Are You Dead Yet? I Hope So!
Colossians 3:1-7 Therefore IF you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things
Are you dead? Paul wanted his readers to be dead. I also pray that my fellow believers have died or are in the process of dying, striving to accomplish it 100%. Of course I do not mean death in a literal sense. Dying to our SELF is in fact God’s will. This is what God wants and in fact demands from anyone that wishes to enter His Kingdom and spend eternity with Him. But you rarely hear this taught as flesh and people wanting a quick sugar high for God do not like to hear about the price they must pay and the suffering they must endure to prove ourselves worthy to God. I hope this post will correct this misunderstanding and overt lie of Satan. Some folks are now awakening and are realizing that what they read in their Bible is not what they hear taught in church. There is a reason for that that was very specifically foretold in the Scriptures. Indeed the lies of Satan, a flood of them actually; has totally consumed modern religion and the spirit behind the words being spoken in “churches” is not from the Holy Spirit. It is the voice of the dragon that looks like a lamb.
Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. Most Christians are listening to deceivers who do not know they are deceivers and are promoting another Jesus and another gospel we were warned about constantly in the Scriptures.
Here is what the real Jesus said, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Hear the Words of the LORD.
Luke 17:33 Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it
Matthew 10:39 He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it
Luke 9:24 If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me
John 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life
Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
God wants your flesh to be dead. Carrying a cross is painful and it leads to death. Covenant is a two way agreement. Christ died for us and He demands that we die for Him. If we do not die to self, we are breaking covenant and the wrath of God will abide upon us, both now and in the end. I am working on exposing the misappropriation of God’s Covenant as this teaching is at the heart of the deception put onto the Babylon churches of today. We are to follow Jesus in death so we can be raised in the Spirit of God, JUST LIKE HE DID. We are to walk as Jesus walked. This can be shown in many places but I like this illustration from John.
John 12:24-26 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and DIES, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
If we call ourselves Christians, we best be following Jesus and He meant follow Him to DEATH. We must die to the flesh, we must crucify the old man, mortify the deeds of the flesh; otherwise our faith is all in vain and we tell God “I love my flesh more than I love you.” Anything we love more than God is an idol, even our “church” and most certainly any lusts of the flesh or of the world. If we are unwilling to lay these things down to God, we tell Jesus He is not Lord, that these others things that we desire in the wickedness of our hearts, we love more than God. This is what surrender and submission to God is all about. It is not saying some words that you believe. If we believe in our hearts, we will die. If we don’t die yet claim we know Christ we are committing idolatry which contradicts Jesus’ foremost commandment.
Love the Lord with ALL your heart
Do not be deceived my friends. Awaken to what has happened and where we are on God’s clock.
To be Born Again, we must FIRST DIE. That was the illustration about the kernel of wheat. We all know what Jesus said about being Born Again. We must become a new creation in Christ and put on the divine nature to walk in holiness. Any other doctrines, lie to you and tell you can serve two masters and walk double minded, married to SELF and to Jesus. That is adultery my friends and God calls you a harlot and adulteress as my other posts have shown of late. This is where virtually all professing Christians are right now. God has given me the eyes to see it and of course I first saw it in myself. What a wretch I was trying to serve God walking in the flesh.
John 3:3-4 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
This is the mystery of being Born Again. It is not about saying some words with your mouth. Those that teach the cotton candy gospel are doing violence to the Word of God and my Bible says they will be destroyed FIRST in the judgment. Woe unto them says the Lord. You will be made new IF IF IF, the old you passes away.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, IF anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Dying to self is very hard it is indeed not a cakewalk. The more you live for the flesh and its pleasures, the more you will have to suffer. I am still going through this furnace as we speak but I am very encouraged because I know the Lord is with me and I hold dear His promises. We are purified by the Spirit of God as we suffer. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter for good reason. When we suffer by dying to self, the Comforter is there to comfort and see us through the fiery furnace. That is how we buy the gold Jesus described in Revelation 3. All the gold of the world and flesh is fools gold. The story of Shadrach in Daniel tells us that Jesus will be there in the furnance with us and if we trust HIM alone not a single hair on our head will be singed.
Daniel 3: 24-25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” I hope you will begin to see the consistent truth in God’s Word throughout the Bible. The OT is not just a bunch of nice stories.
Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, IF we trust in HIM alone. Praise God Forevermore.
1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. Jesus suffered and died in the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan and was without sin. We are supposed to do the same.
Paul also described this many places that many recall the verse yet the profound implications of truth never took root in their heart. I pray it takes root.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Paul was dead. He was led by the Spirit of God and for that reason he was a son of God.
Grace Enables Us To DIE
Paul said he was crucified and to do so, he suffered immensely in his flesh. Praise God that He sends His Spirit into us when we first believe. It is because of that grace, which is the power of God working IN US, that we can overcome and put to death the deeds of the flesh. So do not misread my message, God does it but we must choose to obey Him out of Love. We have no chance of doing this on our own power.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. We say NO to sin by dying to our flesh.
Milton Green a man called by God and given immense wisdom to teach the Word once gave a story about this issue of dying to self that will help you remember to say NO. Milton gave the illustration of imagining a dead corpse laying in a casket. If a thief came up to this dead man and held a gun to his head and said “Give me all your money or I will blow your brains out”, would the man move or respond? No, this man would not respond as he is DEAD. In the same way, we are to put to death the flesh and its lusts so that when the real thief Satan comes calling he will get no response from us. All the attempts to entice us into sin via the fiery darts will go unheeded we will not respond to them. Once he gets no response, we show him we are dead (resisting the devil), the devil will flee. This is how we overcome sin, the world and deceitfulness of riches.
Romans 6:11-12 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
What Paul speaks of is not mere mental ascent. If you believe and truly Love God you will seek to obey Him 100% 24x7x365. Anything else and you are playing church and religion. If we stumble God provides provision for us, but if in our heart we love that sin and we practice that sin, we deceive ourselves.
I am not going to rehash all the warnings about not dying to self, it is not an option, but I will show you one. The death Paul writes of here is spiritual death, the second death that will come to all that do not mortify the their flesh.
Romans 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live
If we die as we must, we therefore are raised in newness of life by the Spirit of God. By dying to SELF we are released from the Law. When we are led by the Spirit and our flesh is dead, there is no law. This was the wisdom in Paul’s often overlooked and twisted Romans 7.
Romans 7:2-5 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. If you want to be married to Jesus, He is the Bridegroom and we are the Bride, your first husband, YOUR FLESH, must die. Otherwise you are an adulteress, and you remain under the law and its judgments. Maybe the truth Paul taught in Galatians can now be seen.
Galatians 5:16-18 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you WILL NOT gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
I hope this post has been helpful for those of you seeking truth. This truth may have come against some idols and strongholds in your heart. I ask you to go examine yourself to see if you pass the test of loving God with your whole heart. Love God the way He said to love Him and not the way man-made religion tells you.
John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth.
Sandra i love you !!!!! You just gave me so very much a filling of pure hope and joy.
Why is that ?
Cause it caused the spirit within to stir with such utter excitement to hear words…………that in no way exalt man in any way.
And instead every word written was in exlatation and honor to God.
And echoed the words of all true saints. For they spoke of placing our hope and joy in the coming of the Lord.
Sandra you truly have, by the holy spirit within, poured a joy in my heart.
Sandra i have missed hearing you exalt God and talk of the Joy in the coming of the Lord, much like and even more so than the Kalahari misses the rains.
What peace and joy increased hearing ones love of the Lord.
And such a lifting and stirring on the inside.
You have given me such a blessing to just hear those words.
Lets all praise God. And sing a mighty praise unto his name.
Sandra , Mindy showed up a few days ago.
I hope she reads what you wrote and gets a tremendous blessing from it too.
Sandra email me later.
Pete, Randall, & Mindy–First I want to welcome Mindy, I think she must have came to the group when I was haveing computor problems, welcome Mindy, and may the spirit of the Lord guide you in all truth.
Paul was so inspired, and guided by the Holy Spirit, who would have ever thought that he started out as one who persecuted Christians. What I am saying is, it doesn’t matter where you come from, or what you might have believed in the past, all that matters is that you are seeking for the truth, and the truth will indeed set you free.
The Law is written in our hearts, and to love the Lord is to obey His commands, for if we truely love Him, His commands will not be a burden. The flesh is our burden, because we constantly want to give in to it’s desires, this is a constant battle, and one we must fight daily. Salvation is not a license to sin today, nor has it ever been. It is a gift from God, and should not be taken out of context.
I, like Randall, and so many others do not adhere to the teachings of the televangelist, or the prosperity preachers, which usually go hand in hand. My teachings come straight from the word of God, and the Holy Spirit, and I will not listen to any other.
GOD is the GREAT “I AM” there is no other, and if any man teaches falsehoods, or anything contrary to what HE has commanded, then that man has condemned himself to eternal damnation. Read the word, pray for understanding, and truth, ask and it will be given to you, the Lord will not forsake you in your time of need. Manna is being poured out to those whom HE has chosen, to each will be given their part, so that in that day they will all understand the “Mystery” of God, for it will be revealed at HIS coming.
I am reminded of what Jesus told His followers when they asked how they would know when the time is near, Jesus responded, “when you see the clouds forming, you say, rain is coming, and when you see the desert wind, you say it will be hot, how is it that you can read the signs of the earth, and the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times?”
Can you read the signs of the times? Jesus is coming very soon, please be prepared.
The Son of Man comes in a way not expected by men, so no matter how much we may try to concieve of the manner, and/or the time we cannot. We must live everyday as though this could be the day of HIs appearing, always vigilant, always hoping, always praying. For those who watch, and believe, it is a glorious hope, and they wait for this day just as a child waits to open presents on Christmas, with joy, with excitement, with love.
So, let us be joyful to the Lord, give Him the praise that He so richly deserves, and love HIM with all 100% of our hearts, this is our commission. Let us stop picking apart scripture, and just simply read HIS word, and know that it is truth, and let us share that truth with all who will listen, just as Paul, and the others did. Feed the soul, and provision for the body will be taken care of as we have need.
May the light of our precious Lord shine through each of us as we walk with HIM daily.
Blessings to all———-yours forever in Christ—————–Sandra
Hello Pete.
Sadly this is a growing pandemic. Where they take scripture out of text.
Forgetting all the others.
What they fail to see is……………back in those days…………things didnt have to be broken down tooth and nail.
They understood passages like and all men shall be saved. To mean all those in Christ.
They were deeply rooted in the faith and truth of Christ…………not in the world and its lusts as so many now are.
Things like and God shal have all men to be saved. It is his desire, and all men are only those in Christ Jesus.
As in romans seven when paul says it is not he who sins but sin.
While true this is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,evil is always present in the sin.
And it desires to rule over us……………but as said thousands of years ago.
In Christ we can rule over it and crucify the deeds of the flesh by the power of the
spirit of Christ which indwells us.
And you are right , when they teach or assume we have no power over sin or words to that effect, they are indeed deny the power of Christ.
For as Paul said……………in Christ we can all things are possible.
And they are led astray and give power over unto Satan to wreack havoc in the flesh.
If a brother do see a brother or sister sin a sin , then pull them quickly out of it.
In doing so they will indeed save a soul from death.
We must be very serious in our fight for the true faith once delivered unto the saints of old.
Many of us …………..must return to just Holy Bible reading.
In so doing it will pull the many lies from their eyes of understanding.
And give them true understanding. This is why i wont read anything taught , or written from these men in these churches.
Not saying every one is wrong. Its just i know with all certainty that all things written in the Bible is truth. So its the only source of written word i go to.
And opened my eyes to truth it has.
That was given my by the grace of God.
And it works pete. I can by spiritual discernment and what i have read in the written word………..smell a lie miles away.
Still i am being guided inot all His truth. And by no means understand, nor know it all.
But one thing i can say………………by His Holy Spirit, and the reading of the word daily it does indeed make one wise unto salvation.
I do ask us all to take this challenge very serious.
Theres too many false prophets………..and it matters not if one is worse than the other.
If they are false…………………we cannot follow, nor should we learn or read of thier works.
IT will create confusion. The flesh can easily grasp what they teach.
And things can make sense to the flesh. and begin to mislead us.
WE ought know better than to read thier stuff period.
We have the source of truth in the actual writen word.
The flesh never stops warring against the spirit and etc.
SO we must keep far away from false teachers and remember that a little leaven will
cause the lump to swell.
pete be blessed. You answered very well, and in truth in your last comment .
Be blessed Pete.
The same Apostle Paul that wrote Romans 7 also wrote Galatians 5. So sad that people want to interpret Romans 7 to allow for ongoing sin, but then ignore the fact the same Apostle wrote Galatians 5:17-24, Eph 5:5, 1 Cor 6, Colossians 3, etc. So either Paul was a mad man contradicting himself or the intepretaton of Romans 7 that Paul could not stop practicing sinning is a huge error. If we keep on practicing sin, there is no way we will be holy and blameless in the eyes of God, that is pure deception. Romans 7 as a whole has been one of the most widely abused passages in Scripture. If people would just consider the context of Romans 6 and Romans 8, then they would not be deceived. These cherry pickers of passages and only the blessings of God are leading sheep to the slaughter. The blind leading the blind. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. If we are practicing sin, there is no way we will be considered holy and blameless in the eyes of the Lord.
Yeah many have twiested that veres in Romans seven as an excuse to sin.
Wrong yet again.
Shall we continue in sin……………..GOD FORBID.
Do we make void the Law? No we establish the law. The law wrote upon our hearts, fullfilled in love.
Keep that body under control…………….or we too shal be castaway.
Lambs let us ever look diligentely for his coming. Follow peace with all, and HOLINESS, without which NO man shall see the Lord.
We are a Holy people.
No jesting etc.
Keep all manner of converstion HOLY. For it is written be ye holy for I AM holy.
Heres something beautiful to reflect on.
Open the King James Bible. Look at the first letter………………..in the beginning.
I
Look at the first two letters of the last word. amen. am.
I Am.
Now read all in between . And Learn of the Great I Am.
Just a lil gem. He is the first and the with the Last.
Or he is the first and the last.
Father Son and Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord lambs of the almighty
Praise the Lord.
That is a favorite verse of mine too. What you said near the end of the article in relation to Romans 7 really hit a nerve with me as I had never heard that before and it makes sense, but I am still confused some on it. I will have to meditate on it and do some reading on Romans again soon. I think I know what you are saying, but I need it to sink in some more. Thank you for all you do. God bless
All praise and honor be with our KING. HE is working some mighty things in many of His sheep in preparation.
Pete,
Thanks for all the effort and labour of love you do in these posts.
One of my favorite verses (and you have it in this blog)
I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galations 2:20
I am a dead man walking, Hallelujah!
Brian