Cyber Truths By E-mail
27. Breaking The Chain Of Sin And
Strongholds (November 13, 2006)
Dear Friends,
We’re grateful that the elections
are now over. From our perspective, each election process is
becoming more of a mudslinging contest. The increased negative campaigning has
made it more difficult to come to wise decisions on candidates
and issues. Besides not knowing where some of the candidates
stood on the issues, when we got to the polls we found
propositions on the ballot that we’d never even heard of
before—and we try to be informed!
As we walked home from the polling place,
I saw the frustration on Sue’s face from being called
upon to make decisions over matters about which we hadn’t
been able to be informed and pray.
It was during the walk home that the
Spirit began to take me vertical, connecting for me various things God had been
showing me over the course of many years. In my mind they would
have seemed disconnected, but the Spirit started to clarify how sin and strongholds were rapidly bringing on the Dark Days of
Chastisement for both this nation and the system of Nicolaitan
Christendom as well.
Just prior to the elections, a well-known
clergyman in Colorado Springs was exposed in longstanding
transgressions and removed from his leadership position.
I’d met with him 9 years ago over a brief but revealing
lunch. Over the years since that encounter, I’ve
conversed with some of the men in leadership at his
congregation. The Spirit revealed to me that what is occurring
in the current election process and that which has taken place
with that clergyman and his congregation are parallel.
In order for you to understand what the
Holy Spirit was showing me, we need to first take a look at the food chain in the ocean. You may have seen the announcements
warning people to limit their intake of predatory fish from the
ocean. The reason is that fish at the top of the food chain
have more mercury in their bodies than those at the bottom.
As fish at the top of the food chain eat
those lower on the chain, they accumulate mercury. In essence,
we humans are the real top of the ocean’s food chain when
we consume predatory fish—we end up amassing higher
levels of poison in our system.
This food chain analogy represents both
the government of this nation and the leadership organization
of the Nicolaitan religious system. How? The higher up the
chain you are, the greater the impact and effect of tolerated
sin and demonic strongholds in your life.
The Strongman Over Washington, D.C. Is
More than a decade ago Francis Frangipane,
author of The Three Battle-grounds, was at a conference in this nation’s
capital. The Holy Spirit revealed to the attendees that the
demonic principality which ruled Washington, and thereby the
whole U.S., was Deceit.
The attendees began to pray, binding the
spirit of deceit in that city. The next morning the mayor of
Washington was arrested. The headline in the newspaper read:
“He Hid Behind Deceit”.
Now, years later on our walk home, the
Holy Spirit began to make some connections for me so that by
reading this, you might be helped to remain free from
deceit’s influence and control.
In our book, Demolishing
Strongholds, we share the
symptoms of deceit:
Lying: Falsifying
information with a motive to deceive (1 Kings 22:23); Fantasies: Fanciful
thoughts with little credibility (Jeremiah 14:14);
Delusions: Believing
lies; may cover painful past experiences (Jeremiah 23:32);
Rationalization: Reasoning with desire to gloss over problems;
attempting to deal with serious problems superficially; making
excuses to justify sinful behavior (1 John 4:4-6);
Wrong Doctrine / Misuse of Scripture:
Reasoning out faulty conclusion or
position, then using the Bible to support your conclusion (2
Timothy 4:3,4);
Flattery: Saying
positive things to others to gain advantage in your
relationship with them (Romans 16:18);
Syncretism: Incorporating
unbiblical beliefs or practices into your spiritual life and
calling them “Christian” (Hebrews 3:12-14).
When the stronghold of deceit is present
in you, you’re vulnerable to all the other demonic
strongholds in the Master Deceiver’s arsenal. Deceit
operates as demonic glue between unrepentant people, just as
righteousness and the Spirit connects genuine followers of
Jesus to our Father and to others in true fellowship.
The Evil Chain Of Sin And Strongholds
Over the course of conducting Demolishing Stronghold seminars, we discovered a demonic connection both
in families and in congregations:
• The major stronghold(s) in parents
were also in their children.
• The major stronghold(s) in children
were also in their parents.
• The major stronghold(s) in leaders
of a congregation were also in their congregants.
• The major stronghold(s) present in
the congregants were also in the congregational leaders.
As we repeatedly observed this connection,
we began to understand that generational
strongholds were passed along
within families. We also recognized how people are attracted to
others who are influenced/oppressed/agitated by the same familiar stronghold(s). In fact, we’ve never encountered a married
couple in which the same prevailing stronghold(s) weren’t
in each partner before they married. That familiarity stirred a
comfort level that was based on the unclean spirit’s
presence: “You understand me!”
We’ve found throughout Nicolaitan
Christendom
that people are more connected through generational
strongholds
and familiar spirits than any other factor.
For followers of Jesus this
shouldn’t be! Our fellowship with others should be based
on communal righteousness and the Holy Spirit at work within
each of us. Yet, because of tolerated
sin in self and others who are
close to us as well as the influence of un-demolished strongholds,
many live in demonic bondage rather than in the relational
freedom Jesus promises.
Let’s review the demonic “food
chain” we were all born into—a captivity that we as
followers of Jesus should be free from. The prophet Jeremiah
describes the basic motive of our sin nature:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).
Because of the sin nature each of us
receives from our parents at conception, we are born with a
deceptive heart. But let’s go up the demonic chain and
see what the top looks like:
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you
want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the
beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no
truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and
the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Before you entered into our Father’s
Covenant, you were part of an evil chain, connected to Satan
through deceit. Unless it is demolished, that element of
familiarity—deceit—connects each of us to the
leaders of this nation and to those in leadership in the self-serving
Nicolaitan religious system. In fact, the higher up Satan’s evil chain you are, the
more that deceit motivates you.
The Colorado Springs clergyman we
mentioned earlier publicly acknowledged, “I am a deceiver
and a liar.” Tragically, the 14,000 congregants who have
sat under the influence of that deceiving spirit have found a
comfortable familiarity based on deceit rather than a challenge
to be set apart in purity.
Whether within a power-based religious
system or a worldly government, deceit is the diabolical thread
that enables it to exist. This reality comes across clearly in
the wilderness encounter between our Lord Jesus and Satan:
"And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him,
'I will give You all this
domain and its glory; for it has
been handed over to me, and I give it to
whomever I wish'" (Luke 4:5,6).
Jesus didn’t contest that the
governments of the earth are under the domain of Satan. The
devil’s rule was a consequence of the sin of Adam and
Eve. But how does the connection of Satan to religious systems
and governments impact you? This is where tolerated sin and demonic
strongholds come in.
Scripture makes clear that when you hold
on to unconfessed sin, you’re out of fellowship with God.
Does that condition place you in some neutral limbo? Or, are
you now linked in the demonic chain of deceit in Satan’s
domain?
If you believe that you can continue in
unconfessed sin and still be right and acceptable in
God’s sight, aren’t you deceiving yourself? And, if
you’re in bondage to deceit, who is master over you, God
or the devil? Peter soberly observes that a person is "enslaved to whatever has defeated him" (2 Peter 2:19).
Do you think our holy, caring God is
sitting quietly by, detached from His children’s choices?
His desire is for His own to love
the truth (see 2
Thessalonians 2:10). But what if you refuse to stand firm in
your obedient trust and instead choose to embrace lies and
deception, even if they’re shrouded in a “false
grace” by religious leaders?
If you refuse to repent of ongoing
wickedness that deceit excuses or rationalizes, the
consequences are calamitous:
"For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe
the lie, and so that all will be
condemned who have not believed the
truth but have delighted in
sinfulness" (2 Thessalonians 2:
11,12).
That His children can become part of
Satan’s evil chain is seen in Paul’s warning to believers: the
foothold of deceiving thoughts can lead to unrighteous actions
that can grow into demonic strongholds if not repented of.
• “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27).
• “That
they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the
devil, who has taken them captive
to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).
• “By this the children of God
and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10).
When I met 9 years ago with the clergyman
I mentioned, I showed him the list of strongholds in our book Demolishing Strongholds and asked him to point out which one influenced his
life. He immediately pointed to one, but didn’t want to
deal with it. Over the years I discovered that many in his
congregation were afflicted by the same demonic connection.
A point of biblical fact:
Any faith community (especially those
influenced by the “church growth movement”) that
evaluates success by size rather than by communal
righteousness is predisposed to
the deceits of Satan.
Any faith community in which the leadership
is NOT
• clean of unconfessed sin,
• free from strongholds,
• shepherding
the Father’s children by personal contact and role
modeling
is predisposed to the deceits of Satan.
We are writing this to spur you on in
alertness if you want to live in fellowship with our Father and
His Son, Jesus. Please, scrutinize your relational connections.
• Are your spiritual relationships
established on a familiar footing of shared strongholds and
unconfessed sin?
Or,
• Are your spiritual relationships
established on a bedrock of freedom from strongholds, with
repentance that’s leading to personal and communal
righteousness?
• Are your spiritual leaders free
from unconfessed sin and strongholds?
Your answer to these questions are
critical to your current faith pilgrimage and, ultimately, to
your eternal destiny. Consider the dire word-picture the
apostle John paints as a grievous warning to those who practice
a life of deception:
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the
vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice
magic arts, the idolaters and all
liars—their place will be in
the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death (Revelation 21:8).
When I was counseling religious leaders in
the mid-1980’s, a man from the third largest denomination
acknow- ledged to me that over half their clergy were involved
in adultery. His deceptive conclusion to the matter? “If our people knew
this, they’d leave us in droves!”
Satan Reigns Through Deceit
Deceit uses many forms of expression. One
of the most prevalent profoundly influences people in this
nation, including Christians: advertisement. Truthful advertisement resonates
with those who trust God for provision as Jehovah Jireh. Truthful
ads present accurate facts about their products so that you can
make a wise decision about whether to purchase them. The
information is not manipulated to fraudulently compel you to
buy. Rather, the ad honestly articulates the quality and uses
of the product.
Deceptive advertisement, on the other hand, attempts to induce you to buy
the product regardless of quality and whether or not you need
it. Fraudulent ads entice your physical senses to respond to
the images presented without weighing either your need for the
item or its true worth.
People in this nation have grown
accustomed to the deceptive spirit in advertisement. Misleading
advertising has nurtured the spirit of deceit that controls
this nation. Deceptive hearts
harken to deceptive advertisement.
Deceit stimulates people to respond to ads that indulge their
fleshly desires (tantalizing food, trendy clothing, stylish
vehicles, luxurious home designs). Out-of-control credit card
spending is a sign of the wanton self-gratification that began
in the Garden!
This land is now a “debtor
nation” among the countries of this world—a
borrower enslaved to the lenders. Who do you think is ruling
this system? Satan!
Have you noticed that the elections
process over the years has forsaken the plain truth of
determined stands on issues and adopted deceptive advertising
to denigrate the opposition’s character? Through slander
and lies about opponents, those running for office attempt to
induce a favorable response to themselves. Deceptive
advertisement has been paving the way for this practice for
decades.
The only potentially truthful candidate is
one who tells you about their own
qualifications and what they will do if
elected. The moment they defame
their opponent, they’re deceiving you by covering over
their own lack of qualifications and/or their indecisive
platform.
The increasing acceptance of the
“church growth movement” in many areas of the
Nicolaitan religious system is indicative of how deceit has
exerted such influence over Christendom. The goal of size equals success mirrors
corporate America, not the teachings of Jesus Christ and
God’s Word. And keep in mind that corporate America is
the leader in inducement-style advertising.
• What does a gorgeous woman standing
in front of car or truck have to do with the quality of the
vehicle?
• What does a gecko (Geico) or the
Aflac duck have to do with the quality of the company’s
insurance coverage?
• Is the advertised promise of
“signs and wonders guaranteed” if you attend a
particular conference God’s way of getting you there?
Our list could go on, but examine for
yourself the deceit in the advertisements you’re privy
to. In particular, see if they’re appealing to you
through a deceptive heart that’s drenched with
unconfessed sin and/or strongholds.
• Do you buy what you need, or what you want?
• Are you in your faith community for
what you enjoy, or to fulfill
God’s purpose among
these individuals?
• Are you in your faith community
because of a Spirit-to-spirit
connection, or because you are
deceived through tolerated sin and
strongholds in your life?
Affinity Groups: Deception In Christendom
Are you familiar with “affinity
groups”?
Satan uses affinity groups to make you feel comfortable
by
attracting you to get together with other people who are just like you.
Large “church growth”
congregations, like the one in Colorado Springs which dismissed
their clergyman, use special-interest groups to attract and
hold onto people. They’re similar to the
“loss-leaders” (super-low prices on a few specific
goods) which stores use to get you to come in and buy a lot of
what you don’t really need so you’ll keep
returning.
Let’s describe a few types of
affinity groups commonly found within today’s Nicolaitan
religious system:
Youth groups
Singles groups
Divorce groups
Dog obedience groups (!)
Motorcyclist/Bicyclist groups
Hiking/Skiing groups
Affinity groups have nothing to do with
communal righteousness, role modeling a Christ-like lifestyle,
spurring one another on to love and good deeds, or serving the
interests of God. Nothing! They’re Satan’s way of making
you feel comfortable so you can subtlety appease your sin
nature under the guise of “fellowship”. And, many
affinity groups are formed to appeal to the familiar spirits of
like strongholds (obviously without the participants
recognizing the enemy’s scheme!).
To understand the appeal of
special-interest affinity groups, we need to refer to Desmond
Morris’s famous book, The
Human Zoo. Written in the
1950’s, the volume describes how man inherently
seeks out others with similar likes and tastes. People
who indulge their sin nature have an affinity for small groups
of people who are willing to excuse sin and take part in
worldly ways themselves. This is not
our Father’s way.
Our Father intends that His children share true fellowship in an
extended spiritual family that is intergenerational, is based on
communal righteousness, and is led by older, wise
shepherds who will reflect a father’s compassion and concern for
our Lord’s children.
True fellowship produces communal growth in Christ’s likeness,
and fulfills our Father’s purpose for bless others.
[For more on the importance of being a blessing, see Lifebyte 34: The Abrahamic Covenant, Groundwork For The Hebraic Restoration.]
The mega-congregation we mentioned earlier
is composed of affinity groups. When clergy leadership cling to
their strongholds and try to hide their sin, affinity groups
become the devil’s means of enabling sin and
stronghold-controlled people to feel comfortable in their
unrepentance.
When the congregants attend Sunday
services, sitting with thousands of people like themselves,
they feel very affirmed. And, since the Sunday morning stage
performance is so similar to the music concerts they
attend, they feel entertained. Does any of this sound like the
hand of a holy, righteous, life-changing God? Not a bit!
*** If you’d like to find out if
there is a demonic chain in your own faith community, hand out
our Demolishing Strongholds Questionnaire. A list of strongholds is contained at the end of this Teaching E-mail.
So You’re Disillusioned?
That’s Good!
All over this nation, whether through
Satan’s powerful influence over the government and
political matters, or because of the darkness of the
“church growth movement” in the Nicolaitan system,
many are becoming disillusioned.
You may have become dismayed yourself over
things you’ve observed in the religious system and in the
direction this nation seems headed. Your disillusion is good!
To be dis-illusioned means that you were once illusioned.
You believed an illusion—a lie!
That’s probably painful for you to come to grips with.
It’s hard to face up to the fact that you let yourself be
deceived.
Christian pollster George Barna notes that
there are now over 20 million people in this nation who are
actively seeking the restoration of the early Church. You may
be one of them. If you’re looking for the joy of
love-grounded obedient trust you see in the Book of Acts, you
need to adopt the same Hebraic foundations that made those
followers of Jesus so spiritually powerful and relationally
intimate.
You won’t find that pathway in the
Nicolaitan religious system that so mimics the ways of Satan in
the world. Walking in God’s truth and living a lie
can’t co-exist in your life (see 2 Corinthians 6:14). So
His exit for you out of the lie is to let you be disillusioned. You must see this painful period of disillusionment as
your loving Father freeing you from Satan’s deceitful
grasp.
You have a choice: You can look back at
your deceived past and live with feelings of regret that so
little lasting fruit came of it. Or, you can press on
thankfully into the freedom our Father is offering you as you
live a life of obedient trust as Abraham did—and you have the
indwelling Spirit as your loving Com-panion! This is Kingdom living, not
“churched” living. This
is the Hebraic Restoration!
If you’re disillusioned about this nation and its government,
GOOD! God never ordained democracies. They are a tool of Satan
to bring down the morality of a nation to its lowest common
deno-minator, as happened to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The type of government that serves the
interests of God is a theocracy in which His will and commands are carried out
through a republic form of
leadership.
Our Lord provided a theocracy and a
republic among the children of Israel until the sinful people
demanded a king “as all the
other nations have” (1 Samuel
8). In a republic, each level of government is led by wise
older men—elders (Hebrew zaken). The best at each level are sent by their peers
to represent them at higher levels.
In ancient Israel as well as among the
seven American Indian nations from whom Benjamin Franklin
sought guidance in writing our Constitution, a certain format
was followed:
• An outstanding family elder would
represent the family at the clan level.
• An outstanding clan elder would
represent the clan at the tribal level.
• An outstanding tribal elder would
represent the tribe at the national level.
Our Founding Fathers understood this
pattern of governance. Congression-al officials at the federal
level were elected by the state legislatures. The best at the
state level went to represent the state at the federal level.
This is how a republic functions.
Over a hundred years ago an amendment
changed this practice, and now we have democracy—people
are elected by popular vote. Sadly, many base their vote more
on popularity or special interst rather than on character and
leadership ability.
When this nation was a republic, character
and leadership qualities were discerned by those in the state
legislatures before an individual was sent to represent them in
Washington.
You need to know that several of the
Founding Fathers understood how critical it was for this nation
to remain a republic and NEVER become a democracy. They knew
that the sin nature of people that would be exercised through
popular vote would bring this country down. In contrast,
reliance on the Bible and theocratic republics go hand-in-hand.
To lose one is to lose the other. And this nation has lost
both!
Just think: The democratically elected
leadership of this nation wants to export democracy to Iraq and
other nations. Have you ever wondered why this nation
hasn’t won a war since World War II? We as a nation don’t serve God.
This nation as a whole serves the goals and interests of Satan,
the ruler of this world and its systems. Consider the reality
that the worldliness of this country as well as the Nicolaitan
religious system are “One
nation under Satan”.
Are you offended by those bumper stickers
that demand, “God bless America”? They should
really be pleading: “Holy
God, please pour out a spirit of repentance on this
nation.”
As long as this nation remains a democracy
without the Bible as
its steadfast moral foundation,
it will be Satan’s to rule through
deceit.
As long as this nation rejects the God of a theocracy
with a
republic form of government,
it will be Satan’s to rule through
deceit.
Democratic elections change nothing.
Righteousness changes everything!!!!
“Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
If you think one political party is holier
than another, you believe a lie.
Political parties are man’s creation, not God’s. As
long as this nation is not “one nation under God”,
and as long as it remains a democracy, it is not His nation.
Before the next election process begins,
ask yourself if you’re prepared in heart to participate.
To paraphrase our Lord, “Let
him who is without sin cast the first vote” (John 8:7). Examine your heart, your home,
your family and your extended spiritual family. Make sure you
aren’t part of a demonic chain of unconfessed sin and
strongholds.
[For more on the topic of republics, see Lesson 21. Discussing How To Restore The Early Church.]
If you’re among those who’ve
been disillusioned
by the Nicolaitan religious system and left it behind, thank
God! Nicolaitanism is not theocratic—our King and His
rule are not at the center of it. That’s why God hates it
and is warring against it (see Revelation 2:6,15,16).
This pernicious system robs followers of
Jesus of their responsibility and privilege to walk in obedient
righteousness face to face with their Lord. It’s ruled by
a clergy class that elevates themselves above the people,
coming between our Father and His children to keep them in
spiritual infancy.
Nicolaitan programs and goals are modeled
after corporate America, permitting congregants to be
comfortable in their sins and controlled by their
strongholds—the same strongholds that plague the leaders.
“So too Jesus suffered death outside
the gate, in order to make the people holy through His own
blood.
Therefore, let
us go out to Him Who is outside the camp and share His
disgrace. For we have no permanent city here; on
the contrary, we seek the one to
come” (Hebrews 13:12-14).
A prophetic word for you to consider:
The Nicolaitan religious system is weighted
down with rebellion and lawlessness and is devoid of
repentance. God is replacing the Nicolaitan system with His
Hebraic foundations. If you want to walk in spiritual power and
relational intimacy with the King of the kingdom, you must
leave Nicolaitanism to find the pathway of the earliest Church.
Many like you are being prepared for the
theocratic republic that will be birthed in the Dark Days of
Chastise-ment coming upon this nation according to our
Lord’s purpose.
Those whom God will use in this
Kingdom-based theocracy are finding themselves disenfranchised
from the present Nicolaitan system which serves its own
purposes, controls through vested interests, and ignores
God’s pure and self-denying command to be a blessing.
The Kingdom that is coming will not make a
move without a Word from the Lord. It will live by the Bible as
God’s perfect and unalterable guidance for all mankind.
The men of valor who will lead our
Father’s children will not be concerned about their own
benefit or position in this Kingdom, nor are they now bothered
by what others think. To walk humbly and justly before their
God while extending His mercy—this is what motivates
them.
Rather than coming between our Father and
His children, these elders will help each person live in
Covenant union with their Father, enjoying intimacy with Jesus
in His Spirit. The outflow of that wonderful relationship will
pour out as blessing upon all with whom His followers interact.
