Seat of Satan

Restoring Spirit of Father to the Church Today’s Focus: The Pergamos Church and the Spirit of Father Part 2: Seat of Satan Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17 Greetings Sons of God: Let us continue discussing the significance of the Spirit of Father and the Pergamos church. Revelation 2:13: I know thy works, and where thy dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name , and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth Meaning of Dwelling, Holding Fast His Name and Not Denying the Faith When the Lord was talking to the church at Pergamos He lets them know that He knows where they dwell. The Lord was not talking about a natural location but their position in the Spirit. He also stated that they held fast to His name. This means they have the name Father and Son in their heads and they are Father-centered. Finally, he said they did not deny His faith meaning that they believed in the Word of God and walked in it. Now this sounds like a church that anybody would like to be a part of but there is this glaring statement that Jesus makes that is the giant elephant in the room and that statement is: Satan’s seat is in Pergamos. Seat of Satan Now what seems to be a great church is it possible for Satan to have a seat in that church? Is it possible for Satan to have a throne in the church? First let us state that this seat or throne is an elevated seat of government. It is the seat of executive power and authority. Now understand before we go any further that this situation happened in the Pergamos church but the Lord says at the end that those who have an ear to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches. In other words, this situation was not just for the Pergamos church but for the entire Body of Christ. What we must allow the Lord to illuminate is the eternal concept that He is presenting for us to learn and watch for. Now we know that Pergamos was an elevated church that had a view that could see the enemy coming and did not allow the enemy to penetrate the church. They kept the faith, held fast to the Lord’s name and stayed in position with the Lord. So what was it that allowed Satan to have a throne in such a powerful church? The Lord speaks of this one person called Antipas and He states that he was the Lord’s faithful martyr. The key to understanding how Satan got this throne is to examine who Antipas was and his significance to Pergamos and how Satan got his seat there. In the next message we will examine the Antipas principal. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Pergamos Church and Spirit of Father Part 1

Restoring Spirit of Father to the Church Today’s Focus: The Pergamos Church and the Spirit of Father Part 1 Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17 Greetings Sons of God: Over the next couple of messages we will examine the Pergamos church and how the Spirit of Father functions within the church. So let’s get right to it: Revelation 2:12: And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; Meaning of Pergamos Now we know that God hides himself in names so let’s dissect this from the beginning. The word Pergamos means “Well fortified tower”. We know that a tower represents an elevated position. From this elevated position they have a aerial view and with that view they can see the enemy coming before they even get there. For it to be a well fortified tower means it is such a stronghold against enemy penetration. So this church is at an elevated position, it is well protected and can see the movement of the enemy before the enemy gets there and it is well protected from enemy penetration. Sharp Sword with Two Edges When many people see the passage of the sharp sword with two edges the majority points to the Word of God and they are right but let’s take a deeper look. Look how the Lord phrases this: He says the sharp sword with two edges. Now a sword with two edges we would assume is already sharp but why the emphasis on saying sharp. Let’s examine the word sharp: Sharp in the Greek is “Oxus” and it means: acidic The reason the Lord uses the word acidic as it pertains to the Word of God (sword) is because the Word of God, when it comes into your life, everything not of God will be dissolved. The Word of God will dissolve inaccurate positions and cut off anything that is not like God. Hebrews 4:12 says it best: Hebrews 4:12: For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God divides the soul from the spirit because the purpose of the Word of God is to accomplish the Will of God and that can only happen in truth and in spirit. It is our objective to silence the soul and get it to blindly follow the spirit in complete obedience and when we do this we can represent the Father. In the next message we will look at verse 13 and get into the meat of this discussion and the significance of Pergamos. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Obedience of the Sons of God

Restoring Spirit of Father to the Church Today’s Focus: Obedience of the Sons of God Scripture: Romans 5:19 Greetings Sons of God: God has called the sons of God to absolute obedience. You can never represent the Father without obedience. Faith should take us to obedience. Let me explain: Faith gives you the opportunity to choose. You can choose to live by your soul or live by the spirit. The objective that God is trying to achieve in is to shut the eye of the soul, which was opened in the Garden, and learn to move beyond faith to absolute obedience. The eye of the spirit is a single eye and the spirit will simply obey without question or rational. Jesus never operated on the platform of faith but from a position of absolute obedience. Jesus learned the excellence over His soul and in the Garden of Gethsemane we see an example of how. Jesus said and I am paraphrasing “My SOUL is sorrowful unto death, the FLESH is weak but the SPIRIT is willing” and then he would say, “Not my will but thou (Father’s) will. Because He understood who He was and how important it was for him to obey the voice of the Father, we have the opportunity to be reconciled back to the Father, His House and His Kingdom. Jesus showed us that we as sons must move from faith to obedience. I am not discounting faith because faith brings us to Christ but it is obedience to the voice of Christ that allows us to walk in Christ and handle the Kingdom. Let me show you these Scriptures: Romans 5:19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Because of the obedience of the Son of God, Jesus Christ we are able to be reconciled back to the Father so just like the patent Son, Jesus we are to come that extreme obedience and that happens when we submit our soul to the rule of the spirit. Know this God never intended for us to know darkness, only the light. This is why God forbid Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because we are children of light and we were not designed to see darkness. However, we chose darkness through disobedience and faith in Jesus Christ gives us the choice to choose light and knowledge of Christ and the Father but we must make the choice and if we have faith then we should choose the voice of the Father over the voice of the soul. In the next message we will look at a particular situation in Scripture and how the Spirit of Father is administered in the church and the consequence of the absence of that Spirit. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

The Single Mind and Single View of the Sons

Restoring Spirit of Father to the Church Today’s Focus: The Single Mind and Single View of the Sons Scripture: Genesis 1:26; Romans 12:1,2; Philippians 2:5; Colossians 1:19; Hebrews 1:1,2 Greetings Sons of God: If we are sons who are called to represent the Father in the earth and we will talk about the representational principal later. If we are sons of God, representing the Father then we should have a single mindset and single view. Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus Romans 12:1,2: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The single mind is the mind of Christ and the view from the Son should be one of the Father. When we as sons completely obey the voice of the Lord through submission and sacrifice of our own will and desires, the perfect will of God will be shown. Our sole purpose in the earth as sons is to occupy our mind with His Will. Our primary objective as sons is to represent the Father and bring pleasure to Him. Now the Father can only be expressed in a representative called a son: Colossians 2:19: For it pleased the Father that in Him should all the fullness; Hebrews 1:1,2: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. So it pleased the Father that all the fullness of the Godhead dwell within the Son and it is also through Son that the father speaks. The perpetual nature, identity, expression and work can only be expressed in a Son and it is the son whom He sends so when you see the son, you see the Father. We have been called to be ambassadors of Christ and that is representation of the one whom sends us. When we embrace this identity and paradigm shift, burdens will begin to be lifted and the bonds and yokes of religion will be broken because God did not create you to be a member of some institution but He created to be His son and the son carries not only the image of the Father but also the likeness and that likeness can only be demonstrated: Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. We are made in His image (spirit) and after His likeness (character). Image is given, likeness is matured. And in the next message we will talk about the importance of obedience of the sons of God in expressing the likeness of the Father. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

New Teaching Series: Restoring the Spirit of Father to the Church

Restoring Spirit of Father to the Church Today’s Focus: Primary Identity of God Scripture: Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6 Greetings Sons of God: Now you may ask what do I mean by restoring the Spirit of Father to the church? Isn’t the Father already in the church? Well if we examine the state of the church, in particular because I live here in the United States, the Spirit of Father is not the dominant rule in the church. When we talk about God we hear all of the wonderful things He is such as Redeemer, Deliverer, Healer..etc and these are all true. But these are descriptions of how God comes into our needs. So we get caught up in knowing God by how He comes and meets our needs but what about who God is before there was a need. Who is God before the beginning of the world and evil? That is who we need to know God as. Before all of that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit Now if this is the primary name of God before all of time then we must come to know Him by that name. Now when we become born again, and receive the Holy Spirit there is a cry that must come from one who has been born again and come into the House of God and that cry is Abba, Father. The presence of the Holy Spirit with us is expressed through the cry of Abba, Father. Let me show you: Romans 8:15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father Galatians 4:6: And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. So when we receive the Spirit of the Son or Holy Spirit the expressed cry from one who has become a son of God is Abba, Father. You come to first know God as your Father. If this is the primary identity and cry then there is a purpose in that identity that the Father desires to live through and impact the earth with His will. It is in being a son and knowing God as your Father does He manifest the gifts of the Spirit and come how He desires in the needs of our lives in being a Deliverer, Redeemer, Comforter but we do not know Him by how He meets our needs, we know Him because He is our Father, first. With this said and with that identity comes a single purpose in being a son who cries Abba, Father and in the next message we will look at the single mind and single view of the sons of God. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

2012 Election Reflection: The Spirit of Laodicea

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Maintaining Your Deliverance: Renewing of the Mind

Releasing Hurts Today’s Focus: Maintaining Your Deliverance: Renewing of the Mind Scripture: Romans 12:1,2; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Hebrews 4:12; James 4:7 Greetings Sons of God: The renewing of the mind is the most crucial step in maintaining deliverance because it allows us to do the three major principles to keep our deliverance which are: Standing on the Word, Resisting the Devil and Walking in Fellowship with the Lord. Romans 12:1,2: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God 1 Corinthians 15:31: I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. Now the common theme we see between these two scriptures is sacrifice and death. We sacrifice the rule of ourselves and we die to our own soulish desires. Jesus said it best, you must first deny yourself. We are laying down our own will, desires (life) for the will of God to rule in our lives and others. For this to happen one must learn how to sacrifice and suppress the rule of the soul and bring it under submission to the rule of the Spirit. So when faced with a situation that you have just been delivered from, it is crucial for you to know the voice of the Spirit and obey. To know the voice of the Spirit and obey is to: Stand on the Word And when you stand on the Word you: Resist the Devil And in resisting the devil you are able to: Walk in fellowship with the Lord Do we see how renewing our mind sets everything else into motion? Let me show you this other scripture: James 4:7: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you Could it really be that simple just to say no and the devil will flee from you? Yes! When we stand on the Word (Sword in the Armour of God) the enemy has no power over us because we are standing on truth. It is when we subit and succumb to the trap that he gains legal access and control over us. This is why it is critical to renew your mind daily because the devil is clearly more cunning that us and has a distinct advantage of invisibility over us. This is why we must abide in the word of God because Hebrews 4:12 tells us the five-fold ministry of the Word: 1. Quick – life-giving 2. Powerful – ability to overcome 3. Piercing – offends 4. Divides the soul from the spirit (This is the big one) 5. Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The Word of God does all of that for us so that we can fellowship and walk with the Lord daily and resist the devil (discernment). Renewing your mind is a everyday requirement to continue to grow in Christ. This allows you to fellowship more with God and mature as a son. Maintenance of your deliverance is all on you. It is a choice you make to either walk with God and live or go back into bondage and oppression under Satan and be destroyed. It sounds like an easy answer but when we examine the lives of believers it looks a lot harder than we think. But, the great thing is God is raising up sons that will be a light and show the ways of Christ to those struggling and their testimony will be used to help their brothers and sisters transfer from living by the soul to living in the Spirit. When we make that transition we maintain our deliverance and freely walk and serve the Father as His sons and representatives or ambassadors in the Earth. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Maintaining Your Deliverance

Releasing Hurts Today’s Focus: Maintaining Your Deliverance Scripture: Romans Isaiah 55:11 8:5,6 Greetings Sons of God: Now that we understand that forgiveness is a major key to releasing hurt and true deliverance, the next question should obviously be how do we maintain our deliverance? How do we stay free from the sin and hurt that we just been delivered from? For many people this is where it gets cloudy and many do not every walk in true freedom because they backslide and believe that they never were delivered when in fact they were. It is the enemy’s job to cause doubt and fear this is why in Ephesians 6 the Lord tells you to carry the shield of faith to block the fiery darts of the enemy which consists of lies and doubts. Of course, he also tells you to wear the helmet of salvation to protect your mind. Now both of these pieces of armor are crucial in maintaining your deliverance. You must understand that the old adage says: “Whoever controls the mind, controls the body” and the enemy knows that and you must protect your head and your mind from the attack of the enemy and this leads me to our discussion today. In the previous message we said in order to get delivered you must: Repent, renounce and forgive but to maintain that deliverance we need to do some other things and here are three things the sons of God must do to maintain their deliverance: 1. Stand on the Word 2. Resist the Devil 3. Walk in fellowship with the Lord Starting this process is the hard part because you must first get control of the internal war between the soul and the spirit. When God has spoken something and/or done anything we know for a fact that it is truth and will or has happened. Isaiah 55:11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. When the Lord declares your deliverance and freedom from any situation, you can take that to the bank and know that it has happened. But what the devil tries to do, He tries to make you believe that it has not happened and what he does is try to put you put into the same situation you came from and this is the break point. Now when this situation happens you now hear two distinct voices: One telling you to “leave” and the other saying “I thought I was delivered from this, why is this happening again?” Now who you believe determines whether you stay free or go back into bondage. This internal war is between your soul and spirit and Paul speaks clearly to the consequence of listening to both: Romans 8:5,6: For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So we can either listen to our soul where the enemy loves to attack us and try to get us to be carnally minded which leads to death or we can listen to the spirit man because it is with our spirit that the Holy Spirit speaks and testifies truth and revelation and if we listen to the Spirit then we will have life and peace. Now we know from previous studies that the soul and spirit have a mind and will but we also know that we need to be sensitive and obedient to the Spirit because in obedience to the Spirit there is life and peace. So when we come out of that darkness or stronghold of the enemy there must be a shift and a change and this is the most crucial step in maintaining your deliverance and that is one must renew their mind daily. In the next message we will talk about the importance of renewing the mind daily in maintaining deliverance. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Steps to Forgiveness

Releasing Hurts for Deliverance Today’s Focus: The Power of Forgiveness in Deliverance Part 3: Steps to Forgiveness Scripture: Hebrews 12:14; John 20:22,23; Matthew 18:21,22; 5:9 Greetings Sons of God: Why do we seek forgiveness? Well of course we desire to be forgiven by the Lord so yes we must forgive also but why and what does it produce? Hebrews 12:14: Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord Now I do not know about you but I desire to see the Lord but in order to see the Lord you must follow peace with all men and holiness. When we forgive we make peace with man. And as a son of God it is our divine character and mission to follow peace. Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God So pursuing peace is our goal in forgiveness because in our past message we see that unforgiveness give the enemy legal right to torment us and there is no peace between the parties until forgiveness takes place. Now let’s look at the steps to forgiveness: 1. One Must Choose to Forgive John 20:22,23: And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. What is Jesus saying? He has given us power and authority in the name of Jesus to forgive sins and we also have the choice to retain sins. Now understand when you retain the sin and not forgive the person, you can now be tormented and held back from forgiveness yourself from the Lord. We must all make the choice to forgive and when we choose not to forgive the Lord is not obligated to forgive us because we are not forgiving. The Spirit of the Lord is forgiveness and if we are in the image and likeness, we must forgive and forget. 2. Be Specific in your Forgiveness When you are denouncing soul ties or even trying to release a person through forgiveness be specific in your request to the Lord. Deal with each situation and release the person through forgiveness 3. Pray until God Restores Love This is where a lot of people miss the forgiveness principle. So many people ust want to say “I have forgiven them but yet they still remember and when they see the person they still dislike them. If that is the case then they were never forgiven to begin with. Forgiveness replaces hatred with love. In other words, when you have truly forgiven someone you forget the situation that separated you in the first pace and you love them as your brother and sister in Christ. Matthew 18:21,22: Then came Peter to him ,and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say, not unto thee until seven times; but, until seventy times seven. Jesus was stressing the fact that we must have the heart of forgiveness to a point where we forgive unto we love again. No matter how many times it takes, we must get back to the point where we love them unconditionally and when we see them we are not reminded of the past situation but love them in the present. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.