Iniquity

Everybody knows better; all are wise in their own sight. It does not matter whether they call themselves the Lord's or not; if they have called themselves the Lord's for a short time or long; whether they are young or old. It does not matter at whose feet they learned, or studied without learning, if at any feet at all; whether they have been with many or few; whether they have read the Scriptures much or little; whether they are in the religious systems or not (and many out of the systems are the greatest rebels of all, the easiest to offend, the most sensitive, ones with the greatest egos...often that is why they are out and not because they have obeyed God). It does not matter if they have revelation knowledge or not (in fact, knowledge puffs up); whether one is a husband, wife or single; whether rich or poor, weak or strong. All have that spirit that says, "I know better...I'll tell you."

Nobody wants to hear he or she is wrong; nobody wants to follow; nobody wants to obey a man in the spiritual realm. Flesh only obeys if it perceives a tangible or obvious reward; otherwise it rebels. "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...I follow Jesus and Jesus only; you are trying to put me into bondage; when you talk, I get under condemnation. You are trying to lord it over me...who do you think you are?! I know as much as you do, and besides, even if you do know more, who says knowledge is everything? I have as close a walk with God as do you, even closer, I'm sure. I can agree with some things you say but please don't tell me what to do; don't tell me what is right and what is wrong; don't lay the law on me...I won't stand for it."

God has always sent men. I have no reason to believe He has changed. Neither does anyone else. The Lord has called me to speak, to teach, to rebuke, to criticize, yes, criticize, to condemn, yes, condemn, and to judge, yes judge. What awful assertions! "Surely he is antiChrist; surely he is beside himself; surely his ego has taken over completely!" People, maybe it has, maybe it has. And God spare you and destroy me if this is so. But I speak of many things the Lord has told me, made known to me and I can do no other. If I have not had a love of the truth and He has sent me strong delusion that I should believe a lie, then who am I to escape God or thwart His purposes?

Who am I that He should send me, and that I should speak on His behalf? But He asks me to give my life for His sheep. Of myself, I am not one to do that, nor is any man.

Many have come teaching revelation, some true, some speculative, some theoretical and opinionated. Many have come disseminating knowledge, but who will come to address people where they are at in the everyday personal matters of life, to speak a word from the Lord for food and light pertaining to their own personal walk here and now? Many come to "comfort," to "lead without pushing," to "love," to "be an example instead of lording it over." But I say to you, that while there needs to be revelation, while there needs to be the comforting, leading, love and example, there is need for telling people what to do and to tell it like it is. There is need for specific direction, for addressing problems specifically and not just generally. That is what the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are all about; that is what the prayers for healing are all about...addressing specific matters.

"Law, law, law! That's all I hear from your mouth. Cut me some slack, will you? I tried that...it didn't work; I had no peace with specific do's and don'ts. Righteousness doesn't come by the law! Don't you know that?"

Sorry to disappoint those under and full of "grace" but you are wrong! You say that law was the old and grace is the new. Yes and no. Law and grace were both there in the Old Testament while the law was in ministration and law and grace are both here now while grace is in ministration. The Law was never done away...ceremonial, yes, but moral law and the discipline of God, never. Even the world teaches that you cannot do as you please. In Canada one drives on the right side of the road; in England, on the left. There are speed limits, multitudinous laws and restrictions which we must all obey and suffer the consequences if we don't obey.

Herein lies some of the confusion: We, as saints, are not under the law but in it AND IT IN US. We keep the law but do not trust the keeping of it for our favor with God. Our salvation is not gained, added to nor completed by the works of the law but we, as saints, and therefore as only we can, do uphold the law, maintain it for our good and for the glory of God.

Grace is not the doing away of the law but the doing away of the inability to keep the law. Grace is not the power to keep the law in and of ourselves but the power of Christ in us to keep it. The law is not fulfilled in that it is no longer to be kept. (Heaven and earth will pass away first, which they haven't); it is fulfilled in that its demands have been met in Christ in us. We are not freed from the law as though it were done away; we are freed from the law in that it no longer defies us, we no longer hate it, we no longer are in rebellion to it. It is not the law which must be done away but the power of the flesh to resist the law.

The Lord once spoke to me saying, "They will come to you saying 'Law! Law!' but those hate the law because they hate Me. They will come to you saying, 'Grace, grace!' but I will show them the fruits of their supposed grace, which is lawlessness, and I will give grace to those who seek to obey Me and they will bask in the goodness of that grace (words to that effect)."

Do not mistake grace with lawlessness.

Why do you suppose Jesus said to some who had thought surely that they had come to know Him and gained His favor, "Depart from Me, you that work INIQUITY"? Iniquity means "lawlessness" or "walking without or outside the law." What does Psalm 1 say? Is it only for the Old Testament people? Not at all! Only the self-destructive fool concludes so. But what does it say? "Blessed is the man...(whose) delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His law does he meditate both day and night..." It also says, "The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away." If Psalm 1 is only for then, why do you read it? Why does one gain comfort from the psalms? Why does the New Testament quote from the psalms if they are no longer relevant?

Many are aware of the words in Proverbs saying, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," but few know the rest of that verse which says, "but he that KEEPS THY LAW, happy is he."

Psalm 119 is full of law. The longest psalm in the Bible is all LAW. Even years after the Pentecostal outpouring, James and the elders were telling people what to do; Paul was telling Timothy what to do; men of God from Heaven were telling John what to do and men of God on earth were ever telling others what to do.

In referring a man to a passage in Corinthians about doing well if he chose to keep his virgin, he referred to an event wherein a man decided to keep his virgin daughter who in turn jumped out of his vehicle at 60 miles an hour, consequently having to be buried. Whether this story is true or not, how is it the Word of God is made null and void by such an example? Because the lawless will not obey the commandments, precepts, testimonies, laws, ordinances, judgments, and statutes, is the counsel of the Scriptures therefore null and void, illegitimate and in error? How is it that when people wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, the blame should be laid on the Scriptures, on God, the Author of them, and not on the children of iniquity who destroy themselves? Isn't this like saying that marriage is wrong because you know someone who divorced?

I do not advocate control against one's own will, at least not in adult cases. There are many times, each and every day, when the good and wise parent will put his or her foot down with the children and a good thing it is to do so. Yes, the child will wail and react in many ways but its life is spared for a little longer and, it learns. Law? Most definitely. Needful? Most definitely. Bad? Depending on the spirit of application and the application itself BUT NOT BECAUSE OF LAW ITSELF. THIS is what you must know for your lives, those of you who are the Lord's, and deceived by wicked, rebellious, iniquitous people and their philosophies and customs of this world, this generation, this age. But I do advocate, in no uncertain terms, obedience to the laws of God as brought forth by His chosen vessels set in authority for however long or short a time, in whatever capacity. This, people contend with me about, and those who have gone their own way have suffered the consequences, doing without. That too is a law.

Now I will say something so hard to hear for any, whether they have been exposed to the false and burned or not, because the problem is not whether they were exposed to the false and burned or not, but rather the problem is that of the hard and unsubmissive heart of Adam in each and every person that deliberately chooses to do its own thing, no matter what. Here it is:

When Peter instructed the elders (I Peter 5:1-7) saying, "Feed the flock of God...taking the oversight thereof...neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock," he was not speaking of acts but of motive, as with any and all other Scriptures, laws, etc. For example, God gave the laws at Sinai, one of which said, "Thou shalt not kill." Yet almost immediately after, Moses slew by the sword 3000! Did not the Lord require Moses to keep the laws he received and was delivering to God's people? The question was not one of act but of motive. Again, with those same laws, they marched against Canaan, destroying man, woman and child. Did it matter whether they were Israelites (brothers) or not, adult or not, male or not, strong or not? No. What did matter was the motive. Moses was righteous in his slaughter of 3000 at the time. Phinehas was honored by God for running a javelin through a couple for fornication. He saved many lives out of the hand of the Lawgiver by doing so!

Peter was not instructing the elders against telling people what to do. He was cautioning them about their motives in telling people what to do. Jesus told the men to launch out into the deep; He told them to go forth two by two to preach and heal; He told the woman at the well to go get her husband; He told them to bring the demoniac son to Him; He told them to follow Him, that He would make them to be fishers of men (in which case they dropped their jobs and fathers right there and then!); He told others, not even His disciples, to fill waterpots with water; He told them to go get the donkey; He told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat; He told them to go catch a fish to pay the taxes; He told them to take away the stone at the grave of Lazarus (doesn't sound like he even helped); He told them to loose Lazarus and let him go; He told His disciples to go prepare the Passover that they might eat; He told them a thing or two to do when He cleansed the temple. The gospels are filled with commands Jesus gave to others often without any indication that He helped, not that He wouldn't have. And as He did so, He sent His disciples to do as He. Later we read of James and the elders giving instructions for Jew and gentile alike, Peter giving instructions concerning the widows and choosing of those to wait on tables, the apostles directing monies brought forth from the sale of properties, Paul telling many what to do in all sorts of matters.

The Scriptures are full of commands, instructions, directions by men of God in both Old and New Testaments, in all things, to all people. Why don't we see that? Why do we all stand up and scream, "There is only one mediator between God and men" as a defence against being told what to do by someone? Why do we loudly proclaim that "we are all kings and priests" and therefore equal in every way with anyone and everyone, no matter what their calling might be? Yet we pay our taxes to heathen governments, don't we? Should we if we are kings? We drive the speed limit and obey the police, don't we (or do we)? We line up at the express checkout only if we have the maximum number of items, don't we? We wear what our employers require us to wear at work and do as they direct, don't we? But aren't we kings and priests? Or do we only do as we are told by the world and its authorities? Or when we are either paid or under threat of punishment?

"Oh, but those are invalid examples; those are physical, 'secular,'worldly, everyday things! We're talking about spiritual matters." Really! Let's take a look at another statement Peter made: "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, AND for the praise of them that do well...as servants of God...Honour All men. Love the brotherhood (rebels spell this "botherhood)." Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward..." Where does it say here that we should obey and submit to secular powers only and not to those placed in authority by God in more important matters? And what does it say in Hebrews? "Remember them that have the rule over you..." and "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves..."

Hear what Paul says to Timothy: "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine" (I Tim. 5:17). Tell me, does that exclude doing all that is asked of you by these elders? If that is your idea of double honor, begin to think anew.

Do all these exhortations, or should we say COMMANDS apply only to "physical" and "secular" situations? Says who? Says the rebel, that is who. Says the son of iniquity, that's who. And I'll tell you something more. That son of iniquity doesn't have the slightest respect for the secular or earthly ordinance either, except where it suits him or her. If one is called and has difficulty or refuses to obey those who are the Lord's messengers and who watch for their souls, how will they obey those who are not there in righteousness and who don't care? A rebellious nature demanding equality is iniquitous in all its ways and cannot be otherwise anywhere, at anytime, in any way. That too is a law.

What a terrible place rebels live in...an existence full of every kind of law one can imagine, covering everything...can't even stumble without falling! Surely God is a tyrant to such, someone to be despised, shunned, refused.

Here's the score: I will come and tell you what to do, in all things that I'm given. If I do so in the Lord, it will be for you as well as or rather than for me. It will likely not differ a whole lot in appearance from other cases where you were told what to do by those who served themselves; one cannot tell by the appearance, truly. But you cannot write me off or refuse or deny me simply because you've been burned in the past or because you have been exposed to the false. That will not do; it will not serve as excuse to God for disobedience.

Yes, charlatans and even well-meaning men have come with their systems of submission, their doctrines of do's and don'ts, and ways of doing things, requiring various modes of behaviour, some fairly tolerable and some incredible. I come to tell you what to do and if you do it, you will live, by the grace of God. If you are His and I am His, we are fine; if I am not His and you are, He will keep you; if I am His and you are not, you'll scoff at this, sooner or later; if neither of us is His, who cares? But I know I am His and I call upon and write to those who desire His will and whom He commits into my keeping for His sake and theirs.

You may well ask, "Why should I submit to you? Perhaps you ought to submit to me!" Yes, a valid point. We shall know by the Lord soon and well enough. I will know you by your power and you will know me by mine and God will make it clear one way or another what He requires of whom, and require it He will. He is finished winking.

Indeed, it is all a matter of faith, not logic nor reason nor intelligence. God will grant what is needed.

Victor Hafichuk