True and False Prophets
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matt. 20:15-29).
How will we be able to differentiate between the works of God and the works of the Devil in the last hour?
This question immediately brings tears to my eyes, because I couldn’t see the deception of the woman who worked for us in our home for nearly three. Why couldn’t I see that the enemy was using her for his purposes? For a long time I struggled to forgive myself. I even considered leaving the ministry. But God intervened and started taking me down a road of healing and revelation because of what happened. “Retah, you need to start looking deeper than what the eye can see,” the Lord said to me. “I only look at the heart of man. That is why most people can’t discern the truth and why they are easily fooled - because they only care for the outside and not what is on the inside.”
We need to start looking at the fruit of a person’s life. It will either be the fruit of the Holy Spirit or the fruit of the flesh.
The narrower the road is becoming, the quieter I get – because God has allowed me to see deeper than what outside pretences can offer. I didn’t excitedly run around telling everyone of what I saw; no, I fell down on my face and started weeping. Only Aldo kept on prompting me to talk about what I saw– because he could see it too. But how do I say it out loud when I can see how the enemy is ruling over someone’s life and they don’t even know it – just like I didn’t know the enemy was working under my roof for three years. That is why I am definitely not the one to point a judgemental finger towards anyone else, for I made that same mistake. I stand dumbfounded at what I see happening in the lives of other people. It makes me all the more contrite, because I now realize what Aldo means when he says: “We need to be transparent before God, Mommy.” Any place of darkness in our lives is an opportunity for the enemy to attach to and this leads me to pray from the deepest of my being: “Please help me, Jesus! Let me live transparent before You.”
“Retah, you will be able to discern between good and evil simply by looking at the fruit of a person, organization or any situation – not by the signs and wonders and everything else they do in My name.”
Please believe me when I tell you that I definitely believe in speaking in tongues – but in this process where God is opening my eyes to truth and reality, I have come to realize that speaking in tongues is not the final proof that a person is walking a road of purification and holiness. I now see things from a different perspective and that even people who sit in the front rows in church, and speak in tongues and lead bible meetings can be filled with pride, selfishness and fleshly desires. They will then be slaves to these fleshly desires and not yield to the Spirit of God. I can say the same for normal, “everyday” people too – just like you and I. This ‘self’ opens many doors for demonic forces to enter in and to build strongholds. Through this the enemy has slyly entered our midst, filling us with all kinds of doubts and suspicions about one another and shattering the unity of the body of Christ. Because how can who know who to trust? That is why it is so critically important that we cry out to God to give us wisdom and discernment in this hour, especially regarding what is true and false.
When your appetite for signs and wonders and power becomes greater than your desire for the fruit of the Holy Spirit, you will fall into Satan’s trap. More than anything else we need God’s nature in us, and His nature is described in Galatians 5 vs 22-24: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
The more I spend time with God studying His Word, the more I realize that we are either walking according to the leading of the Spirit of God, or under the influence of demonic powers. It will be either one of the two – there is no grey area. I found that our carnal nature is a tool for the demonic realm to open the door for the dark forces to take root in our lives.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you (Romans 8:5-11).
Listen closely to the words people speak – it will be either inspired by the Holy Spirit or by an evil spirit. A fountain cannot give bitter and sweet waters.
Carnality is in enmity against God – it is of the Kingdom of darkness. We are either influenced by God or we are influenced by the devil. Yes, even those who call themselves Christians are included in this. I am not saying that Christians are demon possessed; it is just that so many people I encounter are more influenced by Satan than they are by God, and the bitter waters flowing from their hearts and mouths testify of it. I think this is why the church has seen very little of what God wants to have accomplished, as set out in His Word.
Ps 78 vs. 40 - 41 says: How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
It was God’s people who limited the Holy One of Israel. It was God’s people who prevented God from doing what He fully desired to do for His people – not God. The Wilderness has a very specific purpose in forming our character and our nature to be Christ-like, but it is not the ultimate goal of what God has in mind for us. He wants us to go through the Wilderness, into the Promised Land. God’s heart is to hear our prayers and to heal our land, not to keep us wandering in the Wilderness forever. God promises us in 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. In this passage God is talking about us – His children – not the world outside.
All sin is “selfish”, and “selfishness” – is sin. Everything big starts small, and so it is with sin also. A demon of worry lets in a spirit of doubt – and as he grows it gets to that point when you start doubting even if God’s Word is true. Negative words like: How will I ever get through this? How will I ever pay my bills? How will my husband ever change? How will my life be safe in this day and age we live in?, has the ability to deplete all hope for the future. If our words go against the promises of the Word of God, we are in effect saying that God cannot do what His Word says. And then doubt grows and demonic forces enter into our lives through that door of doubt.
More than ever before we need accurate discernment in the spirit. Our problem is that just because we don’t see things as they are in the spirit – we don’t believe evil is involved. Believe me, the reality of evil becomes very obvious when you have had an experience such as I had when I had to fight Satan himself – and the fight was for life and death. He is just as real as anybody else I know.
Even when I know I am in the realm of the spirit, I discern that spirits are around me at different times. The gift of discernment of spirits gives us the ability to exercise all five of our physical senses in the spirit too. Spirits differ in size; from the size of a man’s hand to the size of a big fat ugly demon. To evaluate what is going on in the spirit, you don’t need to “see” in order to discern who and what is from God and what is from the enemy – you need to hear and obey the Spirit of God.
The reason I am speaking out so boldly about this is because God is calling us into Holiness – and it is the strongholds of the enemy that is keeping the bride out of Holiness. We need to get free. The more we spend time in the Word of God and make Jesus Christ our everything, evil will have to run and flee. Take a moment and think about what is important to you – the power and manifestations, or the fruits and nature and character of Christ formed in you?
The lesson that I want to end off with is that Jesus has taught me that we already have everything we need to overcome the demonic – the LOVE OF GOD.
And one of their number, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. “Teacher, which kind of commandment is great and important (the principal kind) in the Law?” [Some commandments are light--which are heavy?]
And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as [you do] yourself. These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:35-40, Amp).
Love fulfils the whole Law - it is the counsel of God. Love rules over Satan and his kingdom, just as light rules over darkness. Let me explain it in another way: Satan has been living in darkness for thousands of years, and God’s love is the Glory light of Jesus – the brightest light in existence. So, when you operate in this pure love, in His Glory light, in His holiness, this great pure light drives away and torments the enemy. Our love towards God and towards another is torture to Satan, and it will overrule his kingdom and blot out the traps he may have laid for us. I have seen this with my own eyes.
Till today we still bless the woman that worked for us, and I know our blessing is a torment and frustration to her – because as we keep on blessing, she can’t do anything. Our blessing takes the weapons out of her hands and leaves her defenceless to the light of God to shine in her life. Aldo wrote about this some time ago and said: “Because you blessed her, God took the sword out of her hand. She is now trying to fight without a sword.” And to me that means she can no longer harm us, because she is disarmed.
There is always, always, always a blessing in being obedient to God’s Word. Even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment. Jesus so clearly told us in the sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matt. 5:38-42).
Through this Jesus revealed the rules of the Kingdom of God to us very plainly. When we do contrary to His words, we are no longer fighting with the armor of light. When we open a door for hatred, we are overshadowed by the kingdom of darkness and can no longer see how to fight for we are blinded by darkness. Once we take up the armour of darkness and return evil for evil, the enemy will have the right to torment us. This is how quickly and easily we can step into his trap. It is a law of nature and a law of the spirit: DARKNESS WILL HAVE TO FLEE WHEN LIGHT COMES.
Here is my interpretation of James 4 verse 7: Submit to God, submit to the law of His Agape Love towards God and towards others, resist the devil, and all your carnal old nature, and he (the devil) will flee!
Come to the understanding of how much God loves you. The Word promises us that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us!
Love and light – that is what it is all about. Thank you for your love Jesus! When God can’t reach us with His love, He uses His Mercy!
Thank you dear Lord Jesus, my King, for Your LOVE and MERCY that saved me out of my carnal life... the pit of hell. Please help us to stay in proper standing in our fellowship with You our Lord and God and not to put any confidence in our flesh but to trust only in Your Spirit. If we stay in the flesh and behave like worldly people we will ultimately come to a great fall – for our flesh is absolutely untrustworthy. We bring all our hidden weaknesses into Your Glory Light. We choose to follow You, and to trust You whole heartedly.
Earlier today we went to pray for and serve a man who is lying in a hospital in Johannesburg. He was in a serious accident nine years ago, and he still can’t speak yet. We helped them to write with him so that he can start communicating with his friends and family. Aldo enjoyed it so much just to serve that man, and it came absolutely natural to him. Ma’am Patrys, Aldo, Tinus and I went to minister to him and all of us found some way in which to help him. One of us massaged his hands, the other his feet, and Ma’am Patrys did exercises with his body. Aldo read the word of God to him and we all had such a good time. Once a week Aldo and Ma’am Patrys goes out to serve as God leads them. We bought food so they can go to needy schools and old age homes to serve the people and to pray for those who need it. Depending on who is home on that day, that person gets to go with them. Today was such a humbling and amazing experience just to be Jesus’ hands and feet. For the rest of the week Aldo will be busy with his studies through Ellel ministries. Jesus told him: You first have to serve My people, before you can lead My people. So that is what he is busy doing.
Ur of Chaldea (where Abraham originally came from) was a place of Idols; Egypt was a place of riches and worldly pleasures (where Abraham fled to in time of famine), and Sodom (where Lot camped his tent) was a place of sin. Canaan – the Land of Promise – is where God wants us to dwell. Let’s make a decision today as God’s called ones to get out of these foreign places and to pitch our tent once and for all in the Promised Land – never to fall back, or to drift into ‘self’ ever again.
“Remember, Retah,” says the Lord “it is not about you – it is all about ME!”
Love Retah and family
(Aldo is already in bed; but Josh is waiting for me to help him to study for his big test tomorrow. Just a normal life I suppose.