Dead Flies In The Ointment

Have you ever left a sweet drink or water unattended and right before you were about to take a drink, you noticed a dead fly in it? The thought is quite repulsive to even think about. Yet this morning I clearly heard the Lord say, "There is dead fly in the ointment." As I heard this, I had a vision of a dead fly floating on top of oil, not just any oil but anointing oil. Curious, I looked up the scripture because it came to my memory. "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor." (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

So what is God saying? Are you able to pick out the flies or discern what is not true or part of the anointing? Can you tell the counterfeit from the real? Can you discern what is coming from the soul of man or from the heart of God? For I forewarn you that there will come false brethren among you and those who proclaim to know Christ. There will be those who will be sent among you who are been given the ability to deceive by the realm of darkness. Even now the anti-Christ spirit is operating in the highest levels of office in this nation but some have not been able to discern it. The anti-Christ spirit has been released in the media and has been infecting all those who sit under its influence. Spirits of perversion and lust permeate the air waves. This is why the music must get turned off. The TV must get turned off. The air waves are carrying seductive spiritual activity and you must be able to discern it. The anti-Christ spirit is the way of Cain and it seeks to murder righteous Abel. It was present in Jesus day and it is now increasing in our day. Righteousness and good fruit will be persecuted. They will call good, evil and evil, good. Cain murdered Abel because his works were not approved by God. 

Religion and the anti-Christ spirit are not very different. That is why they work well together. Religion and politics seek control. They lust after power and money. It was the religious who sought after Jesus' death and they used politics to achieve their goals. Even now there some among us who pose as sheep but are ravenous wolves. They use religion as a means to make you think they are part of us but are only using God as a means for their own agendas. Don't be fooled. The Germans were fooled by Hitler. He promised them a "Positive Christianity" and ended up murdering those who elected him. Hitler did not initially remove "Christianity" from Germany. He modified it. He changed the way people perceived Jesus. He incorporated religion as a means to deceive the masses. They were not able to pick out the flies out of the ointment.

What are these flies you may ask? It self interest, greed, control, popularity, conceit and lust after worldly pleasures disguised behind Christian platitudes. Many don't realize what they have been sitting under has been tainted. The ointment is tainted by attitudes and motivations that do not come from Jesus' heart. It may look good on the surface but does it sound like something Jesus would say? Do the messengers look anything like Jesus? Does their lifestyle contradict the way Jesus lived? Did Jesus conduct His ministry like they do? Some would dismiss His teachings as "old fashioned" or not relevant, offering you liberty from His commandments. I ask you which one of His commandments should we disobey? Thou shalt not murder or thou shalt not lust in your heart after a woman? 

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)

This is why the message of the cross is offensive to those who pretend they are His. It crucifies the nature of men and their selfish motivation. It calls us to serve and not be served. It exposes the flies in the ointment. It uncovers the heart and leaves no room for excuses. The truth of God's unchangeable word confronts the deceitful nature of men. The Holy Spirit takes us into the courtroom of God and convicts us of our deeds declaring them unfit for His kingdom. There He judges the true intention of our hearts. It is there that we drop the act and pretense we have put up in front of others. If we were truly to feel the Holy Spirit's conviction again in church we would be on our knees weeping for the many offenses and hurts we have caused God's heart. However, God's people have sat comfortable in the church without any thought of their lives. They have declared themselves not guilty in the courtroom of God without full examination of their lives in the light of God's Word and conviction of the Holy Spirit. They run from place to place trying to appease the emptiness they feel with conference and motivational speakers. They say God's not angry with us anymore! How would they know, did they ask Him or did they judge their actions by what someone else has said in a book? 

They silenced the voice of the Holy Spirit and made up presumptuous reasons why they live the way they do. They have taken up His job and have decided what is right and wrong. They have become the law givers and judges!

Oh the cross, can only be carried by those who willingly submit to the only lawgiver, judge and justifier of what is good. The cross calls all of humanity to put away all selfish desire and have love dictate the hearts of those who carry it. It sees the faces of all those who say crucify, one day shouting hosanna! It pushes past the crowds, to one objective... to bring others to God's glorious presence! However, it does not paint a pretty picture for those being called to carry it. That would be deception. No friends, the cross must be presented with its rugged wood, splinters and heavy beams. That's how Jesus presented it to His disciples. Never did He mention the ease of following Him. Never did He motivate the crowds with splendor, fame or fortune. Far from that my friend. Instead He challenged them by saying, "Will you leave me too?" He healed the masses not in effort for a campaign to build His own personal empire here on earth. He simply did so out of love. He held unto nothing and so the devil had nothing in Him. Do you know why the devil could take Jesus to the wilderness, then to a high mountain, offer him everything in the world and Jesus was still able to refuse all temptation? Jesus had already resolved that this world was not as important as you and me. The cross is about valuing relationships over things. The cross is a value decision. It is putting God and mankind over self! It is a declaration of triumph over the Adamic nature! The cross is love's greatest victory! Outside of the cross we can never hold onto victory. That is why we must embrace it on a daily basis. Beware of those who offer you a shortcut or a detour from the cross. They will from every side cry save yourself and come down from that cross. It was a thief that shouted that to Jesus. It is a thief (Devil) that shouts that today through books, CD's and even the pulpits of America. He knows that dying to self brings resurrection and victory. Satan dreads the day Christians once again find the true power behind Christianity ~ The Cross.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelations 12:11

Song "The Old Rugged Cross"

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

Refrain

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

Refrain

George Bennard 1913