chanukah Celebration at our congregation here in Atlanta, GA.! We danced and celebrated into the late night about all that Abba is doing and going to do in these upcoming days! Here is a brief excerpt of what the precious Holy Spirit is unveiling unto us in this hour thru the observance of this festive occasion!

By just opening up your Bibles to John chapters 9, 10, and 11, you can get a macro overview of what our Messiah Jesus was teaching right before and during The Chanukah Feast of Dedication. What is so interesting about these chapters is that they contain some of the most frequently claimed and quoted Scripture verses in today’s modern church circles…but unfortunately, are so micro-managed they are diluted from what our Messiah Jesus is truly saying!

(I want to know emphatically what Jesus is truly saying! I do not like diluted and watered-down things! And I know that all of us are crying out, “Where is the Beef!?” When for the most part what we are being taught in today’s popular Christian ministries is so milkish and unbiblical. So OK! Let’s go for it you’all and not wait around for the blind leaders of the blind to lead us right into false prophet’s prison camp! Get your Bibles open now and get ready for some real BEEF from just one popular verse!)

The first thing in Biblical interpretation is to find the context and audience that is being addressed. We must retool our thinking that Jesus is speaking Aramaic and Hebrew to mainly observant Jewish people (not Greeks) at this time period of the 2nd Temple and there is much political activism going on that desires to overthrow the pagan control structure of the Roman Empire from Jerusalem. It was during this Feast time that remembrance was made of the former miraculous overthrow of the pagan Greek empire from Jerusalem and its environs by the Maccabees in the 2nd century B.C.. So with this zeal building in the people (i.e. zealots and other religious factions) who think they truly want the glory of God to come back and no longer be interrupted in their Temple services…they have now put the Roman Legions in Jerusalem in their cross hairs and are expecting the same miraculous results that the early Maccabees enjoyed! These people are seriously radical and are courageous enough to take on the entire Roman Empire! To them it is all about the dedication of the Temple back to it’s former state as it was in the days of Solomon when the glory and fire fell (2 Chron. 7:1-3). For this is the DNA resident in every Jewish person…we want to see your Glory O’ Lord (see Romans 9:4)! What zeal and drive!!!!

So here is the seemingly good intentions of Torah observant Jews who want to courageously overthrow the pagan Roman jurisdiction over the Temple. But have made this tragic mistake…they have sanctioned and ordained the same means in which they were whereby also conquered previously..and it is thru stealing, killing, and destroying…(see John 10:10)!

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life abundantly.”

Now I know that this above verse is very popular in the current demonology and other apologetic classes of today’s modern church circles explaining that the devil is behind these acts of violence and ruthless lawlessness. And I agree! However, the context warrants a much different interpretation of this text and I believe it will give you some real encouragement and insight into where we are all heading in these days of God rebuilding His later house of Glory!

The overall context of this statement is embedded and cannot be lifted out and divorced from the rest of what Jesus is saying to those who are zealous for the glory of God! Yes, we can secondarily include that the thief here is satan (lucifer) who has come to steal, kill and destroy. Yes, we can also secondarily include that the pagan worship of Caesar Augusts and his evil Roman legions have also come to steal, kill and destroy. But this is not the IMMEDIATE context of what Jesus is saying! The Lord is saying that the thief and robbers are actually the Zealous Religious Leaders who want to restore the Temple back to it’s original glory! They are the ones who have come to kill, steal, and destroy! (Why is it so hard for believers to see this? Why are so many believers equating the Love walk with being naive!?)

But you may say mercifully and compassionately for the sake of unity, “Wait a minute there brother Scott, are you saying that Jesus is talking of good leaders who have a desire for the glory of God but using other means to that end are akin to thieves, robbers, and murderers?” Yes….

…Let me explain this by just having you simply read John chapter 10 (do it now). You will notice after reading this chapter that Jesus is saying during this time of the Feast of Dedication that there is only one door and only one true shepherd. All others are hirelings, thieves and robbers! The context of who are these hirelings and robbers are the religious and political establishment of people who have good intentions to see the glory of God return to the Temple…but are going about other means (i.e. doors) to achieve this goal. They have been deceived into believing that “the end justifies the means”!

Now fast forward to the year 2005 in the Industrialized “Christian” nations…. Is this not what we are hearing from church leaders in this hour that it is OK to use other extra-biblical means to attract people to our Sunday services? Is this not what is being said because they think getting people to pray a prayer at the altar (the end )justifies their postmodern incorporation of business and seeker sensitive marketing approaches (the means). Oh yeah, you will sit down privately with these MCS (modern congregational system) leaders, they will verbally agree about the need to see the glory of God and sound so Pentecostal and Charismatic in their devotional lives… (I met them all the time folks). But when it comes to conducting their Sunday services and ministries, they have another zeal, and it is to introduce and use other secular means and/or the emerging themes of liturgy and symbols to attract “seekers”. (It is funny because God says in Romans 2 that there is none that seek God…So Who/what really are these seekers…seeking?)

After re-reading the words of Jesus this Chanukah season in John chapter 10…I have no other recourse but to boldly start proclaiming that these leaders who talk of the glory but do not follow thru into the glory realm are the very hirelings, thieves, and robbers Jesus warned us about that have come to kill, steal, and destroy! They are satan’s ambassadors in this hour! Just like the zealots and religious groups of Jesus’ day…they want to see the glory of God and the restoring of the 10 commandments and the Temple in all it’s glory! They say they want to see the removal of paganism and the sound of beautiful worship back into the Temple…but the love of money and the love of numbers (i.e. nickles and noses) has driven them unceasingly into becoming thieves, robbers, and hirelings! And when the wolf comes (i.e. satan) to devour the herding sheep and lambs, they flee and do not really have the faith to stand for the glory of God during the testings and thus be able to led the sheep into deep sustaining waters of the Spirit realm! They are fear and money-based and have lost sight of the true good shepherd and do not know how to go thru the glory door (The Real Jesus) into the true nourishing green pastures of The Holy Spirit!

So who are the true Shepherds that are the true doors that follow in the footsteps of the True Shepherd Jesus?

Well dear bothers and sisters, that is a whole other topic that I will bring up in our next upcoming revival meetings in January of 2006…but let me give you a clue…. Jesus in the context of talking about the Good Shepherd also talked about The Door (John 10:7). What is the door? It is the entrance into the glory realm (see Revelation 4:1-)! Therefore, the only true shepherds we should be following are those who are shepherding and feeding people from the glory realm on the other side of this door! All leaders who use other means to feed the people on this earthly side of the door are hirelings and thieves!!!! Have you noticed how many warnings there is in the Scriptures about leaders who do not lead people into (the door) of the glory realm! It is amazing and unrelenting! (i.e. Ezekiel 34 Jeremiah 14, Isaiah 3 et cetera).

…Selah and think about these warnings in this Hanukkah hour of the rededication of the House of God! And who the enemy is using incognito to really steal , kill, and destroy!

In His Service for you faith,

Scott

PS, This is our mission you fellow specialists…keep drinking the new wine to kill the pain of letting go of the past for the goal of the higher call! This is what your Gideon 300 gifts are all about!