Freeform Friday Week 7

I received the following comment a couple days ago, and for today’s Freeform Friday, I will be answering it in depth.

Chances are, some of you will not like what I have to say, so if you are easily offended, think getting to heaven is as easy as clicking like on Facebook, or that we will not see what the Bible clearly says we will see with our own eyes, please read no further as I have enough enemies to last me ten lifetimes already.

The following is the comment I received in its entirety. What follows is my response.

I don't mean to interrupt your series on prayer, but perhaps if you could be so kind, this might be addressed on Freeform Friday? I don't mean to interfere with what you had planned for that either, I just don't know any other efficient way to communicate with you. I have read that you petitioned the Lord to stop, for a season, communicating spiritual insights that were given to you...because of "prophecy junkies". I am asking if you might reconsider that, not for the sake of indulging prophecy junkies, but for the sake of guiding all the sincere sheep that are following you. Consider that the particular following you have is sheep who value truth and know you don't lie - if we wanted our ears tickled we would follow someone else. If we could all do it on our own, there would be no need for shepherds. There will always be wackos in this world, but please do not withhold from the sheep because of them. It is getting downright scary out there. This stuff going on in Syria ... escalating fighting in Damascus, Assad bringing out missiles with nerve gas, mustard gas, cyanide ... the prophecy of it becoming a heap of ruins could manifest at any moment. The judgments on America could begin at any time....or it could wait another 25 years. I have sensed turmoil in the spiritual world for months, but despite much prayer I don't know what that means, other than the continual battle between good and evil that has always gone on around us. For 99.999% of us, never ever has an angel appeared at the foot of our beds to tell us what we need to know, and probably never will. I know you did not want that job or that gift - you wanted to be an archaeologist - but since you do have that gift, you may not realize what it feels like to be a sheep and in the middle of a really terrifying world, without the insights that come to you so easily. Thank you.

I have read that you petitioned the Lord to stop, for a season, communicating spiritual insights that were given to you...because of "prophecy junkies". I am asking if you might reconsider that, not for the sake of indulging prophecy junkies, but for the sake of guiding all the sincere sheep that are following you. Consider that the particular following you have is sheep who value truth and know you don't lie - if we wanted our ears tickled we would follow someone else.

If I have ever, at any time, even in passing or tangentially intimated, insinuated, implied or suggested that anyone should follow me then I have failed in my purpose and duty toward God. Although I appreciate the vote of confidence in that I strive to preach the truth, if Christ is not ever present, if He is not glorified, if He is not what you are guided towards, and pointed to, then I am guilty of sin before my God, and you shouldn’t be listening to me anyway.

The duty of a shepherd is to lead the sheep to The Shepherd!

In this singular task I have strived, and agonized, and persisted even when it was unpopular, even when people mocked, even when I was belittled and derided for holding to something that was out of step with the rest of the Christian world.

If the sheep of God’s pasture hope to grow into what God expects them to be, we need to stop repeating the cycle of lifting up a certain individual, labeling them oracle or mouthpiece, and living vicariously through what God shows them, rather than press in, and pray, and seek the face of God, with tears and anguish until we are likewise shown that which God desires to reveal to all of His children.

I am least among my brethren, and carry my cross like anyone else called to be a servant of God. On a good day I don’t gnash my teeth in pain when getting out of bed. On a bad day I can’t get out of bed at all. So if you must put someone up on a pedestal, at least pick someone that can walk up there on their own two feet.

I have always detested the idol culture we’ve created, and on pain of death I refuse to be part of it. People on pedestals tend to make better targets anyway, so I’d rather just run my race, be faithful to my calling, do what God commands me to do, and remain as faceless as our modern culture will permit.

I did not ask God for permission to withhold certain dreams or visions because I wanted to seem mysterious, or cryptic, but because the knowledge of what is to come will do nothing to keep us if we are not fully in Christ.

The paramount question we must all ask ourselves, especially given the times that are upon us, is: ‘Are we dead yet?’

That’s it…that’s the million dollar question. If we are truly dead, then we have nothing to fear. If we are truly dead, when God tells us to go, we will not hesitate, our hearts will not be tethered to material things for which we will yearn and look back, we will simply go where He tells us to go.

If we could all do it on our own, there would be no need for shepherds. There will always be wackos in this world, but please do not withhold from the sheep because of them. It is getting downright scary out there. This stuff going on in Syria ... escalating fighting in Damascus, Assad bringing out missiles with nerve gas, mustard gas, cyanide ... the prophecy of it becoming a heap of ruins could manifest at any moment. The judgments on America could begin at any time....or it could wait another 25 years. I have sensed turmoil in the spiritual world for months, but despite much prayer I don't know what that means, other than the continual battle between good and evil that has always gone on around us.

Once again, we must define the role and duty of a shepherd. A shepherd’s duty is to guide you to green pastures and living waters. I have strived with every fiber of my being to do this consistently, and I will continue to do so until I breathe my last.

My hope and purpose is not to have a following, my hope and purpose is to mature those whom God brings across my path, to the point that they themselves become shepherds to others who will be drawn from the darkness into the light.

If we think it’s scary now, all we need to do is wait a couple weeks, and we will need to redefine scary all over again.

Syria will escalate, and the word of God will come to pass. God does not lie! God does not exaggerate! His word is truth, and so, yes, war in Syria is imminent.

As far as America is concerned, to a certain extent it is already under judgment, but rebellious hearts being what they are, it’s being blamed on global warming, climate change, cow flatulence, or anything else except what it truly is.

What the future holds is dark, and grim. There is much sorrow and mourning on the way not only for America but for the world as we know it, and the only way around it is through it. There is no blue pill, there is no magic bullet, there is no express shuttle, and the fact that the household of faith refuses to acknowledge this singular truth is largely the reason why many who fancy themselves believers today, will rebel against God in the coming months and years, shaking their fists at Him in anger and rage.

The resolve of the church is being whittled down on a daily basis, and what was once a mighty oak, is now a toothpick. What we once called sin, and vehemently so, is accepted practice even within the house of God. We are a polluted, corrupt, hedonistic generation whose hearts are given over to evil continually, just as it was in the days of Noah. The turmoil you sense in the spiritual world is the walls of the citadel being breached, the watchmen leaving their posts, and the enemy running roughshod through the house of God.

We must understand that shelter, safety, and protection can only be found in Christ. Yes, some try to do what they can with buying gold, silver, storing food and water, preparing for the worst possible outcome, but no matter how well prepared we are, it will still not suffice.

If God told you to prepare in the physical, then prepare in the physical. If however you are doing it because other people are doing it, then you run the risk of trusting in the preparations you’ve made, and ignoring the voice of God when He tells you to flee, because your rational human mind believes you have the best chance of riding out the storm where you are presently.

Just this morning I saw a news article talking about hundreds of teenagers storming a Wal-Mart in a criminal flash mob, and underneath there was a caption that read, ‘if they do this for fun, what will they do when they’re going hungry?’

If we’re going to get down to brass tacks, and assume that we can provide for our own safety, then we need to answer some difficult questions. ‘Are you willing to take a human life to protect some canned beans and wormy flour? If yes, then are you willing to take two, five, ten, how many is too many, and how soon before you’re overrun?’

Do you think for an instant that if your neighbors are going hungry and they know that Bob, or Mike, or Janice have been storing food and water they won’t kick down your door and take what they need?

This is why Christ is the only answer!

Psalm 91:7-11, ‘A thousand may fall to your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”

Not only do I believe that God can do what He promised in His word, I believe that He will. If I did not believe with all my heart that He is my refuge, and because I made Him my habitation no evil would befall me, I would be running for the hills, and finding a nice spot to dig a spider hole.

For 99.999% of us, never ever has an angel appeared at the foot of our beds to tell us what we need to know, and probably never will. I know you did not want that job or that gift - you wanted to be an archaeologist - but since you do have that gift, you may not realize what it feels like to be a sheep and in the middle of a really terrifying world, without the insights that come to you so easily. Thank you.

With the coming of the night, comes the dawning of the day!

This is why the times that are upon us ought not to be seen as frightening, but as exciting. The power of the living God will be all the more manifest in His beloved as the power of darkness continues to grow. As yet you might not see the messengers of the Lord, but the day is coming when you will. God will give His angels charge over you, you will be divinely directed, and divinely protected, if you have made Him your habitation.

Yes, I believe that the day is approaching when the supernatural for lack of a better word, will be common place among the saints.

Why do you think that for the better part of a year, now going on two, we’ve been discussing the power of the Holy Spirit, and prayer, the two elements necessary for a dynamic, intimate, and reciprocal relationship with God? Do you believe this was accidental? God is preparing His children for the days to come.

Steel yourselves, set your faces like flint, see only Jesus before you, for the days are coming when the enemy will attempt to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.