Friday, December 19, 2014

Response


Once again, unintentionally and through not a shadow of forethought that my words would possibly do so, I’ve opened up a can of worms with the previous installment of the teaching on 1 Peter.

Since I believe that to a certain degree I was misunderstood in what I was trying to put forth, I will, in this post, include the comments I’ve received, the selfsame ones I am referring to, and then respond to them in kind.

 First Comment:

Brother, it's hard to grasp your statement that ends with 'so what?'. What about the angel's admonishment last year in the dream where you saw blood dripping from the US flag?

He said "for a vessel to fulfill its task, substance must be poured into it, then that SAME substance must be poured out. If it is never poured out, it will overflow being of use to no one...When a vessel is chosen it is an honor...be faithful in completing your task and share WHAT IS GIVEN YOU without delay."

How can your blog remain honorable with such disrespect to God's plans and purposes for YOU? I can't take your place, because God didn't give me what He gave you. It should be simple: If God only wanted you to speak in general terms you would have NEVER had one dream or vision with an angel personally telling and showing you anything that pertains to a mass of people you don't know. 

My Response:

I do not take lightly the calling to which I have been called, and I have been faithful in delivering every message I’ve been given as it was given, without attempt to water down, dilute, or whitewash the difficult ones. Once the message is delivered, however, my task is done, and it would be unseemly of me to trumpet my involvement in the message itself, even attempting to overshadow the message by constantly attempting to highlight the messenger.

Anyone willing to do an ounce of due diligence will soon back track the message to its source and see who delivered it first, if this is their desire or inclination, but I don’t have to promote myself, or point it out incessantly.

To me, continually telling anyone and everyone that it was our ministry who said something first is a distasteful sort of self-promotion that I’m just not comfortable engaging in and that I believe becomes detrimental to the overall message.

As I said, if someone wants to know who said what and when, there are ways of finding it out, without me beating my chest, and pointing to it.

What matters, what is of import, is the message, and not the messenger.

Like it or not, messengers come and go, some go to their reward, others are not given a fresh word, others still fall by the wayside being beguiled by the spoils of this present world, but God will always have His chosen vessels through whim He will deliver the necessary word.

I cannot think of myself as indispensable. I am a servant, a slave; an expendable tool in the hands of the Master, who must submit to the Master’s in order to remain in the Master’s service.

I am not the apple of God’s eye, I do not consider myself on even footing with Christ, I am a soul plucked from the depths of darkness and brought into the wondrous light of His grace, through no merit of my own.

Second Comment:

I will remain anonymous, because apparently you think it entirely unimportant as to WHO said something with your "Do I get a cookie?" comment. I wonder, would the New Testament be so accepted if no one knew any of the authors? What if the author of ALL of the New Testament epistles were anonymous? What if ALL of the Gospel accounts were anonymous? There are people today who would not hesitate to be in your position of receiving genuine visitations through dreams and otherwise, not to stand in their own name but to proclaim what they were given to proclaim. But you? You have the audacity to proclaim to all who hear, "Me? I am no one, and the messages given to me supernaturally are a burden and really not special." 

My Response:  

Again, I have no issue with stating that yes, I was given a certain message, and that I delivered it. It is the constant beating of the ‘me’ drum that I have a problem with. I don’t sign anything I write ‘anonymous’ I sign my name to everything, because in this way I am responsible and accountable for the words I’ve written and the messages I’ve delivered.

However, I’ve known men who have made careers, and have banked serious coin by assigning themselves titles such as ‘prophets’ and with the title came also the expectation of being treated in a different manner than any other brother or sister in Christ.

I’m sorry if it offends, but the thought of being treated differently, or seeing myself as somehow superior for having been chosen for a specific task is something I cannot abide.

I am no one, He is all, and try as I might I never did find myself saying that the messages are a burden and really not special. It’s the messenger that isn’t special. The messages, well they’re coming to pass before our very eyes.  

Third Comment: 

To me obedience is born out of Christ formed in us, Heb5.8. It is through our ongoing love relationship with Him.

Dear bro in Christ, just for accuracy sake, both Abraham and Moses had countered, negotiated, INTERCEDED, etc. with God over commands God gave them. 

My Response: 

Abraham and Moses did negotiate, counter, and intercede, when it had to do with other individuals, or when God said He would do a certain thing. They never attempted to negotiate when given a specific task, or commanded to do a specific thing.

God commanded Abraham to take Isaac and offer him, and Abraham did not contend, or attempt to change God’s mind. He followed through with what God commanded until the angel of the Lord stopped Him.

Moses did not obey in full what the Lord commanded him to do, and for this he was not granted to enter the Promised Land.

There is a marked difference between God commanding us as individuals, and God proclaiming some event concerning which we can pray and intercede.

I was referring to the former rather than the latter, such as when God gives you a command, you ought to do what He commands without delay or attempt at negotiation. Hope that clears it up.  

And with this small intermission, we will soon continue our journey into 1 Peter, and see what other hornet’s nests we might inadvertently upturn. May God bless and keep you in all your ways.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"There are people today who would not hesitate to be in your position"

Who knows of the weight that our Brother carries with these messages that our Lord has intrusted in our Brother's care? Who would truly want to carry his burden without fame and fortune?

Jeremiah was imprisoned, Elijah had to hide from the queen. In Daniel 5, Belshazzar had a problem, but none of his own wise men could help him. But his wife came to him with the answer in verse 10: There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God.

This man of our God does not speak of himself, but points to Christ our redeemer and God our Father. These are the characteristics of one who is filled and lead by the Holy Spirit. John 16:13,
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

"I am no one, He is all..." this is the truth of it, plain and simple and as we should be also.

Your fellow servant and sister in our Lord,
Nila

Anonymous said...

After reading all this, it seems to me that you have misunderstood or failed to hear what the first and second commenters were saying. It seems they are addressing what you wrote about the dream of The House That Stood, namely that you had "specifically asked permission of God to withhold what He was showing me for a season" because you thought your readers were becoming prophecy junkies, and ignoring the more important message of repentance. I am sure you get plenty of emails from all kinds of wackos, but most likely the majority of your readers actually are applying the message of repentance. Many if not most of us reject the prosperity gospel, take very seriously the imminence of judgement, are trying our best to walk the Christian, self-denying, ongoing purification and seeking holiness walk; and praying continually for the lost, and for wisdom of what the Lord would have us do in the time we have left. In a world full of false prophets and deception, many in the Christian community recognize your genuineness and respect it highly. They are not talking about you promoting yourself. They are talking about you not wanting to reveal what you have been shown. Looking around at the wreckage of the church in America, it would seem that many are not really interested in truth. But they are not following your blog, they are sitting in megachurches and lusting after wealth. Those who do follow you, because they DO have ears to hear, they HAVE repented and they DO pick up their cross daily - what has been revealed to you for them? Please do not hold it back because of the behavior of those others.

Anonymous said...

Yours is an important response because it touches on whether or not a messenger is unique in any way. There is no doubt that in 2001 it was said to you in a dream: “Plead with them and urge them to repent for the night comes quickly. Speak the words that have been on your heart and on your lips since your youth.” Only you can speak the words that have been on your heart and on your lips since your youth.

We cannot doubt that only Noah was chosen in all the earth in his day. We cannot doubt that only Abram was chosen in all the earth in his day. We cannot doubt that Moses was instructed with a message and a purpose no one on the entire planet was given in his day. We cannot doubt that Joseph was the only person on the entire planet ordained to lead under Pharaoh for the preservation of the tribes of Israel. There is no doubt Elijah was the only person of all mankind ordained to ascend to heaven in a chariot of fire. There is no doubt that Daniel was shown things that no one on the entire planet was shown. There is no doubt that Paul was the person specifically ordained to stand before Caesar in the cause of Christ (Acts 27:24). There is no doubt that only John was provided The Revelation.

There is no doubt that your grandfather was given dreams and visions with instructions that involved more than publishing them in a book and website. I was not called to proclaim what you or Dumitru Duduman were given because I wasn’t the one told in 2001: “I will guide you now as I guided My servant before you.” You were both uniquely purposed in the eyes of God, and that does not translate to cookies and gold stars but to heavenly rewards and a crown of life.

Amos 7:14-15, “I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’” Amos was specifically chosen and provided a unique message. That made him unique in the plans and purposes of God in his day and even today, and all glory goes to our God. From cover to cover, the Bible is full of uniquely used people. If you re-read the story of Moses, when he first heard from the burning bush he replied, “Here am I”. When he heard of God’s unique plans and purposes for him, he replied, “Who am I?” It was never about Moses being special; it was about him being unique.

Melanie said...

Brother, May God continue to bless you and yours, May the Holy Spirit continue to work through you.
I enjoy your books so much in unity that I find myself praising our sovereign Lord continually through them. I have to stop reading, shed a few tears, and give praise to God.
Keep moving forward in obedience to the Lord that he may continue to bless your hand. ALL PRAISE BE TO THE LORD. The Lords servant,Melanie

GLENN IN GEORGIA said...

Michael,

Very good responses to the comments. An immature believer cannot understand why a man does not care who delivers a message, as long as it gets delivered. I doubt they will understand your level of humility, but it is because of your humility and humbleness that God speaks to you and gives you dreams. Those who have not achieved this level of humility and humbleness will NEVER have these dreams and messages given to them. Thank you for being who you are as a person. Thank you for listening to your grandfather and helping him.

Barbara said...

The way I see it, being humble and self effacing is what makes you who you are. God will exalt the humble and tear down the proud. Being humble is nothing to be ashamed of especially if it sits right in your spirit to be that way.

I enjoy that myself. It makes me think more of the person's character than if they are saying all the great things they knew before anyone else. I tend to write those kinds of people off.

I think many follow those types of preachers as spiritual leaders and by not being that way, you are in a sense knocking their idols off their pedestals. They don't like that so they try to rebuke you instead.

It is wrong to worship anyone as a prophet or pastor or any other part of the body of Christ. We are all important and perform our own functions. The members who only cause disease and decay to the functioning of the members of the body are the parts who don't belong.

Anonymous said...

I read your response to comments and I don’t understand how someone like you can say ‘Once the message is delivered, however, my task is done’. Just this morning I was reading Joshua 1:5 ‘No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.’ That doesn’t sound like he handed the Law to his generation and then said ‘I did what I was suppose to do.’ I’m going to love you by saying you are wrong in this and need to return to serving with what you were given, not just posting teachings that have nothing to do with messages you were supernaturally given.