“⁷ Hear me now therefore, O you children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

⁸ Remove your way far from her (apostasy), and come not near the door of her house:

⁹ Lest you give your honor unto others, and your years unto the cruel:

¹⁰ Lest strangers be filled with your wealth; and your labors be in the house of a stranger;

¹¹ And you mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹² And say, HOW have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³ And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me!

¹⁴ I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.”  Proverbs 5:7-14.

In order to discern the difference between Truth (Wisdom) and apostasy, we must seek to understand and comprehend the Word of God.  This understanding IS the discrimination which recognizes wisdom, which is the Truth according to the Word of God.

Without understanding of the Truth, one cannot discriminate the difference between Truth and apostasy.  We give honor to others and our years are cruel if we cannot discriminate between apostasy and Truth.  Without understanding, strangers are filled with our wealth and labor.

The Lord will always send a Godly voice to point us to the Truth.  However, if we do not have ears to hear, we are without excuse.  When our flesh and body are consumed and we cry out to ourselves “HOW have I hated instruction…”, our hindsight is indeed 20/20. How did we not obey the voice of the teachers who were crying out in the wilderness, “prepare you the way of the Lord”?

Sadly, many lose their way “in the midst of the congregation” because of the false doctrine preached behind the pulpit.

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17.

-Donna Clark Warren

Reference: The Expositor’s Study Bible; Jimmy Swaggart

External Links: SonLife Broadcasting Network

“⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

⁶ Forsake her not, and she shall preserve you: love her, and she shall keep you.

⁷ Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding.”  Proverbs 4:5-7

The world cannot know God through worldly wisdom or intellectualism.  Neither can one know God through emotions.

“²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”  1 Corinthians 1:22-24.

Let us not forget that satan knows the Bible better than most but he is still satan. Worldly wisdom is evil (James 3:15) and not from God.

The Lord has given us the His Word and the Holy Spirit to guide us into all Truths.  The Word of God is the only true Wisdom; therefore get wisdom…and with all your getting get understanding.  We must understand and comprehend this wisdom the Lord has given us in His Word.

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him.”  James 1:5.

Faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified for victory over the world, the flesh and the devil will cause those whose faith is in their intellectualism to stumble.   On the other hand, those who seek extra biblical revelations through emotional experiences will render faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified foolishness for freedom from the power of sin.

As for me and my house, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God and we are determined to know nothing else.

-Donna Clark Warren

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”  Galatians 3:11

The penalty of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23), has been paid for those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.  Jesus is the Source and His Cross the means by which this penalty was paid for whosoever will believe.

The POWER of sin over the Child of God has also been paid by Jesus Christ (the Source) on Calvary’s Cross (the means) Romans 6:14.  Sadly, after our Salvation to many attempt to overthrow this power of sin by religious works.  These religious works, although some may be Scriptural, were NOT given to the Child of God to have power over sin.  Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, came to die on Calvary’s Cross to pay the penalty of sin AND free us from the power of sin.  When our faith is directed toward 40 days of purposes, 100 ways, 12 steps, 21 days of fasting or whatever scheme man has conjured up to overcome sin, we make the Cross of Christ of no effect and we are no longer free from the power of sin.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”  Romans 1:17.

The “just” IS the Child of God and we shall live by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ ALONE.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20.

Daily we fight the good fight of faith…faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary’s Cross to free us from the power of sin.  Daily we deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23.  Daily, while it is called today, exhort one another lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13).

“¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

¹⁸ For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”  1 Corinthians 1:17-18.

The Power of God is the Cross of Christ and what Jesus there did to free the Child of God from sin.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8

-Donna Clark Warren

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23.

Happiness is characterized by well being and contentment.  It is external and can in fact be enjoyed by the ungodly.

Joy, on the other hand, is internal.  It is the source or cause of our delight.  Joy is the fruit of the Spirit and can only be enjoyed by the born again Believer.  The world, no matter how much is spent on seminars and motivational clinics, do not and cannot have joy. Religious centers teaching and preaching happiness by means self will and self effort are directing Believers away from Scripture and to the methods of man for that which can only come from the Lord.

“¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

¹⁸ For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Hear me friends, the joy which you seek only comes from the Lord.  “…Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33

-Donna Clark Warren

^“15 This wisdom descend not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

¹⁶ For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”  James 3:15-17

Sound wisdom comes from God.  In fact, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Proverbs 1:7  However, the religious teachers who lead people away from the Word of God and appeal to their emotions is NOT from above.  This “wisdom” is earthly, sensual and devilish.  These extra biblical revelations centered on intellectualism and emotions are, pardon my bluntness, straight from the pit of hell.

The Lord said “…if I (JESUS) be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32.  Methods of man from their vain imaginations will not draw men unto Jesus. Intellectualism is not faith.  The Holy Spirit will bear witness with our spirit, that we are the Children of God if we will LOOK to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

“²⁸ Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take My Yoke upon you, and learn of ME; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰ For My Yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

Are you being led away from Scripture and pulled toward an earthly and sensual gospel that appeals to your emotions?  Are you heavy laden? Does your wary soul need rest?

Take HIS Yoke upon you and learn of HIM…Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done on Calvary’s Cross for whosoever will believe.  Our faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ gives the Holy Spirit latitude to do that which He is commissioned to do in the life of the Believer – free us from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

His Yoke is easy.

-Donna Clark Warren

“¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light: for whatsoever does make manifest is light.

¹⁴ Wherefore He said (Isaiah 60:1), Awake thou who sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you Light.

¹⁵ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

¹⁶ Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:13-17.

The best way to reveal a crooked stick is to lay a straight stick next to the crooked stick.  God is raising up a people who will declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done on Calvary’s Cross for whosoever will believe BACK to the church.  This Gospel, THE Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified lays waste the methods of man from the vanities of their mind to overthrow the sin that so easily besets them.  Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross is the ONLY answer to sin…and make no mistake, sin is the problem in the world today – no matter how religious one may be.

AWAKE you who sleep and arise from the dead!  Christ WILL give you Light and make manifest that which is besetting you.  Emotions are not the litmus test of  our relationship with God.  Satan himself has access to our emotions and will cause us to walk as fools in the eyes of God.

Redeem the time friends.  God sends His messengers to warn His Children of their wrong way but few listen.  Be not unwise.  Understand what the Will of the Lord is.  “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33.

-Donna Clark Warren

^“18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

¹⁹ For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

²⁰ Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

²² For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

²⁴ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

²⁵ I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:18-25

I remember a few years back I was under a terrible bondage.  Daily I would have that “wretched man” moment the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 7:24.  For to will was present with me.  My will was to perform that which was good but did not know how to perform that which was good…I found it not. This bondage dominated me and caused me to do that which I would not do.  Truly, I delighted in the Law of God after the inward man but the law in my members, that which I declared and decreed I WOULD NOT do, brought me into captivity…daily.  O’ wretched man that I was!!  I wanted to stop smoking. With my mind, I served the Law of God but my flesh served the law of sin.  Who shall deliver me?

Then there came a day.  This day started just like everyday before.  I struggled with trying to quit, wanting to quit, after this cigarette I’ll quit and repeat again.  However, this particular day I had to choose.  Although at the time I did not realize what I was choosing.  Keep reading and I will try to explain.

I was just beginning to understand what many of us refer to as the “Message of the Cross”, which is in fact faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for Salvation AND dominion over our sin nature in our daily living.   That day I was seeking the Lord for deliverance of cigarettes and I remember coming to a point of decision.  Only now do I have a better understanding of this decision.  In other words, exactly what I was deciding between.

You see, again – I was doing that which I willed not to do but could not overthrow nicotine’s dominion.  The law in my members was warring against the law of my mind which delighted in the law of God….O’ wretched man!  I realize now the fear/anxiety I felt at this point of decision that day in prayer, was not unbelief in IF God would deliver me from nicotine…I KNEW He would, but the realization of WHEN He delivered me from nicotine, I would no longer have my cigarettes.  Oh my goodness…the reality of not having a cigarette ever again terrified this flesh of mine!!  My fear was not if God would deliver me but the fact that He would deliver.  Was I truly ready to give up my cigarettes?

Praise be to God, that day in my living room I allowed God to take my cigarettes from me. It is not God’s Will that His Children be bound by anything – nicotine, alcohol, pornography, religion, etc..  Because of our faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary’s Cross for Salvation and dominion over our sin nature (Sanctification), the Holy Spirit is commissioned and ready to take that bondage from us (Romans 8:2)…but we have to allow Him.

“²¹ If so be that you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus:

²² That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

²³ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

²⁴ And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:21-24.

Put off the old man.  The new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness.  If your faith is in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done on Calvary’s Cross, God will take that bondage if you will allow Him.  Will you say yes to God?  Are you willing to allow Him to take it…whatever “it” may be?

-Donna Clark Warren

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Regrettably, even though the Lord sends those to warn His Children they are going in the wrong direction, the hearts of many will be hardened instead of humbled.  The Word of God says the Bereans “…received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11).

The Lord is speaking to untold millions of Believers, yet hearing they do not hear and seeing they see not, neither do they understand (Matthew 13:13).  We must always recognize how we receive the rightly divided Word of God when It contradicts our doctrines.  Are we humbled or hardened?  Did we receive the Word with all readiness of mind?  Did we search the Scriptures to see whether those things were so…or did we willfully reject what the Spirit of the Lord is trying to say to us?

There is victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.  Our part in this victory consists of faith in the One Who has already won this fight…Jesus Christ.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Herein you have done foolishly: therefore from henceforth you shall have wars.”  2 Chronicles 16:9.

If the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified hardens your heart, seeing you see not. Humbly consider.  Search the Scriptures.

-Donna Clark Warren

“(As it is written, I have made you [Abraham] a father of many nations,) before Him Whom he believed, even God, Who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.” Romans 4:17

It was and is GOD Who calls those things which be not as though they were.  If the Lord has said it to us personally we can call it, otherwise we are just presuming.

“Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commanded it not?”  Lamentations 3:37.

If it’s not in God’s Will, it doesn’t matter how many Believers agree or how many angels are “released” (we don’t have authority over angels by the way) or how much we bind and loose, we simply cannot override the Will of God…even in Jesus Name.

“You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.”  James 4:2-3

When we begin calling those things which be not as though they were and God has not personally spoken His Will to our heart, we are in fact trying to BE God and not God’s people.  We receive not because we ask amiss.  Our prayer is presumptuous, not humble. The Word of God says:

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall HUMBLE themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; THEN will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (emphasis added).

The Lord didn’t say fake it until you make it.  The word of faith, prosperity gospel has people going around blabbing and grabbing those things that are not in the Will of God for His people.  They lie to themselves and others about their present circumstances in the name of Jesus and bring reproach God. This is another gospel and it is accursed (Galatians 1:8).

“³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.

³³ But seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  Matthew 6:31-34.

Listen to me friend, this word of faith heresy is nothing more than witchcraft in the church house.  You have not because you ask amiss.  Instead of lying to ourselves about our present circumstance, we need to humble ourselves and ask God to show us why we are in our present circumstance. What is the Lord trying to show us while in the wilderness?  He does not leave us in the wilderness to perish.  When we begin looking to Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ – He will lead us out of this pilgrim land.  The Lord is not trying to show us how to BE Him in the wilderness…He’s trying to show us how to DEPEND on Him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  Proverbs 3:5-6.

We either believe the Word of God to be true or we believe it to be a lie.  Are you leaning unto your own understanding?

“And He (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow ME.”  Luke 9:23

Prayerfully consider.

-Donna Clark Warren