Can a believer be sick for the sake of others?
First posted: March 2004
This article deals briefly with the issue of sickness and suffering. Can disease and suffering be part of God’s plan for your life? The Scriptures clearly reveal an answer to this question, an answer that rarely gets preached by pastors.
Index
The spiritual roots of disease
The spiritual roots of disease
There is an interesting passage in Proverbs that declares the following:
"As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come." (Proverbs 26:2)
In other words, things don’t happen by chance. If a disease strikes, there is always, always, an underlying spiritual door that opened the path for that disease to appear. Disease appeared in the world as a result of sin, when man fell in the garden of Eden, so all disease can eventually be traced back to sin, though not necessarily to sin of the person with the disease.
As many preachers have pointed out, Genesis reveals that there is an "untold story" about the origins of the Earth:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
The phrase "without form" here comes from the Hebrew word tohuw, which means "formlessness, emptiness", so Genesis 1:2 is declaring that after God created the Earth (verse 1), the Earth was "formless" (tohuw). God, however, declares something rather interesting in Isaiah 45:
"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:18)
Here, God declares that He did not create the Earth "in vain", where the phrase "in vain" comes from the same Hebrew word tohuw that appears in Genesis 1:2. If Isaiah 45 says that God did not create the Earth "formless" and Genesis 1:2 says that the Earth was "formless" after God created it, we must conclude that something untold happened between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1. God created the Earth with "form", but something took place that left the Earth "formless". We can then see that Genesis is not the story of the creation of the Earth, as most have been taught to believe from Sunday school, but rather is the story of the regeneration of the Earth after God’s judgment over a place populated by spiritual forces that rebelled against God. This is why the Earth appears "flooded" in Genesis 1:2. Just like it happened in the times of Noah, God flooded the Earth in judgment, and Genesis 1 is the story of how God, through judgment, planned to reestablish His kingdom over the Earth, and He placed Man in the garden of Eden so that, as leaven spreads through the dough until the entire dough is leavened, God’s kingdom would spread throughout the entire Earth:
"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matthew 13:33)
The garden of Eden was the "base of operations" from which God, through Man, would reconquer the Earth. Man was designed to be God’s manifestation on Earth. Man was made in the image and likeness of God so that God and Man in Oneness would rule over creation:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28)
In the garden of Eden, Man was free from sickness because he was not exposed to the effects of the evil spirits that ruled outside the garden. The kingdom of God was in the garden and it was designed to spread out from there. Before reconquering the Earth, however, Man was to go through a process of growth until he reached the measure of the perfect or completed Man (Ephesians 4:13). This growth process implied being willing to die to self despite being weak. This is why it was necessary for man to be given a woman, which represents the weaker side of Man: his soul. If Man was to reach his full potential, he had to prove that he could die to self and overcome temptation despite having a weaker side. This is why, before the Lord started His ministry, He had to go to the desert and fast for 40 days, and be tempted during the weakness of His fasting. After this, He began His ministry and went out to conquer the world back for His Father.
When the serpent appeared in the garden, he directed his attack on the female, not on the male, and God allowed this because we, as human beings, had to prove that we could die to self-will even when tempted from our weak side. This is why man’s complaint when God confronted him was useless:
"And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." (Genesis 3:12)
The female represents our soul and the male represents our spirit. A spirit and a soul reside inside our bodies, and this is what makes us different from angels. When one reads references to angels in Scripture, they are always referred to as "spirits", but they are never portrayed as vulnerable beings. The world, and even the Church, has a Hollywood image of angels as "gentle and sweet" do-gooders with cute wings on their backs that go around doing nice things for people. The Bible, however, portrays them as fear-inspiring executers of God’s justice and judgment (Matthew 28:1-5, Genesis 28:12-17, Luke 2:9-10, Judges 13:6, 2 Kings 19:35, 1 Chronicles 21:15-17, Numbers 22:22-27, Acts 12:23). They are also portrayed as providers of strength (Luke 22:43, Hebrews 1:13-14, 1 Kings 19:7, 2 Kings 1:15) because they are inherently strong and have no weakness in them (Psalms 103:20, Psalms 104:4, 2 Peter 2:11). Man, however, was made with a weak side. This is why the Bible declares that we were made a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:6-8).
Angels get sent by God to execute judgments and destruction, and they perform their assigned tasks with "soulless" efficiency. There is no "tender" side in them that evildoers can use to convince them not to execute the destruction assigned to them. In essence, "angels" are "spirits without souls". This is why fallen angels had no "excuse" when they fell. They were sent directly to hell, without a second chance:
"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter 2:4)
Man also fell, but we are given a second opportunity to escape hell if we repent and receive the Lord Jesus into our hearts. But why did God give us a soul, i.e.- a "weak side"? Why didn’t He make us like the angels, as invulnerable spirits, and saved us from the mess we have made of things? Because God’s plan was to be One with us, and He can only be One with those who are like Him, and He has a Soul (Isaiah 1:14, Jeremiah 5:9, Hebrews 10:38). His Soul, however, is completely wrapped in His Spirit, and that is why there is no weakness in Him vulnerable to temptation (James 1:13), and this is the process Man had to go through in order to be made One with Him. Man had to learn to wrap his weakness (i.e.- his soul) in the strength of his spirit, but we failed, and disease and chaos came into the world that we were supposed to rescue unto God.
Cancer (a brief example)
As Proverbs 26:2 and many other passages illustrate, any disease, including cancer, has a spiritual root. God willing, we will post an article in the future to explain in detail how the Bible traces cancer to a spirit called the "Girgashite spirit".
The word "Girgashite", which appears in the Bible 7 times in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament, means "dwelling on a clayey soil", and refers to people who dwell in spiritual "earthliness". Many believers are "infected" with this spirit, which emphasizes earthly concerns and the use of earthly and natural methods to achieve desired results. Girgashite believers hate other believers who sound too "spiritual", considering them as "mystical fanatics". Girgashite believers love a "down to earth" Gospel devoid of true spiritual overtones. They believe in acting first and praying later. At the manifestation of the slightest physical symptom, they run to the drug store to buy medicine. They buy all types of insurance, because, as they say, "you never know". When they need money, they go to different banks and take a loan from the bank that seems to offer the best interest rate. When they decide on what church to attend, they choose the one that is closest to home and has the most convenient service hours. When deciding whom they will marry, they analyze external factors such as the physical beauty of the other person, the other person’s professional and financial future, and so on. In other words, Girgashite believers are the type of people who live by their natural reasoning. They don’t believe that God could ever instruct them to attend a church that is all the way across town from their homes. They don’t believe that God could ever tell them to hold off on taking out a loan because supernatural provision is on its way, even though waiting might imply losing a business opportunity that seems too good to miss out on. Girgashite believers are the type of people who would never step out of the boat to "walk on water". They live by sight and not by faith. Their motto is, "I only trust it if I can see it with my mind".
In a future article, we will see how Girgashite believers, when viewed through the Scriptures, also reflect an interesting trait: "self-centeredness". Girgashites have a "zest" for natural life, but it’s a zest that revolves around their own lives and, to some extent, the lives of their "loved ones", but it never extends beyond that. This is, in essence, why the spiritual root of cancer is the Girgashite spirit, since cancer is basically "life gone out of control", selfish cells reproducing themselves and eating away at the life of the entire body. This is why, behindevery cancer, there is a Girgashite spirit involved.
Suffering for others
Even though cancer can be spiritually traced to the Girgashite spirit, this does not necessarily mean that the person with the cancer has the Girgashite spirit in his or her heart. I can honestly say that I know of believers who have had cancer because of Girgashite spirits in the people around them, and that they are bearing the disease as a physical manifestation of the sins of others. Why would God allow a believer to suffer for the sins of others? But, isn’t that precisely what the Lord Jesus did for us? When God sees a believer with a yielded heart, He sometimes calls on that believer to bear diseases and suffering so that people around them can be spiritually restored. I know that many Christians might consider the above to be totally false, but, before pronouncing your final judgment, please consider the following passage, written by Paul:
"Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:" (Colossians 1:24)
The Greek word that is translated "behind of" in this passage is the word hysterema, which actually means, "what is lacking". In other words, there are "afflictions of Christ" that are yet to be "filled up" or "lacking", and we, the believers, are called to complete these afflictions in Him. This "obscure" passage is almost never preached, because most pastors prefer to preach a Gospel of blessings and joy, a Gospel void of any pain or suffering, where Jesus did all the work and we have nothing else to do but sit back and enjoy. Most pastors and other believers love the passage in John 19:30 where Jesus says, "It is finished", using it as a spiritual justification to avoid any inconveniences. Their battle cry is
"Jesus did all the suffering; all you have to do is to claim your blessings"
But, then, why would Stephen allow himself to be stoned to death so that a price could be paid for Paul’s conversion (Acts 7:51-59)? Why would Paul allow himself to be stoned and left for dead at Lystra so that a crippled man could walk and believe in Jesus and so that many others at Lystra would be saved (Acts 14:8-21)? Why would Paul and Silas allow themselves to be flogged and unjustly imprisoned at Philippi so that a little known jail keeper and his family could be saved (Acts 16:23-34)? Why would Peter, who himself died a cruel death, encourage fellow believers to rejoice in their sufferings and persecution so that God’s purposes could be fulfilled on Earth while at the same time speaking of our grace in Christ and of our incorruptible inheritance in Him (1 Peter 1:3-12)? Why would John allow himself to be exiled to the remote island of Patmos towards the end of his life so that the Lord Jesus could manifest Himself to him in that lonely place and that the book of Revelation could be written for our benefit (Revelation 1:9)? Why would the early-day Christians allow themselves to be eaten by lions at the Roman Coliseum so that their blood would serve as a spiritual payment that would spread the Gospel of salvation throughout a pagan and ungodly culture? Were the people of the primitive Church "blessing seekers", or were they chasers of a higher calling, men and women who would willingly lay down their bodies and their lives as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) so that God’s Glory could be manifested on Earth? Where are those believers now, I wonder? Where are they? I ask this with tears in my eyes.
Most pastors call the members of their congregations to make "sacrifices", but only when it involves "church activities", and when there are visible, palpable benefits for their own congregations. Unfortunately, they don’t preach about "sacrifice" when it comes to paying a price for God’s purposes, not for the pastor’s purposes and for the local congregation’s interests. Church activities are not wrong in and of themselves, but God is not after us working overtime to organize the next church anniversary. He wants our hearts. He wantsyou in the most intimate part of your being, when you are all alone and there is no one else watching you. He wants your heart when you are making every decision of your life, whether large or small. If He does not have that, all your overtime for the next church anniversary is completely worthless to Him. Are you willing to say to God,
"Use me however you will, Lord Jesus. If I have to bear suffering, loneliness, disease, rejection, and persecution so that Your purposes will be fulfilled in my life and in the lives of others, let it be so. Your will be done and not the will of men."
The pastoral shield
Simon Peter had three ministries in his life. He was an apostle (1 Peter 1:1) and an evangelist (Luke 5:10, Acts 2:37-41), but based on passages such as John 21:15-18, he was also a pastor, i.e.- a shepherd (the word for "pastor" and "shepherd" are the same in Greek), and pastors have a tendency to insulate the people around them from any kind of suffering. This is why the following passage appears in Scripture:
"From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." (Matthew 16:21-23)
It is frustrating at times to see how well-meaning Bible translators alter the original text because it doesn’t quite make sense to their own natural thinking. In this case, the "King James" translators wrote that Peter said "Be it far from thee". When going to the original Greek text, however, we find that this phrase is the "translation" of the phrase "hileos soi", which literally means "mercy be to you". Pastor Peter was preaching to Jesus a "Gospel" of mercy and love, a Gospel where people are not supposed to suffer. Peter had good intentions when he was admonishing the Lord to stop talking about "suffering", but this type of "mercy Gospel" did not match with Jesus’ heart, and this is why Jesus answers back with one of the harshest replies in all of Scripture when he says to Peter "Get thee behind me, satan". How would you like it if Jesus called you "satan"? The name "satan" means, "person who resists or opposes" in Hebrew. When pastors shield believers from any type of suffering, they are acting as opponents or resistors of God’s will and become stumbling blocks in the lives of others. This is why the Lord says, "get behind me", as if to say, "Stop acting as a stumbling block in My way; the Father calls Me to suffer, and I don’t care if that sounds ludicrous to the natural man’s thinking, because I am more interested in pleasing Abba than in pleasing men". The word translated "savourest" in Matthew 16:23 comes from the Greek word phroneo, which literally means, "to think or consider". Pastors act as "satans" to God’s purposes in the lives of fellow believers when they consider suffering from the natural or human perspective, and not from God’s perspective.
Despite all the evidence, some believers reading this (especially pastors) might be saying, "Matthew 16 is talking about the suffering of Jesus, not the suffering of believers", but, since the Lord knew that some might want to construe Matthew 16:21-23 that way, the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record what Jesus said after calling Peter "satan":
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:24-27)
The Lord was on His way to Calvary to suffer and die on the Cross, and this is why, in verse 24, the Lord told His disciples that each one of us is to take up his own cross and follow Him. In other words, He calls us to suffer with Him so that we may reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12). God knows man’s natural unwillingness to die, and this is why He adds this often-misunderstood prophetic verse at the end of Matthew 16:
"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)
When He says, "some standing here", He is not referring to unbelievers out in the world. He is talking about believers who already are inside the Church. The word "taste" in verse 28 comes from the Greek word geuomai, which appears 20 times in the New Testament, most of the time with a connotation of delight and satisfaction (1 Peter 2:3, Hebrews 6:4-5, and John 2:9, for example). Therefore, the Lord is talking about the unwillingness that believers would have to "delight" in suffering and dying for His sake. Peter and the other disciples eventually learned this type of "delight". This is why the book of Acts says the following:
"And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." (Acts 5:40-41)
Because of the domination of the pastoral ministry, however, the Church has refused to "delight" in suffering and dying for His sake until now. But, the Lord, in Matthew 16:28, is prophesying that the day would come, and that day is now, when a Church that "tastes death", that delights in suffering for His sake would be raised up, and that this Church would appear during the visible manifestation of the "Son of man in His kingdom", which refers to the days when a prophetic Remnant would be raised up in power to manifest the authority of the Lord on Earth. Most believers associate the phrase "the Son of man coming in His kingdom" with the physical coming of Jesus to the Earth, and, in a literal sense, that is correct, but the true, deeper meaning of this phrase points to the manifestation of a latter-day prophetic Church of believers who will show forth the power and the glory of God on Earth before this current phase of human history ends. This is why the Lord uses the phrase "Son of man" and not "Son of God", because this manifestation of Jesus will happen through "ordinary" men and women like you and me. The latter-day Church that will perform mighty signs and wonders, that will impact the world, and that will bring about the greatest spiritual revival in human history, will ironically be a Church that preaches a Gospel of "death" and "suffering", a Gospel of "justice" and "judgment", and it is this Gospel that will produce the greatest overflow of "life", "peace", "grace", and "mercy" that mankind has ever seen. The latter-day Church will be a Church that delights in the "taste of death" for the sake of God’s purposes. Are you willing to rejoice in dying to self so that God’s purposes be fulfilled in the lives of others? If you are, you may be called upon to bear the suffering of others, to have your physical body suffer through disease so that others may be restored.
God does not call us to suffer for the simple sake of suffering. This is why Paul says the following to the Galatians:
"Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain." (Galatians 3:4)
Legalists (like the ones who were penetrating the Galatian church) enjoy seeing fellow believers suffer for the sake of suffering. They preach a religion of limitation without life, of restrictions for the mere sake of restrictions, because, the poorer and worse off you are, the more "spiritual" you are. That is a stupid attitude, and that is why, in verse 1 of Galatians 3, Paul calls the Galatians "foolish", which could very easily have been translated as "stupid" from the Greek (and I know of at least one Bible translation that did so). But, before you get too excited about "not suffering for the sake of suffering", consider what Paul tells the Galatians a few verses later:
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19)
And any mother can testify that there are not many types of suffering that can compare with the pains of childbirth!!! Also, there is a phrase that Paul writes a few verses before that most prosperity preachers would rather cross out of their Bibles:
"Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first." (Galatians 4:13)
If all sickness is "of the devil", and inherently contradictory to God’s plans, we would have to conclude from this passage that it was the devil’s will, not God’s will, that caused the Gospel to be preached in Galatia. But such a conclusion would obviously be nonsense. Therefore, we must accept that there are times when God will call us to go through some type of disease or suffering in order to see others restored. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in supernatural healing, and I believe that the latter-day Church will manifest an abundance of supernatural creative miracles. I believe I will see human limbs literally grow out. I believe I will see eyes being formed in the sockets of men and women born without eyes. I believe I will see handicapped men and women getting out of their wheelchairs by the hundreds and thousands every day during regular church services all across America and around the world. I believe cancer healings will become so common that they will no longer be "news" the way they are now. But I know in my spirit that all of this will paradoxically happen in the days of a Church of believers that accept suffering and disease so that they themselves and others around them may be spiritually restored.
To establish this latter-day mighty Church, God has prophesied in His Word that He will remove the "pastoral shield" from the Church, the shield that prevents believers from being willing to suffer for His sake. This is why Amos 3 declares the following:
"Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD." (Amos 3:12-15)
As we said before, the word translated "pastor" in the New Testament, literally means "shepherd" in Greek (poimen). The "lion" referred to in Amos 3:12 is not satan, as some would believe. It is God Himself:
"The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:8)
Therefore, the lion in Amos 3:12 is God executing judgments on a self-centered, complacent Church that is living in the spiritual comfort of their "summer houses" and their "houses of ivory", as Amos 3:15 declares. I can hear some saying, "That is the God of the Old Testament; the God of the New Testament does not execute judgments". But this is why Peter, who was a pastor himself, was the one assigned by God to write the following in the New Testament:
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:17-19)
In the next 4 verses (1 Peter 5:1-4), Peter "coincidentally" gives a word of exhortation to pastors, exhorting them in the Spirit not to lord themselves over God’s heritage. Why? Because pastors can act as overprotective mothers who shield their children from God’s judgments.
For some 1900 years, the pastoral shield has been over the Church, but it is prophesied in Amos 3 (and in many other passages) that this pastoral shield will be broken by God, and even though pastors may try to pry the sheep from the mouth of a judging God, they will only rescue 2 legs and a piece of an ear, according to Amos 3:12. The "2 legs" refer to the apostolic anointing and the prophetic anointing, which have been plucked out of the Church by the pastoral shield (Luke 11:49), and the "piece of an ear" refers to the evangelistic anointing that has been weakened by the shield. The ear implies the "ability to hear and obey", and the "ability to hear and obey" refers to the "heart" (Romans 10:10, 17). The "heart", in turn, refers to the evangelistic ministry, since evangelists are the ones best equipped to converting hearts unto God.
As we can see here, the apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic ministries have been affected by the pastoral shield, and these are precisely the 3 "male ministries" of the Church (please refer to the article "Male and female ministries in the Church" for more information). The Church is therefore under the "pastoral matriarchy", dominated by the female ministries of "pastor" and "teacher", and this matriarchy has prevented the Church from manifesting the power of the Spirit in His full Glory.
God is about to change all of this. This is why the prophet John wrote
"For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." (Revelation 18:17-21)
When most pastors read about Babylon, they think about modern day Iraq or about some latter-day church that has not yet appeared, but, when we study Babylon more closely in Scripture, we can see that it really refers to a Church under the pastoral matriarchy. The great whore of Revelation 17 has been around for almost 1900 years!!! Martin Luther, the reformer, frequently referred to the Church of his days as "Babylon", as the "great harlot", and he was right. Even though some changes were made and the Church came out of its dark period through the Protestant Reformation, the spirit of the "great harlot" was not completely cast out of the Church, and it currently exists, but in a subtler version. As a parenthesis, the war in Iraq has been so strongly opposed around the world because it is a spiritual figure of the fall of the Babylonian matriarchy in the Church. This is why so many people who would give heaven and earth to save a stranded whale have ironically protested against the overthrow of a dictator like Saddam Hussein who ruthlessly murdered thousands of his own people and kept them under terrible oppression and fear.
Revelation 18:20 declares that God will avenge the blood of His servants the apostles and the prophets, because the pastoral matriarchy has always attacked them. True apostles are attacked because they preach justice and judgment under the wisdom anointing that God imparts to them. True prophets are attacked because they defy existing religious structures and preach a vision of God that generally contradicts the vision of human leaders. A continuation of the spiritual reform started in 1517 is about to descend upon the Church; this spiritual reform will shake the spiritual structures of the pastoral matriarchy. When the true apostolic and prophetic anointing is manifested in the believers of the latter day, the Church will become like a mighty angel, a spirit without soul that will shake the nations of the Earth. This is why Revelation 18:21 speaks of a mighty angel. This is the same angel that appears in Revelation 10:
"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." (Revelation 10:1-7)
This angel is the latter-day Church!!! This passage refers to God as the creator of heaven and earth (verse 6), because this angel is the latter-day Church that will complete the assignment given to Man in the Garden of Eden. The Lord Jesus, through His redemptive work on the Cross, opened the door for the restoration of all things:
"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:20-21)
The Lord has been waiting for a Church that will walk through the door that He opened, and this latter-day Church is the one. We will walk through that door in the power of His Anointing and submit the Earth under the feet of the Lord (Ephesians 1:22-23, 1 Corinthians 15:27-28). This latter-day Church is the One that will establish the Glory of His Kingdom over the entire Earth. When Jesus died on the Cross, He did not only redeem us from going to hell. He also restored mankind’s possibility to be all that God wanted us to be from the beginning, and that includes the dominion of the Earth (Genesis 1:26-28) and the possibility of being made One with Him (Revelation 22:1-5, 16-17).
Praises be to the Lord God of Israel forever more!!!!!!!