Hi all,
First I want to share some updates and then talk about some prophetic things.
Zoom meeting
Our next Zoom web meeting is the 24th and you can register above or at our web site. We will be scheduling more in late October to cover several time zones and nations, so stay tuned.
Conference
I also want to mention the deadline for our conference in Broken Arrow (suburb of Tulsa) is the end of next week, so if you’re coming we need to know, even if we need to work with you a bit on the rest of the conference fee we need to know you are coming to reserve a place for you.
Prophetic
The summary as far as I’m willing to share what the Lord told me back in December 2019 is with some context, this; He said ‘As it stands now’ and then said to pray. In Matthew 24: 20 when He said to pray it was to delay the timing of an event that will definitely happen – but the season of year and day of the week is subject to prayer.
But what He said then of who would be the nominees has happened unchanged, so I am concerned the rest of what He said might not be changed. Thus I’m sharing so you can pray for the US elections in November.
When He said in December 2019 to pray about this fall 2020 and the next ‘birth pang’ as He called it, I took it as having the freedom and expectation to ask for delay or lessening of things. What He said included something happening to a nominee for President just before the election, that will thrown the whole process into turmoil. Then the election will take place under a cloud and opposition.
Then He said ‘As it stands now’ the election will be contested, drawn out to the Supreme Court, and marked with civil unrest, but that it will be settled and the nation will begin settling down again in the February-March time frame.
The issue again is that I have a peace in my spirit, but no indication anything has changed since He said that to me last December. Paul told us to pray for those in authority that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives in godliness and honesty….thanks for praying for the US.
Revisiting Emotional reasoning
Emotional reasoning is when a person believes what they feel is real even though the evidence says that feeling is wrong.
An example: I will sometimes receive messages from Christians who love the Lord, pray, worship, and yet feel God is angry with them or they have lost their salvation, based on how they feel. Sometimes people feel they lost their anointing, or in some other way because they don’t feel close to the Lord, or don’t feel His presence, think they’ve lost everything.
They read that Jesus will never leave them. They read from Romans 8 that nothing can separate them from the love and security in the Lord. They read ‘Christ in you’ from Colossians 1: 27, they read ‘the anointing which you have abides in you and is truth from I John 2: 27….and more. But their feelings override chapter and verse.
An example: We do this with forgiveness – we decide to forgive though our emotions want to retaliate. But we work through the feelings and the hurt and the injustice over time, always working to bring those feelings into submission to our decision to forgive. That’s the process. Bringing feelings to submission to the Word and what is right and true.
An example: If you follow the news in the US you’ll remember many cases of conservative speakers scheduled to speak on many college campuses being cancelled because the students say they don’t feel safe hearing their views.
A person who can’t hear or read or dialogue with someone who thinks differently than they do, or a different point of view makes them angry or feel threatened, is reasoning by their emotions. They don’t feel safe therefore they aren’t safe. That is emotional reasoning.
The evidence is a person who thinks differently is no physical threat, there is no evidence to justify not feeling safe by a conservative’s perspective – but because they feel it then it must be true. Sadly, much of society caters to feelings instead of telling them to grow up and stop looking for offense. That said, if a person is purposely antagonistic and purposely trying to provoke people – that is cause to be angry because evil is involved in their motive.
An example: The Pharisees were driven by emotional reasoning with Jesus – few listened to His reasoning which was based on the Mosaic law. But they felt threatened and felt their traditions not founded on the Word were being threatened by His teachings, so the reaction was anger and they made it personal. They didn’t like Him so He must be wrong. That is what emotional reasoning does – it reacts with anger and attacking the other person.
Another example: A person feels their spouse is having an affair, therefore it must be true. They look for ‘evidence’ to support what they feel, their fears, their suspicions, though there is no hard evidence.
But that person may see their spouse not wanting to take their lunch to work one day and think that is proof they are eating lunch at a restaurant with someone they are having an affair with. The truth is someone at work is having a birthday and the office has ordered lunch for everyone, or something else just as innocent. But that hard fact is not accepted because they feel something is going on. If not this thing, then there is other evidence.
Their spouse is looking for clues, any indicator to support their feeling they are having an affair: A change of schedule at work for their spouse to them means it is a lie, they are just saying that because they are having an affair and the ‘change of schedule’ is so they can carry on their affair. They can’t see the shifts simply changed.
They take their work-out clothes with them to work instead of coming home first to change and then go work out. But instead of believing the spouse’s words they are going to leave work an hour early today because they worked through lunch yesterday, and will change there and work out and be home early, they believe it is to hide an affair.
Another example: An emotional reasoning person will look for any clue to support their feeling, their fear, their suspicion, their stance. A person may feel they are fat because when they look in the mirror they see an imperfection or two. When they suggest to friends or coworkers they are fat or need to lose weight, all 6 of them tell them they are not fat. But they test what they feel as they look for confirmation to that feeling.
When 1 friend out of the 6 tells them, “So what if you could lose 5 pounds (2kilos), look at our age! You’re perfect for your age and body type.” – they latch onto that and build a whole case for “I feel fat therefore I am and it was just confirmed by my friend. I need to lose 5 or 10 pounds.”
Another example: In the US election cycle we have 2 polarizing candidates for President – both have their followers and both have those who are repulsed by one or the other. In the US each party has what is called a ‘platform’, which is that party’s beliefs and goals. One is decidedly Christian in moral underpinnings and one is the opposite. I find it fascinating to watch social media at people being for or against one or the other not on the basis of their party’s platform, but by how turned off or on they are to the personalities running for office. Emotional reasoning – if a person likes the candidate they will vote for them no matter the party platform. If a person doesn’t like the candidate they won’t vote for them no matter the party platform. Worst and most immature of all are those who vote for one candidate because they are voting ‘against’ the other….emotional reasoning.
Another example: A doctor talked about the dramatic increase of those who self-diagnose based on their own web research. They will come into the office convinced of their fear the most dreaded disease has come upon them, and be so convinced the doctor must order thousands of dollars of tests just to disprove what the patient feels. Only overwhelming medical tests contrary to their fears and feelings give them some degree of peace.
Bring thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, which is II Corinthians 10:5. The word captive there in the Greek is ‘take captive at the point of a spear’. That spear is the Word of God. Bring throughts and feelings captive to the Word – take them prisoner to Christ. The earlier verses tell us our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against wrong thoughts and feelings, yet I’m amazed how many Christians would rather fight the dragon ‘out there’ in their spiritual world, rather than their own thoughts and feelings.
The time in the Spirit is for the body of Christ to grow up. The separation between mere believers and true disciples is going to become much more clear in the days to come, all over the world….a disciple is a ‘learner’ for that is what the word means. It means we are actively applying the Word to our lives, to our emotions and thoughts. If we aren’t learning and growing and changing and being challenged, then we need to examine our hearts to see if we truly still want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, as Paul expressed to the Philippians.
Amazing times are ahead….blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
