Filthy Rags
Celia Rose Okhuysen
(USA)
But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look ¾ we all are Your people! (Isaiah 64:6-9) ¾ NKJV
DREAM ¾ September 23, 2005
It was a pitch-black night as I walked down a road that led to a large opening of a cave. As I approached the cave a large group of tattered ragged men emerged from the cave followed by still another group of also tattered ragged people. One of the men emerging from the cave looked at me and said, “Don’t go in there because you’ll never come out the same.” They continued walking as they were led into vans.
Someone whom I did not recognize led me into the cave. Upon entering the dimly lit cave my sight became clearly sharp and observant as I looked around the enormous cave. I saw countless tattered ragged people tied up and laying on the ground in rows. One of them looked up, recognized me, and said, “What are you doing here? This place is sheer hell!” I was then led away to another area where many more tattered ragged people were laying on the ground also tied up. It seems that they had already been tormented and were moaning and groaning. Then I watched while some of them were then dragged away into another area where they were tormented again. A different group of people was then dragged in and the same kind of torment began to be inflicted upon them. Then I understood that I was in a spiritual hellish realm and that I was there as an observer.
I remained in the cave for a lengthy time as I witnessed endless torment of countless, countless numbers of people of all ages. Everyone groaned and cried as their anguish and grief continued without end.
The sounds of the people’s suffering left me grieving for all those tattered ragged bound people on the ground. (That I would not come out the same was an understatement.) Words fail in describing what else I saw and heard. ¾ END
[NOTE: Quoted scriptures are taken from the NKJV Bible. Bolded, underlined, italicized and CAPPED emphases are mine.]
INTERPRETATION
The pitch black night represents the world that lies in sin and darkness without the Light of God ¾ TRUTH.
The cave symbolically portrays a place of spiritual imprisonment where countless people were held bound by sin while fallen from grace.
One group of tattered ragged men represents pastors / clergy while the other group represents others in the Church of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who hold the Office of Prophet, Teacher, Evangelist and Apostle (Eph. 4:11, 12).
The bound people lying on the ground represent grieving, tormented and spiritually imprisoned Saints of God.
The vans to which the two groups were led to symbolize church family or family ministry or fellowship. (A car symbolizes ministry.) The remark that if I entered the cave I would never come out the same reveals that these groups had witnessed the grief and chaos that existed in the lives of these spiritually imprisoned and tormented Saints in the cave. The two tattered ragged groups were not bound and were leaving the cave to return to their ministries. They had witnessed how they had woefully wronged the Saints of God by robbing them of God’s FULL counsel through His Word, and were returning to continue their ministries in brokenness, repentance, humility and obedience to Lord Jesus, and to Holy Spirit’s counsel and guidance in their ministries. Only Lord Jesus knows whom He will reward according to their surrender to Holy Spirit’s control of their lives and ministries to faithfully teach and nourish the Flock of the Lord. Prayerfully, many Saints’ lives will be transformed by their preaching and teaching as well as reformed by taking responsibility for feeding themselves daily with the Word of God, and living their lives with a heart for God.
Being told to not enter the cave clearly portrays the desperate state Lord Jesus’ Church finds itself in. In the spiritual realm I had been called to witness how due to negligence the Church is malnourished, anemic and weak because of the lack of preaching and teaching the FULL counsel of the Word as well as the lack of reproving, reprimanding and admonishment. The universal Church has managed to survive throughout the ages on Scripture misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misrepresentation due to a lack of surrender to Holy Spirit’s control in the Church of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as well as through heavy emphasis on tithing and offerings MORE than on repentance, holiness and walking humbly before God in total obedience and faithfulness. Also, church programs, positive thinking, prosperity minded, sugar-coated and feel good preaching as well as watered down teaching by many, many who have stood behind pulpits or used various other mediums to present THEIR teachings and doctrines, and NOT the TRUE Word of God to the Church and to the world.
On the other hand, many, many of these Saints have not sought after Holy Spirit’s help in learning the Word and His counsel through intimacy and fellowship with Him, through prayer and fasting for spiritual guidance and spiritual maturity. They have remained malnourished by not applying themselves to the reading AND study of the Word to also learn for themselves with the help of Holy Spirit the FULL counsel of God in BOTH the OLD as well as New Testaments. They continue to want to be spoon-fed the Word of God, and thus they remain as babes feeding on the milk of the Word rather than spiritually growing up and maturing by eating the meat of the Word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (1Cor. 3:1-3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These Saints of God are not able to spiritually discern “who is who spiritually” and telling them “what,” OR teaching them “what.” They are not able to spiritually discern the wolves in sheep’s clothing in the pulpits as they piously fleece the Flock as well as the other imposters and pretenders strutting around in the Church like peacocks doing likewise. Nor are they able to spiritually discern the shepherds and the teachers who “pick” and “choose” what THEY want the Saints to hear, and NOT what they are accountable to Lord Jesus to teach and feed His Flock ¾ the FULL counsel of the Word with the help of Holy Spirit. When, and if, they enter into His presence will Lord Jesus then say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mat. 25:21). ?
Therefore, many of these Saints remain blinded, malnourished, weak, misguided and confused AS WELL AS DISOBEDIENT, LUKEWARM AND UNFAITHFUL, and eventually go astray through watered down and false preaching and teaching that has caused them much confusion, sorrow and grief in their lives. These are the tormented tattered ragged tied up people in the cave as the result of a total neglect of living according to the teaching and FULL counsel of the Word of God by God’s Holy Spirit for spiritual growth and maturity that sows peace, strength, joy, wisdom, understanding, revelation knowledge, discernment, boldness and victorious living in the lives of the Saints of God, and that deepens a desire in their hearts to want to live for God and not for themselves. There is no anchor, nor a strong and deep embedded root of the Word in their hearts. Therefore these bound, sin-laden, shallow, misguided, disobedient, unfaithful and self-righteous Saints are revealed here as filthy rags as revealed by the Scripture quoted at the beginning.
So many in the Church of Lord Jesus have been and remain so compromised to the standards and ways of the world as they choose to yoke themselves with unbelievers and idolaters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do not be unequally yoked [harnessed] together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness [holiness] with lawlessness [sin]? And what communion has light [the Church] with darkness [the world]? And what accord [pact ¾ agreement] has Christ with Belial [name for Satan]? Or what part [role] has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will dwell IN them and walk AMONG them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them and BE SEPARATE, says the Lord. Do not touch [handle] what is unclean [corrupt], and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2Cor. 6:14-17).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These particular Saints neglect to GLORIFY Lord Jesus by shining as bright lights in the world as they BOLDLY witness Him to the living dead ¾ the world. Saints of God, Lord Jesus DECLARES:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF and take up his cross, and FOLLOW ME. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it [spiritually], but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [spiritually]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? FOR WHOEVER IS ASHAMED OF ME AND MY WORDS in this adulterous and sinful generation, OF HIM THE SON OF MAN ALSO WILL BE ASHAMED when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:34-38).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My witness in the cave of the lack of remorse, repentance and humility before Lord Jesus by the tattered ragged bound people clearly portrays self-righteousness, unfaithfulness, disobedience, and neglect of Him through their neglectful, careless, compromising and reckless spiritual way of living. Thusly, their ongoing torment and suffering in the depth of their souls and spirits by Satan and his evil counsel and deceptions. They do not call out to Lord Jesus with a humble heart in total repentance, nor do they surrender their lives completely to His control. [See I AM IN CONTROL – III ¾ http://www.etpv.org/2004/control.html]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“COME TO ME, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke [harness] upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mat. 11:28-30).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTARY
On the other hand, there have been (only Lord Jesus knows of just how) many faithful, humble and obedient servants WHO HAVE HAD A HEART FOR GOD and served Lord Jesus well by faithfully preaching and teaching the FULL counsel of the Word of God to the Saints over the ages whereby many Saints have led peaceful, joyful, full, fruitful, humble, faithful and obedient lives unto God. As best as they could, if they could, those faithful servants walked in the Spirit and operated under the anointing of Holy Spirit. Because of these faithful called servants the Church has held onto the Word by a thread when in reality if the Church had been taught the FULL counsel of the Word under the anointing of Holy Spirit throughout the ages as Lord Jesus COMMANDED in Scripture and as Paul, Timothy, James, Peter and John taught in the New Testament, She would be a dynamic power that would have had a tremendous and flaming influence in the world while holding Satan’s dark counsel and thrusting force to a lesser degree than exists today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My previous post of September 18, 2005:
END TIME DREAMS INDEX ¾ REVISED
http://www.etpv.org/2005/etdi-rev.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POST DATE: March 4, 2007