REPENTANCE.

The following is a discourse that ensued at a discussion on this matter at the Apoduterion, in The Life Community, Thika. It’s part of a continual teaching on The Foundation Doctrine. The purpose of teaching The Foundation Doctrine is because there are changes that are elemental to our process of maturity that guarantee a platform or a foundation on which you can stand with certainty, with security. If this foundation lacks, we are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, we are ever - learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, and are taught when we ought to be teachers.

Repentance is a common terminology in Christian circles but rarely understood as to its meaning.
To some, it means ‘telling some wrong things we have done to Jesus’. To others, its part of a prayer programme, which if you do not include it as a part, your prayer “is not complete”. So, to such kind of people, you begin prayer ‘first’ by repenting, you adore, you give thanks and at the end of it, you supplicate. They acronym it as ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanks giving, Supplication). To such, prayer is not complete, if all of the ‘ACTS’ are not included in the prayer duty.

Allow me to make some statements;
a. Repentance and confession are two different things, and unrelated.
b. Repentance has nothing to do with what you say. It’s not a talk, but a walk.
c. You can’t confess to God.

Repentance, according to the Bible, is “repentance from dead works”, or “repentance from acts that lead to death”, and this depends principally on the version of scriptures you are using. Let’s hear it from these versions;

1. Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
- New King James Version. Italics, mine.

2. Heb 6:1 ¶ For this reason let us go on from the first things about Christ to full growth; not building again that on which it is based, that is, the turning of the heart from dead works,
- Bible In Basic English. Italics, mine.

3. Heb 6:1 ¶ Wherefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Christ, unto the perfection we may advance, not again a foundation laying of reformation from dead works, and of faith on God,
- Young’s Literal Translation. Italics, mine.

4. Heb 6:1. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and on faith in God,
- New International Version. Italics, mine.

Repentance is a Greek word, metanoia, which subjectively, or, as happens in the mind without provocation by anything outside the mind, is a compunction (a conscience of guilt, including reformation); and by implication, a reversal of another's decision by a different action.

Metanoia is made up of two words; meta and noia. Meta means, to change or transformation. Noia on the other hand talks of knowledge. It comes from another noun, nouos which means, mind or computation of thought.
Repentance, as a result, is the means by which ones course is change because of what one knows, or has come to know. It means, to turn from a certain direction, to head to a different direction because of being hit by a certain level of understanding within someone’s mind.

Of interest to this study is that, one is repenting from ‘dead works’ or, as the New International Version puts it, ‘acts that lead to death’. According to the writer of this letter to the Hebrews, there are actions or activities that are dead and those activities are what we are to ‘repent’, change direction from, or walk away from.

Dead works is a Greek terminology, ‘nekros ergon’.
1. Nekros is from an apparently primary noun ‘nekus’ which means ‘a corpse’, ‘dead’ (literally or figuratively) and ‘the dead’ (as a noun).

2. Ergon, on the other hand, is from a primary obsolete root noun ‘ergo’, which means ‘to work’, ‘to toil’ (as an effort or occupation) and by implication, ‘an act’, ‘a deed’, ‘a doing’, ‘labour’ or ‘work’.

We are saying, there are activities, either actual or in the mind, that have no life of God in them. There are ‘corpse occupations’, ‘labours of the dead’, as relates to our knowledge of God. That’s what we are repenting from.

To understand what these works are, we have to examine the opposite of that as well. Scriptures point out that there are works that God had prepared for you and I walk in before the foundations of the Earth. They were prepared in advance that we may walk in them.

Eph 2:10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
- King James Version. Italics, mine.
Man was not created to come into an existence full of bliss, to come and slugger around.
He came out of God, from heaven to express that domain we are calling ‘heaven’ in the place where God ‘put’ man in. When man appeared on ‘Earth’, or what we may term as ‘time and space’, he came for a work which was pre – planned before his creation. The term translated ‘ordained’ in Ephesians 2:10, in the King James Version, is ‘proetoimazo’, which means ‘to fit up in advance’ (literally or figuratively), ‘to prepare afore’, ‘to precede in place and time’.

This means that, the work that man was to do, came before man did. God explains to us why man was created;

And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.
- Genesis 1:26. Modern King James Version, Italics, mine.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.
- Genesis 1:28. Modern King James Version, Italics, mine.

There are about three things that are implied here;
1. Make, ‘asah’, means, to do or make, accomplish, advance, appoint, bear, bestow, bring forth, bring to pass, perform. Make is to project that which you are. Man, who scriptures talk in plural is essentially the substance of God. He was advanced or yielded out of God.

2. God is Spirit. Whatever is projected out of God in Genesis 1 is essentially spirit, not physical.

3. Man was to express dominion over things spiritual that manifest in time and space, what we see in scriptures as the Earth.

Dominion was the reason for the creation of man. Dominion (KJV) or rule (NIV) is a Hebrew word ‘radah’, meaning, to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off, come to dominion, make, have dominion, prevail against, reign, bear, make to rule, rule over, take over.

Whatever the ‘fish of the sea’, ‘birds of the air’, ‘every living creature that moves on the ground’ means, man was created to tread them down.
Dominion, ‘radah’ is the same word translated ‘rule’ in Psalm 110:2…The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
This type of ruling happens in the midst of opposition…in the midst of one’s enemies. – Leviticus 25:43, 46, 53; 1 Kings 9:23; 2 Chronicles 8:10; Psalms 110:2; Isaiah 14:2; 41:2; Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 29:15.

It is exercising authority of another domain in an environment of hostility or opposition.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
- Psalm 2:9. King James Version.

Dominion has with it, elements of breaking and dashing into pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Man did not fall from a condition but from a position. He was advanced by God out of Himself, to subjugate the enemy of God, who became an enemy of man by that advancement.
Salvation comes with it the intentions of God for your creation. God will bring you through many fires, trials and testings so as to reconcile you to His purposes for you, which He knew before your birth.
Adam our forefather relinquished His rank and took sides with the enemy of God against the purposes of God. But God, still in the initial stages of man’s account on Earth, after his rebellion, promised the deliverance of man.

¶ And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
- Genesis 3:14, 15. King James Version. Italics, mine.

There are two seeds;
1. Seed Of The Serpent. – Matthew 3: 7, 8.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: {meet...: or, answerable to amendment of life}. - Brackets, italics, mine.

2. Seed Of The Woman. – Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1: 18, 25.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. {shall call: or, thou, O virgin, shalt call}

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

John the Baptizer says the brood or generation of vipers or serpents cannot produce repentance. Dead works have to do with those things that are religious in nature but having no purpose of God in them. They do not have the inspiration or the breath of God in them.
The enemy of God and man has a way of entrapping you in your soul in dead works, ‘labours of the dead’ – ergon nekros. You begin to feel like you have never done enough FOR GOD. You begin to feel like you are not good enough.
These feelings in your soul of inadequacy will result in you trying to find God and trying to walk with God through all that you can do, or think you can do for God.
Genesis 11, we meet ‘self employed’ men trying to build for themselves in opposition to God. This quest to build for themselves in direct opposition against God’s explicit commands ends in manifesting the confusion in existence in their souls.
The enemy knows that somewhere down the line of self – employment, you can never come to a satisfaction on ‘when’ you have done enough, and indeed when you have even done the will of God.
‘Pharisee’, Matthew 3:7, is a Greek word ‘Pharisaios’, which is a verb of Hebrew origin ‘parash’, meaning ‘to separate’, i.e. to be exclusively religious; ‘a Jewish sectarian’ . It is a primitive root that brings the idea of separation, to wound, scatter.
In bible history, they degenerated from the ministry of post – exilic prophetic men called ‘chasidim’ meaning ‘saints’. Chasidim sought to keep alive the reverence to the Law among the Jewish descendants who returned from Babylonian captivity. Out of chasidim, came a ‘letter – strict’ group of religionists who overlaid that restored Law with ‘traditional interpretations’ which was held to have been communicated to Moses by the Lord as oral communications of equal authority with the Law itself. They were in conflict with Christ because of ‘the traditions of the elders’.

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

- Matthew 15:1 – 3. King James Version, Italics, mine.

¶ Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. {defiled: or, common} For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. {oft: or, diligently: in the original, with the fist: Theophylact, up to the elbow} And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. {tables: or, beds} Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. {reject: or, frustrate} For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye
- Mark 7:1 – 13. King James Version, Italics, Brackets, mine.

Paul, who previously was Saul, Pharisee of the Pharisees, makes a distinction between his ‘mother’s womb’, the Jewish sect that he fought for, and the ‘revelation of God’s Son’, which he calls ‘His Grace’.

¶For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,

- Galatians 1:10 – 16. New King James Version. Italics, mine.

Traits Of The traditions of the ‘mother’s womb’; The Jewish Religious System.

1. Seeks the favour of men.
2. Pleases men.
3. Is after men.
4. Is received from men.
5. Persecutes the Church of God.
6. Wastes the Church of God.
7. Profits the proclaimer of such traditions.
8. Is zealous of traditions of men.

What Paul means by mother’s womb is that, what produced him as a Pharisee at its heart is hollow and empty.
Traits Of The Gospel; The Revelation Of God’s Son.

1. Seeks God’s favour.
2. Is a servant of Christ.
3. Is revealed by Jesus Christ.
4. Is separated from ‘mother’s womb’.
5. Is called by God’s grace.
6. Reveals the Son of God IN US.
7. Is contrally to flesh and blood.

Pharisees are still alive today. They were and still are strictly a sect.
 A member of the sect was a ‘chaber’, meaning, he was knit closely together to them and was obligated to remain true to the principles of Phariseeism.
 They had ‘outward piety’, were zealous, self denying and self – righteous.

¶ Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: (Pharisees)"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'

- Luke 18:9 – 12. New King James Version. Italics, Brackets, mine.

 They were destitute of the sense of their own sin and need.
¶ Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."
Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

- Luke 7:36 – 40, 44 – 47. King James Version. Italics, Brackets, mine.

Another group of religionists that was and still is alive today were the Sadducees. These were the religious ‘rationalists’ of the day.

¶ Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."

- Mark 12:18 – 23. King James Version. Italics, mine.

For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection--and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.

- Acts 23:8. New King James Version. Italics, mine.

98% of the Sanhedrin priesthood was composed of the Sadducees.
And while they were talking to the people, the priests and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees came up to them,
Being greatly troubled because they were teaching the people and preaching Jesus as an example of the coming back from the dead.

- Acts 4:1, 2. Bible In Basic English. Italics, mine.

And having risen, the chief priest, and all those with him being the sect of the Sadducees--were filled with zeal,

- Acts 5:17. Young’s Literal Translation. Italics, mine.

To the Sadducees, all is animistic and there’s nothing supernatural. This is the reason why they were among those who were consenting to the killing of Jesus Christ, thinking that He could not resurrect.

According to John The Baptizer, ‘brood of vipers’; ‘sons of serpents’ cannot repent. The reason they can’t repent is because they think they are right and authentic. They have scriptural and traditional holds to their authenticity that keeps them from accessing repentance and forgiveness of their sins.

…bear, therefore, fruits worthy of the reformation, and do not think to say in yourselves, A father we have Abraham, for I say to you, that God is able out of these stones to raise children to Abraham, and now also, the axe unto the root of the trees is laid, every tree therefore not bearing good fruit is hewn down, and to fire is cast. I indeed do baptize you with water to reformation, but he who after me is coming is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to bear the sandals, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,

- Matthew 3:8 – 11. Young’s Literal Translation. Italics, mine.

Just like Phariseeism and Sadduceeism, the enemy has a way of keeping people today off – balance, entrapping them in ‘works’, ‘working your way to God’ and ‘working FOR God’. All these levels of WORKS are traditions of men and are results of wrongly interpreting scriptures to fit personal definitions, for self benefit. You come to realize, once you have become fatigued and can’t work ‘for God’ anymore; you can’t match up to ‘God’s expectations’ that you put upon yourself, you tend to go back to what you were before you came to know God. Anyone who feels that his basic duty and preoccupation in life is to please God by his works, always finds that he or she cannot match up to ‘God’s expectations’. These feelings of trying to work your way towards pleasing God, are what Paul calls ‘the works of the flesh’. And these works are clearly visible as not to be hidden.

¶ Christ has truly made us free: then keep (be stationary, stand fast).
your free condition and let no man put a yoke on you again. See, I Paul say to you, that if you undergo circumcision, (an evidence of the requirements of old men’s traditions) Christ will be of no use to you. Yes, I give witness again to every man who undergoes circumcision, that he will have to keep all the law. You are cut off from Christ, you who would have righteousness by the law; you are turned away from grace.(meaning, keeping the Law and the traditions of men is opposed to and anti - the Grace of God) For we through the Spirit by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness. Because in Christ Jesus, having circumcision or not having circumcision are equally of no profit; but only faith working through love. You were going on well; who was the cause of your not giving ear to what is true? This ready belief did not come from him who had made you his. A little leaven makes a change in all the mass. I am certain about you in the Lord, that you will be of no other mind; but he who is troubling you will have his punishment, whoever he is. But I, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still attacked? Then has the shame of the cross been taken away. My desire is that they who give you trouble might even be cut off themselves. Because you, brothers, were marked out to be free; only do not make use of your free condition to give the flesh its chance, but through love be servants one to another. For all the law is made complete in one word, even in this, have love for your neighbour as for yourself. But if you are given to fighting with one another, take care that you are not the cause of destruction one to another. But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh. For the flesh (a longing especially for what is forbidden as the symbol of what is external, or by implication, human nature with its frailties whether physical or moral and its passions, be they religious persuasions or indulgencies), has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh (a longing especially for what is forbidden as the symbol of what is external, or by implication, human nature with its frailties whether physical or moral and its passions, be they religious persuasions or indulgencies) are clear, which are these: evil desire, unclean things, wrong use of the senses, Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings, Envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting, and such things: of which I give you word clearly, even as I did in the past, that they who do such things will have no part in the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith, Gentle behaviour, control over desires: against such there is no law.
And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires .If we are living by the Spirit, let us be guided. Let us not be full of self-glory, making one another angry, having envy of one another.

- Galatians 5. Bible In Basic English. Italics, Brackets, mine.

When all you have done in your self is seemingly inadequate or insufficient, you tend to go back to the things that you had found to be comfortable and convenient. Your life in God becomes a way of convenience and a way to get through the night, to make it through the day. If this is the qualitative condition that characterizes your daily existence, your door of the soul is open for the enemy to beat you up whenever he feels like.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. {substance: or, cattle} {household: or, husbandry} {men: Heb. sons} And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. (Part of what the works of the flesh is, is uncontrolled feasting and drinking) And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, (not because of faith in God, but out of fear) and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. {continually: Heb. all the days} Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. {Satan: Heb. the adversary} {among: Heb. in the midst of} And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? {considered: Heb. set thy heart on} Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. {substance: or, cattle} But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. {and he...: Heb. See if he curse thee not to thy face} And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; (look, I don’t have to stretch out My Power, the hedge is already down. He destroyed it through his heart’s fears) only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. {power: Heb. hand}

- Job 1:1 – 12. King James Version. Italics, Brackets, mine.

Job did all he could have done in himself but it was inadequate and insufficient. He went back to the things that he had found to be comfortable and convenient. He was wealthy as pertains to cattle. His daily routine became an ordeal of roasting meat trying to appease God. His life in God became a way of convenience and a way to get through the night, to make it through the day. This became the qualitative condition that characterized his daily existence and as a result, by fear, the door of the soul was open for the enemy to buffet or beat him up whenever he felt like.

This is evident in the enemy’s asking to have power over Job. It is important for us to see that, though the enemy asked God to stretch His Hand, to mean His power and destroy Job’s property, God didn’t. He simply brought to the enemy’s realization that the hedge was gone. It was non – existent as related to Job’s daily sacrifices of fear; for without faith, it is impossible to please God. The enemy of Job had hay – day in destroying the entirety of Job’s possessions and especially the children that he was sacrificing on their behalf. Only his life was spared. Self sufficiency and convenience is a door - opener to the enemy to do as bid.

In our situation, a believer becomes tantalized by pornography, lewdness, and feasts of adultery, drunkardness and rivalry. The same tendencies that inhabited you are reintroduced and this turn, you can’t break from their spell. Your condition is worse than when you began.

Repentance therefore, from ‘ergon nekros’, dead works or acts that lead to death, religious duties that have no power of God in them, is God’s way of cancellation of your association with your soul becoming the habitation of every foul spirit. You gain freedom to expel any dirty broken - cistern water from you, and you continue to pursue your position of dominion as a son of God.

Believers can have demonic spirits living in them that control their behaviors and emotions. Yet many believe and teach that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the same house with an evil spirit. That’s only partially true.
When you believe the word, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within your spirit – you. That becomes His home. But we are spirit, soul and body.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1Thessalonians 5:23. King James Version. Italics, mine.

Evil spirits do not dwell in your spirit, but in your soul. They seek to take control of your emotions, intellect, will and mind. They seek to take control of what happens on the outside, through the way you behave in your body; the five senses. You begin to behave unseemingly, you can’t act straight. You tend to be religious, hallucinate, paranoiac and experiencing delusions of grandeur.

In the case of paranoia, patients tend to have an abnormal tendency to be suspicious of people and tend not to trust others. This disease, though a psychological, mental condition, is gaining control of much of the expression of the current Pentecostal/ Charismatic church. Much of what is advertised in the television broadcasts is just an exalted form of paranoia. Someone believes that he or she is this important person, and portrays him or herself as such, expecting all else to bow to his or her expression of self. Today’s expression of church is filled with such personalities.

Repentance in this season of the Lord is the processes, not an event, of the Holy Spirit taking ground in your soulic faculties of the mind, will, emotions and intellect. If this is done, then the government of God gains expression in the body, a dimension scripture calls ‘immortality’.

But about the times and their order, my brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you. For you yourselves have the knowledge that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it. But you, my brothers, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief: For you are all sons of light and of the day: we are not of the night or of the dark. So then, let us not take our rest as the others do, but let us be self-controlled and awake. For those who are sleeping do so in the night; and those who are the worse for drink are so in the night; But let us, who are of the day, be serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and on our heads, the hope of salvation. (Encirclement of the mind, with anticipation, expectation with pleasure and confidence of His deliverance from the body of death.)

- 1 Thessalonians 5:1 – 8. Bible In Basic English. Italics, Underlines, Brackets, mine.


Then comes the end, when he will give up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have put an end to all rule and to all authority and power. For his rule will go on till he has put all those who are against him under his feet.
The last power to come to an end is death. For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.
sAnd when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

- 1Corinthians 15:24 – 28. Bible In Basic English. Italics, Underline, mine.

On the contrally, when the enemy within succeeds to connect you to religion, at the end of the day, he will convince you that you haven’t really changed and that you aren’t really a new creation. When this ‘house’ is swept and clean, it must be occupied by the Holy Spirit and God’s purposes. To understand repentance from acts that lead to death or dead works, ‘ergon nekros’, you must always know that Christians can have evil spirits living in their souls and by repentance, submitting your selves to God’s Spirit inside your spirit, you delink that control.

When the soul is in constant submission to the spirit, the process of deliverance begins. Deliverance therefore is not someone’s special ministry but something you do to yourself all the time, once the flood –lights of the truth are put on. The body of Christ is coming into a New Day of walking in the freedom and peace of hearing God that is resident inside it and operating in the Holy Spirit. This casts away the paranoia, suspicion, accusation and delusions of grandeur that is in operation in the current manifestation of church, in the name of ‘discernment of spirits’. It’s not a shame to have a demon spirit living in your soul. It’s a shame to be occupied by one that you won’t get rid of. It’s the basis of repentance.

WHAT GOSPEL?

Fred M. Mukiri. The Life Community, Thika.
What Gospel do we preach? A leader I know was born in Africa more than 50 years ago and has been in the full time ministry for the last 33 years. He loves Africa and its diverse people and it’s not just a fluke, you can tell it by his passion for this land; he thinks Africans are just wonderful. Jesus once said; "…for a tree is known by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33. Recently he visited different nations in Africa and Europe and the USA. Nations like Bulgaria, Switzerland, Belgium, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and last year, Kenya. When he looked at the fruit of the gospel that was preached in these nations it bothered him. Personally, I tried to reconcile what I see with what Christ and the apostles preached and I cannot. The fruit that I see in Africa and other nations are:
• Political turmoil. • Serious poverty. • Chaotic infrastructure. • Hunger. • Disease • moral decay
• Murders. Rape. Robbery.
Some nations like Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe have rich deposits of diamonds, copper, gold and other precious resources. The soil is of the best in the world. And the people are the finest you can get. Some of these nations in Africa boast that more than 80% are professing Christians. There must be something wrong with the gospel that was preached to them if you look at the fruit. The gospel that Jesus and the disciples preached turned the word right side up. The fruit of the Gospel must be:
• Righteousness. • Equality • Justice • Peace Rest • Joy, Love, Reconciliation • Healing • Fruitfulness. In Kisumu , Bishop Zephaniah, a respected leader in the community tells the following tragic story. As you might know Kenya has almost 90% Christians. It went through some horrific times after the recent elections. Kisumu was one of the districts that suffered greatly. Leaders from all the churches came together to discuss what went wrong and why thousands of precious people died in the unrest. They discovered that the communities that had the greatest concentration of Christians had the greatest death toll and were most severely effected. Where the communities did not have many churches and less Christians it was more peaceful. What Gospel did the West preach to Africa? This cannot be the fruit of Christ in Africa? Is the answer in more crusades with millions more of the same kind of Christianity or are we missing something? God said; “the earth will be filled with the GLORY OF GOD” Are we preaching the Gospel of Jesus and the apostles?
God bless. Tell someone about this.