Articles
Part 2 of 11 Parts
The Following Message Has Been Transcribed For
Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation
By The LEM Transcribing & Editing Team.
Please note that the last approximately five minutes of Zephaniah, Chapter 3, Part 1 follows this announcement, and immediately after that Zephaniah, Chapter 3, Part 2 will begin.
Salvation, the true salvation, full stature is a -- in a measure, if you can hear this, a survival of the fittest. Humanity in this hour is a herd of the -- spiritually speaking, compared to a spiritual man, the Lord Jesus Christ who is glorified, we are herds on the face of the earth just like unto us we see there were herds of animals in the jungles. That is what we are. And the fittest of us are going to go on up unto spiritual life. And who are the fittest amongst us? The fittest amongst us are those in whom righteousness is appearing with enough resolve to be willing to confess our sins and repent with the weapon that has been -- you see, everybody has the weapon. If you have Christ in you, you have the weapon. The question is, do you have the resolve? Do you have the willpower? Do you have the drive unto righteousness to lay hold of Christ and use him against your carnal mind? Are you fearless enough to examine yourself and x-ray yourself and look at your sins and say it is true and repent and kill the thing? Do you have the resolve to do it? You going to stand up?
But if you are giving way, you have got a problem, and if you cannot take dominion over that problem, if there is something in you that would really rather hide your sins than confess it, what you need to do is confess that weakness and ask the Lord to take it from you. You have got to want this thing, brethren. You have got to desire righteousness more than you desire to have your sins hidden. And if you desire righteousness above all things, you are amongst the company of the fittest who are about to survive.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, which is Christ Jesus in you, and his righteousness which is the binding -- or which will result in the binding of your sinful carnal mind to the altar of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all these things, all of the goodness of God including life eternal, shall be added unto you.
And now, Zephaniah, Chapter 3, Part 2.
Praise the Lord. We are continuing with Zephaniah, chapter 3. We left off this morning beginning with verse 3. We completed verse 2 this morning. We are beginning with verse 3.
Zephaniah, chapter 3. “Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.” Princes, the Strong word h- -- atr- -- the Hebrew word translated princes, Strong’s 8269, means leader or commander. “Her princes within her.” The Hebrew word translated within means in the midst of, Strong’s 7130. Gesenius, or the writer of our Hebrew lexicon, says, “This word is specifically referring to that which is within the body, within the heart or within the mind. The mind being the seat of thought and desire.” And d- -- Gesenius gives three scriptural references as to when this Hebrew word translated within, and the phrase, “her princes are within her,” is used to describe the inside of the thoughts and desires. So those verses are Psalms 5:9, Psalms 14:9-11 and Psalms 64:6. We see this Hebrew word translated within specifically referring to that which is within the thoughts, the heart or the desires.
So we see that the term, “the princes within,” is speaking about the many-membered corporate carnal mind of this fallen, dead soul. This fallen, dead soul. Sometimes I refer to the corporate, unconscious mind of this dead soul as the first generation of the carnal mind, just as we see the Lord Jesus Christ is the first generation of Christ, and he is the corporate, unconscious mind of the body of Christ. What do I mean the corporate, unconscious mind? I mean that there is one unconscious mind. The Scripture symbolizes the unconscious mind as a sea that flows through all the human beings of humanity, and we human beings are the islands which are in the sea. That is how come we all -- that is how come not all of us, but many of us have this so-called psychic ability which is outside of Christ because we are all connected in the unseen, [?soulish?] aspect of our being. We all have this -- a common, unconscious mind, and that unconscious mind has a name. It is Satan. He is like a sea, he flows through all of us, and that is how we tap into one another’s feelings and emotions.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the unconscious mind of the body of Christ. Therefore, everybody in whom Christ is appearing has in common the Lord Jesus Christ as their unconscious mind. So we see the first generation of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ who is now the Father and our unconscious mind, and he is reproducing his nature in us in the form of his Son, and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ's Son is Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus in you, Christ Jesus in me, and this hour we are individual in our consciousness. We are individuals in our personalities. We are one in our unconscious or spiritual realm. We are divided in the flesh. We are divided in our bodies. We are divided in our personalities in this hour. But in this Spirit, in our unconscious mind we are all one, whether it is in the soul, which is typified by the sea of Satan or the salt sea, or whether we are one in Christ, which is typified by the Lord Jesus Christ whose symbol is a crystal sea.
So we see that there is a first and second generation of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ and us, Christ Jesus. The Father and the Son. In the same way, there are two generations of the carnal mind. Now remember, the Lord Jesus Christ is one with Jehovah. Remember? He went back into his Father, and the Father to us is the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see that the carnal mind who was in the unconscious of fallen man is really one with Satan. The first generation of the carnal mind is the one with Satan as the Lord Jesus Christ is one with Jehovah. And there is a second generation of the carnal mind, the individual personality in the carnal mind. It is the same principle. It is the same principle. So we are speaking here about the princes within, and we are speaking about the many-membered, corporate carnal mind -- unconscious c- -- mind of the fallen, dead soul. This is the first generation of the carnal mind.
“Her princes within are roaring lions.” The Hebrew word translated roaring is Strong’s 7518. Gesenius says, “This word is used of fierce soldiers,” and the Hebrew word translated lions, Strong’s 738, these are young lions. So I suggest to you that the corporate, unconscious carnal mind is the old lion or the father of lions, and the young lions are all the carnal minds of the human beings inhabiting this earth. So we see the Scripture telling us in Zephaniah, 3:3, speaking of the fallen, dead soul, that her princes within her are roaring lions.
Now remember, the first generation -- the first spiritual generation, whether it be the Lord Jesus Christ or the unconscious carnal mind, the first generation is the king. The second generation is the prince. So when we speak about spiritual princes, we are speaking about individual human beings whose mind -- we are speaking about the conscious mind of the individual human being. When we speak about the king, we are speaking about the unconscious mind of the individual human being, the second generation -- the princes, the second generation.
So we see the Scripture speaking about the second generation, speaking about the princes. Well, we know we are talking about [?her?how?] -- the conscious minds of the people. Now, we are trying to find out which mind the Scripture is talking about, the Christ mind or the carnal mind, and the way we find out is by the principle of modification. What word do we have which is modifying the word prince? And we have two words modifying the word prince, roaring lions. Roaring lions. Now, a lion is a type of spiritual power. We know Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, so the fact that the word mind is modified by lion merely confirms that we are speaking about the spirit that is in the mind.
So we look to the second word, roaring lion, and we see that the word roaring is used of fierce soldiers. Fierce soldiers. And although it is possible that you could say Christ is fierce, my feeling of this verse is that it is speaking about the carnal minds. That it is not a fierceness which is righteousness, it is not a fierceness which is in Christ, and especially when you read the rest of the verse which says, “Her judges are evening wolves.” We know that a wolf is an unclean animal and is not likely to typify Christ. So I am going to suggest to you that the roaring lions are the individual, carnal personalities of this fallen, dead soul.
Alternate Translation, the first third of Zephaniah 3:3: “Satan’s unconscious mind is like an army of fierce, young soldiers.” “Satan’s unconscious mind is like an army of fierce, young soldiers.” The carnal mind is a weapon, brethren. She is a military machine. She has the power to hurt, to maim, to kill and to destroy your spiritual existence, your spiritual substance, your physical body and your entire life.
Now, some minds -- I have spoken to about this in this hour -- some members of this human race are maturing more quickly than others, and there are human beings in this earth that have the power to kill with their mind, but they are far and few in this hour, and I mean to kill within a short period of time through witchcraft. But they exist. People can curse you, and you will die within a short period of days: a couple of days, a couple of weeks. It exists. But we also have people that have the power -- that do not have the power to kill you short-term, but have the power to kill you with their mind long-term, and this is not as acknowledged as the actual witches who have the power to kill you short-term. A witch will chant a curse, and you are on the other side of the world, and you drop dead. There are people who have that power. They know about it in Africa, and when they find someone like that, the family gets the person and kills them and burns their bones. They know all about it in Africa. It is like a -- the birth of a bad seed. When I was over there on my second trip, I was told about a young girl -- a young girl -- I think she was only 10 years old by the time she killed five people: her mother, her brother and a couple of other people. And the family elders got together, they determined it was true, that it was her mind, and they killed her, and they burned her bones. She did not mean to kill, but every time she got angry, the person died. It is like something out of a horror movie.
Now, that is acknowledged, but what we do not hear about very much is the person whose mind is not that strong enough to get angry at you, and you drop dead in response, but the person whose mind is strong enough to send minor curses at you and put darts in you. Every time they are angry without a cause, they are throwing darts at you. And after 20 years, for example, the person dies prematurely of a heart attack, and everybody says, woe is me, such a young man to die at 45 years of age. What could have caused such a premature death? Well, perhaps his wife hated him for 20 years until he died at 45 years of age, or it could be a husband doing it to his wife. I am telling you the truth. You say anything you want about me, but I know what I am talking about, and I am telling you, there are people in this world that have the power to kill you in a day or two with their mind, and there are other people who are not quite as strong who can literally hate you to death over a period of 20 years. And the natural example is putting a gun to someone’s head and shooting them or slowly poisoning them. Now, you do not have to believe it if you do not want to, but I know it is true.
And that is why the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us in this hour that we must take control of -- over our carnal mind. The Lord said, “If you hate your brother, you have killed him.” I used to think that when the Lord said that, it was just some -- oh, some example, you know, some parable, you know, but it is not. It is true. When you hate your brother, you kill him, and depending on the strength of your mind, you kill him either rapidly or slowly, and the bottom-line is that we are all -- except for these few exceptions of people who are born with these powers, we are all spiritual children, and our weapon is very dull. It takes us a long time to penetrate the heart of the person with the knife, so we kill them slowly.
But the human race is growing up. This is the message of the hour, brethren. One morning, you are going to wake up and find a weapon in your hands of spiritual power that can damage human beings severely, and if you do not start to learn to restrain that weapon, if you do not begin to learn how to put the safety catch on it and break it down and remove your shells when you are not using it, you are going to have the guilt of murder on your hands. And you could laugh all you want. They laughed at Noah. He preached for 120 years that the rains were coming, and no one believed him, but the rains came and they all died. So you could laugh if you want to, but I am telling you that there is such a thing as spiritual age, and that this creation is growing up, and we are about to wake up one morning and find that we have muscles that we never knew that we had, and we better start to get control over our emotions because it is more than words. It comes out of our thoughts, and you are responsible for what you think. So if you are thinking sinful thoughts that kill, you must cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ to grow you up in Christ Jesus so that Christ Jesus can bind up your weapon, break it down, remove the shells, and chain up the trigger until such time as you make an active, decisive, willful, righteous choice to take that weapon out to be used to the glory of God.
But if your weapon shoots every time it feels like it and does not stop to ask your permission, you are going to be like one whose son has died because he found your gun and went to play cops and robbers with it and killed himself. You will have grief, brethren. So hear the word of the Lord, and let us start practicing to learn how to shoot because there is no gun restriction law in the Kingdom. We are going back to the days of the O.K. Corral on a spiritual level.
“Satan’s unconscious mind is a like an army of fierce, young soldiers.” Continuing with the second third of Zephaniah 3:3. “Her judges are evening wolves.” The Hebrew word translated judges, Strong’s 8199, and that word means governors. The Scripture is saying the ones who govern her are like evening wolves. Look, brethren, every human being has a governor. Every human being has a spiritual head, one who rules them. It is either the carnal mind or it is Christ. If your governor is the carnal mind, you have a cruel taskmaster over you. That is why Jesus said my -- what did he say? “My burden is l- -- my yoke is easy” --
Yeah.
-- “and my burden is light”? You see, most people do not realize that every man has a governor. You have just been so entangled with the carnal mind since your birth that you think you run your own life, but you are deceived. You do not run your own life. There is a beast inside of your head that runs your life unless the Lord Jesus Christ runs your life.
“Her judges” -- the ones who govern -- the one who governs her -- “are evening wolves.” We are talking about the soul which is God’s creation which is given over to Satan and the carnal mind. “Her governors are evening wolves.” The Hebrew word translated evening is Strong’s 6153. It is speaking about the time between sunset and deep twilight. Other translations of this word is foreigners or strangers. The Hebrew word translated w- -- in other words, it is speaking about spiritual darkness. The soul which is dead is governed by spiritual darkness. We are talking about Satan and the carnal mind. Wolves, Strong’s 2061, “an animal that frightens the flock”, and this word is derived from its tawny and yellow color. This word -- Hebrew word translated wolf, it is a derivative of a word that means tawny and yellow.
We did a study on the word yellow back in the series, “Jesus in the Jordan,” where we found out that yellow speaks of judgment. I am just going to briefly go through this study. I am not going to repeat the whole study. If you would like to hear the whole study, you will have to get Part 2 of the message “Jesus in the Jordan.” I am just going to give you a couple of pointers to [?hope?help?] to witness to you that the color yellow was speaking about judgment, and that the intention of this Scripture is that these fierce wolves of the darkness are judging the souls of men who have a fallen mind, and that the judgment that they are judging her with is Satan’s reaping and sowing judgment which is unto destruction without opportunity for repentance, without the impartation of understanding or mercy of any kind.
The study that we did in the book “Jesus in the Jordan” comes from Psalms 68:13 which reads, “Though ye have lien amongst the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold.” The word lien is Old English. It means to lie down, and another meaning of that word is to engage in a spiritual union or to engage to -- in a union. And the word pots, again, is an Old English word. It also can be translated sheep fold or a stable or a barn or an enclosure for sheep. So we see that the Scripture is saying even though you have been lying in the place where the animals dwell, or even though you have been engaging in a spiritual union with Satan who is the beast, OK. Nevertheless, the -- you are -- you shall be as -- when God finishes you, when he cleans up, you shall be “As the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold.” Wings refer to Spirit, a dove is a gentle bird, silver is salvation, and feather is something that even covers the skin. It is an external covering of the body.
So let us get to the word gold and see what it is saying. When we did this study, we found out that there is more than one Hebrew word that is translated yellow, and for this particular verse, the Hebrew word translated yellow is a word that is used to describe leprosy. It is not a good yellow. So we see the Scripture speaking about yellow gold, and when we looked up gold -- the word gold in Gesenius, we found out that one of the translations of gold means judgment. Now, there are several Hebrew words translated gold, and this particular word can be translated judgment. This translation is not inconsistent when one realizes that gold typifies the Spirit of God, and that judgment is always the result of a sin-filled man coming in contact with the Spirit of God. Gold typifies the Spirit. Every time the Spirit comes up against sin, there is judgment, so gold can typify judgment. That is not inconsistent. So what does it mean to be covered with judgment? Well, I am going to just jump past this.
And I will give you an Alternate Translation of Psalms 68:13. “Even though the living soul has engaged in an animalistic union with Satan” -- that is what he is; he is the beast, and when we are joining with him, we become the beast -- “her weak, feeble carnal mind” -- that is us -- “shall nevertheless be overlaid with the mind of Christ.” That is the promise of God unto us. “And her leprous, external expression” -- that is its body, brethren -- “shall be forced underneath Christ through judgment.” Through judgment. Judgment produces a good thing in us.
So we have as an Alternate Translation the second third of Zephaniah 3:3: “Her judges are frightening animals who execute strange judgment of the night.” Strange judgment. And I suggest to you that this expression, strange judgment, is speaking about judging before the time. There is two kinds of judgment: strange judgment -- righteous judgment and judging before the time. Judging before the time is when you judge out of your carnal mind, and your judgment condemns and kills the person. When you see sin in somebody with your carnal mind and you tell them what you see with your carnal mind, you condemn them and you kill them. When Christ in you exposes sin in somebody, it is for the purpose of their improvement -- of self-improvement, and you give life unto them. You give them an opportunity to repent and ask God to help them to change. This is the righteous judgment which is acceptable to God. The judgment that condemns is not acceptable to God. It is the sin of pride, and if you judge before the time, you yourself shall be judged.
So we see Zephaniah, chapter 3, speaking about strange judgment. I have two witnesses for you on that. There are two Scriptures that speak about strange fire, and fire is another word for judgment. The lake of fire is judgment. In Leviticus 10:1-2, we hear, “And Nadab and Abihu” -- the sons of Aaron -- “took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which the Lord did not command them to do.” They did it out of their own heart. “And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” You see, some people think they are helping God, that they are doing God a service when they point out sin in people, but be careful because the judgment of God is coming after you who are judging before the time, and he is going to kill your carnal mind. Under the old covenant, people actually died. Under the new covenant, it is your carnal mind that has to die.
Numbers 3:4: “And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children.” So we see that there is additional information in Numbers. Not only did they die, but they had no children. So we see if you judge before the time, not only does your carnal mind die, but you do not produce the Christ child. Now, if your carnal mind dies and you do not have the Christ child, that means you are wiped out. The carnal mind can only die when you have the Christ child. Then you live through Christ. You must have the Christ child, brethren. So do not judge before the time.
Amplified translation, the second third of Zephaniah 3:3: “This soul is governed by the carnal mind sowing and reaping judgment as only Christ can judge righteous judgment which produces life.” So we are told that this fallen and dead soul is under a judgment that produces her death. That is why people die, brethren. That is why all your relatives before you have died, and that is why you are dying because this whole world system which is hell is under the reaping and sowing judgment mediated and executed by Satan whereby it is determined that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and she has the -- who? She, Satan has the right to kill you in due season.
So we see that the fallen, dead soul is not judged by the judgment seat of Christ, but by the reaping and sowing judgment of Satan, and that is why the whole world and all of humanity is dying. When the righteous judgment of Christ, when the white throne judgment of Christ, judges you, you are shown your sins, you are given understanding, you are given an opportunity to repent and to be raised from the dead unto the righteousness of Christ in which event you shall eventually cease from dying and enter into life everlasting.
The third third of Zephaniah 3:3: “They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.” The Hebrew word translated not is that word which we have been translating Satan all along. The word gnaw bones, Strong’s 1633, means to cut off, and the word morrow means the next day. There is a prefix before the word morrow. It is the Hebrew letter lamed, and we are translating that because of. I further suggest to you that the next day, with regard to [?the?this?] Scripture, is not the next carnal day, it is not the next 24-hour day, but it is the next spiritual day, or another way we could say that is the next age. Right now we are in which age? What is the name of the age we are in?
[INAUDIBLE]
The church age. We are in the church age, and we are on the verge of transferring into the Kingdom age, the age which is greatest of all the ages, the age that will last forever, and that age is a person, and his name is Christ. He is the next day. He is the new age.
Alternate Translation, the third third of Zephaniah 3:3: “But Satan shall be cut off because of the next age.” So we see that Satan and our carnal mind is killing us, executing judgment upon us. She is a wild, ravenous wolf. She is destroying us. But the Scripture says, “Nevertheless, Satan shall be cut off because of the next age.” Satan shall be cut off because of the birth of Christ in you. Because the victory which is in Christ shall swallow up the death and destruction which is in Satan, and Satan shall be cut off when Christ appears in the earth.
Alternate Translation, the third -- I am sorry, the third verse of Zephaniah 3: “Satan’s unconscious mind is like an army of fierce, young soldiers. She is governed by the carnal mind sowing and reaping judgment, but Satan shall be cut off because of Christ.” So we see, brethren, that the only salvation, that the only hope of getting out from under Satan’s domination, the only hope of deliverance from hell is by transferring into Christ. We must get into the new age, and the new age is not coming upon us as the new year comes upon us down here in hell where we do nothing, we just live our life and time goes by, and we find out that we are now in a new year. The new age must get inside of us. It is coming upon us from the inside out. You must be penetrated by the new age. It must begin to grow and increase in us so that we can run into it from our spiritual -- from within our spiritual being.
Amplified translation, Zephaniah 3:3: “Satan, her unconscious mind” -- who the souls un- -- the fallen, dead soul’s unconscious mind -- “is like an army of fierce, young soldiers executing the sowing and reaping judgment because of her carnal mind, but Satan shall be cut off because of Christ.” Can you hear it? The judgments that are being executed are because of the sin-filled carnal mind which is in this fallen, dead soul. “Satan, her unconscious mind, is like an army of fierce, young soldiers executing the sowing and reaping judgment because of the sin of the carnal mind. But nevertheless, Satan shall be cut off because of Christ.” We are under the reaping and sowing judgment because of sin, but Satan shall be cut off because of the righteousness of Christ. Brethren, in Adam, all died; but in Christ, all shall be made alive. Because of the sin of one, brethren, the many died. But because of the righteousness of one man, the many shall be made alive. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
Continuing with Zephaniah 3:4: “Her prophets are light and treacherous persons. Her priests have polluted the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.” The Hebrew word translated proud, Strong’s 6348, can also be translated to be leaping or to be bounding. Gesenius says that this word is used of false prophets and of boiling water. Remember that Satan is the sea which is being boiled, and that Eve, the false prophet, is the salt which is dissolved in Satan’s sea. So we see that despite the fact that Eve, the human spirit, is the victim who was dissolved in Satan’s sea, in this Scripture the emphasis is on the one who was being boiled in this Scripture, and it is not on Satan, but on Eve despite the whole situation -- well, what did I write here? Let me try this again. Did I read it wrong or did I write it wrong? So we see that despite the fact that Eve is the victim who was dissolved in Satan’s sea, the emphasis in verse C -- verse 3 is on the one who was being boiled in the Scripture; it is not on Satan. But Eve, despite the whole situation, has the only true authority. Remember, the Lord sees Satan as nothing. What did I say in that note? I do not know. I had a bad morning. Let me explain it to you. No, that is OK.
Every time I have ever spoken about the sea being boiled up to now, we have found Scriptures that have indicated Satan is the one who is being boiled. He is the salt sea. He is being distilled. The purpose of the boiling is to evaporate his water so that the salt crystals, which typify the human spirit, can be separated out from his sea. We have always spoken about Satan’s sea being boiled. But in this Scripture, in Zephaniah 3:3, we see the emphasis is on Eve. The emphasis is on the false prophet. Eve is the false prophet. So we do not see a Scripture saying that Satan is boiling here. We see a Scripture that says Eve is being boiled. What does that mean? The human spirit, Eve, is one with Satan, and in accordance with this Scripture, the sea is being boiled, and God is calling the sea by her name, by false prophet. By false prophet. The boiling is of the false prophet, so the emphasis is on the human spirit. Eve is not innocent. Even though she has been victimized because she has been apprehended by Satan, and she has been joined to him against her will. Despite that fact, God is saying, Eve, you are guilty.
We just spoke about this in the service this morning. None is innocent. All are guilty. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so one more time we find out that as I preached to you out of the knowledge that is in my heart, we find that the following verse is stating what has already come out of my heart. This morning, OK, we talked about Eve being victimized, about the human spirit being victimized, and without looking at the next verse, I said to you, now, brethren, do not get caught in that trap that says man is not responsible for his actions because he has been apprehended by Satan. You are responsibility. I gave you a whole exhortation on it. And now that we do verse 4, th- -- now that we are doing -- I think we are in verse 4. Now that we are doing verse 4, I am finding that the exhortation that I gave you out of my spirit, the warning that I gave you out of my spirit, is right here in the next verse. Verse 3 tells you your human spirit is a prey. She has been victimized. God loves you and he is coming to get you free because you have been victimized. But be careful. Do not let pride rise up in you and say I have no responsibility whatsoever because you do have a responsibility. You are guilty and you are responsible to confess your sins as your part of your deliverance.
So we find this principle in verse 4, and the way the Lord brings it forth to you is that he, in this verse, is not speaking about Satan being boiled to bring forth the separation of the spirit from the soul, but he is speaking about the false prophet being boiled. Why is Eve the false prophet? Brethren, a prophet prophesies. A prophet is involved in a spiritual work, and the human spirit is always involved with prophecy. If the human spirit is joined to the Spirit of God, she is the true prophet. If the human spirit is joined to Satan, she is a false prophet. The prophet is the human spirit. She is that which is spiritual. She is that which is spiritual. The human spirit joined to Satan is the false prophet. The human spirit joined to the Lord Jesus Christ is a -- is the true prophet of God.
So in verse 4, we see the false prophet, Eve, joined to Satan being boiled. Her prophets are boiled and treacherous persons. The Hebrew word translated treacherous is Strong’s 900, and it means treacheries. It is a plural, feminine word which indicates that it is not Christ. So the treacheries are of the carnal mind. If we were to find a word like this, treacheries, that would be plural/masculine, we would have to translate this word as a positive word. Because if the word was masculine and it was being applied to Christ, it would be one of those situations where we were saying that Christ does hurt unto you, but the result of that hurt is good. The fact that the word is female means that the -- it is the carnal mind doing the treachery, and that it is unto the destruction of men. Webster says that treachery is “a violation of trust, a betrayal of faith or treason.”
“Her prophets are light and treacherous persons.” The word translated persons, Strong’s 582, is referring to generally used -- oh, is generally use- -- generally and collectively used with regard to the human race. It is a word that means man, and it is generally -- [AUDIO CUTS OUT] -- not just one individual man like anyone of us sitting here, but when it says this word man is used, it is referring to humanity.
Alternate Translation, the first third of Zephaniah 3:4: “Her many-membered human spirit is being boiled because of humanity’s treason. The whole human race has committed treason. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None is good. No, not one.” And the reason the Scripture can say that is because the Lord is not speaking about behavioral sin. If we are speaking about behavioral sin, some are good and some are not. There are some sins that some people never do, and there are some people who sin with their behavior continuously from morning until night. But the reason the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous in judging the whole world lost [?under?unto?] sin, is that he is not looking at their behavior, but he is looking at their heart and the potential to sin which is in their heart, and potentially every man alive can commit every heinous crime known to man. So whether you act it out or not, or whether you speak it out or not, as far as the Lord is concerned, he has looked at your heart, and he knows that you are capable of it, and has declared you guilty, you see. The Son of God who was truly righteous is incapable of sin. Incapable of it.
So we find the whole human race is guilty of treason, and their treason is against Christ. We are told clearly that wherever Christ is appearing, the carnal mind will betray him and hate him and kill him. Jesus said, “They hated me before they hated you,” and he said, “The disciple is no better than the master.” You are not going to get away with what I experienced. The carnal mind will treat you in the same way they treated me.
Continuing with the second third of Zephaniah 3:4: “Her priests have polluted the sanctuary.” Priests mean priests. We know under the old covenant, it was a Levitical priest. Under the new covenant, the Sons of God are the kings and the priests. The Hebrew word translated profaned -- this is a different Hebrew word than the word used in verse 1, which is speaking about idolatry. This Hebrew word is Strong’s 2490, and it means to perforate, to pierce through, to lay open, to give access to, and it can also be translated to, to prostitute one’s own daughter. And we are going to find that this Scripture is speaking about the betrayal of Christ in oneself, and we know that this whole spiritual experience that we are having is likened unto a man-woman union on a spiritual level. The soul is God’s wife and when his Son is formed in us, OK, that is the husband to the soul. So as I take you through this, you are going to see, and I will give a Scripture showing, that when we allow our carnal mind to tread Christ underfoot, as far as God is concerned we have prostituted our own offspring. It is very serious to let the carnal mind manifest through you.
They ha- -- the -- “Her priests have polluted the sanctuary.” The sanctuary is Strong’s 6944, and it can be translated holy place or holy thing. I suggest to you that holy thing as well as that holy place is Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is the place that you have to run into, the place of sanctuary, Christ in you. “Her priests have pierced through Christ Jesus.” “Her priests have pierced through Christ Jesus.” That is the Alternate Translation of the second third of jef- -- Zephaniah 3:4, and this piercing through? I suggest to you it is speaking about a reverse or a negative circumcision without hands. Her priests, the carnal mind, have circumcised Christ off of her. Mem- -- now remember, Christ is laying -- has knocked the carnal mind down on her back, is laying over her, and covering our sins. But when we agree with the sin, when we are not confessing our sins and repenting of it as sin, the carnal mind can rise up and circumcise Christ off of them thus cutting Christ away, piercing him through, killing him. We had a whole exhortation on this at the end of the message this morning.
And remember, Christ in you is the high priest. The high priest which offers up sacrifices to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a high priest unto us, and the carnal mind is the high priest of Satan. Christ is the high priest of Jehovah. So we see this Scripture speaking about the priests, and I suggest to you there is a spiritual application. The priests of Satan, the carnal minds, have circumcised Christ off of them. They have broken off his bands, they have broken off his restraints, and they have killed him, and this is how you can abort. We see here a description of a spiritual miscarriage, a spontaneous abortion. How could it happen to you? I have been talking about spiritual abortion or spiritual miscarriage here for quite a few years, and here we see a description of how it can happen to you. You have the child formed -- forming in you, Christ Jesus. How could you possibly abort? Brethren, when you fail to confess your sins and repent, or at the very least tell the Lord that you recognize you just cannot do it. If you cannot manage to at least say, Lord, I am not at all confessing my sins. Help me. If you cannot even do that, the chances are the Christ child in you will be cut away or penetrated or ripped out by the priests who -- by Satan’s priests, the carnal mind. He is going to take advantage of your weakness to rip the bands of Christ off of him.
So, brethren, when you are in your sane mind, this is my counsel. I am giving this all over the world. I just gave it in Nigeria. When you are in your right mind, when you are not manifesting, when you are not upset, when you are calm, when you are cool, make a covenant with the Lord that when you manifest, that no matter how much you scream and yell and kick, he should ignore you and do whatever necessary to save you. Do whatever necessary to bring you to repentance at the time when you lose control and the time when you are so caught up in the grips of a manifestation that you will not confess your sins, that you are aggressive, that you are killing God’s prophets. Make your covenant now when you are in your right mind that when you go off into your left mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ should come and save you from yourself, and that is how you will get through. Make your covenant now. I exhort you, make your covenant now. I do it. Lord, in the hour that I am deceived by the pride of my own mind. In the hour that I am caught up in pride and rebellion and cannot break free, save me from myself. Do whatever you must do to deliver me from my own sins which are about to kill me. Make your covenant, brethren, and you will live and not die.
I have two witness -- two wi- -- two Scripture witnesses for you that this expression, to pierce through, is referring to the -- is to the cutting away of the authority of Christ Jesus. Lamentations 2:13: “What shall I equal to thee that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea. Who can heal thee?” This is the word breach, OK, and it is referring to having the bands of Christ broken off of you. The second witness is Jeremiah 14:17: “Therefore, thou shalt say this word unto them. Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.” This word -- this concept of being pierced through or penetrated, it is referring to having Christ cut away and your righteousness being destroyed.
Amplified translation, the second third of Zephaniah 3:4: “Her priests have prostituted Christ Jesus.” What does that mean? “Her priests have prostituted Christ Jesus.” The Scripture is saying, brethren, that when you sin and you will not confess your sins for self-preservation, you have given strength to your carnal mind to kill Christ Jesus and that the Lord sees this activity as the selling of your own daughter for your own purposes.
Continuing with the second third. Oh, yeah, I thought I did a study on that. Here it is. I have a witness for that. Joel 3:3: “And they” -- and this is a witness to the fact that it is possible to prostitute your own Christ Jesus. The Son of God in you, who is not yet in full stature, can be sold down the river by your carnal mind who is the sitting queen on your own throne. She has the power to do it. Why? Because in this hour, the carnal mind is causing our existence. Christ Jesus is the invading force. He is weaker than your carnal mind. That is why we need a Sa- -- an older brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is possible for our carnal mind to prostitute Christ Jesus and that happens when we refuse to confess our sins, and here is the witness.
Joel 3:3: “And they have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they might drink.” “And they have cast lots for my people.” Who? The carnal minds of men are literally buying and selling us all the day long. “They have given a boy” -- Christ -- “for a harlot.” Given us over -- given over the Christ to the carnal mind. “And they have sold a girl” -- speaking of the human spirit -- “for wine” -- wine being Spirit -- “that they might drink.” They have given the human spirit over that they might drink of her wine or join with her spirit. So we see the carnal minds of men, Satan’s high priest, are actually prostituting Christ in themselves for their own benefit and giving their human spirit over to Satan so that they might have power. What are the three biggies that men are looking for? Power, money and sex. And we are constantly -- the human race is constantly, on a daily basis, selling Christ Jesus down the river for those three things or one of them.
And the last phrase of verse 4, Zephaniah 3: “They have done violence to the law.” Done violence, Strong’s 2554, “To treat or oppress violently, to tear away or off from oneself violently.” And the law, I suggest to you -- the law is speaking of the Spirit of Christ. We know -- Paul tells us that there are at least two laws: the law of sin and death, and the law of life which is in Christ Jesus. So we see that a mind is a law -- I am sorry, not the mind. The Spirit in the mind is the law, and I suggest to you that verse 4 is speaking about the law which is Christ. They have done violence to the law. That is the Spirit of Christ.
I have a Scripture witness for that for you. It is pretty much the same verse. It appears in Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2: “And many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law” -- Zion is the Spirit of Christ -- “out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord shall go forth from Jerusalem.”
I have another witness for you in Revelation 14:20. This is our Alternate Translation. “And Christ covered over this world system which is hell, and the second generation of Christ had authority over Satan and flowed down into hell and became the undisputed authority over this world system and the Spirit of Christ which is the law which rules it.” So we see that the law is the Spirit of Christ.
Alternate Translation, the third third, Zephaniah 3:4: “And they have violently torn away the Spirit of Christ.” So we see that Christ Jesus is prostituted, cut away, and the Spirit of Christ is violently torn away. What does that mean? This is another way of saying that they have killed the prophets and broken down the altars. Now remember, a spiritual altar is the union between the male spirit and the human spirit. They join and form an altar. So the tearing away of the Spirit is the breaking down of the altar, and the killing of the prophet is the killing of the child which is formed of the union. If the child is the Christ child, the killing of the prophet is the killing of Christ, and the breaking of his altar is the ripping of the Spirit of Christ away from the human spirit.
So we see that we are being told in Zephaniah, chapter 3 that it is the selfish, self-preservation of proud carnal minds of men, who are refusing to confess their sins and repent because of their own purposes, who are responsible for the death of Christ -- for his prostitution, and for the prostituting of him, the handing over of him -- of the Christ child, and for the death of the Christ child, and for the ripping apart of the union between Jehovah and the human spirit which produced him. It is a refusal to confess one’s sins and repent that will result in this death of Christ in you.
And we found out in the message this morning that another way to express this situation is to say that Christ in us can be aborted, can be killed, can be broken down because he has failed to bind the carnal mind to the altar of Jesus Christ. He has failed to restrain the carnal mind, and in simple English, brethren, you can have Christ formed in you, you can be powerful, healing and delivering and speaking prophecy. You can be powerful in these things, but if you refuse or fail to use Christ in you to expose and reveal your own sins and repent, if you fail to do that, at some time when you are not looking, the carnal mind is going to rise up and kill Christ in you.
So kill your enemy, brethren, because if you do not kill her dead, when you are not looking she is going to get you. And this is a scriptural principle. Jehovah said, “When I send you into take the land, my instructions are you kill everything that moves: man, woman, child and beast.” And for generations, the great warriors of history followed this principle. They won the war, they came in, they took the land, and they killed all of the royalty. They killed all the heirs to the throne. We see when Babylon overtook Judah, they took -- killed -- well, they did not kill all the royal seed, but they took them into captivity in Babylon. They castrated all of the men who had the -- who were of the royal seed through whom a new heir to the throne -- who could have produced an heir to the throne. And we find it in another place in the history books of the Scripture. I do not remember which king it was, but it is in the books that it -- amongst these books of kings, a new king came in and killed all of the k- -- of the heirs to the throne. But one nurse hid a baby prince. Do you remember what king it was?
[INAUDIBLE]
Yeah, OK. I do not remember what king it was. OK. All the heir to the throne was destroyed, but the nurse took this baby prince and hid him, and when he became a man, they put him on the throne, and the king that failed to wipe out all of the heirs to the throne was unseated. So if you do not bind that carnal mind to the altar, and if you do not kill her no matter how much you think you have control, one day when you are not looking, she is going to kill your Christ, and you are going to die to your righteousness. So you had better start confessing your sins and repenting and making your covenant when you are in your sound mind, as I told you just a few minutes ago, with the Lord that when you go out of our mind, to not let you kill yourself, but to ignore all your cries for help which are coming out of your insane mind, and to deliver you from yourself.
Alternate Translation, Zephaniah 3:4: “Her many-membered human spirit is being boiled because of humanity’s treason.” We are speaking about this fallen, dead soul, brethren. “Her many-membered human spirit is being boiled because of humanity’s treason. Her priests have prostituted Christ Jesus and have violently torn away the Spirit of Christ.”
Amplified translation, Zephaniah 3:4: “Her priests have committed treason by violently tearing away the Spirit of Christ and prostituting Christ Jesus. Therefore, the Lord’s help to this fallen, dead soul is that her many-membered human spirit should be boiled until she is freed from Satan, the one who was possessing her and expressing the death of his existence through her.”
Let me give you that again. Amplified translation, Zephaniah 3:4: “Her priests have committed treason by violently tearing away the Spirit of Christ and prostituting Christ Jesus. Therefore, the Lord’s help to this fallen, dead soul is that her many-membered human spirit should be boiled until she is freed from Satan, the one who was possessing her and expressing the death of his existence through her.”
Recap, Zephaniah 3:1-4: “Woe to the soul which is unclean because of her rebellious mind. She did not obey Jehovah’s voice or benefit from his instruction and discipline because her carnal mind was not overthrown, and her carnal mind was not overthrown because she was not sacrificed to Jehovah, and her carnal mind was not sacrificed to Jehovah because she did not confess her sins and repent. Satan, her unconscious mind, is like an army of fierce, young soldiers executing the sowing and reaping judgment because of the sins of her carnal mind, but Satan shall be cut off because of Christ. Her priests have committed treason by prostituting Christ Jesus and violently tearing away the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, the Lord’s help to her is that her many-membered human spirit should be boiled until she is freed from Satan, the one who was possessing her and expressing the death of his existence through her.”
I have interspersed those verses.
Recap, Zephaniah 3:1-4, interspersed: “Woe to the soul which is unclean because of her rebellious mind. She did not obey Jehovah’s voice or benefit from his instruction because her carnal mind was not overthrown, and her carnal mind was not overthrown because she was not sacrificed to Jehovah, and her carnal mind was not sacrificed to Jehovah because she would not confess her sins and repent. And her priests have committed treason by violently prostituting Christ Jesus and tearing away the Spirit of Christ, which is the altar of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan, the fallen, dead soul’s unconscious mind, is like an army of fierce, young soldiers executing and sow-” -- I am sorry -- “executing the sowing and reaping judgment upon herself because of the sins of her carnal mind. But Satan shall be cut off because of Christ when her many-membered human spirit is boiled so that she can be freed from Satan, the one who was possessing her and expressing the death of his existence through her, and then bound to her true husband, Christ Jesus, the one who was strong enough to make her confess her sins.” [AUDIO CUTS OUT] “And true repentance whereby she shall never fall again.”
And let me add at this point that we -- that man is not likely to confess his sins or indicate true repentance without the judgment or without the beating which is coming forth from the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not do it ourselves. Even with Christ Jesus in us, even with the Kingdom of God within us, man will not confess his sins and repent. That is why we need the Lord Jesus Christ who has already overcome the world to beat us, to execute judgment upon our carnal mind to weaken her because Christ Jesus is not strong enough to bring us to repentance. That is why we need judgment and that is why judgment is the mercy of God. Even though Christ is being formed in us, fallen man will not confess her sins and repent. Why? Because the carnal mind is too strong for Christ Jesus.
Can you hear it? That is why we must come under judgment. We will never do it ourselves. Even though we have the Kingdom of God, we will not do it. Israel had the Kingdom of God. She had the mind of Christ. But her carnal mind was stronger than the mind of Christ. Christ in Israel could not bring her to repentance. Is that clear? It is essential. We need the glorified Lord Jesus Christ who has already overcome the world to wound our carnal mind or Christ in us will never stand up. We need help or we will never stand up. The carnal mind is too strong. Glory to God.
Any questions on this message?
[?In?] all the years, I have never heard it explained so. It is really penetrating.
Well, it is the hour that this judgment is becoming a reality. It was not always available. So in the hour that the judgment seat of Christ is available to men, the understanding of what it really is, is coming forth. That men can choose. Brethren, have a choice. Do not be possessed of the carnal mind. Choose life or death. Let it be your choice. Hear the truth and let it be your choice. Even if you do not have the power to do it, let your spirit cry out to the Lord Jesus and say, Lord, I want it. I am powerless. I am crippled. But if you would do it for me, I want it. And he will do it for you, but not if you do not ask. You have to ask. You have to be humble and confess that you cannot do it for yourself. You will never make it without him.
All of you preachers out there that are saying that God is completely emptied himself into mankind and that there is no Lord Jesus Christ who has completely overcome the world, that we are all there is in our fallen condition, I prophesy unto you. You shall never enter into everlasting life, and I prophesy that to you on the authority of the Scripture. I believe it is the word of the Lord. You shall never enter in denying the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall never enter in thinking that you are the highest authority. You shall surely die in your sins. Ye are gods to whom the Word of God is delivered. Ye are gods in whom Christ Jesus is appearing. But you shall die like men because you have failed to confess your sins and repent. Anybody else?
04/30/17 Transcribed by VerbalFusion
05/02/17 1st Edit rh
