The Anvil - A Prophetic Picture

 "I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" - (Zechariah 13:9 NLT)

"These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." - (1 Peter 1:7 NLT)

"Anvil - a heavy steel or iron block with a flat top, concave sides, and typically a pointed end, on which metal can be hammered and shaped." - Online Dictionary

During a prayer meeting a few years ago, I had a mental picture of an Anvil. This was a time of intercessory prayer for our Church and our community. We were engaged in spiritual warfare. I believe God communicates through mental images and impressions to encourage us. I don't think every thought or picture that pops into my head is a message from God to the Church!

 But for me, it seems like a good picture of what many believers need to think about, especially in times of intense spiritual attack. God uses the testing of our faith to strengthen us and forge us into vessels for his purposes. Without trials and testing, we become weak and spiritually ineffective. All bodybuilders know that growth comes from resistance. So, spiritual growth requires us to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 

Fire is a metaphor used in various ways in the Bible. God uses the fire of his holiness to purge sin from us. He uses stressful circumstances to purify our hearts and to make us battle-ready. Our battles are not with people but with worldviews and ideologies that clash with the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, God told Israel to drive out enemies from the land he gave them. Some wonder why He didn't destroy all of Israel's enemies for them. But, I believe God wanted his people to grow stronger by obeying his commands and learning how to fight for freedom based on his covenant commitment to them.

As New Testament believers, our enemies are spiritual beings. We must be diligent to drive them (demonic strongholds) out of our lives. We must help others experience freedom, also. The attacks never stop, but our goal is to become stronger as we grow dependent on God. In a sense, we become a weapon forged by the Master's hand that he uses to drive out spiritual darkness.

A Journey Into The Past - Merry Christmas

 

(I’m the little guy on the right with my friend Billy on the left. I wrote the article in 2008. My Dad passed away in 2007. Mom passed away in 2015, and my older sister in 2021.)

Christmas 2008

My earliest memories are of my family living on Lewis Street. Those memories from my early childhood there are special. I had three close friends, Billy, Mike, and Carol. We were the same age except for Billy, who was a year older. So as far back as I can recall, our gang and I met in our front yard on Christmas morning to compare presents. One year the boys and I all had cowboy outfits, and another year, football uniforms. But my favorite Christmas - we all got Army uniforms. We were all decked out in our uniforms and prepared for war! We played war games in those days fighting the ‘Japs’ and Germans (We didn’t know what political correctness was!) Occasionally when the guys pretended to have fought the enemy all day long, Carol would pretend to be our nurse.

In the early sixties, we lived in what seemed to be a “Leave It To Beaver” world. Our Moms stayed at home with us - families had one car (I remember our 63 Chevrolet) and one black and white television. We played hard back then until the streetlights began to come on, until I heard my Mom say,” Bobby, come in - it’s getting late!” During the summer months, we caught lightning bugs. Usually, I was getting scared by then because many times we told ghost stories while sitting on the sidewalk. I miss those simple days. 

I watched the first episode of Batman on television with my friend Mike, and I also remember the first episodes of The Adams Family and my favorite, Combat!

I woke up this past Christmas Eve morning feeling nostalgic. I miss my Dad and my old friends. So since my wife was cooking that morning (she’s a Proverbs 31 woman!) I decided to go to Broad Street, get a cup of coffee, and walk around downtown Gadsden. That’s where we shopped before we had a Mall, Walmart, and all the other new stores. We had a movie theater downtown where all the action was. There’s still one Variety Store that we shopped in when we were growing up, the name has changed, and it still has that same smell of varnished wooden floors and popcorn. I took a stroll on those sidewalks that had been a part of my formative years. And while enjoying the cool air and Christmas music - I reflected on the past.

Somehow I felt I was starting a journey back in time, so my next stop had to be at my old Elementary school, which I had attended until the second grade. I pulled up at the school only to realize I hadn’t looked down those halls since I left in about 1965. I just stared - it was like going back in time. The halls looked the same as I remembered. I could see my first-grade classroom, but the playground seemed much smaller than I remembered.

There was no stopping now - I had to visit Lewis Street. It was not my first time returning to the Lewis Street Baptist Church and looking at our old house. But this time was different. I drove slowly behind Lewis Street and gazed into the woods - where we played behind our house. There was a large flat rock near the woods that we kids believed the devil lived beneath! In those days, we had great imaginations because all we had to do was to play outside. No video games!

As I turned the corner to Lewis Street, I stopped the car and stood for a few moments taking in all the memories at the corner of the woods, where I had spent so much time so many years ago. I looked to the left where the ” Little Store “had been, at least that’s what we called it. The store was expanded and eventually made into a diner.

 I drove slowly past my old Church across the road from my old home. Carol and Mike lived on the other side of the Street from me. Billy’s home was next to mine. I could feel the memories. I don’t think I’ve ever looked so intently at our old house as I did that day.

The large lot we had played football on was not as big as I had remembered as a small child. My old house was for sale again. Oh, how I would have liked to have gone inside. The memories just kept flooding into my soul. As I turned left on Nunnelly Avenue, I remembered as if it were yesterday how I had somehow slipped out of the house unnoticed and ridden my tricycle to Nunnelly. I can still feel the horror as my Dad drove up and put me and the tricycle in the car. He was angry, and that was the worst spanking I ever got! I didn’t ride my tricycle back there again!

My first memories of Church, Sunday school, and Vacation Bible school happened at the Lewis Street Baptist Church. The Church was across from our home. My first thoughts about God and the prayers I prayed were in that neighborhood. That’s where I learned how to make and relate to friends. God doesn’t want us to live in the past. But there is something spiritual about remembering and honoring those formative moments and people from our past.

(To all those that are feeling lonely right now and missing loved ones – hang onto the good memories and Merry Christmas 2022.)

Jesus is Knocking on The Door of The American Church

 The LORD is trying to get the attention of the American Church. He is speaking clearly. His warning is much like the warning to the Church at Laodicea. His word is clear but are we listening? What I mean by "we" is the Church as a whole. There is always a remnant that self-sacrificially does the LORD's work. I know many that are.

The Church in Laodicea was prosperous and seemed 'self-sufficient.' The city was known to have a problem with its water supply. Unlike some of the surrounding towns, which had an abundance of cold and hot water, they had lukewarm water that was disgusting.

Jesus likened their spiritual condition to their lukewarm water supply. In no uncertain terms, it made Jesus puke! 

Jesus is knocking on the door of the American Church - to reveal our blindspots to us. He loves us and has given us an abundance of resources. Our prosperity has blinded us to our lack of spiritual depth. Many are satisfied with being entertained and have become complacent about the needs of the world around us. I am guilty of this. 

I believe the Church in America is experiencing the discipline of the LORD because he loves us. He is calling us to recognize our spiritual poverty. Political power and excessive materialism cannot be our goal. It's time to wake up and regain our ability to see and hear what Jesus is saying. He desires us to repent so - that - we can bless the world and have intimate fellowship with him. 

Hear His call:

To the Church in Laodicea

 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” - (Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

To Decree Or Not To Decree? That Is The Question

 Over the last few years, I have become concerned about some well-known charismatic preachers and their practice of "decreeing things." They teach that we can decree things like who should be president and energy independence for the United States. 

The main verse they use for this teaching is Job 22:28 KJV which says, "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways."  The proclamation of Truth with our mouths is a biblical practice. But, to decree something, because we desire it does not guarantee we will have it.

 In Hebrew, the word for "decree" is (gazar, "to cut"), in the sense of deciding a matter."  (Net Bible Second Edition with notes.) The ESV version uses the word "Decide." 

When you read Job chapter 22 in context, this verse is about Job's intimacy with God and answers to his prayers.

I contacted three highly respected biblical (Charismatic) scholars on this issue. I chose not to include their names because these were private messages. The first quote is lengthy:

(1) "It concerns me. A lot depends on what one means by “decree.” If it only means that we are declaring as truth something the Bible clearly promises or asserts, then it is ok. For example, if one “decrees” that God will overturn the curse on creation and redeem the natural realm (Romans 8:18ff.), then good. That is simply making known what God has promised he will do. Countless other examples could be cited, such as the final judgment on Satan (Rev. 20:10ff.). 

 

 But if by “decree” someone means that by saying certain words with great passion and “faith” the thing stated will come to pass, there are problems. We have no basis or grounds for decreeing things that God himself has not previously revealed as certain. When people “decree” in this sense it comes perilously close to the Word of Faith heresy, the idea that simply by believing something and speaking it out we create or bring to pass some reality that isn’t explicitly endorsed in Scripture.

Again, it all depends on what these people think they are accomplishing by their “decrees.” I can “decree” that whoever believes in the name of Jesus will be saved, but I can’t “decree” that a particular unbelieving pagan will be saved. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. But that is something not in my power to know or decree. It is only God’s to determine.

 My fear of people issuing “decrees” is that it feels presumptuous and arrogant. And what happens to that person’s faith and confidence in God when what they “decree” doesn’t come to pass?

 Be sure that these people aren’t developing their concept of “decree” on the basis of Robert Henderson’s books, primarily his Operating in the Courts of Heaven. It is a horrible book." 

(2) "I think such commands are to be done at God's leading, for something we know to be God's will and have enough confidence to do so. But merely "decreeing" things we want seems just a newer version of "positive confession," which has the wrong object to its faith."

(3) "...the practice is not of God at all. It is how they claimed Trump would win!"

 

 

Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14: Dr. Craig Keener