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The Soul and False Conversion

1 Jun

By Pastor Pam

HOW A FALSE CONVERSION OCCURS

Because the spirit and the soul are not separate but  tightly knitted or braided  around each other as are  the ligaments, marrow and jonts in our legs, it is difficult to discern the difference between the two.  The soul is easiest to recognize because the concerns and needs of “self” are generally apparent.  We recognize the “body” side of the soul because we can see the results through the activity of the natural frame.  We can see selfishness, ambition, competition, and jealousy  because the body,  through material and natural things, will engage in scenarios that expose self striving.   

However, where we fall short is in our ability  to discern the soul from the spirit, which is also “flesh.” I am considering a gospel account of the words of the Lord when a funeral procession went by. He turned to his disciples and said, “let the dead bury the dead.”  How can the dead bury the dead? What Jesus was actually saying is “let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.” Meaning: those who are alive in both the body and the soul have a dead spirit.  A dead spirit is one that is separated, alienated, and without God in the world.  That is a dead spirit.  It doesn’t mean that there is no awareness or activity in the spirit.

The spirit of the lost is very much alive in the kingdom of darkness, but he or she is alienated from the kingdom of heaven. It makes itself known through various nightmares and irrational fears.  When it is active, man’s dead spirit is open to the hellish dark world of spirits ruled over by the Prince of darkness. When it is both active AND powerful, the spirit is capable of a variety of supernatural feats including but not limited to clairvoyance, clairaudience and astral travel or out of body experiences.

When a lost or alienated person “accepts Jesus” as Lord and Savior, it can’t be the spirit who does so because the spirit  of that person is dead, alienated, and walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in those who are disobedient by the lust of their flesh.  In such a condition, the soul has to take over.  In the lost, the soul fulfills the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the lost person has the nature of self consciousness.

So since a dead spirit cannot “accept God,” the soul takes over in its parts: mind, emotions and volition or will and says, “I accept Jesus as Lord and Savior” and begins a religious ritual that imitates intimacy and relationship. The working of the enemy through the mind or ideas of man quenches the work of the Holy Ghost to quicken that person’s spirit.  For the powers of darkness are keenly clever in working alongside of and simulating the born again experience.

When a person is REALLY born again, the soul takes a back seat.  The Holy Ghost “quickens” the spirit through repentance. As defined by Paul to the Ephesians, to quicken means to be made alive.  As Jesus Christ was raised from the dead physically or bodily, to be born again is to be raised from the dead spiritually. In other words, a dead spirit has been raised to becoming a vessel for the Holy Ghost.  Since the spirit does not have a will, volition is a choice or decision made by the soul.  What the spirit has is intuition. Paul revealed that the reason the spirit is raised from the dead is because “God is rich in mercy.” So the resurrection of the spirit begins in the intuition and then translated into  understanding  by the soul.

When the soul “accepts Jesus,” the spirit remains dead but with great acting skills, the soul can religiously  imitate the things of God. The fallen spirit of man, alienated and separated from God is sunk down into the soul so that the soul manifests as intellect or sensuality, often in both. In such cases, the soul reigns over both the spirit and the body. The way that the new life reaches the spirit is shown in the Lord’s own words: You must be born again.  The Holy Ghost “breathes” where ever He chooses. This is not the decision of man but the will of God.

The believer who has been raised from the dead in the spirit to newness of like is born of the Spirit or “born again.” The Holy Ghost, who takes up a dwelling place in the reborn spirit, has given the believer a revelation of the Cross and the Lord’s resurrection. This revelation is first received in the spirit. As James indicates in his letter, the wisdom that is from above—from the Holy Spirit—is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful—without any element of the life of the soul—opinions, self views, strife-jealousy. So when a person is born again, the spirit imparts  understanding  to the soul through the mind, will and the emotions.

What is happening among those who claim that “they accepted Jesus,” is that they have done so through the soul and therefore, their spirits have remained dead.  The intellect of one whose spirit is dead is decidedly fallible and becomes the most dangerous of the soul’s gifts because God seekers use their minds to understand spiritual truths.  The scriptures reveal that the soulish man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, because they can only be spiritually discerned.

According to the late great Jessie Penn Lewis, “It is the soulish element in teachers and professors of holiness, which is often the cause of separation and disunion.  There may be, it is true, love in the heart to those who ‘differ,’ but the ‘differences’ divide nevertheless, because the demoniacal powers, able to work upon the soulish element in the believer, always emphasize or exaggerate the difference in “views of truth,” instead of magnifying the points of union, and even drive eager believers to ‘fight’ for their view of ‘truth,‘ under the name of ‘witnessing for God.” It is also the soulish element in Christians which insists upon the minute correspondence of others its ‘views of truth,’ and ‘tithe mint and anise and cumin’, in words whilst leaving ‘undone the weightier matters of the law’—which in the gospel dispensation of the Spirit between believers as the condition of their growth into ‘unity of the faith. ‘In brief, the soul-life, influenced by evil supernatural powers, is the main cause of divisions and separation among the professing, and even the true children of God.”

For this reason as pointed out by Sis. Jessie, the churches are filled with nominal worshippers of Christ, who show no marks of a true Christian life within them. In a nutshell, influences that bypass the spirit and only reach the soul may prepare the way by bringing the seeker within the reach of the truth which is read from the scriptures.  Outer strivings may make for a kind  self righteousness that  has a value and place in the world.  However, by virtue of these outer trappings, such seekers  will be fooled into believing that the strivings of the soul is evidence that he or she is born again.  Not so.  Since God views self righteous as filthy rags, the spirits of such seekers is untouched. Dead.  Alienated.  Without God.

Those whose souls imitate salvation are diversified.  Dynamic personalities   sway and move the emotions of others.  Their fruit—like TD Jakes for example—is to move the emotions of the soul.  The problem is that the faith of the hearers stands in the influence or wisdom of people like TD, and not in the power of God.  Intellectuals uses schemes to reach men and bring them to God, some preaching hell and damnation to frighten people to God, others using heaven, prosperity, gospelfests, social fellowship, networking  etc.

The outcome is that people are attracted to the fake Jesus, and not of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. What happens is a dangerous thing, so dangerous, that I will have to address it in more detail Part III. Suffice it to say for now, that people who are deceived into believing that they got born again, STILL have a dead spirit.  When dead, the spirit is susceptible to the evil side of the spirit world where psychic power is mistaken for the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Consequently, unsaved people are speaking in tongues, laying hands on others, imparting demons into vulnerable people.  Also, when people with dead spirits pray to the Father in the name of His Son, the one who answers their prayers is the imposter, the Fake Jesus.

Can a person whose spirit has been quickened STILL allow his or her soul to dominate?  Most decidedly YES. These are those who have a sensual relationship with Jesus.  When they speak of “being in His presence,” they are not satisfied unless they can feel the presence of God continually upon their flesh, and almost bi-polar in the spirit, they experience loads of ups and downs akin to spiritual mood swings.  They need to be taught how to walk by faith and not by sight or feeling.  Although the Holy Spirit dwells in their spirits, they often allow the soul to predominate because they do not understand the spirit life and the actions of the human spirit in co-action with God.

To learn more about rescue ministry call 1-888-818-1117.

For even more information you can get a copy of Pastor Pam’s books  CLICK HERE.

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The Power of Fruit to Produce Spiritual Wellness

5 Feb

What did the Lord mean when He said “Blessed are the meek?”  The Apostle Paul added to the Lord’s revelation when he taught the Galatians that meekness is a fruit of the Spirit.

What then, is fruit?

I believe that fruit is the manifestation of the power of the resurrection in a person’s life.  Simply put, does an individual demonstrate in his or her life that Jesus Christ is alive?

As Jesus taught, “if we abide in Him, then we will bear fruit.” So in order to manifest fruit, we must abide in Him. To abide is “to live in” or “to dwell.”   Jesus also revealed that He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly.  So, abundant life is a synonym for “fruit.”

Since the just shall live by faith, if we walk in faith, then our lives should be fruitful. Our faith is our evidence of the power of the resurrection.  When we believe on the resurrection, we believe that Jesus is alive.  Therefore, to bear fruit, is to consistently live by faith, in a manner that demonstrates that Jesus Christ is no longer in the tomb.  It is a power that is demonstrated without even the necessity of quoting a scripture. Demonstration of power will be apparent in those who have the Holy Ghost in them.

Demonstrations of power are obtained by building one’s foundation upon the Rock.  Jesus declared that if we built our house upon the rock, and not upon sand, when the storms of life attack us, we will remain standing. In this context, then once again, the 9 fruit of the Spirit represent “the rock.” From an architectural, natural standpoint, when we build a house, we would like to have confidence in its foundation.  Therefore, when we look for fruit that will demonstrate the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should examine where the client or captive has placed his or her confidence.

There is such a thing as “fake fruit.”  I am sure that you have at one time been fooled by plastic or rubber fruit sitting in a bowl as the center piece on a dining room table.  Sometimes these plastic replicas look even better  than the real thing from a distance.  However, up close, you can see that there is no life in fake fruit.  This is also true of fake spiritual fruit.

Take for example the fruit of meekness or humility.  Those who are “fake”, may appear to have a lack of self-confidence.  However, at the root of their apparent meekness may be  compulsive modesty.  In such instances, the captive’s pattern is to overlook his  own viewpoint, suggesting that the thoughts and ways of others are more reliable than his own. False humility of this kind will lead the captive to not feel safe unless a significant other in his life will protect, defend, advise or nurture him.

In such cases, the captive loses the capability to take responsibility for his own life.  With women, the Adam’s Rib Syndrome develops, where she does not view herself as a whole person without a mate to help her feel complete.

False meekness also manifests itself when professing  Christians who have low self concept develop techniques and processes whereby the self is placed in the background by losing self-regard.  In an attempt to avoid anger at all cost, the captive will repress hostility and will become self-effacing.  Some captives will merely adjust their behavior to adapt to the stronger personality, while others will allow their personalities to be changed by stronger people.  People like this are often wrongfully perceived as having the fruit of meekness.

As a case in point, women suffering from the “Adam’s Rib Syndrome” tend to build their foundation upon the sand, where their partner is at the center. The woman will undoubtedly expect the partner to fulfill all of her expectations, becoming a ready victim to a demonic soul tie. She is left vulnerable to manipulation and domination, where the fruit of love is also bogus and without power. Love is a fruit of the spirit that is liberating, for as the scriptures indicate, perfect love casts out fear.  However, the Adam’s Rib Syndrome is not based upon true, solid love.  In fact, carnal love can become in itself a stronghold that leads to fear of desertion and a fear of being alone.  As an example, a woman who is dependent upon an abusive partner will be hindered from making any independent moves of her own.  Therefore, those in bondage to such a stronghold are most likely to lack spontaneity of feeling, thought and will power.

Each stronghold will create a specific fear or doubt as well as an accompanying pride system that will be difficult to break through.  Christians so bound, will often attribute their strongholds to demons, when in actuality, casting out a demon will not bring any lasting relief.  This is because the stronghold is embedded in the captive’s personality and is therefore a stronghold in the soul.  In cases where there has been little to no personality change, it will seem as though deliverance has failed when in reality, the root of the problem was not so much demonic as it was “soulical.” Casting out demons may bring a momentary sense of freedom or joy.  Even so, a substantial, solid deliverance is one where the fruit of  true meekness has been planted and nurtured.

Since meekness is the doorway to blessing, any captive in need of deliverance must become poor in spirit. (Matthew 5) To be poor in spirit is to be emptied of one’s character defects.  Deliverance will empty the captive from demons, but these demons and others will ultimately return if the conditions that provided them a safe haven still remain.  Therefore, my job as a bearer of the word of God is to seek the help of the Holy Spirit to sensitize a conscience that has been hardened by the pride of life.    Meekness is manifested when the captive comes to the realization that his thoughts are not as high as the Lord’s thoughts, nor his ways higher than the Lord’s ways.

Continual brokenness before the Lord Jesus Christ has sustained me with a simple, yet a profound truth and it is this. “Whatever does not originate in your inward parts–in your spirit–will not bring you life.” In this regard, I have learned through personal experience that false or counterfeit spirituality may appear to produce a beneficial result but it cannot grant authentic, lasting,  resurrection life. I have entered into the Lord’s rest because I myself have labored by the revelation of the Holy Ghost. No more vain strivings for success according to man’s standards.  If I speak no more for the remainder of my life, I will remain satisfied. For with each of my seven  books, I believe that I have declared more than a mouthful.

Like an author or an artist, very often a prophet’s fruit is not fully manifested until after his or her death. John the Beloved is a poignant example of a prophet who is even yet waiting among the mighty cloud of witnesses for the  inspired words that he wrote on the isle of Patmos  to be completely fulfilled at the appointed time.  What I myself have learned on this spiritual journey with Jesus Christ can fill several books, and if the Lord allows me to live, I hope that other books shall l be written.

 I have also begun to mentor and nurture other Christian writers, beginning with Wenona Russ and her first e-book entitled “The Makings of a False Prophet.” I see great strength. and power in Wenona’s work.  Why?  Because I see the root of meekness manifesting in her walk as a Christian non-fiction author who has a powerful message to proclaim, borne out of a fruitbearing life.

To review and/or obtain an e-book published by Pam Sheppard Publishing, click here.

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Spiritual Fruit: The Evidence of Salvation

2 Feb

A primary way of recognizing spiritual fruit  among the people in your Christian world is to  get to know them by how they handle offenses and confrontation..

We know we are saved when we love the brethren!

The first fruit to look for is the fruit of love. The Apostle Paul wrote that we know each other in the Lord by how much a professing believer loves the brethren. Love is most demonstrated by truth and not by meaningless platitudes or words of comfort by people pleasing people. Jesus defined love as our faithfulness to keep His commandments. When we do, then we abide in His love. And his first commandment is to love the brethren.

In order to love the brethren, trying the spirits is a means of recognizing a child of God when you see one. This is a particularly challenging command in the church age of Laodicea— an age of rampant spiritual deception where the wheat and the tares are not only growing together in the world but also in the organized church and in various ministries. Counterfeit spiritual births have really muddied the waters where spiritual discernment of the truly saved is concerned.

There is an effective way to try the spirits to determine if a person is NOT saved. Simply ask them in casual conversation to share with you how they became born again. If there is no emphasis or even mention of sin, godly sorrow, repentance, the cleansing power of the cross, forgiveness, then the person simply had an ecstatic, mystical experience that did not emanate from the Holy Ghost’s ministry of conviction of sin. Do not be fooled if you are told about a miracle that took place if the evidence of repentance is not in the testimony of conversion. Recently I heard the testimony of someone who was instantly healed of a substance abuse addiction, with not even a desire for drugs in years, yet addiction is manifested in other areas of her life, ie. to food, gambling, and other obsessive/compulsive behaviors. In a few days, the lack of love for the brethren was clearly apparent.

Besides a Spirit-led repentance, there are other obvious ones who when you ask them to define what they mean when they say “Jesus was raised from the dead,” you will discover that they do not really understand the Lord’s bodily resurrection. Simply put, you can be assured that salvation did not occur for them. As Paul warned the Corinthians, anyone who does not comprehend this fundamental Christian truth, “their faith is vain and they are STILL in their sins.” (I Cor 15:17)

What I have discovered lately is that there are those among the brethren whose testimony seems to be completely in line with the scriptures concerning repentance and resurrection, yet they too are not saved. These imposters are extremely dangerous because like Judas Iscariot, they are completely delusional. Once discerned, they should be treated kindly yet held at a spiritual distance as with a long-handled spoon and of course, prayed for if you are so led. Those experienced at trying the spirits can discern them because the Lord will open your eyes “to really SEE them” for what they are. In such instances, you must be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. Like my Grammie used to say, “When your hand is in the lion’s mouth, EASE IT OUT!”

The way to discern spiritual counterfeits is rather simple for the Lord said “you will know them by their fruits.” The fruit most obvious as it relates to discerning the saved is that born again people will always have a special love for other Christians, even when we may disagree on spiritual subjects that do not hinder anyone’s salvation. .So if you really want to try the spirits, get brave enough to go to those who claim to be in Christ and tell them of your offense. If their reaction is belligerent, argumentative, with no care or concern that they have hurt your feelings, and you are assured that YOU are one of the elect of God, then there is your answer. That person is NOT saved regardless of how many bible scriptures they can quote. They are in disobedience to the word of God where loving the brethren is concerned.

I see this kind of thing operative on Facebook ALL of the time among people who claim to be “among the brethren.” Each so-called Christian puts out a post, in competition to others. If you are not a part of their clique, then they will not comment on anything that you post, unless they can criticize. For example, I posted an article on Eddie Long’s sexual abuse scandal and I got a bunch of “that’s in poor taste, Pamela”. Then everybody got quiet when one of their own posted the same article. They read everything I post, yet they refuse to comment or even press the “like” button. These are people who really have no love for ALL the brethren.

They are respectors of persons.

Rejection of the brethren is a major strategy of the devil, particularly when another alleged “child of God” is the messenger. I spent 25 years of my spiritual life around counterfeit believers who had no love in them. Yet, because they were so religious, it never really crossed my mind that they were not saved. Remember that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against devils and demons. Therefore, devils and demons are forced to use people as their messengers. Consequently, the enemy’s natural and spiritual emissaries are usually false brethren.

I have found that once my spiritual discernment has been exercised sufficiently to recognize good from evil, a counterfeit emissary cannot remain around me for very long. There are times when I am contacted by email by people who have either visited my website or read one of my books or articles who sense that we are on the same spiritual track. Yet as soon as a difference comes to the surface, they behave in unfriendly, unseemly and even disturbing ways. No one should have to agree with you on EVERYTHING for them to continue loving you. Christian love is manifested as tolerance and acceptance. Whether you left their home church or not, if they are true Christians, they ought to accept the fact that you love Christ and you are in obedience to Him, even though your path may be different from theirs.

So a lack of tolerance, flexibility and acceptance is a sign of a religious demon and or a counterfeit birth. True brethren may not approve of your doctrine or even your lifestyle but to them, acceptance and understanding is essential to Christian love. Rejection based upon doctrinal differences is of the devil. So keep this in mind. Since the religious demon assigned to you has an agenda centered on causing YOU to lose your salvation, he will use human vessels to bring you to a point of discouragement by any means necessary. Whatever causes you to feel hopeless and without God in the world, is not the same factors that can be effective against someone else. So this demon will use different strategies but the goal is the same. He will do whatever he is permitted to do by God in an effort to seduce you to hate God. Like Job’s wife, the enemy will find someone in your life to say by their actions and their message, “Curse God and DIE!” The enemy knows that if you curse God, he has YOU in HIS pocket!

To know more about the many facets of the religious spirit, you need “Faces of the Religious Demon.”

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