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Recently I found a well-written article on how God leads us on the internet. A former famous pastor had published this entry some years ago. I won’t tell you his name because what he shared would not be basically wrong, however, it was not the whole truth. In fact, it is so easy to be misled by someone who has a broad scholarly biblical knowledge. Scholars might often utter a bunch of theoretical truth, yet do they know THE TRUTH? Do they know THE ONE who indwells their hearts and teaches them moment by moment on what to do and what to omit, on when to speak up and when to remain silent? It is not their fault if they do not know that they do not know the living God (yet), but if you and I seek the truth, we should not submit to their “leading”.

We need to be set free from the inclination to submit to seemingly ‘higher elevated’ spirits in people who are said to be closer to God. Tradition and old habits can be so strongly engraved in our flesh that we believe we follow God as we only follow men. What I am trying to say here was expressed by T. Austin Sparks before. He said,

“There must be the liberty of the Spirit in us in order to realize the Body and its ministry. I am coming down to practical questions. There must be absolute freedom from human organization, ecclesiastical government, man’s control AS SUCH if there is going to be a full functioning of the Holy Spirit. To get into a hide-bound religious system, ecclesiastical control, a human organization of the Church where you have to preach every so often whether you have anything to say or not because you are paid to do it is absolutely against the Holy Spirit. That is not the principle of the Holy Spirit, and we must be absolutely free from all such things if the Spirit is going to function freely and we are going to have ministry in the Holy Spirit.

“That is the principle of the Spirit. It was that that the Jews, the Jewish leaders, were so set against in the case of the Apostle Paul. He said, “certain came in to spy out our liberty” (Gal. 2:4). What was it? That he had thrown off the yoke of the law and the Jewish system and now he was exercising himself in the universal realm of the Body of Christ, Gentiles and Jews, just as much the one as the other, liberty in Christ. He was free from all yokes of tradition, system, and organization religiously on the earth, in order to fulfil his ministry of revelation as the Holy Spirit led him. That is essential to the Body of Christ. By which I mean that to try to organize the Body of Christ, the Church, and to try to set a programme for it and hand it to the Holy Spirit and say, “will you kindly take the chair and carry out our programme” (that may seem irreverent, I know, but it is not meant to be so) is so utterly contrary to the principle here revealed.

“The Body of Christ is a thing emancipated from the earthly systems; it must be to function. It is not our forsaking the earthly system because we have taken hold of certain truths, but our being emancipated. There is a right place for spiritual government and subjection in the Church, and the “free lance” principle is just as wrong as officialism.” (1)

Just two days ago, I had an interesting conversation with my husband. For more than ten years now I have not watched films or movies, neither have I read a book again, not even a Christian book. I never went to a church again, either. My hubby Paul was watching a funny detective story, a series we would love to watch together until 2008. However, as Jesus came back into my life, He baptized me with His Spirit and then it was over. From one day to the next I was done with watching movies and TV, reading books, going on vacation etc. Somehow I always felt “guilty” to no longer be able to like and do what seemingly everyone did and what I myself loved to do before. Many people around me shook their heads about my sudden and evidently irreversible change of mind.

Paul asked me once again whether I wanted to sit down and watch the film with him. I tried at times in the past but as I felt repelled by the manifestation of the wrong spirits, I only wanted to run, stuff my ears, and close my eyes. Furthermore, I could not laugh about the jokes anymore. Quite the contrary!  😦 It has always been so hard for me to find an understandable explanation for my ‘behavior’ and thus I said that I somehow looked behind the scenes, seeing how a film was being made AND, for me, these actors were like puppets on a string, doing and saying things they would normally not. They lie for money, so to speak. This is a hard thing to say, I know, but that is why I cannot identify with them any longer. Paul answered immediately, “Well, you know, a film is never the truth.” THAT hit me like a flash of lightning from heaven!!! “Paul, you are right! Now I have the explanation I was groping for: Jesus is THE TRUTH and since He lives in me, I cannot stand the ‘untruth’, the lie, anymore.”

My inside being cringed whenever a wrong spirit manifested in people, whether it would be a comedian who mocked famous people or an actor who played the role of a predator in a violent way and whenever I watched actors pretending to love one another although they were enemies in reality. Dear brothers and sisters, this world is all about money, it is ALL built on lies. Alas, this whole world’s fundament is not our Lord Jesus Christ.  😔

It has been some time since I wrote the text above and I had neither inspiration nor time to go on with writing. Sometimes I wonder whether it makes sense to publish articles at all. Does it help anyone?  🙄 I am not fishing for compliments here nor do I need encouraging support to keep posting. If the Lord is not in it, I am not going to write anything. My point is rather this. Maybe you know how easy it is to cling to self help manuals when you are dissatisfied with your life and circumstances (I know how that works myself!). If another new (Christian or other) self help book that looks promising is published, it often becomes a bestseller over night as many people want to improve their lives. But reading is one thing, changing ourselves the other. And instead of reading, acknowledging the truth, and trying hard to change what only God can do, I believe we could rather try to wait on God to change us when and how He sees fit. However, this kind of waiting is very hard at times, isn’t it?

(1) https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000755.html

“In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks’ wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely – free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statment included.”

All images by Susanne Schuberth 2019