"I Wish We'd All Been Ready..."
"When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation."—Pr 10: 25
This is the Scripture the Lord gave me in the waning days of 2006. This Christmas was a very peaceful, but sober time for me—I live knowing that a soulish bubble has burst that many are futilly trying to patch and pump up.
Welcome to the year of our Lord, 2007. Not only is 2007 a Jubilee Year for us, but it is a year of Perfection. Repentance is working upon the saints, with many challenged beyond their ability by the pressures of life, as well as the demand for purity inwardly. We are caught between the Rock and a hard place.
The hard place is that Satan wants to destroy us and quench our faith. The Rock is Jesus Christ. I believe that we Christians are being forced to stand upon the Rock, to be dependent on Him, or to futilly try to live our lives on our own strength. So many of us, let me make sure the reader knows I am including myself, have spoken to the Rock; some of us have struck Him—we must let go of our presumption, will-worship, and self-fulfilling idolatry to throw ourselves upon Him and at last stand upon the Rock and Him alone. The time is short, but now is the season for consecration and edification.
I have my own thoughts about what the whirlwind will be in 2007—more importantly is not the storm, but that Jesus is the Eye of the Storm. The Promise of God is that we have an Everlasting Foundation and will not be blown away.
"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness."—Psalm 37: 3
We are learning experientially the Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink—it can not be perceived or obtained in the natural world we are surrounded by—but is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom of God is within us.
So many are still wildly searching for and trying to manipulate into being a Utopian Christianity, even if the path is strewn with the broken bodies of those who get in the way—the only perfect world is in Him. We face opposition as we try to reveal what is locked within us. This is the season for the seal on God's Kingdom in the hearts of His people to be broken for the World to see.
It will be the best of days and the worst of days, the best because the sleeping Church is arising to reveal the glory of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world—in this aspect we will rejoice as if we were in the days of Heaven. It will be the worst because many will harden their hearts, oppose the Truth, and expose the deceit of a world gone afer a reprobate mind.
I believe more than ever in 2007, the Holy Spirit will be visiting us, preparing and convicting us, to turn our hearts towards the Harvest and Home.
Another thing I know the Lord has spoken to me about 2007 is that discerning Christians will see a hastening of the volatile and ridiculous mindset of the antichrist spirit filling this country. Professing ourselves to be wise, we have become fools, not just without God, but in willful opposition to even the suggestion of common sense. National insanity has stricken our wallowing and beloved nation. Confusion and apathy are swallowing the Church—those who love evil have more direction and passion.
Americans have in so many ways become like Corinthians and Cretans as described in I and II Corinthians and Titus. I do pray that revival will come before the worst of judgment. I am entering this year in trembling knowing I am woefully unprepared for major changes.
God forgive me where I have been slack, self-indulgent, self-seeking, and stubborn!
In the face of this folly which is a cancerous leech on the soul of the Church and our nation, the Lord has given me this Scripture for 2007,
"Then I saw that wisdom exceeds folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness...."—Eccelesiastes 2: 13-14a
We must be confident that the folly of fools—the fool has said in his heart there is no God—will not outlast the wisdom of God, nor will the darkness overcome the Light. No matter what happens as the polarization and division between Good and evil, and darkness and Light increases, we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. We must stand on the promises and believe.
No system, state, kingdom, or individual who opposes God lasts for long. History speaks for itself. Heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God endures forever!
Saints—never lose heart! Remember these words,
"I would have lost heart, UNLESS I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord;, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" —Psalms 27: 13-14 (caps mine).
Too many of God's people are afraid of the future. Multitudes are in disarray or numb out of disappointment or a sense of failure in themselves or other Christians. Many have lost faith because they have lost hope—Jesus never fails.
Saints we MUST ALWAYS BELIEVE WITH FULL ASSURANCE that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I challenge you to be of good courage and wait on Him, He will strengthen your heart! That is not a maybe one day when thing, but an everlasting promise of the Never Failing Father. Stand on the Truth, trust in the Everlasting Arms, and deposit this eternal encouragement in your heart's bank of Forever.
Now, despite all our chastening, and correction, and service, there is one sticking point the Holy Spirit will dial and redial in 2007 preparing us for Glory and the Lord's Return. The Lord is requiring a foundation check in how we handle the Royal Law of Love! From this point forward in the Kingdom of God, His standard of Judgment and the fountain from which His Presence and Glory will be released is how we treat God and how we Christians handle one another.
While I was writing this, I had a vision of a great building, a magnificent structure. I was underneath it, not in a crawl space, but in a large sub-basement that ran the whole building. I was impressed that the structure was ultra-modern and man-made. I entered with a fear the building would collapse on me at any moment. This grand building was supported by enormous concrete pillars that should carry any amount of weight, but the huge shafts were set in sand that was unstable and shifted beneath my feet. The buidling shifted and groaned as I struggled to maintain my own balance. I had the sense that this building was close to the ocean and that any time, huge waves would come in and completely undermine these support pillars—I could not shake the ominous fear of sudden collapse.
I wanted to get out as soon as possible, but was compelled to continue to inspect the foundations of this mega-structure—to my horror, I discovered the sand beneath and around these huge concrete columns were honeycombed with graves and bodies. The bodies were intact and frozen in time, none had decomposed—it was almost like suspended animation—so that I could see their faces, eyes open. The common bond of these victims was their mutually shared facial expression of shock, disbelief, and great sadness and sorrow—each had been murdered by someone they loved and trusted, and then buried in a shallow grave beneath the very foundation of the building the murderer and the deceased had lived in together.
I was greatly shocked to see a few bodies of people I knew and realized that I was guilty of participating in their murders. These were all people I had been angry with and had spoken harshly to or about—although I had not taken up gun or knife, and had not physically assaulted them, I had murdered them with my tongue!
Then I realized the man-made, mega-structure was the Church and ministry as we know it, and that the foundation upon which man had built was shifting sand further undermined by hatred, murder, and the lack of love. I also realized the Storm was about to wash this structure away.
I recently heard a Bible teacher say that Jewish tradition held that Cain had murdered Able with a plowshare and then buried him to hide the body. I had never heard this before, and found it interesting that Cain, a tiller of the ground, possibly murdered his brother with the tool he used to till the ground, and then buried Able in the very earth that provided Cain's livelihood. Talk about toxic fertilizer!
"And [the Lord] said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened it's mouth to receive your brother's [shed] blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth [in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast]."—-Genesis 4: 10-12
Maybe I don't need to look much farther than what is buried in my own field when it is not fruitful.
The days of adversarial and competitive ministry, the aura of elitist superiority, and the era of cannibalistic sheep have faded into the reality of the dire lack of true faith and power in the American Church.
The tool God has given us to till our field with is our tongue; our field is our life—our labor and service for God. This same teacher said that Jewish tradition also held that Cain buried Able so God could not see what he had done, but that his blood cried out from the earth. Had God not responded to the cry of innocent blood, Cain would have continued to till the earth under which his brother was buried. I think this is why Jesus said the Pharisees were like whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones on the inside—our human nature is like that, ready to kill with our tongue and heart, but strive to look good on the outside.
I look back at the successes and failures of my heart and tongue, and that I know of in the lives of other Christians. I tremble to wonder how many have strayed, or lost opportunity, or been disheartened. You know, this life really is to an audience of One, but a door to many.
More importantly, I am wondering what is the weight of the implication that it is apparently too easy to ignore God in what we assume to be the pursuit of Him. If it so easy to murder and bury one another, how estranged must be the corporate heart of the Body from God? This is a hard time of Holy Ghost led foundation checking. How much of a drought of the Word of God have we tolerated, how much famine and waste have we fanned?
A demon called destiny has caused many of us to discount the weightier things of the Law, such as love and mercy. The end justifies the means and other believers are easily diminished and discarded. How sad for many believers and ministries that even our mercies are cruel and self-seeking. A summons has been issued by Heaven in 2007,
"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to THE SUMMONS to God's service, living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another." —Ephesians 4: 1-2 Amp.(caps mine).
I have had summons served on me before by the civil authorities—I had to appear or be prosecuted for not obeying the summons. How much greater authority is the authority of God and His Summons?
We have forgotten that God is love and that faith works by love. Trying to conduct God's business without love is like running an engine without oil—it produces destruction and burnout. Jesus knew the focus of God's Kingdom and the release of His power.
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." —Matthew 22: 36-40 NKJV
According to Jesus, these two commandments are the foundation, plumbline, balance, fulcrum, standard, and launching pad for the whole Word of God! We must love God and love others—this is how this whole Kingdom works.
God is exposing the spirit of murder in the Church in 2007—throughout this year He will be exposing our hearts and touching unforgiveness and hatred. Remember these words,
"We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death. Anyone who hates (abominates, detests) his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (persevering) within him. By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [in Him]—I John 3: 14-16 Amp.
"If anyone says, I love God, and hates (detests, abominates)his brother [in Christ], he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he has not seen. And this command (charge, order, injunction) we have from Him: that he who loves God shall love his brother [believer] also." —I John 4: 20-21.
Beloved, the Lord has issued a Restraining Order for the American Church in 2007, keeping us away from further destruction—look for an upcoming letter on "Spiritual Disaster Zones"—and holding us down to the Standard of His Love. We will be forced to examine our own hearts and thoughts of how we have handled the Body, of motivations and intents—the blood we have shed is now before us.
God give each of us the grace and heart to come through this season refined, purified, and consecrated. My prayer for each of you and for my own household is that we all become more in love with Jesus and one another than ever before. Once many years ago, I had an experience in Bible school that I evidently have forgotten. The campus was a lovely place, like a corner of heaven, with matching buildings and meticulously manicured grounds with trees, flowers, paths, ponds, and footbridges—how precious the Presence of God was there. I was close to thirty, working long hours in difficult surroundings to make ends meet and going to school simultaneously—I was tired, cranky, and very much the self-righteous martyr. One of my classmates was ten years younger, a child of privelege who did not have to work, and was so full of life and himself that he was obnoxious. For the life of me, we probably looked like a puppy tormenting an old dog! Although I loved him, he really got on my sanctimonious nerves sometimes. Actually, he was a better man than me, and I was jealous of his youth—my own had been thrown away in sin—and his privelege, even though my own parents had sent me to school when I was his age. He irritated others as well, and as we were freguently in one another's company due to school activities, I had hatched a plot to seize him and throw him into one of the ponds on campus.
I wanted to teach him a lesson.
I remember so vividly him sitting next to me one day and something that provoked me coming out of his mouth—I just smiled, visualizing in my heart a gang of us throwing him screaming into the icy water.
At that precise moment the Face of Jesus was superimposed over his face. The Lord asked Me,
"Will you throw Me into the pond?"
I said, no, Lord, I won't. Then He said to me,
"He is young. He respects and admires you. If you do this to him, you do this to Me. It would quench My Life in him and humiliate him. He would never be the same again. You would never be his friend again. It will hinder his work for Me. You must not do this."
Of course my friend never knew he missed a dunking. I have not remembered this event for many years until I was finishing this newsletter. Sad that I have not remembered the truth of this sooner—Christ is His Body. I have treated Him as I have treated other Christians.
How many others have I dunked, and quenched, and humiliated down through the years? How many have I squandered or wasted, or hindered their work for the Lord through my words and actions? How many have I murdered and frozen in time in the shifting sands of a man-made ministry? God help us all!
I seem to be expert in discerning every flaw in my brethren and overgloss, spiritualize, or justify my own! The following Scripture has been glaring at me for 2007,
"Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, let you should be tempted also. Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens, and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself. But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.
FOR EVERY PERSON WILL HAVE TO BEAR (BE EQUAL TO UNDERSTANDING AND CALMLY RECEIVE) HIS OWN [LITTLE] LOAD [OF OPPRESSIVE FAULTS]."—Galatians 6: 1-5, Amp.(caps mine)
Here me, Saints of God, I believe most importantly of all I have yet seen, 2007 is a year of accounting with God.
Take courage, wait on the Lord, and be strengthened and transformed by His Goodness. We will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
In Jesus,
Vaughn Allen Clark
Hebrews 4:12-16
Just came across your website through Randy Gearheart's site, thank you for sharing your heart and God's. Your writings have made me look in my own heart and see how much I have allowed to filter in my mind ungodliness in my own mind, as I sat and read such conviction came upon me, how much I HAVE ENTERTAINED evil and being so passive with the Lord, keep keeping on I know that through your words and testimonies that you are reaching people's hearts who have become hardened and bitter as I was, thanks again for the words spoken and stirring my heart with truth and honesty to keep my focus on Jesus and repenting of my foolish ways. Sincerely, IN HIM, Kathie Mills
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