Acts 4:25- 31  You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against The Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

It is odd to me that in warning people of the persecution to come, we would get a reply that prophecy is to build us up, to strengthen, and edify; therefore, these dire warnings regarding persecution, lock downs and lock ups, even persecution of churches, and confiscations, is not acceptable in prophecy. Warnings are not to build us up? When an army is warned of another do they not build themselves up? How then can these things be labelled fear mongering, as they are, and unedifying? If talk of persecution incites fear, my question to them is WHY do YOU fear?

Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Isaiah 8:12 “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.

We should Know that perfect love casts out fear, and we should endeavor to become perfected in Love, in Christ, seeking revelation of God’s love. We are not appointed to wrath. Understand that every hair on our head is numbered, every tear accounted for, trust that God has been preparing his bride to endure until the end, she will make Him proud in the beauty of HIS Holiness. Those WHO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION. Those who have put their full trust in Him, already know, there is no deliverer like Him, no healer like Him, no dead raiser like Him, no keeper like Him, no lover like Him, no provider like Him, contender, advocate, or righteous judge. I can personally vouch the promise of God- what you lose for his namesake in this life He will restore back the same, but not with out persecution. Three times, all we had was turned over for the Lords work. Thrice it was restored. Yet, there remained persecution.

Let me boast on His faithfulness. Never have I ever been around any criminal element in my life, but I was falsely accused, detained, and interrogated, when we entered a certain city, to establish a prayer hub many years ago.  So absurd, was the thing, we laugh about it now. But it kept happening. Another false accusation, a case of mistaken identity, a death threat; again, the Lord’s word for us was to think it not strange! The law was overly aggressive, it was surreal. I remember thinking this can’t be real life in America. I knew we were seeing shadows of that which is to come, a series of odd, and unrelated events, that had nothing to do with us, over shadowed our efforts for four years. One loud bang on the door after another, ending with a confused law enforcement member wondering what in the world is this all about? We began to understand that the source of this kind of opposition was coming from spiritual realms and it raised its ugly head every time we would cross a county line. At one point we were traveling for work in two different states. When we left the State, everything was fine, but traveling back into the state where we were called to establish that prayer hub would stir up warfare. Nevertheless, it all would come to nothing, as the Holy Spirit whispered: think it not strange!  In all this we were warned prophetically, God even encouraging us that He would expose the strongholds with in the regions He would send us to, the prophet that spoke that word over us never knew the circumstances we were already under.

Satan, who is the accuser, wanted to halt this prayer ministry sent to the Eastern Seaboard, from across the United States at the turning point of America’s end time troubles in 2004, with the onset of the war in Iraq, beginning with 9/11. To hinder prayer ministry in the land of former awakenings. These Port Cities are notorious for Satanic Strongholds and it seems as though the opposition has a violent, lawless, accusatory nature. We were sent to that city to pray for the nation, and saw in kind, a prophetic precursor of persecutions to come, in the spirit of intercession. Specifically, regarding certain anointings, and the warfare that responds to them. It was there we saw this persecution raise up through law enforcement, but it all came to naught.

We were soon to understand, this commissioning to pray, was touching on those issues to come even several years later. As was prophesied in the “Days of the Judges” prophecy in 2010. “Law enforcement would become a more militant breed.” Prosecutors would become persecutors of the faith, and false confessions wrung out of intense interrogations, where the legal right of our citizens will erode, in a brutal legal environment, if things don’t change in America. Still the unusual attention that we suffered, I believe was orchestrated by the Prince of Darkness, and not by any natural conspiracy. However, if America does not resist the assault vented against our constitution, this spiritual breach will, and has already, begun to infiltrate law inforcement and the courts of our land, by natural means and intent. However we war not against flesh and blood, but this spiritual warfare was a prelude of natural wars to come. Now we see after all these years the impact of soldiers coming home and entering law enforcement. A more militant presence, that has encroached upon the rights of others. That has created growing animosity where now the pendulum has swung to the extreme, where communities are trying to defund law enforcement, in what is becoming an increasingly lawless environment. Psalm 2 why do the heathen rage and the people plot a vain thing? … I will put them in derision … 

I could tell of the time we were sharing a word in a leadership meeting, that manifested a devil in the leadership, while we were teaching about religious spirits in the church. Of course, we were the ones who got cast out, not the devil. That church struggled for many years after in a cycle of ups and downs, and revolving doors. I could tell you about false brethren, testifying falsely in court, Christians used as Satan’s pawns, testifying against Christians. Not from the camp of religiosity, but strangely enough from the camp harping on love and grace. If you don’t believe persecution is alive and well in America think again. There are satanic operating systems, in the land. The people that do their bidding, many of them know not what they do. Certainly, in our case with the sheriffs department, they were just responding to false information. It’s Satan who is the accuser of the brethren. When you have regions in the Bible Belt under the influence of an Ahab Jezebel operating system, that by default, creates a hostile environment for a particular type of prophet God has called to the Church. Since the Spirit of Elijah makes straight paths for the Lord, as was Johns anointing and call, and Jesus said the Spirit of Elijah is come. Speaking about John the Baptist, so before Christ’s second coming this same mantle rests upon those actively operating in the “forerunner anointing.”

So it’s all coming to a show down isn’t it?  Would that we could avoid these things, and not be betrayed even by our own. But it is inevitable, that among us are not those that are really with us. Even Christ appointed His own betrayer … Remember, Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He knows how to talk, and mimic the walk. Of course, we prayed for our enemy, that is Christianity 101. But, I realized love’s true passion to save, finding the need to define love, I know this one thing, the wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of your enemy deceitful.

Show Me What Love Is

We found the kiss of Judas, among the most “love” talking bunch you ever met in your life. This is the thing- True LOVE doesn’t fool around, it will knock you down, and beat the flames off your back at the expense of its own hands, no greater love than this … Laying down your own life, reputation, your lively hood, this is love in motion and it is not for cowards. Love will show its true nature in the days to come. As much as betrayal will raise its ugly head, even in the midst of families, so more shall love reveal its true self, in selfless acts of sacrifice. Risking love lost while standing for the love of truth. While they prophecy to you, “You will stand in the winners circle” embrace the one that’s not afraid to tell you about the third round, the one where you’re going to take a hit, so that you can prepare a STRATEGY. Even so you may just have to roll with the punch, but know the final round is yours. Love never fails.

Prophetic Warning

Remember the prophets that warned of a famine, in the first church, and the preparations that ensued? This is bible. It takes skill to prophecy the darker side of the equation, and keep the atmosphere in faith, who will teach them how? The LORD says TEACH THEM. Teach them how to handle the Word of Life. Until we come into that more perfect way … They Will Drag You Into Court. I wrote about the DAYS OF THE JUDGES prophecy out of a vision, that begun by hearing the sound of a gavel pounding in a court room, while hearing the words: ALL RISE! Followed later by a vision that ended with Judges standing before me and then entering a court room wearing BRONZED ROBES. I believe that God is raising up these judges to execute righteous judgment in the land. Now we know dozens of  circuit judges was appointed by the Trump administration that will stand as guardians for the constitution on behalf of the people if they are constitutionally abiding. But, at the time of this vision we began to live excerpts of this court room scene out one year later. True to His word, we had an angelic visitation that walked into the court room, at the end of  the proceedings in another’s case, I had to attend as a witness. It was  a wicked attack that Christians were fooled into participating in. I never thought I’d see the day! However, at the end of the closing arguments between the two lawyers, before the judge made his decision, the Lord opened my eyes to an angel that walked into the court room, stood next to me, not far from the defendant, and then leave with the judge. He ruled against the lies! Praise God victory was won! The plethora of Christian involvement on the other side, didn’t know, never once discerned, the false narrative they were acting on. Phone calls, surprised visits, Facebook attacks, searing e-mails, volunteering to be witnesses. All of them deceived. All of them, unknowingly, being used to turn a simple court proceeding into a bizarre platform for persecution. The whole time, the other side, in the proceedings just waited on God to bring justice, in a situation where the accuser paid big money to deceive, going from home to home among the church community, that both plaintiff and defendant belonged to, stirring up opposition.

I know now what God can do, and truly, I can tell you, that in a court full of Christians on both sides, God brought justice for the upright, and in the court’s decision secured back all that the enemy tried to take away, giving more than what the accused side even asked for. Sadly, division plagued that community. The thing is God is not mocked, what a man sows, that he shall also reap. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. These type of happenings were precursors of things to come. Again, three times we passed through those waters of false accusation. Every time God came through and shut down the accuser.

The False Church Will Persecute The True

I felt like these experiences were more than just events in our life, but a prophetic walk through of times to come. When The Lord showed me the Judges he was raising up in the Land, he also showed me what I thought was the church, in the spirit. She was on her knees. She was praying. On the floor, right in front of me. In a vision, she lifted up her head and her hands, but then a frightful thing began to occur, her raised hands turned inward towards herself, and became clawed, she froze in a scream and became a stone pillar, I saw the Church, the body of Christ, even the Bride,  I saw the bride pass through the harlot that was becoming frozen like a stone statue, the remnant  coming out of the false bride before she became like Lots wife, a pillar of stone, frozen in the form of a scream. The remnant came out but not with out persecution, they waited too long and barely made it out before becoming entombed in this horrific monstrosity. Yet, still able (in the last moment) to  collect into a form of a young maiden. It was her the beloved! She stood upright after coming together from a mist of cells.

As soon as all the church came out from her, what I would call a state of rigamortis, (stiff and dead) the pillar of stone then became crushed to powder, and laid there before me in a heap of dust. Yet still, the last to exit was in her, as the false church turned into this state of postmortem horror. There is trouble for them that are not getting out of Babylon now. Churches and ministries that are hard wired into the beast system need to GET OUT. I saw church buildings and properties confiscated over tax laws. These properties were seized under the guise of belonging “to the people“ over their tax exempt status.  I saw large ministries and large churches saved who began to restructure. Who broke down into home groups and appointed a traveling presbytery to move among them in the cities. Visiting homes and meeting out side of the non profit status. Apostles and prophets on the move again like Barnabas and Paul. Come out from the midst of her my people … Jeremiah 51.

Psalm 110 The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendour, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.

You see, righteous judgement is not a dirty word. He created the smith that bloweth the coals. The same fire that consumes, refines. Remember, the executioners who threw the Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, the fire consumed them, the boys came out with out even the HINT of smoke upon their garments. We can talk about Ananias and Sapphira, tragic church history, in the end we must trust the righteous judge who sees beyond what we can see, from root to fruit, and everything in between. Even, the discipline of being turned over to the destruction of the flesh is love motivated, and prayer fueled, to the end that the soul will not die. Love will suffer the pain of temporary separation, for the greater work of reconciliation. That is true Love, the Father Kind. The serpent’s last act of betrayal has always been a kiss. Love seeks not its own. Love endures all things. Love is kind. The horrific cross was God’s kind act on behalf of humanity.

We could go into endless definitions of what real kindness truly is, but its true definition is relevant to what it produces which is renewal, reconciliation, and restoration. Some how we have sissified acts of kindness neutralizing the act of Agape LOVE, that was carried out upon the cross itself. Forgetting the Father’s greatest kindness to us which is HIS disciplinary love towards those called HIS son’s and daughters. Though the cross displayed the wrath of God towards our sin, it also portrayed HIS mercy toward the sinner in that HIS own blood he paid the price for the remission of sins, and reconciled us back to HIM through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Cautionary Tale of Two Kingdoms.

As we move toward the eve of that catalyst that will bring forth a great surge of persecutions, and even martyrdoms in America. (martyrdom that has occurred in covert ways already.) Remember what began the problem in Philippi, where Paul’s ministry came under attack, not by opposing him, but by enthusiastically joining him. Joining his team with accurate proclamations and worship. Thinking to gain trust, prestige, and title, in order to redirect an APOSTOLIC work. Acts 16:16 it says that with a loud voice a slave girl, possessed by a spirit of DIVINATION, followed Paul around proclaiming their mission, and praising God.

This is exactly how Python, operates, that twisting spirit was attempting to infiltrate the move, to establish a compatible mixture of two streams, where once again a man, an icon, a spirit, a snake, a god would have its own agenda served, slowly squeezing and constricting into a death lock the true apostolic work of God. In Paul’s case He addressed that spirit, and immediately saw the girth of its political strong hold come out of the wood work, in the form of persecution, and accusation. Could this same spirit be in most of our churches today? Exuberantly, worshipping right along side us? Have we used the wrong guidelines in discerning true prophesy? Must there always be a kissy disclaimer to blunt the cutting edge of God’s word, that divides between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart?

The Persecuted Empowered

Paul being an example, where persecution paved the way for greater impact, and more opportunity for astounding demonstrations of God’s power. This began with Paul not pleading with this devil, not counseling with it, but taking AUTHORITY Over it. Setting its victim FREE. Our demonstrations of God ‘s power will not come with out a price. But the pay off … Worth it all. Perhaps Paul was counting the cost in addressing this devil, during the days he suffered this spirit’s intrusion. But, these are the things the first church did in turning the world upside down, how much more the corporate Christ, grown up into the Head, shall displace the Kingdoms of this world, for the kingdoms of our God?

This controversy broke Philippi wide open for the Gospel. Will America’s renewals cost no less? Nevertheless, have you ever had the enemy attempt to redefine your call, your mission? Get you off course, water down the original intent, milkify the meat of it? Luke down the heat of it? That serpent is close to every true apostolic work, and will persecute it when exposed; yet, this will only perpetuate opportunity to demonstrate God’s power. The Lord says, fear not for I am with you, be not afraid nor dismayed, ” … For the Lord your God is with you.” Nevertheless, woe to them where by this offensive standard has come.

Recently, I’ve noticed change, a shift in the atmosphere that seems to act slightly more hostile towards prophetic word and apostolic authority. I’ve seen these same kind of tactics in politics where the spin doctors come on after a debate or presidential speech trying to do damage control when those debates or speeches levelled a blow against special interests. And there they were, right there to fowl the waters, rather than to allow the debate or the speech to speak for itself.

This same spirit is working in the midst of those venues where ever there is an apostolic work, or prophetic word established. The satanic spin doctors come out and begin to steal the word, and fowl the waters. True, and imperative is it that when God releases HIS word, that the prophets are present to STAND and JUDGE. Not hastily, with out skill, or understanding; but, with a sense of responsibility. Knowing this is the obedience of the watchman on the wall, if we compromise the original intent, and divert that arrow from hitting its BULL’S EYE. Or, fowl the clear waters of HIS word, we fall under judgment of the prophets who did not warn. The blood of those who would have otherwise responded may fall upon our hands. By the measure of wisdom given us to examine, we examine.

Rather, it is better for us to wait upon the Lord. The days are evil. The cost of failure too high to falter, needlessly. In the days when whole neighbourhoods, cities, villages, and nations, could be swallowed up by shoal in the blink of an eye. We should not take any of these actions lightly. What if you or I have been reckless? What if we have moved around carelessly in the market place, the sanctuary; in and out of internet venues, looking for a debate, an argument, to entertain ourselves with; rather than to promote, clarify, and substantiate, the Word of Life? What if we are more of a problem than an answer? Will we be held accountable? Now is the time to seek maturity in Christ, lay down the games and the conspiracies, the myths and fables, the folklore and fantasy, and preach the pure unadulterated WORD of God, The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, highly informed and educated said this: 1 Corinthians 2:2  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 
It’s time for us to count the cost, and engage in this noble battle set before us, knowing the time is short. We are either in light or in darkness, the hour will reveal where we stand, shortly.