THE SPIRIT OF BURNING
In Genesis 9:11-17, Yahuweh promised Noah that He would never again flood the earth with water. II Peter 3:1-7 speaks of both the judgment by water in Noah’s day and the coming judgment by fire in our day.
Throughout the prophetic Scriptures warnings of judgment by fire are interspersed with words of the joy of a coming Kingdom ruled over by the Messiah of Israel.
Isaiah 4:2-6: “In that day the Branch of Yahuweh shall be splendid and esteemed. And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for the escaped ones of Israel. And it shall be that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem is called set-apart, everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem. When Yahuweh has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and rinsed away the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then Yahuweh shall create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her gatherings, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the esteem shall be covering, and a booth for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge and for a shelter from storm and rain”. HalleluYah!
Exodus 13:21: “And Yahuweh went before them by day in a column of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a column of fire to give them light…”
In Exodus 14 we see that the cloud and fire went behind the camp to cut off Pharaoh from the Israelites before they crossed the Red Sea. His fire protects and guides His set-apart people, and aids in their deliverance, but the fire of judgment destroys His people’s enemies. In the cloud and the fire was the Presence of Yahushua--the Rock of Israel, the “Angel of Yahuweh”.
I recently spent a lot of time in the City of David--Mount Zion. There are so many prophecies of the restoration of Mount Zion, of Mount Moriah—the original Yerushalyim! But, before this promise is fulfilled, Israel will go through its purging, and for 42 months the set-apart city of the great King will be trampled by the feet of “gentiles”…”pagans, barbarians, heathen, foreigners, aliens, and strangers” – those of the nations who reject the rule of Yahuweh over the earth, along with the army of the United Nations, which is comprised by mostly gentile forces hostile to Israel. (Luke 21:20-27; Revelation 11:2)
Amidst the fire of purging, and thejudgment on Israel’s enemies, Messiah will return to establish His Kingdom on Mt. Zion once again! (Isaiah 63:1-6; 34:1-6; Revelation 19:11-19)
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Yahuweh is called “a consuming fire”. (Hebrews 12:25-29) By His very nature, His light repels darkness. As He moves in judgment in these end days, to purge the earth of sin, rebellion, of lies and deceptions, and of horrendous evil done against mankind by those who follow Satan and his angels, His fire will not spare anyone who is not set-apart as He is set-apart, and walking light as He islight. As we walk in His light, the blood of Messiah continually cleanses us and restores us. (I John 1:5-7)
Let us look at what the Word says regarding the “Spirit of Burning”.It is the purging fire of the Spirit of Yahuweh. Fire destroys, fire purifies, fire draws the dross out of gold and silver so that the dross rises to the top and can be skimmed off and thrown away. The destroying fire of Yahuweh destroys what is not of Him. The purifying fire is applied to His set-apart ones, to make them more set apart, more pure--more free from the dross that would defile their purity. His righteousness consumes the sacrifice of a life laid down on His altar. It burns out sin—rebellion against the Torah (instructions and teachings for right standing in the Kingdom of heaven)--and anything that would stand in the way of the sacrifice being pure. Fire cleanses. It burns disease off of a needle.
The only reason a person has to fear the fire of the coming judgment of Yahuweh is if they are playing secret games, hiding ambitions and agendas that are not of Him, hiding sins and impure thoughts in the mind. These will all be laid out and exposed and burned up.
I Corinthians 3:11-15: “For no one is able to lay any other foundation except that which is laid, which is Yahushua Messiah. And if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw, each one’s work shall be revealed, for the day shall show it up, because it is revealed by fire. And fire shall prove every work of each one, what sort it is. If anyone’s work remains…he shall receive a reward.If anyone’s work is burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, but as so through fire”. This is the judgment of our works.[Refer to: “Rewards According to Works”. Of course, gold, silver, and precious stones, will survive the fire and be purified by it. But, wood, hay and straw will be burned up. We must submit to the fire of His purging now that we become“vessels unto honor”.
II Timothy 2:19-21: “However, the solid foundation of Elohim stands firm, having this seal: `Yahuweh knows those that are His’, and let everyone who names the name of Messiah turn from unrighteousness. But, in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some unto value and some unto no value. If, then, anyone cleanses himself from these things(the worthless works of the flesh), he shall be a vessel unto honor, having been set-apart, of good use to the Master, having
been prepared for every good work.”
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In Isaiah the fiery coals off of the altar of incense in heaven purged Isaiah’s lips so that he might only speak the words of Elohim. (Isaiah 6)
In Revelation 8:3-7, the fire of the altar of incense is mixed with the prayers of the set-apart ones and thrown onto the earth for judgment. These are not selfish Santa Claus list prayers. These are the prayers of set-apart ones who are suffering in real tribulation for their faith.
Fire is light. Light destroys darkness by its very nature. In Genesis 1:18, we see that the sun was created to separate the day from the night. As soon as the sun appears at dawn, the darkness is dispelled. Fire separates, too.
One night in 1997, I was trying to go to sleep and felt the presence of demonic spirits in my room. I went quickly into spiritual warfare, but their presence remained. I looked up towards the door of my bedroom and saw a white fire blazing near the door. I cried out “Yahuweh, encircle me with Your fire”. Instantly, the fire moved all around me, and I fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, I called my Ugandan prayer partner Doris. She said, “before you say anything, I must tell you what happened last night. I felt strongly led to prayer for you, which I did. All of a sudden my prayer turned into a white fire. I do not understand it”. I explained that her prayer was the fire that encircled me and brought relief. HalleuYah!
Fire burns and purges, but fire also heats food, warms us in the winter, and lights our homes with loveliness as it burns in the fireplace. Abba desires to bless us with His fire. As we submit to His training and discipline and purging now, then we need not fear the fires of judgment.
It is our job to submit to the purifying fire of Yahuweh’s Spirit. So many think that problems and trials are of the devil, and cry: “I’m under attack”. Most of the time we and our family are hit with problems is because we do not consult Yahuweh for His council. We go by human reasoning or emotions. His council brings peace. Besides, the enemy only attacks those he fears—the set-apart ones who are sold out to Yahuweh’s will. Most of our tests are really from our loving Abba, allowing these things to get us to grow up, to become blamelessness, strong in faith, dying to self, becoming obedient to Him as a good servant. Look carefully at Deuteronomy 8:1-6.
Real attacks of the enemy are against our faith in Yahuweh, against our use of the Word of Yahuweh, to stop us from continuing on. We have to be a threat to the enemy for him to attack. The enemy fears the servants of Yahuweh whom He trusts and with whom He has good relationship.
Abba Yahuweh wants us to fear Him and not man, or loss of some material thing. His tests are to bring us strength and purity of thought. If we have been slack in our relationship with Him, oftentimes He allows the enemy to take us down, all the way down, so that we do not trust in ourselves, but
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only in Him. Oftentimes He has to apply the fire to our selfish ambitions and hidden agendas and plans, so that what we want is cancelled. We must only seek His plans. Then we will live in peace, even in the midst of real attacks.
The fire of Yahuweh will be applied to all of us, either now or later – that is our choice. I choose to have the fire applied now! It is smart to submit to His discipline now, rather than later. He disciplines His own as a good Father, but woe to the rebellious! (Psalm 94:12-13; Hebrews 12:1-14)
Matthew 3:1-12--a prophetic message by Yochanan the immerse: “And the ax is already laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, then, which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed immerse you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to unloosen. He shall immerse you in the Set-Apart Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He shall thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff He shall burn with unquenchable fire”.
The chaff is what is attached to the wheat that has to be removed or else the wheat cannot be used. It is the sin, the transgression (rebellion, revolt, apostasy) against His Torah (instructions and teachings), the fleshly self-will, that drives people against submission to His will--these things must be purged out or we are unfit to be gathered into His storehouse.
Galatians 5:24 follows the list of the fruit of the re-born spirit: “Those who are of Messiah have put to death the flesh with its passions and desires”. Death to self-will, self-reasoning, the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, is imperative if we belong to Messiah Yahushua. We can’t do it. But, by submitting to the Spirit and allowing His fire to purge us, we can be pure as pure gold.
Matthew 13 also speaks of the threshing and the winnowing of the wheat to remove the tares. The tares are gathered FIRST for burning and then the wheat is gathered into His storehouses. The tares and chaff are removed in the threshing process. In ancient times this was done by dragging a “tribulum” over the wheat. The Latin word “tribulum”, from where we get the word “tribulation”, is an ancient farm instrument—a square board with rocks set in it on one side. A rock or small child is set on top of it, and the rocks are dragged over the wheat. The rocks are sharp. Thus, we see that the “tribulation” so feared by those who do not know the Master, is for our good – to free us from all that hinders us from being in His image, and useful to the Master. Embrace the tribulum now, and be set free!
While the chaff is what is attached to us, making us no good to the Master or to ourselves, the tares are wicked ones sown in among the wheat which cause the wheat to be drained of energy. They rise high above the wheat at
the time of harvest so they are easily identified.These wicked ones appear
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to be good and spiritual. They deceive many. Their agenda is to get wealth for themselves. They are used by the spirits of false gods that can lure believers away in deception and lies, while all the while entertaining the ones being sold to Satan. The tares are burned in Yahuweh’s judgment.
As a classic picture of the darnel (tares) that are now being sowed among the wheat, the Hindu Kundalini spirit is taking over great portions of the Christian church, hyped by leaders of the charismatic/prophetic movement in the church, but being embraced by many denominations. In other arenas of the church, people are becoming dead to conviction of sin, and living like the world. Few know Elohim at all. Most simply have a belief system.
From Andrew Strom’s book The Kundalini Warning:
“Tares (darnel) is identified with drunkenness. From the Faussett Bible Encyclopedia: “…when (darnel/tares are) mixed with wheat flour it causes dizziness, intoxication and even paralysis…bearded darnel is known as `the only deleterious grain’, among all the grains”.
On the website Botanical.com: “Darnel is recorded to have produced all the symptoms of drunkenness: a general trembling followed by inability to walk, hindered speed, and vomiting. “Out of all the grasses, tares are seemingly the only ones that produce `deadly effects’ ”.
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43: The darnel is gathered first and burned. In the last days, the darnel rises above the wheat and exposes itself. It has been sown in among the wheat by an enemy. It has remained rather quiet and hidden, but now it is rising to its height above the wheat, and waving in the wind to gain notice. Now that it is clearly visible, when the angels come to gather the wheat, they will first gather the darnel and bundle it for burning. Then the wheat will be gathered into His barns.
In 2008, I heard Yahuweh speak to me before a meeting: “The tares are
now rising”. I did not know I was in the home of a couple who would deny the deity of Messiah in less than three years. Later I also found out that in that meeting were very vicious jezebels who were out to ruin me.
Strom reports that in the Great Awakening in America in the 1740s, a man named James Davenport gained notoriety for is bombastic preaching. The Boston Evening Post wrote of him, speaking of the “wreathing of his body”, creating laugher, screaming, crying, and swooning. “They look more like a company of Bacchanalians after a mad frolick than sober Christians”.
The Post reports that “there was hysterical laughter, trances, barking like dogs, jerking, convulsive laughter, nervous excitement, twitching of muscles--`jerking at a fearful rate’--shouting out loud, dancing wildly, swooning, withering on the ground, animal noises…”.
Do these things sound familiar to you? My friends, these are not the acts of the Spirit of Yahuweh, who says that He gives us self-control and a sound
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mind, and that we are not to act drunken. This is major deception. But,
people who do not know the real Elohim of the Scriptures, are seeking manifestations of the “supernatural world” and finding them in the demonic realm. Abba Yahuweh lives in the eternal world beyond His creation. In the true new birth, our spirit (loins area of our body) is opened to that eternal realm so that we can hear from Him, and have fellowship with Him. In that eternal realm in our spirit we can retain all He says because it has a mind of its own.
It is amazing that almost all of the great revivals from the 1700s to present were torn up and discredited by these manifestations. Yahuweh and Yahushua Yahuweh are set-apart. He is El Elyon—the Most High. He is El Shaddai – the Almighty!
These demonic manifestations are being attributed to the Spirit of “God”. This is blasphemy. It is not a modern phenomenon, but it is reaching more people today because of the ability to communicate worldwide. The tares are unrepentant. They seek manifestations that make them feel good. They have no interest in discipline, in commitment to a covenant, to being a disciple, to being an obedient bond servant of a Master. They want to find FUN and experience in their religion, and so have tapped into a god of the ancient world that is very, very dangerous. The study of the Word from Genesis to Revelation with the Spirit to teach Truth is the only way to escape deception!
Hebrews 10:26-27 speaks of people who depart from truth, which is to enter into sin: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour His adversaries”.
In this category also, are those who are following tares who deny the deity of Messiah, or deny Messiah all together, thus denying the blood sacrifice for sin. They seal their eternal doom. These wicked ones are smooth talkers, using Scripture to back their deceit. Multitudes now are falling into their traps and damning themselves eternally. Be sure your teacher is Yahuweh!