To all those who have taken the pilgrimage to be instructed in “higher laws” that (purportedly) promise wealth and the realization of personal agendas, I refer you to the recent Déjà Vu ~ Time II post entitled, “Priestcraft?”1 and share these words from Russell M. Stendal2:Definition: to no avail; fruitlessly
Synonyms: useless, to no avail, unsuccessful, fruitless, wasted, vain, ineffectual, without success, to no purpose, bootless
(Source: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/in-vain)
If we take our God-given gifts and start using them for our own benefit, we are taking the anointing of God and pouring it over our own heads. We will short circuit the blessing of the Lord and will be guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain. If we are just trying to stamp the Lord’s name all over the top of our own selfish plans and ambitions (individual or corporate) to dress them up and make them look nice and acceptable, we are taking the Lord’s name in vain. We may not have any literal idols, but if we are spending our time and money on good things that keep us from pursuing God’s best, these things become our idols. God wants to write His laws on the tablets of our hearts. God wants to write the essence of the Ten Commandments that the Jews could not keep on the tablets of our hearts. He wants to change our hearts. He wants to give us His feelings. He wants to motivate us from within to hunger and thirst for His righteousness, so He can fill and satisfy us. He wants to fill us with Himself. When we are full of the Lord and begin to get a little inkling of how God feels about sin, it has a tremendous impact on our behavior (Kindle Locations 876-884).How much sad experience must we endure before we come to accept that there is a God-ordained Plan3 for our life and our churches and it is not to pursue the things and agendas of this world? How many times will we let ourselves be deceived by those pursuing power and gain? How long are we going to claim we are God’s good people when most of our time and efforts are focused on pursuing status and comfort in this world?
We cannot take promises that apply to His will and use them for personal gain, any more than a business manager can take the corporate funds and pocket them for whatever He pleases. The Christian church is full of people asking for everything under the sun in Jesus’ name when really it is in their own name (Kindle Locations 872-874).
Remember that the simplest definition of sin according to the Word of God is “going our own way, instead of going God’s way” (Kindle Locations 245-246).
Babylon is a type of the religious humanism that attempts to conduct the church of God according to the ways of the world, the world that according to the Scriptures is at enmity with God (James 4:4) (Kindle Locations 96-97).
Religious persons and organizations are doing their own things in the name of God, expecting God to bless them, and He won’t. He can’t (Kindle Locations 84-85).
Stendal writes:
Those who truly surrender to God and submit to the authority of Christ will grieve at the status of the world around them (Kindle Locations 491-492).His words are so déjà vu Ezekiel:
And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. (Old Testament | Ezekiel 9:3-4)How many times must we hear and read this before we truly self-reflect?
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (New Testament | Matthew 7:21-23; bold emphasis added).Please, please, let us open ourselves to the real purpose of Higher Laws.
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1. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2015/09/priestcraft.html
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 63:58, 61-62 ~ For this is a day of warning, and not a day of many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days. … Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips— For behold, verily I say, that many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not authority.
2. Stendal, Russell M., God’s Plan for Spiritual Battle: Victory over Sin, the World, and the Devil (Free eBook Sampler). LIFE SENTENCE Publishing. Kindle Edition (2014-11-27). “Russell Stendal was … raised on the mission field in Colombia, South America. He … heads up the work of Colombia Para Cristo which operates 12 radio stations involving more than 100 staff and coworkers and covering much of Latin America with the Gospel.” … Connect with the Stendal Ministry Website www.cpcsociety.ca (Kindle Locations 1054-1067). Find additional biographical information at the website.
3. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2015/03/the-plan.html ; see also http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-flesh.html ; http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2015/08/gods-will.html
