Dear One,

If you are new to the Holy Spirit, we have a wonderful one hour zoom series featuring teaching, discussion and Q&A starting Thursday 13 July at 3pm pacific time – A BEGINNER’S STUDY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – which will last seven sessions and culminate with everyone getting filled with the Holy Spirit. Join my friend DJ and I as we get into JESUS’ LAST WORDS in the first session. The meeting number on zoom is 898-1567-4916. Be there!

If you are interested in starting a house church, have a house church or lead a group of house churches, Joe Jones and I would love to come and spend four days with you at Lightbearers expense to help you with growing and developing your house church ministry. Text, whatsapp or call me at 503-302-5381, or respond to this email about your interest and we will contact you quickly. Let’s fill your city with the gospel!

RESTORING EDEN – THE ULTIMATE PROMISE

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth…Gen 1:26 NKJV

Is mankind seeking to restore Eden, an Eden without God, through artificial intelligence (AI)? Consider the similarities: Adam was originally given authority over all the earth. Today AI is increasingly controlling much of our modern world including a virtual surveillance state in China, the UK, the USA (through the unpatriotic ‘patriot act’) and many other countries. Kampala, UG is one of thirty six cities around the world where every civilian is tracked through cell phones. Why Kampala, you may ask? Perhaps you’ve noticed, Uganda is a Christian nation that has some of the strictest anti-homosexuality laws in the world, defying the world order, including the USA. The ‘world order’ doesn’t like being defied! Wherever there is electricity, AI is rapidly gaining control of that space.

Adam perhaps had a virtually unlimited and flawless memory. If you’ve ever written an email or commented on social media, AI can take every scrap of your writings, who they went to, what you said and compile a pretty accurate idea of who you are, plus all the data about you. ‘Unlimited and flawless’? Not yet, but it’s coming. Adam had the ability to ‘see’ people and places outside of his physical vision, and transport himself there, if George Otis is right. Artificial intelligence, through an ever-increasing worldwide network thanks to the internet, can see where you are, know where you are, and reach out to you there. Since you started carrying that personal tracker called a smartphone, your personal privacy has been lost.

What does all this mean? An Eden without God? Think China, the ‘heavenly homeland’ and nation of the Dragon, where 1.3 billion lives are controlled daily – meaning you can only do what the government allows you to do – through artificial intelligence. Then think, the antichrist, one world government and the beast…and our redemption.

To study the true restoration of Edenic authority to a community, we need to study Ephesians. To get some of the great truths of it in individuals, we have been working through 1 John. In review, the first astonishing promise we saw was in 1 John 2.

But whoever keeps (Grk. TEREO: guard, protect, watch over) His word, truly the love of God is perfected (Grk. TELEIOO: fully matured) in him. 1 John 2:5 NKJV

As wonderful as they were, and perhaps they were lulled into a false sense of security because they had so long walked with YAHWEH, A&E failed to TEREO the spoken Word they had been given – an object lesson for all of us. Dear one, ALWAYS review the basics and reconsecrate yourself to them, and to Him who gave them. The purpose of the yearly feasts for the children of Israel was to rest and reconsecrate themselves to the truths represented in the feasts, and to the Author and Finisher of those truths. Some churches – God have mercy! – don’t even acknowledge Pentecost Sunday, let alone the feast (and we wonder why we seemingly have no relevance!)!

Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. Jer 15:16 NKJV

(For some reason, I read this verse and I see my friend Samuel Martey of Ghana, who loves the Word of God like Jeremiah did. This verse is for you, Samuel…)

But if we keep His word – the written LOGOS word and the RHEMA word that has been spoken and given over us – if we read it and fill our hearts with it like Jeremiah did, then the love of God is brought to full maturity in us. Think about that! Love energizes faith. What you love, you will have faith for! Think about that in light of healing, miracles, signs and wonders…

Here is the great promise…

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. 1 John 5:4-5 NKJV

In light of us being kings, I’ve been studying the lives of the great ancient Israeli kings – Saul, David, and Solomon – to learn from their triumphs and mistakes. Interestingly, two of the three could be described as failures despite God’s unequivocal support for them. Saul can be shown some mercy because he was the first, the groundbreaker and because initially he didn’t want the job. But his perverse character soon shown through and led to his quick disqualification and ultimate defeat and death. Solomon had every opportunity to succeed, being set up so well by the Lord and by David, but after a good start his heart was seduced by the gods of his wives. So, pleasure, wealth and power in Solomon, and pride and deep insecurity in Saul led to their failures. Important lessons!

Then, there was David. Johnny Enlow says that David was the bastard son of Jesse, which would explain why he wasn’t initially set with Jesse’s sons before Samuel. David said he was conceived in sin (Ps 51:5) which would give credence to that thought as well. That level of rejection and the orphan curse would explain a lot of David’s actions, even to his leaving Israel and serving under the Philistine king Achish for sixteen months which seemed to be David’s lowest point – I thought David was incredibly cruel during this time and so did Achish (1 Sam. 27:12) – even lower than Uriah and Bathsheba, the situation with Absalom, and the census. Through it all, God’s anointing never left David. Why?

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name… 2 Sam 7:8-9 NKJV

Where do you see David as the ‘man after God’s own heart’? In his psalms! When David was in trouble (Ps 56), even when he appeared before Achish as a madman, David went to the Lord and laid everything before Him. When David was overwhelmed in his sins and mistakes, he went to the Lord (Ps.51:1-4). Adam hid when he sinned, David never did once he realized it. Big lesson! When David was happy and everything was going well, he went to the Lord. When David had critical decisions to make – except in the case of going to Achish and submitting to him – he went to the Lord and sought His guidance. In good times and bad, happy and sad, David spent whatever time and effort was necessary to seek the Lord and walk in His anointing. Through it all, he never stopped worshipping the true God – this was the secret of him being ‘a man after My own heart’ (Acts 13:22).

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. Prov 22:4 NKJV

David walked in humility even though he was a ‘tough customer,’ and he truly feared the Lord both in reverence, love and yes, abject fear. He died as one of the wealthiest men to ever live. In honor, David was referred to as ‘the king’ while others were just ‘a king.’ In the millennium David will reign over Israel (Ez. 37:24,25) as the prince of Israel. That’s honor! And David will have eternal life. Riches, honor, life.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (Grk. HUIOS) of God. Rom 8:14 NKJV

At the fourth level of spiritual growth, the HUIOS level, God begins to reveal Himself as King, and you as a king under Him. At this level you are released into the fullness of your ministry – you’ve been serving since the second level, the PAIDION level – because you are led by the Spirit – you say and do the right thing at the right time continually. This is where the restoration of Eden in you has reached a place of maturity. At the HUIOS level you are fully trained and fully enabled to engage the world as God’s representative, inferior to no man anywhere and overcome the schemes of the enemy against you, and to deliver the will of God to them and for them. The victory!

As Thomas Paine once wrote, these are the times that try men’s souls. But the glory of any test is that you find out what you are made of, and dear one, you are made of Christ (Col. 1:27). He is your life (Col.3:4). Like David, make worship of our God and Father the NUMBER ONE priority of your life. Spend whatever time, effort and even money that’s necessary to worship Him in spirit and in truth, and love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Avoid the mistakes of Adam and heed to the example of David. Then you will walk like Adam walked and more importantly, like Yeshua Ha Mashiach, the last Adam. That’s Eden restored! Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…