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The armor of God

After completing the divine court judgment upon the various evil spirits behind the beast systems throughout history, we soon discovered that our work was not yet finished. We were called unexpectedly into session on Sunday, December 23, and soon learned that we were repairing the armor of God (listed in Ephesians 6:13-17).

We knew that our own armor was intact, as we are always careful about such things when we engage in spiritual warfare of any kind. This work, however, was on behalf of the church as a whole. Its helmet of salvation, for instance, often needs an upgrade from Old Covenant salvation to New Covenant salvation. The shield of faith needs the same upgrade from Old Covenant to New Covenant faith. The shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace is often marred by a tendency toward war and infighting rather than peace.

The Weight of Glory

It started the evening of December 22, 2018 when God put a weight on Sharon’s shoulders. She inquired of us to determine what this was. Years ago, when Lori came to my office, she complained of carrying a weight for many years, as if someone was standing on her shoulders. In that case, the weight lifted when I cast out Baphomet that had been oppressing her for 27 years.

But in Sharon’s case, this was the “weight of glory,” the Hebrew word kavode, which means “glory,” but is derived from kavad, “to be made heavy, to be honored, burdened down.” Yet the word kavode is “glory” in Exodus 33:18, where Moses asked God, “Show me Your glory.”

Hence, the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17,

¹⁷ For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Paul brings in the contrast between the “light affliction” and the “weight of glory.” The light affliction is a temporary weight upon us, but it turns into an aionian weight of glory, that is, the glory in an age to come.

So we were led to meet once again on Sunday, December 23, at 1:00 pm to see what this was about. Sharon was led to bring frankincense and myrrh (mixed together in one bottle).

The Court in Session

As we entered into discussion regarding the glory and the various counterfeits that have manifested in the church throughout the past, Sharon saw in the spirit some feet, and we understood this to indicate a counterfeit walk, where Christians think that they are walking by the Spirit but are actually walking by the flesh.

We understood this also to reference the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. For example, the Crusades from eight or nine hundred years ago were fleshly efforts to establish the Kingdom of God in the Holy Land. They did not walk in spiritual shoes of peace but in fleshly shoes of Old Covenant warfare. Many fought to obtain glory in battle, rather than the true glory.

Sharon then saw a red cow and did not know what that meant. I saw it as the red heifer, which was a biblical type of Christ (the female side). Recall that there were offerings of male animals (Leviticus 4:23) and female animals (Leviticus 4:28), but all of them were fulfilled in Christ. The red heifer was a female as well.

Hence, the date of Christ’s crucifixion was established by the male lamb of Passover, while the location was set by the red heifer, for He was crucified outside the city on the Mount of Olives near the place where the ashes of the red heifer were stored.

An evil spirit suddenly manifested in the court, and we brought judgment upon him, casting him out to the feet of Jesus. In discussing this afterward, we understood this to be a counterfeit red heifer (probably Old Covenant animal, rather than the New Covenant manifestation of Christ). What was originally a sweet smelling savour (Leviticus 8:28 KJV) under the Old Covenant was now a stench in His nostrils, due to their rejection of the New Covenant Sacrifice.

We correlated this with the helmet of salvation.

Next, the counterfeit sword of the spirit manifested, and we cast him out to the feet of Jesus. Various evil spirits came forth, and we dealt with each of them in order. Finally, we began to repair the breastplate of righteousness, which was the ephod worn by the high priest. (All of these pieces of armor were elements of the high priest’s garments, not “Roman” armor.)

Because the ephod contained the 12 precious stones representing the tribes of Israel, there were 12 evil spirits associated with them. By this time we were somewhat tired, and so we asked the Father to merge these together, so that we could deal with all of them at the same time. Well, He accommodated us to a point, gathering them into two groups. Apparently, if they all had manifested at the same time, it would have been too painful for Sharon, in whom they had been incarcerated for trial/judgment. God had mercy, but even six at a time was difficult for her.

Sharon then saw garments being replaced, and we linked it to Zechariah 3:3, 4, 5, where Joshua the high priest changed clothes from “filthy garments” to “festal robes.” This confirmed the fact that the spiritual armor was to be seen as the garments of the high priest. Being part of the body of Christ is to wear His robes.

Sharon then broke out singing, “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?” You would not believe how comical some of this can be, even in very serious matters. That brought out a discussion about Jacob’s spotted sheep and how, after leaving Laban’s house, he had no unspotted sheep for sacrifices. The law demands sheep without spot or blemish (Numbers 28:3 KJV).

That is the condition of the church as well, even as it was a problem in the centuries leading to the appearance of Christ (Malachi 1:12, 13, 14). In order for the church to be presented to God “with no spot or wrinkle… and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27 KJV), the garments (armor) must be changed.

Again, Sharon saw bread in Jesus’ hands. He took it and slapped it to make it flat. We understood that this was the Pentecostal offering (Leviticus 23:17), which was supposed to be baked with leaven. This bread, however, was not yet baked, because the baptism of fire had not been allowed to do its work to kill the leaven. In Jesus’ hands, however, it was being turned into flat bread, which was a picture of unleavened bread (barley).

We understood this as an indication of the soon-coming fire/glory of the Holy Spirit that is to be poured out in the earth in order to prepare the half-baked church for the Age to come. This answered an old question that was pending for decades. Will the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit occur before or after the coming of Christ? In other words, will this baptism of fire prepare the way for the fulfillment of Tabernacles, or will it be the result of Tabernacles?

My question was finally answered. The purpose of the baptism of fire coming upon the earth is to prepare the Pentecostal bread so that the true Pentecostals are an acceptable offering to God. Of course, not all who call themselves Pentecostals will be prepared. Many want the glory without the fire. They want the reward without the process. They want to go directly to the Promised Land without going through the fire at Sinai. They send Moses up the Mount into the fire, so as to avoid the fire themselves (Exodus 20:18,19, 20).

But God has chosen a remnant of grace, and these will be acceptable offerings to God. Those who submit to the purpose of Pentecost will qualify. The purpose of Pentecost was to receive the fiery law written on one’s heart, which results in obedience (lawfulness, not legalism).

Heart Surgery

When all of the judgments had been rendered for the day, we then concluded with the most important work of all. Sharon saw a vision of open heart surgery, taking the stone out of the heart and replacing it with the heart of God. This had been prophesied in Ezekiel 36:25, 26, 27,

²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Israel had refused to hear the word of the Lord at Mount Sinai (Horeb), which would have written the law upon their hearts. So they received the law on tables of stone, and as a result, they had stony hearts and were in need of heart surgery. We understood that this was necessary to prepare our hearts for the outpouring of the Spirit that is coming.

We read the Scripture above and anointed each other with frankincense and myrrh first and then spikenard (which literally means “faith oil” in Greek). We also saw the frankincense and myrrh in terms of the wise men’s gifts when they arrived on December 25 of 2 B.C. about three months after Jesus had been born.

Priestly Garments

Sharon then saw a key and the spirit of Herod and did not know its meaning. It is always amazing how a single concept can speak so loudly, especially if one knows the Scriptures and a little history.

King Herod confiscated the key to the high priest’s garments. The high priest could not minister at the feast days without those garments, so this was a power play. The high priest had to be submissive to King Herod, or else the Temple could not function properly or lawfully.

Sharon then heard the word “pledge.” This brought about a discussion of the Hebrew word arrabon, “pledge,” which is used in Genesis 38:18. A pledge is collateral on a loan, and when the loan is repaid, the pledge is returned to its original owner. This is different from an earnest, which is a downpayment when purchasing something. An earnest is part of the payment and is not returned to the purchaser.

It was common practice for a poor man to pledge his outer garment, and there were laws regulating such a practice. In the big prophetic picture, of course, Adam sinned, incurring a debt which he could not pay. So God took his garment as a pledge, giving him a substitute garment of “skin” in its place (Genesis 3:21).

Nearly 4,000 years later, Jesus came to pay Adam’s debt by giving His blood on the cross. When the debt was paid, the pledge (garment) was supposed to be returned to him. The glory of Pentecost was a partial return of that garment, but Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2, 3, 4 that God was still reserving this garment/tabernacle/house in the heavens. In other words, God had yet withheld immortality from us (vs. 4).

Paul then tells us that the Holy Spirit, given on the day of Pentecost, is a pledge. The word Paul used is arrabon, which is a Hebrew word taken into the Greek New Testament. From this we see that Pentecost was when God gave the pledge back to us, but it was not yet complete, because He had still not given us the immortal body/garment.

Hence, God became our Debtor. He owes us the full pledge that He took from us in Genesis 3:21. From the study of the feast days we know that the feast of Tabernacles is the time when the full pledge is to be returned to us. The first resurrection gives immortal bodies to the dead overcomers; the first day of Tabernacles gives immortal bodies to the living overcomers.

This prepares the body to receive the Head at Christ’s second coming, so that the complete body may be presented to God on the eighth day of Tabernacles. After the presentation of these sons of God, or the body of Christ as a unit, they are then manifested to the people on earth, where they will minister to the world in the Tabernacles Age to come.

We had thought our work of judgment was complete, but there was one more evil spirit to judge. It was the spirit of Herod, which must be removed before the garment/pledge can be returned to the “priests of God and of Christ” (Revelation 20:6). We cast out this spirit of Herod to the feet of Jesus, and this ended our session for the day.

All of these things had to do with the armor of God and the garments of the high priest, all of which correlate with the original garments of glory that Adam wore before his sin. This glory is being returned to us so that we may be presented without spot, wrinkle, or blemish to the Father on the eight day of Tabernacles. I do not know how long this outpouring of the Spirit will last before this presentation occurs, but it appears that the way has been prepared, and that the time is drawing near.