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Stewarding Divine Zeal and Anger

[ Part I ] [ Part II ] [ Part III ] [ Part IV ] [ Part V ]

[ Part VI ] [ Part VII ] [ Part VIII ] [ Part IX ] [ Part X ] [ Part XI ]

The Mystery of Spiritual Atomic Fission

A second wilderness factor affecting saints under the sword of the Spirit is the release of divine zeal and anger. This is something that most of us recognize to be so, but of which we have not really had a good understanding or a defensible explanation. For this, I believe creation can provide some help.

Spiritual realities are mirrored in creation. This includes realities of spiritual physics. The dividing of soul from spirit is something like the splitting of an atom, the innermost substance of matter. When an atom is split, a tremendous explosive energy is released. This is called atomic fission.

A similar thing happens when our heart--which is our innermost being--is cut in two by the Spirit. When our pure identity in Christ is split from our soul's identity in this life, tremendous fissionary spiritual energy is released from within us, yielding the divine powers of zeal for truth and prophetic anger against unrighteousness. In turn, as our own hearts "explode," we become catalysts for this same spiritual fission in the larger church, calling the church to its own needed circumcision of heart. This "atomic" energy is the same energy we associate with such "fire-breathing" prophets as Jeremiah and John the Baptist, and which Jesus Himself said He came to release in the earth (Mt. 10:34-36). 

To the mainstream heart untouched by the sword, spiritual fissionary energy is offensive and has no basis for God's approval. Mainstream prophetics have a very hard time with zealous anger. Many deny it outright as an illegitimate expression "contrary to the Father's heart." Others accept it in theory (--they have to, since Jesus Himself evidenced it), but have no way to reconcile it to the values of peace and unity in the body of Christ to which we are called. After all, how can we possibly defend division and unity in the one body?

The consequences here are predictable. Failing either to understand or defend divine zealous anger in the midst of the body (not to mention the need to avoid any conviction of sin exposed by it), mainstream saints have no alternative but to force into silence or force out altogether wilderness hearts from their midst. Indeed, this fission is what triggers for many the isolation that marks wilderness saints for what they are. It's as if they have become "radioactive" and so now must be "quarantined" by the church.


The Call Past "Radioactivity"

So OK. We can understand this. You "desert saints" already know this and have been through the routine. But this is not the end of the story for wilderness people. We have to move beyond to another challenge facing us once we become "radioactive." It's the wilderness challenge of learning to temper divine zeal and anger in subjection to First Love. This is a necessary requisite to fulfilling our ultimate destiny--which is, to be built into the Greater Temple to come that will display the whole nature of Christ.

As soon as our hearts experience the release of God's fissionary zeal, a higher calling befalls us to learn that divine zeal and anger are a stewardship to be developed in concert with all the rest of Who Christ is. For though He came to bring a sword to us, Jesus is still compassionate. He is kind. He is gentle to the meek. He is merciful to the ignorant and immature. Though He is a Mighty Warrior even to the dividing of the professing church, He is ultimately to us the Prince of Peace--the Restorer. All these qualities remain part of the One into Whose Full Stature we are called. And we are called to devotion to a Whole Person, not to a subset of His divine attributes!


The Pitfall of Devotion to Zeal

Right now, the wilderness is full of voices marked by untempered zeal and anger. It is a place of "venting," and not a happy one at that. Feeling out the raw adolescent power of this divine atomic emotion, yet failing to abide in the higher call to First Love, wilderness prophetics fall prey to staking their identity in their "zealous anger for God" against the mainstream. How many flame-throwing websites and blogs are out there announcing how "radical" and "extreme" they are in the cause of "Revival;" credentialing themselves on their "revolutionary" spirit in contrast to the "Laodicean church."

Again, our life and our fellowship is found in our love for Christ, not in our "radical zeal for God," however much the Lord's zeal may consume us. The extolling of zealotry is of a religious spirit--one by which false doctrines are engendered, cults begin and religious wars are fought. Wilderness prophetics who believe the next "Revival" will be ignited simply by cultivating an arsonist (burn-the-whole-church-down) spirit will never see their vision succeed nor amount to anything significant in the kingdom.

All wilderness fellowships based on zealotry and divine anger are short lived and ultimately fail. It's not that their fire is invalid. It's just that you can't build anything with it. Fire is not a building material. Inevitably the zealous come together only to divide with one another, because their highest aspiration is to extol the divisive nature of Christ, something which can never produce unity nor provide material for constructing a temple.

As a wilderness oriented prophetic who occasionally releases divine fissionary energy, I'm sometimes approached by others of the disenchanted and disgruntled who want to join fellowship with me over a cutting article. "Good word, Chris! You really roasted those false prophets! Can I join your circle of readers?"  Unfortunately, I must disappoint them. They "know not what spirit I am of," nor perceive my real goal in Christ.

What then do we do about our fiery nature? What is God after? Where are we headed? And how can we ever expect to become part of a productive body of believers open to this explosive quality of the Lord?


Tempering the Prophetic Tongue

At the heart of untempered prophetic zeal and anger is a problem to which Solomon and the apostles speak very clearly and eloquently. It is the problem of the untempered tongue. For where in the mainstream church our original challenge from God is to dare to boldly speak the truth no matter the cost, in the wilderness the new challenge becomes to learn how to keep quiet by the Spirit.

The following is pointed:

When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise--If anyone thinks himself to be [spiritual] and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's [spirituality] is vain. Pr. 10:19; Jms. 1:26

Notice that this is not about anger per se, but about the release of one's spirit, period. Note also that no exceptions are made for being "anointed." This admonition is not only to the "carnal," but to the "anointed" also. You can substitute the words "anointed" and "anointing" into the brackets above, and it will really hit home. It does not matter how genuinely sourced of the Holy Spirit our zeal may be. If it is not also governed by the Spirit, it is in the Lord's eyes "vain religion."

"The possession of truth is not the permission to speak it; the possession of anointing is not the permission to release it." This is a vital lesson the Spirit has to teach us over many years of wilderness sojourning. Mastery of the prophetic tongue through the superior development of a prophetic listening ear is just as and even more important than the release of the Spirit's zeal and anger through the tongue.

Yet how many of us Elijahs, once the sword has touched our hearts and the coal our lips, go on to become uncontrollable torrents of verbiage called revelations? And how many of us as intercessors likewise believe we will be heard for our "much [anointed] speaking?" In the Lord's eyes, "much speaking" is a sign of heathen behavior (Mt. 6:7). Look closely, and you'll notice that disciplined temperament is a hallmark trait that separated Elijah from the prophets and intercessors of Baal.

Consequently, when it comes to this ministry, I require some proof of a tempered tongue before engaging dialogue and entering committed relationship with other wilderness prophetics. Occasionally I receive unsigned prophetic diatribes from deep out in the desert--or I am approached by those who, resonating with one of my articles, proceed to deluge me with unbridled prophesyings and teachings. (These go to the recycle bin without response.) Meanwhile, I can't tell you the numerous times it's been necessary to break off from live "Spirit-filled" relationships because of a loose "anointed" tongue.   

Next: Stewarding Divine Zeal and Anger, Continued...





Chris Anderson
New Meadow Neck, RI

First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org

05/08



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