See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Eph. 5:15-16 NKJ

June 13, 2018

Given the historical significance of the just concluded summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and given the spiritual euphoria over it by the prophetic-intercessory (“P-I”) community in the U.S., the need arises for commentary from a different perspective.

This commentary is more about our source for spiritual vision than it is about the actual summit, and will apply across the board as we continue to interpret the meaning of other significant political and spiritual events as they develop, especially events that appear to offer promises of international peace in these times based in the prayers and declarations of the prophetic-intercessory community in conjunction with God’s manifest Presence.

For this, I have seized on the word “circumspectly” from the King James translation of Ephesians 5:15. “See that you walk circumspectly….” The word circumspectly means to “see around the circle.” It really means to see in every direction, or, as my one time spiritual mentor Joseph Carroll put it, “to have 360 degree vision.”

It is the kind of vision where we read that the four living creatures are “full of eyes in front and behind...around and within” (Rev. 4:6,8). This is “360 degree” vision in every dimension. It is “global” vision in the pure sense of the word (not vision “for the world”). And it is the kind of vision the Father is laboring to build into His sons.

Without circumspect vision, we can only remain as ripe candidates for spiritual deception. For we live in what Paul called “perilous times,” times characterized by “all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth…” (II Th. 2:9-12)

At the same time, to be clear, circumspection is not cynicism. Cynicism is a jaded attitude of the flesh, a hue of the unbelief that characterized Thomas the disciple. Cynicism is the natural reaction to being repeatedly burned by lies. But cynicism, skepticism and suspicion are not of the Holy Spirit, but simply lead to deception of a different kind. There is no truth in them or in the carnal “conspiratorial” mindset to which they lead, appearing to bring us “the real truth behind” the whatever. (We “wilderness” prophetics “outside the camp of Babylon” are prone to this opposite type of spiritual falsity.)

So, our purpose here is to promote circumspection in these times, and that is how we want to look at this political summit in context of what the larger P-I church has to say about it.

Encountering the Glory

To start, we go back to an understanding of the “glory.” The glory (or “the Presence” as we also call it) is a very real spiritually-tangible emanation of God in the midst of His people, sensible to all who are Spiritually baptized and are given to the realities of the Holy Spirit. The glory of God is not always manifest, and historically has not been manifest except by way of those exceptional events we call revivals or outpourings or visitations.  When the glory is not manifest, we spiritually pine and hunger and thirst as in a corporate spiritual desert, drawing upon the Spirit as much as we can from within our own indwelling river of life.

But then the seasons of glory do come, and the Lord’s Presence manifests, and we are able to corporately experience His Presence together. And it is wonderful. And many things happen that don’t normally happen—healings, miracles, prophetic revelations, and signs and wonders occur. In fact, everything we saw happen in the ministry of Jesus happens when God’s glory manifests in our midst:

Jn. 1:14 And the Word...dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father…. 2:11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

However, and this is a big “however,” the fact that the glory may come to our midst says nothing about our own state of spiritual truth and vision underneath it. God’s glory comes when and however God’s glory comes. But His Presence says nothing about our own condition of readiness or maturity or worthiness or capacity to accurately perceive the “global” truth associated with His glory. (The Greek word “akribos” translated as “circumspectly” literally means “accurately.”)

Receiving Worthily

Think about how Paul told us we must eat and drink “worthily” of the communion table. Otherwise we eat and drink damnation to ourselves! Well, the same is true of the glory of God and our hearing and seeing of God in our midst when He manifests Himself. God’s glory does not guarantee what kind of hearing or seeing we will have in perceiving Him. Jesus manifested the glory of God. Yet He said, “take heed how you hear!” He said to the disciples, “many kings desired to see and hear the things you have seen and heard,” yet also He said, “take heed to yourselves.” And so it is coming about again as God’s glory rolls in for another season. 

If we don’t hear and see worthily of the glory of God, we will bring ourselves into a state of delusion unto damnation. If we don’t hear worthily because our lives are not built on obedience to the apostolic foundations of truth and our identities have not been severed by the cross from our own carnal cultural heritages and desires and plans, we will “eat and drink damnation” unto ourselves—all under the glory.

This is what happened to Israel in the wilderness, and in the generation when Jesus arrived. They did not see or walk circumspectly, but sought the glory of God for their own satisfactions according to the desires of their own hearts. They sought the glory for the filling of their stomachs, whether it was in the desert under Moses or on the mountaintop in the company of Jesus. They neither saw nor heard accurately or worthily. But yet the glory was present! Hear how Paul tells it:

“…and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.”   I Cor. 10:2-4

What’s he talking about? He’s talking about the glory! And he’s talking about everyone being under it—whether it was under Moses, or under Jesus. And who did this include? Who was under all this great glory? It included the worthy and the unworthy. Now hear how Paul finishes this off:

5 “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

This is what we saw with the wilderness. And it is also what we saw with the generation to which Jesus came the first time. “With most of them He was not well-pleased.” And like those in the original wilderness laid low over forty years, the generation of Jesus’ day was “laid low” forty years later by Rome, the heart of their civilization turned to rubble!

And so, now I ask you: The glory is starting to come in. The cloud is appearing again. And the people are rising up again “to eat and to drink and to play”—in churches, in conferences and on TV. But what do you think, O circumspect ones? Do you think that it is to be any different now than it was then? The wilderness was strike one for man. The generation of Jesus’ day was strike two for man. And now, the modern church is up at bat! C’mon. What do you think, friends? What comes after strike two?

Deluded under the Glory

This is what God meant through Paul when He said that all would be concluded in unbelief and that He would send a strong delusion. Now I have already written about this before. But I have to say it again. Where do you think this delusion comes from? The answer is, it comes from and underneath the very glory of God, just as it did with Judas. And that is where the man of sin is going to come from, rising up in the very temple of the body of Christ to show that he is God.

Yes, the end times are going to be about all the deceivableness of satan. But from within what context is that deceivableness going to be worked? In the wilderness, satan was at work under the cloud and the pillar of fire. That’s where all the action occurred. That’s where the golden calf came from. It all came from underneath God’s glory at the foot of the mount of God.

Where was satan’s chief work in the generation of Jesus? Was it over in heathen China or Europe or Africa somewhere? Was it in Rome or Athens? No, it was in Israel under the shadow of Messiah’s own Presence. Judas was about as close to Jesus as Lucifer was to the throne of God. This is where the greatest delusion comes from. It happens underneath and in sight of the glory.

If we can just get this, we can begin to extricate ourselves from the delusion that arises under the glory upon the disobedient, whether here in America or anywhere the glory is manifesting, so that we can walk circumspectly. We want “global” vision underneath the glory, so that we are not thrown off by delusion in our very midst on the one hand

—nor succumb to cynicism on the other. (Hear this word, wilderness prophets. You won’t find God outside the camp of his glory. He’s not going to come to you in your own private desert in Midian somewhere to start a new lineage with you outside the church. [I know because I tried to find Him there!] To find circumspection, you’re going to have to learn how to discern and master the delusion from within the camp where His glory already abides.)

And that’s what brings us to the commentary on the summit with North Korea, and not just this summit, but everything else Donald Trump is doing and what all the P-I leaders around him are doing and saying. Here is a sample of what I just received from an intercessory newsletter:

VICTORY! | US President & No. Korea Leader Sign Doc | Summary of Prayer Call | Both Leaders have Revival Inheritance

Blessings Glory to Glory Watchmen –  kings, priest, prophets,

Victory!  Prayer power. The Lord Himself realigning nations.  I have just watched (1:47 am edt, June 12, 2018) President Trump and Dictator Kim Jong Un sign an unspecified document.  God performs His Word.

A big huge thank you, Holy Spirit wind over you and gratitude to all of you who joined us on the last minute prayer call this evening from 8 to a little after 9 edt this evening for President Trump, Sec of State Pompeo, Nat’s security adviser, Bolton and Kim Jong Un, North Korea and South Korea and all the issues.  It was a great prayer conference call…

Now the process begins.  Keep praying, decreeing and prophesying over this glorious breakthrough, process to a treaty, the opening of the door to the gospel in North Korea and revival, awakening and reformation in both countries.

[Note the above prayer call was said to have been requested by none other than Vice President Mike Pence]

Use this as a benchmark for times yet to come. For these events are just a teaser. But if we can learn now from what’s happening under the shadow of the glory, we will be better prepared in vision and understanding when things get down to the final treaties between Israel and the rest of the world. Because it’s all going to come about the same way. (The euphoria you are seeing today over North Korea is nothing like what you will see in that day.)

Have the Fundamentals Changed?

What does circumspection then teach us about how to spiritually look at this historic summit and the prayer attitude toward it by the larger P-I community? Well, to borrow from the world of stock and foreign currency trading, I want to ask just this one particular question.

See, in the world of financial exchange, there are many factors that “move the markets.” Prices go up and down daily on a variety of causes. One of those is important news announcements by world bankers and other high political persons. When these events occur, prices can make huge sudden moves, so large in fact, that it gives the appearance of a new major trend in price that is to continue or maybe reverse.

But underneath these kinds of events, savvy longer term traders ask one particular question. It is, “Have the fundamentals changed?” In other words, have the economic conditions that actually dictate the underlying strength of a country’s currency or a company’s stock changed? What is the growth curve showing about the nation’s output or the company’s profitability over the longer haul?

The real strength or weakness of a stock or a currency is found in these fundamentals. And if the fundamentals have not changed to justify the spike in price, then savvy traders will not jump on the bandwagon to “catch the action.” They know that without fundamental changes driving the price changes, the spikes in price won’t last, don’t mean a whole lot despite the bang or the pop, and will return to settle in line with what the fundamentals are really saying.

Well, the same thing is true here in regard to the relationship between the United States and North Korea, and especially between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, and the position of the prophetic-intercessory community. The real question for the purposes of circumspect spiritual vision is, “Have the spiritual fundamentals changed in either of these unstable men or their countries?”

What is the relationship between the happy Kim in this summit and the way he runs his country as a brutally repressive dictator who enslaves and tortures thousands and thousands of non-conformers in his gulags, demands worship of himself and his family dynasty in every home, who lives like a world banker high on the hog while his people die of starvation, who breaks every treaty he ever made, and who utterly forbids the worship of the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ? That is who Kim Jong-un fundamentally is.

And the same question has to be asked about Donald Trump and the country he runs. What is the relationship between the now-smiling Trump in this summit and the way he still fundamentally views and treats people as disposables—fodder for his business and policy machine? One day he threatens to blow up Kim’s country, the next he’s praising Kim as a man of dignity, and the next who knows what?? And this is how he is for all men.

How have the fundamentals of Trump the philanderer and the alternately flattering and condemning “great mouth” (Dan. 7:8)—praising then dumping his own people and his opponents—changed? And except for some face-lifting economic improvements brought about by his policies, what has changed about the cultural fabric of the debauched materialist and technologically idolized and transfixed America relative to the glory of God beginning to appear?

If the fundamentals have not changed, then nothing has really changed, however the “spike” in the “change” of “spiritual price” of Trump and America may appear, or that of Kim and North Korea.

“But how can you say this? It’s obviously the glory of God and the fulfillment of all the intercession and of His prophecies coming to pass making all this happen that we’re celebrating! Why don’t you rejoice in what God is doing??”          

I partly can rejoice. I’m happy that the Vice President himself respects and wants prayer. But partly, I really wanted to title this commentary “Fool’s Gold under the Glory”.

“If the object is bright and shiny and the glory is present, it must be gold.”

That is the spiritual thinking in the prophetic-intercessory community relative to these events. The fundamentals are considered irrelevant. And for this I cannot rejoice.

Circumspection or Delusion? You Choose….

But this is precisely the difference between circumspection and delusion. And the glory of God is present to search the hearts and minds of everyone underneath it. And if we do not have circumspection, if we do not look at the fundamentals of spiritual reality behind America and Trump and the nations of the world and their leaders, then we are being deceived by fool’s gold, and we will be the ones to usher in the very antichrist we say we don’t want to inaugurate. If we don’t partake of the glory worthily, we will eat and drink and play under the glory to our own damnation.

Paul said, “I would not have you ignorant.” But we are ignorant today because our vision is so un-fundamental and so ephemerally calibrated. We see a sudden new “move” of God and the whole church flocks to one end of the continent just to cash in on the blessing.

But isn’t the blessing really there?

Yes it is. But the real question is, “Who are you underneath it? And why are you there? And what are you there to get out of it? And is your vision for this glory rooted—in heaven, or in earth? And, by the way, what does the cross have to do with it?”

Those are the fundamental questions. Did God call you there, or are you just following a bandwagon to get in on some shiny spiritual action of some kind? What is your worthiness of relationship to this latest demonstration of glory? What kind of follower after Jesus are you? Because there were plenty of followers among earthly minded men when there was bread to be had…..

These are the real questions that God is looking at when His glory comes into our midst—when He comes to a church, or society, or nation, or culture. He wants to know what’s inside the people He has come to. He is always searching the hearts and minds of His people to give to every one of us according to our works.

And according to Matthew 7, there are a lot of us He is going to banish to the fire for our glory empowered works, and prophecies, and deliverance ministries, and worship ministries, and so on—because we ate and drank unworthily in His Presence, choosing to conform His glory to our earthly kingdom values and desires, which He accommodated, as He did with this last American election. Fool’s gold.

&&&&&&&&&&

So to close, if you are having trouble making heads or tails over the euphoria of the prophetic-intercessory community over this landmark summit which could go up in smoke, or which could just be the first of many apparently successful summits leading to the “peace of the world” in Jerusalem when the man of sin leads the whole world into accord with Israel, don’t be baffled.

This is why the Lord is speaking this way today. There are many faces of the Lord under the same glory. To the pure He shows Himself pure. To the twisted He shows Himself twisted. (Balaam was twisted before the glory of God, and Balaam is present together today with Jezebel in our prophetic churches.)

To the crowds He speaks as to the crowds. And to the disciples as to the disciples. To the foolish virgins His prophetic words eventually become foolish to their shame. And to the wise virgins His prophetic words will eventually be proven to have been wise indeed.

This is how it is under the glory. Therefore, with respect to whatever you perceive to be happening in conjunction between any new manifestation of the glory of God and some event transpiring on the world stage—

See—that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Chris Anderson
New Meadow Neck, Rhode Island