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[Nota bene: I am not teamldr7 a.k.a. Keith.] ======================================================== [ link to all-things-new.net] teamldr7:
"NOTE: I last posted in Coming Judgment II, on August 15, that I wouldn’t post again until I was 100% sure that what I had received was from God. I sent the following “word” out to a small group of trusted Christian brothers and sisters and asked them to pray and let me know their thoughts (as to whether this was God). I included Wil, the ATN administrator, in this group because he is the “elder” of this site. He responded that he believed this was from the Lord and others said the same thing. I now post the “word” here for all of the rest of you to judge as to whether this is God or not. It explains what went wrong with Coming Judgment II (particularly the August 15th mess) and includes some thoughts for all of us to ponder. You may respond here or email me at [email protected].
What Went Wrong
On Wednesday morning, August 20, 2008 at about 9:10 AM, I heard what I believe to be the Lord’s quiet voice. I had a clear dream earlier that morning and while it was very fresh, the Lord began to speak to me and explain what the dream meant. Most of the dream is now gone, but I very clearly remember the ending of it.
Here is the ending: I was outside and slightly above the end corner of a house. I saw the 2 walls and where they were to join together - instead of smoothly joining (like corner walls are meant to do), they were apart. The gap between the corner joint varied in distance from maybe 9” on the top half to maybe 12 – 15” apart in the lower half. It looked like a force had torn the corner apart. I could see into the house and as I said, I was slightly above and away from this corner.
As I pondered the dream and what it meant, I heard what I am going to call the Lord’s quiet voice speaking internally to me. He said it was obvious that not only could the forces of “nature” come into the house (wind, rain, snow etc.) but that small animals, insects and other life could also penetrate what was supposed to be a protected house. He said that the house was representative of me and the gap in the 2 walls at the corner joint, was a gap in the armor covering me. That gap had been there for over 30 years and He was now revealing that to me. He said that the prayers of a “thousand” people and my constant praying (begging) for truth was now being answered. I was never aware that there was a hole in my armor and that I could easily “be hurt”, since my armor didn’t completely cover me.
My problem was that I had allowed sin into my life and by allowing this sin to periodically continue in my life (for over 30 years), I had allowed a hole in my armor to remain for the same period of time. It was not a big sin (as if sin can be defined as big or little – sin is sin – except for the only unforgivable sin). I had always “considered it” as just a small weakness – like telling a small white lie at times. The Lord always reminded me when I sinned in this area, that ‘I had no idea what damage I was doing to myself ‘(by allowing this sin to come and go). I was “simply exercising my free will” to do as I chose – not as the Lord chose. One of the consequences of my sin was a “hole” in my armor.
I have heard what I have believed was the quiet voice of my Lord for over 30 years. I knew that each of us (Christians) heard 3 voices and we had to distinguish the voice of our flesh, from the voice of the Lord and from the voice of the enemy. The problem I kept encountering was a clear voice that was right at times and wrong at times (mostly to do with timing). Most of what I heard was “future” and could not be “tested” till the point of time arrived. All of what I received was always tested by Scripture and prayer and if needed, by the counsel of others (some wiser than others). I applied many other tests, but Scripture and prayer were the 2 main tests. There were times where I heard “current” or present tense things that could be tested immediately. I have probably talked to over a thousand Christians, read many books, listened to sound teaching (on “hearing the voice of the Lord”) from excellent teachers and attended conferences all in an effort to more accurately discern what was God and what wasn’t. I have even fasted at times from listening (once for over a year) in an effort to more accurately discern if the “voice” was God. After the year fast, the same “voice” was there and I believed it was God. I still had problems with timing and sometimes a word wouldn’t happen as I heard it would.
5 ½ years ago, the Lord took me out of a great job (making between $50,000 to $85,000 a month), to “sit” at home and pray. I have spent the last 5 ½ years in over 15,000 hours of prayer and Bible reading etc. During this time, the Lord gave me 75 straight nights of dreams (up to 8 dreams a night) in the summer of 2004 and then the dreams went from sporadic to fulltime starting again in October 2006. They still continue to this day. Occasionally the Lord would give me night visions and day visions. I still continued to hear what I believe was the voice of the Lord, every day, and all day long. I continued to pursue the Lord with all of my heart - all of the time exercising my free will in one area (more commonly called sin when it is contrary to the Lord’s will). I posted 2 papers at the All Things New site dealing with Coming Judgment. I listed a date and a word to accompany that date and both were wrong.
I begged the Lord to reveal what went wrong and He showed me the problem. I had a hole in my armor and this allowed the enemy to very easily come right on in and sound just like the quiet voice of the Lord. I believe the Lord said that only 5 % of what I had was wrong (including the August 15th mess) but this 5% could be as leaven, making a much larger percentage of what I shared as wrong (even though it was only wrong in part). I confessed and repented of my wickedness and the Lord responded by repairing the armor so that it is now complete (no missing pieces). He ordered me to spend a 7 day period with Him (ending the morning of August 27) and if I would remain completely in His will (and not sinning in the same area), then He would begin to reveal what was true and what was false of what I have heard (over this 30 year period - with a missing piece of my armor).
I have shared all of this for a few reasons. I was wrong in many areas in what I shared, not only in the Coming Judgment postings. I should have more carefully shared that what I was posting was what I believed I had received and less as the spoken Word of God to me. I hurt many people (who had placed hope that all of what I was sharing was correct) – I ask forgiveness from each of you for that. I used poor judgment, in at least one person that I talked to on the phone (about what I had received). Even though most of what I shared is correct, all it took was a little leaven to make the whole posting untrustworthy and worthless. I NOW know what mistakes (the 5%) I made in Coming Judgment I and II, but it is probably wiser to just disregard the whole thing.
The main reason I am sharing this is the application my “life lesson” has for each of you. If I have heard correctly, this is a lesson that took 30 years for me to learn and explains why most of us (if not all of us) screw up in “hearing the voice of God”. Here is what I have heard and you may judge it and tell me if this is God (first a short story to preface my coming comments).
About 10 years ago, I was a visitor at a large Charismatic church. I was told to come and tell my problem to the wise pastor and he would help me. I shared how I heard the voice of the Lord all day long and how at times things would be wrong. After listening to me for about 15 minutes, the pastor offered a few “obvious” comments and left the meeting hall to get his family and go to lunch. I was still standing down by the pulpit with my friend and his wife, when the pastor turned to me (as he was opening the hall door to leave) and uttered a very profound statement (one that I remember all of these years later, word for word). He said that my problem was that I thought I was special in my ability to hear the voice of the Lord. He then said that the problem was that all of us were supposed to hear the Lord the same way I did. He then left and I realized how profound his gentle rebuke and open admittance was (of me feeling “special” and of his failure to hear the voice of the Lord).
The Lord has shared that all of you are supposed to hear the Lord like I do (without the “screw ups”). He said that the sheep hear His voice and follow His voice. All of us are supposed to hear the quiet voice of the Lord and be able to distinguish it from the voices of the enemy and our flesh. We all need our armor on (Ephesians 6) and to have no holes in our armor. That means that each of you have to spend some good quality time with the Lord asking Him where you have sinned and exercised your free will in opposition to obeying His commands. I am not judging any of you – I am sharing how I screwed up and maybe showing you why you don’t “hear” the way you are supposed to.
What types of sins or habits keep us from having our armor complete (without any pieces missing): smoking, drugs, ****ography, pride, lust, anger, resentment, bitterness, greed, holding a grudge, gossip, white lies, a temper, a drinking problem, a marital problem (i.e. any area of your life not in alignment with the Word of God) etc. etc. The list of sins is practically endless. Is there a problem area in your life that you have thought not big enough to worry about (or to stop sinning in)? Are you like someone I know who tells “white” lies all of the time to keep from having to tell the truth and pay the consequences? She thinks the habit is okay, because it keeps her from “hurting” someone else – so she tells a little lie – all of the time.
A sin habit (irregardless of how big the problem might seem) is big enough to keep your armor from being complete and thus allowing the enemy an opening into your life – an opening where his voice will sound just like the Lord’s voice (or close enough that you can’t tell the difference). If you have a sin in that list (or not on the list) that you habitually or occasionally “dabble” in, then that can hurt you more than you realize. One area of sin hurt me for over 30 years, till August 20, when I finally took a stand against the flesh and my own will. Now I hopefully hear more completely and I hope that you will too. I have been open and honest with each of you, in an effort to explain why I screwed up in what I shared and what I have done to correct the problem."
In Christ,
Keith
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