“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11

As a Blood bought and redeemed child of God, we are called to tell the lost our testimony.  Not the testimony of how we overcame but of how He overcame for us.  Our testimony of going from sinner to saint is a testimony of how Jesus Christ defeated sin and because of His victory, we are no longer dominated by sin.  Factually speaking, as a Christian, we all have the same testimony just a different sin.  There is a difference in telling them your testimony and telling them the method.  When we tell them the method God used to deliver us, they inevitably try the method without seeking the Deliverer.  When we tell them of our deliverance and of our Deliverer, they too will seek Him for their deliverance.  All too often, in our sincere efforts to help we tell them “how” and not “Who”.  “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8.  Go tell them what He delivered you from and how He delivered you…”by the Blood of the Lamb,”.  – Donna Warren

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”  2 Corinthians 11:3-4

One of the hardest things for a believer to do is know how to receive God’s grace freely.  If we don’t understand God’s plan for our continued sanctification after salvation is the same as His plan for our salvation, we inevitably go to work trying to “stay saved”.   We begin going to classes to learn how to live holy from man which prevents the Holy Spirit from empowering us to live holy.  God’s plan for salvation and sanctification is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  Our belief and our faith in what Jesus accomplished for us on His Cross is what redeems us, reconciles us and saves us.

We cannot separate Jesus from the Cross.  By that statement, I don’t mean the wooden beam but the action which was performed on the Cross.  We cannot separate Jesus’ from His work on the Cross and His work  on the Cross is where our redemption, salvation, reconciliation, sanctification and victory over sin, hell and the grave lies.  It is this “action”, if you will, that is the offense to those who do not believe.  Jesus is not the offense but what He accomplished on the Cross is the offense.  It is this same unbelief that offends the believer.  Take a minute to soak that in if you will…just as I had (and have) to do daily.   The same belief that we have upon salvation, that through His work on the Cross, Jesus Christ saved our soul, is the same belief we continue in for our sanctification process.  In other words, the Gospel of Jesus is an offense to the believer who does not understand how to freely receive His grace.  The “action” of the Gospel of Jesus does not need our help…only our faith in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  As humans, we are quite offended when our help is not needed, it is an insult to our ego.  Hence, the Gospel is an offense to the unbelieving saint and/or sinner, whether it be for salvation or sanctification.

Our fight is the fight of faith. “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life…” 1 Timothy 6:12.  Our fight is to believe and not be offended that Jesus’ work is finished.  The enemy’s goal is to distract us with a counterfeit gospel for sanctification.  Satan knows a bunch of sanctified, Holy Ghost filled Christians would hinder his plan to kill, steal and destroy what Jesus died for…our eternal salvation and victorious life.  Sincere Christians, albeit sincerely wrong, are being used by satan to distract believer’s faith away from what Jesus has already accomplished to what they need to do to accomplish it.  This is another gospel, preaching another Jesus.  Determine to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him Crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).  – Donna Warren

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 6:6

In Romans 6, sin is spoke of in the Greek as a noun and not a verb.  Upon our salvation, our sin nature is not dead but we are dead to it.  Our sin nature no longer reigns over us.  Such is why saying yes to God, we  are crucified with Him to our sin nature…it is still there but no longer has dominion over us.  Simply saying no to our sin nature is not by default yes to God.  We do not have the ability to overcome our sin nature on our own accord.  Victory over our sin nature only comes by saying yes to Jesus and His finished work on the Cross.

The problem we have as believers have is learning how receive something we have not earned – this is called grace.  Once we understand that anything we receive from God is not from anything WE have done, for example – binding, rebuking, positive confessing or sacrificing but exclusively because of what Jesus Christ did and what we believe, grace abounds.   Invariably, satan tries to invoke us to accomplish time and time again, what Jesus has already done for us once and for all.  By doing this we never know the grace of God and continue in our works trying to gain the victory Jesus Christ has already won.

God isn’t asking us to fight our sin nature, He’s asking us to believe we are dead to it.  Our sin nature is not an act but an entity which once reigned over us.  “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:13.    We are free from our sin nature by virtue of the Cross of Jesus.  If your deliverance has not yet come, the test is in where your faith lies…continued faith in Jesus victory over the sin nature.   Knowing you are now dead to that sin nature and waiting on your deliverance, not working for your deliverance, is where grace abounds.  The error is found in knowing you are dead to the sin nature and believing you have been delivered while sin abounds.  There is a vast difference there that must be emphasized.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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.

-Donna Warren

Because of one man’s fall, we are constituted a sinner and sentenced to death – Adam.  Because of another Man’s sacrifice, we are constituted as righteous  and granted eternal life – Jesus Christ.  Neither result is due to our own action, yet only one result is by choice.  We are a sinner by default, hence the need for a Saviour.  He loved us even as a sinner, hence He saved us.  His name is Jesus and He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6).  Seek Him while He can still be found.

“And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.” Joshua 6:18.

When God gave the instruction to Joshua for entering Jericho, it was not to compromise with the inhabitants..it was to by all means abstain from the accursed things.  What we call “compromise” in an effort to “unite”, God referred to as an abomination or a harlot,  “She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.” Jeremiah 3:6.  Some examples of the harlot under the tree in the church today are as follows:

1. Positive confession: This harlot of self will and self motivation, aka name it and claim it or word of faith, in no way promotes a relationship with our Lord and Saviour but instead seeks His finished work.  In other words, the believer seeks deliverance without the Deliverer.  We tend to skip over the “likeness of His (Jesus’) death” and go straight to the “likeness of His (Jesus’)resurrection” (Romans 6:5), that way we don’t have to crucify any flesh.  While in reality, we understand Jesus’ sacrifice for salvation but we leave the Cross of Jesus for our sanctification.  The enemy doesn’t stop his attacks after we are saved.  Our faith must remain in Jesus’ finished work on the Cross and always remember, our victory is not because we confessed it but because of Jesus’.  It is easy for this harlot to lead believers away after salvation.  She appeals to our flesh because we are not use to doing nothing.  It is hard for us to believe it unless we confess it.  This is work, our confession has nothing to do with our belief.  Yet , our belief has everything to do with our victory – belief in Jesus’ finished work, whether we confess it or not.

2. Deliverance ministry:  This harlot has a mysterious attraction.  She seems to be able to clarify the “why” of our sins.  Why we drink, why we have anger issues, etc., etc.  Usually, these issues come from childhood experiences.  These experiences are very real to the believer and they do have an affect on us as adults.  Therefore, these “curses” must be dealt with appropriately.  Some of these curses occurred before our salvation, such as family curses.  Others could have occurred before or after salvation, such as soul ties, addictions, etc.  So in a deliverance ministry, one must search out the “truth” to find the spirit behind such oppression and cast it out or bind it.  Once this occurs, then you are instructed not to agree with that spirit anymore.  If that spirit comes back to tempt you, don’t allow it.  The problem here is this – first of all, upon salvation any and every family curse or soul tie the sinner ever had is broken by the finished work of Jesus Christ and it is our belief and faith in HIS finished work that delivers us, not our faith in that spirit being gone.  We cannot resist that temptation or battle that demon, even in Jesus name, if we are not abiding in Him and Him in us – it was His victory that won the battle, not ours.  “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:23-24.  Oppression is a serious thing and should not be dealt with lightly, but neither should the power of God be dealt with lightly.  The power of God is in the Cross of Jesus for those who believe, the power of God is what tears down strongholds and sets the captives free.  We preach deliverance by preaching the Truth to the captives…anything else, and I do mean anything, is adding to the work of Jesus and thus becomes work.  We can’t mix grace and work, therefore we will be judged by our work. That hour long session just became an hour of work, when all we have to do is recognize our battle has already been won, and now our battle is to keep the faith in Jesus finished work and not allow these various harlots to distract us.  We pray to God for deliverance because His Son paid for our deliverance….and HE  will deliver us.  God does not share His glory with man. 

3. 40 days of purpose, motivational, psychological gospels – Yet another harlot, preaching another gospel with another Jesus.  This gospel is extremely popular with many televangelist.  She seems pretty harmless, I mean she points to God, she quotes scripture – what’s the harm.  Lest we forget, satan knows the scripture better than most Christians.  The harm is the destruction of one’s faith.  This harlot is pointing us everywhere but where victory was and is achieved, the Cross of Jesus.  She motivates our soul and soothes our conscience until the next Sunday.  She will tell you how to get closer to God…the problem is she’s telling you HER way and not GOD’S way.  This harlot knows once you find God’s way of getting close to Him, you have found the power of God.  This harlot knows the power of God is in the Cross of Jesus and with her wisdom of words, she can make it of no effect for the sincere believer.  “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.  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 Cor. 1:17-18.  Please don’t misunderstand that statement, the power of God is and will always be effective – period, but with wisdom of words this harlot can make if of no effect in the believers life by redirecting their faith. This also makes the “harmless” suggestions of the harlot to come closer to God, works, and again – we will be judged by such works.  There is only one way to be reconciled with God and that is through Jesus Christ.

These are just some of the harlots in todays church.  Unfortunately, many do not recognize these harlots.  We are warned of seducing spirits in 1 Timothy 4:1.  If you have been seduced by these spirits, satan will try to shame you into rebellion, while God will “… stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20.  Now that you have been given the knowledge, seek it out for yourself.   Test the spirits.  God has given us a free will and now we must choose whose way we will seek.  “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.  – Donna Warren

Shemitahs, harbingers and blood moons are interesting enough.  They must be, as many books as they have sold…and yes, I bought each and every one of them.  However, as for me, I always felt a sense of conviction when I would delve off too far in these books.  I know some have gotten carried away in seeking these signs and left God back at the corner of Calvary Road and Distraction Avenue.  Prophecy never looks backwards.  A Word from God will always call His children back into covenant faithfulness with Him.  The watchman’s warning will always be conditional.  The result will depend on the response of the people to which the prophecy was given.  Just as Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites caused them to change their wicked ways and turn back to God.  Furthermore, a personal prophecy is never given to a person for direction in their life unless it confirms something God has already placed on their heart.

Many Christians understand the finished work of Jesus Christ for salvation but don’t understand His finished work for sanctification.  To go deeper with God, we have to continue to seek God…not signs.  Obviously, I am far from perfect.  This sanctification process is a continual work in me, as it is all of us.  God is keeping me pretty busy in His Word, revealing things in me that are contrary to His ways.  Many times I try to share these things in hopes of helping others.  Unfortunately, I feel some believe their sanctification process is complete.  In an attempt to go deeper with God, they step outside of God’s plan and jump right in the middle of the enemy’s snare.  This keeps them busy for a while until the next best seller comes out.    I don’t live in condemnation of these ways of mine.  The Bible tells me that my carnal mind is at enmity with God (Romans 8:7) but I am grateful that God is taking His time to reveal this to me…that is as long as I’m seeking His ways and not man’s ways.  This is part of God’s grace.  The more I say yes to Him, the easier it is to say no to my flesh.  The Lord equips us to live holy through the Holy Spirit.  I can’t do this on my own and still have a long way to go…but God is faithful and longsuffering. God won’t stop as long as I don’t stop and just when I think I’m “there”, He shows me there is more.  Hallelujah!

As for me, everyday is Jubilee!  I don’t have to wait every seven years for a blessing.  I don’t completely depend on God every seven years, I depend on Him every day of my life.  I don’t need a sign of the times, I can watch the news and read the prophets…I know time is running out for the lost.  I understand the Bible says God will show wonders in heaven above (Acts 2:19) and am in awe of God’s glorious Word and Works.

As for me, I have the real thing…I have Jesus Christ.  It is His Gospel that drew me in and saved my soul and it is His Gospel that continues to work in my heart.  This life saving, heart changing Gospel of Jesus is what I want everyone to know and to grow in His knowledge through HIM…not Shemitahs, harbingers and blood moons.  But that’s just me…Donna Warren.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”  Mark 11:25-26.

I have often wondered who are we to not forgive?  Even when we are directly effected by the offender, why are we offended?  Who are we to be offended of a sin that was not committed against us but against God…even though it affects us?  On the other hand, what if we were the offender and our apology was not accepted?  Bitterness and offense can take hold in either circumstance.  “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:2.  Our own metes and measures can be tough when turned around on us.  Are we not trespassing God’s authority when we choose to hold others accountable for a sin committed against Him? 

Forgiveness blesses the forgiver, whether the forgiven forgives or not.  The effects of the offender’s sin against another depends on the condition of the heart.  Jesus Christ paid for the forgiveness of our sins.  Who are we to hold other’s sins against them?  Is this not what satan himself does? Is satan not the accuser of the brethren (Revelations 12:10)?

Be aware of the metes and measures in which we hold others.  Sin is against God but satan will use it against you to hinder your blessings.  We forgive them because it is not our place to be offended but to show God’s grace. – Donna Warren.

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.

Religion creates a strong delusion.  It creates a delusion of grace while the reality is law.  Granted it is a new law and not the Old Covenant law…but it is law.  Any works outside of faith and grace is law.  Satan’s counterfeit grace is readily available to those who don’t seek the Truth of the Word of God and accepts any scheme of man.  The grace of God saves us, then we begin a journey to become Christ like.  Immediately man steps in to help the sanctification process.  There seems to be a program for every step of your new Christian walk.  Many motivational books telling one how to live for God are readily available.  If you do run into a problem, a sin you can’t seem to overcome, there is always a deliverance ministry to bind that demon behind that sin, to break those soul ties from years ago and take authority over all of the family curses dating back to Noah.  Ahhh…your new Christian walk is full of counterfeit grace and you have been ensnared by satan himself.  Life goes on and one of two things come to pass.

One thing that may happen is you grow comfortable in this counterfeit grace.  Everyone is nice.  Community outreaches become spectacular social events aimed at bringing in new converts.  Things like this become normal.  These are the good works that you had heard about.  You profess, proclaim and decree promising scriptures over your life and stand on them.  Church itself becomes a spectacular event!  The feelings of love over flow for your brothers and sisters.  All along  salvation has never made it’s way to your heart because man made scheme’s for sanctification cut it off.  The wolves in the sheep’s clothing took over the sanctification process which should have been done by the Holy Spirit.  In our eagerness, we chose flesh because flesh would never crucify itself.  We left the very place of our salvation, the Cross of Jesus Christ, and followed man for sanctification.  The Holy Spirit is the only one who can “equip” us to live a holy life; man can only attempt to tell us.  When our faith remains in the finished work of Jesus Christ for sanctification, our salvation ascends from our mind to our heart.  We become a new creation and not a rehabilitated creation.  The Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He will convict us in our heart and always guide us back to the Cross of Jesus…IF we will listen and respond to Him.  If we are seeking the Truth, God will always lead us to the Truth through His Holy Spirit.  If we are seeking a counterfeit gospel with a counterfeit grace…the Lord will allow such.  God wants us to willingly follow Him.

Another scenario in the counterfeit grace scheme is losing faith all together.  As our dominion over sin is lost due to seeking schemes of man instead of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus, we give up.  We are not strong enough to overcome our sin nature on our own.  After breaking every family curse and soul tie and binding every evil spirit you can think of, you just quit.  Give up!  This Christianity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Done, finished, quit…out! Back to the bar with your buddies.  You’re as bad off as you were when you started.

The mental ascension of our salvation to the heart is only done when we allow the Holy Spirit latitude to work in us.  This latitude is manifested when our faith remains in the finished work of Jesus.  Any processes that does not embrace faith and grace is NOT the New Covenant but works.  Jesus Christ and Him Crucified broke every soul tie and family curse and any “deliverance” after salvation is “work” added to Jesus finished work with our faith placed on the “deliverance” and not Jesus’ finished work.

In our attempts to please God, we have been so busy saying no to the devil that we forgot to say yes to God.   We only believe in God for our will and not His.  God is raising up a remnant that will seek the Truth of His Word, those who test the spirits, confirm and divide correctly the doctrine.  This remnant will not be chasing shemitah’s and harbingers; nor will they be looking for blood moons but instead for the face of Jesus.  The remnant God will raise up will be those seeking the Truth of His Word.  They will not be under strong delusion.  Discern the doctrine  you are sitting under.  If YOU are not seeking the Truth but instead are comfortable in your religion, you are in fact under strong delusion.

The finished work of Jesus is not only strong enough for salvation but for our sanctification as well.  Yes, demons are real but it is the Gospel of Jesus that breaks bondages and delivers the captives.   We are told to “preach deliverance to the captives” in Luke 4:18.  Deliverance is preaching them the Truth and the Truth will set you free (John 8:32).  My husband and I pray every night for those bound up in counterfeit grace, we pray they hear the Truth and do not reject It.  We pray for them to remember their first Love.  We pray they don’t allow their religion to keep their salvation in their minds only but that they allow the Holy Spirit to point them back to where their victory lies…at the Cross of Jesus and Him Crucified. – Donna Warren

I had a dream last night that spoke volumes (no pun intended).  As I was walking down the street, there was an old blue car with a young man driving up and down the road, back and forth with the radio blaring (insert pun).  As I turned to go down another street, he turned as well, as if to “help” me.  Once he began to approach me, I did not acknowledge him and kept on walking.  This young man in the car with the loud, obnoxious music then turned around and drove away silently.  This man in my dream was quite a distraction to many up and down that street but when he realized I was ignoring his clamoring attempt to gain my attention he turned around and left – quietly.

How many people in the church today are distracted?  As far as that goes, how many churches are distracted?  It grieves me to see and know preachers and teachers who have heard the Message of the Cross of Jesus, who know the Gospel of Jesus and it resonates in their heart but then the man with the loud music drives up and they are distracted…they go back into the worldly ways of rehabilitation instead of the spiritual ways of God.   As a Christian, we are stewards of The Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.  We are disciples of Jesus and He has given us God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will always confirm His Word, glorify the Lord and guide us into the will of God.  The Holy Spirit will never lead us into a distraction and He will not confuse us.

In everything we do, discern the spirits.  As long as the devil keeps us busy saying no to him, we will forget to say yes to Jesus.  Every morning we get up and say “Lord, help me to say no, help me not to do this.”, we are asking God to increase our ability, our willpower, to say no to our sin nature.  God does not increase or decrease our will – it is where we place our will that determines our power.   Where our will goes, so goes our faith. We ask God to help us say no to the devil, while all God wants is for us to say yes to Him…and He will take care of the devil’s attempts to tempt.  When we willingly choose God’s plan, which is freedom and liberty for the saints, we place our faith in Jesus’ finished work and understand our victory because of His shed Blood – not because of our will.  We are saved via God’s plan for salvation which is the Gospel of Jesus.  Now we continue in God’s plan for our sanctification by way of continued faith in the Cross of Jesus.  We don’t become sinless but sin no longer has dominion over us.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:12-13.  “Yield yourselves unto God” – say yes to God.  Following 40 days of purpose, 12 steps or positive confession is not yielding to God but merely schemes of man.  Schemes of man does not give us victory over bondages but the Cross of Jesus did, does and forever will. 

Distractions – “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” Galatians 3:1.  What is resonating in your heart?  Did the Blood of Jesus not break those family curses and soul ties?  Is it possible to deliver a saint  from sin who is oppressed?  Did Jesus ever command us to keep any Jewish Sabbaths?  A prophecy is not a prophecy if it looks backward.  A sign is not a sign in hindsight.  A prophecy is always conditional, depending on response of people.  Think about these things, discern these things, test the scriptures.  How about the church we are attending?  How do they handle sin?  Do they 1) love the sinner enough to tell them what they are doing is wrong and 2) pointing them to the Cross of Jesus for deliverance or to a man made scheme?

“Well, God knows my heart.”  Yes, you are correct and that is why He sent Jesus to save us.  Shouldn’t we be seeking His heart?  We are His disciples and He is our Great High Priest.  He will teach us once the distractions are removed and we are willing to come to the Truth of His Word.  Religion will blind the saints, while at the same time offending the sinners.  Beware of the seducing religious spirits that attempt to keep us distracted.  If they are not bringing you closer to God , they are not of God.   Discern the distractions.  – Donna Warren