Transcription
Apostle Edwin also truth, and believe me, for me it is a responsibility, in addition to the privilege, to be bearers of truths that are so important that we can understand them. Because it is possible that most of us know them in some way, but knowledge is not the same as understanding. Rather, to that knowledge we must add understanding in order to apply what then becomes a level of wisdom that we need to do the work and also lead others to that marvelous experience. I was looking at the announcement of that training seminar that is being developed, and it caught my attention. I wanted to be aware of the participation of the ministers who are here, because I believe with all my heart that we, as pastors, work—I don't know if we are well with the study, it is there—with souls, right? The raw material with which pastors work is the souls of people. In such a way that one of the situations that could complicate our ministerial task is not being aware of or knowing about the soul. That is, they put us to shepherd souls and not know the problems of the soul; that would be a big problem, not knowing, brother, with those inner battles that the human being has. And you know that, brother, would be a ministerial disadvantage because we, as students of the Word, who were put here to heal souls, to restore them, must immerse ourselves more and more each day in deeper levels of that understanding. It is part of our nature, really. As you well know, the only creature among God's creations that studies itself is the human being, do you understand? And they have managed to discover many things through these studies, and yet they still lack much more. Likewise, we as pastors can never say that we have achieved everything, because the soul is such a complex entity, brothers, difficult to comprehend. But if we come to understand the revelation of the Word and understand our own problems first, we will be able to help those who are close to us and those whom we were put to care for. Then the topic of the healing of the soul is impressive, it is very interesting, and I see that for us, as doctors on behalf of the Lord, delegated doctors, right, we will only be able to have a true diagnosis to apply a powerful, personal healing through the administration of the soul. Apostle Edwin expounded the Word and touched upon several necessary aspects in everything that has to do with the soul. I was thinking while he spoke that most people do not manage to differentiate between soul healing and soul deliverance, which are totally different things. For example, imagine that I have at least five points of what the soul must experience in order to be completely restored. For example, soul healing, I repeat, we will only have a true diagnosis through an administration. But soul healing is not the same as soul deliverance; it is not the same. Soul counseling is also another angle, just as it is not the same to reprogram or deprogram the soul. When I speak of deprogramming the soul, it is to remove it from the mental conditioning that was established through the first years of life and in the development of personality itself. A soul can have been programmed, and then our work, whether we want it or not, brother, whether we want it or not, we must know the psychological function that we play as pastors in favor of God's people. Please, do not misunderstand me; I am not talking about psychology, but I am talking about how, for example, as ministers, we have to manage percentages from the point of view of how we present the Word. There are ministers who are very theological, glory to God for that, but when the minister is only theological, what he does is kill the people with so much theology, with so much theology. There are ministers who are philosophical, and when there are philosophical ministers, what they do is divide the people because then he only speaks of his philosophy, of what he loves, the thought he loves, he imposes it, and then he divides the people. But there are ministers who are only psychological, and what they do is manipulate the people, you know, to handle the soul. So there must be a balance of percentages between what is theological, what is psychological, brother, and what is also philosophical, which I could mention as doctrinal, do you understand? But when it comes to a matter related to the soul, wow, brother, there we must be very aware of the percentage we must manage, not only in the position of teaching and ministry, but also in the understanding of the center we are going to work on, the target we are going to work on, which is the soul of people. Because when we see the work of God, imagine, brother, that work. We were totally wrong. The Lord sent his Son so that, by dying, he could rescue the spirit of the human being, the spirit of man, and reconnect it with God, right? So the operation on the spirit has already been performed, but the spirit is not perfected because the condition of the soul is partly involved for the spirit to reach perfection. Listen to this: the body, even if you bathe it, perfume it, adorn it, put it on diets, put it through exercises, has a time when it will also be transformed, and the Bible says in the twinkling of an eye we will be transformed. So there is a time, but the main focus right now is on our soul. It is the Spirit of God working in the soul, but also through the ministries. So all of us who have a leadership or headship function must know the soul to be able to work on it and help. Here there are ministers whom God, by pure mercy, has placed to lead, has placed to direct, has placed to guide people, brother, to sources of water, to tender pastures from God, to places of rest, do you understand? We ministers. But there are also ministers, let me tell you, there are also leaders who are not primary ministers but are husbands, and then they have been put to restore their wives. There are servants here, not primary ministers but leaders who are fathers, and they have been put to work with the souls of their children, to restore them. But if we, as pastors, do not know about the soul, if husbands do not know about the soul, and we parents do not know about the soul, then we cannot help our people, not even those in our own homes, to move forward, brother. So I believe that the topic of the soul is such an interesting topic that it truly impacts me greatly, brother. Since the Lord made me understand this principle, I have dedicated myself to examining the soul, to working on the soul, to seeking to understand the soul to know how I will carry out that ministerial task for the benefit of people. Apostle Edwin said, you know, sisters, that we men have been placed by God as heads, right? And then people say amen, women say amen. But I ask a question honestly, sister, do you like being under authority? Sister, of course you don't like it, do you understand? Why don't you like it? Because from childhood, as Apostle Edwin said, you possibly saw examples of abuses of authority, possibly within the culture you were born into, possibly at the school where you were educated, possibly from your own home, and then you have a distorted, prejudiced image of what authority is. So your design has been distorted. Likewise, man usually likes authority, but recognizing authority is a battle. How many men like to recognize authority? Glory to God, about three voices out of the 500 here, do you understand? Because it is a battle with the principle of authority, which is a product of the soul that has not achieved inner healing, complete restoration. And so we have to understand it, not to judge a person, not to condemn them, but to know that they have conflicts in their soul and that we must help them. So this catches my attention because when we understand that soul healing is not the same as soul deliverance, soul counseling, soul programming or deprogramming according to their mental conditioning, it is not even the same as soul discipline. So what I have mentioned is within the work that God wants to do to restore our soul. Some will be healed because they do not have unclean spirits but have wounds in their soul, have traumas in their soul. Others will be delivered from the soul, possibly from unclean spirits, perhaps even from demons, which is not the same. Nor is it the same to be under the influence of a fallen angel, do you understand? Nor is it the same to break ties, because there is a certain moment when the tie does not take the name of a spirit, but is perhaps within the time of what is considered the genesis of the tie. All the ties that today take the name of spirits or that are generic names of spirits, for example, a tie of a spirit of poverty, a tie of a spirit of adultery, a tie of any spirit with a generic name of spirit, means that it has already developed. But its beginning, the genesis of the tie, was only a tie. And how do ties begin? By binding the emotions, the will, and the mind of the person, so that that person does not have the functioning from each of those seats that make up the essence of their own soul. And when I speak of the essence of the soul, I am not saying that the soul only has three essences or three seats, as Scofield says, but that it is a sphere, because each of the three mentioned things, each has its own nature, its own dynamic. In the mind, the term mind is generalized in Spanish as just "mente." But when you look for the word in Greek, there are at least 17 words that mean mind. The most important are "anoia," "nous," and the Hebrew "cheder," which could be the conscious mind, the unconscious mind, and the subconscious mind, do you understand? Where the past, the present, and the future are, where there is memory in the past, where there is intellect in the present, and in the future there is imagination. And if these three things, one of them is distorted by some wound in the soul, by some trauma, it does not function. The fact is so simple to explain, at least, what is our greatest conflict as human beings, beloved brother, on this precious path of regeneration. Do you know what the most tremendous conflict is? We try to walk the path of regeneration dragging our past, because there is a memory, there is a past that no longer exists, it is only in memory, but there we go, dragging it. And when we think we have advanced a lot, brother, the stimulus comes from the spiritual world to activate thoughts from the past, and it makes us have, brother, those painful memories again, so that the painful memories seem to have just happened, even if they have up to 40 years of history. That event, and memory is so impressive, brother, that it remembers climates when the negative event occurred, it remembers colors, it remembers names, it remembers smells, faces, voices. And like a trauma, it is a negative event that has been trapped in the time and space of the person. How do we help that person? I am very impressed by the work that we as a church should be doing, and thank God for these activities, thank you, and may God bless you, pastor, man and woman of God, may God bless you, because you have dedicated this time to learn. For me, it is a tremendous responsibility to have this privilege of teaching. When they told me about brothers who come from 11 hours away to be here, Brother Luis told me, my wife, my church comes from 11 hours away with another ministry, with another pastor. I said, wow, what a responsibility I have. For me, it is such a strong responsibility that people sit down to listen to me, so I have to take advantage of teaching more specific things, brother, that will break, brother, with that ignorance. Excuse me, but that will move us to another level of understanding to attend to people. Give applause to the Lord, blessed be God. Look at this: if we struggle with a past that is in memory, the future of that person is uncertain because the person is judging their possibilities and their opportunities from the point of view of failure, of pain, of error, of distrust, that is, from their past. And the present, then, how will it be if the bridge of the two times is not developed, is not developed? It has gaps in its present that it cannot connect, brother, the reality of where we come from and where we are going, because it is judging from an event and seeing that possibility, that opportunity from God, brother, as inert in its life, as something it does not deserve or will not receive, because it does not have the elements, according to its way of judgment, to reach that goal. So those people need to be helped, and one of the best ways, I repeat, is by taking them through everything that the process of soul restoration contains, which can be healing, it can be deliverance, it can be counseling, it can be deprogramming to reprogram them, if you wish, unlearning the trainings they had to retrain them, remove their mental conditioning and retrain them, so that this person can then advance in their walk. And I repeat, there can be work of inner healing, work of deliverance. Inner healing is not the same as soul deliverance. Breaking mental strongholds, which has to do with mental captivities, is not the same. When there are mental strongholds, there are not necessarily spirits, although spirits can come, but they are captive thoughts that the person has due to negative administrations they received. So we have to take advantage of the time, brothers. We have been talking about entering a year 2013, brother, that will not be easy to live if we move from the present time to a new stage of life dragging evils that were supposed to be broken during this entire period of time when a anointing of freedom has strongly flowed in favor of the church. This year I have seen impressive deliverances, and I find a passage that I want to mention first to lay the groundwork for how God looks at human beings when they have opportunities for cleansing in their soul, and that they do not do so. For example, there is a passage in the Bible that catches my attention greatly, which is in Jeremiah chapter 48, verse 11. It says there: "Moab has been at ease since his youth; he has settled on his dregs and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his favor remains in him, and his aroma has not changed." This is the soul of Moab. There are times when it speaks to the soul of Jerusalem. It strikes me that Moab has much to do with Ezekiel chapter 18, because there it reminds Jerusalem of its origins, tells it who its mother is, who its father is, tells it what its origin is, tells it where it comes from. But here we are seeing a generation that has been at ease, is calm in its dregs. Other versions say it is calm on its lees, and it is talking about the grape, talking about the product of the grape, which is wine. And it says, it strikes me: "He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his favor remains in him, and his aroma has not changed." Therefore, "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will send them wine pourers who will pour them out, emptying their vessels and smashing their jars." This is a prophetic passage, if you will. This is an eschatological passage, and it is revealing the soul of a nation, of a generation, or of an individual. And what it is saying, let this idea sink in for you to understand that passage. When the grapes were put in the winepress and trampled to extract the juice, then the juice that was emerging was being placed, brother, in vessels. But since there were no filters like today, there was always some escape of the trampled grapes. That is called sediment or lees. The lees of the grapes that entered the vessel. And then the wine producers knew that to filter that wine and make it truly cleaner, they had to transfer it from vessel to vessel with the care that as the lees were being removed, they were also looking for a way to pass to the other vessel. So, to avoid contaminating the wine they were transferring, they quickly turned it over and left a quantity of wine mixed with sediment or lees. This means that the new vessel where the filtered wine was received no longer had the same level of fullness because there were losses. Do you understand? And then the producers knew that this implied a loss in the product, the content, and the value that a vessel full of wine had. And so, what did some of them do? "Let it be so, let them take it out like that when they are drinking wine and spit it out." So that means that some people find it very difficult to let go of things because they are used to living with them. Some people say, "Oh, I have cried so much that I feel sorry to let go of this." And then the Lord says through this prophecy: "His aroma has not changed." Oh, it means that when the lees were separated from the grapes from the wine, the aroma changed. So this speaks of spirit. Then it says, "He retains his flavor." Not just aroma, but his flavor. Ah, that speaks of character. An unclean spirit, aroma, that manipulates the character of the person and has changed, affected the individual's personality, because here we are involving aroma and flavor. It means that we have flavor and we have aroma. It means that spirits can smell the aroma that comes from our lives, and they can even test us. You know that spirits eat from what is in the soul; they make a table of our soul. And I have biblical bases to tell you all this. That is why the scripture says, Apostle Paul says, "For you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons." So there are two tables in the universe: one that represents the table of the Lord, and another that represents the tables of demons. It means that there is a table where the Lord eats and where He feeds, but there is a table where demons eat and also feed. When we, for example, come to the Lord's table, there is the Lord's table, the table of communion, of common union. When we partake of the Lord's table and eat the elements of bread and wine, that becomes part of us, yes, because what we eat becomes nutrient, it becomes us. And then, at that moment, spiritually, we become a table for the Lord. The Lord is our table, and we approach and eat. When we eat, we become a table. Because it is written, "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me." It means that He comes to eat from what is in the soul. That is why in the Song of Solomon it says, the beloved inviting, "Come, my beloved, into your garden, and eat your exquisite fruit." So He comes and tests us. That is why the book of Revelation also says that we should not be cold, but hot, because He will vomit the lukewarm. It means that He will test them, and when He feels that they are lukewarm, He vomits them because He comes and eats. Spirits also eat. That is why there is Jezebel's table, the table of iniquity, the table of lies, brother. There are so many tables there. Where do you think the idea comes from that idols must be given food offerings because they eat? Not the little statue there, but where does the idea come from that there are powers to whom they give liquor, brother, they give them cigarettes, they bring them bread? Where does the idea come from that in certain Latin American countries there is the Day of the Dead and they bring food to their deceased? They liked pozole, and they put it there. Where does that idea come from? Why does the Bible say, Jeremiah, that there were families who had fallen into idolatry and made cakes for the Queen of Heaven? So spirits eat and come to feed on the soul, because the soul has flavor and aroma. And that is what God wants to change through the ministry and soul healing. So I am only reading this passage to you so that we understand the need for our soul, brother, to change. Look, brother, this is impressive because it says here, "The days are coming." It is something prophetic. "Declares the Lord, when I will send them wine pourers." They will no longer be the pastors, because then God's direct dealing with the person will come. And this dealing of God with people who were not emptied before those days, brother, will be put into the great tribulation, and there they will be worked on, there they will be poured out. If the Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 9, when the Lord speaks to Jerusalem and then gives the order for executioners to enter the city and says, "Kill the elders, kill the children, kill the women, kill the animals, kill everyone." But before, He speaks to one dressed in fine linen who has a scribe's inkhorn at his side. He says, "First, wait. Before the executioners enter, the pourers, first put a mark on the forehead of all who groan and lament over the abominations of Jerusalem." And mark them with the letter Tav, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which means finished product. Why? So that the judgments do not reach them. Because in the transitional processes of time, God grants us a juncture, a time juncture, so that we, brother, can give up everything. Brother, 2013 is coming, which I have been announcing. Well, I am not announcing it; the Gregorian calendar is announcing it. But from a biblical point of view, I am saying that 2013 is being awaited by sorcerers and witches, because cabalistically, it only repeats every 100 years. They have waited 100 years for this year, and there are movements of sorcerers and witches who have prepared for 100 years because they say it is the year that belongs to Satan. And I taught you these days, beloved brother, that the number 13 is the multiple that always appears in the name of Satan. Always, all of Satan's names have to do with the number 13. Ah, this is tremendous, brothers. Imagine the satanic influence. The satanic influence lets us see that Satan intends to affect humanity for 364 days, because the name Satan in Hebrew, its numerical value is 364, and the Gregorian calendar says we have 365 days. So it means that one day they leave you on vacation, one day. And here I would have to explain paganism, how the days are connected. Satan has marked the seasons of summer, winter, autumn, and spring with four thirteens in the year. He has sown four thirteens. When you multiply, at least, 13 by 4, you get 52. 52 weeks is approximately a year. When we multiply 52 by 7 days of the week, it is 364, the name of Satan. So we have to understand that before entering 2013, we have to shed many things, because it will be a blessed year from God for us, but it will be a year charged with an influence and an energy. Brothers, you heard about the massacre that just happened, innocent children, and look how close it was to December 21st. That is, Satan has unleashed his atmosphere because his year begins on December 21st, and in the pagan calendar there is a festival called Yule that begins on December 21st. The end of Satan's year ended with Halloween and begins with December 21st. In countries of Mayan culture, there is now a movement to receive a large number of people who will be present at the protocol, in the rites and ceremonies that Mayan culture is already preparing for and has awaited, and which will begin on December 21st, where representatively they have chosen 13 columns, and in each column there will be a rite, there will be offerings, and there will be declarations. I was telling the brothers, I just came from Guatemala, I was ministering there for 12 days, and you know what is being requested? They are requesting the reinstitution of human sacrifices, and there are already people who have voluntarily offered themselves to be sacrificed that day. And what happens? There will be bloodshed, and what happens? The avenger of blood will come. And who is that one who is killing, the avenger of blood? Because blood has been shed on the earth. How? Through laws that support abortion, through laws, brother, of unnatural relationships that are abominations. The avenger of blood is loose. We need cities of refuge where people can enter, where nothing will happen here. But then people have to recognize their problem, because the murderer, the fugitive, entered the city of refuge because they were pursuing him, and while the situation is being clarified, he needs a place to enter where the avenger of blood cannot penetrate those lines, do you understand? Divine protection, like bubbles of God. And there they will work on our soul, because the Bible says that as long as the priest lived, he protected the fugitive, and no one could harm him. But he could not leave that place. So don't think he just entered and went around living there. No, brother. The priest observed him to see if he assimilated the culture of the cities of refuge. The cities of refuge had social levels, where there were levels of holiness, those who taught the doctrine. Then there was the next level of those who had been transformed by the holiness of the first level, and there was the last level, which were those who were entering. So the journey is: enter the city of refuge, let them work on you so that you can move to the next level of people who have been transferred, cleansed, and who will not go into exile, will not go into tribulation, because they gave up ancestors, gave up traumas, renounced unclean spirits, demons, renounced so many things, and God cleansed them, and God purified them, and God healed them. So this catches my attention because we are going to see that God, in His mercy, has provided, brother, for the life of the believer, at least seven sources of decontamination, seven sources to decontaminate the soul. They are baptism, worship, the Word, ministerial prayer, the Lord's Supper, soul ministry and deliverance, and soul fasting, not just any fasting, but soul fasting. Look at these seven sources of decontamination. None of them are substitutes; none are optional. All are necessary. And whichever one you reach first, receive it. I have put them in that order more or less, but it is not a chronological order, but rather what opportunity arises. For example, baptism is important. Baptism, because baptism plays a part as a source of decontamination that inaugurates the restoration of the soul. What happens there? Peter says that baptism now cleanses us from all conscience of evil deeds. So it means that there the soul is cleansed through baptism. The next one? Worship. What God does through worship, where the atmosphere that is created allows the presence of God to arrive, brother, and where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom, there is deliverance. In worship, people are delivered. Some are delivered through the Word, brother, that when they hear the Word, they say, "This is for me, Lord. Help me, Lord. I surrender that area of my life." So the Word is another source of decontamination. Ministerial prayer is when the minister who covers you comes and prays for you, makes a ministerial declaration. It is important for the people to understand the power in the prayer that the minister makes. The Lord's Supper. Does it not say, "Let a man examine himself, and then eat"? Brother, is it that I don't eat because I am in sin? Yes, but that is why it tells you to examine yourself. Because God does not want—God is not telling the sinner not to partake of the Holy Supper. What He is saying is, examine yourself first, and then participate. Why? Because the bread and wine are a way of decontamination. There we surrender things. Ministry can be, brother, one of the most important moments where one can bring out years of history through a ministry. And deliverance, well, it is the manifestation of God's power. Soul fasting, not any fasting, but stop eating, avoid things that have taken time and influenced your life. Some people, for example, can fast from television. Some people should fast from the internet because many times people contaminate themselves with pornography on the internet. And if you know that is the door of contamination, then, "Ah, I am going to fast from the internet this week." Not eating internet, because it is no longer physical food, but rather food of aromas and tastes to your soul, appetites of the soul. So these are sources of decontamination. And Apostle Paul says in the passage that I also want to read: "Therefore, beloved, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh." What is the flesh? When the Bible mentions filthiness of the flesh, it is talking about the mixture between the body and the soul. When the soul compels the body to do things, then that is called flesh; it is carnal, it is flesh. So there is filthiness in the body as a product of the filthiness of the soul. But the scripture also says, "and of the spirit." So it means that the tripartite being must be decontaminated. Because even though our spirit has already been reached by Christ and by God and reconnected, the spirit runs the danger, without having reached full perfection, runs the danger of becoming contaminated. And the spirit is contaminated, listen to this, with sorcery, with idolatry, and with adultery. The spirit is contaminated like that, even though it has already been reached by God. The body, says Apostle Paul, is destroyed by fornication. "Pornea," says the Greek, and "nea" is the same word that appears in Revelation where it speaks of the great harlot, which is a system that destroys the body. So the body is in danger, the soul is in danger, and the spirit is in danger. And that is why Paul says that the God of peace—Apostle Edwin read it—may He sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That it not be fragmented, "holokleros," that it not be divided, that it be complete, that there be a level of holiness in the soul, a level of holiness in the body, a level of holiness in the spirit, because holiness will be, brother, on all three levels. Why? So that it is then in the state that God has established that we should be for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And look how impressive it is that it says, "And the God of peace." So it means that one of the ways to bring the tripartite being to that level of holiness in the three levels is by giving you the peace of God and for you to experience it.