Introduction

The Plight of the Apostle

In this study of the Word of God, I want to speak directly to the spirit of each member of the Body of Christ and it is imperative that you be able to hear the plea of the Holy Ghost. Many in the Body of Christ will hear the voice of the Chief Shepherd and will follow after that voice while others will choose to follow the pursuit of the things of this world and will lose their souls in the end. I pray that you will hearken unto the voice of truth as radical as it may sound, I ask also that in the midst of the truth sounding like foolishness to you, you would check to see what your spirit is saying. The Spirit of God in you confirms the truth of God, if there is a witness or confirmation in your spirit, then you need to seriously consider what you read here.

Although I will try to be as thorough as possible, I know that in teaching these principles there will be a lot more detail in the audio/visual material than in the written. My advice to you is that you make every effort to get the CD’s or DVD’s that accompany this book. It will be very important that you understand this lesson in its entirety if you are ever to comprehend the true meaning of faith. I want you to accept for just one moment that this could be the single most important lesson in your spiritual growth. Everything that you will understand about yourself and the Lord will be based on your comprehension of this lesson. All that we are, and will ever hope to be, is contained in our faith. Please do not think that this is just another “faith and prosperity” message that promises you the wealth of this world. There is no such promise in the Bible for “The Church” of the Lord Jesus Christ; none, at least not in the sense that we have been taught.

Bear with me and I will take you directly to the mind of the Lord concerning this matter of faith. Beloved this is not pride talking this is excitement. I’ve been in the presence of the Lord and I cannot wait to share with you the astounding things He gave me to deliver to His body. I hope you also feel a sense of urgency as the signs of the end times are upon us. “The Church” must be taught the truth and be prepared to deal with a world of hostility and hatred of God. This is the only way we will be molded into the image of our Savior, prepared for the battle ahead and reign victoriously in the end. The victory that the church is to experience will be manifested in its ability to glorify Jesus in the midst of persecution, sin and afflictions.

I have sat for long hours considering how to format this teaching on faith and the real dilemma has come from the urgency to make you understand the heart and mind of the Father regarding this matter. I want Him to direct me as I type these words on the page, I simply need to be His scribe and I hope that the end result will be such. This is so serious! Why? Because you probably are even as I was. You have held fast to the “faith and prosperity” teachings of our mainstream television and conference evangelists. These “name it, claim it” and “confess it and possess it” rituals that we learned over the years left us totally frustrated and weary in well doing. We were babies, ready to eat and digest anything that sounded like the Word of God. We didn’t know that the very food that we cherished so much was the greatest dose of spiritual poison we could have swallowed. We have been systematically poisoned over these years of learning and this is why the spiritual growth of the Body has been stunted. Notice I said that the spiritual growth has been stunted, not the size of the Body of Christ. Yes, “The Church” has grown in numbers however; there is a serious problem in the spiritual disposition of “The Church”.

We have become a greedy, self-seeking, self-serving, gainsaying people. The wantonness of the flesh has controlled the movement of “The Church” for years and mans' own doctrines have been installed to feed that lust and to prey upon God’s inheritance. We are divided on basic Bible doctrines, and as a result we are fragmented and denominationalized. There are wars and disputes causing schisms in “The Body” as traditions and doctrines have become successful at making the Word of God of non-effect. Ask yourself these questions. “How could the enemy be so successful in neutralizing the power of “The Church”?” “How was he able to make the saints of God begin to think, feel and act like the world?” How could he have almost totally destroyed the manifestation of any distinction between the Body of Christ and the world?” “What was his weapon?” Satan’s use of the Word of God, through, the “Faith and Prosperity” message infiltrated “The Church” with erroneous doctrines, teachings and mindsets that utterly contradicted Christ’s teachings of self-denial, ordained suffering and patience.

It is true that devout men and women of God who really believed in what they preached taught these messages. You can be certain however that at some point in these individuals’ lives, the Holy Spirit tried to reach them with the truth. As I recall our brother, James Robinson saying, “oftentimes we are caught, even trapped, inside of our own pet belief systems,” this is so true. It can become very difficult to retract teachings that have sold thousands, even millions, of books and tapes. It can become even more difficult to go back to an audience of millions to say, “I’ve been wrong in my teachings all these years.” This is not to say that everything that we were taught by our forefathers was error, not in the least. What I am trying to say is this:

1. Much of the teachings we received had many truths contained in them, nevertheless the perspective from which they were taught were wrong. The Faith and Prosperity message is one such teaching”, in which the saints of God must contend with the devil for earthly wealth and self-exaltation. Although we may find many truths in these teachings, they are indeed not “The Truth.”

2. Consider if the Body had been exposed to the whole truth, just think how that truth would remove the wars, the schisms and the disunity of the Body. Why? Simply because we would all be speaking the same thing.

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

In this and other chapters I will go straight to the heart of the matter in the hope of providing you with another perspective to studying God’s Word. If you are not earnestly moved to investigate in much more detail the nature of the Biblical teachings on the Dispensation of Faith, then indeed I would have failed in my attempt to bring more of the grace of God into your life. Allow me to do this and I trust you will never be the same, you will read the Bible differently, you will see into the mind and heart of the Father and you will see yourself differently. You will be moved to purify yourself thus enabling you to be used in the Master’s plan. Remember, I used to believe in, teach and respond to the same message you still may be receiving now, we all preached what we were taught. When the Lord visited me with this revelation of faith, the first thing I did was to go to my congregation and say to them, “I was wrong! The Lord has instructed me more perfectly on the operation of faith.” There is no shame in this, believe me brothers and sisters, your people will love and respect you even more.