Chapter 5 – A Snare for the Unaware

Satan is not content to simply make one run at the saint who would set their heart
toward Zion. He makes repeated attempts, and he attacks on different fronts and
tries to deceive the saint on various issues. Ezra gave this wonderful testimony which
is recorded in Ezra 8:31, “ and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us
from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.” Note that the word
ambushes is plural, yet God delivered them from them all.

The encounter I wrote of in the chapter “Ambushed Outside the Gates of Babylon”,
occurred a mere few weeks after I was removed from the place of ministry I had
known among the children of God. Having survived the first ambush, it wasn’t long
before Satan launched his next assault. Satan’s next offensive was much more subtle
in nature, and I have seen untold numbers of saints become ensnared by this
particular deceit.

At this time I had been writing some articles, relating to others the revelations the
Spirit had been giving me as I walked a road of faith. I had written a couple of articles
that spoke of how the Father uses delays in our lives to test our faith. The articles
“Waiting, the Ultimate Test”, and “The Untimeliness of God” had been posted on a
well trafficked Internet site that posts prophetic words and teachings, and I received
an outpouring of response to these articles.

One response came from a brother who had also been waiting on God on some
matters, and he was encouraged by the writings. He shared with me that he had
some writings of his own and he invited me to read them. They were written with a
great amount of skill and lucidity. I came to understand some things I had not
previously discerned as I read what he had to say.

He had a writing on “food sacrificed to idols” that was very enlightening, and I came
to understand that saints feeding on the doctrines of demons is the antitype, or
fulfillment, of this expression. The key to unlocking this understanding is the
following verse in Hebrews.

Hebrews 13:9
Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is
good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have
not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Note that the words “doctrines” and “foods” are both used to refer to the same thing
in this scripture. Often the saints occupy themselves with foods (doctrines) that are
not profitable to them. These teachings are often referred to as “doctrines of
demons”, and in type they are referred to as “food sacrificed to idols.”

I Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from
the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…

Revelation 2:20
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who
calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants
astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed
to idols.”

I very much enjoy coming to understand things in the scriptures that have been
previously hidden to me. This brother had some good insights, and for a brief time
I even posted some of his writings on my website. However, along with the truth he
was proclaiming, I began to notice some things that disturbed me. I began to notice
a wrong emphasis on the role of the Law of God, and expressions asserting that the
saints of God need to keep the Law.

This is a matter that the saints often stumble in, and even the early saints were
disturbed by this teaching. At one point Paul confronted Peter for being hypocritical
regarding this topic, and we have his following words:

Galatians 2:11-13
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because
he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from
James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began
to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the
circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the
result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

In this one scripture we have mention of three of the early apostles who became
entangled with this snare of Satan. Cephas (Peter), James, and Barnabas are all
mentioned. If these apostles could fall for this deceit, then know with a certainty that
the saints today are similarly susceptible. Paul’s epistle to the Galatian believers was
written because the entire church was being troubled by the presence of Judaisers
(Messianic Jews who taught the keeping of the Law) who had come into their midst
and they were leading the saints away from a walk of faith, back to a bondage to the
Law.

I have recently received a book that a brother purchased for me that he encouraged
me to read. The book deals with the pagan origins of many of the church’s traditions
and customs today, and as far as the author sticks to relating the history of such
practices, he does well. Where he gets into error is when he begins to draw
applications to his findings. This author is teaching other Christian saints to return
to keeping the Torah, or Law. He describes himself as being “Torah Observant” and
he argues that all saints today should be so. The phrase “Torah Observant” is simply
a euphemism that means Law Keeper.

I have noted a whole mass of saints that are seeking to return to being Torah
Observant. This is a result of many of the saints finding out how riddled modern
Christianity is with pagan practices and false doctrines. In a sincere effort to return
to a foundation of truth, many saints are seeking to go back and discover how the
early church walked and to conform to their beliefs and practices. Many equate a
return to Jewish heritage, words, and practice as being a return to truth and a
separation from apostasy (it is a mistake to equate Judaism with early Christianity).
One of the things the Jews were known for was their observance of the Torah, the
Law of God.

However, a return to an observance of the Law is not the same thing as fleeing from
Babylon, as some would suppose. It is merely exchanging one bondage for another.
Many of the early saints in Jerusalem were former adherents of Judaism. We are told
that a great number of priests believed, as did multitudes of the Jewish people (Acts
6:7). Unfortunately, many of these saints did not want to transition completely to the
New Covenant established in the blood of Christ. There were many who wanted to mix
the Old Covenant with the New. This is a tragic mistake, and Paul in writing to the
Hebrews tells them plainly that the Old Covenant has been replaced. Many of the early
believers wanted to treat the New Covenant as merely an addendum to the Old. They did
not want the Old to pass away.

Hebrews 8:6-7, 13
But now [Yahshua] has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as
He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on
better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would
have been no occasion sought for a second… When He said, “A new
covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming
obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Many saints become confused because there are many New Testament scriptures that
indicate that the Law is righteous and holy and it still has a purpose in this age. Indeed,
the Law does have a purpose. It continues to lead people to Christ as it exposes sin and
reveals unregenerate man’s utter inability to conform to Yahweh’s righteous and holy
standards. The Law makes known man’s need for a Savior. Paul is quite emphatic about
this issue.

Galatians 4:21-25
Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For
it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one
by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to
the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is
allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding
from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now
this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present
Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Those who want to be under law, who want to be Torah Observant, remove
themselves from a place of standing in faith to receive the promises of God and they
embrace bondage and slavery as they try to keep the Law through the power of the
flesh. What was given at Sinai? Was it not the Law? Do not say that this was the
ceremonial or sacrificial Law only, for it was the moral Law that Moses brought down
from the mountain on tablets of stone. Is not this covenant related to Hagar, slavery
and the flesh? Do the saints really need to go back to this?

The children of faith are equated to Isaac and to being the true offspring of Abraham.
Abraham never tried to keep the Law or be Torah Observant for the Law was given
430 years after Abraham. Why then would the saints today want to place themselves
under the Law?

Many argue that it was just the sacrificial law that was done away with, and some
scriptures mention specifically this portion of the Law having been fulfilled and
having passed away (Hebrews 10:1-9). However, Paul states that it is not just the
ceremonial or sacrificial aspects of the Law of which he is speaking.

The Law was used of God to reveal righteousness and in many places it demanded
that the observant Jew should separate themselves from that which would defile
them and that which was unclean. This was the portion of the Law that Peter and
James and Barnabas stumbled over. The Law said which foods were clean and which
were unclean. The Law said which type of people were clean and which were unclean.
These apostles began to separate themselves from the Gentile believers over matters
of the Law and Paul boldly confronted them over their hypocrisy.

Galatians 2:14-19
But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of
the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew,
live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the
Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from
among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the Law but through faith in Yahshua the Messiah, even
we have believed in Yahshua the Messiah, so that we may be justified
by faith in Messiah and not by the works of the Law; since by the works
of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified
in Messiah, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Messiah then
a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once
destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I
died to the Law, so that I might live to God.”

How is it that the Gentiles were living? They were certainly not Torah Observant for
the Torah was given to the Jews. Paul said that Peter had been living like the Gentiles,
but now he was proclaiming that the Gentiles should live like the Jews, keeping the
Law. Paul says, “For through the Law I died to the Law”. Was Paul saying that he
merely died to the ceremonial or sacrificial law? No! He died to the Law in its
entirety.

Many saints are troubled by Yahshua’s words when He stated:

Matthew 5:18-20
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or
one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does
and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For
I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of
heaven.

The key phrase in this passage is “till all is fulfilled.” Was not the Law given to reveal
righteousness and to lead people to Messiah? Did Messiah fulfill the righteous
requirements of the Law? He demonstrated in the following verse that He knew this
was His calling. As he met John the Baptizer at the Jordan River He said,

Matthew 3:15
But Yahshua answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this
way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he
permitted Him.

Did Yahshua succeed in fulfilling the righteous requirements of the Law? When He
spoke His final words on the cross He declared that He had done so. With the words,
“It is finished”, Yahshua made the bold declaration that He had fulfilled the
righteous requirements of the Law!

Would it surprise you to find out that it was Pharisees who had become believers
who were urging the saints to keep the Law of Moses. We are told that this is so in
the following scripture:

Acts 15:5
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying,
“It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the
Law of Moses.”

The Pharisees were proud of their adherence to the Law of Moses. Paul was himself
formerly a Pharisee, and he proclaimed that according to the righteousness found in
the Law, he was perfect (Philippians 3:6). However, in the passage we just looked at
we have Yahshua’s words, “that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

How do we get to this point of having a righteousness that exceeds the Scribes and
Pharisees? Is it by keeping the letter of the Law better than they did? Absolutely not!
We exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees by becoming partakers of the finished
work of Christ. He becomes our righteousness.

II Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.

I Corinthians 1:30-31
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom
from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so
that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE
LORD.”

Yet we find that the same saints today who so scorn the Pharisees, act just like the
early Pharisees found in the church as they try to place the saints back under the
Law. Many are sincere in this, but they are sincerely deluded.

This man whose writings I posted to my website began to speak more and more of
keeping the Law, and I tried to reason with him from the scriptures. I shared with
him that it was no longer necessary to teach the Law to the saints and to encourage
them to place themselves under its jurisdiction. Those who now walk in the Spirit no
longer need to be held in check by an external body of legislation, for the Spirit
within convicts the saint of “sin and righteousness and judgment”. The Spirit
accomplishes what an external body of rules never could, He brings our inner being
into conformity to Christ where we DESIRE to pursue righteousness and holiness
and to walk in obedience to the leading of the Spirit in all matters.

This man knew the letter of the scriptures. He set forth many arguments as to why
the saints still needed to keep the Law today, and for a time I wavered in doubt. Yet
the Spirit within me would not allow me to be swept away from the liberty that I
knew in Christ. This is a very hideous snare, and not to be underestimated. If the
early apostles could stumble in this point, if the entire Galatian church could be
troubled by the presence of the Judaisers in their midst, then we can be assured that
the message of those who would place the saints under the Law has much appeal and
many convincing arguments.

The problem with an external Law is that it excites the flesh of man, for sin dwells
in the flesh.

Romans 7:7-11
I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would
not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not
covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment,
produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is
dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment
came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was
to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an
opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it
killed me.

The Law excites the flesh to try and conform to the righteous requirements of the
Law, but as Paul confessed in another place, the very things we do not want to do, we
find ourselves doing. Man cannot be guided by an external Law. Man must be
transformed inwardly, and He must constantly allow the life of Christ within to
manifest itself in conformity to the revealed will of God.

The Overcomer who stretches out his hand to begin keeping the Law becomes
ensnared in a futile exercise of the flesh. He will become bogged down in disputes
and wranglings over the application of the Law in daily life, and he will join himself
to many crusades against evil that are conducted according to Babylonian principles,
rather than the principles of the Kingdom of God.

The Jewish religious system was well known for its lawyers. These lawyers were
versed in the Law of Moses and they had created an abundance of writings that
explained how the Law was to be applied in every conceivable circumstance. Many
of their conclusions actually violated the intent of the Holy Spirit who authored the
scriptures, and Yahshua rebuked the Jewish leaders for this evil.

The saint who sets forth to keep the Law will be forced to become a lawyer as well.
I saw clearly the end result of this path when the brother of whom I have been
speaking wrote to me of an event that had just occurred in the life of his family.

This family had a golden retriever that had been a family pet for many years and it
was well loved by this man’s small children, as well as his wife. This dog, as it got
older, did not want to be played with as much and it avoided small children that it
was unfamiliar with. On one occasion it had snapped at a small child that was
visiting, but had done no harm other than scaring the child. This man thought it was
an aberration, and didn’t know what might have been done to provoke the dog, so
he did nothing.

Some time later this man had another family over visiting and the dog bit one of the
children in the family, but again it was not a serious injury. This man wrote me and
told me that according to the Law, he had determined that he would have to take this
dog which was a family pet, and shoot it. He referred to some scriptures that related
to animals that did injury to humans. He told me that he planned to take the dog out
behind his house on some land they owned and shoot it.

When he declared these things to his family he was met with a great emotional
response. This dog had become as a member of the family to his wife and children
and they loved it dearly. It would have been greatly upsetting to his family to have
the dog killed. A few days later he wrote me once again and I saw that he had arrived
at a solution to his dilemma.

This man felt he had to keep the Law or he would be disobedient to Yahweh, yet he
also was conscious of his family’s reaction. When he wrote me he said that he had
determined that the dog didn’t actually bite the visiting child, but that the dog had
merely “pushed the child with his teeth.” Furthermore, he said that because the dog
did not draw blood that the Law did not require that he kill the animal. This
conclusion, he felt satisfied both the requirements of God’s Law and his family.

As I read of this event in this man’s life it became exceedingly apparent to me that
the path this man was walking was not that which God intended for His children
under the New Covenant. This man by profession was a lawyer, and in his
relationship to God he had become a lawyer as well. Every decision had to be
justified by some precept of Law and defended with cold logic. Yet God has called His
elect to walk by the Spirit, not by the reasoning of their minds. I wrote many things
to this man to show him these truths, but he would not receive them.

I asked him, since he was committed to keeping the letter of the Law as was
evidenced in his willingness to kill the family pet, was he also willing to take his
children out and stone them to death if they proved to be rebellious (Leviticus 20:9).

Would he demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in all cases of injury?
What would he do when the Law of God was in conflict with the laws of the U.S.? The
Law of Moses said that if a man commits adultery with a woman, both the man and
woman are to be killed (Leviticus 20:10). Yet the laws of the United States would
forbid such action.

In one of my first communications with this man I asked him about his assertions
that the saints must keep the Law. I cited the following scripture:

John 16:7-8
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do
not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him
to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin
and righteousness and judgment…”

Under the Old Covenant it was the Law that brought conviction of sin and that
pronounced what was righteous. But under the New Covenant this role is fulfilled by
the Spirit. This does not lead to licentiousness as some would suppose, for the Spirit
convicts of many things of which the Law could never address. The Spirit weighs the
thoughts and intentions of the heart, while the Law only dealt with outward actions.

Many saints today justify some action by the Law when the Spirit actually condemns
the action due to the evil and selfish motive of their heart. If the saints embrace the
Law they will condemn many things that Yahweh has not condemned and they will
justify many things that are evil in His sight. Our only safe path is in discerning the
voice of the Spirit in every circumstance and following His lead.

Romans 8:14
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are [mature] sons
of God.

Some writings that have helped me significantly in this matter have been written by
J. Preston Eby, and I will include some excerpts here from his book “The Kingdom
of God” which is freely available on the Internet.

A brother related how that some years ago, when he was in Chicago, on
the ground of some technicality, three hundred prisoners who had been
convicted of crimes were released from prison. Three hundred men
with criminal instincts were turned loose upon the community by a
mere technicality of law! If the Governor of any state who had the power
should go to the state prisons and pardon every criminal, he would be
impeached. Why, the people would not stand for it. Criminals turned
loose into the homes and into the streets would multiply criminals, and
crime would be even more rampant. But suppose the Governor of
Illinois, in which that prison I have mentioned was located, not only
had the power to pardon and let them out, but had the power to take
criminality out of their hearts, and make every one of them an honest,
good man—then I would say, “Governor, turn them all loose, and if
there are ten thousand of them, all the better.”

If we could find a man like that and place him in the jails and prisons
of earth, among men who knew they were guilty of crime, and make
them believe that he had the power not only to pardon, but to take the
criminality out of their natures, with all the shame of their sin, and put
them back in the place of honor they occupied before they committed
crime, I tell you, he would be the most popular man, not only among the
prison administrators and guards, but among the prisoners as well!

They would be willing to build him a monument, giving him all the
glory they could. Such a man would have a monument that would touch
the stars. Jesus Christ is that Man. That is what Jesus Christ has done
by making Himself King by His sacrificial love. He has gained for
Himself the glory not only of removing guilt, but of removing
defilement and uncleanness from every one who will trust Him. He is
the Saviour of all men, and in due time shall win all hearts and purify
all lives. That, my friend, is the power and glory of the Kingdom of God!

The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over all. The
foundation of this Kingdom is in the human heart. The world has not
yet witnessed anything like the total and absolute government of God,
except in the life of Jesus. But there has been an increase of His
Kingdom from generation to generation and from age to age. A new
order is now coming forth in the earth! The hour of the completion of
the body of Christ that has been forming in the earth for the past two
millenniums is now at hand. The age of the reigning of Christ in and
through the manifested sons of God is now ready to be revealed. The
reign of Christ in our lives is being confirmed as Father changes us,
renews our minds, increases our vision, strengthens our faith, and
transforms our natures. When He removed all the old religious
traditions and doctrines and ideas that were not of Him, our Father was
preparing us for the pure and holy and righteous reign of God in us and
through us. In this new Day the love of God and the power of God shall
prevail. The elect of God who are beholding the face of the Lord and
being changed into His likeness are the highest expression of the
Kingdom of God in the earth. To them shall be given the Kingdom and
the Dominion over all things that they may reign in love, mercy,
goodness, power and righteousness, not forcing men to obey, but
imparting to all men the transforming grace of God in the power and
demonstration of the Holy Ghost without measure…

We still have those among us who thunder the letter of the law from
Sinai’s mount—but all such will change their tune if ever they stand
with the Lamb of God at Calvary’s hill, for there they find God removing
His law from the external tables of stone to write them upon the fleshy
tables of the hearts of new born men, who no longer keep the law
because they cringe in fear, but because the spirit of that law has
become their nature, the law of life within them…

So laws cannot change the inner man; nor can the best of natural men
follow the totality of any laws laid down in his behalf. That is why there
is such torment and slavery under the law, for we have become aware
now of what God defines as sin, yet we struggle with it nonetheless. But
when the law is written in the heart, no longer do men try to love God
contrary to nature, but now, because they possess the nature of God,
love, joy and righteousness flow like a river from the heart…

In the United States today we have the Fundamentalist and Charismatic
Christian movements whose burden it is to restructure government and
society in the name of the Lord, not by spiritual regeneration, but by
constitutional legislation. These are sincere Christians concerned for
the social problems confronting the modern world who are being
beguiled and deceived into accepting the premise that by partaking in
the Babylonish systems of this confused world, they will be able to effect
significant changes and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. To
those on the “religious right” that seems to be envisioned as a political
government that will outlaw abortion, re-institute public prayer in
schools and legislate Christian morality on the whole of society. It is
their conviction that God’s Word gives them a mandate to infiltrate and
exercise godly control over all the political, social, educational and
judicial institutions of the nation. They are convinced that the Bible
gives us a divinely revealed pattern for social and political action…

Once a man is born again, truly born again by the Spirit of God, you
need no laws to enforce righteousness upon him. Once a nation turns
to the Lord it will change the government — but changing the
government cannot turn men to the Lord! The so-called “Christian
Right” in America today has the cart before the horse. They have the
whole thing backwards. Their mission will fail. They cannot and will not
bring America back to God through the ballot box. I tell you as a
prophet of God that political action and organization by the religious
people in the United States or anywhere else will not return the nation
to its Christian roots and heritage. They are barking up the wrong tree.
Only the mighty saving, delivering, transforming power of God can
accomplish the work.

Let me illustrate. Suppose that there are two meetings going on at
opposite ends of the city. Both are led by preachers. One is engaged in
spiritual ministry. The power of God is moving and men are coming to
Christ, broken, weeping, contrite, repenting, calling upon the name of
the Lord, their chains of sin and darkness broken, washed away by the
power of God, becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus. Saints are being
strengthened, the ways of the Lord are being established in hearts, the
plan and purpose of God are being quickened in the consciousness of
those seeking the Lord. The other preacher is heading a political
movement to enlist “Christian political activists” in the project of
holding demonstrations, lobbying government to put prayer back in the
schools, initiate programs to get kids off of drugs, outlaw pornography,
nude dancing, adult book stores, etc. Now, which of these two preachers
is acting as an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven; which of these
preachers is doing the work of the Kingdom of God; which of these two
is causing the Kingdom of God to come upon men; which of these two
is introducing men to the Realm of Heaven; which is reigning in some
measure with Christ from His throne of heavenly power?

There should be no doubt in any spiritual mind. The soul-saving
preacher is certainly moving in a dimension of the Kingdom of God even
in this present “in part” realm, whereas the politically active preacher is
trying by the energy of the flesh, by the principles of the kingdoms of
this world, and by the methodology of the law of Moses, to reform the
carnal government of man. With the above truth gaining access and
blooming in our hearts, let us prepare our hearts to now step beyond our
present age to the more excellent glory of the new order which is now
at hand in the Feast of Tabernacles, the third day, the Holiest of all, the
manifestation of the sons of God. Let us discard the silly doctrines,
methods and programs of men and evil traditions inherited from the
kingdom of Babylon that we may receive of God and become His sons
and daughters…

It is my deep conviction that the time appointed of the Father for the
manifestation of the sons of God is nigh at hand. Sons of God shout it
loud and clear! Let the earth know her redemption draweth nigh! The
King of Love is coming! Hallelu-yah! The Deliverer is coming out of
Zion, the whole Christ-body is being prepared, and the time is at hand.

While the religious systems “play church” and the Christians “dabble in
politics” trying to save the nation and the world, the royal heralds are
going forth blowing their trumpets, proclaiming the message of the
Kingdom in the power of the Spirit, preparing the stage for the
appearing of the KING in a vast company of the sons of God — the King
in the midst of the kings! What a glorious and mighty and exultant
victory lies before us!

Now don’t misunderstand me. I certainly am not opposed to good and
godly laws in our land, nor to Christians exerting their influence for
righteousness in society or government. That is all well and good and
to be commended, and I praise God for it. JUST DON’T CALL IT THE
KINGDOM OF GOD. It is not the Kingdom of God. It has nothing to do
with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not good laws or
religiously oriented politics in this or any other land. The Kingdom of
God is “righteousness, and peace, and joy IN THE HOLY GHOST.”

What is the difference? I will tell you! When Christians exert pressure
on carnal institutions and impose their will and standards on
unregenerated men, you have just another function of human
government. It may be better human government. But it is still just
human government. But, when those carnal institutions are changed
because all the people in them have been transformed by the washing
of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost — then YOU HAVE
THEKINGDOM OF GOD! You have now not a legislated righteousness
imposed from without, but “righteousness…in the Holy Ghost.” Ah,
the former was imposed by the law of the statute books — the Old
Covenant; the latter is the result of the laws written in the hearts of men
by the Spirit of the living God — the New Covenant! The Kingdom of
God offers the solution to both sin and death. The world needs the
solution to its evils and sorrows, not another band aid. God is preparing
a people to step forth upon the world scene in the nature, wisdom,
power and glory of God’s Christ. THIS IS THE POWER AND GLORY
OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

This is why I have consistently refused to become involved in
movements, or organizations, in campaigns, crusades, and whatever
work is dedicated to “anti” something. If I become a militant moralist
to fight the degeneracy in our midst, if I work myself to death screaming
against the communists, if I labor day and night warning God’s people
and the nation against politicians, the Illuminati, the world bankers, the
Trilateral Commission, the United Nations, the New World Order, and
all the other conspiracy theories — will it deliver even one soul from the
power of darkness and translate him into the Kingdom of God’s dear
Son? Will it lead to transformation and to the glorification of as much
as one life rescued from the power of hell, and raised up to sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? The answer is abundantly clear.

God’s purpose for His chosen ones is to become a part of THE STONE
THAT IS CHRIST, which is cut out of the mountain without hands. It
is a Kingdom not of this world, out of the heights and depths of God…

The great truth is that the man in Christ does not keep the letter of the
law, which is merely the outward husk of type and shadow, but he keeps
the spirit of the law which is the inward law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus. This results in the living expression of the nature and character
of God in all things, not a keeping of external rules and regulations
which give only the appearance of godliness. Thus the righteousness
of the law, and not its external forms, are fulfilled in them who walk not
after the flesh but after the spirit. The answer to creation’s deteriorating
state is not to preach the keeping of the law; the answer lies in the living
out of Christ, and in Him alone. When Christ comes to dwell in
individuals, they will then keep Father’s Kingdom laws of life within,
and the whole creation will be preserved, touched, affected, and
transformed. And unless He lives within individuals, it is a useless
waste of time to urge them to keep God’s laws…

The outward law of God is given to reveal to us the nature of God
Himself. I will use one illustration from the Ten Commandments to
make the point. When God says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” He
is not simply trying to prevent us from enjoying the lusts of our flesh.
He is telling us something about Himself — how He is. The only eternal,
unchangeable, immutable, invariable, unalterable, firm, fixed, sound,
solid, balanced, dependable, reliable, steady, steadfast, ethical, moral
and totally trustworthy thing in the whole universe is — GOD! “Thou
shalt not commit adultery” — it means that GOD HIMSELF is
committed, reliable, true, dependable, faithful and trustworthy. He
keeps His commitments. He keeps His covenant. He honors His word.
He is faithful in all His involvements. He will not cheat on you, lie to
you, deceive you, betray you, forsake you or fail you. He loves you and
will take care of you, cherish you, nurture you, protect you, and cleave
to you. He does not “chase skirts,” He will not abandon you for greener
grass on the other side of the fence. He is not adulterous, with a roving
eye and a lying, cheating heart. He is love. He is good, He is faithful. He
is persevering, and His nature is constant, abiding and unchanging.
THAT IS HOW HE IS! When you understand the nature of one who is
not adulterous in thought, desire or action, you understand something
about the character of God. And that is how He wants us. His sons, to
be! His law reveals His nature.

Yes, Yahweh’s Law reveals His nature. But men simply want to turn His Law into rules
of conduct to establish their own righteousness. Have you been conformed to the
image of God if you abstain from committing adultery, but you lust after many women
in your heart? Have you been conformed to the image of God if you stop short of
committing adultery, but you lack faithfulness in your dealings with others, and the
bottom line in your decisions is what best benefits you? Has keeping the Law in this
manner done you any good? No! We need to be transformed by the Spirit in the inner
man so that Yahweh’s very character becomes our character. When we are set free
from self-seeking, from the never ending tendency to satisfy our own fleshly lusts and
desires, then some good will have occurred in our lives. An outward Law cannot
produce this change.

Having begun in faith that Christ has redeemed us from the penalty of sin, we must
now continue in faith that He will produce righteousness IN us. We must see ourselves
abiding in the Vine, and we must see that the Life that is in His blood is now in us,
motivating and empowering us to live in complete harmony with the character of
Yahweh.

I want to walk in communion and harmony with the Spirit all day long, every day. I
want to know His leading and His desire, and then I want Christ to have free rein to
live in me and to accomplish the desire of the Father. I want His desires to become my
desires, His will my will, and His character my character. The Law, weak as it is
through the flesh, will never bring about this conformity, and for the saint to place
themselves back under the jurisdiction of the Law, being Torah Observant, is to
commit oneself to a life of frustration and barrenness.

What does the word say? “Walk by the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the
flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Notice that it does NOT say, “Keep the Law and you shall not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” A scripture that the Spirit has used to open my eyes to
the proper role of the Law today is the following:

I Timothy 1:8-11
But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact
that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless
and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for
those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men
and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever
else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

Yes, this is a key. The scriptures, even the New Testament, state that the Law is good,
BUT one has to use it lawfully. How does one use it lawfully? They realize that the Law
is NOT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS PERSON, but for those who are lawless and rebellious.

The Law is only lawfully applied to those who are lawless and rebellious. If you desire
to keep the Law then you are acknowledging that you are lawless and rebellious.
Paul makes it clear, the Law is not for the righteous. Are you righteous?

II Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.

I Corinthians 6:9-11
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

We have become the righteousness of God through Yahshua the Messiah, therefore
the Law no longer applies to us. We have died to the Law, and now we live according
to the glorious Law of Life and Liberty in Yahshua the Messiah.

Are you troubled by Judaisers who would put you under the Law, who would seek to
place your focus upon an external body of rules and commands? Then think on these
two statements and let the full impact sink into the deepest recesses of your being:
The Law is good, if one uses it lawfully…

Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious…
Consider these further words of J. Preston Eby:

A man who keeps his bulldog tied to a fence has no right to brag that the
dog has never bitten the mailman. How could the dog bite the mailman?
If the owner wants to brag about his dog, let him set the dog free; then
everyone (including the mailman) will know the dog’s true nature. There
you have the difference between the law and the Kingdom of God. The
law merely restrains evil men(like the chain on the dog) from the ability
to do their evil – the Kingdom of God transforms the nature so that men
become righteous.

Yahshua has set you free from the Law. Will you now “bite the mailman”, or will you
rather choose to walk in the love of Messiah. Do you need the Law to restrain you
now that you are a “new creature” in Christ.

Galatians 5:1
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm
and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

This snare of the enemy that would seek to place the saints back under the Law, and
therefore back in the realm of fleshly striving and under Satan’s domain, must be
faced, fully understood, and resisted to the uttermost. You cannot walk by the Spirit
and walk under the dominion of the Law at the same time.

Galatians 5:4
You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified
by law; you have fallen from grace.

Don’t fall from grace on your journey to Zion. Resist the Devil when he comes to you
with this subtle deception and he will flee from you. Remember, you are children of
the free woman, not the bondwoman, “only do not turn your freedom into an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

The last conversation I had with this lawyer, of whom I have been speaking in this
chapter, involved a very peculiar event that happened at that time in his life. This
man owned some goats, and he and his family milked the goats and they used the
milk for food. One morning this man drank some goat milk and then became deathly
sick. He broke out in a rash over his entire body and then he began getting a tingling
in his extremities. At the same time his esophagus began to swell which made
breathing difficult.

He got in his car to drive to the office of his family doctor. He phoned his wife using
his cell phone to tell her where he was going. He began getting worse and worse, and
breathing became more difficult. He feared that he would die in transit, and he
decided to go straight to the emergency room instead of to his doctor. He was able
to make it there and they took him right in.

By this time his fingers and toes were turning grey as blood was being rerouted from
his extremities to his vital organs to keep them from shutting down. The emergency
room staff immediately began administering drugs to counter what was occurring
in his body, and for a while it was a very narrow thing that he survived. This man
later determined that his goats had been eating poison ivy and that this had
contaminated their milk.

Now I know that NOTHING happens in the life of the saints by accident, so I began
asking the Father about this event and He showed me the following things which I
shared with this man. Remember, at the beginning of this chapter that I spoke of
food sacrificed to idols and the doctrines of demons. This symbolism was something
this man was very familiar with, and it was the topic of one of his first writings. God
uses illustrations in our lives that we can relate to.

Goats are often representative of evil. We are given an account in scripture of a great
judgment where the sheep are separated from the goats. Also, in Satanism today, a
horned goat head is used to symbolize Satan. The Father showed me that this event
in this man’s life was symbolic of spiritual truths relating to his walk.

This man drank tainted milk from a goat which is symbolic of feeding on doctrines
of demons. Paul even compares the saints focusing on elementary doctrines to the
drinking of milk (I Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12). However, the milk this man
drank was full of poison. The result was that death began to spread throughout his
body, beginning at the extremities, but at the last it would have spread to his vital
organs. A grey pallor of death was seen in his extremities as the blood was drained
from them. This is symbolic of the fruit of this particular doctrine that he had
embraced and was teaching to others. Instructing saints to keep the Law does not
produce life, but rather it brings forth spiritual death. If left to run its course, the
entire body of Christ would experience death from partaking of this doctrine.

Happily, this man was able to receive treatment that stemmed the spread of death
in his body, and which allowed his body to return back to a state of health. I truly
hope that this brother will also be returned to complete spiritual health and that he
will discern the voice of the Spirit in this matter. To this date I have not heard that
he has changed any of his teachings. Such is the mercy and patience of God toward
His children.

The experience of encountering this man was given to me according to the Father’s
purposes. The Father wanted me to overcome this snare and to instruct others to
overcome it as well. The saints who come out of Babylon are often repulsed by the
flesh and carnality and lawlessness they have seen in Babylon. The lawlessness of
Babylon is not the result of failing to keep the Law of Moses, for many of the
churches of Babylon focus much on the Law, particularly the so-called holiness
churches. The lawlessness of Babylon actually arises from a failure to submit to the
Lordship of Yahshua. The Babylonian churches are not Spirit led, they are led by the
soul of man. Their activities, thoughts, and judgments originate in the mind, will and
emotions of man.

Lawlessness is not avoided by returning to the Law of an Old Covenant. It is
accomplished by submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit,
living by the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is a characteristic of all of the citizens of Zion.
It is my prayer that you may avoid drinking from the deadly poison of this snare that
has brought death to many of the saints of God who have been called to Zion.