Transcription
So, my message this evening is entitled pursue higher. That's a title. So, while I was flying from Los Angeles to Charlotte, I was praying in the plane asking the Lord what he would want me to share with you. And the Lord spoke this one sentence, "Tell my people to pursue higher." That's a sentence. So, that's the theme. "Tell my people to pursue higher." So, I keep on meditating on it upon my return uh to Moravian Falls and this day as I was waiting on God, then the Lord expanded on that one sentence that he spoke to me on the airplane. So, I'm going to share with you what exactly the Lord revealed to me and there will be some parts where I will share uncensored verbatim exactly word for word what the Lord spoke to me.
There lived a wonderful saintly man of God in the eastern part of the US whom I have met only once. Uh he went to be with the Lord in his 80s about maybe 5 years ago. And such a godly man. Very godly man. I saw the glory of God shining on his face when I first met him about 20 years ago at another convention. And that was the first time I was meeting him and I don't think he knew me. Uh as soon as I was introduced to him by a mutual pastor friend, he shook my hands and the first sentence he said was this, "I'm so honored to meet you." I looked at the man of God. I was shocked. Humbled by the statement, I said, "Sir, the honor is mine to be having met with you, because I've read his books and he's such a saintly walk with God like Enoch and Moses. And when you fellowship with such saints of God, or you hear their messages, or read their books, they bring to you word right from the throne of God. Right from the presence of the glory of God, like how the prophet Moses did. He did not sit anywhere and uh plan his own sermon. He went right before the throne of God, heard from God, then brought the messages down to the people.
So, this man of God saw a vision. In this vision, he saw a Christian man walking down a valley. And when he was walking in the valley, he saw a huge multitude of people. And they were full of joy. They were singing songs and everywhere he looked around, it was perfect and beautiful. So, he was very joyful to see that place. And as he came closer to the valley, it led to a mountain. And as he looked up the mountain, there was a pathway by the side of the mountain. So, he decided to climb up the mountain path. He climbed up the mountain path and he came to a plateau at the top. And when he came to the plateau, he could see another valley by the side of the plateau. And there were another huge crowd of people and they were all calling out loud to the man of God saying, "Come down to our valley. We have the blessings of the Lord." And he could see all the people. They were full of the fire of the Lord. They were full of the joy of the Lord. They were full of the blessings of the Lord. They lacked nothing. As he contemplated whether to go down or not, suddenly he heard the voice of the Lord saying to him, "What they are saying is true. But if you go down that valley, that is where you will remain. Instead, climb higher."
So, the man of God decided to not go down and walk up the pathway and climb higher. But this time, the climb became very difficult. The mountain became steeper, higher. You know, when you climb up high mountains, the oxygen level is very low and you will gasp for air. I have experienced this many times during my ministry in Tibet and even most recently last October in Nepal. The air gets thinner and the weather is colder and you're walking among all the snow mountains. It's slippery and so many dangers out there. So, he decided to climb up the mountain slowly, steadily, and when he climbed up the second stage there, he came to a plateau. Another plateau. And that plateau opened up to another valley. And in the valley, he saw another great multitude of people. And this multitude of people seemed to be more glorious than the first group of people. And they looked at the man of God AND THEY SHOUTED, "OH, MEN OF GOD, WE'VE got the greatest blessings of God." The first group said, "We have the blessings of the Lord." But the second group says, "We have the greatest blessings of God. It's wonderful in our valley here. Come down and be with us."
So, again, this man of God thought, "Let me go to this second valley because the people are all shining with glory." Again, he heard the voice of the Lord say, "Yes, whatever they are saying is true." And you know, when the Lord says something, it is yay, yay, and amen, amen. The Lord doesn't speak in double language like what we do. Right? We speak in two languages, no? Our yay, yay is not yay, yay. Our yay is yay and amen. Yay and nay, we lie all the time, don't we? Am I right, everybody? Our heart says one thing, our mouth speaks another thing. We are double-standard, double-tongued people. Anyway, so the Lord told him, "What they are saying is true, but if you go down to the valley, that's where you will remain. So, I tell you, come up higher." So, the Lord encouraged him.
So, this Christian man decided to climb further and higher. But this time the mountain was so steep, he had to go down on his knees and hold on to every rock and stone and some grasses here and there and climb up higher. That's how he was able to climb. And he reached the top of the mountain. When he reached the top, a shock waited him. What was a shock? There was nothing. Just a flat plateau and there was nothing. No houses, no multitude of people, not a single soul. So, for a moment, this man thought something is wrong here. Maybe he came to the wrong address. So, as he waited a while, to his great surprise, he saw the Lord Jesus walk up to him. There were no people, but the Lord Jesus came to meet with him.
So, when I read this vision, I pondered on it. What is the meaning of this vision? And this was the interpretation the Holy Spirit gave me. The first valley at the bottom of the mountain signifies the valley of salvation. You get saved and you're always full of joy. Do you remember your salvation experience? You're full of joy, you want to live for the Lord, you want to die for the Lord, you will do anything for the Lord during that honeymoon period. So, to speak, right? Honeymoon period. There is a saying in India, no? The honeymoon period lasts for 90 days. When a couple gets newly married, 90 days. First, it's that 90 days is broken up into two parts. 60 days, another 30 days is grace. 30 days grace. 30 days grace. So, 90 days honeymoon period. After the 90 days are over, a couple settles down in their married life. So, likewise, we all have a honeymoon period in our salvation Christian life, right? After the honeymoon period, we settle down. And our Christian life becomes routine. Every Sunday, pick up your Bible, go to church. Give your offerings. And then, if you are a little better Christian, you attend a midday prayer meeting, midweek prayer meeting. If you're not just a better Christian, just Sunday service is all right. If you're really a little more better Christian, you will attend a prayer meeting service. So, Sunday service, prayer meeting, and a midweek Bible study. Then, as the months and years go by, it gets lesser and lesser and lesser.
So, to so much so today, we don't come to church, we just watch online church service. Yes, amen. This is not funny. This is something to be ashamed of. It's not funny, you know, for you to laugh. I'm not here as an entertainer. Doing a stand-up comedy to tickle you to laugh. I'm showing you where the church has missed the mark. The COVID-19 period has brought good and bad to the church. It brought some good because churches all over the world learned to use the technology of the media to reach out to a shut-in people group. It's lockdown everywhere. How to reach to the people? So, they did online church service, which was good. People all over the world could now attend their church services online. Every Sunday, I had invited two pastors. One a traditional denominational church pastor, like from an Anglican church, to conduct an Anglican style of service, and the other, 2 hours later, we had a Pentecostal church pastor come do a Pentecostal style of spirit-filled service. So, that will cater to all the spirit-filled worshipers. So, during the lockdown period, they all felt that they were attending a service in person, even though they could not get out of their house. That was good.
But, after the lockdown, something evil happened. People's hearts settled down to a comfortable church experience. You don't need to get out of your bed. Just pull up the laptop, put on your bloated stomach, and just watch the service. Pastors tell me all over the world, 30% of church members do not want to go back to church anymore. 30%. I thought it was only an Indian problem. Then I heard that even in America and the rest of the world, 30% of church members don't want to go back to church anymore. So, I counseled a pastor friend, said please stop your online service, then your church members will come. He said no, they will switch on to another church online service. They have now settled to an alternate Christian lifestyle. I tell you one truth today. If you don't change that lifestyle, when the falling away comes, you'll be the first one to fall away. Because the Antichrist will start, or rather the false prophet, he will start a new church. A new church that will satiate our conveniences. Then you'll fall for it. And those days are not too far away from where we are right now. The Apostle Paul prophesied that in the last days there will come a great falling away, apostasy in the church. And when that happens, shortly after the Antichrist will come. So, the falling away, which we are already seeing now, are signs that the Antichrist is right at the door. He's not far away. Your eyes are going to see the Antichrist. Your eyes are going to see the implementation of the mark of the beast. It's not the next generation, you know, this generation. This generation will experience all that. This generation will go through the fire that will purify the church so that the pure virgin comes out. And the false will fall away. That fire will separate who are the true virgin and who are the false. It will separate. And it is in those days, the persecution that the Lord Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 will come to pass. Where brother will turn against brother, father against children, children against parents. They will all turn one another and they will betray one another. Why? Because one group has taken the mark of the beast and another group has not taken it, and therefore you will be betrayed. These days are not far away.
You know, as I'm speaking right now, this morning I received two news. That is, two nations, Brazil and Australia, have implemented a cashless financial system. Implemented. Which is a precursor to the mark of the beast. India has already implemented it on a trial basis. Many nations have already implemented it on a trial basis, even the US. So, we will go totally cashless. That is phase one. Totally cashless, phase one. This will prepare the world for the mark of the beast financial system to come. See, it is taking place in your days. Not in your grandchildren's days or your children's days. Your eyes will see all that. So, how prepared are you? HOW READY ARE YOU? Or are you still going around and around in the wilderness like the Israelites going around and around in the wilderness eating garlic, eating onion, eating fishes, eating quails. That's all you were interested. That's what they were interested, you know? They were not interested in pursuing after God. They were a rebellious people, always complaining, always murmuring, always gossiping, ALWAYS BACKBITING, ALWAYS SEEKING, never finding. Why? Seeking in the wrong place. Instead seeking higher, you're seeking to the right and to the left to those who can help you go up higher. Wrong. Remember this dream, the Lord Jesus encouraged this man to go up higher. Go up higher. Keep on seeking. Go up higher. Never be settled down with where the goodies are. Of course, you could, but that's where you will stay. You will not reach your fullness.
So, the first valley, at the bottom of the mountain, is the valley of salvation or the outer court experience. I'm sure you have heard this term, outer court, haven't you? It's the outer court of the tabernacle of Moses. And that is the largest place in the whole tabernacle of Moses. The largest. Why? Because most people are gathered there. The largest place. All kinds of priestly activities take place there. All the cutting and the shedding of blood. It's hundreds and thousands of animals every day. Can you imagine what the crowd would have been gathered at the doorway of the outer court every single day? When King Solomon dedicated his temple, he offered tens of thousands of sheep and goats and rams. So, you add them all up, they were close to about 50 to 100,000 animals that were slain on just one day. One day. And how many priests would have been involved in that service? It all took place at the outer courts.
Now, the second valley up the mountain signifies the valley of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the valley where you are serving the Lord. This is in relation to the holy place experience. From the outer court, you move to the holy place in the tabernacle. And what do you have there? The lampstand, the altar of showbread, and the altar of incense. What does that signify? Ministry, activities. You have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and you have the ministry of the word, and you have the ministry of prayer. Full of activities. Now, in this second court, only the sons of Aaron are allowed. Not anyone else. Aaron and his sons, which are just four boys. He only had four boys. Only they were allowed to enter in and go out every day. So, this signifies those who have the Lord's calling. Not everybody has a call, right? Although everybody does in a general sense, but there are some called to full-time ministry, for higher calling, and like the five-fold ministry and all that. So, they are in that section. So, that's the second level. Anyone from being an ordinary nobody in the church can climb up higher to become a somebody. Do you believe that? It is absolutely possible. And what is the criteria? The hunger of your heart. That's the criteria. For example, if you read Acts chapter 6, seven deacons, seven men were chosen to be deacons in the early church. And one of them was a man called Stephen. And the Bible says from being a deacon who washed the pots and pans, who laid the tables, and served all the members in the church, he got promoted. He began to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He became a fervent evangelist. See, he got promoted up. Eventually, he became the first Christian martyr of the first-century church. From a deacon, he rose up to another level. So, promotions in God's kingdom are available for everyone. Available for everyone. From a nobody, you can become a somebody.