Dr. Stephen Phinney
I woke up this morning with a heart filled with thanksgiving. That was after a night filled with dreams of a plethora of “family," “friends,” and “familiars” that have claimed to be loyal to friendship – who ended our connection in betrayal. I saw each face throughout these dreams. It took an entire night for the Lord to get through the list. Each with a smile on their face but holding a knife behind their backs. It sounds like a nightmare, right? It wasn’t.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” (Mat 10:21-22)
Suppose you read this passage carefully. You will discover those who endure to the end are directly connected to authentic salvation in the end vs. the betrayers.
Reader, we live in the culture of betrayal that Jesus warned us would come. Think about it. “Christians” murdering one another in zero contact silence. As our daily news reveals, many are killing their parents by the end of a gun barrel. Children are fading into the cultural modality of dishonor. Masses of children have deconstructed their faith in Christ and shifted into forming their religion through self-as-god, ‘My Truth.” “Brothers” & sisters in and outside of Christ working behind the scenes to murder the honorable. Christianized gossip has become the modality of our global culture.
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (Jas 4:1-4)
People betray because they cannot obtain the type of me-me friendship formulated in their depraved minds. So, they pull away, denying the mandate of Christian unity, and begin the process of isolation and gossip.
So, what is there to be grateful for?
“Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times… those closest to him… who had access to the king’s presence.” Esther 1:13-14
Every authentic indwelt believer has access to the King of kings. However, very few make use of this opened door. And those who do hear things spoken by our Lord hear things that raddle the cages of human thinking. If you are a “prophet” type, you will certainly hear things that ignite betrayal, persecution, and sometimes death.
Believers who understand “the times” are typically rejected the most. Remember when Jesus said, A prophet is not welcome in his hometown and even within his household? Fact. Bridal members of Christ who hear, listen, and obey what is spoken at the Throne, are in for a world of hate. Why? Even indwelt Christians resist hearing the prophetic spoken words of Christ. To avoid hearing, they unplug those that do.
God’s children are never barred from His Throne of Grace. We’re like the wise men in the days of Ahasuerus, who always had access to the king’s presence. Romans 5:2 says we have “access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” And Ephesians 3:12 says, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”
I hear weekly from readers from all around the globe. One of the most asked questions is, How can I hear the voice of God? If this person fears entering the Throne room due to what God might say, answering the question becomes fruitless. What if He says, Stop isolating yourself from the Body of Christ or Stop murdering your brothers, sisters, and fellow members with silence. Worse yet, reconcile with those whom you have offended.
Fake Christianity advances the stupidity of claiming a dynamic relationship with Jesus while betraying fellow citizens of God. The two do NOT mix. One is an authentic principle of God, and the other is a demonic doctrine. Fake Christians are masters of living the illusion of unity while practicing disunity with fellow Body members. Each is lying to fellow members through Christianized Christ replicated behaviors.
The ’why’ I woke up grateful.
The reason I woke up with a thankful heart after hours of betrayer’s faces being shown to me by the Lord is this. Jesus wanted me not only to see the faces of these betrayers; He wanted me to pray for them. Secondly, He wanted to remind me of who these people are who suffer & enact the greatest lie known to Christianity – smile while you stab.
I woke up energized!
So many times as we dream, the Lord speaks to our minds. We dismiss it as It’s only a dream. So many times, we see a need, and we think, what’s the use. The church should be trying to fulfill the Biblical mandate of unity and become consumed with the leading doctrine of, A cored of three strands cannot be easily broken. And the Lord says, “Come unto My Throne.” And as we enter the Throne of Grace, suddenly we realize that God has a different kind of mission for us to fulfill.
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-13)
“There is only one Body, and there is only one Spirit, there is only one Hope of our calling; there is only one Lord, there is only one Faith, there is only one Baptism, there is only one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph 4:4-6).
There should be authentic demonstrated unity in the Body of Christ. And the thing I like about being in the Body of Christ is, while we are uncomfortable with the methods God speaks through His children, we can maintain our unity in life’s most practical ways – love, acceptance, forgiveness & connection. When one of the Body members leaves out one or more of these doctrines, they immediately fade into the cultural misnomer of “deconstructing the Gospel.”
Jesus said You shall know them (authentic Christians) by their fruit. After years of studying the Word, not once have I found betrayal as one of those fruits. The question becomes, Can you mix fruit unto death with the fruit of the Spirit? I won’t even bother answering that question.
What are betrayers confessing?
The answer is obvious. Their illusive friendships with the world, as well as their self-opinions, ignite their hostility toward God. Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Anyone, any one of us, who makes the shift to friendship with the world WILL find themselves in a world of betrayal.
You do not initiate a friendship with God. He has to initiate it – through Christ within you. You need to respond to it by way of two forces. First, being a faithful & loyal friend with Jesus from within. Secondly, through proven faithfulness & loyalty to His Body – fellow Bridal members in Christ. You cannot live effectively in mixing the fruit unto death and the fruit of the Spirit. God will NEVER put His stamp of approval on such demonic trickery.
ACTION
Write a list of the top ten people you tend to murder through betrayal, isolation & avoidance. Begin to go down that list confessing your sin of mixing the fruit from the darkness with His indwelling Life. Then, claim the forgiveness that He provided many years ago on the Cross. Finally, open up the pathway of communications between you and those people.
My dream taught me many things. I am a lot like Daniel. I don’t make light of God speaking through dreams and visions. Honestly, many of my writings come forth from reading the written Word, hearing the Lord speak throughout the day, and, yes, at times through dreams and visions. Action requires obedience to a voice. My job is to discern who is speaking. Of course, that can only be done by the mind of Christ within me.
If you are trapped in the sin of betrayal by any chance, the answer is NOT to stop it. Although, it is in the action of living out the mandate of being unified with fellow Body members of Christ. My hope is you have ears to hear the words & warnings spoken by our Lord. If you care about those who endure to the end, those will be saved; you will heed this warning.
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