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Ai: Donkeys, Fools, Uzzah and The Glory
by Danny Steyne
A few months ago the Lord spoke to me "ordain the donkeys and the fools!" He was telling me to release those who had no desire for their own reputations, but would carry the Glory regardless of what others thought of them.
The ministry of the donkey is remarkable in the Bible. It was to this ministry that God entrusted carrying the elements needed for sacrifice when Abraham would take his son to Moriah to offer him up as a sacrifice. It was to a donkey that God entrusted carrying provision to the family of Israel in times of drought. It was a donkey that brought a wayward prophet back to his senses. (Yes, once in a while even donkey's get to speak!) It was a donkey that would carry the promised seed to His birthing place, and a donkey that would carry the Son of Man in His Glory as He road into Jerusalem in triumph! Donkey's are simply reflections of the obvious. How can God take the stubborn and use them for His purposes! Psalm 76:10 "Surely the wrath of man shall praise You!"
God is brilliant... He uses the foolish to confound the wise! 1 Corinthians 4:10 "We are fools for Christ..." His ways are higher than ours. He can use Cyrus, the pagan, lost, unvirteous, king of Persia to be His Anointed servant... when it smacks at our apparent righteous plans. Isaiah 45:1 ""This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of - to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut!" Early last December (2007)I was flying out west and fell asleep. I had a vivid dream in which I heard the Lord say, "The next president will be a Cyrus, and will be a blessing to the Church if they will recognize it!" Cyrus was not recognized by his values, he was recognized because his heart would help God's people. It was Cyrus that literally provided the wealth and provision to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
As I have pondered the events of the past few weeks and months that have apparently begun a severe "judgment that begins in the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17) I have asked the question several times, "Lord, how can we reflect You even through these circumstances?" As I write this from outside the USA, two prominent figures in the country I am in had failures exposed that drew yet another mark across all of our lives as we heard the revelations of brokeness and deception that quickly brought these brothers lives in from an extremely visible height of emulation to the depths of dissillusionment that caused many to evoke hatred, bitterness, scorn, and even shame.
When someone of prominence hits the mark of failure, we so often in self-righteous anger feel it our duty to devalue and demean all that was done through their lives, and as such we feel like the ones who were "duped"...but the stories should be enough for us to realize that many have been used who were less than perfect...and on many occasions were downright deceived and intentional in their failure. Paul wrote, "some preach Jesus out of envy and rivalry, thinking they would discourage me" (transliteration) but Paul was not discouraged, he understood that the ways of man are subject to the ways of God! God moves, even though many men walk in error.
All of us have our "opinions" of what is right theology. That alone should tell us that "somewhere, someone is in error!" All of us "believe" we are correct, but eternity will reveal the truth of what we held so dear. The issue for all of us has never been whether or not sin is in the earth, but whether we "see" Grace abounding on the earth.(Romans 5:20-21) It is not difficult to "see" sin...it takes barely any discernment at all to see error...but true discernment "separates" what is God from what is sin. Grace always abounds and even more so in the revelation of sin, but we as God's people must learn to "see" it, rather than foster the spirit of accusation. (See Zechariah 3:1 & Revelation 12:10)
Lakeland: The 21st Century Ai
I went. Many I know went. Many were touched, many were healed, and many of us were catapulted on to love and good deeds, to spread the fame of Jesus everywhere! How do we process failure in the midst of the Glory? Was it God who did that thing in Lakeland or was it the enemy?
Because I also am a pragmatist and MUST find out if it's God or not, I also heard those in opposition to Lakeland. I saw some stand strongly against it, others have changed hearts after they went, and others that went expecting to receive and didn't like it after they went. I heard the reports of those who were healed (and spoke to some directly who were) and also spoke to individuals who went and left in greater pain than when they went! Indeed, a very precious brother almost died after being in Lakeland, and one of my intercessors was hit powerfully by physical attack that ended her up in the hospital.
Lord, what do you see in Lakeland? Lord, was Lakeland your battle or one that was designed by hype, by noteriety, by media, by generated ads? Was it You that initiated, or prompted, or "incited" Todd Bentley to call for extended meetings?
The Lord took me to the Battle of Ai.
He asked a simple question of me. "Was it my desire to have victory over Ai?" (Read Joshua 7-8). Yes Lord! "Well then why did they fail? Why did the innocent have to experience loss if it was me?"
The Battle of Ai was secured in the PROMISE of the Promises of God to give the people of God their land, but the way in which they went about it resulted in catastrophe. In order to be in the places of Great Victory, we must also carry the task with Great Responsibility. Ai was not just a failure of Achan, Ai was the failure of Joshua for not asking God specifically how to win the victory, and the failure of God's people for not walking in required transparency and holiness before God. Ai, an intended victory, was met by defeat because of a single man who couldn't get greed out of his heart. It was the simplicity of his weakness and failure that resulted in the loss of innocent lives.
The story is repeated many times. Uzzah found out that even though God wanted to take the Ark to it's resting place in Jerusalem, the way in which it was taken there WAS important! (See 2 Samuel 6) There were things that were apparently not intended to be done in the way they were... God wanted to do things His way. Surely David, like Joshua, should have inquired of the Lord and probably knew the Biblical way to move the Ark. Surely the Levites knew how the Ark was supposed to be moved, but they failed to step into the role God determined for them...probably because of the excitement of the moment because they were seeing the Ark return... and as a result Uzzah, a bystander, simply doing what he had been told, died.
The Ark was always supposed to be followed from a distance. Joshua 3:4 "However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before." Evidently Uzzah didn't know that. Maybe the excitement of the Ark Outpouring clouded the discerment of David, the Levites, and Uzzah.
Broken Vessels
"...we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord...for it was God who said "Let light shine out of darkness"...but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us!" 2 Corinthians 4: 5-7
The biggest question that most have, because often we base public failure as replete with deception and therefore invalidate the entirety of a persons history and credibility on that failure. We have done it repeatedly throughout history. We were NEVER intended to preach ourselves, but Jesus! We can look at the healing move and bring up names like William Branham who ended up in error and totally discredit the things GOD did through their lives, based upon SOME failures. Personally, I believe if Branham had never "taught" we would not consider him ending in error...but he did and late in his life considered himself "Elijah" which has produced an erroneous cultic following. But the vast majority of his life was a vessel with profound Biblical accuracy and anointing. His error in the end denied him the ability to speak into many lives who didn't have the maturity to look past the error for "God". When I eat meat... I spit out the bones. I always look for the gems in the muck. I always look for the pearls buried in the field.
Two significant questions that must be asked of the 21st Century church if we will prevail in the coming releases of the Holy Spirit.
Question 1: Does GOD use broken vessels?
I think a quick perusal of Scripture would determine that God could take a deceptive Abraham and produce an entire seed of promise, the murdering Moses could become the greatest prophet known to God's people who would lead them to the Promised Land. David, a manipulating adulterer and murderer still carries the title "Man after God's heart!"
Question 2: If He does use broken vessels; Are we called to pull them apart because we see failure, or should we see "THE PART THAT IS GOD" rather than pull people's focus OFF OF GOD and onto the broken vessel.
(My prayer is for a supernatural demise of the spirit of accusation in the days to come and "swish" from God that results in HIM being honored and noticed!) Revival will come... through the broken... it always has. It came through a teenager who ended up in obscurity in Wales. It came through a vessel names John Wesley who touched two continents although his marriage was horrible - his wife denounced his ministry for twent years while he continued! It came through a fisherman turned deniar of Jesus in Acts 2 through Peter to the Jews. It came through a murderer named Paul to the Gentiles. It came through frail broken vessels throughout all of history!)
Through the past several years I have watched the "creation of idols" in the church. Most often, the people whom we idolize are terrified by the notion that people would put them on that pedestal. They know too well that God obligates Himself to remove people from pedestals that we put there. Our God is a jealous God and will have NO IDOLS before Him. I sat with a precious humble woman who has been the object of much idolatry and she wept because she only wanted Jesus to be seen, not her.
The creators of idols often are being made not by the attenders of the meetings, nor by those whose attend to become more like Jesus, but rather by those who change the focus off of what GOD IS DOING through a person, onto the personality of who the person is.... others rise up to defend... and idols are made!
In the case of Lakeland. From my vantage point, both from leaders and those not in leadership, most went for an encounter GOD... not an encounter with TODD! Personally, it may be those who turned the focus onto Todd and off of God that may have the greatest responsibility in stealing the purposes of God from the hearts of those who so easily follow the sway of public noteriety and public crucifixion. Maybe it was God who decided to use someone who could so easily distract the natural eyes of men to reveal that even though God looks at the heart and not external appearance, they didn't.
I don't know too many who were really going to Lakeland to hear Todd Bentley (in fact many went when he wasn't there and were blessed!) I've been a part of several moves.... the early Vineyard... Toronto... and others. EVERY move had vessels that were not imperfect.
If perfection is the mark of a true move of God, then maybe we should invalidate the Jesus People Movement, Calvary Chapel, and The Vineyard because Lonnie Frisbee carried some issues and was a part of them. Maybe we should invalidate the MANY moves God has done through so many who fell, maybe we should invalidate all the things written by those who failed... maybe we should remove them from the face of Christian History Books!
We can't! That is what Grace is. That is the reason we ALONE get to carry the Gospel. We are called to be messengers of GRACE... imperfect and yet holy! No angel can carry Grace, they don't understand it, they were never forgiven. Indeed, in the case of their fall, no sacrifice for sins was made, they were judged and 1/3 of the angels were doomed. The long to look into Grace, because it is a concept they have never experienced. We alone, as God's People, have experienced this Grace and as such are called to carry this Grace in frail, fallible, vessels of clay.
GOD USES DONKEYS
We don't need to pick apart others who are acting like donkeys, even donkey's can be used by God! Where is the grace? I am so glad I was saved by Jesus and not those who love to find my faults. I have so many, it doesn't take a lot of discernment to find them. I am so glad that in Jesus I am the righteousness of God in Christ and although I am quite imperfect on earth, my Father sees me as PERFECT!!!! He sees me as Holy!!! I am covered by the Blood of Jesus and He can't see what that Blood covers!
My prayer is that God would give His Church His eyes, so we can realize not only can God use the broken vessels, but His anointing on an imperfect vessel doesn't diminish the fact that it's HIS ANOINTING... not a man's! I never went to Lakeland for "Todd's Anointing or Mantle" ... I'm looking for the anointing and mantling that comes from Papa God!
The self-righteous, "Cliff Note Historians," throw stones in public and hinder moves that God CAN use... maybe if the stones were laid down, God would begin the process of healing the broken vessels.
MY JOURNEY TO LAKELAND
I didn't make any statements regarding Lakeland UNTIL AFTER I WENT.... some of the statements being made are from those who have NEVER been ... those statements are ludicrous and without basis. They remind me of the quarterbacks who sit in couches and determine the wisest moves for players a thousand miles away. I love the statements of those who went... and accurately described both what WAS God as well as that which maybe they struggled with! Many made the journey from around the earth.... I have been to places across this country, in Africa, in Asia, and in Australia that were thoroughly blessed by what GOD did in their lives through the release of HIS HOLY SPIRIT in Lakeland through BROKEN VESSELS!
It's time for the Body to learn that discernment is not intended to kill and undermine but to build. I think the gravest mistake made in regards to Todd Bentley was the fact that he was hit so hard by so many who maybe could have been his healers, but instead became the very force that wanted to hang him up to dry, expose him, and ridicule him as a fraud. Maybe this could have been alleviated if "broken vessels" could trust that they wouldn't be destroyed by Christian Media, or other leaders, if they walked with transparency, honesty and brokenness; revealing their weakness and need for healing; they might share those weakness' so that others could help. But as long as the waters are unsafe for people with problems...we probably will deal with this again and again.
GLOATING AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
2 Corinthians 5:21 " God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Proverbs 24:15-18 15 Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against a righteous man's house, do not raid his dwelling place; 16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice,18 or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.
We as believers are "the righteous".... even after a man "falls" God considers him righteous because of what Jesus did. The church must learn this lesson or we will repeat this over and over and destroy many many of His sons and daughters. TSK TSK - AHA AHA .... are terms not to be found in the Body. It's a lack of understanding Grace. It is in fact something that God discourages. I hope the "kick em now" responses from every corner of the earth will stop, and maybe, just maybe we will figure out what Grace that angels long to understand is all about!
Gloating and perpetuating gloating is never godly... whether to a believer or an unbeliever... the righteous and the enemy... BOTH are places we should never go!
I don't know Todd.... but I do know the working of the Holy Spirit. It's not the first time, or the last time God will use imperfect, and even broken vessels. My recent reading of Scripture tells me that God tends to use imperfect people .... sometimes with glaring issues. I went to Lakeland for GOD not a man. I found EVIDENCE of the Holy Spirit.... and He is enough for me. I discount NOTHING ... just as I don't discount the Jesus People Movement that was released by The Holy Spirit largely through the life of Lonnie Frisbee, whom I met and observed the ministry of the Holy Spirit through his life, even to my own two year old daughter; but who died from AIDS because of issues in his life.
I went to see. I wasn't ever looking for the evidence of Todd.... maybe that is the problem many have - maybe they want to see the perfect Jesus in a perfect man - but all they can see is an imperfect man that Jesus moves through. I simply wanted to see "some" evidence of the Holy Spirit. I never said it was all God... to the contrary, I said it had to be picked through... but God still moved. God always moves on the hungry. Some of the things Todd did were Todd... imperfect, fallible, and obviously with some severe brokenness in his life that still needed to be healed. Was there hype? .... yes.... but I know Christian Magazines and Christian Newsletters that perpetuate hype... just in a different way.... or haven't you seen the advertisements. Maybe we were looking at the wrong thing... maybe we were never intended to be looking at a tattooed, pierced man name Todd.... maybe we need to make sure people don't look at imperfect, fallible, broken Bills', Heidis', Rollands', Bobs', Jeffs', Patricias', Johns' and anyone else you can think of who God uses but who may not be perfect. and focus on the main thing.... "can you see Jesus?"
I WANT TO SEE JESUS!
Maybe WE turned the spotlight on a man and detracted from the obvious work God was trying to do. Maybe WE pulled people from the place of trying to see Jesus, into the place of seeing a man. Maybe the goal is not to be "right" in our judgment, but to be "right" in our Grace that sets people free. Rather than telling the world "we were right all along!"; Maybe WE weren't right in the attention God seemed to be giving to us to look at what was happening in Lakeland... maybe WE saw a man, when GOD was wanting us to see HIM!
Please don't misunderstand me. I am not excusing immoral behavior. I'm not excusing Todd's responsibility, or anyone else who falls, they own it and will need to deal with it in their own lives and hearts ... but I also want the church; and particularly those who more easily carry judgment than mercy-who maybe need a greater revelation of Grace; to back up and remember the ONLY ones who can restore Todd or anyone else is the one who RESTORES GENTLY REALIZING THEY THEMSELVES ARE FALLIBLE AND COULD END UP FALLING TOO!!!! Galatians 6:1
I sure hope that if I am ever in an outpouring of His Grace that touches thousands, and has major effect in MANY places around the world that none of the individuals who are looking for a perfect man come. I pray that those who have no regard for what GOD is doing, but merely use natural eyes to see what man is doing stay far away from those meetings. I hope that none of the same ones who don't want to see God work through weak, broken vessels ever look in the direction of that Revival. I would simply rather them experience what they have so adequately articulated of the God that always moves in "certain ways" in their own offices and homes.
Evidently some have become counselors of God and have advised Him on how he should move in a bonafide Revival. Several of us missed that meeting. Others have vast experience of revival history... they are experts in revival ... HAVING NEVER BEEN IN ONE...or maybe only one! I wonder if God can move in different ways? (sic)
Lord... have mercy on us all.... if the church EVER figures out how to not judge... we just might have a move of God that will reach the world rather than leaving them confused at why a family would undermine itself!
"A house divided cannot stand....." Sadly some would rather bring the words that divide, than produce the words that bring unity..... Lord Help!!!!
©2008 Danny Steyne (PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REPRINT THIS IT'S ENTIRETY ONLY)
Regarding Paul Cain: The following was recently put out by John Sandford (Founder of Elijah House and a spiritual father to many and to the Body of Christ.
To whom it may Concern,
This is to inform that I have spent several days in intensive ministry with Paul Cain. He was very receptive, open and hungry to receive help. Some time ago, over eager to find acceptance, Paul made some statements which some felt were self-excusing or whitewashing. If there was any truth to that charge then, there is not now. Paul Cain has faced his mistakes and sins squarely, repented, confessed, and has received forgiveness. We sought out and dealt with many root issues as well.
I want to recommend to the Body of Christ that we receive Paul Cain again with open hearts and minds. Any of us can get off track. The mark of our Lord is redemption and reinstatement. My hope is that we who are the Body of Christ will evidence our Lord's grace in relation to Paul.
Our Lord's Way is not only to restore us to acceptance and functionality but to resurrect us to His original vision and purpose for us. In the end of our time of ministry, I "saw" that Paul Cain had been called and intended to be an early apostle of the prophetic movement, to lead and teach many in the proper prophetic use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, a forerunner for the Body. Please join me in recognizing this as Paul Cain's calling in the Lord, and in prayers for his full restoration to what God intended him to be in the beginning. We need that ministry, Paul's ministry. Let's love him into it.
With continuing prayers for Paul Cain and for the Body of Christ, I am
John Loren Sandford,
Co-Founder, Elijah House Ministries, Inc.
June 15, 2008
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