I PRAISE God for this first letter of the New Year. All of the glory belongs to God for our being present and accounted for this brand new year. It was the mercy, the love, the goodness, and the provisions of God that brought me through 1989. AMEN.
I am resolved that it matters not what I face in 1990, be it darkness, trial, persecutions, sickness, peril or famine; I am confident of this one thing. If the Lord will be with me, I can make it through. Now, just then I heard the Holy Ghost say to me, but “the Lord has promised never to leave you nor forsake you,” so my further word is that everything is gonna be alright in 1990. AMEN AND PRAISE THE LORD!
Friends, let me share just a couple of words I believe to be a blessing to you from the Lord. A few days ago I was in prayer at my home, and the Lord showed me how precious this time of life is, precious; that as a leader I should stay on the PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. That I should turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. God said to me, not to waste time worrying, or complaining, but that “each moment is precious,” and that I should enjoy every second of every minute of my life; especially if I have such things as reasonable health, reasonable food and shelter; do not delay or stray from the PATHS OF PRAISE even when the enemy comes in like a flood. (Isaiah 59:19) Turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Then the Lord spoke to me that He is pouring out His gifts of wisdom and knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8) upon the Bethelite Church family, and that teaching of the word with power is our present demonstration of miracles for tearing down walls.
And again the Lord showed me how to overcome the sins and weights that so easily besets us. (Hebrews 12:1), and causes us to stray from the PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The Lord showed me that there are only “Nine (9) Basic Sins,” all other transgressions are an outgrowth of a basic sin. For instance, “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” is a sin. (Exodus 20:16). But that is specifically a command not to bring a false witness against a neighbor, but if I lie about where I went to school, that is a transgression, stemming from the root sin of false witness. My point is a false witness against an accused neighbor is of a different category than outright lying about if I really graduated college. Now my point is this: the Lord showed that I once smoked cigarettes, not because I loved tobacco, but I was drawn to love tobacco, out of a SPIRIT OF REBELLION. You see, the first time I smoked a cigarette I was about 12 years old. I was at the point of REBELLING against my parents’ command not to do certain things; so I stole one of my father’s Camel cigarettes and went out behind the house and took my first puff. Now friends, I never would have started smoking had not the seeds of REBELLION been sown in my heart.
REBELLION AND DISOBEDIENCE led me in my teenage years to both smoke and drink, pretty much like Adam and Eve. They were doing just fine in the Garden until they rebelled against God our Father. Then the Lord showed me that much of the trouble I have had in life came not from the peripheral things I did such as smoke or drink, but from the “root sin of rebellion hidden deep in my heart.”
Recently, I have been leading men, addicted to crack, alcohol, cigarettes, and laziness to the Lord. What I have discovered is that most of them have no trouble quitting crack, for crack itself is not the problem, most of them got off on the wrong track, away from the paths of righteousness at a very young age and they have found things such as crack, violence, crime, and other such destructive forces on this new, but wrong path of life. Once they are back on the path of righteousness and the SPIRIT OF REBELLION and DISOBEDIENCE is rebuked and cast out of them, they become righteous men.
Now, I understand why humility is so very important, and that “…obedience is better than sacrifice,” (I Samuel 15:22), and “…pride goeth before a fall,” (Proverbs 16:18).
Friends, I want to say just these closing words once again. God showed me the reason why I smoked and drank. (Thank God I don’t anymore) was not because those things brought praise and honor, but because they were supported by the SPIRIT OF REBELLION that got started in my life when I was about 12-years old.
Often smokers will ask me, how did you quit? My reply is: When I surrendered to the Lord! What I surrendered was some 17 years of rebellion, (For rebellion is not one of the Nine Basic Sins; it is as the sin of witchcraft, and witchcraft is one of the Nine Basic Sins. I Samuel 15:23). My problem was not cigarettes. The thing that gave life to my smoking was my REBELLIOUS SPIRIT. Once I killed the rebellion, smoking died also. For me, to quit was not a thought or an effort, what WAS an effort was to humble myself to the Lord. After that was accomplished, I never desired to smoke or drink from that day, June 30, 1976, to the present.
I do plan to write more on “How to have OVERFLOWING Good Success” in some later issues.
Addendum
The nine sins are the Ten Commandments minus commandment #3.
You are commanded not to take His name in vain, but it is only a transgression attributed to disbelief; that is why the Jews write G-D and will not speak His name because they believe.
You might note that of the entire Cannon of items listed as sins in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, they are either abominations, transgressions, or violations. Dr. James David Manning
