Thomas Jefferson's Early War with Terrorists

Dear Friends,

I’m sending out this surprising article, plus my comments, on America’s
early battle with Islamic terrorists.

This article was originally sent out by Francis Frangipane’s staff June
15th. You know from my background that spiritual warfare through
prayer, praise, and proclamation of the Gospel is primary and should be
accompanied by teaching the Word of God and by building or networking
Christian community for the welfare of everyone in society, even for
the benefit of those who reject Christ. Our warfare as followers of
Jesus is NOT with flesh and blood, but with sin, with ignorance, and
with dark controlling spirits that feed on peoples’ wrong thinking.

However, the power of the State to righteously wage war is clearly
authorized by God. We can’t avoid using it when it is necessary. The
government’s use of force which “bears not the sword in vain” (Romans
13:4) comes into play when evil people use weapons or violence. As in
the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” starring Gregory Peck, the peaceful
father (Atticus Finch) needed to use his gun, albeit reluctantly, when
a mad dog came down the street toward his children. That’s a clear
illustration of evil possessed with a malicious intent. Such a foe
can’t be negotiated with or appeased, only destroyed.

In my opinion, America and its leaders have been naïve concerning the
nature of our present enemy. President Bush seems to be awakening to
the danger. Now he needs our prayers more than ever. May God have mercy
on us by giving us leaders (and keeping them in power long enough to
succeed) who will be resolute in withstanding evil even when it’s
disguised as a religion.

No religion-- including Christianity-- should ever be cloaked in
legitimacy or given protected status by our government when it permits
or instills hatred or murder. The Constitution doesn’t protect hate
crimes. That’s not true religion.

My concern is not for those terrorists presently attacking our troops
or plotting against our homeland now, but for the next generation,
those multiplied thousands of young people who are still being trained
in the hundreds of one-room school Madrases, who will come to adulthood
without a good education, chanting from the one book they’re allowed to
read, the Koran, knowing only loyalty to Islam, who think killing in
the name of Allah is justified, who are being brainwashed to hate
Americans, Christians, and Jews.

If we (church leaders, government leaders, business leaders) aren’t
thinking long-range, we might win the immediate land-battle and
ultimately lose the mind-war.

Bullets alone won’t stop the next wave of violence. The truth (all
kinds of truth) must somehow penetrate into closed societies so that
enlightenment can enlarge their understanding. The liberties which we
enjoy (that are now being used against us) must be injected into their
limited and narrow cultural systems. Freedom of thought has to
accompany other freedoms.

How do we do this?

1) By Freedom of Communication
We need new communication inroads into every society via satellite
broadcasts, radio or TV, internet links, publishing ventures, student
exchange programs, access to broader education, translating our
historical or helpful materials into their native languages, etc.
Often in poor nations, whoever gets printed material in first, sets
the baseline for their beliefs.

2) By Business Expansion
Christian-owned businesses should compete with Muslim-funded
enterprises in other nations and in America. (This battle has a
definite economic front. Remember-- whoever controls the money, wins!)
Often these new ventures are their way of infiltrating nations,
especially in Africa. These businesses are frequently underwritten by
oil money from Middle Eastern nations which is siphoned off by elite
ruling families. Their expansion via new jobs is the foot-in-the-door
for furthering their agenda of infiltration and domination. They often
use business opportunities to gain entry into poorer nations by bribing
key government officials. (Poverty makes it easy for such corruption to
occur.) Then they build their Mosques or Madrases and set about to
influence the media and the government until their control is well
established and that nation becomes a difficult place for Christians to
live or for people to have religious freedom.

3) By Preaching the Gospel
We need missionary activities of all kinds, formal church workers, plus
bi-vocational tent-makers, professionals who are strong Christians, by
sending in Bible cassette tapes, CD’s, modern Christian music, secret
prayer meetings, Scripture distributions, and when we can do it safely,
public preaching.

4) By Praying Fervently
Prayer knows no limits! Pray that wicked spirits in high places will be
dethroned, made mute, confused, and driven off the land and out of the
minds they presently occupy. Pray for the Good News of Jesus Christ to
penetrate into Jewish, Arabian, and Palestinian lands. Ask the Lord of
the Harvest to equip and send out apostles and prophets into and from
within these nations. The light which they need is primarily THE Light
of the World, Jesus!

5) By Loving our Enemy
The Bible teaches us to be respectful of all men, including
unbelievers. We can truly love people and compassionately try to help
them even when adamantly opposing what they believe or practice.

The hand of totalitarian regimes funding hate-preaching will eventually
be bitten by the very snake they’re feeding.

Ron Wood

WAR AGAINST TERRORISTS GOES BACK TO FOUNDING FATHERS
(www.WorldNetDaily.com, 4/27/04)

Most Americans probably think the Islamic terrorists declared war on
the United States Sept. 11, 2001. Actually, it started a long time
before - right from the birth of the nation. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson,
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were commissioned by the first
Congress to assemble in Paris to see about marketing U.S. products in
Europe. Jefferson quickly surmised that the biggest challenge facing
U.S. merchant ships were those referred to euphemistically as "Barbary
pirates."

They weren't "pirates" at all in the traditional sense, Jefferson
noticed. They didn't drink and chase women, and they really weren't out
to strike it rich. Instead, their motivation was strictly religious.
They bought and sold slaves, to be sure. They looted ships. But they
used their booty to buy guns, ships, cannon and ammunition. Like those
we call "terrorists" today, they saw themselves engaged in jihad and
called themselves "mujahiddin."

Why did these 18th-century terrorists represent such a grave threat to
U.S. merchant ships? With independence from Great Britain, the former
colonists lost the protection of the greatest navy in the world. The
U.S. had no navy - not a single warship. Jefferson inquired of his
European hosts how they dealt with the problem. He was stunned to find
out that France and England both paid tribute to the fiends - who
would, in turn, use the money to expand their own armada, buy more
weaponry, hijack more commercial ships, enslave more innocent civilians
and demand greater ransom. This didn't make sense to Jefferson. He
recognized the purchase of peace from the Muslims only worked
temporarily. They would always find an excuse to break an agreement,
blame the Europeans and demand higher tribute.

A Very Different Policy

After three months researching the history of militant Islam, he came
up with a very different policy to deal with the terrorists. But he
didn't get to implement it until years later. As the first secretary of
state, Jefferson urged the building of a navy to rescue American
hostages held in North Africa and to deter future attacks on U.S.
ships. In 1792, he commissioned John Paul Jones to go to Algiers under
the guise of diplomatic negotiations, but with the real intent of
sizing up a future target of a naval attack.

Jefferson was ready to retire a year later when what could only be
described as "America's first Sept. 11" happened. America was struck
with its first mega-terror attack by jihadists. In the fall of 1793,
the Algerians seized 11 U.S. merchant ships and enslaved more than 100
Americans. When word of the attack reached New York, the stock market
crashed. Voyages were canceled in every major port. Seamen were thrown
out of work. Ship suppliers went out of business. What Sept. 11 did to
the U.S. economy in 2001, the mass shipjacking of 1793 did to the
fledgling U.S. economy in that year.

Accordingly, it took the U.S. Congress only four months to decide to
build a fleet of warships. But even then, Congress didn't choose war as
Jefferson prescribed. Instead, while building what would become the
U.S. Navy, Congress sent diplomats to reason with the Algerians. The
U.S. ended up paying close to $1 million and giving the pasha of
Algiers a new warship, "The Crescent," to win release of 85 surviving
American hostages.

It wasn't until 1801, under the presidency of Jefferson, that the U.S.
engaged in what became a four-year war against Tripoli. And it wasn't
until 1830, when France occupied Algiers, and later Tunisia and
Morocco, that the terrorism on the high seas finally ended. France
didn't leave North Africa until 1962 - and it quickly became a major
base of terrorism once again.

What's the moral of the story?

Appeasement never works. Jefferson saw it. Sept. 11 was hardly the
beginning. The war in which we fight today is the longest conflict in
human history. It's time to learn from history, not repeat its
mistakes.

The Real Father's Day

Yesterday, I walked on to a public golf course alone and was put with a daddy and his boy. I so enjoyed watching the father and his 13-year old son play golf and enjoy being together. It stirred memories of similar times with my own kids, now grown, times that we men love to re-live.

For Father’s Day, I had been writing two articles, neither of which made it to this space. The first was an effort to put myself into our heavenly Father’s place and understand His feelings as He looked down upon Jesus and said to Peter, James, and John, “This is My Son. Hear Him!”

God is jealous for the honor which is due His Son! Any religion that negates the supreme role of Jesus or tries to elevate someone or something as His equal is deceived and wrong.

What I had seen was that the Father’s Day was His pride in the maturity, righteousness, and perfect obedience of His own firstborn Son, Jesus Christ. This holy joy of the Father is repeated and sustained as Jesus achieves what He set out to do, that is, “bring many sons to glory.”

Jesus desires to show us a taste of what He experiences eternally. I am convinced that our God, the Almighty LORD of the Bible, has genuine fatherly pride in His children and longs for intimate fellowship with them which includes having fun and sharing His heart.

This is the real Father’s Day, in the sense of “This is your day!” When we walk in faith or keep our integrity or display honor for things God that honors, it becomes God’s day, a day of pleasure for the One who is the source of all fatherhood. It’s a day of celebration, pride, and
accomplishment; of finishing what heaven set out to do in the beginning and restoring what had been lost by sin. It has little to do with religion and a lot to do with relationships.

The second article I began to write had to do with a parable of a
failed spiritual father. In that story, which I will reserve for a
chapter in my book on apostolic development, the sinner wasn’t the son,
but the spiritual father (pastor, apostle, leader) who failed the son
by consuming all the finances on himself to the degree that there was
no room to help the next generation succeed.

The bigger issue is that God’s leaders are failing to equip their
followers to be sent out. Picture a daddy who adds another room on to
his house and tells his grown sons, “Stay here with me… you don’t need
to have your own home.” This kind of paternalism is common when pastors
are in charge of resources rather than apostles.

Then, I began to get emails from folks all over who have just
rediscovered a prophetic word I had written nine years ago entitled
“The Spirit of Rejection.” That word described the suffering and
insecurity of human souls denied the confident strength that comes from
good fathers.

For this Father’s Day, I want to re-send that word after I insert a few
preliminary thoughts. May God bless you all on this Father’s Day! If
your earthly dad is still alive, do something today to show your
appreciation to him.

Honor your Father
We rightly call George Washington the “Father of our Country.” The more
you read about his life, the more you can see how we were blessed to
have men like him as pillars of our nation. These early pioneers were
venerable men. They debated great ideas and stood for noble principles
at great personal sacrifice.

When Ronald Reagan passed away, America displayed genuine honor toward
his life. We laid to rest a true “National Father.” (The Hand of
Providence by Mary Beth Brown wonderfully tells of Reagan’s deep faith
in God) Fathers of such stature impact our lives for good. Fatherhood
and the honor due it has nothing to do with perfection, but rather with
largeness of heart, genuine care for those under their charge, and
honorable motivations. To be called a father is indeed an honor. It is
not automatically achieved by siring offspring but it is earned by a
lifetime of purposeful dedication to the welfare of the family (or
nation, or business, or church). Not every leader attains to this level
of respect or achievement.

In the Bible, God commands that honor be given to fathers. This is so
important that it’s listed as one of The Ten Commandments. Have you
considered this point? If you eliminate any of these ten pillars, the
resulting culture will be less ideal than what our Creator graciously
intended. Diluting or editing the Ten Commandments is harmful to our
welfare, especially the requirement that we honor our father.

Fatherhood scores Ten Points!
When God devotes pages of His Scripture to a topic, it isn’t just
filler material. To look at it another way, honoring fathers takes up
ten percent of God’s operating system intended to run our lives.
Disable this feature and you cripple the code that makes human life
work well. You could say that “honor your father” is a Prime Directive.
It is an Old Testament commandment clearly repeated in the New
Testament. (Ephesians 6:1-4) It has universal applications.

There are some very important reasons why this Divine Law is needed in
human society. There are also practical safeguards to observe as we
work toward elevating the level of honor directed toward fathers among
us.

Years ago I heard Bill Glass, the ex-pro football player with a huge
prison ministry, tell about the thousands of inmates he had
interviewed. He made this statement: “Among ten thousand prisoners I’ve
talked to, I never found one who didn’t hate his father.” Lack of good
fathering is costly. Failing to honor our fathers is costly.

Fathers establish Values
The absence of an effective father (or the perversion of a father’s
role) is the most critical issue today in both the family and in the
church. Nothing can cause as much lasting damage to the natural family
or as much serious damage to God’s spiritual family as these two
errors.

I was reminded of how vital this topic is when I taught a Spanish
church recently regarding the issue of honoring spiritual fathers. This
pastor was planting a new church as a tent maker but the people were
not properly supporting him financially. I taught on the The Steps of
Faith of Father Abraham and described how Abraham had faith to tithe
based upon his desire to honor the Lord. He acknowledged the Source of
his blessings in a practical way by worshipping God with his wealth.
Abraham did this long before there was any Law of Moses with its
instructions about supporting those called to the ministry. He did it
by a revelation of God. And of course, he realized the blessing of
tithing which often falls upon subsequent generations.

Many people are prospering now even though they may be presently
rebelling against God, not realizing that their blessing was paid for
by previous parents and grandparents who honored God with the tithes
and offerings. We invoke a curse or a blessing on our children by how
we handle core issues of faith and finances.

Fathers honor God
Did you know the Bible refers to Abraham as our father? You know the
story. Abram was childless. He and Sarai (later renamed Abraham and
Sarah) were led to move away from their kinfolk to a new land. Many
years passed from when he first heard God make the promise of a son and
when the fulfillment came– in fact, it took 25 years from the initial
word to its realization.

Can you imagine enduring that long in an impossible situation when all
you had was a word from God? What would people say of you? Few people
can hold on to a promise for that long and not cast off away
confidence.

Despite the delays and trials, Abram didn’t quit believing God. That’s
why he’s called the “father of all who believe.” (Rom. 4:11) He
pioneered steps of faith that are still an example to us today. The
fact is, faith honors God. Therefore, God honored Abraham. (Heb. 11:6)
Abraham was a real believer.

Fathers never quit being Fathers
I won’t go into all the various points of how Abraham demonstrated the
nature of fatherhood for us. But the fact is, he acted like a father
even before he became a father by training his 318 household servants,
men who were so loyal they followed him into a battle. This was before
he ever had children of his own. (Gen 14:14) He acted fatherly toward
Lot, his nephew, both giving him preferential space for his herds and
later by rescuing him.

God knew Abraham’s character and based on that foreknowledge, made an
everlasting covenant to bless him and his offspring and give them the
land. This covenant was not made with a political leader, nor was it
made with a charismatic preacher, but it was cut with a man who walked
in integrity, kept the faith, and behaved like a father. (Gen 18:19)

Fathers minister the Spirit of Adoption by unconditionally accepting
their children. That acceptance isn’t tolerance, as in “anything goes.”
Rather, acceptance is the opposite of rejection.

A father’s accepting is demonstrated by upholding what is right, by
being there and remaining involved, by correcting their child when
needed, by loving their mother, by providing faithfully for the
family’s material needs, and by being an example of a follower of Jesus
Christ who lives in the community of believers. Rejection is manifested
by being emotionally distant, by not taking time to listen to your
children, by putting them low on the list of your priorities.


The Spirit of Rejection (original article)
by Ron Wood

Alienation, isolation, and rejection are paralyzing the church.
Loneliness is like a plague on the land. The ties that knit our lives
together seem to have unravelled. Covenant love has grown cold and
casual contacts can‚t replace them. The tapestry of society is like a
mass of individual threads, no longer woven together. Broken homes from
divorces provide a vivid picture of our inability to stay in meaningful
relationships. (In Cuba, where I have ministered, the divorce rate is
78%.) Ask any modern school teacher how many children in their
classroom still have the same original parents. The answer is always,
“Hardly any.” The feeling of abandonment hurts. These kids usually
suffer from rejection.

Even if you can't explain it, you can describe it. It is a reality in
our souls. What is rejection and what does it do to people?

Rejection affects adults as well. Many people have come to full age
still carrying the scars of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. These
men and women look normal but inside they are filled with terrible
insecurity, anger, or fear. Others are sitting on a ticking emotional
time-bomb of resentment and rebellion, just waiting to boil over into
rage. These scars, if left unhealed, will render a person incapable of
entering into committed, wholesome, long-term relationships.

One particular problem is very common. It undermines the confidence of
many Christians and interferes with true fellowship between friends. It
is a lying spirit from our enemy called a spirit of rejection.
Rejection is the worst pain the human spirit can suffer. Anyone who has
been abandoned, suffered abuse, or endured discrimination can relate to
this kind of anguish. Let‚s examine this assault from Satan so we can
recognize this form of mental oppression.

The Mind-Set of Rejection
First, the spirit of rejection refers to the mind-set ingrained into us
which tells us that we are unloved, unwanted, or will never be good
enough. This may start in childhood. This mind-set makes us strive to
earn our acceptance. It makes people feel driven to perform in order to
be approved. This mind-set makes people feel they are loved for what
they do rather than for who they are. It is demeaning. It robs people
of peace. The sad thing is that no amount of achievement is ever enough
to satisfy it.

In other people, the injustice of being treated unfairly or rejected or
disrespected makes them boil over in anger. They quit trying to fit in,
rebel against everyone, and try to break out of the box being forced on
them. In refusing to be a victim, they may victimize others. Resentment
covers their soul like a dark shroud. They wind up in an emotional
prison of their own making.

The mind-set of rejection is the result of having believed a lie. It is
a syndrome of self-talk that comes from being programmed with
falsehoods. Having been told a lie often enough, victims begin to say,
“Yes, it’s true.” The lie becomes accepted when the victim agrees with
the accusations. They become their own accuser. They have internalized
the venom. The deceit becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The victim
begins to expect to be rejected and thus sabotages their own
relationships.

This mental stronghold of rejection is powerful. It will be torn down
only when we find God’s Word about our case and choose to believe the
truth instead of a lie. Only God’s truth can set us free. The truth
will connect us to God’s love. God’s love will cure our wounded souls.

The Wounds of Rejection
The spirit of rejection also refers to the residue within our
personality of being deeply wounded. This mental or emotional scarring
can occur due to being neglected, abandoned or abused. It can also come
from being betrayed, being shamed, or being made to feel unloved.
Racial discrimination often leaves scars of rejection. Children who
were abused sexually suffer cruelly from this inner hurt. Divorce can
also leave a lingering, festering wound. The fear of being rejected can
make a person run from relationships. They reject others before they
themselves are rejected. They spiritually “stiff-arm” those who try to
get close.

Just like you can be injured in your flesh and form a bruise or a scar,
so you can be injured in your inner man and develop a sensitive place
or perhaps a hardened area like a scab on your feelings. When that
irritated place gets touched, a reaction occurs. The Bible speaks of
having a “wounded spirit.” One symptom of having a wounded spirit is
that you feel absolutely nothing, like you are dead inside. Another
symptom is that you are hypersensitive in that area and can explode at
the slightest provocation. God’s unconditional love, realized and
received, can cure this wound.

A Lying Spirit called Rejection
The spirit of rejection is also a specific lying spirit, a demonic
messenger from Satan. This spirit whispers to people that they are
unloved, not wanted, or are being ridiculed. The devil inflames
insecurities and fears. This demon seeks to undermine the Christian’s
true standing before God as a saved, cleansed, redeemed child of God.
He does this by lying and attempting to deceive the believer regarding
God’s love, the atoning work of the cross, and our righteousness before
God.

This lying spirit comes between family members and divides brothers and
sisters and makes them feel isolated. The spirit of rejection pours
gasoline on the fires of racial hatred. This demon is very successful
in splitting up marriages, churches, and partnerships. These are vital
relationships which the Holy Spirit wants to establish between friends.
These relationships are necessary in the Body of Christ in order for
God’s work to be done. Disunity, like divorce, often has this lying
spirit as its agent provocateur.

The Spirit of Adoption
To understand the spirit of rejection, we need to understand its
opposite, which is the spirit of adoption. In the Bible, Romans chapter
eight speaks of God’s antidote to the spirit of rejection. This cure
comes from our Heavenly Father, through the grace of our Lord Jesus,
and is born witness to by the Holy Spirit. It is called the spirit of
adoption. This is the Holy Spirit telling us that God the Father loves
us and Jesus accepts us.

Sin and suffering cause people to be cut off from God and mistreat one
another. Many unsaved adults are mad at God or are so deeply hurt that
they blame God. This resentment keeps them from feeling God’s love.
Their image of God is wrong so they refuse to accept Him. God’s grace
offers us pardon even while we are angry and sinning. God knows we need
to be healed of the consequences of our sins and the injuries of sins
committed against us by others, even our parents. The spirit of
adoption comes from heaven’s throne. It can also be mediated by
unconditional acceptance through other Christians. When we accept one
another in Christ, relationships in Christ’s body are formed. The Holy
Spirit connects us together and affirms our self-worth. We are
empowered to appreciate each other.

God’s merciful provision for our healing comes by Christ’s atonement on
the cross. It is made real and effective in our lives when we confess
our sins and receive His forgiveness. Then the Holy Spirit comes into
our heart and testifies that we have become God’s child. He does this
by bearing witness in our spirit that we are adopted by God. This is
the spirit of adoption.

The spirit of adoption goes beyond believing that God loves us; it is
the actual felt love of God, so that we are enabled to know that God
loves us. It ends loneliness, literally forever!

This marvelous work of affirming who we are in Christ is the work of
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. He only bears witness to what is
true. He testifies in our spirit that we are truly loved by God. The
Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures as well as the affirming voice of God
to tell us the truth about ourselves. God’s voice will cause us to know
God’s thoughts toward us. Those thoughts, always in agreement with the
Scriptures, will reprove us of our sin and will affirm us as His
children, but will never condemn us or drive us away. God will always
tell us the truth in a merciful way. Our response is to believe what
God says. Believing the truth about what Jesus did for us and believing
the truth about who we are in Christ sets us free. We need to believe
both aspects of the truth about Jesus and about ourselves.

The truth is, God likes us! His love toward us is tremendous. He wants
us to really know Him and He wants to dwell in our hearts. God wants us
to have fellowship with Him without condemnation. He accepts us into
His family by virtue of Christ’s work on the cross. He gives us a new
identity as His sons and daughters.

Unlike some earthly fathers who failed us, our Heavenly Father will
never abandon us. He will not cast away His children. God maintains a
relationship with His offspring so that we need never fear being
rejected by Him. His love is steadfast. It is covenant love.

Recovering From Rejection
God understands rejection and knows how to remedy its pain. Christ was
rejected when He came to His own people and they would not receive Him.
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:11). He endured rejection when He bore our sins. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and
we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3).

In other words, he specifically included in His suffering the
substitutionary pain which was required to relieve us of our rejection.
He bore it so we don‚t have to. On the cross, He felt the pain of being
cut off from his heavenly Father. “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46).

God understands your feelings. Therefore, He can be touched with your
pain and is ready to heal you. “For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. Let us then
approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews
4:15-16).

Diagnosing Rejection
Here’s how to diagnose if you suffer from the spirit of rejection.
Three areas to examine are circumstances, emotions, and thoughts.

Let’s start with your circumstances. Did you have an alcoholic parent?
Were your parents divorced? Were you abused? Have you been abandoned or
betrayed in marriage? Have you suffered from discrimination? Have you
had to break away from a controlling relationship? Have you been
repeatedly de-valued as a person? If you fit any of these categories,
then you could be a victim of the rejection syndrome.

Now let’s consider your emotional hot-buttons. Do you have great
difficulty receiving correction? Do you take it personally and get
offended? Do you resent all authority? Do you get angry for no apparent
reason? Or, Do you have an unnatural need for everyone to like you?
Does the need for approval control your decisions? Does insecurity
sweep over you? Are you plagued by chronic self-doubt? Do you wrestle
with chronic bouts of loneliness? At times, do you despair of life, or
are you tempted to take your own life? If so, then you probably battle
rejection.

In addition to these diagnostic questions, ask yourself this about your
thought life. What kind of thoughts run through your mind when you are
with a group of people? Would you characterize these thoughts as mostly
negative or positive? The spirit of rejection inserts these kinds of
thoughts: “These people don’t love me.” “They won’t talk to me.” I’m
not worthy to be here.” “I know they are judging me.” “They don’t
really want me here.” This is mental torment that typifies the spirit
of rejection.

Inner Healing & Deliverance
If these questions point to your problem as the spirit of rejection,
then you need to take it to God in prayer. If the problem persists, get
someone to pray with you for deliverance. But first, realize this,
rejection often carries with it unforgiveness toward those who have
offended you. We might have been an innocent victim, but we have to
take responsibility now for our reactions. We can’t do away with our
will and our choices or our reactions. We can be sinned against, begin
to cherish a grudge, and as a result, begin to sin against our
oppressors. Unforgiveness is itself a sin.

God’s grace will enable you to make a choice, to give forgiveness to
all those for whom you hold grudges. This is important! Freedom won’t
come without this vital step of forgiving others. In this case, your
forgiveness must be explicit, by name, and it must be spoken aloud even
if it is only to God, and even if it is for someone who is now dead.
That does not matter. God is the judge of the living and the dead.
Don’t make any exceptions.

Don’t allow any resentment to remain in your heart. Healing begins with
a decision to repent and to give undeserved forgiveness. Give away
grace and God will give grace to you. Repent of all bitterness and
hatred.

When forgiveness is totally accomplished, it paves the way for
successful inner healing. Inner healing is the actual curing of your
soul of the wounds and traumas you have suffered and accumulated. The
finger of God touches the sore spots and makes them well. This is the
transformation of the inner man, the end to unrighteous reactions and
automatic defenses. It is being at peace in Christ.

Inner healing must accompany deliverance. The place where damaged
emotions have given way to this mind-set of rejection must be torn
down, or else deliverance will be merely temporary.

The house of your thought life must be swept and cleaned, then occupied
with God’s reassuring truth and love. Determine to think God’s
thoughts. This is a decision you must make in order to be free.
Automatic judgements, racial prejudices, and defensive reactions need
to be removed.

Take all negative thoughts captive. Don’t let them rule over your mind.
Replace them with words and images of faith that come from your
heavenly Father. Take God’s thoughts, God’s attitude, God’s will as
your creed, not the words of this sinful world.

Repeat what the Scriptures say until they replace the lies you’ve
heard. Soak in God’s word and let it renew your mind. Meditate on the
Scriptures until faith, hope, and self-acceptance fills your
personality. This takes time but it is something you can do for
yourself.

Renounce the spirit of rejection and stand against it. To renounce
means to take a stand against something that you had previously been
identified with or had claim to. Like renouncing your citizenship, it
is a legal action that has power to affect your status. Pray aloud and
say with your own words that rejection will not rule over you.

Instead, ask God for His fatherly affirmation. Ask God to give you the
spirit of adoption. Every child needs to hear their father’s voice
saying, “You’re mine and I love you!”

After you’ve prayed against rejection, read the Scriptures, especially
the epistles of the New Testament. They teach us our new identity in
Christ, to “lay aside the old self” and “be renewed in the spirit of
your mind.” (Eph. 4:22) Replace Satan’s lies with God’s word. Soak your
thoughts in the truth of who God is, what He has done for you, and who
you are in Christ. Banish all self-doubts. Tell yourself the truth
until you truly believe it. Find new friends in Christ who affirm you
and love you with God’s love. “See how great a love the Father has
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.” I John
3:1.

Recovering in Community
God loves us so much He accepts us just as we are! Yet, He loves us too
much to leave us like we are. This tension between acceptance and
transformation is the balancing act of divine love. God tells us the
truth about ourselves so that He can build us up, not put us down.
God’s love is full of light. It illuminates our hurt areas then it
heals them. Having the light hit our injured heart may seem painful at
first. But Biblical repentance always leads to restoration. Why?
Because that’s the nature of our wonderful Lord. He is a true redeemer.

Our Father in heaven knows we cannot change ourselves. So, He credits
us with the worthiness of Christ while He works in us and on us to
conform us to Christ’s image. Here is where we learn to believe the
right thing, and a result, to have the right feelings, and to behave
properly. The cross is our exchange post. At the cross of Christ we
exchange our sins for His righteousness, our failure for His success,
our guilt for His holiness. And all the while, God wants to surround us
with other transformed believers who can help us make the journey.

One part of our Father’s plan is the community of believers. Here is
where we learn to belong in the body of Christ. God wants to plant us
in a place that will help us stay well. Here, we experience God’s love
through human hands. “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of
God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.” (Rom. 5:5 NAS). God’s kind of love constantly believes
the best. It is always filled with hope and encouragement. God’s love
has a vertical dimension, between God and us. It also has a horizontal
dimension between us and others.

The essence of Christian community is our acceptance of and acceptance
by our brothers and sisters in Christ. “Wherefore, accept one another,
just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)
Unfortunately, some churches are sick with legalism. Some groups
emphasize individualism so much that no one ever thinks to love one
another or to build Christian community.

It is important for Christians who are recovering from a spirit of
rejection to belong to a church which is not contaminated by an
atmosphere of criticism. That error results in an emphasis on law
instead of grace. According to Romans 7, this defeats the purpose of
grace and aggravates our failures. Instead, we need to walk in the
grace that sets us free by virtue of Christ’s complete atonement and
His indwelling presence in our lives. The church should be a place
where it is safe to be a sinner on the way to being saved, where we
feel loved even when we know we are still weak and imperfect.

God’s Word prevails over the spirit of rejection. The Father’s mercy,
poured out by the Holy Spirit in the church, affirms for us God’s love
and acceptance.

God wants to heal us of the internal strongholds that have been hidden
inside us. Only then, with Christ’s love and authority and truth, can
we be prepared and strengthened to pull down the external or heavenly
strongholds that damage society and enslave humanity.

----------------------------------------

The Spirit of Rejection ©1995 by Ron Wood. Ron is the president of
Touched by Grace Inc. Visit us at www.touchedbygrace.org. Feel free to
duplicate this article for distribution as long as it is unchanged and
this byline and attribution of authorship remains.

From Ron Wood on Reagan's Death and Isaiah Six

D-Day celebrates the “Departure Day” when Allied Forces began their final push to liberate Europe from slavery to Nazi rule. Brave troops
crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy,
crossing “flak-filled skies and blood-soaked surf,” to quote former
President Bush as he spoke last week at the dedication of the WWII
Memorial. This bloody battle was the beginning of the end of the war.
In this war, over 400,000 Americans fought and died. Tom Brokaw writes
about these heroes in his book, “The Greatest Generation.”

Yesterday, on the day before D-Day, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President
of the United States, died quietly at his home in California. His death
signals a significant new season in God’s purposes. In the next few
pages, I want to tell you why.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” (Isaiah 6:1)

These are the words of Isaiah the prophet. He set his visions into
historical perspective, keying their timeframe to actual events and
applying them to real-life issues. Who was Uzziah and why did it matter
to Isaiah that he had died? We know Uzziah was the King of Judah.

What was the setting? Isaiah was ministering to the remnant of God’s
covenant people still living in the land God had given them. This was
before their idolatry brought final judgment. Israel had already been
taken away; Judah’s fall was next. So he penned his words about 120
years before Judah’s captivity by Assyria in 586 BC, or about 700 years
before the Christ was born. He not only accurately prophesied the fall
of Judah and Israel’s later restoration, but he also perfectly
described the sufferings of the coming Messiah on the cross in vivid
detail (see Isaiah 53).

In this detail, Isaiah gave us perhaps the most memorable words of the
Bible, vivid words describing the sacrificial suffering of Jesus for
our sins, words that have now been repeated for millions and millions
of viewers to see in the opening credits on the screen of the modern
movie, The Passion of the Christ.

You could read in secular history that a man named Jesus died on a
cross. But Isaiah the prophet showed us that His death was not that of
an ordinary man. As an innocent lamb, Jesus took our place. He died to
redeem us; to atone for our sins.

The significance of a prophet’s words when he is speaking under divine
inspiration by the Spirit of God is not only what he says, but when he
says it. Timing is everything for a prophet. By the Spirit of God,
prophets inquire into times and seasons and seek to understand omens
and events in the light of God’s revealed purpose. (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2
Peter 1:19-21) This is what Isaiah did. We all need to discern the
times.

When I heard the news of President Reagan’s death, I recalled his
speeches. Surely he was “The Great Communicator.” When my children were
young, they picked up on my respect for President Reagan and called him
“Brother Reagan,” as though he were a pastor. And he was in a sense
America’s “pastor.” But more than that, he had a sense of timing and a
sense of purpose that worked with prophetic accuracy. His instincts as
a leader were right. This confidence enabled him to confront communism
without fear and instill hope in troubled times.

While considering President Reagan’s death, my brother Don called me on
the phone to discuss it. When we hung up, I heard the Lord distinctly
say to me, “This is an Isaiah Chapter Six Year.” What could that mean?
I got out my Bible and read Isaiah’s account of the death of Uzziah and
the events following. I began to pray for more understanding.

Uzziah came to power during turmoil when his nation was in conflict
with a great enemy. As a leader, he did the right thing in the sight of
God. Uzziah was helped by Godly prophets. No leader can govern alone–
they need good counselors. Uzziah sought God and as long as he did so,
The Bible says that he prospered (2 Chronicles 26:5). To prosper means
to succeed.

Realism requires us to realize that the welfare of any nation depends
on the righteousness of its leaders. Our prosperity and relative
security in America are a phenomenon the world envies but does not
understand. Let’s humbly admit that the source of our blessing isn’t
just our resources or our system of government: our prosperity is from
the Lord.

It matters whether or not national leaders acknowledge the Lord. In
President Reagan, God gave us a man who feared God and believed in the
triumph of truth. Indeed, America is designed and intended to always
function with a leader who knows the Lord, if we are to remain a people
blessed by God.

As I continued to ponder what the Lord had said, I began to search the
Scriptures regarding Uzziah. I saw some amazing parallels to the life
of President Reagan.

1. Uzziah sought the Lord and set himself against the Philistines. He
identified evil for what it was. (2 Chron 26:6) In the same way, Ronald
Reagan believed he had a “manifest destiny” or a call to lead our
nation. In office, he rightly called the old Soviet Union what it was:
“an evil empire.”

2. Uzziah wisely worked to strengthen Judah so his people would not be
plundered by their enemy. (vs. 11 & 14) Likewise, Reagan oversaw the
largest peacetime buildup of the United States military in our nation’s
history.

3. Uzziah took military preparedness to another level: he worked to
develop “engines of war” (vs. 15), weapons far more advanced than ever
before. In a similar fashion, Reagan dared to push for the “Star Wars”
defense system. This technological marvel pushed the stakes so high
that along with Russia’s bankrupt socialistic economy, a sharp drop in
global oil prices, and their inability to compete with America’s
capitalism, that it broke the back of their communist system. Ronald
Reagan won the Cold War.

Coincidentally, the end of Uzziah’s life was sadly marked by a lengthy
debilitating disease. Uzziah, in his success, became guilty of
arrogance and went beyond his office. In President Reagan, there was
never any hint of pride, but always humility and humor that came from
wisdom and an attractive self-effacing confidence. His boldness was
born of being right, not of having an inflated ego.

When someone told him he really was The Great Communicator, he said,
“No, I just communicate great ideas.” When someone saw him pray after
taking a seat on an airplane and asked him if he was praying to be kept
safe, he said, “No, I was asking the Lord to take care of Nancy if
something should happen to me.”

After his departure from office, President Reagan lived for ten more
years with Alzheimer’s disease, wasting away first in his mental
capacities then finally in his physical body. He died at age 93.

Why would the Lord say that his death marks an Isaiah Six event?

In the same year of the good king’s death as recorded in Isaiah chapter
six, the prophet had a profound spiritual experience. He saw the throne
of God. Little do we fully realize that God’s authority, which proceeds
from His throne in heaven, rules over all other governments on the
earth. All authority originates from God’s throne, even when
temporarily usurped or corrupted by men.

“The Lord has established his throne in the heavens. And His
sovereignty (dominion, kingdom) rules over all.”(Psalms 103:19)

Before God’s magnificent throne, seeing pure authority personified in
His ultimate goodness, Isaiah felt undone. Conviction of sin hit him.
He saw the holiness of God. This revelation produced instant repentance
in his heart. An angel ministered cleansing fire to his lips. Then
Isaiah heard the Lord speaking within Himself (Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit in communion), asking, “Whom shall I send and who will go for
Us?”

Isaiah responded with these famous words, “Here am I. Send me!”

Now we come to the heart of the matter. Now we move from having a
revelation, “This is an Isaiah Six Year,” to interpreting what this
means. Here, I apply illuminated reasoning using the Scriptures to
interpret my insight from the Holy Spirit. In a very simple way, the
following three statements gave me clarity for what the Lord had said.

1. God is a sending God. That was the culmination of Isaiah’s
extraordinary vision. Jesus said this plainly to the Jews about His
Father. “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”(John
7:29) Later, Jesus said He was sending us all into the world as His
witnesses (John 17:18). Being sent distinguishes someone from all
others.

2. There is nothing more powerful than a man (or woman)m sent from
God. John the Baptist was such a man. “There came a man sent from God,
whose name was John.” (John 1:6) Those were his credentials. Old
Testament prophets and New Testament apostles alike had this unique
attribute of divine authorization: that is, they were commissioned by
God with a word and a task that was received directly from the Throne.

When the Lord anoints someone and sends them to a people, those people
should carefully consider how they respond. If we mistreat or reject
such an ambassador, we may cause an affront to the One who sent him.

3. God’s kingdom is drawing near and fresh commissioning is available
to us all. The church is moving away from institutionalism back toward
its apostolic foundation of real faith and covenant relationships. By
the Spirit of Holiness we receive grace and apostleship to bring people
to “the obedience of faith.” (Romans 1:5) Church as we know it, beset
with both good and bad traditions, may bring people to faith in Jesus,
but only fully functioning apostles are able to bring people into
obedience as a result of that faith.

Questions such as, “Who sent you?” and, “What is your mission?” and,
“Can I receive you?” are relevant. As we seek God’s face and humble
ourselves before His awesome power, the Lord is giving out battlefield
promotions and establishing new degrees of rank in His holy army. New
kinds of leaders, those typified by apostles and prophets, are now
reappearing. These are God’s “sent ones” who carry extra authority and
revelation.

God’s BIG SECRET for this year is that some ministers, some “Joseph
Leaders” in the marketplace, some pastors, teachers, and evangelists,
as they seek God, now have the potential of becoming commissioned
prophets or apostles. God is delegating more authority on earth to
those united with Jesus. Why? Because: God’s program and timetable
requires them; because the intensity of the opposition from Satan is
increasing; and because Christ’s kingdom is drawing nearer and His
throne-room is more accessible.

Recently I ministered at a friend’s church by acting out a prophetic
picture. Before the congregation, I had the senior pastor who had
founded the church take his place at the head of a line. Behind him, I
placed his son who is the executive pastor. Behind him, I lined up an
elder, then a covenant group leader, then a church member. Explaining
that the Lord was promoting many senior leaders into functioning as
apostles, I had each of them reach forward and grip the shoulder of the
person in front of them. Then I had everyone in unison take one step
forward. That’s how promotion usually comes.

Did you get the picture? Jesus wants everyone in leadership or aspiring
to obey God’s call in their ministry to take one step forward. But,
don’t leave the people following you behind while you go on ahead.

In some ways, I believe the opportunity the Lord is offering to us this
year— this summons to be transformed by God’s presence and receive new
authority to transform the nations— is an opportunity long over due, an
opening that has been delayed for at least ten years.

Ten years ago, the Lord showed many of His prophets that He wanted
apostles to arise. But for ten years, there has been resistance from
religious systems. Retaining control of the people and their money has
been more important for some religious leaders than was revival. And
the devil has fiercely fought this fresh fire, knowing he has no
weapons that can completely defeat anyone truly sent by God, especially
when that person knows it.

For ten years, many candidates for promotion have been refined by fires
of testing, enduring rejection or failure, seeing their own flesh,
repenting of their pride, until they know that only by God’s grace and
power can anyone succeed in doing God’s work.

This is an “Isaiah Six Year.” It is time to seek the Lord until we see
His holiness and are undone. It is time to hear His voice and say “Yes”
when He asks if we will go. Then we can end the efforts in our own
flesh and start anew in His holy and humble authority.

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Permission to copy or share this article is hereby granted provided the
content is not altered and the byline is kept intact.

The Year King Uzziah Died and The Death of Ronald Reagan © 2004 by Ron
Wood, President, Touched by Grace Ministries Inc.

Contact us at www.touchedbygrace.org.

Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update,
The Lockman Foundation.

Ron and Lana Wood
Offices:
Touched by Grace Ministries Inc.
P.O. Box 12749
Wilmington, NC 28405 USA

"Taking the Riches of Christ to the Poor of the Earth"