Coming Out Of Darkness Part 1 of 7 - Gary Sigler
God Will Perfect His Will In Your Life
"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17-18).
I believe that we are beginning to enter into an exciting time in our Christian experience, but right now there is so much darkness prevailing over our minds that it is very, very difficult to see what God is revealing to the Church. Some of what I am about to share with you may therefore seem to be contrary to the Word of God, but it only seems contrary. I believe God has us now in a position where we are so fed up with what we know has not worked for us, that maybe we are ready to receive some truth and some understanding which goes beyond what we have perceived in the past.
When Paul wrote this passage in Ephesians 4:17-18, he had already given the Ephesians an almost entire view of God’s plan, His will, and His purposes for them, and that is why he used the word "therefore." "Because of all of this that I have shown you, therefore don’t be like the gentiles. Don’t be like the unbelievers." And most of us do not realize that we can be a believer for many years, and still in our mind and in our understanding be like an unbeliever! We can know everything there is to know, we think, about the Word of God. We have walked and sought after God for years, and because of that we do not realize that we are in this condition of being like a gentile, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God that is in us.
What does Paul mean by being "alienated from the life of God"? We need to have an understanding that there are only two sources of life in the universe. You receive your life source from Adam, which is separated from the life of God, or from Christ who is one with God. Most Christians still are receiving their life source unknowingly from the natural or carnal man. They have never learned how to contact and live by the Spirit of Christ within them. Being "alienated from the life" simply means that I do not have an understanding that my Father and I are One. I have been alienated; my mind is darkened to the understanding that God and man are One. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated . . .
There is still much teaching prevailing in the Church today about "the great falling away". I hear it on TV; I hear it wherever I go. I hear about the "great falling away" and "the man of sin who is soon to be revealed." That teaching is part of the darkness, because there is no possible way that the Church of the Living God could be in any more darkness than it has been in for the last two thousand years—it is impossible. The "falling away" that the Apostle talked about began even in Paul’s lifetime, but it took root in the second century and has gone deeper and deeper into darkness for the last two thousand years. The first ray of light that God used to recover His Church back to its original design, intent and purpose—one of the very first people we are aware of that God used to bring restoration to His Church—was a man called Martin Luther (I am sure there were others, but he is a name that is well-known in the Church.) That is when the recovery began to take place to bring the Church out of darkness, and most of us do not realize how dark the Church was in those days. At that time, what was known as the Church was persecuting and killing everyone who was a genuine Christian. They took the Word of God out of homes and said it was illegal for people even to read the Word, and that it was only the priest who could properly understand the Word to tell you what to do.
In the beginning this was not so. If you go back to chapter 1 of Ephesians and read up to this point of the Word in chapter 4, "Therefore," you will see that Paul had revealed to them first of all that they were chosen in God. We still do not realize that we are chosen in God. The religious Gospel has made that not God’s choice, but man’s choice, because the religious Gospel says, "You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, because He knew there would come a day when you would choose Him; therefore, because He foreknew that you were going to do that, He chose you." Well then, whose choice is it?
If God chose you before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without blame before Him in love, that will happen! Oh, we must get the Church to see this! It is going to happen. You are going to come to a point in your experience where you will fully reveal and manifest to the world the glory of God. It is guaranteed, because God chose it to be so. And the reason that you do not experience it is because of the darkness, the alienation from the life of God that is in you because of the blindness of your heart.
Now I am not scolding you. We are all in darkness to an extent. We have been taught ignorance in the Church for two thousand years. The Gospel that Paul preached when he was alive has been almost totally annihilated from the Christian’s mind, and we have been taught things exactly opposite from what he taught and believed. Being alienated . . . Think of that! Here we are. We are one with God. In the very essence of our being is the God of the Universe, but yet in our minds we are alienated from that life that is in us, because of the blindness that is on our eyes and on our heart.
The good news is that we are in the dawning of the new day. God is beginning to lift the veil and to bring His Church out of darkness. And that is the thing that is upon my heart more than anything else. When I thought about this this morning, I just had to weep in intercession, because the blindness is so heavy over the people of God. How we need intercessors, because some of the things we have to share in these days are going to seem contrary to the Word. But believe me, it is only seemingly, because every question that you might have regarding what I have to share with you can be answered, even though these are not simple questions which can be answered in a few seconds.
Understanding God’s Omnipresence
God has a plan for us. If only we would understand some of the theological expressions that the Church has, doctrines like omnipresence and omnipotence and omniscience. Do you know what "omnipresence" means? I am sure you do, but let us look at it. Omnipresence means that God is everywhere, and there is nowhere that God is not. That is literally what the word means. If God is truly omnipresent, there is no space in the universe where God is not, because His presence is all-pervading. Now if that is true, what about that man on his death-bed who has never acknowledged Christ? If God is not in that man who is not acknowledging Him, then God is not omnipresent—there is one place in this universe where He is not, and that is in that man. The Church needs to examine some of the things they themselves have taught in the past. What that man needs is not someone trying to convince him that he needs God; he needs someone with the authority and the power of the spoken Word to speak to the seed of God that is in that man to cause it to rise up! You can pray to God for a hundred years for something, and you may never see it happen; but you can learn to speak the Word and see it happen in a few seconds!
Jesus said it: If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed—not if you fast for a hundred years, if you pray for twenty years, if you read ten chapters of the Bible a day—but if you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can say to that mountain, "Be removed!" And yet we pray to Him continuously, "O God, do this, and O God, do that!" Because of the blindness that is on our hearts, we are alienated from the life of God that is in us, and we are all the time praying to Him to do something. But He said to the very first disciples He had, "All authority and power is given unto Me; go ye therefore and make disciples." You don’t have to try to get people saved; you don’t have to try to get God into someone; you need to speak to the core of their being, and you will stir the Spirit of the Living God that is dormant in most of creation.
Experiencing Heavenly Places
Paul said that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He said you have been seated with Christ in heavenly places. Why do we not experience that? Do you think if I were experiencing all of the blessings of God, if I experienced being seated in heavenly places with Christ, that I could be in the condition I am in today? Why don’t we experience that? It is because of the blindness. We have become alienated from the life of God that is within us. We don’t even know where "heavenly places" are. We think there is a planet up there somewhere where our spirit might be connected somehow. But do you know what heavenly places are? Heavenly places means a conscious awareness of that reality of being one with God.
There are three levels of consciousness: one is body-conscious, one is soul-conscious, and one is spirit-conscious. Many people are merely body-conscious; many people are just soul-conscious; and a few of us are beginning to become spirit-conscious. That means that when our mind is unveiled, and when our eyes become unveiled to the reality of the revelation that Paul gave to the Church in its very beginning, we will walk in a conscious awareness of everything that the Word of God speaks of. And we won’t have to try to do it, either. But for that to happen we have to begin to have our concepts changed, because the God that has been presented to us in Christianity has been presented in a way that has given us a false concept of Him. And that is nothing new, because Jesus had to fight that same battle when He was here. He said, "It has been written in your very own law, but I say to you . . ." Some may say, "Brother, I go by the Word; if the Word says it, that’s it. And the law says ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ so if you kill someone, I am going to kill you." Jesus said, "It has been written. It is in your very own Word." There is something wrong with some of the concepts that we pick up from God’s Word. He said, "It has been written, but I say to you, love your enemies; do good to them who despitefully use you." Our concepts have to be changed.
A Santa Claus God?
We have a concept of God in Christianity which I call a "Santa Claus God." We have a Santa Claus God, because we feel that if we pray enough, if we fast enough, if we please God enough, He is going to answer our prayers. But if we don’t read our Bible, if we are not good, if we don’t do what He says, He is not going to answer our prayers. So therefore, everything we get from God depends upon our conduct, not upon God’s grace, not upon His working in our life. We need to think about these things! A Santa Claus God. I know a person who used to say, "I prayed for my son for twenty years, and God finally saved him." What that person was really saying was that God made him pray and pray and fast, and He made him wait twenty years, and then He saved his son.
Think about your own experience with God. How many times have you said (and I know this is a Bible principle, and I am not against it, but it is a concept we have to fight), "Maybe if we fast over this thing long enough; maybe if we get together and we pray long enough . . ." We feel that we have to do something that will influence God to make Him work on our behalf, or on the behalf of someone we love or are praying for. Santa Claus God. Listen. God has a will, and that will of God is for every human being on the earth. He has a will, and a plan, and a design and a purpose for everyone. What can you do to change that? Now, if you have the religious concept of God, there is a great deal that you can do to change it. But if God is God, then we are not God. If God says, "I have chosen you to present you to my Father holy, unblameable and irreprovable in His sight," I cannot nullify that will of God. He is God! He is going to perfect in me what He wants to do.
Walking In All the Counsel of God
Now, we do have choices to make, and those choices we make affect our lives and may prolong God’s working in us, but our will will not stop God from working in us His good pleasure and His good will for our life. If you could see that, you would not have to struggle anymore. If you clean up your life, and you quit going to movies, and you quit doing all kinds of things because you think you shouldn’t, you are just being religious. If you enjoy going to movies, you need to go to movies until God, by His Spirit rising up and quickening you, pulls your desires in another direction. That is salvation. I have experienced salvation. Not the poor, low Gospel that I received in religion, but I have been saved! To be saved means that God quickens you by His energizing Spirit and causes you to walk in another direction. Now you may not choose to do that, and you may fight and struggle against that, but eventually you are going to walk in all the counsel of God. Why? Because that is His will. That is His good will. The Gospel that was preached in the very beginning by the angels was, "Peace on earth, good will toward men."
Calvary has a much deeper meaning when you begin to understand the heart of God and the awesome events that took place there. Every one of us would say, "God died for me." Yes He did; we all know that. But we think that to preserve that which He did, we must be pretty "good." We have to do certain things. We have to live a certain way, or it will nullify what He did for us at Calvary. That is the concept, and you may not even have that consciously in your mind, but it is hidden in your consciousness that you have to do certain things and live a certain way to please God, so that the effects of Calvary will be yours. And those very concepts keep the reality that was given to you at Calvary from manifesting in your life. You may not even be conscious of this, but it is deeply embedded in your consciousness. We have inherited in this country two thousand years of religious teaching and tradition absolutely contrary to the Word of God, yet when somebody begins to speak truth, what they speak seemingly is contrary to what you have been taught. It is not contrary to the Word; it is contrary to what you believe is the Word.
An All-Powerful God
God is all-powerful. You show me a church or a group of people anywhere in this country who believes that God is all-powerful, and I’ll show you a glorious, magnificent presence of God in a group of people. But show me a people who believe in two powers, and I’ll show you a weak, defeated, struggling and striving group of people. God is not all-powerful in our Christian tradition and in our thinking. Our father according to the flesh, the devil, seems to get more credit than our Father God. We have devils that are much more powerful than God’s leadership on the earth today because of wrong concepts, and because of wrong thinking and speaking.
Whatever is in your heart and you believe, you will speak from your mouth; and the words that you speak from your mouth which come from your heart create for you that which you speak. You are a product of what you have been receiving, thinking, believing and speaking all of your life. So if you are defeated, if you can’t find victory, if you have no joy in your life, it is because you have been taught wrong, which has made you believe wrong, made you receive wrong, and made you speak wrong to create for you that which you are today. That is the truth. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
"All powerful." I hate to use the words "if God," but for illustration, if God is all powerful, and we believe that, how could the devil do what he has done to this country and to God’s people? How could he take the Church into darkness for two thousand years? He could do it because of their not heeding Paul’s admonition at the very beginning: "Don’t be like the other gentiles, walking in the vanity of their mind." That is a realm of consciousness. The vanity of the soulish mind—that is where we are. We have had teachings in the past about body, soul and spirit, and coming out of the flesh, coming out of Egypt, coming out of the world, coming through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is a level of consciousness. Christians hate the word "consciousness," because it is taught in almost all the religions of the world, but it is not taught in Christianity. I wonder why. If you never become conscious of God’s quickening power energizing your life, you will always be soul-conscious and body-conscious, but never spirit-conscious.
Turning from Darkness to Light
God has so much for the Church. In Acts 26:18, Jesus told the Apostle Paul (this was right at his conversion) that He was sending him "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
How we need people today who can turn people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto the power of God. But that cannot happen with the concepts of God that we have today. We cannot believe the goodness of God; we cannot believe the miracle of the cross. We haven’t been taught. 2 Corinthians 4:4-7 says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, . . ." (Now listen, when we read something like this, right away we say, "That doesn’t apply to me; I am a believer. Believe me, these words are spoken to us!) "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
"God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness." I believe that is happening today. There is so much darkness within us. When I began to see some of these things, I could not believe the darkness and the blindness of my own eyes as a believer for over twenty years, teaching the Word of God for several years. The blindness that was on my eyes! And again I have to make this clear, it is grace that is bringing the revealing. I have not always been "a good Christian"; I don’t deserve to have the revelation of God that has been given to me. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. But God has a perfect plan, intent and purpose for my life and for your life, and He will bring you into that plan and purpose.
The End of Grace?
One of the big questions that comes up is, "Look at all the people who have died; what happens if I die?" We have a concept in our minds, taught to us by our forefathers, that when you die that is the end of grace for you. No more grace. Death is the end of grace. As long as you have breath in your lungs, as long as you have the ability to cry out and receive God, you have grace; but when you die, look out! Grace is gone. You have had your opportunity in this life, and there is no more grace.
I have to tell you that is absolutely not true! The only reason that we die physically before God has fulfilled His plan and purpose in our life is because of the darkness and the blindness that are put over our eyes, and because of the wrong choices that we make while we are here. But that does not stop God’s plan. It doesn’t stop God. God is God! You are God’s idea. God brought you into existence in physical form. You are His idea, but like the Prodigal, many of us have gotten lost and are in great darkness, and have been caught up in the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. God is still God! And God has a love that we have never understood. He will perfect His will in you. Jesus is "The author and the finisher of our faith" (Romans 8:7-8). Can you believe "It is God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure?"
When you came to this earth, you were constituted, filled with the nature and the character of sin. Did you ask to be born that way? Did you say, "God, when I am born, please fill me full of the lusts of the flesh"? I don’t think so! I think Adam made that choice for you. "As in Adam all die," Paul says. You were constituted with the nature of sin, which is the nature that is both good and evil. Have you understood that yet? Some of us are very good, some of us are not so good, some of us are evil. But it is the same nature inherited from Adam through the Fall.
God loves His creation. That is why the Word says that the Lamb of God was slain from before the foundation of the world! God knew everything, or He wouldn’t be all knowing, all powerful, and omnipresent. Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world to be the Lamb that would restore the creation back to the Father. So I come into this life, I am born, and I am in darkness. And I am born with this nature that is anti-Christ; I am born with this nature that matures in some of us to be full of lust, full of envy, full of greed, and I might live seventy years in this darkness and blindness. We may live seventy years totally alienated and separated in our mind from God, living a life of sin, and then we die and religion tells us that because we lived seventy years in a life of sin and unbelief and greed, we are going to burn eternally in hell in endless torment. This concept is totally wrong! Now this might seemingly appear to be anti-Word, but oh, if you only knew the deep Love and the heart of your Father God. As we go on in these writings you will understand that we have been terribly deceived by religious tradition.
Awakening to the Gospel that Paul Preached
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Until you have a mind that is renewed, until you have a mind that dwells in the conscious awareness of the presence of God filling you, you are walking, at least in a degree, in the flesh. You are still part carnal, and that is the part we have to deal with; that is where all the unbelief is.
Ephesians 5:14 says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Did you ever realize, Christian, that you are sleeping? Do you know the Word refers to that word "awake," even in the Old Testament, over, and over? Awake! Awake! Awake! Do you remember Daniel’s vision where the angel says to Daniel, "In that day many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise." Do you realize that you were made from the very dust of the ground? And the Word tells us over and over again to wake up, to rise, to shake yourself, O Zion, and arise. Wake up! WAKE UP!
"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order" (I Cor. 15:21-23). Now let me ask you a question again: Did you choose to be in Adam? Was it your choice? Could the "all" in Adam be any greater than the "all" that is in Christ? Does it really mean "all" who died in Adam shall be made alive in Christ? Once again: Is the "all" that is in Adam any greater than the "all" that is in Christ? Well if you believe what we have been taught, it does mean that! But listen to what it says: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order." How many men? All! But we read it this way: For as in Adam all die, even so those who have received Christ shall be made alive. Don’t we read it that way? I believe we do so because of what we have been taught and because of what the Word seemingly teaches.
I have said this before, and you really need to examine this: The Apostle Paul was so much more advanced spiritually than any other man in the New Testament times, and he had a much deeper understanding and revelation of God than any other writer or believer in those times. And he even said that this is my Gospel. Nobody else preached the Gospel that Paul preaches. That is why some of the things in the Word seem to be contradictory. Two believers at different levels of faith can see the same verse and interpret it differently. It does not mean necessarily that one is right and one is wrong, they just see it differently.
Oh the world needs the Gospel! We need the Gospel! And you see, when you begin to understand the gospel that Paul preached, it is so much easier to preach the Gospel—in fact, you don’t have to. Whenever you get around people, you can just plant a few seeds. Just a few words. "A man went forth to sow." That is what I am doing—sowing. The words that I speak are seeds, and I guarantee you that they will grow.
Wisdom is the Proper Use of Knowledge
You all need to pray for me, because I need the wisdom to present the truth that I have been given. (O God, give us expression and words!) If there is anything we as Christians need to keep in our hearts, it is the knowledge that we need wisdom, because wisdom is the ability to properly use the knowledge that you have. You can have a great deal of knowledge and come into a great understanding of the Word, but without the wisdom you will go forth to proclaim that Word and do damage. I often tell people who hear me speak, "Please don’t go out and tell other people what I said, but if you want them to hear the message, give them a tape." It is the best thing you can do, because the carnal mind will absolutely try to destroy the seeds of the Word of God.
Do you notice I don’t use the word "devil" too much? People say, "Brother, don’t you believe in the devil?" No, I believe in God. And I believe that the only place the devil has is that place in my mind that I give him. If I give him no place, then he has no place. I don’t believe it is even worthy to mention the devil; I would rather use the phrase carnal mind. "Brother, are you saying the devil is my mind?" I am saying that that is the only place where the devil can use anything that he has, because whoever gets the mind gets the man. And the devil has captured and captivated the minds of God’s people through the blindness and through the ignorance that has been taught from the pulpits across America. It was not done knowingly so. Men who have had good hearts, men who have loved God, men who have desired above everything else to please God, have sown darkness and blindness over the hearts of God’s people, because they themselves were ignorant, being blinded and darkened to the life that was in them.
"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk." I believe that many of the saints that Paul was speaking to in those days had this revelation and understanding. You remember Jesus Himself spent forty days with His disciples unveiling to them the Gospel of the Kingdom. They had an understanding. They knew who they were. And because of that, sometimes just the very presence of one of those men would cause healing to take place! They understood, and so Paul in his teaching was reminding them in the Book of Ephesians of all that had been given to them by God. "You have been chosen; you have been predestinated; there is a predestinated seed in you that will come to maturity, but every man in his own order. You have been seated with Christ in heavenly places; you have been redeemed by the power and the blood of the Lamb. Therefore don’t walk as an unbeliever, being alienated in your mind from the life of God, through the ignorance and the blindness of your heart."
God is so good. Sometimes we hear a word like this and we think, "God, that person must really be special." Oh, if you only knew! You see the thing of it is, the word has to come out, and then even I have to learn by that word which is spoken or written. It is not so much that someone who speaks to you and reveals new things to you has it all together, but that God is so gracious. And I have known these things, and have known the heart of God for twenty years, but I have been bottled up, knowing that I just could not give it. There is too much darkness, too much blindness; there was too much religious teaching which was contrary to what God wants to bring to his people. But the time is now right for this message.
I can testify to you that God is God, because I have been in some of the most wretched, miserable conditions for a Christian that anyone could ever be in, and every time God came to me and rescued me out of it. Every time! And I have been months in darkness; I have been months thinking God left me; I have been months thinking that I must really have offended God. You see our wrong choices cause things like that to happen, but God is God. He says, "Gary, you are going to be this way because I designed it, I planned for it, and it is for your best interest. And because I am your Father and I have your best interest at heart, I am going to perform My will in your life. Now you can fight that, you can oppose that, but I am your Father. Don’t you realize that I brought you forth, I created you? You were My idea. I am responsible for you, because I created you and brought you into being. And because I am responsible for you, if I did not perfect that in you which I desire to do, I would be an irresponsible parent!"
Can you understand that? God is responsible for that which He created. Aren’t you responsible for the children that you bring into this life? How much more so is God responsible! Yet religion tells us that because we are rebellious, because we are caught up in pornography, because we’re selling our bodies as prostitutes, God cannot help us. Well if He can’t, then He is not God. If it depends on what I can do or what I can’t do, then I am god, and He is not God!
"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17-18).
I believe that we are beginning to enter into an exciting time in our Christian experience, but right now there is so much darkness prevailing over our minds that it is very, very difficult to see what God is revealing to the Church. Some of what I am about to share with you may therefore seem to be contrary to the Word of God, but it only seems contrary. I believe God has us now in a position where we are so fed up with what we know has not worked for us, that maybe we are ready to receive some truth and some understanding which goes beyond what we have perceived in the past.
When Paul wrote this passage in Ephesians 4:17-18, he had already given the Ephesians an almost entire view of God’s plan, His will, and His purposes for them, and that is why he used the word "therefore." "Because of all of this that I have shown you, therefore don’t be like the gentiles. Don’t be like the unbelievers." And most of us do not realize that we can be a believer for many years, and still in our mind and in our understanding be like an unbeliever! We can know everything there is to know, we think, about the Word of God. We have walked and sought after God for years, and because of that we do not realize that we are in this condition of being like a gentile, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God that is in us.
What does Paul mean by being "alienated from the life of God"? We need to have an understanding that there are only two sources of life in the universe. You receive your life source from Adam, which is separated from the life of God, or from Christ who is one with God. Most Christians still are receiving their life source unknowingly from the natural or carnal man. They have never learned how to contact and live by the Spirit of Christ within them. Being "alienated from the life" simply means that I do not have an understanding that my Father and I are One. I have been alienated; my mind is darkened to the understanding that God and man are One. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated . . .
There is still much teaching prevailing in the Church today about "the great falling away". I hear it on TV; I hear it wherever I go. I hear about the "great falling away" and "the man of sin who is soon to be revealed." That teaching is part of the darkness, because there is no possible way that the Church of the Living God could be in any more darkness than it has been in for the last two thousand years—it is impossible. The "falling away" that the Apostle talked about began even in Paul’s lifetime, but it took root in the second century and has gone deeper and deeper into darkness for the last two thousand years. The first ray of light that God used to recover His Church back to its original design, intent and purpose—one of the very first people we are aware of that God used to bring restoration to His Church—was a man called Martin Luther (I am sure there were others, but he is a name that is well-known in the Church.) That is when the recovery began to take place to bring the Church out of darkness, and most of us do not realize how dark the Church was in those days. At that time, what was known as the Church was persecuting and killing everyone who was a genuine Christian. They took the Word of God out of homes and said it was illegal for people even to read the Word, and that it was only the priest who could properly understand the Word to tell you what to do.
In the beginning this was not so. If you go back to chapter 1 of Ephesians and read up to this point of the Word in chapter 4, "Therefore," you will see that Paul had revealed to them first of all that they were chosen in God. We still do not realize that we are chosen in God. The religious Gospel has made that not God’s choice, but man’s choice, because the religious Gospel says, "You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, because He knew there would come a day when you would choose Him; therefore, because He foreknew that you were going to do that, He chose you." Well then, whose choice is it?
If God chose you before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without blame before Him in love, that will happen! Oh, we must get the Church to see this! It is going to happen. You are going to come to a point in your experience where you will fully reveal and manifest to the world the glory of God. It is guaranteed, because God chose it to be so. And the reason that you do not experience it is because of the darkness, the alienation from the life of God that is in you because of the blindness of your heart.
Now I am not scolding you. We are all in darkness to an extent. We have been taught ignorance in the Church for two thousand years. The Gospel that Paul preached when he was alive has been almost totally annihilated from the Christian’s mind, and we have been taught things exactly opposite from what he taught and believed. Being alienated . . . Think of that! Here we are. We are one with God. In the very essence of our being is the God of the Universe, but yet in our minds we are alienated from that life that is in us, because of the blindness that is on our eyes and on our heart.
The good news is that we are in the dawning of the new day. God is beginning to lift the veil and to bring His Church out of darkness. And that is the thing that is upon my heart more than anything else. When I thought about this this morning, I just had to weep in intercession, because the blindness is so heavy over the people of God. How we need intercessors, because some of the things we have to share in these days are going to seem contrary to the Word. But believe me, it is only seemingly, because every question that you might have regarding what I have to share with you can be answered, even though these are not simple questions which can be answered in a few seconds.
Understanding God’s Omnipresence
God has a plan for us. If only we would understand some of the theological expressions that the Church has, doctrines like omnipresence and omnipotence and omniscience. Do you know what "omnipresence" means? I am sure you do, but let us look at it. Omnipresence means that God is everywhere, and there is nowhere that God is not. That is literally what the word means. If God is truly omnipresent, there is no space in the universe where God is not, because His presence is all-pervading. Now if that is true, what about that man on his death-bed who has never acknowledged Christ? If God is not in that man who is not acknowledging Him, then God is not omnipresent—there is one place in this universe where He is not, and that is in that man. The Church needs to examine some of the things they themselves have taught in the past. What that man needs is not someone trying to convince him that he needs God; he needs someone with the authority and the power of the spoken Word to speak to the seed of God that is in that man to cause it to rise up! You can pray to God for a hundred years for something, and you may never see it happen; but you can learn to speak the Word and see it happen in a few seconds!
Jesus said it: If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed—not if you fast for a hundred years, if you pray for twenty years, if you read ten chapters of the Bible a day—but if you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can say to that mountain, "Be removed!" And yet we pray to Him continuously, "O God, do this, and O God, do that!" Because of the blindness that is on our hearts, we are alienated from the life of God that is in us, and we are all the time praying to Him to do something. But He said to the very first disciples He had, "All authority and power is given unto Me; go ye therefore and make disciples." You don’t have to try to get people saved; you don’t have to try to get God into someone; you need to speak to the core of their being, and you will stir the Spirit of the Living God that is dormant in most of creation.
Experiencing Heavenly Places
Paul said that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He said you have been seated with Christ in heavenly places. Why do we not experience that? Do you think if I were experiencing all of the blessings of God, if I experienced being seated in heavenly places with Christ, that I could be in the condition I am in today? Why don’t we experience that? It is because of the blindness. We have become alienated from the life of God that is within us. We don’t even know where "heavenly places" are. We think there is a planet up there somewhere where our spirit might be connected somehow. But do you know what heavenly places are? Heavenly places means a conscious awareness of that reality of being one with God.
There are three levels of consciousness: one is body-conscious, one is soul-conscious, and one is spirit-conscious. Many people are merely body-conscious; many people are just soul-conscious; and a few of us are beginning to become spirit-conscious. That means that when our mind is unveiled, and when our eyes become unveiled to the reality of the revelation that Paul gave to the Church in its very beginning, we will walk in a conscious awareness of everything that the Word of God speaks of. And we won’t have to try to do it, either. But for that to happen we have to begin to have our concepts changed, because the God that has been presented to us in Christianity has been presented in a way that has given us a false concept of Him. And that is nothing new, because Jesus had to fight that same battle when He was here. He said, "It has been written in your very own law, but I say to you . . ." Some may say, "Brother, I go by the Word; if the Word says it, that’s it. And the law says ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ so if you kill someone, I am going to kill you." Jesus said, "It has been written. It is in your very own Word." There is something wrong with some of the concepts that we pick up from God’s Word. He said, "It has been written, but I say to you, love your enemies; do good to them who despitefully use you." Our concepts have to be changed.
A Santa Claus God?
We have a concept of God in Christianity which I call a "Santa Claus God." We have a Santa Claus God, because we feel that if we pray enough, if we fast enough, if we please God enough, He is going to answer our prayers. But if we don’t read our Bible, if we are not good, if we don’t do what He says, He is not going to answer our prayers. So therefore, everything we get from God depends upon our conduct, not upon God’s grace, not upon His working in our life. We need to think about these things! A Santa Claus God. I know a person who used to say, "I prayed for my son for twenty years, and God finally saved him." What that person was really saying was that God made him pray and pray and fast, and He made him wait twenty years, and then He saved his son.
Think about your own experience with God. How many times have you said (and I know this is a Bible principle, and I am not against it, but it is a concept we have to fight), "Maybe if we fast over this thing long enough; maybe if we get together and we pray long enough . . ." We feel that we have to do something that will influence God to make Him work on our behalf, or on the behalf of someone we love or are praying for. Santa Claus God. Listen. God has a will, and that will of God is for every human being on the earth. He has a will, and a plan, and a design and a purpose for everyone. What can you do to change that? Now, if you have the religious concept of God, there is a great deal that you can do to change it. But if God is God, then we are not God. If God says, "I have chosen you to present you to my Father holy, unblameable and irreprovable in His sight," I cannot nullify that will of God. He is God! He is going to perfect in me what He wants to do.
Walking In All the Counsel of God
Now, we do have choices to make, and those choices we make affect our lives and may prolong God’s working in us, but our will will not stop God from working in us His good pleasure and His good will for our life. If you could see that, you would not have to struggle anymore. If you clean up your life, and you quit going to movies, and you quit doing all kinds of things because you think you shouldn’t, you are just being religious. If you enjoy going to movies, you need to go to movies until God, by His Spirit rising up and quickening you, pulls your desires in another direction. That is salvation. I have experienced salvation. Not the poor, low Gospel that I received in religion, but I have been saved! To be saved means that God quickens you by His energizing Spirit and causes you to walk in another direction. Now you may not choose to do that, and you may fight and struggle against that, but eventually you are going to walk in all the counsel of God. Why? Because that is His will. That is His good will. The Gospel that was preached in the very beginning by the angels was, "Peace on earth, good will toward men."
Calvary has a much deeper meaning when you begin to understand the heart of God and the awesome events that took place there. Every one of us would say, "God died for me." Yes He did; we all know that. But we think that to preserve that which He did, we must be pretty "good." We have to do certain things. We have to live a certain way, or it will nullify what He did for us at Calvary. That is the concept, and you may not even have that consciously in your mind, but it is hidden in your consciousness that you have to do certain things and live a certain way to please God, so that the effects of Calvary will be yours. And those very concepts keep the reality that was given to you at Calvary from manifesting in your life. You may not even be conscious of this, but it is deeply embedded in your consciousness. We have inherited in this country two thousand years of religious teaching and tradition absolutely contrary to the Word of God, yet when somebody begins to speak truth, what they speak seemingly is contrary to what you have been taught. It is not contrary to the Word; it is contrary to what you believe is the Word.
An All-Powerful God
God is all-powerful. You show me a church or a group of people anywhere in this country who believes that God is all-powerful, and I’ll show you a glorious, magnificent presence of God in a group of people. But show me a people who believe in two powers, and I’ll show you a weak, defeated, struggling and striving group of people. God is not all-powerful in our Christian tradition and in our thinking. Our father according to the flesh, the devil, seems to get more credit than our Father God. We have devils that are much more powerful than God’s leadership on the earth today because of wrong concepts, and because of wrong thinking and speaking.
Whatever is in your heart and you believe, you will speak from your mouth; and the words that you speak from your mouth which come from your heart create for you that which you speak. You are a product of what you have been receiving, thinking, believing and speaking all of your life. So if you are defeated, if you can’t find victory, if you have no joy in your life, it is because you have been taught wrong, which has made you believe wrong, made you receive wrong, and made you speak wrong to create for you that which you are today. That is the truth. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
"All powerful." I hate to use the words "if God," but for illustration, if God is all powerful, and we believe that, how could the devil do what he has done to this country and to God’s people? How could he take the Church into darkness for two thousand years? He could do it because of their not heeding Paul’s admonition at the very beginning: "Don’t be like the other gentiles, walking in the vanity of their mind." That is a realm of consciousness. The vanity of the soulish mind—that is where we are. We have had teachings in the past about body, soul and spirit, and coming out of the flesh, coming out of Egypt, coming out of the world, coming through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is a level of consciousness. Christians hate the word "consciousness," because it is taught in almost all the religions of the world, but it is not taught in Christianity. I wonder why. If you never become conscious of God’s quickening power energizing your life, you will always be soul-conscious and body-conscious, but never spirit-conscious.
Turning from Darkness to Light
God has so much for the Church. In Acts 26:18, Jesus told the Apostle Paul (this was right at his conversion) that He was sending him "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
How we need people today who can turn people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto the power of God. But that cannot happen with the concepts of God that we have today. We cannot believe the goodness of God; we cannot believe the miracle of the cross. We haven’t been taught. 2 Corinthians 4:4-7 says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, . . ." (Now listen, when we read something like this, right away we say, "That doesn’t apply to me; I am a believer. Believe me, these words are spoken to us!) "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
"God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness." I believe that is happening today. There is so much darkness within us. When I began to see some of these things, I could not believe the darkness and the blindness of my own eyes as a believer for over twenty years, teaching the Word of God for several years. The blindness that was on my eyes! And again I have to make this clear, it is grace that is bringing the revealing. I have not always been "a good Christian"; I don’t deserve to have the revelation of God that has been given to me. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. But God has a perfect plan, intent and purpose for my life and for your life, and He will bring you into that plan and purpose.
The End of Grace?
One of the big questions that comes up is, "Look at all the people who have died; what happens if I die?" We have a concept in our minds, taught to us by our forefathers, that when you die that is the end of grace for you. No more grace. Death is the end of grace. As long as you have breath in your lungs, as long as you have the ability to cry out and receive God, you have grace; but when you die, look out! Grace is gone. You have had your opportunity in this life, and there is no more grace.
I have to tell you that is absolutely not true! The only reason that we die physically before God has fulfilled His plan and purpose in our life is because of the darkness and the blindness that are put over our eyes, and because of the wrong choices that we make while we are here. But that does not stop God’s plan. It doesn’t stop God. God is God! You are God’s idea. God brought you into existence in physical form. You are His idea, but like the Prodigal, many of us have gotten lost and are in great darkness, and have been caught up in the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. God is still God! And God has a love that we have never understood. He will perfect His will in you. Jesus is "The author and the finisher of our faith" (Romans 8:7-8). Can you believe "It is God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure?"
When you came to this earth, you were constituted, filled with the nature and the character of sin. Did you ask to be born that way? Did you say, "God, when I am born, please fill me full of the lusts of the flesh"? I don’t think so! I think Adam made that choice for you. "As in Adam all die," Paul says. You were constituted with the nature of sin, which is the nature that is both good and evil. Have you understood that yet? Some of us are very good, some of us are not so good, some of us are evil. But it is the same nature inherited from Adam through the Fall.
God loves His creation. That is why the Word says that the Lamb of God was slain from before the foundation of the world! God knew everything, or He wouldn’t be all knowing, all powerful, and omnipresent. Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world to be the Lamb that would restore the creation back to the Father. So I come into this life, I am born, and I am in darkness. And I am born with this nature that is anti-Christ; I am born with this nature that matures in some of us to be full of lust, full of envy, full of greed, and I might live seventy years in this darkness and blindness. We may live seventy years totally alienated and separated in our mind from God, living a life of sin, and then we die and religion tells us that because we lived seventy years in a life of sin and unbelief and greed, we are going to burn eternally in hell in endless torment. This concept is totally wrong! Now this might seemingly appear to be anti-Word, but oh, if you only knew the deep Love and the heart of your Father God. As we go on in these writings you will understand that we have been terribly deceived by religious tradition.
Awakening to the Gospel that Paul Preached
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Until you have a mind that is renewed, until you have a mind that dwells in the conscious awareness of the presence of God filling you, you are walking, at least in a degree, in the flesh. You are still part carnal, and that is the part we have to deal with; that is where all the unbelief is.
Ephesians 5:14 says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Did you ever realize, Christian, that you are sleeping? Do you know the Word refers to that word "awake," even in the Old Testament, over, and over? Awake! Awake! Awake! Do you remember Daniel’s vision where the angel says to Daniel, "In that day many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise." Do you realize that you were made from the very dust of the ground? And the Word tells us over and over again to wake up, to rise, to shake yourself, O Zion, and arise. Wake up! WAKE UP!
"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order" (I Cor. 15:21-23). Now let me ask you a question again: Did you choose to be in Adam? Was it your choice? Could the "all" in Adam be any greater than the "all" that is in Christ? Does it really mean "all" who died in Adam shall be made alive in Christ? Once again: Is the "all" that is in Adam any greater than the "all" that is in Christ? Well if you believe what we have been taught, it does mean that! But listen to what it says: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order." How many men? All! But we read it this way: For as in Adam all die, even so those who have received Christ shall be made alive. Don’t we read it that way? I believe we do so because of what we have been taught and because of what the Word seemingly teaches.
I have said this before, and you really need to examine this: The Apostle Paul was so much more advanced spiritually than any other man in the New Testament times, and he had a much deeper understanding and revelation of God than any other writer or believer in those times. And he even said that this is my Gospel. Nobody else preached the Gospel that Paul preaches. That is why some of the things in the Word seem to be contradictory. Two believers at different levels of faith can see the same verse and interpret it differently. It does not mean necessarily that one is right and one is wrong, they just see it differently.
Oh the world needs the Gospel! We need the Gospel! And you see, when you begin to understand the gospel that Paul preached, it is so much easier to preach the Gospel—in fact, you don’t have to. Whenever you get around people, you can just plant a few seeds. Just a few words. "A man went forth to sow." That is what I am doing—sowing. The words that I speak are seeds, and I guarantee you that they will grow.
Wisdom is the Proper Use of Knowledge
You all need to pray for me, because I need the wisdom to present the truth that I have been given. (O God, give us expression and words!) If there is anything we as Christians need to keep in our hearts, it is the knowledge that we need wisdom, because wisdom is the ability to properly use the knowledge that you have. You can have a great deal of knowledge and come into a great understanding of the Word, but without the wisdom you will go forth to proclaim that Word and do damage. I often tell people who hear me speak, "Please don’t go out and tell other people what I said, but if you want them to hear the message, give them a tape." It is the best thing you can do, because the carnal mind will absolutely try to destroy the seeds of the Word of God.
Do you notice I don’t use the word "devil" too much? People say, "Brother, don’t you believe in the devil?" No, I believe in God. And I believe that the only place the devil has is that place in my mind that I give him. If I give him no place, then he has no place. I don’t believe it is even worthy to mention the devil; I would rather use the phrase carnal mind. "Brother, are you saying the devil is my mind?" I am saying that that is the only place where the devil can use anything that he has, because whoever gets the mind gets the man. And the devil has captured and captivated the minds of God’s people through the blindness and through the ignorance that has been taught from the pulpits across America. It was not done knowingly so. Men who have had good hearts, men who have loved God, men who have desired above everything else to please God, have sown darkness and blindness over the hearts of God’s people, because they themselves were ignorant, being blinded and darkened to the life that was in them.
"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk." I believe that many of the saints that Paul was speaking to in those days had this revelation and understanding. You remember Jesus Himself spent forty days with His disciples unveiling to them the Gospel of the Kingdom. They had an understanding. They knew who they were. And because of that, sometimes just the very presence of one of those men would cause healing to take place! They understood, and so Paul in his teaching was reminding them in the Book of Ephesians of all that had been given to them by God. "You have been chosen; you have been predestinated; there is a predestinated seed in you that will come to maturity, but every man in his own order. You have been seated with Christ in heavenly places; you have been redeemed by the power and the blood of the Lamb. Therefore don’t walk as an unbeliever, being alienated in your mind from the life of God, through the ignorance and the blindness of your heart."
God is so good. Sometimes we hear a word like this and we think, "God, that person must really be special." Oh, if you only knew! You see the thing of it is, the word has to come out, and then even I have to learn by that word which is spoken or written. It is not so much that someone who speaks to you and reveals new things to you has it all together, but that God is so gracious. And I have known these things, and have known the heart of God for twenty years, but I have been bottled up, knowing that I just could not give it. There is too much darkness, too much blindness; there was too much religious teaching which was contrary to what God wants to bring to his people. But the time is now right for this message.
I can testify to you that God is God, because I have been in some of the most wretched, miserable conditions for a Christian that anyone could ever be in, and every time God came to me and rescued me out of it. Every time! And I have been months in darkness; I have been months thinking God left me; I have been months thinking that I must really have offended God. You see our wrong choices cause things like that to happen, but God is God. He says, "Gary, you are going to be this way because I designed it, I planned for it, and it is for your best interest. And because I am your Father and I have your best interest at heart, I am going to perform My will in your life. Now you can fight that, you can oppose that, but I am your Father. Don’t you realize that I brought you forth, I created you? You were My idea. I am responsible for you, because I created you and brought you into being. And because I am responsible for you, if I did not perfect that in you which I desire to do, I would be an irresponsible parent!"
Can you understand that? God is responsible for that which He created. Aren’t you responsible for the children that you bring into this life? How much more so is God responsible! Yet religion tells us that because we are rebellious, because we are caught up in pornography, because we’re selling our bodies as prostitutes, God cannot help us. Well if He can’t, then He is not God. If it depends on what I can do or what I can’t do, then I am god, and He is not God!
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