October 31, 2014

 

More and more as I share on this topic, I realize that our entire society is predicated on a culture of death. We are all horrified at what we see taking place with ISIS and other terrorists across the globe and even here in the U.S., but they only represent the extreme aspect of this culture of death -- and the Fear of Death -- that pervades our society. That said, let's consider this spirit and its operation and its camouflage in the body of Christ -- never mind society.

 

Let me start once again with something that David writes in the Psalms:

 

“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears." (Psalm 18:4-5, KJV)

 

The Hebrew word translated "sorrows" in this passage is the word, khehbel, and this draws the picture more clearly of what David is saying. This word describes the twisting of a rope. It also describes the sense of a noose tied around your neck and the unbelievable emotional and psychological effects it causes within a person.

 

Though perhaps not as dramatic as these words might describe, this is precisely what our entire global society is caught in. Worse, far too many believers in Christ Jesus are caught in this snare and struggle to get out of it or evade it, or simply suppress it.

 

Back in late 1969, Derek Prince was teaching on deliverance from the fear of death and he made a profound statement that I've never forgotten.

 

"Suppression is not the same as deliverance!"

 

The very concept of suppressing fear is foolishness personified! The more a person tries to suppress fear, the greater the hold it has on them. That hold captures people in ways they fail to recognize and often consider that what they are dealing with is nothing more than a part of their makeup and character. That's a lie, and it is a lie of the spirit(s) of fear!

 

The various spirits of fear want to dwell and live and occupy every nook and cranny of our lives so that they can divert our attention from the things of God and contaminate our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week on our healing prayer call, I made a statement while teaching on deliverance from fear that needs to be re-stated here in writing and even amplified.

 

First, let me dig into the culture of fear and the culture of death that pervades our lives and our society at large. David has a unique way of expressing it in Psalm 49.

 

"Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me." (Psalm 49:12-15 KJV)

 

David makes the statement that , "like sheep they are laid in the grave." He got that right! The Fear of Death produces what we sometimes refer to as "sheeple." Like sheep, they follow with a "herd mentality," doing what some wanna-be leader (or leaders) think everyone should do.

 

[I know I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but that's what happened in 2008 and 2012 in the national elections. People who should have known better and had some sensitivity to what Holy Spirit was warning against went ahead and followed the herd and voted their emotions instead of what the Lord was saying.] Folks had better wake up and listen to Holy Spirit when they vote in next week's mid-terms!

 

OK, I'll behave!!

 

The current mentality of death and dying pervades every aspect of our society. One of the most worn-out clichés is, "The only thing we are guaranteed in life is death and taxes." And that, folks, is a lie! It flies in the face of John 11:26, along with a fistful of other instances when Jesus made virtually the identical statement. (more on this after a bit)

Think about insurance companies for a minute. Have you ever considered the fact that they are betting that you will stay healthy. You pay them because you are betting that you will get sick. If the policy you purchase happens to be a life insurance policy, the insurance company is betting that you will live beyond some actuarial projection. You are betting that you will die, and so you pay them gobs and gobs of money over a span of years, and depending on what kind of policy you buy, the money you pay is virtually thrown away!

 

Some folks believe that life insurance policies are a good investment -- and that's the drivel the insurance company sells you in order to entice you to bet on your death. Now, folks, hear me well! I'm not telling you not to buy an insurance policy. What I'm addressing here is the mindset that considers insurance a necessity. I'm addressing the Fear of Death that drives the decision-making process.

 

Della and I have not purchased, and will not purchase, either life or health insurance policies because we simply don't believe in them. When folks ask me what kind of insurance I have, I simply tell them that I have a Life Assurance Policy -- one that is guaranteed by God's Word! Understand?

 

Have I gotten sick or suffered injury? Of course! You've heard me share (or read some of my testimonies in these Coffee Breaks) of numerous occasions and infirmities: tuberculosis, cancer, arthritis, tumors (and a variety of lesser things like colds, flu, etc.), not to mention dropping dead of a heart attack at age 41.

 

That doesn't count the broken wrist in a car accident, the broken leg when I was 15 and dropped 150-pound barbell on my ankle, the snapped tendon in my leg following a spill on the ice carrying over a 100-pounds of newspapers on my back, along with the usual other bumps, bruises and fractures that come in childhood.

 

My personal repertoire of receiving health and healing and being raised from the dead includes the tuberculosis, the cancer, the arthritis, the tumors in my sinus cavities and/or the instantaneous healing of the snapped tendon, along with headaches, colds, sinus issues, flu, etc., etc. Because the Word of God is so clear on these things, and the covenant we have with the Lord Jesus Christ for our healing, our health, our deliverance from death when the Enemy tries to take us out, our safety in the midst of crisis -- and on and on and on -- I'm sorry but I've become rather biased on this topic, and not ashamed to admit it!

 

I was healed instantly of tumors in my sinus cavities at age 22. I was healed instantly of tuberculosis at age 40. I was raised from the dead at age 41, along with medical proof of a new heart and new lungs. Healing from skin cancer came at age 47, and the healing from arthritis came at age 68 without medicines or medical intervention.

The Lord Jesus Christ is my health from day to day. If I need healing, I go to him. That healing was paid for by Jesus with the stripes that he took on our behalf. (see Isaiah 53:5 and I Peter 2:24) When I suffer injury and have broken bones or other severe injuries, the Lord is my healing and restoration -- NOT the doctors or the hospitals or the medicines!

After sharing all this, you're going to think that I'm opposed to doctors and hospitals and various remedies. NO, I'M NOT! I just don't have or live in a culture of death, death expectancy or sickness and disease expectancy. For those of us who are in Christ Jesus, whose lives are being transformed by His Word, we are in a transition, folks -- a transition from a death and dying and sickness mentality to having our minds, our thoughts and our character into His character!

 

There is no sickness or disease or infirmity in Jesus. There is no dying in Him. There are no injuries or broken bones in Him. He is the totality of everything we have need of and are being transformed into. And that's the catch word here! Transformation! This is a process.

 

Two of my daughters are, or have been, in the healthcare profession. My daughter-in-law, Michelle, is heading toward her degree in nursing. I have cousins who are (or have been) medical doctors. There are many, many, many really good doctors and nurses whose mindset and lives are oriented towards healing and wholeness. There are many physicians and healthcare professionals who receive divine wisdom and understanding -- and they depend on the Lord for that wisdom and revelation -- in how to treat people.

 

What I'm driving at is the fact that the Lord is out to change our mindset and our dependencies. He is out to deliver us from the Fear of Death and the contamination it brings us in our decision-making processes.

 

The medical profession as a whole is not our answer: Jesus is! But that doesn't mean that the Lord hasn't provided some really good physicians in the meantime until we can totally transfer our dependency from the medical profession to Him. There are doctors who don't depend on the pharmaceutical companies to provide answers to various symptoms and problems -- and that's not meant to be an accusation against pharmaceuticals.

 

At the same time, I'm not endorsing medicines as a whole. There are many, many medicines whose side effects and after effects are worse than the intended cure, and the premature release of these medicines to the general public is more of a money-decision than a health decision. The companies that release these medications trade on the Fear of Death, and make their money because they know that our society is both fear and death-minded.

 

I'm making these points in order to highlight a couple of scriptures that we need to be aware of in our decision-making, and all the more so as we grow closer to the Lord and  His mindset.

 

Consider what the Word says about Asa, King of Israel -- and this was no compliment!

 

"And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians." (II Chronicles 16:12)

 

The clear implication is that had Asa sought to the Lord for his health and healing, he would have been healed. Then there's this one:

 

"And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." (Mark 5:26-29)

 

Here's a lady who literally spent her life savings and monies she needed just to live on with doctors and medicines who got worse instead of better. When she came to Jesus and simply touched the hem of His garment, she as instantaneously healed and delivered!

 

Am I making this clear to you? Are you seeing the picture? I'm the last person to beat someone up because they go to the doctors or the hospitals and depend on various and  sundry medicines in order to stay well. What I'm after is to borrow from the apostle Paul and say this to you: Yet I show unto you a more perfect way.

Jesus put it like this: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24)

 

The last thing I want to do is to convey any sense of condemnation to anyone because they haven't arrived at the place of perfect trust or confidence or faith in the Lord for their healing, their health or their deliverance. What I'm trying to do is to point folks at an answer that costs nothing more than faith. We don't have to live with a mindset of fear, doubt, unbelief, death and dying.

 

You can take steps methodically and systematically to change your way of thinking. You can move from death unto life. One of the simplest changes you can make is the way you speak about yourself or your situation.

Jesus makes this very clear when He says, "But I say unto you, That every idle (non-productive or destructive) word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)

 

Instead of praying about your situation or your need, begin to speak directly to it -- and I mean, speak out loud. If you have a heart condition, begin to speak to your heart and command it to be whole. If need be, call for a new heart from the "body parts room" in Heaven. (We've done that many times with demonstrable results! 🙂 ) If you are afflicted with cancer, speak to the cancer as a spirit and command it to leave your body. (We have a case with a pastor friend who spoke to the stomach cancer that was plaguing a woman in his fellowship a couple weeks ago. She began coughing and coughed up a tumor. She was healed instantly.)

You get the picture.

 

We'll continue this line of sharing in the weeks to come, and pick up the series on dealing with fear from time to time, but we're going to take a break next week and shift gears. We will begin talking about the necessary foundations that MUST be laid in our lives if we are going to move from the natural to the supernatural realm, from spiritual baby-hood to spiritual maturity in Christ Jesus.

 

Again, if you are in need of healing -- especially if you have some terminal disease or prognosis of a very short time to live from the doctors -- please join our prayer conference calls on either Monday or Wednesday of each week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#. To get into the queue for prayer, when Randy opens the call up for everyone, hit *6-1 on your keypad. Let us minister to your need for healing!

 

Blessings on you!