September 13, 2013

Good Morning!! When I opened up our last Coffee Break, I neglected to follow up on the comment about some Amish brethren who were part of the praise and worship gathering a couple weeks ago in an area just a short distance from Lewiston, Idaho, and it is worth following up.

We were talking about the vivid display in the heavens with the extremely loud claps of thunder that shook the whole place, followed by close lightning strikes, followed by hail which fell as glass. The Amish leader who was part of this gathering was a brother I know as Levi. As they gathered together with believers who represented a cross-section of the Body of Christ, Levi stood up and said the following:

"I want you all to know that we are NOT Amish. Neither are we Ex-Amish. We are your brethren in the Body of Christ!"

THAT, folks is what is happening in this hour. Barriers are coming down! As people are being drawn into the immediate presence of the Lord, they are shedding their denominational rags as well as their sectarian and doctrinal positions and putting on the glory of the Lord.

The spirit of Jezebel is notable in presenting itself as a prophet(ess) in order to teach men and women and entice them into immorality -- whether spiritual or physical or through mental fantasies (such as using pornography) -- often justifying that immorality with the use of certain scripture verses taken out of context. Adultery and fornication are often justified through pornographic imagery by the spirit of Jezebel under the guise that "you didn't engage in any physical sexual contact with anyone."

Let's see. How was it that Jesus put it? (See Matthew 5:27-28) "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Get it? Adultery or fornication is not simply engaging in a physical act. It is the living out of the sexual act with someone to whom you are not married in the midst of mental and emotional fantasies. We'll talk about the spiritual side of adultery and fornication in the days to come and the seduction associated with it that John was driving at in the prophecy to the Ekklesia in Thyatira.

This is a pretty heavy subject for a lot of people, and sometimes the real life aspects of how the spirit of Jezebel operates can get lost in the details. That said, let's get back to the event I was sharing with you in the previous Coffee Break that took place some years back with my lifetime friend and brother in the Lord, Dwain McKenzie.

Got my good strong cup of French Roasted Columbian blended with some Jamaican Blue Mountain poured, and I’m on my second cup. Better grab yours before it's too late. A quick note as well: we're going to run long again in today's Coffee Break.

Last week, I ran out of time (and space) to complete a story on seeing firsthand the spirit of Jezebel in operation. It never occurred to me at the time that this was what I was seeing, and not for several years thereafter did I understand the demonic nature of what transpired. Not until the Holy Spirit led me into the ministry of deliverance did I begin to comprehend what had unfolded before me; and then I watched as the Lord brought both judgment and vindication.

As I wrapped up part one of this discussion last week, I said that as soon as I was gone from Barrow, a fake trial was held before the church board. Dwain was found guilty in absentia. He never had an opportunity to present evidence that would have cleared him. Neither was I ever given an opportunity – as one who had personally worked with him and been involved in the day-to-day ministry – to present any evidence or testimony contrary to that of the conspirators.

Dwain was contacted while in California and advised to get back to Barrow to pack up his personal belongings, and told that he was through as a pastor in Alaska. You can imagine his shock. He flew to Fairbanks to meet with the District Superintendent (DS) to plead his case and was brushed off without so much as an ounce of grace.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m about the last person on the face of this earth to believe in conspiracies and I don’t abide conspiracy theories very well. Nevertheless, as this situation unfolded, it became clear that certain preachers in

Alaska wanted titles and political power within the Alaska Missions. Because of my father’s long history of building and establishing churches and his pioneering ministry, they figured he was in line to become the top leader within the denomination and its operations in Alaska

.

Dad was about as apolitical as any person you’ve ever met. He wasn’t the least bit interested in titles or positions. He was there because God called and anointed him to lay foundations, and build and establish the Kingdom of God

throughout the arctic. He didn’t have time for church politics and adamantly criticized those within the denomination for getting wrapped up in it. Nevertheless, he was given a title (as General Presbyter – that’s an overseer and representative of a group of churches) and a certain amount of authority within the statewide operations of the denomination. What Dad knew was that his authority didn’t come from the denomination; it came from the Lord who called him and sent him. He used his position – not as a political power base, but as a means to extend his reach in ministry.

One of the things I’ve found to be true in a lifetime of ministry is that those who seek political power and position generally tend to be afraid of it; and their seeking after that power and position comes from a place of wanting the esteem of men. Likewise, those who seek after power and political titles tend to believe that everyone else also wants that power. It becomes a place of competition, manipulation and control. Hence, it becomes a platform in their lives for witchcraft to take hold and function in and through them.

Thus, those who conspired to remove Dwain from the pastorate in Barrow did so because they felt he was a “vote” for my father to have the general superintendence of the denomination in Alaska. Hervel was a pawn – a willing one, to be sure, but a pawn nevertheless. His greed and willingness to subvert the Gospel for the sake of what he viewed as a powerful political position (he became the pawn of a spirit of witchcraft) made him an easy target for those who also had subverted the Gospel.

Dwain didn’t waste much time nursing any wounds over the conspiracy and his removal from Barrow. He began ministering in a church in southern California as new doors opened up to him. The conspiracy hadn’t ended, of course, but the Lord was setting the stage for judgment for the would-be conspirators.

By now, of course, I was in Nome, working at the bank and receiving my training to take the management of the Kotzebue branch; and at the same time helping our family friend and brother in the Lord, Paul Bills, in his pastorate of the church in Nome where I’d grown up in my early childhood. A general unrest began to develop in my spirit in the midst of my bank management training, and I realized this was not the direction of the Lord in my life. The job wasn’t paying a whole lot of money [unless you are in senior management in banking, you don’t make any money at all], and I was struggling to pay my bills.

Our young daughter, Debbie, was fighting with one sickness after another, and money was spending like water. A friend I’d known from my youth was working for the state of

Alaska as a civil engineer. He knew of my engineering and math skills and offered me a high-paying job with the state as a surveyor on a remote highway project. I decided it was time to get my bills paid off and actually make a move towards permanent, full-time pastoral ministry, resigned from the bank and took the surveyor’s job.

In the meantime, I discovered that the denomination was looking for a missionary to take the church in Nenana Alaska so I submitted my name to the missions organization. As soon as my father heard that I had put my name in consideration, he contacted the missions leadership and put in his plug on my behalf. It never dawned on me – and certainly not on my Dad – that this move would be regarded in exactly the same way they regarded Dwain’s pastorate of the church in Barrow: namely, another vote for my father, and a threat to those who sought political power and position. I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. It didn’t make sense that I wasn’t receiving any response from the missions leadership. The need in Nenana was urgent and I was more than qualified.

Weeks turned into months, and still no response was forthcoming. I asked Paul Bills to check on it for me and see if he could rattle some doors on my behalf. The look in his eye when I asked should have spoken volumes, but I was naïve enough to think that he was fully supportive of my request. After some five months had passed and still no answer was forthcoming from the denomination, a letter arrived in the mail from Audrey Mieir, the songwriter, arranger and singer whom I had known from my days in Bible College. She asked me if I would pray about and consider taking over the youth ministry in her brother-in-law’s church in Duarte, California: Bethel Union Church. There was an immediate “YES” in my spirit. This was the direction of the Lord, and it was clear.

I still didn’t understand why I hadn’t heard anything from the denominational missions leadership, but decided to let it pass. In the midst of the transition in moving from Alaska to California, I used my aunt and uncle’s home in Santa Clara, California

as a stopover and a staging place from which to make the final move. A letter from the missions board that was sent to my Alaskan address caught up with me in Santa Clara

.

To sum up that letter, it read, “with your life so out of order and your bills unpaid, how dare you apply for a place of ministry with us?” Since I had paid off my bills before leaving Alaska with ample income I'd received as a surveyor, the letter was puzzling to say the least. None of it made any sense, and I simply threw the letter in the trash can. Besides, I already had my direction from the Lord.

Now. Let’s fast forward to the late fall of 1976. I’ve been ministering with Dwain McKenzie (again!) at

Long Beach Christian Center for the past five years. The events of a decade previous are long gone from our memories. The past ten years have produced such change in me that I’m no longer anything like what I was in 1966. There has been an unfolding of a series of miracles and spectacular works of the Holy Spirit as I could scarcely have imagined. Now I’ve accepted Scott Hessek’s offer to take the ministry of CBN and the 700 Club to Alaska

.

Arriving in Anchorageand on my way to Saint Paul Island where my folks are ministering, I spend a few days reacquainting myself with people I’ve known throughout much of my life. On Sunday, prior to my Monday departure for Saint Paul Island, I decide to visit the denominational church in Anchorage where many of my past friends or acquaintances would likely be. The Sunday morning service gets under way and the pastor makes a point of publicly acknowledging and recognizing my presence. At the conclusion of the service, a hand taps me on the shoulder from behind and a familiar voice says, “Regner, I’m so glad to see you.” It was Paul Bills. I spun around, grabbed him and gave him a big bear hug.

“Brother Bills, I sure am glad to see you! What are you doing here?” I hadn’t kept track of him or his movements, and was unaware that he had been gone from

Nome for some time. Tears came to his eyes, and he began to weep. “Brother, I need to ask you for your forgiveness,” he said. You could have pushed me over with a feather. “Why on earth do you need my forgiveness,” I asked.

“Ten years ago, I did you a terrible wrong. When you applied for missionary status with the missions board and requested appointment to Nenana, I sent accusatory letters against you in order to block your appointment.” He went on to relate the conspiracy that had taken place between him, the then-District Superintendent, and others in ministry in Alaska to block people from being in a position where they could become supporting votes for my father to have the general superintendency.

I responded, “Brother, you didn’t have to do that! Dad couldn’t have cared less for the title or the position. He was too focused on accomplishing what the Lord anointed and commissioned him to do. Becoming the General Superintendent was the last thing on his mind!”

Paul Bills nodded his head. “I know that, now, but I was too caught up in wanting the position myself. I was wrong, Brother, and the Lord has taken me to task for it. I am suffering His judgment because of my actions. He has instructed me to put my house in order and prepare to die. I have Lou Gehrig’s disease, and have less than two years to live. I did you wrong, among others, in the midst of my greed and manipulation to have political power, and I’m asking you to forgive me.”

I was so overcome with emotion it was hard to speak. “Brother Bills,” I said brokenly, “Whatever you meant for evil, the Lord has meant for good. I wouldn’t trade the past ten years of seeing and experiencing all that the Lord has done in and through me for the whole world! Consider yourself more than forgiven.” I only saw Paul Bills a couple of times after that. His health deteriorated rapidly and in less than two years, he was gone. Inquiries into the whereabouts of the previous District Superintendent, as well as the would-be pastor in Barrow (Hervel) who had aided in the conspiracy to remove Dwain yielded the following, and I realized that the Lord was executing judgment.

The previous DS had also been stricken with a nerve disorder that eventually caused his death. The church board in Barrow soon realized after Dwain’s dismissal that he was not guilty of the accusations leveled against him, and that in fact, Hervel had trumped up charges of criminal activity of which he was personally guilty. The church asked for his removal and he was gone shortly thereafter, dismissed from the denomination. He moved to

Nome  where he became its City Manager. It didn’t take long for Hervel to resume his financial fraud. An investigation by federal agents brought about an indictment for embezzlement. His wife divorced him, and he wound up in prison.

See what the spirit of Jezebel does to people? See what happens when folks become contaminated by the sin of witchcraft? Remember the quote I shared with you from Revelation 2,“And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”

That’s EXACTLY what happened to all those who committed adultery with the spirit of Jezebel in this case. In case you haven’t seen it yet, this WAS the spirit of Jezebel hard at work to usurp the power, the authority, and the anointing of God’s anointed and appointed. Those who committed adultery with the spirit of Jezebel were “cast into great tribulation” because they never repented of their deeds – at least not until it was too late. Paul Bills publicly repented for his part in the ongoing conspiracies, and his public repentance exposed sin and corruption that had plagued the missions organization in Alaska  for years.

In our last Coffee Break, I said that I would show you how the Lord vindicated Dwain after all of the false charges and accusations.

Let’s fast forward one more time – this time to 1988. By this time, Della and I are in Anchorage Dwain calls me on the phone needing a place to stay for a day or two ON THE WAY BACK TO BARROW!! That’s right. Think the Lord doesn’t remember the afflictions of the righteous? Think the Lord doesn’t make good when His anointed and His appointed are falsely accused and conspired against? Think the Lord doesn’t have the last word in these affairs?

Think again! After all the water that had gone under the bridge during a span of more than 21 years, Dwain was asked to consider taking the church again in Barrow. Understand that he hadn’t been with the denomination during most of that span of time. Nevertheless, there were people in Barrow who had kept in touch with Dwain, and when the opportunity presented itself they asked him to consider coming back. Like me, Dwain had an adopted daughter of Eskimo heritage along with an adopted son as well, and the ties meant ongoing contact.

It probably isn’t necessary to go into all of the details that unfolded other than to say that Dwain resumed the pastorate of the church in Barrow, remaining there for 14 more years, and taking the church to new dimensions spiritually. That didn’t mean he didn’t have a battle royal on his hands when he returned to Barrow. He did indeed. Some of those folks who had participated in the original conspiracy in 1966 thought he ought not to be back in Barrow and they once again raised their hands in judgment against him.

This time, the Lord demonstrated His judgment, and just about every single person who lifted up their voice or their hand in judgment against Dwain suffered a similar fate as those who initially led the conspiracy. Some died painful deaths in the midst of diseases that wouldn't heal. A couple wound up in prison. God’s tolerance with Christians who submit continually to witchcraft and the spirit of Jezebel has grown shorter and shorter and shorter as the age has been drawing to an end. When people continue to commit spiritual adultery with those wicked spirits, refusing to repent of their sins, the judgment of God has a finality about it that displays little tolerance.

I still want to take you in greater depth into the eight characteristics that depict the nature and character of this spirit, and that’s where we will go with it next week.

 

Blessings on you!