One morning number of years ago I had an experience in which I heard the audible voice of God speaking to me. I was just waking up – you know those few seconds where you know you were sleeping, and are now waking up, and I heard God’s voice very clearly and distinctly. The moment I heard Him begin to speak, I snapped myself awake, and as I was getting ready for work this is the word-for-word message He gave me:
“And as Moses, who when he came down the mountain from having an experience with God, put a veil over his face to hide from Israel that his glory was a fading glory, so will many of My people be, especially Spirit filled, who are in one of these categories;
Trusting in past experiences; Trusting in a fading Glory; Trusting in the rapture
Very soon they are going to wake up to find that their glory is a fading glory, and they will look across to groups and individuals whom they have classed as:
Satanic, Heretic, or just plain ‘Stay-away-from’,
and they will see the glory coming in their midst, and they shall hide away in shame and defeat. Shame – because they knew not the voice of God when they heard it; and Defeat – because now it is too late. And many shall fall away.” (See II Cor. 3: 13)
This doesn’t require much explanation but there are a few points I’d like to bring to the forefront. The first thing that was impressed on me when I heard this is that instead of the Spirit filled having ‘one up’ on everyone else, and being ahead of what God was doing, they were the ones most in danger from what God was about to do.
There is one reason for this even though there are 3 categories in which He slotted many of them, and that is the common word found in all 3 – ‘trusting’. Instead of using the operations of the Spirit to connect with God, build a relationship with Him, and begin to understand Him, they only waited until they had found a truth or a level of glory where they felt secure, and promptly planted their flag and rallied around it, instead of Jesus. In other words, they made the living experience Pentecost was meant to be, into a religious institution. When God said they were ‘trusting in past experiences’, this is the exact feeling it gave me.
Trusting in a fading glory went one step further. While it’s true that Pentecost is equivalent to a realm in the Spirit with many experiences and operations to enjoy, it was never meant to be the focal point, or the end of salvation as so many have treated it. Whatever else God may give to us, Jesus should always take front and center, and if this was the case with the Spirit filled they would never lose the desire to keep pressing in and experiencing Jesus in deeper ways. Those who were trusting in the fading glory of Pentecost were satisfied with the blessings it offered instead of the Person, Jesus.
That some were trusting in the rapture did not mean the rapture wasn’t occurring, it just meant that it is not going to be the means by which people will find safety. Again, if we are looking to become ready for the marriage, trying to escape the process of becoming ready won’t be our objective, and for these people, it would not be a reason to be tripped up.
The next point I think needs to be emphasized is that yes, there is a ‘waking up’ in the making right now, but the Spirit that will begin to return to various Spirit filled camps, is just for that – waking up, not to rally around and be the move God is intending. The sole purpose in this awakening that is occurring, is to get people’s eyes on what God has been doing, and is about to reveal in their midst. But the fact that God draws their attention to groups and individuals whom these ones had classed as Satanic, heretics, or just plain stay-away-from, tells us that God had sent these ‘Satanic’ individuals to His people with the message of what He was doing, giving them every opportunity to be a part of it, only to have them rejected. And this brings up another point.
If it was just a matter of repenting and becoming filled with the Spirit to be ‘ready’, there would be no ‘categories’ that God’s people fell into. That these people have been side tracked, and now, can’t even be restored in time to receive part of the glory that is coming into the midst of the rejected, speaks volumes to the truth that there is a process that we must go through to become ready.
Being ready isn’t having received a certain experience, it’s having been changed into His image enough that we are genuinely prepared to unite with Him, and this is exactly what the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) is all about. All ten were virgins – believers in Christ, all had lamps that were burning – filled with the Spirit, but five woke up to find their lamps had gone out – fading, and faded completely. And when the foolish asked the wise to give them some of their oil – the wise could not, saying there may not be enough for them both, and that the foolish should go and ‘purchase’ oil for themselves. This response denotes a process we must go through in order to become ready for Him, a process we’re given a hint of when God responds to the foolish virgin’s requests to open the door for them. He says, “I don’t know you”, which does not mean they aren’t His, it means He was never able to be spiritually intimate with them.
That many of the Spirit filled, realizing their glory is fading, can look across and SEE the glory coming in the midst of those whom they rejected, says this glory is a visible glory, one that can’t be denied, for if it could be argued that those who were rejected were operating under another ‘spirit’, there would most assuredly be those who accused them of doing so. But something about what’s going on with these groups and individuals is so obvious and undeniable, that the only thing the others think they can do is hide away in shame and defeat.
The last point about it being too late, and many falling away, again emphasizes there is a process that takes time to go through; and that many of the Spirit-filled would rather hide in shame and defeat, than repent, only proves they did not make Jesus – the Person, the main point of their conversion. When God said this last point about many falling away, I understood this was directly associated with the ‘great falling away’, and that instead of it being as a result of what was going on in the world, it was as a result of what God was doing with those who had sought Him in love. It is always the heart of man where the battles are fought and decided.
Author: Brenda Brown
Although she was not raised in a Christian home, Brenda Brown heard the audible voice of the Lord speaking to her when she was just ten years old. She was not yet ready to surrender her life to him, but finally did after a second encounter at age sixteen. Ten years later she began leading small group meetings in her home and continued that ministry for several years. She has had an open vision in which she visited with the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Hi Kristel. If you look back into your Old Testament, you will find that Israel had 3 major feasts, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. We’ve seen the literal feast of Passover incorporated into the Spirit by the death of Christ on the Cross, and His blood applied to our hearts. We’ve also seen the literal feast of Pentecost incorporated into the Spirit by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, which has continued for the last 2,000 years. But we have NOT seen the feast of Tabernacles incorporated into the Spirit yet, and that is one of the reasons why the Church should not be resting on the experience of Pentecost in their lives. Pentecost is the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and it brings with it a level of walking with God that seems like it is all that is necessary, but that is so not true. Scripture speaks clearly of an entirely new thing that is coming, and a level of walking with God that is beyond our imagination, and if we let ourselves settle for anything less, we will certainly regret it later, at the very least. I hope this helps you Kristel.
Brenda, I tend to look at things in they’re simplest form so tell me if I’m getting this right or close to it. The Pentecost is like people these days seeking the hands of Christ. Wanting to do the laying on of hands seeing people healed seeking his blessings seeking the chills, all they can see and feel. But the Tabernacle is moving beyond and seeking his face. Coming so close that you’re one with him almost like becoming a skin suit for him so you end up becoming transfigured. Am I getting it kind of or am I off base. I definitely want to get this please help, thanks.
Hi Kristel, I have heard a great explanation of the 3 Feasts and how they tie together. It is a process designed to draw us closer to our Father. If you are familiar with the design of the Jewish Temple, there is an Outer Court, an Inner Court and the Holy of Holies. Passover draws us out of the world (Egypt) and is compared to the Outer Court. Pentecost draws us into the Inner Court where we are fed and nourished with the Bread of His Presence. Then the yearly cycle of feasts ends with Tabernacles which is designed to draw us into the Holy of Holies and a close relationship with our Father. The curtain was torn in two to give us access through the Cross. The cycle of feasts repeat each year with the hope of drawing in closer and closer as we grow. May the Lord bless you as you draw close to Him.
Hi Kristel.
Yes, I am familiar with the Outer Court, Inner Court, and Holy of Holies, though the Holy of Holies should actually be connected to Tabernacles, a totally different Covenant and salvation experience than what Pentecost affords right now. See I Peter 1:3-5, in which Peter states in so many words, that Pentecost gave us a hope for the resurrection as part of our inheritance, but that inheritance includes a salvation that has been reserved in Heaven, waiting to be revealed in these last days. In other words, there is a ‘salvation’ that we have yet to hear about, that has not yet been experienced, but is about to be revealed in this day. That’s not to say it’s going to be built on something other than Jesus, but it will be very different from anything we’ve seen or experienced at a Pentecostal level. That’s why many Spirit filled will become defeated, for just walking in Pentecost and being satisfied with that level of relationship with Jesus, will not prepare our spirits to experience and be a part of Tabernacles. Do you know what I mean?
Very interesting conversions. I think the new things that are coming that we need to learn to be ready is THE POWER OF LOVE, a new understand of HIS LOVE. Love is the ultimate power of God, because God is love. Such power brings supernatural miracles because love moves God. Jesus moves on our behalf, fight on our behalf that ensure victory when we love. What I understand is that it is not carnal love, it is spiritual love, a much deeper level of love. All the spiritual gifts are no use if it’s without love, because God was not in it. I believe the requirement to enter into HIS kingdon and ready to be HIS bride is this new understand of love and the power in it.
Hi Lynx. You are quite right in saying that the new thing will be built on God’s love, and that it is spiritual, not carnal. In fact Lynx, it is divine love – something we need to be prepared for by God, in order to take into us. Since our spirits are part of our fallen nature, they are fallen as well, and need God to prepare them properly to have the ability to house God’s divine love. We can love God with everything we’ve got as human beings, and it doesn’t come anywhere near the level of love we need to walk in divine love, so trust me on this because God specifically told me what we need to do to enable Him to prepare us. We need to seek His face and sit in His Presence quietly daily, focussing upon our love for Him. Let Him speak to you, or show you things, and be very careful to obey them, but above all, love Him. Keep doing that everyday, just as Aaron lay the rod before God’s Presence in the Holy of Holies (Num. 17:6-8), and God will work on your spirit. You can play music, sing, and read books at any other time in the day, but always put aside a time when you do none of those things – just sit quietly in His Presence. If you don’t mind, let me know how it’s working for you whenever you get a chance. I’d be happy to hear how things are coming along.
Hi Brenda, you are right, Divine Love, that’s what I meant. You put it this way better than me. For God and others. I found it is not easy, especially when God allow testing time happen or others(close family members or strangers..ect) to persecute us, to make it even more testing, it is when God shows that He wants to save some of them through the saints that are being persecuting. I found that canal love and strength will not work. It won’t. We must ask for divine powers, At such moment, I learn that my eyes have to fix upon on Jesus, must remember the love He has for me as He has for them, ask Him to work and fight on my behalf, I must have my total faith in Him. It paid as we learn to use our faith and understanding the power of love. Miracles happen, it bears fruits. Praise the Lord. I found that this new level of training is very intense but I understand it’s necessary because the evil and his armies are increasingly on the work too and there are still so much works for us to do. The Lord is preparing us for the coming revival time and the dark time, He expect us to make it victorously as the Lord is overcomer. I found it helpful as we truly learn the power of love and totally fix our eyes on Christ. I am trying some of your suggestions, I especially like sit in quietly in His Present, I talk too much when I am with Him. It drown out His voice. This is no good. So, I am trying to sit quietly and learn to wait in His Present,
Hi Iynx.
I’m glad you can incorporate what God said. I understand completely how we ‘talk too much’ when we should be sitting quietly and listening. It’s then that we realize just how undisciplined we are in our spirits and minds, a state we can’t change by ourselves, but God can as we sit in His Presence. Keep me posted on how things are going, and if there’s a problem or question, just let me know if you want any help. Until then, I love your desire to love Him and focus on Him – that’s the way to go!
Hi J.M. Senin
That’s a good place to be in. Jesus is not Heaven, He’s not a certain church, group, or way like we know a way. Yes, He’s THE way, but that way is so much broader and versatile than we ever dreamed. We’re constantly trying to box everything instead of getting to know the Person, the character of Jesus. If we have our focus there, He will lead us where we need to go, to become all that we need to be. It’s that easy. But that’s not how so many have walked this walk, and that’s the problem.
Lynx, thank you so much for sharing that link! Wow, what a beautiful story about God’s supernatural love! I was so blessed by it.
Hi Laurie, I am so glad. I am also benefit from it a lot. I brought the book through Amazon. There is something in the book I want to share. It said that rather we try very hard to get His approval, it’s better to know How much we understand His love for us. Quote” My ability to love is always contingent upon my ability to see and understand His love for us” or ” My ability to love is directly related to my ability to know how deeply I am loved”. I must stressed on this: it is very important about OUR FAITH ON HIS LOVE FOR US. Especially when we face persecution and dark time. Because when the test come, we may ask why such hardship, are we out of favor of God? Is God punishing me because there are something wrong with me…? Why are they behaving like these…? Why such betrayal and cruality…? Anger and insecurity may take over. At this critical point, we must have our faith on His love for us, especially the persecutions come from close family and friend, Christian brothers and sisters. God will let us go through some tribulation to refine us in His Holy fire to come to the light. God has a plan for us and I believe one part of it is that He want the tribulaiton saints to become His priests. Rev 7: 9-17, 6: 9-11, 1 Peter 2:5. This position and our tranform state when Jesus come get us are even greater than satan the high angel before his fall. That is a great reward and honor, it is also a great responsiblity. May God Bless us all on understanding of how deeply we are loved.
The Supernatural Love!!!! I just found this today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GmRYwP6XlQ The Wild Love of God. This is amazing, God has just answered my prayers, He is teaching me what I am asking!!! The deeper level understanding of His Love. The Power of His Love. Wow! Praise the Lord! He is indeed very concern about me. He is a God who is with deep compassion and care about His people.
Hi Bob. I think your dream is priceless right now. It most certainly does depict very well what state many are in, and worst of all, they don’t have a clue they’re in it. They will hear that there are great things to come, that God is going to do things never done before, that there’s a move of God coming the likes of which has never been seen before, etc., but they will not hear that it’s not going to be built on Pentecost, or its gifts. I Cor. 12 & 13 are explicit. After listing the various gifts and callings bestowed on the Church at Pentecost, Paul ends by saying, “Yet I show unto you a more excellent way…,” and then proceeds to say that these gifts will fade away when the perfect has come, that they are ‘in part’, and ‘children’s toys’. How is it that we should be expecting to be made perfect – in His image, by things that are ‘toys’, that show us Christ through a dark glass, rather than plainly and clearly? There is a new salvation that has been in the making for some time, and now is being prepared to be revealed to the world. It’s built on Christ yes, but on such an enlarged and more intimate truth of Him that the Covenant that comes with it will just as easily be classed as Satanic by those who think they know Him, as recognized for the full salvation that it is – except of course, that it is going to be accompanied with His glory, Presence, and Spirit, which will in the end, be undeniable. You dream depicts people not just going about their everyday lives as usual – as if nothing different is occurring, but applied in the Spirit,… Read more »
Brenda great post I had a dream this morning that might by the greatest reason for the falling away, I will call it a spirit of spiritual blindness, you responded to his voice, that is a discernment that you exercise like other spiritual senses, here is my dream from this morning.I was going up a mountain road and it had snowed over everything, I passed by a man on a motorcycle completely covered with snow, you couldn’t even see his eyes, I noticed he was frozen in the standing position. Then I passed a vehicle the same way no snow cleared so they could see where they were going, and they had the window down, and had snow on the exposed parts, I continued up the road and came to a place where a man and a woman were standing out in the snow talking, covered in snow but oblivious to it. They were talking about the woman’s husband. The vehicle by them looked stuck but they were not doing anything about it. The dream came and went as I thought about the meaning of it, in another part of the dream I felt like they just don’t care what has happened.
Spiritual blindness has fallen.
Hi Yael. I totally agree, the Feasts of Israel are shadows of the Spirit’s realities, and there were 3 major feasts – a fact that the Church has chosen to turn a blind eye to. They easily see their incorporation of the Passover, and Pentecost, yet make a full stop and totally ignore that there was a Tabernacles. I Cor. 10: 1-12 say it all. Pentecost is a transient Covenant, it took Israel from Egypt to the Promise Land, but not into it. My spirit sighs the same thing – are there any who really get it and honestly desire to enter into it? It’s not arrogance to ask such a thing, it’s reality. But that’s why an entire generation died without entering into the Promise Land, except for Joshua and Caleb that is, and that’s the likeness of how many will enter into this truth in time to experience the full redemption. I can honestly say that what’s coming is an entirely new thing, and God will command people to remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old, for He is doing a new thing, and it has nothing to do with Pentecost. And let me clarify that the ‘wilderness’ that Isaiah refers to in that scripture, is not the one Israel travelled through en route to the Promise Land, but the one mentioned in Rev. 12, in which the remnant feeds the portion of the Church who are ‘fleeing’ to them for help. Thank you for your comments Yael.
Brenda Why the sudden topic on Pentecost ?
Hi Jeff. I guess to you it’s a sudden topic on Pentecost because I haven’t said a whole lot about it in my general posts, but in my correspondence and things that God has spoken or shown to me, it’s been a topic for quite some time – almost from the beginning of my conversion. Early on in my Christian walk God spoke these words to me, “Jesus is the pattern Son. Tabernacles will be as different from Pentecost, as Pentecost was from the Law.” People think that the Jews had to really have been blind not to see that Jesus was the Son of God and that the Covenant of Faith was the Law fulfilled, but picture a typical day in the Tabernacle of Moses as compared to a typical day of Pentecost in the early Church, and you’d be hard pressed to see any similarities at all. That’s where the Church is at right now in relation to what God has been doing, and is about to solidify in front of them in the next several years. I took the message God gave me wherever He asked me to take it, but few there are who responded – almost none. They can’t/won’t see that God is going to do something entirely outside the bounds of Pentecost, and if we aren’t following Him very keenly, what He brings will be absolutely shocking to those who think they know Him. Just as the Jews were convinced they knew God because God had given them their laws Himself – at one point, by His own hand, so ‘how could they be wrong?’ so I have been shown many spirit filled Christians thinking exactly the same way, and because of it, missing the boat entirely. I had an article written on this… Read more »
Brenda I just don’t see the “Pentecost” churches as any more distracted than any other church. They’re all asleep. So to single them out seems strange…… I know from my experience 40 years ago it was a blessing from God. But that was then. Today is another day……… Your excerpt just reminded me of how virulent members of other churches were in their attempt to discredit what was happening. They spent a lot of time combing scriptures to support their belief that “Pentecost” was only for those 2000 years ago. Their energy was like Saul (Paul) fighting against something they didn’t understand…….. God was moving in a great revival of faith and was not thwarted by those who didn’t understand………. Almost like your description today about Christians blinded by the light of what’s happening today.
btw… That experience I talk about was in the 80’s. I don’t know why God chose to outpour His Spirit then, but He did…… From my personal experience (observation of brethren) it never was about signs, miracles or speaking in tongues. It was about experiencing a new love relationship with God. Sure, all the “signs” were there but it wasn’t the focus……. What I do recall was the energy spent by those NOT experiencing this outflow to explain it away as not from God. And, as usual, using any and every scripture to support their belief…..I believe that was a big discernment mistake. God will work the way He choses……… Your article did bring back those memories.
Hi again Jeff. My words may remind you of people who spent themselves worrying about what ‘wasn’t’ true, but I can assure you Jeff, my attitude is not that at all. It’s a burden on my heart that so many people are not open to what God is doing, and while God is going to do it anyway, it’s not something to be tossed aside as if it doesn’t matter. I speak of Pentecost and the Spirit filled because that’s what God spoke to me about, and also because if anyone should know what’s coming, it’s them, but they don’t, and that’s the point. Of all people, they are the most in danger because they think they know – as God Himself said – ‘especially Spirit filled’. I walked in Pentecost as God directed, but also moved on from it as He directs everyone to do in Heb. 6:1-3. You can’t just move on whenever you please, or how you please, it must be by God’s initiation – as Hebrews also says, but I speak this from personal experience. What God did for me as I continued to walk into the new thing He was preparing, was beyond my comprehension. Not until now do I fully understand why it must be beyond anything Pentecost can offer. It’s not that I am ‘scorning out’ Pentecost, it’s that it’s passing away and is a fading glory, and so few are really awake to what is going to be required for the new thing. Does that help you understand where I’m coming from?
I Cor. 10:1-12 does indeed say it all. Perfect! Thanks.
You’re welcome Yael. Thank you.
We understand the feasts of the Lord are for our instruction/rehearsal in the unfolding revelation of God’s plan of redemption. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, by whom we appropriate salvation. Pentecost is where we are to receive the illumination/inspiration of the Word of righteousness, by the agency of His indwelling Spirit, who inscribes it on the flesh tablets of our hearts, as His fire descends on us. What did the children of Israel do at Sinai? Many moved into revelry by false worship of the golden calf. It is hard to find a Spirt-filled church today that isn’t spirit-filled, from entering into false worship. Commercial music, bought and sold in the marketplace, is not fit for temple worship. It carries the wrong anointing which most people can’t differentiate from the true anointing, so long has He been absent from our assemblies. (For anyone tempted to defend it, please consider the episode of Zimri, the prince of Simeon, and Cosbi the Midianite woman he brought into his tent, both impaled on Phineas’ spear. Cosbi means ‘false’; Zimri means ‘hymn’. We can’t blend the world and the church and please God.) This worship is demonically inspired and brings the element of entertainment, not to mention spiritual adultery, into the sanctuary. Entertained people are charmed, beguiled, diverted people. Such assemblies do not easily suffer Gadarene demoniacs, or those who need sacrificial discipleship. Such assemblies do not easily tolerate pure doctrine nor bear prophet’s warnings, as many who comment on this site attest from personal experience. Instead of moving on to prepare for the fulfillment of the fall feasts, many in the church are either still in Egypt, trusting in ‘once saved, always saved’ or, of those who did go on to Pentecost, are still camped at Sinai trusting in that move of God,… Read more »