Dear Friends & Brethren,
Greetings in the name of the Lord.
Well, it's been so long since I have written anything, some of you have called
or emailed to see if I am still alive. I'm still here, and I want to say
"Thank You" to all those who have been keeping me in their prayers.
Our family has been going through some spiritual changes, and also, some real
testing the last year or so. This has kept me from doing any serious writing.
But recently I have had a desire to not only get back to work on Babylon Rising
#7, but also to branch off on some new endeavors.
God willing, we are going to put
out a monthly newsletter. One of the nice things about a newsletter is that it
will allow me the freedom to share a burden that is on my heart, which may have
nothing to do with the subject matter of the book I am currently writing. Also,
a newsletter can be more personal. It will provide a format for me to share
personal information or make announcements—like the fact that we now have a web
site. The address is: http://users.wildblue.net/dmace (No longer up)
One thing that has been on my
heart lately is the desire to have a forum which would allow some kind of interaction between us and those of you on
the mailing list that are desiring some fellowship. We know very well how
lonely it can get out here in the wilderness. Sometimes your heart cries out to
be with other like-minded believers. To that end, we are going to start a Virtual
Fellowship Room via the Internet.
This would give those of you who have a computer and an Internet connection the
chance to have some interaction with us, as well as with others who are on the
Zion's Trumpet mailing list.
If this sounds like something you
would like to be a part of, see the details at the end of this newsletter.
God Bless
Dan Mace.
Bringing Forth Iron
Part One
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29
The Scripture reveals that God's
desire for His people is that after
we have been born again, we allow Him to conform us to the image of His Son.
Understanding this truth is fairly easy. However, embracing the process
that is required to actually conform us to that image is quite another matter,
for this process requires suffering. This is precisely why the writers of the
New Testament talked so much about the need to suffer.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint‑heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Romans 8:16‑17
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye
shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with
God. For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
I. Peter 2:20‑21
That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for
yourselves know that we are appointed
thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as
it came to pass, and ye know.
I. Thessalonians 3:3‑4
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also
live with him: If we suffer, we
shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us...Yea, and
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution.
II. Timothy 2:11‑12 & 3:12
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for
his sake;
Philippians 1:29
The Scripture is very clear. We
are called to suffer; we are appointed unto suffering. When God calls
us to become a believer, He is calling us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus
Christ. Those footsteps will lead us into a life of suffering, self-denial,
loneliness and eventually death.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Matthew 16:24
Jesus told His disciples that if
they wanted to follow Him, if they wanted to be His disciples in truth, then
they would have to take up their own cross and deny themselves. The same
thing applies to us.
Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth
not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot
be my disciple.
There is no ambiguity in the
Lord's message. He made sure we would understand exactly what He is demanding
of us. After telling us we must take up our cross and deny ourselves, He goes
on to say that anyone who refuses to do this cannot be His disciple. There are no loopholes, no exceptions, no
special cases.
The cross is an instrument of
suffering and death. So when Jesus said we must take up our own personal cross, He is telling us we have to embrace a life
of suffering and eventual death. In other words, it's God's will that we suffer. That's right. God wants you to suffer!
Why would God want us to suffer? Doesn't He love us? The reason suffering is so
necessary is because the only way God's
life can come forth in us is if our
life dies.
Our life is the fallen Adamic
nature we are each born with. Some aspects of our life are wicked and vile.
Other aspects of our life may be good, or even noble from a human standpoint.
However, both the good and the evil aspects of our Adamic life must go to the
cross. The whole thing must go down into death in order for God's life to come
forth in us. This is the "life" Jesus was talking about when He said:
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose his life for my
sake shall find it" (Matthew
16:24‑25)
The apostle Paul understood this.
That's why he said if we "mortify (mortify means put to death) the deeds
of the body" we would live spiritually. But if we live "after the
flesh" we will die spiritually (Rom.
8:13). That's why he said we must bear about in our bodies "the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest" in
us (II. Cor. 4:10 ). That's why he
said he wanted to partake of the Lord’s sufferings and be made conformable unto
his death (Phil. 3:10). He knew that resurrection life only comes out of
death. We have to make a trade—our life for His.
This is also why he said he took pleasure in infirmities,
reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses. He realized these things
were crucifying his life, and as a result, God's life was being released in and
through him. It's not a pleasant reality, but the truth is, suffering is the
only thing that transforms us into the image of Jesus.
Unfortunately, the vast majority
of today's Christians are not being taught this truth. In fact, they are being
taught just the opposite by deluded religious leaders! They are being taught that
Jesus wants to make us happy and prosperous and healthy, and that He wants to
give us all the desires of our hearts. They are being told to use the power of
"faith" to persuade God to give them what they want and to fulfill their
will. The idea that God wants us to suffer is a totally foreign concept to
them.
But God has a remnant of saints
today who have not been deceived by these religious leaders. He has a remnant
of people who understand suffering is necessary if we want to be conformed to
the image of the Son—and it is to this
remnant we speak. As we have been hearing the word that is coming forth from
ministers and teachers who are part of this remnant, we see a serious imbalance
in their view of exactly what the "image" of God's Son looks like. It
seems to us that most of these people are focusing exclusively on love.
The apostle John did say:
"God is love" (I. John 4:8).
So we are not trying to minimize the importance of having that love worked into
our personalities. But God has other
attributes too, and without theses attributes He would not be God. Without them
Jesus would not be Jesus; and unless they are worked into our lives as well, we
will never be conformed to the image of the Son. One of those other attributes
is spiritual iron. Thus, part of the
process of being conformed to the image of Jesus includes bringing forth
spiritual iron in our personalities. Spiritual iron has to do with
righteousness and justice, and discipline and rulership.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the
decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Psalms 2:6-9
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he [Jesus] shall rule them with a rod of iron: and
he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Revelation 19:14-15
When Jesus returns, He is going to
break the nations and rule them with a rod of iron. It doesn't say He will rule
them with grace, or mercy, or longsuffering, or love. It says He will rule them
with iron. Spiritual iron will be the
main characteristic of his earthly reign.
Of course the Lord's love and
mercy will also be present. He's not coming back as an unmerciful tyrant. But
He is coming back as a King—and He's
not going to tolerate any more rebellion from anyone, not even for a moment.
The rebellion that Lucifer began in heaven, and then brought to the earth, will
come to a violent and abrupt end—at least until the end of the Millennium. If
the nations submit and obey Messiah during His reign they will be blessed. But
if they rise up and try to do their own will they will experience His immediate
punishment. They will experience His iron.
And he that overcometh, and
keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received
of my Father.
Revelation 2:26-27
The Scripture also tells us that Jesus
is not going to rule the nations alone. There is an overcoming remnant that is
destined to rule with Him; and the same iron
that is required for Jesus to rule is required for that remnant to rule. In
other words, it's the spiritual iron that qualifies us for rulership. No
iron—no rulership.
And his [the Dragon's] tail drew the third part of the stars of
heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for
to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a
rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Revelation 12:4-5
When God starts bringing iron
forth in us, we enter a whole new dimension of spiritual authority. When
you deal with spiritual iron you are
dealing with issues of kingship and rulership. This arouses the full fury of
the enemy, for you see, Satan doesn’t hate and fear God because of His love. He
doesn't hate and fear God because of His gentleness, or His kindness, or His
mercy. Satan hates and fears God because of His spiritual iron. He hates and fears God's iron because it’s that iron which will finally cast him
into eternal torment, and he knows it.
He also hates any child of God who
is letting the Holy Spirit produce that iron in them. This is why you see him standing before the Woman in
Revelation 12, waiting to devour the manchild (overcommers). He's not obsessed
with destroying the manchild because it will demonstrate God’s love or mercy to
a dying world. He’s obsessed with destroying it because he knows that its
destiny is to “...rule all nations with a
rod of iron....” He knows that it's the iron in this people that will
enable them to take away his dominion, just as he knows it’s the iron in God
that will eventually destroy him.
Satan hates the iron, brethren!
The thing he wants to destroy most in
us is the iron. The thing he desires most to keep us from coming forth in is
spiritual iron. Any time he sees iron developing in a believer, he’s there
instantly to try and devour it.
The spirit of the Dragon is the
spirit that pervades not only the world, but also the current religious scene. He is constantly trying
to get us to accept ideas and doctrines that make the iron—as well as the
things that produce that
iron—repulsive to us. In order to bring forth spiritual iron, certain things
are absolutely necessary—and one of them is suffering the fire of God's
judgment. Just as in the natural realm you must have fire to produce iron, so it
is in the spiritual realm. We must embrace God's fire (judgment) as it comes to
burn out of us all the things that are of Satan and self.
In order to keep us from embracing
the fire which could end up producing some iron in us, Satan offers us a
"fire-less" gospel. He offers us a gospel that says Jesus suffered so
we won't ever have to. Another way he
tries to make God's iron repulsive to us is by over-emphasizing God's love—and this is the danger The Remnant faces. We
are not fooled by the false gospel that's being spread throughout the world. We
can see right through that deception. Neither are we fooled by all these false
apostles and prophets who tell us a great "revival" is sweeping the
planet. However, we are in danger of
being deceived by teachers and ministers who are part of The Remnant, but who
are (without realizing it) creating in us a contempt for God's iron by continually focusing on His love.
A few months ago we received a
message from a brother who ministers to
The Remnant. He is very well known, and he is loved and respected by all. In
his writing he talked about the need for us to be ready to meet the Lord when
He comes. But the emphasis of the message was on the love of God. In fact,
God's love was presented by this brother as the answer to all the world's
problems—even terrorism. At one point he tried to recast the possessed Gadarene
(Mark 5:1-20) as a
"terrorist", then he used this man's deliverance as evidence that
love could even tame today's Islamofasicist beasts, if only the Christians knew
how to manifest that love more perfectly.
This kind of thinking is a religious fantasy. When Jesus walked
this earth He demonstrated the love of God more than any other man in history.
For over three years He walked the length and breath of Israel, pouring out
God’s love like a mighty river. Yet only a small
percentage of the Jewish people responded to that love. Friends, it's just
not possible to "love" the rebellion out of the heart of man. When
Jesus returns, it will not be possible to rule the nations with love. They can
be guided in love, but they will have
to be ruled with iron.
There are many people like this
brother, ministering to The Remnant. They are teaching the people they must be conformed to the image of Christ and
this is good. The problem is, the "image" they have created in their
own minds is a distorted image
because it's unbalanced. It's all love and no iron. They tend to emphasize
scriptures which speak of God's love, but ignore the ones that speak of His
iron. One example is the following passage:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law.
Galatians 5:22‑23
In this passage Paul describes the
virtues that should be coming forth in the life of the believer. All these
attributes are positive; all of them could fall under the category of love. Now let's read the very next
verse:
Galatians 5:24 And they that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts.
Do you see the iron? Crucifying
the flesh is also a virtue which should be coming forth in the life of the
believer. But this virtue is a negative one. This virtue has to do with
self-discipline and self-denial. In order to have it we must have some spiritual
iron coming forth in our lives. Another oft-quoted verse is the following:
Ephesians 5:9 For the fruit
of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
Again, Paul is describing some of
the virtues that should be coming forth in the life of the believer. But just
two verses later he says: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them (vrs. 11). Can you see the iron? Having no fellowship with evil
deeds and reproving those deeds are also virtues. Indeed, they are every bit as
important as the other virtues Paul mentioned. But they are negative in nature
and they require spiritual iron.
Friends, in order to be conformed
to the image of Christ, we must have both
the love and the iron of God worked into our lives—and in order to have either
of these we must embrace a life of suffering and self-denial.
About The Virtual
Fellowship Hall
The Virtual Fellowship
Hall will be a "locked" chat room. This means that only those who
know the password will be able to enter the room. If you are interested, you
can contact me to get the password.
Those wanting to visit the
room must download the program we are using. It's called "Pal Talk".
We are using this program because right now it's the best one of its kind on
the web—and it's FREE. You can download the latest version by going to the
following address: http://www.paltalk.com/en/start_chatting.shtml
The room will have text
chat and audio capabilities. If you have speakers
connected to your computer, you will be able to hear whoever is talking. If you
have a mic connected to your
computer, you will be able to speak. Video capabilities are also available, but
only if you pay a fee and upgrade the free version.
The program works best
with DSL or other high speed lines, but it will also work with a dial-up
connection, provided it's no less than 28kbs. Connections slower than this will
have problems with the sound breaking up.
We haven't decided on a
day or time yet because we would like some feedback from those of you
who might be interested in participating. If you are, contact me asap and let
me know what day(s) and time(s) you would like to see the room opened.