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Chapter
5 “You
must take up your cross and crucify the righteousness of your fears and dreads.
Be not joined in agreement with that old oppressive husband, that law of sin
and death that brings forth all unrighteousness.”
Romans
7:3-6 NASB “So
then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so
that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore,
my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law (of sin and death)
through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who
was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while
we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were
at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have
been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that
we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” Hebrews
9:14 NASB “How
much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?” After
the Lord showed me these things, I then asked him how and when this spirit of
fear entered into man. He answered saying, “The spirit of fear found it’s
entrance into the hearts and minds of men through the disobedience of Adam and
Eve. As soon as the two of them chose to reject my words so that they could
believe the lies that Satan had spoken to them, then the spirit of fear entered
in to bring them into bondage to darkness, and to oppress them continually with
the troubles and miseries of death. It was this spirit of fear that blinded
their eyes and perverted their thinking. It was then that they began to evil
good, and good evil. Both Adam and Eve were both naked in the garden as well as
in my presence, but there was no shame in their eyes or mine. Yet, when they
fell, they did not see the shame in their disobedience to my words, but they
saw the shame in their nakedness. Who told them that they were naked? The
spirit of fear told them that they were naked, and because they were now in
bondage to the darkness, they believed it’s words, and shame came upon them
where there was no shame. It was also the spirit of fear that blinded their
eyes so that they could not see or be ashamed of their sin of disobedience to
my words. If the could not see their sin, then they certainly could not be
ashamed of their sin. Fear had so blinded their eyes that they called their
nakedness to be evil, and their disobedience to my words to be good. Genesis
2:25 NASB “And
the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Genesis
3:6-8 NASB “When
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the
eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit
and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes
of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of
the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the
garden.” Isaiah
5:20 “Woe unto
them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them
that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Then
the Lord revealed what I consider to this very day to be one of two biggest and
most important revelations that he has ever given to me concerning the darkness
and it’s impact on all of man. The
Lord then said. “When Adam and Eve chose to eat that fruit, their eyes were
opened to see as spirit of fear sees. This spirit was not directing how they
should see, and neither was this fear instructing them on how to interpret what
they saw, but they were actually seeing through the eyes of the spirit of fear
that had come into them. It is for this reason that when they saw themselves
through the eyes of fear, they sought to cover themselves, as though leaves
could justify their disobedience, and they sought to flee from the presence of
God’s love. They were led to do these things by the spirit of fear because
that is the nature of spirit of fear. As the nature of the spirit is in a man,
so is the man who sees eye to eye with that spirit. Fear is ignorant of love,
and it is the darkness of this ignorance that blinds the eyes so that the love
of God seems like an alien concept. Yet, God created man to love God and to be
loved by God; to be in the likeness of his own image. Ephesians
4:17,18 NIV “So
I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as
the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Mark
12:29-31 NKJ “Jesus
answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O
Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment
greater than these.” 1
John 4:8
NKJ “He who
does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1
John 4:16
NKJ
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love,
and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” Psalm
18:28 NIV You, O
LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. Isaiah
42:6,7 NIV “I,
the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I
will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for
the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to
release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Luke
1:78,79 “Through
the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited
us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace.” Matthew
12:33-37 NASB “Either
make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad;
for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being
evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the
heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil
man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every
careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the
day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you
will be condemned.” Proverbs
18:21 NASB “Death
and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its
fruit.” It
was also during this time that the Lord began to open my eyes to fully
comprehend what Jesus meant when he said to the disciples in Matthew
13:16,17 NIV “But
blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I
tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see
but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” What
a blessing, to eyes to never see as fear sees, or ears that never hear the
thoughts of fear. The Lord has blessed me many times with visitations of his
presence; and in his presence there are no fears to oppress or to torment. But
they are only visitations. How great is this liberty and freedom that overcomes
all of the fears and dreads that have so troubled the lives of men? Then the
Lord said, “When the eye is evil, then the curses of fear and dread will seem
like the right way for a man to walk in, but those ways always end in death;
for darkness cannot lead a man anywhere except into more darkness. And when a
man walks in this darkness, then his frets, his evil suspicions, his worries,
his doubts, his anxieties, his self-condemnation, his dreads, his impatience,
his unbelief, his hopelessness, as well as any of his other fears and phobias
will be the thoughts that he accounts to be right and true; the thoughts of his
reality. Can light have any fellowship with the darkness? O blessed are the
eyes that see as the spirit of the Lord sees because they shall see that the
darkness for what it is: foolishness, vanity, misery, emptiness, and
oppression. Ephesians
5:8-14 NASB “For
you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children
of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness
and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in
the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is
disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But
all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything
that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper,
and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Job
37:19 NKJ “Teach
us what we should say to Him, for we can prepare nothing because of the
darkness.” Psalm
107:9-11 NIV “For
he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron
chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel
of the Most High.” Psalm 107:13-15 Then
they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their
distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake
their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and
for his wonderful works to the children of men! Isaiah
42:6 NIV “I will
lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide
them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places
smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” I
found one more thing that the Lord showed to me about the Castle Vision to be
very interesting. Natural man lives his life subject to the desires to be as
God: desirous to be in control of his own life; desirous to sit in the sit of
judgment over other men; desirous to make his reality of what he believes to be
right to be the reality of righteousness for all who are around him; desirous
to make his own opinions to be the truth; desirous for to make his own name to
be great; desirous to live his life according to his own will; and desirous for
his own fame and glory. Natural man also desires great wealth because the more
wealth he possesses, the more power he believes he will receive that will allow
for him to satisfy these natural desires to be as God over his own life. The
more a man is able to satisfy his desires to be as God, the more beautiful and
glorious the castle of his heart will becomes in his own eyes. Natural man sees
that his only purpose in life is to seek to satisfy all of these desires so
that his dreams and goals may become his reality. Matthew
16:26 NIV “What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Even
though natural man is subject to these desires, fear is that which has the
ultimate rule over his own thoughts. When the Lord was teaching me these
things, he finished by quickening into my remembrance four different men from
out of history; and they were Caesar, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Sadaam
Hussein. These were men in their own countries that had satisfied all their
natural desires to be their own lord and god, over their own lives as well as
over the lives of all the citizens in their respective countries. They had
obtained absolute control, fame, authority, wealth, glory, a name, and that
which was right in their eyes became the law in their land. Yet, after
satisfying all of their natural desires, they had found no love, nor peace, nor
joy, only paranoia. The more natural desires a man satisfies, the more his hear
possesses; and the more a man’s heart possesses, the more fearful he is of
losing it. It is for this reason that these man were not only paranoid, but
they were extremely paranoid, fearful of losing all that they had obtained.
They were very fearful of all those who were around them, even their own family
members, that they were either going to be betrayed by them or that they were
going to try to take their possessions from them. There is no amount of
possessions that a man may gain that is able to deliver him from man’s
oppression to fears and dread. But natural man is so accustomed to living his
life trying to satisfy his natural desires that he is really blind to see the
bondage and oppression that his fears and dreads have him captive to. And the
Lord says, “Your thoughts are not my thoughts.” Jeremiah
13:23 NIV “Can
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.” Acts
26:15-18 NASB “Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, whom you
are persecuting,” the Lord replied. “Now get up and stand on your feet. I
have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you
have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own
people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified
by faith in me.” What
turns a man from darkness to light? What turns a man from the power of Satan to
the power of God? What delivers a man from his oppression and bondage to these
vile, unclean spirits of fear? What cleanses a man from his sin? What turns a
man from the iniquity of his hypocrisy
to the righteousness of God? What delivers man from evil? Seeing! Seeing!
Seeing! Paul was sent to open eyes; Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind to
see what? To restore vision unto man so that man may see as God sees. It is
written in John
9:39-41 NKJ “And
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not
see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the
Pharisees who were with Him heard these words and said to Him, “Are we blind
also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but
now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains.” Imagine
that, whether a man is freed from his sins, or if they are retained depends on
“the seeing” of that man’s vision. Adam’s sin of disobedience remained
with him because he became blind to see the truth about his transgression even
though he covered himself with leaves of hypocrisy and hid from God behind the
lies of self-justification. Is this not the very thing that Jesus was trying to
address with these Pharisees? Were not these the ones that were supposed to be
experts in that law, as well as all of the rest of the scriptures? How many of
these religious leaders, as well as pastors and prophets of today, have become
like Adam and these Pharisees, seeing with their own eyes that their hearts are
as that beautiful and glorious castle that I saw in my vision? If a man does
not see with the vision that God sees with, then does he really have any vision
at all, or is he blind? Matthew
13:14,15 NKJ “And
in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: “Hearing you will
hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are
hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest
they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so
that I should[ heal them.” I
John 3:6 NKJ “Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. The
Lord once told me that if I could understand the truth of that which is written
in Proverbs 16:25
NASB “There
is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death”,
then I would be able to understand all of the powers of Satan. My eyes
immediately focused on the word “seem”. The dictionary defines seem as who
something appears to one’s own senses, mind, seeing, and judgment. Well, if
natural man sees through the eyes of fear, then what seems right in his eyes is
that which seems right in the eyes of fear. Adam hid from God; Abraham was
fearful of those who did not fear God; all but Joshua and Caleb were fearful of
the giants they saw in the promise land; the entire army of Israel was
terrified of Goliath; the disciples were fearful of the storm they were caught
in; Peter was fearful to even acknowledge that he knew Jesus; Ananias and
Sapphira were afraid to give up all for the Lord….and so many other instances
in the Bible that describe instances of how the people of God did that which
seemed right in the sight of their fears because they were in bondage to see as
the spirit was within them. There
is only one thing that is natural to those who are in darkness, and that is the
darkness itself; and that which seems right is the darkness that appears like
the light. Satan’s power lies in his ability to make wrong ways to appear as
right ways, and right ways to appear as the wrong way. There was not one thing
that any man will allow into the treasury of his heart unless it first seems
right in his own eyes. Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind who were
walking in the ways that seem right, to turn them from the ways of death to the
strait and narrow path that leads to life; and to accomplish this, all that he
needed to do was to open their eyes so that they could see as God sees. But
have you ever seen a man repent of that which he believes and trusts to be
right? Job
34:32 NASB
“Teach me what I do not see; If I have done iniquity, I will not do it
again?” I
John 3:6 NKJ “Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”
III
John 11 NIV “….Anyone
who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen
God. I
John 3:2 NKJ
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what
we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is.” Jesus
said that he did not come to judge or to condemn any man according to the
flesh, but he came to teach us good judgment, the judgment of God. The judgment
of God opens the eyes of the blind so that he is able to see the difference
between that which naturally seems right from that which is right in the sight
of God. If Jesus had come to judge according to the flesh, then he would have
judged the woman caught in the act of adultery with the same condemnation as
the blind were judging her with. No, Jesus came to judge the blindness of
darkness with the seeing of the light. It is obvious from this story Jesus
walked in a different light, seeing the sin of adultery in an entirely
different manner than how those who were under the law were seeing this woman
and her transgression. Who among us, at one time or another, has not been
fearful that Jesus/God was going to judge our sins in the same manner that the
blind hypocrites accused, and judged, and condemned this woman? Where is the
church today that walks in the same light that Jesus walked in, not throwing
stones at those who do those things that do not agree with what seems right in
their own eyes, like those who commit adultery, or that have had an abortion,
or child molesters, etc.? Those who throw the stones of judgment at others are
blind to see that they are only bringing condemn on themselves; for every man
is going to be judged with the same judgment that he has used to judge others
with. Jesus came to open our eyes, to change the way that a man judges himself,
the way that he judges others, and even the way that judges God when things do
not go his way. Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind, to free us from the
curse of darkness that has alienated and separated from the communion and
fellowship that our heavenly Father created us to walk with him in. Psalm
119:65,66 NIV “Do
good to your servant according to your word, O LORD. Teach me knowledge and
good judgment, for I believe in your commands.” Psalm
34:4 “Let us
choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.” Job
40:8 NASB (God
speaking to Job) “Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that
you may be justified? Is
it any wonder that Jesus told us to take the beam of blindness out of our eyes
before we judged? In the judgment of my eyes, I saw that my heart was as this
beautiful and glorious castle; but in the judgment of God’s eyes, he who sees
the hidden things of darkness and the secret counsels of the heart, he saw the
fears and the dreads that were daily haunting me in one manner or another. Who
could have ever imagined that a man’s sin is not the results of his works or
deeds, but rather it is the result that comes forth from the vision of his
eyes? Of course, every man’s works and deeds are directed by how he sees
things. Even when the scriptures are read, one may see a verse to mean one
thing while another may see it to mean another; and yet, unless the Lord has
opened their understanding, neither is able to see the truth of that word. Even
so, each man will make that which he believes to be that which is right and
true. I remembered a time when the Lord gave me a revelation of his word, and
with much joy I sat back in my chair and proclaimed, “Wow Lord, I cannot
believe that I was so totally blind to see this word in this manner”. Then
the Lord spoke to me and said, “You just glorified me because I alone am able
to open your eyes to see the truth of my words.” The Lord then taught me that
he is glorified in the works that he does for us, and not in the “best
efforts” or “good intentions” that the natural man thinks glorifies God.
Even Jesus said, “Father, glorify me, and I will glorify you.” And how
would Jesus glorify his Father, but with thanksgiving and praise for the work
that his heavenly Father did for him. Jeremiah
2:31 NKJ “O
generation, see the word of the LORD!” Ephesians
1:16-19 NKJ “(I)
do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes
of your understanding being
enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the
working of His mighty power.” For More Information: Mitt Jeffords |
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