This is a continuation of the prophetic word posted earlier...

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Dead bones strewn about

At the top of her prophetic word, sister Weir makes a reference to chapters Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 8. In the previous posting, we studied Isaiah 8. Let us now look at Jeremiah 8:

The believers within the Church are following after ministers whose "spiritual bones" are dried up and dead. In Jeremiah 8:2, the Lord again lists five attitudes that believers have towards their "leaders":

1. They love them

2. They serve them

3. They walk after them

4. They seek after them

5. They worship them

The word "loved" in Jeremiah 8:2 was translated from the Hebrew verb ahab, and the word "served" was translated from the verb abad. The first verse in Scripture in which these 2 verbs appear together is verse 18 of the following passage:

"¹⁵And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be? ¹⁶And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. ¹⁸And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter." (Genesis 29:15-18)

When you do a detailed comparison of Genesis chapters 24 and 29, it becomes evident that Jacob's surrender to Rachel is a figure of how the Church surrendered under the domination of the pastoral ministry. The first time that Rachel appears on the scene, she is described as a pastor:

"And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them" (Genesis 29:9)

[In the original Hebrew text, the end of this verse reads, "... for she was a shepherdess". The Hebrew word for "shepherdess" can also be translated as "pastor". Therefore, the end of this verse really says, "... for she was a pastor"]

When Jacob saw Rachel, he immediately ran to serve her:

"¹⁰And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept." (Genesis 29:10-11)

Since "man" is a figure of the "spirit" and "woman" is a figure of the "soul", this passage is a spiritual figure of how man allowed his spirit to become subservient to his soul. Therefore, it is a figure of the cursed soul preeminence on which the pastoral matriarchy is founded.

As we have said before, kisses in Scripture are a figure of "soul contact" or "soul communion", which Canaanites place an inordinate emphasis on. When Jacob kissed Rachel (v11), Jacob was declaring that the pleasure of soul communion with Rachel was so important that it was worth sacrificing his spiritual calling. This "meaningless" kiss caused Jacob years upon years of pointless work and suffering, which ended when he was finally able to seize back his spiritual calling (Genesis 32:22-31).

In the original Hebrew text, Genesis 29:17 says that Rachel was of "beautiful shape and beautiful appearance" (the KJV translators simply translated it as "beautiful and well favoured"). Her beautiful "shape" is a figure of the Canaanite spirit's appeal, since the Canaanite spirit prompts people to shape golden-calf gods to their own taste and liking, without regard for God's truth and judgments. Rachel's beautiful "appearance" is a figure of the Girgashite spirit's appeal, since the Girgashite spirit prompts people to value things based on external, visible factors. Therefore, Rachel was a physical representation of the two distorted "female" ministries (Canaanite pastors and Girgashite teachers).

Because of the deceitful beauty of the "female" ministries (especially the pastoral ministry), believers who are not in the Spirit are prone to falling in love with them, just like Jacob when he beheld Rachel. This is the first of the 5 "distorted attitudes" that the Lord mentions in Jeremiah 8:2. And, just like Jacob (Genesis 29:18), "soulish" believers are quick to "serve" the pastoral leaders whom their souls love. Jacob labored for 14 years to finally marry Rachel, and he labored many more years under Laban's manipulative control before he could finally break free. As we have said before, the Girgashite spirit turns people into workaholics who restlessly pressure themselves day and night as they fight to achieve meaningless earthly goals. Therefore, Jacob's tireless (but purposeless) work to acquire Rachel is a figure of the Girgashite influence on Jacob's life. Instead of relying upon spiritual weapons to marry the right woman, Jacob used human effort to acquire the woman he wanted.

Once a believer has come to ...

1. ... love the Canaanite-pastoral ministry and

2. ... serve under Girgashite-teacher oppression,

the foundation is laid for the perversion of any "male-ministry" quality in him or her:

1. Jebusite perversion

   Since the believer is now under the domination of the 2 "female" ministries and is no longer fully connected to the Spirit of God, he or she is quick to follow the laws and principles laid out by apostles "gone Jebusite". This is what Jeremiah 8:2 calls, "walking after them". This is when believers start to walk down paths of "semi-truths" and distorted human judgments, instead of walking down the path of God's Truth and Judgments. At this point, the believer's ability to make sound apostolic judgments in God's wisdom is nullified.

    

2. Hittite perversion

   Once the believer loses the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, he or she will be quick to seek after misguided prophetic word. The word "sought" in Jeremiah 8:2 was translated from the Hebrew verb darash, which can also be translated as "to enquire, to consult". Therefore, it speaks of believers who consult misguided "ministers" and who are not able to distinguish between true and false prophetic word. They allow themselves to be fully guided by the "ministers'" words, instead of consulting with the Holy Spirit. It is not inherently wrong to seek another person for advice, but we must always verify whether or not the Holy Spirit "gives witness" to anything we hear from others. Otherwise, we become susceptible to Hittite spirits of deceit, which are quick to pervert our prophetic senses.

    

3. Amorite perversion

   Once we are apostolically blind to God's judgments and prophetically blind to God's visions, we will be quick to bow before any Amorite giant who stands before us. This is what Jeremiah 8:2 refers to when it speaks of believers "worshipping them".

    

To summarize, the 5 steps that believers take towards slavery under Amorites are as follows:

When you follow these 5 steps, you become the "unconditional slave" of people whose spiritual calling has long "died". When God's red horse appears, most people are at step #3, but those who refuse to reject Cain's "book of laws and judgments", and who refuse to separate themselves from him, go on to steps #4 and 5. In step #4, they begin to eat Balaam's "undead wheat" of emotional "religious experiences", and, in step #5, they begin to enjoy the "3M god's" barley. God's black horse then appears to devastate the followers of Balaam and to make them aware of the emptiness in the grace they have chosen to pursue, and that includes exposing the emptiness in the grace of the leaders whom they so adore.

In two of the 3 Balaam prophecies recorded in Scripture, Balaam started his prophecy with the following words:

"³And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: ⁴He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:" (Numbers 24:3-4)

The words "into a trance" in verse 4 were added by the King James translators and do not appear in the original text. Therefore, verse 4 should read, "... falling, but having his eyes open". In other words, Balaam knew of his falling spiritual condition, and he understood that, even as he fell, he was still able to exercise the prophetic gift which God had endowed him with. This shows that Balaam understood that he could operate on remnants of grace received in the past. After giving out the 3 prophecies in Numbers 23 and 24, Balaam eventually fell completely, and he became an instrument through whom the people of Israel fell as well (Numbers 25:1-2, Numbers 31:16). Therefore, Balaam is a figure of the "ministers" who have already been cast off by God but who continue operating on the remnants of a grace that "once was". Balaam is a "beautiful" whited sepulcher with dead bones inside, and the black horse comes to expose those dead bones for all to see. This is what happened in New Orleans after Katrina. As you may know, Katrina and its aftermath swept away many coffins from their cemeteries, causing them to float about the city. Katrina literally caused many dead bones to be strewn about.

According to Jeremiah 8:2, the remnants of the "grace that once was" in these Balaams is but "dung" upon the face of the earth. Even though that "dung" may entertain Balaam's followers, it is an abomination to God, and those who follow after that "dung" instead of following the true, righteousness-based grace that God offers are choosing "death" over "life" (Jeremiah 8:3). They are choosing to follow dead, fallen men rather than the God of righteousness and life. They are following zombies, men who refuse to die but who have already been decreed "dead" by God Himself. God then leaves these men physically "alive" in order to ensnare those who choose grace and power over truth and judgments (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Reporters who covered Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans said that the people who were wandering around New Orleans, without knowing where to go or what to do, looked like "zombies". Through Katrina, God revealed the spiritual condition of Balaam and those who follow him.

"I've fallen, and I won't get up"

Even to this day, New Orleans continues unrepentant about its wickedness, despite the devastation caused by Katrina and Rita. This is a manifestation of Cain-style stubbornness in Balaam and his followers. This makes sense, since Balaam is a "morphed" version of Cain.

"⁴Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? ⁵Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. ⁶I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." (Jeremiah 8:4-6)

Notice how verse 4 speaks of them "falling". This points to the falling Balaam mentioned above. Both Cain and Balaam were individuals who knew that they were "falling":

"⁶And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." (Genesis 4:6-7)

But even after their fall was "finalized", both Cain and Balaam refused to get up from their unrighteousness. In the same way, the people of New Orleans continue to feel proud about the sinful traditions of their city, and they wish that things were back to what they were before Katrina. This is why the Lord adds the following:

"Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD" (Jeremiah 8:7)

[The word "turtle" was translated from the Hebrew word towr meaning "dove, turtledove". In Old English, the word "turtle" could be used to refer to turtledoves.]

As we have said before, God's visitation always comes with judgment on the evil and salvation for the righteous. Therefore, it is not surprising that God speaks of "coming" and His "judgment" at the same time in the verse above. The Church does not know the God of judgments, and it refuses to know Him; this is the reason why the Church has yet to understand what the Lord's Second Coming is really all about.

When Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans, the Church quickly declared it an attack from "satan", without understanding that it was a judgment from God against the Hivite spirit of ease. The matriarchal Church does not understand that the time of the Lord's Coming is here, and it rejects all the judgments that come with that visitation. In churches across the world, many continue to sing, "Jesus, come", but, then, when He reveals Himself as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as the Yeshua with the "eyes of fire" and a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth (as He did when He revealed Himself to John --- Revelation 1:12-17), the very same people who were singing "Jesus, come" rebuke Him as if He were the devil himself. Cursed be those within the Church who reject the true Messiah and who are proactively hindering His manifestation (1 Corinthians 16:21-22, Romans 1:16-32), for He is a God whose very nature is inherently righteous and holy, and no amount of pastoral pandering will ever change that.

The 4 ignorant birds

There is a spiritual significance to each of the 4 animals mentioned in Jeremiah 8:7 above:

1. The stork

   The word "stork" was translated from the Hebrew word chaciydah, which is derived from the word checed meaning "mercy". Therefore, the stork, when used in a negative sense, refers to the pastoral ministry that emphasizes mercy over righteousness. The stork's wide wingspan points to the Canaanite pastoral shield that "protects" believers, even from God Himself (Amos 3:12).

    

   Even though the stork is a flying creature, it is also a wading bird, meaning that it has an attachment to the "clayey" or "muddy" earth. This points to the Girgashite spirit, since "Girgashite" means "clay dweller", and, as we have said before, the Girgashite spirit is the "teaching endowment gone bad". The Girgashite spirit causes people to be trapped in the religious stagnation of human traditions, which correlates with the slow act of wading. Canaanite pastors require the support of Girgashite teachers in order to provide some "structure" to their ministries; otherwise, those ministries would be "mere fluff". This is what is spiritually represented when storks stand with their long legs over muddy soil. Therefore, we can say that the stork represents the pastoral matriarchy of the 2 "female" ministries (pastor and teacher) over the Church.

    

   As you may know, the stork has been associated with childbirth. Little children are told that babies are not born but that, instead, they are brought by the stork. This means that the "stork story" acts as a shield that "protects" children from the "painful" and "gruesome" details of childbirth. There are spiritual reasons behind this. For one, the stork story reveals the fact that pastors loathe God's righteous judgments due to the short-term pain they cause. Second, it speaks of how the Church sincerely believes that the Lord's coming will be a "magical" event where His Kingdom will be imposed from above at the wave of a wand, without the need for any painful transformation process or any spiritual travail on our part.

    

   If you reread Jeremiah 8:7 above, you will notice that special emphasis is placed on the stork in the first part of the verse, while the other 3 animals are mentioned in quick succession. This means that these other 3 animals are mentioned within the context of the stork, i.e.- within the context of the pastoral matriarchy.

    

2. The turtledove

   The word "turtle" (i.e.- turtledove) in Jeremiah 8:7 was translated from the Hebrew word towr, which is derived from a similar word meaning "to explore, search". Therefore, it speaks of "trailblazing", which points to the apostolic ministry, since that is the ministry used by God to open new territories, both literal and spiritual; God's apostolic anointing enables all of us to grow in His wisdom and to expand our spiritual understanding as a Body. Through that expanded wisdom and understanding, we sow seeds of destruction against spiritual strongholds in the heavenlies (Ephesians 3:10, Ecclesiastes 12:1).

    

   The apostolic ministry is the one most related to the making of judgments. Therefore, when the apostolic ministry is under the control of the pastoral matriarchy, it turns into a ministry that condemns those who dare to make judgments (which is self-contradictory). According to Webster's Dictionary, a turtledove is a wild dove known for its "gentleness" and "plaintive cooing". Therefore, the turtledove can be taken to represent an "effeminized" apostolic ministry that only judges those who dare to judge, without judging those who are committing unrighteousness. To the Lord, the judgments of these "gentle men" are like the annoying sound of a turtledove's repetitive cooing.

    

   Jebusites are apostles "gone bad". Therefore, Jebusite judges under the influence of the pastoral matriarchy are annoyingly loud and useless turtledoves unto God.

    

3. The crane

   The word "crane" in Jeremiah 8:7 was translated from the Hebrew word soos. Interestingly enough, this word can also be translated as "horse", and, out of the 140 times that it appears in Scripture, it is only translated as "crane" twice in the King James version (Isaiah 38:14 and Jeremiah 8:7).

    

   As we have mentioned before, the word soos speaks of natural grace and authority, which points to the evangelistic ministry. As we have also said before, the evangelistic anointing endows us with natural grace that allows us to draw the attention of others so that we may then point them to God. Therefore, evangelists who allow themselves to be influenced by the pastoral matriarchy turn into silly-looking cranes before God's eyes.

    

   When evangelists go astray, they turn into self-glorifying Amorites. Therefore, Amorites under the influence of the pastoral matriarchy may be able to stand tall and feel strong as they proudly look down upon others, but, to God, they are nothing but skinny weak birds that can be taken down at the swipe of a lion's paw.

    

4. The swallow

   The swallow is a swift-moving bird. The faster a person can go, the less he or she is limited by physical distance. Therefore, "speed" represents the ability to overcome earthly limitations, which points to the prophetic ministry. As we have said before, the speed of light is the maximum speed possible within the physical realm, and it is the boundary between the earthly realm and the eternal realm. Girgashites (who are inherently anti-prophetic) are unwilling to make the "quantum leap of light" into the dimension of the Spirit. They prefer the more comfortable limitations of earthliness. Prophets, however, are willing to make that quantum leap through the sacrifice of self. Under God's prophetic anointing, you and I can project ourselves as spiritual arrows without being limited by things such as physical distance.

    

   When prophets go astray from God's righteousness, they turn into Hittites. Therefore, we can say that prophets under the pastoral matriarchy are like swift swallows that dart forth like arrows, but in the wrong direction. The word "swallow" in Jeremiah 8:7 was translated from the Hebrew word aguwr, which is derived from another word meaning "to twitter". Therefore, prophets under the pastoral matriarchy turn into swallows "twittering" meaningless prophecies that produce temporal emotional blessings, but have no lasting value. Like swallows, those prophetic words are here today, and gone tomorrow. The "twittered" songs of these swallows may be pleasant to the soul, but they do not impart God's eternity to the people who hear them.

    

Notice how all 4 animals mentioned in Jeremiah 8:7 are birds, and none of them are "powerful". The 2 who are "large" (the stork and the crane) are "slow" and relatively "weak". This emphasizes what happens to the 5 ministries of Ephesians 4:11 when they come under the control of the pastoral matriarchy. They turn into empty ministries that are more fluff than substance.

Yesterday (December 9, 2005), the Lord made me go out to run an errand, and, as I did, I was forced to watch part of a famous talk show ("Oprah") that featured the famous poetess Maya Angelou reciting a poem about "peace". The poem was a ranting stream of rhyming fluff about the importance of all religions getting along, especially because it was "xmas" time. As she spoke her words, she spiritually stood on a pedestal of self-righteousness, like a crane extending her wings as she condemned all the "little warmongering troublemakers". As she spoke, she also sounded like a turtledove, repetitively "cooing away" words of no spiritual value, words that value an artificial "harmony" over truth, thereby ignoring the underlying issues of unrighteousness that lead to war in the first place. If the Republicans of the 1860s had not been willing to go to war in 1861, black women like Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey would not be appearing on U.S. national television ranting about the meaninglessness of war. If a man named George W. Bush had not been willing to go to war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Maya Angelou and Oprah would be talking about the tragedy of all the subsequent terrorist attacks in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles that Al-Qaeda would have made after 9/11.

Two days ago (December 8, 2005) was the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. It is ironic, therefore, that the very man who boldly proclaimed that "All we need is love" was gunned down by another man. Interestingly enough, the Lord also made me listen to a 1971 song by Marvin Gaye called "Mercy, mercy me" shortly before watching the Oprah segment. Even though this song is a beautiful and inspiring melody, it is another Canaanite ranting about the importance of being "lovey-dovey" with everybody. Again, it is ironic that Marvin Gaye was also shot to death a few years after John Lennon was killed. To recite worthless poems and to sing worthless songs about "peace" and "love" is pointless and stupid. It is naive to think that some "soap-oprah" sentimentalism is enough to solve the world's problems, without the need to wage war against the roots of unrighteousness. By the way, it is worth commenting that both Marvin Gaye and John Lennon were prophets. Unfortunately, both "went Canaanite", which led to their spiritual demise and to their pointless and untimely Hittite deaths. These "twittering" prophets fell like darting swallows because they allowed themselves to be influenced by the matriarchal stork, turtledove, and crane.

A word to you, Maya. There ain't no magical stork bringing no "world peace" to the planet. True peace shall be brought forth through a painful judgment process that will remove the roots of unrighteousness and allow God's Kingdom to prosper and flourish. You ain't gettin' no peace without a war coming first. Rhyme all you want. The truth is still the same.

As we have studied before, the 5 ministries of Ephesians 4:11 are associated to the 4 faces of the living beings in Ezekiel 1:10. Therefore, we can summarize the pastoral matriarchy's effect on each of the 4 faces in the following table:

We, as believers, are called to manifest all 4 of the faces mentioned in Ezekiel 1:10. The pastoral matriarchy, however, causes believers to have those faces distorted within them. Under the pastoral matriarchy, men are turned into storks, lions are turned into annoying turtledoves, oxen are turned into wiry cranes, and eagles are turned into erratic swallows.

Recalcitrant fools

In Jeremiah 8:7, the Lord declares that His people are worse than the stork, the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow. Why? Because these birds do what they do by instinct. Therefore, the Lord is comparing believers who do things by "automatic repetition" (without the full awareness of what they are doing) versus believers who do things with premeditation, aware of what they are doing but without repenting.

"²⁹Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. ³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: ³¹Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." (Acts 17:29-31)

In order to understand verse 30 better, we must look at the original Greek text from which some of the words were translated:

Therefore, the Lord is declaring in verse 30 that He takes into account our ignorance when weighing our actions. He understands that, at the beginning, we may be susceptible to accepting many doctrines and ways that are prevalent around us because our minds are unable to perceive the error in them. Despite our naive "ignorance", God is able to see beyond what the natural mind can see, and He can visualize the potential within us, even if we are, for a time, believing misguided doctrines. As time goes by, God will provide us with opportunities to perceive the errors in those ways and doctrines, and He will eventually place us at a crossroads where we will have to decide whether or not we will continue walking down those erred paths. If we persist in those wrong ways and refuse to repent (i.e.- change our mind), we become fully accountable before God for the decision we have taken, and the "I did not know" justification will no longer count (Matthew 25:44-46).

When we are trapped under the pastoral matriarchy at the beginning of our walk in the Lord, we are like the 4 birds of Jeremiah 8:7, following the ways of the matriarchal Church by natural instinct, without knowing what we are doing. However, when we have been given the opportunity to see God's judgments, and we refuse to repent, we become fully accountable before God. This is the reason why God declares in Jeremiah 8:7 that His people are worse than the 4 birds, because He is referring to believers who have heard the arguments of His red-horse riders, but who have chosen to follow Cain as he flees from God's truth and morphs into a wandering Balaam. The protective "mantle of ignorance" is removed from them, and they become exposed to God's black-horse judgments. This is what happened in the natural realm during the month of August 2004, and this is what is happening throughout the Church and the world in the spirit realm.

"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17)

[The word "knoweth" was translated from the Greek word eido mentioned above. Therefore, this verse refers to someone whose mind has been exposed to God's truth but who refuses to follow that truth.]

[It is worth noting that, when God "overlooks" (hypereido) our "ignorance", He is not "ignoring" our "ignorance". Instead, it means that He looks beyond that ignorance to see the hidden potential. And, instead of ignoring that ignorance, He works to remove it in order for the potential to be manifested. You cannot remove something that you consciously ignore.]

When we dismiss God's red horse, we go from being "ignorant birds" to being "recalcitrant fools". This is why the Lord says the following after Jeremiah 8:7:

"⁸How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. ⁹The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?" (Jeremiah 8:8-9)

Notice the recalcitrant "We ain't done nothin' wrong" argument in verse 8. To this day, most of New Orleans continues to portray itself as "innocent victims" abandoned by FEMA to their own luck. Even though New Orleans was warned by the secular media of the dangers of a Category-3 hurricane, it went on with "business as usual", and it now looks to others to make up for the consequences of her indulgence. Despite being exposed to God's truth and judgments, New Orleans is still trying to go back to its wicked decadence. In the same way, the Church in America and the world is unwilling to recognize God's spiritual judgments against her, and, despite the red-horse riders that God has sent into her, she has refused to face the music.

Balaam, the fallen false prophet

Shortly after I typed the word "music" at the end of the paragraph above, the Lord brought to my mind (in an unusual way) a song from 1970 by Santana called "Evil ways". Part of the song's lyrics go as follows:

You gotta change your evil ways, baby

...

I'm getting tired of waiting and fooling around

I'll find somebody who won't make me feel like a clown

This can't go on

Lord knows you gotta change

The Lord then said to me,

This is what I am singing to the Church. They think that I am like the generous clowns whom they follow, and they think that I am like the fading-fools that they revere. My patience is running out, and I shall make changes, for those who now have shall not have, and those who have been denied shall be given to and be made to prosper. You have delayed me enough, says the Lord.

"¹⁰Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. ¹¹For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." (Jeremiah 8:10-11)

According to verse 10, the wide-gate believers who decide to "cash in" their endowed grace in exchange for some temporary blessings have their eternal inheritance taken away from them. The spirit of Balaam offers these believers the "wheat" of emotional experiences and the "barley" of material prosperity. This is why the Lord speaks of 2 "things" that God will take away from the followers of Balaam:

The followers of Balaam turn into wide-gate believers gripped by Girgashite covetousness and a Hivite desire to enjoy grace "now". They degrade prophetic and evangelistic grace ("oil and wine") into "wheat and barley" trapped in Girgashite temporality. They deny the spiritual God-value in themselves and in others, turning themselves and others into mere objects from which benefits can be derived.

Gripped by this "covetousness" (Jeremiah 8:10), wide-gate believers are quick to listen to "Balaamic" false prophets who say "Peace, peace" when there is no peace (Jeremiah 8:11). They offer emotional peace through temporal "wheat" and material peace through temporal "barley", but they do not care about having peace with God in righteousness. Because of this, God is sending His black horse of scarcity against them, taking away their "wives" (i.e.- "wheat") and their "fields" (i.e.- "barley"), and exposing their spiritual emptiness.

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD." (Jeremiah 8:12)

Because the followers of Balaam were unwilling to "blush" when confronted by God's red horse, God is sending them the black horse so that they may "fall". Since they are following "fallen" Balaams (Numbers 24:3), God will cause them to fall as well in the time of His visitation. This is what happened in New Orleans. God visited that city on August 29, 2005, and, as the pastors were going around in circles rebuking His judgment, He devastated that city and revealed His anger against a matriarchal Church that is bent on its "storky" ways.

No leaves, no figs, no grapes, no grace

In verse 13 of Jeremiah 8, the Lord declares the following:

"I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them" (Jeremiah 8:13)

Notice that this passage speaks about 4 elements:

1. Grapes

2. Figs

3. Leaves

4. The things that God has given them

To understand these 4 elements, we must start with the "figs", which point to the passage in Mark 11:12-14 where Jesus cursed the fig tree. As we have said before, Jesus' curse exposed the spiritual emptiness which Cain tries to hide behind the leaves of religious activities and events. Cain's fig tree can only produce "natural figs", i.e.- earthly righteousness that is based on human judgments and regulations with no spiritual underpinning. God then sends His red horse to expose Cain's lack of supernatural, spiritual figs.

Once Cain is exposed as "spiritually fig-less", he switches to "grapes", and he becomes a Balaam who offers the "wheat" of emotional religious experiences with no eternal value. This is the reason why the Lord begins to speak about a "vineyard" (Mark 12:1-11) shortly after He curses the fig tree and exposes the Pharisees as "clueless" before the people (Mark 11:15-33).

"¹⁴Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. ¹⁵See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, ¹⁶Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:14-18)

As shown by verse 17 above, the reason why many believers fall for the "wine" extracted from the "grapes of Balaam" is because they disregard the will of the Lord. They visualize God-given grace in terms of the benefits to them, not in terms of God's kingship and His righteousness. They go to the wide gate to ask for all the things they want, without asking God what He wanted for them.

Notice that, in verse 14 above, God is calling His people to "arise from the dead". This points to the "dead bones" mentioned above. Many people are afraid to leave dead ministries and congregations, fearing that by separating themselves, they will be decreeing their own spiritual "death sentence". In a sense, this is true. Those believers will "disappear" from the radar of religious activities, and many of the people who remained behind will declare them "fallen", "separated from the Lord", or "backslidden". Yet, by accepting this death sentence, the believers who "separate" themselves (literally or spiritually) will expose themselves to the light of the Lord's resurrection (v14). By leaving the dead behind, those believers can begin to live in a new dimension that is impossible under the structures they left behind.

"⁵⁹And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. ⁶⁰Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. ⁶¹And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. ⁶²And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:59-62)

The passage above details the 2 key components to understanding the "will of the Lord" mentioned in Ephesians 5:17 above ...

1. Know Him as Lord

   If we seek after God's righteousness, we will seek after His apostolic judgments, and we will no longer care about losing Canaanite soul communion with others; we will not look back, even to "bid them farewell" (Luke 9:61). No one can call Jesus "Lord" without accepting His judgments. Therefore, to seek after God's righteousness is to know Him as Lord.

    

2. Know Him as King

   If we seek after God's kingdom, we will be constantly concerned about His will. Why? Because, by definition, a "king" is a person whose will is "supreme". Therefore, those who "preach the kingdom" (Luke 9:60) are those who recognize God as their one and only king and who are not afraid to leave the kingdoms of "dead kings" to go after the Living King. Their lives will be consumed by the question, "What does God want me to do now?", and if God wants them out of dead structures and in the lonely, uncovered wilderness, they will do so without hesitation,

    

   "¹⁰For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. ¹²O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee." (Psalm 84:10-12)

    

The word "will" points to God's kingdom, and the word "Lord" points to God's righteousness. Therefore, to understand the "will of the Lord" requires that we seek after His Kingdom and His righteousness. Those who don't do this get caught up in the search for temporary emotional experiences and material possessions.

"³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6:31-34)

Notice that the Lord speaks of eating, drinking, and being clothed (v31). In their search for temporary blessings, Balaam's followers end up eating Cain's figs of false righteousness and drinking Balaam's wine of false kingdom blessings, as they clothe themselves in Cain's fig leaves of human coverings. However, through black-horse believers like you and me, God sends His river of fire to consume those figs, grapes, and leaves, exposing their total emptiness.

At the end of Jeremiah 8:13 (quoted above), the Lord says that "the things that I have given them shall pass away from them". This refers to God's endowed grace. As we said above, Balaam operates from the remnants of a grace that once was; he tries to operate with "undead wheat", but His grace is dead in the eyes of God, for those who want to preserve their life shall lose it, and those who yield it shall take it back renewed (Matthew 16:25, Luke 9:24-25, John 12:25). When Balaam continues operating with the remnants of his previously endowed grace, he is trying to prove to himself and to others that he is still "alive", but both the black and green horses come to make his spiritual death evident before all, meaning that even the grace remnants are stripped away from him.

A few get up and go

In the midst of black-horse devastation, there will be a few who will wake up and smell the "judgment coffee":

"¹⁴Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!" (Jeremiah 8:14-15)

The phrase "Why do we sit still?" at the beginning of verse 14 can be paraphrased as

"Why are we staying put here in the land of Balaam? Why are we settling for this spiritually stale status quo?".

The word "defenced" in verse 14 was translated from the Hebrew word mibtsar, which literally means "fortification, stronghold". Therefore, the phrase "let us enter into the defenced cities" can be paraphrased as

"Let us go to the spiritual fortresses that God has set up out in the wilderness; let us go to the spiritual outposts we were called out to but which we passed up on because we were more comfortable in Balaam's stronghold. We thought we were inside God's fold, but we are really outside. By staying 'in', we were really staying 'out'."

The phrase "let us be silent there" in verse 14 points to the "school of Tyrannus" mentioned in Acts 19:9. As we have shared before, this school is a figure of those who were persuaded by God's red-horse shout and who have come out from among the Church's structures to a spiritual place where God's ways are no longer questioned and attacked by man, but only listened to and assimilated. The name "Tyrannus" means "sovereign", and it speaks of people who have chosen to abhor the ways of man, allowing God, and God alone, to be sovereign over them. For too long, the Church has been busy thinking up activities and ideas, too busy to shut up and listen to God:

"¹⁴For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. ¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; ¹⁶Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, ¹⁷That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. ¹⁸He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." (Job 33:14-18)

The word "gall" in Jeremiah 8:14 above was translated from the Hebrew word rosh, which actually means "poison". Interestingly enough, this word is almost identical to the Hebrew word for "head". This means that God is judging the Church because of the ones they have chosen to be their "heads". Instead of allowing the Anointed One ("Christ") to be its Head (Ephesians 4:15), the Church has gone after "heads" that have visible authority, for the invisible authority of the anointing is abhorrent to the Church. And, behind those heads with visible authority that is pleasant to man lurks the cursed one, satan, controlling the Church from behind the religious curtains.

"¹²And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; ¹³I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where satan dwelleth. ¹⁴But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication." (Revelation 2:12-14)

[The word "seat" in verse 13 was translated from the Greek word thronos meaning "throne". Therefore, verse 13 is referring to "satan's throne", which means that the passage above is referring to a place where satan (cursed is he) is king.

Notice the reference to Balaam in verse 14. Where satan is allowed to rule, the spirit of Balaam will lurk in the air.]

The word rosh (meaning "poison") that appears in Jeremiah 8:14 also appears in the following passage:

"³For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? ⁴They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. ⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it." (Hosea 10:3-5)

[The word "hemlock" was translated from rosh]

God shall strike down the kings in whom the Church has placed its confidence, and He will prove them to be clueless and useless (v3). Those who come to understand the ineptness and emptiness of the Church's kings shall "relocate" to the "fortresses of Zion" that are out in the wilderness. In these "fortresses" or "defenced cities" (Jeremiah 8:14), the Lord reigns supreme as He disciples remnant believers who have a willing heart to hear directly from Him. These are the believers whom God shall use to retake the Church unto Himself so that the whole Church may be a "fortress of Zion" unto God's Glory.

In the next prophetic word, we will finish studying Jeremiah 8. We will then see how both Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 8 apply to Katrina's & Rita's attack on New Orleans and the American South, and we will also see how Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 8 relate to sister Lauretta's prophetic word about what is coming to America and why.