How We Lose Our Desire for Holiness

May 30, 2019

Thank You, Lord, for the warning dreams to help keep us on track.

Well, dear ones, Ezekiel had a dream about a week or two ago, and I lost track of it - and just found it now. And on that particular day, when he had the dream, I kept getting rhemas about Lust and the Flesh, the World. Avarice. Just things of the World, Worldliness. And after he had this dream, he got the same thing! All kinds of Scriptures on Worldliness.

A young couple had come from Israel to live here. A very, very holy couple. Completed Jews. They've received Jesus. And they came here to live, and we'd helped them find a little house out in the country. And I was helping her set up her kitchen, and Ezekiel was helping the young man set up the rest of the house. And at this point, I'm gonna share with you Ezekiel's part of the story. I had to erase the beginning, 'cause there were a lot of silly sounds in it, like crinkly things and what have you. Very distracting. But that's the gist of it. And he'll pick up from here.

Ezekiel: And his wife, very sweet. We were trying to help them, you know, get a few things and kind of get their little place established with some furniture and some things. Very, very humble. Very humble and holy. Very holy couple. I mean, the first thing they wanted to do was put up this huge... He would take, like, stumps and pieces of bark and things. And make them. You know, sand them. Polish them. Shellac them and put them up, like, on the walls. And put a huge picture or image, or crucifix. Which he would make, you know, like, three feet high.

And he would mount them on these big, thick slabs of wood. Like you would just cut a circle out of a tree or something, you know?

So, we're helping them do stuff. Day goes into night. Night goes into day. And you and the young wife, helping her with anything you could, you know. And you guys, you and the wife are keeping it really simple. You were keeping it really simple and just special. Like I said, they were very, very tender in the Lord. And I noticed the guy started... It looked like things were just being delivered and were showing up. I'm talking about state-of-the-art entertainment systems with everything, you know. Wide screen this. The top-of-the-line audio. Speakers and this thing and that thing. And players and gizmos and gadgets.

And then things... I turned around and there's all this. A HUGE double waterbed thing. And I mean, this place went from a little, simple little house 'til like it almost looked like the guy in South America that we knew that owned the Emerald mines. Just everything was new. The most modern. The nicest. And I could see the concern in his wife's eyes.

You were kinda busy, so you didn't. You didn't notice it, but I could see that she was getting concerned. And eventually, she did come to you and tell you that she was concerned.

Meanwhile, rewind just a little bit on a split-screen kind of thing. I'm with this young guy. And we'd been talking about the Lord and sharing the Lord. And he was so excited in a very calm, peaceful way. But he wanted to know more and more and more. And he shared more and more and more with me. And when all these things started showing up - it was like I was looking at this from a third-person view.

Clare: Who was ordering all this stuff?

Ezekiel: First of all, it just started...kind of appearing here. Like...

Clare: things would appear.

Ezekiel: Little tokens and things to kind of get himself together. And I got pulled out of the scene. And guess who took my place?

Clare: Who?

Ezekiel: Satan himself. As a middle-aged guy. Middle-aged business kind of guy, but in leisure wear. But he wore, like, a sport coat. Older than the young man, maybe in his 40's. Not too far away from 20's and 30's. He's just laid back, you know. Hair just right. I mean, the quintessential, perfect, on-the-way, upwardly mobile.

Clare: Already mobile...

Ezekiel: Right. Already. And he's complimenting him on all these things and all this stuff in the house and everything.

Clare: And the insinuation was?

Ezekiel: 'That's the way to LIVE, man!' I mean, wow!

Clare: Oh, out in the woods, jetsetter.

Ezekiel: Jetsetter. All the most modern, new, bells-and-whistles. All the little trinkets and... 'This is the HIGH life! We're living LARGE, man! You know, this is the way to DO it!'

Clare: Yeah.

Ezekiel: And these are very young, Jewish Christians. And although the wife isn't particularly buying it, and it's bothering her. And you're busy trying to help her set up her house, and the kitchen. This that and the other. And you don't get it, because you're busy with stuff. But. She comes over to you at a certain point and says, 'I'm not comfortable with this. I mean, something feels really wrong about all this stuff.'

And so, you talk to her and you start to pray.

Meanwhile, Satan is walking in his young personage, all slick and cool and got-it-all-together. And he's distracted this young man to the point that he's kind of stunned. He's kind of confused. He's kind of foggy about things. And he goes over to this big, beautiful piece of wood that he'd put up high on the wall, with the three-foot crucifix that he'd made. And he takes the crucifix off of there. And just kind of pitches it off on the side somewhere.

Clare: It didn't fit with all the other stuff.

Ezekiel: Partly that and partly all Satan's influence. And I had been pulled out of the picture, and Satan took my place as the rich young man persuading this young, innocent, new babe in Christ who was a very holy, faithful, Jewish young man. And now a very faithful, holy Christian. And placing this mist over his mind. So that, all he could hear and sense and feel were the insinuations of the enemy.

And even though he still wasn't comfortable with it, he knew something was bothering him. He was convicted that this isn't right. Part of him began to enjoy those things and want more. That's the way the dream ended. And it's such an analogy to me of how the enemy puts a fog over us. And we start doing things that we normally wouldn't do. Like taking down the Cross and pitching it to the side.

And we start to like the pretty things and the nice things. There enters the seed of...

Clare: Avarice.

Ezekiel: ...material lusting. I mean, wanton lust, eventually, is what it grows into. For things. And the World and everything in it. But it starts slowly. It starts subtly, very subtle. And it grows by stages. And then, when we find ourselves in that place, we're actually threatened if someone tries to even begin to bring it up or talk about it.

I mean, the wife wanted to take all those things out of the house, because it was so pure and so simple. We were just going to set it up as a sweet, simple household that Jesus Himself could make Himself at home in. And they could learn and grow, you know?

So, we have people even in the Heartdwellers who struggle with that. We've had some who've left in the past. And in that Rapture dream that I had, the first Rapture dream I ever had. I remember that we'd be walking. We were so expectant that the Lord was going to come, and we knew He would. And He did. But it took a while to walk a couple of states away, you know? And by the time... We were from New Mexico halfway into Oklahoma, walking along the side of interstate - people were looking back at the shopping malls and the men's gadget stores and you name it. Anything that would appeal to a man's flesh. Anything that would appeal to a woman's. And they started to leave the group and kind of veer off, down the embankment, almost hypnotized for stores. The things. The Avarice that was growing in them.

And the Lust for the World and things that blinded them. But as they would leave, others would come from the World and take their place. So, that's the practical application of the dream, I think. And it's yet one more caution. It's more than a caution, it's a serious warning.

Clare: Yeah. Keep it simple.

Ezekiel: Stay out of the World. Stay out of the World. Stay off of the television and flipping through the channels. Stay out of the magazines at the grocery store and God forbid, the gossip scandal sheets and newspapers, things like that. Just stay OUT of the World, 'cause if you don't. If you give it an inch, it'll take a mile. All it takes is that little hole in the boat. That little way in. And the World will come in slowly, slowly. And the hole will get bigger. And pretty soon, ultimately, it's gonna come rushing in like a huge wave with the World and everything in it. And it's gonna totally possess you and take you over. It's that serious.

We think, 'Well, that's just one of my flaws. Or that's kind of... Probably, the healthiest answer would be, 'Yeah. I struggle with that.' I mean, it's so important that we just be honest with ourselves, with the Lord and each other sometimes. If we at least will admit that we have a problem. And ask for help, the Lord will rush to your side. And your brothers and sisters will rush to your side to pray for you! And in time, when you're able and you're ready to hear it, to encourage you and give you good counsel. And help you back up. Like the Good Samaritan.

And we don't even realize when those things come in, that we're just taking a big knife and making cut after cut. I mean, we're killing ourselves from the inside out.

Clare: Well, all those things just, they gain total control over you.

Ezekiel: At a certain point, you really... The Lord has told me so many times, for myself and others. You know, like I'd say, "Lord, I don't understand this. I'm not in my right mind!" From that day forward, the Lord's mentioned many times. Sometimes we're not in our right mind. It's not who we really are, or who we're really meant to be.

Clare: Yeah.

Ezekiel: But it's who we've been strongly influenced by - and if we don't turn around at the very beginning with that little hole and plug it up.

Clare: Yeah

Ezekiel: That's...it's gonna consume us.

Clare: Alright now, so was this about the Refuge?

Ezekiel: The Scripture that comes to mind is 'He that loves the world makes himself an enemy of God.' In other translations, 'puts himself in enmity from God.' And 'you can't serve two masters. You'll either love the one and hate the other. Or cherish the one and despise the other.'

Clare: Well, it just seems to me...

Ezekiel: You begin to be defensive.

Clare: Yeah.

Ezekiel: And push people and things away that are not in your reality. And you'll bring people and things around you on purpose to ratify your 'reality'. To make you feel good about it, to push the guilt down.

Clare: Yeah. It just seems to me that it's a warning about the Refuge, to keep it very simple. And guard it. Protect it. That's what it seems like to me.

Ezekiel: I can see that. I think it's a message. A message of caution. And those who have allowed that little hole, and they were just too weak to close it. And the Enemy came in, deeper, stronger, wider. And then they didn't want to. They just weren't thereselves anymore. They weren't even in their right mind. And they began to shun anything and everything that would threaten that, and everyone. But to replace that, they would find new friends and new this and new that. People who would be in agreement and support them.

Clare: Right.

Ezekiel: In this life and lifestyle. All of it drawing them further and further and further from the Lord. And the Lord is merciful. Like you say. You get a nudge. You get a tap. You'll get a push. And sometimes, He'll let you walk right off the cliff and hit the rocks hard. And it could be at the very last moment.

Lord, help us. Give us Your heart, Your mind, Your strength - because we're weak. You know our frame and that we're weak.

Clare: That's what I've been praying non-stop about, every morning.

Ezekiel: You know, let this not be guilt, guilt, condemnation, guilt, guilt. 'Cause you're already feeling some of that from the Enemy. But there's a healthy conviction they've felt from the Lord. Those who are compromising.

Clare: Hmm. Okay. So, you think it's just a present-time message for them.

Ezekiel: I sure do. This is not all of you.

Clare: Yeah.

Ezekiel: But the Lord has been speaking to Ezekiel for a while that there is... It started with a little head cold. Then it became the flu. And now, those of you who are in that place. Might be in the...just the little head cold or allergy or sneeze phase. But some of the sheep. Not many, but there's a cluster that are either going to be tempted with this. Or have already been in it. And you've been living under this conviction for a long time. And it's time to take the medication, because it's so dangerous and so contagious. And you're a carrier. It spreads to the other lambs and sheep.

Clare: mhmmm.

Ezekiel: If we, the shepherds. The Lord - the Good Shepherd. Doesn't check it and vaccinate and medicate and get this thing stopped.

Clare: Okay. So that was your dream huh.