I really hate to burst some bubbles in the minds of some of my friends, but this is one of those posts. And DISCLAIMER: these thoughts are more my own, and may not reflect the views of my friends. In fact, there is something offensive in here for everyone, so without further adieu:
THE PROBLEM
An inability to hear G-d’s voice can be one of the most devastating things we can experience.
And yet, in John 10:27, there is no pause and no symbolism in the L-rd’s words, nor does He appear embarrassed by the idea that we should be able to clearly hear His voice.
He said:
My sheep [actually and literally do] hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. -John 10:27-
Somehow along the way we got lost in the idea, and allowed the damnable idea to take root and grow into our theologies that G-d only somehow speaks unclearly sometimes.
Some believers have been known to take John 10:27 and we adjust what it means. They take it as a narrow band of literal speech, or they metaphorize it into something ethereal and symbolic, when it is supposed to be straightforward and clear.
THE ASIDE ON COINCEDENCES AND HEARING G-D’S VOICE
Personal viewpoint here: Sometimes, believers also CAN get lost in the nonsense that “there are no coincidences”.
Let me say that one more clearly so my audience can get my meaning.
Coincedences do exist.
“Uh, oh. David just run off the rails. There is no Hebrew word for ‘coincidence’.”
My response: just because the word does not exist in a particular language does not mean that concept does not or cannot exist.
And, from my vantage point, they do happen, even for the Spirit-Led believer, and we need to have the capacity to distinguish when they are happening versus when they are not happening.
Sometimes things do just happen. And how does this concept tie into this post? Here you go.
We need to have the sharpness of discernment to know the difference between when something is a coincedence and when something is not a coincedence. When you see that number 22 (or pick your favorite number), please don’t get so glassy-eyed that you think every occurrence of your favorite number or other phenomena is the L-rd speaking. One is a data point; two or more is a pattern. Look for the patterns. If there is a pattern, mark it, but don’t assume it is the L-rd speaking, unless you know it is the L-rd speaking. If you think He might be speaking, ask Him, and if He replies that He is, then search out what he is communicating.
There are indeed times when the L-rd is intending to speak to you in phenomena.
There are times when He just wants to hand you a phenomena just to say He is present and with you.
And there are actually just times when said phenomena is just happening.
Just as there is not a demon behind every bush, though there are demons behind some bushes, also understand that there is not an angel behind every cloud, though there are some behind some. Our responsibility is to know the difference between the supernatural occurrences, and the natural occurrences.
Please understand, I am not trying to make fun of those who have experienced deep and mighty things in the context of meteorlogical phenomena. If it comes across that way, I apologize. My concern truly is that we don’t make everything mean something just because it is there. This is no El Capitan, we don’t climb it just because it is there (well, okay, some might). We talk to Dad, and ask Him, “hey Dad, is this you?”
Sometimes the leaves just turn red in the fall because G-d wants to paint them because they look pretty.
WHEN BLOODY MOONS CATCH OUR EYES
Let me point you out a more solid example of this where I take exceptional issue: the “blood” moons. Look with me at verse 14 of Genesis 1.
“And G-d said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.”
Genesis 1:14–15 ESV
The SMS (my shorthand for Sun, Moon, and Stars) were set as regular phenomena in the expanse of the heavens on the fourth day to occur and go through phases and eclipses at regular, predetermined, intervals. Like the hands of a clock, where we can tell precisely when 3:33 PM is going to occur across the various timezones, we also can predict the position of the sun and the moon in a given moment, and where Orion’s belt is going to be in the sky relative to what time of year it is. Every. Single. Day.
Now, am I attempting to bash those who look up at the clock every day and see the same time pattern every day? Absolutely not. I have had those patterns myself, such as when my firstborn son was born at 22:22 on September 5. I get it. And there are those seasons where it does legit happen. And we ought to recognize it as such. But sometimes we engage in the task of overreading, and we need to have the capacity to discern if and when that is happening.
Back on the subject of the blood moons
We know when the eclipses are going to happen 8500 years from now. Every partial eclipse, every total eclipse, every pattern. And those patterns are not out-of-the-ordinary.
When Dad speaks, and it comes to the Joel 2 and Acts 2 types of things, He will speak using the out-of-the-ordinary phenomena.
So, no, Yeshua is not coming during blood moons on the Feast of Trumpets in accordance with your interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Matthew 24. And no, the moons over the US and the various towns named Salem are not going to be the signs of His appearing. And no, the appearance over the US or an appearance over Israel means diddly-squat. And, no, you may not make money off of the fact from me. The L-rd will come when He is darn well ready, and I think before that, we are going to have to learn to understand, know, and be wise to a few principles. Go home and actually just spend time with Him. And don’t try to predict his coming based on regularly occuring phenomenon.
And look at the phrase “the moon will turn to blood”. That has NOTHING to do with a regularly occuring, predictable astrological event. When the moon turns to blood it will be unlike anything we have ever encountered, and we will know it.
And “the sun will become dark” does not mean solar eclipse. It means something we have NEVER seen before.
And, no, Mark Biltz didn’t get it. I am sorry. And the Shemitah and the Harbinger aren’t what we should be looking for.
Our eyes should be FIXED on Him, not regular events, Him. Not current events. Him. Not attacks upon this nation or that nation. Him. Not this or that false christ ot denounce. Him. Not people saying “I am the Christ” or “Jesus is the Christ”. Him.
Anything besides Him is a paltry substitute.
WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH RECEIVING GIFTS WE DO NOT WANT
If we are not clearly hearing His voice, then we will find cheap substitutes for that voice. He has not left us without clarity or a solid voice to discern. So why the lack of hearing G-d’s voice? What is the vacuum that is sucking us dry in the area of His voice.
We call this the Canaanite Iron Bowl. Iron was connected with the Canaanites, and as the fourth of the seven enemies in the book of Judges, we see the Canaanite Curse (and perhaps Canaanite structures) hit Exhorters most keenly. And this bowl is something like a structure that fits over the head and keeps the one under it from hearing clearly what the L-rd is trying to say.
I wonder if there are six other structures. Maybe an opportunity for another teaching.
EXHORTERS AND HEARING G-D
Exhorters are the Redemptive Gift that, above all the other gifts, is designed to hear new revelation about the nature of G-d that is missing from the current revelation, and that is transformational to our understanding of the nature of G-d. Exhorters TRAFFIC in revelation and can effortlessy pull new revelation faster, bigger, more quickly, than the others (Seven Principles). As a result, they are in need of hearing G-d’s actual, certifiable voice more keenly than the other gifts. That is one of their jobs and that is why they sparkle so radically as witnesses to the nations and influences of great crowds. That is why they are the go-to for G-d’s chosen instruments as world-changers.
Take Moses the Exhorter for example:
“And he said, ‘Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the L-RD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the L-RD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
Numbers 12:6–8 ESV
And oftentimes this structure that blocks us from hearing the voice of G-d, comes upon us for a number of reasons. But the one that I want to highlight more than any other is this one.
WHEN WE REJECT PART OF WHAT G-D WANTS TO GIVE US
The Canaanite Iron Bowl has license to come upon us when we or an ancestor rejects the voice of G-d.
I would like to give Arthur Burk full credit for discovering this concept, by the way. His series “Hearing G-d” is critical to understanding how this structure works. You can grab the teaching here (for the CD’s) or here (for the MP3’s).
The Canaanite Iron Bowl can come upon us when we take the revelation that G-d wants to give us and we only accept part of that revelation. So, if G-d gives 100 units of revelation, and I decide to keep the 90 units with which I am comfortable and toss aside or junk the 10 units with which I am not comfortable, then what that does is it gives the enemy a blank check to later nab the revelation I do have and put me into a deficit of owing him the revelation that I do have.
To him who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
And earlier in John 10:
the enemy does not come except to steal…
If you reject what G-d wants to give, you will wonder why you have less than what you did accept.
Here is the kicker, gang, and the attitude we need to assert with the L-rd. In order to get the revelation I want, I need to be willing to accept with it the revelation I do not want.
In order to keep and maintain the gifts I want from the L-rd, I need to be willing to handle and steward the gifts I do not want that G-d wants to give me.
This means, I have to be sharp as a boxcutter when it comes to knowing the difference between a coincedence and revelation. And yes, stuff does just sometimes happen.
The Canaanite Iron Bowl can come because we or someone in our family line was content to receive this revelation here, but that revelation (especially if it had to deal with suffering or correction) over there was to uncomfortable to integrate into our lives.
If we want the sharpness to clearly hear His voice, we have to be willing to drink whatever cup He assigns us.
Do we accept the bits we like and reject the ones we dislike, or do we take everything He has for us?
When we fail to hear his voice, we sometimes like to sub in those things that are cheap imitations.
“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let G-d speak to us, lest we die.”
That right there, was their mistake. “We do not want G-d to speak to us, lest we die.”
If you do not want to hear His voice, then He will actually stop speaking. He will honor your request. And rejecting His voice when He sends you servants to speak to you, is
If you believe a lie, then you will have the lie you want. If you believe no man can behold the glory of G-d, then that is the lie you will have. If you believe that your lot is only dark sayings, and not “face-to-face, as a man speaks with his friend”, then that is what you shall have. If you believe that only the prophets of the Tanakh were able to speak with precision and accuracy, and not you, then that is what you shall have. If you believe that Elijah was more holy or more special than you, and it is not your birthright to hear as he heard and walk as he walked, then that is what you shall have, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS CLEARLY WRITTEN
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
Hey, gang. These men and women were identical to us; they were humans.
Let me flip-flop that statement. We have a nature like theirs, and we are identical to them.
For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:9–18 ESV
We have a better covenant, and a better set of promises, and our capacity to hear G-d and do mighty exploits is somehow less and with less clarity? Seriously? Is that what Yeshua died for? So we could merely go to church once a week and tithe?!
And we have a “maybe that was G-d I heard, maybe not.”
And we settle for clouds and witching rods, and tea leaves and a choked and semi-alive communication line which that bastard snake can choke out anytime he feels like it is getting too strong?
Gang, there is more. I challenge each of you. There is more. He has more for you to hear. Reject the mentality that you have to hear less because you deserve less.
Reject the lie that says “I occasionally hear him from time to time, maybe. Stupid Samaritan dog am I.” As if your L-rd is saying “it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
This is not about begging off the crumbs that fall from Lance Wallmau’s or Jeremiah Johnson’s or Lou Engle’s or Arthur Burk’s tables. This is about you baking your own bread and butchering your own steaks.
And so what if the word Father gives you does not mirror their words?
It wouldn’t be the first time that one prophet disagreed with the mass of the rest.
And L-rd knows, we have had enough psychic doors opened in the prophetic that we need to start repenting of ours, closing them, and pointing out when a word is off. Even if the speaker is Lou Engle, or Jeremiah Johnson, or Arthur Burk, or me, or anyone else.
Grab that teaching and remove the bowl and reject the non-reality that hearing G-d has to be a chore or something labor-intensive; t does not have to be.
And for your chewing, here is the NRSV on Genesis 1:6-8. That word for “expanse” or “firmament” can mean “dome”.
“And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”
Genesis 1:6–8 NRSV
So, question. Do we want the dome of the expanse of G-d’s clarity and revelation and truth, or do we want the suffocation of the Canaanite Iron Bowl?
