Let me begin with a disclaimer by first saying that the things I write are not intended to offend anyone. It seems there are still quite a few people who knew me in my pastoral era of The King’s Chapel who are quite upset with the things I now write and say. Some are just bewildered because they do not understand what happened to me. I do understand where they are coming from because I taught the very doctrines they now believe and bound many people to the letter of the law… for I was indeed fully bound myself. Not to mention that in my looking outward, I would have prophecy on steroids right about now.
Today I know with certitude that before the Spring of 2005 the wineskin of my heart was so hard and tight and inflexible that it didn’t take much new wine at all to burst it into pieces. I know I myself would have called the person writing this article (yours truly) a very sorely deceived individual who is harming God’s children and leading them astray.
However, at this point in my life I have no agenda to either teach or convince people to believe or see things the way I do. Neither do I seek to gain a following or profit from the things I write. For that reason, there is no “Donate” button on this website.
The thing is, no man can teach you what he (or she) has personally experienced or “seen” from above anyway. At best, he can only share it with you… i.e. give witness to it or tell you about it. And you may “believe” he is sincere and that what he says is indeed true, but for you to truly “know” that experience or have that ah-ha moment, you yourself must have that experience or “see” that flash of light with your own spiritual eyes.
My primary purpose therefore is simply to share the good news (gospel) of Christ, the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), that raises us up (salvation) and sets us at liberty. I am no longer bound by the letter of the law, and my desire is to share my God given peace and joy with others that in seeing they might have hope.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Furthermore, it is written in Rom. 8:7 that our carnal minds, i.e. our natural carnal thoughts, are enmity against God and in 1 Cor 2:14 that the natural (carnal) man cannot receive (understand, come to know) the things of the Spirit of God… for such things are foolishness (indiscernible) to the carnal mind of man, because they are spiritually discerned.
So again, no matter how wise a teacher may appear to be, he or she cannot teach you the spiritual things of God nor give you his or her life’s (Light) experiences. Those things are learned individually, to every man in his own order (1 Cor 15:23), from the spirit that resides inside of us.
1 Jn 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Therefore, comparing one doctrinal belief to another is at best a futile exercise and is known to cause divisiveness, which manifests into denominations. I can tell you that no less than three times in my life I changed what I believed happened in the Garden of Eden. Each time I was “puffed up” in thinking that I had gained better knowledge of the “Word of God” and was spiritually wiser than before. Many times I would discuss and even sword fight with scriptures to not only defend my beliefs but to convince others to believe as I did… so as to confirm those beliefs. Yet not once did those doctrinal changes affect the love in my heart. If anything, they added to its hardening.
The point is, it is the things in life that are really important, the things of the spirit such as love (God is love), kindness and forgiveness, that need measured or compared… not whether we should or shouldn’t smoke whatever or eat pork or shrimp or go to church on Saturday instead of Sunday or baptize by a sprinkle instead of immersion.
1 Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
In the next chapter of 1 Cor, chapter 3, Paul speaks in more detail about this and gives an all too common example of our carnal mindedness.
1Co 3:1-2 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
Here’s his example of carnal thinking.
1 Co 3:3-4 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Divisions in doctrines and denominations and claiming you study under (follow) this pastor or that minister is carnal indeed and will surely keep us from coming “to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph 4:13).”
1 Co 3:5-7 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase (in spiritual understanding and insight).
1 Co 3:8-9 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward (of understanding, enlightenment) according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
You are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building, His house, His temple (not man’s), and His temple shall not be built by man’s mighty doctrinal teachings or powerful preaching… but by the Spirit of God that dwells in YOU (see Zec 4:6).
1 Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:19-23 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
All of that was more than I intended to say for openers, but so be it. Now concerning the subject of manifestation, Paul writes the following in Romans 8:18:
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
The word revealed used in this verse is apokalupto and it means:
1) to uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up
1a) disclose, make bare
2) to make known, make manifest, disclose what before was unknown
What is that unknown, hidden, veiled, glory of Romans 8:18 that shall be revealed, uncovered, made manifest in us? It is Christ, the Son of God, the second man from above, in YOU.
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known (reveal, give to understand) what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The revelation of this mystery is not meant for the carnal mind, the ego, the man of sin who sits on the throne of our heart and eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thus already believes he is god and can judge right and wrong as he sees it (Gen 3:22, 2 Thes. 2:4). Therefore this truth is not and cannot be revealed by man, be they preachers or ministers or teachers, but rather is made known by God… to every man in his own order (1Cor. 15:23).
Are you familiar with the story in John chapter 9 of the man who was born blind? That story is an allegory of each of us, for we are all born spiritually blind… not because of our sins, nor those of our parents (including Adam), but that the works of God should be made manifest, appear, in us. We are all born blinded to the truth of our Sonship.
The point is, one’s eyes cannot be opened unless they are first closed. One cannot be set free from bondage unless he or she is first in bondage. One cannot come to know the truth unless he is first ignorant of the truth. The Light therefore shines forth out of darkness!
So the earnest expectation of the creature (the natural man that we first are, the first man adam) must patiently wait for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject (subservient) to vanity (devoid of truth), not willingly (not of our own carnal will), but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope (joyful and confident expectation).
If you are still in bondage… the good news is that in His time you SHALL be delivered and set at liberty.
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption (ignorance) into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
It is worth noting that the word “manifestation” in Rom. 8:19 above is translated from the Greek word apokaloopis. It is exactly the same word translated “revelation” in Rev 1:1. To wit, the Book of the Revelation [manifestation] of Jesus Christ is not prophecy about New World Orders and political systems and cataclysmic future events taking place in the world we see with our carnal vision. Preachers and ministers and teachers for the past 2000 years have erred in their vain attempts to make it so… and many of their present counterparts continue to do the same. I confess that for most of my life, I too was among them.
No, the Book of Revelation is about that which is hidden, the mystery, which mystery is… the manifestation (revealing/appearing) of Christ in YOU, the hope of glory. It is about the manifestation of the sons of God, and it’s not going to happen… it’s been happening for a long time and shall continue to happen.
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known (reveal, give to understand) what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Look closely at the definitions of manifestation/revelation:
Strong’s Definition #G602:
ap-ok-al’-oop-sis
From G601; disclosure: – appearing, coming, lighten, manifestation, be revealed, revelation.
Thayer’s Definition:
1) laying bear, making naked
2) a disclosure of truth, instruction
2a) concerning things before unknown
2b) used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all
3) manifestation, appearance
Here’s even the American Heritage Dictionary definition of manifestation:
Manifestation: An indication of the existence, reality, or presence of something: A high fever is an early manifestation of the disease.
- One of the forms in which someone or something, such as a person, a divine being, or an idea, is revealed.
- The materialized form of a spirit.
Now consider something that you can see with your natural eyes…a building for example. That building is only a temporary physical manifestation (appearing) of the idea of the building. There can be no building without there first being an idea, a conception, an image (imagination) of the building and the desire within, the will, to manifest it.
So then the building and idea of the building are not the same. The former is made physical from, or as we say, in the image, the imagination, of its creator. It is therefore the idea itself that is actually real. The building is merely the visible projection or manifestation in the physical realm of the idea itself.
To that end, the outside world we see with our flesh eyes is only a manifestation of, a projection of, a revealing of, that which is spiritual and within the mind of its creator. Everything that is ever created and made manifest was first the idea, the imaging, the imagination, the thought or “word” of the thing.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
The idea, let’s call it the plan, of God’s spiritual house already exists… and that plan is complete. It is now being made manifest. He is the architect and the builder of the house… whose house we are. We are not victims of His purpose… we are participants in the building thereof.
Perhaps that sheds some light on what our physical bodies really are… a projection of, a manifestation of, the creator within… let us make man in our image. And when we create, because we are creators, which is the one thing that separates us from all the animals, etc., we give evidence to the creator within us.
And so it is the “Word” was made flesh.
It is written that the Light (the Word) is in “every man that comes into the world”… even though the darkness (the carnal mind) comprehends it not, i.e. does not know that Light exists within. It, He, that Light, is hidden in the darkness… behind the veil of our carnality (flesh).
John 1:4-5 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
That true Light, though it may be hidden in darkness according to His purpose, lights every man that comes into the world… because it is in every man. So let it shine baby.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
One more thought comes to mind about the darkness and the light.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
How do you “see” things? If your eye of understanding is clear and sound… i.e. you are spiritually minded and have love in your heart, then your whole body shall be full of Light (life) and it shall shine forth. To wit, an act of love or kindness reveals the presence of God in your heart.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil*, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
But if your eye is blinded, clouded by carnal thinking, then your light is no light at all, but rather is darkness (evil, i.e. ignorance). Luke 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
* I find it interesting that Thayer first defines this word evil (poneros) as: 1) full of labours, annoyances, hardships. (Sounds like the practice of religion to me.)
… and who/what is that great darkness? It is the carnal mind. Who will you serve?
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Here’s the point: You can’t have it both ways. Christ and your carnal minded ego cannot occupy the throne of your heart at the same time. Not only that, whoever sits there determines that which is made manifest in the earth.
Anyway, there is so much more that I was going to say on the subject of manifestation, especially the part I mentioned about how the hidden thoughts of our heart are made manifest and actually create the world we live in… but we’ll save that for another time.
I’ll conclude by just saying that while many people see bad and evil things happening in the world today, there is also a widespread, great and marvelous awakening of the sons of God.
Now that’s some good news.
Blessings to you,
Lance
Thanks Lance, for being a humble servant. It has been a long journey out of the darkness, I was blind but now I See. Thank God, after repenting and turning away from my sins and iniquity, He began to reveal that Christ, is Alive in me. It is a Great New Day!
Thanks Lance, you are so right. If Jesus could not get His disciples to understand what He was teaching, (how many times did He ask if their hearts were still hardened or do ye not yet perceive,) and, John 16:12, 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, how can you explain spiritual things to carnal beings? Thank you for your hard work in bringing light to the darkness.
What a great web site. A great gift from our Father that we are able to share His revelations from your writings. When you put pen to paper, his love for all of us is not only revealed but felt in our spirits. Thanks for your work, and pray that your sharing will help open the hearts of those that might still be in bondage.
Thank you lance! I love how the Holy Spirit leads us regardless of our flesh. It’s been months since I checked your website. Then in early feb, I was drawn to check your site and lo and behold a new site coming and you are back to writing. ” measure the temple was no accident”. Thanks again lance.
Lance; It’s a pleasure to share the sabbath with you, for he is our sabbath.
You will be pleased to note that all this banter about the “Manifestation of the Sons of God” can also be found in Latter Rain/Joel’s Army theology. They also teach a type of resurrection that happens before the return of Christ. Scripture teaches that this “manifestation” happens at the second advent when Christ returns and we are resurrected bodily. Are you suggesting that the resurrection can happen before this?
(2Ti 2:17) And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
(2Ti 2:18) Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
Meme401
Thanks for your comment and for continuing to read my posts. It is obvious that we don’t see eye to eye on what “resurrection” is, or life and death for that matter. I look forward to the day when we all come to the unity of the faith… and we shall.
I see Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Co 1:24), as being resurrected (raised up) in each and every one of us… for we are the body of Christ. It is Christ IN US, not out there in space somewhere waiting to return, that is the hope of glory and gives us faith.
Col 1:27 …to whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, who is Christ in you, the hope of glory;
In other words, it is Christ in us that quickens us, raises us to life, even eternal (ongoing) life, which is to be full of joy with His countenance (Acts 2:28). Our carnal thinking, profits nothing, i.e. will not lead to that joy and peace that passes all (carnal) understanding.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Here is what death and life are:
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
So while the carnal minded religious community looks skyward for a man who was crucified 2000 years ago to return sometime in the future, many are being raised up even now… and discovering their true identity as the sons of God.
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
What the religious minded fail to grasp, as did I for most of my life, is that the Kingdom of God is within us and that the good news is… that the kingdom of God is at hand… available now. The first words of Jesus in the Book of Mark is that you must change your thinking, which is what “re-pent (re-consider)” means (see Strong’s), to believe it.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation (ocular vision):
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
So you are absolutely correct in quoting that Hymenaeus and Philetus do err in saying that the resurrection is past already. Others do err in saying that the resurrection is only in the future… at the last day. You see, Christ IS, not just was or shall be, the resurrection. And if you believe that, you shall be a happy camper this day in the kingdom.
John 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
What an amazing journey it has been my friend!!! Nice to see you again.
The fog is beginning to lift abit, not totally clear yet but is coming. Thank you for obeying and God bless.
A wonderful response to ” meme401.” The ” iswasandwillbe ” truth of all the words from the mouth of God are absolute. But, again, they will not be heard unless God opens our eyes and ears. Religion always wants to convince folks that everything is either past ( preterism ) or coming someday ( futurism ). Paul said, ” even though I knew him as such, I no longer know Christ in the flesh.” The kingdom of God is within, is spiritual and hidden to those whose eyes and ears have not been opened. Some will say that is partiality. So be it…..ask God about that, as He is the One who said it and He is sovereign.
I’m very graceful to have these studies, I have been experience the Christ with in me for decades and I just didn’t know how to handle expressing these truths since I ran into many carnal thinkers who believe they can think there way through the bible.